Exploring diet-induced promoter hypomethylation and PDK4 overexpression: implications for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by limited metabolic flexibility in the body. Such limitation implicates the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) gene Poor nutrition, frequently observed among Southeast Asians usually involves excessive intakes of carbohydrates and monosodium glutamate (MSG), that have been frequently linked to an increased risk of T2DM. METHODS: The 14-week study aimed to assess the effects of high-carbohydrate (HC), high-MSG (HMSG), and a combination of high-carbohydrate and high-MSG (HCHMSG) diets on the development of T2DM using male mice. To assess the effects, the male mice were divided into four groups: control (C), HC, HMSG, and HCHMSG for 14 weeks. RESULTS: After 14 weeks, both the HC and HCHMSG groups showed signs of T2DM (168.83 ± 32.33; 156.42 ± 32.46). The blood samples from the HMSG, HC, and HCHMSG groups (57.67 ± 2.882; 49.22 ± 7.36; 48.9 ± 6.43) as well as skeletal muscle samples from the HMSG, HC, and HCHMSG groups (57.78 ± 8.54; 42.13 ± 7.25; 37.57 ± 10.42) exhibited a gradual hypomethylation. The HC groups particularly displayed significant PDK4 gene expression in skeletal muscle. A progressive overexpression of the PDK4 gene was observed as well in the HMSG, HCHMSG, and HC groups (2.03 ± 3.097; 3.21 ± 2.94; 5.86 ± 2.54). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that T2DM can be induced by high-carbohydrate and high-MSG diets. However, the sole consumption of high MSG did not lead to the development of T2DM. Further research should focus on conducting long-term studies to fully comprehend the impact of a high MSG diet on individuals with pre-existing T2DM.

Purulent pericarditis in advanced thymoma: A case report.

Thymoma is the most common primary anterior mediastinum mass with various clinical manifestations, and one of the manifestations is pericardial effusion. While pericardial effusion in thymoma is usually serous, it can become purulent when an infection occurs in a nearby organ, albeit rare. In this report, we present a rare case of a 27-year-old woman who had purulent pericarditis secondary to an advanced thymoma. The patient came to the emergency department with the chief complaints of worsening chest discomfort, non-productive cough, and fever in the past 2 weeks. The patient was diagnosed with thymoma 5 months prior. Based on the examinations, it was discovered that the patient had pericarditis. After the pericardiocentesis was performed and the fluid was examined, the patient was diagnosed with purulent pericarditis secondary to thymoma. The patient was then treated with intravenous antibiotic and pericardial drain. Unfortunately, the patient's condition deteriorated, and the patient died on the fifth day of hospitalization. This case highlights an infrequent but potentially life-threatening complication of thymoma. In addition, thymic pathologies should be included as a rare etiology in the differential diagnosis of purulent pericardial effusion.

Comparison of Radiofrequency and Corticosteroid Injection for Treatment of Lumbar Facet Joint Pain: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Lumbar facet joint (LFJ) pain was reported to occur in 27%-40% of patients with chronic low back pain (LBP). Several therapeutic procedures such as corticosteroid injection (CI) and radiofrequency (RF) ablation have been used. However, there is no clear consensus that one is superior to the other. This study aimed to perform a meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness of CI and RF ablation for LFJ pain. METHODS: This study was conducted by searching for all randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of CI and RF ablation on LFJ pain in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PubMed database. We performed inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis of outcomes including pain intensity and functional disability at 3, 6, and 12-month measurement by using RevMan 5.3 (Cochrane, London, England). RESULTS: CI was associated with a higher pain intensity score when compared to RF ablation at 3 months (3 trials; standardized mean difference [SMD], 1.09; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.38; P ＜ 0.00001; I^2 = 96%), at 6 months (7 trials; SMD, 2.10; 95% CI, 0.98 to 3.22; P = 0.00002; I^2 = 96%), and at 12 months (3 trials; SMD, 2.15; 95% CI, -0.26 to 4.56; P = 0.08; I^2 = 98%). The estimated effect of CI on functional disability score at 6 months when CI was compared to RF ablation showed a significant increase (3 trials; MD, 18.78; 95% CI, 16.20 to 21.36; P ＜ 0.00001; I^2 = 98%). CONCLUSIONS: Pooled analysis from limited trials showed a benefit of RF to the improvement of pain intensity and functional disability when we compared RF with CI for the treatment of LFJ pain.

Characterization of Dutch Staphylococcus aureus from bovine mastitis using a Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis.

Current typing methods for Staphylococcus aureus have important drawbacks. We evaluated a Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) scheme with 6 loci which lacks most drawbacks on 85 bovine mastitis isolates from The Netherlands. For each locus the number of repeat units (RU) was calculated. Each combination of repeat units was assigned a MLVA-type (MT). We compared the MLVA typing result with Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST), spa-typing and Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). MLVA typing resulted in 18 MTs, although 3 loci could not always be amplified. Spa-typing distinguished 10 spa-types including 3 dominant and 2 new types. PFGE showed 5 dominant profiles with 15 related profiles and 6 unique profiles. MLST showed 4 dominant STs. Some types appeared to be bovine specific. The Simpson's Indices of diversity for PFGE, MLST, spa-typing and MLVA were 0.887, 0.831, 0.69 and 0.781, respectively, indicating that discriminatory power of MLVA was between MLST and spa-typing, whereas PFGE displayed the highest discriminatory power. However, MLVA is fast and cheap when compared to the other methods. The Adjusted Rand index and Wallace's coefficient indicated that MLVA was highly predictive for spa-type, but not vice versa. Analysis of the region neighboring SIRU05 showed a difference in the genetic element bordering the repeats of SIRU05 that explained the negative SIRU05 PCRs. PFGE, MLST, and MLVA are adequate typing methods for bovine-associated S. aureus.

Novel multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis method for rapid molecular typing of human Staphylococcus aureus.

We evaluated the use of a novel multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) method for typing of human Staphylococcus aureus. For a total of 150 clinical isolates, MLVA demonstrated the highest discriminatory power. MLVA correctly assigned isolates to outbreaks or identified isolates as unlinked. MLVA is a rapid and simple method for the epidemiological typing of S. aureus.