Metabolic Trajectories Following Contrasting Prudent and Western Diets from Food Provisions: Identifying Robust Biomarkers of Short-Term Changes in Habitual Diet

A large body of evidence has linked unhealthy eating with an alarming increase in obesity and chronic disease worldwide. However, existing methods of assessing dietary intake rely on food frequency questionnaires or dietary records that are prone to bias and selective reporting. Herein, metabolic phenotyping was performed on 42 healthy participants from the Diet and Gene Intervention (DIGEST) pilot study, a parallel two-arm randomized clinical trial that provided complete diets to all participants. Matching urine and plasma specimens were collected at baseline and following 2 weeks of provision of either a Prudent or Western diet with a weight-maintaining menu plan designed by a dietician. Targeted and nontargeted metabolite profiling was conducted using three complementary analytical platforms, where 80 serum metabolites and 84 creatinine-normalized urinary metabolites were reliably measured (CV 75%) after implementing a rigorous data workflow for metabolite authentication with stringent quality control. We classified a panel of metabolites with distinctive trajectories following 2 weeks of food provisions when using complementary univariate and multivariate statistical models. Unknown metabolites associated with contrasting dietary patterns were identified with high resolution MS/MS and/or co-elution after spiking with authentic standards. Overall, 3-methylhistidine and proline betaine concentrations increased consistently when participants were assigned a Prudent diet (q ± 0.30, p < 0.05) to changes in average intake of specific nutrients from self-reported diet records reflecting good adherence to food provisions. This study revealed robust biomarkers sensitive to short-term changes in habitual diet that can be used to reliably monitor healthy eating patterns for new advances in nutritional epidemiology, as well as the design of evidence-based public health policies for chronic disease prevention

High-sensitivity rod photoreceptor input to the blue-yellow color opponent pathway in macaque retina.

Small bistratified cells (SBCs) in the primate retina carry a major blue-yellow opponent signal to the brain. We found that SBCs also carry signals from rod photoreceptors, with the same sign as S cone input. SBCs exhibited robust responses under low scotopic conditions. Physiological and anatomical experiments indicated that this rod input arose from the AII amacrine cell-mediated rod pathway. Rod and cone signals were both present in SBCs at mesopic light levels. These findings have three implications. First, more retinal circuits may multiplex rod and cone signals than were previously thought to, efficiently exploiting the limited number of optic nerve fibers. Second, signals from AII amacrine cells may diverge to most or all of the approximately 20 retinal ganglion cell types in the peripheral primate retina. Third, rod input to SBCs may be the substrate for behavioral biases toward perception of blue at mesopic light levels

A Practical Guide to Multimodality Imaging of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

The advent of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is one of the most widely anticipated advances in the care of patients with severe aortic stenosis. This procedure is unique in many ways, one of which is the need for a multimodality imaging team-based approach throughout the continuum of the care of TAVR patients. Pre-procedural planning, intra-procedural implantation optimization, and long-term follow-up of patients undergoing TAVR require the expert use of various imaging modalities, each of which has its own strengths and limitations. Divided into 3 sections (pre-procedural, intraprocedural, and long-term follow-up), this review offers a single source for expert opinion and evidence-based guidance on how to incorporate the various modalities at each step in the care of a TAVR patient. Although much has been learned in the short span of time since TAVR was introduced, recommendations are offered for clinically relevant research that will lead to refinement of best practice strategies for incorporating multimodality imaging into TAVR patient care

A Practical Guide to Multimodality Imaging of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

The advent of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is one of the most widely anticipated advances in the care of patients with severe aortic stenosis. This procedure is unique in many ways, one of which is the need for a multimodality imaging team-based approach throughout the continuum of the care of TAVR patients. Pre-procedural planning, intraprocedural implantation optimization, and long-term follow-up of patients undergoing TAVR require the expert use of various imaging modalities, each of which has its own strengths and limitations. Divided into 3 sections (pre-procedural, intraprocedural, and long-term follow-up), this review offers a single source for expert opinion and evidence-based guidance on how to incorporate the various modalities at each step in the care of a TAVR patient. Although much has been learned in the short span of time since TAVR was introduced, recommendations are offered for clinically relevant research that will lead to refinement of best practice strategies for incorporating multimodality imaging into TAVR patient care. (J Am Coll Cardiol Img 2012;5: 441-55) (C) 2012 by the American College of Cardiology Foundatio

Allosteric Sensing of Fatty Acid Binding by NMR: Application to Human Serum Albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) serves not only as a physiological oncotic pressure regulator and a ligand carrier but also as a biomarker for pathologies ranging from ischemia to diabetes. Moreover, HSA is a biopharmaceutical with a growing repertoire of putative clinical applications from hypovolemia to Alzheimer’s disease. A key determinant of the physiological, diagnostic, and therapeutic functions of HSA is the amount of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) bound to HSA. Here, we propose to utilize ¹³C-oleic acid for the NMR-based assessment of albumin-bound LCFA concentration (CONFA). ¹³C-Oleic acid primes HSA for a LCFA-dependent allosteric transition that modulates the frequency separation between the two main ¹³C NMR peaks of HSA-bound oleic acid (Δν_AB). On the basis of Δν_AB, the overall [¹²C-LCFA]_Tot/[HSA]_Tot ratio is reproducibly estimated in a manner that is only minimally sensitive to glycation, albumin concentration, or redox potential, unlike other methods to quantify HSA-bound LCFAs such as the albumin–cobalt binding assay

High-sensitivity rod photoreceptor input to the blue-yellow color opponent pathway in macaque retina.

Small bistratified cells (SBCs) in the primate retina carry a major blue-yellow opponent signal to the brain. We found that SBCs also carry signals from rod photoreceptors, with the same sign as S cone input. SBCs exhibited robust responses under low scotopic conditions. Physiological and anatomical experiments indicated that this rod input arose from the AII amacrine cell-mediated rod pathway. Rod and cone signals were both present in SBCs at mesopic light levels. These findings have three implications. First, more retinal circuits may multiplex rod and cone signals than were previously thought to, efficiently exploiting the limited number of optic nerve fibers. Second, signals from AII amacrine cells may diverge to most or all of the approximately 20 retinal ganglion cell types in the peripheral primate retina. Third, rod input to SBCs may be the substrate for behavioral biases toward perception of blue at mesopic light levels