113 research outputs found
Effects of preoperative feeding with a whey protein plus carbohydrate drink on the acute phase response and insulin resistance. A randomized trial
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prolonged preoperative fasting increases insulin resistance and current evidence recommends carbohydrate (CHO) drinks 2 hours before surgery. Our hypothesis is that the addition of whey protein to a CHO-based drink not only reduces the inflammatory response but also diminish insulin resistance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventeen patients scheduled to cholecystectomy or inguinal herniorraphy were randomized and given 474 ml and 237 ml of water (CO group) or a drink containing CHO and milk whey protein (CHO-P group) respectively, 6 and 3 hours before operation. Blood samples were collected before surgery and 24 hours afterwards for biochemical assays. The endpoints of the study were the insulin resistance (IR), the prognostic inflammatory and nutritional index (PINI) and the C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio. A 5% level for significance was established.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were no anesthetic or postoperative complications. The post-operative IR was lower in the CHO-P group when compared with the CO group (2.75 ± 0.72 vs 5.74 ± 1.16; p = 0.03). There was no difference between the two groups in relation to the PINI. The CHO-P group showed a decrease in the both CRP elevation and CRP/albumin ratio (p < 0.05). The proportion of patients who showed CRP/albumin ratio considered normal was significantly greater (p < 0.05) in the CHO-P group (87.5%) than in the CO group (33.3%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Shortening the pre-operative fasting using CHO and whey protein is safe and reduces insulin resistance and postoperative acute phase response in elective moderate operations.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrail.gov <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01354249">NCT01354249</a></p
A Mitochondria-Dependent Pathway Mediates the Apoptosis of GSE-Induced Yeast
Grapefruit seed extract (GSE), which has powerful anti-fungal activity, can induce apoptosis in S. cerevisiae. The yeast cells underwent apoptosis as determined by testing for apoptotic markers of DNA cleavage and typical chromatin condensation by Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase–mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) and 4,6′-diaminidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and electron microscopy. The changes of ΔΨmt (mitochondrial transmembrane potential) and ROS (reactive oxygen species) indicated that the mitochondria took part in the apoptotic process. Changes in this process detected by metabonomics and proteomics revealed that the yeast cells tenaciously resisted adversity. Proteins related to redox, cellular structure, membrane, energy and DNA repair were significantly increased. In this study, the relative changes in the levels of proteins and metabolites showed the tenacious resistance of yeast cells. However, GSE induced apoptosis in the yeast cells by destruction of the mitochondrial 60 S ribosomal protein, L14-A, and prevented the conversion of pantothenic acid to coenzyme A (CoA). The relationship between the proteins and metabolites was analyzed by orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS). We found that the changes of the metabolites and the protein changes had relevant consistency
Cancer Cells Expressing Toll-like Receptors and the Tumor Microenvironment
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a crucial role in the innate immune response and the subsequent induction of adaptive immune responses against microbial infection or tissue injury. Recent findings show that functional TLRs are expressed not only on immune cells but also on cancer cells. TLRs play an active role in carcinogenesis and tumor progression during chronic inflammation that involves the tumor microenvironment. Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) derived from injured normal epithelial cells and necrotic cancer cells appear to be present at significant levels in the tumor microenvironment, and their stimulation of specific TLRs can foster chronic inflammation. This review discusses how carcinogenesis, cancer progression, and site-specific metastasis are related to interactions between cancer cells, immune cells, and DAMPs through TLR activation in the tumor microenvironment
A Functional Architecture of Optic Flow in the Inferior Parietal Lobule of the Behaving Monkey
The representation of navigational optic flow across the inferior parietal lobule was assessed using optical imaging of intrinsic signals in behaving monkeys. The exposed cortex, corresponding to the dorsal-most portion of areas 7a and dorsal prelunate (DP), was imaged in two hemispheres of two rhesus monkeys. The monkeys actively attended to changes in motion stimuli while fixating. Radial expansion and contraction, and rotation clockwise and counter-clockwise optic flow stimuli were presented concentric to the fixation point at two angles of gaze to assess the interrelationship between the eye position and optic flow signal. The cortical response depended upon the type of flow and was modulated by eye position. The optic flow selectivity was embedded in a patchy architecture within the gain field architecture. All four optic flow stimuli tested were represented in areas 7a and DP. The location of the patches varied across days. However the spatial periodicity of the patches remained constant across days at ∼950 and 1100 µm for the two animals examined. These optical recordings agree with previous electrophysiological studies of area 7a, and provide new evidence for flow selectivity in DP and a fine scale description of its cortical topography. That the functional architectures for optic flow can change over time was unexpected. These and earlier results also from inferior parietal lobule support the inclusion of both static and dynamic functional architectures that define association cortical areas and ultimately support complex cognitive function
Platelet-Activating Factor Receptor Plays a Role in Lung Injury and Death Caused by Influenza A in Mice
Influenza A virus causes annual epidemics which affect millions of people
worldwide. A recent Influenza pandemic brought new awareness over the health
impact of the disease. It is thought that a severe inflammatory response against
the virus contributes to disease severity and death. Therefore, modulating the
effects of inflammatory mediators may represent a new therapy against Influenza
infection. Platelet activating factor (PAF) receptor (PAFR) deficient mice were
used to evaluate the role of the gene in a model of experimental infection with
Influenza A/WSN/33 H1N1 or a reassortant Influenza A H3N1 subtype. The following
parameters were evaluated: lethality, cell recruitment to the airways, lung
pathology, viral titers and cytokine levels in lungs. The PAFR antagonist
PCA4248 was also used after the onset of flu symptoms. Absence or antagonism of
PAFR caused significant protection against flu-associated lethality and lung
injury. Protection was correlated with decreased neutrophil recruitment, lung
edema, vascular permeability and injury. There was no increase of viral load and
greater recruitment of NK1.1+ cells. Antibody responses were
similar in WT and PAFR-deficient mice and animals were protected from
re-infection. Influenza infection induces the enzyme that synthesizes PAF,
lyso-PAF acetyltransferase, an effect linked to activation of TLR7/8. Therefore,
it is suggested that PAFR is a disease-associated gene and plays an important
role in driving neutrophil influx and lung damage after infection of mice with
two subtypes of Influenza A. Further studies should investigate whether
targeting PAFR may be useful to reduce lung pathology associated with Influenza
A virus infection in humans
History, epidemiology and regional diversities of urolithiasis
Archeological findings give profound evidence that humans have suffered from kidney and bladder stones for centuries. Bladder stones were more prevalent during older ages, but kidney stones became more prevalent during the past 100 years, at least in the more developed countries. Also, treatment options and conservative measures, as well as ‘surgical’ interventions have also been known for a long time. Our current preventive measures are definitively comparable to those of our predecessors. Stone removal, first lithotomy for bladder stones, followed by transurethral methods, was definitively painful and had severe side effects. Then, as now, the incidence of urolithiasis in a given population was dependent on the geographic area, racial distribution, socio-economic status and dietary habits. Changes in the latter factors during the past decades have affected the incidence and also the site and chemical composition of calculi, with calcium oxalate stones being now the most prevalent. Major differences in frequency of other constituents, particularly uric acid and struvite, reflect eating habits and infection risk factors specific to certain populations. Extensive epidemiological observations have emphasized the importance of nutritional factors in the pathogenesis of urolithiasis, and specific dietary advice is, nowadays, often the most appropriate for prevention and treatment of urolithiasis
20-Year Risks of Breast-Cancer Recurrence after Stopping Endocrine Therapy at 5 Years
The administration of endocrine therapy for 5 years substantially reduces recurrence rates during and after treatment in women with early-stage, estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Extending such therapy beyond 5 years offers further protection but has additional side effects. Obtaining data on the absolute risk of subsequent distant recurrence if therapy stops at 5 years could help determine whether to extend treatment
A comprehensive overview of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology
The concept of radioguided surgery, which was first developed some 60 years ago, involves the use of a radiation detection probe system for the intraoperative detection of radionuclides. The use of gamma detection probe technology in radioguided surgery has tremendously expanded and has evolved into what is now considered an established discipline within the practice of surgery, revolutionizing the surgical management of many malignancies, including breast cancer, melanoma, and colorectal cancer, as well as the surgical management of parathyroid disease. The impact of radioguided surgery on the surgical management of cancer patients includes providing vital and real-time information to the surgeon regarding the location and extent of disease, as well as regarding the assessment of surgical resection margins. Additionally, it has allowed the surgeon to minimize the surgical invasiveness of many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, while still maintaining maximum benefit to the cancer patient. In the current review, we have attempted to comprehensively evaluate the history, technical aspects, and clinical applications of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology
Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases
The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of
aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs)
can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves
excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological
concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can
lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl
radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic
inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the
involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a
large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and
inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation
of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many
similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e.
iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The
studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic
and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and
lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and
longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is
thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As
systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have
multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent
patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of
multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the
decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference
- …