A randomised controlled trial comparing a dietary antiplatelet, the water-soluble tomato extract Fruitflow, with 75 mg aspirin in healthy subjects.

Background/objectives: Increasing numbers of food ingredients are gaining acknowledgement, via regulated health claims, of benefits to human health. One such is a water-soluble tomato extract, Fruitflow (FF), a dietary antiplatelet. We examined relative platelet responses to FF and to 75 mg aspirin (ASA) in healthy subjects.

Electrical pulse stimulation of cultured skeletal muscle cells as a model for in vitro exercise - possibilities and limitations.

The beneficial health-related effects of exercise are well recognized, and numerous studies have investigated underlying mechanism using various in vivo and in vitro models. Although electrical pulse stimulation (EPS) for the induction of muscle contraction has been used for quite some time, its application on cultured skeletal muscle cells of animal or human origin as a model of in vitro exercise is a more recent development. In this review, we compare in vivo exercise and in vitro EPS with regard to effects on signalling, expression level and metabolism.

Exchanging a few commercial, regularly consumed food items with improved fat quality reduces total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol: a double-blind, randomised controlled trial.

The healthy Nordic diet has been previously shown to have health beneficial effects among subjects at risk of CVD. However, the extent of food changes needed to achieve these effects is less explored. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of exchanging a few commercially available, regularly consumed key food items (e.

Lack of Effects of a Single High-Fat Meal Enriched with Vegetable n-3 or a Combination of Vegetable and Marine n-3 Fatty Acids on Intestinal Peptide Release and Adipokines in Healthy Female Subjects.

Peptides released from the small intestine and colon regulate short-term food intake by suppressing appetite and inducing satiety. Intake of marine omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids (FAs) from fish and fish oils is associated with beneficial health effects, whereas the relation between intake of the vegetable n-3 fatty acid α-linolenic acid and diseases is less clear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the postprandial effects of a single high-fat meal enriched with vegetable n-3 or a combination of vegetable and marine n-3 FAs with their different unsaturated fatty acid composition on intestinal peptide release and the adipose tissue.

Identification and characterization of two novel mutations in the LPL gene causing type I hyperlipoproteinemia.

Background: Type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder most often caused by mutations in the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene resulting in severe hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify novel mutations in the LPL gene causing type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia and to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the severe hypertriglyceridemia.

Methods: Three patients presenting classical features of type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia were recruited for DNA sequencing of the LPL gene.

The PBMC transcriptome profile after intake of oxidized versus high-quality fish oil: an explorative study in healthy subjects.

Background: Marine long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are susceptible to oxidation, generating a range of different oxidation products with suggested negative health effects. The aim of the present study was to utilize sensitive high-throughput transcriptome analyses to investigate potential unfavorable effects of oxidized fish oil (PV: 18 meq/kg; AV: 9) compared to high-quality fish oil (PV: 4 meq/kg; AV: 3).

Methods: In a double-blinded randomized controlled study for seven weeks, 35 healthy subjects were assigned to 8 g of either oxidized fish oil or high quality fish oil.

Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) Inhibits the Expression of Factor VII-activating Protease (FSAP) in Hepatocytes.

Deletion of the Habp2 gene encoding Factor VII-activating protease (FSAP) increases liver fibrosis in mice. A single nucleotide polymorphism (G534E) in HABP2 leads to lower enzymatic activity and is associated with enhanced liver fibrosis in humans. Liver fibrosis is associated with a decrease in FSAP expression but, to date, nothing is known about how this might be regulated.

Total antioxidant intake and prostate cancer in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study. A case control study.

Background: The total intake of dietary antioxidants may reduce prostate cancer risk but available data are sparse and the possible role of supplements unclear. We investigated the potential association between total and dietary antioxidant intake and prostate cancer in a Swedish population.

Methods: We used FFQ data from 1499 cases and 1112 controls in the population based case-control study Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS).

Fruitflow: the first European Food Safety Authority-approved natural cardio-protective functional ingredient.

