Our objective was to establish a diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) model in rats using a high-fat diet and streptozotocin (HF-STZ). Male Wistar rats (240-250g) were divided into a control group ...(commercial feed), and HF-STZ group, (66.5%-commercial feed, 13.5%-lard, and 20%-sugar). STZ (40mg/kg i.p.) or vehicle was administered on the 13th day. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed (2.5mg of glucose/kg v.o.) on both groups. After 39 days of treatment, blood and tissue samples were collected for analyses. The weight gain after STZ administration was lower in the HF-STZ group than in the control group with reductions in muscle mass and adipose tissue. The HF-STZ group showed hyperglycemia after STZ administration (glucose on day 39: HF-STZ: 499 ± 60; control: 134 ± 9mg/dL). Serum glucagon was 23% lower, and insulin levels were unaltered. The HOMA index was 4-times higher in the HF-STZ. The HF-STZ group showed increased post-prandial (330%) and fasting (125%) triglycerides, and while glycogen content in the liver and muscles decreased (70-80%). The area under the curve (OGTT) was 282% higher in the HF-STZ group. The combination of high-fat diet with STZ (i.p) generated rats with hyperglycemia associated with hypertriglyceridemia and introduced many other alterations present in human DM2.
In the present work, we study the anharmonicity of the unfilled CoSb3 skutterudite from the pressure and temperature dependence of the Raman-active modes. A full assignment of the Raman-active modes ...of CoSb3 was performed for the first time. Significant changes in the Raman spectra are observed above 27 GPa and attributed to the insertion of antimony atoms within the cages under high external pressure. We report the lattice dynamics of SbCo4Sb12 by DFT calculations and find very low-energy optical modes due to the antimony guest atoms with the cage framework. We report the isothermal Grüneisen parameters of the Raman-active modes, which are larger and approach 2 for the highest energy modes. From analysis of the temperature and pressure dependence of the Raman-active modes, we found that the implicit volume contribution is the dominant contribution for the highest energy Raman-active modes, whereas both the implicit volume contribution and the explicit anharmonic contribution have the same magnitude for the other Raman-active modes.
Context
Adropin is a peptide hormone implicated in the regulation of insulin sensitivity and energy homeostasis. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic and reproductive disease associated ...with insulin resistance. It has been demonstrated that various inflammatory markers increased in PCOS including TNF-α. TNF-α regulates the secretion of certain peptides which play a crucial role in glucose and lipid homeostasis. There is also some evidence of a link between TNF-α and adropin.
Objective
To ascertain whether there is an association between circulating adropin levels and TNF-α in PCOS.
Patients and design
152 women with PCOS and 152 age- and body mass index-matched controls without PCOS were recruited for this cross-sectional study.
Main outcome measures
Adropin and TNF-α levels were measured using ELISA.
Results
Adropin levels were lower in the PCOS group compared with the control group (7.43 ± 0.79 vs. 9.42 ± 0.76 ng/ml,
P
< 0.001), whereas TNF-α levels were higher (49.93 ± 3.39 vs. 35.83 ± 2.47 pg/ml,
P
< 0.001). A strongly negative correlation was found between circulating adropin levels and TNF-α levels in women with PCOS (
r
= −0.407,
P
< 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that decreased adropin levels were significantly associated with high odds of having PCOS, although, after adjustment for TNF-α, this link vanished. Additionally, multiple linear regression analysis showed that HOMA-IR and TFN-α independently predicted adropin levels.
Conclusions
Serum adropin levels are significantly decreased in PCOS and are inversely associated with TNF-α. Further dissection of the nature of this association can open new therapeutic options for metabolic diseases.
Methods This is a retrospective cohort study evaluating the data measured in the first day of admission to the hospital of patients treated with oral digoxin, who were hospitalized in a university ...hospital between January 2011 and December 2015. In this model, digoxin level is dependent variable and diabetes mellitus...
