351 research outputs found
Comparative study of risk factors among children and adolescents with an anthropometric diagnosis of overweight or obesity
OBJETIVO: O excesso de peso é um grande problema de saúde pública em todo o mundo, atingindo crianças e adolescentes. O presente estudo teve por objetivo verificar se a condição de portador de sobrepeso se associa à presença de fatores de risco à saúde. MÉTODOS: Foram estudados 84 sujeitos entre seis e 17 anos, constituindo-se um grupo de 34 pacientes portadores de sobrepeso e outro de 50 obesos, atendidos em ambulatório de Nutrologia Pediátrica da Universidade de Ribeirão Preto (Unaerp), durante o período de outubro de 2004 a outubro de 2005. Foram obtidas as variáveis: pressão arterial, circunferência abdominal, glicemia de jejum, glicemia de segunda hora, colesterol total, HDL-c, LDL-c e triglicérides. Comparam-se os dois grupos por meio de duas abordagens estatísticas: comparação entre as distribuições dos valores absolutos (teste de Mann-Whitney) e entre as frequências de valores considerados alterados (teste exato de Fisher). RESULTADOS: Quanto à primeira abordagem, verificou-se diferença estatística apenas para o HDL-c, com maiores valores para o subgrupo de portadores de sobrepeso de seis a dez anos. Quanto à segunda comparação, verificou-se diferença estatística para a circunferência abdominal (segundo os critérios de Freedman), HDL-c e glicemia de jejum, com maiores frequências de valores alterados entre os obesos. CONCLUSÕES: Os portadores de sobrepeso apresentaram alterações indicativas de prejuízos à sua saúde, semelhantemente aos obesos, sendo necessário também incluí-los nos programas de prevenção e tratamento.OBJECTIVE: Excess weight is a serious public health problem all over the world, affecting children and adolescents. The objective of the present study was to determine whether the condition of being overweight is associated to changes in health parameters. METHODS: 84 subjects aged 6-17 years old were studied (34 overweight and 50 obese patients), all of them assisted at the Pediatric Nutrology outpatient clinic of the University of Ribeirão Preto (Unaerp) from October/2004 to October/2005. Arterial pressure, abdominal circumference, fast glycemia, second hour glycemia, total cholesterol and its fractions (HDL-c and LDL-c) and triglycerides were determined. The two groups were compared by two statistical approaches: comparison of absolute values by Mann-Whitney test, and between frequencies of altered values by Fisher exact test. RESULTS: There was a statistical difference only for HDL-c, with higher concentrations in the overweight group when the subgroup of patients with 6-10 years old was considered. Regarding the second approach, there were statistical differences in the abdominal circumference by Freedman criteria, HDL-c and fast glycemia, with higher frequencies of altered values among obese subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight patients presented alterations harmful to their health, similarly to obese individuals. It is necessary to enroll overweight children and adolescents in programs dedicated to the prevention and treatment of nutritional problems
Classification of childhood obesity
Importance of the Problem: obesity in childhood and adolescence is currently considered a serious public health problem with a growing prevalence worldwide. Objective: to update the classification of child and adolescent obesity originally published in 2004, incorporating the new scientific evidence. Methods: a review of the Scientific Literature that addressing etiopathogenic factors of obesity, in order to improve the previously published classification including the new scientific knowledge. Results: a classification that suggests as the first strategy the definition of the presence of peripheral resistance to insulin and then suggests the division into four subgroups of obesity: syndromic, epigenetic, induced (endocrinological, neurological, sleep disorders, drugs and infectious agents) and classical (somatic and psychosocial). Conclusion: this classification could help the clinicians to make decisions and to personalize the treatment.Importância do Problema: A obesidade na infância e na adolescência é considerada, atualmente, grave problema de saúde pública com prevalência crescente em todo o mundo. Objetivo: atualizar a classificação da obesidade infantojuvenil publicada originalmente em 2004, incorporando as novas evidências científicas. Métodos: revisão da Literatura Científica que abordou os fatores etiopatogênicos da obesidade, buscando-se aprimorar a classificação anteriormente publicada incluindo os novos conhecimentos científicos. Resultados: apresentação de uma classificação que sugere como primeira estratégia a definição da presença de resistência periférica à insulina e, a seguir, sugere a divisão em quatro subgrupos de obesidade: sindrômica, epigenética, induzida (endocrinológica, neurológica, distúrbios do sono, fármacos e agentes infecciosos) e clássica (somática e psicossocial). Conclusão: a classificação permite auxiliar o clínico na tomada de decisões e na individualização do tratamento
High precision astrometry mission for the detection and characterization of nearby habitable planetary systems with the Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope (NEAT)
(abridged) A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited
sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood with uniform
sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to
several AUs would be a major milestone in extrasolar planets astrophysics. This
fundamental goal can be achieved with a mission concept such as NEAT - the
Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope. NEAT is designed to carry out space-borne
extremely-high-precision astrometric measurements sufficient to detect
dynamical effects due to orbiting planets of mass even lower than Earth's
around the nearest stars. Such a survey mission would provide the actual
planetary masses and the full orbital geometry for all the components of the
detected planetary systems down to the Earth-mass limit. The NEAT performance
limits can be achieved by carrying out differential astrometry between the
targets and a set of suitable reference stars in the field. The NEAT instrument
design consists of an off-axis parabola single-mirror telescope, a detector
with a large field of view made of small movable CCDs located around a fixed
central CCD, and an interferometric calibration system originating from
metrology fibers located at the primary mirror. The proposed mission
architecture relies on the use of two satellites operating at L2 for 5 years,
flying in formation and offering a capability of more than 20,000
reconfigurations (alternative option uses deployable boom). The NEAT primary
science program will encompass an astrometric survey of our 200 closest F-, G-
and K-type stellar neighbors, with an average of 50 visits. The remaining time
might be allocated to improve the characterization of the architecture of
selected planetary systems around nearby targets of specific interest (low-mass
stars, young stars, etc.) discovered by Gaia, ground-based high-precision
radial-velocity surveys.Comment: Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy. The full member
list of the NEAT proposal and the news about the project are available at
http://neat.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr. The final publication is available at
http://www.springerlink.co
Recommended from our members
Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.
Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors
Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory
A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding
eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers
with zenith angles greater than detected with the Pierre Auger
Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum
confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above
eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law with
index followed by
a smooth suppression region. For the energy () at which the
spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence
of suppression, we find
eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger
Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers.
These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of
the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray
energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30
to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of
the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is
determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated
using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due
to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components.
The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of
the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the
AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air
shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy
-- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy
estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the
surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator
scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent
emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for
the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at
least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy
We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio
emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate
energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of
15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV
arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling
quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from
state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our
measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric
energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with
our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector
against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI.
Supplemental material in the ancillary file
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