To investigate the recovery of thiazolidinedione-induced body weight gain and haematopoietic changes after stopping pioglitazone treatment in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
This retrospective cohort ...study included 214 patients divided into three groups according to pioglitazone treatment status. The first study arm included patients who received pioglitazone for 38 months then interrupted this for 10 months (pioglitazone-interruption group). The second arm consisted of patients who received pioglitazone throughout the 48 months (pioglitazone-continuous group); the third arm included patients who had never received pioglitazone therapy (control group).
Red blood cell count and haematocrit and haemoglobin levels decreased significantly, while body weight increased in the two pioglitazone-treated groups as compared with the control group at 38 months. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the reductions in red blood cell count/haemoglobin levels were associated with pioglitazone use. In the pioglitazone-interruption group, no recoveries of red blood cells, or haematocrit or haemoglobin levels were observed after stopping pioglitazone for 10 months compared with the pioglitazone-continuous group, but body weight gain decreased to a level that was significantly lower than that in the pioglitazone-continuous group and did not differ significantly from the control group.
In this study, we observed a reversal of body weight gain but no recoveries in red blood cells or haematocrit or haemoglobin levels after stopping pioglitazone for 10 months in patients treated with pioglitazone for 38 months. This finding should prompt a reconsideration of the sustained effect of thiazolidinediones on the haematopoietic system in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of castration age on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and economic efficacy of Hanwoo steers. There is an increasing interest in ...extending castration age to enhance the yield of desirable traits in beef, e.g. carcass weight and longissimus muscle area. The calves were divided into four groups based on their age at castration. Body length at 12 months increased with increasing castration age (p < 0.05). Average daily gain and cold carcass weight were higher in the group castrated at 11-12 months than in the group castrated at <10 months (p < 0.05). Marbling scores were higher in the groups castrated at <10 months of age than in the groups castrated at >11 months (p < 0.05). The present results suggest that the most appropriate castration age is below 12 months in Hanwoo cattle.
Laser plasmas can be produced when high-power laser beams are focused in matter. A focused laser beam of TW(terawatt)-level high power has an extremely strong electric field, so neutral atoms are ...immediately ionized by the laser electric field, leading to a laser-produced plasma. The laser plasma can be produced by small table-top TW lasers based on the CPA (chirped-pulse amplification) technique, and now they are rather easily available even in university laboratories. In Korea, there are several CPA-based TW (or even petawatt) lasers in a few institutions, and they have been used for diverse laser plasma physics research and applications, including the laser acceleration for electrons and ions, high-power THz (tera-hertz) generation, advanced light sources, high-energy-density plasmas, plasma optics, etc. This paper reviews some of the laser plasma physics research and applications that have been performed in several universities and research institutes.
The aims of this study were to determine if the chicken embryo lethality assay and the presence of 9 virulence-associated genes of Escherichia coli were correlated and to discover which virulence ...genes contributed most to embryo lethality. We examined 58 E. coli strains isolated from visceral organs of chickens with colibacillosis for the presence of 9 virulence genes (fimC, tsh, fyuA, irp2, iucD, cvi/cva, iss, astA, and vat) by PCR. The gene FimC (type I fimbriae) was detected with the highest prevalence in 93.1% of the isolates, followed by iucD (67.24%), iss (58.62%), tsh (34.48%), cvi/cva (34.48%), fyuA (32.76%), astA (31.0%), irp2 (27.59%), and vat (17.24%). The embryo mortality ranged from 5 to 100%; however, most of the isolates were moderately or highly virulent. High positive correlations were observed between the presence of virulence genes and chicken embryo lethality. In addition, presence of the iucD (aerobactin) gene was the trait that best contributed to embryo mortality by using the multivariate model. These results suggest that expression frequency of these 9 virulence genes is associated with embryo mortality, and the gene that best predicted embryo mortality was iucD.
The Telescope Array (TA) observatory utilizes fluorescence detectors and surface detectors (SDs) to observe air showers produced by ultra high energy cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere. Cosmic-ray ...events observed in this way are termed hybrid data. The depth of air shower maximum is related to the mass of the primary particle that generates the shower. This paper reports on shower maxima data collected over 8.5 yr using the Black Rock Mesa and Long Ridge fluorescence detectors in conjunction with the array of SDs. We compare the means and standard deviations of the observed X max distributions with Monte Carlo X max distributions of unmixed protons, helium, nitrogen, and iron, all generated using the QGSJet II-04 hadronic model. We also perform an unbinned maximum likelihood test of the observed data, which is subjected to variable systematic shifting of the data X max distributions to allow us to test the full distributions, and compare them to the Monte Carlo to see which elements are not compatible with the observed data. For all energy bins, QGSJet II-04 protons are found to be compatible with TA hybrid data at the 95% confidence level after some systematic X max shifting of the data. Three other QGSJet II-04 elements are found to be compatible using the same test procedure in an energy range limited to the highest energies where data statistics are sparse.
