Effects of 24-week treatment with acarbose on glucagon-like peptide 1 in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients: a preliminary report

BACKGROUND: Treatment with the alpha-glucosidase inhibitor (AGI) acarbose is associated with a significant reduction the risk of cardiovascular events. However, the underlying mechanisms of this effect are unclear. AGIs were recently suggested to participate in stimulating glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) secretion. We therefore examined the effects of a 24-week treatment of acarbose on endogenous GLP-1, nitric oxide (NO) levels, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity, and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS: Blood was drawn from 24 subjects (14 male, 10 female, age: 50.7 ± 7.36 years, BMI: 26.64 ± 3.38 kg/m(2), GHbA1c: 7.00 ± 0.74%) with drug-naïve T2D at 0 and 120 min following a standard mixed meal for the measurements of active GLP-1, NO and NOS. The CIMT was measured prior to and following 24 weeks of acarbose monotherapy (mean dose: 268 mg daily). RESULTS: Following 24 weeks of acarbose treatment, both fasting and postprandial plasma GLP-1 levels were increased. In patients with increased postprandial GLP-1 levels, serum NO levels and NOS activities were also significantly increased and were positively related to GLP-1 levels. Although the CIMT was not significantly altered following treatment with acarbose, a decreased CIMT was negatively correlated with increased GLP-1 levels. CONCLUSIONS: Twenty-four weeks of acarbose monotherapy in newly diagnosed patients with T2D is associated with significantly increased levels of both fasting and postprandial GLP-1 as well as significantly increased NO levels and NOS activity for those patients in whom postprandial GLP-1 levels were increased. Therefore, the benefits of acarbose on cardiovascular risk may be related to its stimulation of GLP-1 secretion

One-stage coclear implantation via a facial recess approach in children with otitis media with effusion

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate surgical indications, operative techniques, complications and auditory and speech rehabilitation for cochlear implant (CI) in children with otitis media with effusion (OME).Material and methodsThis is a retrospective review of records of 24children with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss and OME who were implanted during January 2011 to November 2014 in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at the PLA Hospital, using one-stage implantation via the facial recess approach and round window insertion. The incus was removed in 8 cases during the implantation procedure. Local infiltration of dexamethasone and adrenaline in the middle ear was also performed. Postoperative complications were examined. Preoperative and postoperative questionnaires including Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR), and the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS) were collected.ResultsAll electrodes were implanted successfully without any immediate or delayed complications. Inflammatory changes of middle ear mucosa with effusion were noted in all implanted ears. The scores of post-implant CAP and SIR increased significantly in all 24 cases (t = −25.95 and −14.09, respectively for CAP and SIR, p < 0.05).ConclusionsOne-stage CI via the facial recess approach with round window insertion is safe and effective in cochlear implant candidates with OME, as seen in the 24 children in our study who achieved improved auditory performance and speech intelligibility after CI

TECHNICAL NOTE - Isolation of simple sequence repeats from groundnut

SSRs have proved to be the most powerful tool for variety identification in groundnut of similar origin, and have much potential in genetic and breeding studies. To facilitate SSR discovery in groundnut, we proposed a highly simplified SSR isolation protocol based on multiple enzyme digestion/ligation, mixed biotin-labeled probes and streptavidin coated magnetic beads hybridization capture strategy. Of the 272 colonies randomly picked for sequencing, 119 were found to have unique SSR inserts

Divergent Evolution of TRC Genes in Mammalian Niche Adaptation

Mammals inhabit a wide variety of ecological niches, which in turn can be affected by various ecological factors, especially in relation to immunity. The canonical TRC repertoire (TRAC, TRBC, TRGC, and TRDC) codes C regions of T cell receptor chains that form the primary antigen receptors involved in the activation of cellular immunity. At present, little is known about the correlation between the evolution of mammalian TRC genes and ecological factors. In this study, four types canonical of TRC genes were identified from 37 mammalian species. Phylogenetic comparative methods (phyANOVA and PGLS) and selective pressure analyses among different groups of ecological factors (habitat, diet, and sociality) were carried out. The results showed that habitat was the major ecological factor shaping mammalian TRC repertoires. Specifically, trade-off between TRGC numbers and positive selection of TRAC and the balanced evolutionary rates between TRAC and TRDC genes were speculated as two main mechanisms in adaption to habitat and sociality. Overall, our study suggested divergent mechanisms for the evolution of TRCs, prompting mammalian immunity adaptions within diverse niches

Integration of motion and form cues for the perception of self-motion in the human brain

When moving around in the world, the human visual system uses both motion and form information to estimate the direction of self-motion (i.e., heading). However, little is known about cortical areas in charge of this task. This brain-imaging study addressed this question by using visual stimuli consisting of randomly distributed dot pairs oriented toward a locus on a screen (the form-defined focus of expansion (FoE)) but moved away from a different locus (the motion-defined FoE) to simulate observer translation. We first fixed the motion-defined FoE location and shifted the form-defined FoE location. We then made the locations of the motion- and the form-defined FoEs either congruent (at the same location in the display) or incongruent (on the opposite sides of the display). The motion- or the form-defined FoE shift was the same in the two types of stimuli but the perceived heading direction shifted for the congruent but not the incongruent stimuli. Participants (both sexes) made a task-irrelevant (contrast discrimination) judgment during scanning. Searchlight and region-of-interest based multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed that early visual areas V1, V2, and V3 responded to either the motion- or the form-defined FoE shift. After V3, only the dorsal areas V3a and V3B/KO responded to such shifts. Furthermore, area V3B/KO shows a highly significant higher decoding accuracy for the congruent than the incongruent stimuli. Our results provide direct evidence showing area V3B/KO does not simply respond to motion and form cues but integrate these two cues for the perception of heading. Human survival relies on accurate perception of self-motion. The visual system uses both motion (optic flow) and form cues for the perception of the direction of self-motion (heading). Although human brain areas for processing optic flow and form structure are well identified, the areas responsible for integrating these two cues for the perception of self-motion remain unknown. We conducted fMRI experiments and used MVPA analysis technique to find human brain areas that can decode the shift in heading specified by each cue alone and the two cues combined. We found that motion and form information are first processed in the early visual areas and then are likely integrated in the higher dorsal area V3B/KO for the final estimation of heading

Preparation of Ag/HBP/PAN Nanofiber Web and Its Antimicrobial and Filtration Property

To widen the application of nanofibers web in the field of medical health materials, a new Ag/amino-terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber web with excellent antimicrobial activity and filtration property was produced with Ag/HBP dispersion solution and PAN nanofiber. Ag/HBP dispersion solution was prepared with HBP as reducer and stabilizer, and Ag/HBP/PAN nanofiber was prepared by modifying electrospun PAN nanofiber with Ag/HBP aqueous solution. The characterization results showed that spherical Ag nanoparticles were prepared and they had a narrow distribution in HBP aqueous solution. The results of Ag/HBP/PAN nanofiber characterized with SEM and EDS showed that the content of silver nanoparticles on the surface of PAN nanofiber was on the increase when the treating temperature rose. The bacterial reduction rates of HBP-treated PAN nanofiber against S. aureus and E. coli were about 89%, while those of the Ag/HBP/PAN nanofiber against S. aureus and E. coli were 99.9% and 99.96%, respectively, due to the cooperative effects from the amino groups in HBP and Ag nanoparticles. Moreover, the small pores and high porosity in Ag/HBP/PAN nanofiber web resulted in high filtration efficiency (99.9%) for removing smaller particles (0.1 μm~0.7 μm), which was much higher than that of the gauze mask