Physical activity interventions in schools for improving lifestyle in European countries

Background : In the last decades, children’s and adolescents’ obesity and overweight have increased in European Countries. Unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyle have been recognized to determine such an epidemic. Schools represent an ideal setting to modify harmful behaviors, and physical activity could be regarded as a potential way to avoid the metabolic risks related to obesity. Methods : A systematic review of the literature was carried out to summarize the evidence of school-based interventions aimed to promote, enhance and implement physical activity in European schools. Only randomized controlled trials were included, carried out in Europe from January 2000 to April 2014, universally delivered and targeting pupils aged between 3 and 18 years old. Results : Forty-seven studies were retrieved based either on multicomponent interventions or solely physical activity programs. Most aimed to prevent obesity and cardiovascular risks among youths. While few studies showed a decrease in BMI, positive results were achieved on other outcomes, such as metabolic parameters and physical fitness. Conclusion : Physical activity in schools should be regarded as a simple, non-expensive and enjoyable way to reach all the children and adolescents with adequate doses of moderate to vigorous physical activity

Vanishing Minors in the Neutrino Mass Matrix from Abelian Gauge Symmetries

Augmenting the Standard Model by three right-handed neutrinos allows for an anomaly-free gauge group extension G_max = U(1)_(B-L) x U(1)_(L_e-L_mu) x U(1)_(L_mu-L_tau). While simple U(1) subgroups of G_max have already been discussed in the context of approximate flavor symmetries, we show how two-zero textures in the right-handed neutrino Majorana mass matrix can be enforced by the flavor symmetry, which is spontaneously broken very economically by singlet scalars. These zeros lead to two vanishing minors in the low-energy neutrino mass matrix after the seesaw mechanism. This study may provide a new testing ground for a zero-texture approach: the different classes of two-zero textures with almost identical neutrino oscillation phenomenology can in principle be distinguished by their different Z' interactions at colliders.Comment: 12 pages; Extended and clarified discussion; comments on finetuning in the textures; matches published versio

Should the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae be of wider concern for veterinary and medical science?

The poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae is best known as a threat to the laying-hen industry; adversely affecting production and hen health and welfare throughout the globe, both directly and through its role as a disease vector. Nevertheless, D. gallinae is being increasingly implemented in dermatological complaints in non-avian hosts, suggesting that its significance may extend beyond poultry. The main objective of the current work was to review the potential of D. gallinae as a wider veterinary and medical threat. Results demonstrated that, as an avian mite, D. gallinae is unsurprisingly an occasional pest of pet birds. However, research also supports that these mites will feed from a range of other animals including: cats, dogs, rodents, rabbits, horses and man. We conclude that although reported cases of D. gallinae infesting mammals are relatively rare, when coupled with the reported genetic plasticity of this species and evidence of permanent infestations on non-avian hosts, potential for host-expansion may exist. The impact of, and mechanisms and risk factors for such expansion are discussed, and suggestions for further work made. Given the potential severity of any level of host-expansion in D. gallinae, we conclude that further research should be urgently conducted to confirm the full extent of the threat posed by D. gallinae to (non-avian) veterinary and medical sectors

Miss it and miss out: Counterproductive nonspatial attentional capture by task-irrelevant, value-related stimuli

Recent studies of visual search suggest that learning about valued outcomes (rewards and punishments) influences the likelihood that distractors will capture spatial attention and slow search for a target, even when those value-related distractors have never themselves been the targets of search. In the present study, we demonstrated a related effect in the context of temporal, rather than spatial, selection. Participants were presented with a temporal stream of pictures in a fixed central location and had to identify the orientation of a rotated target picture. Response accuracy was reduced if the rotated target was preceded by a “valued” distractor picture that signaled that a correct response to the target would be rewarded (and an incorrect response punished), relative to a distractor picture that did not signal reward or punishment. This effect of signal value on response accuracy was short-lived, being most prominent with a short lag between distractor and target. Impairment caused by a valued distractor was observed if participants were explicitly instructed regarding its relation to reward/punishment (Exps. 1, 3, and 4), or if they could learn this relationship only via trial-by-trial experience (Exp. 2). These findings show that the influence of signal value on attentional capture extends to temporal selection, and also demonstrate that value-related distractors can interfere with the conscious perception of subsequent target information

Lack of association between genetic polymorphisms within DUSP12 - ATF6 locus and glucose metabolism related traits in a Chinese population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-wide linkage studies in multiple ethnic populations found chromosome 1q21-q25 was the strongest and most replicable linkage signal in the human chromosome. Studies in Pima Indian, Caucasians and African Americans identified several SNPs in <it>DUSP12 </it>and <it>ATF6</it>, located in chromosome 1q21-q23, were associated with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that could tag 98% of the SNPs with minor allele frequencies over 0.1 within <it>DUSP12-ATF6 </it>region. These SNPs were genotyped in a total of 3,700 Chinese Han subjects comprising 1,892 type 2 diabetes patients and 1,808 controls with normal glucose regulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>None of the SNPs and haplotypes showed significant association to type 2 diabetes in our samples. No association between the SNPs and quantitative traits was observed either.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data suggests common SNPs within <it>DUSP12</it>-<it>ATF6 </it>locus may not play a major role in glucose metabolism in the Chinese.</p

