Lutein is an oxygenated carotenoid (xanthophyll) found in dark green leafy vegetables. High intakes of lutein may lower the risk of age-related macular degeneration. Current understanding of human lutein metabolism as it might occur in vivo is incomplete. Therefore, we conducted a feasibility study where we dosed a normal adult woman with 14C-lutein (125 nmol, 36 nCi 14C), dissolved in olive oil (0.5 g/kg body weight) and mixed in a banana shake. Blood, urine, and feces collected before the dose was administered served to establish baseline values. Thereafter, blood was collected for 63 d following the dose, while feces and urine were collected for 2 wk post-dose. The 14C contents in plasma, urine, and feces were measured by accelerator MS. The 14C first appeared in plasma 1 h after dosing and reached its highest level, approximately2.08% of dose/L plasma, at 14 h post-dose. The plasma pattern of 14C did not include a chylomicrons/VLDL (intestinal) peak like that when the same subject received 14C-beta-carotene (a previous test), suggesting that lutein was handled differently from beta-carotene by plasma lipoproteins. Lutein had an elimination half-life (t1/2) of approximately10 d. Forty-five percent of the dose of 14C was eliminated in feces and 10% in urine in the first 2 d after dosing. Quantifying human lutein metabolism is a fertile area for future research.
BackgroundInterprofessional learning is gaining momentum in revolutionizing healthcare education. During the academic year 2015/16, seven undergraduate-entry health and social care programs from two universities in Hong Kong took part in an interprofessional education program. Based on considerations such as the large number of students involved and the need to incorporate adult learning principles, team-based learning was adopted as the pedagogy for the program, which was therefore called the interprofessional team-based learning program (IPTBL). The authors describe the development and implementation of the IPTBL program and evaluate the effectiveness of the program implementation.MethodsEight hundred and one students, who are predominantly Chinese, participated in the IPTBL. The quantitative design (a pretest-posttest experimental design) was utilized to examine the students’ gains on their readiness to engage in interprofessional education (IPE).ResultsThree instructional units (IUs) were implemented, each around a clinical area which could engage students from complementary health and social care disciplines. Each IU followed a team-based learning (TBL) process: pre-class study, individual readiness assurance test, team readiness assurance test, appeal, feedback, and application exercise. An electronic platform was developed and was progressively introduced in the three IUs. The students’ self-perceived attainment of the IPE learning outcomes was high. Across all four subscales of RIPLS, there was significant improvement in student’s readiness to engage in interprofessional learning after the IPTBL. A number of challenges were identified: significant time involvement of the teachers, difficulty in matching students from different programs, difficulty in making IPTBL count towards a summative assessment score, difficulty in developing the LAMS platform, logistics difficulty in managing paper TBL, and inappropriateness of the venue.ConclusionsDespite some challenges in developing and implementing the IPTBL program, our experience showed that TBL is a viable pedagogy to be used in interprofessional education involving hundreds of students. The significant improvement in all four subscales of RIPLS showed the effects of the IPTBL program in preparing students for collaborative practice. Factors that contributed to the success of the use of TBL for IPE are discussed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-017-1046-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Background: Excentral cleavage of -carotene to retinoids and apocarotenoids occurs in vitro and in animal models. Whether it occurs in humans is unclear. Objective: We tested the hypothesis of whether humans can cleave -carotene excentrally. Design: A healthy man was given an oral dose of all-trans [10,10Ј,11,11Ј-14 C]--carotene (1.01 nmol; 100 nCi). Its fate and that of its metabolites were measured in serial plasma samples. Its fate in feces and urine was also measured over time. Selected plasma samples were spiked with reference standards of retinol, -apo-
Our objective was to quantify the absorption and conversion to retinoids of a 1.01-nmol, 3.7-kBq oral dose of (14)C-beta-carotene in 8 healthy adults. The approach was to quantify, using AMS, the elimination of (14)C in feces for up to 16 d after dosing and in urine for up to 30 d after dosing. The levels of total (14)C in undiluted serial plasma samples were measured for up to 166 d after dosing. Also, the levels of (14)C in the retinyl ester (RE), retinol (ROH), and beta-carotene fractions that were isolated from undiluted plasma using HPLC were measured. The apparent digestibility of the (14)C was 53 +/- 13% (mean +/- SD), based on the mass balance data, and was generally consistent with the area under the curve for zero to infinite period of (14)C that was eliminated in the feces collections made up to 7.5 d after dosing. Metabolic fecal elimination, calculated as the slope per day (% (14)C-dose/collection from d 7.5 to the final day), was only 0.05 +/- 0.02%. The portion of the (14)C dose eliminated via urine was variable (6.5 +/- 5.2%). Participants [except participant 6 (P6)] had a distinct plasma peak of (14)C at 0.25 d post-dose, preceded by a shoulder at approximately 0.1 d, and followed by a broad (14)C peak that became indistinguishable from baseline at approximately 40 d. Plasma (14)C-RE accounted for most of the absorbed (14)C early after dosing and P1 had the longest delay in the first appearance of (14)C-RE in plasma. The data suggest that plasma RE should be considered in estimating the ROH activity equivalent of ingested beta-carotene.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.