Papio spp. Colon microbiome and its link to obesity in pregnancy.

Introduction: Gut microbial communities are critical players in the pathogenesis of obesity. Pregnancy is associated with increased bacterial load and changes in gut bacterial diversity. Sparse data exist regarding composition of gut microbial communities in obesity combined with pregnancy.

Psychological Flexibility Among Youth with Type 1 Diabetes: Relating Patterns of Acceptance, Adherence, and Stress to Adaptation.

Psychological flexibility, a complex concept encompassing both acceptance and action related factors, has been identified as a target for intervention for diabetes management. Research suggests acceptance, self-management, and stress, all factors that influence psychological flexibility, have an impact on adaptation to type 1 diabetes (T1D) by youth independently. However, yet to be explored is individually varying patterns of these variables and how they may relate to diabetes adaptation outcomes.

Patterns of Family Functioning and Diabetes-Specific Conflict in Relation to Glycemic Control and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Youth With Type 1 Diabetes.

Objectives: General and diabetes-specific family functioning may be associated with youth’s adaptation to type 1 diabetes (T1D); however, empirically derived patterns of family functioning and diabetes-specific conflict among youth have not been explored in relation to T1D adaptation.

Methods: Youth (N = 161, aged 12–18) with T1D and caregivers completed measures of family functioning and diabetes-specific conflict that served as indicators in latent profile analyses. Differences in glycemic control (measured by hemoglobin A1cs [HbA1c] and health-related quality of life [HRQoL]) were compared across profiles.

Improvement in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Associated with More Favorable Energy Density and Nutrient and Food Group Intake, but not Kilocalories.

Background: Children generally do not consume adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables (F/V). Eating more F/V can improve energy density and overall diet quality.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate whether improvements in F/V consumption were associated with improvements in energy density, total calories, and dietary components related to F/V.

Medicaid managed care reduces readmissions for youths with type 1 diabetes.

Objectives: To determine whether the likelihood of readmission (adjusted for severity on first admission) for pediatric type 1 diabetes (T1D) differs between Medicaid managed care and non-managed care.

Study Design: De-identified patients were retrospectively selected from the Pediatric Health Information Systems database of the Children's Hospital Association (CHA). The cohort of 42 hospitals across 25 states included discharges between 2008 and 2011 for patients who were receiving Medicaid at the time of service and had T1D as their diagnosis.

Effect of Low-Magnitude, High-Frequency Mechanical Stimulation on BMD Among Young Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Bone accrual during youth is critical to establish sufficient strength for lifelong skeletal health. Children with cancer may develop low bone mineral density (BMD) any time before or after diagnosis.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of low-magnitude, high-frequency mechanical stimulation to enhance BMD among childhood cancer survivors.

Gestational Vitamin 25(OH)D Status as a Risk Factor for Receptive Language Development: A 24-Month, Longitudinal, Observational Study.

Emerging data suggest that vitamin D status during childhood and adolescence can affect neurocognitive development. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether gestational 25(OH)D status is associated with early childhood cognitive and receptive language development. The Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood Study (CANDLE) study enrolled 1503 mother-child dyads during the second trimester of healthy singleton pregnancies from Shelby County TN.

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviors, and Nutritional Risk Profiles and Relations to Body Mass Index, Obesity, and Overweight in Eighth Grade.

The objective of this article was to determine (1) the existence of individually varying patterns of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and nutrition intake risk; and (2) how these risk-patterns relate to youth's demographics, Body mass index (BMI) and psychosocial functioning. Participants (N = 9,304) from the 2007 8th Grade Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Cohort completed the revised Self-Description Questionnaire II. Age, sex, height, and weight were used to calculate body mass index (BMI) z scores and percentiles.

Nedd4 haploinsufficient mice display moderate insulin resistance, enhanced lipolysis, and protection against high-fat diet-induced obesity.

Neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated protein 4 (Nedd4) is the prototypical protein in the Nedd4 ubiquitin ligase (E3) family, which governs ubiquitin-dependent endocytosis and/or degradation of plasma membrane proteins. Loss of Nedd4 results in embryonic or neonatal lethality in mice and reduced insulin/IGF-1 signaling in embryonic fibroblasts. To delineate the roles of Nedd4 in vivo, we examined the phenotypes of heterozygous knockout mice using a high-fat diet-induced obesity (HFDIO) model.

Assessing measurement invariance of the diabetes stress questionnaire in youth with type 1 diabetes.

Objective: To evaluate the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Diabetes Stress Questionnaire (DSQ), a measure of diabetes-specific stress, across sex, age (<9th grade vs. ≥9th grade), and glycemic control (optimal vs. suboptimal).

A comparison of pain levels after the Biering-Sorensen and the modified 20-metre shuttle test in patients with chronic low back pain.

Background And Objective: The Biering-Sorensen Test (BST) is a useful and well validated assessment tool in patients with chronic lumbar pain. However there is sometimes concern that it may lead to an unwarranted increase in pain. This study compared pain levels before and after the BST against a currently accepted functional assessment tool- the modified 20-metre shuttle test (MST)- in military patients with chronic low back pain.

Real-time support of pediatric diabetes self-care by a transport team.

OBJECTIVE The study seeks to improve access for underserved patients via novel integration of Pedi-Flite (a critical care transport team) and to validate whether this safely enhances diabetes care and effectively expands the endocrine workforce. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study retrospectively analyzed pager service use in a cohort of established diabetic patients (n = 979) after inception of Pedi-Flite support. Outcomes included incidence and severity of recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and cost savings generated from reduced referrals to the emergency department (ED) and on-call endocrinologist.

