Fast versus slow weight loss: development process and rationale behind the dietary interventions for the TEMPO diet trial

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: Finding effective solutions to curb the obesity epidemic is a great global public health challenge. The need for long‐term follow‐up necessitates weight loss trials conducted in real‐world settings, outside the confines of tightly controlled laboratory or clinic conditions. Given the complexity of eating behaviour and the food supply, this makes the process of designing a practical dietary intervention that stands up to scientific rigor difficult. Detailed information about the dietary intervention itself, as well as the process of developing the final intervention and its underlying rationale, is rarely reported in scientific weight management publications but is valuable and essential for translating research into practice. Thus, this paper describes the design process and underlying rationale behind the dietary interventions in an exemplar weight loss trial – the TEMPO Diet Trial (Type of Energy Manipulation for Promoting optimal metabolic health and body composition in Obesity). This trial assesses the long‐term effects of fast versus slow weight loss on adiposity, fat free mass, muscle strength and bone density in women with obesity (body mass index 30–40 kg m(−2)) that are 45–65 years of age, postmenopausal and sedentary. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: This paper is intended as a resource for researchers and/or clinicians to illustrate how theoretical values based on a hypothesis can be translated into a dietary weight loss intervention to be used in free‐living women of varying sizes

Comparison of Very Low Energy Diet Products Available in Australia and How to Tailor Them to Optimise Protein Content for Younger and Older Adult Men and Women

Very low energy diets (VLED) are efficacious in inducing rapid weight loss but may not contain adequate macronutrients or micronutrients for individuals with varying nutritional requirements. Adequate protein intake during weight loss appears particularly important to help preserve fat free mass and control appetite, and low energy and carbohydrate content also contributes to appetite control. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the nutritional content (with a focus on protein), nutritional adequacy and cost of all commercially-available VLED brands in Australia. Nutritional content and cost were extracted and compared between brands and to the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) or adequate intake (AI) of macronutrients and micronutrients for men and women aged 19–70 years or >70 years. There was wide variability in the nutritional content, nutritional adequacy and cost of VLED brands. Most notably, even brands with the highest daily protein content, based on consuming three products/day (KicStart™ and Optislim®, ~60 g/day), only met estimated protein requirements of the smallest and youngest women for whom a VLED would be indicated. Considering multiple options to optimise protein content, we propose that adding pure powdered protein is the most suitable option because it minimizes additional energy, carbohydrate and cost of VLEDs

Observation of An Evolving Magnetic Flux Rope Prior To and During A Solar Eruption

Explosive energy release is a common phenomenon occurring in magnetized plasma systems ranging from laboratories, Earth's magnetosphere, the solar corona and astrophysical environments. Its physical explanation is usually attributed to magnetic reconnection in a thin current sheet. Here we report the important role of magnetic flux rope structure, a volumetric current channel, in producing explosive events. The flux rope is observed as a hot channel prior to and during a solar eruption from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). It initially appears as a twisted and writhed sigmoidal structure with a temperature as high as 10 MK and then transforms toward a semi-circular shape during a slow rise phase, which is followed by fast acceleration and onset of a flare. The observations suggest that the instability of the magnetic flux rope trigger the eruption, thus making a major addition to the traditional magnetic-reconnection paradigm.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Effect of severe compared with moderate energy restriction on physical activity among postmenopausal female adults with obesity: a prespecified secondary analysis of the Type of Energy Manipulation for Promoting optimum metabolic health and body composition in Obesity (TEMPO) Diet randomized controlled Trial

Background: An under-explored strategy for increasing physical activity is the dietary treatment of obesity, but empirical evidence is lacking. Objectives: We aimed to compare the effects of weight loss via severe as opposed to moderate energy restriction on physical activity over 36 mo. Methods: A total of 101 postmenopausal female adults (45-65 y, BMI 30-40 kg/m2, <180 min/wk of structured exercise) were randomly assigned to either 12 mo of moderate energy restriction (25%-35% of energy requirement) with a food-based diet, or a severe intervention involving 4 mo of severe energy restriction (65%-75% of energy requirement) with a total meal replacement diet, followed by 8 mo of moderate energy restriction. Physical activity was encouraged, but no tailored or supervised exercise prescription was provided. Physical activity was assessed with an accelerometer worn for 7 d before baseline (0 mo) and 0.25, 1, 4, 6, 12, 24, and 36 mo after intervention commencement. Results: Compared with the moderate group, the severe group exhibited greater mean: total volume of physical activity; duration of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA); duration of light-intensity physical activity; step counts, as well as lower mean duration of sedentary time. All these differences (except step counts) were apparent at 6 mo [e.g., 1006 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-min/wk; 95% CI: 564, 1449 MET-min/wk for total volume of physical activity], and some were also apparent at 4 and/or 12 mo. There were no differences between groups in the 2 other outcomes investigated (self-efficacy to regulate exercise; and proportion of participants meeting the WHO's 2020 Physical Activity Guidelines for MVPA). When the analyses were adjusted for weight at each time point, the differences between groups were either attenuated or abolished. Conclusions: Among female adults with obesity, including a dietary component to reduce excess body weight - notably one involving severe energy restriction - could potentially enhance the effectiveness of physical activity interventions. This trial was registered at www.anzctr.org.au as ACTRN12612000651886

