Explore the vast range of titles available.

Cytokines of the IL-1 family are important modulators of obesity-induced inflammation and the development of systemic insulin resistance. Here we show that IL-1 family member IL-37, recently characterized as an anti-inflammatory cytokine, ameliorates obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance. Mice transgenic for human IL-37 (IL-37tg) exhibit reduced numbers of adipose tissue macrophages, increased circulating levels of adiponectin and preserved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity after 16 weeks of HFD. In vitro treatment of adipocytes with recombinant IL-37 reduces adipogenesis and activates AMPK signalling. In humans, elevated steady-state IL-37 adipose tissue mRNA levels are positively correlated with insulin sensitivity and a lower inflammatory status of the adipose tissue. These findings reveal IL-37 as an important anti-inflammatory modulator during obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance in both mice and humans, and suggest that IL-37 is a potential target for the treatment of obesity-induced insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Inflammation is a hallmark of obesity and driver of various associated pathologies. Here the authors show that mice overexpressing the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-37 are protected from the metabolic consequences of a high-fat diet, and that plasma levels of IL-37 correlate with insulin sensitivity in humans.

Aims/hypothesis The best treatment strategy for a patient with type 2 diabetes who shows pronounced weight gain after the introduction of insulin treatment is unclear. We determined whether addition of a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue could reverse pronounced insulin-associated weight gain while maintaining glycaemic control, and compared this with the most practised strategy, continuation and intensification of standard insulin therapy. Methods In a 26-week, randomised controlled trial (ELEGANT), conducted in the outpatient departments of one academic and one large non-academic teaching hospital in the Netherlands, adult patients with type 2 diabetes with ≥4% weight gain during short-term (≤16 months) insulin therapy received either open-label addition of liraglutide 1.8 mg/day ( n  = 26) or continued standard therapy ( n  = 24). A computer-generated random number list was used to allocate treatments. Participants were evaluated every 4–6 weeks for weight, glycaemic control and adverse events. The primary endpoint was between-group weight difference after 26 weeks of treatment (intention to treat). Results Of 50 randomised patients (mean age 58 years, BMI 33 kg/m 2 , HbA 1c 7.4% [57 mmol/mol]), 47 (94%) completed the study; all patients were analysed. Body weight decreased by 4.5 kg with liraglutide and increased by 0.9 kg with standard therapy (mean difference −5.2 kg [95% CI −6.7, −3.6 kg]; p  < 0.001). The respective changes in HbA 1c were −0.77% (−8.4 mmol/mol) and +0.01% (+0.1 mmol/mol) (difference −0.74% [−8.1 mmol/mol]) ([95% CI −1.08%, −0.41%] [−11.8, −4.5 mmol/mol]; p  < 0.001); respective changes in insulin dose were −29 U/day and +5 U/day (difference −33 U/day [95% CI −41, −25 U/day]; p  < 0.001). In five patients (19%), insulin could be completely discontinued. Liraglutide was well tolerated; no severe adverse events or severe hypoglycaemia occurred. Conclusions/interpretation In patients with pronounced insulin-associated weight gain, addition of liraglutide to their treatment regimen reverses weight, decreases insulin dose and improves glycaemic control, and hence seems a valuable therapeutic option compared with continuation of standard insulin treatment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01392898 Funding The study was funded by Novo Nordisk.

Innate immunity plays a pivotal role in obesity-induced low-grade inflammation originating from adipose tissue. Key receptors of the innate immune system including Toll-like receptors-2 and -4 (TLRs) are triggered by nutrient excess to promote inflammation. The role of other TLRs in this process is largely unknown. In addition to double-stranded viral mRNA, TLR-3 can also recognize mRNA from dying endogenous cells, a process that is frequently observed within obese adipose tissue. Here, we identified profound expression of TLR-3 in adipocytes and investigated its role during diet-induced obesity. Human adipose tissue biopsies (n=80) and an adipocyte cell-line were used to study TLR-3 expression and function. TLR-3-/- and WT animals were exposed to a high-fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks to induce obesity. Expression of TLR-3 was significantly higher in human adipocytes compared to the non-adipocyte cells part of the adipose tissue. In vitro, TLR-3 expression was induced during differentiation of adipocytes and stimulation of the receptor led to elevated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In vivo, TLR-3 deficiency did not significantly influence HFD-induced obesity, insulin sensitivity or inflammation. In humans, TLR-3 expression in adipose tissue did not correlate with BMI or insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR). Together, our results demonstrate that TLR-3 is highly expressed in adipocytes and functionally active. However, TLR-3 appears to play a redundant role in obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance.

Chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue often accompanies obesity, leading to insulin resistance and increasing the risk for metabolic diseases. MAP3K8 (TPL2/COT) is an important signal transductor and activator of pro-inflammatory pathways that has been linked to obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation. We used human adipose tissue biopsies to study the relationship of MAP3K8 expression with markers of obesity and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8). Moreover, we evaluated obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance in mice lacking MAP3K8 and WT mice on a high-fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks. Individuals with a BMI >30 displayed a higher mRNA expression of MAP3K8 in adipose tissue compared to individuals with a normal BMI. Additionally, high mRNA expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8, but not TNF -α, in human adipose tissue were associated with higher expression of MAP3K8. Moreover, high plasma SAA and CRP did not associate with increased MAP3K8 expression in adipose tissue. Similarly, no association was found for MAP3K8 expression with plasma insulin or glucose levels. Mice lacking MAP3K8 had similar bodyweight gain as WT mice, yet displayed lower mRNA expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and CXCL1 in adipose tissue in response to the HFD as compared to WT animals. However, MAP3K8 deficient mice were not protected against HFD-induced adipose tissue macrophage infiltration or the development of insulin resistance. Together, the data in both human and mouse show that MAP3K8 is involved in local adipose tissue inflammation, specifically for IL-1β and its responsive cytokines IL-6 and IL-8, but does not seem to have systemic effects on insulin resistance.

Nonlinear behavior caused by hysteresis in a system can make the system difficult to control or model. The current mathematical models that describe hysteresis curves can be difficult to calculate and use in real-time situations. This paper describes a method for approximating the discrete Preisach model of hysteresis using an artificial neural network with two different training algorithms. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is the main point of focus and the Adam gradient descent algorithm is used as a basis for comparison. The two optimization algorithms were used to train a feedforward neural network using batch training techniques. The training data for the neural network is based on a single major hysteresis loop constructed from a pair of hyperbolic tangent functions.

Discussing the Bible and the Qur'an in one breath will surprise some Jews, Christians, and Muslims.But Anton Wessels argues that all three traditions must read the Scriptures together and not against each other.As his book title suggests, the three books, in the end, are actually one tale.

Insulin-induced weight gain, often occurring over the first 9-12 months after starting insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), is obviously undesirable in an already overweight population and may offset the beneficial effects of insulin. We hypothesized that addition of liraglutide may be especially effective in reversing body weight in patients with pronounced insulin-associated weight gain while preserving glycemic control. This hypothesis was tested in a randomized controlled trial (ELEGANT).

Obesity is associated with systemic, chronic low-grade inflammation arising from adipose tissue, leading to the development of insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes. The infiltration of macrophages in adipose tissue is pivotal in the instigation and aggrevation of this inflammation and orchestrates the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and TNFα.

The centre of gravity of contemporary Christianity has shifted to the southern hemisphere where, with the exception of Latin America, almost all Christians are minorities in their home countries. Christians in Asia live amongst Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shamanist or Taoist majorities and this context shapes the local Christian theology. The same is true in Africa where traditional religions and beliefs influence African Christians. Central to this change in both Africa and Asia is the creation of a new Jesus, one who accretes local beliefs and concerns and who, in that process, is transformed. 'The Non-Western Jesus' reveals how a new theology - with its own images and concepts - is coming into being. A wide range of embodiments of Jesus is examined: Jesus as 'Avatara' and 'Guru' in the Indian context; as 'Bodhisattva' in the Buddhist context; and Jesus within Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, African and Indonesian religious contexts.

Because religion is so central to the lives and experience of the vast majority of people throughout the world, it figures very prominently in a variety of ways in interhuman relations. Unfortunately, 'religion' often appears to be one of the potent sources of mistrust, discord and strife between and among individuals, groups and cultures. What frequently lies at the root of such suspicion and dissension is general ignorance concerning the religious other, a lack of knowledge about his or her beliefs, aspirations and views of the good and morally honorable life. And even if people have some factual knowledge about other religions, they regularly display little understanding of them and their adherents. Learning both to know and understand people of other faiths and their religions is absolutely requisite to the realization of paradigms of coherent and intelligent 'convivance,' that is, living together in sensible, peaceable and cooperative harmony. An effective agency for fostering such knowledge and understanding is the discipline of theology of religions, which examines how religions have and ought to view other religions. And it is particularly the practice of comparative theology of religions which bears the most promise in this regard. The present symposium consists of precisely this kind of comparative exercise and may be viewed as an important contribution to the development of a new project which endeavors to enlarge the horizon and broaden the focus and reflection of theology of religions as that has been gradually developed during the last few decades, a new enterprise, in other words, which seeks to universalize and mutualize theology-of-religions discourse. One of the important things this volume shows is that the views religions have of other religions differ from one another in very substantial ways, which is explained by the fact that they derive from diverging paradigms of faith, belief and ritual and specific cultural and social contexts. This textbook demonstrates how strongly different Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto and Confucian views are from those of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, which latter in turn also exhibit considerable differences among themselves. These differences are greater than people immersed in their own cultures often realize or expect. It is becoming ever more clear that ignorance of or disinclination to acknowledge or refusal to accept these real differences constitute major root causes of serious conflicts in the world. The essays in this book, written by representatives of the major world religions, offer descriptive and/or prescriptive appraisals of other religions in general or one other religion in particular from the perspective of the religion of the author concerned. It is hoped that this unique exercise in intercultural theology of religions will generate insights and new forms of understanding which can be used by religious leaders and other educators to help correct the disposition toward religious haughtiness, insularity and communalism and the dangerous leanings toward interreligious suspicion, antipathy and animosity which are all too often evident in our contemporary societies.