The Government today said the first batch of subsidies amounting to $5.6 million under two relief measures for recyclers has been disbursed, while $5.6 million in subsidies had been approved under a management sector support scheme.

The two Recycling Fund measures aim to help the recycling industry cope with the current economic situation and recent operational difficulties arising from the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Advisory Committee on Recycling Fund announced in mid-March to reserve $100 million to launch the One-off Recycling Industry Anti-epidemic Scheme.

The scheme provides timely financial support to help with recyclers’ operational costs for six months. The funding limit for each recycler is $20,000 per month from January 1 to June 30, or $120,000 in total maximum subsidy.

The committee has also allocated additional funds to extend the earlier-launched One-off Rental Support Scheme for another six months, providing a total funding of $200 million to fight the virus and help the recycling industry ride out the difficult times.

The rental support scheme, which benefits street-corner recycling shops and recycling sites, originally ran from October to March. It has been extended for six months until September this year, totalling 12 months.

The monthly rental subsidy for each recycler is capped at $25,000, setting the maximum total rental subsidy at $300,000.

Separately, the Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector has approved 205 applications involving around $5.6 million in subsidies to benefit more than 1,500 building blocks.

The relevant property management companies and owners’ organisations will receive notifications for subsidy disbursement shortly.

The list of properties for which applications have been approved is available online.

Briefing sessions were held earlier to introduce the scheme to the property management sector and owners’ organisations.

Teri L. Hernandez
May 1, 2016; 29:82-88
From Research to Practice

Back in January when dancehall artiste Govana released the track HAMANTS Convo, the storyline captivated listeners across the globe. For weeks, the song, which highlights infidelity in relationships, trended at number one on the local YouTube...

Antoniette Bryden has fond memories of her mother, Arlene Reid, 51, a healthcare worker originally from Yallahs, St Thomas, who died of COVID-19 in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, on April 27. Reid, a personal support worker (PSW) who worked part-time...

Dorte B. Bekker-Jensen
Apr 1, 2020; 19:716-729
Technological Innovation and Resources

Introduction: Aromatase inhibitors are the mainstay of hormonal therapy in estrogen receptor positive, postmenopausal breast cancer, although response rate is just over 50%. The goal of the present study was to validate and optimize positron emission tomography (PET) with ¹¹C-vorozole for measuring aromatase expression in postmenopausal breast cancer. Methods: Ten newly diagnosed, postmenopausal women with biopsy confirmed breast cancer were administered ¹¹C-vorozole intravenously and PET emission data collected between 40 – 90 minutes post-injection. Tracer injection and scanning were repeated 2 hours after ingestion of 2.5mg letrozole p.o. Mean and maximal standard uptake values and ratios to non-tumor tissue (SUVs, SUVRs) were calculated for tumor and non-tumor regions at baseline and after letrozole. Biopsy specimens from the same tumors were stained for aromatase using immunohistochemistry and evaluated for stain intensity and the percentage of immune-positive cells. Results: Seven of the 10 women (70%) demonstrated increased focal uptake of tracer (SUVR>1.1) coinciding with the mammographic location of the lesion. The other 3 women (30%) did not show increased uptake in the tumor (SUVR <1.0). All of the cases with SUVR above 1.1 had SUVs above 2.4 and there was no overlap in SUV between the two groups, with mean SUV in tumors overexpressing aromatase (SUVR>1.1) ranging from 2.47 to 13.6, while tumors not overexpressing aromatase (SUVR<1) ranged from 0.8 to 1.8. Pretreatment with letrozole reduced tracer uptake in the majority of subjects; although the %blocking varied across and within tumors. Tumors with high SUV in vivo also showed high staining intensity on IHC. Conclusion: PET with ¹¹C-vorozole is a useful technique for measuring aromatase expression in individual breast lesions, enabling a non-invasive quantitative measurement of baseline and post-treatment aromatase availability in primary tumors and metastatic lesions.

