The Effect of Herbal Diet on Skeletal Muscle Mass After Resistance Training in Rats

Resistance training has been well established as an effective strategy for muscle hypertrophy, increase in skeletal muscle mass and strength. Herbal diet has been introduced as an alternative treatment to alleviate muscle atrophy and therapeutic intervention. However, there is little evidence on the effect of herbal diet on skeletal muscle mass. To investigate whether herbal diet affects skeletal muscle mass after resistance training in rats. Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: 1) Control (CON, N=8), 2) Resistance training (RT, N=8), 3) RT+Herb (RTH, N=8). Resistance training was performed every other day for 8 weeks using ladder climbing. The ladder climbing exercise consisted of 3 sets of 5 repetitions with a 1 min rest interval between the repetitions and a 2 min rest between the sets. Huang Qi (Radix Astragali Membranceus) was given via oral gavage once a day for 8 weeks (1 ml mixed with water based on concentration of 368 mg/kg). All rats received sham treatment, same as treatment groups. All data were analyzed using One-way ANOVA. After 8 weeks of interventions, muscle mass of Gastrocnemius, Plantaris, and Flexor hallucis longus showed significant increases in RT and RTH groups compared to CON (

Cervical Length and the Risk of Microbial Invasion of the Amniotic Cavity in Women with Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes

The aims of this study were to determine whether sonographically measured cervical length is of value in the identification of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and to compare its performance with maternal blood C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), and amniotic fluid (AF) WBC. This prospective observational study enrolled 50 singleton pregnancies with PPROM. Transvaginal ultrasound for measurement of cervical length was performed and maternal blood was collected for the determination of CRP and WBC at the time of amniocentesis. AF obtained by amniocentesis was cultured and WBC determined. The prevalence of a positive amniotic fluid culture was 26% (13/50). Patients with positive amniotic fluid cultures had a significantly shorter median cervical length and higher median CRP, WBC, and AF WBC than did those with negative cultures. Multiple logistic regression indicated that only cervical length had a significant relationship with the log odds of a positive AF culture. Transvaginal sonographic measurement of cervical length is valuable in the identification of microbial invasion of amniotic cavity in women with PPROM. Cervical length performs better than AF WBC, maternal blood CRP, and WBC in the identification of a positive amniotic fluid culture

Monitoring daily evapotranspiration in Northeast Asia using MODIS and a regional Land Data Assimilation System

We applied an approach for daily estimation and monitoring of evapotranspiration (ET) over the Northeast Asia monsoon region using satellite remote sensing observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Frequent cloud cover results in a substantial loss of remote sensing information, limiting the capability of continuous ET monitoring for the monsoon region. Accordingly, we applied and evaluated a stand-alone MODIS ET algorithm for representative regional ecosystem types and an alternative algorithm to facilitate continuous regional ET estimates using surface meteorological inputs from the Korea Land Data Assimilation System (KLDAS) in addition to MODIS land products. The resulting ET calculations showed generally favorable agreement (root-mean-square error  \u3c 1.3 mm d−1) with respect to in situ measurements from eight regional flux tower sites. The estimated mean annual ET for 3 years (2006 to 2008) was approximately 362.0 ± 161.5 mm yr−1 over the Northeast Asia domain. In general, the MODIS and KLDAS-based ET (MODIS-KLDAS ET) results showed favorable performance when compared to tower observations, though the results were overestimated for a forest site by approximately 39.5% and underestimated for a cropland site in South Korea by 0.8%. The MODIS-KLDAS ET data were generally underestimated relative to the MODIS (MOD16) operational global terrestrial ET product for various biome types, excluding cropland; however, MODIS-KLDAS ET showed better agreement than MOD16 ET for forest and cropland sites in South Korea. Our results indicate that MODIS ET estimates are feasible but are limited by satellite optical-infrared remote sensing constraints over cloudy regions, whereas alternative ET estimates using continuous meteorological inputs from operational regional climate systems (e.g., KLDAS) provide accurate ET results and continuous monitoring capability under all-sky conditions

Effect of Floor Space Allowance on Pig Productivity across Stages of Growth: A Field-scale Analysis

A total of 152 pig farms were randomly selected from the five provinces in South Korea. During the experiment, the average temperature and relative humidity was 24.7°C and 74% in summer and 2.4°C and 53% in winter, respectively. The correlation between floor space allowance (FSA) and productivity index was analyzed, including non-productive sow days (NPD), number of weaners (NOW), survival rate (SR), appearance rate of A-grade pork (ARA), and days at a slaughter weight of 110 kg (d-SW) at different growth stages. The objectives of the present study were i) to determine the effect of FSA on the pig productivity index and ii) to suggest the minimum FSA for pigs based on scientific baseline data. For the pregnant sow, NPD could be decreased if pregnant sows were raised with a medium level (M) of FSA (3.10 to 3.67 m2/head) while also keeping the pig house clean which improves hygiene, and operating the ventilation system properly. For the farrowing sows, the NOW tended to decrease as the FSA increased. Similarly, a high level of FSA (H) is significantly negative with weaner SR of farrowing sows (p-value = 0.017), indicating this FSA tends to depress SR. Therefore, a FSA of 2.30 to 6.40 m2/head (very low) could be appropriate for weaners because a limited space can provide a sense of security and protection from external interruptions. The opposite trend was observed that an increase in floor space (>1.12 m2/head) leads to increase the SR of growing pigs. For the fattening pigs, H level of FSA was negatively correlated with SR, but M level of FSA was positively correlated with SR, indicating that SR tended to increase with the FSA of 1.10 to 1.27 m2/head. In contrast, ARA of male fattening pigs showed opposite results. H level of FSA (1.27 to 1.47 m2/head) was suggested to increase productivity because ARA was most affected by H level of space allowance with positive correlation (R2 = 0.523). The relationship between the FSA and d-SW of fattening pigs was hard to identify because of the low R2 value. However, the farms that provided a relatively large floor space (1.27 to 1.54 m2/head) during the winter period showed d-SW was significantly and negatively affected by FSA

Clinicopathological Risk Factors and Biochemical Predictors of Safe Discharge after Total Thyroidectomy and Central Compartment Node Dissection for Thyroid Cancer: A Prospective Study

To determine the clinicopathological risk factors and reliable biochemical predictors of the development of hypocalcemic symptoms after total thyroidectomy on the basis of serum calcium and intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels measured 1 hour after surgery, a prospective study was performed on 817 patients who underwent a total thyroidectomy with central compartment node dissection (CCND) due to well-differentiated thyroid cancer. We evaluated the correlations between hypocalcemic symptom development and clinicopathological factors. And the predictability for hypocalcemic symptom development of intact PTH cut-offs (<10 pg/mL and <20 pg/mL, resp.) according to serum calcium level subgroup was analyzed. Female gender (P<0.001) was the only independent risk factor for hypocalcemic symptom development in multivariate regression analysis. The negative predictive value (NPV) of intact PTH, signifying nondevelopment of hypocalcemic symptoms, was higher than the positive predictive value (PPV) which signified development of hypocalcemic symptoms. In addition, when we applied the different adoption of the intact PTH cut-off according to serum calcium level, we could obtain more increased NPVs. A female gender and the application of more specific cut-offs for intact PTH according to the serum calcium levels measured 1 hour after surgery may help the patients to be more safely discharged