Use of waist to hip ratio in the determination of the body composition in preschool children in Latvian population

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2008, the waist to hip ratio (WHR) has been suggested superior to the body mass index (BMI) in predicting the cardiovascular disease risk in adults and adolescents. There have been studies about the WHR in preschool children in the populations of Pakistan, Chile and Mexico; and it is not the WHO which recommended it as a routine method in preschool children.The present study includes 85 children (41 girls and 44 boys), aged 5 to 7 years, without any chronic conditions. Body height, body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, triceps skinfold, abdominal skinfold and subscapular skinfold were measured. The WHR, the BMI, the sum of three skinfolds and the percentage of body fat (%BF) were calculated.It was found that the WHR decreased with age in girls; there were no specific changes found in the WHR with age in boys. The present study found no correlation in boys or girls between the WHR and the BMI; the WHR and the sum of three skinfolds; the WHR and the percentage of BF. There was also no correlation between the Z-scores of the BMI and Z-scores of the WHR.Conclusions. The WHR is a questionable body composition marker in preschool children in the Latvian population and must be evaluated separately from other body composition markers

Thermodynamics of Hydrophobic Amino Acids in Solution: A Combined Experimental–Computational Study

We present a joint experimental–computational study to quantitatively describe the thermodynamics of hydrophobic leucine amino acids in aqueous solution. X-ray scattering data were acquired at a series of solute and salt concentrations to effectively measure interleucine interactions, indicating that a major scattering peak is observed consistently at <i>q</i> = 0.83 Å^–1. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations were then performed and compared with the scattering data, achieving high consistency at both small and wider scattering angles (<i>q</i> = 0–1.5 Å^–1). This experimental–computational consistence enables a first glimpse of the leucine–leucine interacting landscape, where two leucine molecules are aligned mostly in a parallel fashion, as opposed to antiparallel, but also allows us to derive effective leucine–leucine interactions in solution. Collectively, this combined approach of employing experimental scattering and molecular simulation enables quantitative characterization of effective intermolecular interactions of hydrophobic amino acids, critical for protein function and dynamics such as protein folding

Characterization of CgHIFα-Like, a Novel bHLH-PAS Transcription Factor Family Member, and Its Role under Hypoxia Stress in the Pacific Oyster <i>Crassostrea gigas</i>

<div><p>Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a critical member of the basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH)-containing Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) protein family, is a master transcription factor involved in maintaining oxygen homeostasis. In the present study, we isolated and characterized a novel bHLH-PAS family member, <i>CgHIFα-like</i> gene, from the Pacific oyster <i>Crassostrea gigas</i>, and determined its importance during hypoxia stress. The 3020-bp <i>CgHIFα-like</i> cDNA encoded a protein of 888 amino acids. The predicted CgHIFα-like amino acid sequence was conserved in the N-terminal bHLH, PAS, and PAC domains (but not in the C-terminal domain) and was most closely related to the HIF family in the bHLH-PAS protein phylogenic tree. Similar to the mammalian <i>HIF-1α</i>, <i>CgHIFα-like</i> could be expressed as four mRNA isoforms containing alternative 5′-untranslated regions and different translation initiation codons. At the mRNA level, these isoforms were expressed in a tissue-specific manner and showed increased transcription to varying degrees under hypoxic conditions. Additionally, the western blot analysis demonstrated that CgHIFα-like was induced by hypoxia. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay indicated that CgHIFα-like could bind to the hypoxia responsive element (HRE), whereas dual-luciferase reporter analysis demonstrated that CgHIFα-like could transactivate the reporter gene containing the HREs. In addition to CgHIFα-like, we identified CgARNT from the <i>C</i>. <i>gigas</i>, analyzed its expression pattern, and confirmed its interaction with CgHIFα-like using a yeast two-hybrid assay. In conclusion, this is the first report on the cloning and characterization of a novel hypoxia transcription factor in mollusks, which could accumulate under hypoxia and regulate hypoxia related gene expression by binding to HRE and dimerizing with CgARNT. As only one member of HIF has been identified in invertebrates to date, our results provide new insights into the unique mechanisms of hypoxia tolerance in mollusks.</p></div

Yeast two-hybrid assay of interaction between CgHIFα-like and CgARNT.

