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A reduction in heart rate variability (HRV) is reportedly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. In previous studies, an inverse association was noted between HRV and particulate air pollution, but the sample populations were small and most consisted only of elderly individuals. We examined the association between 24-h HRV and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a large study population spanning 7 prefectures in Japan from April 2010 through March 2013. Meta-analysis was also performed. In total, 59,493 records of 24-h HRV for patients aged 20–90 years with symptoms/signs suggestive of heart disease were included in this analysis. Air pollution data were obtained from the National Institute for Environmental Studies. Regression models were used to examine the association between daily concentration of PM2.5 and HRV indices (e.g., standard deviation of normal-to-normal (SDNN), SD of average NN internals calculated over short periods (SDANN), very low frequency (VLF), and ultra-low frequency (ULF)). The model was adjusted for age, sex, temperature, and relative humidity. We examined the lagged association for single (up to lag3) and moving average (up to lag03). We found that decreases in HRV indices, especially for SDNN, SDANN, VLF, and ULF, were associated with PM2.5 in Hokkaido, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa. In contrast, there was no clear association between HRV with PM2.5 in Saitama and Aichi. Meta-analysis revealed significant decreases in SDNN, SDANN, VLF, and ULF were associated with PM2.5. Short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with lower 24-h HRV in patients with symptoms/signs suggestive of heart disease.

Point-of-purchase (POP) information at food stores could help promote healthy dietary habits. However, it has been difficult to evaluate the effects of such intervention on customers’ behavior. We objectively evaluated the usefulness of POP health information for vegetables in the modification of customers’ purchasing behavior by using the database of a point-of-sales (POS) system. Two supermarket stores belonging to the same chain were assigned as the intervention store (store I) and control store (store C). POP health information for vegetables was presented in store I for 60 days. The percent increase in daily sales of vegetables over the sales on the same date of the previous year was compared between the stores by using the database of the POS system, adjusting for the change in monthly visitors from the previous year (adjusted ∆sales). The adjusted ∆sales significantly increased during the intervention period (Spearman’s ρ = 0.258, P for trend = 0.006) at store I but did not increase at store C (ρ = −0.037, P for trend = 0.728). The growth of the mean adjusted ∆sales of total vegetables from 30 days before the intervention period through the latter half of the intervention period was estimated to be greater at store I than at store C by 18.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval 1.6–35.9). Health-related POP information for vegetables in supermarkets can encourage customers to purchase and, probably, consume vegetables.

The human ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein, ARF4L is a member of the ARF family, which are small GTP-binding proteins that play significant roles in vesicle transport and protein secretion. However, little is known about the physiological roles of ARF4L. In this study, to understand the biological functions of ARF4L, we carried out immunocytochemical analysis of ARF4L molecules with mutations in the functional domains. ARF4L was shown to be distributed to the plasma membrane following binding to GTP (Q80L), and into endosomes following binding to GDP (T35N). Moreover, the inactive-form of ARF4L (T35N) causes localization of transferrin receptors to the endosomal compartment, while the active form (Q80L) causes transport to the plasma membrane. These findings indicate that ARF4L drive the transport of cargo protein and subsequent fusion of recycling vesicles with the plasma membrane for maintenance of the cell surface.

The aberrant splicing isoform (PS2V), generated by exon 5 skipping of the Presenilin-2 (PS2) gene transcript, is a diagnostic feature of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). We found PS2V is hypoxia-inducible in human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells. We purified a responsible trans-acting factor based on its binding to an exon 5 fragment. The factor was identified as the high mobility group A1a protein (HMGA1a; formerly HMG-I). HMGA1a bound to a specific sequence on exon 5, located upstream of the 5' splice site. HMGA1a expression was induced by hypoxia and the protein was accumulated in the nuclear speckles with the endogenous splicing factor SC35. Overexpression of HMGA1a generated PS2V, but PS2V was repressed by cotransfection with the U1 snRNP 70K protein that has a strong affinity to HMGA1a. HMGA1a could interfere with U1 snRNP binding to the 5' splice site and caused exon 5 skipping. HMGA1a levels were significantly increased in the brain tissue from sporadic AD patients. We propose a novel mechanism of sporadic AD that involves HMGA1a-induced aberrant splicing of PS2 pre-mRNA in the absence of any mutations.