A pragmatic approach to the comparison of wrist-based cutpoints of physical activity intensity for the MotionWatch8 accelerometer in children.

BACKGROUND: A variety of wearable monitors are available for objectively assessing physical activity but there is a lack of established values for the activity intensity of MotionWatch8 (MW8) and a similar lack of studies on comparability across devices. Our study aimed to establish activity intensity cutpoints for the MW8 accelerometer in children, which are necessary to determine whether they are meeting physical activity guidelines. METHODS: Children (n = 39, ages 9-13 years) were asked to wear two different accelerometers (MW8 and ActiGraph) simultaneously on the same dominant wrist as they performed different activities designed to mimic activities of variable intensity that a child might perform in a free-living environment. Linear regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to assess sensitivity and specificity of the identified MW8 intensity cutpoints compared to established ActiGraph cutpoints. RESULTS: Mean values for each activity were positively correlated using the MW8 and ActiGraph monitors (r = 0.85, p<0.001). The optimal cutpoints for differentiating sedentary from light physical activity, light from moderate, and moderate from vigorous activity were ≤32 counts, ≥ 371.5 counts, and ≥ 859.5 counts per 30 seconds, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated the ability of MW8 to discriminate different intensity activities and provided the first cutoff values for researchers using the MW8 to measure physical activity patterns among children.

The overexpression of MYST4 in human solid tumors is associated with increased aggressiveness and decreased overall survival.

MYST4 (also called MORF and KAT6B) is one of the histone acetyltransferases with transcriptional regulatory activity. It was found to be overexpressed in ovarian cancer by a serial analysis of gene expression assays that focused on plant homeodomain-linked domain-containing genes. Compared to ovarian clear cell carcinomas and endometrioid carcinomas, MYST4 is significantly overexpressed in ovarian high-grade serous carcinomas (HGSCs) and was correlated with diminished patient survival in advanced stage HGSCs. Due to limited data on MYST4 in tumorigenesis and tumor progression, we explored the functional roles of MYST4 in human tumors. Besides the ovarian cancer cell line A2780, we chose two other types of human cancer cell lines expressing high mRNA levels of MYST4, SKBR3 and Huh7, for further in vitro investigation. Athymic nu/nu mice were utilized to facilitate the in vivo xenograft study. To search for potentially regulated genes, a microarray study comparing the expression profile before and after MYST4 knockdown was performed. Overexpression of MYST4 in HCCs was significantly associated with decreased survival. The knockdown of MYST4 significantly reduced cellular proliferation, migration, and cell cycle progression in all three cancer cell lines. Moreover, the knockdown of MYST4 in Huh7 cells suppressed tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model. Furthermore, based on our microarray study, we identified several downstream genes important in regulating tumor behaviors. Collectively, our results suggest that MYST4 is involved in cancer progression and contributes to a more aggressive behavior in human solid tumors. Targeting MYST4 represents an appealing strategy for the effective treatment of advanced solid tumors overexpressing MYST4.

Dietary Cholesterol, Lipid Levels, and Cardiovascular Risk among Adults with Diabetes or Impaired Fasting Glucose in the Framingham Offspring Study.

Previous recommendations to limit dietary cholesterol intake have been eliminated for most adults. Questions remain about whether dietary cholesterol has adverse cardiovascular effects among individuals with impaired fasting glucose or diabetes (IFG/T2DM). We used data for 993 adults (40.9% female), ages 35⁻<65 years, with prevalent IFG/T2DM in the prospective Framingham Offspring Study to address this question. Dietary cholesterol was assessed using 3-day diet records at exams 3 and 5 and used to classify subjects into sex-specific tertiles of mean cholesterol intake. Outcomes included fasting lipid levels over 20 years and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). Statistical analyses included repeated measures mixed regression models and Cox proportional hazards models to adjust for confounding. Among adults with T2DM/IFG, there was no consistent association between dietary cholesterol intake and fasting low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), LDL/HDL ratio, or triglycerides over 20 years of follow-up. In longitudinal analyses, the adjusted hazard ratio for CVD in the highest (vs. lowest) sex-specific tertile of cholesterol intake was 0.61 (95% CI: 0.41, 0.90). These analyses provide no evidence of an adverse association between dietary cholesterol and serum lipid levels or atherosclerotic CVD risk among adults with prevalent IFG/T2DM.

Dietary Cholesterol Intake Is Not Associated with Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in the Framingham Offspring Study.

Identification of diet and lifestyle risk factors for prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is of great importance. The specific role of dietary cholesterol (DC) in T2DM risk is unclear. This study uses data from 2192 Framingham Offspring Study subjects to estimate the effects of DC alone and in combination with markers of a healthy diet and other lifestyle factors on fasting glucose and risk of T2DM or impaired fasting glucose (IFG) over 20 years of follow-up. Dietary data were derived from two sets of three-day food records. Statistical methods included mixed linear regression and Cox proportional hazard's modeling to adjust for confounding. There were no statistically significant differences in glucose levels over 20 years of follow-up across DC intake categories (.