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Longevity of joint extensor neuromuscular structure and function along with functional tests' functionality.
This retrospective, nationwide, matched-cohort study included 4488 new-onset keratoconus (KCN) patients, ≥12 years old, recruited between 2004 and 2011 from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The control group included 26,928 non-KCN patients selected from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. Information for each patient was collected and tracked from the index date until December 2013. The incidence rate of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) was 1.77 times (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.09-2.88; p = 0.0206) higher in KCN patients ≥40 years old and 1.49 times (95% CI = 1.12-1.98; p = 0.0060) higher in female KCN patients than in controls. After using the Cox proportional hazard regression analysis to adjust for potential confounders, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and congestive heart failure, KCN maintained an independent risk factor, MVP being 1.77 times (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.09-2.88) and 1.48 times (adjusted HR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.11-1.97) more likely to develop in patients ≥40 years old and female patients in the study cohort, respectively. We found that KCN patients ≥40 years of age and female KCN patients have increased risks of MVP. Therefore, it is recommended that KCN patients should be alerted to MVP.To investigate the anti-diabetic properties of chebulic acid (CA) associated with the prevention of methyl glyoxal (MG)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in INS-1 pancreatic β-cells, INS-1 cells were pre-treated with CA (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 μM) for 48 h and then treated with 2 mM MG for 8 h. The effects of CA and MG on INS-1 cells were evaluated using the following 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay; glyoxalase 1 (Glo-1) expression via Western blot and enzyme activity assays; Nrf-2, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 protein expression via Western blot assay; reactive oxygen species (ROS) production assay; mRNA expression of mitochondrial dysfunction related components (UCP2, uncoupling protein 2; VDAC1, voltage-dependent anion-selective channel-1; cyt c, cytochrome c via quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR; mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP); adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis; glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) assay. The viability of INS-1 cells was maintained upon pre-treating with CA before exposure to MG. CA upregulated Glo-1 protein expression and enzyme activity in INS-1 cells and prevented MG-induced ROS production. Mitochondrial dysfunction was alleviated by CA pretreatment; this occurred via the downregulation of UCP2, VDAC1, and cyt c mRNA expression and the increase of MMP and ATP synthesis. Further, CA pre-treatment promoted the recovery from MG-induced decrease in GSIS. These results indicated that CA could be employed as a therapeutic agent in diabetes due to its ability to prevent MG-induced development of insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress-induced dysfunction of β-cells.Polyolefin geosynthetics are susceptible to oxidative degradation, which in turn leads to diminished mechanical properties in geotechnical constructions. When using these materials, it is extremely important to determine their durability over time in particularly aggressive conditions. In order to prolong the life of a geosynthetic material, antioxidants are added during the manufacturing process. The function of antioxidants is to prevent polymer oxidation reaction in time. As the antioxidant content is depleted, the polymer becomes less protected towards oxidative attacks. This article describes the aging process of uniaxial (high density polyethylene) HDPE geogrids under the influence of chemical and environmental factors. Evaluations of accelerated aging test of the uniaxial HDPE geogrids were incubated in simulated landfill conditions for a period of 12 months. Three temperatures (25 °C, 45 °C, and 75 °C) were selected for carrying out the aging experiments in aqueous solutions mimicking landfill conditions. The changes observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and melt flow index (MFI) correlate with the mechanical properties of the aged geogrid. No significant changes in the FTIR and MFI were observed over the 12 months of accelerated aging tests at none of the three different temperatures. The oxidation induction time (OIT) test showed no antioxidant remaining in the geogrid following eight months of aging test at 75 °C. No significant changes in the influence of accelerated aging tests on the average relative elongation at 25 °C and 45 °C of the tested material were observed. Accelerated aging tests at 75 °C showed that the mean elongation of 12.12% for the sample not subjected to accelerated aging tests (new sample) increased to 19.32% (after 12 months of incubation).The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is still a global public health problem for humans. It has caused more than 10,000,000 infections and more than 500,000 deaths in the world so far. Many scientists have tried their best to discover safe and effective drugs for the treatment of this disease; however, there are still no approved standard therapeutics or effective antiviral drugs on the market. see more Many new drugs are being developed, and several traditional drugs that were originally indicated or proposed for other diseases are likely to be effective in treating COVID-19, but their safety and efficacy are controversial, under study, or in clinical trial phases. Fortunately, some novel antiviral strategies, such as convalescent plasma, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy, potentially offer an additional or alternative option or compassionate use for the people suffering from COVID-19, especially for critically ill patients, although their safety and efficacy are also under study. In this review, we explore the applications, possible mechanisms, and efficacy in successful cases using convalescent plasma, CRISPR, and MSC therapy for COVID-19 treatment, respectively. Furthermore, the perspectives and limitations of these novel antiviral strategies are evaluated.
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