Physical Activity, Body Composition And Their Associations With Health In Yup'ik People

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013Being active and preventing excess body fat are important for maintaining good health. The ability to measure activity and body composition accurately is important to understanding the role of activity and adiposity in health. This dissertation highlights key findings regarding assessment tools for physical activity and body composition and the associations between physical activity and body composition with health in Yup'ik people. The main objectives of this dissertation were to: l) assess the accuracy of bioimpedance and multiple regression models from anthropometry for estimating body composition (fat mass, fat-free mass, and percent body fat) as compared with doubly-labeled water (DLW) body composition estimates, 2) determined the associations between body size estimates, including simple anthropometry and body composition estimates, and obesity-related health risk factors and disease outcomes, 3) assess the accuracy of a combined heart rate/movement monitor (Actiheart) for determining physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) as compared with DLW PAEE, and 4) determine the associations between physical activity subcomponents and obesity-related health risk factors in Yup'ik people in southwestern Alaska. Body composition can accurately be estimated using only three variables -sex, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference with a multiple R 2=0.9730 with DLW fat mass. WC and other anthropometries were more highly correlated with a number of obesity-related risk factors than were direct estimates of body composition. When determining the accuracy of the Actiheart for determining PAEE as compared with DLW PAEE, none of the software PAEE models investigated were significantly correlated with DLW PAEE (ranging from r=0.02 {95% e1 (-0.38, 0.41) to r=0.22 {-0.20, 0.56)). Limits of agreement (mean difference +/- 1.9650) for all software models were large, ranging from ---4540 to 1600 kcal/day. The best correlate of DLW PAEE from the Actiheart was the sum of accelerometer counts per day (r=O.SO (95% Cl = 0.13, 0.74)). The associations between physical activity and obesity-related health risk factors showed that total movement throughout the day was positively associated with HDL cholesterol (rs=0.13, rs =0.15 men and women respectively) and negatively associated with body weight, body mass index, we, percent body fat and triglycerides (rs range from -0.17 to -0.25 in men and -0.19 to -0.21 in women). Sedentary time was positively associated with body weight, we, and percent body fat (rs range from 0.10 to 0.18 in women) and negatively associated with HDL cholesterol (rs =-0.19 in women). Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was only associated with fasting glucose. We conclude that 1) body composition in Yup'ik people can be accurately estimated from simple anthropometries and that simple anthropometries like WC can be used to assess obesity-related health risk, 2) the Actiheart software does not accurately estimate free-living PAEE in Yup'ik people however, total movement per day correlates with DLW PAEE and can be used as a proxy for PAEE, and 3) the accumulation of regular movement of any intensity while decreasing sedentary time may be more important for health in Yup'ik people than moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

Notch after cleavage.

The discovery that Notch activation involves a proteolytic cleavage to release the intracellular domain (NICD) revolutionized the field of Notch signaling. It resulted in a simple model whereby the cleaved NICD enters the nucleus and activates expression of genes by forming a DNA bound complex with CSL. However, is it really this simple? The realization that the outcome from activating Notch varies greatly from cell to cell raised many questions about what governs the target gene selections in different cell types. Insights have come from recent genome-wide studies, which highlight the importance of tissue-specific transcription factors and epigenetics. Co-factors also have been identified that participate in the regulation of enhancers. Finally, it is generally assumed that once cleaved, NICD goes on to do its job, but with a burgeoning number of post-translations, it may not be that simple

Crater population and resurfacing of the Martian north polar layered deposits

Present-day accumulation in the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) is thought to occur via deposition on the north polar residual cap. Understanding current mass balance in relation to current climate would provide insight into the climatic record of the NPLD. To constrain processes and rates of NPLD resurfacing, a search for craters was conducted using images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera. One hundred thirty craters have been identified on the NPLD, 95 of which are located within a region defined to represent recent accumulation. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images of craters in this region reveal a morphological sequence of crater degradation that provides a qualitative understanding of processes involved in crater removal. A classification system for these craters was developed based on the amount of apparent degradation and infilling and where possible depth/diameter ratios were determined. The temporal and spatial distribution of crater degradation is interpreted to be close to uniform. Through comparison of the size-frequency distribution of these craters with the expected production function, the craters are interpreted to be an equilibrium population with a crater of diameter D meters having a lifetime of ~30.75D^(1.14) years. Accumulation rates within these craters are estimated at 7.2D^(−0.14) mm/yr, which corresponds to values of ~3–4 mm/yr and are much higher than rates thought to apply to the surrounding flat terrain. The current crater population is estimated to have accumulated in the last ~20 kyr or less

Rme-8 depletion perturbs Notch recycling and predisposes to pathogenic signaling.

Notch signaling is a major regulator of cell fate, proliferation, and differentiation. Like other signaling pathways, its activity is strongly influenced by intracellular trafficking. Besides contributing to signal activation and down-regulation, differential fluxes between trafficking routes can cause aberrant Notch pathway activation. Investigating the function of the retromer-associated DNAJ protein Rme-8 in vivo, we demonstrate a critical role in regulating Notch receptor recycling. In the absence of Rme-8, Notch accumulated in enlarged tubulated Rab4-positive endosomes, and as a consequence, signaling was compromised. Strikingly, when the retromer component Vps26 was depleted at the same time, Notch no longer accumulated and instead was ectopically activated. Likewise, depletion of ESCRT-0 components Hrs or Stam in combination with Rme-8 also led to high levels of ectopic Notch activity. Together, these results highlight the importance of Rme-8 in coordinating normal endocytic recycling route and reveal that its absence predisposes toward conditions in which pathological Notch signaling can occur.This work was funded by an MRC programme grant [G0800034] to SJB. LAS was the recipient of a BBSRC PhD studentship. ES and TK were funded by the DFG [Sachbeihilfe KL 1028/5-­1].This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Rockefeller University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.20141100

A expressão no Rorschach dos fenómenos transitivos e do espaço potencial na personalidade borderline

Pretendemos compreender, à luz do método Rorschach, as características dos fenómenos transitivos e do espaço potencial no sujeito borderline. O estudo destes conceitos é desenvolvido tendo por base as teorias de Winnicott e Ogden sobre a psicopatologia dos fenómenos transitivos e do espaço potencial, respectivamente. Para uma melhor compreensão destes conceitos no caso borderline, procuramos articulá-los com os conceitos de função materna e de angústia branca de Green. O método Rorschach é perspectivado na sua dimensão intersubjectiva e dinâmica, em que o apelo a um duplo modo de funcionamento (perceptivo e projectivo) permite uma compreensão mais aprofundada da dinâmica relacional entre o interno e o externo, no espaço psíquico do sujeito borderline. É elaborada uma leitura dos conceitos de fenómenos transitivos e de espaço potencial, procurando integrar e articular a revisão de literatura e os elementos Rorschach. Neste contexto é aplicado o Rorschach a um sujeito do sexo feminino com o diagnóstico de perturbação borderline da personalidade. Da análise do protocolo destacamos que, apesar da impossibilidade de estabelecer uma relação intersubjectiva entre o real e o imaginário, o interno e o externo, o sujeito é capaz de mobilizar estratégias arcaicas que lhe permitem um contacto mínimo com o outro. A imagem Rorschach é experimentada como um objecto real, adquirindo a função (suporte) e as qualidades (reconfortantes) de um objecto transitivo. Os movimentos do sujeito dão conta de uma aproximação ao espaço potencial – espaço prépotencial. ABSTRACT This study uses the Rorschach method in order to understand the characteristics of both transitional phenomena and potential space in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The approach to the aforementioned concepts follows respectively Winnicott and Ogden’s theories about transitional phenomena and potential space psychopathology. For a better understanding of both concepts in the context of BPD, we have articulated them with motherhood function and Green’s white anguish. Inter-subjective and dynamic features of the Rorschach Method, both of which call for a double working mode (perceptive and projective), are herewith used eventually leading to a deeper understanding of the existing relational dynamics “internal-external” in the psychic space of borderline patients. Thus, the main concepts under analysis are interpreted in the light of a literature review, which is duly articulated with Rorschach elements. In this context we have applied the Rorschach method to a female individual who had been previously diagnosed BPD. The analysis performed to the protocol demonstrates the patient’s ability to apply very basic strategies in order to enter into a minimum contact with external objects, though she is not capable of establishing an inter-subjective relation between fantasy and reality or between the internal world and the external world. The patient with BPD experiences the Rorschach image as if it was a real object that bears the function (holding) and the (cheering) characteristics of a transitional object. These strategies points to an approximation to a potential space, i.e., a pre-potential space

O pensar: Suas (im)possibilidades em sujeitos com fibrose quística, através do Rorschach

