{"id": "MED-10", "text": "Recent studies have suggested that statins, an established drug group in the prevention of cardiovascular mortality, could delay or prevent breast cancer recurrence but the effect on disease-specific mortality remains unclear. We evaluated risk of breast cancer death among statin users in a population-based cohort of breast cancer patients. The study cohort included all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in Finland during 1995\u20132003 (31,236 cases), identified from the Finnish Cancer Registry. Information on statin use before and after the diagnosis was obtained from a national prescription database. We used the Cox proportional hazards regression method to estimate mortality among statin users with statin use as time-dependent variable. A total of 4,151 participants had used statins. During the median follow-up of 3.25 years after the diagnosis (range 0.08\u20139.0 years) 6,011 participants died, of which 3,619 (60.2%) was due to breast cancer. After adjustment for age, tumor characteristics, and treatment selection, both post-diagnostic and pre-diagnostic statin use were associated with lowered risk of breast cancer death (HR 0.46, 95% CI 0.38\u20130.55 and HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.44\u20130.67, respectively). The risk decrease by post-diagnostic statin use was likely affected by healthy adherer bias; that is, the greater likelihood of dying cancer patients to discontinue statin use as the association was not clearly dose-dependent and observed already at low-dose/short-term use. The dose- and time-dependence of the survival benefit among pre-diagnostic statin users suggests a possible causal effect that should be evaluated further in a clinical trial testing statins\u2019 effect on survival in breast cancer patients."}
{"id": "MED-118", "text": "The aims of this study were to determine the concentrations of 4-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-octylphenol (OP) in 59 human milk samples and to examine related factors including mothers' demographics and dietary habits. Women who consumed over the median amount of cooking oil had significantly higher OP concentrations (0.98 ng/g) than those who consumed less (0.39 ng/g) (P < 0.05). OP concentration was significantly associated with the consumption of cooking oil (beta = 0.62, P < 0.01) and fish oil capsules (beta = 0.39, P < 0.01) after adjustment for age and body mass index (BMI). NP concentration was also significantly associated with the consumption of fish oil capsules (beta = 0.38, P < 0.01) and processed fish products (beta = 0.59, P < 0.01). The food pattern of cooking oil and processed meat products from factor analysis was strongly associated with OP concentration in human milk (P < 0.05). These determinations should aid in suggesting foods for consumption by nursing mothers in order to protect their infants from NP/OP exposure. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-306", "text": "Hit Reaction Time latencies (HRT) in the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) measure the speed of visual information processing. The latencies may involve different neuropsychological functions depending on the time from test initiation, i.e., first orientation, learning and habituation, then cognitive processing and focused attention, and finally sustained attention as the dominant demand. Prenatal methylmercury exposure is associated with increased reaction time (RT) latencies. We therefore examined the association of methylmercury exposure with the average HRT at age 14 years at three different time intervals after test initiation. A total of 878 adolescents (87% of birth cohort members) completed the CPT. The RT latencies were recorded for 10 minutes, with visual targets presented at 1000 ms intervals. After confounder adjustment, regression coefficients showed that CPT-RT outcomes differed in their associations with exposure biomarkers of prenatal methylmercury exposure: During the first two minutes, the average HRT was weakly associated with methylmercury (beta (SE) for a ten-fold increase in exposure, (3.41 (2.06)), was strongly for the 3-to-6 minute interval (6.10 (2.18)), and the strongest during 7\u201310 minutes after test initiation (7.64 (2.39)). This pattern was unchanged when simple reaction time and finger tapping speed were included in the models as covariates. Postnatal methylmercury exposures did not affect the outcomes. Thus, these findings suggest that sustained attention as a neuropsychological domain is particularly vulnerable to developmental methylmercury exposure, indicating probable underlying dysfunction of the frontal lobes. When using CPT data as a possible measure of neurotoxicity, test results should therefore be analyzed in regard to time from test initiation and not as overall average reaction times."}
{"id": "MED-330", "text": "Excessive dietary phosphorus may increase cardiovascular risk in healthy individuals as well as in patients with chronic kidney disease, but the mechanisms underlying this risk are not completely understood. To determine whether postprandial hyperphosphatemia may promote endothelial dysfunction, we investigated the acute effect of phosphorus loading on endothelial function in vitro and in vivo. Exposing bovine aortic endothelial cells to a phosphorus load increased production of reactive oxygen species, which depended on phosphorus influx via sodium-dependent phosphate transporters, and decreased nitric oxide production via inhibitory phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Phosphorus loading inhibited endothelium-dependent vasodilation of rat aortic rings. In 11 healthy men, we alternately served meals containing 400 mg or 1200 mg of phosphorus in a double-blind crossover study and measured flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery before and 2 h after the meals. The high dietary phosphorus load increased serum phosphorus at 2 h and significantly decreased flow-mediated dilation. Flow-mediated dilation correlated inversely with serum phosphorus. Taken together, these findings suggest that endothelial dysfunction mediated by acute postprandial hyperphosphatemia may contribute to the relationship between serum phosphorus level and the risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality."}
{"id": "MED-332", "text": "This review explores the potential adverse impact of the increasing phosphorus content in the American diet on renal, cardiovascular, and bone health of the general population. Increasingly, studies show that phosphorus intakes in excess of the nutrient needs of a healthy population may significantly disrupt the hormonal regulation of phosphate, calcium, and vitamin D, which contributes to disordered mineral metabolism, vascular calcification, impaired kidney function, and bone loss. Moreover, large epidemiologic studies suggest that mild elevations of serum phosphate within the normal range are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in healthy populations without evidence of kidney disease. However, few studies linked high dietary phosphorus intake to mild changes in serum phosphate because of the nature of the study design and inaccuracies in the nutrient composition databases. Although phosphorus is an essential nutrient, in excess it could be linked to tissue damage by a variety of mechanisms involved in the endocrine regulation of extracellular phosphate, specifically the secretion and action of fibroblast growth factor 23 and parathyroid hormone. Disordered regulation of these hormones by high dietary phosphorus may be key factors contributing to renal failure, CVD, and osteoporosis. Although systematically underestimated in national surveys, phosphorus intake seemingly continues to increase as a result of the growing consumption of highly processed foods, especially restaurant meals, fast foods, and convenience foods. The increased cumulative use of ingredients containing phosphorus in food processing merits further study given what is now being shown about the potential toxicity of phosphorus intake when it exceeds nutrient needs."}
{"id": "MED-334", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Among plant foods, grain products, legumes, and seeds are important sources of phosphorus (P). Current data on P content and absorbability of P from these foods are lacking. Measurement of in\u00a0vitro digestible P (DP) content of foods may reflect absorbability of P. The objective of this study was to measure both total phosphorus (TP) and DP contents of selected foods and to compare the amounts of TP and DP and the proportion of DP to TP among different foods. METHODS: TP and DP content of 21 foods and drinks of plant origin were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. In DP analysis, samples were digested enzymatically in principle in the same way as in the alimentary canal before P analyses. The most popular national brands were chosen for analysis. RESULTS: The highest amount of TP (667 mg/100 g) was found in sesame seeds with hull, which also had the lowest percentage of DP (6%) to TP. Instead, in cola drinks and beer, the percentage of DP to TP was 87 to 100% (13 to 22 mg/100 g). In cereal products, the highest TP content (216 mg/100 g) and DP proportion (100%) were present in industrial muffins, which contain sodium phosphate as a leavening agent. Legumes contained an average DP content of 83 mg/100 g (38% of TP). CONCLUSION: Absorbability of P may differ substantially among different plant foods. Despite high TP content, legumes may be a relatively poor P source. In foods containing phosphate additives, the proportion of DP is high, which supports previous conclusions of the effective absorbability of P from P additives. Copyright \u00a9 2012 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-335", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Meat and milk products are important sources of dietary phosphorus (P) and protein. The use of P additives is common both in processed cheese and meat products. Measurement of in\u00a0vitro digestible phosphorus (DP) content of foods may reflect absorbability of P. The objective of this study was to measure both total phosphorus (TP) and DP contents of selected meat and milk products and to compare amounts of TP and DP and the proportion of DP to TP among different foods. METHODS: TP and DP contents of 21 meat and milk products were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). In DP analysis, samples were digested enzymatically, in principle, in the same way as in the alimentary canal before the analyses. The most popular national brands of meat and milk products were chosen for analysis. RESULTS: The highest TP and DP contents were found in processed and hard cheeses; the lowest, in milk and cottage cheese. TP and DP contents in sausages and cold cuts were lower than those in cheeses. Chicken, pork, beef, and rainbow trout contained similar amounts of TP, but slightly more variation was found in their DP contents. CONCLUSIONS: Foods containing P additives have a high content of DP. Our study confirms that cottage cheese and unenhanced meats are better choices than processed or hard cheeses, sausages, and cold cuts for chronic kidney disease patients, based on their lower P-to-protein ratios and sodium contents. The results support previous findings of better P absorbability in foods of animal origin than in, for example, legumes. Copyright \u00a9 2012 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-398", "text": "Summary Grapefruit is a popular, tasty and nutritive fruit enjoyed globally. Biomedical evidence in the last 10 years has, however, shown that consumption of grapefruit or its juice is associated with drug interactions, which, in some cases, have been fatal. Grapefruit-induced drug interactions are unique in that the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP3A4, which metabolises over 60% of commonly prescribed drugs as well as other drug transporter proteins such as P-glycoprotein and organic cation transporter proteins, which are all expressed in the intestines, are involved. However, the extent to which grapefruit\u2013drug interactions impact on clinical settings has not been fully determined, probably because many cases are not reported. It has recently emerged that grapefruit, by virtue of its rich flavonoid content, is beneficial in the management of degenerative diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. This potentially explosive subject is reviewed here."}
{"id": "MED-557", "text": "Dysmenorrhea is the leading cause of recurrent short-term school absence in adolescent girls and a common problem in women of reproductive age. Risk factors for dysmenorrhea include nulliparity, heavy menstrual flow, smoking, and depression. Empiric therapy can be initiated based on a typical history of painful menses and a negative physical examination. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the initial therapy of choice in patients with presumptive primary dysmenorrhea. Oral contraceptives and depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate also may be considered. If pain relief is insufficient, prolonged-cycle oral contraceptives or intravaginal use of oral contraceptive pills can be considered. In women who do not desire hormonal contraception, there is some evidence of benefit with the use of topical heat; the Japanese herbal remedy toki-shakuyaku-san; thiamine, vitamin E, and fish oil supplements; a low-fat vegetarian diet; and acupressure. If dysmenorrhea remains uncontrolled with any of these approaches, pelvic ultrasonography should be performed and referral for laparoscopy should be considered to rule out secondary causes of dysmenorrhea. In patients with severe refractory primary dysmenorrhea, additional safe alternatives for women who want to conceive include transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, acupuncture, nifedipine, and terbutaline. Otherwise, the use of danazol or leuprolide may be considered and, rarely, hysterectomy. The effectiveness of surgical interruption of the pelvic nerve pathways has not been established."}
{"id": "MED-666", "text": "Breast pain is a common condition affecting most women at some stage in their reproductive life. Mastalgia is resistant to treatment in 6% of cyclical and 26% non-cyclical patients. Surgery is not widely used to treat this condition and only considered in patients with severe mastalgia resistant to medication. The aims of this study were to audit the efficacy of surgery in severe treatment resistant mastalgia and to assess patient satisfaction following surgery. This is a retrospective review of the medical records of all patients seen in mastalgia clinic in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff since 1973. A postal questionnaire was distributed to all patients who had undergone surgery. Results showed that of the 1054 patients seen in mastalgia clinic, 12 (1.2%) had undergone surgery. Surgery included 8 subcutaneous mastectomies with implants (3 bilateral, 5 unilateral), 1 bilateral simple mastectomy and 3 quadrantectomies (1 having a further simple mastectomy). The median duration of symptoms was 6.5 years (range 2-16 years). Five patients (50%) were pain free following surgery, 3 developed capsular contractures and 2 wound infections with dehiscence. Pain persisted in both patients undergoing quadrantectomy. We conclude that surgery for mastalgia should only be considered in a minority of patients. Patients should be informed of possible complications inherent of reconstructive surgery and warned that in 50% cases their pain will not be improved."}
{"id": "MED-691", "text": "Nausea and vomiting are physiological processes experienced by every human being at some stage of their life. They are complex protective mechanisms and the symptoms are influenced by the emetogenic response and stimuli. However, when these symptoms recur frequently, they can significantly reduce the quality of life and can also be detrimental to health. The existing antiemetic agents are ineffective against certain stimuli, are expensive, and possess side effects. Herbal medicines have been shown to be effective antiemetics, and among the various plants studied, the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, commonly known as ginger, has been used as a broad-spectrum antiemetic in the various traditional systems of medicine for over 2000\u00a0years. Various preclinical and clinical studies have shown ginger to possess antiemetic effects against different emetogenic stimuli. However, conflicting reports especially in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and motion sickness prevent us from drawing any firm conclusion. The current review for the first time summarizes the results. An attempt is also made to address the lacunae in these published studies and emphasize aspects that need further investigations for it to be of use in clinics in the future."}
{"id": "MED-692", "text": "BACKGROUND: Ginger has been used throughout the world as a therapeutic agent for centuries. The herb is increasingly used in Western society also, with one of the most common indications being pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting (PNV). OBJECTIVES: To examine the evidence for the safety and effectiveness of ginger for PNV. METHODS: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of ginger and PNV were sourced from CINAHL, the Cochrane library, MEDLINE and TRIP. The methodological quality of RCTs was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool. RESULTS: Four RCTs met the inclusion criteria. All trials found orally administered ginger to be significantly more effective than placebo in reducing the frequency of vomiting and intensity of nausea. Adverse events were generally mild and infrequent. CONCLUSION: The best available evidence suggests that ginger is a safe and effective treatment for PNV. However, there remains uncertainty regarding the maximum safe dosage of ginger, appropriate duration of treatment, consequences of over-dosage, and potential drug-herb interactions; all of which are important areas for future research. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-702", "text": "AIM OF THE REVIEW: To systematically analyze the efficacy and safety of liraglutide for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in comparison to other mono- and combination therapies. METHOD: PubMed (any date) and EMBASE (all years) search was conducted with liraglutide as a search term. Phase III clinical trials retrieved by the two databases and resources posted in Drug@FDA website were evaluated with regard to outcomes of efficacy and safety. RESULTS: Eight Phase III clinical studies compared the efficacy and safety of liraglutide to other monotherapies or combinations. Liraglutide as monotherapy in doses of 0.9 mg or above showed a significantly superior reduction in HbA1C compared to monotherapies with glimepiride or glyburide. When liraglutide was used as add-on therapy to glimepiride in doses of 1.2 mg or above, the reduction of HbA1C was greater than that in the combination therapy of glimepiride and rosiglitazone. However, liraglutide as add-on therapy to metformin failed to show benefit over combination of metformin and glimepiride. Triple therapy of using liraglutide in addition to metformin plus either glimepiride or rosiglitazone resulted in additional benefit in HbA1C reduction. Most common adverse events were gastrointestinal disturbance such as nausea, vomit, diarrhea, and constipation. During the eight clinical studies, six cases of pancreatitis and five cases of cancer were reported in liraglutide arm, whereas there was one case of each of pancreatitis in exenatide and glimepiride arms, respectively, and one case of cancer in metformin plus sitagliptin arm. CONCLUSION: Liraglutide is a new therapeutic option to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the present lack of evidence of durability of efficacy and long-term safety appear to limit its utility in the general treatment of type 2 diabetes at this time."}
