The Engagement Pathway: A Conceptual Framework of Engagement-Related Terms in Weight Management

Engagement denotes the extent to which, and how, individuals participate in weight management (WM) services. Effective WM services should generate meaningful outcomes and promote high participant engagement; however, research is predominantly focused on the former. Given that engagement is a poorly understood phenomenon, and that engagement-related concepts are often used synonymously (e.g., dropout and attrition), the engagement pathway is hereby introduced. This pathway defines key concepts (e.g., recruitment, adherence, attrition) and their relationships in the enrolment, intervention, and maintenance stages of treatment. The pathway will help researchers and practitioners better understand engagement-related concepts whilst encouraging greater conceptual consistency between studies

Arsenic removal from natural groundwater using ‘green rust’: Solid phase stability and contaminant fate

Arsenic (As) contamination in groundwater remains a pressing global challenge. In this study, we evaluated the potential of green rust (GR), a redox-active iron phase frequently occurring in anoxic environments, to treat As contamination at a former wood preservation site. We performed long-term batch experiments by exposing synthetic GR sulfate (GRSO4) to As-free and As-spiked (6 mg L−1) natural groundwater at both 25 and 4 °C. At 25 °C, GRSO4 was metastable in As-free groundwater and transformed to GRCO3, and then fully to magnetite within 120 days; however, GRSO4 stability increased 7-fold by lowering the temperature to 4 °C, and 8-fold by adding As to the groundwater at 25 °C. Highest GRSO4 stability was observed when As was added to the groundwater at 4 °C. This stabilizing effect is explained by GR solubility being lowered by adsorbed As and/or lower temperatures, inhibiting partial GR dissolution required for transformation to GRCO3, and ultimately to magnetite. Despite these mineral transformations, all added As was removed from As-spiked samples within 120 days at 25 °C, while uptake was 2 times slower at 4 °C. Overall, we have successfully documented that GR is an important mineral substrate for As immobilization in anoxic subsurface environments

The Universal Real Projective Plane: LHC phenomenology at one Loop

The Real Projective Plane is the lowest dimensional orbifold which, when combined with the usual Minkowski space-time, gives rise to a unique model in six flat dimensions possessing an exact Kaluza Klein (KK) parity as a relic symmetry of the broken six dimensional Lorentz group. As a consequence of this property, any model formulated on this background will include a stable Dark Matter candidate. Loop corrections play a crucial role because they remove mass degeneracy in the tiers of KK modes and induce new couplings which mediate decays. We study the full one loop structure of the corrections by means of counter-terms localised on the two singular points. As an application, the phenomenology of the (2,0) and (0,2) tiers is discussed at the LHC. We identify promising signatures with single and di-lepton, top antitop and 4 tops: in the dilepton channel, present data from CMS and ATLAS may already exclude KK masses up to 250 GeV, while by next year they may cover the whole mass range preferred by WMAP data.Comment: 45 pages, 3 figure

Precursors for Atmospheric Plasma-Enhanced Sintering: Low-Temperature Inkjet Printing of Conductive Copper

Bidentate diamine and amino-alcohol ligands have been used to form solid, water-soluble, and air-stable monomeric copper complexes of the type [Cu(NH2CH2CH(R)Y)2(NO3)2] (1, R=H, Y=NH2; 2, R=H, Y=OH; 3, R=Me, Y=OH). The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Irrespective of their decomposition temperature, precursors 1–3 yield highly conductive copper features [1.5×10−6Ω m (±5×10−7Ω m)] upon atmospheric-pressure plasma-enhanced sintering

The cord blood insulin and mitochondrial DNA content related methylome

Mitochondrial dysfunction seems to play a key role in the etiology of insulin resistance. At birth, a link has already been established between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and insulin levels in cord blood. In this study, we explore shared epigenetic mechanisms of the association between mtDNA content and insulin levels, supporting the developmental origins of this link. First, the association between cord blood insulin and mtDNA content in 882 newborns of the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort was assessed. Cord blood mtDNA content was established via qPCR, while cord blood levels of insulin were determined using electrochemiluminescence immunoassays. Then the cord blood DNA methylome and transcriptome were determined in 179 newborns, using the human 450K methylation Illumina and Agilent Whole Human Genome 8 × 60 K microarrays, respectively. Subsequently, we performed an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) adjusted for different maternal and neonatal variables. Afterward, we focused on the 20 strongest associations based on p-values to assign transcriptomic correlates and allocate corresponding pathways employing the R packages ReactomePA and RDAVIDWebService. On the regional level, we examined differential methylation using the DMRcate and Bumphunter packages in R. Cord blood mtDNA content and insulin were significantly correlated (r = 0.074, p = 0.028), still showing a trend after additional adjustment for maternal and neonatal variables (p = 0.062). We found an overlap of 33 pathways which were in common between the association with cord blood mtDNA content and insulin levels, including pathways of neurodevelopment, histone modification, cytochromes P450 (CYP)-metabolism, and biological aging. We further identified a DMR annotated to Repulsive Guidance Molecule BMP Co-Receptor A (RGMA) linked to cord blood insulin as well as mtDNA content. Metabolic variation in early life represented by neonatal insulin levels and mtDNA content might reflect or accommodate alterations in neurodevelopment, histone modification, CYP-metabolism, and aging, indicating etiological origins in epigenetic programming. Variation in metabolic hormones at birth, reflected by molecular changes, might via these alterations predispose children to metabolic diseases later in life. The results of this study may provide important markers for following targeted studies

A novel PKC activating molecule promotes neuroblast differentiation and delivery of newborn neurons in brain injuries

