Nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4) aerogels, synthesized with a chloride‐based epoxide‐driven sol–gel process, exhibit ultrahigh specific capacitances (1400 F g−1; see figure), excellent reversibility, and ...outstanding cycle stability, at a relatively high mass loading of 0.4 mg cm−2.
Naringenin is a major flavanone found in grapes, tangelos, blood oranges, lemons, pummelo, and tangerines. It is known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antimutagenic, ...antifibrogenic, and antiatherogenic pharmacological properties. This study aims to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of naringenin in ethanol-induced gastric damage in vivo and ethanol-stimulated KATO III cells in vitro. Our results showed that pretreatment with naringenin significantly protected mice from ethanol-induced hemorrhagic damage, epithelial cell loss, and edema with leucocytes. It reduced gastric ulcers (GU) by suppressing ethanol-induced nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity and decreasing the levels of nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and myeloperoxidase (MPO). In addition, pretreatment with naringenin might inhibit the secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8, as well as the proteins cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) via the suppression of NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in ethanol-stimulated stomach epithelial KATO III cells. Together, the results of this study highlight the gastroprotective effect of naringenin in GU of mice by inhibiting gastric secretion and acidity, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, suppressing NF-κB activity, and restoring the histological architecture. These findings suggested that naringenin has therapeutic potential in the alleviation of ethanol-induced GU.
Highlights • This study examined the validity of Kinect sensor for assessment of gait parameters. • Spatiotemporal gait parameters and knee and hip joint angles were extracted. • The timing of heel ...strike has less error than the timing of toe off. • The Kinect sensor can follow the trend of the joint trajectories with substantial error.
A trunk-twisting posture is strongly associated with physical discomfort. Measurement of joint kinematics to assess physical exposure to injuries is important. However, using a single Kinect sensor ...to track the upper-limb joint angle trajectories during twisting tasks in the workplace is challenging due to sensor view occlusions. This study provides and validates a simple method to optimally select the upper-limb joint angle data from two Kinect sensors at different viewing angles during the twisting task, so the errors of trajectory estimation can be improved. Twelve healthy participants performed a rightward twisting task. The tracking errors of the upper-limb joint angle trajectories of two Kinect sensors during the twisting task were estimated based on concurrent data collected using a conventional motion tracking system. The error values were applied to generate the error trendlines of two Kinect sensors using third-order polynomial regressions. The intersections between two error trendlines were used to define the optimal data selection points for data integration. The finding indicates that integrating the outputs from two Kinect sensor datasets using the proposed method can be more robust than using a single sensor for upper-limb joint angle trajectory estimations during the twisting task.
To evaluate the postures in ergonomics applications, studies have proposed the use of low-cost, marker-less, and portable depth camera-based motion tracking systems (DCMTSs) as a potential ...alternative to conventional marker-based motion tracking systems (MMTSs). However, a simple but systematic method for examining the estimation errors of various DCMTSs is lacking. This paper proposes a benchmarking method for assessing the estimation accuracy of depth cameras for full-body landmark location estimation. A novel alignment board was fabricated to align the coordinate systems of the DCMTSs and MMTSs. The data from an MMTS were used as a reference to quantify the error of using a DCMTS to identify target locations in a 3-D space. To demonstrate the proposed method, the full-body landmark location tracking errors were evaluated for a static upright posture using two different DCMTSs. For each landmark, we compared each DCMTS (Kinect system and RealSense system) with an MMTS by calculating the Euclidean distances between symmetrical landmarks. The evaluation trials were performed twice. The agreement between the tracking errors of the two evaluation trials was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The results indicate that the proposed method can effectively assess the tracking performance of DCMTSs. The average errors (standard deviation) for the Kinect system and RealSense system were 2.80 (1.03) cm and 5.14 (1.49) cm, respectively. The highest average error values were observed in the depth orientation for both DCMTSs. The proposed method achieved high reliability with ICCs of 0.97 and 0.92 for the Kinect system and RealSense system, respectively.