{"id": "MED-707", "text": "AIM OF THE STUDY: The Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) was investigated for its uricosuric effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A human model with nine subjects with no history of renal stones (non-renal stone, NS) and nine with a history of renal stones (RS) was used in this study. A cup of tea made from 1.5 g of dry Roselle calyces was provided to subjects twice daily (morning and evening) for 15 days. A clotted blood and two consecutive 24-h urine samples were collected from each subject three times: (1) at baseline (control); (2) on days 14 and 15 during the tea drinking period; and (3) 15 days after the tea drinking was stopped (washout). Serum and 24-h urinary samples were analyzed for uric acid and other chemical compositions related to urinary stone risk factors. RESULTS: All analyzed serum parameters were within normal ranges and similar; between the two groups of subjects and among the three periods. Vis-\u00e0-vis the urinary parameters, most of the baseline values for both groups were similar. After taking the tea, the trend was an increase in oxalate and citrate in both groups and uric acid excretion and clearance in the NS group. In the RS group, both uric acid excretion and clearance were significantly increased (p<0.01). When the fractional excretion of uric acid (FEUa) was calculated, the values were clearly increased in both the NS and SF groups after the intake of tea and returned to baseline values in the washout period. These changes were more clearly observed when the data for each subject was presented individually. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate a uricosuric effect of Roselle calyces. Since the various chemical constituents in Roselle calyces have been identified, the one(s) exerting this uricosuric effect need to be identified."}
{"id": "MED-708", "text": "Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAA) are carcinogenic compounds found in the crust of fried meat. The objective was to examine the possibility of inhibiting HAA formation in fried beef patties by using marinades with different concentrations of hibiscus extract (Hibiscus sabdariffa) (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 g/100g). After frying, patties were analyzed for 15 different HAA by HPLC-analysis. Four HAA MeIQx (0.3-0.6 ng/g), PhIP (0.02-0.06 ng/g), co-mutagenic norharmane (0.4-0.7 ng/g), and harmane (0.8-1.1 ng/g) were found at low levels. The concentration of MeIQx was reduced by about 50% and 40% by applying marinades containing the highest amount of extract compared to sunflower oil and control marinade, respectively. The antioxidant capacity (TEAC-Assay/Folin-Ciocalteu-Assay) was determined as 0.9, 1.7, 2.6 and 3.5 micromol Trolox antioxidant equivalents and total phenolic compounds were 49, 97, 146 and 195 microg/g marinade. In sensory ranking tests, marinated and fried patties were not significantly different (p>0.05) to control samples. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-709", "text": "The sub-chronic effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS) calyx aqueous extract on the rat testes was investigated with a view to evaluate the pharmacological basis for the use of HS calyx extract as an aphrodisiac. Three test groups received different doses of 1.15, 2.30, and 4.60 g/kg based on the LD(50). The extracts were dissolved in the drinking water. The control group was given equivalent volume of water only. The animals were allowed free access to drinking solution during the 12-week period of exposure. At the expiration of the treatment period, animals were sacrificed, testes excised and weighed, and epididymal sperm number recorded. The testes were processed for histological examination. Results did not show any significant (P>0.05) change in the absolute and relative testicular weights. There was, however, a significant (P<0.05) decrease in the epididymal sperm counts in the 4.6 g/kg group, compared to the control. The 1.15 g/kg dose group showed distortion of tubules and a disruption of normal epithelial organization, while the 2.3 g/kg dose showed hyperplasia of testis with thickening of the basement membrane. The 4.6 g/kg dose group, on the other hand, showed disintegration of sperm cells. The results indicate that aqueous HS calyx extract induces testicular toxicity in rats."}
{"id": "MED-712", "text": "Hibiscus sabdariffa Linne is a traditional Chinese rose tea and has been effectively used in folk medicines for treatment of hypertension, inflammatory conditions. H. sabdariffa aqueous extracts (HSE) were prepared from the dried flowers of H. sabdariffa L., which are rich in phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins. In this review, we discuss the chemopreventive properties and possible mechanisms of various H. sabdariffa extracts. It has been demonstrated that HSE, H. sabdariffa polyphenol-rich extracts (HPE), H. sabdariffa anthocyanins (HAs), and H. sabdariffa protocatechuic acid (PCA) exert many biologic effects. PCA and HAs protected against oxidative damage induced by tert-butyl droperoxide (t-BHP) in rat primary hepatocytes. In rabbits fed cholesterol and human experimental studies, these studies imply HSE could be pursued as atherosclerosis chemopreventive agents as they inhibit LDL oxidation, foam cell formation, as well as smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation. The extracts also offer hepatoprotection by influencing the levels of lipid peroxidation products and liver marker enzymes in experimental hyperammonemia. PCA has also been shown to inhibit the carcinogenic action of various chemicals in different tissues of the rat. HAs and HPE were demonstrated to cause cancer cell apoptosis, especially in leukemia and gastric cancer. More recent studies investigated the protective effect of HSE and HPE in streptozotocin induced diabetic nephropathy. From all these studies, it is clear that various H. sabdariffa extracts exhibit activities against atherosclerosis, liver disease, cancer, diabetes and other metabolic syndromes. These results indicate that naturally occurring agents such as the bioactive compounds in H. sabdariffa could be developed as potent chemopreventive agents and natural healthy foods."}
{"id": "MED-713", "text": "The effect of beverages prepared from the dried calyx of the flowers of Hibiscus sabdariffa on the excretion of diclofenac was investigated using a controlled study in healthy human volunteers. A high pressure liquid chromatographic method was used to analyse the 8 h urine samples collected after the administration of diclofenac with 300 mL (equivalent to 8.18 mg anthocyanins) of the beverage administered daily for 3 days. An unpaired two-tailed t-test was used to analyse for significant difference observed in the amount of diclofenac excreted before and after administration of the beverage. There was a reduction in the amount of diclofenac excreted and the wide variability observed in the control with the water beverage of Hibiscus sabdariffa (p < 0.05). There is an increasing need to counsel patients against the use of plant beverages with drugs."}
{"id": "MED-716", "text": "Throughout evolution sunlight produced vitamin D in the skin has been critically important for health. Vitamin D, known as the sunshine vitamin, is actually a hormone. Once it is produced in the skin or ingested from the diet it is converted sequentially in the liver and kidneys to its biologically active form 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. This hormone interacts with its receptor in the small intestine to increase the efficiency of intestinal calcium and phosphate absorption for the maintenance of the skeleton throughout life. Vitamin D deficiency during the first few years of life results in a flattened pelvis making it difficult for childbirth. Vitamin D deficiency causes osteopenia and osteoporosis increasing risk of fracture. Essentially every tissue and cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor. Therefore vitamin D deficiency has been linked to increased risk for preeclampsia, requiring a Cesarean section for birthing, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, type II diabetes, heart disease, dementia, deadly cancers and infectious diseases. Therefore sensible sun exposure along with vitamin D supplementation of at least 2000 IU/d for adults and 1000 IU/d for children is essential to maximize their health."}
{"id": "MED-718", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the relation of gas passage and abdominal bloating to the production of gas in the colon. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, crossover study of gaseous symptoms during a 1-week period. SETTING: A Veterans Affairs medical center. PARTICIPANTS: 25 healthy medical center employees. INTERVENTION: Participants' diets were supplemented with either a placebo (10 g of lactulose, a nonabsorbable sugar), psyllium (a fermentable fiber), or methylcellulose (a nonfermentable fiber). MEASUREMENTS: All participants were polled for gaseous symptoms (including number of gas passages, impression of increased rectal gas, and abdominal bloating), and five were examined for breath hydrogen excretion. RESULTS: Participants passed gas 10 +/- 5.0 times per day (mean +/- SD) during the placebo period. A significant increase in gas passages (to 19 +/- 12 times per day) and a subjective impression of increased rectal gas were reported with lactulose but not with either of the two fiber preparations. Breath hydrogen excretion, an indicator of hydrogen production in the colon, did not increase after ingestion of either of the fibers. However, a statistically significant (P < 0.05) increase in feelings of abdominal bloating (which the participants perceived as excessive gas in the bowel) was reported with both fiber preparations and with lactulose. CONCLUSIONS: The physician should distinguish between excessive gas (which indicates excessive gas production) and feelings of bloating (which are usually unrelated to excessive gas production). Treatment of the former consists of limiting the supply of fermentable material to the colonic bacteria. Symptoms of bloating usually indicate the irritable bowel syndrome, and therapy should be directed accordingly."}
{"id": "MED-719", "text": "In addition to causing embarrassment and unease, flatulence is linked to a variety of symptoms, some of which may be distressing. This review describes the origins of intestinal gas, its composition and methods which have been developed for its analysis. Emphasis is placed upon the effects of legumes in the diet in producing excessive intestinal gas and, particularly, on the role of raffinose-type oligosaccharides, containing alpha-galactosidic groupings. Suggestions for overcoming the problem are presented, including drug treatment, enzyme treatment, food processing and plant breeding. It is emphasised that removal of all raffinose-oligosaccharides from beans does not remove the problem of flatulence in animals and man; the compounds responsible--though assumed to be polysaccharides (or polysaccharide-derived oligomers formed by processing or cooking)--have yet to be characterised."}
{"id": "MED-720", "text": "Bloating, abdominal distention, and flatulence represent very frequent complaints in functional disorders but their pathophysiology and treatment are largely unknown. Patients frequently associate these symptoms with excessive intestinal gas and the reduction of gas production may represent an effective strategy. The aim was to evaluate the effect of alpha-galactosidase administration, in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled protocol, on intestinal gas production and gas-related symptoms after a challenge test meal in healthy volunteers. Eight healthy volunteers ingested 300 or 1200 GalU of alpha-galactosidase or placebo during a test meal containing 420 g of cooked beans. Breath hydrogen excretion and occurrence of bloating, abdominal pain, discomfort, flatulence, and diarrhea were measured for 8 hr. The administration of 1200 GalU of alpha-galactosidase induced a significant reduction of both breath hydrogen excretion and severity of flatulence. A reduction in severity was apparent for all considered symptoms, but both 300 and 1200 GalU induced a significant reduction in the total symptom score. Alpha-galactosidase reduced gas production following a meal rich in fermentable carbohydrates and may be helpful in patients with gas-related symptoms."}
{"id": "MED-724", "text": "In addition to causing embarrassment and unease, flatulence is linked to a variety of symptoms, some of which may be distressing. This review describes the origins of intestinal gas, its composition and methods which have been developed for its analysis. Emphasis is placed upon the effects of legumes in the diet in producing excessive intestinal gas and, particularly, on the role of raffinose-type oligosaccharides, containing alpha-galactosidic groupings. Suggestions for overcoming the problem are presented, including drug treatment, enzyme treatment, food processing and plant breeding. It is emphasised that removal of all raffinose-oligosaccharides from beans does not remove the problem of flatulence in animals and man; the compounds responsible--though assumed to be polysaccharides (or polysaccharide-derived oligomers formed by processing or cooking)--have yet to be characterised."}
{"id": "MED-726", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The relationship between lipid profiles and Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology at the population level is unclear. We searched for evidence of AD-related pathologic risk of abnormal lipid metabolism. METHODS: This study included brain specimens from a series of 147 autopsies performed between 1998 and 2003 of residents in Hisayama town, Japan (76 men and 71 women), who underwent clinical examinations in 1988. Lipid profiles, such as total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), were measured in 1988. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) was calculated using the Friedewald formula. Neuritic plaques (NPs) were assessed according to the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease guidelines (CERAD) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) were assessed according to Braak stage. Associations between each lipid profile and AD pathology were examined by analysis of covariance and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Adjusted means of TC, LDLC, TC/HDLC, LDLC/HDLC, and non-HDLC (defined as TC-HDLC) were significantly higher in subjects with NPs, even in sparse to moderate stages (CERAD = 1 or 2), compared to subjects without NPs in multivariate models including APOE \u03b54 carrier and other confounding factors. The subjects in the highest quartiles of these lipid profiles had significantly higher risks of NPs compared to subjects in the lower respective quartiles, which may suggest a threshold effect. Conversely, there was no relationship between any lipid profile and NFTs. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that dyslipidemia increases the risk of plaque-type pathology."}
{"id": "MED-727", "text": "BACKGROUND: The content and context of family practice outpatient visits have never been fully described, leaving many aspects of family practice in a \"black box,\" unseen by policymakers and understood only in isolation. This article describes community family practices, physicians, patients, and outpatient visits. METHODS: Practicing family physicians in northeast Ohio were invited to participate in a multimethod study of the content of primary care practice. Research nurses directly observed consecutive patient visits, and collected additional data using medical record reviews, patient and physician questionnaires, billing data, practice environment checklists, and ethnographic fieldnotes. RESULTS: Visits by 4454 patients seeing 138 physicians in 84 practices were observed. Outpatient visits to family physicians encompassed a wide variety of patients, problems, and levels of complexity. The average patient paid 4.3 visits to the practice within the past year. The mean visit duration was 10 minutes. Fifty-eight percent of visits were for acute illness, 24% for chronic illness, and 12% for well care. The most common uses of time were history-taking, planning treatment, physical examination, health education, feedback, family information, chatting, structuring the interaction, and patient questions. CONCLUSIONS: Family practice and patient visits are complex, with competing demands and opportunities to address a wide range of problems of individuals and families over time and at various stages of health and illness. Multimethod research in practice settings can identify ways to enhance the competing opportunities of family practice to improve the health of their patients."}
{"id": "MED-728", "text": "In a 1995 pivotal study, Kushner described the attitudes, practice behaviors, and barriers to the delivery of nutrition counseling by primary care physicians. This article recognized nutrition and dietary counseling as key components in the delivery of preventive services by primary care physicians. Kushner called for a multifaceted approach to change physicians' counseling practices. The prevailing belief today is that little has changed. Healthy People 2010 and the U.S. Preventive Task Force identify the need for physicians to address nutrition with patients. The 2010 objective was to increase to 75% the proportion of office visits that included ordering or providing diet counseling for patients with a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or hypertension. At the midcourse review, the proportion actually declined from 42% to 40%. Primary care physicians continue to believe that providing nutrition counseling is within their realm of responsibility. Yet the gap remains between the proportion of patients who physicians believe would benefit from nutrition counseling and those who receive it from their primary care physician or are referred to dietitians and other healthcare professionals. The barriers cited in recent years continue to be those listed by Kushner: lack of time and compensation and, to a lesser extent, lack of knowledge and resources. The 2010 Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation and First Lady Obama's \"Let's Move Campaign\" spotlight the need for counseling adults and children on diet and physical activity."}
{"id": "MED-729", "text": "During the slaughter process, cattle carcasses are split by sawing centrally down the vertebral column, resulting in contamination of each half with spinal cord material. Using a novel method based on a real-time PCR assay, we measured saw-mediated tissue transfer among carcasses. Up to 2.5% of the tissue recovered from each of the five subsequent carcasses by swabbing the split vertebral face came from the first carcass to be split; approximately 9 mg was spinal cord tissue. Under controlled conditions in an experimental abattoir, between 23 and 135 g of tissue accumulated in the saw after splitting five to eight carcasses. Of the total tissue recovered, between 10 and 15% originated from the first carcass, and between 7 and 61 mg was spinal cord tissue from the first carcass. At commercial plants in the United Kingdom, between 6 and 101 g of tissue was recovered from the saw, depending on the particular saw-washing procedure and number of carcasses processed. Therefore, if a carcass infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy were to enter the slaughter line, the main risk of subsequent carcass contamination would come from the tissue debris that accumulates in the splitting saw. This work highlights the importance of effective saw cleaning and indicates that design modifications are required to minimize the accumulation of spinal cord tissue debris and, hence, the risk of cross-contamination of carcasses."}
{"id": "MED-730", "text": "The world-wide increase of antimicrobial resistance in micro-organisms complicates medical treatment of infected humans. We did a risk-factor analysis for the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter coli on 64 Swiss pig finishing farms. Between May and November 2001, 20 faecal samples per farm were collected from the floor of pens holding finishing pigs shortly before slaughter. Samples were pooled and cultured for Campylobacter species. Isolated Campylobacter strains were tested for resistance against selected antimicrobials. Additionally, information on herd health and management aspects was available from another study. Because data quality on the history of antimicrobial use on the farms was poor, only non-antimicrobial risk factors could be analysed. Statistical analyses were performed for resistance against ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and for multiple resistance, which was defined as resistance to three or more antimicrobials. Risk factors for these outcomes--corrected for dependency of samples at herd level--were analysed in five generalised estimation-equation models. Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among Campylobacter isolates was ciprofloxacin 26.1%, erythromycin 19.2%, streptomycin 78.0%, tetracycline 9.4%, and multiple resistance 6.5%. Important risk factors contributing to the prevalence of resistant strains were shortened tails, lameness, skin lesions, feed without whey, and ad libitum feeding. Multiple resistance was more likely in farms which only partially used an all-in-all-out system (OR = 37), or a continuous-flow system (OR = 3) compared to a strict all-in-all-out animal-flow. Presence of lameness (OR = 25), ill-thrift (OR = 15), and scratches at the shoulder (OR = 5) in the herd also increased the odds for multiple resistance. This study showed that on finishing farms which maintained a good herd health status and optimal farm management, the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was also more favourable."}
{"id": "MED-731", "text": "Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection caused by Bacillus anthracis. Humans become infected under natural conditions by contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. About 95% of human anthrax is cutaneous and 5% respiratory. Gastrointestinal anthrax is very rare, and has been reported in less than 1% of all cases. Anthrax meningitis is a rare complication of any of the other three forms of disease. We report three rare cases of anthrax (gastrointestinal, oropharyngeal and meningitis) arising from the same source. The three patients were from a single family and were admitted with different clinical pictures after the ingestion of half-cooked meat from a sick sheep. These cases emphasize the need for awareness of anthrax in the differential diagnosis in areas where the disease remains endemic."}
{"id": "MED-732", "text": "Sponge samples were taken from the carcases, meat, personnel and surfaces involved in stunning, slaughter and dressing/boning activities at three abattoirs, and from retail beef products. The samples were examined for the presence of central nervous system (CNS)-specific proteins (syntaxin 1B and/or glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), as indicators of contamination with CNS tissue. Syntaxin 1B and GFAP were detected in many of the sponge samples taken along the slaughter line and in the chill rooms of all three abattoirs; GFAP was also detected in one sample of longissimus muscle (striploin) taken in the boning hall of one of the abattoirs but not in the other two abattoirs or in retail meats."}
{"id": "MED-743", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate herbal medicines, other than St. John's wort, in the treatment of depression. DATA SOURCES/SEARCH METHODS: A computer-based search of Medline, Cinahl, AMED, ALT Health Watch, Psych Articles, Psych Info, Current Contents databases, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, was performed. Researchers were contacted, and bibliographies of relevant papers and previous meta-analysis were hand searched for additional references. REVIEW METHODS: Trials were included in the review if they were prospective human trials assessing herbal medicines, other than St. John's wort, in the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression and utilized validated instruments to assess participant eligibility and clinical endpoints. RESULTS: Nine trials were identified that met all eligibility requirements. Three studies investigated saffron stigma, two investigated saffron petal, and one compared saffron stigma to the petal. Individual trials investigating lavender, Echium, and Rhodiola were also located. DISCUSSION: Results of the trials are discussed. Saffron stigma was found to be significantly more effective than placebo and equally as efficacious as fluoxetine and imipramine. Saffron petal was significantly more effective than placebo and was found to be equally efficacious compared to fluoxetine and saffron stigma. Lavender was found to be less effective than imipramine, but the combination of lavender and imipramine was significantly more effective than imipramine alone. When compared to placebo, Echium was found to significantly decrease depression scores at week 4, but not week 6. Rhodiola was also found to significantly improve depressive symptoms when compared to placebo. CONCLUSION: A number of herbal medicines show promise in the management of mild-to-moderate depression."}
{"id": "MED-744", "text": "This paper presents a new interpretation of a unique Bronze Age (c. 3000-1100 BCE) Aegean wall painting in the building of Xeste 3 at Akrotiri,Thera. Crocus carturightianus and its active principle, saffron, are the primary subjects at Xeste 3. Several lines of evidence suggest that the meaning of these frescoes concerns saffron and healing: (1) the unusual degree of visual attention given to the crocus, including the variety of methods for display of the stigmas; (2) the painted depiction of the line of saffron production from plucking blooms to the collection of stigmas; and (3) the sheer number (ninety) of medical indications for which saffron has been used from the Bronze Age to the present. The Xeste 3 frescoes appear to portray a divinity of healing associated with her phytotherapy, saffron. Cultural and commercial interconnections between the Therans, the Aegean world, and their neighboring civilizations in the early 2nd millennium BCE indicate a close network of thematic exchange, but there is no evidence that Akrotiri borrowed any of these medicinal (or iconographic) representations. The complex production line, the monumental illustration of a goddess of medicine with her saffron attribute, and this earliest botanically accurate image of an herbal medication are all Theran innovations."}
{"id": "MED-745", "text": "The double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) is accepted by medicine as objective scientific methodology that, when ideally performed, produces knowledge untainted by bias. The validity of the RCT rests not just on theoretical arguments, but also on the discrepancy between the RCT and less rigorous evidence (the difference is sometimes considered an objective measure of bias). A brief overview of historical and recent developments in \"the discrepancy argument\" is presented. The article then examines the possibility that some of this \"deviation from truth\" may be the result of artifacts introduced by the masked RCT itself. Can an \"unbiased\" method produce bias? Among the experiments examined are those that augment the methodological stringency of a normal RCT in order to render the experiment less susceptible to subversion by the mind. This methodology, a hypothetical \"platinum\" standard, can be used to judge the \"gold\" standard. The concealment in a placebo-controlled RCT seems capable of generating a \"masking bias.\" Other potential biases, such as \"investigator self-selection,\" \"preference,\" and \"consent\" are also briefly discussed. Such potential distortions indicate that the double-blind RCT may not be objective in the realist sense, but rather is objective in a \"softer\" disciplinary sense. Some \"facts\" may not exist independent of the apparatus of their production."}
{"id": "MED-746", "text": "In this study, the effect of Crocus sativus (saffron) was studied on male erectile dysfunction (ED). Twenty male patients with ED were followed for ten days in which each morning they took a tablet containing 200mg of saffron. Patients underwent the nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) test and the international index of erectile function questionnaire (IIEF-15) at the start of the treatment and at the end of the ten days. After the ten days of taking saffron there was a statistically significant improvement in tip rigidity and tip tumescence as well as base rigidity and base tumescence. ILEF-15 total scores were significantly higher in patients after saffron treatment (before treatment 22.15+/-1.44; after treatment 39.20+/-1.90, p<0.001). Saffron showed a positive effect on sexual function with increased number and duration of erectile events seen in patients with ED even only after taking it for ten days."}
{"id": "MED-753", "text": "Background Based on the hypothesized protective effect, we examined the effect of soy foods on estrogens in nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) and serum, possible indicators of breast cancer risk. Methods In a cross-over design, we randomized 96 women who produced \u226510 \u03bcL NAF to a high- or low-soy diet for 6-months. During the high-soy diet, participants consumed 2 soy servings of soy milk, tofu, or soy nuts (approximately 50 mg of isoflavones/day); during the low-soy diet, they maintained their usual diet. Six NAF samples were obtained using a FirstCyte\u00a9 Aspirator. Estradiol (E2) and estrone sulfate (E1S) were assessed in NAF and estrone (E1) in serum only using highly sensitive radioimmunoassays. Mixed-effects regression models accounting for repeated measures and left-censoring limits were applied. Results Mean E2 and E1S were lower during the high-soy than the low-soy diet (113 vs. 313 pg/mL and 46 vs. 68 ng/mL, respectively) without reaching significance (p=0.07); the interaction between group and diet and was not significant. There was no effect of the soy treatment on serum E2 (p=0.76), E1 (p=0.86), or E1S (p=0.56). Within individuals, NAF and serum levels of E2 (rs=0.37; p<0.001) but not E1S (rs=0.004; p=0.97) were correlated. E2 and E1S in NAF and serum were strongly associated (rs=0.78 and rs=0.48; p<0.001). Conclusions Soy foods in amounts consumed by Asians did not significantly modify estrogen levels in NAF and serum. Impact The trend towards lower estrogens in NAF during the high-soy diet counters concerns about adverse effects of soy foods on breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-754", "text": "CONTEXT: Combining foods with recognized cholesterol-lowering properties (dietary portfolio) has proven highly effective in lowering serum cholesterol under metabolically controlled conditions. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a dietary portfolio administered at 2 levels of intensity on percentage change in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) among participants following self-selected diets. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A parallel-design study of 351 participants with hyperlipidemia from 4 participating academic centers across Canada (Quebec City, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver) randomized between June 25, 2007, and February 19, 2009, to 1 of 3 treatments lasting 6 months. INTERVENTION: Participants received dietary advice for 6 months on either a low-saturated fat therapeutic diet (control) or a dietary portfolio, for which counseling was delivered at different frequencies, that emphasized dietary incorporation of plant sterols, soy protein, viscous fibers, and nuts. Routine dietary portfolio involved 2 clinic visits over 6 months and intensive dietary portfolio involved 7 clinic visits over 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Percentage change in serum LDL-C. RESULTS: In the modified intention-to-treat analysis of 345 participants, the overall attrition rate was not significantly different between treatments (18% for intensive dietary portfolio, 23% for routine dietary portfolio, and 26% for control; Fisher exact test, P = .33). The LDL-C reductions from an overall mean of 171 mg/dL (95% confidence interval [CI], 168-174 mg/dL) were -13.8% (95% CI, -17.2% to -10.3%; P < .001) or -26 mg/dL (95% CI, -31 to -21 mg/dL; P < .001) for the intensive dietary portfolio; -13.1% (95% CI, -16.7% to -9.5%; P < .001) or -24 mg/dL (95% CI, -30 to -19 mg/dL; P < .001) for the routine dietary portfolio; and -3.0% (95% CI, -6.1% to 0.1%; P = .06) or -8 mg/dL (95% CI, -13 to -3 mg/dL; P = .002) for the control diet. Percentage LDL-C reductions for each dietary portfolio were significantly more than the control diet (P < .001, respectively). The 2 dietary portfolio interventions did not differ significantly (P = .66). Among participants randomized to one of the dietary portfolio interventions, percentage reduction in LDL-C on the dietary portfolio was associated with dietary adherence (r = -0.34, n = 157, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Use of a dietary portfolio compared with the low-saturated fat dietary advice resulted in greater LDL-C lowering during 6 months of follow-up. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00438425."}
{"id": "MED-756", "text": "Recent evidences have highlighted an influence of micronutrients in the maintenance of telomere length (TL). In order to explore whether diet-related telomere shortening had any physiological relevance and was accompanied by significant damage in the genome, in the present study, TL was assessed by terminal restriction fragment (TRF) analysis in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 56 healthy subjects for which detailed information on dietary habits was available and data were compared \\with the incidence of nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs), a marker of chromosomal instability related to telomere dysfunction visualised with the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay. To increase the capability to detect even slight impairment of telomere function, the incidence of NPBs was also evaluated on cells exposed in vitro to ionising radiation. Care was taken to control for potential confounding factors that might influence TL, viz. age, hTERT genotype and smoking status. Data showed that higher consumption of vegetables was related with significantly higher mean TL (P = 0.013); in particular, the analysis of the association between micronutrients and mean TL highlighted a significant role of antioxidant intake, especially beta-carotene, on telomere maintenance (P = 0.004). However, the diet-related telomere shortening did not result in associated increased spontaneous or radiation-induced NPBs. The distribution of TRFs was also analysed and a slight prevalence of radiation-induced NPBs (P = 0.03) was observed in subjects with higher amount of very short TRFs (<2 kb). The relative incidence of very short TRFs was positively associate with ageing (P = 0.008) but unrelated to vegetables consumption and daily intake of micronutrients, suggesting that the degree of telomere erosion related with low dietary intake of antioxidants observed in this study was not so extensive to lead to chromosome instability."}
{"id": "MED-757", "text": "PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of adopting a healthy lifestyle (5 or more fruits and vegetables daily, regular exercise, BMI 18.5-29.9 kg/m2, no current smoking) in a middle-aged cohort, and determine the subsequent rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality among those who adopt a healthy lifestyle. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study in a diverse sample of adults age 45-64 in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities survey. Outcomes are all-cause mortality and fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular disease. RESULTS: Of 15,708 participants, 1344 (8.5%) had 4 healthy lifestyle habits at the first visit, and 970 (8.4%) of the remainder had newly adopted a healthy lifestyle 6 years later. Men, African Americans, individuals with lower socioeconomic status, or a history of hypertension or diabetes were less likely to newly adopt a healthy lifestyle (all P <.05). During the following 4 years, total mortality and cardiovascular disease events were lower for new adopters (2.5% vs 4.2%, chi2P <.01, and 11.7% vs 16.5%, chi2P <.01 respectively) compared to individuals who did not adopt a healthy lifestyle. After adjustment, new adopters had lower all-cause mortality (OR 0.60, 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 0.39-0.92) and fewer cardiovascular disease events (OR 0.65, 95% CI, 0.39-0.92) in the next 4 years. CONCLUSIONS: People who newly adopt a healthy lifestyle in middle-age experience a prompt benefit of lower rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Strategies to encourage adopting healthy lifestyles should be implemented, especially among people with hypertension, diabetes, or low socioeconomic status."}
{"id": "MED-758", "text": "Objectives. We examined the relationship between 4 low-risk behaviors\u2014never smoked, healthy diet, adequate physical activity, and moderate alcohol consumption\u2014and mortality in a representative sample of people in the United States. Methods. We used data from 16958 participants aged 17 years and older in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III Mortality Study from 1988 to 2006. Results. The number of low-risk behaviors was inversely related to the risk for mortality. Compared with participants who had no low-risk behaviors, those who had all 4 experienced reduced all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR]=0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.28, 0.49), mortality from malignant neoplasms (AHR=0.34; 95% CI=0.20, 0.56), major cardiovascular disease (AHR=0.35; 95% CI=0.24, 0.50), and other causes (AHR=0.43; 95% CI=0.25, 0.74). The rate advancement periods, representing the equivalent risk from a certain number of years of chronological age, for participants who had all 4 high-risk behaviors compared with those who had none were 11.1 years for all-cause mortality, 14.4 years for malignant neoplasms, 9.9 years for major cardiovascular disease, and 10.6 years for other causes. Conclusions. Low-risk lifestyle factors exert a powerful and beneficial effect on mortality."}
{"id": "MED-759", "text": "Smoking has been positively and fruit and vegetable intake has been negatively associated with cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women worldwide. However, a lower consumption of fruits and reduced serum carotenoids have been observed among smokers. It is not known whether the smoking effect on the risk of cervical neoplasia is modified by a low intake of fruits and vegetables. The present study examined the combined effects of tobacco smoking and diet using a validated FFQ and serum carotenoid and tocopherol levels on cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) risk in a hospital-based case-control study conducted in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, between 2003 and 2005. The sample comprised 231 incident, histologically confirmed cases of CIN3 and 453 controls. A low intake ( \u2264 39 g) of dark-green and deep-yellow vegetables and fruits without tobacco smoking had a lesser effect on CIN3 (OR 1\u00b714; 95 % CI 0\u00b749, 2\u00b765) than among smokers with higher intake ( \u2265 40 g; OR 1\u00b783; 95 % CI 0\u00b773, 4\u00b762) after adjusting for confounders. The OR for the joint exposure of tobacco smoking and low intake of vegetables and fruits was greater (3\u00b786; 95 % CI 1\u00b774, 8\u00b757; P for trend < 0\u00b7001) compared with non-smokers with higher intake after adjusting for confounding variables and human papillomavirus status. Similar results were observed for total fruit, serum total carotene (including \u03b2-, \u03b1- and \u03b3-carotene) and tocopherols. These findings suggest that the effect of nutritional factors on CIN3 is modified by smoking."}
{"id": "MED-761", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To determine the counseling practices of a group of internists in the areas of smoking, exercise, and alcohol and seat belt use, and to determine the associations among physicians' personal health habits and their counseling practices. DESIGN: A random stratified sample of members and fellows of the American College of Physicians in 21 regions selected to represent all areas of the United States. Because of the relatively small proportion of women in this group, they were oversampled. SETTING: Physicians' practices. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand three hundred and forty-nine internists (members or fellows of the College) returned questionnaires, for a response rate of 75%; 52% defined themselves as general internists. INTERVENTIONS: A questionnaire was used to obtain information on internists' use of cigarettes, alcohol, and seat belts and their level of physical activity. Data were obtained on the indications used for counseling and the aggressiveness of counseling about each of these four habits. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to compare the tendencies of internist subgroups both in using various indications for counseling and in the thoroughness of counseling. Generalists were more likely than specialists to counsel at least once all patients who were at risk and to be more aggressive in counseling. Ninety percent of respondents counseled all of their patients who smoked, but 64.5% never discussed the use of seat belts. Only 3.8% of these internists currently smoked cigarettes, 11.3% drank alcohol daily, 38.7% were extremely or quite active, and 87.3% used seat belts all or most of the time. Among men internists, for every habit except alcohol use, personal health practices were substantially associated with counseling patients; for example, nonsmoking internists were more likely to counsel smokers, and very physically active internists were more likely to counsel about exercise. Among women internists, being very physically active was associated with counseling more patients about exercise and alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The low level of self-reported counseling among these internists suggests that further emphasis on training in these skills is needed. The association between personal and professional practices suggests that medical schools and housestaff training programs should support health promotion activities for future internists."}
{"id": "MED-762", "text": "The Ethiopian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (EFELTP) is a comprehensive two-year competency-based training and service program designed to build sustainable public health expertise and capacity. Established in 2009, the program is a partnership between the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, Addis Ababa University School of Public Health, the Ethiopian Public Health Association and the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Residents of the program spend about 25% of their time undergoing didactic training and the 75% in the field working at program field bases established with the MOH and Regional Health Bureaus investigating disease outbreaks, improving disease surveillance, responding to public health emergencies, using health data to make recommendations and undertaking other field Epidemiology related activities on setting health policy. Residents from the first 2 cohorts of the program have conducted more than 42 outbreaks investigations, 27analyses of surveillance data, evaluations of 11 surveillance systems, had28oral and poster presentation abstracts accepted at 10 scientific conferences and submitted 8 manuscripts of which 2are already published. The EFELTP has provided valuable opportunities to improve epidemiology and laboratory capacity building in Ethiopia. While the program is relatively young, positive and significant impacts are assisting the country better detect and respond to epidemics and address diseases of major public health significance."}
{"id": "MED-818", "text": "Lepidium meyenii (Maca) is a plant that grows at over 4000 meters above sea level in the central Peruvian Andes. The hypocotyls of this plant are traditionally consumed for their nutritional and medicinal properties. The aim of this study was to determine the health status based on a health related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire (SF-20) and serum levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) in subjects that are maca consumers. For this, a cross-sectional study was designed to be performed in 50 subjects from Junin (4100 m): 27 subjects were maca consumers and 23 were non-consumers. The SF-20 survey is used to obtain a summary measure of health status. The stand up from a chair and sit down (SUCSD) test (to assess lower-extremity function), hemoglobin measurement, blood pressure, sexual hormone levels, serum IL-6 levels and the score of chronic mountain sickness (CMS) were evaluated. Testosterone/estradiol ratio (P\u226a0.05), IL-6 (P<0.05) and CMS score were lower, whereas the health status score was higher, in maca consumers when compared to non-consumers (P<0.01). A greater proportion of maca consumers successfully completed the SUCSD test compared to non-consumers (P<0.01), showing a significant association with lower values of serum IL-6 (P<0.05). In conclusion, consumption of maca was associated with low serum IL-6 levels and in turn with better health status scores in the SF-20 survey and low chronic mountain sickness scores."}
{"id": "MED-821", "text": "The aim of this randomized pilot was to assess the feasibility of a dietary intervention among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) comparing a vegan to a low-calorie (low-cal) diet. Overweight (body mass index, 39.9 \u00b1 6.1 kg/m(2)) women with PCOS (n = 18; age, 27.8 \u00b1 4.5 years; 39% black) who were experiencing infertility were recruited to participate in a 6-month randomized weight loss study delivered through nutrition counseling, e-mail, and Facebook. Body weight and dietary intake were assessed at 0, 3, and 6 months. We hypothesized that weight loss would be greater in the vegan group. Attrition was high at 3 (39%) and 6 months (67%). All analyses were conducted as intention-to-treat and presented as median (interquartile range). Vegan participants lost significantly more weight at 3 months (-1.8% [-5.0%, -0.9%] vegan, 0.0 [-1.2%, 0.3%] low-cal; P = .04), but there was no difference between groups at 6 months (P = .39). Use of Facebook groups was significantly related to percent weight loss at 3 (P < .001) and 6 months (P = .05). Vegan participants had a greater decrease in energy (-265 [-439, 0] kcal/d) and fat intake (-7.4% [-9.2%, 0] energy) at 6 months compared with low-cal participants (0 [0, 112] kcal/d, P = .02; 0 [0, 3.0%] energy, P = .02). These preliminary results suggest that engagement with social media and adoption of a vegan diet may be effective for promoting short-term weight loss among women with PCOS; however, a larger trial that addresses potential high attrition rates is needed to confirm these results. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-822", "text": "Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), defined as the combination of oligoanovulation and hyperandrogenism, affects more than 5% of women of reproductive age. Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia appear to play an important role in its pathogenesis. Here, we will present a characterization of a PCOS cohort from North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Clinical features, family history as well as endocrine and metabolic parameters were prospectively recorded from 200 successive patients. All patients were evaluated for insulin resistance and beta-cell-function by oral glucose tolerance test. Patient data were compared with those of 98 age-matched control women. PCOS patients showed significantly higher BMI, body fat mass and androgen levels as well as impaired glucose and insulin metabolism. A positive family history of PCOS and diabetes was more frequent in PCOS patients. Insulin resistance (71%) was the most common metabolic abnormality in PCOS patients followed by obesity (52%) and dyslipidemia (46.3%), with an incidence of 31.5% for the metabolic syndrome. C-reactive protein and other cardiovascular risk factors were frequently elevated even in young PCOS patients. While the clinical characteristics and endocrine parameters of this German PCOS cohort were heterogeneous, they were comparable to those from other Caucasian populations."}
{"id": "MED-823", "text": "While lifestyle management is recommended as first-line treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the optimal dietary composition is unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of different diet compositions on anthropometric, reproductive, metabolic, and psychological outcomes in PCOS. A literature search was conducted (Australasian Medical Index, CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, PsycInfo, and EBM reviews; most recent search was performed January 19, 2012). Inclusion criteria were women with PCOS not taking anti-obesity medications and all weight-loss or maintenance diets comparing different dietary compositions. Studies were assessed for risk of bias. A total of 4,154 articles were retrieved and six articles from five studies met the a priori selection criteria, with 137 women included. A meta-analysis was not performed due to clinical heterogeneity for factors including participants, dietary intervention composition, duration, and outcomes. There were subtle differences between diets, with greater weight loss for a monounsaturated fat-enriched diet; improved menstrual regularity for a low-glycemic index diet; increased free androgen index for a high-carbohydrate diet; greater reductions in insulin resistance, fibrinogen, total, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol for a low-carbohydrate or low-glycemic index diet; improved quality of life for a low-glycemic index diet; and improved depression and self-esteem for a high-protein diet. Weight loss improved the presentation of PCOS regardless of dietary composition in the majority of studies. Weight loss should be targeted in all overweight women with PCOS through reducing caloric intake in the setting of adequate nutritional intake and healthy food choices irrespective of diet composition. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-825", "text": "BACKGROUND: Some evidence has suggested that a diet with a higher ratio of protein to carbohydrates has metabolic advantages in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the effect of a high-protein (HP) diet to a standard-protein (SP) diet in women with PCOS. DESIGN: A controlled, 6-mo trial was conducted in 57 PCOS women. The women were assigned through rank minimization to one of the following 2 diets without caloric restriction: an HP diet (>40% of energy from protein and 30% of energy from fat) or an SP diet (<15% of energy from protein and 30% of energy from fat). The women received monthly dietary counseling. At baseline and 3 and 6 mo, anthropometric measurements were performed, and blood samples were collected. RESULTS: Seven women dropped out because of pregnancy, 23 women dropped out because of other reasons, and 27 women completed the study. The HP diet produced a greater weight loss (mean: 4.4 kg; 95% CI: 0.3, 8.6 kg) and body fat loss (mean: 4.3 kg; 95% CI: 0.9, 7.6 kg) than the SP diet after 6 mo. Waist circumference was reduced more by the HP diet than by the SP diet. The HP diet produced greater decreases in glucose than did the SP diet, which persisted after adjustment for weight changes. There were no differences in testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, and blood lipids between the groups after 6 mo. However, adjustment for weight changes led to significantly lower testosterone concentrations in the SP-diet group than in the HP-diet group. CONCLUSION: Replacement of carbohydrates with protein in ad libitum diets improves weight loss and improves glucose metabolism by an effect that seems to be independent of the weight loss and, thus, seems to offer an improved dietary treatment of PCOS women."}
{"id": "MED-827", "text": "The phenotype of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is known to worsen with weight gain, increased ingestion of carbohydrates and a sedentary lifestyle. The purpose of this study was to assess the dietary habits in a group of adolescent girls with PCOS. Adolescents with PCOS were recruited and asked to complete a questionnaire on their eating habits and a recall dietary diary, from which their caloric and macronutrient intake was calculated. Results were compared with those from a group of normal controls. Thirty-five women with PCOS and 46 controls were included. Girls with PCOS were less likely to have cereals for breakfast (20.7 versus 66.7%) and as a result consumed less fibre than controls. They were more likely to eat an evening meal (97.1 versus 78.3%) and eat this over an hour later when compared to controls. Despite having comparable body mass indexes, girls with PCOS ate a daily surplus calorie average of 3% versus controls that had a negative calorie intake of 0.72% (p\u2009=\u20090.047). Ameliorating eating habits early in adolescence in girls with PCOS may improve future metabolic concerns related to a genetic predisposition and worsened by an unhealthy lifestyle."}
{"id": "MED-828", "text": "Background Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is an Andean plant of the brassica (mustard) family. Preparations from maca root have been reported to improve sexual function. The aim of this review was to assess the clinical evidence for or against the effectiveness of the maca plant as a treatment for sexual dysfunction. Methods We searched 17 databases from their inception to April 2010 and included all randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of any type of maca compared to a placebo for the treatment of healthy people or human patients with sexual dysfunction. The risk of bias for each study was assessed using Cochrane criteria, and statistical pooling of data was performed where possible. The selection of studies, data extraction, and validations were performed independently by two authors. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion by the two authors. Results Four RCTs met all the inclusion criteria. Two RCTs suggested a significant positive effect of maca on sexual dysfunction or sexual desire in healthy menopausal women or healthy adult men, respectively, while the other RCT failed to show any effects in healthy cyclists. The further RCT assessed the effects of maca in patients with erectile dysfunction using the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction-5 and showed significant effects. Conclusion The results of our systematic review provide limited evidence for the effectiveness of maca in improving sexual function. However, the total number of trials, the total sample size, and the average methodological quality of the primary studies were too limited to draw firm conclusions. More rigorous studies are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-829", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The aims of the present study were to compare the distribution and accumulation of body fat in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and healthy controls matched for age and body mass index (BMI), and to investigate the association between androgen levels, insulin resistance and fat distribution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one PCOS women and 29 age- and BMI-matched healthy control women were evaluated in terms of subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness determined with a skinfold caliper and body composition analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Blood samples were obtained for determination of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, 17beta-estradiol, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, basal prolactin, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), androstenedione, insulin and glucose levels. Insulin sensitivity was estimated by fasting glucose/insulin ratio and free androgen index (FAI) was calculated as 100 x testosterone/SHBG. Differences between means were analyzed by Student's t test or the Mann-Whitney U test according to distribution of the data. Correlation analysis was performed between the body fat distribution and parameters concerning insulin resistance and androgens. RESULTS: FAI was significantly higher in patients with PCOS compared with the control group (p = 0.001). Fasting insulin was significantly higher and fasting glucose/insulin ratio was significantly lower in the PCOS group vs. controls (p = 0.03 and 0.001, respectively). There was significantly less subcutaneous adipose tissue in the controls than the PCOS women at the triceps (p = 0.04) and subscapular region (p = 0.04). Waist-to-hip ratio of PCOS women was significantly higher than that of control subjects (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Upper-half type body fat distribution is linked with PCOS, high free testosterone levels and insulin resistance."}
{"id": "MED-830", "text": "Water-soluble polysaccharides were separated from maca (Lepidium meyenii) aqueous extract (MAE). The crude polysaccharides were deproteinized by Sevag method. During the preparation process of maca polysaccharides, amylase and glucoamylase effectively removed starch in maca polysaccharides. Four Lepidium meyenii polysaccharides (LMPs) were obtained by changing the concentration of ethanol in the process of polysaccharide precipitation. All of the LMPs were composed of rhamnose, arabinose, glucose and galactose. Antioxidant activity tests revealed that LMP-60 showed good capability of scavenging hydroxyl free radical and superoxide radical at 2.0mg/mL, the scavenging rate was 52.9% and 85.8%, respectively. Therefore, the results showed that maca polysaccharides had a high antioxidant activity and could be explored as the source of bioactive compounds. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-831", "text": "Approximately 20-30% of PCOS women demonstrate excess adrenal precursor androgen (APA) production, primarily using DHEAS as a marker of APA in general and more specifically DHEA, synthesis. The role of APA excess in determining or causing PCOS is unclear, although observations in patients with inherited APA excess (e.g., patients with 21-hydroxylase deficient congenital classic or non-classic adrenal hyperplasia) demonstrate that APA excess can result in a PCOS-like phenotype. Inherited defects of the enzymes responsible for steroid biosynthesis, or defects in cortisol metabolism, account for only a very small fraction of women suffering from hyperandrogenism or APA excess. Rather, women with PCOS and APA excess appear to have a generalized exaggeration in adrenal steroidogenesis in response to ACTH stimulation, although they do not have an overt hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction. In general, extra-adrenal factors, including obesity, insulin and glucose levels, and ovarian secretions, play a limited role in the increased APA production observed in PCOS. Substantial heritabilities of APAs, particularly DHEAS, have been found in the general population and in women with PCOS; however, the handful of SNPs discovered to date account only for a small portion of the inheritance of these traits. Paradoxically, and as in men, elevated levels of DHEAS appear to be protective against cardiovascular risk in women, although the role of DHEAS in modulating this risk in women with PCOS remains unknown. In summary, the exact cause of APA excess in PCOS remains unclear, although it may reflect a generalized and inherited exaggeration in androgen biosynthesis of an inherited nature. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-832", "text": "BACKGROUND: Lifestyle modifications are successfully employed to treat obese and overweight women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The aims of the current pilot study were (i) to compare the efficacy on reproductive functions of a structured exercise training (SET) programme with a diet programme in obese PCOS patients and (ii) to study their clinical, hormonal and metabolic effects to elucidate potentially different mechanisms of action. METHODS: Forty obese PCOS patients with anovulatory infertility underwent a SET programme (SET group, n = 20) and a hypocaloric hyperproteic diet (diet group, n = 20). Clinical, hormonal and metabolic data were assessed at baseline, and at 12- and 24-week follow-ups. Primary endpoint was cumulative pregnancy rate. RESULTS: The two groups had similar demographic, anthropometric and biochemical parameters. After intervention, a significant improvement in menstrual cycles and fertility was noted in both groups, with no differences between groups. The frequency of menses and the ovulation rate were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the SET group than in diet group but the increased cumulative pregnancy rate was not significant. Body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, insulin resistance indexes and serum levels of sex hormone-binding globulin, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate changed significantly (P < 0.05) from baseline and were significantly different (P < 0.05) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Both SET and diet interventions improve fertility in obese PCOS patients with anovulatory infertility. We hypothesize that in both interventions an improvement in insulin sensitivity is the pivotal factor involved in the restoration of ovarian function but potentially acting through different mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-834", "text": "Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) affects 18\u201322% of women at reproductive age. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the expected benefits of lifestyle (exercise plus diet) interventions on the reproductive endocrine profile in women with PCOS. Potential studies were identified by systematically searching PubMed, CINAHL and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry (1966\u2013April 30, 2013) systematically using key concepts of PCOS. Significant improvements were seen in women receiving lifestyle intervention vs usual care in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels, mean difference (MD) 0.39\u200aIU/l (95% CI 0.09 to 0.70, P=0.01), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels, MD 2.37\u200anmol/l (95% CI 1.27 to 3.47, P<0.0001), total testosterone levels, MD \u22120.13\u200anmol/l (95% CI \u22120.22 to \u22120.03, P=0.008), androstenedione levels, MD \u22120.09\u200ang/dl (95% CI \u22120.15 to \u22120.03, P=0.005), free androgen index (FAI) levels, MD \u22121.64 (95% CI \u22122.94 to \u22120.35, P=0.01) and Ferriman\u2013Gallwey (FG) score, MD \u22121.01 (95% CI \u22121.54 to \u22120.48, P=0.0002). Significant improvements were also observed in women who received exercise-alone intervention vs usual care in FSH levels, MD 0.42\u200aIU/l (95% CI 0.11 to 0.73, P=0.009), SHBG levels, MD 3.42\u200anmol/l (95% CI 0.11 to 6.73, P=0.04), total testosterone levels, MD \u22120.16\u200anmol/l (95% CI \u22120.29 to \u22120.04, P=0.01), androstenedione levels, MD \u22120.09\u200ang/dl (95% CI \u22120.16 to \u22120.03, P=0.004) and FG score, MD \u22121.13 (95% CI \u22121.88 to \u22120.38, P=0.003). Our analyses suggest that lifestyle (diet and exercise) intervention improves levels of FSH, SHBG, total testosterone, androstenedione and FAI, and FG score in women with PCOS."}
{"id": "MED-835", "text": "High serum levels of testosterone and estradiol, the bioavailability of which may be increased by Western dietary habits, seem to be important risk factors for postmenopausal breast cancer. We hypothesized that an ad libitum diet low in animal fat and refined carbohydrates and rich in low-glycemic-index foods, monounsaturated and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and phytoestrogens, might favorably modify the hormonal profile of postmenopausal women. One hundred and four postmenopausal women selected from 312 healthy volunteers on the basis of high serum testosterone levels were randomized to dietary intervention or control. The intervention included intensive dietary counseling and specially prepared group meals twice a week over 4.5 months. Changes in serum levels of testosterone, estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin were the main outcome measures. In the intervention group, sex hormone-binding globulin increased significantly (from 36.0 to 45.1 nmol/liter) compared with the control group (25 versus 4%,; P < 0.0001) and serum testosterone decreased (from 0.41 to 0.33 ng/ml; -20 versus -7% in control group; P = 0.0038). Serum estradiol also decreased, but the change was not significant. The dietary intervention group also significantly decreased body weight (4.06 kg versus 0.54 kg in the control group), waist:hip ratio, total cholesterol, fasting glucose level, and area under insulin curve after oral glucose tolerance test. A radical modification in diet designed to reduce insulin resistance and also involving increased phytoestrogen intake decreases the bioavailability of serum sex hormones in hyperandrogenic postmenopausal women. Additional studies are needed to determine whether such effects can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-836", "text": "An optimal diet is one that not only prevents nutrient deficiencies by providing sufficient nutrients and energy for human growth and reproduction, but that also promotes health and longevity and reduces the risk of diet-related chronic diseases. The composition of the optimal diet for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is not yet known, but such a diet must not only assist short term with weight management, symptoms and fertility, but also specifically target the long-term risks of type 2 diabetes, CVD and certain cancers. With insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia now recognised as a key factor in the pathogenesis of PCOS, it has become clear that reducing insulin levels and improving insulin sensitivity are an essential part of management. Diet plays a significant role in the regulation of blood glucose and insulin levels, yet research into the dietary management of PCOS is lacking and most studies have focused on energy restriction rather than dietary composition per se. On the balance of evidence to date, a diet low in saturated fat and high in fibre from predominantly low-glycaemic-index-carbohydrate foods is recommended. Because PCOS carries significant metabolic risks, more research is clearly needed."}
{"id": "MED-838", "text": "Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid that comprises 22 carbons and 6 alternative double bonds in its hydrocarbon chain (22:6omega3). Previous studies have shown that DHA from fish oil controls the growth and development of different cancers; however, safety issues have been raised repeatedly about contamination of toxins in fish oil that makes it no longer a clean and safe source of the fatty acid. We investigated the cell growth inhibition of DHA from the cultured microalga Crypthecodinium cohnii (algal DHA [aDHA]) in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells. aDHA exhibited growth inhibition on breast cancer cells dose-dependently by 16.0% to 59.0% of the control level after 72-h incubations with 40 to 160 microM of the fatty acid. DNA flow cytometry shows that aDHA induced sub-G(1) cells, or apoptotic cells, by 64.4% to 171.3% of the control levels after incubations with 80 mM of the fatty acid for 24, 48, and 72 h. Western blot studies further show that aDHA did not modulate the expression of proapoptotic Bax protein but induced the downregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression time-dependently, causing increases of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio by 303.4% and 386.5% after 48- and 72-h incubations respectively with the fatty acid. Results from this study suggest that DHA from the cultured microalga is also effective in controlling cancer cell growth and that downregulation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 is an important step in the induced apoptosis."}
{"id": "MED-839", "text": "Long-chain EPA/DHA omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can be co-preventative and co-therapeutic. Current research suggests increasing accumulated long chain omega-3s for health benefits and as natural medicine in several major diseases. But many believe plant omega-3 sources are nutritionally and therapeutically equivalent to the EPA/DHA omega-3 in fish oil. Although healthy, precursor ALA bio-conversion to EPA is inefficient and production of DHA is nearly absent, limiting the protective value of ALA supplementation from flax-oil, for example. Along with pollutants certain fish acquire high levels of EPA/DHA as predatory species. However, the origin of EPA/DHA in aquatic ecosystems is algae. Certain microalgae produce high levels of EPA or DHA. Now, organically produced DHA-rich microalgae oil is available. Clinical trials with DHA-rich oil indicate comparable efficacies to fish oil for protection from cardiovascular risk factors by lowering plasma triglycerides and oxidative stress. This review discusses 1) omega-3 fatty acids in nutrition and medicine; 2) omega-3s in physiology and gene regulation; 3) possible protective mechanisms of EPA/DHA in major diseases such as coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, cancer and type 2 diabetes; 4) EPA and DHA requirements considering fish oil safety; and 5) microalgae EPA and DHA-rich oils and recent clinical results."}
{"id": "MED-840", "text": "Much effort has been focused on sanitation of fresh produce at the commercial level; however, few options are available to the consumer. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of different cleaning methods in reducing bacterial contamination on fresh produce in a home setting. Lettuce, broccoli, apples, and tomatoes were inoculated with Listeria innocua and then subjected to combinations of the following cleaning procedures: (i) soak for 2 min in tap water, Veggie Wash solution, 5% vinegar solution, or 13% lemon solution and (ii) rinse under running tap water, rinse and rub under running tap water, brush under running tap water, or wipe with wet/dry paper towel. Presoaking in water before rinsing significantly reduced bacteria in apples, tomatoes, and lettuce, but not in broccoli. Wiping apples and tomatoes with wet or dry paper towel showed lower bacterial reductions compared with soaking and rinsing procedures. Blossom ends of apples were more contaminated than the surface after soaking and rinsing; similar results were observed between flower section and stem of broccoli. Reductions of L. innocua in both tomatoes and apples (2.01 to 2.89 log CFU/g) were more than in lettuce and broccoli (1.41 to 1.88 log CFU/g) when subjected to same washing procedures. Reductions of surface contamination of lettuce after soaking in lemon or vinegar solutions were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from lettuce soaking in cold tap water. Therefore, educators and extension workers might consider it appropriate to instruct consumers to rub or brush fresh produce under cold running tap water before consumption."}
{"id": "MED-841", "text": "BACKGROUND: Although high soy consumption may be associated with lower breast cancer risk in Asian populations, findings from epidemiological studies have been inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of soy intake on breast cancer risk among Korean women according to their menopausal and hormone receptor status. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study with 358 incident breast cancer patients and 360 age-matched controls with no history of malignant neoplasm. Dietary consumption of soy products was examined using a 103-item food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: The estimated mean intakes of total soy and isoflavones from this study population were 76.5 g per day and 15.0 mg per day, respectively. Using a multivariate logistic regression model, we found a significant inverse association between soy intake and breast cancer risk, with a dose-response relationship (odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) for the highest vs the lowest intake quartile: 0.36 (0.20-0.64)). When the data were stratified by menopausal status, the protective effect was observed only among postmenopausal women (OR (95% CI) for the highest vs the lowest intake quartile: 0.08 (0.03-0.22)). The association between soy and breast cancer risk did not differ according to estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR) status, but the estimated intake of soy isoflavones showed an inverse association only among postmenopausal women with ER+/PR+ tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that high consumption of soy might be related to lower risk of breast cancer and that the effect of soy intake could vary depending on several factors."}
{"id": "MED-842", "text": "The accumulation of thallium (Tl) in brassicaceous crops is widely known, but both the uptake extents of Tl by the individual cultivars of green cabbage and the distribution of Tl in the tissues of green cabbage are not well understood. Five commonly available cultivars of green cabbage grown in the Tl-spiked pot-culture trials were studied for the uptake extent and subcellular distribution of Tl. The results showed that all the trial cultivars mainly concentrated Tl in the leaves (101\u223c192\u00a0mg/kg, DW) rather than in the roots or stems, with no significant differences among cultivars (p = 0.455). Tl accumulation in the leaves revealed obvious subcellular fractionation: cell cytosol and vacuole >> cell wall > cell organelles. The majority (\u223c 88%) of leaf-Tl was found to be in the fraction of cytosol and vacuole, which also served as the major storage site for other major elements such as Ca and Mg. This specific subcellular fractionation of Tl appeared to enable green cabbage to avoid Tl damage to its vital organelles and to help green cabbage tolerate and detoxify Tl. This study demonstrated that all the five green cabbage cultivars show a good application potential in the phytoremediation of Tl-contaminated soils."}
{"id": "MED-843", "text": "A double-blind comparison was made of the use of 14 daily intravaginal gelatin capsules containing 600 mg of boric acid powder versus the use of identical capsules containing 100,000 U nystatin diluted to volume with cornstarch for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis albicans. Cure rates for boric acid were 92% at 7 to 10 days after treatment and 72% at 30 days, whereas the nystatin cure rates were 64% at 7 to 10 days and 50% at 30 days. The speed of alleviation of signs and symptoms was similar for the two drugs. There were no untoward side effects, and cervical cytologic features were not affected. In vitro studies found boric acid to be fungistatic and its effectiveness to be unrelated to pH. Blood boron analyses indicated little absorption from the vagina and a half-life of less than 12 hours. Acceptance by the patients was better than for \"messy\" vaginal creams, and self-made capsules containing boric acid powder are inexpensive (31 cents for fourteen) compared with the costly medication commonly prescribed."}
{"id": "MED-845", "text": "Histone deacetylases (HDAC) control gene expression by changing histonic as well as non histonic protein conformation. HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) are considered to be among the most promising drugs for epigenetic treatment for cancer. Recently a strict relationship between histone hyperacetylation in specific tissues of mouse embryos exposed to two HDACi (valproic acid and trichostatin A) and specific axial skeleton malformations has been demonstrated. The aim of this study is to verify if boric acid (BA), that induces in rodents malformations similar to those valproic acid and trichostatin A-related, acts through similar mechanisms: HDAC inhibition and histone hyperacetylation. Pregnant mice were treated intraperitoneally with a teratogenic dose of BA (1000 mg/kg, day 8 of gestation). Western blot analysis and immunostaining were performed with anti hyperacetylated histone 4 (H4) antibody on embryos explanted 1, 3 or 4 h after treatment and revealed H4 hyperacetylation at the level of somites. HDAC enzyme assay was performed on embryonic nuclear extracts. A significant HDAC inhibition activity (compatible with a mixed type partial inhibition mechanism) was evident with BA. Kinetic analyses indicate that BA modifies substrate affinity by a factor alpha=0.51 and maximum velocity by a factor beta=0.70. This work provides the first evidence for HDAC inhibition by BA and suggests such a molecular mechanism for the induction of BA-related malformations."}
{"id": "MED-850", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Increasing evidence suggests that a low folate intake and impaired folate metabolism may be implicated in the development of gastrointestinal cancers. We conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies evaluating the association of folate intake or genetic polymorphisms in 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), a central enzyme in folate metabolism, with risk of esophageal, gastric, or pancreatic cancer. METHODS: A literature search was performed using MEDLINE for studies published through March 2006. Study-specific relative risks were weighted by the inverse of their variance to obtain random-effects summary estimates. RESULTS: The summary relative risks for the highest versus the lowest category of dietary folate intake were 0.66 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53-0.83) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (4 case-control), 0.50 (95% CI, 0.39-0.65) for esophageal adenocarcinoma (3 case-control), and 0.49 (95% CI, 0.35-0.67) for pancreatic cancer (1 case-control, 4 cohort); there was no heterogeneity among studies. Results on dietary folate intake and risk of gastric cancer (9 case-control, 2 cohort) were inconsistent. In most studies, the MTHFR 677TT (variant) genotype, which is associated with reduced enzyme activity, was associated with an increased risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, noncardia gastric cancer, gastric cancer (all subsites), and pancreatic cancer; all but one of 22 odds ratios were >1, of which 13 estimates were statistically significant. Studies of the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism were limited and inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that folate may play a role in carcinogenesis of the esophagus, stomach, and pancreas."}
{"id": "MED-852", "text": "The relation between various types of fiber and oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer was investigated using data from a case-control study conducted between 1992 and 1997 in Italy. Cases were 271 hospital patients with incident, histologically confirmed oral cancer, 327 with pharyngeal cancer and 304 with esophageal cancer. Controls were 1,950 subjects admitted to the same network of hospitals as the cases for acute, nonneoplastic diseases. Cases and controls were interviewed during their hospital stay using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) were computed after allowance for age, sex, and other potential confounding factors, including alcohol, tobacco consumption, and energy intake. The ORs for the highest vs. the lowest quintile of intake of oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer combined were 0.40 for total (Englyst) fiber, 0.37 for soluble fiber, 0.52 for cellulose, 0.48 for insoluble non cellulose polysaccharide, 0.33 for total insoluble fiber and 0.38 for lignin. The inverse relation were similar for vegetable fiber (OR = 0.51), fruit fiber (OR = 0.60) and grain fiber (OR = 0.56), and were somewhat stronger for oral and pharyngeal cancer than for esophageal cancer. The ORs were similar for the two sexes and strata of age, education, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and total non-alcohol energy intake. Our study indicates that fiber intake may have a protective role on oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-855", "text": "Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidising agent that is used in a number of household products, including general-purpose disinfectants, chlorine-free bleaches, fabric stain removers, contact lens disinfectants and hair dyes, and it is a component of some tooth whitening products. In industry, the principal use of hydrogen peroxide is as a bleaching agent in the manufacture of paper and pulp. Hydrogen peroxide has been employed medicinally for wound irrigation and for the sterilisation of ophthalmic and endoscopic instruments. Hydrogen peroxide causes toxicity via three main mechanisms: corrosive damage, oxygen gas formation and lipid peroxidation. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide is caustic and exposure may result in local tissue damage. Ingestion of concentrated (>35%) hydrogen peroxide can also result in the generation of substantial volumes of oxygen. Where the amount of oxygen evolved exceeds its maximum solubility in blood, venous or arterial gas embolism may occur. The mechanism of CNS damage is thought to be arterial gas embolisation with subsequent brain infarction. Rapid generation of oxygen in closed body cavities can also cause mechanical distension and there is potential for the rupture of the hollow viscus secondary to oxygen liberation. In addition, intravascular foaming following absorption can seriously impede right ventricular output and produce complete loss of cardiac output. Hydrogen peroxide can also exert a direct cytotoxic effect via lipid peroxidation. Ingestion of hydrogen peroxide may cause irritation of the gastrointestinal tract with nausea, vomiting, haematemesis and foaming at the mouth; the foam may obstruct the respiratory tract or result in pulmonary aspiration. Painful gastric distension and belching may be caused by the liberation of large volumes of oxygen in the stomach. Blistering of the mucosae and oropharyngeal burns are common following ingestion of concentrated solutions, and laryngospasm and haemorrhagic gastritis have been reported. Sinus tachycardia, lethargy, confusion, coma, convulsions, stridor, sub-epiglottic narrowing, apnoea, cyanosis and cardiorespiratory arrest may ensue within minutes of ingestion. Oxygen gas embolism may produce multiple cerebral infarctions. Although most inhalational exposures cause little more than coughing and transient dyspnoea, inhalation of highly concentrated solutions of hydrogen peroxide can cause severe irritation and inflammation of mucous membranes, with coughing and dyspnoea. Shock, coma and convulsions may ensue and pulmonary oedema may occur up to 24-72 hours post exposure. Severe toxicity has resulted from the use of hydrogen peroxide solutions to irrigate wounds within closed body cavities or under pressure as oxygen gas embolism has resulted. Inflammation, blistering and severe skin damage may follow dermal contact. Ocular exposure to 3% solutions may cause immediate stinging, irritation, lacrimation and blurred vision, but severe injury is unlikely. Exposure to more concentrated hydrogen peroxide solutions (>10%) may result in ulceration or perforation of the cornea. Gut decontamination is not indicated following ingestion, due to the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by catalase to oxygen and water. If gastric distension is painful, a gastric tube should be passed to release gas. Early aggressive airway management is critical in patients who have ingested concentrated hydrogen peroxide, as respiratory failure and arrest appear to be the proximate cause of death. Endoscopy should be considered if there is persistent vomiting, haematemesis, significant oral burns, severe abdominal pain, dysphagia or stridor. Corticosteroids in high dosage have been recommended if laryngeal and pulmonary oedema supervene, but their value is unproven. Endotracheal intubation, or rarely, tracheostomy may be required for life-threatening laryngeal oedema. Contaminated skin should be washed with copious amounts of water. Skin lesions should be treated as thermal burns; surgery may be required for deep burns. In the case of eye exposure, the affected eye(s) shod eye(s) should be irrigated immediately and thoroughly with water or 0.9% saline for at least 10-15 minutes. Instillation of a local anaesthetic may reduce discomfort and assist more thorough decontamination."}
{"id": "MED-857", "text": "Individual-based studies that investigated the relation between dietary alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) intake and prostate cancer risk have shown inconsistent results. We carried out a meta-analysis of prospective studies to examine this association. We systematically searched studies published up to December 2008. Log relative risks (RRs) were weighted by the inverse of their variances to obtain a pooled estimate with its 95% confidence interval (CI). We identified five prospective studies that met our inclusion criteria and reported risk estimates by categories of ALA intake. Comparing the highest to the lowest ALA intake category, the pooled RR was 0.97 (95% CI:0.86-1.10) but the association was heterogeneous. Using the reported numbers of cases and non-cases in each category of ALA intake, we found that subjects who consumed more than 1.5 g/day of ALA compared with subjects who consumed less than 1.5 g/day had a significant decreased risk of prostate cancer: RR = 0.95 (95% CI:0.91-0.99). Divergences in results could partly be explained by differences in sample sizes and adjustment but they also highlight limits in dietary ALA assessment in such prospective studies. Our findings support a weak protective association between dietary ALA intake and prostate cancer risk but further research is needed to conclude on this question."}
{"id": "MED-859", "text": "Ionizing radiation of fruits and vegetables, in the form of gamma rays or electron beams, is effective in overcoming quarantine barriers in trade and prolonging shelf life, but a void of information persists on ionizing radiation effects of vitamin profiles in individual foods. Baby-leaf spinach from commercial cultivars, flat-leafed 'Lazio' and crinkled-leaf 'Samish', was grown, harvested, and surface sanitized according to industry practices. Baby-leaf spinach of each cultivar was packaged under air or N(2) atmosphere, representing industry practices, then exposed to cesium-137 gamma-radiation at 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 kGy. Following irradiation, leaf tissues were assayed for vitamin (C, E, K, B(9)) and carotenoid (lutein/zeaxanthin, neoxanthin, violoxanthin, and beta-carotene) concentrations. Atmospheres by irradiation had little consistent effect, but N(2) versus air was associated with elevated dihydroascorbic acid levels. Four phytonutrients (vitamins B(9), E, and K and neoxanthin) exhibited little or no change in concentration with increasing doses of irradiation. However, total ascorbic acid (vitamin C), free ascorbic acid, lutein/zeaxanthin, violaxanthin, and beta-carotene all were significantly reduced at 2.0 kGy and, depending on cultivar, were affected at lesser doses of 0.5 and 1.5 kGy. Dihydroascorbic acid, the most affected compound and an indicator of stress, likely due to irradiation-generated oxidative radicals, increased with increasing irradiation doses >0.5 kGy."}
{"id": "MED-860", "text": "Microgreens (seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs) have gained popularity as a new culinary trend over the past few years. Although small in size, microgreens can provide surprisingly intense flavors, vivid colors, and crisp textures and can be served as an edible garnish or a new salad ingredient. However, no scientific data are currently available on the nutritional content of microgreens. The present study was conducted to determine the concentrations of ascorbic acid, carotenoids, phylloquinone, and tocopherols in 25 commercially available microgreens. Results showed that different microgreens provided extremely varying amounts of vitamins and carotenoids. Total ascorbic acid contents ranged from 20.4 to 147.0 mg per 100 g fresh weight (FW), while \u03b2-carotene, lutein/zeaxanthin, and violaxanthin concentrations ranged from 0.6 to 12.1, 1.3 to 10.1, and 0.9 to 7.7 mg/100 g FW, respectively. Phylloquinone level varied from 0.6 to 4.1 \u03bcg/g FW; meanwhile, \u03b1-tocopherol and \u03b3-tocopherol ranged from 4.9 to 87.4 and 3.0 to 39.4 mg/100 g FW, respectively. Among the 25 microgreens assayed, red cabbage, cilantro, garnet amaranth, and green daikon radish had the highest concentrations of ascorbic acids, carotenoids, phylloquinone, and tocopherols, respectively. In comparison with nutritional concentrations in mature leaves (USDA National Nutrient Database), the microgreen cotyledon leaves possessed higher nutritional densities. The phytonutrient data may provide a scientific basis for evaluating nutritional values of microgreens and contribute to food composition database. These data also may be used as a reference for health agencies' recommendations and consumers' choices of fresh vegetables."}
{"id": "MED-861", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of whole-blood fatty acids and reported intakes of fats with risk of prostate cancer (PCa). DESIGN: Case-control study of 209 men 40-80 years old with newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed prostate cancer and 226 cancer-free men attending the same urology clinics. Whole-blood fatty acid composition (mol%) was measured by gas chromatography and diet assessed by food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: High whole-blood oleic acid composition (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: OR, 0.37; CI, 0.14-0.0.98) and moderate palmitic acid proportions (tertile 2: OR, 0.29; CI, 0.12-0.70) (tertile 3: OR, 0.53; CI, 0.19-1.54) were inversely related to risk of PCa, whereas men with high linolenic acid proportions were at increased likelihood of PCa (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: OR, 2.06; 1.29-3.27). Blood myristic, stearic and palmitoleic acids were not associated with PCa. Higher intakes of dietary MUFA were inversely related to prostate cancer (tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: OR, 0.39; CI 0.16-0.92). The principal source of dietary MUFA was avocado intake. Dietary intakes of other fats were not associated with PCa. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-blood and dietary MUFA reduced the risk of prostate cancer. The association may be related to avocado intakes. High blood linolenic acid was directly related to prostate cancer. These associations warrant further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-865", "text": "Prostate cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American men. Earlier diagnosis increases survival rate in patients. However, treatments for advanced disease are limited to hormone ablation techniques and palliative care. Thus, new methods of treatment and prevention are necessary for inhibiting disease progression to a hormone refractory state. One of the approaches to control prostate cancer is prevention through diet, which inhibits one or more neoplastic events and reduces the cancer risk. For centuries, Ayurveda has recommended the use of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) as a functional food to prevent and treat human health related issues. In this study, we have initially used human prostate cancer cells, PC3 and LNCaP, as an in vitro model to assess the efficacy of bitter melon extract (BME) as an anti-cancer agent. We observed that prostate cancer cells treated with BME accumulate during the S phase of the cell cycle, and modulate cyclin D1, cyclin E and p21 expression. Treatment of prostate cancer cells with BME enhanced Bax expression, and induced poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. Oral gavage of BME, as a dietary compound, delayed the progression to high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) in TRAMP (transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate) mice (31%). Prostate tissue from BME-fed mice displayed ~51% reduction of PCNA expression. Together, our results suggest for the first time that oral administration of BME inhibits prostate cancer progression in TRAMP mice by interfering cell cycle progression and proliferation."}
{"id": "MED-866", "text": "The pharmacology, clinical efficacy, adverse effects, drug interactions, and place in therapy of bitter melon are described. Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is an alternative therapy that has primarily been used for lowering blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus. Components of bitter melon extract appear to have structural similarities to animal insulin. Antiviral and antineoplastic activities have also been reported in vitro. Four clinical trials found bitter melon juice, fruit, and dried powder to have a moderate hypoglycemic effect. These studies were small and were not randomized or double-blind, however. Reported adverse effects of bitter melon include hypoglycemic coma and convulsions in children, reduced fertility in mice, a favism-like syndrome, increases in gamma-glutamyltransferase and alkaline phosphatase levels in animals, and headaches. Bitter melon may have additive effects when taken with other glucose-lowering agents. Adequately powered, randomized, placebo-controlled trials are needed to properly assess safety and efficacy before bitter melon can be routinely recommended. Bitter melon may have hypoglycemic effects, but data are not sufficient to recommend its use in the absence of careful supervision and monitoring."}
{"id": "MED-868", "text": "Adrenocortical carcinomas are rare but present with extremely poor prognosis. One of the approaches to control cancer progression and reduce cancer risk is prevention through diet. Bitter melon is widely consumed as a vegetable and especially as a traditional medicine in many countries. In this study, we have used human and mouse adrenocortical cancer cells as an in vitro model to assess the efficacy of bitter melon extract (BME) as an anticancer agent. The protein concentrations of BME and other extracts were measured before use. First, BME treatment of adrenocortical cancer cells resulted in a significantly dose-dependent decrease in cell proliferation. However, we did not observe an antiproliferative effect in adrenocortical cancer cells treated with extracts from blueberry, zucchini, and acorn squash. Second, apoptosis of adrenocortical cancer cells was accompanied by increased caspase-3 activation and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. BME treatment enhanced cellular tumor antigen p53, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (also called p21), and cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor-3 levels and inhibited G1/S-specific cyclin D1, D2, and D3, and mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (also called Janus kinase) expression, suggesting an additional mechanism involving cell cycle regulation and cell survival. Third, BME treatment decreased the key proteins involved in steroidogenesis in adrenocortical cancer cells. BME treatment decreased the level of phosphorylation of cyclin-dependent kinase 7, which is required, at least in part, for steroidogenic factor 1 activation. Finally, we observed that BME treatment significantly reduced the level of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor and its downstream signaling pathway as evidenced by lower levels of phosphorylated RAC-\u03b1 serine/threonine-protein kinase. Taken together, these data illustrate the inhibitory effect of bitter melon on cell proliferation of adrenocortical cancer through modulation of diverse mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-869", "text": "Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) tea consumption is higher in Argentina and other South American countries than those of coffee or tea (Camellia sinensis). The effects of Yerba Mate on bone health have not previously been explored. From a program for osteoporosis prevention and treatment, postmenopausal women who drank at least 1 L of Yerba Mate tea daily during 4 or more years (n=146) were identified, and matched by age and time since menopause with an equal number of women who did not drink Yerba Mate tea. Their bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the lumbar spine and femoral neck. Yerba Mate drinkers had a 9.7% higher lumbar spine BMD (0.952 g/cm(2) versus 0.858 g/cm(2): p<0.0001) and a 6.2% higher femoral neck BMD (0.817 g/cm(2) versus 0.776 g/cm(2); p=0.0002). In multiple regression analysis, Yerba Mate drinking was the only factor, other than body mass index, which showed a positive correlation with BMD at both the lumbar spine (p<0.0001) and the femoral neck (p=0.0028). Results suggest a protective effect of chronic Yerba Mate consumption on bone. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-870", "text": "Ilex paraguariensis dried and minced leaves are made into a brewed tea, prepared in a sui generis manner by large populations in South America, having evolved from a tea drunk by the Guarani ethnic group to a beverage that has a social and almost ritualistic role in some South American modern societies. It is used both as a source of caffeine, in lieu or in parallel with tea and coffee, but also as a therapeutic agent for its alleged pharmacological properties. Although with some exceptions, research on biomedical properties of this herb has had a late start and strongly lags behind the impressive amount of literature on green tea and coffee. However, in the past 15 years, there was a several-fold increase in the literature studying Ilex paraguariensis properties showing effects such as antioxidant properties in chemical models and ex vivo lipoprotein studies, vaso-dilating and lipid reduction properties, antimutagenic effects, controversial association with oropharyngeal cancer, anti-glycation effects and weight reduction properties. Lately, promising results from human intervention studies have surfaced and the literature offers several developments on this area. The aim of this review is to provide a concise summary of the research published in the past three years, with an emphasis on translational studies, inflammation and lipid metabolism. Ilex paraguariensis reduces LDL-cholesterol levels in humans with Ilex paraguariensis dyslipoproteinemia and the effect is synergic with that of statins. Plasma antioxidant capacity as well as expression of antioxidant enzymes is positively modulated by intervention with Ilex paraguariensis in human cohorts. A review on the evidence implicating Ilex paraguariensis heavy consumption with some neoplasias show data that are inconclusive but indicate that contamination with alkylating agents during the drying process of the leaves should be avoided. On the other hand, several new studies confirm the antimutagenic effects of Ilex paraguariensis in different models, from DNA double breaks in cell culture models to mice studies. Novel interesting work has emerged showing significant effect on weight reduction both in mice and in rat models. Some mechanisms involved are inhibition of pancreatic lipase, activation of AMPK and uncoupling of electron transport. Intervention studies in animals have provided strong evidence of anti-inflammatory effects of Ilex paraguariensis, notably protecting cigarette-induced lung inflammation acting on macrophage migration and inactivating matrix-metalloproteinase. Research on the effects of Ilex paraguariensis in health and disease has confirmed its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic and lipid-lowering activities. Although we are still waiting for the double-blind, randomized prospective clinical trial, the evidence seems to provide support for beneficial effects of mate drinking on chronic diseases with inflammatory component and lipid metabolism disorders. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-876", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIM: The Mediterranean diet (MedD) has long been associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. Little information is available on association between MedD, vitamins intake and arrhythmias. We sought to investigate the relationship between adherence to MedD, antioxidants intake and spontaneous conversion of atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: A group of 800 subjects was included in a case-control study; 400 of them had a first detected episode of AF. Nutritional parameters were assessed by a self-administered food frequency validated questionnaire and completed by an interviewer-administered 7 days diet recall. Adherence to MedD was evaluated using the Mediterranean Score and intake of antioxidants from food was calculated. Adherence to the Med Diet was lower in patients that developed AF compared to control (mean Med Score: 22.3\u00a0\u00b1\u00a03.1 vs 27.9\u00a0\u00b1\u00a05.6; p\u00a0<\u00a00.001). The median value was 23.5 (Q1-Q3 range 23-30) in patients with AF and 27.4 (Q1-Q3 range 26-33). The estimated intake of total antioxidants was lower in patients with AF (13.5\u00a0\u00b1\u00a08.3 vs 18.2\u00a0\u00b1\u00a09.4\u00a0mmol/d; p\u00a0<\u00a00.001). Patients in the highest quartile of Mediterranean Score had higher probability of spontaneous conversion of atrial fibrillation (OR1.9; 95%CI 1.58-2.81). High levels of antioxidants intake were also associated with an increasing probability of spontaneous conversion of arrhythmia (O.R. 1.8; 95%CI 1.56-2.99; P\u00a0<\u00a00.01). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with atrial fibrillation had lower adherence to MedD and lower antioxidant intake compared to control population. Moreover patients with arrhythmia showing a higher Med Score had more probability of a spontaneous conversion of atrial fibrillation. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-884", "text": "Approximately 75% of all kidney stones are composed primarily of calcium oxalate, and hyperoxaluria is a primary risk factor for this disorder. Nine types of raw and cooked vegetables were analyzed for oxalate using an enzymatic method. There was a high proportion of water-soluble oxalate in most of the tested raw vegetables. Boiling markedly reduced soluble oxalate content by 30-87% and was more effective than steaming (5-53%) and baking (used only for potatoes, no oxalate loss). An assessment of the oxalate content of cooking water used for boiling and steaming revealed an approximately 100% recovery of oxalate losses. The losses of insoluble oxalate during cooking varied greatly, ranging from 0 to 74%. Because soluble sources of oxalate appear to be better absorbed than insoluble sources, employing cooking methods that significantly reduce soluble oxalate may be an effective strategy for decreasing oxaluria in individuals predisposed to the development of kidney stones."}
{"id": "MED-885", "text": "Oxalate bioavailability from sugar beet fibre (40 g), spinach (25 g) and a solution of sodium oxalate (182 mg) was tested in nine women using a triplicated 3 x 3 Latin square arrangement. Each test substance provided 120 mg oxalic acid. Throughout the study the volunteers consumed a control diet and the test substances were administered at breakfast on specified days. After an initial 2-day control period, oxalate was administered in three test periods that consisted of one test day followed by one control day. Urine collected during 24-hr periods was analysed daily for oxalate. Oxalate excretion did not differ among the five control days and was not increased significantly following the ingestion of sugar beet fibre by the volunteers. Oxalate excretion was greater (P less than 0.0001) for the mean of the spinach and sodium oxalate solution diets than for the mean of the sugar beet fibre and control diets. Oxalate bioavailability from sugar beet fibre was 0.7% compared with bioavailabilities of 4.5 and 6.2% for spinach and oxalate solutions, respectively. The low bioavailability of oxalate from sugar beet fibre may be attributable to its high ratio of minerals (calcium and magnesium) to oxalate, its complex fibre matrix or the loss of the soluble oxalate during processing of sugar beets."}
{"id": "MED-886", "text": "BACKGROUND: Both hempseed oil (HO) and flaxseed oil (FO) contain high amounts of essential fatty acids (FAs); i.e. linoleic acid (LA, 18:2n-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3), but almost in opposite ratios. An excessive intake of one essential FA over the other may interfere with the metabolism of the other while the metabolisms of LA and ALA compete for the same enzymes. It is not known whether there is a difference between n-3 and n-6 FA of plant origin in the effects on serum lipid profile. AIM OF THE STUDY: To compare the effects of HO and FO on the profile of serum lipids and fasting concentrations of serum total and lipoprotein lipids, plasma glucose and insulin, and haemostatic factors in healthy humans. METHODS: Fourteen healthy volunteers participated in the study. A randomised, double-blind crossover design was used. The volunteers consumed HO and FO (30 ml/day) for 4 weeks each. The periods were separated by a 4-week washout period. RESULTS: The HO period resulted in higher proportions of both LA and gamma-linolenic acid in serum cholesteryl esters (CE) and triglycerides (TG) as compared with the FO period (P < 0.001), whereas the FO period resulted in a higher proportion of ALA in both serum CE and TG as compared with the HO period (P < 0.001). The proportion of arachidonic acid in CE was lower after the FO period than after the HO period (P < 0.05). The HO period resulted in a lower total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio compared with the FO period (P = 0.065). No significant differences were found between the periods in measured values of fasting serum total or lipoprotein lipids, plasma glucose, insulin or hemostatic factors. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of HO and FO on the profile of serum lipids differed significantly, with only minor effects on concentrations of fasting serum total or lipoprotein lipids, and no significant changes in concentrations of plasma glucose or insulin or in haemostatic factors."}
{"id": "MED-887", "text": "Colored-flesh potatoes are an excellent source of health-benefiting dietary polyphenols, but are stored for up to 3-6 months before consumption. This study investigated the effect of simulated commercial storage conditions on antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS), phenolic content (FCR) and composition (UPLC-MS), and anticancer properties (early, HCT-116 and advanced stage, HT-29 human colon cancer cell lines) of potato bioactive compounds. Extracts from seven potato clones of differing flesh colors (white, yellow, and purple) before and after 90 days of storage were used in this study. The antioxidant activity of all clones increased with storage; however, an increase in total phenolic content was observed only in purple-fleshed clones. Advanced purple-fleshed selection CO97227-2P/PW had greater levels of total phenolics, monomeric anthocyanins, antioxidant activity and a diverse anthocyanin composition as compared with Purple Majesty. Purple-fleshed potatoes were more potent in suppressing proliferation and elevating apoptosis of colon cancer cells compared with white- and yellow-fleshed potatoes. The extracts from both fresh and stored potatoes (10-30 \u03bcg/mL) suppressed cancer cell proliferation and elevated apoptosis compared with the solvent control, but these anticancer effects were more pronounced with the fresh potatoes. Storage duration had a strong positive correlation with antioxidant activity and percentage of viable cancer cells and a negative correlation with apoptosis induction. These results suggest that although the antioxidant activity and phenolic content of potatoes were increased with storage, the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activities were suppressed. Thus, in the assessment of the effects of farm to fork operations on the health-benefiting properties of plant foods, it is critical to use quantitative analytical techniques in conjunction with in vitro and/or in vivo biological assays."}
{"id": "MED-888", "text": "The purpose of the current study was to determine the anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory effects of an extract of purple sweet potatoes (PSPs) on 3T3-L1 adipocytes. For this purpose, differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with a PSP extract at concentrations of 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 \u03bcg/mL for 24 hours. Then, we measured the changes in the sizes of the adipocytes, the secretion of leptin, and the mRNA/protein expression of lipogenic, inflammatory, and lipolytic factors after the treatment with the PSP extract. The PSP extract diminished leptin secretion, indicating that growth of fat droplets was suppressed. The extract also suppressed the expression of mRNAs of lipogenic and inflammatory factors and promoted lipolytic action. The antioxidative activity of the PSP extract was also measured using three different in vitro methods: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing ability potential assay, and chelating activity of transition metal ions. Taken together, our study shows that PSP extract has antilipogenic, anti-inflammatory, and lipolytic effects on adipocytes and has radical scavenging and reducing activity."}
{"id": "MED-890", "text": "A case-control study was carried out in Harbin city to assess the role of diet in the aetiology of colorectal cancer. A total of 336 incident cases of histologically confirmed colorectal cancer (111 colon cancer and 225 rectal cancer) and an equal number of controls with other non-neoplastic diseases were interviewed in hospital wards. Data concerning the average frequency of consumption and amount consumed of single food items were obtained by a dietary history questionnaire. Odds ratios and their confidence limits were computed. Multiple regression for risk status was also used. Vegetables, particularly green vegetables, chives and celery, have a strong protective effect against colorectal cancer. Reduced consumption of meat, eggs, bean products and grain was associated with increasing risk for cancer of the rectum. Alcohol intake was found to be an important risk factor for developing colon cancer and male rectal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-891", "text": "A method based on solid phase extraction followed by derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis was validated for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in canned food products. This method was used to analyze 78 canned food products for BPA. Concentrations of BPA in canned food products differed considerably among food types, but all were below the specific migration limit of 0.6 mg/kg set by the European Commission Directive for BPA in food or food simulants. Canned tuna products had the highest BPA concentrations in general, with mean and maximum values of 137 and 534 ng/g, respectively. BPA concentrations in the condensed soup products were considerably higher than those in the ready-to-serve soup products, with mean and maximum values of 105 and 189 ng/g, respectively, for the condensed soups and 15 and 34 ng/g, respectively, for the ready-to-serve soups. BPA concentrations in canned vegetable products were relatively low; about 60% of the products had BPA concentrations of less than 10 ng/g. Canned tomato paste products had lower BPA concentrations than did canned pure tomato products. The mean and maximum BPA concentrations were 1.1 and 2.1 ng/g, respectively, for tomato paste products and 9.3 and 23 ng/g, respectively, for the pure tomato products."}
{"id": "MED-894", "text": "Previous studies on healthy subjects have shown that the intake of 6 g Cinnamomum cassia reduces postprandial glucose and that the intake of 3 g C. cassia reduces insulin response, without affecting postprandial glucose concentrations. Coumarin, which may damage the liver, is present in C. cassia, but not in Cinnamomum zeylanicum. The aim of the present study was to study the effect of C. zeylanicum on postprandial concentrations of plasma glucose, insulin, glycaemic index (GI) and insulinaemic index (GII) in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). A total of ten subjects with IGT were assessed in a crossover trial. A standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was administered together with placebo or C. zeylanicum capsules. Finger-prick capillary blood samples were taken for glucose measurements and venous blood for insulin measurements, before and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min after the start of the OGTT. The ingestion of 6 g C. zeylanicum had no significant effect on glucose level, insulin response, GI or GII. Ingestion of C. zeylanicum does not affect postprandial plasma glucose or insulin levels in human subjects. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Europe has suggested the replacement of C. cassia by C. zeylanicum or the use of aqueous extracts of C. cassia to lower coumarin exposure. However, the positive effects seen with C. cassia in subjects with poor glycaemic control would then be lost."}
{"id": "MED-897", "text": "The effects of different polyphenol-containing beverages on Fe absorption from a bread meal were estimated in adult human subjects from the erythrocyte incorporation of radio-Fe. The test beverages contained different polyphenol structures and were rich in either phenolic acids (chlorogenic acid in coffee), monomeric flavonoids (herb teas, camomile (Matricaria recutita L.), vervain (Verbena officinalis L.), lime flower (Tilia cordata Mill.), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.) and peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), or complex polyphenol polymerization products (black tea and cocoa). All beverages were potent inhibitors of Fe absorption and reduced absorption in a dose-dependent fashion depending on the content of total polyphenols. Compared with a water control meal, beverages containing 20-50 mg total polyphenols/serving reduced Fe absorption from the bread meal by 50-70%, whereas beverages containing 100-400 mg total polyphenols/serving reduced Fe absorption by 60-90%. Inhibition by black tea was 79-94%, peppermint tea 84%, pennyroyal 73%, cocoa 71%, vervain 59%, lime flower 52% and camomile 47%. At an identical concentration of total polyphenols, black tea was more inhibitory than cocoa, and more inhibitory than herb teas camomile, vervain, lime flower and pennyroyal, but was of equal inhibition to peppermint tea. Adding milk to coffee and tea had little or no influence on their inhibitory nature. Our findings demonstrate that herb teas, as well as black tea, coffee and coca can be potent inhibitors of Fe absorption. This property should be considered when giving dietary advice in relation to Fe nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-900", "text": "Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is nowadays a common problem in Thai children. We reviewed medical records of patients with CMA from the Department of Pediatrics at King Chulalongkom Memorial Hospital of the past 10 years, from 1998 to 2007. The criteria for the diagnosis of CMA included: elimination of cow's milk formula resulting in improvement of symptoms, and: recurrence of symptoms after reintroduction of cow's milk by oral challenge or by accidental ingestion. Of the 382 children with a diagnosis of CMA, 168 were girls and 214 were boys. The average age at the time of diagnosis was 14.8 months (7 days-13 years). The average duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 9.2 months. A family history of atopic diseases was found in 64.2% of the patients. All of the mothers reported an increased consumption of cow's milk during their pregnancy. The most common symptoms were respiratory (43.2%) followed by gastrointestinal (GI) (22.5%) and skin manifestations (20.1%). Less common symptoms included failure to thrive (10.9%), anemia (2.8%), delayed speech due to chronic serous otitis media (0.2%) and anaphylactic shock (0.2%). A prick skin test with cow milk extract was positive in 61.4%. Exclusively breast-fed was found in 13.2% of the patients. Successful treatment included elimination of cow's milk and milk products and substitution with soy formula in 42.5%, partial hydrolysate formula (pHF) in 35.7%, extensive hydrolysate formula (eHF) in 14.2%, and amino acid formula in 1.7%. Continued breast feeding was successful in 5.9% (with maternal restriction of cow's milk and milk products). Our study demonstrates the variety of clinical manifestations of CMA in Thai children especially respiratory symptoms which are usually overlooked."}
