No metabolic effects of mustard allyl-isothiocyanate compared with placebo in men.

Background: Induction of nonshivering thermogenesis can be used to influence energy balance to prevent or even treat obesity. The pungent component of mustard, allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC), activates the extreme cold receptor transient receptor potential channel, subfamily A, member 1 and may thus induce energy expenditure and metabolic changes.Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential of mustard AITC to induce thermogenesis (primary outcome) and alter body temperature, cold and hunger sensations, plasma metabolic parameters, and energy intake (secondary outcomes).Design: Energy expenditure in mice was measured after subcutaneous injection with vehicle, 1 mg norepinephrine/kg, or 5 mg AITC/kg. In our human crossover study, 11 healthy subjects were studied under temperature-controlled conditions after an overnight fast. After ingestion of 10 g of capsulated mustard or uncapsulated mustard or a capsulated placebo mixture, measurements of energy expenditure, substrate oxidation, core temperature, cold and hunger scores, and plasma parameters were repeated every 30 min during a 150-min period. Subjects were randomly selected for the placebo and capsulated mustard intervention; 9 of 11 subjects received the uncapsulated mustard as the final intervention because this could not be blinded. After the experiments, energy intake was measured with the universal eating monitor in a test meal.Results: In mice, AITC administration induced a 32% increase in energy expenditure compared with vehicle (17.5 ± 4.9 J · min-1 · mouse-1 compared with 12.5 ± 1.2 J · min-1 · mouse-1, P = 0.03). Of the 11 randomly selected participants, 1 was excluded because of intercurrent illness after the first visit and 1 withdrew after the second visit. Energy expenditure did not increase after ingestion of capsulated or uncapsulated mustard compared with placebo. No differences in substrate oxidation, core temperature, cold and hunger scores, or plasma parameters were found, nor was the energy intake at the end of the experiment different between the 3 conditions.Conclusion: The highest tolerable dose of mustard we were able to use did not elicit a relevant thermogenic response in humans. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN19147515

Analysis of the bearing capacity of unbound granular mixtures with rubber particles from scrap tyres when used as sub-ballast

