Upper airway imaging techniques can be useful to identify the exact location and nature of the obstruction in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients.Methods-Ten OSA patients and ten non-OSA control subjects were imaged using cone-beam computed tomography (Newtom QR-DVT9000) to compare their upper airway structure.

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Visceral fat accumulation is associated with the development of metabolic disorders such as glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (1-8). However, the relationship between reduction of visceral fat and decrease in the number of metabolic risk factors has not been defined in the general population. Recently, we developed a new technique, the abdominal bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), to evaluate visceral fat area (VFA) (9). The aim of this study was to investigate whether reduction of visceral fat, estimated by the BIA, is associated with a decrease in the number of metabolic risk factors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -The study group comprised 2,336 Japanese men (aged mean Ϯ SD 48.0 Ϯ 10.5 years, BMI 24.2 Ϯ 2.9 kg/m 2 ), who were employees of Amagasaki City Office, an urban area, and had undergone annual health check-ups in both 2004 and 2005. After the health check-up, the medical staff provided risk factor-oriented, rather than obesityoriented, health promotion programs to select individuals with visceral fat accumulation and multiple risk factors, with the aim of encouraging a scientific understanding of the spectrum of metabolic syndrome from visceral fat accumulation to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we used VFA estimated by the BIA, which was shown to correlate significantly with VFA determined by computed tomography (9). The measurement of VFA by BIA complied with the Guidelines of the Ethical Committees of Osaka University. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects.Overall obesity was defined as BMI of Ն25 kg/m 2 (10). We investigated the presence of three metabolic risk factors: elevated blood pressure (systolic blood pressure Ն130 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure Ն85 mmHg), dyslipidemia, and dysglycemia/impaired glucose tolerance. Dyslipidemia represented hypertriglyceridemia (fasting or postprandial triglyceride of Ն1.69 or 2.27 mmol/l [11,12], respectively, and/or low HDL cholesterol [HDL cholesterol Ͻ1.04 mmol/l]). Dysglycemia/impaired glucose tolerance represented hyperglycemia (fasting or postprandial serum glucose concentration of Ն6.1 or Ն7.77 mmol/l [13], respectively). Subjects who received specific treatment(s) for each of the metabolic risk factors were considered positive for that factor. Statistical analysisFischer's protected least significant difference test and Kruskal-Wallis were used to analyze the relationship between the number of metabolic risk factors and body fat distribution and between change in the number of metabolic risk factors and change in VFA, respectively. Significance level was set at P Ͻ 0.05.RESULTS -BMI and VFA varied considerably among individuals. We divided subjects into two groups according to BMI and into two groups according to VFA (Fig. 1A). Visceral fat accumulation was defined as VFA of Ն100 cm 2 (10,14). Among 1,497 nonobese subjects (BMI Ͻ25 kg/m 2 ), 401 (26.8%) had visceral fat accumulation. The mean number of metabolic risk factors in subjects with VFA Ն100 c...

The experimental implant design caused significantly more peri-implant bone loss compared with the control implant. As strain gauge measurements indicate excessive marginal strains around the experimental implants, osseocompression might have played a role in the observed marginal bone loss.