The beneficial effects of exercise on overall health make it desirable to identify the orally active agents that enhance the effects of exercise in an effort to cure metabolic diseases. Natural compounds such as resveratrol (RSV) are known to increase endurance by potentiating mitochondrial function. Korean mistletoe (Viscum album coloratum) extract (KME) has characteristics similar to those of RSV. In the present study, we determined whether KME could increase mitochondrial activity and exert an anti-fatigue effect. We found that KME treatment significantly increased the mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in L6 cells and increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC)-1α and silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1), two major regulators of mitochondria function, in C2C12 cells. In the treadmill test, KME-treated mice could run 2.5-times longer than chow-fed control mice. Additionally, plasma lactate levels of exhausted mice were significantly lower in the KME-treated group. In addition, the swimming time to exhaustion of mice treated with KME was prolonged by as much as 212% in the forced-swim test. Liver and kidney histology was similar between the KME-treated and phosphate-buffered saline-treated animals, indicating that KME was nontoxic. Taken together, our data show that KME induces mitochondrial activity, possibly by activating PGC-1α and SIRT1, and improves the endurance of mice, strongly suggesting that KME has great potential as a novel mitochondria-activating agent.

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BackgroundHepatitis A virus (HAV) is a causative agent of acute hepatitis, which is transmitted by person-to-person contact and via the faecal-oral route. Acute HAV infection is usually confirmed by anti-HAV IgM detection. In order to detect anti-HAV IgM in the serum of patients infected with HAV, we developed a rapid assay based on immunochromatography (ICA) and evaluated the sensitivity of this assay by comparing it with a commercial microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) that is widely used for serological diagnosis.ResultsThe newly developed ICA showed 100% sensitivity and specificity when used to test 150 anti-HAV IgM-positive sera collected from infected patients and 75 negative sera from healthy subjects. Also, the sensitivity of ICA is about 10 times higher than MEIA used in this study by determining end point to detect independent on infected genotype of HAV. In addition, the ICA was able to detect 1 positive sample from among 50 sera from acute hepatitis patients that had tested negative for anti-HAV IgM using the MEIA.ConclusionConclusively, ICA for the detection of anti-HAV IgM will be very effective for rapid assay to apply clinical diagnosis and epidemiological investigation on epidemics due to the simplicity, rapidity and specificity.

The time lag between the decision to initiate continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and its actual initiation remains a major barrier in our intensive care units. We developed a CRRT pop-up chart on EMR for managing CRRT machines. Methods: This study measured time interval between the decision to prepare the CRRT machine and the actual use of the machine before and after using a CRRT pop-up chart. This study conducted a questionnaire of the medical staff to assess the changes in the quality of CRRT preparation. Results: A total of 95 patients on CRRT is analyzed. The time to find an available CRRT machine is decreased by 24.6%. The time to move a CRRT machine to the patient's bedside is decreased by 55.8%. Medical surveys of 44 nurses gave the following results. 1) The time to apprehend machines for 1 to 3 minutes is improved from 29.5% to 81.8%, and the time to apprehend machines over 3 minutes is decreased from 70.5% to 18.2%. 2) The number (6-all) of known machine locations is improved from 22.7% to 63.4%. 3) Interruption of a nurse's work due to telephone calls asking for the possession of movable CRRT equipment also is improved. Scores of 1-4 are improved from 15.9% to 41%. Scores of 5-7 are reduced from 52% to 15.9%. Conclusions: CRRT pop-up chart is shortened the time lag of CRRT machine preparation, reduced the nurse's phone workload and helped to improve the quality of CRRT care.