In our study population, 21.8% had fatty liver diagnosed by USG, 9.3% were non-alcoholic with fatty liver, and 4.1% were non-alcoholic and non-overweight with fatty liver. Our results suggest that central body fat distribution can correlate with the development of fatty liver, and that measurement of percentage body fat is useful to assess the etiology of fatty liver in non-alcoholic and non-overweight participants, particularly women.

A life-span study was carried out on longevity, pathologic lesions, growth, lean body mass and selected aspects of muscle of barrier-maintained SPF Fischer 344 rats fed either ad libitum (Group A) or 60% of the ad libitum intake (Group R). Food restriction was as effective in prolonging the life of already long-lived SPF rats as previously shown for rats maintained in conventional facilities. Food restriction not only increased the mean length of life but also acted to extend life span since more than 60% of the Group R rats lived longer than the longest lived Group A rat. Renal lesions occurred at an earlier age in Group A rats than in Group R rats and progressed more rapidly. Death of most Group A rats was associated with severe renal lesions while few Group R rats showed such lesions at death. Food restriction was also found to delay or prevent interstitial cell tumors of the testes, bile duct hyperplasia, myocardial fibrosis and myocardial degeneration. Gastrocnemius muscle mass declined in advanced age and food restriction delayed this decline. Interestingly, however, lean body mass did not progressively decline with increasing age but rather decline occurred only after the onset of the terminal disease process.

Our results indicate that chemokines produced locally in the esophageal mucosa may be involved in the development and progression of RE.

The findings from this study demonstrate the feasibility of a novel small animal model of extremity crush injury. By using this model, the impact of incremental periods of reperfusion on mortality and remote organ dysfunctions can be characterized. Future studies are necessary to better define a threshold for this injury pattern and the impact of other factors underlying this syndrome.

Our results demonstrate enhanced mucosal expression of IL-8 in incipient GERD even without mucosal breaks. NF-kappaB activation may be implicated in the pathogenesis in GERD.

In this study, the physicochemical properties and solubility of inclusion complexes of ground mixtures (GMs) of piperine (PP), a pungent ingredient of pepper, with α- and γ-cyclodextrin (CD) were studied. From the solubility results, the PP/αCD inclusion molar ratio was determined to be 1/2, while that of PP/γCD was 1/1, according to the A-type phase diagram of PP/αCD and the B-type one of PP/γCD. The powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry analyses confirmed the formation of GM complexes with molar ratios of PP/αCD = 1/2 and PP/γCD = 1/1. The Raman analysis revealed the disappearance of the bands corresponding to the C=C, O-CH-O, -CH, and aliphatic C=C moieties of the methylene dioxyphenyl fragment of PP in the spectra of the inclusion complexes. In the dissolution tests, GM (PP/αCD = 1/2) and GM (PP/γCD = 1/1) showed higher solubility than free PP and the analogous physical mixtures. Furthermore, after 60 min, GM (PP/αCD = 1/2) exhibited higher solubility than GM (PP/γCD = 1/1). In the H-H nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy measurements, GM (PP/αCD = 1/2) was found to present a head-to-head inclusion structure via the aliphatic C=C and methylene dioxyphenyl groups of PP and the two αCD molecules. In contrast, it was confirmed that γCD interacts with the O-CH-O functionality of the methylene dioxyphenyl group of PP in a molar ratio of 1/1. It was thus concluded that the differences in the PP/CD structures influence the solubility of the inclusion complexes.

No abstract

Although estrogen is implicated in the regulation of mammalian intestinal function, the presence and the distribution of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive cells in the intestine are still controversial. The present study was designed to localize ERalpha- and ERbeta-expressing cells in female and male mouse intestines immunohistochemically under various estrogen conditions, especially in female mice, ovariectomized as well at various phases of the estrous cycle. Western blot analysis detected both ERalpha (66-kDa band) and ERbeta (56-kDa band). Immunohistochemical staining of paraffin-embedded sections after antigen-retrieval treatment with autoclaving revealed staining for ERalpha in submucosal interstitial cells, and double staining identified these cells as a subtype of intestinal macrophages. The number of these cells varied according to the estrous cycle phase. Administration of 17beta-estradiol to ovariectomized mice resulted in a significant increase in the number of ERalpha-positive macrophages. On the other hand, the nuclei of nerve cells in Auerbach and Meissner plexuses were positive for both ERalpha and ERbeta, but the number of positive nerve cells was not affected by estrogen. Our results indicate that estrogen and estrogenic compounds may exert their actions on the intestine in two ways; one is through interstitial macrophages and the other is through intestinal neurons.