Glucagon and other pancreatic peptides are made in the gut, but there is little evidence for the formation of insulin. The demonstration of insulin receptors on the mucosa of gut epithelium suggests that there may be an autocrine or paracrine role for insulin made in the gut. Such insulin may control cell division, the secretion of other peptides from the same or neighboring cells, or motility and absorption. To search for the ability of the gut to make insulin, sections of freshly excised segments of rat gut were treated with an antiserum against porcine insulin. Intracellular immunore-activity appeared in glandular cells in the stomach and colon but not in the small intestine. Preproinsulin mRNA was detected in similar cells in the stomach and colon by in situ hybridization, using specific oligonucleotide probes. Rat preproinsulin 1 and 2 mRNAs were transcribed by reverse transcriptase to the corresponding cDNAs, which were then amplified by polymerase chain reaction, utilizing specific oligonucleotide primers. Restriction analysis confirmed the identity of rat preproinsulin 1 and 2 mRNA in the colon and rat preproinsulin 1 mRNA in the stomach. Neither was found in the small intestine. Base sequences of the cDNAs were identical to the coding regions of pancreatic rat preproinsulin 1 and 2 messages. These observations are strong evidence for the synthesis of preproinsulin in the gut of the rat.

Soil pollution caused by toxic and hazardous chemical contaminants is in high enough concentrations to be of risk to plants, wildlife, humans and certainly for soil to itself. Pot experiments were conducted to investigate the phytoextraction capacity of an ornamental plant Sansevieria roxburghiana cultivated in soil artificially contaminated with 200, 400, and 600 mg kg−1 of zinc (Zn) treatments including control for 6 weeks. The soil was amended with garlic and cilantro extracts as the natural irrigation solutions (metal chelants). Garlic application significantly enhanced the Zn accumulation and was found to be the most efficient chelating amendment, increasing concentrations of Zn in roots from 65 mg kg−1 to 423 mg kg−1 dry weight (DW) soil. The phytochemical screening of acetone and ether extracts of S. roxburghiana plant samples revealed the presence of biologically active phytochemicals. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) of plant extracts revealed antibacterial efficacy against pathogenic bacterial strain. The plant samples were also characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetric technique. The use of ornamental plant and varied irrigation solutions in our present study revealed positive effects on growth and phytoextraction together with an improvement of the soil quality.

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCH) are the rate-limiting enzymes for the biosynthesis of catecholamines and tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), respectively. Since catecholamines and BH4 are thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of CFS, we explored the genetic factors that influence CFS development and examined the possible association between the SNPs of the TH and GCH genes and the various characteristics of CFS patients.After drawing venous blood from CFS patients and controls, genomic DNA was then extracted from whole blood in accordance with standard procedures. Digestion patterns of the PCR products were used for genotyping the SNPs of GCH (rs841; C+243T) and TH (rs10770141; C−824T). We also performed questionnaires consisting of fatigue-scale and temperament and character inventory scale (TCI) to CFS patients.Our results demonstrated that the allele differences for the GCH and TH SNPs were not associated with CFS patients. We did find that the GCH gene with the C+243T polymorphism affected harm avoidance, while the TH gene with the C−824T polymorphism affected persistence in the CFS patients. The concept of persistence has been linked to specific personality, such as perfectionism, in CFS.Our results suggest that the biosynthetic pathways of the monoamine neurotransmitters that are mediated by TH and GCH might be associated with the CFS clinical findings, because persistence is one of the typical personality traits observed in CFS and patients with major depressive disorder exhibit a higher harm avoidance score.

Global efforts are underway to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. Green infrastructure development (GID) has been a centre of attention for the policymakers, experts, and the governments as an indispensable development. Similarly, The Chinese government has also put forth serious policy initiatives to promote GID in the economy. However, there is immense potential to turn traditional infrastructure into green infrastructure. For this objective to achieve, the identification, analysis, and prioritization of driving factors and strategies for GID is imperious. The present study serves this purpose by identifying 10 driving factors, 38 sub-factors, and 5 alternative solution strategies to GID in China. The study uses a fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision support framework for the analysis. The Fuzzy AHP analysis revealed global drive to GID, environmental benefitting factors, and economic benefits as leading driving factors of GID.. The evaluation and prioritization of alternative solution strategies for GID through Fuzzy WASPAS concludes the strategy of green infrastructure (GI) in urban areas as the best strategy to develop GI. The study provides a comprehensive and more in-depth understanding of GID in China. The findings of the study would support the policymakers, managers, and governments to stimulate the GID process.

