Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis : effects of exercise training (CROSSYS). Exercise training intervention in monozygotic twins discordant for body weight

Background: Obesity and physical inactivity are major global public health concerns, both of which increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Regulation of glucose homeostasis involves cross-talk between the central nervous system, peripheral tissues, and gut microbiota, and is affected by genetics. Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis: effects of exercise training (CROSSYS) aims to gain new systems-level understanding of the central metabolism in human body, and how exercise training affects this cross-talk. Methods: CROSSYS is an exercise training intervention, in which participants are monozygotic twins from pairs discordant for body mass index (BMI) and within a pair at least the other is overweight. Twins are recruited from three population-based longitudinal Finnish twin studies, including twins born in 1983-1987, 1975-1979, and 1945-1958. The participants undergo 6-month-long exercise intervention period, exercising four times a week (including endurance, strength, and high-intensity training). Before and after the exercise intervention, comprehensive measurements are performed in Turku PET Centre, Turku, Finland. The measurements include: two positron emission tomography studies (insulin-stimulated whole-body and tissue-specific glucose uptake and neuroinflammation), magnetic resonance imaging (brain morphology and function, quantification of body fat masses and organ volumes), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (quantification of fat within heart, pancreas, liver and tibialis anterior muscle), echocardiography, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsies, a neuropsychological test battery as well as biosamples from blood, urine and stool. The participants also perform a maximal exercise capacity test and tests of muscular strength. Discussion: This study addresses the major public health problems related to modern lifestyle, obesity, and physical inactivity. An eminent strength of this project is the possibility to study monozygotic twin pairs that share the genome at the sequence level but are discordant for BMI that is a risk factor for metabolic impairments such as insulin resistance. Thus, this exercise training intervention elucidates the effects of obesity on metabolism and whether regular exercise training is able to reverse obesity-related impairments in metabolism in the absence of the confounding effects of genetic factors.Peer reviewe

Perfusion defect size predicts engraftment but not early retention of intra-myocardially injected cardiosphere-derived cells after acute myocardial infarction

Therapeutic cell retention and engraftment are critical for myocardial regeneration. Underlying mechanisms, including the role of tissue perfusion, are not well understood. In Wistar Kyoto rats, syngeneic cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) were injected intramyocardially, after experimental myocardial infarction. CDCs were labeled with [18F]-FDG (n = 7), for quantification of 1-h retention, or with sodium-iodide-symporter gene (NIS; n = 8), for detection of 24-h engraftment by reporter imaging. Perfusion was imaged simultaneously. Infarct size was 37 ± 9 and 38 ± 9% of LV in FDG and NIS groups. Cell signal was located in the infarct border zone in all animals. No significant relationship was observed between infarct size and 1-h CDC retention (r = −0.65; P = 0.11). However, infarct size correlated significantly with 24-h engraftment (r = 0.75; P = 0.03). Residual perfusion at the injection site was not related to cell retention/engraftment. Larger infarcts are associated with improved CDC engraftment. This observation encourages further investigation of microenvironmental conditions after ischemic damage and their role in therapeutic cell survival

Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis: effects of exercise training (CROSSYS). Exercise training intervention in monozygotic twins discordant for body weight

Background: Obesity and physical inactivity are major global public health concerns, both of which increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Regulation of glucose homeostasis involves cross-talk between the central nervous system, peripheral tissues, and gut microbiota, and is affected by genetics. Systemic cross-talk between brain, gut, and peripheral tissues in glucose homeostasis: effects of exercise training (CROSSYS) aims to gain new systems-level understanding of the central metabolism in human body, and how exercise training affects this cross-talk.Methods: CROSSYS is an exercise training intervention, in which participants are monozygotic twins from pairs discordant for body mass index (BMI) and within a pair at least the other is overweight. Twins are recruited from three population-based longitudinal Finnish twin studies, including twins born in 1983-1987, 1975-1979, and 1945-1958. The participants undergo 6-month-long exercise intervention period, exercising four times a week (including endurance, strength, and high-intensity training). Before and after the exercise intervention, comprehensive measurements are performed in Turku PET Centre, Turku, Finland. The measurements include: two positron emission tomography studies (insulin-stimulated whole-body and tissue-specific glucose uptake and neuroinflammation), magnetic resonance imaging (brain morphology and function, quantification of body fat masses and organ volumes), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (quantification of fat within heart, pancreas, liver and tibialis anterior muscle), echocardiography, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsies, a neuropsychological test battery as well as biosamples from blood, urine and stool. The participants also perform a maximal exercise capacity test and tests of muscular strength.Discussion: This study addresses the major public health problems related to modern lifestyle, obesity, and physical inactivity. An eminent strength of this project is the possibility to study monozygotic twin pairs that share the genome at the sequence level but are discordant for BMI that is a risk factor for metabolic impairments such as insulin resistance. Thus, this exercise training intervention elucidates the effects of obesity on metabolism and whether regular exercise training is able to reverse obesity-related impairments in metabolism in the absence of the confounding effects of genetic factors

