2,750 research outputs found
Maternal obesity is associated with the formation of small dense LDL and hypoadiponectinemia in the third trimester
Context: Maternal obesity is associated with high plasma triglyceride, poor vascular function, and an increased risk for pregnancy complications. In normal-weight pregnant women, higher triglyceride is associated with increased small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL).
Hypothesis: In obese pregnancy, increased plasma triglyceride concentrations result in triglyceride enrichment of very low-density lipoprotein-1 particles and formation of small dense LDL via lipoprotein lipase.
Design: Women (n = 55) of body mass index of 18–46 kg/m2 were sampled longitudinally at 12, 26, and 35 weeks' gestation and 4 months postnatally.
Setting: Women were recruited at hospital antenatal appointments, and study visits were in a clinical research suite.
Outcome Measures: Plasma concentrations of lipids, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, lipoprotein lipase mass, estradiol, steroid hormone binding globulin, insulin, glucose, leptin, and adiponectin were determined.
Results: Obese women commenced pregnancy with higher plasma triglyceride, reached the same maximum, and then returned to higher postnatal levels than normal-weight women. Estradiol response to pregnancy (trimester 1–3 incremental area under the curve) was positively associated with plasma triglyceride response (r2 adjusted 25%, P < .001). In the third trimester, the proportion of small, dense LDL was 2-fold higher in obese women than normal-weight women [mean (SD) 40.7 (18.8) vs 21.9 (10.9)%, P = .014], and 35% of obese, 14% of overweight, and none of the normal-weight women displayed an atherogenic LDL subfraction phenotype. The small, dense LDL mass response to pregnancy was inversely associated with adiponectin response (17%, P = .013).
Conclusions: Maternal obesity is associated with an atherogenic LDL subfraction phenotype and may provide a mechanistic link to poor vascular function and adverse pregnancy outcome
Characterizing Scales of Genetic Recombination and Antibiotic Resistance in Pathogenic Bacteria Using Topological Data Analysis
Pathogenic bacteria present a large disease burden on human health. Control
of these pathogens is hampered by rampant lateral gene transfer, whereby
pathogenic strains may acquire genes conferring resistance to common
antibiotics. Here we introduce tools from topological data analysis to
characterize the frequency and scale of lateral gene transfer in bacteria,
focusing on a set of pathogens of significant public health relevance. As a
case study, we examine the spread of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus
aureus. Finally, we consider the possible role of the human microbiome as a
reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. To appear in AMT 2014 Special Session on
Advanced Methods of Interactive Data Mining for Personalized Medicin
Driving forces for Ag-induced periodic faceting of vicinal Cu(111)
Adsorption of submonolayer amounts of Ag on vicinal Cu(111) induces periodic
faceting. The equilibrium structure is characterized by Ag-covered facets that
alternate with clean Cu stripes. In the atomic scale, the driving force is the
matching of Ag(111)-like packed rows with Cu(111) terraces underneath. This
determines the preference for the facet orientation and the evolution of
different phases as a function of coverage. Both Cu and Ag stripe widths can be
varied smoothly in the 3-30 nm range by tuning Ag coverage, allowing to test
theoretical predictions of elastic theories.Comment: 1 text, 4 figure
Recommended from our members
Why Are People's Decisions Sometimes Worse with Computer Support?
In many applications of computerised decision support, a recognised source of undesired outcomes is operators' apparent over-reliance on automation. For instance, an operator may fail to react to a potentially dangerous situation because a computer fails to generate an alarm. However, the very use of terms like "over-reliance" betrays possible misunderstandings of these phenomena and their causes, which may lead to ineffective corrective action (e.g. training or procedures that do not counteract all the causes of the apparently "over-reliant" behaviour). We review relevant literature in the area of "automation bias" and describe the diverse mechanisms that may be involved in human errors when using computer support. We discuss these mechanisms, with reference to errors of omission when using "alerting systems", with the help of examples of novel counterintuitive findings we obtained from a case study in a health care application, as well as other examples from the literature
Photonic band structure of highly deformable, self-assembling systems
We calculate the photonic band structure at normal incidence of highly
deformable, self-assembling systems - cholesteric elastomers subjected to
external stress. Cholesterics display brilliant reflection and lasing owing to
gaps in their photonic band structure. The band structure of cholesteric
elastomers varies sensitively with strain, showing new gaps opening up and
shifting in frequency. A novel prediction of a total band gap is made, and is
expected to occur in the vicinity of the previously observed de Vries bandgap,
which is only for one polarisation
A forage-only diet alters the metabolic response of horses in training
Most athletic horses are fed a high-starch diet despite the risk of health problems. Replacing starch concentrate with high-energy forage would alleviate these health problems, but could result in a shift in major substrates for muscle energy supply from glucose to short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) due to more hindgut fermentation of fibre. Dietary fat inclusion has previously been shown to promote aerobic energy supply during exercise, but the contribution of SCFA to exercise metabolism has received little attention.
