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Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the world's leading cause of death according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report. Despite the evolution of modern medical technology, the mortality rate of CHD has increased. Nevertheless, patients often do not realize they have CHD until their condition is serious due to the complexity, high cost, and the side effects of the diagnosis process. Thus, research on predicting CHD risk has been conducted. The Framingham study is a widely-accepted study in this field. However, one of its limitations is its overestimation of risk, which threatens its accuracy. Therefore, this study suggests a more advanced CHD risk prediction algorithm based on Optimized-DBN (Deep Belief Network). Optimized- DBN is an algorithm to improve performance by overcoming the limitations of the existing DBN. DBN does not have the global optimum values for number of layers and nodes, which affects research results. We overcame this limitation by combining with a genetic algorithm. The result of genetic algorithm for deriving the number of layers and nodes of Optimized-DBN for CHD prediction was 2 layers, 5 and 7 nodes to each layers. The accuracy of the CHD prediction algorithm based on Optimized- DBN which is developed by applying results of genetic algorithm was 0.8924, which is better than Framingham's 0.5015 and DBN's 0.7507. In the case of specificity, Optimized-DBN based CHD prediction was 0.7440, which was slightly lower than 0.8208 of existing DBN, but better than Framingham's 0.65. In the case of sensitivity, Optimized-DBN is 0.8549, which is better than Framingham 0.4429 and DBN 0.7468. AUC of suggesting algorithm was 0.762, which was much better than Framingham 0.547 and DBN 0.570. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odontoblasts form dentin at the outermost surface of tooth pulp. An increasing level of evidence in recent years, along with their locational advantage, implicates odontoblasts as a secondary role as sensory or immune cells. Extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a well-characterized signaling molecule in the neuronal and immune systems, and its potential involvement in interodontoblast communications was recently demonstrated. In an effort to elaborate the ATP-mediated signaling pathway in odontoblasts, the current study performed single-cell reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunofluorescent detection to investigate the expression of ATP receptors related to calcium signal in odontoblasts from incisal teeth of 8- to 10-wk-old rats, and demonstrated an in vitro response to ATP application via calcium imaging experiments. While whole tissue RT-PCR analysis detected P2Y2, P2Y4, and all 7 subtypes (P2X1 to P2X7) in tooth pulp, single-cell RT-PCR analysis of acutely isolated rat odontoblasts revealed P2Y2, P2Y4, P2X2, P2X4, P2X6, and P2X7 expression in only a subset (23% to 47%) of cells tested, with no evidence for P2X1, P2X3, and P2X5 expression. An increase of intracellular Ca2+ concentration in response to 100μM ATP, which was repeated after pretreatment of thapsigargin or under the Ca2+-free condition, suggested function of both ionotropic and metabotropic ATP receptors in odontoblasts. The enhancement of ATP-induced calcium response by ivermectin and inhibition by 5-(3-bromophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzofuro[3,2-e]-1,4-diazepin-2-one (5-BDBD) confirmed a functional P2X4 subtype in odontoblasts. Positive calcium response to 2',3'-O-(benzoyl-4-benzoyl)-ATP (BzATP) and negative response to α,β-methylene ATP suggested P2X2, P2X4, and P2X7 as functional subunits in rat odontoblasts. Single-cell RT-PCR analysis of the cells with confirmed calcium response and immunofluorescent detection further corroborated the expression of P2X4 and P2X7 in odontoblasts. Overall, this study demonstrated heterogeneous expression of calcium-related ATP receptor subtypes in subsets of individual odontoblasts, suggesting extracellular ATP as a potential signal mediator for odontoblastic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTi) has several polymorphic variants. Of these, Tia and Tib, which differ by nine amino acids, are the two main types. In this study, differences in KTi proteome between Tia and Tib were investigated using three soybean cultivars and three mutant lines. Two cultivars, Baekwoon (BW) and Paldal (PD), and one mutant line, SW115-24, were Tia type, whereas one soybean cultivar, Suwon115 (SW115), and two mutant lines, BW-7-2 and PD-5-10, were Tib type. Protein from the six soybean lines was extracted and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (non-denaturing