Long-term voluntary exercise, representing habitual exercise, lowers visceral fat and alters plasma amino acid levels in mice.

Objectives: To determine the impact of long-term voluntary exercise, representing habitual exercise for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, on glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism in mice.

Methods: Twenty-four mice aged 6 weeks were divided into three groups. Two groups (16 mice) were housed individually in either cages equipped with a running wheel (8 mice, exercising, Ex-mice) or without (8 mice, sedentary, Se-mice) for 24 weeks.

Generation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine from DNA using rat liver homogenates.

In relation to carcinogenesis, aging and other pathologic conditions, urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8OHdG) is widely used as a marker for evaluating the effect of oxidative stress on DNA. Because no reports have described how 8OHdG is generated from DNA in vivo or by biological materials, and how it is excreted into urine, the authors investigated the generation of 8OHdG from DNA, using rat liver homogenate. Oxidatively damaged DNA samples containing different levels of 8OHdG were prepared using ultraviolet irradiation with three different concentrations of riboflavin.

High Prevalence of HBV in Tibet, China.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV), distributed throughout the world, is classified into seven geographically separated genotypes designated A to G. Since the prevalence of HBV infection in isolated ethnic Tibetan populations in China, and the HBV genotypes involved have been hither to remained unclear, we collected 262 blood samples from four isolated villages in the east and west regions of Tibet. The prevalence of HBV infection was estimated by EIA for HBV Ag and HBV Ab.