Role of diet on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: An updated narrative review

© 2015 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. The purpose of this article review is to update what is known about the role of diet on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the developed world and is considered to be a spectrum, ranging from fatty infiltration of the liver alone (steatosis), which may lead to fatty infiltration with inflammation known as non alcoholic steatohepatitis While the majority of individuals with risk factors like obesity and insulin resistance have steatosis, only few people may develop steatohepatitis. Current treatment relies on weight loss and exercise, although various insulin-sensitizing medications appear promising. Weight loss alone by dietary changes has been shown to lead to histological improvement in fatty liver making nutrition therapy to become a cornerstone of treatment for NAFLD. Supplementation of vitamin E, C and omega 3 fatty acids are under consideration with some conflicting data. Moreover, research has been showed that saturated fat, trans-fatty acid, carbohydrate, and simple sugars (fructose and sucrose) may play significant role in the intrahepatic fat accumulation. However, true associations with specific nutrients yet to be clarified

Obese Children with Metabolic Syndrome Have 3 Times Higher Risk to Have Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Compared with Those without Metabolic Syndrome

Copyright © 2017 Dimitrios Papandreou et al. Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MS) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese children. One hundred and twenty-five subjects aged 11-12 years old participated in the study. Methods: Anthropometric and biochemical indices were measured, including lipid and liver profile, blood glucose, serum insulin, and liver ultrasound. Results: Forty-four children (58.6%) were found to have MS. Insulin resistance was present in 78 (62.4%) children. Patients with MS were more likely to have NAFLD (P \u3c; 0.001). Children with NAFLD had significantly higher body mass index, waist circumference, triglycerides, fasting insulin, and lower high-density lipoprotein compared to patients with normal livers (P \u3c 0.001). Insulin resistance was significantly higher in children with NAFLD (P \u3c; 0.001). Obese children presenting with MS were 3.01 (2.87-3.57, P \u3c 0.002) times more likely to develop NAFLD compared to those without metabolic syndrome after adjustment of cofounders. Conclusions: Obese children with MS have a higher risk of developing NAFLD. Weight management and early prevention should be the first line of treatment to prevent any possible health issues later on

Διερεύνηση συμμετοχής ανώτερων ιδιομορφών στην απόκριση εννιαώροφου μεταλλικού κτηρίου σε σεισμούς

142 σ.Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή ΕργασίαΗ πρόβλεψη της συμπεριφοράς μιας κατασκευής υπό τη φόρτιση σεισμικών δυνάμεων εγγύς πεδίου αποτελεί θέμα έρευνας των τελευταίων ετών παγκοσμίως. Ιδιαίτερα, η πρόβλεψη της απόκρισης υψηλών κτηρίων σε σεισμικές διεγέρσεις εγγύς πεδίου είναι θέμα μεγάλου ενδιαφέροντος. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η διερεύνηση της συμμετοχής ανώτερων ιδιομορφών στην απόκριση εννιαώροφου μεταλλικού κτηρίου σε σεισμούς εγγύς πεδίου. Συγκεκριμένα, εξετάζεται η συμμετοχή της δεύτερης ιδιομορφής στη σεισμική απόκριση. Ο μεταλλικός φορέας, παραλλαγή του κτηρίου που σχεδιάστηκε με βάση τις Post-Northridge οδηγίες των Η.Π.Α. για το Seattle της Αμερικής, υπόκειται σε ποικίλλες σεισμικές διεγέρσεις εγγύς πεδίου σεισμικού μεγέθους 5,6-7,1. Προκειμένου να αξιολογηθεί η συμμετοχή της δεύτερης ιδιομορφής στην απόκριση του φορέα, υπολογίζονται οι μετακινήσεις, τα αδρανειακά φορτία και οι τέμνουσες δυνάμεις καθ’ύψος του φορέα με δύο τύπους αναλύσεων, την ανελαστική ανάλυση χρονοϊστορίας και την ιδιομορφική ανελαστική δυναμική ανάλυση. Τέλος αξιολογείται η ακρίβεια των αποτελεσμάτων της Ιδιομορφικής Ανελαστικής Δυναμικής Ανάλυσης, συγκρίνοντας τα αποτελέσματα αυτής με τα αποτελέσματα της ανάλυσης χρονοϊστοριών. Από τις αναλύσεις που διεξήχθησαν, προέκυψαν ενδιαφέροντα αποτελέσματα που καταδεικνύουν τη σημαντική επιρροή της δεύτερης ιδιομορφής στην απόκριση του φορέα. Όσον αφορά στις μετακινήσεις, τα αποτελέσματα δεν δίνουν μια σαφή απάντηση για τη συμμετοχή της δεύτερης ιδιομορφής στην απόκριση της κατασκευής. Όσον αφορά στα αδρανειακά φορτία και τις τέμνουσες δυνάμεις καθ’ύψος των ορόφων, τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν με σαφήνεια την ενεργή συμμετοχή της δεύτερης ιδιομορφής. Το γεγονός αυτό είναι αναμενόμενο καθώς τα πολυώροφα κτήρια τείνουν να εμφανίζουν μεγάλες ιδιοπεριόδους, συνεπώς τείνουν να έχουν πρώτη ιδιομορφή σε χαμηλές φασματικές τιμές στα φάσματα επιταχύνσεων και ως εκ τούτου οι ανώτερες ιδιομορφές, με μικρότερες τιμές ιδιοπεριόδων να βρίσκονται σε περιοχές με μεγάλες φασματικές τιμές και συνεπώς μεγάλη συμμετοχή. Τέλος, όσον αφορά τη μέθοδο ιδιομορφικής ανελαστικής δυναμικής ανάλυσης, που χρησιμοποιήθηκε στην παρούσα εργασία, φαίνεται να έχει ικανοποιητικά αποτελέσματα ως προς τη σύγκλιση των αποτελεσμάτων αυτής με τα αποτελέσματα της ανελαστικής ανάλυσης χρονοϊστορίας του πολυβάθμιου φορέα. Το συμπέρασμα αυτό είναι αρκετά ενθαρρυντικό καθώς αυτή η μέθοδος έχει μικρότερο υπολογιστικό φόρτο και είναι ταχύτερη σε σχέση με την αναλεστική ανάλυση χρονοϊστορίας πολυβάθμιων συστημάτων ενώ μπορεί να προσφέρει ικανοποιητική ακρίβεια.Recently, great research is being conducted on the behavior of a structure in near field seismic forces. In particular, predicting the response of high-rise buildings in near field seismic excitations is of great interest. The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of higher modes to the response of a nine-story building, made of steel, in near field earthquakes. Particularly, the contribution of the second mode is being evaluated. The structure, which is a different version of the building designed for Seattle, U.S.A., according to Post-Northridge directives, is being subjected to several near field seismic excitations, of Mw=5,6 - 7,1. In order to evaluate the contribution of the second mode to the response, displacement and inertial and shear forces over the stories of the building are estimated with two different types of analysis, the non-linear time history analysis of the building and the modal nonlinear dynamic analysis. Finally, evaluated is the accuracy of Modal Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis (MNDA) results, comparing them with the non-linear time history analysis results. Interesting are the results of the analyses, showing that the contribution of the second mode is significant. As for displacement of building over the stories, the results are unclear about the contribution of the second mode. On contrary, as for the inertial and shear forces, results clearly prove the great participation of the second mode on the force contribution over the stories. This is an expected and reasonable result, as high-rise buildings tend to have high periods, so spectral acceleration of the first mode is often very low and therefore the higher modes tend to be in the area of high spectral values at the acceleration spectra. As a result, the response of high-rise buildings is influenced a lot by higher modes. Finally, as for the modal nonlinear dynamic analysis, results show that convergence of this method seems to be quite satisfactory, compared with the non-linear time-history analysis of the building. This conclusion is of high importance, since the MNDA has a main advantage, the lower computational cost than the non-linear time-history analysis and is also accurate enough.Ελένη Κ. Παπανδρέο

Chitosan Nanogel with Mixed Food Plants and Its Relation to Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic and Meta-Analysis Review of Observational Studies

