Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of obesity: a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank

Objective: To examine the associations between ultra-processed food consumption and risk of obesity among UK adults. Methods: Participants aged 40-69 years at recruitment in the UK Biobank (2006-2019) with dietary intakes collected using 24-hour recall and repeated measures of adiposity - body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and percentage of body fat (% BF) - were included (N=22,659; median follow-up: 5 years). Ultra-processed foods were identified using the NOVA classification and their consumption was expressed as a percentage of total energy intake. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of several indicators of obesity according to ultra-processed food consumption. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. Results: 947 incident cases of overall obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) and 1,900 incident cases of abdominal obesity (men: WC≥102cm, women: WC≥88cm) were identified during follow-up. Participants in the highest quartile of ultra-processed food consumption had significantly higher risk of developing overall obesity (HR: 1.79; 95%CI: 1.06─3.03) and abdominal obesity (HR: 1.30; 95%CI: 1.14─1.48). They had higher risk of experiencing a ≥5% increase in BMI (HR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.20─1.43), WC (HR: 1.35; 95%CI: 1.25─1.45) and %BF (HR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.03─1.25), than those in the lowest quartile of consumption. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence that higher consumption of ultra-processed food is strongly associated with a higher risk of multiple indicators of obesity in the UK adult population. Policy makers should consider actions that promote consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods and reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods

Assessment of the response of hepatocellular carcinoma to interventional radiology treatments

According to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) guidelines, interventional radiology procedures are valuable treatment options for many hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) that are not amenable to resection or transplantation. Accurate assessment of the efficacy of therapies at earlier stages enables completion of treatment, optimal follow-up and to prevent potentially unnecessary treatments, side effects and costly failure. The goal of this review is to summarize and describe the radiological strategies that have been proposed to predict survival and to stratify HCC responses after interventional radiology therapies. New techniques currently in development are also described

Modeling viral coevolution: HIV multi-clonal persistence and competition dynamics

The coexistence of different viral strains (quasispecies) within the same host are nowadays observed for a growing number of viruses, most notably HIV, Marburg and Ebola, but the conditions for the formation and survival of new strains have not yet been understood. We present a model of HIV quasispecies competition, that describes the conditions of viral quasispecies coexistence under different immune system conditions. Our model incorporates both T and B cells responses, and we show that the role of B cells is important and additive to that of T cells. Simulations of coinfection (simultaneous infection) and superinfection (delayed secondary infection) scenarios in the early stages (days) and in the late stages of the infection (years) are in agreement with emerging molecular biology findings. The immune response induces a competition among similar phenotypes, leading to differentiation (quasi-speciation), escape dynamics and complex oscillations of viral strain abundance. We found that the quasispecies dynamics after superinfection or coinfection has time scales of several months and becomes even slower when the immune system response is weak. Our model represents a general framework to study the speed and distribution of HIV quasispecies during disease progression, vaccination and therapy.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure