A Khorasan wheat-based diet improves systemic inflammatory profile in semi-professional basketball players: a randomized crossover pilot study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Khorasan wheat is an ancient grain with widely acclaimed beneficial effects on human health. The objective of the study was to examine the effect of a Khorasan-based diet on the wellbeing and inflammatory profile of young athletes. RESULTS: We conducted a randomized, single-blinded crossover trial involving 20 male young athletes. The participants were randomly assigned to consume products (pasta, bread, biscuits and crackers) made either with Khorasan (KAMUT\uae brand) or modern semi-whole-grain wheat for 4-weeks with a 4-week washout period before the crossover. Laboratory analyses and fitness tests were performed both at the beginning and end of each diet period. The consumption of Khorasan products was associated with a significant reduction of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1; mean reduction: 1236.15 pg/mL; 1225.67%) while the consumption of modern wheat was not associated with significant differences in Interleukin-8 (IL-8) or Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). The consumption of the Khorasan-based diet also resulted in a significant improvement in self-rated health status. No statistically significant differences in any athletic performance parameter were observed between the two diets. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that a Khorasan-based diet could be effective in reducing the inflammatory status in young athletes. \ua9 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Multifaceted Quadruplet of Low-Lying Spin-Zero States in Ni 66: Emergence of Shape Isomerism in Light Nuclei

A search for shape isomers in the Ni66 nucleus was performed, following old suggestions of various mean-field models and recent ones, based on state-of-the-art Monte Carlo shell model (MCSM), all considering Ni66 as the lightest nuclear system with shape isomerism. By employing the two-neutron transfer reaction induced by an O18 beam on a Ni64 target, at the sub-Coulomb barrier energy of 39 MeV, all three lowest-excited 0+ states in Ni66 were populated and their γ decay was observed by γ-coincidence technique. The 0+ states lifetimes were assessed with the plunger method, yielding for the 02+, 03+, and 04+ decay to the 21+ state the B(E2) values of 4.3, 0.1, and 0.2 Weisskopf units (W.u.), respectively. MCSM calculations correctly predict the existence of all three excited 0+ states, pointing to the oblate, spherical, and prolate nature of the consecutive excitations. In addition, they account for the hindrance of the E2 decay from the prolate 04+ to the spherical 21+ state, although overestimating its value. This result makes Ni66 a unique nuclear system, apart from U236,238, in which a retarded γ transition from a 0+ deformed state to a spherical configuration is observed, resembling a shape-isomerlike behavior.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Shape Coexistence at Zero Spin in 64Ni driven by the Monopole Tensor Interaction

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Shape Coexistence at Zero Spin in 64Ni^{64}\mathrm{Ni} Driven by the Monopole Tensor Interaction

International audienceThe low-spin structure of the semimagic Ni64 nucleus has been considerably expanded: combining four experiments, several 0+ and 2+ excited states were identified below 4.5 MeV, and their properties established. The Monte Carlo shell model accounts for the results and unveils an unexpectedly complex landscape of coexisting shapes: a prolate 0+ excitation is located at a surprisingly high energy (3463 keV), with a collective 2+ state 286 keV above it, the first such observation in Ni isotopes. The evolution in excitation energy of the prolate minimum across the neutron N=40 subshell gap highlights the impact of the monopole interaction and its variation in strength with N