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Background: Obesity is a major health problem. It is associated with cardiovascular disease. The diagnosis of obesity is crucial to treating and preventing obesity-related medical problems., Objective: The objective was to determine optimal percentage body fat cutoffs in Korean adults for predicting obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk factors., Design: We evaluated the body composition and prevalence of obesity-related cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia, in 41,088 Korean adults aged 18-92 y. The optimal percentage body fat cutoffs for Korean adults were determined. Multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of overweight and obesity were estimated by logistic regression., Results: The first cutoffs in men and women were 17% and 32% body fat, respectively; the second cutoffs were 21% and 37% body fat, respectively. The percentages of obese men and women were 41.8% and 15.9%, respectively. The adjusted OR of at least one risk factor for overweight or obesity in men was 2.22 (95% CI: 2.07, 2.38) or 4.05 (95% CI: 3.78, 4.33). The adjusted OR for women was 1.95 (95% CI: 1.79, 2.07; P < 0.0001) or 3.21 (95% CI: 2.87, 3.57)., Conclusions: Only one-fourth of Korean men had a normal body composition, whereas most of the Korean women had a normal body composition. We conclude that susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and its risk factors is higher in Korean men than in Korean women. The cutoffs are useful for providing adequate guidelines for treating and preventing cardiovascular disease. This was the first study to determine cutoffs of percentage body fat for Korean adults.

Objective: To investigate the effects of a sliding rehabilitation machine on balance and gait in chronic stroke patients., Design: A non-randomized crossover design., Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation in a general hospital., Subjects: Thirty patients with chronic stroke who had medium or high falling risk as determined by the Berg Balance Scale., Interventions: Participants were divided into two groups and underwent four weeks of training. Group A (n = 15) underwent training with the sliding rehabilitation machine for two weeks with concurrent conventional training, followed by conventional training only for another two weeks. Group B (n = 15) underwent the same training in reverse order. The effect of the experimental period was defined as the sum of changes during training with sliding rehabilitation machine in each group, and the effect of the control period was defined as those during the conventional training only in each group., Main Measures: Functional Ambulation Category, Berg Balance Scale, Six-Minute Walk Test, Timed Up and Go Test, Korean Modified Barthel Index, Modified Ashworth Scale and Manual Muscle Test., Results: Statistically significant improvements were observed in all parameters except Modified Ashworth Scale in the experimental period, but only in Six-Minute Walk Test (P < 0.01) in the control period. There were also statistically significant differences in the degree of change in all parameters in the experimental period as compared to the control period., Conclusions: The sliding rehabilitation machine may be a useful tool for the improvement of balance and gait abilities in chronic stroke patients.

Heat-killed lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are known to be important immunomodulators that stimulate tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) production as well as increase phagocytic activity in macrophages. NK cells play a critical role in innate immune response and induce spontaneous killing of tumor cells and virus-infected cells. However, the effect of heat-killed LAB on NK cells is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of heat-killed Lactobacillus acidophilus La205 (La205) on NK cytolytic activity. We found that heat-killed La205 directly stimulated NK cytolytic activity in dose- and time-dependent manners. To determine the mechanism underlying heat-killed La205-enhanced NK cytotoxicity, the expression of NK activating receptors was tested. Heat-killed La205 did not affect the expression of NK activating receptors. To investigate whether NK degranulation is related to heat-killed La205-enhanced NK cytotoxicity, NK degranulation inhibitor concanamycin A (CMA) was used. CMA effectively blocked heat-killed La205-induced NK cytotoxicity, and an assay for detection of a degranulation marker, CD107a, showed that heat-killed La205 increased granule exocytosis approximately 2-fold in comparison to non-treated NK cells. In addition, heat-killed La205 dramatically elevated mRNA expression of granulysin, a component of the cytolytic granule contents, in NK cells. However, other granule contents, including perforin and granzymes, were not changed by heat-killed La205. From these data, we concluded that heat-killed La205 stimulated NK cytolytic activity through enhancement of granule exocytosis, and granulysin may be a critical mediator in heat-killed La205-induced granule exocytosis., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We prospectively evaluated the usefulness of MDCT using a curved planar reformation technique for the noninvasive assessment of the causes of biliary stent occlusion in patients with malignant biliary obstruction., Subjects and Methods: Between December 2004 and January 2009, 173 patients with unresectable malignant biliary obstruction underwent biliary stent insertion. Among them, 26 patients with suspected biliary stent occlusion underwent 29 sessions of ERCP within 2 weeks after MDCT was performed. Curved planar reformation images were obtained along the pathway of the biliary stent. We interpreted tissue growth or stent clogging by comparing attenuation values inside the biliary stent between the unenhanced and contrast-enhanced phases of CT. The cause of biliary stent occlusion was confirmed by using ERCP., Results: The differences in attenuation value inside the biliary stent between the contrast-enhanced and unenhanced phases of CT in the tissue growth group was 27.7 +/- 21.7 HU (SD) and 4.2 +/- 10.6 HU in the stent-clogging group (p = 0.002). The sensitivity and specificity of MDCT for the diagnosis of tissue growth were 86.7% and 85.7%, respectively. The overall accuracy of curved planar reformation images of MDCT for diagnosing the causes of stent occlusion was 86.2%., Conclusion: Curved planar reformation MDCT is a useful noninvasive technique that is relatively accurate for diagnosing the cause of biliary stent occlusion and is helpful for planning the therapeutic management of such patients.

Human body shape, called somatotype, has described physique of humans in health and sports applications, relating anthropometric measurements to fatness, muscularity and linearity in a structured way. Here we propose a new method based on bioelectric impedance vector analysis (BIVA) of R/H and Xc/H to represent the cross-sectional area and the body cell mass in a given surface area (m(2)) respectively. Data from six gymnasts, ten dancers, and five fashion models, groups whose physiques and BMI ranges were distinct from one another, were measured for somatotype and BIVA. The models had highest values of the R/H and gymnasts the lowest. Xc/H was lower in models than in the dancers and gymnasts (p < 0.05). Phase angle was lowest in the models and highest in gymnasts significantly (p < 0.05). Pattern analysis from BIVA corresponded to the calculated anthropometric somatotype supporting the hypothesis that BIA's resistance (R) and reactance (Xc) are meaningful discriminates of body size and function which relate to physique in a purposive way.

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) is known to be associated with the administration of antibiotics which alter normal gastrointestinal flora and allow overgrowth of Clostridium difficile. Most cases of rifampicin-induced PMC are seen in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, but not with gastrointestinal tuberculosis. We report a case of PMC associated with rifampicin therapy in a patient with gastrointestinal tuberculosis. A 65-year-old female patient with rectal cancer and gastrointestinal tuberculosis was admitted due to abdominal pain and diarrhea. She was treated with anti-tuberculosis agents containing rifampicin. On colonoscopic examination, mucoid exudates and yellowish plaque lesions were observed. Anti-tuberculosis agents were stopped, and the patient was treated with metronidazole. Symptoms were relieved and did not recur when all the anti-tuberculosis agents except rifampicin were started again. When a patient complains of abdominal pain or diarrhea while taking rifampicin, the physician should consider the possibility of rifampicin-associated PMC.

The pseudoknot is an important RNA structural element that provides an excellent model system for studying the contributions of tertiary interactions to RNA stability and to folding kinetics. RNA pseudoknots are also of interest because of their key role in the control of ribosomal frameshifting by viral RNAs. Their mechanical properties are directly relevant to their unfolding by ribosomes during translation. We have used optical tweezers to study the kinetics and thermodynamics of mechanical unfolding and refolding of single RNA molecules. Here we describe the unfolding of the frameshifting pseudoknot from infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), three constituent hairpins, and three mutants of the IBV pseudoknot. All four pseudoknots cause -1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting. We have measured the free energies and rates of mechanical unfolding and refolding of the four frameshifting pseudoknots. Our results show that the IBV pseudoknot requires a higher force than its corresponding hairpins to unfold. Furthermore, its rate of unfolding changes little with increasing force, in contrast with the rate of hairpin unfolding. The presence of Mg(2+) significantly increases the kinetic barriers to unfolding the IBV pseudoknot, but has only a minor effect on the hairpin unfolding. The greater mechanical stability of pseudoknots compared to hairpins, and their kinetic insensitivity to force supports the hypothesis that -1 frameshifting depends on the difficulty of unfolding the mRNA.

Purposes: This experimental study was designed to verify the effect of inhalation of essential oils on body weight, feed intake, food efficiency rate and serum leptin., Methods: The subjects of this study were 90 growing SD rats (46 males and 44 females). They were allocated into one of four groups, the Fennel group, Patchouli group, Bergamot group and control group. The experimental treatment was the inhalation of aromatherapy essential oils which was applied two times a day for 10 minutes each during 8 weeks. To evaluate the effects, body weight, feed intake, food efficiency rate and serum leptin were measured before and after the treatment. The collected data was analyzed by repeated measures of Kolmogorov-smirnov test and Normal Q-Q plot for normality, Kruskal Wallis test and chi2-test for experimental effects with the SPSS program., Results: The food efficiency rate was significantly lower in the Patchouli group and Fennel group than in the Bergamot group and control group (P=.000). No significant group effects were found for SD rat's body weight, feeding amount and serum leptin., Conclusion: In conclusion, these findings indicate that the inhalation of essential oils could be effective in lowering the food efficiency rate rather than the feed intake.

Chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) tensor parameters have been determined for the protonated carbons of the purine bases in an RNA kissing complex in solution by extending the model-independent approach [Fushman, D., Cowburn, D. (1998) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 7109-7110]. A strategy for determining CSA tensor parameters of heteronuclei in isolated X-H two-spin systems (X = 13C or 15N) in molecules undergoing anisotropic rotational diffusion is presented. The original method relies on the fact that the ratio kappa2=R2 auto/R2 cross of the transverse auto- and cross-correlated relaxation rates involving the X CSA and the X-H dipolar interaction is independent of parameters related to molecular motion, provided rotational diffusion is isotropic. However, if the overall motion is anisotropic kappa2 depends on the anisotropy D(parallel)/D (perpendicular) of rotational diffusion. In this paper, the field dependence of both kappa2 and its longitudinal counterpart kappa1=R1 auto/R1 cross are determined. For anisotropic rotational diffusion, our calculations show that the average kappa(av) = 1/2 (kappa1+kappa2), of the ratios is largely independent of the anisotropy parameter D(parallel)/D (perpendicular). The field dependence of the average ratio kappa(av) may thus be utilized to determine CSA tensor parameters by a generalized model-independent approach in the case of molecules with an overall motion described by an axially symmetric rotational diffusion tensor.

Two sets of cross-correlated relaxation rates involving chemical shift anisotropy and dipolar interactions have been measured in an RNA kissing complex. In one case, both the CSA and dipolar interaction tensors are located on the same nucleotide base and are rigidly fixed with respect to each other. In the other case, the CSA tensor is located on the nucleotide base whereas the dipolar interaction is located on the adjoining ribose unit. Analysis of the measured rates in terms of isotropic or anisotropic rotational diffusion has been carried out for both cases. A marked difference between the two models is observed for the cross-correlation rates involving rigidly fixed spin interactions. The influence of internal motions about the glycosidic linkage between the nucleotide base and the ribose unit on cross-correlated relaxation rates has been estimated by applying a model of restricted rotational diffusion. Local motions seem to have a more pronounced effect on cross-correlated relaxation rates when the two spin interactions are not rigidly fixed with respect to each other.

The bond lengths and dynamics of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in an RNA kissing complex have been characterized by determining the NMR relaxation rates of various double- and triple-quantum coherences that involve an imino proton and two neighboring nitrogen-15 nuclei belonging to opposite bases. New experiments allow one to determine the chemical shift anisotropy of the imino protons. The bond lengths derived from dipolar relaxation and the lack of modulations of the nitrogen chemical shifts indicate that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds which hold the kissing complex together are very similar to the intramolecular hydrogen bonds in the double-stranded stem of the RNA.