Publications

<p dir="ltr">OBJECTIVE We examined the associations of inflammatory and insulinemic diets with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).</p><p dir="ltr">RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We followed 4,318 GDM women in the Nurses’ Health Study II for incident T2D between 1991 and 2019. Empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) and empirical dietary index for hyperinsulinemia (EDIH) scores were calculated using pre-validated methods. Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of T2D. Additionally, we estimated the least-squares means of cardio-metabolic biomarkers according to EDIP and EDIH quintiles in a subset of participants who were free of T2D at the time of blood collection.</p><p dir="ltr">RESULTS During 84,174 person-years of follow-up, 1,037 women developed T2D. After adjusting for major covariates including body mass index, higher EDIP and EDIH scores, which indicated higher dietary inflammatory and insulinemic potential, were associated with increased risk of T2D. Compared with the lowest quintile, adjusted HRs (95% CI) for the highest quintile were 1.32 (1.06, 1.64) for EDIP and 1.44 (1.14, 1.82) for EDIH, both Ptrend <0.05. Higher EDIP scores were significantly associated with higher concentrations of insulin and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and EDIH scores were significantly positively associated with insulin and C-peptide concentrations. </p><p dir="ltr">CONCLUSIONS Among women with a history of GDM, those with higher dietary inflammatory and insulinemic potential were found to be at a higher risk for T2D and to display unfavorable cardio-metabolic profiles. </p>

The effect of physical activity on mental health has been the subject of research for several decades. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the association between physical fitness, including both cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness and depressive symptoms among general population. The aim of this study was to determine the association between physical fitness and depressive symptoms among young adults. The study population consists of 5497 males and females, members of the Northern Finland birth cohort of 1966, who at age 31 completed fitness tests and filled in a questionnaire including questions about depressive symptoms (Hopkins' Symptom Checklist-25) and physical activity. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured by a 4-min step test and muscular fitness by tests of maximal isometric handgrip and isometric trunk extension. The odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for having depressive symptoms were calculated for quintiles groups of physical fitness using the third, median quintile as reference group, and the results were adjusted for potential confounding variables. Depressive symptoms were most common among males and females in the lowest quintile group of trunk extension test (OR 1.58 and 95% CI 1.07-2.32 in males and OR 1.43 and 95% CI 1.03-2.0 in females) and among males in the lowest quintile group of handgrip strength (OR 1.64 95% CI 1.11-2.42) compared to the reference group. Level of self-reported physical activity was inversely associated with depressive symptoms both in males (OR 1.74 95% CI 1.25-2.36) and females (OR 1.36 95% CI 1.05-1.75). The cardiorespiratory fitness was not associated with depressive symptoms (OR 1.01 95% CI 0.68-1.49 in males and 0.82 95% CI 0.57-1.16 in females). The results indicate that low level of isometric endurance capacity of trunk extensor muscles is associated with high level of depressive symptoms in both sexes. In males, also poor handgrip strength is associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms. The physical activity level is inversely associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms among young adults.

The mechanics of slow slip events (SSE) in subduction zones remain unresolved. We suggest that SSE nucleate in areas of unstable friction under drained conditions, but as slip accelerates dilatancy reduces pore pressure p quenching instability. Competition between dilatant strengthening and thermal pressurization may control whether slip is slow or fast. We model SSE with 2‐D elasticity, rate‐state friction, and a dilatancy law where porosity evolves toward steady state ss over distance d c and ss = 0 + ln( v / v 0 ); v is slip speed. We consider two diffusion models. Membrane diffusion (MD) is approximated by −( p − p ∞ )/ t f where p and p ∞ are shear zone and remote pore pressure and t f is a characteristic diffusion time. Homogeneous diffusion (HD) accurately models fault‐normal flow with diffusivity c hyd . For MD, linearized analysis defines a boundary ℰ = 1 − a / b between slow and fast slip, where ℰ ≡ f 0 ε/ βb ( σ − p ∞ ), f 0 , a , and b are friction parameters and β is compressibility. When ℰ < 1 − a / b slip accelerates to instability for sufficiently large faults, whereas for ℰ > 1 − a / b slip speeds remain quasi‐static. For HD, E p ≡ ε h /( β ( σ − p ∞ ) ) defines dilatancy efficiency, where h is shear zone thickness and v ∞ is plate velocity. SSE are favored by large ε h and low effective stress. The ratio E p to thermal pressurization efficiency scales with 1/( σ − p ∞ ), so high p ∞ favors SSE, consistent with seismic observations. For E p ∼ 10 −3 transient slip rates, repeat times, average slip, and stress drops are comparable to field observations. Model updip propagation speeds are comparable to those observed along‐strike. Many simulations exhibit slow phases driven by steady downdip slip and faster phases that relax the accumulated stress. Model SSE accommodate only a fraction of plate motion; the remaining deficit must be accommodated during coseismic or postseismic slip.