Aims The present study investigated the detailed mechanism by which fractalkine (Fkn), a CX3C chemokine, induces angiogenesis and its functional implication in alleviating ischaemia in vivo. Methods ...and results Fkn induced new vessel formation on the excised rat aorta and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) through CX3CR1 activation. Immunoblotting analysis, promoter assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed that Fkn upregulated hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) by cultured human aortic endothelial cells (ECs), which in turn induced mRNA and protein levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A through a p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. In vivo Fkn-induced angiogenesis on CAM was completely blocked by functional inhibition of VEGF receptor 2 kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR) and Rho GTPase. C57/BL6 mice with CX3CR1(−/−) bone marrow-derived cells developed angiogenesis in the implanted Fkn-mixed Matrigel plug, suggesting CX3CR1 activation in vascular ECs is sufficient for Fkn-induced angiogenesis in vivo. The condition of rat hindlimb ischaemia, which rapidly stimulated mRNA expression of both Fkn and VEGF-A, was significantly alleviated by the injection of whole-length Fkn protein. Conclusion Fkn-induced activation of CX3CR1 by ECs leads to in vivo angiogenesis through two sequential steps: the induction of HIF-1α and VEGF-A gene expression by CX3CR1 activation and the subsequent VEGF-A/KDR-induced angiogenesis. The potent induction of angiogenesis by Fkn can be used as a therapeutic strategy for alleviating peripheral ischaemia.
Abstract Background This case represents the earliest appearance of de novo HCC after liver transplantation (OLT) compared with cases of previously reported literatures. Case Report A 45-year-old man ...underwent deceased donor OLT owing to decompensated liver cirrhosis. He had YMDD viral mutation and hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) coinfection but no tumor was found in the liver on MRI before OLT. The donor was a healthy young female donor who was HCV and HBV negative. There was no tumor in the explant liver. After OLT, HCV RNA and hepatitis B surface antigen became undetectable with DNA-positive HBV. Nine months after OLT, a computed tomography (CT) scan was performed owing to abdominal pain, detecting a mass occupying the right lobe that depicted enhanced characteristics typical of HCC. The chest CT demonstrated metastatic lung nodules in the right basal lower lobe. Fluorescence in situ hybridization showed tumor cells from the recipient. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of de novo hepatocellular carcinoma that has emerged within a short period of undergoing OLT.
Spin-wave (magnon) scattering, when clearly observed by Raman spectroscopy, can be simple and powerful for studying magnetic phase transitions. In this paper, we present how to observe magnon ...scattering clearly by Raman spectroscopy, then apply the Raman method to study spin-ordering and spin-reorientation transitions of hexagonal manganite single crystal and thin films and compare directly with the results of magnetization measurements. Our results show that by choosing strong resonance condition and appropriate polarization configuration, magnon scattering can be clearly observed, and the temperature dependence of magnon scattering can be simple and powerful quantity for investigating spin-ordering as well as spin-reorientation transitions. Especially, the Raman method would be very helpful for investigating the weak spin-reorientation transitions by selectively probing the magnons in the Mn(3+) sublattices, while leaving out the strong effects of paramagnetic moments of the rare earth ions.
Kir6.2 is found in the pancreatic B-cell, cardiac and skeletal muscle and non-vascular smooth muscle. KCNJ11, encoding Kir6.2, has been shown to be associated with both Type 2 diabetes mellitus and ...cardiovascular disease in several populations. In this study, we investigated whether polymorphisms in KCNJ11 are associated with Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic phenotypes in the Korean population.
We sequenced KCNJ11 to identify common polymorphisms using 24 Korean DNA samples. Of the 14 polymorphisms found in KCNJ11, six common ones genomic sequence (g.)-1709A>T, g.-1525T>C, g.67G>A (E23K), g.570C>T (A190A), g.1009A>G (I337V), and g.1388C>T were genotyped in 761 Type 2 diabetic patients and in 630 non-diabetic subjects.
All the polymorphic loci in KCNJ11 are in strong linkage disequilibrium in the Korean population and act as one haplotype block. g.67G>A and g.1009A>G were associated with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes age, sex, and body mass index (BMI)-adjusted odds ratios (OR) = 1.376 (1.085-1.745), P = 0.008 and 1.411 (1.111-1.791), P = 0.005, respectively, as was one haplotype (A-T-A-C-G-C in the order of polymorphisms as shown above) containing g.67A and g.1009G OR = 1.359 (1.080-1.709), P = 0.009. The haplotype (A-T-A-C-G-C) was also strongly associated with hypertension OR = 1.655 (1.288-2.126), P < 0.001.
Polymorphisms in KCNJ11 are associated with Type 2 diabetes and also with hypertension in the Korean population.
Bis(indole) alkaloids, of the topsentin class (1—4) and hamacanthin class (5—9), isolated from the marine sponge Spongosorites sp. were investigated using several biological assays. In the evaluation ...of antimicrobial activity against various strains of bacteria and fungi, compounds of the hamacanthin class exhibited more potent antibacterial activity than those of the topsentin class. Deoxytopsentin (1) and hamacanthin A (5) also exhibited significant antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, with MIC values of less than 12.5 μg/ml. In the antifungal activity test, hamacanthins, especially hamacanthin A (5), showed potent inhibitory activity against medically important pathogenic fungi. In contrast, all of the topsentins (1—4) were inactive against fungal growth. These compounds (1—9) also exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines at concentrations between 1.1 and >20 μg/ml.
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