This is the first clinical study evaluating the relation of serum omentin 1 levels with anthropometric and metabolic parameters in obese children with a particular interest to identify the possible ...role of omentin 1 in childhood obesity and related metabolic disturbances.The study included obese children with a body mass index (BMI)>95th percentile and healthy children with a BMI<85th percentile. The healthy and obese subjects had similar age and gender distribution. Glucose, insulin, lipid profile, and omentin 1 levels were measured to evaluate the metabolic parameters.49 obese children who applied to our department with complaint of weight gain and 30 healthy age and sex matched subjects were enrolled. In obese children BMI, body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mid-arm circumference (MAC), triceps skin fold (TSF), waist circumference (WC), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), serum insulin, and triglyceride levels were higher whereas omentin-1 levels were lower than control subjects (p<0.05). In the obese group, omentin 1 level was negatively correlated with BMI, insulin, HOMA-IR, and WC, while no significant correlation was observed with other parameters (p>0.05). Additionally, although statistically insignificant, patients with IR (n=31) had lower omentin-1 levels compared to obese children without IR (n=18).Our data indicates that serum omentin 1 levels are i) lower in obese children and ii) negatively correlated with BMI, WC, HOMA-IR and insulin levels suggesting that omentin 1 might be a biomarker for metabolic dysfunction also in childhood and adolescence. Lower omentin 1 levels tended to be associated with insulin resistance however this association failed to reach statistical significance. Further studies in larger populations are needed to better-define the relation of omentin 1 and insulin resistance in obese children.
This paper proposes a new neutral point potential control technique for the neutral-point-clamped three-level inverter. Utilizing the phase current polarity information, this technique distributes ...the redundant voltage vectors in a manner to obtain stable neutral point voltage under all operating conditions including the zero-power-factor condition. Detailed analysis and computer simulations show the superiority of the proposed method. The feasibility of the proposed method has been proven via laboratory experiments.
The murine Foxc1/Mf1 and Foxc2/Mfh1 genes encode closely related forkhead/winged helix transcription factors with overlapping expression in the forming somites and head mesoderm and endothelial and ...mesenchymal cells of the developing heart and blood vessels. Embryos lacking either Foxc1 or Foxc2, and most compound heterozygotes, die pre- or perinatally with similar abnormal phenotypes, including defects in the axial skeleton and cardiovascular system. However, somites and major blood vessels do form. This suggested that the genes have similar, dose-dependent functions, and compensate for each other in the early development of the heart, blood vessels, and somites. In support of this hypothesis, we show here that compound Foxc1; Foxc2 homozygotes die earlier and with much more severe defects than single homozygotes alone. Significantly, they have profound abnormalities in the first and second branchial arches, and the early remodeling of blood vessels. Moreover, they show a complete absence of segmented paraxial mesoderm, including anterior somites. Analysis of compound homozygotes shows that Foxc1 and Foxc2 are both required for transcription in the anterior presomitic mesoderm of paraxis, Mesp1, Mesp2, Hes5, and Notch1, and for the formation of sharp boundaries of Dll1, Lfng, and ephrinB2 expression. We propose that the two genes interact with the Notch signaling pathway and are required for the prepatterning of anterior and posterior domains in the presumptive somites through a putative Notch/Delta/Mesp regulatory loop.
To evaluate the vascular response at 9 months after zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES; Endeavor) implantation using optical coherence tomography (OCT). These findings were compared with those after ...implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES; Cypher Select).
Cross-sectional observational study with prospective OCT registry.
Nine months after ZES or SES implantation.
A total of 68 patients (32 ZES and 36 SES) underwent OCT at 9 months after stent implantation. The neointima hyperplasia (NIH) thickness inside each strut and percentage of NIH area at every 1 mm cross section were measured.
The degree of neointimal coverage and the prevalence of malapposition at 9 months after ZES and SES implantation using OCT.
The mean (SD) NIH thickness (251.2 (110.0) mum vs 85.5 (53.3) mum, p<0.001) and percentage of NIH area (27.9 (9.1)% vs 11.2 (7.1)%, p<0.001) were significantly greater in ZES than in SES. The prevalence of uncovered strut as well as malapposed strut was significantly lower in ZES than in SES (0.3% vs 12.3%, p<0.001 and 0.08% vs 2.6%, p<0.001). Thrombus was not observed in ZES (0.0% in ZES vs 27.8% in SES, p = 0.001).
Neointimal coverage in ZES was almost complete and malapposition was very rare at 9-months' follow-up.
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