Immunomodulatory effects of a probiotic drink containing Lactobacillus casei Shirota in healthy older volunteers

PURPOSE: There is growing evidence that probiotics confer health benefits to the host by modulating immune function, especially in older people, where immunosenescence is a feature even of healthy ageing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a probiotic drink containing Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on immune function in a healthy non-immunocompromised older population. METHODS: Thirty healthy old volunteers were recruited into a randomized placebo-controlled, single-blind crossover study. The volunteers were supplemented with the probiotic drink containing 1.3 × 10(10) CFU LcS or skimmed milk per day for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of washout and were crossed over to the other treatment. Peripheral blood and saliva samples were collected at baseline and end of each treatment. RESULTS: Probiotic consumption was associated with a significant increase in natural killer (NK) cell activity relative to baseline and a significant decrease in the mean fluorescence intensity of CD25 expression in the resting T cells compared with placebo. Additionally, there was a trend towards an increased ratio of IL-10 to IL-12 relative to baseline after LcS intake. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of a probiotic drink containing LcS improved NK cell activity and tended to produce a more anti-inflammatory cytokine profile in an older population.

Solar ultraviolet-B radiation and vitamin D: a cross-sectional population-based study using data from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey

Background: Exposure to solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation is a major source of vitamin D3. Chemistry climate models project decreases in ground-level solar erythemal UV over the current century. It is unclear what impact this will have on vitamin D status at the population level. The purpose of this study was to measure the association between ground-level solar UV-B and serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) using a secondary analysis of the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). Methods: Blood samples collected from individuals aged 12 to 79 years sampled across Canada were analyzed for 25(OH)D (n=4,398). Solar UV-B irradiance was calculated for the 15 CHMS collection sites using the Tropospheric Ultraviolet and Visible Radiation Model. Multivariable linear regression was used to evaluate the association between 25(OH)D and solar UV-B adjusted for other predictors and to explore effect modification. Results: Cumulative solar UV-B irradiance averaged over 91 days (91-day UV-B) prior to blood draw correlated significantly with 25(OH)D. Independent of other predictors, a 1 kJ/m 2 increase in 91-day UV-B was associated with a significant 0.5 nmol/L (95% CI 0.3-0.8) increase in mean 25(OH)D (P =0.0001). The relationship was stronger among younger individuals and those spending more time outdoors. Based on current projections of decreases in ground-level solar UV-B, we predict less than a 1 nmol/L decrease in mean 25(OH)D for the population. Conclusions: In Canada, cumulative exposure to ambient solar UV-B has a small but significant association with 25(OH)D concentrations. Public health messages to improve vitamin D status should target safe sun exposure with sunscreen use, and also enhanced dietary and supplemental intake and maintenance of a healthy body weight.

Acute ingestion of beetroot bread increases endothelium-independent vasodilation and lowers diastolic blood pressure in healthy men: a randomized controlled trial

Dietary nitrate, from beetroot, has been reported to lower blood pressure (BP) by the sequential reduction of nitrate to nitrite and further to NO in the circulation. However, the impact of beetroot on microvascular vasodilation and arterial stiffness is unknown. In addition, beetroot is consumed by only 4.5% of the UK population, whereas bread is a staple component of the diet. Thus, we investigated the acute effects of beetroot bread (BB) on microvascular vasodilation, arterial stiffness, and BP in healthy participants. Twenty-three healthy men received 200 g bread containing 100 g beetroot (1.1 mmol nitrate) or 200 g control white bread (CB; 0 g beetroot, 0.01 mmol nitrate) in an acute, randomized, open-label, controlled crossover trial. The primary outcome was postprandial microvascular vasodilation measured by laser Doppler iontophoresis and the secondary outcomes were arterial stiffness measured by Pulse Wave Analysis and Velocity and ambulatory BP measured at regular intervals for a total period of 6 h. Plasma nitrate and nitrite were measured at regular intervals for a total period of 7 h. The incremental area under the curve (0-6 h after ingestion of bread) for endothelium-independent vasodilation was greater (P = 0.017) and lower for diastolic BP (DBP; P = 0.032) but not systolic (P = 0.99) BP after BB compared with CB. These effects occurred in conjunction with increases in plasma and urinary nitrate (P < 0.0001) and nitrite (P < 0.001). BB acutely increased endothelium-independent vasodilation and decreased DBP. Therefore, enriching bread with beetroot may be a suitable vehicle to increase intakes of cardioprotective beetroot in the diet and may provide new therapeutic perspectives in the management of hypertension.

