Racial differences in amounts of visceral adipose tissue in young adults: the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study. (41/28941)

BACKGROUND: In several white populations, visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a risk factor for development of type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia. VAT can be accurately assessed by computed topography or magnetic resonance imaging, but is also estimated from anthropometric variables, such as waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, or sagittal diameter. To date, anthropometric variables have been used largely in whites and inadequate data are available to evaluate the validity of these variables in other groups. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to 1) determine whether amount of VAT in relation to total body fatness differs in different race and sex groups and 2) determine which anthropometric variables predict amount of VAT in different race and sex groups. DESIGN: We determined the amount and location of body fat, including assessment of VAT by computed tomography, in young adult white and black men and women participating in the 10-y follow-up of the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study. RESULTS: Black men had less visceral fat (73.1+/-35.9 cm2) than white men (99.3+/-40 cm2), even when VAT was corrected for total body fatness. Black women were more obese than white women and thus had more visceral fat (75.1+/-37.5 compared with 58.6+/-35.9 cm2, respectively). This difference disappeared when corrected for total body fatness. CONCLUSIONS: Both waist circumference and sagittal diameter were good predictors of VAT in all groups. However, the nature of this relation differed such that race- and sex-specific equations will likely be required to estimate VAT from waist circumference or sagittal diameter.  (+info)

Serum and red blood cell folate concentrations, race, and education: findings from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. (42/28941)

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the relations between race or ethnicity, educational attainment, and serum and red blood cell folate concentrations. OBJECTIVE: We examined the relation between educational attainment and serum and red blood cell folate concentrations in 8457 white, African American, and Mexican American men and women aged > or = 17 y. DESIGN: We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from Phase 1 of the third National health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1991). RESULTS: White men had significantly higher adjusted serum and red blood cell folate concentrations (16.9 and 502.6 nmol/L, respectively) than did African American men (15.6 and 423.3 nmol/L, respectively) or Mexican American men (16.0 and 457.0 nmol/L, respectively); white women had significantly higher concentrations (18.4 and 515.9 nmol/L, respectively) than did African American women (16.3 and 415.4 nmol/L, respectively) or Mexican American women (15.9 and 455.7 nmol/L, respectively). For the entire sample, rank correlation coefficients between educational attainment and serum and red blood cell folate were 0.11 and 0.12, respectively, and were larger in white participants than in other participants. No significant linear trends between adjusted serum or red blood cell folate and educational attainment were found. Among participants with > 12 y of education, the mean adjusted concentrations of serum folate were 15% and 18% lower and those of red blood cell were 18% and 22% lower in African American men and women than in white men and women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: African Americans and Mexican Americans could benefit most from public health programs to boost folate intakes by encouraging increased intake of folate-rich foods and vitamin supplements.  (+info)

Serum total homocysteine concentrations in adolescent and adult Americans: results from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. (43/28941)

BACKGROUND: The elevation of circulating total homocysteine concentrations in a fasting state is associated with an increased risk of occlusive vascular disease. OBJECTIVE: The primary goals of this study were to describe the distribution of serum total homocysteine concentrations in the United States and to test for differences in homocysteine concentrations among sex, age, and race-ethnicity categories. DESIGN: Using surplus sera from phase 2 of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we measured serum total homocysteine concentrations for a nationally representative sample of 3766 males and 4819 females aged > or = 12 y. RESULTS: Age-adjusted geometric mean total homocysteine concentrations were 9.6 and 7.9 mmol/L in non-Hispanic white males and females, 9.8 and 8.2 mmol/L in non-Hispanic black males and females, and 9.4 and 7.4 mmol/L in Mexican American males and females, respectively. Age-adjusted geometric mean total homocysteine concentrations were significantly lower in females than in males in each race-ethnicity group (P < 0.01) and were significantly lower in Mexican American females than in non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black females (P < 0.01). There was a significant age-sex interaction (P < 0.01), reflecting the fact that homocysteine concentrations in females tended to diverge from those in males at younger ages and converge with those in males at older ages. CONCLUSIONS: The first data on homocysteine concentrations in a nationally representative sample of Americans confirm the age and sex differences reported previously in nonrepresentative samples. These data also indicate that differences between Mexican American and non-Hispanic females may influence circulating homocysteine concentrations.  (+info)

Comparison of growth status of patients with cystic fibrosis between the United States and Canada. (44/28941)

BACKGROUND: Differences in growth status of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) between the United States and Canada were reported in the 1980s based on analysis of data from 2 regional CF centers. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the current growth status of the entire CF population in the United States and Canada in view of recent advances in the treatment of CF. DESIGN: Growth data from the 1992-1994 CF Patient Registries were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean height and weight were at approximately the 30th percentile for children with CF in the United States. Mean height and weight were 4-5 percentiles higher in children with CF in Canada than in those in the United States (P < 0.01), but percentages of ideal weight (104%) were similar in both populations. In adults with CF, mean height was similar at the 37th percentile; however, weight (26th compared with the 21st percentiles) and percentage of ideal weight (93% compared with 90%) were significantly higher in Canada than in the United States. Differences related to sex and age were similar in both countries for all indexes, which showed a high prevalence of underweight in infants and in older patients, but little sex discrepancy. CONCLUSION: We observed substantially smaller differences in the growth indexes of CF patients between the United States and Canada compared with results from the 1980s. These findings reflect significant improvements in the nutritional status of US patients in recent years. However, caution is required in the direct comparison of mean percentiles from reports using different growth standards because there are systematic differences in growth standards, which affect, in particular, the comparison of growth in males and females.  (+info)

