The Digestion, Absorption and Utilization of Refined Palm Oil, Palm Olein and Palm Stearin in the Rat

A nutritional evaluation of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm oil and its fractionation products, RBD palm olein and RBD palm stearin in terms of their digestibility, rate of absorption and food efficiency in rats, shows that RBD palm olein is a better oil by these criteria than RBD palm stearin and the unfractionated RBD palm oil. Nevertheless, the nutritional indices reported for RBD palm oil and RBD palm stearin are well within the range reported for most cooking oils and fats. The digestibility and food efficiency of RBD palm olein are comparable to that of soybean oil, being 97% and 98% respectively of the values found for the latter oil, although the absorption rate of RED palm olein is 10% less than that obtained for soybean oil

Epidemiology and risk factors associated with gout control among adult Asians: a real-world retrospective cohort study

BackgroundGout is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, yet suboptimal gout control remains a problem globally. Identifying the risk factors associated with poor gout control among patients in primary care allows targeted interventions to improve their clinical management. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of poor gout control and its associated demographic and clinical factors among urbanized community-dwelling Asian patients.MethodsThis retrospective study was based on data extracted from the electronic medical records of 8 public primary care clinics in Singapore. Patients with a diagnostic code of gout who had 2 or more visits between 1st January 2018 and 31st December 2019 were included in the analysis. Data extracted included: demographics, anthropological measurements, comorbidities, serum uric acid levels and medication prescription. A patient is defined to have poor gout control if they suffer two or more acute gout attacks within a year. Chi-Squared test was used for categorical parameters. For continuous variables, univariate logistic regression analysis was first performed. Significant factors (p ≤ 0.1) were then included in the logistics regression model to account for confounders.ResultsA total of 7,970 patients and 24,624 visits were included in the analysis. The prevalence of poorly controlled gout was 28.2% (n = 2,244/7,970); only 46.3% of them (n = 1,039/2,244) were prescribed allopurinol and 13.4% (n = 301/2,244) were taking doses ≥300 mg. Using logistic regression, factors associated with poor gout control were: male gender [adjusted OR (AOR) =1.66, p < 0.001], Malay ethnicity (AOR = 1.27, p = 0.007), congestive heart failure (AOR = 1.64, p = 0.037). Patients prescribed allopurinol (AOR = 1.52, p < 0.001), NSAIDs (AOR = 2.76, p < 0.001) and corticosteroids (AOR = 2.83, p < 0.001) were more likely to have poorly-controlled gout.ConclusionNearly 30% of patients had poor gout. Interventions should focus on male and Malay patients and those with congestive cardiac failure

Ternary copper(II)-polypyridyl enantiomers: aldol-type condensation, characterization, DNA-binding recognition, BSA-binding and anticancer property

Chiral enantiomers [Cu(phen)(l-threo)(H2O)]NO31 and [Cu(phen)(d-threo)(H2O)]NO32 (threo = threoninate) underwent aldol-type condensation with formaldehyde, with retention of chirality, to yield their respective enantiomeric ternary copper(ii) complexes, viz.l- and d-[Cu(phen)(5MeOCA)(H2O)]NO3·xH 2O (3 and 4; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline; 5MeOCA = 5-methyloxazolidine-4-carboxylate; x = 0-3) respectively. These chiral complexes were characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, circular dichroism, UV-Visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy (FL), molar conductivity measurement, ESI-MS and X-ray crystallography. Analysis of restriction enzyme inhibition by these four complexes revealed modulation of DNA binding selectivity by the type of ligand, ligand modification and chirality. Their interaction with bovine serum albumin was investigated by FL and electronic spectroscopy. With the aid of the crystal structure of BSA, spectroscopic evidence suggested their binding at the cavity containing Trp134 with numerous Tyr residues in subdomain IA. The products were more antiproliferative than cisplatin against cancer cell lines HK-1, MCF-7, HCT116, HSC-2 and C666-1 except HL-60, and were selective towards nasopharyngeal cancer HK-1 cells over normal NP69 cells of the same organ type

Efficacy and tolerability of vardenafil in Asian men with erectile dysfunction

10.1111/j.1745-7262.2008.00388.xAsian Journal of Andrology103495-50

Cryopreservation of Neurospheres Derived from Human Glioblastoma Multiforme

Cancer stem cells have been shown to initiate and sustain tumor growth. In many instances, clinical material is limited, compounded by a lack of methods to preserve such cells at convenient time points. Although brain tumor-initiating cells grown in a spheroid manner have been shown to maintain their integrity through serial transplantation in immune-compromised animals, practically, it is not always possible to have access to animals of suitable ages to continuously maintain these cells. We therefore explored vitrification as a cryopreservation technique for brain tumor-initiating cells. Tumor neurospheres were derived from five patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Cryopreservation in 90% serum and 10% dimethyl sulfoxide yielded greatest viability and could be explored in future studies. Vitrification yielded cells that maintained self-renewal and multipotentiality properties. Karyotypic analyses confirmed the presence of GBM hallmarks. Upon implantation into NOD/SCID mice, our vitrified cells reformed glioma masses that could be serially transplanted. Transcriptome analysis showed that the vitrified and nonvitrified samples in either the stem-like or differentiated states clustered together, providing evidence that vitrification does not change the genotype of frozen cells. Upon induction of differentiation, the transcriptomes of vitrified cells associated with the original primary tumors, indicating that tumor stem-like cells are a genetically distinct population from the differentiated mass, underscoring the importance of working with the relevant tumor-initiating population. Our results demonstrate that vitrification of brain tumor-initiating cells preserves the biological phenotype and genetic profiles of the cells. This should facilitate the establishment of a repository of tumor-initiating cells for subsequent experimental designs

The theoretical and empirical basis of a BioPsychoSocial (BPS) risk screener for detection of older people's health related needs, planning of community programs, and targeted care interventions

Background This study introduces the conceptual basis and operational measure, ofBioPyschoSocial (BPS) healthand related risk to better understand how well older people are managing and to screen for risk status. The BPS Risk Screener is constructed to detectvulnerabilityat older ages, and seeks to measure dynamic processes that place equal emphasis on Psycho-emotional and Socio-interpersonal risks, as Bio-functional ones. We validate the proposed measure and describe its application to programming. Methods We undertook a quantitative cross-sectional, psychometric study withn = 1325 older Singaporeans, aged 60 and over. We adapted the EASYCare 2010 and Lubben Social Network Scale questionnaires to help determine the BPS domains using factor analysis from which we derive the BPS Risk Screener items. We then confirm its structure, and test the scoring system. The score is initially validated against self-reported general health then modelled against: number of falls; cognitive impairment; longstanding diseases; and further tested against service utilization (linked administrative data). Results Three B, P and S clusters are defined and identified and a BPSmanaging score(‘doing’ well, or ‘some’, ‘many’, and ‘overwhelming problems’) calculated such that the risk of problematic additive BPS effects, what we term health‘loads’, are accounted for. Thirty-five items (factor loadings over 0.5) clustered into three distinct B, P, S domains and were found to be independently associated with self-reported health: B: 1.99 (1.64 to 2.41), P: 1.59 (1.28 to 1.98), S: 1.33 (1.10 to 1.60). The fit improved when combined into the managing score 2.33 (1.92 to 2.83, < 0.01). The score was associated with mounting risk for all outcomes. Conclusions BPS domain structures, and the novel scoring system capturing dynamic BPS additive effects, which can combine to engender vulnerability, are validated through this analysis. The resulting tool helps render clients’ risk status and related intervention needs transparent. Given its explicit and empirically supported attention to P and S risks, which have the potential to be more malleable than B ones, especially in the older old, this tool is designed to be change sensitive

The association of RANTES polymorphism with severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong and Beijing Chinese

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chemokines play important roles in inflammation and antiviral action. We examined whether polymorphisms of <it>RANTES, IP-10 </it>and <it>Mig </it>affect the susceptibility to and outcome of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We tested the polymorphisms of <it>RANTES, IP-10 </it>and <it>Mig </it>for their associations with SARS in 495 Hong Kong Chinese SARS patients and 578 controls. Then we tried to confirm the results in 356 Beijing Chinese SARS patients and 367 controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>RANTES </it>-28 G allele was associated with SARS susceptibility in Hong Kong Chinese (<it>P </it>< 0.0001, OR = 2.80, 95%CI:2.11–3.71). Individuals with <it>RANTES </it>-28 CG and GG genotypes had a 3.28-fold (95%CI:2.32–4.64) and 3.06-fold (95%CI:1.47–6.39) increased risk of developing SARS respectively (<it>P </it>< 0.0001). This -28 G allele conferred risk of death in a gene-dosage dependent manner (<it>P </it>= 0.014) with CG and GG individuals having a 2.12-fold (95% CI: 1.11–4.06) and 4.01-fold (95% CI: 1.30–12.4) increased risk. For the replication of <it>RANTES </it>data in Beijing Chinese, the -28 G allele was not associated with susceptibility to SARS. However, -28 CG (OR = 4.27, 95%CI:1.64–11.1) and GG (OR = 3.34, 95%CI:0.37–30.7) were associated with admission to intensive care units or death due to SARS (<it>P </it>= 0.011).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>RANTES </it>-28 G allele plays a role in the pathogenesis of SARS.</p

