Is accurate perception of body image associated with appropriate weight-control behavior among adolescents of the Seychelles

BACKGROUND: We examined body image perception and its association with reported weight-control behavior among adolescents in the Seychelles.METHODS: We conducted a school-based survey of 1432 students aging 11-17 years in the Seychelles. Perception of body image was assessed using both a closed-ended question (CEQ) and Stunkard's pictorial silhouettes (SPS). Voluntary attempts to change weight were also assessed.RESULTS: A substantial proportion of the overweight students did not consider themselves as overweight (SPS: 24%, CEQ: 34%), and a substantial proportion of the normal-weight students considered themselves as too thin (SPS: 29%, CEQ: 15%). Logistic regression analysis showed that students with an accurate weight perception were more likely to have appropriate weight-control behavior.CONCLUSIONS: We found that substantial proportions of students had an inaccurate perception of their weight and that weight perception was associated with weight-control behavior. These findings point to forces that can drive the upwards overweight trends.

Effect of low-level pathogenic helminth infection on energy metabolism in Gambian children.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether an increase in resting energy expenditure (REE) contributes to the impaired nutritional status of Gambian children infected by a low level of infection with pathogenic helminths. The REE of 24 children infected with hookworm, Ascaris, Strongyloides, or Trichuris (mean +/- SEM age = 11.9 +/- 0.1 years) and eight controls without infection (mean +/- SEM age = 11.8 +/- 0.1 years) were measured by indirect calorimetry with a hood system (test A). This measurement was repeated after treatment with 400 mg of albendazole (patients) or a placebo (controls) (test B). When normalized for fat free mass, REE in test A was not different in the patients (177 +/- 2 kJ/kg x day) and in the controls (164 +/- 7 kJ/kg x day); furthermore, REE did not change significantly after treatment in the patients (173 +/- 3 kJ/kg x day) or in the controls (160 +/- 8 kJ/kg x day). There was no significant difference in the respiratory quotient between patients and controls, nor between tests A and B. It is concluded that a low level of helminth infection does not affect significantly the energy metabolism of Gambian children.

Perfusion measurement in brain gliomas with intravoxel incoherent motion MRI.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intravoxel incoherent motion MRI has been proposed as an alternative method to measure brain perfusion. Our aim was to evaluate the utility of intravoxel incoherent motion perfusion parameters (the perfusion fraction, the pseudodiffusion coefficient, and the flow-related parameter) to differentiate high- and low-grade brain gliomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The intravoxel incoherent motion perfusion parameters were assessed in 21 brain gliomas (16 high-grade, 5 low-grade). Images were acquired by using a Stejskal-Tanner diffusion pulse sequence, with 16 values of b (0-900 s/mm(2)) in 3 orthogonal directions on 3T systems equipped with 32 multichannel receiver head coils. The intravoxel incoherent motion perfusion parameters were derived by fitting the intravoxel incoherent motion biexponential model. Regions of interest were drawn in regions of maximum intravoxel incoherent motion perfusion fraction and contralateral control regions. Statistical significance was assessed by using the Student t test. In addition, regions of interest were drawn around all whole tumors and were evaluated with the help of histograms. RESULTS: In the regions of maximum perfusion fraction, perfusion fraction was significantly higher in the high-grade group (0.127 ± 0.031) than in the low-grade group (0.084 ± 0.016, P < .001) and in the contralateral control region (0.061 ± 0.011, P < .001). No statistically significant difference was observed for the pseudodiffusion coefficient. The perfusion fraction correlated moderately with dynamic susceptibility contrast relative CBV (r = 0.59). The histograms of the perfusion fraction showed a "heavy-tailed" distribution for high-grade but not low-grade gliomas. CONCLUSIONS: The intravoxel incoherent motion perfusion fraction is helpful for differentiating high- from low-grade brain gliomas.

Prospective assessment of CYP2D6 by genotyping, phenotyping and measurement of tamoxifen, PD 05-09 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen and endoxifen in breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen.

Tamoxifen (tam) is a widely used endocrine therapy in the treatment of early and advanced stage breast cancer in women and men. It is a pro-drug having weak affinity with the estrogen receptor and needs to be converted to its main metabolite, endoxifen (endox), to have full anticancer activity. Cytochrome 2D6 (CYP2D6) plays a major role in the metabolism of tamoxifen to endoxifen. It is genetically highly polymorphic and its activity influences profoundly the synthesis of endoxifen and potentially the efficacy of tamoxifen treatment. Genotyping is currently the most widely used approach in studies and also in clinical practice to categorize patients as poor- (PM), intermediate- (IM), extensive- (EM) and ultra rapid-metabolizers (UM). Some clinicians already use genotyping in order to tailor the endocrine therapy of their patients. Owing to the large inter-individual variations in concentrations of the active moitey due to genetic and non-genetic influences renders the predictive value of the test uncertain for an individual patient. A significant number of patients classified as EM or IM by genotyping have indeed relatively low endoxifen levels similar to PMs1. This suggests that genotyping is probably not the opti ma l meth o d f or predi cti ng end oxif en l evels.

