Molecular crosstalk between polyphenols and gut microbiota in cancer prevention.

A growing body of evidence suggests that cancer remains a significant global health challenge, necessitating the development of novel therapeutic approaches. In recent years, the molecular crosstalk between polyphenols and gut microbiota has emerged as a promising pathway for cancer prevention. Polyphenols, abundant in many plant-based foods, possess diverse bioactive properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. The gut microbiota, a complex microbial community residing in the gastrointestinal tract, plays a crucial role in a host's health and disease risks. This review highlights cancer suppressive and oncogenic mechanisms of gut microbiota, the intricate interplay between gut microbiota modulation and polyphenol biotransformation, and the potential therapeutic implications of this interplay in cancer prevention. Furthermore, this review explores the molecular mechanisms underpinning the synergistic effects of polyphenols and the gut microbiota, such as modulation of signaling pathways and immune response and epigenetic modifications in animal and human studies. The current review also summarizes the challenges and future directions in this field, including the development of personalized approaches that consider interindividual variations in gut microbiota composition and function. Understanding the molecular crosstalk could offer new perspectives for the development of personalized cancer therapies targeting the polyphenol-gut axis. Future clinical trials are needed to validate the potential role of polyphenols and gut microbiota as innovative therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.

An innovative state-of-the-art health storytelling technique for better management of type 2 diabetes.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic lifelong disease that requires long-term prevention and management strategies in a community setting. A health story is a novel technique that may be used as an effective tool for better prevention and management of T2D. Objective: The main objective of this study is to develop a story to be used as a social health technique based on contemporary scientific knowledge that may be used at a community level for better communication and management of T2D. Methods: A community-academic partnership was formed with a not-for-profit Nutrition Education, Awareness, and Training (NEAT) organization in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. We agreed to develop a story that may be used as a health and nutrition education communication tool for better management of patients with T2D. The following phases were followed during the story creation process: (1) the theory phase, (2) the modeling phase, and (3) the evaluation phase. Raters evaluated the story to determine its literary and scientific quality, comprehensiveness, and T2D specificity. Results: The title of the story translated into English is "The Story of Diabetes-The Story of Success." It is text based and contains 86 pages in the local language, "Pashto," with an English translation. The story is divided into five chapters and describes the initial diagnosis, fear associated with the disease, issues related to referral to certified practitioners, the importance of a balanced diet, and related lifestyle habits. After story evaluation, the raters suggested its literary and scientific quality, comprehensiveness, and T2D specificity (Pearson correlation scores of >0.8). Conclusion: This unique story was created for T2D and found to be of significant quality in terms of its literary and scientific quality, as well as its comprehensiveness and diabetes specificity. As a result, it may be suggested that it can be used in subsequent studies to improve T2D management among adult patients.

Gut Microbiota and Time-Restricted Feeding/Eating: A Targeted Biomarker and Approach in Precision Nutrition.

Each individual has a unique gut microbiota; therefore, the genes in our microbiome outnumber the genes in our genome by about 150 to 1. Perturbation in host nutritional status influences gut microbiome composition and vice versa. The gut microbiome can help in producing vitamins, hormones, and other active metabolites that support the immune system; harvest energy from food; aid in digestion; protect against pathogens; improve gut transit and function; send signals to the brain and other organs; oscillate the circadian rhythm; and coordinate with the host metabolism through multiple cellular pathways. Gut microbiota can be influenced by host genetics, medications, diet, and lifestyle factors from preterm to aging. Aligning with precision nutrition, identifying a personalized microbiome mandates the provision of the right nutrients at the right time to the right patient. Thus, before prescribing a personalized treatment, it is crucial to monitor and count the gut flora as a focused biomarker. Many nutritional approaches that have been developed help in maintaining and restoring an optimal microbiome such as specific diet therapy, nutrition interventions, and customized eating patterns. One of these approaches is time-restricted feeding/eating (TRF/E), a type of intermittent fasting (IF) in which a subject abstains from food intake for a specific time window. Such a dietary modification might alter and restore the gut microbiome for proper alignment of cellular and molecular pathways throughout the lifespan. In this review, we have highlighted that the gut microbiota would be a targeted biomarker and TRF/E would be a targeted approach for restoring the gut-microbiome-associated molecular pathways such as hormonal signaling, the circadian system, metabolic regulators, neural responses, and immune-inflammatory pathways. Consequently, modulation of the gut microbiota through TRF/E could contribute to proper utilization and availability of the nutrients and in this way confer protection against diseases for harnessing personalized nutrition approaches to improve human health.

