Influence of Age on Associations of Occlusal Status and Number of Present Teeth with Dementia in Community-Dwelling Older People in Japan: Cross-Sectional Study

While occlusal status has been reported to be related to cognitive function, little is known about the influence of age on that relationship. The present study examined the associations of tooth loss and occlusal status with dementia in the older people, as well as the effects of age on those relationships. A total of 196 older participants (median age: 84 years) were enrolled. Occlusal status was assessed using functional tooth units (FTU), calculated based on the number of paired natural or artificial teeth. Logistic regression analysis was then performed using dementia as the objective variable, and FTU or number of teeth as explanatory variables. The results showed that higher FTU was associated with lower risk of dementia. Furthermore, when stratified by median age, the association was greater for those aged less than 84 years. On the other hand, there was no significant association of number of present teeth with dementia. These results suggest that the risk of dementia is lower for individuals with better occlusion and that occlusal factor may have a greater effect on dementia onset in younger older people. It is thus recommended that both occlusal function and age be incorporated as factors in programs developed for dementia prevention

Pore alterations of the endothelial lining of rat fenestrated intestinal capillaries exposed to acute stress

Stress-induced inflammatory responses in the portal system are characterized by elevations in serum concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). LPS translocation from the intestinal to the capillary lumen occurs via LPS endocytosis by the capillary endothelium. Because the capillary endothelium of the small intestinal submucosa is fenestrated, we determined the role of pore modifications within the fenestrated endothelium in relaying inflammatory stress responses in the portal vein. We evaluated changes in the diameter and density of endothelial pores of the lamina propria of intestinal villi induced by continuous light (CL) exposure for 48 h and the correlation between these changes and serum IL-6 concentration in the portal vein in a rat model. We found significant increases in both the pore diameter and density, accompanied by a significant increase in portal IL-6 concentration; these changes were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with propranolol, a beta adrenergic receptor antagonist. In contrast, intravenous noradrenaline administration mimicked CL-induced modifications of the diameter and density of pores and the elevation of portal vein IL-6 concentration. These findings suggested that stress-induced inflammatory responses in the portal system may be a part of the modifications of the endothelial pores triggered by sympathetic activation

A clinical approach to brown adipose tissue in the para-aortic area of the human thorax.

BACKGROUND:Human thoracic brown adipose tissue (BAT), composed of several subdivisions, is a well-known target organ of many clinical studies; however, the functional contribution of each part of human thoracic BAT remains unknown. The present study analyzed the significance of each part of human thoracic BAT in the association between regional distribution, cellularity, and factors involved in the functional regulation of thoracic BAT. METHODS:We analyzed 1550 healthy adults who underwent medical check-ups by positron-emission tomography and computed tomography (PET-CT) imaging, 8 cadavers, and 78 autopsy cases in an observational study. We first characterized the difference between the mediastinum and the supraclavicular areas using counts of BAT detection and conditions based on PET-CT outcomes. The measurable important area was then subjected to systematic anatomical and immunohistochemical analyses using anti-uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) antibody to characterize the cellularity in association with age and sex. RESULTS:In PET-CT scanning, the main site of thoracic BAT was the mediastinum rather than the supraclavicular area (P < 0.05). Systemic macroanatomy revealed that the thumb-sized BAT in the posterior mediastinal descending para-aortic area (paBAT) had feeding vessels from the posterior intercostal arteries and veins and sympathetic/parasympathetic innervation from trunks of the sympathetic and vagus nerves, respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that the paBAT exhibited immunoreactivity for tyrosine hydroxylase and vesicular acetylcholine transporter located in the pericellular nervous fibers and intracellular UCP1. The brown adipose cells of paBAT showed age-dependent decreases in UCP1 expression (P < 0.05), accompanied by a significant increase in vacuole formation, indicating fat accumulation (P < 0.05), from 10 to 37 years of age (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:paBAT may be one of the essential sites for clinical application in BAT study because of its visible anatomy with feeding vessels and sympathetic/parasympathetic innervation functionally affected by outer condition and senescence

Univariate logistic regression analysis of BAT morphology.

<p>The odds ratio, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and associated p-values of sex and age were estimated according to the morphology of the descending para-aortic BATs. The column <i>Multilocular vs</i>. <i>others</i> represents analysis of the multilocular type referring to the other locular types; <i>Paucilocular vs</i>. <i>others</i>, of the paucilocular type referring to the other types; <i>Unilocular vs</i>. <i>others</i> of the unilocular type referring to the other types, respectively.</p><p>† <i>p</i>-values of the univariate logistic analysis of the variables were <0.001.</p><p>Univariate logistic regression analysis of BAT morphology.</p

Age and sex distribution in the anatomical examination.

<p>Using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, we examined 78 autopsied tissue samples followed by immunohistochemical staining of 21 samples using a human anti-UCP1 antibody. The numerical data correspond to HE staining and the numbers in parentheses to UCP1 immunohistochemical staining. In the histochemical examination, the age deviations (mean ± SD) were 30.9 ± 26.3, 30.9 ± 27.0 and 30.9 ± 25.7 for all 78 cases, 45 males, and 33 females, respectively. In the immunohistochemical study, the age deviations (mean ± SD) were 30.0 ± 28.4, 18.3 ± 22.9, and 40.7 ± 29.7 for all 21 cases, 9 males, and 11 females, respectively.</p><p>Age and sex distribution in the anatomical examination.</p

Aging and BAT morphology.

