Physical fitness of the applied Thai traditional medical students at faculty of medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the fitness of applied Thai traditional medical (ATTM) students thereby obtaining data to promote a greater physical fitness in ATTM students. Methods: Cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength, flexibility and body composition were measured in 208 ATTM students from years 1 to 4 in the academic year 2010. To determine their lifestyles, questionnaires were also answered by ATTM students. Results: Firstly, although cardio-respiratory fitness of female ATTM students was within normal limit of Thai, cardio-respiratory fitness of male ATTM students was lower than that of Thai. Secondly, muscular strength of both male and female ATTM students was lower than those of Thai. Thirdly, flexibility of ATTM students was comparable to that of Thai. Fourthly, although BMI of ATTM students was comparable to that of Thai, the average waist to hip circumference ratio of female ATTM students was higher than that of female Thai. Finally, eighty four percent of ATTM students exercised less than three times a week and fifty percent of ATTM students ate less than three meals per day, respectively. Conclusion: ATTM students need not only the training programs for cardio-respiratory fitness, and muscular strength but also need a breakfast campaign. Persuading them to pay more attention to their physical exercises and appropriate diets will eventually create the healthy ATTM practitioners in the future.

Depleted immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP) expands the endoplasmic reticulum and the golgi apparatus in dengue virus-infected cells.

Objective: To test whether depleted expression of immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP), which is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone, in dengue virus (DENV)-infected cells, affected integrities of the ER and the Golgi apparatus of the host cells. Methods: Either siRNA against BiP- or control siRNA-transfected cells was infected with DENV and subjected to electron microscopic evaluation. Results: Depleted expression of BiP affected integrities of the ER and the Golgi apparatus in DENV-infected cells. Conclusion: Integrities of the ER and the Golgi apparatus maintained by BiP in the host cells is necessary for DENV production.

Body composition, muscular strength and cardiovascular strength of the second-year medical students at faculty of medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate Siriraj medical students’ fitness thereby obtaining data for promoting greater physical fitness in Siriraj medical students. Methods: Physical fitness among second year medical students academic year 2008 was measured by methods including body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip circumference ratio in determining body composition, hand grip dynamometer in determining muscular strength, heart rate as well as blood pressure before and after performing a YMCA step test in determining cardiovascular strength and a questionnaire in determining the lifestyle of medical students. Results: Average BMI and cardiovascular strength of both male and female medical students were within normal range compared to those of Thai. However, muscular strength of both male and female medical students was relatively low compared to those of average Thai as sixty-six per cent of them had exercise less than twice a week. Conclusion: Siriraj medical students need more physical exercises to improve their physical fitness. It is important to persuade medical students to pay more attention to their health, which will eventually make them to be healthy doctors in the future.

Analysis of the interaction between human kidney anion exchanger 1 and kanadaptin using yeast two-hybrid systems

Kidney anion exchanger adaptor protein (Kanadaptin) is a protein which interacts with the cytoplasmic N-terminal domain of kidney anion exchanger 1 (kAE1) and was first detected in mice using the yeast two-hybrid system and was also found to co-localize with kAE1 in rabbit a-intercalated cells. Impaired trafficking of human kAE1 can result in the kidney disease-distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA), and defective interaction between human kAE1 and kanadaptin may cause this trafficking impairment and be the basis for dRTA pathogenesis. However, it is unknown whether kAE1 can really interact with kanadaptin in humans. We have thus investigated the interaction between human kAE1 and human kanadaptin by using both Gal4 and LexA yeast two-hybrid systems. It was found that co-expression of Gal4DBD fused to the cytoplasmic N-terminal domain of kAE1 and Gal4AD fused to kanadaptin could not activate the transcription of the ADE2, HIS3 and lacZ reporters in the Gal4 system. A similar result was obtained for the interaction between B42AD fused to the cytoplasmic N-terminal domain of kAE1 and LexA fused to kanadaptin in activation of lacZ transcription in the LexA system. The absence of interaction between the fusion proteins in both yeast two-hybrid systems raises the possibility that kAE1 may not interact with kanadaptin in human cells. Considerably different structures of both kAE1 and kanadaptin in mice and humans may lead to different binding properties of the proteins in these two species.