Association between Dietary Fiber Intake and Physical Performance in Older Adults: A Nationwide Study in Taiwan

Background

Physical performance is a major determinant of health in older adults, and is related to lifestyle factors. Dietary fiber has multiple health benefits. It remains unclear whether fiber intake is independently linked to superior physical performance. We aimed to assess the association between dietary fiber and physical performance in older adults.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study conducted with community-dwelling adults aged 55 years and older (n=2680) from the ongoing Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study (HALST) in Taiwan 2008-2010. Daily dietary fiber intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Physical performance was determined objectively by measuring gait speed, 6-minute walk distance, timed “up and go” (TUG), summary performance score, hand grip strength.

Results

Adjusting for all potential confounders, participants with higher fiber intake had significantly faster gait speed, longer 6-minute walk distance, faster TUG, higher summary performance score, and higher hand grip strength (all P <.05). Comparing with the highest quartile of fiber intake, the lowest quartile of fiber intake was significantly associated with the lowest sex-specific quartile of gait speed (adjusted OR, 2.18 in men [95% CI, 1.33-3.55] and 3.65 in women [95% CI, 2.20-6.05]), 6-minute walk distance (OR, 2.40 in men [95% CI, 1.38-4.17] and 4.32 in women [95% CI, 2.37-7.89]), TUG (OR, 2.42 in men [95% CI, 1.43-4.12] and 3.27 in women [95% CI, 1.94-5.52]), summary performance score (OR, 2.12 in men [95% CI, 1.19-3.78] and 5.47 in women [95% CI, 3.20-9.35]), and hand grip strength (OR, 2.64 in men [95% CI, 1.61-4.32] and 4.43 in women [95% CI, 2.62-7.50]).

Conclusions

Dietary fiber intake was independently associated with better physical performance.     

Sex-specific genetic architecture of human fatness in Chinese: the SAPPHIRe Study

To dissect the genetic architecture of sexual dimorphism in obesity-related traits, we evaluated the sex–genotype interaction, sex-specific heritability and genome-wide linkages for seven measurements related to obesity. A total of 1,365 non-diabetic Chinese subjects from the family study of the Stanford Asia–Pacific Program of Hypertension and Insulin Resistance were used to search for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for the obesity-related traits. Pleiotropy and co-incidence effects from the QTLs were also examined using the bivariate linkage approach. We found that sex-specific differences in heritability and the genotype–sex interaction effects were substantially significant for most of these traits. Several QTLs with strong linkage evidence were identified after incorporating genotype by sex (G × S) interactions into the linkage mapping, including one QTL for hip circumference [maximum LOD score (MLS) = 4.22, empirical p = 0.000033] and two QTLs: for BMI on chromosome 12q with MLS 3.37 (empirical p = 0.0043) and 3.10 (empirical p = 0.0054). Sex-specific analyses demonstrated that these linkage signals all resulted from females rather than males. Most of these QTLs for obesity-related traits replicated the findings in other ethnic groups. Bivariate linkage analyses showed several obesity traits were influenced by a common set of QTLs. All regions with linkage signals were observed in one gender, but not in the whole sample, suggesting the genetic architecture of obesity-related traits does differ by gender. These findings are useful for further identification of the liability genes for these phenotypes through candidate genes or genome-wide association analysis.     

Malignant transformation of hamster cells following infection with bovine herpesvirus (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus.

Hamster embryo cells, following infection with IBR virus, showed malignant transformation. Hamsters of all ages, inbred or random bred, inoculated with two of the transformed cell lines developed solid tumors. Preliminary characterization of the tumors induced by one of the cell lines has indicated undifferentiated sarcomas. Viral specific antigen was detected in about 5% of the transformed cells and 10% of primary tumor cells in culture. Viral specific antibody was detected in the serum of tumor-bearing hamsters by the indirect immunofluorescent method, but no neutralizing antibodies were found. Infectious virus has not been recovered from either the transformed or tumor cells by cocultivation with bovine embryonic kidney cells.     

Spotlight: Assembly of protein complexes by integrating graph clustering methods

As is generally assumed, clusters in protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks perform specific, crucial functions in biological systems. Various network community detection methods have been developed to exploit PPI networks in order to identify protein complexes and functional modules. Due to the potential role of various regulatory modes in biological networks, a single method may just apply a single graph property and neglect communities highlighted by other network properties.     