This systematic review with metanalysis evaluated and analyzed the beneficial effects of certain plants food in type 2 diabetes (T2D) when consumed alone or in combination with chitosan. The main objective of the paper was to examine the relation of chitosan nanogel and mixed food plant (MFP) to control T2D. The databases included Medline, Scopus, PubMed, as well as Cochrane available between the month of January 1990 to January 2021. The eligibility criteria for selecting studies were case-controlled studies that included unripe plantain, bitter yam, okra, and chitosan either used-alone or in combination with non-specified food plants (NSFP). Two-fold autonomous critics retrieved the information required and evaluated the risk of bias of involved studies. Random-effect meta-analyses on blood glucose controls, were performed. Results of 18 studies included: seven that examined unripe plantains, one bitter yam, two okras, and eight chitosan, found regarding the decrease in blood glucose level. Meta-analysis of the results found a large proportion of I2 values for all studies (98%), meaning heterogeneity. As a consequence, the combined effect sizes were not useful. Instead, prediction interval (PI) was used (mean difference 4.4 mg/dL, 95% PI −6.65 to 15.50 and mean difference 3.4 mg/dL, 95% PI −23.65 to 30.50) rather than the estimate of its confidence interval (CI). These studies were at 50% high risk of bias and 50% low risk of bias and there was judged to be an unclear risk of bias due to the insufficient information from the included study protocol (moderately low). The intervention lasted between three and 84 days, indicating potency and effectiveness of the intervention at both short and long durations. Due to the moderately low quality of the studies, the findings were cautiously interpreted. In conclusion, the current evidence available from the study does support the relation of chitosan with mixed unripe plantain, bitter yam and okra for the management of T2D. Further high-quality case-controlled animal studies are required to substantiate if indeed chitosan nanogel should be cross-linked with the specified food plant (SFP) for the management T2D

Relation of Maternal Pre-Pregnancy Factors and Childhood Asthma: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Pre-School Children Aged 2–5 Years Old

Background and Objectives: Asthma constitutes a constant, prolonged, inflammation-related pulmonary disorder in childhood with serious public health concerns. Several maternal risk factors can enhance the prevalence of its development in this stage of life; however, the currently available data remain contradictory and/or inconsistent. We aim to evaluate the potential impacts of mothers\u27 sociodemographic, anthropometric and prenatal and perinatal factors on the prevalence of developing asthma in pre-school children. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional survey, which includes 5133 women and their matched pre-school children. Childhood asthma was diagnosed using validated questionnaires. Statistical analysis was accomplished to evaluate whether maternal sociodemographic, anthropometric and prenatal and perinatal factors can increase the probability of childhood asthma in pre-school age. Results: A prevalence of 4.5% of childhood asthma was recorded in pre-school age. Maternal age and pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity, caesarean section, gestational diabetes and hypertension and not breastfeeding were associated with childhood asthma after adjustment for multiple confounding factors. Conclusion: Our research showed that several maternal factors increase the prevalence of childhood asthma in pre-school age. Suitable and effective health policies and strategies should be taken into account to confront the predominant maternal factors that increase its prevalence in pre-school age

Complete genome sequence of the dairy isolate Streptococcus macedonicus ACA-DC 198

Within the Streptococcus genus, only Streptococcus thermophilus is considered to be non-pathogenic due to its adaptation to the milk environment. Streptococcus macedonicus is also an intriguing streptococcal species since its most frequent source of isolation to date is fermented foods, mainly of dairy origin. Sequencing of S. macedonicus ACA-DC 198 genome was performed using a combination of 454 GS FLX pyrosequencing and HiSeq 2000 Illumina sequencing. The hybrid assembly between 454 and HiSeq2000 data (>200x coverage) resulted in one continuous genomic scaffold of 2,130,034 bp and a plasmid of 12,728 bp. The genome assembly was validated against a NheI optical map of the S. macedonicus genome. Sequences were annotated with the BaSys and the RAST pipelines and manually curated using Kodon. Final corrections were made based on the quality assessment of the annotation using GenePRIMP. We found 2,192 protein-coding genes on the chromosome, 192 of which were identified as potential pseudogenes, indicating an ongoing genome decay process. This hypothesis is also supported by the approximately 220 kb-smaller genome size of S. macedonicus compared to the S. gallolyticus genomes, despite the high level of gene synteny between the two species. Such a reductive evolutionary process is common for lactic acid bacteria domesticated to the food environment, which in the case of S. thermophilus was also accompanied by the loss of pathogenicity traits. With our in silico analysis we attempt to investigate whether S. macedonicus shows traits that would support its adaptation to the dairy environment at the genomic level

Can bioelectrical impedance analysis and BMI be a prognostic tool in head and neck cancer patients? A review of the evidence

