Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of long-term caloric restriction and exercise on muscle bioenergetics and force development in rats.

We evaluated the hypothesis that long-term caloric restriction and exercise would have beneficial effects on muscle bioenergetics and performance in the rat. By themselves, each of these interventions is known to increase longevity, and bioenergetic improvements are thought to be important in this phenomenon. Accordingly, we investigated rats that underwent long-term caloric restriction and were sedentary, ad libitum-fed rats permitted to exercise by daily spontaneous wheel running (AE), and the combination of the dietary and exercise interventions (RE). Ad libitum-fed, sedentary rats comprised the control group.31P NMR spectra of the gastrocnemius muscle (GM) were collected in vivo at rest and during two periods of electrical stimulation. Neither caloric restriction nor exercise affected the ratio of phosphocreatine to ATP or pH at rest. During the first stimulation and after recovery, the RE group had a significantly smaller decline in pH than did the other groups ( P < 0.05). During the second period of stimulation, the decrease in pH was much smaller in all groups than during the first stimulation, with no differences observed among the groups. The combination of caloric restriction and exercise resulted in a significant attenuation in the decline in developed force during the second period of stimulation ( P < 0.05). A biochemical correlate of this was a significantly higher concentration of citrate synthase in the GM samples from the RE rats (32.7 ± 5.4 μmol ⋅ min-1 ⋅ g-1) compared with the AE rats (17.6 ± 5.7 μmol ⋅ min-1 ⋅ g-1; P < 0.05). Our experiments thus demonstrated a synergistic effect of long-term caloric restriction and free exercise on muscle bioenergetics during electrical stimulation.
Acute effects of whole body vibration on balance in persons with and without chronic ankle instability

ABSTRACT Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is a common condition following ankle injury that is associated with compromised balance. Whole body vibration training (WBVT) programmes are linked with improved balance and function in athletic and non-athletic populations and may improve balance in CAI. Twelve healthy and seven CAI participants completed two randomly assigned interventions. Two Power Plate® platforms were attached back to back using a Theraband®. Participants stood on the active plate and inactive plate for WBVT and sham interventions, respectively. Each intervention included vibration of the active plate. Centre of pressure (COP) and the star excursion balance test (SEBT) were measured before and at 3, 15 and 30 min following the interventions. Significant improvements were found in the anterior direction of the SEBT following both interventions in CAI and varying patterns of improvement were observed for COP measurements in all participants. Therefore, WBVT does not appear to acutely improve balance in CAI.
Physical activity is a confounding factor of the relation between eating frequency and body composition.

BACKGROUND It has been shown that eating frequency (EF) is related to body composition in women, but the results are inconclusive. These inconsistent findings could be due to the influence of additional factors such as physical activity. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the relation between EF and body composition in premenopausal women and to explore the effect of physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) and physical fitness on that association. DESIGN Eighty-five premenopausal women [x +/- SD age: 49.9 +/- 2.0 y; body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 23.2 +/- 2.2] were studied at the onset of a prospective observational study. Seven-day food diaries were used to measure energy intake and EF. Body composition (measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), physical fitness (measured by the peak oxygen consumption), and PAEE (measured by using an accelerometer) were also measured. RESULTS Mean EF was 4.6 +/- 0.9 eating occasions/d. A significant positive correlation was found between EF and energy intake (r = 0.31, P < 0.01). Moreover, EF was negatively correlated with body mass index (r = -0.25, P < 0.05), waist circumference (r = -0.32, P < 0.01), percentage body fat (r = -0.26, P < 0.05), and fat mass (r = -0.27, P < 0.05). The associations between adiposity and EF were no longer significant after correction for PAEE and peak oxygen consumption. CONCLUSION The relation between EF and body composition could be mediated by PAEE and physical fitness.
Activity and expression of the 20S proteasome are increased in skeletal muscle during sepsis.