Proximity-induced quasi-one-dimensional superconducting quantum anomalous Hall state: a promising scalable top-down approach towards localized Majorana modes

In this work, ~100 nm wide quantum anomalous Hall insulator (QAHI) nanoribbons are etched from a two-dimensional QAHI film. One part of the nanoribbon is covered with superconducting Nb, while the other part is connected to an Au lead via two-dimensional QAHI regions. Andreev reflection spectroscopy measurements were performed, and multiple in-gap conductance peaks were observed in three different devices. In the presence of an increasing magnetic field perpendicular to the QAHI film, the multiple in-gap peak structure evolves into a single zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP). Theoretical simulations suggest that the measurements are consistent with the scenario that the increasing magnetic field drives the nanoribbons from a multi-channel occupied regime to a single channel occupied regime, and that the ZBCP may be induced by zero energy Majorana modes as previously predicted [24]. Although further experiments are needed to clarify the nature of the ZBCP, we provide initial evidence that quasi-1D QAHI nanoribbon/superconductor heterostructures are new and promising platforms for realizing zero-energy Majorana modes

Robust radiogenomics approach to the identification of EGFR mutations among patients with NSCLC from three different countries using topologically invariant Betti numbers

Abstract Objectives: To propose a novel robust radiogenomics approach to the identification of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using Betti numbers (BNs). Materials and methods: Contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT) images of 194 multi-racial NSCLC patients (79 EGFR mutants and 115 wildtypes) were collected from three different countries using 5 manufacturers' scanners with a variety of scanning parameters. Ninety-nine cases obtained from the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Malaysia were used for training and validation procedures. Forty-one cases collected from the Kyushu University Hospital (KUH) in Japan and fifty-four cases obtained from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) in America were used for a test procedure. Radiomic features were obtained from BN maps, which represent topologically invariant heterogeneous characteristics of lung cancer on CT images, by applying histogram- and texture-based feature computations. A BN-based signature was determined using support vector machine (SVM) models with the best combination of features that maximized a robustness index (RI) which defined a higher total area under receiver operating characteristics curves (AUCs) and lower difference of AUCs between the training and the validation. The SVM model was built using the signature and optimized in a five-fold cross validation. The BN-based model was compared to conventional original image (OI)- and wavelet-decomposition (WD)-based models with respect to the RI between the validation and the test. Results: The BN-based model showed a higher RI of 1.51 compared with the models based on the OI (RI: 1.33) and the WD (RI: 1.29). Conclusion: The proposed model showed higher robustness than the conventional models in the identification of EGFR mutations among NSCLC patients. The results suggested the robustness of the BN-based approach against variations in image scanner/scanning parameters

Three-dimensional topological radiogenomics of epidermal growth factor receptor Del19 and L858R mutation subtypes on computed tomography images of lung cancer patients

Objectives : To elucidate a novel radiogenomics approach using three-dimensional (3D) topologically invariant Betti numbers (BNs) for topological characterization of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) Del19 and L858R mutation subtypes. Methods : In total, 154 patients (wild-type EGFR, 72 patients; Del19 mutation, 45 patients; and L858R mutation, 37 patients) were retrospectively enrolled and randomly divided into 92 training and 62 test cases. Two support vector machine (SVM) models to distinguish between wild-type and mutant EGFR (mutation [M] classification) as well as between the Del19 and L858R subtypes (subtype [S] classification) were trained using 3DBN features. These features were computed from 3DBN maps by using histogram and texture analyses. The 3DBN maps were generated using computed tomography (CT) images based on the Čech complex constructed on sets of points in the images. These points were defined by coordinates of voxels with CT values higher than several threshold values. The M classification model was built using image features and demographic parameters of sex and smoking status. The SVM models were evaluated by determining their classification accuracies. The feasibility of the 3DBN model was compared with those of conventional radiomic models based on pseudo-3D BN (p3DBN), two-dimensional BN (2DBN), and CT and wavelet-decomposition (WD) images. The validation of the model was repeated with 100 times random sampling. Results : The mean test accuracies for M classification with 3DBN, p3DBN, 2DBN, CT, and WD images were 0.810, 0.733, 0.838, 0.782, and 0.799, respectively. The mean test accuracies for S classification with 3DBN, p3DBN, 2DBN, CT, and WD images were 0.773, 0.694, 0.657, 0.581, and 0.696, respectively. Conclusion : 3DBN features, which showed a radiogenomic association with the characteristics of the EGFR Del19/L858R mutation subtypes, yielded higher accuracy for subtype classifications in comparison with conventional features