Low fatness, reduced fat intake and adequate plasmatic concentrations of LDL-cholesterol are associated with high bone mineral density in women: a cross-sectional study with control group

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several parameters are associated with high bone mineral density (BMD), such as overweight, black background, intense physical activity (PA), greater calcium intake and some medications. The objectives are to evaluate the prevalence and the main aspects associated with high BMD in healthy women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After reviewing the database of approximately 21,500 BMD scans performed in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil, from June 2005 to October 2010, high BMD (over 1400 g/cm²at lumbar spine and/or above 1200 g/cm²at femoral neck) was found in 421 exams. Exclusion criteria were age below 30 or above 60 years, black ethnicity, pregnant or obese women, disease and/or medications known to interfere with bone metabolism. A total of 40 women with high BMD were included and matched with 40 healthy women with normal BMD, paired to weight, age, skin color and menopausal status. Medical history, food intake and PA were assessed through validated questionnaires. Body composition was evaluated through a GE-Lunar DPX MD + bone densitometer. Radiography of the thoracic and lumbar spine was carried out to exclude degenerative alterations or fractures. Biochemical parameters included both lipid and hormonal profiles, along with mineral and bone metabolism. Statistical analysis included parametric and nonparametric tests and linear regression models. <it>P </it>< 0.05 was considered significant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age was 50.9 (8.3) years. There was no significant difference between groups in relation to PA, smoking, intake of calcium and vitamin D, as well as laboratory tests, except serum C-telopeptide of type I collagen (s-CTX), which was lower in the high BMD group (<it>p </it>= 0.04). In the final model of multivariate regression, a lower fat intake and body fatness as well a better profile of LDL-cholesterol predicted almost 35% of high BMD in women. (adjusted R2 = 0.347; <it>p </it>< 0.001). In addition, greater amounts of lean mass and higher IGF-1 serum concentrations played a protective role, regardless age and weight.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrate the potential deleterious effect of lipid metabolism-related components, including fat intake and body fatness and worse lipid profile, on bone mass and metabolism in healthy women.</p

Non-invasive Cognitive Enhancement in Epilepsy

Epilepsy patients frequently experience cognitive difficulties, particularly in the domains of memory, attention, and executive function. Despite the frequency of these difficulties among epilepsy patients, current strategies to treat cognitive dysfunction are limited. We performed a systematic review of controlled trials of non-invasive cognitive enhancement in epilepsy. We identified studies examining the efficacy of pharmacological agents, namely the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors donepezil and galantamine, the NMDA non-competitive antagonist memantine, and the stimulant methylphenidate, as well as non-invasive non-pharmacological transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We highlight the data currently available and the limitations of the current literature

Family history of cancer, body weight, and p53 nuclear overexpression in Duke's C colorectal cancer.

To examine the hypothesis that colorectal carcinomas with and without TP53 mutations may be characterised by aetiological heterogeneity, we analysed a group of 107 patients with primary Dukes' C colorectal cancer seen at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) from 1986 to 1990. We assessed p53 overexpression using the monoclonal antibody PAb 1801, and identified 42 (39%) patients displaying p53-positive phenotype, defined as > or = 25% of positive cells. Patients with two or more first-degree relatives with cancer had an odds ratio (OR) of 2.9 (95% CI 1.0-8.3) for p53 overexpression in comparison with those without a family history of cancer (trend test, P = 0.11). A possible association between body weight and p53 overexpression was observed. The ORs were 1.9 for the second quartile, 1.9 for the third quartile and 3.4 for the highest quartile in comparison with the lowest quartile (trend test, P = 0.06). No association between occupational physical activity, smoking, drinking, parity and p53 overexpression was identified. The results suggest that p53 overexpression may be related to genetic predisposition to colorectal cancer, and p53-positive and p53-negative colorectal cancers may be controlled by different aetiological pathways

Permeability hysteresis in gravity counterflow segregation

Hysteresis effects in two-phase flow in porous media are important in applications such as waterflooding or gas storage in sand aquifers. In this paper, we develop a numerical scheme for such a flow where the permeability hysteresis is modeled by a family of reversible scanning curves enclosed by irreversible imbibition and drainage permeability curves. The scheme is based on associated local Riemann solutions and can be viewed as a modification of the classical Godunov method. The Riemann solutions necessary for the scheme are presented, as well as the criteria that guarantee the well-posedness ofthe Riemann problem with respect to perturbations of left and right states. The numerical and analytical results show strong influence of the permeability hysteresis on the flow. In addition, the numerical scheme accurately reproduces the available experimental data once hysteresis is taken into account in the model.Shaerer, C., Sarkis, M., Marchesin, D. and Bedrikovetski, P

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals

Spin wave Hamiltonian and anomalous scattering in NiPS3_3

We report a comprehensive spin wave analysis of the semiconducting honeycomb van der Waal antiferromagnet NiPS$_3$. Using single crystal inelastic neutron scattering, we map out the full Brillouin zone and fit the observed modes to a spin wave model with rigorously defined uncertainty. We find that the third neighbor exchange $J_3$ dominates the Hamiltonian, a feature which we fully account for by ab-initio density functional theory calculations. We also quantify the degree to which the three-fold rotation symmetry is broken and account for the $Q=0$ excitations observed in other measurements, yielding a spin exchange model which is consistent across multiple experimental probes. We also identify a strongly reduced static ordered moment and reduced low-energy intensity relative to the linear spin wave calculations, signaling unexplained features in the magnetism which requires going beyond the linear spin wave approximation.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures; 5 pages and 6 additional figures of appendice