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Biomedical subjects

J Falcão

Publications and source records attributed to J Falcão.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Psychoneuroendocrine characteristics of common obesity clinical subtypes.

OBJECTIVE: To relate psychological profiles, cerebral asymmetry and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) reactivity to clinical characteristics of common obesity. METHODS: Sixty consecutive adult female overweight and obese patients attending the outpatient endocrine department were included in this study. Clinical evaluation specifically selected a priori the following indexes: obesity age of onset, parenthood obesity, carbohydrate craving, binge eating with purging, obesity degree (defined by the body mass index (BMI)--weight (kg)/height (m(2))), body fat distribution (defined by the abdominal--thigh ratio (A/T)) and initial weight loss after medical treatment. Psychological evaluation was performed with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). In the last 30 patients, the Edinburgh Inventory of Manual Preference (EIMP) and the corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) test were also performed. RESULTS: Clinical characteristics defined a priori were independent variables as evaluated by contingency table analysis. Factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significantly different MMPI profile, according to parental obesity, with post-hoc significantly higher scores on the hypochondriasis (Hs), paranoia (Pa), psychasthenia (Pt) and schizophrenia (Sc) scales in patients with obese parents. Obese patients presented significantly higher dichotomized manual preference indexes in relation to overweight patients. Parental obesity, binge eating behaviour with purging, body fat distribution and the dichotomized manual preference index were independent significant factors for the ACTH response in the CRH test, together explaining 41% of the response variability. Age of onset of obesity and the dichotomized manual preference index were independent and significant factors for the cortisol response, together explaining 37% of its variability. A non-normal distribution was found for the ACTH response: high- and low-responders presented significantly different MMPI profiles, with high-responders presenting higher scores on all clinical scales except masculinity/femininity (Mf). CONCLUSION: Overweight/obese subjects with parental obesity present a distinctive personality profile and a higher ACTH response in the CRH test. Cerebral asymmetry may be a relevant factor for obesity development and is associated with the HPA reactivity. HPA reactivity is a sensitive index integrating clinical, psychological and neural asymmetric factors. International Journal of Obesity (2001) 25, 24-32

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1998

Transient hyperandrogenemia and its relation to ovulation.

OBJECTIVE: To study serum androgen levels in relation to ovulation. DESIGN: Prospective, controlled clinical study. SETTING: Outpatient endocrine department of a public central hospital. PATIENT(S): Forty-eight consecutive young, nonobese, hirsute women. INTERVENTION(S): Endocrine evaluation between days 2 and 5 and between days 22 and 25 of a spontaneous menstrual cycle. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Levels of FSH, LH, E2, P, androstenedione (A), total testosterone (T), DHEAS, and 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP). RESULT(S): Hyperandrogenemia occurred equally in a persistent (56%) or a transient form (44%). Transient hyperandrogenemia was more common in the early follicular phase in ovulatory cycles and in the second phase in delayed or anovulatory cycles (63% and 37% versus 10% and 90%, respectively). In delayed or anovulatory cycles, A, total T, and DHEAS increased significantly during the delayed follicular phase. CONCLUSION(S): In delayed or anovulatory cycles, transient hyperandrogenemia occurs late in the follicular phase because of previous ineffective steroidogenesis. In contrast, in ovulatory cycles, transient hyperandrogenemia occurs mainly in the early follicular phase. After ovulation, effective aromatization attenuates the condition. During evaluation and medical treatment of hirsutism, physicians should consider the common occurrence of transient hyperandrogenemia and its relation to ovulation.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Dyslipidaemia in female overweight and obese patients. Relation to anthropometric and endocrine factors.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize serum lipid abnormalities in overweight and obese female patients and to quantify the relative importance of associated factors. METHODS: Cross sectional study at the first visit to the out-patient department. 237 consecutive overweight and obese female patients (age 31 +/- 14 y, body mass index (BMI) 34.2 +/- 6.0 kg/m2) were studied. Evaluation included a questionnaire-based assessment of dietary and physical activity habits, determination of anthropometric indexes (BMI, abdominal/thigh ratio (A/T) and conicity index (CI)) and endocrine evaluation. Statistical analysis by factorial ANOVA and multiple regression. RESULTS: Dyslipidaemia was present in 46% of the patients, with hypercholesterolaemia (35%) being more frequent than hypertriglyceridaemia (10%). Age but not dietary habits or physical activity patterns was significantly related to serum lipid concentrations, independently accounting for 6-10% of their variability. Pharmacological drug use resulted in increased serum triglyceride concentrations, explaining less than 5% of their variability. Serum cholesterol concentrations were not significantly related either to anthropometric or to endocrine indexes. For serum triglyceride concentrations, anthropometric indexes accounted for 6% of their variability and endocrine indexes-postprandial insulin, serum cortisol, testosterone and androstenedione together accounted for 32%. CONCLUSION: In mild to moderate female obesity of the peripheral type, dyslipidaemia is common. However the most common abnormality, hypercholesterolaemia is not significantly related to anthropometric or endocrine indexes, while these together account for more than one third of variability in serum triglyceride concentrations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Measles transmission in health facilities during outbreaks.

