Body Composition Changes after a Weight Loss Intervention: A 3-Year Follow-Up Study

Studies comparing different types of exercise-based interventions have not shown a consistent effect of training on long-term weight maintenance. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of exercise modalities combined with diet intervention on body composition immediately after intervention and at 3 years’ follow-up in overweight and obese adults. Two-hundred thirty-nine people (107 men) participated in a 6-month diet and exercise-based intervention, split into four randomly assigned groups: strength group (S), endurance group (E), combined strength and endurance group (SE), and control group (C). The body composition measurements took place on the first week before the start of training and after 22 weeks of training. In addition, a third measurement took place 3 years after the intervention period. A significant interaction effect (group × time) (p = 0.017) was observed for the fat mass percentage. It significantly decreased by 5.48 ± 0.65%, 5.30 ± 0.65%, 7.04 ± 0.72%, and 4.86 ± 0.65% at post-intervention for S, E, SE, and C, respectively. Three years after the intervention, the fat mass percentage returned to values similar to the baseline, except for the combined strength and endurance group, where it remained lower than the value at pre-intervention (p < 0.05). However, no significant interaction was discovered for the rest of the studied outcomes, neither at post-intervention nor 3 years later. The combined strength and endurance group was the only group that achieved lower levels of fat mass (%) at both post-intervention and 3 years after intervention, in comparison with the other groups.     

Genetic markers in primary open-angle glaucoma

Purpose: To investigate possible associations between genetic markers and Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma (POAG). Methods: A number of genetic markers were typed in 84 unrelated patients with POAG and compared with a random sample of healthy individuals. The markers were Transferrin, Group Specific Component, G1m (1), G1m (2) and G3m (5) Allotypes, Adenylate Kinase, Adenosin Deaminase, Glyoxalase I and Acid Phosphatase and PCR-based markers HLA-DQA1 and D1S80. Results: No significant differences were found except the strong association between the group of POAG patients and Acid Phosphatase ACP^*C allele (² = 32.86; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Since Acid Phosphatase gene is localized to chromosome 2p23, this result could be a first comprehensive step in the localization of POAG genes.     

Genetic and enzymatic characterization of sphingomyelinase D isoforms from the North American fiddleback spiders Loxosceles boneti and Loxosceles reclusa.

In this study we report the isolation and characterization of several sphingomyelinase D isoforms from the venoms of the North American spiders Loxosceles boneti and Loxosceles reclusa, from Mexico and the United States, respectively. We have measured their enzymatic activity, their capacity to induce necrotic lesions in rabbits, cloned the cDNAs coding for the mature forms of two of the isoforms from L. boneti and two of L. reclusa based on N-terminal sequence information of the purified proteins, and performed a comprehensive comparison of the sequence data generated by us with that reported for other sphingomyelinase genes to date.     

Efficient purification of the biosurfactant viscosin from Pseudomonas libanensis strain M9-3 and its physicochemical and biological properties

Viscosin (1), an effective surface-active cyclic lipopeptide, was efficiently recovered from Pseudomonas libanensis M9-3 with a simple purification protocol. A major pigment also obtained during this process was identified as phenazine-1-carboxylic acid. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) of viscosin was determined to be 54 mg L (-1), and the minimum surface tension between air and water at the cmc was 28 mN m (-1). Viscosin forms stable emulsions even at low concentrations (7.5 mg L (-1)), and the conditional stability constant for a cadmium-viscosin complex was determined to be 5.87. The physicochemical properties measured for viscosin are similar to other well-studied biosurfactants such as rhamnolipid and surfactin. Viscosin inhibited migration of the metastatic prostate cancer cell line, PC-3M, without visible toxicity. These properties suggest the potential of viscosin in environmental and biomedical applications.     

Chronic hyperammonemia alters the circadian rhythms of corticosteroid hormone levels and of motor activity in rats

Patients with liver cirrhosis may present hepatic encephalopathy with a wide range of neurological disturbances and alterations in sleep quality and in the sleep‐wake circadian rhythm. Hyperammonemia is a main contributor to the neurological alterations in hepatic encephalopathy. We have assessed, in an animal model of chronic hyperammonemia without liver failure, the effects of hyperammonemia per se on the circadian rhythms of motor activity, temperature, and plasma levels of adrenal corticosteroid hormones. Chronic hyperammonemia alters the circadian rhythms of locomotor activity and of cortisol and corticosterone levels in blood. Different types of motor activity are affected differentially. Hyperammonemia significantly alters the rhythm of spontaneous ambulatory activity, reducing strongly ambulatory counts and slightly average velocity during the night (the active phase) but not during the day, resulting in altered circadian rhythms. In contrast, hyperammonemia did not affect wheel running at all, indicating that it affects spontaneous but not voluntary activity. Vertical activity was affected only very slightly, indicating that hyperammonemia does not induce anxiety. Hyperammonemia abolished completely the circadian rhythm of corticosteroid hormones in plasma, completely eliminating the peaks of cortisol and corticosterone present in control rats at the start of the dark period. The data reported show that chronic hyperammonemia, similar to that present in patients with liver cirrhosis, alters the circadian rhythms of corticosteroid hormones and of motor activity. This suggests that hyperammonemia would be a relevant contributor to the alterations in corticosteroid hormones and in circadian rhythms in patients with liver cirrhosis. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

FIZZ1 Plays a Crucial Role in Early Stage Airway Remodeling of OVA-Induced Asthma

The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of Found in Inflammatory Zone 1 (FIZZ1, also known as RELM-α or resistin-like molecule-α) in airway remodeling in asthma. We used a rat model of ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and challenge to induce lung inflammation and remodeling. Expression of α -SMA in the lungs of OVA-treated rats was significantly elevated in the peribronchial regions compared with control saline-treated animals. Expression of FIZZ1 mRNA in alveolar epithelial type II cells (AECII) isolated from OVA-treated animals was higher than in control animals. Forced expression of recombinant FIZZ1 in rat-1 lung fibroblast cell line enhanced production of collagen type I and α -SMA compared with control transfected cells. These results suggest that FIZZ1 can induce fibroblasts to express markers of myofibroblast differentiation such as α -SMA and collagen type I, which are characteristic of early stages of airway remodeling seen in asthma.     

Use of MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Daltonics) for identification of Mycobacterium species isolated directly from liquid medium

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to describe the evaluation of the use of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis directly from liquid MGIT cultures from January 2017 to December 2017.Material/methodsA total of 155 isolates (mainly respiratory) were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Daltonics) directly from MGIT liquid medium with a previous extraction procedure.ResultsMALDI-TOF MS generated acceptable scores for 152 isolates (98.06%). Fifty isolates were identified as M. tuberculosis complex and the remaining 105 as NTM (M. abscessus subsp. abscessus, M. avium, M. celatum, M chelonae, M. chimaera, M. fortuitum, M. gordonae, M. intracellulare, M. kansasii, M. lentiflavum, M. mageritense, M. mucogenicum and M. xenopi).ConclusionsThese results indicate that MALDI-TOF MS can be useful to identify mycobacteria directly from MGIT cultures and is an accurate, rapid and cost-effective system to be used as a routine method.