para-Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) has been previously used as an exogenous marker to verify completion of 24-hour urine sampling. Therefore, we hypothesized that radiolabeled PABA with ¹¹C could allow high-quality dynamic PET of the kidneys while reducing the radiation exposure due to its short biological and physical half-lives. We evaluated if ¹¹C-PABA could visualize renal anatomy and quantify function in healthy rats, rabbits, and first-in-human studies in healthy volunteers. Methods: Healthy rats and rabbits were injected with ¹¹C-PABA intravenously. Subsequently, a dynamic PET was performed, followed by post-mortem tissue biodistribution studies. 11C-PABA PET was directly compared with the current standard, ^99mTc-MAG3 in rats. Three healthy human subjects also underwent dynamic PET after intravenous injection of ¹¹C-PABA. Results: In healthy rats and rabbits, dynamic PET demonstrated a rapid accumulation of ¹¹C-PABA in the renal cortex, followed by rapid excretion through the pelvicalyceal system. In humans, ¹¹C-PABA PET was safe and well tolerated. There were no adverse or clinically detectable pharmacologic effects in any subject. The cortex was delineated on PET, and the activity gradually transited to the medulla and then renal pelvis with high spatiotemporal resolution. Conclusion: ¹¹C-PABA demonstrated fast renal excretion with very low background signal in animals and humans. These results suggest that ¹¹C-PABA could be used as a novel radiotracer for functional renal imaging, providing high-quality spatiotemporal images with low radiation exposure.

McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) is a mosaic disorder arising from gain-of-function mutations in the GNAS gene, which encodes the 3', 5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway-associated G-protein, Gsα. Clinical manifestations of MAS in a given individual, including fibrous dysplasia, are determined by the timing and location of the GNAS mutation during embryogenesis, the tissues involved, and the role of Gsα in the affected tissues. The Gsα mutation results in dysregulation of the cAMP signaling cascade, leading to upregulation of phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of cAMP. Increased cAMP levels have been found in vitro in both animal models of fibrous dysplasia and in cultured cells from individuals with MAS, but not in humans with fibrous dysplasia. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of PDE4 with ¹¹C-(R)-rolipram has been used successfully to study the in vivo activity of the cAMP cascade. To date, it remains unknown whether fibrous dysplasia and other symptoms of MAS, including neuropsychiatric impairments, are associated with increased PDE4 activity in humans. Methods: ¹¹C-(R)-rolipram whole-body and brain PET scans were performed in six individuals with MAS (three for brain scans and six for whole-body scans) and nine healthy controls (seven for brain scans and six for whole-body scans). Results: ¹¹C-(R)-rolipram binding correlated with known locations of fibrous dysplasia in the periphery of individuals with MAS; no uptake was observed in the bones of healthy controls. In peripheral organs and the brain, no difference in ¹¹C-(R)-rolipram uptake was noted between participants with MAS and healthy controls. Conclusion: This study is the first to find evidence for increased cAMP activity in areas of fibrous dysplasia in vivo. No differences in brain uptake between MAS participants and controls were detected, which could be due to several reasons, including the limited anatomic resolution of PET. Nevertheless, the results confirm the usefulness of PET scans with ¹¹C-(R)-rolipram to indirectly measure increased cAMP pathway activation in human disease.

6 November 2019 , Volume 95, Number 6

Proteins that bind carbohydrate structures can serve as tools to quantify or localize specific glycans in biological specimens. Such proteins, including lectins and glycan-binding antibodies, are particularly valuable if accurate information is available about the glycans that a protein binds. Glycan arrays have been transformational for uncovering rich information about the nuances and complexities of glycan-binding specificity. A challenge, however, has been the analysis of the data. Because protein-glycan interactions are so complex, simplistic modes of analyzing the data and describing glycan-binding specificities have proven inadequate in many cases. This review surveys the methods for handling high-content data on protein-glycan interactions. We contrast the approaches that have been demonstrated and provide an overview of the resources that are available. We also give an outlook on the promising experimental technologies for generating new insights into protein-glycan interactions, as well as a perspective on the limitations that currently face the field.

State-of-the-art proteomics-grade mass spectrometers can measure peptide precursors and their fragments with ppm mass accuracy at sequencing speeds of tens of peptides per second with attomolar sensitivity. Here we describe a compact and robust quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometer equipped with a front-end High Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) Interface. The performance of the Orbitrap Exploris 480 mass spectrometer is evaluated in data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and data-independent acquisition (DIA) modes in combination with FAIMS. We demonstrate that different compensation voltages (CVs) for FAIMS are optimal for DDA and DIA, respectively. Combining DIA with FAIMS using single CVs, the instrument surpasses 2500 peptides identified per minute. This enables quantification of >5000 proteins with short online LC gradients delivered by the Evosep One LC system allowing acquisition of 60 samples per day. The raw sensitivity of the instrument is evaluated by analyzing 5 ng of a HeLa digest from which >1000 proteins were reproducibly identified with 5 min LC gradients using DIA-FAIMS. To demonstrate the versatility of the instrument, we recorded an organ-wide map of proteome expression across 12 rat tissues quantified by tandem mass tags and label-free quantification using DIA with FAIMS to a depth of >10,000 proteins.

Sandi M. Azab
Mar 31, 2020; 0:jlr.D120000630v1-jlr.D120000630
Methods

Inês Magro dos Reis
Apr 14, 2020; 0:jlr.RA120000632v1-jlr.RA120000632
Research Articles

This manuscript has been withdrawn by the Author.

Nutritional studies rely on various biological specimens for fatty acid (FA) determination, yet it is unclear how levels of serum non-esterified FA (NEFAs) correlate with other circulating lipid pools. Here, we used a high throughput method (< 4 min/sample) based on multisegment injection-non-aqueous-capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry (MSI-NACE-MS) to investigate whether specific serum NEFAs have utility as biomarkers of dietary fat intake in women. We first  identified circulating NEFAs correlated with long-term/habitual food intake among pregnant women with contrasting dietary patterns (n=50). Acute changes in serum NEFA trajectories were also studied in non-pregnant women (n=18) following high-dose (5 g/day) fish oil (FO) supplementation or isoenergetic sunflower oil placebo over 56 days. In the cross-sectional study, serum omega-3 (-3) FA correlated with self-reported total -3 daily intake, notably eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) as its NEFA (r=0.46; p=0.001), whereas pentadecanoic acid was associated with full-fat dairy intake (r=0.43; p=0.002), outcomes consistent with results from  total FA serum hydrolysates. In the intervention cohort, serum -3 NEFAs increased 2.5-fold from baseline within 28 days following FO supplementation, and this increase was most pronounced for EPA (p=0.0004). Unlike for docosahexaenoic acid, circulating EPA as its NEFA also strongly correlated to EPA concentrations measured from erythrocyte phospholipid hydrolysates (r=0.66; p=4.6 x 10-10), and was better suited to detect dietary non-adherence. We conclude that MSI-NACE-MS offers a rapid method to quantify serum NEFAs and objectively monitor dietary fat intake in women that is complementary to diet records or food frequency questionnaires.

Niemann–Pick type C1 (NPC1) disease is a rare genetic condition in which the function of the lysosomal cholesterol transporter NPC1 protein is impaired. Consequently, sphingolipids and cholesterol accumulate in lysosomes of all tissues, triggering a cascade of pathological events that culminate in severe systemic and neurological symptoms. Lysosomal cholesterol accumulation is also a key-factor in the development of atherosclerosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In these two metabolic diseases, the administration of plant stanol esters has been shown to ameliorate cellular cholesterol accumulation and inflammation. Given the overlap of pathological mechanisms among atherosclerosis, NASH and NPC1 disease, we sought to investigate whether dietary supplementation with plant stanol esters improves the peripheral features of NPC1 disease. To this end, we used an NPC1 murine model featuring an Npc1 null allele (Npc1^nih), creating a dysfunctional NPC1 protein. Npc1^nih mice were fed a two or six percent plant stanol esters–enriched diet over the course of 5 weeks. During this period, hepatic and blood lipid and inflammatory profiles were assessed. Npc1^nih mice fed the plant stanol–enriched diet exhibited lower hepatic cholesterol accumulation, damage and inflammation than regular chow–fed Npc1^nih mice. Moreover, plant stanol consumption shifted circulating T-cells and monocytes in particular towards an anti-inflammatory profile. Overall, these effects were stronger following dietary supplementation with 6% stanols, suggesting a dose-dependent effect. The findings of our study highlight the potential use of plant stanols as an affordable complementary means to ameliorate disorders in hepatic and blood lipid metabolism and reduce inflammation in NPC1 disease.

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a common, inflammatory rheumatic disease, which primarily affects the axial skeleton and is associated with sacroiliitis, uveitis and enthesitis. Unlike other autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus, autoantibodies have not yet been reported to be a feature of AS. We therefore wished to determine if plasma from patients with AS contained autoantibodies and if so, characterize and quantify this response in comparison to patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and healthy controls. Two high-density nucleic acid programmable protein arrays expressing a total of 3498 proteins were screened with plasma from 25 patients with AS, 17 with RA and 25 healthy controls. Autoantigens identified were subjected to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis in order to determine patterns of signalling cascades or tissue origin. 44% of patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis demonstrated a broad autoantibody response, as compared to 33% of patients with RA and only 8% of healthy controls. Individuals with AS demonstrated autoantibody responses to shared autoantigens, and 60% of autoantigens identified in the AS cohort were restricted to that group. The AS patients autoantibody responses were targeted towards connective, skeletal and muscular tissue, unlike those of RA patients or healthy controls. Thus, patients with AS show evidence of systemic humoral autoimmunity and multispecific autoantibody production. Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Arrays constitute a powerful tool to study autoimmune diseases.

Fatty liver involves ectopic lipid accumulation and dysregulated hepatic oxidative metabolism, which can progress to a state of elevated inflammation and fibrosis referred to as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The factors that control progression from simple steatosis to NASH are not fully known. Here, we tested the hypothesis that dietary vitamin E (VitE) supplementation would prevent NASH progression and associated metabolic alterations induced by a Western diet (WD). Hyperphagic melanocortin-4 receptor-deficient (MC4R^–/–) mice were fed chow, chow+VitE, WD, or WD+VitE starting at 8 or 20 weeks of age. All groups exhibited extensive hepatic steatosis by the end of the study (28 weeks of age). WD feeding exacerbated liver disease severity without inducing proportional changes in liver triglycerides. Eight weeks of WD accelerated liver pyruvate cycling, and 20 weeks of WD extensively upregulated liver glucose and oxidative metabolism assessed by ²H/¹³C flux analysis. VitE supplementation failed to reduce the histological features of NASH. Rather, WD+VitE increased the abundance and saturation of liver ceramides and accelerated metabolic flux dysregulation compared with 8 weeks of WD alone. In summary, VitE did not limit NASH pathogenesis in genetically obese mice, but instead increased some indicators of metabolic dysfunction.

Obesity has recently become a prevalent health threat worldwide. Although emerging evidence has suggested a strong link between the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and obesity, the role of transketolase (TKT), an enzyme in the non-oxidative branch of the PPP which connects PPP and glycolysis, remains obscure in adipose tissues. In this study, we specifically delete TKT in mouse adipocytes and find no obvious phenotype upon normal diet feeding. However, adipocyte TKT abrogation attenuates high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, reduces hepatic steatosis, improves glucose tolerance, alleviates insulin resistance and increases energy expenditure. Mechanistically, TKT deficiency accumulates non-oxidative PPP metabolites, decreases glycolysis and pyruvate input into the mitochondria, leading to increased lipolytic enzyme gene expression and enhanced lipolysis, fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial respiration. Therefore, our data not only identify a novel role of TKT in regulating lipolysis and obesity, but also suggest limiting glucose-derived carbon into the mitochondria induces lipid catabolism and energy expenditure.

Infants born to mothers with obesity have a greater risk for childhood obesity and metabolic diseases; however, the underlying biological mechanisms remain poorly understood. We used a Japanese macaque model to investigate whether maternal obesity combined with a western-style diet (WSD) impairs offspring muscle insulin action. Adult females were fed a control or WSD prior to and during pregnancy through lactation, and offspring subsequently weaned to a control or WSD. Muscle glucose uptake and signaling were measured ex vivo in fetal (n=5-8/group) and juvenile offspring (n=8/group). In vivo signaling was evaluated after an insulin bolus just prior to weaning (n=4-5/group). Maternal WSD reduced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and impaired insulin signaling at the level of Akt phosphorylation in fetal muscle. In juvenile offspring, insulin-stimulated glucose uptake was similarly reduced by both maternal and post-weaning WSD and corresponded to modest reductions in insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation relative to controls. We conclude that maternal WSD leads to a persistent decrease in offspring muscle insulin-stimulated glucose uptake even in the absence of increased offspring adiposity or markers of systemic insulin resistance. Switching offspring to a healthy diet did not reverse the effects of maternal WSD on muscle insulin action suggesting earlier interventions may be warranted.

Site-specific recombinases, such as Cre, are a widely used tool for genetic lineage tracing in the fields of developmental biology, neural science, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine. However, nonspecific cell labeling by some genetic Cre tools remains a technical limitation of this recombination system, which has resulted in data misinterpretation and led to many controversies in the scientific community. In the past decade, to enhance the specificity and precision of genetic targeting, researchers have used two or more orthogonal recombinases simultaneously for labeling cell lineages. Here, we review the history of cell-tracing strategies and then elaborate on the working principle and application of a recently developed dual genetic lineage-tracing approach for cell fate studies. We place an emphasis on discussing the technical strengths and caveats of different methods, with the goal to develop more specific and efficient tracing technologies for cell fate mapping. Our review also provides several examples for how to use different types of DNA recombinase–mediated lineage-tracing strategies to improve the resolution of the cell fate mapping in order to probe and explore cell fate–related biological phenomena in the life sciences.

Maria Sörhede Winzell
Dec 1, 2004; 53:S215-S219
Section V: The Incretin Pathway

Patrice D. Cani
Jun 1, 2008; 57:1470-1481
Metabolism

Mary C. Gannon
Sep 1, 2004; 53:2375-2382
Pathophysiology

Catherine Pihoker
Dec 1, 2005; 54:S52-S61
Section II: Type 1-Related Forms of Diabetes

12 June 2019

Fruit Plant Original Pelangsing Badan Herbal terbuat dari Sayuran Dan Buah-Buahan Berkualitas Tinggi Mampu Menjadikan Sehat Serta Langsing Secara Cepat

Obat Pelangsing Badan Herbal Fatloss Jimpness Beauty Penghilang Lemak Seketika Merupakan Obat Pelangsing Badan Yang Aman Dikonsumsi Untuk Pria Maupun Wanita

Pelangsing Badan Herbal Lida Daidaihua Adalah Pelangsing Badan Yang Mengandung Bahan Herbal Yang Sangat Cepat Menurunkan Berat Badan, Aman Dan Cepat .

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is promising "strong" action against soldiers found guilty of instructing violators of the national nightly COVID-19 curfew to engage in “corrective measures”. News of the allegations came in an...

Jamaica’s senior men’s ice hockey team’s historic championship win at last year’s Amerigol LATAM Cup is memorialised in a Canadian sports yearbook published earlier this year. The team copped the championship in its first international outing...

Just the mention of the name Marvia Providence sends a tingle to the toes and, immediately, feet start tapping and bodies begin swaying. Before you know it, all the ‘warriors’ – prayer and otherwise – are in full flight. That’s the effect of the...

It’s not news that the current fight against COVID-19 has overshadowed plans of artistes worldwide, having impacted some of their biggest stages and platforms with the cancellation of not only large-scale events but private ones as well. Birthday...

In this article, I share my two final case studies, which examine changing our cultural attitudes to enhance productivity. Case study #5 – The role of punctuality An entrepreneur named Michael Fairbanks, who specialises in developing...

Frank Robinson, a trailblazing figure who was Major League Baseball's first African-American manager and one of its greatest players during a career that spanned 21 seasons, died Thursday after a prolonged illness. He was 83.

Adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) are involved in the development of insulin resistance in obesity. We have recently shown that myeloid cell–specific reduction of HMG-CoA reductase (Hmgcr^m–/m–), which is the rate-limiting enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis, protects against atherosclerosis by inhibiting macrophage migration in mice. We hypothesized that ATMs are harder to accumulate in Hmgcr^m–/m– mice than in control Hmgcr^fl/fl mice in the setting of obesity. To test this hypothesis, we fed Hmgcr^m–/m– and Hmgcr^fl/fl mice a high-fat diet (HFD) for 24 weeks and compared plasma glucose metabolism as well as insulin signaling and histology between the two groups. Myeloid cell–specific reduction of Hmgcr improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity without altering body weight in the HFD-induced obese mice. The improvement was due to a decrease in the number of ATMs. The ATMs were reduced by decreased recruitment of macrophages as a result of their impaired chemotactic activity. These changes were associated with decreased expression of proinflammatory cytokines in adipose tissues. Myeloid cell–specific reduction of Hmgcr also attenuated hepatic steatosis. In conclusion, reducing myeloid HMGCR may be a promising strategy to improve insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis in obesity.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC): Former Windies fast bowler Kenny Benjamin says that cricket in the Caribbean is suffering from players’ lack of loyalty and commitment and that intervention is required to save the sport. The Antiguan called for coaches...

They have a big impact on the diet of American citizens, and those of most Western nations, so why does the expert advice underpinning US government dietary guidelines not take account of all the relevant scientific evidence asks Nina Teicholz. Read the full investigation: http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4962

All doctors, irrespective of their specialty or the setting in which they work, will care for patients who die. Around half of all deaths occur in hospitals. Evidence suggests that the quality of communication around this process is poorer in hospitals than in other settings, according to responses from relatives who have experienced bereavement....

Air pollution is a truly damaging environmental insult to the human body. The numbers of premature deaths, in the UK alone, that can be attributed to it are calculated to be 40,000 a year. Yet despite this, action to tackle the problem - as with the other huge environmental issue of our time, climate change - is distinctly lacking. Robin...

Sabine Netters is an oncologist in The Netherlands - where assisted dying is legal. There doctors actually administer the drugs to help their patients die (unlike proposed legislation in the UK). In this moving interview, Sabine explains what was going through her head, the first time she helped her patient die - and how in the subsequent years,...

The Royal College of Physicians will survey all its members in February on this most controversial question. It says that it will move from opposition to neutrality on assisted dying unless 60% vote otherwise. The BMJ explores several conflicting views. From Canada, palliative care doctor Sandy Buchman explains why he sees medical aid in dying...

Richard S Surwit
Sep 1, 1988; 37:1163-1167
Original Article

Patrice D. Cani
Jun 1, 2008; 57:1470-1481
Metabolism

Professor Frederick Hickling, one of Jamaica’s most respected psychiatrists and pioneer of cultural therapy, has died. He was 74. “I have no more words,” tweeted his daughter Dr Deborah Hickling yesterday evening, announcing his death. “Love you...