A Soluble Fiber Diet Increases Bacteroides fragilis Group Abundance and Immunoglobulin A Production in the Gut.

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is essential for defense of the intestinal mucosa against harmful pathogens. Previous studies have shown that , the major phylum of gut microbiota together with , impact IgA production. However, the relative abundances of species of responsible for IgA production were not well understood.

Ethnic differences in stratum corneum functions between Chinese and Thai infants residing in Bangkok, Thailand.

Background/objectives: Ethnic and racial differences in infant skin have not been well characterized. The purpose of this study was to establish whether there are ethnic differences and similarities in the stratum corneum (SC) functions of Thai and Chinese infants.

Methods: Healthy infants 6 to 24 months of age (N = 60; 30 Thai, 30 Chinese) who resided in Bangkok, Thailand, were enrolled.

Variation in Hsp70-1A Expression Contributes to Skin Color Diversity.

The wide range in human skin color results from varying levels of the pigment melanin. Genetic mechanisms underlying coloration differences have been explored, but identified genes do not account for all variation seen in the skin color spectrum. Post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation of factors that determine skin color, including melanin synthesis in epidermal melanocytes, melanosome transfer to keratinocytes, and melanosome degradation, is also critical for pigmentation.

Cooperation of endothelin-1 signaling with melanosomes plays a role in developing and/or maintaining human skin hyperpigmentation.

Skin hyperpigmentation is characterized by increased melanin synthesis and deposition that can cause significant psychosocial and psychological distress. Although several cytokine-receptor signaling cascades contribute to the formation of ultraviolet B-induced cutaneous hyperpigmentation, their possible involvement in other types of skin hyperpigmentation has never been clearly addressed. Since our continuous studies using skin specimens from more than 30 subjects with ethnic skin diversity emphasized a consistent augmentation in the expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its receptor (Endothelin B receptor, ET-B) in hyperpigmented lesions, including senile lentigos (SLs), the precise function of ET-1 signaling was investigated in the present study.

Evaluation of unique elastic aggregates (elastic globes) in normal facial skin by multiphoton laser scanning tomography.

Background: There is no reliable marker to estimate the degree of skin aging in vivo. It now has become possible to quantitatively determine the dermal characteristics of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in vivo using multiphoton laser tomography (MLT).

Methods: Fifty-seven healthy Japanese female volunteers, aged from 20 to 60 years old, were examined using multiphoton depth-resolved measurements of autofluorescence (AF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) at three sites on their right cheek.

Developmental alterations of physical properties and components of neonatal-infantile stratum corneum of upper thighs and diaper-covered buttocks during the 1st year of life.

Background: Although physical properties of neonatal-infantile stratum corneum (SC) change drastically after birth, precise developmental alterations of specific sites have not been fully elucidated.

Objective: To determine the longitudinal alterations of neonatal-infantile SC functions and components of upper thighs and diaper-covered buttocks during the first year of life. The data were compared with those of adults.

Positional differences and aging changes in Japanese woman epidermal thickness and corneous thickness determined by OCT (optical coherence tomography).

Background/purpose: A number of studies of the internal structure of Japanese woman's skin are now performed by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a technique capable of visualizing the internal structure in a non-invasive manner.

Methods: We measured the epidermal and corneous thicknesses at 11 sites in 116 healthy female volunteers aged from teens to sixties to examine possible positional differences and aging changes.

Results: The epidermal thickness determined at the 11 sites averaged 68.

Improvement of crow's feet lines by topical application of 1-carbamimidoyl-L-proline (CLP).

Wrinkles, one of the characteristics of chronic sun-damaged and/or aged skin, are associated with psychological distress. Apart from the deterioration of collagen and elastic fibers in the dermis, which induces the loss of skin elasticity, it has been recently proposed that decreased flexibility or elasticity of the stratum corneum (SC) is also correlated with wrinkle formation. The elasticity of the SC has been shown to be regulated, at least in part, by the amounts and types of amino acids.

Autophagy has a significant role in determining skin color by regulating melanosome degradation in keratinocytes.

Melanin in the epidermis determines the wide variation in skin color associated with ethnic skin diversity. Ethnic differences exist regarding melanosome loss in keratinocytes, but the mechanisms underlying these differences, and their contribution to the regulation of skin color, remain unclear. Here, we explored the involvement of autophagy in determining skin color by regulating melanosome degradation in keratinocytes.

Dry skin in the winter is related to the ceramide profile in the stratum corneum and can be improved by treatment with a Eucalyptus extract.

Background: Dry skin in the winter has been reported to involve scaling, defects in water holding and barrier functions, and decreased ceramide (CER) levels in the stratum corneum (SC). We previously reported that a Eucalyptus extract promotes CER synthesis in cultured keratinocytes and accelerates the recovery of hydration in a barrier-disrupted model of human skin.

Aims: One of the objectives was to examine the CER profile and its contribution to the relief of dry skin.

Characterization of vulvar skin of healthy Thai women: influence of sites, age and menopause.

Although the physiological characteristics of vulvar skin have been characterized in Caucasians, little is known about the vulvar skin of Asian women. This study assessed the moisture content, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and pH of vulvar skin of 99 healthy Asian women residing in Bangkok, aged 20-69 years, during their non-menstrual period, including 39 post-menopausal women. Skin pH was acidic at all sites, and the pH of the vulvar areas was significantly higher than the control sites (inner thigh, inner forearm).

Seasonal and annual variation in the intensity of facial wrinkles.

Background/aims: We studied annual, seasonal and gender-dependent changes in the intensity of facial wrinkles.

