Male partners of subfertile couples in which the spouse is obese display adverse weight and lifestyle associated with reduced sperm quality.

OBJECTIVES: To assess: 1-the spousal concordance of lifestyle and anthropometric characteristics between partners of infertile couples in which the woman is obese; and 2-in men, the influence of these characteristics on their conventional seminal parameters. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Fertility clinic of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, Canada, between January 2012 and February 2015. PATIENTS: 97 infertile heterosexual couples in which women were obese and seeking fertility treatments. INTERVENTION: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Weight and percentage of fat mass were evaluated using a scale with foot-to-foot bio-impedance. Abdominal obesity was estimated with waist circumference and lifestyle habits, by a self-reported questionnaire. Seminal parameters were analysed and collected according to the WHO guidelines (Kruger's strict criteria for seminal morphology). RESULTS: There was a significant spousal concordance for the percentage of fat mass, leisure activities and overall nutritional quality. Accordingly, male participants displayed anthropometric and lifestyle characteristics at higher risk than Canadian men of similar age. Moreover, BMI, daily consumption of fruits & vegetables and sleeping hours in men were independently associated to the total motile sperm count. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report concordance for anthropometric and lifestyle characteristics between partners of infertile couples in which the woman is obese. These characteristics in men were more adverse than in the general population and were associated with reduced sperm quality. Altogether, our results suggest that male partners of infertile couples could benefit from participating in the lifestyle intervention that is already recommended for their spouse affected by obesity. CAPSULE: Because partners of subfertile couples in which the woman is obese share adverse anthropometric and lifestyle characteristics, male partners should be implicated in lifestyle interventions already indicated for their spouse.

Cell-to-cell heterogeneity of EWSR1-FLI1 activity determines proliferation/migration choices in Ewing sarcoma cells.

Ewing sarcoma is characterized by the expression of the chimeric EWSR1-FLI1 transcription factor. Proteomic analyses indicate that the decrease of EWSR1-FLI1 expression leads to major changes in effectors of the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton and the adhesion processes with a shift from cell-to-cell to cell-matrix adhesion. These changes are associated with a dramatic increase of in vivo cell migration and invasion potential. Importantly, EWSR1-FLI1 expression, evaluated by single-cell RT-ddPCR/immunofluorescence analyses, and activity, assessed by expression of EWSR1-FLI1 downstream targets, are heterogeneous in cell lines and in tumours and can fluctuate along time in a fully reversible process between EWSR1-FLI1high states, characterized by highly active cell proliferation, and EWSR1-FLI1low states where cells have a strong propensity to migrate, invade and metastasize. This new model of phenotypic plasticity proposes that the dynamic fluctuation of the expression level of a dominant oncogene is an intrinsic characteristic of its oncogenic potential.

Effects of the menopausal transition on dietary intake and appetite: a MONET Group Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in dietary intake and appetite across the menopausal transition. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This was a 5-year observational, longitudinal study on the menopausal transition. The study included 94 premenopausal women at baseline (age: 49.9±1.9 years; BMI: 23.3±2.3 kg/m2). Body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), appetite (visual analogue scale), eating frequency, energy intake (EI) and macronutrient composition (7-day food diary and buffet-type meal) were measured annually. RESULTS: Repeated-measures analyses revealed that total EI and carbohydrate intake from food diary decreased significantly over time in women who became postmenopausal by year 5 (P>0.05) compared with women in the menopausal transition. In women who became postmenopausal by year 5, fat and protein intakes decreased across the menopausal transition (0.05>P<0.01). Although a decrease in % fat intake was observed during the menopausal transition (P<0.05), this variable was significantly increased in the postmenopausal years (P<0.05). Spontaneous EI and protein intake also declined over time and were higher in the years preceding menopause onset (P<0.05). Desire to eat, hunger and prospective food consumption increased during the menopausal transition and remained at this higher level in the postmenopausal years (0.05>P<0.001). Fasting fullness decreased across the menopausal transition (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that menopausal transition is accompanied with a decrease in food intake and an increase in appetite.

Effects of the menopausal transition on energy expenditure: a MONET Group Study.

