Protein

This study aims to understand how much leucine, an essential amino acid, and protein building block, healthy pregnant women need during early and late pregnancy. Leucine plays an important role in supporting muscle health and fetal growth. Participants will consume carefully prepared meals and provide breath, urine samples, and one blood sample so researchers can measure how the body uses leucine at different stages of pregnancy. The results will help improve nutrition guidelines for pregnant women to better support maternal health and healthy fetal development.

Asthma, a prevalent chronic respiratory affliction, significantly impinges upon the quality of life for affected individuals. Timely and appropriate diagnostic measures, coupled with efficacious therapeutic interventions, are paramount in mitigating exacerbations of symptoms and enhancing the life quality of patients. Ezrin plays an important role in maintaining cell morphology, cell migration, cell adhesion and polarisation, but Ezrin expression in airway smooth muscle remains unclear. Pip5k1α is an important kinase involved in intracellular phosphatidylinositol signalling pathways that may be involved in smooth muscle contraction and diastole. Therefore, further studies are necessary to elucidate the changes of Ezrin and Pip5k1α in patients with asthma to provide a basis for investigating alternative treatments for asthma.