909 research outputs found
Aceite de oliva y la hemostasia
Olive oil is a key component of the traditional Mediterranean diet; a diet that may explain the low rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Southern European. (Extra virgin) Olive oil is a good source of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and phenolic compounds, both of which have been investigated for their effects on plasma lipids and lipoproteins, measures of oxidation and factors related to thrombosis. This issue aims to summarise the current understanding of the effects of such dietary components on the haemostatic system and subsequent risk of CVD. To date, evidence suggests that diets rich in MUFA and thus in olive oil attenuate the thrombotic response via a reduction in platelet aggregation and in postprandial FVII levels. Thrombosis is a key event in causing heart attacks and strokes, which if modulated by diet could pose a cost-effective way of reducing CVD incidence in populations that adhere to MUFA/olive oil-rich diets long-term.El aceite de oliva es un componente esencial de la dieta Mediterránea que puede explicar el bajo índice de enfermedad cardiovascular (CVD) en los países del sur de Europa. El aceite de oliva (extra virgen) es una fuente de ácidos grasos monoinsaturados (MUFA) y de compuestos fenólicos, de gran interés por sus efectos, entre otros, sobre las lipoproteínas y los lípidos plasmáticos, su capacidad antioxidante y su papel en la expresión de factores relacionados con la trombosis. En este capítulo se presenta un resumen del conocimiento actual sobre la influencia derivada del consumo de aceite de oliva (extra virgen) en el sistema hemostático y el riesgo de CVD. Por ahora se sabe que dietas ricas en MUFA (aceite de oliva) pueden atenuar la respuesta trombótica mediante la reducción de la agregación plaquetaria y de las concentraciones postprandiales del factor VII de coagulación (FVII). La trombosis es un evento relevante en los ataques al corazón y el ictus, de manera que su modulación con la dieta puede constituir una forma rentable para la disminución de la incidencia de CVD en poblaciones que consumen dietas enriquecidas en MUFA/aceite de oliva durante largo tiempo
Family matters: infants, toddlers and preschoolers of parents affected by mental illness
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102540.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)One in five young people in Australia, including infants, toddlers and preschoolers, lives in a family with a parent with a mental illness.1 Families affected by mental illness are more likely than other families to experience poverty and social isolation,2 and are more likely to have children taken into care.3
A combination of factors influences the child’s risk of psychopathology. These include psychosocial adversity, the child’s developmental status and age, genetics, family relationships, the severity and chronicity of parental psychiatric disorder, comorbidity, and the involvement of other carers in the child’s life. Not all children whose parents have mental health problems will experience difficulties themselves.4
Parental diagnosis itself does not confer risk, and many parents with severe depression, schizophrenia and other disorders are adequate caregivers.5 Rather, it is the severity and chronicity of psychopathology and the variation in parental personality, genetic characteristics, coping style and social circumstances that confer risk. Children’s characteristics, such as temperament and sex, can also influence the parent–child relationship and parenting behaviour.6
This article outlines the impact of three key mental health disorders on parenting and young offspring, and describes implications for practice
Sinistral shear during Middle Jurassic emplacement of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex in northern Chile (25.4◦ S) as evidence of oblique plate convergence during the early Andean orogeny
component of oblique subduction into an intra-arc shear zone. We document a shear zone at latitude 25.4◦ S near Taltal, Chile that was associated with intrusion of the Matancilla Plutonic Complex at ~169 Ma to evaluate intra-arc deformation and possible tectonic plate configurations during this time period. Polyphase folding of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by mylonitic fabrics that are most extensive in a zone up to 1.4 km wide in the thermal aureole of the granodioritic Matancilla pluton, where contact metamorphic andalusite porphyroblasts are synkinematic with fabric development. Mylonite in metasedimentary rocks is overprinted by a ~130 Ma granodiorite (zircon U–Pb) and by ~133 Ma postkinematic monazite (U–Pb). Within the Jurassic Matancilla granodiorite, pervasive ductile shear occurs along the intrusive contact while centimeter-scale discrete high-strain zones throughout the pluton are associated with focused hydrothermal alteration and reaction weakening. Mylonitic foliation in the metasedimentary rocks and within the pluton strikes N- to NE and dips steeply, while stretching lineations are subhorizontal on average. Kinematic indicators record dominantly sinistral shear, though some dextral or symmetric indicators and S \u3e L fabrics suggest a component of coaxial strain and flattening. Sinistral strike-slip kinematics in the Matancilla shear zone may indicate that Middle Jurassic convergence had sinistral obliquity that was locally partitioned into the contemporaneous magmatic arc. Sinistral-oblique convergence would require the Phoenix- Farallon spreading center to be north of ~25◦ S in the Middle Jurassic, providing a constraint to plate reconstructions during the early Andean orogeny
