984 research outputs found
Mental health problems in deaf and severely hard of hearing children and adolescents : findings on prevalence, pathogenesis and clinical complexities, and implications for prevention, diagnosis and intervention
The aim of this thesis is to expand the knowledge of mental health problems with deaf and severely hard of hearing children and adolescents in the following domains: 1. The prevalence of mental health problems; 2. Specific intra- and interpersonal aspects of pathogenesis; 3. characteristics of the hearing impaired population with severe mental health problems. The rate of mental health problems, especially of emotional problems, was increased in deaf adolescents of normal intelligence compared with the general population. However, findings from the studies described in this thesis support the view that it is not deafness in itself which contributes to mental health problems but rather deafness in conjunction with physical health problems, communication problems, and adverse living conditions. For example, stress-inducing deafness-related characteristics such as an acquired cause of deafness moderated the associati on between low self-esteem and emotional disorder in deaf adolescents. Comparing hearing and hearing impaired children referred to a mental health service over a period of 15 years, more disabling physical health conditions, more intellectual impairment and more environmental distress were found with hearing impaired children. The findings argue for the importance of early detection of problems and a multi-informant approach to the assessment of disorder.UBL - phd migration 201
The cholesterol-raising diterpenes from coffee beans increase serum lipid transfer protein activity levels in humans
Cafestol and kahweolâditerpenes present in unfiltered coffeeâ strongly raise serum VLDL and LDL cholesterol and slightly reduce HDL cholesterol in humans. The mechanism of action is unknown. We determined whether the coffee diterpenes may affect lipoprotein metabolism via effects on lipid transfer proteins and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in a randomized, double-blind cross-over study with 10 healthy male volunteers. Either cafestol (61â64 mg/day) or a mixture of cafestol (60 mg/day) and kahweol (48â54 mg/day) was given for 28 days. Serum activity levels of cholesterylester transfer protein, phospholipid transfer protein and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase were measured using exogenous substrate assays. Relative to baseline values, cafestol raised the mean (±S.D.) activity of cholesterylester transfer protein by 18±12% and of phospholipid transfer protein by 21±14% (both P<0.001). Relative to cafestol alone, kahweol had no significant additional effects. Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase activity was reduced by 11±12% by cafestol plus kahweol (P=0.02). It is concluded that the effects of coffee diterpenes on plasma lipoproteins may be connected with changes in serum activity levels of lipid transfer proteins
Characterization of human high-density lipoprotein subclasses LP A-I and LP A-I/A-II and binding to HepG2 cells
Abstract
Plasma HDL can be classified according to their apolipoprotein content into at least two types of lipoprotein particles: lipoproteins containing both apo A-I and apo A-II (LP A-I/A-II) and lipoproteins with apo A-I but without apo A-II (LP A-I). LP A-I and LP A-I/A-II were isolated by immuno-affinity chromatography. LP A-I has a higher cholesterol content and less protein compared to LP A-I/A-II. The average particle mass of LP A-I is higher (379 kDa) than the average particle weight of LP A-I/A-II (269 kDa). The binding of 125I-LP A-I to HepG2 cells at 4°C, as well as the uptake of [3H]cholesteryl ether-labelled LP A-I by HepG2 cells at 37° C, was significantly higher than the binding and uptake of LP A-I/A-II. It is likely that both binding and uptake are mediated by apo A-I. Our results do not provide evidence in favor of a specific role for apo A-II in the binding and uptake of HDL by HepG2 cells
Dietary trans fatty acids increase serum cholesterylester transfer protein activity in man
The average diet may provide some 8â10 g/day of unsaturated fatty acids with a trans double bond. Previous studies showed that dietary trans fatty acids may simultaneously raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and reduce high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Human plasma contains a protein (CETP) which transfers cholesterylesters from HDL to lipoproteins of lower density. We hypothesized that CETP could play a role in the effect of trans fatty acids on lipoproteins and measured the activity levels of CETP in serum samples from a 9-week study in which 55 volunteers were fed three controlled diets with different fatty acid profiles. Mean activity was 114 (% of reference serum) after consumption of a high trans fatty acid diet, as opposed to 96 after linoleic acid and 97 after stearic acid (P < 0.02). We conclude that the increased activity of CETP may contribute to the rise in LDL cholesterol and the fall in HDL cholesterol seen on diets with high contents of trans fatty acids
Induction of adrenal scavenger receptor BI and increased high density lipoprotein-cholesteryl ether uptake by in vivo inhibition of hepatic lipase
Hepatic lipase (HL) and scavenger receptor type B class I (SR-BI) have
both been implicated in high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesteryl ester
