Excessive gain in body mass index-for-age Z-score and associated factors: a cohort study in female adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the occurrence of excessive gain in body mass index-for-age Z-score (BMI/AZ) and its associated factors in adolescent girls. METHODOLOGY: This is a cohort study conducted between 2007 and 2012 with 382 girls between 10 and 18 years of age attending public schools in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Excessive gain in BMI/AZ (EGBMI/AZ) at follow-up was considered if the adolescent had a BMI/AZ >0.63 between follow-up and baseline. RESULTS: In 2007, 33.5% of girls were overweight, and at the end of the study this prevalence was 26.2%, with no statistically significant differences. Of the 382 girls evaluated in the cohort, 33% showed EGBMI/AZ. In 2007, 95% of these girls were normal weight or underweight, and in 2012, 60% were classified as overweight. After adjusting for possible confounding factors, three variables remained independently associated with EGBMI/AZ: underweight, normal weight and maternal overweight. CONCLUSIONS: Both underweight and normal weight were associated with EGBMI/AZ, and this could be due to a physiological protection for the occurrence of menarche. In fact, maternal overweight has considerable influence on adolescents' nutritional status because of exposure to an obesogenic environment.

Early menarche in normal-weight girls and its association with excess weight, abdominal obesity and metabolic changes at the end of sexual maturation.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess whether early menarche in normal-weight girls is associated with excess weight, abdominal obesity and metabolic changes at the end of sexual maturation. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This is a cohort study of 255 normal-weight girls aged 10-18 years attending public schools in the city of Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast of Brazil. The following data were collected in 2007 and 2012: anthropometric; lifestyle, socioeconomic and demographic data; lipid profile; and self-assessed sexual maturation. RESULTS: Eighty-four girls (32.9%) had early menarche. The socioeconomic level and time spent using a computer increased during this 5-year period, whereas the time spent watching television decreased. The prevalences of excess weight and abdominal obesity were 19.2% and 9.8%, respectively. The anthropometric and laboratory variables of girls with and without early menarche did not differ. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that early menarche did not influence weight, abdominal obesity and serum lipids in the final stage of sexual maturation.

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans response to copper and other heavy metals: growth, protein synthesis and protein phosphorylation.

Respirometric experiments demonstrated that the oxygen uptake by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans strain LR was not inhibited in the presence of 200 mM copper. Copper-treated and untreated cells from this T. ferrooxidans strain were used in growth experiments in the presence of cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc. Growth in the presence of copper was improved by the copper-treated cells. However, no growth was observed for these cells, within 190 h of culture, when cadmium, nickel and zinc were added to the media. Changes in the total protein synthesis pattern were detected by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for T. ferrooxidans LR cells grown in the presence of different heavy metals. Specific proteins were induced by copper (16, 28 and 42 kDa) and cadmium (66 kDa), whereas proteins that had their synthesis repressed were observed for all the heavy metals tested. Protein induction was also observed in the cytosolic and membrane fractions from T. ferrooxidans LR cells grown in the presence of copper. The level of protein phosphorylation was increased in the presence of this metal.

Determinaçäo da composiçäo em ácidos graxos de carne de boi (Bos taurus), de frango (Arbor acre) e ovos de galinha, consumidos no Nordeste brasileiro / Determination of composition in fatty acids of the cattle (Bos taurus) meat, of the young chicken (Arbor acre) meat and chicken eggs, consumed in the Brazilian northeast region

A composiçao em acidos graxos da carne de boi, de frango e ovo de galinha (alimentos de alto consumo no Brasil) foi determinada através da técnica de cromatografia gasosa e comparada com valores referidos na literatura. Com relaçao a carne de boi, houve diferença significativa para os ácidos graxos oleico, esteárico (trombogênico) e palmitoleico. Pelo contrário, para a carne de frango as análises nao mostraram diferenças estatísticas. Por outro lado, os valores dos ácidos graxos palmítico (hipercolesterolêmico, aterogênico e trombogênico), linolenico e linoleico (essenciais) do ovo de galinha, sao estatisticamente diferentes quando comparados às tabelas internacionais. Quando se estudou o percentual de saturaçao dos ácidos graxos, os dados foram ainda mais diferentes. No caso da came de boi, nossas análises mostraram diferenças estatísticas nos ácidos saturados e monoinsaturados. No ovo de galinha, os ácidos graxos poliinsaturados apresentaram valores significativamente mais baixos que os valores internacionais, entretanto os outros ácidos (saturados e monoinsaturados) foram similares. Nas amostras de frango, os ácidos nao apresentaram diferenças com os da literatura. Concluindo, nossos dados sugerem a necessidade de se fazer estudos sobre a composiçao em ácidos graxos dos alimentos consumidos no Brasil, com o objetivo de se ter recomendaçoes dietéticas mais adequadas.