LOVING YOUR LIVER: the complete guide to liver detox

Loving Your Liver. The Complete Guide to Liver Detox is a comprehensive guide to liver “maintenance”. Written in a simple and intuitive way, it helps understand what the liver is, what it does, how it works, how it is affected by our lifestyle, the most common diseases that can affect it and most importantly, how to take care of it. Of course, the key to a good liver detox lies in nutrition and for this very reason the learning journey with Hrvoje Miletic and Simon Taylor-Robinson ends with a section entirely dedicated to a number of delicious recipes that are good for the liver without sacrificing taste. Hrvoje Miletic is a noted food expert in Croatia and across Europe. He holds international diplomas in culinary affairs and in management. Hrvoje’s experience in the United Kingdom and across Europe has moulded his culinary experience and flair. He is currently a food researcher and entrepreneur, using his skills to help people lead a healthy lifestyle. His considerable expertise is reflected in the book. Simon Taylor-Robinson is a medical doctor. He trained as a gastroenterologist and hepatologist. He has conducted medical research on liver disease with projects around the world. During his career, he has combined being a clinical doctor with liver expertise with being a medical researcher and a teacher at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. He also holds several honorary Professorial appointments at institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia

fMRI protocol optimization for simultaneously studying small subcortical and cortical areas at 7 ​T

Most fundamental cognitive processes rely on brain networks that include both cortical and subcortical structures. Studying such networks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) requires a data acquisition protocol that provides blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) sensitivity across the entire brain. However, when using standard single echo, echo planar imaging protocols, researchers face a tradeoff between BOLD-sensitivity in cortex and in subcortical areas. Multi echo protocols avoid this tradeoff and can be used to optimize BOLD-sensitivity across the entire brain, at the cost of an increased repetition time. Here, we empirically compare the BOLD-sensitivity of a single echo protocol to a multi echo protocol. Both protocols were designed to meet the specific requirements for studying small, iron rich subcortical structures (including a relatively high spatial resolution and short echo times), while retaining coverage and BOLD-sensitivity in cortical areas. The results indicate that both sequences lead to similar BOLD-sensitivity across the brain at 7 ​T

Mitochondrial DNA depletion in sporadic inclusion body myositis

Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is a late onset disorder of unkown aetiology. Mitochondrial changes such as cytochrome oxidase deficient fibres are a well recognised feature and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions have also been reported, but not consistently. Since mtDNA deletions are not present in all cases, we investigated whether other types of mtDNA abnormality were responsible for the mitochondrial changes. We studied 9 patients with sIBM. To control for fibre loss or replacement with inflammatory cells, we compared sIBM patients with necrotising myopathy (n = 4) as well as with healthy controls. Qualitative anlysis for mtDNA deletions and quantitative measurement of mtDNA copy number showed that muscle from patients with sIBM contained on average 67% less mtDNA than healthy controls (P = 0.001). The level of mtDNA was also significantly depleted in sIBM when compared to necrotising myopathy. No significant difference in copy number was seen in patients with necrotising myopathy compared to controls. Deletions of mtDNA were present in 4 patients with sIBM, but not all. Our findings suggest that mtDNA depletion is a more consistent finding in sIBM, and one that may be implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease.publishedVersio

A rapid and reliable determination of doxycycline hyclate by HPLC with UV detection in pharmaceutical samples

An accurate, sensitive and reproducible high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the quantification of doxycycline hyclate in pharmaceutical samples has been developed and validated. The drug and the standard were eluted from a Lichrosorb RP-8 (250 mm´4.6 mm, 10 mm particle size) at 20 °C with a mobile phase consisting of methanol, acetonitrile and 0.010 M aqueous solution of oxalic acid (2:3:5, v/v/v). The flow rate was 1.25 ml min-1. A UV detector set at 350 nm was used to monitor the effluent. Each analysis required no longer than 4 min. The limits of detection and quantification were 1.15 and 3.84 μg ml-1, respectively. Recoveries for different concentrations ranged from 99.58 to 101.93 %

Glutamine synthetase activity fuels nucleotide biosynthesis and supports growth of glutamine-restriced glioblastoma

L-Glutamine (Gln) functions physiologically to balance the carbon and nitrogen requirements of tissues. It has been proposed that in cancer cells undergoing aerobic glycolysis, accelerated anabolism is sustained by Gln-derived carbons, which replenish the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle (anaplerosis). However, it is shown here that in glioblastoma (GBM) cells, almost half of the Gln-derived glutamate (Glu) is secreted and does not enter the TCA cycle, and that inhibiting glutaminolysis does not affect cell proliferation. Moreover, Gln-starved cells are not rescued by TCA cycle replenishment. Instead, the conversion of Glu to Gln by glutamine synthetase (GS; cataplerosis) confers Gln prototrophy, and fuels de novo purine biosynthesis. In both orthotopic GBM models and in patients, (13)C-glucose tracing showed that GS produces Gln from TCA-cycle-derived carbons. Finally, the Gln required for the growth of GBM tumours is contributed only marginally by the circulation, and is mainly either autonomously synthesized by GS-positive glioma cells, or supplied by astrocytes

Effects of Task Difficulty on Centre of Pressure Excursion and Its Inter-Trial Variability in Acrobatic Gymnastics Pyramid Performance

Despite the importance of balance in Acrobatic Gymnastic Pyramid performance, there is limited biomechanical analysis of balance during this activity. The aims of this study were to analyse the effect of pyramid difficulty on the centre of pressure (COP) excursion and its inter-trial variability, and determine which parameters had strongest relationship with performance. Forty-seven acrobatic gymnasts performed five trials of back and front pyramids and a third more difficult, handstand pyramid on a force platform. Pyramids were held for 7 seconds and surface area, range, mediolateral amplitude and anteroposterior amplitude of the CoP were examined to analyse balance. The pyramid scores were obtained from qualified judges to assess the performance. Results showed higher CoP excursions and inter-trial variability during the execution of the high difficulty pyramid. Higher judges' scores were associated with lower CoP excursions in all the pyramids regardless of the difficulty. Similarly, correlation between inter-trial variability and pyramid performance was observed, although these coefficients were lower than those reported for the relationship between CoP excursion and performance. These results suggested that CoP monitoring could help coaches and gymnasts to assess the pyramid instability more accurately.Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla. Departamento de Deporte e Informátic

Vav1/2/3-null mice define an essential role for vav family proteins in lymphocyte development and activation but a differential requirement in MAPK signaling in T and B cells

The Vav family of Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors is thought to orchestrate signaling events downstream of lymphocyte antigen receptors. Elucidation of Vav function has been obscured thus far by the expression of three highly related family members. We generated mice lacking all Vav family proteins and show that Vav-null mice produce no functional T or B cells and completely fail to mount both T-dependent and T-independent humoral responses. Whereas T cell development is blocked at an early stage in the thymus, immature B lineage cells accumulate in the periphery but arrest at a late “transitional” stage. Mechanistically, we show that the Vav family is crucial for both TCR and B cell receptor (BCR)–induced Ca(2+) signaling and, surprisingly, is only required for mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in developing and mature T cells but not in B cells. Thus, the abundance of immature B cells generated in Vav-null mice may be due to intact Ras/MAPK signaling in this lineage. Although the expression of Vav1 alone is sufficient for normal lymphocyte development, our data also reveal lineage-specific roles for Vav2 and Vav3, with the first demonstration that Vav3 plays a critical compensatory function in T cells. Together, we define an essential role for the entire Vav protein family in lymphocyte development and activation and establish the limits of functional redundancy both within this family and between Vav and other Rho–guanine nucleotide exchange factors