Impact of caffeine on macronutrient metabolism: A review of literature

In the United States, people have come to rely heavily on everyday caffeine consumption for numerous reasons. Inspired by this profound use, our group investigated the interaction between macronutrient metabolism and caffeine consumption. We further explored how macronutrient metabolism is impacted when caffeine is ingested with food. Three investigators independently conducted a literature review. Research databases were searched between July 2015 and January 2016, using the metabolic effects of caffeine, carbohydrates, protein, metabolism, and insulin response to caffeine as keywords. Three studies investigated glucose intake with coffee supplementation. These trials resulted in decreased insulin sensitivity, glucose disposal, and absorption in adipose cells. Five papers described coffee and lipid metabolism. They showed caffeine reduced body fat mass by adipose tissue lipolysis, in both animal and human trials. In contrast, there was no impact on fatty acid uptake in skeletal muscle reaction as well as subsequent metabolism during exercise. Few studies focused on the relationship between caffeine and protein. Three trials assessed co-ingestion of carbohydrates and proteins with caffeine, and reported endurance performance was enhanced. There is a clear gap in the literature, and studies investigating the effects of caffeine on protein metabolism are needed. Trials investigating the impact of caffeine intake on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism shows beneficial or negligible effects. Future work should focus on protein metabolism and overall metabolic impact of caffeine consumption with mixed macronutrient meals.Ope

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy v. group psychoeducation for people with generalised anxiety disorder: randomised controlled trial

Background: Research suggests that an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course may be effective for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Aims: To compare changes in anxiety levels among participants with GAD randomly assigned to MBCT, cognitive–behavioural therapy-based psychoeducation and usual care. Method: In total, 182 participants with GAD were recruited (trial registration number: CUHK_CCT00267) and assigned to the three groups and followed for 5 months after baseline assessment with the two intervention groups followed for an additional 6 months. Primary outcomes were anxiety and worry levels. Results: Linear mixed models demonstrated significant group × time interaction (F(4,148) = 5.10, P = 0.001) effects for decreased anxiety for both the intervention groups relative to usual care. Significant group × time interaction effects were observed for worry and depressive symptoms and mental health-related quality of life for the psychoeducation group only. Conclusions: These results suggest that both of the interventions appear to be superior to usual care for the reduction of anxiety symptoms

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Fruit and vegetable intake and quality of life among breast cancer survivors

Background: With advances in breast cancer detection and treatment, survivors now have a 5-year survival rate > 90%. This has led to a shift in focus to improving not only survival, but also health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) after diagnosis, including physical, social, emotional, functional, and general well-being. High fruit and vegetable (FV) intake may improve HR-QoL, possibly through anti-inflammatory mechanisms, but previous research findings are mixed. The purpose of this study was to determine how FV intake is associated with HR-QoL among breast cancer survivors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional pilot study of 82 breast cancer survivors who completed an online survey disseminated through breast cancer support groups. Participants completed the NIH dietary screener questionnaire (DSQ), which was used to estimate average daily servings of FV intake. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer (FACT-B) was used to assess HR-QoL. Scores for overall HR-QoL, as well as for individual subscales of physical, social/family, emotional, and functional QoL, were computed. Covariates included self-reported age, body mass index (BMI), cancer stage, and income. Total daily servings of FV were categorized into above and below median of intake (< 2 Cups FV/day and ≥2 Cups FV/day) and examined in multivariable linear regression models to evaluate their relationship with overall and subscale-specific HR-QoL scores. Results: After controlling for age, BMI, disease stage, and income, there were no significant associations observed between total FV intake and overall or subscale-specific HR-QoL scores. Conclusion: FV intake was not associated with HR-QoL in this breast cancer survivor population. The small sample size may have lacked adequate power to detect a significant association. Further research to understand how diet quality may influence HR-QoL in breast cancer survivors is needed.U of I OnlyAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste

Effect of prehabilitation-related DIETary protein intake on Quality of Recovery after elective cardiac surgery (DIETQoR) study: protocol of a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Protein malnutrition is associated with higher risks of postoperative complications, mortality, prolonged postoperative stays in hospital, slower physical and mental recovery after surgery and lower subsequent health-related quality of life. To reduce the risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality, nutritional prehabilitation programmes have been developed recently to build up patient’s nutritional reserve to withstand the stress of surgery. The intervention involves nutritional screening and counselling, and increasing dietary protein intake in protein-malnourished patients in the several weeks before surgery. However, there are few well-conducted preoperative studies to examine the effect of increasing dietary protein intake on the quality of recovery of malnourished patients after elective cardiac surgery.Method and analysis This randomised controlled trial of malnourished patients undergoing major elective cardiac surgery will compare the quality of postoperative recovery in patients with or without nutritional prehabilitation. One hundred and thirty-two patients will be randomised to receive nutritional prehabilitation (target-adjusted whey protein powder supplementation and an individualised 1 hour session/week counselling by a dietician 1 month before operation date) or standard care (no nutritional prehabilitation). Primary outcomes will be the quality of recovery after surgery (15-item Quality of Recovery) on the third postoperative day. Secondary outcomes will include days (alive and) at home within 30 days, changes in the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0, changes in health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) and Cardiac Postoperative Morbidity Survey. An outcomes assessor will be blinded to the treatment allocation. Appropriate univariate analyses, generalised estimating equations and multiple regressions will be performed for intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses.Ethics and dissemination The Joint CUHK-NTEC Clinical Research Ethics Committee approved the study protocol (CREC Ref. No.: 2021.703 T). The findings will be presented at scientific meetings, peer-reviewed journals and to study participants.Trial registration number ChiCTR2200057463

Exploring clinical determinants and anxiety symptom domains among Asian breast cancer patients

10.1007/s00520-013-1769-8Supportive Care in Cancer2182185-2194SCCA

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field