earch published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) causes heart failure and increases the mortality in diabetic patients. Myocardial apoptosis and fibrosis are the main features of DCM and aging. The aim is to study the underlying mechanism of D-pinitol (DP) on myocardial apoptosis and fibrosis in an elderly diabetic mouse model. The diabetic model was established by SAMP-8 mice that were injected with streptozotocin daily for five consecutive days. The mice were administrated of DP (150 mg kg-1 day-1 ) by gavage for 10 weeks. The common metabolic disorder indices, cardiac dysfunction, oxidative stress, myocardial apoptosis and fibrosis, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway were investigated. Our findings suggested that DP has a protective effect on DCM, which may be related to regulating oxidative stress, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway involving cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis. DP may be a novel clinical application in fighting against DCM. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS D-pinitol (DP) was found in large quantities in soybean and legume foods. LY450139 in vitro DP has a variety of functions, including hypoglycemic, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-tumor activity. We used the streptozotocin-induced SAMP8 mice as the diabetic model and treated with DP. We found that DP can improve cardiac dysfunction and inhibits the oxidative stress, myocardial apoptosis and fibrosis. DP has a significant effect on diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). The molecular mechanisms are related to regulating oxidative stress, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway involving cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis. DP can prevent and/or delay the onset of DCM.

To improve food insecurity interventions, we sought to better understand the hypothesized bidirectional relationship between food insecurity and health care expenditures.

Nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States (2016-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey [MEPS]).

In a retrospective longitudinal cohort, we conducted two sets of analyses (a) two-part models to examine the association between food insecurity in 2016 and health care expenditures in 2017; and (b) logistic regression models to examine the association between health care expenditures in 2016 and food insecurity in 2017. We adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic variables as well as 2016 health care expenditures and food insecurity.

Health care expenditures, food insecurity, and medical condition data from 10886 adults who were included in 2016-2017 MEPS.

Food insecurity in 2016, compared with being food secure, was associated with both a higher odds of having any health careo break this cycle.

A bidirectional relationship exists between food insecurity and health care expenditures, but the strength of either direction appears unequal. Higher health care expenditures are associated with a slightly greater risk of being food insecure (adjusted for baseline food insecurity status) but being food insecure is associated with substantially greater subsequent health care expenditures (adjusted for baseline health care expenditures). Interventions to address food insecurity and poor health may be helpful to break this cycle.The combined effect of ascorbic acid (AsA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) on gel-forming ability and structural changes of lizardfish (LZ) and threadfin bream (TB) surimi were investigated. Addition of 0.15% AsA and 0.1% H2 O2 greatly increased breaking force and distance of LZ surimi by 300% and 55%, respectively. Combination of 0.2% AsA and 0.15% H2 O2 resulted in the maximum TB surimi gel improvement with 150% and 90% increase in breaking force and distance, respectively. Browning reaction obviously occurred when combined AsA and H2 O2 was added, due to ascorbic acid oxidation. Polymerization of myosin heavy chain via disulfide bonds was promoted, and the formation of disulfide bonds was involved through oxidation of sulfhydryl groups with increasing AsA and H2 O2 . Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy revealed a decrease in α-helix and an increase in β-sheet content as AsA and H2 O2 increased in both species. A decrease of band area of aliphatic (2,800 to 3,000 and 1,450 cm-1 ), aromatic (1,208, 757, and ratio 850/830 cm-1 ), and change of disulfide bonds (525 and 540 cm-1 ) suggested an increase in hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bonds with addition of these additives. Based on principal component analysis (PCA), textural characteristics were positively correlated with β-sheet content. Our study suggested that combination of AsA and H2 O2 greatly enhanced gelation of LZ and TB by increasing not only disulfide bonds but also hydrophobic interactions. PRACTICAL APPLICATION The combined ascorbic acid and hydrogen peroxide can be used to improve gelation of two important tropical surimi species, namely threadfin bream and lizardfish surimi, without requirement of setting. The optimum concentration of each additive varied with fish species.When screening for infectious diseases, group testing has proven to be a cost efficient alternative to individual level testing. Cost savings are realized by testing pools of individual specimens (eg, blood, urine, saliva, and so on) rather than by testing the specimens separately. However, a common concern that arises in group testing is the so-called “dilution effect.” This occurs if the signal from a positive individual’s specimen is diluted past an assay’s threshold of detection when it is pooled with multiple negative specimens. In this article, we propose a new statistical framework for group testing data that merges estimation and case identification, which are often treated separately in the literature. Our approach considers analyzing continuous biomarker levels (eg, antibody levels, antigen concentrations, and so on) from pooled samples to estimate both a binary regression model for the probability of disease and the biomarker distributions for cases and controls. To increase case identification accuracy, we then show how estimates of the biomarker distributions can be used to select diagnostic thresholds on a pool-by-pool basis. Our proposals are evaluated through numerical studies and are illustrated using hepatitis B virus data collected on a prison population in Ireland.