Combined effects of a ketogenic diet and exercise training alter mitochondrial and peroxisomal substrate oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle.

Ketogenic diets (KDs) are reported to improve body weight, fat mass, and exercise performance in humans. Unfortunately, most rodent studies have used a low-protein KD, which does not recapitulate diets used by humans. Since skeletal muscle plays a critical role in responding to macronutrient perturbations induced by diet and exercise, the purpose of this study was to test if a normal-protein KD (NPKD) impacts shifts in skeletal muscle substrate oxidative capacity in response to exercise training (ExTr).

Motilin: a panoply of communications between the gut, brain, and pancreas.

: Motilin was first alluded to nearly a century ago. But it remains a rather abstruse peptide, in the shadow of its younger but more lucid 'cousin' ghrelin.: The review aimed to bring to the fore multifarious aspects of motilin research with a view to aiding prioritization of future studies on this gastrointestinal peptide.

Grazing effects on woody and herbaceous plant biodiversity on a limestone mountain in northern Tunisia.

Mediterranean maquis vegetation is highly biodiverse, but widespread grazing poses a challenge for management and conservation. We sampled woody and herbaceous plants separately on a limestone mountain with strong mesic-xeric gradients in Tunisia's Parc National de L'Ichkeul, assessed grazing pressure (on a scale of 1-3), and asked whether grazing had a significant effect on plant compositional abundance before and after controlling for environmental covariates. Sites on the more mesic lakeside face of the mountain were most compositionally unique, and forbs contributed most to the herbaceous beta-diversity on the mountain.

Response of Liver Metabolic Pathways to Ketogenic Diet and Exercise Are Not Additive.

Purpose: Studies suggest ketogenic diets (KD) produce favorable outcomes (health and exercise performance); however, most rodent studies have used a low-protein KD, which does not reflect the normal- to high-protein KD used by humans. Liver has an important role in ketoadaptation due to its involvement in gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that exercise training (ExTr) while consuming a normal-protein KD (NPKD) would induce additive/synergistic responses in liver metabolic pathways.

Elevated Circulating Levels of Motilin are Associated with Diabetes in Individuals after Acute Pancreatitis.

Aim: The study aimed to investigate the associations between glycaemic control after acute pancreatitis and gastrointestinal motility, using plasma motilin concentration and gastroparesis cardinal symptom index score as proxies.

Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 93 individuals after acute pancreatitis. Gastroparesis cardinal index scores, demographic and anthropometric factors, as well as pancreatitis-related factors were analysed.

Post-pancreatitis diabetes mellitus: towards understanding the role of gastrointestinal motility.

Post-pancreatitis diabetes mellitus (PPDM) is a sub-type of diabetes of the exocrine pancreas that develops after acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas. While pro-inflammatory milieu, glucose metabolism, and lipid metabolism in PPDM have been investigated, little is known about gastrointestinal function in the post-pancreatitis setting. This article overviews studies on epidemiology and impact of gastroparesis in the setting of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with a view to estimating the possible burden of gastrointestinal dysfunction in PPDM.

Mangiferin and Cancer: Mechanisms of Action.

Mangiferin, a bioactive compound derived primarily from Anacardiaceae and Gentianaceae families and found in mangoes and honeybush tea, has been extensively studied for its therapeutic properties. Mangiferin has shown promising chemotherapeutic and chemopreventative potential. This review focuses on the effect of mangiferin on: (1) inflammation, with respect to NFκB, PPARү and the immune system; (2) cell cycle, the MAPK pathway G₂/M checkpoint; (3) proliferation and metastasis, and implications on β-catenin, MMPs, EMT, angiogenesis and tumour volume; (4) apoptosis, with a focus on Bax/Bcl ratios, intrinsic/extrinsic apoptotic pathways and telomerase activity; (5) oxidative stress, through Nrf2/ARE signalling, ROS elimination and catalase activity; and (6) efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents, such as oxaliplatin, etoposide and doxorubicin.

Obese ZDF rats fermented resistant starch with effects on gut microbiota but no reduction in abdominal fat.

Scope: To determine if whole-grain (WG) flour with resistant starch (RS) will produce greater fermentation than isolated RS in obese Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF) rats, and whether greater fermentation results in different microbiota, reduced abdominal fat, and increased insulin sensitivity.

Methods And Results: This study utilized four groups fed diets made with either isolated digestible control starch, WG control flour (6.9% RS), isolated RS-rich corn starch (25% RS), or WG corn flour (25% RS).

Lactation and Intestinal Microbiota: How Early Diet Shapes the Infant Gut.

Breast milk is a multifunctional biofluid that provides nutrients along with highly diverse non-nutritive bioactive components such as antibodies, glycans, bacteria, and immunomodulatory proteins. Research over the past decade has confirmed the essential role of breast milk bioactives in the establishment a healthy intestinal microbiota within the infant. The intestinal microbiota of an exclusively breastfed baby is dominated by several species of Bifidobacteria - the most influential member of which is Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis (B.

Induction of Energy Expenditure by Sitagliptin Is Dependent on GLP-1 Receptor.

Sitagliptin (SG) increases serum GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) through inhibition of the hormone degradation. Resistant starch (RS) induces GLP-1 expression by stimulating L-cells in the intestine. Sitagliptin and resistant starch may have a synergistic interaction in the induction of GLP-1.

Resistant starch from high amylose maize (HAM-RS2) and dietary butyrate reduce abdominal fat by a different apparent mechanism.

Objective: Obesity is a health concern. Resistant starch (RS) type 2 from high-amylose maize (HAM-RS2) and dietary sodium butyrate (SB) reduce abdominal fat in rodents. RS treatment is associated with increased gut hormones peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), but it is not known if SB increases these hormones.

High fat diet partially attenuates fermentation responses in rats fed resistant starch from high-amylose maize.

Objective: The effects of type 2 resistant starch from high-amylose maize (HAM-RS2) in rodents fed with low-fat diets were demonstrated in previous studies. Fish oil is also reported to reduce body fat. In the current study, the effects of high fat and fish oil on HAM-RS2 feeding in rats were investigated.

Health and safety hazards associated with subways: a review.

Subway systems are key components in mass transportation networks worldwide, providing rapid and affordable transportation to urban communities in 58 different countries. The benefits afforded by subway transit are numerous and mainly derived from the reduction in automobile use, thereby limiting environmental and health hazards associated with exhaust-air emissions. Additionally, by limiting congestion and providing vital transportation links within a city, subways also improve the overall quality of life of urban communities.