This study analyzed baseline behavioral and psychosocial differences between successful and nonsuccessful participants in a behavioral weight management program. Success was defined by commonly used ...health-related criteria (5% weight loss). Noncompletion was also used as a marker of a failed attempt at weight control.
A total of 158 healthy overweight and obese women (age, 48.0+/-4.5 y; BMI, 31.0+/-3.8 kg/m(2); body fat, 44.5+/-5.3%).
Subjects participated in a 16-week lifestyle weight loss program consisting of group-based behavior therapy to improve diet and increase physical activity, and were followed for 1 y after treatment.
At baseline, all women completed a comprehensive behavioral and psychosocial battery assessing dieting/weight history, dietary intake and eating behaviors, exercise, self-efficacy, outcome evaluations, body image, and other variables considered relevant for weight management. Participants who maintained a weight loss of 5% or more at 16 months (or 10% or more of initial fat mass) were classified as successful. Nonsuccessful participants were those who dropped out and completers who had not lost weight at follow-up.
Of all participants, 30% (n=47) did not complete initial treatment and/or missed follow-up assessments (noncompleters). Noncompletion was independently associated with more previous weight loss attempts, poorer quality of life, more stringent weight outcome evaluations, and lower reported carbohydrate intake at baseline. In logistic regression, completion status was predicted correctly in 84% of all cases (chi(2)=45.5, P<0.001), using baseline information only. Additional predictors of attrition were initial weight, exercise minutes, fiber intake, binge eating, psychological health, and body image. A large variation in weight loss/maintenance results was observed (range: 37.2 kg for 16-month weight change). Independent baseline predictors of success at 16 months were more moderate weight outcome evaluations, lower level of previous dieting, higher exercise self-efficacy, and smaller waist-to-hip ratio. Success status at follow-up was predicted correctly in 74% of all starting cases (chi(2)=33.6, P<0.001).
Psychosocial and behavioral variables (eg, dieting history, dietary intake, outcome evaluations, exercise self-efficacy, and quality of life) may be useful as pretreatment predictors of success level and/or attrition in previously overweight and mildly obese women who volunteer for behavioral weight control programs. These factors can be used in developing readiness profiles for weight management, a potentially important tool to address the issue of low success/completion rates in the current management of obesity.
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Background:
Prebiotic galacto‐ and fructo‐oligosaccharides (scGOS/lcFOS) resembling non‐digestible oligosaccharides in human milk reduce the development of atopic disorders. However, the underlying ...mechanisms are still unclear. Galectins are soluble‐type lectins recognizing β‐galactoside containing glycans. Galectin‐9 has been shown to regulate mast cell degranulation and T‐cell differentiation. In this study, the involvement of galectin‐9 as a mechanism by which scGOS/lcFOS in combination with Bifidobacterium breve M‐16V protects against acute allergic symptoms was investigated.
Methods:
Mice were sensitized orally to whey, while being fed with a diet containing scGOS/lcFOS and Bifidobacterium breve M‐16V (GF/Bb) or a control diet. Galectin‐9 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in the intestine and measured in the serum by ELISA. T‐cell differentiation was investigated in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) as well as in galectin‐9‐exposed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) cultures. Sera of the mice were evaluated for the capacity to suppress mast cell degranulation using a RBL‐2H3 degranulation assay. In addition, in a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled multicenter trial, galectin‐9 levels were measured in the sera of 90 infants with atopic dermatitis who received hydrolyzed formulae with or without GF/Bb.
Results:
Galectin‐9 expression by intestinal epithelial cells and serum galectin‐9 levels were increased in mice and humans following dietary intervention with GF/Bb and correlated with reduced acute allergic skin reaction and mast cell degranulation. In addition, GF/Bb enhanced Th1‐ and Treg‐cell differentiation in MLN and in PBMC cultures exposed to galectin‐9.
Conclusions:
Dietary supplementation with GF/Bb enhances serum galectin‐9 levels, which associates with the prevention of allergic symptoms.
Key insights in materials at extreme temperatures and pressures can be gained by accurate measurements that determine the electrical conductivity. Free-electron laser pulses can ionize and excite ...matter out of equilibrium on femtosecond time scales, modifying the electronic and ionic structures and enhancing electronic scattering properties. The transient evolution of the conductivity manifests the energy coupling from high temperature electrons to low temperature ions. Here we combine accelerator-based, high-brightness multi-cycle terahertz radiation with a single-shot electro-optic sampling technique to probe the evolution of DC electrical conductivity using terahertz transmission measurements on sub-picosecond time scales with a multi-undulator free electron laser. Our results allow the direct determination of the electron-electron and electron-ion scattering frequencies that are the major contributors of the electrical resistivity.
This book fundamentally reinterprets the history of international human rights in the post-1945 era by documenting how pivotal the Global South was for their breakthrough. In stark contrast to other ...contemporary human rights historians who have focused almost exclusively on the 1940s and the 1970s - heavily privileging Western agency - Steven L. B. Jensen convincingly argues that it was in the 1960s that universal human rights had their breakthrough. This is a ground-breaking work that places race and religion at the center of these developments and focuses on a core group of states who led the human rights breakthrough, namely Jamaica, Liberia, Ghana, and the Philippines. They transformed the norms upon which the international community today is built. Their efforts in the 1960s post-colonial moment laid the foundation - in profound and surprising ways - for the so-called human rights revolution in the 1970s, when Western activists and states began to embrace human rights.
Whole grains are recognized for their potential role in preventing cardiovascular diseases; however, results from randomized controlled studies on blood lipids are inconsistent, potentially because ...of compositional differences between individual grain types for some nutrients, including dietary fiber.
Using a meta-analytic approach, we assessed the effect of whole-grain compared with non-whole-grain foods on changes in total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.
We conducted a systematic literature search in selected databases. Studies were included if they were randomized controlled comparisons between whole-grain foods and a non-whole-grain control in adults. A total of 6069 articles were screened for eligibility, and data were extracted from 24 studies. Weighted mean differences were calculated, and meta-regression analyses were performed for whole-grain dose, study duration, and baseline TC concentration.
Overall, whole-grain intake lowered LDL cholesterol (weighted difference: -0.09 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.15, -0.03 mmol/L; P < 0.01) and TC (weighted difference: -0.12 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.19, -0.05 mmol/L; P < 0.001) compared with the control. Whole-grain oat had the greatest effect on TC (weighted difference: -0.17 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.10, -0.25 mmol/L; P < 0.001). No effect of whole-grain foods on HDL cholesterol was seen, whereas whole-grain foods tended to lower triglycerides compared with the control (weighted difference: -0.04 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.08, 0.01; P = 0.10). No association was found between whole-grain dose or baseline TC concentration and any of the outcomes, whereas study duration was positively associated with changes in TC and LDL cholesterol.
Consumption of whole-grain diets lowers LDL cholesterol and TC, but not HDL cholesterol or triglycerides, compared with consumption of non-whole-grain control diets. Whole-grain oat appears to be the most effective whole grain for lowering cholesterol.
Electrons are accelerated to nonthermal energies at shocks in space and astrophysical environments. While shock drift acceleration (SDA) has been considered a key process of electron acceleration at ...Earth's bow shock, it has also been recognized that SDA needs to be combined with an additional stochastic process to explain the observed power-law energy spectra. Here, we show mildly energetic (∼0.5 keV) electrons are locally scattered (and accelerated while being confined) by magnetosonic-whistler waves within the shock transition layer, especially when the shock angle is large ( ). When measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission at a high cadence, ∼0.5 keV electron flux increased exponentially in the shock transition layer. However, the flux profile was not entirely smooth and the fluctuation showed temporal/spectral association with large-amplitude ( ), low-frequency ( where is the cyclotron frequency), obliquely propagating ( , where is the angle between the wave vector and background magnetic field) whistler waves, indicating that the particles were interacting with the waves. Particle simulations demonstrate that, although linear cyclotron resonances with ∼0.5 keV electrons are unlikely due to the obliquity and low frequencies of the waves, the electrons are still scattered beyond 90° pitch angle by (1) resonant mirroring (transit-time damping), (2) non-resonant mirroring, and (3) subharmonic cyclotron resonances. Such coupled nonlinear scattering processes are likely to provide the stochasticity needed to explain the power-law formation.
A study of the structure of 145 low‐Mach number (M≤3), low‐beta (β≤1), quasi‐perpendicular interplanetary collisionless shock waves observed by the Wind spacecraft has provided strong evidence that ...these shocks have large‐amplitude whistler precursors. The common occurrence and large amplitudes of the precursors raise doubts about the standard assumption that such shocks can be classified as laminar structures. This directly contradicts standard models. In 113 of the 145 shocks (∼78%), we observe clear evidence of magnetosonic‐whistler precursor fluctuations with frequencies ∼0.1–7 Hz. We find no dependence on the upstream plasma beta, or any other shock parameter, for the presence or absence of precursors. The majority (∼66%) of the precursors propagate at ≤45° with respect to the upstream average magnetic field and most (∼87%) propagate ≥30° from the shock normal vector. Further, most (∼79%) of the waves propagate at least 20° from the coplanarity plane. The peak‐to‐peak wave amplitudes (δBpk‐pk) are large with a range of maximum values for the 113 precursors of ∼0.4–13 nT with an average of ∼2 nT. When we normalize the wave amplitudes to the upstream averaged magnetic field and the shock ramp amplitude, we find average values of ∼40% and ∼220%, respectively.
Plain Language Summary
We present new results that suggest that the magnetic structure of collisionless shock waves is not a smooth, step‐like transition but rather riddled with large‐amplitude waves as large or larger than the shock itself. These results have implications for the dynamics of weak shocks from propagation and evolution to particle acceleration and heating.
Key Points
Low‐Mach number, low‐beta, quasi‐perpendicular shocks are not laminar, step‐like, magnetic structures
Whistler precursor amplitudes are on average 50% and 80% of the upstream average magnetic field and shock ramp amplitude, respectively
Whistler precursors propagate obliquely to the upstream magnetic field, shock normal vector, and coplanarity plane
The central challenge in building a quantum computer is error correction. Unlike classical bits, which are susceptible to only one type of error, quantum bits (qubits) are susceptible to two types of ...error, corresponding to flips of the qubit state about the X and Z directions. Although the Heisenberg uncertainty principle precludes simultaneous monitoring of X- and Z-flips on a single qubit, it is possible to encode quantum information in large arrays of entangled qubits that enable accurate monitoring of all errors in the system, provided that the error rate is low
. Another crucial requirement is that errors cannot be correlated. Here we characterize a superconducting multiqubit circuit and find that charge noise in the chip is highly correlated on a length scale over 600 micrometres; moreover, discrete charge jumps are accompanied by a strong transient reduction of qubit energy relaxation time across the millimetre-scale chip. The resulting correlated errors are explained in terms of the charging event and phonon-mediated quasiparticle generation associated with absorption of γ-rays and cosmic-ray muons in the qubit substrate. Robust quantum error correction will require the development of mitigation strategies to protect multiqubit arrays from correlated errors due to particle impacts.
In vitro production (IVP) of embryos and associated technologies in cattle have shown significant progress in recent years, in part driven by a better understanding of the full potential of these ...tools by end users. The combination of IVP with sexed semen (SS) and genomic selection (GS) is being successfully and widely used in North America, South America and Europe. The main advantages offered by these technologies include a higher number of embryos and pregnancies per unit of time, and a wider range of potential female donors from which to retrieve oocytes (including open cyclic females and ones up to 3 months pregnant), including high index genomic calves, a reduced number of sperm required to produce embryos and increased chances of obtaining the desired sex of offspring. However, there are still unresolved aspects of IVP of embryos that limit a wider implementation of the technology, including potentially reduced fertility from the use of SS, reduced oocyte quality after in vitro oocyte maturation and lower embryo cryotolerance, resulting in reduced pregnancy rates compared to in vivo–produced embryos. Nevertheless, promising research results have been reported, and work is in progress to address current deficiencies. The combination of GS, IVP and SS has proven successful in the commercial field in several countries assisting practitioners and cattle producers to improve reproductive performance, efficiency and genetic gain.
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