No Difference Between the Effects of Supplementing With Soy Protein Versus Animal Protein on Gains in Muscle Mass and Strength in Response to Resistance Exercise

Much attention has been given to determining the influence of total protein intake and protein source on gains in lean body mass (LBM) and strength in response to resistance exercise training (RET). Acute studies indicate that whey protein, likely related to its higher leucine content, stimulates muscle protein synthesis (MPS) to a greater extent than proteins such as soy and casein. Less clear is the extent to which the type of protein supplemented impacts strength and LBM in longer term studies (≥6 weeks). Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted to compare the effect of supplementation with soy protein to animal protein supplementation on strength and LBM in response to RET. Nine studies involving 266 participants suitable for inclusion in the meta-analysis were identified. Five studies compared whey with soy protein and four compared soy protein with other proteins (beef, milk or dairy protein). Meta-analysis showed that supplementing RET with whey or soy protein resulted in significant increases in strength but found no difference between groups (bench press Chi2 = 0.02, p=0.90; squat Chi2=0.22, p =0.64). There was no significant effect of whey or soy alone (n=5) on LBM change, and no differences between groups (Chi2=0.00, p=0.96). Strength and LBM both increased significantly in the ‘other protein’ and the soy groups (n=9), but there were no between group differences (bench Chi2=0.02, p=0.88; squat Chi2=0.78, p=0.38 and LBM Chi2=0.06, p=0.80). The results of this meta-analysis indicate that soy protein supplementation produces similar gains in strength and LBM in response to RET as whey protein

The current state of biomarker research for Friedreich's ataxia: a report from the 2018 FARA biomarker meeting

The 2018 FARA Biomarker Meeting highlighted the current state of development of biomarkers for Friedreich's ataxia. A mass spectroscopy assay to sensitively measure mature frataxin (reduction of which is the root cause of disease) is being developed. Biomarkers to monitor neurological disease progression include imaging, electrophysiological measures and measures of nerve function, which may be measured either in serum and/or through imaging-based technologies. Potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers include metabolic and protein biomarkers and markers of nerve damage. Cardiac imaging and serum biomarkers may reflect cardiac disease progression. Considerable progress has been made in the development of biomarkers for various contexts of use, but further work is needed in terms of larger longitudinal multisite studies, and identification of novel biomarkers for additional use cases

Tests of Dynamical Flux Emergence as a Mechanism for CME Initiation

Current coronal mass ejection (CME) models set their lower boundary to be in the lower corona. They do not calculate accurately the transfer of free magnetic energy from the convection zone to the magnetically dominated corona because they model the effects of flux emergence using kinematic boundary conditions or simply assume the appearance of flux at these heights. We test the importance of including dynamical flux emergence in CME modeling by simulating, in 2.5D, the emergence of sub-surface flux tubes into different coronal magnetic field configurations. We investigate how much free magnetic energy, in the form of shear magnetic field, is transported from the convection zone to the corona, and whether dynamical flux emergence can drive CMEs. We find that multiple coronal flux ropes can be formed during flux emergence, and although they carry some shear field into the corona, the majority of shear field is confined to the lower atmosphere. Less than 10% of the magnetic energy in the corona is in the shear field, and this, combined with the fact that the coronal flux ropes bring up significant dense material, means that they do not erupt. Our results have significant implications for all CME models which rely on the transfer of free magnetic energy from the lower atmosphere into the corona but which do not explicitly model this transfer. Such studies of flux emergence and CMEs are timely, as we have new capabilities to observe this with Hinode and SDO, and therefore to test the models against observations

Treatment of Porphyromonas gulae infection and downstream pathology in the aged dog by lysine-gingipain inhibitor COR388.

COR388, a small-molecule lysine-gingipain inhibitor, is currently being investigated in a Phase 2/3 clinical trial for Alzheimer's disease (AD) with exploratory endpoints in periodontal disease. Gingipains are produced by two species of bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Porphyromonas gulae, typically associated with periodontal disease and systemic infections in humans and dogs, respectively. P. gulae infection in dogs is associated with periodontal disease, which provides a physiologically relevant model to investigate the pharmacology of COR388. In the current study, aged dogs with a natural oral infection of P. gulae and periodontal disease were treated with COR388 by oral administration for up to 90 days to assess lysine-gingipain target engagement and reduction of bacterial load and downstream pathology. In a 28-day dose-response study, COR388 inhibited the lysine-gingipain target and reduced P. gulae load in saliva, buccal cells, and gingival crevicular fluid. The lowest effective dose was continued for 90 days and was efficacious in continuous reduction of bacterial load and downstream periodontal disease pathology. In a separate histology study, dog brain tissue showed evidence of P. gulae DNA and neuronal lysine-gingipain, demonstrating that P. gulae infection is systemic and spreads beyond its oral reservoir, similar to recent observations of P. gingivalis in humans. Together, the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of COR388 lysine-gingipain inhibition, along with reduction of bacterial load and periodontal disease in naturally occurring P. gulae infection in the dog, support the use of COR388 in targeting lysine-gingipain and eliminating P. gingivalis infection in humans

Optimal interconnection and renewable targets in North-West Europe. ESRI WP416, December 2011

We present a mixed-integer, linear programming model for determining optimal interconnection locations using a cost minimisation approach. Optimal interconnection and capacity investment decisions are determined under various targets for renewable penetration. The model is applied to a test system for eight countries in Northern Europe. It is found that considerations on the supply side dominate demand side considerations when determining optimal interconnection investment. Interconnection is found to be most valuable when targets for renewable electricity are set for the whole system, rather than for different regions within the system

Optimal interconnection and renewable targets in North-West Europe

We present a mixed-integer, linear programming model for determining optimal interconnection locations using a cost minimisation approach. Optimal interconnection and capacity investment decisions are determined under various targets for renewable penetration. The model is applied to a test system for eight countries in Northern Europe. It is found that considerations on the supply side dominate demand side considerations when determining optimal interconnection investment. Interconnection is found to be most valuable when targets for renewable electricity are set for the whole system, rather than for different regions within the system

The cost of reducing starting RNA quantity for Illumina BeadArrays: a bead-level dilution experiment.

BACKGROUND: The demands of microarray expression technologies for quantities of RNA place a limit on the questions they can address. As a consequence, the RNA requirements have reduced over time as technologies have improved. In this paper we investigate the costs of reducing the starting quantity of RNA for the Illumina BeadArray platform. This we do via a dilution data set generated from two reference RNA sources that have become the standard for investigations into microarray and sequencing technologies. RESULTS: We find that the starting quantity of RNA has an effect on observed intensities despite the fact that the quantity of cRNA being hybridized remains constant. We see a loss of sensitivity when using lower quantities of RNA, but no great rise in the false positive rate. Even with 10 ng of starting RNA, the positive results are reliable although many differentially expressed genes are missed. We see that there is some scope for combining data from samples that have contributed differing quantities of RNA, but note also that sample sizes should increase to compensate for the loss of signal-to-noise when using low quantities of starting RNA. CONCLUSIONS: The BeadArray platform maintains a low false discovery rate even when small amounts of starting RNA are used. In contrast, the sensitivity of the platform drops off noticeably over the same range. Thus, those conducting experiments should not opt for low quantities of starting RNA without consideration of the costs of doing so. The implications for experimental design, and the integration of data from different starting quantities, are complex.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

The effect of Demand Response and wind generation on electricity investment and operation. ESRI WP577, December 2017

We present a novel method of determining the contribution of load-shifting Demand Response (DR) to energy and reserve markets. We model DR in an Mixed Complementarity Problem (MCP) framework with high levels of wind penetration. Investment, exit and operational decisions are optimised simultaneously. We examine the potential for DR to participate in both energy and reserve markets. DR participation in the energy market reduces costs and prices but the impact of DR participation in reserve markets is limited. DR and wind generation are strongly complementary, due to the ability of DR to mitigate against the variability of wind generation, with the highest impacts of DR seen at high levels of wind penetration. DR participation in the energy market gives rise to lower equilibrium levels of investment in conventional generation and induces a Pareto improvement versus a market with no DR participation. The total impact of DR is highly dependent on specific system characteristics