Publications by authors named "James S Wu"

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a common complication of diabetes mellitus, is primarily characterized by damage to Schwann cells caused by oxidative stress under hyperglycemic conditions. Recently, we demonstrated the ability of coumarin-rich Maxim. to alleviate DPN in ovariectomized diabetic mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Intensive agriculture with high reliance on pesticides and fertilizers constitutes a major strategy for 'feeding the world'. However, such conventional intensification is linked to diminishing returns and can result in 'intensification traps'-production declines triggered by the negative feedback of biodiversity loss at high input levels. Here we developed a novel framework that accounts for biodiversity feedback on crop yields to evaluate the risk and magnitude of intensification traps.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In diabetes mellitus, has been reported to ameliorate blood sugar levels and inhibit inflammation through its polyphenol and flavonoid contents. However, its effect on diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of extract (FFE) on DPN in ovariectomized diabetic mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Solutions to environmental and social problems are often framed in dichotomous ways, which can be counterproductive. Instead, multiple solutions are often needed to fully address these problems. Here we examine how framing influences people's preference for multiple solutions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is often accompanied by clinical complications such as sarcopenia. Previous studies have indicated that oxidative stress and insulin resistance (IR) are highly associated with the pathogenesis of diabetic myopathy. α-lipoic acid (ALA), a potent biological antioxidant, exists abundantly in a variety of plants and vegetables.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Peanut allergy is recognized as a major food allergy that triggers severe and even fatal symptoms. Avoidance of peanuts in the diet is the main option for current safety management. Processing techniques reducing peanut allergenicity are required to develop other options.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Polarization is pervasive in the current sociopolitical discourse. Polarization tends to increase cognitive inflexibility where people become less capable of updating their beliefs upon new information or switching between different ways of thinking. Cognitive inflexibility can in turn increase polarization.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to investigate the enhancing effect of vitamin-like alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on phagocytosis of oligomeric beta-amyloid (oAβ) in BV-2 mouse microglial cells. An model was established to investigate phagocytosis of oAβ in BV-2 cells. Transmission electron microscopy images indicated that the morphology of prepared oAβ was spherical particles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The intricate relationship between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggests that insulin is involved in modulating AD-related proteins. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) can improve insulin resistance (IR) in diabetic rats. However, the role of ALA in alleviating the cognitive decline of T2DM is not yet clear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Methylglyoxal (MG) is the primary precursor of advanced glycation end products involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation and diabetes. A previous study in our laboratory found anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic effects of the polyphenol vescalagin (VES) in rats with MG-induced carbohydrate metabolic disorder. The present study further investigated the occurrence of inflammation in pancreatic β-cells in MG-induced diabetic rats and the mechanism by which VES prevents it.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disease, and most patients with T2DM develop nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Both diseases are closely linked to insulin resistance (IR). Our previous studies demonstrated that .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The occurrence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The activation of nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in the liver may lead to hepatic fat accumulation. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) has been reported to improve IR in a T2DM rodent model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Germination of mung beans increases the content of dietary fiber, vitamin C, antioxidants, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Atmospheric cold plasma is a recently developed technology that can rapidly modify the surface properties of an object. In this work, atmospheric cold plasma was utilized to promote higher moisture absorption of mung bean seeds and, thus, enhance the germination ratio and GABA level.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

L. (RTL) has been used as a folk medicine to cure diabetes in Asia. RTL was previously reported to alleviate hyperglycemia, insulin resistance (IR), abnormal hepatic detoxification, and liver steatosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • RTL has been traditionally used in East Asia for treating diabetes and shows promising phytochemical activities against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
  • The study tested RTL's aqueous and ethanolic extracts on diabetic rats induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin, showing that both extracts reduced liver and fat weights, as well as hepatic triglyceride levels.
  • The findings suggest that RTL could help manage NAFLD and reduce fat accumulation in the liver by regulating enzymes involved in de novo lipogenesis in these diabetic models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hyperglycemia plays crucial roles in vascular disease development, including macrovascular and microvascular diseases from diabetes mellitus (DM). Our previous study demonstrated that L. (RTL) aqueous and ethanol extracts alleviate hyperglycemia and inhibit insulin resistance in diabetic rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigated the alleviative effect of caffeic acid (CA) on Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis and associated mechanisms in high-fat (HF) diet-induced hyperinsulinemic rats. The results of a Morris water maze indicated that, by administrating CA (30 mg/kg b.w.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Anal cancer is an uncommon malignancy, with the majority of cases comprised of squamous cell carcinomas. The increasing incidence of this disease reflects a rise in the transmission of the human papillomavirus, the causative organism of most tumours. Abdominoperineal resection (APR), once the primary mode of treatment, has been supplanted by sphincter-saving combination chemoradiation as the first-line therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Raisin is a popular snack and a common constituent of many foods owing to its good flavor and nutritional value. Conventional drying of grapes can be a slow and energy-consuming process as their waxy surface hinders efficient moisture migration. A drying pretreatment that disrupts the waxy cuticle is usually applied to increase the drying rate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

L. (RTL) exhibits a wide range of phytochemical activities, for example, on treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM), in Orient. There is, however, few study regarding the effect of RTL on glycemic-related homeostasis in type 2 DM (T2DM).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Marinating meat with alcohol, such as wine and beer, is a common culinary practice in cultures worldwide. In this study we use a model marination solution comprising 0.2  mol L glucose-0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigated the ameliorative effect of gallic acid (GA) on hypertriglyceridemia and fat accumulation in perirenal adipose tissues of high-fructose diet (HFD)-induced diabetic rats. The previous results showed that orally administered GA (30 mg/kg body weight) for four weeks significantly reduced the levels of plasma glucose and triglyceride (TG) in HFD rats. GA also markedly decreased the perirenal adipose tissues weight of HFD rats in present study ( < 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An acetabular cup with larger abduction angles is able to affect the normal function of the cup seriously that may cause early failure of the total hip replacement (THR). Complexity of the finite element (FE) simulation in the wear analysis of the THR is usually concerned with the contact status, the computational effort, and the possible divergence of results, which become more difficult on THRs with larger cup abduction angles. In the study, we propose a FE approach with contact transformation that offers less computational effort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigates the ameliorative effect of vescalagin (VES) isolated from Pink wax apple fruit on hepatic insulin resistance and abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in high-fructose diet (HFD)-induced hyperglycemic rats. The results show that in HFD rats, VES significantly reduced the values of the area under the curve for glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index. VES significantly enhanced the activity of hepatic antioxidant enzymes while reducing thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in HFD rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Excess free fatty acid accumulation from abnormal lipid metabolism results in the insulin resistance in peripheral cells, subsequently causing hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and/or hyperlipidemia in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. Herein, we investigated the effect of phenolic acids on glucose uptake in an insulin-resistant cell-culture model and on hepatic insulin resistance and inflammation in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The results show that vanillic acid (VA) demonstrated the highest glucose uptake ability among all tested phenolic acids in insulin-resistant FL83B mouse hepatocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF