Straarupkarlsson2266

As CJNL's editor for policy and innovation, I was asked to serve as guest editor for this issue, and it has been my privilege to do so. Copyright © 2019 Longwoods Publishing.Type 2 diabetes, which is caused by both genetic and environmental factors, may be diagnosed using the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Recent studies demonstrated specific patterns in glucose curves during OGTT associated with cardiometabolic risk profiles. As the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences on glucose curve patterns is unknown, we aimed to investigate the heritability of these patterns. We studied twins from the Danish GEMINAKAR cohort aged 18-67 years and free from diabetes at baseline during 1997-2000; glucose concentrations were measured three times during a 2-h OGTT. Heterogeneity of the glucose response during OGTT was examined with latent class mixed-effects models, evaluating goodness of fit by Bayes information criterion. The genetic influence on curve patterns was estimated using quantitative genetic modeling based on linear structural equations. Overall, 1455 twins (41% monozygotic) had valid glucose concentrations measured from the OGTT, and four latent classes with different glucose response patterns were identified. Statistical modeling demonstrated genetic influence for belonging to a specific class or not, with heritability estimated to be between 45% and 67%. During ∼12 years of follow-up, the four classes were each associated with different incidence of type 2 diabetes. Hence, glucose response curve patterns associated with type 2 diabetes risk appear to be moderately to highly heritable.Marine angelfish (family Pomacanthidae) are among the most sought-after fish species in the saltwater aquarium trade. However, there is a lack of information in the literature on their early ontogeny. The objective of this study was to describe the embryonic and early larval development of two dwarf angelfish, the bicolour angelfish, Centropyge bicolor and the coral beauty angelfish, Centropyge bispinosa. The eggs of these two species were obtained from spontaneous spawning of the broodstock fish in captivity and incubated at 26.0 ± 0.2°C throughout the study. Fertilized eggs (n = 15) of both species are transparent, pelagic and spherical; the mean diameters of the eggs were measured at 703.6 ± 7.8 μm for C. bicolor and 627.6 ± 7.8 μm for C. bispinosa. The eggs of both species possessed a narrow perivitelline space, smooth and thin chorion, a homogenous and non-segmented yolk as well as a single oil globule. Overall, the observed embryonic development pattern of C. bicolor and C. G Protein agonist bispinosa was very similar, and the main difference was the embryonic pigmentation pattern, which only became evident close to hatching. Larvae of both species started hatching at 13 h 30 min after fertilization, and the larval characteristics of both species also showed high levels of similarities. However, the mouth opening time for C. bicolor was 72 h after hatching (AH) and 96 AH for C. bispinosa. In general, the observed early ontogeny of C. bicolor and C. bispinosa also resembled that of other Centropyge species documented in the literature.Background Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is an organosulfur compound with known benefits for joint health, sports nutrition, immune function, and anti-aging formulations and is gaining popularity as a nutritional supplement for the support of hair, skin and nails. Methods The study was conducted in two steps; in Part I (pilot study) a panel of 20 participants ingested either 3 g a day of MSM or placebo capsules for 16 weeks. Visual and subject self assessment of wrinkles and skin texture as the predominant sign of ageing was observed. In Part II (dose-response study), 63 participants ingested either 1 g or 3 g per day of MSM for 16 weeks. Expert clinical grading, instrumental measurements and consumer perception was used to evaluate skin conditions like lines and wrinkles. Additionally, instrumentational analysis was conducted using corneometer and cutometer for investigation of skin hydration, firmness and elasticity. Results Part I of the study clearly indicates that oral ingestion of MSM (3 g/d) reduces signs of ageing like facial wrinkles (p  less then  0.05) and skin roughness (p  less then  0.05) as compared to placebo. Detailed analysis in Part II instrumentation assessments showed a significant (p  less then  0.05) improvement from baseline in the severity of facial wrinkles, as well as improved skin firmness, elasticity and hydration with MSM. Some of these parameters exhibited a good dose-response indicating that the higher (3 g/d) of the supplement was more effective than the lower dose of 1 g/d, but generally the lower dose of 1 g/d appeared to be sufficiently effective in reducing the facial signs of ageing. Conclusion This study indicated that MSM is effective in reducing visual signs of skin ageing even at a low dose of 1 g/d.Objective This study aimed to evaluate the validity of calf circumference (CC) in identifying malnourished patients and patients at nutritional risk and determine the association between CC and clinical outcomes of hospitalized patients.Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted involving patients admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary hospital in the first 48 hours of admission. Nutritional risk was determined using Nutritional Risk Screening, malnutrition was diagnosed using subjective global assessment, and CC was manually measured. Brazilian cutoff points for CC were used to identify low muscle mass. The outcomes of interest were length of emergency care and hospital stay, occurrence of infection, and death, besides nutritional risk and malnutrition.Results In total, 528 patients (52.76 ± 16.18 years; 54.6% females) were followed up for 9.0 (3.0-19.0) days; 39.6% of them had reduced CC values. The accuracy of CC in identifying patients at nutritional risk and malnourished patients was 67.7% and 54.1%, respectively. The cutoff value of 36.5 cm was highly accurate in identifying nutritional risk [AUC-ROC curve = 0.764 (95% CI 0.704-0.825) for men, and AUC-ROC curve = 0.716 (95% CI 0.659-0.774) for women]. Patients with low CC had a 1.59-fold (95% CI 1.07-2.36) greater likelihood of a long hospital stay than patients with normal CC.Conclusions Low CC values have satisfactory validity in identifying nutritional risk and are associated with long hospital stay.Cognitive neuroscience exploring the architecture of semantics has shown that coherent supramodal concepts are computed in the anterior temporal lobes (ATL), but it is unknown how/where modular information implemented by posterior cortices (word/object/face forms) is conveyed to the ATL hub. We investigated the semantic module hub network in healthy adults (n = 19) and in semantic dementia patients (n = 28) by combining semantic assessments of verbal and nonverbal stimuli and MRI-based fiber tracking using seeds in three module-related cortices implementing (i) written word forms (visual word form area), (ii) abstract lexical representations (posterior-superior temporal cortices), and (iii) face/object representations (face form area). Fiber tracking revealed three key tracts linking the ATL with the three module-related cortices. Correlation analyses between tract parameters and semantic scores indicated that the three tracts subserve semantics, transferring modular verbal or nonverbal object/face information to the left and right ATL, respectively. The module hub tracts were functionally and microstructurally damaged in semantic dementia, whereas damage to non-module-specific ATL tracts (inferior longitudinal fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus) had more limited impact on semantic failure. These findings identify major components of the white matter module hub network of semantics, and they corroborate/materialize claims of cognitive models positing direct links between modular and semantic representations. In combination with modular accounts of cognition, they also suggest that the currently prevailing "hub-and-spokes" model of semantics could be extended by incorporating an intermediate module level containing invariant representations, in addition to "spokes," which subserve the processing of a near-unlimited number of sensorimotor and speech-sound features.People with superior face recognition have relatively thin cortex in face-selective brain areas, whereas those with superior vehicle recognition have relatively thick cortex in the same areas. We suggest that these opposite correlations reflect distinct mechanisms influencing cortical thickness (CT) as abilities are acquired at different points in development. We explore a new prediction regarding the specificity of these effects through the depth of the cortex that face recognition selectively and negatively correlates with thickness of the deepest laminar subdivision in face-selective areas. With ultrahigh resolution MRI at 7T, we estimated the thickness of three laminar subdivisions, which we term "MR layers," in the right fusiform face area (FFA) in 14 adult male humans. Face recognition was negatively associated with the thickness of deep MR layers, whereas vehicle recognition was positively related to the thickness of all layers. Regression model comparisons provided overwhelming support for a model specifying that the magnitude of the association between face recognition and CT differs across MR layers (deep vs. superficial/middle) whereas the magnitude of the association between vehicle recognition and CT is invariant across layers. The total CT of right FFA accounted for 69% of the variance in face recognition, and thickness of the deep layer alone accounted for 84% of this variance. Our findings demonstrate the functional validity of MR laminar estimates in FFA. Studying the structural basis of individual differences for multiple abilities in the same cortical area can reveal effects of distinct mechanisms that are not apparent when studying average variation or development.Recent evidence suggests that during numerical calculation, symbolic and nonsymbolic processing are functionally distinct operations. Nevertheless, both roughly recruit the same brain areas (spatially overlapping networks in the parietal cortex) and happen at the same time (roughly 250 msec poststimulus onset). We tested the hypothesis that symbolic and nonsymbolic processing are segregated by means of functionally relevant networks in different frequency ranges high gamma (above 50 Hz) for symbolic processing and lower beta (12-17 Hz) for nonsymbolic processing. EEG signals were quantified as participants compared either symbolic numbers or nonsymbolic quantities. Larger EEG gammaband power was observed for more difficult symbolic comparisons (ratio of 0.8 between the two numbers) than for easier comparisons (ratio of 0.2) over frontocentral regions. Similarly, beta-band power was larger for more difficult nonsymbolic comparisons than for easier ones over parietal areas. These results confirm the existence of a functional dissociation in EEG oscillatory dynamics during numerical processing that is compatible with the notion of distinct linguistic processing of symbolic numbers and approximation of nonsymbolic numerical information.