Nordic monitoring of diet, physical activity and overweight:First collection of data in all Nordic Countries 2011

The report describes the results of the first collection of data in the joint Nordic monitoring study of diet, physical activity and overweight. The study provides baseline data for frequency of intake in selected foods, physical activity level and prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Nordic countries. Telephone interviews were performed in the Nordic countries with the same validated questionnaire using simple indicator questions. The interviews were carried out in the autumn of 2011 including 9153 adults and 2479 children. The results show that all countries are far from the goals in the Nordic Plan of Action and there are areas to be improved in all countries. The study gives a good status for dietary intake indicators, indicators for physical activity, sedentary time and overweight which makes it possible follow changes in these parameters over time in the Nordic countries

Association between topical corticosteroid use and type 2 diabetes in two European population-based adult cohorts

BackgroundTopical corticosteroids (CS) are commonly used to treat inflammatory skin conditions including eczema and psoriasis. While topical CS package inserts describe hyperglycaemia and glycosuria as adverse drug reactions, it is unclear whether topical CS use in real life is also associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D).MethodsTwo matched case-control studies and one cohort study were conducted using routinely collected healthcare data from Denmark the UK. A total of 115,218 and 54,944 adults were identified as cases with new onset T2D in the Danish and UK case-control study, respectively. For the Danish cohort study, 2,689,473 adults were included. The main exposure was topical CS and the outcome was incident T2D.ResultsTopical CS was significantly associated with T2D in the Danish (adjusted OR 1ꞏ35; 95% CI 1ꞏ33- 1ꞏ38) and UK (adjusted OR 1ꞏ23; 95% CI 1ꞏ19-1ꞏ27) case-control studies. Individuals who were exposed to topical CS had significantly increased risk of incident T2D (adjusted HR 1ꞏ27; 95% CI 1ꞏ26-1ꞏ29). We observed significant dose-response relationships between T2D and increasing potency of topical CS in the two Danish studies. The results were consistent across all sensitivity analyses.ConclusionsWe found a positive association between topical CS prescribing and incident T2D in Danish and UK adult populations. Clinicians should be cognizant of possible diabetogenic effects of potent topical CS

An Eco RI RFLP in the 5′ region of the human NF1 gene

Von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis or type l neurofibromatosis (NF1), is one of the most common autosomal dominant disorders. NF1 is characterized by neurofibromas, café-au-lait spots and Lisch nodules of the iris. The NF1 gene is located in 17q11.2. The restriction fragment length polymorphism reported here will be useful in linkage analysis in NF1 families.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47634/1/439_2004_Article_BF00420953.pd

Changed activation, oxygenation, and pain response of chronically painful muscles to repetitive work after training interventions: a randomized controlled trial

The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to assess changes in myalgic trapezius activation, muscle oxygenation, and pain intensity during repetitive and stressful work tasks in response to 10 weeks of training. In total, 39 women with a clinical diagnosis of trapezius myalgia were randomly assigned to: (1) general fitness training performed as leg-bicycling (GFT); (2) specific strength training of the neck/shoulder muscles (SST) or (3) reference intervention without physical exercise. Electromyographic activity (EMG), tissue oxygenation (near infrared spectroscopy), and pain intensity were measured in trapezius during pegboard and stress tasks before and after the intervention period. During the pegboard task, GFT improved trapezius oxygenation from a relative decrease of −0.83 ± 1.48 μM to an increase of 0.05 ± 1.32 μM, and decreased pain development by 43%, but did not affect resting levels of pain. SST lowered the relative EMG amplitude by 36%, and decreased pain during resting and working conditions by 52 and 38%, respectively, without affecting trapezius oxygenation. In conclusion, GFT performed as leg-bicycling decreased pain development during repetitive work tasks, possibly due to improved oxygenation of the painful muscles. SST lowered the overall level of pain both during rest and work, possibly due to a lowered relative exposure as evidenced by a lowered relative EMG. The results demonstrate differential adaptive mechanisms of contrasting physical exercise interventions on chronic muscle pain at rest and during repetitive work tasks

Novel Inhibitory Function of the Rhizomucor miehei Lipase Propeptide and Three-Dimensional Structures of Its Complexes with the Enzyme

Many proteins are synthesized as precursors, with propeptides playing a variety of roles such as assisting in folding or preventing them from being active within the cell. While the precise role of the propeptide in fungal lipases is not completely understood, it was previously reported that mutations in the propeptide region of the Rhizomucor miehei lipase have an influence on the activity of the mature enzyme, stressing the importance of the amino acid composition of this region. We here report two structures of this enzyme in complex with its propeptide, which suggests that the latter plays a role in the correct maturation of the enzyme. Most importantly, we demonstrate that the propeptide shows inhibition of lipase activity in standard lipase assays and propose that an important role of the propeptide is to ensure that the enzyme is not active during its expression pathway in the original host