Estimation of Dietary Iron Bioavailability from Food Iron Intake and Iron Status

Currently there are no satisfactory methods for estimating dietary iron absorption (bioavailability) at a population level, but this is essential for deriving dietary reference values using the factorial approach. The aim of this work was to develop a novel approach for estimating dietary iron absorption using a population sample from a sub-section of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Data were analyzed in 873 subjects from the 2000–2001 adult cohort of the NDNS, for whom both dietary intake data and hematological measures (hemoglobin and serum ferritin (SF) concentrations) were available. There were 495 men aged 19–64 y (mean age 42.7±12.1 y) and 378 pre-menopausal women (mean age 35.7±8.2 y). Individual dietary iron requirements were estimated using the Institute of Medicine calculations. A full probability approach was then applied to estimate the prevalence of dietary intakes that were insufficient to meet the needs of the men and women separately, based on their estimated daily iron intake and a series of absorption values ranging from 1–40%. The prevalence of SF concentrations below selected cut-off values (indicating that absorption was not high enough to maintain iron stores) was derived from individual SF concentrations. An estimate of dietary iron absorption required to maintain specified SF values was then calculated by matching the observed prevalence of insufficiency with the prevalence predicted for the series of absorption estimates. Mean daily dietary iron intakes were 13.5 mg for men and 9.8 mg for women. Mean calculated dietary absorption was 8% in men (50th percentile for SF 85 µg/L) and 17% in women (50th percentile for SF 38 µg/L). At a ferritin level of 45 µg/L estimated absorption was similar in men (14%) and women (13%). This new method can be used to calculate dietary iron absorption at a population level using data describing total iron intake and SF concentration

The DAVID Gene Functional Classification Tool: a novel biological module-centric algorithm to functionally analyze large gene lists

The DAVID gene functional classification tool uses a novel fuzzy clustering algorithm to condense a list of genes or associated biological terms into organized classes of related genes or biology, called biological modules

Alginate inhibits iron absorption from ferrous gluconate in a randomized controlled trial and reduces iron uptake into Caco-2 cells

Previous in vitro results indicated that alginate beads might be a useful vehicle for food iron fortification. A human study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that alginate enhances iron absorption. A randomised, single blinded, cross-over trial was carried out in which iron absorption was measured from serum iron appearance after a test meal. Overnight-fasted volunteers (n=15) were given a test meal of 200g cola-flavoured jelly plus 21 mg iron as ferrous gluconate, either in alginate beads mixed into the jelly or in a capsule. Iron absorption was lower from the alginate beads than from ferrous gluconate (8.5% and 12.6% respectively, p=0.003). Sub-group B (n=9) consumed the test meals together with 600 mg calcium to determine whether alginate modified the inhibitory effect of calcium. Calcium reduced iron absorption from ferrous gluconate by 51%, from 11.5% to 5.6% (p=0.014), and from alginate beads by 37%, from 8.3% to 5.2% (p=0.009). In vitro studies using Caco-2 cells were designed to explore the reasons for the difference between the previous in vitro findings and the human study; confirmed the inhibitory effect of alginate. Beads similar to those used in the human study were subjected to simulated gastrointestinal digestion, with and without cola jelly, and the digestate applied to Caco-2 cells. Both alginate and cola jelly significantly reduced iron uptake into the cells, by 34% (p=0.009) and 35% (p=0.003) respectively. The combination of cola jelly and calcium produced a very low ferritin response, 16.5% (p<0.001) of that observed with ferrous gluconate alone. The results of these studies demonstrate that alginate beads are not a useful delivery system for soluble salts of iron for the purpose of food fortification

Atmospheric sampling of Supertyphoon Mireille with NASA DC-8 aircraft on September 27,1991, during PEM-West A

