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Undernutrition is associated with worse clinical outcomes and so screening is recommended. Given the paucity of information on nutritional status and on the clinical impact of undernutrition in Pulmonology patients who have been hospitalized, it is of the utmost importance that it is studied.Through a longitudinal study conducted of 323 patients consecutively admitted to a Pulmonology hospital department, undernutrition was screened using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool and the association between length of hospital stay, pathology type, discharge destination and undernutrition risk was quantified.There was found to be a high proportion of patients at risk of undernutrition, with 18.3% at high risk and 15.5% at moderate risk. Patients at risk of undernutrition had a higher risk of dying during hospitalization (OR = 2.72, 95% CI: 1.48- 4.97).One in three patients admitted to this unit is at risk of undernutrition; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was the pathology most strongly associated with undernutrition risk. Present data reinforces the need for screening for undernutrition on admission. Resumo: A desnutrição encontra-se associada a uma evolução clínica mais desfavorável e, por isso, é recomendado o seu rastreio. Dada a escassez de informação sobre o estado nutricional e sobre o impacto clínico da desnutrição nos doentes respiratórios que estiveram hospitalizados, é da maior importância que este seja estudado.Através de um estudo longitudinal realizado em 323 doentes, consecutivamente hospitalizados no departamento de pneumologia de um hospital, avaliou-se o risco de desnutrição com recurso ao Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool e foi quantificada a associação entre o tempo de permanência no hospital, o tipo de patologia, o destino da alta e o risco de desnutrição.Verificou-se existir uma elevada percentagem de doentes em risco de desnutrição, 18,3% com risco elevado e 15,5% com risco moderado. Os doentes em risco de desnutrição apresentaram um risco mais elevado de morrerem durante a hospitalização (OR = 2,72; 95% IC: 1,48-4,97).Um em cada 3 doentes admitidos nesta unidade está em risco de desnutrição; a doença pulmonar obstrutiva crónica foi a patologia mais fortemente associada ao risco de desnutrição. Os dados actuais reforçam a necessidade de um rastreio para a desnutrição, na admissão. Keywords: Screening, Undernutrition, Nutritional screening, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, Pulmonology, Palavras-chave: Rastreio, Desnutrição, Risco Nutricional, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, Pneumologia

Objective To test a combined version of the Child Feeding Questionnaire and the expanded concept of parental control (“covert” and “overt”) among Portuguese preschool children. Methods The final questionnaire comprised 38 items and 9 subscales. The translated questionnaire was self-administered to 854 mothers of 4 year-old children from the Generation XXI birth cohort. Maternal and children's weight and height and socio-demographic characteristics were measured. The global goodness of fit was evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of subscales. Construct validity was tested for different dimensions. Results A 9-factor model was obtained, after excluding five “restriction” items and 1 “overt control” item, with a global goodness of fit (CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.973, RMSEA = 0.057). Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.684 to 0.889. Children's body mass index (BMI) was significantly and positively related with “perceived parental weight”, “perceived child's weight” and “concern about child's weight”, and inversely related with “pressure to eat”, supporting the theoretical hypothesis. Maternal BMI was positively related with “perceived parental weight”. Conclusions Our study confirmed the usefulness of this questionnaire for Portuguese preschool children, and supports the need of reformulating the restriction dimension and keeping separately the overt and covert control dimensions.

In this study we characterized (3)H-2-deoxy-d-glucose ((3)H -DG) uptake by the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive MCF7 and the ER-negative MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell lines and investigated the effect of quercetin (QUE) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) upon (3)H-DG uptake, glucose metabolism and cell viability and proliferation. In both MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells (3)H-DG uptake was (a) time-dependent, (b) saturable with similar capacity (Vmax) and affinity (Km), (c) potently inhibited by cytochalasin B, an inhibitor of the facilitative glucose transporters (GLUT), (d) sodium-independent and (e) slightly insulin-stimulated. This suggests that (3)H-DG uptake by both cell types is mediated by members of the GLUT family, including the insulin-responsive GLUT4 or GLUT12, while being independent of the sodium-dependent glucose transporter (SGLT1). QUE and EGCG markedly and concentration-dependently inhibited (3)H-DG uptake by MCF7 and by MDA-MB-231 cells, and both compounds blocked lactate production by MCF7 cells. Additionally, a 4h-treatment with QUE or EGCG decreased MCF7 cell viability and proliferation, an effect that was more potent when glucose was available in the extracellular medium. Our results implicate QUE and EGCG as metabolic antagonists in breast cancer cells, independently of estrogen signalling, and suggest that these flavonoids could serve as therapeutic agents/adjuvants even for ER-negative breast tumors.

Hop flavonoids are being regarded as attractive molecules to prevent or treat certain forms of cancer. Studies have focused mainly on xanthohumol, the most abundant prenylated chalcone existing in hops extract. However, during the production of beer, or after its ingestion, xanthohumol originates different metabolites, among which isoxanthohumol and 8-prenyinaringenin. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the prenylflavonoids xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol and 8-prenylnaringenin on the breast cancer Sk-Br-3 cell line proliferation, apoptosis and activity of the enzyme aromatase (estrogen synthase). Aromalase activity was determined by a tritiated water assay, cell proliferation was assessed by [H-3]thymidine incorporation, sulforhodamine B protein measurement and Ki-67 immunostaining and apoptosis was determined by TUNEL. Our results show that all tested prenylflavonoids were able to inhibit aromatase activity and thus, estrogen formation. Additionally, breast cancer cell line proliferation was decreased and apoptosis induced by all three compounds. The presence of 17 beta-estradiol in treatment medium was able to revert the effect of the prenylflavonoids on cellular proliferation. These observations strengthen the idea that hop flavonoids may have anti-breast cancer effects and shed new light on a possible mechanism of action by which these effects occur, namely through their ability to decrease estrogen synthesis.