Pathologic yawning in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders.

Introduction: Brainstem, hypothalamic and cerebral symptoms may occur in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD). However, pathologic yawning has not been previously described in NMOSD patients.

Patients And Methods: Nine AQP4-IgG seropositive NMOSD patients experienced excessive yawning not related to sleep deprivation or fatigue.

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Unlabelled: Investigations on the prevalence rates of multiple sclerosis (MS) around the world have yielded important clues on the interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. As Brazil is a huge country laid on many latitudes and inhabited by population with distinct ethnic backgrounds, it might be assumed that the frequency of MS varies in its different regions.

Objective: To determine the prevalence rate of MS in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil.

Association of free fatty acids with the insulin-resistant state but not with central obesity in individuals from Venezuela.

Individuals with insulin resistance (IR) usually have upper body obesity phenotype, often accompanied by an increase in plasma free fatty acids (FFA). Since the Venezuelan population has a high frequency of IR and central obesity, the purpose of this work was to determine FFA levels in 47 Venezuelan individuals, men and women, 24-58 years old, and analyze their relationship with central obesity and parameters of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Basal concentrations of TG, total cholesterol, LDL-C, and HDL-C were measured, and FFA, glucose and insulin, at basal state and at different times after a glucose load.

[Relationship of fibrinogen with cardiovascular risk factors in healthy men from Maracaibo, Venezuela].

The purpose of this paper was to determine the relationship between fibrinogen concentration and cardiovascular ischaemic risk factors in a group of apparently healthy men from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Two hundred and forty six individuals, ages 31 to 65 years were evaluated by means of clinical and laboratory examination. In each person plasma fibrinogen concentration was measured by coagulometry, serum glucose and lipids by enzymatic methods and insulin by radioimmunoanalysis.

Black Hispanics have a worse cardiovascular risk profile than mixed Hispanics in Venezuela.

In order to characterize components of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in Venezuelan black Hispanics and compare these metabolic abnormalities with those found in the predominant mixed Hispanic population, 2336 mixed Hispanics (69% women) and 281 black Hispanics (60% women), aged 20-78 years, without prior history of diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease were evaluated in a population-based study in Zulia State, Venezuela. Blood pressure (BP), waist circumference, as well as fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were measured. The criteria proposed by the National Cholesterol Education Program/Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) to identify those with metabolic abnormalities were used.

[Basal insulin levels in a Zulia State population in Venezuela].

This study examines the basal insulin levels in a population from Zulia state (Venezuela). A total of 1703 subjects (1175 women and 528 men) from five different sanitary regions (Maracaibo, La Guajira, Perijá, Sur del Lago de Maracaibo, y Costa Oriental del Lago de Maracaibo) were studied. Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, and blood pressure were determined.

[Serum insulin, leptin and growth hormone levels are associated with body mass index and obesity index in adolescents].

Leptin, insulin and growth hormone levels seem to regulate body composition, fat distribution and fat mass. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among insulin, leptin and growth hormone levels in a group of adolescents. Ninety five adolescents (31 boys and 64 girls) between 13 and 18 y.

[Relation of socioeconomic levels and life style to fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor in healthy Venezuelans and those with ischemic cardiopathy].

Previous studies in Europe, U.S.A and Japan have revealed an inverse relationship between socioeconomic levels and fibrinogen concentration.

Prevalence and risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome and dyslipidemia in White, Black, Amerindian and Mixed Hispanics in Zulia State, Venezuela.

Studies have highlighted the association between insulin resistance (IR) and several cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, including hypertension (HTN), obesity, dyslipidemia (i.e. high triglyceride and low HDL-cholesterol) and glucose intolerance, in a cluster known as the metabolic syndrome (MS).

[University-external sector linkage: a managerial strategy].

The University-External Sector vinculation is an increasing phenomenon in Latin America as in the rest of the world. The universities through its investigation processes actively participate in the creation and incorporation of science and technology to produce technological processes, to bring foreign technology into national reality, and also to create and transmit innovation for the productive sector. In those ways these institutions achieve bonds with the external sector which provide them with additional income and allows them to have certain relief for their tight teaching and investigation budgets.

[Levels of apoproteins B, A1 and CIII as markers for cardiovascular risk in lean and obese adolescents].

Cardiovascular disease is a significant health problem affecting the adult population. Because atherosclerosis may begin in childhood, the aim of the present study was to identify biochemical markers for cardiovascular risk at an early stage of life. We studied 79 adolescents (48 girls and 31 boys) whose ages ranged from 13 to 17 years.

Lean adolescents with increased risk for metabolic syndrome.

The aim of the present study was to determine in adolescents the relationship between insulin levels and body mass index (BMI), body fat distribution, diet, life style and lipid profile. We studied 167 adolescents (68 boys and 99 girls) whose ages ranged from 14 to 17 years. A detailed medical (including pubertal stage) and nutritional record was obtained from each subject.

Presence of impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance in normoglycemic male subjects with family history of type 2 diabetes.

In order to demonstrate the effect of family history (FH) coexisting with obesity in insulin resistance (IR) and secretion in subjects at risk for type 2 diabetes, fasting and 2 h post-glucose load serum glucose and insulin concentrations were measured in 143 individuals, 66 men and 77 women, ages ranging from 18 to 68 years, who were considered at risk but were normoglycemic following ADA criteria. Insulin resistance was estimated using HOMA(IR), basal hyperinsulinemia and I(0)/G(0) ratio. Insulin secretion was estimated by means of HOMA(beta-cell), DeltaI(30-0)/DeltaG(30-0) ratio and the insulin concentration at 30 min post-glucose load (I(30)).

[Hemostatic coronary risk factors in a healthy population of Maracaibo, Venezuela].

The purpose of the present work was to determine the plasma concentrations of fibrinogen and Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) as well as platelet aggregation, in an apparently healthy population of 306 men and 41 women, 33 to 65 years of age, workers of the national oil industry (PDVSA, Maracaibo), as a base investigation in a 5-year prospective national collaborative study. The participants were previously subjected to a thorough clinical examination with cardiovascular evaluation and laboratory tests. Clottable fibrinogen and VWF concentrations were determined in platelet poor plasma, the last one by immunoclectrophoresis, and a multimeric analysis of VWF was performed on those plasmas with concentrations higher than 150 U/dL by SDS agarose electrophoresis, followed by cellulose membrane transference.

[Prevalence of obesity and hyperinsulinemia: its association with serum lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in healthy individuals from Maracaibo, Venezuela].

The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of obesity and hyperinsulinemia and their association with lipid profile alterations on apparently healthy individuals from Maracaibo, Venezuela. We evaluated 306 men and 41 women, ages ranging from 33 to 65 years. All subjects underwent cardiovascular evaluation and laboratory examination after 10-12 h fasting, for glycaemia, total cholesterol, TG, VLDL-C, LDL-C and HDL-C as well as insulin.

[The BCTRIMS Expanded Consensus on treatment of multiple sclerosis: III. Evidence and recommendation-based guidelines].

There has been unprecedented advances in knowledge of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the last few years. A new set of criteria for its diagnosis and a bunch of recent clinical trials with disease-modifying agents (DMA) have been published. All of that has made it necessary to update and expand the previous consensus for MS treatment as formulated by the Brazilian Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (BCTRIMS) two years ago.

[The BCTRIMS Expanded Consensus on treatment of multiple sclerosis: I. The evidences for the use of immunosuppressive agents, plasma exchange and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation].

Since the sixties immunosuppressive agents have been used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis as there was cumulating evidence of the inflammatory nature of the disease. Cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and methotrexate have been the most frequently employed drugs whereas other agents such as cyclosporine and cladribine have been recently tested for RRMS. Mithoxantrone, on the other hand, was approved by the FDA for treatment of aggressive forms of the disease.