H-1-MRS of femoral red and yellow bone marrow fat composition and water content in healthy young men and women at 3 T

Objectives There is a discrepancy between studies suggesting that higher bone marrow fat saturation is associated with impaired health, and studies suggesting that erythropoiesis increases red bone marrow (RBM) fat saturation in young healthy individuals. Here, we seeked to elucidate these discrepancies by using long TE magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to study both yellow bone marrow (YBM) and RBM in the femur of healthy volunteers. Materials and methods Thirty-three young healthy volunteers (17 females), age range 20-31 years, underwent long TE H-1 MRS at 3.0 T of RBM and YBM fat composition in the left femur. The water content of the bone marrow depots was measured using short TE MRS. Results The female participants displayed a lower unsaturation in the sampled RBM volume (RBMV) than the males (P <0.01) without displaying a concomitant difference in YBM (P = 0.42). They also showed a higher water content and broader spectral linewidths in RBM (P = 0.04). The water content in RBM strongly associated with broader spectral linewidths (R = 0.887, P MUCH LESS-THAN 0.01) and inversely with RBMV fat unsaturation (R = - 0.365, P = 0.04). Discussion These results partly support the notion that females display higher rate of erythropoiesis and lower fat unsaturation in RBM.Peer reviewe

Cardiometabolic risk factor clustering in patients with deficient branched‐chain amino acid catabolism: A case‐control study

AbstractClassical organic acidemias (OAs) result from defective mitochondrial catabolism of branched‐chain amino acids (BCAAs). Abnormal mitochondrial function relates to oxidative stress, ectopic lipids and insulin resistance (IR). We investigated whether genetically impaired function of mitochondrial BCAA catabolism associates with cardiometabolic risk factors, altered liver and muscle energy metabolism, and IR. In this case‐control study, 31 children and young adults with propionic acidemia (PA), methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) or isovaleric acidemia (IVA) were compared with 30 healthy young humans using comprehensive metabolic phenotyping including in vivo 31P/1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy of liver and skeletal muscle. Among all OAs, patients with PA exhibited abdominal adiposity, IR, fasting hyperglycaemia and hypertriglyceridemia as well as increased liver fat accumulation, despite dietary energy intake within recommendations for age and sex. In contrast, patients with MMA more frequently featured higher energy intake than recommended and had a different phenotype including hepatomegaly and mildly lower skeletal muscle ATP content. In skeletal muscle of patients with PA, slightly lower inorganic phosphate levels were found. However, hepatic ATP and inorganic phosphate concentrations were not different between all OA patients and controls. In patients with IVA, no abnormalities were detected. Impaired BCAA catabolism in PA, but not in MMA or IVA, was associated with a previously unrecognised, metabolic syndrome‐like phenotype with abdominal adiposity potentially resulting from ectopic lipid storage. These findings suggest the need for early cardiometabolic risk factor screening in PA

Evidence for a direct effect of the NAD+ precursor acipimox on muscle mitochondrial function in humans.

Recent preclinical studies showed the potential of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) precursors to increase oxidative phosphorylation and improve metabolic health, but human data are lacking. We hypothesize that the nicotinic acid derivative acipimox, an NAD(+) precursor, would directly affect mitochondrial function independent of reductions in nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations. In a multicenter randomized crossover trial, 21 patients with type 2 diabetes (age 57.7 +/- 1.1 years, BMI 33.4 +/- 0.8 kg/m(2)) received either placebo or acipimox 250 mg three times daily dosage for 2 weeks. Acipimox treatment increased plasma NEFA levels (759 +/- 44 vs. 1,135 +/- 97 mumol/L for placebo vs. acipimox, P < 0.01) owing to a previously described rebound effect. As a result, skeletal muscle lipid content increased and insulin sensitivity decreased. Despite the elevated plasma NEFA levels, ex vivo mitochondrial respiration in skeletal muscle increased. Subsequently, we showed that acipimox treatment resulted in a robust elevation in expression of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial gene sets and a mitonuclear protein imbalance, which may indicate activation of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response. Further studies in C2C12 myotubes confirmed a direct effect of acipimox on NAD(+) levels, mitonuclear protein imbalance, and mitochondrial oxidative capacity. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that NAD(+) boosters can also directly affect skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in humans

An 8-week diet high in cereal fiber and coffee but free of red meat does not improve beta-cell function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Higher dietary intake of fibers and coffee, but lower red meat intake is associated with reduced risk for type 2 diabetes in epidemiological studies. We hypothesized that a calorie-restricted diet, which is high in fiber and coffee, but free of red meat, improves beta-cell function in patients with T2D. Methods: In a randomized parallel-group pilot trial, obese type 2 diabetes patients were randomly allocated to consume either a diet high in cereal fiber and coffee, but free of red meat (n = 17) (L-RISK) or a diet low in fiber, free of coffee but high in red meat (n = 20) (H-RISK) for 8 weeks. Insulin secretion was assessed from glucagon stimulation tests (GST) and mixed-meal tolerance tests (MMTT) before and after dietary intervention. Results: Both diets resulted in comparable reduction of fasting concentrations of insulin (H-RISK -28% vs. L-RISK -32%, both p &lt; 0.01), C-peptide (H-RISK -26% vs. L-RISK -30%, both p &lt; 0.01) and blood glucose (H-RISK -6.8%, p &lt; 0.05 vs. L-RISK -10%, p &lt; 0.01). Gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) secretion increased by 24% after 8 weeks in the L-RISK only (p &lt; 0.01). However, GST and MMTT showed no differences in insulin secretion after intervention. Conclusions: Calorie restriction independent of the intake of fiber, coffee or meat failed to improve beta-cell function, but improved GIP secretion in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Trial registration: Registration at Clinicaltrials.gov, Identifier number: NCT01409330 , Registered 4 August 2011 – Retrospectively registered

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the top quark mass using charged particles in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

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