Associations Between Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Korean Youth

The purposes of this study were to: 1) describe the patterns of screen-based sedentary behaviors, and 2) examine the association between screen-based sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in representative Korean children and adolescents, aged 12 to 18 yr, in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Screen-based sedentary behavior was measured using self-report questionnaires that included items for time spent watching TV and playing PC/video games. Physical activity was measured using items for frequency and duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). CVD risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were measured. Boys spent more time playing PC/video games, and girls spent more time watching TV. After adjusting for age, gender, annual household income, and MVPA, an additional hour of watching TV was significantly associated with the risk of overweight (OR 1.17 [95% CI 1.03-1.33]), high abdominal adiposity (OR 1.27 [1.06-1.51]), and low HDL cholesterol (OR 1.27 [1.10-1.47]). An additional hour spent playing PC/video games also increased the risk of high abdominal adiposity (OR 1.20 [1.03-1.40]). Prospective observations and interventions are needed to determine causal relationships between screen-based sedentary behavior and CVD risk profiles in Korean youth

Sistemas de protección y detección de contagios en los pediatras de atención primaria en la epidemia por COVID-19

Introducción: durante la pandemia de COVID-19, el uso de equipos y dispositivos de protección por parte de los profesionales es fundamental para evitar la transmisión de la infección en el colectivo de sanitarios. Material y métodos: el Grupo Laboral-Profesional de la Asociación Española de Pediatría de Atención Primaria (AEPap) ha realizado una encuesta a los vocales autonómicos de la AEPap para conocer la disponibilidad que han tenido los pediatras de Atención Primaria (PAP) de sistemas de protección frente a la enfermedad, y las pruebas diagnósticas realizadas para el diagnóstico de los contagios de los PAP. Resultados: en marzo de 2020, solo en el 32% de las comunidades autónomas (CC. AA.), los pediatras tenían sistemas de protección adecuados. En abril ascendió al 70%. En todas las CC. AA. se han registrado casos de PAP enfermos, aunque es difícil cuantificar el número de afectados. De las que tenemos datos, sumando el número de pediatras enfermos conocido, más test de reacción en cadena de la polimerasa (PCR) positivo, los que han estado en aislamiento y los ingresados, la cifra asciende al 7,65% de la cifra total de PAP. Los test rápidos serológicos o PCR o ambos se han realizado en seis comunidades los últimos días de abril y en otras seis los primeros días de mayo. Entre las CC. AA. de las que hay información, Aragón es la única comunidad en la que no se ha realizado test. Se ha correlacionado la disponibilidad de los sistemas de protección y el gasto sanitario. Conclusiones: los sistemas de protección han sido insuficientes. Las CC. AA. con mayor gasto sanitario han contado más precozmente con sistemas de protección adecuados. Han resultado infectados PAP en todas las comunidades autónomas, especialmente en Madrid, Castilla y León y Comunidad Valenciana. La detección de profesionales afectos por la infección ha sido tardía

Prevalencia de síntomas de asma en los niños y adolescentes de la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia (España) y sus variaciones geográficas

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and geographic variations of the symptoms associated with asthma in Galician children and adolescents. POPULATION AND METHODS: A cross-sectional epidemiological study following ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) methodology, and using a written questionnaire distributed in schools. The study sample included 10,371 6-7 year-old children and 10,372 13-14 year-old adolescents, all of them from Galician Health Areas. A logistic regression model was used to analyse geographic variations. RESULTS: In the 6-7 year-old group, wheezing in the last 12 months varied from 11.4% (Santiago) to 15.7% (Vigo) and in the adolescents varied from 8.8% (Ourense) to 18.8% (Vigo). The distribution by gender showed a predominant significance in 6-7 year-old males (P<.001), and near to be statistically significant in 13-14 year-old females (P=.08). The risk (odds ratio [OR]) of wheezing in the last 12 months in the area with highest prevalence in comparison with the area of lowest prevalence was 1.45 (95% Confidence Interval [CI], 1.12-1.88) for children and 2.39 (95% CI, 1.82-3.13) for adolescents. The estimated prevalence of asthma in the Autonomous Community of Galicia was 13.6% in younger children and 12.2% in adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of wheezing in the last 12 months in the different areas of Galicia is considerably higher than the rest of Spanish ISAAC cities in the 6-7 years group and very similar in the 13-14 years group, except in Vigo where it is considerably higher. We found a clearly defined geographic pattern in the adolescent group, with higher prevalences in coastal areas than in the interior

Evolutionary analysis of p38 stress-activated kinases in unicellular relatives of animals suggests an ancestral function in osmotic stress

p38 kinases are key elements of the cellular stress response in animals. They mediate the cell response to a multitude of stress stimuli, from osmotic shock to inflammation and oncogenes. However, it is unknown how such diversity of function in stress evolved in this kinase subfamily. Here, we show that the p38 kinase was already present in a common ancestor of animals and fungi. Later, in animals, it diversified into three JNK kinases and four p38 kinases. Moreover, we identified a fifth p38 paralog in fishes and amphibians. Our analysis shows that each p38 paralog has specific amino acid substitutions around the hinge point, a region between the N-terminal and C-terminal protein domains. We showed that this region can be used to distinguish between individual paralogs and predict their specificity. Finally, we showed that the response to hyperosmotic stress in Capsaspora owczarzaki, a close unicellular relative of animals, follows a phosphorylation–dephosphorylation pattern typical of p38 kinases. At the same time, Capsaspora's cells upregulate the expression of GPD1 protein resembling an osmotic stress response in yeasts. Overall, our results show that the ancestral p38 stress pathway originated in the root of opisthokonts, most likely as a cell's reaction to salinity change in the environment. In animals, the pathway became more complex and incorporated more stimuli and downstream targets due to the p38 sequence evolution in the docking and substrate binding sites around the hinge region. This study improves our understanding of p38 evolution and opens new perspectives for p38 research