Body Fat Percentage of Children Varies According to Their Diet Composition

Objective To ascertain the association between diet composition and body fat percentage in 9- and 10-year-old children. Also, to examine the influence of gender, total energy intake, fitness, physical activity, and parental body mass on the relationship between diet composition and adiposity.Design Diet composition was assessed using the National Cancer Institute food frequency questionnaire, and adiposity was measured using the average of results determined using two skinfold equations. Fitness levels and physical activity were ascertained using the 1-mile run/walk test and a self-report 15-item scale, respectively.Subjects A sample of 262 children (162 boys and 100 girls, mean age=9.8±0.5 years) participated.Statistical analysis Regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which diet composition contributed to adiposity without statistical control for any potentially confounding variables. Partial correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between macronutrient intake and adiposity after potential confounders (gender, total energy intake, physical fitness, and parental body mass) were controlled statistically.Results Energy intake was positively related to adiposity. Fat intake, calculated as a percentage of total energy, was also positively related to adiposity, before and after control for potential confounding variables. Percentage of energy derived from carbohydrate was inversely related to adiposity, before and after controlling for potential confounders.Applications These findings indicate that the macronutrient intake of children, particularly dietary fat and carbohydrate intake, may play a role in adiposity, independent of the influence of total energy intake, gender, physical fitness, and parental body mass index.     

Do Electrode and Lead Design Differences for Permanent Cardiac Pacing Translate into Clinically Demonstrable Differences? (Comparison of Sintered Platinum and Activated Vitreous and Porous Carbon Electrodes)

A randomized prospective study was undertaken to compare the electrical performances of three permanent, endocardial, tined pacing leads with different electrode designs--sintered platinum, vitreous carbon, and porous carbon. Ninety-nine patients received one of the leads (S80 31; 423S 32; S100 36). Acute R wave amplitude and ST elevation of the native endocardial electrogram, voltage threshold, impedance, and current flow at four pulse durations (0.25-1.0 msec) were measured. Voltage thresholds were measured noninvasively at each of four pulse durations at 2 days and 1, 3, and 6 months after implantation. No significant differences were found in sensing properties, or current flow at threshold at 0.5 msec pulse duration. The 423S lead had a significantly higher impedance at threshold and both a higher impedance and lower current flow at 5 V. No significant differences in threshold voltages were found between the three leads at any pulse duration, at any of the assessed times after implantation. Six-month thresholds for the S80, 423S, and S100 leads were 1.18 +/- 0.35, 1.17 +/- 0.29, and 1.06 +/- 0.38 V respectively at 0.5 msec pulse duration. Differences between 'high performance' pacing leads need to be of a greater order of magnitude before they can be exploited to give any real clinical advantage to patients.     

Progression-free interval in ovarian cancer and predictive value of an ex vivo chemoresponse assay

The study objective was to determine the effectiveness of a phenotypic chemoresponse assay in predicting response to chemotherapy measured by progression-free interval (PFI) in a retrospective series of ovarian cancer patients whose tumor specimens had been tested with the ChemoFx assay. A statistically significant correlation between assay prediction of response and PFI was observed in 256 cases with an exact or partial match between drug(s) assayed and received. In 135 cases with an exact match, the hazard ratio for progression of the resistant group was 2.9 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-6.3; P < 0.01) compared to the sensitive group and 1.7 (CI: 1.2-2.5) for the intermediate compared to the sensitive group. The median PFI for patients treated with drugs assayed as resistant was 9 months, 14 months for those with drugs assayed as intermediately sensitive, and PFI had not been achieved for those with drugs assayed as sensitive. These data indicate that the ChemoFx assay is predictive of PFI in ovarian cancer. As the majority of ovarian cancers display different degrees of response to different chemotherapy agents ex vivo, the incorporation of assay information into treatment selection has the potential to improve clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer patients.     

Computer-Assisted Design of an Implantable, Intrathoracic Artificial Lung

Abstract: A semiempirical mathematical model of convective oxygen transport is used to design a new, low pressure loss, implantable artificial lung that could be used as a bridge to lung transplantation in patients with advanced respiratory failure. The mass transfer and flow friction relations pertinent to the design of a cross–flow hollow fiber membrane lung are described. The artificial lung is designed to transfer over 200 ml/min of oxygen at blood flow rates up to 5 L/min. A compact design and a blood-side pressure loss of <15 mm Hg allows the device to be implanted in the left chest without the need for a prosthetic blood pump. Surgical implantation of the artificial lung would require the creation of inflow and outflow anastomoses. Oxygen would be supplied via an external source. Blood properties, operating conditions, and empirically determined mass transfer and flow properties are all specified and input into a computer program that numerically solves the design equations. Computer–generated values for the device frontal area, blood path length, and fiber surface area are thereby obtained. The use of this computer–assisted design minimizes the need for extensive trial–and–error testing of prototype devices. Results from in vitro tests of a prototype implantable lung indicate that the mathematical model we describe is an accurate and useful tool in the design of hollow fiber artificial lungs.     

Routine hysteroscopy for patients with a high risk of uterine malignancy

Summary. Seventy patients with abnormal vaginal bleeding were examined with a Storz hysteroscope. The examination took an average of only 5 min. Sixty patients had the examination under general anaesthesia, five under paracervical block and five had no form of anaesthesia. All tolerated the procedure well. There were no complications directly related to the hysteroscopic examination. There was complete correlation between the histology of the endometrium obtained at subsequent curettage and the hysteroscopic findings.     

Heart health inequalities in Canada: modules, theory and planning

It is well known that prevalence and incidence rates of cardiovasculardisease (CVD) and CVD risk factors are not equally distributedamong socioeconomic groups. Known risk factors account for part,but not all of unequally distributed CVD rates. Socioeconomicconditions and psychosocial dynamics may explain another pareof the increased CVD rates. Theoretically, it may be possibleto lower CVD rates and CVD risk factor prevalence among lowersocioeconomic status (SES) groups by using a community development(socio-environment) strategy directed towards changes in socioenvrronmentalrisk conditions and psychosocial risk factors, rather than CVDrisk factors per Se. This article describes a protocol for sucha strategy based upon the planning work of Canadian health professionals,loosely organized under a project titled ‘Heart HealthInequalities in Canada’ This protocol incorporates baselinedata on CVD and CVD risk factor prevalence, but is premisedon actions negotiated between community organizations and healthauthorities, rather than defined unilaterally by health authorities.As such, program design activities and evaluation will differfrom a more general population-based risk factor reduction strategy.