Effect of Gymnema sylvestre Administration on Glycemic Control, Insulin Secretion, and Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Impaired Glucose Tolerance

Luis A Gaytán Martínez,Luis A Sánchez-Ruiz,Laura Y Zuñiga,Manuel González-Ortiz,Esperanza Martínez-Abundis 한국식품영양과학회 2021 Journal of medicinal food Vol.24 No.1

Gymnema sylvestre, a plant typical of India, has long been known for its hypoglycemic effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of G. sylvestre administration on glycemic control, insulin secretion, and insulin sensitivity in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in 30 patients with IGT. Fifteen patients randomly received G. sylvestre in doses of 300 mg b.i.d. and the other 15 received placebo in the same way. Before and after the intervention, anthropometric and metabolic measurements were taken, including 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (2-h OGTT), fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c (A1C), and the lipid profile panel. Areas under the curve of glucose and insulin were calculated, as well as the insulinogenic, Stumvoll, and Matsuda indices. Wilcoxon, Mann–Whitney U, and chi-square or Fisher's exact tests were performed, and a P-value ≤.05 was considered statistically significant. There was a significant reduction in 2-h OGTT (9.1 ± 1.2 vs. 7.8 ± 1.7 mmol/L, P = .003), A1C (5.8 ± 0.3% vs. 5.4 ± 0.4%, P = .025), body weight, body mass index, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the G. sylvestre group, with an increment in the Matsuda index (1.8 ± 0.8 vs. 2.4 ± 1.2, P = .008). At the end of the intervention, 46.7% of the patients obtained normal values in A1C. In conclusion, G. sylvestre administration in patients with IGT decreased 2-h OGTT and A1C, increasing insulin sensitivity. There were also improvements in anthropometric measures and the lipid profile.

Biochemical characterization of a semi-purified aspartic protease from sea catfish Bagre panamensis with milk-clotting activity

Idalia Osuna-Ruiz,Marı´a Fernanda Espinoza-Marroquin,Jesu´ s Aaro´n Salazar-Leyva,Emyr Pen˜a,Carlos Alfonso A ´ lvarez-Gonza´lez,Isaura Ban˜uelos-Vargas,Emmanuel Martı´nez-Montan˜o 한국식품과학회 2019 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.28 No.6

Pepsin from stomach of Bagre panamensis wassemi-purified and biochemically characterized. The acidproteolytic activity and purification fold were 3875 U/mgprotein and 91.85, respectively, after purification process. The optimum pH and temperature for semi-purified proteasewere 2–3 and 65 C, respectively. The enzymeactivity was stable after heating proteases at 50 C for120 min, but only 30% residual activity was detected afterheating at 65 C for 30 min. SDS-PAGE analysis showedtwo proteins bands after dialysis (26.1 and 38.6 kDa). Onlythe band of 38.6 kDa had proteolytic activity, which wasinhibited using pepstatin A. Organic solvents, surfactantsand reducing agents affect the proteolytic activity at differentextent; however, metal ions or EDTA have noimpact on protease activity. The semi-purified proteaseexhibited milk coagulant activity, with a maximum activityat 45 C. The obtained results highlight the potentialbiotechnological use of B. panamensis pepsin.

Induced quadrupolar singlet ground state of praseodymium in a modulated pyrochlore

van Duijn, J.,Kim, K. H.,Hur, N.,Ruiz-Bustos, R.,Adroja, D. T.,Bridges, F.,Daoud-Aladine, A.,Fernandez-Alonso, F.,Wen, J. J.,Kearney, V.,Huang, Q. Z.,Cheong, S.-W.,Perring, T. G.,Broholm, C. American Physical Society 2017 Physical Review B Vol.96 No.9

<P>The complex structure and magnetism of Pr2-xBixRu2O7 was investigated by neutron scattering and extended x-ray absorption fine structure. Pr has an approximate doublet ground state and the first excited state is a singlet. While the B-site (Ru) is well ordered throughout, this is not the case for the A-site (Pr/Bi). A broadened distribution for the Pr-O-2 bond length at low temperature indicates the Pr environment varies from site to site even for x = 0. The environment about the Bi site is highly disordered ostensibly due to the 6s lone pairs on Bi3+. Correspondingly, we find that the non-Kramers doublet ground-state degeneracy, otherwise anticipated for Pr in the pyrochlore structure, is lifted so as to produce a quadrupolar singlet ground statewith a spatially varying energy gap. For x = 0, below TN, the Ru sublattice orders antiferromagnetically, with propagation vector k = (0,0,0) as forY(2)Ru(2)O(7). No ordering associated with the Pr sublattice is observed down to 100 mK. The low-energy magnetic response of Pr2-xBixRu2O7 features a broad spectrum of magnetic excitations associated with inhomogeneous splitting of the Pr quasidoublet ground state. For x = 0 (x = 0.97), the spectrum is temperature dependent (independent). It appears disorder associated with Bi alloying enhances the inhomogeneous Pr crystal-field level splitting so that intersite interactions become irrelevant for x = 0.97. The structural complexity for the A-site may be reflected in the hysteretic uniform magnetization of B-site ruthenium in the Neel phase.</P>

Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Some Mexican Medicinal Plants

E. Ruiz-Bustos,C. Velazquez,A. Garibay-Escobar,Z. García,M. Plascencia-Jatomea,M.O. Cortez-Rocha,J. Hernandez-Martínez,R.E. Robles-Zepeda 한국식품영양과학회 2009 Journal of medicinal food Vol.12 No.6

In Mexico about 4,000 plant species have some medicinal use. The aim of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of six Mexican medicinal plants against fungi and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Methanolic extracts were prepared from the Mexican medicinal plants Amphypteringium adstrigens, Castella tortuosa, Coutarea latiflora, Ibervillea sonorae, Jatropha cuneata, and Selaginella lepidophylla. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the plants were determined by the broth microdilution method and the radial growth inhibition assay, respectively. All Mexican plants tested showed antimicrobial activity. Among the six plant extracts analyzed, J. cuneata showed the highest growth-inhibitory activity against fungi, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (J. cuneata > A. adstrigens > C. latiflora > C. tortuosa > I. sonorae ≈ S. lepidophylla). Shigella flexneri and Staphylococcus aureus were the most susceptible bacteria to plant extracts. Complete inhibition of S. flexneri growth was observed with J. cuneata methanolic extract at 90μg/mL. This plant extract also showed the strongest antifungal activity against Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus niger. Our data suggest that the medicinal plants tested have important antimicrobial properties. This is the first report describing the antimicrobial activities of several of the Mexican medicinal plants used in this study.

El peligro de licenciar los sentidos: La muralla del Castillo Interior de Santa Teresa de Jesús, según Fray Juan de Rojas

Diego González García,Diego González Ruiz 한국스페인어문학회 2009 스페인어문학 Vol.0 No.51

En estas breves páginas queremos exponer el desarrollo que del espacio arquitectónico de las Moradas teresianas, y en lo que se refiere a la cerca, engaste o muralla del Castillo interior, realiza Fray Juan de Rojas en sus Representaciones místicas, como consecuencia de la utilización del sistema mnemotécnico. Mientras en Santa Teresa podemos observar una muralla apenas esbozada, dentro de esa correlación de espacios/lugares y etapas de la vida espiritual y de oración (expresadas en variopintas imágenes), en Rojas comprobaremos su construcción minuciosa, donde las imágenes agentes, bajo la forma de estatuas emblematizadas de los sentidos, constituyen las piezas memorísticas fundamentales que rematan la arquitectura de las cinco portadas sobre las cinco puertas de los cinco sentidos corporales en esa cerca, y por las que se accede al alma. Un claro esquema de agregación simbólica. El ejercicio, la acción, de cada una de las imágenes señala el cuidado y la dinámica a seguir en la lucha ascética contra la sensualidad, en el camino místico de la espiritualidad barroca. Confirmamos, con la mayor precisión arquitectónica del lugar y de las imágenes percusivas de Rojas, las teorías que ya expusieron de manera general, siguiendo la obra de F. Yates, los pioneros F. J. Chorpenning y M. Gerli, en el ámbito norteamericano, y A. Egido y F. R. de la Flor, en España, sobre la estructuración mnemotécnica de las Moradas de Santa Teresa.

Evaluation of Antioxidant Effects of Vitamins C and E Alone and in Combination with Sorghum Bran in a Cooked and Stored Chicken Sausage

신대근,양한술,민병록,Carlos Narciso-Gaytan,Marcos X. Sanchez-Plata,Ciro A. Ruiz-Feria 한국축산식품학회 2011 한국축산식품학회지 Vol.31 No.5