This paper describes the self-assembly of hydrogen-bonded polymeric rods based on the lattice of cyanuric acid and melamine (CA·M). Data from 1H NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are interpreted as indicating that the self-assembly of a bisisocyanuric acid (bisCA) and a bismelamine (bisM) formed polymeric nanorods [(bisCA)n(bisM)n] composed of parallel CA·M rosettes. The TEM results suggest that these rods aggregate as bundles. The length of the bundles ranged from 100 to 1500 nm, and their diameter was in the range from 15 to 500 nm.

Background: The relation of red meat to risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is of great interest, but this is likely to depend on the foods to which red meat is compared. Objective: We investigated the associations between total, processed and unprocessed red meat consumption and CHD risk and also estimated the effects of substituting other protein sources for red meat. Methods: We prospectively followed 43,259 men in the Health Professionals Follow up Study (1986-2012) who had no known history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. Diet was assessed by a standardized and validated food frequency questionnaire that was updated every 4 years. Multivariate Cox models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of CHD risk across categories of red meat consumption. Substitution analyses were done by comparing coefficients in models including alternative foods as continuous variables. Results: During 932,968 person-years of follow-up, we documented 4,148 incident CHD cases of which 1,680 were fatal CHD cases. After multivariate adjustment for dietary and nondietary risk factors, both total and processed red meat intake were associated with a modestly higher risk of CHD (HR for a one serving/day increment: 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01-1.14 for total and HR=1.13; 95% CI, 1.03-1.22 for processed red meat). Substitutions of 1-serving per day of other foods (including nuts, legumes, soy, whole grains, low- and high-fat dairy) for 1-serving per day of total red meat were associated with a 10%-47% lower CHD risk. Stronger inverse associations were observed between some of these substitutions for red meat and risk of fatal CHD [substituting nuts (-17%, -27% to -6%) or whole grains (-48%, -60% to -32%), and were more pronounced when replacing processed red meat. Conclusions: Our results suggest that red meat consumption, particularly processed red meat, is associated with higher risk of CHD. Substituting high-quality plant foods such as legumes, nuts, soy, and whole grains for red meat may substantially lower CHD risk.

The convergence rate of a numerical procedure based on Schwarz Alternating Method (SAM) for solving elliptic boundary value problems (BVPs) depends on the selection of the so-called interface conditions applied on the interior boundaries of the overlapping subdomains. It has been observed that the weighted mixed interface conditions (g(u) = ωu + (1 − ω)ϖu ϖn ), controlled by the parameter ω, can optimize SAMs convergence rate. In this paper, we present a matrix formulation of this method based on finite difference approximation of the BVP, review its known computational behavior in terms of the parameter α = /gf(ω, h), where h is the discretization parameter and /gf is a derivable relation, and obtain analytically explicit and implicit expressions for the optimum α. Moreover, we consider a parameterized SAM where the parameter ω or α is assumed to be different in each overlapping area. For this SAM and the one-dimensional (1-D) elliptic model BVPs, we determine analytically the optimal values of α i . Furthermore, we extend some of these results to two-dimensional (2-D) elliptic problems.

