The Impact of Almonds and Almond Processing On Gastrointestinal Physiology, Luminal Microbiology and Gastrointestinal Symptoms: a Randomized Controlled Trial and Mastication Study.

BACKGROUND: Almonds contain lipid, fiber and polyphenols and possess physicochemical properties that impact nutrient bioaccessibility, which are hypothesized to impact gut physiology and microbiota. OBJECTIVES: Investigate the impact of whole almonds and ground almonds (almond flour) on fecal bifidobacteria (primary outcome), gut microbiota composition and transit time. DESIGN: Healthy adults (n = 87) participated in a parallel, 3-arm randomized controlled trial. Participants received whole almonds (56 g/d), ground almonds (56 g/d) or an isocaloric control muffin in place of habitual snacks for 4 weeks. Gut microbiota composition and diversity (16S rRNA gene sequencing), short-chain fatty acids (gas-chromatography), volatile organic compounds (gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry), gut transit time (wireless motility capsule), stool output and gut symptoms (7-day diary) were measured at baseline and endpoint. The impact of almond form on particle size distribution (PSD) and predicted lipid release was measured in a subgroup (n = 31). RESULTS: Modified intention-to-treat analysis was performed on 79 participants. There were no significant differences in abundance of fecal bifidobacteria following consumption of whole almonds (8.7%, SD 7.7%), ground almonds (7.8%, SD 6.9%) or control (13.0%, SD 10.2%; q = 0.613). Consumption of almonds (whole and ground pooled) resulted in higher butyrate (24.1 μmol/g, SD 15.0 μmol/g) in comparison to control (18.2 μmol/g, SD 9.1 μmol/g; p = 0.046). There was no effect of almonds on gut microbiota at the phylum level or diversity, gut transit time, stool consistency or gut symptoms. Almond form (whole versus ground) had no effect on study outcomes. Ground almonds resulted in significantly smaller PSD and higher predicted lipid release (10.4%, SD 1.8%) in comparison to whole almonds (9.3%, SD 2.0%; p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Almond consumption has limited impact on gut microbiota composition but increases butyrate concentrations in adults, suggesting positive alterations to microbiota functionality. Almonds can be incorporated into the diet to increase fiber consumption without triggering gut symptoms. Clinical trial registry: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier - NCT03581812

A fMRI Study of Correlation Between Acupoints and Brain Cortical Sites Involved in Language Functions

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In-vivo kinetics of inhaled 5-Aminolevulinic acid-Induced Protoporphyrin IX fluorescence in bronchial tissue

BACKGROUND: In the diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer photosensitizer-enhanced fluorescence bronchoscopy with inhaled 5-aminolevolinic acid (5-ALA) increases sensitivity when compared to white-light bronchoscopy. This investigation was to evaluate the in vivo tissue pharmacokinetics of inhaled 5-ALA within the bronchial mucosa in order to define the time optimum for its application prior to bronchoscopy. METHODS: Patients with known or suspected bronchial carcinoma were randomized to receive 200 mg 5-ALA via inhalation 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 hours before flexible fluorescence bronchoscopy was performed. Macroscopically suspicious areas as well as areas with visually detected porphyrin fluorescence and normal control sites were measured spectroscopically. Biopsies for histopathology were obtained from suspicious areas as well as from adjacent normal areas. RESULTS: Fluorescence bronchoscopy performed in 19 patients reveals a sensitivity for malignant and premalignant changes (moderate dysplasia) which is almost twice as high as that of white-light bronchoscopy, whereas specificity is reduced. This is due to false-positive inflammatory lesions which also frequently show increased porphyrin fluorescence. Malignant and premalignant alterations produced fluorescence values that are up to 5 times higher than those of normal tissue. According to the pharmacokinetics of porphyrin fluorescence measured by spectroscopy, the optimum time range for 5-ALA application is 80–270 min prior to fluorescence bronchoscopy, with an optimum at 160 min. CONCLUSION: According to our results we propose inhalation of 5-ALA 160 min prior to fluorescence bronchoscopy, suggesting that this time difference provides the best tumor/normal tissue fluorescence ratio

