Corn silk (Zea mays L.), a source of natural antioxidants with α-amylase, α-glucosidase, advanced glycation and diabetic nephropathy inhibitory activities.

The oxidative stress plays a critical role in the progression of diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications. Corn silk is a traditional medicine used to treat DM. The aim of this study is to investigate the antioxidant capacity of corn silk, as well as its inhibitory potential on DM and diabetic nephropathy (DN). The ethanol extract of corn silk (CS) was liquid-liquid fractionated to get petroleum ether fraction (PCS), ethyl acetate fraction (ECS), n-butanol fraction (BCS) and water fraction (WCS). The Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 assay showed that silk corn contained considerable amount of phenolics and flavonoids, ECS and BCS were the two phenolic-enriched fractions with highest TPC and TFC values. The ECS and BCS showed the highest total antioxidant activity and reducing power, as well as the strongest scavenging activity against DPPH and hydroxyl radicals, compared to CS and other fractions. The ECS and BCS displayed appreciable anti-hyperglycaemic effect indicated by the significant inhibition on α-amylase and α-glucosidase in enzymatic assays. In BSA-glucose model, ECS and BCS effectively inhibited the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). In addition, the anti-diabetic nephropathy activity assay displayed that CS, ECS and BCS significantly inhibited the production of Col IV, FN and IL-6 in high-glucose stimulated mesangial cells at 200 µg/mL. These findings suggested the antioxidant activities of corn silk could contribute, at least in part, to its traditionally claimed therapeutic benefits on DM and DN. The phenolic-enriched CS fractions could be considered as a source of natural antioxidants and further developed for the prevention and treatment of DM and its complications including DN.

Replacement of fish oil with palm oil: Effects on growth performance, innate immune response, antioxidant capacity and disease resistance in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of replacing dietary fish oil (FO) with palm oil (PO) in juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (9.34± 0.02g initial weight) with emphasis on growth performance, digestive enzyme activities as well as serum biochemical parameters. Also, lysozyme activity (LYZ), respiratory burst (RB), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and resistance to Streptococcus iniae were investigated. Fish were stocked in 15 rectangular fiber glass tanks (150× 60× 40 cm) at 40 fish per tank with water maintained at 210 litres. Fish were fed five isonitrogenous (33% crude protein) and isolipidic (10% lipid) diets with PO included at 0% (0% PO), 25% (25% PO), 50% (50%PO), 75% (75% PO) and 100% (100% PO) for 8 weeks. The findings demonstrated that growth, and feed utilization was not compromised when PO was used in place of FO either partially or totally. Except for protease activity which was not significantly altered, lipase and amylase activities were significantly altered when FO was replaced with PO. There were no significant differences among treatments for CAT, SOD and LYZ. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) in fish fed 100% PO was significantly lower than all other groups whiles total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of fish fed 0% PO was significantly higher than all other groups. Fish fed 0% PO, 25% PO and 50% PO had glutathione reductase (GR) significantly higher than fish fed 75% PO and 100% PO. RB in fish fed 0% PO were significantly lower than fish fed 75% PO and 100% PO. Also, fish fed 0% PO had significantly lower total protein (TP) compared with groups fed 50% PO and 75% PO. Fish fed diets with PO had similar resistance ability to Streptococcus iniae as those fed diets with FO. However, the liver function was likely to be compromised due to the increase in aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatas (ALP) along increasing PO inclusion levels. AST, total protein, triacylglycerol (TAG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in groups fed higher levels of PO. This study therefore concludes that feeding tilapia fingerlings with diets containing PO affects antioxidant and innate immune parameters negatively due to the reduction in LYS, TAC, GR, MDA, CAT, SOD and GSHpx.

Postoperative intussusceptions in children and infants: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative intussusception (POI) is an unusual complication in children and infants who underwent various kinds of surgery. The early recognition was difficult for its rarity and atypical presentations. This study evaluates the clinical features of POI through a literature review. METHODS: MEDLINE database was searched for relevant articles that reported the children and infants with POI since 1990 in English-language using the key word "postoperative intussusception". All published studies containing clinical data for POI in children and infants were included. Reference lists of retrieved articles were reviewed for additional cases. Detailed data of the included cases were extracted and analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies with total 127 cases of POI were included. According to the extracted data, the median age was 19 months with the male-to-female ratio 1.5:1. There were 65 operations (51.2 %) that involved gastrointestinal system, 26 cases (20.5 %) of retroperitoneal tumor resection, 12 operations (9.4 %) involved diaphragm, 8 operations (6.3 %) involved urinary system, 5 cases (3.9 %) of partial pancreatectomy, 11 cases (8.7 %) of non-abdominal operations. 75.5 % presented symptoms in the first 7 days after surgery. The prominent symptom was bilious vomiting or increased nasogastric output (87.1 % of 101 patients), following abdominal distention (74.3 %), abdominal pain (35.6 %). Six cases (5.0 %) of ileocolic POI were reduced successfully by air enema. The small bowel intussusception attributed 85.6 % of POI (95 patients). Laparotomy and manual reduction were performed in 104 cases (86.0 %). Nine patients (7.4 %) underwent intestinal resection and anastomosis. CONCLUSIONS: POI should be suspected in pediatric surgical patients who showed signs of intestinal obstruction in the early postoperative period. Early recognition and prompt management are important.