Search results for "Hunger"

Chronic diseases and objectively monitored physical activity profile among aged individuals – a cross-sectional twin cohort study

2021

Introduction: High physical activity (PA) at old age indicates good functional capacity enabling independent living. We investigated how different disease conditions are associated with measured PA indicators in old women and men, and whether they recognize this association. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional twin cohort study in Finland comprised 779 individuals (276 complete twin pairs, including 117 monozygotic pairs), who participated in hip-worn accelerometer monitoring of PA and responded to questions on diseases and mobility limitations at mean age of 73 (range 71–75). Results: Of the participants, 23.2% reported having a disease restricting mobility. With sex and age in the…

Factors associated with six-year weight change in young and middle-aged adults in the Young Finns Study

2015

Objective. To examine factors associated with weight change and obesity risk in young and middle-aged adults. Subjects/methods. The Young Finns Study with its 923 women and 792 men aged 24–39 years at baseline were followed for six years. Variables associated with the weight change were investigated with regression models. Results. The average weight change was 0.45 kg/year in women and 0.58 kg/year in men. In women, weight change was steady across all ages. In men, weight changes were more pronounced in younger age groups. In women (weight gain > 2 kg, n = 490), medication for anxiety, low occupational status, high baseline BMI (body mass index), high intake of sweet beverages, high chi…

Supercritical CO2 extraction of oil, fatty acids and flavonolignans from milk thistle seeds: Evaluation of their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities…

2015

International audience; The optimal conditions of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) (160-220 bars, 40-80 degrees C) technology combined with co-solvent (ethanol), to recover oil, flavonolignans (silychristin, silydianin and silybinin) and fatty acids from milk thistle seeds, to be used as food additives and/or nutraceuticals, were studied. Moreover, the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the SC-CO2 oil seeds extracts were evaluated in Caco-2 carcinoma cells. Pressure and temperature had a significant effect on oil and flavonolignans recovery, although there was not observed a clear trend. SC-CO2 with co-solvent extraction at 220 bars, 40 degrees C was the optimum treatment to recov…

Influence of land-use intensity on the spatial distribution of N-cycling microorganisms in grassland soils

2011

A geostatistical approach using replicated grassland sites (10 m × 10 m) was applied to investigate the influence of grassland management, i.e. unfertilized pastures and fertilized mown meadows representing low and high land-use intensity (LUI), on soil biogeochemical properties and spatial distributions of ammonia-oxidizing and denitrifying microorganisms in soil. Spatial autocorrelations of the different N-cycling communities ranged between 1.4 and 7.6 m for ammonia oxidizers and from 0.3 m for nosZ-type denitrifiers to scales >14 m for nirK-type denitrifiers. The spatial heterogeneity of ammonia oxidizers and nirS-type denitrifiers increased in high LUI, but decreased for biogeochemical …

The effect of a temperature-sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen

2019

AbstractViruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. We explored how temperature affects the interactions between prophages and other biological levels by using an opportunistic pathogen, the bacterium Serratia marcescens, that harbours several prophages and that had undergone an evolution experiment under several temperature regimes. We found that the release of one of the prophages was temperature-sensitive and malleable to evolutionary changes. We further discovered that the virulence of …

Shelf life improvement of the loaf bread using allyl, phenyl and benzyl isothiocyanates against Aspergillus parasiticus

2017

Abstract Fungal growth inhibition and aflatoxins (AFs) reduction using allyl (AITC), benzyl (BITC) and phenyl (PITC) isothiocyanates were studied in loaf bread contaminated with Aspergillus parasiticus . Two inoculated loaf bread slices were introduced into a plastic tray together with paper filters or small plastic bags paper filters soaked with AITC, BITC or PITC, the final concentration inside the package was of 0.5, 1 or 5 μL/L. The plastic trays, incubated at room temperature, were visual examined for the shelf life evaluation during 8 days. The quantification of the AFs was carried out using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Shelf life increase of three an…

2019

Abstract Eutrophication (as an increase in total phosphorus [TP]) increases harmful algal blooms and reduces the proportion of high-quality phytoplankton in seston and the content of ω-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) in fish. However, it is not well-known how eutrophication affects the overall nutritional value of phytoplankton. Therefore, we studied the impact of eutrophication on the production (as concentration; μg L−1) and content (μg mg C−1) of amino acids, EPA, DHA, and sterols, i.e., the nutritional value of phytoplankton in 107 boreal lakes. The lakes were categorized in seven TP concentration categories ranging f…

Plant removal disturbance and replant mitigation effects on the abundance and diversity of low-arctic soil biota

2014

Abstract Due to the dependence of soil organisms on plant derived carbon, disturbances in plant cover are thought to be detrimental for the persistence of soil biota. In this work, we studied the disturbance effects of plant removal and soil mixing and the mitigation effects of replanting on soil biota in a low-arctic meadow ecosystem. We set up altogether six replicate blocks, each including three randomized treatment plots, at two distinct fells at Kilpisjarvi, northern Finland. Vegetation was removed in two thirds of the plots: one third was then kept barren (the plant-removal treatment), while the other third was replanted with a local herb Solidago virgaurea. The remaining plots of int…

Response to reindeer grazing removal depends on soil characteristics in low Arctic meadows

2014

In Arctic tundra, grazing is expected to exert a positive influence on microbial activity thus enhancing nutrient cycling and promoting the presence of high productive graminoids. We investigated the changes occurring in two low Arctic meadow sites after 10 years exclusion from grazing. We compared plant, soil fauna and microbial community composition, extracellular enzymes activities, and soil nutrients in ungrazed and adjacent grazed area in two low Arctic meadows. The two closely located experimental sites were both dominated by the common grass Deschampsia flexuosa which covered more than 50% of the meadows. Plant community was affected significantly by site and grazing, but the effect …

Toward a better understanding of in-field weed regulation by carabid beetles, and their functional characteristics, in European arable landscapes

2019

For future arable agriculture, there is a need for more sustainable methods to manage weeds that are less reliant on herbicides and maintain food production. Control of weeds by natural enemies is an agro-ecological alternative to reduce the use of herbicides. While strong evidence points to carabid beetles exerting a regulatory effect on certain weed species, it is difficult to predict whether a particular assemblage of carabid species or functional groups will drive the function of weed seed predation in field conditions. There are also uncertainties about which key local and landscape-scale factors affect the function of weed seed predation, and the functional characteristics of carabid …