Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 8 Articles
Background\r\nDown syndrome (DS) neurons are more susceptible to oxidative stress and previous studies have shown that vitamin E was able to reduce oxidative stress and improve DS neurons'' viability. Therefore, this study was done to investigate the protective role of ?-tocotrienol (?T3) in DS neurons from hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) -induced oxidative stress. The pro-apoptosis tendency of ?T3 was compared to a-tocopherol (aT) in non-stress condition as well.\r\nMethods\r\nPrimary culture of DS and euploid neurons were divided into six groups of treatment: control, H2O2, ?T3 pre-treatment with H2O2, ?T3 only, aT pre-treatment with H2O2 and aT only. The treatments were assessed by MTS assay and apoptosis assay by single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) apoptosis ELISA assay, Hoechst and Neu-N immunofluorescence staining. The cellular uptake of ?T3 and aT was determined by HPLC while protein expressions were determined by Western blot. Comparison between groups was made by the Student''s t test, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni adjustment as well as two-way ANOVA for multiple comparisons.\r\nResults\r\nOne day incubation of ?T3 was able to reduced apoptosis of DS neurons by 10%, however ?T3 was cytotoxic at longer incubation period (14 days) and at concentrations = 100 �µM. Pre-treatment of aT and ?T3 only attenuate apoptosis and increase cell viability in H2O2-treated DS and euploid neurons by 10% in which the effects were minimal to maintain most of the DS cells'' morphology. ?T3 act as a free radical scavenger by reducing ROS generated by H2O2. In untreated controls, DS neurons showed lower Bcl-2/Bax ratio and p53 expression compared to normal neurons, while cPKC and PKC-d expressions were higher in DS neurons. On the other hand, pre-treatment of ?T3 in H2O2-treated DS neurons have reduced Bcl-2/Bax ratio, which was not shown in euploid neurons. This suggests that pre-treatment of ?T3 did not promote DS cell survival. Meanwhile ?T3 and aT treatments without H2O2 as well as pre-treatment of ?T3 and aT induced changes in cPKC and PKC-d expression in DS neurons suggesting interaction of ?T3 and aT with PKC activity.\r\nConclusion\r\nOur study suggests that ?T3 pre-treatment are not sufficient to protect DS neurons from H2O2-induced oxidative assault, instead induced the apoptosis process....
Background: High dietary calcium (Ca) is reported to have anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties. Evidence\r\nfor these properties of dietary Ca in animal models of polygenic obesity have been confounded by the inclusion of\r\ndairy food components in experimental diets; thus, effect of Ca per se could not be deciphered. Furthermore,\r\npotential anti-inflammatory actions of Ca in vivo could not be dissociated from reduced adiposity.\r\nMethods: We characterized adiposity along with metabolic and inflammatory phenotypes in diet-induced obese\r\n(DIO) mice fed 1 of 3 high fat diets (45% energy) for 12 wk: control (n = 29), high-Ca (n = 30), or high-Ca + nonfat\r\ndry milk (NFDM) (n = 30).\r\nResults: Mice fed high-Ca + NFDM had reduced body weight and adiposity compared to high-Ca mice (P <\r\n0.001). Surprisingly, the high-Ca mice had increased adiposity compared to lower-Ca controls (P < 0.001).\r\nHyperphagia and increased feed efficiency contributed to obesity development in high-Ca mice, in contrast to\r\nNFDM mice that displayed significantly reduced weight gain despite higher energy intake compared to controls\r\n(P < 0.001). mRNA markers of macrophages (e.g., CD68, CD11d) strongly correlated with body weight in all diet\r\ntreatment groups, and most treatment differences in WAT inflammatory factor mRNA abundances were lost when\r\ncontrolling for body weight gain as a covariate.\r\nConclusions: The results indicate that high dietary Ca is not sufficient to dampen obesity-related phenotypes in\r\nDIO mice, and in fact exacerbates weight gain and hyperphagia. The data further suggest that putative anti-obesity\r\nproperties of dairy emanate from food components beyond Ca....
