The anti-inflammatory effects of Pyrolae herba extract through the inhibition of the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and NO production

The extract of Pyrolae herba (PH), which has been used as an anti-inflammatory folk remedy in Korea and China, was investigated for its anti-inflammatory action using arachidonic acid, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate or carrageenan-induced edema assays. The anti-nociceptive activity of PH was also tested in mice using the acetic acid-induced writhing model. PH showed dose-dependent and significant (P<0.05 at 100-400mg/kg) anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities in the animal assays. The mechanism of the activities of PH was examined by testing the extract to determine if it inhibits the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and the production of nitric oxide (NO) from the murine macrophages, RAW 264.7 cells. Similar to the in vivo activities, both the iNOS expression and NO production were significantly suppressed by PH in a dose-dependent manner. PH also inhibited the activating phosphorylation of p38 MAP kinase and NF-kappaB in these cells. These results provide a scientific basis to explain the effects of PH as an anti-inflammatory folk remedy in Asian countries.     

Effect of mental fatigue caused by mobile 3D viewing on selective attention: An ERP study

This study investigated behavioral responses to and auditory event-related potential (ERP) correlates of mental fatigue caused by mobile three-dimensional (3D) viewing. Twenty-six participants (14 women) performed a selective attention task in which they were asked to respond to the sounds presented at the attended side while ignoring sounds at the ignored side before and after mobile 3D viewing. Considering different individual susceptibilities to 3D, participants' subjective fatigue data were used to categorize them into two groups: fatigued and unfatigued. The amplitudes of d-ERP components were defined as differences in amplitudes between time-locked brain oscillations of the attended and ignored sounds, and these values were used to calculate the degree to which spatial selective attention was impaired by 3D mental fatigue. The fatigued group showed significantly longer response times after mobile 3D viewing compared to before the viewing. However, response accuracy did not significantly change between the two conditions, implying that the participants used a behavioral strategy to cope with their performance accuracy decrement by increasing their response times. No significant differences were observed for the unfatigued group. Analysis of covariance revealed group differences with significant and trends toward significant decreases in the d-P200 and d-late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes at the occipital electrodes of the fatigued and unfatigued groups. Our findings indicate that mentally fatigued participants did not effectively block out distractors in their information processing mechanism, providing support for the hypothesis that 3D mental fatigue impairs spatial selective attention and is characterized by changes in d-P200 and d-LPP amplitudes.     

Comparison of Commercial Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test Methods for Testing of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococci against Vancomycin,Daptomycin, and Linezolid

Three commercial antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) methods were compared to broth microdilution for testing of Staphylococcus aureus and enterococci against vancomycin, daptomycin, and linezolid. Despite high levels of categorical agreement and essential agreement, vancomycin MICs determined by MicroScan were often 1 log₂ concentration higher and MICs determined by Phoenix 1 log₂ concentration lower. Daptomycin MICs were 1 to 2 log₂ concentrations higher by all AST methods, except Etest, potentially impacting definitive antimicrobial therapy for bloodstream infections due to these organisms.     

Evaluating the Accuracy of Emergency Medicine Resident Interpretations of Abdominal CTs in Patients with Non-Traumatic Abdominal Pain

Abdominal computed tomography (CT) is widely used as a diagnostic tool in emergency medicine (EM) to accurately diagnose abdominal pain. EM residents must be able to offer preliminary interpretations of CT imaging. In this study, we evaluated the preliminary interpretation ability of a sample of emergency residents presented with adult abdominal CT images, and compared their results with those of radiology residents. We conducted a prospective observational study from November 16, 2008 to June 30, 2009. During this time, we gathered preliminary interpretations of consecutive abdominal CT made by emergency and radiology residents. We assessed the discrepancy rates of both samples by comparing their findings to the final reports from attending radiologists. A total of 884 cases were enrolled in the present study. The discrepancy rates of emergency and radiology residents were 16.7% and 12.2%, respectively. When female genital organs, peritoneum, adrenal glands, or the musculoskeletal system were abnormal, we found that emergency residents'' preliminary interpretations of CT images were insufficient compared to those of radiology residents. Therefore more formal education is needed to emergency residents. If possible, the preliminary interpretations of radiology attending physicians are ideal until improving the ability of interpretations of emergency residents in abdomen CT.     

