Cholesterol-lowering effects of modified animal fats in postmenopausal women

In an attempt to improve the nutritional value of animal fats (including milkfat and lard), two technological approaches (i.e., cholesterol removal by steam distillation and linoleic acid enrichment by addition of safflower oil) were tested for cholesterolemic effects in a cohort of 29 older women (age 68 +/− 7 years).Test fat sources were incorporated into crackers, cookies, cheese, ice cream, whipped topping, sour cream, baking shortening, and table spreads. Subjects were permanent residents of a convent where meals were prepared in a centralized kitchen, allowing test fats to be provided in daily food menu items. The foods containing test fats were introduced into three sequential dietary treatment periods, each lasting 4 weeks, in the following order: cholesterol-reduced animal fat (CRAF): fatty-acid modified, cholesterol-reduced animal fat (FAMCRAF); and-unaltered animal fat (AF). Subjects were offered menu items cafeteria style and encouraged to make food selections consistent with their habitual diets, which were recorded daily.Fasted blood lipid profiles determined at the end of each treatment period showed that FAMCRAF reduced mean plasma total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B concentrations relative to AF (p \u3c 0.05). Mean HDL cholesterol concentrations were not influenced by diet.Relative to native products, animal fats modified by cholesterol removal and linoleic acid enrichment reduced plasma total and LDL cholesterol concentrations in a predictable manner similar to that based on studies of men

La Biblioteca-Archivo de la Escuela de Estudios Árabes, un servicio con proyección cultural y educativa

Sección especial para la "Home" de la Web de la Red de Bibliotecas y Archivos del CSIC para dar a conocer de manera visual y textual aspectos representativos de las bibliotecas y archivos que constituyen la Red CSICTener como sede la Casa morisca del Chapiz, monumento del siglo XVI cuyo origen remontan algunos especialistas al período nazarí, convierte a la Escuela de Estudios Árabes del CSIC en un instituto de investigación de indudable singularidad. Excepcionales son también el Albaicín, barrio en el que está enclavada, su entorno paisajístico y patrimonial, frente a la Alhambra y la propia ciudad de Granada en la que todos ellos se asientan. No hay mejores elementos para enmarcar las actividades científicas que en él se desarrollan: la historia de al-Andalus y de sus textos, la arqueología y la arquitectura Islámicas.N

Prediction of human population responses to toxic compounds by a collaborative competition

\u3cp\u3eThe ability to computationally predict the effects of toxic compounds on humans could help address the deficiencies of current chemical safety testing. Here, we report the results from a community-based DREAM challenge to predict toxicities of environmental compounds with potential adverse health effects for human populations. We measured the cytotoxicity of 156 compounds in 884 lymphoblastoid cell lines for which genotype and transcriptional data are available as part of the Tox21 1000 Genomes Project. The challenge participants developed algorithms to predict interindividual variability of toxic response from genomic profiles and population-level cytotoxicity data from structural attributes of the compounds. 179 submitted predictions were evaluated against an experimental data set to which participants were blinded. Individual cytotoxicity predictions were better than random, with modest correlations (Pearson's r < 0.28), consistent with complex trait genomic prediction. In contrast, predictions of population-level response to different compounds were higher (r < 0.66). The results highlight the possibility of predicting health risks associated with unknown compounds, although risk estimation accuracy remains suboptimal.\u3c/p\u3