Short-term fatty acid intervention elicits differential gene expression responses in adipose tissue from lean and overweight men

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of a short-term nutritional intervention on gene expression in adipose tissue from lean and overweight subjects. Gene expression profiles were measured after consumption of an intervention spread (increased levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and medium chain triglycerides) and a control spread (40 g of fat daily) for 9 days. Adipose tissue gene expression profiles of lean and overweight subjects were distinctly different, mainly with respect to defense response and metabolism. The intervention resulted in lower expression of genes related to energy metabolism in lean subjects, whereas expression of inflammatory genes was down-regulated and expression of lipid metabolism genes was up-regulated in the majority of overweight subjects. Individual responses in overweight subjects were variable and these correlated better to waist–hip ratio and fat percentage than BMI

Between Metabolite Relationships: an essential aspect of metabolic change

Not only the levels of individual metabolites, but also the relations between the levels of different metabolites may indicate (experimentally induced) changes in a biological system. Component analysis methods in current ‘standard’ use for metabolomics, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), do not focus on changes in these relations. We therefore propose the concept of ‘Between Metabolite Relationships’ (BMRs): common changes in the covariance (or correlation) between all metabolites in an organism. Such structural changes may indicate metabolic change brought about by experimental manipulation but which are lost with standard data analysis methods. These BMRs can be analysed by the INdividual Differences SCALing (INDSCAL) method. First the BMR quantification is described and subsequently the INDSCAL method. Finally, two studies illustrate the power and the applicability of BMRs in metabolomics. The first study is about the induced plant response of cabbage to herbivory, of which BMRs are a considerable part. In the second study—a human nutritional intervention study of green tea extract—standard data analysis tools did not reveal any metabolic change, although the BMRs were considerably affected. The presented results show that BMRs can be easily implemented in a wide variety of metabolomic studies. They provide a new source of information to describe biological systems in a way that fits flawlessly into the next generation of systems biology questions, dealing with personalized responses

Perfil clínico e atuação fisioterapêutica em pacientes atendidos na emergência pediátrica de um hospital público de Goiás

Nos últimos anos, tem-se ampliado a atuação fisioterapêutica no setor de urgência e emergência, visando reduzir complicações e tempo de internação hospitalar. Os objetivos deste estudo foram traçar o perfil dos pacientes admitidos na sala de reanimação do Serviço de Referência em Urgência Pediátrica (SERUPE) do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Goiás (HC/UFG) e descrever a atuação fisioterapêutica nesse setor. Trata-se de um estudo observacional, prospectivo, realizado entre fevereiro e junho de 2012, para o qual foram acompanhados todos os pacientes admitidos na sala de reanimação do SERUPE. Foram avaliados 47 pacientes, 53,2% (n=25) do sexo masculino, idade média de 5,2±4,1 anos e 74,5% (n=35) apresentavam doenças prévias. A queixa principal mais frequente foi dispneia em 26,1% (n=29) dos casos e as hipóteses diagnósticas mais identificadas foram doenças respiratórias em 69,4% (n=43). Do total de pacientes, 76,6% (n=36) necessitaram de oxigenoterapia, 21,3% (n=10), de assistência ventilatória e 31,9% (n=15) tiveram acompanhamento fisioterapêutico, 86,7% (n=13) com abordagem respiratória e motora. O tempo médio de permanência na sala de reanimação foi de 1,9±1,5 dias; subsequentemente, 63,8% (n=30) dos pacientes foram internados em enfermaria. Portanto, verifica-se que, no setor de emergência, existe uma grande demanda de pacientes com desordens respiratórias que podem se beneficiar com a presença de um fisioterapeuta