Exploring the relationship of cognitive function with and without COVID-19 recovered schizophrenic patients.

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is linked to the deterioration of cognitive function among individuals suffering from schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to compare the cognitive performance of schizophrenic patients before and after COVID-19. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study involving a sample of 219 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia was enrolled between June 2022 and May 2023. The participants were split into two groups infected with COVID-19 (n = 165) and not infected with COVID-19 (n = 54). The data were gathered via a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Results: The repeated-measures ANOVA showed that Among patients diagnosed with COVID-19, there was a deterioration in global cognitive function (before COVID-19 = -2.45 vs. after COVID-19 = -3.02, p = 0.007), working memory (before COVID-19 = -2.76 vs. after COVID-19 = -3.34, p < 0.00 1), motor speed (before COVID-19 = -1.64 vs. after COVID-19 = -2.12, p < 0.001), attention and speed of information processing (before COVID-19 = -1.93 vs. after COVID-19 = -1.16, p = 0.008). multi-variable analysis showed that several factors as having a secondary grade of education (ß = 0.434), experiencing insomnia (ß = 0.411)and the interaction between COVID-19 diagnosis and cognition at baseline (ß = 0.796) were significantly associated with cognitive deficits. At the same time, no significant associations were found between global cognition and clinical symptoms, autonomy, or depression (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted various cognitive functions, such as verbal memory, working memory, and global cognition. Insomnia has been identified as the predominant determinant of cognitive impairment, alongside the confirmation of a COVID-19 diagnosis. Additional research is imperative to elucidate the diversification of cognitive functionality observed in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia who have acquired COVID-19.

Ramadan-specific nutrition education improves cardio-metabolic health and inflammation-a prospective nutrition intervention study from Pakistan.

There are recent reports that Ramadan fasting (RF) results in weight gain instead of weight loss. In addition, the data on the efficacy of brief nutrition education on healthy eating practices in Ramadan for better health are scarce. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the effects of brief nutrition education before the start of RF on healthy eating practices during RF. For this purpose, a prospective observational study focused on "Dietary Education and Awareness for Ramadan (DEAR)" as an intervention was carried out. The participants (n = 74) were recruited and divided into two groups, i.e., intervention and control groups (n = 37 each). As an intervention, nutrition education lessons were given before and during RF month. The control group did not attend these nutrition education lessons. Data on anthropometrics, dietary intake, and other parameters were collected at three time points: before, in the end, and 4 weeks after RF. Weight was measured in kg; height, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC) were measured in cm; and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was calculated by dividing the waist value by the hip value. Body composition analysis was performed by the body composition analyzer (BF-907). Blood pressure (BP) was measured using a validated automated blood pressure. A 3-5 ml of venous blood was collected, and plasma and serum were separated. Serum and plasma samples were processed for general blood chemistry (blood lipid profile, glucose, and CRP) within 2 h. CRP was determined by the immunoturbidimetry method using an auto-analyzer. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine cytokine/chemokines. Adherence to nutrition education (intervention) was assessed. The results show that nutrition education has positive effects on overall nutrition. Significant improvement in dietary adherence to dietary advice in the intervention group was noted. Significant BW loss (mean loss: 1.21 kg) in the intervention group was observed. The majority (63.3%) had lost BW ≥ 1.0 kg. Other changes observed as a result of the intervention included improvements in blood glucose, cholesterol, CRP levels, and systolic and diastolic BP. There was a notable shift in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine concentrations: IL-7, IL-4, and TGF-α decreased, while IL-2, TNF-α and resistin, IL-1 RA, IL-17 A, and sCD40 increased. In conclusion, RF resulted in a loss in mean BW and an improvement in related blood chemistry and cytokine profiles. Furthermore, nutrition education before RF resulted in better nutrition practices during RF and a desirable healthy BW, blood lipid, and cytokine profiles.