生态系统工程与现代混农林业生产体系

当今世界面临着人口剧增,能源短缺和环境恶化等危机。在第三世界人口飞速增长,耕地需求扩大,毁林种粮,弃林从牧的问题十分严重,引起土壤肥力衰退,水土流失,气候失调,环境恶化,从而阻碍了农牧业的发展。为了保护森林,维护环境,解决农林、牧林业之间的矛盾,有效的途径就是将农、林、牧业有机地结合起来,建立林-农复合生态系统。因而发展农林业在国际上受到充分重视,早于1977年就成立了国际农林业研究中心(ICRAF),推动农林业的研究与生产。我国对农林业的研究与推广近年来也有长足的发展。预计农林业将成为现代农业和林业的发展趋势之一。为此,我们请南京林业大学熊文愈教授和姜志林教授负责组稿、审稿和修改论文,共汇集农林业的论文16篇。这些论文部分反映了当前我国农林业的理论研究工作和实际生产经验。现经本刊编辑,计划作为农林业专题在本刊分四期刊出,以引起广大读者对农林业的重视。在此我们对熊文愈和姜志林二位教授的积极支持表示衷心的感谢。     

Slingshot cofilin phosphatase localization is regulated by receptor tyrosine kinases and regulates cytoskeletal structure in the developing Drosophila eye

Animal development requires that positional information act on the genome to control cell fate and cell shape. The primary determinant of animal cell shape is the cytoskeleton and thus the mechanisms by which extracellular signals influence the cytoskeleton are crucial for morphogenesis. In the developing Drosophila compound eye, localized polymerization of actin functions to constrict the apical surface of epithelial cells, both at the morphogenetic furrow and later to maintain the coherence of the nascent ommatidia. As elsewhere, actin polymerization in the developing eye is regulated by ADF/cofilin ('Twinstar', or 'Tsr' in Drosophila), which is activated by Slingshot (Ssh), a cofilin phosphatase. Here we show that Ssh does act in the developing eye to limit actin polymerization in the assembling ommatidia, but not in the morphogenetic furrow. While Ssh does control cell shape, surprisingly there are no direct or immediate consequences for cell type. Ssh protein becomes apically concentrated in cells that express elevated levels of the Sevenless (Sev) receptor-tyrosine kinase (RTK), even those which receive no ligand. We interpret this as a non-signal driven, RTK-dependent localization of Ssh to allow for locally increased actin filament turnover. We suggest that there are two modes of actin remodeling in the developing eye: a non-RTK, non-Ssh mediated mechanism in the morphogenetic furrow, and an RTK and Ssh-dependent mode during ommatidial assembly.     

Immobilization of rat erythrocytes for aflatoxicol production

Summary A modified procedure for preparing alginate gel was developed and used to entrap rat erythrocytes. The immobilized erythrocytes showed high enzyme activity for the reduction of aflatoxin B₁ to aflatoxicol. The production of aflatoxicol from aflatoxin B₁ by immobilized erythrocytes was studied for over 3 weeks and the half-life of such a preparation was shown to be about 10 days. The immobilized erythrocytes can be repeatedly used at 37° C for the batch-wise mode of aflatoxicol production without substantial loss of enzyme activity. Haemolysis of immobilized erythrocytes was not observed upon prolonged storage at 4° C. As compared with free erythrocytes, the immobilized erythrocytes were more temperature resistant at 40° C incubation.Part of this work was presented on ROC-Japan Seminar on Applied Microbiology and Enzymology held in Taipei, Republic of China, on March 8, 1984     

Signals of seminal vesicle autoantigen suppresses bovine serum albumin-induced capacitation in mouse sperm

Capacitation is the prerequisite process for sperm to gain the ability for successful fertilization. Unregulated capacitation will cause sperm to undergo a spontaneous acrosome reaction and then fail to fertilize an egg. Seminal plasma is thought to have the ability to suppress sperm capacitation. However, the mechanisms by which seminal proteins suppress capacitation have not been well understood. Recently, we demonstrated that a major seminal vesicle secretory protein, seminal vesicle autoantigen (SVA), is able to suppress bovine serum albumin (BSA)-induced mouse sperm capacitation. To further identify the mechanism of SVA action, we determine the molecular events associated with SVA suppression of BSA's activity. In this communication, we demonstrate that SVA suppresses the BSA-induced increase of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i), intracellular pH (pH(i)), the cAMP level, PKA activity, protein tyrosine phosphorylation, and capacitation in mouse sperm. Besides, we also found that the suppression ability of SVA against BSA-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation and capacitation could be reversed by dbcAMP (a cAMP agonist).