<p>Inverted triangle and triangle symbols represent males and females, respectively. The solid, gray, and open symbols indicate the multilocular (multi), paucilocular (pauci), and unilocular (uni) types, respectively. (A) Scatter plot of UCP1-positive area (%) <i>vs</i>. age. (B) Scatter plot of vacuole area (%) <i>vs</i>. age. (C) Scatter plot of UCP1-positive area (%) <i>vs</i>. vacuole area (%). (D) Sigmoid plot of morphological proportion vs. age using logistic regression. The morphological proportion represents the proportion of occupation of each morphological type compared to the other types. The solid and gray curves indicate the morphological proportion of the multi and uni types, respectively. The left lower, middle, and right upper regions show the distribution of the multi, pauci, and uni types of BAT morphology. The fine and rough broken lines show the age cut-off values of 10 years for the multi and 37 years for the uni types, respectively.</p

Hierarchical clustering according to BAC cellularity.

<p>Summary of hierarchical clustering analysis of the immunohistochemical data of 21 UCP1-positive cases. The number and the word represent the individual case and each cellularity, respectively. The arrows show the range of the same cluster. Further, the branch length represents the similarity between results obtained in this system. UCP1-positive cases in the present study were classified into three groups according to the results: multi, the multilocular-dominant group; pauci, the paucilocular-dominant group; uni, the unilocular-dominant group. Cluster I comprised multi and pauci, Cluster II was equal to uni. %multilocular, percentage of area occupied with the multilocular cells; %paucilocular, percentage of area occupied with the paucilocular cells; %unilocular, percentage of area occupied with the unilocular cells. The score of the heat map in the lower right box represents the normalized distance among parameters.</p

Determinants of BAT morphology.

<p>We evaluated the ratio of UCP1-positive and vacuole areas associated with sex, age, and BAT morphology using ImageJ. The inverted triangles and triangles represent males and females, respectively. The solid, gray, and open symbols represent multilocular (multi), paucilocular (pauci) and unilocular (uni), respectively. The flat bar of each group in B, C, and D indicates the median value of each group. (A) Sex distribution of each BAT morphology. (B) Age distribution of each BAT morphology. (C) UCP1-positive area (%) distribution of each BAT morphology. (D) Vacuole area (%) distribution of each BAT morphology. The symbols † and ‡ represent p < 0.05 referring to the paucilocular and unilocular types and the unilocular type, respectively. The symbol ‡ represents p < 0.05 referring to the paucilocular type.</p

Univariate multinomial logistic regression analysis of BAT morphology.

<p>The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of sex and age were estimated according to the morphology of descending para-aortic BATs. The column uni/uni represents analysis of the unilocular type referring to the unilocular; multi/uni, multilocular type referring to the unilocular type; pauci/uni, the paucilocular type referring to the unilocular type; and multi/pauci, the multilocular type referring to the paucilocular type. Odds ratios (95% CI): associated <i>p</i>-values are shown in the univariate column, except the odds ratio of uni/uni, which is represented as 1.00. The outcome of univariate multinomial logistic analysis for each variable is shown in column <i>p</i>.</p><p>* <i>p</i>-values refer to the unilocular type of every variable as <0.05.</p><p>† <i>p</i>-values of the univariate multinomial logistic analysis of every variable were <0.05.</p><p>Univariate multinomial logistic regression analysis of BAT morphology.</p

Classification of individual BAT detection areas in the thorax.

<p>Numerical data, except the number of subjects, are presented as medians (first quartile/third quartile). The column “All subjects” represents both sex populations, “Male subjects” represents the male population, and “Female subjects” represents the female population. The absence of BATs is represented by the symbol “-,” and the presence of BATs by “+.” The set <i>none</i> indicates the subject population, wherein BATs was not detected. The set <i>s</i> + <i>m</i> indicates the subject population, wherein BATs were simultaneously detected in the supraclavicular and the mediastinal areas. The set <i>s</i> − <i>m</i> indicates the subject population, wherein BATs were detected only in the supraclavicular area. The set <i>m</i> − <i>s</i> indicates the subject population, wherein BATs were detected only in the mediastinal area.</p><p>(<i>a</i>) The statistical difference between numbers in both sex <i>none</i> groups was <0.05 using Fisher’s exact test.</p><p>(<i>b</i>) The difference between numbers in both sex <i>BAT-detected</i> groups such as <i>s</i>, <i>m</i> − <i>s</i> of class 2 and <i>s</i> − <i>m</i>, <i>m</i> of class 3 was <0.05 using Fisher’s exact test.</p><p>* <i>p</i>-values referring to the same sex <i>none</i> group were <0.05 using the Wilcoxon’s rank sum test.</p><p>† <i>p</i>-values referring to the same sex “<i>s</i> − <i>m</i>” group were <0.05 using the Wilcoxon’s rank sum test.</p><p>Classification of individual BAT detection areas in the thorax.</p