Clinical Implications of UCP1 mRNA Expression in Human Cervical Adipose Tissue Under Physiological Conditions

OBJECTIVE

The clinical implications of human brown adipose tissue (BAT) were investigated based on the analysis of cervical adipose tissue gene expression under normal physiological conditions.

METHODS

Matched-pair specimens of adipose tissue (AT) were collected from beneath the incision plane (subcutaneous AT) and from the area surrounding the carotid sheath (carotid AT) from 60 patients undergoing thyroidectomy. The mRNA expression of BAT-associated genes in these tissues was examined, and this expression was correlated with the clinical characteristics of the subjects.

RESULTS

The UCP1 mRNA level was significantly higher in the carotid AT than in the subcutaneous AT. There was an inverse correlation between subject age and the ratio of UCP1 mRNA expression in the carotid AT relative to the subcutaneous AT, which is a measure of BAT activity (r = -0.459; P = 0.004), and there was a negative correlation between BMI and the ratio of UCP1 mRNA expression in subjects with higher BAT activity (r = -0.532; P = 0.016).

CONCLUSIONS

UCP1 was identified as the only marker of cervical BAT in humans. There was a negative correlation between obesity and BAT activity in subjects with higher BAT activity, although BAT activity decreased with age.

Risk factors of heavy episodic drinking among Korean adolescents

The main objective of this study was to identify the risk factors and develop a decision tree model of heavy episodic drinking (HED) among adolescents. Data were obtained from a representative nationwide Korean population. Nine variables (such as last 30 days smoking, school grade, sex, depression, school achievement, level of stress, region, and economic status) were found as risk factors of HED. On the highest level of the tree root, major classification rule was played by dividing based on the last 30 days smoking and school grades. These findings should be helpful for school and mental healthcare providers to detect Korean adolescents with high possibility of HED, which will aid in planning of healthcare interventions for at-risk adolescents.