Milk is considered the most nutritious natural fluid. Milk from livestock provides a nearly ideal food for humans of all ages. Thus, effective education is a foremost policy in enabling the public to become adequately cognizant of the health implications of milk especially from less-known species. The objective is to describe nutritional and health implications of milk produced by camel, equidae, and yak. Camel milk has about 11.7% total solids, 3.5% protein, 4.5% fat, 0.8% ash, and 4.4% lactose. Camel milk has greater Na, K, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, niacin and vitamin-C, and relatively lower thiamin, riboflavin, folate, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, vitamin-A, lysine and tryptophan than cow milk. Camel milk is more similar to goat milk and contains less short-chain fatty acids than cow and buffalo milks. An emphasis is being increasingly placed on jenny and mare milks as nearly optimal substitutes for human and cow milks. Jenny and mare milks are very similar with low fat (1.1-1.3%), total solids (8-10%) and protein (1.5-1.8%), and high lactose (6-7%). Jenny milk protein is asonably high in lactose, �Ÿ-lactoglobulins, and peptidebound and essential amino acids. Equidae milk immunoglobulins inhibit Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, has high quality proteins and very low fat and cholesterol. Equidae milk can alleviate allergies in very young infants and the elderly. Yak milk contains 16.9-17.7% solids, 4.9-5.3% protein, 5.5-7.2% fat, 4.5-5.0% lactose, and 0.8-0.9% minerals. Colloidal and soluble calcium and phosphorus make yak milk highly suitable for cheese making. Yak milk fat obtained at very high altitudes is richer in polyunsaturated fatty acids and conjugated linoleioc fatty acids. As a result, yak cheese and dairy products have value-added nutraceutical functions. With the important nutritional and health implications of equidae, camel and yak milks highlighted, systematic education must persistently continue to enable sufficient and efficient use of such non-cow milks by humans worldwide....
Background: Many older adults are at increased risk for nutritional deficiencies and food borne illnesses. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a user-friendly computer application that provides nutrition, food safety, and health information tailored to the needs of older adults.\r\nMethods: To determine the effectiveness of the program, a 12-month intervention study was conducted in which subjects were assigned to an experimental (HE-HA) group (access to the computer program) or a control (CON) group (no access to computer program). Computers were placed in each of two Vermont rural congregate meal sites. One site served as the HE-HA group site and the other as the CON site. Forty-one adults congregate meal users (HE-HA group: n=16; CON group: n=25) age = 55, were recruited to participate in the study. The Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist, food behavior checklist, and computer attitude surveys were completed by participants at baseline, 3, and 12 months. Focus groups were conducted between 8 and 9 months. Between and within group over time differences were statistically analyzed by Chi-square analyses and repeated measures ANOVA.\r\nResults and Conclusions: A significant positive impact of our program was noted on fruit and vegetable consumption (p < 0.005) and attitude regarding use of computers (p < 0.02). Focus group results indicated that all HE-HA participants claimed to have changed at least one aspect of his/her diet and that the Website contributed to this positive change. They also noted that the help of the ââ?¬Å?peer mentorsââ?¬Â was a significant factor in their positive experience with using the Web application and with the use of computers in general. In this study, we demonstrated the successful use of a nutrition and health computer application in improving both nutrition behavior and computer skills and attitudes in older adults....
Background: Studies of the efficacy of vitamin C treatment for fatigue have yielded inconsistent results. One of\r\nthe reasons for this inconsistency could be the difference in delivery routes. Therefore, we planned a clinical trial\r\nwith intravenous vitamin C administration.\r\nMethods: We evaluated the effect of intravenous vitamin C on fatigue in office workers. A group of 141 healthy\r\nvolunteers, aged 20 to 49 years participated in this randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. The trial\r\ngroup received 10 grams of vitamin C with normal saline intravenously, while the placebo group received normal\r\nsaline only. Since vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant, oxidative stress was measured. Fatigue score, oxidative\r\nstress, and plasma vitamin C levels were measured before intervention, and again two hours and one day after\r\nintervention. Adverse events were monitored.\r\nResults: The fatigue scores measured at two hours after intervention and one day after intervention were\r\nsignificantly different between the two groups (p = 0.004); fatigue scores decreased in the vitamin C group after\r\ntwo hours and remained lower for one day. Trial also led to higher plasma vitamin C levels and lower oxidative\r\nstress compared to the placebo group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). When data analysis was refined by\r\ndividing each group into high-baseline and low-baseline subgroups, it was observed that fatigue was reduced in\r\nthe lower baseline vitamin C level group after two hours and after one day (p = 0.004). The same did not hold for\r\nthe higher baseline group (p = 0.206).\r\nConclusion: Thus, intravenous vitamin C reduced fatigue at two hours, and the effect persisted for one day. There\r\nwere no significant differences in adverse events between two groups. High dose intravenous vitamin C proved to\r\nbe safe and effective against fatigue in this study....