Modelling and Prospects for Audience Measurement of Outdoor Advertising using GPS Devices

The paper describes how to integrate audience measurement and site visibility as the main research approaches in outdoor advertising research in a single concept. Details are portrayed on how GPS is used on a large scale in Switzerland for mobility analysis and audience measurement. Furthermore, the development of a software solution is introduced that allows the integration of all mobility data and poster location information. Finally a model and its results is presented for the calculation of coverage of individual poster campaigns and for the calculation of the number of contacts generated by each billboard.

Detection of human growth hormone doping in urine: out of competition tests are necessary.

The misuse of human growth hormone (hGH) in sport is deemed to be unethical and dangerous because of various adverse effects. Thus, it has been added to the International Olympic Committee list of banned substances. Until now, the very low concentration of hGH in the urine made its measurement difficult using classical methodology. Indeed, for routine diagnosis, only plasma measurements were available. However, unlike blood samples, urine is generally provided in abundant quantities and is, at present, the only body fluid allowed to be analysed in sport doping controls. A recently developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Norditest) makes it now possible, without any extraction, to measure urinary hGH (u-hGH) in a dynamic range of 2-50 ng hGH/l. In our protocol, untreated and treated non-athlete volunteers were followed. Some of them received therapeutical doses of recombinant hGH (Norditropin) for one week either intramuscularly (three increasing doses) or subcutaneously (12 i.u. every day). The u-hGH excretion after treatment showed dramatic increases of 50-100 times the basal values and returned to almost the mean normal level after 24 h. u-hGH was also measured in samples provided by the anti-doping controls at major and minor competitions. Depending on the type of efforts made during the competition, the hGH concentration in urine was dramatically increased. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins and beta 2-microglobulins in urine and/or in blood could be necessary for the correct investigation of any hGH doping test procedure.

Nutritional status using the Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire and its relationship with bone quality in a population of institutionalized elderly women.

Malnutrition, a risk factor for osteoporotic fractures, is frequent in elderly people and, is underdiagnosed and undertreated. There are only few studies on the nutritional status of elderly people in Europe. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) is a non invasive and validated questionnaire to evaluate nutritional status in elderly people, classified in three groups: 1 degree score < 17: malnourished, 2 degrees score >17 and < 24: at risk of malnutrition, 3 degrees score >24: well-nourished, with a maximum of 30 points. Quantitative ultrasound of bone (QUS) is a method for assessing quality of bone which can be easily performed in nursing homes. Therefore, these two tests allowed to study the relationships between nutritional status and ultrasonic parameters of bone in 78 institutionalized women aged 86 +/- 6 years, living in 11 nursing homes around Lausanne (Switzerland). All were assessed by the MNA, had a measurement of the tricipital skin fold and of the grip strength. Functional status was evaluated by the scale "Activity of Daily Living" (ADL), and serum albumin level was measured when permitted. All had QUS of the calcaneus (with an Achilles, GE Lunar). The measured parameters are the Broadband Ultrasound Attenuation (BUA), attenuation of a band of ultrasonic frequencies through the medium, expressed in dB/MHz, and the Speed of Sound (SOS), speed of the ultrasounds through the medium, expressed in m/s. A third parameter, the stiffness index (SI), expressed as a percentage of the values obtained by the manufacturer in a young population and derived from BUA and SOS, was calculated automatically : SI = (0.67xBUA) + (0.28xSOS) - 420, expressed in percent compared to a young adult population (%YA). Fifteen percent of the women were undernourished and 58% were at risk of malnutrition. As expected, compared with the well-nourished minority, undernourished subjects had significant lower body mass index (BMI), tricipital skin fold (TSF), ADL score and albumin level (p < 0,01). The subjects "at risk of malnutrition" had significant lower BMI, ADL score (p < 0.01), tricipital skin fold and serum albumin (p < 0.05). Ultrasound parameters were low independently of the nutritional status. MNA score correlated significantly with tricipital skin fold (r = 0.508, p < 0.01), ADL (r = 0.538, p < 0.01) and albumin serum level (r = 0.409, p = 0.01). There was a trend for a correlation between the MNA and the ultrasound parameter BUA (r = 0.207, p = 0.07), whereas no correlation was found with SOS and SI. A multivariate analysis showed that tricipital skin fold and ADL explained 61% of the variance of the MNA. In conclusion, using simple and non invasive methods, this study showed that malnutrition and osteoporosis are frequent in institutionalized elderly persons in our country, and the ultrasound parameters are influenced by many others factors in addition to nutrition, especially at this age and in elderly residents of nursing homes.

Plasma angiotensin-(1-8) octapeptide measurement to assess acute angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition with captopril administered parenterally to normal subjects.

The blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and humoral effects of single intravenous (i.v.) doses of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril was investigated in five normotensive healthy volunteers. Each subject received at 1-week intervals a bolus dose of either captopril (1, 5, and 25 mg) or its vehicle. The study was conducted in a single-blind fashion, and the order of treatment phases was randomized. The different doses of captopril had no acute effect on BP and HR. They induced a dose-dependent decrease in plasma ACE activity and plasma angiotensin II levels. The angiotensin-(1-8) octapeptide was isolated by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) prior to radioimmunoassay (RIA). All three doses of captopril reduced circulating angiotensin II levels within 15 min of drug administration. Only with the 25-mg dose was the angiotensin II concentration below the detection limit at 15 min and still significantly reduced 90 min after drug administration. Simultaneous and progressive decreases in plasma aldosterone levels were observed both with ACE inhibition and during vehicle injection, but the relative fall was more pronounced after captopril administration. No adverse reaction was noticed. These results demonstrate that captopril given parenterally blocks the renin-angiotensin system in a dose-dependent manner. Only with the dose of 25 mg was the inhibition of plasma-converting enzyme activity and the reduction of plasma angiotensin II sustained for at least 1 1/2 h.

The association between drinking motives and alcohol-related consequences - room for biases and measurement issues?

Aims  To investigate whether the predominant finding of generalized positive associations between self-rated motives for drinking alcohol and negative consequences of drinking alcohol are influenced by (i) using raw scores of motives that may weight inter-individual response behaviours too strongly, and (ii) predictor-criterion contamination by using consequence items where respondents attribute alcohol use as the cause. Design  Cross-sectional study within the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD). Setting  School classes. Participants  Students, aged 13-16 (n = 5633). Measurements  Raw, rank and mean-variance standardized scores of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R); four consequences: serious problems with friends, sexual intercourse regretted the next day, physical fights and troubles with the police, each itemized with attribution ('because of your alcohol use') and without. Findings  As found previously in the literature, raw scores for all drinking motives had positive associations with negative consequences of drinking, while transformed (rank or Z) scores showed a more specific pattern: external reinforcing motives (social, conformity) had negative and internal reinforcing motives (enhancement, coping) had non-significant or positive associations with negative consequences. Attributed consequences showed stronger associations with motives than non-attributed ones. Conclusion  Standard scoring of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire (Revised) fails to capture motives in a way that permits specific associations with different negative consequences to be identified, whereas use of rank or Z-scores does permit this. Use of attributed consequences overestimates the association with drinking motives.

The association of education with body mass index and waist circumference in the EPIC-PANACEA study

Background To examine the association of education with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Method This study included 141,230 male and 336,637 female EPIC-participants, who were recruited between 1992 and 2000. Education, which was assessed by questionnaire, was classified into four categories; BMI and WC, measured by trained personnel in most participating centers, were modeled as continuous dependent variables. Associations were estimated using multilevel mixed effects linear regression models. Results Compared with the lowest education level, BMI and WC were significantly lower for all three higher education categories, which was consistent for all countries. Women with university degree had a 2.1 kg/m2 lower BMI compared with women with lowest education level. For men, a statistically significant, but less pronounced difference was observed (1.3 kg/m2). The association between WC and education level was also of greater magnitude for women: compared with the lowest education level, average WC of women was lower by 5.2 cm for women in the highest category. For men the difference was 2.9 cm. Conclusion In this European cohort, there is an inverse association between higher BMI as well as higher WC and lower education level. Public Health Programs that aim to reduce overweight and obesity should primarily focus on the lower educated population.

The INSIG2 rs7566605 polymorphism is not associated with body mass index and breast cancer risk

Background The single nucleotide polymorphism rs7566605, located in the promoter of the INSIG2 gene, has been the subject of a strong scientific effort aimed to elucidate its possible association with body mass index (BMI). The first report showing that rs7566605 could be associated with body fatness was a genome-wide association study (GWAS) which used BMI as the primary phenotype. Many follow-up studies sought to validate the association of rs7566605 with various markers of obesity, with several publications reporting inconsistent findings. BMI is considered to be one of the measures of choice to evaluate body fatness and there is evidence that body fatness is related with an increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Methods we tested in a large-scale association study (3,973 women, including 1,269 invasive BC cases and 2,194 controls), nested within the EPIC cohort, the involvement of rs7566605 as predictor of BMI and BC risk. Results and Conclusions In this study we were not able to find any statistically significant association between this SNP and BMI, nor did we find any significant association between the SNP and an increased risk of breast cancer overall and by subgroups of age, or menopausal status.