Oral cavity morphology among children at risk of sleep disordered breathing.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate oral cavity morphology in children at risk of sleep disordered breathing (SDB). METHODS: The study included children 3-17 years of age. The risk of SDB was evaluated using the paediatric sleep questionnaire (PSQ); afterwards, children at risk of SDB were enrolled in the study group. A control group was randomly established from patients with negative PSQ results. The oral cavity morphology evaluation included assessment of the oropharynx using Mallampati classification (MC), palatine tonsil size using the Pirquet scale, occlusion and the presence of a high-arched palate and lingual frenulum. RESULTS: A total of 131 children were evaluated, 65 in the study and 66 in the control group. The mean ages were 9.5 ± 3.0 and 9.4 ± 3.1 years, respectively. The presence of higher scores on the MC, higher scores in the Pirquet scale, a crossbite, a high-arched palate and a short frenulum were significantly more frequent in the study group than the control group. CONCLUSION: The evaluation of oral morphology is an important part of paediatric examination. Enlarged palatine tonsils; higher scores on the MC; and the presence of a crossbite, short lingual frenulum and high-arched palate may suggest abnormal breathing during sleep in children.

Subjective self-assessment of physical activity is negatively affected by monitoring awareness in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: a crossover randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Physical activity plays an important role in maintaining mental and physical health. This study assessed the effect of physical activity monitoring awareness on the physical activity level and subjective self-assessment of physical activity in middle-aged subjects with normal cognitive function (NCF) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-five subjects aged 50-65 years with NCF and MCI were randomised into two experimental groups, each taking part in two one-week intervention periods. Subjects in group A were not aware that their physical activity was monitored in the first week (phase I) and were aware of the monitoring in the second week (phase II), whereas it was the opposite order for group B. Physical activity was assessed using the ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). RESULTS: A total of 32 subjects (MCI: n = 12, NCF: n = 20) completed both intervention periods, with MCI subjects having significantly lower objectively assessed physical activity than NCF participants. Moreover, subjectively assessed physical activity in the MCI group was significantly higher when the participants were unaware of physical activity monitoring. A significant phase-group interaction was found in total (MET-min/d: p = 0.0072; min/d: p = 0.0194) and moderate (MET-min/d: p = 0.0015; min/d: p = 0.0020) physical activity as well as energy expenditure (p = 0.0366) assessed by the IPAQ and in the percentage of sedentary behaviour (p = 0.0330) and the average number of steps (p = 0.0342) assessed by ActiGraph. CONCLUSIONS: The awareness of physical activity assessment might decrease the ability to subjectively assess physical activity in subjects with MCI.

Energy-restricted Central-European diet stimulates liver microsomal function in obese postmenopausal women - a randomized nutritional trial with a comparison to energy-restricted Mediterranean diet.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity and metabolic syndrome are risk factors for liver diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A healthy food pattern is vital for managing these health problems, therefore, this study investigated how two calorie-restricted diets, the Central European diet (CED) and Mediterranean diet (MED), altered microsomal liver function in obese postmenopausal women with a risk of metabolic syndrome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One-hundred-forty-four subjects were randomly assigned to the CED (n=72) or the MED (n=72) groups. A 13C-methacetin breath test was performed, before and after the intervention to assess CPDR (Cumulative Percentage Dose Recovery at 120 minutes of the test), TTP (Time to Peak - maximal momentary recovery of 13C) and Vmax (the maximum momentary 13C recovery). RESULTS: There was a statistically significant increase in TTP and Vmax in the CED group only (p=0.0159 and p=0.0498, respectively). Changes in CPDR and TTP due to intervention were significantly higher in the CED group than in the MED group (p=0.0440 and p=0.0115, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to document a stimulatory effect of the energy-restricted CED on liver microsomal function as compared to MED. The relatively short dietary intervention led to a significant difference in the CYP1A2 activity between groups. The trial was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00012958; URL: https://www.germanctr.de/).

