Summary
Objective
This 12‐month randomized, non‐inferiority clinical trial sought to determine the impact of consuming soy protein as part of an energy‐restricted, high‐protein diet on weight loss, ...body composition and cardiometabolic health.
Methods
Seventy‐one adults (58 female) with overweight or obesity (body mass index: 32.9 ± 3.6 kg m−2) were randomly assigned to consume three servings of soy (S) or non‐soy (NS) protein foods per day for 12 months. All participants completed a group‐based behavioural weight loss program lasting 4 months (M4), and follow‐up assessments were completed at month 12 (M12).
Results
Body weight was reduced in both groups at M4 (S: −7.0% ± 5.2%, NS: −7.1% ± 5.7%) and M12 (S: 3.6% ± 5.1%, NS: −4.8% ± 7.3%). Body weight reductions (mean difference 90% confidence interval) were not different between S and NS at either time point (M4: −0.16% −1.4, 3.6, P = 0.90; M12: 1.1% −1.4, 3.6, P = 0.44). Differences in body fat mass loss were not different between S and NS at M4 (0.29 ± 0.84 kg, P = 0.73) or M12 (0.78 ± 1.5 kg, P = 0.59). Weight loss‐induced improvements in cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure did not differ between S and NS.
Conclusion
These results indicate that soy‐based protein foods can be effectively incorporated into an energy‐restricted, high‐protein diet for improving body weight, body composition and cardiometabolic health.
Numerous genes for monogenic kidney diseases with classical patterns of inheritance, as well as genes for complex kidney diseases that manifest in combination with environmental factors, have been ...discovered. Genetic findings are increasingly used to inform clinical management of nephropathies, and have led to improved diagnostics, disease surveillance, choice of therapy, and family counseling. All of these steps rely on accurate interpretation of genetic data, which can be outpaced by current rates of data collection. In March of 2021, Kidney Diseases: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) held a Controversies Conference on “Genetics in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)” to review the current state of understanding of monogenic and complex (polygenic) kidney diseases, processes for applying genetic findings in clinical medicine, and use of genomics for defining and stratifying CKD. Given the important contribution of genetic variants to CKD, practitioners with CKD patients are advised to “think genetic,” which specifically involves obtaining a family history, collecting detailed information on age of CKD onset, performing clinical examination for extrarenal symptoms, and considering genetic testing. To improve the use of genetics in nephrology, meeting participants advised developing an advanced training or subspecialty track for nephrologists, crafting guidelines for testing and treatment, and educating patients, students, and practitioners. Key areas of future research, including clinical interpretation of genome variation, electronic phenotyping, global representation, kidney-specific molecular data, polygenic scores, translational epidemiology, and open data resources, were also identified.
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) uses pressure-based measurements to assess the severity of a coronary stenosis. Distal pressure (Pd) is often at a different vertical height to that of the proximal ...aortic pressure (Pa). The difference in pressure between Pd and Pa due to hydrostatic pressure, may impact FFR calculation.
One hundred computed tomography coronary angiographies were used to measure height differences between the coronary ostia and points in the coronary tree. Mean heights were used to calculate the hydrostatic pressure effect in each artery, using a correction factor of 0.8 mmHg/cm. This was tested in a simulation of intermediate coronary stenosis to give the "corrected FFR" (cFFR) and percentage of values, which crossed a threshold of 0.8.
The mean height from coronary ostium to distal left anterior descending (LAD) was +5.26 cm, distal circumflex (Cx) -3.35 cm, distal right coronary artery-posterior left ventricular artery (RCA-PLV) -5.74 cm and distal RCA-posterior descending artery (PDA) +1.83 cm. For LAD, correction resulted in a mean change in FFR of +0.042, -0.027 in the Cx, -0.046 in the PLV and +0.015 in the PDA. Using 200 random FFR values between 0.75 and 0.85, the resulting cFFR crossed the clinical treatment threshold of 0.8 in 43% of LAD, 27% of Cx, 47% of PLV and 15% of PDA cases.
There are significant vertical height differences between the distal artery (Pd) and its point of normalization (Pa). This is likely to have a modest effect on FFR, and correcting for this results in a proportion of values crossing treatment thresholds. Operators should be mindful of this phenomenon when interpreting FFR values.
In support of the U.S. Department of Energy need for new data for criticality safety applications, new high-resolution fission cross-section measurements of
233
U have been made at the Oak Ridge ...Electron Linear Accelerator. The measurements were carried out over a 0.4-eV to 700-keV energy range at the 80-m flight station using a fission chamber. Corrections were made for experimental effects to obtain the average fission cross section in this energy range. Results are compared to previous measurements.
