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Background: The present study aims to estimate leisure-time physical activity and television (TV) viewing curves according to age stratified by sex, area of residence, and socioeconomic position. Methods: Using data from the Brazilian National Health Survey, we estimated the prevalence of leisure-time physical activity and TV viewing according to continuous age. The estimates were calculated using fractional polynomials and stratified by sex, wealth, skin color, and area of residence. Results: The sample included 87,376 adults (aged 18 y or over). In general, leisure-time physical activity decreased according to age while TV viewing increased. Regarding behavior of curves according to stratifiers, for leisure-time physical activity the disadvantaged groups maintained a pattern of low physical activity across all age groups or presented the decrease earlier when compared to groups in social advantage. On the other hand, for TV viewing, women presented an increase in prevalence before men, and individuals living in the urban area and the wealthiest group were those with a higher increase according to age. Conclusions: Our findings may help researchers and policymakers further explore inequalities in physical activity across life in different settings, as well as develop sensitive cultural actions to support more vulnerable people to adopt public health recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Two compartment (2 C) models of body composition, including Air Displacement Plethysmography (ADP) and Deuterium Dilution (DD), assume constant composition of fat-free mass (FFM), while 3-compartment (3 C) model overcomes some of these assumptions; studies are limited in infants. The objective of the present study is to compare 3 C estimates of body composition in 6-mo. old infants from Australia, India, and South Africa, including FFM density and hydration, compare with published literature and to evaluate agreement of body composition estimates from ADP and DD. Methods: Body volume and water were measured in 176 healthy infants using ADP and DD. 3C-model estimates of fat mass (FM), FFM and its composition were calculated, compared between countries (age and sex adjusted) and with published literature. Agreement between estimates from ADP and DD were compared by Bland–Altman and correlation analyses. Results: South African infants had significantly higher % FM (11.5%) and density of FFM compared to Australian infants. Australian infants had significantly higher % FFM (74.7 ± 4.4%) compared to South African infants (71.4 ± 5.0) and higher FFMI (12.7 ± 0.8 kg/m2) compared to South African (12.3 ± 1.2 kg/m2) and Indian infants (11.9 ± 1.0 kg/m2). FFM composition of present study differed significantly from literature. Pooled three country estimates of FM and FFM were comparable between ADP and DD; mean difference of −0.05 (95% CI: −0.64, +0.55) kg and +0.05 (95% CI: −0.55, +0.64) kg. Conclusions: 3C-model estimates of body composition in infants differed between countries; future studies are needed to confirm these findings and investigate causes for the differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) stands as a primary cause of end-stage renal disease and its etiology remains unclear. Thus, this study aims to construct a genetic panel with potential biomarkers linked to the inflammatory pathway of DN associated with the pathology's susceptibility. Through a systematic review and meta-analysis, we selected observational studies in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, selected from the PubMed, SCOPUS, Virtual Health Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases. Additionally, a protein–protein interaction network was constructed to list hub genes, with differential expression analysis by microarray of kidneys with DN from the GSE30529 database to further refine results. Seventy-two articles were included, and 54 polymorphisms in 37 genes were associated with the inflammatory pathway of DN. Meta-analysis indicated a higher risk of complication associated with SNPs 59029 G/A, −511 C/T, VNTR 86 bp, −308 G/A, and −1031 T/C. Bioinformatics analyses identified differentially expressed hub genes, underscoring the scarcity of studies on CCL2 and VEGF-A genes in relation to DN. This study highlighted the intrinsic relationship between inflammatory activity in the etiology and progression of DN, enabling the effective application of precision medicine in diabetic patients for potential prognosis of the complications and contributing to cost reduction in the public health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and the mental health of pregnant women from the South of Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study carried out in Criciúma, Brazil, through face-to-face interviews, from April to December 2022. Pregnant women aged 18 or older who underwent prenatal care in the forty-eight basic health care units of the municipality and who were in their third trimester of pregnancy were included. High consumption of UPF was considered as six or more items or subgroups of UPF consumed on the day before the interview, using the Nova-UPF screener. The mental health variables were depressive symptoms, stress, sadness and anxiety. Crude and adjusted analyses were conducted using the Fisher's exact test and the Poisson regression with robust variance. In total, 428 pregnant women were studied; most of them were aged between 20 and 25 years and were white. Pregnant women who presented high consumption of UPF were 1·42-fold (95 % CI 1·06, 1·92) more likely to experience anxiety and presented a prevalence 56 % (95 % CI 1·18, 2·07) higher of stress when compared with those who did not present high consumption of UPF. The prevalence of depressive symptoms and feelings of sadness was 1·31-fold (95 % CI 1·08, 1·60) and 3·41-fold (95 % CI 1·77, 6·58) higher among those with high consumption of UPF, respectively. The results suggest that diet quality is associated with the mental health of pregnant women. Promoting