Characterizing Factors Associated with Excess Body Weight: A Descriptive Study Using Principal Component Analysis in a Population with Overweight and Obesity.

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic, making it crucial to understand how it can be effectively prevented/treated. Considering that obesity is a multifactorial condition, this article carried out a baseline cross-sectional study of the variables involved in the disorder. Eighty-four subjects with overweight/obesity were recruited. Dietary baseline information was obtained by analysing three 24 h recalls. Resting metabolic rate was measured using indirect calorimetry, physical activity was measured through accelerometry, cardiometabolic parameters were determined in blood samples and body composition via anthropometry and bioimpedance. A univariant and multivariate exploratory approach was carried out using principal component analysis (PCA). Large inter-individual variability was observed in dietetic, biochemical, and physical activity measurements (coefficient of variation ≥ 30%), but body composition was more uniform. Volunteers had an unbalanced diet and low levels of physical activity. PCA reduced the 26 analysed variables to 4 factors, accounting for 65.4% of the total data variance. The main factor was the "dietetic factor", responsible for 24.0% of the total variance and mainly related to energy intake, lipids, and saturated fatty acids. The second was the "cardiometabolic factor" (explaining 16.8% of the variability), the third was the "adiposity factor" (15.2%), and the last was the "serum cholesterol factor" (9.4%).

Clinical and Functional Characteristics of a New Phenotype of SMA Type I among a National Sample of Spanish Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) type I has classically presented extremely severe clinical features. New pharmacological treatments have led to a new phenotype of SMA. The aim of this study was to describe the current health and functional status of children with SMA. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on the STROBE guidelines. Patient questionnaires and standardized tools were used. A descriptive analysis was conducted establishing the proportions of subjects for each of the characteristics of interest. In total, 51 genetically confirmed SMA type I subjects were included. Fifty-seven percent received oral feeding, 33% received tube feeding and 10% combined both. Moreover, 21.6% had tracheostomies, and 9.8% needed more than 16 h/d ventilatory support. Regarding orthopedic status, 66.7% had scoliosis, and 68.6% had hip subluxation or dislocation. Up to 67% were able to sit independently, 23.5% walked with support and one child walked independently. Current SMA type I is a different entity from the classic phenotype but also from types II and III. In addition, no differences were found between SMA type I subgroups. These findings may enable the professionals involved in the care of these patients to improve their interventions in terms of prevention and rehabilitation measures for these children.

A Model to Develop Chatbots for Assisting the Teaching and Learning Process.

Recently, in the commercial and entertainment sectors, we have seen increasing interest in incorporating chatbots into websites and apps, in order to assist customers and clients. In the academic area, chatbots are useful to provide some guidance and information about courses, admission processes and procedures, study programs, and scholarly services. However, these virtual assistants have limited mechanisms to suitably help the teaching and learning process, considering that these mechanisms should be advantageous for all the people involved. In this article, we design a model for developing a chatbot that serves as an extra-school tool to carry out academic and administrative tasks and facilitate communication between middle-school students and academic staff (e.g., teachers, social workers, psychologists, and pedagogues). Our approach is designed to help less tech-savvy people by offering them a familiar environment, using a conversational agent to ease and guide their interactions. The proposed model has been validated by implementing a multi-platform chatbot that provides both textual-based and voice-based communications and uses state-of-the-art technology. The chatbot has been tested with the help of students and teachers from a Mexican middle school, and the evaluation results show that our prototype obtained positive usability and user experience endorsements from such end-users.

Analyzing isolated blood vessel contraction in multi-well plates.

Organ baths have been successfully used for over a century to study the contractile or relaxation effects of drugs. Indeed, most of our understanding of vascular pharmacology is based on such in vitro studies. However, multiple parallel organ baths that require mechanical transduction consume relatively large amounts of drugs, gases, and buffers, and they take up a considerable bench space. In addition, such experiments have a high demand in terms of cost and animals, and the tissue preparation is labor intensive and slow. For these reasons, organ baths are no longer in the front line of industrial pharmacological research and they have almost disappeared from most academic laboratories. We have developed a very simple system, which can be implemented virtually in any laboratory, for the automatic analyses of rat aorta ring contraction based on optical methods and using multi-well plates. Rat aorta rings (≈0.5 mm wide) were situated in 96-multi-well plates, and the luminal vessel areas were continuously monitored using a USB camera driven by newly developed algorithms. Liquids were handled using multichannel pipettes, although these procedures can be automated for drug screening. The concentration-response curves obtained were similar to those reported in the literature using traditional force transduction techniques on isolated tissues. This system can also be used with other tissue preparations and for simultaneous fluorescence measurements. The new system described here offers a simple, cheap, and reliable alternative to the classic organ bath system.

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Denver Developmental Screening Test II.

UNLABELLED: The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Denver Developmental Screening Test II in a population of Spanish children. Two hundred children ranging from 9 month to 6 years were grouped into two samples (healthy/with psychomotor delay) and screened in order to check whether they suffered from psychomotor delay. Children from three Early Intervention Centres and three schools participated in this study. Criterion validity was calculated by the method of extreme groups, comparing healthy children to those with development delay. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability were calculated using Cohen Kappa coefficient, and internal consistency was calculated via the Kuder-Richardson coefficient. The scale demonstrated 89% sensitivity, 92% specificity, a positive predicted value of 91% and a negative predicted value of 89%, whereas the positive and negative likelihood ratio was 11.12 and 0.12, respectively. Intraobserver reliability ranged from 0.662 to 1, and interobserver reliability ranged from 0.886 to 1. The Kuder-Richardson coefficient values ranged from 87.5 to 97.6%. CONCLUSION: The Spanish version of the Denver Developmental Screening Test II was found to have a good criterion validity, reliability and internal consistency and is a suitable screening test for use in a population of Spanish children.

[Carotenoid data base to assess dietary intake of carotenes, xanthophyls and vitamin A; its use in a comparative study of vitamin A nutritional status in young adults]. / Base de datos de carotenoides para valoración de la ingesta dietética de carotenos, xantofilas y de vitamina A; utilización en un estudio comparativo del estado nutricional en vitamina A de adultos jóvenes.

OBJECTIVES: 1) Develop a database of carotenoids (BD-carotenoids) in foods widely consumed in Spain. 2) To assess the vitamin A nutritional status (expressed as retinol equivalents [RE] and retinol activity equivalents [RAE]) in young adults. METHODS: The BD-carotenoids includes data on carotenes (ß-carotene, α-carotene and lycopene) and xanthophylls (ß-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin) generated by HPLC. Vitamin A intake was assessed by a 3-day food record in 54 adults (20-35 years of age, not obese and with serum retinol > 30 µg/dl), using the BD-carotenoids and a Food Composition Table widely used in Spain. RESULTS: The BD-carotenoids includes data on 89 foods (9 raw or boiled and 14 processed). The intake of provitamin-A carotenoids is 2.5 mg/p/d, that of RE 682 µg/p/d and that of RAE 499 µg/p/d. The vitamin A intake expressed as RAE is 27% lower than that expressed as RE. Seventy-six percent of the intake meets the daily intake recommendations and 63% meets the reference daily intakes of vitamin A. CONCLUSIONS: Data on individual carotenoids ensure greater accuracy in studies on diet and health, and provide easier assessment of the vitamin A intake, expressed as RE, RAE, or any other future forms. The vitamin A intake expressed as RAE represents a substantial reduction in the carotenoid contribution to vitamin A intake, which enhances the detection of inadequacies of that intake.

An inhibitor of neuronal exocytosis (DD04107) displays long-lasting in vivo activity against chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain.

Small peptides patterned after the N terminus of the synaptosomal protein of 25 kDa, a member of the protein complex implicated in Ca(2+)-dependent neuronal exocytosis, inhibit in vitro the release of neuromodulators involved in pain signaling, suggesting an in vivo analgesic activity. Here, we report that compound DD04107 (palmitoyl-EEMQRR-NH(2)), a 6-mer palmitoylated peptide that blocks the inflammatory recruitment of ion channels to the plasma membrane of nociceptors and the release of calcitonin gene-related peptide from primary sensory neurons, displays potent and long-lasting in vivo antihyperalgesia and antiallodynia in chronic models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain, such as the complete Freund's adjuvant, osteosarcoma, chemotherapy, and diabetic neuropathic models. Subcutaneous administration of the peptide produced a dose-dependent antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic activity that lasted ≥24 h. The compound showed a systemic distribution, characterized by a bicompartmental pharmacokinetic profile. Safety pharmacology studies indicated that the peptide is largely devoid of side effects and substantiated that the in vivo activity is not caused by locomotor impairment. Therefore, DD04107 is a potent and long-lasting antinociceptive compound that displays a safe pharmacological profile. These findings support the notion that neuronal exocytosis of receptors and neuronal algogens pivotally contribute to chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain and imply a central role of peptidergic nociceptor sensitization to the pathogenesis of pain.

Fluorescent ß-Blockers as Tools to Study Presynaptic Mechanisms of Neurosecretion.

