De bijdrage van toevoeging van cacao aan tabak aan rookverslaving

In this report the effect of these compounds on the addiction to cigarette smoking was assessed, using currently available information in the literature on psychoactive compounds of cocoa. The investigated psychoactive cocoa compounds were theobromine, caffeine, serotonin, histamine, tryptophan, tryptamine, tyramine, phenylethylamine, octopamine and anandamide. The general conclusion is that the level of these compounds in added cocoa in cigarettes is not sufficient to increase the addiction to cigarette smoking.In dit rapport wordt de mogelijke bijdrage van cacao aan rookverslaving beschreven. Cacao wordt aan tabak toegevoegd om de smaak te verbeteren. Daarnaast bevat cacao tal van psychoactieve stoffen die mogelijk bijdragen aan rookverslaving Dit literatuuronderzoek beschrijft de blootstelling, farmacologie, farmacokinetiek, toxicologie, interacties en verslavende eigenschappen van de tien meest bekende stoffen in cacao. De onderzochte stoffen zijn theobromine, caffeine, serotonine, histamine, tryptofaan, tryptamine, tyramine, fenylethylamine, octopamine en anandamide. Deze stoffen komen ook via dranken en voedsel het lichaam binnen of worden door het lichaam zelf aangemaakt. Dit rapport laat zien dat de aan roken gerelateerde blootstelling aan de psychoactieve stoffen uit cacao gering is ten opzichte van de inname via voeding en dranken en/of de lichaamseigen productie van deze stoffen. Een systemisch effect lijkt derhalve onwaarschijnlijk ook al omdat lichaamseigen stoffen snel worden afgebroken. Daarnaast kunnen deze stoffen, omdat ze geinhaleerd worden, een direct effect op de luchtwegen hebben. Daarmee zou de opname van nicotine beinvloed kunnen worden. De nicotine opname zou bijvoorbeeld kunnen toenemen via luchtwegverwijding door theobromine en cafe6ne of kunnen afnemen door luchtwegvernauwing door histamine. Dit rapport laat zien dat de aan roken gerelateerde blootstelling aan deze stoffen waarschijnlijk te gering is voor een direct effect op de luchtwegen. Verder dient te worden opgemerkt dat de hoeveelheid tryptamine, tyramine en fenylethylamine die via cacao wordt toegevoegd verwaarloosbaar is ten opzichte van de hoeveelheid die in tabak zelf aanwezig is. Tot slot is aandacht besteed aan de verbrandingsproducten van cacao. Amine verbindingen als serotonin, tryptofaan, tyramine, tryptamine en fenylethylamine vormen tijdens het roken stoffen die het enzym mono amine oxidase (MAO) remmen. MAO-remmers hebben een anti-depressieve werking en kunnen op die manier bijdragen aan rookverslaving. De conclusie van dit literatuur onderzoek is dat de afzonderlijke psychoactieve stoffen in tabak als gevolg van toevoeging van cacao niet direct bijdragen aan rookverslaving. De verbrandingsproducten van cacao doen dit, via remming van het enzym mono amine oxidase, mogelijk wel. Ook de smaak van cacao wordt geassocieerd met verslaving. De literatuur biedt geen inzicht in het effect op gezondheid en verslaving van het inhaleren van de combinatie van de 10 onderzochte stoffen uit cacao

Breaking the silence of the 500-year-old smiling garden of everlasting flowers: The En Tibi book herbarium

We reveal the enigmatic origin of one of the earliest surviving botanical collections. The 16th-century Italian En Tibi herbarium is a large, luxurious book with c. 500 dried plants, made in the Renaissance scholarly circles that developed botany as a distinct discipline. Its Latin inscription, translated as “Here for you a smiling garden of everlasting flowers”, suggests that this herbarium was a gift for a patron of the emerging botanical science. We follow an integrative approach that includes a botanical similarity estimation of the En Tibi with contemporary herbaria (Aldrovandi, Cesalpino, “Cibo”, Merini, Estense) and analysis of the book’s watermark, paper, binding, handwriting, Latin inscription and the morphology and DNA of hairs mounted under specimens. Rejecting the previous origin hypothesis (Ferrara, 1542–1544), we show that the En Tibi was made in Bologna around 1558. We attribute the En Tibi herbarium to Francesco Petrollini, a neglected 16th-century botanist, to whom also belongs, as clarified herein, the controversial “Erbario Cibo” kept in Rome. The En Tibi was probably a work on commission for Petrollini, who provided the plant material for the book. Other people were apparently involved in the compilation and offering of this precious gift to a yet unknown person, possibly the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I. The En Tibi herbarium is a Renaissance masterpiece of art and science, representing the quest for truth in herbal medicine and botany. Our multidisciplinary approach can serve as a guideline for deciphering other anonymous herbaria, kept safely “hidden” in treasure rooms of universities, libraries and museums

