Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of processed brown rice on COVID-19 infections by examining whether the number of COVID-19 cases in preschools in 2021 differed depending on whether one type of processed brown rice (sub-aleurone layer residual rinse-free rice: SARFR), or white polished rice, was used as the source of the cases. This study aimed to investigate the effect of processed brown rice on COVID-19 infections. Methods: We investigated the number of COVID-19 cases among preschool infants from April 2021 to March 2022 in kindergartens and nursery schools whose nutritional value of facilities was calculated based on the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The survey was conducted in the same area within a 3-km linear distance radius, followed by additional surveys of preschools in neighboring areas within a 10-km linear distance radius. Furthermore, we compared the COVID-19 incidence rate with that of Tokyo, where the participating preschools are located. Results: Among preschool infants in the same area, those who received processed brown rice for lunch had a significantly lower percentage of COVID-19 cases than those who received white polished rice. In the neighboring areas, the proportion of affected individuals was also significantly lower in the group consuming processed brown rice. Furthermore, compared to the incidence rate in Tokyo, the incidence rate in the kindergartens where the processed brown rice was consumed tended to be lower. Conclusion: There was a trend toward a lower proportion of COVID-19 infections affected by preschool infants consuming processed brown rice. In the future, it is necessary to examine the preventive effect of consuming processed brown rice not only on COVID-19 but also on other infectious diseases, as well as its mechanism.

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Purpose: Hot yoga is a practice in which thermotherapy is added to ordinary yoga. A previous study reported a significant increase in SIRT6 mRNA expression following participation in a twice-weekly, 12-week program, but there was no significant difference between the regular floor (RF) and Wood Stone Studio (WSS). In the present study, female instructors who engaged in a hot yoga program for more than 6 months were evaluated and a comparative analysis between RF and WSS was conducted. Methods: Subjects were divided into two groups as instructors engaged in a hot yoga program for more than 6 months: 16 in the WSS group (29.7 ± 1.4 years, BMI: 35.7 ± 0.9) and 19 in the RF group (28.1 ± 0.8 years, BMI: 37.1 ± 0.9). The assessment items were the Anti-Aging Quality of Life Common Questionnaire (AAQOL), body composition, blood SIRT6 expression level, and natural killer (NK) cell activity, and multiple regression analysis was performed with SIRT6 expression level as the objective variable. Results: AAQOL showed that the WSS group tended to have less "muscle pain and stiffness," "anorexia," and "joint pain" than RF group (p < 0.1); SIRT6 expression and NK cell activity were not significantly different between two groups. Multiple regression analysis extracted age and BMI as factors lowering SIRT6 expression (p < 0.05) and WSS as a factor tending to activate (p < 0.1). Conclusion: The results suggest that the use of WSS may add some additional positive effects to the effect of hot yoga on SIRT6 expression. Further validation of the mechanism of action is needed.

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Presently there is a growing number of scientific papers that indicate a strong connection between epigenetics and the Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology. This study also concentrates on some events related to this serious, chronic, and lethal neurodegenerative disease. Actually, this disease, with a still incomplete knowledge of its etiology and closely connected to the ageing process and old age, in conditions of intensive ageing of the world population (so called senectual explosion), is increasingly becoming a burden for contemporary society. The most recent scientific papers related to AD pathophysiology indicate the complex interaction of a number of genes and oxidative and glycative stress, as well as epigenetic phenomena. The two mentioned types of stress have been under intensive research for a longer period of time; however, epigenetics is a new challenging field that penetrates into the essence of this disease with promising results. Epigenetics, as opposed to genetics that is concerned with gene mutations, investigates special events that are not directly connected to genes, but events that affect genes not changing their sequential structure. This study does not analyze histone acetylation (adding the acetyl group CH₃CO- to histones) and deacetylation, nor histone methylation (adding the methyl group - CH₃ to histones) and demethylation; it is primarily concerned with DNA methylation as the crucial epigenetic event essential for the process of the transcription of genes and their adequate expression. Special emphasis is directed to the analysis of the low- density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP1) receptor, the extremely important factor in the amyloid beta (Aβ) drainage from the brain, and to the decline of the LRP1 expression on the membrane abluminal side of the blood brain barrier (BBB) endothelial cells. This paper does not analyze oxidative and glycative damage of the LRP1 receptor, and it does not focus on AD therapy; it is primarily concerned with epigenetics.

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