Plant Polyphenols in Obesity and Obesity-Associated Metabolic Disorders: A Narrative Review of Resveratrol and Flavonoids Upon the Molecular Basis of Inflammation

Background: The epidemic of obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is currently unsustainable for Public Health systems, and preventive and therapeutic approaches are urgently sought to improve health outcomes for affected individuals. Aim: In this study, we aim to further explore and synthetize available evidence on the effects of selected plant polyphenols (PP) upon molecular mechanisms associated with oxidative stress and inflammatory pathways. We also aim to briefly discuss PP supplementation as therapeutic tool for the prevention and management of prevalent obesity-associated metabolic disorders. Methods: This narrative review was performed in the PubMed database in June 2018 without restriction of publication period. Results: PP influence a broad range of cell signalling pathways; by modulating the activity of nuclear transcription factors, PP modulate gene expression and antioxidant responses, as well as inflammation and its resolution. Several interventional studies have investigated the effects of PP supplementation in a variety of sample populations, but no consensus has yet been reached regarding composition, dosage or course of treatment for therapeutic purposes. However, overall results tend to suggest a positive effect of PP in either improving metabolic profile or minimizing negative disease outcomes. Careful consideration on PP supplementation is paramount; adverse effects have already been described. Conclusion: The successful prevention and management or treatment of obesity-associated metabolic disorders may be achieved through an effective multidisciplinary approach to tackle their modifiable risk factors. A balanced diet, which includes naturally occurring sources of PP associated with lower consumption of ultra-processed foods, is a relevant approach for the positive health outcomes desired

Higher Grading Conformal Affine Toda Teory and (Generalized) Sine-Gordon/Massive Thirring Duality

Some properties of the higher grading integrable generalizations of the conformal affine Toda systems are studied. The fields associated to the non-zero grade generators are Dirac spinors. The effective action is written in terms of the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten (WZNW) action associated to an affine Lie algebra, and an off-critical theory is obtained as the result of the spontaneous breakdown of the conformal symmetry. Moreover, the off-critical theory presents a remarkable equivalence between the Noether and topological currents of the model. Related to the off-critical model we define a real and local Lagrangian provided some reality conditions are imposed on the fields of the model. This real action model is expected to describe the soliton sector of the original model, and turns out to be the master action from which we uncover the weak-strong phases described by (generalized) massive Thirring and sine-Gordon type models, respectively. The case of any (untwisted) affine Lie algebra furnished with the principal gradation is studied in some detail. The example of $\hat{sl}(n) (n=2,3)$ is presented explicitly.Comment: 28 pages, JHEP styl

Multicharged Dyonic Integrable Models

We introduce and study new integrable models of A_n^{(1)}-Non-Abelian Toda type which admit U(1)\otimes U(1) charged topological solitons. They correspond to the symmetry breaking SU(n+1) \to SU(2)\otimes SU(2)\otimes U(1)^{n-2} and are conjectured to describe charged dyonic domain walls of N=1 SU(n+1) SUSY gauge theory in large n limit. It is shown that this family of relativistic IMs corresponds to the first negative grade q={-1} member of a dyonic hierarchy of generalized cKP type. The explicit relation between the 1-soliton solutions (and the conserved charges as well) of the IMs of grades q=-1 and q=2 is found. The properties of the IMs corresponding to more general symmetry breaking SU(n+1) \to SU(2)^{\otimes p}\otimes U(1)^{n-p} as well as IM with global SU(2) symmetries are discussed.Comment: 48pages, latex, v2. typos in eqns. (1.7) and (3.20) corrected, small improvements in subsection 2.2, new reference added;v3. improvements in text of Sect. 1,2 and 6; new Sect 7 and new refs. added; version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Metabolic and nutritional triggers associated with increased risk of liver complications in SARS-CoV-2

Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer and smoking are risk factors for negative outcomes in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which can quickly induce severe respiratory failure in 5% of cases. Coronavirus disease-associated liver injury may occur during progression of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with or without pre-existing liver disease, and damage to the liver parenchyma can be caused by infection of hepatocytes. Cirrhosis patients may be particularly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 if suffering with cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction. Furthermore, pharmacotherapies including macrolide or quinolone antibiotics and steroids can also induce liver damage. In this review we addressed nutritional status and nutritional interventions in severe SARS-CoV-2 liver patients. As guidelines for SARS-CoV-2 in intensive care (IC) specifically are not yet available, strategies for management of sepsis and SARS are suggested in SARS-CoV-2. Early enteral nutrition (EN) should be started soon after IC admission, preferably employing iso-osmolar polymeric formula with initial protein content at 0.8 g/kg per day progressively increasing up to 1.3 g/kg per day and enriched with fish oil at 0.1 g/kg per day to 0.2 g/kg per day. Monitoring is necessary to identify signs of intolerance, hemodynamic instability and metabolic disorders, and transition to parenteral nutrition should not be delayed when energy and protein targets cannot be met via EN. Nutrients including vitamins A, C, D, E, B6, B12, folic acid, zinc, selenium and ω-3 fatty acids have in isolation or in combination shown beneficial effects upon immune function and inflammation modulation. Cautious and monitored supplementation up to upper limits may be beneficial in management strategies for SARS-CoV-2 liver patients

The Structure and Dynamics of the Upper Chromosphere and Lower Transition Region as Revealed by the Subarcsecond VAULT Observations

The Very high Angular resolution ULtraviolet Telescope (VAULT) is a sounding rocket payload built to study the crucial interface between the solar chromosphere and the corona by observing the strongest line in the solar spectrum, the Ly-a line at 1216 {\AA}. In two flights, VAULT succeeded in obtaining the first ever sub-arcsecond (0.5") images of this region with high sensitivity and cadence. Detailed analyses of those observations have contributed significantly to new ideas about the nature of the transition region. Here, we present a broad overview of the Ly-a atmosphere as revealed by the VAULT observations, and bring together past results and new analyses from the second VAULT flight to create a synthesis of our current knowledge of the high-resolution Ly-a Sun. We hope that this work will serve as a good reference for the design of upcoming Ly-a telescopes and observing plans.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy beta and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1

The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) down to an electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV. In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be $<1.4\times 10^{-7}$ (90% C.L.) for energies between 43-86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background rate allowed the same measurement with only a double-coincidence tag. The combined data set contains $1.23\times10^8$ events. One of those, in the underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the resulting upper limit on the electronic recoil contamination is $<2.7\times10^{-8}$ (90% C.L.) between 44-89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. We developed a general mathematical framework to describe PSD parameter distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction of approx. $10^{-10}$ for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keV for a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of $10^{-46}$ cm$^2$, assuming negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Cultura e desenvolvimento humano sustentável

A cultura é cada vez mais o centro das políticas locais, pela importância que vem revelando no contexto de um paradigma de desenvolvimento humano integral. Para além da atenção que lhe é dirigida graças à sua intima conexão a fatores de índole económica, social e urbana; a sua relevância deve-se essencialmente às relações intrínsecas que mantém com as questões da identidade, da memória, da criatividade, da ciência e do pensamento e conhecimento crítico. Optámos por dividir este livro em três capítulos de modo a permitir uma sequência de leitura, desde as temáticas gerais de grande escala – da União Europeia e da Globalização, até ao cerne do problema que em nosso entendimento urge solucionar nas cidades: a efetiva e definitiva integração da dimensão cultural nas estratégias territoriais de desenvolvimento humano sustentável.N/