Fazer (Finland)

Fermentation of dietary fiber by gut microbes produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), but fermentation outcomes are affected by dietary fiber source and microbiota composition. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two different fecal microbial compositions on in vitro fermentation of a standardized amount of oat, rye, and wheat breads. Two human fecal donors with different microbial community composition were recruited. Bread samples were digested enzymatically. An in vitro fermentation model was used to study SCFA production, dietary fiber degradation, pH, and changes in microbiota. Feces from donor I had high relative abundance of Bacteroides and Escherichia/Shigella, whereas feces from donor II were high in Prevotella and Subdoligranulum. Shifts in microbiota composition were observed during fermentation. SCFA levels were low in the samples with fecal microbiota from donor I after 8 h of fermentation, but after 24 h acetate and propionate levels were similar in the samples from the different donors. Butyrate levels were higher in the fermentation samples from donor II, especially with rye substrate, where high abundance of Subdoligranulum was observed. Dietary fiber degradation was also higher in the fermentation samples from donor II. In conclusion, fermentation capacity and substrate utilization differed between the two different microbiota compositions.

Aspects of good quality of life (QoL) have been found to motivate people to make lifestyle changes. There is also evidence that certain dietary patterns are associated with QoL. The aim of this work was to examine whether consumption frequencies of healthy and unhealthy food items are associated with QoL in female employees. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 631 Finnish female employees (mean age 49 years, SD = 10) from 10 municipal work units in 2015. Information about the participants was collected by physical examination, laboratory tests, self-administered questionnaires, including the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), and from medical history. QoL was assessed with the EUROHIS-Quality of Life 8-item index. A significant positive association was seen between consumption frequency of healthy foods and the EUROHIS-QOL mean score (p = 0.002). The association was small but comprehensive, also involving most dimensions of QoL. The consumption frequency of unhealthy foods was not associated with QoL. These findings are relevant when designing diet counselling, since QoL is an outcome that has been found to motivate people to change their health habits. Recommending abundant use of healthy foods could be a simple and convenient way of diet counselling at many health care appointments, where time consuming approaches are difficult to conduct.

Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis are complex multifactorial diseases sharing common risk factors and pathophysiological mechanisms suggesting that these are comorbidities. Omics studies identifying joint molecular markers associated with these diseases are sparse. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, we quantified 437 molecular lipid species from the Young Finns Study cohort (aged 30-45years and 57% women) and performed lipidome-wide multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with early markers for both diseases. Carotid intima-media thickness for atherosclerosis measured with ultrasound and bone mineral density from distal radius and tibia for osteoporosis measured with peripheral quantitative computed tomography were used as early markers of the diseases. MANOVA adjusted with age, sex and body mass index, identified eight statistically significant (adjusted p-value (padj)<0.05) and 15 suggestively significant (padj<0.25) molecular lipid species associated with the studied markers. Similar analysis adjusted additionally for smoking habit, physical activity and alcohol consumption identified four significant and six suggestively significant molecular lipid species. These most significant lipid classes/species jointly associated with the studied markers were glycerolipid/TAG(18:0/18:0/18:1), glycerophospholipid/PC(40:3), sphingolipid/Gb3(d18:1/22:0), and sphingolipid/Gb3(d18:1/24:0). Our results support the osteoporosis-atherosclerosis comorbidity hypothesis and present potential new joint lipid biomarkers for these diseases.

O capítulo aborda as questões da promoção da paz e da segurança internacionais no âmbito da prática multilateral, com particular enfoque na Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU), enquanto catalisadora de um modelo de paz liberal.Partindo da análise da evolução da relação entre a paz liberal e a prática multilateral, procura-se identificar os desafios que se colocam, quer ao nível da definição dos mandatos de intervenção, quer da gestão das missões e da sua avaliação.A discussão do modelo de paz liberal e do tipo de intervenções que dele decorrem permite identificar as questões mais prementes da relação do multilateralismo com a agenda de intervencionismo global, nas suas diferentes modalidades.O argumento central deste capítulo sustenta que a agenda da paz liberal determina, quer o âmbito da decisão sobre onde intervir, quer o modo de o

High-performance process improvement takes process improvement to the next ambition level. The kernel of the substance is a generic process improvement process that operates under the strictest time,