SGLT2 Inhibitor Dapagliflozin Increases Skeletal Muscle and Brain Fatty Acid Uptake in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Positron Emission Tomography Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor dapagliflozin on tissue fatty acid (FA) uptake in the skeletal muscle, brain, small intestine, and subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue of individuals with type 2 diabetes by using positron emission tomography (PET).

Research Design And Methods: In a 6-week randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, 53 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with metformin received either 10 mg dapagliflozin or placebo daily. Tissue FA uptake was quantified at baseline and end of treatment with PET and the long-chain FA analog radiotracer 14(R,S)-[18F]fluoro-6-thia-heptadecanoic acid.

Renal Cortical Glucose Uptake Is Decreased in Insulin Resistance and Correlates Inversely With Serum Free-fatty Acids.

Context: Studies on human renal metabolism are scanty. Nowadays, functional imaging allows the characterization of renal metabolism in a noninvasive manner. We have recently demonstrated that fluorodeoxyglucose F18 (18F FDG) positron emission tomography can be used to analyze renal glucose uptake (GU) rates, and that the renal cortex is an insulin-sensitive tissue.

Insulin-stimulated brain glucose uptake correlates with brain metabolites in severe obesity: A combined neuroimaging study.

The human brain undergoes metabolic adaptations in obesity, but the underlying mechanisms have remained largely unknown. We compared concentrations of often reported brain metabolites measured with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS, 3 T MRI) in the occipital lobe in subjects with obesity and lean controls under different metabolic conditions (fasting, insulin clamp, following weight loss). Brain glucose uptake (BGU) quantified with F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-FDG-PET)) was also performed in a subset of subjects during clamp.

Lower abdominal adipose tissue cannabinoid type 1 receptor availability in young men with overweight.

Objective: Cannabinoid type 1 receptors (CB1R) modulate feeding behavior and energy homeostasis, and the CB1R tone is dysgulated in obesity. This study aimed to investigate CB1R availability in peripheral tissue and brain in young men with overweight versus lean men.

Methods: Healthy males with high (HR, n = 16) or low (LR, n = 20) obesity risk were studied with fluoride 18-labeled FMPEP-d positron emission tomography to quantify CB1R availability in abdominal adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, muscle, and brain.

Association of CNR1 gene and cannabinoid 1 receptor protein in the human brain.

We aimed to integrate genomic mapping from brain mRNA atlas with the protein expression from positron emission tomography (PET) scans of type 1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptor and to compare the predictive power of CB1 receptor with those of other neuroreceptor/transporters using a meta-analysis. Volume of distribution (V ) from F18-FMPEP-d2 PET scans, CNR1 gene (Cannabinoid receptor 1) expression, and H3-CP55940 binding were calculated and correlation analysis was performed. Between V of F18-FMPEP-d2 PET scans and CNR1 mRNA expression, moderate strength of correlation was observed (rho = .

Obesity risk is associated with brain glucose uptake and insulin resistance.

Objective: To investigate whether alterations in brain glucose uptake (BGU), insulin action in the brain-liver axis and whole-body insulin sensitivity occur in young adults in pre-obese state.

Methods: Healthy males with either high risk (HR; n = 19) or low risk (LR; n = 22) for developing obesity were studied with [18F]fluoro-d-glucose ([18F]FDG)-positron emission tomography during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. Obesity risk was assessed according to BMI, physical activity and parental overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Renal Sinus Fat Is Expanded in Patients with Obesity and/or Hypertension and Reduced by Bariatric Surgery Associated with Hypertension Remission.

Renal sinus fat is a fat depot at the renal hilum. Because of its location around the renal artery, vein, and lymphatic vessels, an expanded renal sinus fat mass may have hemodynamic and renal implications. We studied whether renal sinus fat area (RSF) associates with hypertension and whether following bariatric surgery a decrease in RSF associates with improvement of hypertension.

Aerobic Fitness Is Associated with Cerebral μ-Opioid Receptor Activation in Healthy Humans.

Introduction: Central μ-opioid receptors (MORs) modulate affective responses to physical exercise. Individuals with higher aerobic fitness report greater exercise-induced mood improvements than those with lower fitness, but the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and the MOR system remains unresolved. Here we tested whether maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak) and physical activity level are associated with cerebral MOR availability and whether these phenotypes predict endogenous opioid release after a session of exercise.

μ-opioid receptor availability is associated with sex drive in human males.

The endogenous mu-opioid receptor (MOR) system modulates a multitude of social and reward-related functions, and exogenous opiates also influence sex drive in humans and animals. Sex drive shows substantial variation across humans, and it is possible that individual differences in MOR availability underlie interindividual of variation in human sex drive. We measured healthy male subjects' (n = 52) brain's MOR availability with positron emission tomography (PET) using an agonist radioligand, [C]carfentanil, that has high affinity for MORs.

Obesity risk is associated with altered cerebral glucose metabolism and decreased μ-opioid and CB receptor availability.

Background: Obesity is a pressing public health concern worldwide. Novel pharmacological means are urgently needed to combat the increase of obesity and accompanying type 2 diabetes (T2D). Although fully established obesity is associated with neuromolecular alterations and insulin resistance in the brain, potential obesity-promoting mechanisms in the central nervous system have remained elusive.

Cerebral μ-opioid and CB receptor systems have distinct roles in human feeding behavior.

Eating behavior varies greatly between individuals, but the neurobiological basis of these trait-like differences in feeding remains poorly understood. Central μ-opioid receptors (MOR) and cannabinoid CB receptors (CBR) regulate energy balance via multiple neural pathways, promoting food intake and reward. Because obesity and eating disorders have been associated with alterations in the brain's opioid and endocannabinoid signaling, the variation in MOR and CBR system function could potentially underlie distinct eating behavior phenotypes.

Brain free fatty acid uptake is elevated in morbid obesity, and is irreversible 6 months after bariatric surgery: A positron emission tomography study.

Aim: To investigate whether there are differences in brain fatty acid uptake (BFAU) between morbidly obese and lean subjects, and the effect of weight loss following bariatric surgery.

Materials And Methods: We measured BFAU with 14(R, S)-[ F]fluoro-6-thia-heptadecanoic acid and positron emission tomography in 24 morbidly obese and 14 lean women. Obese subjects were restudied 6 months after bariatric surgery.

Are there high-risk groups among physicians that are more vulnerable to on-call work?

Background: Work done in the emergency departments is one stressful aspect of physicians' work. Numerous previous studies have highlighted the stressfulness of on-call work and especially of night on call. In addition, previous studies suggest that there may be individual differences in adjusting to changes in circadian rhythms and on-call work.

Job demands and job strain as risk factors for employee wellbeing in elderly care: an instrumental-variables analysis.

Background: The association between psychosocial work environment and employee wellbeing has repeatedly been shown. However, as environmental evaluations have typically been self-reported, the observed associations may be attributable to reporting bias.

Methods: Applying instrumental-variable regression, we used staffing level (the ratio of staff to residents) as an unconfounded instrument for self-reported job demands and job strain to predict various indicators of wellbeing (perceived stress, psychological distress and sleeping problems) among 1525 registered nurses, practical nurses and nursing assistants working in elderly care wards.

Do nurses who work in a fair organization sleep and perform better and why? Testing potential psychosocial mediators of organizational justice.

We examined whether organizational justice is associated with sleep quality and performance in a population-based sample of 1,729 Finnish registered nurses working full time. In addition, we tested psychological mechanisms mediating the potential association. The results of multivariate linear regression analyses showed higher organizational justice to be associated with fewer sleeping problems (β values range from -.

Job demands and musculoskeletal symptoms among female geriatric nurses: the moderating role of psychosocial resources.

The present study examined whether job resources (job control, social support, and distributive justice) moderate the associations of high job demands induced by physical and mental workload with musculoskeletal symptoms among geriatric nurses. The data were drawn in Finland from 975 female nurses working in 152 geriatric units who responded to a survey questionnaire. Information on the objective workload in terms of resident characteristics and structural factors was also collected at the unit level.

Drug use and pressure ulcers in long-term care units: do nurse time pressure and unfair management increase the prevalence?

Aims: This study examined the associations between nurse working conditions (time pressure and perceived unfair management) and quality indicators (prevalence of antianxiety or hypnotic drug use and pressure ulcers) in long-term care units.

Background: Differences persist across long-term care facilities in their care processes and resident outcomes even after adjusting for residents' clinical conditions. Little is known about how nurses' working conditions influence the quality of care.

Productivity and employees' organizational justice perceptions in long-term care for the elderly.

We examined the associations between productivity, employer characteristics, and context variables, and the organizational justice perceptions of 330 female employees in long-term institutional elderly people care. The productivity measure used was the proportion of the inpatient days to total costs. Employees working in high productivity units experienced higher procedural justice than those working in low productivity units.

Nursing working conditions in relation to restraint practices in long-term care units.

Objectives: This study examined the effects of nursing working conditions on the use of physical restraints and antipsychotics as restraints in long-term care units for elderly residents.

Design: Cross-sectional data were obtained in Finland in 2002 from long-term care units that used the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) system and participated in a survey on working conditions.

Setting: A sample of 91 inpatient units in 31 facilities (23 residential homes and 8 health centers).

Resident care needs and work stressors in special care units versus non-specialized long-term care units.

Differences in how elderly residents' care needs affect staff's experiences of work stressors between special care units (SCUs) for dementia and psychiatric residents and non-SCUs were investigated. The data were drawn from 390 staff members in 38 long-term care SCUs, and 587 staff in 53 non-SCUs in Finland. Residents' care needs were based on the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) system measured by the Minimum Data Set 2.

The moderating effect of employee hostility on the association of long-term elderly care unit's negative resident characteristics to employee stress and well-being.

This study examined the moderating effect of employee hostility on the association of unit-level resident characteristics (depression and behavioral problems) to individual-level employee's resident-related stress and psychological well-being during 1-year follow-up study among 501 employees in elderly care. Our results showed that employee hostility was associated with decreased psychological well-being. In addition, hostility moderated the association between unit-level proportion of depressive residents and resident-related stress experienced by the individual employees.

Work stressors and the quality of life in long-term care units.

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to examine how structural factors, residents' needs for physical and psychosocial assistance, and the work stressors experienced by employees are related to the quality of life of elderly residents in long-term care.

Design And Methods: Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 1,194 employees and 1,079 relatives of residents in 107 residential-home units and health-center bed wards. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling.