Caffeine intake and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents in the United States.

BACKGROUND: In adults, caffeine has protective effects against kidney dysfunction and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) but increases the risk of acute blood pressure (BP) elevation and dyslipidemia. These relationships are unclear in adolescents. This study aimed to determine the association between caffeine intake and markers of childhood cardiometabolic risk, hypothesizing that higher caffeine intake would be associated with elevated BP and dyslipidemia but improved kidney function and insulin sensitivity. METHODS: Adolescents ages 13-17 who participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2018 and completed 24-h dietary recalls were included. Logistic and linear regression models were used to analyze cross-sectional associations between caffeine and cardiometabolic risk factors. RESULTS: The mean participant age was 15.0 years, with a sex distribution of 49.9% male and 50.1% female. In fully adjusted regression models, higher caffeine intake was not associated with any changes in BP (OR = 0.78, 95%CI [0.52,1.16], p = 0.21), dyslipidemia (OR = 0.91, 95%CI [0.65,1.27], p = 0.57), glomerular hyperfiltration (OR = 1.01, 95%CI [0.60,1.71], p = 0.96), albuminuria (OR = 0.94, 95%CI [0.45,1.98], p = 0.87), or insulin resistance (OR = 1.15, 95%CI [0.85,1.56], p = 0.36). CONCLUSION: Contrary to its cardiometabolic effects in adults, caffeine intake was not associated with an increased or reduced risk of kidney dysfunction, T2DM, hypertension, or dyslipidemia in adolescents. IMPACT: Although the effects of caffeine intake on cardiometabolic risk have been well defined in adults, data exploring its impact on adolescent cardiovascular and metabolic function is limited. The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between caffeine intake and markers of childhood cardiometabolic risk. Unlike its established effects in adults, caffeine consumption showed no association with markers of cardiometabolic disease, such as kidney dysfunction, type 2 diabetes mellitus, blood pressure, dyslipidemia, or hyperuricemia in adolescents. These findings offer novel insight into the effects of caffeine on cardiometabolic function in adolescents, which may guide clinical recommendations for at-risk patients.

TikTok and pediatric nephrology: content quality assessment of videos related to pediatric kidney disease and kidney transplant.

BACKGROUND: Social media platforms such as TikTok™ are key sources of health information for young patients and caregivers. Misinformation is prevalent on TikTok™ across healthcare fields, which can perpetuate false beliefs about medical care. Limited data exists on the reliability of pediatric nephrology TikTok™ content. This study aimed to describe the quality of medical content of TikTok™ Videos (TTVs), related to pediatric kidney disease and transplant. METHODS: TTVs were selected using specific search terms and categorized into pediatric kidney disease and kidney transplant, excluding duplicate and adult-related content. The top 100 TTVs in each category, based on views, were analyzed. TTV characteristics were stratified by account type (physician, non-physician healthcare professional (HCP), non-HCP) and video aim (personal story, education, entertainment). DISCERN scoring, a validated questionnaire evaluating health information reliability, was conducted by 4 independent raters. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using a 2-way random effects model, and differences between content creator types were evaluated using one-way ANOVA and post-Hoc Tukey test. RESULTS: TTVs had a total of 12.5 million likes and 113.1 million views. Over 70% of videos were created by non-HCPs (n = 147/200). DISCERN scoring revealed low reliability of medical information across content creator types. TTVs created by physicians and non-physician HCPs about kidney disease had significantly higher mean DISCERN scores compared to those created by non-HCPs (2.85, p < 0.001 and 2.48, p = 0.005, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Educators within the pediatric nephrology community must keep in mind the lack of reliability of medical information available on TikTok™ and coordinate collective efforts to consider utilizing TikTok™ for patient education.

A dynamic population of prophase CENP-C is required for meiotic chromosome segregation.

The centromere is an epigenetic mark that is a loading site for the kinetochore during meiosis and mitosis. This mark is characterized by the H3 variant CENP-A, known as CID in Drosophila. In Drosophila, CENP-C is critical for maintaining CID at the centromeres and directly recruits outer kinetochore proteins after nuclear envelope break down. These two functions, however, happen at different times in the cell cycle. Furthermore, in Drosophila and many other metazoan oocytes, centromere maintenance and kinetochore assembly are separated by an extended prophase. We have investigated the dynamics of function of CENP-C during the extended meiotic prophase of Drosophila oocytes and found that maintaining high levels of CENP-C for metaphase I requires expression during prophase. In contrast, CID is relatively stable and does not need to be expressed during prophase to remain at high levels in metaphase I of meiosis. Expression of CID during prophase can even be deleterious, causing ectopic localization to non-centromeric chromatin, abnormal meiosis and sterility. CENP-C prophase loading is required for multiple meiotic functions. In early meiotic prophase, CENP-C loading is required for sister centromere cohesion and centromere clustering. In late meiotic prophase, CENP-C loading is required to recruit kinetochore proteins. CENP-C is one of the few proteins identified in which expression during prophase is required for meiotic chromosome segregation. An implication of these results is that the failure to maintain recruitment of CENP-C during the extended prophase in oocytes would result in chromosome segregation errors in oocytes.

A Dynamic population of prophase CENP-C is required for meiotic chromosome segregation.

The centromere is an epigenetic mark that is a loading site for the kinetochore during meiosis and mitosis. This mark is characterized by the H3 variant CENP-A, known as CID in Drosophila. In Drosophila, CENP-C is critical for maintaining CID at the centromeres and directly recruits outer kinetochore proteins after nuclear envelope break down. It is not known, however, if these two functions require the same CENP-C molecules. Furthermore, in Drosophila and many other metazoan oocytes, centromere maintenance and kinetochore assembly are separated by an extended prophase. Consistent with studies in mammals, CID is relatively stable and does not need to be expressed during prophase to remain at high levels in metaphase I of meiosis. Expression of CID during prophase can even be deleterious, causing ectopic localization to non-centromeric chromatin, abnormal meiosis and sterility. In contrast to CID, maintaining high levels of CENP-C requires expression during prophase. Confirming the importance of this loading, we found CENP-C prophase loading is required for multiple meiotic functions. In early meiotic prophase, CENP-C loading is required for sister centromere cohesion and centromere clustering. In late meiotic prophase, CENP-C loading is required to recruit kinetochore proteins. CENP-C is one of the few proteins identified in which expression during prophase is required for meiotic chromosome segregation. An implication of these results is that the failure to maintain recruitment of CENP-C during the extended prophase in oocytes would result in chromosome segregation errors in oocytes.

Vibration as a pitfall in pyrosequencing analyses.

Since methylation analysis has become an important tool in forensic genetics, the reliability and credibility of the method must be ensured. After a successful validation and establishment of several pyrosequencing assays using a PyroMark® Q48 Autoprep instrument (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), we decided to expand the method further purchasing a second instrument. But after initializing this second instrument side by side with the first, the majority of analyses failed (97 samples of 133 samples (73%)). The number of error messages increased rapidly and the average RFU values decreased. After purchasing two anti-vibration weighing tables for the PyroMark® instruments and repeating the analyses under the same conditions and with identical samples the results improved considerably, 115 samples of 130 samples (88%) showed successful and reproducible results. These findings demonstrate the impact of vibrations and percussions on PyroMark® Q48 Autoprep performance and the reliability of methylation analyses.