This work was supported by a grant from the Defiance Area Diabetes Club. We acknowledge with thanks the gift of human insulin from Novo-Nordisk, Denmark. We thank G. Colin Budd and Ben Pansky for their intellectual contributions and encouragement. We thank Robert J. Trumbly for his hospitality in his laboratory and for his financial support of FEW. We thank R. Birkhahn for the use of metabolic cages in this project and the personnel of the Laboratory Animal Research Facility for their expert care of the rats.A preliminary account of this work was presented at a Symposium of the Controlled Release Society in Dublin, 20–22 September 1995 [5].Normal and streptozotocin-diabetic female Sprague–Dawley rats were given solutions of insulin to drink instead of water. Tail vein blood glucose concentrations were monitored by Glucometer. Urine volume, food and water intake, and body weight were recorded daily. Diabetic rats exhibited decreased daily urinary output when more than 70 IU/mL of insulin was in the drinking water. All rats on these high doses showed rapid decreases in blood glucose. Normal rats exhibited a fall to about one-half the starting levels in the first 1 to 3 h, with subsequent return to normal values. Diabetic rats also had a decrease to about one-half the starting value, but still in the diabetic range. The lower values in the diabetic rats persisted throughout the period of observation. Rats that ingested insulin ate more than the controls on plain water. Four of six rats on insulin also lost weight, while rats on plain water gained weight. These results suggest that oral insulin in high concentrations in drinking water is able to be absorbed in amounts sufficient to decrease the blood levels of glucose. In normal rats, counterregulatory mechanisms restored normal levels after an interval. In diabetic rats, lower blood glucose levels persisted longer. Insulin in the drinking water also seems to act on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to inhibit the transport, digestion, and absorption of food. Therefore, rats on insulin are hungry and eat more than the controls. They lose weight because, in spite of a large food intake, the caloric yield is limited. The direct action of insulin on the GI tract may impose limits on methods for the oral administration of insulin. The GI tract may have a physiological role in the control of postprandial glycemia to respond to insulin by limiting the entry of glucose from the food into the blood.

Despite the availability of numerous genomic predictors of prostate cancer (PCa) outcome, few comparative studies have been performed.To compare the prognostic utility of previously validated immunohistochemical (IHC) markers with an expression-based cell-cycle progression (CCP) score.We identified 424 men with localized PCa treated with radical prostatectomy (RP). IHC analysis was performed using a tissue microarray to examine the expression status of PTEN, Ki-67, and ERG compared with previously calculated CCP scores derived from 31 genes normalized to 15 housekeeper genes.Associations of IHC status and CCP scores, adjusted for clinical and pathologic characteristics were performed using Cox regression and competing risks regression to examine risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR), and metastasis or PCa-specific mortality (PCSM). We compared models using concordance index (c-index) testing.RP.Median age at treatment was 59 yr, and patients were followed for a median of 114 mo after RP. By 10 yr after RP, 27% experienced BCR and 4% developed metastasis or PCSM. In a multivariable model adjusted for Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment score (CAPRA-S), CCP was associated with risks of recurrence (hazard ratio [HR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08–2.11) and metastasis/PCSM (HR 2.15, 95% CI 1.36–3.39). PTEN loss was not associated with recurrence but was associated with metastasis/PCSM (HR 5.26, 95% CI 2.57–10.7), adjusted for CAPRA-S. The c-index for models consisting of PTEN status and CAPRA-S was similar (0.80) for risk of metastasis/PCSM when compared with CCP and CAPRA-S (0.81). Integration of Ki-67 and ERG status did not improve the c-index relative to CAPRA-S and PTEN alone.PTEN status offered comparable discrimination of the risk of metastasis or death from PCa relative to a commercial RNA amplification-based CCP assay. Efforts are warranted to reduce the cost of PCa prognostic tools in order to expand access.We compared a commercial genomic signature and the expression status of single genes to predict outcomes in men with prostate cancer who were treated with surgical removal. When accounting for clinical information about the patient's cancer, the status of the PTEN gene alone matched a multigene panel to predict which patient's cancer would metastasize or lead to death from the disease.