515 research outputs found
Probiotic actions on diseases: implications for therapeutic treatments
The ecology of gut microflora, which colonizes all body surfaces, has long coevolved with its hosts in a complicated fashion. Health benefits conferred by gut microflora include defense against invading pathogens, improvement of nutritional bioavailability, and development of the regional and systemic immune systems. The past decade has witnessed growing interest in the fact that the gut microflora affects the host's energy homeostasis by means of various mechanisms, including supplying nourishment from indigestible compounds, producing small biomolecules responsible for lipid profiles, and participating in the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of nutrition. Much in vitro and in vivo research has indicated that aberrant gut microflora plays an important role in the pathogenesis of a wide spectrum of diseases. This is accomplished by a shift in focus, from laying an emphasis on pharmacotherapy to placing more effort on gut microflora normalization. The objectives of this review include illustrating trends in the clinical application of probiotics on diseases, as well as discussing current methodology limitations on probiotic selection. Furthermore, it is expected to shed light on the nature of probiotics, with the aim of giving greater insight into the implications for clinical use of probiotics in the treatment of diseases
Measurement of the Branching Fraction of J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0
Using 58 million J/psi and 14 million psi' decays obtained by the BESII
experiment, the branching fraction of J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0 is determined. The
result is (2.10+/-0.12)X10^{-2}, which is significantly higher than previous
measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, RevTex
Search for K_S K_L in psi'' decays
K_S K_L from psi'' decays is searched for using the psi'' data collected by
BESII at BEPC, the upper limit of the branching fraction is determined to be
B(psi''--> K_S K_L) < 2.1\times 10^{-4} at 90% C. L. The measurement is
compared with the prediction of the S- and D-wave mixing model of the
charmonia, based on the measurements of the branching fractions of J/psi-->K_S
K_L and psi'-->K_S K_L.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
First Measurements of eta_c Decaying into K^+K^-2(pi^+pi^-) and 3(pi^+pi^-)
The decays of eta_c to K^+K^-2(pi^+pi^-) and 3(pi^+pi^-) are observed for the
first time using a sample of 5.8X10^7 J/\psi events collected by the BESII
detector. The product branching fractions are determined to be B(J/\psi-->gamma
eta_c)*B(eta_c-->K^+K^-pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)=(1.21+-0.32+-
0.23)X10^{-4}, and (J/\psi-->gamma eta_c)*
B(eta_c-->pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)= (2.59+-0.32+-0.48)X10^{-4}. The upper
limit for eta_c-->phi pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- is also obtained as B(J/\psi-->gamma
eta_c)*B(eta_c--> phi pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^-)< 6.03 X10^{-5} at the 90% confidence
level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
First observation of psi(2S)-->K_S K_L
The decay psi(2S)-->K_S K_L is observed for the first time using psi(2S) data
collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron
Positron Collider (BEPC); the branching ratio is determined to be
B(psi(2S)-->K_S K_L) = (5.24\pm 0.47 \pm 0.48)\times 10^{-5}. Compared with
J/psi-->K_S K_L, the psi(2S) branching ratio is enhanced relative to the
prediction of the perturbative QCD ``12%'' rule. The result, together with the
branching ratios of psi(2S) decays to other pseudoscalar meson pairs
(\pi^+\pi^- and K^+K^-), is used to investigate the relative phase between the
three-gluon and the one-photon annihilation amplitudes of psi(2S) decays.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Study of psi(2S) decays to X J/psi
Using J/psi -> mu^+ mu^- decays from a sample of approximately 4 million
psi(2S) events collected with the BESI detector, the branching fractions of
psi(2S) -> eta J/psi, pi^0 pi^0 J/psi, and anything J/psi normalized to that of
psi(2S) -> pi^+ pi^- J/psi are measured. The results are B(psi(2S) -> eta
J/psi)/B(psi(2S) -> pi^+ pi^- J/psi) = 0.098 \pm 0.005 \pm 0.010, B(psi(2S) ->
pi^0 pi^0 J/psi)/B(psi(2S) -> pi^+ pi^- J/psi) = 0.570 \pm 0.009 \pm 0.026, and
B(psi(2S) -> anything J/psi)/B(psi(2S) -> pi^+ pi^- J/psi) = 1.867 \pm 0.026
\pm 0.055.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Cytotoxic polyfunctionality maturation of cytomegalovirus-pp65-specific CD4 + and CD8 + T-cell responses in older adults positively correlates with response size