The DC-8 mission of September 27, 1991, was designed to sample air flowing into Typhoon Mireille in the boundary layer, air in the upper tropospheric eye region, and air emerging from the typhoon and ahead of the system, also in the upper troposphere. The objective was to find how a typhoon redistributes trace constituents in the West Pacific region and whether any such redistribution is important on the global scale. The boundary layer air (300 m), in a region to the SE of the eye, contained low mixing ratios of the tracer species O3, CO, C2H6, C2H2, C3H8, C6H6and CS2 but high values of dimethylsulfide (DMS). The eye region relative to the boundary layer, showed somewhat elevated levels of CO, substantially increased levels of O3, CS2 and all nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), and somewhat reduced levels of DMS. Ahead of the eye, CO and the NMHCs remained unchanged, O3 and CS2 showed a modest decrease, and DMS showed a substantial decrease. There was no evidence from lidar cross sections of ozone for the downward entrainment of stratospheric air into the eye region; these sections show that low ozone values were measured in the troposphere. The DMS data suggest substantial entrainment of boundary layer air into the system, particularly into the eye wall region. Estimates of the DMS sulphur flux between the boundary layer and the free troposphere, based on computations of velocity potential and divergent winds, gave values of about 69 μg S m−2 d−1 averaged over a 17.5° grid square encompassing the typhoon. A few hours after sampling with the DC-8, Mireille passed over Oki Island, just to the north of Japan, producing surface values of ozone of 5.5 ppbv. These O3 levels are consistent with the low tropospheric values found by lidar and are more typical of equatorial regions. We suggest that the central eye region may act like a Taylor column which has moved poleward from low latitudes. The high-altitude photochemical environment within Typhoon Mireille was found to be quite active as evidenced by significant levels of measured gas phase H2O2 and CH3OOH and model-computed levels of OH

The Revised TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List

We describe the catalogs assembled and the algorithms used to populate the revised TESS Input Catalog (TIC), based on the incorporation of the Gaia second data release. We also describe a revised ranking system for prioritizing stars for 2-minute cadence observations, and assemble a revised Candidate Target List (CTL) using that ranking. The TIC is available on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) server, and an enhanced CTL is available through the Filtergraph data visualization portal system at the URL http://filtergraph.vanderbilt.edu/tess_ctl.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures, submitted to AAS Journals; provided to the community in advance of publication in conjunction with public release of the TIC/CTL on 28 May 201

Concurrent pulmonary zygomycosis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: a case report

A non-smoking 77-year old gentleman of Indian origin was admitted with a 4-month history of intermittent night sweats, haemoptysis and 6 kg of weight loss. CT scan of thorax demonstrated a 2.5 cm mass in the right middle lobe with multiple small nodules within the right lung and confirmed the presence of mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes

The Use of Urine Proteomic and Metabonomic Patterns for the Diagnosis of Interstitial Cystitis and Bacterial Cystitis

The advent of systems biology approaches that have stemmed from the sequencing of the human genome has led to the search for new methods to diagnose diseases. While much effort has been focused on the identification of disease-specific biomarkers, recent efforts are underway toward the use of proteomic and metabonomic patterns to indicate disease. We have developed and contrasted the use of both proteomic and metabonomic patterns in urine for the detection of interstitial cystitis (IC). The methodology relies on advanced bioinformatics to scrutinize information contained within mass spectrometry (MS) and high-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectral patterns to distinguish IC-affected from non-affected individuals as well as those suffering from bacterial cystitis (BC). We have applied a novel pattern recognition tool that employs an unsupervised system (self-organizing-type cluster mapping) as a fitness test for a supervised system (a genetic algorithm). With this approach, a training set comprised of mass spectra and 1H-NMR spectra from urine derived from either unaffected individuals or patients with IC is employed so that the most fit combination of relative, normalized intensity features defined at precise m/z or chemical shift values plotted in n-space can reliably distinguish the cohorts used in training. Using this bioinformatic approach, we were able to discriminate spectral patterns associated with IC-affected, BC-affected, and unaffected patients with a success rate of approximately 84%