Cognitive appraisal of environmental stimuli induces emotion-like states in fish

The occurrence of emotions in non-human animals has been the focus of debate over the years. Recently, an interest in expanding this debate to non-tetrapod vertebrates and to invertebrates has emerged. Within vertebrates, the study of emotion in teleosts is particularly interesting since they represent a divergent evolutionary radiation from that of tetrapods, and thus they provide an insight into the evolution of the biological mechanisms of emotion. We report that Sea Bream exposed to stimuli that vary according to valence (positive, negative) and salience (predictable, unpredictable) exhibit different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states. Since according to the dimensional theory of emotion valence and salience define a two-dimensional affective space, our data can be interpreted as evidence for the occurrence of distinctive affective states in fish corresponding to each the four quadrants of the core affective space. Moreover, the fact that the same stimuli presented in a predictable vs. unpredictable way elicited different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states, suggests that stimulus appraisal by the individual, rather than an intrinsic characteristic of the stimulus, has triggered the observed responses. Therefore, our data supports the occurrence of emotion-like states in fish that are regulated by the individual's perception of environmental stimuli.European Commission [265957 Copewell]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/80029/2011, SFRH/BPD/72952/2010]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of Indian Total Sanitation Campaign on latrine coverage and use: a cross-sectional study in Orissa three years following programme implementation.

BACKGROUND: Faced with a massive shortfall in meeting sanitation targets, some governments have implemented campaigns that use subsidies focused on latrine construction to overcome income constraints and rapidly expand coverage. In settings like rural India where open defecation is common, this may result in sub-optimal compliance (use), thereby continuing to leave the population exposed to human excreta. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate latrine coverage and use among 20 villages (447 households, 1933 individuals) in Orissa, India where the Government of India's Total Sanitation Campaign had been implemented at least three years previously. We defined coverage as the proportion of households that had a latrine; for use we identified the proportion of households with at least one reported user and among those, the extent of reported use by each member of the household. RESULTS: Mean latrine coverage among the villages was 72% (compared to <10% in comparable villages in the same district where the Total Sanitation Campaign had not yet been implemented), though three of the villages had less than 50% coverage. Among these households with latrines, more than a third (39%) were not being used by any member of the household. Well over a third (37%) of the members of households with latrines reported never defecating in their latrines. Less than half (47%) of the members of such households reported using their latrines at all times for defecation. Combined with the 28% of households that did not have latrines, it appears that most defecation events in these communities are still practiced in the open. CONCLUSION: A large-scale campaign to implement sanitation has achieved substantial gains in latrine coverage in this population. Nevertheless, gaps in coverage and widespread continuation of open defecation will result in continued exposure to human excreta, reducing the potential for health gains

Exploiting Anopheles responses to thermal, odour and visual stimuli to improve surveillance and control of malaria

Mosquito surveillance and control are at the heart of efforts to eliminate malaria, however, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of mosquito behaviour that impede innovation. We hypothesised that a combination of human-associated stimuli could be used to attract and kill malaria vectors more successfully than individual stimuli, and at least as well as a real human. To test this in the field, we quantified Anopheles responses to olfactory, visual and thermal stimuli in Burkina Faso using a simple adhesive trap. Traps baited with human odour plus high contrast visual stimuli caught more Anopheles than traps with odour alone, showing that despite their nocturnal habit, malaria vectors make use of visual cues in host-seeking. The best performing traps, however, combined odour and visual stimuli with a thermal signature in the range equivalent to human body temperature. When tested against a human landing catch during peak mosquito abundance, this “host decoy” trap caught nearly ten times the number of Anopheles mosquitoes caught by a human collector. Exploiting the behavioural responses of mosquitoes to the entire suite of host stimuli promises to revolutionise vector surveillance and provide new paradigms in disease control