In vivo human acute cardiovascular effects of dietary flavanones – underlying mechanisms of action and impact of flavanone metabolism

A body of epidemiological evidence suggests beneficial cardiovascular (CV) effects of dietary citrus flavanones. However, as systematically reviewed, there is currently only limited supporting evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCT); in particular, relatively little is known about which flavanone-derived circulating metabolites might be the underlying mediators of potential beneficial CV effects of flavanones. In an acute crossover RCT, male participants at a mild to moderate CV disease (CVD) risk received dietary interventions (in random order): orange juice (hesperidin dose: 320 mg) or control, whereby both were matched for sugar and vitamin C. Markers of CVD risk and plasma concentrations of previously identified and novel flavanone / phenolic metabolites were simultaneously assessed at baseline and 5 h post dietary intervention (5 h is the anticipated time of peak plasma concentration of flavanone metabolites). At 5 h post intervention, the orange juice intervention resulted in significantly elevated plasma concentrations of 8 flavanone metabolites (mean ± SD: 1.60 ± 1.33 μM and 0.02 ± 0.01 μM, respectively; P < 0.0001) and 15 phenolic acid metabolites (mean ± SD: 19.59 ± 7.46 μM and 5.69 ± 1.70 μM, respectively; P < 0.0001) compared with the control intervention. However, these elevated metabolite plasma concentrations did not result in acute improvements in digital endothelial function, central arterial stiffness, CV autonomic function, platelet activation, nitric oxide production and NADPH oxidase gene expression. In summary, relatively high plasma concentrations of metabolites (predominantly phenolic acids metabolites) were detected 5 h after a single dose of flavanones in men at a mild to moderate CVD risk. Simultaneously assessed markers of CVD risk were not beneficially affected and further acute RCTs with a longer time course (up to 24 h) and short-term to chronic (weeks up to years) RCTs are required to determine the potential beneficial CV effects of dietary flavanones

The Swedish Welfare State and Women: Is Sweden the Feminist Society the United States Imagines?

This paper discusses several aspects of the Swedish welfare state and whether or not they represent a successfully feminist form of government. It compares these aspects of the Swedish government to the United State’s government

Sr. Anna Marie: Education and Mentorship

This paper includes part of an interview with Sr. Anna Marie, a member of an order whose charisma focuses on service. Sr. Anna Marie has been involved in education since she joined her order 70 years ago

Demonstrating the Role of Occupational Therapy in Hospice Care through Fall Prevention Intervention Program Development

Demonstrating the Role of Occupational Therapy in Hospice Care through Fall Prevention Intervention Program Developmen

The Use of the Rural Grocery Store as a Food Source in Hancock County, Tennessee

The purpose of this study was to investigate selected environmental factors influencing food purchasers\u27 use of the rural grocery store, the variety of food items available and the variety bought by the food shoppers. Forty-nine food purchasers were interviewed by the researcher. An interview schedule composed of questions concerning food shopping practices and a selected list of food items available in the largest Hancock County grocery store were used. The rural grocery store in Hancock County serves many of the functions today that are reported in the literature for the early 19th century. Interviews with community leaders and examination of country store ledgers of Hancock County from the 1920\u27s and the 1930\u27s confirmed this. Twelve of the 37 grocery stores within Hancock County, reported as the major suppliers of food for the interviewed families were investigated. The number of selected food items on the list available in each of the twelve stores ranged from 17 to 204 out of a possible 213. Canned pork and beans, granulated sugar, self-rising white cornmeal, self-rising white flour and unsweetened ready-to-eat cereals were the five food items sold at all the rural grocery stores investigated. Food shopping practices of the family food purchasers were studied. The homemaker was the major food buyer in 28 families and the husband was the main shopper in eight families. The number of purchased selected items on the list for each food shopper ranged from 16 to 102 out of a possible 213 food products. Variety and prices were the main factors influencing the choice of a grocery store. The unavailability of fresh meats and produce at certain rural grocery stores were reasons given for shopping at more than one store. Annual family income was significantly correlated (p \u3c .01) with the variety of purchased selected food items. The family food purchaser\u27s age and educational level, the number of family members in a household, the number of meals consumed by the family food purchaser yearly at home and the variety of selected food items available in the grocery store shopped were not significantly related

Expression of vitronectin in eurkaryotic cells : evaluation of PAI-1 binding and implications for gene therapy

Vitronectin is a plasma protein involved in the maintenance of hemostasis, the balance between coagulation and fibrinolysis, as well as cellular adhesion. This multifunctional glycoprotein is present in the circulation as well as in the extracellular matrix. Vitronectin has a proposed domain structure that may explain why it is capable of binding s number of diverse ligands. The amino-terminal 44 amino acids are termed the somatomedin B domain. This domain is reported to be the primary high affinity binding site for two ligands, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and the urokinase receptor (uPAR). However, ligand binding sites for these proteins have also been identified in the heparin binding domain near the carboxy-terminus. The goal of this research was two fold: to determine if the high affinity binding site for PAI-1 was contained within the somatomedin B domain and to evaluate the potential for using gene transfer to confer an adhesive phenotype to endothelial cells. To achieve the first goal, the eukaryotic baculovirus expression system was utilized to express a somatomedin B deletion mutant. This recombinant protein was characterized functionally for ligand binding abilities, with special attention focused on PAI-1 binding. The second goal was pursued using retroviral mediated gene transfer of PAI-1 and vitronectin into human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The cells were characterized in terms of protein expression levels, integrity of integrins and ability to withstand physiological shear stress. Results of these studies indicate there are multiple PAI-1 binding sites, with the high affinity site residing in the somatomedin B domain. In addition, over-expression of PAI-1 or vitronectin by endothelial cells had no deleterious effects on cellular adhesion

Empowering formative assessment using embedded Web Widgets in Wikis

The article can be viewed at: http://opensym.org/wsos2013/proceedings/p0901-notari.pdfIn this article we describe how we developed and how we use a tool for teachers enhancing inter-group collaboration of learners using wikis in project-based learning settings with over 100 participants, where different groups of students develop similar projects and each project has an own wiki page. To achieve our goal we extended typical wiki functionality by using web widgets, mini applications embedded anywhere in the wiki environment using the iframe tag. Two different evaluation widgets (rating widget and 'working progress' widget) are placed on each of the project pages. The project groups use the 'working progress' widget to declare the amount of work done. The teacher and the rest of the learning community use the 'rating' widget to rate the ongoing project work. A so called 'meta widget' showing a summary of the results of the 'rating' and 'working progress' widget can be displayed on the start page of the learning community or if a project is divided in different milestones, on the page describing the goals and timeline for the milestone. Evaluation widgets and meta widget, which easily can be embedded by the teacher potentially all over the wiki pages, enhances visibility of quality and termination degree of a project and enhance so the self, the tutor and the peer review opportunities in such large scale project based learning settings. The created evaluation widgets and meta widgets have been embedded in the wiki of a three months curriculum. The evaluation of utility and usability of the widgets is ongoing. The educational value of rating and reflecting about the working progress of a given task is discussed