Sensors (Basel)
December 2024
This study investigated how various cognitive tasks and visual challenges affect dual-task walking costs (DTWC) in younger and older adults. Twenty younger adults (Mean = 22.25, SD = 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is growing evidence linking gut microbiota to overall health, including obesity risk and associated diseases. SKO-001, a probiotic strain isolated from , has been reported to reduce obesity by controlling the gut microbiome. In this double-blind, randomised clinical trial, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SKO-001 in reducing body fat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHum Interface Manag Inf Inf Rich Intell Environ (2021)
July 2021
Engaging students in research is a high impact practice that improves student retention and persistence in behavioral and biomedical sciences and engineering. The California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Program offers an intensive research training experience to undergraduate students from a wide range of health-related disciplines. The goal of this program is to provide students with research skills, psychosocial resources, and graduate school application guidance that will make them competitive for Ph.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolutionarily conserved target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase acts as a master regulator that coordinates cell proliferation and growth by integrating nutrient, energy, hormone and stress signals in all eukaryotes. Research has focused mainly on TOR-regulated translation, but how TOR orchestrates the global transcriptional network remains unclear. Here we identify ethylene-insensitive protein 2 (EIN2), a central integrator that shuttles between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, as a direct substrate of TOR in Arabidopsis thaliana.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterfacial and emulsifying properties of fractionated cricket powder were assessed to identify whether emulsification properties originate from protein or chitin particles. Fractions extracted in alkaline water, containing high protein and mineral contents, increased the surface pressure of heptane-water interfaces with near-saturation equilibrium surface pressure of 31 mN/m. Dynamic surface pressure profiles indicated adsorption of protein clusters to the interface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUltrasonic melt treatment (UST) was applied to Al-7Si-2Cu-1Mg melt at various temperatures of 620, 650, 700 and 785 °C. MgAlO particles which were often found to be densely populated along oxide films, became effectively dispersed and well-wetted by UST. Transmission electron microscopy work combined with crystallography analysis clearly indicates that MgAlO particles can act as α-Al nucleation site with the aid of UST.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProteins are one of the essential components of nutritional food materials and an excellent source for food-grade nanomaterials. This review focuses on select examples of nanoparticles assembled naturally, found in food-relevant materials, major approaches in assembling nanoscale structure from proteins, and general applications of protein nanoparticles in food or nutrition. Animal-sourced casein and non-animal grain storage proteins and legume storage proteins are discussed in terms of their structural assemblies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant Signal Behav
February 2018
To overcome high temperature stress, plants have developed transcriptional cascades which express a large amount of chaperone proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs). In our recent publication, we reported that STABILIZED1, as an U5-snRNP-interacting protein, is involved in the splicing of heat shock factor (HSF) and HSP transcripts during high temperature stress. This indicates that not only transcriptional regulation, but also post-transcriptional regulation by STA1, is essential for the full activation of HSF-HSP cascades and for thermotolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Multicomponent intervention programs have been shown to be effective in reducing risk factors associated with falls, but the primary target population of these interventions is often low-functioning older adults.
Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention program focusing on balance and muscle strength for independently functioning community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: Fifty-three independently functioning older adults, aged 80.
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the common probiotics. Here, we investigated the antiviral protective effects of heat-killed LAB strain Lactobacillus casei DK128 (DK128) on influenza viruses. Intranasal treatment of mice with DK128 conferred protection against different subtypes of influenza viruses by lessening weight loss and lowering viral loads.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGait Posture
September 2017
While cognitive-motor interference in dual-task activities is well established, it is still unknown how such interference is influenced by concurrent visual challenges. Nineteen community-dwelling healthy, cognitively intact, older adults (Mean±SD=71.45±1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging of living organisms is governed by intrinsic developmental programs, of which progression is often under the regulation of their cellular energy status. For example, calorie restriction is known to slow down aging of heterotrophic organisms from yeasts to mammals. In autotrophic plants cellular energy deprivation by perturbation of photosynthesis or sugar metabolism is also shown to induce senescence delay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor photoautotrophic plants, light-dependent photosynthesis plays an important role in organismal growth and development. Under light, Arabidopsis hypocotyl growth is promoted by the phytohormone ethylene. Despite well-characterized ethylene signaling pathways, the functions of light in the hormone-inducible growth response still remain elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThermal treatment of protein⁻polysaccharide complexes will form nanogel particles, wherein the polysaccharide controls nanogel formation by limiting protein aggregation. To determine the impact of the chitosan molecular weight and non-interactive chains on the formation of nanogels, mixtures of α-lactalbumin were prepared with selectively-hydrolyzed chitosan containing covalently-attached polyethylene glycol chains (PEG) and heated near the protein's isoelectric point to induce formation of nanogels. Turbidity of heated mixtures indicated the formation of suspended aggregates, with greater values observed at higher pH, without attached PEG, and among samples with 8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-temperature stress often leads to differential RNA splicing, thus accumulating different types and/or amounts of mature mRNAs in eukaryotic cells. However, regulatory mechanisms underlying plant precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) splicing in the environmental stress conditions remain elusive. Herein, we describe that a U5-snRNP-interacting protein homolog STABILIZED1 (STA1) has pre-mRNA splicing activity for heat-inducible transcripts including s and various s for the establishment of heat stress tolerance in Arabidopsis ().
