2015 Seychelles global school-based student health survey

Introduction : Risky behaviors in school‐aged children, such as unhealthy dietary patterns, lack of physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol and substance use, sexual behavior, can impact their health in the short and long terms. This survey aimed to assess the prevalence of selected risk behaviors and protective factors in students aged 13‐15 years. Methods: The Global School‐based Student Health Survey (GSHS) was conducted in September 2015 in Seychelles. Methods followed the standard methodology of GSHS developed by the World Health Organization, the Centers of Disease Prevention and Control (Atlanta, USA) and other international agencies. A two‐stage cluster sample was used to include a random sample of students in grades S1 to S5, i.e. students aged 11 to 17 years. Students completed a self reported questionnaire, which was anonymous, which included questions from several standard modules of GSHS. In addition, weight and height was measured on the day before the survey and students were asked to report their results in their anonymous response forms

2015 Seychelles Global Youth Tobacco Survey and comparison with GYTS in 2007 and 2002

OBJECTIVES: The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) is aimed to assess behaviors, knowledge, beliefs, opinions and other variables related to tobacco use among students of secondary schools aged 13‐15 years in countries worldwide using a standard methodology and questionnaire. METHODS: We present the main findings of GYTS performed in Seychelles in 2015 and compare results with results of two previous GYTS surveys done in Seychelles in 2007 and 2002 in order to identify trends over time. In each GYTS, a two‐stage cluster sample design was used to produce a representative sample of all students in grades S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 from all public and private schools in Seychelles. Participants completed a standard self‐administered questionnaire in schools on an anonymous and voluntary basis

Cryptic Diversity in Paramecium multimicronucleatum Revealed with a Polyphasic Approach

Paramecium (Ciliophora) systematics is well studied, and about twenty morphological species have been described. The morphological species may include several genetic species. How-ever, molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the species diversity within Paramecium could be even higher and has raised a problem of cryptic species whose statuses remain uncertain. In the present study, we provide the morphological and molecular characterization of two novel Paramecium species. While Paramecium lynni n. sp., although morphologically similar to P. multimicronucleatum, is phylogenetically well separated from all other Paramecium species, Paramecium fokini n. sp. appears to be a cryptic sister species to P. multimicronucleatum. The latter two species can be distinguished only by molecular methods. The number and structure of micronuclei, traditionally utilized to discriminate species in Paramecium, vary not only between but also within each of the three studied species and, thus, cannot be considered a reliable feature for species identification. The geographic distribution of the P. multimicronucleatum and P. fokini n. sp. strains do not show defined patterns, still leaving space for a role of the geographic factor in initial speciation in Paramecium. Future findings of new Paramecium species can be predicted from the molecular data, while morphological characteristics appear to be unstable and overlapping at least in some species

SURF1 deficiency causes demyelinating Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Objective: To investigate whether mutations in the SURF1 gene are a cause of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. Methods: We describe 2 patients from a consanguineous family with demyelinating autosomal recessive CMT disease (CMT4) associated with the homozygous splice site mutation c.107-2A>G in the SURF1 gene, encoding an assembly factor of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex IV. This observation led us to hypothesize that mutations in SURF1 might be an unrecognized cause of CMT4, and we investigated SURF1 in a total of 40 unrelated patients with CMT4 after exclusion of mutations in known CMT4 genes. The functional impact of c.107-2A>G on splicing, amount of SURF1 protein, and on complex IV activity and assembly was analyzed. Results: Another patient with CMT4 was found to harbor 2 additional SURF1 mutations. All 3 patients with SURF1-associated CMT4 presented with severe childhood-onset neuropathy, motor nerve conduction velocities G mutation produced no normally spliced transcript, leading to SURF1 absence. However, complex IV remained partially functional in muscle and fibroblasts. Conclusions: We found SURF1 mutations in 5% of families (2/41) presenting with CMT4. SURF1 should be systematically screened in patients with childhood-onset severe demyelinating neuropathy and additional features such as lactic acidosis, brain MRI abnormalities, and cerebellar ataxia developing years after polyneuropathy

Associations between dietary inflammatory scores and biomarkers of inflammation in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort

Background Since the first version of the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) developed in the past decade, several other versions have been developed. However, to date no study has attempted to compare these versions with respect to their associations with biomarkers of inflammation. Objective We aimed to investigate the relationship between four dietary inflammatory scores [DII, two energy-adjusted derivatives (E-DII and E-DIIr), and the Inflammatory Score of the Diet (ISD)], and circulating levels of several inflammatory markers and adipokines. Methods This study included 17 637 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort with at least one marker of inflammation measured in blood. Associations between the four scores and C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)6, IL10, IL1RA, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 (sTNFR1), sTNFR2, leptin, soluble leptin receptor (sLeptin R), adiponectin, and High Molecular Weight (HMW) adiponectin were evaluated using multivariable linear regressions adjusted for potential confounders. Results Positive associations were observed between the four dietary inflammatory scores and levels of CRP, IL6, sTNFR1, sTNFR2 and leptin. However, only the DII and the ISD were positively associated with IL1RA levels and only the DII and the E-DIIr were positively associated with TNFα levels. The proportion of variance of each biomarker explained by the scores was lower than 2%, which was equivalent to the variance explained by smoking status but much lower than that explained by body mass index. Conclusions Our results suggest that the four dietary inflammatory scores were associated with some biomarkers of inflammation and could be used to assess the inflammatory potential of diet in European adults but are not sufficient to capture the inflammatory status of an individual. These findings can help to better understand the inflammatory potential of diet, but they need to be replicated in studies with repeated dietary measurements