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We previously determined that ghrelin synthesis was downregulated after burn injury and that exogenous ghrelin retained its ability both to stimulate food intake and to restore plasma growth hormone levels in burned rats. These observations and the finding that anabolic hormones can attenuate skeletal muscle catabolism led us to investigate whether ghrelin could attenuate burn-induced skeletal muscle protein breakdown in rats. These studies were performed in young rats (50-60 g) 24 h after -30% total body surface area burn injury. Burn injury increased total and myofibrillar protein breakdown in extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles assessed by in vitro tyrosine and 3-methyl-histidine release, respectively. Continuous 24-h administration of ghrelin (0.2 mg·kg-1 h-1) significantly inhibited both total and myofibrillar protein breakdown in burned rats. Ghrelin significantly attenuated burn-induced changes in mRNA expression of IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 in liver. In EDL, ghrelin attenuated the increases in mRNA expression of the binding proteins, but had no significant effect on reduced expression of IGF-1. Ghrelin markedly reduced the elevated mRNA expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in EDL muscle that occurred after burn. Moreover, ghrelin normalized plasma glucocorticoid levels, which were elevated after burn. Expression of the muscle-specific ubiquitin-ligating enzyme (E3) ubiquitin ligases MuRF1 and MAFbx were markedly elevated in both EDL and gastrocnemius and were normalized by ghrelin. These results suggest that ghrelin is a powerful anticatabolic compound that reduces skeletal muscle protein break- down through attenuating multiple burn-induced abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application prospect of a flow focusing/blurring nozzle is broad but research on gas-liquid flow inside the nozzle is not comprehensive. The gas-liquid mixing inside the nozzle is difficult to study by visualization experiment, so this paper proposes to study the gas-liquid flow or mixing inside the nozzle by the gray scale level distribution of the experimental images. The results show that the increase of air flow rate is beneficial to two-phase mixing inside the nozzle, while the influence of water flow rate, tube hole distance (the distance between inner tube and nozzle outlet) and orifice diameter increase is opposite. The influence of air inertia force on two-phase mixing is weaker than the water inertia force under different parameters, the effect of the air inertia force on two-phase mixing is similar to tube hole distance under a small flow rate, the effect of the orifice diameter on two-phase mixing is relatively weak. In addition, the analysis of the gas-liquid flow field in the mixing zone shows that the gas-liquid flow in the nozzle is stable in the flow focusing mode. In the flow blurring mode, the gas-liquid flow inside the nozzle has radial stability but axial pulsation. In the transition mode, the gas-liquid flow inside the nozzle is unstable, but the gas-liquid flow is close to the flow blurring mode.

A predictive model for droplet size and velocity distributions of a pressure swirl atomizer has been proposed based on the maximum entropy formalism (MEF). The constraint conditions of the MEF model include the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy. The effects of liquid swirling strength, Weber number, gas-to-liquid axial velocity ratio and gas-to-liquid density ratio on the droplet size and velocity distributions of a pressure swirl atomizer are investigated. Results show that model based on maximum entropy formalism works well to predict droplet size and velocity distributions under different spray conditions. Liquid swirling strength, Weber number, gas-to-liquid axial velocity ratio and gas-to-liquid density ratio have different effects on droplet size and velocity distributions of a pressure swirl atomizer.

We analyze the convergence time of opinion dynamics in a social network with community structure. Using matrix analysis, we prove that the convergence time is determined by the second largest eigenvalue modulus. This modulus is close to 1 if the social influence matrix is nearly uncoupled. Furthermore, we discuss and analyze the factors of community structure affecting the convergence time.

Background and objective Brain metastasis (BM) is often found in the patients with lung cancer. Radiotherapy is regular and effective means of therapy and it aims at palliating symptoms and prolonging survival time. However, now there are different viewpoints on protocols of radiotherapy and prognostic factors. A retrospective analysis is used to evaluate the results of treatment for 82 cases with brain metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explore the prognostic factors to establish a prognostic index (PI) model. Methods From Feb.1995 to Oct. 2006, 82 patients irradiated for BM from NSCLC, with both complete medical charts and follow-up data available, were eligible for this retrospective analysis. A number of potential factors which might affect prognosis after irradiation were evaluated. The significance of prognostic variables in the survival resulted from both univariate analysis by Kaplan-Meier combining with log-rank test and multivariate Cox regression model. The prognostic index (PI) was established based on Cox regression analysis and subgrouping values. Results The follow-up time was 1-120 months. For the entire cohort, the median survival from the start of radiation for BM was 10.5 months, and the actuarial overall survival rate was 50.8%, 23.7% and 5.1% at 0.5, 1 and 2 years respectively. Univariate analysis showed KPS, control of primary tumor, interval from the beginning of diagnostic to BM, extracranial systemic metastasis, counts of lymphocyte and solitary BM were predictors of prognosis. However, in the Cox multivariate analysis, only KPS, control of primary tumor, interval from the beginning of diagnostic to BM and solitary BM were significant prognostic factors. The prognostic index was established based on Cox regression analysis and 82 patients were stratified good, intermediate and poor prognostic sub-groups. The difference of survival rate among 3 subgroups is significant (P

Objective. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues (e.g., exenatide) increase insulin secretion in diabetes but less is known about their effects on glucose production or insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in peripheral tissues. Methods. Four groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were studied: nondiabetic (control, C); nondiabetic + exenatide (C + E); diabetic (D); diabetic + exenatide (D + E) with diabetes induced by streptozotocin and high fat diet. Infusion of 3-3H-glucose and U-13C-glycerol was used to measure basal rates of appearance (Ra) of glucose and glycerol and gluconeogenesis from glycerol (GNG). During hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, glucose uptake into gastrocnemius muscles was measured with 2-deoxy-D-14C-glucose. Results. In the diabetic rats, exenatide reduced the basal Ra of glucose (P

We describe here a 42-year-old woman who was admitted to hospital with a pedunculated mass in her left atrium. She was diagnosed with a primary cardiac osteosarcoma with special immunohistochemical characteristics. Echocardiography and computed tomography can be used to differentiate cardiac osteosarcomas from routine intracardiac tumors. The patient was treated by surgical removal of the mass. Two years later, she has shown no evidence of disease recurrence. We discuss primary osteosarcomas in the cardiac cavity and their management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]