Fasting Research Articles

Effects of Pomegranate Juice with and without Aerobic Training on Glycemic Control and Lipid Profile in Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Background and Aim: Type 2 diabetes is a common metabolic disease, which is associated with obesity and inactivity. Plant-based dietary patterns are recommended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, the effect of aerobic training on the improvement of type 2 diabetes is also highly emphasized. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 2-months of pomegranate juice consumption with and without aerobic training on the levels of HbA1c, fasting blood glucose (FBG), lipid profile in women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this study, 58 women with type 2 diabetes who were referred to Tehran Lorzadeh clinic were randomly divided into four groups: control, pomegranate juice, aerobic training, combined pomegranate juice with aerobic training. The aerobic training plan consisted of 2-months and three times per week (training time from 20 minutes to 45 minutes). Three days before and after this interventional study, serum levels of FBG, total cholesterol (TC), triacylglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were measured by colorimetric methods. Results: Results showed that combined pomegranate extract consumption with aerobic exercise training significantly decreased the levels of FBG, HbA1c, and TG in women with type 2 diabetes compared to the control group after the intervention (P<0.01), while TC, LDL-c, and BMI remained unchanged. There was no statistically significant difference in the levels of TC, TG, HbA1c, and FBG in pomegranate extract or aerobic training groups compared to the control group after intervention. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that combined pomegranate juice with aerobic training has beneficial effects on type 2 diabetes and could be recommended in their therapeutic program. *Corresponding Author: Fariba Mohammadi Tahroodi; Email: faribamt93@yahoo.com Please cite this article as: Vaziri Javid R, Safizadeh F, Rastegary M, Nabi Afjadi M, Khonakdar-Tarsi A, Zare Z, Zarpou S, Mohammadi Tahroodi F. Effects of Pomegranate Juice with and without Aerobic Training on Glycemic Control and Lipid Profile in Women with Type 2 Diabetes. Arch Med Lab Sci. 2020;6.1-6 (e17). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v6.30381

Investigating the Relationship between Parents’ Religious Commitment and Practical Commitment to Islamic Beliefs in Sixth Grade Female Students in Eghlid City

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between parents’ religious commitment and practical commitment to Islamic beliefs in sixth grade elementary school girls in Eghlid. This study was a descriptive-correlation study. The statistical population of this study includes all sixth grade elementary school girls in Eghlid city in the year 2015-2016 that 150 students and their parents were selected as a sample by simple random sampling method. To collect data, the Practical Commitment to Islamic Beliefs Questionnaire was used. The results of this study showed that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between mothers’ religious adherence with practical commitment to prayer and fasting in sixth grade elementary school girls in Eghlid. Islam pays great attention to the choice of the mother, because she is the first teacher who trains righteous people and delivers them to society. And he is the only one who can elevate great men with his thoughts and train high-ranking mystics. The next finding in this study is the religious adherence and religious ambivalence of mothers with practical adherence to other Shari’a rules and practical adherence to Islamic beliefs there is no statistically significant relationship between the sixth grade girls of Eghlid city. There is no statistically significant relationship between mothers’ religious adherence to practical adherence to other Shari’a rules and practical adherence to Islamic beliefs. This is because belief is an internal issue and each person should develop this commitment and belief in her, but the implementation of the rules is learning and teaching the child by watching the parents and a positive educational model. The results also showed that the religious ambivalence of fathers with practical commitment to fasting, adherence to other religious rules and practical commitment to Islamic beliefs in the sixth grade girls of Eghlid city has no statistically significant relationship. Meanwhile, fathers’ religious adherence to adherence to other religious rules and practical adherence to Islamic beliefs has a statistically significant positive relationship in the sixth grade girls of Eghlid.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Cognitive Dysfunction, and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objectives: The present study sought to evaluate the contribution of cardiovascular risk factors to cognitive functioning in a sample of Mexican Americans diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity were diagnosed based on self-report and/or standardized procedures. Cognitive function was measured with MMSE, Logical Memory I and II, Trail A & B, FAS, animal naming, and digit span tests. Independent samples t tests and two-way ANOVAs were conducted for analyses, adjusting for relevant covariates. We studied 100 Mexican Americans (65 female) with MCI, ages 50–86, from a longitudinal study of cognitive aging conducted at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Results: A difference between subjects with and without obesity and memory scores was shown by t tests. Two-way ANOVAs detected an association between the coexistence of hypertension and diabetes with language measures, diabetes and dyslipidemia with executive function, and diabetes and obesity with memory and language measures. Conclusions: This study provides additional evidence about the link between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive dysfunction in MCI subjects, and also demonstrated that comorbid risk factors increased the degree of cognitive deficit in many areas, which may indicate a higher risk of developing dementia.

