The Construction of Basketball Training System Based on Motion Capture Technology.

Motion capture is a cross-cutting application field developed in recent years, which comprises electronics, communications, control, computer graphics, ergonomics, navigation, and other disciplines. The accurate application of basketball technical movements in the basketball game is very important. Therefore, it is of great significance to capture and standardize athletes' movements and improve their training. Unfortunately, there are numerous issues in traditional classroom teaching that largely helps to train the athletes. To solve the issues of traditional basketball classroom teaching, a virtual simulation system for students' sports training is designed in this paper. Firstly, the information of basketball dribbling movement is captured and simulated in three dimensions. Secondly, we compare it with the standard database to judge the irregularities of athletes' movements, and carry out digital processing on athletes' movements and skill improvements statistics in combination with system functions. Thirdly, we set up a gradual training cycle. Finally, the Kinect-based capture technology is adopted to obtain the activity information of different joints of the human body. Through processing the motion data, relevant motion analysis data are fed to the established motion model, to realize the comparative analysis of motion pictures. In our experiments, we observed better training of the physical education.

A Distributed Oracle Using Intel SGX for Blockchain-Based IoT Applications.

A blockchain oracle problem is a problem that defines a mechanism for how to safely bring external data to the blockchain. Although there have been various research efforts to solve this problem, existing solutions are limited in that they do not support either data availability or data integrity. Furthermore, no solution has been proposed to minimize the response time when an oracle server is malicious or overloaded. This paper proposes a distributed oracle using Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX). The proposed approach uses multiple oracle servers to support data availability. It also supports data integrity using Intel SGX and Transport Layer Security (TLS) communication. The reputation system, which favors oracle servers with short response times, minimizes the average response time even if some of the oracle servers are malicious. The benchmarking results show that the response time of the proposed approach with 3 oracle servers is only 14% slower than a centralized oracle called Town-crier and scales well even if the number of oracle servers is increased up to 9. The reputation system is also evaluated, and its feasibility is analyzed using various experiments.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide: An essential factor in preserving hearing in cisplatin-induced ototoxicity.

Ototoxicity is an important issue in patients receiving cisplatin chemotherapy. Numerous studies have demonstrated that several mechanisms, including oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammatory responses, are closely associated with cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Although much attention has been directed at identifying ways to protect the inner ear from cisplatin-induced damage, the precise underlying mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. The cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) has emerged as an important regulator of cellular energy metabolism and homeostasis. NAD(+) acts as a cofactor for various enzymes including sirtuins (SIRTs) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), and therefore, maintaining adequate NAD(+) levels has therapeutic benefits because of its effect on NAD(+)-dependent enzymes. Recent studies demonstrated that disturbance in intracellular NAD(+) levels is critically involved in cisplatin-induced cochlear damage associated with oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammatory responses. In this review, we describe the importance of NAD(+) in cisplatin-induced ototoxicity and discuss potential strategies for the prevention or treatment of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity with a particular focus on NAD(+)-dependent cellular pathways.

Crotonis Fructus and Its Constituent, Croton Oil, Stimulate Lipolysis in OP9 Adipocytes.

Introduction. Crotonis fructus (CF) is the mature fruit of Croton tiglium L. and has been used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disturbance in Asia. It is well known that the main component of CF is croton oil (CO). The present study is to investigate the effects of CF extracts (CFE) and CO on lipolysis in OP9 adipocytes. Methods. Glycerol release to the culture supernatants was used as a marker of adipocyte lipolysis. Results. Treatment with various concentrations of CFE and CO stimulates glycerol release in a dose-dependent manner. The increase in glycerol release by CFE is more potent than isoproterenol, which is a ß-adrenergic agonist as a positive control in our system. The increased lipolysis by CFE and CO was accompanied by an increase of phosphorylated hormone sensitive lipase (pHSL) but not nonphosphorylated HSL protein and mRNA. Pretreatment with H89, which is a protein kinase A inhibitor, significantly abolished the CFE- and CO-induced glycerol release in OP9 adipocytes. These results suggest that CFE and CO may be a candidate for the development of a lipolysis-stimulating agent in adipocytes.

Cisplatin ototoxicity involves cytokines and STAT6 signaling network.

We herein investigated the role of the STAT signaling cascade in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cisplatin ototoxicity. A significant hearing impairment caused by cisplatin injection was observed in Balb/c (wild type, WT) and STAT4(-/-), but not in STAT6(-/-) mice. Moreover, the expression levels of the protein and mRNA of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6, were markedly increased in the serum and cochlea of WT and STAT4(-/-), but not STAT6(-/-) mice. Organotypic culture revealed that the shape of stereocilia bundles and arrays of sensory hair cell layers in the organ of Corti from STAT6(-/-) mice were intact after treatment with cisplatin, whereas those from WT and STAT4(-/-) mice were highly distorted and disarrayed after the treatment. Cisplatin induced the phosphorylation of STAT6 in HEI-OC1 auditory cells, and the knockdown of STAT6 by STAT6-specific siRNA significantly protected HEI-OC1 auditory cells from cisplatin-induced cell death and inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokine production. We further demonstrated that IL-4 and IL-13 induced by cisplatin modulated the phosphorylation of STAT6 by binding with IL-4 receptor alpha and IL-13Rα1. These findings suggest that STAT6 signaling plays a pivotal role in cisplatin-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokine production and ototoxicity.

