Validation of a subjective global assessment questionnaire.

Objective: To validate the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) questionnaire for Brazilian children and adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with 242 patients, aged 30 days to 13 years, treated in pediatric units of a tertiary hospital with acute illness and minimum hospitalization of 24h. After permission from the authors of the original study, the following criteria were observed to obtain the validation of SGNA instruments: translation and backtranslation, concurrent validity, predictive validity, and inter-observer reliability.

Lipid-induced changes in vascular smooth muscle cell membrane fluidity are associated with DNA synthesis.

In the present study, we examined whether changes in the membrane fluidity of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) alter their DNA synthesis. For this purpose, the membrane fluidity of the cells was modulated after treatment of VSMCs with 1,2-dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine (PC). Treatment of VSMCs with 1,2-dioleoyl PC-rich medium containing 10% heat-inactivated human serum and 3 mg/ ml 1,2-dioleoyl PC for 24 h resulted in an increase in VSMC membrane fluidity at all temperatures from 15 degrees to 40 degrees C as well as a 51% inhibition of DNA synthesis, compared with untreated cells.