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Associations between food groups and biomarkers of inflammation: Are some foods groups more protective than others?
- C. English, M. Jones, A. Lohning, H. Mayr, H. MacLaughlin, D. Reidlinger
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- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 83 / Issue OCE1 / April 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 07 May 2024, E189
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The consumption of healthy foods such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, dairy, and fish is associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is an inflammatory disease caused by atherosclerosis. Inflammation is measured clinically using hsCRP, however hsCRP is not specific to CVD. Novel pro-inflammatory markers, such as platelet-activating factor (PAF) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), have garnered attention due to their specific roles in endothelial dysfunction and CVD risk. During the COVID 19 outbreak research highlighted a potential interaction between PAF and Lp-PLA2 and the SARS COVID 19 virus(1-3) and related adenovirus-vector and mRNA vaccines.4 This cross-sectional study investigated the association between PAF, Lp-PLA2, hsCRP, and intake of healthy food groups including fruit, cruciferous and other vegetables, grains, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, nuts and legumes, and dairy in 100 adults (49 ± 13 years, 31% male) with variable CVD risk. Data were collected across four groups during May and July 2021 (Groups 1 and 2 - CVD risk factors) and January and April 2022 (Groups 3 and 4 - no CVD risk factors). Fasting PAF, Lp-PLA2 and hsCRP and usual dietary intake (food frequency questionnaire) were measured. Food intake was converted into serves and classified into food groups. Correlations and multiple regressions were performed. Contrary to expectations, mean PAF was lower for groups 1 and 2 (n = 46, mean PAF 3.31 ± 1.66 ng/mL) compared to groups 3 and 4 (n = 54, mean PAF 19.82 ± 12.95 ng/mL) p < 0.001 with a large effect size (eta squared 0.665). Cruciferous vegetables were associated with lower levels of PAF (β = -.27, CI [−0.41, −0.14], p < .001) with a one serve increase in cruciferous vegetables per day associated with an 24% reduction in PAF. Nuts and legumes were associated with lower levels of hsCRP (β = -.51, CI [−0.81, −0.22], p<.001) with an increase of one serve per day associated with a 40% reduction in hsCRP. There were small inverse associations between cheese and both PAF (β = -.15, CI [−0.27, −0.03], p = .017) and Lp-PLA2 (β = -.26, CI [−0.47, −0.04], p = .024), however these were not significant at the Bonferroni-adjusted P<.005 level. In conclusion, cruciferous vegetables and nut and legume consumption were associated with lower levels of inflammation. The lack of associations between PAF and Lp-PLA2 and other healthy foods may be due to confounding by COVID-19 infection and vaccination programs which prevents any firm conclusion on the relationship between PAF, Lp-PLA2 and food groups. Future research should aim to examine the relationship with these novel markers and healthy food groups in a non-pandemic setting.
Early Eocene fossils elucidate the evolutionary history of the Charadriiformes (shorebirds and allies)
- Gerald Mayr, Andrew C. Kitchener
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- Journal:
- Journal of Paleontology / Volume 97 / Issue 4 / July 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 September 2023, pp. 941-955
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We report charadriiform and charadriiform-like birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). A partial skeleton of a small modern-type charadriiform is described as a new species, Charadriisimilis essexensis n. gen. n. sp., and most closely resembles taxa of the Charadrii (plovers, stilts, oystercatchers, and other “wader-like” shorebirds). Affinities to this clade were also supported by phylogenetic analyses, which placed the fossil as the sister taxon of either the Burhinidae or all crown group Charadrii. In addition, we identify specimens of the charadriiform-like taxon Scandiavis, which was before known only from the early Eocene Fur Formation in Denmark. Associated limb elements of two individuals are classified as Scandiavis cf. mikkelseni Bertelli et al., 2013, and remains of two further individuals are tentatively assigned to Scandiavis. The presence of a processus supracondylaris dorsalis on the previously unknown humerus corroborates charadriiform affinities of Scandiavis, whereas a plesiomorphic hypotarsus morphology indicates a position outside crown group Charadriiformes. Charadriisimilis essexensis is one of the earliest modern-type charadriiforms, and the holotype of the species is the most substantial early Paleogene fossil record of a charadriiform bird. Together with Scandiavis, as the best-represented taxon to be considered as a stem group charadriiform, it provides the basis for an improved understanding of the evolutionary history of charadriiform birds.
UUID: http://zoobank.org/ca15ee81-09e8-4577-8beb-a362debf6636
Online versus in-person Eating Disorder Examination for adolescents with eating disorders: Empirical verification of data equivalency
- N. Besse-Fluetsch, L. Mayr, L. Smigielski, C. Buehlmann, D. Pauli
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- Journal:
- European Psychiatry / Volume 66 / Issue S1 / March 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 July 2023, pp. S1037-S1038
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Introduction
In the last ten to fifteen years, it has become common for researchers to collect both quantitative (Sue & Ritter, 2012) and qualitative data (Jowett, Peel, & Shaw, 2011) online. The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the importance of this process and accelerated it in many disciplines (Torrentira, 2022).
In addition to convenience, recent work suggests that online data collection may be more valid than face-to-face data collection for some populations. This would mean that online data collection may be the most valid and effective for this age group (Barratt, 2012).
ObjectivesAdolescents with an eating disorder tend to be more open about their symptoms via impersonal online data collection than they are in a face-to-face conversation. Symptom underrating has been documented in face-to-face interviews, because “of feelings of shame elicited by the loss of anonymity during face to-face interviews” leading to face-to-face denial, whereas a self-report questionnaire allows for more privacy and hence honesty while answering questions (Berg et al. 2011). This is especially key in the diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa (AN), as AN patients minimize, deny, and/or fail to recognize their symptoms (Passi, Bryson and Lock 2003).
