Obesity and the Mediterranean Diet: A Review of Evidence of the Role and Sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet

Several different socio-economic factors have caused a large portion of the population to adopt unhealthy eating habits that can undermine healthcare systems, unless current trends are inverted towards more sustainable lifestyle models. Even though a dietary plan inspired by the principles of the Mediterranean Diet is associated with numerous health benefits and has been demonstrated to exert a preventive effect towards numerous pathologies, including obesity, its use is decreasing and it is now being supplanted by different nutritional models that are often generated by cultural and social changes. Directing governments' political actions towards spreading adherence to the Mediterranean Diet's principles as much as possible among the population could help to tackle the obesity epidemic, especially in childhood. This document intends to reiterate the importance of acting in certain age groups to stop the spread of obesity and proceeds with a critical review of the regulatory instruments used so far, bearing in mind the importance of the scientific evidence that led to the consideration of the Mediterranean Diet as not just a food model, but also as the most appropriate regime for disease prevention, a sort of complete lifestyle plan for the pursuit of healthcare sustainability

Towards a new osteometric method for sexing ancient cremated human remains. Analysis of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age samples from Italy with gendered grave goods

Sex estimation of human remains is one of the most important research steps for physical anthropologists and archaeologists dealing with funerary contexts and trying to reconstruct the demographic structure of ancient societies. However, it is well known that in the case of cremations sex assessment might be complicated by the destructive/transformative effect of the fire on bones. Osteometric standards built on unburned human remains and contemporary cremated series are often inadequate for the analysis of ancient cremations, and frequently result in a significant number of misclassifications. This work is an attempt to overcome the scarcity of methods that could be applied to pre-proto-historic Italy and serve as methodological comparison for other European contexts. A set of 24 anatomical traits were measured on 124 Bronze Age and Iron Age cremated individuals with clearly engendered grave goods. Assuming gender largely correlated to sex, male and female distributions of each individual trait measured were compared to evaluate sexual dimorphism through inferential statistics and Chaktaborty and Majumder\u2019s index. The discriminatory power of each variable was evaluated by cross-validation tests. Eight variables yielded an accuracy equal to or greater than 80%. Four of these variables also show a similar degree of precision for both sexes. The most diagnostic measurements are from radius, patella, mandible, talus, femur, first metatarsal, lunate and humerus. Overall, the degree of sexual dimorphism and the reliability of estimates obtained from our series are similar to those of a modern cremated sample recorded by Gon\ue7alves and collaborators. Nevertheless, mean values of the male and female distributions in our case study are lower, and the application of the cut-off point calculated from the modern sample to our ancient individuals produces a considerable number of misclassifications. This result confirms the need to build population-specific methods for sexing the cremated remains of ancient individuals

Motor resonance during action observation is gaze-contingent: A TMS study

© 2017 The Authors. When we observe others performing an action, visual input to our mirror neuron system is reflected in facilitation of primary motor cortex (M1), a phenomenon known as ‘motor resonance’. However, it is unclear whether this motor resonance is contingent upon our point-of-gaze. In order to address this issue, we collected gaze data from participants as they viewed an intransitive action – thumb abduction/adduction – under four conditions: with natural gaze behaviour (free viewing) and with their gaze fixated on each of three predetermined loci at various distances from the prime mover. In a control condition, participants viewed little finger movements, also with a fixated gaze. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered to M1 during each trial and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and right abductor digiti minimi (ADM). Results showed that, relative to a free viewing condition, a fixated point-of-gaze which maximized transfoveal motion facilitated MEPs in APB. Moreover, during free viewing, saccade amplitudes and APB MEP amplitudes were negatively correlated. These findings indicate that motor resonance is contingent on the observer’s gaze behaviour and that, for simple movements, action observation effects may be enhanced by employing a fixed point-of-gaze

Dripping Faucet Dynamics Clarified by an Improved Mass-Spring Model

An improved mass-spring model for a dripping faucet is presented. The model is constructed based on the numerical results which we recently obtained from fluid dynamical calculations. Both the fluid dynamical calculations and the present mass-spring model exhibit a variety of complex behavior including transition to chaos in good agreement with experiments. Further, the mass-spring model reveals fundamental dynamics inherent in the dripping faucet system.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

The envelope protein of Usutu virus attenuates West Nile virus virulence in immunocompetent mice

West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are the two most widespread mosquito-borne flaviviruses in Europe causing severe neuroinvasive disease in humans. Here, following standardization of the murine model with wild type (wt) viruses, we engineered WNV and USUV genome by reverse genetics. A recombinant virus carrying the 5′ UTR of WNV within the USUV genome backbone (r-USUV5′-UTR WNV) was rescued; when administered to mice this virus did not cause signs or disease as wt USUV suggesting that 5′ UTR of a marked neurotropic parental WNV was not per se a virulence factor. Interestingly, a chimeric virus carrying the envelope (E) protein of USUV in the WNV genome backbone (r-WNVE-USUV) showed an attenuated profile in mice compared to wt WNV but significantly more virulent than wt USUV. Moreover, except when tested against serum samples originating from a live WNV infection, r-WNVE-USUV showed an identical antigenic profile to wt USUV confirming that E is also the major immunodominant protein of USUV

Expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and AHR-interacting protein in pituitary adenomas: pathological and clinical implications.

