Effect of zinc intake on growth in infants: A meta-analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effect of zinc (Zn) intake on growth in infants. Out of 5500 studies identified through electronic searches and reference lists, 19 RCTs were selected after applying the exclusion/inclusion criteria. The influence of Zn intake on growth was considered in the overall meta-analysis. Other variables were also taken into account as possible effect modifiers: doses of Zn intake, intervention duration, nutritional status, and risk of bias. From each select growth study, final measures of weight, length, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), head circumference, weight for age z-score (WAZ), length for age z-score (LAZ), and weight for length z-score (WLZ) were assessed. Pooled β and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Additionally, we carried out a sensitivity analysis. Zn intake was not associated with weight, length, MUAC, head circumference, and LAZ in the pooled analyses. However, Zn intake had a positive and statistically effect on WAZ (β = 0.06; 95%CI 0.02 to 0.10) and WLZ (β = 0.05; 95%CI 0.01 to 0.08). The dose–response relationship between Zn intake and these parameters indicated that a doubling of Zn intake increased WAZ and WLZ by approximately 4%. Substantial heterogeneity was present only in length analyses (I2 = 45%; p = 0.03). Zn intake was positively associated with length values at short time (four to 20 weeks) (β = 0.01; CI 95% 0 to 0.02) and at medium doses of Zn (4.1 to 8 mg/day) (β = 0.003; CI 95% 0 to 0.01). Nevertheless, the effect magnitude was small. Our results indicate that Zn intake increases growth parameters of infants. Nonetheless, interpretation of these results should be carefully considered

“Anti-Michael addition” of Grignard reagents to sulfonylacetylenes: synthesis of alkynes

In this work, the addition of Grignard reagents to arylsulfonylacetylenes, which undergoes an “anti-Michael addition”, resulting in their alkynylation under very mild conditions is described. The simplicity of the experimental procedure and the functional group tolerance are the main features of this methodology. This is an important advantage over the use of organolithium at −78 °C that we previously reported. Moreover, the synthesis of diynes and other examples showing functional group tolerance in this anti-Michael reaction is also presentedFinancial support from the Spanish Government CTQ2012- 35957 (MINECO) and CTQ2015-64561-R (MINECO/FEDER) is gratefully acknowledged. F. E. is thankful to the Spanish government for a FPI fellowship, and L. B. is thankful to the Université Badji Mokhtar Annaba for a predoctoral stay gran

Stereochemical aspects and the synthetic scope of the SHi at the sulfur atom. Preparation of enantiopure 3-substituted 2,3-dihydro-1,2- benzoisothiazole 1-oxides and 1,1-dioxides

Intramolecular homolytic substitution (SHi) on the sulfur atom at acyclic N-(o-bromobenzyl)sulfinamides takes place with a complete inversion of the configuration and provides an excellent tool to connect N-tert-butanesulfinylimines with enantiopure 3-substituted benzo-fused sulfinamides (1,2-benzoisothiazoline 1-oxides) and the related pharmacologically relevant sulfonamidesThe Spanish Government (grant CTQ2012-35957) and Comunidad de Madrid (CCG08-UAM/PPQ-4151; S2009/PPQ1634

Validation of a restrospective respiratory gating method for small-animal CT scanners

Proceeding of: 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS '08), Dresden, Germany, 19-25 October 2008We propose a retrospective respiratory gating algorithm to generate dynamic CT studies. To this end, we compared three different methods of extracting the respiratory signal from the projections of small-animal cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanners. Given a set of frames acquired from a certain axial angle, subtraction of their average image from each individual frame produces a set of difference images. The respiratory signals were extracted by analyzing the shape of the histogram of these difference images: we calculated the first four central and non-central moments. However, only odd-order moments produced the desired breathing signal, as the even-order moments lacked information about the phase. Each of these curves was compared to a reference signal recorded by means of a pneumatic pillow. Given the similar correlation coefficients yielded by all of them, we selected the mean to implement our retrospective protocol. Respiratory phase bins were separated, reconstructed independently and included in a dynamic sequence, suitable for cine playback. We validated our method in 5 adult rat studies by comparing profiles drawn across the diaphragm dome, with and without retrospective respiratory gating. Results showed a sharper transition in the gated reconstruction, with an average slope improvement of 60.7%.This project was supported by the CENIT Programme (Ministerio de Industria), CIBER CB07/09/0031 and RETICRECAVA (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo), and TEC2007-64731 TCM (Ministerio de Educaci6n y Ciencia)

