Breakfast habits and differences regarding abdominal obesity in a cross-sectional study in Spanish adults: The ANIBES study

Background: Previous studies have indicated that breakfast has a protective effect against obesity. The aim of this study was to describe the breakfast habits of the Spanish adult population and to assess the possible association between breakfast frequency and the presence of abdominal obesity, in a cross-sectional analysis of the ANIBES Study. Methods: A representative sample of 1655 Spanish adults (aged 39±12 y; (mean±sd)) from the ANIBES Study was investigated. The final field work was carried out from mid-September to November (three months) 2013. Collected data included a dietary data collected by a 3-days food record, and health, socioeconomic, physical activity and anthropometric (weight, height and waist circumference) data. Abdominal obesity was defined as having a waist-to-height ratio ≥0.5. The adults were also classified into three groups based on the number of days they ate breakfast (never (0/3 days), sometimes (1-2/3 days) and always (3/3 days)). Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between breakfast and abdominal obesity. Results: In total, 3.6% of adults skipped breakfast and 14.1% ate breakfast sometimes. Having always breakfast was negatively associated with abdominal obesity [OR = 0.738 (0.558–0.975) p = 0.033]. The odds of abdominal obesity after full adjustment (age, gender, and educational and activity level) were 1.5 times higher for those who skipped breakfast when compared to those who always have breakfast. By correcting the model considered for other variables, the odds among smokers decreased when they have breakfast sometimes [OR = 0.032 (0.003–0.387) p = 0.007] and always [OR = 0.023 (0.002–0.270) p = 0.003] comparing with smokers who skip breakfast. Conclusion: Breakfast frequency could be negatively associated with abdominal obesity, especially among smokers.ANIBES Study was financially supported by Coca Cola Iberia through an agreement with the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN)

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

A Taxonomically-informed Mass Spectrometry Search Tool for Microbial Metabolomics Data

MicrobeMASST, a taxonomically-informed mass spectrometry (MS) search tool, tackles limited microbial metabolite annotation in untargeted metabolomics experiments. Leveraging a curated database of >60,000 microbial monocultures, users can search known and unknown MS/MS spectra and link them to their respective microbial producers via MS/MS fragmentation patterns. Identification of microbial-derived metabolites and relative producers, without a priori knowledge, will vastly enhance the understanding of microorganisms’ role in ecology and human health

Molecular radiosensitivity and tissular response to ionizing radiation treatment

El éxito de la radioterapia en el control de las enfermedades tumorales malignas que afectan al ser humano depende de manera crítica de la dosis total de radiación que se administra, pero lo que realmente limita el nivel de dosis es la tolerancia de los tejidos normales que rodean al tumor y que, por ello, forman parte del volumen tisular sometido a tratamiento. Estudios in vitro realizados con fibroblastos obtenidos de pacientes afectos de cáncer han demostrado la utilidad de estas células, y de los ensayos de formación de colonias, en el desarrollo de un test de medida de radio sensibilidad que podría ser aplicado para la predicción de la respuesta de los pacientes. Sin embargo, este tipo de ensayo está aun lejos de ser utilizado en la práctica única. Para resolver las dificultades experimentales que se han presentado en el intento de predicción de la radiorespuesta se han aplicado otros procedimientos analíticos. Entre ellos destacan diversas aproximaciones al conocimiento del nivel de daño inducido por la radiación sobre la molécula del DNA. El trabajo experimental desarrollado en los últimos años ha proporcionado datos cuantitativos sobre el número de rupturas dobles de cadena de DNA (dsb) producidas por unidad de dosis y unidad de DNA y se ha considerado este parámetro como una medida de la sensibilidad de las células respecto a la radiación ionizante. En este trabajo se revisan los conocimientos actuales y se incluyen datos preliminares sobre la aplicación del modelo molecular al estudio de radiosensibilidad en dos tipos celulares (células epidérmicas de la piel y linfocitos) procedentes de pacientes oncológicos. Nuestros resultados demuestran que el número de dsb que la radiación induce sobre las células varía significativamente cuando se comparan los resultados obtenidos en diferentes pacientes (1-5 dsb/Gy/unidad de DNA). También hemos podido observar la existencia de una relación, estadísticamente muy significativa, entre el nivel de daño molecular medido simultáneamente en linfocitos y en células epidérmicas procedentes del mismo paciente (p 0.005). Estos datos sugieren que el número inicial de dsb podría ser utilizado como índice de tolerancia de los tejidos sanos a la radiación.The success of radiotherapy in eradicating tumours depends on the total radiation dose, but what limits this dose is the tolerance of the normal tissues within the treatment volume. In vitro studies involving fibroblast survival from cancer patients have demonstrated the theoretical feasibility of a predictive assay (the clonogenic assay) of radiation sensitivity. But such an assay is still far from clinical application. Alternative measures of radiosensitivity have been developed as predictive tests of radioresponse in order to avoid experimental errors. Among them, the initial "apparent" number of DNA double-strand breaks (dsb) induced by radiation has been quantified using Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). This parameter has been considered as an alternative measure of cell radiosensitivity. In this work we show both, preliminary data and a review of the current knowledge about the molecular model application to the radiosensitivity study using two different normal cell types from the same cancer patient, epidermal skin cells and lymphocytes. A significant interindividual variation in the measured dsb (1-5 dsb/Gy/DNA unit) was demonstrated. A linear correlation was found between molecular damage in lymphocytes and skin samples from the same patient (p 0.005) simultaneously measured. These results suggest that the initial number of dsb could be used as an indicator of the normal tissue in vivo tolerance to radiation