The role of thrombomodulin lectin-like domain in inflammation

Thrombomodulin (TM) is a cell surface glycoprotein which is widely expressed in a variety of cell types. It is a cofactor for thrombin binding that mediates protein C activation and inhibits thrombin activity. In addition to its anticoagulant activity, recent evidence has revealed that TM, especially its lectin-like domain, has potent anti-inflammatory function through a variety of molecular mechanisms. The lectin-like domain of TM plays an important role in suppressing inflammation independent of the TM anticoagulant activity. This article makes an extensive review of the role of TM in inflammation. The molecular targets of TM lectin-like domain have also been elucidated. Recombinant TM protein, especially the TM lectin-like domain may play a promising role in the management of sepsis, glomerulonephritis and arthritis. These data demonstrated the potential therapeutic role of TM in the treatment of inflammatory diseases

Phosphorous Diffuser Diverged Blue Laser Diode for Indoor Lighting and Communication.

An advanced light-fidelity (Li-Fi) system based on the blue Gallium nitride (GaN) laser diode (LD) with a compact white-light phosphorous diffuser is demonstrated for fusing the indoor white-lighting and visible light communication (VLC). The phosphorous diffuser adhered blue GaN LD broadens luminescent spectrum and diverges beam spot to provide ample functionality including the completeness of Li-Fi feature and the quality of white-lighting. The phosphorous diffuser diverged white-light spot covers a radiant angle up to 120(o) with CIE coordinates of (0.34, 0.37). On the other hand, the degradation on throughput frequency response of the blue LD is mainly attributed to the self-feedback caused by the reflection from the phosphor-air interface. It represents the current state-of-the-art performance on carrying 5.2-Gbit/s orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed 16-quadrature-amplitude modulation (16-QAM OFDM) data with a bit error rate (BER) of 3.1 × 10(-3) over a 60-cm free-space link. This work aims to explore the plausibility of the phosphorous diffuser diverged blue GaN LD for future hybrid white-lighting and VLC systems

Predictors of intra-abdominal coagulopathic hemorrhage after living donor liver transplantation

AbstractBackgroundResults of preoperative conventional coagulation assays are a poor predictor of hemorrhage after liver transplantation. In this study, we evaluated the factors that are predictive of intra-abdominal coagulopathic hemorrhage after living donor liver transplantation surgery.MethodsDuring the period from January 2009 to December 2012, 118 adults underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in our institution. Of those patients, 18 (15.3%) developed intra-abdominal coagulopathic hemorrhage (n = 7) or hemorrhage due to non-coagulopathic causes (n = 11) that required emergency medical, radiological, or surgical intervention within the first month after LDLT. Possible predictors of postoperative coagulopathic hemorrhage included donor-related factors, age, body mass index, MELD score, INR value, intra-operative blood transfusion, graft/recipient weight ratio, anhepatic phase, cold ischemia time, operative time, APACHE II score, onset of re-bleeding, and hemoglobin levels during rebleeding episodes.ResultsThere were no differences in any of the variables between the two groups (coagulopathic and noncoagulopathic hemorrhage) except for cold ischemia time. We found that cold ischemia time was significantly longer in patients with postoperative coagulopathic hemorrhage (160.50 ± 45.02 min) than in patients with hemorrhage due to non-coagulopathic causes (113.55 ± 29.31 min; P = 0.027).ConclusionProlonged cold ischemia time is associated with postoperative intra-abdominal coagulopathic hemorrhage in patients after LDLT. It is, therefore, necessary to shorten the cold ischemia time in order to reduce the risk of postoperative intra-abdominal hemorrhage due to coagulopathic causes

THE EFFECT OF INSULIN AND CARBOHYDRATE SUPPLEMENTATION ON GLYCOGEN REPLENISHMENT AMONG DIFFERENT HINDLIMB MUSCLES IN RATS FOLLOWING PROLONGED SWIMMING

