Effect of ankle taping on the ankle muscle strength in young healthy women

Of the various approaches to manage or prevent injuries on the ankle joint, Kinesio taping improves static posture stability, stimulating the neuromuscular control system. This study aims to investigate of ankle taping on the peak torque and average power of ankle muscle in young heathy women. Taping was applied to the extensor digitorum, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, soleus of the ankle in 16 healthy women. Isokinetic measurement of the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion patterns were recorded before and after taping. As a result of this study, the pre-post isokinetic parameters improved significantly for plantarflexion (p<0.05) while those for dorsiflexion did not. Through this study, it was found out that ankle taping improved the muscle power of the plantarflexor of young healthy women, and it is expected that applying ankle taping would help young healthy women

In vitro antibacterial and synergistic effect of phlorotannins isolated from edible brown seaweed Eisenia bicyclis against acne-related bacteria

To develop effective and safe acne vulgaris therapies with a continuing demand for new solutions, we investigated unique efficacy of an antibacterial agent from marine brown alga Eisenia bicyclis in treating acne vulgaris. The methanolic extract of E. bicyclis exhibited potential antibacterial activity against acne-related bacteria. The ethyl acetate fraction showed the strongest antibacterial activity against the bacteria among solvent fractions. Six compounds (1-6), previously isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of E. bicyclis, were evaluated for antibacterial activity against acne-related bacteria. Among them, compound 2 (fucofuroeckol-A [FF]) exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against acne-related bacteria with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 32 to 128 μg mL -1 . Furthermore, FF clearly reversed the high-level erythromycin and lincomycin resistance of Propionibacterium acnes. The MIC values of erythromycin against P. acnes were dramatically reduced from 2,048 to 1.0 μg mL -1 in combination with MIC of FF (64 μg mL -1 ). The fractional inhibitory concentration indices of erythromycin and lincomycin were measured from 0.500 to 0.751 in combination with 32 or 64 μg mL -1 of FF against all tested P. acnes strains, suggesting that FF-erythromycin and FF-lincomycin combinations exert a weak synergistic effect against P. acnes. The results of this study suggest that the compounds derived from E. bicyclis can be a potential source of natural antibacterial agents and a pharmaceutical component against acnerelated bacteria. Key Words: acne-related bacteria; antimicrobial activity; Eisenia bicyclis; phlorotannins; synergistic effect INTRODUCTION Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease affecting children and adolescents. The pathogenesis of acne is multifactorial and complex. There are four important factors that cause acne in humans, such as an increase in sebum secretion, keratinization of the follicle, bacteria, and inflammation 48 MATERIALS AND METHODS Raw materials and extraction In late September 2010, E. bicyclis was purchased from Ulleung Trading Co. (Ulleung-gun, Korea). A voucher specimen has been deposited in the author&apos;s laboratory. Dried E. bicyclis was finely ground and powdered with a food mixer (HMF-1000A; Hanil Electronics, Seoul, Korea). The dried powder was vacuum-packed and kept at -20°C until use. The dried E. bicyclis powder (1.0 kg) was extracted with methanol (MeOH; 10 L × 3) at 70°C for 3 h (3 times) and the solvent was evaporated in vacuo with a rotary evaporator (N-1001S-W; Eyela, Tokyo, Japan). The crude MeOH extract of E. bicyclis was suspended in 10% MeOH (1.0 L) and then partitioned in turn with nhexane (Hexane), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol (BuOH) in sequence. The concentration of each extract was adjusted to 200 mg mL -1 by dissolving in dimethyl sulfoxide under sterile conditions and stored at -70°C until used. Microorganism and culture The following bacterial strains obtained from the Korean Collection for Type Cultures (KCTC; Daejeon, Korea) were used as indicator microorganisms in the study: P. acnes (KCTC 3314), S. aureus (KCTC 1927), S. epidermidis (KCTC 1370), P. aeruginosa (KCTC 1637), which were used for evaluation of anti-acne-related bacterial effect. Two strains of P. acnes clinical isolates were provided by the Gyeongsang National University Hospital (Jinju, Korea), a member of the National Biobank of Korea. P. acnes strains were anaerobically cultivated in brain heart infusion broth (BHI; Difco Inc., Detroit, MI, USA) supplemented with 1.0% glucose, and incubated at 37°C for 24 h in a CO 2 incubator (NAPCO 5400; General Laboratory Supply, Pasadena, TX, USA), in a 10% CO 2 humidified atmosphere. As for determining the growth curves of bacterial cells under optimal growth conditions, cultures of P. acnes were diluted and plated on BHI-agar. The plates were incubated at 37°C for 24 h in a 10% CO 2 incubator and the number of colony-forming units (CFU) was determined. S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and P. aeruginosa were grown aerobically at 37°C in tryptic soy broth (TSB; Difco Inc.). The disk diffusion assay was prepared in Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA; Difco Inc.) and the broth dilution method was carried out in Mueller-Hinton broth (MHB; Difco Inc.) according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines (formerly been recognized as pus-forming organisms that trigger inflammation in acne. Especially, P. acnes, one of the commonly isolated skin organisms, induces an inflammation of the sebaceous glands in human face, neck, chest or back To overcome the problem of side effects, medicinal plants and marine organisms have been investigated for the treatment of acne. Therefore, we investigated the possibility that they may be effective acne treatments based on the previously known anti-methicillin-resistant S. aureus effects of phlorotannin isolated from brown alga Eisenia bicyclis. E. bicyclis is a common perennial phaeophyceae (brown alga) and generally inhabits the region of Ulleung Island in the East sea of Korea. This seaweed has been added to appetizers, casseroles, muffins, pilafs, and soups Lee et al. Antibacterial Activities of Eisenia bicyclis 49 http://e-algae.kr Synergistic effects of fucofuroeckol-A (FF) with tetracycline, erythromycin, and lincomycin against Propionibacterium acnes The interaction between FF and antibiotics including tetracycline, erythromycin, and lincomycin (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO, USA) against P. acnes was tested by the checkerboard method Statistical analysis In all cases analyses were performed in triplicate and data were averaged over the three measurements. The standard deviation (SD) was also calculated. Significance of differences between average MICs for each individual microorganism were determined by Student&apos;s t test at the 95% significance level using SPSS version 12.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS Anti-acne related bacteria activity of Eisenia bicyclis extracts The antibacterial activity of methanol extract and its solvent fractions are presented in National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards [NCCLS]). Disk diffusion assay The antibacterial efficacy was evaluated by disk diffusion assay described by the CLSI (2009). In brief, bacterial strains were cultured in TSB at 37°C until cells reached at an OD 600 nm of 0.5. One hundred microliter of bacterial culture containing approximately 10 4 -10 5 CFU mL -1 was spread on MHA agar plates. A paper disc (6 mm in diameter) containing 1 mg and 5 mg of each extract was placed in the above MHA plate. After incubating for 24 h at 37°C, the diameter of the inhibition zone was measured on bacterial culture plates. The experiment was carried out three times and the mean values were presented. Determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) The concentration of MeOH extract and its solvent fractions of E. bicyclis was 200 mg mL -1 . Each extracts was diluted with MHB to obtain a stock solution of 2,048 μg mL -1 . To determine the MIC values of the MeOH extract and its solvent fractions of E. bicyclis, a stock solution of extracts was prepared in microbial culture medium for each microbial species. The MICs are the lowest concentration of MeOH extracts and its solvent fraction of E. bicyclis to inhibit the visible growth of microorganisms after overnight incubation using MHB, which was modified from the methods described for antimicrobial susceptibility testing by the CLSI (2006). MIC was defined as the lowest concentration of crude extract that inhibited the visual growth after incubating the aerobic bacteria for 18 h and the anaerobic bacteria for 48 h. MICs of the solvent-soluble extracts were determined by the two-fold serial dilution method in 96-well flat-bottomed microtitration plates at final concentration of 7 × 10 5 CFU mL -1 . The microtitration plates were read visually and the MIC of the extracts that exhibited no turbidity was recorded as the MIC. For MBC testing, an aliquot of inoculum was taken with a MIC test well that did not show turbidity, and was poured onto nutrient agar (Difco Inc.) plates for each bacterial species. The agar plates were incubated for 2 days for aerobic bacteria and 5 days for anaerobic bacteria. The MBC value was read as the lowest concentration of the solvent-soluble extracts at which 99.99% or more of the initial inoculum was killed. The MIC and MBC experiments were repeated in triplicate. 50 food-pathogen bacteria. The MBC values of EtOAc-soluble fraction against P. acnes strains were determined from 128 to 512 μg mL -1 MIC value of isolated phlorotannins from Eisenia bicyclis According to above results, the EtOAc-soluble fraction of E. bicyclis showed the strongest antibacterial activity against acne-related bacteria. In order to identify an anti-acne substance from the EtOAc-soluble fractions of E. bicyclis, we screened the antibacterial activity of previously isolated phlorotannins against acne-related bacteria. It is reported that marine-derived polyphenols (phlorotannins) are believed as the active components of E. bicycli

