PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Vereecken

Publications and source records attributed to C Vereecken.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Asthma and wheezing symptoms in young people in six Western countries.

BACKGROUND: Asthma diagnosed in children shows wide geographical variations. Large scale surveys identify children with diagnosed asthma, but neglect the group of youngsters with multiple asthmatic complaints. METHODS: A short validated asthma questionnaire was included in six national surveys of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study. Prevalence rates are presented by country, gender and age. Gender and age differences are analysed using binary and multinomial logistic regressions controlling for age and smoking. RESULTS: Large country differences are observed in the prevalence rates of diagnosed asthma (8.6%-20.9% in boys, 6.9%-18.5% in girls) and young people with "asthma-like symptoms" (9.6%-20.2% in boys, 9.2%-23.1% in girls). When controlling for age and smoking, significant gender differences are observed (more diagnosed asthma in boys, more asthmatic symptoms in girls). Age differences were observed in adolescents with "asthma-like symptoms", but not in diagnosed asthma. CONCLUSIONS: Using a short asthma questionnaire, large differences in diagnosed asthma and wheezing symptoms are observed between the countries. A considerable group of youngsters with "asthma-like symptoms" is detected in all countries, and may be an unrecognised risk group in health promotion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Comparison of overweight and obesity prevalence in school-aged youth from 34 countries and their relationships with physical activity and dietary patterns.

The purposes of this systematic review were to present and compare recent estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school-aged youth from 34 countries and to examine associations between overweight and selected dietary and physical activity patterns. Data consisted of a cross-sectional survey of 137 593 youth (10-16 years) from the 34 (primarily European) participating countries of the 2001-2002 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was determined based on self-reported height and weight and the international child body mass index standards. Logistic regression was employed to examine associations between overweight status with selected dietary and physical activity patterns. The two countries with the highest prevalence of overweight (pre-obese + obese) and obese youth were Malta (25.4% and 7.9%) and the United States (25.1% and 6.8%) while the two countries with the lowest prevalence were Lithuania (5.1% and 0.4%) and Latvia (5.9% and 0.5%). Overweight and obesity prevalence was particularly high in countries located in North America, Great Britain, and south-western Europe. Within most countries physical activity levels were lower and television viewing times were higher in overweight compared to normal weight youth. In 91% of the countries examined, the frequency of sweets intake was lower in overweight than normal weight youth. Overweight status was not associated with the intake of fruits, vegetables, and soft drinks or time spent on the computer. In conclusion, the adolescent obesity epidemic is a global issue. Increasing physical activity participation and decreasing television viewing should be the focus of strategies aimed at preventing and treating overweight and obesity in youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Longitudinal comparison of virus load parameters and CD8 T-cell suppressive capacity in two SIVcpz-infected chimpanzees.

In a longitudinal study we address the hypothesis that resis tance to disease progression in lentivirus-infected chimpanzees is related to potent non-cytotoxic suppression of virus replication. In a long-term follow-up, the viral suppressive capacity in two simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)cpz-infected chimpanzees was correlated with two polymerase chain reaction (PCR)- and two culture-based virus load measurements. In both animals, quantitative virus isolation (QVI) tended to decline slowly, whereas in vitro virus suppression was sustained or increased over time. In general, plasma virus loads in SIVcpz-infected animals were maintained for extended periods of time. Based on current assays that measure virus suppressive capacity in peripheral blood, it was not possible to conclude that virus suppression played a major role in the maintenance of the disease-free state in lentivirus-infected chimpanzees.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Phenotypic and functional parameters of cellular immunity in a chimpanzee with a naturally acquired simian immunodeficiency virus infection.

The cellular immunologic and virologic status of a chimpanzee, naturally infected with a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-like lentivirus (SIVcpz-ant), was compared longitudinally with those of 3 HIV-1-infected and 5 uninfected chimpanzees for a period of 49 months. Evidence of immune deficiency was not observed in the HIV-1-infected chimpanzees, nor could virus be isolated from plasma. Virus could be isolated from plasma of the SIVcpz-ant-infected chimpanzee, but clinical signs of immune deficiency were never observed. Absolute CD4+ cell counts remained relatively stable, but NK cells fluctuated significantly over time and tended to correlate inversely with the virus titer in peripheral blood. Although only CD8+ T cells were directly demonstrated to exert a suppressive effect on viral replication in vitro, the observed fluctuation of NK cells suggests that these cells may also be involved in the interaction with lentivirus infection in this species.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Selective increase of activation antigens HLA-DR and CD38 on CD4+ CD45RO+ T lymphocytes during HIV-1 infection.

Infection with HIV results in a progressive depletion of CD4+ T cells and leads to significant in vivo lymphocyte phenotype changes. In this regard, the expression of HLA-DR and CD38 on CD8+ T cells has been shown to increase dramatically with disease progression. We investigated the expression of both activation markers on CD4+ T cells in HIV-1-infected subjects at different clinical stages of infection and compared the in vivo activation of CD4+ T cells with parameters of viral activity and CD8+ T cell activation. Fresh peripheral venous blood was obtained from 54 HIV-infected subjects and from 28 uninfected healthy controls. Three-colour immunophenotyping of the CD4+ T cell subset showed that the proportion of CD4+ T cells expressing HLA-DR (10% in HIV-negative controls) or CD38 (62% in HIV-negative controls) was higher in asymptomatic (P < 0.05 for CD38) and symptomatic (P < 0.001 for HLA-DR and CD38) HIV-infected subjects than in controls, whereas the proportion of CD4+ T cells expressing CD45RO (54% in controls) remained relatively unchanged. Simultaneous expression of HLA-DR and CD38 on CD4+ T cells increased from 2.3% in controls to 11% (P < 0.001) in asymptomatic and 22% (P < 0.001) in symptomatic HIV-infected subjects. This relative increase of CD38 and HLA-DR expression occurred mainly on CD4+ T cells co-expressing CD45RO. Changes in expression of HLA-DR and CD38 on CD4+ T cells correlated with similar changes on CD8+ T lymphocytes, with the presence of HIV antigen in the circulation, and with the disease stage of HIV infection.

ADP-ribosyl Cyclase↗