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Low serum glycine strengthens the association between branched-chain amino acids and impaired insulin sensitivity assessed before and after weight loss in a population with pre-diabetes: The PREVIEW_NZ cohort
(Elsevier, 2024-12) Lim, Jia Jiet; Prodhan, Utpal K; Silvestre, Marta P; Liu, Amy Y; McLay, Jessica; Fogelholm, Mikael; Raben, Anne; Poppitt, Sally D; Cameron-Smith, David
Aim
Accumulation of circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) is a hallmark feature of impaired insulin sensitivity. As intracellular BCAA catabolism is dependent on glycine availability, we hypothesised that the concurrent measurement of circulating glycine and BCAA may yield a stronger association with markers of insulin sensitivity than either BCAA or glycine alone. This study therefore examined the correlative relationships of BCAA, BCAA and glycine together, plus glycine alone on insulin sensitivity-related markers before and after an 8-week low energy diet (LED) intervention.Methods
This is a secondary analysis of the PREVIEW (PREVention of diabetes through lifestyle Intervention and population studies in Europe and around the World) Study New Zealand sub-cohort. Eligible participants with pre-diabetes at baseline who achieved ≥8 % body weight loss following an LED intervention were included, of which 167 paired (Week 0 and Week 8) blood samples were available for amino acid analysis. Glycemic and other data were retrieved from the PREVIEW consortium database. Repeated measures linear mixed models were used to test the association between amino acids and insulin sensitivity-related markers (HOMA2-IR, glucose, insulin, and C-peptide).Results
Elevated BCAA was associated with impaired insulin sensitivity (p < 0.05), with strength of association (ηp2) almost doubled when glycine was added to the model. However, glycine in isolation was not associated with insulin sensitivity-related markers. The magnitude (β-estimates) of positive association between BCAA and HOMA2-IR, and inverse association between glycine and HOMA2-IR, increased when body weight was higher (Body weight∗BCAA, Body weight∗glycine, p < 0.05, both).Conclusion
Low serum glycine strengthened the association between BCAA and impaired insulin sensitivity. Given that glycine is necessary to facilitate intracellular BCAA catabolism, measurement of glycine is necessary to complement BCAA analysis to comprehensively understand the contribution of amino acid metabolism in insulin sensitivity.Clinical trial registration
This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01777893).An Evaluation of the Reporting Quality of Emergency Department Systematic Reviews
(Elsevier, 2023-10) O'Donnell, J; Pirret, A; Hoare, K; McDonald, E
Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of nasal high-flow (NHF) therapy in many settings, including the emergency department (ED). Systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) of these studies have now emerged, particularly since the arrival of COVID-19. Accurately reported SRs and MAs can influence ED patient-centered outcomes. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist was developed in 2009 to guide SR reporting quality. This evaluation used the PRISMA checklist to assess the reporting quality of selected ED SRs.
Mycoplasma genitalium Antimicrobial Resistance in Community and Sexual Health Clinic Patients, Auckland, New Zealand
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2020-02) Vesty, Anna; McAuliffe, Gary; Roberts, Sally; Henderson, Gillian; Basu, Indira
Our retrospective study compared genotypic antimicrobial resistance in Mycoplasma genitalium-positive specimens collected from 48 community and 33 sexual health clinic (SHC) patients. Macrolide resistance was similar in community (75%) and SHC (76%) patients. We observed no significant difference in fluoroquinolone resistance between community (19%) and SHC (27%) patients (p = 0.66).
Umiliare l’Altro: l’etica ordinaria dell’interazione in una classe di scuola media (Humiliating the Other: The Ordinary Ethics of Interaction in a Middle School Class)
(CASA EDITRICE LEO S OLSCHKI, 2020) De Francesco, Adriano
Questo lavoro esplora una dimensione dell’etica ordinaria dell’interazione, proponendo uno sguardo antropologico sulle umiliazioni osservate in una classe di scuola secondaria di primo grado, nell’arco di dodici mesi di fieldwork. L’applicazione del modello dell’ordinary ethics sviluppato da Michael Lambek allo studio dell’interazione in chiave sistemica, fa emergere la valenza generativa dell’umiliazione e il suo ruolo nel processo autopoietico del ‘sistema-classe’ composto da adulti e studenti. L’umiliazione viene dunque interpretata come un rituale che, polarizzando il sistema-classe ai vertici del triangolo performativo ‘vittima-carnefice-spettatore’, richiama gli interattanti all’esercizio del giudizio e articola una meta-narrazione collettiva sull’universo relazionale della classe. Mettendo a fuoco la pragmatica dell’umiliazione, si argomenta successivamente come l’umiliazione implichi un sacrificio rituale realizzato attraverso l’introduzione del paradosso nel flusso comunicativo. L’analisi delle configurazioni di attribuzione della responsabilità registrate sul campo conduce infine a ripensare, in una dimensione sostanzialmente interpersonale, la questione dell’agentività individuale nel quadro dell’interazione violenta.
This paper explores one dimension of the ordinary ethics of interaction, by offering an anthropological insight into the humiliations observed throughout a twelve-month fieldwork in a lower secondary school class. The application of the ‘ordinary ethics’ model devised by Michael Lambek to the study of interaction within a systemic perspective, brings to the fore the generative value of humiliation, and its role in the autopoietic process of the ‘class-system’ comprising adults and students. Humiliation is thus interpreted as a ritual that, by polarizing the class-system at the vertices of the ‘victim-perpetrator-witness’ performative triangle, calls the interactants to the exercise of judgment, and articulates a collective meta-narrative on the relational universe of the classroom. By bringing into focus the pragmatics of humiliation, it is then argued that humiliation entails a ritual sacrifice that is achieved through the introduction of the paradox into the communication stream. Finally, the analysis of the patterns of attribution of responsibility recorded during fieldwork leads us to rethink, in a substantially interpersonal dimension, the issue of the individual agency within violent interaction.
The Changi-Marina Bay Corridor: green strategies for Singapore’s soft power
(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023-03) Micheli, Silvia; Brugman, Johanna
Singapore’s city-making strategies are seen by many Asia Pacific cities as a model to achieve today’s desired ‘world-class city’ status. They represent a source of innovation to design alternative configurations and rethink established norms of urban and social standards. This article looks at the urban landscape of the city of Singapore through infrastructural systems instead of individual design masterpieces, focusing on the urban corridor defined by the connection of Changi Airport, East Coast Parkway (ECP), and Marina Bay as a single urban entity, unified by a visual and experiential choreography. At a time of intense global competition in the aviation industry, Changi has deployed new strategies to sustain its reputation as an innovative transportation hub. The leg between Changi Airport and Marina Bay is an integral part of Singapore, experienced by the majority of its annual visitors arriving in the city-state. The 19-kilometre route, a major infrastructural project begun in the 1970s and still in progress, is a highly landscaped and scenic artery of the island, through which the airport has injected its hyper-urbanism into the city. While conveying the history of the developments of the Corridor, we consider the soft power strategies used by the city state to develop a form of transnational elite urbanism based on leisure and recreation, where urban planning, design, and green infrastructure play a key role. We reflect on the global and local dimension of Singapore, discussing how the ECP corridor reveals only one side of the city’s double character.On the one hand, this article critically analyses the rhetorical use of landscaping ingrained in the Corridor to attract foreign investment and tourism, where the artificialisation of green interventions has overwritten the presence of the native vegetation and morphology. On the other hand, we reflect on the less evident but nonetheless split that the Corridor has generated between the city’s southern residential areas and foreshore. While cutting through the urban tissue of part of the island seamlessly and without interruption, the Corridor does in fact separate out substantial residential areas, turning Singapore successful green strategies into a form of urban injustice. The twofold nature of the corridor – at the same time, that of the ‘connector’ and ‘divider’ – thus reflects Singapore’s intrinsic ambiguity: its manifestation of global ambitions set against its local realities. This article unpacks the planning mechanisms used to design this development, including the land reclamation powers of the state and the government land sales programme. It also discusses the strategies and choices underpinning the urban sequence of the ECP’s infrastructural nodes, from the Jewel (2019) to the Conservatories (2012). Drawing on official documentation from Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), field research, and using a multidisciplinary lens, this article interpolates architectural and planning studies with insights gleaned by onsite investigation.