Cobalamin is an essential molecule for humans. It acts as a cofactor in one-carbon transfers through methylation and molecular rearrangement. These functions take place in fatty acid, amino acid and nucleic acid metabolic pathways. The deficiency of vitamin B12 is clinically manifested in the blood and nervous system where the cobalamin plays a key role in cell replication and in fatty acid metabolism. Hypovitaminosis arises from inadequate absorption, from genetic defects that alter transport through the body, or from inadequate intake as a result of diet. With the growing adoption of vegetarian eating styles in Western countries, there is growing focus on whether diets that exclude animal foods are adequate. Since food availability in these countries is not a problem, and therefore plant foods are sufficiently adequate, the most delicate issue remains the contribution of cobalamin, which is poorly represented in plants. In this review, we will discuss the status of vitamin B12 among vegetarians, the diagnostic markers for the detection of cobalamin deficiency and appropriate sources for sufficient intake, through the description of the features and functions of vitamin B12 and its absorption mechanism.

Background: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) have demonstrated a lot of important effects in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism and in the correct functioning of adipose tissue. Recently, many studies have evaluated a possible effect of PPARs on tumor cells. The purpose of this review is to describe the effects of PPARs, their action and their future prospective; Methods: Narrative review aimed to synthesize cutting-edge evidence retrieved from searches of computerized databases; Results: PPARs play a key role in metabolic diseases, which include several cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, impaired immunity and the increasing risk of cancer; in particular, PPARα and PPARβ/δ mainly enable energy combustion, while PPARγ contributes to energy storage by enhancing adipogenesis; Conclusion: PPAR agonists could represent interesting types of molecules that can treat not only metabolic diseases, but also inflammation and cancer. Additional research is needed for the identification of high-affinity, high-specificity agonists for the treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and other metabolic diseases. Further studies are needed also to elucidate the role of PPARs in cancer.

In superconducting films under an applied dc current, we analyze experimentally and theoretically the influence of engineered pinning on the vortex velocity at which the flux-flow dissipation undergoes an abrupt transition from low to high resistance. We argue, based on a nonuniform distribution of vortex velocity in the sample, that in strongly disordered systems the mean critical vortex velocity for flux-flow instability (i) has a nonmonotonic dependence on magnetic field and (ii) decreases as the pinning strength is increased. These findings challenge the generally accepted microscopic model of Larkin and Ovchinnikov (1979 J. Low. Temp. Phys. 34 409) and all subsequent refinements of this model which ignore the presence of pinning centers. 8

We study the instability of the superconducting state in a mesoscopic geometry for the low pinning material\ud Mo3Ge characterized by a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter. We observe that in the current-driven switching to\ud the normal state from a nonlinear region of the Abrikosov flux flow, the mean critical vortex velocity reaches a\ud limitingmaximum velocity as a function of the appliedmagnetic field.Based on time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau\ud simulations, we argue that the observed behavior is due to the high-velocity vortex dynamics confined on a\ud mesoscopic scale. We build up a general phase diagram which includes all possible dynamic configurations of\ud the Abrikosov lattice in a mesoscopic superconducto

The prevalence of obesity and metabolic diseases (such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, and cardiovascular diseases) has increased in the last decade, in both industrialized and developing countries. This also coincided with our observation of a similar increase in the prevalence of cancers. The aetiology of these diseases is very complex and involves genetic, nutritional, and environmental factors. Much evidence indicates the central role undertaken by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in the development of these disorders. Due to the fact that their ligands could become crucial in future target-therapies, PPARs have therefore become the focal point of much research. Based on this evidence, this narrative review was written with the purpose of outlining the effects of PPARs, their actions, and their prospective uses in metabolic diseases and cancers.

We study the quasiparticle energy relaxation processes in superconducting Nb films of different thicknesses corresponding to different electron mean free paths in a state far from equilibrium, that is the highly dissipative flux-flow state driven up to the instability point. From the measured currentvoltage curves we derive the vortex critical velocity v * for several temperatures. From the v * (T ) values, the quasiparticle energy relaxation time τǫ is evaluated within the Larkin-Ovchinnikov model and numerical calculations of the quasiparticle energy relaxation rates are carried out to support the experimental findings. Besides the expected constant behavior of τǫ(T ) for the dirty samples, we observe a strong temperature dependence of the quasiparticle energy relaxation time in the clean samples. This feature is associated with the increasing contribution from the electron-phonon scattering process.

This newly identified GPR40 variant results in a loss of function that prevents the beta-cell ability to adequately sense lipids as an insulin secretory stimulus because of impaired intracellular Ca2+ concentration increase.

We measure current-voltage characteristics as function of magnetic field and temperature in Nb strips of different thickness and width. The instability voltage of the flux flow state related to the vortex critical velocity v * is studied and compared with the Larkin-Ovchinnikov theory. Beside the usual power-law dependence v * ≈ B −1/2 , in the low field range a new cross-over field, Bcr1, is observed below which v * decreases by further lowering the external magnetic field B. We ascribe this unexpected cross-over to vortex channeling due to a fan-like penetration of the applied magnetic field as confirmed by magneto-optic imaging. The observation of Bcr1 becomes a direct evidence of a general feature in type-II superconducting films at low fields, that is a channel-like vortex motion induced by the inhomogeneous magnetic state caused by the relatively strong pinning.