Preference of food saltiness and willingness to consume low-sodium content food in a Chinese population

OBJECTIVE: To compare the preference of food saltiness and the willingness to consume low‐sodium food among hypertensive older people, non‐hypertensive older people and non‐hypertensive young people in a Chinese population. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional study based on a quota sample. Three saltiness options (low‐sodium, medium-sodium and high‐sodium) of soup and bread were offered to each participant who rated the taste of each food on a 5‐point Likert scale. Then, the participants rated their willingness to consume the low-sodium content foods on a 5‐point Likert scale, given they were informed of the benefit of the low-sodium option. Generalised linear mixed model and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the data. SETTING: Elderly centres and community centres in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty hypertensive older people, 49 non‐hypertensive older people and 60 non-hypertensive young people were recruited from June to August 2014. Measurements: The tastiness score and the willingness score were the primary outcome measures. The Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Low Salt Consumption – Hong Kong population (CHLSalt‐HK) was also assessed. RESULTS: The tastiness rating of the high‐sodium option of soup was significantly lower than the medium‐sodium option (p<0.001), but there was no significant difference between the low‐sodium and the medium‐sodium options (p=0.204). For bread, tastiness rating of the low‐sodium option and the high‐sodium option were significantly lower than the medium‐sodium option (p<0.001 for both options). The tastiness score of soup did not have significant difference across the groups (p=0.181), but that of bread from the hypertensive older adults (p=0.012) and the non‐hypertensive older adults (p=0.006) was significantly higher than the non‐hypertensive young adults. Higher willingness rating to consume the low‐sodium option was significantly (p<0.001) associated with higher tastiness rating of the low-sodium option of soup and bread, and weakly associated with higher health literacy of low salt intake (soup: p=0.041; bread: p=0.024). Hypertensive older adults tended to be more willing to consume the low‐sodium option than non‐hypertensive older adults for soup (p=0.009), there was insignificant difference between non‐hypertensive older adults and non‐hypertensive young adults (p=0.156). For bread, there was insignificant difference in willingness rating to consume low‐sodium option (p=0.375). CONCLUSION: Older people are at a higher risk of hypertension, reduction of salt intake is important for them to reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases. There is room for reducing the sodium content of soup, while the sodium in bread should be reduced progressively. Improving the taste of low‐sodium food may help to promote reduction in dietary sodium intake.postprin

LNCaP Atlas: Gene expression associated with in vivo progression to castration-recurrent prostate cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is no cure for castration-recurrent prostate cancer (CRPC) and the mechanisms underlying this stage of the disease are unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed the transcriptome of human LNCaP prostate cancer cells as they progress to CRPC <it>in vivo </it>using replicate LongSAGE libraries. We refer to these libraries as the LNCaP atlas and compared these gene expression profiles with current suggested models of CRPC.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three million tags were sequenced using <it>in vivo </it>samples at various stages of hormonal progression to reveal 96 novel genes differentially expressed in CRPC. Thirty-one genes encode proteins that are either secreted or are located at the plasma membrane, 21 genes changed levels of expression in response to androgen, and 8 genes have enriched expression in the prostate. Expression of 26, 6, 12, and 15 genes have previously been linked to prostate cancer, Gleason grade, progression, and metastasis, respectively. Expression profiles of genes in CRPC support a role for the transcriptional activity of the androgen receptor (<it>CCNH, CUEDC2, FLNA, PSMA7</it>), steroid synthesis and metabolism (<it>DHCR24, DHRS7</it>, <it>ELOVL5, HSD17B4</it>, <it>OPRK1</it>), neuroendocrine (<it>ENO2, MAOA, OPRK1, S100A10, TRPM8</it>), and proliferation (<it>GAS5</it>, <it>GNB2L1</it>, <it>MT-ND3</it>, <it>NKX3-1</it>, <it>PCGEM1</it>, <it>PTGFR</it>, <it>STEAP1</it>, <it>TMEM30A</it>), but neither supported nor discounted a role for cell survival genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The <it>in vivo </it>gene expression atlas for LNCaP was sequenced and support a role for the androgen receptor in CRPC.</p

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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The phylogenetic composition and structure of soil microbial communities shifts in response to elevated carbon dioxide

http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v6/n2/full/ismej201199a.htmlOne of the major factors associated with global change is the ever-increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2. Although the stimulating effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2) on plant growth and primary productivity have been established, its impacts on the diversity and function of soil microbial communities are poorly understood. In this study, phylogenetic microarrays (PhyloChip) were used to comprehensively survey the richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities in a grassland experiment subjected to two CO2 conditions (ambient, 368 p.p.m., versus elevated, 560 p.p.m.) for 10 years. The richness based on the detected number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) significantly decreased under eCO2. PhyloChip detected 2269 OTUs derived from 45 phyla (including two from Archaea), 55 classes, 99 orders, 164 families and 190 subfamilies. Also, the signal intensity of five phyla (Crenarchaeota, Chloroflexi, OP10, OP9/JS1, Verrucomicrobia) significantly decreased at eCO2, and such significant effects of eCO2 on microbial composition were also observed at the class or lower taxonomic levels for most abundant phyla, such as Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria, suggesting a shift in microbial community composition at eCO2. Additionally, statistical analyses showed that the overall taxonomic structure of soil microbial communities was altered at eCO2. Mantel tests indicated that such changes in species richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities were closely correlated with soil and plant properties. This study provides insights into our understanding of shifts in the richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities under eCO2 and environmental factors shaping the microbial community structure

Some aspects of the infrared multiple photon dissociation of ammonia

The infrared multiple photon dissociation of NH 3 by a CO 2 laser is investigated through laser-induced fluorescence and chemiluminescence techniques. A linear dependence of the fractional dissociation yield on pulse energy is found, the dependence exemplifying two distinct thresholds. Significant collisional enhancement of the fractional yield is observed. The results are discussed in terms of the existence of bottlenecks in the laser up-pumping process. © 1979