Childhood obesity for pediatric gastroenterologists.

Obesity in childhood is one of the major health issues in pediatric health care today. As expected, the prevalence of obesity-related comorbidities has risen in parallel with that of obesity. Consultation regarding these concomitant diseases and subsequent management by subspecialists, including pediatric gastroenterologists, is now common and has resulted in obesity being recognized as a chronic disease requiring coordination of care.

Comparative assessment of change in fat mass using dual X-ray absorptiometry and air-displacement plethysmography.

Objective: To compare the accuracy of body composition measurements to small, defined changes in fat mass between dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and air-displacement plethysmography (ADP).

Methods: Fifty-six healthy adults, 29 women and 27 men (age, 38 ± 12.4 years; BMI, 27.

Effect of modest caloric restriction on oxidative stress in women, a randomized trial.

Objectives: It is not established to what extent caloric intake must be reduced to lower oxidative stress in humans. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of short-term, moderate caloric restriction on markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in overweight and obese premenopausal women.

Materials/methods: Randomized trial comparison of 25% caloric restriction (CR) or control diet in 40 overweight or obese women (body mass index 32±5.

Effect of BMI on prediction of accelerometry-based energy expenditure in youth.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to determine the effect of body mass index (BMI) on level of agreement between six previously established prediction equations for three commonly used accelerometers to predict summary measures of energy expenditure (EE) in youth.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-one youth between the ages of 10-17 yr and BMI from 15 to 44 kg·m were outfitted with hip-worn ActiGraph GT1M (Pensacola, FL), Actical (MiniMiter/Respironics, Bend, OR), and RT3 (StayHealthy, Monrovia, CA) accelerometers and spent approximately 24 h in a whole-room indirect calorimeter while performing structured and self-selected activities. Five commonly used regression and one propriety equations for each device were used to predict the minute-to-minute EE (normalized to METs), daily physical activity level (PAL), and time spent in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity intensity categories.

Flow cytometry of Candida albicans for investigations of surface marker expression and phagocytosis.

Several cytoplasmic virulence factors of Candida albicans are altered in the presence of estrogen and this fact may imply the existence of a global virulence regulatory system in this organism. The response of virulence-associated surface markers to estrogen, however, has not been studied. We exploited flow cytometry methods for assessment of the iC3b receptor analog and mannoproteins on 2 clinical yeast strains selected for their different rates of growth in the presence of estradiol 17beta.

Hepatomegaly in transgenic mice expressing the homeobox gene Cux-1.

Cux-1 is a member of a family of homeobox genes structurally related to Drosophila Cut. Mammalian Cut proteins function as transcriptional repressors of genes specifying terminal differentiation in multiple cell lineages. In addition, mammalian Cut proteins serve as cell-cycle-dependent transcriptional factors in proliferating cells, where they function to repress expression of the cyclin kinase inhibitors p21 and p27.