Very low-carbohydrate, high-fat, weight reduction diet decreases hepatic gene response to glucose in obese rats

Background: Very low carbohydrate (VLC) diets are used to promote weight loss and improve insulin resistance (IR) in obesity. Since the high fat content of VLC diets may predispose to hepatic steatosis and hepatic insulin resistance, we investigated the effect of a VLC weight-reduction diet on measures of hepatic and whole body insulin resistance in obese rats. Methods: In Phase 1, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were made obese by ad libitum consumption of a high-fat (HF1, 60% of energy) diet; control rats ate a lower-fat (LF, 15%) diet for 10 weeks. In Phase 2, obese rats were fed energy-restricted amounts of a VLC (5%C, 65%F), LC (19%C, 55%F) or HC (55%C, 15%F) diet for 8 weeks while HF2 rats continued the HF diet ad libitum. In Phase 3, VLC rats were switched to the HC diet for 1 week. At the end of each phase, measurements of body composition and metabolic parameters were obtained. Hepatic insulin resistance was assessed by comparing expression of insulin-regulated genes following an oral glucose load,that increased plasma insulin levels, with the expression observed in the feed-deprived state. Results: At the end of Phase 1, body weight, percent body fat, and hepatic lipid levels were greater in HF1 than LF rats (p \u3c 0.05). At the end of Phase 2, percent body fat and intramuscular triglyceride decreased in LC and HC (p \u3c 0.05), but not VLC rats, despite similar weight loss. VLC and HF2 rats had higher HOMA-IR and higher insulin at similar glucose levels following an ip glucose load than HC rats (p \u3c 0.05). HC, but not VLC or HF2 rats, showed changes in Srebf1, Scd1, and Cpt1a expression (p \u3c 0.05) in response to an oral glucose load. At the end of Phase 3, switching from the VLC to the HC diet mitigated differences in hepatic gene expression. Conclusion: When compared with a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet that produced similar weight loss, a commonly used VLC diet failed to improve whole body insulin resistance; it also reduced insulin’s effect on hepatic gene expression, which may reflect the development of hepatic insulin resistance

Seismic structure of the southern Gulf of California from Los Cabos block to the East Pacific Rise

Multichannel reflection and coincident wide-angle seismic data collected during the 2002 Premier Experiment, Sea of Cortez, Addressing the Development of Oblique Rifting (PESCADOR) experiment provide the most detailed seismic structure to date of the southern Gulf of California. Multichannel seismic (MCS) data were recorded with a 6-km-long streamer, 480-channel, aboard the R/V Maurice Ewing, and wide-angle data was recorded by 19 instruments spaced every similar to 12 km along the transect. The MCS and wide-angle data reveal the seismic structure across the continent-ocean transition of the rifted margin. Typical continental and oceanic crust are separated by a similar to 75-km-wide zone of extended continental crust dominated by block-faulted basement. Little lateral variation in crustal thicknesses and seismic velocities is observed in the oceanic crust, suggesting a constant rate of magmatic productivity since seafloor spreading began. Oceanic crustal thickness and mean crustal velocities suggest normal mantle temperature (1300 degrees C) and passive mantle upwelling at the early stages of seafloor spreading. The crustal thickness, width of extended continental crust, and predicted temperature conditions all indicate a narrow rift mode of extension. On the basis of upper and lower crust stretching factors, an excess of lower crust was found in the extended continental crust. Total extension along transect 5W is estimated to be similar to 35 km. Following crustal extension, new oceanic crust similar to 6.4-km-thick was formed at a rate of similar to 48 mm a(-1) to accommodate plate separation

The pd <--> pi+ t reaction around the Delta resonance

The pd pi+ t process has been calculated in the energy region around the Delta-resonance with elementary production/absorption mechanisms involving one and two nucleons. The isobar degrees of freedom have been explicitly included in the two-nucleon mechanism via pi-- and rho-exchange diagrams. No free parameters have been employed in the analysis since all the parameters have been fixed in previous studies on the simpler pp pi+ d process. The treatment of the few-nucleon dynamics entailed a Faddeev-based calculation of the reaction, with continuum calculations for the initial p-d state and accurate solutions of the three-nucleon bound-state equation. The integral cross-section was found to be quite sensitive to the NN interaction employed while the angular dependence showed less sensitivity. Approximately a 4% effect was found for the one-body mechanism, for the three-nucleon dynamics in the p-d channel, and for the inclusion of a large, possibly converged, number of three-body partial states, indicating that these different aspects are of comparable importance in the calculation of the spin-averaged observables.Comment: 40 Pages, RevTex, plus 5 PostScript figure

Measurement of the hadronic photon structure function F_{2}^{γ} at LEP2

The hadronic structure function of the photon F_{2}^{γ} (x, Q²) is measured as a function of Bjorken x and of the photon virtuality Q² using deep-inelastic scattering data taken by the OPAL detector at LEP at e⁺e⁻ centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Previous OPAL measurements of the x dependence of F_{2}^{γ} are extended to an average Q² of 〈Q²〉=780 GeV² using data in the kinematic range 0.15<x<0.98. The Q² evolution of F_{2}^{γ} is studied for 12.1<〈Q²〉<780 GeV² using three ranges of x. As predicted by QCD, the data show positive scaling violations in F_{2}^{γ} with F_{2}^{γ} (Q²)/α = (0.08±0.02⁺⁰·⁰⁵_₀.₀₃) + (0.13±0.01⁺⁰·⁰¹_₀.₀₁) lnQ², where Q² is in GeV², for the central x region 0.10–0.60. Several parameterisations of F_{2}^{γ} are in qualitative agreement with the measurements whereas the quark-parton model prediction fails to describe the data