Antiobesity activity of aqueous extracts of Rhizoma Dioscoreae Tokoronis on high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice.

We examined the effects of Rhizoma Dioscoreae Tokoronis extracts (RDTEs) on plasma lipids, body weight, and lipogenic enzymes. Mice were administered a standard chow diet, a 60% high-fat diet, or a high-fat diet with RDTE. Mice that were fed a high-fat diet containing RDTE were found to have lower increases in body and epididymal adipose tissue weights and a lessened occurrence of hepatic steatosis than mice that were fed a high-fat diet. The decreased adiposity that was induced by RDTE accounted for lower plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, leptin, and glucose and a higher level of adiponectin. RDTE administration also resulted in a significant decrease in triglyceride, total plasma cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol when compared to the high-fat group. To identify the mechanism by which RDTE induced its antiobesity effect, we investigated the sterol response element binding protein (SREBP) transcription system, which was induced in mice that were fed the high-fat diet. RDTE was found to suppress the expression of SREBP-1 as well as that of fatty acid synthase in adipose and liver tissues in mice provided the high-fat diet. These findings suggest that the antiobesity action of RDTE in mice that are fed a high-fat diet may occur in response to suppression of the SREBP-1-dependent lipogenic pathway.

Sasim attenuates LPS-induced TNF-alpha production through the induction of HO-1 in THP-1 differentiated macrophage-like cells.

AIM OF THE STUDY: Sasim, a traditional prescription composed of seven herbal mixtures, has been widely used as an oriental medicine for the treatment of cerebral infarction in Korea. However, the regulatory mechanisms by which the formula affects immune processing in cerebral infarction patients remain unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The levels of secretory protein of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha were determined in both THP-1 differentiated macrophage-like (THP-1/M) cells and Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from cerebral infarction patients. Also, the levels of protein and mRNA of TNF-alpha and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) were detected in THP-1/M cells under our experimental condition. RESULTS: Sasim markedly suppressed lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-alpha at the levels of secretory protein and mRNA in both PBMCs from cerebral infarction patients and THP-1/M cells. Interestingly, Sasim strongly induced HO-1, the rate-limiting enzyme of heme catabolism, at both the protein and mRNA levels in THP-1/M cells. Treatment with tin protoporphyrin IX (SnPP), an inhibitor of the catalytic activity of HO, significantly abolished the suppressive effect of Sasim on LPS-induced TNF-a production in THP-1/M cells. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that Sasim may be beneficial in the cessation of inflammatory processes associated with cerebral infarction through the induction of HO-1 expression.

Effects of multifunctional fabrics on cardiac autonomic tone and psychological state.

Heart rate variability was compared in 20 subjects wearing multifunctionalfabric (experimental sessions) and cotton (control sessions) clothing. Anxiety, depression, fatigue, and stress levels were lower and emotional levels were higher during the experimental sessions than in the control sessions. Multifunctional fabrics reduced the low-frequency/high-frequency power ratio of heart rate variability. These results support the hypothesis that multifunctional fabrics increase cardiac parasympathetic tone. In addition, subjects had lower heart rates during the experimental sessions compared with controls, suggesting a stabilizing effect on the autonomic nervous system. In conclusion, multifunctional fabrics may act to stabilize both the autonomic nervous system and psychological state.

Effect of multi-functional fabric on sleep stages and growth hormone levels during sleep.

Nine young girls participated in cross-over sessions, sleeping with either multi-functional fabric (experimental session) or cotton (control session). The relative duration of slow-wave sleep (SWS) was 1.89-fold higher in the experimental session than in the control session. The peak growth hormone (GH) secretion in the experimental session was more than 2.4-fold higher than during the control session (p <.001). The quality of sleep during the experimental session was significantly better than in the control session (p <.01). These results suggest that multi-functional fabric wear is effective in inducing deep sleep, increasing GH, and improving the quality of sleep.

Effects of Qi-training (Qigong) on forearm blood gas concentrations.

Using an ABA' design, the authors investigated the effects of Qi-training on blood gas concentrations with a 20 min control rest period (A), 1 h of Qi-training (B), and a 20-min rest period (A'). The blood partial pressures of oxygen (PO2) and carbon dioxide (PCO2), and oxygen content, oxygen saturation, and pH were significantly altered. The mean PO2 value increased significantly during Qi-training by 14 mmHg (about 24%, p < .01) compared with control A. During Qi-training, the mean decrease in PCO2 was 3 mmHg (about 10%). These results suggest that the practical application of Qi-training may exert a positive regulatory function on physiological status.