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The double burden of malnutrition (DBM) has been described in many low/middle-income countries. We investigated food addiction, thyroid hormones, leptin, the lipid/glucose profile, and body composition in DBM children/adolescents. Subjects were allocated into groups according nutritional status: control (C, n=28), weight excess (WE, n=23), and DBM (weight excess plus mild stunting, n=22). Both the DBM and WE groups showed higher insulin concentrations than the control (mean pmol/l [CI]: DBM=57.95 [47.88-70.14], WE=74.41 [61.72-89.80], C=40.03 [34.04-47.83], P<0.001). WE and DBM showed more food addiction symptoms than the control (3.11 [2.33–3.89], 3.41 [2.61-4.20] and 1.66 [0.95-2.37]). In DBM individuals addiction symptoms were correlated with higher body fat and higher insulin and leptin levels. These data provide preliminary evidence consistent with the suggestion that DBM individuals have a persistent desire to eat, but further studies are required to confirm these results in a larger study. These hormonal changes and high body fat contribute to development of diabetes in long-term.
To identify predictors of recovery in children with uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
Design:
This is a secondary data analysis from an individual randomised controlled trial, where children with uncomplicated SAM were randomised to three feeding regimens, namely ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) sourced from Compact India, locally prepared RUTF or augmented home-prepared foods, under two age strata (6–17 months and 18–59 months) for 16 weeks or until recovery. Three sets of predictors that could influence recovery, namely child, family and nutritional predictors, were analysed.
Setting:
Rural and urban slum areas of three states of India, namely Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
Participants:
In total, 906 children (age: 6–59 months) were analysed to estimate the adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) using the Cox proportional hazard ratio model to identify various predictors.
Results:
Being a female child (AHR: 1·269 (1·016, 1·584)), better employment status of the child’s father (AHR: 1·53 (1·197, 1·95)) and residence in a rental house (AHR: 1·485 (1·137, 1·94)) increased the chances of recovery. No hospitalisation (AHR: 1·778 (1·055, 2·997)), no fever, (AHR: 2·748 (2·161, 3·494)) and ≤ 2 episodes of diarrhoea (AHR: 1·579 (1·035, 2·412)) during the treatment phase; availability of community-based peer support to mothers for feeding (AHR: 1·61 (1·237, 2·097)) and a better weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) at enrolment (AHR: 1·811 (1·297, 2·529)) predicted higher chances of recovery from SAM.
Conclusion:
The probability of recovery increases in children with better WHZ and with the initiation of treatment for acute illnesses to avoid hospitalisation, availability of peer support and better employment status of the father.
The aim of this study was to assess body shape trajectories in childhood and midlife in relation to subsequent risk of breast cancer (BC) in a Mediterranean cohort.
Design:
The ‘Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra’ (SUN) Project is a dynamic prospective cohort study of university graduates initiated in 1999. With a group-based modelling approach, we assessed body shape trajectories from age 5 to 40 years. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for BC after the age of 40 years according to the body shape trajectory.
Setting:
City of Pamplona, in the North of Spain.
Participants:
6498 women with a mean age of 40 years (sd 9).
Results:
We identified four distinct body shape trajectories (‘childhood lean-midlife increase’ (19·9 %), ‘childhood medium-midlife stable’ (53 %), ‘childhood heavy-midlife stable’ (21 %) and ‘childhood heavy-midlife increase’ (6·1 %)). Among 54 978 women-years of follow-up, we confirmed eighty-two incident cases of BC. Women in the ‘childhood lean-midlife increase’ group showed a higher risk of BC (HR = 1·84, 95 % CI 1·11, 3·04) compared with women in the ‘childhood medium-midlife stable’ category. This association was stronger for postmenopausal BC (HR = 2·42, 95 % CI 1·07, 5·48).
Conclusions:
Our results suggest a role for lifetime adiposity in breast carcinogenesis.
Although the literature on social capital, social support and social networks uses the concept of emotional support, studies rarely recognise nuances of the emotional relationships in late life. Using a personal communities framework, we examine the subjective meaning of family and friendship ties that form the network of emotionally close relationships of a cohort of Chilean people between 60 and 74 years of age. Chile is an interesting case to investigate personal communities, as the country is facing both a rapid process of population ageing and the consequences of abrupt socio-cultural changes triggered by a military government. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews using personal communities diagrams that enabled study participants to reflect on what and how different types of personal ties were important to them. Data analysis included thematic analysis of interview transcripts and classification of identified personal communities using Pahl and Spencer's typology. The personal communities framework proved useful in capturing the composition of older people's networks of close relationships and in reflecting the diverse ways different ties are relevant in late life. We further developed a complementary typology based on the distinction between ‘clustered’ and ‘hierarchical’ personal communities. This complementary typology adds a cultural dimension to understand better emotional closeness in late life in a context of rapid socio-cultural changes affecting levels of social trust.
