09/07/2024


Functional foods like soy have unique effects on health status. Although various dietary modifications have been recommended to ameliorate features of metabolic syndrome (MetS), no meta-analysis has summarized the effect of soy consumption in patients with MetS. PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for relevant articles until Jun 2020, resulting in six relevant publications that were included in our meta-analysis. Combining a total of 9 comparisons suggested a significant decrease in serum levels of triglyceride (WMD -0.29; 95 % CI -0.49, -0.09 mg/dL), total cholesterol (WMD -1.46; 95 % CI -1.70, -1.22 mg/dL), LDL-C (WMD -0.73; 95 % CI -0.93, -0.52 mg/dL) and no change in serum HDL-c levels. Combining a total of 7 effect sizes examining soy effects on glycemic parameters indicated that subjects who consumed soy products had lower levels of fasting blood sugar (WMD -0.90; 95 % CI -1.12, -0.68 mg/dL), insulin (WMD -1.06; 95 % CI -1.29, -0.84 pmol/ L) and HOMA-IR (WMD -1.08; 95 % CI -1.31, -0.85) compared with those in the control group. Soy consumption could not significantly change anthropometric measures and blood pressure. Consuming soy products in patients with MetS effectively improved lipid profile and glycemic parameters independent of affecting anthropometric measures.Vinpocetine (Vin), a synthetic-derivative of Vincamine, monoterpenoid indole alkaloid, has been reported to have various medicinal benefits. The purpose of our study was to investigate the pivotal role of "nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2" (Nrf2)-mediated antioxidant protection of Vin against H2O2 and paracetamol (APAP)-induced liver toxicity. For this purpose, a normal human hepatic cell line (L02 cells) was incubated with cytotoxic concentrations of H2O2 or APAP in the presence or absence of Vin. To evaluate the responses, MTS Cell Viability assay, immunoblotting, biochemical assays, and molecular docking approach were used. Viability analysis showed that treatment of L02 cells with Vin prevented the cytotoxicity induced by H2O2 and APAP. It was evidenced by the fact that Vin dumped H2O2- and APAP-cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The immunoblotting analysis shows that Vin increased Nrf2 expression along with the expression of target protein, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and increased intracellular glutathione (GSH) level. Interestingly, we found that Vin could protect the protein expression-level of Nrf2, which indicated the prospective interaction between Vin and Keap1 protein. Additionally, molecular docking-study revealed that Vin competed with Nrf2 for Keap1-binding site, with hydrogen and stearic interactions. Collectively, Vin effectively protects against H2O2 and APAP-induced cytotoxicity via executing Nrf2-mediated restoration of antioxidative/oxidative balance. Meanwhile, Vin interrupts protein-protein interaction between Nrf2 and Keap1, which might also contribute to decrease Nrf2 degradation and stabilize protein expression. Thus, Vin-based adjuvant therapy may represent a smart drug regimen to mitigate drug-induced oxidative stress and liver injuries.Memantine is used to prevent glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. As glutamine is one of the major source of anabolism in fast growing cancer cells, we aimed to interfere with the cancer cell metabolism in A549 lung cancer cells by using memantine. The effects of memantine on cell cycle progression and cell death in A549 cells were assessed by MTT assay and PI staining. Cells were treated with 0.25 mM memantine for 48 hours and then cell metabolism (AMPKA1, AMPKA2, HIF1A, B-catenin, PKM), apoptosis (p53, p21, Bax, Bcl-XL, NOXA, PUMA) and autophagy related (LC3B-I, LC3B-II, SQSTM1) mRNA and protein expressions were investigated by RT-qPCR and western blotting. Memantine decreased cell viability significantly in a concentration-dependent manner by inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Our results suggest that memantine activates AMPK1/2 significantly (p=0.039 and p=0.0105) that led cells through apoptosis and autophagy by decreasing cancer cell metabolism regulators like HIF1A, B-catenin and PKM as the consequence of this energetic shift. Memantine represents a useful tool to target metabolism in cancer cells. Therefore, it might be used a new repurposed drug in cancer treatment.As the EU officials and their Chinese counterparts emphasised the end of 2020 as the date for a successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI, the Agreement), the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were sceptical. However, after discussions, with Lithuania appearing to be the most visible opponent of CAI among the Baltic nations, all three eventually upheld the proposal. Understanding that the ratification of CAI is unlikely after the mutual exchange of sanctions between the EU and PRC in March, 2021, the report nevertheless examines the roots of the Baltic position as a case study of inter-EU bargains, inspects what factors contributed to the Baltic position on the issue of CAI, presents the national pro- and counter-arguments to CAI along the domains of geo-politics, values, and economy, and brings up the dilemmas that remain unsolved.This paper aims to explore various possibilities in the evolving global gas market by constructing game-theoretical models involving the major players Russia and Qatar exporting gas to the Asia-Pacific and Europe, respectively. We explore a series of hypothetical scenarios based on competitive and collusive settings for the Asia-Pacific LNG market and based on Qatar's export route to the European gas market. The scenarios that are examined are (1) Russia as the follower and Qatar as the leader in a Stackelberg game; (2) Russia and Qatar as Cournot competitors; (3) collaboration between Russia and Qatar as bilateral monopolies; (4) Qatar exporting gas to European borders; (5) Qatar exporting gas to the last transit country; and (6) Qatar transporting gas to the Turkish border under a multi-pricing scheme. Demand is estimated under each scenario to simulate the respective export volumes, prices and quantities, and profit in each scenario. By exploring these market interactions, we find that it is essential for Russia to strike a deal with Qatar in the Asian market and accelerate their gas production in order to compete as an LNG market leader. Russia is likely to benefit more if it can link with Qatar to act as a monopoly on their segmental demand curve. On the other hand, Qatar's profit is expected to be higher under the scenario when Qatar sells all the gas to the last transit country as the sole demand point instead of passing through transit countries.The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply influenced the lifestyle of the general public and the healthcare system of the society. As a promising approach to address the emerging challenges caused by the epidemic of infectious diseases like COVID-19, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) deployed in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare centers can save the diagnosis time and improve the efficiency of medical resources though privacy and security concerns of IoMT stall the wide adoption. In order to tackle the privacy, security, and interoperability issues of IoMT, we propose a framework of blockchain-enabled IoMT by introducing blockchain to incumbent IoMT systems. In this paper, we review the benefits of this architecture and illustrate the opportunities brought by blockchain-enabled IoMT. We also provide use cases of blockchain-enabled IoMT on fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, including the prevention of infectious diseases, location sharing and contact tracing, and the supply chain of injectable medicines. We also outline future work in this area.The prediction of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is vital in taking preventive and control measures to reduce human health damage. The Grey Modelling (1,1) is a popular approach used to construct a predictive model with a small-sized dataset. In this study, a hybrid model based on grey prediction and rolling mechanism optimized by particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) was applied to create short-term estimates of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases for three countries, Germany, Turkey, and the USA. A rolling mechanism that updates data in equal dimensions was applied to improve the forecasting accuracy of the models. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/folinic-acid.html The PSO algorithm was used to optimize the Grey Modelling parameters (1,1) to provide more robust and efficient solutions with minimum errors. To compare the accuracy of the predictive models, a nonlinear autoregressive neural network (NARNN) was also developed. According to the analysis results, Grey Rolling Modelling (1,1) optimized by PSO algorithm performs better than the classical Grey Modelling (1,1), Grey Rolling Modelling (1,1), and NARNN models for predicting the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. The present study can provide an important basis for countries to allocate health resources and formulate epidemic prevention policies effectively.
Quantification of hepatic virtual iron content (VIC) by using Multidetector Dual Energy Computed Tomography (DECT) has been recently investigated since this technique could offer a good compromise between accuracy and non-invasiveness for liver iron content quantification. The aim of our study is to investigate differences in VIC at different DECT time points (namely baseline and arterial, venous and tardive phases), identifying the most reliable and also exploring the underlying temporal trend of these values.

