The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Adipokine Secretion

Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (AFLD) is caused by excessive alcohol consumption and is a leading cause of liver related mortalities, with currently no treatments available. The goal of this project was to establish the effect of alcohol consumption on adipose tissue-derived secreted factors, adiponectin and C1q TNF Related Proteins 1-3 (CTRP1-3). We propose that excessive alcohol consumption will reduce circulating levels of adiponectin and CTRPs 1-3. Mice were fed a Lieber-Decarli control or alcohol diet for 10-days with a gavage (NIAAA model) or 6-weeks with no gavage (chronic model). Serum and adipose tissue were collected and CTRPs 1-3 and adiponectin levels were examined by immunoblot analysis. Our results indicate that long-term alcohol consumption effects adipokine secretion in a sex specific manner. Further research will be needed to explore the physiological relevance of these findings, to determine if these changes are beneficial to combat the negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption

North Dakota by Clinton DeGroat, First UND Commencement: June 13, 1889

Text of the speech delivered by Clinton DeGroat, a member of the first graduating class, at the first UND Commencement on June 13, 1889. DeGroat entitled his remarks: North Dakota. (Text reprinted from the Grand Forks Daily Herald (evening edition), June 13, 1889.

Selective disinfection based on directional ultraviolet irradiation and artificial intelligence

Ultraviolet disinfection has been proven to be effective for surface sanitation. Traditional ultraviolet disinfection systems generate omnidirectional radiation, which introduces safety concerns regarding human exposure. Large scale disinfection must be performed without humans present, which limits the time efficiency of disinfection. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a targeted ultraviolet disinfection system using a combination of robotics, lasers, and deep learning. The system uses a laser-galvo and a camera mounted on a two-axis gimbal running a custom deep learning algorithm. This allows ultraviolet radiation to be applied to any surface in the room where it is mounted, and the algorithm ensures that the laser targets the desired surfaces avoids others such as humans. Both the laser-galvo and the deep learning algorithm were tested for targeted disinfection

The Sex Specific Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Circulating Levels of CTRP3

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The goal of this project was to establish the effect of alcohol consumption on the circulating levels of the adipose tissue derived protein C1q TNF Related Protein 3 (CTRP3). Adipose tissue secretes several adipokines, such as adiponectin and leptin, which exert a multitude of biological effects important for human health. However, adipose tissue is extremely sensitive to alcohol consumption, leading not only to disrupted fat storage, but also to disruptions in adipokine production. Changes to adipokine secretion could have widespread biological effects and potentially contribute to alcohol-induced ailments, such as alcoholic fatty liver disease (ALD). CTRP3 has been previously demonstrated to attenuate fatty liver disease, and suppression of CTRP3 with alcohol consumption could contribute to development of and progression to alcoholic fatty liver disease. To examine the effect of ethanol consumption on circulating adipokine levels, male and female mice were fed an ethanol containing diet (Lieber- DeCarli 5% (v/v) ethanol diet) for 10-days followed by a single gavage of 5 g/kg ethanol (the NIAAA model), or for 6-weeks with no binge added (chronic model). In female mice, adiponectin levels increased ~2-fold in both models of ethanol feeding, but in male mice increased adiponectin levels were only observed after chronic ethanol feeding. On the other hand, in female mice, circulating CTRP3 levels decreased by ~75% and ~50% in the NIAAA and chronic model, respectively, with no changes observed in the male mice in either feeding model. Leptin levels were unchanged with ethanol feeding regardless of model or sex of mice. Lastly, chronic ethanol feeding led to a significant increase in mortality (~50%) in female mice, with no difference in relative ethanol consumption. These findings indicate that ethanol consumption can dysregulate adipokine secretion, but that the effects vary by sex of animal, method of ethanol consumption, and adipokine examined. These findings also indicate that female mice are more sensitive to the chronic effects of ethanol than male mice. Notably, this is the first study to document the effects of ethanol consumption on the circulating levels of CTRP3. Understanding the impact of excessive alcohol consumption on adipokine production and secretion could identify novel mechanisms of alcohol-induced human disease. However, the mechanism responsible for the increased sensitivity remains elusive