Teplizumab preserves C-peptide in recent-onset type 1 diabetes: two-year results from the randomized, placebo-controlled Protégé trial.

Protégé was a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled 2-year study of three intravenous teplizumab dosing regimens, administered daily for 14 days at baseline and again after 26 weeks, in new-onset type 1 diabetes. We sought to determine efficacy and safety of teplizumab immunotherapy at 2 years and to identify characteristics associated with therapeutic response. Of 516 randomized patients, 513 were treated, and 462 completed 2 years of follow-up.

Treatment of transient neonatal diabetes mellitus with subcutaneous insulin glargine in an extremely low birth weight neonate.

Neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) results from impaired insulin secretion. While rare, NDM presents complex challenges with regard to the management of glycemic control. NDM is classified as transient neonatal diabetes mellitus (TNDM) or permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus (PNDM).

Compound 49b prevents diabetes-induced apoptosis through increased IGFBP-3 levels.

Purpose: To determine whether Compound 49b, a novel PKA-activating drug, can prevent diabetic-like changes in the rat retina through increased insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels.

Methods: For the cell culture studies, we used both human retinal endothelial cells (REC) and retinal Müller cells in either 5 mM (normal) or 25 mM (high) glucose. Cells were treated with 50 nM Compound 49b alone of following treatment with protein kinase A (PKA) siRNA or IGFBP-3 siRNA.

Teplizumab for treatment of type 1 diabetes (Protégé study): 1-year results from a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Findings of small studies have suggested that short treatments with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies that are mutated to reduce Fc receptor binding preserve β-cell function and decrease insulin needs in patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes. In this phase 3 trial, we assessed the safety and efficacy of one such antibody, teplizumab.

Methods: In this 2-year trial, patients aged 8-35 years who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for 12 weeks or fewer were enrolled and treated at 83 clinical centres in North America, Europe, Israel, and India.

Association of muscle strength and bone mineral density in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Objectives: To investigate the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and muscle strength in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a population at increased risk for both decreased BMD and muscle strength from cancer and its treatment.

Design: Cohort data from the St Jude Lifetime Cohort (SJLIFE) study.

Setting: Department of Cancer Control at St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Causes of unplanned hospital admissions: implications for practice and policy.

Unplanned hospitalizations among home health patients were reviewed to identify preventable hospital admissions and their causes. Study methods included treatment record review; interviews with home health visit staff, supervisors, and managers; and review of orientation materials and policies. Findings from this study suggest focus areas for home health agencies and other stakeholders to reduce acute care hospitalization rates and in other quality improvement initiatives.

A computer model of auditory efferent suppression: implications for the recognition of speech in noise.

The neural mechanisms underlying the ability of human listeners to recognize speech in the presence of background noise are still imperfectly understood. However, there is mounting evidence that the medial olivocochlear system plays an important role, via efferents that exert a suppressive effect on the response of the basilar membrane. The current paper presents a computer modeling study that investigates the possible role of this activity on speech intelligibility in noise.

The prolonged effect of repeated maternal glucocorticoid exposure on the maternal and fetal leptin/insulin-like growth factor axis in Papio species.

Background: Maternal obesity represents a risk factor for pregnancy-related complications. Glucocorticoids are known to promote obesity in adults.

Methods: We evaluated maternal and fetal metabolic changes during and after 3 weekly courses of betamethasone administered to pregnant baboons (Papio subspecies) at doses equivalent to those given to pregnant women.

Patient-based cultural competency curriculum for pre-health professionals.

Background And Objectives: The diverse US population requires medical cultural competency education for health providers throughout their pre-professional and professional years. We present a curriculum to train pre-health professional undergraduates by combining classroom education in the humanities and cross-cultural communication skills with volunteer clinical experiences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital.

Methods: The course was open to a maximum of 15 UCLA junior and senior undergraduate students with a pre-health or humanities major and was held in the spring quarters of 2002--2004.

Early drug development of inhibitors of the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor pathway: lessons from the first clinical trials.

The insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) was first cloned in 1986. Since then, intense work has defined classic phosphorelays activated via the IGF-IR, which regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis, motility, and fate. The understanding of the roles of hormones in cancer and the growth hormone-IGF-IGF-binding protein axis specifically has yield to a second wave of development: the design of specific inhibitors that interrupt the signaling associated with this axis.

A computer model of medial efferent suppression in the mammalian auditory system.

Stimulation of the olivocochlear bundle reduces basilar membrane displacement, driven auditory nerve activity, and compound action potential (CAP) response to acoustic stimulation. These effects were simulated using a computer model of the auditory periphery. The model simulates the medial efferent activity by attenuating the basilar membrane response.

Novel roles of the IGF-IGFBP axis in etiopathophysiology of diabetic nephropathy.

Mechanisms contributing to development of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remain unclear. High ambient glucose level transforms intracellular pathways, promoting stable phenotypic changes in the glomerulus such as mesangial cell hypertrophy, podocyte apoptosis, and matrix expansion. Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and the high affinity IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) exert major effects on cell growth and metabolism.

Novel actions of IGFBP-3 on intracellular signaling pathways of insulin-secreting cells.

Understanding mechanisms underlying apoptotic destruction of insulin-secreting cells is critical to validate therapeutic targets for type 1 diabetes mellitus. We recently reported insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) as a novel mediator of apoptosis in insulin-secreting cells. In light of emerging IGF-independent roles for IGFBP-3, we investigated the mechanisms underlying actions of the novel, recombinant human mutant G(56)G(80)G(81)-IGFBP-3, which lacks intrinsic IGF binding affinity.