Effects of acute treatment with a tryptophan-rich protein hydrolysate on plasma amino acids, mood and emotional functioning in older women

RATIONALE: Effective functioning of the neurotransmitter serotonin is important for optimal cognitive and emotional function. Dietary supplements able to increase availability to the brain of the precursor amino acid, tryptophan (TRP), and thereby enhance serotonin synthesis, can have measurable impact on these psychological processes. OBJECTIVES: This study involves a randomised controlled trial of a TRP-rich egg-white protein hydrolysate (DSM Nutritional Products Ltd., Switzerland) on plasma amino acids, cognition, mood and emotional processing in older women. METHODS: Following a baseline test day without treatment, 60 healthy women aged 45–65 years received drinks containing either 2 or 4 g of TRP-rich protein hydrolysate product or 3.11 g casein hydrolysate as a control. One hour later, they undertook a 2-h battery of cognitive and emotional tests. RESULTS: The TRP-rich protein hydrolysate produced the expected dose-dependent increase in the ratio of plasma TRP to competing large neutral amino acids. TRP-rich protein hydrolysate (2 g only) prevented both the decline in wellbeing and increase in fatigue seen over the test session in the control group. This treatment dose resulted in a significant shift in emotional processing towards positive words and reduced negative bias in assessing negative facial expressions. Effects on cognition were small and not statistically reliable and are not reported here. However, there was no evidence for any adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of a low dose of TRP-rich protein hydrolysate may have beneficial effects on emotional function that could promote feelings of wellbeing, possibly conferring resistance to deterioration in mood in healthy subjects or depressive episodes

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO–Virgo run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC–2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate

Human mesenchymal stem cell co-culture modulates the immunological properties of human intervertebral disc tissue fragments in vitro

The capacity of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into intervertebral disc (IVD)-like cells has been well described, but their ability to modulate the inflammatory processes in the IVD remains unclear. We found that tissue obtained by discectomy of degenerated and post-traumatic IVD contains significant amounts of IgG antibodies, a sign of lymphocyte infiltration. Further we investigated whether MSCs in vitro, which were characterized for their multilineage differentiation potential and may have immunomodulatory effects on IVD fragments. IVD fragments were co-cultured in contact with peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and MSCs, and as functional controls we used contact co-cultures of PBLs stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (2.5 μg/mL) and MSCs. The time course of lymphocyte proliferation (Alamar Blue), IgG (ELISA) and gene expression (RT-PCR) of anti-inflammatory cytokines (TGF-β1, IL-10) by MSCs and pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-1α, IL-1β and TNF-α) by the IVD fragments were analyzed. Depending on the response to the presence of MSCs, the IVD fragments (n = 13) were divided in two groups: responders (n = 9), where inflammation was inhibited by MSCs and non-responders (n = 4), where MSCs did not decrease inflammation. At 1 week in co-culture, MSCs reduced significantly the IgG production in the IVD responders group to 69% and PBLs proliferation to 57% of the control. MSCs expression of the anti-inflammatory TGF-β1 increased with time, while IL-10 was expressed only at day 1. IVD gene expression of TNF-α decreased constantly, whereas IL-1α and IL-1β expression increased. In conclusion, these data suggest that MSCs may modulate disc-specific inflammatory and pain status and aid regeneration of the host tissue

Breakfast skipping and change in body mass index in young children

Background/Objectives:Childhood obesity is prevalent, and dietary habits are a key determinant. Some children skip breakfast for weight control, but studies have shown mixed results. Therefore, we assessed the association between breakfast skipping and body mass index (BMI) among young Chinese children in Hong Kong.Design/Subjects and Methods:A cohort of 113 457 primary 4 participants of the Department of Health Student Health Service in 1998-2000 was followed up for 2 years, with 68 606 (60.5%) participants available for analysis in primary 6. The sociodemographic characteristics for traced and untraced participants were similar. At baseline and follow-up, students reported breakfast habit (consumed vs skipped) and other lifestyle characteristics using a standardized questionnaire. BMI was derived using height and weight measured by trained nurses. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the cross-sectional relationship between breakfast habit and BMI, as well as the prospective association between baseline breakfast habit and change in BMI. Models adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics.Results:A total of 1805 (5.3%) boys and 1793 (5.2%) girls skipped breakfast at baseline. In cross-sectional analyses, breakfast skippers had a higher mean BMI than did eaters among both primary 4 (Β0.77, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.67-0.87) (P0.001) and primary 6 children (Β0.86, 95% CI: 0.78-0.95) (P0.001). Compared with eaters, baseline breakfast skippers experienced a greater increase in BMI in the subsequent 2 years (Β0.11, 95% CI: 0.07-0.16) (P0.001), and this association was stronger among lunch skippers than eaters (P for interaction0.04).Conclusion:Our study provided prospective evidence that skipping breakfast predicts a greater increase in BMI among Hong Kong children. As breakfast is a modifiable dietary habit, our results may have important implications for weight control. However, the underlying mechanism of this effect warrants further investigation. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex