Myelomatosis with type III hyperlipoproteinemia - clinical and metabolic studies

We investigated the metabolism of intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL [1.006 to 1.019 g per milliliter]) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL [1.019 to 1.063 g per milliliter]) in two men with Type III hyperlipoproteinemia associated with myelomatosis. In vivo kinetic studies using Radio-labeled autologous lipoproteins demonstrated a greatly reduced fractional catabolic rate of IDL, relative to control values (patients vs. normal, 0.006 and 0.025 per hour vs. 0.20±0.08 per hour [mean ±S.E.M.]) and a greatly prolonged IDL-to-LDL conversion time (45 and 17 hours vs. 5.4±1.6 hours). In studies in vitro, LDL from both patients failed to bind to the LDL receptor of normal blood lymphocytes, whereas LDL from subjects with familial Type III hyperlipoproteinemia bound normally to the receptor. In one patient immunoglobulin was shown to be associated with IDL and LDL. Thus, hyperlipoproteinemia reflected an impaired metabolism of IDL, probably secondary to the binding of immunoglobulin to the lipoproteins. A similar impairment of receptor-mediated LDL catabolism did not elevate the plasma LDL concentration because of the low IDL-to-LDL conversion rate

Physiological models of body composition and human obesity

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Class, Youth and Dirty Jobs: The Working-Class and Post-War Britain in Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia

FOS

International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutritional recommendations for single-stage ultra-marathon; training and racing

Background. In this Position Statement, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) provides an objective and critical review of the literature pertinent to nutritional considerations for training and racing in single-stage ultra-marathon. Recommendations for Training. i) Ultra-marathon runners should aim to meet the caloric demands of training by following an individualized and periodized strategy, comprising a varied, food-first approach; ii) Athletes should plan and implement their nutrition strategy with sufficient time to permit adaptations that enhance fat oxidative capacity; iii) The evidence overwhelmingly supports the inclusion of a moderate-to-high carbohydrate diet (i.e., ~60% of energy intake, 5 – 8 g⸱kg−1·d−1) to mitigate the negative effects of chronic, training-induced glycogen depletion; iv) Limiting carbohydrate intake before selected low-intensity sessions, and/or moderating daily carbohydrate intake, may enhance mitochondrial function and fat oxidative capacity. Nevertheless, this approach may compromise performance during high-intensity efforts; v) Protein intakes of ~1.6 g·kg−1·d−1 are necessary to maintain lean mass and support recovery from training, but amounts up to 2.5 g⸱kg−1·d−1 may be warranted during demanding training when calorie requirements are greater; Recommendations for Racing. vi) To attenuate caloric deficits, runners should aim to consume 150 - 400 kcal⸱h−1 (carbohydrate, 30 – 50 g⸱h−1; protein, 5 – 10 g⸱h−1) from a variety of calorie-dense foods. Consideration must be given to food palatability, individual tolerance, and the increased preference for savory foods in longer races; vii) Fluid volumes of 450 – 750 mL⸱h−1 (~150 – 250 mL every 20 min) are recommended during racing. To minimize the likelihood of hyponatraemia, electrolytes (mainly sodium) may be needed in concentrations greater than that provided by most commercial products (i.e., >575 mg·L−1 sodium). Fluid and electrolyte requirements will be elevated when running in hot and/or humid conditions; viii) Evidence supports progressive gut-training and/or low-FODMAP diets (fermentable oligosaccharide, disaccharide, monosaccharide and polyol) to alleviate symptoms of gastrointestinal distress during racing; ix) The evidence in support of ketogenic diets and/or ketone esters to improve ultra-marathon performance is lacking, with further research warranted; x) Evidence supports the strategic use of caffeine to sustain performance in the latter stages of racing, particularly when sleep deprivation may compromise athlete safety

A Language-Independent Garbage Collector Toolkit

We describe a memory management toolkit for language implementors. It offers efficient and flexible generation scavenging garbage collection. In addition to providing a core of languageindependent algorithms and data structures, the toolkit includes auxiliary components that ease implementation of garbage collection for programming languages. We have detailed designs for Smalltalk and Modula-3 and are confident the toolkit can be used with a wide variety of languages. The toolkit approach is itself novel, and our design includes a number of additional innovations in flexibility, efficiency, accuracy, and cooperation between the compiler and the collector

