Nutritional status, biological maturation and cardiorespiratory fitness in Azorean youth aged 11-15 years

Background: Sex and individual differences in biological maturity status can influence height, weight, and body fat. Thus, the rigorous control of these variables seems necessary for estimating overweight and obesity in adolescents. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity and over-fatness in Azorean adolescents and to examine the contributions of chronological age, sex, estimated maturity status, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) to the risk of overweight and obesity and over-fatness. Methods. The sample comprised 1,206 youth aged 11-15 years (626 boys and 580 girls) from the Azores Islands, Portugal. Body mass, stature, and skinfolds (triceps and subscapular) were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and percent fat was predicted from skinfolds. Age- and sex-specific IOTF cut-off values of the BMI defined nutritional status. Biological maturation was estimated as present height expressed as a percentage of predicted adult (mature) stature. The CRF was analyzed from the 20-m shuttle run test. Results: The total prevalence rates of overweight/obesity and over-fatness were of 31% and 27%, respectively. Low CRF (unfit) and being average and advanced in maturity status were positively and significantly associated with overweight/obesity and with risk of being over-fatness in both sexes. Conclusions: High prevalence rates of overweight/obesity and over-fatness were identified in Azorean youth, and low CRF and advanced biological maturation were positively associated with overweight/obesity and over-fatness in our sample of adolescents. © 2013 Coelho-e-Silva et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Optimal single-embryo mass spectrometry fingerprinting

In pre-implantation embryos, lipids play key roles in determining viability, cryopreservation and implantation properties, but often their analysis is analytically challenging because of the few picograms of analytes present in each of them. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) allows obtaining individual phospholipid profiles of these microscopic organisms. This technique is sensitive enough to enable analysis of individual intact embryos and monitoring the changes in membrane lipid composition in the early stages of development serving as screening method for studies of biology and biotechnologies of reproduction. This article introduces an improved, more comprehensive MALDI-MS lipid fingerprinting approach that considerably increases the lipid information obtained from a single embryo. Using bovine embryos as a biological model, we have also tested optimal sample storage and handling conditions before the MALDI-MS analysis. Improved information at the molecular level is provided by the use of a binary matrix that enables phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, phosphatidylserines, phosphatidylinositols and phosphoethanolamines to be detected via MALDI(±)-MS in both the positive and negative ion modes. An optimal MALDI-MS protocol for lipidomic monitoring of a single intact embryo is therefore reported with potential applications in human and animal reproduction, cell development and stem cell research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Heparin and penicillamine-hypotaurine-epinephrine (PHE) solution during bovine in vitro fertilization procedures impair the quality of spermatozoa but improve normal oocyte fecundation and early embryonic development

The presence of heparin and a mixture of penicillamine, hypotaurine, and epinephrine (PHE) solution in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) media seem to be a prerequisite when bovine spermatozoa are capacitated in vitro, in order to stimulate sperm motility and acrosome reaction. The present study was designed to determine the effect of the addition of heparin and PHE during IVF on the quality and penetrability of spermatozoa into bovine oocytes and on subsequent embryo development. Sperm quality, evaluated by the integrity of plasma and acrosomal membranes and mitochondrial function, was diminished (P < 0.05) in the presence of heparin and PHE. Oocyte penetration and normal pronuclear formation rates, as well as the percentage of zygotes presenting more than two pronuclei, was higher (P < 0.05) in the presence of heparin and PHE. No differences were observed in cleavage rates between treatment and control (P > 0.05). However, the developmental rate to the blastocyst stage was increased in the presence of heparin and PHE (P > 0.05). The quality of embryos that reached the blastocyst stage was evaluated by counting the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cell numbers and total number of cells; the percentage of ICM and TE cells was unaffected (P > 0.05) in the presence of heparin and PHE (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that while the supplementation of IVF media with heparin and PHE solution impairs spermatozoa quality, it plays an important role in sperm capacitation, improving pronuclear formation, and early embryonic development. © 2013 The Society for In Vitro Biology.

Análise do período de defeso do camarão marinho Artemesia longinaris através da maturidade ovariana anual

Pós-graduação em Aquicultura - FCAV

Desenvolvimento ovariano do Prochilodus lineatus em dois sistemas de produção: tanques rede e viveiros escavados

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Efeito da suplementação de cisteína e cisteamina sobre a maturação nuclear de oócitos de fêmeas caninas (Canis familiaris) obtidos por ovariosalpingo-histerectomia durante a fase pré-ovulatória do estro

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O papel do fator de crescimento semelhante à insulina-l sobre os efeitos deletérios do choque térmico em oócitos bovinos no estádio de vesícula germinativa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Suplementação do meio de maturação com gonadotrofinas placentárias na produção in vitro de blastocistos bovinos

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Farmacologia) - IBB

Comparação entre doses constantes e decrescentes de extrato de pituitária eqüina na indução de superovulacão em éguas

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FMVZ

Efeitos e regulação da expressão do kit ligante (KL) durante a maturação in vitro do complexo cumulus-oócito bovino

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estimulação ovariana, recuperação e maturação de oócitos de veado-catingueiro (Mazama gouazoubira)

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV

Maturação in vitro de oócitos de ovelhas Santa Inês submetidas a sucessivas sessões de aspiração folicular por videolaparoscopia

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Histomorfometria ovariana de felinos domésticos (Felis catus) em distintas faixas etárias

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV

Influência do fluido folicular e da proteína recombinante humana GDF9 no meio de maturação sobre a qualidade de embriões bovinos produzidos in vitro

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Efeito da adição de antioxidante (Trolox®) ao meio de manutenção de embriões bovinos produzidos in vivo e ao meio de transporte de oócitos bovinos aspirados de ovários provenientes de abatedouro

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)