Long-term effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass on postprandial plasma lipid and bile acids kinetics in female non diabetic subjects: A cross-sectional pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Formerly obese patients having undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) display both an accelerated digestion and absorption of carbohydrate and an increased plasma glucose clearance rate after meal ingestion. How RYGB effects postprandial kinetics of dietary lipids has yet not been investigated. METHODS: Plasma triglyceride (TG), apoB48, total apoB, bile acids (BA), fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), and cholecystokinin (CCK) were measured in post-absorptive conditions and over 4-h following the ingestion of a mixed test meal in a cross-sectional, pilot study involving 11 formerly obese female patients 33.8 ± 16.4 months after RYGB surgery and in 11 weight- and age-matched female control participants. RESULTS: Compared to controls, RYGB patients had faster (254 ± 14 vs. 327 ± 7 min, p < 0.05) and lower (0.14 ± 0.04 vs. 0.35 ± 0.07 mM, p < 0.05) peak TG responses, but their peak apoB48 responses tended to be higher (2692 ± 336 vs. 1841 ± 228 ng/ml, p = 0.09). Their postprandial total BA concentrations were significantly increased and peaked earlier after meal ingestion than in controls. Their FGF19 and CCK concentrations also peaked earlier and to a higher value. CONCLUSIONS: The early postprandial apoB48 and BA responses indicate that RYGB accelerated the rate of dietary lipid absorption. The lower postprandial peak TG strongly suggests that the RYGB simultaneously increased the clearance of TG-rich lipoproteins. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01891591.

Evaluation du projet Age et Migration

La Suisse compte plus de 280'000 personnes âgées de plus 55 ans issues de la migration, sans compter les personnes naturalisées. Ce nombre élevé et croissant de migrants vieillissants s'inscrit dans un contexte de vieillissement de la population. Plusieurs études menées au niveau national et qui portaient sur les communautés italienne, espagnole et ex-yougoslave ont mis en évidence une importante vulnérabilité sociale et sanitaire au sein de ces groupes de populations. Cette fragilité socio-sanitaire résulte souvent d'un parcours migratoire difficile. A l'état de santé fragilisé des migrants s'ajoutent des risques accrus de pauvreté et un danger d'isolement dû à leur intégration limitée dans la société locale. En effet, une grande partie de ces personnes maîtrisent peu la langue du pays d'accueil, ce qui a entre autres pour conséquence une méconnaissance du système social et sanitaire suisse. Les migrants vieillissants s'appuient donc essentiellement sur leur réseau de proches pour les aider à faire face aux difficultés quotidiennes. Sur la base des différents constats résumés de manière succincte ci-dessus et pour répondre à cette problématique, l'Entraide Protestante Suisse (EPER) a mis sur pied en 2006, un premier projet destiné à ce public dans le canton de Zurich et a démarré un projet similaire dans le canton de Vaud en 2012. Le projet pilote de l'EPER " Age et Migration " consiste à proposer aux migrants âgés de plus 55 ans du canton de Vaud des activités pouvant contribuer à améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Ce projet vise aussi à faciliter l'accès à diverses informations et prestations relatives à l'âge et à la santé. Il permet également de lutter contre l'isolement en proposant diverses activités de socialisation.

Intraosseous migration of tendinous calcifications: cortical erosions, subcortical migration and extensive intramedullary diffusion, a SIMS series.

Calcium hydroxyapatite crystal deposition is a common disorder, which sometimes causes acute pain as calcifications dissolve and migrate into adjacent soft tissue. Intraosseous calcium penetration has also been described. We illustrate the appearance of these lesions using a series of 35 cases compiled by members of the French Society of Musculoskeletal Imaging (Société d'Imagerie Musculo-Squelettique, SIMS). The first group in our series (7 cases) involved calcification-related cortical erosions of the humeral and femoral diaphyses, in particular at the pectoralis major and gluteus maximus insertions. A second group (28 cases) involved the presence of calcium material in subcortical areas. The most common site was the greater tubercle of the humerus, accompanying a calcifying tendinopathy of the supraspinatus. In addition, an extensive intramedullary diffusion of calcium deposits was observed in four of these cases, associated with cortical erosion in one case and subcortical lesions in three cases. Cortical erosions and intraosseous migration of calcifications associated with calcific tendinitis may be confused with neoplasm or infection. It is important to recognize atypical presentations of hydroxyapatite deposition to avoid unnecessary investigation or surgery.

