E-selectin as a prognostic factor of patients hospitalized due to acute inflammatory respiratory diseases

When examining patients with acute inflammatory respiratory diseases, it is difficult to distinguish between infectious pneumonia and interstitial pneumonia and predict patient prognosis at the beginning of treatment. In this study, we assessed whether endothelial selectin (E-selectin) predicts the outcome of patients with acute inflammatory respiratory diseases. We measured E-selectin serum levels in 101 patients who were admitted to our respiratory care unit between January 2013 and December 2013 because of acute inflammatory respiratory diseases that were eventually diagnosed as interstitial pneumonia (n = 38) and lower respiratory tract infection (n = 63). Seven of these patients (n = 101) died. The pneumonia severity score was significantly higher and the oxygen saturation of arterial blood measured by pulse oximeter (SpO2)/fraction of inspiratory oxygen (FiO2) was significantly lower in the deceased patients than in the surviving patients. There were significantly fewer peripheral lymphocytes and significantly higher E-selectin serum levels in the deceased patients than in the surviving patients. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, the E-selectin serum levels and SpO2/FiO2 ratio were independent predictive factors of prognosis. The risk of death during acute respiratory disease was determined using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.871 as calculated from the ES, and the cutoff value was 6453.04 pg/ml, with a sensitivity of 1.00 and a specificity of 0.72 (p = 0.0027). E-selectin may be a useful biomarker for predicting the prognosis of patients with acute inflammatory respiratory diseases

MafB silencing in macrophages does not influence the initiation and growth of lung cancer induced by urethane

An increased number of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) that exhibit the M2 macrophage phenotype is related to poorer prognosis in cancer patients. MafB is a transcription factor regulating the differentiation of macrophages. However, involvement of MafB for the development of TAMs is unknown. This study was designed to investigate the role of MafB in a murine urethane-induced lung cancer model. Urethane was injected intraperitoneally into wild-type and dominant-negative MafB transgenic mice. Twenty-four weeks later, mice were sacrificed and their lungs removed for pathological analysis. The numbers and mean areas of lung cancer were evaluated. In addition, the numbers of Mac-3-positive macrophages were evaluated in each tumor. The numbers and mean areas of lung cancer induced by urethane administration were not significantly different between wild-type and dominant-negative MafB transgenic mice. The numbers of TAMs in lung cancer tissue were not significantly different between the two groups. MafB silencing using dominant-negative MafB did not influence the initiation and growth of lung cancer in mice exposed to urethane. These data suggest that MafB may not be related to the development of TAMs

男子大学生アスリートの栄養摂取状況と食品群別摂取頻度による評価点との関連性

　運動部に所属する男子大学生アスリートの食事調査結果を用いて、栄養摂取状況の特徴を評価した。さらに、食品群別摂取頻度による評価点を算出して、エネルギー、栄養素摂取量や各栄養素摂取量による評価点との関連性を検討し、アスリートの食生活バランスの評価に用いることができる簡易な方法について考察することを目的とした。食事調査の結果、対象集団にはエネルギー、栄養素摂取量が身体活動量に見合わないものが複数いた。一方で、サプリメントやプロテインを利用している者が多数おり、食事に関して無関心ではないことが窺われた。食品群別摂取頻度による評価点を用いた簡易な食生活評価法については、たんぱく質、鉄、カルシウム、ビタミンB1など、アスリートにとって重要な栄養素摂取量との有意な関連性を認めた。さらに、食品群別摂取頻度の得点と8項目のエネルギーと栄養素摂取量を、食事摂取基準の推奨量ならびにアスリートの推奨量と比較して得点化した栄養素摂取量評価得点を算出し関連について分析を行ったところ、有意な関連性が認められた。10種の食品群別摂取頻度を把握することは、アスリートの食生活とそれに付随する栄養摂取状況の概要について評価することができると考えられ、栄養アセスメントの一次的なスクリーニング評価に活用できる可能性が示唆された