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Objective: To assess the clinical impact of living alone on weight gain in university students. Participants: This retrospective cohort study included 17540 male and 8854 female university students admitted to a national university in Japan. Methods: An association between living arrangement and the incidence of weight gain =10% and overweight/obesity (body mass index (BMI) =25 kg/m2) was assessed using multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression models. Results: Weight gain was observed in 1889 (10.8%) male and 1516 (17.1%) female students during 3.0 and 2.9 years of the mean observational period, respectively. Living alone was identified as a significant predictor of weight gain (adjusted incidence rate ratio of living alone vs. living with family: 1.24 [1.13-1.36] and 1.76 [1.58-1.95] in male and female students, respectively) and was also as a predictor of overweight/obesity. Conclusions: University students living alone were at a significantly higher risk of weight gain and overweight/obesity than those living with family.

Previous studies have shown that rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) improves the diagnostic yield of bronchoscopy using endobronchial ultrasound with a guide sheath (EBUS-GS) for peripheral pulmonary lesions (PPL). While ROSE of imprint cytology from forceps biopsy has been widely discussed, there are few reports on ROSE of brush cytology. This study investigated the utility of ROSE of brush cytology during bronchoscopy. We retrospectively analyzed data from 214 patients who underwent bronchoscopy with EBUS-GS for PPL. The patients in the ROSE group had significantly higher diagnostic sensitivity through the entire bronchoscopy process than in the non-ROSE group (96.8% vs. 83.3%, P = 0.002). The use of ROSE significantly increased the sensitivity of brush cytology with Papanicolaou staining (92.9% vs. 75.0%, P < 0.001). When ROSE was sequentially repeated on brushing specimens, initially negative ROSE results converted to positive in 79.5% of cases, and the proportion of specimens with high tumor cell counts increased from 42.1 to 69.0%. This study concludes that ROSE of brush cytology improves the diagnostic accuracy of bronchoscopy and enhances specimen quality through repeated brushing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion gene‐positive lung cancer often shows brain metastasis at initial diagnosis or during the course of treatment. However, molecular‐targeted drugs are known to pass through the blood–brain barrier and present positive effects for central nervous system lesions. There are few reports suggesting how effective molecular‐targeted drug therapy alone is for brain metastasis lesions of ALK fusion‐positive lung cancer, especially after the first use of ALK‐tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) or for bulky brain metastases. A patient in his mid‐fifties with stage IV pleural dissemination developed brain metastases after 10 years of crizotinib use, but showed a complete response after switching to brigatinib. Moreover, a patient in her early sixties with stage III recurrent large brain metastases 5 years after chemoradiation therapy experienced dramatic tumor shrinkage with brigatinib. In each case of ALK fusion gene‐positive lung cancer with brain metastases, brigatinib showed a high efficacy and was well‐tolerated after previous ALK‐TKI and for bulky lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Little information is available about the association between vegetable preference and chronic kidney disease. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 10,819 university workers in Japan who underwent their annual health checkups between January 2005 and March 2013. According to a question "Do you like vegetables"? with 3 possible answers of "I like vegetables," "I like vegetables somewhat," or "I dislike vegetables," 2,831, 2,249, and 104 male workers and 3,902, 1,648, and 85 female workers were classified into the "like," "somewhat," and "dislike" groups, respectively. An association between vegetable preference and incidence of proteinuria (dipstick urinary protein ≥1+) was assessed using Cox proportional-hazards models adjusted for clinically relevant factors. Results: During the median observational period of 5.0 years, the incidence of proteinuria was observed in 650 (12.7%) male and 789 (14.1%) female workers. Among male workers, the "dislike" group had a significantly higher risk of proteinuria (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio of "like," "somewhat," and "dislike" groups: 1.00 [reference], 1.05 [0.90–1.23], and 1.59 [1.01–2.50], respectively). Among female workers, vegetable preference was associated with the incidence of proteinuria in a dose-dependent manner (1.00 [reference], 1.20 [1.04–1.40], 1.95 [1.26–3.02], respectively). Conclusion: "Do you like vegetables"? was a clinically useful tool to identify subjects vulnerable to proteinuria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously demonstrated hepatic, cardiac, and skin inflammation in a high-fat diet-induced steatotic liver disease (SLD) model. However, the molecular mechanism in the kidneys in this model remains unclear. It has been recently reported that SGLT2 inhibitors improve chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, we used this model to evaluate the effects of tofogliflozin on renal lipid metabolism and inflammation. Male 8-10-week-old C57Bl/6 mice were fed a high-fat/high-cholesterol/high-sucrose/bile acid (HF/HC/HS/BA) diet with 0.015% tofogliflozin (Tofo group) or an HF/HC/HS/BA diet alone (SLD group). After eight weeks, serum lipid profiles, histology, lipid content, and mRNA/microRNA and protein expression levels in the kidney were examined. The Tofo group showed significant reductions in body (26.9 ± 0.9 vs. 24.5 ± 1.0 g; p < 0.001) and kidney weight compared to those of the SLD group. Renal cholesterol (9.1 ± 1.6 vs. 7.5 ± 0.7 mg/g; p < 0.05) and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) (12.0 ± 3.0 vs. 8.4 ± 1.5 μEq/g; p < 0.01) were significantly decreased in the Tofo group. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of fewer lipid droplets. mRNA sequencing analysis revealed that fatty acid metabolism-related genes were upregulated and NFκB signaling pathway-related genes were downregulated in the Tofo group. MicroRNA sequencing analysis indicated that miR-21a was downregulated and miR-204 was upregulated in the Tofo group. Notably, the expression of PPARα, which has been known to be negatively regulated by miR-21, was significantly increased, leading to enhancing β-oxidation genes, Acox1 and Cpt1 in the Tofo group. Tofogliflozin decreased renal cholesterol and NEFA levels and improved inflammation through the regulation of PPARα and miR-21a.

