Impact of the lipid-based nutrient supplements on prevention and treatment of childhood moderate undernutrition

Purpose: This review aims at assessing the effectiveness of LNS interventions for prevention and/or treatment of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), stunting and other anthropometric indicators for undernutrition in children younger than 5 years. Methodology: Eighteen clinical trials on LNS (soybased or milk-based) supplementation in children were compared with habitual diet/control or corn-soy blend (CSB). Mean changes in height for age (HAZ), weight for age (WAZ) and weight for height z-scores (WHZ) were assessed as primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes included: weight gain, height, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), recovery from MAM, occurrence of fever, diarrhoea and cough. Findings: The pooled estimate revealed a statistically significant increase in WAZ (weighted mean difference [WMD] =0.09; 95%CI= 0.02, 0.15; p=0.01), WHZ (WMD=0.14; 95%CI= 0.01, 0.26; p=0.000) and improved recovery from MAM (Risk Ratio [RR] = 1.37; 95%CI= 1.14, 1.65; p=0.000) in children receiving LNS compared with control or CBS. No significant effect was observed in HAZ (WMD=0.00;95%CI=-0.02,0.03: p=0.578). Children fed with milk-based LNS (RR=1.68; 95%CI=1.17, 2.39; p=0.005) were more likely to recover significantly from MAM when compared with CSB. Conclusion: Although there is evidence that LNS yield better nutritional outcomes than CSB and control, it is impossible to conclude that the milk-based LNS are superior to soy-based LNS and whether age and duration of intervention significantly affect the effectiveness of LNS on childhood undernutrition. Further research is required before these products can be recommended at scale

Energetics and stability of vacancies in carbon nanotubes

In this work we present ab initio calculations of the formation energies and stability of different types of multi-vacancies in carbon nanotubes. We demonstrate that, as in the case of graphene, the reconstruction of the defects has drastic effects on the energetics of the tubes. In particular, the formation of pentagons eliminates the dangling bonds thus lowering the formation energy. This competition leads to vacancies having an even number of carbon atoms removed to be more stable. Finally the appearance of magic numbers indicating more stable defects can be represented by a model for the formation energies that is based on the number of dangling bonds of the unreconstructed system, the pentagons and the relaxation of the final form of the defect formed after the relaxation

Patterns of physical activity: an exploratory study using twins

The study of physical activity patterns (PAP) is still in its infancy due to methodological problems in measuring instruments of physical activity, and the lack of specific analytical tools to capture all its intrinsic issues. Moreover, it is not well known if differences among subjects are mainly due to specific environmental conditions, genetic attributes or both. This picture is more acute in children. PURPOSE: to explore different ways of viewing and analyzing PAP in children. METHODS: 31 twin pairs (18 MZ and 13 DZ) aged 6 to 12 years of age were monitored for 5 days (3 week-day and a week-end) with a tri-axial accelerometer (TRITRAC R3D). Count data was read in a specialized software (GEMWIZARD), was transformed in energy expenditure according to manufacturer indications, so that 4 phenotypes were derived: till 3 Mets (low PA), from 3 to 6 Mets (moderate PA), from 6 to 9 Mets (vigorous PA), and above 9 Mets (very vigorous PA). SPSS was used for all data analysis (descriptive stats, graphical dispays and correlations). RESULTS: It is evident that most part of the days is spent in low PA, and very few episodes of vigorous or very vigorous activities. Per each hour, across days, about 56 minutes are of low PA. Per day, about 17 minutes are spent in moderate PA, and 3 to 4 minutes in vigorous or very vigorous PA. The amount of inter-individual differences in pairs of MZ and DZ twins is very high, although intra-pair range seems higher in DZ than MZ twins. Twin similarity (Pearson correlation) is as follows : low PA, rM Z=0.886, rDZ=0.772; moderate PA, rMZ=9.946, rDZ=0.880; vigorous PA, rMZ=0.636, rDZ=0.490; very vigorous PA, rMZ=0.759, rDZ=0.522). CONCLUSIONS: In children, physical activity is mainly random. The highest frequency is for low activities

