Associations of sedentary behaviour, physical activity, blood pressure and anthropometric measures with cardiorespiratory fitness in children with cerebral palsy

Background - Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have poor cardiorespiratory fitness in comparison to their peers with typical development, which may be due to low levels of physical activity. Poor cardiorespiratory fitness may contribute to increased cardiometabolic risk. Purpose - The aim of this study was to determine the association between sedentary behaviour, physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in children with CP. An objective was to determine the association between cardiorespiratory fitness, anthropometric measures and blood pressure in children with CP. Methods- This study included 55 ambulatory children with CP [mean (SD) age 11.3 (0.2) yr, range 6-17 yr; Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I and II]. Anthropometric measures (BMI, waist circumference and waist-height ratio) and blood pressure were taken. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using a 10 m shuttle run test. Children were classified as low, middle and high fitness according to level achieved on the test using reference curves. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry over 7 days. In addition to total activity, time in sedentary behaviour and light, moderate, vigorous, and sustained moderate-to-vigorous activity (≥10 min bouts) were calculated. Results - Multiple regression analyses revealed that vigorous activity (β = 0.339, p<0.01), sustained moderate-to-vigorous activity (β = 0.250, p<0.05) and total activity (β = 0.238, p<0.05) were associated with level achieved on the shuttle run test after adjustment for age, sex and GMFCS level. Children with high fitness spent more time in vigorous activity than children with middle fitness (p<0.05). Shuttle run test level was negatively associated with BMI (r2 = -0.451, p<0.01), waist circumference (r2 = -0.560, p<0.001), waist-height ratio (r2 = -0.560, p<0.001) and systolic blood pressure (r2 = -0.306, p<0.05) after adjustment for age, sex and GMFCS level. Conclusions - Participation in physical activity, particularly at a vigorous intensity, is associated with high cardiorespiratory fitness in children with CP. Low cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk

Genomic architecture of inflammatory bowel disease in five families with multiple affected individuals.

Currently, the best clinical predictor for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is family history. Over 163 sequence variants have been associated with IBD in genome-wide association studies, but they have weak effects and explain only a fraction of the observed heritability. It is expected that additional variants contribute to the genomic architecture of IBD, possibly including rare variants with effect sizes larger than the identified common variants. Here we applied a family study design and sequenced 38 individuals from five families, under the hypothesis that families with multiple IBD-affected individuals harbor one or more risk variants that (i) are shared among affected family members, (ii) are rare and (iii) have substantial effect on disease development. Our analysis revealed not only novel candidate risk variants but also high polygenic risk scores for common known risk variants in four out of the five families. Functional analysis of our top novel variant in the remaining family, a rare missense mutation in the ubiquitin ligase TRIM11, suggests that it leads to increased nuclear factor of kappa light chain enhancer in B-cells (NF-κB) signaling. We conclude that an accumulation of common weak-effect variants accounts for the high incidence of IBD in most, but not all families we analyzed and that a family study design can identify novel rare variants conferring risk for IBD with potentially large effect size, such as the TRIM11 p.H414Y mutation

Femtosecond Dynamics in Single Wall Carbon Nanotube/Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Composites

Femtosecond transient absorption measurements on single wall carbon nanotube/poly(3-hexylthiophene) composites are used to investigate the relaxation dynamics of this blended material. The influence of the addition of nanotubes in polymer matrix on the ultrashort relaxation dynamics is examined in detail. The introduction of nanotube/polymer heterojunctions enhances the exciton dissociation and quenches the radiative recombination of composites. The relaxation dynamics of these composites are compared with the fullerene derivative-polymer composites with the same matrix. These results provide explanation to the observed photovoltaic performance of two types of composites

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

Tumours and tremors: how PTEN regulation underlies both

Mutations of the tumour suppressor PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) are seen in many human cancers. However, dysregulation of PTEN may be involved in other disease states such as Parkinson's disease. This minireview describes recent work examining PTEN regulation and its implications for the development of both cancer and neurodegenerative disease

Microbiological characteristics of clinical isolates of Cryptococcus spp. in Bahia, Brazil: molecular types and antifungal susceptibilities

To determine the profiles of susceptibility to antifungal and the genotypes of clinical isolates of Cryptococcus in Bahia, Brazil, 62 isolates were collected from cases of meningitis in the period from 2006 to 2010. Their susceptibilities to fluconazole, itraconazole, amphotericin B and 5-flucytosine were determined by the broth microdilution technique described by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and genotyping of the URA5 gene was accomplished by restriction fragment length polymorphism. C. neoformans accounted for 79% of the identified yeast and C. gattii represented the remaining 21%. Evaluation of the genotypes determined that 100% of the C. gattii isolates belong to the VGII genotype, and 98% of the C. neoformans isolates belong to the VNI genotype. Determination of susceptibility revealed isolates resistant to fluconazole (4.8%), 5-flucytosine (1.6%) and amphotericin B (3.2%); the stratification of sensitivity results for each species showed significant differences in susceptibility to azoles. This study is the first to describe the susceptibility profiles of molecular and clinical isolates of Cryptococcus in Bahia, Brazil. The high percentage of C. gattii isolates belonging to the VGII genotype and its lower susceptibility to antifungal agents highlight the importance of knowing which species are involved in cryptococcal infections in northeastern Brazil

Predictors of hospital mortality among septic ICU patients with Acinetobacter spp. bacteremia: A cohort study

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that among septic ICU patients with Acinetobacter spp. bacteremia (Ac-BSI), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. (CRAc) increase risk for inappropriate initial antibiotic therapy (non-IAAT), and non-IAAT is a predictor of hospital death. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult septic ICU patients with Ac-BSI. Non-IAAT was defined as exposure to initially prescribed antibiotics not active against the pathogen based on in vitro susceptibility testing, and having no exposure to appropriate antimicrobial treatment within 24 hours of drawing positive culture. We compared patients who died to those who survived, and derived regression models to identify predictors of hospital mortality and of non-IAAT. RESULTS: Out of 131 patients with Ac-BSI, 65 (49.6%) died (non-survivors, NS). NS were older (63 [51, 76] vs. 56 [45, 66] years, p = 0.014), and sicker than survivors (S): APACHE II (24 [19, 31] vs. 18 [13, 22], p < 0.001) and Charlson (5 [2, 8] vs. 3 [1, 6], p = 0.009) scores. NS were also more likely than S to require pressors (75.4% vs. 42.4%, p < 0.001) and mechanical ventilation (75.4% vs. 53.0%, p = 0.008). Both CRAc (69.2% vs. 47.0%, p = 0.010) and non-IAAT (83.1% vs. 59.1%, p = 0.002) were more frequent among NS than S. In multivariate analyses, non-IAAT emerged as an independent predictor of hospital death (risk ratio [RR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-1.58), while CRAc was the single strongest predictor of non-IAAT (RR 2.66, 95% CI 2.43-2.72). CONCLUSIONS: Among septic ICU patients with Ac-BSI, non-IAAT predicts mortality. Carbapenem resistance appears to mediate the relationship between non-IAAT and mortality