Effectiveness of parent training in improving stress-coping capability, anxiety, and depression in mothers raising children with autism spectrum disorder.

Purpose: Raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be a stressor, and mothers of ASD children often present with high levels of stress and depression. Interventional steps to enhance parental coping skills and resiliency are more important for parental mental health and the family-centered care of children with ASD than merely reducing parental stress. Although the importance of stress-coping skills is well established, only a few studies have investigated interventional steps to improve parental coping or resiliency.

Dexamethasone and BCAA Failed to Modulate Muscle Mass and mTOR Signaling in GH-Deficient Rats.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and IGF-I, the secretion of which is stimulated by growth hormone (GH), prevent muscle atrophy. mTOR plays a pivotal role in the protective actions of BCAA and IGF-1. The pathway by which BCAA activates mTOR is different from that of IGF-1, which suggests that BCAA and GH work independently.

Mild obesity reduces survival and adiponectin sensitivity in endotoxemic rats.

Background: Recent meta-analyses have reported that critically ill patients with morbid obesity (body mass index >40 kg/m(2)) have poor outcomes, but the effects and mechanisms of action of mild obesity are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of mild obesity using a lard-based, high-fat diet (HFD) on pathologic conditions and the mechanisms of adiponectin action in endotoxemic rats.

Materials And Methods: Male Wistar rats underwent HFD feeding for 4 wk and were killed at 0, 1.

Analysis of fecal microbiota, organic acids and plasma lipids in hepatic cancer patients with or without liver cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Changes in the microbiota composition are able to affect nutrient absorption and energy metabolism, but there are few human studies. The aims were to analyze fecal constituents quantitatively and compare them with liver dysfunction in hepatic cancer patients and to evaluate the relationships among intestinal microbiota, fecal organic acids and plasma lipid composition.

Methods: Fecal samples collected from 46 hepatic cancer patients (with liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis or liver fibrosis and normal liver) were evaluated for fecal constituents.

Butyrate enhancement of inteleukin-1β production via activation of oxidative stress pathways in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated THP-1 cells.

In inflammatory bowel diseases, interleukin-1β production is accelerated. Butyrate, a short chain fatty acid, plays an important role in inflammatory bowel diseases. We investigated the effect of butyrate on interleukin-1β production in macrophage and elucidated its underlying mechanism.

Effects of perioperative synbiotic treatment on infectious complications, intestinal integrity, and fecal flora and organic acids in hepatic surgery with or without cirrhosis.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of preoperative and postoperative synbiotic treatment in hepatectomy patients with or without liver cirrhosis.

Methods: Sixty-one patients with hepatic cancer were assigned randomly to receive either oral synbiotics that consisted of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and galactooligosaccharides or no synbiotics (control) preoperatively for 14 days and postoperatively for 11 days. Infectious complications, intestinal mucosal integrity as measured by serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, and fecal flora and organic acid concentrations were compared between synbiotic treatment (n = 32) and control (n = 29) groups.

Oral administration of tributyrin increases concentration of butyrate in the portal vein and prevents lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury in rats.

Background & Aims: Short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, have various biological activities including inhibition of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α secretion, via attenuation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. Here, we evaluated the protective effect of oral administration of tributyrin, a prodrug of butyrate, on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury in rats.

Methods: Rats were divided into four groups: normal control, tributyrin, LPS, and tributyrin/LPS (treated with tributyrin 1 h before LPS).

Butyrate and propionate induced activated or non-activated neutrophil apoptosis via HDAC inhibitor activity but without activating GPR-41/GPR-43 pathways.

Objective: Decreased neutrophil apoptosis is implicated in persistent inflammation resulting in systemic inflammatory response syndrome and multiple organ dysfunctions syndromes. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) may be a candidate to control neutrophil apoptosis because SCFAs are normally produced in the gut and related products have been approved for human use. We investigated the effects of SCFAs on apoptosis of activated and non-activated neutrophils and their mechanisms.

