Background and aim Metabolic disease encompasses most contemporary non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular and fatty liver disease. Mulberry fruits of Morus alba L. are a favoured food and a traditional medicine. While they are anti-atherosclerotic and reduce hyperlipidemic risk factors, studies need wider scope that include ameliorating cardiovascular and liver pathologies if they are to become clinically effective treatments. Therefore, the present study sought to show that freshly dried mulberry fruits (dMF) might counteract the metabolic/cardiovascular pathologies in mice made hyperlipidemic by high-fat diet (HF). Experimental procedure C57BL/6J mice were fed for 3 months with either: i) control diet, ii) HF, iii) HF+100 mg/kg dMF, or iv) HF+300 mg/kg dMF. Body weight gain, food intake, visceral fat accumulation, fasting blood glucose, plasma lipids, and aortic, heart, and liver histopathologies were evaluated. Adipocyte lipid accumulation, autophagy, and bile acid binding were also investigated. Results and conclusion HF increased food intake, body weight, visceral fat, plasma total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), TC/HDL ratio, blood glucose, aortic collagen, arterial and cardiac wall thickness, and liver lipid. Both dMF doses prevented hyperphagia, body weight gain, and visceral fat accumulation, lowered blood glucose, plasma TG and unfavourable TC/HDL and elevated plasma HDL beyond baseline. Arterial and cardiac wall hypertrophy, aortic collagen fibre accumulation and liver lipid deposition ameliorated in dMF-fed mice. Clinical trials on dMF are worthwhile but outcomes should be holistic commensurate with the constellation of disease risks. Here, dMF should supplement the switch to nutrient-rich from current energy-dense diets that are progressively crippling national health systems.

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The auriculotemporal nerve (ATN) is an important structure lying within a limited area of an infratemporal region (ITR). The ATN is originated from the posterior branch of the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve (V3). The ATN conveys somatosensory, secretomotor, and parasympathetic fibres of the V3 and gustatory nerve (CN IX). In literature, the most common pattern of the ATN is composed of 2 roots that encloses the middle meningeal artery (MMA). However, in many studies, it has been reported that there are many variations in ATN pattern formation. To study the variation of ATN pattern formation in Thai cadavers, 73 hemifaces from 39 Thai embalmed cadavers were dissected and the relations of the ATN to the MMA were recorded. This study concluded that there were 4 patterns observed in Thai cadavers. The common pattern is 2 roots (67.1 %), 3 roots (15.1 %), 1 root (9.6 %), and 4 roots (8.2 %). Knowledge of this variation in the ATN may be useful in understanding the symptoms of temporo-orofacial pain, paresthesia of temporomandibular joint (TMJ), possible side effects from the TMJ surgery and the efficiency of auriculotemporal nerve block for regional anesthesia of the temporomandibular joint in Thai people.

