Introduction of Potentially Allergenic Foods in the Infant's Diet during the First Year of Life in Five European Countries

Background: Little information is available on infants' age at first introduction of potentially allergenic foods as part of complementary feeding. We aimed to analyze age at the introduction of potentially allergenic foods in healthy term infants relative to recommendations in 5 European countries. Method: Recruitment was conducted from October 2002 to June 2004. A total of 1,678 infants {[}588 breastfed (BF) and 1,090 formula-fed (FF) infants] were studied. In 1,368 infants, at least one 3-day weighed food diary at the age of 1-9 and 12 completed months was available. Results: Six percent of BF infants and 13% of FF infants consumed some potentially allergenic food already prior to the recommended minimum age of 4 months, and 4% of BF infants and 11% of FF infants had already received gluten. There were significant differences in the timing of the introduction of potentially allergenic foods between the countries at the age of 4-6 months (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The time of first introduction of potentially allergenic foods in infants differed significantly between countries, and they were introduced much earlier than recommended in some countries. FF infants received potentially allergenic foods earlier than BF infants. Better information and counseling of parents is desirable. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Neonatal exposure to xenoestrogens impairs the ovarian response to gonadotropin treatment in lambs

Bisphenol A (BPA) and diethylstilbestrol (DES) are xenoestrogens which have been associated with altered effects on reproduction. We hypothesized that neonatal xenoestrogen exposure affects the ovarian functionality in lambs. Thus, we evaluated the ovarian response to exogenous ovine Follicle Stimulating Hormone (oFSH) administered from postnatal day 30 (PND30) to PND32 in female lambs previously exposed to low doses of DES or BPA (BPA50: 50 μg/kg.day, BPA0.5: 0.5 μg/kg.day) from PND1 to PND14. We determined: a) follicular growth, b) circulating levels of E2, c) steroid receptors (ERA, ERB, AR) and atresia, d) mRNA expression levels of the ovarian bone morphogenetic protein (BMPs) system (BMP6, BMP15, BMP receptor type 1B, GDF9) and FSH receptor (FSHR). Lambs neonatally exposed to DES or BPA showed an impaired ovarian response to oFSH with a lower number of follicles ≥2 mm together with a lower number of atretic follicles and no increase in E2 serum levels in response to oFSH treatment. In addition, AR induction by oFSH was disrupted in granulosa and theca cells of lambs exposed to DES or BPA. An increase in GDF9 mRNA expression levels was observed in oFSH-primed lambs previously treated with DES or BPA50. In contrast, a decrease in BMPR1B was observed in BPA0.5-postnatally exposed lambs. The modifications in AR, GDF9 and BMPR1B may be associated with the altered ovarian function due to neonatal xenoestrogen exposure in response to an exogenous gonadotropin stimulus. These alterations may be the pathophysiological basis of subfertility syndrome in adulthood.Fil: Rivera, Oscar E.. Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Varayoud, Jorgelina Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Horacio Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Santamaría, Clarisa Guillermina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Bosquiazzo, Veronica Lis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Osti, Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Belmonte, Norberto Miguel. Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Muñoz de Toro, Monica Milagros. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Luque, Enrique Hugo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; Argentin

Is growth in early childhood a window of opportunity for programming long-term health?

Background: Rapid growth characterises early childhood, with the highest weight gain in early infancy and continued relatively high gains during preschool years. Summary: Subnormal weight and length gain from birth to about 2 years of age predict increased childhood wasting and stunting, whereas excessive weight gain in infancy and early childhood is associated with increased later obesity. Breastfeeding attenuates the risk of high early weight gain and later obesity, adding another reason for promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding. Avoiding high infant protein intakes from infant formula and complementary foods is strongly recommended since it markedly reduces later obesity and adiposity. This can be achieved by avoiding cows’ and other animal milks as a drink in infancy and choosing infant formula with a low protein content, more similar to breastmilk, for infants not (fully) breastfed. High weight gain in toddlers is also associated with increased later obesity, predicted by overfeeding, high intakes of sugary foods and beverages, and high intakes of protein, particularly animal protein. In an ongoing controlled trial in Germany and Spain, we randomised 1,618 toddlers to milk drinks in the second year of life providing protein contents either similar to cows’ milk or more similar to human milk. First results show high protein milk inducing high weight and length gains deviating from normal growth trajectories, whereas reduced protein intakes support weight and length growth matching WHO growth standards. Follow-up until early school age is ongoing to explore a potential impact on later growth and overweight risk. Key messages: Avoiding rapid weight gain in infancy and toddlerhood can reduce later obesity risk. Promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding and avoidance of high animal protein intakes in early childhood can contribute to reaching this goal

Talleres de dramatización como estrategia para desarrollar la autoestima de los estudiantes de 5 años de la Institución Educativa Inicial San Miguel de Juliaca - 2023