THE ISLAMIC CHARACTER VALUES OF KUPATAN TRADITION IN BANGKALAN, MADURA, EAST JAVA

Characters are formed in a community through tradition, custom, and cultural activities. A religious tradition called Kupatan has been car- ried out by the Madurese community, especially in Bangkalan, and has been passed down from generation to generation. This study aims to determine the Islamic character values in the Kupatan tradition. The re- sults of this study reveal that the Kupatan tradition could build Islamic character values of the Bangkalan community through various activities in it, namely silaturrahmi, anjang-sana, and almsgiving. The Kupatan tradition is held every year in the month of Shawwal, to be precise after seven days of the Sunnah fast by following the instructions of their an- cestors. Through this tradition, people could increase friendships (main- taining kinship ties) through visits to the houses of family, friends, and fellow community members (silaturrahmi). Silaturrahmi is highly recom- mended in Islam since it could extend life and expand sustenance (rezeki). Besides, the tradition of almsgiving (sedekah), in which all members of the community, both the fortunate and the less fortunate ones, exchange gifts, could also build moral values. The gift-givers should not expect anything in return but the pleasure (ridha) of Allah SWT. The manifesta- tion of Islamic character values in Kupatan could form a community that is religious, responsible, socially and environmentally caring, friendly and communicative, loves the homeland, and is creative.

Jewish Childhood in the Roman World by Hagith Sivan (review)

Reviewed by: Jewish Childhood in the Roman World by Hagith Sivan Karen Stern Hagith Sivan. Jewish Childhood in the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. 443 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009420000197 Art historian Anne Higonnet declared, eighteen years ago, that childhood is among "the most recent arrival[s] in a series of demands to know."1 Since then, scholarship of ancient childhood has burgeoned, encompassing the Greek and Roman worlds,2 early Christianity, the Hebrew Bible, ancient Israel, and Mesopotamia. Yet Hagith Sivan's Jewish Childhood in the Ancient World constitutes the first and only full-length monograph to address that subject, among roughly two thousand entries in the current bibliography of ancient childhood (xi, n. 1). Sivan's intervention is therefore significant, but not only because of this fact. Indeed, her comprehensive and inventive approach to [End Page 424] Jewish childhood defies scholarly conventions and demonstrates new models for breathing life into often obscure and disparate data. Sivan begins the book with a rich preface that highlights the instabilities associated with defining childhood and the limitations inherent to evidence available for investigating ancient Jewish children. Most literary sources remain silent: Josephus, for instance, only mentions children as anonymous collectives. Rabbinic corpora of Roman Palestine and Sassanid Persia/Babylonia, by contrast, frequently consider children and childhood. But their writings exclusively reflect the perspectives of rabbinic circles, and, in turn, remain difficult to reconcile with inscriptional and archaeological evidence that documents children from Jewish communities in Palestine and elsewhere (xxi). Sivan thus indicates why, when faced with such logistical challenges, she chooses to ask different questions about the evidence and, ultimately, to examine it through the medium of creative fiction. The first section of the monograph (part I) draws primarily from rabbinic literature to theorize the Jewish child (chap. 1). Here, Sivan interrogates rabbinic texts to consider questions of gender, biology, status, impurity, and agency; she outlines the subjectivities associated with demarcating life stages of childhood (and puberty), when people rarely recorded precise dates of birth (33). Sivan then examines the trajectory of childhood (chap. 2), as presented in rabbinic sources, from before conception to "untimely" death. She begins by analyzing two Greek ketubot found in the Judean desert (from 128 and 131 CE), which demonstrate how couples' obligations to yet-unborn children began with their marriage contracts. Likewise, legal obligations between spouses, rather than expectations of love or affection, bound mothers (or appointed surrogates) to breastfeed their children (M. Ketubot 5:5; Y. Ketubot 5:6) and fathers to support them financially. Sivan's assessment of the daily lives of rabbinic children encompasses textual prescriptions for activities during Sabbaths, feasting, and fast days, attire, schooling, and professional training. Subsequent chapters develop earlier discussions by emphasizing the extent to which the rearing of sons and daughters was differentiated. In "Bringing Up Boys" (chap. 3), Sivan considers life stages of sons, from circumcision through Torah study, which, by "severing sons from the maternal womb," ultimately prepared boys to become full-fledged members of rabbinic society (112). Girls did not share such prospects and, as such, their routines looked quite different: they performed domestic chores (including care for younger siblings), learned to maintain their purity, and generated supplementary income for their parents' households (cf. M. Ketubot 4:4; chap. 4). Parents, furthermore, could initiate processes of girls' betrothals at the moment of their births. But Sivan also considers additional categories of children, whom the rabbis viewed as "other" or "in between," because they confounded bifurcated paradigms of childrearing (chap. 5). These included children labeled as mamzer, androginos, and tumtum, whose dubious parentage, distinct physical appearance, genital formation, or mental and/or physical capacity challenged frameworks of childrearing, agency, marriageability, and social inclusion. [End Page 425] The second section of the book (part II) primarily considers information about Jewish children from inscriptions and archaeologically attested synagogues. This includes wall paintings and floor mosaics, which, to Sivan, served as "visual reworking[s]" and reinforcements of stories children had learned from the Bible (211). After evaluating inscriptions from synagogues sequentially built in Stobi, Sivan initiates more protracted analyses of the Dura-Europos synagogue from Syria. She argues that the western wall from the famous painted...

