Macrophages are important components of adipose tissue inflammation, which results in metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance. Notably, obesity induces a proinflammatory phenotypic switch in adipose tissue macrophages, and oxidative stress facilitates this switch. Thus, we examined the role of endogenous catalase, a key regulator of oxidative stress, in the activity of adipose tissue macrophages in obese mice. Catalase knockout (CKO) exacerbated insulin resistance, amplified oxidative stress, and accelerated macrophage infiltration into epididymal white adipose tissue in mice on normal or high-fat diet. Interestingly, catalase deficiency also enhanced classical macrophage activation (M1) and inflammation but suppressed alternative activation (M2) regardless of diet. Similarly, pharmacological inhibition of catalase activity using 3-aminotriazole induced the same phenotypic switch and inflammatory response in RAW264.7 macrophages. Finally, the same phenotypic switch and inflammatory responses were observed in primary bone marrow-derived macrophages from CKO mice. Taken together, the data indicate that endogenous catalase regulates the polarization of adipose tissue macrophages and thereby inhibits inflammation and insulin resistance.

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Objectives: Elaborative inference is the integration of a text and the reader's knowledge; it facilitates comprehension and allows readers to more easily learn the information contained within the text. The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of instrument inference (a type of elaborative inference) in poor comprehenders. Methods: The participants were 15 poor comprehenders and 15 normally developing children in 3rd to 6th grade. The children were asked to decide if target words (instrument words) were words or nonwords after reading sentences including the cue to infer instrument while measuring their reaction time. In this lexical decision task, the target words were divided into two conditions: the related condition between sentences and instruments words (related condition) and the unrelated condition between sentences and instrument words (unrelated condition). Results: Normally developing children reacted faster in the related condition than the unrelated condition; on the other hand, poor comprehenders showed no significant difference between the two conditions. Conclusion: Unlike normally developing children, poor comprehenders failed to infer instruments in real time while reading. From this result, it can be explained that poor comprehenders have difficulty in processing implicit information while reading texts because they assign most of their comprehension resources to processing the literal information in the text.

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The present study examined the effects of school violence victimization and self-control on cyberbullying perpetration in middle school students and investigated whether self-control moderated the relationship between school violence victimization and cyberbullying perpetration. Methods: The participants of this study were 315 middle school students (172 boys; 143 girls) from three middle schools in Seoul and Incheon. To measure the level of cyberbullying perpetration, the Bullying/Victimization Questionnaire was used. School violence victimization and self-control were measured via the School Violence Victimization Scale and the Self-Control Scale, respectively. The data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and hierarchical regressions. Results and Conclusion: The results indicated that school bullying victimization level increased cyberbullying perpetration level whereas self-control level decreased cyberbullying perpetration. In addition, self-control moderated the effect of school violence victimization on cyberbullying perpetration. That is, the influence of school bullying victimization on cyberbullying perpetration was greater when self-control was low, compared to when it was high.

5,6-Dihydroergosterol-glucose is an organic synthetic derivative of spinasterol-glucose, which has potent anti-inflammatory activity. We previously synthesized alpha and beta anomers of DHE-glycosides and compared their inhibitory activity on CCL17 and CCL22 mRNA expression induced by TNF-α/IFN-γ in activated HaCaTs. Recently, we synthesized a new type of DHE-glycosides, 3-epi-5,6-dihydroergosterol(3-epi-DHE)-glycosides, and compared its inhibitory activity on mRNA expression levels of CCL17 and CCL22 in TNF-α/IFN-γ-induced HaCaT. DHE-Xly did not affect TNF-α/IFN-γ induced CCL17 and CCL22 mRNA expression in HaCaTs, however, 3-epi-DHE-Xly strongly inhibited TNF-α/IFN-γ induced CCL17 and CCL22 mRNA expression levels in human keratinocytes. These results provide important clues for development of chronic dermatitis treatment via inhibition of chemokine expression using DHE derivatives.