1,018 research outputs found
Recovery from Cogwheel Rigidity and Akinesia and Improvement in Vibration Sense and Olfactory Perception following Removal of an Epoxy-Oleic Acid DNA Adduct
+e epoxy fatty acid cis-12,13-epoxy-oleic acid, which acts as a DNA adduct, may be generated during long-term storage of many seed oils, including those used in cooking, with frying oils and fried foods being a major source in the modern human diet. Removal of this epoxy fatty acid from the locus of the N-formyl peptide receptors was associated with recovery from cogwheel rigidity and akinesia as well as with improvement in vibration sense and olfactory perception
A meta-analytic review of stand-alone interventions to improve body image
Objective
Numerous stand-alone interventions to improve body image have been developed. The
present review used meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of such interventions, and
to identify the specific change techniques that lead to improvement in body image.
Methods
The inclusion criteria were that (a) the intervention was stand-alone (i.e., solely focused on
improving body image), (b) a control group was used, (c) participants were randomly
assigned to conditions, and (d) at least one pretest and one posttest measure of body
image was taken. Effect sizes were meta-analysed and moderator analyses were conducted.
A taxonomy of 48 change techniques used in interventions targeted at body image
was developed; all interventions were coded using this taxonomy.
Results
The literature search identified 62 tests of interventions (N = 3,846). Interventions produced
a small-to-medium improvement in body image (d+ = 0.38), a small-to-medium reduction in
beauty ideal internalisation (d+ = -0.37), and a large reduction in social comparison tendencies
(d+ = -0.72). However, the effect size for body image was inflated by bias both within
and across studies, and was reliable but of small magnitude once corrections for bias were
applied. Effect sizes for the other outcomes were no longer reliable once corrections for
bias were applied. Several features of the sample, intervention, and methodology moderated
intervention effects. Twelve change techniques were associated with improvements in
body image, and three techniques were contra-indicated.
Conclusions
The findings show that interventions engender only small improvements in body image, and
underline the need for large-scale, high-quality trials in this area. The review identifies effective
techniques that could be deployed in future interventions
Purification and Characterization of a Novel Chlorpyrifos Hydrolase from Cladosporium cladosporioides Hu-01
Chlorpyrifos is of great environmental concern due to its widespread use in the past several decades and its potential toxic effects on human health. Thus, the degradation study of chlorpyrifos has become increasing important in recent years. A fungus capable of using chlorpyrifos as the sole carbon source was isolated from organophosphate-contaminated soil and characterized as Cladosporium cladosporioides Hu-01 (collection number: CCTCC M 20711). A novel chlorpyrifos hydrolase from cell extract was purified 35.6-fold to apparent homogeneity with 38.5% overall recovery by ammoniumsulfate precipitation, gel filtration chromatography and anion-exchange chromatography. It is a monomeric structure with a molecular mass of 38.3 kDa. The pI value was estimated to be 5.2. The optimal pH and temperature of the purified enzyme were 6.5 and 40°C, respectively. No cofactors were required for the chlorpyrifos-hydrolysis activity. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by Hg2+, Fe3+, DTT, β-mercaptoethanol and SDS, whereas slight inhibitory effects (5–10% inhibition) were observed in the presence of Mn2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Mg2+, and EDTA. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed various organophosphorus insecticides with P-O and P-S bond. Chlorpyrifos was the preferred substrate. The Km and Vmax values of the enzyme for chlorpyrifos were 6.7974 μM and 2.6473 μmol·min−1, respectively. Both NH2-terminal sequencing and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOF-MS) identified an amino acid sequence MEPDGELSALTQGANS, which shared no similarity with any reported organophosphate-hydrolyzing enzymes. These results suggested that the purified enzyme was a novel hydrolase and might conceivably be developed to fulfill the practical requirements to enable its use in situ for detoxification of chlorpyrifos. Finally, this is the first described chlorpyrifos hydrolase from fungus
Protective Role for the Disulfide Isomerase PDIA3 in Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity
Methamphetamine abuse continues to be a worldwide problem, damaging the individual user as well as society. Only minimal information exists on molecular changes in the brain that result from methamphetamine administered in patterns typical of human abusers. In order to investigate such changes, we examined the effect of methamphetamine on the transcriptional profile in brains of monkeys. Gene expression profiling of caudate and hippocampus identified protein disulfide isomerase family member A3 (PDIA3) to be significantly up-regulated in the animals treated with methamphetamine as compared to saline treated control monkeys. Methamphetamine treatment of mice also increased striatal PDIA3 expression. Treatment of primary striatal neurons with methamphetamine revealed an up-regulation of PDIA3, showing a direct effect of methamphetamine on neurons to increase PDIA3. In vitro studies using a neuroblastoma cell line demonstrated that PDIA3 expression protects against methamphetamine-induced cell toxicity and methamphetamine-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species production, revealing a neuroprotective role for PDIA3. The current study implicates PDIA3 to be an important cellular neuroprotective mechanism against a toxic drug, and as a potential target for therapeutic investigations
Stochastic Gravity: Theory and Applications
Whereas semiclassical gravity is based on the semiclassical Einstein equation
with sources given by the expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of
quantum fields, stochastic semiclassical gravity is based on the
Einstein-Langevin equation, which has in addition sources due to the noise
kernel. In the first part, we describe the fundamentals of this new theory via
two approaches: the axiomatic and the functional. In the second part, we
describe three applications of stochastic gravity theory. First, we consider
metric perturbations in a Minkowski spacetime, compute the two-point
correlation functions of these perturbations and prove that Minkowski spacetime
is a stable solution of semiclassical gravity. Second, we discuss structure
formation from the stochastic gravity viewpoint. Third, we discuss the
backreaction of Hawking radiation in the gravitational background of a black
hole and describe the metric fluctuations near the event horizon of an
evaporating black holeComment: 100 pages, no figures; an update of the 2003 review in Living Reviews
in Relativity gr-qc/0307032 ; it includes new sections on the Validity of
Semiclassical Gravity, the Stability of Minkowski Spacetime, and the Metric
Fluctuations of an Evaporating Black Hol
Localization and potential role of matrix metalloproteinase-1 and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase-1 and -2 in different phases of bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) can evolve in prematurely born infants
who require mechanical ventilation because of hyaline membrane disease
(HMD). The development of BPD can be divided in an acute, a regenerative,
a transitional, and a chronic phase. During these different phases,
extensive remodeling of the lung parenchyma with re-epithelialization of
the alveoli and formation of fibrosis occurs. Matrix metalloproteinase-1
(MMP-1) is an enzyme that is involved in re-epithelialization processes,
and dysregulation of MMP-1 activity contributes to fibrosis. Localization
of MMP-1 and its inhibitors, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase
(TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2, were investigated in lung tissue obtained from
infants who died during different phases of BPD development. In all
studied cases (n = 50) type-II pneumocytes were found to be immunoreactive
for MMP-1, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2. During the acute and regenerative phase of
BPD, type-II pneumocytes re-epithelialize the injured alveoli. This may
suggest that MMP-1 and its inhibitors, expressed by type-II pneumocytes,
play a role in the re-epithelialization process after acute lung injury.
Although MMP-1 staining intensity remained constant in type-II pneumocytes
during BPD development, TIMP-1 increased during the chronic fibrotic
phase. This relative elevation of TIMP-1 compared with MMP-1 is indicative
for reduced collagenolytic activity by type-II pneumocytes in chronic BPD
and may contribute to fibrosis. Fibrotic foci in chronic BPD contained
fibroblasts immunoreactive for MMP-1 and TIMP-1 and -2. This may indicate
that decreased collagen turnover by fibroblasts contributes to fibrosis in
BPD development
Plasma Proteomic Profiling in HIV-1 Infected Methamphetamine Abusers
We wanted to determine whether methamphetamine use affects a subset of plasma proteins in HIV-infected persons. Plasma samples from two visits were identified for subjects from four groups: HIV+, ongoing, persistent METH use; HIV+, short-term METH abstinent; HIV+, long term METH abstinence; HIV negative, no history of METH use. Among 390 proteins identified, 28 showed significant changes in expression in the HIV+/persistent METH+ group over the two visits, which were not attributable to HIV itself. These proteins were involved in complement, coagulation pathways and oxidative stress. Continuous METH use is an unstable condition, altering levels of a number of plasma proteins
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