Gentili, S. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2024

Fructose consumption in pregnancy and associations with maternal and offspring hepatic and whole-body adiposity: a scoping review.

BackgroundFructose is a major component in the Western diet, and its increased intake has been linked to adverse metabolic health, including impaired hepatic function and increased adiposity. The early life period, including preconceptionally, pregnancy and the newborn period, are critical periods in determining later metabolic health. However, the impact of excess fructose intake during this time on maternal, fetal, and offspring hepatic and whole-body adiposity, are ill defined. ObjectivesTo understand the effects of maternal fructose consumption pre- and during pregnancy on maternal, fetal and offspring hepatic and whole-body adiposity. MethodsA systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL was performed up to August 23, 2022, to identify studies that focused on maternal fructose consumption pre- and during pregnancy on hepatic and whole-body adiposity in the mother, fetus, and offspring. Citations, abstracts, and full texts were screened in duplicate. Hepatic adiposity was defined as elevated hepatic triglycerides or overall hepatic fat accumulation. Whole-body adiposity was defined as increased adipose tissue or adipocyte hypertrophy. ResultsAfter screening 2334 citations, 33 experimental studies reporting maternal fructose consumption pre- and during pregnancy in rodents were included. Prenatal fructose exposure was associated with maternal (9 out of 12) and offspring (6 out of 10) whole-body adiposity. A high proportion of studies (13 out of 14) supported the association between fructose during pregnancy and increased maternal hepatic adiposity. Fetal hepatic adiposity and elevated expression of hepatic lipogenic proteins were noted in four studies. Offspring hepatic adiposity was supported in 14 of the 17 articles that discussed hepatic results, with five studies demonstrating more severe effects in female offspring. ConclusionsFructose consumption during pregnancy in rodent models is associated with maternal, fetal, and offspring hepatic, whole-body adiposity and underlying sex-specific effects. There are no human fructose studies and its effects in the early life period. Registration numberH8F26 on Open Science Framework

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Auto-regressive Rank Order Similarity (aros) test

In the present paper we propose a non-parametric statistical test procedure for interval scaled, paired samples data that circumvents the multiple comparison problem (MCP) by relating the data to the rank order of its group averages. Using an auto-regressive procedure, a single test statistic for multiple groups is obtained that allows for qualitative statements about whether multiple group averages are in fact different and how they can be sorted. The presented procedure outperforms classical tests, such as pairwise conducted t-tests and ANOVA, in some circumstances. Furthermore, the test is robust against noise and does not require the data to follow any particular distribution. If A is a data matrix containing N observations for k groups, then the test statistic{eta} can be computed by [Formula], where s is a vector of length k containing the average for each group, transformed into unique rank values. This statistic is compared to the distribution D, obtained by Monte Carlo sampling from the permutation distribution. It will be demonstrated that D can be described by a normal distribution for a variety of input data distributions and choices for f, as long as a set of criteria is met. Comparing{eta} to the permutation distribution controls the false alarm (FA) rate sufficiently, since the exact p-value can be estimated [1]. Multiple examples of possible choices for f will be discussed, as well as detailed descriptions of the underlying test assumptions, possible interpretations and use cases. All mathematical derivations are supported with a set of simulations, written in Python that can be downloaded from https://gitlab.com/TommyClausner/aros-test together with an implementation of the test itself.

neuroscience↗