Inflammatory modulation of exercise salience: using hormesis to return to a healthy lifestyle

Most of the human population in the western world has access to unlimited calories and leads an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The propensity to undertake voluntary exercise or indulge in spontaneous physical exercise, which might be termed "exercise salience", is drawing increased scientific attention. Despite its genetic aspects, this complex behaviour is clearly modulated by the environment and influenced by physiological states. Inflammation is often overlooked as one of these conditions even though it is known to induce a state of reduced mobility. Chronic subclinical inflammation is associated with the metabolic syndrome; a largely lifestyle-induced disease which can lead to decreased exercise salience. The result is a vicious cycle that increases oxidative stress and reduces metabolic flexibility and perpetuates the disease state. In contrast, hormetic stimuli can induce an anti-inflammatory phenotype, thereby enhancing exercise salience, leading to greater biological fitness and improved functional longevity. One general consequence of hormesis is upregulation of mitochondrial function and resistance to oxidative stress. Examples of hormetic factors include calorie restriction, extreme environmental temperatures, physical activity and polyphenols. The hormetic modulation of inflammation, and thus, exercise salience, may help to explain the highly heterogeneous expression of voluntary exercise behaviour and therefore body composition phenotypes of humans living in similar obesogenic environments.

New insights into the impact of Lactobacillus population on host-bacteria metabolic interplay

We aimed at evaluating the association between intestinal Lactobacillus sp. composition and their metabolic activity with the host metabolism in adult and elderly individuals. Faecal and plasma metabolites were measured and correlated to the Lactobacillus species distribution in healthy Estonian cohorts of adult (n=16; <48 y) and elderly (n=33; >65 y). Total cholesterol, LDL, C-reactive protein and glycated hemoglobin were statistically higher in elderly, while platelets, white blood cells and urinary creatinine were higher in adults. Aging was associated with the presence of L. paracasei and L. plantarum and the absence of L. salivarius and L. helveticus. High levels of intestinal Lactobacillus sp. were positively associated with increased concentrations of faecal short chain fatty acids, lactate and essential amino acids. In adults, high red blood cell distribution width was positively associated with presence of L. helveticus and absence of L. ruminis. L. helveticus was correlated to lactate and butyrate in faecal waters. This indicates a strong relationship between the composition of the gut Lactobacillus sp. and host metabolism. Our results confirm that aging is associated with modulations of blood biomarkers and intestinal Lactobacillus species composition. We identified specific Lactobacillus contributions to gut metabolic environment and related those to blood biomarkers. Such associations may prove useful to decipher the biological mechanisms underlying host-gut microbial metabolic interactions in an ageing population.

Behavioral economics, wearable devices, and cooperative games: results from a population-based intervention to increase physical activity

Background: Health care literature supports the development of accessible interventions that integrate behavioral economics, wearable devices, principles of evidence-based behavior change, and community support. However, there are limited real-world examples of large scale, population-based, member-driven reward platforms. Subsequently, a paucity of outcome data exists and health economic effects remain largely theoretical. To complicate matters, an emerging area of research is defining the role of Superusers, the small percentage of unusually engaged digital health participants who may influence other members. Objective: The objective of this preliminary study is to analyze descriptive data from GOODcoins, a self-guided, free-to-consumer engagement and rewards platform incentivizing walking, running and cycling. Registered members accessed the GOODcoins platform through PCs, tablets or mobile devices, and had the opportunity to sync wearables to track activity. Following registration, members were encouraged to join gamified group challenges and compare their progress with that of others. As members met challenge targets, they were rewarded with GOODcoins, which could be redeemed for planet- or people-friendly products. Methods: Outcome data were obtained from the GOODcoins custom SQL database. The reporting period was December 1, 2014 to May 1, 2015. Descriptive self-report data were analyzed using MySQL and MS Excel. Results: The study period includes data from 1298 users who were connected to an exercise tracking device. Females consisted of 52.6% (n=683) of the study population, 33.7% (n=438) were between the ages of 20-29, and 24.8% (n=322) were between the ages of 30-39. 77.5% (n=1006) of connected and active members met daily-recommended physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes, with a total daily average activity of 107 minutes (95% CI 90, 124). Of all connected and active users, 96.1% (n=1248) listed walking as their primary activity. For members who exchanged GOODcoins, the mean balance was 4,000 (95% CI 3850, 4150) at time of redemption, and 50.4% (n=61) of exchanges were for fitness or outdoor products, while 4.1% (n=5) were for food-related items. Participants were most likely to complete challenges when rewards were between 201-300 GOODcoins. Conclusions: The purpose of this study is to form a baseline for future research. Overall, results indicate that challenges and incentives may be effective for connected and active members, and may play a role in achieving daily-recommended activity guidelines. Registrants were typically younger, walking was the primary activity, and rewards were mainly exchanged for fitness or outdoor products. Remaining to be determined is whether members were already physically active at time of registration and are representative of healthy adherers, or were previously inactive and were incentivized to change their behavior. As challenges are gamified, there is an opportunity to investigate the role of superusers and healthy adherers, impacts on behavioral norms, and how cooperative games and incentives can be leveraged across stratified populations. Study limitations and future research agendas are discussed.