Eleven patients who underwent DECT examination and were characterized by low liver fat content were included in this retrospective study. By using the Syngo.via Frontier-DE IronVNC tool, regions of interest (ROI) were placed on the VIC images at 3 hepatic levels, both in left and right liver lobes, at each DECT time point. Friedman's test followed by Bonferroni-adjusted Wilcoxon signed-rank test for post-hoc analysis was performed to assess differences between DECT timepoints. Page's L test was performed to test the temporal trend of VIC across the 4 examined timepoints.

For both liver lobes, Friedman's test followed by Bonferroni-adjusted Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that VIC values differed significantly when extracted from ROIs placed at the 4 different timepoints. The Page's L test for multiple comparison revealed a significant growing trend for VIC, from baseline acquisition to the fourth and last time point post-contrast agent injection.

The extraction of hepatic VIC in healthy subjects was found to be significantly influenced by the DECT time point chosen for the extrapolation of the VIC values.
The extraction of hepatic VIC in healthy subjects was found to be significantly influenced by the DECT time point chosen for the extrapolation of the VIC values.Sea-level rise will have unknown effects on the structure and function of valuable tidal freshwater floodplains. One reason for this knowledge gap is our poor constraint on the physical controls on complex floodplain inundation and circulation processes. Here, a high-resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation model (DEM) is applied to fine-scale numerical simulations of flow and tracer exchange in a 0.43 km2 river floodplain in Southeast Florida, USA. The sequence of inundation and associated circulation patterns is assessed at 1-hour intervals of the rising and falling tide in the context of floodplain geomorphic structure. The depth averaged velocity vectors show concomitant flow divergence and convergence over small spatial scales, and this complexity arises from the submergence and emergence of subtle floodplain topography over the tidal cycle. Tracer exchange and associated residence times highlight the controls of floodplain topography on water storage at the end of the ebb cycle, or during low river stages.