[EN] Scrap tyres are a problematic waste material. As a method for recycling large quantities of rubber from scrap tyres, this paper analyses the use of unbound granular mixtures with varying percentages of rubber particles as sub-ballast in railway lines. Bearing capacity for such mixtures is studied in laboratory and field tests using static and dynamic plate load tests, as well as cyclic triaxial tests. It is found that adding rubber increases permanent and resilient strain and that none of the mixtures suffer plastic creep after 2.5 million cycles. Considering the usual bearing capacity requirements, the optimum rubber content is 2.5% (by weight). This percentage increases resistance to degradation while ensuring sufficient bearing capacity.Hidalgo Signes, C.; Martínez Fernández, P.; Garzón-Roca, J.; Insa Franco, R. (2016). Analysis of the bearing capacity of unbound granular mixtures with rubber particles from scrap tyres when used as sub-ballast. Materiales de Construcción. 66(324):1-15. doi:10.3989/mc.2016.11515S11566324Humphrey, D., & Blumenthal, M. (2010). The Use of Tire-Derived Aggregate in Road Construction Applications. Green Streets and Highways 2010. doi:10.1061/41148(389)25Wolfe, S. L., Humphrey, D. N., & Wetzel, E. A. (2004). Development of Tire Shred Underlayment to Reduce Groundborne Vibration from LRT Track. Geotechnical Engineering for Transportation Projects. doi:10.1061/40744(154)62Salgado, R., Yoon, S., & Siddiki, N. (2003). Construction of Tire Shreds Test Embankment. doi:10.5703/1288284313165Yoon, S., Prezzi, M., Siddiki, N. Z., & Kim, B. (2006). Construction of a test embankment using a sand–tire shred mixture as fill material. Waste Management, 26(9), 1033-1044. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2005.10.009Sol-Sánchez, M., Thom, N. H., Moreno-Navarro, F., Rubio-Gámez, M. C., & Airey, G. D. (2015). A study into the use of crumb rubber in railway ballast. Construction and Building Materials, 75, 19-24. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.10.045Hidalgo Signes, C., Martínez Fernández, P., Medel Perallón, E., & Insa Franco, R. (2014). Characterisation of an unbound granular mixture with waste tyre rubber for subballast layers. Materials and Structures, 48(12), 3847-3861. doi:10.1617/s11527-014-0443-z8. PF-7 (2006) Pliego de Prescripciones Técnicas Generales de Materiales Ferroviarios PF-7: Subbalasto (General Technical Specifications for Railway Materials PF-7: Sub-ballast). Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Madrid. (In Spanish).10. Panadero, C.; Sanz, J.L. (2010) Análisis de las propiedades del sub-balasto: Contradicciones y procesos que afectan a su función (Analysis of sub-ballast properties: Contradictions and processes that affect their performance). Revista Ingeopres 196, 14–21. (In Spanish).12. Santiago, E.; García, J.L.; González, P. (2010) Comparación de diferentes métodos de control de compactación del subbalasto (Comparison of different sub-ballast compaction control methods). CEDEX Geotechnical Laboratory, Madrid. (In Spanish).Tompai, Z. (2008). Conversion between static and dynamic load bearing capacity moduli and introduction of dynamic target values. Periodica Polytechnica Civil Engineering, 52(2), 97. doi:10.3311/pp.ci.2008-2.0617. Melis, M. (2006). Terraplenes y Balasto en Alta Velocidad Ferroviaria (Embankment and ballast in high speed railways). Revista de Obras Públicas 3464, 7–36. (In Spanish).Werkmeister, S., Dawson, A. R., & Wellner, F. (2005). Permanent Deformation Behaviour of Granular Materials. Road Materials and Pavement Design, 6(1), 31-51. doi:10.1080/14680629.2005.9689998Cerni, G., Cardone, F., Virgili, A., & Camilli, S. (2012). Characterisation of permanent deformation behaviour of unbound granular materials under repeated triaxial loading. Construction and Building Materials, 28(1), 79-87. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.07.066Speir, R., & Witczak, M. (1996). Use of Shredded Rubber in Unbound Granular Flexible Pavement Layers. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1547, 96-106. doi:10.3141/1547-1424. Santamarina, J.C.; Klein, K.A.; Fam, M.A. (2001) Soils and Waves. Particulate Materials. Behavior, Characterization and Process Monitoring. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Baffins Lane, Chichester.25. Pe-a, M. (2003) Tramos de ensayo de vía en placa en la línea del corredor del Mediterráneo para su explotación a alta velocidad (Slab track test sites in the Mediterranean Corridor for high speed use). Revista de Obras Públicas 3431, 57–68. (In Spanish).Cecich, V., Gonzales, L., Hoisaeter, A., Williams, J., & Reddy, K. (1996). Use of Shredded Tires as Lightweight Backfill Material for Retaining Structures. Waste Management & Research, 14(5), 433-451. doi:10.1177/0734242x960140050

Validity and reliability of the semi-quantitative self-report Home Food Availability Inventory Checklist (HFAI-C) in White and South Asian populations.

Despite interest in the importance of the home food environment and its potential influence on children's diets and social norms, there remain few self-report checklist methods that have been validated against the gold standard of researcher-conducted inventories. This study aimed to assess the criterion validity and reliability of the 'Home Food Availability Inventory Checklist' (HFAI-C), a 39-item checklist including categories of fruit, vegetables, snacks and drinks.The HFAI-C was completed by 97 participants of White and Pakistani origin in the UK. Validity was determined by comparing participant-reported HFAI-C responses to data from researcher observations of home food availability using PABAK and weighted kappa statistics. The validity of measuring the amount of items (in addition to presence/absence) available was also determined. Test-retest reliability compared repeated administrations of the HFAI-C using intra-class correlation coefficients.Validity and reliability was fair to moderate overall. For validity, the average category-level PABAK ranged from 0.31 (95 % CI: 0.25, 0.37) for vegetables to 0.44 (95 % CI: 0.40, 0.49) for fruits. Assessment of the presence/absence of items demonstrated higher validity compared to quantity measurements. Reliability was increased when the HFAI-C was repeated close to the time of the first administration. For example, ICCs for reliability of the measurement of fruits were 0.52 (95 %CI: 0.47, 0.56) if re-administered within 5 months, 0.58 (95 % CI: 0.51, 0.64) within 30 days and 0.97 (95 %CI: 0.94, 1.00) if re-administered on the same day.Overall, the HFAI-C demonstrated fair to moderate validity and reliability in a population of White and South Asian participants. This evaluation is consistent with previous work on other checklists in less diverse, more affluent populations. Our research supports the use of the HFAI-C as a useful, albeit imperfect, representation of researcher-conducted inventories. The feasibility of collecting information using the HFAI-C in large, multi-ethnic samples can facilitate examination of home food availability in relation to exposures such as ethnicity and outcomes including behavioural, social and health outcomes. Future work using the HFAI-C could provide important insights into a modifiable influence with potential to impact health

