Independently of total caloric intake, a better quality of the diet (for example, conformity to the Mediterranean diet) is associated with lower obesity risk. It is unclear whether a brief dietary ...assessment tool, instead of full-length comprehensive methods, can also capture this association. In addition to reduced costs, a brief tool has the interesting advantage of allowing immediate feedback to participants in interventional studies. Another relevant question is which individual items of such a brief tool are responsible for this association. We examined these associations using a 14-item tool of adherence to the Mediterranean diet as exposure and body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) as outcomes.
Cross-sectional assessment of all participants in the "PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea" (PREDIMED) trial.
7,447 participants (55-80 years, 57% women) free of cardiovascular disease, but with either type 2 diabetes or ≥ 3 cardiovascular risk factors. Trained dietitians used both a validated 14-item questionnaire and a full-length validated 137-item food frequency questionnaire to assess dietary habits. Trained nurses measured weight, height and waist circumference.
Strong inverse linear associations between the 14-item tool and all adiposity indexes were found. For a two-point increment in the 14-item score, the multivariable-adjusted differences in WHtR were -0.0066 (95% confidence interval, -0.0088 to -0.0049) for women and -0.0059 (-0.0079 to -0.0038) for men. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for a WHtR>0.6 in participants scoring ≥ 10 points versus ≤ 7 points was 0.68 (0.57 to 0.80) for women and 0.66 (0.54 to 0.80) for men. High consumption of nuts and low consumption of sweetened/carbonated beverages presented the strongest inverse associations with abdominal obesity.
A brief 14-item tool was able to capture a strong monotonic inverse association between adherence to a good quality dietary pattern (Mediterranean diet) and obesity indexes in a population of adults at high cardiovascular risk.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In a randomized trial, participants assigned to a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either nuts or extra-virgin olive oil had a significantly lower rate of cardiovascular events at 4.8 years than ...participants assigned to a low-fat control diet.
The traditional Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high intake of olive oil, fruit, nuts, vegetables, and cereals; a moderate intake of fish and poultry; a low intake of dairy products, red meat, processed meats, and sweets; and wine in moderation, consumed with meals.
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In observational cohort studies
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,
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and a secondary prevention trial (the Lyon Diet Heart Study),
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increasing adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been consistently beneficial with respect to cardiovascular risk.
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–
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A systematic review ranked the Mediterranean diet as the most likely dietary model to provide protection against coronary heart disease.
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Small clinical trials have uncovered . . .
The urgent need for optimizing the available energy through smart grids and efficient large‐scale energy storage systems is pushing the construction and deployment of Li‐ion batteries in the MW range ...which, in the long term, are expected to hit the GW dimension while demanding over 1000 ton of positive active material per system. This amount of Li‐based material is equivalent to almost 1% of current Li consumption and can strongly influence the evolution of the lithium supply and cost. Given this uncertainty, it becomes mandatory to develop an energy storage technology that depends on almost infinite and widespread resources: Na‐ion batteries are the best technology for large‐scale applications. With small working cells in the market that cannot compete in cost ($/W h) with commercial Li‐ion batteries, the consolidation of Na‐ion batteries mainly depends on increasing their energy density and stability, the negative electrodes being at the heart of these two requirements. Promising Na‐based negative electrodes for large‐scale battery applications are reviewed, along with the study of the solid electrolyte interphase formed in the anode surface, which is at the origin of most of the stability problems.
The rapid increase of Li‐ion battery demand, along with its forecasted growth owing to the expansion of electric vehicles and smart grids, is positioning Na‐ion batteries as an alternative technology of choice in the next years to come. The anode, one of the most crucial components in further advancements with Na‐ion batteries, is reviewed and future perspectives are provided.
Amongst post‐Li‐ion battery technologies, lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have captured an immense interest as one of the most appealing devices from both the industrial and academia sectors. The ...replacement of conventional liquid electrolytes with solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) enables not only a safer use of Li metal (Li°) anodes but also a flexible design in the shape of Li–S batteries. However, the practical implementation of SPEs‐based all‐solid‐state Li–S batteries (ASSLSBs) is largely hindered by the shuttling effect of the polysulfide intermediates and the formation of dendritic Li° during the battery operation. Herein, a fluorine‐free noble salt anion, tricyanomethanide C(CN)3−, TCM−, is proposed as a Li‐ion conducting salt for ASSLSBs. Compared to the widely used perfluorinated anions {e.g., bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion, N(SO2CF3)2)−, TFSI−}, the LiTCM‐based electrolytes show decent ionic conductivity, good thermal stability, and sufficient anodic stability suiting the cell chemistry of ASSLSBs. In particular, the fluorine‐free solid electrolyte interphase layer originating from the decomposition of LiTCM exhibits a good mechanical integrity and Li‐ion conductivity, which allows the LiTCM‐based Li–S cells to be cycled with good rate capability and Coulombic efficiency. The LiTCM‐based electrolytes are believed to be the most promising candidates for building cost‐effective and high energy density ASSLSBs in the near future.
