Urinary Malondialdehyde Is Associated with Visceral Abdominal Obesity in Middle-Aged Men

The purpose of the present study was to investigate multiple anthropometric parameters used to evaluate obesity, particularly visceral abdominal fat area, and various metabolic parameters including malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidative stress marker. We evaluated various measures of obesity, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), sagittal abdominal diameter, fat percentages using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area, multiple biomarkers related to metabolic disease, and urinary MDA, in 73 asymptomatic middle-aged men who were not severely obese. We examined relationships between multiple measures of obesity, metabolic markers, and urinary MDA levels and evaluated associations between VFA and urinary MDA. In the visceral obesity group, γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), uric acid, and urinary MDA levels were significantly higher than in the nonvisceral obesity group (P = 0.008, P = 0.002, and P = 0.018). Urinary MDA (r = 0.357, P = 0.002) and uric acid (r = 0.263, P = 0.027) levels were only significantly positively correlated with VFA among measures of obesity. Urinary MDA, serum GGT, and serum CRP were significantly positively associated with VFA (P = 0.001, P = 0.046, and P = 0.023, resp.), even after adjusting for BMI and WC

Urinary Malondialdehyde Is Associated with Visceral Abdominal Obesity in Middle-Aged Men

The purpose of the present study was to investigate multiple anthropometric parameters used to evaluate obesity, particularly visceral abdominal fat area, and various metabolic parameters including malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidative stress marker. We evaluated various measures of obesity, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), sagittal abdominal diameter, fat percentages using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area, multiple biomarkers related to metabolic disease, and urinary MDA, in 73 asymptomatic middle-aged men who were not severely obese. We examined relationships between multiple measures of obesity, metabolic markers, and urinary MDA levels and evaluated associations between VFA and urinary MDA. In the visceral obesity group, -glutamyl transferase (GGT), uric acid, and urinary MDA levels were significantly higher than in the nonvisceral obesity group (P = 0.008, P = 0.002, and P = 0.018). Urinary MDA (r = 0.357, P = 0.002) and uric acid (r = 0.263, P = 0.027) levels were only significantly positively correlated with VFA among measures of obesity. Urinary MDA, serum GGT, and serum CRP were significantly positively associated with VFA (P = 0.001, P = 0.046, and P = 0.023, resp.), even after adjusting for BMI and WC

Effects of the Female Estrous Cycle on the Sexual Behaviors and Ultrasonic Vocalizations of Male C57BL/6 and Autistic BTBR T+ tf/J Mice

A primary characteristic of autism, which is a neurodevelopmental disorder, is impaired social interaction and communication. Furthermore, patients with autism frequently show abnormal social recognition. In mouse models of autism, social recognition is usually assessed by examining same-sex social behavior using various tests, such as the three-chamber test. However, no studies have examined the ability of male mice with autism to recognize the estrous cycle of female partners. In this study, we investigated the sexual behaviors, especially mounting and ultrasonic vocal communication (USV), of BTBR T+ tf/J (BTBR) mice, which are used as a well-known mouse model of autism, when they encountered estrus or diestrus female mice. As expected, C57BL/6 mice mounted more female mice in the estrus stage compared with the diestrus stage. We found that BTBR mice also mounted more female mice in the estrus stage than female mice in the diestrus stage. Although the USV emission of male mice was not different between estrus and diestrus female mice in both strains, the mounting result implies that BTBR mice distinguish sexual receptivity of females

Digital rock physics benchmarks. Pt.I: Imaging and segmentation

The key paradigm of digital rock physics (DRP) "image and compute" implies imaging and digitizing the pore space and mineral matrix of natural rock and then numerically simulating various physical processes in this digital object to obtain such macroscopic rock properties as permeability, electrical conductivity, and elastic moduli. The steps of this process include image acquisition, image processing (noise reduction, smoothing, and segmentation); setting up the numerical experiment (object size and resolution as well as the boundary conditions); and numerically solving the field equations. Finally, we need to interpret the solution thus obtained in terms of the desired macroscopic properties. For each of these DRP steps, there is more than one method and implementation. Our goal is to explore and record the variability of the computed effective properties as a function of using different tools and workflows. Such benchmarking is the topic of the two present companion papers. Here, in the first part, we introduce four 3D microstructures, a segmented Fontainebleau sandstone sample (porosity 0.147), a gray-scale Berea sample; a gray-scale Grosmont carbonate sample; and a numerically constructed pack of solid spheres (porosity 0.343). Segmentation of the gray-scale images by three independent teams reveals the uncertainty of this process: the segmented porosity range is between 0.184 and 0.209 for Berea and between 0.195 and 0.271 for the carbonate. The implications of the uncertainty associated with image segmentation are explored in a second paper

Urinary Malondialdehyde Is Associated with Visceral Abdominal Obesity in Middle-Aged Men

The purpose of the present study was to investigate multiple anthropometric parameters used to evaluate obesity, particularly visceral abdominal fat area, and various metabolic parameters including malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidative stress marker. We evaluated various measures of obesity, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), sagittal abdominal diameter, fat percentages using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area, multiple biomarkers related to metabolic disease, and urinary MDA, in 73 asymptomatic middle-aged men who were not severely obese. We examined relationships between multiple measures of obesity, metabolic markers, and urinary MDA levels and evaluated associations between VFA and urinary MDA. In the visceral obesity group, γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), uric acid, and urinary MDA levels were significantly higher than in the nonvisceral obesity group (P = 0.008, P = 0.002, and P = 0.018). Urinary MDA (r = 0.357, P = 0.002) and uric acid (r = 0.263, P = 0.027) levels were only significantly positively correlated with VFA among measures of obesity. Urinary MDA, serum GGT, and serum CRP were significantly positively associated with VFA (P = 0.001, P = 0.046, and P = 0.023, resp.), even after adjusting for BMI and WC

Digital rock physics benchmarks. Pt.II: Computing effective properties

This is the second and final part of our digital rock physics (DRP) benchmarking study. We use segmented 3-D images (one for Fontainebleau, three for Berea, three for a carbonate, and one for a sphere pack) to directly compute the absolute permeability, the electrical resistivity, and elastic moduli. The numerical methods tested include a finite-element solver (elastic moduli and electrical conductivity), two finite-difference solvers (elastic moduli and electrical conductivity), a Fourier-based Lippmann-Schwinger solver (elastic moduli), a lattice-Boltzmann solver (hydraulic permeability), and the explicit-jump method (hydraulic permeability and electrical conductivity). The set-ups for these numerical experiments, including the boundary conditions and the total model size, varied as well. The results thus produced vary from each other. For example, the highest computed permeability value may differ from the lowest one by a factor of 1.5. Nevertheless, all these result s fall within the ranges consistent with the relevant laboratory data. Our analysis provides the DRP community with a range of possible outcomes which can be expected depending on the solver and its setup