Respiratory Movements at Different Ages.

The current study aimed to better understand the changes in respiration that occur with aging in men and women to provide accurate recommendations for breathing exercises to improve health. A total of 610 healthy subjects, aged 20 to 59, participated in the study. They performed quiet breathing while wearing two respiration belts (Vernier, Beaverton, OR, USA) at the height of the navel and at the xiphoid process to record abdominal motion (AM) and thoracic motion (TM), respectively.

The Effects of Charged Amino Acid Side-Chain Length on Diagonal Cross-Strand Interactions between Carboxylate- and Ammonium-Containing Residues in a β-Hairpin.

The β-sheet is one of the common protein secondary structures, and the aberrant aggregation of β-sheets is implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases. Cross-strand interactions are an important determinant of β-sheet stability. Accordingly, both diagonal and lateral cross-strand interactions have been studied.

Structure of the dengue virus RNA promoter.

Dengue virus, a single-stranded positive sense RNA virus, is the most prevalent mosquito-borne pathogen in the world. Like all RNA viruses, it uses conserved structural elements within its genome to control essential replicative steps. A 70 nt stem-loop RNA structure (called SLA), found at the 5'-end of the genome of all flaviviruses, functions as the promoter for viral replication.

Sesamin attenuates PM-induced cardiovascular injury by inhibiting ferroptosis in rats.

: This study aimed to elucidate the pharmacological effects of sesamin (Ses) and its mechanism of action towards PM-induced cardiovascular injuries. : Forty Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into five groups: a saline control group; a PM exposure group; and low-, middle-, and high-dose Ses pretreatment groups. The SD rats were pretreated with different concentrations of Ses for 21 days.

Longer charged amino acids favor β-strand formation in hairpin peptides.

Interactions between charged amino acids significantly influence the structure and function of proteins. The encoded charged amino acids Asp, Glu, Arg, and Lys have different number of hydrophobic methylenes linking the backbone to the charged functionality. It remains to be fully understood how does this difference in the number of methylenes affect protein structure stability.

Insertion of Pro-Hyp-Gly provides 2 kcal mol stability but attenuates the specific assembly of ABC heterotrimeric collagen triple helices.

Collagen is a major structural component of the extracellular matrix and connective tissue. The key structural feature of collagen is the collagen triple helix, with a Xaa-Yaa-Gly (glycine) repeating pattern. The most frequently occurring triplet is Pro (proline)-Hyp (hydroxyproline)-Gly.

A Small Cyclic β-Hairpin Peptide Mimics the Rbfox2 RNA Recognition Motif and Binds to the Precursor miRNA 20b.

The RNA recognition motif (RRM), which is the most abundant RNA-binding motif in eukaryotes, is a well-structured domain of about 90 amino acids, yet the β2β3 hairpin, corresponding to strands 2 and 3 of the β-sheet, and the intervening loop make essential interactions with RNA in many RRM complexes. A series of small cyclic peptide mimics of the β2β3 hairpin of Rbfox2 protein that recognize the terminal loop of precursor miR-20b have been designed to investigate whether the full RNA-binding protein can be mimicked with a minimal structurally preorganized peptide. Within a small library of seven cyclic peptides, a peptide with low-micromolar affinity for the miR-20b precursor was found.

Flow mediated dilatation of Taiwanese women with normal singleton pregnancies.

Objective: To determine the normal values of flow mediated dilatation (FMD) in Taiwanese women with normal singleton pregnancies for the early detection of preeclampsia.

Materials And Methods: Data of women with normal singleton pregnancies seen at the Tri-Service General Hospital and Taiji Clinic between January 2014 and December 2015 were collected and analyzed. FMD was measured using high-resolution ultrasonography of the brachial artery for the assessment of endothelial function at the first and second trimester.

Antiepileptic drug use among women from the Taiwanese Registry of Epilepsy and Pregnancy: Obstetric complications and fetal malformation outcomes.

To investigate antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) prescription and pregnancy outcomes in pregnancies with epilepsy in Taiwan between 2004 and 2015. We retrospectively reviewed data from the Taiwanese Registry of Epilepsy and Pregnancy (TREP). The TREP registry is a voluntary prospective cohort registry, which tracks pregnant women with epilepsy and AED prescription throughout pregnancy, delivery, and early childhood development.

MicroRNA-30b Regulates High Phosphorus Level-Induced Autophagy in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Targeting BECN1.

Background/aims: Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that affects the survival and functions of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We explored the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating autophagy in VSMCs exposed to high phosphorus (Pi) levels.

Methods: VSMCs were isolated from the thoracic aorta of rats and were cultured primarily.

Comparative Study of the Condensing Effects of Ergosterol and Cholesterol.

Cholesterol, due to its condensing effect, is considered an important regulator of membrane thickness. Other sterols, due to their structural similarities to cholesterol, are often assumed to have a universal effect on membrane properties similar to the condensing effect of cholesterol, albeit possibly to different degrees. We used x-ray diffraction to investigate this assumption.

Studying antibiotic-membrane interactions via X-ray diffraction and fluorescence microscopy.

Antibiotic drug resistance is a serious issue for the treatment of bacterial infection. Understanding the resistance to antibiotics is a key issue for developing new drugs. We used penicillin and sulbactam as model antibiotics to study their interaction with model membranes.

Protective effect of metformin on renal injury of C57BL/6J mouse treated with high fat diet.

This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of metformin on renal injury of C57BL/6J mice treated with a high fat diet. High-fat diet for 12 weeks was used to establish the mice model of metabolism syndrome and the intervention of metformin (75 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) for 4 weeks, and plasma biochemical indicator and body weight were used to evaluate the model. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SERBP)-1c, TNF-α, NADPH Oxidase (NOX)4 mRNA was determined by real time-PCR.

High phosphorus level leads to aortic calcification via β-catenin in chronic kidney disease.

Aims: Vascular calcification is a risk factor for causing cardiovascular events and has a high prevalence among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this pathogenic process is still obscure.

Methods: Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were induced by a concentration of phosphorus (Pi) of 2.

[Association of TNF-1031T/C and clinical efficacy of insulin therapy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics].

Objective: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF ) locus has been a long-standing type 2 diabetes (T2D) candidate gene. Few studies have been conducted on TNF SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) as rs1799964 (T-1031C), rs1800630 (A-863C) and rs1799724 (C-857T) in T2D. The purpose of this study is to examine the association of TNF SNP and T2D in a case control study and further explore whether these SNPs influence the clinical efficacy of insulin therapy.

Large-area and thin light guide plates fabricated using UV-based imprinting.

As the demand of larger and thinner flat panel display increasing, conventional methods such as injection molding and hot embossing to fabricate light guide plates (LGPs) become difficult and unsuitable. This study reports a low-cost and high-throughput method to fabricate large-size (320 mm x 240 mm, 15" in diagonal) LGPs by using UV-based imprinting process. With the UV-based imprinting process, a large-size LGP with thickness down to 0.

Fabrication of large area resin microlens arrays using gas-assisted ultraviolet embossing.

Large-area microlens arrays are becoming important components in many applications such as LCD-TV diffusers. This paper reports a uniform pressure, low temperature process for their fabrication. The process integrates gas-assisted embossing and UV-curing embossing.