Pregnant women with bronchial asthma benefit from progressive muscle relaxation: A randomized, prospective, controlled trial

Background: Asthma is a serious medical problem in pregnancy and is often associated with stress, anger and poor quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on change in blood pressure, lung parameters, heart rate, anger and health-related quality of life in pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Methods: We treated a sample of 64 pregnant women with bronchial asthma from the local population in an 8-week randomized, prospective, controlled trial. Thirty-two were selected for PMR, and 32 received a placebo intervention. The systolic blood pressure, forced expiratory volume in the first second, peak expiratory flow and heart rate were tested, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and Health Survey (SF-36) were employed. Results: According to the intend-to-treat principle, a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure and a significant increase in both forced expiratory volume in the first second and peak expiratory flow were observed after PMR. The heart rate showed a significant increase in the coefficient of variation, root mean square of successive differences and high frequency ranges, in addition to a significant reduction in low and middle frequency ranges. A significant reduction on three of five State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory scales, and a significant increase on seven of eight SF-36 scales were observed. Conclusions: PMR appears to be an effective method to improve blood pressure, lung parameters and heart rate, and to decrease anger levels, thus enhancing health-related quality of life in pregnant women with bronchial asthma. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

No Detectable Fertility Benefit from a Single Additional Mating in Wild Stalk-Eyed Flies

Background: Multiple mating by female insects is widespread, and the explanation(s) for repeated mating by females has been the subject of much discussion. Females may profit from mating multiply through direct material benefits that increase their own reproductive output, or indirect genetic benefits that increase offspring fitness. One particular direct benefit that has attracted significant attention is that of fertility assurance, as females often need to mate multiply to achieve high fertility. This hypothesis has never been tested in a wild insect population.Methodology/Principal Findings: Female Malaysian stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni) mate repeatedly during their lifetime, and have been shown to be sperm limited under both laboratory and field conditions. Here we ask whether receiving an additional mating alleviates sperm limitation in wild females. In our experiment one group of females received a single additional mating, while a control group received an interrupted, and therefore unsuccessful, mating. Females that received an additional mating did not lay more fertilised eggs in total, nor did they lay proportionately more fertilised eggs. Female fertility declined significantly through time, demonstrating that females were sperm limited. However, receipt of an additional mating did not significantly alter the rate of this decline.Conclusions/Significance: Our data suggest that the fertility consequences of a single additional mating were small. We discuss this effect (or lack thereof), and suggest that it is likely to be attributed to small ejaculate size, a high proportion of failed copulations, and the presence of X-linked meiotic drive in this species

Climate change adaptation in European river basins

This paper contains an assessment and standardized comparative analysis of the current water management regimes in four case-studies in three European river basins: the Hungarian part of the Upper Tisza, the Ukrainian part of the Upper Tisza (also called Zacarpathian Tisza), Alentejo Region (including the Alqueva Reservoir) in the Lower Guadiana in Portugal, and Rivierenland in the Netherlands. The analysis comprises several regime elements considered to be important in adaptive and integrated water management: agency, awareness raising and education, type of governance and cooperation structures, information management and—exchange, policy development and—implementation, risk management, and finances and cost recovery. This comparative analysis has an explorative character intended to identify general patterns in adaptive and integrated water management and to determine its role in coping with the impacts of climate change on floods and droughts. The results show that there is a strong interdependence of the elements within a water management regime, and as such this interdependence is a stabilizing factor in current management regimes. For example, this research provides evidence that a lack of joint/participative knowledge is an important obstacle for cooperation, or vice versa. We argue that there is a two-way relationship between information management and collaboration. Moreover, this research suggests that bottom-up governance is not a straightforward solution to water management problems in large-scale, complex, multiple-use systems, such as river basins. Instead, all the regimes being analyzed are in a process of finding a balance between bottom-up and top–down governance. Finally, this research shows that in a basin where one type of extreme is dominant—like droughts in the Alentejo (Portugal) and floods in Rivierenland (Netherlands)—the potential impacts of other extremes are somehow ignored or not perceived with the urgency they might deserv

Effects of rose hip intake on risk markers of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease: a randomized, double-blind, cross-over investigation in obese persons

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:In studies performed in mice, rose hip powder has been shown to both prevent and reverse high-fat diet-induced obesity and glucose intolerance as well as reduce plasma levels of cholesterol. The aim of this study was to investigate whether daily intake of rose hip powder over 6 weeks exerts beneficial metabolic effects in obese individuals.SUBJECTS/METHODS:A total of 31 obese individuals with normal or impaired glucose tolerance were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study in which metabolic effects of daily intake of a rose hip powder drink over 6 weeks was compared with a control drink. Body weight, glucose tolerance, blood pressure, blood lipids and markers of inflammation were assessed in the subjects.RESULTS:In comparison with the control drink, 6 weeks of daily consumption of the rose hip drink resulted in a significant reduction of systolic blood pressure (-3.4%; P=0.021), total plasma cholesterol (-4.9%; P=0.0018), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (-6.0%; P=0.012) and LDL/HDL ratio (-6.5%; P=0.041). The Reynolds risk assessment score for cardiovascular disease was decreased in the rose hip group compared with the control group (-17%; P=0.007). Body weight, diastolic blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, incretins and markers of inflammation did not differ between the two groups.CONCLUSIONS:Daily consumption of 40 g of rose hip powder for 6 weeks can significantly reduce cardiovascular risk in obese people through lowering of systolic blood pressure and plasma cholesterol levels.European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 14 December 2011; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.203