The role of apolipoprotein E and glucose intolerance in gallstone disease in middle aged subjects. (45/28941)

BACKGROUND: The polymorphism of apolipoprotein E has been suggested to be associated with the cholesterol content of gallstones, the crystallisation rate of gall bladder bile, and the prevalence of gallstone disease (GSD). AIMS: To investigate whether apolipoprotein E polymorphism modulates the susceptibility to GSD at the population level and to study the possible associations between impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, and GSD. METHODS: Apolipoprotein E phenotypes were determined in a middle aged cohort of 261 randomly selected hypertensive men, 259 control men, 257 hypertensive women, and 267 control women. All subjects without a documented history of diabetes were submitted to a two hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). GSD was verified by ultrasonography. RESULTS: In women with apolipoprotein E2 (phenotypes E2/2, 2/3, and 2/4) compared with women without E2 (E3/3, 4/3, and 4/4), the odds ratio for GSD was 0. 28 (95% confidence interval 0.08-0.92). There was no protective effect in men. The relative risk for GSD was 1.2 (0.8-1.7) for hypertensive women and 1.8 (1.0-2.7) for hypertensive men. In a stepwise multiple logistic regression model, E2 protected against GSD in women, whereas two hour blood glucose in the OGTT, serum insulin, and plasma triglycerides were risk factors. Elevated blood glucose during the OGTT was also a significant risk factor for GSD in men. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that apolipoprotein E2 is a genetic factor providing protection against GSD in women. In contrast, impaired glucose tolerance and frank diabetes are associated with the risk of GSD.  (+info)

Clinical, biochemical and molecular genetic features of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. (46/28941)

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) has traditionally been considered a disease causing severe and permanent visual loss in young adult males. In nearly all families with LHON it is associated with one of three pathogenic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, at bp 11778, 3460 or 14484. The availability of mtDNA confirmation of a diagnosis of LHON has demonstrated that LHON occurs with a wider range of age at onset and more commonly in females than previously recognised. In addition, analysis of patients grouped according to mtDNA mutation has demonstrated differences both in the clinical features of visual failure and in recurrence risks to relatives associated with each of the pathogenic mtDNA mutations. Whilst pathogenic mtDNA mutations are required for the development of LHON, other factors must be reponsible for the variable penetrance and male predominance of this condition. Available data on a number of hypotheses including the role of an additional X-linked visual loss susceptibility locus, impaired mitochondrial respiratory chain activity, mtDNA heteroplasmy, environmental factors and autoimmunity are discussed. Subacute visual failure is seen in association with all three pathogenic LHON mutations. However, the clinical and experimental data reviewed suggest differences in the phenotype associated with each of the three mutations which may reflect variation in the disease mechanisms resulting in this common end-point.  (+info)

Regression of intracerebral rat glioma isografts by therapeutic subcutaneous immunization with interferon-gamma, interleukin-7, or B7-1-transfected tumor cells. (47/28941)

Progress in the definition of the roles of various costimulators and cytokines in determining the type and height of immune responses has made it important to explore genetically altered tumor cells expressing such molecules for therapeutic immunizations. We have studied the effect of therapeutic subcutaneous (s.c.) immunizations on the growth of preexisting intracerebral brain tumor isografts in the rat. Transfectant glioma cell clones expressing either rat interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), rat interleukin-7 (IL-7), or rat B7-1 were selected. After irradiation (80 Gy) the clones were used for immunization (administered in up to four s.c. doses in a hind leg over 14-day intervals starting 1 day after the intracranial isografting of the parental tumor). Significant growth inhibition of the intracerebral parental tumors was induced by transfectants expressing IFN-gamma and IL-7, respectively. The strongest effect was observed with IFN-gamma-expressing cells, resulting in cures in 37% of the males and in 100% of the females. Immunization with IL-7 had a similar, strong initial effect, with significantly prolonged survival in the majority of the rats but a lower final cure rate (survival for >150 days). The B7-1-expressing tumor clones induced cures in seven of eight female rats; however, no cures were seen in the male rats. It was also shown that the B7-1-expressing cells were themselves strongly immunogenic in female rats, requiring high cell numbers to result in a progressively growing tumor upon s.c. isografting; this was not the case in male rats. As a whole, the results imply that despite the unfavorable location of intracerebral tumors, therapeutic s.c. immunizations with certain types of genetically altered tumor cells can induce complete regressions with permanent survival and without gross neurological or other apparent signs of brain damage. The present results demonstrate complete regressions when immunizations are initiated shortly after intracranial isografting, when the intracerebral tumor is small.  (+info)

The relationship of family size and spacing to the growth of preschool Mayan children in Guatemala. (48/28941)

The height of preschool Mayan children is analyzed with respect to family size and the spacing of their siblings, controlling for parental heights and weights. Data on 643 cases were abstracted from the records of two previous longitudinal studies on the health of children under age five years living in the highlands of Guatemala. Height at age three years is estimated from the linear regression equations fitted for each child to measurements of height repeated at three-month intervals from ages one to four years. Family size is expressed in terms of birth rank, live siblings, and the number of dependent and independent family members. Family spacing is measured as birth intervals, i.e., the number of months between the birth of the index child and his previous and subsequent siblings. Most previous studies have reported that height decreases as family size increases. This study shows that Mayan children from both small and large families are taller than those from middle-sized families. Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that children in large families are relatively tall because their early-born siblings contribute to the family fortunes. Birth intervals are positively correlated with height. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for family planning.  (+info)