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PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effects of resistance exercise training on early diastolic myocardial velocities (E') in an obese pediatric population. METHODS: Twenty-three obese adolescents were selected to participate in either a resistance-based training program (RT; n = 13, 12.2 +/- 0.4 yr, body mass index [BMI] = 32.5 +/- 1.9 kg m(-2)) or a nonexercise control intervention (n = 10, 13.6 +/- 0.7 yr, BMI = 30.2 +/- 2.6 kg m(-2)) for 8 wk. All subjects had repeated echocardiographic assessments to determine left ventricular (LV) geometry, early transmitral flow velocity (E), and E'. RESULTS: LV mass and wall thicknesses did not significantly change with training or in controls. RT improved E' (11.9 +/- 0.5 to 13.3 +/- 0.5 cm s(-1), P< 0.01) in the presence of a decrease in E/E' (8.17 +/- 0.39 to 7.06 +/- 0.30 cm s(-1), P < 0.01), a marker of left atrial pressure. No changes were evident in the inactive control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: A supervised 8-wk RT exercise program improved early diastolic tissue velocity in obese children, independent of changes in LV morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms linking short stature with an increase in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk remain elusive. This study tested the hypothesis that significant associations are present between height and blood pressure in a representative sample of the US adult population.Participants were 12,988 men and women from a multiethnic sample (age ≥ 18 years) evaluated in the 1999 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were not taking antihypertensive medications and who had complete height, weight, % body fat, and systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure (SBP and DBP) measurements; mean arterial blood pressure and pulse pressure (MBP and PP) were calculated. Multiple regression models for men and women were developed with each blood pressure as dependent variable and height, age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, % body fat, socioeconomic status, activity level, and smoking history as potential independent variables.Greater height was associated with significantly lower SBP and PP, and higher DBP (all P < .001) in combined race/ethnic-sex group models beginning in the 4th decade. Predicted blood pressure differences between people who are short and tall increased thereafter with greater age except for MBP. Socioeconomic status, activity level, and smoking history did not consistently contribute to blood pressure prediction models.Height-associated blood pressure effects were present in US adults who appeared in the 4th decade and increased in magnitude with greater age thereafter. These observations, in the largest and most diverse population sample evaluated to date, provide support for postulated mechanisms linking adult stature with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To validate the ability of candidate CSF biomarkers to distinguish between the 2 main forms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), FTLD with TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) inclusions (FTLD-TDP) and FTLD with Tau inclusions (FTLD-Tau)., Methods: Antemortem CSF samples were collected from 30 patients with FTLD in a single-center validation cohort, and CSF levels of 5 putative FTLD-TDP biomarkers as well as levels of total Tau (t-Tau) and Tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-Tau181) were measured using independent assays. Biomarkers most associated with FTLD-TDP were then tested in a separate 2-center validation cohort composed of subjects with FTLD-TDP, FTLD-Tau, Alzheimer disease (AD), and cognitively normal subjects. The sensitivity and specificity of FTLD-TDP biomarkers were determined., Results: In the first validation cohort, FTLD-TDP cases had decreased levels of p-Tau181 and interleukin-23, and increased Fas. Reduced ratio of p-Tau181 to t-Tau (p/t-Tau) was the strongest predictor of FTLD-TDP pathology. Analysis in the second validation cohort showed CSF p/t-Tau ratio <0.37 to distinguish FTLD-TDP from FTLD-Tau, AD, and healthy seniors with 82% sensitivity and 82% specificity., Conclusion: A reduced CSF p/t-Tau ratio represents a reproducible, validated biomarker for FTLD-TDP with performance approaching well-established CSF AD biomarkers. Introducing this biomarker into research and the clinical arena can significantly increase the power of clinical trials targeting abnormal accumulations of TDP-43 or Tau, and select the appropriate patients for target-specific therapies., Classification of Evidence: This study provides Class II evidence that the CSF p/t-Tau ratio distinguishes FTLD-TDP from FTLD-Tau.

Hall et al. (2010) describe a boy with mosaic trisomy of the proximal part of 19q, with obesity, macrocephaly and global developmental delay. The patient is interesting with regard to his cytogenetic abnormality, which is smaller than those previously reported, and does not include the candidate obesity and insulin-resistance genes identified by other authors (Zung et al., 2007; Davidsson et al., 2010) as possible causes of the overweight/obesity seen in four of five previously documented patients. This suggests that a novel obesity locus may reside in the duplicated region 19q13.11–q13.2. We present a phenotypically similar boy with intrachromosomal insertion of material derived from proximal 19q into proximal 19p, causing mosaic trisomy 19q12–q13.2, and consider the role of USF2, a master transcriptional regulator of metabolic genes, in 19q phenotypes.

Purpose: Obesity is epidemic in Western societies, with rapid rates of increase in the young. Various methods exist for the assessment of body composition, but these have not been compared in obese children and adolescents. This study compared methods of body composition assessment in obese young people to determine whether changes in various measures of body composition as a result of exercise training were correlated., Methods: Multiple anthropometric measures (weight, height, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds, waist and hip girths) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) were undertaken in 38 obese children and adolescents (12.7 +/- 2.1 yr) at baseline and following 8 wk of exercise training., Results: At baseline, there were strong relationships (all P < 0.01) between DEXA total fat and weight (r = 0.83), BMI (r = 0.86), waist girth (r = 0.81), hip girth (r = 0.88), sum of six skinfolds (sum6, r = 0.79), and percent body fat (percent body fat) calculated using a four-skinfold equation (EQ4; r = 0.69). Similar relationships (all P < 0.001) existed between DEXA abdominal fat and weight (r = 0.79), waist girth (r = 0.83), hip girth (r = 0.69), and height (r = 0.71). Neither skinfold sums, nor percent body fat calculated from skinfold equations, were selected as independent predictors of DEXA total or abdominal fat by stepwise hierarchical linear regression. The reductions in DEXA total and abdominal fat following exercise were not predicted by changes in skinfolds or percent body fat calculated from skinfolds., Conclusion: These data suggest that body fat derived from skinfold measures is poorly predictive of abdominal and total fat derived from DEXA in obese children and adolescents. This finding highlights the limitations of skinfolds in obese subjects and questions the validity of their use to assess changes in body composition with interventions such as exercise training.