Methods: The study included 32 Japanese subjects (16 men, 16 women, aged 35-47). Wrinkles on the forehead, corner of the eye, lower eyelid and nasolabial groove of each subject were captured in photos and in replicas at 3-month intervals from March, 2009 to March, 2010.

Study of the vulvar skin in healthy Japanese women: components of the stratum corneum and microbes.

Background: Although the physiological conditions of vulvar skin in Caucasian populations have been characterized, little is known about these conditions in Japanese women.

Methods: Skin of the labia, groin, mons pubis, and inner thigh was examined in 40 healthy Japanese women outwith their menstrual period. Skin moisture, skin pH, ceramide content and inflammatory cytokine proteins of the stratum corneum, and bacterial flora were assessed.

Green tea extract suppresses adiposity and affects the expression of lipid metabolism genes in diet-induced obese zebrafish.

Background: Visceral fat accumulation is one of the most important predictors of mortality in obese populations. Administration of green tea extract (GTE) can reduce body fat and reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases in mammals. In this study, we investigated the effects and mechanisms of GTE on adiposity in diet-induced obese (DIO) zebrafish.

Essential role of RAB27A in determining constitutive human skin color.

Human skin color is predominantly determined by melanin produced in melanosomes within melanocytes and subsequently distributed to keratinocytes. There are many studies that have proposed mechanisms underlying ethnic skin color variations, whereas the processes involved from melanin synthesis in melanocytes to the transfer of melanosomes to keratinocytes are common among humans. Apart from the activities in the melanogenic rate-limiting enzyme, tyrosinase, in melanocytes and the amounts and distribution patterns of melanosomes in keratinocytes, the abilities of the actin-associated factors in charge of melanosome transport within melanocytes also regulate pigmentation.

The endogenous protease inhibitor TIMP-1 mediates protection and recovery from cutaneous photodamage.

UVB exposure is well known to induce skin photodamage and photoaging that correlates with qualitative and quantitative deterioration of the dermal extracellular matrix (ECM) because of the upregulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Although inhibitory effects of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) on most MMPs have been reported, the protective role of TIMP-1 against photodamage is poorly understood. To address this, TIMP-1 function was augmented or abolished in a human skin xenograft photodamage model after the confirmation of significantly diminished TIMP-1 expression both in photoaged and intrinsically aged skins.

Essential role of microfibrillar-associated protein 4 in human cutaneous homeostasis and in its photoprotection.

UVB-induced cutaneous photodamage/photoaging is characterized by qualitative and quantitative deterioration in dermal extracellular matrix (ECM) components such as collagen and elastic fibers. Disappearance of microfibrillar-associated protein 4 (MFAP-4), a possible limiting factor for cutaneous elasticity, was documented in photoaged dermis, but its function is poorly understood. To characterize its possible contribution to photoprotection, MFAP-4 expression was either augmented or inhibited in a human skin xenograft photodamage murine model and human fibroblasts.

Gender-dependent differences in degree of facial wrinkles.

Background/purpose: This study aimed to reveal gender-dependent differences in the degree of facial wrinkles.

Methods: Subjects comprised 173 Japanese men and women, divided into four groups according to age. Photographs were taken from nine facial regions and used to classify the intensity of wrinkles into five grades.

Loss of contraction force in dermal fibroblasts with aging due to decreases in myosin light chain phosphorylation enzymes.

Although there have been many reports about the relationship between force generation by skeletal muscles and aging, no study has investigated the relationship between contraction forces generated by non-muscle cells and aging. In this study, we examined that relationship using fibroblast populating collagen gels and a contraction force detecting system. Fibroblasts at passages 5 to 7 were used as the young group and those at passages 17 to 19 were used as the aged group.

An investigator blinded cross-over study to characterize the cutaneous effects and suitability of modern sanitary pads for menstrual protection for women residing in the USA.

Background: The cutaneous and sensory effects of the practical usage of sanitary pads have been studied globally. However, clinical studies in the United States were conducted only quite a long time ago, and the results of these studies were not published.

Methods: Fifty-four women residing in the United States were asked to use commercially available sanitary pads with a nonwoven unique surface sheet and pads with a perforated film.

A new method for the visualization and quantification of internal skin elasticity by ultrasound imaging.

Background/purpose: Skin elasticity has been assessed previously only in the surface layer. We developed a new method that uses tissue strain imaging (TSI) technology, and the aim of this study was to test this new method to assess internal skin elasticity.

Methods: Using a pressure device with a 12 MHz ultrasound transducer, constant and linear compressions were applied to the cheek skin of 35 volunteers (aged: 20-60 years).

Relationship between the echogenicity of subcutaneous tissue and the depth of forehead wrinkles.

Background/purpose: Subcutaneous tissue is rarely studied in research on wrinkles. We used diagnostic ultrasonography to produce images of subcutaneous tissue of the forehead, one of the areas where age-related wrinkles form. We quantified the resulting echogenicity and investigated its relationship with wrinkle depth.

Relationship between the echogenicity of subcutaneous tissue and the depth of eye corner wrinkles.

Background/purpose: A close relationship was found between the internal structure of subcutaneous tissue and wrinkle depth in our previous study of human forehead. The present study examined the relationship in the eye corner.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-three Japanese subjects were divided into four age groups (21-28 years, 35-41 years, 47-59 years and 65-75 years).

Cutaneous and sensory effects of two types of sanitary pads with different surfaces in the Shanghai, Chinese population.

Background: Regional differences in practices, ethnicity, and climate may influence the skin compatibility of sanitary pads. Although several clinical trials have been performed in North America, Mexico, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Africa, there is no clinical study reported for Asia.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the skin compatibility of two types of modern sanitary pads in Chinese women along with a dermatological assessment and their satisfaction and preference.