Constitutively active heat shock factor 1 enhances glucose-driven insulin secretion.

Weak pancreatic β-cell function is a cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Glucokinase regulates insulin secretion via phosphorylation of glucose. The present study focused on a system for the self-protection of pancreatic cell by expressing heat shock factor (HSF) and heat shock protein (HSP) to improve insulin secretion without inducing hypoglycemia.

Clinical significance of neutrophil apoptosis in peripheral blood of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Unlabelled: Although neutrophils are essential components of the natural immune system, they have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of tissue injuries. We assessed the clinical significance of neutrophil apoptosis in the peripheral blood of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Patients And Methods: The study included 52 patients with T2DM (30 men, 22 women).

Doctor-patient communication: a comparison between telemedicine consultation and face-to-face consultation.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare doctor-patient communications in clinical consultations via telemedicine technology to doctor-patient communications in face-to-face clinical consultations.

Method: Five doctors who had been practicing internal medicine for 8 to 18 years, and twenty patients were enrolled in this study; neither doctors nor patients had previous experience of telemedicine. The patients received both a telemedicine consultation and a face-to-face consultation.

HSF1 and constitutively active HSF1 improve vascular endothelial function (heat shock proteins improve vascular endothelial function).

We have been examining the role of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) in the pleiotropic effects of statins. In parallel studies, we found that statin induces the nuclear translocation of HSF1 and that a decoy oligonucleotide encoding the heat shock element inhibits the statin-induced expression of heat shock protein 70, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and thrombomodulin. Also, in vascular endothelial cells, increases in the expression of human HSF1 corresponded with elevated steady-state levels of eNOS and thrombomodulin and reduced levels of endothelin-1 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1.

Simvastatin induces heat shock factor 1 in vascular endothelial cells.

Statins not only reduce serum cholesterol but they also improve vascular endothelial function independent of their lipid-lowering effects. However, except for the mechanism of nitric oxide induction via calveolin, the physiologic basis for the pleiotropic effect of statins remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between the effects of statins on vascular endothelial cell function and heat shock proteins.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated with smoldering myeloma and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

We report a 59-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) complicated with smoldering myeloma and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A diagnosis of smoldering myeloma was made on the basis of elevation of IgA, M-protein (type:IgA-lambda) and histological findings of bone marrow without bone lesion. As to liver dysfunction, anti-HBV, anti-HCV and a series of auto-immune antibody were negative.

CD40 ligation releases immature dendritic cells from the control of regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells.

We report that disruption of CD154 in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice abrogates the helper function of CD4+CD25- T cells without impairing the regulatory activity of CD4+CD25+ T cells. Whereas CD4+ T cells from NOD mice enhanced a diabetogenic CD8+ T cell response in monoclonal TCR-transgenic NOD mice, CD4+ T cells from NOD.CD154(-/-) mice actively suppressed it.

Hormone replacement therapy decreases insulin resistance and lipid metabolism in Japanese postmenopausal women with impaired and normal glucose tolerance.

Objects: To investigate the effect of combined estrogen and progesterone therapy on insulin resistance (IR) and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in postmenopausal women (PMW) with impaired (IGT) and normal glucose tolerance (NGT).

Methods: Sixteen Japanese PMW with IGT and 33 with NGT received daily oral hormone replacement therapy (HRT; 0.625 mg of conjugated equine estrogen plus 2.