Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) whole plant extract enhances rat muscle mass and sperm production by increasing the activity of NO-cGMP pathway and serum testosterone

Purpose: To analyze the effects of an aqueous extract of Sericea lespedeza (SL) on rat male menopause.Methods: Levels of nitric oxide (NO), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS), cGMP, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the penile corpus cavernosum of the rats were evaluated using appropriate kits. Serum levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (17β-HSD) were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Total and motile sperms were counted on a hemocytometer. Histological changes in rat testis and epididymis were analyzed with hematoxylin and eosin staining.Results: The levels of NO, NOS, and cGMP (but not PGE2) increased in a dose-dependent manner (p< 0.05) upon administration of an aqueous extract of SL (AESL), while levels of DHT, 17β-HSD, and testosterone increased in the group administered with 300 mg/kg of AESL. Epididymal sperm count increased by 24 % in such rats compared to controls (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The aqueous extract of SL improves sperm count and muscle mass in rats by increasing the levels of NO, NOS, cGMP and testosterone. Thus, SL extract can potentially be developed as an alternative therapeutic agent for clinical management of TDS. Keywords: NO-cGMP, Testosterone, Hormones, Sperm count, Muscle mass, Sericea lespedeza, Lespedeza cuneat

Long-term outcomes after revascularization for advanced popliteal artery entrapment syndrome with segmental arterial occlusion

ObjectivesThere are few long-term follow-up studies about the result of revascularization surgery for the treatment of popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (PAES). We performed this retrospective study to analyze the long-term result of revascularization surgery in patients with advanced PAES during the last 16 years.MethodsTwenty-two limbs in 18 consecutive patients with PAES were treated surgically at Seoul National University Hospital between January 1994 and December 2009. The preoperative diagnosis of PAES was made by duplex ultrasonography, three-dimensional computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, or conventional angiography. The method of surgical approach was determined by the extent of arterial occlusion in preoperative images.ResultsThe mean age was 31 years old and the majority of patients were men (94%). The chief complaints were claudication in 18 limbs, ischemic rest pain in three limbs, and toe necrosis in one limb. All 22 limbs underwent revascularization for advanced PAES with segmental arterial occlusion. Fourteen limbs underwent musculotendinous section and popliteo-popliteal interposition graft (13 posterior approaches, one medial approach), five femoropopliteal (below-knee) bypasses, one femoro-posterior tibial bypass, and two popliteo-posterior tibial bypasses. All revascularization surgeries were performed with reversed saphenous veins. The overall primary graft patency rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 80.9%, 74.6%, and 74.6%, respectively. Comparing 5-year graft patency according to the extent of arterial occlusion, patients with occlusion confined to the popliteal artery (n = 14) showed a better patency rate than patients with occlusion extended beyond the popliteal artery (n = 8) with no statistical significance (83.6% vs 53.6%; P = .053). Comparing 5-year graft patency according to the inflow artery, superficial femoral artery inflow (n = 6) showed a worse patency rate than popliteal artery inflow (n = 16) (30.0% vs 85.9%; P = .015).ConclusionIn advanced popliteal entrapment syndrome, longer bypass with superficial femoral artery inflow showed poor long-term graft patency rate. The graft patency rate was excellent in patients whose arterial occlusion was confined to the popliteal artery and treated by popliteal interposition graft with reversed saphenous vein. With these data, we suggest that longer bypass extending beyond the popliteal artery might only be indicated in patients with critical limb ischemia when the extent of disease does not allow short interposition graft

Outcomes after aortic aneurysm repair in patients with history of cancer: a nationwide dataset analysis

Synchronous cancer in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) increases morbidity and mortality after AAA repair. However, little is known about the impact of the history of cancer on mortality after AAA repair. Patients with intact AAA who were treated with endovascular aneurysm repair or open surgical repair were selected from the Health Insurance and Review Assessment data in South Korea between 2007 and 2016. Primary endpoints included the 30- and 90-day mortality and long-term mortality after AAA repair. The Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to evaluate independent predictors of mortality. A total of 1999 patients (17.0%, 1999/11785) were diagnosed with cancer prior to the AAA repair. History of cancer generally had no effect in short-term mortality at 30 and 90 days. However, short-term mortality rate of patients with a history of lung cancer was more than twice that of patients without it (3.07% vs. 1.06%, P = 0.0038, 6.14% vs. 2.69%, P = 0.0016). Furthermore, the mortality rate at the end of the study period was significantly higher in AAA patients with a history of cancer than in those without a history of cancer (21.21% vs. 17.08%, P < .0001, HR, 1.31, 95% CI, 1.17–1.46). The history of cancer in AAA patients increases long-term mortality but does not affect short-term mortality after AAA repair. However, AAA repair could increase both short- and long-term mortality in patients with lung cancer history, and those cases should be more carefully selected

A pathogen-derived metabolite induces microglial activation via odorant receptors

Microglia (MG), the principal neuroimmune sentinels in the brain, continuously sense changes in their environment and respond to invading pathogens, toxins, and cellular debris, thereby affecting neuroinflammation. Microbial pathogens produce small metabolites that influence neuroinflammation, but the molecular mechanisms that determine whether pathogen-derived small metabolites affect microglial activation of neuroinflammation remain to be elucidated. We hypothesized that odorant receptors (ORs), the largest subfamily of G protein-coupled receptors, are involved in microglial activation by pathogen-derived small metabolites. We found that MG express high levels of two mouse ORs, Olfr110 and Olfr111, which recognize a pathogenic metabolite, 2-pentylfuran, secreted by Streptococcus pneumoniae. These interactions activate MG to engage in chemotaxis, cytokine production, phagocytosis, and reactive oxygen species generation. These effects were mediated through the G(alpha s)-cyclic adenosine monophosphate-protein kinase A-extracellular signal-regulated kinase and G(beta gamma)-phospholipase C-Ca2+ pathways. Taken together, our results reveal a novel interplay between the pathogen-derived metabolite and ORs, which has major implications for our understanding of microglial activation by pathogen recognition. Database Model data are available in the PMDB database under the accession number PM0082389.N

