Protein structure prediction is one of the most important and difficult problems in computational molecular biology. Protein threading represents one of the most promising techniques for this problem. One of the critical steps in protein threading, called fold recognition, is to choose the best-fit template for the query protein with the structure to be predicted. The standard method for templa...

BACKGROUND Accelerated infant growth is associated with an altered, mostly adverse adult cardiometabolic risk profile. The importance of genetic and environmental factors to these associations is unclear. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine the importance of genetic and environmental factors in the associations between infant growth and adult cardiometabolic risk factors (anthropometric ch...

The work reported here sought to describe the feeding patterns of Chilean children up to 18 months old and their relation to nutritional status. To this end, a survey was conducted in 1993 of 9330 Chilean children under 18 months old who were receiving care through the National Health Service System-which provides care for 75% of all children under age 6. The children, whose mothers or caretake...

BACKGROUND To our knowledge, no studies have reported on the long-term variability of vitamin D status in adolescents. OBJECTIVE To determine whether tracking of vitamin D status occurs in healthy adolescents, we assessed the variability of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] every 2 y over a 10-y period in a longitudinal cohort of adolescents living in Johannesburg, South Africa (latitude 26°S). ...

This study was conducted to investigate growth and the complications in the hospitalized pediatric patients receiving either enteral (n = 26) or parenteral (n = 15) nutrition. Anthropometric measures as well as the results of biochemical analyses and complete blood counts were recorded. Weight, height and weight for height were expressed in z scores. The improvement in z scores for the 26 child...

Background: To our knowledge, no studies have reported on the long-term variability of vitamin D status in adolescents. Objective: To determine whether tracking of vitamin D status occurs in healthy adolescents, we assessed the variability of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] every 2 y over a 10-y period in a longitudinal cohort of adolescents living in Johannesburg, South Africa (latitude 268S). D...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate if mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can be used for obesity screening in preschool children. METHODS 1,090 children aged from 12 to 59.99 months were studied. Personal information, weight, height and MUAC were obtained. Sensitivity and specificity to detect obese children were calculated for MUAC to age and MUAC to height z scores. Obesity was defined as weight to heig...

INTRODUCTION The prevalence of overweight and obesity among American Indian youth may be 2 to 3 times higher than the national average. Whether weight gain during discrete out-of-school periods is occurring and contributing to the prevalence of overweight and obesity in this population is unknown. METHODS We obtained repeated cross-sectional body mass index (BMI) samples from third-, fourth-,...

BACKGROUND To date, little is known for pacing in ultra-endurance athletes competing in a non-stop event and in a multi-stage event, and especially, about pacing in a multi-stage event with different disciplines during the stages. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of age, sex and calendar year on triathlon performance and variation of performance by events (i.e.,...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether indoor coal combustion for heating, which releases pollutants into the air, affects early childhood growth. DESIGN A prospective longitudinal study, with growth measurements extracted from medical records of the children's well-child care visits at age 36 months. Data were compiled from self-administered questionnaires and medical records, both completed at 2 time...