Fermentation characteristics of Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai) puree by the Leuconostoc mesenteroides 51-3 strain isolated from Kimchi

A lactic acid bacterial strain showing fast growth and high acid production when cultured in Korean pear puree was isolated from Kimchi. This strain was analyzed by using the API 50 CHL kit and 16S rRNA sequencing and was thus identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides 51-3. Korean pear puree was fermented with the L. mesenteroides 51-3 strain at 30°C for 12 h. The changes in pH, titratable acidity and viable cell count during fermentation were investigated. The pH and titratable acidity of the pear puree were 4.06 and 0.66%, respectively, after 12 h of fermentation. The viable cell count of L. mesenteroides 51-3 rapidly increased to 3.7 × 109 CFU/g after 12 h of cultivation. The content of lactic acid and acetic acid was determined to be 0.138 and 0.162%, respectively, after 12 h of fermentation. When the fermented pear puree was stored at 4°C, the pH, titratable acidity and viable cell count remained fairly constant for 14 days.Keywords: Fermentation, Korean pear puree, Leuconostoc mesenteroides.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(35), pp. 5735-5738, 30 August, 201

BAY 11-7082 Is a Broad-Spectrum Inhibitor with Anti-Inflammatory Activity against Multiple Targets

BAY 11-7082 (BAY) is an inhibitor of κB kinase (IKK) that has pharmacological activities that include anticancer, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, BAY-pharmacological target pathways were further characterized to determine how this compound simultaneously suppresses various responses. Primary and cancerous (RAW264.7 cells) macrophages were activated by lipopolysaccharide, a ligand of toll-like receptor 4. As reported previously, BAY strongly suppressed the production of nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2, and tumor necrosis factor-α and reduced the translocation of p65, major subunit of nuclear factor-κB, and its upstream signaling events such as phosphorylation of IκBα, IKK, and Akt. In addition, BAY also suppressed the translocation and activation of activator protein-1, interferon regulatory factor-3, and signal transducer and activator of transcription-1 by inhibiting the phosphorylation or activation of extracellular signal-related kinase, p38, TANK-binding protein, and Janus kinase-2. These data strongly suggest that BAY is an inhibitor with multiple targets and could serve as a lead compound in developing strong anti-inflammatory drugs with multiple targets in inflammatory responses

Prevalence and Management of Diabetes in Korean Adults: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 1998–2005

OBJECTIVE: This research investigated recent changes in the prevalence and management status of diabetes among Korean adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a nationwide survey examining the general health and nutrition status of the Korean people, was conducted in 1998, 2001, and 2005. Using the first (1998; n = 5,645), second (2001; n = 4,154), and third (2005; n = 4,628) KNHANES datasets, in the present study, we estimated the prevalence of diabetes among Korean adults (aged >or=30 years), the proportions of known cases of diabetes, and the proportions of well-controlled cases of diabetes, as defined by either the American Diabetes Association (A1C <7%) or the International Diabetes Federation guidelines (A1C <6.5%). RESULTS: In 2005, the prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 9.1% (approximately 2.58 million people: 10.2% of men and 7.9% of women), including 6.2% with known diabetes and 2.9% with newly diagnosed diabetes. The prevalence of impaired fasting glucose was 17.4% (approximately 4.94 million people). The proportion of known cases of diabetes drastically increased from 23.2% in 1998 to 41.2% in 2001 and 68.0% in 2005 (P < 0.0001). Among known diabetic patients in 2005, 43.5 and 22.9% had A1C levels <7.0 and <6.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of diabetes in Korea has not changed significantly between 1998 and 2005. Physician diagnosis and treatment rates of diabetes have significantly improved during this period, but glycemic control was still poorer than that in other developed countriesope

Deep Learning-based Synthetic High-Resolution In-Depth Imaging Using an Attachable Dual-element Endoscopic Ultrasound Probe

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) imaging has a trade-off between resolution and penetration depth. By considering the in-vivo characteristics of human organs, it is necessary to provide clinicians with appropriate hardware specifications for precise diagnosis. Recently, super-resolution (SR) ultrasound imaging studies, including the SR task in deep learning fields, have been reported for enhancing ultrasound images. However, most of those studies did not consider ultrasound imaging natures, but rather they were conventional SR techniques based on downsampling of ultrasound images. In this study, we propose a novel deep learning-based high-resolution in-depth imaging probe capable of offering low- and high-frequency ultrasound image pairs. We developed an attachable dual-element EUS probe with customized low- and high-frequency ultrasound transducers under small hardware constraints. We also designed a special geared structure to enable the same image plane. The proposed system was evaluated with a wire phantom and a tissue-mimicking phantom. After the evaluation, 442 ultrasound image pairs from the tissue-mimicking phantom were acquired. We then applied several deep learning models to obtain synthetic high-resolution in-depth images, thus demonstrating the feasibility of our approach for clinical unmet needs. Furthermore, we quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the results to find a suitable deep-learning model for our task. The obtained results demonstrate that our proposed dual-element EUS probe with an image-to-image translation network has the potential to provide synthetic high-frequency ultrasound images deep inside tissues.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Long COVID in children and adolescents: prevalence, clinical manifestations, and management strategies

Long coronavirus disease (COVID), also known as postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, has been defined as signs and symptoms which persist for 4 weeks or even lasting for 6 months after the initial infection. Although the prevalence of long COVID in children is currently unknown, epidemiological investigations have reported cases in pediatric populations. Clinical manifestations of long COVID in children include respiratory symptoms, such as cough and dyspnea, as well as neuropsychiatric and general conditions, including fatigue, headache, and muscle weakness. The pathophysiology of long COVID in children is still being investigated, but potential mechanisms include viral persistence, autoimmunity, and neuroinflammation. Risk factors for long COVID in children are not yet well understood, but studies have suggested that children with a history of severe acute COVID-19 infection or comorbidities may be at increased risk. Evaluation for respiratory symptoms of long COVID in children is essential, including spirometry and imaging studies to assess lung function and any potential damage. Furthermore, long COVID in children has been associated with a higher prevalence of mental health problems than in adults, emphasizing the importance of monitoring and addressing these aspects in pediatric patients. Although our understanding of long COVID in children and adolescents is still evolving, it is clear that the condition can have significant impacts on their health and well-being. The aim of this review is to synthesize the current knowledge on the prevalence, risk factors, and pathophysiology of long COVID in children and adolescents, and to discuss potential management strategies based on existing evidence

Drosophila Porin/VDAC Affects Mitochondrial Morphology

Voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) has been suggested to be a mediator of mitochondrial-dependent cell death induced by Ca2+ overload, oxidative stress and Bax-Bid activation. To confirm this hypothesis in vivo, we generated and characterized Drosophila VDAC (porin) mutants and found that Porin is not required for mitochondrial apoptosis, which is consistent with the previous mouse studies. We also reported a novel physiological role of Porin. Loss of porin resulted in locomotive defects and male sterility. Intriguingly, porin mutants exhibited elongated mitochondria in indirect flight muscle, whereas Porin overexpression produced fragmented mitochondria. Through genetic analysis with the components of mitochondrial fission and fusion, we found that the elongated mitochondria phenotype in porin mutants were suppressed by increased mitochondrial fission, but enhanced by increased mitochondrial fusion. Furthermore, increased mitochondrial fission by Drp1 expression suppressed the flight defects in the porin mutants. Collectively, our study showed that loss of Drosophila Porin results in mitochondrial morphological defects and suggested that the defective mitochondrial function by Porin deficiency affects the mitochondrial remodeling process

Perceptions of health status, physical fitness, and participation in physical activity among adolescents before and after COVID-19: analysis of 2019‑2021 data from the Republic of Korea national sports survey

