Clinical Features of Pediatric Age Herpes Simplex Virus Keratitis.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical features of pediatric herpes simplex virus keratitis, its recurrence rates, and its effects on visual acuity.

Methods: In this retrospective case series, records of pediatric patients (0-16 years) who presented with herpes simplex virus keratitis between January 2012 and September 2021 were evaluated. Data including age, gender, additional systemic diseases, the number of recurrences, recurrence time, treatment protocol, follow-up period, and presence of amblyopia were reviewed.

Supplementation of Low- and High-fat Diets with Fermentable Fiber Exacerbates Severity of DSS-induced Acute Colitis.

Background: Lack of dietary fiber has been suggested to increase the risk of developing various chronic inflammatory diseases, whereas supplementation of diets with fiber might offer an array of health-promoting benefits. Consistent with this theme, we recently reported that in mice, compositionally defined diets that are made with purified ingredients and lack fermentable fiber promote low-grade inflammation and metabolic syndrome, both of which could be ameliorated by supplementation of such diets with the fermentable fiber inulin.

Methods: Herein, we examined if, relative to a grain-based mouse diet (chow), compositionally defined diet consumption would impact development of intestinal inflammation induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and moreover, whether DSS-induced colitis might also be attenuated by diets supplemented with inulin.

Lack of soluble fiber drives diet-induced adiposity in mice.

Diet-induced obesity is often modeled by comparing mice fed high-fat diet (HFD), which is made from purified ingredients, vs. normal chow diet (NCD), which is a low-fat assemblage of relatively unrefined plant and animal products. The mechanism by which HFD promotes adiposity is complex but thought to involve low-grade inflammation and altered gut microbiota.

The antiatherogenic effect of allicin: possible mode of action.

Objective: Garlic (Allium sativum) has been suggested to affect several cardiovascular risk factors. Its antiatherosclerotic properties are mainly attributed to allicin that is produced upon crushing of the garlic clove. Most previous studies used various garlic preparations in which allicin levels were not well defined.

9-cis beta-carotene-rich powder of the alga Dunaliella bardawil increases plasma HDL-cholesterol in fibrate-treated patients.

The effect of fibrates on high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol levels is suggested to be mediated by its binding to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARalpha). Upon ligand binding, PPARalpha heterodimerizes with the 9-cis retinoic acid receptor (RXR) and it is this heterodimer which regulates gene expression. We assessed the hypothesis that a combined treatment with fibrate plus 9-cis beta-carotene-rich powder of the alga Dunaliella bardawil, as a source of 9-cis retinoic acid, would improve the drug's effect on HDL-cholesterol levels.

Dietary L-histidine regulates murine skin levels of trans-urocanic acid, an immune-regulating photoreceptor, with an unanticipated modulation: potential relevance to skin cancer.

Solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB; 290-320 nm) causes skin cancer and suppresses cell-mediated immunity, preventing the rejection of UV-induced tumors. One mechanism initiating UV suppression involves the trans to cis photoisomerization of urocanic acid (UCA), a histidine derivative found in the stratum corneum. The addition of L-histidine to nonpurified mouse diet has been shown to increase skin trans-UCA levels and sensitivity to UVB immune suppression.

Diet composition, alcohol utilization, and dependence.

Experiments were carried out in which a nutritionally balanced liquid diet previously used in this laboratory was modified as to total calorie content and high or low carbohydrate and fat concentration. Ethanol was added at 4.5% and 6.

Development and characterization of a purified diet to identify obesity-susceptible and resistant rat populations.

A purified moderately high fat diet has been developed to examine diet-induced obesity in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed this or an AIN-76A diet for 15 wk and energy metabolism indices were monitored. Food intake, body weight and water balance indices were recorded on a weekly or daily basis.

Dietary manganese deficiency decreases rat hepatic arginase activity.

This study was designed to quantify the effect of dietary manganese deficiency on rat hepatic Mn concentration and arginase activity. Weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to two groups of nine rats each and fed L-amino acid diets with 0 or 48 micrograms Mn/g diet for 21 d. After 21 d, hepatic Mn concentration (mumol/g liver dry wt, mean +/- SEM) was 0.

The ferret as a model for evaluation of the bioavailabilities of all-trans-beta-carotene and its isomers.

The objective was to develop the ferret as a model for evaluation of the bioavailabilities of natural and synthetic beta-carotenes in foods. For these studies, a low carotenoid purified diet was formulated that produced excellent food intake and adequate growth. After consuming the diet for 16 d, ferrets were randomly assigned to one of three groups.

Arginine utilization of young rats fed diets with simple versus complex carbohydrates.

We proposed that increasing dietary complex carbohydrates would, by increasing fecal nitrogen loss and thus decreasing urinary nitrogen and the need for urea synthesis, ameliorate the effects of arginine deficiency. Two experiments using male, weanling, Sprague-Dawley rats with ad libitum access to water and isocaloric, isonitrogenous, 19% L-amino acid diets were carried out to test this hypothesis. The first was performed in two identical blocks of a 4 X 4 factorial experiment each with six rats per group.

Orotic aciduria caused by feeding excess lysine to growing rats.

Two 14-day factorial experiments were performed to assess changes in growth, feed intake and urinary orotic acid excretion of weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats. The dietary variables investigated included the percentage of dietary casein in the basal diet, its supplementation with 5% lysine-HCl or 1% arginine-HCl and sucrose or two parts dextrin and one part sucrose as the only form of carbohydrate. The response to 5% supplemental lysine was strikingly similar to that seen with arginine-free diets.

Arginine requirement of mature protein-malnourished rats for maximal rate of repletion.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats (initial weight 400 g) were fed a 0.5% lactalbumin diet containing required amounts of all other known essential nutrients for 14 weeks. The body weights averaged 250 g after depletion when the animals were randomly assigned to four groups of four or five.

Nitrogen retention, muscle creatine and orotic acid excretion in traumatized rats fed arginine and glycine enriched diets.

Male, Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to the trauma of laparotomy under sodium pentothal anesthesia. Apparent N retention (N intake - Urinary N) was studied when these rats were fed a 25% casein diet either unsupplemented or enriched with arginine plus glycine or with ornithine plus glycine. These amino acids occur in particularly high concentrations in skin and connective tissue and might, therefore, be required in greater amounts for tissue repair.

Fatty liver of growing rats fed excess lysine and its prevention by adenine or allopurinol.

Weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed ad libitum 15% casein diets with and without 5.0% lysine-HCI, 0.25% adenine sulfate or 0.

Serum and liver lipids in growing rats fed casein with L-lysine.

Liver and serum lipid conentrations were studied in rats fed 7.5, 15 and 30% casein supplemented with 0, 2.5 and 5% lysine.