Understanding muscle adaptation to various stimuli is difficult because of the complex nature of stimuli and responses. In particular, responses to perturbations in energy metabolism require careful examination, because they may involve both structural and functional elements. To estimate the structural component of the myocyte adaptation to energetic deficiency, we used transgenic mice with bl...

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is most commonly caused by the A3243G mutation of mitochondrial DNA. The capacity to utilize fatty acid or glucose as a fuel source and how such dynamic switches of metabolic fuel preferences and transcriptional modulation of adaptive mechanism in response to energy deficiency in MELAS syndrome have not ...

Adenylate kinases (AKs) are phosphotransferases that regulate the cellular adenine nucleotide composition and play a critical role in the energy homeostasis of all tissues. The AK2 isoenzyme is expressed in the mitochondrial intermembrane space and is mutated in reticular dysgenesis (RD), a rare form of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in humans. RD is characterized by a maturation arres...

Different nutritional disorders prevail at different stages in the life cycle, e.g. growth retardation in the fetus, protein energy deficiency in children, noncommunicable conditions in adults. The scope of nutrition assessment has changed over the past 2 decades. The focus shifted from pregnant and lactating mothers and children, through functional consequences of malnutrition to deficiency di...

G-protein coupled receptor 26 (GPR26) is a brain-specific orphan GPCR with high expression in the brain region that controls satiety. Depletion of GPR26 has been shown to increase fat storage in C. elegans, whereas GPR26 deficiency in the hypothalamus is associated with high genetic susceptibility to the onset of obesity in mice. However, the metabolic function of GPR26 in mammals remains elusi...

I . The effect of malnutrition early in life on the subsequent learning ability of male rats was studied when they were malnourished and after they had been rehabilitated. The HebbWilliams Test of animal intelligence was used. 2. Animals were malnourished from weaning, from birth, or from conception. 3. The rats used for tests were fed on a ( I ) low-protein, (2) low-calorie, or (3) stock diet....

OBJECTIVE To analyze the occurrence of anemia and iron deficiency in children aged 1 to 5 years and the association of these events and retinol deficiency. METHODS This was an observational analytic cross-sectional study conducted in Vitoria, ES, Brazil, between April and August of 2008, with healthy children aged 1 to 5 years (n=692) that lived in areas covered by primary healthcare services...

OBJECTIVE Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) is an alternative approach for introducing complementary foods to infants that emphasises infant self-feeding rather than adult spoon-feeding. Here we examined healthcare professionals' and mothers' knowledge of, attitudes to and experiences with, BLW. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Healthcare professionals (n=31) and mothers who had used BLW (n=20) complete...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate food intake, occurrence of energy-protein malnutrition and anemia, and intestinal iron absorption in children with chronic liver disease. METHODS The study included 25 children with chronic liver disease, 14 with cholestasis and 11 without cholestasis. The age varied between 6.5 months and 12.1 years. Intestinal iron absorption was evaluated by the increment of serum iro...

Respiratory-chain-complex subunits in mitochondria are encoded by nuclear or mitochondrial DNA. This property might have profound implications for the phenotypic expression of mutations affecting oxidative phosphorylation complexes. The aim of this paper is to study the importance of the origin of the mutation (nuclear or mitochondrial) on the expression of mitochondrial defects. We have theref...