RESULTS: Pineapple juice vinegar, which had the highest total phenolic acid content, also exhibited the greatest in vitro antioxidant capacity compared to coconut juice and nipah juice vinegars. Following acute and sub-chronic in vivo toxicity evaluation, no toxicity and mortality were evident and there were no significant differences in the serum biochemical profiles between mice administered the vinegars versus the control group. In the sub-chronic toxicity evaluation, the highest liver antioxidant levels were found in mice fed with pineapple juice vinegar, followed by coconut juice and nipah juice vinegars. However, compared to the pineapple juice and nipah juice vinegars, the mice fed with coconut juice vinegar, exhibited a higher population of CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes in the spleen, which was associated with greater levels of serum interleukin-2 and interferon-γ cytokines.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the data suggested that not all vinegar samples cause acute and sub-chronic toxicity in vivo. Moreover, the in vivo immunity and organ antioxidant levels were enhanced, to varying extents, by the phenolic acids present in the vinegars. The results obtained in this study provide appropriate guidelines for further in vivo bioactivity studies and pre-clinical assessments of vinegar consumption. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The RFA of a spherical tumor of 2.0 cm diameter along with 0.5 cm clinical safety margin was simulated using Finite Element Analysis software. A total of 86 points inside one-eighth of the tumor volume along the axial, sagittal and coronal planes were selected as the target sites for electrode-tip placement. The angle of the electrode insertion in both craniocaudal and orbital planes ranged from -90° to +90° with 30° increment. The RFA electrode was simulated to pass through the target site at different angles in combination of both craniocaudal and orbital planes before being advanced to the edge of the tumor.
RESULTS: Complete tumor ablation was observed whenever the electrode-tip penetrated through the epicenter of the tumor regardless of the angles of electrode insertion in both craniocaudal and orbital planes. Complete tumor ablation can also be achieved by placing the electrode-tip at several optimal sites and angles.
CONCLUSIONS: Identification of the tumor epicenter on the central slice of the axial images is essential to enhance the success rate of complete tumor ablation during RFA procedures.
METHODS: Sodium nitrite (50mg/L) was given to angiotensin II-infused hypertensive C57BL/6J (eight to ten weeks old) mice for two weeks in the drinking water. Arterial systolic blood pressure was measured using the tail-cuff method. Vascular responsiveness of isolated aortae and renal arteries was studied in wire myographs. The level of nitrite in the plasma and the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) content in the arterial wall were determined using commercially available kits. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the presence of proteins (nitrotyrosine, NOx-2 and NOx-4) involved in ROS generation were evaluated with dihydroethidium (DHE) fluorescence and by Western blotting, respectively.
RESULTS: Chronic administration of sodium nitrite for two weeks to mice with angiotensin II-induced hypertension decreased systolic arterial blood pressure, reversed endothelial dysfunction, increased plasma nitrite level as well as vascular cGMP content. In addition, sodium nitrite treatment also decreased the elevated nitrotyrosine and NOx-4 protein level in angiotensin II-infused hypertensive mice.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that chronic treatment of hypertensive mice with sodium nitrite improves impaired endothelium function in conduit and resistance vessels in addition to its antihypertensive effect, partly through inhibition of ROS production.
METHODS: This is a prospective observational study conducted among critically ill patients aged ≥18 years, intubated and mechanically ventilated within 48 h of ICU admission and stayed in the ICU for at least 72 h. Information on baseline characteristics and nutritional risk status (the modified Nutrition Risk in Critically ill [NUTRIC] score) was collected on day 1. Nutritional intake was recorded daily until death, discharge, or until the twelfth evaluable days. Mortality status was assessed on day 60 based on the patient's hospital record. Patients were divided into 3 groups a) received <2/3 of prescribed energy and protein (both <2/3), b) received ≥2/3 of prescribed energy and protein (both ≥2/3) and c) either energy or protein received were ≥2/3 of prescribed (either ≥2/3). The relationship between the three groups with 60-day mortality was examined by using logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounders. Sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the influence of ICU length of stay (≥7 days) and nutritional risk status.
RESULTS: Data were collected from 154 mechanically ventilated patients (age, 51.3 ± 15.7 years; body mass index, 26.5 ± 6.7 kg/m2; 54% male). The mean modified NUTRIC score was 5.7 ± 1.9, with 56% of the patients at high nutritional risk. The patients received 64.5 ± 21.6% of the amount of energy and 56.4 ± 20.6% of the amount of protein prescribed. Provision of energy and protein at ≥2/3 compared with <2/3 of the prescribed amounts was associated with a trend towards increased 60-day mortality (Adjusted odds ratio [Adj OR] 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92-5.38; p = 0.074). No difference in mortality status was found between energy and protein provision at either ≥2/3 compared with <2/3 of the prescribed amounts (Adj OR 1.61, 95% CI, 0.58-4.45; p = 0.357). Nutritional risk status, not ICU length of stay, influenced the relationship between nutritional adequacy and 60-day mortality.
CONCLUSIONS: Energy and protein adequacy of ≥2/3 of the prescribed amounts were associated with a trend towards increased 60-day mortality among mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. However, neither energy nor protein adequacy alone at ≥ or <2/3 adequacy affect 60-day mortality. Increased mortality was associated with provision of energy and protein at ≥2/3 of the prescribed amounts, which only affected patients with low nutritional risk.
DESIGN: 1805 consecutive unselected patients with FGID who presented for primary or secondary care to 11 centres across Asia completed a cultural and linguistic adaptation of the Rome III Diagnostic Questionnaire that was translated to the local languages. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify symptom clusters.
RESULTS: Nine symptom clusters were identified, consisting of two oesophageal factors (F6: globus, odynophagia and dysphagia; F9: chest pain and heartburn), two gastroduodenal factors (F5: bloating, fullness, belching and flatulence; F8 regurgitation, nausea and vomiting), three bowel factors (F2: abdominal pain and diarrhoea; F3: meal-related bowel symptoms; F7: upper abdominal pain and constipation) and two anorectal factors (F1: anorectal pain and constipation; F4: diarrhoea, urgency and incontinence).
CONCLUSION: We found that the broad categorisation used both in clinical practice and in the Rome system, that is, broad anatomical divisions, and certain diagnoses with long historical records, that is, IBS with diarrhoea, and chronic constipation, are still valid in our Asian societies. In addition, we found a bowel symptom cluster with meal trigger and a gas cluster that suggests a different emphasis in our populations. Future studies to compare a non-Asian cohort and to match to putative pathophysiology will help to verify our findings.