ΑΓΕΛΑΔΙΝΟ ΠΡΩΤΟΓΑΛΑ ΒΕΛΤΙΩΝΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΟΣΤΙΚΗ ΜΙΚΡΟΔΟΜΗ ΤΩΝ ΑΡΟΥΡΑΙΩΝ ΜΕ ΩΟΘΗΚΕΚΤΟΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΟΡΧΕΚΤΟΜΗ

Το αγελαδινό πρωτόγαλα ενισχύει τον αναβολισμό των οστών, ωστόσο ο ακριβής μηχανισμός δεν είναι γνωστός. Σκοπός μελέτης: Η εκτίμηση της επίδρασης διαφορετικών δόσεων πρωτογάλακτος σε αρουραίους με ωοθηκεκτομή και ορχεκτομή και ο προσδιορισμός του μηχανισμού επίδρασής του στα οστά. Αγελαδινό πρωτόγαλα χορηγήθηκε σε θηλυκούς (n=32) και αρσενικούς (n=32) αρουραίους που τυχαιοποιήθηκαν στις α) ομάδα ελέγχου (ΟΕ), β) ομάδα 1 (Ο1) (θηλυκοί=0.5 gr/μέρα, αρσενικοί=1.0 gr/μέρα), γ) ομάδα 2 (Ο2) (θηλυκοί=1 gr/μέρα, αρσενικοί= 1.5 gr/μέρα) και δ) ομάδα 3 (Ο3) (θηλυκοί=1.5 gr/μέρα, αρσενικοί= 2.0 gr/μέρα). Η οστική μικροαρχιτεκτονική και η γονιδιακή έκφραση του παράγοντα VEGF-A, μετρήθηκαν πριν και μετά από 4μηνη χορήγηση. Στους αρσενικούς αρουραίους της Ο1, η πορώδης σύσταση του φλοιού και το μέγεθος των πόρων μειώθηκαν (41.9% και 25.7% αντίστοιχα, p<0.05) σε σχέση με την ΟΕ, ενώ παρατηρήθηκε αύξηση του φλοιώδους όγκου και πυκνότητας (89.7% και 134.9% αντίστοιχα, p<0.01) και του δοκιδωτού πάχους, όγκου και πυκνότητας (37.3%, 24.6% και 7.5% αντίστοιχα, p<0.01) μετά τη χορήγηση. Στην Ο2 παρατηρήθηκαν παρόμοια αποτελέσματα, ενώ το δοκιδωτό πορώδες μειώθηκε (8.1%, p<0.01). Στην Ο3 μειώθηκε ο δοκιδωτός διαχωρισμός (29.3%, p<0.05). Στους θηλυκούς αρουραίους της Ο1 δεν παρατηρήθηκαν αλλαγές μετά τη χορήγηση, ωστόσο στις Ο2 και Ο3 μειώθηκε η σύσταση του πορώδους φλοιού (ΟΕ= 65.75±4.22. Ο2= 25.16±8.83. Ο3=25.22±8.54%, p<0.01) και βελτιώθηκε το δοκιδωτό πάχος (ΟΕ=12.22±0.99; Ο2=21.11±3.28; Ο3=18.39±2.45 μm, p<0.01). επίσης, στην Ο3 παρουσιάστηκε αύξηση της γονιδιακής έκφρασης του VEGFA (2.37±1.83, p<0.05). Το αγελαδινό πρωτόγαλα διατηρεί την οστική μάζα των αρουραίων με ωοθηκεκτομή και ορχεκτομή, ενισχύοντας τον οστικό σχηματισμό. Ο παράγοντας VEGF-A φαίνεται να παίζει σημαντικό ρόλο στη διαδικασία

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results