Searching for Exoplanets Using a Microresonator Astrocomb

Detection of weak radial velocity shifts of host stars induced by orbiting planets is an important technique for discovering and characterizing planets beyond our solar system. Optical frequency combs enable calibration of stellar radial velocity shifts at levels required for detection of Earth analogs. A new chip-based device, the Kerr soliton microcomb, has properties ideal for ubiquitous application outside the lab and even in future space-borne instruments. Moreover, microcomb spectra are ideally suited for astronomical spectrograph calibration and eliminate filtering steps required by conventional mode-locked-laser frequency combs. Here, for the calibration of astronomical spectrographs, we demonstrate an atomic/molecular line-referenced, near-infrared soliton microcomb. Efforts to search for the known exoplanet HD 187123b were conducted at the Keck-II telescope as a first in-the-field demonstration of microcombs

Rabies screen reveals GPe control of cocaine-triggered plasticity.

Identification of neural circuit changes that contribute to behavioural plasticity has routinely been conducted on candidate circuits that were preselected on the basis of previous results. Here we present an unbiased method for identifying experience-triggered circuit-level changes in neuronal ensembles in mice. Using rabies virus monosynaptic tracing, we mapped cocaine-induced global changes in inputs onto neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Cocaine increased rabies-labelled inputs from the globus pallidus externus (GPe), a basal ganglia nucleus not previously known to participate in behavioural plasticity triggered by drugs of abuse. We demonstrated that cocaine increased GPe neuron activity, which accounted for the increase in GPe labelling. Inhibition of GPe activity revealed that it contributes to two forms of cocaine-triggered behavioural plasticity, at least in part by disinhibiting dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. These results suggest that rabies-based unbiased screening of changes in input populations can identify previously unappreciated circuit elements that critically support behavioural adaptations

Energy-efficient full-range oscillation analysis of parallel-plate electrostatically actuated MEMS resonators

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: “Fargas Marques, A., Costa Castelló, R. (2017) Energy-efficient full-range oscillation analysis of parallel-plate electrostatically actuated MEMS resonators, 1-13.” which has been published in final form at [doi: 10.1007/s11071-017-3633-8]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."Electrostatic parallel-plate actuators are a common way of actuating microelectromechanical systems, both statically and dynamically. Nevertheless, actuation voltages and oscillations are limited by the nonlinearity of the actuator that leads to the pull-in phenomena. This work presents a new approach to obtain the electrostatic parallel-plate actuation voltage, which allows to freely select the desired frequency and amplitude of oscillation. Harmonic Balance analysis is used to determine the needed actuation voltage and to choose the most energy-efficient actuation frequency. Moreover, a new two-sided actuation approach is presented that allows to actuate the device in all the stable range using the Harmonic Balance Voltage.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Intron Dynamics in Ribosomal Protein Genes

The role of spliceosomal introns in eukaryotic genomes remains obscure. A large scale analysis of intron presence/absence patterns in many gene families and species is a necessary step to clarify the role of these introns. In this analysis, we used a maximum likelihood method to reconstruct the evolution of 2,961 introns in a dataset of 76 ribosomal protein genes from 22 eukaryotes and validated the results by a maximum parsimony method. Our results show that the trends of intron gain and loss differed across species in a given kingdom but appeared to be consistent within subphyla. Most subphyla in the dataset diverged around 1 billion years ago, when the “Big Bang” radiation occurred. We speculate that spliceosomal introns may play a role in the explosion of many eukaryotes at the Big Bang radiation

Laboratory Capacity Building in Asia for Infectious Disease Research: Experiences from the South East Asia Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network (SEAICRN)

Heiman Wertheim and colleagues discuss a network that aims to improve infectious disease management through integrated, collaborative clinical research in South East Asia