Intestinal Adaptation to Repeated Exposure of Flavonoid-rich Foods: In Vitro and Clinical Data

Interest in application of flavonoids for chronic disease prevention has grown significantly, but the low oral bioavailability of these compounds from acute doses is commonly highlighted as a limitation when considering their biological significance. Still, the impact of broad dietary patterns such as repeated exposure on flavonoid’s absorption, metabolism, and eventual efficacy is critical to consider since evidence suggests that their bioavailability may be enhanced with repeated exposure. To fill this gap in knowledge, this dissertation will focus on three major areas including characterization of flavonoid metabolites, in addition to use of in vitro models and clinical work to test the effect of repeated exposure on flavonoid bioavailability. Though flavan-3-ols undergo Phase II metabolism in humans and rodents, researchers have generally not been able to utilize fully characterized standards for these metabolites. Thus, collaborators synthesized flavan-3-ols metabolites after which liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used to characterize their structure and match the synthesized metabolites to those found in rodent plasma. To explore changes occurring in the upper small intestine from flavonoid repeated exposure, Caco-2 cells were differentiated in the presence of isolated flavan-3-ols, green tea, grape seed, or blackberry extracts. EGCG and EC pretreatment altered formation rate of Phase II metabolites, in addition, green tea and grape seed extract pretreatment both resulted in increased flavan-3-ol transport. In contrast, blackberry extract pretreated monolayers displayed decreased transport of phenolic compounds. Finally, alterations in mRNA expression of select transport and metabolizing genes were observed in cells pretreated with blackberry extract. To determine if flavonoid absorption changes with repeated exposure to blackberry in humans, a controlled feeding study was performed to assess the effect of three-week daily blackberry exposure on flavonoid pharmacokinetics. The results showed increased plasma AUC of peonidin glucoside after blackberry treatment in lean volunteers. Accumulation of total anthocyanins in urine was greater in the lean group after blackberry exposure. This difference may be driven by increased Phase II anthocyanin metabolites since there was greater accumulation of anthocyanin metabolites in urine in the lean group after blackberry exposure. Taken together, these data suggest that the small intestine may be a key regulator of the observed adaptive phenomena occurring in vivo. These results demonstrate that there is both differential transport, absorption, and metabolism of flavonoids, including select flavonoids and phenolic acids, after repeated exposure to flavonoid-rich blackberry and that this response appears to differ with BMI. These studies provide a basis for future work on the effect of chronic flavonoid exposure on their bioavailability and metabolism in a range of interventions

Emotional exhaustion and organizational commitment: Primary school teachers’ perspective

Teaching is a noble profession to educate the youth of nations facing today’s global challenges. Teaching, at the same time, has become a highly challenging profession and occasionally a draining work, especially for those who are working in the remote areas. A high-level of teacher absenteeism in the primary schools of Southern Papua has blown some societal alarm for conducting studies focusing on emotional exhaustion as a latent predictor for low-performance. This study attempted to describe the eventual correlation between the emotional exhaustion and organizational commitment of teachers working in the primary schools of Merauke, Indonesia. A survey approach was employed to collect data from a total of 243 primary school teachers in Merauke, Papua, Indonesia. Data were examined statistically by employing Pearson’s correlation model. Results of analysis showed that the emotional exhaustion and commitment of primary school teachers in Merauke, Indonesia, are significantly negatively correlated. This result may be useful for the teachers to benefit from the information of how they may interact with all the school elements and the extent to which these emotions directly affect their organizational commitment. The result may also be advisable for the school leaders to take some tactical efforts of securing teachers’ emotion to promote a high-level of teachers’ organizational commitment and, in turn, improving students’ capabilities in reading, writing, and arithmetics

MENINGKATKAN LULUSAN SEKOLAH SEBUAH KONFLIK MORAL ANTARA ‘MELAKSANAKAN KODE ETIK KEJUJURAN PROFESIONAL’ DAN ‘HASRAT MEMBANTU SISWA MENCAPAI KELULUSAN’

Tingkat kelulusan sekolah di Kabupaten Merauke yang hampir mencapai 100 % pada setiap tahun pelajaran selalu memunculkan pertanyaan karena rendahnya tingkat kelulusan pada tes masuk ke perguruan tinggi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan persepsi para guru terhadap dua alternatif pilihan mengutamakan pelaksanaan kode etik kejujuran profesional dengan  konsekuensi ada banyak siswa yang tidak lulus atau mengutamakan kelulusan siswa dengan konsekuensi melanggar kode etik kejujuran profesional. Untuk mendapatkan data tentang persepsi guru terhadap dua alternatif pilihan tersebut, saya menerapkan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan rancangan penelitian survey. Sampel penelitian ini berjumlah 97 orang, diambil secara purposif dari antara para kepala sekolah dan guru di Kabupaten Merauke. Data hasil penelitian dianalisis secara deskriptif kuantitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa para guru lebih cendrung memilih untuk melanggar kode etik kejujuran profesional demi membantu para siswa meraih sukses daripada setia melaksanakan kejujuran profesional dengan tetap membiarkan siswa tidak lulus. Hasil penelitian ini dapat menjadi masukan yang sangat bermanfaat bagi pengambil kebijakan pendidikan di Kabupaten Merauke, untuk mengambil langkah-langkah strategis yang dapat menopang guru untuk secara loyal melaksanakan kode etik ‘kejujuran profesional’-nya tanpa harus mengorbankan kelulusan sisw

