Serum Calcium Levels Are Associated with Novel Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in the Population-Based CoLaus Study

BACKGROUND: Associations of serum calcium levels with the metabolic syndrome and other novel cardio-metabolic risk factors not classically included in the metabolic syndrome, such as those involved in oxidative stress, are largely unexplored. We analyzed the association of albumin-corrected serum calcium levels with conventional and non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors in a general adult population. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The CoLaus study is a population-based study including Caucasians from Lausanne, Switzerland. The metabolic syndrome was defined using the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors considered included: fat mass, leptin, LDL particle size, apolipoprotein B, fasting insulin, adiponectin, ultrasensitive CRP, serum uric acid, homocysteine, and gamma-glutamyltransferase. We used adjusted standardized multivariable regression to compare the association of each cardio-metabolic risk factor with albumin-corrected serum calcium. We assessed associations of albumin-corrected serum calcium with the cumulative number of non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors. We analyzed 4,231 subjects aged 35 to 75 years. Corrected serum calcium increased with both the number of the metabolic syndrome components and the number of non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors, independently of the metabolic syndrome and BMI. Among conventional and non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors, the strongest positive associations were found for factors related to oxidative stress (uric acid, homocysteine and gamma-glutamyltransferase). Adiponectin had the strongest negative association with corrected serum calcium. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Serum calcium was associated with the metabolic syndrome and with non-conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors independently of the metabolic syndrome. Associations with uric acid, homocysteine and gamma-glutamyltransferase were the strongest. These novel findings suggest that serum calcium levels may be associated with cardiovascular risk via oxidative stress

Dislexia e ensino-aprendizagem de língua portuguesa : um estudo de caso

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, 2013.Esta pesquisa trata da dislexia e do ensino-aprendizagem de Língua Portuguesa para disléxicos, com base em um estudo de caso com estudante disléxico da rede pública de ensino do Plano Piloto. Dentre as questões abordadas, estão as definições da dislexia, seus tipos e possíveis tratamentos, além da discussão do espaço que tal distúrbio de aprendizagem tem na educação, a sugestão de inclusão da dislexia na Educação Especial e, consequentemente, nas salas de recursos e a adequação da metodologia de ensino, baseada na exploração dos gêneros textuais e dos multiletramentos, dentro da perspectiva Sociointeracionista de Vygotsky e da proposta de professor libertador, de Paulo Freire

Twelve-year trends in the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes and prediabetes in Turkish adults

There is concern about an emerging diabetes epidemic in Turkey. We aimed to determine the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes and their 12-year trends and to identify risk factors for diabetes in the adult Turkish population. A cross-sectional, population-based survey, ‘TURDEP-II’ included 26,499 randomly sampled adults aged ≥ 20 years (response rate: 87 %). Fasting glucose and biochemical parameters were measured in all; then a OGTT was performed to identify diabetes and prediabetes in eligible participants. The prevalence of diabetes was 16.5 % (new 7.5 %), translating to 6.5 million adults with diabetes in Turkey. It was higher in women than men (p = 0.008). The age-standardized prevalence to the TURDEP-I population (performed in 1997–98) was 13.7 % (if same diagnostic definition was applied diabetes prevalence is calculated 11.4 %). The prevalence of isolated-IFG and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and combined prediabetes was 14.7, 7.9, and 8.2 %, respectively; and that of obesity 36 % and hypertension 31.4 %. Compared to TURDEP-I; the rate of increase for diabetes: 90 %, IGT: 106 %, obesity: 40 % and central obesity: 35 %, but hypertension decreased by 11 % during the last 12 years. In women age, waist, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, low education, and living environment; in men age, BMI, and hypertension were independently associated with an increased prevalence of diabetes. In women current smoking, and in men being single were associated with a reduced risk. These results from one of the largest nationally representative surveys carried out so far show that diabetes has rapidly become a major public health challenge in Turkey. The figures are alarming and underscore the urgent need for national programs to prevent diabetes, to manage the illness and thus prevent complications. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10654-013-9771-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Effects of kindling stimulations on parvalbumin immunoreactivity in substantia nigra pars reticulata of gaers and wistar rats

İstanbul Bilim Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi.Purpose: One of the mechanisms that control epileptic seizures involves the neural network in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNR). Two functionally discrete regions, SNRanterior and posterior were demonstrated to mediate distinct effects on epileptic seizures. Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg (GAERS) show a resistance to secondary generalization of focal limbic seizures induced by kindling.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/epi.12675/pd

