Beneficial effects of taurine on serum lipids in overweight or obese non-diabetic subjects.

Taurine has beneficial effects on lipid metabolism in experimental animals fed with high-cholesterol or high fat diets. Whether taurine benefits lipid metabolism in humans has rarely been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of taurine on serum lipids in overweight or obese young adults. Thirty college students (age: 20.3+/-1.7 years) with a body mass index (BMI) >/=25.0 kg/m(2), and with no evidence of diabetes mellitus were selected and assigned to either the taurine group (n=15) or the placebo group (n=15) by double-blind randomization. Taurine 3 g/day or placebo was taken orally for 7 weeks. Triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and plasma glucose were measured before and after supplementation. The atherogenic index (AI) was calculated as (TC-HDL-C)/HDL-C. There were no differences in any baseline parameter between the two groups. Taurine supplementation decreased TG and AI significantly. Body weight also reduced significantly in the taurine group. These results suggest that taurine produces a beneficial effect on lipid metabolism and may have an important role in cardiovascular disease prevention in overweight or obese subjects.

Bone mass and lifestyle related factors: a comparative study between Japanese and Inner Mongolian young premenopausal women.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ethnic difference in bone mass between Japanese and Inner Mongolian young premenopausal women and to assess the contribution of lifestyle related and anthropometric factors to bone mass. We studied 33 Japanese and 44 Inner Mongolian healthy young women, aged 20-34 years, in urban area. Speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) and stiffness index (SI) were measured at the calcaneus using quantitative ultrasound (QUS) analysis. Age at menarche, regularity of menstruation and lifestyle related factors were estimated by a self-reported questionnaire. There were no differences between the two groups in age, height, weight, BMI, regularity of menstruation, frequency of meat intake, frequency of yellow-green vegetable intake and exercise habit. Japanese women had significantly lower age at menarche and higher proportion of milk consumption habit at junior high school, senior school and present. Before adjustment, Japanese women had significantly higher SOS and SI than Inner Mongolian women. However, after adjustment for age at menarche and milk consumption habit at junior high school, both of which were significantly different between groups, no group-differences remained in either SOS or SI. These results suggest that the differences in age at menarche and milk consumption habit at junior high school, which relate to hormonal and nutritional status during puberty, may account for the differences in bone mass between Japanese and Inner Mongolian young women.

Effects of taurine supplementation on VDT work induced visual stress.

In order to evaluate the effects of dietary taurine supplementation on visual fatigue induced by visual display terminals (VDT) work, 25 male college students aged from 20 to 24 years who were not engaged in VDT work were selected to participate in the study. Volunteers were randomly assigned to either the taurine supplementation (n=13) or the placebo supplementation control group (n=12). Before and after 12 days of taurine (3 g/day) or placebo supplementation, two identical 2.5-hr VDT work tests were performed while recording the P100, N75 and N145 latencies and P100 amplitude of pattern visual evoked potential (PVEP) and the frequency of critical flicker fusion (CFF). Following 2.5-hr of VDT work, the P100 and N75 latencies of PVEP increased ( P<0.01) while the P100 amplitude decreased significantly ( P<0.01). The frequency of CFF also reduced significantly ( P<0.01). After 12 days of taurine supplementation, the reduction in P100 amplitude after VDT work alleviated significantly ( P<0.05). The results suggest that taurine supplementation alleviates visual fatigue induced by VDT work.

[Prediction of output fraction from single layer to commingling oil well by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)].

For crude oil from the same source, there is no obvious difference in chromatographic fingerprint of total hydrocarbons. But an evident difference in the concentrations of the series compounds of naphthalene and phenanthrene in oils has been found. Based on the fact, a new method for determine production allocation in commingled production, has been proposed. In this method, the series compounds of naphthalene and phenanthrene are selected as geochemistry indicator and are pretreated with aluminum oxide-silica gel column, and their relative concentration is determined by HPLC. Being verified by artificially mixing samples, the method can be used for the oils that can not be differentiated with the chromatographic fingerprint of total hydrocarbons, and error between predicted value and real value is 8% and its accuracy is better than that of the gas chromatographic fingerprint method. Based on the mixture principle, a model for prediction of output fraction of single oil layer is proposed. This model has been applied to production allocation calculation.