Assessment of the association between body composition and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is defined as the condition of fat accumulation in the liver. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between body composition and fatty liver and determine of cut-off point for predicting NAFLD. Samples were selected from the nutrition clinic from 2016 to 2017 in Tehran, Iran. The liver steatosis was calculated using the CAP score through the FiroScan™ and body composition was measured using the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan method. A total of 2160 patients participated in this study, 745 (34.5%) subjects had NAFLD. We found that fat-free tissue was inversely and fat tissue was directly correlated with the risk of NAFLD in almost all factors and the risk of developing NAFLD increases if the total fat exceeds 32.23% and 26.73% in women and men and abdominal fat exceeds 21.42% and 13.76% in women and men, respectively. Finally, we realized that the total fat percent had the highest AUC (0.932 for men and 0.917 for women) to predict the risk of NAFLD. Overall, the likelihood of NAFLD development rose significantly with increasing the amount of total fat and abdominal fat from the cut-off point level.

Vitamin K and D Status in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: An Analytical Cross-sectional Study.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and it has been known as the main factor of lower limb disability. The aim of the study is evaluating the level of vitamin K and D status as well as determining cut-off point of these vitamins for predicting knee OA and also pain severity in these patients. In this analytical cross-sectional study, participation included knee OA patients and individuals without it who referred to Fasa Osteoarthritis Clinic, Iran. OA was diagnosed according to criteria based on Kellgren and Lawrence rating and the WOMAC score was used for pain evaluation. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 18 (P> 0.05). In our study, 150 knee OA patients and 300 individuals without it, were participated. The mean of vitamin K and D in OA patients was significantly lower than the group without it (P<0.001). Furthermore, logistic regression showed that after adjustment, each unit decrease in vitamin D and K level leads to an increase the odds ratio of OA to 0.67 and 0.002 times respectively. In receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the cutoff-point for vitamin D and K was determined 12.68 and 0.87 nmol/L respectively. We also observed that although with a decreased level of two vitamins, the score of pain significantly increases, the only effective factors in pain score were disease status. These findings suggest that the deficiency of vitamin K and D is likely associated with a higher risk of OA.

Obesity as an important risk factor for certain types of cancer.

Cancer could be described as the uncontrolled and unrestricted growth of malignant cells in any place of the body. It is a multifactorial disease which either heredity or environmental factors (such as nutrition, physical inactivity, alcohol, obesity, exposure to sun, environmental pollutants, infections) chip in incidence of cancer. In recent years, several researchers have focused on obesity as a potent cancer risk factor. Scientificevidences have suggested that obesity has associated with increased risk for a plenty of different types of cancer. The evidences are the most consistent for endometrial cancer, breast cancer between the postmenopausal women, and renal cell cancer. More contradictoryresults have reported about the colorectal, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. Although numerous studies have done according to the obesity and cancer relation or joint, but the molecular mechanisms in which obesity could increase the risks of cancer, have been poorly understood.