Advanced glycation end products and risk of general and abdominal obesity in Iranian adults: Tehran lipid and glucose study

Background: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are a heterogeneous group of macromolecules that are formed by the nonenzymatic glycation of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. A number of food preparation methods can increase AGEs content. The aim of the present study is to assess the relationship between dietary consumption of AGEs and the risk of obesity and central obesity. Methods: This study was conducted within the framework of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) on 4245 subjects who participated in its fifth phase (2011 to 2014). Dietary data were collected using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Participants' characteristics, anthropometric measures, and blood samples were also obtained by trained staff. Multivariable linear regression and Logistic regression was conducted using SPSS (Version 20; Chicago', IL), and P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Our results show that abdominal obesity was increased with higher intakes of dietary AGEs, an association, which remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (OR=1.56 and 95 CI, 1.16 to 2.84). The relationship between abdominal obesity and dietary AGEs (dAGEs) intake was found to be independent of energy and macronutrient intake. We also found a relationship between consumption of dAGEs and a few anthropometric measurements, such that a significant positive correlation was observed between BMI, WC, BAI and higher quartiles of dAGEs intake, with the correlation being stronger for BAI (β= 0.24 (0.10-0.39)). Conclusion: Our study emphasizes that higher intake of dAGEs does increase the chance of abdominal obesity, and dAGEs might be a link between modern diets and obesity. © Iran University of Medical Sciences

Social Media, Gender and the Mediatisation of War: Exploring the German Armed Forces’ Visual Representation of the Afghanistan Operation on Facebook

Studies on the mediatisation of war point to attempts of governments to regulate the visual perspective of their involvements in armed conflict – the most notable example being the practice of ‘embedded reporting’ in Iraq and Afghanistan. This paper focuses on a different strategy of visual meaning-making, namely, the publication of images on social media by armed forces themselves. Specifically, we argue that the mediatisation of war literature could profit from an increased engagement with feminist research, both within Critical Security/Critical Military Studies and within Science and Technology Studies that highlight the close connection between masculinity, technology and control. The article examines the German military mission in Afghanistan as represented on the German armed forces’ official Facebook page. Germany constitutes an interesting, and largely neglected, case for the growing literature on the mediatisation of war: its strong antimilitarist political culture makes the representation of war particularly delicate. The paper examines specific representational patterns of Germany’s involvement in Afghanistan and discusses the implications which arise from what is placed inside the frame of visibility and what remains out of its view

Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report

Both music and language are found in all known human societies, yet no studies have compared similarities and differences between song, speech, and instrumental music on a global scale. In this Registered Report, we analyzed two global datasets: (i) 300 annotated audio recordings representing matched sets of traditional songs, recited lyrics, conversational speech, and instrumental melodies from our 75 coauthors speaking 55 languages; and (ii) 418 previously published adult-directed song and speech recordings from 209 individuals speaking 16 languages. Of our six preregistered predictions, five were strongly supported: Relative to speech, songs use (i) higher pitch, (ii) slower temporal rate, and (iii) more stable pitches, while both songs and speech used similar (iv) pitch interval size and (v) timbral brightness. Exploratory analyses suggest that features vary along a “musi-linguistic” continuum when including instrumental melodies and recited lyrics. Our study provides strong empirical evidence of cross-cultural regularities in music and speech

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

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