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Changes in gastric mucosa and luminal environment during acid-suppressive therapy: a review in depth.

Acid-suppressive therapy and subsequent changes in gastric mucosa and luminal environment rank highly amongst the investigated issues in gastroenterology over the past two to three decades. Herewith, we present an overview of these intragastric changes, particularly during long-term administration of acid-suppresive medication and concurrent infection with Helicobacter pylori. Current evidence indicates that: i) Long-term acid suppression facilitates the development of fundic ECL cell hyperplasia, especially in the presence of Helicobacter pylori. No neoplastic changes directly attributable to acid suppression have so far been demonstrated in humans. ii) Acid-suppressive therapy increases the risk of enteric infections. iii) Acid-suppressive therapy does not alter fat and mineral bioavailability, but may decrease the absorption of protein-bound vitamin B12. iv) Acid suppression invariably results in intragastric overgrowth of non-Helicobacter pylori bacterial species. The concurrent infection with Helicobacter pylori may promote this bacterial overgrowth and the intragastric formation of N-nitrosamines. v) Acid-suppressive therapy alters the natural course of Helicobacter pylori gastritis, transforming the antral-predominant pattern into a body-predominant pattern, which in turn may progress to body gland atrophy. The pathophysiology of this phenomenon is currently under investigation. vi) In view of the potential adverse effects of acid suppression in the presence of Helicobacter pylori, the screen-and-treat strategy is advocated for Helicobacter pylori in subjects considered for long-term treatment.

Anti-Ulcer Agents↗

Dietary patterns and changes in body weight in women.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to examine the association between adherence to dietary patterns and weight change in women. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Women (51,670, 26 to 46 years old) in the Nurses' Health Study II were followed from 1991 to 1999. Dietary intake and body weight were ascertained in 1991, 1995, and 1999. A Western pattern, characterized by high intakes of red and processed meats, refined grains, sweets and desserts, and potatoes, and a prudent pattern, characterized by high intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, and salad dressing, were identified with principal component analysis, and associations between patterns and change in body weight were estimated. RESULTS: Women who increased their Western pattern score had greater weight gain (multivariate adjusted means, 4.55 kg for 1991 to 1995 and 2.86 kg for 1995 to 1999) than women who decreased their Western pattern score (2.70 and 1.37 kg for the two time periods), adjusting for baseline lifestyle and dietary confounders and changes in confounders over time (p < 0.001 for both time periods). Furthermore, among women who increased their prudent pattern score, weight gain was smaller (multivariate-adjusted means, 1.93 kg for 1991 to 1995 and 0.66 kg for 1995 to 1999) than among women who decreased their prudent pattern score (4.83 and 3.35 kg for the two time periods) (p < 0.001). The largest weight gain between 1991 and 1995 and between 1995 and 1999 was observed among women who decreased their prudent pattern score while increasing their Western pattern score (multivariate adjusted means, 6.80 and 4.99 kg), whereas it was smallest for the opposite change in patterns (0.87 and -0.64 kg) (p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: Adoption of a Western dietary pattern is associated with larger weight gain in women, whereas a prudent dietary pattern may facilitate weight maintenance.

Adult↗

Body composition and fatness patterns in Prader-Willi syndrome: comparison with simple obesity.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the body composition of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) subjects and compare with simple obesity. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Seventy-two individuals (27 PWS deletion, 21 PWS uniparental disomy, and 24 obese controls) 10 to 49 years old were studied with the use of DXA. Body composition measures were obtained, and regional fat and lean mass patterns were characterized. Significant differences were assessed with Student's t test and ANOVA adjusting for age, gender, and BMI. RESULTS: Significant differences between the PWS and obese groups were found for lean measures of the arms, legs, and trunk. Total lean mass was significantly lower in PWS than in obese subjects for arms, trunk, and especially legs. Furthermore, two body regions (legs and trunk) showed significant differences for fat and lean measures between PWS and obese males. However, significant differences between PWS and obese females for these measures were found only for the legs. No significant differences were identified between PWS deletion and uniparental disomy subjects. DISCUSSION: Our results demonstrate that PWS individuals do, in fact, have an unusual body composition and fatness patterns, characterized by reduced lean tissue and increased adiposity, with PWS males contributing most with fat patterns more similar to females.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗

Parasite body size distributions: interpreting patterns of skewness.

