Clinical Efficacy of Endocytoscopy for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Endocytoscopy (EC) is a contact-type optical endoscope that allows in vivo cellular observation during gastrointestinal endoscopy and is now commercially available not only in Japan but also in Asian, European Union, and Middle Eastern countries. EC helps conduct a highly accurate pathological prediction without biopsy. Initially, EC was reported to be effective for esophageal diseases. Subsequently, its efficacy for stomach and colorectal diseases has been reported. In this narrative review, we searched for clinical studies that investigated the efficacy of EC. EC seems to accurately diagnose gastrointestinal diseases without biopsy. Most of the studies aimed to clarify the relationship between endocytoscopic findings of gastrointestinal neoplasia and pathological diagnosis. Some studies have investigated non-epithelial lesions or diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or infectious diseases. However, there are few high-level pieces of evidence, such as randomized trials; thus, further studies are needed

Short Telomere Subtelomeric Hypomethylation is associated with Telomere Attrition in Elderly Diabetic Patients

Telomere shortening is well known to be associated with the aging process and aging-associated diseases, including diabetes. The telomere length and subtelomeric methylation status in peripheral leucocytes (LTL) were compared in elderly type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients and diabetes-free controls (C). The methylation status was analyzed between MspI-TRF lengths and HpaII-TRF lengths by using methylation-sensitive and -insensitive restriction enzyme isoschizomers, MspI and HpaII, respectively. The mean telomere lengths, MspI-TRF or HpaII-TRF, were not significantly different between C and T2D patients. The percentage of fractionated densitometry showed that long and middle telomeres (>9.4 kb, 4.4–9.4 kb) were unaltered but short telomeres (<4.4 kb) in T2D patients were increased compared with C group. The methylation status revealed subtelomeric hypomethylation in short telomeres of T2D patients. When some patients with T2D were treated with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaril coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statin), results seen in short telomere of T2D patients were not observed and were not different from C. This suggested that this altered subtelomeric hypomethylation may be associated with the accelerated telomere shortening in elderly diabetic patients. These results also mean that the subtelomeric hypomethylation can also be influenced by statin treatment in T2D.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

The approximate formulas predicting personal somatic telomere length using patient blood test data

Biological aging underlies lifestyle related diseases. It can be assessed by measuring personal somatic cell telomere length. However, measuring the telomere length is laborious, and its clinical surrogate parameters have not been developed. This study analyzed the correlation between telomere length in peripheral leukocytes and laboratory data to select test items relating closely to biological aging. We established formulas from these clinical data to predict the personal telomere length. The subjects were patients having visited Kyushu University Beppu Hospital from 2012 to 2015. Two hundred thirty-two patients were enrolled. The blood data were collected and telomere lengths were measured by Southern blotting method. The patients showed significant correlations between the telomere length and several blood test data with a gender-related difference. Candidate formulas are as follows; Predicted telomere length (kb) for men = 8.59 - 0.037 x Age (years) + 0.024 x Hemoglobin (g/dL) Predicted telomere length (kb) for women = 4.83 - 0.019 x Age (years) + 0.23 x Albumin (g/dL) + 0.0001 x White Blood Cells (/mm3) +0.0020 x Red Blood Cells (x 104/mm3) + 0.0032 x Total Cholesterol (mg/dL) Thus the derived formulae allow for the accurate differential prediction of telomeric length in male and female patients.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Telomere shortening velocity of patients administered with hypnotics is accelerated in a gender-differential manner

The telomere length and its distribution were compared between patients administered with and without hypnotics to see if regular administration of hypnotics is associated with their aging-related somatic telomere shortening. Male patients presented significant shortening of telomere length of circulating leukocytes in association with age (–41.9 bp/year, p = 0.045) in contrast with controls (–18.3 kb/year, p = 0.155). On the other hand, female patients presented no significant shortening of telomere length with aging (–16.4 bp/year, p = 0.372) in contrast with controls (–55.9 bp/year, p = 0.00005). These results suggested that regular administration of hypnotics is associated with aging progression in a gender-related manner. The administration of hypnotics could be an indicator as the somatic aging status and for the screening of background lifestyle-associated diseases promoting biological aging.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Night-Time Hot Spring Bathing Is Associated with a Lower Systolic Blood Pressure among Japanese Older Adults: A Single-Institution Retrospective Cohort Study

Hot spring bathing is practiced to help manage hypertension. We retrospectively investigated the effects of hot spring bathing on hypertension with the aim of identifying a novel approach to prevent and manage hypertension. The study cohort comprised 99 patients aged ≥65 years admitted to Kyushu University Beppu Hospital between 1 December 2021 and 30 November 2022 who could walk by themselves and who used hot springs for ≥3 days during their hospital stay. The changes in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly decreased in the night-time bathing group (n = 21) compared with the noontime (n = 26) and afternoon (n = 52) groups. Night-time hot spring bathing was significantly associated with reduced systolic blood pressure the next morning in older adults. Although prospective randomized controlled trials on night-time hot spring bathing as a hypertension treatment are warranted to investigate whether the practice can prevent hypertension among adults aged ≥65 years, we have initiated a single-center, phase II study on the relationship between sleep quality and quality of life in hypertensive patients after night-time hot spring bathing