Matured hop extract reduces body fat in healthy overweight humans: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel group study.

BACKGROUND: Hops are the main components of beer that provide flavor and bitterness. Iso-α-acids, the bitter components of beer, have been reported to reduce body fat in humans, but the bitterness induced by effective doses of iso-α-acids precludes their acceptance as a nutrient. The matured hop bitter acids (MHBA) of oxidized hops appear to have a more pleasant bitterness compared to the sharper bitterness of iso-α-acids. While there has been little information concerning the identity of the MHBA compounds and their physiological effects, MHBA was recently found to be primarily composed of oxides derived from α-acids, and structurally similar to iso-α-acids. Here, we investigated the effects of matured hop extract (MHE) containing MHBA on reducing abdominal body fat in healthy subjects with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to below 30 kg/m(2), classified as "obese level 1" in Japan or as "overweight" by the WHO. TRIAL DESIGN: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel group study. METHODS: Two hundred subjects (male and female aged 20 to below 65 years with a BMI of 25 or more and less than 30 kg/m(2)) were randomly assigned to two groups. During a 12-week ingestion period, the subjects in each group ingested daily 350 mL of test-beverage, either containing MHE (with 35 mg MHBA), i.e. the namely active beverage, or a placebo beverage without MHE. The primary endpoint was reduction of the abdominal fat area as determined by CT scanning after continual ingestion of MHE for 12 weeks. RESULTS: Compared to the placebo group, a significant reduction was observed in the visceral fat area after 8 and 12 w, and in the total fat area after 12 w in the active group. There was also a concomitant decrease in body fat ratio in the active group compared to the placebo group. No adverse events related to the test beverages or clinically relevant abnormal changes in the circulatory, blood and urine parameters were observed in either group. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that continual ingestion of MHE safely reduces body fat, particularly the abdominal visceral fat of healthy overweight subjects. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN-CTR UMIN000014185.

Neural networks involved in artistic creativity.

Creativity has been proposed to be either the result of solely right hemisphere processes or of interhemispheric interactions. Little information is available, however, concerning the neuronal foundations of creativity. In this study, we introduced a new artistic task, designing a new tool (a pen), which let us quantitatively evaluate creativity by three indices of originality. These scores were analyzed in combination with brain activities measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results were compared between subjects who had been formally trained in design (experts) and novice subjects. In the experts, creativity was quantitatively correlated with the degree of dominance of the right prefrontal cortex over that of the left, but not with that of the right or left prefrontal cortex alone. In contrast, in novice subjects, only a negative correlation with creativity was observed in the bilateral inferior parietal cortex. We introduced structure equation modeling to analyze the interactions among these four brain areas and originality indices. The results predicted that training exerts a direct effect on the left parietal cortex. Additionally, as a result of the indirect effects, the activity of the right prefrontal cortex was facilitated, and the left prefrontal and right parietal cortices were suppressed. Our results supported the hypothesis that training increases creativity via reorganized intercortical interactions.

The molecular mechanism for activating IgA production by Pediococcus acidilactici K15 and the clinical impact in a randomized trial.

IgA secretion at mucosal sites is important for host defence against pathogens as well as maintaining the symbiosis with microorganisms present in the small intestine that affect IgA production. In the present study, we tested the ability of 5 strains of lactic acid bacteria stimulating IgA production, being Pediococcus acidilactici K15 selected as the most effective on inducing this protective immunoglobulin. We found that this response was mainly induced via IL-10, as efficiently as IL-6, secreted by K15-stimulated dendritic cells. Furthermore, bacterial RNA was largely responsible for the induction of these cytokines; double-stranded RNA was a major causative molecule for IL-6 production whereas single-stranded RNA was critical factor for IL-10 production. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, ingestion of K15 significantly increased the secretory IgA (sIgA) concentration in saliva compared with the basal level observed before this intervention. These results indicate that functional lactic acid bacteria induce IL-6 and IL-10 production by dendritic cells, which contribute to upregulating the sIgA concentration at mucosal sites in humans.

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the effect of Lactobacillus paracasei K71 intake on salivary release of secretory immunoglobulin A.

Lactobacillus paracasei K71 was shown to be effective in alleviating the severity of atopic dermatitis in a randomized controlled trial, and a preliminary open-label trial suggested that strain K71 intake enhanced secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) release in the saliva. This study investigated the effect of K71 on sIgA release in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial. The trial included 62 Japanese subjects aged 20-64 years with relatively low rates of salivary sIgA release. Subjects (n=31 in each group) were randomly given a tablet containing 100 mg (approximately 2 × 1011 bacteria) of K71 or a placebo tablet daily for 12 weeks. After eliminating data for eight subjects (four in each group) who met the exclusion criteria for efficacy analysis, data for 54 subjects were analyzed. The change in the rate of salivary sIgA release 8 weeks after initiation of the study compared with baseline was significantly higher in the K71 tablet group (105.5 ± 119.0 µg/min) than in the placebo group (52.7 ± 62.6 µg/min; p=0.047). There were no adverse events associated with intake of tablets containing K71. The safety of intake of L. paracasei K71 was also confirmed in an independent open-label trial with 20 healthy subjects who consumed excessive amounts of K71-containing food. L. paracasei K71 intake may therefore have some benefits in promoting mucosal immune function.

Dominance of the left oblique view in activating the cortical network for face recognition.

Faces in portraits are often depicted from the left 3/4 view (an oblique view of the face that is intermediate between the frontal view and left profile). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that, compared with photographs of right 3/4 views of familiar faces, photographs of left 3/4 views of the same faces elicited stronger neural responses in the right middle occipital/inferior parietal cortex, and right inferior frontal gyrus; which are known to be involved in face recognition. By contrast, there was no differential activation in the temporal cortex including the superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus, which are thought to process face-related visual stimuli at a stage that precedes recognition. We suggest that the preference for the left 3/4 view of faces was produced at a later stage of facial information processing that involves attention or memory retrieval.

Accelerated recognition of left oblique views of faces.

Because faces in portraits are depicted more frequently in a left rather than a right oblique (half-profile or 3/4) view, we addressed the question of whether people find it easier to recognize the left or right 3/4 view of a familiar person's face. We examined the ability of 13 subjects to match familiar faces that were presented in either the left or right 3/4 view, with names that were presented either before or after the faces (face-name and name-face matching tasks, respectively). In both tasks, the subjects responded more rapidly to a left than to a right 3/4 view of the same face. This suggests that during face recognition the processing of information from faces that are presented in the left 3/4 view is dominant over the processing of right 3/4 views of familiar faces.