Adherence to Mediterranean Diet and Selected Lifestyle Elements among Young Women with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus from Northeast Poland: A Case-Control COVID-19 Survey

An appropriate balanced diet and dietary patterns are important at every stage of life, but in the case of young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), it is especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to assess health and nutritional behaviors, mainly adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland among women with T1DM, and to compare them with a healthy population. This survey (based on a questionnaire) was conducted in December 2020 and included 219 young women, healthy (n = 106) and with T1DM (n = 113), from northeast Poland. Over 30% of the study group admitted that they did not engage in any physical activity. A large proportion declared that their screen time was 5–7 h a day (48% in control and 40% in T1DM group). High intakes of sweet-beverages, sweets and red meat, but also low intakes of olive oil, fish and nuts were observed. The vast majority of participants (60% vs. 71%) were moderately adherent to the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS). The study demonstrated that despite the similarity between the behaviors of healthy people and those with T1DM, negative health and nutritional practices, such as low physical activity, long screen time, medium and high levels of stress and inappropriate eating habits were observed.     

Aspartame—True or False? Narrative Review of Safety Analysis of General Use in Products

Aspartame is a sweetener introduced to replace the commonly used sucrose. It was discovered by James M. Schlatter in 1965. Being 180–200 times sweeter than sucrose, its intake was expected to reduce obesity rates in developing countries and help those struggling with diabetes. It is mainly used as a sweetener for soft drinks, confectionery, and medicines. Despite its widespread use, its safety remains controversial. This narrative review investigates the existing literature on the use of aspartame and its possible effects on the human body to refine current knowledge. Taking to account that aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener, it seems appropriate to continue research on safety. Studies mentioned in this article have produced very interesting results overall, the current review highlights the social problem of providing visible and detailed information about the presence of aspartame in products. The studies involving the impact of aspartame on obesity, diabetes mellitus, children and fetus, autism, neurodegeneration, phenylketonuria, allergies and skin problems, its cancer properties and its genotoxicity were analyzed. Further research should be conducted to ensure clear information about the impact of aspartame on health.     

A novel host defense system of airways is defective in cystic fibrosis

RATIONALE: The respiratory tract is constantly exposed to airborne microorganisms. Nevertheless, normal airways remain sterile without recruiting phagocytes. This innate immune activity has been attributed to mucociliary clearance and antimicrobial polypeptides of airway surface liquid. Defective airway immunity characterizes cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator, a chloride channel. The pathophysiology of defective immunity in CF remains to be elucidated. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the ability of non-CF and CF airway epithelia to kill bacteria through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). METHODS: ROS production and ROS-mediated bactericidal activity were determined on the apical surfaces of human and rat airway epithelia and on cow tracheal explants. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Dual oxidase enzyme of airway epithelial cells generated sufficient H(2)O(2) to support production of bactericidal hypothiocyanite (OSCN(-)) in the presence of airway surface liquid components lactoperoxidase and thiocyanate (SCN(-)). This OSCN(-) formation eliminated Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on airway mucosal surfaces, whereas it was nontoxic to the host. In contrast to normal epithelia, CF epithelia failed to secrete SCN(-), thereby rendering the oxidative antimicrobial system inactive. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate a novel innate defense mechanism of airways that kills bacteria via ROS and suggest a new cellular and molecular basis for defective airway immunity in CF.     

Choroby wątroby i nerek w przebiegu ciliopatii

Ciliopathies constitute a group of disorders characterized by cilia abnormalities and an extremely heterogeneous clinical presentation. The liver and kidneys are the most commonly affected organs and the term hepatorenal fibrocystic disorders is used to describe ciliopathies with combined liver and kidney involvement. Liver disorders in ciliopathies can be grouped into three categories: congenital hepatic fibrosis, Caroli's disease and polycystic liver disease. Kidney disorders related to primary cilia abnormalities include autosomal dominant and recessive polycystic kidney diseases and nephronophthisis.     

The emergence of saliency and novelty responses from Reinforcement Learning principles

Recent attempts to map reward-based learning models, like Reinforcement Learning [Sutton, R. S., & Barto, A. G. (1998). Reinforcement Learning: An introduction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press], to the brain are based on the observation that phasic increases and decreases in the spiking of dopamine-releasing neurons signal differences between predicted and received reward [Gillies, A., & Arbuthnott, G. (2000). Computational models of the basal ganglia. Movement Disorders, 15(5), 762–770; Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), 1–27]. However, this reward-prediction error is only one of several signals communicated by that phasic activity; another involves an increase in dopaminergic spiking, reflecting the appearance of salient but unpredicted non-reward stimuli [Doya, K. (2002). Metalearning and neuromodulation. Neural Networks, 15(4–6), 495–506; Horvitz, J. C. (2000). Mesolimbocortical and nigrostriatal dopamine responses to salient non-reward events. Neuroscience, 96(4), 651–656; Redgrave, P., & Gurney, K. (2006). The short-latency dopamine signal: A role in discovering novel actions? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7(12), 967–975], especially when an organism subsequently orients towards the stimulus [Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), 1–27]. To explain these findings, Kakade and Dayan [Kakade, S., & Dayan, P. (2002). Dopamine: Generalization and bonuses. Neural Networks, 15(4–6), 549–559.] and others have posited that novel, unexpected stimuli are intrinsically rewarding. The simulation reported in this article demonstrates that this assumption is not necessary because the effect it is intended to capture emerges from the reward-prediction learning mechanisms of Reinforcement Learning. Thus, Reinforcement Learning principles can be used to understand not just reward-related activity of the dopaminergic neurons of the basal ganglia, but also some of their apparently non-reward-related activity.     

Influence of Adhesive Layer Thickness on the Effectiveness of Reinforcing Thin-Walled Steel Beams with CFRP Tapes—A Pilot Study

When reinforcing thin-walled steel members with composite tapes, two issues often overlooked in published scientific papers should be considered, namely the correct thickness of the adhesive layer and the optimum bond length of the CFRP tape. In this article, the authors focused on the first of these issues. For this purpose, eight beams with a thin-walled box cross-section and a length of 3 m were subjected to bending in a four-point scheme. Six beams were reinforced with Sika CarboDur S512 composite tape, and two beams without reinforcement were tested as reference members. Three thicknesses of the adhesive layer (SikaDur-30) were analyzed: 0.6 mm, 1.3 mm and 1.75 mm. In addition to examining the effect of the thickness of the adhesive layer on displacements and deformations of thin-walled steel members, the load value at which the composite tape peeled off was also analyzed. Numerical analyses were then carried out in Abaqus, the outcomes of which showed good agreement with the laboratory results. Both numerical and laboratory results have shown that the thickness of the adhesive layer had a minor effect on the reduction in deformation and displacement of the tested beams. At the same time, with the increase in the thickness of the adhesive layer, the value of the load at which the CFRP tapes detached from the beam surface significantly decreased.     

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors: N-substituted monocyclic and bicyclic amino acid derivatives

The synthesis of N-(3-mercaptopropionyl)-N-arylglycines (14a-x),- N-arylalanines (15a,b),-N-cycloalkylglycines (16a-k), and -1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acids (17a-d), -1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline-2-carboxylic acids (18a-f), and -indoline-2-carboxylic acids (19a-k) is described. In vitro inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is reported for each compound, and the structure--activity relationship for each series is discussed. The in vivo inhibition of ACE and antihypertensive effects of representative compounds from each series are discussed. The most potent compound, 19d, had an in vitro ACE IC50 of 2.6 X 10(-9) M and lowered blood pressure in spontaneous hypertensive rats 85 mm at a dose of 10 mg/kg po.     

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors: structure-activity profile of 1-benzazepin-2-one derivatives

The preparation of a series of 3-amino-2-oxo-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1-benzazepine-1-acetic acid derivatives 5a-y by reductive amination of 2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1-benzazepine-2,3-dione (7) with L-amino acid derivatives is described. The compounds were tested for inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme. The structure-activity profile of the series is discussed. Compound 5a was especially potent when tested in dogs for inhibition of angiotensin I pressor response, having an ID50 = 0.07 mg/kg po.