Background: The relation between BMI, weight change and mortality among survivors of Myocardial Infarction (MI) remains controversial, with some studies reporting favorable survival outcomes among overweight and obese patients, as compared to those with normal weight. We aim to examine the relationship between BMI reported shortly before and after MI diagnosis in addition to weight change with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality among MI survivors. Methods: Using the data from Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow up Study (HPFS) cohorts, we studied 4278 participants who were free of CVD and cancer before their MI. Weight change (in BMI units) was categorized as loss of (> 4, 2-4, <2-0 (reference)), or gain of (0.1-2, or >2) units. Multivariable Cox models were used to estimate hazard ratios and 95 % confidence interval for mortality across BMI/weight change categories. Results: During up to 36 (NHS) and 28 (HPFS) years of follow-up post-MI, there were 2071 all-cause and 835 CVD deaths. Overweight patients with BMI before or after MI of 25-27.49 kg/m 2 had decreased mortality as compared to normal weight patients (22.5-24.9 kg/m 2 ). All-cause mortality increased progressively with higher BMI. Obese patients (BMI≥30) had the highest risk of CVD mortality (HR=1.35; 95% CI, 1.06-1.73). Among MI patients who had never smoked (N=1484) or were younger than 65 years of age at the time of diagnosis (N=1873), no survival advantage was observed for overweight/obese patients. Compared to stable weight (a BMI reduction of 0-1.99 units) from before to after MI, a reduction of 2-4 or >4 BMI units was associated with increased mortality (HR=1.12; 95% CI, 0.96-1.29 and 1.42; 95% CI, 1.17-1.71 respectively, Figure). Conclusions: We observed a J-shaped association between BMI and mortality among all MI patients, but not among those who had never smoked or were younger than 65 years of age. Weight loss associated with acute MI, potentially related to disease severity, is an important predictor of higher mortality.

We report electrical properties of hybrid structures consisting of arrays of nanowire field-effect transistors integrated with the individual axons and dendrites of live mammalian neurons, where each nanoscale junction can be used for spatially resolved, highly sensitive detection, stimulation, and/or inhibition of neuronal signal propagation. Arrays of nanowire-neuron junctions enable simultaneous measurement of the rate, amplitude, and shape of signals propagating along individual axons and dendrites. The configuration of nanowire-axon junctions in arrays, as both inputs and outputs, makes possible controlled studies of partial to complete inhibition of signal propagation by both local electrical and chemical stimuli. In addition, nanowire-axon junction arrays were integrated and tested at a level of at least 50 "artificial synapses" per neuron.

Insulin resistance (IR) is predictive for type 2 diabetes and associated with various metabolic abnormalities in fasting conditions. However, limited data are available on how IR affects metabolic responses in a non-fasting setting, yet this is the state people are mostly exposed to during waking hours in the modern society. Here, we aim to comprehensively characterise the metabolic changes in response to an oral glucose test (OGTT) and assess the associations of these changes with IR. Blood samples were obtained at 0 (fasting baseline, right before glucose ingestion), 30, 60, and 120 min during the OGTT. Seventy-eight metabolic measures were analysed at each time point for a discovery cohort of 4745 middle-aged Finnish individuals and a replication cohort of 595 senior Finnish participants. We assessed the metabolic changes in response to glucose ingestion (percentage change in relative to fasting baseline) across the four time points and further compared the response profile between five groups with different levels of IR and glucose intolerance. Further, the differences were tested for covariate adjustment, including gender, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting, and 2-h glucose levels. The groups were defined as insulin sensitive with normal glucose (IS-NGT), insulin resistant with normal glucose (IR-NGT), impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and new diabetes (NDM). IS-NGT and IR-NGT were defined as the first and fourth quartile of fasting insulin in NGT individuals. Glucose ingestion induced multiple metabolic responses, including increased glycolysis intermediates and decreased branched-chain amino acids, ketone bodies, glycerol, and triglycerides. The IR-NGT subgroup showed smaller responses for these measures (mean + 23%, interquartile 9–34% at 120 min) compared to IS-NGT (34%, 23–44%, P < 0.0006 for difference, corrected for multiple testing). Notably, the three groups with glucose abnormality (IFG, IGT, and NDM) showed similar metabolic dysregulations as those of IR-NGT. The difference between the IS-NGT and the other subgroups was largely explained by fasting insulin, but not fasting or 2 h glucose. The findings were consistent after covariate adjustment and between the discovery and replication cohort. Insulin-resistant non-diabetic individuals are exposed to a similar adverse postprandial metabolic milieu, and analogous cardiometabolic risk, as those with type 2 diabetes. The wide range of metabolic abnormalities associated with IR highlights the necessity of diabetes diagnostics and clinical care beyond glucose management.