En la sociedad actual se enfatiza el crecimiento emocional de los niños es crucial en la cultura contemporánea, ya que mejora su autoestima y garantiza una trayectoria académica y emocional más próspera. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue realizar un análisis exhaustivo del impacto de los talleres de dramatización en el fortalecimiento de la autoestima en escolares de cinco años de edad matriculados en la Institución Educativa Inicial (IEI) San Miguel de Juliaca. El estudio utilizó una metodología experimental cuantitativa, utilizando un diseño preexperimental que incluyó tanto una preevaluación como una post-evaluación. La población estuvo conformada por 69 niños y niñas de la institución, mientras que la muestra estuvo conformada por 23 niños y niñas de 5 años de la sección B. En esta muestra se realizaron 20 talleres de dramatización para potenciar la autoestima de los niños. Para la recolección de datos se utilizó una herramienta de estudio, en forma de hoja de observación. Según los datos del pretest, se encontró que el 87% de los alumnos de cinco años tenían un grado intermedio de autoestima positiva. Con base en este supuesto, se desarrollaron talleres específicamente para incluir el uso de la dramatización como herramienta de instrucción. Tras la implementación de esta intervención, los resultados de la prueba posterior demostraron un cambio notable, ya que el 83% de los estudiantes alcanzaron un grado sustancial de autoestima positiva. La evidencia sugiere que los talleres de dramatización tienen una influencia significativa en la autoestima de los niños de cinco años. Finalmente, durante la prueba de hipótesis, se calculó un valor P de 0,000, lo que indica que es menor que el nivel de significancia predeterminado de α = 0,05. En consecuencia, se considera válida la hipótesis alternativa planteada en la investigación

Associations between maternal diet, family eating habits and preschool children’s dietary patterns: insights from the UPBEAT trial

Childhood obesity; Dietary habits; Dietary patternsObesidad infantil; Hábitos alimentarios; Patrones dietéticosObesitat infantil; Hàbits alimentaris; Patrons dietèticsBackground Dietary behaviours in early life often track across the life course, influencing the development of adverse health outcomes such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to explore the between dietary patterns (DP) in preschool children and maternal DP and family eating habits. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of 488 mother-child pairs from the UK pregnancy Better Eating and Activity Trial (UPBEAT) at 3-year follow-up. Previously published DP from mothers and children (derived from food-frequency questionnaires and exploratory factor analysis) were used. Mothers’ DP were “Fruits-Vegetables”, “African-Caribbean”, “Processed and Snacks”, and children’s DP were “Prudent”, “Processed-Snacking”, and “African-Caribbean”. Family meal environments were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Results Linear regression models revealed that child’s prudent pattern was positively associated with maternal Fruits-Vegetables (B = 0.18 (0.08, 0.27)), Snacks patterns (B = 0.10 (0.01, 0.18)), and eating the same foods during meals (B = 0.25 (0.07, 0.43)). Child’s Processed-Snacking pattern was directly associated with maternal Processed (B = 0.22 (0.13, 0.30)) and Snacks (B = 0.27 (0.18, 0.36)) patterns, receiving food as reward (B = 0.22 (0.04, 0.39)) and watching TV during meals (B = 0.27 (0.09, 0.45)). Finally, the child African-Caribbean pattern was directly associated with that from the mother (B = 0.41 (0.33, 0.50)) and watching TV during meals (B = 0.15 (0.09, 0.30)), and inversely associated with maternal processed (B=-0.09 (-0.17, -0.02)) and snacking (B=-0.08 (-0.15, -0.04)) patterns. Conclusions Unhealthy dietary patterns in childhood are directly linked to similar maternal patterns and family meal behaviours, such as television viewing and food rewards. These findings highlight targetable behaviours for public health interventions.UPBEAT was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) project Early Nutrition (grant agreement no. 289346), and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (UK) Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (RP-0407-10452). Support was also provided by the Chief Scientist Office Scotland, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, and Tommy’s Charity (Registered charity no. 1060508). LP is funded by Tommy’s Charity. PTS is partly funded by King’s Health Partners Institute of Women and Children’s Health (KHP) and ARC South London (NIHR). LP is a NIHR Senior Investigator Emeritus (NI-SI-0512-10104). KVD is funded by the MRC (grant number: MR/V005839/1). Dr. Luque receives funding from the Serra Hunter Fellowship from Generalitat de Catalunya, from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the ERA-NET Cofund action (N° 727565), European Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL, EndObesity)”. Project PCI2020-120697-2 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/ 501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR

CD47 plays a critical role in T-cell recruitment by regulation of LFA-1 and VLA-4 integrin adhesive functions

