Publications by authors named "V Herman Villarreal"
Article Synopsis
- Malnutrition in early childhood can lead to long-term health issues, including obesity, with this study focusing on how maternal perceptions and feeding practices influence infant nutrition in northeastern Mexico.
- The research assessed 192 mother-infant pairs, revealing that 38% of infants were overweight/obese while 7% were underweight, and identified key maternal factors like low self-efficacy and inaccurate weight perceptions affecting infant nutritional status.
- Findings suggest that many mothers lack knowledge about proper feeding practices, with longer sleep duration linked to underweight infants and critical inaccuracies in maternal perceptions of their child’s weight for both underweight and overweight/obese infants.
Article Synopsis
- Mural cells play a crucial role in maintaining blood vessel integrity and function, and this study focuses on enhancing their generation from stem cells.
- Researchers employed the transcription factor NKX3.1 to effectively differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells into mural progenitor cells, which is a new method compared to traditional growth factor approaches.
- The resulting iMPCs show important properties of mural cells, like contractility and matrix deposition, and may have significant potential in future vascular and regenerative medicine applications.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates mortality rates and risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in Colombia over a year, revealing limited data in low- and middle-income countries.
- Out of 524 COPD patients, 18.1% died, with an average age of 69.7; the research identified several risk factors including age, exposure to wood smoke, and existing chronic conditions like heart failure and kidney disease.
- When accounting for other factors, only age and sex remained significantly associated with mortality, highlighting the need for targeted healthcare strategies in this population.
Objective: Determine the risk of autoimmune disease in research-identified cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with referents using a longitudinal, population-based birth cohort.
Methods: ASD incident cases were identified from a population-based birth cohort of 31,220 individuals. Inclusive ASD definition based on DSM-IV-TR autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified, was used to determine ASD cases.