<p>CgARNT was cotransformed with either full-length CgHIFα-like or its truncated versions; the positive yeast cells were then spread on the SD⁄–Trp–Leu and SD/–Ade–His–Leu–Trp media. All the experiments were performed in triplicate.</p

Effect of low oxygen on mRNA and protein levels of CgHIFα-like.

<p>(A-B) Semi-quantitative PCR analysis of CgHIFα-like <i>isoforms a</i> to <i>d</i> and <i>CgHIFα</i> transcripts under hypoxic treatment. Data are shown as the mean ± S.D (N = 3). Asterisks indicate significant differences at <i>P</i> < 0.05 * and <i>P</i> < 0.01** and ns, not significant; (C) Both the CgHIF-α and CgHIFα-like proteins were capable of responding to hypoxia. HEK 293T cells transfected with the indicated plasmids (CgHIF-α, CgHIFα-like) or empty vector were incubated under hypoxia (1% oxygen) or normoxia (ambient air); 24 h after the transfection, the cells were lysed and analyzed by immunoblotting with the corresponding antibodies. The protein levels were quantified by densitometry and normalized to β-actin levels. The experiments were conducted in triplicate.</p

Transcription mechanism of CgHIFα-like.

<p>(A) Transactivation activities of CgHIFα-like. HEK 293T cells were transfected with the indicated pcDNA-CgHIFαlike, pcDNA-CgHIFα, or empty vector (control) plasmids together with p2.1 (solid bars) or the p2.4 (open bars) reporter plasmids; pRL-SV40 (<i>Renilla</i>) was cotransfected as an internal control. Transactivation activity is expressed as fold increase over the empty vector group. Data are displayed as mean ± SD of independent triplicate experiments. (B) Electrophoretic mobility shift assay for <i>in vitro</i> DNA binding of CgHIFα-like and CgHIFα. EMSA was performed using the recombinant proteins from the prokaryotic expression system. <i>Lane 1</i> (Ck) was a negative control, and contained only the biotin Ew probe; <i>Lane 2</i> (S) contained Ew probe as well as CgHIFαlike-His protein sample. For competition experiments, a 200 M excess of unlabeled human HRE Ew (<i>lane 3</i>) or mutant oligonucleotides Em (<i>lane 4</i>) of erythropoietin gene was used. For supershift experiment, binding reaction mixtures were incubated with a monoclonal anti-His antibody Ab (<i>lane 6</i>) or the preimmune serum IgG (<i>lane 5</i>).</p

Characterization of the mRNA isoforms of CgHIFα-like and their expression pattern in different tissues.

<p>(A) Schematic diagram of the multiple CgHIFα-like isoforms identified by RACE. Characteristic domains are marked in black boxes. (B) Semi-quantitative PCR analysis of CgHIFα-like <i>isoforms a</i> to <i>d</i> transcripts in different tissues. The adductor muscle of <i>isoform a</i> was used as the reference sample and Elongation factor (EF) mRNA level was used as an internal control. A, adductor muscle; G, gill sample; H, hemolymph. Data are displayed as mean ± SD of independent triplicate experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences at <i>P</i> < 0.05 * and <i>P</i> < 0.01** and ns, not significant.</p

Phylogenetic analysis of bHLH-PAS system.

<p>Full-length protein sequences of bHLH-PAS family members in the representative species were aligned and analyzed by neighbor-joining (NJ) method with 1000 bootstrap using the MEGA5.0 software.</p

The location of the watershed study site (orange and white represent sandy and loess soils, respectively) and the wind-water erosion crisscross region (gray area) in the Loess Plateau of China.

<p>The location of the watershed study site (orange and white represent sandy and loess soils, respectively) and the wind-water erosion crisscross region (gray area) in the Loess Plateau of China.</p

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

<p>Inclusion and exclusion criteria.</p