Scientific reports
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Animal models of sepsis exhibit considerable variability in the temporal development of the physiologic response, which reduces the power of studies, particularly if interventions are tested at arbitrary time points. We developed a biotelemetry-based model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) that standardizes the testing of time-sensitive therapies to specific criteria of physiologic deterioration. ⋯ Testing therapies at physiologic thresholds reduces the variability found in historical fixed time-based models. Though initial cost is higher with biotelemetry, this is eventually offset by the significantly reduced number of mice needed to conduct physiologically relevant sepsis experiments.
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1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic imaging (SI) is a powerful tool capable of investigating metabolism in vivo from mul- tiple regions. However, SI techniques are time consuming, and are therefore difficult to implement clinically. By applying non-uniform sampling (NUS) and compressed sensing (CS) reconstruction, it is possible to accelerate these scans while re- taining key spectral information. ⋯ Errors (normalized root mean square error >15%) were found between metabolite concentrations after twelve-fold acceleration for several low concentra- tion (<2 mM) metabolites. The Cramér Rao lower bound% (CRLB%) values, which are typically used for quality control, were not reflective of the increased quantitation error arising from acceleration. Finally, occipital white (OWM) and gray (OGM) human brain matter were quantified in vivo using the 5D EP-JRESI sequence with eight-fold acceleration.
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Pain is a distressing symptom of Parkinson disease (PD). We aim to determine whether the genetic variants of chronic pain-related genes contribute to pain in PD patients. We included 418 PD patients and evaluated pain severity on King's PD pain scale. ⋯ We stratified PD by status of depression and the association between COMT rs6267 "GT" genotype and pain severity remained significant (P < 0.01). Furthermore, pain severity was significantly higher in participants having COMT rs4680 "GG" and "GA" genpotypes than those having "AA" genotype (P = 0.04). We concluded that depression and COMT rs4680 "GG" and "GA" genotypes and COMT rs6267 "GT" genotype contribute to pain in PD patients.
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Leg fluid accumulation during sedentary behaviours such as sitting can lead to leg edema and associated adverse health consequences. This study investigates the use calf muscle electrical stimulation (ES) to reduce seated leg fluid accumulation. Thirteen non-obese, normotensive men (mean age 51 yr.) with sleep apnea were enrolled in the study. ⋯ Leg fluid was measured continuously while sitting using the bioelectrical impedance method. Fluid accumulation in the leg was reduced by more than 40% using active ES, compared to sham ES (∆ = 51.9 ± 8.8 ml vs. ∆ = 91.5 ± 8.9 ml, P < 0.001). In summary, calf muscle ES is an effective method for reducing accumulation of fluid during long sedentary periods and has potential use as a device for preventing leg edema to treat associated health consequences in at-risk groups and settings.
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Lonicerae japonicae Flos has been used to produce hundred kinds of Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) in China. Economically motivated adulterants have been documented, leading to market instability and a decline in consumer confidence. ITS2 has been used to identify raw medicinal materials, but it's not suitable for the identification of botanical extracts and complex CPMs. ⋯ Subsequently we tested 20 extracts and 47 CPMs labelled as containing some species of Lonicera. The results revealed only 17% of the extracts and 22% of the CPMs were authentic, others exist substitution or adulterant; 7% were shown to contain both of two adulterants Eucommiae Folium and Lonicerae Flos. The methods developed in this study will widely broaden the application of DNA barcode in quality assurance of natural health products.