Nutrigenética: a interação entre hábitos alimentares e o perfil genético individual

 Diseases as atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity and cancer are big public health problems, to which diet has a strong influence. However, recent studies show that people do not answer in the same way to a food habit. Nutrigenetics is based in observations of the individual answers to dietary interventions, and also in hipotesis that this diferences are associated to presence or absence of specific biological markers. Although the birth of this field has been ocurred with the studies of mutations causing monogenic disorders, currently the focus is on genetic polymorphisms that could predict the individual answer to diet. So, the field of nutrigenetics of multifactorial characteristics is on large expansion, with a big number of published articles by several research groups in the world. With the aim of presenting this research field to those working with nutrition and public health, and enable the knowledge of the most recent published data on international literature, this article reviews available results about nutrigenetics and its influence on the lipid profile, weight loss, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cancer. Doenças como aterosclerose, diabetes, obesidade e câncer são importantes problemas de saúde publica, para as quais a dieta possui uma forte influência. No entanto, estudos recentes demonstram que nem todos respondem da mesma maneira ao mesmo hábito alimentar. A nutrigenética é baseada em observações das respostas individuais à determinada modificação na dieta e também em hipóteses que estas diferentes respostas sejam associadas à presença ou ausência de marcadores biológicos específicos. Embora o nascimento desta área tenha ocorrido inicialmente com o estudo de mutações causadoras de doenças monogênicas, atualmente o foco se encontra em polimorfismos genéticos, que poderiam, então, predizer a resposta individual à dieta. Desta maneira, a nutrigenética de características multifatorias está em grande expansão, com um grande número de trabalhos sendo publicados por vários grupos de pesquisa do mundo. Com o objetivo de apresentar este campo de pesquisa aos profissionais que trabalham com nutrição e saúde pública, e possibilitar o conhecimento dos mais recentes dados publicados na literatura internacional, este artigo revisa os resultados disponíveis sobre nutrigenética e sua influência em características como o perfil lipídico, perda de peso, diabetes mellitus tipo 2, dano de DNA e câncer

Exposure to Traffic Pollution and Increased Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that affects approximately 1% of the adult population, and to date, genetic factors explain < 50% of the risk. Particulate air pollution, especially of traffic origin, has been linked to systemic inflammation in many studies. Objectives: We examined the association of distance to road, a marker of traffic pollution exposure, and incidence of RA in a prospective cohort study.Methods We studied 90,297 U.S. women in the Nurses’ Health Study. We used a geographic information system to determine distance to road at the residence in 2000 as a measure of traffic exposure. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we examined the association of distance to road and incident RA (1976–2004) with adjustment for a large number of potential confounders. Results: In models adjusted for age, calendar year, race, cigarette smoking, parity, lactation, menopausal status and hormone use, oral contraceptive use, body mass index, physical activity, and census-tract-level median income and house value, we observed an elevated risk of RA [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.31; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.98–1.74] in women living within 50 m of a road, compared with those women living 200 m or farther away. We also observed this association in analyses among nonsmokers (HR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.04–2.52), nonsmokers with rheumatoid factor (RF)-negative RA (HR = 1.77; 95% CI, 0.93–3.38), and nonsmokers with RF-positive RA (HR = 1.51; 95% CI, 0.82–2.77). We saw no elevations in risk in women living 50–200 m from the road. Conclusions: The observed association between exposure to traffic pollution and RA suggests that pollution from traffic in adulthood may be a newly identified environmental risk factor for RA

Enhancing tuberculosis diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction: An experience at a tertiary hospital

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) persists as a severe global public health issue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of an in-house TB PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in sputum.Methods: DNA from sputum specimens were submitted to a nested-PCR protocol for the IS6110 region detection. PCR results were compared to those of the traditional methods for TB diagnosis, i.e., acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy and culture. We analyzed sputum samples obtained from 133 patients.Results: A total of 48 (36%) cultures yielded indeterminate results due to contamination. This high contamination rate may be explained by the fact that samples from fibrocystic patients were included in this study. Additionally, other five samples were positive for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Therefore, it was possible to compare 80 patients for M. tuberculosis detection. We found 14 positive samples: five presented positive results in the three methods (5/14; 35.7%), two were positive in culture and PCR (2/14; 14.3%), one was positive in AFB and PCR (1/14; 7.1%), five were positive only in PCR (5/14; 35.7%) and 1 was positive only in culture (1/14; 7.1%). Thus, positivity rates for each technique were: 7.5% for AFB (6/80), 10% for culture (8/80) and 16.25% for PCR (13/80). Among the 48 patients who had indeterminate results in sputum culture, two samples were positive in PCR.Conclusion: Considering the limitations of the traditional methods, the use of PCR as a molecular technique could be advantageous for TB diagnosis.

