Effects of short-term whole-body vibration training on muscle strength, balance performance, and body composition.

[Purpose] This study aimed to evaluate the changes in lower-extremity muscle strength, balance performance, and body composition. [Participants and Methods] In this study, 21 healthy university students who underwent short-term whole-body vibration training without previous whole-body vibration training participated. The study design was randomized between-groups design. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups; control, training, and whole-body vibration training. All participants completed a six-week training protocol comprising a first two-week training period, two-week rest period following the first training period, and second two-week training period. Over four periods, the participants' lower-extremity muscle strength, balance performance, and body composition were evaluated. Separate three-by-four repeated-measure analyses of variance, with three exercise mode groups and four periods, were initially used to analyze the primary outcome variables; lower-extremity muscle strength, balance performance, and body composition. [Results] In the three groups, lower-extremity muscle strength, static and dynamic balance performances, and body composition showed no changes during all periods. [Conclusion] This study provides a better insight on the responsiveness of short-term whole-body vibration training and will help determine whole-body vibration programs in revalidation and training.

[Favorable course of collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy after kidney transplantation and questionnaire survey about the prognosis of collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy].

Collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy is a recently recognized entity that is characterized by massive accumulation of collagen fibrils in the mesangial and subendothelial areas, and an elevated serum level of procollagen III peptide (PIIIP). We report the first case of a collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy patient who received a kidney transplantation. She received the kidney transplantation at the age of 18 years and the post-operative course was uneventful with good renal function on immunosuppression, which consisted of methylprednisolone, tacrolimus and basiliximab. Although urinary protein was negative, the serum level of PIIIP gradually elevated which suggests new collagen production in the graft. These findings indicate that the recipient had a systemic factor that stimulated collagen production. To investigate the prognosis of collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy, we carried out a questionnaire survey on 14 patients at 9 hospitals. None of these patients had received a kidney transplantation. However, 7 already had end-stage renal failure. Ten years after diagnosis, the renal survival rate was 49%. This rate is lower than cited in previous reports.

Loss of sense transgene-induced post-transcriptional gene silencing by sequential introduction of the same transgene sequences in tobacco.

RNA silencing is an epigenetic inhibition of gene expression and is guided by small interfering RNAs. Sense transgene-induced post-transcriptional gene silencing (S-PTGS) occurs in a portion of a transgenic plant population. When a sense transgene encoding a tobacco endoplasmic reticulum omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (NtFAD3) was introduced into tobacco plants, an S-PTGS line, S44, was obtained. Introduction of another copy of the NtFAD3 transgene into S44 plants caused a phenotypic change from S-PTGS to overexpression. Because this change was associated with the methylation of the promoter sequences of the transgene, reduced transcriptional activity may abolish S-PTGS and residual transcription of the sense transgene may account for the overexpression. To clarify whether RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) can repress the transcriptional activity of the S44 transgene locus, we introduced several RdDM constructs targeting the transgene promoter. An RdDM construct harboring a 200-bp-long fragment of promoter sequences efficiently abrogated the generation of NtFAD3 small interfering RNAs in S44 plants. Transcription of the transgene was partially repressed, but the resulting NtFAD3 mRNAs successfully accumulated and an overexpressed phenotype was established. Our results indicate an example in which overexpression of the transgene is established by complex epigenetic interactions among the transgenic loci.