Tripeptide gut hormone infusion does not alter food preferences or sweet taste function in volunteers with obesity and prediabetes/diabetes but promotes restraint eating: A secondary analysis of a randomized single‐blind placebo‐controlled study

Aims To investigate whether the elevation in postprandial concentrations of the gut hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), oxyntomodulin (OXM) and peptide YY (PYY) accounts for the beneficial changes in food preferences, sweet taste function and eating behaviour after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Materials and methods This was a secondary analysis of a randomized single-blind study in which we infused GLP-1, OXM, PYY (GOP) or 0.9% saline subcutaneously for 4 weeks in 24 subjects with obesity and prediabetes/diabetes, to replicate their peak postprandial concentrations, as measured at 1 month in a matched RYGB cohort (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01945840). A 4-day food diary and validated eating behaviour questionnaires were completed. Sweet taste detection was measured using the method of constant stimuli. Correct sucrose identification (corrected hit rates) was recorded, and sweet taste detection thresholds (EC50s: half maximum effective concencration values) were derived from concentration curves. The intensity and consummatory reward value of sweet taste were assessed using the generalized Labelled Magnitude Scale. Results Mean daily energy intake was reduced by 27% with GOP but no significant changes in food preferences were observed, whereas a reduction in fat and increase in protein intake were seen post-RYGB. There was no change in corrected hit rates or detection thresholds for sucrose detection following GOP infusion. Additionally, GOP did not alter the intensity or consummatory reward value of sweet taste. A significant reduction in restraint eating, comparable to the RYGB group was observed with GOP. Conclusion The elevation in plasma GOP concentrations after RYGB is unlikely to mediate changes in food preferences and sweet taste function after surgery but may promote restraint eating

Arterial stiffness is inversely related to plasma adiponectin levels in young normotensive patients with type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the association between arterial stiffness and plasma adiponectin in patients with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants were normotensive patients with type 1 diabetes who were up to age 40 years. Subjects on statins with macrovascular disease or overt nephropathy were excluded. Large artery stiffness was assessed by measurement of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), whereas plasma adiponectin was measured by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS Data from 80 patients (age 27.1 ± 6.1 years, BMI 24.2 ± 3.1 kg/m2, HbA1c 7.5 ± 1.6%, 39 men, adiponectin 13.9 ± 6.7 μg/mL, and PWV 5.6 ± 0.9 m/s) were analyzed. Log adiponectin inversely correlated with age-adjusted PWV (r = −0.291, P = 0.009) and waist circumference (r = −0.427, P < 0.001). In a fully adjusted model, age, expiration/inspiration index, and log adiponectin were independently associated with PWV, explaining 39.6% of its variance. CONCLUSIONS Arterial stiffness is inversely related to adiponectin concentration in young patients with type 1 diabetes without major complications

Complete motor recovery after acute paraparesis caused by spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma: case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is a relatively rare but potentially disabling disease. Prompt timely surgical management may promote recovery even in severe cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a 34-year-old man with a 2-hour history of sudden severe back pain, followed by weakness and numbness over the bilateral lower limbs, progressing to intense paraparesis and anesthesia. A spinal magnetic resonance imaging scan was performed and revealed an anterior epidural hematoma of the thoracic spine. He underwent an emergency decompression laminectomy of the thoracic spine and hematoma evacuation. Just after surgery, his lower extremity movements improved. After 1 week, there was no residual weakness and ambulation without assistance was resumed, with residual paresthesia on the plantar face of both feet. After 5 months, no residual symptoms persisted.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The diagnosis of spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma must be kept in mind in cases of sudden back pain with symptoms of spinal cord compression. Early recognition, accurate diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment may result in significant improvement even in severe cases.</p