Fluorine‐free noble salt anion, tricyanomethanide C(CN)3−, TCM−, is proposed as a Li‐ion conducting salt for all‐solid‐state Li–S batteries (ASSLSBs). The superior chemical and electrochemical properties of TCM− salt endow ASSLSBs with good cycling stability and rate capability. The TCM− salt emerges as a promising candidate for building cost‐effective, environmentally benign, and high energy density batteries.
Work Function Evolution in Li Anode Processing Etxebarria, Ane; Koch, Stephan L.; Bondarchuk, Oleksandr ...
Advanced energy materials,
06/2020, Letnik:
10, Številka:
24
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Toward improved understanding and control of the interactions of Li metal anodes with their processing environments, a combined X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoelectron ...spectroscopy (UPS), and density functional theory (DFT) characterization of the effects that O2, CO2, and N2, the main gases in dry‐atmosphere battery production lines, induced on a reproducibly clean Li surface at room temperature is presented here. XPS measurements demonstrate that O2 is ten times more effective than CO2 at oxidizing metal Li. Notably, pure N2 is shown to not dissociate on clean metal Li. UPS results indicate that decomposition of O2 (CO2) reduces the work function of the Li surface by almost 1 eV, therefore increasing the reduction energy drive for the treated substrate by comparison to bare metallic Li. DFT simulations semiquantitatively account for these results on the basis of the effects of dissociative gas adsorption on the surface dipole density of the Li surface.
The interaction of metallic lithium with O2, CO2, and N2 gases is analyzed by X‐ray and ultra‐violet photoelectron spectroscopy, combined with density functional theory. It is found that O2, CO2, and N2 gases modify the electronic properties of the lithium anode surface in an undesirable way for them to be used as precursors for stable electrode–electrolyte interfaces.
Although the fat mass and obesity (FTO) and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) genes have been consistently associated with obesity risk, the association between the obesity-risk alleles with type 2 ...diabetes is still controversial. In some recent meta-analyses in which significant results have been reported, the associations disappeared after adjustment for body mass index (BMI). However gene-diet interactions with dietary patterns have not been investigated. Our main aim was to analyze whether these associations are modulated by the level of adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet).
Case-control study in 7,052 high cardiovascular risk subjects (3,430 type 2 diabetes cases and 3,622 non-diabetic subjects) with no differences in BMI. Diet was assessed by validated questionnaires. FTO-rs9939609 and MC4R-rs17782313 were determined. An aggregate genetic score was calculated to test additive effects. Gene-diet interactions were analyzed.
Neither of the polymorphisms was associated with type 2 diabetes in the whole population. However, we found consistent gene-diet interactions with adherence to the MedDiet both for the FTO-rs9939609 (P-interaction=0.039), the MC4R-rs17782313 (P-interaction=0.009) and for their aggregate score (P-interaction=0.006). When adherence to the MedDiet was low, carriers of the variant alleles had higher type 2 diabetes risk (OR=1.21, 95%CI: 1.03-1.40; P=0.019 for FTO-rs9939609 and OR=1.17, 95%CI:1.01-1.36; P=0.035 for MC4R-rs17782313) than wild-type subjects. However, when adherence to the MedDiet was high, these associations disappeared (OR=0.97, 95%CI: 0.85-1.16; P=0.673 for FTO-rs9939609 and OR=0.89, 95%CI:0.78-1.02; P=0.097 for MC4R-rs17782313). These gene-diet interactions remained significant even after adjustment for BMI. As MedDiet is rich in folate, we also specifically examined folate intake and detected statistically significant interaction effects on fasting plasma glucose concentrations in non-diabetic subjects. However these findings should be interpreted with caution because folate intake may simply reflect a healthy dietary pattern.
