The predictive value of psychological assessment of candidates for gastric bypass: A medical chart review

Background and Objectives: Guidelines for bariatric surgery demand a psychological evaluation of applicants. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the presence of "psychological risk factors" predicts postoperative weight loss after gastric bypass. Methods: Medical records of obese women who underwent bariatric surgery between 2000 and 2004 were reviewed. Psychological assessment consisted of a one-hour semi-structured interview, summarized in a written report. Anthropometric assessment at baseline and 6,12,18 and 24 months after surgery included body weight, height and body mass index. Results: The mean BMI of included patients (N = 92) was 46.2 + 6,3 kg/m2 (range 38.4 - 69.7). Based on the psychological assessment, 27% (N = 25) of the patients were classified as having "psychological risk factors" and 28% (N = 26) were diagnosed with a psychiatric diagnosis, most often major depression. Two years after gastric bypass, 16% of patients with "psychological risk factors" achieved an excellent result (%EWL > 75) versus 39% of those without (p < 0.05). About 1 out of 4 patients was in postoperative psychiatric treatment, but only half of them were identified as having "psychological risk factors" at baseline. Weight loss of patients initiating a psychiatric treatment only after surgery was less than of patients who continued psychiatric treatment already initiated before surgery (55.7 + 14.8 versus 66.5 + 14.2 %EWL). Conclusions: A single semi-structured psychological interview may identify patients who are at risk for diminished postoperative weight loss; however, psychological assessment did not identify those patients who were in need of a psychiatric postoperative treatment

Assessing Overall Diet Quality: Development and Evaluation of the Performance of a Short Self-Administrated Questionnaire SCASA.

Several tools assessing diet quality have been developed over the last decades, but their use in public health and clinical practice is limited because they necessitate detailed quantitative assessment of food intake. Our goal was to develop and validate a score (Score d'Alimentation Saine, SCASA) based on a short self-administrated online questionnaire to assess overall diet quality. SCASA targets the adult population in French-speaking Switzerland, but it was designed in a way enabling its adaptation for other regions. The choice of the items involved experts and lay volunteers. Construct validation and inter-method reliability were assessed by screening meal plans and by comparing the self-rated scores with food-record derived scores (kappa and Bland-Altman). SCASA (17 components) discriminated adequately balanced from imbalanced meal plans (93-95% and 44-46% of maximal score). Agreement between self-assessed and food record-based scores ranged between &gt;90% (3 items), 80-89% (3 items), 70-79% (4 items), and &lt;70% (5 items). The Bland-Altman plot showed a mean difference of -1.60 (95% CI -2.36 to -0.84), indicating a slight overestimation of the self-assessed diet quality compared to the food record. SCASA offers a reliable way to assess overall diet quality without requiring burdensome data collection or nutrient calculations

Effects of a Weight Loss Program on Metabolic Syndrome, Eating Disorders and Psychological Outcomes: Mediation by Endocannabinoids?

To evaluate the effects of weight loss on endocannabinoids, cardiometabolic and psychological parameters, eating disorders (ED) as well as quality of life (QoL) and to elucidate the role of endocannabinoids in metabolic syndrome (MS). In total, 114 patients with obesity were prospectively included in a 12-month weight loss program. Plasma endocannabinoids were measured by mass spectrometry; ED, psychological and QoL-related parameters were evaluated by self-reported questionnaires; physical activity was measured by accelerometer. Nutritional assessment was done by a 3-day food diary. Among completers (n = 87), body weight decreased in 35 patients (-9.1 ± 8.6 kg), remained stable in 39 patients, and increased in 13 patients (+5.8 ± 3.4 kg). 75% of patients with MS at baseline were free of MS at follow-up, and their baseline plasma N-palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) values were significantly lower when compared to patients with persisting MS. At baseline, there was a positive relationship between PEA and waist circumference (p = 0.005, R2 = 0.08), fasting glucose (p &lt; 0.0001, R2 = 0.12), total cholesterol (p = 0.001, R2 = 0.11), triglycerides (p = 0.001, R2 = 0.11), LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.03, R2 = 0.05) as well as depression score (p = 0.002, R2 = 0.29). Plasma PEA might play a role in metabolic improvement after weight loss. Even in subjects without weight loss, a multidisciplinary intervention improves psychological outcomes, ED, and QoL

Desire to lose weight, dietary intake and psychological correlates among middle-aged and older women. The CoLaus study.

