Evaluation of anti-hyperglycemic activities of phloridzin in diabetic mice

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the hypoglycemic effects of Phloridzin.Methods and Materials: High fat diet induced diabetic KKAy mice were administered with phloridzin at an oral dose (60 mg/kg/day, ig.) for 10 weeks. A range of parameters, including blood glucose and lipid, serum insulin, glucose tolerance, were tested to evaluate its anti-hyperglycemic effects.Results: Phloridzin decreased water-intake, body weight, FBG, FINS, HOME-IR, Serum leptin, and CRP levels, increased serum adiponectin level in diabetic mice. Phloridzin also improved the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to a certain degree. In addition, phloridzin decreased liver index, and epididymal, perirenal white adipose tissue indexs, increased pancreas index in diabetic mice. At last, phloridzin increased hepatic GK activity and hepatic glycogen level, decreased hepatic PEPCK, G-6-Pase activities in diabetic mice.Conclusions: Phloridzin possessed anti-hyperglycemic activities.Keywords: Diabetes, Phloridzin, FBG, Insulin resistance, Area under curv

An experimental study on biased cognitive processing in accidentally injured patients with different posttraumatic growth levels

Background: Various studies have assessed the negative and/or positive changes in the aftermath of traumatic events. Accidental injuries (such as accidents, injuries, etc.), for its high incidence and disability rate, is easy to cause serious psychological problems and hinder the physical and psychological rehabilitation of the patients.Material and Methods: To explore the characteristics of attention bias in accidentally injured patients with different levels of Posttraumatic growth (PTG), total score of PTG was adopted to screen out 15 high-PTG group and low-PTG group respectively among accidentally injured patients. Dot probe task was used with positive, negative and neutral facial expression pictures as experimental materials. An experimental design of 2 (facial expression: positive and negative)×2 (consistency of probe point and facial expression: consistent and inconsistent)×2 (PTG level: high and low) was employed.Results: Patients with low PTG level had attention bias toward the negative emotional stimuli, and difficulty in distraction from the negative emotional pictures. The value of D and DI were both significantly greater than 0 (p<0.05). Patients with high PTG level did not demonstrate significant attention bias toward positive or negative emotional stimuli. The responding time of patients with high PTG level was significantly shorter than that in patients with low PTG level in the incongruent task (p<0.05).Conclusion: There are different characteristics of implicit cognitive processing in patients with different level of PTG, suggesting the necessity of psychological intervention on the accidentally injured patients.Keywords: Accidentally injured patients; Posttraumatic growth; Attention bias; Dot probe tas

Effects of Tai Chi on telomerase activity and gerotranscendence in middle aged and elderly adults in Chinese society

AbstractIntroductionTelomeres are DNA protein structures at the end of chromosomes and are linked to the physical aging process. The improvement of quality of life is closely associated with aerobic exercise, and the dynamic effects of exercise on physiology and psychology are evident with aging. Tai Chi is popularly practiced in China. However, findings on the effects of Tai Chi on telomerase activity (TA) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and gerotranscendence (GT), as well as the association of TA and GT with Tai Chi, have been inconsistent.PurposeThis study aims to assess TA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, GT, and the associations between them. The associations among these variables are determined during six months of Tai Chi intervention among Chinese middle aged and elderly adults.MethodsTA assessment was obtained by TE-ELISA (human telomerase–enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), and GT was measured at the baseline level after six months of Tai Chi intervention.ResultsTA increased significantly in the Tai Chi group from 23.75 ± 3.78 u/mmol (pre-intervention) to 26.31 ± 2.93 u/mmol (after 6 months) (p < 0.05). Compared with the TA in the control group, the TA in the intervention group was statistically significant after six months (p < 0.05). Compared with the GT in the control group, the GT in the intervention group improved significantly after six months (p < 0.05). TA and GT had a positive correlation (r = 0.325, p < 0.01).ConclusionOur data illustrated that Tai Chi had a protective effect on TA and might improve the GT in Chinese middle aged and elderly adults. The TA increased with the increasing GT in Chinese middle aged and elderly adults

Aplikasi Image Thresholding Untuk Segmentasi Objek

Salah satu operasi di dalam analisis citra adalah segmentasi citra, yaitu memisahkan objek dari latar belakangnya atau dari objek lain yang tidak menjadi perhatian. Metode sementasi yang sederhana adalah dengan operasi pengambangan (thresholding). Operasi pengambangan menghasilkan citra biner, yang dalam hal ini objek yang diacu di-set berwarna putih sedangkan latar belakangnya di-set berwarna hitam (atau sebaliknya bergantung kasusnya). Makalah ini mempresentasikan penggunaan operasi pengambangan untuk melakukan segmentasi objek. Eksperimen dilakukan dengan menggunakan kakas MATLAB. Hasil eksperimen memperlihatkan bahwa pemilihan nilai ambang (threshold) yang tepat sangat menentukan keberhasilan segmentasi

catena-Poly[[aqua­(5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine-κ2 N,N′)copper(II)]-μ-2,2′-oxydibenzoato-κ2 O:O′]

