scholarly journals What is the promise of personalised nutrition?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola G. Ferrario ◽  
Bernhard Watzl ◽  
Grith Møller ◽  
Christian Ritz
Keyword(s):  
Great Promise ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Personalised Nutrition ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Modelling Approaches

Abstract Personalised nutrition (PN) is an emerging field that bears great promise. Several definitions of PN have been proposed and different modelling approaches have been used to claim PN effects. We tentatively propose to group these approaches into two categories, which we term outcome-based and population reference approaches, respectively. Understanding the fundamental differences between these two types of modelling approaches may allow a more realistic appreciation of what to expect from PN interventions presently and may be helpful for designing and planning future studies investigating PN interventions.

scholarly journals Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Jansen ◽  
Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Science ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Selective Degradation ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Holistic Approaches ◽  
Current State ◽  
Bound Lipids ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Modelling Approaches

Abstract. The application of lipids in soils as molecular proxies, also often referred to as biomarkers, has dramatically increased in the last decades. Applications range from inferring changes in past vegetation composition, climate and/or human presence to unraveling input and turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). Molecules used include extractable and ester-bound lipids as well as their carbon or hydrogen isotopic composition. While holding great promise, the application of soil lipids as molecular proxies comes with several constraining factors the most important of which are: i) variability in the molecular composition of plant-derived organic matter plant-internally and in between plant individuals; ii) variability in (relative contribution of) input pathways into the soil; and iii) transformation and/or (selective) degradation of (some of) the molecules once present in the soil. Unfortunately, the information about such constraining factors and their impact on the applicability of molecular proxies is fragmented and scattered. The purpose of this study is to provide a critical review of the current state of knowledge with respect to the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science, specifically focusing on the factors constraining such applicability. Variability in genetic, ontogenetic and environmental factors influence plant n-alkane patterns in the way that no unique compounds or specific molecular proxies pointing to e.g. plant-community differences or environmental influences, exist. Other components such as n-alcohols, n-fatty acids, cutin- and suberin-derived monomers have received far less attention in this respect. Furthermore, there is a high diversity of input pathways offering both opportunities and limitations for the use of molecular proxies at the same time. New modelling approaches might offer a possibility to unravel such mixed input signals. Finally, transformation and turnover of SOM offer opportunities when tracing such processes is the purpose of applying a molecular proxy, whilst posing limitations when they obliterate molecular proxy signals linked to other phenomena. For n-alkanes several modelling approaches have recently been developed to compensate for (selective) degradation. Still such techniques are in their infancy and information about their applicability to other classes of components than n-alkanes is lacking yet. All constraining factors considered can have a significant influence on the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science. The degree of influence strongly depends on the type of molecular proxy as well as the environmental context in which it is applied. However, the potential impact of the constraining factors should always explicitly be addressed whenever molecular proxies are applied in a soil scientific context. More importantly, there is still a serious lack of available information in particular for compound classes other than the n-alkanes. Therefore, we urgently call for the consideration of more holistic approaches determining various parameters during sampling as well as using as many compound classes as possible.

scholarly journals Immunotherapeutic Strategies for Neuroblastoma: Present, Past and Future

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Fabio Morandi ◽  
Federica Sabatini ◽  
Marina Podestà ◽  
Irma Airoldi
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Nk Cells ◽  
Adoptive Cell Therapy ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Chemotherapeutic Regimen ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
High Risk Patients ◽  
Risk Patients

