Nutrition and the circadian system

The human circadian system anticipates and adapts to daily environmental changes to optimise behaviour according to time of day and temporally partitions incompatible physiological processes. At the helm of this system is a master clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the anterior hypothalamus. The SCN are primarily synchronised to the 24-h day by the light/dark cycle; however, feeding/fasting cycles are the primary time cues for clocks in peripheral tissues. Aligning feeding/fasting cycles with clock-regulated metabolic changes optimises metabolism, and studies of other animals suggest that feeding at inappropriate times disrupts circadian system organisation, and thereby contributes to adverse metabolic consequences and chronic disease development. ‘High-fat diets’ (HFD) produce particularly deleterious effects on circadian system organisation in rodents by blunting feeding/fasting cycles. Time-of-day-restricted feeding, where food availability is restricted to a period of several hours, offsets many adverse consequences of HFD in these animals; however, further evidence is required to assess whether the same is true in humans. Several nutritional compounds have robust effects on the circadian system. Caffeine, for example, can speed synchronisation to new time zones after jetlag. An appreciation of the circadian system has many implications for nutritional science and may ultimately help reduce the burden of chronic diseases

Pair-matched patient-reported quality of life and early oncological control following focal irreversible electroporation versus robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Purpose: The design, conduct and completion of randomized trials for curative prostate cancer (PCa) treatments are challenging. To evaluate the effect of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) versus focal irreversible electroporation (IRE) on patient-reported quality of life (QoL) and early oncological control using propensity-scored matching. Methods: Patients with T1c–cT2b significant PCa (hig

Total parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis: A predisposing factor for sepsis in surgical neonates?

Of 496 neonates and infants less than 1 year of age admitted to the paediatric surgical intensive care unit (PSICU) over a 5 year period (1983-1987), 94 required total parenteral nutrition (TPN) for more than 14 consecutive days, generally due to congenital anomalies of the digestive tract. Cholestasis occurred in 15 of them and 12 of these patients developed sepsis. In contrast, of the 79 patients on TPN that remained free from cholestasis, only 23 developed sepsis. The mortality rate for the TPNAC-group was substantially higher than for the group without TPNAC. It is suggested that development of TPNAC might lead to impairment of non-specific cellular immunity in neonates

Non-Response in Wave III of the Add Health Study

Non-response is a potential threat to the accuracy of estimates obtained from sample surveys and can be particularly difficult to avoid in longitudinal studies. The purpose of this report is to investigate non-response in Wave III of Add Health and its influence on study results. Non-response in earlier waves of Add Health has been investigated by the Survey Research Unit at the University of North Carolina. Findings showed that total bias for 13 measures of health and risk behaviors rarely exceed 1% in either Wave I or Wave II, which is small relative to the 20% to 80% prevalence rates for most of these measures. In the following section, we present an overview of the Wave III sampling plan and results of the field work. Next, we characterize the non-response found in the original sampling variables. We then take advantage of the longitudinal design of Add Health to estimate total and relative bias on demographics and a variety of health and risk behaviors reported by both non-responders and responders during their Wave I In-home Interview. We conclude with a discussion of how the bias caused by non-response can be minimized during future waves of data collection

Predictors of Nonresponse in a Longitudinal Survey of Adolescents

Research in this study focuses on two related aspects of unit nonresponse (nonresponse by sampled members of study populations) in the rounds of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) (Chantala and Tabor, 1999): (i) round-specific nonresponse bias and its component contributions, and (ii) the statistical utility of alternative approaches to adjusting sample weights for nonresponse. This work is part of four research studies funded by CDC-NCHS, at the UNC Center for Health Statistics Research

Effects of Nonresponse on the Mean Squared Error of Estimates from a Longitudinal Study

Research in this study focuses on two related aspects of unit nonresponse (nonresponse by sampled members of study populations) in the rounds of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) (Chantala and Tabor, 1999): (i) round-specific nonresponse bias and its component contributions, and (ii) the statistical utility of alternative approaches to adjusting sample weights for nonresponse. This work is part of four research studies funded by CDC-NCHS, at the UNC Center for Health Statistics Research. Nonrespondents in surveys can be classified according to the reason for nonresponse (Lessler and Kalsbeek, 1992): 1) Not Solicited (NS): Sample members are not solicited as perhaps their address is unknown, or they are out of the country; 2) Solicited but Unable (SUA): Sample members are contacted but decline to participate based on inability. Reasons include physical or language limitations; 3) Solicited but Unwilling (SUW): Sample members are contacted but refuse to participate for reasons such as lack of time or, apathy; and 4) Other Nonrespondents (OTH): Sample nonrespondents give a reason that does not fit in any of the previous categories. Examples are lost schedules and partial respondents Response outcome information and data to obtain 13 different measures of health risk from Add Health are used to accomplish two main tasks in this study. First, we estimate the round-specific nonresponse bias and its component contributions corresponding to the four nonresponse categories described. The sign (negative or positive) of these components and the offsetting effects of some components on the overall bias is of particular interest. Second, we compare the statistical effects of alternate sample adjustments for nonresponse on the bias and variance of study estimates. It is important to note here that we are examining the effects of nonresponse in IH1 and IH2 separately, and not the cumulative effects of nonresponse through these rounds

Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disruption: Causes, Metabolic Consequences and Countermeasures.

Circadian (∼ 24 hour) timing systems pervade all kingdoms of life, and temporally optimize behaviour and physiology in humans. Relatively recent changes to our environments, such as the introduction of artificial lighting, can disorganize the circadian system, from the level of the molecular clocks that regulate the timing of cellular activities to the level of synchronization between our daily cycles of behaviour and the solar day. Sleep/wake cycles are intertwined with the circadian system, and global trends indicate that these too are increasingly subject to disruption. A large proportion of the world's population is at increased risk of environmentally-driven circadian rhythm and sleep disruption, and a minority of individuals are also genetically predisposed to circadian misalignment and sleep disorders. The consequences of disruption to the circadian system and sleep are profound and include myriad metabolic ramifications, some of which may be compounded by adverse effects on dietary choices. If not addressed, the deleterious effects of such disruption will continue to cause widespread health problems; therefore, implementation of the numerous behavioural and pharmaceutical interventions that can help restore circadian system alignment and enhance sleep will be important

An integrated single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the mouse hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus links transcriptomic and functional types

The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is a highly complex brain region that is crucial for homeostatic regulation through neuroendocrine signaling, outflow of the autonomic nervous system, and projections to other brain areas. In the past years, single-cell datasets of the hypothalamus have contributed immensely to the current understanding of the diverse hypothalamic cellular composition. While the PVN has been adequately classified functionally, its molecular classification is currently still insufficient. To address this, we created a detailed atlas of PVN transcriptomic cell types by integrating various PVN single-cell datasets into a recently published hypothalamus single-cell transcriptome atlas. Furthermore, we functionally profiled transcriptomic cell types, based on relevant literature, existing retrograde tracing data, and existing single-cell data of a PVN-projection target region. Finally, we validated our findings with immunofluorescent stainings. In our PVN atlas dataset, we identify the well-known different neuropeptide types, each composed of multiple novel subtypes. We identify Avp-Tac1, Avp-Th, Oxt-Foxp1, Crh-Nr3c1, and Trh-Nfib as the most important neuroendocrine subtypes based on markers described in literature. To characterize the preautonomic functional population, we integrated a single-cell retrograde tracing study of spinally projecting preautonomic neurons into our PVN atlas. We identify these (presympathetic) neurons to cocluster with the Adarb2(+) clusters in our dataset. Further, we identify the expression of receptors for Crh, Oxt, Penk, Sst, and Trh in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, a key region that the pre-parasympathetic PVN neurons project to. Finally, we identify Trh-Ucn3 and Brs3-Adarb2 as some centrally projecting populations. In conclusion, our study presents a detailed overview of the transcriptomic cell types of the murine PVN and provides a first attempt to resolve functionality for the identified populations.Metabolic health: pathophysiological trajectories and therap

Research Priorities for FCTC Articles 20, 21, and 22: Surveillance/Evaluation and Information Exchange

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Articles 20, 21, and 22 call for strong monitoring and reporting of tobacco use and factors influencing use and disease (Articles 20 and 21) and for collaboration among the Parties and relevant organizations to share resources, knowledge, and expertise on all relevant tobacco control strategies (Article 22)