The diverse nature of island isolation and its effect on land bridge insular faunas

Aim: Isolation is a key factor in island biology. It is usually defined as the distance to the geographically nearest mainland, but many other definitions exist. We explored how testing different isolation indices affects the inference of impacts of isolation on faunal characteristics. We focused on land bridge islands and compared the relationships of many spatial and temporal (i.e., through time) isolation indices with community‐, population‐ and individual‐level characteristics (species richness, population density and body size, respectively). Location: Aegean Sea islands, Greece. Time period: Current. Taxon: Many animal taxa. Methods: We estimated 21 isolation indices for 205 islands and recorded species richness data for 15 taxa (invertebrates and vertebrates). We obtained body size data for seven lizard species and population density data for three. We explored how well indices predict each characteristic, in each taxon, by conducting a series of ordinary least squares regressions (controlling for island area when needed) and a meta‐analysis. Results: Isolation was significantly (and negatively) associated with species richness in 10 of 15 taxa. It was significantly (and positively) associated with body size in only one of seven species and was not associated with population density. The effect of isolation on species richness was much weaker than that of island area, regardless of the index tested. Spatial indices generally out‐performed temporal indices, and indices directly related to the mainland out‐performed those related mainly to neighbouring islands. No index was universally superior to others, including the distance to the geographically nearest mainland. Main conclusions: The choice of index can alter our perception of the impacts of isolation on biological patterns. The nearly automatic, ubiquitous use of distance to the geographically nearest mainland misrepresents the complexity of the effects of isolation. We recommend the simultaneous testing of several indices that represent different aspects of isolation, in order to produce more constructive and thorough investigations and avoid imprecise inference

A cross-sectional study on fatigue, anxiety, and symptoms of depression and their relation with medical status in adult patients with Marfan syndrome:Psychological consequences in Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a connective tissue disorder affecting the cardiovascular, ocular, and skeletal system, which may be accompanied by psychological features. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of fatigue, anxiety, and symptoms of depression in MFS patients, and to assess the degree to which sociodemographic and clinical variables are associated with fatigue and psychological aspects. The prevalence of fatigue, anxiety, and symptoms of depression were assessed in two cohorts of MFS patients and compared with healthy controls. The checklist individual strength (CIS), and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) questionnaires were utilized. Medical status was assessed (family history of MFS, aortic root dilatation >40 mm, previous aortic surgery, aortic dissection, chronic pain, skeletal involvement, and scoliosis). Severe fatigue was experienced by 37% of the total MFS cohort (n = 155). MFS patients scored significantly higher on the CIS questionnaire, concerning severe fatigue, as compared with the general Dutch population (p < 0.0001). There were no differences in HADS anxiety or depression scores. In older MFS patients, with a more severe cardiovascular phenotype, chronic pain, and a higher unemployment rate, significantly more symptoms of depression were observed, when compared with the general population (p = 0.027) or compared with younger MFS patients (p = 0.026). Multivariate analysis, showed that anxiety was associated with chronic pain (p = 0.022) and symptoms of depression with unemployment (p = 0.024). MFS patients report significantly more severe fatigue as compared with the general population. Since the cause of fatigue is unclear, more research may be needed. Psychological intervention, for example, cognitive behavioral therapy, may contribute to a reduction in psychological symptoms

Congruent downy mildew-associated microbiomes reduce plant disease and function as transferable resistobiomes

Root-associated microbiota can protect plants against severe disease outbreaks. In the model-plant Arabidopsis thaliana, leaf infection with the obligate downy mildew pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Hpa) results in a shift in the root exudation profile, therewith promoting the growth of a selective root microbiome that induces a systemic resistance against Hpa in the above-ground plant parts. Here we show that, additionally, a conserved subcommunity of the recruited soil microbiota becomes part of a pathogen-associated microbiome in the phyllosphere that is vertically transmitted with the spores of the pathogen to consecutively infected host plants. This subcommunity of Hpa-associated microbiota (HAM) limits pathogen infection and is therefore coined a “resistobiome”. The HAM resistobiome consists of a small number of bacterial species and was first found in our routinely maintained laboratory cultures of independent Hpa strains. When co-inoculated with Hpa spores, the HAM rapidly dominates the phyllosphere of infected plants, negatively impacting Hpa spore formation. Remarkably, isogenic bacterial isolates of the abundantly-present HAM species were also found in strictly separated Hpa cultures across Europe, and even in early published genomes of this obligate biotroph. Our results highlight that pathogen-infected plants can recruit protective microbiota via their roots to the shoots where they become part of a pathogen-associated resistobiome that helps the plant to fight pathogen infection. Understanding the mechanisms by which pathogen-associated resistobiomes are formed will enable the development of microbiome-assisted crop varieties that rely less on chemical crop protection