On the Topic of Pseudoclefts

This paper presents arguments in favor of a pseudocleft analysis of a certain class of sentences in Malagasy, despite the lack of an overt wh-element. It is shown that voice morphology on the verb creates an operator-variable relationship much like the one created by wh-movement in free relatives in English and other languages. The bulk of the paper argues in favor of an inversion analysis of specificational pseudoclefts in Malagasy: a predicate DP is fronted to a topic position from within a small clause constituent. Moreover, it is shown that the same inversion occurs in equative and specificational sentences in Malagasy, which suggests that these types of sentences share the same syntactic structure. The proposed analysis also provides support for the view that specificational pseudoclefts have a topic \u3e focus structure, where the wh-clause has been overtly topicalized

Change-of-state Paradigms and the middle in Kinyarwanda

This paper investigates the derivational relationships among members of verbal paradigms in Kinyarwanda (Bantu JD.61; Rwanda) by pursuing two interrelated goals. First, I describe a variety of derivational strategies for marking transitive and intransitive variants in change-of-state verb paradigms. Second, I focus on the detransitivizing morpheme –ik which serves as one possible marking for intransitive members of these paradigms. Ultimately, I argue that this morpheme is a marker of middle voice, and the variety of readings which appear with this form can be subsumed under a single operation of argument suppression. Finally, I provide a discussion of reflexives and the apparent lack of a reflexive reading with –ik by arguing that this reading is blocked by either lexical reflexives or the reflexive prefix i–

Lexical deconstruction—review of Giegerich, H., Lexical structures: Compounding and the modules of grammar, Edinburgh Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, vol. 1

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Affected Experiencers

Numerous languages permit an NP that is not selected by the verb to be added to a clause, with several different possible interpretations. We divide such non-selected arguments into possessor, benefactive, attitude holder, and affected experiencer categories, on the basis of syntactic and semantic differences between them. We propose a formal analysis of the affected experiencer construction. In our account, a syntactic head Aff(ect) introduces the experiencer argument, and adds a conventional implicature to the effect that any event of the type denoted by its syntactic sister is the source of the experiencer’s psychological experience. Hence, our proposal involves two tiers of meaning: the at-issue meaning of the sentence, and some not-at-issue meaning (an implicature). A syntactic head can introduce material on both tiers. Additionally, we allow two parameters of variation: (i) the height of the attachment of Aff, and (ii) how much of the semantics is at-issue and how much is an implicature. We show that these two parameters account for the attested variation across our sample of languages, as well as the significant commonalities among them. Our analysis also accounts for significant differences between affected experiencers and the other types of non-selected arguments, and we also note a generalization to the effect that purely not-at-issue non-selected arguments can only be weak or clitic pronouns

Internationalisation and migrant academics: the hidden narratives of mobility

Internationalisation is a dominant policy discourse in higher education today. It is invariably presented as an ideologically neutral, coherent, disembodied, knowledgedriven policy intervention - an unconditional good. Yet it is a complex assemblage of values linked not only to economic growth and prosperity, but also to global citizenship, transnational identity capital, social cohesion, intercultural competencies and soft power (Clifford and Montgomery 2014; De Wit et al. 2015; Kim 2017; Lomer 2016; Stier 2004). Mobility is the sine qua non of the global academy (Sheller 2014). International movements, flows and networks are perceived as valuable transnational and transferable identity capital and as counterpoints to intellectual parochialism. Fluidity metaphors abound as an antidote to stasis e.g. flows, flux and circulations (Urry 2007). For some, internationalisation is conceptually linked to the political economy of neoliberalism and the spatial extension of the market, risking commodification and commercialisation (Matus and Talburt 2009). Others raise questions about what/whose knowledge is circulating and whether internationalisation is a form of re-colonisation and convergence that seeks to homogenise higher education systems (Stromquist 2007). Internationalisation policies and practices, it seems, are complex entanglements of economic, political, social and affective domains. They are mechanisms for driving the global knowledge 2 economy and the fulfilment of personal aspirations (Hoffman 2009). Academic geographical mobility is often conflated with social mobility and career advancement (Leung 2017). However, Robertson (2010: 646) suggested that ‘the romance of movement and mobility ought to be the first clue that this is something we ought to be particularly curious about.