Fat and lean tissue accretion in relation to reward motivation in children

‘Reward sensitivity’ explains inter-individual differences in the motivation to obtain rewards when reward cues are perceived. This psychobiological trait has been linked to higher consumption of palatable food when exposed to palatable food cues. The current study aims to examine if reward sensitivity explains differences in patterns of fat and lean tissue accretion over time in children. A longitudinal observational study with measurement waves in 2011 (baseline), 2012, 2013, and 2015 was conducted. The sample was a population-based Flemish cohort of children (n = 446, 50% boys and 5.5–12 years at baseline; 38.8% of the baseline sample also participated in 2015). Baseline reward sensitivity of the children was assessed by parent ratings on the Drive subscale of the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Approach System scales. Age- and sex-independent Fat and Lean Mass Index z-scores (zFMI and zLMI respectively) were computed for each study wave based on air-displacement plethysmography. In girls, but not boys, reward sensitivity was positively associated with the baseline zFMI and zLMI (95% confidence intervals of unstandardized estimates: 0.01 to 0.11 and 0.01 to 0.10 respectively, P values 0.01 and 0.02 respectively). Further, reward sensitivity explained 14.8% and 11.6% of the change in girls' zFMI and zLMI respectively over four years: the zFMI and zLMI increased and decreased respectively in high reward sensitive girls (95% confidence intervals of unstandardized estimates: 0.01 to 0.11 and −0.12 to −0.01 respectively, P values 0.01 and 0.02 respectively). Hence, girls high in reward sensitivity had significantly higher adiposity gain over four years parallel with lower increase in lean mass than was expected on the basis of their age and height. These results may help to identify appropriate targets for interventions for obesity prevention

Chemical composition and insecticidal activity of plant essential oils from Benin against Anopheles gambiae (Giles)

BACKGROUND: Insecticide resistance in sub-Saharan Africa and especially in Benin is a major public health issue hindering the control of the malaria vectors. Each Anopheles species has developed a resistance to one or several classes of the insecticides currently in use in the field. Therefore, it is urgent to find alternative compounds to conquer the vector. In this study, the efficacies of essential oils of nine plant species, which are traditionally used to avoid mosquito bites in Benin, were investigated. METHODS: Essential oils of nine plant species were extracted by hydrodistillation, and their chemical compositions were identified by GC-MS. These oils were tested on susceptible “kisumu” and resistant “ladji-Cotonou” strains of Anopheles gambiae, following WHO test procedures for insecticide resistance monitoring in malaria vector mosquitoes. RESULTS: Different chemical compositions were obtained from the essential oils of the plant species. The major constituents identified were as follows: neral and geranial for Cymbopogon citratus, Z-carveol, E-p-mentha-1(7),8-dien-2-ol and E-p-mentha-2,8-dienol for Cymbopogon giganteus, piperitone for Cymbopogon schoenanthus, citronellal and citronellol for Eucalyptus citriodora, p-cymene, caryophyllene oxide and spathulenol for Eucalyptus tereticornis, 3-tetradecanone for Cochlospermum tinctorium and Cochlospermum planchonii, methyl salicylate for Securidaca longepedunculata and ascaridole for Chenopodium ambrosioides. The diagnostic dose was 0.77% for C. citratus, 2.80% for E. tereticornis, 3.37% for E. citriodora, 4.26% for C. ambrosioides, 5.48% for C. schoenanthus and 7.36% for C. giganteus. The highest diagnostic doses were obtained with S. longepedunculata (9.84%), C. tinctorium (11.56%) and C. planchonii (15.22%), compared to permethrin 0.75%. A. gambiae cotonou, which is resistant to pyrethroids, showed significant tolerance to essential oils from C. tinctorium and S. longepedunculata as expected but was highly susceptible to all the other essential oils at the diagnostic dose. CONCLUSIONS: C. citratus, E. tereticornis, E. citriodora, C. ambrosioides and C. schoenanthus are potential promising plant sources for alternative compounds to pyrethroids, for the control of the Anopheles malaria vector in Benin. The efficacy of their essential oils is possibly based on their chemical compositions in which major and/or minor compounds have reported insecticidal activities on various pests and disease vectors such as Anopheles

Peroxisomes in intestinal and gallbladder epithelial cells of the stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Teleostei)

The occurrence of microbodies in the epithelial cells of the intestine and gallbladder of the stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., is described. In the intestine the organelles are predominantly located in the apical and perinuclear zone of the cells and may contain small crystalline cores. In gallbladder epithelial cells the microbodies are distributed randomly. The latter organdies are characterized by the presence of large crystalloids. Cytochemical and biochemical experiments show that catalase and D-amino acid oxidase are main matrix components of the microbodies in both the intestinal and gallbladder epithelia. These organelles therefore are considered peroxisomes. In addition, in intestinal mucosa but not in gallbladder epithelium a low activity of palmitoyl CoA oxidase was detected biochemically. Urate oxidase and L-α hydroxy acid oxidase activities could not be demonstrated.

A preliminary study of the effects of pH upon fluorescence in suspensions of prevotella intermedia

© 2016 Hope et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The quantification of fluorescence in dental plaque is currently being developed as a diagnostic tool to help inform and improve oral health. The oral anaerobe Prevotella intermedia exhibits red fluorescence due to the accumulation of porphyrins. pH affects the fluorescence of abiotic preparations of porphyrins caused by changes in speciation between monomers, higher aggregates and dimers, but this phenomenon has not been demonstrated in bacteria. Fluorescence spectra were obtained from suspensions of P. intermedia that were adjusted to pHs commensurate with the range found within dental plaque. Two fluorescent motifs were identified; 410 nm excitation / 634 nm emission (peak A) and 398 nm excitation / 622 nm emission (peak B). A transition in the fluorescence spectra was observed from peak A to peak B with increasing pH which was also evident as culture age increased from 24 hours to 96 hours. In addition to these 'blue-shifts', the intensity of peak A increased with pH whilst decreasing with culture age from 24 to 96 hours. A bacterium's relationship with the local physiochemical environment at the time of image capture may therefore affect the quantification of dental plaque fluorescence

Autism with intellectual disability is associated with increased levels of maternal cytokines and chemokines during gestation.

Immune abnormalities have been described in some individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) as well as their family members. However, few studies have directly investigated the role of prenatal cytokine and chemokine profiles on neurodevelopmental outcomes in humans. In the current study, we characterized mid-gestational serum profiles of 22 cytokines and chemokines in mothers of children with ASD (N=415), developmental delay (DD) without ASD (N=188), and general population (GP) controls (N=428) using a bead-based multiplex technology. The ASD group was further divided into those with intellectual disabilities (developmental/cognitive and adaptive composite score<70) (ASD+ID, N=184) and those without (composite score⩾70) (ASD-noID, N=201). Levels of cytokines and chemokines were compared between groups using multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusting for maternal age, ethnicity, birth country and weight, as well as infant gender, birth year and birth month. Mothers of children with ASD+ID had significantly elevated mid-gestational levels of numerous cytokines and chemokines, such as granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon-γ, interleukin-1α (IL-1α) and IL-6, compared with mothers of children with either ASD-noID, those with DD, or GP controls. Conversely, mothers of children with either ASD-noID or with DD had significantly lower levels of the chemokines IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 compared with mothers of GP controls. This observed immunologic distinction between mothers of children with ASD+ID from mothers of children with ASD-noID or DD suggests that the intellectual disability associated with ASD might be etiologically distinct from DD without ASD. These findings contribute to the ongoing efforts toward identification of early biological markers specific to subphenotypes of ASD

Multiple myeloma revealed by spinal cord compression and herpes zoster in a 36- year-old Cameroonian

Multiple myeloma is a malignant plasma cell disorder occurring mostly in people above 60 years old. The authors describe a case of multiple myeloma in a 36-year-old patient revealed by spinal cord compression and Herpes zoster with a rapidly unfavourable outcome

Laboratory implementation of edge illumination X-ray phase-contrast imaging with energy-resolved detectors

Edge illumination (EI) X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) has potential for applications in different fields of research, including materials science, non-destructive industrial testing, small-animal imaging, and medical imaging. One of its main advantages is the compatibility with laboratory equipment, in particular with conventional non-microfocal sources, which makes its exploitation in normal research laboratories possible. In this work, we demonstrate that the signal in laboratory implementations of EI can be correctly described with the use of the simplified geometrical optics. Besides enabling the derivation of simple expressions for the sensitivity and spatial resolution of a given EI setup, this model also highlights the EI’s achromaticity. With the aim of improving image quality, as well as to take advantage of the fact that all energies in the spectrum contribute to the image contrast, we carried out EI acquisitions using a photon-counting energy-resolved detector. The obtained results demonstrate that this approach has great potential for future laboratory implementations of EI. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

Sexually dimorphic role for vasopressin in the development of social play

Despite the well-established role of vasopressin (AVP) in adult social behavior, its role in social development is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we focus on the most prominent social behavior of juvenile rats, social play. Previous pharmacological experiments in our laboratory suggested that AVP regulates play in a sex- and brain region-specific manner in juvenile rats. Here we investigate the role of specific AVP systems in the emergence of social play. We first characterize the development of play in male and female Wistar rats and then ask whether the development of AVP mRNA expression correlates with the emergence of play. Unexpectedly, play emerged more rapidly in weanling-aged females than in males, resulting in a sex difference opposite of that typically reported for older, juvenile rats. AVP mRNA and play were correlated in males only, with a negative correlation in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and a positive correlation in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. These findings support the hypothesis that AVP acts differentially on multiple systems in a sex-specific manner to regulate social play and suggest a role for PVN and BNST AVP systems in the development of play. Differential neuropeptide regulation of male and female social development may underlie well-documented sex differences in incidence, progression, and symptom severity of behavioral disorders during development