Medical care priorities of community-dwelling older adults according to three dimensions of quality of life: Quality of daily living, satisfaction and happiness from birth to death, and human vitality.

AIM: Although the maintenance and improvement of quality of life (QoL) through holistic care are important in geriatric medical care, care priorities might differ depending on three essential aspects of QoL: the quality of daily living, satisfaction and happiness from birth to death, and human vitality, which are "Seikatsu," "Jinsei," "Seimei" in Japanese, respectively. We aimed to clarify these priorities in terms of medical care and examined how the definitions of QoL affected these priorities' rankings. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years living in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The number of participants was 1550 (mean age, 76.1 ± 5.8 years; 699 women [45.1%]). A self-administered questionnaire distributed in advance was used to rank 12 items sought in medical care. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups and sent the corresponding questionnaire, which differed only in the definition of QoL. RESULTS: The top priorities for medical care were "effective treatment of illness," "improvement of physical function," and "maintaining a high level of activity." When QoL was defined as "the quality of daily living, satisfaction and happiness from birth to death, and human vitality," participants were significantly more likely to rank QoL improvement as one of the top three items (adjusted odds ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-2.05). CONCLUSIONS: As a medical care priority, older adults desire improvement of multidimensional elements of life, including human vitality. Health care providers should consider this when making medical care decisions. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 493-498.

A novel organ culture model of aorta for vascular calcification.

Vascular calcification is a characteristic feature of aging, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, and end-stage renal disease. The use of organ culture provides complementary information that may bridge the gap between traditional cell culture and animal models, and establishes easily controlled experimental conditions. Therefore, we investigated whether organ culture of the aorta could be used as a model of vascular calcification, applying it to animal models of other conditions. Thoracic aortas were dissected from C57BL/6 mice and cultured. To induce vascular calcification, stimulation with inorganic phosphate (Pi) was performed. Morphometric assessment of medial calcium deposition was quantitatively performed, and the amount of dissolved calcium was measured. Pi-stimulation induced calcium deposition in medial layers in a time- and dose-dependent manner. To investigate the phenotypic change of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), the expression of Runx2, osterix, osteocalcin, and ALP activity were determined. Finally, to investigate the influence of Pi-stimulation on the cultured aorta in other models, aortas from streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice, aged mice, and Sirt1 knockout (+/-) mice were dissected. These cultures showed a greater tendency for aortic calcification by Pi-stimulation than did control cultures. These results indicate that organ culture of the aorta from mice reflects the state of calcification and suggests that this model will be useful to explore the molecular mechanisms of vascular calcification and the pathology of senescence.

Effect of adlay, buckwheat and barley on lipid metabolism and aorta histopathology in rats fed an obesogenic diet.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The present study was carried out to evaluate the nutritional quality of adlay (AD), buckwheat (BW) and waxy barley (WB), with particular respect to their fiber components. Plasma lipid parameters, gut transit time and thickness of the aortic wall in rats fed with different grains were evaluated and compared with rats fed on white rice (WR). METHODS: The rats were then raised for 4 weeks on an obesogenic diet based on the American Institute of Nutrition-93 (AIN-93 G) diets containing 1% cholesterol and 20% dietary lipids. 40 male rats were divided into 4 groups and raised for 4 weeks with a diet containing one of the following grains: WR, AD, BW, or WB. RESULTS: Gut transit time was shortened depending on the grain, with the WB group having the shortest time, followed by the BW group and the AD group, and then the WR group. Plasma lipid profiles differed significantly according to grain combination, and the levels of triglycerides in the AD, BW and WB groups were significantly lower than that in the WR group. The BW and WB groups showed lower levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C, and higher HDL-C than the WR group, although the group fed on AD did not show such results owing to the high content of lipids and calories. Accordingly, the reduction in gut transit time resulted in decreasing levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL-C. Rats fed on WB and BW showed significantly larger aortic lumen than those fed with AD and WR. Also the wall thickness of the WB group was significantly thinner than that of the WR group. CONCLUSION: Consumption of BW- and WB-containing diets significantly improved several cardiovascular risk factors induced by obesity in experimental rats.