Background/Objectives: Global population aging is associated with a rising prevalence of malnutrition among adults aged ≥80 years. Gut dysbiosis is linked to immune decline and impaired nutrient absorption, and aerobic exercise may enhance microbial diversity. This study investigated gut microbiota changes after a 12-week aerobic exercise intervention in octogenarians stratified by nutritional status. Methods: A total of 129 nursing home residents (≥80 years) were classified via the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF) into a healthy group (HG, MNA-SF ≥ 11) and a malnourished group (MG, MNA-SF < 11). Both groups underwent a 12-week brisk walking intervention (three sessions/week, 1 h/session, 40–60% heart rate reserve). Fecal samples were collected at baseline and post-intervention and were analyzed via shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Results: A total of 36 participants completed the intervention (HG = 17, MG = 19). Within-group baseline-to-post-intervention analysis showed no significant changes in alpha or beta diversity in the MG. However, post-intervention between-group comparison revealed higher microbial richness and diversity in the MG vs. the HG, with enrichment of taxa including Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Streptococcus salivarius. Functional analysis revealed significant enhancements in metabolic pathways related to amino acid biosynthesis, protein synthesis, and quorum sensing in the MG. In contrast, the HG showed limited shifts in microbial diversity but an increase in species involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Conclusions: After 12 weeks, the malnourished group showed higher post-intervention microbial richness and diversity than the healthy group, with differences in taxonomic and predicted functional profiles. Without a non-intervention control group, the microbiota differences observed during the 12-week aerobic exercise period can only be considered observational associations, not causal. Additionally, the high dropout rate (72.1%) limits the generalizability of the findings. Clinical trial registration: The Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 19 October 2022 (ChiCTR2200064801).

Background: A lower next-morning glucose value after evening alcohol consumption may be mistaken for improved diabetes control, but direct evidence for this observation and for preceding nocturnal hypoglycemia is limited. We evaluated acute postprandial, overnight, and next-morning glycemic responses to alcoholic beverages or ethanol in adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE with Full Text, SPORTDiscus with Full Text, eBook Collection, OpenDissertations, and Embase were searched from inception to 28 August 2026. Acute alcohol-free comparisons and active comparisons between alcohol-containing beverages were eligible, with the latter classified only as beverage-composition evidence. Risk of bias was assessed with RoB 2 or ROBINS-I, and findings were synthesized narratively. Results: Fifteen small, heterogeneous studies were included. Meal-associated exposures did not consistently reduce postprandial glucose. Two active-beverage studies reinforced the importance of beverage composition: sweet versus dry wine and sherry produced no significant difference in evening glucose AUC, while glucose increased after carbohydrate-containing beer and sake but remained near baseline after carbohydrate-free shochu in a fasting comparison. Neither study estimated alcohol versus no alcohol. Only one alcohol-versus-control crossover study (n = 16) reported lower next-morning glucose (paired difference, −0.7 ± 0.2 mmol/L); the value was not hypoglycemic and the finding was not independently replicated. No study documented that a lower morning value was preceded by nocturnal hypoglycemia, and none reported contemporary overnight continuous-glucose-monitoring metrics sufficient to exclude brief or asymptomatic events. Conclusion: Very-low-certainty evidence does not support alcoholic beverages or ethanol as a strategy to improve acute glycemia or lower morning glucose. Whether evening consumption contributes to delayed nocturnal hypoglycemia remains unresolved, especially in insulin- or insulin-secretagogue-treated populations. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/view/ , identifier CRD420261474632.

Background: Physical fitness is important for health and independence in older adults, but existing systems do not always provide a continuous multidomain score. Objective: To develop and preliminarily evaluate a Physical Fitness Index (PFI) for older adults in a Chinese retirement community. Methods: A total of 561 participants aged 65–89 years completed assessments of body composition, strength, endurance, balance, mobility, and flexibility. Scores were normalized within sex and 5-year age groups and combined using a fixed radar-axis order. Results: The PFI averaged 39.24 ± 13.43 points (range, 4.16–84.47). In a reduced surrogate regression model, R² was 0.825 and ten-fold cross-validation yielded an RMSE of 5.79 points and an MAE of 4.33 points. Conclusion: The PFI provides a continuous overall score with a domain profile, but its calibration and measurement properties require external and longitudinal validation.