To evaluate the antioxidant effects of vitamin C, vitamin E and sorghum bran, alone or in combination on chicken sausages,9 kg of chicken thigh meat was prepared. All thigh meat was divided into seven different batches as follows; no antioxidant (CON); vitamin C (VTC), vitamin E (VTE) or sorghum bran (SOR) at 0.02%; or three different combination ratios of vitamin C, vitamin E and sorghum bran at 0.02% (VT2, 2:1:1; VT4, 4:1:1; VT6, 6:1:1). All cooked sausages were stored at 4oC, and six sausages per treatment were used for chemical analysis on five different storage days. As the addition of vitamin E was increased, sausages stored for 10 d had decreased redness; thereby, VTE showed the lowest CIE a^* (p<0.05). Sausages mixed with vitamins and sorghum bran combinations had lower peroxide and free fatty acid values (p<0.05) when compared to sausages without antioxidants. The TBARS were the lowest in sausages containing vitamin C, vitamin E and sorghum bran at 6:1:1 ratio, and they significantly differed to CON, VTC and SOR treatments (p<0.05). Therefore, our results suggest that meat mixed with vitamins and sorghum bran had more antioxidant activity than the meat mixed with only antioxidant vitamins or without antioxidants.

New role of the antidepressant imipramine as a Fascin1 inhibitor in colorectal cancer cells

Begoña Alburquerque-González,Manuel Bernabé-García,Silvia Montoro-García,Ángel Bernabé-García,Priscila Campioni Rodrigues,Javier Ruiz Sanz,Fernando F. López-Calderón,Irene Luque,Francisco José Nicolas 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Serrated adenocarcinoma (SAC) is more invasive, has worse outcomes than conventional colorectal carcinoma (CRC), and is characterized by frequent resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and overexpression of fascin1, a key protein in actin bundling that plays a causative role in tumor invasion and is overexpressed in different cancer types with poor prognosis. In silico screening of 9591 compounds, including 2037 approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was performed, and selected compounds were analyzed for their fascin1 binding affinity by differential scanning fluorescence. The results were compared with migrastatin as a typical fascin1 inhibitor. In silico screening and differential scanning fluorescence yielded the FDA-approved antidepressant imipramine as the most evident potential fascin1 blocker. Biophysical and different in vitro actin-bundling assays confirm this activity. Subsequent assays investigating lamellipodia formation and migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells in vitro using 3D human tissue demonstrated anti-fascin1 and anti-invasive activities of imipramine. Furthermore, expression profiling suggests the activity of imipramine on the actin cytoskeleton. Moreover, in vivo studies using a zebrafish invasion model showed that imipramine is tolerated, its anti-invasive and antimetastatic activities are dose-dependent, and it is associated with both constitutive and induced fascin1 expression. This is the first study that demonstrates an antitumoral role of imipramine as a fascin1 inhibitor and constitutes a foundation for a molecular targeted therapy for SAC and other fascin1-overexpressing tumors.

Meta-Analysis of Studies Analyzing the Role of Human Papillomavirus in the Development of Bladder Carcinoma

Antonio Jimenez-Pacheco,Manuela Exposito-Ruiz,Miguel A Arrabal-Polo,Alfonso J Lopez-Luque 대한비뇨의학회 2012 Investigative and Clinical Urology Vol.53 No.4

Purpose: We aimed to ascertain the degree of association between bladder cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Materials and Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies with cases and controls with publication dates up to January 2011. The PubMed electronic database was searched by using the key words “bladder cancer and virus.” Twenty-one articles were selected that met the required methodological criteria. We implemented an internal quality control system to verify the selected search method. We analyzed the pooled effect of all the studies and also analyzed the techniques used as follows: 1) studies with DNA-based techniques, among which we found studies with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques and 2) studies with non-PCR-based techniques, and studies with non-DNA-based techniques. Results: Taking into account the 21 studies that were included in the meta-analysis, we obtained a heterogeneity chi-squared value of Qexp=26.45 (p=0.383). The pooled odds ratio (OR) was 2.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54 to 2.95), which points to a significant effect between HPV and bladder cancer. Twenty studies assessed the presence of DNA. The overall effect showed a significant relationship between virus presence and bladder cancer, with a pooled OR of 2.19 (95% CI, 1.40 to 3.43). Of the other six studies, four examined the virus’s capsid antigen and two detected antibodies in serum by Western blot. The estimated pooled OR in this group was 2.11 (95% CI, 1.27 to 3.51), which confirmed the relationship between the presence of virus and cancer. Conclusions: The pooled OR value showed a moderate relationship between viral infection and bladder tumors. Purpose: We aimed to ascertain the degree of association between bladder cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Materials and Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies with cases and controls with publication dates up to January 2011. The PubMed electronic database was searched by using the key words “bladder cancer and virus.” Twenty-one articles were selected that met the required methodological criteria. We implemented an internal quality control system to verify the selected search method. We analyzed the pooled effect of all the studies and also analyzed the techniques used as follows: 1) studies with DNA-based techniques, among which we found studies with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques and 2) studies with non-PCR-based techniques, and studies with non-DNA-based techniques. Results: Taking into account the 21 studies that were included in the meta-analysis, we obtained a heterogeneity chi-squared value of Qexp=26.45 (p=0.383). The pooled odds ratio (OR) was 2.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54 to 2.95), which points to a significant effect between HPV and bladder cancer. Twenty studies assessed the presence of DNA. The overall effect showed a significant relationship between virus presence and bladder cancer, with a pooled OR of 2.19 (95% CI, 1.40 to 3.43). Of the other six studies, four examined the virus’s capsid antigen and two detected antibodies in serum by Western blot. The estimated pooled OR in this group was 2.11 (95% CI, 1.27 to 3.51), which confirmed the relationship between the presence of virus and cancer. Conclusions: The pooled OR value showed a moderate relationship between viral infection and bladder tumors.

