Mukogawa Women's University

Background: This study aimed to comprehensively examine the effects of participation in a dietary intervention program on body composition and multiple hematological and biochemical markers in middle-aged and older women, particularly identifying the biomarkers that fluctuate in conjunction with changes in body composition. Methods: A 6-month dietary intervention program was conducted involving 33 middle-aged and older women (mean age 60.9 +/- 11.0 years, mean body mass index (BMI) 24.8 +/- 3.2 kg/m2). The body composition and nonfasting blood parameters were measured before and after the intervention. In this study, pre-or post-intervention changes and correlated changes in body composition were compared with blood parameters. Results: Participation in the dietary program led to significant reductions in body weight, BMI, body fat mass, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. The blood parameters showing significant decreases were white blood cell count, red blood cell count, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and cholinesterase. The change in body fat mass (Delta body fat mass) was positively correlated with the change in cholinesterase (Delta cholinesterase, r = 0.483). Multiple regression analysis identified Delta cholinesterase ((3 = 0.505) as an independent explanatory variable for Delta body fat mass. In addition, Delta cystatin C ((3 = 0.500) was considered an independent explanatory variable for the change in waist circumference (Delta waist circumference). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that cholinesterase and cystatin C may capture fluctuations in body composition earlier than conventional inflammatory markers. Consequently, they may be useful, simple, and objective indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions.

H Housing is a form of co-housing managed by a stock company, where residents are shareholders (we refer to this as the "stock company method"). This type of cooperative housing is unique in Japan due to the lack of legal support for such a system, making H Housing one of the few examples of co-housing using a stock company structure. This paper aims to clarify the management practices of this housing model by analyzing records from resident meetings. In conclusion, the characteristics of H Housing are as follows: (1) autonomous and democratic management, and (2) an independent approach to selecting new residents. Identified challenges include: (1) limited legal and financial frameworks for funding and taxation, (2) inadequate valuation of stock prices, (3) lack of clarity regarding common service fees during vacancies, (4) unclear responsibility for maintenance during vacancies, (5) insufficient expertise in spatial planning and maintenance, and (6) substantial burdens on residents for new resident selection and long-term planning.

BACKGROUND:Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), found outside blood vessels, enhances vasorelaxation when endothelium-mediated vasorelaxation fails, as observed in the mesenteric arteries of rats with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and hypertension; however, whether high blood pressure contributes to PVAT dysfunction remains unclear. We, therefore, aimed to investigate vascular function and PVAT modulation in the mesenteric arteries of rats with MetS but no hypertension. METHODS:Mesenteric arteries were isolated from both lean and obese male Zucker fatty (ZF) and ZF diabetes mellitus (ZFDM) rats at 20 and 30 weeks of age. Vasorelaxation was examined in arteries with or without PVAT; mRNA levels in PVAT and arteries were examined using the organ bath method and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, respectively. RESULTS:Sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxations were lower in the obese versus lean ZF rats, and PVAT increased them to levels comparable to those in lean rats at 20 weeks. These enhancements disappeared after 30 weeks. The mRNA expression of apelin in PVAT and its receptor was upregulated in the arteries of obese rats, and its levels correlated positively with the enhancing effect of PVAT. In obese ZFDM rats, PVAT attenuated relaxation at both 20 and 30 weeks. Levels of chemerin mRNA expression in PVAT were higher in ZFDM versus ZF rats; however, treatment with chemerin or a chemerin receptor antagonist did not alter vasorelaxation in ZFDM rats. CONCLUSIONS:Apelin may contribute to compensatory PVAT modulation during vascular dysfunction in obese ZF rats. PVAT inhibits vasorelaxation by releasing a contractile factor other than chemerin in ZFDM rats. Thus, it may modulate vascular tone differently depending on MetS stage.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) represents a prevalent and severe complication of diabetes mellitus, with growing evidence highlighting the critical role of lipid metabolic dysregulation in its pathogenesis. This review systematically examines the complex interplay between aberrant lipid metabolism and DKD progression, focusing on three major pathways: fatty acid metabolism disturbances, cholesterol homeostasis imbalance, and sphingolipid signaling alterations. We detail how these metabolic perturbations contribute to renal cell injury through multiple mechanisms, including in podocytes, tubular epithelial cells, and mesangial cells. Emerging therapeutic strategies targeting these metabolic pathways are comprehensively evaluated. Special emphasis is placed on recent advances in understanding cell-specific lipid metabolic reprogramming and its clinical implications. The review also discusses current challenges in translating these findings into clinical practice and proposes future research directions for developing personalized therapeutic approaches based on lipid metabolic profiling in DKD patients.

Inoue et al. have introduced the successful derivation game (SDG) on context-free grammars (CFGs), which is a generalization of classic heap-based games including subtraction games and Keyles, and shown that the least upper bound of the Grundy numbers in the SDG on a given CFG G is undecidable in general even when we restrict G to be a linear CFG. This paper shows that for the SDG on a right-linear grammar (RLG), we can construct a DFA for computing the Grundy number of a given position. In other words, for the SDG on an RLG, the set of positions with a given Grundy number c is regular. As a corollary, the least upper bound of the Grundy numbers in the SDG on a given RLG is decidable. We also investigate the complexity of computing the least upper bound of the Grundy numbers in the SDG on a given RLG, and it is shown to be PSPACE-complete.