Weight, insulin resistance, blood lipids, and diet quality changes associated with ketogenic and ultra low-fat dietary patterns: a secondary analysis of the DIETFITS randomized clinical trial

BackgroundThe DIETFITS trial reported no significant difference in 12-month weight loss between a healthy low-fat and healthy low-carbohydrate diet. Participants were instructed to restrict fat or carbohydrates to levels consistent with a ketogenic or ultra low-fat diet for 2  months and to subsequently increase intakes until they achieved a comfortable maintenance level.ObjectiveTo compare 3- and 12-month changes in body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors between a subsample of participants who reported 3-month fat or carbohydrates intakes consistent with either a ketogenic-like diet (KLD) or ultra low-fat diet (ULF).Design3-month and 12-month weight and risk factor outcomes were compared between KLD (n = 18) and ULF (n = 21) sub-groups of DIETFITS participants (selected from n = 609, healthy overweight/obese, aged 18–50  years).ResultsLess than 10% of DIETFITS participants met KLD or ULF criteria at 3-months. Both groups achieved similar weight loss and insulin resistance improvements at 3-months and maintained them at 12- months. Significant differences at 3-months included a transient ~12% increase in LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) for KLD with a concomitant greater reduction in log(TG/HDL), a measure of LDL-C’s atherogenic potential. The latter was maintained at 12-months, despite substantial diet recidivism for both groups, whereas LDL-C levels were similar for ULF at baseline and 12-months. KLD participants achieved and maintained the greatest reductions in added sugars and refined grains at 3- months and 12-months, whereas ULF participants reported a 50% increase in refined grains intake from baseline to 12-months.ConclusionAmong the ~10% of study participants that achieved the most extreme restriction of dietary fat vs. carbohydrate after 3  months, weight loss and improvement in insulin sensitivity were substantial and similar between groups. At 12  months, after considerable dietary recidivism, the few significant differences in diet quality and blood lipid parameters tended to favor KLD over ULF

Thermomechanical Fatigue Behavior of a Silicon Carbide Fiber-Reinforced Calcium Aluminosilicate Composite

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65874/1/j.1151-2916.1993.tb04022.x.pd

Design tools for complex dynamic security systems.

The development of tools for complex dynamic security systems is not a straight forward engineering task but, rather, a scientific task where discovery of new scientific principles and math is necessary. For years, scientists have observed complex behavior but have had difficulty understanding it. Prominent examples include: insect colony organization, the stock market, molecular interactions, fractals, and emergent behavior. Engineering such systems will be an even greater challenge. This report explores four tools for engineered complex dynamic security systems: Partially Observable Markov Decision Process, Percolation Theory, Graph Theory, and Exergy/Entropy Theory. Additionally, enabling hardware technology for next generation security systems are described: a 100 node wireless sensor network, unmanned ground vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle

Subliminal influence on generosity

We experimentally subliminally prime subjects prior to charity donation decisions by showing words that have connotations of pro-social values for a very brief time (17ms). Our main fnding is that, compared to a baseline condition, the pro-social prime increases donations by approximately 10-17 percent among subjects with strong pro-social preferences (universalism values). We find a similar effect when interacting the prime with the Big 5 personality characteristic of agreeableness. We furthermore introduce a novel method for testing for priming, "subliminity". This method reveals that some subjects are capable of recognizing prime words, and the overall results are weaker when we control for this capacity

Evaluation of pseudoephedrine pharmacy sales before and after mandatory recording requirements in Western Australia: a case study

Background: A community pharmacy real-time electronic recording program, ProjectSTOP, enables Australian community pharmacists to verify pseudoephedrine requests. In Western Australia the program was available for voluntary use from April 2007 and became mandatory November 2010. This case study explores the effectiveness of the program by reviewing the total requests for pseudoephedrine products, and the proportion of requests which were classified as ‘denied sales’ before and after mandatory implementation. Seasonal and annual trends in these measures are also evaluated. Methods: ProjectSTOP data recordings for Western Australia pharmacies between 1 December 2007 and 28 February 2014 were analysed. Data included a de-identified pharmacy number and date of each pseudoephedrine product request. The total number of requests and sale classification (allowed, denied, safety, or not recorded) were calculated for each month/pharmacy. The potential influence of mandatory reporting using ProjectSTOP was investigated using a Regression Discontinuity Design. Correlations between sales from the same pharmacy were taken into account by classifying the pharmacy number as a random effect. The main effects of year (continuous variable), and season (categorical variable) were also included in the model. Results: There was a small but steady decline in the total requests for pseudoephedrine per month per 100,000 population (per pharmacy) from the time of mandatory reporting. The number of denied sales showed a steady increase up until mandatory reporting, after which it showed a significant decline over time. Total sales were heavily influenced by season, as expected (highest in winter, least in summer). The seasonal pattern was less pronounced for denied sales, which were highest in winter and similar across other seasons. The pattern over time for safety sales was similar to that for denied sales, with a clear change occurring around the time of mandatory reporting. Conclusion: Results indicate a decrease in pseudoephedrine product requests in Western Australia community pharmacies. Findings suggest ProjectSTOP has been successful in addressing suspicious sales and potential diversion however ongoing data review is recommended

Images of Eyes Enhance Investments in a Real-Life Public Good

A key issue in cooperation research is to determine the conditions under which individuals invest in a public good. Here, we tested whether cues of being watched increase investments in an anonymous public good situation in real life. We examined whether individuals would invest more by removing experimentally placed garbage (paper and plastic bottles) from bus stop benches in Geneva in the presence of images of eyes compared to controls (images of flowers). We provided separate bins for each of both types of garbage to investigate whether individuals would deposit more items into the appropriate bin in the presence of eyes. The treatment had no effect on the likelihood that individuals present at the bus stop would remove garbage. However, those individuals that engaged in garbage clearing, and were thus likely affected by the treatment, invested more time to do so in the presence of eyes. Images of eyes had a direct effect on behaviour, rather than merely enhancing attention towards a symbolic sign requesting removal of garbage. These findings show that simple images of eyes can trigger reputational effects that significantly enhance on non-monetary investments in anonymous public goods under real life conditions. We discuss our results in the light of previous findings and suggest that human social behaviour may often be shaped by relatively simple and potentially unconscious mechanisms instead of very complex cognitive capacities