193 research outputs found
Dietary Strategies for Management of Metabolic Syndrome: Role of Gut Microbiota Metabolites
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex pathophysiological state with incidence similar to that of a global epidemic and represents a risk factor for the onset of chronic non-communicable degenerative diseases (NCDDs), including cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and some types of cancer. A plethora of literature data suggest the potential role of gut microbiota in interfering with the host metabolism, thus influencing several MetS risk factors. Perturbation of the gut microbiota's composition and activity, a condition known as dysbiosis, is involved in the etiopathogenesis of multiple chronic diseases. Recent studies have shown that some micro-organism-derived metabolites (including trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria, indoxyl sulfate and p-cresol sulfate) induce subclinical inflammatory processes involved in MetS. Gut microbiota's taxonomic species or abundance are modified by many factors, including diet, lifestyle and medications. The main purpose of this review is to highlight the correlation between different dietary strategies and changes in gut microbiota metabolites. We mainly focus on the validity/inadequacy of specific dietary patterns to reduce inflammatory processes, including leaky gut and subsequent endotoxemia. We also describe the chance of probiotic supplementation to interact with the immune system and limit negative consequences associated with MetS
Comparative Analysis of Phenolic Composition of Six Commercially Available Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) Extracts: Potential Biological Implications
Several phytochemical-containing herbal extracts are increasingly marketed as health-promoting products. In particular, chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) is well known for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antitumor properties. Here, we evaluated differences in chemical composition among six commercially available products and their potential impact on biological activity in human immortalized colonocytes. Our investigation encompassed: (i) preparation of dry extracts and yield evaluation; (ii) qualitative and quantitative analysis of phenol content; (iii) modulation of redox state; and (iv) bioavailability of main bioactive compounds. We demonstrated that apparently identical products showed huge heterogeneity, in terms of yield extraction, chemical composition, and antioxidant effects. All samples contained high amounts of flavonoids and cinnamic acid derivatives, but differentially concentrated in the six extracts. Depending on polyphenol content, chamomile samples possessed variable antioxidant potential, in terms of decreased radical generation and increased reduced glutathione levels. The observed effects might be ascribed to flavones (apigenin, luteolin, and their glycones) highly represented in the six extracts. Nonetheless, chamomile extracts exerted cytotoxic effects at high concentrations, suggesting that a herbal medicine is not always safe. In conclusion, due to the complexity and variability of plant matrices, studies evaluating effectiveness of chamomile should always be accompanied by preliminary characterization of phytochemical composition
KOMPETENSI PROFESIONAL GURU BK DALAM IMPLEMENTASI ASSESMEN BK (SUATU PENELITIAN PADA GURU BK DI SMA FAVORIT KOTA BANDA ACEH)
Banda Ace
Impaired Communication Between the Motor and Somatosensory Homunculus Is Associated With Poor Manual Dexterity in Autism Spectrum Disorder
ABSTRACTBackgroundFine motor skill impairments are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), significantly affecting quality of life. Sensory inputs reaching the primary motor cortex (M1) from the somatosensory cortex (S1) are likely involved in fine motor skill and specifically motor learning. However, the role of these connections has not been directly investigated in humans. This study aimed to investigate, for the first time, the role of the S1-M1 connections in healthy subjects in vivo and whether microstructural alterations are associated with motor impairment in ASD.MethodsSixty right-handed neurotypical adult men aged 18 to 45 years, and 60 right-handed age- and sex-matched subjects diagnosed with ASD underwent fine motor skill assessment and scanning with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The streamlines of the hand region connecting S1-M1 of the motor-sensory homunculus were virtually dissected using TrackVis, and diffusion properties were extracted. The face/tongue region connections were used as control tracts.ResultsThe ASD group displayed lower motor performances and altered DTI measurements of the hand-region connection. Behavioral performance correlated with hand-region DTI measures in both groups, but not with the face/tongue connections, indicating anatomical specificity. There was a left-hemisphere association of motor ability in the control group and an atypical rightward shift in the ASD group.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that direct interaction between S1 and M1 may contribute to the human ability to precisely interact with and manipulate the environment. Because electrophysiological evidence indicates that these connections may underpin long-term potentiation in M1, our findings may lead to novel therapeutic treatments for motor skill disorders
Feynman Rules for the Rational Part of the Standard Model One-loop Amplitudes in the 't Hooft-Veltman Scheme
We study Feynman rules for the rational part of the Standard Model
amplitudes at one-loop level in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme.
