The Mutual Interplay between Bone, Glucose and Lipid Metabolism: The Role of Vitamin D and PTH.

Background: We sought to investigate the mutual interplay between bone, glucose and lipid metabolism in a wide cohort of community-based subjects.

Methods: We studied 1240 blood donors (F/M ratio 1/3.2, mean age 41.

Defective Leukocyte β2 Integrin Expression and Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Neonates.

Neonates are highly susceptible to bacterial infections, which represent a major source of mortality and morbidity in this age category. It is recognized that β2 integrins play a critical role in innate immunity by mediating leukocyte vascular adhesion, transmigration and bacterial phagocytosis. Therefore, we aimed to assess if the impaired immune functions seen in newborns may derive, in part, from a transient insufficient β2 integrin expression.

Mineral metabolism abnormalities in patients with prostate cancer: a systematic case controlled study.

Purpose: Prostate cancer is the most common tumor in men. To the best of our knowledge a systematic assessment of bone and mineral abnormalities has not been performed in prostatic cancer patients consecutively enrolled.

Methods: This study was therefore carried out to investigate changes of skeletal and mineral metabolism in patients with prostate cancer (n  = 69).

The effect of parathyroid hormone (1-84) treatment on serum bone morphogenetic protein 4 and vascular endothelial growth factor in postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of 18 months' parathyroid hormone 1-84 (PTH 1-84) treatment on serum levels of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis.

Methods: Thirty-seven postmenopausal women with osteoporosis (mean age 72.9 ± 8.

Etiology, clinical outcome, and laboratory features in children with neutropenia: analysis of 104 cases.

Background: Neutropenia is not uncommon in childhood. The aim of our study was to analyze the underlying causes of neutropenia and to evaluate its clinical significance in a series of children referred to our center.

Methods: One hundred and four consecutive children with neutropenia were enrolled in this study.

Increased levels of acute-phase inflammatory proteins in plasma of patients with sporadic CJD.

Objective: Screening plasma samples from patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) to discover diagnostic biomarkers.

Methods: Plasma samples were collected from 17 patients with sporadic CJD, 17 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), and 20 healthy subjects. A 2-phase screening was carried out using quantitative protein mass spectrometry.

Maternal C-reactive protein at hospital admission is a simple predictor of funisitis in preterm premature rupture of membranes.

Aim: To analyze the prognostic value of maternal serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in predicting funisitis in patients with preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM).

Methods: 66 patients (gestational age 24-33 weeks) hospitalized 1-12 h after pPROM were enrolled. White blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT) and plasma concentration of CRP were assessed every 3 days.

C reactive protein and procalcitonin: reference intervals for preterm and term newborns during the early neonatal period.

Background: There is still no study evaluating the influence of gestational age (GA) per se on C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) reference intervals. We therefore investigated how length of gestation, age (hours), and prenatal and perinatal variables might influence the levels of CRP and PCT. We also determined 95% age-specific reference intervals for CRP and PCT in healthy preterm and term babies during the early neonatal period.

Functional and morphological vascular changes in pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Unlabelled: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been consistently found to be associated with features of the metabolic syndrome (MS), a condition carrying a high risk of cardiovascular events. The present study aimed to determine whether, in children and adolescents, NAFLD is atherogenic beyond its association with MS and its components. We assessed both flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (FMD) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), along with lipid profile, glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRPHS), in 250 obese children, 100 with and 150 without NAFLD, and 150 healthy normal-weight children.

Strong intra- and inter-continental differentiation revealed by Y chromosome SNPs M269, U106 and U152.

More than 2700 unrelated individuals from Europe, northern Africa and western Asia were analyzed for the marker M269, which defines the Y chromosome haplogroup R1b1b2. A total of 593 subjects belonging to this haplogroup were identified and further analyzed for two SNPs, U106 and U152, which define haplogroups R1b1b2g and R1b1b2h, respectively. These haplogroups showed quite different frequency distribution patterns within Europe, with frequency peaks in northern Europe (R1b1b2g) and northern Italy/France (R1b1b2h).

Serum uric acid and its association with metabolic syndrome and carotid atherosclerosis in obese children.

Objective: The association between hyperuricemia, metabolic syndrome (MS), and atherosclerotic vascular disease has been reported in adults, but very little is known about this association in children. The aims of our study were to ascertain the correlates of uric acid (UA) in a sample of obese children, and to investigate whether UA is associated with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) independently from classical risk factors including MS.

Methods: We analyzed carotid IMT along with serum triglycerides, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, insulin, insulin resistance index (as homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance), alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, creatinine, and UA in 120 obese children and 50 healthy control children.

Tracing past human male movements in northern/eastern Africa and western Eurasia: new clues from Y-chromosomal haplogroups E-M78 and J-M12.

Detailed population data were obtained on the distribution of novel biallelic markers that finely dissect the human Y-chromosome haplogroup E-M78. Among 6,501 Y chromosomes sampled in 81 human populations worldwide, we found 517 E-M78 chromosomes and assigned them to 10 subhaplogroups. Eleven microsatellite loci were used to further evaluate subhaplogroup internal diversification.

Phylogeographic analysis of haplogroup E3b (E-M215) y chromosomes reveals multiple migratory events within and out of Africa.