Genetic Background Can Result in a Marked or Minimal Effect of Gene Knockout (GPR55 and CB2 Receptor) in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Models of Multiple Sclerosis

PMCID: PMC379391

Combining Substrate Specificity Analysis with Support Vector Classifiers Reveals Feruloyl Esterase as a Phylogenetically Informative Protein Group

Our understanding of how fungi evolved to develop a variety of ecological niches, is limited but of fundamental biological importance. Specifically, the evolution of enzymes affects how well species can adapt to new environmental conditions. Feruloyl esterases (FAEs) are enzymes able to hydrolyze the ester bonds linking ferulic acid to plant cell wall polysaccharides. The diversity of substrate specificities found in the FAE family shows that this family is old enough to have experienced the emergence and loss of many activities. In this study we evaluate the relative activity of FAEs against a variety of model substrates as a novel predictive tool for Ascomycota taxonomic classification. Our approach consists of two analytical steps; (1) an initial unsupervised analysis to cluster the FAEs substrate specificity data which were generated by cultivation of 34 Ascomycota strains and then an analysis of the produced enzyme cocktail against 10 substituted cinnamate and phenylalkanoate methyl esters, (2) a second, supervised analysis for training a predictor built on these substrate activities. By applying both linear and non-linear models we were able to correctly predict the taxonomic Class (∼86% correct classification), Order (∼88% correct classification) and Family (∼88% correct classification) that the 34 Ascomycota belong to, using the activity profiles of the FAEs. The good correlation with the FAEs substrate specificities that we have defined via our phylogenetic analysis not only suggests that FAEs are phylogenetically informative proteins but it is also a considerable step towards improved FAEs functional prediction.published_or_final_versio

Effects of losartan vs candesartan in reducing cardiovascular events in the primary treatment of hypertension

Although angiotensin receptor blockers have different receptor binding properties no comparative studies with cardiovascular disease (CVD) end points have been performed within this class of drugs. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that there are blood pressure independent CVD-risk differences between losartan and candesartan treatment in patients with hypertension without known CVD. Seventy-two primary care centres in Sweden were screened for patients who had been prescribed losartan or candesartan between the years 1999 and 2007. Among the 24 943 eligible patients, 14 100 patients were diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed losartan (n=6771) or candesartan (n=7329). Patients were linked to Swedish national hospitalizations and death cause register. There was no difference in blood pressure reduction when comparing the losartan and candesartan groups during follow-up. Compared with the losartan group, the candesartan group had a lower adjusted hazard ratio for total CVD (0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77–0.96, P=0.0062), heart failure (0.64, 95% CI 0.50–0.82, P=0.0004), cardiac arrhythmias (0.80, 95% CI 0.65–0.92, P=0.0330), and peripheral artery disease (0.61, 95% CI 0.41–0.91, P=0.0140). No difference in blood pressure reduction was observed suggesting that other mechanisms related to different pharmacological properties of the drugs may explain the divergent clinical outcomes

How to measure working memory capacity in the change detection paradigm

Although the measurement of working memory capacity is crucial to understanding working memory and its interaction with other cognitive faculties, there are inconsistencies in the literature on how to measure capacity. We address the measurement in the change detection paradigm, popularized by Luck and Vogel (Nature, 390, 279–281, 1997). Two measures for this task—from Pashler (Perception & Psychophysics, 44, 369–378, 1988) and Cowan (The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87–114, 2001), respectively—have been used interchangeably, even though they may yield qualitatively different conclusions. We show that the choice between these two measures is not arbitrary. Although they are motivated by the same underlying discrete-slots working memory model, each is applicable only to a specific task; the two are never interchangeable. In the course of deriving these measures, we discuss subtle but consequential flaws in the underlying discrete-slots model. These flaws motivate revision in the modal model and capacity measures

Predictive factors of developing diabetes mellitus in women with gestational diabetes.

BACKGROUND: To investigate which factors during gestational diabetes pregnancies correlate with the risk of developing impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes 1 year postpartum and to compare this risk in women with gestational diabetes and women with a normal oral glucose tolerance test during pregnancy. METHODS: Of 315 women with gestational diabetes, defined as a 2-hr blood glucose value of at least 9.0 mmol/l at a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, who delivered in Lund 1991-99, 229 (73%) performed a new test 1 year postpartum. We compared maternal and fetal factors during pregnancy with the test value at follow up. A control group of 153 women with a 2-hr test value below 7.8 mmol/l during pregnancy were invited to a new test 1 year postpartum and 60 (39%) accepted. RESULTS: At 1 year follow up, 31% of the women with gestational diabetes but only one of the 60 controls showed pathologic glucose tolerance and one had developed diabetes. The following factors in women with gestational diabetes were identified as predicting impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes at 1 year follow up: maternal age over 40 and--in a multiple regression analysis, independent of each other--a high 2-hr value at oral glucose tolerance test during pregnancy and insulin treatment during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: The risk of developing manifest diabetes after gestational diabetes may be high enough to justify a general screening or diagnostic procedure in all pregnant women to identify women with gestational diabetes and a postpartum follow up program for them. This study did not identify any particular factor during pregnancy with enough precision to predict a later progression to diabetes