Myoblast proliferation and differentiation are essential for skeletal muscle regeneration. Myoblast proliferation is a critical step in the growth and maintenance of skeletal muscle. The precise action of inorganic arsenic on myoblast growth has not been investigated. Here, we investigated the in vitro effect of inorganic arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on the growth of C2C12 myoblasts. As2O3 decreased myoblast growth at submicromolar concentrations (0.25-1 μM) after 72 h of treatment. Submicromolar concentrations of As2O3 did not induce the myoblast apoptosis. Low-concentration As2O3 (0.5 and 1 μM) significantly suppressed the myoblast cell proliferative activity, which was accompanied by a small proportion of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation and decreased proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein expression. As2O3 (0.5 and 1 μM) increased the intracellular arsenic content but did not affect the reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the myoblasts. Cell cycle analysis indicated that low-concentrations of As2O3 inhibited cell proliferation via cell cycle arrest in the G1 and G2/M phases. As2O3 also decreased the protein expressions of cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin B1, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 2, and CDK4, but did not affect the protein expressions of p21 and p27. Furthermore, As2O3 inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt. Insulin-like growth factor-1 significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of As2O3 on Akt phosphorylation and cell proliferation in the myoblasts. These results suggest that submicromolar concentrations of As2O3 alter cell cycle progression and reduce myoblast proliferation, at least in part, through a ROS-independent Akt inhibition pathway.

The ageing process may lead to reductions in physical fitness, a known risk factor in the development of metabolic syndrome. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate cross-sectional and combined associations of metabolic syndrome with body composition and physical fitness in a community based geriatric population.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder and is triggered via abnormal accumulation of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ). Aggregated Aβ is responsible for disrupting calcium homeostasis, inducing neuroinflammation, and promoting neurodegeneration. In this study, we generated curcuminoid submicron particle (CSP), which reduce the average size to ~60 nm in diameter. CSP had elevated the bioavailability in vivo and better neuroprotective effect against oligomeric Aβ than un-nanosized curcuminoids in vitro. Two months of CSP consumption reversed spatial memory deficits and the loss of a calcium binding protein calbindin-D28k in the hippocampus of AD mouse model. In addition, CSP consumption lowered amyloid plaques and astrogliosis in vivo and enhanced microglial Aβ phagocytosis in vitro, implying that the beneficial effects of CSP also mediated via modulating neuroinflammation and enhancing amyloid clearance. Taken together, our study demonstrated the protective effects of CSP toward ameliorating the memory impairment and pathological deficits in AD mouse model.

Arsenic is a ubiquitous toxic element and is known to contaminate drinking water in many countries. Several epidemiological studies have shown that arsenic exposure augments the risk of bone disorders. However, the detailed effect and mechanism of inorganic arsenic on osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells and bone loss still remain unclear.

The objective was to explore the effectiveness of glenohumeral joint distension for the treatment of frozen shoulder. We searched electronic data sources including PubMed, Scopus, and Embase from the earliest records available to February 2017. Eleven randomized controlled trials including at least one pair of comparisons between capsular distension and a reference treatment were included, comprising 747 participants. Patients' characteristics, details of reference treatments, aspects of capsular distension therapy, and outcome measurement were evaluated at three points in time: baseline, early following intervention, and at the trial's end. The primary and secondary outcomes were the between-group standardized mean differences of changes in shoulder function and range of motion, respectively. Regarding the long-term primary outcome, the superiority of capsular distension to reference treatments was not identified. One secondary outcome (external rotation limitation) showed a probable early positive response to capsular distension when compared to intra-articular corticosteroid injection. Aspects of approaches, imaging guiding techniques and doses of distension were not found to modify treatment effectiveness. In conclusion, distension of the glenohumeral joint provides a similar long-term efficacy to all reference treatments. A single dose of a corticosteroid-contained regimen introduced through the ultrasound-guided posterior approach is a preferable practice of capsular distension for the management of frozen shoulder.

Myostatin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) are serum markers for muscle growth and regeneration. However, their value in the clinical monitoring of Pompe disease - a muscle glycogen storage disease - is not known. In order to evaluate their possible utility for disease monitoring, we assessed the levels of these serum markers in Pompe disease patients receiving enzyme replacement therapy (ERT).

Microglia mediate amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ)-induced neuroinflammation, which is one of the key events in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3)/TNFRSF6B is a pleiotropic immunomodulator that promotes macrophage differentiation toward the M2 anti-inflammatory phenotype. Based on its role as an immunosupressor, we examined whether DcR3 could alleviate neuroinflammation and AD-like deficits in the central nervous system.

Patients with coronary heart disease or acute myocardial infarction after cardiac catheterization with stenting referred for phase II cardiac rehabilitation (CR) were grouped according to their preference. Cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPET) was used to determine oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)) at peak exercise and anaerobic threshold (AT). The control patients received counseling only while the experiment group received 36 sessions of CR in 3 to 6 months. Exercise physiology parameters and serum myokines (myostatin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured pre- and postrehabilitation.There were 29 patients in the experiment group and 10 in the control group, with no significant differences in baseline parameters. The experiment group had prominent progress in aerobic capacity and body composition after CR, but their serum myokine concentrations did not change significantly. Serum myostatin is positively correlated to peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)pre- and post-training, and pretraining AT (Equation is included in full-text article.), after adjusting for age, sex, and body composition. Serum IGF-1 is positively correlated with grip strength before training.Serum myostatin level is positively correlated to aerobic capacity, and IGF-1 level is positively correlated to grip strength in cardiac patients receiving CR.

