Leptin concentration in breast milk and its relationship to duration of lactation and hormonal status

BACKGROUND: Leptin, a hormone present in breast milk, is involved in energy regulation and metabolism. The objectives of this study were to assess leptin concentrations in breast milk during the first 180 days postpartum, and to determine the relationship between the concentrations of milk leptin and circulating hormone levels in lactating women. METHODS: Between April 2005 and January 2006, blood and breast milk samples were collected from 160 breastfeeding women enrolled either in the first three days (n = 37; colostrum), days 4–14 (n = 27; transitional milk), days 15–30 (n = 16; early mature milk), days 31–90 (n = 37; mature milk) or days 91–180 (n = 43; late mature milk) postpartum. Milk and serum leptin levels were measured by immunoradiometric assay. Cortisol was measured by radioimmunoassay method. Serum insulin, estradiol, prolactin and thyroxine were measured by chemiluminescent immunometric method. RESULTS: Leptin concentrations in breast milk were highest (3.28 ± 0.41 ng/ml) in colostrum, decreased during the first 180 days of lactation, showing a significant inverse relation (r = -0.694, p < 0.001) with the days of lactation. Colostrum leptin concentrations correlated with maternal serum leptin (r = 0.425, p < 0.01), cortisol (r = 0.549, p < 0.01) and thyroxine (r = -0.530, p < 0.01). Mature milk leptin concentrations correlated with maternal serum leptin (r = 0.547, p < 0.001), insulin (r = 0.331, p < 0.05) and thyroxine (r = -0.329, p < 0.01). Serum leptin concentrations correlated with serum insulin (r = 0.648, p < 0.001), estradiol (r = 0.639, p < 0.001), prolactin (r = 0.530, p < 0.001) and thyroxine (r = -0.327, p < 0.05) concentrations during days 1–3 postpartum. During 15–180 postpartum days, serum leptin concentrations correlated with serum insulin (r = 0.271, p < 0.01), and thyroxine (r = -0.345, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Leptin concentrations in breast milk decrease with time during lactation and show significant relationships with other maternal hormones

A lot-sizing problem in deliberated and controlled co-production systems

We consider an uncapacitated lot sizing problem in co-production systems, in which it is possible to produce multiple items simultaneously in a single production run. Each product has a deterministic demand to be satisfied on time. The decision is to choose which items to co-produce and the amount of production throughout a predetermined planning horizon. We show that the lot sizing problem with co-production is strongly NP-Hard. Then, we develop various mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation of the problem and show that LP relaxations of all MILPs are equal. We develop a separation algorithm based on a set of valid inequalities, lower bounds based on a dynamic lot-sizing relaxation of our problem and a constructive heuristic that is used to obtain an initial solution for the solver, which form the basis of our proposed Branch & Cut algorithm for the problem. We test our models and algorithms on different data sets and provide the results.WOS:000754103800001Scopus - Affiliation ID: 60105072Science Citation Index ExpandedQ2-Q3Article; Early AccessUluslararası işbirliği ile yapılan - HAYIRŞubat2022YÖK - 2021-22Aralı

Penelusuran Potensi Fraksi N-heksan Dan Etil Asetat Dari Ekstrak Metanol Daun Gugur Ketapang (Terminalia Catappa L.) Sebagai Antidiare

Daun ketapang (Terminalia catappa L.). secara empiris digunakan sebagai obat diare. Bakteri yang dapat menyebabkan diare adalah E. coli dan S. aureus. Beberapa penelitian melaporkan bahwa ekstrak metanol daun ketapang memiliki aktivitas antibakteri, serta daun gugur ketapang memiliki aktivitas antibakteri lebih besar daripada daun hijau. Daun ketapang mengandung senyawa golongan flavonoid, tanin dan terpenoid. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelusuri potensi fraksi n-heksan dan etil asetat dari ekstrak metanol daun gugur ketapang segar dan kering sebagai antidiare, serta mengidentifikasi senyawa aktif dalam fraksi tersebut. Bahan yang digunakan adalah daun gugur segar dan kering ketapang yang disari dengan pelarut metanol menggunakan metode maserasi dan difraksinasi secara bertingkat dengan pelarut n-heksan dan etil asetat (EA). Kedua fraksi tersebut kemudian diuji aktivitas antibakterinya terhadap E. coli dan S. aureus menggunakan metode difusi agar, dengan seri konsentrasi 1000; 500; 250; 125; dan 62,5 µg/disk. Identifikasi senyawa aktif menggunakan metode Kromatografi Lapis Tipis (KLT). Kedua fraksi uji mempunyai aktivitas antibakteri terhadap E. coli dan S. aureus mulai konsentrasi 62,5 µg/disk. Hasil KLT fraksi n-heksan menunjukkan adanya senyawa terpenoid sedangkan fraksi EA mengandung senyawa flavonoid

Collective Dynamics Differentiates Functional Divergence in Protein Evolution

Protein evolution is most commonly studied by analyzing related protein sequences and generating ancestral sequences through Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods, and/or by resurrecting ancestral proteins in the lab and performing ligand binding studies to determine function. Structural and dynamic evolution have largely been left out of molecular evolution studies. Here we incorporate both structure and dynamics to elucidate the molecular principles behind the divergence in the evolutionary path of the steroid receptor proteins. We determine the likely structure of three evolutionarily diverged ancestral steroid receptor proteins using the Zipping and Assembly Method with FRODA (ZAMF). Our predictions are within ∼2.7 Å all-atom RMSD of the respective crystal structures of the ancestral steroid receptors. Beyond static structure prediction, a particular feature of ZAMF is that it generates protein dynamics information. We investigate the differences in conformational dynamics of diverged proteins by obtaining the most collective motion through essential dynamics. Strikingly, our analysis shows that evolutionarily diverged proteins of the same family do not share the same dynamic subspace, while those sharing the same function are simultaneously clustered together and distant from those, that have functionally diverged. Dynamic analysis also enables those mutations that most affect dynamics to be identified. It correctly predicts all mutations (functional and permissive) necessary to evolve new function and ∼60% of permissive mutations necessary to recover ancestral function

EVALUATION OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY AS AN ADJUNCT FOR DIAGNOSIS OF DENGUE FEVER AMONG CHILDREN: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY.

Introduction: This study aims to evaluate the role of ultrasonography (USG) for early diagnosis of clinically suspected dengue fever before it becomes serologically positive and the usefulness of USG in predicting the severity of the disease. Methods: Prospective observational study conducted at a tertiary care hospital from April 2020 to March 2021, 70 cases of clinically suspected dengue within the age group of 6 months to 15 years resenting with fever for less than 5 days underwent whole abdomen and chest ultrasonography. For seropositive cases, ultrasonography findings and their utility in early diagnosis and prediction of disease severity were analyzed along with their correlation to the clinical and laboratory profiles. Results: 75.8% had primary dengue and 24.2% had secondary dengue. 94% of cases demonstrated ultrasonography features suggestive of dengue-like hepatomegaly (81%), ascites (63.8%), splenomegaly (56.9%), gall bladder wall thickness (46.6%), Cholecystitis (44.8%) and Pleural effusion (41.4%). Ascites and pleural effusion correlated well with clinical severity (p&lt;0.05). Ascites also had a significant correlation with increased hematocrit (p=0.040) and thrombocytopenia (p=0). A significant correlation was observed between pleural effusion with decreased platelet count ((p=0.004) and decreased serum sodium levels (p=0.044). Gall bladder wall thickening &gt;5mm correlated well with disease severity. USG showed 94.3% sensitivity, 16.67% specificity, and 81.43% of diagnostic accuracy in the seropositive cases of this study. Conclusion: Ultrasonography is useful not only as an adjuvant for early diagnosis of Dengue fever but also as a marker of disease severity

Measurement of the 20 and 90 keV resonances in the 18O(p,α)15{}^{18}{\rm O}(p,\alpha){}^{15}N reaction via THM

The $^{18}{\rm O}(p,\alpha)^{15}{\rm N}$ reaction is of primary importance in several astrophysical scenarios, including fluorine nucleosynthesis inside AGB stars as well as oxygen and nitrogen isotopic ratios in meteorite grains. Thus the indirect measurement of the low energy region of the $^{18}{\rm O}(p,\alpha)^{15}{\rm N}$ reaction has been performed to reduce the nuclear uncertainty on theoretical predictions. In particular the strength of the 20 and 90 keV resonances have been deduced and the change in the reaction rate evaluated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Fermi surface in BaNi2_2P2_2

We report measurements of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation and a band structure calculation for the pnictide superconductor BaNi$_2$P$_2$, which is isostructural to BaFe$_2$As$_2$, the mother compound of the iron-pnictide high-$T_c$ superconductor (Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$)Fe$_2$As$_2$. Six dHvA-frequency branches with frequencies up to $\sim$8 kT were observed, and they are in excellent agreement with results of the band-structure calculation. The determined Fermi surface is large, enclosing about one electron and hole per formula unit, and three-dimensional. This is in contrast to the small two-dimensional Fermi surface expected for the iron-pnictide high-$T_c$ superconductors. The mass enhancement is about two.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., Vol. 78, No.