205 research outputs found
Association of maternal weight with FADS and ELOVL genetic variants and fatty acid levels- The PREOBE follow-up.
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes encoding the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) and elongase (ELOVL) enzymes affect long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) production. We aimed to determine if these SNPs are associated with body mass index (BMI) or affect fatty acids (FAs) in pregnant women. Participants (n = 180) from the PREOBE cohort were grouped according to pre-pregnancy BMI: normal-weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9, n = 88) and overweight/obese (BMI≥25, n = 92). Plasma samples were analyzed at 24 weeks of gestation to measure FA levels in the phospholipid fraction. Selected SNPs were genotyped (7 in FADS1, 5 in FADS2, 3 in ELOVL2 and 2 in ELOVL5). Minor allele carriers of rs174545, rs174546, rs174548 and rs174553 (FADS1), and rs1535 and rs174583 (FADS2) were nominally associated with an increased risk of having a BMI≥25. Only for the normal-weight group, minor allele carriers of rs174537, rs174545, rs174546, and rs174553 (FADS1) were negatively associated with AA:DGLA index. Normal-weight women who were minor allele carriers of FADS SNPs had lower levels of AA, AA:DGLA and AA:LA indexes, and higher levels of DGLA, compared to major homozygotes. Among minor allele carriers of FADS2 and ELOVL2 SNPs, overweight/obese women showed higher DHA:EPA index than the normal-weight group; however, they did not present higher DHA concentrations than the normal-weight women. In conclusion, minor allele carriers of FADS SNPs have an increased risk of obesity. Maternal weight changes the effect of genotype on FA levels. Only in the normal-weight group, minor allele carriers of FADS SNPs displayed reduced enzymatic activity and FA levels. This suggests that women with a BMI≥25 are less affected by FADS genetic variants in this regard. In the presence of FADS2 and ELOVL2 SNPs, overweight/obese women showed higher n-3 LC-PUFA production indexes than women with normal weight, but this was not enough to obtain a higher n-3 LC-PUFA concentration
Maternal, fetal and perinatal alterations associated with obesity, overweight and gestational diabetes: an observational cohort study (PREOBE)
Abstract Background: Maternal overweight, obesity, and gestational diabetes (GD) have been negatively associated with offspring development. Further knowledge regarding metabolic and nutritional alterations in these mother and their offspring are warranted. Methods: In an observational cohort study we included 331 pregnant women from Granada, Spain. The mothers were categorized into four groups according to BMI and their GD status; overweight (n:56), obese (n:64), GD (n:79), and healthy normal weight controls (n:132). We assessed maternal growth and nutritional biomarkers at 24 weeks (n = 269), 34 weeks (n = 310) and at delivery (n = 310) and the perinatal characteristics including cord blood biomarkers. Results: Obese and GD mothers had significantly lower weight gain during pregnancy and infant birth weight, waist circumference, and placental weight were higher in the obese group, including a significantly increased prevalence of macrosomia. Except for differences in markers of glucose metabolism (glucose, HbA1c, insulin and uric acid) we found at some measures that overweight and/or obese mothers had lower levels of transferrin saturation, hemoglobin, Vitamin B12 and folate and higher levels of C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, ferritin, and cortisol. GD mothers had similar differences in hemoglobin and C-reactive protein but higher levels of folate. The latter was seen also in cord blood. Conclusions: We identified several metabolic alterations in overweight, obese and GD mothers compared to controls. Together with the observed differences in infant anthropometrics, these may be important biomarkers in future research regarding the programming of health and disease in children. Trial registration: The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov, identifier (NCT01634464). Keywords: Pregnancy, Maternal overweight, Maternal obesity, Gestational diabetes, Offspring, Fetal nutrition, Early programming, Vitamin B12, Folate, Iron status, Glucose metabolis
The Effect of Maternal Obesity on Breast Milk Fatty Acids and Its Association with Infant Growth and Cognition—The PREOBE Follow-Up
This study analyzed how maternal obesity affected fatty acids (FAs) in breast milk and
their association with infant growth and cognition to raise awareness about the programming effect
of maternal health and to promote a healthy prenatal weight. Mother–child pairs (n = 78) were
grouped per maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI): normal-weight (BMI = 18.5–24.99),
overweight (BMI = 25–29.99) and obese (BMI > 30). Colostrum and mature milk FAs were determined.
Infant anthropometry at 6, 18 and 36 months of age and cognition at 18 were analyzed. Mature
milk exhibited lower arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), among others, than
colostrum. Breast milk of non-normal weight mothers presented increased saturated FAs and n6:n3
ratio and decreased a-linolenic acid (ALA), DHA and monounsaturated FAs. Infant BMI-for-age
at 6 months of age was inversely associated with colostrum n6 (e.g., AA) and n3 (e.g., DHA) FAs
and positively associated with n6:n3 ratio. Depending on the maternal weight, infant cognition was
positively influenced by breast milk linoleic acid, n6 PUFAs, ALA, DHA and n3 LC-PUFAs, and
negatively a ected by n6:n3 ratio. In conclusion, this study shows that maternal pre-pregnancy BMI
can influence breast milk FAs and infant growth and cognition, endorsing the importance of a healthy
weight in future generations.This research was funded by the European Commission (DynaHEALTH-HORIZON 2020GANo: 633595)
and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2012-40254-C03-02). Further support was obtained
from, Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science (Junta de Andalucía), Excellence Projects (P06-CTS-02341).