Influence of hypothermia on right atrial cardiomyocyte apoptosis in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that programmed cell death can be triggered during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and may be involved in postoperative complications. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether apoptosis occurs during aortic valve surgery and whether modifying temperature during CPB has any influence on cardiomyocyte apoptotic death rate. METHODS: 20 patients undergoing elective aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis were randomly assigned to either moderate hypothermic (ModHT group, n = 10, 28°C) or mild hypothermic (MiHT group, n = 10, 34°C) CPB. Myocardial samples were obtained from the right atrium before and after weaning from CPB. Specimens were examined for apoptosis by flow cytometry analysis of annexin V-propidium iodide (PI) and Fas death receptor staining. RESULTS: In the ModHT group, non apoptotic non necrotic cells (annexin negative, PI negative) decreased after CPB, while early apoptotic (annexin positive, PI negative) and late apoptotic or necrotic (PI positive) cells increased. In contrast, no change in the different cell populations was observed over time in the MiHT group. Fas expression rose after reperfusion in the ModHT group but not in MiHT patients, in which there was even a trend for a lower Fas staining after CPB (p = 0.08). In ModHT patients, a prolonged ischemic time tended to induce a higher increase of Fas (p = 0.061). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that apoptosis signal cascade is activated at early stages during aortic valve replacement under ModHT CPB. This apoptosis induction can effectively be attenuated by a more normothermic procedure

Gravitational waves from single neutron stars: an advanced detector era survey

With the doors beginning to swing open on the new gravitational wave astronomy, this review provides an up-to-date survey of the most important physical mechanisms that could lead to emission of potentially detectable gravitational radiation from isolated and accreting neutron stars. In particular we discuss the gravitational wave-driven instability and asteroseismology formalism of the f- and r-modes, the different ways that a neutron star could form and sustain a non-axisymmetric quadrupolar "mountain" deformation, the excitation of oscillations during magnetar flares and the possible gravitational wave signature of pulsar glitches. We focus on progress made in the recent years in each topic, make a fresh assessment of the gravitational wave detectability of each mechanism and, finally, highlight key problems and desiderata for future work.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Chapter of the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action 1304. Minor corrections to match published versio

Methods of assessment of patients for Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy that correlate with final visual improvement

BACKGROUND: This paper attempts to clarify the usefulness of various simple pre-operative measures in estimating the potential for a visually successful capsulotomy. METHODS: 24 patients attending for capsulotomy had pre-operative measures of glare with BAT tester, visibility of posterior pole and grading of posterior capsular pearls and fibrosis seen at slit lamp. Visual function was measured before and after standardised capsulotomy. Correlations of the various preoperative measures with eventual visual function improvements were calculated. RESULTS: Pearls at slit lamp and poor posterior pole visualisation were all correlated with improvements in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity after capsulotomy. Amount of fibrosis visible at slit lamp and glare assessment were not correlated with vision improvements after laser. CONCLUSION: Of the various measures that are taken prior to Nd : YAG capsulotomy, some correlate with eventual visual improvement but for others no clinical utility was found. Practitioners should note these findings as they are especially of use in more questionable or high-risk cases to help determine whether referral for PCO treatment by Nd: YAG capsulotomy is likely to benefit the patient

Protective Human Leucocyte Antigen Haplotype, HLA-DRB1*01-B*14, against Chronic Chagas Disease in Bolivia

Chronic Chagas disease consists of four different forms categorized on the basis of their clinical manifestations, namely; cardiac, digestive, cardiodigestive and indeterminate. In Latin America, there are 8–10 million seropositive persons who are at risk of, or have already developed serious clinical complications and who have limited access to effective treatment. The cardiac and digestive forms are characterized by tissue damage caused by persistent infection of Trypanosoma cruzi and are thought to be modulated by host immunity. In our large scale screening for chronic Chagas disease in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, hearts and colons of 229 seropositive patients were examined. We found 31.4% of patients had abnormal electrocardiograms (ECGs), 15.7% presented with megacolon, 5.2% had a combination of abnormal ECG and megacolon, and 58.1% were of indeterminate status. Previously, we attempted to ascertain whether parasite genetic polymorphism might account for the differences in clinical manefestations, by analyzing parasite DNA taken from the same study group (with the addition of a further 62 megacolon post-operational patients). We found no relationships between parasite lineages and clinical disease form. The present study reveals that host HLA polymorphisms associate with clinical manifestations of Chagas