This study compared metabolic response with exercise and lactate threshold (VLa4) in horses fed a forage-only diet (F) and a more traditional high-starch, low-energy forage diet (forage–concentrate diet - FC). The hypothesis was that diet F would increase plasma acetate concentration and increase VLa4 compared with diet FC. Six Standardbred geldings in race training were used in a 29-day change-over experiment. Plasma acetate, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), lactate, glucose and insulin concentrations and
venous pH were measured in samples collected before, during and after a treadmill exercise test (ET, day 25) and muscle glycogen concentrations before and after ET. Plasma acetate concentration was higher before and after exercise in horses on diet F compared with diet FC, and there was a tendency ( P50.09) for increased VLa4 on diet F. Venous pH and plasma glucose concentrations during exercise were higher in horses on diet F than diet FC, as was plasma NEFA on the day after ET. Plasma insulin and muscle glycogen concentrations were lower for diet F, but glycogen utilisation was similar for the two diets. The results show that a high-energy, forage-only diet alters the metabolic response to exercise and, with the exception of lowered glycogen stores, appears to have positive rather than negative effects on performance traits
Bradyrhizobium ingae sp. nov., isolated from effective nodules of Inga laurina grown in Cerrado soil
Root-nodule bacteria were isolated from lnga laurina (Sw.) Willd. growing in the Cerrado Amazon region, State of Roraima, Brazil. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of six strains (BR 10250(T), BR 10248, BR 10249, BR 10251, BR 10252 and BR 10253) showed low similarities with currently described species of the genus Bradyrhizobium. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences of five housekeeping genes (dnaK, gyrB, recA and rpoB) revealed Bradyrhizobium iriomotense EKO5(T) to be the closest type strain (97.4% sequence similarity or less). Chemotaxonomic data, including fatty acid profiles [with the major components C-16:0 and summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 6c/C-18:1 omega 7c)], the slow growth rate and carbon compound utilization patterns supported the assignment of our strains to the genus Bradyrhizobium. Results from DNA DNA hybridizations and physiological traits differentiated our strains from the closest related species of the genus Bradyrhizobium with validly published names. Sequences of symbiosis-related genes for nodulation (nodC) and nitrogen fixation (nifH) grouped together with those of B. iriomotense EKO5(T) and Bradyrhizobium sp. strains BR 6610 (used as a commercial inoculant for Inga marginata in Brazil) and TUXTLAS-10 (previously observed in Central America). Based on these data, the six strains represent a novel species, for which the name Bradyrhizobium ingae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BR 10250(T) (=HAMBI 3600(T))
Optical cavity implementations of the quantum walk
We discuss how the coined quantum walk on the line or on the circle can be
implemented using optical waves. We propose several optical cavity
configurations for these implementations.Comment: Revised version to appear in Optics Communications. Important changes
concerning: (i) technical details, (ii) the analysis of the experiment of
Bouwmeester et al., and (iii) the conclussion section, which is entirely ne
Six-dimensional Abelian vortices with quadratic curvature self-interactions
Six-dimensional Nielsen-Olesen vortices are analyzed in the context of a
quadratic gravity theory containing Euler-Gauss-Bonnet self-interactions. The
relations among the string tensions can be tuned in such a way that the
obtained solutions lead to warped compactification on the vortex. New regular
solutions are possible in comparison with the case where the gravity action
only consists of the Einstein-Hilbert term. The parameter space of the model is
discussedComment: 28 pages in Latex style with 11 figure
- …