Anti-Obesity Effects of Chitosan and Psyllium Husk with L-Ascorbic acid in Guinea Pigs

The aim of this study was to investigate whether L-Ascorbic acid would facilitate the anti-obesity effects of chitosan and psyllium husk in vivo. The study was carried out with male Hartley guinea pigs for 5 weeks. The results show that chitosan itself did not influence body weight gain and food efficiency ratio (FER). However, the addition of L-Ascorbic acid to chitosan decreased these parameters; the body weight gain and FER in the chitosan-2 group (high-fat diet group with 5 % chitosan containing 0.5 % L-Ascorbic acid) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than that in F-controls (high-fat diet group), and was similar to that in controls (normal diet group). L-Ascorbic acid enhanced significantly (p < 0.05) the increases of total fecal weight and fecal fat excretion by chitosan. The addition of L-Ascorbic acid to psyllium husk did not differ from psyllium husk alone in terms of changes in weight gain, plasma lipid levels, and fat pad weight. We found that the addition of L-Ascorbic acid to chitosan influenced the reduction in body weight gain and FER, and the increase in total fecal weight and fecal fat excretion in guinea pigs fed a high-fat diet.

New precision limit on the strange vector form factors of the proton

The parity-violating cross-section asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from unpolarized protons has been measured at a four-momentum transfer squared Q2 = 0.624  GeV2 and beam energy E(b) = 3.48  GeV to be A(PV) = -23.80 ± 0.78(stat) ± 0.36(syst) parts per million. This result is consistent with zero contribution of strange quarks to the combination of electric and magnetic form factors G(E)(s) + 0.517G(M)(s) = 0.003 ± 0.010(stat) ± 0.004(syst) ± 0.009(ff), where the third error is due to the limits of precision on the electromagnetic form factors and radiative corrections. With this measurement, the world data on strange contributions to nucleon form factors are seen to be consistent with zero and not more than a few percent of the proton form factors.

Video Painting Based on a Stabilized Time-Varying Flow Field

We present a method for constructing 3D feature flow from video and its application to video stylization. Our method extracts smoothly aligned 3D vectors that describe the smallest variation of colors within a spatiotemporal video cube, and thus effectively preserves both spatial and temporal coherence in a relatively inexpensive manner. As an application of this flow field we present a particle-based video stylization technique to rerender the video in a feature enhancing, painterly style. Our method consists of per-pixel operations and is suitable for GPU implementation, which enables real-time video stylization.

Bone morphogenetic protein 4 promotes vascular smooth muscle contractility by activating microRNA-21 (miR-21), which down-regulates expression of family of dedicator of cytokinesis (DOCK) proteins

The bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) signaling pathway plays a critical role in the promotion and maintenance of the contractile phenotype in vascular smooth muscle cell (vSMC). Misexpression or inactivating mutations of the BMP receptor gene can lead to dedifferentiation of vSMC characterized by increased migration and proliferation that is linked to vascular proliferative disorders. Previously we demonstrated that vSMCs increase microRNA-21 (miR-21) biogenesis upon BMP4 treatment, which induces contractile gene expression by targeting programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). To identify novel targets of miR-21 that are critical for induction of the contractile phenotype by BMP4, biotinylated miR-21 was expressed in vSMCs followed by an affinity purification of mRNAs associated with miR-21. Nearly all members of the dedicator of cytokinesis (DOCK) 180-related protein superfamily were identified as targets of miR-21. Down-regulation of DOCK4, -5, and -7 by miR-21 inhibited cell migration and promoted cytoskeletal organization by modulating an activity of small GTPase. Thus, this study uncovers a regulatory mechanism of the vSMC phenotype by the BMP4-miR-21 axis through DOCK family proteins.

Estimation of teeth-to-vallecula distance for prediction of optimal oropharyngeal airway length in young children

BACKGROUND

Estimation of teeth-to-vallecula distance would facilitate the selection of properly sized oropharyngeal airways in young children. The aims of the present study were to measure the teeth-to-vallecula distance and to create an algorithm to predict this distance based on anatomical landmarks and patient characteristics in children.

