Influence of the degree of adherence to the mediterranean diet and its components on cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy. The GESTAFIT project

The study was funded by the Regional Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucia (PI-0395-2016) and the University of Granada, Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES) . MFA was additionally funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Grant number FPU17/03715) . The funders of the study had no role in the design of the study, data collection, data analysis or data interpretation. This study is included in the thesis of MFA enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Granada.Background and aims: Studies regarding dietary patterns and cardiometabolic risk markers during pregnancy are scarce. The aim of the present study was to analyse whether different degrees of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the MD components were associated with cardiometabolic markers and a clustered cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy. Methods and results: This study comprised 119 pregnant women from the GEStation and FITness (GESTAFIT) project. Dietary habits were assessed with a food frequency questionnaire at the 16th and 34th gestational weeks (g.w.). The Mediterranean Diet Score was employed to assess MD adherence. The following cardiometabolic markers were assessed: pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). A greater MD adherence was associated with a better cardiometabolic status in cross-sectional (16th g.w. and 34th g.w.) and prospective analyses (MD adherence at the 16th g.w. and cardiometabolic markers at the 34th g.w.; SBP, DBP and HDL-C; all, p < 0.05). Participants with the highest MD adherence (Tertile 3) had a lower clustered cardiometabolic risk than those with the lowest MD adherence (Tertile 1) at the 16th and 34th g.w. (both, p < 0.05). A higher intake of fruits, vegetables and fish and a lower intake of refined cereals and red meat and subproducts were associated with a lower cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy (all, p < 0.05). Conclusion: A higher MD adherence, a greater intake of fruits, vegetables and fish and a lower intake of refined cereals and red meat and subproducts showed a cardioprotective effect throughout gestation.Regional Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucia PI-0395-2016University of Granada, Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports FPU17/0371

Development of the food-based Lifelines Diet Score (LLDS) and its application in 129,369 Lifelines participants

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Many diet quality scores exist, but fully food-based scores based on contemporary evidence are scarce. Our aim was to develop a food-based diet score based on international literature and examine its discriminative capacity and socio-demographic determinants. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Between 2006 and 2013, dietary intake of 129,369 participants of the Lifelines Cohort (42% male, 45 ± 13 years (range 18-93)) was assessed with a 110-item food frequency questionnaire. Based on the 2015 Dutch Dietary Guidelines and underlying literature, nine food groups with positive (vegetables, fruit, whole grain products, legumes&nuts, fish, oils&soft margarines, unsweetened dairy, coffee and tea) and three food groups with negative health effects (red&processed meat, butter&hard margarines and sugar-sweetened beverages) were identified. Per food group, the intake in grams per 1000 kcal was categorized into quintiles, awarded 0 to 4 points (negative groups scored inversely) and summed. Food groups with neutral, unknown or inconclusive evidence are described but not included. RESULTS: The Lifelines Diet Score (LLDS) discriminated well between high and low consumers of included food groups. This is illustrated by e.g. a 2-fold higher vegetable intake in the highest, compared to the lowest LLDS quintile. Differences were 5.5-fold for fruit, 3.5-fold for fish, 3-fold for dairy and 8-fold for sugar-sweetened beverages. The LLDS was higher in females and positively associated with age and educational level. CONCLUSIONS: The LLDS is based on the latest international evidence for diet-disease relations at the food group level and has high capacity to discriminate people with widely different intakes. Together with the population-based quintile approach, this makes the LLDS a flexible, widely applicable tool for diet quality assessment

Effects of Aberrant HGF/MET Signalling on Cerebellar Development and Medulloblastoma Pathogenesis

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour. Similar to other tumours, medulloblastoma pathogenesis involves abnormal regulation of several developmental growth pathways. As my thesis project, I studied the effects of aberrant HGF/MET signalling on medulloblastoma formation in two ways. In my first objective, I investigated the role that mutations play in activated HGF/MET signalling in medulloblastoma by searching for mutations in HGF/MET pathway genes, SPINT1, SPINT2, and MET, within primary medulloblastoma specimens. This screen identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two novel variations, one in each SPINT1 and SPINT2 genes. In my second objective, I generated a transgenic mouse model with cerebellar-specific aberrant MET signalling. These mice developed extensive cerebellar abnormalities but formed no tumours. These results indicate that mutations in the HGF/MET pathway components alone are not sufficient to initiate medulloblastoma formation and must coincide with additional genetic insults to promote tumour formation, maintenance, and progression.MAS

Effects of Aberrant HGF/MET Signalling on Cerebellar Development and Medulloblastoma Pathogenesis

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour. Similar to other tumours, medulloblastoma pathogenesis involves abnormal regulation of several developmental growth pathways. As my thesis project, I studied the effects of aberrant HGF/MET signalling on medulloblastoma formation in two ways. In my first objective, I investigated the role that mutations play in activated HGF/MET signalling in medulloblastoma by searching for mutations in HGF/MET pathway genes, SPINT1, SPINT2, and MET, within primary medulloblastoma specimens. This screen identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two novel variations, one in each SPINT1 and SPINT2 genes. In my second objective, I generated a transgenic mouse model with cerebellar-specific aberrant MET signalling. These mice developed extensive cerebellar abnormalities but formed no tumours. These results indicate that mutations in the HGF/MET pathway components alone are not sufficient to initiate medulloblastoma formation and must coincide with additional genetic insults to promote tumour formation, maintenance, and progression.MAS

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Eating Plan: Beyond the Hypertension

Background and Objectives: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating pattern, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy with a reduced content of sodium, saturated fat, and total fat is introduced as an appropriate diet for hypertension. This eating pattern was basically designed to normalize blood pressure in patients with hypertension, and a large body of data could confirm its beneficial effects on blood pressure level. Here, we are going to discuss about the other aspects of this diet. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases were searched for relevant publications up to November 2014. No limitation was considered regarding the language or publication date. Results: Some studies have proposed more useful effects of this dietary approach, other than lowering blood pressure, such as reducing insulin resistance, and controlling the fasting blood sugar and lipid profiles, proposing it as a good dietary pattern to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). There is some evidence in prospective cohorts regarding the effect of DASH-style diet on CVDs or their major subclasses like coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and heart failure (HF). A meta-analysis also showed the effects of this pattern on the indices of the glycemic control. Adherence to the DASH diet was inversely related to central obesity and metabolic syndrome features in observational studies in Iran. Furthermore, DASH is suitable for gestational diabetes mellitus, can have a role in the growth of the fetus, and may affect pregnancy outcomes. Conclusions: It is emphasized that DASH diet is suitable for whole life span. Evidence also confirms the beneficial effects of DASH on obese children. Consumption of DASH diet for 6 weeks could reduce the circulating levels of hs-CRP among adolescents with MetS. Based on the existing facts, we can conclude that DASH is a good dietary pattern for both controlling the metabolic risk factors and being healthy. Keywords: Dietary approaches to stop hypertension, metabolic disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease

Dietary approach to stop hypertension (DASH): diet components may be related to lower prevalence of different kinds of cancer: A review on the related documents

Background: Dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) eating plan is a healthy dietary pattern. Our object is to review surveys in the field of major components of DASH diet and different kinds of cancers. Materials and Methods: Our search result from PubMed search engine recruited to find related articles. Results: Adherence to the DASH diet components was significantly related to lower prevalence of various cancers due to their high content of fiber, nutrients, vitamins, mineral, and antioxidant capacity. Conclusion: In this review, positive association of DASH diet components and different cancers were observed. However, the exact association of DASH with cancers should be clarified in future longitudinal studies due to potential interaction among foods and nutrients

The effect of prefabricated ankle orthoses on balance in athletes with chronic ankle instability in fatigue condition

Introduction: Lateral ankle sprain accounts for 10-28% of all sport injuries. Most of the people with lateral ankle sprain never fully recover and almost 80% of basketball players suffer from repeated ankle injuries. Balance will be distributed in most cases. In addition, athletes can become fatigued physically during competition; this can lead to recurrent ankle sprain when (s) he suffers from previous sprain as one of the orthosis functions is injury prevention, the aim of present study was to examine the effect of prefabricated ankle orthoses on balance in athletes with chronic ankle instability in fatigue condition. Materials and Methods: Twenty basketball players with chronic ankle instability (CAI) and fifteen non-injured athletes participated in this study. Balance was measured for all subjects in normal and fatigue conditions using Biodex Balance System. The three testing conditions included a soft ankle support, spiral spring ankle support, and no orthosis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data and the significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results: this study investigated that the pre-fabricated orthoses could improve balance in healthy athletes and athletes with CAI, in fatigue condition (P < 0.05). Conclusion: As the prefabricated orthoses has a positive influence on balance ability in experienced athletes these assistive devices can be used to prevent further sport injuries. Keywords: Prefabricated orthosis, Fatigue, Ankle instability, Balanc

The association between Vitamin D and health outcomes in women: A review on the related evidence

Background: Vitamin D has a wide range of physiological functions in skeletal and nonskeletal tissues which may play a role in many diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recent evidence regarding the effects of Vitamin D on several health outcomes in women including breast cancer, ovarian and endometrial cancers, hypertension, and osteoporosis. Materials and Methods: We searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases through March 2016. We included the most current systematic reviews and meta-analyses assessing the associations of Vitamin D intake and/or serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels with the risk of incidence of breast cancer, ovarian and endometrial cancers, hypertension, and osteoporosis. Results: Many studies have represented that Vitamin D supplementation and high 25(OH)D levels can decrease the risk of breast cancer occurrence or mortality. However, there is no strong evidence to support the existence of a relationship between Vitamin D and ovarian or endometrial cancers. Furthermore, the results regarding the effects of Vitamin D on hypertension were inconsistent. Although observational studies have shown an association between Vitamin D and hypertension, there is no evidence regarding effectiveness of Vitamin D in lowering blood pressure in several clinical trials. On the other hand, the findings associating the impact of Vitamin D on osteoporosis were more definitive and most studies have represented that Vitamin D may have beneficial effects on osteoporosis. Conclusion: Although the adequate Vitamin D level can play a protective role in the incidence and development of breast cancer, hypertension, and osteoporosis, there is limited evidence regarding ovarian and endometrial cancers