joint actions focused on food and nutritional education, and mental health, for pregnant women, is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Summary: Background: The association of ultra‐processed food (UPF) consumption with obesity and adipose tissue in children/adolescents remains poorly understood. Objective: To assess the association of UPF consumption with excessive weight (EW—defined as BMI‐for‐age ≥+1 z‐score) and body composition at 15 years. Methods: In a birth cohort, daily UPF consumption was estimated by Food Frequency Questionnaires at 6 and 15 years. Those in the higher tercile of UPF consumption at both follow‐ups were the 'always‐high consumers'. Air‐displacement plethysmography provided fat mass (FM‐kg), fat‐free mass (FFM‐kg), %FM, %FFM, FM index (FMI‐kg/m2) and FFM index (FFMI‐kg/m2). Logistic regression and linear regression were used to estimate, respectively, odds ratios and beta coefficients. Results: Amongst 1584 participants, almost one in every seven were always‐high consumers. In crude analyses, there was no association between variation in UPF consumption and EW, and body fat parameters were lower in the always‐high consumer group than amongst the always‐low consumers, in both sexes. With adjustment for confounders, the odds ratio for EW was higher in the always‐high consumer than amongst the always‐low consumer group, and the direction of the associations with FM parameters was reversed: males from the always‐high consumer group presented almost twice as high FM (10.5 vs. 18.6 kg; p < 0.001) and twice as high FMI (3.4 vs. 6.3 kg/m2; p < 0.001) than the always‐low consumer group, and females from the always‐high consumer group presented on average 32% more FM and FMI than the always‐low consumer group. Conclusions: In crude and adjusted analyses there was a strong association between high UPF consumption from childhood to adolescence, EW and higher body fat parameters at 15 years, but its deleterious association with body adiposity was only uncovered after adjusting for confounders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to investigate whether cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help in reducing blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension, both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), this being the primary outcome. This was a systematic review with a meta-analysis that followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. The keywords used for the searches were CBT and hypertension and their respective synonyms, and were applied to the Pubmed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases. Eligibility and data extraction were performed by two independent researchers. They assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane's RoB 2 tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was used to assess the quality of the evidence. The data was pooled on the basis that all the analyses had a random effects model. Twenty-two studies were included in this review. In the meta-analysis, 11 studies were included in the analyses of the BP outcomes (SBP and DBP), five studies were included in the follow-up evaluation, and two studies in the body mass index (BMI) analysis. The searches included a total of 2897 patients. The studies presented a high risk of bias and very low quality of evidence. We observed an effect of −0.65 (95% CI: −0.91; −0.39) for CBT-based interventions on SBP with high heterogeneity (I2 85%) and a higher effect of −0.78% (95% CI: −1.13; −0.43) on DBP with even greater heterogeneity (I2 92%). We observed that CBT did have an effect on reducing BP and BMI in hypertensive adults. However, due to the considerable heterogeneity between the studies, the high risk of bias, and the low overall quality of evidence, confidence in these findings should be limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented expressing the views of a group of editors on the need to improve trustworthiness in research in women's health, particularly in obstetrics, gynecology, and related fields. The article discusses strategies for preventing the publication of flawed randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, as well as methods for retrospectively identifying potential misconduct in previously published studies.

Background Methods Results Conclusions Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory disease, and doxycycline is a widely recommended treatment for it due to its anti‐inflammatory action. Oral isotretinoin reduces sebaceous gland activity and modulates toll‐like receptors, reducing inflammation. Our aim was to investigate the effect of these two drugs on the expression of cutaneous immunohistochemical biomarkers related to etiopathogenic factors involved in rosacea.We conducted a randomized, comparative, and evaluator‐blinded trial, including 40 participants with moderate and severe papulopustular and ocular rosacea. Participants were treated with doxycycline (DOXY) 100 mg or isotretinoin (ISO) 0.3 mg/kg daily. Immunohistochemistry at baseline and after 4 months was used to demonstrate the expression of the biomarker on the affected skin.The following changes were detected: a reduction in the vessel count after using VEGF with DOXY (P = 0.010); a decrease in VEGF intensity with ISO (P < 0.001) and DOXY (P = 0.020); a reduction of nitric oxide synthase enzyme with both drugs in the inflammatory infiltrate (ISO P < 0.001; DOXY P = 0.003); however, only with ISO was there a significant (P = 0.030) decrease at the level of the sebaceous glands, indicating a reduction of nitric oxide synthesis; a reduction of TRPV‐1 expression at the level of the sebaceous glands was observed only with DOXY (P = 0.041); a decrease of cathelicidin LL37 expression, a key antimicrobial peptide in the etiopathogenesis of rosacea, was noted with both drugs, although at the level of sebaceous glands, only with DOXY (P = 0.007).Oral isotretinoin and doxycycline have modified the expression of cutaneous biomarkers related to rosacea etiopathogenesis, demonstrating their