Does the weight loss efficacy of alternate day fasting differ according to sex and menopausal status?

Background and aimsThis study examined if the weight loss and metabolic benefits of alternate day fasting (ADF) varies according to sex and menopausal status in adults with obesity. Methods and resultsThis secondary analysis pooled the data of men and women (n = 75) who participated in three 12-week ADF studies (500 kcal fast day; alternated with an ad libitum intake feast day). Body weight decreased in premenopausal women (−4.6 ± 3.2%), postmenopausal women (−6.5 ± 3.2%) and men (−6.2 ± 4.4%) (main effect of time, P < 0.001), with no difference between groups (no group × time interaction). Energy intake on fast days was higher than prescribed in all groups (∼400–500 excess kcal consumed), with no differences between groups. Fat mass, lean mass, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance, and blood pressure decreased similarly in all groups (main effect of time, P < 0.05 for all comparisons). LDL cholesterol decreased more in postmenopausal versus premenopausal women (group × time interaction, P = 0.01). Fasting glucose, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides remained unchanged in all groups. ConclusionThese findings suggest that the weight loss and metabolic benefits of ADF do not generally vary according to sex or menopausal status in adults with obesity. Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov, NCT00960505; NCT03528317.

Study on glycemic profiles and emotional scales in diabetic patients after the outbreak of COVID-19

