The long-term cholesterol-lowering effect of replacing intake of SFA with PUFA is well established, but has not been fully explained mechanistically. We examined the postprandial response of meals with different fat quality on expression of lipid genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in subjects with and without familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Thirteen subjects with FH (who had discontinued lipid-lowering treatment ≥4 weeks prior to both test days) and fourteen normolipidaemic controls were included in a randomised controlled double-blind crossover study with two meals, each with 60 g of fat either mainly SFA (about 40% energy) or n-6 PUFA (about 40% energy). PBMC were isolated in fasting, and 4 and 6 h postprandial blood samples. Expression of thirty-three lipid genes was analysed by reverse transcription quantitative PCR. A linear mixed model was used to assess postprandial effects between meals and groups. There was a significant interaction between meal and group for MSR1 (P = 0·03), where intake of SFA compared with n-6 PUFA induced a larger reduction in gene expression in controls only (P = 0·01). Intake of SFA compared with n-6 PUFA induced larger reductions in gene expression levels of LDLR and FADS1/2, smaller increases of INSIG1 and FASN, and larger increases of ABCA1 and ABCG1 (P = 0·01 for all, no group interaction). Intake of SFA compared with n-6 PUFA induced changes in gene expression of cholesterol influx and efflux mediators in PBMC including lower LDLR and higher ABCA1/G1, potentially explaining the long-term cholesterol-raising effect of a high SFA intake.

Postprandial hypertriacylglycerolaemia is associated with an increased risk of developing CVD. How fat quality influences postprandial lipid response is scarcely explored in subjects with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). The aim of this study was to investigate the postprandial response of TAG and lipid sub-classes after consumption of high-fat meals with different fat quality in subjects with FH compared with normolipidaemic controls. A randomised controlled double-blind cross-over study with two meals and two groups was performed. A total of thirteen hypercholesterolaemic subjects with FH who discontinued lipid-lowering treatment 4 weeks before and during the study, and fourteen normolipidaemic controls, were included. Subjects were aged 18–30 years and had a BMI of 18·5–30·0 kg/m2. Each meal consisted of a muffin containing 60 g (70 E%) of fat, either mainly SFA (40 E%) or PUFA (40 E%), eaten in a random order with a wash-out period of 3–5 weeks between the meals. Blood samples were collected at baseline (fasting) and 2, 4 and 6 h after intake of the meals. In both FH and control subjects, the level of TAG and the largest VLDL sub-classes peaked at 2 h after intake of PUFA and at 4 h after intake of SFA. No significant differences were found in TAG levels between meals or between groups (0·25≤P≤0·72). The distinct TAG peaks may reflect differences in the postprandial lipid metabolism after intake of fatty acids with different chain lengths and degrees of saturation. The clinical impact of these findings remains to be determined.

Lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries have the potential to provide higher energy storage density at lower cost than conventional lithium ion batteries. A key challenge for Li–S batteries is the loss of sulfur to the electrolyte during cycling. This loss can be mitigated by sequestering the sulfur in nanostructured carbon–sulfur composites. The nanoscale characterization of the sulfur distribution within these complex nanostructured electrodes is normally performed by electron microscopy, but sulfur sublimates and redistributes in the high-vacuum conditions of conventional electron microscopes. The resulting sublimation artifacts render characterization of sulfur in conventional electron microscopes problematic and unreliable. Here, we demonstrate two techniques, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and scanning electron microscopy in air (airSEM), that enable the reliable characterization of sulfur across multiple length scales by suppressing sulfur sublimation. We use cryo-TEM and airSEM to examine carbon–sulfur composites synthesized for use as Li–S battery cathodes, noting several cases where the commonly employed sulfur melt infusion method is highly inefficient at infiltrating sulfur into porous carbon hosts.

Eating out has been linked to the current obesity epidemic, but the evaluation of the extent to which out of home (OH) dietary intakes are different from those at home (AH) is limited. Data collected among 8849 men and 14 277 women aged 35–64 years from the general population of eleven European countries through 24-h dietary recalls or food diaries were analysed to: (1) compare food consumption OH to those AH; (2) describe the characteristics of substantial OH eaters, defined as those who consumed 25 % or more of their total daily energy intake at OH locations. Logistic regression models were fit to identify personal characteristics associated with eating out. In both sexes, beverages, sugar, desserts, sweet and savoury bakery products were consumed more OH than AH. In some countries, men reported higher intakes of fish OH than AH. Overall, substantial OH eating was more common among men, the younger and the more educated participants, but was weakly associated with total energy intake. The substantial OH eaters reported similar dietary intakes OH and AH. Individuals who were not identified as substantial OH eaters reported consuming proportionally higher quantities of sweet and savoury bakery products, soft drinks, juices and other non-alcoholic beverages OH than AH. The OH intakes were different from the AH ones, only among individuals who reported a relatively small contribution of OH eating to their daily intakes and this may partly explain the inconsistent findings relating eating out to the current obesity epidemic.

