Patient-reported difficulty in activities of daily living and corresponding muscle weakness in elderly patients undergoing haemodialysis.

Aim: Patients undergoing haemodialysis have reduced muscle strength and impaired activities of daily living (ADL). We examined possible relationship between difficult ADL and corresponding muscle weakness in elderly haemodialysis patients.

Methods: This was a single-centre, cross-sectional study.

Association between Levocarnitine Treatment and the Change in Knee Extensor Strength in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Post-Hoc Analysis of the Osaka Dialysis Complication Study (ODCS).

Carnitine deficiency is prevalent in patients undergoing hemodialysis, and it could result in lowered muscle strength. So far, the effect of treatment with levocarnitine on lower limb muscle strength has not been well described. This observational study examined the association between treatment with levocarnitine with the change in knee extensor strength (KES) in hemodialysis patients.

Characterization of Bombyx mori N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II splicing variants.

N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase II (GNTII), which catalyzes the transfer of N-acetylglucosamine to N-glycans, plays an essential role in the biosynthesis of branched and complex-type N-glycans. Some characteristics of the GNTIIs from various species have been identified, but not all features have been revealed because some insects have GNTII redundancies due to the possession of splicing variants. In this study, we focused on four splicing variants of silkworm Bombyx mori GNTII (BmGNTII) that differ only in the absence or presence of Exon 2, Exon 9 or both, and we characterized the spatiotemporal transcript levels and enzymatic properties of each.

Inhibitory effect of on mutagenesis, inflammation and two-stage mouse skin tumorigenesis.

Background: , known as sarunashi in Japan, is a vine tree native to east-Asia, including Japan, that produces small fruit rich in anthocyanins, catechins, vitamin C, chlorophyll, beta-carotene and other polyphenols.

Results: Our study revealed the inhibitory effect of the juice of (arguta-juice) toward the mutagenicity of food-derived carcinogens and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using the Ames test, and antioxidant activity of arguta-juice as determined using a free radical scavenging assay. The formation of DNA adducts in liver of mice fed 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-]quinoxaline (MeIQx) decreased significantly following administration of arguta-juice.