Objective: To observe the glycemic profiles and emotion management in diabetic patients after the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) Methods: A questionnaire survey was used to observe the blood glucose levels and metabolic indexes before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, and to detect emotion ratings after the outbreak of COVID-19 The aim of the study is to present the effects of the COVID-19 on glycemic and emotional management in diabetic patients Results: A total of 136 patients were included in this survey The average age of the patients was 62 5 years old, and the average duration of diabetes was 10 1 years Glycemic profiles(fasting blood glucose, 2 h postprandial blood glucose, HbA1C), lipid profiles(triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and body weight were not significantly different before and after the outbreak of COVID-19(P>0 05) According to emotional scales(scores of anxiety, depression, and sleep-related scales), 76 5% diabetic patients did not develop anxiety symptoms, 61 0%~69 9% diabetic patients did not have depressive symptoms and 52 0% diabetic patients did not have sleep disorder 19 9% diabetic patients had mild anxiety symptoms, 25 7%~30 9% diabetic patients presented mild depression symptoms and 28 3% diabetic patients had mild sleep disorders 2 9% diabetic patients had moderate anxiety, 2 2%~8 1% diabetic patients had moderate depression and 14 2% diabetic patients had moderate sleep disorder Only a very small part of patients presented severe emotional symptoms including 0 7% patients with anxiety symptoms(GAD-7 15 points and above), 2 2% patients with depressive symptoms(PHQ9 and PHQ15 15 points and above)and 5 6% patients with sleep symptoms(PSQI 15 points and above) Compared with asymptomatic patients, neither patients with mild and moderate/severe depression and sleep disorder showed significant difference in HbA1C, nor did patients with moderate/ severe anxiety symptoms However, patients with mild anxiety symptoms showed significant lower HbA1C than asymptomatic patients Conclusion: After the outbreak of COVID-19, there was an increasing trend in blood glucose, but there was no statistical difference Body weight, lipids profiles were not different in diabetic patients, either Most of diabetic patients had mild symptoms of anxiety, depression and sleep disorders Very few patients presented moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and sleep disorders Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association

Integrative Analysis of Energy Partition Patterns and Plasma Metabolomics Profiles of Modern Growing Pigs Raised at Different Ambient Temperatures.

Simple SummaryMost of the studies focusing on energy partition patterns of growing pigs and the related mechanisms raised at different ambient temperatures were carried out during the 1970s to the early 2000s. With the rapid developments in pig breeding, research updates on such topics concerning modern growing pigs have been absent in the last decade. Therefore, this study focused on the energy partition patterns of modern growing pigs with different bodyweights at gradient-ambient temperatures and investigated the underlying changes in plasma metabolites under such conditions. Modern growing pigs at heavier bodyweight were more sensitive to high temperatures on energy intake and partition. At high ambient temperatures, most of the identified metabolites altered are associated with decreased fatty acid oxidation, increased lipid formation, and increased protein degradation. The findings of this study will provide possible solutions to precisely formulate diets for modern growing pigs raised at different ambient temperatures, and can help to improve our knowledge on potential mechanisms of thermoregulation in modern pig breeds.This study explores the energy partition patterns of modern growing pigs at 25 kg and 65 kg raised at gradient-ambient temperatures. It also investigates the underlying changes in plasma under such conditions, based on the integrative analysis of indirect calorimetry and non-target metabolomics profiling. Thirty-six barrows with initial BW of 26.4 ± 1.9 kg and 24 barrows with initial BW of 64.2 ± 3.1 kg were successively allotted to six respiration chambers with ambient temperatures set as 18 °C, 21 °C, 23 °C, 27 °C, 30 °C, and 32 °C, and four respiration chambers with ambient temperatures set as 18 °C, 23 °C, 27 °C, and 32 °C, respectively. Each pig was kept in an individual metabolic crate and consumed feed ad libitum, then transferred into the respiration chamber after a 7-day adaptation period for 5-day indirect calorimetry assay and 1-day fasting. As the ambient temperature increased from 18 °C to 32 °C, the voluntary feed intake, metabolizable energy intake, nitrogen intake, and retention, total heat production, and energy retention as a protein of growing pigs at 25 kg and 65 kg all linearly decreased (p < 0.05), with greater coefficients of variation for pigs at 65 kg when temperatures changed from 18 °C to 32 °C. The cortisol and thyroid hormone levels in the plasma of 25 kg pigs linearly decreased as the ambient temperature increased from 18 °C to 32 °C (p < 0.05), and 13 compounds were identified through metabolomics analysis, including up-regulated metabolites involved in fatty acid metabolism, such as adrenic acid and down-regulated metabolites involved in amino acid metabolism, such as spermidine at 32 °C. These results suggested that modern growing pigs at heavier bodyweight were more sensitive to high temperatures on energy intake and partition. Most of the identified metabolites altered at high ambient temperatures are associated with suppressed fatty acid oxidation and elevated lipogenesis and protein degradation.

