Beneficial Effects on Fasting Insulin and Postprandial Responses Through 7-day Intake of New Zealand Blackcurrant Powder

Background: Blood glucose and insulin are elevated after intake of carbohydrate, with levels returning to normal in about 2-3 hours after ingestion. We examined the effects of daily New Zealand blackcurrant intake over 7 days on fasting glucose and insulin levels and the responses of glucose and insulin during an oral glucose tolerance test (i.e. OGTT). Methods: Seventeen healthy participants (9 males, 8 females, age: 24±8 years, body mass: 75.4±16.4 kg, height 172±11 cm, body mass index: 25.3±3.3) consumed 6 g·day-1 New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) powder for 7 days. Every 6 g of the serving contained 138.6 mg anthocyanins, 49 mg vitamin C, and 5.2 g of carbohydrates with total phenolic content 271.6 mg. A cross-over design was used. Participants completed one OGTT before starting the supplementation (day 0) and another OGTT after 7 days of the supplementation (day 7). For the OGTT, participants were seated and consumed 75 g of glucose dissolved in 250 mL water. Finger prick capillary samples were taken before and every 30 minutes for a total of 120 minutes after consuming the glucose drink. Following duplicate glucose analysis, blood samples were centrifuged and then plasma was separated and frozen (-20°C) for triplicate insulin analysis using a human 96-well insulin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IBL international, Hamburg, Germany). Results: NZBC had no effect on fasting glucose (control: 4.46±0.45; NZBC: 4.41±0.44 mmol·L1, P=0.657), although there was a trend for fasting insulin to be 14.3% lower (control: 66.5±28.2; NZBC: 57.0±29.5 pmol·L-1) (P=0.091). HOMA-IR was not different between the control and NZBC (1.81±0.73 vs 1.58±0.83) (P=0.126). With NZBC during the OGTT, plasma glucose at 60 min was 8.1% lower (control: 6.68±1.13; NZBC: 6.14±1.41 mmol·L-1; P=0.016), insulin at 30 min was 18.4% lower (control: 337.1±228.3; NZBC: 275.0±136.4 pmol·L-1; P= 0.021), and insulin at 60 min was 39.2% lower (control: 297.8±154.3; NZBC: 181.2±97.4 pmol·L-1; P= 0.002). With NZBC during the OGTTs, areas-under-the-curve for plasma glucose (control: 752.6±79.4, NZBC: 709.8±93.3 mmol·L-1·120 min) and insulin (control: 28443±12816, NZBC: 20406±7985, pmol·L-1·120 min) were 5.7% (P=0.051) and 31.1% lower (P<0.001) respectively. Conclusion: A trend for lower fasting insulin with normal glucose and lower areas under the curve for glucose and insulin suggests that repeated intake of New Zealand blackcurrant powder increases insulin sensitivity. This is the first observation of a high-anthocyanin containing berry powder to increase insulin sensitivity. Regular intake of New Zealand blackcurrant powder may be beneficial for the postprandial responses in people with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome

Microstructure Diffusion Models with Secondary Flux

AbstractTotally fissured media in which the cells are isolated by the fissure system are effectively described by double porosity models with microstructure. These models contain the geometry of the individual cells or pores in the medium and the flux across their interface with the fissures which surrounds them. We extend these models to include the case of partially fissured media in which a secondary flux effect arises from cell-to-cell diffusion paths. These quasilinear problems are formulated in appropriate spaces for which the cells respond to the local linearization of the fissure pressure. It is shown that they are well-posed and that the solutions depend continuously on parameters that determine the models

Seasonal forecasting of groundwater levels in principal aquifers of the United Kingdom

To date, the majority of hydrological forecasting studies have focussed on using medium-range (3–15 days) weather forecasts to drive hydrological models and make predictions of future river flows. With recent developments in seasonal (1–3 months) weather forecast skill, such as those from the latest version of the UK Met Office global seasonal forecast system (GloSea5), there is now an opportunity to use similar methodologies to forecast groundwater levels in more slowly responding aquifers on seasonal timescales. This study uses seasonal rainfall forecasts and a lumped groundwater model to simulate groundwater levels at 21 locations in the United Kingdom up to three months into the future. The results indicate that the forecasts have skill; outperforming a persistence forecast and demonstrating reliability, resolution and discrimination. However, there is currently little to gain from using seasonal rainfall forecasts over using site climatology for this type of application. Furthermore, the forecasts are not able to capture extreme groundwater levels, primarily because of inadequacies in the driving rainfall forecasts. The findings also show that the origin of forecast skill, be it from the meteorological input, groundwater model or initial condition, is site specific and related to the groundwater response characteristics to rainfall and antecedent hydro-meteorological conditions

