The Influence of Parent Media Use, Parent Attitude on Media, and Parenting Style on Children's Media Use.

Parents play a vital role in mediating children's media use, especially at a young age. We examined the link between the media use of younger children and the media use, attitude toward media, and parenting styles of parents. One thousand and twenty parents of children between 4 and 6 years of age completed a questionnaire on their media use, positive and negative attitudes on media, parenting styles, and the media use of their children. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results showed that there was a significant positive relation between the parent's media time and the child's daytime and nighttime media use. Additionally, the parent's positive attitude toward media use was positively related to the child's daytime media use, but not the child's nighttime media use, while the parent's negative attitude toward media was not associated with the child's daytime and nighttime media use. Further, among the seven parenting styles, material rewards and autonomy were positively associated with the child's daytime media use. Discipline was negatively related to the child's nighttime media use, whereas material rewards were positively associated with the child's nighttime media use. Collectively, the parent's positive attitude toward media use was the strongest predictor of the child's daytime media use, and material rewards were the strongest predictor of the child's nighttime media use. These results can be of significant use to inform policymakers, researchers, and parents regarding the development of parental guidelines on children's media use.

2-Methoxy-4-vinylphenol Attenuates Migration of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells via Blockade of FAK and AKT Signaling.

BACKGROUND/AIM: No effective therapeutics have yet been developed for pancreatic cancer. 2-Methoxy-4-vinyl phenol (2M4VP), a member of the class of phenols, has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory properties and cause cell cycle arrest making it an attractive candidate drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of 2M4VP were examined in Panc-1 and SNU-213 human pancreatic cancer cells. RESULTS: 2M4VP had anticancer effects on pancreatic cancer cell lines, Panc-1 and SNU-213. 2M4VP reduced the viability of Panc-1 cells by inhibiting the expression of the cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein. 2M4VP also suppressed the migratory activity of both cell lines. In addition, treatment with 2M4VP effectively decreased the phosphorylation of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) and AKT. CONCLUSION: 2M4VP might be used as a pancreatic cancer treatment supplement.

Characterization and pH-dependent substrate specificity of alkalophilic xylanase from Bacillus alcalophilus.

The gene of endo-beta-1-4 xylanase, xynT, was cloned from Bacillus alcalophilus AX2000 and expressed in Escherichia coli. This XynT, which belongs to glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10, was found to have a molecular weight of approximately 37 kDa and exhibit optimal activity at pH 7-9 and 50 °C. It exhibits a high activity towards birchwood xylan and has the ability to bind avicel. Under optimal conditions, XynT hydrolyzes all xylooligomers into xylobiose as an end product with a preference for cleavage sites at the second or third glycosidic bond from the reducing end. XynT has a different substrate affinity on xylooligomers at pH 5.0, which contributes to its low activity toward xylotriose and its derived intermediate products. This low activity may be due to an unstable interaction with the amino acids that constitute subsites of the active site. Interestingly, the addition of Co(2+) and Mn(2+) led to a significant increase in activity by up to 40 and 50 %, respectively. XynT possesses a high binding affinity and hydrolytic activity toward the insoluble xylan, for which it exhibits high activity at pH 7-9, giving rise to its efficient biobleaching effect on Pinus densiflora kraft pulp.

Yukmijihwang-tang derivatives enhance cognitive processing in normal young adults: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.

Yukmijihwang-tang (YMJ), also known as Luweidihuang-tang in China, has been widely used as a general herbal tonic for hundreds of years in many Asian countries. This study examines whether YMJ derivatives (YMJd) enhance cognitive ability in normal human subjects and discusses its potential as treatment for dementia patients with deficient cognitive ability. Subjects were divided into two groups, the placebo-treated group (n = 15) and the YMJd-treated group (n = 20). K-WAIS tests, a Korean version of an individual intelligence quotient (IQ) test, and a P300 latency assessment of event-related potential (ERP) were conducted in order to measure changes in cognitive ability before and after 6 weeks of YMJd treatment. The K-WAIS mean scores of the group treated with YMJd were significantly higher than those of the placebo group (p < 0.05), and their mean P300 latency was substantially shorter (p < 0.005). These results suggest that YMJd treatment accelerates the speed of information processing and enhances cognitive ability. YMJd treatment may help dementia patients or the elderly recover from cognition deficiencies or degeneration in clinic.

Anti-obesity effect of PM-F2-OB, an anti-obesity herbal formulation, on rats fed a high-fat diet.

PM-F2-OB is one of the most well-known traditional herbal medicines that are frequently used for the treatment of obesity in Korea. The anti-obesity effect of PM-F2-OB on rats fed a high-fat diet was investigated through analyses of changes in body weight, kidney fat weight, and blood biochemicals including cholesterol, free fatty acid, BUN, creatinine, HDL, LDL, phospholipids, SGOT, SGPT, total lipids, and triglycerides. The subjects in this study were divided into four groups: a normal group with a standard diet (N); a PM-F2-OB treatment group fed a standard diet (N+PM-F2-OB); a control group fed a high-fat diet (C); and a PM-F2-OB treatment group fed a high-fat diet (C+PM-F2-OB). There were no significant differences in body weight change between the N and N+PM-F2-OB treatments. Also, there was no significant difference in the amount of food intake between the C and C+PM-F2-OB treatments. These results suggest that PM-F2-OB has no significant toxicity and does not induce a dislike for that diet due to its smell or taste. Rats were administered a high-fat diet (20% (w/w)) for six weeks to induce obesity. The study shows that PM-F2-OB significantly prevented increases in body weight, cholesterol, LDL and total lipids that resulted from the high-fat diet. PM-F2-OB also decreased kidney fat weight and free fatty acid, phospholipid, and triglyceride concentrations induced by the high-fat diet to level equals or below the normal diet group. It was concluded from the results that PM-F2-OB has a distinct anti-obesity effect.

Redistribution of Na(V)1.8 in uninjured axons enables neuropathic pain.

The underlying mechanisms of neuropathic pain are poorly understood, and existing treatments are mostly ineffective. We recently demonstrated that antisense mediated "knock-down" of the sodium channel isoform, Na(V)1.8, reverses neuropathic pain behavior after L5/L6 spinal nerve ligation (SNL), implicating a critical functional role of Na(V)1.8 in the neuropathic state. Here we have investigated mechanisms through which Na(V)1.8 contributes to the expression of experimental neuropathic pain. Na(V)1.8 does not appear to contribute to neuropathic pain through an action in injured afferents because the channel is functionally downregulated in the cell bodies of injured neurons and does not redistribute to injured terminals. Although there was little change in Na(V)1.8 protein or functional channels in the cell bodies of uninjured neurons in L4 ganglia, there was a striking increase in Na(V)1.8 immunoreactivity along the sciatic nerve. The distribution of Na(V)1.8 reflected predominantly the presence of functional channels in unmyelinated axons. The C-fiber component of the sciatic nerve compound action potential (CAP) was resistant (>40%) to 100 microm TTX after SNL, whereas both A- and C-fiber components of sciatic nerve CAP were blocked (>90%) by 100 microm TTX in sham-operated rats or the contralateral sciatic nerve of SNL rats. Attenuating expression of Na(V)1.8 with antisense oligodeoxynucleotides prevented the redistribution of Na(V)1.8 in the sciatic nerve and reversed neuropathic pain. These observations suggest that aberrant activity in uninjured C-fibers is a necessary component of pain associated with partial nerve injury. They also suggest that blocking Na(V)1.8 would be an effective treatment of neuropathic pain.