Reliability of anthropometric measures in a longitudinal cohort of patients initiating ART in West Africa.

Background: Anthropometric measurements are a non invasive, inexpensive, and suitable method for evaluating the nutritional status in population studies with relatively large sample sizes. However, anthropometric techniques are prone to errors that could arise, for example, from the inadequate training of personnel. Despite these concerns, anthropometrical measurement error is seldom assessed in cohort studies.

Psychosocial correlates of body mass index in four groups of Quebec adults.

The objective of the present analysis was to study the associations between body weight psychosocial correlates and body mass index (BMI) among four groups of adults in the Quebec population. Data were taken from the Social Lifestyles and Health 1998 Survey performed by the Institut de la Statistique du Québec (ISQ). The suggested guidelines of the ISQ were used to estimate the population's proportions and for statistical analysis.

Correlates of diet quality in the Quebec population.

Objective: To determine the correlates of a high-fat diet in urban, suburban and rural areas of Quebec, Canada.

Design: A secondary analysis of data collected as part of a 5-year multi-factorial, multi-setting, community-intervention project.

Setting: Urban, suburban and rural settings of the province of Quebec, 1997.

Effects of the Quebec Heart Health Demonstration Project on adult dietary behaviours.

Background: There are few studies which have evaluated the dietary impact of multiple community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programs.

Methods: A 5-year, multifactorial community-based heart disease prevention program was conducted by regional public health departments in three sites: urban, suburban and rural. The experimental and control communities were composed of independent samples of 4,863 adults in 1993 and 5,260 in 1997.

The Québec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey: design and methods of a cardiovascular risk factor survey for youth.

Background: Although atherosclerosis begins in childhood, there are no recent Canadian data on cardiovascular risk factors in provincially or nationally representative samples of youth.

Objective: To describe the design and methods of the 1999 Québec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey, which assessed the prevalence and distribution of risk factors in a representative sample of Québec youth.

Methods: School-based, multistage, cluster sampling survey of youth aged nine, 13 and 16 years.

Membrane peroxidation by lipopolysaccharide and iron-ascorbate adversely affects Caco-2 cell function: beneficial role of butyric acid.

Background: Membrane lipid peroxidation may play a role in immune-mediated bowel diseases.

Objective: We examined the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a ubiquitous endotoxin mediator of gram-negative bacteria, alone and in combination with iron-ascorbate, on enterocyte function. Furthermore, we assessed the antioxidant capacity of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butyric acid, which are known to play a significant role in the welfare of intestinal mucosa.

The antioxidant BHT normalizes some oxidative effects of iron + ascorbate on lipid metabolism in Caco-2 cells.

We showed recently that iron + ascorbate can impair the assembly of intestinal lipoproteins. However, we could not determine whether these changes were caused by iron + ascorbate-mediated lipid peroxidation per se. We therefore conducted studies to evaluate how antioxidants antagonize the iron + ascorbate-induced derangements.