Antidiabetic Effect of Fermented L. in / Mice Involves Regulation of PI3K-Akt Pathway.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a serious health issue with increasing incidences worldwide. However, current medications have limitations due to side effects such as decreased appetite, stomach pain, diarrhea, and extreme tiredness. Here, we report the effect of fermented ice plant (FMC) in the T2M mouse model of / mice.

Inflammatory cytokines and retinal nonperfusion area in quiescent proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: We sought to investigate the association between inflammatory cytokine levels and retinal capillary nonperfusion area in eyes with quiescent proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

Methods: Samples of aqueous humor were collected from 67 eyes (n = 42 patients) with treatment-naïve PDR. Levels of interleukin (IL)-10, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were obtained using multiplex bead assay.

Verbascoside-Rich Nakai Leaf Extracts Prevent LPS-Induced Preterm Birth Through Inhibiting the Expression of Proinflammatory Cytokines from Macrophages and the Cell Death of Trophoblasts Induced by TNF-α.

: Preterm birth is a known leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. The underlying causes of pregnancy-associated complications are numerous, but infection and inflammation are the essential high-risk factors. However, there are no safe and effective preventive drugs that can be applied to pregnant women.

Effects of exercise training at lactate threshold and detraining for 12 weeks on body composition, aerobic performance, and stress related variables in obese women.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of diet plus exercise training and detraining for 12 weeks on body composition, aerobic performance, and stress-related variables in obese women.

Methods: Twenty-five women in their 20s-40s with 30% body fat and body mass indices above 25 kg/m2 were divided into HRLT (heart rate at lactate threshold) and HRLT + 5% groups. Dietary intervention of 70% recommended dietary allowance (RDA) and exercise treatment composed of aerobic exercises on a bicycle (30 min) and treadmill (30 min) were then performed.

Cuff-Less Blood Pressure Estimation Using Pulse Waveform Analysis and Pulse Arrival Time.

Using the massive MIMIC physiological database, we tried to validate pulse wave analysis (PWA) based on multiparameters model whether it can continuously estimate blood pressure (BP) values on single site of one hand. In addition, to consider the limitation of insufficient data acquirement for home user, we used pulse arrival time (PAT) driven BP information to determine the individual scale factors of the PWA-BP estimation model. Experimental results indicate that the accuracy of the average regression model has error standard deviations of  mmHg (PAT),  mmHg (PWA) for SBP and  mmHg (PAT),  mmHg (PWA) for DBP on 23 subjects over a 1 day period.

Estimation of Thermal Sensation Based on Wrist Skin Temperatures.

Thermal comfort is an essential environmental factor related to quality of life and work effectiveness. We assessed the feasibility of wrist skin temperature monitoring for estimating subjective thermal sensation. We invented a wrist band that simultaneously monitors skin temperatures from the wrist (i.

Electrochemical analysis based on nanoporous structures.

Analytical applications and the underlying principles of unique electrochemistry in nanoporous structures are reviewed and discussed. In addition to the conventional concept of enlarged surface area, the structural effects of nanoporous materials can play significant roles such as discriminative electrokinetics, the nano-confinement effect, electrical double layer overlapping, ion-selective impedance, etc. The applications described in this review article include solid-state pH sensors, miniaturized pseudo-reference electrodes, nonenzymatic glucose monitoring, ion diodes, transistors, extracellular neural probes, and a few more.

Fermentation enhances the in vitro antioxidative effect of onion (Allium cepa) via an increase in quercetin content.

Yellow onion (Allium cepa) extract showed enhanced antioxidative effects in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate and acetyl ester (CM-H(2)DCFDA) assay after being treated with a crude enzyme extract from soybean paste fungi, Aspergillus kawachii. HPLC analysis showed two increased and two decreased peaks after enzyme treatment. The decreased peaks were identified as quercetin-3,4'-di-O-β-d-glucoside (1) and quercetin-4'-O-β-d-glucoside (2), and peaks that increased were quercetin-3-O-β-d-glucoside (3) and quercetin (4), respectively.

Nonenzymatic continuous glucose monitoring in human whole blood using electrified nanoporous Pt.

This paper describes the first devised method for the nonenzymatic and electrochemical glucose monitoring in 100% human whole blood and serum. The nanoporous Pt electrode allows for the selective amplification of glucose oxidation in the presence of electroactive interfering species without the need for enzymatic reaction. The outer membrane was particularly optimized to allow glucose molecules to be electrochemically detected against the numerous constituents of human blood.

Segmentation of solid nodules in ultrasonographic breast image based on wavelet transform.

An accurate segmentation of solid nodules in ultrasonographic (US) breast image is presented. 1-level 2-dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is used to create features reflecting the texture information of the original image. Using these features, the texture classification is achieved.