Relationship between Acupuncture and Clinical Chemistry

Luciani, Ralph J. 慶熙大學校 東西醫學硏究所 1986 國際東西醫學硏究論文集 Vol.1986 No.-

Presented is an overview of the literature dealing with the relationship of changes in blood chemistry after acupuncture. Although much of the information reviewed is scattered and fragmentary, it is apparent that acupuncture does cause objective changes in blood chemistry. The degree and the significance of these changes have not yet been fully elucidated due to a lack of coordinated experiments, but there is sufficient evidence to show that acupuncture has an important place in medicine in the treatment of diseases. In conclusion, though much of the information reviewed is scattered and fragmented, one fact is apparent: acupuncture does cause objective changes in blood chemistry. The degree and significance of change of certain parameters has not been fully and predictably elucidated due to the lack of an adequate number of coordinated and controlled experiments. There is a great need for investigators to merge their efforts with respect to protocols and control of variables. There is enough evidence now showing that acupuncture has some place in the treatment of diseases. Acupuncture, like a new drug that shows promise, should be researched for not only its mode of action and its clinical application, but for any and all effects it may have on the organism.

Kinetics of Reversible Oligomerization of <small>l</small>-Lactic Acid with a SnCl₂·2H₂O/<i>p</i>-Toluenesulfonic Acid Catalyst

Baick, In Hak,Luciani, Carla V.,Park, Seung Young,Lim, Taehoon,Choi, Kyu Yong American Chemical Society 2012 INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH - Vol.51 No.51

<P>An experimental and theoretical modeling study is presented on the kinetics of reversible oligomerization of <SMALL>l</SMALL>-lactic acid and the formation of <SMALL>l</SMALL>-lactide in closed reactors with SnCl<SUB>2</SUB>·2H<SUB>2</SUB>O/<I>p</I>-toluenesulfonic acid as a binary catalyst mixture. The experimental data and model simulations indicate that about 10 wt % <SMALL>l</SMALL>-lactide is produced by the cyclization of two repeating units of poly(<SMALL>l</SMALL>-lactic acid) at the chain end during the oligomerization process. The effects of the catalyst and reaction temperature at 160–200 °C on the discoloration of the reaction mixture have also been investigated, and it was observed that the discoloration of the reaction mixture was quite significant in the presence of the catalyst at high temperatures. The relevant kinetic parameters for the chain-growth reaction as well as cyclic <SMALL>l</SMALL>-lactide formation reaction have been estimated for both noncatalyzed and catalyzed reversible oligomerization reactions.</P>

UltraHigh Molecular Weight Nonlinear Polycarbonates Synthesized in Microlayers

Baick, I.H.,Ye, Y.,Luciani, C.V.,Ahn, Y.G.,Song, K.H.,Choi, K.Y. ACS AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 2013 INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH - Vol.52 No.49

Food Fried in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Improves Postprandial Insulin Response in Obese, Insulin-Resistant Women

Sara Farnetti,Noemi Malandrino,Davide Luciani,Giovanni Gasbarrini,Esmeralda Capristo 한국식품영양과학회 2011 Journal of medicinal food Vol.14 No.3

The benefits of low glycemic load (GL) diets on clinical outcome in several metabolic and cardiovascular diseases have extensively been demonstrated. The GL of a meal can be affected by modulating the bioavailability of carbohydrates or by changing food preparation. We investigated the effect on plasma glucose and insulin response in lean and obese women of adding raw or fried extra-virgin olive oil to a carbohydrate-containing meal. After an overnight fast, 12 obese insulin-resistant women (body mass index [BMI], 32.8 ± 2.2 kg/㎡) and five lean subjects (BMI, 22.2 ± 1.2 kg/㎡) were randomly assigned to receive two different meals (designated A and B). Meal A was composed of 60 g of pasta made from wheat flour and 150 g of grilled courgettes with 25 g of uncooked oil. Meal B included 15 g of oil in the 150 g of deep-fried courgettes and 10 g of oil in the 60 g of stir-fried pasta. Both meals included 150 g of apple. Blood samples were collected at baseline and every 30 minutes over a 3-hour post-meal period and were tested for levels of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and triglycerides. The area under the curve (AUC) values were calculated. In obese women the AUCs for C-peptide were significantly higher after meal A than after meal B at 120 minutes (W [Wilcoxon sign rank test] = 27.5, P = .0020), 150 minutes (W = 26.5, P = .0039), and 180 minutes (W = 26.5, P = .0039). No differences were found in lean subjects. This study demonstrated that in obese, insulin-resistant women, food fried in extra-virgin olive oil significantly reduced both insulin and C-peptide responses after a meal.

