Behind the fog : Forest degradation despite logging bans in an East African cloud forest

Habitat destruction and deterioration are amongst the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Increasing demand for agricultural products, timber and charcoal has caused the rapid destruction of natural forests, especially in the tropics. The Taita Hills in southern Kenya are part of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot and represent a highly diverse cloud forest ecosystem. However, the cloud forest suffers extremely from wood and timber exploitation and transformation into exotic tree plantations and agricultural fields. Existing conservation regulations and moratoriums aim to prevent further forest destruction. In this study, we analyzed land cover change and shifts in landscape configuration for a fraction of the Taita Hills, based on satellite imageries for the years 2003, 2011 and 2018. We found that the coverage of natural cloud forest further decreased between 2003 and 2018, despite the effort to conserve the remaining cloud forest patches and to reforest degraded areas by various conservation and management initiatives. In parallel, the proportion of exotic tree plantations and bushland strongly increased. Moreover, mean natural forest patch size decreased and the degree of interspersion with other land cover types increased notably. Logging bans for indigenous trees seem to have resulted in local opposition to the planting of indigenous trees and thereby hindered the recovering of the cloud forest. We suggest to enhance local awareness on the ecological value of the natural forest by community-based Conservation Forest Associations and to encourage the planting of indigenous tree species in farmer-owned woodlots. Besides, bottom-up management systems that allow for local participation in decision-making and benefit-sharing related to forest resources would be a way forward to achieve the sustainable use and conservation of the last remaining natural forest patches in the Taita Hills. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

The contribution of diet and genotype to iron status in women:a classical twin study

This is the first published report examining the combined effect of diet and genotype on body iron content using a classical twin study design. The aim of this study was to determine the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors in determining iron status. The population was comprised of 200 BMI- and age-matched pairs of MZ and DZ healthy twins, characterised for habitual diet and 15 iron-related candidate genetic markers. Variance components analysis demonstrated that the heritability of serum ferritin (SF) and soluble transferrin receptor was 44% and 54% respectively. Measured single nucleotide polymorphisms explained 5% and selected dietary factors 6% of the variance in iron status; there was a negative association between calcium intake and body iron (p = 0.02) and SF (p = 0.04)

Modeling and Experimental Demonstration of a Hopfield Network Analog-to-Digital Converter with Hybrid CMOS/Memristor Circuits

The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of building recurrent artificial neural networks with hybrid complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)/memristor circuits. To do so, we modeled a Hopfield network implementing an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with up to 8 bits of precision. Major shortcomings affecting the ADC's precision, such as the non-ideal behavior of CMOS circuitry and the specific limitations of memristors, were investigated and an effective solution was proposed, capitalizing on the in-field programmability of memristors. The theoretical work was validated experimentally by demonstrating the successful operation of a 4-bit ADC circuit implemented with discrete Pt/TiO2−x/Pt memristors and CMOS integrated circuit components.National Science Foundation CCF-1028378Air Force Office of Scientific Research FA9550-12-1-0038Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-37868-C04-0

Dietary garlic and hip osteoarthritis: evidence of a protective effect and putative mechanism of action

Background Patterns of food intake and prevalent osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee were studied using the twin design to limit the effect of confounding factors. Compounds found in associated food groups were further studied in vitro. Methods Cross-sectional study conducted in a large population-based volunteer cohort of twins. Food intake was evaluated using the Food Frequency Questionnaire; OA was determined using plain radiographs. Analyses were adjusted for age, BMI and physical activity. Subsequent in vitro studies examined the effects of allium-derived compounds on the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in SW1353 chondrosarcoma cells. Results Data were available, depending on phenotype, for 654-1082 of 1086 female twins (median age 58.9 years; range 46-77). Trends in dietary analysis revealed a specific pattern of dietary intake, that high in fruit and vegetables, showed an inverse association with hip OA (p = 0.022). Consumption of 'non-citrus fruit' (p = 0.015) and 'alliums' (p = 0.029) had the strongest protective effect. Alliums contain diallyl disulphide which was shown to abrogate cytokine-induced matrix metalloproteinase expression. Conclusions Studies of diet are notorious for their confounding by lifestyle effects. While taking account of BMI, the data show an independent effect of a diet high in fruit and vegetables, suggesting it to be protective against radiographic hip OA. Furthermore, diallyl disulphide, a compound found in garlic and other alliums, represses the expression of matrix-degrading proteases in chondrocyte-like cells, providing a potential mechanism of action

Consumption of both low and high (-)-epicatechin apple puree attenuates platelet reactivity and increases plasma concentrations of nitric oxide metabolites: A randomized controlled trial

We hypothesised that consumption of flavanol-containing apple puree would modulate platelet activity and increase nitric oxide metabolite status, and that high flavanol apple puree would exert a greater effect than low flavanol apple puree. 25 subjects consumed 230 g of apple puree containing 25 and 100 mg epicatechin (low and high flavanol apple puree, respectively) and aspirin (75 mg) in random order. Measurements were made at baseline, acutely after treatment (2, 6 and 24 h), and after 14 d of treatment. Low flavanol apple puree significantly attenuated ADP and epinephrine-induced integrin-β3 expression 2 h and 6 h after consumption and ADP and epinephrine-induced P-selectin expression within 2 h of consumption. High flavanol apple puree attenuated epinephrine and ADP-induced integrin-β3 expression after 2 and 6 h. ADP and epinephrine-induced integrin-β3 expression was significantly attenuated 2, 6 and 24 h after consumption of aspirin, whilst 14 d aspirin consumption attenuated collagen-induced P-selectin expression only. The plasma total nitric oxide metabolite conc. was significantly increased 6 h after consumption of both low and high flavanol apple purees. In conclusion, consumption of apple purees containing ≥25 or 100 mg flavanols transiently attenuated ex vivo integrin-β3 and P-selectin expression and increased plasma nitric oxide metabolite conc. in healthy subjects, but the effect was not enhanced for the high flavanol apple puree