Recent studies suggest that sepsis stimulates ubiquitin-dependent protein breakdown in skeletal muscle. In this proteolytic pathway, ubiquitinated proteins are recognized, unfolded, and degraded by the multicatalytic 26S protease complex. The 20S proteasome is the catalytic core of the 26S protease complex. The role of the 20S proteasome in the regulation of sepsis-induced muscle proteolysis is not known. We tested the hypothesis that sepsis increases 20S proteasome activity and the expression of mRNA for various subunits of this complex. Proteolytic activity of isolated 20S proteasomes, assessed as activity against fluorogenic peptide substrates, was increased in extensor digitorum longus muscles from septic rats. The proteolytic activity was inhibited by specific proteasome blockers. Northern blot analysis revealed an approximately twofold increase in the relative abundance of mRNA for the 20S α-subunits RC3 and RC9 and the β-subunit RC7. However, Western blot analysis did not show any difference in RC9 protein content between sham-operated and septic rats. The increased activity and expression of the 20S proteasome in muscles from septic rats lend further support for a role of the ubiquitin-proteasome-pathway in the regulation of sepsis-induced muscle proteolysis.
DNA damage in Arctic seabirds: Baseline, sensitivity to a genotoxic stressor, and association with organohalogen contaminants

Environmental contaminants are found throughout Arctic marine ecosystems, and their presence in seabirds has been associated with toxicological responses. However, there are few studies of genotoxicity in Arctic avian wildlife. The purpose of the present study was to quantify deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage in lymphocytes of selected seabird species and to examine whether accumulation of organohalogen contaminants (ΣOHCs) affects DNA damage. Blood was sampled from common eider (Somateria mollissima), black guillemot (Cepphus grylle), black‐legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus), arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), and great skua (Stercorarius skua) in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard (Norway). Contaminant concentrations found in the 6 species differed, presumably because of foraging ecology and biomagnification. Despite large differences in contaminant concentrations, ranging from ΣOHCs 3.3 ng/g wet weight in the common eider to ΣOHCs 895 ng/g wet weight in the great skua, there was no strong difference among the species in baseline DNA damage or sensitivity to a genotoxic stressor (hydrogen peroxide). Baseline levels of DNA damage were low, with median values ranging from 1.7% in the common eider to 8.6% in the great skua. There were no associations between DNA damage and contaminants in the investigated species, suggesting that contaminant concentrations in Kongsfjorden are too low to evoke genotoxic effects, or possibly that lymphocytes are resistant to strand breakage. Clearly, genotoxicity is a topic for future studies of Arctic seabirds. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:1084–1091. © 2017 SETAC
Lipidomics of Thalassiosira pseudonana under Phosphorus Stress Reveal Underlying Phospholipid Substitution Dynamics and Novel Diglycosylceramide Substitutes

