Bone destruction and inflammation are closely linked. Cytokines play an important role in inflammatory bone destruction by upregulating the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) ligand ...(RANKL). The direct role of cytokines that act in a non-RANKL-dependent manner has yet to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct osteoclastogenic properties of inflammatory cytokines at different time-points of osteoclastogenesis. Mouse bone marrow macrophages were stimulated with the macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and various concentrations of RANKL. Inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and IL-23, were added to the culture system of osteoclastogenesis. Two time-points of cytokine treatment were set. The 'early' effect of each cytokine was investigated at the time of first RANKL treatment, whereas the 'late' effect was investigated 48 h after the first RANKL challenge. Osteoclast differentiation and function were assessed using an osteoclast marker tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and by visualization of pit formation. A permissive level of RANKL was required for cytokine-associated osteoclastogenesis in all experiments. In the M-CSF/RANKL monocellular culture system, IL-1β enhanced and IL-6 decreased osteoclast formation in a dose-dependent manner, regardless of temporal differences. Other cytokines showed various responses according to the phase of osteoclast maturation and the concentration of each cytokine and RANKL. Furthermore, luciferase assays showed that both IL-1β and RANKL activated the NF-κB signaling pathway. Collectively, our data revealed that targeting IL-1β may be a promising strategy to inhibit inflammation-associated bone destruction and osteoporosis.
Soybean leaves are eaten as seasonal edible greens in Korea. Analysis of the ethyl acetate extract of these leaves showed that it exhibited potent and selective neuraminidase inhibition, which began ...at the R3 stage and peaked at R7. Ten pterocarpans, including the new 6a-hydroxypterocarpan 10, were isolated from soybean leaves and their inhibition activities tested against a range of glycosidases. The relationship between structure and enzyme inhibition was investigated: 6a-hydroxypterocarpans exhibited much higher inhibition against neuraminidase (IC50 = 2.4–89.4 μM) than α-glucosidase (IC50 = 90.4– >100 μM). Glyceollin VII (7) displayed 40-fold greater activity (IC50 = 2.4 μM) against neuraminidase than α-glucosidase (IC50 = 90.4 μM). On the other hand, coumestanes (1–3) were good α-glucosidase inhibitors (IC50 = 6.0–42.6 μM). In kinetic analysis, the most potent neuraminidase inhibitors (5–10) were noncompetitive. HPLC analysis indicated that most pterocarpan synthesis began from the R3 stage, and a rapid change of pterocarpan concentrations was observed between the R4 and R7 stages.
Exposing a pregnant female to stress is a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders in the offspring. In the present study, we examined the effects of an extract of Valeriana fauriei ...(VF) root (100 mg/kg/day, administered on postnatal days 35-56) on behavioral patterns as well as protein expression in the prefrontal cortex of the offspring of prenatally-stressed rats. Modified behavioral tests, including the forced swim test, the open field test, a social interaction test and the prepulse inhibition test were performed and many of the parameters were found to decrease in the offspring of the rats exposed to PNS compared with the offspring of the non-stressed rats. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses of the prefrontal cortex revealed that the downregulation of several neurodevelopmental proteins in the offspring of rats dams exposed to PNS was reversed after treatment with VF extract. These findings demonstrate that the downregulation of several proteins in the prefrontal cortex of the offspring of prenatally-stressed rats may be associated with subsequent behavioral changes, and that these phenomena recovered following VF treatment. Our results suggest that VF decreases the incidence of prenatal stress related-psychiatric disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia.
Infrastructure in animal husbandry refers to fundamental facilities and services necessary for better living conditions of animals and its economy to function through better productivity. Mainly, ...infrastructure can be divided into two categories: hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. Physical infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, and water supplying systems, belongs to hard infrastructure. Soft infrastructure includes services which are required to maintain economic, health, cultural and social standards of animal husbandry. Therefore, the proper management of infrastructure in animal husbandry is necessary for animal welfare and its economy. Among various technologies to improve the quality of infrastructure, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology is an effectively applicable technology in different stages of animal husbandry. NTP is mainly helpful in maintaining better health conditions of animals in several ways via decontamination from microorganisms present in air, water, food, instruments and surfaces of animal farming systems. Furthermore, NTP is used in the treatment of waste water, vaccine production, wound healing in animals, odor-free ventilation, and packaging of animal food or animal products. This review summarizes the recent studies of NTP which can be related to the infrastructure in animal husbandry.
7nm CMOS FinFET technology featuring EUV lithography, 4 th gen. dual Fin and 2 nd gen. multi-eWF gate stack is presented, providing 20% faster speed or consuming 35% less total power over 10nm ...technology 1. EUV lithography, fully applied to MOL contacts and minimum-pitched metal/via interconnects, can reduce >25% mask steps with higher fidelity and smaller CD variation. A VT of 6T HD SRAM cell are 1.29 for PD (PG) and 1.34 for PU, respectively.
Despite the increasing clinical applications of circulating EBV DNA analysis as a tumor marker, the molecular nature of these EBV DNA molecules remains unclear. We subjected plasma/serum samples of ...nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoma patients to DNase digestion and ultracentrifugation and showed that circulating EBV DNA molecules are "naked" DNA fragments instead of being contained inside virions. We further showed that these EBV DNA fragments were relatively short, and 87% of them were shorter than 181 bp. These results provide fundamental information that may improve our understanding of the release of tumor-derived nucleic acids into the blood of cancer patients.
The influence of the packing size on the mean bubble diameter in a flooded bed reactor packed with glass spheres of three different diameters (1.9, 4.0, and 9.3 mm) was investigated. The gas ...saturation and interfacial area were respectively measured by electrical capacitance tomography and chemical absorption of oxygen. It is observed that the presence of packing has greatly reduced the bubble diameter and increased the gas saturation compared with a bubble column. To explore the underlying relationship between the bubble diameter and packing size, the packing size featured by the pore diameter was utilized as a reference. It shows that the bubble diameter is 2–3 times the pore for the 1.9 and 4.0 mm packings, while they are approached for the packing of 9.3 mm. An empirical correlation was proposed for the mean bubble diameter prediction with a discrepancy of less than 25% from the measurements.
Abstract Synovial chondromatosis (SC) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a benign lesion characterized by the formation of metaplastic cartilaginous nodules. SC of the TMJ usually only affects ...the superior joint compartment of the TMJ. The authors report a rare case of SC of the TMJ affecting the inferior and superior joint compartments.
This study was conducted to establish reasonable forest management plan by developing site index curves about Pinus densiflora stands that is major species growing in Jeolla-do in Republic of Korea. ...A total of 613 Pinus densiflora plots and 20m × 20m sampling plot was installed for each stand. The altitude height, slope, orientation bearing, soil type, the height and diameter at breast height (1.2 m from the ground) of a dominant tree, and the age of trees were measured. After developing site index curves using Chapman-Richards, Schumacher and Gompertz models, top three geographical factors were added to asymptote and shape parameters. In results, Gompertz model for Pinus densiflora stands was chosen for best model of height and site index model. Also, soil type, parent rock and topography were added into Gompertz model for Pinus densiflora stand as the independent variables, using the random forest analysis method. As result of adding geographical factors to asymptote and shape of Gompertz model for Pinus densiflora stand, the precision of the model has increased with decreasing MSE. As hybrid site index model including geographical factors indicated influence growth of Pinus densiflora, reasonable forest management plan is determined.
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