This secondary analysis explored the association between gestational weight gain, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), and prenatal diet quality in a United States national sample. The sample ...comprised 1322 pregnant women in the longitudinal Infant Feeding Practices Study II with Diet History Questionnaire data. Diet quality in the third trimester was assessed using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index for Pregnancy. Self-reported pre-pregnancy BMI (categorized as underweight<18.5, normal weight 18.5-24.9, overweight 25.0-29.9, and obese≥30.0) and total gestational weight gain were used to categorize adherence to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations as inadequate, adequate, or excessive weight gain. Diet quality in pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain groups were compared using Tukey-adjusted generalized linear models adjusted for sociodemographic factors, Women, Infants, and Children participation, parity, and energy intake. Due to missing gestational weight gain data, sensitivity analyses with multiply imputed data were conducted. Women were on average 28.9 years old and of higher socioeconomic status (40% college graduates) and mostly non-Hispanic White (84%), and the mean Alternative Healthy Eating Index for Pregnancy score was 61.2 (of 130). Both pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain were inversely associated with diet quality scores (p<0.01). The interaction between pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain was significant (p = 0.04), therefore gestational weight gain models were stratified by BMI group. In stratified adjusted models, gestational weight gain was differently associated with diet quality scores (p<0.05) among women with underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity. The relationship between gestational weight gain and prenatal diet quality depended on pre-pregnancy BMI. For example, within women with normal weight, higher diet quality was observed in the adequate gestational weight gain group. Interventions to broadly improve prenatal diet quality are needed, however, resources can be used to target women with higher pre-pregnancy BMIs and women with inadequate or excessive gestational weight gain.
Environmental performance of blue foods Gephart, Jessica A; Henriksson, Patrik J G; Parker, Robert W R ...
Nature (London),
09/2021, Letnik:
597, Številka:
7876
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Fish and other aquatic foods (blue foods) present an opportunity for more sustainable diets
. Yet comprehensive comparison has been limited due to sparse inclusion of blue foods in environmental ...impact studies
relative to the vast diversity of production
. Here we provide standardized estimates of greenhouse gas, nitrogen, phosphorus, freshwater and land stressors for species groups covering nearly three quarters of global production. We find that across all blue foods, farmed bivalves and seaweeds generate the lowest stressors. Capture fisheries predominantly generate greenhouse gas emissions, with small pelagic fishes generating lower emissions than all fed aquaculture, but flatfish and crustaceans generating the highest. Among farmed finfish and crustaceans, silver and bighead carps have the lowest greenhouse gas, nitrogen and phosphorus emissions, but highest water use, while farmed salmon and trout use the least land and water. Finally, we model intervention scenarios and find improving feed conversion ratios reduces stressors across all fed groups, increasing fish yield reduces land and water use by up to half, and optimizing gears reduces capture fishery emissions by more than half for some groups. Collectively, our analysis identifies high-performing blue foods, highlights opportunities to improve environmental performance, advances data-poor environmental assessments, and informs sustainable diets.
Pyrolysis to produce bio-oil from sewage sludge is a promising way, to not only improve the economical value, but also to reduce pollutants associated with sludge. The aim of this study was to ...evaluate the production of oil from primary, waste activated and digested sludges. The pyrolysis was performed in a laboratory-scale horizontal batch reactor. The operating temperature ranged from 250
°C to 500
°C, while a gas phase residence time of 20
min was maintained with 50
ml/min of nitrogen gas as a purge flow. The maximum oil yield was achieved with primary sludge at 500
°C. Temperature and volatile solids were the most important factors affecting the yield of oil and char, however, sludge type also affected both results. Pre-treatment of sludge with either acids, a base or a catalyst (zeolite) did not improve the quantity of oil produced. The economic values of the oil produced from primary, TWAS, and digested sludges were estimated as 9.9, 5.6, and 6.9
¢/kg-ds when the value of oil is 32
¢/kg-oil.
Pathological remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by fibroblasts leads to organ failure. Development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by a progressive fibrotic scarring ...in the lung that ultimately leads to asphyxiation; however, the cascade of events that promote IPF are not well defined. Here, we examined how the interplay between the ECM and fibroblasts affects both the transcriptome and translatome by culturing primary fibroblasts generated from IPF patient lung tissue or nonfibrotic lung tissue on decellularized lung ECM from either IPF or control patients. Surprisingly, the origin of the ECM had a greater impact on gene expression than did cell origin, and differences in translational control were more prominent than alterations in transcriptional regulation. Strikingly, genes that were translationally activated by IPF-derived ECM were enriched for those encoding ECM proteins detected in IPF tissue. We determined that genes encoding IPF-associated ECM proteins are targets for miR-29, which was downregulated in fibroblasts grown on IPF-derived ECM, and baseline expression of ECM targets could be restored by overexpression of miR-29. Our data support a model in which fibroblasts are activated to pathologically remodel the ECM in IPF via a positive feedback loop between fibroblasts and aberrant ECM. Interrupting this loop may be a strategy for IPF treatment.
