The Effect of Casein Ingestion within a Milk Matrix on Muscle Protein Synthesis

Isolated micellar casein has been classified as a slow protein because of its slow digestion and amino acid absorption kinetics. These result further in a more moderate and sustained amino acid availability in the plasma and subsequently lower muscle protein synthesis (MPS) rate when, for example, compared with whey. However, the milk matrix with lactose, fat and various minerals may modulate the effect of casein on MPS. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of the ingestion of casein dissolved in bovine milk serum to the ingestion of isolated casein on myofibrillar protein synthesis. In this parallel group randomized trial, 32 healthy older men (age: 71 ± 1 y) received a primed continuous infusion of L-[ring-2 H5 ]phenylalanine, L-[1-13C]leucine, and L-[ring-3,5-2 H2 ]tyrosine and blood and muscle samples were taken to assess myofibrillar fractional synthetic rate (FSR) under basal postabsorptive conditions and after a single bolus of 25 g intrinsically L-[1-13C]phenylalanine and L-[1-13C]leucine-labeled casein either in an isolated form (ISOCAS; n = 16) or dissolved in bovine milk serum (MILK-CAS; n = 16). The ingestion of 25 g of casein significantly (P < 0.05) increased MPS rates in both groups when assessed over the late postprandial period (t = 120 – 300 min). Ingestion of MILK-CAS and ISO-CAS did not significantly stimulate MPS rates when assessed over the early (t = 0 – 120 min) and overall (t = 0 – 300 min) postprandial FSR compared to postabsorptive (t = -120 – 0 min) FSR. No significant differences were observed between the two groups over the early, late or entire postprandial period (P > 0.05). The ingestion of additional normal milk matrix to micellar casein does not modulate overall myofibrillar protein synthesis rates in older men when compared to the ingestion of micellar casein dissolved in water. Therefore, there is neither a benefit, nor a detrimental effect of ingesting micellar casein within a normal milk matrix instead of the isolated form to increase MPS

Longterm Dynamics of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in Europe between 1982 and 2018 - Exploring the new TIMELINE AVHRR SST Product

In the TIMELINE project, consistent SST product were developed from AVHRR brightness temperatures over Europe and North Africa for the period 1982-2018. The daily, 10-daily and monthly Level 3 products contain statistics of SST (minimum, maximum, median, mean) for the respective period. Only high quality SST is used, which is ensured by filtering and quality and uncertainty variables. In this study we present results of the first analysis of long-term dynamics of SST at 1 km resolution over Europe and North Africa based on the Level 3 TIMELINE products

Long-term dynamics of Land Surface Temperature (LST) over Europe

LST is recognized as one of the Essential Climate Variables by the World Meteorological Organization. It is a key parameter for climate models and a direct indicator of global warming. The Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is the only sensor that has been providing spatially and temporally continuous daily measurements for 40 years. In the TIMELINE project, consistent LST products were developed from AVHRR over Europe [1,2]. However, the different overpass times and the orbital drift effect hide actual trends and anomalies in LST. In this study TIMELINE LST from NOAA 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 19 for the years 1984-2017 over four regions in Western and Central Europe was analyzed. A physical daily temperature cycle (DTC) model was applied to normalize the LST to a consistent observation time and then monthly anomalies and a linear trend was calculated

Long-term Dynamics of Land Surface Temperature over Europe: Towards a Daytime normalized AVHRR Land Surface Temperature Product

In this study a statistical orbit drift correction method was applied to TIMELINE AVHRR LST from NOAA 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18 and 19 afternoon overpasses at 12 sites across Europe. The corrected LST anomalies were validated against Ta anomalies from nearby meteorological stations. The results showed an improvement of the correlation (R) between the LST and Ta anomalies at most sites. A few sites showed a decrease of R, which can be explained by complex land cover (urban) or missing daytime effects of LST (at forest sites). After the orbit drift correction, the long-term trends of the LST anomalies were much closer to the Ta trends. Furthermore, climatological features visible in the Ta time series (like e.g. a warm period in the late 1980s) are more distinct in the LST time series after the correction. However, similar studies reached higher correlations between LST and Ta anomalies. This can be explained by a more uniform generation of the LST and Ta anomalies. Further improvements and validation are necessary to obtain a reliable and continent-wide orbit drift correction for AVHRR. It is also planned to extend the analysis to further orbit drift correction methods and also to other validation data, e.g. Landsat LST

Are European Cities Getting Warmer? Investigating the Urban Heat Island Phenomenon in Europe from 1981-2018 through the Use of NOAA-AVHRR Data

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is one of the most prominent signs of human impact on the Earth system. This phenomenon has significantly altered the energy exchange between land surfaces and the atmosphere which has led to several negative impacts on the quality of city life in terms of air and water quality, energy consumption, vegetation growth and human health. European cities are particularly vulnerable to UHI because of their high degree of urbanization, as illustrated by the 2003 heatwave which claimed thousands of lives. However, the existing body of research mostly concentrates on local-scale and/or short-term analyses, which leaves long-term effects at continental scale poorly understood. Within the TIMELINE project of the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a consistent AVHRR Land Surface Temperature (LST) product has been generated, which is employed in this study to determine the intensity of the surface UHI (SUHI) over Europe for the period 1981−2018. Specifically, the objective is to analyze the long-term SUHI trends and corresponding changes over European cities, as well as to gain insights on their relationships with different variables, like climate, land use and land cover (change), vegetation indices and day-night temperature differences. First results point towards a remarkable increase in both SUHI spatial extent and intensity across the entire continent