Dietary protein intake and specifically the quality of the protein in the diet has become an area of recent interest.\r\nThis study determined the relationship between the amount of quality protein, carbohydrate, and dietary fat\r\nconsumed and the amount of times the ~10 g essential amino acid (EAA) threshold was reached at a meal, with\r\npercent central abdominal fat (CAF). Quality protein was defined as the ratio of EAA to total dietary protein. Quality\r\nprotein consumed in a 24-hour period and the amount of times reaching the EAA threshold per day was inversely\r\nrelated to percent CAF, but not for carbohydrate or dietary fat. In conclusion, moderate to strong correlations\r\nbetween variables indicate that quality and distribution of protein may play an important role in regulating CAF,\r\nwhich is a strong independent marker for disease and mortality....
Background: Undernutrition is a problem in institutional care, where 20ââ?¬â??46% of all inpatients are classified as being ââ?¬Å?at nutritional riskââ?¬Â. This study explores the prevalence of undernutrition risk and overweight/obesity and the targeting of nutritional care in relation to undernutrition risk among inpatients in southwestern Saudi Arabia.\r\n Methods: A cross-sectional, point prevalence study was carried out in a Central hospital in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The subjects were inpatients, over the age of 18 who had their nutritional status assessed. Moderate/high undernutrition risk was defined as the occurrence of at least two of: weight loss, low BMI, and/or eating difficulties. Overweight/obesity was graded by using Caucasian and Asian cut-offs for BMI.\r\n Results: Out of 219 patients 166 (76%) agreed to participate (106 men and 60 women) with a significantly higher drop-out among women (n=35, 37% vs. men n=18, 14%). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of moderate/high undernutrition risk between men and women (40% vs. 38%) but more women (29% or 40%, depending on cut-off) than men (10% or 23%) were obese. Among patients at moderate/high undernutrition risk, more women (61%) than men (31%) were served small portions.\r\n Conclusions: There is a need to increase awareness about nutrition among nurses, to implement nutritional guidelines and to do more research regarding overweight/obesity among the female population. Motivational strategies need to be developed to focus on increasing the Saudi female participation in research....
Objectives: Plethora of studies had described a global widespread vitamin D inadequacy. Studies have established that the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is unexpectedly high in the Middle East. We aimed to determine the prevalence and the risk factors of vitamin D deficiency in Nazareth- Hospital Employees and Arab Football League.\r\n Design: Population-based cross-sectional study was performed on 367 apparently healthy employees and 40 control football players. Serum levels of 25(OH)D, parathyroid hormone, calcium, phosphate and Body mass index were measured in summer. The LIAISONÃ?® 25 OH vitamin D assay uses immunoassay (CLIA) technology. Studentââ?¬â?¢s t test, Pearson r and one way ANOVA were used.\r\n Results: Unexpectedly vitamin D deficiency was diagnosed on the basis of laboratory values in 91% of the hospital employees and in 72.5% of the football players (25(OH)D <30 ng/ml). The frequencies of deficiency (<20 ng /ml), insufficiency (20ââ?¬â??30 ng/ml), and sufficiency (>30 ng/ml), were (59%, 32% and 9%) for employees and (25%, 47.5% and 27.5%) for players respectively. PTH and BMI results were 60pg/ml and 26kg/m2 for the employees and 38pg/ ml and 23kg/m2 for the players respectively. Comparing vitamin D, PTH values among Hospital employees versus football players the levels of vitamin D were significantly lower among hospital employees, whereas, the levels of PTH were significantly higher [(p<0.001 (95% CI -8.27 to -2.469) and [(p<0.0001) 95% CI 10.15 to 23.9)], respectively. The hospital employeesââ?¬â?¢ correlation between (PTH and vitamin 5 D) and (BMI and vitamin D) were (r = -0.17; 95% CI -0.273 to -0.061, p=0.002) and (r = -0.2; 95% CI -0.3 to -0.09, p<0.001) respectively.\r\n Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem even in sunny climate. Long term strategies to address this issue should include public education, national health policies through food fortification, and vitamin D supplementation. Reappraisal of the range of the vitamin D level worldwide is warranted, and the need for reliable cutoff criteria to describe vitamin D deficiency is required....
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