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Objectives: This study characterized the determinants of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in a large (n > 4,000) longitudinal cohort of healthy young people age 9 to 21 years. Background: Greater cIMT is commonly used in the young as a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, but its evolution at this age is still poorly understood. Methods: Associations between cardiovascular risk factors and cIMT were investigated in both longitudinal (ages 9 to 17 years) and cross-sectional (ages 17 and 21 years) analyses, with the latter also related to other measures of carotid structure and stress. Additional use of ultra-high frequency ultrasound in the radial artery at age 21 years allowed investigation of the distinct layers (i.e., intima or media) that may underlie observed differences. Results: Fat-free mass (FFM) and systolic blood pressure were the only modifiable risk factors positively associated with cIMT (e.g., mean difference in cIMT per 1-SD increase in FFM at age 17: 0.007 mm: 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.004 to 0.010; p < 0.001), whereas fat mass was negatively associated with cIMT (difference: −0.0032; 95% CI: 0.004 to −0.001; p = 0.001). Similar results were obtained when investigating cumulative exposure to these factors throughout adolescence. An increase in cIMT maintained circumferential wall stress in the face of increased mean arterial pressure when increases in body mass were attributable to increased FFM, but not fat mass. Risk factor−associated differences in the radial artery occurred in the media alone, and there was little evidence of a relationship between intimal thickness and any risk factor. Conclusions: Subtle changes in cIMT in the young may predominantly involve the media and represent physiological adaptations as opposed to subclinical atherosclerosis. Other vascular measures may be more appropriate for the identification of arterial disease before adulthood. © 2021 The Authors

Aims High-density lipoprotein (HDL) function may be altered in patients with chronic disease, transforming the particle from a beneficial vasoprotective molecule to a noxious pro-inflammatory equivalent. Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes often have elevated HDL, but its vasoprotective properties and relationship to endothelial function have not been assessed. Methods and results Seventy adolescents with Type 1 diabetes (age 10-17 years) and 30 age-matched healthy controls supplied urine samples for the measurement of early renal dysfunction (albumin:creatinine ratio; ACR), blood samples for the assessment of cardiovascular risk factors (lipid profiles, HDL functionality, glycaemic control, and inflammatory risk score), and had their conduit artery endothelial function tested using flow-mediated dilation (FMD). HDL-c levels (1.69 ± 0.41 vs. 1.44 ± 0.29mmol/L; P < 0.001), and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) (8.4 ± 1.2 vs. 5.4 ± 0.2%; P < 0.001) were increased in all patients compared with controls. However, increased inflammation and HDL dysfunction were evident only in patients who also had evidence of early renal dysfunction (mean ± standard deviation for high-ACR vs. low-ACR and healthy controls: inflammatory risk score 11.3 ± 2.5 vs. 9.5 ± 2.4 and 9.2 ± 2.4, P < 0.01; HDL-mediated nitric-oxide bioavailability 38.0 ± 8.9 vs. 33.3 ± 7.3 and 25.0 ± 7.7%, P < 0.001; HDL-mediated superoxide production 3.71 ± 3.57 vs. 2.11 ± 3.49 and 1.91 ± 2.47nmol O2 per 250 000 cells, P < 0.05). Endothelial function (FMD) was impaired only in those who had both a high inflammatory risk score and high levels of HDL-c (P < 0.05). Conclusion Increased levels of HDL-c commonly observed in individuals with Type 1 diabetes may be detrimental to endothelial function when accompanied by renal dysfunction and chronic inflammation. © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.

The Mekong Delta - a “rice bowl” of Vietnam - discharges around 30 million tons of paddy straw annually but most of straw is in situ burning that causes loss of precious nutrients and polluting the environment. Meanwhile, anaerobic technology was introduce in the region for long time but not yet become popular due to lack of input materials. The lab-scale 20 L anaerobic digesters were applied to co-ferment paddy straw (with sizes of 1.0 cm, 10.0 cm, 20.0 cm, original size) and pig manure (mixing ratio of 50%:50% based on their organic dry matter values) in 60 continuous days. The recorded values of temperature (25.3 to 30.30C), pH (6.74 ± 0.18), and redox potential (-316.4 to -128.2 mV) of almost treatments were suitable for activities of methanogenic micro-organisms. The biogas yield of treatment with straw size of 1.0 cm was 691.05 L/kg ODMfermented, of 10.0 cm - 687.79 L/kg ODMfermented, of 20.0 cm - 685.08 L/kg ODMfermented and original size - 680.44 L/kg ODMfermented which significant different to the treatment of 100% pig manure. The results confirmed rice straw could apply as additional material to the pig manure at anaerobic digester to produce biogas that eliminate in situ straw burning., Proceedings of the 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 1-4 June 2015, Vienna, Austria, pp. 299-303

International audience; Members of the Streptomyces genus are among the most prolific microorganisms producing secondary metabolites with wide uses in medicine and in agriculture. Sequencing of the genome of the model Streptomyces, Streptomyces coelicolor, has highlighted an unexpected feature, i.e. that the potential of these organisms to synthesise secondary metabolites has been largely underestimated. They indeed possess many more gene clusters encoding natural product-like biosynthetic pathways than there are known natural products. Similar observations have since been made for other bacterial or fungal genomes. Thus, it became clear that microbial secondary metabolism had been seriously underestimated and that genome-based approaches were very promising for the search of new bioactive compounds. Here, we present an overview of the secondary metabolite biosynthetic potential of Streptomyces ambofaciens, a species known for decades as producer of the macrolide spiramycin and the pyrrolamide congocidine. Interestingly, genome analysis has revealed that despite of the close phylogenetic relatedness between S. coelicolor and S. ambofaciens, most of its secondary metabolite gene clusters are species-specific.