Search Results (5)

Background: Although clinical studies have indicated a possible association between dyslipidemia and osteoporosis, the underlying genetic basis and mechanistic pathways remain insufficiently defined. Most prior research has concentrated on conventional lipid markers, which are prone to confounding and limit causal inference. Exploring lipidomic profiles offers a more comprehensive view of lipid metabolism and may reveal novel genetic links beyond traditional lipid traits. Additionally, alterations in immune cell function, often triggered by metabolic disturbances, may contribute to osteoporosis development; however, the potential mediating role of immune cells in the lipid–bone axis has not been systematically investigated. Methods: A total of 179 lipid species across 13 lipid classes were analyzed in 7174 Finnish individuals from the GeneRISK cohort. Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) summary statistics for osteoporosis and 731 immune cell immunophenotypes were sourced from the GWAS Catalog. A two-step, two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis, using inverse variance weighting (IVW), was conducted to explore the potential causal effects of lipids on osteoporosis and the mediating role of immune cells in the relationship between lipids and osteoporosis. Results: Mendelian randomization analysis indicated that triacylglycerol levels of 48:0 were possibly associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis (IVW: odds ratio [OR] 1.1320, 95% CI 1.0401–1.2321; p = 0.004), while triacylglycerol levels of 48:3 appeared to be associated with a reduced risk of osteoporosis (IVW: OR 0.9053, 95% CI 0.8364–0.9800; p = 0.014). Two statistically significant mediating effects were identified: First, IgD− CD38dim %B cells appeared to partially negatively mediate the association between triacylglycerol levels of 48:3 and osteoporosis, with a negative mediating effect of −0.00669 (95% CI: −0.0214, 0.00805), which accounted for 6.73% of the total effect. That is, the protective effect of triacylglycerol levels of 48:3 against osteoporosis was attenuated by IgD− CD38dim %B cells. Second, HLA DR++ monocytes% leukocytes also partially negatively mediated this relationship, with a mediating effect of −0.023 (95% CI: −0.0434, −0.00266), accounting for 23.2% of the total effect. This indicates that other immune cells, HLA DR++ monocytes %leukocytes, resisted the protective effect of triacylglycerol levels of 48:3 against osteoporosis, with a weakening effect stronger than that of IgD− CD38dim %B cells. Conclusions: Our findings contribute to the growing understanding of the potential causal relationships and shared pathogenic mechanisms between dyslipidemia and osteoporosis. The results suggest that the potential genetic effects of plasma lipid metabolites on osteoporosis may be partially down-regulated by specific kinds of immune cells. Full article

Globally, there is an increased demand for plant- and animal-derived proteins. However, animal-derived proteins are still expensive and expected to negatively impact the environment. Sunflower seeds, an excellent source of proteins, are one of the most critical oilseeds produced in the world markets. This study used sunflower meal protein isolate (SMPI), wheat flour (WF), and their blends to make pasta with good sensory features and higher nutritional value. The chemical and amino acid compositions, rheological properties, color attributes, cooking quality, sensory properties, and texture analysis of pasta were evaluated. SMPI showed a high protein content (87.12%) compared to WF (10.90%). The pasta was made from WF with supplementing SMPI at three concentrations (3.0, 6.0, and 9.0% w/w) to improve the nutritional quality. Farinograph parameters showed that water absorption, arrival time, dough development time, mixing tolerance index, dough weakening, and dough stability increased as the percentage of SMPI in the blends increased. The results also showed that the color (L*, a*, and b*) of pasta samples was darker as the mixing level of SMPI increased. The obtained sensorial results confirmed this result. The cooking quality of pasta revealed that the weight, volume, and cooking loss of prepared pasta with SMPI (3.0–9.0%) increased compared to the control sample (pasta with 100% WF). Moreover, sensory evaluation of pasta revealed that all samples were acceptable. Nonetheless, mouth feel and overall acceptability of pasta reinforced with 3.0 and 6.0% SMPI did not notably impact the pasta compared to the control sample, while flavor did not significantly influence the pasta with 3.0% SMPI. These findings demonstrated that pasta supplemented with SMPI could benefit the pasta industry, which requires a suitable technological process to obtain novel products. Full article

Information regarding newly added construction land can be extracted from high-resolution remote sensing images. The retrieval accuracy of land cover changes across the country has improved, and the illegal use of land is actively monitored. To address the imbalance between positive and negative training samples in extracting information regarding newly added construction land, a method for identifying newly added construction land by weakening the weight of negative samples was proposed. A focal loss function was used to weaken the negative samples’ weights and improve the overfitting U-net. Since the two parameters of the focal loss function are not independent of each other, they need to be selected at the same time. Therefore, this paper developed a formula for selecting the balance factor α based on a large number of experimental results. First, the GF-2 image was combined with the historical land change survey data and monitoring vector results to construct a dataset, and then the training dataset was input into a fully convolutional neural network (CNN) integrated with feature fusion and a focal loss function. Finally, the accuracy of the trained network model was verified. To demonstrate the applicability of the method of determining the parameters of the focal loss function, the validation set was divided into four subsets for accuracy verification. The experimental results showed that the F1-score of newly added construction land information extracted by this method reached 0.913, which is 0.078 and 0.033 higher than those of the U-net and the improved U-net. The parameters obtained by the method proposed in this study achieved the best results on the four verification sets, which shows that the method for extracting newly added construction land information and that for selecting parameters have strong applicability. Full article

To study the adsorption of polyampholyte on bentonite (Bent), a block polyampholyte, PAMPS-b-PMAPTAC, comprised of 2-Acrylamido-2-Methylpropane Sulfonic Acid (AMPS) units and Methacrylamido Propyl Trimethyl Ammonium Chloride (MAPTAC) units, was synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) method. The block polyampholyte samples were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). The microstructure of block polyampholyte and random polyampholyte in deionized water indicated that uneven distribution of charged groups increased the entanglement of polymer chains. Addition of salt weakened the electrostatic interactions among charged groups, and, therefore, increased the zeta potential of polyampholyte in aqueous solutions. The adsorptive behaviors of PAMPS-b-PMAPTAC on Bent were studied using elemental analysis, and the effects of external factors were considered. The adsorption equilibrium of polymers on Bent was reached after 12 h. Increased temperature and increased salinity exerted a positive and negative effect on the adsorption of polyampholyte, respectively. The molecular weight played as the decisive factor for the adsorption of polyampholyte in the absence of NaCl, while the content of cationic groups acted as the main factor in the presence of NaCl. Block polyampholyte exhibited higher adsorption than random polyampholyte in the absence of salt. XRD results also indicated that block polyampholyte had a better intercalation effect than random polyampholyte. Full article

Previous research found that weight-related behaviors and body weight tends to be similar between individuals and peers. Rather little is known how different domains of weight-related behaviors co-evolve in peer networks. Hence, this study explores how young adults’ self-reported dieting relates to perceived body weight and weight control behaviors of their peers. A Swedish two-wave panel survey with ego-centric network data was analyzed with negative binomial regression models. Nineteen-year-old men and women in the first wave, and 23-year-olds in the follow-up sample were examined. Men at age 19 showed an increased dieting propensity when being exposed to underweight peers. Compared to men, women’s dieting at age 19 was more strongly related to their own body image concerns, and peers’ weight-related behaviors like physical exercising and unhealthy eating. The associations between dieting and peers’ weight-related characteristics for men and women deteriorated from age 19 to age 23. The findings suggest that women’s dieting—in comparison to dieting in men—is more strongly related to the peer context. The decrease in associations between men’s and women’s dieting and peers’ weight-related characteristics from age 19 to age 23 may reflect a weakened importance of the peer context in early adulthood. Full article