62 research outputs found
Anemia, malnutrition and their correlations with socio-demographic characteristics and feeding practices among infants aged 0â18 months in rural areas of Shaanxi province in northwestern China: a cross-sectional study
First translational âThink Tankâ on cerebrovascular disease, cognitive impairment and dementia
Childhood body size and pubertal timing in relation to adult mammographic density phenotype
Background: An earlier age at onset of breast development and longer time between pubertal stages has been implicated in breast cancer risk. It is not clear whether associations of breast cancer risk with puberty or predictors of onset of puberty, such as weight and height, are mediated via mammographic density, an important risk factor for breast cancer. Methods: We investigated whether childhood body size and pubertal timing and tempo, collected by questionnaire, are associated with percentage and absolute area mammographic density at ages 47-73 years in 1105 women recruited to a prospective study. Results: After controlling for adult adiposity, weight at ages 7 and 11 years was strongly significantly inversely associated with percentage and absolute dense area (p trend < 0.001), and positively associated with absolute nondense area. Greater height at age 7, but not age 11, was associated with lower percentage density (p trend = 0.016). Later age at menarche and age at when regular periods were established was associated with increased density, but additional adjustment for childhood weight attenuated the association. A longer interval between thelarche and menarche, and between thelarche and regular periods, was associated with increased dense area, even after adjusting for childhood weight (p trend = 0.013 and 0.028, respectively), and was independent of age at pubertal onset. Conclusions: Greater prepubertal weight and earlier pubertal onset are associated with lower adult breast density, but age at pubertal onset does not appear to have an independent effect on adult density after controlling for childhood adiposity. A possible effect of pubertal tempo on density needs further investigation
Longitudinal study assessing the return of chloroquine susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum in isolates from travellers returning from West and Central Africa, 2000â2011
The dot-probe task to measure emotional attention: A suitable measure in comparative studies?
NK cells modulate the cytotoxic activity generated by Mycobacterium leprae-hsp65 in leprosy patients: role of IL-18 and IL-13
Protection against intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium leprae is critically dependent on the function of NK cells at early stages of the immune response and on Th1 cells at later stages. In the present report we evaluated the role of IL-18 and IL-13, two cytokines that can influence NK cell activity, in the generation of M. leprae-derived hsp65-cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of leprosy patients. We demonstrated that IL-18 modulates hsp65-induced CTL generation and collaborates with IL-12 for this effect. In paucibacillary (PB) patients and normal controls (N) depletion of NK cells reduces the cytolytic activity. Under these conditions, IL-12 cannot up-regulate this CTL generation, while, in contrast, IL-18 increases the cytotoxic activity both in the presence or absence of NK cells. IL-13 down-regulates the hsp65-induced CTL generation and counteracts the positive effect of IL-18. The negative effect of IL-13 is observed in the early stages of the response, suggesting that this cytokine affects IFNÎł production by NK cells. mRNA coding for IFNÎł is induced by IL-18 and reduced in the presence of IL-13, when PBMC from N or PB patients are stimulated with hsp65. Neutralization of IL-13 in PBMC from multibacillary (MB) leprosy patients induces the production of IFNÎł protein by lymphocytes. A modulatory role on the generation of hsp65 induced CTL is demonstrated for IL-18 and IL-13 and this effect takes place through the production of IFNÎł
To treat or not to treat: puberty suppression in childhood-onset gender dysphoria
Puberty suppression using gonadotropin-releasing-hormone analogues (GnRHa) has become increasingly accepted as an intervention during the early stages of puberty (Tanner stage 2-3) in individuals with clear signs of childhood-onset gender dysphoria. However, lowering the age threshold for using medical intervention for children with gender dysphoria is still a matter of contention, and is more controversial than treating the condition in adolescents and adults, as children with gender dysphoria are more likely to express an unstable pattern of gender variance. Furthermore, concerns have been expressed regarding the risks of puberty suppression, which are poorly understood, and the child's ability to make decisions and provide informed consent. However, even if the limited data available mean that it is not possible to make a conclusive treatment recommendation, some safety criteria for puberty suppression can be identified and applied
Serum levels of carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen in healthy children from 1 st year of life to adulthood and in metabolic bone diseases
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