The LiP (Lifestyle in Pregnancy) study: a randomized controlled trial of lifestyle intervention in 360 obese pregnant women

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of lifestyle intervention on gestational weight gain (GWG) and obstetric outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The LiP (Lifestyle in Pregnancy) study was a randomized controlled trial in 360 obese women allocated in early pregnancy to lifestyle intervention or control. The intervention program included dietary guidance, free membership in fitness centers, physical training, and personal coaching. RESULTS: A total of 360 obese pregnant women were included, and 304 (84%) were followed up until delivery. The intervention group had a significantly lower median (range) GWG compared with the control group of 7.0 (4.7–10.6) vs. 8.6 kg (5.7–11.5; P = 0.01). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations on GWG were exceeded in 35.4% of women in the intervention group compared with 46.6% in the control group (P = 0.058). Overall, the obstetric outcomes between the two groups were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle intervention in pregnancy resulted in limited GWG in obese pregnant women. Overall obstetric outcomes were similar in the two groups. Lifestyle intervention resulted in a higher adherence to the IOM weight gain recommendations; however, a significant number of women still exceeded the upper threshold

Antisense locked nucleic acid gapmers to control Candida albicans filamentation

Whereas locked nucleic acid (LNA) has been extensively used to control gene expression, it has never been exploited to control Candida virulence genes. Thus, the main goal of this work was to compare the efficacy of five different LNA-based antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) with respect to the ability to control EFG1 gene expression, to modulate filamentation and to reduce C. albicans virulence. In vitro, all LNA-ASOs were able to significantly reduce C. albicans filamentation and to control EFG1 gene expression. Using the in vivo Galleria mellonella model, important differences among the five LNA-ASOs were revealed in terms of C. albicans virulence reduction. The inclusion of PS-linkage and palmitoyl-2-amino-LNA chemical modification in these five LNA gapmers proved to be the most promising combination, increasing the survival of G. mellonella by 40%. Our work confirms that LNA-ASOs are useful tools for research and therapeutic development in the candidiasis field.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation forScience and Technology (FCT) under the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European RegionalDevelopment Fund under the scope of Norte2020-ProgramaOperacional Regional do Norte and Daniela Eira Araújo [SFRH/BD/121417/2016] PhD grant. The authors also acknowledge theproject funding by the“02/SAICT/2017–Projetos de Investiga-ção Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (IC&DT)–POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028893”. VILLUM Fonden is acknowledgedfor funding the Biomolecular Nano-scale Engineering Center(BioNEC), a Villum center of excellence, grant numberVKR18333. Funding received by iBB-Institute for Bioengineer-ing and Biosciences from FCT (UID/BIO/04565/2020) andPrograma Operacional Regional de Lisboa 2020 (Project No.007317) is also acknowledged. We acknowledge Dr. LucíliaGoreti Pinto, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute(ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, forprocessing and sectioningG. mellonellatissue samples.The authors declare no conflict of interest.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transcriptional immune response in mesenteric lymph nodes in pigs with different levels of resistance to Ascaris suum

AbstractA single nucleotide polymorphism on chromosome 4 (SNP TXNIP) has been reported to be associated with roundworm</jats:p

Overdiagnosis in organised mammography screening in Denmark. A comparative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overdiagnosis in cancer screening is the detection of cancer lesions that would otherwise not have been detected. It is arguably the most important harm. We quantified overdiagnosis in the Danish mammography screening programme, which is uniquely suited for this purpose, as only 20% of the Danish population has been offered organised mammography screening over a long time-period.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We collected incidence rates of carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer in areas with and without screening over 13 years with screening (1991-2003), and 20 years before its introduction (1971-1990). We explored the incidence increase comparing unadjusted incidence rates and used Poisson regression analysis to compensate for the background incidence trend, variation in age distribution and geographical variation in incidence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For the screened age group, 50 to 69 years, we found an overdiagnosis of 35% when we compared unadjusted incidence rates for the screened and non-screened areas, but after compensating for a small decline in incidence in older, previously screened women. Our adjusted Poisson regression analysis indicated a relative risk of 1.40 (95% CI: 1.35-1.45) for the whole screening period, and a potential compensatory drop in older women of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.88-0.96), yielding an overdiagnosis of 33%, which we consider the most reliable estimate. The drop in previously screened women was only present in one of the two screened regions and was small in absolute numbers.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>One in four breast cancers diagnosed in the screened age group in the Danish screening programme is overdiagnosed. Our estimate for Denmark is lower than that for comparable countries, likely because of lower uptake, lower recall rates and lower detection rates of carcinoma in situ.</p

Lithium in drinking water and incidence of suicide:A nationwide individual-level cohort study with 22 years of follow-up

Suicide is a major public health concern. High-dose lithium is used to stabilize mood and prevent suicide in patients with affective disorders. Lithium occurs naturally in drinking water worldwide in much lower doses, but with large geographical variation. Several studies conducted at an aggregate level have suggested an association between lithium in drinking water and a reduced risk of suicide; however, a causal relation is uncertain. Individual-level register-based data on the entire Danish adult population (3.7 million individuals) from 1991 to 2012 were linked with a moving five-year time-weighted average (TWA) lithium exposure level from drinking water hypothesizing an inverse relationship. The mean lithium level was 11.6 μg/L ranging from 0.6 to 30.7 μg/L. The suicide rate decreased from 29.7 per 100,000 person-years at risk in 1991 to 18.4 per 100,000 person-years in 2012. We found no significant indication of an association between increasing five-year TWA lithium exposure level and decreasing suicide rate. The comprehensiveness of using individual-level data and spatial analyses with 22 years of follow-up makes a pronounced contribution to previous findings. Our findings demonstrate that there does not seem to be a protective effect of exposure to lithium on the incidence of suicide with levels below 31 μg/L in drinking water