C-Reactive Protein Promotes Diabetic Kidney Disease in db/db Mice via the CD32b-Smad3-mTOR signaling Pathway

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Bardoxolone methyl prevents mesenteric fat deposition and inflammation in high-fat diet mice

Mesenteric fat belongs to visceral fat. An increased deposition of mesenteric fat contributes to obesity associated complications such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. We have investigated the therapeutic effects of bardoxolone methyl (BARD) on mesenteric adipose tissue of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Male C57BL/6J mice were administered oral BARD during HFD feeding (HFD/BARD), only fed a high-fat diet (HFD), or fed low-fat diet (LFD) for 21 weeks. Histology and immunohistochemistry were used to analyse mesenteric morphology and macrophages, while Western blot was used to assess the expression of inflammatory, oxidative stress, and energy expenditure proteins. Supplementation of drinking water with BARD prevented mesenteric fat deposition, as determined by a reduction in large adipocytes. BARD prevented inflammation as there were fewer inflammatory macrophages and reduced proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1 beta and tumour necrosis factor alpha). BARD reduced the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and Akt, suggesting an antioxidative stress effect. BARD upregulates energy expenditure proteins, judged by the increased activity of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) proteins. Overall, BARD induces preventive effect in HFD mice through regulation of mesenteric adipose tissue. © 2015 Chi H. L. Dinh et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

The effect of organization tenure on co-workers cooperative behavior and job burnout

2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Effects of L-arginine on intestinal development and endogenous arginine-synthesizing enzymes in neonatal pigs

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary L-arginine supplementation on the intestinal development of neonatal piglets and the underlying mechanisms. 36 neonatal piglets were randomly allocated into three diet groups: control group (supplemented with 0% L-arginine), 0.4 and 0.8% Larginine groups. When compared with the control, dietary supplementation with L-arginine decreased (P<0.05) blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and improved (P<0.05) serum T3 and insulin level of the piglets on day 11. Arginine and its metabolites (citrulline and ornithine) were elevated, additionally, dietary supplementation with 0.8% L-arginine markedly enhanced jejunal villus height, villus area on day 11 and D-xylose absorption rate on day 19. Dietary supplementation with 0.8% L-arginine increased (P<0.05) activities of maltose and lactose on day 18, respectively. This effect correlated with profound change in enzyme activities as inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS), glutamine synthetase (GS) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) were elevated on day 18. The concentrations of spermine was increased (P<0.05) by L-arginine supplementation on day 18. These results collectively suggest that dietary  Larginine supplementation improves protein synthesis and intestinal development of the neonatal pigs, the underlying mechanism includes dietary L-arginine supplementation which regulated the productions of intestinal polyamine in jejunum, and stimulated endogenous arginine-synthesizing enzymes in neonatal piglets.Key words: Neonatal pig, L-arginine, intestinal development, arginine-synthetases

Dual pulse shaping transmission with complementary nyquist pulses

© 2019 IEEE. The concept of complementary Nyquist pulse is introduced in this paper. Making use of a half rate Nyquist pulse and its complementary one, a dual pulse shaping transmission scheme is proposed, which achieves full Nyquist rate transmission with only a half of the sampling rate required by conventional Nyquist pulse shaping. This is essential for realizing high-speed digital communication systems with available and affordable data conversion devices. The condition for cross-symbol interference free transmission with the proposed dual pulse shaping is proved in theory, and two classes of ideal complementary Nyquist pulses are formulated assuming raised-cosine pulse shaping. Simulation results are also presented to demonstrate the improved spectral efficiency with dual pulse shaping and compare other system performance against conventional Nyquist pulse shaping

Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the risk of heart failure

Aims: Adequate intake of long-chain (LC) omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) is considered important for cardiovascular health. However, the effects of LC n-3 PUFAs on the risk of heart failure (HF) remain unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the role of LC n-3 PUFAs in the incidence of HF. Materials and Methods: Electronic databases were searched for studies up to 31 July 2021. Studies were included for the meta-analysis if they reported the adjusted associations between different dietary intakes or circulating concentrations of LC n-3 PUFAs and the risk of HF. A random-effect model was used to calculate the pooled estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for higher LC n-3 PUFA concentrations. Results: Thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Eight studies comprising 316,698 individuals (11,244 incident HF cases), with a median follow-up of 10.7 years, showed that a higher dietary intake of LC n-3 PUFAs was associated with a lower risk of HF (highest versus lowest quintile: HR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.75–0.94). Six studies, comprising 17,163 participants (2520 HF cases) with a median follow-up of 9.7 years, showed that higher circulating LC n-3 PUFA concentrations were associated with a lower risk of HF (highest versus lowest quintile: HR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.39–0.91). Higher circulating docosahexaenoic acid concentrations were associated with a decreased risk of HF (top versus bottom quintile: HR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.26–0.77). The associations between eicosapentaenoic acid (HR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.26–1.25), docosahexaenoic acid (HR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.24–1.82), and the risk of HF were not significant. Conclusion: High LC n-3 PUFA concentrations measured by dietary intake or circulating biomarkers are associated with a lower risk of developing HF

Central inflammation and leptin resistance are attenuated by ginsenoside Rb1 treatment in obese mice fed a high-fat diet

A low-grade pro-inflammatory state is at the pathogenic core of obesity and type 2 diabetes. We tested the hypothesis that the plant terpenoid compound ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1), known to exert anti-inflammatory effects, would ameliorate obesity, obesity-associated inflammation and glucose intolerance in the high-fat diet-induced obese mouse model. Furthermore, we examined the effect of Rb1 treatment on central leptin sensitivity and the leptin signaling pathway in the hypothalamus. We found that intraperitoneal injections of Rb1 (14 mg/kg, daily) for 21 days significantly reduced body weight gain, fat mass accumulation, and improved glucose tolerance in obese mice on a HF diet compared to vehicle treatment. Importantly, Rb1 treatment also reduced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and/or IL-1β) and NF-κB pathway molecules (p-IKK and p-IκBα) in adipose tissue and liver. In the hypothalamus, Rb1 treatment decreased the expression of inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-1β and p-IKK) and negative regulators of leptin signaling (SOCS3 and PTP1B). Furthermore, Rb1 treatment also restored the anorexic effect of leptin in high-fat fed mice as well as leptin pSTAT3 signaling in the hypothalamus. Ginsenoside Rb1 has potential for use as an anti-obesity therapeutic agent that modulates obesity-induced inflammation and improves central leptin sensitivity in HF diet-induced obesity. © 2014 Public Library of ScienceAcquired from the Public Library of Science. 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. 2014 Wu et al