Several, if not all adrenergic ß-blockers (ß-Bs), accumulate progressively inside secretory vesicles in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, and could be considered to be false neurotransmitters. This transmitter effect is most likely unrelated to their ability to block adrenergic receptors, but it could explain the delay in lowering arterial pressure in hypertensive patients. We have developed a new drug to monitor the accumulation of ß-Bs inside living cells, RCTM-3, which fluoresces in the visible spectrum. Here we describe the procedure to synthesize this new compound, as well as its fluorescent properties, pharmacological profile and its accumulation inside the secretory vesicles of PC12 cells.

Intravesicular factors controlling exocytosis in chromaffin cells.

Chromaffin granules are similar organelles to the large dense core vesicles (LDCV) present in many secretory cell types including neurons. LDCV accumulate solutes at high concentrations (catecholamines, 0.5-1 M; ATP, 120-300 mM; or Ca(2+), 40 mM (Bulenda and Gratzl Biochemistry 24:7760-7765, 1985). Solutes seem to aggregate to a condensed matrix to elude osmotic lysis. The affinity of solutes for LDCV matrix is responsible for the delayed release of catecholamines during exocytosis. The aggregation of solutes occurs due to a specific H(+) pump denominated V-ATPase that maintains an inner acidic media (pH ≈5.5). This pH gradient against cytosol is also responsible for the vesicular accumulation of amines and Ca(2+). When this gradient is reduced by modulation of the V-ATPase activity, catecholamines and Ca(2+) are moved toward the cytosol. In addition, some drugs largely accumulate inside LDCV and not only impair the accumulation of natural solutes, but also act as false neurotransmitters when they are co-released with catecholamines. There is much experimental evidence to conclude that the physiological modulation of vesicle pH and the manipulation of intravesicular media with drugs affect the LDCV cargo and change the kinetics of exocytosis. Here, we will present some experimental data demonstrating the participation of drugs in the kinetics of exocytosis through changes in the composition of vesicular media. We also offer a model to explain the regulation of exocytosis by the intravesicular media that conciliate the experimentally obtained data.

The quantal secretion of catecholamines is impaired by the accumulation of beta-adrenoceptor antagonists into chromaffin cell vesicles.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The delayed onset of certain effects of antagonists of beta-adrenoceptors (beta-blockers), such as lowering arterial blood pressure (several days), cannot be explained solely by their effects on beta-adrenoceptors, an action that occurs within minutes. Although several mechanisms have been proposed, none of them explain this temporal delay. This work aimed at providing a new explanation based on the interference of these drugs with the functional accumulation of catecholamines within neurosecretory vesicles. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: We used the simultaneous on-line monitoring of catecholamine and labetalol release from bovine isolated chromaffin cells and from rat perfused adrenal glands, as well as single cell amperometry, intracellular electrochemistry, patch amperometry and HPLC. KEY RESULTS: Using amperometry, three beta-blockers, labetalol, atenolol and propranolol, reduced the quantal size of secretory events in chromaffin cells, accompanied by a slowing down of exocytosis. By patch amperometry, we found that treatment with beta-blockers also increases the chromaffin vesicle volume, thereby creating a functional dilution of catecholamines. Experiments with intracellular electrochemistry show that vesicles cannot uptake new catecholamines. There was progressive accumulation of labetalol in secretory vesicles of bovine adrenal chromaffin cells, and this beta-blocker was co-released with catecholamines from rat and bovine chromaffin tissues. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: We propose that beta-blockers are progressively concentrated into sympathetic secretory vesicles, and interfere with the storage of catecholamines and are co-released with the natural transmitters, resulting in a decrease in the sympathetic tone. This could explain the delayed onset of the hypotensive effects of beta-blockers.

Antimicrobial activity of 6-oxophenolic triterpenoids. Mode of action against Bacillus subtilis.

Zeylasteral and demethylzeylasteral are 6-oxophenolic triterpenoids isolated from the root of Maytenus blepharodes, which have antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria and the yeast Candida albicans. The time-kill curves for zeylasteral and demethylzeylasteral at concentrations twice their MICs, against Bacillus subtilis showed that the colony forming units were reduced in 3-log10 and > 4-log10 respectively. This reduction was dependent on inoculum size and the growth phase of cells, and was greater when the compounds were incorporated in the exponential phase, indicating a bacteriolytic effect. Treatment with both agents, particularly with zeylasteral (20 microg/mL) caused a reduction of optical density at 550 nm. With regard to the synthesis of DNA, RNA, protein and cell wall, the compounds exhibited the fastest inhibition against cell wall synthesis. Thus, the predisposition to lysis, the morphological changes seen by microscopy, and the complete inhibition in the incorporation the N-acetyl-d-[1 - 14C]glucosamine, suggest that the phenolic compounds compromise the cell wall synthesis and/or cytoplasmic membrane.