Background Compared with UK white Europeans, South Asian adults have increased risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD); black African-Caribbean adults have ...increased risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes and stroke with lower CHD risk.
The purpose of this study was to examine changes in physical activity and fitness variables in members of 8 volunteer families after 3 months of home use of the Wii Fit™ interactive video game. Pre ...and postintervention measurements were obtained from 21 subjects relative to physical activity (5 days of accelerometry), aerobic fitness (graded treadmill test), muscular fitness (push-ups), flexibility (sit-and-reach test), balance (composite equilibrium score), and body composition (body mass index and % body fat). Use characteristics of the Wii Fit™ device were also determined. A series of 2 (age group) × 2 (time) repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted to assess changes over time and between adults and children. Three months of home Wii Fit™ use revealed no significant age group × time interactions or main effects of group or time for daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance, or body composition. An age group × time interaction (p = 0.04) was observed in peak VO2 (ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) with children displaying a significant (p = 0.03) increase after 3 months of Wii Fit™ use, whereas adults showed no significant (p = 0.50) change. Daily Wii Fit™ use per household declined by 82% (p < 0.01) from 21.5 ± 9.0 min·d(-1) during the first 6 weeks to 3.9 ± 4.0 min·d(-1) during the second 6 weeks. Most measures of health-related fitness in this exploratory study remained unchanged after 3 months of home use of the popular Wii Fit™ whole-body movement interactive video game. Modest daily Wii Fit™ use may have provided insufficient stimulus for fitness changes.
Background: The classic surgical procedure for patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) has been either Nissen fundoplication or posterior gastropexy with calibration of the cardia.
Methods: The ...purpose of our study was to determine late subjective and objective results of these classic surgical techniques in a large number of patients with BE. A total of 152 patients were included in this prospective protocol.
Results: There was 1 death (0.7%) after operation. The late follow-up of 100 months demonstrated a high percentage of failures among patients with noncomplicated BE (54%) and an even higher figure in patients with complicated BE (64%). In 15 patients low grade dysplasia appeared at 8 years of follow-up and an adenocarcinoma in 4 patients. Twenty-four–hour pH monitoring demonstrated a decrease in acid reflux into the esophagus, and Bilitec studies also demonstrated a decrease of duodenoesophageal reflux, but in all cases with a higher value than the normal limit.
Conclusions: Classic antireflux surgery in patients with BE results in a high percentage of failures at very late follow-up because it cannot completely avoid acid and duodenal reflux into the esophagus. (Surgery 1998;123:645-57.)
Apc (adenomatous polyposis coli) encodes a tumour suppressor gene that is mutated in the majority of colorectal cancers. Recent evidence has also implicated Apc mutations in the aetiology of breast ...tumours. Apc is a component of the canonical Wnt signal transduction pathway, of which one target is Tcf-1. In the mouse, mutations of both Apc and Tcf-1 have been implicated in mammary tumorigenesis. We have conditionally inactivated Apc in both the presence and absence of Tcf-1 to examine the function of these genes in both normal and neoplastic development. Mice harbouring mammary-specific mutations in Apc show markedly delayed development of the mammary ductal network. During lactation, the mice develop multiple metaplastic growths which, surprisingly, do not spontaneously progress to neoplasia up to a year following their induction. However, additional deficiency of Tcf-1 completely blocks normal mammary development and results in acanthoma.