PAGE), and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE). By SDS-PAGE, there was no difference between soybean cultivars and mutant lines, except for SW115-24. Western blot analysis revealed that, in comparison with Tia, Tib type accumulated relatively low amounts of KTi. By non-denaturing PAGE, the three soybean lines of Tib type were characterized by slower mobility than the three soybean lines of Tia type. Zymography detected eight distinct zones of trypsin inhibitory activity among which Tia and Tib lacked the fifth and sixth zone, respectively. By two-dimensional native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DN), the spots related to trypsin inhibitory activity showed different mobilities, whereas only one KTi (21.5 kDa) spot was resolved by 2-DE. By two-dimensional zymography (2-DZ), Tib showed a broader activity zone (pI 4-7) in comparison with Tia (pI 4-5). The results indicate that the genotypes with a different type of KTi present different proteomic profiles and trypsin inhibitory activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the plasma glucose and insulin responses of various doses of glucose, sucrose, fructose and white bread in normal human subjects.Design: Plasma glucose and insulin were measured before and at various times after 8 subjects ate 13 different test meals in randomized order on separate days after an overnight fast. Test meals consisted of 500 ml of tea or water to which was added either nothing, 25, 50, or 100 g of glucose or sucrose, 25 or 50 g fructose, 50 g glucose plus 50 g fructose, or a 25, 50 or 100 g carbohydrate portion of white bread. The glycaemic (GI) and insulinaemic index (II) values of the sugars were calculated by expressing the incremental areas under the plasma glucose and insulin curves (AUC) after glucose, sucrose and fructose as a percentage of the respective AUC after white bread containing the same amount of carbohydrate.Setting: University teaching hospital clinical nutrition centre.Subjects: Lean, normal subjects (4 male, 4 female) 21-33 y of age.Results: Plasma insulin responses increased nearly linearly as carbohydrate intake increased from 0 to 100 g, but glycaemic responses increased by only 68% and 38% as carbohydrate intake increased from 25 to 50 g and 50 to 100g, respectively. The GI and II values of glucose, 149+/-16 and 147+/-18, respectively, were significantly greater than those of bread (100; P<0.05), while the values for fructose, 16+/-4 and 22+/-3 were significantly less than those of bread (P<0.001). GI values did not differ significantly from II values.Conclusions: It is concluded that, in normal subjects, as carbohydrate intake is increased from 0 to 100 g, plasma insulin responses increase at a greater rate than plasma glucose responses. The insulinaemic responses elicited by glucose, sucrose or fructose are similar to those that would be expected from a starchy food with the same glycaemic index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antigenotoxic and chemopreventive effect of Aloe barbadensis Miller (polysaccharide fraction) on benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P)-DNA adducts was investigated in vitro and in vivo. Aloe showed a time-course and dose-dependent inhibition of [3H]B[a]P-DNA adduct formation in primary rat hepatocytes (1x10(6) cells/ml) treated with [3H]B[a]P (4 nmol/ml). At concentrations of 0.4-250 microg/ml aloe, the binding of [3H]B[a]P metabolites to rat hepatocyte DNA was inhibited by 9.1-47.9%. Also, in rat hepatocytes cultured for 3-48 h with aloe (250 microg/ml) and [3H]B[a]P (4 nmol/ml), [3H]B[a]P-DNA adducts were significantly reduced by 36% compared with [3H]B[a]P alone. Aloe also inhibited cellular uptake of [3H]B[a]P in a dose-dependent manner at a concentration of 0.4-250 microg/ml by 6.3-34.1%. After a single oral administration of B[a]P to male ICR mice (10 mg/mouse), benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide I (BPDE-I)-DNA adduct formation and persistence for 16 days following daily treatment with aloe (50 mg/mouse) were quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using monoclonal antibody 8E11. In this animal model, BPDE-I-DNA adduct formation was significantly inhibited in various organs (liver, kidney, forestomach and lung) (P < 0.001). When mice were pretreated with aloe for 16 days before B[a]P treatment, inhibition of BPDE-I-DNA adduct formation and persistence was enhanced. Glutathione S-transferase activity was slightly increased in the liver but cytochrome P450 content was not affected by aloe. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of aloe on BPDE-I-DNA adduct formation might have a chemopreventive effect by inhibition of B[a]P absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]