The Mediterranean Diet: Could Obese America Eat its Way to a Longer Life?

The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is a long-standing form of nutrition that may be partially responsible for the long life-expectancy of European Mediterranean countries. If this diet is capable of increasing longevity, it may be worthy of integration into U.S. culture. This study uses literature to explore the effects of the MD on disease prevention, as avoidance of potentially lethal, non-communicable disease could increase longevity. Nationally prevalent diseases were studied, including obesity, type II diabetes, and COPD, among others. Results indicate that the diet has been linked to lower risk for development of a wide variety of diseases, thus indicating it could lengthen American life expectancy, making it a concern for the governmental, economic, and public health sectors. Some challenges of integration of the MD in U.S. culture were explored in literature. Major obstacles include financial limitations for economically distressed individuals, lack of accessibility, and clashing cultural barriers on diet style. Solutions were investigated and include SNAP reform to lessen financial stress, elimination of food deserts through the “Let’s Move!” campaign, and education of the public sector about the MD. Many challenges exist as barriers for the adoption of the diet in the U.S., and successful integration will require local and federal efforts. While integration will not be easy, significant changes in the future could allow the diet to become a part of U.S. culture. The MD could provide the increasingly obese United States with an opportunity to eat its way to a longer, healthier life.Kayla SiddellHonors DiplomHonors CollegeCunningham Memorial Library, Terre Haute, Indiana State UniversityUndergraduateTitle from document title page. Document formatted into pages: 23

The Living Chain: An Applied Exploration of Mythological Narrative and Traditional Printmaking Techniques

The Living Chain is a body of work built to apply and analyze mythological narrative and traditional printmaking techniques. The work is a collection of prints telling an original narrative that derives much of its visual and thematic style from the works of the Baroque and Medieval periods, as well as significant influence from the prints of Gustave Doré. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ideas, mythologies, histories, and symbols found in and inspiring the work, in order to better understand the work’s purpose and its technical challenges. Additional focus is given to the historical significance and cultural impact of meaningful, mythological narratives and the differences between modern and historic narratives told through sequential works of art

Isolate-Dependent Growth, Virulence, and Cell Wall Composition in the Human Pathogen <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i>

<div><p>The ubiquitous fungal pathogen <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> is a mediator of allergic sensitization and invasive disease in susceptible individuals. The significant genetic and phenotypic variability between and among clinical and environmental isolates are important considerations in host-pathogen studies of <i>A. fumigatus</i>-mediated disease. We observed decreased radial growth, rate of germination, and ability to establish colony growth in a single environmental isolate of <i>A. fumigatus</i>, Af5517, when compared to other clinical and environmental isolates. Af5517 also exhibited increased hyphal diameter and cell wall β-glucan and chitin content, with chitin most significantly increased. Morbidity, mortality, lung fungal burden, and tissue pathology were decreased in neutropenic Af5517-infected mice when compared to the clinical isolate Af293. Our results support previous findings that suggest a correlation between <i>in vitro</i> growth rates and <i>in viv</i>o virulence, and we propose that changes in cell wall composition may contribute to this phenotype.</p></div

Histopathology of Af293 and Af5517 infection.

<p>Neutropenic BALB/c mice were infected with Af293 or Af5517 and sacrificed after 3 days for lung histological analysis. (<b>A</b>) Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-stained sections (left panels) depict lung inflammation in mice infected with 5×10⁶ conidia. Adjacent Gomori’s Methanamine Silver (GMS)-stained sections (right panels) show areas of fungal growth. The black bar (bottom right panel) is equivalent to 100 µm. (<b>B</b>) GMS staining representing fungal growth was quantified in sections from mice infected with 2×10⁶ or 5×10⁶ conidia, with the mean of four representative fields displayed for each sample. *p<0.05.</p