Aim: A twin study is a valuable tool for elucidating the acquired factors against lifestyle diseases such as dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. We aimed 1. to investigate the factors that affect low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in monozygotic (MZ) twins, and 2. to identify genes which expression levels changed in pairs with large differences in LDL-C or HDL-C levels., Methods: The registered database at the Center for Twin Research, Osaka University, containing 263 pairs of MZ twins, was analyzed. 1. The effects of smoking, exercise, nutritional factors, and anthropometric and biochemical parameters on LDL-C or HDL-C levels were examined in MZ twins. 2. RNA sequencing in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 59 pairs was analyzed for large differences of LDL-C or HDL-C groups., Results: 1. The ΔLDL-C levels were significantly associated with an older age, the ΔTG levels, and ΔBMI. ΔHDL-C levels were associated with the ΔBMI, ΔTG, ΔTP, and ΔLDL-C levels. The HDL-C levels were affected by smoking and exercise habits. The intakes of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids were not associated with the LDL-C or HDL-C levels. 2. An RNA sequencing analysis revealed that the expression of genes related to the TLR4 and IFNG pathways was suppressed in accordance with the HDL-C levels in the larger ΔHDL-C group among the 59 pairs., Conclusion: We identified the factors affecting the LDL-C or HDL-C levels in monozygotic twins. In addition, some types of inflammatory gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were suppressed in accordance with the HDL-C levels, thus suggesting the importance of weight management and exercise habits in addition to dietary instructions to control the LDL-C or HDL-C levels.

Aim: Postprandial hypertriglyceridemia (PHTG) is an independent risk factor for coronary heart diseases. PHTG exhibits accumulation of apoB-48 containing chylomicron remnants (CM-Rs) and apoB-100 containing VLDL remnants (VLDL-Rs), which are both known to be atherogenic. However, unlike VLDL-Rs, structural and functional characterization of CM-Rs remains to be elucidated due to challenges in separating CM-Rs from VLDL-Rs. Recently, we successfully isolated CM-Rs and VLDL-Rs utilizing anti-apoB-48 or apoB-100 specific antibodies. This study aimed to characterize the proteome of CM-Rs along with that of VLDL-Rs., Methods: Eight healthy subjects were enrolled. Venous blood was drawn 3 hours after high-fat-containing meals. We isolated CM-Rs and VLDL-Rs from sera through combination of ultracentrifugation and immunoprecipitation using apoB-48 or apoB-100 specific antibodies, followed by shotgun proteomic analysis., Results: We identified 42 CM-Rs or VLDL-Rs-associated proteins, including 11 potential newly identified proteins such as platelet basic protein (PPBP) and platelet factor 4, which are chemokines secreted from platelets. ApoA-I, apoA-IV, and clusterin, which are also known as HDL-associated proteins, were significantly more abundant in CM-Rs. Interestingly, apoC-I, which reduces the activity of lipoprotein lipase and eventually inhibits catabolism of remnant proteins, was also more abundant in CM-Rs. Moreover, we identified proteins involved in complement regulation such as complement C3 and vitronectin, and those involved in acute-phase response such as PPBP, serum amyloid A protein 2, and protein S100-A8, in both CM-Rs and VLDL-Rs., Conclusions: We have firstly characterized the proteome of CM-Rs. These findings may provide an explanation for the atherogenic properties of CM-Rs.