The Metabolic Role of Gut Microbiota in the Development of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Cardiovascular Disease

The prevalence of metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which are common risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), has dramatically increased worldwide over the last decades. Although dietary habit is the main etiologic factor, there is an imperfect correlation between dietary habits and the development of metabolic disease. Recently, research has focused on the role of the microbiome in the development of these disorders. Indeed, gut microbiota is implicated in many metabolic functions and an altered gut microbiota is reported in metabolic disorders. Here we provide evidence linking gut microbiota and metabolic diseases, focusing on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying this association.     

Biomechanical response of the human foot when standing in a natural position while exposed to vertical vibration from 10–200 Hz

Exposure to foot-transmitted vibration (FTV) can lead to pain and numbness in the toes and feet, increased cold sensitivity, blanching in the toes, and joint pain. Prolonged exposure can result in a clinical diagnosis of vibration-induced white foot (VIWFt). Data on the biomechanical response of the feet to FTV is limited; therefore, this study seeks to identify resonant frequencies for different anatomical locations on the human foot, while standing in a natural position. A laser Doppler vibrometer was used to measure vertical (z-axis) vibration on 21 participants at 24 anatomical locations on the right foot during exposure to a sine sweep from 10–200?Hz with a peak vertical velocity of 30?mm/s. The most notable differences in the average peak frequency occur between the toes (range: 99–147?Hz), midfoot (range: 51–84?Hz) and ankle (range: 16–39?Hz).

Practitioner Summary: The biomechanical response of the human foot exposed to foot-transmitted vibration, when standing in a natural position, was measured for 21 participants. The foot does not respond uniformly; the toes, midfoot, and ankle regions need to be considered independently in future development of isolation strategies and protective measures.     

Putative Circulating MicroRNAs Are Able to Identify Patients with Mitral Valve Prolapse and Severe Regurgitation

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) associated with severe mitral regurgitation is a debilitating disease with no pharmacological therapies available. MicroRNAs (miRNA) represent an emerging class of circulating biomarkers that have never been evaluated in MVP human plasma. Our aim was to identify a possible miRNA signature that is able to discriminate MVP patients from healthy subjects (CTRL) and to shed light on the putative altered molecular pathways in MVP. We evaluated a plasma miRNA profile using Human MicroRNA Card A followed by real-time PCR validations. In addition, to assess the discriminative power of selected miRNAs, we implemented a machine learning analysis. MiRNA profiling and validations revealed that miR-140-3p, 150-5p, 210-3p, 451a, and 487a-3p were significantly upregulated in MVP, while miR-223-3p, 323a-3p, 340-5p, and 361-5p were significantly downregulated in MVP compared to CTRL (p ≤ 0.01). Functional analysis identified several biological processes possible linked to MVP. In addition, machine learning analysis correctly classified MVP patients from CTRL with high accuracy (0.93) and an area under the receiving operator characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.97. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study performed on human plasma, showing a strong association between miRNAs and MVP. Thus, a circulating molecular signature could be used as a first-line, fast, and cheap screening tool for MVP identification.     

Nonwoven Ni–NiO/carbon fibers for electrochemical water oxidation

The development of technologically efficient anodes for water oxidation is crucial to improve hydrogen production via water splitting. Electrodes based on metallic active sites dispersed in carbon matrices have been shown to be an attractive way to attain this goal. However, challenges remain to prevent catalyst agglomeration that otherwise can result in a decrease of performance over time.In this work, we report an alternative and efficient method to produce nickel-nickel oxide nanoparticles-embedded in carbon nanofibers (Ni–NiO/C), by the solution blow spinning (SBS) process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses show the carbon nanofibrillar matrix as a robust support, with well-dispersed nickel nanoparticles on the surface. The responses of the linear scanning voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy demonstrate how a small fraction of nickel on the fiber surface (≈1.2–5.3%) is enough to promote substantial improvement in performance (η = 278 and 309 mV vs RHE for 10 mA cm^?2) and a significant turnover frequency (TOF) values of 1.38 (η = 278) and 1.30 s^?1 (η = 309). These promising results are correlated with a large amount of Ni³⁺ present on the fiber surfaces, as identified by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). This work provides a low-cost and rapid preparation technique that can be extended for the manufacture of a wide variety of electrodes based on metals supported on carbon nanofibers.     

The Impact of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease on Renal Function in Children with Overweight/Obesity

The association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and chronic kidney disease has attracted interest and attention over recent years. However, no data are available in children. We determined whether children with NAFLD show signs of renal functional alterations, as determined by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin excretion. We studied 596 children with overweight/obesity, 268 with NAFLD (hepatic fat fraction ≥5% on magnetic resonance imaging) and 328 without NAFLD, and 130 healthy normal-weight controls. Decreased GFR was defined as eGFR < 90 mL/min/1.73 m². Abnormal albuminuria was defined as urinary excretion of ≥30 mg/24 h of albumin. A greater prevalence of eGFR < 90 mL/min/1.73 m² was observed in patients with NAFLD compared to those without liver involvement and healthy subjects (17.5% vs. 6.7% vs. 0.77%; p < 0.0001). The proportion of children with abnormal albuminuria was also higher in the NAFLD group compared to those without NAFLD, and controls (9.3% vs. 4.0% vs. 0; p < 0.0001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that NAFLD was associated with decreased eGFR and/or microalbuminuria (odds ratio, 2.54 (confidence interval, 1.16–5.57); p < 0.05) independently of anthropometric and clinical variables. Children with NAFLD are at risk for early renal dysfunction. Recognition of this abnormality in the young may help to prevent the ongoing development of the disease.     

Influence of ethanol/water ratio in ultrasound and high‐pressure/high‐temperature phenolic compound extraction from agri‐food waste

The valorisation and management of agri‐food waste are currently hot investigation topics which probe the recovery of valuable compounds, such as polyphenols. In this study, high‐pressure/high‐temperature extraction (HPTE) and ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) have been used to study the recovery of phenolic compounds from grape marc and olive pomace in hydroalcoholic solutions. The main phenolic compounds in both extracts were identified by HPLC‐DAD. Besides extraction yield (total polyphenol and flavonoid content) and the antiradical power, polyphenol degradation under HPTE and UAE has also been studied. HPTE with ethanol 75% gave higher phenolic extraction yields: 73.8 ± 1.4 mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram of dried matter and 60.0 mg of caffeic acid equivalents per gram of dried matter for grape marc and olive pomace, respectively. In this study, the efficient combination of ethanol/water mixture with HPTE or UAE has been used to enhance the recovery of phenolic compounds from grape marc and olive pomace. HPLC‐DAD showed that UAE prevents phenolic species degradation damage because of its milder operative conditions.     

Determination of pyrethroids in chicken egg samples: development and validation of a confirmatory analytical method by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

The aim of this study was to develop and validate an efficient analytical method based on gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) for detection and quantification of six pyrethroids residues (Phenothrin, Permethrin, Cyfluthrin, Cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and Fenvalerate) in chicken eggs. The method was based on a preliminary liquid–liquid extraction of albumen‐free yolk samples, followed by a clean‐up by solid‐phase extraction. GC/MS/MS analyses were carried out in the selected reaction monitoring mode. Validation parameters such as specificity, detection capability, decision limit, precision, recovery, stability and ruggedness were determined, resulting in compliance with Decision 2002/657/EC. No complicated apparatus are required; moreover, low volumes of organic solvents and a nonintensive manual labour are required. These low costs and simple procedure, based on rapid and safe operations, may represent a useful tool in the routine analysis of pyrethroids pesticides, in the place of the currently used conventional techniques.     

Size of web domains and interlinking behavior of higher education institutions in Europe

The aim of this paper is to empirically test whether interlinking patterns between higher education institutions (HEIs) conform to a document model, where links are motivated by webpage content, or a social relationship model, where they are markers of underlying social relationships between HEIs. To this aim, we analyzed a sample of approximately 400 European HEIs, using the number of pages on their web domains and the total number of links sent and received; in addition we test whether these two characteristics are associated with organizational size, reputation, and the volume of teaching and research activities. Our main findings are as follows: first, the number of webpages of HEI websites is strongly associated with their size, and to a lesser extent, with the volume of their educational activities, research orientation, and reputation; differences between European countries are rather limited, supporting the insight that the academic Web has reached a mature stage. Second, the distribution of connectivity (as measured by the total degree of HEI’s) follows a lognormal distribution typical of social networks between organizations, while counts of weblinks can be predicted with good precision from organizational characteristics. HEIs with larger websites tend to send and receive more links, but the effect is rather limited and does not fundamentally modify the resulting network structure. We conclude that aggregated counts of weblinks between pairs of HEIs are not significantly affected by the web policies of HEIs and thus can be considered as reasonably robust measures. Furthermore, interlinking should be considered as proxies of social relationships between HEIs rather than as reputational measures of the content published on their websites.     

Electrically insulating polymeric nanocomposites with enhanced thermal conductivity by visible‐light curing of epoxy–boron nitride nanotube formulations

Epoxy–boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) composites were prepared using visible light through a radical‐induced cationic polymerization method activated by camphorquinone. The fully cured films showed an enhancement of glass transition temperature in the presence of the filler. Electrical characterization showed a slight dielectric constant decrease with BNNT content. Finally, thermal conductivity measured using nano‐flash analysis showed a linear increase in the thermal conductivity of the materials with increasing BNNT content in the photocurable formulations. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry