Involvement of the Adhesion GPCRs Latrophilins in the Regulation of Insulin Release

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The effect of obesity management on body image in patients seeking treatment at medical centers

Objective: Body image dissatisfaction is common in treatment‐seeking patients with obesity. We aimed to investigate the effects of obesity management on body image in patients with obesity attending Italian medical centers for weight loss programs. Research Methods and Procedures: A total of 473 obese patients seeking treatment in 13 Italian medical centers (80% females; age, 45.9 ± standard deviation 11.0 years; BMI, 36.8 ± 5.7 kg/m²) were evaluated at baseline and after a 6‐month weight loss treatment. Body uneasiness, psychiatric distress, and binge eating were tested by Body Uneasiness Test (BUT, Part A), Symptom CheckList‐90 (SCL‐90), and Binge Eating Scale (BES), respectively. Results: At 6‐month follow‐up, the percentage weight loss was significantly higher in men (9.0 ± 6.3%) than in women (6.8 ± 7.3%; p = 0.010). Both men and women had a significant improvement in BUT Global Severity Index and in all of the BUT subscales with the exception of the Compulsive Self‐Monitoring subscale. Linear regression analysis selected baseline psychological and behavioral measures (global score of BUT and SCL‐90) and improved psychiatric distress and binge eating as independent predictors of changes in basal body dissatisfaction in females, whereas in males, changes were associated only with baseline BUT‐Global Severity Index score, binge eating, and its treatment‐associated improvement. Pre‐treatment BMI and BMI changes did not enter the regression. Discussion: Obesity treatment, even with a modest degree of weight loss, is associated with a significant improvement of body image, in both females and males. This effect depends mainly on psychological factors, not on the amount of weight loss.     

Association between common variation in 120 candidate genes and breast cancer risk

Association studies in candidate genes have been widely used to search for common low penetrance susceptibility alleles, but few definite associations have been established. We have conducted association studies in breast cancer using an empirical single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) tagging approach to capture common genetic variation in genes that are candidates for breast cancer based on their known function. We genotyped 710 SNPs in 120 candidate genes in up to 4,400 breast cancer cases and 4,400 controls using a staged design. Correction for population stratification was done using the genomic control method, on the basis of data from 280 genomic control SNPs. Evidence for association with each SNP was assessed using a Cochran–Armitage trend test (p-trend) and a two-degrees of freedom χ² test for heterogeneity (p-het). The most significant single SNP (p-trend = 8 × 10⁻⁵) was not significant at a nominal 5% level after adjusting for population stratification and multiple testing. To evaluate the overall evidence for an excess of positive associations over the proportion expected by chance, we applied two global tests: the admixture maximum likelihood (AML) test and the rank truncated product (RTP) test corrected for population stratification. The admixture maximum likelihood experiment-wise test for association was significant for both the heterogeneity test (p = 0.0031) and the trend test (p = 0.017), but no association was observed using the rank truncated product method for either the heterogeneity test or the trend test (p = 0.12 and p = 0.24, respectively). Genes in the cell-cycle control pathway and genes involved in steroid hormone metabolism and signalling were the main contributors to the association. These results suggest that a proportion of SNPs in these candidate genes are associated with breast cancer risk, but that the effects of individual SNPs is likely to be small. Large sample sizes from multicentre collaboration will be needed to identify associated SNPs with certainty.     

Critical issues in preparing for a mass casualty event: highlights from a new community planning guide

To assist community planners in allocating scarce resources in a mass casualty event, the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response collaborated with leading experts on a series of issue papers on preparedness and response. These papers were presented at an expert meeting in Washington, DC, in June 2006. The papers, revised based on meeting discussions, have been published by AHRQ as Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources: A Community Planning Guide.     

Robert J. Marquis and Suzanne Koptur (eds): Caterpillars in the Middle. Tritrophic Interactions in a Changing World

Journal of Insect Conservation -     

The Drosophila S3 multifunctional DNA repair/ribosomal protein protects Fanconi anemia cells against oxidative DNA damaging agents

Cells harvested from Fanconi anemia (FA) patients show an increased hypersensitivity to the multifunctional DNA damaging agent mitomycin C (MMC), which causes cross-links in DNA as well as 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) adducts indicative of escalated oxidative DNA damage. We show here that the Drosophila multifunctional S3 cDNA, which encodes an N-glycosylase/apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) lyase activity was found to correct the FA Group A (FA(A)) and FA Group C (FA(C)) sensitivity to MMC and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Furthermore, the Drosophila S3 cDNA was shown to protect AP endonuclease deficient E. coli cells against H(2)O(2) and MMC, and also protect 8-oxoG repair deficient mutM E. coli strains against MMC and H2O2 cell toxicity. Conversely, the human S3 protein failed to complement the AP endonuclease deficient E. coli strain, most likely because it lacks N-glycosylase activity for the repair of oxidatively-damaged DNA bases. Although the human S3 gene is clearly not the genetic alteration in FA cells, our results suggest that oxidative DNA damage is intimately involved in the overall FA phenotype, and the cytotoxic effect of selective DNA damaging agents in FA cells can be overcome by trans-complementation with specific DNA repair cDNAs. Based on these findings, we would predict other oxidative repair proteins, or oxidative scavengers, could serve as protective agents against the oxidative DNA damage that occurs in FA.