Plasma branched-chain and aromatic amino acid concentration after ingestion of an urban or rural diet in rural Mexican women.

BACKGROUND: People living in rural areas are prone to move to urban cities experiencing a dramatic change in the type of protein consumed. However, it is not know if those changes are associated with changes in the plasma amino acid concentration, especially the branched chain amino acids. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate, in a rural Mexican population, the plasma amino acid profile after consumption of typical Mexican rural or urban diet. RESULTS: We evaluated the plasma amino acid concentrations of women from a rural population at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 min after ingestion of a typical Mexican rural or urban diet. Ingestion of a Mexican urban diet induced a higher increase in leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and proline than ingestion of a Mexican rural diet in women from a Mexican rural population. Arginine, histidine, lysine, threonine, alanine, glycine and serine had the same area under the curve regardless of the experimental diet. CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of a Mexican urban diet induced a higher increase in leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and proline than ingestion of a Mexican rural diet in women from a Mexican rural area.

Mortalidad de adultos mayores por deficiencias nutricionales en los Departamentos de Colombia / Elderly mortality caused by nutritional deficiency in Colombia’s Departments

Objetivo: Comparar la mortalidad de personas de 65 años y más de edad por deficiencias nutricionales en Colombia, según Departamento de residencia habitual en el año 2008. Métodos: Bajo el enfoque empírico-analítico, se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal, con 989 certificados de defunción del año 2008, cuya causa básica de muerte fuese por deficiencias nutricionales (códigos E40-E64 de la clasificación internacional de enfermedades, décima revisión). Se hizo análisis de las distri-buciones de defunción según algunas variables demográficas, así como el cálculo de las tasas de mortalidad por edad, sexo y lugar de residencia habitual. Se usaron los paquetes computacionales SPSS versión 10 y ArcGis 10.0 (licencia Universidad CES). Resultados: La tasa de mortalidad por deficiencias nutricionales fue de 34,5 defunciones por cien mil habitantes, 16 Departamentos registraron un riesgo mayor que el nacional, siendo mayor en Vaupés, Guaviare, Guainía, Bolívar y Atlántico. Es de anotar que las mujeres aportaron más en las defunciones y también registraron un riesgo mayor (35,4) que los hombres (33,4). Conclusiones: Las defunciones por deficiencias nutricionales fueron más frecuentes en las mujeres, los mayores de 80 años de edad y pertenecer al régimen subsidiado, pero gran parte de los fallecidos no estaba asegurado. El Departamento del país que presentó la mayor mortalidad fue Vaupés con un riesgo de 658,8 para los hombres y 456,6 para las mujeres, superando a todos los demás, por un amplio margen.

Objective: Comparing mortality in adults aged 65 years or older caused by nutritional deficiency in Colombia, according to department of usual residence in 2008. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 989 death certificates from 2008 was conducted adopting an empirical-analytic approach; underlying cause of death was due to nutritional deficiency (International Classification of Diseases:E40-E64, tenth revision). The distribution of death according to demographic variables was analyzed and mortality rates calculated by age, gender and place of residence. SPSS (version 10) and ArcGIS (10.0) software packages were used. Results: The mortality rate was 34.5 nutritional deficiency-related deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants; 16 departments reported a higher risk than the national average, this being higher in Vaupés, Guaviare, Guainía, Bolívar and Atlántico. It should be noted that women accounted for more deaths and a slightly higher risk was also recorded for them (35.4) than for men (33.4). Conclusions: Deaths from nutritional deficiency were more common in females aged over 80 years old and people belonging to the subsidized regime(not many of the deceased were insured). The Colombian department having the highest mortality rate was Vaupés (658.8 risk for men and 456.6 for women), surpassing all others by a wide margin.

[Elderly mortality caused by nutritional deficiency in Colombia's Departments]. / Mortalidad de adultos mayores por deficiencias nutricionales en los Departamentos de Colombia.

OBJECTIVE: Comparing mortality in adults aged 65 years or older caused by nutritional deficiency in Colombia, according to department of usual residence in 2008. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 989 death certificates from 2008 was conducted adopting an empirical-analytic approach; underlying cause of death was due to nutritional deficiency (International Classification of Diseases:E40-E64, tenth revision). The distribution of death according to demographic variables was analyzed and mortality rates calculated by age, gender and place of residence. SPSS (version 10) and ArcGIS (10.0) software packages were used. RESULTS: The mortality rate was 34.5 nutritional deficiency-related deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants; 16 departments reported a higher risk than the national average, this being higher in Vaupés, Guaviare, Guainía, Bolívar and Atlántico. It should be noted that women accounted for more deaths and a slightly higher risk was also recorded for them (35.4) than for men (33.4). CONCLUSIONS: Deaths from nutritional deficiency were more common in females aged over 80 years old and people belonging to the subsidized regime(not many of the deceased were insured). The Colombian department having the highest mortality rate was Vaupés (658.8 risk for men and 456.6 for women), surpassing all others by a wide margin.

Variation in pediatric intensive care therapies and outcomes by race, gender, and insurance status.

CONTEXT: The differential allocation of medical resources to adult patients according to characteristics such as race, gender, and insurance status raises the serious concern that such issues apply to critically ill children as well. OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether medical resources and outcomes for children admitted to pediatric intensive care units differed according to race, gender, or insurance status. DESIGN: An observational analysis was conducted with use of prospectively collected data from a multicenter cohort. Data were collected on 5,749 consecutive admissions for children from three pediatric intensive care units located in large urban children's hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged

Plasma total homocysteine in Mexican rural and urban women fed typical model diets.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present work was to determine the fasting plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels and the time-course response of tHcy concentrations after the consumption of urban and rural Mexican model diets in two groups of Mexican women from urban and rural areas. METHODS: Thirty-three adult women (age range = 18-49 y) were studied. Fifteen women were from a rural community in the state of Mexico. The other 18 were from cities and consumed diets that regularly included an important amount of animal foods. The study was designed as a two-period crossover study in which subjects consumed the model urban or rural diet in a 2-wk interval. Seven milliliters of venous blood was drawn before ingestion of experimental diets (basal) to measure total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol, tHcy, folate, vitamin B12, and methionine. Blood samples were then obtained 30, 60, 90, 180, and 240 min after the beginning of meal consumption. RESULTS: The rural and urban groups showed similar concentrations of tHcy 4 h after meal consumption and after fasting. However, the urban and rural groups had higher methionine plasma concentrations after the urban diet than after the rural diet. In contrast, there was no significant difference in methionine plasma levels between the rural and urban groups with each diet. Those women with low tHcy concentrations maintained those values over the study period, and those with high tHcy concentrations maintained those values. There was no significant difference in tHcy concentrations due to consumption of the two diets (P = 0.31) or the interaction between population and diet (P = 0.84). However, there was a significant difference in the concentration of tHcy between the rural (8.73 +/- 0.17 microM/L) and the urban (9.27 +/- 0.13 microM/L) populations (P = 0.01). In both groups, average tHcy concentration was in the normal range. In both populations, the nutrition status for folate and vitamin B12 was adequate, although plasma folate concentration was significantly lower in the rural population than in the urban population (P < 0.01). Plasma vitamin B12 concentrations were similar in both groups. No subject had low plasma vitamin B12. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma tHcy concentrations in rural and urban Mexican women were within the range considered adequate; however, urban women showed significant higher concentrations than did rural women independently of the consumed diet and the plasma methionine concentration. These results indicated that there is no short-term variation in plasma tHcy due to the consumption of rural or urban diets.