ABSTRACT Phytoplankton replace phosphorus-containing lipids (P-lipids) with non-P analogues, boosting growth in P-limited oceans. In the model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, the substitution dynamics of lipid headgroups are well described, but those of the individual lipids, differing in fatty acid composition, are unknown. Moreover, the behavior of lipids outside the common headgroup classes and the relationship between lipid substitution and cellular particulate organic P (POP) have yet to be reported. We investigated these through the mass spectrometric lipidomics of P-replete (P+) and P-depleted (P−) T. pseudonana cultures. Nonlipidic POP was depleted rapidly by the initiation of P stress, followed by the cessation of P-lipid biosynthesis and per-cell reductions in the P-lipid levels of successive generations. Minor P-lipid degradative breakdown was observed, releasing P for other processes, but most P-lipids remained intact. This may confer an advantage on efficient heterotrophic lipid consumers in P-limited oceans. Glycerophosphatidylcholine (PC), the predominant P-lipid, was similar in composition to its betaine substitute lipid. During substitution, PC was less abundant per cell and was more highly unsaturated in composition. This may reflect underlying biosynthetic processes or the regulation of membrane biophysical properties subject to lipid substitution. Finally, levels of several diglycosylceramide lipids increased as much as 10-fold under P stress. These represent novel substitute lipids and potential biomarkers for the study of P limitation in situ, contributing to growing evidence highlighting the importance of sphingolipids in phycology. These findings contribute much to our understanding of P-lipid substitution, a powerful and widespread adaptation to P limitation in the oligotrophic ocean. IMPORTANCE Unicellular organisms replace phosphorus (P)-containing membrane lipids with non-P substitutes when P is scarce, allowing greater growth of populations. Previous research with the model diatom species Thalassiosira pseudonana grouped lipids by polar headgroups in their chemical structures. The significance of the research reported here is threefold. (i) We described the individual lipids within the headgroups during P-lipid substitution, revealing the relationships between lipid headgroups and hinting at the underlying biochemical processes. (ii) We measured total cellular P, placing P-lipid substitution in the context of the broader response to P stress and yielding insight into the implications of substitution in the marine environment. (iii) We identified lipids previously unknown in this system, revealing a new type of non-P substitute lipid, which is potentially useful as a biomarker for the investigation of P limitation in the ocean.
Ultradian ghrelin pulsatility is disrupted in morbidly obese subjects after weight loss induced by malabsorptive bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND Suppression of ghrelin production after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass that suggested its contribution to appetite reduction has been reported. OBJECTIVE Because biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) does not affect appetite, we compared ghrelin production and 24-h pulsatility between healthy control subjects and obese subjects before and after BPD. DESIGN A computerized algorithm identified peak heights, clearance rate, and peak frequency of ghrelin over 24 h. Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure was measured in the calorimetric chamber, and energy intakes were computed. Insulin sensitivity was measured with a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp. RESULTS Mean (+/-SD) 24-h plasma ghrelin concentrations were significantly (P < 0.0001) higher in control than in obese subjects (338.17 +/- 22.09 and 164.47 +/- 29.19 microg/L, respectively), but they increased to 204.64 +/- 28.51 microg/L in the obese subjects after BPD (P < 0.01). The pulsatility index was 0.098 +/- 0.016 and 0.041 +/- 0.014 microg . L(-1) . min(-1) in control and obese subjects, respectively (P < 0.01), and decreased to 0.025 +/- 0.007 microg . l(-1) . min(-1) after BPD (P < 0.05). Energy intakes before and after BFP did not differ significantly. Although metabolizable energy after BPD was 40% of the energy intake, that (per kg fat-free mass) after BPD did not different significantly from that before BPD. CONCLUSIONS Weight loss induced by malabsorptive bariatric surgery is associated with greater ghrelin concentrations, which, however, remain consistently lower than those in control subjects, whereas ghrelin pulsatility is subverted. Higher ghrelin concentrations may contribute to the high calorie intakes observed in post-BPD subjects. The lack of normal pulsatility may explain the new impulse of these subjects to eat very frequently.
The SNPcurator: literature mining of enriched SNP-disease associations

Abstract The uniqueness of each human genetic structure motivated the shift from the current practice of medicine to a more tailored one. This personalized medicine revolution would not be possible today without the genetics data collected from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) that investigate the relation between different phenotypic traits and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The huge increase in the literature publication space imposes a challenge on the conventional manual curation process which is becoming more and more expensive. This research aims at automatically extracting SNP associations of any given disease and its reported statistical significance (P-value) and odd ratio as well as cohort information such as size and ethnicity. Our evaluation illustrates that SNPcurator was able to replicate a large number of SNP-disease associations that were also reported in the NHGRI-EBI Catalog of published GWASs. SNPcurator was also tested by eight external genetics experts, who queried the system to examine diseases of their choice, and was found to be efficient and satisfactory. We conclude that the text-mining-based system has a great potential for helping researchers and scientists, especially in their preliminary genetics research. SNPcurator is publicly available at http://snpcurator.science. uu.nl/. Database URL: http://snpcurator.science. uu.nl/
Haematological malignancies in pregnancy: An overview with an emphasis on thrombotic risks

Summary With increase of maternal age, the incidence of haematological malignancies during pregnancy is rising and posing diagnostic and treatment challenges. Lymphoma is the fourth most common malignancy diagnosed in pregnancy; Hodgkin lymphoma is more frequent in pregnant women than non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The proportion of highly aggressive lymphomas in pregnant women is significantly higher than in non-pregnant women of reproductive age. Reproductive organ involvement is observed in almost half of pregnant women with NHL. The association of acute leukaemia and pregnancy is infrequent and it is assumed that pregnancy does not accelerate the disease course. Both cancer and pregnancy induce a procoagulant state which can lead to maternal venous thromboembolism (VTE) and placental occlusion. Pregnancy in woman with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) promotes thrombotic environment, associating with an augmented risk of placental thrombosis, intrauterine growth retardation or loss and maternal thrombotic events.Haematological malignancies during pregnancy often require urgent diagnosis and management and are associated with potential adverse fetal outcomes. Most chemotherapeutic agents are teratogenic and should be avoided during the first trimester. Their use during the second and third trimesters may cause intrauterine growth restriction, premature birth and intrauterine fetal death. All chemotherapeutic drugs should be administered only after a detailed discussion with the patient and with close fetal monitoring. Chemotherapy and biological agents might also augment thrombotic risk. Guidelines for VTE prophylaxis in pregnant women with hematologic malignancies, apart from MPN, are currently unavailable, and therefore, clinical judgment should be made in each case.
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the effect of zinc supplementation during pregnancy on pregnancy outcome in Bangladeshi urban poor.

BACKGROUND Maternal zinc supplementation has been suggested as a potential intervention to reduce the incidence of low birth weight in developing countries. To date, placebo-controlled trials have all been performed in industrialized countries and the results are inconsistent. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate whether zinc supplementation in Bangladeshi urban poor during the last 2 trimesters of pregnancy was associated with pregnancy outcome. DESIGN We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which 559 women from Dhaka slums, stratified by parity between 12 and 16 wk of gestation, were randomly assigned to receive 30 mg elemental Zn/d (n = 269) or placebo (n = 290). Supplementation continued until delivery. Serum zinc was estimated at baseline and at 7 mo of gestation. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline and anthropometric measurements were made monthly. Weight, length, and gestational ages of 410 singleton newborns were measured within 72 h of birth. RESULTS At 7 mo of gestation, serum zinc concentrations tended to be higher in the zinc-supplemented group than in the placebo group (15.9 +/- 4.4 compared with 15.2 +/- 4.3 micromol/L). No significant effect of treatment was observed on infant birth weight (2513 +/- 390 compared with 2554 +/- 393 g; NS) or on gestational age, infant length, or head, chest, or midupper arm circumference. The incidence and distribution of low birth weight, prematurity, and smallness for gestational age also did not differ significantly after zinc supplementation. CONCLUSIONS Supplementation with 30 mg elemental Zn during the last 2 trimesters of pregnancy did not improve birth outcome in Bangladeshi urban poor. These results indicate that interventions with zinc supplementation alone are unlikely to reduce the incidence of low birth weight in Bangladesh.
Combination of Au Dielectrophoresis Chip and Optical Tweezers for Cell Culture

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) force will arise when an inhomogeneous AC electric field with sinusoidal wave is applied to microelectrodes. By using DEP, we could distinguish between viable and non-viable cells by their movement through a non-uniform electric field. In this paper, we propose a yeast cell separation system, which utilizes an Au DEP chip and an optical tweezers. The Au DEP chip is planar quadrupole microelectrodes, which were fabricated by Au thin-film and a box cutter. This fabrication method is low cost and simpler than previous existing methods. The tip of the optical tweezers was fabricated by dynamic chemical etching in a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and toluene. The optical tweezers has the feature of high manipulation performance. That does not require objective lens for focusing light because the tip of optical tweezers has conical shape. By using both the Au DEP chip and optical tweezers, we could obtain three-dimensional manipulation of specific cells after viability separation.
The Interplay between Entropy and Variational Distance Part I : Basic Concepts and Bounds

