Association of Coffee Consumption with Sarcopenia in Korean Elderly Men: Analysis Using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2008-2011.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is an age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. Coffee has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to be inversely related to the mechanism of sarcopenia. While there have been some studies on the effect of coffee on sarcopenia in animals, studies on the topic in humans are rare. Therefore, we investigated this relationship in elderly Korean men. METHODS: The cross-sectional data were derived from the 2008-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. After applying the exclusion criteria, the study sample consisted of 1,781 men who were at least 60 years of age. Study participants were identified as having sarcopenia if their appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by height squared was less than two standard deviations below the gender-specific mean of this value for young adults. Daily coffee consumption amounts were categorized as <1 cup, 1 cup, 2 cups, and ≥3 cups. RESULTS: Compared to the group of individuals who drank less than one cup of coffee a day, people who consumed at least 3 cups (adjusted odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.20 to 0.94) showed significantly decreased sarcopenia; however, the decrease was not significant when the daily coffee consumption was 1 or 2 cups. In multivariate logistic regression models, significant associations were observed between sarcopenia and coffee consumption (P for trend=0.039). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that consuming at least 3 cups of coffee per day was associated with a lower prevalence of sarcopenia in elderly Korean elderly men.

Synergistic Effects of Oxygen on Phosphine and Ethyl Formate for the Control of Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae).

Phosphine (PH3) and ethyl formate (EF) are two potentially powerful postharvest fumigant insecticides. We investigated the effectiveness of both PH3 and EF as fumigants at all developmental stages of the potato tuber moth Phthorimaea operculella Zeller, and we also studied the synergistic effects of these fumigants under controlled atmospheres of 50 and 80% oxygen (O2). The larval stage of P. operculella was the most susceptible to fumigation with PH3 at both 5°C and 20°C. All of the developmental stages showed greater susceptibility to PH3 at 20°C than at 5°C, whereas the susceptibility of adult P. operculella to this fumigant was not affected by temperature. The toxicity of EF did not differ with temperature for any of the P. operculella developmental stages. The atmospheric oxidation of PH3 increased the toxicity of this fumigant toward all developmental stages at both temperatures. In contrast, no differences in toxicity were observed for oxidized EF compared with EF alone at any developmental stage. In conclusion, using fumigation tests, we showed that atmospherically oxidized PH3 was much more effective against P. operculella than PH3 alone, demonstrating a synergistic effect for this fumigant and O2. Therefore, treatment with PH3 and high concentrations of O2, as described in this study, could be useful for managing the postharvest pest P. operculella.

Fabrication and Characterization of Antimicrobial Ethyl Cellulose Nanofibers Using Electrospinning Techniques.

Ethyl cellulose nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning techniques using ethyl cellulose solution having concentrations of 150 g/l, using different volume ratios of a binary THF (tetrahydrofuran): DMAc (N,N dimethylacetamide) solvent system. The influence of the composition of the binary solvent system on the surface morphology of ethyl cellulose nanofibers with or without adhered antibiotics was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). To assess the effectiveness of drug release from the nanofibers and their antibacterial activities toward S. aureus, streptomycin was selected as the antibiotic. Disc diffusion and optical density tests were used for the assessment. The antibiotic release from ethyl cellulose fibers was best when the THF to DMAc volume ratio was 3 to 2 (v/v). The optical density test showed the antibacterial effective time of the streptomycin antibiotics loaded in nanofibers was longer than that of the bulk antibiotics against S. aureus bacteria.

Parasitism and survival rate of Diadegma fenestrale (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and DfIV gene expression patterns in two lepidopteran hosts.

The genus Diadegma is a well-known parasitoid group and some are known to have symbiotic virus, polydnavirus (PDV). A novel IV was discovered from the calyx of Diadegma fenestrale female and sequenced its genome. D. fenestrale has more than two hosts, including potato tuber moth (PTM) and diamondback moth (DBM). D. fenestrale preferred PTM to DBM as hosts based on the oviposition and survival rate. Nevertheless, the developmental period and morphology of D. fenestrale were not significantly different between PTM and DBM. We compared DfIV gene expression patterns between PTM and DBM under various conditions to understand the phenomena. DfIV genes were more widely expressed in PTM with large numbers than in DBM after parasitized by D. fenestrale, particularly at the initial point. They showed differential expression patterns between two lepidopteran hosts. This DfIV gene expression plasticity showed a dependency on the lepidopteran host species and parasitization time, suggesting that it may contribute to increase the parasitoid survival rate. This might be one of the key elements that determine the symbiotic relationship between PDV and parasitoid.

Complete genomic sequences and comparative analysis of Mamestra brassicae nucleopolyhedrovirus isolated in Korea.

Mamestra brassicae nucleopolyhedrovirus-K1 (MabrNPV-K1) was isolated from naturally infected M. brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae in Korea. The full genome sequences of MabrNPV-K1 were determined, analysed and compared to those of other baculoviruses. The MabrNPV-K1 genome consisted of 152,710 bp and had an overall G + C content of 39.9%. Computer-assisted analysis predicted 158 open reading frames (ORFs) of 150 nucleotides or greater that showed minimal overlap. Two inhibitor of apoptosis (iap) and six baculovirus repeated ORFs were interspersed in the MabrNPV-K1 genome. The unique MabrNPV-K1 ORF133 was identified in the MabrNPV-K1 genome that was not previously reported in baculoviruses. The gene content and arrangement in MabrNPV-K1 had the highest similarity with those of Helicoverpa armigera MNPV (HearMNPV) and Mamestra configurata NPV-B (MacoNPV-B), and their shared homologous genes were 99% collinear. The MabrNPV-K1 genome contained four homologous repeat regions (hr1, hr2, hr3 and hr4) that accounted for 3.3% of the genome. The genomic positions of the four MabrNPV-K1 hr regions were conserved among those of HearMNPV and MacoNPV-B. The gene parity plot, percent identity of the gene homologues and a phylogenetic analysis suggested that these three viruses are closely related not only to each other but also to the same virus strains rather than different virus species.

Effects of Bt transgenic Chinese cabbage on the herbivore Mamestra brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and its parasitoid Microplitis mediator (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

We investigated the effects of a diamondback moth-resistant Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris subsp napus variety pekinensis Makino), expressing the insecticidal protein CrylA(c) toxin derived from Bacillus thuringiensis, on the nontarget herbivore Mamestra brassicae (L.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and its parasitoid wasp Microplitis mediator (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). A decreased survival rate at neonate stage was observed in M. brassicae when reared on Bt cabbage, although overall development was not significantly affected. According to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test using CrylA(c) antibody, the Cry toxin was only detected in the alimentary canal, not in the hemolymph or remaining body parts of M. brassicae, indicating that the ingested Cry toxin is neither distributed inside the body nor transferred through the trophic level. As expected, no Cry toxin was found in the larvae and cocoons of M. mediator. In addition, no significant changes were observed in the parasitization rate, larval period, pupal period, cocoon weight, or adult emergence rate when M. mediator wasps were reared on the M. brassicae larvae fed with transgenic Chinese cabbage. In summary, no direct or indirect adverse effects of transgenic Chinese cabbage on the two nontarget insect species were observed, suggestive of low risk in herbivore-parasitoid food chain.