Evidence for a rapid degenerate hetero-Cope-type rearrangement in [Cp*W(S)2S-CH2-CH=CH2].

Treatment of the salt [PPh(4)]+[Cp*W(S)3]- (6) with allyl bromide gave the neutral complex [Cp*W(S)2S-CH2-CH=CH2] (7). The product 7 was characterized by an X-ray crystal structure analysis. Complex 7 features dynamic NMR spectra that indicate a rapid allyl automerization process.

Variability in the level of RNA silencing suppression caused by triple gene block protein 1 (TGBp1) from various potexviruses during infection.

RNA silencing is an important defence mechanism against virus infection, and many plant viruses encode RNA silencing suppressors as a counter defence. In this study, we analysed the RNA silencing suppression ability of multiple virus species of the genus Potexvirus. Nicotiana benthamiana plants exhibiting RNA silencing of a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene showed reversal of GFP fluorescence when systemically infected with potexviruses.

Gender difference in granulocyte dynamics and apoptosis and the role of IL-18 during endotoxin-induced systemic inflammation.

Delayed granulocyte apoptosis is implicated in persistent inflammation. Although it is known that males develop sepsis more easily than females, the mechanism for this is not fully understood. Serum IL-18 levels correspond to severity of systemic inflammation.

Butyrate and trichostatin A attenuate nuclear factor kappaB activation and tumor necrosis factor alpha secretion and increase prostaglandin E2 secretion in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The effects of short-chain fatty acids (butyrate, propionate, and acetate) and trichostatin A (TSA), a typical histone deacetylase inhibitor, on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha secretion and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells induced with lipopolysaccharide were evaluated in relation to prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) secretion. Treatment of cells with butyrate; tributyrin, a prodrug of butyrate; propionate; acetate; and TSA down-regulated TNF-alpha secretion but all up-regulated PGE(2) secretion. Butyrate, propionate, and TSA inhibited NF-kappaB activation.

A role for IL-18 in human neutrophil apoptosis.

Decreased neutrophil apoptosis is associated with persistent inflammation, the severity of which correlates with serum IL-18 levels. IL-18 receptors as well as Toll-like receptors, including Toll-like receptor 4, a receptor for LPS, possess a highly conserved intracellular domain called "Toll-IL-1R domain" and activate overlapping signaling pathways. Here, we show that IL-18 modulates neutrophil apoptosis and compare its mechanism of action with LPS.

Phospholipid fatty acid composition and diamine oxidase activity of intestinal mucosa from rats treated with irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11) under vegetable oil-enriched diets: comparison between perilla oil and corn oil.

Background: Irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11), a topoisomerase I inhibitor highly effective for various cancers, has its dosage limited by diffuse mucosal damage with increased prostaglandin (PG) E(2). However, an analysis of intestinal phospholipid fatty acid composition after CPT-11 treatment has not been reported. This study aimed to evaluate intestinal phospholipid fatty acid composition in relation to intestinal mucosal integrity and plasma and mucosal PGE(2) levels after CPT-11 treatment.

Rapidly progressive IgA nephropathy.

A 14-year-old boy presented with macroscopic hematuria and a rapid deterioration in renal function. Percutaneous renal biopsy demonstrated severe crescentic IgA nephropathy (IgAN) with extensive (88%) glomerular crescent formation. After started intravenous administration of high-dose pulse methylprednisolone, severe nausea and general malaise accompanied by a rapid increase in Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine levels appeared, however, the renal function ameliorated rapidly and fully recovered by following oral administration of corticosteroid.

Rapidly progressive IgA nephropathy.

A 14-year-old boy presented with macroscopic hematuria and a rapid deterioration in renal function. Percutaneous renal biopsy demonstrated severe crescentic IgA nephropathy (IgAN) with extensive (88%) glomerular crescent formation. After started intravenous administration of high-dose pulse methylprednisolone, severe nausea and general malaise accompanied by a rapid increase in Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine levels appeared, however, the renal function ameliorated rapidly and fully revovered by following oral administration of corticosteroid.