Short-term fasting accompanying chemotherapy as a supportive therapy in gynecological cancer: protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial

Background/objectivesA few preliminary studies have documented the safety and feasibility of repeated short-term fasting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. However, there is a lack of data from larger randomized trials on the effects of short-term fasting on quality of life, reduction of side effects during chemotherapy, and a possible reduction of tumor progression. Moreover, no data is available on the effectiveness of fasting approaches compared to so-called healthy diets. We aim to investigate whether the potentially beneficial effects of short-term fasting can be confirmed in a larger randomized trial and can compare favorably to a plant-based wholefood diet.MethodsThis is a multicenter, randomized, controlled, two-armed interventional study with a parallel group assignment. One hundred fifty patients, including 120 breast cancer patients and 30 patients with ovarian cancer, are to be randomized to one of two nutritional interventions accompanying chemotherapy: (1) repeated short-term fasting with a maximum energy supply of 350–400 kcal on fasting days or (2) repeated short-term normocaloric plant-based diet with restriction of refined carbohydrates. The primary outcome is disease-related quality of life, as assessed by the functional assessment of the chronic illness therapy measurement system. Secondary outcomes include changes in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score and as well as frequency and severity of chemotherapy-induced side effects based on the Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events. Explorative analysis in a subpopulation will compare histological complete remissions in patients with neoadjuvant treatments.Discussion/planned outcomesPreclinical data and a small number of clinical studies suggest that repeated short-term fasting may reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, enhance quality of life, and eventually slow down tumor progression. Experimental research suggests that the effects of fasting may partly be caused by the restriction of animal protein and refined carbohydrates. This study is the first confirmatory, randomized controlled, clinical study, comparing the effects of short-term fasting to a short-term, plant-based, low-sugar diet during chemotherapy on quality of life and histological tumor remission.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03162289. Registered on 22 May 2017

Uric acid, impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance in youth with overweight and obesity

Background and aimThe relationships between uric acid (UA) and prediabetes is poorly explored in youth. We investigated the association between UA, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), insulin resistance (IR) and low insulin sensitivity (IS) in youth with overweight/obesity (OW/OB). Methods and resultsA cross-sectional study was performed in 2248 youths with OW/OB (age 5–17 years). The sample was stratified in sex-specific quintiles (Q1 to Q5) of UA and the associations with fasting (FG), 2-h post-load glucose (2H-PG), IR and low IS were investigated. IR and low IS were estimated by assessment model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and whole-body IS index (WBISI), respectively. IFG was defined as FG ≥ 100 < 126 mg/dL, IGT as 2H-PG ≥140 < 200 mg/dL, IR as HOMA-IR ≥75th percentile and low IS as WBISI ≤25th percentile by sex. Age, body mass index z-score, 2H-PG, HOMA-IR and WBISI, increased across sex-quintiles of UA while FG did not. The prevalence of IFG and IR were significantly increased in Q5 vs Q1 (reference quartile, P < 0.025). The prevalence of IGT increased from Q3 to Q5 vs Q1 (P < 0.025–0.0001) and that of low IS from Q2 to Q5 vs Q1 (P < 0.005–0.0001). ConclusionsIn youth with OW/OB, rates of IGT and low IS increased progressively across quintiles of UA. On the contrary, IFG and IR were associated only with the highest quintile of UA. Our data suggest that UA is a biomarker of impaired glucose metabolism prevalently in post–challenge condition rather than in fasting state.

Insulin treatment for diabetes

The first use of insulin in 1922 began a new era in the management and survival of patients with type 1 diabetes. Before 1922, patients with this condition were placed on a starvation diet and survived only a few months. Nearly a century later, insulin remains the dominant treatment for type 1 diabetes, is used in gestational diabetes and increasingly in type 2 diabetes. This article focuses on insulin treatment for adult diabetic patients in general practice. It will explore the effect of insulin and the role it has in diabetes, the preparations available, recommended regimens and some challenges with insulin treatment.

