The effect of modified alternate day calorie restriction on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

Introduction: NAFLD is a serious medical issue worldwide. Various diet modifications had been implemented to improve liver steatosis. SWE is an emerging technique that offers non-invasive method of liver steatosis assessment. In this study, we aimed to compare the liver steatosis grading and liver elasticity among NAFLD patients who underwent 8 weeks of MADCR. Methodology: Using the Aixplorer® ultrasound, liver ultrasound of 39 subjects (32 interventional and 9 control subjects) were performed. Liver steatosis grading, fibrosis grading and shear wave elastography of all patients were acquired. Liver steatosis and liver elasticity level pre and post pre intervention were compared. Correlation of the liver steatosis and gradings were analysed using Kendall b tau analysis. Results: The mean liver steatosis grade and fibrosis level of the 30 participants in the intervention group were significantly reduced after MADCR (modified alternate day calorie restriction) programme. Our result showed that 10 patients had improved liver steatosis grading, whereby 8 patients improve from grade 2 to grade 1 and 2 patients from grade 1 to grade 0. Our study showed significant mean difference of liver elasticity in intervention group after MADCR (p value <0.001). From the analysis of the readings from all the participants (n=78), the SWE values showed significant weak correlation with the steatosis grading (0-3) of the fatty liver (P value 0.013). Conclusions: MADCR is beneficial to improve liver steatosis. SWE is a useful and reliable method to assess liver elasticity after intervention

The effects of commercial flower honey and turmeric on dermal wound in rats

Twenty healthy rats, ten adults (2-month-old) and ten young (1-month-old), were used in this study. Four skin biopsies were created at the dorsum of each rat under general anesthesia. The wound was each treated with honey, turmeric powder, turmeric-honey paste and a blank (control). The wounds were photographed on day 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Wound area reduction was measured on day 9 after which the rats were euthanized. The skin samples were taken for histology. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the healing between treatments in young and adult rats. However, honey was the best treatment with the highest healing scores, followed by control, turmeric and honey-turmeric paste. Honey-turmeric paste resulted in a severe wound infection thus delayed healing

Brain activation display functional asymmetry in response to action, background and tonal frequency during a pitch memory processing: an fMRI study

In this study, the asymmetry of the main effects of action, background and tonal frequency during a pitch memory processing were investigated by means of brain activation. Eighteen participants (mean age 27.6 years) were presented with low and high frequency tones in quiet and in noise. They listen, discriminate and recognize the target tone against the final tone in a series of four distracting tones. The main effects were studied using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with action (to wring (rubber bulb) vs. not to wring), background (in quiet vs. in noise) and frequency (low vs. high) as the factors (and levels respectively). The main effect of action is in the right pre-central gyrus (PCG), in conformation with its contralateral behavior. The main effect of background indicated the bilateral primary auditory cortices (PAC) and is right lateralized, attributable to white noise. The main effect of frequency is also observed in PAC but bilaterally equal and attributable to low frequency tones. Despite the argument that the temporo-spectral lateralization dichotomy is not especially rigid as revealed by the main effect of frequency, right lateralization of PAC for the respective main effect of background clearly demonstrates its functional asymmetry suggesting different perceptual functionality of the right and left PAC

Optimization of number of scans for a sparse temporal sampling (STS) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

High sensitivity signal detection for a sparse temporal sampling (STS) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is compensated by the increase in the number of scans (Ns) and consequently the scan time. A long scan time would result in fatigue and restlessness in participants, while a short scan time is undesirable for an STS-fMRI due to insufficient Ns for averaging. The purpose of this study was to determine the Ns practically sufficient for a sparse fMRI study. Eighteen participants were presented with white noise during a sparse fMRI scan. The height extent of activation was determined via t statistics and region of interest (ROI) based percentage of signal change (PSC). The t statistics and PSC for Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) during which the participants listened to the white noise were calculated for different number of scans which were 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36. The t statistics and PSC values calculated for the bilateral HG and STG qualitatively indicated a minimal change over Ns = 12 to 36. Both ROIs showed a consistent common right lateralization of activation for all Ns, indicating the right-hemispheric dominance of auditory cortex in processing white noise stimulus. It was proposed that for a sparse fMRI study, Ns may practically fall between 12 and 36

