A Novel Plant-Based Protein Has Similar Effects Compared to Whey Protein on Body Composition, Strength, Power, and Aerobic Performance in Professional and Semi-Professional Futsal Players

IntroductionThe effects of dietary protein on body composition and physical performance seemingly depend on the essential amino acid profile of the given protein source, although controversy exists about whether animal protein sources may possess additional anabolic properties to plant-based protein sources. PurposeTo compare the effects of a novel plant-based protein matrix and whey protein supplementation on body composition, strength, power, and endurance performance of trained futsal players. MethodsFifty male futsal players were followed during 8 weeks of supplementation, with 40 completing the study either with plant-based protein (N = 20) or whey protein (N = 20). The following measures were assessed: bone mineral content, lean body mass, and fat mass; muscle thickness of the rectus femoris; total body water; blood glucose, hematocrit, C-reactive protein, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, creatine kinase, creatinine, and estimated glomerular filtration rate; salivary cortisol; maximal strength and 1-RM testing of the back squat and bench press exercises; muscle power and countermovement jump; VO2max and maximal aerobic speed. Subjects were asked to maintain regular dietary habits and record dietary intake every 4 weeks through 3-day food records. ResultsNo differences in any variable were observed between groups at baseline or pre- to post-intervention. Moreover, no time*group interaction was observed in any of the studied variables, and a time effect was only observed regarding fat mass reduction. ConclusionsSupplementing with either a novel plant-based protein matrix or whey protein did not affect any of the variables assessed in high-level futsal players over 8 wks. These results suggest that whey protein does not possess any unique anabolic properties over and above those of plant-based proteins when equated to an essential amino acid profile in the population studied. Furthermore, when consuming a daily protein intake >1.6 g/kg BW.day(-1), additional protein supplementation does not affect body composition or performance in trained futsal players, regardless of protein type/source

Absolutely continuous invariant measures for random non-uniformly expanding maps

We prove existence of (at most denumerable many) absolutely continuous invariant probability measures for random one-dimensional dynamical systems with asymptotic expansion. If the rate of expansion (Lyapunov exponents) is bounded away from zero, we obtain finitely many ergodic absolutely continuous invariant probability measures, describing the asymptotics of almost every point. We also prove a similar result for higher-dimensional random non-uniformly expanding dynamical systems. The results are consequences of the construction of such measures for skew-products with essentially arbitrary base dynamics and asymptotic expansion along the fibers. In both cases our method deals with either critical or singular points for the random maps.Comment: 30 pages; 2 figures. Keywords: non-uniform expansion, random dynamics, slow recurrence, singular and critical set, absolutely continuous invariant measures, skew-product. To appear in Math Z, 201

Investigating the Willingness to Pay for a Contributory National Health Insurance Scheme in Saudi Arabia:A Cross-sectional Stated Preference Approach

Background: The Saudi Healthcare System is universal, financed entirely from government revenue principally derived from oil, and is ‘free at the point of delivery’ (non-contributory). However, this system is unlikely to be sustainable in the medium to long term. This study investigates the feasibility and acceptability of healthcare financing reform by examining households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for a contributory national health insurance scheme. Methods: Using the contingent valuation method, a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 1187 heads of household in Jeddah province over a 5-month period. Multi-stage sampling was employed to select the study sample. Using a double-bounded dichotomous choice with the follow-up elicitation method, respondents were asked to state their WTP for a hypothetical contributory national health insurance scheme. Tobit regression analysis was used to examine the factors associated with WTP and assess the construct validity of elicited WTP. Results: Over two-thirds (69.6%) indicated that they were willing to participate in and pay for a contributory national health insurance scheme. The mean WTP was 50 Saudi Riyal (US$13.33) per household member per month. Tobit regression analysis showed that household size, satisfaction with the quality of public healthcare services, perceptions about financing healthcare, education and income were the main determinants of WTP. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a theoretically valid WTP for a contributory national health insurance scheme by Saudi people. The research shows that willingness to participate in and pay for a contributory national health insurance scheme depends on participant characteristics. Identifying and understanding the main influencing factors associated with WTP are important to help facilitate establishing and implementing the national health insurance scheme. The results could assist policy-makers to develop and set insurance premiums, thus providing an additional source of healthcare financing

Transcriptome Analysis Describing New Immunity and Defense Genes in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Background: Large-scale gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients could provide a molecular description that reflects the contribution of diverse cellular responses associated with this disease. The aim of our study was to identify peripheral blood gene expression profiles for RA patients, using Illumina technology, to gain insights into RA molecular mechanisms. Methodology/Principal Findings: The Illumina Human-6v2 Expression BeadChips were used for a complete genome-wide transcript profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 18 RA patients and 15 controls. Differential analysis per gene was performed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and P values were adjusted to control the False Discovery Rate (FDR < 5%). Genes differentially expressed at significant level between patients and controls were analyzed using Gene Ontology (GO) in the PANTHER database to identify biological processes. A differentially expression of 339 Reference Sequence genes (238 down-regulated and 101 up-regulated) between the two groups was observed. We identified a remarkably elevated expression of a spectrum of genes involved in Immunity and Defense in PBMCs of RA patients compared to controls. This result is confirmed by GO analysis, suggesting that these genes could be activated systemically in RA. No significant down-regulated ontology groups were found. Microarray data were validated by real time PCR in a set of nine genes showing a high degree of correlation. Conclusions/Significance: Our study highlighted several new genes that could contribute in the identification of innovative clinical biomarkers for diagnostic procedures and therapeutic interventions

High-level integration of murine intestinal transcriptomics data highlights the importance of the complement system in mucosal homeostasis.

BACKGROUND: The mammalian intestine is a complex biological system that exhibits functional plasticity in its response to diverse stimuli to maintain homeostasis. To improve our understanding of this plasticity, we performed a high-level data integration of 14 whole-genome transcriptomics datasets from samples of intestinal mouse mucosa. We used the tool Centrality based Pathway Analysis (CePa), along with information from the Reactome database. RESULTS: The results show an integrated response of the mouse intestinal mucosa to challenges with agents introduced orally that were expected to perturb homeostasis. We observed that a common set of pathways respond to different stimuli, of which the most reactive was the Regulation of Complement Cascade pathway. Altered expression of the Regulation of Complement Cascade pathway was verified in mouse organoids challenged with different stimuli in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the integrated transcriptomics analysis and data driven experiment suggest an important role of epithelial production of complement and host complement defence factors in the maintenance of homeostasis

SuRankCo: supervised ranking of contigs in de novo assemblies

Background: Evaluating the quality and reliability of a de novo assembly and of single contigs in particular is challenging since commonly a ground truth is not readily available and numerous factors may influence results. Currently available procedures provide assembly scores but lack a comparative quality ranking of contigs within an assembly. Results: We present SuRankCo, which relies on a machine learning approach to predict quality scores for contigs and to enable the ranking of contigs within an assembly. The result is a sorted contig set which allows selective contig usage in downstream analysis. Benchmarking on datasets with known ground truth shows promising sensitivity and specificity and favorable comparison to existing methodology. Conclusions: SuRankCo analyzes the reliability of de novo assemblies on the contig level and thereby allows quality control and ranking prior to further downstream and validation experiments