scholarly journals Fatty acids and stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) in southern right whale Eubalaena australis calves in relation to age and mortality at Península Valdés, Argentina

2020 ◽  
Vol 646 ◽  
pp. 189-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
CF Marón ◽  
SM Budge ◽  
RE Ward ◽  
LO Valenzuela ◽  
M Di Martino ◽  
...  

Baleen whales accumulate fat reserves during the summer to sustain reproduction while fasting in the winter. The southern right whale Eubalaena australis population that calves off Península Valdés, Argentina, experienced high calf mortality events from 2003 to 2013 and poor nutritional states of mothers could be a contributing cause. Previous studies found that the population’s reproductive success is influenced by prey availability. Mothers unable to build sufficient fat reserves or feeding on prey with different nutritional value may fail to meet the demands of lactation. Milk is the only source of nutrients and energy for calves at Valdés, so their fatty acids (FAs) and stable isotopes should reflect their mother’s diet and feeding-ground locations. Here, we compared FA profiles and C and N stable isotopes of dead calves with those of living calves to evaluate the potential impact of maternal nutrition on calf survival. We found no differences in the FA composition of blubber in dead and living calves, indicating similar maternal diets. Likewise, the isotopic values of living and dead calves imply that their mothers had similar foraging ranges. However, FA composition was greatly affected by calf length, indicating effects of calf age and duration of nursing. These findings suggest that mothers of dead calves did not feed on different diets or feeding grounds compared to mothers of living calves. Future research should further assess the overall health and body condition of the Valdés southern right whale calves.

Author(s):  
Teruo Nagaya ◽  
Ken-Ichi Nakaya ◽  
Akemi Takahashi ◽  
Izumi Yoshida ◽  
Yoshinari Okamoto

To investigate the effects of serum saturated fatty acids (FAs) on human cholesterol metabolism, total-cholesterol (T-C), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), T-C/HDL-C ratio, and FA composition [myristic acid (MA, 14:0), palmitic acid (PA, 16:0) and stearic acid (SA, 18:0)] were determined in serum from 115 men and 120 women (20–70 years old). MA, PA and SA were expressed as percentages of serum total FAs. Using multivariate analysis to account for the confounding effects of age, body mass index, drinking, and smoking it was found that SA was negatively correlated with T-C and T-C/HDL-C ratio in both men and women. In men MA was negatively correlated with HDL-C, and in women SA was positively correlated with HDL-C. Although PA was the major component of serum saturated FAs, PA had no significant relation to any cholesterol indices in either sex. These results suggest that serum MA may aggravate and serum SA may improve cholesterol metabolism, thereby influencing the risk for ischaemic heart disease.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. NMI.S39043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salma A. Abdelmagid ◽  
Jessica L. MacKinnon ◽  
Sarah M. Janssen ◽  
David W.L. Ma

Diet and exercise are recognized as important lifestyle factors that significantly influence breast cancer risk. In particular, dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been shown to play an important role in breast cancer prevention. Growing evidence also demonstrates a role for exercise in cancer and chronic disease prevention. However, the potential synergistic effect of n-3 PUFA intake and exercise is yet to be determined. This review explores targets for breast cancer prevention that are common between n-3 PUFA intake and exercise and that may be important study outcomes for future research investigating the combined effect of n-3 PUFA intake and exercise. These lines of evidence highlight potential new avenues for research and strategies for breast cancer prevention.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Chien-Yao Chao

Fatty acid (FA) composition between biofilms and batch planktonic cultures were compared for two bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureaus. Biofilm cultures exhibited decrease in saturated fatty acids (SAFA) that potentially conform to a more fluidic biophysical membrane property. The amount of FA in the biofilms' extracellular polymeric substance was not sufficient to consider it having a major contribution to the observed differences between biofilms and batch planktonic cultures. While biofilm grazing by the amphipod Hyalella azteca was evident, only certain bacteria-specific FA appeared to have the potential to be retained (odd-number SAFA and branched-chain FA). H. azteca with diet strictly consisted of bacteria biofilms did not demonstrate significant changes in their nutritional condition in terms of ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA): combined with the results from fasting trials, H. azteca appears to have the capacity to retain ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs up to 10 days.


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