Hyperactive platelets, in addition to their roles in thrombosis, are also important mediators of atherogenesis. Antiplatelet drugs are not suitable for use where risk of a cardiovascular event is relatively low. It is therefore important to find alternative safe antiplatelet inhibitors for the vulnerable population who has hyperactive platelets in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Voltage-Sensitive K(+) Channels Inhibit Parasympathetic Ganglion Transmission and Vagal Control of Heart Rate in Hypertensive Rats.

Parasympathetic withdrawal plays an important role in the autonomic dysfunctions in hypertension. Since hyperpolarizing, voltage-sensitive K(+) channels (K V) hamper transmitter release, elevated K V-activity may explain the disturbed vagal control of heart rate (HR) in hypertension. Here, the K V inhibitor 3,4-diaminopyridine was used to demonstrate the impact of K V on autonomic HR control.

Increased expression of NAMPT in PBMC from patients with acute coronary syndrome and in inflammatory M1 macrophages.

Aim: The aim of the present study were to elucidate the role of NAMPT in atherosclerosis, by examine NAMPT expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy controls and by examining the regulation and effect of NAMPT on macrophage polarization, hypothesizing that it could influence the polarization to inflammatory and resolving macrophages.

Method And Results: We analyzed RNA levels of NAMPT in PBMC from CAD and healthy controls and found NAMPT to be increased in PBMC from patients with acute coronary syndrome (n = 39) compared to healthy controls (n = 20) and patients with stable CAD (n = 22). Within the PBMC NAMPT was correlated to several inflammatory cytokines and the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase 2.

Comparison of bioavailability of krill oil versus fish oil and health effect.

Background: The aim of this review is to summarize the effects of krill oil (KO) or fish oil (FO) on eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) incorporation in plasma phospholipids or membrane of red blood cells (RBCs) as shown in human and animal studies. Furthermore, we discuss the findings in relation to the possible different health effects, focusing on lipids, inflammatory markers, cardiovascular disease risk, and biological functions of these two sources of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).

Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed in January 2015.

The interplay between glucose and fatty acids on tube formation and fatty acid uptake in the first trimester trophoblast cells, HTR8/SVneo.

The study aims to investigate the impacts of hyperglycemia in the presence of fatty acids on early placentation processes that involves tube formation, cellular growth and proliferation, and metabolic activities of the first trimester trophoblast cells. Effects of maternal circulatory glucose levels that mimic physiological (5.5 mM), pre-diabetic (11 mM) and diabetic (≥25 mM) phenotypes on tube formation (as a measure of angiogenesis in vitro), cellular viability and proliferation, fatty acid uptake and expression of genes associated with invasion, angiogenesis and fatty acid metabolism were examined using HTR8/SVneo cells.

Meal types as sources for intakes of fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains among Norwegian adults.

Objective: To study how different meals contribute to intakes of fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains in a group of Norwegian adults and in subgroups of this population. Moreover, to investigate the consequences of skipping the meal contributing most to the intake of each food group (main contributing meal).

Design: Cross-sectional dietary survey in Norwegian adults.

Marine n-3 Fatty Acids and Gene Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells.

Intake of marine n-3 fatty acids has been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease. Gene expression analyses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are used to understand the underlying mechanisms of action of marine n-3 fatty acids. The aim of this review was to summarize the effects mediated by marine n-3 fatty acids on gene expression in PBMCs.

Effect of a nutrition intervention on intake of vegetables, fruits, and semi whole grain bread among low and high consumers in the Norwegian National Guard.

Background: Nutritional information seldom reaches individuals with the most unhealthful dietary habits.

Objective: To explore whether an intervention focusing on a combination of nutritional information and increased availability of vegetables, fruits, and semi whole grain bread was effective to raise the intake, and knowledge, of these foods among recruits in the military with low as well as high baseline intake.

Methods: Intervention study, including 479 recruits, in intervention and control military camps.

Interleukin-10 increases reverse cholesterol transport in macrophages through its bidirectional interaction with liver X receptor α.

