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Background DXA is a widely used technique to assess body composition. Reference values based on a large general population cohort of European children and adolescents were missing. The aim of this study was to provide age‐ and sex‐specific reference percentiles of body composition parameters for European children and adolescents and to compare them to the American NHANES cohort. Additionally, exponents accounting best for height biases were analysed. Methods DXA scans of 1573 participants, aged 6 to 18 years, recruited from 2011 to 2019 by the Austrian LEAD study, a representative population‐based cohort, have been used to create reference charts using the LMS model. Results Reference charts displaying percentile curves and the corresponding reference values are provided. Fat mass parameters were higher in females, while lean mass parameters were higher in males. Compared to the NHANES cohort medians of FMI and LMI were always lower. For FMI , BMI , LMI and ALMI the best fitting exponent were 2.5, 3, 3 and 3.5 respectively Conclusions The present study provides reference charts for children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years, for body composition parameters assessed by DXA. The charts enable comparison to a European general‐population cohort and indicate that reference populations should be chosen with caution., Pediatric Obesity, 16 (1)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific cytokine responses in the peripheral blood and at the site of infection may differ significantly within the same individual, but the under-lying T-cell subset changes are largely unknown. Here, we measured effector and memory T-cell markers on CD4⁺ T cells (CD45RO, cysteine chemokine receptor (CCR)7, and CD27) in peripheral blood and at the site of active tuberculosis (TB). Additionally, T cells were stimulated overnight with purified protein derivative (PPD) and early secretory antigenic target (ESAT)-6 to determine which T-cell subset produces MTB-specific interferon (IFN)-γ. A striking decrease in CCR7 and CD27 expression on T cells was noted at the site of active TB. Likewise, IFN-γ expressing, ESAT-6 specific CD4⁺CD45RO⁺CD27⁻ T cells were dramatically increased at the site of infection but were not detectable in peripheral blood. An antigen-specific expansion of differentiated T cells at the site of active TB infection was poorly reflected in peripheral blood. Insight in these changes in MTB-specific effector T cells in different compartments of the body could lead to new approaches for immune-based diagnosis and interventions.

To investigate short-term effects of inhaled salbutamol on haemodynamic changes and cardiovascular autonomic control.A randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled study of 0.2 mg of inhaled salbutamol was conducted on 12 healthy nonsmoking volunteers with a mean age of 24 +/- 2 years at two different testing sessions. Non-invasively obtained continuous haemodynamic measurements of cardiac output, beat-to-beat arterial blood pressure, and total peripheral resistance were recorded prior to and for a total of 120 min after inhalation of the respective study drug. Continuous cardiovascular autonomic tone was recorded using power spectral analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability. Spontaneous baroreceptor activity was assessed by the sequence method.There were no significant changes in any of the baseline parameters between the different testing sessions. Inhalation of salbutamol caused a significant increase in cardiac output from 6.7 +/- 1.3 to 7.7 +/- 1.4 l min(-1) (P0.05), and a decrease in total peripheral resistance from 1076 +/- 192 to 905 +/- 172 dyne s(-1) cm(-5) (P0.05) within 15 min after inhalation. Moreover, salbutamol significantly increased sympathetically mediated low-frequency heart rate variability (P0.01), whereas parasympathetically mediated high-frequency heart rate variability decreased (P0.01). All changes persisted for approximately 30 min and were fully reversible at 120 min. There were no significant changes in systolic blood pressure variability or spontaneous baroreceptor activity.Inhalation of therapeutic doses of salbutamol in healthy subjects resulted in significant haemodynamic changes and a shift of sympathovagal balance towards increased sympathetic tone in the absence of baroreceptor activation.