Sarcopenia is defined as aging-related loss of muscle mass and function. Telomere length in chromosomes shortens with age and is modulated by telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA). This study aimed to explore the impact of aging and sarcopenia on telomere length and TERRA expression, and changes following strengthening exercise and nutrition intervention (supplement of branched-chain amino acids, calcium and vitamin D3) for 12 weeks in the sarcopenic population. Older adults (≥65 years old) were divided into non-sarcopenic controls (n = 36) and sarcopenic individuals (n = 36) after measurement of grip strength and body composition. The relative telomere length of leukocytes in all research participants was evaluated using the T/S ratio (telomere/single copy gene), and relative TERRA expression of leukocytes was determined by reverse-transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR). Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to analyze the influence of sarcopenia and intervention on the outcomes. There was no significant difference in telomere length between control subjects and participants with sarcopenia. TERRA expression was lower in sarcopenic participants compared to that in non-sarcopenic controls (5.18 ± 2.98 vs. 2.51 ± 1.89; p < 0.001). In the sarcopenic group, intervention significantly increased TERRA expression, but not telomere length. The GEE analysis demonstrated that TERRA expression was negatively associated with sarcopenia (β coefficient = -2.705, p < 0.001) but positively associated with intervention (β coefficient = 1.599, p = 0.023). Sarcopenia is associated with a decrease in TERRA expression in leukocytes. Rebound TERRA expression (returning to the level similar to the non-sarcopenic controls) was observed in the sarcopenic group after exercise and nutrition intervention. Future studies are warranted to examine the potential of TERRA as a biomarker for sarcopenia and its subsequent responses to intervention.

Limited imaging studies have investigated whether limb muscle quantity and quality change after metabolic syndrome (MetS) development. This pilot study examined MetS influence on limb muscle characteristics in older adults.

Background: Glucocorticoids induce skeletal muscle atrophy in many clinical situations; however, their hypertrophic and pro-differentiation effects on myotubes have rarely been reported. We hypothesized that dexamethasone (DEX) has a dual effect on muscle differentiation, and aimed to develop a new differentiation protocol for C2C12 cell line. Methods: Dose- and time-dependent effect of DEX on C2C12 myoblast cell line was analyzed at myoblast and myotube stage, respectively. The level of differentiation was determined by myh1, pax7, atrogin-1, and myostatin mRNA expression and fusion index. Results: After differentiation and at the myotube stage, DEX treatment has an atrophic effect. Specifically, the myotube was thinner, the expression of atrogin-1 increased, and the protein content of myosin heavy chain decreased. In contrast, when DEX treatment was performed before the onset of differentiation, we observed an increase in myotube diameter and myosin heavy chain levels, and a decrease in the expression of atrogin-1. The ratio of multinuclear myotube cells increased in the DEX treatment group. The optimal treatment concentration and time was 100 μM and 48 h, respectively. Co-treatment with 10 μM DEX and 100 nM insulin further enhanced the process of myotube differentiation. Discussion: This novel finding contributed to the explanation on the stage-specific mechanism of glucocorticoid-induced myopathy. A new formula for myoblast differentiation, containing both DEX and insulin, is proposed. Further research is required to understand the complete mechanism of DEX-induced muscle hypertrophy.

Emerging evidence has indicated a role for pharmacologic agents in the primary prevention of osteoporotic fracture, but have not yet been systematically reviewed for meta-analysis. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacologic interventions in reducing fracture risk and increasing bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women with osteopenia or osteoporosis but without prevalent fragility fracture.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain. Its pathophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood, and effective diagnosis and treatments are lacking. This study aimed to identify significantly changed biosignatures in FM and propose a novel classification for FM based on pain and soreness (sng) symptoms.

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome caused primarily by benign mesenchymal tumors. It has been associated with malignancies in rare cases. High serum levels of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 23 reported in a group of patients with ovarian cancer had normal serum phosphate levels. There had been no ovarian cancer-related hypophosphatemic osteomalacia in a search of the literature.

Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases compared to the healthy population. Aerobic exercise training is one of the recommended treatments. However, literature regarding the effect of aerobic training on patients with SCI is scarce. This study evaluated changes in parameters of exercise physiology and serum myokines immediately after exercise and after a training program among patients with SCI.

Increasing evidence has supported the use of dextrose prolotherapy for patients with osteoarthritis. However, the real benefits may be affected by differences in injection protocols, comparative regimens, and evaluation scales.

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the outcomes of patients with osteoporosis-related fractures managed through fracture liaison services (FLS) programs.

The incidence of low birth weights is increased in offspring of women who are exposed to high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water compared with other women. We hypothesized that effects of arsenic on birth weight may be related to effects on myogenic differentiation.

Sarcopenia and dysphagia are prevalent health issues as the elderly population continues to grow. However, whether sarcopenia, defined by either reduced handgrip strength or gait speed, would lead to pathological effects on swallowing function is still a matter of debate. Studies focusing on subclinical changes in the swallowing function in the sarcopenic elderly are lacking. This study evaluates the swallowing function in the sarcopenic elderly without dysphagia.

A recent meta-analysis found that secreted phosphoprotein-1 (SPP1) can predict the risk of both osteoporosis and fracture. No study has explored the association of SPP1 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) and haplotypes with bone mineral density (BMD).