Adipose tissue polyunsaturated fatty acids and metabolic syndrome among adult parents and their children.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may play a role in the etiology of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). The aim of the study was to examine the associations of adipose tissue PUFA biomarkers with MetS among parents and children in Mesoamerica. METHOD AND RESULTS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 468 parents and 201 children aged 7-12 y from the capital cities of Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize, and Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Mexico. We measured PUFA biomarkers in gluteal adipose tissue by gas chromatography. In adults, MetS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III definition. In children, we created an age- and sex-standardized metabolic risk score using abdominal circumference, the homeostasis model of insulin resistance, blood pressure, serum HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. We estimated prevalence ratios of MetS and mean differences in metabolic score across quartiles of PUFA using multivariable-adjusted Poisson and linear regression models, respectively. Among adults, MetS was associated with low alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and low gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). It was linearly, positively associated with dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) and estimated Δ6-desaturase (D6D) activity. Among children, the metabolic score was positively associated with docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), DGLA, and D6D activity. CONCLUSIONS: Among Mesoamerican adults, MetS prevalence is inversely associated with adipose tissue ALA and GLA, and positively associated with EPA, DGLA, and the D6D index. Among children, metabolic risk score is positively associated with DPA, DGLA, and the D6D index.

Gynaecological cancers in Trinidad and Tobago: the case for an oncology service - abstract

Genital tract cancers in Trinidad and Tobago referred to the National Radiotherapy Centre, and all deaths from gynaecological cancers reported by the Government's Central Statistical Office, were included in this study for the period January 1978 to December 1983. There were 587 genital tract cancers and 200 deaths. Cervical cancer was the most common type (67 percent), and the commonest cause of death (70 percent) from gynaecological cancers. This differs from reports in the developed countries where ovarian cancers are the most common, but the age distribution for each site of cancer is the same. No statistically significant difference occurred in the sites of cancer for the two predominant ethnic groups. The need for a comprehensive oncology service was indicated by clinical staging having been done in only one in fifteen cases referred for radiotherapy, and only 8 percent of invasive cervical cancers having had cytological screening before referral for radiotherapy. Further, the Family Planning Association Clinic, in screening 38,501 cervical smears, failed to detect a single invasive cervical cancer, and less than one dyskariotic smear per 1,000 smears. However, a private facility detected one dyskariotic smear per 100, and one occult malignancy per 549 smears. Histological confirmation in 83 percent of genital tract cancers leaves 17 patients at risk of possible unnecessary radiotherapy. A proper oncology service would determine the appropriate therapy, be it radiotherapeutic, surgical, chemotherapeutic, immunological or a combination thereof, for each site and stage of genital tract cancer (AU)