Central oxytocin and food intake: focus on macronutrient-driven reward

Centrally acting oxytocin (OT) is known to terminate food consumption in response to excessive stomach distension, increase in salt loading, and presence of toxins. Hypothalamic-hindbrain OT pathways facilitate these aspects of OT-induced hypophagia. However, recent discoveries have implicated OT in modifications of feeding via reward circuits: OT has been found to differentially affect consumption of individual macronutrients in choice and no-choice paradigms. In this mini-review, we focus on presenting and interpreting evidence that defines OT as a key component of mechanisms that reduce eating for pleasure and shape macronutrient preferences. We also provide remarks on challenges in integrating the knowledge on physiological and pathophysiological states in which both OT activity and macronutrient preferences are affected

Diagnostiikkakoirat - utopiaa vai hyödyntämätön mahdollisuus?

English summaryPeer reviewe

Avdusntningsinducerad självhopsättning av cellulosananokristaller i vätskesuspensioner till kolesteriska fasta structurer

Biobased and renewable cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) can form hierarchically structured assemblies with impressive optical and mechanical properties. These rod-shaped nanoparticles, produced through acid hydrolysis of biomass, self-assemble in aqueous suspensions and form a liquid crystalline anisotropic volume fraction (AVF), the extent of which depends on the concentration. The anisotropic chiral nematic liquid crystalline phase can be preserved in the dry state through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA). This transition is not fully understood and requires more thorough inspection, in order to create large-scale defect-free structures for demanding applications, such as impact resistant materials. This work addresses this by studying the conditions during EISA for producing highly ordered CNC films. Solid CNC films display structural colour, whose intensity and uniformity reveal how well the chiral nematic order is preserved and defined within the film. UV-Vis spectroscopy, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provide information on the formation and distribution of the structural colour. In the first part of this work, the EISA drying temperature was varied (23, 28, 36, 41, 51 and 61°C). The results showed deteriorated helical order within solid films produced at higher drying temperatures. This conclusion was deduced from UV-Vis spectroscopy data that implied a larger distribution of structural colours in the films dried at elevated temperatures. In the second part, five different concentrations of the suspensions (3-7% w/w), and thereby AVFs, were used, while keeping the drying conditions the same. One set of samples was dried immediately after casting, while another set was equilibrated prior to drying. The characterization of the dry films by microscopy, UV-Vis and SEM showed that suspensions dried from a high AVF and an equilibrated state produced films with more homogeneous, long-range order, having larger chiral nematic domains. In contrast, films dried from AVF=0 lacked long-range order and did not benefit from equilibration.Biobaserade och förnybara cellulosananokristaller (CNC) kan bilda hierarkiskt strukturerade enheter med imponerande optiska och mekaniska egenskaper. Dessa stavformade nanopartiklar, som produceras genom syrahydrolys av biomassa, självhopsätter sig vätskesuspensioner och bildar en vätksekristallin anisotrop volymfraktion (AVF), vars storlek beror på koncentrationen. Den anisotropa kirala nematiska vätskekristallina fasen bevaras i fast form genom Avdusntningsinducerad självhopsättning (EISA). Denna övergång är inte fullständigt förstådd och kräver noggrannare inspektion för att man skall kunna skapa defektfria strukturer i större skala, för mer krävande tillämpningar, såsom slagfasta material. Detta arbete fokuserar på denna övergång genom att studera omständigheterna under EISA för att producera CNC filmer med en organiserad struktur. Torra CNC filmer uppvisar strukturell färg, vars intensitet och likformighet avslöjar hur väl den chirala nematiska ordningen är bevarad och organiserad. UV-Vis-spektroskopi, optisk mikroskopi och skanningselektronmikroskopi (SEM) avslöjar distributionen av den strukturella färgen. I den första delen av detta arbete varierades torkningstemperaturen (23, 28, 36, 41, 51 och 61 ° C) under EISA. Enligt resultaten var organiseringen av den önskvärda spriralstrukturen sämre i fasta filmer framställda vid högre torkningstemperaturer. Denna slutsats härleddes från UV-Vis-spektroskopi-data som vars data avslöjade en större fördelning av strukturella färger i filmer producerade i förhöjda temperaturer. I andra delen användes fem olika suspensionkoncentrationer (3–7% vikt/vikt) och därigenom AVF:er, medan torkningsomständigheterna var konstanta. En uppsättning prover torkades omedelbart efter placeringen i substratet, medan en annan sats jämviktades före torkningen. Karaktäriseringen av torrfilmerna med mikroskopi, UV-Vis och SEM visade att de suspensionerna torkade från en högre AVF och ett jämviktat tillstånd producerade filmer med en mer homogen långdistansordning och större kirala nematiska domäner. Filmer torkade från AVF = 0 och utan jämviktning saknade långdistansordning