Exchange interactions and Curie temperature in (GaMn)As
We use supercell and frozen-magnon approaches to study the dependence of the
magnetic interactions in (Ga,Mn)As on the Mn concentration. We report the
parameters of the exchange interaction between Mn spins and the estimates of
the Curie temperature within the mean-field and random-phase approximations. In
agreement with experiment we obtain a nonmonotonous dependence of the Curie
temperature on the Mn concentration. We estimate the dependence of the Curie
temperature on the concentration of the carries in the system and show that the
decrease of the number of holes in the valence band leads to fast decrease of
the Curie temperature. We show that the hole states of the valence band are
more efficient in mediating the exchange interaction between Mn spins than the
electron states of the conduction band
Effect of Education on Myopia: Evidence from the United Kingdom ROSLA 1972 Reform
YesCross-sectional and longitudinal studies have consistently reported an association between education and myopia. However, conventional observational studies are at risk of bias due to confounding by factors such as socioeconomic position and parental educational attainment. The current study aimed to estimate the causal effect of education on refractive error using regression discontinuity analysis.
Methods: Regression discontinuity analysis was applied to assess the influence on refractive error of the raising of the school leaving age (ROSLA) from 15 to 16 years introduced in England and Wales in 1972. For comparison, a conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was performed. The analysis sample comprised 21,548 UK Biobank participants born in a nine-year interval centered on September 1957, the date of birth of those first affected by ROSLA.
Results: In OLS analysis, the ROSLA 1972 reform was associated with a −0.29 D (95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.36 to −0.21, P < 0.001) more negative refractive error. In other words, the refractive error of the study sample became more negative by −0.29 D during the transition from a minimum school leaving age of 15 to 16 years of age. Regression discontinuity analysis estimated the causal effect of the ROSLA 1972 reform on refractive error as −0.77 D (95% CI: −1.53 to −0.02, P = 0.04).
Conclusions: Additional compulsory schooling due to the ROSLA 1972 reform was associated with a more negative refractive error, providing additional support for a causal relationship between education and myopia.Global Education program of the Russian Federation government (DP) and an NIHR Senior Research Fellowship award SRF-2015-08-005 (CW), The Department for Health through an award made by the NIHR to the Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom (grant no. BRC2_009). Additional support was provided by The Special Trustees of Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom (grant no. ST 12 09
The fitness burden imposed by synthesising quorum sensing signals
It is now well established that bacterial populations utilize cell-to-cell signaling (quorum-sensing, QS) to control the production of public goods and other co-operative behaviours. Evolutionary theory predicts that both the cost of signal production and the response to signals should incur fitness costs for producing cells. Although costs imposed by the downstream consequences of QS have been shown, the cost of QS signal molecule (QSSM) production and its impact on fitness has not been examined. We measured the fitness cost to cells of synthesising QSSMs by quantifying metabolite levels in the presence of QSSM synthases. We found that: (i) bacteria making certain QSSMs have a growth defect that exerts an evolutionary cost, (ii) production of QSSMs negatively correlates with intracellular concentrations of QSSM precursors, (iii) the production of heterologous QSSMs negatively impacts the production of a native QSSM that shares common substrates, and (iv) supplementation with exogenously added metabolites partially rescued growth defects imposed by QSSM synthesis. These data identify the sources of the fitness costs incurred by QSSM producer cells, and indicate that there may be metabolic trade-offs associated with QS signaling that could exert selection on how signaling evolves
Unravelling plant responses to stress—the importance of targeted and untargeted metabolomics
