Rapid stimulation of liver palmitoyl-CoA synthetase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase and glycerophosphate acyltransferase compared to peroxisomal beta-oxidation and palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase in rats fed high-fat diets

Key enzymes involved in oxidation and esterification of long-chain fatty acids were investigated in male rats fed different types and amounts of oil in their diet. A diet with 20% (w/w) fish oil, partially hydrogenated fish oil (PHFO) and partially hydrogenated soybean oil (PHSO) was shown to stimulate the mitochondrial and microsomal palmitoyl-CoA synthetase activity (EC 6.2.1.3) compared to soybean oil-fed animals after 1 week of feeding. Rapeseed oil had no effect. Partially hydrogenated oils in the diet resulted in significantly higher levels of mitochondrial glycerophosphate acyltransferase compared to unhydrogenated oils in the diet. Rats fed 20% (w/w) rapeseed oil had a decreased activity of this mitochondrial enzyme, whereas the microsomal glycerophosphate acyltransferase activity was stimulated to a comparable extent with 20% (w/w) rapeseed oil, fish oil or PHFO in the diet. Increasing the amount of PHFO (from 5 to 25% (w/w)) in the diet for 3 days led to increased mitochondrial and microsomal palmitoyl-CoA synthetase and microsomal glycerophosphate acyltransferase activities with 5% of this oil in the diet. The mitochondrial glycerophosphate acyltransferase was only marginally affected by increasing the oil dose. Administration of 20% (w/w) PHFO increased rapidly the mitochondrial and microsomal palmitoyl-CoA synthetase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase and microsomal glycerophosphate acyltransferase activities almost to their maximum value within 36 h. In contrast, the glycerophosphate acyltransferase and palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase (EC 3.1.2.2) activities of the mitochondrial fraction and the peroxisomal beta-oxidation reached their maximum activities after administration of the dietary oil for 6.5 days. This sequence of enzyme changes (a) is in accordance with the proposal that an increased cellular level of long-chain acyl-CoA species act as metabolic messages for induction of peroxisomal beta-oxidation and palmitoyl-CoA hydrolase, i.e., these enzymes are regulated by a substrate-induced mechanism, and (b) indicates that, with PHFO, a greater part of the activated fatty acids are directed from triacylglycerol esterification and hydrolysis towards oxidation in the mitochondria. It is also conceivable that the mitochondrial beta-oxidation is proceeding before the enhancement of peroxisomal beta-oxidation.     

Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in addition to primary PCI in patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Introduction

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) can cause great haemodynamic instability. Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) can provide haemodynamic support in patients with STEMI but data on outcome and complications are scarce.

Methods

An in-hospital registry was conducted enrolling all patients receiving VA-ECMO. Patients were analysed for medical history, mortality, neurological outcome, complications and coronary artery disease.

Results

Between 2011 and 2016, 12 patients underwent pPCI for STEMI and received VA-ECMO for haemodynamic support. The majority of the patients were male (10/12) with a median age of 63 (47–75) years and 4 of the 12 patients had a history of coronary artery disease. A cardiac arrest was witnessed in 11 patients. The left coronary artery was compromised in 8 patients and 4 had right coronary artery disease. All patients were in Killip class IV. Survival to discharge was 67% (8/12), 1?year survival was 42% (5/12), 2 patients have not yet reached the 1?year survival point but are still alive and 1 patient died within a year after discharge. All-cause mortality was 42% (5/12) of which mortality on ECMO was 33% (4/12). Patient-related complications occurred in 6 of the 12 patients: 1 patient suffered major neurological impairment, 2 patients suffered haemorrhage at the cannula site, 2 patients had limb ischaemia and 1 patient had a haemorrhage elsewhere. There were no VA-ECMO hardware malfunctions.

Conclusion

VA-ECMO in pPCI for STEMI has a high survival rate and neurological outcome is good, even when the patient is admitted with a cardiac arrest.

     

Obesity in Adolescence Predicts Lower Educational Attainment and Income in Adulthood: The Project EAT Longitudinal Study

Objective

Prospective associations between obesity in adolescence and adult socioeconomic outcomes, and potential mediators, were examined in a contemporary cohort.

Methods

Longitudinal data collected in 1998 to 1999 (Project EAT‐I) and 2015 to 2016 (EAT‐IV) were analyzed for 1,796 participants who provided data at both time points. Adolescents (mean age = 14.8 years) self‐reported demographic and psychosocial variables (EAT‐I) and follow‐up outcomes (EAT‐IV). Body weight and height were directly measured. Bachelor's degree or more education, income ≥ US $50,000, and partnered status at follow‐up were examined by baseline obesity (>95th BMI percentile) using logistic regression. Self‐esteem, depression, and weight‐related teasing were examined as mediators using multivariate probit regressions. All analyses were adjusted for race, baseline age, and parent socioeconomic status.

Results

Girls with obesity were significantly less likely to have achieved a bachelor’s degree (OR 0.32, 95% CI [0.18, 0.58]; P < 0.001), earn ≥ $50,000 annually (OR 0.57, 95% CI [0.33, 0.99]; P < 0.04), or be partnered (OR 0.45, 95% CI [0.27, 0.75]; P < 0.002) in adulthood. No associations were observed among boys. Among girls, depression mediated 8.5% and 23.6% of the association between adolescent obesity and adult education and income, respectively.

Conclusions

Adolescent girls with obesity have lower educational attainment and income and are less likely to be partnered in later adulthood. Depression may partly mediate the associations.

     

Analytical validation of a prognostic prostate cancer gene expression assay using formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue

Background

There is a clear need for assays that can predict the risk of metastatic prostate cancer following curative procedures. Importantly these assays must be analytically robust in order to provide quality data for important clinical decisions. DNA microarray based gene expression assays measure several analytes simultaneously and can present specific challenges to analytical validation. This study describes the analytical validation of one such assay designed to predict metastatic recurrence in prostate cancer using primary formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumour material.

Methods

Accuracy was evaluated with a method comparison study between the assay development platform (Prostate Disease Specific Array) and an alternative platform (Xcel? microarray) using 50 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded prostate cancer patient samples. An additional 70 samples were used to establish the assay reportable range. Determination of assay precision and sensitivity was performed on multiple technical replicates of three prostate cancer samples across multiple variables (operators, days, runs, reagent lots, and equipment) and RNA/cDNA inputs respectively using the appropriate linear mixed model.

Results

The overall agreement between the development and alternative platform was 94.7% (95% confidence interval, 86.9–98.5%). The reportable range was determined to be 0.150 to 1.107 for core needle biopsy samples and???0.214 to 0.844 for radical prostatectomy samples. From the precision study, the standard deviations for assay repeatability and reproducibility were 0.032 and 0.040 respectively. The sensitivity study demonstrated that a total RNA input and cDNA input of 50?ng and 3.5?μg respectively was conservative.

Conclusion

The Metastatic Assay was found to be highly reproducible and precise. In conclusion the studies demonstrated an acceptable analytical performance for the assay and support its potential use in the clinic.

     

Life cycle inventory modeling of phosphorus substitution,losses and crop uptake after land application of organic waste products

Purpose

Life cycle assessments (LCAs) that attempt to provide advice on treatment options for phosphorus (P) containing organic waste products encounter problems related to the quantification of mineral P fertilizer substitution, P loss and crop P uptake after land application. The purpose of this study was to develop a relatively easy to use life cycle inventory model, known as PLCI, that could be used to estimate these values.

Methods

A life cycle inventory model for P was developed, which estimates the effect of an application of organic waste followed by ordinary fertilizer management in the modeling period. This was compared with a simulation without the initial waste application. The difference in mineral P fertilizer application (substitution), P loss and crop P uptake was then calculated and expressed as a proportion of the amount of waste applied. As an example, the effect of an initial application of mineral fertilizer, sewage sludge and ash on two farm types was simulated. These results were applied in an LCA case study of different sewage sludge treatment options.

Results and discussion

Farm type influenced the P fertilizer substitution, loss and crop uptake factors. The application on an arable farm showed a substitution of 28 to 31%, relatively low P loss and a large spread in crop P uptake for the different P sources, compared with the pig farm. Application on a pig farm showed no mineral P substitution. For substitution, mineral fertilizer outperformed waste product fertilizer with a short modeling period, due to higher immediate P availability, which was not the case with a long period. The LCA case study showed that the P substitution factor had an influence on the environmental impact categories climate change and depletion of reserve-based abiotic resources while the P loss factor influenced freshwater eutrophication. Application of the P loss and substitution factors generated from the PLCI model resulted in higher environmental burdens and lower savings than using conventional factors.

Conclusions

The soil P status mainly affected P substitution and loss, with the fertilizer type only having a small influence when soils had a low P status. The PLCI model can facilitate more coherent and rigorous estimates of P substitution and loss to be used in LCA studies involving application of waste products on agricultural land. This is important since P substitution and loss can have an important influence on impact categories, such as freshwater eutrophication and resource depletion.

     

A multi-criteria approach for the selection of efficient biocontrol agents against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Botrytis cinerea</Emphasis> on tomato in Algeria

In order to find biocontrol agents that are both efficient against Botrytis cinerea Pers. and adapted to tomato growing conditions in Algeria, 121 bacterial strains were collected from tomato plants and nearby soils in two Bejaia greenhouses. A total of 37 strains were selected based on their ability to grow on agar medium and on their different level of B. cinerea mycelial growth inhibition in dual-culture tests. These strains were identified at the species level and those that corresponded to potential pathogens for humans or mammals were discarded. Among the remaining 25 candidates, three strains were selected among the Pseudomonas genus for their significant protective efficacy against B. cinerea on tomato, their ability to grow at 15–25 °C and their inability to grow at 37 °C. These three strains significantly reduced the development of necrotic lesion and the sporulation of B. cinerea in a dose-dependent manner. This study constitutes a first step towards the biological control of B. cinerea in tomato greenhouses in Algeria.     

Hatching Knowledge: A Case Study on the Hybridization of Local Ecological Knowledge and Scientific Knowledge in Small-Scale Atlantic Salmon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo salar</Emphasis>) Cultivation in Norway

We investigate drivers of hybridization of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and scientific knowledge (SK) in small-scale Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fisheries in western Norway through a case study from the Ørsta River. We find three primary drivers of knowledge hybridization in local fishing groups as part of wild Atlantic salmon cultivation activities: facilitating intergenerational knowledge exchange, coping with regulatory change, and improving the perceived validity of local knowledge sets. We also identify three challenges to knowledge hybridization, and discuss how both drivers and challenges relate to once complementary SK and LEK sets that have diverged as SK has become more technical and complex. We examine the processes by which LEK and SK develop, evolve, and are used to facilitate wild salmon conservation in these fisheries and discuss the role hatcheries can play adapting and utilizing large-scale SK and salmon policy to the local environment through hybridization processes. We conclude with recommendations as to how reframing managerial views on hatcheries as facilitators of knowledge production and transfer may improve both the accessibility of SK to local communities and the integration of LEK into Norwegian wild salmon management.