Body dissatisfaction has been regularly associated with negative consequences on health of young women, but less is known regarding middle-aged or older women. However, body dissatisfaction in women has been seen for long as a "normative discontent" (i.e. widespread and chronic dissatisfaction) because of its high prevalence among all age categories. The goal of this study was to explore the relationships between the desire to lose weight, energy intake and psychological health in community-dwelling women issued from the second wave (cross-sectional data) of the cohort study CoLaus (2009-2012, Switzerland), taking age categories (40-59 and 60-80) and body mass index (BMI, normal and overweight/obese) into account. Results showed that the desire to lose weight was common even in women with normal BMI and whatever the age category. Women with normal BMI who wished to lose weight reported lower energy and protein intake per kg of body weight, more signs of depression and less satisfaction with their quality of life than those who did not wish to lose weight in both age groups. The desire to lose weight was similarly associated with psychological health in women with overweight/obesity, in both age categories as well. These results indicate that the desire to lose weight may be associated with an impaired psychological health also in middle-aged and older women, even in those with normal BMI. This should not be considered as normal by health care professionals but as a possible indicator of psychological health and of the capacity to comply with dietary recommendations

Necrotizing pneumonia in children: Chest computed tomography vs. lung ultrasound.

The utilization of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) of the chest for the diagnosis of necrotizing pneumonia (NP), a complication of community-acquired pneumonia, is controversial because of the inherent ionizing radiation involved. Over the past few years, the growing availability of bedside Lung Ultrasound (LUS) devices has led to increased use of this nonionizing imaging method for diagnosing thoracic pathology, including pneumonia. The objectives of this study were as follows: first, to compare the performance of LUS vs. CT in the identification of certain radiological signs of NP, and second, to determine whether LUS could replace CT in the diagnosis of NP. We compared retrospectively the CT and LUS images of 41 patients between 2005 and 2018 in whom at least one contrast-injected chest CT scan and one LUS had been undertaken fewer than 7 days apart. Pleural effusions were demonstrated almost systematically (100% on CT vs. 95.8% on LUS). Visualization of septations in pleural effusions was clearly superior on LUS (20.4% on CT vs 62.5% on LUS). Concerning the detection of necrosis, we observed a strong correlation between LUS and the gold-standard CT (95.8% on LUS vs. 93.7% on CT). Parenchymal cavities were more easily detected on CT than on LUS (79.1 vs. 35.4%). LUS has shown to be as effective as CT in the diagnosis of NP. The use of CT in patients with NP could be limited to the detection of complications such as bronchopleural fistulae in unfavorably evolving diseases

Investigating the circulating sphingolipidome response to a single high-intensity interval training session within healthy females and males in their twenties (SphingoHIIT): Protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Growing scientific evidence indicates that sphingolipids predict cardiometabolic risk, independently of and beyond traditional biomarkers such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. To date, it remains largely unknown if and how exercise, a simple, low-cost, and patient-empowering modality to optimise cardiometabolic health, influences sphingolipid levels. The SphingoHIIT study aims to assess the response of circulating sphingolipid species to a single session of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Methods: This single-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) will last 11 days per participant and aim to include 32 young and healthy individuals aged 20-29 (50% females). Participants will be randomly allocated to the HIIT (n= 16) or control groups (physical rest, n= 16). Participants will self-sample fasted dried blood spots for three consecutive days before the intervention (HIIT versus rest) to determine baseline sphingolipid levels. Dried blood spots will also be collected at five time points (2, 15, 30, 60min, and 24h) following the intervention (HIIT versus rest). To minimise the dietary influence, participants will receive a standardised diet for four days, starting 24 hours before the first dried blood sampling. For females, interventions will be timed to fall within the early follicular phase to minimise the menstrual cycle's influence on sphingolipid levels. Finally, physical activity will be monitored for the whole study duration using a wrist accelerometer. Ethics and dissemination: The Ethics Committee of Northwest and Central Switzerland approved this protocol (ID 2022-00513). Findings will be disseminated in scientific journals and meetings. Trial Registration The trial was registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05390866, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05390866) on May 25, 2022

Large-scale production of cellulose-binding domains : adsorption studies using CBD-FITC conjugates

A method for the gram-scale production of cellulose-binding domains (CBD) through the proteolytic digestion of a commercial nzymatic preparation (Celluclast) was developed. The CBD obtained, isolated from Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I, is highly pure and heavily glycosylated. The purified peptide has a molecular weight of 8.43 kDa, comprising the binding module, a part of the linker, and about 30% glycosidic moiety. Its properties may thus be different from recombinant ones expressed in bacteria. CBDfluorescein isothiocyanate conjugates were used to study the CBD-cellulose interaction. The presence of fluorescent peptides adsorbed on crystalline and amorphous cellulose fibers suggests that amorphous regions have a higher concentration of binding sites. The adsorption is reversible, but desorption is a very slow process.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT