An Obesity Dietary Quality Index Predicts Abdominal Obesity in Women: Potential Opportunity for New Prevention and Treatment Paradigms

Background. Links between dietary quality and abdominal obesity are poorly understood. Objective. To examine the association between an obesity-specific dietary quality index and abdominal obesity risk in women. Methods. Over 12 years, we followed 288 Framingham Offspring/Spouse Study women, aged 30–69 years, without metabolic syndrome risk factors, cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes at baseline. An 11-nutrient obesity-specific dietary quality index was derived using mean ranks of nutrient intakes from 3-day dietary records. Abdominal obesity (waist circumference >88 cm) was assessed during follow-up. Results. Using multiple logistic regression, women with poorer dietary quality were more likely to develop abdominal obesity compared to those with higher dietary quality (OR 1.87; 95% CI, 1.01, 3.47; P for trend = .048) independent of age, physical activity, smoking, and menopausal status. Conclusions. An obesity-specific dietary quality index predicted abdominal obesity in women, suggesting targets for dietary quality assessment, intervention, and treatment to address abdominal adiposity

Association of Plasma 25â Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations and Pathogenic Oral Bacteria in Postmenopausal Females

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141146/1/jper0944.pd

Association Between Metabolic Syndrome and Periodontal Disease Measures in Postmenopausal Women: The Buffalo OsteoPerio Study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141377/1/jper1489.pd

Clinicopathological Factors as Predictors for Establishment of Patient Derived Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Organoids

INTRODUCTION: Patient derived organoids (PDOs) are 3D in vitro models and have shown to better reflect patient and tumor heterogeneity than conventional 2D cell lines. To utilize PDOs in clinical settings and trials for biomarker discovery or drug response evaluation, it is valuable to determine the best way to optimize sample selection for maximum PDO establishment. In this study, we assess patient, tumor and tissue sampling factors and correlate them with successful PDO establishment in a well-documented cohort of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: Tumor and non-tumorous adjacent tissue samples were obtained from HNSCC patients during routine biopsy or resection procedures at the University Medical Center Utrecht. The tissue was subsequently processed to establish PDOs. The sample purity was determined as the presence of epithelial cells in the culture on the day of organoid isolation as visualized microscopically by the researcher. PDO establishment was recorded for all samples. Clinical data was obtained from the medical records and was correlated to PDO establishment and presence of epithelial cells. RESULTS: Organoids could be established in 133/250 (53.2%) primary tumor site tissues. HNSCC organoid establishment tended to be more successful if patients were younger than the median age of 68 years (74/123 (60.2%) vs. 59/127 (46.5%), p = 0.03). For a subset of samples, the presence of epithelial cells in the organoid culture on the day of organoid isolation was recorded in 112/149 (75.2%) of these samples. When cultures were selected for presence of epithelial cells, organoid establishment increased to 76.8% (86/112 samples). CONCLUSION: This study found a trend between age and successful organoid outgrowth in patients with HNSCC younger than 68 years and emphasizes the value of efficient sampling regarding PDO establishment

Negotiating professional and social voices in research principles and practice

This paper draws on work conducted for a qualitative interview based study which explores the gendered racialised and professional identifications of health and social care professionals. Participants for the project were drawn from the professional executive committees of recently formed Primary Care Trusts. The paper discusses how the feminist psychosocial methodological approach developed for the project is theoretically, practically and ethically useful in exploring the voices of those in positions of relative power in relation to both health and social care services and the social relations of gender and ethnicity. The approach draws on psychodynamic accounts of (defended) subjectivity and the feminist work of Carol Gilligan on a voice-centred relational methodology. Coupling the feminist with the psychosocial facilitates an emphasis on voice and dialogic communication between participant and researcher not always captured in psychosocial approaches which tend towards favouring the interviewer as ‘good listener’. This emphasis on dialogue is important in research contexts where prior and ongoing relationships with professional participants make it difficult and indeed undesirable for researchers to maintain silence

Spatiotemporal expansion of primary progenitor zones in the developing human cerebellum

