Ecklonia cava Inhibits Glucose Absorption and Stimulates Insulin Secretion in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice

Aims of study. Present study investigated the effect of Ecklonia cava (EC) on intestinal glucose uptake and insulin secretion. Materials and methods. Intestinal Na+-dependent glucose uptake (SGU) and Na+-dependent glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) protein expression was determined using brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs). Glucose-induced insulin secretion was examined in pancreatic β-islet cells. The antihyperglycemic effects of EC, SGU, and SGLT1 expression were determined in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Results. Methanol extract of EC markedly inhibited intestinal SGU of BBMV with the IC50 value of 345 μg/mL. SGLT1 protein expression was dose dependently down regulated with EC treatment. Furthermore, insulinotrophic effect of EC extract was observed at high glucose media in isolated pancreatic β-islet cells in vitro. We next conducted the antihyperglycemic effect of EC in STZ-diabetic mice. EC supplementation markedly suppressed SGU and SGLT1 abundance in BBMV from STZ mice. Furthermore, plasma insulin level was increased by EC treatment in diabetic mice. As a result, EC supplementation improved postprandial glucose regulation, assessed by oral glucose tolerance test, in diabetic mice. Conclusion. These results suggest that EC play a role in controlling dietary glucose absorption at the intestine and insulinotrophic action at the pancreas contributing blood glucose homeostasis in diabetic condition

Metaphysics H 6 and the Problem of Unity

I argue that H 6 should be taken as Aristotle\u27s clarification on the causelessness in the unity of the parts of definition. In H 6 Aristotle is concerned with a general metaphysical problem affecting - threatening - his theory of substance at two major points. The unity of genus and differentia in the definition of form has to be accounted for without appealing to a unifying cause. If it were not accounted for, form would not be the primary cause of being and thus not primary substance. The unity of the parts of the definition of composite substance also has to be accounted for without appealing to a unifying cause. If it were not accounted for, the definition of composite substance would be merely a formula referring to the material parts, and wouldn\u27t be the formula of an essence. And the composite substance would not be a substance

Characteristic polynomials of graphs having a semifree action

AbstractJ.H. Kwak and J. Lee (Linear and Multilinear Algebra 32 (1992) 61–73) computed the characteristic polynomial of a finite graph G having an abelian automorphism group which acts freely on G. For a finite weighted symmetric pseudograph G having an abelian automorphism group which acts semifreely on G, K. Wang (Linear Algebra Appl. 51 (1983) 121–125) showed that the characteristic polynomial of G is factorized into a product of a polynomial associated to the orbit graph and a polynomial associated to the free part of the action. But he did not explicitly compute the characteristic polynomial of such a graph G.In this paper, we introduce a new method to construct a finite pseudograph G having an automorphism group which acts semifreely on G, and obtain an explicit formula to compute the characteristic polynomial of such a graph by using the construction method

Sonographic Detection of Intrathyroidal Branchial Cleft Cyst: A Case Report

We report here on an extremely rare case of an intrathyroidal branchial cleft cyst. Intrathyroidal branchial cleft cyst is rare disease entity and it has nonspecific findings on sonography, so the diagnosis of the lesion is very difficult. However, during aspiration, if pus-like materials are aspirated from a thyroid cyst, we should consider the possibility of intrathyroidal branchial cleft cyst in the differential diagnosis

Base Orientation of Second DNA in RecA·DNA Filaments. Analysis by combination of linear dichroism and small angle neutron scattering in flow-oriented solution

To gain insight into the mechanism of pairing two complementary DNA strands by the RecA protein, we have determined the nucleobase orientation of the first and the second bound DNA strands in the RecA·DNA filament by combined measurements of linear dichroism and small angle neutron scattering on flow-oriented samples. An etheno-modified DNA, poly(depsilon A) was adapted as the first DNA and an oligo(dT) as the second DNA, making it possible to distinguish between the linear dichroism signals of the two DNA strands. The results indicate that binding of the second DNA does not alter the nucleobase orientation of the first bound strand and that the bases of the second DNA are almost coplanar to the bases of the first strand although somewhat more tilted (60 degrees relative to the fiber axis compared with 70 degrees for the first DNA strand). Similar results were obtained for the RecA·DNA complex formed with unmodified poly(dA) and oligo(dT). An almost coplanar orientation of nucleobases of two DNA strands in a RecA-DNA filament would facilitate scanning for, and recognition of, complementary base sequences. The slight deviation from co-planarity could increase the free energy of the duplex to facilitate dissociation in case of mismatching base sequences