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is one of the most common persistent viral infections in humans worldwide and is epidemiologically associated with many adverse health consequences during aging. Previous studies yielded conflicting results regarding whether large, CMV-specific T-cell expansions maintain their function during human aging. In the current study, we examined the in vitro CMV-pp65-reactive T-cell response by comprehensively studying five effector functions (i.e., interleukin-2, tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ, perforin, and CD107a expression) in 76 seropositive individuals aged 70 years or older. Two data-driven, polyfunctionality panels (IL-2-associated and cytotoxicity-associated) derived from effector function co-expression patterns were used to analyze the results. We found that, CMV-pp65-reactive CD8 + and CD4 + T cells contained similar polyfunctional subsets, and the level of polyfunctionality was related to the size of antigen-specific response. In both CD8 + and CD4 + cells, polyfunctional cells with high cytotoxic potential accounted for a larger proportion of the total response as the total response size increased. Notably, a higher serum CMV-IgG level was positively associated with a larger T-cell response size and a higher level of cytotoxic polyfunctionality. These findings indicate that CMV-pp65-specific CD4 + and CD8 + T cell undergo simultaneous cytotoxic polyfunctionality maturation during aging
Digit-only sauropod pes trackways from China - evidence of swimming or a preservational phenomenon?
For more than 70 years unusual sauropod trackways have played a pivotal role in debates about the swimming ability of sauropods. Most claims that sauropods could swim have been based on manus-only or manus-dominated trackways. However none of these incomplete trackways has been entirely convincing, and most have proved to be taphonomic artifacts, either undertracks or the result of differential depth of penetration of manus and pes tracks, but otherwise showed the typical pattern of normal walking trackways. Here we report an assemblage of unusual sauropod tracks from the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group of Gansu Province, northern China, characterized by the preservation of only the pes claw traces, that we interpret as having been left by walking, not buoyant or swimming, individuals. They are interpreted as the result of animals moving on a soft mud-silt substrate, projecting their claws deeply to register their traces on an underlying sand layer where they gained more grip during progression. Other sauropod walking trackways on the same surface with both pes and manus traces preserved, were probably left earlier on relatively firm substrates that predated the deposition of soft mud and silt . Presently, there is no convincing evidence of swimming sauropods from their trackways, which is not to say that sauropods did not swim at all
An evaluation of the integration of non-traditional learning tools into a community based breast and cervical cancer education program: The witness project of Buffalo
BACKGROUND: Breast and cervical cancer continue to represent major health challenges for African American women. among Caucasian women. The underlying reasons for this disparity are multifactorial and include lack of education and awareness of screening and early detection. Traditional educational methods have enjoyed varied success in the African American community and spawned development of novel educational approaches. Community based education programs employing a variety of educational models have been introduced. Successful programs must train and provide lay community members with the tools necessary to deliver strong educational programs. METHODS: The Witness Project is a theory-based, breast and cervical cancer educational program, delivered by African American women, that stresses the importance of early detection and screening to improve survival and teaches women how to perform breast self examination. Implementing this program in the Buffalo Witness Project of Buffalo required several modifications in the curriculum, integration of non-traditional learning tools and focused training in clinical study participation. The educational approaches utilized included repetition, modeling, building comprehension, reinforcement, hands on learning, a social story on breast health for African American women, and role play conversations about breast and cervical health and support. RESULTS: Incorporating non-traditional educational approaches into the Witness Project training resulted in a 79% improvement in the number of women who mastered the didactic information. A seventy-two percent study participation rate was achieved by educating the community organizations that hosted Witness Project programs about the informed consent process and study participation. CONCLUSION: Incorporating non-traditional educational approaches into community outreach programs increases training success as well as community participation
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