Endogenous corticosterone rather than dietary sucrose as a modulator for intestinal sucrase activity in artificially reared rat pups

The effects of sucrose and corticosterone on the expression of intestinal sucrase activity in preweanling rat pups were studied using an artificial rearing (AR) technique. When AR rat pups were isocalorically fed diets containing lactose or sucrose, or a carbohydrate-free diet from d 12-16, jejunal and ileal sucrase and maltase activities were induced to similar levels in all AR rats, whereas ileal lactase activity was precociously decreased. In separate experiments, enzyme activities were measured in ileal isografts subcutaneously implanted in littermates at birth. In AR rats fed the lactose diet, these isografts showed sucrase and maltase activities comparable with those of host ileum and also to isografts from AR rats fed the sucrose diet. In contrast, lactase activity was significantly higher in isografts than host ileum in all AR rats. Serum corticosterone levels were significantly elevated in AR rats for 24 h after intragastric cannular implantation. Precocious expression of ileal sucrase activity occurred in corticosterone treated, but not in untreated, adrenalectomized AR rats. In conclusion, dietary sucrose has no specific role in enhancing intestinal sucrase activity, and endogenous corticosterone is responsible for the induction of sucrase activity in AR rats.     

Regression Equation Predicts Dietary Phosphorus Intake from Estimate of Dietary Protein Intake

Objective To develop a predictive equation for dietary phosphorus intake.

Design In this clinic-based, cross-sectional study, a dietitian-administered food frequency questionnaire provided dietary intake estimates for a population of patients with chronic renal failure. A prediction equation for dietary phosphorus intake was developed and was validated on another sample of patients with CRF from the same clinic.

Subjects Outpatients treated for chronic renal failure at the E. Wolfson Medical Center Institute of Nephrology in Holon, Israel, participated in the study (N=104, 73 men and 31 women, mean AGE=65.6 years). The validation sample consisted of 53 outpatients with chronic renal failure (38 men and 15 women, mean AGE=64.2 years) from the same clinic.

Main outcome measures Dietary variables (ie, energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, phosphorus) were examined in terms of crude intake, as percentage of total energy intake, and per kilogram of body weight.

Statistical analyses performed Stepwise linear regression analysis and Student's t tests were used to examine relationships between dietary phosphorus and other variables. Results Dietary phosphorus (milligrams)=128+14 (protein intake [grams]) was the best-fitting equation and explained 84% of the variance in dietary phosphorus intake.

Applications The prediction equation for dietary phosphorus intake is especially useful for renal dietitians who calculate patient diets by hand. J Am Diet Assoc. 1996; 96:1268-1270.     

Dieting Status and its Relationship to Eating and Physical Activity Behaviors in a Representative Sample of US Adolescents

Objective To determine whether adolescents engaging in extreme weight loss methods (ie, vomiting and diet pills) and those using more moderate methods differ from each other in dietary intake (fruits, vegetables, and higher-fat foods) and physical activity, and to compare these variables in dieting and nondieting adolescents.Design Data were obtained from the 1993 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.Subjects/settings The survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 16,296 adolescents in grades 9 through 12 in a school setting.Statistical analyses Data were analyzed for 16,125 adolescents. Associations between weight control behaviors and dietary intake and physical activity were examined using mixed-model logistic regressions, controlling for grade in school, race, parental education, region of the country, and urban vs nonurban residence.Results Differences in dietary and physical activity were found among adolescents who use extreme weight loss methods and moderate methods, and between dieters and nondieters. Adolescents using moderate methods of weight control engaged in more health-promoting eating and exercise behaviors than did extreme dieters or nondieters. Girls categorized as extreme dieters were less likely to eat fruits and vegetables than were moderate dieters (odds ratio [OR]=.56) or nondieters (OR=.75), and were more likely than more moderate dieters (OR=.76) to have consumed 2 or more servings of high-fat foods during the previous day.Applications/conclusions Our findings suggest the importance of distinguishing between different types of dieting behaviors in clinical settings and research studies. Adolescents engaging in extreme weight control behaviors may be at particular risk for inadequate nutritional intake. In contrast, adolescents using more moderate methods may be consuming a more healthful diet than are nondieters. For all adolescents, nutrition guidance on healthful and safe weight control strategies is needed. J Am Diet Assoc. 1998;98:1127–1132,1135.     

Vitamin C status in elderly women: A comparison between women living in a nursing home and women living independently

The vitamin C status in blood fractions in 135 elderly women aged 65 years and older was studied within the framework of the Dutch Nutrition Surveillance System. Mean (± standard deviation) vitamin C intake (mg/day) was lower among women living in a nursing home (54±27 mg/ day) than among women living in service flats (97±55 mg/ day) and women living independently (132 ± 44 mg/day). (Service flats are apartments in which the rent includes housekeeping and, when ordered, meal service.) Marginal vitamin C values (<23 μmol/L) in blood fractions and even levels as low as those found in clinical scurvy (<11 μmol/L) were frequently observed. In the nursing home, 35% of the women had plasma vitamin C values below 11 μmol/L, and 23% had values between 11 and 23 μmol/L. Blood levels were not significantly affected by age, smoking status, or use of particular drugs but were strongly (r = .47 or, after logarithmic transformation, r = .64) associated with daily intake of vitamin C. Low intake of vitamin C resulted from an overall low food consumption and selective restriction of food products rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C losses caused by food preparation practices and distribution in the nursing home's catering system reduced actual vitamin C intake levels but these losses were not substantially greater than those that are assumed to occur as a result of preparation practices by women living independently.     

Opiate Disruption of Maternal Behavior: Morphine Reduces, and Naloxone Restores, c-fos Activity in the Medial Preoptic Area of Lactating Rats

Morphine significantly impairs maternal behavior; naloxone, an opiate antagonist, restores it. Maternal behavior is associated with c-fos expression, an immediate early gene product, in the medial preoptic area (mPOA) of females. In two experiments, the effects of morphine-alone and morphine plus naloxone on the expression of c-fos were examined. On postpartum day 5, females were injected with morphine or saline (experiment 1), and morphine + naloxone or morphine + saline (experiment 2) and placed back in the home-cage, separated from their pups by a wire-mesh partition. A separate group in experiment 1 was injected but not exposed to pups. Processing for c-fos immunohistochemistry commenced, and c-fos positive cells in a proscribed portion of mPOA were counted. Morphine-treated females had fewer c-fos cells in mPOA compared to saline-treated females, and the presence of pups accounted for a significant increase in c-fos-expressing neurons, whereas in females not exposed to pups, morphine treatment did not significantly reduce baseline c-fos expression (experiment 1). Furthermore, naloxone mitigated the effect as morphine + naloxone-treated females expressed more c-fos cells compared to morphine + saline females (experiment 2). Morphine-treated females, therefore, may exhibit reductions in maternal behavior because of relative opiate-induced inactivation of areas of the brain devoted to the regulation of maternal behavior.     

Intraarticular epithelioid sarcoma

A case of an intraarticular epithelioid sarcoma is presented. The patient was a 35 year old man who presented with a 10 months history of a chronic monoarthritis. The MRI showed a diffuse lesion involving the synovial membrane of the knee. There was a marked increased signal on T2 weighted images. Most epithelioid sarcomas involve the subcutaneous tissues of the hands or feet. This presentation is unusual and this entity should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an intraarticular proliferative process.