Factores asociados a desnutrición en pacientes hospitalizados en el servicio de cirugía de emergencia de un hospital del seguro social peruano

Objetivo: identificar los factores asociados a desnutrición en pacientes hospitalizados en el Servicio de Cirugía de Emergencia del Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen. Materiales y métodos: estudio analítico donde se realizó un tamizaje inicial mediante el Nutritional Risk Screening 2002, posteriormente una evaluación nutricional al ingreso y egreso mediante la Valoración global subjetiva en 206 pacientes adultos y adultos mayores. Se analizaron variables clínicas mediante regresión logística y un valor de p&lt;0,05 fue considerado como significativo. Resultados: el 16% de pacientes agravó su estado nutricional durante la hospitalización. Los factores asociados fueron alguna comorbilidad (odds ratio [OR] 2,32; intervalo de confianza [IC]95%:1,07-5,01); neoplasias (OR: 2,83; IC95%:1,21-6,63), enfermedades del sistema nervioso (OR: 5,66; IC95%: 1,24-25,82); ausencia del registro de peso y talla (OR: 4,18; IC95%: 1,29-13,41); cirugía abdominal (OR: 6,67; IC95%: 3,08-14,89); apendicitis aguda disminuía 85%; colecistitis aguda disminuía 91%; reintervención quirúrgica (OR: 13,91; IC95%: 4,82-40,06); consumo regular dieta indicada (OR: 8,78; IC 95%: 3,01-25,63); no consumir dieta indicada (OR: 39,97; IC95%: 11,39-140,23); uso de soporte nutricional disminuía la exposición en un 83%. La desnutrición incrementaba 6 veces el riesgo de mortalidad. El número de días de ayuno, (OR: 1,73; IC95%: 1,31-2,27). La mortalidad fue 8,7%. Conclusiones: existen una serie de factores asociados a la desnutrición durante la hospitalización, por lo que es necesario realizar un tamizaje para la detección temprana de desnutrición al ingreso de los pacientes que serán hospitalizados y posteriormente una evaluación nutricional en aquellos que estén en riesgo.

Changes in Northern Elephant Seal Skeletal Muscle Following Thirty Days of Fasting and Reduced Activity.

Northern elephant seals (NES, Mirounga angustirostris) undergo an annual molt during which they spend ∼40 days fasting on land with reduced activity and lose approximately one-quarter of their body mass. Reduced activity and muscle load in stereotypic terrestrial mammalian models results in decreased muscle mass and capacity for force production and aerobic metabolism. However, the majority of lost mass in fasting female NES is from fat while muscle mass is largely preserved. Although muscle mass is preserved, potential changes to the metabolic and contractile capacity are unknown. To assess potential changes in NES skeletal muscle during molt, we collected muscle biopsies from 6 adult female NES before the molt and after ∼30 days at the end of the molt. Skeletal muscle was assessed for respiratory capacity using high resolution respirometry, and RNA was extracted to assess changes in gene expression. Despite a month of reduced activity, fasting, and weight loss, skeletal muscle respiratory capacity was preserved with no change in OXPHOS respiratory capacity. Molt was associated with 162 upregulated genes including those favoring lipid metabolism. We identified 172 downregulated genes including those coding for ribosomal proteins and genes associated with skeletal muscle force transduction and glucose metabolism. Following ∼30 days of molt, NES skeletal muscle metabolic capacity is preserved although mechanotransduction may be compromised. In the absence of exercise stimulus, fasting-induced shifts in muscle metabolism may stimulate pathways associated with preserving the mass and metabolic capacity of slow oxidative muscle.

Intermittent Fasting Improves Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Alters Gut Microbiota in Metabolic Syndrome Patients.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an effective strategy to improve cardiometabolic health. The objective of this work is to examine the effects of IF on cardiometabolic risk factors and the gut microbiota in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS). A randomized clinical trial was conducted at a community health service center. Participants included adults with MS, age 30 to 50 years. Intervention consisted of 8 weeks of "2-day" modified IF. Cardiometabolic risk factors including body composition, oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines, and endothelial function were assessed at baseline and at 8 weeks. The diversity, composition, and functional pathways of the gut microbiota, as well as circulating gut-derived metabolites, were measured. Thirty-nine patients with MS were included: 21 in the IF group and 18 in the control group. On fasting days, participants in the IF group reduced 69% of their calorie intake compared to nonfasting days. The 8-week IF significantly reduced fat mass, ameliorated oxidative stress, modulated inflammatory cytokines, and improved vasodilatory parameters. Furthermore, IF induced significant changes in gut microbiota communities, increased the production of short-chain fatty acids, and decreased the circulating levels of lipopolysaccharides. The gut microbiota alteration attributed to the IF was significantly associated with cardiovascular risk factors and resulted in distinct genetic shifts of carbohydrate metabolism in the gut community. IF induces a significant alteration of the gut microbial community and functional pathways in a manner closely associated with the mitigation of cardiometabolic risk factors. The study provides potential mechanistic insights into the prevention of adverse outcomes associated with MS.