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professionalGermline mutations of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-interacting protein (AIP) gene confer a predisposition to pituitary adenomas (PA), usually in the setting of familial isolated PA. To provide further insights into the possible role of AIP in pituitary tumour pathogenesis, the expression of AIP and AHR was determined by real-time RT-PCR and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC) in a large series of PA (n=103), including 17 with AIP mutations (AIP(mut)). Variable levels of AIP and AHR transcripts were detected in all PA, with a low AHR expression (P<0.0001 versus AIP). Cytoplasmic AIP and AHR were detected by IHC in 84.0 and 38.6% of PA respectively, and significantly correlated with each other (P=0.006). Nuclear AHR was detected in a minority of PA (19.7%). The highest AIP expression was observed in somatotrophinomas and non-secreting (NS) PA, and multivariate analysis in somatotrophinomas showed a significantly lower AIP immunostaining in invasive versus non-invasive cases (P=0.019). AIP expression was commonly low in other secreting PA. AIP immunostaining was abolished in a minority of AIP(mut) PA, with a frequent loss of cytoplasmic AHR and no evidence of nuclear AHR. In contrast, AIP overexpression in a subset of NS PA could be accompanied by nuclear AHR immunopositivity. We conclude that down-regulation of AIP and AHR may be involved in the aggressiveness of somatotrophinomas. Overall, IHC is a poorly sensitive tool for the screening of AIP mutations. Data obtained on AHR expression suggest that AHR signalling may be differentially affected according to PA phenotype

Expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and AHR-interacting protein in pituitary adenomas: pathological and clinical implications.

Germline mutations of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-interacting protein (AIP) gene confer a predisposition to pituitary adenomas (PA), usually in the setting of familial isolated PA. To provide further insights into the possible role of AIP in pituitary tumour pathogenesis, the expression of AIP and AHR was determined by real-time RT-PCR and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC) in a large series of PA (n=103), including 17 with AIP mutations (AIP(mut)). Variable levels of AIP and AHR transcripts were detected in all PA, with a low AHR expression (P<0.0001 versus AIP). Cytoplasmic AIP and AHR were detected by IHC in 84.0 and 38.6% of PA respectively, and significantly correlated with each other (P=0.006). Nuclear AHR was detected in a minority of PA (19.7%). The highest AIP expression was observed in somatotrophinomas and non-secreting (NS) PA, and multivariate analysis in somatotrophinomas showed a significantly lower AIP immunostaining in invasive versus non-invasive cases (P=0.019). AIP expression was commonly low in other secreting PA. AIP immunostaining was abolished in a minority of AIP(mut) PA, with a frequent loss of cytoplasmic AHR and no evidence of nuclear AHR. In contrast, AIP overexpression in a subset of NS PA could be accompanied by nuclear AHR immunopositivity. We conclude that down-regulation of AIP and AHR may be involved in the aggressiveness of somatotrophinomas. Overall, IHC is a poorly sensitive tool for the screening of AIP mutations. Data obtained on AHR expression suggest that AHR signalling may be differentially affected according to PA phenotype

Latherin: A Surfactant Protein of Horse Sweat and Saliva

Horses are unusual in producing protein-rich sweat for thermoregulation, a major component of which is latherin, a highly surface-active, non-glycosylated protein. The amino acid sequence of latherin, determined from cDNA analysis, is highly conserved across four geographically dispersed equid species (horse, zebra, onager, ass), and is similar to a family of proteins only found previously in the oral cavity and associated tissues of mammals. Latherin produces a significant reduction in water surface tension at low concentrations (≤1 mg ml−1), and therefore probably acts as a wetting agent to facilitate evaporative cooling through a waterproofed pelt. Neutron reflection experiments indicate that this detergent-like activity is associated with the formation of a dense protein layer, about 10 Å thick, at the air-water interface. However, biophysical characterization (circular dichroism, differential scanning calorimetry) in solution shows that latherin behaves like a typical globular protein, although with unusual intrinsic fluorescence characteristics, suggesting that significant conformational change or unfolding of the protein is required for assembly of the air-water interfacial layer. RT-PCR screening revealed latherin transcripts in horse skin and salivary gland but in no other tissues. Recombinant latherin produced in bacteria was also found to be the target of IgE antibody from horse-allergic subjects. Equids therefore may have adapted an oral/salivary mucosal protein for two purposes peculiar to their lifestyle, namely their need for rapid and efficient heat dissipation and their specialisation for masticating and processing large quantities of dry food material