Optical interferometry for astronomy was conceived as early as 1868, succeeded in measuring a stellar diameter in 1920 and was only reborn in 1974. Soon after, several remarkable prototype instruments were built, demonstrating the potential power of this technique for stellar studies at visible and near infrared wavelengths. Meanwhile, the physics of the Earth atmosphere, which seriously impacts image quality on ground-based observatories, progressed with the emergence of adaptive optics systems. Then, during the years 1990–2005, ambitious interferometric observatories entered into service, in Europe (VLTI) and in United States (Keck, NPOI, LBT). Today, their results and promises deeply impact stellar studies by providing images of the surface and immediate surrounding of stars, stellar objects and even galactic nuclei.

We constrain the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet margin during the Holocene at Upernavik Isstrøm, a major ice stream in northwestern Greenland. Radiocarbon-dated sediment sequences from proglacial-threshold lakes adjacent to the present ice margin constrain deglaciation of the sites to older than 9.6 ± 0.1 ka. This age of deglaciation is confirmed with 10Be ages of 9.9 ± 0.1 ka from an island adjacent to the historical ice position. The lake sediment sequences also constrain the ice margin to have been less extensive than it is today for the remainder of the Holocene until ~ 1100 to ~ 700 yr ago, when it advanced into two lake catchments. The ice margin retreated back out of these lake catchments in the last decade. The early Holocene deglaciation in Melville Bugt, one of few locations around Greenland where a vast stretch of the current ice margin is marine-based, preceded deglaciation in most other parts of Greenland. Earlier deglaciation in this ice-sheet sector may have been caused by additional ablation mechanisms that apply to marine-based ice margins. Furthermore, despite ice-sheet models depicting this sector of Greenland as relatively stable throughout the Holocene, our data indicate a > 20 km advance-retreat cycle within the last millennium.

Executive functioning is widely targeted when human cognition is assessed, but there is little consensus on how it should be operationalized and measured. Recognizing the difficulties associated with establishing standard operational definitions of executive functioning, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke entered into a contract with the University of California-San Francisco to develop psychometrically robust executive measurement tools that would be accepted by the neurology clinical trials and clinical research communities. This effort, entitled Executive Abilities: Measures and Instruments for Neurobehavioral Evaluation and Research (EXAMINER), resulted in a series of tasks targeting working memory, inhibition, set shifting, fluency, insight, planning, social cognition and behavior. We describe battery conceptualization and development, data collection, scale construction based on item response theory, and lay the foundation for studying the battery's utility and validity for specific assessment and research goals. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–9)

Along the northeast Greenland continental margin, bedrock on interfjord plateaus is highly weathered, whereas rock surfaces in fjord troughs are characterized by glacial scour. Based on the intense bedrock weathering and lack of glacial deposits from the last glaciation, interfjord plateaus have long been thought to be ice-free throughout the last glacial maximum (LGM). In recent years there is growing evidence from shelf and fjord settings that the northeast Greenland continental margin was more extensively glaciated during the LGM than previously thought. However, little is still known from interfjord settings. We present cosmogenic 10Be data from meltwater channels and weathered sandstone outcrops on Jameson Land, an interfjord highland north of Scoresby Sund. The mean exposure age of samples from channel beds (n = 3) constrains on the onset of deglaciation on interior Jameson Land to 18.5 ± 1.3–21.4 ± 1.9 ka (for erosion conditions of 0–10 mm/ka, respectively). This finding adds to growing evidence that the northeast Greenland continental margin was more heavily glaciated during the LGM than previously thought.

During the next decade, the European Very Large Telescope Interferometer (vlti) will remain one of the most productive existing optical interferometers. Costly space missions will not soon provide new steps in sensitivity, imaging capability and higher resolution. Hence, although they represent the long term future, it is wise for groud-based interferometry to look beyond the horizon 2020 and to prepare for it, even if large projects mobilize today nearly all available European resources.
The context of the vlti decision, the situation in optical interferometry today and the critical role of site seeing for performances are recalled. Given what is known of Antarctica sites, it appears relevant to pursue their study for interferometric use. Possible steps may be within the European Southern Observatory for seeing studies and independently at Concordia with a modest interferometer (e.g. alladin). It may pave the way for the future of interferometry, to be decided in a decade or so.

Depending on the extent of evolutionary divergence among parent taxa, hybrids may suffer from a breakdown of co-adapted genes or may conversely exhibit vigour due to the heterosis effect, which confers advantages to increased genetic diversity. That last mechanism could explain the success of hybrids when hybridization zones are large and long lasting, such as in the water frog hybridization complex. In this hybridogenetic system, hybrid individuals exhibit full heterozygosity that makes it possible to investigate in situ the impact of hybridization. We have compared parasite intensity between hybrid Rana esculenta and parental R. lessonae individuals at the tadpole stage in two populations inhabiting contrasted habitats. We estimated intensity of Gyrinicola sp. (Nematoda) in the gut, Echinostome metacercariae in the kidneys and Haplometra cylindracea in the body cavity (both species belong to Trematoda). Despite high sampling effort, no variation in parasite intensity was detected between taxa, except a possible higher tolerance to H. cylindracea in hybrid tadpoles. The low effect of hybridization suggests efficient gene co-adaptation between the two genomes that could result from hemiclonal selection. Variation in infection intensity among ponds could support the Red Queen hypothesis.

To gain basic insight into the impact of non-biological features on cells’ behaviour, primary skin-cells, keratinocytes and fibroblasts, were cultured on amine-functionalized or carboxy-functionalized planar, nano- or microstructured surfaces. Sintered layers of silica nano- or microparticles were used to fabricate structures in the range of naturally occurring structure-sizes. Organo-chemical functionalization was achieved using organo-functional silanes. Primary human keratinocytes and fibroblasts were isolated from human foreskin and cultivated on the modified interfaces. Both cell-types displayed specific proliferation behaviour, depending on surface topography and chemical functionalization: Keratinocytes showed significantly better proliferation on amino-functionalized surfaces than on carboxy-functionalized surfaces. On amino-functional surfaces decree-topography. Fibroblasts, in contrast, tended to proliferate stronger on carboxylated surfaces. Immunohistological staining proofed that actin and vinculin, which is involved in the formation of focal adhesions, were expressed on all modified surfaces, thus revealing intact cytoskeleton and cell-substrate contacts.

Development of highly efficient mercury free fluorescent lamps and plasma display panels has been a challenging task due to the need for a combination of phosphor properties that are difficult to obtain in a single material (high efficiency, short emission lifetime and weak sensitivity to aging process under VUV excitation). Quantum cutting mechanism is a way to improve the fluorescence efficacy. Here we describe quantum cutting involving pairs of Tm3+ ions in KY3F10. Efficient excitation in the vacuum UV is initiated to the 5d state of Tm3+. This is followed by a cross relaxation energy transfer (CRET) involving the excited ion in the 5d state and nearby Tm3+ in the ground state, producing a pair of Tm3+ in excited states of the 4f13 configuration. Both ions can then emit photons. The excitation and reflection spectra are studied as a function of Tm3+ concentration and temperature. An unusual enhancement of the reflectivity at excitation wavelengths corresponding to the Tm3+ 5d absorption peaks is shown to arise from strong 5d→4f emission which is confirmed from the VUV emission spectra. The strong reduction of the integrated 5d emission intensity and shortening of its lifetime with Tm3+ concentration indicates the effective presence of the desired CRET process that is required for the first step of the quantum cutting. High Tm3+ concentrations are required for efficient quantum cutting. Whereas the CRET from the 5d state is estimated to be quite efficient, the 4f13 states of Tm3+ also undergo a strong CRET and therefore, emission from the 4f13 excited states that are created from the first step are strongly quenched at high Tm3+ concentrations. As a result, quantum yields greater than unity are not achieved.

We present the adaptive optics assisted, near-infrared VLTI instrument GRAVITY for precision narrow-angle astrometry and interferometric phase referenced imaging of faint objects. With its two fibers per telescope beam, its internal wavefront sensors and fringe tracker, and a novel metrology concept, GRAVITY will not only push the sensitivity far beyond what is offered today, but will also advance the astrometric accuracy for UTs to 10 μas. GRAVITY is designed to work with four telescopes, thus providing phase referenced imaging and astrometry for 6 baselines simultaneously. Its unique capabilities and sensitivity will open a new window for the observation of a wide range of objects, and — amongst others — will allow the study of motion within a few times the event horizon size of the Galactic Center black hole.