EFFECTS OF BIOAVAILABILITY OF MACRONUTRIENTS ON OVERALL CONTROL OF PLASMA GLUCOSE: A REVIEW

Macronutrients play a crucial role in management of type 2 diabetes. This is seen in their ability to modulate plasma glucose concentrations. However, the ideal proportions of macronutrients to be consumed in order to maintain ideal plasma glucose concentrations remains elusive. Therefore, this paper set out to conduct a review to investigate the relationship between macronutrients and plasma glucose concentrations from a physiological perspective. The review was conducted using papers obtained from various databases such as MEDLINE (Pubmed), Open Access Journals Elsevier, Free Medical Journals and Google Scholar. The research papers included general reviews, systemic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomized control trials that examined the effect of macronutrients on plasma glucose concentration as well as papers on mathematical models describing the relationship between macronutrient bioavailability and plasma glucose concentration. The review assessed the effect of various macronutrients on postprandial plasma glucose concentration, post-prandial plasma insulin, post-prandial glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide plasma concentration, and post-prandial glucose-like peptide-1 plasma concentration. The results of the review showed that carbohydrates influence plasma glucose concentration in a dose dependant manner but this is dependent on their bioavailability. This bioavailability was shown to be subject to fluctuations determined by food processing techniques, food structure, and food matrix. The results also showed that some specific types of fats and proteins indirectly influence plasma glucose concentration through their effect on incretin hormones. The effect of fats and proteins on incretin hormones was through different mechanisms and pathways. In-lieu of the findings, the review concludes that the macronutrient composition of diets designed for type 2 diabetic patients should take into consideration the physiological relationship between the macronutrients and plasma glucose concentrations. In this way, diet proportions can be made in such a manner as to determine the exact amounts that will realize near normal plasma glucose concentrations for a type 2 diabetic patient

Dynamic and adaptive cancer stem cell population admixture in colorectal neoplasia

Intestinal homeostasis is underpinned by LGR5+ve crypt-base columnar stem cells (CBCs), but following injury, dedifferentiation results in the emergence of LGR5−ve regenerative stem cell populations (RSCs), characterized by fetal transcriptional profiles. Neoplasia hijacks regenerative signaling, so we assessed the distribution of CBCs and RSCs in mouse and human intestinal tumors. Using combined molecular-morphological analysis, we demonstrate variable expression of stem cell markers across a range of lesions. The degree of CBC-RSC admixture was associated with both epithelial mutation and microenvironmental signaling disruption and could be mapped across disease molecular subtypes. The CBC-RSC equilibrium was adaptive, with a dynamic response to acute selective pressure, and adaptability was associated with chemoresistance. We propose a fitness landscape model where individual tumors have equilibrated stem cell population distributions along a CBC-RSC phenotypic axis. Cellular plasticity is represented by position shift along this axis and is influenced by cell-intrinsic, extrinsic, and therapeutic selective pressures

Open access towards bridging the digital divide: policies and strategies for developing countries

There is a consensus that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold great promise for development by connecting people to more accurate and up-to-date sources of information and knowledge. However, the evidence so far shows that the benefits accrued from the utilization of ICTs have been inequitably distributed with most developing countries (particularly Africa) facing the prospect of being marginalized. Inequality of access to information and technological advantages among scientists becomes a crucial factor in formal science, and Africa can be said to be suffering from a scientific information famine. So the key question addressed in this article is, will open access solve Africa's information famine and help the continent bridge the digital divide? This article aims to assess and evaluate the open access movement as a proposed solution to avoid the restrictions over accessing scientific knowledge in Africa. I find it more important that the article outlines the problems that can be observed and what opportunities for building OA in Africa are available. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of strategic and policy implications of these findings for bridging the digital divide and building OA in Africa