Anti-inflammatory effects of Chinese medicinal herbs on cerebral ischemia

<p>Abstracts</p> <p>Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of anti-inflammation, including cellular immunity, inflammatory mediators, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide and several transcriptional factors, in the treatment of cerebral ischemia. This article reviews the roles of Chinese medicinal herbs as well as their ingredients in the inflammatory cascade induced by cerebral ischemia. Chinese medicinal herbs exert neuroprotective effects on cerebral ischemia. The effects include inhibiting the activation of microglia, decreasing levels of adhesion molecules such as intracellular adhesion molecule-1, attenuating expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α, reducing inducible nitric oxide synthase and reactive oxygen species, and regulating transcription factors such as nuclear factor-κB.</p

The Relationship between Secondary School Students’ Emotional Intelligence and Learning Motivation

In recent years, emotional intelligence has been highly regarded because of its ability to control emotions, develop talented potential, build high-quality relationships, and have leadership skills. Learning motivation is the motivation of achievement in learning, a psychological need for individuals to pursue success, and also one of the main factors affecting learning achievement. Both of them are very important to young adults. However, rare studies discuss the correlation between middle school students’ emotional intelligence and learning motivation. The purposes of this study were to explore the relationships between secondary school students’ emotional intelligence and learning motivation. Participants were 877 secondary school students selected from central Taiwan. A questionnaire was applied to collect data. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study were as follows: First, the students’ perception of the current situations of emotional intelligence and learning motivation were above a moderate level. Second, there was a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and learning motivation. Third, emotional intelligence could predict learning motivation and the level of self-motivation was the best predictor. Conclusion and discussion were also included in this study. Keywords: Secondary school student, Emotional intelligence, Learning motivation DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-5-02 Publication date: February 28th 202

Cognition and musical improvisation in individual and group contexts

The aims of this research are to investigate how improvisatory skills develop in individuals and\ud teams. It focuses upon the effect of musical expertise in different musical genres on the\ud development of improvisatory skills. Multi methods were applied in the research and classified\ud into four phases. The first phase involved a self-case study implementing deliberate self\ud regulated practice based on a planned sequential model; a) sight-reading; b) memorising; and c)\ud improvising; over 8 weeks in a trained classical musician. Additionally, the self-case study used\ud two commissioned musical compositions matched in length, harmony and structure, one in the\ud classical genre the other in jazz. In the 2nd phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted\ud with novice and expert improvisers. The final phases included experiments studying sightreading,\ud memorising and improvising as a duo and observations and interviews relating to\ud ensemble rehearsals and improvisation with cross genre compositions. The findings suggest\ud that learning to improvise is frustrating and anxiety provoking. Seven elements were found to\ud be important in acquiring musical skills and domain knowledge acquisition: physiological\ud adaptation and developing reading music skills; establishing auditory schemata; automaticity;\ud use of memorisation strategies; analytic strategy application; and improvising to a coherent\ud musical structure. The findings also show that sight-reading and improvising share similarities\ud in their characteristics when learning to improvise as a duo. Issues such as communicating to\ud the audience, performance identity and connecting to the context are essential in the duo\ud improvisation performance. The findings indicate that a 'concept of break-points' (Poole,\ud 1983) take place during the latter stage of the ensemble improvisation process where changes\ud occur across all three elements, musical structure, social structure and communicative behavior. (Bastien\ud and Hostager, 2002:21) Factors such as leadership, group member characteristic, resource, information flow, the creative environment and collateral structure can influence the quality of\ud group improvisation performance

Effect of the Kinesio tape to muscle activity and vertical jump performance in healthy inactive people

BACKGROUND: Elastic taping applied on the triceps surae has been commonly used to improve the performance of lower extremities. However, little objective evidence has been documented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of elastic taping on the triceps surae during a maximal vertical jump. It was hypothesized that elastic taping to the triceps surae would increase muscle activity and cause positive effect to jump height. METHODS: Thirty-one healthy adults (19 males and 12 females with mean age, body weight and height for 25.3 ± 3.8 years old, 64.1 ± 6.2 kg, and 169.4 ± 7.3 cm, respectively) were recruited. All participants performed vertical jump tests prior to (without taping) and during elastic taping. Two elastic tapes, Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape from two different manufacturers, were applied to the participants, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that the vertical ground reaction force increased when Kinesio tape was applied even when the height of jump remained about constant. However, the height of the jump decreased, and there was no difference on the vertical ground reaction force in Mplacebo taping group. Although the EMG activity of medial gastrocnemius tended to increase in Kinesio taping group, we did not see differences in EMG activity for the medial gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior and soleus muscles in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the varied effects of Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape, different intervention technique was suggested for specific purpose during vertical jump movement. Mplacebo tape was demanded for the benefits of stabilization, protection, and the restriction of motion at the ankle joint. On the other hand, the findings may implicate benefits for medial gastrocnemius muscle strength and push-off force when using Kinesio tape

Paeonol Protects Memory after Ischemic Stroke via Inhibiting β-Secretase and Apoptosis

