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AbstractIntroductionBody Mass Index (BMI) is frequently used to define body fatness. In children, curves extrapolated from adult BMI values and percentile curves are often used to plot overweight and obesity cut-offs throughout childhood, taking phases of growth into account. Three methods are commonly used to classify childhood BMI: UK 1990 Growth Foundation, Cole et al(2000) and Chinn and Rona (2002) cut-off values. There is little agreement about which of these methods is the most reliable. This study examined the prevalence of obesity in 9–10 year old children using the three cut-off measures.MethodsBMI data on 9–10 year old school children collected by the Liverpool SportsLLinxproject were examined using the three classification methods to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity. This was conducted on six successive cohorts of children, from academic years 1998–99 to 2003–04.ResultsSubstantial differences in the prevalence of obesity were apparent when using the three cut-offs. For example, obesity prevalence in girls in 2004: UK 1990 = 14.4%, Cole et al(2000) = 10.5%, Chinn and Rona (2002) = 10.3%. The UK 1990 cut-off points resulted in an increased prevalence of obesity and reduced prevalence of overweight compared to the other cut-offs (e.g. boys' obesity in 2004: UK 1990 = 16.79%, Chinn and Rona = 12.1%).ConclusionThe Cole et alresults gave a similar prevalence of obesity in girls when compared with the Chinn and Rona findings, but appeared to classify boys and girls differently. Since the Cole et al(2000) figures are based on a limited international data set, we suggest the wider use of the Chinn and Rona reference cut-off values. more...

Sodium butyrate induces basophilic differentiation of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells that have been previously passaged in alkaline medium. A factor present in Mo conditioned medium (Mo-CM) acts synergistically with sodium butyrate to promote basophilic maturation in a dose-dependent fashion. The induced HL-60 cells exhibit nuclei at various stages of maturity and cytoplasmic granules staining azurophilic with May-Grunwald-Giemsa and metachromatically with toluidine blue. The histamine content of induced HL-60 cells is 50 ng/10(6) cells with sodium butyrate alone or 190 ng/10(6) cells with butyrate in combination with Mo-CM. Induced cells release histamine in response to anti-IgE and have receptors for the Fc portion of human IgE. The basophilic cell-differentiating activity present in Mo-CM appears to be distinct from several other cytokines including recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha, interleukin-2, interferon-gamma, interferon-alpha, murine interleukin-3, erythroid-potentiating activity, and purified human granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. This is the first demonstration of a cell line that is capable of differentiation along the basophil lineage and could provide a useful model for examining biochemical and molecular events associated with basophil differentiation. more...

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "2016: Another lukewarm year for military compensation" in the previous issue.

Two letters to the editors are presented in response to the article "2016: Another lukewarm year for military compensation" and "Service members publicly charged, but privately cleared" in the previous issue of the periodical. more...