Characteristics of insulin receptor binding to various rat tissues.

The first step in insulin action is its specific binding to alpha-subunits of the receptor in the plasma membrane. Rats of Wistar strain are commonly used as laboratory animals but there are no data comparing insulin binding by various rat tissues. We studied the insulin binding kinetics in plasma membranes isolated from hearts, livers, brains, skeletal muscles, adipose tissue, thymus and testes in order to compare their ability to bind 125I-insulin and to test which membrane preparation is most useful and convenient for such a study. The dissociation constant (Kd) and the quantity of receptors measured as a binding capacity were determined by the Scatchard method using the LIGAND computer program whereas the binding potency of insulin was calculated as IC50 using the ALLFIT computer program. We also introduced the product of Ka x R50 (affinity constant multiplied by binding capacity) as an index which describes the functional features of insulin receptors taking into account both number of insulin receptors and their affinity. Taking all the parameters of insulin binding tested together we can conclude that the liver and, to some extent, adipose tissue may provide a useful model for studying hormone-receptor interaction. By contrast, to the group of rat tissues responding rather poorly to insulin belong thymus and testis.

Effect of hypothermia on insulin-receptor interaction in different rat tissues.

Experimental hypothermia caused extensive changes in the number of both classes of insulin receptors in different rat tissues. In the liver, the number of high affinity insulin receptors (HAIRs) decreased by 50% (from 25.3 to 12.6 fmol/mg membrane protein), whereas number of low affinity insulin receptors (LAIRs) was almost unchanged in comparison to normothermic animals (5.63 and 4.39 pmol/mg, respectively). In the adipose tissue, number of both classes was reduced--HAIRs by 81% (from 24.0 to 4.50 fmol/mg) and LAIRs by 92% (from 16.0 to 1.29 pmol/mg). In the skeletal muscle, capacity of HAIRs was not changed (16.2 and 19.3 fmol/mg in normo- and hypothermic animals, respectively), whereas number of LAIRs increased by 150% (from 6.65 to 16.6 pmol/mg). Hypothermic rats also showed lower amount (by 85%) of LAIRs in the heart muscle (9.37 and 1.43 pmol/mg in control and experimental animals, respectively). Simultaneously, no significant changes were found in HAIRs (16.3 and 11.9 fmol/mg, respectively) and LAIRs (4.43 and 3.88 pmol/mg, respectively) in the brain. These differences in insulin receptors responses to hypothermia may reflect different physiological role of insulin in the regulation of target cell metabolism and/or the differences in tissue distribution of the insulin receptor isoforms.

Non-invasive detection of Helicobacter pylori in cystic fibrosis--the fecal test vs. the urea breath test.

OBJECTIVES: Only recently it has been proven that cystic fibrosis (CF) patients have the same prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (HP infection) as the general population, as well as the same spectrum of changes caused by this pathogen. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the two most popular noninvasive tests--the urea breath test (UBT) and the fecal test (FT) in diagnosing HP infection in CF patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 79 CF patients and 49 healthy subjects (HS). The presence of HP infection was evaluated using the 13C isotope-labeled urea breath test and the fecal test (ELISA). RESULTS: Fifteen (19.0%) CF patients and eight (16.3%) HS were found to be HP positive using the UBT. The HP stool antigen was detected in twelve (15.2%) CF patients and seven (14.3%) HS. Discordant results for the two tests were obtained in 9 out of 18 (50.0%) CF patients and 3 out of 9 (33.3%) HS. Although the differences were not statistically significant, the risk of potentially false negative and false positive results in CF subjects seems to be high. Similarly, no statistical differences in the basic clinical parameters were documented between the CF subgroups with concordant and divergent HP results. CONCLUSIONS: Since there is convincing evidence of divergent UBT and FT results in the CF patients, we suggest that UBT is kept as the standard method for HP detection in this population, at least until obtaining reliable and valid results allows for a change in such an approach.