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Antrodia cinnamomea reduces obesity and modulates the gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice.
BackgroundObesity is associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis, disrupted intestinal barrier and chronic inflammation. Given the high and increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, anti-obesity treatments that are safe, effective and widely available would be beneficial. We examined whether the medicinal mushroom Antrodia cinnamomea may reduce obesity in mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD).MethodsMale C57BL/6J mice were fed a HFD for 8 weeks to induce obesity and chronic inflammation. The mice were treated with a water extract of A. cinnamomea (WEAC), and body weight, fat accumulation, inflammation markers, insulin sensitivity and the gut microbiota were monitored.ResultsAfter 8 weeks, the mean body weight of HFD-fed mice was 39.8±1.2 g compared with 35.8±1.3 g for the HFD+1% WEAC group, corresponding to a reduction of 4 g or 10% of body weight (P<0.0001). WEAC supplementation reduced fat accumulation and serum triglycerides in a statistically significant manner in HFD-fed mice. WEAC also reversed the effects of HFD on inflammation markers (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α), insulin resistance and adipokine production (leptin and adiponectin). Notably, WEAC increased the expression of intestinal tight junctions (zonula occludens-1 and occludin) and antimicrobial proteins (Reg3g and lysozyme C) in the small intestine, leading to reduced blood endotoxemia. Finally, WEAC modulated the composition of the gut microbiota, reducing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increasing the level of Akkermansia muciniphila and other bacterial species associated with anti-inflammatory properties.ConclusionsSupplementation with A. cinnamomea produces anti-obesogenic, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects in HFD-fed mice by maintaining intestinal integrity and modulating the gut microbiota
Exterior optical cloaking and illusions by using active sources: a boundary element perspective
Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any
objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103},
073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion
effects, so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like
another object. invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is
transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show
that active sources can create a nearly "silent" domain which can conceal any
objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion
of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the
fields and field gradients (which can be related to monopoles and dipoles) on
continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the
cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations
General-relativistic coupling between orbital motion and internal degrees of freedom for inspiraling binary neutron stars
We analyze the coupling between the internal degrees of freedom of neutron
stars in a close binary, and the stars' orbital motion. Our analysis is based
on the method of matched asymptotic expansions and is valid to all orders in
the strength of internal gravity in each star, but is perturbative in the
``tidal expansion parameter'' (stellar radius)/(orbital separation). At first
order in the tidal expansion parameter, we show that the internal structure of
each star is unaffected by its companion, in agreement with post-1-Newtonian
results of Wiseman (gr-qc/9704018). We also show that relativistic interactions
that scale as higher powers of the tidal expansion parameter produce
qualitatively similar effects to their Newtonian counterparts: there are
corrections to the Newtonian tidal distortion of each star, both of which occur
at third order in the tidal expansion parameter, and there are corrections to
the Newtonian decrease in central density of each star (Newtonian ``tidal
stabilization''), both of which are sixth order in the tidal expansion
parameter. There are additional interactions with no Newtonian analogs, but
these do not change the central density of each star up to sixth order in the
tidal expansion parameter. These results, in combination with previous analyses
of Newtonian tidal interactions, indicate that (i) there are no large
general-relativistic crushing forces that could cause the stars to collapse to
black holes prior to the dynamical orbital instability, and (ii) the
conventional wisdom with respect to coalescing binary neutron stars as sources
of gravitational-wave bursts is correct: namely, the finite-stellar-size
corrections to the gravitational waveform will be unimportant for the purpose
of detecting the coalescences.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. Replaced 13 July: proof corrected, result
unchange
Strange nonchaotic attractors in noise driven systems
Strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) in noise driven systems are
investigated. Before the transition to chaos, due to the effect of noise, a
typical trajectory will wander between the periodic attractor and its nearby
chaotic saddle in an intermittent way, forms a strange attractor gradually. The
existence of SNAs is confirmed by simulation results of various critera both in
map and continuous systems. Dimension transition is found and intermittent
behavior is studied by peoperties of local Lyapunov exponent. The universality
and generalization of this kind of SNAs are discussed and common features are
concluded
Quasi-Local Energy Flux of Spacetime Perturbation
A general expression for quasi-local energy flux for spacetime perturbation
is derived from covariant Hamiltonian formulation using functional
differentiability and symplectic structure invariance, which is independent of
the choice of the canonical variables and the possible boundary terms one
initially puts into the Lagrangian in the diffeomorphism invariant theories.
