Metal Homeostasis and Exposure in Distinct Phenotypic Subtypes of Insulin Resistance among Children with Obesity.

Background: Trace elements and heavy metals have proven pivotal roles in childhood obesity and insulin resistance. However, growing evidence suggests that insulin resistance could encompass distinct phenotypic subtypes.

Methods: Herein, we performed a comprehensive metallomics characterization of plasma samples from children and adolescents with obesity and concomitant insulin resistance, who were stratified as early (N = 17, 11.

Impact of Parental Food Choices on Nutritional and Metabolic Status of Children with Type 1 Diabetes.

Parents play a key role in what their children eat. The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) has been used elsewhere to assess the dietary motivations of parents of healthy children, but not for parents of children with chronic diseases such as type 1 diabetes (T1D). The aim of our research was to evaluate the associations between parental food choice motivations and the nutritional status and glycemic control of children with T1D.

Sexually dimorphic metal alterations in childhood obesity are modulated by a complex interplay between inflammation, insulin, and sex hormones.

Although growing evidence points to a pivotal role of perturbed metal homeostasis in childhood obesity, sexual dimorphisms in this association have rarely been investigated. In this study, we applied multi-elemental analysis to plasma and erythrocyte samples from an observational cohort comprising children with obesity, with and without insulin resistance, and healthy control children. Furthermore, a wide number of variables related to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, inflammation, and sex hormones were also determined.

Trace elements as potential modulators of puberty-induced amelioration of oxidative stress and inflammation in childhood obesity.

Although puberty is known to influence obesity progression, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of sexual maturation in obesity-related complications remains largely unexplored. Here, we delve into the impact of puberty on the most relevant pathogenic hallmarks of obesity, namely oxidative stress and inflammation, and their association with trace element blood status. To this end, we studied a well-characterized observational cohort comprising prepubertal (N = 46) and pubertal (N = 48) children with obesity.

Exploring the association between circulating trace elements, metabolic risk factors, and the adherence to a Mediterranean diet among children and adolescents with obesity.

Diet is one of the most important modifiable lifestyle factors for preventing and treating obesity. In this respect, the Mediterranean diet (MD) has proven to be a rich source of a myriad of micronutrients with positive repercussions on human health. Herein, we studied an observational cohort of children and adolescents with obesity ( = 26) to explore the association between circulating blood trace elements and the degree of MD adherence, as assessed through the KIDMED questionnaire.

Analysis and Annotation of Phospholipids by Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics.

Phospholipids are essential components of membrane lipid bilayers and serve as precursors of multiple signaling molecules, so alterations in their homeostasis are associated with the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. In this context, the application of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics has demonstrated great potential to comprehensively characterize the human phospholipidome. In this chapter, we describe an untargeted method for the determination of phospholipids and other related metabolites in a variety of biological matrices, including plasma/serum, erythrocytes, and tissues, based on the combination of high-throughput direct mass spectrometry fingerprinting and subsequent profiling by ultra-high-performance reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.

Altered Metal Homeostasis Associates with Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Impaired Glucose Metabolism, and Dyslipidemia in the Crosstalk between Childhood Obesity and Insulin Resistance.

Metals are redox-active substances that participate in central biological processes and may be involved in a multitude of pathogenic events. However, considering the inconsistencies reported in the literature, further research is crucial to disentangle the role of metal homeostasis in childhood obesity and comorbidities using well-characterized cohorts and state-of-the-art analytical methods. To this end, we studied an observational population comprising children with obesity and insulin resistance, children with obesity without insulin resistance, and healthy control children.

Proinflammatory Polyphosphate Increases in Plasma of Obese Children with Insulin Resistance and Adults with Severe Type 2 Diabetes.

Obesity increases the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes through increased inflammation at cellular and tissue levels. Therefore, study of the molecular elements involved in obesity-related inflammation may contribute to preventing and controlling it. Inorganic polyphosphate is a natural phosphate polymer that has recently been attracting more attention for its role in inflammation and hemostasis processes.

Characterization of the Plasmatic and Erythroid Multielemental Biodistribution in Childhood Obesity Using a High-Throughput Method for Size Fractionation of Metal Species.

In this chapter, we describe a metallomics method based on protein precipitation under non-denaturing conditions and further analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for high-throughput metal speciation in plasma and erythrocyte samples. This methodology enables to study the total multielemental profile of these biological matrices, as well as to quantify the metal fractions conforming the metallometabolome and the metalloproteome. Furthermore, the analytical coverage comprises several essential and toxic metal elements, namely aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead, selenium, vanadium, and zinc.

Untargeted Metabolomics Based on Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Plasma and Erythrocyte Samples in Childhood Obesity.

The circulating metabolome of human peripheral blood provides valuable information to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of diseases and to discover candidate biomarkers. In particular, erythrocytes have been proposed as potential systemic indicators of the metabolic and redox status of the organism. To accomplish wide-coverage metabolomics analysis, the combination of complementary analytical techniques is necessary to manage the physicochemical complexity of the human metabolome.

Levels of lactic acid's concordance with pH in pediatric parapneumonic pleural effusion.

Unlabelled: Purpose of the article: The indication of pleural drainage in parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE) is still controversial. Pleural fluid's (PF) pH is widely used as an indicator of the need for pleural drainage. We hypothesized that PF's lactate will have a high concordance with pH, and thus, may be a valuable tool to determine the need for pleural drainage in pediatric PPE.

Mechanistic Insights into Alzheimer's Disease Unveiled through the Investigation of Disturbances in Central Metabolites and Metabolic Pathways.

