Ion solvation as a predictor of lanthanide adsorption structures and energetics in alumina nanopores.

Adsorption reactions at solid-water interfaces define elemental fate and transport and enable contaminant clean-up, water purification, and chemical separations. For nanoparticles and nanopores, nanoconfinement may lead to unexpected and hard-to-predict products and energetics of adsorption, compared to analogous unconfined surfaces. Here we use X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and operando flow microcalorimetry to determine nanoconfinement effects on the energetics and local coordination environment of trivalent lanthanides adsorbed on AlO surfaces.

A cross-sectional and spatial analysis of the prevalence of multimorbidity and its association with socioeconomic disadvantage in South Africa: A comparison between 2008 and 2012.

This study utilised data from the National Income Dynamics Study, a longitudinal study with a sample of approximately 28 000 people, to investigate the cross-sectional and spatial distribution of multimorbidity and the association with socioeconomic disadvantage in South Africa for 2008 and 2012. Multimorbidity increased in prevalence from 2.73% to 2.

Regulation of the mesocorticolimbic and mesostriatal dopamine systems by α-melanocyte stimulating hormone and agouti-related protein.

The melanocortin system of the hypothalamus, including the neuropeptides α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (αMSH) and agouti-related protein (AgRP), and their receptors, the melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R), have been well-studied for their roles in the central control of feeding and body weight. In this review, we discuss the evidence demonstrating that αMSH and AgRP also act on the mesocorticolimbic and mesostriatal dopamine systems to regulate a wide variety of behaviors. In addition to the well described ability of αMSH to increase dopamine transmission and to increase grooming and rearing when injected directly into the ventral tegmental area, a growing body of evidence indicates that αMSH and AgRP can also act on dopamine pathways to regulate feeding and drug abuse, including reward-related behaviors toward food and drugs.

Fat pad-specific effects of lipectomy on foraging, food hoarding, and food intake.

Unlike most species, after food deprivation, Siberian hamsters increase foraging and food hoarding, two appetitive ingestive behaviors, but not food intake, a consummatory ingestive behavior. We previously demonstrated (Wood AD, Bartness TJ, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 272: R783-R792, 1997) that increases in food hoarding are triggered by directly decreasing body fat levels through partial surgical lipectomy; however, we did not test if lipectomy affected foraging, nor if the magnitude of the lipid deficit affected food hoard size. Therefore, we tested whether varying the size of the lipectomy-induced lipid deficit and/or foraging effort affected foraging, food hoarding, or food intake.

Sympathetic but not sensory denervation stimulates white adipocyte proliferation.

White adipocyte proliferation is a hallmark of obesity, but it largely remains a mechanistic mystery. We and others previously demonstrated that surgical denervation of white adipose tissue (WAT) triggers increases in fat cell number, but it is unknown whether this was due to preadipocyte proliferation or maturation of existing preadipocytes that allowed them to be counted. In addition, surgical denervation severs not only sympathetic but also sensory innervation of WAT.

White adipose tissue sensory nerve denervation mimics lipectomy-induced compensatory increases in adiposity.

The sensory innervation of white adipose tissue (WAT) is indicated by the labeling of sensory bipolar neurons in the dorsal root ganglion after retrograde dye placement into WAT. In addition, immunoreactivity (ir) for sensory-associated neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P in WAT pads also supports the notion of WAT sensory innervation. The function of this sensory innervation is unknown but could involve conveying the degree of adiposity to the brain.

Effects of white adipose tissue grafts on total body fat and cellularity are dependent on graft type and location.

Surgical removal of body fat (lipectomy) triggers compensatory increases in nonexcised white adipose tissue (WAT), thus restoring adiposity levels in many species, including Siberian hamsters. In Siberian hamsters, when their lipectomized WAT is transplanted to another site (autologous grafts, no net change in body fat), healthy grafts result, but the lipectomy-induced compensatory increases in nonexcised WAT masses are exaggerated, an effect that apparently occurs only when the grafts contact intact WAT. When WAT is added to nonlipectomized hamsters to increase body fat, native WAT pads do not decrease.

Peripheral ghrelin injections stimulate food intake, foraging, and food hoarding in Siberian hamsters.

Fasting triggers many effects, including increases in circulating concentrations of ghrelin, a primarily stomach-derived orexigenic hormone. Exogenous ghrelin treatment stimulates food intake, implicating it in fasting-induced increases in feeding, a consummatory ingestive behavior. In Siberian hamsters, fasting also stimulates appetitive ingestive behaviors such as foraging and food hoarding.

Norepinephrine turnover in brown and white adipose tissue after partial lipectomy.

Total body fat is restored after the surgical removal (i.e., partial lipectomy) of white adipose tissue (WAT), and this is accomplished via increases in the mass of nonexcised WAT pads.