Chronic Diseases: Chronic Diseases and Development 2 Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern as the pattern of food consumption is a mayor modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases Although agri food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities policy, and analysis with neither side considering the complex inter relation between agri trade patterns of food consumption health, and development We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the effect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production trade the economy and livelihoods, with a computable general equilibrium approach On the basis of case studies from the UK and Brazil we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production trade and other economic factors

Patterns of food acquisition in Brazilian households and associated factors: a population-based survey

Objective: To identify food acquisition patterns in Brazil and relate them to the sociodemographic characteristics of the household. Design: A cross-sectional national Household Budget Survey (HBS). Principal component factor analysis was used to derive food patterns (factors) on the basis of the acquisition of food classified into thirty-two food groups. Setting: The source of data originates from the 2002-2003 HBS carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics between June 2002 and July 2003 using a representative sample of all Brazilian households. Subject: A total of 48 470 households allocated into 443 strata of households that were geographically and socio-economically homogeneous as a study unit. Results: We identified two patterns of food acquisition. The first, named `dual`, was characterized by dairy, fruit, fruit juice, vegetables, processed meat, soft drinks, sweets, bread and margarine, and by inverse correlations with Brazilian staple foods. In contrast, the second pattern, named `traditional`, was characterized by rice, beans, manioc, flour, milk and sugar. The `dual` pattern was associated with higher household educational level, income and the average age of adults on the strata, whereas the `traditional` presented higher loadings in less-educated households and in the rural setting. Conclusions: Dietary patterns described here suggest that policies and programmes to promote healthy eating need to consider that healthy and non-healthy foods may be integral in the same pattern.

Relative entropy measures applied to healthy and pathological voice characterization

Nowadays, noninvasive methods of diagnosis have increased due to demands of the population that requires fast, simple and painless exams. These methods have become possible because of the growth of technology that provides the necessary means of collecting and processing signals. New methods of analysis have been developed to understand the complexity of voice signals, such as nonlinear dynamics aiming at the exploration of voice signals dynamic nature. The purpose of this paper is to characterize healthy and pathological voice signals with the aid of relative entropy measures. Phase space reconstruction technique is also used as a way to select interesting regions of the signals. Three groups of samples were used, one from healthy individuals and the other two from people with nodule in the vocal fold and Reinke`s edema. All of them are recordings of sustained vowel /a/ from Brazilian Portuguese. The paper shows that nonlinear dynamical methods seem to be a suitable technique for voice signal analysis, due to the chaotic component of the human voice. Relative entropy is well suited due to its sensibility to uncertainties, since the pathologies are characterized by an increase in the signal complexity and unpredictability. The results showed that the pathological groups had higher entropy values in accordance with other vocal acoustic parameters presented. This suggests that these techniques may improve and complement the recent voice analysis methods available for clinicians. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distribution of ABCB1 polymorphisms among Brazilians: impact of population admixture

