Stability of the factorial structure of metabolic syndrome from childhood to adolescence: a 6-year follow-up study

Background Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors that is considered a predictor of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and mortality. There is no consistent evidence on whether the MS construct works in the same way in different populations and at different stages in life. Methods We used confirmatory factor analysis to examine if a single-factor-model including waist circumference, triglycerides/HDL-c, insulin and mean arterial pressure underlies metabolic syndrome from the childhood to adolescence in a 6-years follow-up study in 174 Swedish and 460 Estonian children aged 9 years at baseline. Indeed, we analyze the tracking of a previously validated MS index over this 6-years period. Results The estimates of goodness-of-fit for the single-factor-model underlying MS were acceptable both in children and adolescents. The construct stability of a new model including the differences from baseline to the end of the follow-up in the components of the proposed model displayed good fit indexes for the change, supporting the hypothesis of a single factor underlying MS component trends. Conclusions A single-factor-model underlying MS is stable across the puberty in both Estonian and Swedish young people. The MS index tracks acceptably from childhood to adolescence.This study was supported by grants from the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science (No 0180027 and 0942706) and the Estonian Science Foundation (No 6932 and 6788). The study was also supported by grants from the Stockholm County Council, the Spanish Ministry of Education (EX-2008-0641), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC-2010-05957), and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (20090635)

Platelet monoamine oxidase activity predicts alcohol sensitivity and voluntary alcohol intake in rhesus monkeys

Platelet monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) has been proposed to be a biological marker for the properties of monoamine systems, with low activity being associated with vulnerability for high scores on personality traits such as sensation seeking, monotony avoidance, and impulsiveness, as well as for vulnerability for alcoholism. In the present study, platelet MAO-B activity was analysed in 78 rhesus macaques, and its relation to voluntary alcohol intake and behaviours after intravenous alcohol administration was observed