According to a recent study, maternal preintervention 25(OH)D (maternal 25-hydroxy-vitamin D) when given at a higher dose, decreased the risk of autism, decreased the risk of ADHD diagnosis, and lowered autistic symptom load. The conclusions of this study were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This randomized study was part of the COpenhagen Prospective Study on Neuro-PSYCHiatric Development (COPYCH) project and consisted of 700 healthy mother-child pairs who enrolled at the 24^th week of pregnancy. 25(OH)D was measured at inclusion and 623 mothers underwent randomization to receive either the high-dose of 2800 IU/d (n=315) or standard dose of 400 IU/d (n=308) Vitamin D3 until one week after childbirth. At 10 years of age, diagnoses and symptom load of autism and ADHD, respectively was made utilizing the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version.

At the end of the study, it was seen from the psychopathologic evaluation that 591 (10-year old) children completed it. Out of this, 16 and 65 children were identified with autism and ADHD, respectively. A total of 496 children participated in the vitamin D3 trial (high-dose: 246; standard-dose: 250), out of which 12 and 58 children were identified with autism and ADHD, respectively.

Based on the above results, it can be concluded that higher levels of maternal preintervention 25(OH)D may be associated with a decreased risk of autism, lower autistic symptom load, and decreased risk of ADHD diagnosis. However, supplementation with high-dose vitamin D3 may not be associated with the risk of autism and ADHD.

A recent study suggests that that infertile men with obesity and low vitamin D status can attain adequate serum calcidiol (25OHD) levels through the supplementation of high-dose cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). This study’s findings were published in The British journal of nutrition.

The study was a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial conducted at a single center, with 307 infertile men assigned to either active treatment or a placebo for a period of 150 days. Participants in the active group were given an initial oral bolus of 300 000 mg of vitamin D3, followed by daily supplementation of 1400 mg of vitamin D3 and 500 mg of calcium.

At baseline, it was observed that men with a normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m²) had notably higher levels of serum 25OHD compared to men who were overweight (BMI 25-30 kg/m²) and obese (BMI > 30 kg/m²) (48 nmol/l vs. 45 nmol/l and 39 nmol/l, respectively). Subsequently, after the intervention, it was found that men with normal weight, overweight, and obesity who received vitamin D3 treatment exhibited significantly higher levels of serum 25OHD in comparison to men in the corresponding placebo group (92 nmol/l vs. 53 nmol/l, 87 nmol/l vs. 49 nmol/l, and 85 nmol/l vs. 48 nmol/l; respectively).

Based on the above results, it can be concluded that high-dose vitamin D3 supplementation in obese infertile men with low vitamin D levels is effective in attaining optimal serum 25OHD levels.

A recent study demonstrated that a nomogram prediction model can effectively assess the independent factors affecting patients with postoperative intestinal fistula from Crohn disease (CD). This study was published in the journal, Medicine.

This was a retrospective multicenter case-control study that included 240 patients with CD, who were randomly divided into a training set (n=168) and a validation set (n=72). Univariate analysis was conducted for relevant factors and the statistically significant factors were further analyzed using multivariate logistic regression to determine the independent influencing factors. Subsequently, a nomogram model was developed to predict the occurrence of postoperative intestinal fistula in patients with CD, and the accuracy of this model was assessed using calibration curves.

Univariate analysis demonstrated that disease behavior, intestinal perforation, abdominal abscess, systemic immunoinflammatory index, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and prognostic nutrition index were all factors affecting postoperative intestinal fistula in CD patients. After the multivariate logistic regression analysis, it was found that the independent influencing factors were the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, disease behavior, prognostic nutrition index, and Crohn disease activity index score. The area under the curve, after assessing the validation set was 0.899, indicating good predictive accuracy of the nomogram model.

Based on the above findings of the study, it can be concluded that the nomogram prediction model can effectively predict the risk of postoperative intestinal fistula in patients with CD.

According to a recent study, an aerobic training intervention program was found to be safe, well tolerated, and effective in reducing fatigue and musculoskeletal pain in male patients with psoriasis (PsO) without arthritis (PsA). This study was published in the journal, Nutrients. 

In this interventional study, 118 male patients with PsO were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups, with an equal number of patients (n=59) in both. The intervention comprised of an aerobic training program on a treadmill (3 sessions/week), which consisted of a warm-up, followed by a 35-50 min treadmill exercise (increasing 5 min/4 weeks), with a 50-65% peak heart rate (increasing 5%/4 weeks), and finally, cooling down. Health assessment questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI), functional assessment of chronic illness therapy fatigue scale (FACIT-Fatigue), and visual analogue scale (VAS) were used for pre and post-intervention comparison. Other parameters assessed were nutritional intake, lipid profile, maximal aerobic power, body composition, and serum markers of muscle damage. 

At the end of the study period, it was found that compared to baseline, HAQ-DI, FACIT-Fatigue, and VAS scores were significantly improved without increasing markers of muscle damage. Similarly, lipid profile, fat mass percentage, and maximal oxygen consumption were also improved. 

From the above results, it can be concluded that the 16-week aerobic training program may be safe, well tolerated, and effective in psoriatic patients without PsA.