281 research outputs found
Study of Plasma-Induced Surface Active Oxygen on Zeolite-Supported Silver Nanoparticles
Maca (L. meyenii) for improving sexual function: a systematic review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Maca (<it>Lepidium meyenii</it>) is an Andean plant of the brassica (mustard) family. Preparations from maca root have been reported to improve sexual function. The aim of this review was to assess the clinical evidence for or against the effectiveness of the maca plant as a treatment for sexual dysfunction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We searched 17 databases from their inception to April 2010 and included all randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of any type of maca <it/>compared to a placebo for the treatment of healthy people or human patients with sexual dysfunction. The risk of bias for each study was assessed using Cochrane criteria, and statistical pooling of data was performed where possible. The selection of studies, data extraction, and validations were performed independently by two authors. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion by the two authors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four RCTs met all the inclusion criteria. Two RCTs suggested a significant positive effect of maca on sexual dysfunction or sexual desire in healthy menopausal women or healthy adult men, respectively, while the other RCT failed to show any effects in healthy cyclists. The further RCT assessed the effects of maca in patients with erectile dysfunction using the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction-5 and showed significant effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of our systematic review provide limited evidence for the effectiveness of maca in improving sexual function. However, the total number of trials, the total sample size, and the average methodological quality of the primary studies were too limited to draw firm conclusions. More rigorous studies are warranted.</p
Emergence of Bursts and Communities in Evolving Weighted Networks
Understanding the patterns of human dynamics and social interaction, and the
way they lead to the formation of an organized and functional society are
important issues especially for techno-social development. Addressing these
issues of social networks has recently become possible through large scale data
analysis of e.g. mobile phone call records, which has revealed the existence of
modular or community structure with many links between nodes of the same
community and relatively few links between nodes of different communities. The
weights of links, e.g. the number of calls between two users, and the network
topology are found correlated such that intra-community links are stronger
compared to the weak inter-community links. This is known as Granovetter's "The
strength of weak ties" hypothesis. In addition to this inhomogeneous community
structure, the temporal patterns of human dynamics turn out to be inhomogeneous
or bursty, characterized by the heavy tailed distribution of inter-event time
between two consecutive events. In this paper, we study how the community
structure and the bursty dynamics emerge together in an evolving weighted
network model. The principal mechanisms behind these patterns are social
interaction by cyclic closure, i.e. links to friends of friends and the focal
closure, i.e. links to individuals sharing similar attributes or interests, and
human dynamics by task handling process. These three mechanisms have been
implemented as a network model with local attachment, global attachment, and
priority-based queuing processes. By comprehensive numerical simulations we
show that the interplay of these mechanisms leads to the emergence of heavy
tailed inter-event time distribution and the evolution of Granovetter-type
community structure. Moreover, the numerical results are found to be in
qualitative agreement with empirical results from mobile phone call dataset.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
LCâMS-based absolute metabolite quantification:Application to metabolic flux measurement in trypanosomes
Human African trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei. In the mammalian bloodstream, the trypanosomeâs metabolism differs significantly from that of its host. For example, the parasite relies exclusively on glycolysis for energy source. Recently, computational and mathematical models of trypanosome metabolism have been generated to assist in understanding the parasite metabolism with the aim of facilitating drug development. Optimisation of these models requires quantitative information, including metabolite concentrations and/or metabolic fluxes that have been hitherto unavailable on a large scale. Here, we have implemented an LCâMS-based method that allows large scale quantification of metabolite levels by using U-13C-labelled E. coli extracts as internal standards. Known amounts of labelled E. coli extract were added into the parasite samples, as well as calibration standards, and used to obtain calibration curves enabling us to convert intensities into concentrations. This method allowed us to reliably quantify the changes of 43 intracellular metabolites and 32 extracellular metabolites in the medium over time. Based on the absolute quantification, we were able to compute consumption and production fluxes. These quantitative data can now be used to optimise computational models of parasite metabolism
LAP2 Is Widely Overexpressed in Diverse Digestive Tract Cancers and Regulates Motility of Cancer Cells
BACKGROUND: Lamina-associated polypeptides 2 (LAP2) is a nuclear protein that connects the nuclear lamina with chromatin. Although its critical roles in genetic disorders and hematopoietic malignancies have been described, its expression and roles in digestive tract cancers have been poorly characterized. METHODS: To examine the expression of LAP2 in patient tissues, we performed immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. To examine motility of cancer cells, we employed Boyden chamber, wound healing and Matrigel invasion assays. To reveal its roles in metastasis in vivo, we used a liver metastasis xenograft model. To investigate the underlying mechanism, a cDNA microarray was conducted. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry in patient tissues showed widespread expression of LAP2 in diverse digestive tract cancers including stomach, pancreas, liver, and bile duct cancers. Real-time PCR confirmed that LAP2ÎČ is over-expressed in gastric cancer tissues. Knockdown of LAP2ÎČ did not affect proliferation of most digestive tract cancer cells except pancreatic cancer cells. However, knockdown of LAP2ÎČ decreased motility of all tested cancer cells. Moreover, overexpression of LAP2ÎČ increased motility of gastric and pancreatic cancer cells. In the liver metastasis xenograft model, LAP2ÎČ increased metastatic efficacy of gastric cancer cells and mortality in tested mice. cDNA microarrays showed the possibility that myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS) and interleukin6 (IL6) may mediate LAP2ÎČ-regulated motility of cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: From the above results, we conclude that LAP2 is widely overexpressed in diverse digestive tract cancers and LAP2ÎČ regulates motility of cancer cells and suggest that LAP2ÎČ may have utility for diagnostics and therapeutics in digestive tract cancers
A window into fungal endophytism in Salicornia europaea: deciphering fungal characteristics as plant growth promoting agents
Aim Plant-endophytic associations exist only when equilibrium is maintained between both partners. This study analyses the properties of endophytic fungi
inhabiting a halophyte growing in high soil salinity and tests whether these fungi are beneficial or detrimental when non-host plants are inoculated.
Method Fungi were isolated from Salicornia europaea collected from two sites differing in salinization history (anthropogenic and naturally saline) and analyzed for plant growth promoting abilities and non-host plant interactions.
Results Most isolated fungi belonged to Ascomycota (96%) including dematiaceous fungi and commonly known plant pathogens and saprobes. The strains were
metabolically active for siderophores, polyamines and indole-3-acetic acid (mainly Aureobasidium sp.) with very low activity for phosphatases. Many showed proteolytic, lipolytic, chitinolytic, cellulolytic and amylolytic activities but low pectolytic activity. Different activities between similar fungal species found in both sites were particularly seen for Epiccocum sp., Arthrinium sp. and
Trichoderma sp. Inoculating the non-host Lolium perenne with selected fungi increased plant growth, mainly in the symbiont (Epichloë)-free variety.
Arthrinium gamsii CR1-9 and Stereum gausapatum ISK3-11 were most effective for plant growth promotion.
Conclusions This research suggests that host lifestyle and soil characteristics have a strong effect on endophytic fungi, and environmental stress could disturb the
plant-fungi relations. In favourable conditions, these fungi may be effective in facilitating crop production in non-cultivable saline lands
Conditional survival analysis in Korean patients with gastric cancer undergoing curative gastrectomy
Terminal dribbling in male patients with lower urinary tract symptoms: relationship with International Prostate Symptom Score and with intravesical prostatic protrusion
- âŠ