Interleukin (IL)-10 is a prototypical anti-inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to attenuate atherosclerosis development. In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties, the anti-atherogenic effect of IL-10 has recently also been suggested to reflect a complex effect of IL-10 on lipid metabolism in macrophages. In the present study we examined the effects of IL-10 on cholesterol efflux mechanism in lipid-loaded THP-1 macrophages.

The myokine decorin is regulated by contraction and involved in muscle hypertrophy.

The health-promoting effects of regular exercise are well known, and myokines may mediate some of these effects. The small leucine-rich proteoglycan decorin has been described as a myokine for some time. However, its regulation and impact on skeletal muscle has not been investigated in detail.

Type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia due to a novel deletion of exons 3 and 4 in the GPIHBP1 gene.

Objectives: Type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by severely elevated plasma triglyceride levels, which may lead to abdominal pain and pancreatitis, eruptive xanthomas and failure to thrive. Mutations in the genes encoding lipoprotein lipase (LPL), apolipoprotein CII (APOC2), apolipoprotein AV (APOA5), lipase maturing factor 1 (LMF1) or glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPIHBP1) have been found to cause Type 1 hyperlipoproteinemia.

Methods: Two sibpairs belonging to two different branches of an extended pedigree were referred for molecular elucidation for their increased plasma triglyceride levels, which untreated were >27 mmol/L.

Subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia are characterized by an inflammatory phenotype despite long-term intensive cholesterol lowering treatment.

Objective: The atherosclerotic process is driven by elevated Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol in combination with enhanced inflammatory responses. Several mediators participate in this complex inflammatory network including members of the tumour necrosis factor (receptor) superfamily. Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is associated with increased risk of developing premature atherosclerosis.

Subjects with low plasma HDL cholesterol levels are characterized by an inflammatory and oxidative phenotype.

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown that low plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but the mechanisms for the possible atheroprotective effects of HDL cholesterol have still not been fully clarified, in particular in relation to clinical studies.

Objective: To examine the inflammatory, anti-oxidative and metabolic phenotype of subjects with low plasma HDL cholesterol levels.

Methods And Results: Fifteen subjects with low HDL cholesterol levels (eleven males and four females) and 19 subjects with high HDL (three males and 16 females) were recruited.

Ammonia triggers neuronal disinhibition and seizures by impairing astrocyte potassium buffering.

Ammonia is a ubiquitous waste product of protein metabolism that can accumulate in numerous metabolic disorders, causing neurological dysfunction ranging from cognitive impairment to tremor, ataxia, seizures, coma and death. The brain is especially vulnerable to ammonia as it readily crosses the blood-brain barrier in its gaseous form, NH3, and rapidly saturates its principal removal pathway located in astrocytes. Thus, we wanted to determine how astrocytes contribute to the initial deterioration of neurological functions characteristic of hyperammonemia in vivo.

Unaltered lactate and glucose transporter levels in the MPTP mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Background: Metabolic impairment contributes to development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in degeneration of nigral dopamine neurons. Also, in PD there are alterations in glucose metabolism in nigro-striatal pathways, and increased cerebral lactate levels have been found.

GABA is localized in dopaminergic synaptic vesicles in the rodent striatum.

Recently, electrophysiological evidence was given for inhibitory postsynaptic responses at dopaminergic striatal synapses. These responses were independent of the vesicular GABA transporter, VGAT, but dependent on the vesicular dopamine transporter VMAT2. The identity and the exact source of the released molecule, as well as the presence of the putative inhibitory transmitter in VMAT2 containing synaptic vesicles remain to be shown.

RNA profiles of porcine embryos during genome activation reveal complex metabolic switch sensitive to in vitro conditions.

Fertilization is followed by complex changes in cytoplasmic composition and extensive chromatin reprogramming which results in the abundant activation of totipotent embryonic genome at embryonic genome activation (EGA). While chromatin reprogramming has been widely studied in several species, only a handful of reports characterize changing transcriptome profiles and resulting metabolic changes in cleavage stage embryos. The aims of the current study were to investigate RNA profiles of in vivo developed (ivv) and in vitro produced (ivt) porcine embryos before (2-cell stage) and after (late 4-cell stage) EGA and determine major metabolic changes that regulate totipotency.