Childhood obesity, thyroid function, and insulin resistance – is there a link? A longitudinal study

Serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels are frequently elevated in obese children and are most likely to be associated with insulin resistance. However, clinical relevance of this association remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of hyperthyrotropinemia; to analyze the relationship between TSH and homeostasis model assessment - insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); and to verify whether TSH levels and HOMA-IR vary with weight loss in obese children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Retrospective longitudinal study with data from baseline and 1 year after lifestyle intervention in a pediatric obese group (344 children were recruited and 100 among them completed follow-up). For postintervention analysis, three groups were considered according to body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) variations: ≤-0.5 (significant weight loss); 0.5-0 (weight loss); and >0 (weight gain). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 19.0®. RESULTS: The prevalence of increased TSH levels was 9.3%. At baseline TSH (p=0.007), fT4 (p=0.006), and HOMA-IR (p<0.001) were positively correlated to BMI-SDS (n=344). Weight reduction was verified in 67 out of 100 cases but significant loss was present in only 21 cases. Decreases in both TSH and BMI-SDS were independently associated with decreases in HOMA-IR (p=0.005 and p=0.016, respectively). There was no correlation between TSH and BMI-SDS variation. Significant decreases in the HOMA-IR (p=0.006) were only achieved in the significant weight loss group. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of hyperthyrotropinemia was lower than previously reported. However, cutoff values were adjusted to pubertal stage, suggesting an over report in other studies. Insulin resistance and TSH were positively correlated, independent of body status. Although weight loss was not associated with TSH variation, a decrease in TSH levels was independently associated with decreases in HOMA-IR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patient and public involvement in health literacy interventions: a mapping review

Background: Health literacy is a critical mediating factor that impacts on the health of older adults. Patient and public involvement in health and social care research, policy and design of care delivery is one mechanism that can promote production of better health literacy. This mapping review looks for and describes practices, concepts and methods that have been reported involving patients, public and (non-researcher) professionals in the development and design of health literacy interventions for older people. Methods: Studies that aimed to improve health literacy were identified within a previously created compatible inventory of health behaviour studies for older people. Articles were screened for whether they addressed health literacy and featured involvement of stakeholders other than investigators and patients. Two reviewers independently read each study to identify any patient, public and professional involvement in the research process. We also noted some aspects of outcomes. Results: Twenty-two studies included patient, public and/or professional involvement in at least one research domain: design, management or evaluation. Involvement included volunteers, older people, professionals, patients, and community representatives. All studies were driven by an organisational or biomedical agenda. Conclusions: Patient, public and professional involvement wasrarely reported in studies on health literacy interventions for older people. This could help explain why some interventions fail to improve health literacy in older people. Key words – health literacy intervention research, older people, patient and public involvement, mapping revie

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

A C. elegans model for neurodegeneration in Cockayne syndrome.

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a congenital syndrome characterized by growth and mental retardation, and premature ageing. The complexity of CS and mammalian models warrants simpler metazoan models that display CS-like phenotypes that could be studied in the context of a live organism. Here, we provide a characterization of neuronal and mitochondrial aberrations caused by a mutation in the csb-1 gene in Caenorhabditis elegans. We report a progressive neurodegeneration in adult animals that is enhanced upon UV-induced DNA damage. The csb-1 mutants show dysfunctional hyperfused mitochondria that degrade upon DNA damage, resulting in diminished respiratory activity. Our data support the role of endogenous DNA damage as a driving factor of CS-related neuropathology and underline the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the disease

Fibre Distribution and the Process-Property Dilemma

The options for the fibre reinforcement of polymer matrix composites cover a range from short-fibre chopped strand mat, through woven fabric to unidirectional pre-impregnated (prepreg) reinforcements. The modelling of such materials may be simplified by assumptions such as perfect regular packing of fibres and the total absence of fibre waviness. However, these and other features such as the crimp or waviness in woven fabrics make real materials more complex than the simplified models. Clustering of fibres creates fibre-rich and resin-rich volumes (FRV and RRV respectively) in the composites. Prior to impregnation, large RRV will be pore-space that can expedite the flow of resin in liquid composite moulding processes (especially resin transfer moulding (RTM) and resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT). In the composite, the clustering of fibres tends to reduce the mechanical properties. The use of image processing and analysis can permit micro-/meso-structural characterisation which may correlate to the respective properties. This chapter considers the quantification of microstructure images in the context of the process-property dilemma for woven carbon-fibre reinforced composites with the aim of increasing understanding of the balance between processability and mechanical performance

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

First report on dung beetles in intra-Amazonian savannahs in Roraima, Brazil

This is the first study to address the dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) diversity in intra-Amazonian savannahs in the state of Roraima, Brazil. Our aim was to survey the dung beetle fauna associated with these savannahs (regionally called 'lavrado'), since little is known about the dung beetles from this environment. We conducted three field samples using pitfall traps baited with human dung in savannah areas near the city of Boa Vista during the rainy seasons of 1996, 1997, and 2008. We collected 383 individuals from ten species, wherein six have no previous record in intra-Amazonian savannahs. The most abundant species were Ontherus appendiculatus (Mannerheim, 1829), Canthidium aff. humerale (Germar, 1813), Dichotomius nisus (Olivier, 1789), and Pseudocanthon aff. xanthurus (Blanchard, 1846). We believe that knowing the dung beetles diversity associated with the intra-Amazonian savannahs is ideal for understanding the occurrence and distribution of these organisms in a highly threatened environment, it thus being the first step towards conservation strategy development

Differentiation-Induced Remodelling of Store-Operated Calcium Entry Is Independent of Neuronal or Glial Phenotype but Modulated by Cellular Context

Neurogenesis is a complex process leading to the generation of neuronal networks and glial cell types from stem cells or intermediate progenitors. Mapping subcellular and molecular changes accompanying the switch from proliferation to differentiation is vital for developing therapeutic targets for neurological diseases. Neuronal (N-type) and glial (S-type) phenotypes within the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line have distinct differentiation responses to 9-cis-retinoic acid (9cRA). In both cell phenotypes, these were accompanied at the single cell level by an uncoupling of Ca2+ store release from store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), mediated by changes in the expression of calcium release-activated calcium pore proteins. This remodelling of calcium signalling was moderated by the predominant cell phenotype within the population. N- and S-type cells differed markedly in their phenotypic stability after withdrawal of the differentiation inducer, with the phenotypic stability of S-type cells, both morphologically and with respect to SOCE properties, in marked contrast to the lability of the N-type phenotype. Furthermore, the SOCE response of I-type cells, a presumed precursor to both N- and S-type cells, varied markedly in different cell environments. These results demonstrate the unique biology of neuronal and glial derivatives of common precursors and suggest that direct or indirect interactions between cell types are vital components of neurogenesis that need to be considered in experimental models.</p