Serum lipid responses to psyllium fiber: differences between pre- and post-menopausal, hypercholesterolemic women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women and men. Psyllium, a soluble fiber has been known to reduce serum lipids. In this pilot study, we evaluated whether menopausal status would affect the serum lipid responses to psyllium fiber in women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eleven post-menopausal and eight pre-menopausal women with serum total cholesterol >200 mg/dL were included in the study. Subjects consumed their habitual diet and 15 g psyllium/d for 6 weeks. Psyllium was incorporated into cookies. Each cookie contained ≈5 g of psyllium fiber. Subjects ate one cookie in each meal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>With psyllium fiber, total cholesterol concentration was significantly lower (≈5.2%, P < 0.05) in post-menopausal women but not in pre-menopausal women (≈1.3%). Also, there was a significant decrease in HDL-cholesterol in post-menopausal women (≈10.2%, P < 0.05). There were no significant changes observed in concentrations of LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein A1, and apolipoprotein B in both pre- and post-menopausal women with psyllium.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this pilot study, post- and pre-menopausal, hypercholesterolemic women responded differently to psyllium fiber supplementation. Post-menopausal women would benefit from addition of psyllium to their diets in reducing the risk for heart diseases. The results of this study should be used with caution because the study was based on a small sample size.</p

Latest developments in data analysis tools for disruption prediction and for the exploration of multimachine operational spaces.

In the last years significant efforts have been devoted to the development of advanced data analysis tools to both predict the occurrence of disruptions and to investigate the operational spaces of devices, with the long term goal of advancing the understanding of the physics of these events and to prepare for ITER. On JET the latest generation of the disruption predictor called APODIS has been deployed in the real time network during the last campaigns with the new metallic wall. Even if it was trained only with discharges with the carbon wall, it has reached very good performance, with both missed alarms and false alarms in the order of a few percent (and strategies to improve the performance have already been identified). Since for the optimisation of the mitigation measures, predicting also the type of disruption is considered to be also very important, a new clustering method, based on the geodesic distance on a probabilistic manifold, has been developed. This technique allows automatic classification of an incoming disruption with a success rate of better than 85%. Various other manifold learning tools, particularly Principal Component Analysis and Self Organised Maps, are also producing very interesting results in the comparative analysis of JET and ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) operational spaces, on the route to developing predictors capable of extrapolating from one device to another

Two Loop Scalar Self-Mass during Inflation

We work in the locally de Sitter background of an inflating universe and consider a massless, minimally coupled scalar with a quartic self-interaction. We use dimensional regularization to compute the fully renormalized scalar self-mass-squared at one and two loop order for a state which is released in Bunch-Davies vacuum at t=0. Although the field strength and coupling constant renormalizations are identical to those of lfat space, the geometry induces a non-zero mass renormalization. The finite part also shows a sort of growing mass that competes with the classical force in eventually turning off this system's super-acceleration.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures, revtex4, revised for publication with extended list of reference

Phenotypic, transcriptomic, and genomic features of clonal plasma cells in light-chain amyloidosis

Immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis (AL) and multiple myeloma (MM) are 2 distinct monoclonal gammopathies that involve the same cellular compartment: clonal plasma cells (PCs). Despite the fact that knowledge about MM PC biology has significantly increased in the last decade, the same does not apply for AL. Here, we used an integrative phenotypic, molecular, and genomic approach to study clonal PCs from 24 newly diagnosed patients with AL. Through principal-component-analysis, we demonstrated highly overlapping phenotypic profiles between AL and both monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and MM PCs. However, in contrast to MM, highly purified fluorescence-activated cell-sorted clonal PCs from AL (n = 9) showed almost normal transcriptome, with only 38 deregulated genes vs normal PCs; these included a few tumor-suppressor (CDH1, RCAN) and proapoptotic (GLIPR1, FAS) genes. Notwithstanding, clonal PCs in AL (n=11) were genomically unstable, with a median of 9 copy number alterations (CNAs) per case, many of such CNAs being similar to those found in MM. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) performed in 5 AL patients revealed a median of 15 nonrecurrent mutations per case. Altogether, our results show that in the absence of a unifying mutation by WES, clonal PCs in AL display phenotypic and CNA profiles similar to MM, but their transcriptome is remarkably similar to that of normal PCs

Nivolumab and sunitinib combination in advanced soft tissue sarcomas : A multicenter, single-arm, phase Ib/II trial

