Longitudinal changes in regional fat and muscle composition and cardiometabolic biomarkers over 5 years of hormone therapy in transgender individuals.

Background: Longitudinal studies investigating hormone therapy in transgender individuals are rare and often limited to 1- to 2-year follow-up periods.

Objectives And Methods: We examined changes in body composition, muscle volumes, and fat distribution as well as muscle strength, arterial stiffness, and cardiometabolic biomarkers in both transgender men (TM; n = 17, age 25 ± 5 years) and transgender women (TW; n = 16, age 28 ± 5 years) at baseline and after 1 and 5-6 years of hormone therapy in a longitudinal prospective cohort design. Whole-body and regional fat and muscle volumes were analyzed using magnetic resonance imaging, and blood samples were taken.

Liver transplant recipients have worse metabolic body phenotype compared with matched non-transplant controls.

Background And Aim: Quantification of body compartments, particularly the interaction between adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, is emerging as novel a biomarker of metabolic health. The present study evaluated the impact of liver transplant (LT) on body compartments.

Methods: Totally 66 adult LT recipients were enrolled in whom body compartments including visceral adipose tissue (VAT), abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (ASAT), muscle fat infiltration (MFI), fat-free muscle volume (FFMV), and liver fat (LF) were quantified via whole body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Dissecting unique and common variance across body and brain health indicators using age prediction.

Ageing is a heterogeneous multisystem process involving different rates of decline in physiological integrity across biological systems. The current study dissects the unique and common variance across body and brain health indicators and parses inter-individual heterogeneity in the multisystem ageing process. Using machine-learning regression models on the UK Biobank data set (N = 32,593, age range 44.

Safety and efficacy of losmapimod in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (ReDUX4): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b trial.

Background: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a hereditary progressive myopathy caused by aberrant expression of the transcription factor DUX4 in skeletal muscle. No approved disease-modifying treatments are available for this disorder. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of losmapimod (a small molecule that inhibits p38α MAPK, a regulator of DUX4 expression, and p38β MAPK) for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Effect of liraglutide on thigh muscle fat and muscle composition in adults with overweight or obesity: Results from a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Excess muscle fat is observed in obesity and associated with greater burden of cardiovascular risk factors and higher risk of mortality. Liraglutide reduces total body weight and visceral fat but its effect on muscle fat and adverse muscle composition is unknown.

Methods: This is a pre-specified secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that examined the effects of liraglutide plus a lifestyle intervention on visceral adipose tissue and ectopic fat among adults without diabetes with body mass index ≥30 kg/m or ≥27 kg/m and metabolic syndrome.

A rapid, non-invasive, clinical surveillance for CachExia, sarcopenia, portal hypertension, and hepatocellular carcinoma in end-stage liver disease: the ACCESS-ESLD study protocol.

Background: Liver cirrhosis, the advanced stage of many chronic liver diseases, is associated with escalated risks of liver-related complications like decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Morbidity and mortality in cirrhosis patients are linked to portal hypertension, sarcopenia, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although conventional cirrhosis management centered on treating complications, contemporary approaches prioritize preemptive measures.

Coronary artery calcium, hepatic steatosis, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Results from the Dallas heart study.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk amongst those with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is heterogenous. The role of imaging-based cardiometabolic biomarkers (e.g.

Fat infiltration in the thigh muscles is associated with symptomatic spinal stenosis and reduced physical functioning in adults with achondroplasia.

Background: Symptomatic spinal stenosis is a prevalent complication in adults with achondroplasia. Increased muscle fat infiltration (MFI) and reduced thigh muscle volumes have also been reported, but the pathophysiology is poorly understood. We explored whether the increased MFI and reduced thigh muscle volumes were associated with the presence of symptomatic spinal stenosis and physical functioning.

Assessing Tissue Hydration Dynamics Based on Water/Fat Separated MRI.

Background: Optimal fluid status is an important issue in hemodialysis. Clinical evaluation of volume status and different diagnostic tools are used to determine hydration status in these patients. However, there is still no accurate method for this assessment.

Associations between abdominal adipose tissue, reproductive span, and brain characteristics in post-menopausal women.

The menopause transition involves changes in oestrogens and adipose tissue distribution, which may influence female brain health post-menopause. Although increased central fat accumulation is linked to risk of cardiometabolic diseases, adipose tissue also serves as the primary biosynthesis site of oestrogens post-menopause. It is unclear whether different types of adipose tissue play diverging roles in female brain health post-menopause, and whether this depends on lifetime oestrogen exposure, which can have lasting effects on the brain and body even after menopause.

The link between liver fat and cardiometabolic diseases is highlighted by genome-wide association study of MRI-derived measures of body composition.

Obesity and associated morbidities, metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) included, constitute some of the largest public health threats worldwide. Body composition and related risk factors are known to be heritable and identification of their genetic determinants may aid in the development of better prevention and treatment strategies. Recently, large-scale whole-body MRI data has become available, providing more specific measures of body composition than anthropometrics such as body mass index.

Fibromyalgia in women: association of inflammatory plasma proteins, muscle blood flow, and metabolism with body mass index and pain characteristics.

Introduction: Obesity is a common comorbidity in fibromyalgia (FM). Both FM and obesity have been connected to low-grade inflammation, although it is possible that previously reported inflammatory alterations in FM primarily may be linked to increased body mass index (BMI).

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether the inflammatory plasma protein profile, muscle blood flow, and metabolism and pain characteristics (clinical parameters and patient-reported outcome measurements) differed between female patients with FM with and without obesity.

Morphology and composition of the ventral neck muscles in individuals with chronic whiplash related disorders compared to matched healthy controls: a cross-sectional case-control study.

Background: OBJECTIVE: Studies of cross-sectional area (CSA) (morphology) and muscle fat infiltration (MFI) (composition) in ventral neck muscles is scarce in patients with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD), especially for men and those with severe WAD compared with matched healthy controls. The aim was to compare CSA and MFI of sternocleidomastoid (SCM), longus capitis (LCA) and longus colli (LCO) in patients with chronic right-sided dominant moderate (Neck Disability Index: NDI < 40) or severe WAD (NDI ≥ 40), compared to age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Methods: Cross-sectional case-control study with blinded investigators.

Ectopic fat is associated with cardiac remodeling-A comprehensive assessment of regional fat depots in type 2 diabetes using multi-parametric MRI.

Background: Different regional depots of fat have distinct metabolic properties and may relate differently to adverse cardiac remodeling. We sought to quantify regional depots of body fat and to investigate their relationship to cardiac structure and function in Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and controls.

Methods: From the SCAPIS cohort in Linköping, Sweden, we recruited 92 subjects (35% female, mean age 59.

Quantitative Muscle Analysis in FSHD Using Whole-Body Fat-Referenced MRI: Composite Scores for Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Analysis.

Background And Objectives: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a rare, debilitating disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness. MRI is a sensitive assessment of disease severity and progression. We developed a quantitative whole-body (WB) musculoskeletal MRI (WB-MSK-MRI) protocol analyzing muscles in their entirety.

Adipose tissue distribution from body MRI is associated with cross-sectional and longitudinal brain age in adults.

There is an intimate body-brain connection in ageing, and obesity is a key risk factor for poor cardiometabolic health and neurodegenerative conditions. Although research has demonstrated deleterious effects of obesity on brain structure and function, the majority of studies have used conventional measures such as waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, and body mass index. While sensitive to gross features of body composition, such global anthropometric features fail to describe regional differences in body fat distribution and composition.

Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes Associated With Discordant Visceral and Liver Fat Phenotypes: Insights From the Dallas Heart Study and UK Biobank.

Objective: To evaluate the cardiometabolic outcomes associated with discordant visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and liver fat (LF) phenotypes in 2 cohorts.

Patients And Methods: Participants in the Dallas Heart Study underwent baseline imaging from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2002, and were followed for incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through 2013. Associations between VAT-LF groups (low-low, high-low, low-high, and high-high) and outcomes were assessed using multivariable-adjusted regression and were replicated in the independent UK Biobank.

Population-based body-brain mapping links brain morphology with anthropometrics and body composition.

Understanding complex body-brain processes and the interplay between adipose tissue and brain health is important for understanding comorbidity between psychiatric and cardiometabolic disorders. We investigated associations between brain structure and anthropometric and body composition measures using brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; n = 24,728) and body MRI (n = 4973) of generally healthy participants in the UK Biobank. We derived regional and global measures of brain morphometry using FreeSurfer and tested their association with (i) anthropometric measures, and (ii) adipose and muscle tissue measured from body MRI.

Cardiovascular risk factors and body composition in adults with achondroplasia.

Purpose: An increased cardiovascular mortality has been reported in achondroplasia. This population-based, case-control study investigated cardiovascular risk factors and body composition in Norwegian adults with achondroplasia.

Methods: We conducted anthropometric, clinical, and laboratory assessments in 49 participants with achondroplasia, of whom 40 completed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for body composition analysis.

Evidence of Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Fibromyalgia: Deviating Muscle Energy Metabolism Detected Using Microdialysis and Magnetic Resonance.

In fibromyalgia (FM) muscle metabolism, studies are sparse and conflicting associations have been found between muscle metabolism and pain aspects. This study compared alterations in metabolic substances and blood flow in erector spinae and trapezius of FM patients and healthy controls. FM patients ( = 33) and healthy controls ( = 31) underwent a clinical examination that included pressure pain thresholds and physical tests, completion of a health questionnaire, participation in microdialysis investigations of the etrapezius and erector spinae muscles, and also underwent phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the erector spinae muscle.

Biomarkers of liver fibrosis: prospective comparison of multimodal magnetic resonance, serum algorithms and transient elastography.

Background And Aims: Accurate biomarkers for quantifying liver fibrosis are important for clinical practice and trial end-points. We compared the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including gadoxetate-enhanced MRI and P-MR spectroscopy, with fibrosis stage and serum fibrosis algorithms in a clinical setting. Also, in a subset of patients, MR- and transient elastography (MRE and TE) was evaluated when available.

MRI in Neuromuscular Diseases: An Emerging Diagnostic Tool and Biomarker for Prognosis and Efficacy.

There is an unmet need to identify biomarkers sensitive to change in rare, slowly progressive neuromuscular diseases. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of muscle may offer this opportunity, as it is noninvasive and can be carried out almost independent of patient cooperation and disease severity. Muscle fat content correlates with muscle function in neuromuscular diseases, and changes in fat content precede changes in function, which suggests that muscle MRI is a strong biomarker candidate to predict prognosis and treatment efficacy.

21st Century Advances in Multimodality Imaging of Obesity for Care of the Cardiovascular Patient.

Although obesity is typically defined by body mass index criteria, this does not differentiate true body fatness, as this includes both body fat and muscle. Therefore, other fat depots may better define cardiometabolic and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk imposed by obesity. Data from translational, epidemiological, and clinical studies over the past 3 decades have clearly demonstrated that accumulation of adiposity in the abdominal viscera and within tissue depots lacking physiological adipose tissue storage capacity (termed "ectopic fat") is strongly associated with the development of a clinical syndrome characterized by atherogenic dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia/glucose intolerance/type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and abnormal cardiac remodeling and heart failure.