An aesthetic measure based approach for constructing a colour design/selection system is proposed in this article. In this model, an image data base for the relationships between the psychological preference of customers and clothing colour tones is built using the membership functions of a fuzzy set, and an aesthetic measure calculation method based on colour harmony is also proposed. In addition, a skin colour detection theory is proposed to construct a skin colour detection program to detect the skin colour of a customer, which is then taken as the major colour in matching the skin, polo shirt, and(or) pant colours to select the best colour combination. Integrating the skin colour detection theory, colour harmony theory, aesthetic measure method, and fuzzy set theory, a program is constructed to build an aesthetic measure based colour design/selection system. With the aid of this system, one can get proper cloth colours to match his/her skin colour and image requirement by starting with inputting one's colour photo, catching image with a camera, or inputting R, G, B values of his/her skin. The theoretical results for the ranks of clothing colours proposed by the system are examined with the experimental results and the result shows they are very close, suggesting that the proposed colour selection system is acceptable. Although the selection of clothing colours is taken as an example to specify the methodology, it can also be used to develop a system for other products.

Allergy is an immune dysfunction caused by degranulation from mast cells in the early phase and cytokine secretion in the late phase of the cell. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of adlay (Job's tears, Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) testa against beta-hexosaminidase release as a marker of degranulation in rat basophilic leukemia (RBL)-2H3 cells. The ethyl acetate fraction from ethanolic extracts of adlay testa (ATE-EtOAc) exhibited potent inhibitory activity that suppressed degranulation from RBL-2H3 cells stimulated by 1 microM A23187. The 20%-80% EtOAc/Hex subfractions of ATE-EtOAc significantly inhibited histamine release with a IC(50) of 75-100 microg/mL. In addition, the ATE-EtOAc subfractions suppressed interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion in RBL-2H3 cells, indicating that adlay testa were able to inhibit cytokine secretion. In order to explore the inhibitory mechanism of adlay testa in mast cell degranulation, we examined the activation of intracellular signaling molecules. Adlay testa inhibited the phosphorylation ERK expression. Furthermore, the two major active compounds, 4-hydroxyacetophenone and p-coumaric acid, were isolated from the ATE-EtOAc subfractions. These results suggest that ATE had an inhibitory effect on allergic response via the ERK signaling transduction in RBL-2H3 cells.

Adlay ( Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) is a grass crop and was reported to possess anti-inflammatory activity and an antiproliferative effect in cancer cell lines. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of an adlay bran ethanolic extract (ABE-Ea) on colon carcinogenesis in an animal model and investigate its mechanism. Male F344 rats received 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) and consumed different doses of ABE-Ea. The medium-dose group (17.28 mg of ABE-Ea/day) exhibited the best suppressive effect on colon carcinogenesis and prevented preneoplastic mucin-depleted foci (MDF) formation. Moreover, RAS and Ets2 oncogenes were significantly down-regulated in this group compared to the negative control group, whereas Wee1, a gene involved in the cell cycle, was up-regulated. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression was significantly suppressed in all colons receiving the ABE-Ea, indicating that ABE-Ea delayed carcinogenesis by suppressing chronic inflammation. ABE-Ea included considerable a proportion of phenolic compounds, and ferulic acid was the major phenolic acid (5206 microg/g ABE-Ea) on the basis of HPLC analysis. Results from this study suggest that ABE-Ea suppressed DMH-indued preneoplastic lesions of the colon in F344 rats and that ferulic acid may be one of the active compounds.

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