Hyperornithinaemia-hyperammonaemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome: a treatable genetic liver disease warranting urgent diagnosis

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Overweight, obesity, weight-related concerns and behaviours in Hong Kong Chinese children and adolescents

Aim: To study the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and weight-related concerns and behaviours among overweight, obese and non-overweight children and adolescents. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional survey of all Chinese students in primary schools in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong in March 2002. Thirty-one of 32 schools participated, and 5402 boys and 5371 girls aged 8 to 15 y who completed a standardized questionnaire were included. We used the International Obesity Task Force definition (IOTF reference) to define overweight and obesity. Results: The prevalence (95% CI) of overweight was 16.4% (15.7-17.1%) (19.9% in boys, 12.9% in girls), and that of obesity was 7.7% (7.2-8.2%) (10.3% in boys and 5.1% in girls). The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity was similar to that based on the local reference. Overweight children had more concerns about their weight than obese children. They were more likely than obese children to feel fat, wish to be lighter, diet and exercise to lose weight. Although obese children were heavier, they did not make more effort to lose weight than overweight children. Conclusions: The differences in weight-related concerns and behaviours among overweight, obese and non-overweight children suggested good validity of the IOTF reference and the self-reported data. The differences between overweight and obese children suggested that the two groups had different psychological states and that they needed different weight management programmes and other intervention strategies. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Breaking and entering into the CNS: clues from solid tumor and nonmalignant models with relevance to hematopoietic malignancies

Various malignancies invade the CNS sanctuary site, accounting for the vast majority of CNS neoplastic foci and contributing to significant morbidity as well as mortality. The blood–brain barrier (BBB) exhibits considerable impermeability to chemotherapeutic agents, severely limiting therapeutic options available for patients developing metastatic CNS involvement, accounting for poor outcomes. The mechanisms by which malignant cells breach the highly exclusive BBB and subsequently survive in this unique anatomical site remain poorly understood, with most of the current knowledge stemming from non-malignant and solid malignancy models. While solid and hematologic malignancies may face different challenges once within the CNS (e.g., solid tumor parenchymal metastasis compared to masses/nodules/leptomeningeal disease in hematologic malignancies), commonality exists in the process of migrating across the BBB from the circulation. Specifically considering this last point, this review aims to survey the current mechanistic knowledge regarding malignant migration across the BBB, necessarily emphasizing the better studied solid tumor and nonmalignant models with the intention of highlighting both the current knowledge gap and additional work required to effectively consider how hematopoietic malignancies breach the CNS