The mediating effect of quality of life on alcohol consumption and the 10-year type 2 diabetes mellitus risk score in adult Korean men

Background: The rate of high-risk drinking, a major cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is increasing among Korean men. This study descriptive survey whether quality of life (QoL) mediates the relationship between drinking and 10-year T2DM risk scores in adult Korean men. Methods: We further analyzed data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 7th (KNHANES VII) from 2016 to 2018, selecting 4134 men aged 40–69 years who were not diagnosed with T2DM. The data were analyzed using complex sample regression; after analyzing the mediation. Results: In step 1 of the regression, the drinking rate significantly predicted QoL (β = 0.08, p < 0.001), and in step 2, the drinking rate significantly predicted the 10-year T2DM risk score (β = 0.08, p < 0.001). In step 3, the drinking rate (β = 0.08, p < 0.001) and QoL (β = –0.09, p < 0.001) were found to significantly predict the 10-year T2DM risk score, confirming that QoL partially mediates the 10-year T2DM risk score (z = –3.62, p < 0.001). QoL was found to mediate the relationship between the drinking rate and 10-year T2DM risk score. Conclusions: Sex-specific risk factors must be considered to reduce the incidence of T2DM, and measures to promote healthy drinking habits need to be implemented to reduce the incidence of T2DM in men. Furthermore, these findings highlight the need to develop and actively implement various practical intervention strategies to enhance QoL

Herbal Medicine Treatment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Objective. To summarize and evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines used for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. Methods. Thirteen electronic databases were searched from their inception to November 2016. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the efficacy of herbal medicines alone or in combination with other Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments for ASD in children were included. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used and other data analyses were performed using RevMan (Version 5.3). Results. Ten RCTs involving 567 patients with ASD were included for qualitative synthesis. In conjunction with conventional therapy, herbal medicines significantly improved the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score, but the results of effects on total effective rate (TER) were different between the included studies. The use of herbal medicines with integrative therapy improved the CARS score and TER. In the studies that documented adverse events, no serious events were associated with herbal medicines. Conclusions. The efficacy of herbal medicines for the treatment of ASD appears to be encouraging but was inconclusive owing to low methodological quality, herbal medicine diversity, and small sample size of the examined studies

Effect of thiacremonone on apoptotic cell death and the expression of apoptosis regulatory proteins.

<p>(A) The lung cancer cells were treated in the absence (<i>left panels</i>) and presence of thiacremonone (50 μg/ml, <i>right pannels</i>) for 72 hrs, and then labeled with DAPI and TUNEL solution. Total number of cells in a given area was determined by using DAPI nuclear staining (fluorescent microscope). The green color in the fixed cells marks TUNEL-labeled cells. For quantification, three randomly selected areas were assessed. The apoptotic index (%) was determined as the (TUNEL-positive cell number/total DAPI stained cell number) x 100 (magnification, 200×). Values are mean ±S.D. * P<0.05 compared with significantly different from untreated control cells. (B) The lung cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of thiacremonone (10, 20, and 50 μg/ml) for 72 hrs. Expression of apoptosis regulatory proteins was determined using Western blot analysis. Each image and band is representative of three independent experiments.</p

Anti-Cancer Effect of Thiacremonone through Down Regulation of Peroxiredoxin 6

<div><p>Thiacremonone (2, 4-dihydroxy-2, 5-dimethyl-thiophene-3-one) is an antioxidant substance as a novel sulfur compound generated from High-Temperature-High-Pressure-treated garlic. Peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) is a member of peroxidases, and has glutathione peroxidase and calcium-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) activities. Several studies have demonstrated that PRDX6 stimulates lung cancer cell growth via an increase of glutathione peroxidase activity. A docking model study and pull down assay showed that thiacremonone completely fits on the active site (cys-47) of glutathione peroxidase of PRDX6 and interacts with PRDX6. Thus, we investigated whether thiacremonone inhibits cell growth by blocking glutathione peroxidase of PRDX6 in the human lung cancer cells, A549 and NCI-H460. Thiacremonone (0–50 μg/ml) inhibited lung cancer cell growth in a concentration dependent manner through induction of apoptotic cell death accompanied by induction of cleaved caspase-3, -8, -9, Bax, p21 and p53, but decrease of xIAP, cIAP and Bcl2 expression. Thiacremonone further inhibited glutathione peroxidase activity in lung cancer cells. However, the cell growth inhibitory effect of thiacremonone was not observed in the lung cancer cells transfected with mutant PRDX6 (C47S) and in the presence of dithiothreitol and glutathione. In an allograft in vivo model, thiacremonone (30 mg/kg) also inhibited tumor growth accompanied with the reduction of PRDX6 expression and glutathione peroxidase activity, but increased expression of cleaved caspase-3, -8, -9, Bax, p21 and p53. These data indicate that thiacremonone inhibits tumor growth via inhibition of glutathione peroxidase activity of PRDX6 through interaction. These data suggest that thiacremonone may have potentially beneficial effects in lung cancer.</p></div

Reverse of inhibitory effect of thiacremonone by DTT and glutathione GSH.

<p>(A) Lung cancer cells were co-treated with indicated concentrations of DTT (10 and 100 nM) or GSH (100 and 200 μM) with thiacremonone (50 μg/ml) for 72 hrs. The cells were harvested by trypsinization and stained with 0.2% trypan blue. (B) Cell extracts were analyzed by western blotting. Each image and band is representative of three independent experiments. (C) The levels of glutathione peroxidase activity in lung cancer cells were measured using assay kits, as described in Materials and methods. Values (A and C) are mean ±S.D. #, p<0.05 compared with significantly different from untreated cells with thiacremonone. *, p<0.05, significantly different from untreated cells with DTT or GSH.. ^&, p<0.05, significantly different between treated cell with thiacremonone and co-treated cells with DTT or GSH and thiacremonone.</p

Reverse of inhibitory effect of thiacremonone by transfection of mutant prdx6 (C47S).

<p>(A) Lung cancer cells were transfected with pcDNA-prdx6 or pcDNA-prdx6 C47S, and then, thiacremonone was treated (50 μg/ml) for another 72 hrs. The cells were harvested by trypsinization and stained with 0.2% trypan blue. (B) Cell extracts were analyzed by western blotting. Each image and band is representative of three independent experiments. (C) The levels of glutathione peroxidase activity in lung cancer cells were measured using assay kits, as described in Materials and methods. Values are mean ±S.D. #, p<0.05 significantly different from untreated control cells. *, p<0.05, significantly different from untreated control cells transfected with pcDNA-prdx6 C47S. ^&, p<0.05, significantly different between pcDNA-prdx6 and pcDNA-prdx6 C47S treated with thiacremonone.</p

Effect of thiacremonone on tumor growth in allograft model.

<p>(A) Tumor volumes, weights, and images of normal mice. (B) Tumor volumes, weights, and images of PRDX6 overexpressed mice. Values (A and B) are mean ±S.D. * P<0.05 significantly different from untreated mice. (C) Tumor sections of normal mice were analyzed by H&E stain and expression of proteins by immunohistochemistry. The resultant tissues were developed with DAB, and counterstained with hematoxylin. (D) Tumor sections of PRDX6 overexpressed mice were analyzed by H&E stain and expression of proteins by immunohistochemistry. The resultant tissues were developed with DAB, and counterstained with hematoxylin. For quantification, 200 cells at three randomly selected areas were assessed, and the specific protein positively stained cells were counted. Scale bar indicates 50 μm.</p