Background:
Improving adherence to hand hygiene (HH) of healthcare workers (HCWs) is a challenge for health institutions, and the use of technologies has been considered an important strategy within this process. Methods: To evaluate the impact of the use of alcohol-based hand rub gel (ABHR) dispensers with light sensors on the adherence to HH by HCWs. This is a prospective quasi-experimental study with comparative analysis between two 4-bed adult intensive care units at a private, tertiary-care hospital conducted over 22 weeks. An approach detection module with an LED lamp was attached to the ABHR dispenser. As a healthcare personnel approached it, the sensor was activated, and a red light turned on as a visual stimulus for HH. The color of the light changed to blue when HH was performed. All ABHR dispensers had electronic counters, but light sensors were installed only in the 4-bed dispensers of the intervention unit. Throughout the period, direct observation of adherence to HH was performed by 4 nurses who had previously been rated with an excellent coefficient of agreement (κ test = 0.951 and 0.902). At the end of the study, a perception survey was performed with the HCWs. Results: The median activation of ABHR dispensers per week was higher in the intervention unit with 1,004 (IQR, 706–1,455) versus 432 (IQR, 350–587) in the control group (P < .001). The same occurred when compared to the median activation per 1,000 patient days, with 53,069 (IQR, 47,575–67,275) versus 19,602 (IQR, 15,909–24,500) in the control group (P < .001). However, there was no evidence of difference in adherence to HH during direct observation between the 2 groups: 51.0% HH compliance (359 of 704) in the control group and 53.8% HH compliance (292 of 543) in the intervention group (P = .330). The same result emerged when we evaluated the “My Five Moments for HH” and by professional category. HCWs (N=66) answered the perception survey: 66.6% stated that lighting devices caught their attention regularly or most of the time and 59% agreed that the devices motivated HH. Conclusions: Using light sensors in ABHR dispensers can be an effective technology for improving HH. This finding was evident in the evaluation of the number of uses of the ABHR dispensers and in the HCW perceptions. Although direct observation did not show statistical evidence of difference between the groups, adherence was higher in the intervention group.
The aim of this study was to evaluate different post-shock temperatures for tetraploid induction in the yellowtail tetra Astyanax altiparanae. Newly fertilized eggs were divided into four groups, three were submitted to heat shock (40°C for 2 min) at 24 min post-fertilization (mpf) and another group remained without shock (control). Groups submitted to temperature shock were further separated at the following temperatures: 22°C, 26°C and 28°C. Survival among embryonic development was counted and at hatching the ploidy was analyzed by flow cytometry. The results showed that the post-shock temperature affects the parameters analyzed and, therefore, must be considered for optimization of the production of tetraploid in A. altiparanae. Those data are innovative and could be used in future studies of basic biology in this species.
Despite the robust body of work on cognitive aspects of bipolar disorder (BD), a clear profile of associated impairments in impulsivity, decision-making and risk-taking from studies that use behavioural measures has yet to be established. A systematic review, across four electronic databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect and Scopus), of literature published between January 1999 and December 2018 was carried out in accordance with the PRISMA statement. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018114684). A fixed-effect and random-effects meta-analysis using the Hedges' g (ES) estimate was performed. The analysis revealed significant impairment in BD individuals with medium effect sizes in various aspects of impulsivity – response inhibition (ES = 0.49; p < 0.0001), delay of gratification (ES = 0.54; p < 0.0001) and inattention (ES = 0.49; p < 0.0001) – and in decision-making (ES = 0.61, p = 0.0002), but no significant impairment in risk-taking behaviour (ES = 0.41; p = 0.0598). Furthermore, we found significant heterogeneity between studies for decision-making and risk-taking behaviour but not for impulsivity. Impaired risk-taking behaviour was significant in a subgroup of BD-I and euthymic individuals (ES = 0.92; p < 0.0001) with no significant heterogeneity. A stratification analysis revealed comparable results in euthymic and non-euthymic individuals for impulsivity. Our findings suggest that behaviour impulsivity is elevated in all phases of BD, representing a core and clinically relevant feature that persists beyond mood symptoms. More studies about decision-making and risk-taking are necessary to establish if they are impaired in BD and to analyze the role of mood state.
Pintoi peanut is a warm-season perennial legume that shows promise as a forage crop for the southeastern United States, however, little is known about the proper methods of weed management during establishment for this species. The objective of this study was to determine the ability of pintoi peanut to tolerate applications of PRE and POST herbicides during the year of and year after planting. The effects of herbicide treatments on percentage of visual estimates of injury and stand counts of pintoi peanut were investigated at Ona and Marianna, FL, in 2015 and 2016. All PRE herbicides did not result in significant injury or stand reduction. Pintoi peanut’s tolerance to POST herbicides was higher when plants were emerged for at least 2 wk prior to herbicide application. Stands of pintoi peanut that were planted the previous year appear to tolerate all herbicides examined in this work, except sulfosulfuron. Results of this study indicate that at the year of planting pintoi peanut is tolerant to PRE applications of pendimethalin, imazethapyr, and imazapic. Pintoi peanut appears to tolerate applications of 2,4-D, carfentrazone, imazapic and imazethapyr the year after planting at the rates utilized in this study. Future research should evaluate the effects of multiple herbicide applications and tank-mixes to obtain satisfactory weed control and selectivity in pintoi peanut swards.
The research described in this technical research communication examines the hypothesis that sublethal stress conditions can improve the survival of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis during drying and subsequent storage. After drying, the L. lactis that had adapted to acid or osmotic stresses did not differ statistically in terms of cell viability loss compared to the control samples tested (~0.38 log cycles). However, the cells that had adapted to oxidative conditions demonstrated a cell viability loss of only 0.01 log cycles. After 45 d of storage at temperatures of 4 and 25 °C, the final L. lactis sample populations were shown to be higher (112.5%) when they had been submitted to sublethal conditions of oxidative stress. When the cell samples were exposed to acid stress conditions, they exhibited a viability loss (0.82 log cycles) that was statistically different from the control sample (0.58 log cycles) after 45 d. Osmotic stress conditions did not demonstrate any influence over cell survival rates. Thus, submitting cells to oxidative stress conditions prior to storage has been shown to be a potential strategy for producing dehydrated cultures of L. lactis strains that are less sensitive to oxygen exposure.
In this paper, a differential microfluidic sensor and comparator based on a pair of microstrip lines loaded with dumbbell-shaped defected ground structure resonators is applied to the characterization of electrolyte concentration in samples of horse urine. Since variations in the total electrolyte content in urine may be indicative of certain pathologies, the interest is to use the device as a comparator, in order to determine changes in the electrolyte concentration as compared to a reference level. To validate the approach, we have made differential measurements of a set of urine samples with different electrolyte concentrations (which have been previously obtained by means of electrochemical methods). The obtained results correlate with the nominal electrolyte concentrations of the samples, thereby pointing out the potential of the approach as a low-cost pre-screening method (or complementary diagnosis system) to detect potential pathologies or diseases in horses and other animals.
Low folate and vitamin B12 serum levels are associated with schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders.
Objectives
Determinate folate and vitamin B12 serum levels in a sample of naive psychotic patients and in a sample of healthy population.
Methods
For 24 patients with a first psychotic episode serum folate an vitamin B12 were measured, and we take a sample of 30 person from healthy population adjust with age and gender for comparing both groups.
Results
In the sample of psychotic patients 15 patients (62,5%)presents low levels of folate, and 2 (8,3%) vitamin B12 deficiency. In the group with low levels of folate the mean was 1,5 ng/ml, and in the group with low levels of vitamin B12 the mean was 155 pg/ml. In healthy sample, 9 persons presents low levels of folate and there weren’t any vitamin B12 deficiency in this group. We compared the mean of folate levels in both samples and there was a significance difference between them.
Conclusions
Important percentage of patients with a first psychotic episode presents a folate deficiency, in our area, with lower levels of this vitamin than in the healthy population, so maybe is a factor that influence in development of the disorder.
Previous work suggests that reaction time variability (RTV) in attentional tasks, as a measure of cognitive stability, is associated with degree of Val loading in COMT Val158Met genotype, and that this association may be relevant for the aetiology of schizophrenia. This study examined (i) to what degree RTV pertaining to tasks of varying cognitive complexity would be associated with increased risk for schizophrenia and (ii) to what degree this would be mediated by Val loading.
Methods:
COMT genotyping was investigated in a sample of 23 patients with schizophrenia, 33 first-degree relatives, and 21 controls. All participants performed the Flanker continuous performance test.
Results:
Schizophrenia liability was associated with number of correct trials of the Flanker test, but not with RTV, and this association was not mediated by COMT Val158Met genotype. Similarly, Met loading was associated with number of correct trials and with RTV, but this was not mediated by schizophrenia liability.
Conclusions:
Associations between COMT Val158Met genotype and RTV do not appear to reflect transmission of schizophrenia liability in families. Differential associations with Val and Met alleles across studies suggest indirect effects through gene–gene interactions or the influence of a functional polymorphism near COMT Val158Met.