The impact of nutrition support on body composition in cancer outpatients receiving radiotherapy

This study investigated the change in body composition in 36 cancer outpatients receiving radiotherapy to the head and neck area (mean age: 63 ± 15 years) randomised to receive either nutrition intervention (NI; n=15) or usual care (UC; n=21). Body weight and composition were measured at the commencement of radiotherapy and 3 months later. The UC group lost significantly more weight; mean decrease = 4.3 kg, than the NI group: mean decrease = 1.1 kg (t(30)=-2.5, p=0.019). Fat-free mass loss was significantly higher in the UC group with a mean loss of 2.2 kg versus 0.3 kg in the NI group (t(30)=- 2.3, p=0.029). Body composition as measured by foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis provides more information than weight alone and can allow for tailoring of NI.

Body size and latitudinal gradients in regional diversity of New World birds

Axe latitudinal gradients in regional diversity random or biased with respect to body size? Using data for the New World avifauna, I show that the slope of the increase in regional species richness from the Arctic to the equator is not independent of body size. The increase is steepest among small and medium-sized species, and shallowest among the largest species. This is reflected in latitudinal variation in the shape of frequency distributions of body sizes in regional subsets of the New World avifauna. Because species are added disproportionately in small and medium size classes towards low latitudes, distributions become less widely spread along the body size axis than expected from the number of species. These patterns suggest an interaction between the effects of latitude and body size on species richness, implying that mechanisms which vary with both latitude and body size may be important determinants of high tropical diversity in New World birds.

The Mallory body as an aggresome: In vitro studies

Prior in vivo studies supported the concept that Mallory bodies (MBs) are aggresomes of cytokeratins 8 and 18. However, to test this hypothesis an in vitro model is needed to study the dynamics of MB formation. Such a study is difficult because MBs have never been induced in tissue culture. Therefore, MBs were first induced in vivo in drug-primed mice and then primary cultures of hepatocytes from these mice were studied. Two approaches were utilized: 1. Primary cultures were transfected with plasmids containing the sequence for cytokeratin 18 (CK 18) tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). 2. Immunofluorescent staining was used to localize the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway components involved in MB-aggresome complex formation in primary hepatocyte cultures. The cells were double stained with a ubiquitin antibody and one of the following antibodies: CK 8, CK 18, tubulin, mutant ubiquitin (UBB+ 1), transglutaminase, phosphothreonine, and the 20S and 26S proteasome subunits P25 and Tbp7, respectively. In the first approach, fluorescence was observed in keratin filaments and MBs 48 h after the cells were transfected with the CK 18 GFP plasmid. Nascent cytokeratin 18 was preferentially concentrated in MBs. Less fluorescence was observed in the normal keratin filaments. This indicated that MBs continued to form in vitro. The immunofluorescent staining of the hepatocytes showed that CK 8 and 18, ubiquitin, mutant ubiquitin (UBB+ 1), P25, Tbp7, phosphothreonine, tubulin, and transglutaminase were all located at the border or the interior of the MB. These results support the concept that MBs are aggresomes of CK 8 and CK 18 and are a result of inhibition of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway of protein degradation possibly caused by UBB+ 1. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science.

Children's body knowledge: Understanding 'life' as a biological goal

Two studies assessed the development of children's understanding of life as a biological goal of body functioning. In Study 1, 4-to-10-year-old children were given an interview consisting of a series of structured questions about the location and function of various body organs. Their responses were coded both for factual correctness and for appeals to the goal of maintaining life. The results showed a gradual increase in children's factual knowledge across this age range but an abrupt increase in appeals to life between the ages of 4 and 6. Analyses of the 4-year-olds' responses suggested that appeals to life were associated with increased knowledge of organ function, but not of organ location. Study 2 was designed to replicate the pattern found in Study I. A continuous sample of 4-to 5-year-old children was administered an abbreviated version of the interview from Study 1. Children's understanding of life as a biological goal was again found to be predictive of their knowledge of organ function, but not of organ location. These results indicate a reorganization in children's understanding of the body between the ages of 4 and 6, which coincides with children's discovery of 'life' as a biological goal for bodily function.

Development of preferences for the human body shape in infancy

Two studies investigated the development of infants' visual preferences for the human body shape. In Study 1, infants of 12,15 and 18 months were tested in a standard preferential looking experiment, in which they were shown paired line drawings of typical and scrambled bodies. Results indicated that the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes over typical body shapes, while the younger infants did not show differential responding. In Study 2, 12- and 18-month-olds were tested with the same procedure, except that the typical and scrambled body stimuli were photographic images. The results of Study 2 again indicated that only the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes. This finding contrasts sharply with infants' precocious preferences for human faces, suggesting that infants' learning about human faces and human bodies follow different developmental trajectories. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Body mass index-related human adipocyte agouti expression is sex-specific but not depot-specific

Objective: To determine if human adipocyte agouti signal protein (ASIP) mRNA expression is associated with obesity and is gender and/or depot specific. Research Methods and Procedures: Subjects included 8 men (64 +/- 3 years) and 14 women (56 +/- 15 years) undergoing elective abdominal surgery. ASIP mRNA levels in isolated omental and subcutaneous abdominal adipocytes were measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: No significant depot difference was observed between genders; ASIP mRNA levels of omental and subcutaneous abdominal adipocytes were pooled for this analysis. BMI and ASIP gene expression were negatively correlated in men (p = -0.70; p < 0.05), whereas a positive relationship was observed in women (p = 0.48; p < 0.05). No significant difference was observed in age, body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference between groups. Hip circumference was significantly higher in women than in men (p < 0.05). Also, no significant difference in ASIP mRNA expression was observed between men and women, regardless of the fat depot. Discussion: These results show that men and women of similar age and BMI present similar ASIP mRNA levels in omental and subcutaneous abdominal adipocytes. However, a sexual dimorphism exists in the relationship between ASIP expression and BMI. If ASIP is involved in appetite regulation or energy homeostasis in humans, this observation may contribute to the recognized differences in these parameters between men and women.