Effects of dietary intake of red palm oil on fatty acid composition and lipid profiles in male Wistar rats

Little is known about the effects of the dietary intake of red palm oil (RPO) on fatty acid composition in the liver of rats. Male Wistar rats randomly divided into four groups were fed with different doses of red palm oil. The control group received no red palm oil; while the experimental groups were fed with 1 ml, 2 ml and 4 ml of red palm oil daily for seven weeks. In the liver of all the groups, palmitic acid (C16:0) followed by stearic acid (C18:0) were predominantly present among the saturated fatty acids. Oleic acid (C18:1c) and linoleic acid (C18:2) were largely present among the unsaturated fatty acids. There was no significant (P<0.05) increase in the levels of palmitic acid (C16:0) in all the groups while oleic acid (C18:1) significantly increased at 4 ml RPO when compared with the control (p<0.05). The total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol levels were not significantly different in all the groups (P<0.05) when compared with the control group. Generally, there were no significant effects of RPO on levels of serum cholesterol, and triglycerides as well as accumulation of saturated fatty acids in the liver of the experimental rats.Keywords: Lipid profiles, fatty acid, red palm oil, rat

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Body Mass Index: Comparative Analysis of Monozygotic Twins, Dizygotic Twins and Same-Age Unrelated Siblings

Background—Earlier studies have established that a substantial percentage of variance in obesity-related phenotypes is explained by genetic components. However, only one study has used both virtual twins (VTs) and biological twins and was able to simultaneously estimate additive genetic, non-additive genetic, shared environmental and unshared environmental components in body mass index (BMI). Our current goal was to re-estimate four components of variance in BMI, applying a more rigorous model to biological and virtual multiples with additional data. Virtual multiples share the same family environment, offering unique opportunities to estimate common environmental influence on phenotypes that cannot be separated from the non-additive genetic component using only biological multiples. Methods—Data included 929 individuals from 164 monozygotic twin pairs, 156 dizygotic twin pairs, five triplet sets, one quadruplet set, 128 VT pairs, two virtual triplet sets and two virtual quadruplet sets. Virtual multiples consist of one biological child (or twins or triplets) plus one same-aged adoptee who are all raised together since infancy. We estimated the additive genetic, non-additive genetic, shared environmental and unshared random components in BMI using a linear mixed model. The analysis was adjusted for age, age2, age3, height, height2, height3, gender and race. Results—Both non-additive genetic and common environmental contributions were significant in our model (P-values \u3c 0.0001). No significant additive genetic contribution was found. In all, 63.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 51.8–75.3%) of the total variance of BMI was explained by a non-additive genetic component, 25.7% (95% CI 13.8–37.5%) by a common environmental component and the remaining 10.7% by an unshared component. Conclusion—Our results suggest that genetic components play an essential role in BMI and that common environmental factors such as diet or exercise also affect BMI. This conclusion is consistent with our earlier study using a smaller sample and shows the utility of virtual multiples for separating non-additive genetic variance from common environmental variance

Correlation between measures of insulin resistance in fasting and non-fasting blood

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epidemiological investigation of insulin resistance is difficult. Standard measures of insulin resistance require invasive investigations, which are impractical for large-scale studies. Surrogate measures using fasting blood samples have been developed, but even these are difficult to obtain in population-based studies. Measures of insulin resistance have not been validated in non-fasting blood samples. Our objective was to assess the correlations between fasting and non-fasting measures of insulin resistance/sensitivity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fasting and non-fasting measurements of metabolic function were compared in 30 volunteers (15 male) aged 28 to 48 years. Participants provided a morning blood sample after an overnight fast and a second sample approximately 4 hours after lunch on the same day.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Non-fasting levels of the adipokines leptin, adiponectin, and leptin:adiponectin ratios were not significantly different and highly correlated with fasting values (r values 0.95, 0.96, and 0.95 respectively, P values < 0.001). There were moderate correlations between fasting and non-fasting estimates of insulin sensitivity using the McAuley (r = 0.60, P = 0.001) and QUICKI formulae (r = 0.39, P = 0.037). The HOMA-IR estimate of insulin resistance was also moderately correlated (r = 0.45, P = 0.016).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Semi-fasting measures of leptin, adiponectin, and leptin:adiponectin ratios correlate closely with fasting values and are likely to be sufficient for population-based research. Other measures of insulin resistance or sensitivity in semi-fasted blood samples are moderately correlated with values obtained after an overnight fast. These estimates of insulin resistance/sensitivity may also be adequate for many epidemiological studies and would avoid the difficulties of obtaining fasting blood samples.</p

Anatomy of quantum chaotic eigenstates

The eigenfunctions of quantized chaotic systems cannot be described by explicit formulas, even approximate ones. This survey summarizes (selected) analytical approaches used to describe these eigenstates, in the semiclassical limit. The levels of description are macroscopic (one wants to understand the quantum averages of smooth observables), and microscopic (one wants informations on maxima of eigenfunctions, "scars" of periodic orbits, structure of the nodal sets and domains, local correlations), and often focusses on statistical results. Various models of "random wavefunctions" have been introduced to understand these statistical properties, with usually good agreement with the numerical data. We also discuss some specific systems (like arithmetic ones) which depart from these random models.Comment: Corrected typos, added a few references and updated some result

A race from the bottom? Lessons from a workers’ struggle at a Bangalore warehouse