Risk factors for malignancy in systemic sclerosis patients

Annual Meeting of Spondyloarthritis-Research-and-Treatment-Network (SPARTAN) -- JUL 25-26, 2015 -- Denver, COWOS: 000376281000017PubMed ID: 27118199Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease with multisystem involvement. An increased incidence of cancer in SSc patients compared with the general population has been reported in several reports. Our aims in this study were to determine the most common malignancies and to investigate the possible risk factors for the development of malignancy in patients with SSc. Three hundred forty SSc patients from 13 centers were included to the study. Data of the patients were obtained by evaluating their medical records retrospectively. A total of 340 patients with SSc were evaluated. Twenty-five of the patients had 19 different types of malignancy. Bladder cancer was the most common type of cancer with four patients and was followed by breast cancer with three patients, and cervix cancer and ovarian cancer with two patients each. Other types of cancers such as squamous cell skin cancer, adenocancer with an unknown origin, multiple myeloma, chronic myeloid leukemia, papillary thyroid cancer, larynx cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, follicular type non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), endometrium cancer, colon cancer, uterus cancer, neuroendocrine tumor, glioblastoma multiforme, and soft tissue sarcoma were diagnosed in one patient each. The only cancer type that showed an association with cyclophosphamide dose was bladder carcinoma. Other malignancies did not show a correlation with age, sex, smoking, type and duration of the disease, autoantibodies, organ involvement, and dose and duration of cyclophosphamide therapy. Cancer may develop in any organ in patients with SSc. Continuous screening of the patients during a follow-up period is necessary for the early detection of the tumor development.Spondyloarthritis Res & Treatment Networ

The role of the substantia nigra pars reticulata in kindling resistance in rats with genetic absence epilepsy

WOS: 000363884100025PubMed ID: 26471261ObjectiveGenetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg (GAERS) show a resistance to secondary generalization of focal limbic seizures evoked by kindling. The substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNR) is involved in the propagation and modulation of seizures in kindling. We first examined the role of the SNRanterior and SNRposterior subregions in the resistance to the development of kindling in GAERS. Subsequently, to determine whether kindling resistance relates to differential sensitivity of -aminobutyric acid -aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic or dopaminergic SNR neurons to kindling, we studied the effects of kindling-inducing stimulations on parvalbumin (PRV; GABAergic neuron marker) or tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; dopaminergic neuron marker) immunoreactivity (ir), respectively, in GAERS and in nonepileptic control (NEC) Wistar rats that lack kindling resistance. MethodsAdult male GAERS were implanted with a stimulation electrode in the amygdala, and bilateral injection cannulas for lidocaine or saline injection (30 min before each kindling stimulation until the animals reached three stage 5 seizures or the 22 stimulations) into the SNRanterior or SNRposterior. In another experiment, PRV-ir in SNRanterior and SNRposterior and TH-ir in SNRposterior only were densitometrically compared in GAERS-SHAM, NEC-SHAM GAERS-STIM, and NEC-STIM animals (6 kindling stimulations). ResultsBilateral SNRposterior infusions of lidocaine eliminated the kindling resistance and resulted in stage 5 generalized motor seizures in all kindled rats. Bilateral lidocaine infusions in the SNRanterior failed to alter the kindling resistance in GAERS. PRV-ir in the SNRposterior was unaltered in GAERS-STIM but increased in NEC-STIM group. Cellular TH-ir in the SNRposterior significantly increased by kindling stimulations in both NEC-STIM and GAERS-STIM groups. SignificanceThe kindling resistance in GAERS is mediated by the SNRposterior in a lidocaine-sensitive manner. The insensitivity to kindling stimulation of PRV-ir in SNRposterior of GAERS but not NEC rats, implicate GABAergic SNRposterior neurons in kindling resistance. In contrast, the observed stimulation-specific increase in TH-ir in the SNRposterior is unrelated to kindling resistance.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [111S209]; Marmara University Research Council; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) [NS078333, NS020253]; U.S. Department of Defense [W81XWH-13-1-0180]; Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), UCB; Heffer Family Foundation; Barry Segal Family Foundation; Abbe Goldstein/Joshua Lurie and Laurie Marsh/Dan Levitz families; NINDS [NS078333, NS091170]; CURE, UCBThis study was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Project No: 111S209, and Marmara University Research Council. SLM received research grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS; NS078333, NS020253), U.S. Department of Defense (W81XWH-13-1-0180), Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), UCB, the Heffer Family and Barry Segal Family Foundations, and the Abbe Goldstein/Joshua Lurie and Laurie Marsh/Dan Levitz families. ASG received research grants from NINDS (NS078333, NS091170), U.S. Department of Defense (W81XWH-13-1-0180), CURE, UCB, the Heffer Family and Barry Segal Family Foundations, and the Abbe Goldstein/Joshua Lurie and Laurie Marsh/Dan Levitz families