role in controlling inflammatory and vascular processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alterations inactivating the tumor suppressor gene PTEN drive the development of solid and hematological cancers, such as T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), whereby PTEN loss defines poor-prognosis patients. We investigated the metabolic rewiring induced by PTEN loss in T-ALL, aiming at identifying novel metabolic vulnerabilities. We showed that the enzyme ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) is strictly required for the transformation of thymic immature progenitors and for the growth of human T-ALL, which remain dependent on ACLY activity even upon transformation. Whereas PTEN mutant mice all died within 17 weeks, the concomitant ACLY deletion prevented disease initiation in 70% of the animals. In these animals, ACLY promoted BCL-2 epigenetic upregulation and prevented the apoptosis of pre-malignant DP thymocytes. Transcriptomic and metabolic analysis of primary T-ALL cells next translated our findings to the human pathology, showing that PTEN-altered T-ALL cells activate ACLY and are sensitive to its genetic targeting. ACLY activation thus represents a metabolic vulnerability with therapeutic potential for high-risk T-ALL patients., (Copyright © 2024 American Society of Hematology.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between screen time and ultra-processed food consumption (UPF) across the lifespan. Data from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey, a cross-sectional and population-based study, was used. UPF consumption was evaluated using a score, calculated by summing the positive answers to questions about the consumption of 10 UPF subgroups on previous day. Scores ≥5 represented high UPF consumption. Daily time spent engaging with television or other screens was self-reported. Crude and adjusted models were obtained through Poisson regression and results were expressed in prevalence ratios by age group. The sample included 2,315 adolescents, 65,803 adults, and 22,728 older adults. Prevalence of UPF scores ≥5 was higher according to increased screen time, with dose-response across all age groups and types of screen time. Adolescents, adults, and older adults watching TV for ≥6 hours/day presented prevalence of UPF scores ≥5 1.8 (95% CI 1.2-2.9), 1.9 (95% CI 1.6-2.3) and 2.2 (95% CI 1.4-3.6) times higher, respectively, compared to those who did not watch TV. For other screens, prevalence of UPF scores ≥5 was 2.4 (95% CI 1.3-4.1) and 1.6 (95% CI 1.4-1.9) times higher for adolescents and adults using screens for ≥6 hours/day, respectively, while for older adults only screen times of 2-<3 and 3-<6 hours were significantly associated with UPF scores ≥5. Screen time was associated with high consumption of UPF in all age groups. Considering these associations when planning and implementing interventions would be beneficial for public health across the lifespan.

Introduction: Precision medicine has revolutionized oncology, providing more personalized diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring for patients with cancer. In the context of female-specific tumors, such as breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer, proper tissue collection and handling are essential for obtaining tissue, immunohistochemical (IHC), and molecular data to guide therapeutic decisions., Objectives: To establish guidelines for the collection and handling of tumor tissue, to enhance the quality of samples for histopathological, IHC, genomic, and molecular analyses. These guidelines are fundamental in informing therapeutic decisions in cancer treatment., Method: The guidelines were developed by a multidisciplinary panel of renowned specialists between June 12, 2013 and February 12, 2024. Initially, the panel deliberated on critical and controversial topics related to conducting precision medicine studies focusing on female tumors. Subsequently, 22 pivotal topics were identified within the framework and assigned to groups. These groups reviewed relevant literature and drafted preliminary recommendations. Following this, the recommendations were reviewed by the coordinators and received unanimous approval. Finally, the groups made the final adjustments, classified the level of evidence, and ranked the recommendations., Conclusion: The collection of surgical samples requires minimum quality standards to enable histopathological, IHC, genomic, and molecular analyses. These analyses provide crucial data for informing therapeutic decisions, significantly impacting potential survival gains for patients with female tumors., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Computational models for cardiac electro-mechanics have been increasingly used to further understand heart function. Small cohort and single patient computational studies provide useful insight into cardiac pathophysiology and response to therapy. However, these smaller studies have limited capability to capture the high level of anatomical variability seen in cardiology patients. Larger cohort studies are, on the other hand, more representative of the study population, but building several patient-specific anatomical meshes can be time-consuming and requires access to larger datasets of imaging data, image processing software to label anatomical structures and tools to create high fidelity anatomical meshes. Limited access to these tools and data might limit advances in this area of research. In this chapter, we present our semi-automatic pipeline to build patient-specific four-chamber heart meshes from CT imaging datasets, including ventricular myofibers and a set of universal ventricular and atrial coordinates. This pipeline was applied to CT images from both heart failure patients and healthy controls to generate cohorts of tetrahedral meshes suitable for electro-mechanics simulations. Both cohorts were made publicly available in order to promote computational studies employing large virtual cohorts., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)