This paper analyses the emergence of the ‘full package’ firm in India and its implications for workers’ strategies. A ‘full package’ firm expands outward, from low-value assembly-only products to high-value specialized garment production; consolidating under one roof. Historically, geographic and political barriers separated centres of value-creation (producers) and value-capture (brands and retailers) in the global garment sector. However, enhanced value-capture at the point of production has led to considerable consolidation organizationally, giving an increasingly symbiotic character to relationships within ‘buyer driven’ supply chains. Though this change aggregates the bargaining power of workers, it also introduces new obstacles to workers’ organization. The concomitant rise of supplier-end value capture allows garment trade unions to nonetheless demand greater shares. Thus, previously unviable modes and methods have become available to workers engaged in struggles with their employers in the globalized garment sector. This paper examines a protracted workers’ struggle in light of this process. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that codes of conduct and auditing alone cannot significantly impact labour standards because the needs of capital accumulation are greater than the threat posed by any auditing program or code. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that labour rights within the garment GVC will not arrive through a rights-based approach -- though strong codes of conduct and independent auditing can assist -- but rather through a combination of an increased power of suppliers vis-à-vis buyers, greater workers' bargaining power with their direct employers, and -- critically -- workers' self organization

Measured Dynamic Social Contact Patterns Explain the Spread of H1N1v Influenza

Patterns of social mixing are key determinants of epidemic spread. Here we present the results of an internet-based social contact survey completed by a cohort of participants over 9,000 times between July 2009 and March 2010, during the 2009 H1N1v influenza epidemic. We quantify the changes in social contact patterns over time, finding that school children make 40% fewer contacts during holiday periods than during term time. We use these dynamically varying contact patterns to parameterise an age-structured model of influenza spread, capturing well the observed patterns of incidence; the changing contact patterns resulted in a fall of approximately 35% in the reproduction number of influenza during the holidays. This work illustrates the importance of including changing mixing patterns in epidemic models. We conclude that changes in contact patterns explain changes in disease incidence, and that the timing of school terms drove the 2009 H1N1v epidemic in the UK. Changes in social mixing patterns can be usefully measured through simple internet-based surveys

Complex -Glycans Influence the Spatial Arrangement of Voltage Gated Potassium Channels in Membranes of Neuronal-Derived Cells

The intrinsic electrical properties of a neuron depend on expression of voltage gated potassium (Kv) channel isoforms, as well as their distribution and density in the plasma membrane. Recently, we showed that N-glycosylation site occupancy of Kv3.1b modulated its placement in the cell body and neurites of a neuronal-derived cell line, B35 neuroblastoma cells. To extrapolate this mechanism to other N-glycosylated Kv channels, we evaluated the impact of N-glycosylation occupancy of Kv3.1a and Kv1.1 channels. Western blots revealed that wild type Kv3.1a and Kv1.1 α-subunits had complex and oligomannose N-glycans, respectively, and that abolishment of the N-glycosylation site(s) generated Kv proteins without N-glycans. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy images revealed that N-glycans of Kv3.1a contributed to its placement in the cell membrane while N-glycans had no effect on the distribution of Kv1.1. Based on particle analysis of EGFP-Kv proteins in the adhered membrane, glycosylated forms of Kv3.1a, Kv1.1, and Kv3.1b had differences in the number, size or density of Kv protein clusters in the cell membrane of neurites and cell body of B35 cells. Differences were also observed between the unglycosylated forms of the Kv proteins. Cell dissociation assays revealed that cell-cell adhesion was increased by the presence of complex N-glycans of Kv3.1a, like Kv3.1b, whereas cell adhesion was similar in the oligomannose and unglycosylated Kv1.1 subunit containing B35 cells. Our findings provide direct evidence that N-glycans of Kv3.1 splice variants contribute to the placement of these glycoproteins in the plasma membrane of neuronal-derived cells while those of Kv1.1 were absent. Further when the cell membrane distribution of the Kv channel was modified by N-glycans then the cell-cell adhesion properties were altered. Our study demonstrates that N-glycosylation of Kv3.1a, like Kv3.1b, provides a mechanism for the distribution of these proteins to the cell body and outgrowths and thereby can generate different voltage-dependent conductances in these membranes

Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon: Global Prices, Deforestation, and Mercury Imports

Many factors such as poverty, ineffective institutions and environmental regulations may prevent developing countries from managing how natural resources are extracted to meet a strong market demand. Extraction for some resources has reached such proportions that evidence is measurable from space. We present recent evidence of the global demand for a single commodity and the ecosystem destruction resulting from commodity extraction, recorded by satellites for one of the most biodiverse areas of the world. We find that since 2003, recent mining deforestation in Madre de Dios, Peru is increasing nonlinearly alongside a constant annual rate of increase in international gold price (∼18%/yr). We detect that the new pattern of mining deforestation (1915 ha/year, 2006–2009) is outpacing that of nearby settlement deforestation. We show that gold price is linked with exponential increases in Peruvian national mercury imports over time (R2 = 0.93, p = 0.04, 2003–2009). Given the past rates of increase we predict that mercury imports may more than double for 2011 (∼500 t/year). Virtually all of Peru's mercury imports are used in artisanal gold mining. Much of the mining increase is unregulated/artisanal in nature, lacking environmental impact analysis or miner education. As a result, large quantities of mercury are being released into the atmosphere, sediments and waterways. Other developing countries endowed with gold deposits are likely experiencing similar environmental destruction in response to recent record high gold prices. The increasing availability of satellite imagery ought to evoke further studies linking economic variables with land use and cover changes on the ground