Role of GALNT2 on Insulin Sensitivity, Lipid Metabolism and Fat Homeostasis

O-linked glycosylation, the greatest form of post-translational modifications, plays a key role in regulating the majority of physiological processes. It is, therefore, not surprising that abnormal O-linked glycosylation has been related to several human diseases. Recently, GALNT2, which encodes the GalNAc-transferase 2 involved in the first step of O-linked glycosylation, has attracted great attention as a possible player in many highly prevalent human metabolic diseases, including atherogenic dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes and obesity, all clustered on the common ground of insulin resistance. Data available both in human and animal models point to GALNT2 as a molecule that shapes the risk of the aforementioned abnormalities affecting diverse protein functions, which eventually cause clinically distinct phenotypes (a typical example of pleiotropism). Pathways linking GALNT2 to dyslipidemia and insulin resistance have been partly identified, while those for type 2 diabetes and obesity are yet to be understood. Here, we will provide a brief overview on the present knowledge on GALNT2 function and dysfunction and propose novel insights on the complex pathogenesis of the aforementioned metabolic diseases, which all impose a heavy burden for patients, their families and the entire society.

Metabolic Syndrome: Updates on Pathophysiology and Management in 2021

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) forms a cluster of metabolic dysregulations including insulin resistance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, central obesity, and hypertension. The pathogenesis of MetS encompasses multiple genetic and acquired entities that fall under the umbrella of insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation. If left untreated, MetS is significantly associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Given that CVDs constitute by far the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, it has become essential to investigate the role played by MetS in this context to reduce the heavy burden of the disease. As such, and while MetS relatively constitutes a novel clinical entity, the extent of research about the disease has been exponentially growing in the past few decades. However, many aspects of this clinical entity are still not completely understood, and many questions remain unanswered to date. In this review, we provide a historical background and highlight the epidemiology of MetS. We also discuss the current and latest knowledge about the histopathology and pathophysiology of the disease. Finally, we summarize the most recent updates about the management and the prevention of this clinical syndrome.

The Role of Oxidative Stress in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Intervertebral disc degeneration is a very common type of degenerative disease causing severe socioeconomic impact, as well as a major cause of discogenic low back pain and herniated discs, placing a heavy burden on patients and the clinicians who treat them. IDD is known to be associating with a complex process involving in extracellular matrix and cellular damage, and in recent years, there is increasing evidence that oxidative stress is an important activation mechanism of IDD and that reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species regulate matrix metabolism, proinflammatory phenotype, autophagy and senescence in intervertebral disc cells, apoptosis, autophagy, and senescence. Despite the tremendous efforts of researchers within the field of IDD pathogenesis, the proven strategies to prevent and treat this disease are still very limited. Up to now, several antioxidants have been proved to be effective for alleviating IDD. In this article, we discussed that oxidative stress accelerates disc degeneration by influencing aging, inflammation, autophagy, and DNA methylation, and summarize some antioxidant therapeutic measures for IDD, indicating that antioxidant therapy for disc degeneration holds excellent promise.

Optimization of Link Length Fitting between an Operator and a Robot with Digital Annealer for a Leader-Follower Operation

In recent years, the teleoperation of robots has become widespread in practical use. However, in some current modes of robot operation, such as leader-follower control, the operator must use visual information to recognize the physical deviation between him/herself and the robot, and correct the operation instructions sequentially, which limits movement speed and places a heavy burden on the operator. In this study, we propose a leader-follower control parameter optimization method for the feedforward correction necessitated by deviations in the link length between the robot and the operator. To optimize the parameters, we used the Digital Annealer developed by Fujitsu Ltd., which can solve the combinatorial optimization problem at high speed. The main objective was to minimize the difference between the hand coordinates target and the actual hand position of the robot. In simulations, the proposed method decreased the difference between the hand position of the robot and the target. Moreover, this method enables optimum operation, in part by eliminating the need for the operator to maintain an unreasonable posture, as in some robots the operator’s hand position is unsuitable for achieving the objective.

Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Build a Lightweight Flood Height Prediction Model with Grad-Cam for the Selection of Key Grid Cells in Radar Echo Maps

Recent climate change has brought extremely heavy rains and widescale flooding to many areas around the globe. However, previous flood prediction methods usually require a lot of computation to obtain the prediction results and impose a heavy burden on the unit cost of the prediction. This paper proposes the use of a deep learning model (DLM) to overcome these problems. We alleviated the high computational overhead of this approach by developing a novel framework for the construction of lightweight DLMs. The proposed scheme involves training a convolutional neural network (CNN) by using a radar echo map in conjunction with historical flood records at target sites and using Grad-Cam to extract key grid cells from these maps (representing regions with the greatest impact on flooding) for use as inputs in another DLM. Finally, we used real radar echo maps of five locations and the flood heights record to verify the validity of the method proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that our proposed lightweight model can achieve similar or even better prediction accuracy at all locations with only about 5~15% of the operation time and about 30~35% of the memory space of the CNN.

