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Sensory-Specific Satiety and Nutrition
Published in Alan R. Hirsch, Nutrition and Sensation, 2023
It is apparent that sensory-specific satiety, or sensory generalized satiety, has an impact upon both the hedonics and consumption of food. It has potential practical application in the management of obesity. Why does sensory-specific satiety exist in humans? Sensory-specific satiety is a logical evolutionary adaptation. If the type of food corresponds with nutrients, then sensory-specific satiety is a physiological way to prevent nutrient excess and switch consumption to other foods with other needed nutrients. While cafeteria-style food would act to reduce the effect of sensory-specific satiety and increase weight, flavoring all food eaten in a similar manner should act to decrease consumption. The problem with such monotonous diet is a matter of compliance. Possibly a diet based on satiety index or using other modalities to enhance sensory-specific satiety (Dougherty, Chapter 13) would be one mechanism of overcoming such monotony effect and still maximize this homeostatic and physiologic mechanism of sensory-specific satiety.
Infections
Published in C. Simon Herrington, Muir's Textbook of Pathology, 2020
LPS binds to circulating monocytes, tissue macrophages, and endothelial cells, and activates them. This is obviously a useful evolutionary adaptation in the cellular defence against infection. The key event that turns a local infection into septic shock is the progressive production of TNF-α by LPS-activated macrophages. TNF-α causes macrophages and many other cells in the body (e.g. liver) to secrete interleukin 1 (IL-1) which, depending on the concentration, damages tissues directly. Thereafter, a series of cytokine cascades generates further interleukins (IL-6 and IL-8), with production of the acute phase responses and nitric oxide (NO), and can activate the clotting system to initiate disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The cardiac output falls due to pump failure, peripheral vascular resistance falls, tissues are underperfused, capillaries leak resulting in tissue oedema, and critical capillary/epithelium interface in the lung alveoli is damaged (Figure 20.59).
Evolution, Natural Selection, and Behavior
Published in Gail S. Anderson, Biological Influences on Criminal Behavior, 2019
Much of evolutionary theory relating to reproductive strategies shows that females choose mates who have high status and resources, to maximize their chances of reproduction and raising offspring to reproductive age. Evidence suggests that males from many species have evolved strategies to sexually force females.29 For rape to be an evolutionary adaptation, it must have regularly resulted in increasing reproductive fitness (that is, producing more offspring) for ancestral rapists, and these reproductive benefits must have outweighed the costs.29
Riboswitches as therapeutic targets: promise of a new era of antibiotics
Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 2023
Emily Ellinger, Adrien Chauvier, Rosa A. Romero, Yichen Liu, Sujay Ray, Nils G. Walter
Several analogs of thiamine, including pyrithiamine (PT) and pyrithiamine pyrophosphate (PTPP), have been investigated for their impact on gene expression using coupled in vitro transcription-translation assays. To this end, the luciferase gene was cloned downstream of the riboswitch, and the level of gene expression was measured following an incubation period with a given ligand analog concentration. For the readout, the luminescence of the sample was assessed upon the addition of a luciferase substrate. Notably, these analogs have demonstrated toxicity against some bacteria and fungi [31,32,48,49] (Figure 4(a)). However, bacterial resistance has emerged in the form of several mutations in the sequence of the TPP riboswitch, attesting to the speed with which such evolutionary adaptation can occur [31]. Thus, antibacterial approaches need to be developed that are less prone to trigger fast resistance.
Skeletal muscle plasticity and thermogenesis: Insights from sea otters
Published in Temperature, 2022
Traver Wright, Melinda Sheffield-Moore
Various morphological and metabolic adaptations have equipped mammals to survive diverse habitats including extreme differences in temperature. For homeothermic mammals in cold habitats, insulation is critical to minimize heat loss. However, when insulation is not sufficient, metabolism is increased to generate heat through increased activity, shivering, or other regulated increases in metabolic rate. As a result, there are vast adaptive differences in insulation, temperature tolerance, and metabolic thermogenesis among different mammal species (e.g. tropical vs. polar mammals), and among the same species in different geographic regions (e.g. northern vs. southern populations and low-altitude vs. high-altitude populations). Moreover, metabolic acclimatization is also critical within an individual animal during seasonal, diurnal, and habitat shifts. Thus, an animal’s ability to tolerate varied environmental temperatures can be shaped by both short-term acclimatization and evolutionary adaptation via changes in morphology (e.g. body size and insulation) and metabolism (e.g. upregulated metabolic thermogenesis) [1].
Seasonality in pain, sleep and mental distress in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain at latitude 69° N
Published in Chronobiology International, 2020
Karin Abeler, Trond Sand, Oddgeir Friborg, Svein Bergvik
Seasonality is a ubiquitous source of circannual fluctuations in environmental conditions. It gathers momentum at more extreme latitudes and drives evolutionary adaptation, and influences various aspects of existence, including human behavior, wellbeing and health. For example, mortality in general, morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and lung diseases, as well as prevalence of metabolic syndrome seem most prevalent during winter (Johnston and Sears 2006; Kamezaki et al. 2010; Marti-Soler et al. 2014). Sleep behavior also varies with season as sleep problems and delayed sleep timing increase during the dark winter period at high latitudes (Friborg et al. 2014; Johnsen et al. 2013, 2012). Although there is limited support for a seasonal ebb and flow in depressed mood in the general population (Friborg et al. 2014; Johnsen et al. 2012; Overland et al. 2019), patients with major depression or bipolar disorder seem to be more susceptible to depression episodes during winter (Geoffroy et al. 2014).