CD47 plays an important but incompletely understood role in the innate and adaptive immune responses. CD47, also called integrin-associated protein, has been demonstrated to associate in cis with β1 and β3 integrins. Here we test the hypothesis that CD47 regulates adhesive functions of T-cell α4β1 (VLA-4) and αLβ2 (LFA-1) in in vivo and in vitro models of inflammation. Intravital microscopy studies reveal that CD47(−/−) Th1 cells exhibit reduced interactions with wild-type (WT) inflamed cremaster muscle microvessels. Similarly, murine CD47(−/−) Th1 cells, as compared with WT, showed defects in adhesion and transmigration across tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)–activated murine endothelium and in adhesion to immobilized intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1) under flow conditions. Human Jurkat T-cells lacking CD47 also showed reduced adhesion to TNF-α–activated endothelium and ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. In cis interactions between Jurkat T-cell β2 integrins and CD47 were detected by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. Unexpectedly, Jurkat CD47 null cells exhibited a striking defect in β1 and β2 integrin activation in response to Mn(2+) or Mg(2+)/ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid treatment. Our results demonstrate that CD47 associates with β2 integrins and is necessary to induce high-affinity conformations of LFA-1 and VLA-4 that recognize their endothelial cell ligands and support leukocyte adhesion and transendothelial migration

Educación virtual y satisfacción académica en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa-2022

Debido a la emergencia sanitaria mundial y en nuestro país, resulto crucial analizar como las decisiones y estrategias implementadas en el ámbito educativo por el gobierno afectaron o repercutieron en los estudiantes. Por ello, el objetivo de la presente investigación fue determinar la relación que existe entre la educación virtual y la satisfacción académica de los estudiantes de la especialidad de Idiomas (Inglés-Francés) en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa durante el año 2022. El enfoque de esta investigación fue cuantitativo de tipo correlacional, de nivel aplicada. La población estuvo conformada por alumnos de dicha facultad, y la muestra, no probabilística e intencional, incluyó a 197 estudiantes. Se utilizó como instrumento un cuestionario para cada variable. Para la variable Educación virtual un cuestionario de 18 ítems y para la variable Satisfacción académica un cuestionario de 26 ítems, con una confiabilidad estadística de 0,970 y 0,883 respectivamente. Además de ello, cada cuestionario fue validado por expertos. Los resultados de la investigación indicaron una correlación positiva moderada entre la educación virtual y la satisfacción académica de los estudiantes de la especialidad de Idiomas (Inglés-Francés) en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa durante el año 2022, con Sig. = 0.000 < 0.05 y un coeficiente de correlación de Rho de Spearman igual a 0.567. En conclusión, se determinó que los estudiantes tuvieron un nivel alto de satisfacción académica con respecto a la educación virtual recibida

Developmental exposure to bisphenol A alters the differentiation and functional response of the adult rat uterus to estrogen treatment

We assessed the long-term effect of perinatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) on the rat uterus and the uterine response to estrogen (E2) replacement therapy. BPA (0.5 or 50. μg/kg/day) was administered in the drinking water from gestational day 9 until weaning. We studied the uterus of female offspring on postnatal day (PND) 90 and 360, and the uterine E2 response on PND460 (PND460-E2). On PND90, BPA-exposed rats showed altered glandular proliferation and α-actin expression. On PND360, BPA exposure increased the incidence of abnormalities in the luminal and glandular epithelium. On PND460-E2, the multiplicity of glands with squamous metaplasia increased in BPA50 while the incidence of glands with daughter glands increased in BPA0.5. The expression of steroid receptors, p63 and IGF-I was modified in BPA-exposed rats on PND460-E2. The long-lasting effects of perinatal exposure to BPA included induction of abnormalities in uterine tissue and altered response to E2 replacement therapy.Fil: Vigezzi, Lucía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Bosquiazzo, Veronica Lis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Kass, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Ramos, Jorge Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Muñoz de Toro, Monica Milagros. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Luque, Enrique Hugo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Salud y Ambiente del Litoral; Argentin

Methodological Approaches for Dietary Intake Assessment in Formula-fed Infants

Background and Objective: The estimation of dietary intake remains a challenge in human nutritional studies. In infants, the use of food diaries (FDs) is a suitable method already validated; however, this method is not exempt from error. In formula-fed infants, dilution of powdered formulas may produce errors. Our aim was to develop and validate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the assessment of dietary intake in formula-fed infants, attending potential sources of error. Methods: We analysed sources of error in a random subsample of 3-day FDs from 100 infants enrolled in the European Childhood Obesity Project. Calculations to estimate intakes were standardised and included in a software tool (SOPsystem). An evaluation of a simulated FD was performed by 9 trained nutritionists and 23 nutrition students (n = 225 and n = 575 bottle evaluations, respectively) to compare the results obtained when using or not the SOPsystem. Correct answers (%), coefficients of variation, and the time spent (minutes) to assess the simulated FD were analysed. Results: Overall, 60% of the FDs contained reports of incorrect volumes, and 37% reported incorrect formula dilutions. When the SOPsystem was used, correct answers in the simulated FD were more frequent (P < 0.001) and the mean coefficient of variation and the time spent were lower (P < 0.005 and P < 0.01, respectively). Conclusions: The development and implementation of SOPs with a software tool that identifies specific sources of error in record-keeping achieved a harmonised and improved process for assessing dietary intakes in formula-fed infants, minimising errors in calculations and reducing the work time invested