Abstract. In order to investigate the involvement of the IER3/ PP2A-B56γ/ERK-positive feedback loop, which leads to sustained phosphorylation/activation of ERK in carcinogenesis, we immunohistochemically examined the expression of IER3 and phosphorylated ERK in lung tumor tissues. IER3 was overexpressed in all cases of adenocarcinomas examined, but was not overexpressed in squamous cell carcinomas. Phosphorylated ERK (pERK) was also overexpressed in almost all adenocarcinomas. EGFR and RAS, whose gene product is located upstream of ERK, were sequenced. Activating mutation of EGFR, which is a possible cause of overexpression of IER3 and pERK, was found only in 5 adenocarcinomas (42%). No mutation of RAS was found. We further examined the sequences of all exons of B56γ gene (PPP2R5C) and IER3, but no mutation was found. Using a single nucleotide insertion in intron 1 of PPP2R5C, which was found in the process of sequencing, allelic deletion of PPP2R5C was examined. Eight cases were informative (67%), and the deletion was found in 4 of them (50%). Three cases having deletion of PPP2R5C did not have EGFR mutation. Finally, PPP2R5C deletion or EGFR mutation that could be responsible for IER3/pERK overexpression was found in at least 8 cases (67% or more). This is the first report of a high incidence of deletion of PPP2R5C in human carcinomas. IntroductionIER3 (immediate early response gene 3) was first identified in fibroblasts from mouse in 1993 (1), and human IER3, formerly referred to as the immediate early gene X-1 (IEX-1), was first identified in human squamous cell carcinomas. The human IER3 gene is located on the short arm of chromosome 6 (6p21.3) and has 2 exons. The gene encodes 156 amino acids (2). IER3 protein is rapidly and transiently induced by a variety of stimuli, including ionizing radiation, inflammatory cytokines, viral infection, anti-cancer drugs and growth factors (2,3), and is associated with apoptosis and cell proliferation (3,4). As it is involved in cell growth, IER3 expression has been examined in several human tumors, including pancreatic carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma, breast cancer, and myelodysplastic syndrome (5-8). However, there has been no study of IER3 expression in human lung carcinoma.Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), which consists of structural subunit A, regulatory subunits B, and catalytic subunit C, has a broad spectrum of functions due to the variety of regulatory subunits, of which there are more than 20 kinds (9). PP2A can act as a tumor suppressor (10,11). B56 regulatory subunits are involved in cell proliferation signaling (11,12). Among them, PP2A-B56γ1 dephosphorylates Thr 202 of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK), leading to inactivation of ERK (13). Furthermore, Garcia et al (14) found that the regulation of cell growth by IER3 is mediated by ERK, which also plays a central role in regulation of a variety of cellular events, including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis (15,16). IER3 regulates ERK activity through its i...

SUMMARY: An exhaustive knowledge of the liver vascular patterns as well as possible anatomical variations is significant in the planning and performance of all liver surgical procedures in order for the vascularity not to be disturbed or not causing necrosis of the liver parenchyma postoperatively. The celiac trunk usually provides three branches; left gastric, splenic and common hepatic arteries. The left and right hepatic arteries generally derive from proper hepatic artery which is a branch of common hepatic artery. To study the incidence of celiac trunk ramification, the branching patterns of the celiac trunk of 23 Thai cadavers (17 males, 6 females) were documented during routine dissection by medical students at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Thailand. The clinically important variations of the celiac trunk were noted. The results showed that all celiac trunks arose from each aortas at the T12 vertebra (17.39%, 4 cases), intervertebral disc between T12 and L1 vertebra (78.26%, 18 cases) and upper 1/3 rd of L1 vertebra (4.35%, 1 case). We found 95.65% (22 cases) normal celiac trunk trifurcation; whereas, 4.35% (1 case) was abnormal quadrifurcation of the trunk. The accessory hepatic artery (aHA) was presented as an additional branch of celiac trunk because the conventional pattern of the left and right hepatic arteries was presented. This finding is one of the rare anatomical variations which is reported in available literatures. The awareness of celiac trunk and its stems aberrant is important in procedures such as liver transplant for appropriate vascular ligation and anastomosis.

This study aims to investigate the effect of oral administration and the direct action of ginger extract or [6]-gingerol on small intestinal contractility. The direct effect of 10 minutes preincubation of ginger ethanolic extract (10, 100 and 300 μg/mL) or [6]-gingerol (1, 30, and 100 μM) on 0.01 to 30 μM ACh-induced contractions of all parts of the small intestine isolated from normal rats was investigated using the organ bath technique. For in vivo study, the rats were orally administered with extract (10, 20, and 100 mg/kg/d) or [6]-gingerol (2 mg/kg/d) for 7 days, followed by determining the contractile responses to ACh of rat isolated duodenum, jejunum, and ileum and their histology were assessed. Direct application of the extract or [6]-gingerol attenuated ACh-induced contractions in each small intestinal segment, E max was reduced by 40% to 80%, while EC50 increased 3- to 8-fold from control. Similarly, in the in vivo study ACh-induced contractions were reduced in all parts of the small intestine isolated from rats orally treated with ginger extract (20 and 100 mg/kg/d) or [6]-gingerol (2 mg/kg/d). E max decreased 15% to 30%, while EC50 increased 1- to 3-fold compared to control. No discernable changes in the histology of intestinal segments were detectable. Thus, the results support the clinical application of ginger for disorders of gastrointestinal motility.

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