A short food frequency questionnaire to assess intake of seafood and n-3 supplements: validation with biomarkers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Seafood intake is associated with beneficial effects for human health. Seafood provides a number of nutrients beyond the traditionally known long chain marine n-3 fatty acids EPA, DPA and DHA, such as protein, vitamin D, iodine, selenium and vitamin B₁₂. Valid assessment of dietary seafood and n-3 supplement intakes are becoming increasingly crucial when giving recommendations to populations as seafood consumption is regarded as an important part of a healthy and balanced diet.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The aim was to validate a short FFQ developed for assessment of dietary intake of seafood and n-3 supplements using the biomarkers marine n-3 fatty acids in erythrocytes and 25(OH)D in serum.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-three healthy Norwegians aged 30-64 years with a mean BMI of 25 kg/m²were compliant with the study protocol. 70% reported eating seafood for dinner one to two times per week, and 45% reported to eat seafood as spread, in salads or as snack meal three to five times or more per week. The FFQ correlated significantly with both the levels of marine n-3 fatty acids (r = 0.73, p < 0.0001) and with 25(OH)D (r = 0.37, p < 0.01). Mean level of marine n-3 and of 25(OH)D were 232 ± 65 μg/g erythrocytes and 73 ± 33 nmol/L serum, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present short FFQ predicted strongly the levels of marine n-3 fatty acids in erythrocytes, and predicted fairly good the level of serum 25(OH)D and may therefore be a valid method for assessment of seafood and n-3 supplements intake among adults.</p

Mesoporous Ternary Nitrides of Earth-Abundant Metals as Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalyst

As sustainable energy becomes a major concern for modern society, renewable and clean energy systems need highly active, stable, and low-cost catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Mesoporous materials offer an attractive route for generating efficient electrocatalysts with high mass transport capabilities. Herein, we report an efficient hard templating pathway to design and synthesize three-dimensional (3-D) mesoporous ternary nickel iron nitride (Ni3FeN). The as-synthesized electrocatalyst shows good OER performance in an alkaline solution with low overpotential (259 mV) and a small Tafel slope (54 mV dec(−1)), giving superior performance to IrO(2) and RuO(2) catalysts. The highly active contact area, the hierarchical porosity, and the synergistic effect of bimetal atoms contributed to the improved electrocatalytic performance toward OER. In a practical rechargeable Zn–air battery, mesoporous Ni(3)FeN is also shown to deliver a lower charging voltage and longer lifetime than RuO(2). This work opens up a new promising approach to synthesize active OER electrocatalysts for energy-related devices. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40820-020-0412-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

The older people, omega-3, and cognitive health (EPOCH) trial design and methodology: A randomised, double-blind, controlled trial investigating the effect of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids on cognitive ageing and wellbeing in cognitively healthy older adults

Extent: 18p.Background: Some studies have suggested an association between omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC PUFAs) and better cognitive outcomes in older adults. To date, only two randomised, controlled trials have assessed the effect of n-3 LC PUFA supplementation on cognitive function in older cognitively healthy populations. Of these trials only one found a benefit, in the subgroup carrying the ApoE-ε4 allele. The benefits of n-3 LC PUFA supplementation on cognitive function in older normal populations thus still remain unclear. The main objective of the current study was to provide a comprehensive assessment of the potential of n-3 LC PUFAs to slow cognitive decline in normal elderly people, and included ApoE-ε4 allele carriage as a potential moderating factor. The detailed methodology of the trial is reported herein. Methods: The study was a parallel, 18-month, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention with assessment at baseline and repeated 6-monthly. Participants (N = 391, 53.7% female) aged 65-90 years, English-speaking and with normal cognitive function, were recruited from metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Participants in the intervention arm received capsules containing fish-oil at a daily dosage of 1720 mg of docosahexaenoic acid and 600 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid while the placebo arm received the equivalent amount of olive oil in their capsules. The primary outcome is rate of change in cognitive performance, as measured by latent variables for the cognitive constructs (encompassing Reasoning, Working Memory, Short-term Memory, Retrieval Fluency, Inhibition, Simple and Choice-Reaction Time, Perceptual Speed, Odd-man-out Reaction Time, Speed of Memory Scanning, and Psychomotor Speed) and assessed by latent growth curve modeling. Secondary outcomes are change in the Mini-mental State Examination, functional capacity and well-being (including health status, depression, mood, and self-report cognitive functioning), blood pressure, and biomarkers of n-3 LC PUFA status, glucose, lipid metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage.Vanessa Danthiir, Nicholas R Burns, Ted Nettelbeck, Carlene Wilson and Gary Witter

The role of complex cues in social and reproductive plasticity

Phenotypic plasticity can be a key determinant of fitness. The degree to which the expression of plasticity is adaptive relies upon the accuracy with which information about the state of the environment is integrated. This step might be particularly beneficial when environments, e.g. the social and sexual context, change rapidly. Fluctuating temporal dynamics could increase the difficulty of determining the appropriate level of expression of a plastic response. In this review, we suggest that new insights into plastic responses to the social and sexual environment (social and reproductive plasticity) may be gained by examining the role of complex cues (those comprising multiple, distinct sensory components). Such cues can enable individuals to more accurately monitor their environment in order to respond adaptively to it across the whole life course. We briefly review the hypotheses for the evolution of complex cues and then adapt these ideas to the context of social and sexual plasticity. We propose that the ability to perceive complex cues can facilitate plasticity, increase the associated fitness benefits and decrease the risk of costly ‘mismatches’ between phenotype and environment by (i) increasing the robustness of information gained from highly variable environments, (ii) fine-tuning responses by using multiple strands of information and (iii) reducing time lags in adaptive responses. We conclude by outlining areas for future research that will help to determine the interplay between complex cues and plasticity

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre

We provide an updated assessment of the power of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to search for thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale, via the associated gamma-ray signal from pair-annihilating dark matter particles in the region around the Galactic centre. We find that CTA will open a new window of discovery potential, significantly extending the range of robustly testable models given a standard cuspy profile of the dark matter density distribution. Importantly, even for a cored profile, the projected sensitivity of CTA will be sufficient to probe various well-motivated models of thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale. This is due to CTA's unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolutions, and the planned observational strategy. The survey of the inner Galaxy will cover a much larger region than corresponding previous observational campaigns with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. CTA will map with unprecedented precision the large-scale diffuse emission in high-energy gamma rays, constituting a background for dark matter searches for which we adopt state-of-the-art models based on current data. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date event reconstruction Monte Carlo tools developed by the CTA consortium, and pay special attention to quantifying the level of instrumental systematic uncertainties, as well as background template systematic errors, required to probe thermally produced dark matter at these energies

Electrochemical Study of the Energetics of the Oxygen Evolution Reaction at Nickel Iron (Oxy)Hydroxide Catalysts

Iron-doped nickel (oxy)hydroxide catalysts (FexNi1-xOOH) exhibit high electrocatalytic behavior for the oxygen evolution reaction in base. Recent findings suggest that the incorporation of Fe3+ into a NiOOH lattice leads to nearly optimal adsorption energies for OER intermediates on active Fe sites. Utilizing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and activation energy measurements, we find that pure NiOOH and FeOOH catalysts exhibit exceedingly high Faradaic resistances and activation energies 40-50 kJ/mol-1 higher than those of the most active FexNi1-xOOH catalysts. Furthermore, the most active FexNi1-xOOH catalysts in this study exhibit activation energies that approach those previously reported for IrO2 OER catalysts