Directed polymers in high dimensions

We study directed polymers subject to a quenched random potential in d transversal dimensions. This system is closely related to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation of nonlinear stochastic growth. By a careful analysis of the perturbation theory we show that physical quantities develop singular behavior for d to 4. For example, the universal finite size amplitude of the free energy at the roughening transition is proportional to (4-d)^(1/2). This shows that the dimension d=4 plays a special role for this system and points towards d=4 as the upper critical dimension of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang problem.Comment: 37 pages REVTEX including 4 PostScript figure

Adult attachment style across individuals and role-relationships: Avoidance is relationship-specific, but anxiety shows greater generalizability

A generalisability study examined the hypotheses that avoidant attachment, reflecting the representation of others, should be more relationship-specific (vary across relationships more than across individuals), while attachment anxiety, reflecting self-representation, should be more generalisable across a person’s relationships. College students responded to 6-item questionnaire measures of these variables for 5 relationships (mother, father, best same-gender friend, romantic partner or best opposite-gender friend, other close person), on 3 (N = 120) or 2 (N = 77) occasions separated by a few weeks. Results supported the hypotheses, with the person variance component being larger than the relationship-specific component for anxiety, and the opposite happening for avoidance. Anxiety therefore seems not to be as relationship-specific as previous research suggested. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the current and previous studies are discussed

A kinetic study of the formation of smectic phases in novel liquid crystal ionogens

A multi-rate non-isothermal kinetic analysis of the isotropic-melt to liquid crystalline phase transition of novel liquid crystalline ionogenic copolymers, LCIs, the 10-(4-methoxyazobenzene-4′-oxy)decyl methacrylate]-co-2-(acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid)s, 10-MeOAzB/AMPS, copolymers, has been performed by means of calorimetric experiments. An analytical methodology which includes the study of the phase transition rate parameter, the determination of the activation energies by using Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa models, and the study of the phase transition kinetics by the use of the Avrami theory, has been applied. The formation of the mesophases from the isotropic state occurred close to thermodynamic equilibrium. The results evidence the presence of several individual processes in the formation of liquid crystalline phases from the melt and a strong dependence of phase transition rates and activation energies with acid contents. A decrease in the phase transition rate, related to a decrease in the overall change of the transition entropy, has been observed. The final inhibition of the liquid crystal (LC) behaviour is ascribed to an exponential increase in the activation energy of the phase transition, promoted by strong acid aggregation. An optimum composition of the 10-MeOAzB/AMPS copolymers to achieve the dual characteristics of LCIs (ionogenic and liquid crystalline behaviour) requires acid concentrations capable of promoting structure-forming effects on the LC phases and the evolution of phase separated morphologies

Molecular dynamic simulation of a homogeneous bcc -> hcp transition

We have performed molecular dynamic simulations of a Martensitic bcc->hcp transformation in a homogeneous system. The system evolves into three Martensitic variants, sharing a common nearest neighbor vector along a bcc direction, plus an fcc region. Nucleation occurs locally, followed by subsequent growth. We monitor the time-dependent scattering S(q,t) during the transformation, and find anomalous, Brillouin zone-dependent scattering similar to that observed experimentally in a number of systems above the transformation temperature. This scattering is shown to be related to the elastic strain associated with the transformation, and is not directly related to the phonon response.Comment: 11 pages plus 8 figures (GIF format); to appear in Phys. Rev.

Astrophysical structures from primordial quantum black holes

The characteristic sizes of astrophysical structures, up to the whole observed Universe, can be recovered, in principle, assuming that gravity is the overall interaction assembling systems starting from microscopic scales, whose order of magnitude is ruled by the Planck length and the related Compton wavelength. This result agrees with the absence of screening mechanisms for the gravitational interaction and could be connected to the presence of Yukawa corrections in the Newtonian potential which introduce typical interaction lengths. This result directly comes out from quantization of primordial black holes and then characteristic interaction lengths directly emerge from quantum field theory.Comment: 11 page

ICON 2019: International Scientific Tendinopathy Symposium Consensus: Clinical Terminology

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.Background Persistent tendon pain that impairs function has inconsistent medical terms that can influence choice of treatment.1 When a person is told they have tendinopathy by clinician A or tendinitis by clinician B, they might feel confused or be alarmed at receiving what they might perceive as two different diagnoses. This may lead to loss of confidence in their health professional and likely adds to uncertainty if they were to search for information about their condition. Clear and uniform terminology also assists inter-professional communication. Inconsistency in terminology for painful tendon disorders is a problem at numerous anatomical sites. Historically, the term ‘tendinitis’ was first used to describe tendon pain, thickening and impaired function (online supplementary figure S1). The term ‘tendinosis’ has also been used in a small number of publications, some of which were very influential.2 3 Subsequently, ‘tendinopathy’ emerged as the most common term for persistent tendon pain.4 5 To our knowledge, experts (clinicians and researchers) or patients have never engaged in a formal process to discuss the terminology we use. We believe that health professionals have not yet agreed on the appropriate terminology for painful tendon conditions.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio