Barriers to increasing fruit and vegetable intakes in the older population of Northern Ireland: low levels of liking and low awareness of current recommendations

Objective: To investigate barriers to increasing fruit and vegetable (f + v) intakes in a large sample of the older population of Northern Ireland (NI), in relation to current intakes.

Biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake in Human intervention studies a systematic review

Observational evidence consistently shows that consumption of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables may offer protection against diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Assessment of dietary intake is complex and prone to many sources of error. More objective biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake are therefore of interest. The aim of this review is to examine the usefulness of the main biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake to act as objective indicators of compliance in dietary intervention studies. A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted using six databases. Suitable papers were selected and relevant data extracted. The papers were categorized into 3 sub-groups: whole diet interventions; mixed fruit and vegetable interventions; and studies involving individual varieties of fruits or vegetables. Ninety-six studies were included in the review. Overall, the most commonly measured, and most consistently responsive, biomarkers were the carotenoids and vitamin C. Based on the results of this systematic review, it remains prudent to measure a panel of biomarkers in fruit and vegetable intervention studies. The only possible exception to this is “fruit only” intervention studies where assessment of vitamin C alone may suffice.

The natriuretic peptide/helokinestatin precursor from Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) venom: Amino acid sequence deduced from cloned cDNA and identification of two novel encoded helokinestatins

Natriuretic peptides are common components of reptile venoms and molecular cloning of their biosynthetic precursors has revealed that in snakes, they co-encode bradykinin-potentiating peptides and in venomous lizards, some co-encode bradykinin inhibitory peptides such as the helokinestatins. The common natriuretic peptide/helokinestatin precursor of the Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum, encodes five helokinestatins of differing primary structures. Here we report the molecular cloning of a natriuretic peptide/helokinestatin precursor cDNA from a venom-derived cDNA library of the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum). Deduction of the primary structure of the encoded precursor protein from this cloned cDNA template revealed that it consisted of 196 amino acid residues encoding a single natriuretic peptide and five helokinestatins. While the natriuretic peptide was of identical primary structure to its Gila Monster (H. suspectum) homolog, the encoded helokinestatins were not, with this region of the common precursor displaying some significant differences to its H. suspectum homolog. The helokinestatin-encoding region contained a single copy of helokinestatin-1, 2 copies of helokinestatin-3 and single copies of 2 novel peptides, (Phe)(5)-helokinestatin-2 (VPPAFVPLVPR) and helokinestatin-6 (GPPFNPPPFVDYEPR). All predicted peptides were found in reverse phase HPLC fractions of the same venom. Synthetic replicates of both novel helokinestatins were found to antagonize the relaxing effect of bradykinin on rat tail artery smooth muscle. Thus lizard venom continues to provide a source of novel biologically active peptides. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Effect of fruit and vegetable intake on oxidative stress and inflammation in COPD: a randomised controlled trial

Epidemiological evidence supports a positive relationship between fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Increasing FV intake may attenuate the oxidative stress and inflammation associated with COPD.

An exploratory randomised controlled trial to examine the effect of increased consumption of FV on oxidative stress and inflammation in moderate-to-severe COPD was conducted. 81 symptomatically stable patients with a habitually low FV intake (two or fewer portions of FV per day) were randomised to the intervention group (five or more portions of FV per day) or the control group (two or fewer portions of FV per day). Each participant received self-selected weekly home deliveries of FV for 12 weeks.

75 participants completed the intervention. There was a significant between-group change in self-reported FV intake and biomarkers of FV intake (zeaxanthin (p=0.034) and ß-cryptoxanthin (p=0.015)), indicating good compliance; post-intervention intakes in intervention and control groups were 6.1 and 1.9 portions of FV per day, respectively. There were no significant changes in biomarkers of airway inflammation (interleukin-8 and myeloperoxidase) and systemic inflammation (C-reactive protein) or airway and systemic oxidative stress (8-isoprostane).

This exploratory study demonstrated that patients with moderate-to-severe COPD were able to comply with an intervention to increase FV intake; however, this had no significant effect on airway or systemic oxidative stress and inflammation.

Sensory systems and spatial memory in the fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus

The megachiropteran fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus is able to orient and navigate using both vision and echolocation. These two sensory systems have different environmental constraints however, echolocation being relatively short range when compared with vision. Despite this difference, an experiment testing their memory of a perch location demonstrates that once the location of a perch is learned R. aegyptiacus is not influenced by the movement of local landmark cues in the vicinity of the perch under either light or dark conditions. Thus despite the differing constraints of vision and echolocation, this suggests a place is remembered as a location in space and not by associations with landmarks in the vicinity. A decrease in initial performance when the task was repeated in the dark suggested the possibility that a memory of a location learned using vision does not generalize to echolocation.