A cross-sectional study on the relationship between nutrient/food intake and gut microbiota in frailty among older community residents: The Kyotango study.

In strategies to extend a healthy lifespan, early detection and prevention of frailty are critical. The purpose of this study was to analyze the current state and clinical risk factors of frailty among community-dwelling older to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of the individuals, correlation between frailty and nutrient intake, dietary diversity, and dietary patterns, and to elucidate the correlation between frailty-related dietary factors and the gut microbiota. The study included 786 participants aged ≥65 years from the Kyotango Multipurpose Cohort Study who had available data on their gut microbiota.

Gut microbiota differences in elderly subjects between rural city Kyotango and urban city Kyoto: an age-gender-matched study.

Several outcomes have been reported on the role of gut microbiota in health promotion and disease prevention. Kyotango, one of the longevity areas with various centenarians, is a provincial city located in the northern part of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. To understand the relationship between gut microbiota and urbanization, we compared the diversity, abundance, and function of gut microbiota in older healthy subjects between Kyotango and Kyoto cities; Kyoto is an urban city located in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture.

IgG4-related Disease Involving the Cardiovascular System: An Intracardiac Mass and a Mass Lesion Surrounding a Coronary Artery.

A 61-year-old Japanese man with IgG4-related autoimmune pancreatitis developed a mass in the right atrium (RA) and a mass lesion surrounding the left anterior descending coronary artery. We performed an intracardiac echo catheter-guided percutaneous biopsy of the RA mass, and histologically diagnosed it as IgG4-related disease. Oral corticosteroid therapy gradually downsized the mass lesions.

Serglycin is a novel adipocytokine highly expressed in epicardial adipose tissue.

Much recent work has highlighted the key role of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ that secretes a number of adipocytokines, linking adiposity, especially intra-abdominal visceral fat, and the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, the role of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), another important visceral fat depot situated in close proximity to epicardial coronary arteries and myocardium, has been less well studied. In this study, we sought to characterize EAT by comparing gene expression profiles of EAT, omental adipose tissue (OAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SCAT) in patients who underwent elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery for critical coronary artery disease (CAD) and identify molecules involved in inflammation.

PARM-1 promotes cardiomyogenic differentiation through regulating the BMP/Smad signaling pathway.

PARM-1, prostatic androgen repressed message-1, is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) molecule that is involved in ER stress-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes. In this study, we assessed whether PARM-1 plays a role in the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes. While PARM-1 was not expressed in undifferentiated P19CL6 embryonic carcinoma cells, PARM-1 expression was induced during cardiomyogenic differentiation.

NFAT5 regulates the canonical Wnt pathway and is required for cardiomyogenic differentiation.

While nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5), a transcription factor implicated in osmotic stress response, is suggested to be involved in other processes such as migration and proliferation, its role in cardiomyogenesis is largely unknown. Here, we examined the role of NFAT5 in cardiac differentiation of P19CL6 cells, and observed that it was abundantly expressed in undifferentiated P19CL6 cells, and its protein expression was significantly downregulated by enhanced proteasomal degradation during DMSO-induced cardiomyogenesis. Expression of a dominant negative mutant of NFAT5 markedly attenuated cardiomyogenesis, which was associated with the inhibition of mesodermal differentiation.

PARM-1 is an endoplasmic reticulum molecule involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis in rat cardiac myocytes.

To identify novel transmembrane and secretory molecules expressed in cardiac myocytes, signal sequence trap screening was performed in rat neonatal cardiac myocytes. One of the molecules identified was a transmembrane protein, prostatic androgen repressed message-1 (PARM-1). While PARM-1 has been identified as a gene induced in prostate in response to castration, its function is largely unknown.

Downregulation of Dicer expression by serum withdrawal sensitizes human endothelial cells to apoptosis.

Although the modulated expression of Dicer is documented upon neoplastic transformation, little is known of the regulation of Dicer expression by environmental stimuli and its roles in the regulation of cellular functions in primary cells. In this study, we found that Dicer expression was downregulated upon serum withdrawal in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Serum withdrawal induced a time-dependent repression of Dicer expression, which was specifically rescued by vascular endothelial cell growth factor or sphingosine-1-phosphate.