Longitudinal association of statin treatment with insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in the PROMISE cohort.

Context: Statin treatment lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol thereby reducing cardiovascular risk. Meta-analyses of clinical trials report a higher risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes with statins. Current clinical evidence regarding effects of statins on insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function is limited.

Gender differences in clinical presentations and sensory profiles in patients with fibromyalgia: implications of peripheral and central mechanisms.

Introduction: Fibromyalgia has a high female predominance and research work has been focussing mainly on women.

Objectives: We aimed to answer (1) gender differences in pain scores and quality of life, (2) any gender-specific subgroups defined by quantitative sensory testing (QST), and (3) correlations of QST parameters with pain intensity and questionnaire scores.

Methods: We evaluated clinical presentations and QST profiles from 38 male and 38 age-matched female patients.

Methane emissions from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks.

The amount of methane released to the atmosphere from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks remains uncertain, as reflected in a wide range of estimates. A lack of information regarding the temporal variation in atmospheric emissions has made it challenging to reconcile pipeline volumetric (bottom-up) estimates with measurement-based (top-down) estimates. Here we simulate pipeline rupture emission rates and integrate these with methane dissolution and sea-surface outgassing estimates to model the evolution of atmospheric emissions from the leaks.

Adjustable wind selectivity in shearwaters implies knowledge of the foraging landscape.

Understanding the movements of highly mobile animals is challenging because of the many factors they must consider in their decision-making. Many seabirds, for example, are adapted to use winds to travel long distances at low energetic cost but also potentially benefit from targeting specific foraging hotspots. To investigate how an animal makes foraging decisions, given the inevitable trade-off between these factors, we tracked over 600 foraging trips of breeding Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus; N = 218 individuals) using GPS accelerometers.

Nucleosome repositioning in cardiac reprogramming.

Early events in the reprogramming of fibroblasts to cardiac muscle cells are unclear. While various histone undergo modification and re-positioning, and these correlate with the activity of certain genes, it is unknown if these events are causal or happen in response to reprogramming. Histone modification and re-positioning would be expected to open up chromatin on lineage-specific genes and this can be ascertained by studying nucleosome architecture.