Taurine's health influence on Japanese high school girls

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in children and adolescents has been increasing at an alarming rate. MS risks during childhood and adolescence adversely affect health conditions in later life. Thus, the characterization of their MS risks is a critical research field. The aims of this study are to survey the health status of Japanese adolescent females, a poorly characterized population, and to investigate the potential relationship between their MS risks and dietary factors like potassium (K) and taurine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Anthropometric characteristics of 243 healthy school girls aged 13 to 18 years were measured. Serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and plasma levels of glucose and insulin were analyzed in fasting blood samples. We assessed overweight, disturbed lipid prolife, higher blood pressure (hBP) and higher plasma glucose (hGlc) levels as indicators of MS risks. The relationships between MS risks and urinary K or taurine excretion were investigated by dividing into higher and lower groups at medians of their urinary excretions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Half of junior high school (JHS) and one-quarter of senior high school (SHS) girls had at least one MS risk. The quite common risk was hGlc, the rates being 21% in JHS girls and 14% in SHS. The prevalence of being overweight and obesity were only small portions, the rate being 0% and 0% in JHS girls, and 10% and 1% in SHS, respectively. Substantial differences in the prevalence of hBP were observed between JHS (22%) and SHS (4%) girls. Furthermore, higher urinary K excretion group showed a significant decrease in triglyceride level (<it>P </it>= 0.03) and increase in HDL level (<it>P </it>= 0.003) compared with the lower. Also, the higher urinary taurine excretion group exhibited a significant reduction in triglyceride level (<it>P </it>= 0.04) compared with the lower.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results indicate that control of plasma glucose level rather than body weight is a crucial task in Japanese pubertal girls, and that a dietary habit rich in K and taurine could improve their lipid profile. Nutritional education based on these findings would help to prevent the future development of MS in Japanese female adolescents.</p

High SDF-1 Expression in HIV-1 Carriers Does Not Correlate with CD8+T-Cell-Mediated Suppression of Viral Replication

AbstractStromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) inhibits T-cell tropic (T-tropic) HIV-1 infectionin vitro. In this study, we examined the regulatory role of SDF-1 on HIV-1 replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of HIV-infected individuals. We found that the amount of SDF-1 mRNA in freshly isolated PBMC of HIV-1 carriers was higher than in healthy donors. Moreover, PBMC from some asymptomatic carriers (ACs) exhibited high levels of SDF-1 mRNA expression. The level of SDF-1 expression in PBMC did not correlate with the magnitude of CD8+T cell-mediated suppression of HIV-1 among ACs. SDF-1 inhibited HIV-1 replication at the viral entry step, whereas a single-cycle HIV-1 infection system showed that the major part of the CD8+T-cell-mediated suppression occurs after intracellular penetration of the virus. Our results suggest that SDF-1 acts as a suppressor of virus replication in a CD8+T-cell-independent mechanism in HIV-infected individuals

A questionnaire-based comparative study of postoperative quality of life between laryngotracheal separation and tracheoesophageal diversion

Purpose: Whether tracheoesophageal diversion (TED) is preferable to laryngotracheal separation (LTS) is unclear. This study examined the need for tracheoesophageal anastomosis by reviewing complications after TED and LTS and administering a questionnaire on postoperative quality of life.Patients and methods: Medical records of TED/LTS cases performed at a single institution from 2003 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed and a questionnaire was administered to parents of patients at an outpatient visit.Results: A total of 40 TED and 18 LTS cases were included. Complications occurred in six TED cases and one LTS case, with no significant differences between groups (P=0.42). A total of 22 parents of patients (TED 16 cases; LTS six cases) completed the questionnaire. Voice production was reported in three TED cases and two LTS cases. Patients indicated that suctions were ‘decreased’ in 13 and ‘unchanged’ in two TED cases, but ‘decreased’ in one and ‘unchanged’ in five LTS cases (P=0.0055). Readmissions were ‘increased’ in one and ‘decreased’ in 14 TED cases, but ‘decreased’ in three and ‘unchanged’ in three LTS cases (P=0.015).Conclusion: Postoperative complication rate was equivalent between groups, and the numbers of suctions and readmissions were decreased in the TED group. Therefore, tracheoesophageal anastomosis should be performed more commonly.Keywords: complication, laryngotracheal separation, quality of life questionnaire, tracheoesophageal diversio