N-GPETS: Neural Attention Graph-Based Pretrained Statistical Model for Extractive Text Summarization.

The extractive summarization approach involves selecting the source document's salient sentences to build a summary. One of the most important aspects of extractive summarization is learning and modelling cross-sentence associations. Inspired by the popularity of Transformer-based Bidirectional Encoder Representations (BERT) pretrained linguistic model and graph attention network (GAT) having a sophisticated network that captures intersentence associations, this research work proposes a novel neural model N-GPETS by combining heterogeneous graph attention network with BERT model along with statistical approach using TF-IDF values for extractive summarization task. Apart from sentence nodes, N-GPETS also works with different semantic word nodes of varying granularity levels that serve as a link between sentences, improving intersentence interaction. Furthermore, proposed N-GPETS becomes more improved and feature-rich by integrating graph layer with BERT encoder at graph initialization step rather than employing other neural network encoders such as CNN or LSTM. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to combine the BERT encoder and TF-IDF values of the entire document with a heterogeneous attention graph structure for the extractive summarization task. The empirical outcomes on benchmark news data sets CNN/DM show that the proposed model N-GPETS gets favorable results in comparison with other heterogeneous graph structures employing the BERT model and graph structures without the BERT model.

Improvement in cardio-metabolic health and immune signatures in old individuals using daily chores (Salat) as an intervention: A randomized crossover study in a little-studied population.

Background: Decline in cardio-metabolic health, immunity, and physical activity is associated with old age. Old people also find it difficult to engage in structured exercise programs. Therefore, there is a need to investigate common daily chores as an alternative for exercise that may also help in maintaining cardio-metabolic and immune health. Objective: We aimed to investigate whether Salat, an obligatory Islamic prayer involving various physical movements and closely resembling yoga, enhances the benefits conferred by the current guidelines for physical activity. Methods: A total of 30 overweight adults (mean (SD) age of 53.5 (8.7) years) participated in this study. For a 4-week duration, we compared the effects of Salat before/after meals (Pre-MS/Post-MS) on selected immunological and metabolic parameters in serum samples. We also compared the effects of both Pre-MS/Post-MS regimens in young and old subjects to observe any age-related effects. Results: Most of the baseline metabolic parameters and the count of immune cells were normal. Post-MS resulted in a significant reduction in body weight and percent body fat (%BF). Overall, Post-MS resulted in a clear leukocytosis with a significant increase in granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes. When analyzing the lymphocyte compartment, a clear numerical increase was noted for T, B, and NK cells. The number of CD8+ T cells showed a statistically significant increase. Similarly, Post-MS induced leukocytosis in both young and old individuals, while the increase in granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes was statistically significant in old subjects only. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the Islamic obligatory and congressional Salat practice is capable of mimicking desirable pro-immune and pro-metabolic health effects. Clinical trial registration: (UMIN000048901).