Accuracy and repeatability of wrist joint angles in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system

© 2019, The Author(s). The hand-wrist region is reported as the most common injury site in boxing. Boxers are at risk due to the amount of wrist motions when impacting training equipment or their opponents, yet we know relatively little about these motions. This paper describes a new method for quantifying wrist motion in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system. Surrogate testing procedure utilising a polyamide hand and forearm shape, and in vivo testing procedure utilising 29 elite boxers, were used to assess the accuracy and repeatability of the system. 2D kinematic analysis was used to calculate wrist angles using photogrammetry, whilst the data from the electromagnetic tracking system was processed with visual 3D software. The electromagnetic tracking system agreed with the video-based system (paired t tests) in both the surrogate ( 0.9). In the punch testing, for both repeated jab and hook shots, the electromagnetic tracking system showed good reliability (ICCs > 0.8) and substantial reliability (ICCs > 0.6) for flexion–extension and radial-ulnar deviation angles, respectively. The results indicate that wrist kinematics during punching activities can be measured using an electromagnetic tracking system

WITHDRAWN: Herbalists, traditional healers and pharmacists: a view of the tuberculosis in Ghana

The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, http://dx.doi.org/<10.1590/0102-695X2014241405>. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn.The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy

Joint angle variability and co-variation in a reaching with a rod task

The problem at the heart of motor control is how the myriad units of the neuromotor system are coordinated to perform goal-directed movements. Although for long these numerous degrees of freedom (DOFs) were considered redundant, recent views emphasize more that the DOFs should be considered abundant, allowing flexible performance. We studied how variability in arm joints was employed to stabilize the displaced end-effector in tool use to examine how the neuromotor system flexibly exploits DOFs in the upper extremity. Participants made pointing movements with the index finger and with the index finger extended by rods of 10, 20, and 30 cm. Using the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) method, the total joint angle variance was decomposed into two parts, the joint angle variance that did not affect the position of the end-effector (VUCM) and the variance that results in a deviation of the position of the end-effector from its mean (VORT). Analyses showed that some angles depended on length of the rod in use. For all rod lengths, VUCM was larger than VORT, and this did not differ over rod lengths, demonstrating that the arm was organized into a synergy. Finally, the variation in the joint angles in the arm as well as the degree of co-variation between these angles did not differ for the rod’s tip and the hand. We concluded that synergies are formed in the arm during reaching with an extended end-effector and those synergies stabilize different parts of the arm+rod system equally

Comparison of Two Methods for In Vivo Estimation of the Glenohumeral Joint Rotation Center (GH-JRC) of the Patients with Shoulder Hemiarthroplasty

Determination of an accurate glenohumeral-joint rotation center (GH-JRC) from marker data is essential for kinematic and dynamic analysis of shoulder motions. Previous studies have focused on the evaluation of the different functional methods for the estimation of the GH-JRC for healthy subjects. The goal of this paper is to compare two widely used functional methods, namely the instantaneous helical axis (IHA) and symmetrical center of rotation (SCoRE) methods, for estimating the GH-JRC in vivo for patients with implanted shoulder hemiarthroplasty. The motion data of five patients were recorded while performing three different dynamic motions (circumduction, abduction, and forward flexion). The GH-JRC was determined using the CT-images of the subjects (geometric GH-JRC) and was also estimated using the two IHA and SCoRE methods. The rotation centers determined using the IHA and SCoRE methods were on average 1.47±0.62 cm and 2.07±0.55 cm away from geometric GH-JRC, respectively. The two methods differed significantly (two-tailed p-value from paired t-Test ∼0.02, post-hoc power ∼0.30). The SCoRE method showed a significant lower (two-tailed p-value from paired t-Test ∼0.03, post-hoc power ∼0.68) repeatability error calculated between the different trials of each motion and each subject and averaged across all measured subjects (0.62±0.10 cm for IHA vs. 0.43±0.12 cm for SCoRE). It is concluded that the SCoRE appeared to be a more repeatable method whereas the IHA method resulted in a more accurate estimation of the GH-JRC for patients with endoprostheses