Pre-Operative Fasting Provides Long Term Protection Against Chronic Renal Damage Induced by Ischaemia Reperfusion Injury in Wild Type and Aneurysm Prone Fibulin-4 Mice

Renal ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is inevitable during open repair of pararenal aortic aneurysms. Pre-operative fasting potently increases resistance against IRI. The effect of fasting on IRI was examined in a hypomorphic Fibulin-4 mouse model (Fibulin-4+/R), which is predisposed to develop aortic aneurysms. Wild type (WT) and Fibulin-4+/R mice were either fed ad libitum (AL) or fasted for two days before renal IRI induction by temporary clamping of the renal artery and vein of both kidneys. Six hours, 48h, and seven days post-operatively, serum urea levels, renal histology, and mRNA expression levels of inflammatory and injury genes were determined to assess kidney function and damage. Additionally, matrix metalloproteinase activity in the kidney was assessed six months after IRI. Two days of fasting improved survival the first week after renal IRI in WT mice compared with AL fed mice. Short term AL fed Fibulin-4+/R mice showed improved survival and kidney function compared with AL fed WT mice, which could not be further enhanced by fasting. Both fasted WT and Fibulin-4+/R mice showed improved survival, kidney function and morphology compared with AL fed mice six months after renal IRI. Fibulin-4+/R kidneys of fasted mice showed reduced apoptosis together with increased matrix metalloprotease activity levels compared with AL fed Fibulin-4+/R mice, indicative of increased matrix remodelling. Fibulin-4+/R mice are naturally protected against the short-term, but not long-term, consequences of renal IRI. Pre-operative fasting protects against renal IRI and prevents (long-term) deterioration of kidney function and morphology in both WT and Fibulin-4+/R mice. These data suggest that pre-operative fasting may decrease renal damage in patients undergoing open abdominal aneurysm repair.

The Rhetoric of National Humiliation: Patrick Brontë’s “Winter-night Meditations” and the Peninsular War

ABSTRACT Patrick Brontë’s Winter-evening Thoughts (1810) is thought to have been published in response to a national day of fasting and humiliation held on 28 February 1810. The rhetoric of national humiliation which Brontë employs can also be detected in fast-day sermons and war poetry published during the Peninsular War (1808–1814). This essay argues that the annual, systematic practice of national fast days throughout the Napoleonic Wars encouraged schematic modes of imagining and representing war. Literary traces of this ideological framework of nationalism are evident in the use of particular rhetorical devices which connect individual and nation, and language that is often biblical or eschatological. By highlighting these devices in a period that was thoroughly immersed in the ideology and practice of national humiliation, this essay expands on existing scholarship of national humiliation and Romantic literature with the aim of facilitating textual analysis in other periods in which national humiliation has been practiced.

Variaciones en el metabolismo energético de la alpaca (Vicugna pacos). Una evaluación por efecto del ayuno prolongado

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of a prolonged fast (5 days) on some blood biochemical componentsinvolved in energy metabolism. Twenty male alpacas of two-year-old were used in two treatments (experimentaland control). Blood samples were taken in the morning for five days to quantify serum glucose, protein and urealevels by spectrophotometry and ketone bodies using semiquantitative test strips. The results show that theaverage of glucose, protein and urea of the alpacas subjected to fasting are different from the control group(P≤0.05). Glucose levels decrease while protein and urea levels increase over time. The presence of acetoacetatewas not detected during the five days of fasting. It is concluded that prolonged fasting in alpacas alters the animal'smetabolic process, both quantitatively and qualitatively, modifying the substrates and products involved inenergy production.

