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Abstract. Osteoporosis not only increases bone fracture risk but also affects survival in postmenopausal women. Although osteoporosis is diagnosed based on low bone mineral density (BMD) determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), BMD measurement is sometimes difficult because DXA is not widely available in the community. The Fracture Risk Assessment tool (FRAX) can predict 10-year major osteoporotic fracture risk and hip fracture risk with or without femoral neck BMD. The FRAX has not been investigated adequately in community-dwelling Japanese women. We administered the FRAX tool in 13,421 Japanese women who underwent DXA-based forearm BMD measurement in Chiba Bone Survey, a population-based, multicenter, cross-sectional study of postmenopausal osteoporosis conducted in Chiba, Japan. Mean age was 57.77 ± 9.24 years. Mean forearm BMD was 87.94 ± 17.00% of young adult mean (YAM). Mean FRAX major osteoporotic fracture risk without femoral neck BMD was 7.06 ± 5.22%. BMD decreased and percentage of osteoporosis increased from age 55 onward. Age distribution of percentage of subjects with FRAX major osteoporotic fracture risk >15% was similar to that of percentage of osteoporosis subjects. We identified the cutoff value of FRAX major osteoporotic fracture risk for diagnosis of osteoporosis as 7.2%. With this cutoff, the positive likelihood ratio was over 1.0 at age 55 and above but accuracy was low. In conclusion, FRAX without femoral neck BMD reflects bone status, and may be useful to diagnose osteoporosis in Japanese women aged 55 and above, although the sensitivity was low for osteoporosis screening, especially in middle-aged women.

Objectives: Obesity is one of the causes of metabolic disorders. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) confers beneficial effects not only on body weight (BW) but also on metabolic disorders. The lipoprotein lipase (LPL) level in preheparin serum is associated with visceral adipose tissue and reflects insulin resistance. However, the change in serum preheparin LPL levels after LSG remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the effect of LSG on preheparin LPL level in obese patients compared with nonsurgical treatment. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 100 obese patients who were treated for obesity and had preheparin LPL levels measured before and 12 months after LSG or after 12 months of nonsurgical treatment. Fifty-six patients received LSG (LSG group), and 44 patients had no surgical treatment (nonsurgical group). We compared clinical parameters such as body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin A_1c (HbA_1c), and preheparin LPL level before and 12 months after treatment. Results: BMI and HbA_1c decreased significantly in both groups, but decreases in both parameters were greater in the LSG group than in the nonsurgical group. Estimated glomerular filtration was significantly improved only in the LSG group. Preheparin LPL level increased significantly only in the LSG group (from 45.8 ± 21.6 to 75.0 ± 34.9 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Multiple regression identified LSG and decreased BMI as independent predictors of preheparin LPL level increase. Conclusions: These results suggest that LSG independently increases pre­heparin LPL level beyond BW reduction in obese patients.

Aim: Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) reflects arterial stiffness and has been established as a useful surrogate marker of atherosclerosis. Contrary to the abundant data indicating slower progression of atherosclerosis with statins, studies on fibrates remain scarce. The aim of this study was thus to clarify the effect of bezafibrate on CAVI as well as on oxidative stress. Methods: A randomized, open-label, controlled study was performed. 66 hypertriglyceridemic patients with type 2 diabetes were assigned to two groups: bezafibrate (400 mg/day) group and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA 1.8 g/day) group. Patients were administered the respective treatment for 12 weeks. CAVI, glycolipid metabolic parameters, and diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) were evaluated before and after the study period. Results: Serum triglycerides (TG), remnant-like particle cholesterol (RLP-C), fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c and d-ROMs decreased, while HDL-cholesterol increased significantly in the bezafibrate group but did not change in the EPA group. The decreases in TG, RLP-C, HbA1c and d-ROMs were significantly greater in the bezafibrate group than in the EPA group. CAVI decreased significantly only in the bezafibrate group and the decrease was significantly greater in bezafibrate group than in EPA group. Simple regression analysis showed no significant relationship between the change in CAVI and changes in other variables. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified high baseline CAVI, low HDL-cholesterol level, and bezafibrate administration as significant independent predictors of CAVI decrease. Conclusion: Bezafibrate treatment ameliorates arterial stiffness accompanied by improvement of glycolipid metabolism and oxidative stress. These effects potentially have important beneficial health consequences in hypertriglyceridemic patients with type 2 diabetes.

