Brachial and Cerebrovascular Functions Are Enhanced in Postmenopausal Women after Ingestion of Chocolate with a High Concentration of Cocoa.

Background: Cocoa contains polyphenols that are thought to be beneficial for vascular health.Objective: We assessed the impact of chocolate containing distinct concentrations of cocoa on cerebrovascular function and cognition.Methods: Using a counterbalanced within-subject design, we compared the acute impact of consumption of energy-matched chocolate containing 80%, 35%, and 0% single-origin cacao on vascular endothelial function, cognition, and cerebrovascular function in 12 healthy postmenopausal women (mean ± SD age: 57.3 ± 5.3 y). Participants attended a familiarization session, followed by 3 experimental trials, each separated by 1 wk. Outcome measures included cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) responses, recorded before and during completion of a computerized cognitive assessment battery (CogState); brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD); and hemodynamic responses (heart rate and blood pressure).Results: When CBFv data before and after chocolate intake were compared between conditions through the use of 2-factor ANOVA, an interaction effect (P = 0.003) and main effects for chocolate (P = 0.043) and time (P = 0.001) were evident. Post hoc analysis revealed that both milk chocolate (MC; 35% cocoa; P = 0.02) and dark chocolate (DC; 80% cocoa; P = 0.003) induced significantly lower cerebral blood flow responses during the cognitive tasks, after normalizing for changes in arterial pressure. DC consumption also increased brachial FMD compared with the baseline value before chocolate consumption (P = 0.002), whereas MC and white chocolate (0% cocoa) caused no change (P-interaction between conditions = 0.034).Conclusions: Consumption of chocolate containing high concentrations of cocoa enhanced vascular endothelial function, which was reflected by improvements in FMD. Cognitive function outcomes did not differ between conditions; however, cerebral blood flow responses during these cognitive tasks were lower in those consuming MC and DC. These findings suggest that chocolate containing high concentrations of cocoa may modify the relation between cerebral metabolism and blood flow responses in postmenopausal women. This trial was registered at www.ANZCTR.orgau as ACTRN12616000990426

Relationship of Enhanced Liver Fibrosis Score with Pediatric Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Histology and Response to Vitamin E or Metformin

OBJECTIVES: To study the diagnostic performance of the enhanced liver fibrosis score (ELF) for detecting different stages of fibrosis and its usefulness in detecting histologic response to vitamin E or metformin in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who participated in the Vitamin E or Metformin for the Treatment Of NAFLD In Children (TONIC) trial. STUDY DESIGN: ELF was measured at baseline and weeks 24, 48, and 96 on sera from 166 TONIC participants. Associations between ELF with baseline and end of trial (EOT) fibrosis stages and other histologic features were assessed using χ2 tests and logistic regression models. RESULTS: ELF was significantly associated with severity of fibrosis at baseline and EOT. ELF areas under the curve for discriminating patients with clinically significant and advanced fibrosis were 0.70 (95% CI, 0.60-0.80) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.69-0.89), respectively. A 1-unit decrease in ELF at EOT was associated with overall histologic improvement (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.11-3.14; P = .02), resolution of steatohepatitis (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.09-3.25; P = .02), improvement in steatosis grade (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.06-2.82; P = .03), and hepatocellular ballooning (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.06-3.00; P = .03), but not with improvement in fibrosis stage (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.78-2.03; P = .34). CONCLUSIONS: ELF was associated with fibrosis stage in children who participated in TONIC. Although not associated with improvement in fibrosis, a decrease in ELF at EOT was associated with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis resolution and improvement in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease histology. ELF may be a useful noninvasive test to monitor treatment response in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Pathogenesis of aerosolized Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus infection in guinea pigs

Mice and guinea pigs were experimentally exposed to aerosols containing regionally-distinct strains (NJ1959 or ArgM) of eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) at two exclusive particle size distributions. Mice were more susceptible to either strain of aerosolized EEEV than were guinea pigs; however, clinical signs indicating encephalitis were more readily observed in the guinea pigs. Lower lethality was observed in both species when EEEV was presented at the larger aerosol distribution (> 6 μm), although the differences in the median lethal dose (LD50) were not significant. Virus isolation and immunohistochemistry indicated that virus invaded the brains of guinea pigs within one day postexposure, regardless of viral strain or particle size distribution. Immunohistochemistry further demonstrated that neuroinvasion occurred through the olfactory system, followed by transneuronal spread to all regions of the brain. Olfactory bipolar neurons and neurons throughout the brain were the key viral targets. The main microscopic lesions in infected guinea pigs were neuronal necrosis, inflammation of the meninges and neuropil of the brain, and vasculitis in the brain. These results indicate that guinea pigs experimentally infected by aerosolized EEEV recapitulate several key features of fatal human infection and thus should serve as a suitable animal model for aerosol exposure to EEEV

Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)

PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

FrenchFISH: Poisson Models for Quantifying DNA Copy Number From Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization of Tissue Sections

Purpose: Chromosomal aberration and DNA copy number change are robust hallmarks of cancer. The gold standard for detecting copy number changes in tumor cells is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using locus-specific probes that are imaged as fluorescent spots. However, spot counting often does not perform well on solid tumor tissue sections due to partially represented or overlapping nuclei. Materials and Methods: To overcome these challenges, we have developed a computational approach called FrenchFISH, which comprises a nuclear volume correction method coupled with two types of Poisson models: either a Poisson model for improved manual spot counting without the need for control probes or a homogeneous Poisson point process model for automated spot counting. Results: We benchmarked the performance of FrenchFISH against previous approaches using a controlled simulation scenario and tested it experimentally in 12 ovarian carcinoma FFPE-tissue sections for copy number alterations at three loci (c-Myc, hTERC, and SE7). FrenchFISH outperformed standard spot counting with 74% of the automated counts having < 1 copy number difference from the manual counts and 17% having < 2 copy number differences, while taking less than one third of the time of manual counting. Conclusion: FrenchFISH is a general approach that can be used to enhance clinical diagnosis on sections of any tissue by both speeding up and improving the accuracy of spot count estimates

An adaptive annual rhythm in the sex of first pigeon eggs

When the reproductive value of male and female offspring varies differentially, parents are predicted to adjust the sex ratio of their offspring to maximize their fitness (Trivers and Willard, Science 179:90–92, 1973). Two factors have been repeatedly linked to skews in avian offspring sex ratio. First, laying date can affect offspring sex ratio when the sexes differ in age of first reproduction, such that the more slowly maturing sex is overproduced early in the season. Second, position of the egg in the laying sequence of a clutch may affect sex ratio bias since manipulating the sex of the first eggs may be least costly to the mother. We studied both factors in two non-domesticated pigeon species. Both the Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) and the Rock pigeon (Columba livia) have long breeding seasons and lay two-egg clutches. In the field, we determined the sex of Wood pigeon nestlings. In Rock pigeons, housed in captivity outdoors, we determined embryo sex after 3 days of incubation. On the basis of their sex-specific age of first reproduction, we predicted that males, maturing at older age than females, should be produced in majority early and females later in the year. This was confirmed for both species. The bias was restricted to first eggs. Rock pigeons produced clutches throughout the year and show that the sex of the first egg followed an annual cycle. To our knowledge, this study presents the first evidence of a full annual rhythm in adaptive sex allocation in birds. We suggest that this reflects an endogenous seasonal program in primary sex ratio controlled by a preovulatory mechanism

A Genetic Signature of Spina Bifida Risk from Pathway-Informed Comprehensive Gene-Variant Analysis

Despite compelling epidemiological evidence that folic acid supplements reduce the frequency of neural tube defects (NTDs) in newborns, common variant association studies with folate metabolism genes have failed to explain the majority of NTD risk. The contribution of rare alleles as well as genetic interactions within the folate pathway have not been extensively studied in the context of NTDs. Thus, we sequenced the exons in 31 folate-related genes in a 480-member NTD case-control population to identify the full spectrum of allelic variation and determine whether rare alleles or obvious genetic interactions within this pathway affect NTD risk. We constructed a pathway model, predetermined independent of the data, which grouped genes into coherent sets reflecting the distinct metabolic compartments in the folate/one-carbon pathway (purine synthesis, pyrimidine synthesis, and homocysteine recycling to methionine). By integrating multiple variants based on these groupings, we uncovered two provocative, complex genetic risk signatures. Interestingly, these signatures differed by race/ethnicity: a Hispanic risk profile pointed to alterations in purine biosynthesis, whereas that in non-Hispanic whites implicated homocysteine metabolism. In contrast, parallel analyses that focused on individual alleles, or individual genes, as the units by which to assign risk revealed no compelling associations. These results suggest that the ability to layer pathway relationships onto clinical variant data can be uniquely informative for identifying genetic risk as well as for generating mechanistic hypotheses. Furthermore, the identification of ethnic-specific risk signatures for spina bifida resonated with epidemiological data suggesting that the underlying pathogenesis may differ between Hispanic and non-Hispanic groups

Screening and association testing of common coding variation in steroid hormone receptor co-activator and co-repressor genes in relation to breast cancer risk: the Multiethnic Cohort

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Only a limited number of studies have performed comprehensive investigations of coding variation in relation to breast cancer risk. Given the established role of estrogens in breast cancer, we hypothesized that coding variation in steroid receptor coactivator and corepressor genes may alter inter-individual response to estrogen and serve as markers of breast cancer risk.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We sequenced the coding exons of 17 genes (<it>EP300, CCND1, NME1, NCOA1, NCOA2, NCOA3, SMARCA4, SMARCA2, CARM1, FOXA1, MPG, NCOR1, NCOR2, CALCOCO1, PRMT1, PPARBP </it>and <it>CREBBP</it>) suggested to influence transcriptional activation by steroid hormone receptors in a multiethnic panel of women with advanced breast cancer (n = 95): African Americans, Latinos, Japanese, Native Hawaiians and European Americans. Association testing of validated coding variants was conducted in a breast cancer case-control study (1,612 invasive cases and 1,961 controls) nested in the Multiethnic Cohort. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios for allelic effects in ethnic-pooled analyses as well as in subgroups defined by disease stage and steroid hormone receptor status. We also investigated effect modification by established breast cancer risk factors that are associated with steroid hormone exposure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 45 coding variants with frequencies ≥ 1% in any one ethnic group (43 non-synonymous variants). We observed nominally significant positive associations with two coding variants in ethnic-pooled analyses (<it>NCOR2</it>: His52Arg, OR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.05–3.05; <it>CALCOCO1</it>: Arg12His, OR = 2.29; 95% CI, 1.00–5.26). A small number of variants were associated with risk in disease subgroup analyses and we observed no strong evidence of effect modification by breast cancer risk factors. Based on the large number of statistical tests conducted in this study, the nominally significant associations that we observed may be due to chance, and will need to be confirmed in other studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that common coding variation in these candidate genes do not make a substantial contribution to breast cancer risk in the general population. Cataloging and testing of coding variants in coactivator and corepressor genes should continue and may serve as a valuable resource for investigations of other hormone-related phenotypes, such as inter-individual response to hormonal therapies used for cancer treatment and prevention.</p

Temporal controls on silicic acid utilisation along the West Antarctic Peninsula

The impact of climatic change along the Antarctica Peninsula has been widely debated in light of atmospheric/oceanic warming and increases in glacial melt over the past half century. Particular concern exists over the impact of these changes on marine ecosystems, not only on primary producers but also on higher trophic levels. Here we present a record detailing the historical controls on the biogeochemical cycling of silicic acid [Si(OH)4] on the west Antarctica Peninsula margin, a region in which the modern phytoplankton environment is constrained by seasonal sea-ice. We demonstrate that Si(OH)4 cycling through the Holocene alternates between being primarily regulated by sea-ice or glacial discharge from the surrounding grounded ice-sheet. With further climate-driven change and melting forecast for the 21st Century, our findings document the potential for biogeochemical cycling and multi-trophic interactions along the peninsula to be increasingly regulated by glacial discharge, altering food-web interactions

Age-related changes in neural functional connectivity and its behavioral relevance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Resting-state recordings are characterized by widely distributed networks of coherent brain activations. Disturbances of the default network - a set of regions that are deactivated by cognitive tasks and activated during passive states - have been detected in age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease but alterations in the course of healthy aging still need to be explored.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), the present study investigated how age-related functional resting-state brain connectivity links to cognitive performance in healthy aging in fifty-three participants ranging in age from 18 to 89 years. A beamforming technique was used to reconstruct the brain activity in source space and the interregional coupling was investigated using partial directed coherence (PDC). We found significant age-related alterations of functional resting-state connectivity. These are mainly characterized by reduced information input into the posterior cingulum/precuneus region together with an enhanced information flow to the medial temporal lobe. Furthermore, higher inflow in the medial temporal lobe subsystem was associated with weaker cognitive performance whereas stronger inflow in the posterior cluster was related to better cognitive performance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study to show age-related alterations in subsystems of the resting state network that are furthermore associated with cognitive performance.</p