Objective: To synthesize randomized evidence on unimodal resistance exercise, walking, and Tai Chi for frailty in older adults and to explore whether intervention characteristics may help explain between-study heterogeneity. Unlike broader reviews of multicomponent or non-pharmacological interventions, this review focuses on these three standalone modalities and reports modality- and dose-characteristic subgroup estimates. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis followed PRISMA 2020 and was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251179862). Five databases were searched from inception to October 2025. Two reviewers independently screened records, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias with the Cochrane tool. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were pooled using inverse-variance models; random-effects models were used when substantial heterogeneity was present. Prespecified subgroup analyses examined exercise modality and intervention characteristics. Leave-one-comparison-out sensitivity analysis was used to assess influence. Funnel-plot findings were considered exploratory because few comparisons were available. Results: Ten articles contributed 13 eligible exercise-control comparisons comprising 1,361 participant observations (682 intervention and 679 control). The overall random-effects estimate favored exercise (SMD = −0.57, 95% CI −0.91 to −0.24), but heterogeneity was substantial ( I ² = 88%) and the approximate 95% prediction interval crossed the null (−1.73 to 0.57). Resistance-exercise comparisons showed a significant pooled association with lower frailty scores (SMD = −0.78, 95% CI −1.22 to −0.35), whereas walking and Tai Chi estimates were imprecise and not statistically significant. Leave-one-comparison-out estimates remained in the same direction (SMD range, −0.65 to −0.46), although heterogeneity remained high. Dose-characteristic subgroup findings were based on small numbers of comparisons and should be regarded as exploratory rather than as evidence of an optimal prescription. Conclusion: Resistance-exercise trials showed a significant pooled reduction in frailty scores, but the available evidence does not establish superiority over walking or Tai Chi because no direct head-to-head or network comparison was performed. High heterogeneity, imprecise modality subgroups, and sparse dose strata limit certainty. The dose-related findings should be used to generate hypotheses for adequately powered comparative trials rather than to prescribe an optimal regimen.

This study was designed to determine the effect of 12 weeks of the Chinese traditional exercise, the Dao Yin Regime on reducing fall risk in aging population (>60 years). The exclusion criteria for individuals were as follows: 1) were under 60 years; 2) were unable to read and write; 3) had any acute cardiovascular disease in the past month; 4) had any diagnosed disorder of balance function; 5) had visual problems; 6) had hearing problems; 7) had taken drugs that could lead to dizzy. 8) had regular exercising over 6 months. We novelly tried not to exclude people who take sleeping pills since it has already become a normal phenomenon, we also stipulated that people who live alone should be considered serious issues. We planned to recruit 90 people by calculating at the beginning, but in the end, 93 participants were recruited. Every person received a complete fall risk screening process and they were divided into low-risk (30), moderate-risk (29), high-risk (34) based on the STEADI screening toolkit. The age features in each group were: 80.63±6.83(low-risk),83.38±5.89(moderate-risk) and 82.12±5.64(high-risk), and the sex distribution were: male:14(45.16%) and female:17(54.84%) in the low-risk group, male:8(27.59%) and female:21(72.41%) in the moderate-risk group, male:9(26.47%) and female:25(73.53%) in the high-risk group. The exercise program was set 90min in every training session, and was repeated 3 times a week. Every training session started with 10 min warm-up activity, followed by the standing training, which lasted approximately 40 min, and the last was dynamic training, which contained 12 movements lasting 40 min, with a 5 min cool down activity in the end. The entire training program lasted 12 weeks. The methods to evaluate of the effects included demographic, physiological, and psychological aspects, gait characteristics were the main indices used to assess the effects, the within- and between-group differences were analyzed via paired t-test and chi-test. In the gait characteristics, only the low-risk group showed distinct decline in TUG test (p<0.01). The precise reason of why this outcome was not clear, but there was a small improvement in the participants’ physical function and also the frailty situation improved. In this study, we found that low educational background was not an essential issue on increasing fall risk for old people(p<0.01). Since this was the first attempt on investigate the effect of the Dao Yin Regime on reducing fall risk among old people, some limitations remain, and more studies are needed.

Background: Multidimensional evidence on exercise participation and frailty in older adults is limited. Methods: This 12-week preference-based, non-randomized study included 145 participants (mean age 82.25 years): walking (n = 50), resistance training (n = 20), Traditional Chinese exercise (n = 23), and control (n = 52). Frailty was the primary outcome; physical-performance and molecular analyses were exploratory. Paired trajectories, baseline-stratified binary transitions, and adjusted associations were examined. Results: Among paired participants, pre-frailty/frailty prevalence changed from 70.0% to 60.0% with walking, 90.0% to 70.0% with resistance training, 50.0% to 63.6% with Traditional Chinese exercise (n = 22), and 50.0% to 69.2% in controls. Baseline status constrained opportunities for binary improvement or deterioration. All adjusted frailty risk-ratio confidence intervals included 1. Walking was associated with faster Timed Up and Go and Five-Yard Walk Test performance after correction across eight outcomes. Molecular changes also occurred in controls; intervention timing and potential laboratory-batch confounding limited between-group interpretation. No microbiome taxon survived multiplicity correction; small paired samples limited precision. Conclusions: Walking and resistance-training groups showed descriptively more favorable prevalence trajectories, but adjusted frailty comparisons remained inconclusive. These findings do not establish frailty prevention, modality superiority, or exercise-specific molecular mechanisms.