S. Birgitta and mysticism

S. Birgitta (Bridget) of Sweden (about 1303-1373) lived in a period of flourishing Christian mysticism. Hardly any epoch has produced as many well-known mystics in Western Europe as the 13th and 14th centuries. In Eastern Christendom mysticism also reached one of its highest points in the 14th century. The threads connecting Birgitta with other mystics and devout circles lead not only backwards, but also forwards. The Canonization Acts bear testimony to the fact that Birgitta's personality made a deep impression on many of those who met her. By her life and example, by conversation and counsels she gave others the impulses she had herself received.

Mónica López Lerma and Julen Etxabe (eds): Rancière and Law, Routledge, London 2018

Book review. Reviewed work: Rancière and Law / Mónica López Lerma and Julen Etxabe (eds). - London, Routledge, 2018.Peer reviewe

The Influence of Data Generation on Simulation Study Results: Tests of Mean Differences

Type I error and power of the standard independent samples t-test were compared with the trimmed and Winsorized t-test with respect to continuous distributions and various discrete distributions known to occur in applied data. The continuous and discrete distributions were generated with similar levels of skew and kurtosis but the discrete distributions had a variety of structural features not reflected in the continuous distributions. The results showed that the Type I error rates of the t-tests were not seriously affected, but the power rate of the trimmed and Winsorized t-test varied greatly across the considered distributions

An Evaluation of Standard, Alternative, and Robust Slope Test Strategies

The robustness and power of nine strategies for testing the differences between two groups’ regression slopes under nonnormality and residual variance heterogeneity are compared. The results showed that three most robust slope test strategies were the combination of the trimmed and Winsorized slopes with the James second order test, the combination of Theil-Sen with James, and Theil-Sen with percentile bootstrapping. The slope tests based on Theil-Sen slopes were more powerful than those based on trimmed and Winsorized slopes

Testing For Aptitude-Treatment Interactions In Analysis Of Covariance And Randomized Block Designs Under Assumption Violations

This study compared the robustness of two analysis strategies designed to detect Aptitude-Treatment Interactions to two of their similarly-held assumptions, normality and residual variance homogeneity. The analysis strategies were the test of slope differences in analysis of covariance and the test of the Block-by- Treatment interaction in randomized block analysis of variance. With equal sample sizes in the treatment groups the results showed that residual variance heterogeneity has little effect on either strategy but nonnormality makes the test of slope differences liberal and the test of the Block-by-Treatment interaction conservative. With unequal sample sizes in the treatment groups the often-reported sample size-variance heterogeneity pairing is problematic for both strategies. The findings suggest that the randomized block strategy can be characterized as an overly-conservative alternative to the test of slope differences with respect to robustness

Type I Error Rates For Rank-Based Tests Of Homogeneity Of Slopes

The purpose of this study was to explicate two issues concerning the standard and rank based test of homogeneity of slopes. Two alternative ranking methods intended to address nonnormality and additive treatment effect patterns were developed and compared in terms of their ability to control Type I error. The results replicated previous findings of inflated Type I error rates with leptokurtic curves and with rank based tests with some patterns of additive treatment effects. The new nonparametric procedures generally control Type I error although they were slightly inflated with skewed distributions