Visceral fat and chronic diseases

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an active form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Risk factors for NASH include type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity. Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors used to treat T2DM prevent glucose reabsorption in the kidney and increase glucose urinary excretion. Dapagliflozin is a potent, selective SGLT2 inhibitor that reduces hyperglycemia in patients with T2DM and has been demonstrated to reduce some complications associated with NASH in rodent models...

Although regular physical activity is associated with improvement in aerobic capacity and lower breast cancer risk, there are heritable sets of traits that affect improvement in aerobic capacity in response to physical activity. Although aerobic capacity segregates risk for a number of chronic diseases, the effect of the heritable component on cancer risk has not been evaluated. Therefore, we investigated breast carcinogenesis in rodent models of heritable fitness in the absence of induced physical activity...

BACKGROUND: Visceral adiposity is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. Existing methods to quantify visceral adipose tissue volume using computed tomographic (CT) images often use a single slice, are manual, and are time consuming, making them impractical for large population studies. We developed and validated a method to accurately, rapidly, and robustly measure visceral adipose tissue volume using CT images. METHODS: In-house software, Medical Executable for the Efficient and Robust Quantification of Adipose Tissue (MEERQAT), was developed to calculate visceral adipose tissue volume using a series of CT images within a manually identified region of interest...

Renal artery calcium (RAC) has been shown to be associated with higher odds of hypertension (HTN). The purpose of this study was to determine if the presence and extent of RAC is associated with renal function. We analyzed cross-sectional data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). A subsample of 1,226 participants underwent computed tomography of the abdomen and also had venous blood samples measured for kidney function. RAC was the primary predictor variable and the following measures of kidney function were the outcome variables: estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR), and chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage...

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and adiposity in young adults. METHODS: Data was collected from 133 students of a medical college of Pakistan. The study was conducted on young adults, aged 17-24 years, recruited from Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Karachi, between Aug-Dec, 2015. Queen's College Step Test was conducted to measure CRF and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) evaluated. Anthropometric measurements (body mass index, body fat, visceral fat, waist circumference) were taken to assess adiposity...

Visceral fat accumulation as observed in Crohn's disease and obesity is linked to chronic gut inflammation, suggesting that accumulation of gut adipocytes can trigger local inflammatory signaling. However, direct interactions between intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and adipocytes have not been investigated, in part because IEC physiology is difficult to replicate in culture. In this study, we originally prepared intact, polarized, and cytokine responsive IEC monolayers from primary or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived intestinal organoids by simple and repeatable methods...

BACKGROUND: Bone is known to be impaired in chronic kidney disease and dialysis patients. Recent studies have shown that body composition (fat mass and lean mass) may impact bone health. Some of these effects may be related to mediators that are secreted by adipose tissue. METHODS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between body composition (dual x-ray absorptiometry [DEXA]) and adipokines (leptin, adiponectin), with bone density and microarchitecture assessed with high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) in chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients in a single-center prospective study...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Fat distribution may have prognostic value in the evaluation of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study was conducted to evaluate associations of MRI-measured abdominal fat areas with steatosis, steatohepatitis, and fibrosis, assessed histopathologically, in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: This prospective study included 66 patients with type 2 diabetes (12 males, 54 females, age 26-68 years), without chronic liver disease of other causes...

The prevalence of chronic diseases including obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) are increasing. The usage of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has escalated in the Western countries during the past decades especially in aging men without clear organic indication for TRT although the safety of long-term TRT has not been clarified regarding the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Aging men with T2D have an increased risk of CVD and these patients are often characterized by lowered T-levels, ectopic fat depots, a deranged adipokine profile with e...

Objective: To investigate the association between body fat percentage (BFP), visceral fat index (VFI) and Cardiometabolic Risk Factor Clustering (CRFC), among population aged 35 or older in Tibet and Xinjiang areas. Methods: Using the stratified multi-stage random sampling method, 7 571 residents aged 35 or above were examined with international standardized examination between 2015 and 2016. Of the eligible 5 643 participants, association of BFP and VFI with CRFC was defined as having two or more of the four risk factors: hypertension, diabetes mellitus, high TG and low HDL-C, at the same time...

PURPOSE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder that affects women of reproductive age and is characterized by ovulatory dysfunction and/or androgen excess or polycystic ovaries. Women with PCOS present a number of systemic symptoms in addition to those related to the reproductive system. It has been associated with functional derangements in adipose tissue, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: A detailed literature search on Pubmed was done for articles about PCOS, adipokines, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome...

Cardiac obesity makes an important contribution to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. One of the important pathways of this contribution is the inflammatory process that takes place in the adipose tissue. In this review, we consider the role of the cardiovascular system-associated fat in atherosclerotic cardiovascular pathology and a non-atherosclerotic cause of coronary artery disease, such as atrial fibrillation. Cardiovascular system-associated fat not only serves as the energy store, but also releases adipokines that control local and systemic metabolism, heart/vascular function and vessel tone, and a number of vasodilating and anti-inflammatory substances...

OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition and wasting predict clinical outcomes in children with severe chronic illness. Objectively calculated malnutrition in children with end-stage organ failure has not been well studied. This analysis compares children with kidney, liver or intestine failure to healthy controls to quantitate the disparity in muscle and fat stores. METHODS: Children younger than age 19 with end stage liver, kidney or intestine failure and with pre-transplant computed tomography (CT) imaging were selected from the transplant database...

Due to the high content of bioactive compounds, herbal teas are being investigated as adjuvant in chronic disease management. Studies have shown that mango leaf tea contain mangiferin, total phenolics and antioxidants, compounds with many functional properties. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of tea from Mangifera indica L. leaves, Ubá variety (TML), in obese rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). For this, adult male Wistar rats were divided into three groups (n=8): the control group (fed AIN-93 diet), obese group (fed a HFD) and treated group (fed a HFD and supplemented with TML for 8 weeks)...

: Among HIV-infected persons, the assessment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) provides a window through which overall metabolic health can be evaluated. In this review, we summarize clinical data that support the roles of aging and metabolic dysregulation as factors contributing to fatty liver/NAFLD among HIV-infected persons.Age-related metabolic alterations include hepatic anatomic and functional changes, altered homeostasis of gastrointestinal microbiota and anthropometric changes (such as a shift of body fat depots from the subcutaneous to the visceral compartment) that are often associated with the development of insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular risk...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review was designed to revaluate the androgen role on the mechanisms of hypertension and cardiovascular risks in both men and women. Sex steroids are involved in the regulation of blood pressure, but pathophysiological mechanism is not well understood. Androgens have an important effect on metabolism, adipose and endothelial cell function, and cardiovascular risk in both men and women. A focal point in this contest is represented by the possible gender-specific regulation of different tissues and in particular of the adipose cell...

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing in African populations, and is particularly high in Black South African women (42%) vs women in the United Kingdom (23%) and the United States of America (36%). This population group is also known to have the highest prevalence of obesity in the sub-Saharan African region (42%), and consequently, a high risk of non-communicable diseases. In this article, we discuss factors (abdominal subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, lean mass, adiponectin, leptin, vitamin D, smoking and menopausal status) that have been investigated for their possible association with metabolic syndrome in African women, and discuss some recommendations for management of the syndrome...

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a worldwide prevalent disease and is an underlying factor of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It has been understood as a chronic inflammatory state, being associated with the production of adipokines. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of adipokines in the serum, visceral, and subcutaneous fat and to compare them with hepatic histopathology in morbidly obese patients. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational study, which analyzed the findings of liver biopsy in patients undergoing bariatric surgery and who had performed analysis of adipokines mRNA expression (adiponectin-ADIPOQ, leptin-LEP, and resistin-RETN) in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue and circulating adipokines in serum...

CONTEXT: High-fat diets and chronic stress are prevalent risk factors for various chronic diseases in modern societies. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of high-fat diet on glucose-related metabolic responses to chronic foot-shock stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male rats were divided into high-fat diet (containing 54.21% saturated and 44.89% unsaturated fatty acids) and normal diet groups and then into stress and non-stress subgroups...

As in humans, obesity and its associated diseases represent the most significant threat to the health of veterinary populations. Previous human studies have provided insights into the risk factors of obesity, complex pathogenesis of obesity-associated diseases, and their life-threatening consequences. In humans, the "metabolic syndrome" represents a cluster of metabolic risk factors associated with the development of cardiovascular disease. Risk factors for metabolic syndrome, such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and its complications increase health-care utilization and medical expenses...