BACKGROUND: Consultation waiting rooms and similar medical settings, either public or private, are places where children have higher probability of acquiring some infectious diseases, especially during outbreaks. METHODS: During a measles outbreak which occurred in Lisbon in 1989 a case-control study was carried out in a major paediatric hospital to estimate the risk of measles infection associated with the exposure in medical settings. The statistical analysis was performed with data matched on age, using conditional logistic regression, to reach a multivariate model which explains the risk in the presence of the main variables of interest. RESULTS: The crude odds ratio (OR), based upon 72 cases and 216 controls, in children younger than 12 years, was 4.1 (P < 0.001). Hospital emergency settings had an OR of 4.9 (P < 0.001) and private physicians' offices an OR of 1.4 (P = 0.689). Non-whites showed a 2.4-fold increase in the crude probability of getting measles, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.118). Children who had a recent contact with cases of measles had an OR of 14.7 (P = 0.005). Immunization against measles was an important protective factor (OR = 0.1; P < 0.001), as was attendance at kindergartens or wet nurses, although less significant (OR = 0.4; P = 0.051). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the need for children to avoid unnecessary exposure in medical settings during measles outbreaks, especially if those settings are crowded and result in long waiting periods before a consultation.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1988

Superoxide radical generation by Amadori compounds.

Several D-sugars were incubated with L-lysine or with L-arginine for 10 days. The resulting compounds are able to reduce nitrobluetetrazolium (NBT). This is prevented by superoxide dismutase (SOD), indicating that the superoxide radical is generated by the resulting Amadori compounds. The formation of superoxide radical in vivo, as a result of nonenzymatic glycosylation of proteins, may be considered to be a contributory factor to the appearance of chronic complications of diabetes.

Carbohydrate Metabolism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Oxygen radical generation by Maillard compounds.

Amino sugars such as galactosamine are hepatotoxic. It has been verified that toxic hepatitis induced by galactosamine is similar to that of CCl4 poisoning, and that both were inhibited by O2* scavengers. Fructosamine results from the union of glucose with the epsilon-amine of lysine. A test for fructosamine quantification is based on nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction, in which O2- is involved, the reduction being inhibited in the presence of superoxide dismutase (SOD). Given these facts, we attempted to elucidate if galactosamine and glucosamine reduce NBT and if that reduction is inhibited by SOD. This was confirmed. Subsequently, we incubated aminoacids (glycine, lysine, alanine) with glucose and galactose for 7 days and studied the action of the incubation products on NBT, using amino acids and sugars as controls. We found that NBT reduction increases proportionally to the length of incubation time of glucose/galactose with lysine, but not with other amino acids. Reduction of NBT by the Amadori compounds formed is inhibited by SOD. We suggest that oxygen radical generation by Amadori compounds must be taken into consideration as one cause of damage in diabetes of long duration.

Amino Sugars↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Pheochromocytoma--apropos a clinical case].

A case of a 43-year-old woman with severe sustained hypertension resistant to many antihypertensive drugs, frequent hypertensive crisis and symptoms suggestive of pheochromocytoma (symptomatic triad) is presented. Three of the four determinations of the urinary catecholamines metabolites have been normal as it was the only determination of plasmatic catecholamines. Abdominal sonography and CT scan detected a left adrenal mass, that have been histologically confirmed, after surgery, to be a pheochromocytoma. After adrenalectomy, the patient symptoms disappeared but she maintained mild hypertension easily controlled with drugs. The finding of normal plasmatic and urinary catecholamines values in a patient with sustained hypertension may suggest that we are handling with a case of essential hypertension and a superimposed pheochromocytoma with paroxysmal secretion. Some considerations are made essentially about specificity and sensitivity of diagnostic tests.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