Association of Habitual Green Tea Consumption with Sarcopenia Assessed Using SARC-F in Community-Dwelling Japanese Older People: A Cross-Sectional Study.

To ascertain whether habitual green tea consumption is associated with sarcopenia among Japanese older adults, using the screening tool for sarcopenia (SARC-F). This cross-sectional study in Mukawa, Hokkaido, Japan, was conducted between June and September 2022 and included 364 Japanese participants older than 65 y. Habitual green tea consumption and energy intake were ascertained using a validated self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Sarcopenia was evaluated using the SARC-F. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of sarcopenia risk across participant tertiles of green tea consumption, with adjustments for age, sex, body mass index, living alone, habitual exercise, walking hours, current smoking status, current alcohol consumption status, energy intake, protein intake, vegetable intake, and fruit intake. In this study of 364 participants (154 men and 210 women), the prevalence of sarcopenia risk was 9.3%. The multivariable-adjusted OR [95% CI] of green tea consumption for ≥1 cup/d compared with that of <1 cup/wk of sarcopenia was 0.312 [0.129-0.752]. Higher habitual green tea consumption was inversely associated with sarcopenia among Japanese older adults. Further longitudinal studies are required to confirm these findings.

[Association of health literacy with hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia: A cross-sectional survey of a regional Japanese community].

Objectives　This study aimed to identify how communicative and critical health literacy (CCHL) was associated with hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia in a regional Japanese community.Methods　A cross-sectional survey was conducted through stratified random sampling to achieve the study objectives. The sample comprised adults aged 20-75 years, residing in Ebetsu in Hokkaido, Japan. Stratification was accomplished by classifying the population into 3 districts of Ebetsu city, with 1,000 people being randomly selected from each district. A self-reporting questionnaire was then administered over July and August 2018 to these 3,000 participants. Ebetsu city officials distributed and collected the questionnaires, delivering anonymized data to the researchers. Of the 1,630 respondents, 8 did not complete the CCHL questionnaire and 43 did not fill the disease status questionnaire, so these were excluded. The final analysis was performed on the responses received from 692 men and 887 women. The CCHL scores were grouped into quartiles to identify trends related to the diseases and lifestyles. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the associations between CCHL and instances of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia in both sexes. The analysis was adjusted for age, living arrangement, marital status, educational attainment, current employment status, body mass index, frequency of regular exercise, habit of skipping breakfast, and smoking status.Results　The overall CCHL score was computed as 3.58±0.67 (mean±SD). Among men, the prevalence of hypertension in the highest CCHL score group was significantly lower than that in the lowest CCHL group (OR 0.49; 95%CI: 0.28-0.84). The analysis indicated that the prevalence of hypertension among men was low for the highest CCHL score group (AOR 0.62; 95%CI: 0.32-1.22). Associations between CCHL scores and other diseases were found to be non-significant in both men and women.Conclusion　Male participants with the highest CCHL scores had a significantly lower prevalence of hypertension than those with the lowest CCHL scores. However, these associations were found to be non-significant after adjusting for confounding factors. Future studies on the association of CCHL with lifestyle disorders should apply a longitudinal design.

Rapid prolactin induction in adult male rats after treatment with diethylstilbestrol.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic oestrogen known to disrupt the endocrine system and to cause reproductive toxicity mediated via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; however, its molecular mechanism of action is poorly understood. In the present study, we found that, after only 1 week of exposure to DES, blood testosterone dramatically decreased and that this decrease was associated with a strong induction of prolactin (PRL). Even with the increase in PRL, the luteinising hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone mRNAs slightly decreased. Our results show that, after 48 hours of a single dose of DES, there was a six-fold increase in PRL expression. After exploring the upstream mechanisms, we determined that dopamine, which inhibits PRL secretion in male rats, did not decrease in the pituitary gland of DES-treated rats, whereas vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), which mediates the acute release of PRL, was elevated. Serotonin (5-HT) increased in the brain of male rats 24 hours after a single DES treatment; however, PRL, VIP or 5-HT was not induced by DES in female rats. Our results indicate that DES induces the expression of pituitary PRL in male rats by stimulating VIP in the hypothalamus and 5-HT in the central nervous system.

[Association between health literacy and behavior regarding health checkups and health counseling in Japanese employees: A comprehensive health literacy survey of a Japanese railway company].

BACKGROUND: Globally, health literacy is considered important for healthy ageing. However, to our knowledge, no study has investigated comprehensive health literacy in Japanese employees. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine comprehensive health literacy in employees of company A, a Japanese railway company, and to determine the association between health literacy and behavior regarding health checkups and health counseling in the employees. METHODS: A representative sample of company A with 541 employees was selected through random sampling. We divided the sample into 20 groups based on gender, age, night shift work, and administrative position. These groups were compared with the employee distribution of company A. The self-administered Japanese version of the 47-item European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire was distributed to the participants via mail from May 1, 2017, to May 30, 2017. This questionnaire consists of three domains, each with its own index: health care health literacy (health care health literacy index [HC-HL]), disease prevention health literacy (disease prevention health literacy index [DP-HL]), and health promotion health literacy (health promotion health literacy index [HP-HL]). Additionally, general health literacy (general health literacy index [GEN-HL]) was also assessed. Statistical analyses were performed to identify the association between health literacy and behavior regarding health checkups and health counseling in the employees in company A. Furthermore, we compared the health literacy of the present sample with that of samples in past studies by Nakayama et al. (2015) and Goto et al. (2018). RESULTS: A total of 417 questionnaires were returned. The health literacy scores were calculated based on the valid responses of 381 participants. The mean health literacy scores in company A for GEN-HL, HC-HL, DP-HL, and HP-HL were 25.1, 24.6, 27.9, and 22.8, respectively. The mean health literacy scores in the survey by Nakayama et al. for GEN-HL, HC-HL, DP-HL, and HP-HL were 25.3, 25.7, 22.7, and 25.5, respectively, and those in the survey by Goto et al. were 29.79, 29.23, 32.52, and 27.60, respectively. There was no significant difference between participant characteristics and GEN-HL scores. In contrast, there was a significant difference in the association between GEN-HL and health counseling in terms of the number of times health counseling was provided in the workplace. However, there was no significant difference between those who did not wish to receive health counseling and GEN -HL scores. CONCLUSION: The health literacy in railway company A was low. The results of this study and those of past studies did not demonstrate similar trends for health literacy. Additionally, GEN-HL scores were likely to increase if the number of people who wished to receive health counseling increased.