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Background: We obtained the prevalence of overweight/obesity, weight-loss attempts, and weight-related counseling and treatment among U.S. adults who sought care in federally funded community health centers. We investigated whether racial/ethnic and gender disparities existed for these measures., Methods: Data came from the 2009 Health Center Patient Survey. Measures included body mass index (BMI), self-perceived weight, weight-loss attempts, being told of a weight problem, receipt of weight-related counseling, nutritionist referrals, weight-loss prescriptions, and cholesterol checks. We conducted bivariate analyses to determine distributions by race/ethnicity and gender, then ran logistic regressions to examine the effects of several sociodemographic factors on weight-loss attempts and on being told of a weight problem., Results: Overall, 76% of adult patients seen in health centers were overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m(2)); 55% of overweight patients, and 87% of obese patients correctly perceived themselves as overweight. There were no racial/ethnic differences in BMI categories or self-perceptions of weight. Females were more likely than males to be obese and also more likely to perceive themselves as overweight. About 60% of overweight/obese patients reported trying to lose weight in the past year. There were no racial/ethnic disparities favoring non-Hispanic White patients in weight-related treatment. Women were more likely than men to receive referrals to a nutritionist or weight-loss prescriptions. Overweight/obese patients had higher adjusted odds of a past-year weight-loss attempt if they perceived themselves as overweight (OR = 3.30, p < 0.0001), were female (OR = 1.95, p < 0.05), African American (OR = 3.34, p < 0.05), or Hispanic/Latino (OR = 2.14, p < 0.05). Overweight/obese patients had higher odds of being told they had a weight problem if they were Hispanic/Latino (OR = 2.56, p < 0.05) or if they had two or more chronic conditions (OR = 2.77, p < 0.01)., Conclusions: Patients seen in community health centers have high rates of overweight and obesity, even higher than the general U.S. population. Efforts to address weight problems during primary care visits are needed to reduce the burden of obesity and its sequellae among health center patients., (© Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Asia Oceania Assoc. for the Study of Obesity.)

Vitronectin is a 70-kDa protein that is found in both the extracellular matrix as well as serum. Vitronectin is one of the few proteins that regulates both the complement and the coagulation systems. Heparin is known to bind to vitronectin. Review of the literature reveals apparently conflicting outcomes of the interaction of heparin, vitronectin, and the complement system. Previous studies demonstrated that heparin diminishes vitronectin inhibition of complement activity. Numerous studies have also demonstrated that heparin exerts a net inhibitory effect on complement. We used two dimensional affinity resolution electrophoresis (2DARE) to examine this apparent paradox. 2DARE allowed simultaneous determination of binding affinity of heparin for vitronectin as well as the M(r) of the heparin species. In the 2DARE experiment, the interaction of heparin with vitronectin caused retardation of the movement of the heparin through the tube gel in the first dimension. The degree of the retardation of movement was used to calculate the approximate K(d) of that interaction. The heparin from the tube gel was then subjected to a second dimension electrophoresis to determine the M(r) of the heparin. 2DARE analysis of the interaction of heparin with vitronectin clearly demonstrated that a sub-population of heparin chains with M(r) > 8000 bound vitronectin with high affinity whereas most high M(r) chains and all lower M(r) chains showed little to no affinity for vitronectin. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a unique binding domain exists in certain heparin chains for vitronectin., (Copyright 2001 Academic Press.)