BackgroundObesity has become a major global health challenge due to its increasing prevalence, and the associated health risk. It is the main cause of various metabolic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke and certain forms of cancer.Methods and ResultsIn the present study we evaluated the anti-obesity property of Daesiho-tang (DSHT), an herbal medicine, using high fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice as a model. Our results showed that DSHT ameliorated body weight gain, decreased total body fat, regulated expression of leptin and adiponectin genes of adipose tissue and exerted an anti-diabetic effect by attenuating fasting glucose level and serum insulin level in HFD-fed animals. In addition, DSHT-treatment significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and increased high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) levels in serum and reduced deposition of fat droplets in liver. DSHT treatment resulted in significantly increased relative abundance of bacteria including Bacteroidetes, Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio, Akkermansia Bifidobacterium., Lactobacillus, and decreased the level of Firmicutes. Using RT2 profiler PCR array, 39 (46%) genes were found to be differentially expressed in HFD-fed mice compared to normal control. However, normal gene expressions were restored in 36 (92%) genes of HFD-fed mice, when co-exposed to DSHT.Conclusion/Major FindingsThe results of this study demonstrated that DSHT is an effective herbal formulation in attenuation of obesity in HFD-fed mice through alteration of gene expressions and modulation of intestinal microbiota.

This paper proposed a triangular inequality-based rewiring method for the rapidly exploring random tree (RRT)-Connect robot path-planning algorithm that guarantees the planning time compared to the RRT algorithm, to bring it closer to the optimum. To check the proposed algorithm’s performance, this paper compared the RRT and RRT-Connect algorithms in various environments through simulation. From these experimental results, the proposed algorithm shows both quicker planning time and shorter path length than the RRT algorithm and shorter path length than the RRT-Connect algorithm with a similar number of samples and planning time.

Samjunghwan (SJH) is an herbal formula used in traditional Korean medicine. This prescription has long been used in treatment of aging and lifestyle diseases. The current study showed the effect and mechanisms of anti-hepatic steatosis action of modified SJH (mSJH) in vitro and in vivo. Treatment with mSJH resulted in significantly decreased intracellular lipid accumulation in steatosis-induced cells. Furthermore, mSJH triggered the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase as well as increased the expression of leptin at both protein and gene levels. In addition, C57BL6 mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) showed significant improvements in body, liver weights and fat weights; and serum, hepatic and fecal lipid parameters in response to the treatment with mSJH. Furthermore, mSJH showed favorable effects on the hepatic expression of several genes related to lipid metabolism. Betaine, one of constituents of mSJH exerted fundamental beneficial impact on FFAs-induced cells. However, the beneficial effects of mSJH were diminished upon blocking of leptin signaling by dexamethasone, suggesting the leptin signaling as a key component in mSJH-mediated modulation of lipid homeostasis. Our results suggest that mSJH exerts an anti-hepatic steatosis effect via activation of leptin and associated signaling cascades related to lipid metabolism.

The nasal cycle in patients with septal deviation was studied by acoustic rhinometric techniques. This study included 24 patients with anteriorly located septal deviations (mean age = 23.5), and 26 normal controls (mean age = 24.7). Data of MCA (minimum cross-sectional area) and NV (nasal volume), collected in 20-minute intervals, were plotted for each subject during 8 hours. Twenty of 24 patients (83%) with septal deviation and 20 of 26 normal subjects (77%) showed at least one complete cycle. Duration of the nasal cycle, which ranged from 100 minutes to 400 minutes, had no statistical difference between the septal deviation group (mean duration of 216 minutes) and the normal control group (mean duration of 227 minutes). The degrees of variation of MCA and NV, defined as Degree of Variation of MCA (%) = 100 (MCAmax - MCAmin)/MCAmax, Degree of Variation of NV (%) = 100 (NVmax - NVmin)/NVmax, which represent the percent change of MCA and NV throughout the study, showed no difference between the wide side and the narrow side, or between the septal deviation group and the normal control group. These findings suggest that the nasal cycle is relatively independent of peripheral anatomic factors for its generation. However, the amplitude of changes of MCA was greater in the wide side, and the sum of both MCAs tended to fluctuate in accordance with the fluctuation of MCA of the wide side. Thus, the nasal cycle seemed to be affected by septal deviation.

BackgroundMedicinal herb-derived drug development has become important in the relief of liver pathology. Amomun cardamomum is traditionally used therapeutically in Korea to treat various human ailments including dyspepsia, hiccupping, and vomiting. We investigated to assess the protective effect of A. cardamomum on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver damage through antioxidant activity in hepatic tissues of Sprague–Dawley rats.MethodsAntioxidant properties of different fractions from A. cardamomum from ethanol extracts were evaluated by an in vitro free radical scavenging systems. The protective effect of the ethyl acetate fraction from A. cardamomum (EAAC) against CCl4-induced cytotoxicity was determined by a cell viability assay using HepG2 hepatocarcinoma cells. In vivo study, the influence of EAAC concentrations of 100 and 200 mg/kg following CCl4-induced hepatic injury was assessed. Serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined, as was lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde, MDA). Effect of EAAC on liver detoxification enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), total glutathione (GSH), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity was measured in rat liver homogenates. Liver cytochrome P450 (CYP2E1) expression level was determined by quantification of mRNA.ResultsPhytochemical analysis of A. cardamomum indicated that EAAC was enriched in total polyphenol and total flavonoid. Most of the tannins were confined to the hexane fraction. Hepatoprotective properties of EAAC were evident, with significantly reduced serum levels of GOT, GPT, and ALP compared with the control group. Improved hepatic antioxidant status was evident by increased SOD, GSH, and GST enzymes in rat liver tissue. Liver lipid peroxidation induced by CCl4 was apparent by increased intracellular MDA level. EAAC suppressed lipid peroxidation as evidenced by the significant decrease in MDA production. Expression of CYP2E1 was also significantly decreased at the higher concentration of EAAC, indicating the hepatoprotective efficacy of EAAC on acute liver damage.ConclusionThese results indicated that EAAC has a significant hepatoprotective activity on CCl4-induced acute hepatic injury in rats, which might be derived from its antioxidant properties and CYP2E1 downregulation.