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Districts can be considered as a system of complex interconnections, interactions, relationships and flows. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is essential for effective decision-making with regards to energy efficiency improvement. When addressing interventions with a wider scale, the range of possible interventions is greater, as well as the possibilities of new business models to make bankable the interventions. However certain barriers can appear linked to the interactions among stakeholders, which are usually more complex than when tackling individual actuations. To overcome these barriers it is necessary to establish integrated and systemic methodologies able to support stakeholders to implement better collaboration approaches and carry out more informed decisions. These decisions should be based on a set of relevant indicators, calculated at district level, capturing the different stages that form the retrofitting process (from the diagnosis to the final assessment). This paper presents a holistic design methodology based on the application of a Multi-Criteria Decision Making approach that allows designing optimised solutions. This methodology is based on the evaluation of a set of District Sustainability Indicators while proposing an Integrated Project Delivery method improving the communications among stakeholders and, therefore, the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Convective strengths prevail with respect to the direction imposed on the air inlet. [•] Changes in age of the air depend on the flow pattern established by the temperatures. [•] The interchange of the energy causes the room average age not to change significantly. [•] CFD tools are very useful for the study of the airflows in rooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vitro, cells derived from Ewing sarcoma (ES) with the characteristic somatic rearrangement between the genes EWS and FLI1 can be induced to differentiate toward a neuronal phenotype by exposure to agents such as dibutyryl cyclic AMP (db cAMP) or retinoic acid. Therefore, expression of the chimeric Ews-Fli1 protein does not irreversibly block the capacity of Ewing cells to engage in the neuronal differentiation program initiated by these agents. To identify genes that might be involved in the maintenance of Ewing cells in their undifferentiated state, a PCR-based differential display method was used to compare gene expression patterns in Ewing cell lines with those induced to differentiate toward a neuronal phenotype. A cDNA was expressed at high levels in proliferating Ewing-derived EW-1 cells and downregulated in EW-1 cells induced to differentiate, which corresponds to ZNF43, a multi-zinc finger protein containing the Krüppel-associated box (KRAB) transcriptional repression domain. Treatment of EW-1 cells with antisense oligonucleotides complementary to ZNF43 mRNA induces morphological differentiation and growth arrest. These findings suggest a role for ZNF43 in the maintenance of ES cells in an undifferentiated state, and that ZNF43 could be a primary target for differentiation stimuli in Ewing cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: At present, scientific consensus exists on the multifactorial etiopatogenia of obesity. Both professionals and researchers agree that treatment must also have a multifactorial approach, including diet, physical activity, pharmacology and/or surgical treatment. These two last ones should be reserved for those cases of morbid obesities or in case of failure of the previous ones. The aim of the PRONAF study is to determine what type of exercise combined with caloric restriction is the most appropriate to be included in overweigth and obesity intervention programs, and the aim of this paper is to describe the design and the evaluation methods used to carry out the PRONAF study. Methods/design: One-hundred nineteen overweight (46 males) and 120 obese (61 males) subjects aged 18-50 years were randomly assigned to a strength training group, an endurance training group, a combined strength + endurance training group or a diet and physical activity recommendations group. The intervention period was 22 weeks (in all cases 3 times/wk of training for 22 weeks and 2 weeks for pre and post evaluation). All subjects followed a hypocaloric diet (25-30% less energy intake than the daily energy expenditure estimated by accelerometry). 29-34% of the total energy intake came from fat, 14-20% from protein, and 50-55% from carbohydrates. The mayor outcome variables assesed were, biochemical and inflamatory markers, body composition, energy balance, physical fitness, nutritional habits, genetic profile and quality of life. 180 (75.3%) subjects finished the study, with a dropout rate of 24.7%. Dropout reasons included: personal reasons 17 (28.8%), low adherence to exercise 3 (5.1%), low adherence to diet 6 (10.2%), job change 6 (10.2%), and lost interest 27 (45.8%). Discussion: Feasibility of the study has been proven, with a low dropout rate which corresponds to the estimated sample size. Transfer of knowledge is foreseen as a spin-off, in order that overweight and obese subjects can benefit from the results. The aim is to transfer it to sports centres. Effectiveness on individual health-related parameter in order to determine the most effective training programme will be analysed in forthcoming publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Folate and cobalamin are responsible for healthy growth. However, the B-vitamin and homocysteine status of adolescents is not well known. The aim was to assess the status of folate, cobalamin, and