Nutritional knowledge, eating habits, factors affecting muscle damage, and antioxidant enzyme levels of Korean wrestlers.

PURPOSE: The aim in this study was to investigate the diet and nutritional knowledge of elite Korean wrestlers and verify the differences in their exercise performance , muscle damage indicators, and antioxidant enzyme levels according to wrestler level. METHODS: A 7-day dietary and nutrition knowledge survey was administered to 30 adult male elite wrestlers (national team: n=11; professional team: n=19). The Wingate test was conducted for 60 seconds to analyze muscle damage indicators and antioxidant levels. Blood and blood lactate concentration analyses were performed four times; the statistical significance level of all data was p<0.05. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in general nutrition knowledge questionnaire (GNKQ) scores (p=0.043), diet (p=0.001), anaerobic performance (p=0.001), muscle damage indicators (p=0.026), antioxidant levels, and blood lactic acid concentrations (30 min after exercise, p=0.007; 90 min after exercise, p=0.038) between the national and the professional groups. CONCLUSION: To the findings confirm the relationship between the differences in diet, nutrition, and motor function for wrestlers of different expertise levels. In a follow-up, a comprehensive study on nutrition knowledge, athlete training , and weight loss is needed that considers a wider scope of subjects and analyzes additional variables.

Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis is alleviated in mice after administration of flavone-derived NRF2-activating molecules.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory condition characterized by severe symptoms such as diarrhea, fatigue, and weight loss. Growing evidence underscores the direct involvement of the nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) in the development and progression of IBD, along with its associated complications, including colorectal cancer. The NRF2 pathway plays a crucial role in cellular responses to oxidative stress, and dysregulation of this pathway has been implicated in IBD. Flavones, a significant subclass of flavonoids, have shown pharmacological impacts in various diseases including IBD, through the NRF2 signaling pathway. In this study, we conducted a screening of compounds with a flavone structure and identified NJK15003 as a promising NRF2 activator. NJK15003 demonstrated potent NRF2 activation, as evidenced by the upregulation of downstream proteins, promoter activation, and NRF2 nuclear translocation in IBD cellular models. Treatment with NJK15003 effectively restored the protein levels of tight junctions in cells treated with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) and in DSS-treated mice, suggesting its potential to protect cells from barrier integrity disruption in IBD. In DSS-treated mice, the administration of NJK15003 resulted in the prevention of body weight loss, a reduction in colon length shortening, and a decrease in the disease activity index. Furthermore, NJK15003 treatment substantially alleviated inflammatory responses and apoptotic cell death in the colon of DSS-treated mice. Taken together, this study proposes the potential utility of NRF2-activating flavone compounds, exemplified by NJK15003, for the treatment of IBD.

A Randomized Crossover Study Comparing Cervical Spine Motion During Intubation Between Two Lightwand Intubation Techniques in Patients With Simulated Cervical Immobilization: Laryngoscope-Assisted Versus Conventional Lightwand Intubation.

BACKGROUND: In patients with cervical immobilization, jaw thrust can cause cervical spine movement. Concurrent use of a laryngoscope may facilitate lightwand intubation, allowing midline placement and free movement of the lightwand in the oral cavity without jaw thrust. We compared the effects of laryngoscope-assisted lightwand intubation (LALI) versus conventional lightwand intubation (CLI) on cervical spine motion during intubation in patients with simulated cervical immobilization. METHODS: In this randomized crossover study, the cervical spine angle was measured before and during intubation at the occiput-C1, C1-C2, and C2-C5 segments in 20 patients with simulated cervical immobilization who underwent intubation using both the LALI and CLI techniques. Cervical spine motion was defined as the change from baseline in angle measured at each cervical segment during intubation. RESULTS: Cervical spine motion at the occiput-C1 segment was 5.6° (4.3) and 9.3° (4.5) when we used the LALI and CLI techniques, respectively (mean difference [98.33% CI]; -3.8° [-7.2 to -0.3]; P = .007). At other cervical segments, it was not significantly different between the 2 techniques (-0.1° [-2.6 to 2.5]; P = .911 in the C1-C2 segment and -0.2° [-2.8 to 2.5]; P = .795 in the C2-C5 segment). CONCLUSIONS: The LALI technique produces less upper cervical spine motion during intubation than the CLI technique in patients with simulated cervical immobilization.

Repetitive Colonoscopic Decompression as a Bridge Therapy before Surgery in a Pregnant Patient with Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a rare clinical syndrome which is characterized by intestinal obstruction without occluding lesions in the intestinal lumen and pregnancy is one of the important aggravating factors. Here, we report a case of a woman with intractable intestinal pseudo-obstruction that was precipitated by pregnancy. She could not make any stool passage for more than 4 weeks until a fetal gestational age of 17 weeks was reached. However, the patient could be maintained by repetitive colonoscopic decompressions and finally total colectomy could be performed successfully at a fetal gestational age of 21 weeks.

Expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice.

To clarify the role of stem cells in hepatocarcinogenesis, the expression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was investigated in mouse hepatic tumors and embryonic cell lineages. Ten ICR mice were treated with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) at 14 days of age and sacrificed at 36 weeks subsequent to DEN treatment to obtain the hepatic tumors. Mouse embryonic stem cells, hepatic progenitor cells and hepatocyte-like cells, representing 0, 22 and 40 days of differentiation, respectively, were treated in vitro with DEN at four doses (0, 1, 5 and 15 mM; G1, G2, G3 and G4, respectively) for 24 h and RNA was isolated. A total of 71 hepatic tumors were obtained from the DEN-treated mice. EpCAM expression was increased mainly in hepatic tumor cells, although it was also detected in the surrounding visually normal cells. Double staining showed that EpCAM and PCNA were co-expressed in numerous tumor cells. In vitro, EpCAM expression was significantly different for G4 at day 0 (P<0.01) and for G2, G3 and G4 at day 40 (P<0.01) compared with the control (G1) at the corresponding time-point. PCNA expression was significantly different for G3 and G4 at day 0 (P<0.01), for G2, G3 and G4 at day 22 (P<0.01) and for G2 at day 40 (P<0.01) compared with G1 at the corresponding time-point. In summary, the expression of EpCAM and PCNA was increased in DEN-induced tumors and the expression of EpCAM and PCNA was altered by DEN treatment in cultured cells. This suggests that EpCAM expression may be modulated in the progeny of adult liver stem cells during their differentiation toward hepatocytes and may be increased during DEN-induced hepatocarcinogenesis.

Elective laparoscopic repair after colonoscopic decompression for incarcerated morgagni hernia.

Plain radiographs of an 88-year-old woman who had experienced vomiting and abdominal distention for 3 days revealed a severely obstructed ileus, and abdominopelvic computed tomography revealed an incarcerated Morgagni hernia. The endoscope was passed through the constrictions from the diaphragmatic indentations and a thin catheter was placed for decompression. The obstructive ileus regressed markedly after the procedure; the patient underwent elective laparoscopic repair of the hernia 1 week later. This is believed to be the first case of endoscopic preoperative decompression for an incarcerated Morgagni hernia.