Effects of chronic weight perturbation on energy homeostasis and brain structure in mice

Maintenance of reduced body weight in lean and obese human subjects results in the persistent decrease in energy expenditure below what can be accounted for by changes in body mass and composition. Genetic and developmental factors may determine a central nervous system (CNS)-mediated minimum threshold of somatic energy stores below which behavioral and metabolic compensations for weight loss are invoked. A critical question is whether this threshold can be altered by environmental influences and by what mechanisms such alterations might be achieved. We examined the bioenergetic, behavioral, and CNS structural responses to weight reduction of diet-induced obese (DIO) and never-obese (CON) C57BL/6J male mice. We found that weight-reduced (WR) DIO-WR and CON-WR animals showed reductions in energy expenditure, adjusted for body mass and composition, comparable (−10–15%) to those seen in human subjects. The proportion of excitatory synapses on arcuate nucleus proopiomelanocortin neurons was decreased by ∼50% in both DIO-WR and CON-WR mice. These data suggest that prolonged maintenance of an elevated body weight (fat) alters energy homeostatic systems to defend a higher level of body fat. The synaptic changes could provide a neural substrate for the disproportionate decline in energy expenditure in weight-reduced individuals. This response to chronic weight elevation may also occur in humans. The mouse model described here could help to identify the molecular/cellular mechanisms underlying both the defense mechanisms against sustained weight loss and the upward resetting of those mechanisms following sustained weight gain

Diagnostic evaluation of bone densitometric size adjustment techniques in children with and without low trauma fractures

Several established methods are used to size adjust dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements in children. However, there is no consensus as to which method is most diagnostically accurate. All size-adjusted bone mineral density (BMD) values were more diagnostically accurate than non-size-adjusted values. The greatest odds ratio was estimated volumetric BMD for vertebral fracture

Influence of a lifestyle intervention in preschool children on physiological and psychological parameters (Ballabeina): study design of a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are increasing dramatically worldwide. Children of low socioeconomic status and/or children of migrant background are especially at risk. In general, the overall effectiveness of school-based programs on health-related outcomes has been disappointing. A special gap exists for younger children and in high risk groups. This paper describes the rationale, design, curriculum, and evaluation of a multicenter preschool randomized intervention study conducted in areas with a high migrant population in two out of 26 Swiss cantons. Twenty preschool classes in the German (canton St. Gallen) and another 20 in the French (canton Vaud) part of Switzerland were separately selected and randomized to an intervention and a control arm by the use of opaque envelopes. The multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention aimed to increase physical activity and sleep duration, to reinforce healthy nutrition and eating behaviour, and to reduce media use. According to the ecological model, it included children, their parents and the teachers. The regular teachers performed the majority of the intervention and were supported by a local health promoter. The intervention included physical activity lessons, adaptation of the built infrastructure; promotion of regional extracurricular physical activity; playful lessons about nutrition, media use and sleep, funny homework cards and information materials for teachers and parents. It lasted one school year. Baseline and post-intervention evaluations were performed in both arms. Primary outcome measures included BMI and aerobic fitness (20 m shuttle run test). Secondary outcomes included total (skinfolds, bioelectrical impedance) and central (waist circumference) body fat, motor abilities (obstacle course, static and dynamic balance), physical activity and sleep duration (accelerometry and questionnaires), nutritional behaviour and food intake, media use, quality of life and signs of hyperactivity (questionnaires), attention and spatial working memory ability (two validated tests). Researchers were blinded to group allocation. The purpose of this paper is to outline the design of a school-based multicenter cluster randomized, controlled trial aiming to reduce body mass index and to increase aerobic fitness in preschool children in culturally different parts of Switzerland with a high migrant population. Trial Registration: (clinicaltrials.gov) NCT00674544

Decreased Plasma Apelin Levels in Pubertal Obese Children

Background Apelin is a recently defined peptide relevant to the mechanism of obesity-related disorders There has been no report so far about the levels of plasma apelin in obese childre