We examined the distributions of log body sizes of parasite species to test the prediction that the different physical constraints acting on endoparasites and ectoparasites can lead to different size distributions, and to see whether the distributions of parasite body sizes differ from those of free-living animals. We used body size distributions from 19 groups of parasitic of free-living animals, including over 7000 species and almost 2400 genera. There were differences between the body size distributions of male and female parasites, and between the body size distributions of related parasites exploiting different types of hosts. In general, parasite body size distributions were less frequently log right skewed than those of free-living animals. Ectoparasites tended to have more symmetric body size distributions than endoparasites, in which the most speciose size classes tended to be the smaller ones. Severe space constraints and a greater diversity of small niches may only allow the diversification of small endoparasites, whereas ectoparasite body sizes may face less severe limitations.

Animals↗

Empirical evidence for an optimal body size in snakes.

The concept of optimal size has been invoked to explain patterns in body size of terrestrial mammals. However, the generality of this phenomenon has not been tested with similarly complete data from other taxonomic groups. In this study we describe three statistical patterns of body size in snakes, all of which indicate an optimal length of 1.0 m. First, a distribution of largest body lengths of 618 snake species had a single mode at 1.0 m. Second, we found a positive relationship between the size of the largest member of an island snake assemblage and island area and a negative relationship between the size of the smallest member of an island snake assemblage and island area. Best-fit lines through these data cross at a point corresponding to 1.0 m in body length, the presumed optimal size for a one-species island. Third, mainland snake species smaller than 1.0 m become larger on islands whereas those larger than 1.0 m become smaller on islands. The observation that all three analyses converge on a common body size is concordant with patterns observed in mammals and partial analyses of four other disparate animal clades. Because snakes differ so strikingly from mammals (ectotherms, gape-limited predators, elongate body shape) the concordant patterns of these two groups provide strong evidence for the evolution of an optimal body size within independent monophyletic groups. However, snakes differ from other taxonomic groups that have been studied in exhibiting a body size distribution that is not obviously skewed in either direction. We suggest that idiosyncratic features of the natural history of ectotherms allow relatively unconstrained distributions of body size whereas physiological limitations of endotherms constrain distributions of body size to a right skew.

Animals↗

The Iroquois family of genes: from body building to neural patterning.

The Iroquois (Iro) family of genes are found in nematodes, insects and vertebrates. They usually occur in one or two genomic clusters of three genes each and encode transcriptional controllers that possess a characteristic homeodomain. The Iro genes function early in development to specify the identity of diverse territories of the body, such as the dorsal head and dorsal mesothorax of Drosophila and the neural plate of Xenopus. In some aspects they act in the same way as classical selector genes, but they display specific properties that place them into a category of their own. Later in development in both Drosophila and vertebrates, the Iro genes function again to subdivide those territories into smaller domains.

Animals↗

HIV excretion patterns and specific antibody responses in body fluids.

HIV excretion patterns and specific antibody responses were evaluated in blood, semen, female genital secretions, saliva, and crevicular fluid. Samples were examined for infectious virus, viral antigens, viral nucleic acid, HIV specific IgG, IgA, anti-nef, and anti-p24. Viral load in peripheral blood appeared to increase with disease progression. The proportion of patients with antibody responses specific for nef and p24 was also lower among patients with more advanced disease. Infectious virus and viral antigens were detected infrequently and at lower levels in body fluids than in blood, which may reflect the presence of local antibodies. HIV nucleic acid was detected in some semen and saliva samples in the absence of infectious virus.

Female↗

Obesity and serum lipids: an evaluation of the relative contribution of body fat and fat distribution to lipid levels.

The association of obesity and hyperlipidemia does not mean that fatness per se is the primary determinant of the lipid abnormality. To evaluate the contribution of fatness to fasting levels of serum triglycerides (TG), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), we analyzed data on 368 caucasian adults (286 women, 82 men) consecutively entering a weight control program. Although most subjects were overweight, the population represented a wide spectrum of body weights and lipid levels. Study variables included body fat mass (by total body water), fat free mass (FFM), body build (chest to height ratio), fat cell size and number (from bilateral buttock biopsy specimens), upper-lower body fat pattern by arm to thigh circumference ratio, central-peripheral fat pattern by subcapsular to triceps skinfold ratio, waist to hip ratio, and the presence or absence of diabetes. Our results concurred with previously noted correlations of body weight with TG (r = 0.29, P less than 0.0001) and with HDL-C (r = -0.28, P less than 0.0001) at least in the larger sample of women, but there was no significant correlation with LDL-C (r = -0.06). In order to evaluate the relative contribution of the various components of body composition and fat distribution to lipid levels, stepwise regression analyses were performed on the subgroups of women and men. Among women: TG level was predicted best by FFM, upper body fat pattern, age, and diabetes (explaining 30 percent of TG variance); LDL-C level was predicted by age only (explaining 12 percent of variance); and HDL-C level was predicted by body build only (8 percent). Among men: TG level was predicted best by central and upper body fat patterns and diabetes (31 percent of variance); LDL-C and HDL-C levels were not significantly predicted by any of the 11 study variables. These results, obtained from cross-sectional analysis of a predominantly obese sample, suggest that lipid levels may be more directly related to body fat pattern, fat free mass and body build than to body fatness itself.