Regional mitochondrial DNA and cell-type changes in post-mortem brains of non-diabetic Alzheimer’s disease are not present in diabetic Alzheimer’s disease

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in both diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and diabetes also increases the risk of AD, however the combined impact of AD and diabetes on brain mitochondria is unknown. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the combination of both diabetes and AD exacerbates mitochondrial dysfunction. Methods: Post-mortem human brains (n=74), were used to determine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content of cerebellum, frontal cortex and parietal cortex by quantifying absolute mtDNA copy number/cell using real time qPCR. mtDNA content was compared between diabetic and non-diabetic cases representing non-cognitively impaired controls (NCI), mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) and AD. A subset of parietal cortex samples was used to quantify mRNAs corresponding to cell types and mitochondrial function. Immune-staining of parietal cortex sections followed by semi-automated stereological assessment was performed to assess cell types. Results. Using mtDNA as an indicator of mitochondrial content, we observed significant regional variation, being highest in the parietal cortex, and lowest in the cerebellum. In the absence of diabetes, AD cases had decreased parietal cortex mtDNA, reduced MAP2 (neuronal) mRNA and increased GFAP (astrocyte) mRNA, relative to NCI. However, in the presence of both diabetes and AD, we did not observe these changes in the parietal cortex. Irrespective of cognitive status, all 3 brain regions in diabetic cases had significantly higher mtDNA than the non-diabetic cases. Conclusion. Our data show that the parietal cortex has the highest mitochondrial content but is also the most vulnerable to changes in AD, as shown by reduced mtDNA and neurones in this region. In contrast, when patients have both diabetes and AD, the AD associated parietal cortex changes are no longer seen, suggesting that the pathology observed in diabetic AD may be different to that seen in non-diabetic AD. The lack of clear functional changes in mitochondrial parameters in diabetic AD suggest that there may be different mechanisms contributing to cognitive impairment in diabetes and their impact on the respective disease neuro-pathologies remain to be fully understood

Model-selection-based approach for calculating cellular multiplicity of infection during virus colonization of multi-cellular hosts

The cellular multiplicity of infection (MOI) is a key parameter for describing the interactions between virions and cells, predicting the dynamics of mixed-genotype infections, and understanding virus evolution. Two recent studies have reported in vivo MOI estimates for Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), using sophisticated approaches to measure the distribution of two virus variants over host cells. Although the experimental approaches were similar, the studies employed different definitions of MOI and estimation methods. Here, new model-selection-based methods for calculating MOI were developed. Seven alternative models for predicting MOI were formulated that incorporate an increasing number of parameters. For both datasets the best-supported model included spatial segregation of virus variants over time, and to a lesser extent aggregation of virus-infected cells was also implicated. Three methods for MOI estimation were then compared: the two previously reported methods and the best-supported model. For CaMV data, all three methods gave comparable results. For TMV data, the previously reported methods both predicted low MOI values (range: 1.04-1.23) over time, whereas the best-supported model predicted a wider range of MOI values (range: 1.01-2.10) and an increase in MOI over time. Model selection can therefore identify suitable alternative MOI models and suggest key mechanisms affecting the frequency of coinfected cells. For the TMV data, this leads to appreciable differences in estimated MOI values.This work was supported by grant BFU2012-30805 (SFE) and by 'Juan de la Cierva' postdoctoral contract JCI-2011-10379 (MPZ) from the Spanish Secretaria de Estado de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Zwart, MP.; Tromas ., N.; Elena Fito, SF. (2013). Model-selection-based approach for calculating cellular multiplicity of infection during virus colonization of multi-cellular hosts. PLoS ONE. 8:64657-64657. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064657S64657646578Froissart, R., Wilke, C. O., Montville, R., Remold, S. K., Chao, L., & Turner, P. E. (2004). Co-infection Weakens Selection Against Epistatic Mutations in RNA Viruses. Genetics, 168(1), 9-19. doi:10.1534/genetics.104.030205Miyashita, S., & Kishino, H. (2009). Estimation of the Size of Genetic Bottlenecks in Cell-to-Cell Movement of Soil-Borne Wheat Mosaic Virus and the Possible Role of the Bottlenecks in Speeding Up Selection of Variations in trans-Acting Genes or Elements. Journal of Virology, 84(4), 1828-1837. doi:10.1128/jvi.01890-09Taylor, D. R., Zeyl, C., & Cooke, E. (2002). 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