593 research outputs found
INFLUENCE OF DIETARY RACTOPAMINE AND SUPRANUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTATION OF VITAMIN E ON PROTEOME PROFILE OF POSTMORTEM BEEF LONGISSIMUS LUMBORUM MUSCLE
The effects of dietary ingredients on the proteome profile of postmortem beef longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle were evaluated. In the first experiment, the influence of dietary ractopamine on the whole-muscle proteome of beef LL was examined. Five proteins were differentially abundant between ractopamine-fed (RAC) and non-ractopamine fed (CON) groups. The differentially abundant proteins were over-abundant in RAC and were related to muscle structure development (F-actin-capping protein subunit beta-2 and PDZ and LIM domain protein-3), chaperone (heat shock protein beta-1), oxygen transportation (myoglobin), and glycolysis (L-lactate dehydrogenase A chain). These findings indicated that ractopamine influences the abundance of proteins associated with muscle structure and fiber type shift in beef LL.
In the second experiment, the effect of Vitamin E supplementation on the sarcoplasmic proteome of beef LL was characterized. Five differentially abundant proteins were observed between vitamin E-supplemented (VITE) and non-vitamin E-supplemented (CONT) groups. All the differentially proteins were over-abundant in CONT and were associated with antioxidant activity (thioredoxin-dependent peroxide reductase, peroxiredoxin-6, and serum albumin) and glycolysis (beta-enolase and triosephosphate isomerase). These results indicated that the strong antioxidant activity of vitamin E leads to low expression of antioxidant proteins and antioxidant-related glycolytic enzymes in beef LL muscle
Pulsar Magnetosphere : A General Relativistic Treatment
A fully general relativistic description of the pulsar magnetosphere is
provided. To be more concrete, a study of the pulsar magnetosphere is performed
in the context of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) employing the
so-called Grad-Shafranov approach. Not surprisingly, the resulting
Grad-Shafranov equations and all the other related general relativistic MHD
equations turn out to take essentially the same structures as those for the
(rotating) black hole magnetosphere. Other different natures between the two
cases including the structure of singular surfaces of MHD flows in each
magnetosphere are essentially encoded in the different spacetime (metric)
contents. In this way, the pulsar and the black hole magnetospheres can be
described in an unified fashion. Particularly, the direction of poloidal
currents circulating in the neutron star magnetosphere turns out to be the same
as that of currents circulating in the black hole magnetosphere which, in turn,
leads to the pulsar and the black hole spin-downs via the ``magnetic braking''.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figures, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.(MNRAS), in pres
CIB1 protects against MPTP-induced neurotoxicity through inhibiting ASK1.
Calcium and integrin binding protein 1 (CIB1) is a calcium-binding protein that was initially identified as a binding partner of platelet integrin αIIb. Although CIB1 has been shown to interact with multiple proteins, its biological function in the brain remains unclear. Here, we show that CIB1 negatively regulates degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in a mouse model of Parkinson\u27s disease using 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Genetic deficiency of the CIB1 gene enhances MPTP-induced neurotoxicity in dopaminergic neurons in CIB1(-/-) mice. Furthermore, RNAi-mediated depletion of CIB1 in primary dopaminergic neurons potentiated 1-methyl-4-phenyl pyrinidium (MPP(+))-induced neuronal death. CIB1 physically associated with apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) and thereby inhibited the MPP(+)-induced stimulation of the ASK1-mediated signaling cascade. These findings suggest that CIB1 plays a protective role in MPTP/MPP(+)-induced neurotoxicity by blocking ASK1-mediated signaling
Exposure to toluene diisocyanate (TDI) induces IL-8 production from bronchial epithelial cells: effect of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
This investigation was designed to confirm IL-8 production from human bronchial epithelial cells with toluene diisocyanate (TDI) exposure and to examine the effects of pro-inflammatory cytokine and dexamethasone. We cultured Beas-2B, a bronchial epithelial cell line with TDI-HSA conjugate and compared with those without conjugate. IL-8 in the supernatant was measured by ELISA. To evaluate the effect of proinflammatory cytokines, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were collected from TDI- and non-TDI asthma patients, and were added to the epithelial cell culture. Dexamethasone or antibodies to TNF-alpha and IL-1beta were pre-incubated with PBMC supernatant. There was a significant production of IL-8 from bronchial epithelial cells with addition of TDI-HSA conjugate in a dose-dependent manner, which was significantly augmented with addition of PBMC supernatant. Higher production of IL-8 was noted with addition of PBMC supernatant from TDI-asthma patients than in those from non-TDI asthma patients. IL-1beta and IL-1beta/TNF alpha antibodies were able to suppress the IL-8 productions. Pre-treatment of dexamethasone induced dose-dependent inhibition of the IL-8 production. These results suggest that the IL-8 production from bronchial epithelial cells contribute to neutrophil recruitment occurring in TDI-induced airway inflammation. IL-1beta released from PBMC of TDI-induced asthma patients may be one of the pro-inflammatory cytokines to enhance IL-8 production
North Ecliptic Pole Wide Field Survey of AKARI: Survey Strategy and Data Characteristics
We present the survey strategy and the data characteristics of the North
Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Wide Survey of AKARI. The survey was carried out for about
one year starting from May 2006 with 9 passbands from 2.5 to 24 micron and the
areal coverage of about 5.8 sq. degrees centered on NEP. The survey depth
reaches to 21.8 AB magnitude near infrared (NIR) bands, and ~ 18.6 AB
maggnitude at the mid infrared (MIR) bands such as 15 and 18 micron. The total
number of sources detected in this survey is about 104,000, with more sources
in NIR than in the MIR. We have cross matched infrared sources with optically
identified sources in CFHT imaging survey which covered about 2 sq. degrees
within NEP-Wide survey region in order to characterize the nature of infrared
sources. The majority of the mid infrared sources at 15 and 18 micron band are
found to be star forming disk galaxies, with smaller fraction of early type
galaxies and AGNs. We found that a large fraction (60~80 %) of bright sources
in 9 and 11 micron stars while stellar fraction decreases toward fainter
sources. We present the histograms of the sources at mid infrared bands at 9,
11, 15 and 18 micron. The number of sources per magnitude thus varies as m^0.6
for longer wavelength sources while shorter wavelength sources show steeper
variation with m, where m is the AB magnitude.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, to appear in PASJ, Vol. 61, No. 2. April 25,
2009 issu
Serum BDNF levels in patients with gambling disorder are associated with the severity of gambling disorder and Iowa Gambling Task indices
Background and aims
Gambling disorder (GD) shares many similarities with substance use disorders (SUDs) in clinical, neurobiological, and neurocognitive features, including decision-making. We evaluated the relationships among, GD, decision-making, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as measured by serum BDNF levels.
Methods
Twenty-one male patients with GD and 21 healthy sex- and age-matched control subjects were evaluated for associations between serum BDNF levels and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), as well as between serum BDNF levels and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) indices.
Results
The mean serum BDNF levels were significantly increased in patients with GD compared to healthy controls. A significant correlation between serum BDNF levels and PGSI scores was found when controlling for age, depression, and duration of GD. A significant negative correlation was obtained between serum BDNF levels and IGT improvement scores.
Discussion
These findings support the hypothesis that serum BDNF levels constitute a dual biomarker for the neuroendocrine changes and the severity of GD in patients. Serum BDNF level may serve as an indicator of poor decision-making performance and learning processes in GD and help to identify the common physiological underpinnings between GD and SUDs
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