Resting state effective connectivity between inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) in the left and right hemispheres

Inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) are two important brain regions for the default mode network (DMN). IPL has been known to be involved in the control of attention and responding to given information while ITG is involved in the processing and perception awakened by visual stimuli. These two key DMN regions are highly interconnected as determined from white matter and fiber tracking studies. However, little is known about their nature of connectivity while the brain is at rest, whether it is linear, bilinear or nonlinear and whether it is of mono- or bi-direction. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data were obtained from 7 healthy male and female participants (average age = 20.7 ± 4.5 years) and were concatenated. Data were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM12). Endogenous brain signals were modelled by Fourier series at 0.01 – 0.08 Hz. IPL-ITG connected linear, bilinear and non-linear causal models in both hemispheres were constructed and estimated by means of stochastic dynamic causal modelling (sDCM) and were compared using Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) for group studies. Group fixed-effects results indicated that bilateral IPL and ITG exhibited high neural activity at a corrected significant level (pFWE 1000) which has the best balance between model accuracy and difficulty. The minimum free energy (F) = -4.41 × 104 and -4.09 × 104 for left and right hemisphere bilinear models respectively. From BMS and DCM results, it was found that IPL and ITG do have a dynamic collaboration between each other, a connectivity that belongs to a greater network when the brain is at rest. The intrinsic connections between them are negative in both directions i.e. IPL and ITG mutually inhibited each other. The effective connectivity was modulated by the endogenous fluctuation of the brain signal

Prevalence, risk factors and transmission of nervous necrosis virus in a hatchery producing hybrid grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus × Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) fry

This study investigates the prevalence, risk factors, and transmission of nervous necrosis virus (NNV) in a hatchery producing hybrid grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus × Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) fry. The eggs and sperm of giant grouper (GG) and tiger groupers (TG) that were collected for breeding purposes within the 12-month study period were sampled to detect NNV. At the same time, three breeding attempts of different NNV status of broodstocks, which were NNV-positive GG × NNV-positive TG, NNV-positive GG × NNV-negative TG and NNV-negative GG × NNV-negative TG were conducted. The produced hybrid grouper (HG) fry was then sampled at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 90, and 120 days post-hatched to detect the presence of NNV. The fresh fish, live feed, and commercial fish pellet that were used to feed the broodstocks or HG fry throughout the study period were also sampled for NNV detection. The water’s physico-chemical parameters during each sampling were determined. The results revealed that the broodstocks had a low prevalence to NNV. However, when at least one of the broodstocks was NNV-positive, all batches of the fry were NNV-positive at high prevalence. There were consistent associations of ammonia and iron with the presence of NNV in both broodstocks and fry. Phylogenetic tree indicates the possible horizontal and vertical transmissions of NNV in the hatchery culture system. Understandings the epidemiology of NNV in a real hatchery condition can provide significant information for control and prevention of the disease

Bio-based polycationic polyurethane as an ion-selective membrane for nitrate tapered optical fiber sensors

