combating obesity in Maori and Pasifika adolescent school-children study: COMPASS methodology and study protocol

Lifestyle modifications including, physical activity can reduce obesity-related morbidity and subsequent cardiovascular disease in youth. This study will investigate the efficacy of a culturally-sensitive, non-contact, boxing-orientated training program on obesity and related cardio-metabolic conditions in Maori and Pasifika adolescents. Details of the methodological aspects of recruitment, inclusion criteria, randomization, cultural sensitivity, intervention program, assessments, process evaluation, and statistical analyses are described. This study will be a community based, New Zealand, randomized control trial [RCT]. Male and female obese [body mass index >95[th] percentile] Maori and Pasifika adolescents aged 14-16 years will be recruited and the sample size will be confirmed through a feasibility study. Combating Obesity in Maori and Pasifika Adolescent School-children Study [COMPASS] is a 6-month, theory-based program, conducted 3-times/week in a culturally appropriate setting. Each session includes 40 min boxing orientated training and 30 min resistance training. Assessments will be made at baseline, 3-months, 6-months, 12-months, and 24-months. Main outcomes include abdominal obesity, endothelial function, and insulin resistance. Other outcomes include arterial stiffness, lipid profile, inflammatory biomarkers, well-being, and aerobic fitness. Control measures include physical activity, sleep behavior, and dietary intake. Analysis will by intention to treat. As a protocol paper there are no specific results to present, our purpose is to share our RCT design with the scientific community. COMPASS will be used to provide direction for exercise prescription policy in at-risk Maori and Pasifika adolescents

Early microrecanalization of vas deferens following biodegradable graft implantation in bilaterally vasectomized rats / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

We evaluated a biodegradable graft for reconstruction of rat vasa deferentia with long obstructed or missing segments. A total of 47 Sprague-Dawley rats underwent bilateral vasectomy and were divided into groups according to length of the vas deferens affected (0.5, 1, 1.5 cm). After 8 weeks, poly-(D,L-lactide) (PDLA) grafts were used to reconnect the vas deferens. Grafts and adjoining vasa deferentia were excised 8 and 12 weeks later and evaluated microscopically. At 8 weeks, microscopic changes included a robust inflammatory response around the grafts. All grafts were still intact but in the early stages of degradation. No microtubules, indicative of vas deferens recanalization, were identified. One specimen showed evidence of healing and neovascularization at the interface zone between the vas deferens and the graft. At 12 weeks, grafts were further degraded but still present. Microscopic evaluation showed decreased inflammation. Seven specimens showed neovascularization at the interface zone; two of these showed distinct epithelialized vas deferens microcanals at the graft edges. One specimen showed a microcanal spanning the entire 0.5-cm graft. A time period of 8 weeks is not ample enough for vas deferens regeneration in the setting of a biodegradable PDLA graft; however, early evidence of re-growth was seen at 12 weeks. A longer healing time should permit further biodegradation of the graft, as well as re-growth and possible eventual reconnection of the vas deferens, allowing passage of sperm. These findings suggest a potential role for biodegradable grafts in the reconstruction of vas deferens with long obstructed segments.

Accuracy of MRCP Compared to ERCP in the Diagnosis of Bile Duct Disorders

AIM: To determine the accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography compared to the gold standard Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography in the diagnosis of bile duct disorders at our institution. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 52 patients with suspected pancreatobiliary pathology were included in this prospective observational study. MRCP was performed in the 24-hour period prior to the ERCP. RESULTS: MRCP had sensitivity; specificity; positive and negative predictive values of 87; 80; 83.3and 84.2respectively for choledocholitiasis which correlates well with results obtained in other parts of the world. CONCLUSION: At our institution; MRCP has high diagnostic accuracy for bile duct calculi. Due to a small study population; results for other biliary pathology were inconclusive

Vector competence experiments with Rocio virus and three mosquito species from the epidemic zone in Brazil

Em condiçöes de laboratório procedeu-se a ensaios visando testar a capacidade vetora para o vírus Rocio, da primeira geraçäo de Psorophora ferox, Aedes scapularis e Aedes serratus obtida a partir de especimens coletados na regiäo epidêmica do Estado de Säo Paulo, Brasil. Psorophora ferox e Aedes scapularis revelaram-se suscetíveis à infecçäo por via oral e capazes de transmitir o vírus mediante a picada após período adequado de incubaçäo. Para as duas espécies, as ID50 orais näo diferiram significativamente. Em Ae. serratus as taxas de infecçäo nunca ultrapassaram os 36,0% o que impossibilitou o cálculo da ID50 para essa espécie. É impossível que Ae. serratus seja vetor epidemiologicamente importante do vírus Rocio. Discute-se a utilidade da técnica de alimentaçäo "in vitro" para demonstrar a transmissäo por mosquitos infectados, e também as dificuldades encontradas ao trabalhar com geraçöes näo colonizadas originárias de especimens coletados no campo

Immunological unresponsiveness in leprosy and its relevance to immunoregulation in man.

The varied forms of leprosy form a clinical and immunological spectrum which offers extraordinary possibilities for insight into immunoregulatory mechanisms in man. At one pole, tuberculoid leprosy, patients develop high levels of cell-mediated immunity which ultimately results in killing of bacilli in the tissues, albeit often with damage to nerves. At the lepromatous pole, patients exhibit selective immunological unresponsiveness to antigens of Mycobacterium leprae. Even though all currently known protein species of Mycobacterium leprae and BCG are cross-reactive, lepromatous patients unreactive to Mycobacterium leprae antigens frequently respond strongly to tuberculin. In vitro experiments suggest the existence of lepromin-induced suppressor activity, mediated by both monocytes and Τ cells. The Τ suppressor cells have the T8 phenotype of which 50% express the activation markers, Ia and FcR. The one unique species of antigen of the leprosy bacillus is a phenolic glycolipid, and it appears that the Ts cells largely recognize the terminal trisaccharide of this unique antigen. Depletion of Ts cells restores in vitro reactivity of lymphocytes to lepromin in a portion of lepromatous patients, and addition of IL-2 containing supernatants partially restores responsiveness to Mycobacterium leprae antigens. Vaccination of lepromatous patients with a mixture of Mycobacterium leprae and live BCG restores cell-mediated immunity in the majority of lepromatous patients, and concomitantly reduces the in vitro suppressor activity and number of activated T8 cells. These experiments suggest the existence of stage-of-disease related suppressor cells in leprosy which appear to block the responsiveness of TH capable of responding to either specific or cross-reactive mycobacterial antigens. The mode of action of these Ts appears to be the inhibition of production of IL-2 and other lymphokines. Successful immunotherapeutic vaccination appears to overcome this block in the majority of patients.

Esperando el fin: una estrategia para la erradicación de la lepra / Waiting for the end?: a strategy for leprosy eradication

Se destacan los aspectos por los cuales la lepra sigue siendo un problema y un desafió, y las razones para considerar y explorar varios tipos de vacunas. Se parte de 2 premisas: la inducción de inmunidad mediada por células otorgará protección contra la invección y se puede inducir inmunidad mediada por células específicas inmunizando com M. leprae muerto u otras microbacterias. Son presentados 2 enfoques respecto a la vacunación: inmunoprofilaxis e inmunoterapia. Problemas epidemiológicos, duración de la sensibilización, especificidad y variables desconocidas son presentados como inherentes a la vacuna contra lepra. Se marcan futuras direciones a seguir respecto del tema (seroepidemiologia, antígenos para vacunas y vacunas microbacterianas)