Given the benefits of collecting data online for both researchers and participants, it is important to determine the quality of the data collected online to guide its use and interpretation. More evidence is needed to confirm the equivalence of online and face-to-face interview data. The current study examines the equivalence of semi-structured interview data collected online versus original face-to-face interviews.
MethodsThe Eating Disorder Examination (EDE), assessing psychopathology of eating disorders, was administered to 49 adolescents meeting ICD 10 criteria for anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa. The same diagnostic interview was administered twice, once via face-to-face and once as an online version, within a week. Method order was counterbalanced among participants and temporal stability was controlled. The Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) was used as a control variable.
ResultsBoth the equivalence test and the null hypothesis test were significant for the sum score of the EDE. Measures of psychopathology in eating disorders demonstrated equivalence across face-to-face and online format of the EDE.
ConclusionsThe aim was to examine the equivalence of face-to-face and online methodologies, controlling for temporal change in the variable under investigation over one week and order of administration. Results demonstrate equivalence across face-to-face and online format of the EDE. These findings suggest that data obtained using EDE online can be interpreted in comparison with normative data obtained in the face-to-face Interview and that corrections trough transformations are not necessary.
Disclosure of InterestNone Declared
New information regarding the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stromer, 1915
- Joshua B. Smith, Matthew C. Lamanna, Helmut Mayr, Kenneth J. Lacovara
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- Journal:
- Journal of Paleontology / Volume 80 / Issue 2 / March 2006
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 14 July 2015, pp. 400-406
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In the autumn of 1912, the fossil collector Richard Markgraf, with financial support and direction from Bavarian paleontologist Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, discovered the partial skeleton of a bizarre predatory dinosaur in Upper Cretaceous (early Cenomanian, ~97 Ma, see Ismail et al., 1989; Barakat et al., 1993; El Beialy, 1994, 1995; Nabil and Hussein, 1994; Ismail and Soliman, 2001; Ibrahim, 2002; Gradstein et al., 2005) rocks of the Bahariya Formation exposed in the Bahariya Oasis of western Egypt (Fig. 1, see also Sereno et al., 1998; Nothdurft et al., 2002). This gigantic theropod, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stromer, 1915, possessed highly derived cranial and vertebral features sufficiently distinct for it to be designated as the nominal genus of the clade Spinosauridae (Stromer, 1915, 1936). Spinosaurids, currently definitively known only from Europe, South America, and Africa, are important because of the scarcity of Cretaceous Gondwanan tetrapod fossils (see Krause et al., 1999, 2003; Carrano et al., 2002; Lamanna et al., 2002). Moreover, fossils of Spinosaurus Stromer, 1915 and other spinosaurids are significant because of controversy surrounding the postulated paleoecology of these taxa (see discussions in Charig and Milner, 1997; Sereno et al., 1998; Sues et al., 2002). Questions related to spinosaurid paleoecology are particularly important in the Bahariya Formation, where Spinosaurus appears to have shared its habitat (see Stromer, 1936; Smith et al., 2001) with at least two other theropods in the size range of Tyrannosaurus Osborn, 1905 (Bahariasaurus Stromer, 1934 and Carcharodontosaurus Stromer, 1931). Unfortunately, the holotype and only known indisputable specimen of S. aegyptiacus (BSP 1912 VIII 19) was lost during the night of 24/25 April 1944 in a British bombing raid of Munich (Nothdurft et al., 2002). The attack severely damaged the building (dating to ca. 1583, Nöhbauer, 1987) that housed the Paläontologische Staatssammlung München and destroyed most of Stromer's Bahariya collection (see Appendix 1). Since 1944, new spinosaurid taxa have been described (see Charig and Milner, 1986; Martill et al., 1996; Sereno et al., 1998; Sues et al., 2002) and additional material has been referred to Spinosaurus (e.g., Buffetaut, 1989, 1992; Russell, 1996; Taquet and Russell, 1998; Benton et al., 2000; Buffetaut and Ouaja, 2002), some of it questionably. However, definitive S. aegyptiacus material, or information regarding the original specimen of Spinosaurus, has not been forthcoming.
Immunosuppression and mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis: results from patients with and without HIV infection
- M. Peters, D. Schürmann, A. C. Mayr, R. Hetzer, H. D. Pohle, B. Ruf
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- Journal:
- Epidemiology & Infection / Volume 103 / Issue 2 / October 1989
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 May 2009, pp. 293-300
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Infections caused by mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MOTT) have often been described as common in AIDS patients. To evaluate whether infections with MOTT are specific for HIV related immunosuppression or are also frequent in patients with immunosuppression of different aetiology, data on the frequency of isolation from immunosuppressed patients with HIV infection are important. Blood, stool and urine specimens from 134 patients with non-HIV related immunosuppression, and from 55 immunocompetent subjects were examined for mycobacteria. MOTT have been isolated from one immunocompetent person but from none of the immunosuppressed patients. Since in AIDS patients an initial colonization of the gastrointestinal tract (GI-tract) with MOTT is common, GI-tract biopsy specimens from an additional 80 patients were examined microscopically and histologically for mycobacteria. Mycobacteria were not isolated from these specimens.
In the same period of time 72 AIDS patients have been examined: 7 (10%) had infections with M. tuberculosis whereas MOTT have been isolated from 16 (22%) of these patients. Mycobacteria have been found only rarely in immunocompetent patients and have not been isolated from patients with non-HIV related immunosuppression. The isolation of MOTT is highly correlated with an HIV-related immunosuppression.