The energy flux expression depends on a displacement vector field and the
2-surface under consideration. We apply and test the expression in Vaidya
spacetime. At null infinity the expression leads to the Bondi type energy flux
obtained by Lindquist, Schwartz and Misner. On dynamical horizons with a
particular choice of the displacement vector, it gives the area balance law
obtained by Ashtekar and Krishnan.Comment: 8 pages, added appendix, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Innermost Stable Circular Orbit of Inspiraling Neutron-Star Binaries: Tidal Effects, Post-Newtonian Effects and the Neutron-Star Equation of State
We study how the neutron-star equation of state affects the onset of the
dynamical instability in the equations of motion for inspiraling neutron-star
binaries near coalescence. A combination of relativistic effects and Newtonian
tidal effects cause the stars to begin their final, rapid, and
dynamically-unstable plunge to merger when the stars are still well separated
and the orbital frequency is 500 cycles/sec (i.e. the gravitational
wave frequency is approximately 1000 Hz). The orbital frequency at which the
dynamical instability occurs (i.e. the orbital frequency at the innermost
stable circular orbit) shows modest sensitivity to the neutron-star equation of
state (particularly the mass-radius ratio, , of the stars). This
suggests that information about the equation of state of nuclear matter is
encoded in the gravitational waves emitted just prior to the merger.Comment: RevTeX, to appear in PRD, 8 pages, 4 figures include
Dynamics of a map with power-law tail
We analyze a one-dimensional piecewise continuous discrete model proposed
originally in studies on population ecology. The map is composed of a linear
part and a power-law decreasing piece, and has three parameters. The system
presents both regular and chaotic behavior. We study numerically and, in part,
analytically different bifurcation structures. Particularly interesting is the
description of the abrupt transition order-to-chaos mediated by an attractor
made of an infinite number of limit cycles with only a finite number of
different periods. It is shown that the power-law piece in the map is at the
origin of this type of bifurcation. The system exhibits interior crises and
crisis-induced intermittency.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figure
Binary-Induced Gravitational Collapse: A Trivial Example
We present a simple model illustrating how a highly relativistic, compact
object which is stable in isolation can be driven dynamically unstable by the
tidal field of a binary companion. Our compact object consists of a
test-particle in a relativistic orbit about a black hole; the binary companion
is a distant point mass. Our example is presented in light of mounting
theoretical opposition to the possibility that sufficiently massive, binary
neutron stars inspiraling from large distance can collapse to form black holes
prior to merger. Our strong-field model suggests that first order
post-Newtonian treatments of binaries, and stability analyses of binary
equilibria based on orbit-averaged, mean gravitational fields, may not be
adequate to rule out this possibility.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. D, Jan 15 199
Post-Newtonian Models of Binary Neutron Stars
Using an energy variational method, we calculate quasi-equilibrium
configurations of binary neutron stars modeled as compressible triaxial
ellipsoids obeying a polytropic equation of state. Our energy functional
includes terms both for the internal hydrodynamics of the stars and for the
external orbital motion. We add the leading post-Newtonian (PN) corrections to
the internal and gravitational energies of the stars, and adopt hybrid orbital
terms which are fully relativistic in the test-mass limit and always accurate
to PN order. The total energy functional is varied to find quasi-equilibrium
sequences for both corotating and irrotational binaries in circular orbits. We
examine how the orbital frequency at the innermost stable circular orbit
depends on the polytropic index n and the compactness parameter GM/Rc^2. We
find that, for a given GM/Rc^2, the innermost stable circular orbit along an
irrotational sequence is about 17% larger than the innermost secularly stable
circular orbit along the corotating sequence when n=0.5, and 20% larger when
n=1. We also examine the dependence of the maximum neutron star mass on the
orbital frequency and find that, if PN tidal effects can be neglected, the
maximum equilibrium mass increases as the orbital separation decreases.Comment: 53 pages, LaTex, 9 figures as 10 postscript files, accepted by Phys.
Rev. D, replaced version contains updated reference
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