These novel results suggest that the association of the FTO-rs9939609 and the MC4R-rs17782313 polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes depends on diet and that a high adherence to the MedDiet counteracts the genetic predisposition.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The effects of deposition of dust (soiling) on photovoltaic (PV) modules, mainly on their energy production, is a topic that is gaining importance, related to the increase in PV installations in very ...sunny arid areas and, therefore, which theoretically lead to higher energy production. Due to the multitude of influent factors regarding soiling experiments, the use of a climatic chamber dedicated to the study of soiling is a subject of great interest.
This work presents a methodology to reproduce the soiling process and the analysis of its effects, using optical and electrical approaches. The experiments included simulating different climatic conditions representative of the desert climate. In total, 19 replicates were performed for three different experiment conditions on five different glasses and two solar cells. Different glass samples, with different anti-soiling treatments, have been used to measure optical transmittance losses and to examine deposition by microscopy, while photovoltaic cells have been used to quantify electrical losses.
The dust load ranged from 1.30 to 1.63 g/m2 promoting electrical losses from 4.73 to 6.90% depending not only on the dust load but also on the conditions in which it was deposited.
•1 Soiling process can be reproduced inside a chamber for various ambient conditions.•2 Dust load is the main parameter but not the only one affecting soiling effects.•3 When the dew point is reached, water channels appear reducing the impact of soiling.•4 Spectral-response weighed optical transmission is used for photocurrent prediction.•5 Big differences between solar cell and air temperatures decreases soiling.
To investigate the impact of chronic pain on brain dynamics at rest.
Functional connectivity was examined in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) (n = 9) and healthy controls (n = 11) by calculating ...partial correlations between low-frequency blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations extracted from 15 brain regions.
Patients with FM had more positive and negative correlations within the pain network than healthy controls. Patients with FM displayed enhanced functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with the insula (INS) and basal ganglia (p values between .01 and .05), the secondary somatosensory area with the caudate (CAU) (p = .012), the primary motor cortex with the supplementary motor area (p = .007), the globus pallidus with the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus (both p values < .05), and the medial prefrontal cortex with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and CAU (both p values < .05). Functional connectivity of the ACC with the amygdala and periaqueductal gray (PAG) matter (p values between .001 and .05), the thalamus with the INS and PAG (both p values < .01), the INS with the putamen (p = .038), the PAG with the CAU (p = .038), the secondary somatosensory area with the motor cortex and PCC (both p values < .05), and the PCC with the superior temporal sulcus (p = .002) was also reduced in FM. In addition, significant negative correlations were observed between depression and PAG connectivity strength with the thalamus (r = -0.64, p = .003) and ACC (r = -0.60, p = .004).
These findings demonstrate that patients with FM display a substantial imbalance of the connectivity within the pain network during rest, suggesting that chronic pain may also lead to changes in brain activity during internally generated thought processes such as occur at rest.
Several anthropometric measurements have been associated with cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes mellitus and other cardiovascular risk conditions, such as hypertension or metabolic syndrome. ...Waist-to-height-ratio has been proposed as a useful tool for assessing abdominal obesity, correcting other measurements for the height of the individual. We compared the ability of several anthropometric measurements to predict the presence of type-2 diabetes, hyperglycemia, hypertension, atherogenic dyslipidemia or metabolic syndrome.
In our cross-sectional analyses we included 7447 Spanish individuals at high cardiovascular risk, men aged 55-80 years and women aged 60-80 years, from the PREDIMED study. Logistic regression models were fitted to evaluate the odds ratio of presenting each cardiovascular risk factor according to various anthropometric measures. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to compare the predictive ability of these measurements.
In this relatively homogeneous cohort with 48.6% of type-2 diabetic individuals, the great majority of the studied anthropometric parameters were significantly and positively associated with the cardiovascular risk factors. No association was found between BMI and body weight and diabetes mellitus. The AUCs for the waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference were significantly higher than the AUCs for BMI or weight for type-2 diabetes, hyperglycemia, atherogenic dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome. Conversely, BMI was the strongest predictor of hypertension.
We concluded that measures of abdominal obesity showed higher discriminative ability for diabetes mellitus, high fasting plasma glucose, atherogenic dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome than BMI or weight in a large cohort of elderly Mediterranean individuals at high cardiovascular risk. No significant differences were found between the predictive abilities of waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference on the metabolic disease.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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