In a systematic review of the available literature, Van der Meulen and colleagues endeavour to determine the prevalence of parasitic myomas following morcellation of fibroids at the time of either ...laparoscopic hysterectomy or myomectomy, Two issues should be questioned: what is the actual prevalence of this complication and what should be done about it?
Cellular DNA replication is initiated through the action of multiprotein complexes that recognize replication start sites in the chromosome (termed origins) and facilitate duplex DNA melting within ...these regions. In a typical cell cycle, initiation occurs only once per origin and each round of replication is tightly coupled to cell division. To avoid aberrant origin firing and re-replication, eukaryotes tightly regulate two events in the initiation process: loading of the replicative helicase, MCM2-7, onto chromatin by the origin recognition complex (ORC), and subsequent activation of the helicase by its incorporation into a complex known as the CMG. Recent work has begun to reveal the details of an orchestrated and sequential exchange of initiation factors on DNA that give rise to a replication-competent complex, the replisome. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms that underpin eukaryotic DNA replication initiation - from selecting replication start sites to replicative helicase loading and activation - and describe how these events are often distinctly regulated across different eukaryotic model organisms.
G-protein-coupled receptors comprise the largest family of mammalian transmembrane receptors. They mediate numerous cellular pathways by coupling with downstream signalling transducers, including the ...hetrotrimeric G proteins G
(stimulatory) and G
(inhibitory) and several arrestin proteins. The structural mechanisms that define how G-protein-coupled receptors selectively couple to a specific type of G protein or arrestin remain unknown. Here, using cryo-electron microscopy, we show that the major interactions between activated rhodopsin and G
are mediated by the C-terminal helix of the G
α-subunit, which is wedged into the cytoplasmic cavity of the transmembrane helix bundle and directly contacts the amino terminus of helix 8 of rhodopsin. Structural comparisons of inactive, G
-bound and arrestin-bound forms of rhodopsin with inactive and G
-bound forms of the β
-adrenergic receptor provide a foundation to understand the unique structural signatures that are associated with the recognition of G
, G
and arrestin by activated G-protein-coupled receptors.
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate diverse signaling in part through interaction with arrestins, whose binding promotes receptor internalization and signaling through G protein-independent ...pathways. High-affinity arrestin binding requires receptor phosphorylation, often at the receptor’s C-terminal tail. Here, we report an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) crystal structure of the rhodopsin-arrestin complex, in which the phosphorylated C terminus of rhodopsin forms an extended intermolecular β sheet with the N-terminal β strands of arrestin. Phosphorylation was detected at rhodopsin C-terminal tail residues T336 and S338. These two phospho-residues, together with E341, form an extensive network of electrostatic interactions with three positively charged pockets in arrestin in a mode that resembles binding of the phosphorylated vasopressin-2 receptor tail to β-arrestin-1. Based on these observations, we derived and validated a set of phosphorylation codes that serve as a common mechanism for phosphorylation-dependent recruitment of arrestins by GPCRs.
Display omitted
•A rhodopsin-arrestin complex structure with phosphorylated rhodopsin C terminus•Structural mechanism for recognition of phosphorylated rhodopsin by visual arrestin•Phosphorylation codes are a common mechanism of arrestin recruitment by GPCRs
A crystal structure of a fully engaged rhodopsin-arrestin complex identifies phosphorylation codes as a common mechanism of arrestin recruitment by GPCRs.
Compared to a century ago, the world's fishing fleets are larger and more powerful, are travelling further and are producing higher quality products. These developments come largely at a cost of ...high‐fossil fuel energy inputs. Rising energy prices, climate change and consumer demand for ‘green’ products have placed energy use and emissions among the sustainability criteria of food production systems. We have compiled all available published and unpublished fuel use data for fisheries targeting all species, employing all gears and fishing in all regions of the world into a Fisheries and Energy Use Database (FEUD). Here, we present results of our analysis of the relative energy performance of fisheries since 1990 and provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on fuel inputs to diverse fishing fleets. The median fuel use intensity of global fishery records since 1990 is 639 litres per tonne. Fuel inputs to fisheries vary by several orders of magnitude, with small pelagic fisheries ranking among the world's most efficient forms of animal protein production and crustaceans ranking among the least efficient. Trends in Europe and Australia since the beginning of the 21st century suggest fuel use efficiency is improving, although this has been countered by a more rapid increase in oil prices. Management decisions, technological improvements and behavioural changes can further reduce fuel consumption in the short term, although the most effective improvement to fisheries energy performance will come as a result of rebuilding stocks where they are depressed and reducing over‐capacity.
Abstract A study of complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) activity in Parkinson's disease (PD) brain has identified loss of activity only in substantia nigra although loss of activity of this ...enzyme has been identified in a number of non-brain tissues. We investigated this paradox by studying complex I and other complexes of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in frontal cortex from PD and aged control brain using a variety of assay conditions and tissue preparations. We found increasingly significant losses of complex I activity in PD frontal cortex as increasingly pure mitochondria were studied. Complexes II, III, and IV were comparable in PD and controls. Inclusion of bovine serum albumin in the assay increased enzyme activity but lessened discrimination between PD and controls. Complex I deficiency in PD brain is not confined to substantia nigra. Methodological issues are critical in demonstrating this loss of activity.
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