uptake in cholesterol-utilizing tissues. Inactivation of HL by
gene-directed targeting in mice results in up-regulation of SR-BI
expression in adrenal gland (Wang, N., Weng, W., Breslow, J. L., and Tall,
A. R. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 21001-21004). The net effect on
HDL-cholesteryl ester uptake is not known. We determined the impact of
acute in vivo inhibition of rat adrenal HL activity by antibodies on SR-BI
expression and on human and rat HDL-[3H]cholesteryl ether (CEth) uptake in
the adrenal gland. Rat HDL was isolated from rats in which HL activity had
been inhibited for 1 h. The rats were studied under basal conditions (not
ACTH-treated) and after previous treatment with ACTH for 6 days
(ACTH-treated). Intravenous injection of anti-HL resulted in 70% lowering
of adrenal HL activity in both conditions which were maintained for at
least 8 h. In not ACTH-treated rats, inhibition of adrenal HL increased
adrenal SR-BI mRNA (5.2-fold) and mass (1. 6-fold) within 4 h. HL
inhibition resulted in 41% and 14% more adrenal accumulation of human
HDL-[3H]CEth during 4 and 24 h, respectively. The adrenal uptake of rat
HDL-[3H]CEth increased by 68%, 4 h after the antibody injection. ACTH
treatment increased total adrenal HL activity from 3.7 +/- 0.5 milliunits
to 34.0 +/- 17. 2 milliunits, as well as adrenal SR-BI mRNA from 2.9 +/-
0.7 arbitrary units (A.U.) to 86.8 +/- 41.1 A.U. and SR-BI mass from 7.7
+/- 1.8 A.U. to 63.16 +/- 46.7 A.U. The human HDL-[3H]CEth uptake by
adrenals was also significantly increased from 0.58 +/- 0.11% of injected
dose to 7.24 +/- 1.58% of injected dose. Inhibition of adrenal HL activity
did not result in further induction of SR-BI expression and did not affect
human HDL-[3H]CEth uptake. These findings indicate that SR-BI expression
may be influenced by changes in HL activity. HL activity is not needed for
the SR-BI-mediated HDL-cholester
New Observations and Analysis of the Bright Semi-Detached Eclipsing Binary mu1 Sco
Using new and published photometric observations of mu1 Sco (HR 6247),
spanning 70 years, a period of 1.4462700(5) days was determined. It was found
that the epoch of primary minimum suggested by Shobbrook at HJD 2449534.178
requires an adjustment to HJD 2449534.17700(9) to align all the available
photometric datasets. Using the resulting combined-data light-curve, radial
velocities derived from IUE data and the modelling software PHOEBE, a new
system solution for this binary was obtained. It appears that the secondary is
close to, or just filling, its Roche-lobe.Comment: 4 figures, 6 tables, 9 pages, uses mn2e.sty, to be published in MNRA
Subsurface processes generated by bore-driven swash on coarse-grained beaches
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Elevation of plasma phospholipid transfer protein in transgenic mice increases VLDL secretion
Two lipid transfer proteins are active in human plasma, cholesteryl ester
transfer protein (CETP), and phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP). Mice by
nature do not express CETP. Additional inactivation of the PLTP gene
resulted in reduced secretion of VLDL and subsequently in decreased
susceptibility to diet-induced atherosclerosis. The aim of this study is
to assess possible effects of differences in PLTP expression on VLDL
secretion in mice that are proficient in CETP and PLTP. We compared human
CETP transgenic (huCETPtg) mice with mice expressing both human lipid
transfer proteins (huCETPtg/huPLTPtg). Plasma cholesterol in huCETPtg mice
was 1.5-fold higher compared with huCETPtg/huPLTPtg mice (P < 0.001). This
difference was mostly due to a lower HDL level in the huCETPtg/huPLTPtg
mice, which subsequently could lead to the somewhat decreased CETP
activity and concentration that was found in huCETPtg/huPLTPtg mice (P <
0.05). PLTP activity was 2.8-fold increased in these animals (P < 0.001).
The human PLTP concentration was 5 microg/ml. Moderate overexpression of
PLTP resulted in a 1.5-fold higher VLDL secretion compared with huCETPtg
mice (P < 0.05). The composition of nascent VLDL was similar in both
strains. These results indicate that elevated PLTP activity in huCETPtg
mice results in an increase in VLDL secretion. In addition, PLTP
overexpression decreases plasma HDL cholesterol as well as CETP
On the photometric variability of blue supergiants in NGC 300 and its impact on the Flux-weighted Gravity-Luminosity Relationship
We present a study of the photometric variability of spectroscopically
confirmed supergiants in NGC 300, comprising 28 epochs extending over a period
of five months. We find 15 clearly photometrically variable blue supergiants in
a sample of nearly 70 such stars, showing maximum light amplitudes ranging from
0.08 to 0.23 magnitudes in the V band, and one variable red supergiant. We show
their light curves, and determine semi-periods for two A2 Ia stars. Assuming
that the observed changes correspond to similar variations in the bolometric
luminosity, we test for the influence of this variability on the Flux-weighted
Gravity--Luminosity Relationship and find a negligible effect, showing that the
calibration of this relationship, which has the potential to measure
extragalactic distances at the Cepheid accuracy level, is not affected by the
stellar photometric variability in any significant way.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
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