Quantification and Further Refinement of Lateral Calcaneal Artery Flap for Complicated Heel Defect Reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: Reconstruction of posterior heel defects requires tissues with adequate blood supply, good elasticity, and sensate; because of the traumatic origin in the young population, it ends up with morbidity. The lateral calcaneal artery is the arterial supply of the lateral calcaneal artery flap. This is one of the viable choices for coverage of hind foot soft-tissue defects. The objective of this study was to determine the outcome of the lateral calcaneal artery flap in terms of function, donor site morbidity, and duration of surgery. METHOD: This was a descriptive case series. Patients with complicated heel defects of small to medium size were included. The follow-up period was 6 months to 1 year of posttreatment. Outcome measures were noted and assessed in all patients in terms of function, donor area morbidity, and total duration of surgery. Significance was determined by assessing the gait, donor site pain, physical appearance at the surgical site, and time needed for surgery. RESULTS: Twelve patients [men: eight (62.5%), women: four (37.5%)] were selected for this study, with their mean age being 14.4 ± 7.4 years. Mean defect size was (4.4 ± 0.5) cm. Mean flap size was 3.5-5.5 cm (P < 0.001). There was a near-normal gait in all patients, with a pain score of (0-2) on the visual analogue scale score, physical appearance by Vancouver scar scale score (0-3), and the mean duration of surgery was 45 ± 4.5 minutes. CONCLUSION: The lateral calcaneal artery flap is more effective for reconstruction of posterior heel and tendon Achilles defects in terms of function, donor area morbidity, and duration of surgery.

DEBCM: Deep Learning-Based Enhanced Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Classification Model in IoMT Healthcare Systems.

Accurate breast cancer (BC) diagnosis is a difficult task that is critical for the proper treatment of BC in IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) healthcare systems. This paper proposes a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based diagnosis method for detecting early-stage breast cancer. In developing the proposed method, we incorporated the CNN model for the invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) classification using breast histology image data. We have incorporated transfer learning (TL) and data augmentation (DA) mechanisms to improve the CNN model's predictive outcomes. For the fine-tuning process, the CNN model was trained with breast histology image data. Furthermore, the held-out cross-validation method for best model selection and hyper-parameter tuning was incorporated. In addition, various performance evaluation metrics for model performance assessment were computed. The experimental results confirmed that the proposed model outperformed the baseline models across all evaluation metrics, achieving 99.04% accuracy. We recommend the proposed method for early recognition of BC in IoMT healthcare systems due to its high performance.

Time-restricted feeding regulates molecular mechanisms with involvement of circadian rhythm to prevent metabolic diseases.

Lifestyle and genetic perturbation of circadian rhythm can trigger the incidence and severity of metabolic diseases. Time-restricted feeding (TRF) regulates the circadian rhythm of food intake that protects against metabolic disorders induced by adverse nutrient intake. TRF also executes host metabolism from nutrient availability to optimize nutrient utilization. Circadian clock and nutrient-sensing pathways coordinate to regulate metabolic health through the feeding/fasting cycle. Concurrently, TRF imposes diurnal rhythm in nutrient utilization, thereby preserving cellular homeostasis. However, modulation of daily feeding and fasting periods calibrates the circadian clock, which protects against the lethal effects of nutrient imbalance on metabolism. Therefore, TRF also improves and restores metabolic rhythms that ultimately lead to better fitness by reversing the alteration in genotype-specific gene expression. The aim of this review was to summarize that TRF is an emerging dietary approach that maintains robust circadian rhythms in support of a steady daily feeding and fasting cycle. TRF also encourages the coordination between circadian clock components and nutrient-sensing pathways via molecular effectors that exert a protective role in the prevention of metabolic diseases.

An overview on radiometric assessment and excess lifetime cancer risk of soil in Pakistan by using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to compare the natural radioactivity and excess life time cancer risk (ELCR) factor of soil in different regions of Pakistan during last decade. Soil contains various elements and compounds including naturally occurring radioactive elements (238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs). Human being, animals and plants are in health risk by contaminations of natural radioactivity in soil and environmental radiometric pollution. Transferring of large amount of the natural radioactive elements in human body by nutrients may cause carcinogenic effects in human body. Pakistani soil has six types as Indus Basin Soil, Bongar Soil, Khaddar Soil, Indus delta soil, Mountainous soil and Sandy Desert Soil. In some northern region of Pakistan, naturally occurring radioactive rocks like uranuium-238 and iridium concentrations present in Gharwandi, Aram, Kingri S, Vitakri Fort Munro, Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Sibbi districts. METHODS: In this reviewed data, gamma rays spectroscopy used to determine the concentrations of 238U, 232Th and 40K with the help of High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors. Only the data of HPGe detector collected because of comparisons of different regions of Pakistan. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Mostly, different gamma rays energy peaks of relevant daughter radionuclides of radioactive element were used such as the energy peak lines of daughter radionuclides 214Pb (295.21 and 352 KeV) and 214Bi (609 and 1,120 KeV) used for calculating the 226Ra concentration in soil. In the recent study, it is concluded that average values of concentrations of natural radioactivity in soil in central and north regions of Pakistan are higher than permissible limit but found permissible range in south region of Pakistan. Mean values of ELCR factor were found higher, equal and lower in central, north and south regions than permissible limit, respectively. Generally, no serious health hazard due to natural radioactivity in soil were found.

Corrigendum: A Prospective Evaluation of Serum Vitamin D (1, 25(OH)2 D3) and Endogenous Sex Hormone Levels in Colorectal Cancer Patients.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2019.00468.].

Intake of dietary advanced glycation end products influences inflammatory markers, immune phenotypes, and antiradical capacity of healthy elderly in a little-studied population.

Dietary advanced glycation end products (dAGE) have profound negative effects on overall health, and their intake must be assessed. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated dAGE intake of 337 adult participants (180/157:M/F; age range 50-73 years). Data were collected on anthropometrics, body composition, dietary intake, selected blood biochemistry, immunological parameters, and antiradical capacity (50% hemolysis time; HT50). From the dietary data, dAGEs and phytochemical index (PI) were calculated. Mean BMI, % body fat (%BF), and fasting plasma glucose were all within the accepted normal range. Subjects with high dAGE intake had higher %BF, higher energy intake, and lower PI. They tended to have lower CD4/CD8 ratios and higher proportions of B cells and NK cells, but had significantly higher hs-CRP levels and lower HT50 values. Results on HT50 suggested that being >60 years of age enhanced dAGE-associated impairment of defense capacity in both those with low and high HT50 compared with those <60 years of age. Thus, overall dAGE consumption was high, but elderly participants had lower dAGE intake than younger adults. Indicators of nutritional status and immunological parameters of the subjects were found to be associated with dAGE intake, suggesting a potential impact on health.

Health Risks in Different Age Group of Nitrate in Spring Water Used for Drinking in Harnai, Balochistan, Pakistan.

This study aims to determine the nitrate exposure and their health assessment in spring water used for drinking in Harnai. Total 24 water samples were collected from four springs used for drinking. Three samples from starting point and three from the end point of each spring were collected. DR/890 multi-parameter portable calorimeter was used for the measurement of nitrate. The concentration of nitrate was ranged from 0.1 to 1.1 mg/l with an average of 0.389 mg/l. The results show that the concentration of nitrate in spring water is 93%, and 99% less than permissible limits recommended by Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and World Health Organization (WHO), respectively. The values of physiochemical parameters like potential of Hydrogen (pH), Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) were ranged from 7.8 to 8.3, 564 to 749 µS/cm, and 36 to 479 mg/l with average values 8.025, 630.5 µS/cm, and 403.5 mg/l, respectively. The calculated mean chronic daily intake (CDI) in three age groups was found 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03 in adults, children, and infants, respectively. Hence, it is concluded that spring water used for drinking in Harnai was considered safe and do not pose any health hazards associated with nitrate.

