A nutritional intervention study with hydrolyzed collagen in pre-pubertal Spanish children: influence on bone modeling biomarkers

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of dietary intake of commercial hydrolyzed collagen (Gelatine Royal ®) on bone remodeling in pre-pubertal children. Methods: A randomized double-blind study was carried out in 60 children (9.42 ± 1.31 years) divided into three groups according to the amount of partially hydrolyzed collagen taken daily for 4 months: placebo (G-I, n = 18), collagen (G-II, n = 20) and collagen + calcium (G-III, n = 22) groups. Analyses of the following biochemical markers were carried out: total and bone alkaline phosphatase (tALP and bALP), osteocalcin, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), type I collagen carboxy terminal telopeptide, lipids, calcium, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), thyroid-stimulating hormone, free thyroxin and intact parathormone. Results: There was a significantly greater increase in serum IGF-1 in G-III than in G II (p < 0.01) or G-I (p < 0.05) during the study period, and a significantly greater increase in plasma tALP in G-III than in G-I (p < 0.05). Serum bALP behavior significantly (p < 0.05) differed between G-II (increase) and G-I (decrease). Plasma TRAP behavior significantly differed between G-II and G-I (p < 0.01) and between G-III and G-II (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Daily dietary intake of hydrolyzed collagen seems to have a potential role in enhancing bone remodeling at key stages of growth and development.

Gender differences in cardiovascular risk factors in HIV infected patients on antiretroviral therapy: Data from the Spanish Coronator study.

Purpose: HIV-infected patients present an increased cardiovascular risk (CVR) of multifactorial origin, usually lower in women than in men. Information by gender about prevalence of modifiable risk factors is scarce. Methods: Coronator is a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of HIV-infected patients on ART within 10 hospitals across Spain in 2011. Variables include sociodemographics, CVR factors and 10-year CV disease risk estimation (Regicor: Framingham score adapted to the Spanish population). Results: We included 860 patients (76.3% male) with no history of CVD. Median age 45.6 years; 84.1% were Spaniards; 29.9% women were IDUs. Median time since HIV diagnosis for men and women was 10 and 13 years (p=0.001), 28% had an AIDS diagnosis. Median CD4 cell count was 596 cells/mm3, 88% had undetectable viral load. Median time on ART was 91 and 108 months (p=0.017). There was a family history of early CVD in 113 men (17.9%) and 41 women (20.6%). Classical CVR factors are described in the table. Median (IQR) Regicor Score was 3% (2-5) for men and 2% (1-3) for women (p=0.000), and the proportion of subjects with mid-high risk (>5%) was 26.1% for men and 9.4% for women (p=0.000). Conclusions: In this population of HIV-infected patients, women have lower cardiovascular risk than men, partly due to higher levels of HDL cholesterol. Of note is the high frequency of smoking, abdominal obesity and sedentary lifestyle in our population. (Table Presented).

Complicated intra-abdominal infections worldwide: the definitive data of the CIAOW Study.

The CIAOW study (Complicated intra-abdominal infections worldwide observational study) is a multicenter observational study underwent in 68 medical institutions worldwide during a six-month study period (October 2012-March 2013). The study included patients older than 18 years undergoing surgery or interventional drainage to address complicated intra-abdominal infections (IAIs). 1898 patients with a mean age of 51.6 years (range 18-99) were enrolled in the study. 777 patients (41%) were women and 1,121 (59%) were men. Among these patients, 1,645 (86.7%) were affected by community-acquired IAIs while the remaining 253 (13.3%) suffered from healthcare-associated infections. Intraperitoneal specimens were collected from 1,190 (62.7%) of the enrolled patients. 827 patients (43.6%) were affected by generalized peritonitis while 1071 (56.4%) suffered from localized peritonitis or abscesses. The overall mortality rate was 10.5% (199/1898). According to stepwise multivariate analysis (PR = 0.005 and PE = 0.001), several criteria were found to be independent variables predictive of mortality, including patient age (OR = 1.1; 95%CI = 1.0-1.1; p < 0.0001), the presence of small bowel perforation (OR = 2.8; 95%CI = 1.5-5.3; p < 0.0001), a delayed initial intervention (a delay exceeding 24 hours) (OR = 1.8; 95%CI = 1.5-3.7; p < 0.0001), ICU admission (OR = 5.9; 95%CI = 3.6-9.5; p < 0.0001) and patient immunosuppression (OR = 3.8; 95%CI = 2.1-6.7; p < 0.0001).

Use of Two-Part Regression Calibration Model to Correct for Measurement Error in Episodically Consumed Foods in a Single-Replicate Study Design: EPIC Case Study.

In epidemiologic studies, measurement error in dietary variables often attenuates association between dietary intake and disease occurrence. To adjust for the attenuation caused by error in dietary intake, regression calibration is commonly used. To apply regression calibration, unbiased reference measurements are required. Short-term reference measurements for foods that are not consumed daily contain excess zeroes that pose challenges in the calibration model. We adapted two-part regression calibration model, initially developed for multiple replicates of reference measurements per individual to a single-replicate setting. We showed how to handle excess zero reference measurements by two-step modeling approach, how to explore heteroscedasticity in the consumed amount with variance-mean graph, how to explore nonlinearity with the generalized additive modeling (GAM) and the empirical logit approaches, and how to select covariates in the calibration model. The performance of two-part calibration model was compared with the one-part counterpart. We used vegetable intake and mortality data from European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. In the EPIC, reference measurements were taken with 24-hour recalls. For each of the three vegetable subgroups assessed separately, correcting for error with an appropriately specified two-part calibration model resulted in about three fold increase in the strength of association with all-cause mortality, as measured by the log hazard ratio. Further found is that the standard way of including covariates in the calibration model can lead to over fitting the two-part calibration model. Moreover, the extent of adjusting for error is influenced by the number and forms of covariates in the calibration model. For episodically consumed foods, we advise researchers to pay special attention to response distribution, nonlinearity, and covariate inclusion in specifying the calibration model.

Influence of the LILRA3 Deletion on Multiple Sclerosis Risk: Original Data and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over hundred polymorphisms with modest individual effects in MS susceptibility and they have confirmed the main individual effect of the Major Histocompatibility Complex. Additional risk loci with immunologically relevant genes were found significantly overrepresented. Nonetheless, it is accepted that most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined. Candidate association studies of the leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor LILRA3 gene in MS have been repeatedly reported with inconsistent results. OBJECTIVES In an attempt to shed some light on these controversial findings, a combined analysis was performed including the previously published datasets and three newly genotyped cohorts. Both wild-type and deleted LILRA3 alleles were discriminated in a single-tube PCR amplification and the resulting products were visualized by their different electrophoretic mobilities. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Overall, this meta-analysis involved 3200 MS patients and 3069 matched healthy controls and it did not evidence significant association of the LILRA3 deletion [carriers of LILRA3 deletion: p = 0.25, OR (95% CI) = 1.07 (0.95-1.19)], even after stratification by gender and the HLA-DRB1*15:01 risk allele.