ObjectiveThe use of the anthropometric indices of adiposity, especially body mass index and waist circumference in the prediction of diabetes mellitus has been widely explored. Recently, a new body composition index, the body adiposity index was proposed. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of body mass index, waist circumference, and body adiposity index in the risk assessment for type 2 diabetes mellitus.Design and methodsA total of 1,572 individuals from the general population of Vitoria City, Brazil and 620 Amerindians from the Aracruz Indian Reserve, Brazil were randomly selected. BMI, waist circumference, and BAI were determined according to a standard protocol. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was diagnosed by the presence of fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL or by the use of antidiabetic drugs.ResultsThe area under the curve was similar for all anthropometric indices tested in the Amerindian population, but with very different sensitivities or specificities. In women from the general population, the area under the curve of waist circumference was significantly higher than that of the body adiposity index. Regarding risk assessment for type 2 diabetes mellitus, the body adiposity index was a better risk predictor than body mass index and waist circumference in the Amerindian population and was the index with highest odds ratio for type 2 diabetes mellitus in men from the general population, while in women from the general population waist circumference was the best risk predictor.ConclusionBody adiposity index was the best risk predictor for type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Amerindian population and men from the general population. Our data suggest that the body adiposity index is a useful tool for the risk assessment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in admixture populations.

Sexually selected signals are common in many animals, though little reported in social insects. We investigated the occurrence of male visual signals mediating the dominance relationships among males and female choice of sexual partner in the paper wasp Polistes simillimus. Males have three conspicuous, variable and sexually dimorphic traits: black pigmentation on the head, a pair of yellow abdominal spots and body size differences. By conducting behavioral assays, we found that none of the three visual traits are associated with male-male dominance relationship. However, males with higher proportion of black facial pigmentation and bigger yellow abdominal spots are more likely chosen as sexual partners. Also, after experimentally manipulating the proportion of black pigment on males' face, we found that females may evaluate male facial coloration during the choice of a sexual partner. Thus, the black pigmentation on P. simillimus male's head appears to play a role as a sexually selected visual signal. We suggest that sexual selection is a common force in Polistes and we highlight the importance of this group as a model for the study of visual communication in insects.

Background The association between diabetes and obesity is very well established. Faced with this, several anthropometric indices of adiposity are often involved in studies on diabetes. Our main goal in this paper is to evaluate the association between body adiposity index (BAI) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a sample of the Brazilian population after 5-year follow-up. Methods The data used come from the Baependi Heart Study cohort, which consists of two periods: cycle 1 (2005–2006) and cycle 2 (2010–2013). Individuals of both sexes (n = 1121) were selected by excluding participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus at baseline or those that were lost to follow-up. Results The diabetic subjects showed higher systolic blood pressure, BAI, body mass index, waist circumference and fasting glucose levels. In addition, using mixed-effects logistic regression, we found that the elevation of a single unit of BAI represented an increase of 8.4% in the risk of a patient developing T2DM (OR = 1.084 [95% CI 1.045–1.124]). Conclusions Obesity is recognised as one of the most important risk factors for T2DM and BAI has proven to be a useful tool in estimating the risk of a patient developing T2DM in a Brazilian population.

OBJECTIVES:Increased arterial stiffness is an important determinant of the risk of cardiovascular disease. Lipid profile impairment, especially hypercholesterolemia, is associated with stiffer blood vessels. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine which of the five circulating lipid components (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides) is the best predictor of increased arterial stiffness in an urban Brazilian population.METHODS:A random sample of 1,662 individuals from the general population of Vitoria, Brazil (25-64 years), was selected, and lipid components were measured using standard methods. Pulse wave velocity was measured using a non-invasive automatic device, and increased arterial stiffness was defined as a pulse wave velocity ≥10 m/s.RESULTS:In men, only total cholesterol (OR=1.59; CI=1.02 to 2.48, p=0.04) was associated with the risk of increased arterial stiffness. In women, HDL-C (OR=1.99; CI=1.18 to 3.35, p=0.01) and non-HDL-C (OR=1.61; CI=1.01 to 2.56, p=0.04) were good predictors of the risk of increased arterial stiffness. However, these associations were only found in postmenopausal women (OR=2.06; CI=1.00 to 4.26, p=0.05 for HDL-C and OR=1.83; CI=1.01 to 3.33, p=0.04 for non-HDL-C).CONCLUSION:Our findings indicate that both HDL-C and non-HDL-C are good predictors of the risk of increased arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women in an urban Brazilian population and may be useful tools for assessing the risk of arterial stiffness.

O presente artigo discute o conceito de função executiva enquanto um processo de integração temporal, envolvendo funções como o ajuste preparatório, o controle inibitório e a memória de trabalho. Em seguida questiona o modelo multicomponente de Baddeley para a memória de trabalho e propõe uma nova classificação da função executiva que engloba os modelos de Fuster e de Baddeley. Finalmente revisita o conceito neurobiológico de aprendizado e sugere uma abordagem para se avaliar os déficits de aprendizagem que leve em conta a função executiva como a pedra angular do processo cognitivo.

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Given the results of the present study, we speculate that RF-EMR does not promote CNS impairment, but suggest that it may lead to stressful behavioral patterns.

Objective To estimate whether the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM) is biologically accurate for the diagnosis of Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using a biological-based classifier built by a special method of multivariate analysis of a large dataset of a small sample (much more variables than subjects), holding neurophysiological, behavioral, and psychological variables. Methods Twenty typically developing boys and 19 boys diagnosed with ADHD, aged 10–13 years, were examined using the Attentional Network Test (ANT) with recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs). From 774 variables, a reduced number of latent variables (LVs) were extracted with a clustering of variables method (CLV), for further reclassification of subjects using the k-means method. This approach allowed a multivariate analysis to be applied to a significantly larger number of variables than the number of cases. Results From datasets including ERPs from the mid-frontal, mid-parietal, right frontal, and central scalp areas, we found 82% of agreement between DSM and biological-based classifications. The kappa index between DSM and behavioral/psychological/neurophysiological data was 0.75, which is regarded as a “substantial level of agreement”. Discussion The CLV is a useful method for multivariate analysis of datasets with much less subjects than variables. In this study, a correlation is found between the biological-based classifier and the DSM outputs for the classification of subjects as either ADHD or not. This result suggests that DSM clinically describes a biological condition, supporting its validity for ADHD diagnostics.