Associations among 25-year trends in diet, cholesterol and BMI from 140,000 observations in men and women in Northern Sweden

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: In the 1970s, men in northern Sweden had among the highest prevalences of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) worldwide. An intervention program combining population- and individual-oriented activities was initiated in 1985. Concurrently, collection of information on medical risk factors, lifestyle and anthropometry started. Today, these data make up one of the largest databases in the world on diet intake in a population-based sample, both in terms of sample size and follow-up period. The study examines trends in food and nutrient intake, serum cholesterol and body mass index (BMI) from 1986 to 2010 in northern Sweden. METHODS: Cross-sectional information on self-reported food and nutrient intake and measured body weight, height, and serum cholesterol were compiled for over 140,000 observations. Trends and trend breaks over the 25-year period were evaluated for energy- providing nutrients, foods contributing to fat intake, serum cholesterol and BMI. RESULTS: Reported intake of fat exhibited two significant trend breaks in both sexes: a decrease between 1986 and 1992 and an increase from 2002 (women) or 2004 (men). A reverse trend was noted for carbohydrates, whereas protein intake remained unchanged during the 25-year period. Significant trend breaks in intake of foods contributing to total fat intake were seen. Reported intake of wine increased sharply for both sexes (more so for women) and export beer increased for men. BMI increased continuously for both sexes, whereas serum cholesterol levels decreased during 1986 - 2004, remained unchanged until 2007 and then began to rise. The increase in serum cholesterol coincided with the increase in fat intake, especially with intake of saturated fat and fats for spreading on bread and cooking. CONCLUSIONS: Men and women in northern Sweden decreased their reported fat intake in the first 7 years (1986-1992) of an intervention program. After 2004 fat intake increased sharply for both genders, which coincided with introduction of a positive media support for low carbohydrate-high-fat (LCHF) diet. The decrease and following increase in cholesterol levels occurred simultaneously with the time trends in food selection, whereas a constant increase in BMI remained unaltered. These changes in risk factors may have important effects on primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD).     

Thermodynamic and Acoustic Properties of Mixtures of Dibromomethane + Heptane

Densities and speeds of ultrasound in binary mixtures of dibromomethane with heptane have been measured within the temperature range from 288.15 K to 318.15 K. From the experimental data, the thermodynamic excess volume, molar isobaric expansion, molar isentropic compression, and ultrasonic speed were calculated. The excess volume and excess isentropic compression have opposite signs, whereas the excess isobaric expansion is an S-shaped function of the mole fraction. An explanation was suggested to account for the excesses in terms of intermolecular interactions. It involved energetic and steric factors. Moreover, it was shown that the positive excess sound speed results almost entirely from the negative excess compression.     

Analysis for determining surface free energy uncertainty by the Owen–Wendt method

This article presents the analysis for determining surface free energy uncertainty by the Owens–Wendt method (also known as the Kaelble–Owens–Wendt method). There are a lot of factors which have a substantial influence on the correctness of the contact angle measuring process. If a full measurement result is to be obtained, assessment of the result reliability is needed. In the case of distilled water wetting angle measurements, dispersion of the results may be assumed as a normal dispersion (according to the χ² test). In contrast, in the case of diiodomethane wetting angle measurements, dispersion of results cannot be treated as normal dispersion. This may demonstrate that if numerous factors are analysed, usually there is one dominant factor—in this case, a drop of liquid. The uncertainty resulting from different quantities of constants, given in the literature, is of great importance in the standard uncertainty overall error, both for the total surface energy and for its polar and dispersive components. Thus, it cannot be neglected at the examination reliability assessment.     

Learning to ignore the mask in texture segmentation tasks.

Although traditionally texture segmentation has been regarded as an automatic, preattentive process, participants confronted with texture segmentation in experimental settings (i.e., with brief presentation time and subsequent masking) are initially unable to perform the task. According to perceptual learning concepts, participants must learn to fine-tune their sensory channels before perception improves under restricted viewing conditions. The present article proposes an alternative perspective that emphasizes the role of the mask. Four experiments showed that the amount of observed learning depends on the structural and temporal homogeneity or heterogeneity of the mask. The authors suggest that learning consists of separating the task-relevant signal stemming from the texture from the task-irrelevant signal of the mask and of ignoring the mask. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Small animal PET image super-resolution using Tikhonov and modified total variation regularisation

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging procedure used mainly in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. PET is also used in the preclinical research studies of small animals. However, researchers may have difficulty interpreting the particularly low-resolution images obtained via this procedure. This paper presents a new method of increasing the resolution of PET images through the use of super-resolution techniques. Aside from being resistant to the noise and other degradations that plague PET images, our proposed algorithm is also capable of preserving important structures (e.g. lesions). To this end, the proposed objective function includes a term based on the modified total variation model which allows the user to preserve texture and to deal with noise without incurring the artefacts that typically arise when the total variation norm is used. The present study shows the effectiveness of the method in recovering structures and details and indicates that, in most cases, it outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.     

Influence of Polydimethylsiloxane on the Oxygen Concentration of Oils at Various Temperatures

The effect of temperature on the oil oxygen concentration, tested in both soybean and olive oils with no added polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), showed that the oxygen concentration increased with temperature to approximately 100 °C. Above 100 °C, the oxygen concentration abruptly decreased. This change was attributed to the balance between the rates of oxygen uptake and consumption by oil oxidation, which favored oxygen consumption over uptake at temperatures above 100 °C. The addition of 100 ppb PDMS to soybean oil, enough to form a continuous layer over the surface of the oil, reduced the oxygen concentration when compared to a soybean oil control containing no added PDMS at temperatures ranging from 93 to 180 °C; thus suggesting an oxygen barrier effect of PDMS. The accumulation of PDMS at the air–oil interface in soybean oil held at 180 °C was determined by comparing the oil’s internal temperature and the apparent surface temperature. A decrease in the apparent surface temperature while the oil was held at a constant internal temperature was attributed to a change in the emissivity of the surface as a consequence of the accumulation of PDMS in the air–oil interface. The presence of PDMS at the air–oil interface was confirmed for 100 ppm of PDMS, a concentration greater than the concentration necessary to form a monolayer of PDMS on the oil surface.     

Coralyne Radiosensitizes A549 Cells by Upregulation of CDKN1A Expression to Attenuate Radiation Induced G2/M Block of the Cell Cycle

Coralyne is a synthetic analog of berberine related to protoberberine-isoquinoline alkaloids. Isoquinoline derivatives and analogs are renowned as potent radiosensitizers with potential medical application. In the present study, we investigated the effect of coralyne on the cell death, cytoskeletal changes and cell cycle progression of irradiated A549 cells. A clonogenic assay revealed that coralyne pretreatment decreased the viability of A549 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Moreover, exposure to coralyne and ionizing radiation (IR) markedly altered the filamentous actin cytoskeletal architecture and integrin-β binding sites of A549 cells. Treatment with 1–25 µM coralyne in combination with 2 Gy of IR significantly reduced the percentage of cells in G2/M phase compared with 2 Gy IR alone. These results indicate that coralyne is a potent radiosensitizing agent that may find an application in medicine.     

Preparation of Microporous Hybrid Materials by Thermal Removal of Sterically Hindered Carbosilane Side Groups

The preparation of hybrid porous materials by condensation of poly(dimethyl-co-methyl)siloxanes functionalized with side units: i.e., templating –RC(SiMe₃)₃ [R = (CH₂)₅, (CH₂)₂SiMe₂], and reactive –Si(OEt)₃, of random distribution along the main chain is described. Tetrabutylammonium salts, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide and tetrabutylammonium fluoride were chosen as the catalytic system. The relationship between the steric hindrance of the carbosilane template, the type of n-Bu₄N⁺ catalyst and the structure of cross-linked materials was investigated. It was found that bulky carbosilane substituents can block formation of the porous structure in the cross-linked material. The type of interaction between Si(OEt)₃ and the catalyst seems to be an equally important factor for 3D structure formation. Controlled thermolysis of the cross-linked materials, performed in order to remove carbosilane units by thermal degradation, allowed for the formation of porous materials having high specific surface area.     

Influence new-to-old concrete interface qualities on the behaviour of support zones of composite concrete beams

The paper describes the investigations of concrete composite units consisting of two concrete parts. In each test series the interface was differently arranged and characterised by different strength parameters. They were: non-reinforced interface with existing adhesion, reinforced interface with existing adhesion and reinforced interface with broken adhesion. Simply-supported beams were subjected to four point bending. The failure of all beams was the result of exceeding the shear resistance of the support zones, but the cracks pattern in each series was different. The paper presents the results of the tests, in particular: deflection, stresses in the longitudinal and transverse reinforcement and strains of concrete. The distribution of strains along the height of the beam and the slip between the connected parts are also described.On the basis of these data a classification of failure mechanisms of concrete composite beams is proposed, as well as the analytical criteria allowing to predict failure manner of a composite beam.