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial pediatric solid tumor with a heterogeneous clinical course, ranging from spontaneous regression to metastatic disease and death, irrespective of intensive chemotherapeutic regimen. On the basis of several parameters, children affected by neuroblastoma are stratified into low, intermediate and high risk. At present, more than 50% of high-risk patients with metastatic spread display an overall poor long-term outcome also complicated by devastating long-term morbidities. Thus, novel and more effective therapies are desperately needed to improve lifespan of high-risk patients. In this regard, adoptive cell therapy holds great promise and several clinical trials are ongoing, demonstrating safety and tolerability, with no toxicities. Starting from the immunological and clinical features of neuroblastoma, we here discuss the immunotherapeutic approaches currently adopted for high-risk patients and different innovative therapeutic strategies currently under investigation. The latter are based on the infusion of natural killer (NK) cells, as support of consolidation therapy in addition to standard treatments, or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells directed against neuroblastoma associated antigens (e.g., disialoganglioside GD2). Finally, future perspectives of adoptive cell therapies represented by γδ T lymphocyes and CAR NK cells are envisaged.

scholarly journals Use of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analogs in Children: Update by an International Consortium

2019 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanthi Bangalore Krishna ◽  
John S. Fuqua ◽  
Alan D. Rogol ◽  
Karen O. Klein ◽  
Jadranka Popovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Precocious Puberty ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Pediatric Endocrinology ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Hormone Analogs

This update, written by authors designated by multiple pediatric endocrinology societies (see List of Participating Societies) from around the globe, concisely addresses topics related to changes in GnRHa usage in children and adolescents over the last decade. Topics related to the use of GnRHa in precocious puberty include diagnostic criteria, globally available formulations, considerations of benefit of treatment, monitoring of therapy, adverse events, and long-term outcome data. Additional sections review use in transgender individuals and other pediatric endocrine related conditions. Although there have been many significant changes in GnRHa usage, there is a definite paucity of evidence-based publications to support them. Therefore, this paper is explicitly not intended to evaluate what is recommended in terms of the best use of GnRHa, based on evidence and expert opinion, but rather to describe how these drugs are used, irrespective of any qualitative evaluation. Thus, this paper should be considered a narrative review on GnRHa utilization in precocious puberty and other clinical situations. These changes are reviewed not only to point out deficiencies in the literature but also to stimulate future studies and publications in this area.

scholarly journals An integrated approach to enhance the desalination process: coupling reverse osmosis process with microbial desalination cells in the UAE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarun Shivakumar ◽  
Vahid Razaviarani
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Water Desalination ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Process Studies ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Feed Inlet

Abstract The growing need for better sources of fresh water has led to water desalination become a dominant technology in the water industry, especially in arid countries like the UAE. Across the globe, Reverse Osmosis (RO) has become the key method used to desalinate seawater. Due to the high energy requirements of RO desalination, the need to reduce the energy load has become a pertinent area of research. Microbial Desalination Cells (MDCs) are an emergent technology that show great promise being integrated into the RO desalination process. Studies have shown that a significant portion of the energy utilized in RO desalination could be eliminated by using MDCs as a pretreatment process. In this study, the integration of various MDC types into the pre-treatment process for Reverse Osmosis Desalination were compared and explored. Existing MDC integration setups were briefly explained. Research was split into possible configurations for the integration. This includes optimization of key parameters such as anodic inoculum, feed inlet ratios and accompanying pretreatment processes. The limitations and challenges faced in the integration were investigated and the required future studies aligned with subject was deliberated.

An Early Developmental Marker for Radial Glia in Rat Spinal Cord

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 36-37
Author(s):  
V. Kriho ◽  
H.-Y. Yang ◽  
C.-M. Lue ◽  
N. Lieska ◽  
G. D. Pappas
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Intermediate Filament ◽  
Radial Glia ◽  
Rat Spinal Cord ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Spinal Cord Development ◽  
Median Septum ◽  
Differentiation Marker ◽  
Early Developmental ◽  
Developing Rat