A partir de conceitos como o pensar e a simbolização, as autoras propõem conceptualizar a relação corpo-mente numa doença particular, a Fibrose Quística. Recorrem e aprofundam a prova Rorschach, enquanto instrumento privilegiado de acesso à qualidade dos processos de pensamento e de simbolização em quatro adolescentes com a referida doença. ABSTRACT The authors propose to conceptualize the mind-body relationship in a particular illness, cystic fibrosis, resorting to concepts such as thought and symbolization. They turn to, and thoroughly examine the Rorschach, as a privileged instrument that has access to the quality of the thought and symbolization processes in four adolescents with the said illness

Synthetic sex pheromone attracts the leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis to experimental chicken sheds treated with insecticide

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current strategies for controlling American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) have been unable to prevent the spread of the disease across Brazil. With no effective vaccine and culling of infected dogs an unpopular and unsuccessful alternative, new tools are urgently needed to manage populations of the sand fly vector, <it>Lutzomyia longipalpis </it>Lutz and Neiva (Diptera: Psychodidae). Here, we test two potential strategies for improving <it>L. longipalpis </it>control using the synthetic sand fly pheromone (±)-9-methylgermacrene-B: the first in conjunction with spraying of animal houses with insecticide, the second using coloured sticky traps.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Addition of synthetic pheromone resulted in greater numbers of male and female sand flies being caught and killed at experimental chicken sheds sprayed with insecticide, compared to pheromone-less controls. Furthermore, a ten-fold increase in the amount of sex pheromone released from test sheds increased the number of females attracted and subsequently killed. Treating sheds with insecticide alone resulted in a significant decrease in numbers of males attracted to sheds (compared to pre-spraying levels), and a near significant decrease in numbers of females. However, this effect was reversed through addition of synthetic pheromone at the time of insecticide spraying, leading to an increase in number of flies attracted post-treatment.</p> <p>In field trials of commercially available different coloured sticky traps, yellow traps caught more males than blue traps when placed in chicken sheds. In addition, yellow traps fitted with 10 pheromone lures caught significantly more males than pheromone-less controls. However, while female sand flies showed a preference for both blue and yellow pheromone traps sticky traps over white traps in the laboratory, neither colour caught significant numbers of females in chicken sheds, either with or without pheromone.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that synthetic pheromone could currently be most effectively deployed for sand fly control through combination with existing insecticide spraying regimes. Development of a standalone pheromone trap remains a possibility, but such devices may require an additional attractive host odour component to be fully effective.</p

O pensar: Suas (im)possibilidades em sujeitos com fibrose quística, através do Rorschach

A partir de conceitos como o pensar e a simbolização, as autoras propõem conceptualizar a relação corpo-mente numa doença particular, a Fibrose Quística. Recorrem e aprofundam a prova Rorschach, enquanto instrumento privilegiado de acesso à qualidade dos processos de pensamento e de simbolização em quatro adolescentes com a referida doença

A natureza e especificidade do espaço mental através do Rorschach. Um espaço potencial? – Análise de um protocolo de uma paciente limite

Neste artigo, mostramos a possibilidade de ler, através do Rorschach, o conceito de espaço mental/potencial. A partir dos trabalhos de Winnicott (1971/1975, 1988, 1990), Grotstein (1978) e Ogden (1985; 1992) sobre o desenvolvimento e características do espaço mental constituímos três tipos de espaço mental que se podem formar num sujeito: espaço mental unidimensional ou universo do ponto, espaço mental bidimensional ou universo da linha e espaço mental tridimensional, universo do plano ou espaço potencial. Estudamos este conceito na estrutura de personalidade limite. Apresentamos uma grelha de procedimentos Rorschach que criámos para ler o conceito de espaço mental e aplicamo-la na análise de um protocolo de uma paciente limite. A análise do protocolo de Rorschach evidencia a existência de um espaço mental bidimensional, com a presença de elementos mais característicos de um espaço mental unidimensional. ABSTRACT In this article, we show the possibility to red, through the Rorschach, the concept of mental space/potential space. Based on works of Winnicott (1971/1975, 1988, 1990), Grotstein (1978), and Ogden (1985; 1992) about development and characteristics of the mental space we constitute three types of mental space that if can form in a subject: one-dimensional mental space or universe of the point, two-dimensional mental space or universe of the line and three-dimensional mental space, universe of the plane or potential space. We study this concept in the borderline structure. We present a list of Rorschach’s procedures that we created to read the concept of mental space and we employ it in the analysis of a protocol of a borderline patient. The analysis of the Rorschach’s protocol show the existence of a two-dimensional mental space, with a presence of characteristic elements of a onedimensional space