Hydrophilic metabolites are closely involved in multiple primary metabolic pathways and, consequently, play an essential role in the onset and progression of multifactorial human disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. This review article provides a comprehensive revision of the literature published on the use of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics platforms for approaching the central metabolome in Alzheimer's disease research, including direct mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. Overall, mounting evidence points to profound disturbances that affect a multitude of central metabolic pathways, such as the energy-related metabolism, the urea cycle, the homeostasis of amino acids, fatty acids and nucleotides, neurotransmission, and others.

Lung ultrasound score and diuretics in preterm infants born before 32 weeks: A pilot study.

Objective: To describe if weekly determined lung ultrasound (LU) scores in preterm infants born before 32 weeks (PTB32W) change with diuretic therapy.

Design: We included infants who received diuretics and compared LU scores according to their evolution on respiratory support (RS) before and after diuretics.

Results: We included 18 PTB32W divided into two groups.

Iron Metabolism in Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome.

Obesity is an excessive adipose tissue accumulation that may have detrimental effects on health. Particularly, childhood obesity has become one of the main public health problems in the 21st century, since its prevalence has widely increased in recent years. Childhood obesity is intimately related to the development of several comorbidities such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, non-congenital cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation and anemia, among others.

Pleural line thickness reference values for preterm and term newborns.

Background: In lung ultrasound (LUS), the pleural line is an artifact whose thickness depends on the underlying lung pathology. To date there are no published studies on normal values of pleural line thickness (PLT) in newborns.

Objective: The aim of our study is to describe normal PLT values in term newborn (TN) and preterm newborn (PTN).

NT-proBNP plasma levels as biomarkers for pulmonary hypertension in healthy infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection.

To explore NT-proBNP as biomarker for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSVI). We prospectively enrolled 93 healthy infants with RSVI aged 1-12 months. NT-proBNP determination and echocardiography were performed at admission.

High-Throughput Metabolomics Based on Direct Mass Spectrometry Analysis in Biomedical Research.

Metabolomics based on direct mass spectrometry analysis shows a great potential in biomedical research because of its high-throughput screening capability and wide metabolome coverage. This chapter contains detailed protocols to perform comprehensive metabolomic fingerprinting of multiple biological samples (serum, plasma, urine, brain, liver, spleen, thymus) by using complementary analytical platforms. The most important issues to be considered are discussed, including sample treatment, metabolomic analysis, raw data preprocessing, and data analysis.

Broad spectrum antibiotics in newborns increase multi-drug resistant infections.

Our objective was to determine if broad spectrum antibiotics (BSA) are associated with multi-resistant bacterial (MRB) infections in neonatal patients. We conducted a case-control study with two groups of patients: those with and without a MRB infection. We included 43 cases and 43 controls.

Intervention and Observational Trials are Complementary in Metabolomics: Diabetes and the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test.

Observational experimental designs are usually employed in metabolomics to elucidate pathological mechanisms underlying disease development and to discover candidate biomarkers for diagnosis. However, intervention trials can also be a suitable starting point before performing a validation study in lager epidemiological cohorts, with a great potential in personalized medicine to investigate how different patients respond to similar stimuli. In the present work, we provide a review of the literature on the application of metabolomics to investigate metabolic alterations associated with diabetes, the diabetes predisposing state of insulin resistance and the oral glucose tolerance test as a case study to demonstrate the complementarity of observational and interventional study designs.

An Overview on the Importance of Combining Complementary Analytical Platforms in Metabolomic Research.

The analytical bias introduced by most of the commonly used techniques in metabolomics considerably hinders the simultaneous detection of all metabolites present in complex biological samples. In order to solve this limitation, the combination of complementary approaches is emerging in recent years as the most suitable strategy in order to maximize metabolite coverage. This review article presents a general overview of the most important analytical techniques usually employed in metabolomics: nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and hybrid approaches.

Severe pneumonia by Mycoplasma as an adverse event of everolimus therapy in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common symptoms in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), appearing mainly in the first year of life and often resistant to therapy. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of everolimus but its safety in children has not yet been well reported. We present two cases of severe pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma in two children receiving everolimus for epilepsy secondary to TSC.

Progressive Neuronal Pathology and Synaptic Loss Induced by Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Age remains the main risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) although certain metabolic alterations, including prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2D), may also increase this risk. In order to understand this relationship, we have studied an AD-prediabetes mouse model (APP/PS1) with severe hyperinsulinemia induced by long-term high fat diet (HFD), and an AD-T2D model, generated by crossing APP/PS1 and db/db mice (APP/PS1xdb/db). In both, prediabetic and diabetic AD mice, we have analyzed underlying neuronal pathology and synaptic loss.

Differences in the estrous cycles of Goto-Kakizaki and Wistar rats.

Goto-Kakizaki rats are an important model of type 2 diabetes, but it is difficult to maintain and expand colonies of these rats because they exhibit poor fertility. In this work, we studied the estrous cycle of Goto-Kakizaki and Wistar rats to characterize differences that might underlie these reproductive difficulties. We monitored rats from weaning to vaginal opening to assess pubertal development, and we monitored the estrous cycle and basal glycemia of each rat for 20 days at 1 month of age and at 6 months of age.

Central vascular disease and exacerbated pathology in a mixed model of type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Aging remains the main risk factor to suffer Alzheimer's disease (AD), though epidemiological studies also support that type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major contributor. In order to explore the close relationship between both pathologies we have developed an animal model presenting both AD and T2D, by crossing APP/PS1 mice (AD model) with db/db mice (T2D model). We traced metabolic and cognitive evolution before T2D or AD pathology is present (4 weeks of age), when T2D has debuted but no senile plaques are present (14 weeks of age) and when both pathologies are well established (26 weeks of age).