Análise comparativa de fórmulas para estimativa de peso em adultos / Comparative analysis of equations for estimating weight for adults

O peso é um dado antropométrico muito utilizado em pacientes, hospitalizados ou não. Entretanto, tal medida é difícil de ser realizada em pacientes acamados, cadeirantes e ou com deformidades físicas. Por esse motivo, há na literatura equações sugeridas para estimativa de peso. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo é testar a concordância dos valores de peso aferidos com aqueles obtidos pelas fórmulas propostas na literatura para estimativa deste dado, bem como confrontar a acurácia delas. Indivíduos adultos e idosos que apresentem plena possibilidade de terem o peso corporal aferido serão convidados a participar do estudo. Este estudo está em fase de desenvolvimento, sendo que até o presente momento foram coletados dados apenas com indivíduos adultos. Os participantes foram submetidos a aferição do peso e das medidas antropométricas constantes nas fórmulas propostas na literatura, incluindo a de Chumléa et al. (1985) e de Rabito et al. (2008). Adicionalmente, foi realizada a estimativa do peso destes indivíduos com base em tais fórmulas. Para testar a concordância entre os dois valores de peso (aferido e estimado) foi utilizado o Coeficiente de Correlação Intraclasse, com intervalo de confiança de 95% e valor de significância de 5% (p ? 0,05). Até o momento foi realizada coleta de dados com 133 indivíduos adultos, de ambos os sexos, sendo 65% mulheres. A média de idade dos participantes é de 34,3 ± 10,6 anos. O teste da concordância, indicou concordância “quase completa” e significativa entre os dois valores de peso, o aferido e o estimado por cada uma das fórmulas. Entretanto, observa-se que o intervalo de confiança obtido não é pequeno, em especial em relação as Fórmulas de Rabito et al. (2008), indicando baixo poder de precisão destas equações. Concluímos que as equações propostas na literatura apresentam excelente concordância entre o peso aferido e o estimado, porém a baixa precisão aponta para a necessidade de estudos que proponham e validem novas e outras fórmulas capazes de estimar o peso com a mesma concordância porém com maior precisão

Spatio-temporal and kinematic gait analysis in patients with Frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease through 3D motion capture

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) are characterized respectively by atrophy in the medial temporal lobe with memory loss and prefrontal and anterior temporal degeneration with dysexecutive syndrome. In this study, we hypothesized that specific gait patterns are induced by either frontal or temporal degeneration. To test this hypothesis, we studied the gait pattern in bvFTD (23) and AD (22) patients in single and dual task (“motor” and “cognitive”) conditions. To detect subtle alterations, we performed motion analysis estimating both spatio-temporal parameters and joint excursions. In the single task condition, the bvFTD group was more unstable and slower compared to healthy subjects, while only two stability parameters were compromised in the AD group. During the motor dual task, both velocity and stability parameters worsened further in the bvFTD group. In the same experimental conditions, AD patients showed a significantly lower speed and stride length than healthy subjects. During the cognitive dual task, a further impairment of velocity and stability parameters was observed in the bvFTD group. Interestingly, during the cognitive dual task, the gait performance of the AD group markedly deteriorated, as documented by the impairment of more indices of velocity and stability. Finally, the kinematic data of thigh, knee, and ankle were more helpful in revealing gait impairment than the spatio-temporal parameters alone. In conclusion, our data showed that the dysexecutive syndrome induces specific gait alterations. Furthermore, our results suggest that the gait worsens in the AD patients when the cognitive resources are stressed

In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis blood cytokines are altered, but do not correlate with changes in brain topology

Aim The present study aims at investigating the possible correlation between peripheral markers of inflammation and brain networks in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Introduction Among the complex mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of ALS neuroinflammation, which is associated with altered circulating cytokine levels, is suggested to play a prominent role. Methods Based on magnetoencephalography data, we estimated topological properties of the brain networks in ALS patients and healthy controls. Subsequently, the blood levels of a subset of cytokines were assayed. Finally, we modelled the brain topological features in function of the cytokines levels. Results Significant differences were found in the levels of the cytokines IL-4, IL-1β and IFN-γ between patients and controls. In particular, IL-4 and IL-1β levels increased in ALS patients, while the IFN-γ level was higher in healthy controls. We also detected modifications in brain global topological parameters in terms of hyper-connectedness. Despite both blood cytokines and brain topology were altered in ALS patients, such changes do not appear to be in a direct relationship. Conclusion Our results would be in line with the idea that topological changes relate to neurodegenerative processes. However, the absence of correlation between blood cytokines and topological parameters of brain networks does not preclude that inflammatory processes contribute to the alterations of the brain networks. Impact Statement The progression of ALS entails both neurodegenerative and inflammatory processes. Furthermore, disease progression induces global modifications of the brain networks, with advanced stages showing a more compact, hyper-connected network topology. In this paper, we hypothesized that the global inflammatory profile would relate to the topological alterations. Our results showed that this is not the case, as modelling the topological properties as a function of the inflammatory state did not yield good predictions. Hence, our results suggest that topological changes might directly relate to neurodegenerative processes instead

Long-term efficacy of B cell depletion therapy on lung and skin involvement in diffuse systemic sclerosis

To assess the long-term efficacy and safety of single and multiple courses of rituximab therapy in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with and without lung disease

ROC curve on number of VEBs and major cardiac events.

<p>ROC curve on number of VEBs and major cardiac events (considered as sudden cardiac death or ICD implantation). AUROC = 0.92, p<0.0001. ROC = receiver operating curve. AUROC = area under ROC.</p

Clinical characteristics of patients who met the primary end-point (SCD+ICD) compared with patients without major arrhythmic events.

<p>Clinical characteristics of patients who met the primary end-point (SCD+ICD) compared with patients without major arrhythmic events.</p

Survival curve in patients with and without VEBs>1000/24h.

<p>Kaplan-Meier estimates cumulative survival between patients with or without VEBs>1000/24h. Black line: survival in patients with VEBs>1000/24h. Grey line: survival in patients with VEBs<1000/24. Each tick mark corresponds to a time of patient censoring. None of the patients without VEBs <1000/24h died or required and ICD-implantation during follow-up while 7 patients with VEBs >1000/2h at baseline met the composite end-point SCD/ICD implantation.</p

Clinical characteristics of patients with and without VEBs >1190/24h.

<p>Clinical characteristics of patients with and without VEBs >1190/24h.</p

Demographic, immunological and clinical characteristics of 100 selected SSc patients.

<p>Demographic, immunological and clinical characteristics of 100 selected SSc patients.</p

ECG-Holter findings in our cohort of 100 selected SSc patients.

<p>ECG-Holter findings in our cohort of 100 selected SSc patients.</p