Curcumin and major depression: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating the potential of peripheral biomarkers to predict treatment response and antidepressant mechanisms of change

A recent randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled study conducted by our research group, provided partial support for the efficacy of supplementation with a patented curcumin extract (500 mg, twice daily) for 8 weeks in reducing depressive symptoms in people with major depressive disorder. In the present paper, a secondary, exploratory analysis of salivary, urinary and blood biomarkers collected during this study was conducted to identify potential antidepressant mechanisms of action of curcumin. Pre and post-intervention samples were provided by 50 participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology self-rated version (IDS-SR30) was used as the primary depression outcome measure. Compared to placebo, 8 weeks of curcumin supplementation was associated with elevations in urinary thromboxane B2 (p<0.05), and substance P (p<0.001); while placebo supplementation was associated with reductions in aldosterone (p<0.05) and cortisol (p<0.05). Higher baseline plasma endothelin-1 (rs=−0.587; p<0.01) and leptin (rs=−0.470; p<0.05) in curcumin-treated individuals was associated with greater reductions in IDS-SR30 score after 8 weeks of treatment. Our findings demonstrate that curcumin supplementation influences several biomarkers that may be associated with its antidepressant mechanisms of action. Plasma concentrations of leptin and endothelin-1 seem to have particular relevance to treatment outcome. Further investigations using larger samples sizes are required to elucidate these findings, as the multiple statistical comparisons completed in this study increased the risk of type I errors

Een mesolithisch kampement te Meerstad, vindplaats 2a

Grondsporen 12 presenteert de resultaten van de opgraving Slochteren-Meerstad 2a. Het betreft een mesolithisch kampement uit circa 7500 v. Chr

An Analysis of Bubble Plumes in Unstratified Stagnant Water

Multiphase flows are ubiquitous in nature and engineering scenarios; examples include volcanic eruption, cloud formation, land reclamation and subsea oil well blowout. In these flows, one or more heterogeneous materials is/are transported by a turbulent carrier fluid (fluid, hereafter). Their interactions, as embodied in the fluid velocities, determine the final fate and transport of the heterogeneous materials. This dissertation investigates how turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is created and injected into surrounding fluid by the rising bubbles in an air-water bubble plume. This analogue flow shares many similar fluid mechanical properties with oil well blowout plumes whose knowledge is important in disaster management. A comprehensive experimental program using acoustic Doppler velocimetry (ADV) and planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been carried out to measure fluid velocities inside the time-steady two-phase plume. Radial profiles of diffusion of TKE and turbulent dissipation rate are reported for the first time. From the fluid-phase TKE budget, it is found that approximately 55-60% of the total work done by bubbles is used to create turbulence in the carrier fluid. Results on the auto-spectral density function of velocity fluctuations reveal a -8/3 spectral slope instead of the classic Kolmogorov-Richardson value of -5/3, suggesting a fundamental difference in spectral energy transfer in this two-phase ow when compared to other simple boundary-layer shear flows, such as a singe-phase jet. This is supported by the subgrid scale (SGS) dissipation computed from the PIV data where it can be seen that the direction of energy cascade is always forward for a simple jet whereas it can be backward for the two-phase plume. On the other hand, a data interpolation method based on first-order autoregressive processes is developed to replace faulty or missing data in a time series of turbulent velocities. The method is shown to preserve both spectral slopes and energies of frequency components, for the range of slopes between -7/6 to -8/3. Further, the classical sample and hold interpolation is shown to be the limiting behavior of a first-order autoregressive process and therefore has theoretical underpinnings hitherto unknown in the literature

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Estimating population size, density and dynamics of Pre-Pottery Neolithic villages in the central and southern Levant: an analysis of Beidha, southern Jordan

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) of the central and southern Levant played an integral role in the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT) from mobile hunter-gatherer to village-based, agro-pastoralist societies. An understanding of population dynamics is essential for reconstructing the trajectories of these early village societies. However, few investigations have produced absolute estimates of population parameters for these villages and those which have base estimates on a limited methodological framework. This research examines the methodological and theoretical basis for existing estimates, and explores a range of methodologies in order to derive more empirically-robust demographic data. Results reveal that commonly utilized methodologies and population density coefficients employed for estimating PPN village populations require re-evaluation. This article presents the application of methodologies to the PPNB site of Beidha in southern Jordan

Evaluation of eczema, asthma, allergic rhinitis and allergies among the Grade-1 children of Iqaluit

Additional file 3: Appendix S3. Tested allergens

Formation, Use and Chronology of Celtic Fields: New Perspectives from the Groningen Celtic Field Research Programme

Targeted excavations of Dutch Celtic fields (Dutch: raatakkers) have yielded much-needed data on the ways in which Celtic fields developed and were used over time. This type of later prehistoric field system is common to gently undulating upland landscapes consisting of Saalian and Weichselian deposits, which were frequently affected by podzolisation. As direct dating of the use-period of Celtic fields is difficult, the Groningen Celtic field research programme employs combined archaeological, AMS- and OSL-dating of bank sediments. Using such dates, use-histories starting in the Middle Bronze Age and lasting well into the Roman era could be shown. Detailed palaeo-botanical analyses of bank sediments suggest that soil and plants from wetland parts were taken to settlements to be used as byre-bedding, after which they were enriched with household refuse (sherds, ash, charcoal) and carted-off to the fields to be used as manure. The locations of such settlements remain difficult to establish, as the chronological relations between settlement features and locations of banks are often unclear. Moreover, despite the fact that botanical macro-remains and pollen inform us on the types of crops cultivated, details of (changes in) the agricultural cycles still escape us