In the present study we investigated the interactive effects of insulin and carbohydrate on glycogen replenishment in different rat hindlimb muscles. Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned to 5 groups, including 1) sedentary control with carbohydrate supplement (2 g glucose · kg body wt-1), 2) sedentary rats with 16 hours recovery, carbohydrate and insulin (0.5 U · kg body wt-1), 3) swimming without recovery, 4) swimming with 16 hours recovery and carbohydrate supplement, and 5) swimming with 16 hours recovery, carbohydrate and insulin. The swimming protocol consisted of two 3 h swimming sections, which were separated by a 45 min rest. The insulin and carbohydrate were administered to the rats immediately after exercise. At the end of the experiment, the soleus (S), plantaris (P), quadriceps (Q) and gastrocnemius (G) were surgically excised to evaluate glycogen utilization and replenishment. We observed that glycogen utilization was significantly lower in G and Q than S and P during swimming (p <0.05), and S showed the greatest capacity of glycogen resynthesis after post-exercise recovery (p <0.05). In the sedentary state, the glycogen synthesis did not differ among hindlimb muscles during insulin and carbohydrate treatments. Interestingly, with insulin and carbohydrate, the glycogen resynthesis in S and P were significantly greater than in Q and G following post-exercise recovery (p <0.05). We therefore concluded that the soleus and plantaris are the primary working muscles during swimming, and the greatest glycogen replenishment capacity of the soleus during post-exercise recovery is likely due to its highest insulin sensitivity

Trogodišnji trend promjena tjelesne pripremljenosti i indeksa tjelesne mase u učenika u dobi od 12 do 16 godina s ekstremnim indeksima tjelesne mase

The aim of this study was to investigate a three-year development in BMI and physical fitness of schoolchildren aged 12-16 years with extreme weight status. Taiwan Physical Fitness Test Battery, assessing aerobic fitness (1600-meter walk/run test), power (standing long jump), muscular endurance (sit-up), and flexibility (sit-and-reach) in 16,945 boys, was implemented in September from the year 2006 till 2008. Overweight and underweight were defined by the baseline BMI data values that fall within the highest and lowest 5% of their age population, whereas the BMI data values that fall within one standard deviation of the mean was considered “normal” in this study. The results showed that BMI of schoolchildren in 2006 was ~2–3 kg/m2 above the national average reported in 1993. All physical fitness components in the overweight group were substantially poorer than those in the normal group. Yet, these fitness parameters were improved over the three years in all groups. BMI in the underweight group increased at a faster rate than that in the normal and overweight groups. No difference was found in the jumping distance between the underweight and normal groups. Aerobic fitness in the underweight group was superior but flexibility and muscular endurance were slightly lower than those in the normal group. BMI of Taiwan schoolchildren increased substantially from 1993 to 2006 but leveled off from 2006 to 2008. Underweight schoolchildren during the growing period should not a priori be considered as physically weaker or unfit individuals.Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio ustanoviti trogodišnji trend razvoja indeksa tjelesne mase (ITM) i tjelesne pripremljenosti u učenika, u dobi između 12 i 16 godina, s ekstremnim vrijednostima tjelesne težine. Tajvanski sklop testova za tjelesnu pripremljenosti (Taiwan Physical Fitness Test Battery), koja uključuje procjenu aerobne pripremljenosti (test hodanja/ trčanja na 1600 metara), eksplozivne snage (skok u dalj s mjesta), mišićne izdržljivosti (podizanje trupa iz ležanja na leđima) i fleksibilnosti (sjed-i-dohvat), primijenjen je od 2006 do 2008 godine u mjesecu rujnu na uzorku od 16.945 dječaka. Preteški (overweight) i prelagani (underweight) ispitanici bili su definirani prema inicijalnoj vrijednosti ITM-a za dobnu skupinu populacije ispitanika kao oni koji se ubrajaju među 5% s najvišim odnosno najnižim vrijednostima ITM. Ispitanici koji su se nalazili unutar jedne standardne devijacije smatrali su se „normalnima“. Rezultati su pokazali da je ITM tajvanskih učenika u 2006. godini bio za ~2–3kg/m2 veći od nacionalnog prosjeka objavljenog 1993. godine. Sve varijable tjelesne pripremljenosti u grupi prekomjerno teških bile su značajno lošije u odnosu na rezultate koje su postigli ispitanici u normalnoj grupi. Ipak, rezultati su se u svim mjerenim varijablama u svim grupama poboljšali tijekom 3 godine mjerenja. ITM je u grupi nedovoljno teških porastao većom brzinom nego u grupama normalnih i prekomjerno teških učenika. Nije utvrđena značajna razlika u rezultatima skoka u dalj s mjesta između grupa nedovoljno teških i normalnih ispitanika. Nedovoljno teški ispitanici imali su najbolje rezultate u aerobnoj izdržljivosti u odnosu na ostale grupe, dok su u fleksibilnosti i mišićnoj izdržljivosti bili nešto slabiji nego ispitanici u normalnoj grupi. ITM je u tajvanske djece značajno porastao u razdoblju od 1993. do 2006. godine, ali je i stagnirao u razdoblju od 2006. do 2008. godine. Nedovoljno teška djeca ne bi se smjela a priori smatrati fizički slabijom ili nespremnom tijekom perioda odrastanja