OBJECTIVES: Factors that influence weight gain during the menopausal transition are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in energy expenditure (EE) across the menopausal transition. METHODS: In all, 102 premenopausal women (age: 49.9 ± 1.9 years; body mass index: 23.3 ± 2.2 kg/m(2)) were followed for 5 years. Body composition (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), physical activity EE (accelerometer), resting EE and thermic effect of food (indirect calorimetry) were measured annually. RESULTS: Total EE decreased significantly over time in postmenopausal women (P<0.05), which was mostly due to a decrease in physical activity EE (P<0.05). Although average resting EE remained stable over time in postmenopausal women, a significant increase, over the 5-year period, was noted in women who were in the menopausal transition by year 5 (P<0.05). Finally, the time spent in moderate physical activity decreased and the time spent in sedentary physical activity increased during the menopausal transition (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that menopausal transition is accompanied with a decline in EE mainly characterized by a decrease in physical activity EE and a shift to a more sedentary lifestyle.

MiR-30a-5p connects EWS-FLI1 and CD99, two major therapeutic targets in Ewing tumor.

Ewing sarcoma is a pediatric bone tumor characterized in 85% of cases by the fusion between EWS and FLI1 genes that results in the expression of the EWS-FLI1 aberrant transcription factor. Histologically, the Ewing tumor expresses high levels of the CD99 membrane glycoprotein. It has been recently described that CD99 expression contributes to the Ewing tumor oncogenesis by modulating growth and differentiation of tumor cells. Different studies have also shown that overexpression of EWS-FLI1 induces CD99 expression in non-Ewing cells. At the opposite, the knockdown of EWS-FLI1 expression by siRNA approaches has no significant effect on CD99 mRNA level in Ewing cells. Here, by in vivo and in vitro studies, we show that while EWS-FLI1 inhibition has only slight effects on the amount of CD99 transcript, it induces a dramatic decrease of the CD99 protein expression level, hence suggesting post-transcriptional regulations, possibly mediated by microRNAs. To further investigate this issue, we identified a set of 91 miRNAs that demonstrate EWS-FLI1 modulation, three of them being predicted to bind CD99 3' untranslated region (30'UTR). Among these, we show that miR-30a-5p has the ability to interact with the 30'UTR region of CD99 and to regulate its expression. Moreover, the re-expression of miRNA-30a-5p in Ewing cell line induces decreased cell proliferation and invasion. In this study, we therefore show that miR-30a-5p constitutes a major functional link between EWS-FLI1 and CD99, two critical biomarkers and therapeutic targets in Ewing sarcoma.

Normal weight men and women overestimate exercise energy expenditure.

AIM: The limited potential of exercise to induce weight loss could be partly due to the overestimation of the energy cost of exercise. The objectives of this study were twofold: 1) to investigate whether men and women are able to accurately estimate exercise energy expenditure (EE); and 2) to determine whether they have the ability to accurately compensate for the EE of exercise during a buffet-type meal. METHODS: Sixteen (8 men, 8 women) moderately active (VO2 peak=45.4±7.7 mL.kg-1.min-1), normal weight (BMI=22.8±3.3 kg/m2) individuals, aged 20-35 years, were studied. They were blinded to two randomly assigned experimental conditions: a 200 and a 300 kcal (measured by indirect calorimetry) exercise sessions that were performed on a treadmill at the same intensity (50% of VO2 peak). At the end of each exercise session individuals were asked to estimate EE of the exercise sessions and to then eat the caloric equivalent of their estimated exercise EE from a buffet-type meal. RESULTS: Estimated EE was higher than measured EE for both the 200 kcal (825.0±1061.8 vs. 200.1±0.7 kcal, P<0.05) and 300 kcal (896.9±952.4 vs. 300.2±0.7 kcal, P<0.05) sessions. Further, post-exercise energy intake was higher than measured EE for the 200 kcal (556.8±204.4 vs. 200.1±0.7 kcal, P<0.001) and the 300 kcal (607.2±166.5 vs. 300.2±0.7 kcal, P<0.001) sessions. Although post-exercise energy intake was lower than estimated EE, no significant differences were noted. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that normal weight individuals overestimate EE during exercise by 3-4 folds. Further, when asked to precisely compensate for exercise EE with food intake, the resulting energy intake is still 2 to 3 folds greater than the measured EE of exercise.

Dose versus diagnosis: iatrogenic radiation exposure by multidetector computerised tomography in an academic emergency department with measurement of clinically actionable results and emergently treatable findings.