Radial glia have been classically defined as those early glial cells that radially span their thin processes from the ventricular to the pial surfaces in the developing central nervous system. These radial glia constitute a transient cell population, disappearing, for the most part, by the end of the period of neuronal migration. Traditionally, it has been difficult to definitively identify these cells because the principal criteria available were morphologic only.Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we have previously defined a phenotype for radial glia in rat spinal cord based upon the sequential expression of vimentin, glial fibrillary acidic protein and an intermediate filament-associated protein, IFAP-70/280kD. We report here the application of another intermediate filament-associated protein, IFAP-300kD, originally identified in BHK-21 cells, to the immunofluorescence study of radial glia in the developing rat spinal cord.Results showed that IFAP-300kD appeared very early in rat spinal cord development. In fact by embryonic day 13, IFAP-300kD immunoreactivity was already at its peak and was observed in most of the radial glia which span the spinal cord from the ventricular to the subpial surfaces (Fig. 1). Interestingly, from this time, IFAP-300kD immunoreactivity diminished rapidly in a dorsal to ventral manner, so that by embryonic day 16 it was detectable only in the maturing macroglial cells in the marginal zone of the spinal cord and the dorsal median septum (Fig. 2). By birth, the spinal cord was essentially immuno-negative for this IFAP. Thus, IFAP-300kD appears to be another differentiation marker available for future studies of gliogenesis, especially for the early stages of radial glia differentiation.

Are HOLZ lines kinematic in off-zone-axis orientation?

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 692-693
Author(s):  
J. M. Zuo ◽  
A. L. Weickenmeier ◽  
R. Holmestad ◽  
J. C. H. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Structure Determination ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
High Order ◽  
Zone Axis ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Line Position ◽  
Measured Intensity ◽  
Constant Intensity ◽  
Axis Orientation ◽  
Diffraction Condition

The application of high order reflections in a weak diffraction condition off the zone axis center, including those in high order laue zones (HOLZ), holds great promise for structure determination using convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED). It is believed that in this case the intensities of high order reflections are kinematic or two-beam like. Hence, the measured intensity can be related to the structure factor amplitude. Then the standard procedure of structure determination in crystallography may be used for solving unknown structures. The dynamic effect on HOLZ line position and intensity in a strongly diffracting zone axis is well known. In a weak diffraction condition, the HOLZ line position may be approximated by the kinematic position, however, it is not clear whether this is also true for HOLZ intensities. The HOLZ lines, as they appear in CBED patterns, do show strong intensity variations along the line especially near the crossing of two lines, rather than constant intensity along the Bragg condition as predicted by kinematic or two beam theory.

Development of the UHV-STM

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 322-323
Author(s):  
M. Iwatsuki ◽  
S. Kitamura ◽  
A. Mogami
Keyword(s):  
Surface Science ◽  
Real Space ◽  
Atomic Scale ◽  
Scanning Tunneling ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Stm Image ◽  
Surface Construction ◽  
Very High

Since Binnig, Rohrer and associates observed real-space topographic images of Si(111)-7×7 and invented the scanning tunneling microscope (STM),1) the STM has been accepted as a powerful surface science instrument.Recently, many application areas for the STM have been opened up, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and others. So, the STM technology holds a great promise for the future.The great advantages of the STM are its high spatial resolution in the lateral and vertical directions on the atomic scale. However, the STM has difficulty in identifying atomic images in a desired area because it uses piezoelectric (PZT) elements as a scanner.On the other hand, the demand to observe specimens under UHV condition has grown, along with the advent of the STM technology. The requirment of UHV-STM is especially very high in to study of surface construction of semiconductors and superconducting materials on the atomic scale. In order to improve the STM image quality by keeping the specimen and tip surfaces clean, we have built a new UHV-STM (JSTM-4000XV) system which is provided with other surface analysis capability.