Identification of Inhibitor Binding Site in Human Sirtuin 2 Using Molecular Docking and Dynamics Simulations

The ability to identify the site of a protein that can bind with high affinity to small, drug-like compounds has been an important goal in drug design. Sirtuin 2 (SIRT2), histone deacetylase protein family, plays a central role in the regulation of various pathways. Hence, identification of drug for SIRT2 has attracted great interest in the drug discovery community. To elucidate the molecular basis of the small molecules interactions to inhibit the SIRT2 function we employed the molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and the molecular mechanism Poisson-Boltzmann/surface area (MM-PBSA) calculations. Five well know inhibitors such as suramin, mol-6, sirtinol, 67, and nf675 were selected to establish the nature of the binding mode of the inhibitors in the SIRT2 active site. The molecular docking and dynamics simulations results revealed that the hydrogen bonds between Arg97 and Gln167 are crucial to inhibit the function of SIRT2. In addition, the MM-PBSA calculations revealed that binding of inhibitors to SIRT2 is mainly driven by van der Waals/non-polar interactions. Although the five inhibitors are very different in structure, shape, and electrostatic potential, they are able to fit in the same bindingpocket. These findings from this study provide insights to elucidate the binding pattern of SIRT2 inhibitors and help in the rational structure-based design of novel SIRT2 inhibitors with improved potency and better resistance profile