ib and HЗtγ. Heart in Ancient Egypt

El corazón fue para los egipcios antiguos el órgano más importante del ser humano. Se dejaba dentro del cuerpo después de la momificación; una momia enterrada sin él no podía renacer: tendría la muerte definitiva. En los textos médicos, mágicos y religiosos, el corazón recibe dos nombres: ib y HAty. La palabra HAty se utiliza para designar el corazón como órgano físico, el músculo cardíaco, el que tiene la función de latir y de “hablar a todo el cuerpo a través de los conductos-mtw”, los vasos sanguineos. La palabra ib aparece en los textos mágicos y religiosos con el significado de sede de la inteligencia y de los sentimientos, del conocimiento y de la conciencia. Pero en los textos médicos el significado de ib es oscuro, siendo difícil determinar su naturaleza y localización, así como su relación con HAty. En este artículo se reflexiona sobre esta cuestión.The heart was for Ancient Egyptians the most important organ of the human. It was left inside the body after its mummification. A mummie buried without its heart could not be reborn: it was condemned to permanent death. In medical, magical and religious texts, the heart receives two names: ib and HAty. The word HAty is used to refer to the heart as a physical organ, the cardiac muscle, the one whose function is that of beating and of “talking to all the body through the mtw-ducts”, that is to say, through the blood vessels. The word ib appears in magical and religious texts with the sense of a place where intelligence, feelings, knowledge and conscience reside. But in the medical texts the meaning of ib is obscure, it being difficult to determine its nature and location, as well as its relation with HAty. This article considers this question

In vitro metabolomic approaches to investigating the potential biological effects of phenolic compounds: an update

Dietary phenolic compounds (PCs) have been receiving interest for their presumed roles in disease prevention. However, there is a lack of studies on the underlying molecular mechanisms. In this regard, in vitro metabolomic approaches are suitable for the investigation of the molecular changes in response to PC exposure. Up to date, the biological effects of PCs have only been examined for PCs from rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), olive oil, and resveratrol using cell-based metabolomic approach, although transcriptomic and/or proteomic studies have also been conducted in the same in vitro cell experiment in some cases. Our integral analysis of the reviewed studies suggest that PCs may be involved not only in basic cellular processes or macro- and micro-nutrient metabolism, but also in specific metabolic pathways that have been thoroughly investigated. These modulated pathways could have a clinical impact on neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. In conclusion, the in vitro metabolomic approaches provide additional information of the molecular mechanisms involved in disease risk reduction of dietary PCs. In order to elucidate the mechanisms of action of PCs, more metabolomic cell-based studies are needed and testing the physiological conjugated forms of PCs in these cell systems could be of special interest.This work was partially supported by grants (Grant Nos. AGL2009-13517-C03-03 and AGL2012-40144-C03-02) from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain), a Sara Borrell post-doctoral grant (CD14/00275; Spain), a Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS) post-doctoral grant (SLT002/16/00239; Catalunya, Spain). We also thank the support of Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV) and Centre Tecnològic de Nutrició i Salut (CTNS), Reus, Spain. NFOC-Salut group is a consolidated research group of Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (2014 SGR 873

Effectiveness of social marketing strategies to reduce youth obesity in European school-based interventions : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cost-Effectiveness of the EdAl (Educacio en Alimentacio) Program: A Primary School-Based Study to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Background: The cost-effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention interventions is critical for their sustained implementation. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the Educacio en Alimentacio (EdAl) program, a school-based intervention for reducing obesity. Methods: Total EdAl program implementation costs and per-child costs were estimated. Cost-effectiveness, defined using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), was estimated as the difference between the intervention and control group costs divided by the obesity-related outcome effects for boys (avoided cases of obesity', obesity prevalence, body mass index [BMI], and BMI z-score units) for each group. As a significant difference (4.39%) in the reduction of obesity prevalence between the intervention and control groups was observed for boys in the EdAl program, the data were calculated only for boys. Results: The intervention cost was 24,246.53 (sic) for 1,550 children (15.64 (sic)/child/3 years) or 5.21 f/child/year. The ICERs/ boy were 968.66 (sic) to avoid one case of obesity, 3.6 (sic) to reduce the obesity prevalence by 1%, 44.68 (sic) to decrease BMI by one unit, and 65.16 (sic) to reduce the BMI z-score by one unit. Conclusions: The cost of reducing the obesity prevalence in boys by 4.39% was 5.21 (sic)/child/year, half the cost proposed by the Spanish Health Ministry, indicating that the EdAl program is cost-effective

Comparison of how different feed phosphates affect performance, bone mineralization and phosphorus retention in broilers

The objective of this work was to evaluate the comparative P bio-avalability of different sources of phosphate based on their effects on animal performance, bones mineralization and mineral retention in broilers. To achieve this goal, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, twenty diets were prepared including five different phosphorus sources, either mono-calcium phosphate (MCP) or 4 different batches of di-calcium phosphate, to supplement non phytic P (NPP) levels at 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 g/kg in the diets. In Experiment 2, three treatments were used: the low MCP diet was deficient in NPP (3.1 g/kg for the starter phase and 2.8 g/kg for the grower phase); the high MCP diet and the high TCP (tri-calcium phosphate) diet included adequate levels of NPP (4.4-4.7 g/kg for the starter phase and 4.2-4.3 g/kg for the grower phase). Phytase was not added to experimental diets. Results of Exp. 1 indicated that an increase of NPP in the diet from 3.0 to 4.0 g/ kg increased weight gain and feed intake between d 1 and d 21 (Trial 1). Alternatively, tibia weight and ash percentage at d 21 responded up to the level of 4.5 g/kg and showed significant difference with birds of the 4.0 g/kg NPP group. In Trial 2, chickens fed with the high MCP and TCP had improved growth performances and bone mineralization. No differences were observed on the P availability among different mineral P sources. A level of 4.5 g/kg, NPP is recommended when phytase is not included to maximize both performance and bone mineralization in broiler chickens up to d 21