Autophagy and ageing: implications for age-related neurodegenerative diseases

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Carroll ◽  
Graeme Hewitt ◽  
Viktor I. Korolchuk
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Energy Availability ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Intracellular Degradation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Autophagy Induction ◽  
Social Importance ◽  
Cellular Dysfunction ◽  
Autophagy Activity ◽  
Intense Research

Autophagy is a process of lysosome-dependent intracellular degradation that participates in the liberation of resources including amino acids and energy to maintain homoeostasis. Autophagy is particularly important in stress conditions such as nutrient starvation and any perturbation in the ability of the cell to activate or regulate autophagy can lead to cellular dysfunction and disease. An area of intense research interest is the role and indeed the fate of autophagy during cellular and organismal ageing. Age-related disorders are associated with increased cellular stress and assault including DNA damage, reduced energy availability, protein aggregation and accumulation of damaged organelles. A reduction in autophagy activity has been observed in a number of ageing models and its up-regulation via pharmacological and genetic methods can alleviate age-related pathologies. In particular, autophagy induction can enhance clearance of toxic intracellular waste associated with neurodegenerative diseases and has been comprehensively demonstrated to improve lifespan in yeast, worms, flies, rodents and primates. The situation, however, has been complicated by the identification that autophagy up-regulation can also occur during ageing. Indeed, in certain situations, reduced autophagosome induction may actually provide benefits to ageing cells. Future studies will undoubtedly improve our understanding of exactly how the multiple signals that are integrated to control appropriate autophagy activity change during ageing, what affect this has on autophagy and to what extent autophagy contributes to age-associated pathologies. Identification of mechanisms that influence a healthy lifespan is of economic, medical and social importance in our ‘ageing’ world.

Mesophyll conductance: the leaf corridors for photosynthesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Gago ◽  
Danilo M. Daloso ◽  
Marc Carriquí ◽  
Miquel Nadal ◽  
Melanie Morales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Mesophyll Conductance ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Cell Structures ◽  
Leaf Tissues ◽  
Change Framework ◽  
Chloroplast Stroma

Besides stomata, the photosynthetic CO2 pathway also involves the transport of CO2 from the sub-stomatal air spaces inside to the carboxylation sites in the chloroplast stroma, where Rubisco is located. This pathway is far to be a simple and direct way, formed by series of consecutive barriers that the CO2 should cross to be finally assimilated in photosynthesis, known as the mesophyll conductance (gm). Therefore, the gm reflects the pathway through different air, water and biophysical barriers within the leaf tissues and cell structures. Currently, it is known that gm can impose the same level of limitation (or even higher depending of the conditions) to photosynthesis than the wider known stomata or biochemistry. In this mini-review, we are focused on each of the gm determinants to summarize the current knowledge on the mechanisms driving gm from anatomical to metabolic and biochemical perspectives. Special attention deserve the latest studies demonstrating the importance of the molecular mechanisms driving anatomical traits as cell wall and the chloroplast surface exposed to the mesophyll airspaces (Sc/S) that significantly constrain gm. However, even considering these recent discoveries, still is poorly understood the mechanisms about signaling pathways linking the environment a/biotic stressors with gm responses. Thus, considering the main role of gm as a major driver of the CO2 availability at the carboxylation sites, future studies into these aspects will help us to understand photosynthesis responses in a global change framework.

Behavioral Genetics: Concepts for Research and Practice in Language Development and Disorders

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1126-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Gilger
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Behavioral Genetic ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Current State ◽  
Research Designs

This paper is an introduction to behavioral genetics for researchers and practioners in language development and disorders. The specific aims are to illustrate some essential concepts and to show how behavioral genetic research can be applied to the language sciences. Past genetic research on language-related traits has tended to focus on simple etiology (i.e., the heritability or familiality of language skills). The current state of the art, however, suggests that great promise lies in addressing more complex questions through behavioral genetic paradigms. In terms of future goals it is suggested that: (a) more behavioral genetic work of all types should be done—including replications and expansions of preliminary studies already in print; (b) work should focus on fine-grained, theory-based phenotypes with research designs that can address complex questions in language development; and (c) work in this area should utilize a variety of samples and methods (e.g., twin and family samples, heritability and segregation analyses, linkage and association tests, etc.).

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