Obesity is an important public health problem in Japan and many other countries. There is a need for simple and reliable anthropometric measurement tools for visceral obesity to facilitate the prevention of metabolic syndrome (MS). Although studies have so far suggested waist circumference (WC) is the best indicator of visceral obesity, there is no reportof predictive value for improvement of MS. We conducted to analyze the relationship between anthropometric measurements and metabolic disorders in an interventional study of 358 subjects who participated in our program for visceral obesity based on health education and self-determination from 2000 to 2006. The intervention induced significant decreases in calorie intake and increases in physical activity of the participants, and resulted in significant decreases of 1.7 kg (3% of body weight at the baseline) of weight and 2.4 cm (3%) of WC, but body fat percent using bioelectrical impedance analysis found their body fat percentage increased 0.5% at the baseline. Weight-loss was significantly associated with improvement of metabolic measurements by our intervention. Weight and body mass index (BMI) showed the highest correlation coefficient for improvement of metabolic measurements, while WC and body fatpercentage showed lower values for improvement of metabolic measurements. In conclusion, weight-loss is the suitable indicator for the evaluation of the educational program, and 3-7% weight-loss for three months is recommended to improve visceral obesity and MS.
Obesity ; Weight ; Body fat ; Morphine Sulfate ; Syndrome

Recently, people are interested in visceral obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS). The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to introduce a new MS screening system and health promotion guidance on the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes) and cardiovascular disease from 2008. We analyzed the prevalence of MS and estimated the number of candidates for MS in a rural community based on the new criteria provided by the Japanese Association of Internal Medicine and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Data obtained from 393 males and 526 females aged over 20 years were studied for the prevalence of MS and diabetes. The prevalence of MS was 14% for males and 6% for females. It was a remarkable lower prevalence than the reported prevalence in urban communities. We calculated again the prevalence of MS with the exclusion of diabetes, because diabetes was usually preceded by MS. The prevalence of diabetes and MS was 10% and 10% for males and 8% and 6% for females, respectively. Diabetes increased with age, but MS prevailed among younger people aged 20-59 years. We think that countermeasures against MS should be taken targeted on younger people, and those against diabetes on elder people. We also estimated the member of people with MS using the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare criteria. In 2012, the health organizations, both public and private, will be providing service to 3,470 thousand adults with MS and encouragement to 3,950 thousand adults to have a motivation for healthy lifestyle.
Morphine Sulfate ; Prevalence aspects ; Diabetes ; Labor (Childbirth) ; Health

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastrointestinal adverse effects have a major impact on health and quality of life in analgesics users. Non-invasive methods to study gastrointestinal motility are of high interest. Fluoroscopy has been previously used to study gastrointestinal motility in small experimental animals, but they were generally anesthetized and anesthesia itself may alter motility. In this study, our aim is to determine, in conscious rats, the effect of increasing doses of 2 opioid (morphine and loperamide) and 1 cannabinoid (WIN 55,212-2) agonists on colonic motility using fluoroscopic recordings and spatio-temporal maps. METHODS: Male Wistar rats received barium sulfate intragastrically, 20–22 hours before fluoroscopy, so that stained fecal pellets could be seen at the time of recording. Animals received an intraperitoneal administration of morphine, loperamide, or WIN 55,212-2 (at 0.1, 1, 5, or 10 mg/kg) or their corresponding vehicles (saline, Cremophor, and Tocrisolve, respectively), 30 minutes before fluoroscopy. Rats were conscious and placed within movement-restrainers for the length of fluoroscopic recordings (120 seconds). Spatio-temporal maps were built, and different parameters were analyzed from the fluoroscopic recordings in a blinded fashion to evaluate colonic propulsion of endogenous fecal pellets. RESULTS: The analgesic drugs inhibited propulsion of endogenous fecal pellets in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: Fluoroscopy allows studying colonic propulsion of endogenous fecal pellets in conscious rats. Our method may be applied to the noninvasive study of the effect of different drug treatments and pathologies.
Analgesics ; Anesthesia ; Animals ; Barium Sulfate ; Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists ; Cannabinoids ; Colon ; Fluoroscopy ; Gastrointestinal Motility ; Humans ; Loperamide ; Male ; Methods ; Morphine ; Pathology ; Quality of Life ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

BACKGROUND: Intrathecal (IT) magnesium has antinociceptive effects on animals and has been reported to prolong spinal opioid analgesia in humans. This study examined the effect of IT magnesium on spinal anesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia. METHODS: Sixty patients undergoing total knee replacement were enrolled in this study. Before the IT injection of 0.5% isobaric tetracaine (10 mg), group C and group M received 0.9% saline or 50% magnesium sulfate 0.1 ml, respectively. The epidural solution for postoperative analgesia contained 0.2% ropivacaine (100 ml) only in group M, and 0.2% ropivacaine plus morphine (50microgram/ml) in group C. The verbal rating scale (VRS) scores for pain, sensory block level, intensity of motor block and side effects were recorded at 5, 60, and 120 minutes after the IT injection and at 1, 12 and 36 hours after surgery in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). RESULTS: The VRS score at 120 minutes after the IT injection were lower in group M than in group C (P< 0.05). There were no differences in the VRS scores and the use of supplemental analgesics at the postoperative period. The incidence of PONV, pruritus and urinary retention was significantly lower in group M than in group C at 12 and 36 hours after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: IT magnesium can be used as a local anesthetic adjuvant to strengthen the analgesic effect of spinal local anesthesia and to intensify the analgesic effect of epidural local anesthesia for postoperative pain control to the extent of 5 mg epidural morphine.
Analgesia ; Analgesia, Epidural ; Analgesics ; Anesthesia, Local ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Animals ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; Humans ; Incidence ; Magnesium Sulfate* ; Magnesium* ; Morphine ; Pain, Postoperative ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting ; Postoperative Period ; Pruritus ; Tetracaine ; Urinary Retention

AIMTo establish the rat model of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and to investigate the effects of morphine psychical dependence on the levels of neurosteroids in rat brain.

METHODSRats were ip administered morphine 5 mg x kg(-1) for 10 days to induce CPP in morphine group. The concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), pregnenolone (PREG), allopregnanolone (AP), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DS) and pregnenolone sulfate (PS) in nucleus accumbens (Nac), hypothalamus (Ht), amygdale (A) and plasma of rats were determined with liquid chromatography-negative atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (LC-MS).

RESULTSTrained with morphine for 10 days resulted in the acquisition of CPP in morphine group with the time that the rats spent in drug-pairing room was longer than that of control group. Compared with control group, morphine treatment could significantly decrease the contents of DHEA in Nac and plasma, decrease that of PREG in Ht.

CONCLUSIONMorphine could induce the CPP in rats and affected the contents of some neurosteroids in rat brain, which suggests that endogenous neurosteroids might he related to the development of morphine dependence.

Amygdala ; metabolism ; Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Conditioning, Operant ; physiology ; Dehydroepiandrosterone ; blood ; metabolism ; Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ; blood ; metabolism ; Hypothalamus ; metabolism ; Male ; Morphine Dependence ; metabolism ; Nucleus Accumbens ; metabolism ; Pregnanolone ; blood ; metabolism ; Pregnenolone ; blood ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley