Development of a Culinary Intervention (Cooking Class) for Salt Reduction in Japanese Home Cooking: Strategies and Assessment.

Introduction: Culinary interventions (cooking classes) are a potential educational tool for salt reduction in the home diet, but their content has never been reported in detail. This study aimed to develop a cooking class for salt reduction, describe its rationale and structure so that other parties could replicate it, and preliminarily assess its impact on salt intake.

Methods: A multidisciplinary research team developed a cooking class package to reduce salt content in the Japanese home diet.

Salt intake per dish in the Japanese diet: a clue to help establish dietary goals at home.

The salt intake of Japanese at home remains high. To aid in salt reduction and encourage a balanced diet, we conducted a cross-sectional study using data from a previous clinical trial in community-dwelling individuals to evaluate major salt sources and relationships among the intake of different dishes in the Japanese diet at home. Dietary records and urinary salt excretion measurements were performed daily for 1 month in seventy-nine participants.

Screening tool for identifying adults with excessive salt intake among community-dwelling adults: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Excessive salt intake is widely known to be a cause of hypertension, cardiovascular events, and so on. However, simple tools for screening excessive salt intake are lacking.

Objective: We aimed to develop a simple screening tool to identify community-dwelling adults with excessive salt intake.

Effects of self-monitoring of daily salt intake estimated by a simple electrical device for salt reduction: a cluster randomized trial.

Recently, a simple device for self-monitoring of daily salt intake was developed, and it is recommended by The Japanese Society of Hypertension. This study aimed to investigate the effects of this device on salt reduction and on lowering blood pressure. In this single blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial, families were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group.

Vitamin D3/VDR resists diet-induced obesity by modulating UCP3 expression in muscles.

Background: The impact of vitamin D3 (VD3) on obesity has been reported in the past. Our study was aimed at investigating the possible mechanisms by which VD3 affects obesity induced by a high fat diet.

Methods: Eight-week-old C57BL/6 J male mice were fed a normal- or high-fat diet for 9 weeks and were treated with a gavage of vehicle (corn oil) or cholecalciferol (50 μg/kg, daily).

Effects of atorvastatin on renal function in patients with dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease: assessment of clinical usefulness in CKD patients with atorvastatin (ASUCA) trial.

Background: Dyslipidemia is a risk factor for the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). While conventional lipid lowering therapy provides a benefit to CKD management, the effect of statins on eGFR remains unclear.

Methods: A prospective, multi-center, open-labeled, randomized trial.

Transcriptional activation of the wild-type and mutant vitamin D receptors by vitamin D3 analogs.

The active form of vitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3, also known as calcitriol) controls the expression of target genes via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Vitamin D-dependent rickets type II (VDDRII) is a congenital disease caused by inactivating mutations in the VDR The condition is treated with high doses of calcitriol, but the therapeutic effects of other synthetic VD3 analogs have not yet been investigated. In the present study, we analyzed the transcriptional activity of seven different VD3 analogs with VDRs carrying ligand-binding domain mutations identified in VDDRII patients.

Growth hormone regulates the expression of UCP2 in myocytes.

Objective: To determine if and how growth hormone (GH) signaling is involved in energy metabolism.

Design: We used human embryonic kidney TSA201 cells, human H-EMC-SS chondrosarcoma cells, rat L6 skeletal muscle cells, and murine C2C12 skeletal muscle myoblasts to investigate GH-induced expression of uncoupling protein2 (UCP2) to the GHR/JAK/STAT5 pathway by a combination of a reporter assay, electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), real-time quantitative PCR, Western blotting.

Results: We demonstrated that the regulation energy metabolism, which was hypothesized to be directly acted on by GH, involves UCP2 via activated STAT5B, a signal transducer downstream of GH.

Effects of atorvastatin on renal function in patients with dyslipidemia and chronic kidney disease: rationale and design of the ASsessment of clinical Usefulness in CKD patients with Atorvastatin (ASUCA) trial.

Background: Since dyslipidemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-lowering therapy can be potentially associated with inhibition of CKD progression. The ASsessment of clinical Usefulness in CKD patients with Atorvastatin (ASUCA) trial was designed to determine whether atorvastatin has protective effects on renal function in patients with dyslipidemia and CKD.

Methods: We decided to carry out a prospective multi-center, open-labeled, randomized trial to compare the reno-protective effects between diet therapy alone and atorvastatin plus diet therapy in patients with dyslipidemia (LDL-C ≥ 140 mg/dL if not treated or LDL-C ≥ 100 mg/dL if treated with lipid-lowering drugs in subjects taking dyslipidemia-treating agents other than statins) and CKD [estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.