Search results for "WEIGHT"

Effect of aerobic exercise and diet on liver fat in pre-diabetic patients with non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease: A randomized controlled trial.

2017

AbstractThe study aimed to assess whether aerobic exercise (AEx) training and a fibre-enriched diet can reduce hepatic fat content (HFC) and increase glycaemic control in pre-diabetic patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Six-hundred-and-three patients from seven clinics in Yangpu district, Shanghai, China were recruited. Of them 115 individuals aged 50–65-year fulfilled the inclusion criteria (NAFLD with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance) and were randomly assigned into exercise (AEx n = 29), diet (Diet n = 28), exercise plus diet (AED n = 29), or no-intervention (NI n = 29) groups. Progressive supervised AEx training (60–75% VO2max intensity) was gi…

The synovial joints of the human foot.

2007

The human foot is considered an organ with an assortment of tissues with different morphological characteristics and well defined limits, but effectively has a simple functionality when static that becomes extremely complex when in movement. Its complex structure, comprised of an elastic and resistant skin covering a bone framework, joints, muscles, tendons, veins and nerves, can be compared to an efficient mechanical assembly. After a long and extraordinary evolutive journey, the human foot has undergone numerous changes to perfect its function; it has lost most of its grabbing function whilst gaining new characteristics that have ultimately allowed the modern man to stand upright. The com…

Insertion of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein into the thylakoid

2000

The major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (Lhcb1,2) of photosystem II is inserted into the thylakoid via the signal recognition particle dependent pathway. However, the mechanism by which the protein enters the membrane is at this time unknown. In order to define some topographical restrictions for this process, we constructed several recombinant derivatives of Lhcb1 carrying hexahistidine tags at either protein terminus or in the stromal loop domain. Additionally, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused to either terminus. None of the modifications significantly impair the pigment-binding properties of the protein in the in vitro reconstitution of LHCII. With the excepti…

Calcium-Dependent Assembly of Centrin-G-Protein Complex in Photoreceptor Cells

2002

Photoexcitation of rhodopsin activates a heterotrimeric G-protein cascade leading to cyclic GMP hydrolysis in vertebrate photoreceptors. Light-induced exchanges of the visual G-protein transducin between the outer and inner segment of rod photoreceptors occur through the narrow connecting cilium. Here we demonstrate that transducin colocalizes with the Ca(2+)-binding protein centrin 1 in a specific domain of this cilium. Coimmunoprecipitation, centrifugation, centrin overlay, size exclusion chromatography, and kinetic light-scattering experiments indicate that Ca(2+)-activated centrin 1 binds with high affinity and specificity to transducin. The assembly of centrin-G-protein complex is medi…

Technological Alternatives in the Joining of Lightweight Alluminum Structures

2004

Purification, partial amino acid sequence and structure of the product of raucaffricine-O-β-d-glucosidase from plant cell cultures of Rauwolfia serpe…

1999

Plant cell suspension cultures of Rauwolfia produce within 1 week approximately 250 nkat/l of raucaffricine-O-beta-D-glucosidase. A five step procedure using anion exchange chromatography, chromatography on hydroxylapatite, gel filtration and FPLC-chromatography on Mono Q and Mono P delivered in a yield of 0.9% approximately 1200-fold enriched glucosidase. A short protocol employing DEAE sepharose, TSK 55 S gel chromatography and purification on Mono Q gave a 5% recovery of glucosidase which was 340-fold enriched. SDS-PAGE showed a Mr for the enzyme of 61 kDa. The enzyme is not glycosylated. Structural investigation of the enzyme product, vomilenine, demonstrated that the alkaloid exists in…

Accounting for haplotype phase uncertainty in linkage disequilibrium estimation

2007

The characterization of linkage disequilibrium (LD) is applied in a variety of studies including the identification of molecular determinants of the local recombination rate, the migration and population history of populations, and the role of positive selection in adaptation. LD suffers from the phase uncertainty of the haplotypes used in its calculation, which reflects limitations of the algorithms used for haplotype estimation. We introduce a LD calculation method, which deals with phase uncertainty by weighting all possible haplotype pairs according to their estimated probabilities as evaluated by PHASE. In contrast to the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm as implemented in the HA…

Purification of hydroperoxide lyase from green bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruits for the generation of C6-aldehydes in vitro.

2002

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of different extracts of hydroperoxide lyase from green bell peppers in producing aldehydes: a crude extract, a chloroplastic fraction, and a purified enzyme were investigated. From a crude extract, the HPO lyase was purified by ion-exchange chromatography with a 22.3-fold increase in purification factor. Analysis by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis under denaturating conditions showed only one protein with a molecular weight of 55 kDa, whereas size-exclusion chromatography indicated a molecular weight of 170 kDa. A maximum of 7500 mg of aldehydes per g of protein was obtained with the purified enzyme within 20 min of bioconversion compared to 392 …

Assessing the Cost of Mounting an Immune Response

2003

International audience; The evolution of parasite resistance has often been assumed to be governed by antagonistic selection pressures. Defense against pathogens, by mounting an immune response, confers evident benefits but may also incur costs, so that the optimal level of defense is expected to depend on the balance between benefits and costs. Although the benefits of immune surveillance are well known, estimates of costs are still equivocal. Here we studied the behavioral and physiological modifications associated with exposure to a onreplicating antigen (lipopolysaccharide [LPS] of Escherichia coli) in a passerine species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus).We further investigated wh…

Functional Evaluation of THIQ, a Melanocortin 4 Receptor Agonist, in Models of Food Intake and Inflammation

2007

The central melanocortinergic system plays an important role in regulating different aspects of energy homeostasis and the immunomodulatory response. In the present study, we evaluated the in vivo activities of food intake suppression and anti-inflammatory activity of THIQ, which has been proposed to possess high and selective melanocortin-4 receptor agonistic activity in vitro. The results showed that THIQ (0.1, 0.3 and 1 nmol/rat, intracerebroventricularly) is less effective in reducing food intake and body weights of rats than the non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist melanotan II. Electron paramagnetic resonance measurements in mice brain tissue showed that THIQ at doses of 0.001 …