Maternal overweight/obesity characteristics and child anthropometric status in Jos,Nigeria

Objective:

This study is to determine the pattern of overweight and obesity and its relationship with childhood anthropometric status in Nigeria.

Materials and Methods:

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jos, Nigeria. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used in data collection. Maternal and child anthropometric measurements were obtained using standard WHO methods. Child anthropometric Z scores were obtained from WHO Anthroplus while BMI of mothers were also determined. Totally, 262 mother-child pairs were recruited.

Results:

Mean maternal age and mean child age were 30.8 ± 6.3 yrs (15-47 yrs) and 22.3 ± 18.7 months (3-72 months). Prevalence of maternal underweight, overweight and obesity was 4.2% (11/262), 29.4% (77/262) and 25.9% (68/262), respectively. Child overweight/obesity was 5.4% (14/262), severe under-nutrition 5.7% (15/262). Mean maternal BMI was higher in the older, more educated and higher socioeconomic status (SES). Child mean birth-weight, weight-for-age Z-score and BMI-for-age Z-score (BAZ) were higher among mothers with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m². All large-for-age babies were in mothers with maternal BMI ≥ 25 kg/m². Childhood over-nutrition was more common in maternal BMI of ≥25 kg/m². Overall, BAZ was directly related with maternal BMI, maternal age and birth-weight, although it was inversely related with maternal BM I ≥ 25 kg/m².

Conclusion:

Higher BMI is seen in educated and higher SES mothers and this impact on childhood anthropometry.     

Development and Treatment of Tertiary Hyperparathyroidism in Patients with Pseudohypoparathyroidism Type 1B

Context: Pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1B (PHP1B) patients have PTH resistance at the renal proximal tubule and develop hypocalcemia and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Hyperparathyroid bone disease also develops in some patients. PHP1B patients are at theoretical risk of developing tertiary hyperparathyroidism. Setting: Patients were studied in a clinical research center. Patients: Five female PHP1B patients presented with hypercalcemia and elevated PTH. Intervention: Patients either underwent parathyroidectomy (n = 4) or received cinacalcet (n = 1). Main Outcome Measures: Serum calcium and PTH were serially measured before and after intervention. Results: Five PHP1B patients developed concomitantly elevated serum calcium and PTH levels (range, 235-864 ng/liter) requiring termination of calcium and vitamin D therapy (time after diagnosis, 21-42 yr; median, 34 yr), consistent with tertiary hyperparathyroidism. Four patients underwent parathyroidectomy with removal of one (n = 2) or two (n = 2) enlarged parathyroid glands. Calcium and vitamin D therapy was reinstituted postoperatively, and at 93-month median follow-up, PTH levels ranged between 56 and 182 (normal, <87) ng/liter. One patient was treated with cinacalcet, resulting in resolution of hypercalcemia. Conclusions: PHP1B patients are at risk of developing tertiary hyperparathyroidism and/or hyperparathyroid bone disease and should therefore be treated with sufficient doses of calcium and vitamin D to achieve serum calcium and PTH levels within or as close to the normal range as possible. Surgery is the treatment of choice in this setting. Cinacalcet may be a useful alternative in those who do not undergo surgery.     

TNF inhibitor treating osseous sarcoidosis and dactylitis: case and literature review

Clinical Rheumatology - A 49-year-old African American male with multiorgan sarcoidosis presented with recurrent episodes of dactylitis and arthritis. Imaging had shown sarcoid osseous involvement...     

Optimization and Application of a Multiplex Digital PCR Assay for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Belgian Influent Wastewater

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of SARS-CoV-2 has been used as a complementary indicator to follow up on the trends in the COVID-19 spread in Belgium and in many other countries. To further develop the use of WBE, a multiplex digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) assay was optimized, validated and applied for the measurement of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) in influent wastewater (IWW) samples. Key mutations were targeted in the different VOC strains, including SΔ69/70 deletion, N501Y, SΔ241 and SΔ157. The presented bioanalytical method was able to distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 RNA originating from the wild-type and B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and B.1.617.2 variants. The dPCR assay proved to be sensitive enough to detect low concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in IWW since the limit of detection of the different targets ranged between 0.3 and 2.9 copies/µL. This developed WBE approach was applied to IWW samples originating from different Belgian locations and was able to monitor spatio-temporal changes in the presence of targeted VOC strains in the investigated communities. The present dPCR assay developments were realized to bring added-value to the current national WBE of COVID-19 by also having the spatio-temporal proportions of the VoC in presence in the wastewaters.     