Relationship of Vitamin D-Deficient Diet and Irisin, and Their Impact on Energy Homeostasis in Rats.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have identified the role of irisin and vitamin D in energy homeostasis. However, the effect of irisin and vitamin D on energy regulation has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, in this study, the effects of a vitamin D-deficient diet and irisin on total energy expenditure (TEE), food intake, and blood metabolites were investigated in rats. METHODS: Sixteen healthy weaned male albino rats were randomly divided into two groups: a group fed a normal balanced growth diet (group A: n = 8) and a group fed a normocalcemic diet that is vitamin D deficient with limited ultraviolet (UV) light exposure (group B, n = 8). After 6 weeks, the volumes of respiratory gases were measured by open-circuit indirect calorimetry. Serum irisin, 25-OHVD3, calcium, insulin, and glucose levels were measured using ELISA. The respiratory quotient (RQ), energy expenditure, and Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated. RESULTS: Rats with hypovitaminosis D were hypoirisinemic. Food intake, RQ (to the range of using endogenous fat), and glucose levels reduced significantly, while insulin levels increased. Body weight and TEE were non-significant changed. Additionally, irisin was strongly and positively correlated with body weight under normal conditions (r = 0.905, p < 0.01), and a moderate negative correlation in group B (r = -0.429, p < 0.05). TEE and irisin showed no significant correlation. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the early changes in energy homeostasis and irisin levels during states of hypovitaminosis D are affected by long-term consumption of a vitamin D-deficient diet with limited UV exposure.

An overview on the concentration of radioactive elements and physiochemical analysis of soil and water in Iraq.

In the last decade, radiation physics brought about a revolution in health science by improving scientific equipment and useful methodologies for measurement. Human beings are affected by ionizing radiations that radiate from radioactive elements. The quantity of radioactive elements is different inside and outside the earth's surface. Soil and water are exigencies of human lives which are contaminated by radioactive elements. These radioactive elements enter into the human body through drinking, eating and breathing. On reaching hazardous limits in the human body, these radioactive elements cause stomach cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. Measurement of radioactive elements in soil and water is helpful in monitoring the health issues caused by exposure to these elements. In Iraq, numerous studies about natural radioactivity, radon concentration and physiochemical parameters have been conducted by different researchers, of which most of the studies were conducted in Barsa, Nasirya, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, Balad, Kirkuk, Erbil, Mosul and Dohuk cities. This article aims to review and compile the studies conducted in these cities of Iraq from 2011 to 2019. In most articles, high-purity germanium (HPGe), RAD7 and CR-39 detectors are used for radioactivity and radon measurement. These cities are located in the low-high folded and Mesopotamian zones. From this study, it can be concluded that radon concentration in soil and water was greater in the Mesopotamian and lower in the low-high folded zones. Higher concentrations of natural radioactivity in water and soil were found in the low-high folded zone in Iraq. However, most of the conducted studies show that concentrations of radon and natural radioactivity are above the permissible limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and World Health Organization (WHO). The values of physiochemical parameters were found to be greater in the Mesopotamian zone, but overall they are not above the permissible limits.

Placental endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and role of oxidative stress in susceptibility to preeclampsia in Pakistani women.

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia (PE): a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy characterized by de novo development of concurrent hypertension and proteinuria. The prevailing theory determined that PE starts from the placenta and ends in the maternal endothelium. Role of endothelial dysfunction in the onset of PE has been reported in different populations. Therefore, present study was designed to investigate the localization and expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and role of oxidative stress markers in preeclamptic Pakistani women. METHODS: A total of 400 blood samples (PE = 200, controls = 200) and 100 placental tissues (PE = 50, controls = 50) were recruited from pregnant women. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and guaiacol peroxidase (POD) levels were analyzed through spectrophotometer. Immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were carried out to estimate the localization and expression of eNOS in the placentas of PE patients and healthy pregnant women. RESULTS: Significantly increased levels of POD (0.01), TBARS (0.04), and ROS (p ≤ .001) were determined in preeclamptic women while, nonsignificant change in SOD and CAT was observed in both groups. Reduced eNOS immunoreactivity (p ≤ .001) and mRNA abundance (p ≤ .001) was observed in preeclamptic group as compared to control group. CONCLUSION: Considering the results of current study, it is concluded that decreased eNOS expression and oxidative stress could play a role in the pathology of PE seen both in placenta and ultimately in maternal endothelium. However, large studies are necessary to validate these findings to prevent maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Pakistani population.