Neural stem cells are activated within neurogenic niches in response to brain injuries. This results in the production of neuroblasts, which unsuccessfully attempt to migrate toward the damaged tissue. Injuries constitute a gliogenic/non-neurogenic niche generated by the presence of anti-neurogenic signals, which impair neuronal differentiation and migration. Kinases of the protein kinase C (PKC) family mediate the release of growth factors that participate in different steps of the neurogenic process, particularly, novel PKC isozymes facilitate the release of the neurogenic growth factor neuregulin. We have demonstrated herein that a plant derived diterpene, (EOF2; CAS number 2230806-06-9), with the capacity to activate PKC facilitates the release of neuregulin 1, and promotes neuroblasts differentiation and survival in cultures of subventricular zone (SVZ) isolated cells in a novel PKC dependent manner. Local infusion of this compound in mechanical cortical injuries induces neuroblast enrichment within the perilesional area, and noninvasive intranasal administration of EOF2 promotes migration of neuroblasts from the SVZ towards the injury, allowing their survival and differentiation into mature neurons, being some of them cholinergic and GABAergic. Our results elucidate the mechanism of EOF2 promoting neurogenesis in injuries and highlight the role of novel PKC isozymes as targets in brain injury regeneration

SUSY Stops at a Bump

We discuss collider signatures of the "natural supersymmetry" scenario with baryon-number violating R-parity violation. We argue that this is one of the few remaining viable incarnations of weak scale supersymmetry consistent with full electroweak naturalness. We show that this intriguing and challenging scenario contains distinctive LHC signals, resonances of hard jets in conjunction with relatively soft leptons and missing energy, which are easily overlooked by existing LHC searches. We propose novel strategies for distinguishing these signals above background, and estimate their potential reach at the 8 TeV LHC. We show that other multi-lepton signals of this scenario can be seen by currently existing searches with increased statistics, but these opportunities are more spectrum-dependent.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. V2: spectrum discussion corrected, most of the changes are in Sec. 2. Benchmarks, analysis and conclusions unchanged. References adde

Increased plasma membrane cholesterol in cystic fibrosis cells correlates with CFTR genotype and depends on de novo cholesterol synthesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous observations demonstrate that <it>Cftr</it>-null cells and tissues exhibit alterations in cholesterol processing including perinuclear cholesterol accumulation, increased <it>de novo </it>synthesis, and an increase in plasma membrane cholesterol accessibility compared to wild type controls. The hypothesis of this study is that membrane cholesterol accessibility correlates with CFTR genotype and is in part influenced by <it>de novo </it>cholesterol synthesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Electrochemical detection of cholesterol at the plasma membrane is achieved with capillary microelectrodes with a modified platinum coil that accepts covalent attachment of cholesterol oxidase. Modified electrodes absent cholesterol oxidase serves as a baseline control. Cholesterol synthesis is determined by deuterium incorporation into lipids over time. Incorporation into cholesterol specifically is determined by mass spectrometry analysis. All mice used in the study are on a C57Bl/6 background and are between 6 and 8 weeks of age.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Membrane cholesterol measurements are elevated in both R117H and ΔF508 mouse nasal epithelium compared to age-matched sibling wt controls demonstrating a genotype correlation to membrane cholesterol detection. Expression of wt CFTR in CF epithelial cells reverts membrane cholesterol to WT levels further demonstrating the impact of CFTR on these processes. In wt epithelial cell, the addition of the CFTR inhibitors, Gly H101 or CFTR_inh-172, for 24 h surprisingly results in an initial drop in membrane cholesterol measurement followed by a rebound at 72 h suggesting a feedback mechanism may be driving the increase in membrane cholesterol. <it>De novo </it>cholesterol synthesis contributes to membrane cholesterol accessibility.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The data in this study suggest that CFTR influences cholesterol trafficking to the plasma membrane, which when depleted, leads to an increase in <it>de novo </it>cholesterol synthesis to restore membrane content.</p

Insights from Amphioxus into the Evolution of Vertebrate Cartilage

Central to the story of vertebrate evolution is the origin of the vertebrate head, a problem difficult to approach using paleontology and comparative morphology due to a lack of unambiguous intermediate forms. Embryologically, much of the vertebrate head is derived from two ectodermal tissues, the neural crest and cranial placodes. Recent work in protochordates suggests the first chordates possessed migratory neural tube cells with some features of neural crest cells. However, it is unclear how and when these cells acquired the ability to form cellular cartilage, a cell type unique to vertebrates. It has been variously proposed that the neural crest acquired chondrogenic ability by recruiting proto-chondrogenic gene programs deployed in the neural tube, pharynx, and notochord. To test these hypotheses we examined the expression of 11 amphioxus orthologs of genes involved in neural crest chondrogenesis. Consistent with cellular cartilage as a vertebrate novelty, we find that no single amphioxus tissue co-expresses all or most of these genes. However, most are variously co-expressed in mesodermal derivatives. Our results suggest that neural crest-derived cartilage evolved by serial cooption of genes which functioned primitively in mesoderm

Clinical Value of Prognostic Instruments to Identify Patients with an Increased Risk for Osteoporotic Fractures: Systematic Review

There is a plethora of evidence available studying the association of risk profiles and the development of osteoporotic fractures. The small number of out-of-sample validations, the large variety of study characteristics, outcomes and follow-up periods impedes from deriving robust summaries and from conclusions regarding the clinical performance of many tools. First and foremost, future activity in this field should aim at reaching a consensus among clinical experts in respect to the existing instruments. Then we call for careful validations and expedient adaptations for local circumstances of the most promising candidates