METHODS

Two hundred children, aged 1-9 yr, undergoing elective surgery were investigated. After induction of general anaesthesia, the distance from the teeth to the vallecula was measured using a laryngoscope with a straight blade. After intubation, the distances from the mouth angle to the mandible angle and the tragus of the ear were measured with a tape measure.

RESULTS

The teeth-to-vallecula distance was significantly correlated with the age, weight, height, and external measurements (P<0.001). By stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, a formula was obtained for the teeth-to-vallecula distance (cm) = 3.998 + 0.017 × age (months)+the mouth-to-mandible distance × 0.286 with a high coefficient of determination (r²=0.764).

CONCLUSIONS

The teeth-to-vallecula distance can be predicted using the age and the mouth-to-mandible distance in young children.

Intravenous Lidocaine for Effective Pain Relief after Inguinal Herniorrhaphy: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

This prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the effectiveness of intravenous lidocaine to reduce post-operative pain in 64 inguinal herniorrhaphy patients. Intravenous bolus injection of 1.5 mg/kg lidocaine followed by a continuous lidocaine infusion of 2 mg/kg per h was randomly assigned to 32 patients (lidocaine group) and intravenous normal saline bolus injection followed by infusion of normal saline was assigned to 32 other patients (control group). Visual analogue scale pain scores, fentanyl consumption and the frequency at which analgesia was administered from a patient-controlled analgesia device (measured by number of button pushes) were significantly lower in the lidocaine group than in the control group until 12 h after surgery. Total fentanyl consumption (patient-controlled plus investigator-controlled rescue administration) and the total number of button pushes were significantly lower in the lidocaine group than in the control group. It is concluded that intravenous lidocaine injection reduced post-operative pain after inguinal herniorrhaphy, is easy to administer and may have potential to become routine practice for this type of surgery.

Search for effects beyond the born approximation in polarization transfer observables in e(over→)p elastic scattering

Intensive theoretical and experimental efforts over the past decade have aimed at explaining the discrepancy between data for the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio, G(E)/G(M), obtained separately from cross section and polarization transfer measurements. One possible explanation for this difference is a two-photon-exchange contribution. In an effort to search for effects beyond the one-photon-exchange or Born approximation, we report measurements of polarization transfer observables in the elastic H(e[over →],e(')p[over →]) reaction for three different beam energies at a Q(2)=2.5  GeV(2), spanning a wide range of the kinematic parameter ε. The ratio R, which equals μ(p)G(E)/G(M) in the Born approximation, is found to be independent of ε at the 1.5% level. The ε dependence of the longitudinal polarization transfer component P(ℓ) shows an enhancement of (2.3±0.6)% relative to the Born approximation at large ε.

The 3Ns chromosome of Psathyrostachys huashanica carries the gene(s) underlying wheat stripe rust resistance

Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis tritici (Pst)) is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat in the world. Exploiting and utilizing stripe rust resistance genes of wild species has become an essential strategy for resistance breeding. Psathyrostachyshuashanica Keng ex Kuo is a wild species in Triticeae that has been used for wheat improvement because of its high resistance or immunity to stripe rust. In this study, 9 wheat-P. huashanica addition lines were characterized by Giemsa C-banding, genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), and disease resistance evaluation. Giemsa C-banding and GISH demonstrated that lines 163-5, 165-1, 183-5, 240-3, and 240-4 are P. huashanica 3Ns chromosome monosomic addition lines; lines 183-1 and 183-20 are P. huashanica 3Ns chromosome disomic addition lines; line 165-20 is a P. huashanica 3Ns and 4Ns chromosomes double disomic addition line, and line 219-1 is a P. huashanica 1Ns and 3Ns/5A chromosomes double disomic addition-substitution line. All these addition lines with P. huashanica 3Ns chromosome(s) expressed high resistance or immunity to stripe rust. By comparing the series of wheat-P. huashanica chromosome addition lines, we concluded that the P. huashanica 3Ns chromosome carries the gene(s) for resistance or immunity to stripe rust. These addition lines can be used as a donor source of novel stripe rust resistance to wheat breeding programs.