BACKGROUND The non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the hepatic counterpart of the metabolic syndrome. ZSF1 rats are a metabolic syndrome animal model in which liver changes have not been described yet. AIM The characterization of liver histological and innate immunity changes in ZSF1 rats. METHODS Five groups of rats were included (n = 7 each group): healthy Wistar-Kyoto control rats (Ctrl...

In this work, photostability, absorption and emission intensity of coated polycarbonate (PC) sheets with optical brightener (OB) as a wavelength converter material have been investigated. In addition, this coated sheet was used as a wall for microalgae culture flask, as a small scale photobioreactor, for studying the spectral conversion of UV-A radiation to blue light region and its effect ...

Melanocortin-4 receptors (MC4Rs) are involved in the regulation of food intake, sympathetic nervous activity, and adrenal and thyroid function by leptin. The role of MC4Rs in regulating energy balance by leptin was investigated using double heterozygote or homozygous leptin (Lep(ob)) and Mc4r gene mutant mice. Double heterozygous or homozygous mutants were generated by crossing MC4R knockout (M...

We evaluated antihyperglycemic and anti-obese effects of Panax ginseng berry extract and its major constituent, ginsenoside Re, in obese diabetic C57BL/6J ob/ ob mice and their lean littermates. Animals received daily intraperitoneal injections of Panax ginseng berry extract for 12 days. On day 12, 150 mg/kg extract-treated ob/ob mice became normoglycemic (137 +/- 6.7 mg/dl) and had significant...

A subset of obese humans has relatively low plasma levels of leptin. This finding has suggested that in some cases abnormal regulation of the leptin gene in adipose tissue is etiologic in the pathogenesis of the obese state. The possibility that a relative decrease in leptin production can lead to obesity was tested by mating animals carrying a weakly expressed adipocyte specific aP2-human lept...

Obesity is associated with increased severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). The cytokines IL-18 and IL-12 are elevated in patients with AP, and IL-18 levels are high in obesity. We aimed to develop a pathologically relevant model to study obesity-associated severe AP. Lean WT and obese leptin-deficient ob/ob mice received two injections of IL-12 plus IL-18. Survival, pancreatic inflammation, and ...

PURPOSE Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with several degenerative diseases, including retinal degeneration. Previously, we reported on progressive retinal degeneration in a spontaneous obese rat (WNIN/Ob) model. In this study, we investigated the additional effect of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), an essential component of MetS, on retinal degeneration using the WNIN/GR-Ob rat model....

Short Range Order (SRO) i n c e r t a i n s o l i d so lu t ions can be measured d i r e c t l y from observed EXAFS s t r u c t u r e f u n c t i o n peak areas. Results f o r MgO-FeO, MgO-Li FeO2, and CaMgSi O6 ~ a ~ e 2 + ~ i ~ 0 ~ so lu t ions i n d i c a t e t h a t these are almost completely d i sordere5 a t t h e i r synthesis temperatures. The necessi ty o f s t r u c t u r a l modelin...

The Szeletian is widely known as a tran si tional in dus try be tween the Mid dle and Up per Paleolithic. Szeleta Cave, the epon y mous site, is lo cated in north east ern Hun gary in the Bükk Moun tains and is the only site in Hun gary that pro duced C dates for Szeletian lev els, ly ing be tween 43.0 and 11.0 ka C BP. In this pa per we crit i cally re view the C sam ples ob tained at Szeleta ...