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of abdominal massage on alleviating pain caused by the injection of recombinant gonadotropin for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) among infertile women.
Methods: This study employed a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. A total sample of 149 infertile women who never experienced in vitro fertilization was recruited at C fertility center.
The aim of this study was to manufacture functional high protein fermented beverage, using whey protein concentrate (WPC) and Lactobacillus plantarum DK211 isolated from kimchi, and to evaluate the physicochemical, functional, and sensory properties of the resulting product. The fermented whey beverage (FWB) was formulated with whey protein concentrate 80 (WPC 80), skim milk powder, and sucrose; and fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum DK211 as single, or mixed with Lactococcus lactis R704, a commercial starter culture. The pH, titratable acidity, and viable cell counts during fermentation and storage were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArabidopsis BIK1 negatively regulates EIN3-depedent gene expression as an immediate cellular response. BIK1 localizes to the plasma membrane and its autophosphorylation and kinase activity involves in EIN3 repression. BOTRYTIS INDUCED KINASE1 (BIK1) is a multifunctional receptor-like kinase that involves in ethylene-mediated plant defense signaling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant growth depends on stem cell niches in meristems. In the root apical meristem, the quiescent center (QC) cells form a niche together with the surrounding stem cells. Stem cells produce daughter cells that are displaced into a transit-amplifying (TA) domain of the root meristem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2015
AN1/A20-like Zinc finger family proteins are evolutionarily conserved regulatory components in eukaryotic signaling circuits. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the AN1/A20 Zinc finger family is encoded as 14 members in the genome and collectively referred to as stress-associated proteins (SAPs). Here we described AtSAP5 localized to the nucleus, and played a role in heat-responsive gene regulation together with MBF1c.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypothesis: Factors influencing fabrication and size of microgels formed from β-lactoglobulin with or without pectin can tune selected attributes for material applications. Protein aggregation was expected to be influenced by pH, added anions, and reducing agents, while ionic strength was expected to be more influenced by electrostatically interacting pectin.
Experiments: Turbidity measurements during thermal aggregation to form microgels were determined for pure β-lactoglobulin as a function of pH, added ionic strength, anion type (chloride, sulfate, and thiocyanate), and reducing agent concentration.
Terrestrial plants are exposed to complex stresses of high salt-induced abscisic acid (ABA) and submergence-induced hypoxia when seawater floods fields. Many studies have investigated plant responses to individual stress conditions, but not so much for coupled or sequentially imposed stresses. We examined molecular regulatory mechanisms of gene expression underlying the cellular responses involved in crosstalk between salt and hypoxia stresses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKorean J Food Sci Anim Resour
January 2016
The aim of this study was to apply the external ionic gelation using an atomizing spray device comprised of a spray gun to improve the viability of Lactobacillus plantarum DKL 109 and for its commercial use. Three coating material formulas were used to microencapsulate L. plantarum DKL 109: 2% alginate (Al), 1% alginate/1% gellan gum (Al-GG), and 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLactobacillus plantarum DK119 (DK119) isolated from the fermented Korean cabbage food was used as a probiotic to determine its antiviral effects on influenza virus. DK119 intranasal or oral administration conferred 100% protection against subsequent lethal infection with influenza A viruses, prevented significant weight loss, and lowered lung viral loads in a mouse model. The antiviral protective efficacy was observed in a dose and route dependent manner of DK119 administration.
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