Adipose Tissue↗

Patterns of weight and body composition change in premenopausal women with early stage breast cancer: has weight gain been overestimated?

The widely documented problem of weight gain during adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy has decreased in frequency and magnitude. However, adverse changes in body composition remain a problem. This study identified the frequency, magnitude, and patterns of weight and body composition change in a sample of premenopausal breast cancer survivors who were receiving 3 common chemotherapy regimens. The longitudinal study followed 76 women at 2 centers in Ontario, Canada. Measures were obtained at baseline, the start of every other treatment cycle and treatment completion. Participants' mean age was 44.1 years (SD = 5.9). Their mean baseline weight and body mass index were 69.3 kg (SD = 17.0) and 26 kg/m2 (SD = 6.6), respectively. Fifty-five percent maintained stable weights, while 34% gained and 10.5% lost weight. Their mean weight change during treatment was a 1.4-kg gain. Weight gainers and losers gained or lost 3 to 4 times as much fat as fat-free mass, respectively. A researcher's definition of "weight change" will influence the amount of weight gain reported, and the results of this study suggest that previous research may have overestimated the frequency and magnitude of weight gain in this population. Further research is needed to design interventions that match survivors' needs.

Adult↗

Deposits of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis in transitional structures--electron microscopic study.

Deposits of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis in two cases were studied using the electron microscopy. The structure most frequently observed in both cases was a curvilinear body containing fingerprint patterns. Other structures, such as the granular pattern, zebra body-like structure and vacuole, were also observed less frequently. A loose pattern, which had an intermediate curvature between the fingerprint pattern and curvilinear body, was found for the first time. They might play an important role on the morphogenesis in the deposit of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis.

Adult↗

Interactions between infant care practices and physiological development in Asian infants.

Asian infants are less likely to suffer cot death despite apparently higher prevalence of some risk factors. This paper compares the development of night time body temperature patterns in a small sample of Asian babies with the pattern already established for white infants, where babies who develop an adult-like night time temperature pattern later than usual share characteristics with victims of SIDS. The Asian infants had similar body temperature patterns to whites, but tended to develop the adult-like pattern later, not earlier as might have been expected. More Asian infants than white in our sample slept in the parental bed, and, before the adult-like body temperature patterns appeared, co-sleeping infants had higher body temperatures than those in their own cots. Asian infants slept in significantly warmer rooms than whites, but under similar amounts of bedding. These studies do not therefore reveal any physiological difference between Asians and whites which might account for low vulnerability to cot death, indeed, if anything the reverse.

Adult↗

Serum leptin in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome is correlated with body weight and fat distribution but not with androgen and insulin levels.

Leptin is a hormone produced in the adipose tissue and its concentrations in peripheral blood are significantly correlated with the amount of body fat. Whether other factors, including the pattern of body fat distribution and several hormones (such as insulin, sex steroids, and glucocorticoids), may be involved in the regulation of circulating blood leptin levels is controversial. Women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are hyperandrogenic and most of them are characterized by hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, and obesity, particularly the visceral phenotype. To assess the potential contribution of anthropometric factors, androgens, and insulin in determining leptin levels, we examined their relationship with body-mass index (BMI), visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissue areas, basal androgen levels, and fasting and glucose-stimulated (AUC) insulin in different groups of obese women with PCOS (n = 23) and of age-matched obese (n = 16) and non-obese (n = 10) otherwise healthy controls. The VAT/SAT ratio was measured as a parameter of body fat distribution. Serum leptin levels were significantly higher in obese PCOS women than in obese and normal-weight healthy controls and, within the controls, in the obese than in the non-obese group. In all women considered together, and in each group separately, leptin concentrations were highly significantly correlated with BMI. In addition, after adjusting for BMI, both VAT and the VAT/SAT ratio were positively and significantly correlated with leptin. Partial correlations with the VAT/SAT ratio remained significant in both the obese PCOS group and in controls considered separately, whereas the correlation with the SAT value was significant only in the control group. After adjusting for BMI, no correlation between leptin, androgens and fasting or stimulated (like AUC) insulin was found. These findings indicate that leptin levels in obese women with PCOS are higher than those observed in obese and non-obese controls. Moreover, they suggest that, other than BMI, the pattern of body fat distribution may be an independent factor related to circulating leptin levels, which, on the contrary, do not appear to be related to either androgen or insulin concentrations.

Adipose Tissue↗

Insulin resistance syndrome (metabolic syndrome) and obesity in Asian Indians: evidence and implications.

OBJECTIVES: This review describes prevalence, determinants, and possible pathophysiologic mechanisms and suggests management and research directions for insulin resistance syndrome (metabolic syndrome) in Asian Indians. METHOD: We reviewed the topic using the terms Asian Indians, Asians, South Asians, and Indians coupled with the terms insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome, and obesity from the databases Pubmed (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA) and Current Contents (Institute for Scientific Information, Thomson Scientific, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and from non-indexed publications of the medical research and governmental institutions in India. RESULTS: Asian Indians have a high prevalence of insulin resistance syndrome that may underlie their greater than normal tendency to develop diabetes mellitus and early atherosclerosis. Important reasons could be their excess body fat and adverse body fat patterning including abdominal adiposity even when the body mass index is within the currently defined normal limits. Some of these features have been reported at birth and childhood. Whether Asian Indians also have tendency to develop insulin resistance de novo, independent of total or regional adiposity, needs further investigation. Underlying genetic tendency or early-life adverse events may contribute to such a phenotype, but lifestyle factors alone or modulated by inherited factors appear to play an important role because obesity and dyslipidemia become worse with urbanization and migration. Systemic stress may contribute to insulin resistance syndrome in the intra-country and inter-country migrant Asian Indians. CONCLUSIONS: High prevalences of excess body fat, adverse body fat patterning, hypertriglyceridemia, and insulin resistance beginning at a young age have been consistently recorded in Asian Indians irrespective of their geographic locations. These data suggest that primary prevention strategies should be initiated early in this ethnic group.

Asian People↗

Plasma leptin and blood pressure in men: graded association independent of body mass and fat pattern.

OBJECTIVE: The role of leptin in the association between body mass, central adiposity, and blood pressure (BP) is controversial. This study evaluated the relationship between leptin and BP in relation to body mass index (BMI) and fat distribution in a large sample of untreated male adults. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The study population was made up of 457 untreated male employees of the Olivetti factory in Naples. Plasma leptin, complete anthropometry, BP, and relevant biochemical variables were measured. RESULTS: Log-transformed plasma leptin levels were directly associated with BMI (r = 0.661, p < 0.001) and waist circumference (r = 0.630; p < 0.001). Leptin also correlated with systolic (r = 0.258) and diastolic (r = 0.277) BP (p < 0.001). The association between leptin and BP was maintained after accounting for age, BMI (or waist circumference), log-insulin, and serum creatinine (p < 0.01); this association was stronger than that with BMI. Logistic regression analysis showed that an increased prevalence of hypertension (BP >or= 140 and/or 90 mm Hg) was associated with high plasma leptin levels when controlling for age and waist circumference (odds ratio, 1.99; 95%CI, 1.06 to 3.72) or for age and BMI (odds ratio, 1.92; 95%CI, 1.02 to 3.61). DISCUSSION: A graded positive relationship between plasma leptin levels and BP was observed in this sample of untreated male adults. This association was independent of age, BMI, abdominal adiposity, and fasting plasma insulin. Moreover, elevated plasma leptin concentrations were associated with greater probability of hypertension, again independently of potential confounders.

Adipose Tissue↗

Napping behavior during "spontaneous internal desynchronization": sleep remains in synchrony with body temperature.

