Effects of Sole Thickness on Recovery from an Unexpected Slip during Standing

Previous studies have tackled the effect of sole thickness on falls and suggested a significant relationship between the sole thickness and fall risk. However, the prior studies were based on qualitative survey. No quantitative studies have been conducted to closely examine the causal effect of the sole thickness on the risk of falls. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore the effect of the sole thickness on fall risk and the body’s reactions in response to an unexpected slip during stance among young adults. Our overall hypothesis was that thick soles would impair dynamic stability, delay the body’s reactions to the external slip perturbation, and show effective reactional muscle activation. Specifically, I hypothesized that 1) individuals in the groups with thin soles would display greater dynamic stability than the thick groups at recovery step onset and touchdown; 2) the step latency in the thin sole groups would be shorter than the thick groups, contributing to the observed higher stability; and 3) the leg muscles would be activated faster along with a lesser EMG burst in the thin-soled groups than thick-soled groups. Nine young adults aged between 18 and 45 years were recruited and evenly randomized into three groups in terms of the thickness of the sole: barefoot (0 mm), thin (5 mm), and thick (10 mm). After warmup exercise and the familiarization process with the assigned sole, all groups experienced an identical unexpected stance-slip perturbation induced by quickly moving the treadmill belt. Full-body kinematics were collected by a motion capture system and used to calculate the kinematics of the body’s center of mass (COM). Then dynamic gait stability, as the primary outcome measure, was determined based on the COM’s position and velocity relative to the base of support. Other spatiotemporal parameters and electromyography of leg muscles after the slip were the secondary outcome measures, including the recovery step latency, duration, length, slip distance, muscle latency, and the EMG burst. Both the primary and secondary outcomes were compared among groups by using one-way ANOVA followed by appropriate post-hoc tests to test three hypotheses. The results showed instable balance status at the initiation of the recovery step with the thicker soles, changes in spatiotemporal parameters such as a prolonged step latency and duration and larger step length, and a shorter EMG latency and lower EMG burst in TA and GA. This study will advance our understanding of the influence of sole thickness on the risk of falls

FedSplitX: Federated Split Learning for Computationally-Constrained Heterogeneous Clients

Foundation models (FMs) have demonstrated remarkable performance in machine learning but demand extensive training data and computational resources. Federated learning (FL) addresses the challenges posed by FMs, especially related to data privacy and computational burdens. However, FL on FMs faces challenges in situations with heterogeneous clients possessing varying computing capabilities, as clients with limited capabilities may struggle to train the computationally intensive FMs. To address these challenges, we propose FedSplitX, a novel FL framework that tackles system heterogeneity. FedSplitX splits a large model into client-side and server-side components at multiple partition points to accommodate diverse client capabilities. This approach enables clients to collaborate while leveraging the server's computational power, leading to improved model performance compared to baselines that limit model size to meet the requirement of the poorest client. Furthermore, FedSplitX incorporates auxiliary networks at each partition point to reduce communication costs and delays while enhancing model performance. Our experiments demonstrate that FedSplitX effectively utilizes server capabilities to train large models, outperforming baseline approaches

The Effects of Knowledge Types on Consumer Decision Making for Non-Toxic Housing Materials and Products

This study explored how different types of consumer knowledge (exposure, subjective knowledge, and objective knowledge) predict perceptions (benefits, severity, and barriers) and behavioral intention to choose non-toxic housing materials and products based on the extended health belief model (HBM). The target population was people 18 years or older living in the U.S. A total of 1050 valid responses were collected through an online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the model via AMOS version 24. Results show that the prediction of exposure, subjective knowledge, and objective knowledge for behavioral intention is mediated by health belief perceptions in different ways. Exposure had a significant impact on perceived benefits and perceived severity but not on perceived barriers. Subjective knowledge was not significantly associated with perceptions, but all of the effects of objective knowledge on the HBM elements were significant. Significant indirect effects of exposure and subjective knowledge on behavioral intention were found; the indirect effects of objective knowledge on behavioral intention were insignificant. By adopting the extended HBM, this study contributes to a better understanding of the link among knowledge types and perceptions of non-toxic housing materials and products, and behavioral intention to choose them

Gliadin Intake Causes Disruption of the Intestinal Barrier and an Increase in Germ Cell Apoptosis in A Caenorhabditis Elegans Model

Gliadin is a major protein component of gluten and causes gluten toxicity through intestinal stress. We previously showed that gliadin intake induces oxidative stress in the intestine and reduces fertility in a Caenorhabditis elegans model. To elucidate the possible link between intestinal stress and reproduction, changes in the intestine and germ cells of C. elegans after gliadin intake were examined at the molecular level. Gliadin intake increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the intestine, decreased intestinal F-actin levels, and increased germ cell apoptosis. These gliadin-triggered effects were suppressed by antioxidant treatment. These results suggest that ROS production in the intestine induced by gliadin intake causes disruption of intestinal integrity and increases germ cell apoptosis. Gliadin-induced germ cell apoptosis (GIGA) was suppressed by depletion of cep-1, ced-13, egl-1, or mpk-1. However, HUS-1 was not activated, suggesting that GIGA is activated through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and is CEP-1-dependent but is a separate pathway from that controlling the DNA damage response. Taken together, our results suggest that gliadin causes intestinal barrier disruption through ROS production and interacts with the germ cells to reduce fertility through GIGA

Ethanolic Extract of Taheebo Attenuates Increase in Body Weight and Fatty Liver in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

