3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-6-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-cycloastragenol, or Astragaloside IV (AST), is one of the major active ingredients isolated from Astragalus membranaceous with distinct pharmacological effects, and possesses anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory and antifibrotic properties. However, the effects of AST on allergic rhinitis remain to be elucidated. The present study aimed to examine the...

BACKGROUND Computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard in the initial evaluation of the hemodynamically stable patient with suspected liver trauma. However, the adverse effects of radiation exposure are of specific concern in the pediatric population. It is therefore desirable to explore alternative diagnostic modalities. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are...

The pentaquark states, $P_{c}(4312)$, $P_{c}(4440)$ and $P_{c}(4457)$, could be nicely arranged into a multiplet of seven molecules $\bar{D}^{(\ast)}\Sigma_{c}^{(\ast)}$ dictated by heavy quark spin symmetry. However, the spins $P_c(4440)$ $P_c(4457)$ are not yet fully determined. In this work we employ contact-range effective field theory to investigate $SU(3)$-flavor counterparts $\bar{D}^{(\...

BACKGROUND To determine the best cutoff values of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine amino-transferase (ALT) in detecting viral hepatitis C infection among patients of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). METHODS 90 (44 male and 46 female) CAPD patients and 526 adult controls (266 male, 260 female) were enrolled. Serum AST and ALT were measured by an auto-analyser month...

hepatitis b, a common infectious disease of liver, is transmitted by blood and body fluids like semen and vaginal fluid that carry hepatitis b virus (hbv).  in chronic infection, medical care is required to decrease possibility of cirrhosis and liver cancer. in the present report, the hepatoprotective effect of an echinacea purpurea preparation (echiherb®) has been described in a patient who su...

Laboratory practice in the preanalytical phase of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was evaluated in 102 hospital, reference, physician office-clinic, and public health laboratories in Washington state. Surveys were sent to evaluate (i) use of NCCLS/CLSI (formerly NCCLS) AST performance standards, (ii) technical competence in AST case studies, challenging knowledge of contemporary test...

The paper deals with transmitter diversity Antenna Selection Techniques (ASTs) for wireless channels utilizing Differential Space-Time Block Codes (DSTBCs). The proposed ASTs tend to maximize the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of those channels. Particularly, we propose here the so-called general (M, N ; K) AST/DSTBC scheme for such channels. Then, based on this AST, we propose two modified ASTs w...

BACKGROUND MCAD-deficiency is the most common inborn error of fatty acid oxidation now included in many newborn screening programms using MS/MS. During prolonged catabolic episodes, patients may suffer from metabolic decompensation with dysfunction of liver, skeletal- and heart muscle as well as brain. In anabolism, neither clinical symptoms nor biochemical signs of organ dysfunction occur. C...

Accumulation of protein-bound uraemic toxins (PBUTs) is one of the reasons for the development of uraemia-related complications including cardiovascular disease; however, conventional haemodialysis is limited in its ability to remove PBUTs. We aimed to examine whether the oral charcoal adsorbent AST-120 has an additive effect on PBUT removal in haemodialysis patients. During the 4-week study, a...

AST-120 (kremezin; Kureha Chemical, Tokyo, Japan) is an oral spherical carbonaceous adsorbent, which was approved for clinical use in Japanese chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in 1991. It adsorbs indole, the precursor of indoxyl sulfate, in the intestines and prevents indoxyl sulfate production. Indoxyl sulfate, initially identified as a major uremic toxin that causes uremic symptoms, cont...