Climate change and an increasing population, present a massive global challenge with respect to environmentally sustainable nutritious food production. Crop yield enhancements, through breeding, are decreasing, whilst agricultural intensification is constrained by emerging, re-emerging, and endemic pests and pathogens, accounting for ~30% of global crop losses, as well as mounting abiotic stress pressures, due to climate change. Metabolomics approaches have previously contributed to our knowledge within the fields of molecular plant pathology and plant–insect interactions. However, these remain incredibly challenging targets, due to the vast diversity in metabolite volatility and polarity, heterogeneous mixtures of pathogen and plant cells, as well as rapid rates of metabolite turn-over. Unravelling the systematic biochemical responses of plants to various individual and combined stresses, involves monitoring signaling compounds, secondary messengers, phytohormones, and defensive and protective chemicals. This demands both targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches, as well as a range of enzymatic assays, protein assays, and proteomic and transcriptomic technologies. In this review, we focus upon the technical and biological challenges of measuring the metabolome associated with plant stress. We illustrate the challenges, with relevant examples from bacterial and fungal molecular pathologies, plant–insect interactions, and abiotic and combined stress in the environment. We also discuss future prospects from both the perspective of key innovative metabolomic technologies and their deployment in breeding for stress resistance
Acute resveratrol supplementation improves flow-mediated dilatation in overweight/obese individuals with mildly elevated blood pressure
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery (FMD) is a biomarker of endothelial function and cardiovascular health. Impaired FMD is associated with several cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension and obesity. Various food ingredients such as polyphenols have been shown to improve FMD. We investigated whether consuming resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, can enhance FMD acutely and whether there is a dose-response relationship for this effect. METHODS AND RESULTS: 19 overweight/obese (BMI 25-35 kg m(-2)) men or post-menopausal women with untreated borderline hypertension (systolic BP: 130-160 mmHg or diastolic BP: 85-100 mmHg) consumed three doses of resveratrol (resVida™ 30, 90 and 270 mg) and a placebo at weekly intervals in a double-blind, randomized crossover comparison. One hour after consumption of the supplement, plasma resveratrol and FMD were measured. Data were analyzed by linear regression versus log(10) dose of resveratrol. 14 men and 5 women (age 55 ± 2 years, BMI 28.7 ± 0.5 kg m(-2), BP 141 ± 2/89 ± 1 mmHg) completed this study. There was a significant dose effect of resveratrol on plasma resveratrol concentration (P < 0.001) and on FMD (P < 0.01), which increased from 4.1 ± 0.8% (placebo) to 7.7 ± 1.5% after 270 mg resveratrol. FMD was also linearly related to log(10) plasma resveratrol concentration (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Acute resveratrol consumption increased plasma resveratrol concentrations and FMD in a dose-related manner. This effect may contribute to the purported cardiovascular health benefits of grapes and red wine
Tapering Antidepressants While Receiving Digital Preventive Cognitive Therapy During Pregnancy: An Experience Sampling Methodology Trial
Background: Previous studies indicated that affect fluctuations, the use of
antidepressant medication (ADM), as well as depression during pregnancy might have
adverse effects on offspring outcomes. The aim of the current proof-of-principle study
is to explore the effect of tapering ADM while receiving online preventive cognitive
therapy (PCT) on pregnant women and the offspring as compared to pregnant women
continuing ADM.
Objectives: We sought to compare positive and negative affect fluctuations in pregnant
women receiving online PCT while tapering ADM vs. pregnant women continuing ADM,
and to investigate if affect fluctuations in early pregnancy were related to offspring
birth weight.
Method: An experience sampling methodology (ESM)-trial ran alongside a Dutch
randomized controlled trial (RCT) and prospective observational cohort of women using
ADM at the start of pregnancy. In the ESM-trial fluctuations of positive and negative
affect were assessed in the first 8 weeks after inclusion. Recurrences of depression
were assessed up to 12 weeks post-partum, and birth records were used to assess
offspring birth weight. The RCT has been registered at the Netherlands Trial Register
(NTR4694, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/4551).
Results: In total, 19 pregnant women using ADM at start of their pregnancy participated
in the ESM-trial. There were no significant differences in positive and negative affect
fluctuations, nor recurrence rates between women receiving PCT while tapering ADM vs.
women continuing ADM. We found no association between affect fluctuations, pre-natal
depressive symptoms, and birth weight (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: This explorative study showed that tapering ADM while receiving
online PCT may protect pregnant women against recurrences of depression and
affect fluctuations, without affecting birth weight. There is a high need for more
controlled studies focusing on tapering ADM with (online) psychological interventions
during pregnancy
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