Assessment of Areca Nut Bioactivities in Western Diet-Induced Mice NAFLD Model.

The areca nut is often consumed as a chewing food in the Asian region. Our previous study revealed that the areca nut is rich in polyphenols with high antioxidant activity. In this study, we further assessed the effects and molecular mechanisms of the areca nut and its major ingredients on a Western diet-induced mice dyslipidemia model. Male C57BL/6N mice were divided into five groups and fed with a normal diet (ND), Western diet (WD), WD with areca nut extracts (ANE), areca nut polyphenols (ANP), and arecoline (ARE) for 12 weeks. The results revealed that ANP significantly reduced WD-induced body weight, liver weight, epididymal fat, and liver total lipid. Serum biomarkers showed that ANP ameliorated WD-enhanced total cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein (non-HDL). Moreover, analysis of cellular signaling pathways revealed that sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) and enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryld coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) were significantly downregulated by ANP. The results of gut microbiota analysis revealed that ANP increased the abundance of beneficial bacterium Akkermansias and decreased the abundance of the pathogenic bacterium Ruminococcus while ARE shown the opposite result to ANP. In summary, our data indicated that areca nut polyphenol ameliorated WD-induced dyslipidemia by increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria in the gut microbiota and reducing the expressions of SREBP2 and HMGCR while areca nut ARE inhibited this improvement potential.

Assessment of contamination using an ATP bioluminescence assay on doorknobs in a university-affiliated hospital in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Doorknobs are inevitable points of hand contact. We monitored doorknob contamination in a university hospital using an ATP bioluminescence assay and stamp agar method. We selected grip-, lever-, push-, insert-, and two-pull-type doorknobs in staff lavatories and break rooms, a linen closet, dirty utility rooms, a newborn care unit, clinical lavatories and examination rooms, dressing rooms for radiological tests, and lavatories for health examination, as monitoring points in wards and clinics. Sequential monitoring with an ATP assay (six times) and culture (once) were performed at the same time of day in autumn, winter, and summer. We provided contamination data to appropriate healthcare providers and housekeepers, and queried the staff regarding decontamination of doorknobs. RESULTS: When comparing ATP values on the same type of doorknobs, significant differences in contamination were demonstrated among several clinical rooms and several rooms in wards during all three seasons. No correlation was observed between ATP values on clinical-examination-room doorknobs and outpatient numbers, or between ATP values at any monitoring point and microbial colony-forming units. ATP values on clinical-examination-room doorknobs were reduced after cleaning according to instructions. CONCLUSIONS: ATP assay is useful for measuring baseline doorknob contamination in clinical rooms. Our findings confirm the need to improve routine decontamination in clinical departments. We need to analyze further the relationship between hospital-acquired infections and doorknob contamination, as assessed by ATP assay in clinics.