Objective: To investigate the influences of red mold rice (RMR) on obesity and related metabolic abnormalities. Methods and results:The 3T3-L1 cell line was used to examine the effects of RMR extracts on preadipocytes and on mature adipocytes. Both water and ethanol extracts of RMR had inhibitory effects on 3T3-L1 preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation. Water extracts of RMR enhanced the lipolysis activity in mature adipocytes, which negatively correlated with the triglyceride content within cells. RMR treatment did not affect heparin-releasable lipoprotein lipase activity in mature adipocytes. Furthermore, animal studies were carried out to explore the antiobesity effects of RMR. The control group of male Wistar rats were fed regular laboratory feed, whereas the other groups were fed the high-fat (HF) diet supplemented with lovastatin, rice or RMR (0.4 and 2%, w w À1 ). The relative caloric intakes of the control and HF groups were 3.34 and 4.85 kcal g À1 , respectively. After 6 weeks, rats treated with RMR at the 0.4 and 2% doses had lower weight gain and less fat pads mass accompanied with smaller fat cells than did the HF-diet rats. These effects probably resulted from an increase in the lipolysis activity of adipose tissue and a reduction in food/energy consumption. On the other hand, the RMR supplement significantly reduced serum total cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the ratio of LDL to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and serum insulin in the HF group. Moreover, the 2% RMR treatment significantly increased serum HDL cholesterol. Conclusion: This study reveals for the first time that RMR can prevent body fat accumulation and improve dyslipidemia. The antiobesity effects of RMR mainly derive from the lipolytic activity and mild antiappetite potency of RMR. In addition, extracts of RMR suppressed the proliferation and differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, which might have contributed to the inhibition of new adipocyte formation or hyperplasia in adipose tissue.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent degenerative joint disease and is accompanied by pain and joint dysfunction. Its clinical treatment tends to be unsatisfactory. Novel targets in OA include genes that are involved in OA pathophysiology and have been discovered using gene network, epigenetic and microRNA (miRNA) approaches. miRNA has been implicated in important cellular processes such as lipid metabolism, apoptosis, differentiation and organ development. The importance of miRNA regulation in cellular function is becoming increasingly clear as new miRNA targets are revealed. The present review summarizes the current evidence of the important role played by miRNA in determining the complex gene expression patterns of OA chondrocytes and their role in the regulation of transcription, and possible demethylation mechanisms that might be applicable in OA. In summary, miRNA may have important diagnostic and therapeutic potential, and might provide a novel means of treating OA.

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is usually a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder primarily targeting the synovium and articular cartilage. It is incurable, costly and responds poorly to treatment. Methotrexate alone or in combination with conventional and/or biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) is often used to induce remission of active disease. The effectiveness of treatment is, however, limited and most patients develop chronic disability and require total knee arthroplasty or total hip replacement. Emerging therapies targeting specific cytokines and growth factors in the RA inflammatory cascade offer potent new means of modifying disease activity. Recently, increased concentrations of adipokines, including visfatin, mainly produced by adipocytes in serum and joint synovial fluid, were found in RA patients. Visfatin has important pro-inflammatory and catabolic roles in RA pathogenesis and is now being studied as a potential therapeutic target for RA. Here we discuss the relationship between visfatin and RA and its potential as a therapeutic target for RA.

Introduction: In addition to being a risk factor for breast cancer, breast density has been hypothesized to be a surrogate biomarker for predicting response to endocrine-based chemotherapies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a noninvasive bedside scanner based on diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging (DOSI) provides quantitative metrics to measure and track changes in breast tissue composition and density. To access a broad range of densities in a limited patient population, we performed optical measurements on the contralateral normal breast of patients before and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). In this work, DOSI parameters, including tissue hemoglobin, water, and lipid concentrations, were obtained and correlated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-measured fibroglandular tissue density. We evaluated how DOSI could be used to assess breast density while gaining new insight into the impact of chemotherapy on breast tissue. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 28 volunteers undergoing NAC treatment for breast cancer. Both 3.0-T MRI and broadband DOSI (650 to 1,000 nm) were obtained from the contralateral normal breast before and during NAC. Longitudinal DOSI measurements were used to calculate breast tissue concentrations of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin, water, and lipid. These values were compared with MRI-measured fibroglandular density before and during therapy.