Poststroke dementia commonly occurs following stroke, with its pathogenesis related to β-amyloid production and apoptosis. The present study evaluate the effects of paeonol, one of the phenolic phytochemicals isolated from the Chinese herb Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews (MC), on protection from memory loss after ischemic stroke in the subacute stage. Rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo) with 10 min of ischemia. The data revealed that paeonol recovered the step-through latency in the retrieval test seven days after tMCAo, but did not improve the neurological deficit induced by tMCAo. Levels of Amyloid precursor protein (APP)- and beta-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE; β-secretase)-immunoreactive cells, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL)-positive cells decreased in the paeonol-administered group. Western blotting revealed decreased levels of Bax protein in mitochondria and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) in cytosol following paeonol treatment. In conclusion, we speculate that paeonol protected memory after ischemic stroke via reducing APP, BACE, and apoptosis. Supression the level of Bax and blocking the release of AIF into cytosol might participate in the anti-apoptosis provided by paeonol

Participation in Decision Making as a Property of Complex Adaptive Systems: Developing and Testing a Measure

Objectives. To (1) describe participation in decision-making as a systems-level property of complex adaptive systems and (2) present empirical evidence of reliability and validity of a corresponding measure. Method. Study 1 was a mail survey of a single respondent (administrators or directors of nursing) in each of 197 nursing homes. Study 2 was a field study using random, proportionally stratified sampling procedure that included 195 organizations with 3,968 respondents. Analysis. In Study 1, we analyzed the data to reduce the number of scale items and establish initial reliability and validity. In Study 2, we strengthened the psychometric test using a large sample. Results. Results demonstrated validity and reliability of the participation in decision-making instrument (PDMI) while measuring participation of workers in two distinct job categories (RNs and CNAs). We established reliability at the organizational level aggregated items scores.We established validity of the multidimensional properties using convergent and discriminant validity and confirmatory factor analysis. Conclusions. Participation in decision making, when modeled as a systems level property of organization, has multiple dimensions and is more complex than is being traditionally measured. Managers can use this model to form decision teams that maximize the depth and breadth of expertise needed and to foster connection among them

Arecoline induces HA22T/VGH hepatoma cells to undergo anoikis - involvement of STAT3 and RhoA activation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our previous study showed that, in basal cell carcinoma cells, arecoline reduces levels of the tumor cell survival factor interleukin-6 (IL-6), increases levels of tumor suppressor factor p53, and elicits cell cycle arrest, followed by apoptosis. In preliminarily studies, we observed that arecoline induces detachment of the human-derived hepatoma cell line HA22T/VGH from the extracellular matrix. In the present study, we explored the fate of the detached HA22T/VGH cells and investigated the underlying mechanism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HA22T/VGH cells or primary cultured rat hepatocytes were treated with arecoline, then changes in morphology, viability, apoptosis, and the expression of surface β1-integrin, apoptosis-related proteins, and IL-6 were examined. Furthermore, activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway and the RhoA/Rock signaling pathway, including p190RhoGAP and Src homology-2 domain-containing phosphatase SHP2, was examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A low concentration of arecoline (≤ 100 μg/ml) caused cytoskeletal changes in HA22T/VGH cells, but not hepatocytes, and this was accompanied by decreased β1-integrin expression and followed by apoptosis, indicating that HA22T/VGH cells undergo anoikis after arecoline treatment. IL-6 expression and phosphorylation of STAT3, which provides protection against anoikis, were inhibited and levels of downstream signaling proteins, including Bcl-X_Land Bcl-2, were decreased, while Bax expression, mitochondrial cytochrome c release, and caspase-3 activity were increased. In addition, phosphorylation/activation of p190RhoGAP, a RhoA inhibitor, and of its upstream regulator, SHP2, was inhibited by arecoline treatment, while Rho/Rock activation was increased. Addition of the RhoA inhibitor attenuated the effects of arecoline.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrated that arecoline induces anoikis of HA22T/VGH cells involving inhibition of STAT3 and increased RhoA/Rock activation and that the STAT3 and RhoA/Rock signaling pathways are connected.</p

A pre-S gene chip to detect pre-S deletions in hepatitis B virus large surface antigen as a predictive marker for hepatoma risk in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. The pre-S₁and -S₂mutant large HBV surface antigen (LHBS), in which the pre-S₁and -S₂regions of the LHBS gene are partially deleted, are highly associated with HBV-related HCC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The pre-S region of the LHBS gene in two hundred and one HBV-positive serum samples was PCR-amplified and sequenced. A pre-S oligonucleotide gene chip was developed to efficiently detect pre-S deletions in chronic HBV carriers. Twenty serum samples from chronic HBV carriers were analyzed using the chip.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The pre-S deletion rates were relatively low (7%) in the sera of patients with acute HBV infection. They gradually increased in periods of persistent HBV infection: pre-S mutation rates were 37% in chronic HBV carriers, and as high as 60% in HCC patients. The Pre-S Gene Chip offers a highly sensitive and specific method for pre-S deletion detection and is less expensive and more efficient (turnaround time 3 days) than DNA sequencing analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The pre-S_1/2mutants may emerge during the long-term persistence of the HBV genome in carriers and facilitate HCC development. Combined detection of pre-S mutations, other markers of HBV replication, and viral titers, offers a reliable predictive method for HCC risks in chronic HBV carriers.</p