A novel bio-based polycationic polyurethane as an ion-selective membrane for nitrate sensing was successfully developed. In this work, the intermolecular interactions at active polymeric sites play a primary role in selective nitrate-ion detection. From the experiment, FTIR shows a significant shift from 1543 cm−1 to 1548 cm−1 in N-H bending, indicating that intermolecular interactions occur between the polycationic polyurethane and nitrate. AFM shows that the surface roughness of the polycationic polyurethane decreases from 95.7 nm to 12.2 nm after immersion in nitrate solution. Meanwhile, FESEM images show that the bright area, which represents the hard segment of polycationic polyurethane, decreases after immersion, indicating that the nitrate is interacting with the hard segment of the polycationic polyurethane via intermolecular interaction. Furthermore, EIS shows that the conductivity increases from 2.84 × 10−11 to 5.34 × 10−11 S cm−1 after ion exchange occurs between the iodide and nitrate on the polycationic polyurethane. To assess the sensing performance, the sensor probe is fabricated by coating the polycationic polyurethane thin film on the tapered region of an optical fiber. Rapid detection, good repeatability, and a sensitivity of 5.94 × 10−2µW/ppm are obtained for nitrate detection using the above bio-based-sensing material. The selectivity study also shows that the sensing material possesses high affinity toward the nitrate ion

Physical leaching and toxicity characteristics of PG76 binder modified with rediset

Asphalt binder, as one of the pavement components, is exposed to heat and rainfall. Polymer modified asphalt binder is a good alternative to withstand the weather in tropical countries. By utilizing warm mix asphalt additive, the high compacting and mixing temperature can be reduced. However, the impact to the environment and its characteristic towards high temperature need to be evaluated before putting it to use. In this study, the physical properties, thermal characteristics, and leaching and toxicity of PG76 incorporated with Rediset LQ were investigated. The Tank Leaching Test was carried out to mimic the worst scenario of flood event effect on the asphalt binder. The results of physical tests denote that the new material has relative consistency, while the thermal analysis indicates that the materials are stable beyond their mixing and compaction temperature. The decomposition starts at temperature > 360°C and ends at temperature <500°C for all samples. The tank leaching test also found that the materials are safe to be used as pavement materials, because the heavy metal elements from the leachate are below the maximum allowable volume by the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Physical, leaching, and toxicity characteristics of PG76 binder modified with Rediset

Asphalt binder, as one of pavement component is exposed to heat and rainfall. Polymer modified asphalt binder is a good alternative to withstand the weather in tropical countries. By utilizing warm mix asphalt additive, the high compacting and mixing temperature can be reduced. However, the impact to the environment and its characteristic towards high temperature need to be evaluated before putting it to use. In the study, the physical properties, thermal characteristics, and leaching and toxicity of PG76 incorporated with Rediset LQ were investigated. The Tank Leaching Test was carried out to mimic the worst scenario of flood event effect on the asphalt binder. The results of physical tests denote that the new material has relative consistency while the thermal analysis indicates that the materials are stable beyond their mixing and compaction temperature. The decomposition starts at temperature > 360°C and ends at temperature <500°C for all samples. The tank leaching test also found that the materials are safe to be used as pavement material because the heavy metal elements from the leachate are below the maximum allowable volume by the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Activation characteristics of the primary motor (M1) and supplementary motor (SMA) areas during robust unilateral finger tapping task

This study investigated the functional specialisation characteristics of brain in multiple right-hand dominant subjects pertaining to the activation of the cerebral motor cortices evoked by unilateral finger tapping, especially in primary motor (M1) and supplementary motor (SMA) areas. This multiple-subject study used unilateral (UNIright and UNIleft) selfpaced tapping of hand fingers to activate the M1 and SMA. Brain activation characteristics were analysed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Activation for UNIright and UNIleft showed the involvement of contralateral and ipsilateral M1 and SMA. A larger activation area but with a lower percentage of signal change (PSC) were observed in the left M1 due to the control on UNIright (4164 voxels at α = 0.001, PSC = 1.650) as compared to the right M1 due to the control on UNIleft (2012 voxels at α = 0.001, PSC = 2.377). This is due to the influence of the tapping rate effects which is greater than what could be produced by the average effects of the dominant and sub-dominant hands. The significantly higher PSC value observed in the right M1 (p < 0.05) is due to a higher control demand used by the brain in coordinating the tapping of the sub-dominant fingers. The findings obtained from this study showed strong evidence of the existence of brain functional specialisation and could be used as baseline references in determining the most probable motor pathways in a sample of subjects