Research has examined the detrimental effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on health and physical fitness in adolescents; however, studies comparing these parameters before and after the COVID-19 outbreak have been scarce. Therefore, this study investigated differences in perceived health status, perceived physical fitness, and participation in physical activity among adolescents in the Republic of Korea before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. We chose a sample of data from 2102 adolescents aged 14–19, collected as part of a national survey by the Republic of Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism from 2019 to 2021. We focused on five items from the survey related to health awareness and physical activity. Although perceived health status was lower in 2021 than in 2019 or 2020, there were no differences in perceived physical fitness during the three years of the study. Regular participation in physical activity was less common in 2020 than in 2019 or 2021. The proportion of adolescents reporting sufficient rest and sleep was lower in 2021 than in 2020. In addition, fewer adolescents reported eating regular meals and engaging in nutritional supplementation in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020. Rates of abstinence from alcohol and smoking cessation were higher in 2021 than in 2019 or 2020. For all three years, adolescents reported the following as the primary reasons for engaging in regular physical activity (in order): “maintenance of mental health”, “maintenance of physical health”, “help in daily life”, and “reduction of medical expenses”. In preparation for the post-COVID-19 era, these results highlight the need to prepare measures and countermeasures to promote health and physical activity among adolescents in the Republic of Korea

Suggested Indications for Enucleation of Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasms in Pediatric Patients

Background: Solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) are rare, low-grade, malignant neoplasms that can occur in pediatric patients. Although complete resection of the tumor is the principle treatment, SPN enucleation (EN) has been reported to be effective in children. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and safety of EN by comparing it with conventional pancreatectomy (CP), and to present the indications for its use in pediatric patients.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 66 patients who underwent surgery for SPN at our institution from October 1992 to April 2018. Surgical methods, postoperative complications, hospital stay, and recurrence were compared.Results: Of the 66 patients, 15 (22.7%) were treated with EN and 51 (77.3%) were treated with CP. The mean duration of EN operation was 262 min (±145 min) and of CP was 345 min (±195 min). There was no statistically significant difference between the two methods (P = 0.13). To objectively compare the mass size between patients, we introduced a tumor size/intraperitoneal width ratio, which also revealed no significant difference between the 2 surgery groups (P = 0.21). The EN group had one case of recurrence at the resection site. The complications observed were fluid collection, splenic infarctions, hematomas, pancreatic fistulas, portal vein thromboses, and chylous drainage, among which pancreatic fistulas were the most frequent followed by moderate-severe fistulas in the EN group (P &lt; 0.001). The mean postoperative fasting time (EN 17.0 ± 8.7 days vs. CP 5.1 ± 3.3 days, P &lt; 0.001) and mean hospital stay (EN 23.4 ± 10.0 days vs. CP 13.2 ± 6.5 days, P = 0.002) showed statistically significant differences.Conclusion: Compared with CP treatment, EN of SPNs in children has the disadvantages of prolonged fasting times and hospital stays to recover from moderate pancreatic fistulas. However, if appropriate indications are applied, EN can be considered a safe and effective surgical procedure for children

Association between dyslipidemia and asthma in children: a systematic review and multicenter cohort study using a common data model

Background The association between dyslipidemia and asthma in children remains unclear. Purpose This study investigated the association between dyslipidemia and cholesterol levels in children. Methods A systematic literature review was performed to identify studies investigating the association between dyslipidemia and asthma in children. The PubMed database was searched for articles published from January 2000–March 2022. Data from a cohort study using electronic health records from 5 hospitals, converted to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model (OMOP-CDM), were used to identify the association between total cholesterol (TC) levels and asthma in children. This cohort study used the Cox proportional hazards model to examine hazard ratio (HR) of asthma after propensity score matching, and included an aggregate meta-analysis of HR. Results We examined 11 studies reporting an association between dyslipidemia and asthma in children. Most were cross-sectional; however, their results were inconsistent. In OMOP-CDM multicenter analysis, the high TC (>170 mg/dL) group included 29,038 children, while the normal TC (≤170 mg/dL) group included 88,823 children including all hospital datasets. In a meta-analysis of this multicenter cohort, a significant association was found between high TC levels and later development of asthma in children <15 years of age (pooled HR, 1.30; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–1.52). Conclusion Elevated TC levels in children may be associated with asthma