Capsaicin May Improve Swallowing Impairment in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Patients with neurodegenerative diseases are at an increased risk of dysphagia and aspiration pneumonia. In this study, we examined whether ingestion of capsaicin prior to swallowing changes the temporal dynamics of swallowing in such patients. In a crossover, randomized controlled trial, 29 patients with neurodegenerative diseases were given a soluble wafer containing 1.5 μg capsaicin or an identical placebo 20 min prior to testing. For evaluation with video fluoroscopy (VF), patients consumed a barium-containing liquid plus thickening material. The durations of the latency, elevating and recovery periods of the hyoid were assessed from VF. Overall, no significant differences were observed in the duration of each period between capsaicin and placebo treatments. However, reductions in the latency and elevating periods were positively correlated with baseline durations. In subgroup analyses, that correlation was observed in patents with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) but not in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The consumption of wafer paper containing capsaicin before the intake of food may be effective in patients with dysphagia related with certain neurodegenerative diseases, particularly ALS patients. Further studies will be needed to validate this finding

Comparison of Oxygen Saturation Between Nasal High-Flow Oxygen and Conventional Nasal Cannula in Obese Patients Undergoing Dental Procedures With Deep Sedation: A Randomized Crossover Trial

Purpose: In anesthetic management, it is widely accepted that obese patients are more likely to suffer airway obstructions and reductions in arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2). Therefore, it is important to take special measures to prevent oxygen desaturation during the deep sedation of obese patients. This clinical study examined whether the use of nasal high-flow systems (NHFS) keep higher SpO2 and reduced hypoxemia than conventional nasal cannula during the deep sedation of obese patients with intellectual disabilities for dental treatment. Materials and Methods: Eighteen obese patients (body mass index: >25) with intellectual disabilities who underwent dental sedation were enrolled. In each case, sedation was induced using propofol and maintained at a bispectral index of 50–70. The subjects were randomly assigned to the control oxygen administration (5 L/min via a nasal cannula) or NHFS (40% O2, 40 L/min, 37°C) arm in alternate shifts as a crossover trial. The primary endpoint was the minimum SpO2 value, and the incidence of hypoxemia during dental treatment was also evaluated. Results: The mean minimum SpO2 value was significantly higher in the NHFS arm than in the 4 control arm (95.8 ± 2.1 % vs. 93.6 ± 4.1 %, p=0.0052, 95% confidence interval: 0.608–3.947). Hypoxemic episodes (SpO2: ≤94%) occurred 3 cases (16.7%) in the NHFS arm and 11 case (61.1%) in the control arm (P=0.0076, odds ratio: 0.127, 95% confidence interval 0.0324 to 0.630). Conclusion: NHFS resulted in higher minimum SpO2 and reduced hypoxemia than nasal cannula in obese patients during deep sedation for dental treatmen

Stereoselective synthesis of highly functionalized (Z)-chloroalkene dipeptide isosteres containing an α,α-disubstituted amino acid

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In vitro substrate phosphorylation by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase using guanosine-5[prime]-triphosphate as a phosphate donor

BACKGROUND: Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase (CaMKK) phosphorylates and activates particular downstream protein kinases — including CaMKI, CaMKIV, and AMPK— to stimulate multiple Ca(2+)-signal transduction pathways. To identify previously unidentified CaMKK substrates, we used various nucleotides as phosphate donors to develop and characterize an in vitro phosphorylation assay for CaMKK. RESULTS: Here, we found that the recombinant CaMKK isoforms were capable of utilizing Mg-GTP as a phosphate donor to phosphorylate the Thr residue in the activation-loop of CaMKIα (Thr(177)) and of AMPK (Thr(172)) in vitro. Kinetic analysis indicated that the K(m) values of CaMKK isoforms for GTP (400-500 μM) were significantly higher than those for ATP (~15 μM), and a 2- to 4-fold decrease in V(max) was observed with GTP. We also confirmed that an ATP competitive CaMKK inhibitor, STO-609, also competes with GTP to inhibit the activities of CaMKK isoforms. In addition, to detect enhanced CaMKI phosphorylation in brain extracts with Mg-GTP and recombinant CaMKKs, we found potential CaMKK substrates of ~45 kDa and ~35 kDa whose Ca(2+)/CaM-induced phosphorylation was inhibited by STO-609. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that screens that use STO-609 as a CaMKK inhibitor and Mg-GTP as a CaMKK-dependent phosphate donor might be useful to identify previously unidentified downstream target substrates of CaMKK

Fundamental Study on Non-invasive Frequency Injection Attack against RO-based TRNG

© 2018 IEEE. In this study, we investigate the security threat of non-invasively degrading the randomness of true random number generators (TRNGs) by injecting disturbance waves and estimating the internal state of ring oscillators (ROs) using side-channel information from outside the device. In addition, we discuss countermeasures against this type of threat.status: publishe