Association of circulating omentin-1 level with arterial stiffness and carotid plaque in type 2 diabetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adipokines contribute directly to the atherosclerotic process, connecting metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes to cardiovascular disease. Omentin-1 is a recently discovered novel adipokine, so data about the relationship of this adipokine to vascular health in type 2 diabetes is limited.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We enrolled 60 people with type 2 diabetes, with or without carotid plaque, and 30 participants with normal glucose tolerance. We measured serum omentin-1, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels, and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), as well as other cardiovascular risk factors. Vascular health was assessed by brachial ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum omentin-1 levels were significantly decreased in type 2 diabetes patients compared to normal glucose controls and was further reduced in type 2 diabetes patients with carotid plaque compared to those without carotid plaque. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that age, systolic blood pressure, history of use of statins, angiotensin receptor blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and serum omentin-1 level were independent factors determining baPWV in people with type 2 diabetes (<it>r</it>²= 0.637). Furthermore, in multivariate logistic regression analysis, circulating omentin-1 level was an independent decisive factor for the presence of carotid plaque in type 2 diabetes patients, even after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and history of smoking and medication (odds ratio, 0.621; 95% confidence interval, 0.420-0.919; <it>P </it>= 0.017).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Circulating omentin-1 level was independently correlated with arterial stiffness and carotid plaque in type 2 diabetes, even after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors and detailed medication history.</p

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to &lt;90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], &gt;300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of &lt;15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P&lt;0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P&lt;0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

The metabolic costs of gardening tasks in children

The metabolic cost of 10 gardening tasks was measured in children to determine the exercise intensities associated with these tasks. Seventeen children [(mean ± SD) aged 12.4 ± 0.7 years and body mass index 21.6 ± 4.0 kg·mˉ²] participated in this study. The children performed the 10 gardening tasks at a garden previously established in Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea. They visited the garden twice and performed five different tasks on each visit. Five minutes were provided to complete each gardening task and a 5-minute rest was allowed between each task. The children wore a portable telemetric calorimeter and a heart rate monitor for measurement of oxygen uptake and heart rate during the gardening tasks. The results show that the 10 gardening tasks represented moderate- to high-intensity physical activity for the children [4.3 ± 0.5 to 6.6 ± 1.6 metabolic equivalents (MET)]. Digging (6.6 ± 1.6 MET) and raking (6.2 ± 1.5 MET) were high-intensity physical activities, and digging was more intense than the other gardening tasks performed in this study (P < 0.05). Tasks such as weeding (5.8 ± 1.1 MET), mulching (5.5 ± 1.3 MET), hoeing (5.3 ± 0.7 MET), sowing seeds (5.0 ± 1.1 MET), harvesting (4.8 ± 0.6 MET), watering (4.6 ± 1.1 MET), mixing growing medium (4.4 ± 0.6 MET), and planting transplants (4.3 ± 0.5 MET) were moderate-intensity physical activities. The MET data for the gardening tasks will facilitate the development of garden-based exercise interventions for children, which can promote health and physically active lifestyle

Analysis of KUCA measurements by the reactivity monitoring MAρTA method

A recently developed method for the continuous reactivity monitoring in nuclear reactors and in subcritical source-driven systems is applied for the interpretation of flux measurements carried out in the KUCA facility. The scope of the work is to validate the method using real experimental data. The method is based on general mathematical properties of the differential equations constituting the point kinetic model. Several pulsed experiments performed in different system configurations and using different source target materials are analysed. The results are compared with the classic area ratio method. A good agreement is obtained when the space-energy transient following the source shut-down dies out and when the system sets on a point-like evolution. The results prove the suitability of the proposed method for application to the reactivity monitoring of source-driven systems

Genes expression by using cDNA Microarray in Whallak-tang

Objective : This study was undertaken to determine the effect of Whallak-tang on expression of CD/cytokine Genes. Methods : The expression of CD/Cytokine Genes were examined by cDNA microarray using the human mast cell line(HMC-l). Results : The expression of ATP5F1, FLJ20671, unknown, KIAA0342, OAS2, unknown genes were increased in 200~300% range. The expression of unknown, MDS006, IFITM1, MRPL3, ZNF207, FTH1, FBP1, NRGN, NR1H2, KIAA0747 genes were decreased in 0~33% range. Conclusion : These results would provide important basic data on the possibility of the clinical treatment of Whallaktang in musculoskeletal disease

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON NEUTRON CORRELATION ANALYSIS FOR A SUBCRITICAL SYSTEM DRIVEN BY A PULSED SPALLATION NEUTRON SOURCE IN KUCA

The Feynman-α and the Rossi-α methods have been frequently employed to determine the subcriticality of subcritical reactor systems driven by Poisson source such as Am-Be neutron source. In actual accelerator-driven systems (ADS), a spallation device will be applied as an intense neutron source. This device will be probably operated in a pulse mode and it is impossible to apply a conventional analysis method to determine the subcriticality in any ADS. In previous theoretical studies, some advanced formulae of neutron correlation analysis for spallation neutron source have been presented. However, the experimental study has been hardly reported to date. The major objectives of this study are to examine experimentally an applicability of these complicated formulae to a subcritical reactor system driven by an actual pulsed spallation neutron source and to determine the prompt-neutron decay constant α of the system. To achieve these goals, we constructed an ADS core at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). The core was composed of highly-enriched uranium fuel assemblies surrounded by many polyethylene reflector assemblies. We carried out a series of the Feynman-α and the Rossi-α analyses for the system driven by pulsed spallation source. As a result, the prompt-neutron decay constants were experimentally obtained by using a fitting formula. The prompt-neutron decay constants determined by Feynman-α and Rossi-α analyses agrees with each other within a statistical error range of least-squares fitting