ADLGP thanks the Mexican government and the National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT) for
her PhD grant. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, decision to publish, or
preparation of the manuscript
Study of maternal nutrition and genetic on the foetal adiposity programming (The PREOBE Study)
Introducción: La genética y la alimentación de la
madre antes y durante el embarazo, las distintas patologías
metabólicas maternas, así como la ingesta de nutrientes
en los primeros meses de vida del recién nacido parecen
estar implicados en la etiología de la obesidad y sus
consecuencias a largo plazo. La posible contribución de
estos y otros factores, los mecanismos y sus efectos en el
metabolismo y desarrollo de la enfermedad están aún en
fase de investigación.
Objetivo: Obtener un mayor conocimiento del desarrollo
del tejido adiposo fetal y la influencia de factores genéticos,
dietéticos y ambientales sobre el riesgo a largo plazo
de padecer obesidad.
Metodología: Se han establecido cuatro grupos de estudio
de 30 madres gestantes cada uno: 1) grupo control; 2)
madres con intolerancia a la glucosa/diabetes gestacional;
3) madres con escasa ganancia ponderal durante el embarazo,
y 4) madres con sobrepeso/obesidad al inicio del
embarazo. Se realizará un análisis de los siguientes parámetros:
1) ingesta dietética; 2) hábitos y estilo de vida; 3)
actividad física; 4) antropometría y composición corporal;
5) estudio hematológico; 6) estudio bioquímico (biomarcadores
lipídicos y metabólicos); 7) perfil inmunológico;
8) perfil psicológico; 9) marcadores genéticos, y 10)
marcadores microbiológicos; todos ellos relacionados con
la formación del tejido adiposo fetal en las primeras etapas
de la vida y el riesgo de padecer obesidad en el futuro.
Conclusión: En este proyecto, coordinado por el
Departamento de Pediatría de la Facultad de Medicina de asegula
Universidad de Granada y que cuenta con la participación
de otros grupos de investigación de larga y acreditada
experiencia, se pretende obtener un mayor conocimiento
de los orígenes de la obesidad en la infancia y
posterior desarrollo de esta enfermedad en etapas posteriores
de la vida.Background: Maternal genetics and feeding before and
during pregnancy, different maternal metabolic pathologies,
as well as nutrient intakes of newborns in their first
months of life may be involved in the obesity aetiology
and its long-term consequences. The possible role of these
and others factors, the mechanisms and the effects on the
metabolism, and the development of this disease need
further research.
Objective: To acquire more knowledge about foetal
adipose tissue development and the influence of genetic,
dietetic and environmental factors on the risk to suffer
from obesity.
Methodology: Four study groups have been established
with 30 pregnant women in each one: 1) control
group; 2) mothers with glucose intolerance/gestational
diabetes; 3) women with low weight gain during pregnancy,
and 4) women with overweight/obesity at the
beginning of the pregnancy. The magnitudes to be studied
are: 1) dietary intake; 2) life-style habits; 3) physical
activity; 4) anthropometry and body composition; 5)
haematological study; 6) biochemical study (lipid and
metabolic biomarkers); 7) immune function profile related
to nutritional status; 8) psychological profile; 9)
genetic biomarkers, and 10) microbiological markers;
all of them in relation to the development of the foetal
adipose tissue in the first stages of life and the risk of suffering
from obesity in the future.
Conclusion: This project, coordinated by the Department
of Paediatrics of the School of Medicine in the
University of Granada, and with the collaboration of
well-known and expert research groups, tries to contribute
to the knowledge about the obesity aetiology in infancy and its subsequent development in later periods
of life.El proyecto PREOBE está financiado por la Consejería
de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de
Andalucía (Proyecto de Excelencia n.º P06-CTS-02341)
Maternal Obesity, Overweight and Gestational Diabetes Affect the Offspring Neurodevelopment at 6 and 18 Months of Age – A Follow Up from the PREOBE Cohort
The study was registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier:NCT01634464).Background:
Brain development in fetal life and early infancy is critical to determine lifelong performance in various neuropsychological domains. Metabolic pathologies such as overweight, obesity, and gestational diabetes in pregnant women are prevalent and increasing risk factors that may adversely affect long-term brain development in their offspring.Objective:
The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of maternal metabolic pathologies on the neurodevelopment of the offspring at 6 and 18 months of life.Design:
This was a prospective case-control study of 331 mother- and child pairs from Granada, Spain. The mothers were included during pregnancy into four groups according to their pre-gestational body mass index and their gestational diabetes status; overweight (n:56), obese (n:64), gestational diabetic (n:79), and healthy normal weight controls (n:132). At 6 months and 18 months we assessed the children with the Bayley III scales of neurodevelopment.Results:
At 6 months (n=215), we found significant group differences in cognition composite language, and expressive language. Post hoc test revealed unexpectedly higher scores in the obese group compared to the normal weight group and a similar trend in overweight and diabetic group. The effects on language remained significant after adjusting for confounders with an adjusted odds ratio for a value above median in composite language score of 3.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 10.0; p=0.035) for children of obese mothers. At 18 month (n=197), the offspring born to obese mothers had lost five points in language composite scores and the previous differences in language and cognition was replaced by a suggestive trend of lower gross motor scores in the overweight, obese, and diabetic groups.Conclusions:
Infants of obese mothers had a temporary accelerated development of cognition and language, followed by a rapid deceleration until 18 months of age, particularly of language scores. This novel observation prompts further confirmative studies to explore possible placental and neurodevelopmental mechanisms involved.This study was funded by Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science. Junta de Andalucía: Excellence Projects (P06-CTS-02341); Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant no. SB2010-0025); Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2012-40254-C03-01); Further support was received by Abbott Laboratories, Granada, Spain
Calibration of the Logarithmic-Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) Radio Stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an Octocopter
An in-situ calibration of a logarithmic periodic dipole antenna with a
frequency coverage of 30 MHz to 80 MHz is performed. Such antennas are part of
a radio station system used for detection of cosmic ray induced air showers at
the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the so-called
Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). The directional and frequency
characteristics of the broadband antenna are investigated using a remotely
piloted aircraft (RPA) carrying a small transmitting antenna. The antenna
sensitivity is described by the vector effective length relating the measured
voltage with the electric-field components perpendicular to the incoming signal
direction. The horizontal and meridional components are determined with an
overall uncertainty of 7.4^{+0.9}_{-0.3} % and 10.3^{+2.8}_{-1.7} %
respectively. The measurement is used to correct a simulated response of the
frequency and directional response of the antenna. In addition, the influence
of the ground conductivity and permittivity on the antenna response is
simulated. Both have a negligible influence given the ground conditions
measured at the detector site. The overall uncertainties of the vector
effective length components result in an uncertainty of 8.8^{+2.1}_{-1.3} % in
the square root of the energy fluence for incoming signal directions with
zenith angles smaller than 60{\deg}.Comment: Published version. Updated online abstract only. Manuscript is
unchanged with respect to v2. 39 pages, 15 figures, 2 table
Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory
We report a multi-resolution search for anisotropies in the arrival
directions of cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory with local
zenith angles up to and energies in excess of 4 EeV ( eV). This search is conducted by measuring the angular power spectrum
and performing a needlet wavelet analysis in two independent energy ranges.
Both analyses are complementary since the angular power spectrum achieves a
better performance in identifying large-scale patterns while the needlet
wavelet analysis, considering the parameters used in this work, presents a
higher efficiency in detecting smaller-scale anisotropies, potentially
providing directional information on any observed anisotropies. No deviation
from isotropy is observed on any angular scale in the energy range between 4
and 8 EeV. Above 8 EeV, an indication for a dipole moment is captured; while no
other deviation from isotropy is observed for moments beyond the dipole one.
The corresponding -values obtained after accounting for searches blindly
performed at several angular scales, are in the case of
the angular power spectrum, and in the case of the needlet
analysis. While these results are consistent with previous reports making use
of the same data set, they provide extensions of the previous works through the
thorough scans of the angular scales.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report
Numbe
Ultrahigh-energy neutrino follow-up of Gravitational Wave events GW150914 and GW151226 with the Pierre Auger Observatory
On September 14, 2015 the Advanced LIGO detectors observed their first
gravitational-wave (GW) transient GW150914. This was followed by a second GW
event observed on December 26, 2015. Both events were inferred to have arisen
from the merger of black holes in binary systems. Such a system may emit
neutrinos if there are magnetic fields and disk debris remaining from the
formation of the two black holes. With the surface detector array of the Pierre
Auger Observatory we can search for neutrinos with energy above 100 PeV from
point-like sources across the sky with equatorial declination from about -65
deg. to +60 deg., and in particular from a fraction of the 90% confidence-level
(CL) inferred positions in the sky of GW150914 and GW151226. A targeted search
for highly-inclined extensive air showers, produced either by interactions of
downward-going neutrinos of all flavors in the atmosphere or by the decays of
tau leptons originating from tau-neutrino interactions in the Earth's crust
(Earth-skimming neutrinos), yielded no candidates in the Auger data collected
within s around or 1 day after the coordinated universal time (UTC)
of GW150914 and GW151226, as well as in the same search periods relative to the
UTC time of the GW candidate event LVT151012. From the non-observation we
constrain the amount of energy radiated in ultrahigh-energy neutrinos from such
remarkable events.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report
Numbe
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