Decreased radial growth of <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolate Af5517.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Representative <i>Aspergillus</i> minimal media (AMM) plates 10 days after inoculation with 100 conidia of the indicated <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates in triplicate. Plates were incubated at either 22°C or 37°C, as indicated. (<b>B</b>) Colony diameter during this incubation, measured daily. Clinical isolates are depicted with filled symbols connected by solid lines, while environmental isolates are open symbols connected by dotted lines. Growth of Af5517 was significantly different from all isolates after 4 days of growth. (<b>C</b>) Top panels, hyphal morphology of isolates after 24 hours growth in liquid culture at 37°C without shaking. Bottom panels, hyphal width was measured using SPOT Basic Software. (<b>D</b>) Summary of hyphal diameter measurements (n = 20–22/group). The diameters of Af5517 and Af164 hyphae were significantly increased when compared to Af293 and Af13073, and Af5517 diameter was increased compared to Af164 (p<0.01). (<b>E</b>) Hyphal mass accumulation of isolates after 24 hours growth in liquid culture with shaking. Data depict a summary of two experiments (n = 6/group). Each panel displayed is representative of two experiments. ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001.</p

<i>A. fumigatus</i> isolate Af5517 is less virulent than Af293 in an animal model of pulmonary IA.

<p>Neutropenic BALB/c mice were infected with 2×10⁶ (circles) or 5×10⁶ (squares) conidia of isolates Af293 (closed symbols) or Af5517 (open symbols). (<b>A</b>) Survival curves depict death or moribund status for experimental animals over the course of the experiment. (<b>B</b>) Fungal burden of mice infected with 5×10⁶ conidia of Af293 (closed symbols) or Af5517 (open symbols) was determined by quantification of fungal 18S rDNA. (<b>C,D</b>) Disease scores of mice infected with 2×10⁶ (<b>C</b>) or 5×10⁶ (<b>D</b>) conidia. Mice were scored daily for progression of disease as described in Materials and Methods. Graphed data depicts the summary of two experiments with 5–8 mice per group in panels A, C, and D. *p<0.05. ****p<0.0001.</p

Increased cell wall chitin and β-glucan in <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolate Af5517.

<p>(<b>A,B</b>) Representative dot-blot images of processed <i>A. fumigatus</i> mycelial extracts and chitin (shrimp shell chitin) (<b>A</b>) or β-glucan (curdlan) (<b>B</b>) standards, probed with chitin binding probe or anti-(1,3)-β-glucan, respectively. Blots of mycelial extracts depict 75 µg (A) and 100 µg (B) of total protein of each isolates. (<b>C,D</b>) Chitin (<b>C</b>) or β-glucan (<b>D</b>) vs. total fungal protein in mycelial extracts as determined by dot blot assay. (<b>C</b>) Chitin was significantly increased compared to other isolates at 25, 50, or 75 µg of total protein, while β-glucan (<b>D</b>) was significant at 50 and 100 µg total protein. ****p<0.0001. (<b>A–D</b>) Panels are representative of two experiments. (<b>E,F</b>) Representative flow cytometric histograms of dormant (0 h) or swollen (5 h at 37°C) conidia of each isolate stained with the chitin binding wheat germ agglutinin (WGA, panel E) or anti-(1,3)-β-glucan (<b>F</b>). Negative controls are unstained conidia (<b>E</b>) or goat anti-mouse alexa-fluor 488 only (<b>F</b>) and depicted as dotted histograms. (<b>G,H</b>) Median fluorescence intensities of WGA (<b>G</b>) or anti-β-glucan (<b>H</b>) stained conidia after 0 or 5 hours incubation at 37°C. (<b>G</b>) Chitin exposure in Af5517 conidia was significantly increased in comparison will all other isolates after 0 and 5 hours incubation. *p<0.05. **p<0.01. Panels are a summary of three experiments.</p

Decreased rate of germination and ability to establish colony growth by <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolate Af5517.

<p>(<b>A,B</b>) Flow cytometric analysis of conidial swelling in <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates during 5 hours of incubation at 37°C. (<b>A</b>) Representative histograms from three experiments of forward scatter (FSC) from each isolate at 0 and 5 hours. (<b>B</b>) Increase in size (Conidial swelling) = FSC 5 h/FSC 0 h. Data are a summary of three experiments (n = 5). (<b>C</b>) Temporal quantification of germling formation by microscopic analysis. Summary of two experiments (n = 6). (<b>D</b>) Percent colony growth (CFU = colony forming unit), averaged from inoculations of 1000, 100, and 10 conidia, each in triplicate. Graphed data are a summary of two experiments. Decreased ability of Af5517 to establish colony growth was significantly different from all other isolates. ***p<0.001.</p

List of <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates used in this study.

<p>List of <i>A. fumigatus</i> isolates used in this study.</p