We explored the phylogeography of human Y-chromosomal haplogroup E3b by analyzing 3401 individuals from five continents. Our data refine the phylogeny of the entire haplogroup, which appears as a collection of lineages with very different evolutionary histories, and reveal signatures of several distinct processes of migrations and/or recurrent gene flow that occurred in Africa and western Eurasia over the past 25000 years. In Europe, the overall frequency pattern of haplogroup E-M78 does not support the hypothesis of a uniform spread of people from a single parental Near Eastern population.

ABO/Secretor genetic complex and susceptibility to asthma in childhood.

A positive association has recently been reported in adult subjects between O/nonSecretor phenotype and asthma. To confirm this association, this study investigated the joint ABO/Secretor phenotype in a cohort of 165 asthmatic children. Three-hundred and sixty-two consecutive newborn infants from the same population were also studied as controls.

DNA polymorphisms of apolipoprotein B and angiotensin I-converting enzyme genes and relationships with lipid levels in Italian patients with vascular dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

The distribution of three DNA polymorphisms (XbaI, EcoRI, and I/D) of the apolipoprotein B (APOB) gene, and of the I/D polymorphism of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) gene was investigated in 53 patients with vascular dementia, in 80 patients with late-onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease, and in 153 age-matched control subjects. Furthermore, plasma total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides were measured in the three groups and the involvement of the genetic variation at APOB locus on lipid levels was determined. Major findings of this work are (1) no genotype or allele of the polymorphisms examined here seemed to be associated with vascular dementia or with Alzheimer's disease, (2) total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels were lower in Alzheimer's disease patients than in vascular dementia patients and in elderly controls, and (3) the dementia patients with APOB EcoRI R+R- genotype had higher total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels than R+R+ homozygotes.

[Obesity and hypercholesterolemia in a primary school in Rome].

The research in particular the incidence of obesity, hypertension and hyperlipemia was evaluated involved 201 primary school children. The results show an obesity percentage equal to 28%; 23% of the young were hypercholesterolic and 21% had hypertriglyceridemia. Nobody was hypertensioned.

Transmission line analysis of noncylindrical birdcage resonators.

Transmission line theory, validated for the standard cylindrical birdcage coil, has been employed for the analysis of a rectangular birdcage resonator which is useful for MR imaging of the hand. Due to lack of cylindrical symmetry in the rectangular coil, RF field uniformity was evaluated and found to be critically dependent upon the choice of column from which the coil was linearly driven. Effective L1 and L2 inductance elements were determined using known formulas for self and mutual inductance contributions, and compensation of the different inductance elements of the hand coil was performed to produce cylindrically symmetric birdcage current patterns.

Use of transmission line analysis for multi-tuning of birdcage resonators.

A general analysis for double- and higher order tuning of birdcage resonators is presented based on a lumped element transmission line model. Expressions were developed for the determination of the resonant frequencies of bandstop and bandpass birdcage coils and, with specific restrictions, for capacitor values required to obtain any two desired mode one resonant frequencies. Experimental measurements on three variants each of an eight-column bandstop and an eight-column bandpass were in excellent agreement with theory; the average absolute frequency difference and percent deviation were 1.

Experimental design and fabrication of birdcage resonators for magnetic resonance imaging.

Although the birdcage resonator has been theoretically described for single- and multinuclear operation, this study provides the basic experimental guidelines needed for the fabrication and testing of such coils for various geometries and resonant frequencies from 10 to 95 MHz. The correlation of coil dimensions and resonant frequencies with individual inductance elements, L1 and L2, is also shown. Experimentally derived algorithms are presented for the determination of the capacitance needed for low-pass resonators based on measurements of the coil's "global" inductance.

Diabetic pregnancy: evidence of selection on the Rh blood group system.

The blood glucose levels of pregnant women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and the blood glucose levels of newborns during the first few hours of life show an association with maternal Rh genotype. Distortions of joint maternal-fetal Rh phenotype distribution have also been observed. Because a cluster of genes involved in glycide metabolism is located on the short arm of chromosome 1, the present observations may reflect the action of these genes.

Distribution of ORM1, C6, C7 and APO C-II allele frequencies in populations from mainland Italy and Sardinia.

The genetic variation of the human plasma proteins ORM1, C6, C7 and APO C-II was investigated by isoelectric focusing followed by immunoblotting in populations from mainland Italy and Sardinia. The frequencies of ORM1*1 were 0.621 and 0.

Explicit treatment of mutual inductance in eight-column birdcage resonators.

A formulation has been developed for the determination of self and mutual inductances in unloaded, eight-column symmetric birdcage coils using their expected resonant mode current patterns and well-known inductance formulas. The average frequency differences between theory and experiment for mode one resonances for nine low-pass coils were 0.66 (+/- 0.

Genetic polymorphisms of the A and B subunits of human coagulation factor XIII in mainland Italy and Sardinia: description of a new FXIIIA variant allele.

The distribution of the two alleles of FXIIIA and the three alleles of FXIIIB were studied in populations from mainland Italy and from Sardinia. The frequencies of the FXIIIA*2 allele were 0.266 and 0.

Generalized electrical analysis of low-pass and high-pass birdcage resonators.

The radio-frequency 'birdcage resonator' has found wide use in MRI/MRS for its field homogeneity and signal-noise characteristics. This paper presents a general analysis, derived from lumped element transmission line theory, of the electrical behavior of unloaded, N-column birdcage resonators applicable to several versions of the basic design including low-pass and high-pass coils. Analytic expressions and computer results are presented for both types of coil describing resonant frequencies, input and characteristic impedances, dispersion relations, pass-bands, resonant peak bandwidth and Q.