Postoperative Fever: The Potential Relationship with Prognosis in Node Negative Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Postoperative fever may serve as an indirect sign to reflect the alterations of the host milieu caused by surgery. It still remains open to investigation whether postoperative fever has a bearing on prognosis in patients with lymph node negative breast cancers. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 883 female unilateral patients with lymph node negative breast cancer. Fever was defined as an oral temperature $38 in one week postoperation. Survival curves were performed with Kaplan-Meier method, and annual relapse hazard was estimated by hazard function. Findings: The fever patients were older than those without fever (P,0.0001). Hypertensive patients had a propensity for fever after surgery (P = 0.011). A statistically significant difference was yielded in the incidence of fever among HR+/ERBB2-, ERBB2+, HR-/ERBB2- subgroups (P = 0.012). In the univariate survival analysis, we observed postoperative fever patients were more likely to recur than those without fever (P = 0.0027). The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that postoperative fever (P = 0.044, RR = 1.89, 95%CI 1.02–3.52) as well as the HR/ERBB2 subgroups (P = 0.013, HR = 1.60, 95%CI 1.09–2.31) was an independent prognostic factor for relapse-free survival. Conclusion: Postoperative fever may contribute to relapse in node negative breast cancer patients, which suggests that changes in host milieu related to fever might accelerate the growth of micro-metastatic foci. It may be more precise t

Mediterranean diet and type 2 diabetes risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study: the InterAct project.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association between adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) and risk of developing type 2 diabetes, across European countries. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We established a case-cohort study including 11,994 incident type 2 diabetic case subjects and a stratified subcohort of 15,798 participants selected from a total cohort of 340,234 participants with 3.99 million person-years of follow-up, from eight European cohorts participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The relative Mediterranean diet score (rMED) (score range 0-18) was used to assess adherence to MDP on the basis of reported consumption of nine dietary components characteristic of the Mediterranean diet. Cox proportional hazards regression, modified for the case-cohort design, was used to estimate the association between rMED and risk of type 2 diabetes, adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: The multiple adjusted hazard ratios of type 2 diabetes among individuals with medium (rMED 7-10 points) and high adherence to MDP (rMED 11-18 points) were 0.93 (95% CI 0.86-1.01) and 0.88 (0.79-0.97), respectively, compared with individuals with low adherence to MDP (0-6 points) (P for trend 0.013). The association between rMED and type 2 diabetes was attenuated in people <50 years of age, in obese participants, and when the alcohol, meat, and olive oil components were excluded from the score. CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study, adherence to the MDP, as defined by rMED, was associated with a small reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in this European population

Physical activity reduces the risk of incident type 2 diabetes in general and in abdominally lean and obese men and women: the EPIC-InterAct Study.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: We examined the independent and combined associations of physical activity and obesity with incident type 2 diabetes in men and women. METHODS: The InterAct case-cohort study consists of 12,403 incident type 2 diabetes cases and a randomly selected subcohort of 16,154 individuals, drawn from a total cohort of 340,234 participants with 3.99 million person-years of follow-up. Physical activity was assessed by a four-category index. Obesity was measured by BMI and waist circumference (WC). Associations between physical activity, obesity and case-ascertained incident type 2 diabetes were analysed by Cox regression after adjusting for educational level, smoking status, alcohol consumption and energy intake. In combined analyses, individuals were stratified according to physical activity level, BMI and WC. RESULTS: A one-category difference in physical activity (equivalent to approximately 460 and 365 kJ/day in men and women, respectively) was independently associated with a 13% (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80, 0.94) and 7% (HR 0.93, 95% CI 0.89, 0.98) relative reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women, respectively. Lower levels of physical activity were associated with an increased risk of diabetes across all strata of BMI. Comparing inactive with active individuals, the HRs were 1.44 (95% CI 1.11, 1.87) and 1.38 (95% CI 1.17, 1.62) in abdominally lean and obese inactive men, respectively, and 1.57 (95% CI 1.19, 2.07) and 1.19 (95% CI 1.01, 1.39) in abdominally lean and obese inactive women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Physical activity is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes across BMI categories in men and women, as well as in abdominally lean and obese men and women

Hippurate as a metabolomic marker of gut microbiome diversity: Modulation by diet and relationship to metabolic syndrome

Reduced gut microbiome diversity is associated with multiple disorders including metabolic syndrome (MetS) features, though metabolomic markers have not been investigated. Our objective was to identify blood metabolite markers of gut microbiome diversity, and explore their relationship with dietary intake and MetS. We examined associations between Shannon diversity and 292 metabolites profiled by the untargeted metabolomics provider Metabolon Inc. in 1529 females from TwinsUK using linear regressions adjusting for confounders and multiple testing (Bonferroni: P < 1.71 × 10−4). We replicated the top results in an independent sample of 420 individuals as well as discordant identical twin pairs and explored associations with self-reported intakes of 20 food groups. Longitudinal changes in circulating levels of the top metabolite, were examined for their association with food intake at baseline and with MetS at endpoint. Five metabolites were associated with microbiome diversity and replicated in the independent sample. Higher intakes of fruit and whole grains were associated with higher levels of hippurate cross-sectionally and longitudinally. An increasing hippurate trend was associated with reduced odds of having MetS (OR: 0.795[0.082]; P = 0.026). These data add further weight to the key role of the microbiome as a potential mediator of the impact of dietary intake on metabolic status and health