Effects of Nutraceuticals and Botanicals on Macrophage Cholesterol Efflux: Implications for Atherosclerosis

To date, the literature on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels as an inverse risk factor for atherosclerosis has mainly been observational, and it is likely that the metabolism and function of HDL is a more significant determinant of cardiovascular disease. As an example, as cholesterol is effluxed out of macrophages and carried to the liver via HDL for excretion, reduced cholesterol efflux can result in increased cholesterol accumulation. In terms of atherosclerosis risk, increasing cholesterol efflux is theoretically a strategy that can be considered as the groundwork of cardiovascular disease treatment and prevention. However, until now, there has not been a pharmaceutical agent that has effectively increased reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) at all steps of the process. Here is a review of the research on natural compounds present in edible foods and their observed in vitro and in vivo (and even ex vivo) effects on the first step of RCT: macrophage cholesterol efflux. The findings here are preliminary and contradictory, making it hard to translate the evidence on most of these naturally occurring agents into clinical applications

How Grief, Funerals, and Poverty Affect Bereaved Health, Productivity, and Medical Dependence in Japan

死別による生産性の低下・疾病・医療福祉依存の実態を調査 --死別悲嘆のコストに、いかに対応できるか--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-09-28.Reducing the high social cost of death. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-06.Grief has been shown to weaken bereaved persons' health, but measurements of their lost time and medical expense remain rare. Funerals traditionally managed and assuaged grief through ritual expression, approval, and social support. Research suggests that satisfying funeral participation reduces grief, while poverty exacerbates it. We hypothesized that: (1) psycho-physical symptoms of grief, (2) abbreviation/dissatisfaction in the funeral, and (3) poverty, correlate with decreased productivity and increased medical and social services use. We collected data from 165 mourning families about their grief, funerals, and subsequent medical conditions. (1) Deeper grief after bereavement in Japan correlated with more physical problems, more down time, and more medical dependency. (2) Low satisfaction with funerals correlated with higher hospital, pharmacy, and counseling costs. (3) Low income families lost more time, while declining incomes showed increased pharmaceutical costs. This suggests that satisfying funerals and income safeguards may reduce costs of low productivity and increased public services dependency

Process of parenting a child with RB

Background : Retinoblastoma（RB） occurs at a very young age. Since the disease is diagnosed at an early age, the family is responsible for the care of the childʼs disease acceptance. Objective : This study aims to explore the parenting process of children with RB toward disease acceptance. Methods : Parents of eleven children with RB living in Japan were interviewed, and the data were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach of Kinoshita（M-GTA）. Results : There were twenty-one concepts representing the process of parenting a child with RB while guiding him or her toward disease acceptance, and nineteen of them were classified into ten categories based on semantic similarities. The two other concepts showed similar interpretability to categories. These categories and concepts were summarized into two core categories : “Helping the child develop a positive mindset to define the disease as a part of him/herself ” and “Paving the way in advance for the child to live comfortably when his or her living space expands”. Conclusions : In a cyclical framework of parenting, consisting of two core categories described in Results, the parents coordinated these two approaches while maintaining balance by “Avoiding saying anything that does not need to be said” and established their process of parenting a child with RB while guiding him or her toward disease acceptance, according to their household situation. The results suggest the necessity of recognizing that in childhood-onset cancers, such as RB, and diseases involving genetic issues, problems tend to occur not only during the treatment period but also at the time of life events and providing support from a comprehensive perspective

Identifying bereaved grievers with greatest medical or social service needs in Japan

[Objective] Severe grief adversely affects the health of bereaved families, potentially burdening medical and community health services. Interventions for effective community health maintenance must identify the people likely to face severe effects of bereavement. The present study identified characteristics of mourners who experience severe grief within a year of bereavement to confirm whether this grief increased their reliance on Japanese medical and social services. [Design] We conducted a nationwide postal survey of Japanese bereaved within the previous year, to compare those reporting daily or overwhelming ‘heavy’ grief to those with less heavy grief, in terms of demographic and socioeconomic details, daily work and non-work activity, frequency of medical and social service use. [Setting/participants] In 2019, with the support of the Ministry of Education and the All Japan Funeral Co-Operation, we distributed approximately 5500 questionnaires to Japanese who had presided at funerals within the past year for anonymous return. By January of 2020, we received 1078 complete voluntary responses from bereaved Japanese. [Results] Half of the ‘heavy grief’ group (n=143) reported adverse effects on health and daily life, including needs for pharmacological, medical or welfare support. Losses of husbands or children were particularly connected to severe grief; ‘unexpected’ death from cancer caused the greatest shock. Employment (even part-time) buffered against severe grief; grief was greater for the unemployed and substantially worse for those who lost significant income at the same time as they lost loved ones. [Conclusion] These findings suggest that prior counselling should reduce the shock of bereavement and economic loss, which increases subsequent medical dependence. Medical professionals and community health workers can use the above factors to target in advance the family members in greatest danger of heavy grief, to intervene lest grief adversely affect their physical and psychological health after bereavement

Unexplored Costs of Bereavement Grief in Japan: Patterns of Increased Use of Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Financial Services

Our Japan-wide survey (n=1, 078) revealed that bereaved who showed increased reliance on medical, pharmaceutical, and financial/legal services was in the ‘50’s age bracket, and for unemployed widows; it corresponded less with low annual income than with high income. Increased users reported their decline in physical health seriously influencing their work and lives, suggesting “presenteeism”. Moreover, they spent 2.7 times more for medical and pharmaceutical services than those reporting continual use, portending 4 to 10 times more Japanese government expense for this group, half of whom considered their own out-of-pocket expenses a financial burden

DNA Barcoding, Environmental DNA and an Ongoing Attempt of Detecting Biodiversity in Lake Kasumigaura

Symposium Pape

Neurosecretory protein GL stimulates food intake, de novo lipogenesis, and onset of obesity.

Mechanisms underlying the central regulation of food intake and fat accumulation are not fully understood. We found that neurosecretory protein GL (NPGL), a newly-identified neuropeptide, increased food intake and white adipose tissue (WAT) in rats. NPGL-precursor gene overexpression in the hypothalamus caused increases in food intake, WAT, body mass, and circulating insulin when fed a high calorie diet. Intracerebroventricular administration of NPGL induced de novo lipogenesis in WAT, increased insulin, and it selectively induced carbohydrate intake. Neutralizing antibody administration decreased the size of lipid droplets in WAT. Npgl mRNA expression was upregulated by fasting and low insulin levels. Additionally, NPGL-producing cells were responsive to insulin. These results point to NPGL as a novel neuronal regulator that drives food intake and fat deposition through de novo lipogenesis and acts to maintain steady-state fat level in concert with insulin. Dysregulation of NPGL may be a root cause of obesity