The Evaluation of the Body Weight Lowering Effects of Herbal Extract THI on Exercising Healthy Overweight Humans: A Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

We investigated the effects of herbal extracts, a mixture of Scutellariae Radix and Platycodi Radix containing the active ingredients Baicalin and Saponin (target herbal ingredient (THI)), on lowering body weight. The present study was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial carried out at the outpatient department of a hospital over a period of 2 months. Group 1 patients (n=30) received THI, and group 2 patients (n=23) received placebo three times a day before meals. Weight, waist circumference, BMI, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and glucose were measured at baseline and again at the 2nd month. For safety evaluation, various hematological and biochemical parameters were assessed. Values of mean change of weight in the THI-treated group were −1.16±1.41 kg and in the placebo-treated group were −0.24±1.70 kg, respectively. The difference in mean change of weight in the THI-treated group compared with that in the placebo-treated group was statistically significant (P<0.05). The incidence of subjective and objective adverse drug reactions was insignificant (P>0.05). THI was statistically significant in its effectiveness on the weight loss

The Control Method for Wavelength-Based CCT of Natural Light Using Warm/Cool White LED

Reproducing circadian patterns of natural light through lighting requires technology that can control correlated color temperature (CCT) and short wavelength ratio (SWR) simultaneously. This study proposes a method for controlling wavelength-based CCT of natural light using LED light sources. First, the spectral power distribution (SPD) of each channel of the test lighting (two-channel LED lighting with warm white and cool white) is identified through actual measurement. Next, CCT and SWR are calculated based on the additive mixing of SPD using the mixing ratio from the measured SPD. Finally, the regression equations for mixing ratio-CCT and mixing ratio-SWR are derived through regression analysis. These equations are then utilized to implement a wavelength-based CCT control algorithm. For performance and evaluation purposes, natural light reproduction experiments were conducted, achieving a mean error of 94.5K for CCT and 1.5% for SWR

1999-2000 Master Class - Kemal Gekic (Piano)

https://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_masterclasses/1190/thumbnail.jp

Structure of Osh3 Reveals a Conserved Mode of Phosphoinositide Binding in Oxysterol-Binding Proteins

SummaryThe oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-related proteins (ORPs) are conserved from yeast to humans, and implicated in the regulation of lipid homeostasis and in signaling pathways. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has seven ORPs (Osh1–Osh7) that share one unknown essential function. Here, we report the 1.5–2.3 Å structures of the PH domain and ORD (OSBP-related domain) of yeast Osh3 in apo-form or in complex with phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI[4]P). Osh3 recognizes PI(4)P by the highly conserved residues in the tunnel of ORD whereas it lacks sterol binding due to the narrow hydrophobic tunnel. Yeast complementation tests suggest that PI(4)P binding to PH and ORD is essential for function. This study suggests that the unifying feature in all ORP homologs is the binding of PI(4)P to ORD and sterol binding is additional to certain homologs. Structural modeling of full-length Osh3 is consistent with the concept that Osh3 is a lipid transfer protein or regulator in membrane contact sites

Neurotrophin 3 induces structural and functional modification of synapses through distinct molecular mechanisms

The mechanisms by which neurotrophins elicit long-term structural and functional changes of synapses are not known. We report the mechanistic separation of functional and structural synaptic regulation by neurotrophin 3 (NT-3), using the neuromuscular synapse as a model. Inhibition of cAMP response element (CRE)–binding protein (CREB)–mediated transcription blocks the enhancement of transmitter release elicited by NT-3, without affecting the synaptic varicosity of the presynaptic terminals. Further analysis indicates that CREB is activated through Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase IV (CaMKIV) pathway, rather than the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) or cAMP pathway. In contrast, inhibition of MAPK prevents the NT-3–induced structural, but not functional, changes. Genetic and imaging experiments indicate that the small GTPase Rap1, but not Ras, acts upstream of MAPK activation by NT-3. Thus, NT-3 initiates parallel structural and functional modifications of synapses through the Rap1–MAPK and CaMKIV–CREB pathways, respectively. These findings may have implications in the general mechanisms of long-term synaptic modulation by neurotrophins

The Role of the Medial Habenula Cholinergic System in Addiction and Emotion-Associated Behaviors

The habenula is a complex nucleus composed of lateral and medial subnuclei, which connect between the limbic forebrain and midbrain. Over the past few years, the lateral habenula has received considerable attention because of its potential roles in cognition and in the pathogenesis of various psychiatric disorders. Unlike extensively studied lateral habenula, anatomically and histologically distinct medial habenula remains largely understudied. The medial habenula can be further subdivided into a dorsal region containing excitatory neurons that express the tachykinin neuropeptide substance P and a ventral region containing dense cholinergic neurons. Although the medial habenula is the source of one of the major cholinergic pathways in the brain, relatively few studies have been conducted to understand its roles. Recently, however, the medial habenula cholinergic system has attracted more attention because of its potential to provide therapeutic targets for the treatment of nicotine withdrawal symptoms, drug addiction, and various mood disorders. Here, we discuss the role of the medial habenula cholinergic system in brain function

Analysis for the hierarchical architecture of the heterogeneous FitzHugh-Nagumo network inducing synchronization

Synchronization is a key topic of research in neuroscience, medicine, and artificial neural networks; however, understanding its principle is difficult, both scientifically and mathematically. Specifically, the synchronization of the FitzHugh-Nagumo network with a hierarchical architecture has previously been studied; however, a mathematical analysis has not been conducted, owing to the network complexity. Therefore, in this paper, we saught to understand synchronization through mathematical analyses. In particular, we consider the most common types of hierarchical architecture and present a condition of the hierarchical architecture to induce synchronization. First, we provide mathematical analyses of a Lyapunov function for each layer, from which we obtain sufficient conditions guaranteeing synchronization and show that the Lyapunov function decreases exponentially. Moreover, we show that the internal connectivity critically affects synchronization in the first layer; however, in the second and subsequent layers, the internal connectivity is not important for synchronization, and the connectivity up to the first layer critically affects synchronization. We expect that the results and mathematical methodology can be applied to study other similar neural models with hierarchical architectures

1999-2000 Studio Series - From the Piano Studio of Roberta Rust

A concert for Huntington Lakes - Summer Humanities Series Edith Rueger, Directo

Flexible Acceptance Condition of Generics from a Probabilistic Viewpoint: Towards Formalization of the Semantics of Generics

Formalization of the semantics of generics has been considered extremely challenging for their inherent vagueness and context-dependence that hinder a single fixed truth condition. The present study suggests a way to formalize the semantics of generics by constructing flexible acceptance conditions with comparative probabilities. Findings from our in-depth psycholinguistic experiment show that two comparative probabilities—cue validity and prevalence—indeed construct the flexible acceptance conditions for generics in a systematic manner that can be applied to a diverse types of generics: Acceptability of IS_A relational generics is mostly determined by prevalence without interaction with cue validity; feature-describing generics are endorsed acceptable with high cue validity, albeit mediated by prevalence; and acceptability of feature-describing generics with low cue validity is mostly determined by prevalence irrespective of cue validity. Such systematic patterns indicate a great potential for the formalization of the semantics of generics