The association of acylcarnitines and amino acids with age in Dutch and South-Asian Surinamese living in Amsterdam.

Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease occur more frequently, and at a younger age in South-Asians than Europeans. This may be related to differences in regulation of the fatty acid metabolism during aging. We compared age-related acylcarnitine and amino acid concentrations. We measured types of acylcarnitine and amino acid concentrations in plasma (by tandem-MS) in a random subsample of 350 Dutch and 350 South-Asian Surinamese origin participants of the HELIUS study (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). We derived principal components (PCs) from the metabolites. Linear regression was used to assess differences in PCs and individual metabolite concentrations, and their age-trends between the groups by sex. We adjusted for BMI and intake of fat and total energy. Mean age was 44.8 (SD 13.3) years. Many metabolite concentrations were higher among South-Asian Surinamese participants compared to Dutch participants; amino acids in women, and both acylcarnitines and amino acids in men. Metabolite levels increased similarly with age in both ethnic groups. Results remained similar after adjustment. Ethnic differences in metabolite concentrations suggest that fatty acid and amino acid metabolism are more dysregulated among South-Asian Surinamese compared to Dutch from a young age. During adulthood metabolites increase similarly in both ethnic groups

Contributions of amino acid, acylcarnitine and sphingolipid profiles to type 2 diabetes risk among South-Asian Surinamese and Dutch adults

Introduction: People of South Asian origin are at high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the underpinning mechanisms are not fully understood. We determined ethnic differences in acylcarnitine, amino acid and sphingolipid concentrations and determined the associations with T2D. Research design and methods: Associations between these metabolites and incident T2D among Dutch and South-Asian Surinamese were determined in participants from the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) using Prentice-weighted Cox regression. The HELIUS study includes 95 incident T2D cases and a representative subcohort of 700 people from a cohort of 5977 participants with a mean follow-up of 4 years. Results: Concentrations of acylcarnitines were comparable between both ethnic groups. Amino acid and lactosylceramide concentrations were higher among South-Asian Surinamese than Dutch (eg, isoleucine 65.7 (SD 16.3) vs 60.7 (SD 15.6) µmol/L). Ceramide concentrations were lower among South-Asian Surinamese than Dutch (eg, Cer d18:1 8.48 (SD 2.04) vs 9.08 (SD 2.29) µmol/L). Metabolic dysregulation preceded T2D without evidence for a multiplicative interaction by ethnicity. Most amino acids and (dihydro)ceramides were associated with increased risk (eg, Cer d18:1 HR 2.38, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.12) while acylcarnitines, glycine, glutamine and lactosylceramides were associated with decreased risk for T2D (eg, LacCer d18:2 HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.77). Conclusions: Overall, these data suggest that the disturbances underlying amino acid and sphingolipid metabolism may be predictive of T2D risk in populations of both South Asian and European background. These observations may be used as starting point to unravel the underlying metabolic disturbances

The acceptability and effect of a culturally-tailored dance intervention to promote physical activity in women of South Asian origin at risk of diabetes in the Netherlands—A mixed-methods feasibility study

OBJECTIVE: Populations of South Asian (SA) origin are at high risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related complications. Analysis of T2D prevention interventions for these populations show that limited attention has been given to facilitating increased physical activity (PA) in a culturally appropriate manner. The aim of this feasibility study was to identify whether culturally tailored dance is acceptable to women of SA origin, and whether it may have an effect on PA and PA-related social cognitive determinants. METHODS: A community-based culturally tailored dance intervention choreographed to Bollywood music was evaluated among 26 women of SA origin in the Netherlands for 10 weeks, 2 times per week. This feasibility study was conducted as a before-after, mixed-methods study, combining data from focus groups, individual interviews, questionnaires and accelerometers. RESULTS: The majority of participants were in the age of 50–59 years and at moderate-to-high T2D risk. There was high attendance (73%), low drop out (12%) and high satisfaction scores for various program components. Key reasons for participation were the cultural appropriateness, in particular the combination of historically and emotionally embedded Indian music and dance, and the non-competitive nature of the intervention. On average, in each of the 19 one-hour sessions, participants spent 30.8 minutes in objectively assessed light intensity PA, 14.1 minutes in moderate intensity PA and 0.3 minutes in vigorous PA, and took 2,100 steps during a session. At follow-up, total moderate-to-vigorous PA increased by 7.8 minutes per day (95%CI: 3.1, 12.5) and daily steps increased by 784 (95%CI: 173, 1394), with a concomitant reduction in light PA of 12 minutes per day (95%CI: -21.9, -2.2). Positive shifts in some PA-behavioral social cognitive determinants and no negative side-effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Bollywood Dance appears to be a feasible, culturally acceptable and potentially effective approach to increase PA in SA women in the Netherlands. A pilot cluster RCT is needed to confirm these initial findings on effectiveness

Dietary and physical activity recommendations to prevent type 2 diabetes in South Asian adults:A systematic review

Intervention trials and guidelines for the prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in populations of South Asian origin often include strategies to improve diet and physical activity that are based on those developed for other populations. These may be suboptimal for the South Asian target populations. We aimed to provide an overview of included recommended dietary and physical activity components, and to identify whether these were supported by evidence of their effectiveness. Databases were searched until September 2017 for intervention studies and guidelines with an adult South Asian population without T2D. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO, registration number: CRD42015207067. The quality of included studies and guidelines was assessed. Dietary and physical activity components, and effects on T2D incidence, glycemic status and adiposity measures, were summarized in tabular format and evaluated narratively. Eighteen intervention studies and four guidelines were identified. Dietary and physical activity components were similar to recommendations for the general population. Intervention studies and guidelines did not reference evidence to support the effectiveness of components included in the intervention for South Asian populations in particular. Moreover, we were unable to assess patterns of components to determine the effects of specific components. Evaluation of current and emerging components among South Asian populations and subgroups seems necessary to formulate more specific recommendations in future intervention studies and guidelines

Discovery of drug-omics associations in type 2 diabetes with generative deep-learning models.

The application of multiple omics technologies in biomedical cohorts has the potential to reveal patient-level disease characteristics and individualized response to treatment. However, the scale and heterogeneous nature of multi-modal data makes integration and inference a non-trivial task. We developed a deep-learning-based framework, multi-omics variational autoencoders (MOVE), to integrate such data and applied it to a cohort of 789 people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes with deep multi-omics phenotyping from the DIRECT consortium. Using in silico perturbations, we identified drug-omics associations across the multi-modal datasets for the 20 most prevalent drugs given to people with type 2 diabetes with substantially higher sensitivity than univariate statistical tests. From these, we among others, identified novel associations between metformin and the gut microbiota as well as opposite molecular responses for the two statins, simvastatin and atorvastatin. We used the associations to quantify drug-drug similarities, assess the degree of polypharmacy and conclude that drug effects are distributed across the multi-omics modalities. [Abstract copyright: © 2023. The Author(s).

Onderzoek naar effecten van bepaalde stoffen op het alcoholslot : vervolgstudie

Afgelopen jaar is er onderzoek verricht naar mogelijke vals-positieve meetresultaten van het alcoholslot (Muilwijk et al., 2014). Hierbij zijn verschillende producten geïdentificeerd die onder worstcase in vitro omstandigheden tot een uitslag van het alcoholslot leiden. In hetzelfde voorgaande onderzoek is in vivo onderzoek met proefpersonen uitgevoerd met een selectie van deze producten en een beperkt aantal proefpersonen. Doel van het huidige vervolgonderzoek is om meer inzicht te verkrijgen in de mate van uitslag van het alcoholslot en het verloop van de uitslag in de tijd na gebruik van producten door proefpersonen. Het betreft hier ‘food’ en ‘non-food’ producten die in het voorgaande onderzoek onder in vitro omstandigheden een uitslag van het alcoholslot veroorzaakten. Tevens is het onderzoek uitgevoerd met een groter aantal proefpersonen

Onderzoek naar effecten van bepaalde stoffen op het alcoholslot

Ieder jaar vallen er doden en gewonden in het verkeer bij ongevallen waarbij alcohol in het spel is. Het alcoholslotprogramma draagt bij aan het omlaag brengen van het aantal verkeersslachtoffers en is bedoeld voor bestuurders die met te veel alcohol op aan het verkeer hebben deelgenomen. Als onderdeel van het programma wordt een alcoholslot in het voertuig van deelnemers ingebouwd zodat zij leren omgaan met alcohol en verkeer. Bij toepassing van het alcoholslot kan het voertuig niet gestart worden voordat een geldige ademtest is afgelegd, ook kan onderweg door het apparaat om hertesten gevraagd worden. Omdat het alcoholslot mogelijk niet alleen het gebruik van ethanol detecteert maar ook melding zou kunnen geven na gebruik van andere stoffen is onderzoek gedaan naar het ontstaan van vals-positieve meetresultaten van het alcoholslot

Impact of production location, production system, and variety on the volatile organic compounds fingerprints and sensory characteristics of tomatoes

Consumers have more and more interest in where and how their foods are produced. However, it is often challenging to discriminate products from different production locations and systems. The objective of this study was to examine fingerprinting of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as an approach for characterization and discrimination of tomatoes by their production location, production system, and variety using Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry combined with multivariate statistics. Sensory analysis was complementing the VOC analyses. The study was part of the EU CORE Organic II project AuthenticFood. Tomato sample batches cultivated in two locations in Italy, according to the organic and conventional production system, comprising two varieties, and produced in two consecutive years were examined. Both factors production location and production system impacted considerably the VOC fingerprints, but compared to these two factors, minor differences were observed between the two varieties of tomatoes studied. VOC data were successfully used to predict the origin and production system for this sample set. Sensory data also primarily indicated the differences between origin and production systems, and several sensory attributes could be predicted from the VOC fingerprints. Therefore, VOC fingerprints reflect production conditions and are promising for substantiation and authentication of special tomato traits

Sex differences in the association of sphingolipids with age in Dutch and South-Asian Surinamese living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Background: Men have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) early in life, while women have a higher risk later in life. The sex-related differences in CVD risk, especially by age, could be related to sphingolipid metabolism. We compared plasma sphingolipid concentrations and its increase by age in men and women. Methods: Plasma concentrations of 13 types of sphingolipids were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in a random subsample of 328 men and 372 women of Dutch and South-Asian Surinamese ethnic origin, participating in the HELIUS study. Sphingolipid concentrations were compared between men and women by age group (18–39, 40–55, and 56–70 years). Multiple linear regression was used to determine sex differences in age trends in sphingolipids stratified by ethnicity. Analyses were performed without adjustment and adjusted for body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. Results: At age 18–39 years, sphingolipid concentrations were lower in women than those in men, but at age 56–70 years this was reversed. At higher age, women showed higher concentrations than men. In line, we observed a more rapid increase of sphingolipid concentrations by age in women than in men. The observed sex differences were not explained by BMI or waist circumference. Patterns of sex differences were similar across ethnic groups, although the strength of associations differed. Conclusions: Mean sphingolipid concentrations increase more rapidly with age in women than in men. Therefore, plasma lipid concentrations of sphingolipids, although lower in women than in men at younger age, are higher in women than in men at older age