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: Malnutrition can significantly affect disease progression and patient survival. The efficiency of weight loss and bioimpedance analysis (BIA)-derived measures in the evaluation of malnutrition, and disease progression and prognosis in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) are an important area of research. Method: The PubMed database was thoroughly searched, using relative keywords in order to identify clinical trials that investigated the role of BIA-derived measures and weight loss on the disease progression and prognosis of patients with HNC. Twenty-seven studies met the criteria. More specifically, six studies examined the prognostic role of the tissue electrical properties in HNC patients; five examined the role of the tissue electrical properties on identifying malnutrition; four studies looked at the changes in the tissue electrical properties of HNC patients; and 12 examined the prognostic role of weight loss on survival and/or treatment outcomes. Results: Several studies have investigated the role of nutritional status tools on prognosis in HNC patients. Current studies investigating the potential of BIA-derived raw data have shown that phase angle (PA) and capacitance of the cell membrane may be considered prognostic factors of survival. Weight loss may be a prognostic factor for treatment toxicity and survival, despite some conflicting evidence. Conclusions: Further studies are recommended to clarify the role of BIA-derived measures on patients’ nutritional status and the impact of PA on clinical outcomes as well as the prognostic role of weight loss

A MIM CAPACITOR STUDY OF DIELECTRIC CHARGING FOR RF MEMS CAPACITIVE SWITCHES

MIM capacitors are considered equally important devices for the assessment of dielectric charging in RF MEMS capacitive switches.Beside the obvious similarities between the down state condition of RF MEMS and MIM capacitors there are also some important differences. The paper aims to introduce a novel approach on the study of dielectric charging in MEMS with the aid of MIM capacitors by combining experimental results obtained by the application of DC, Charging Transient and Kelvin Probe techniques.The strengths and weaknesses are discussed in conjuction with experimental results obtained on SiNx based MIM capacitors ans MEMS capacitive switches fabricated under the same conditions

Exclusive Breastfeeding for at Least Four Months Is Associated with a Lower Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Mothers and Their Children after 2–5 Years from Delivery

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a current public health concern. Higher body weight is influenced by genetic and environmental parameters, and their interplay and is associated with a greater risk for several chronic diseases. Breastfeeding has been suggested as a preventive measure against obesity, which can further reduce long-term negative health outcomes for both women and children. AIM: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of breastfeeding on maternal and childhood overweight and obesity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 2515 healthy mothers and their children, aged 2-5 years, enrolled from nine different Greek rural and urban regions. Validated, standardized questionnaires were administrated that included anthropometric indices, socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and children, as well as breastfeeding practices. RESULTS: Overall, 68% of participated women exclusively breastfed their children for at least 4 months. Mothers that exclusively breastfed showed a significantly lower prevalence of overweight and obesity after 2-5 years from delivery (p \u3c 0.0001). Children that had exclusively been breastfed showed a significantly lower prevalence of overweight and obesity at the age of 2-5 years (p \u3c 0.0001). Using multivariate regression analysis, exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4 months was associated with a two-fold lower risk for maternal and childhood overweight and obesity after 2-5 years from delivery, independent from maternal age, educational and economic status, and smoking habits (p \u3c 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Exclusive breastfeeding for at least 4 months had a positive effect on childhood overweight and obesity, also contributing beneficially to post-natal maternal weight control. The beneficial effects of breastfeeding should be communicated to future and new mothers, while supportive actions for all mothers to initiate and continue breastfeeding their offspring should be implemented

Pre-Pregnancy Excess Weight Association with Maternal Sociodemographic, Anthropometric and Lifestyle Factors and Maternal Perinatal Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Pre-pregnancy excess weight is an important factor for adverse maternal perinatal outcomes; however, data for Greek women remain limited. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the relation between pre-pregnant weight status and sociodemographic, anthropometric and lifestyle factors and maternal perinatal outcomes. METHODS: In the present cross-sectional study, 5133 healthy women were enrolled from nine different Greek regions after applying specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Validated questionnaires were used to assess the sociodemographic characteristics and certain lifestyle factors of the study population. Anthropometric and clinical data were retrieved from medical history files of the women, including measured weight in the first weeks of pregnancy and right before delivery, and maternal perinatal outcomes. Women\u27s weights and heights were also measured 2-5 years postpartum by trained nutritionists. Non-adjusted and adjusted statistical analysis was performed to assess whether pre-pregnancy weight status was associated with sociodemographic, anthropometric and lifestyle factors and maternal perinatal outcomes. RESULTS: In pre-pregnancy, 17.5% of the women were overweight, and 4.9% were classified as obese. These rates were increased 2-5 years postpartum, reaching 21.0% for overweight and 9.6% for obese women. Pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity were associated with older maternal age, higher prevalence of overweight/obesity at 2-5 years postpartum and nonexclusive breastfeeding, as well as increased rates for preterm birth and pregnancy-induced hypertension after multiple adjustments. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity rates were high among women of childbearing age in Greece. These findings highlight the urgent need for healthy lifestyle promotion and targeted obesity prevention and intervention schemes among women of reproductive age