homocysteine in healthy Spanish adolescents. Methods: Serum cobalamin, serum folate, homocysteine, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677C>T variant, BMI, smoking habits, and Tanner stage were determined according to gender in 165 adolescents (84 females, 81 males; 13–18.5 years) using the Student’s t test, Mann-Whitney U test and χ2 test, respectively. Interactions between socioeconomic status, age group, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism, BMI, smoking habits, Tanner stage, and vitamin status, respectively, were examined by ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis H test (p < 0.05). Results: Boys had markedly higher homocysteine (males 8.92 (5.51–22.94) μmol/l; females 7.91 (5.09–13.86) μmol/l), whereas girls showed higher serum cobalamin concentrations (males 540.00 (268.00–946.47) pmol/l; females 594.82 (280.63–1,559.64) pmol/l). Data are shown as medians and the 2.5th to 97.5th percentiles in parentheses. Adolescents with the homozygous variant of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase displayed significantly higher homocysteine and lower serum folate: normal 5.73 (3.09–10.73) ng/ml serum folate, 7.57 (4.94–12.94) μmol/l homocysteine; homozygous 4.10 (2.75–7.88) ng/ml serum folate, 10.83 (7.00–22.82) μmol/l homocysteine. Conclusion: The present study provides data on the folate, cobalamin, and homocysteine status of Spanish adolescents. To assure a better assessment, revision of references for adolescents is still needed. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast-feeding has shown to give a reduction in the risk of hospitalization due to respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal conditions during the first two years of life. The association of breast-feeding with all admission causes and with fever of unknown origin (FUO) was analysed. Methods: A case-reference study in Cantabria (northern Spain) was carried out. Cases (n=336) were hospitalized children aged less than 24 months at University of Cantabria Hospital; the reference was a 1:1 matched (by time from delivery to admission) sample of children from mothers delivering at the same hospital. Information on breast-feeding, socio-economic variables and employment were obtained. Odds ratios (ORs), their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and mean length of breast-feeding were estimated after adjusment for confounding variables. Result: In the reference population, shorter duration of breast-feeding was associated with smoking, lower educational level, and less privileged social strata. The frequency of breast-feeding was higher in the reference than in the cases, 82.3% vs 75.6% (p=0.023). Significant negative trends were noted in univariate analyses between the length of breast-feeding and both all admission causes and FU0, although the statistical significance was lost after adjusting for confounding variables (educational level, social class, smoking, and use of incubator after delivery). The adjusted mean length of breast-feeding was shorter in hospitalized children ≤ 6 months old for both all admission causes (40.6 ± 5.4 vs 99.5 ± 5.4, p<0.001) and FUO (40.8 ± 12.4 vs 91.7 ±12.4, p=0.006). Conclusion: Breast-feeding time is shorter in hospitalized children for both all admission causes and FU0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: At present, scientific consensus exists on the multifactorial etiopatogenia of obesity. Both professionals and researchers agree that treatment must also have a multifactorial approach, including diet, physical activity, pharmacology and/or surgical treatment. These two last ones should be reserved for those cases of morbid obesities or in case of failure of the previous ones. The aim of the PRONAF study is to determine what type of exercise combined with caloric restriction is the most appropriate to be included in overweigth and obesity intervention programs, and the aim of this paper is to describe the design and the evaluation methods used to carry out the PRONAF study.Methods/design: One-hundred nineteen overweight (46 males) and 120 obese (61 males) subjects aged 18-50 years were randomly assigned to a strength training group, an endurance training group, a combined strength + endurance training group or a diet and physical activity recommendations group. The intervention period was 22 weeks (in all cases 3 times/wk of training for 22 weeks and 2 weeks for pre and post evaluation). All subjects followed a hypocaloric diet (25-30% less energy intake than the daily energy expenditure estimated by accelerometry). 29-34% of the total energy intake came from fat, 14-20% from protein, and 50-55% from carbohydrates. The mayor outcome variables assesed were, biochemical and inflamatory markers, body composition, energy balance, physical fitness, nutritional habits, genetic profile and quality of life. 180 (75.3%) subjects finished the study, with a dropout rate of 24.7%. Dropout reasons included: personal reasons 17 (28.8%), low adherence to exercise 3 (5.1%), low adherence to diet 6 (10.2%), job change 6 (10.2%), and lost interest 27 (45.8%).Discussion: Feasibility of the study has been proven, with a low dropout rate which corresponds to the estimated sample size. Transfer of knowledge is foreseen as a spin-off, in order that overweight and obese subjects can benefit from the results. The aim is to transfer it to sports centres. Effectiveness on individual health-related parameter in order to determine the most effective training programme will be analysed in forthcoming publications.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01116856. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]