The effect of L-cysteine on appetite in humans

High protein diets suppress appetite and facilitate weight loss. However, they are difficult to adhere to. Understanding the mechanisms by which protein suppresses appetite may establish targets for more acceptable interventions to treat or prevent obesity. Receptor systems that respond to amino acids, the products of protein digestion, have been identified. However, the specific mechanisms regulating protein-induced satiety are unknown. Previous work within our laboratory has investigated the effect of specific amino acids which act as ligands for the following G-protein coupled receptors: CaR, T1R1/T1R3 and GPRC6A on food intake in rodents. L-cysteine activates the CaR, the T1R1/T1R3 and the GPRC6A. A diet that includes high levels of whey protein, which contains high levels of L-cysteine, has been reported to be more satiating and to suppress circulating levels of the orexigenic hormone ghrelin to a greater extent than other types of protein in humans. Pilot studies suggested that ligands for the GPRC6A receptor can reduce food intake in rodents, and that this effect is at least partly mediated by a reduction in circulating ghrelin levels. The putative role of L-cysteine in food intake in humans was investigated. The effect of a high protein meal on circulating levels of cysteine was determined. Subsequently, the time course of changes in the circulating levels of L-cysteine following oral consumption of L-cysteine was established. Finally, the effects of different doses of cysteine on subjective assessment of appetite and acute food intake were investigated. These studies suggested that oral administration of L-cysteine at 0.04 or 0.07g/kg resulted in supraphysiological levels of L-cysteine in circulation. Oral administration of L-cysteine significantly influenced subjective markers of appetite compared to vehicle or glycine controls, but did not affect food intake. These data suggest that L-cysteine may be suitable for manipulating appetite in humans.Open Acces

A multistage hierarchical algorithm for hand shape recognition

This paper represents a multistage hierarchical algorithm for hand shape recognition using principal component analysis (PCA) as a dimensionality reduction and a feature extraction method. The paper discusses the effect of image blurring to build data manifolds using PCA and the different ways to construct these manifolds. In_order to classify the hand shape of an incoming sign object and to be invariant to linear transformations like translation and rotation, a multistage hierarchical classifier structure is used. Computer generated images for different Irish Sign Language shapes are used in testing. Experimental results are given to show the accuracy and performance of the proposed algorithm

Characterising resistance to Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) in Turnip (Brassica rapa rapa)

A Brassica rapa rapa L. line has been identified with high resistance to seven isolates of Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) (including UK 1, CHN 5, CZE 1, CDN 1, GBR 6, POL 1 and UK 4) representing the major pathotypes of the virus. Resistant plants showed no symptoms following mechanical inoculation with TuMV and no virus was detected in the plants by ELISA. A cross was made between the rapid-cycling Brassica rapa line R-o-18 (which has been found to be susceptible to all the TuMV isolates) and a plant from the resistant B. rapa rapa line. The small amount of the F1 generation seed available from this cross has been grown and inoculated with the seven TuMV isolates. F1 plants were uniformly resistant to the UK 1 isolate of TuMV, uniformly susceptible to the CHN 5 isolate (only 2 plants inoculated) and segregated for resistance and susceptibility to the other five TuMV isolates. This suggested that the parent B. rapa rapa plant used in the cross was probably homozygous for one, or more dominant resistance genes to the UK 1 isolate of TuMV and heterozygous for one, or more dominant resistance genes to the other TuMV isolates. When self seed (S1) from the parent plant from the resistant line was inoculated with the TuMV isolates GBR 6 and UK 4, the segregation for the former isolate was not significantly different from 3 resistant to 1 susceptible, whereas for the latter isolate, the segregation was 4 resistant to 9 susceptible, suggesting resistance to GBR 6 is controlled by a single dominant gene, whereas resistance to UK 4 is controlled by two or more dominant resistance genes. The putative resistance genes appear to confer hitherto unknown dominant TuMV resistance specificities, and in combination have the exciting potential of providing durable resistance to TuMV

Superspace formulation and correlation functions of 3d superconformal field theories

We study $3d$ SCFTs in the superspace formalism and discuss superfields and on-shell higher spin current multiplets in free $3d$ SCFTs with $\mathcal{N}= 1,2,3,4$ and $6$ superconformal symmetry. For $\mathcal{N}=1$ 3d SCFTs we determine the superconformal invariants in superspace needed for constructing 3-point functions of higher spin operators, find the non-linear relations between the invariants and consequently write down all the independent invariant structures, both parity even and odd, for various 3-point functions of higher spin operators.Comment: typos corrected, references added. Accepted for publication in JHE

ϵ\epsilon-Expansion in the Gross-Neveu Model from Conformal Field Theory

We compute the anomalous dimensions of a class of operators of the form $(\bar\psi\psi)^p$ and $(\bar\psi\psi)^p\psi$ to leading order in $\epsilon$ in the Gross-Neveu model in $2+\epsilon$ dimensions. We use the techniques developed in arXiv: 1505.00963.Comment: 16 pages, some explanations in section 2 improved, references added and typos correcte

Mohammed ‘Mo’ Amin: a pioneer in African journalism?

This week, Polis hosted a screening of the documentary ‘Mo & Me’ followed by a Q&A with its producer, Salim Amin, and chaired by Dr Wendy Willems. Blog post by Priyanka Deo, Polis reporte

Lively Infrastructure

This paper examines the social life and sociality of urban infrastructure. Drawing on a case study of land occupations and informal settlements in the city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, where the staples of life such as water, electricity, shelter and sanitation are co-constructed by the poor, the paper argues that infrastructures – visible and invisible – are deeply implicated in not only the making and unmaking of individual lives, but also in the experience of community, solidarity and struggle for recognition. Infrastructure is proposed as a gathering force and political intermediary of considerable significance in shaping the rights of the poor to the city and their capacity to claim those rights.This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is published by Sage in Theory, Culture and Society here: http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/10/06/0263276414548490.abstract

On urban failure

This essay considers the meaning and implications of “urban failure.” Agreeing with accounts of urban future as uncertain and perilous at a time of increased importance of cities in world affairs, the essay cautions against risk mitigation strategies premised upon smart technologies, top-down management, and community vigilance. It argues instead that cities are regulated by their sociotechnical systems of provisioning and circulation, sometimes keeping adversity at bay and sometimes exacerbating crisis. The essay looks at the aspects of “machine culture” that help to keep cities abreast (and sometimes ahead) of the uncertainties and risks they face. “Urban failure” is traced to the recursions of distributed intelligence

Epilogue: The machinery of urban resilience

Cities are increasingly being recognized as sites of resilience, or as centres of life that will have to become more resilient in a world of intensifying hazard and risk. The literature on urban resilience tends to emphasize either the qualities of human cooperation and solidarity or those of the city’s intelligence capabilities—human or technological. This paper focuses, instead, on the city’s supply networks, arguing that the “machinic” qualities of mass provisioning and the flexibilities capacity of the city’s infrastructures may be key to the capacity of a city to mitigate against, or bounce back from, adversity.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/3/308