The impact of building up the limb muscle mass by the resistance exercise with the intake of milk in middle-aged and elderly women

Background: In the rapidly aging Japanese society, the most serious disorder to prevent is sarcopenia for extending healthy life expectancy. Objective: This study was carried out to clarify whether five kinds of specific and simple resistance exercise performing at home for the short term (42 days) with theintake of whole milk could help to increase the limb muscle mass in middle-aged and elderly women. Participants and measurements: Subjects were 39 healthy women aged 50 to 80 years who gave the consent to participate in the present study. Body composition, physical fitness, food and nutrient intake were measured. Oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) was also performed. Groups and results: Subjects were categorized in two groups; Group I with the increase of the limb muscle mass after exercise and Group II with no increase. Body weight before exercise (Group I, 51.6±5.5 kg vs Group II, 58.5±10.3 kg), the body mass index (BMI) (21.7±2.5 kg/m2 vs 24.3±3.9 kg/m2), the limb muscle mass (14.4±1.3 kg vs 15.6±2.0 kg), the skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) (6.0±0.5 kg/m2 vs 6.5±0.7 kg/m2), were all significantly high in Group II. The intake of milk before exercise in Group I (162.1±103.7 g/day) was significantly higher than in Group II (92.5±63.3 g/day). The blood glucose level at 30 min after glucose loading in Group I before exercise was significantly higher than that in Group Ⅱ (199.3 ± 31.1 mg/dl vs 177.0±34.1 mg/dl). Conclusion: The subjects in Group I could successfully increase the limb muscle mass, but the subjects in Group II, whose weight, BMI, the limb muscle mass were significantly high before exercise, could not increase the muscle mass by resistance exercise with the intake of milk. It was considered that the resistance exercise carried out in this study was not strong enough for Group II. We assumed that the BMI value could be the indicator of the strength of exercise for building up the muscle mass in middle-aged and elderly individuals

Melanotic oncocytic metaplasia of the nasopharynx as a benign mimicker of malignant melanoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Melanotic variant of oncocytic metaplasia of the nasopharynx is an extremely rare condition.</p> <p>Case report</p> <p>A 73-year-old Japanese man presented with nasal congestion and chill. Nasoscopic examination revealed multiple black nodules around the bilateral torus tubarius. The nodules were biopsied to determine the histology. The clinical differential diagnosis was malignant melanoma or hemangioma. Microscopically, there were oncocytic plump cells with abundant brown pigmented granules showing glandular pattern. No significant atypia was found. The pigment was positive for Fontana-Masson staining, and negative for Berlin blue staining, showing that it was melanin pigment. Immunohistochemically, S100-positive HMB45-negative dendritic cells were also found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Such a pigmented variant of benign oncocytic lesion is very rare, and only 15 cases have been reported in the English literature. As a benign mimicker of malignant melanoma, melanocytic oncocytic metaplasia should be always taken into consideration in the clinical setting.</p

Circulating T follicular helper 2 cells, T follicular regulatory cells and regulatory B cells are effective biomarkers for predicting the response to house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy in patients with allergic respiratory diseases

The relationships between T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and antigen-specific immunoglobulins (sIgs) in patients with allergic respiratory diseases who are receiving antigen immunotherapy (AIT) have not been fully clarified. Therefore, we started to perform house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy (HDM-SLIT) for 20 patients with atopic asthma comorbid with allergic rhinitis (AA+AR) who were already receiving ordinary treatments including inhaled corticosteroid (ICS). We examined percentages of circulating T follicular helper (cTfh) and regulatory (cTfr) cells and percentages of circulating regulatory T (cTreg) and B (cBreg) cells by FACS and we examined levels of Der-p/f sIgs by ELISA. Based on the symptom score (asthma control questionnaire: ACQ) and medication score ((global initiative for asthma: GINA) treatment step score) in patients with AA, the patients were divided into responders and non-responders. The percentage of cTfh2 cells significantly decreased and the percentage of cTfh1 cells significantly increased within the first year. Der-p/f sIgEs decreased after a transient elevation at 3 months in both groups. Notably, the percentage of cTfh2 cells and the ratio of cTfh2/cBreg cells and Der-p/f sIgEs greatly decreased in responders from 6 months to 12 months. The percentages of cTfr and cTreg cells showed significant negative correlations with the percentage of cTfh2 cells. The percentage of IL-4+ cTfh cells were significantly decreased and the percentage of IFN-γ+ cTfh cells were increased before treatment to 24 months in 6 patients examined (4 responders and 2 non-responders). We performed multi plelogistic regression analysis based on these results, the ratios of cTfh2/cTfr cells and cTfh2/cBreg cells at the start of therapy were statistically effective biomarkers for predicting the response to HDM-SLIT in patients with AA+AR

Anti-Obesity Effects of Matoa (Pometia pinnata) Fruit Peel Powder in High-Fat Diet-Fed Rats

Fruit peels, pericarps, or rinds are rich in phenolic/polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant properties and potentially beneficial effects against obesity and obesity-related non-communicable diseases. This study investigated the anti-obesity effects of matoa (Pometia pinnata) and salak (Salacca zalacca) fruit peel. Neither matoa peel powder (MPP) nor salak peel powder (SPP) affected the body weight, visceral fat weight, or serum glucose or lipid levels of Sprague–Dawley rats when included as 1% (w/w) of a high-fat diet (HFD). However, MPP significantly decreased the hepatic lipid level. MPP at a dose of 3% (w/w) of the HFD decreased body weight, visceral fat, and serum triglyceride levels as well as the hepatic lipid content. The inhibitory effect of MPP on hepatic lipid accumulation was not enhanced when its concentration was increased from 1% to 3% of the HFD. The anti-obesity effect of matoa was partly explained by the inhibitory effect of the matoa peel extract on fatty acid-induced secretion of ApoB-48 protein, a marker of intestinal chylomicrons, in differentiated Caco-2 cell monolayers. We identified hederagenin saponins that are abundant in MPP as potential anti-obesity substances. These results will contribute towards the development of functional foods with anti-obesity effects using the matoa fruit peel

Cross-cultural Image Database System with Impression-based Color Arrangement

Colors and color combinations are tightly associated with human impressions for image data, and color- oriented impression varies between cultures. Though the shape and structure of images are important feature for retrieving similar images in the field of Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR), in this paper, we focus on color feature of images because the purpose of our research is to create a cross-cultural and dynamic media designing environment using culture-dependent color-impressions for cultural property's images, especially, images of patterns used in cultural products. The main feature of our cross- cultural image database system for cultural-product design is characterized as the following three functions: (1) Impression-based color arrangement, (2) Culture-based color-space transformation among culture-dependent color collections, and (3) Attribute- based data selection and mapping. First, in our system, a set of images of patterns are colored by impression- based color combinations. Second, the set of colors in images are transformed by culture-dependent color collections. Third, the target images are selected sharply by the attribute of images such as country, region, village, tribe, author, designer, weaver, e.t.c. and mapped onto the multi-dimensional view. The most important contribution of our research is that our system creates linkage among different cultures by sharing and arranging multimedia information by collaborative work. The applications hold enormous potential for promoting regional economic development or innovative tourist business by cooperative designing of cultural products and new industries targeting global markets with remote collaborators in different cultural background