Objectives Efavirenz is extensively metabolized by CYP2B6, and associations between CYP2B6 polymorphisms and plasma efavirenz exposure have been reported. The objective of this study was to ...investigate CYP2B6 haplotype structure and functional consequences in a Latin American population. Patients and methods Two hundred and nineteen patients were recruited at Fundación Arriarán, Chile, between September and December 2008. Plasma efavirenz concentrations were determined using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Genotyping for 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with a minor allele frequency of >0.05 in the HapMap CEU population at intervals of ∼1 kb across the CYP2B6 locus was conducted using Sequenom iPLEX MALDI-TOF. Results Thirteen SNPs passed quality control and, of these, statistically significant associations (P < 0.001) with plasma efavirenz concentrations were observed for 11. Pairwise tagging SNP analysis (R2 > 0.8) identified 3 SNPs (rs10403955, rs2279345 and rs8192719) representative of the 11 associated SNPs. A composite genetic model of these three alleles was constructed, and an association between carriers of four to six of these alleles and the risk of efavirenz plasma concentrations >4 µg/mL was identified with an odds ratio of 48.1 (95% confidence interval: 13.5–207.7). This represents a positive predictive value of 80.9% and a negative predictive value of 91.8%, with sensitivity of 57.9% and specificity of 97.2%. Conclusions A composite genetic model of CYP2B6 SNPs in a Chilean HIV-positive cohort may have value in predicting concentrations of efavirenz associated with a higher likelihood of CNS toxicity. Further investigation of the functional basis of these associations is now required.
This report describes a keratoacanthoma causing abnormal maxillary beak growth in a 6-year-old male budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulates). Although the bird was still capable of eating, it had ...recently been demonstrating signs of respiratory distress and euthanasia was recommended. On histological examination, the neoplasm was dramatically effacing the normal structure of the maxilla and infiltrating into the rostral nasal sinuses. The tumour consisted of many cyst-like proliferations of well-differentiated squamous epithelial cells with central keratinization. Contiguity of the tumour cells with the stratum germinativum of the beak was noted in one microscopic field. This tumour type has not previously been reported in the avian beak; however, this case shows some similarities to subungual keratoacanthomas occurring in human patients and nailbed keratoacanthomas occurring in dogs and cats.
We report observations of electrostatic ion acoustic waves and Langmuir waves during a recent lunar encounter by the Wind spacecraft. These waves are observed when Wind is magnetically connected to ...the nominal wake and at distances greater than 8 lunar radii from the wake. When interpreted in the context of a simple time‐of‐flight model, these observations imply the existence of a system of currents and disturbed particle distributions that extends far into solar wind.
The effects of feeding modified tall oil (MTO) and creatine monohydrate (CMH) on growing-finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality were determined. Eighty cross-bred ...barrows (initially 45.4 kg) were allotted randomly to one of four dietary treatments by weight and ancestry. The experiment was arranged as a 2 x 2 factorial with two levels of MTO (0 or 0.50%), which were fed throughout the growing-finishing period, and two levels of CMH (0 or 25 g/d), which were fed for the final 10 d before slaughter. The corn-soybean meal diets were fed in two phases (45.4 to 78.9 kg and 78.9 to 117.5 kg BW). When CMH was added to the diet in place of corn, average BW was 107.5 kg. Feeding MTO increased (P < 0.05) ADG and gain:feed ratio (G/F) during the 45.4- to 78.9-kg growth interval and tended to improve (P = 0.10) G/F during the 45.4- to 107.5-kg growth interval. Dietary treatment did not affect (P > 0.15) growth performance during the 78.9- to 107.5-kg growth interval. Modified tall oil increased (P = 0.02) G/F during the 10-d CMH supplementation period, and CMH numerically (P = 0.11) increased ADG and G/F. Supplementation of CMH did not affect (P > 0.20) any measured carcass characteristic or measures of meat quality at 24 h or 14 d postmortem. Feeding MTO reduced average back-fat (P = 0.05) and 10th rib backfat (P = 0.01) but did not affect (P > 0.10) other measured carcass characteristics or measures of meat quality at 24 h postmortem. Modified tall oil increased (P = 0.02) L* values (lightness) and tended to increase (P < 0.10) thawing and cooking losses of longissimus muscle chops at 14 d postmortem. These data demonstrate that MTO improves growth performance and reduces backfat in growing-finishing pigs, but supplementation of CMH, under the conditions of this experiment, was not beneficial for growing-finishing pigs.
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