Relationship between hypovitaminosis D and sarcopenia in patients with stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease in Colombian patients.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is a condition associated with aging and multiple medical conditions such as CKD and hypovitaminosis D. METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was carried out, based on patients registered in a database of specialized nephrology consultation in the city of Manizales, Colombia. 101 patients over 18 years of age who had stage 3 or 4 CKD were included. RESULTS: The frequency of sarcopenia was 10.9%. No relationship was found between sarcopenia alone and serum vitamin D levels. However, when sarcopenia was categorized as severe there was a direct relationship with hypovitaminosis D. There was also a direct relationship between dynapenia and hypovitaminosis D. In addition, patients who had serum vitamin D levels above 40 ng/ml had better muscle performance, and, consequently, probably a lower risk of frailty. CONCLUSION: When patients, within their treatment, received vitamin D supplementation, no effect on muscle performance was observed.

Anthropometric measures as predictors of cardiovascular risk in a population of employees / Medidas antropométricas como predictores del riesgo cardiovascular en una población de empleados

Abstract Background: There are several scales to calculate the cardiovascular risk of patients at the outpatient level; however, most of them require the measurement of parameters that involve high costs or waiting time for the results. Objective: The objective of this study was to show the capacity of some anthropometric measures for the prediction of cardiovascular risk in an adult population of a Colombian State University. Materials and methods: Ninety-eight working individuals of a State university with an average age of 50.6 ± 7.5 years were evaluated in 2014. For each person, the variables gender, age, height, weight, percentage body fat (%BF), body mass index, blood pressure (BP), percentage of hand grip strength (%HGS), midline level waist circumference (MLW), waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, fruit and vegetable portions ingested per day, and cigarette smoking were recorded. Subsequently, in 2018, the participants were contacted and were asked about new medical diagnoses of cardiovascular type that they would have had in the time elapsed since the evaluation. Results: Eighty-three individuals participated in the new evaluation (2018). The MLW was an independent risk factor associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) OR: 1214 (95% CI, p = 0.010) and the %BF associated with high BP (HBP) OR: 1137 (95% CI, p = 0.028). Conclusion: MLW and %BF are economic anthropometric measurements techniques that can help predict the risk of developing DM and HBP at 4 years.

Resumen Antecedentes: Existen varias escalas para calcular el riesgo cardiovascular de los pacientes a nivel ambulatorio; sin embargo, la mayoría requieren de la medición de parámetros que implican altos costos o un tiempo de espera para obtener los resultados. Objetivo: Demostrar la capacidad de algunas medidas antropométricas para predecir el riesgo cardiovascular en una población adulta de una universidad pública en Colombia. Metodología: 98 empleados de una universidad pública con una edad media de 50.6 ± 7.5 años fueron evaluados en el año 2014. Para cada persona, se registraron las variables de género, edad, estatura, peso, porcentaje de grasa corporal (% GC), índice de masa corporal (IMC), tensión arterial (TA), porcentaje de fuerza de agarre (% FA), circunferencia de la cintura a nivel de la línea media (CCM), índice cintura-cadera (ICC), índice cintura-estatura (ICE), porciones de frutas y verduras (PFV) ingeridas al día, y tabaquismo. Después, en el 2018, se contactaron los participantes y se les preguntó por nuevos diagnósticos médicos de tipo cardiovascular que hubieran tenido en el lapso desde la evaluación. Resultados: 83 individuos participaron en la nueva evaluación (2018). La CCM fue un factor de riesgo independiente asociado a la diabetes tipo 2 (DM), OR = 1,214 (IC 95%, p = 0.010) y el %GC asociado a la tensión arterial alta (TAA), OR = 1,137 (IC 95%, p = 0.028). Conclusión: La CCM y el %GC son técnicas de medidas antropométricas económicas que pueden ayudar a predecir el riesgo de desarrollar DM y TAA a 4 años.

Folin-Ciocalteu Reaction Alternatives for Higher Polyphenol Quantitation in Colombian Passion Fruits.

Passiflora edulis Flavicarpa, Passiflora edulis Sims, and Passiflora ligularis Juss are Colombian fruits (passion fruits) of important exportation value. They act efficiently as antioxidants, antifungal, and antimicrobial compounds due to their high polyphenol content. Polyphenols can be quantified by the Folin-Ciocalteu (F-C) reaction. Food matrices, solvent polarity, and several different reacting conditions are critical for the optimum extraction and quantification of polyphenols. Chromatographic identification and quantitation are satisfactory with access to a vast number of reference standards considering the availability of abundant phenolic compounds in crude extracts. The purpose of this study was to evaluate alternatives and specific F-C reacting conditions aiming at determining the highest total phenolic content (TPC) in three Colombian Passifloras. Among optimum reacting conditions, reduced reaction time and diluted alkali conditions yielded desirable positive results highlighting lower working time and minimum reagent waste production. For higher extraction yield, acetone 70% was the best solvent to capture more phenolics from the seedless pulp of these Colombian passion fruits.