Vitamin K Supplementation Modulates Bone Metabolism and Ultra-Structure of Ovariectomized Mice

Background/Aims: Osteoporosis is a bone metabolic disease that affects mostly post-menopausal women. There has been shown that vitamin K (VK) supplementation during menopause may decrease bone loss as well as risk of bone breaking. Aiming to clarify the beneficial role of VK in bone metabolism during menopause, we investigated mineral metabolism and bone ultrastructure of ovariectomized (OVX) mice. Methods: To determine the effects chronic use of VK in bone structure and mineral metabolism in OVX mice, we used several methods, such as DXA, µCTScan, and SEM as well as biomolecular techniques, such as ELISA and qRT-PCR. In addition, complete analysis of serum hormonal and other molecules associated to bone and lipid metabolism were evaluated overview the effects of VK in menopause murine model. Results: VK treatment significantly affects Pi metabolism independently of OVX, changing Pi plasma, urinary output, balance, and Pi bone mass. Interestingly, VK also increased VLDL in mice independently of castration. In addition, VK increased compact bone mass in OVX mice when we evaluated it by DXA, histomorphometry, µCTScanning. VK increased bone formation markers, osteocalcin, HYP- osteocalcin, and AP whereas it decreased bone resorption markers, such as urinary DPD/creatinine ratio and plasmatic TRAP. Surprisingly, SEM images revealed that VK treatment led to amelioration of microfractures observed in OVX untreated controls. In addition, SHAM operated VK treated mice exhibited higher number of migrating osteoblasts and in situ secretion of AP. OVX led to decreased to in situ secretion of AP that was restored by VK treatment. Moreover, VK treatment increased mRNA expression of bone Calbindin 28KDa independently of OVX. Conclusion: VK treatment in OVX mice exhibited beneficial effects on bone ultrastructure, mostly by altering osteoblastic function and secretion of organic bone matrix. Therefore, VK could be useful to treat osteopenic/osteoporotic patients

Uso de drogas psicotrópicas e sintomas sugestivos de depressão associados à metilação do DNA do NR3C1

Introduction: Psychiatric disorders have become a global problem that leads millions of people to use psychotropic medications, especially benzodiazepines. The effects of these substances are widely known regarding tolerance and chemical dependence, however, from epigenetics perspective, there are still little known. Objective: To evaluate the association between psychotropic drug use, NR3C1 gene methylation and its relation with symptoms suggestive of depression in adult individuals assisted in the public health system. Methods: 385 adult volunteers (20-59 years) users of the Brazilian Unified Health System were recruited to evaluate socioeconomic, health, lifestyle conditions in a cross sectional study. BDI-II evaluated symptoms suggestive of depression and pyrosequencing evaluated NR3C1 DNA methylation. Bivariate and multivariate Poisson regression model with robust variance (p < 0.05) evaluated the association between psychotropic drug use and NR3C1 gene methylation. Results: Specific depressive symptoms such as irritability, insomnia and fatigability were associated with psychotropic drug use. Symptoms of past failure, indecision and loss of appetite were associated with hypermethylation patterns in CpGs 40 to 47 of NR3C1 gene. Moreover, psychotropic drug use is associated with 50% reduction in NR3C1 gene methylation, through model adjusted with socioeconomic, health and lifestyle confounding variables. Conclusions: Psychotropic drug use and depressive symptoms was associated with changes in NR3C1 DNA methylation. In this context, epigenetic modification resulting from psychotropic drug use and depressive symptoms could be considered, mainly in population studies with epigenetic evaluation, where these factors may be influencing the findings of future studies.Introdução: os distúrbios psiquiátricos tornaram-se um problema global que leva milhões de pessoas ao uso de medicamentos psicotrópicos. Os efeitos dessas substâncias são amplamente conhecidos quanto à tolerância e dependência química, porém, do ponto de vista epigenético, ainda são pouco conhecidos. Objetivos: avaliar a associação entre o uso de drogas psicotrópicas, metilação do gene NR3C1 e sua relação com sintomas sugestivos de depressão em indivíduos entre 20 a 59 anos usuários da rede pública de saúde. Método: 385 voluntários de 20-59 anos, usuários do Sistema Único de Saúde brasileiro foram recrutados para avaliação das condições socioeconômicas, de saúde e de estilo de vida em estudo transversal. O BDI-II avaliou sintomas sugestivos de depressão e o pirosequenciamento avaliou a metilação do DNA de NR3C1. Modelo de regressão de Poisson bivariado e multivariado com variância robusta (p < 0,05) avaliou a associação entre o uso de drogas psicotrópicas e metilação do gene NR3C1. Resultados: sintomas depressivos específicos como irritabilidade, insônia e fadiga foram associados ao uso de medicamentos psicotrópicos. Sintomas de fracasso passado, indecisão e perda de apetite foram associados a padrões de hipermetilação nos CpGs 40 a 47 do gene NR3C1. Além disso, o uso de psicofármacos está associado à redução de 50% na metilação do gene NR3C1, por meio de modelo ajustado com variáveis de confusão socioeconômicas, de saúde e estilo de vida. Conclusão: o uso de drogas psicotrópicas e sintomas específicos depressivos foram associados a alterações na metilação do DNA de NR3C1

Association of PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms on estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene to changes into serum lipid profile of post-menopausal women: Effects of aging, body mass index and breast cancer incidence - Fig 2

<p>A: Linear regression graph comparing serum Total Lipids and age. Each lines slopes are significantly different (p = 0.015). Goodness of fit (r²): XX = 0.097; Xx = 0.007. B: Linear regression graph comparing serum Triglycerides and age. Each lines slopes are significantly different (p<0.05). Goodness of fit (r²): XX = 0.060; Xx = 0.002. C: Linear regression graph comparing serum Total Lipid and BMI. Each lines slopes are not significantly different (p>0.05). Goodness of fit (r²): XX = 0.072; Xx = 0.004. D: Linear regression graph comparing serum triglycerides and BMI. Each lines slopes are significantly different (p<0.05). Goodness of fit (r²): XX = 0.106; Xx = 0.017.</p

Serum lipid profile for each genotype.

<p>Serum lipid profile for each genotype.</p

Population characteristics.

<p>Population characteristics.</p

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data