[Improvement of QOL in osteoporotic patients by calcitonin treatment].

Quality of life (QOL) is impaired in patients with osteoporosis, to which bodily pain greatly contributes. The presence of vertebral fractures detrimentally affects the patients' QOL in a dose-dependent manner. Calcitonin, with its potent analgesic action, markedly improves the various aspects of patients' QOL. Efficacy for the treatment of osteoporosis should be evaluated in terms of QOL also, in addition to the increase in bone mineral density and fracture prevention.

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Japanese osteoporotic patients and its improvement by elcatonin treatment.

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL; "QOL" hereafter) was evaluated in Japanese osteoporotic patients using three questionnaires; the SF-36 (MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey; generic, profile-type), the EQ-5D (Euro Qol-5 Dimensions; generic, preference-based), and the JOQOL (Japanese Osteoporosis Quality of Life 1999; disease-targeted). The eight subscales and two summary scores of the SF-36 were impaired in these patients even after correction for age and sex. The scores on the EQ-5D and JOQOL correlated well with the subscales of the SF-36 that represent the physical aspects of physical function and bodily pain, which suggests that physical aspects are important determinants of overall QOL status in osteoporotic patients. Although the QOL scores did not correlate with bone mineral density, they were markedly influenced by the presence of vertebral fractures. In particular, the presence of two or more vertebral fractures greatly decreased the QOL scores. We then evaluated the QOL scores before and after treatment. The patients were either given calcium supplementation alone or calcium plus once-weekly elcatonin (Elcitonin, Asahi Kasei Pharma, Tokyo, Japan) injection. Elcatonin treatment markedly improved diverse aspects of the QOL, whereas calcium alone did not. The current data suggest that osteoporosis, especially in the presence of vertebral fracture, is associated with compromised QOL, and therapeutic intervention for osteoporosis should be evaluated in terms of QOL, as well as in terms of increases in bone mineral density and fracture prevention.

Protective effects of barley and its hydrolysates on gastric stress ulcer in rats.

This research intends to clarify the protective effect of barley and its hydrolysates with respect to a water immersion stress-induced ulcer in the rat model. The beta-(1-->3)-glucan content of barley, and specifically beta-(1-->4),(1-->3)-glucan content was determined and then gastric stress ulcerogenesis induced by water immersion was conducted using five-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (7 rats in one group). The barley diet group was fed 10% barley flour that was substituted with sucrose in the control diet. For the 3 groups fed on soluble dietary fiber (SDF), the diets were supplemented with 0.46 g of SDF, equivalent to 100 g of the control diet; 0.46 g of SDF is equivalent to 10 g of barley flour. The rats were housed in a stress-cage and immersed in a water bath (23 degrees C) up to their necks for 21 h. The content of SDF and beta-(1-->3)-glucan content in barley flour were 4.6% and 3.4%, respectively. Although strongly anti-ulcer activities were observed in the barley (10%), SDF isolated and beta-(1-->3)-glucan fraction (Hydrolysate I) prepared from barley flour after treatment with lichenase, in other words, beta-(1-->4),(1-->3)-glucan itself, its hydrolysate (Hydrolysate II) with beta-(1-->3)-glucosidase did not display any anti-ulcer activity. This finding suggests that the beta-(1-->3)-glucosyl-linkage on beta-(1-->3)-glucan is an important part of the active principle for anti-ulcerogenesis.