Introduction: Interethnic admixture is a source of cryptic population structure that may lead to spurious genotype-phenotype associations in pharmacogenomic studies. We studied the impact of population stratification on the distribution of ABCB1 polymorphisms (1236C > T, 2677G > T/A and 3435C > T) among Brazilians, a highly admixed population with Amerindian, European and African ancestral roots. Methods: Individual DNA from 320 healthy adults was genotyped with a panel of ancestry informative markers, and the proportions of African component of ancestry (ACA) were estimated. ABCB1 genotypes were determined by the single base extension/termination method. We describe the association between ABCB1 polymorphisms and ACA by fitting a linear proportional odds logistic regression model to the data. Results: The distribution of the ABCB1 2677G > T/A and 3435C > T, but not the 1236C > T, SNPs displayed a significant trend for decreasing frequency of the T alleles and TT genotypes from White to Intermediate to Black individuals. The same trend was observed in the frequency of the T/nonG/T haplotype at the 1236, 2677 and 3435 loci. When the population sample was proportioned in quartiles, according to the individual ACA estimates, the frequency of the T allele and TT genotype at each locus declined progressively from the lowest (< 0.25 ACA) to the highest (> 0.75 ACA) quartile. Linear proportional odds logistic regression analysis confirmed that the odds of having the T allele at each locus decreases in a continuous manner with the increase of the ACA, throughout the ACA range (0.13-0.94) observed in the overall population sample. A significant association was also detected between the individual ACA estimates and the presence of the T/nonG/T haplotype in the overall population. Conclusion: Self-identification according to the racial/color categories proposed by the Brazilian Census is insufficient to properly control for population stratification in pharmacogenomic studies of ABCB1.

Technologies that motivates healthy toothbrushing: practices through social translucence

Fifty percent of the European Union’s population suffers from an oral disease. Studies have repeatedly shown that while acquiring healthy toothbrushing practices early on in one’s life is of significance, children and adults often fail to adhere to those. In this thesis we attempt to design and prototype interactive technologies that motivate healthy tooth brushing habits on individuals. Rather than focusing on the technologies’ persuasive power over individuals, we tap on the social mechanisms employed by families. In this sense, we think of these technologies as social translucent rather than persuasive, whose goal is to raise awareness within the family on each other’s habits and that aim at leveraging families’ existing social mechanisms for behavior change, rather than replacing them. More specifically, we aim to gain insights with respect to the following questions: a) What are the drivers and barriers towards adhering to healthy tooth brushing behaviors? b) Can we effectively measure toothbrushing behaviors? c) How can technologies leverage family communication practices in motivating proper toothbrushing behaviors? First, we present two studies about children and adults’ tooth brushing behaviors and how these are influenced by social interactions within the family. Secondly, we present the design and prototyping of two systems that sense toothbrushing practices and provide feedback, using the Social Translucence Framework as a design lens. We conclude with an overview of lessons learnt from the prototyping of these systems supported by an analysis of the strengths and pitfalls of the developed technologies.

Chronic Diseases: Chronic Diseases and Development 2 Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern as the pattern of food consumption is a mayor modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases Although agri food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities policy, and analysis with neither side considering the complex inter relation between agri trade patterns of food consumption health, and development We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the effect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production trade the economy and livelihoods, with a computable general equilibrium approach on the basis of case studies from the UK and Brazil we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production trade and other economic factors

Abnormalities in apolipoprotein and lipid levels in an HIV-infected Brazilian population under different treatment profiles: the relevance of apolipoprotein E genotypes and immunological status

HIV infection is associated with disturbances in lipid metabolism due to a host's response mechanism and the current antiretroviral therapy. The pathological appearance and progression of atherosclerosis is dependent on the presence of injurious agents in the vascular endothelium and variations in different subsets of candidate genes. Therefore, the Hha I polymorphism in the apolipoprotein E gene was evaluated in addition to triglycerides, total cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), LDL, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and apolipoprotein (apo) Al, B and E levels in 86 Brazilian HIV-infected patients and 29 healthy controls. The allele frequency for apoE in the HIV-infected group and controls was in agreement with data on the Brazilian population. Dyslipidemia was observed in the HIV group and verified by increased levels of triglycerides, VLDL and apoE, and decreased levels of HDL and apoAl. The greatest abnormalities in these biochemical variables were shown in the HIV-infected individuals whose immune function was more compromised. The effect of the genetic variation at the APOE gene on biochemical variables was more pronounced in the HIV-infected individuals who carried the apoE2/3 genotype. The highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)-receiving group presented increased levels of total cholesterol and apoE. Dyslipidemia was a predictable consequence of HIV infection and the protease inhibitors intensified the increase in apoE values.

IL-1ra anti-inflammatory cytokine polymorphism is associated with risk of gastric cancer and chronic gastritis in a Brazilian population, but the TNF-beta pro-inflammatory cytokine is not

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Typing Candida albicans oral isolates from healthy Brazilian schoolchildren using multilocus enzyme electrophoresis reveals two highly polymorphic taxa

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)