Indices predictive of central obesity include waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). These data are lacking for Colombian adults. This study aims at establishing smoothed centile ...charts and LMS tables for WC and WHtR; appropriate cutoffs were selected using receiver-operating characteristic analysis based on data from the representative sample.
We used data from the cross-sectional, national representative nutrition survey (ENSIN, 2010). A total of 83 220 participants (aged 20-64) were enroled. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), WC and WHtR were measured and percentiles calculated using the LMS method (L (curve Box-Cox), M (curve median), and S (curve coefficient of variation)). Receiver operating characteristics curve analyses were used to evaluate the optimal cutoff point of WC and WHtR for overweight and obesity based on WHO definitions.
Reference values for WC and WHtR are presented. Mean WC and WHtR increased with age for both genders. We found a strong positive correlation between WC and BMI (r=0.847, P< 0.01) and WHtR and BMI (r=0.878, P<0.01). In obese men, the cutoff point value is 96.6 cm for the WC. In women, the cutoff point value is 91.0 cm for the WC. Receiver operating characteristic curve for WHtR was also obtained and the cutoff point value of 0.579 in men, and in women the cutoff point value was 0.587. A high sensitivity and specificity were obtained.
This study presents first reference values of WC and WHtR for Colombians aged 20-64. Through LMS tables for adults, we hope to provide quantitative tools to study obesity and its complications.
This review is dedicated to summarizing the recent research on vortex dynamics and pinning effects in superconducting films with artificial magnetic structures. The fabrication of hybrid ...superconducting/magnetic systems is presented together with the wide variety of properties that arise from the interaction between the superconducting vortex lattice and the artificial magnetic nanostructures. Specifically, we review the role that the most important parameters in the vortex dynamics of films with regular array of dots play. In particular, we discuss the phenomena that appear when the symmetry of a regular dot array is distorted from regularity towards complete disorder including rectangular, asymmetric, and aperiodic arrays. The interesting phenomena that appear include vortex-lattice reconfigurations, anisotropic dynamics, channeling, and guided motion as well as ratchet effects. The different regimes are summarized in a phase diagram indicating the transitions that take place as the characteristic distances of the array are modified respect to the superconducting coherence length. Future directions are sketched out indicating the vast open area of research in this field.
Improvements in osteoconduction of implant biomaterials require focusing on the bone-implant interface, which is a complex multifactorial system. Surface topography of implants plays a crucial role ...at this interface. Nanostructured surfaces have been shown to promote serum protein adsorption and osteoblast adhesion when compared to micro-structured surfaces for bone-implant materials. We studied the influence of the serum proteins fibronectin and vitronectin on the attachment and proliferation of osteoblasts onto nanostructured titania surfaces. Human fetal osteoblastic cells hFOB 1.19 were used as model osteoblasts and were grown on nanoporous TiO2 templates, using Ti6AI4V and commercially pure Ti substrates as controls. Results show a significant increase in cell proliferation'on nanoporous TiO2 over flat substrates. Initial cell attachment data exhibited a significant effect by either fibronectin or vitronectin on cell adhesion at the surface of any of the tested materials. In addition, the extent of cell adhesion was significantly different between the nanoporous TiO2 and both Ti6AI4V and commercially pure Ti substrates, with the first showing the highest surface coverage. There was no significant difference on osteoblast attachment or proliferation between the presence of fibronectin or vitronectin using any of the material substrates. Taken together, these results suggest that the increase in osteoblast attachment and proliferation shown on the nanoporous TiO2 is due to an increase in the adsorption of fibronectin and vitronectin because of the higher surface area and to an enhanced protein unfolding, which allows access to osteoblast binding motifs within these proteins.
Background. Heartland virus (HRTV) is a tick-borne phlebovirus recently described in Missouri that is associated with fever, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia. The virus has also been detected in ...Ambylomma americanum ticks. Methods. Here we report the first fatal case of HRTV disease in an 80-year-old Tennessee resident. He was hospitalized with fever, confusion, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia and developed multiorgan failure and hemorrhage. A tick-borne illness was suspected and testing for ehrlichiosis was negative. He died on hospital day 15, and autopsy specimens were tested for various pathogens as part of an unexplained death evaluation. Results. HRTV antigens were detected in postmortem spleen and lymph nodes by immunohistochemistry, and HRTV was detected in premortem blood by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and by isolation in cell culture. Conclusions. This case demonstrates that HRTV infection can cause severe disease and death and expands the geographic range of HRTV within the United States.
Abstract Background and aims Studies in the paediatric population have shown inconsistent associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and inflammation independently of adiposity. The purpose of ...this study was (i) to analyse the combined association of cardiorespiratory fitness and adiposity with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and (ii) to determine whether adiposity acts as a mediator on the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hs-CRP in children and adolescents. Methods and results This cross-sectional study included 935 (54.7% girls) healthy children and adolescents from Bogotá, Colombia. The 20 m shuttle run test was used to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. We assessed the following adiposity parameters: body mass index, waist circumference, and fat mass index and the sum of subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness. High sensitivity assays were used to obtain hs-CRP. Linear regression models were fitted for mediation analyses examined whether the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hs-CRP was mediated by each of adiposity parameters according to Baron and Kenny procedures. Lower levels of hs-CRP were associated with the best schoolchildren profiles (high cardiorespiratory fitness + low adiposity) (p for trend <0.001 in the four adiposity parameters), compared with unfit and overweight (low cardiorespiratory fitness + high adiposity) counterparts. Linear regression models suggest a full mediation of adiposity on the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hs-CRP levels. Conclusions Our findings seem to emphasize the importance of obesity prevention in childhood, suggesting that having high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness may not counteract the negative consequences ascribed to adiposity on hs-CRP.
Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are useful tools for controlling assistive devices. One current approach in this field is continuous trajectory reconstruction (CTR), which decodes variables from ...electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. In this study, the CTR approach was applied to estimate kinetic variables from lower limb joints during pre-gait movements. The methodology consisted of a multi-layer perceptron capable of detecting patterns that represent the relation between EEG and torque signals acquired during motion tasks. The study also searched for an optimal subset of EEG channels based on the resulting patterns. A group of volunteers was recruited to execute pre-gait movements with both lower limbs to test the methodology. Results show that decodings of extracted patterns were successful in terms of the selected performance metrics; that is, the coefficient of determination, correlation coefficient, and signal-to-noise ratio. These metrics suggest that decodings for the right lower limb are better than for the left one, and that the most frequent electrodes in the optimal subsets for each task and joint show a tendency to lateralize. The results obtained suggest that this machine learning scheme could be used for future studies of the CTR of kinetic variables.
Mycophenolic acid (MPA) has been shown to be promising for the treatment of autoimmune diseases in dogs and cats. In humans, MPA is highly bound to plasma proteins (~97%). It has been recommended to ...monitor free drug plasma concentrations because the free MPA correlates with its immunosuppressive effect. However, it is unknown if MPA is highly bound to plasma proteins in dogs and cats. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent of plasma protein binding of MPA and evaluate the effect of prednisolone and dexamethasone on the extent of protein binding of MPA in dogs and cats. The extent of plasma protein binding of MPA was determined in plasma collected from clinically healthy adult cats (n = 13) and dogs (n = 14) by combining high‐throughput dialysis and ultra‐high‐liquid chromatography. This study reveals that MPA is highly bound to plasma proteins (>90%) in dogs and cats, mean extent of binding of MPA at 15 μg/ml to plasma proteins being 96% (range, 95%–97%) and 92% (range, 90%–93%) for dogs and cats, respectively. In dog plasma, MPA is primarily bound to albumin. In vitro, prednisolone increased the unbound MPA in dogs (p < .01) but not in cats (p = .07) while dexamethasone had no effect on MPA plasma binding in either species (p > .05). Results of this study provide valuable information for designing future pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies and also therapeutic monitoring programs for dogs and cats.
Summary
Background
We identified a new variant of endemic pemphigus foliaceus in El Bagre, Colombia, South America, which we term El Bagre‐EPF, and observed reactivity to arrector pili muscle (APM), ...thus we tested for autoimmunity to APM.
Methods
We took skin biopsies from 30 patients with El Bagre‐EPF and 30 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age, sex and occupation, who were all from the endemic area, and tested these using direct immunofluorescence (DIF), confocal microscopy, immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting (IB).
Results
Of the 30 patients with El Bagre‐EPF, 27 had autoantibodies to APM that colocalized with commercial antibodies to myocardium‐enriched zonula occludens‐1‐associated protein (MYZAP), desmoplakin (DP)1 and DP2, plakophilin 4, and Armadillo repeat gene deleted in velo‐cardio‐facial syndrome (ARVCF) (P < 0.001, Fisher exact test). The positive staining also colocalized with Junctional Adhesion Molecule 1 (JAM‐A), a control antibody for gap cell junctions. No HC samples were positive. In 27 of the 30 patients, serum that was APM‐positive also displayed IB colocalization of their autoantibody molecular weights with the Progen antibodies (P < 0.001, Fisher exact test).
Conclusions
Patients affected by El Bagre‐EPF have autoantibodies to APM, colocalizing with the antibodies MYZAP, ARVCF, p0071, DP1 and DP2, suggesting that these molecules are El Bagre‐EPF antigens. Further, all of these antigens represent components of cell junctions, indicating that the immune response is directed, at least partially, against cell junctions. The immune response in patients affected by El Bagre‐EPF is polyclonal, and it includes B and T lymphocytes, mast cells, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, IgE, fibrinogen, albumin, complement/C1q, C3c and C4.
Uterine leiomyomata (UL) are the most common neoplasms of the female reproductive tract and primary cause for hysterectomy, leading to considerable morbidity and high economic burden. Here we conduct ...a GWAS meta-analysis in 35,474 cases and 267,505 female controls of European ancestry, identifying eight novel genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10
) loci, in addition to confirming 21 previously reported loci, including multiple independent signals at 10 loci. Phenotypic stratification of UL by heavy menstrual bleeding in 3409 cases and 199,171 female controls reveals genome-wide significant associations at three of the 29 UL loci: 5p15.33 (TERT), 5q35.2 (FGFR4) and 11q22.3 (ATM). Four loci identified in the meta-analysis are also associated with endometriosis risk; an epidemiological meta-analysis across 402,868 women suggests at least a doubling of risk for UL diagnosis among those with a history of endometriosis. These findings increase our understanding of genetic contribution and biology underlying UL development, and suggest overlapping genetic origins with endometriosis.
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