Circulating lipids in men with type 2 diabetes following 3 days on a carbohydrate‐free diet versus 3 days of fasting

ObjectiveWe have been interested in determining the effects of dietary changes on fuel metabolism and regulation in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this study, the changes in 24‐hr circulating lipid profiles were determined when the major fuel source was endogenous versus exogenous fat.MethodsSeven males with T2DM were randomized in a crossover design with a 4‐week washout period. A standard mixed (control) diet (30%fat:15%protein:55%carbohydrate) was provided initially. Subsequently, a 72‐hr (3‐day) fast, or a high fat (85%), 15% protein, essentially carbohydrate‐free (CHO‐free) diet was provided for 72 hr. Triacylglycerol (TAG), non‐esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β‐hydroxybutyrate (bHB), and insulin‐like growth factor‐binding protein‐1 (IGFBP‐1) profiles were determined during the last 24 hr of intervention, as well as during the control diet.ResultsRegardless of the amount of dietary fat (30% vs 85%) and differences in 24‐hr profiles, TAG, NEFA, and bHB all returned to the previous basal concentrations within 24 hr. TAGs and NEFAs changed only modestly with fasting; bHB was elevated and increasing. The IGFBP‐1 profile was essentially unchanged with either diet but increased with fasting.ConclusionA CHO‐free diet resulted in a large increase in TAG and NEFA versus the control diet; however, both were cleared by the following morning. A negative NEFA profile occurred with the control diet. Thus, mechanisms are present to restore lipid concentrations to their original AM concentrations daily. Fasting resulted in stable concentrations, except for a continuing increase in bHB. Glucose and insulin, common fuel regulators, could not explain the results.

The Culture of Fasting in Early Stuart Parliaments*

AbstractThe fasts, proposed and observed by parliament in the first half of the 17th century, have always been defined as opportunities for propaganda. This article focuses, instead, on their cultural and religious meanings: why MPs believed that the act of fasting itself was important and what they hoped it would achieve. It argues that fasts were proposed for two reasons: to forge unity between parliament and the king at a time of growing division, with the aim of making parliamentary sessions more productive and successful, and to provide more direct resolution to the nation's problems by invoking divine intervention. Fast motions commanded widespread support across parliament because they were rooted in the dominant theory of causation – divine providence – and reflected the gradual conventionalisation of fasting in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. However, this consensus seemed to wane in the early 1640s as divisions between Charles I and some of his most vocal MPs widened, while the fast day observed on 17 November 1640 was used by some MPs to express their opposition to Charles's religious policy, especially regarding the siting of the communion table/altar and the position from where the service was to be read. The article concludes by reflecting on how a study of parliamentary fasting can contribute to wider debates on commensality and abstinence.

Do prolonged fasting periods influence the postprandial metabolic responses in turtles? What can Trachemys scripta elegans teach us about this?

The postprandial period is characterized by a modification of the gastrointestinal activity after food intake, accompanied by an increase in metabolic rate, secretion of acids, and absorption of nutrients. For ectothermic vertebrates, those changes are particularly prominent given the relatively low metabolic cost and the low frequency of food uptake. However, prolonged fasting periods decrease energy reserves and may compromise the upregulation of costly processes, such as the increase in metabolic rate after resuming the meal intake. Assuming that the main source of energy needed to support such events is provided from the animal's own body reserves, our aim with this study is to test the hypothesis that the longer the period of fasting, the smaller the metabolic rate increase during the postprandial period, since lesser energy reserves trigger these increases. For this, we measured the oxygen consumption rates (V̇O2 ) of red-eared slider turtles, Trachemys scripta elegans, submitted to different periods of fasting (47 and 102 days), before and after the ingestion of meals equivalent to 5% of their body masses. Despite the longer fasting period, which led to a reduction of 10.77% in the body mass of the turtles, there were no differences between the two experimental groups regarding maximum V̇O2 values after food intake (V̇O2 peak), postprandial metabolic scope, mean time to V̇O2 peak, and postprandial duration. Results indicate that 102 fasting days does not compromise aerobic metabolic increase during postprandial period and does not impair digestive process of the turtles, even with a loss of body mass.