EFFECTS OF ACUTE L-CARNITINE SUPPLEMENTATION DURING LOW-INTENSITY TREADMILL EXERCISE

C. Snoke, G. Agnesse, K. Boles, J. Daniels, A. Holum, J. McKenzie Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA PURPOSE: The effectiveness of L-carnitine supplementation has been debated throughout research as an aid to increased fat metabolism and weight loss. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of acute L-carnitine supplementation in humans as an aid in lipid metabolism during low-intensity treadmill exercise. METHODS: In this study, participants will complete two separate sessions of treadmill exercise after consuming either 3g of L-carnitine or placebo (consumed with Gatorade Zero) one hour prior to exercise. After this, participant Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) and Volume of Oxygen consumed (VO2) will be collected with the Parvo-Medics metabolic cart while the participant completes 33 minutes of treadmill exercise at 3.1 mph and 1% grade. RER values will be converted to kilocalories (kcal) of fat using a Zuntz table. RESULTS: Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS will be used for data analysis. A paired-samples t-test and independent samples t-test will be utilized to compare placebo and treatment conditions. CONCLUSION: If our proposed population of 30 participants was utilized for this experiment, we may find that acute L-carnitine supplementation does not significantly increase fat burning during exercise. This may be due to many participants having sufficient carnitine levels in the body. Therefore, L-carnitine supplementation is likely not an effective aid in weight loss

Steady-State Pharmacokinetics of Micafungin and Voriconazole after Separate and Concomitant Dosing in Healthy Adults

We assessed the pharmacokinetics and interactions of steady-state micafungin (Mycamine) or placebo with steady-state voriconazole in 35 volunteers. The 90% confidence intervals around the least-squares mean ratios for micafungin pharmacokinetic parameters and placebo-corrected voriconazole pharmacokinetic parameters were within the 80%-to-125% limits, indicating an absence of drug interaction

An extensible vector toolkit and parts library for advanced engineering of plant genomes

Abstract Plant biotechnology is rife with new advances in transformation and genome engineering techniques. A common requirement for delivery and coordinated expression in plant cells, however, places the design and assembly of transformation constructs at a crucial juncture as desired reagent suites grow more complex. Modular cloning principles have simplified some aspects of vector design, yet many important components remain unavailable or poorly adapted for rapid implementation in biotechnology research. Here, we describe a universal Golden Gate cloning toolkit for vector construction. The toolkit chassis is compatible with the widely accepted Phytobrick standard for genetic parts, and supports assembly of arbitrarily complex T‐DNAs through improved capacity, positional flexibility, and extensibility in comparison to extant kits. We also provision a substantial library of newly adapted Phytobricks, including regulatory elements for monocot and dicot gene expression, and coding sequences for genes of interest such as reporters, developmental regulators, and site‐specific recombinases. Finally, we use a series of dual‐luciferase assays to measure contributions to expression from promoters, terminators, and from cross‐cassette interactions attributable to enhancer elements in certain promoters. Taken together, these publicly available cloning resources can greatly accelerate the testing and deployment of new tools for plant engineering