AIM: To determine the iatrogenic absorbed dosage of radiation of the patient in milligray (mGy) computerised tomography dose index volume (CTDIvol) when tested with multidetector computerised tomography (MDCT) in the emergency department (ED) setting and calculate the absorbed dosage of radiation per clinically actionable result and emergently treatable finding (ETF). SETTING: The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) ED located in Galveston, Texas, USA, is a level 1 trauma and tertiary referral centre treating 70,000 patients per annum. METHOD: A retrospective cross-sectional data analysis of 770 emergency patients investigated by MDCT in July 2007. The presence of actionable results and ETF were determined by chart review. RESULTS: A total of 5320 emergency patients was treated in the UTMB ED in July 2007. This included 4508 medical and 812 trauma patients. A total of 1094 MDCT studies was performed, of which complete data were available on 1046. A total of 770 patients was investigated by MDCT, representing 14.47% of all emergency patients. This included 33.99% of trauma patients and 10.96% of medical patients. Actionable results were found in 341 studies and ETF in 105 studies. The mean radiation was 163.27 and 530.23 mGy CTDIvol for actionable results and ETF, respectively, for all studies. The mean radiation was 53.27 and 106.36 mGy CTDIvol for medical and trauma patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The absorbed dosage of radiation of patients investigated by MDCT is clinically significant. The actionable results and ETF in our study demonstrate considerable opportunity for improvement in the utilisation of this technology by physicians.

Predictors of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after the AZF chemical factory explosion on 21 September 2001, in Toulouse, France.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse in the general population the prevalence and predictors of symptomatology consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (S-PTSD) 18 months after an industrial explosion. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS AND OUTCOME MEASURES: A random sample of 1191 city inhabitants, including an oversample of the immediate area (<3 km). S-PTSD was measured by the self-administered Impact of Event Scale-Revised. The relation between S-PTSD and individual vulnerability factors, immediate exposure and post-trauma factors was analysed by gender. RESULTS: S-PTSD was more prevalent in the immediate area than in the peripheral area (women 19% vs 8%; men 8% vs 2%, p<0.01). In the immediate area, S-PTSD was independently associated with birth outside France (men: OR(a) = 13.9, 95% CI 3.7 to 52.8; women: OR(a) = 2.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 4.2), age more than 40 years (men: OR(a) = 4.3, 95% CI 1.01 to 18.2; women: OR(a) = 2.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 4.5), previous psychotropic treatment (men: OR(a) = 11.5, 95% CI 2.4 to 53.6), proximity to the explosion (less educated men only) (OR(a) = 9.3, 95% CI 1.9 to 44.7), rescue efforts (men: OR(a) = 5.2, 95% CI 1.5 to 18.2), temporarily uninhabitable home (men: OR(a) = 5.8, 95% CI 1.9 to 18.1), personal injury (women: OR(a) = 3.7, 95% CI 1.7 to 8.4), financial difficulties (men: OR(a) = 17.4, 95% CI 4.2 to 72.1; women: OR(a) = 3.4, 95% CI 1.7 to 7.1) and inconvenience due to closure of public services (women: OR(a) = 4.1, 95% CI 1.6 to 9.9). CONCLUSIONS: Individual vulnerability, exposure and post-trauma factors were associated with S-PTSD. Vulnerable subgroups, defined by low socioeconomic characteristics may warrant focused screening after such disasters.

An overview of obesity-specific quality of life questionnaires.

The measurement of quality of life in patients with obesity is useful to evaluate the effects of treatment (including bariatric surgery) and may influence the development of clinical pathways, service provision, healthcare expenditures and public health policy. Consequently, clinicians, researchers and policy makers must rely on valid measurement instruments. We reviewed 11 obesity-specific quality of life questionnaires and classified them according to their domain of interest and described their measurement properties (specifications, validity, reliability, responsiveness and interpretability). We found that (i) nine questionnaires were developed specifically to be used as evaluative instruments in clinical trials; (ii) only three targeted populations with morbid obesity (body mass index > 40 kg m(-2)); (iii) construct validity was properly studied in three questionnaires; (iv) demonstration of responsiveness from independent randomized controlled trials was available for two of the 11 questionnaires; (v) keys to interpretation of scores were provided for three questionnaires. Future research should include further validation and a better definition of the interpretability of existing instruments.

Optical superheterodyne receiver.

Optical communications experiments at 6328 A, comparing the fading characteristics of coherent and noncoherent optical detection, have been performed over a 1-km real atmospheric path in different weather conditions. The results show that fading is less severe for noncoherent detection and that the fading characteristic for both types vary significantly with weather conditions. In addition, the similarity of optical FM to rf FM is demonstrated. The measurements were performed using a remote laser transmitter and an optical superheterodyne receiver operating simultaneously in both a coherent and noncoherent detection mode. The receiver, tunable over a frequency range of 1 GHz at the IF difference frequency of 30 MHz, has automatic frequency control and also uses a precision angle tracking servo to maintain receiver spatial alignment with a remote transmitter. The angle and frequency tracking capability permit operation between moving transmitter and receiver terminals.