A novel online food recall checklist for use in an undergraduate student population : a comparison with diet diaries

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Women's knowledge and beliefs regarding breast cancer

Approximately 20–30% of women delay for 12 weeks or more from self-discovery of a breast symptom to presentation to a health care provider, and such delay intervals are associated with poorer survival. Understanding the factors that influence patient delay is important for the development of an effective, targeted health intervention programme to shorten patient delay. The aim of the study was to elicit knowledge and beliefs about breast cancer among a sample of the general female population, and examine age and socio-economic variations in responses. Participants were randomly selected through the Postal Address File, and data were collected through the Office of National Statistics. Geographically distributed throughout the UK, 996 women participated in a short structured interview to elicit their knowledge of breast cancer risk, breast cancer symptoms, and their perceptions of the management and outcomes associated with breast cancer. Women had limited knowledge of their relative risk of developing breast cancer, of associated risk factors and of the diversity of potential breast cancer-related symptoms. Older women were particularly poor at identifying symptoms of breast cancer, risk factors associated with breast cancer and their personal risk of developing the disease. Poorer knowledge of symptoms and risks among older women may help to explain the strong association between older age and delay in help-seeking. If these findings are confirmed they suggest that any intervention programme should target older women in particular, given that advancing age is a risk factor for both developing breast cancer and for subsequent delayed presentation

Hypothalamic FTO is associated with the regulation of energy intake not feeding reward

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polymorphism in the FTO gene is strongly associated with obesity, but little is known about the molecular bases of this relationship. We investigated whether hypothalamic FTO is involved in energy-dependent overconsumption of food. We determined FTO mRNA levels in rodent models of short- and long-term intake of palatable fat or sugar, deprivation, diet-induced increase in body weight, baseline preference for fat versus sugar as well as in same-weight animals differing in the inherent propensity to eat calories especially upon availability of diverse diets, using quantitative PCR. FTO gene expression was also studied in organotypic hypothalamic cultures treated with anorexigenic amino acid, leucine. In situ hybridization (ISH) was utilized to study FTO signal in reward- and hunger-related sites, colocalization with anorexigenic oxytocin, and c-Fos immunoreactivity in FTO cells at initiation and termination of a meal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Deprivation upregulated FTO mRNA, while leucine downregulated it. Consumption of palatable diets or macronutrient preference did not affect FTO expression. However, the propensity to ingest more energy without an effect on body weight was associated with lower FTO mRNA levels. We found that 4-fold higher number of FTO cells displayed c-Fos at meal termination as compared to initiation in the paraventricular and arcuate nuclei of re-fed mice. Moreover, ISH showed that FTO is present mainly in hunger-related sites and it shows a high degree of colocalization with anorexigenic oxytocin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that FTO mRNA is present mainly in sites related to hunger/satiation control; changes in hypothalamic FTO expression are associated with cues related to energy intake rather than feeding reward. In line with that, neurons involved in feeding termination express FTO. Interestingly, baseline FTO expression appears linked not only with energy intake but also energy metabolism.</p

Design, data management, and population baseline characteristics of the PERFORM magnetic resonance imaging project

Quantitative information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may substantiate clinical findings and provide additional insight into the mechanism of clinical interventions in therapeutic stroke trials. The PERFORM study is exploring the efficacy of terutroban versus aspirin for secondary prevention in patients with a history of ischemic stroke. We report on the design of an exploratory longitudinal MRI follow-up study that was performed in a subgroup of the PERFORM trial. An international multi-centre longitudinal follow-up MRI study was designed for different MR systems employing safety and efficacy readouts: new T2 lesions, new DWI lesions, whole brain volume change, hippocampal volume change, changes in tissue microstructure as depicted by mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy, vessel patency on MR angiography, and the presence of and development of new microbleeds. A total of 1,056 patients (men and women ≥55 years) were included. The data analysis included 3D reformation, image registration of different contrasts, tissue segmentation, and automated lesion detection. This large international multi-centre study demonstrates how new MRI readouts can be used to provide key information on the evolution of cerebral tissue lesions and within the macrovasculature after atherothrombotic stroke in a large sample of patients

RACK-1 Acts with Rac GTPase Signaling and UNC-115/abLIM in Caenorhabditis elegans Axon Pathfinding and Cell Migration