We evaluated whether intake of an ethanolic extract of Taheebo (TBE) from Tabebuia avellanedae protects against body weight increase and fat accumulation in mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. Four-week old male C57BL/6 mice were fed a HFD (25% fat, w/w) for 11 weeks. The diet of control (HFD) mice was supplemented with vehicle (0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose by gavage); the diet of experimental (TBE) mice was supplemented with TBE (150 mg/kg body weight/day by gavage). Mice administered TBE had significantly reduced body weight gain, fat accumulation in the liver, and fat pad weight, compared to HFD mice. Reduced hypertrophy of fat cells was also observed in TBE mice. Mice administered TBE also showed significantly lower serum levels of triglycerides, insulin, and leptin. Lipid profiles and levels of mRNAs and proteins related to lipid metabolism were determined in liver and white adipose tissue of the mice. Expression of mRNA and proteins related to lipogenesis were decreased in TBE-administered mice compared to mice fed HFD alone. These results suggest that TBE inhibits obesity and fat accumulation by regulation of gene expression related to lipid metabolism in HFD-induced obesity in mice

Whole red paprika (Capsicum annuum L.) and its orange-red pigment capsanthin ameliorate obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy in mice

Red paprika (RP) is rich in carotenoids and capsanthin (CS) is its main carotenoid. We determined whether whole RP and CS can ameliorate obesogenic sarcopenia.C2C12 myotubes were co-treated with 500 μM of palmitic acid (PA) and 1 and 5 μg/mL RP or 0.5 and 1.0 μM CS for 24 h. Both RP and CS effectively attenuated PA-induced myotube atrophy. Male obese C57BL/6 mice (n = 40) were fed high-fat diets containing 5 and 10% RP or 0.025% CS for 10 weeks. Supplementation with RP and CS increased lean body mass, muscle performance, mtDNA content, and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, while it decreased intracellular lipid accumulation in muscle tissue. Moreover, both RP and CS increased myosin heavy chains and decreased atrogens expression, which are associated with the activation of mTORC1 signaling. These results demonstrated that RP and CS protect against obesogenic sarcopenia by improving mitochondrial function

Shikonin Attenuates Hepatic Steatosis by Enhancing Beta Oxidation and Energy Expenditure via AMPK Activation

Shikonin, a natural plant pigment, is known to have anti-obesity activity and to improve insulin sensitivity. This study aimed to examine the effect of shikonin on hepatic steatosis, focusing on the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and energy expenditure in Hepa 1-6 cells and in high-fat fed mice. Shikonin increased AMPK phosphorylation in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and inhibition of AMPK with compound C inhibited this activation. In an oleic acid-induced steatosis model in hepatocytes, shikonin suppressed oleic acid-induced lipid accumulation, increased AMPK phosphorylation, suppressed the expression of lipogenic genes, and stimulated fatty acid oxidation-related genes. Shikonin administration for four weeks decreased body weight gain and the accumulation of lipid droplets in the liver of high-fat fed mice. Furthermore, shikonin promoted energy expenditure by activating fatty acid oxidation. In addition, shikonin increased the expression of PPARγ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT1) and other mitochondrial function-related genes. These results suggest that shikonin attenuated a high fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by stimulating fatty acid oxidation and energy expenditure via AMPK activation

Korean diet prevents obesity and ameliorates insulin resistance in mice fed a high-fat diet

Background: Korean diet has received considerable attention because of the low prevalence of obesity and metabolic disorders in Korea. Although the Korean diet has been shown to have health benefits, these effects have been investigated by analyzing individual nutrients or food components. In this study, we used a dietary pattern approach to investigate the effect of the Korean diet on obesity and glucose homeostasis in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods: C57BL/6 mice were fed the HFD for 7 weeks to induce obesity and then fed either the HFD or Korean diet for the next 7 weeks. The Korean diet was based on food frequency data obtained from the 4th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and adjusted to have the same energy content as the HFD. Serum insulin and leptin were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and glucose clearance was assessed using the oral glucose tolerance test. Lipogenic gene expression was determined by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: The Korean diet significantly decreased the HFD-induced body weight increase and body fat accumulation and improved serum lipid profiles. Hepatic mRNA levels of lipogenic genes were lower in Korean diet-fed mice, which also showed decreased fasting blood glucose, insulin, and leptin levels, and improved glucose clearance. The Korean diet also ameliorated HFD-induced islet hypertrophy and elevated pancreatic insulin level. Conclusions: Korean diet prevented obesity and ameliorated insulin resistance in mice fed a HFD. Therefore, Korean diet may be useful as a therapeutic diet to control metabolic disorders

Mill Scale Addition to Reduce Hydrogen Sulfide Production in Anaerobic Digestion

Direct addition of sulfur-reducing agents during anaerobic digestion (AD) is very effective in controlling hydrogen sulfide (H2S) content in biogas, although one major problem is the high operational cost due to the large amount of chemicals used. The objective of this study was to remove H2S using a waste mill scale (MS) as a sulfur-reducing agent. To evaluate its feasibility, MS was added to AD fed with food waste (FW) at concentrations between 0 and 160 g MS/kg total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) during the batch test, and the experimental results were compared to those of the batch test with the addition of iron chloride (FeCl3). Both FeCl3 and MS played an important role as electro-conductive materials in improving methane productivity by promoting direct interspecies electron transfer. An increase in H2S removal efficiency was observed with increases in both materials. In total, 30%, 60%, and 90% of H2S production based on the maximum sulfur in the form of H2S (control) was 3.7, 9.4, and 23.8 g FeCl3/kg TCOD and 13.3, 34.1, and 86.2 g MS/kg TCOD, respectively. This finding indicates that MS can be used as a sulfur-reducing agent substitute for H2S removal in AD fed with FW