Aislamiento y cultivo de células osteoblásticas: Interés para la investigación en cirugía ortopédica y traumatología

Describimos un método de aislamiento y caracterización de células osteoblásticas procedentes de la superficie de trabéculas óseas de explantes obtenidos de metafisis de fémures y tibias de conejo y de cabezas femorales humanas de pacientes sometidos a cirugía protésica de cadera. Después de eliminar las células de la médula ósea de los explantes, estos se despositaron sobre dos tipos de mallas, de 80 y 100 µm., obteniéndose un cultivo en monocarpa que se mostró confluente a partir de los 20 días. La población celular aislada presentó un fenotipo osteoblástico utilizando métodos colorimétricos para determinación de la actividad de fosfatasa alcalina (FA) y morfológicos por medio de la observación con microscopía electrónica de barrido. Las células cultivadas exhibieron una morfología diferente según el grado de confluencia de cultivo, siendo en todo momento positivas las sucesivas determinaciones colorimétricas de FA realizadas a lo largo de la experiencia. Consideramos el método de gran interés en investigación en ortopédica, pues permite el estudio de comportamiento de estas células cuando están sometidas a cualquier tipo de estímulo externo, así como cuando se enfrentan a nuevas generaciones de biomateriales, etc.We describe a method of isolation and characterization of osteoblastic cells taken from the surface of bone trabeculae of explants obtained from femur and tibia metaphysis in rabbits and human femoral head in patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery. Afther removing the cells from the bone marrow of explants, they were placed over two mesh, 80 and 100 µmn, obtaining then a culture in monolayer which showed to be confluent after 20 days. The isolated cell population showed an osteoblastic phenotype using colourmetric methods to determinate the alkaline phosphatase (AF) activity and morphologic methods by means of scanning. The cultivated cell showed a different morphology according to the degree of confluence of the culture, being always positive the sucesive colourmetric determinations of AF along the experiment. We consider the method of a great interest for orthopaedic investigations, since it allows the study of the behaviour of these cells when they are subjet to different types of external stimulus as well as meet they the new generations of biomaterials

Valoración Radiológica del Fracaso de las Prótesis Cervico-Cefálicas de Cadera en Fracturas de Cuello Femoral y Cirugía de Revisión

Lo s autore s analiza n los diferentes signos radiológicos que sugieren intolerancia de la s prótesis cérvico-cefálicas de cader a implantada s po r fractur a cervical que será n sometida s a Cirugí a de Revisión. Se estudian retrospectivamente 61 casos intervenidos entre los años 77 al 89, analizándos e la evolución de los diferentes modelos: Monk, Austin-Moore, Thompson, Mülle r y Robert-Mathys. Asimismo se estudia n la presencia de calcificaciones intr a y periarticulare s y la aparició n de complicaciones. Po r último, se pretende concretar la indicación de la Artroplasti a parcia l de cader a en paciente s anciano s con alto riesgo quirúrgico en oposición a un mejor resultad o de la Artroplasti a Total en el resto de pacientes.The author s analys e the different radiologica l feature s suggestin g intoleranc e o f the cervical-cephali c hi p prosthesis, implante d b y cervica l fractur e a n d submitte d t o revisio n surgery. Retrospectivel y 6 1 cases, whic h wer e carrie d ou t betwee n 197 7 an d 1989, ar e studied, an d the evolutio n o f the different pattern s i n analysed : Monk, Austin-Moore , Thompson , Mülle r an d Robert-Mathys. A t the sam e time , the presenc e o f intr a an d peri-articula r calcification s an d the appearanc e o f complication s ar e examined . Finally , they inten d t o summariz e th e indicatio n o f the hi p hemiarthroplast y i n ol d patien s wit h a hig h surgica l risk oppositio n t o a bette r result o f the tota l hi p arthroplast y in the rest o f th e patients