Immunological responses against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis by mice

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in humans can currently only be treated with vancomycin. Consequently, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. pose a serious public health hazard because MRSA can acquire their vancomycin resistance. While the microbiological and genetic characteristics of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have been extensively studied, serological diagnostic tools for these organisms are lacking. The VanA and VanB classes of VRE show marked resistance. Here, we identified the VanA and VanB proteins that are immunogenic in mice. To do so, mice were orally infected with a VanA strain of E. faecium or a VanB strain of E. faecalis and the serologically immunogenic proteins were identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. The mice reacted to the 27 and 65 kDa cell envelope (CE) proteins of VanA at 1 week post-infection (wpi) and then reacted to the 100 kDa cytoplasmic protein (CP) at 2–4 wpi. With regard to VanB, the mice responded at 1–4 wpi, 3–4 wpi, and 4 wpi to the 70 kDa, 25 and 35 kDa, and 79 kDa CE proteins, respectively, and at 3 wpi to the 39 kDa CP. The identification of these immunogenic proteins may be useful for diagnosing and for producing immunotherapeutic VRE antibodies.     

Chronic peritoneal inflammation by cyanate in rats.

OBJECTIVE: During peritoneal dialysis, the peritoneum is exposed to waste products, including urea. Urea forms cyanate spontaneously at body temperature and pH, and cyanate carbamylates amino acids, peptides, and proteins. Cyanate may contribute to peritoneal injury with morphological changes in the peritoneum. To test this hypothesis, we injected cyanate into rats. METHODS: Experiments were performed in two groups of 7 rats each. In the cyanate group, each rat received 1 mL of 1.5 micromol/L potassium cyanate dissolved in 40 mmol/L sodium bicarbonate solution intraperitoneally each experiment day. In the control group, each rat received 1 mL of 1.5 micromol/L potassium bicarbonate instead of potassium cyanate. The rats in both groups were anesthetized and killed at the 85th day after the first injection. After formalin fixation, tissue samples from abdominal walls and livers were sliced, embedded in a standard manner, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. RESULTS: Parietal peritoneum from rats in the cyanate group showed a mild increase in the number of fibroblasts, with collagen deposits, infiltration by mononuclear cells, vascular congestion, round-shaped transformation of mesothelial cells, widening of submesothelial spaces, and abundant denudation of mesothelial cells. The visceral peritoneum from rats in the cyanate group showed collagen deposits with fibroblastic proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Cyanate can induce chronic inflammation in the peritoneum, and exposure of the peritoneum to cyanate may contribute to peritoneal injury in patients being treated with peritoneal dialysis.     

Aqueous Extract of Nypa fruticans Wurmb. Vinegar Alleviates Postprandial Hyperglycemia in Normoglycemic Rats

Nypa fruticans Wurmb. vinegar, commonly known as nipa palm vinegar (NPV) has been used as a folklore medicine among the Malay community to treat diabetes. Early work has shown that aqueous extract (AE) of NPV exerts a potent antihyperglycemic effect. Thus, this study is conducted to evaluate the effect of AE on postprandial hyperglycemia in an attempt to understand its mechanism of antidiabetic action. AE were tested via in vitro intestinal glucose absorption, in vivo carbohydrate tolerance tests and spectrophotometric enzyme inhibition assays. One mg/mL of AE showed a comparable outcome to the use of phloridzin (1 mM) in vitro as it delayed glucose absorption through isolated rat jejunum more effectively than acarbose (1 mg/mL). Further in vivo confirmatory tests showed AE (500 mg/kg) to cause a significant suppression in postprandial hyperglycemia 30 min following respective glucose (2 g/kg), sucrose (4 g/kg) and starch (3 g/kg) loadings in normal rats, compared to the control group. Conversely, in spectrophotometric enzymatic assays, AE showed rather a weak inhibitory activity against both α-glucosidase and α-amylase when compared with acarbose. The findings suggested that NPV exerts its anti-diabetic effect by delaying carbohydrate absorption from the small intestine through selective inhibition of intestinal glucose transporters, therefore suppressing postprandial hyperglycemia.