Increasing physical activity remains the most widely publicized way of improving health and wellbeing. However, in populations that benefit most from exercise (EX), adherence is often poor and alternatives to EX are important to bring about health improvements. Recent work suggests a role for passive heating (PH) and heat shock proteins (HSP) in improving cardio-metabolic health. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of HSP70 and interleukin-6 in response to either EX or PH and the subsequent effect on glucose control. Fourteen males volunteered and were categorized lean (BMI 23.5 § 2.2 kg¢m ¡2 ) or overweight (29.2 § 2.7 kg¢m ¡2 ) and completed 60 minutes of either moderate cycling at a fixed rate of metabolic heat production (EX) or warm water immersion in 40 C water (PH). Extracellular HSP70 increased from baseline in both conditions with no differences between PH (0.98 § 1.1 ng¢mL ¡1 ) or EX (0.84 § 1.0 ng¢mL ¡1 , p D 0.814). IL-6 increased following both conditions with a two-fold increase after PH and four-fold after EX. Energy expenditure increased by 61.0 § 14.4 kcal¢h ¡1 (79%) after PH. Peak glucose concentration after a meal immediately following PH was reduced when compared with EX (6.3 § 1.4 mmol¢L ¡1 versus 6.8 § 1.2 mmol¢L ¡1 ; p < 0.05). There was no difference in 24-hour glucose area under the curve (AUC) between conditions. These data indicate the potential for thermal therapy as an alternative treatment and management strategy for those at risk of developing metabolic disease where adherence, or ability to EX, may be compromised.

Insect pollination underpins apple production but the extent to which different pollinator guilds supply this service, particularly across different apple varieties, is unknown. Such information is essential if appropriate orchard management practices are to be targeted and proportional to the potential benefits pollinator species may provide. Here we use a novel combination of pollinator effectiveness assays (floral visit effectiveness), orchard field surveys (flower visitation rate) and pollinator dependence manipulations (pollinator exclusion experiments) to quantify the supply of pollination services provided by four different pollinator guilds to the production of four commercial varieties of apple. We show that not all pollinators are equally effective at pollinating apples, with hoverflies being less effective than solitary bees and bumblebees, and the relative abundance of different pollinator guilds visiting apple flowers of different varieties varies significantly. Based on this, the taxa specific economic benefits to UK apple production have been established. The contribution of insect pollinators to the economic output in all varieties was estimated to be £92.1M across the UK, with contributions varying widely across taxa: solitary bees (£51.4M), honeybees (£21.4M), bumblebees (£18.6M) and hoverflies (£0.7M). This research highlights the differences in the economic benefits of four insect pollinator guilds to four major apple varieties in the UK. This information is essential to underpin appropriate investment in pollination services management and provides a model that can be used in other entomolophilous crops to improve our understanding of crop pollination ecology.

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Obesity and type 2 diabetes are increasing in prevalence and can be treated by lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise. Acute exercise has an insulin sensitising effect, leading to improved glucose control. This may in part be due to the attenuated synthesis of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in obesity and diabetes. HSP70 may be elevated by exercise and passive heating (PH). Furthermore, animal studies suggest PH may be beneficial to glucose control. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of PH versus exercise on the HSP70 response and glucose control in overweight and lean humans.