The Drowning Machine:the sea and the scooter in Quadrophenia

This essay will argue that Mod masculinity is a late re-articulation of the clean, healthy, hygienic male body and subjectivity proposed by some variants of European Modernism – in particular Futurism – bearing in mind Peter Meadon’s definition of ‘Mod-ism’ as ‘clean living under difficult circumstances’ (quoted on the back of the film soundtrack double album). The shape of the Vespa – its streamlined and chromed body echoing the emphases of the aviation- and maritime-inflected architectural Modernism of significant buildings of the British seaside, from the de la Warr Pavilion to Morecambe’s Midland Hotel – is a symbol of Mod-ism’s connection to a vision of the future that offered a radical break from the British past. The paper will analyse the scooter as an emblem of a new mobility and promised re-configuration of society away from traditional class structures and towards new modes of sociality and individuation, from youth sub-cultures and Pop music to the development of the new universities in 1964/5. It will also be analysed in terms of symbolising the male body, which, in Mod, was both on display and encased in a kind of fashionable armour: suits, boots, and the Parka. This essay will then develop a counter-reading of Quadrophenia through the image of the drowned scooter on the back cover of The Who’s 1973 album. Quadrophenia, it will be argued, inherits 1960s impulses towards individuation and difference (not wanting to be part of the ‘mass’ or conforming to conventional desires and behaviours) while also exhibiting anxieties surrounding that individuation (loss of ties to family, isolation, psychological breakdown). This is most strikingly presented in ‘Cut My Hair’: ‘Why do I have to be different to them/ Just to earn the respect of a dancehall friend [...] Why do I have to move with a crowd/ Of kids that hardly notice I’m around’. The ‘neither/nor’ imperative of the narrative of Quadrophenia – ambiguously resolved in the image of drowning – manifests the possibility of suicide/annihilation as a means to escape this dilemma, but ultimately turns away from death (the sea), as Jimmy also appears to do at the beginning of the film of Quadrophenia, though this is more ambiguously presented in the photo-booklet in the album. This paper will read Quadrophenia not as a narrative of maturation, but one in which two counterposing imperatives – represented by the sea and the scooter – come together in the image of the drowning machine. Reading through Klaus Theweleit’s pioneering work on masculinities in Weimar Germany, the mirrors and chrome side-pods of Jimmy’s Vespa GS, it will be argued, signify a form of ‘armoured’ masculinity (also echoed in the ‘wartime coat’, the US Army parka) that defends the masculine subject against the pressures (and pleasures) of de-individuation, of the mass. In Theweleit’s reading of the journals and writings of proto-Fascist Freikorps veterans, the armoured body – clean, pure, armoured, machinic – is the Fascist body, an idealized masculinity that opposes the flux of the ‘red flood’: both femininity and Communism – connects together modernity, Modernism and Mod, but the drowning machine, and Jimmy himself, signify an irresolvable tension between the beckoning pleasures of the annihilating flood and deep anxiety about a loss of individuation

Englishness and the Union in Contemporary Conservative Thought

This article analyses the importance of arguments developed since 1997 by influential right-wing commentators concerning Englishness and the United Kingdom. Drawing on historical, cultural and political themes, public intellectuals and commentators of the right have variously addressed the constitutional structure of the UK, the politics of devolved government in Wales and Scotland, and the emergence of a more salient contemporary English sensibility. This article offers case studies of the arguments of Simon Heffer, Peter Hitchens and Roger Scruton, all of whom have made controversial high-profile interventions on questions of national identity, culture and history. Drawing on original interviews with these as well as other key figures, the article addresses three central questions. First, what are the detailed arguments offered by Heffer, Hitchens and Scruton in relation to Englishness and the UK? Second, what does detailed consideration of these arguments reveal about the evolution of the politics of contemporary conservatism in relation to the Union? And, third, what kinds of opportunity currently exist for intellectuals and commentators on the fringes of mainstream politics to influence the terms of debate on these issues

The histone demethylase KDM6B fine-tunes the host response to Streptococcus pneumoniae

International audienceStreptococcus pneumoniae is a natural colonizer of the human respiratory tract and an opportunistic pathogen. Although epithelial cells are among the first to encounter pneumococci, the cellular processes and contribution of epithelial cells to the host response are poorly understood. Here, we show that a S. pneumoniae serotype 6B ST90 strain, which does not cause disease in a murine infection model, induces a unique NF-κB signature response distinct from an invasive-disease-causing isolate of serotype 4 (TIGR4). This signature is characterized by activation of p65 and requires a histone demethylase KDM6B. We show, molecularly, that the interaction of the 6B strain with epithelial cells leads to chromatin remodelling within the IL-11 promoter in a KDM6B-dependent manner, where KDM6B specifically demethylates histone H3 lysine 27 dimethyl. Remodelling of the IL-11 locus facilitates p65 access to three NF-κB sites that are otherwise inaccessible when stimulated by IL-1β or TIGR4. Finally, we demonstrate through chemical inhibition of KDM6B with GSK-J4 inhibitor and through exogenous addition of IL-11 that the host responses to the 6B ST90 and TIGR4 strains can be interchanged both in vitro and in a murine model of infection in vivo. Our studies therefore reveal how a chromatin modifier governs cellular responses during infection