Comparing our results for quantum chromodynamics and electroweak 1-loop
amplitudes with that obtained based on the Kreimer-Korner-Schilcher (KKS)
scheme, we find the latter result can be recovered when our
scheme becomes identical (by setting in our expressions)
with the KKS scheme. As an independent check, we also calculate Feynman rules
obtained in the KKS scheme, finding our results in complete agreement with
formulae presented in the literature. Our results, which are studied in two
different schemes, may be useful for clarifying the
problem in dimensional regularization. They are helpful to eliminate or find
ambiguities arising from different dimensional regularization schemes.Comment: Version published in JHEP, presentation improved, 41 pages, 10
figure
Automation of one-loop QCD corrections
We present the complete automation of the computation of one-loop QCD
corrections, including UV renormalization, to an arbitrary scattering process
in the Standard Model. This is achieved by embedding the OPP integrand
reduction technique, as implemented in CutTools, into the MadGraph framework.
By interfacing the tool so constructed, which we dub MadLoop, with MadFKS, the
fully automatic computation of any infrared-safe observable at the
next-to-leading order in QCD is attained. We demonstrate the flexibility and
the reach of our method by calculating the production rates for a variety of
processes at the 7 TeV LHC.Comment: 64 pages, 12 figures. Corrected the value of m_Z in table 1. In table
2, corrected the values of cross sections in a.4 and a.5 (previously computed
with mu=mtop/2 rather than mu=mtop/4). In table 2, corrected the values of
NLO cross sections in b.3, b.6, c.3, and e.7 (the symmetry factor for a few
virtual channels was incorrect). In sect. A.4.3, the labeling of the
four-momenta was incorrec
Prompt atmospheric neutrino fluxes: perturbative QCD models and nuclear effects
We evaluate the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux at high energies using three
different frameworks for calculating the heavy quark production cross section
in QCD: NLO perturbative QCD, factorization including low-
resummation, and the dipole model including parton saturation. We use QCD
parameters, the value for the charm quark mass and the range for the
factorization and renormalization scales that provide the best description of
the total charm cross section measured at fixed target experiments, at RHIC and
at LHC. Using these parameters we calculate differential cross sections for
charm and bottom production and compare with the latest data on forward charm
meson production from LHCb at TeV and at TeV, finding good agreement
with the data. In addition, we investigate the role of nuclear shadowing by
including nuclear parton distribution functions (PDF) for the target air
nucleus using two different nuclear PDF schemes. Depending on the scheme used,
we find the reduction of the flux due to nuclear effects varies from to
at the highest energies. Finally, we compare our results with the
IceCube limit on the prompt neutrino flux, which is already providing valuable
information about some of the QCD models.Comment: 61 pages, 25 figures, 11 table
Scattering AMplitudes from Unitarity-based Reduction Algorithm at the Integrand-level
SAMURAI is a tool for the automated numerical evaluation of one-loop
corrections to any scattering amplitudes within the dimensional-regularization
scheme. It is based on the decomposition of the integrand according to the
OPP-approach, extended to accommodate an implementation of the generalized
d-dimensional unitarity-cuts technique, and uses a polynomial interpolation
exploiting the Discrete Fourier Transform. SAMURAI can process integrands
written either as numerator of Feynman diagrams or as product of tree-level
amplitudes. We discuss some applications, among which the 6- and 8-photon
scattering in QED, and the 6-quark scattering in QCD. SAMURAI has been
implemented as a Fortran90 library, publicly available, and it could be a
useful module for the systematic evaluation of the virtual corrections oriented
towards automating next-to-leading order calculations relevant for the LHC
phenomenology.Comment: 35 pages, 7 figure
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