Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Continuous Metabolic Syndrome in Adolescents with Overweight/Obesity.

INTRODUCTION: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the leading cause of pediatric chronic liver disease. Although nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is closely associated with obesity, its relationship with metabolic syndrome in children is not fully understood. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and a combination of cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents with overweight/obesity, using a pediatric metabolic syndrome score (PsiMS) to predict metabolic syndrome. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Subjects with overweight/obesity aged 10 to 17 followed at two clinical centers in Portugal (2018 - 2021) were enrolled. The independent association of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease with PsiMS, and of other potential predictors, was tested through multiple regression analyses. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis was performed to estimate the optimal cutoff of PsiMS to discriminate metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: Eighty-four subjects were included (median age at baseline 11.5 years). The prevalence rate of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was 51% and the prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome was 7%. The mean PsiMS was 2.05 ± 0.48 at the first evaluation, and 2.11 ± 0.52 at the last evaluation (mean follow-up time was 15 months). The nonalcoholic fatty liver disease group had significantly (p < 0.05) higher weight and body mass index z-scores, higher rate of severe obesity and higher waist circumference percentile. PsiMS was highly accurate in predicting metabolic syndrome (area under the curve = 0.96), with an optimal cutoff of 2.46 (sensitivity 100%, specificity 89%). In the univariate analysis, no statistically significant association was observed between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and PsiMS. In the multiple regression analysis, female sex had a negative association with PsiMS (first and last evaluation). Independent predictors of a higher PsiMS at first evaluation were: ≥ 2 metabolic syndrome criteria, body mass index z-score, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. At the last evaluation, independent predictors of a higher PsiMS were: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, baseline PsiMS and body mass index increase from baseline. CONCLUSION: The results suggest a good performance of the PsiMS to assess metabolic syndrome and that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with PsiMS at follow-up.

Direct evidence for eoarchean iron metabolism?

Metasedimentary rocks from Isua, West Greenland (> 3,700 million years old) contain carbonaceous compounds, compatible with a biogenic origin (Hassenkam, Andersson, Dalby, Mackenzie, & Rosing, 2017; Ohtomo, Kakegawa, Ishida, Nagase, & Rosing, 2014; Rosing, 1999). The metamorphic mineral assemblage with garnet and quartz intergrowths contains layers of carbonaceous inclusions contiguous with carbon-rich sedimentary beds in the host rock. Previous studies (Hassenkam et al., 2017; Ohtomo et al., 2014; Rosing, 1999) on Isua rocks focused on testing the biogenic origin of the carbonaceous material, but here we searched for evidence which could provide new insights into the nature of the life that generated this carbonaceous material. We studied material trapped in inclusions armoured within quartz grains inside garnet porphyroblasts by non-destructive ptychographic X-ray nanotomography (PXCT). The 3D electron density maps generated by PXCT were correlated with maps from X-ray fluorescence tomography and micro-Raman spectroscopy. We found that the material trapped inside inclusions in the quartz grains consist of disordered carbon material encasing domains of iron-rich carbonaceous material. These results corroborate earlier claims (Hassenkam et al., 2017; Ohtomo et al., 2014; Rosing, 1999) for biogenic origins and are compatible with relics of metamorphosed biological material originally containing high iron/carbon ratios, comparable to ratios found in most extant organisms. These iron-rich domains represent the oldest evidence for organic iron complexes in the geologic record and are consistent with Fe-isotopic evidence for metabolic iron fractionation in > 3,700 Ma Isua banded iron formation (Czaja et al., 2013; Whitehouse & Fedo, 2007).

Estimation in additive models and ANOVA-like applications.

A well-known property of cumulant generating function is used to estimate the first four order cumulants, using least-squares estimators. In the case of additive models, empirical best linear unbiased predictors are also obtained. Pairs of independent and identically distributed models associated with the treatments of a base design are used to obtain unbiased estimators for the fourth-order cumulants. An application to real data is presented, showing the good behaviour of the least-squares estimators and the great flexibility of our approach.

Considering the sample sizes as truncated Poisson random variables in mixed effects models.

When applying analysis of variance, the sample sizes may not be previously known, so it is more appropriate to consider them as realizations of random variables. A motivating example is the collection of observations during a fixed time span in a study comparing, for example, several pathologies of patients arriving at a hospital. This paper extends the theory of analysis of variance to those situations considering mixed effects models. We will assume that the occurrences of observations correspond to a counting process and the sample dimensions have Poisson distribution. The proposed approach is applied to a study of cancer patients.

Localized holes and delocalized electrons in photoexcited inorganic perovskites: Watching each atomic actor by picosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

We report on an element-selective study of the fate of charge carriers in photoexcited inorganic CsPbBr3 and CsPb(ClBr)3 perovskite nanocrystals in toluene solutions using time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with 80 ps time resolution. Probing the Br K-edge, the Pb L3-edge, and the Cs L2-edge, we find that holes in the valence band are localized at Br atoms, forming small polarons, while electrons appear as delocalized in the conduction band. No signature of either electronic or structural changes is observed at the Cs L2-edge. The results at the Br and Pb edges suggest the existence of a weakly localized exciton, while the absence of signatures at the Cs edge indicates that the Cs+ cation plays no role in the charge transport, at least beyond 80 ps. This first, time-resolved element-specific study of perovskites helps understand the rather modest charge carrier mobilities in these materials.

Efeitos de infusöes de dopamina e de nitroprussiato de sódio em pacientes portadores de insuficiência cardíaca refratária / Effects of dopamine and sodium nitroprusside infusiones in patients with refractory cardiac failure

Em nove pacientes portadores de insuficiência cardíaca refratária foram estudados os efeitos hemodinâmicos da dopamina e do nitroprussiato de sódio, infundidos isoladamente ou em associaçäo. A associaçäo das drogas em doses baixas produziu efeitos terapêuticos superiores aos obtidos como o uso isolado de cada uma