Enhancing tuberculosis diagnosis by polymerase chain reactio : an experience at a tertiary hospital

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) persists as a severe global public health issue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of an in-house TB PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in sputum. Methods: DNA from sputum specimens were submitted to a nested-PCR protocol for the IS6110 region detection. PCR results were compared to those of the traditional methods for TB diagnosis, i.e., acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy and culture. We analyzed sputum samples obtained from 133 patients. Results: A total of 48 (36%) cultures yielded indeterminate results due to contamination. This high contamination rate may be explained by the fact that samples from fibrocystic patients were included in this study. Additionally, other five samples were positive for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Therefore, it was possible to compare 80 patients for M. tuberculosis detection. We found 14 positive samples: five presented positive results in the three methods (5/14; 35.7%), two were positive in culture and PCR (2/14; 14.3%), one was positive in AFB and PCR (1/14; 7.1%), five were positive only in PCR (5/14; 35.7%) and 1 was positive only in culture (1/14; 7.1%). Thus, positivity rates for each technique were: 7.5% for AFB (6/80), 10% for culture (8/80) and 16.25% for PCR (13/80). Among the 48 patients who had indeterminate results in sputum culture, two samples were positive in PCR. Conclusion: Considering the limitations of the traditional methods, the use of PCR as a molecular technique could be advantageous for TB diagnosis

Enhancing tuberculosis diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction: An experience at a tertiary hospital

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) persists as a severe global public health issue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of an in-house TB PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in sputum. Methods: DNA from sputum specimens were submitted to a nested-PCR protocol for the IS6110 region detection. PCR results were compared to those of the traditional methods for TB diagnosis, i.e., acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy and culture. We analyzed sputum samples obtained from 133 patients. Results: A total of 48 (36%) cultures yielded indeterminate results due to contamination. This high contamination rate may be explained by the fact that samples from fibrocystic patients were included in this study. Additionally, other five samples were positive for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Therefore, it was possible to compare 80 patients for M. tuberculosis detection. We found 14 positive samples: five presented positive results in the three methods (5/14; 35.7%), two were positive in culture and PCR (2/14; 14.3%), one was positive in AFB and PCR (1/14; 7.1%), five were positive only in PCR (5/14; 35.7%) and 1 was positive only in culture (1/14; 7.1%). Thus, positivity rates for each technique were: 7.5% for AFB (6/80), 10% for culture (8/80) and 16.25% for PCR (13/80). Among the 48 patients who had indeterminate results in sputum culture, two samples were positive in PCR. Conclusion: Considering the limitations of the traditional methods, the use of PCR as a molecular technique could be advantageous for TB diagnosis

Nutrition state of science and dementia prevention: Recommendations of the Nutrition for Dementia Prevention Working Group

Observational studies suggest that nutritional factors have a potential cognitive benefit. However, systematic reviews of randomised trials of dietary and nutritional supplements have reported largely null effects on cognitive outcomes and have highlighted study inconsistencies and other limitations. In this Personal View, the Nutrition for Dementia Prevention Working Group presents what we consider to be limitations in the existing nutrition clinical trials for dementia prevention. On the basis of this evidence, we propose recommendations for incorporating dietary patterns and the use of genetic, and nutrition assessment tools, biomarkers, and novel clinical trial designs to guide future trial developments. Nutrition-based research has unique challenges that could require testing both more personalised interventions in targeted risk subgroups, identified by nutritional and other biomarkers, and large-scale and pragmatic study designs for more generalisable public health interventions across diverse populations

Nutrigenética: a interação entre hábitos alimentares e o perfil genético individual

 Diseases as atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity and cancer are big public health problems, to which diet has a strong influence. However, recent studies show that people do not answer in the same way to a food habit. Nutrigenetics is based in observations of the individual answers to dietary interventions, and also in hipotesis that this diferences are associated to presence or absence of specific biological markers. Although the birth of this field has been ocurred with the studies of mutations causing monogenic disorders, currently the focus is on genetic polymorphisms that could predict the individual answer to diet. So, the field of nutrigenetics of multifactorial characteristics is on large expansion, with a big number of published articles by several research groups in the world. With the aim of presenting this research field to those working with nutrition and public health, and enable the knowledge of the most recent published data on international literature, this article reviews available results about nutrigenetics and its influence on the lipid profile, weight loss, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cancer. Doenças como aterosclerose, diabetes, obesidade e câncer são importantes problemas de saúde publica, para as quais a dieta possui uma forte influência. No entanto, estudos recentes demonstram que nem todos respondem da mesma maneira ao mesmo hábito alimentar. A nutrigenética é baseada em observações das respostas individuais à determinada modificação na dieta e também em hipóteses que estas diferentes respostas sejam associadas à presença ou ausência de marcadores biológicos específicos. Embora o nascimento desta área tenha ocorrido inicialmente com o estudo de mutações causadoras de doenças monogênicas, atualmente o foco se encontra em polimorfismos genéticos, que poderiam, então, predizer a resposta individual à dieta. Desta maneira, a nutrigenética de características multifatorias está em grande expansão, com um grande número de trabalhos sendo publicados por vários grupos de pesquisa do mundo. Com o objetivo de apresentar este campo de pesquisa aos profissionais que trabalham com nutrição e saúde pública, e possibilitar o conhecimento dos mais recentes dados publicados na literatura internacional, este artigo revisa os resultados disponíveis sobre nutrigenética e sua influência em características como o perfil lipídico, perda de peso, diabetes mellitus tipo 2, dano de DNA e câncer