Published papers

The purpose of this study was to clarify the association of locomotive syndrome with present and past physical activities, as well as gait speed. Subjects were recruited from the participants of the specific health checkups in Oamishirasato City. The presence of locomotive syndrome was assessed using the stand-up test, two-step test, and 25-question geriatric locomotive function scale. Present physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Questionnaires were also used to assess past physical activity and usual gait speed. The association of each locomotive syndrome risk test with the physical activities and gait speed was examined using univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis. A total of 172 subjects with a mean age of 67.5 years were enrolled. Sixty-nine（40%）and 13（8%）subjects were classified as having stage 1 and 2 locomotive syndrome, respectively. Among the four groups classified by physical activity level, the proportions of subjects with positive stand-up test were higher in the groups of lowest and highest physical activity（P＝0.048）. Faster gait speed was a significant predictor of the negative two-step test（P＝0.08）, negative 25-question geriatric locomotive function scale（P＜0.001）, and absence of locomotive syndrome（P＝0.002）. The associations remained significant in the multiple regression analysis, after adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index. In conclusion, present physical activity was associated with the stand-up test, whereas self-reported usual gait speed was associated with the two-step test and 25-question geriatric locomotive function scale.

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This study assessed the anterior chamber depth (ACD) and iridocorneal angle using a portable smart eye camera (SEC) compared to the conventional slit-lamp microscope and anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). This retrospective case-control study included 170 eyes from 85 Japanese patients. The correlation between the ACD evaluations conducted with the SEC and conventional slit-lamp was high (r = 0.814). The correlation between the Van-Herick Plus grade obtained using two devices was also high (r = 0.919). A high kappa value was observed for the Van-Herick Plus grading (Kappa = 0.757). A moderate correlation was observed between the ACD measured using AS-OCT and the slit-lamp image acquired with the conventional slit-lamp microscope and SEC (r = 0.609 and 0.641). A strong correlation was observed between the trabecular-iris angle (TIA) measured using AS-OCT and Van-Herick Plus grade obtained with the conventional slit-lamp microscope and SEC (r = 0.702 and 0.764). Strong correlations of ACD evaluation and high kappa value of the Van-Herick Plus grading indicated the adequate subjective assessment function of the SEC. Moderate correlations between the ACD objective measurement and evaluation and strong correlation between the TIA and Van-Herick Plus grade suggested the good objective assessment function of the SEC. The SEC demonstrated adequate performance for ACD evaluation and angle estimation.

© 2021, The Author(s). Background: Tofogliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, is associated with favorable metabolic effects, including improved glycemic control and serum lipid profile and decreased body weight, visceral adipose tissue, and blood pressure (BP). This study evaluated the effects of tofogliflozin on the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) without a history of apparent cardiovascular disease. Methods: The using tofogliflozin for possible better intervention against atherosclerosis for type 2 diabetes patients (UTOPIA) trial is a prospective, randomized, open-label, multicenter, parallel-group, comparative study. As one of the prespecified secondary outcomes, changes in baPWV over 104 weeks were evaluated in 154 individuals (80 in the tofogliflozin group and 74 in the conventional treatment group) who completed baPWV measurement at baseline. Results: In a mixed-effects model, the progression in the right, left, and mean baPWV over 104 weeks was significantly attenuated with tofogliflozin compared to that with conventional treatment (– 109.3 [– 184.3, – 34.3] (mean change [95% CI] cm/s, p = 0.005; – 98.3 [– 172.6, – 24.1] cm/s, p = 0.010; – 104.7 [– 177.0, – 32.4] cm/s, p = 0.005, respectively). Similar findings were obtained even after adjusting the mixed-effects models for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index (BMI), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, triglyceride, systolic blood pressure (SBP), hypertension, smoking, and/or administration of drugs, including hypoglycemic agents, antihypertensive agents, statins, and anti-platelets, at baseline. The findings of the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models, which included the treatment group, baseline baPWV, and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, resembled those generated by the mixed-effects models. Conclusions: Tofogliflozin significantly inhibited the increased baPWV in patients with T2DM without a history of apparent cardiovascular disease, suggesting that tofogliflozin suppressed the progression of arterial stiffness. Trial Registration UMIN000017607. Registered 18 May 2015. (https://www.umin.ac.jp/icdr/index.html)

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are a type of artificial pluripotent stem cell induced by the epigenetic silencing of somatic cells by the Yamanaka factors. Advances in iPS cell reprogramming technology will allow aging or damaged cells to be replaced by a patient’s own rejuvenated cells. However, tissue that is senescent or pathologic has a relatively low reprogramming efficiency as compared with juvenile or robust tissue, resulting in incomplete reprogramming; iPS cells generated from such tissue types do not have sufficient differentiation ability and are therefore difficult to apply clinically. Here, we develop a new reprogramming method and examine it using myofibroblasts, which are pathologic somatic cells, from patient skin tissue and from each of the four heart chambers of a recipient heart in heart transplant surgery. By adjusting the type and amount of vectors containing transcriptional factors for iPS cell reprogramming, as well as adjusting the transfection load and culture medium, the efficiency of iPS cell induction from aged patient skin-derived fibroblasts was increased, and we successfully induced iPS cells from myocardial fibroblasts isolated from the pathologic heart of a heart transplant recipient.