Browsing by Author "Muñoz Rodríguez, José Ramón"

Background: The outcomes of bariatric surgery are very irregular and mostly unpredictable. The search for variables of predictive value is encouraged to help preventing therapeutic failures. Objective: We aimed to confirm the hypothesis that preexisting eating behaviors could predict neuroendocrine and metabolic outcomes of gastric bypass surgery in morbidly obese subjects. Methods: Twenty-one morbidly obese patients from the Bariatric Surgery Program of our hospital were selected according to the specific inclusion and exclusion criteria for this study. The subjects filled out a validated questionnaire to quantify the "loss-of-control" (LC) dimension of food craving and provided serum samples at the onset of the study and 1 year after gastric bypass surgery. Hematological, metabolic, and hormonal variables were studied by conventional clinical tests and enzyme immunoassays and checked for correlations with LC both before and after surgery. Results: Those patients that had exhibited worse eating control at the beginning of the study experienced a better metabolic response 1 year after surgery in terms of reduction of serum insulin, HOMA1-IR, HOMA2-IR, and vitamin D1; all these variables were inversely correlated with presurgical LC. Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels showed the same tendency; in fact, BDNF significantly decreased only in those patients with worse eating control. Conclusions: Problematic eating behaviors may predict a better response of insulin resistance and a specific reduction of serum BDNF in morbidly obese patients after gastric bypass surgery.

Background: Preclinical work revealed significant interactions between ligands of the histamine H3 receptor and different drugs of abuse. In the case of psychostimulants, the results reported are somewhat controversial and human data are still scarce, despite the fact that an inverse agonist of the H3 receptor (pitolisant) has reached the market after approval for the treatment of narcolepsy. Aims: We have studied associations between histamine H3 receptor gene variants and cocaine use disorder to increase the knowledge of the possible involvement of histamine H3 receptor in drug abuse. Methods: Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms of the histamine H3 receptor gene were genotyped by using a multiplexing assay in 248 samples of subjects with cocaine use disorder and 500 randomized samples of subjects representative of the Spanish population. Results: The study of the epidemiological information associated to the samples revealed that subjects with cocaine use disorder broadly abused alcohol, tobacco and cannabinoids. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs3787430 and rs74627870) were found significantly associated with the occurrence of addiction and one more (rs13042865) was specifically related to the severity of cocaine dependence within drug abusers. Conclusions: The associations found in this study further extend the hypothesis that histamine H3 receptor function could be relevant in drug abuse in general and cocaine addiction in particular.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of an enrolled degree course on health and eating habits in a population of Spanish university students (17-26 y of age). Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out with 648 students. Volunteers were stratified into biomedical (medicine and nursing, 48%) and non-biomedical students (other fields of study, 52%). Data were collected using previously self-reported questionnaires focused on anthropometric and sociodemographic profile, lifestyle practices, body image perception, health consciousness, eating habits, physical activity, and food addiction. Mann-Whitney U tests and Pearson's χ2 tests were applied to identify associations between the two groups. Results: Self-reported body mass index was higher for the non-biomedical group (22.1 ± 3.1 versus 23 ± 5 kg/m2; P < 0.05), which also reported less regularity in taking meals (91 versus 95%; P < 0.05), eating fewer colored vegetables and fruits (65 versus 77%; P < 0.001) and a higher alcohol intake (27 versus 20%; P < 0.001). In contrast, the proportion of students that showed more interest in the diet-health duality (92 versus 85%; P < 0.001) and a desire to adopt healthier habits (80 versus 78%; P < 0.05) was larger in the biomedical group. Dietary habits, obtained by means of a food frequency questionnaire, suggested that biomedical students make healthier food choices. Additionally, the group of biomedical students took more walks per week (5.8 ± 1.8 versus 5.5 ± 1.9; P < 0.05). Conclusions: Healthier lifestyle factors cluster into the biomedical group in various components of the study, except food addiction where no differences were observed. The data presented here suggest the necessity to develop health promotion strategies targeting university students.

Background: The outcomes of bariatric surgery are very irregular and mostly unpredictable. The search for variables of predictive value is encouraged to help preventing therapeutic failures. Objective: We aimed to confirm the hypothesis that preexisting eating behaviors could predict neuroendocrine and metabolic outcomes of gastric bypass surgery in morbidly obese subjects. Methods: Twenty-one morbidly obese patients from the Bariatric Surgery Program of our hospital were selected according to the specific inclusion and exclusion criteria for this study. The subjects filled out a validated questionnaire to quantify the "loss-of-control" (LC) dimension of food craving and provided serum samples at the onset of the study and 1 year after gastric bypass surgery. Hematological, metabolic, and hormonal variables were studied by conventional clinical tests and enzyme immunoassays and checked for correlations with LC both before and after surgery. Results: Those patients that had exhibited worse eating control at the beginning of the study experienced a better metabolic response 1 year after surgery in terms of reduction of serum insulin, HOMA1-IR, HOMA2-IR, and vitamin D1; all these variables were inversely correlated with presurgical LC. Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels showed the same tendency; in fact, BDNF significantly decreased only in those patients with worse eating control. Conclusions: Problematic eating behaviors may predict a better response of insulin resistance and a specific reduction of serum BDNF in morbidly obese patients after gastric bypass surgery.