High rates of smoking especially in female Crohn's disease patients and low use of supportive measures to achieve smoking cessation : Data from the SwissIBD cohort study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Smoking is a crucial environmental factor in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, knowledge on patient characteristics associated with smoking, time trends of smoking rates, gender differences and supportive measures to cease smoking provided by physicians is scarce. We aimed to address these questions in Swiss IBD patients. METHODS: Prospectively obtained data from patients participating in the Swiss IBD cohort study was analysed and compared to the general Swiss population (GSP) matched by age, sex and year. RESULTS: Among a total of 1770 IBD patients analysed (49.1% male), 29% are current smokers. More than twice as many patients with Crohn's disease (CD) are active smokers compared to ulcerative colitis (UC, 39.6% vs. 15.3%, p<0.001). In striking contrast to the GSP, significantly more women than men with CD smoke (42.8% vs. 35.8%, p=0.025), with also an overall significantly increased smoking rate compared to the GSP in women but not men. The vast majority of smoking IBD patients (90.5%) claim to never have received any support to achieve smoking cessation, significantly more in UC compared to CD. We identify a significantly negative association of smoking and primary sclerosing cholangitis, indicative of a protective effect. Psychological distress in CD is significantly higher in smokers compared to non-smokers, but does not differ in UC CONCLUSIONS: Despite well-established detrimental effects, smoking rates in CD are alarmingly high with persistent and stagnating elevations compared to the GSP, especially in female patients. Importantly, there appears to be an unacceptable underuse of supportive measures to achieve smoking cessation.

Tracking the ghost of coevolution in specific plant-insect interactions : the case of the pollination system between the globeflower Trollius europaeus and seven european Chiastocheta flies

This study aims at understanding the evolutionary processes at work in specialized species interactions. Prom the macroevolutionary perspective, coevolution among specialized taxa was proposed to be one of the major processes generating biodiversity. We challenge this idea from the theoretical and practical perspective and through a literature review and show that the major hypotheses linking coevolutionary process with macroevolutionary patterns do not necessarily predict lineage co diversification and parallel speciation, limit¬ing the utility of the comparative phylogenenetic approach for investigating coevolution¬ary processes. We also point to the rarity of observed long-term coevolutionary dynamics among lineages and propose that coevolution rather occurs in shorter timescales, followed by ecological fitting. Prom the empirical point, we focus on the nursery pollination interaction between the European globeflower Trollius europaeus (Ranunculaceae) and its associated Chiastocheta flies (Anthomyiidae; Diptera) as a model system of evolution and maintenance of special¬ized interactions. The flies are obligate parasites of the seeds, but also pollinate the plant - it was thus proposed that both species are mutually dependent. Contrasting with the paradigm used for two decades of research on this system, we show that the female fitness component of the plant is similar in the populations with and without Chiastocheta. The plant is thus not exclusively dependent on the flies for reproduction. We discuss this result in the context of the factors responsible for the evolution of mutualistic systems. Understanding the evolution of a biological system requires understanding of its phylo- genetic context. Previous studies showed large mismatch between mtDNA phylogeny and morphological taxonomy in Chiastocheta. By using a large set of RAD-sequencing loci, we delineate the species limits that are congruent with morphology, and show that the discordance is best explained by the scenario of mitochondrial capture among fly species. Finally, we examine this system from a phylogeographic perspective, and identify the lack of congruence in spatial genetic structures of the plant and associated insects across their whole geographic range. The flies show lower numbers of spatial genetic groups than the plant, indicating that not all of the plant réfugia were shared by all the fly species or that the migration dynamics homogenized some of the groups. The incongruence in spatial genetic patterns indicates that fly migrations were largely independent from the genetic background of the plant, following rather a scenario of resource tracking, without the signature of coevolutionary process at this scale. Indeed, while the flies require the plant to survive climatic oscillations, the opposite is not true. Eventually, we show that there is no phylogenetic signal of spatial genetic structures, meaning that neither histories nor life- history traits are shared among closely related species and that species are characterized by unique trajectories of their genes. -- Cette étude vise à comprendre les processus évolutifs à l'oeuvre au sein d'interactions en¬tre espèces spécialisées. Du point de vue macroévolutif, la coévolution entre les taxons spécialisée a été considérée comme l'un des principaux processus générateur de biodiversité. Nous contestons cette idée du point de vue théorique et pratique à travers une revue de la littérature. Nous montrons que les hypothèses majeures reliant les processus coévolutifs avec les patterns de diversité au niveau macroévolutif ne prédisent pas nécessairement la co- diversification des lignées et leur spéciation parallèle, ce qui limite l'utilité de l'approche de phylogénie comparative pour étudier les processus coévolutifs . Nous rappelons également le peu d'exemples de dynamique coévolutive à long terme et proposons que la coévolution se produit plutôt dans des intervalles courts, suivis d'ajustements écologiques. Du point empirique, nous nous concentrons sur l'interaction de pollinisation entre le Trolle d'Europe Trollius europaeus (Ranunculaceae) et ses pollinisateurs associés, du genre Chiastocheta (Anthomyiidae; Diptera) en tant que système-modèle pour étudier l'évolution et le maintien des interactions spécialisées. Les mouches sont des parasites obligatoires des semences, mais pollinisent également la plante. Il a donc été proposé que les deux espèces soient mutuellement dépendantes. Contrastant avec le paradigme utilisé pendant deux décennies de recherche sur ce système, nous montrons, que la composante de fitness femelle de la plante est similaire dans les populations avec et sans Chiastocheta. La plante ne dépend donc pas exclusivement de son interaction avec les mouches pour la reproduction. Nous discutons de ce résultat dans le contexte des facteurs responsables de l'évolution des systèmes mutualistes. Comprendre l'évolution d'un système biologique nécessite la compréhension de son con- texte phylogénétique. Des études antérieures ont montré, chez Chiastocheta, de grandes disparités entre les phylogénies obtenues à partir d'ADN mitochondrial et la taxonomie basée sur les critères morphologiques. En utilisant un grand nombre de loci obtenus par RAD-sequencing, nous traçons les limites des espèces, qui concordent avec les car¬actéristiques morphologies, et montrons que la discordance s'explique en fait par un scénario de capture mitochondriale entre espèces de mouches. Enfin, nous examinons le système d'un point de vue phylogéographique, et identi¬fions les incohérences entre structurations génétiques spatiales de la plante et des insectes associés dans toute leur aire de distribution géographique. Les mouches présentent un nombre de groupes génétiques inférieur à la plante, indiquant que tous les refuges de la plante n'étaient pas partagés par toutes les espèces de mouches ou que les dynamiques migratoires ont homogénéisés certains des groupes chez les mouches. Les différences ob¬servées dans les patrons de structuration génétique spatiale indique que les migrations et dispersions des mouches ont été indépendantes du contexte génétique de la plante, et ces dernières ont été uniquement tributaires de la disponibilité des ressources, sans qu'il n'y ait de signature du processus de coévolution à cette échelle. En effet, tandis que les mouches ont besoin de la plante pour survivre aux oscillations climatiques, le contraire n'est pas exact. Finalement, nous montrons qu'il n'y a pas de signal phylogénétique des structurations génétiques spatiales chez les mouches, ce qui signifie que ni l'histoire, ni les traits d'histoire de vie ne sont partagés entre les espèces phylogénétiquement proches et que les espèces sont caractérisées par des trajectoires uniques de leurs gènes.

'Freakish Fat', 'Wretched Black': Female abject beings in contemporary Colombian media and culture

This paper explores the construction of female abject beings in Colombian contemporary media and culture comparing a character in the 2010 telenovela Chepe Fortuna named Venezuela, and the cultural representation of Piedad Córdoba. I argue that the construction of these two characters as abject beings is coherent with the dominant discourse of Alvaro Uribe's national project, which relied on a strong nationalist rhetoric based on binary oppositions of the type "we/other." In this context both Chepe Fortuna's Venezuela and Piedad Córdoba are constructed as "other." While Venezuela's abjection is partly effected on the basis of her being fat and black, Córdoba's is on the basis of her being a left-wing politician, and mediated through her being a black female. These two instances evidence an approach to femaleness that goes hand-in-hand with particular understandings of female subjectivity within current post-feminist paradigms.

Female stick insects mate multiply to find compatible mates

Why females of many species mate multiply in the absence of direct benefits remains an open question in evolutionary ecology. Interacting and mating with multiple males can be costly to females in terms of time, resources, predation risk, and disease transmission. A number of indirect genetic benefits have been proposed to explain such behaviors, but the relative importance of these mechanisms in natural systems remains unclear. We tested for several direct and indirect benefits of polyandry in the walking stick Timema cristinae. We found no evidence of direct benefits with respect to longevity or fecundity. However, male x female genotypic interactions affected egg-hatching success and offspring production independent of relatedness, suggesting that mating with certain males benefits females and that the best male may differ for each female. Furthermore, multiply mated females biased paternity toward one or few males, and the extent of this bias was positively correlated to egg-hatching success. Our data, therefore, provide evidence for indirect benefits through compatibility effects in this species. By mating multiply, females may improve their chances of mating with a compatible male if compatibility cannot be assessed before mating. Such compatibility effects can explain the evolution and maintenance of polyandry in Timema and many other species.