Migrating cells and growth cones extend lamellipodial and filopodial protrusions that are required for outgrowth and guidance. The mechanisms of cytoskeletal regulation that underlie cell and growth cone migration are of much interest to developmental biologists. Previous studies have shown that the Arp2/3 complex and UNC-115/abLIM act redundantly to mediate growth cone lamellipodia and filopodia formation and axon pathfinding. While much is known about the regulation of Arp2/3, less is known about regulators of UNC-115/abLIM. Here we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans counterpart of the Receptor for Activated C Kinase (RACK-1) interacts physically with the actin-binding protein UNC-115/abLIM and that RACK-1 is required for axon pathfinding. Genetic interactions indicate that RACK-1 acts cell-autonomously in the UNC-115/abLIM pathway in axon pathfinding and lamellipodia and filopodia formation, downstream of the CED-10/Rac GTPase and in parallel to MIG-2/RhoG. Furthermore, we show that RACK-1 is involved in migration of the gonadal distal tip cells and that the signaling pathways involved in this process might be distinct from those involved in axon pathfinding. In sum, these studies pinpoint RACK-1 as a component of a novel signaling pathway involving Rac GTPases and UNC-115/abLIM and suggest that RACK-1 might be involved in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and lamellipodia and filopodia formation in migrating cells and growth cones

Characterization of the Primo-Vascular System in the Abdominal Cavity of Lung Cancer Mouse Model and Its Differences from the Lymphatic System

Cancer growth and dissemination have been extensively studied for a long time. Nevertheless, many new observations on anatomy and histopathology of cancer events are still reported such as formation of a vasculogenic-like network inside aggressive tumors. In this research, new kinds of micro-conduits, named primo-vessels, were found inside the abdominal cavity of NCI-H460 lung cancer murine xenograft models. These vascular threads were largely distributed on the surfaces of various organs and were often connected to peritoneal tumor nodules. Histological and immunofluorescent investigations showed that the primo-vessels had characteristic features that were distinctively different from those of similar-looking lymphatic vessels. They had multiple channels surrounded with loose collageneous matrices, which is in contrast to the single-channel structure of other vascular systems. The rod-shaped nuclei aligned longitudinally along the channels were assumed to be the endothelial cells of the primo-vessels, but LYVE-1, a specific marker of lymphatics, was not expressed, which indicates a clear difference from lymphatic endothelial cells. Taken together these findings on and characterization of the novel threadlike vascular structures in cancer models may have important implications for cancer prognosis and for therapy

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Association of homocysteine and methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR C677T) gene polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) in the population of North India

The implications of the methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene and the level of homocysteine in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD) have been extensively studied in various ethnic groups. Our aim was to discover the association of MTHFR (C677T) polymorphism and homocysteine level with CAD in north Indian subjects. The study group consisted of 329 angiographically proven CAD patients, and 331 age and sex matched healthy individuals as controls. MTHFR (C677T) gene polymorphism was detected based on the polymerase chain reaction and restriction digestion with HinfI. Total homocysteine plasma concentration was measured using immunoassay. T allele frequency was found to be significantly higher in patients than in the control group. We found significantly elevated levels of mean homocysteine in the patient group when compared to the control group (p = 0.00). Traditional risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, smoking habits, a positive family history and lipid profiles (triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol), were found significantly associated through univariate analysis. Furthermore, multivariable logistics regression analysis revealed that CAD is significantly and variably associated with diabetes, hypertension, smoking, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol. Our findings showed that MTHFR C677T polymorphism and homocysteine levels were associated with coronary artery disease in the selected population

Synapse Pathology in Psychiatric and Neurologic Disease

Inhibitory and excitatory synapses play a fundamental role in information processing in the brain. Excitatory synapses usually are situated on dendritic spines, small membrane protrusions that harbor glutamate receptors and postsynaptic density components and help transmit electrical signals. In recent years, it has become evident that spine morphology is intimately linked to synapse function—smaller spines have smaller synapses and support reduced synaptic transmission. The relationship between synaptic signaling, spine shape, and brain function is never more apparent than when the brain becomes dysfunctional. Many psychiatric and neurologic disorders, ranging from mental retardation and autism to Alzheimer’s disease and addiction, are accompanied by alterations in spine morphology and synapse number. In this review, we highlight the structure and molecular organization of synapses and discuss functional effects of synapse pathology in brain disease

Distinct roles of the RasGAP family proteins in C. elegans associative learning and memory

The Ras GTPase activating proteins (RasGAPs) are regulators of the conserved Ras/MAPK pathway. Various roles of some of the RasGAPs in learning and memory have been reported in different model systems, yet, there is no comprehensive study to characterize all gap genes in any organism. Here, using reverse genetics and neurobehavioural tests, we studied the role of all known genes of the rasgap family in C. elegans in associative learning and memory. We demonstrated that their proteins are implicated in different parts of the learning and memory processes. We show that gap-1 contribute redundantly with gap-3 to the chemosensation of volatile compounds, gap-1 plays a major role in associative learning, while gap-2 and gap-3 are predominantly required for short- and long-term associative memory. Our results also suggest that the C. elegans Ras orthologue let-60 is involved in multiple processes during learning and memory. Thus, we show that the different classes of RasGAP proteins are all involved in cognitive function and their complex interplay ensures the proper formation and storage of novel information in C. elegans