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The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) to assess the early renal functional undulation of diabetic mellitus (DM). Fifty-seven Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups and eventually 48 rats were included in this study: the normal control (CON) group and diabetic mellitus (DM) group. Weeks 0, 4, 8, and 12 after the diabetes model was successfully established, all the rats were scanned on the 3.0T MRI. The DKI derived parameters of renal parenchyma, including fractional anisotropy (FA co , FA me), mean diffusivity (MD co , MD me), and mean kurtosis (MK co , MK me) were measured. Their alteration over time was analyzed and then correlated with urine volume (UV), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine (Scr) using Pearson correlation analysis. Finally, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed on the kidneys of the two groups. There was a decreasing trend in FA, MK, and MD values over time in diabetic rats. Also, the gradually worsening histological damage of kidneys was noted over time in diabetic rats. The cortical FA and MK values and medullary FA, MK and MD values of diabetic rats were significantly lower than those of controls at most time points after DM induction. In addition, negative correlations were revealed between the BUN and FA co (r = -0.43, p = 0.03) or FA me value (r = -0.49, p = 0.01). The cortical MK value was moderately correlated with UV (r = -0.46, p = 0.03) and BUN (r = -0.55, p = 0.01). The preliminary findings suggest that DKI might be an effective and sensitive tool to assess the early changes of renal function impairment in diabetic rats. The FA values of the cortex and medulla and the MK value of the cortex are sensitive markers in detecting renal injury in diabetic rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress and incomplete gastrointestinal development in early-weaned piglets represent significant challenges in commercial swine farming. Orally ingested recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF) has been shown to remain biologically active in the gastrointestinal tract as well as stimulate intestinal development, reducing the incidence of pathogen infection and diarrhea. We have previously shown that the food-grade bacterium Lactococcus lactis can be genetically altered to express biologically active EGF when fed to early-weaned mice. In this study, we assigned 8 pigs to each of 4 groups that were given EGF-expressing L. lactis. (EGF-LL), empty vector-expressing L. lactis (EV-LL), recombinant human EGF, or unsupplemented bacterial media, all of which were delivered as 50-mL i.g. doses twice per day. All pigs were killed after 14 d to examine intestinal morphology. Pigs in the EGF-LL group had greater jejunal and duodenal villus heights (P< 0.0001) and intestinal length (P= 0.049) than pigs in the control group. lmmunohistochemistry with antibodies against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) revealed that the proliferation of intestinal cells was significantly greater in the EGF-LL group than in the control group. PCNA expression and intestinal length also were greater in the EV-LL group, which received L. lactis that did not express EGF, than in the control group (P = 0.049), further supporting the use of naturally occurring intestinal microbes as desirable vectors for recombinant protein delivery. Our data demonstrates the feasibility of delivering a growth factor using common probiotic bacteria to farm animals for commercial practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-entropy nitride films were deposited by reactive sputtering from an AlCrNbSiTiV equimolar alloy target. The films persisted in single solution phase with an NaCl structure and retained their nanograin size, even after annealing at 1000°C for 5h. The films were superhard (>40GPa), and have a high entropy effect that stabilizes the solution phase, and a severe-lattice-distortion effect that inhibits nanograin coarsening. The proposed inhibition mechanism for such high-entropy nitride coatings is based on thermodynamics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sesame ingestion has been shown to improve blood lipids in humans and antioxidative ability in animals. Sesamin, a sesame lignan, was recently reported to be converted by intestinal microflora to enterolactone, a compound with estrogenic activity and also an enterometabolite of flaxseed lignans, which are known to be phytoestrogens. Whether sesame can be a source of phytoestrogens is unknown. This study was designed to investigate the effect of sesame ingestion on blood sex hormones, lipids, tocopherol, and ex vivo LDL oxidation in postmenopausal women. Twenty-six healthy subjects attended, and 24 completed, this randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Half of them consumed 50 g sesame seed powder daily for 5 wk, followed by a 3-wk washout period, then a 5-wk 50-g rice powder placebo period. The other half received the 2 supplements in reverse order. After sesame treatment, plasma total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, the ratio of LDL-C to HDL-C, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in oxidized LDL, and serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate decreased significantly by 5, 10, 6, 23, and 18%, respectively. The ratio of α- and γ-tocopherol to TC increased significantly by 18 and 73%, respectively. All of these variables differed significantly between the 2 treatments. Serum sex hormone-binding globulin and urinary 2-hydroxyestrone (n = 8) increased significantly by 15 and 72%, respectively, after sesame treatment, and these concentrations tended to differ (P = 0.065 and P = 0.090, respectively) from those after the placebo treatment. These results suggest that sesame ingestion benefits postmenopausal women by improving blood lipids, antioxidant status, and possibly sex hormone status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]