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> Bariatric surgery is the most effective weight loss therapy, and recently laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is gaining popularity worldwide. On the other hand, patients undergoing bariatric surgery have a high prevalence of mental disorders. A Japanese nationwide survey reported high prevalence of mental disorders in patients with low percent total weight loss (%TWL) and also in those with high %TWL. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of 1-year %TWL with background mental health status, 3-year outcomes, and nutrition intake in Japanese patients after LSG. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This study was a single-center retrospective database analysis. A total of 89 Japanese patients who underwent LSG and were followed for 3 years were enrolled (mean age 41.9 years, baseline body mass index 44.9, baseline glycosylated hemoglobin, HbA_1c, 7.0%). The patients were divided into 3 groups according to 1-year %TWL as follows: ≤19.9% (insufficient group), 20.0–34.9% (average group) and ≥35.0% (excessive group). Psychosocial and nutritional status as well as physical data were collected from all patients. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The prevalence of mental disorders was 51.7%, and 1-year %TWL was 28.1% in all patients. No significant differences were observed in the changes in body weight and HbA_1c between patients with and those without mental disorders. The prevalence of mental disorders was particularly high in the insufficient and excessive groups. In the insufficient group, mood disorders and mental retardation/developmental disorders were frequent, and snacking and eating out habits were often observed. In the excessive group, the frequencies of mood disorders and binge eating were high, and a decrease in skeletal muscle mass due to low protein intake was observed. Furthermore, weight regain was shown 12 months after LSG in both groups. In the average group, there were fewer problems in weight loss outcomes, mental health, nutrition intake and body composition. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Psychosocial and nutritional problems were often found not only in patients with insufficient weight loss, but also in those with seemingly “excellent” weight reduction. To improve long-term weight loss outcome and future health, a multidisciplinary approach focusing on mental health and nutrition is essential for patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

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Introduction : An increased incidence of arteriosclerosis has been noted in cancer survivors. Until now, only a few reports have been reported on relationship between arteriosclerosis and chemotherapy. As a mechanism for developing arteriosclerosis by chemotherapy, reduction of nitric oxide from endothelial cells has been reported. We have reported a case who was 68-year-old female with follicular lymphoma, clinical stage IVA showing the plaque formation of carotid artery and the elevation of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) after eight courses of R-CHOP therapy (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) without complication of diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia (2017, JCMR). In this study, we evaluated the incidence of developing arteriosclerosis with chemotherapy using CAVI as an arterial stiffness parameter, carotid artery ultrasonography and the value of von Willebrand factor (vWF) as an endothelial damage in patients with malignant lymphoma who were treated with R-CHOP therapy. Materials and methods: Between March 2017 and February 2018, thirteen patients with B-cell malignant lymphoma who were treated with R-CHOP chemotherapy were enrolled after obtaining written informed consent. We evaluated the arteriosclerosis with CAVI index, carotid artery ultrasonography and the value of vWF during each chemotherapy. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Toho University. Results: Twelve men and one woman were registered (the median age, 73 years old, range, 59 - 82). One patient was treated with 4 courses of R-CHOP followed by irradiation and the remaining 12 patients were treated with 6-8 courses of R-CHOP. All patients achieved complete remission. The mean value of vWF was significantly elevated from 147 ± 40.0 % to 192 ± 39.8 % after one course of R-CHOP (p = 0.001). Then, the value of vWF was elevated significantly at the each time point compared with the pretreatment value (after 3 cycles; 190 ± 53.5, p = 0.0017, 6 cycles; 198 ± 32.5, p = 0.0024) (Figure 1). The value at after the final chemotherapy (175 ± 41.3) decreased significantly comparing the value of final treatment (207 ± 38.9, p = 0.0112). Nine patients showed the progression of arteriosclerosis with new plaque formation or progression of intima-media thickness by carotid artery ultrasonography. Plaque score after completing the therapy was elevated significantly from 6.4 ± 4.33 to 6.8 ± 4.65 (p = 0.0313) as shown in Figure 2. Some patients showed the elevation of CAVI index with the progression of treatment. However, there was no significant elevation of the index during the treatment. Conclusions: We reported that malignant lymphoma patients showed the significant elevation of vWF and new plaque formation in carotid artery during the R-CHOP therapy. vWF elevation might have progressed the arteriosclerosis in the patients with R-CHOP therapy. Further study will be required to clarify the relationship between chemotherapy and arteriosclerosis. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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