For two probability distributions with finite alphabets, a small variational distance between them does not imply that the difference between their entropies is small if one of the alphabet sizes is unknown. This fact, seemingly contradictory to the continuity of entropy for finite alphabet, is clarified in the current paper by means of certain bounds on the entropy difference between two probability distributions in terms of the variational distance between them and their alphabet sizes. These bounds are shown to be the tightest possible. The Lagrange multiplier cannot be applied here because the variational distance is not differentiable. We also show how to find the distribution achieving the minimum (or maximum) entropy among those distributions within a given variational distance from any given distribution.
The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, body mass index, and responses to sweet and salty fatty foods: a twin study of genetic and environmental associations.

BACKGROUND The relation between body weight and energy-dense foods remains unclear. OBJECTIVE We estimated the effects of genetic and environmental factors on cognitive and emotional aspects of dieting behavior, body mass index (BMI), and responses to fatty foods and on their relations. DESIGN A total of 1326 adult twin persons (aged 17-82 y; 17% M and 83% F) from the United Kingdom and Finland completed the revised version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R18) and reported the liking and use-frequency of 4 sweet-and-fatty and salty-and-fatty food items (6 items in the United Kingdom and 5 items in Finland). Genetic modeling was done by using linear structural equations. RESULTS Heritability estimates were calculated separately for the countries and sexes; they were 26-63% for cognitive restraint, 45-69% for uncontrolled eating, and 9-45% for emotional eating, respectively. Of the variation in liking and use-frequency of fatty foods, 24-54% was attributed to interindividual genetic differences. No significant correlations were observed between BMI and fatty food use or liking. However, BMI was positively (mostly genetically) correlated (genetic r = 0.16-0.51) with all of the dieting behaviors, and they correlated with fatty food use and liking ratings. Uncontrolled eating was both genetically and environmentally associated with liking for salty-and-fatty foods (genetic and environmental r = 0.16), and emotional eating was genetically associated with liking for sweet-and-fatty foods (genetic r = 0.31). CONCLUSIONS The relation between BMI and diet appears to be mediated through dieting behaviors. Dietary counseling should focus on unhealthy dieting behaviors rather than only on direct advice on food use.
A basolateral sorting signal is encoded in the α-subunit of Na-K-ATPase.

Na-K-ATPase and H-K-ATPase are highly homologous ion pumps that exhibit distinct plasma membrane distributions in epithelial cells. We have studied the α-subunits of these heterodimeric pumps to identify the protein domains responsible for their polarized sorting. A chimeric α-subunit construct (N519H) was generated in which the first 519 amino acid residues correspond to the Na-K-ATPase sequence and the remaining 500 amino acids are derived from the H-K-ATPase sequence. In stably transfected LLC-PK1 cell lines, we found that the N519H chimera is restricted to the basolateral surface under steady-state conditions, suggesting that residues within the NH2-terminal 519 amino acids of the Na-K-ATPase α-subunit contain a basolateral sorting signal. H-K-ATPase β-subunit expressed alone in LLC-PK1 cells accumulates at the apical surface. When coexpressed with N519H, the H-K-ATPase β-subunit assembles with this chimera and accompanies it to the basolateral surface. Thus the NH2-terminal basolateral signal in the Na-K-ATPase α-subunit masks or is dominant over any apical sorting information present in the β-polypeptide. In gastric parietal cells, the H-K-ATPase β-subunit targets the H-K-ATPase to an intracellular vesicular compartment which fuses with the plasma membrane in response to secretagogue stimulation. To test whether the chimera-H-K-ATPase β-subunit complex is directed to a similar compartment in LLC-PK1cells, we treated transfected cells with drugs that raise intracellular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) levels. Elevation of cytosolic cAMP increased the surface expression of both the N519H chimera and the H-K-ATPase β-subunit. This increase in surface expression, however, appears to be the result of transcriptional upregulation and not recruitment of chimera to the surface from a cAMP-inducible compartment.