A low-carbohydrate diet may prevent end-stage renal failure in type 2 diabetes. A case report

An obese patient with type 2 diabetes whose diet was changed from the recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat type to a low-carbohydrate diet showed a significant reduction in bodyweight, improved glycemic control and a reversal of a six year long decline of renal function. The reversal of the renal function was likely caused by both improved glycemic control and elimination of the patient's obesity. Insulin treatment in type 2 diabetes patients usually leads to weight increase which may cause further injury to the kidney. Although other unknown metabolic mechanisms cannot be excluded, it is likely that the obesity caused by the combination of high-carbohydrate diet and insulin in this case contributed to the patient's deteriorating kidney function. In such patients, where control of bodyweight and hyperglycemia is vital, a trial with a low-carbohydrate diet may be appropriate to avoid the risk of adding obesity-associated renal failure to already failing kidneys

Fitting the Elementary Rate Constants of the P-gp Transporter Network in the hMDR1-MDCK Confluent Cell Monolayer Using a Particle Swarm Algorithm

P-glycoprotein, a human multidrug resistance transporter, has been extensively studied due to its importance to human health and disease. In order to understand transport kinetics via P-gp, confluent cell monolayers overexpressing P-gp are widely used. The purpose of this study is to obtain the mass action elementary rate constants for P-gp's transport and to functionally characterize members of P-gp's network, i.e., other transporters that transport P-gp substrates in hMDR1-MDCKII confluent cell monolayers and are essential to the net substrate flux. Transport of a range of concentrations of amprenavir, loperamide, quinidine and digoxin across the confluent monolayer of cells was measured in both directions, apical to basolateral and basolateral to apical. We developed a global optimization algorithm using the Particle Swarm method that can simultaneously fit all datasets to yield accurate and exhaustive fits of these elementary rate constants. The statistical sensitivity of the fitted values was determined by using 24 identical replicate fits, yielding simple averages and standard deviations for all of the kinetic parameters, including the efflux active P-gp surface density. Digoxin required additional basolateral and apical transporters, while loperamide required just a basolateral tranporter. The data were better fit by assuming bidirectional transporters, rather than active importers, suggesting that they are not MRP or active OATP transporters. The P-gp efflux rate constants for quinidine and digoxin were about 3-fold smaller than reported ATP hydrolysis rate constants from P-gp proteoliposomes. This suggests a roughly 3∶1 stoichiometry between ATP hydrolysis and P-gp transport for these two drugs. The fitted values of the elementary rate constants for these P-gp substrates support the hypotheses that the selective pressures on P-gp are to maintain a broad substrate range and to keep xenobiotics out of the cytosol, but not out of the apical membrane

Epithelial Cell Surface Sites Involved in the Polyvalent Adherence of Porphyromonas gingivalis: a Convincing Role for Neuraminic Acid and Glucuronic Acid

We investigated the target structures of the epithelial cells responsible for the attachment of Porphyromonas gingivalis by immunocytofluorimetry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and confocal microscopy. Integrins (β1, β3, and αV) and E-cadherin played no significant role. Carbohydrates (such as α-d-methylglucoside, l-fucose, d- and l-mannose, N-acetylglucosamine, and N-acetylgalactosamine) had little inhibitory effect on bacterial binding. Enzymatic treatments of the epithelial membranes and sugar competition studies showed that N-acetylneuraminic acid and glucuronic acid were involved in binding

Evaluation du potentiel ethnobotanique des populations rurales au Sud et au centre du Bénin

Les ressources végétales constituant pour les ruraux, d’importantes sources de soins médicaux et d’aliments, sont mal gérées du fait de la forte emprise humaine. Cette étude diagnostique, évalue les connaissances ethnobotaniques des populations rurales au Bénin, en vue d’analyser le niveau de conservation par rapport aux anciennes collections des années 1935 et 1940 effectuées par Laffite. La méthode de collecte de données est faite d’enquêtes ethnobotaniques et de relevés floristiques. Au total, 232 espèces utiles ont été collectées dont 25,86% recensées par Laffite. Parmi elles, 96% sont notamment utilisées en médecine traditionnelle, 20% en spiritualité, 13% dans l’alimentation et 3% en technologie. Certaines espèces mentionnées par Laffite ont disparu (Milletia thonningii, Premna hispida, Bryophyllum pinnatum, Spilanthes uliginosa, Caesalpinia bonduc, Tephrosia vogelii et Cissampelos mucronata) des terroirs, tandis que d’autres sont vulnérables en déclin (Afraegle paniculata, Antiaris toxicaria, Carissa edulis, Commiphora africana, Crateva adansonii, Pseudocedrela kotschyi, Securidaca longipedunculata, Leptadenia hastata et Tylophora camerunica). L’urbanisation, l’agriculture itinérante, les changements climatiques et l’introduction d’espèces exotiques sont autant de facteurs expliquant cette vulnérabilité. La prise de mesure de protection, l’installation de jardins de case et l’adoption d’approche de gestion durable de cette phytodiversité sont urgentes.Keywords: Ethnobotanique, Laffite, phytodiversité, vulnérabilité, conservation, Béni