Synaptic Vesicle Protein 2 (SV2) Isoforms

Bandala, Cindy,Miliar-Garcia, A.,Mejia-Barradas, C.M.,Anaya-Ruiz, M.,Luna-Arias, J.P.,Bazan-Mendez, C.I.,Gomez-Lopez, M.,Juarez-Mendez, S.,Lara-Padilla, E. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.10

New molecular markers of cancer had emerged with novel applications in cancer prevention and therapeutics, including for breast cancer of unknown causes, which has a high impact on the health of women worldwide. The purpose of this research was to detemine protein and mRNA expression of synaptic vesicle 2 (SV2) isoforms A, B and C in breast cancer cell lines. Cultured cell lines MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, T47D were lysed and their protein and mRNA expression analyzed by real-time PCR and western blot technique, respectively. SV2A, B proteins were identified in non-tumor (MCF-10A) and tumor cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and T47D) while SV2C only was found in the T47D cell line. Furthermore, the genomic expression was consistent with protein expression for a such cell line, but in MDA-MB-231 there was no SV2B genomic expression, and the SV2C mRNA and protein were not found in the non tumoral cell line. These findings suggest a possible cellular transdifferentiation to neural character in breast cancer, of possible relevance to cancer development, and point to possible use of SV2 as molecular marker and a vehicle for cancer treatment with botulinum toxin.

A Higher Manometric Esophageal Length to Height Ratio in Achalasia Explains the Lower Prevalence of Hiatal Hernia

Enrique Coss-Adame,Janette Furuzawa-Carballeda,Andric C Perez-Ortiz,Ana López-Ruiz,Miguel A Valdovinos,Josué Sánchez-Gómez,José Peralta-Figueroa,Héctor Olvera-Prado,Fidel López-Verdugo,Sofía Narváez-C 대한소화기 기능성질환∙운동학회 2023 Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (JNM Vol.29 No.4

Background/AimsThe evidence suggests that a shorter esophageal length (EL) in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients is associated with the presence of hiatal hernia (HH). However, there are no reports of this association in patients with achalasia. The aim is to (1) determine the prevalence of hiatal hernia in achalasia patients, (2) compare achalasia EL with GERD patients and healthy volunteers (HV), (3) measure achalasia manometric esophageal length to height (MELH) ratio, and (4) determine if there are differences in symptoms between patients with and without hiatal hernia. MethodsThis retrospective and cross-sectional study consist of 87 pre-surgical achalasia patients, 22 GERD patients, and 30 HV. High-resolution manometry (HRM), barium swallow, and upper endoscopy were performed to diagnose HH. The EL and MELH ratio were measured by HRM. Symptoms were assessed with Eckardt, Eating Assessment Tool, and GERD–health-related quality of life questionnaires. ResultsThe HH in GERD’s prevalence was 73% vs 3% in achalasia patients (P < 0.001). Achalasia patients had a longer esophagus and a higher MELH ratio than HV and GERD patients (P < 0.001). GERD patients had a lower MELH ratio than HV (P < 0.05). EAT-10 (P < 0.0001) and Eckardt (P < 0.05) scores were higher in achalasia without HH vs HH. ConclusionsThe prevalence of HH in achalasia is significantly lower than in GERD. The longer EL and the higher MELH ratio in achalasia could explain the lower prevalence of HH. Despite the low prevalence of HH in achalasia patients, the surgeon should be encouraged not to rule out HH since the risk of postoperative reflux may increase if this condition is not identified and corrected.