The berries of Vaccinium myrtillus L. are characterized by 15 anthocyanins. To study the variation in the anthocyanins on a south−north axis of about 1000 km in Finland, the berries from 179 ...individual bilberry plants in 20 populations were analyzed using an optimized RP-HPLC-DAD method. The mean content of the total anthocyanins was 2878 mg/100 g dry weight. There was extensive variation in the anthocyanin contents within and between the populations, suggesting differences in berry raw material. A significantly lower content of the total anthocyanins was observed in the berries of the southern region compared to those in the central and northern regions. Differences in the proportions of anthocyanins were also observed. The delphinidin glycosides dominated in the northern berries whereas the cyanidin glycosides were most common in the southern ones. Exceptional bilberry individuals were found mainly from eastern Finland with very low amounts of anthocyanidin glucosides. This is the first systematic study to reveal the extremely high variation in the content and distribution of anthocyanins in wild bilberries.
Reliable, automated, and user-friendly solutions for the identification of sleep stages in home environment are needed in various clinical and scientific research settings. Previously we have shown ...that signals recorded with an easily applicable textile electrode headband (FocusBand, T 2 Green Pty Ltd) contain characteristics similar to the standard electrooculography (EOG, E1-M2). We hypothesize that the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals recorded using the textile electrode headband are similar enough with standard EOG in order to develop an automatic neural network-based sleep staging method that generalizes from diagnostic polysomnographic (PSG) data to ambulatory sleep recordings of textile electrode-based forehead EEG. Standard EOG signals together with manually annotated sleep stages from clinical PSG dataset ( n = 876) were used to train, validate, and test a fully convolutional neural network (CNN). Furthermore, ambulatory sleep recordings including a standard set of gel-based electrodes and the textile electrode headband were conducted for 10 healthy volunteers at their homes to test the generalizability of the model. In the test set ( n = 88) of the clinical dataset, the model's accuracy for 5-stage sleep stage classification was 80% (κ = 0.73) using only the single-channel EOG. The model generalized well for the headband-data, reaching 82% (κ = 0.75) overall sleep staging accuracy. In comparison, accuracy of the model was 87% (κ = 0.82) in home recordings using the standard EOG. In conclusion, the CNN model shows potential on automatic sleep staging of healthy individuals using a reusable electrode headband in a home environment.
Highlights • Glucocorticoids are widely used in surgery to improve postoperative rehabilitation. • No data exist regarding effects of dexamethasone in head and neck cancer surgery. • More major ...complications occurred in patients receiving dexamethasone. • We do not support the use of dexamethasone in reconstructive head and neck surgery.
Abstract Background and aims Adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that secretes signaling molecules involved in the regulation of insulin sensitivity, food intake and inflammation. Apelin is a ...peptide secreted by adipose tissue that has been shown to modulate cardiovascular tone in animals. The aim of this study was to measure abdominal fat, blood pressure and circulating apelin, adiponectin, leptin, ghrelin, TNF-α and IL-6 levels in patients with the metabolic syndrome after a diet-induced weight loss. Methods and results 35 obese individuals with the metabolic syndrome underwent an 8-week very-low-calorie diet (VLCD) and a 6-month weight maintenance period (WM) with 120 mg orlistat or placebo administered 3 times daily. VLCD and WM (−15.1 ± 1.0 kg) decreased mean arterial pressure (MAP), insulin, leptin, triglycerides and visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Moreover, adiponectin increased in response to the weight loss. However, the overall changes in plasma apelin, TNF-α and IL-6 were non-significant. A correlation between plasma apelin and TNF-α was observed at baseline (0.41, p < 0.05), and the minor changes in plasma apelin levels were associated with changes in BMI during VLCD and MAP and TNF-α during VLCD and WM periods. Conclusion Despite reductions in BMI, body adiposity, MAP and enhancement of glucose metabolism and adiponectin in response to weight loss, no significant changes in plasma apelin, TNF-α and IL-6 were observed. However, apelin significantly correlated with TNF-α and MAP. These results suggest that apelin may not be that strongly correlated with the fat mass as an adipokine like the more abundant adipokines adiponectin or leptin and it might be involved in the regulation of inflammation and cardiovascular tone.
No studies are available that have compared early defects in glucose metabolism in the offspring of insulin-deficient and insulin-resistant probands with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus ...(NIDDM). To investigate this issue, we evaluated insulin secretion capacity with oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests and with the hyperglycemic clamp, and insulin action with the euglycemic insulin clamp in 20 offspring of NIDDM patients with low fasting C-peptide (+/-450 pmol/liter), reflecting deficient insulin secretion (IS-group), 18 offspring of NIDDM patients with high fasting C-peptide (>/= 880 pmol/liter), reflecting insulin resistance (IR-group), and 14 healthy control subjects without a family history of NIDDM. The frequency of impaired glucose tolerance was 45.0% in the IS-group and 50% in the IR-group. The IS-group had lower insulin-glucose response at 30 min in the oral glucose tolerance test (85.2+/-10.0 pmol insulin per mmol glucose) than the control group (136.4+/-23.1 pmol insulin per mmol glucose; P < 0.05) and the IR-group (115.6+/-11.8 pmol insulin per mmol glucose; P = 0.05). Furthermore, the acute insulin response during the first 10 min of an intravenous glucose tolerance test was lower in the IS-group than in the IR-group. Maximal insulin secretion capacity evaluated by C-peptide levels during the hyperglycemic clamp did not differ between the groups. The IR-group had lower rates of whole body glucose uptake (60.1+/-4.6 micromol per lean body mass per minute) than did the control group (84.2+/-5.0 micromol per lean body mass per minute; P < 0.001) or the IS-group (82.6+/-5.9 micromol per lean body mass per minute; P < 0.01) and this was due to reduced glucose nonoxidation. To conclude, both impaired insulin secretion and insulin action seem to be inherited and could represent the primary defects in glucose metabolism in the offspring of NIDDM probands.
The flavonoids, anthocyanins and flavonols, in bog bilberries (Vaccinium uliginosum L.) were studied from 15 populations in Finland on a south−north axis of ∼1000 km. Four anthocyanidin xylosides and ...14 flavonol glycosides were tentatively identified by means of HPLC−ESI-MS. Twenty-five major flavonoids were quantified by HPLC−DAD. The averages (±standard deviation) in the contents of anthocyanins and flavonols were 1425 ± 398 and 1133 ± 290 mg/100 g of dry weight, respectively. The most abundant anthocyanidin was malvidin, followed by delphinidin, petunidin, cyanidin, and peonidin. Quercetin was the major flavonol, followed by myricetin, laricitrin, syringetin, and isorhamnetin. Anthocyanins were mostly glucosides, whereas flavonols were mainly conjugated to galactose. The anthocyanin content in the berries from the south was the lowest. The delphinidin content was the highest but the proportion of malvidin the lowest in the north. The total flavonol content and the level of myricetin and quercetin were the highest in the north.
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Context. High levels of circulating retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4) and baseline expression of adipogenic genes correlate with subsequent improvement in insulin sensitivity following ...Thiazolidinedione (TZD) treatment.
Objective. The aim was to identify baseline characteristics and early changes related to TZD treatment that could predict a good treatment response.
Design. Subjects were examined with oral glucose tolerance test, intravenous glucose tolerance test, hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp, body composition and standard blood sampling at baseline and after 4 and 12 weeks treatment. Subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies were taken from the abdominal region at baseline, after 3 days and 4 weeks treatment to examine the gene expression profile.
Setting. Research laboratory in a University hospital.
Participants. Ten newly diagnosed and previously untreated type 2 diabetic subjects were treated with pioglitazone for 3 months.
Main outcome measures. Baseline characteristics and early changes related to TZD treatment that could predict the response after 3 months.
Results. Pioglitazone improved insulin sensitivity after 4 weeks combined with lower glucose and insulin levels without any change in BMI. It was accompanied by lower circulating resistin and plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 levels rapidly increased levels of circulating total and high molecular weight adiponectin as well as adiponectin and adipocyte fatty acid‐binding protein (aP2) mRNA expression in the adipose tissue. High levels of circulating RBP4 at baseline and adipose tissue expression of aP2, proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC‐1α) and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP‐2) predicted a good treatment response measured as improvement in insulin‐stimulated whole‐body glucose uptake after 3 months.
Conclusions. Circulating levels of RBP4 as an index of insulin sensitivity and mRNA levels of adipogenic genes correlate with the subsequent improvement in insulin sensitivity following TZD treatment.
Decreased expression of the peroxisomal proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha gene (PPARGC1A) is found in patients with type 2 diabetes, and variants in this gene have been linked ...with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, we investigated the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms in PPARGC1A on body composition and glucose tolerance and on insulin sensitivity and secretion.
Non-diabetic offspring (n=156, age 34.9+/-0.5 years mean+/-SEM, BMI 26.2+/-0.4 kg/m2) underwent an OGTT and an IVGTT and the hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp. The promoter and coding regions of PPARGC1A were sequenced.
Two haplotype blocks in PPARGC1A were observed, one in the promoter region (G-1774A, A-1679G, T-1422C, A-1278G, C-543A) and one in the coding region and 3' regions (Thr394Thr, Asp475Asp, Gly482Ser, Thr528Thr, Thr612Met, G+2381A). The coding region haplotype carrying the rare allele in codons 482 and 528 was associated with elevated glucose levels in an OGTT (p=0.024, adjusted for age, sex and BMI) and a haplotype carrying the rare alleles in codons 394 and 475 was associated with low BMI (p=0.033), high rates of whole-body glucose uptake (p=0.045) and low glucose levels in the OGTT (p=0.037).
We conclude that PPARGC1A is likely to contribute to the risk of diabetes in offspring of patients with type 2 diabetes.
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