Multicenter observational study on the reliability of the HEART score

Nicola Parenti,Giuseppe Lippi,Maria Letizia Bacchi Reggiani,Antonio Luciani,Mario Cavazza,Antonello Pietrangelo,Alberto Vegetti,Lucio Brugioni,Laura Bonfanti,Gianfranco Cervellin 대한응급의학회 2019 Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine Vol.6 No.3

Objective To rapidly and safely identify the risk of developing acute coronary syndrome in patients with chest pain who present to the emergency department, the clinical use of the History, Electrocardiogram, Age, Risk Factors, and Troponin (HEART) scoring has recently been proposed. This study aimed to assess the inter-rater reliability of the HEART score calculated by a large number of Italian emergency physicians. Methods The study was conducted in three academic emergency departments using clinical scenarios obtained from medical records of patients with chest pain. Twenty physicians, who took the HEART score course, independently assigned a score to different clinical scenarios, which were randomly administered to the participants, and data were collected and recorded in a spreadsheet by an independent investigator who was blinded to the study’s aim. Results After applying the exclusion criteria, 53 scenarios were finally included in the analysis. The general inter-rater reliability was good (kappa statistics [κ], 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.57 to 0.70), and a good inter-rater agreement for the high- and low-risk classes (HEART score, 7 to 10 and 0 to 3, respectively; κ, 0.60 to 0.73) was observed, whereas a moderate agreement was found for the intermediate-risk class (HEART score, 4 to 6; κ, 0.51). Among the different items of the HEART score, history and electrocardiogram had the worse agreement (κ, 0.37 and 0.42, respectively). Conclusion The HEART score had good inter-rater reliability, particularly among the high- and low-risk classes. The modest agreement for history suggests that major improvements are needed for objectively assessing this component.

Electrospun hybrid TiO2/humic substance PHBV films for active food packaging applications

Virginia Venezia,Cristina Prieto,Zoran Evtoski,Chiara Marcoaldi,Brigida Silvestri,Giuseppe Vitiello,Giuseppina Luciani,Jose M. Lagaron 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.124 No.-

Sustainable packaging materials can play a key role in minimizing the environmental footprint of packagedfood by preserving its quality and avoiding environmental persistence of plastic waste. Waste towealth approach can cope with these major challenges by providing for bioavailable active compoundsfrom waste residues. To this regard, humic substances (HS), derived from biowaste oxidative processes,exhibit intrinsic antioxidant and antimicrobial features, which can be significantly boosted by molecularcombination with an inorganic nanostructured phase. Herein, this approach has been integrated with theelectrospinning technology to design composite films made of electrospun biodegradable and bioderivedpolymers filled with nanostructured hybrid HS based materials. Therefore, electrospun composites madeby including hybrid TiO2_HS nanostructures into PHBV matrix were first produced and then convertedinto homogeneous and continuous films to obtain an active layer which will be part of a multilayer foodpackaging solution. These were characterized in terms of morphology, thermal, crystallinity, optical,mechanical and barrier properties as well as antimicrobial performance against Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coli, two main strains of food pathogens. The results suggested that the combination ofhybrid nanomaterials with electrospinning methodology is a promising and sustainable approach to convertbiowaste into multifunctional materials for active packaging.