Overweight and obesity in prepubertal schoolchildren: the association with low birth weight and family antecedents of cardiovascular disease. Embu - metropolitan region of São Paulo, 2006

The aim was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren and the association with birth weight and family antecedents of cardiovascular disease. This cross-sectional study used a probabilistic sample of 929 schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 years. The variables were: body mass index (BMI), birth weight and family antecedents of cardiovascular disease. The statistical analysis consisted of the chi-square test (Pearson) and odds ratio, as association measurements. Of the schoolchildren (54.6% of which were female), 14.4% and 13.3% were overweight and obese, respectively. Low birth weight was reported among 9.4% and family antecedents of cardiovascular disease among 35.2%. Overweight or obesity (BMI e" P85) was associated with the presence of family antecedents of cardiovascular disease (OR = 1.66; 95% CI 1.23-2.23) and male sex (OR = 1.37; 95%CI 1.02-1.83); there was no association with birth weight. The results indicate the need for preventive actions for children with family antecedents of cardiovascular disease.     

Differential diagnostic significance of the paucity of HLA- I antigens on metastatic breast carcinoma cells in effusions

Distinction between benign reactive mesothelial cells and metastatic breast adenocarcinoma cells in effusions from patients with a known prior history of breast cancer is not the easiest task in diagnostic pathology. Here, we report the usefulness of testing the expression of class I HLA antigens (HLA A, B, C) in this respect. Cytospins were prepared from effusions of patients without the history of breast cancer (5 cases) and from effusions of patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma (11 cases). Three effusions from cancerous patients were not malignant cytologically. The expression of HLA-A, B, C, HLA-DR and beta2-microglobulin as well as the macrophage antigen, CD14, was evaluated by immunocytochemistry. In 10 of 11 effusions the cytologically malignant cells expressed very weak or undetectable HLA-A,B,C as compared to the mesothelial cells and macrophages. The paucity of expression of HLA-A, B, C was detectable in those 3 cases where a definitive cytological diagnosis of malignancy could not be established. In contrast, mesothelial cells and macrophages from all samples were uniformly and strongly positive for both HLA-A, B, C and beta2-microglobulin. We conclude that the paucity of HLA-I antigens provides a marker helpful in distinguishing metastatic breast carcinoma cells from reactive mesothelial cells in effusions.     

Increased Cd2+ biosorption capability of Aspergillus nidulans elicited by crpA deletion

The P-type ATPase CrpA is an important Cu²⁺/Cd²⁺ pump in the Aspergilli, significantly contributing to the heavy metal stress tolerance of these ascomycetous fungi. As expected, the deletion of crpA resulted in Cu²⁺/Cd²⁺-sensitive phenotypes in Aspergillus nidulans on stress agar plates inoculated with conidia. Nevertheless, paradoxical growth stimulations were observed with the ΔcrpA strain in both standard Cu²⁺ stress agar plate experiments and cellophane colony harvest (CCH) cultures, when exposed to Cd²⁺. These observations reflect efficient compensatory mechanisms for the loss of CrpA operating under these experimental conditions. It is remarkable that the ΔcrpA strain showed a 2.7 times higher Cd biosorption capacity in CCH cultures, which may facilitate the development of new, fungal biomass-based bioremediation technologies to extract harmful Cd²⁺ ions from the environment. The nullification of crpA also significantly changed the spatial distribution of Cu and Cd in CCH cultures, as demonstrated by the combined particle-induced X-ray emission and scanning transmission ion microscopy technique. Most important, the centers of gravity for Cu and Cd accumulations of the ΔcrpA colonies shifted toward the older regions as compared with wild-type surface cultures.     

Extensive chondroid bone in juvenile duck limbs hints at accelerated growth mechanism in avian skeletogenesis

Modern altricial birds are the fastest growing vertebrates, whereas various degrees of precocity (functional maturity) result in slower growth. Diaphyseal osteohistology, the best proxy for inferring relative growth rates in fossils, suggests that in the earliest birds, posthatching growth rates were more variable than in modern representatives, with some showing considerably slow growth that was attributed to their assumed precocial flight abilities. For finding clues how precocial or altricial skeletogenesis and related growth acceleration could be traced in avian evolution, as a case study we investigated the growing limb diaphyseal histology in an ontogenetic series of ducks which, among several other avian taxa, show a combination of altricial wing and precocial leg development. Here we report the unexpected discovery that chondroid bone, a skeletal tissue family intermediate between cartilage and bone, extensively contributes to the development of limb bone shaft in ducks up to at least 30 days posthatching age. To our knowledge, chondroid bone has never been reported in such quantities and with an ontogenetically extended deposition period in post-embryonic, non-pathological periosteal bone formation of any tetrapod limb. It shows transitional cellular/lacunar morphologies and matrix staining properties between cartilage and woven bone and takes a significant part in the diametric growth of the limb bone shaft. Its amount and distribution through duckling ontogeny seems to be associated with the disparate functional and growth trajectories of the altricial wings vs. precocial legs characteristic of duck limb development. The presence of isogenous cell groups in the periosteal chondroid bone implies that cartilage-like interstitial growth took place before matrix mineralization complementing appositional bone growth. Based on these characteristics and on its fast formation rate in all previously reported normal as well as pathological cases, we suggest that chondroid bone in ducks significantly accelerates diametric limb bone growth. Related to this growth acceleration, we hypothesize that chondroid bone may be generally present in the growing limb bones of modern birds and hence may have key skeletogenic importance in achieving extreme avian growth rates and placing birds among the fastest growing vertebrates. Thus, we encourage future studies to test this hypothesis by investigating the occurrence of chondroid bone in a variety of precocial and altricial bird species, and to explore the presence of similar tissues in the growing limbs of other extant and extinct tetrapods in order to understand the evolutionary significance of chondroid bone in accelerated appendicular skeletogenesis.     

Asymptomatic cerebellar atrophy after acute enteroviral encephalitis

We report on a 13-year-old male who had acute enteroviral encephalitis causing cerebellar symptoms at the age of 10 years. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed no abnormalities. Clinically he appeared to be recovered completely after 6 months. Twenty-three months after the recovery, MRI was performed because he presented with slight lower-limb and truncal ataxia experienced as lack of foot coordination while playing football or riding a bicycle. MRI demonstrated severe cerebellar atrophy. Clinically he recovered completely in 10 days. Only sophisticated electrophysiological methods revealed cerebellar dysfunction. The case provides evidence for the plasticity of cerebellar regulatory structures involved in the coordination of fine movements. It seems that in childhood the slow, isolated disintegration of cerebellar systems can be compensated for by upper thalamic or telencephalic connections, in a similar way to a congenital deficit of the cerebellum.