Effect of high-fat diet on phosphorus absorption

Objective: Dietary carbohydrate/fat ratio may affect phosphorus metabolism because both calcium and phosphorus are regulated by similar metabolic mechanisms, and a high-fat diet (HF) induces deleterious effects on the absorption of dietary calcium. We hypothesized that the HF induces an increase in phosphorus absorption; therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of differences in the quantity and quality of dietary fat on phosphorus metabolism over the short and long term. Research Methods & Procedures: Eighteen 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats were fed an isocaloric diet containing varied carbohydrate/fat energy ratio and sources of fat (control diet [Control], HF, and high saturated-fat diet [HF-SFA]). At 3 days and 7 weeks after the allocation and initiation of the test diets, feces and urine were collected and used for phosphorus and calcium measurement. Results: The fecal phosphorous concentration (F-Pi) was lower in the HF-SFA group than in the other two groups; however, the urine phosphorus concentration (U-Pi) was significantly higher in the HF-SFA group than the other two groups when the rats were fed over the short (p<0.01) and long term (p<0.01 vs Control group, p<0.05 vs HF group). There were no significant differences in type-IIa sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-2a) and type-IIc sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-2c) mRNA expression, which are renal phosphate transport-related genes; however, the expression of type-IIb sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-2b) and type-III sodium-phosphate cotransporter (Pit-1) mRNA in the duodenum was higher in the HF and HF-SFA groups than in the Control group (p<0.05), although there were no significant differences in these in the jejunum. Conclusions: Our results indicated that HF, particularly HF-SFA, increases intestinal phosphate absorption compared with Control

年齢に応じた血中活性型ビタミンD濃度, 腎Cyp27b1およびCyp24a1発現に対する食餌性リン反応性の変化には腎α-Klotho遺伝子発現が関連する

In this study, we investigated the relationship between age-related changes in renal α-Klotho gene expression, vitamin D metabolism and the responsiveness of dietary phosphate in 1, 2 and 13 month-old mice fed a high phosphate (phosphate 1.2%) diet or low phosphate (phosphate 0.02%) diet for 5 days. We found that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels in plasma were significantly lower in the high phosphate group than the low phosphate group for 1 and 2 month-old mice, but not 13 month-old mice. In addition, in the high phosphate group plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels were decreased in 2 month-old mice relative to 1 month-old mice, but 13 month-old mice had higher levels than 2 month-old mice. In fact, plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels showed a significant correlation with vitamin D metabolism gene Cyp27b1 and Cyp24a1 mRNA expression in the high phosphate group. Interestingly, renal α-Klotho mRNA and protein levels were significant change with age. Furthermore, α-Klotho mRNA expression showed a significant negative correlation with plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels in the high phosphate group. Our results suggest that age-related alterations in renal α-Klotho expression could affect the responsiveness of dietary phosphate to vitamin D metabolism

Correspondence between otolith microstructual changes and early life history events in Anguilla marmorata leptocephali and glass eels

To determine the exact correspondence between otolith characteristics and early life history events such as metamorphosis, coastal migration and recruitment to estuaries, both otolith microstructure and microchemistry analyses were applied to a sequential developmental series of samples, e. g. leptocephali, a metamorphosing larva, oceanic glass eels, and coastal glass eels. Total length and age were 10.1-50.7 mm and 22-137 d in leptocephali, 46.3 mm and 147 d in a metamorphosing larva, 47.8, 48.6 mm and 159, 160 d in oceanic glass eels, and 47.9-54.8 mm and 119-168 d in coastal glass eels. Checks at hatching and first feeding were observed in all specimens, but metamorphosis and freshwater checks were observed only in some specimens. It was confirmed that the abrupt drop in otolith Sr : Ca ratios and drastic increases of otolith increment widths in the metamorphosing larval stage correspond to the onset of metamorphosis, and the decrease after the peaks suggested the completion of metamorphosis, because the metamorphosing larva had no decrease in incremental widths. The relatively conserved Sr : Ca ratios decreased sharply in synchrony with the increasing increment widths. This study provides the first direct evidence that these drastic changes in otolith microstructure and microchemistry actually occur during metamorphosis, which has been only hypothesized