Molecular Weight Dependent Glucose Lowering Effect of Low Molecular Weight Chitosan Oligosaccharide (GO2KA1) on Postprandial Blood Glucose Level in SD Rats Model

Abstract This research investigated the effect of enzymatically digested low molecular weight (MW) chitosan oligosaccharide on type 2 diabetes prevention. Three different chitosan oligosaccharide samples with varying MW were evaluated in vitro for inhibition of rat small intestinal α-glucosidase and porcine pancreatic α-amylase (GO2KA1; \u3c1000 Da, GO2KA2; 1000–10,000 Da, GO2KA3; MW \u3e 10,000 Da). The in vitro results showed that all tested samples had similar rat α-glucosidase inhibitory and porcine α-amylase inhibitory activity. Based on these observations, we decided to further investigate the effect of all three samples at a dose of 0.1 g/kg, on reducing postprandial blood glucose levels in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat model after sucrose loading test. In the animal trial, all tested samples had postprandial blood glucose reduction effect, when compared to control, however GO2KA1 supplementation had the strongest effect. The glucose peak (Cmax) for GO2KA1 and control was 152 mg/dL and 193 mg/dL, respectively. The area under the blood glucose-time curve (AUC) for GO2KA1 and control was 262 h mg/dL and 305 h mg/dL, respectively. Furthermore, the time of peak plasma concentration of blood glucose (Tmax) for GO2KA1 was significantly delayed (0.9 h) compared to control (0.5 h). These results suggest that GO2KA1 could have a beneficial effect for blood glucose management relevant to diabetes prevention in normal and pre-diabetic individuals. The suggested mechanism of action is via inhibition of the carbohydrate hydrolysis enzyme α-glucosidase and since GO2KA1 (MW \u3c 1000 Da) had higher in vivo effect, we hypothesize that it is more readily absorbed and might exert further biological effect once it is absorbed in the blood stream, relevant to blood glucose management

Decadal changes in the leading patterns of sea level pressure in the Arctic and their impacts on the sea ice variability in boreal summer

Besides its negative trend, the interannual and the interdecadal changes in the Arctic sea ice have also been pronounced in recent decades. The three leading modes in the sea level pressure (SLP) variability in the Arctic (70???90??????N) ??? the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the Arctic Dipole (AD), and the third mode (A3) ??? are analyzed to understand the linkage between sea ice variability and large-scale atmospheric circulation in boreal summer (June???August). This study also compares the decadal changes of the modes between the early (1982???1997) and the recent (1998???2017) periods and their influences on the Arctic sea ice extent (SIE). Only the AD mode shows a significant correlation increase with SIE in summer (JJA) from ???0.05 in the early period to 0.57 in the recent period. The AO and the A3 modes show a less significant relationship with SIE for the two periods. The AD is characterized by a dipole pattern of SLP, which modulates the strength of meridional surface winds and the Transpolar Drift Stream (TDS). The major circulation change in the late 1990s is that the direction of the wind has been changed more meridionally over the exit region of the Fram Strait, which causes sea ice drift and discharge through that region. In addition, the response of surface albedo and the net surface heat flux becomes larger and much clearer, suggesting a positive sea-ice???albedo feedback in the sea ice variability associated with the AD. The analysis also reveals that the zonal shift of the centers of SLP anomalies and associated circulation change affects a significant reduction in sea ice concentration over the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. This study further suggests that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase change could influence the spatial pattern change in the AD

Redirected Walking in Infinite Virtual Indoor Environment Using Change-blindness

We present a change-blindness based redirected walking algorithm that allows a user to explore on foot a virtual indoor environment consisting of an infinite number of rooms while at the same time ensuring collision-free walking for the user in real space. This method uses change blindness to scale and translate the room without the user's awareness by moving the wall while the user is not looking. Consequently, the virtual room containing the current user always exists in the valid real space. We measured the detection threshold for whether the user recognizes the movement of the wall outside the field of view. Then, we used the measured detection threshold to determine the amount of changing the dimension of the room by moving that wall. We conducted a live-user experiment to navigate the same virtual environment using the proposed method and other existing methods. As a result, users reported higher usability, presence, and immersion when using the proposed method while showing reduced motion sickness compared to other methods. Hence, our approach can be used to implement applications to allow users to explore an infinitely large virtual indoor environment such as virtual museum and virtual model house while simultaneously walking in a small real space, giving users a more realistic experience.Comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-ZKavhXxd

Interrupt-Based Step-Counting to Extend Battery Life in an Activity Monitor

Most activity monitors use an accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to characterize the wearer's physical activity. The monitor measures the motion by polling an accelerometer or gyroscope sensor or both every 20-30 ms and frequent polling affects the battery life of a wearable device. One of the key features of a commercial daily-activity monitoring device is longer battery life so that the user can keep track of his or her activity for a week or so without recharging the battery of the monitoring device. Many low-power approaches for a step-counting system use either a polling-based algorithm or an interrupt-based algorithm. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that uses the tap interrupt of an accelerometer to count steps while consuming low power. We compared the accuracy of step counting and measured system-level power consumption to a periodic sensor-reading algorithm. Our tap interrupt approach shows a battery lifetime that is 175% longer than that of a 30 ms polling method without gyroscope. The battery lifetime can be extended up to 863% with a gyroscope by putting both the processor and the gyroscope into sleep state during the majority of operation time

Interrupt-Based Step-Counting to Extend Battery Life in an Activity Monitor

Most activity monitors use an accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to characterize the wearer’s physical activity. The monitor measures the motion by polling an accelerometer or gyroscope sensor or both every 20–30 ms and frequent polling affects the battery life of a wearable device. One of the key features of a commercial daily-activity monitoring device is longer battery life so that the user can keep track of his or her activity for a week or so without recharging the battery of the monitoring device. Many low-power approaches for a step-counting system use either a polling-based algorithm or an interrupt-based algorithm. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that uses the tap interrupt of an accelerometer to count steps while consuming low power. We compared the accuracy of step counting and measured system-level power consumption to a periodic sensor-reading algorithm. Our tap interrupt approach shows a battery lifetime that is 175% longer than that of a 30 ms polling method without gyroscope. The battery lifetime can be extended up to 863% with a gyroscope by putting both the processor and the gyroscope into sleep state during the majority of operation time

Relationship between Physical Disability and Depression by Gender:A Panel Regression Model

Background Depression in persons with physical disabilities may be more common than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical disability and depression by gender among adults, using a large, nationally representative sample. Methods This study used data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, Wave one through four, and ran a series of random effect panel regression models to test the relationship between physical disability status and depression by gender. We tested the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between disability status and depression level by examining the significance of the cross-product term between disability status and gender. Results After controlling for self-rated health, marital status, employment status, education, and age, subjects who were female or diagnosed as having any disability presented higher levels of depression scores. Further, the difference in terms of their depression level measured by Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale (CES-D 10) scores between those who were diagnosed as having any disability and those who were not was greater for females than for their male counterparts. Conclusion This study reaffirmed that disability is the risk factor of depression, using longitudinal data. In addition, female gender is the effect modifier rather than the risk factor. The effect of gender in the non-disability group, mostly composed of older persons, is limited. On the contrary, the female disability group showed more depressive symptoms than the male disability group. The gender difference in the disability group and the role of culture on these differences need further research