Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is associated with impaired energy metabolism, including weight loss and decreased appetite which are negatively correlated with survival. Neural mechanisms underlying metabolic impairment in ALS remain unknown. ALS patients and presymptomatic gene carriers have early hypothalamic atrophy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: Aspects of the Mongolian food supply, including high availability of animal-source foods and few plant foods, are plausibly associated with disease in the population. Data on Mongolian diets are lacking, and these risks are poorly quantified. The purpose of this study was to provide a multifaceted nutritional analysis of the modern Mongolian diet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Assay cost, quality, and availability pose challenges for vitamin D surveys in limited resource settings. This study aimed to validate an inexpensive vitamin D assay (ELISA) under real-world conditions in Mongolia, the northernmost developing country, to characterize the assay's usefulness and inform the design of epidemiologic studies in similar regions.
Methods And Study Design: We collected paired summer and winter serum samples from 120 men and women (aged 20-57 years) in urban and rural Mongolia, analyzed each sample for 25(OH)D concentration using both Immunodiagnostic Systems ELISA and DiaSorin LIAISON 25(OH)D TOTAL, and compared the assays using multiple statistics.
Many factors put Mongolians at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Despite low levels observed in Mongolian children and pregnant women, there are few data published on the vitamin D status of non-pregnant adults. Between summer 2011 and winter 2013, paired summer and winter blood samples were collected from 320 healthy men and women (20-58 years) living in eight Mongolian provinces.
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