Effect of butanol fraction from Cassia tora L. seeds on glycemic control and insulin secretion in diabetic rats

Cassia tora L. seeds have previously been reported to reduce blood glucose level in human and animals with diabetes. In the present study, the effects of Cassia tora L. seed butanol fraction (CATO) were studied on postprandial glucose control and insulin secretion from the pancreas of the normal and diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by an i.p. injection of Streptozotocin (55 mg/kg BW) into the male Sprague-Dawley rats. The postprandial glucose control was monitored during a 240 min-period using a maltose loading test. In normal rats, rats fed CATO (20 mg/100 g BW/d) showed lower postprandial glucose levels in all the levels from 30 min up to 180 min than those in the control rats without CATO (p<0.05). In diabetic rats, those levels in the CATO group seemed to be lower during the 30~180 min, but only glucose level at 30 min showed significant difference compared to that in the control group. Moreover, CATO delayed the peak time of the glucose rise in both normal and diabetic rats in the glucose curves. On the other hand, when CATO was administered orally to the diabetic rats for 5 days, 12 hr fasting serum glucose level was decreased in the diabetic rats (p<0.05). Degree of a decrease in 12 hr fasting serum insulin levels was significantly less in the diabetic CATO rats as compared to diabetic control rats. On the last day of feeding, β cells of the pancreas were stimulated by 200 mg/dL glucose through a 40 min-pancreas perfusion. Amounts of the insulin secreted from the pancreas during the first phase (11~20 min) and the second phase (21~40 min) in the CATO fed diabetic rats were significantly greater than those in the diabetic control group (p<0.05). These findings indicated that constituents of Cassia tora L. seeds have beneficial effect on postprandial blood glucose control which may be partially mediated by stimulated insulin secretion from the pancreas of the diabetic rats

Burst-polling based dynamic bandwidth allocation using adaptive minimum guaranteed bandwidth for EPONs

The enhanced burst-polling dynamic bandwidth allocation (EBDBA) method is proposed to support broadband access networks based on quality of service for Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs). EBDBA adaptively increases or decreases the minimum guaranteed bandwidth of the three traffic clasess??expedited forwarding (EF), assured forwarding (AF), and best effort (BE) traffic??according to the requested bandwidth of an optical network unit. Therefore, network resources are efficiently utilized and adaptively allocated to the three traffic classes for unbalanced traffic conditions. Simulation results using OPNET show that EBDBA outperforms conventional bandwidth allocation schemes in terms of the average packet delay (it decreases the maximum performance range to 68%) and the network throughput (it increases the maximum performance range to 20%) at a given offered load of 1.2Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Human-model hybrid Korean air quality forecasting system

The Korean national air quality forecasting system, consisting of the Weather Research and Forecasting, the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions, and the Community Modeling and Analysis (CMAQ), commenced from August 31, 2013 with target pollutants of particulate matters (PM) and ozone. Factors contributing to PM forecasting accuracy include CMAQ inputs of meteorological field and emissions, forecasters' capacity, and inherent CMAQ limit. Four numerical experiments were conducted including two global meteorological inputs from the Global Forecast System (GFS) and the Unified Model (UM), two emissions from the Model Intercomparison Study Asia (MICS-Asia) and the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-B) for the Northeast Asia with Clear Air Policy Support System (CAPSS) for South Korea, and data assimilation of the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC). Significant PM underpredictions by using both emissions were found for PM mass and major components (sulfate and organic carbon). CMAQ predicts PM2.5 much better than PM10 (NMB of PM2.5: -20 similar to-25%, PM10: -43 similar to-47%). Forecasters' error usually occurred at the next day of high PM event. Once CMAQ fails to predict high PM event the day before, forecasters are likely to dismiss the model predictions on the next day which turns out to be true. The best combination of CMAQ inputs is the set of UM global meteorological field, MICS-Asia and CAPSS 2010 emissions with the NMB of -12.3%, the RMSE of 16.6/m(3) and the R-2 of 0.68. By using MACC data as an initial and boundary condition, the performance skill of CMAQ would be improved, especially in the case of undefined coarse emission. A variety of methods such as ensemble and data assimilation are considered to improve further the accuracy of air quality forecasting, especially for high PM events to be comparable to for all cases.Implications: The growing utilization of the air quality forecast induced the public strongly to demand that the accuracy of the national forecasting be improved. In this study, we investigated the problems in the current forecasting as well as various alternatives to solve the problems. Such efforts to improve the accuracy of the forecast are expected to contribute to the protection of public health by increasing the availability of the forecast system.close0

Bioaccumulation of Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic in a Mining Area and Its Associated Health Effects

Soil contamination is associated with a high potential for health issues. This study aimed to investigate the bioaccumulation of heavy metals and its associated health impact among residents near a mining area. We performed environmental monitoring by analyzing lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As) levels in soil and rice samples, as well as biomonitoring by analyzing blood and urine samples from 58 residents living near the mine. Additionally, concentration trends were investigated among 26 participants in a 2013 study. The Cd and As levels in the soil samples and Cd levels in the rice samples exceeded the criteria for concern. The geometric mean blood Cd level (2.12 μg/L) was two times higher than that in the general population aged > 40 years. The blood Cd level showed decreasing trends from the previous measurements of 4.56–2.25 μg/L, but was still higher than that in the general population. The blood and urine Cd levels were higher in those with a low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) than in those with normal eGFR. In conclusion, heavy metals from mining areas can accumulate in soil and rice, adversely impacting human health. Continuous environmental monitoring and biomonitoring are required to ensure the safety of residents

Electrode- Induced Self- Healed Monolayer MoS2 for High Performance Transistors and Phototransistors

Contact engineering for monolayered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) is considered to be of fundamental challenge for realizing high- performance TMDCs- based (opto) electronic devices. Here, an innovative concept is established for a device configuration with metallic copper monosulfide (CuS) electrodes that induces sulfur vacancy healing in the monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) channel. Excess sulfur adatoms from the metallic CuS electrodes are donated to heal sulfur vacancy defects in MoS2 that surprisingly improve the overall performance of its devices. The electrode- induced self- healing mechanism is demonstrated and analyzed systematically using various spectroscopic analyses, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and electrical measurements. Without any passivation layers, the self- healed MoS2 (photo)transistor with the CuS contact electrodes show outstanding room temperature field effect mobility of 97.6 cm2 (Vs)- 1, On/Off ratio > 108, low subthreshold swing of 120 mV per decade, high photoresponsivity of 1 à 104 A W- 1, and detectivity of 1013 jones, which are the best among back- gated transistors that employ 1L MoS2. Using ultrathin and flexible 2D CuS and MoS2, mechanically flexible photosensor is also demonstrated, which shows excellent durability under mechanical strain. These findings demonstrate a promising strategy in TMDCs or other 2D material for the development of high performance and functional devices including self- healable sulfide electrodes.A novel sulfide electrode system allows sulfur- vacancy self- healing in 2D MoS2. Ultrathin CuS electrode heals defects in the MoS2 channel spontaneously upon mild thermal annealing. The self- healed CuS/MoS2 transistors and phototransistors show impressive device performance.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170827/1/adma202102091_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170827/2/adma202102091-sup-0001-SuppMat.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170827/3/adma202102091.pd