Job Satisfaction and performance of elementary school teachers

Given the high demands of contemporary community on the development of the youth, teachers’ job performance both inside and outside the classroom is of crucial for all partake parties, including school leaders, parents, education policymakers, and community at large. This study was meant to describe job satisfaction of elementary school teachers of Boven Digoel district, Papua, and how it predicts their job performance. To do so, we applied a survey research. Two survey questionnaire were self-administered to 352 teacher-respondent which were incidentally drawn from amongst 412 elementary school teachers of Boven Digoel district, Papua. Derived data were examined statistically using simple linear regression analysis method by utilizing Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Result of data analysis showed that job performance of elementary school teachers of Boben Digoel district is significant positively predicted by their job satisfaction. Finding of this study may be imperative for the school management and education administrator at the regional authority to make paramount efforts of creating valuable plans for enhancing teacher’s satisfaction in order to promote a better job performance of elementary school teachers of Boven Digoel district, Papua

Work-related stress and performance among primary school teachers

Stress influences teachers’ performance and school effectiveness alike. The main objective of this study is to describe work-related stress and its eventual relationship with job performance of teachers working in primary schools of Boven Digoel district, Indonesia. To attain this objective, a survey study was employed by utilizing two survey questionnaires. Research data derived from a total of 352 primary school teachers who were incidentally established as samples. Data were statistically analyzed using Pearson’s correlation analysis. Result of data analysis shows a significant negative correlation between the work-related stress and job performance of teachers working in the primary schools of Boven Digoel district

Donor-to-recipient gender match in liver transplantation. A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on donor-to-recipient gender mismatch as a risk factor for post-transplant graft loss. METHODS A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, Cochrane Library database and EMBASE. The primary outcome was graft loss after liver transplantation. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to compare the pooled data between groups with different donor-to-recipient gender matches. Three analyses were done considering (1) gender mismatches (F-M and M-F) vs matches (M-M and F-F); (2) Female-to-Male mismatch vs other matches; and (3) Male-to-Female mismatch vs other matches. RESULTS A total of 7 articles were analysed. Gender mismatch (M-F and F-M) was associated with a significant increase of graft loss respect to match (M-M and F-F) (OR: 1.30; 95%CI: 1.13-1.50; P < 0.001). When F-M mismatch was specifically investigated, it confirmed its detrimental role in terms of graft survival (OR: 1.83; 95%CI: 1.20-2.80; P = 0.005). M-F mismatch failed to present a significant role (OR: 1.09; 95%CI: 0.73-1.62; P = 0.68). CONCLUSION Gender mismatch is a risk factor for poor graft survival after liver transplantation. Female-to-male mismatch represents the worst combination. More studies are needed with the intent to better clarify the reasons for these results

Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in the setting of liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer. A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) as a risk factor for post-transplant hepatocellular cancer (HCC) recurrence. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed. Participants of any age and sex, who underwent liver transplantation for HCC were considered following these criteria: (1) studies comparing pre-transplant low vs high PLR values; (2) studies reporting post-transplant recurrence rates; and (3) if more than one study was reported by the same institute, only the most recent was included. The primary outcome measure was set for HCC recurrence after transplantation. RESULTS: A total of 5 articles, published between 2014 and 2017, fulfilled the selection criteria. As for the quality of the reported studies, all the investigated articles presented an overall high quality. A total of 899 cases were investigated: 718 cases (80.0%) were males. Three studies coming from European countries and one from Japan presented HCV as the main cause of cirrhosis. On the opposite, one Chinese study presented a greater incidence of HBV-related cirrhotic cases. In all the studies apart one, the PLR cut-off value of 150 was reported. At meta-analysis, high PLR value was associated with a significant increase in recurrence after transplantation (OR = 3.33; 95%CI: 1.78-6.25; p &lt; 0.001). A moderate heterogeneity was observed among the identified studies according to the Higgins I 2 statistic value. CONCLUSION: Pre-transplant high PLR values are connected with an increased risk of post-operative recurrence of hepatocellular cancer. More studies are needed for better clarify the biological mechanisms of this results