A Multi-Sample Based Method for Identifying Common CNVs in Normal Human Genomic Structure Using High-Resolution aCGH Data

BACKGROUND: It is difficult to identify copy number variations (CNV) in normal human genomic data due to noise and non-linear relationships between different genomic regions and signal intensity. A high-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) containing 42 million probes, which is very large compared to previous arrays, was recently published. Most existing CNV detection algorithms do not work well because of noise associated with the large amount of input data and because most of the current methods were not designed to analyze normal human samples. Normal human genome analysis often requires a joint approach across multiple samples. However, the majority of existing methods can only identify CNVs from a single sample. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a multi-sample-based genomic variations detector (MGVD) that uses segmentation to identify common breakpoints across multiple samples and a k-means-based clustering strategy. Unlike previous methods, MGVD simultaneously considers multiple samples with different genomic intensities and identifies CNVs and CNV zones (CNVZs); CNVZ is a more precise measure of the location of a genomic variant than the CNV region (CNVR). CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: We designed a specialized algorithm to detect common CNVs from extremely high-resolution multi-sample aCGH data. MGVD showed high sensitivity and a low false discovery rate for a simulated data set, and outperformed most current methods when real, high-resolution HapMap datasets were analyzed. MGVD also had the fastest runtime compared to the other algorithms evaluated when actual, high-resolution aCGH data were analyzed. The CNVZs identified by MGVD can be used in association studies for revealing relationships between phenotypes and genomic aberrations. Our algorithm was developed with standard C++ and is available in Linux and MS Windows format in the STL library. It is freely available at: http://embio.yonsei.ac.kr/~Park/mgvd.php

A secretome profile indicative of oleate-induced proliferation of HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Increased fatty acid (FA) is often observed in highly proliferative tumors. FAs have been shown to modulate the secretion of proteins from tumor cells, contributing to tumor survival. However, the secreted factors affected by FA have not been systematically explored. Here, we found that treatment of oleate, a monounsaturated omega-9 FA, promoted the proliferation of HepG2 cells. To examine the secreted factors associated with oleate-induced cell proliferation, we performed a comprehensive secretome profiling of oleate-treated and untreated HepG2 cells. A comparison of the secretomes identified 349 differentially secreted proteins (DSPs; 145 upregulated and 192 downregulated) in oleate-treated samples, compared to untreated samples. The functional enrichment and network analyses of the DSPs revealed that the 145 upregulated secreted proteins by oleate treatment were mainly associated with cell proliferation-related processes, such as lipid metabolism, inflammatory response, and ER stress. Based on the network models of the DSPs, we selected six DSPs (MIF, THBS1, PDIA3, APOA1, FASN, and EEF2) that can represent such processes related to cell proliferation. Thus, our results provided a secretome profile indicative of an oleate-induced proliferation of HepG2 cell

Geographic information-based data delivery in vehicular networks: A survey

With the convergence of IT and automobile technologies, one of the key challenges is to effectively deliver Internet-based data through the vehicular network. The conventional topology-based data routing mechanisms are not suitable in the highly dynamic environment of vehicular networks. The geographic location information acquired from the GPS can help in efficiently finding routes to the destination in the vehicular network. Therefore, in this paper, we provide the survey on geographic addressing and forwarding mechanisms for the vehicular network, especially focusing on the close relationship between addressing and forwarding

Internet of Vehicles and Cost-Effective Traffic Signal Control

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is attracting many researchers with the emergence of autonomous or smart vehicles. Vehicles on the road are becoming smart objects equipped with lots of sensors and powerful computing and communication capabilities. In the IoV environment, the efficiency of road transportation can be enhanced with the help of cost-effective traffic signal control. Traffic signal controllers control traffic lights based on the number of vehicles waiting for the green light (in short, vehicle queue length). So far, the utilization of video cameras or sensors has been extensively studied as the intelligent means of the vehicle queue length estimation. However, it has the deficiencies like high computing overhead, high installation and maintenance cost, high susceptibility to the surrounding environment, etc. Therefore, in this paper, we propose the vehicular communication-based approach for intelligent traffic signal control in a cost-effective way with low computing overhead and high resilience to environmental obstacles. In the vehicular communication-based approach, traffic signals are efficiently controlled at no extra cost by using the pre-equipped vehicular communication capabilities of IoV. Vehicular communications allow vehicles to send messages to traffic signal controllers (i.e., vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications) so that they can estimate vehicle queue length based on the collected messages. In our previous work, we have proposed a mechanism that can accomplish the efficiency of vehicular communications without losing the accuracy of traffic signal control. This mechanism gives transmission preference to the vehicles farther away from the traffic signal controller, so that the other vehicles closer to the stop line give up transmissions. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism enhancing the previous mechanism by selecting the vehicles performing V2I communications based on the concept of road sectorization. In the mechanism, only the vehicles within specific areas, called sectors, perform V2I communications to reduce the message transmission overhead. For the performance comparison of our mechanisms, we carry out simulations by using the Veins vehicular network simulation framework and measure the message transmission overhead and the accuracy of the estimated vehicle queue length. Simulation results verify that our vehicular communication-based approach significantly reduces the message transmission overhead without losing the accuracy of the vehicle queue length estimation