Sarcomas exhibit low expression of factors related to immune response, which could explain the modest activity of PD-1 inhibitors. A potential strategy to convert a cold into an inflamed microenvironment lies on a combination therapy. As tumor angiogenesis promotes immunosuppression, we designed a phase Ib/II trial to test the double inhibition of angiogenesis (sunitinib) and PD-1/PD-L1 axis (nivolumab). This single-arm, phase Ib/II trial enrolled adult patients with selected subtypes of sarcoma. Phase Ib established two dose levels: level 0 with sunitinib 37.5 mg daily from day 1, plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg intravenously on day 15, and then every 2 weeks; and level-1 with sunitinib 37.5 mg on the first 14 days (induction) and then 25 mg per day plus nivolumab on the same schedule. The primary endpoint was to determine the recommended dose for phase II (phase I) and the 6-month progression-free survival rate, according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 (phase II). From May 2017 to April 2019, 68 patients were enrolled: 16 in phase Ib and 52 in phase II. The recommended dose of sunitinib for phase II was 37.5 mg as induction and then 25 mg in combination with nivolumab. After a median follow-up of 17 months (4-26), the 6-month progression-free survival rate was 48% (95% CI 41% to 55%). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events included transaminitis (17.3%) and neutropenia (11.5%). Sunitinib plus nivolumab is an active scheme with manageable toxicity in the treatment of selected patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, with almost half of patients free of progression at 6 months

What are the living conditions and health status of those who don't report their migration status? a population-based study in Chile

BACKGROUND: Undocumented immigrants are likely to be missing from population databases, making it impossible to identify an accurate sampling frame in migration research. No population-based data has been collected in Chile regarding the living conditions and health status of undocumented immigrants. However, the CASEN survey (Caracterizacion Socio- Economica Nacional) asked about migration status in Chile for the first time in 2006 and provides an opportunity to set the base for future analysis of available migration data. We explored the living conditions and health of self-reported immigrants and respondents who preferred not to report their migration status in this survey. METHODS: Cross-sectional secondary analysis of CASEN survey in Chile in 2006. Outcomes: any disability, illness/accident, hospitalization/surgery, cancer/chronic condition (all binary variables); and the number of medical/emergency attentions received (count variables). Covariates: Demographics (age, sex, marital status, urban/rural, ethnicity), socioeconomic status (education level, employment status and household income), and material standard of living (overcrowding, sanitation, housing quality). Weighted regression models were estimated for each health outcome, crude and adjusted by sets of covariates, in STATA 10.0. RESULTS: About 1% of the total sample reported being immigrants and 0.7% preferred not to report their migration status (Migration Status - Missing Values; MS-MV). The MS-MV lived in more deprived conditions and reported a higher rate of health problems than immigrants. Some gender differences were observed by health status among immigrants and the MS-MV but they were not statistically significant. Regressions indicated that age, sex, SES and material factors consistently affected MS-MVs’ chance of presenting poor health and these patterns were different to those found among immigrants. Great heterogeneity in both the MS-MV and the immigrants, as indicated by wide confidence intervals, prevented the identification of other significantly associated covariates. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to look at the living conditions and health of those that preferred not to respond their migration status in Chile. Respondents that do not report their migration status are vulnerable to poor health and may represent undocumented immigrants. Surveys that fail to identify these people are likely to misrepresent the experiences of immigrants and further quantitative and qualitative research is urgently required

The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations

Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Beijing, China, August 201

Vault changes after cyclopentolate instillation in eyes with posterior chamber phakic intraocular lens

Posterior chamber phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) implantation is a common option for correcting moderate-to-high ocular refractive defects. Because this pIOL is implanted on ciliary sulcus, the distance between the back surface of the pIOL and the anterior surface of the crystalline lens, that it is known as vault, should be measured in different conditions to ensure the technique's safety. Cyclopentolate is a drug that dilates the pupil and relaxes accommodation (cycloplegia). It is often used for different ocular examinations and for other medical purposes. However, there is no evidence of the effect of this drug on vault. This study quantified central vault changes associated with cyclopentolate instillation. We measured the vault under normal conditions (pre-cycloplegic instillation) and after instilling cyclopentolate on 39 eyes of 39 patients with implanted pIOL. Our results suggest that cyclopentolate instillation may induce changes to vault in eyes with implanted pIOL. These changes seem safe and are mainly associated with vault under normal conditions, but also with anterior chamber depth, pupillary diameter and pIOL size.- European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER) through the COMPETE Program and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) provided financial support in the framework of projects PTDC/SAU-BEB/098391/2008, PTDC/SAU-BEB/098392/2008 and the Strategic Project PEST-C/FIS/UI607/2011