Patterns of sleep and wakefulness exhibited in an environment without time cues are generally considered to be monophasic, with a distinct relationship between sleep episodes and the minimum of body core temperature. In some cases this relationship between major sleep episodes and temperature becomes replaced by an apparently varying phase relationship between the two variables called "spontaneous internal desynchronization". In the present study the sleep-wake and temperature data of six subjects living in an environment without time cues and exhibiting internal desynchronization were reanalyzed to include subjectively designated naps. Two groups of naps were identified based on their phase positions relative to temperature, with one group occurring around the temperature minimum and another group clustering approximately halfway between successive minima. The results support the suggestion that neither monophasic sleep placement nor sleep patterns typically associated with spontaneous internal desynchronization reflect biological sleep tendency. Rather, sleep tendency is reflected more accurately by the bimodal sleep patterns exhibited by subjects who are allowed to time their sleep and waking with no restrictions.

Body Temperature↗

Scanning electron microscopy of adult Dicrocoelium dendriticum.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to study the tegument and related structures of adult Dicrocoelium dendriticum. Its body shape, suckers, common genital pore, Laurer's canal pore, excretory pore, and cirrus are described as seen under SEM. The tegument is devoid of spines and presents an interlacing, ridged network which covers the entire body. The pattern of ridges on the body surface is not homogeneous; details of the pattern in each region are described. SEM of the body surface reveals the high density of tegumental vesicles on ridge walls and valley floors. The tegument also bears small finger-like projections in certain areas. The authors suppose that the vesicles and finger-like projections of the tegument may well be the same structure in different functional stages. Some considerations on the significance of the tegumental differences in each body region are given. Four types of tegumental papillae occur on the suckers and body surface of D. dendriticum: button, rosette, plate, and domed. The dimensions, shapes, position, and arrangement of the papillae are described.

Animals↗

Circadian rhythm of body temperature in an ectotherm (Iguana iguana).

Ectothermic animals regulate their body temperatures primarily by behavioral adjustment in relation to the thermal characteristics of the environment. Several studies have shown that some vertebrate ectotherms may show a daily pattern of body temperature selection when given a choice of environmental temperature. The pattern of body temperature selection free-runs when the animals are kept in constant darkness, demonstrating the existence of circadian regulation. To test whether there might also be a low amplitude circadian rhythm of body temperature itself, we examined the pattern of body temperature and locomotor activity of the lizard Iguana iguana held in a constant environmental temperature. Both variables were recorded for 3 days in a light:dark cycle and then for 10 days in constant dim light (0.1 lux). Under these conditions the body temperature of the lizard oscillates with a circadian period as does the locomotor behavior. These results demonstrate for the first time that ectothermic animals may display physiologically generated circadian rhythms of body temperature similar to those recorded in endotherms. In some animals the circadian rhythms of body temperature and locomotor activity showed different free-running periods, demonstrating that the body temperature rhythm was not caused by locomotor activity and suggesting internal desyncronization of the two rhythms.

Animals↗

Spatio-temporal curvature pattern of the caudal body axis for non-mutant and curly tail mouse embryos during the period of caudal neural tube closure.

During the period of early organogenesis the mouse embryo has a curved body shape, which is thought to interact with ongoing developmental processes. Curly tail is a mouse mutant causing spina bifida, in which aberrant axial curvature is considered to be responsible for a delay in the closure of the posterior neuropore (PNP). Since detailed descriptions of axial curvature have never been made in either the normal or the mutant embryo, the onset and development of the aberrant axial curvature in the curly tail embryo are unknown. In the present study, axial curvature and segmental growth during closure of the PNP are described using circle segments at each somite level in two non-mutant mouse strains. Using the radius and angle of the segments as parameters, CD-1 and Balb/c mouse embryos showed maxima of curvature at the levels of the limb buds. Throughout development, a general axial unbending occurred that was due to a level-specific combination of general outgrowth and other factors. A marked additional decrease in the axial curvature was spatially and temporally related to the final closure of the PNP, indicating that this decrease of curvature facilities the final closure of the PNP. In the curly tail embryo the segment parameter radius was used to relate the axial curvature to an aberrant neural tube closure pattern. These embryos exhibited an enhanced curvature over the entire neuropore region as soon as a delay in the PNP closure could be distinguished. A steep decrease in curvature during final closure of the PNP did also occur, but at a more caudal level. Both the axial level of straightening and the rate of curvature were normalized at advanced developmental stages. The aberrant spatio-temporal curvature pattern in the curly tail mouse embryo indicates that both the rate of curvature and the axial level of unbending are important for a correct PNP closure.

Animals↗