Merit of Ginseng in the Treatment of Heart Failure in Type 1-Like Diabetic Rats

The present study investigated the merit of ginseng in the improvement of heart failure in diabetic rats and the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR ). We used streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat (STZ-rat) to screen the effects of ginseng on cardiac performance and PPAR expression. Changes of body weight, water intake, and food intake were compared in three groups of age-matched rats; the normal control (Wistar rats) received vehicle, STZ-rats received vehicle and ginseng-treated STZrats. We also determined cardiac performances in addition to blood glucose level in these animals. The protein levels of PPAR in hearts were identified using Western blotting analysis. In STZ-rats, cardiac performances were decreased but the food intake, water intake, and blood glucose were higher than the vehicle-treated control. After a 7-day treatment of ginseng in STZ-rats, cardiac output was markedly enhanced without changes in diabetic parameters. This treatment with ginseng also increased the PPAR expression in hearts of STZ-rats. The related signal of cardiac contractility, troponin I phosphorylation, was also raised. Ginsenginduced increasing of cardiac output was reversed by the cotreatment with PPAR antagonist GSK0660. Thus, we suggest that ginseng could improve heart failure through the increased PPAR expression in STZ-rats

A Single Nucleotide in Stem Loop II of 5′-Untranslated Region Contributes to Virulence of Enterovirus 71 in Mice

BACKGROUND: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) has emerged as a neuroinvasive virus responsible for several large outbreaks in the Asia-Pacific region while virulence determinant remains unexplored. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this report, we investigated increased virulence of unadapted EV71 clinical isolate 237 as compared with isolate 4643 in mice. A fragment 12 nucleotides in length in stem loop (SL) II of 237 5'-untranslated region (UTR) visibly reduced survival time and rate in mice was identified by constructing a series of infectious clones harboring chimeric 5'-UTR. In cells transfected with bicistronic plasmids, and replicon RNAs, the 12-nt fragment of isolate 237 enhanced translational activities and accelerated replication of subgenomic EV71. Finally, single nucleotide change from cytosine to uridine at base 158 in this short fragment of 5'-UTR was proven to reduce viral translation and EV71 virulence in mice. Results collectively indicated a pivotal role of novel virulence determinant C158 on virus translation in vitro and EV71 virulence in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These results presented the first reported virulence determinant in EV71 5'-UTR and first position discovered from unadapted isolates

Fonologi kavalan: kajian sinkronik dan diakronik

Bahasa Kavalan adalah salah satu bahasa Austronesia (Melayo-Polinesia) yang dituturkan di bahagian timur pantai Taiwan. Pada masa sekarang, bahasa ini hanya dituturkan segelintir orang. Tinjauan kepustakaan lepas mendapati maklumat mengenai bahasa ini sangatlah terbatas, iaitu cuma ada 370 perbendaharaan kata telah disenaraikan dalam monograf Ferrell(1969) selain sebuah makalah sederhana yang dihasilkan Li (1978a) The Case-Marking Systems of the Four Less Unknown Formosan Languages. Sehubungan itu, sehingga kini, bahasa ini masih lagi “bahasa yang belum diketahui dengan sepenuhnya”. Disertasi Shigeru Tsuchida (1976) di Universiti Yale telah menggunakan pelbagai data bahasa Austronesia di Formosa, termasuk Thao dan Pazeh, tetapi tidak meliputi bahasa Kavalan, kerana kekurangan data yang menyakinkan (Tsuchida 1976: 10). Kedua-dua ahli linguistik Jepun, Shigeru Tsuchida dan Tsunekazu Moriguchi, telah melakukan kajian lapangan tentang bahasa Kavalan; namun sehingga kini, belum ada penerbitan berkaitan bahasa ini. Selain penulis, belum pernah ada sarjana Cina telah mengkaji bahasa ini.Suku Kavalan cenderung bertutur bahasa Cina dan Amis dalam hidup seharian mereka. Dengan itu, bahasa ini mengalami Sinafikasi (pencinaan) dan akan pupus sekiranya tidak direkodkan dengan segera.Tujuan utama makalah ini adalah untuk memperoleh fonologi bahasa Kavalan. Laporan ini hanya sebahagian daripada hasil yang diperoleh daripada usaha penulis tentang bahasa Kavalan. Dari segi kajian sinkronik, penulis melakukan deskripsi fonetik, meninjau distribusi dan fonostatik. Dari segi kajian diakronik, penulis menelusuri perkembangan sejarawi bahasa ini tidak sahaja dari segi perubahan bunyi, tetapi juga mengenalpasti lebih dari 100 kata kognat

Merit of Ginseng in the Treatment of Heart Failure in Type 1-Like Diabetic Rats

The present study investigated the merit of ginseng in the improvement of heart failure in diabetic rats and the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors δ (PPARδ). We used streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat (STZ-rat) to screen the effects of ginseng on cardiac performance and PPARδ expression. Changes of body weight, water intake, and food intake were compared in three groups of age-matched rats; the normal control (Wistar rats) received vehicle, STZ-rats received vehicle and ginseng-treated STZ-rats. We also determined cardiac performances in addition to blood glucose level in these animals. The protein levels of PPARδ in hearts were identified using Western blotting analysis. In STZ-rats, cardiac performances were decreased but the food intake, water intake, and blood glucose were higher than the vehicle-treated control. After a 7-day treatment of ginseng in STZ-rats, cardiac output was markedly enhanced without changes in diabetic parameters. This treatment with ginseng also increased the PPARδ expression in hearts of STZ-rats. The related signal of cardiac contractility, troponin I phosphorylation, was also raised. Ginseng-induced increasing of cardiac output was reversed by the cotreatment with PPARδ antagonist GSK0660. Thus, we suggest that ginseng could improve heart failure through the increased PPARδ expression in STZ-rats