The Temporal Dynamics of Voluntary Emotion Regulation

Background: Neuroimaging has demonstrated that voluntary emotion regulation is effective in reducing amygdala activation to aversive stimuli during regulation. However, to date little is known about the sustainability of these neural effects once active emotion regulation has been terminated. Methodology/Principal Findings: We addressed this issue by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy female subjects. We performed an active emotion regulation task using aversive visual scenes (task 1) and a subsequent passive viewing task using the same stimuli (task 2). Here we demonstrate not only a significantly reduced amygdala activation during active regulation but also a sustained regulation effect on the amygdala in the subsequent passive viewing task. This effect was related to an immediate increase of amygdala signal in task 1 once active emotion regulation has been terminated: The larger this peak postregulation signal in the amygdala in task 1, the smaller the sustained regulation effect in task 2. Conclusions/Significance: In summary, we found clear evidence that effects of voluntary emotion regulation extend beyond the period of active regulation. These findings are of importance for the understanding of emotion regulation i

An SK3 Channel/nWASP/Abi-1 Complex Is Involved in Early Neurogenesis

BACKGROUND: The stabilization or regulated reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is essential for cellular structure and function. Recently, we could show that the activation of the SK3-channel that represents the predominant SK-channel in neural stem cells, leads to a rapid local outgrowth of long filopodial processes. This observation indicates that the rearrangement of the actin based cytoskeleton via membrane bound SK3-channels might selectively be controlled in defined micro compartments of the cell. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found two important proteins for cytoskeletal rearrangement, the Abelson interacting protein 1, Abi-1 and the neural Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome Protein, nWASP, to be in complex with SK3- channels in neural stem cells (NSCs). Moreover, this interaction is also found in spines and postsynaptic compartments of developing primary hippocampal neurons and regulates neurite outgrowth during early phases of differentiation. Overexpression of the proteins or pharmacological activation of SK3 channels induces obvious structural changes in NSCs and hippocampal neurons. In both neuronal cell systems SK3 channels and nWASP act synergistic by strongly inducing filopodial outgrowth while Abi-1 behaves antagonistic to its interaction partners. CONCLUSIONS: Our results give good evidence for a functional interplay of a trimeric complex that transforms incoming signals via SK3-channel activation into the local rearrangement of the cytoskeleton in early steps of neuronal differentiation involving nWASP and Abi-1 actin binding proteins

Evolutionary Dynamics of Co-Segregating Gene Clusters Associated with Complex Diseases

BACKGROUND: The distribution of human disease-associated mutations is not random across the human genome. Despite the fact that natural selection continually removes disease-associated mutations, an enrichment of these variants can be observed in regions of low recombination. There are a number of mechanisms by which such a clustering could occur, including genetic perturbations or demographic effects within different populations. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with complex disease traits are not randomly distributed throughout the genome, but tend to cluster in regions of low recombination. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we investigated whether deleterious mutations have accumulated in regions of low recombination due to the impact of recent positive selection and genetic hitchhiking. Using publicly available data on common complex diseases and population demography, we observed an enrichment of hitchhiked disease associations in conserved gene clusters subject to selection pressure. Evolutionary analysis revealed that these conserved gene clusters arose by multiple concerted rearrangements events across the vertebrate lineage. We observed distinct clustering of disease-associated SNPs in evolutionary rearranged regions of low recombination and high gene density, which harbor genes involved in immunity, that is, the interleukin cluster on 5q31 or RhoA on 3p21. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that multiple lineage specific rearrangements led to a physical clustering of functionally related and linked genes exhibiting an enrichment of susceptibility loci for complex traits. This implies that besides recent evolutionary adaptations other evolutionary dynamics have played a role in the formation of linked gene clusters associated with complex disease traits

Does Genetic Diversity Predict Health in Humans?

Genetic diversity, especially at genes important for immune functioning within the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), has been associated with fitness-related traits, including disease resistance, in many species. Recently, genetic diversity has been associated with mate preferences in humans. Here we asked whether these preferences are adaptive in terms of obtaining healthier mates. We investigated whether genetic diversity (heterozygosity and standardized mean d2) at MHC and nonMHC microsatellite loci, predicted health in 153 individuals. Individuals with greater allelic diversity (d2) at nonMHC loci and at one MHC locus, linked to HLA-DRB1, reported fewer symptoms over a four-month period than individuals with lower d2. In contrast, there were no associations between MHC or nonMHC heterozygosity and health. NonMHC-d2 has previously been found to predict male preferences for female faces. Thus, the current findings suggest that nonMHC diversity may play a role in both natural and sexual selection acting on human populations

Neurodevelopment Genes in Lampreys Reveal Trends for Forebrain Evolution in Craniates

The forebrain is the brain region which has undergone the most dramatic changes through vertebrate evolution. Analyses conducted in lampreys are essential to gain insight into the broad ancestral characteristics of the forebrain at the dawn of vertebrates, and to understand the molecular basis for the diversifications that have taken place in cyclostomes and gnathostomes following their splitting. Here, we report the embryonic expression patterns of 43 lamprey genes, coding for transcription factors or signaling molecules known to be involved in cell proliferation, stemcellness, neurogenesis, patterning and regionalization in the developing forebrain. Systematic expression patterns comparisons with model organisms highlight conservations likely to reflect shared features present in the vertebrate ancestors. They also point to changes in signaling systems –pathways which control the growth and patterning of the neuroepithelium-, which may have been crucial in the evolution of forebrain anatomy at the origin of vertebrates