Isoflavone metabolism in domestic cats (Felis catus): comparison of plasma metabolites detected after ingestion of two different dietary forms of genistein and daidzein

Some felid diets contain isoflavones but the metabolic capacity of cats toward isoflavones is relatively unknown, despite the understanding that isoflavones have divergent biological potential according to their metabolite end products. The objective of this study was to determine the plasma metabolites detectable in domestic cats after exposure to 2 different dietary forms of isoflavones, either as a soy extract tablet ( n = 6) or as part of a dietary matrix ( n = 4). Serial blood samples were collected after isoflavone exposure to identify the plasma metabolites of each cat. Genistein was detected in its unconjugated form or as a monosulfate. Daidzein was detected as both a mono- and disulfate as well as in its unconjugated form. Other daidzein metabolites detected included equol mono- and disulfate, dihydrodaidzein, and O -desmethylangolensin. No β -glucuronide metabolites of either isoflavone were detected. Equol was produced in markedly fewer cats after ingestion of a soy extract tablet as a single oral bolus compared with cats consuming an isoflavone-containing diet. The detectable metabolites of the isoflavones, genistein and daidzein, in domestic cat plasma after dietary ingestion has been described in the present study for the first time. The metabolic capacity for isoflavones by domestic cats appears to be efficient, with only minimal proportions of the ingested amount detected in their unconjugated forms. This has implications for the potential of isoflavones to exert physiological activity in the domestic cat when consumed at concentrations representative of typical dietary intake

Guidance from an NIH Workshop on Designing, Implementing, and Reporting Clinical Studies of Soy Interventions1–4

The NIH sponsored a scientific workshop, “Soy Protein/Isoflavone Research: Challenges in Designing and Evaluating Intervention Studies,” July 28–29, 2009. The workshop goal was to provide guidance for the next generation of soy protein/isoflavone human research. Session topics included population exposure to soy; the variability of the human response to soy; product composition; methods, tools, and resources available to estimate exposure and protocol adherence; and analytical methods to assess soy in foods and supplements and analytes in biologic fluids and other tissues. The intent of the workshop was to address the quality of soy studies, not the efficacy or safety of soy. Prior NIH workshops and an evidence-based review questioned the quality of data from human soy studies. If clinical studies are pursued, investigators need to ensure that the experimental designs are optimal and the studies properly executed. The workshop participants identified methodological issues that may confound study results and interpretation. Scientifically sound and useful options for dealing with these issues were discussed. The resulting guidance is presented in this document with a brief rationale. The guidance is specific to soy clinical research and does not address nonsoy-related factors that should also be considered in designing and reporting clinical studies. This guidance may be used by investigators, journal editors, study sponsors, and protocol reviewers for a variety of purposes, including designing and implementing trials, reporting results, and interpreting published epidemiological and clinical studies

Scents of Adolescence: The Maturation of the Olfactory Phenotype in a Free-Ranging Mammal

Olfaction is an important sensory modality for mate recognition in many mammal species. Odorants provide information about the health status, genotype, dominance status and/or reproductive status. How and when odor profiles change during sexual maturation is, however often unclear, particularly in free-ranging mammals. Here, we investigated whether the wing sac odorant of male greater sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata, Emballonuridae) differs between young and adults, and thus offers information about sexual maturity to potential mating partners. Using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, we found differences in the odorants of young and adult males prior and during, but not after the mating period. The wing sac odorant of adult males consists of several substances, such as Pyrocoll, 2,6,10-trimethyl-3-oxo-6,10-dodecadienolide, and a so far unidentified substance; all being absent in the odor profiles of juveniles prior to the mating season. During the mating season, these substances are present in most of the juvenile odorants, but still at lower quantities compared to the wing sac odorants of adults. These results suggest that the wing sac odorant of males encodes information about age and/or sexual maturity. Although female S. bilineata start to reproduce at the age of half a year, most males of the same age postpone the sexual maturation of their olfactory phenotype until after the first mating season

Cheer* in health care practice: what it excludes and why it matters

Clinicians’ positive demeanor and “strengths based” focus can include working to create a cheerful atmosphere in health care environments, cheering for improvements in assessment outcomes, and cheering up clients in situations of decline. Drawing from philosopher Karen Barad’s theories of inclusions and exclusions, we investigated what comes to matter (and what is excluded from mattering) when there is cheerfulness, cheering, and so forth (cheer*) in the day-to-day practices of a neuromuscular clinic. We worked collaboratively with clinicians, young people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and their families to co-examine the clinic in three iterative exploratory method spaces: (a) group “dialogues” with clinicians; (b) consultative interviews with children, families, and clinicians; and (c) transdisciplinary research team analysis sessions. Cheer* made some things matter in the clinic (“normal” physical function, “positive” emotions, test scores, compliance); and excluded others (grief and loss, “non-normative” bodies and lives, alternative practices, embodied knowledge). We discuss implications across health care settings

Affect, intensity, and moral assemblage in rehabilitation practice

This paper uses the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari to explore how disability is organized in the clinical setting, focusing on young men with muscular dystrophies. The authors of Capitalism and Schizophrenia present a robust philosophy of affect, used in three ways. First, they allow us to trace the interaction of bodies (natural, social, material or otherwise) in the clinical space. Second, Deleuze and Guattari provide a philosophy of intensity. We use this to explore the emotional intensities surrounding progressive disability in the clinical space. Finally, we argue that affective philosophy allows us to explore spaces of morality and obligation, among patients, parents, and practitioners, alike. Each facet is grounded in ethnographic data. The paper ends looking into disability studies’ critiques of medicalization and capitalism, in relation to critical rehabilitation science. Disability studies and critical rehabilitation science are steeped in affect. There is, however, much more work to do, in tandem

Enhancing the human dimensions of children’s neuromuscular care: piloting a methodology for fostering team reflexivity

For those with chronic, progressive conditions, high quality clinical care requires attention to the human dimensions of illness—emotional, social, and moral aspects—which co-exist with biophysical dimensions of disease. Reflexivity brings historical, institutional, and socio-cultural influences on clinical activities to the fore, enabling consideration of new possibilities. Continuing education methodologies that encourage reflexivity may improve clinical practice and trainee learning, but are rare. We piloted a dialogical methodology with a children’s rehabilitation team to foster reflexivity (patient population: young people with Duchenne’s or Becker’s muscular dystrophy). The methodology involved three facilitated, interactive dialogues with the clinical team. Each dialogue involved clinicians learning to apply a social theory (Mol’s The Logic of Care) to ethnographic fieldnotes of clinical appointments, to make routine practice less familiar and thus open to examination. Discourse analyses that preserve group dynamics were completed to evaluate the extent to which the dialogues spurred reflexive dialogue within the team. Overall, imagining impacts of clinical care on people’s lives—emphasized in the social theory applied to fieldnotes—showed promise, shifting how clinicians interpreted routine practices and spurring many plans for change. However, this reflexive orientation was not sustained throughout, particularly when examining entrenched assumptions regarding ‘best practices’. Clinicians defended institutional practices by co-constructing the metaphor of balancing logics in care delivery. When invoked, the balance metaphor deflected attention from emotional, social, and moral impacts of clinical care on patients and their families. Emergent findings highlight the value of analysing reflexivity-oriented dialogues using discourse analysis methods