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The number of people who are overweight and obese is continually increasing both in the adult and adolescent populations. This coincides with the increased universal phenomenon of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and other metabolic problems. Bariatric surgery, such as SG, is currently one of the most effective and commonly used long-term treatment for obesity and T2D, but the association between them is not completely explored yet. The mechanisms underlying the outcomes seen after bariatric surgery in humans can be investigated based on preclinical animal studies. The SG reduces body weight, glucose levels and many metabolic parameters, and is easy to perform with a low incidence of complications. The goal of this work is to provide a simple method and an uncomplicated preclinical model of bariatric surgery in animals for researchers.

Bariatric surgery is an effective therapy for morbid obesity but may reduce calcium absorption and significantly decrease the bone mineral density. This study examined the prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in obese subjects during follow-up after different bariatric surgeries. We investigated predictors of SHPT. We enrolled 1470 obese subjects undergoing bariatric/metabolic surgery with at least 1-year follow-up, including 322 patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), 695 undergoing single anastomosis (mini-) gastric bypass (SAGB), 93 undergoing laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), and 360 undergoing sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Five years of data were available for 215 patients. Patients were instructed to supplement their diet according to the guideline. Calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and vitamin D levels were measured before surgery and at 1 and 5 years after surgery. SHPT was defined as PTH > 69 pg/mL. The overall prevalence of SHPT was high, 21.0% before surgery and was not different between patients with different bariatric procedures. Pre-operative PTH correlated with age, BMI, and vitamin D levels. Multi-variate analysis confirmed that vitamin D level was the only independent predictor of SHPT before surgery. The prevalence of SHPT increased to 35.4% at 1 year after surgery and 63.3% at 5 years after surgery. SAGB had the highest prevalence of SHPT (50.6%) followed by RYGB (33.2%), LAGB (25.8%), and SG (17.8%) at 1 year after surgery. At 5 years after surgery, SAGB still had the highest prevalence of SHPT (73.6%), followed by RYGB (56.6%), LAGB (38.5%), and SG (41.7%). Serum PTH at 1 year after surgery correlated with decreased BMI and weight loss. Multi-variate analysis confirmed that age, sex, calcium level, and bypass procedure were independent predictor of SHPT after surgery. The prevalence of SHPT is high in morbidly obese patients before bariatric surgery which is related to vitamin D deficiency. The prevalence of SHPT increased continually along with the time after bariatric surgery, especially in patients receiving SAGB, followed by RYGB. The supplementation of vitamin D and calcium have to be higher in bypass procedure, especially in malabsorptive procedure.

The sliding filament model of the sarcomere was developed more than half a century ago. This model, consisting only of thin and thick filaments, has been efficacious in elucidating many, but not all, features of skeletal muscle. Work during the 1980s revealed the existence of two additional filaments: the giant filamentous proteins titin and nebulin. Nebulin, a giant myofibrillar protein, acts as a protein ruler to maintain the lattice arrays of thin filaments and plays a role in signal transduction and contractile regulation. However, the change of nebulin and its effect on thin filaments in denervation-induced atrophic muscle remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to examine the content and pattern of nebulin, myosin heavy chain (MHC), actin, and titin in innervated and denervated tibialis anterior (TA) muscles of rats using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), densitometry and electron microscopic (EM) analyses. The results revealed that denervation induced muscle atrophy is accompanied by decreased nebulin content in a time-dependent manner. For instant, the levels of nebulin in denervated muscles were markedly (P < 0.05) decreased, about 24.6% and 40.2% in comparison with innervated muscle after denervation of 28 and 56 days, respectively. The nebulin/MHC, nebulin/actin, and nebulin/titin ratios were decreased, suggesting a concomitant reduction of nebulin in denervated muscle. Moreover, a western blotting assay proved that nebulin declined faster than titin on 28 and 56 days of denervated muscle. In addition, EM study revealed that the disturbed arrangements of myofilaments and a disorganized contractile apparatus were also observed in denervated muscle. Overall, the present study provides evidence that nebulin is more sensitive to the effect of denervation than MHC, actin, and titin. Nebulin decline indeed resulted in disintegrate of thin filaments and shortening of sarcomeres.

Emerging evidence has shown that bariatric/metabolic surgery ameliorates type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in mildly obese patients (BMI 35 kg/m(2)) but long-term data is inadequate. We investigated the change of the quality of life after metabolic surgery in not well-controlled T2DM patients with BMI 35 kg/m(2).The quality of life was measured by the gastrointestinal quality of life index (GIQLI), a 36-item questionnaire divided into three domains of general health and one domain of specific gastro-intestinal symptoms, administered before operation, at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. A control group matched in age, gender, and BMI was recruited for comparison.A total of 86 patients were enrolled, and the preoperative BMI and HbA1C (mean ± SD) were 30.7 ± 2.8 kg/m(2) and 9.3 ± 2.1 %, respectively. At 1 year after surgery, the BMI and HbA1C were 24.3 ± 2.3 kg/m(2) and 6.2 ± 1.1 %, respectively. There was a significantly improvement in all of the measures of glucose metabolism. Complete remission (HbA1C 6.0 %) was achieved in 56 subjects (65 %) at 12 months. The GIQLI score was significantly impaired in T2DM patients before surgery compared with the control group. The GIQLI score significantly increased from 109.2 ± 20.0 to 116.1 ± 14.2 points 1 year after surgery. The patients had improvement in the three domains of general health (social, physical, and emotional function) without a difference with the normal control but deteriorated in the domain of specific symptoms. Most of the patients experienced symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, belching, abdominal noise, regurgitation, dysphagia, slow eating speed, nausea, bowel urgency, and incontinence after metabolic syndrome.Health-related QOL improved dramatically after metabolic surgery for not well-controlled T2DM patients with BMI 35 kg/m(2), but patients might develop specific gastro-intestinal symptoms after surgery.

Bariatric surgery may be beneficial in mildly obese patients with poorly controlled diabetes. The optimal procedure to achieve diabetes remission is unknown. In 2011, we published the short-term results of a pilot study designed to evaluate the efficacy of diabetic control and the role of duodenal exclusion in mildly obese diabetic patients undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SG) vs. a laparoscopic single anastomosis (mini-) gastric bypass (SAGB). This study analyzes the 5-year results and evaluates the incretin effect.A double-blind randomized trial included 60 participants with a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level higher than 7.5%, a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 35 Kg/m(2), a C-peptide level ≥1.0 ng/mL, and a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for at least 6 months. A SAGB with duodenal exclusion or a SG without duodenal exclusion was performed.The 5-year results of the primary outcome were as an intention-to-treat analysis for HbA1c ≤6.5% without glycemic therapy. Assessments of the incretin effect and β cell function were performed at baseline and between 36 and 60 months. The patients were randomly assigned to SAGB (n = 30) and SG (n = 30). At 60 months, 18 participants (60%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 42 to 78%) in the SAGB group and nine participants (30%; 95% CI, 13 to 47%) in the SG group achieved the primary end points (odds ratio (OR), 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.8%). The participants assigned to the SAGB procedure had a similar percentage of weight loss as the SG patients (22.8 ± 5.9 vs. 20.1 ± 5.3%; p 0.05) but achieved a lower level of HbA1c (6.1 ± 0.7 vs. 7.1 ± 1.2 %; p 0.05) than the SG patients. There was a significant increase in the incretin effect before and after surgery in both groups, but the SAGB group had a higher incretin effect than the SG group at 5 years.In mildly obese patients with T2DM, SG is effective at improving glycemic control at 5 years, but SAGB was more likely to achieve better glycemic control than SG and had a higher incretin effect compared to SG.