Ryhmämuotoisen vertaistuen merkitys nuorille äideille : Kirjallisuuskatsaus

Tämän opinnäytetyön aiheena oli 20–24-vuotiaiden nuorten äitien vertaistuen merkitys. Tavoitteena oli selvittää kirjallisuuden ja tutkimusten pohjalta millaista vertaistukea nuorille äideille on saatavilla, tutkia millaista vertaistukea he tarvitsevat ja millainen merkitys nuorille äideille suunnatulla vertaisryhmätoiminnalla heille on sekä pohtia, miten vertaistukiryhmätoimintaa tulisi tulevaisuudessa kehittää. Tutkimusmenetelmänä tässä opinnäytetyössä käytettiin kirjallisuuskatsausta. Prosessin aluksi määriteltiin tutkimuskysymykset, jonka jälkeen tehtiin hakuja eri tietokantoihin. Tämän jälkeen aineiston analysoinnissa käytettiin menetelmänä teemoittelua. Lopulliseen analyysiin valikoitui yhteensä kahdeksan (8) tutkimusta tai artikkelia mukaanotto- ja poissulkukriteereiden avulla. Keskeisimmiksi teemoiksi nousi ryhmän tai vertaisen antaman tuen merkitys, muu sosiaalinen tuki sekä vertaistuen sisältö. Tuloksista selvisi, että äidit kokevat vertaistuen hyvin merkitykselliseksi, vaikka ryhmään lähteminen koetaankin usein hankalaksi. Vaihtoehdon tähän ongelmaan tarjoaa internet keskustelupalstoineen, joissa vertaistuki on saatavilla mihin aikaan tahansa. Internetin suoman anonymiteetin suojissa keskustelun aiheet voivat olla hyvinkin syvällisiä. Internetin tarjoama tuki ei kuitenkaan korvaa kasvokkain tapahtuvaa vertaistukea. Nuorille äideille suunnatusta vertaistuesta ei ole tarpeeksi tutkittua tietoa. Jatkossa tulisikin tutkia enemmän eri ikäryhmille suunnatun vertaisryhmätoiminnan merkitystä sekä perustaa nuorille äideille suunnattuja vertaisryhmiä.The topic of this study was the importance of peer support for 20-24 year old young mothers. The aim was to explore on the basis of literature and research what kind of peer support young mothers’ need, what is now available for them and to determine the significance of peer groups to them. The purpose of this study was also to suggest how to develop the support group activities in the future. The research method used in this study was a literature review. In the beginning of the process the research questions were defined, which was followed by searching data from various databases. After this, the material was analyzed with typecasting. The final analysis included a total of eight (8) studies or research articles selected with the help of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The key themes were the role and significance of peer groups or peers, social support given by oth-ers and the content of the support. The results showed that mothers found peer support very meaningful even if their participation in the group meetings was often felt challenging. The Internet provides an easy alternative to this problem: online discussion forums are available at any time. Anonymous peer discussions on the Internet are usually more profound than face to face discus-sions. However, support provided by the Internet is no substitute to peer support given face to face. A great deal more research would be needed on this topic of peer support for young mothers. Moreover, the importance of peer support to different age groups should be studied more pro-foundly in the future as well as establish support groups meant for young mothers

The Effect of PPARγ-Agonism on LDL Subclass Profile in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease

Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) often present a preponderance of small, dense LDL particles (small-LDL), which are associated with a high risk of myocardial infarction. Some studies suggest that PPARγ-agonists increase LDL cholesterol but have divergent effects on various LDL subclasses in T2DM patients. We studied the effect of rosiglitazone on the LDL subclass profile in T2DM patients with verified coronary artery disease (CAD). 58 patients with T2DM (HbA1c < 8.5%) and CAD were enrolled in a 16-week, randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trial with rosiglitazone 8mg/day (n = 29) or placebo (n = 29). The LDL subclass profile was measured with gel electrophoresis. Rosiglitazone improved insulin sensitivity and glycemic control. Total cholesterol did not change after rosiglitazone treatment (p = 0.062, ANCOVA adjusted for gender and baseline values), whereas LDL (including IDL) cholesterol increased from 2.33 ± 0.48 to 2.67 ± 0.61 mmol/l (p = 0.002 vs. baseline, p = 0.0497 vs. placebo) and large buoyant LDL (large-LDL < 250Å) increased from 1.31 ± 0.36 to 1.46 ± 0.42 mmol/l (p = 0.010 vs. baseline, p = 0.044 vs. placebo) in the rosiglitazone group. No significant changes occurred to the concentration of small-LDL (< 250Å), the average LDL particle size, or HDL or triglyceride concentrations. Whole-body insulin sensitivity was associated with the average LDL particle size after intervention in the whole population (r = 0.40, p = 0.002) and in the rosiglitazone group (r = 0.43, p = 0.020). In conclusion, in T2DM patients with CAD, rosiglitazone treatment significantly increases the concentration of large (buoyant) LDL cholesterol, but not of small dense LDL cholesterol. The long term consequences of this divergent effect of rosiglitazone on LDL subfractions require further exploration