A short-term intervention of ingesting iron along with methionine and threonine leads to a higher hemoglobin level than that with iron alone in young healthy women: a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, comparative study.

PURPOSE: Enhancing iron absorption and utilization is important for amelioration iron status faster and thereby, for improving quality of life. Dietary protein and amino acids, including methionine and threonine, have been reported to facilitate the absorption and utilization of dietary iron. Here, we investigated the effect of combined ingestion of methionine, threonine, and iron on the improvement of iron status during a short-term intervention, by comparing that with iron ingestion alone in healthy young women. METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, comparative study with 45 participants (aged 20-39) randomly assigned to three groups (n = 15 each): one group was administered 200 mg methionine, 400 mg threonine, and 6 mg iron once daily (FEMT); another ingested 6 mg iron alone (FE); and the third group ingested a placebo (PCG). Blood samples and dietary nutrient data were collected before the intervention (week 0) and after 2, 4, and 6 weeks. Serum iron, hemoglobin, transferrin, and ferritin levels were measured. RESULTS: Blood hemoglobin levels were significantly higher in the FEMT than in the FE group (P < 0.05) at week 4. Serum iron, transferrin, and ferritin levels were not changed across groups. In addition, our analyses showed that the observed increase in hemoglobin levels was affected by the intervention rather than changes in dietary nutrient intake. CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of methionine and threonine with low doses of iron leads to a higher hemoglobin levels than that with iron alone in a short period of 4 weeks. TRIAL REGISTRATION: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trial Registry (UMIN000046621).

Effect of imbalance in dietary macronutrients on blood hemoglobin levels: a cross-sectional study in young underweight Japanese women.

Background: Iron deficiency and underweight are common nutritional problems among young Japanese women, many of whom show unhealthy dietary patterns owing to a desire for thinness. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between iron status, nutritional status, and dietary intake among young Japanese women with underweight to identify dietary risk factors for iron deficiency. Methods: Of the 159 young women (18-29 years of age) enrolled, 77 underweight and 37 normal-weight women were included in the study. They were further categorized into four groups based on quartiles of hemoglobin levels among all participants. Dietary nutrient intake was ascertained using a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire. Blood level of hemoglobin and nutritional biomarkers such as total protein, albumin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and essential amino acids were measured. Results: In underweight, the multiple comparison test showed that dietary intakes of fat, saturated fatty acid, and monosaturated fatty acid were significantly higher and carbohydrate intake was significantly lower in the group with the lowest hemoglobin level, whereas intakes of iron were the same across groups. Multivariate regression coefficients suggested that replacing fat with protein or carbohydrates increased hemoglobin levels under isocaloric conditions. Additionally, significant positive correlations were observed between hemoglobin levels and nutritional biomarkers. Conclusion: Dietary iron intake did not change across different hemoglobin groups among Japanese underweight women. However, our results suggested that an imbalanced dietary macronutrient induces anabolic status and hemoglobin synthesis deterioration among them. Especially, a higher fat intake may be a risk factor for lower hemoglobin.

Role of the Oxytocin Receptor Expressed in the Rostral Medullary Raphe in Thermoregulation During Cold Conditions.

Recent papers have reported that oxytocin (Oxt) and the oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) may be involved in the regulation of food intake in mammals. We therefore suspected the Oxt/Oxtr system to be involved in energy homeostasis. In previous studies, we found a tendency toward obesity in Oxtr-deficient (Oxtr (-/-)) mice, as well as impaired thermoregulation when these mice were exposed to cold conditions. In the present study, we observed the expression of Oxtr in the rostral medullary raphe (RMR), the brain region known to control thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Through immunohistochemistry, we detected neurons expressing Oxtr and c-Fos in the RMR of mice exposed to cold conditions. Up to 40% of Oxtr-positive neurons in RMR were classified as glutamatergic neurons, as shown by immunostaining using anti-VGLUT3 antibody. In addition, mice with exclusive expression of Oxtr in the RMR were generated by injecting an AAV-Oxtr vector into the RMR region of Oxtr (-/-) mice. We confirmed the recovery of thermoregulatory ability in the manipulated mice during exposure to cold conditions. Moreover, mice with RMR-specific expression of Oxtr lost the typical morphological change in BAT observed in Oxtr (-/-) mice. Additionally, increased expression of the ß3-adrenergic receptor gene, Adrb3, was observed in BAT. These results are the first to show the critical role of RMR Oxtr expression in thermoregulation during cold conditions.

MLST analysis of multiple antimicrobial resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

Multi-locus sequencing typing (MLST) of Acinetobacter baumannii, isolated at Showa University Hospital, was performed between November 2010 and March 2011. A. baumannii was isolated from 15 patients. Among the 15 isolates, the STs of three isolates were able to be determined, ST76, ST92, and ST146, and belonged to Clonal Complex (CC) 92, the global epidemic clone among carbapenem resistant A. baumannii. The other 12 strains were not applicable to the MLST classification. The ST76 strain was resistant to carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones. The ST92 strain was resistant to aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones. The ST146 strain was resistant to fluoroquinolones. The other 12 strains were susceptible to either of the drugs. Neither the metallo beta lactamase gene (IMP type or VIM2) nor the OXA23 gene was detected in carbapenem resistant A. baumannii. These results indicate that A. baumannii of CC92 has spread as the drug resistant strain in Japan. Monitoring A. baumannii using molecular epidemiology is necessary.

