Short-term glutamine supplementation decreases lung inflammation and the receptor for advanced glycation end-products expression in direct acute lung injury in mice

BACKGROUND: Glutamine (GLN) has been reported to improve clinical and experimental sepsis outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying the actions of GLN remain unclear, and may depend upon the route of GLN administration and the model of acute lung injury (ALI) used. The aim of this study was to investigate whether short-term GLN supplementation had an ameliorative effect on the inflammation induced by direct acid and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge in mice. METHODS: Female BALB/c mice were divided into two groups, a control group and a GLN group (4.17% GLN supplementation). After a 10-day feeding period, ALI was induced by intratracheal administration of hydrochloric acid (pH 1.0; 2 mL/kg of body weight [BW]) and LPS (5 mg/kg BW). Mice were sacrificed 3 h after ALI challenge. In this early phase of ALI, serum, lungs, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from the mice were collected for further analysis. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that ALI-challenged mice had a significant increase in myeloperoxidase activity and expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in the lung compared with unchallenged mice. Compared with the control group, GLN pretreatment in ALI-challenged mice reduced the levels of receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and IL-1β production in BALF, with a corresponding decrease in their mRNA expression. The GLN group also had markedly lower in mRNA expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and NADPH oxidase-1. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the benefit of dietary GLN may be partly contributed to an inhibitory effect on RAGE expression and pro-inflammatory cytokines production at an early stage in direct acid and LPS-induced ALI in mice

A STUDY ON THE MOTIVATION OF HIGH SCHOOL VOCATIONAL SPORTS STUDENTS TO ATTEND YUAN ZE UNIVERSITY AND THEIR PLANNING FOR FURTHER STUDIES

The purpose of this study was to investigate the motivation of students in high school vocational physical education classes in Taoyuan City towards the athletic excellence of Yuan Ze University and their plans for further education and to analyze the influence of these factors on students' choices for further education. The target population of the study was students with physical education classes in public and private high schools in Taoyuan City, and the data were collected through a questionnaire survey. 200 questionnaires were distributed, and 150 valid questionnaires were eventually collected, with a recovery rate of 93%. As a result, 68.6% of the participants were male and 31.4% were female. ii. In terms of academic performance, the ranking of students was mainly concentrated in the top five. In terms of academic motivation, the majority of the students had a positive attitude towards their studies, with 67.8% of the students being average. In terms of the source of information for the athletic performance test, teachers and coaches recommended the most students, totaling 110 students, accounting for 72.4%. The main reason why students chose to study at Yuan Ze University was the recommendation from teachers and coaches. After entering Yuan Ze University, most students 58 students or 38.2%, planned to continue practicing and continue their athletic performance. The most popular course was the Bachelor of Management, with 45 students, 29.8%. It is an important reference value for the future counseling of athletes on further education and the formulation of related policies. It is expected to provide athletes with more comprehensive support and guidance on further education and to help athletes find a balance between sports and academics, and make wise choices in further education.  Article visualizations

Clinical significance of erythropoietin receptor expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hypoxic tumors are refractory to radiation and chemotherapy. High expression of biomarkers related to hypoxia in head and neck cancer is associated with a poorer prognosis. The present study aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS: The study included 256 patients who underwent primary surgical resection between October 1996 and August 2005 for treatment of OSCC without previous radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Clinicopathological information including gender, age, T classification, N classification, and TNM stage was obtained from clinical records and pathology reports. The mRNA and protein expression levels of EPOR in OSCC specimens were evaluated by Q-RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays. RESULTS: We found that EPOR were overexpressed in OSCC tissues. The study included 17 women and 239 men with an average age of 50.9 years (range, 26–87 years). The mean follow-up period was 67 months (range, 2–171 months). High EPOR expression was significantly correlated with advanced T classification (p < 0.001), advanced TNM stage (p < 0.001), and positive N classification (p = 0.001). Furthermore, the univariate analysis revealed that patients with high tumor EPOR expression had a lower 5-year overall survival rate (p = 0.0011) and 5-year disease-specific survival rate (p = 0.0017) than patients who had low tumor levels of EPOR. However, the multivariate analysis using Cox’s regression model revealed that only the T and N classifications were independent prognostic factors for the 5-year overall survival and 5-year disease-specific survival rates. CONCLUSIONS: High EPOR expression in OSCC is associated with an aggressive tumor behavior and poorer prognosis in the univariate analysis among patients with OSCC. Thus, EPOR expression may serve as a treatment target for OSCC in the future

A Socio-economic Assessment on Sustainable Eco-tourism Development at Hsia-Liu-Chiu Island in Taiwan