In the title compound, [Cu(C14H8O5)(C12H12N2)(H2O)]n, the CuII ion is penta­coordinated in a square-pyramidal geometry. Two N atoms of the chelating 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dbp) ligand and two O atoms of two different 2,2′-oxydibenzoic (odb) ligands occupy the basal plane while the water O atom completes the square-pyramidal geometry at the apical site. The non-water N2O2 donor atoms are nearly coplanar, with a mean deviation from the least-squares plane of 0.0518 (11) Å and the Cu atom is displaced by 0.1507 (11) Å from this plane towards the apical water O atom. Further coordination via the 2,2′-oxydibenzoate anions forms a one-dimensional coordination polymer extending parallel to [010]. In the crystal structure, O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into a two-dimensional supra­molecular structure

Bromido{dicyclo­hexyl[2′-(dimethyl­amino)biphenyl-2-yl]phosphine-κP}[2-(4,6-dimethyl­pyrimidin-2-yl)ferrocenyl-κ2 C 1,N]palladium(II) dichloro­methane solvate

In the title compound, [FePdBr(C5H5)(C11H10N2)(C26H36NP)]·CH2Cl2, the Pd atom displays a distorted square-planar coordination environment. The five-membered metallacycle adopts an envelope conformation with the coordinated cyclo­penta­dienyl C atom 0.4222 (4) Å out of plane. The dihedral angle between the pyrimidinyl ring and substituted cyclo­penta­dienyl ring is 21.47 (2)°. In the crystal structure, the dimeric unit is generated through the C—H⋯π contact via a crystallographic inversion centre, while the C—H⋯Cl contacts in the dimeric centre link the dichlormethane mol­ecules with the Pd complex mol­ecules

A New Strategy for Quality Evaluation and Identification of Representative Chemical Components in Polygonum multiflorum

Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (HSW) is widely used as herb medicine and health food additive. Recently, a series of HSW-induced hepatotoxicities have been reported and many studies have been carried out to investigate it. But contradictory conclusions were drawn that might be caused by the inconsistent quality of market decoction pieces. Therefore, the HSW decoction pieces quality was evaluated with a developed novel method in the paper. 25 batches of raw HSW (RHSW) and 21 batches of processed HSW (PHSW) samples were purchased from different provinces of China. HPLC determination was performed to identify and detect the contents of 16 chemical compounds in herbal material. Fingerprint similarity was analyzed using chromatography information and the results showed that most herbs were in good similarity. Then, a comprehensive evaluation strategy based on principal component analysis with representative quality control indicators was developed to evaluate the quality of HSW samples. And the rationality of the developed method was verified by HCA analysis. The results showed that the herb from Dabashan, Sichuan Province, no matter RHSW or PHSW had the best quality. Different representative components were selected for RHSW or PHSW decoction pieces which might be caused by the chemical reaction during processing. And most PHSW were unqualified according to the requirement of Chinese Pharmacopeia which might take the responsibility for the toxicity of HSW

Da-Bu-Yin-Wan Improves the Ameliorative Effect of DJ-1 on Mitochondrial Dysfunction Through Augmenting the Akt Phosphorylation in a Cellular Model of Parkinson’s Disease

Da-Bu-Yin-Wan (DBYW) is recorded originally in China over six centuries ago, and it is used to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD) clinically in recent decades. DJ-1 is a homodimeric protein linked to early-onset PD, and found in the mitochondria. In addition, DJ-1 could protect the cells by regulating gene transcription and modulating the Akt signal pathways. Therefore, in this research, we aimed to investigate the ameliorative effect of DBYW on mitochondria in the view of the DJ-1 and Akt signaling. Rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line PC-12 was transfected with the plasmid pcDNA3-Flag-DJ-1 (pDJ-1). Subsequently, PC-12 cells were exposed to the PD-related mitochondrial toxin (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium) without/with the DBYW. After transfected with the plasmid pDJ-1, the 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-induced toxicity was decreased, and the DJ-1 expression in protein level was increased. DJ-1 overexpression not only increased the mitochondrial mass, but also improved the total ATP content. Moreover, Akt phosphorylation was augmented by DJ-1 overexpression. Additionally, DBYW enhanced the above effects. Conclusively, these findings indicate that DBYW promotes the ameliorative effects of DJ-1 on mitochondrial dysfunction at least through augmenting the Akt phosphorylation in 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-treated PC-12 cells

Single-nucleotide polymorphism-gene intermixed networking reveals co-linkers connected to multiple gene expression phenotypes

Gene expression profiles and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles are modern data for genetic analysis. It is possible to use the two types of information to analyze the relationships among genes by some genetical genomics approaches. In this study, gene expression profiles were used as expression traits. And relationships among the genes, which were co-linked to a common SNP(s), were identified by integrating the two types of information. Further research on the co-expressions among the co-linked genes was carried out after the gene-SNP relationships were established using the Haseman-Elston sib-pair regression. The results showed that the co-expressions among the co-linked genes were significantly higher if the number of connections between the genes and a SNP(s) was more than six. Then, the genes were interconnected via one or more SNP co-linkers to construct a gene-SNP intermixed network. The genes sharing more SNPs tended to have a stronger correlation. Finally, a gene-gene network was constructed with their intensities of relationships (the number of SNP co-linkers shared) as the weights for the edges