We have recently encountered patients incorrectly diagnosed with adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) deficiency due to misidentification of kidney stones as 2,8-dihydroxyadenine (DHA) stones. ...The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of stone analysis for identification of DHA. Medical records of patients referred to the APRT Deficiency Research Program of the Rare Kidney Stone Consortium in 2010–2018 with a diagnosis of APRT deficiency based on kidney stone analysis were reviewed. The diagnosis was verified by measurement of APRT enzyme activity or genetic testing. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectra of pure crystalline DHA and a kidney stone obtained from one of the confirmed APRT deficiency cases were generated. The ATR-FTIR spectrum of the kidney stone matched the crystalline DHA spectrum and was used for comparison with available infrared spectra of stone samples from the patients. Of 17 patients referred, 14 had sufficient data available to be included in the study. In all 14 cases, the stone analysis had been performed by FTIR spectroscopy. The diagnosis of APRT deficiency was confirmed in seven cases and rejected in the remaining seven cases. Comparison of the ATR-FTIR spectrum of the DHA stone with the FTIR spectra from three patients who did not have APRT deficiency showed no indication of DHA as a stone component. Misidentification of DHA as a kidney stone component by clinical laboratories appears common among patients referred to our program. Since current clinical protocols used to interpret infrared spectra for stone analysis cannot be considered reliable for the identification of DHA stones, the diagnosis of APRT deficiency must be confirmed by other methods.
Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of ...aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (τa) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. It is found that the model-simulated influence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between τa and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and τa as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld–τa relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between τa and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR–τa relationship show a strong positive correlation between τa and fcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of τa, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound on Nd. Nevertheless, the strengths of the statistical relationships are good predictors for the aerosol forcings in the models. An estimate of the total short-wave aerosol forcing inferred from the combination of these predictors for the modelled forcings with the satellite-derived statistical relationships yields a global annual mean value of −1.5±0.5 Wm−2. In an alternative approach, the radiative flux perturbation due to anthropogenic aerosols can be broken down into a component over the cloud-free portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol direct effect) and a component over the cloudy portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol indirect effect). An estimate obtained by scaling these simulated clear- and cloudy-sky forcings with estimates of anthropogenic τa and satellite-retrieved Nd–τa regression slopes, respectively, yields a global, annual-mean aerosol direct effect estimate of −0.4±0.2 Wm−2 and a cloudy-sky (aerosol indirect effect) estimate of −0.7±0.5 Wm−2, with a total estimate of −1.2±0.4 Wm−2.
Load carrying components of modern wind turbine blades are manufactured from composites, consisting of non-crimp fabrics infused with polymer resins. The effective stiffness of the resulting laminate ...is a combination of the properties of its building blocks i.e. fibers, and matrix as well as from the fabric texture imperfections e.g. fiber undulations. Moreover, ply inherent boundary conditions, e.g. the restriction of the Poisson deformation of the matrix imposed from the adjacent fibers, are determining the in-situ orthotropic performance. Towards modelling the in-plane stiffness of a unidirectional (UD) infused non-crimp fabric, a two-step modular procedure is proposed, accounting for the aforementioned parameters, based only on experimental data and analytical formulations. Initially, a micromechanical model is predicting the stiffness of the ideal UD ply i.e. disregarding fiber undulations. Subsequently, a plate model is generated based on the classical lamination theory, approximating the UD laminate as a multiaxial configuration of ideal UD sub-plies. Each sub-ply thickness and orientation is based on the fiber angle density distribution of dry fabrics and cured laminates. These are derived experimentally with an integrated optical camera system and Computer Tomography scans respectively. The theoretical laminate stiffness is correlating very well with standard and thick UD laminate quasi-static tests.
Glucose levels 2 h after an oral glucose challenge are a clinical measure of glucose tolerance used in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. We report a meta-analysis of nine genome-wide association ...studies (n = 15,234 nondiabetic individuals) and a follow-up of 29 independent loci (n = 6,958-30,620). We identify variants at the GIPR locus associated with 2-h glucose level (rs10423928, β (s.e.m.) = 0.09 (0.01) mmol/l per A allele, P = 2.0 × 10−15). The GIPR A-allele carriers also showed decreased insulin secretion (n = 22,492; insulinogenic index, P = 1.0 × 10−17; ratio of insulin to glucose area under the curve, P = 1.3 × 10−16) and diminished incretin effect (n = 804; P = 4.3 × 10−4). We also identified variants at ADCY5 (rs2877716, P = 4.2 × 10−16), VPS13C (rs17271305, P = 4.1 × 10−8), GCKR (rs1260326, P = 7.1 × 10−11) and TCF7L2 (rs7903146, P = 4.2 × 10−10) associated with 2-h glucose. Of the three newly implicated loci (GIPR, ADCY5 and VPS13C), only ADCY5 was found to be associated with type 2 diabetes in collaborating studies (n = 35,869 cases, 89,798 controls, OR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.09-1.15, P = 4.8 × 10−18).
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK