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Background/objectives: Dietary triacylglycerols containing palmitic acid in the sn -2 position might impair insulin release and increase plasma glucose. Subjects/Methods: We used a cross-over designed feeding trial in 53 healthy Asian men and women (20–50 years) to test this hypothesis by exchanging 20% energy of palm olein (PO; control) with randomly interesterified PO (IPO) or high oleic acid sunflower oil (HOS). After a 2-week run-in period on PO, participants were fed PO, IPO and HOS for 6 week consecutively in randomly allocated sequences. Fasting (midpoint and endpoint) and postprandial blood at the endpoint following a test meal (3.54 MJ, 14 g protein, 85 g carbohydrate and 50 g fat as PO) were collected for the measurement of C-peptide, insulin, glucose, plasma glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-like peptide-1, lipids and apolipoproteins; pre-specified primary and secondary outcomes were postprandial changes in C-peptide and plasma glucose. Results: Low density lipoprotein cholesterol was 0.3 mmol/l (95% confidence interval (95% CI)) 0.1, 0.5; P <0.001) lower on HOS than on PO or IPO as predicted, indicating good compliance to the dietary intervention. There were no significant differences ( P =0.58) between diets among the 10 male and 31 female completers in the incremental area under the curve (0–2 h) for C-peptide in nmol.120 min/l: GM (95% CI) were PO 220 (196, 245), IPO 212 (190, 235) and HOS 224 (204, 244). Plasma glucose was 8% lower at 2 h on IPO vs PO and HOS (both P <0.05). Conclusion: Palmitic acid in the sn -2 position does not adversely impair insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis.

Understanding how microorganisms adapt to novel physical and chemical environments requires integrating evolutionary, regulatory, and phenotypic perspectives. Here, we examined Streptococcus mutans populations previously evolved for 100 days under simulated microgravity (sMG) or combined microgravity and silver nitrate (sMGAg), generating new transcriptomic and phenotypic datasets and integrating them with prior whole-genome sequencing. These environments model key pressures encountered in enclosed spaceflight habitats, including altered fluid shear, oxidative challenges, and exposure to disinfectants. Populations maintained under normal gravity (NG) largely preserved ancestral metabolic and redox characteristics. In contrast, sMG populations exhibited divergent physiological and transcriptional outcomes that were not predictable from genomic variants alone, including multiple ROS response patterns, broad reductions in carbohydrate metabolism, and consistent retention of trehalose utilization. Populations evolved under sMGAg showed more convergent patterns, characterized by broad activation of oxidoreductase and metal-handling pathways, elevated basal ROS relative to the ancestral strain with reduced inducibility, and a consistent gain in nitrate-reduction capability. These outcomes reflect condition-associated physiological states resolved only through combined genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotype-level data, as no single data type was sufficient to capture the full structure of adaptive responses. Together, these findings illustrate how distinct physical and chemical stress regimes reshape the landscape of accessible evolutionary responses, with microgravity alone permitting a wider range of adaptive trajectories and microgravity combined with silver favoring more uniform physiological states. More broadly, this work demonstrates that integrated multi-level datasets are essential for accurately characterizing adaptive outcomes in extreme or non-terrestrial environments.

Background/objectives: Dietary triacylglycerols (TAGs) containing palmitic acid in the sn -2 position might impair insulin release and increase plasma glucose. We tested this hypothesis by comparing postprandial responses to fats with varying proportions of palmitic acid in the sn -2 position. Subjects/methods: Using a crossover-designed randomized controlled trial in healthy men ( n =25) and women ( n =25), we compared four meals on postprandial changes in glucose (primary outcome), insulin, C-peptide, glucose, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and polypeptide YY (PYY) concentrations. The meals provided 14 g protein, 85 g carbohydrate and 50 g test fat, supplied as high oleic sunflower (HOS) oil (control), palm olein (PO), interesterified palm olein (IPO) and lard containing 0.6, 9.2, 39.1 and 70.5 mol% palmitic acid at sn -2, respectively. Results: No differences in plasma glucose, insulin and C-peptide response between meals were found. GIP release was lower ( P <0.001) for IPO and lard compared with HOS and PO meals; the maximal increments (geometric mean and 95% confidence interval) for HOS, PO, IPO and lard were 515 (468, 569), 492 (448, 540), 398 (350, 452) and 395 (364, 429) ng/l, respectively. There was a trend for the postprandial increase in PYY to be lower in women on the IPO and lard meals than those on the HOS and PO meals. Conclusions: Dietary TAGs with an increased proportion of palmitic acid in the sn- 2 position do not have acute adverse effects on the insulin and glucose response to meals in healthy men and women, but they decrease GIP release.

ORCTL3 is a member of a group of genes, the so-called anticancer genes, that cause tumour-specific cell death. We show that this activity is triggered in isogenic renal cells upon their transformation independently of the cells’ proliferation status. For its cell death effect ORCTL3 targets the enzyme stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) in fatty acid metabolism. This is caused by transmembrane domains 3 and 4, which are more efficacious in vitro than a low molecular weight drug against SCD1, and critically depend on their expression level. SCD1 is found upregulated upon renal cell transformation indicating that its activity, while not impacting proliferation, represents a critical bottleneck for tumourigenesis. An adenovirus expressing ORCTL3 leads to growth inhibition of renal tumours in vivo and to substantial destruction of patients’ kidney tumour cells ex vivo . Our results indicate fatty acid metabolism as a target for tumour-specific apoptosis in renal tumours and suggest ORCTL3 as a means to accomplish this.

Background/Objectives: Vegans, and to a lesser extent vegetarians, have low average circulating concentrations of vitamin B12; however, the relation between factors such as age or time on these diets and vitamin B12 concentrations is not clear. The objectives of this study were to investigate differences in serum vitamin B12 and folate concentrations between omnivores, vegetarians and vegans and to ascertain whether vitamin B12 concentrations differed by age and time on the diet. Subjects/Methods: A cross-sectional analysis involving 689 men (226 omnivores, 231 vegetarians and 232 vegans) from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Oxford cohort. Results: Mean serum vitamin B12 was highest among omnivores (281, 95% CI: 270–292 pmol/l), intermediate among vegetarians (182, 95% CI: 175–189 pmol/l) and lowest among vegans (122, 95% CI: 117–127 pmol/l). In all, 52% of vegans, 7% of vegetarians and one omnivore were classified as vitamin B12 deficient (defined as serum vitamin B12 <118 pmol/l). There was no significant association between age or duration of adherence to a vegetarian or a vegan diet and serum vitamin B12. In contrast, folate concentrations were highest among vegans, intermediate among vegetarians and lowest among omnivores, but only two men (both omnivores) were categorized as folate deficient (defined as serum folate <6.3 nmol/l). Conclusion: Vegans have lower vitamin B12 concentrations, but higher folate concentrations, than vegetarians and omnivores. Half of the vegans were categorized as vitamin B12 deficient and would be expected to have a higher risk of developing clinical symptoms related to vitamin B12 deficiency.

We study adaptive learning in a typical p-player game. The payoffs of the games are randomly generated and then held fixed. The strategies of the players evolve through time as the players learn. The trajectories in the strategy space display a range of qualitatively different behaviours, with attractors that include unique fixed points, multiple fixed points, limit cycles and chaos. In the limit where the game is complicated, in the sense that the players can take many possible actions, we use a generating-functional approach to establish the parameter range in which learning dynamics converge to a stable fixed point. The size of this region goes to zero as the number of players goes to infinity, suggesting that complex non-equilibrium behaviour, exemplified by chaos, is the norm for complicated games with many players.

Background/Objectives: Breakfast is an important source of micronutrients in the diet and its consumption has been linked to positive health outcomes. The present analysis investigated the contribution that breakfast cereals make to the nutrient intakes of the materially deprived (low income) UK population. Subjects/Methods: Data for 3728 respondents aged 2 years and over from the UK Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey (2003–2005) were analysed. Nutrient intakes of consumers and non-consumers of breakfast cereal were compared. Results: Breakfast cereals were consumed by 49% of men, 58% of women, 80% of boys and 80% of girls, and median intakes were: 35, 25, 29 and 21 g/d, respectively. Consumers of breakfast cereals had higher intakes of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, folate, vitamin B 6 , vitamin B 12 , iron and zinc than non-consumers. Breakfast cereal consumption was also related to higher intakes of calcium, attributable to higher milk consumption. The intake of wholegrain and high-fibre breakfast cereals was associated with a higher intake of non-starch polysaccharides. Intakes of niacin, biotin, calcium and zinc were higher but that of vitamin B 6 was lower among consumers of exclusively wholegrain and high-fibre breakfast cereals compared with consumers of other breakfast cereals. There were no significant differences observed in intakes of non-milk extrinsic sugars according to type of breakfast cereal consumed. Conclusions: Breakfast cereals make a significant contribution to the micronutrient intake of the low-income UK population.

Data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey suggest that vitamin D insufficiency, defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)<25 nmol/L, is widespread in the UK(2). Except for oily fish, there are few rich dietary sources of vitamin D. Furthermore, high intakes of unrefined cereals can contribute to low serum 25(OH)D concentrations by increasing the catabolism of vitamin D which is thought to be due to their high phytic acid content interfering with calcium absorption(3). [...]the consumption of oily fish 1–2 times a week improves vitamin D status, and the inclusion of wholegrain cereals (mainly breakfast cereals and bread) as part of a cardioprotective diet does not have an adverse effect on vitamin D status.