Mood and anxiety disorders among rural,urban, and metropolitan residents in the United States

Objective: To estimate the correlates of mood and anxiety disorders among rural, urban and metropolitan residents in the United States. Methods: We analyzed the National Co-morbidity Survey (NCS), which yields the distribution and correlates of psychiatric disorders in a probability sample of U.S. population using DSM-III-R for diagnosis. Logistic regressions of mood and anxiety disorders were stratified by geographical area. Results: We found gender differences in mood disorders among urban (O.R. = 1.8, P < 0.0001) and metropolitan (O.R. = 1.6, P < 0.0001) but not among rural residents. Rural (O.R. = 0.2, P < 0.05) and urban (O.R. = 0.5, P < 0.05) African Americans were less likely to report mood disorders compared to rural and urban Whites. Similarly, we found gender differences in anxiety disorders among urban (O.R. = 2.0, P < 0.0001) and metropolitan (O.R. = 1.7, P < 0.0001), but not among rural residents. Conclusion: Rural men reported more mood and anxiety disorders than urban men, thus erasing expected rural gender differences in these disorders. Rural male mood and anxiety disorders may be a function of diminishing resources (steady, high paying jobs) or increasing financial strain particularly among Whites, who comprise a majority of rural residents.     

Antimitochondrial effects of thioacetamide and ethylenethiourea in human and yeast cell cultures

Cytological studies in the light microscope showed that thioacetamide (TAA) depressed the mitotic index in cultures of skin fibroblasts at the lowest concentrations used (100 μg/ml). At high concentration (1 mg/ml), TAA tended to cause aberration in nuclear morphology. Ethylenethiourea (ETU) had no effect on either mitotic index or nuclear morphology at 1 mg/ml. Fibroblast cultures treated with 1 mg/ml TAA and cultures grown in the presence of 2 mg/ml ETU were studied by electron microscopy. In some TAA-treated cells there was unfolding of the nuclear membrane and enlargement and granulation of the nucleolus, but these effects were not correlated. In all cells, TAA caused severe and characteristic damage to the majority of mitochondria, whether or not there were nuclear aberrations. The organelle showed extensive swelling of the cristae of the inner membrane and an increase in matrix density. Ultrastructure of other cell components appeared to be unaffected by this treatment. In ETU-treated cells some less severe swelling of inner mitochondrial membranes was seen and only in a minority of cells, whilst all other cell structures appeared normal. Similar membrane swelling and increase in matrix density was seen in isolated rat liver mitochondria after incubation with TAA, indicating a direct antimitochondrial effect of the carcinogen.     

Racial ideology and explanations for health inequalities among middle-class whites.

Middle-class whites' explanations for racial inequalities in health can have a profound impact on the type of questions addressed in epidemiology and public health research. These explanations also constitute a subset of white racial ideology (i.e., racism) that in itself powerfully affects the health of non-whites. This study begins to examine the nature of attributions for racial inequalities in health among university students who by definition are likely to be involved in the research, policy, and service professions (the upper middle class). Investigation of the degree to which middle-class whites attribute racial inequalities in cardiovascular health (between themselves and African Americans, American Indians, or Asian Americans) to biological, social, or lifestyle factors reveals that whites tend to attribute their own health to lifestyle choice and to biology rather than to social factors. These results suggest that contemporary middle-class whites' "self-serving" explanations for racial inequalities in health are comprised of two beliefs: implicit biologism (race is an attribute of organisms rather than a social relation) and liberal belief in self-determination, choice, and individual responsibility--some of the core lay beliefs of the worldview that sustains neoliberal capitalism. Contemporary white middle-class explanations for racial inequalities in health appear to include assumptions that justify class inequality. Liberal approaches to racism in public health are bound to miss a key component of racial ideology that is currently used to justify racial and class inequalities.