Malnutrition is common in children with cerebral palsy in Saudi Arabia - a cross-sectional clinical observational study.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy (CP) is considered as the main cause of severe physical impairment and malnutrition in children. This cross-sectional study intended to survey the nutritional status of children cerebral palsy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: We examined 74 children (age: 1-10 yrs) with CP, who attended Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City (SBAHC), Riyadh Saudi Arabia. Data on age, general demographics, nutritional status, and dietary intake were collected. A child was considered underweight, wasted, stunted or thin if the standard deviation scores for his/her weight for age, weight for height, height for age and body mass index for age were ≤ -2.0 standard deviation (SD) using WHO growth standards. Multivariable logistic regression identified the factors associated with nutritional indicators. RESULTS: More than half (56.4%) of the children with cerebral palsy were malnourished as they had z-score below <-2 SD in at least one of the four indicators. Thinness (50%) was the most common form of malnutrition, followed by underweight, stunting, and wasting. Arm anthropometrics gave similar results on the percent number of malnourished children. Factors that were independently associated with malnutrition with an adjusted OR (aOR) were as follow: age ≤ 5 yrs. (aOR: 4.29); presence of cognitive impairment (aOR: 4.13); presence of anemia (aOR: 3.41) and inadequate energy intake (aOR: 4.86) (p, for all trends <0.05). CONCLUSION: Children with cerebral palsy of the current study have impaired growth and nutritional status as assessed by all four common nutritional status indicators. Further large-scale community-based studies for in-depth evaluation of nutritional status and growth patterns in children with CP are needed.

Recurrent circadian fasting (RCF) improves blood pressure, biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk and regulates inflammation in men.

BACKGROUND: The effects of fasting on health in non-human models have been widely publicised for a long time and emerging evidence support the idea that these effects can be applicable to human practice. METHODS: In an open label longitudinal follow-up, a cohort of 78 adult men (aged 20 to 85 years) who fasted for 29 consecutive days from sunrise to sunset (16 h fasting-referred to as recurrent circadian fasting) in Pakistan, were studied. The primary outcomes of the fasting study was weight loss/recovery and the associated changes in blood pressure and circulating levels of surrogate markers linked to organ and system functions-including cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammation. Post-fasting outcomes include the regulation of physiological biomarkers. RESULTS: Recurrent circadian fasting with weight loss reduced blood pressure (140.6 vs. 124.2 mmHg) and markers of cardiovascular risk (~ 4-fold for resistin; triglycerides: p < 0.0001). Reduced glycemia (p < 0.0001) and the associated changes in the regulation of ketosis (ß-hydroxybutyrate) were accompanied by a metabolic shift (PPARß, osteoprotegerin), suggesting the involvement of the different physiological systems tested. Elevated orexin-A levels (p = 0.0183) in participants indicate sleep disturbance and circadian adaptation. All participants had CRP level < 2 mg/l during the fasting period and a similar trend was observed for TNFα. While most SASP molecules were decreased after the fasting period, heightened levels of IL-8 and IL-6 suggest that some inflammatory markers may be elevated by recurrent circadian fasting. Importantly, older adults reveal similar or more substantial benefits from fasting. CONCLUSIONS: Recurrent circadian fasting is beneficial at the cardiometabolic and inflammatory levels, especially for at-risk individuals-this is contingent on compliance towards the recommended dietary behaviour, which controls carbohydrate and caloric intake. These benefits from fasting may be particularly beneficial to older adults as they often exhibit abnormal cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory signatures.