Disentangling the effects of depression and perceived stress on cortisol levels in individuals with obesity: Preliminary results from a cross-sectional study.

Background: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation has been suggested to play a role in the association between depression and obesity. The study aimed to investigate differences in cortisol levels in individuals with obesity with and without depression and the role of perceived stress on these differences.

Methods: Saliva samples were collected at awakening, 15-, 30- and 60-minutes post-awakening from 66 individuals with obesity (30 with major depressive disorder and 36 without major depressive disorder).

Peripheral inflammation associated with depression and reduced weight loss: a longitudinal study of bariatric patients.

Background: Research implicates inflammation in the vicious cycle between depression and obesity, yet few longitudinal studies exist. The rapid weight loss induced by bariatric surgery is known to improve depressive symptoms dramatically, but preoperative depression diagnosis may also increase the risk for poor weight loss. Therefore, we investigated longitudinal associations between depression and inflammatory markers and their effect on weight loss and clinical outcomes in bariatric patients.

Fear conditioning in women with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls: A preliminary study.

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by anxiety-driven behaviors, such as food avoidance and distressing persistent thoughts about weight gain and body image. The present study used a classical fear conditioning procedure to test the processes of fear acquisition and generalization, extinction, and renewal in patients with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls. An app-based fear conditioning procedure was administered remotely to 64 patients and 60 healthy controls, over two sessions.

Lower pattern recognition memory scores in anorexia nervosa.

Background: There is extensive evidence for volumetric reductions in the hippocampus in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), however the impact on function is unclear. Pattern separation and recognition are hippocampus-dependent forms of learning thought to underlie stimulus discrimination.

Methods: The present study used the Mnemonic Similarity Task to investigate pattern separation and recognition for the first time in patients with AN (N = 46) and healthy controls (N = 56).

Effects of weight stigma in news media on physical activity, dietary and weight loss intentions and behaviour.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of weight stigma in news media on (a) intentions to increase physical activity (PA), improve diet quality and lose weight, and (b) changes in PA, diet quality and body mass index (BMI) over one month, in (i) women of all weight categories and (ii) a subsample of women living with obesity.

Methods: UK-based women (N=172; subgroup with obesity N=81) were assigned to read an experimental (weight stigma; N=75) or control (smoking stigma; N=97) news article. Questionnaires were administered immediately after, and one month subsequently to collect information on BMI, PA, diet quality, intentions, past stigma, and diet and PA self-efficacy.

Modulation of triterpene saponin production: in vitro cultures, elicitation, and metabolic engineering.

Saponins are secondary metabolites that are widely distributed in the plant kingdom and are often the active components in medicinal herbs. Hence, saponins have a potential for the pharmaceutical industry as antibacterial, virucidal, anti-inflammatory, and anti-leishmanial drugs. However, their commercial application is often hindered because of practical problems, such as low and variable yields and limited availability of natural resources.

alpha-Skeletal muscle actin nemaline myopathy mutants cause cell death in cultured muscle cells.

Nemaline myopathy is a neuromuscular disorder, characterized by muscle weakness and hypotonia and is, in 20% of the cases, caused by mutations in the gene encoding alpha-skeletal muscle actin, ACTA1. It is a heterogeneous disease with various clinical phenotypes and severities. In patients the ultrastructure of muscle cells is often disturbed by nemaline rods and it is thought this is the cause for muscle weakness.

Phenotypes induced by NM causing alpha-skeletal muscle actin mutants in fibroblasts, Sol 8 myoblasts and myotubes.

Background: Nemaline myopathy is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by the presence of nemaline bodies in patient muscles. 20% of the cases are associated with alpha-skeletal muscle actin mutations. We previously showed that actin mutations can cause four different biochemical phenotypes and that expression of NM associated actin mutants in fibroblasts, myoblasts and myotubes induces a range of cellular defects.

alpha-Skeletal muscle actin mutants causing different congenital myopathies induce similar cytoskeletal defects in cell line cultures.

Central core disease (CCD), congenital fibre type disproportion (CFTD), and nemaline myopathy (NM) are earlyonset clinically heterogeneous congenital myopathies, characterized by generalized muscle weakness and hypotonia. All three diseases are associated with alpha-skeletal muscle actin mutations. We biochemically characterized the CCD and CFTD causing actin mutants and show that all mutants fold correctly and are stable.