A balanced development between economic activities and environmental concern are profound in public and emphasized by the government policy. It is especially so with the change in working policy, thus the increase in leisure time for Eco-tourism. All along, fishing industry and marine based tourism have been major industries in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island and this study analyses the potential and value of developing a sustainable eco-tourism in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island. Questionnaires and on-site surveys are carried out to analyze the different challenges and issues facing the development of sustainable eco-tourism; suggestions are then forwarded in this with survey results that provide a guide for planners and managers. Fundamentally, this study based on Travel Cost Method (TCM) and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to evaluate the benefits of developing leisure and recreation at Hsiao-Liu-Chiu by questionnaires and onsite survey. According to the survey and empirical results, it indicates that, majority of tourist are from southern, aged between 20 to 35, and main occupation is military, academic and student. Most tourist time is one-day, and natural landscape appreciate, touring with family, and visiting friends are the main motivation. The average traffic expense is NT$602 dollars, while on-site spending is NT$ 634 dollars. In general, majority of tourist have high expectation for Hsiao-Liu-Chiu recreational development, they are satisfied with the natural landscape and the artificial scenery, and more them half wish come back again. The empirical results indicate that, each tourist’s recreation benefits are NT$1,900.63 measured by TCM, and NT$1,700.79 the recreation benefits are measured by CVM. The overall benefits is NT$3.1 hundred million (TCM) and NT$2.78 hundred million (CVM) in 2001. Finally, this study provides suggestion for development, planner and management of leisure and recreational activities at Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island.Keywords: Ecosystem & Oceans Policy Approaches to Fisheries Management, & Marine Resources for Recreation & Tourism, TCM, Fisheries Economics, CVM, Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island, Leisure and RecreationalKeywords: Ecosystem & Oceans Policy Approaches to Fisheries Management, & Marine Resources for Recreation & Tourism, TCM, Fisheries Economics, CVM, Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island, Leisure and Recreationa

A Geometrically Constrained Point Matching based on View-invariant Cross-ratios, and Homography

In computer vision, finding point correspondence among images plays an important role in many applications, such as image stitching, image retrieval, visual localization, etc. Most of the research worksfocus on the matching of local feature before a sampling method is employed, such as RANSAC, to verify initial matching results via repeated fitting of certain global transformation among the images. However, incorrect matches may still exist, while careful examination of such problems is often skipped. Accordingly, a geometrically constrained algorithm is proposed in this work to verify the correctness of initially matched SIFT keypoints based on view-invariant cross-ratios (CRs). By randomly forming pentagons from these keypoints and matching their shape and location among images with CRs, robust planar region estimation can be achieved efficiently for the above verification, while correct and incorrect matches of keypoints can be examined easily with respect to those shape and location matched pentagons. Experimental results show that satisfactory results can be obtained for various scenes with single as well as multiple planar regions

Effects of computer-based cognitive training combined with physical training for older adults with cognitive impairment: A four-arm randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: Combined physical (PHY) and cognitive (COG) training in sequential (SEQ) and simultaneous (SIMUL) sessions may delay the progression of cognitive impairment. To date, no study has directly compared in older adults with cognitive impairment the effects of COG training, PHY training, SEQ motor-cognitive training and SIMUL motor-cognitve training on specific indices of cognitive performance and activities of daily living (ADL). The purpose of this study was to determine whether SEQ and SIMUL motor-cognitive training can improve treatment outcomes compared with PHY or COG training alone. We also aimed to compare the effects of SEQ versus SIMUL motor-cognitive training on cognitive functions and instrumental ADL (IADL) in older adults with cognitive impairment. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. Eighty older adults with cognitive impairment were randomly assigned to COG, PHY, SEQ or SIMUL training groups. The intervention consisted of 90-min training sessions, totaling 36 sessions. Outcome measures were the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, three subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and the Lawton IADL scale. RESULTS: Significant interaction effects between group and time were found in WMS-spatial span ( CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed SEQ and SIMUL motor-cognitive training led to more pronounced improvements in visuospatial working memory or verbal memory compared with isolated COG or PHY training for community-based older adults with cognitive impairment. For enhancing effects on IADL, we suggest the use of sensitive measurement tools and context-enriched cognitive training involving real-life task demands

Different Dietary Proportions of Fish Oil Regulate Inflammatory Factors but Do Not Change Intestinal Tight Junction ZO-1 Expression in Ethanol-Fed Rats

Sixty male Wistar rats were fed a control or an ethanol-containing diet in groups C or E. The fat compositions were adjusted with 25% or 57% fish oil substituted for olive oil in groups CF25, CF57, EF25, and EF57. Hepatic thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) levels, cytochrome P450 2E1 protein expression, and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α, interleukin- (IL-) 1β, IL-6, and IL-10 levels, as well as intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 levels were significantly elevated, whereas plasma adiponectin level was significantly reduced in group E (p<0.05). Hepatic histopathological scores of fatty change and inflammation, in group E were significantly higher than those of group C (p<0.05). Hepatic TBARS, plasma ICAM-1, and hepatic TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10 levels were significantly lower, and plasma adiponectin levels were significantly higher in groups EF25 and EF57 than those in group E (p<0.05). The immunoreactive area of the intestinal tight junction protein, ZO-1, showed no change between groups C and E. Only group CF57 displayed a significantly higher ZO-1 immunoreactive area compared to group C (p=0.0415). 25% or 57% fish oil substituted for dietary olive oil could prevent ethanol-induced liver damage in rats, but the mechanism might not be related to intestinal tight junction ZO-1 expression