We present histological and molecular analyses of the developing human cerebellum from 30 days after conception to 9 months after birth. Differences in developmental patterns between humans and mice include spatiotemporal expansion of both ventricular and rhombic lip primary progenitor zones to include subventricular zones containing basal progenitors. The human rhombic lip persists longer through cerebellar development than in the mouse and undergoes morphological changes to form a progenitor pool in the posterior lobule, which is not seen in other organisms, not even in the nonhuman primate the macaque. Disruptions in human rhombic lip development are associated with posterior cerebellar vermis hypoplasia and Dandy-Walker malformation. The presence of these species-specific neural progenitor populations refines our insight into human cerebellar developmental disorders

The Effect of Diagnostic Delays on the Drop-Out Rate and the Total Delay to Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Background: Numerous patient and healthcare system-related delays contribute to the overall delay experienced by patients from onset of TB symptoms to diagnosis and treatment. Such delays are critical as infected individuals remain untreated in the community, providing more opportunities for transmission of the disease and adversely affecting the epidemic. Methodology/Principal Findings: We present an analysis of the factors that contribute to the overall delay in TB diagnosis and treatment, in a resource-poor setting. Impact on the distribution of diagnostic delay times was assessed for various factors, the sensitivity of the diagnostic method being found to be the most significant. A linear relationship was found between the sensitivity of the test and the predicted mean delay time, with an increase in test sensitivity resulting in a reduced mean delay time and a reduction in the drop-out rate. Conclusions/Significance: The results show that in a developing country a number of delay factors, particularly the low sensitivity of the initial sputum smear microscopy test, potentially increase total diagnostic delay times experienced by TB patients significantly. The results reinforce the urgent need for novel diagnostic methods, both for smear positive an

Effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride and zinc methionine on growth performance and carcass characteristics of beef bulls

Sixty beef bulls with a body weight (BW) of 314.79 16.2 kg were used to evaluate the effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH) and zinc methionine (ZM) on growth performance and carcass characteristics. The experimental design was a randomized complete block, with a factorial 22 arrangement of treatments (ZH: 0 and 0.15 mg kg 1 BW; ZM: 0 and 80 mg kg 1 dry matter). The ZH increased (PB0.05) the final BW, average daily gain, feed conversion, carcass yield and longissimus dorsi area. Bulls fed ZH plus ZM had less (PB0.01) backfat thickness and intramuscular fat (IMF) compared with those fed ZH or ZM alone. The ZH increased (PB0.02) the meat crude protein content and cooking loss. It is therefore concluded that ZH increases growth performance, carcass yield, longissimus dorsi area, and meat crude protein. The interaction of ZM and ZH did not present additional advantages. The reason for the reduction in backfat thickness and IMF by ZH plus ZM is unclear, and implies that our knowledge of b-agonistic adrenergic substances and their interactions with minerals is incomplete

Vitamin D supplementation and breast cancer prevention : a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

In recent years, the scientific evidence linking vitamin D status or supplementation to breast cancer has grown notably. To investigate the role of vitamin D supplementation on breast cancer incidence, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing vitamin D with placebo or no treatment. We used OVID to search MEDLINE (R), EMBASE and CENTRAL until April 2012. We screened the reference lists of included studies and used the “Related Article” feature in PubMed to identify additional articles. No language restrictions were applied. Two reviewers independently extracted data on methodological quality, participants, intervention, comparison and outcomes. Risk Ratios and 95% Confident Intervals for breast cancer were pooled using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 test. In sensitivity analysis, we assessed the impact of vitamin D dosage and mode of administration on treatment effects. Only two randomized controlled trials fulfilled the pre-set inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis included 5372 postmenopausal women. Overall, Risk Ratios and 95% Confident Intervals were 1.11 and 0.74–1.68. We found no evidence of heterogeneity. Neither vitamin D dosage nor mode of administration significantly affected breast cancer risk. However, treatment efficacy was somewhat greater when vitamin D was administered at the highest dosage and in combination with calcium (Risk Ratio 0.58, 95% Confident Interval 0.23–1.47 and Risk Ratio 0.93, 95% Confident Interval 0.54–1.60, respectively). In conclusions, vitamin D use seems not to be associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer development in postmenopausal women. However, the available evidence is still limited and inadequate to draw firm conclusions. Study protocol code: FARM8L2B5L