Validation of AVHRR Land Surface Temperature with MODIS and In Situ LST—A TIMELINE Thematic Processor

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is an important parameter for tracing the impact of changing climatic conditions on our environment. Describing the interface between long- and shortwave radiation fluxes, as well as between turbulent heat fluxes and the ground heat flux, LST plays a crucial role in the global heat balance. Satellite-derived LST is an indispensable tool for monitoring these changes consistently over large areas and for long time periods. Data from the AVHRR (Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer) sensors have been available since the early 1980s. In the TIMELINE project, LST is derived for the entire operating period of AVHRR sensors over Europe at a 1 km spatial resolution. In this study, we present the validation results for the TIMELINE AVHRR daytime LST. The validation approach consists of an assessment of the temporal consistency of the AVHRR LST time series, an inter-comparison between AVHRR LST and in situ LST, and a comparison of the AVHRR LST product with concurrent MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) LST. The results indicate the successful derivation of stable LST time series from multi-decadal AVHRR data. The validation results were investigated regarding different LST, TCWV and VA, as well as land cover classes. The comparisons between the TIMELINE LST product and the reference datasets show seasonal and land cover-related patterns. The LST level was found to be the most determinative factor of the error. On average, an absolute deviation of the AVHRR LST by 1.83 K from in situ LST, as well as a difference of 2.34 K from the MODIS product, was observed

Effect of a regular consumption of traditional and roasted oat and barley flakes on blood lipids and glucose metabolism–A randomized crossover trial

Background Regular consumption of the soluble dietary fiber β-glucan is associated with decreased total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and blood glucose. Barley and oat flakes as natural sources of β-glucan were roasted to improve sensory quality. The aim of this study was to investigate whether roasting of barley and oat flakes changes the physiological impact of the β-glucan-rich flakes on glucose and lipid metabolism. Method A five-armed randomized crossover trial design was used. The intervention study was conducted from May 2018 to May 2019 and included 32 healthy subjects with moderately increased LDL cholesterol (≥2.5 mmol/L). During the 3-week intervention periods, 80 g of roasted or traditional barley or oat flakes, or four slices of white toast bread per day were consumed for breakfast. At the start and the end of each intervention, fasting and postprandial blood was taken. The intervention periods were separated by 3-week wash-out periods. Results During the interventions with the cereal flakes, TC and LDL cholesterol concentrations were significantly reduced compared to baseline values by mean differences of 0.27–0.33 mmol/L and 0.21–0.30 mmol/L, respectively ( p < 0.05), while high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was only reduced after the intervention with barley flakes ( p < 0.05). After the intervention period with toast, TC and HDL cholesterol increased ( p < 0.05). The fasting levels of triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and insulin did not change in any group. The effects of traditional and roasted varieties on blood lipids did not differ between the groups. Conclusion The regular consumption of traditional or roasted barley and oat flakes contributes to the management of cardiovascular diseases by improving TC and LDL cholesterol. Clinical trial registration https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03648112 , identifier NCT03648112

Colors and Kinematics of L Dwarfs From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present a sample of 484 L dwarfs, 210 of which are newly discovered from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 spectroscopic database. We combine this sample with known L dwarfs to investigate their $izJHK_S$ colors. Our spectroscopically selected sample has $\sim$0.1 magnitude bluer median $J-K_S$ colors at a given spectral type (for L0 to L4) than previously known L dwarfs, which reflects a bias towards redder L dwarfs in past selection criteria. We present photometric distance relations based on $i-z$ and $i-J$ colors and derive distances to our L dwarf sample. We combine the distances with SDSS/2MASS proper motions in order to examine the tangential velocities. For the majority of our spectroscopic sample, we measured radial velocities and present three dimensional kinematics. We also provide H$\alpha$ detections for the fraction of our sample with sufficient quality spectra. Comparison of the velocities of our L dwarf sample to a kinematic model shows evidence for both cold and hot dynamical populations, consistent with young and old disk components. The dispersions of these components are similar to those found for M dwarfs. We also show that $J-K_S$ color is correlated with velocity dispersion, confirming a relationship between $J-K_S$ color and age.Comment: 58 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

AVHRR NDVI Compositing Method Comparison and Generation of Multi-decadal Time Series —A TIMELINE Thematic Processor

Remote sensing image composites are crucial for a wide range of remote sensing applications, such as multi-decadal time series analysis. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument provides daily data since the early 1980s at a spatial resolution of 1 km, allowing analyses of climate change related environmental processes. For monitoring vegetation condition, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most widely used metric. However, to actually enable such analyses, a consistent NDVI time series over the AVHRR time-span needs to be created. In this context, the aim of this study is to thoroughly assess the effect of different compositing procedures on AVHRR NDVI composites, as there is no standard procedure established. 13 different compositing methods have been implemented, daily, decadal and monthly composites over Europe and Northern Africa have been calculated for the year 2007, and the resulting data sets have been thoroughly evaluated according to six criteria. The median approach was selected as the best performing compositing algorithm considering all investigated aspects. However, also the combination of NDVI value and viewing and illumination angles as criteria for best-pixel selection proved to be a promising approach. The generated NDVI time series, currently ranging from 1981 - 2018, shows a consistent behavior and a close agreement to the standard MODIS NDVI product. The conducted analyses demonstrate the strong influence of compositing procedures on the resulting AVHRR NDVI composites