Phase Angle as a Potential Screening Tool in Adults with Metabolic Diseases in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review

Background: Phase angle (PhA) has been used as mortality prognostic, but there are no studies about its possible use as a screening tool. Therefore, an assessment of the possible utility of PhA in clinical practice is required. The aim of this systematic review was to explore all recent available evidence of PhA, and its possible utility as a screening tool in clinical practice in subjects with chronic metabolic diseases. Materials and Methods: This systematic review was performed and written as stated in the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The search was conducted in PubMed, ScienceDirect and SciElo. In order to be considered eligible, within the entire search, only articles involving PhA and their utility in metabolic diseases were included. Results: PhA was associated with hyperuricemia and vitamin D deficiency in obese subjects, and decreased cardiovascular risk and malnutrition in hospitalized patients. Conclusion: PhA may be a potential screening tool in clinical practice to evaluate different biomarkers, cardiovascular risk, and nutritional diagnosis in metabolic diseases in adults

Impaired glycemia coincides with the induction of glucose-6-phosphatase.

<p>(A, B) Hepatic gene expression analysis of G6pc and Pepck from ob/ob mice treated with varying does of GC-1 (LO, 0.33 mg/kg-diet; MD, 1 mg/kg-diet; HI, 3 mg/kg-diet) and KB2115 (3 mg/kg-diet) for 23 days (<i>n</i> = 5–6 per group). Correlation between hepatic G6Pase expression and fasting glucose (C) and glycemic control (AUC) (D).**<i>P</i> <0.01, *<i>P</i> <0.05. All data are shown as mean ± SEM.</p

TR agonists ameliorate nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

<p>(A-F) 12-week old ob/ob mice were fed standard chow or chow admixed with GC-1 (0.33 mg/kg-diet) or KB2115 (3.00 mg/kg-diet) for 24 days (<i>n</i> = 5–6 per group). (A) Histology analysis of liver steatosis by H&E (top panel) and oil red O (bottom panel) staining from treated and untreated mice. Gross liver images (B) and liver weights (C) taken immediately after extraction. Liver fat composition by qNMR (D) and hepatic triglyceride (E) and NEFA (F) measured from Folch extracts. ***<i>P</i> <0.001. All data are shown as mean ± SEM.</p

Pharmacological Activation of Thyroid Hormone Receptors Elicits a Functional Conversion of White to Brown Fat

The functional conversion of white adipose tissue (WAT) into a tissue with brown adipose tissue (BAT)-like activity, often referred to as “browning,” represents an intriguing strategy for combating obesity and metabolic disease. We demonstrate that thyroid hormone receptor (TR) activation by a synthetic agonist markedly induces a program of adaptive thermogenesis in subcutaneous WAT that coincides with a restoration of cold tolerance to cold-intolerant mice. Distinct from most other browning agents, pharmacological TR activation dissociates the browning of WAT from activation of classical BAT. TR agonism also induces the browning of white adipocytes in vitro, indicating that TR-mediated browning is cell autonomous. These data establish TR agonists as a class of browning agents, implicate the TRs in the browning of WAT, and suggest a profound pharmacological potential of this action

Arterial Stiffness and HbA1c: Association Mediated by Insulin Resistance in Hispanic Adults

Arterial stiffness may be associated with glucose metabolism parameters, such as HbA1c, mainly via insulin resistance. We aimed to investigate the association between arterial stiffness and HbA1c and explore the mediator effect of insulin resistance. In this cross-sectional study, arterial stiffness (pulse-wave velocity; PWV), HbA1c, and insulin resistance (METS-IR) were determined in Hispanic adults. In addition to sex and age, various biochemical measurements (glucose, lipid profile, etc.) and adipose tissue (fat mass and visceral fat mass) were considered as potential confounding variables. A multivariate regression analysis shows that HbA1c is associated with PWV, even after adjusting for several confounding variables. Importantly, the results show that insulin resistance mediated 17.9% of the effect of HbA1c over PWV. In conclusion, HbA1c may be a potential resource for predicting arterial stiffness due to the influence of insulin resistance in Hispanic subjects