Characterization of two mobilizable plasmids isolated from enterobacter cloacae.

We isolated two plasmids, pS51A and pS51B which were 5782 bp and 4854 bp in size, respectively, from the third generation cephalosporin-resistant E. cloacae suspected to express metallo-beta-lactamase, and analyzed their structures. These two plasmids encode RNA I/RNA II genes for replication origin, relaxase genes of mobABCD for plasmid transfer, and several open reading frames. According to the classification of mobilizable plasmids by gene organization of the relaxases, pS51A and pS51B belong to the ColE1 superfamily of mobilizable plasmids, commonly detected in Enterobacteriaceae. The metallo-beta-lactamase gene was not identified in either pS51A or pS51B by homology search of the putative open reading frames. Open reading frames encoded in pS51A include E. coli protein L-like, E. coli heat shock protein-like, and E. coli plasmid replication initiation protein-like, and those encoded in pS51B include helix-turn-helix protein-like, E. coli plasmid replication initiation protein-like, and Salmonella replication initiation protein-like. These plasmids are stably maintained in one strain of E. cloacae, thus, the encoded gene functions may confer growth advantage to the host cell.

Evaluation of salivary cortisol measurements for the diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome.

Late-night salivary cortisol (NSC) has been recognized as a sensitive and easy-to-perform screening test for the diagnosis of overt Cushing's syndrome (CS). However, there have been few reports on the diagnostic utility of salivary cortisol (SC) measurement in the diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome (SCS). Therefore, the present study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of SC measurements at late-night and after overnight 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) for the diagnosis of SCS in 42 patients with adrenal incidentaloma. We evaluated 16 patients with SCS, 12 with nonfunctioning adenoma (NFA), 8 with primary aldosteronism (PA), and 6 with pheochromocytoma (Pheo). NSC levels in SCS patients (0.238 ± 0.106 µg/dL) were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those in NFA patients (0.154 ± 0.104 µg/dL); the cutoff value (0.11 µg/dL) by ROC analysis gave high sensitivity (100%) with low specificity (50%). Post DST SC levels in SCS patients (0.238 ± 0.116 µg/dL) were significantly (P = 0.0081) higher than those in NFA patients (0.136 ± 0.110 µg/dL); the cutoff value (0.12 µg/dL) by ROC analysis gave high sensitivity (93.8%) with somewhat improved specificity (58.3%). Both NSC and post DST SC levels were comparable between NFA, PA, and Pheo patients. In conclusion, our study revealed that measurements of NSC and/or post DST SC among patients with adrenal incidentaloma prove to have high sensitivities, but low specificities for the diagnosis of SCS from NFA, suggesting its possible alternative option before the screening tests for SCS currently employed in Japan.

High resolution N2 adsorption isotherms at 77.4 K and 87.3 K by carbon blacks and activated carbon fibers--analysis of porous texture of activated carbon fibers by αs-method.

The standard α(s)-data of N(2) at 87.3 K by graphitized and nongraphitized carbon black samples (GCB-I and NGCB) (cf.Figs. 3 and 4) have been determined on the basis of the high resolution adsorption isotherms of N(2) at 87.3 K, which were repeatedly measured in the pressure range of p/p(o)=5×10(-8)-0.4. The high resolution adsorption isotherms of N(2) by two kinds of activated carbon fibers (ACF-I and ACF-II) were measured from p/p(o)=10(-7) to p/p(o)=0.995 at 77.4 K and from p/p(o)=10(-7) to p/p(o)=0.4 at 87.3 K. Combination of the adsorption isotherms by ACF-I and ACF-II with the standard α(s)-data by NGCB at 77.4 K and 87.3 K make it possible to construct the high resolution α(s)-plots from very low filling (1%) to complete filling (100%). The high resolution α(s)-plots of N(2) at 77.4 K and 87.3 K were analyzed. On the basis of the analyzed result, the porous textures of ACF-I and ACF-II will be discussed.

Hippo pathway-dependent and -independent roles of RASSF6.

The Hippo pathway restricts cell growth and proliferation and promotes apoptosis to control organ size. The Drosophila melanogaster isoform of RASSF (Ras association domain family; dRASSF) antagonizes proapoptotic Hippo signaling by inhibiting the binding of the adaptor protein Salvador to the kinase Hippo. Paradoxically, however, dRASSF also functions as a tumor suppressor. In mammals, RASSF1A induces apoptosis by stimulating the mammalian Ste20-like kinases (MSTs) 1 and 2, which are Hippo homologs. Here, we characterize the interaction between MST2 and another mammalian RASSF isoform, RASSF6. When bound to MST2, RASSF6 inhibited MST2 activity to antagonize Hippo signaling. However, RASSF6 caused apoptosis when released from activated MST2 in a manner dependent on WW45, the mammalian Salvador homolog. Thus, RASSF6 antagonizes Hippo signaling and mediates apoptosis through a pathway that is parallel to the canonical Hippo pathway. Our findings suggest that activation of MST2 causes apoptosis through the Hippo pathway, as well as through a RASSF6-mediated pathway.