Since late 2013, several outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection have emerged in Taiwan. Suckling piglets under 2 weeks of age showed severe vomiting and watery yellowish ...diarrhea with morbidity and mortality ranging from 80 to 100% and 90 to 100%, respectively. A total of 68 samples from 25 pig farms were confirmed as positive for PEDV and negative for rotavirus and transmissible gastroenteritis virus by reverse transcription PCR, and the partial S gene of PEDV was analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis places all 18 Taiwanese PEDV isolates collected during this outbreak in the same clade as the US strains of PEDV. This novel PEDV is prevailing and currently causing severe outbreaks in Taiwan.
The present chemical investigation on the organic extract of the soft coral
has contributed to the isolation of four new cembranoids: 16
- and 16
-hydroperoxyisosarcophytoxides (
and
), 16
- and 16
...-methoxyisosarcophytoxides (
and
), and a known cembranoid, lobocrasol (
). The structures of all isolates were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis. Their structures were characterized by a 2,5-dihydrofuran moiety, of which the relative configuration was determined by DU8-based calculation for long-range coupling constants (
). The cytotoxicity and immunosuppressive activities of all isolates were evaluated in this study.
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease with symptoms such as expiratory airflow narrowing and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Millions of people suffer from asthma and are at risk of ...life-threatening conditions. Lactoferrin (LF) is a glycoprotein with multiple physiological functions, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antitumoral activities. LF has been shown to function in immunoregulatory activities in ovalbumin (OVA)-induced delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) in mice. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of LF in AHR and the functions of dendritic cells (DCs) and Th2-related responses in asthma. Twenty 8-week-old male BALB/c mice were divided into normal control (NC), ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized, and OVA-sensitized with low dose of LF (100 mg/kg) or high dose of LF (300 mg/kg) treatment groups. The mice were challenged by intranasal instillation with 5% OVA on the 21st to 27th day after the start of the sensitization period. The AHR, cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and pulmonary histology of each mouse were measured. Serum OVA-specific IgE and IgG1 and OVA-specific splenocyte responses were further detected. The results showed that LF exhibited protective effects in ameliorating AHR, as well as lung inflammation and damage, in reducing the expression of Th2 cytokines and the secretion of allergen-specific antibodies, in influencing the functions of DCs, and in decreasing the level of Th2 immune responses in a BALB/c mouse model of OVA-induced allergic asthma. Importantly, we demonstrated that LF has practical application in reducing DC-induced Th2 cell responses in asthma. In conclusion, LF exhibits anti-inflammation and immunoregulation activities in OVA-induced allergic asthma. These results suggest that LF may act as a supplement to prevent asthma-induced lung injury and provide an additional agent for reducing asthma severity.
In this research, negative-charge carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized in one-step using a microwave and found to have potential antibacterial ability against multi-drug resistant bacteria. The CDs ...were synthesized by using citric acid and urea as precursors, and characterized by FT-IR, TEM and fluorescence spectrophotometry. The average size of CDs was about 2.5 nm, and the
ζ
potential was −11.06 mV. In the following antibacterial activity test, time-killing curve experiments and colony-forming assay were carried out to determine the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the CDs against methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) and vancomycin-intermediate
Staphylococcus aureus
(VISA). The data showed the MBC of the CDs against MRSA is 2.5 mg mL
−1
, and the MIC of the CDs against MRSA is 0.63 mg mL
−1
; the MBC of the CDs against VISA is 1.25 mg mL
−1
, and the MIC of the CDs against VISA is 0.63 mg mL
−1
. The results demonstrated that the negative-charge CDs have potential against multi-drug resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(
S. aureus
), and may serve as alternatives for therapy in the future.
In this research, negative-charge carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized in one-step using a microwave and found to have potential antibacterial ability against multi-drug resistant bacteria.
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