IL-36γ promotes psoriasis-like features in keratinocytes in an imiquimod-induced murine model of psoriasis

IntroductionPsoriasis is a recurrent, chronic inflammatory skin disease with complex pathogenesis. The disease imposes a heavy burden on patients. Interleukin (IL)-36γ belongs to the IL-36 family and is predominantly expressed by epithelial cells. IL-36γ is upregulated in psoriasis lesions. However, the effects of IL-36γ in keratinocytes remain unclear.Material and methodsEighteen IL-36γ-deficient mice were divided into three groups: the vaseline group, the imiquimod (IMQ) group, and the IMQ/IL-36γ group. Vaseline or IMQ was administered for 6 consecutive days. The severity of psoriasis-like lesions was evaluated using a modified Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scoring system. Production of cytokines and expression of differentiation markers were assessed by immunohistochemistry.ResultsIMQ-induced psoriasis lesions were significantly more severe in IMQ/IL-36γ-treated mice compared with vaseline-treated and IMQ-treated mice, as shown by an exacerbated inflammatory phenotype, increased numbers of blood vessels, increased infiltration of cells, and increased epidermal thickness. Expression of loricrin and keratin 5 in skin lesions was decreased following treatment with IL-36γ. Levels of IL-17A, interferon-γ, β-catenin and Dickkopf-related protein 1 were elevated in keratinocytes within psoriatic lesions following IL-36γ stimulation.ConclusionsTogether, these data showed that IL-36γ contribute to abnormal keratinocytes proliferation and keratinocyte-related proinflammatory cytokines, and suggest that IL-36γ may play an important role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Participation of Industry, Community and Government in Monitoring the Impact of Waste Development through the Early Warning System

In human life, it cannot be separated from the environment in which we live. Human negligence in building industry without caring the impact on environment can damage the physical and biological environment slowly and indirectly. Therefore an effort to preserve the quality of environment, especially for the environment adjacent to the settlement, is necessary and can be performed in various ways including technology utilization. The development of technology-based microcontrollers gains more popularity. Technology develops rapidly and electronic devices have become one compulsory device to be owned. Wastewater is industrial waste should be controlled prior to passing surrounding environment to avoid pollution. The concluded of this research are 1 implementation of management and monitoring carried out by industry should be led to the awareness for environmental sustainability, 2 Industrial business actor has not benefited directly from the activities of management and monitoring that have been carried out, and still considers that the obligation is a heavy burden in terms of cost, 3 Inter-institution coordination mechanism is still not clear so that each institution has not been performed their duties and functions well, 4 involvement and community awareness around the industry is relatively low.

Motivation-based Attacker Modelling for Cyber Risk Management: A Quantitative Content: Analysis and a Natural Experiment

Cyber-attacks have a tremendous impact on worldwide economic performance. Hence, it is vitally important to implement effective risk management for different cyber-attacks, which calls for profound attacker models. However, cyber risk modelling based on attacker models seems to be restricted to overly simplified models. This hinders the understanding of cyber risks and represents a heavy burden for efficient cyber risk management. This work aims to forward scientific research in this field by employing a multi-method approach based on a quantitative content analysis of scientific literature and a natural experiment. Our work gives evidence for the oversimplified modelling of attacker motivational patterns. The quantitative content analysis gives evidence for a broad and established misunderstanding of attackers as being illicitly malicious. The results of the natural experiment substantiate the findings of the content analysis. We thereby contribute to the improvement of attacker modelling, which can be considered a necessary prerequisite for effective cyber risk management.

Hubungan Pengetahuan dan Stigma pada Keluarga dengan Beban Keluarga Dalam Merawat Pasien Skizofrenia di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Nanggalo Padang

Families have a heavy burden in caring for ODS. Heavy load perceived by the family due to the level of family knowledge and family stigma. This study aims to determine the relationship knowledge and stigma on families with family burdens in caring schizophrenia patient in the working area of ​​Puskesmas Nanggalo Padang. Types of research this is correlation with the approach cross sectional. The population in this study is a family who cares for ODS in the working area of ​​Puskemas Nanggalo Padang and a sample of 87 people taken withPurposive Sampling. Data collection using a questionnaire Family Interview Scale / Stigma Items, questionnaire knowledge, and a questionnaire Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Research result It was found that more than half (59.8%) of the families experienced a heavy burden, more than half (57.5%) of families have a lower or higher level of knowledge half (52.9%) of families experienced high stigma. There is a relationship meaning between the stigma in the family and the family burden (p =0,000). There is no significant relationship between the level of family knowledge with family burden (p =0.110). It is expected that health workers, especially nurses soul in society to provide health education to the community regarding Schizophrenia. So that society no longer gives stigma to families who will make the family embarrassed in caring for ODS.

Intensive care nurses’ experiences of Covid-19 care: A practical and ethical challenge – a qualitative descriptive design

The Covid-19 pandemic has generated new experiences of intensive care. It has entailed new working methods, treatment strategies, and ethical dilemmas. The aim of this study was to describe intensive care nurses’ experiences of Covid-19 care and its ethical challenges. Data collection consisted of 11 individual semi-structured interviews and a qualitative content analysis was used. The COREQ checklist was followed. Three main themes emerged: to meet Covid-19 patients’ needs for specifically tailored intensive care; to have a changed approach to the excluded relatives is unethical, but defensible; and to strive to protect ethical values needs to be considered as good enough. In conclusion, ICU nurses shouldered a heavy burden in taking responsibility for the safety of these patients, continuously learning about new treatment strategies. Caring for Covid-19 patients was to strive to make the best of the situation.