{"id": "MED-902", "text": "The cytotoxicity of extracts from a widely used species of plant, Moringa stenopetala, was assessed in HEPG2 cells, by measuring the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cell viability. The functional integrity of extract-exposed cells was determined by measuring intracellular levels of ATP and glutathione (GSH). The ethanol extracts of leaves and seeds increased significantly (p < 0.01) LDH leakage in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The water extract of leaves and the ethanol extract of the root did not increase LDH leakage. A highly significant (p < 0.001) decrease in HEPG2 viability was found after incubating the cells with the highest concentration (500 microg/mL) of the ethanol leaf and seed extracts. At a concentration of 500 microg/mL, the water extract of leaves increased (p < 0.01), while the ethanol extract of the same plant part decreased (p < 0.01), ATP levels. The root and seed extracts had no significant effect on ATP levels. The ethanol leaf extract decreased GSH levels at a concentration of 500 microg/mL (p < 0.01), as did the ethanol extract of the seeds at 250 microg/mL and 500 microg/mL (p < 0.05). The water extract of the leaves did not alter GSH or LDH levels or affect cell viability, suggesting that it may be non-toxic, and is consistent with its use as a vegetable. The data obtained from the studies with the ethanol extract of the leaves and seeds from Moringa stenopetala show that they contain toxic substances that are extractable with organic solvents or are formed during the process of extraction with these solvents. The significant depletion of ATP and GSH only occurred at concentrations of extract that caused leakage of LDH. Further investigation with this plant in order to identify the constituents extracted and their individual toxic effects both in vivo and in vitro is warranted. This study also illustrates the utility of cell culture for screening plant extracts for potential toxicity. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-904", "text": "Pasteurization of milk ensures safety for human consumption by reducing the number of viable pathogenic bacteria. Although the public health benefits of pasteurization are well established, pro-raw milk advocate organizations continue to promote raw milk as \"nature's perfect food.\" Advocacy groups' claims include statements that pasteurization destroys important vitamins and that raw milk consumption can prevent and treat allergies, cancer, and lactose intolerance. A systematic review and meta-analysis was completed to summarize available evidence for these selected claims. Forty studies assessing the effects of pasteurization on vitamin levels were found. Qualitatively, vitamins B12 and E decreased following pasteurization, and vitamin A increased. Random effects meta-analysis revealed no significant effect of pasteurization on vitamin B6 concentrations (standardized mean difference [SMD], -2.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], -5.40, 0.8; P = 0.06) but a decrease in concentrations of vitamins B1 (SMD, -1.77; 95% CI, -2.57, -0.96; P < 0.001), B2 (SMD, -0.41; 95% CI, -0.81, -0.01; P < 0.05), C (SMD, -2.13; 95% CI, -3.52, -0.74; P < 0.01), and folate (SMD, -11.99; 95% CI, -20.95, -3.03; P < 0.01). The effect of pasteurization on milk's nutritive value was minimal because many of these vitamins are naturally found in relatively low levels. However, milk is an important dietary source of vitamin B2, and the impact of heat treatment should be further considered. Raw milk consumption may have a protective association with allergy development (six studies), although this relationship may be potentially confounded by other farming-related factors. Raw milk consumption was not associated with cancer (two studies) or lactose intolerance (one study). Overall, these findings should be interpreted with caution given the poor quality of reported methodology in many of the included studies."}
{"id": "MED-907", "text": "BACKGROUND: The contribution of various risk factors to the burden of stroke worldwide is unknown, particularly in countries of low and middle income. We aimed to establish the association of known and emerging risk factors with stroke and its primary subtypes, assess the contribution of these risk factors to the burden of stroke, and explore the differences between risk factors for stroke and myocardial infarction. METHODS: We undertook a standardised case-control study in 22 countries worldwide between March 1, 2007, and April 23, 2010. Cases were patients with acute first stroke (within 5 days of symptoms onset and 72 h of hospital admission). Controls had no history of stroke, and were matched with cases for age and sex. All participants completed a structured questionnaire and a physical examination, and most provided blood and urine samples. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and population-attributable risks (PARs) for the association of all stroke, ischaemic stroke, and intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke with selected risk factors. FINDINGS: In the first 3000 cases (n=2337, 78%, with ischaemic stroke; n=663, 22%, with intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke) and 3000 controls, significant risk factors for all stroke were: history of hypertension (OR 2.64, 99% CI 2.26-3.08; PAR 34.6%, 99% CI 30.4-39.1); current smoking (2.09, 1.75-2.51; 18.9%, 15.3-23.1); waist-to-hip ratio (1.65, 1.36-1.99 for highest vs lowest tertile; 26.5%, 18.8-36.0); diet risk score (1.35, 1.11-1.64 for highest vs lowest tertile; 18.8%, 11.2-29.7); regular physical activity (0.69, 0.53-0.90; 28.5%, 14.5-48.5); diabetes mellitus (1.36, 1.10-1.68; 5.0%, 2.6-9.5); alcohol intake (1.51, 1.18-1.92 for more than 30 drinks per month or binge drinking; 3.8%, 0.9-14.4); psychosocial stress (1.30, 1.06-1.60; 4.6%, 2.1-9.6) and depression (1.35, 1.10-1.66; 5.2%, 2.7-9.8); cardiac causes (2.38, 1.77-3.20; 6.7%, 4.8-9.1); and ratio of apolipoproteins B to A1 (1.89, 1.49-2.40 for highest vs lowest tertile; 24.9%, 15.7-37.1). Collectively, these risk factors accounted for 88.1% (99% CI 82.3-92.2) of the PAR for all stroke. When an alternate definition of hypertension was used (history of hypertension or blood pressure >160/90 mm Hg), the combined PAR was 90.3% (85.3-93.7) for all stroke. These risk factors were all significant for ischaemic stroke, whereas hypertension, smoking, waist-to-hip ratio, diet, and alcohol intake were significant risk factors for intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke. INTERPRETATION: Our findings suggest that ten risk factors are associated with 90% of the risk of stroke. Targeted interventions that reduce blood pressure and smoking, and promote physical activity and a healthy diet, could substantially reduce the burden of stroke. FUNDING: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Canadian Stroke Network, Pfizer Cardiovascular Award, Merck, AstraZeneca, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-910", "text": "The raw form of garlic and some of its preparations are widely recognized as antiplatelet agents that may contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Herein, we examined the in-vitro antiaggregatory activity (IVAA) of human blood platelets induced by extracts of garlic samples that were previously heated (in the form of crushed versus uncrushed cloves) using different cooking methods and intensities. The concentrations of allicin and pyruvate, two predictors of antiplatelet strength, were also monitored. Oven-heating at 200 degrees C or immersing in boiling water for 3 min or less did not affect the ability of garlic to inhibit platelet aggregation (as compared to raw garlic), whereas heating for 6 min completely suppressed IVAA in uncrushed, but not in previously crushed, samples. The latter samples had reduced, yet significant, antiplatelet activity. Prolonged incubation (more than 10 min) at these temperatures completely suppressed IVAA. Microwaved garlic had no effect on platelet aggregation. However, increasing the concentration of garlic juice in the aggregation reaction had a positive IVAA dose response in crushed, but not in uncrushed, microwaved samples. The addition of raw garlic juice to microwaved uncrushed garlic restored a full complement of antiplatelet activity that was completely lost without the garlic addition. Garlic-induced IVAA was always associated with allicin and pyruvate levels. Our results suggest that (1) allicin and thiosulfinates are responsible for the IVAA response, (2) crushing garlic before moderate cooking can reduce the loss of activity, and (3) the partial loss of antithrombotic effect in crushed-cooked garlic may be compensated by increasing the amount consumed."}
{"id": "MED-911", "text": "Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba commonly found in warm freshwater environments such as hot springs, lakes, natural mineral water, and resort spas frequented by tourists. N. fowleri is the etiologic agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), an acute fatal disease of the central nervous system that results in death in approximately seven days. Previously thought to be a rare condition, the number of reported PAM cases is increasing each year. PAM is difficult to diagnose because the clinical signs of the disease are similar to bacterial meningitis. Thus, the key to diagnosis is physician awareness and clinical suspicion. With the intent of creating awareness among travel medicine practitioners and the tourism industry, this review focuses on the presenting features of N. fowleri and PAM and offers insight into the prevention and treatment of the disease. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-912", "text": "Prunes are used by folks as a remedy of various diseases including hepatitis. A clinical trial was designed to see the effects of prunes (Prunus domestica) on liver function. 166 healthy volunteers were divided into three groups randomly. Either three (about 11.43g) or six (23g approx.) prunes were soaked in a glass of water (250ml) overnight. Each subject from two test groups was asked to drink prune juice & eat whole fruit(single or double dose of prunes) as well, early in the morning, daily for 8 weeks; whereas each subject from control group was given a glass of water to drink. Blood samples were taken at week 0 and week 8 for chemical analysis. There was significant reduction of serum alanine transaminase (p 0.048) and serum alkaline phosphatase (p 0.017) by the lower dose of prunes. There was no change in serum aspartate transaminase and bilirubin. Alteration in liver function by use of prunes may have clinical relevance in appropriate cases and prunes might prove beneficial in hepatic disease."}
{"id": "MED-913", "text": "In recent years, there has been a notable concern on the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods/plants, an important and complex area of research, which demands rigorous standards. Diverse groups including consumers and environmental Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) have suggested that all GM foods/plants should be subjected to long-term animal feeding studies before approval for human consumption. In 2000 and 2006, we reviewed the information published in international scientific journals, noting that the number of references concerning human and animal toxicological/health risks studies on GM foods/plants was very limited. The main goal of the present review was to assess the current state-of-the-art regarding the potential adverse effects/safety assessment of GM plants for human consumption. The number of citations found in databases (PubMed and Scopus) has dramatically increased since 2006. However, new information on products such as potatoes, cucumber, peas or tomatoes, among others was not available. Corn/maize, rice, and soybeans were included in the present review. An equilibrium in the number research groups suggesting, on the basis of their studies, that a number of varieties of GM products (mainly maize and soybeans) are as safe and nutritious as the respective conventional non-GM plant, and those raising still serious concerns, was currently observed. Nevertheless, it should be noted that most of these studies have been conducted by biotechnology companies responsible of commercializing these GM plants. These findings suggest a notable advance in comparison with the lack of studies published in recent years in scientific journals by those companies. All this recent information is herein critically reviewed. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-919", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The objective was to provide guidelines to clinicians for the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency with an emphasis on the care of patients who are at risk for deficiency. PARTICIPANTS: The Task Force was composed of a Chair, six additional experts, and a methodologist. The Task Force received no corporate funding or remuneration. CONSENSUS PROCESS: Consensus was guided by systematic reviews of evidence and discussions during several conference calls and e-mail communications. The draft prepared by the Task Force was reviewed successively by The Endocrine Society's Clinical Guidelines Subcommittee, Clinical Affairs Core Committee, and cosponsoring associations, and it was posted on The Endocrine Society web site for member review. At each stage of review, the Task Force received written comments and incorporated needed changes. CONCLUSIONS: Considering that vitamin D deficiency is very common in all age groups and that few foods contain vitamin D, the Task Force recommended supplementation at suggested daily intake and tolerable upper limit levels, depending on age and clinical circumstances. The Task Force also suggested the measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level by a reliable assay as the initial diagnostic test in patients at risk for deficiency. Treatment with either vitamin D(2) or vitamin D(3) was recommended for deficient patients. At the present time, there is not sufficient evidence to recommend screening individuals who are not at risk for deficiency or to prescribe vitamin D to attain the noncalcemic benefit for cardiovascular protection."}
{"id": "MED-920", "text": "Vitamin D was used to treat tuberculosis in the pre-antibiotic era. New insights into the immunomodulatory properties of 1alpha,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D have rekindled interest in vitamin D as an adjunct to antituberculous therapy. We describe the historical use of vitamin D in tuberculosis treatment; discuss the mechanisms by which it may modulate host response to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis; and review three clinical trials and ten case series in which vitamin D has been used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis."}
{"id": "MED-921", "text": "Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of mortality, responsible for 1\u00b768 million deaths worldwide in 2009. The global prevalence of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is estimated to be 32%, and this carries a 5-20% lifetime risk of reactivation disease. The emergence of drug-resistant organisms necessitates the development of new agents to enhance the response to antimicrobial therapy for active TB. Vitamin D was used to treat TB in the pre-antibiotic era, and its active metabolite, 1,25-dihydoxyvitamin D, has long been known to enhance the immune response to mycobacteria in vitro. Vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with active TB, and several clinical trials have evaluated the role of adjunctive vitamin D supplementation in its treatment. Results of these studies are conflicting, reflecting variation between studies in baseline vitamin D status of participants, dosing regimens and outcome measures. Vitamin D deficiency is also recognised to be highly prevalent among people with latent M. tuberculosis infection in both high- and low-burden settings, and there is a wealth of observational epidemiological evidence linking vitamin D deficiency with increased risk of reactivation disease. Randomised controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of active TB have yet to be performed, however. The conduct of such trials is a research priority, given the safety and low cost of vitamin D supplementation, and the potentially huge public health consequences of positive results."}
{"id": "MED-923", "text": "The effects of glucocorticoid on lipid metabolism of broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) skeletal muscle were investigated. Male Arbor Acres chickens (35 days old) were subjected to dexamethasone treatment for 3 days. We found that dexamethasone retards body growth while facilitating lipid accumulation. In M. pectoralis major (PM), dexamethasone increased the expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR), fatty acid transport protein 1 (FATP1), heart fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) and long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCAD) mRNA and decreased the expression of liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (L-CPT1), adenosine-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) \u03b12 and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA. LPL activity was also decreased. In M. biceps femoris (BF), the levels of GR, FATP1 and L-CPT1 mRNA were increased. AMPK\u03b1 (Thr172) phosphorylation and CTP1 activity of skeletal muscle were decreased by dexamethasone. In fed chickens, dexamethasone enhanced very low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) expression and AMPK activity in muscle, but it impaired the expression of LPL and L-CPT1 mRNA and LPL activity in PM and augmented the expression of GR, LPL, H-FABP, L-CPT1, LCAD and AMPK\u03b12 mRNA in BF. Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) protein expression was not affected by dexamethasone. In conclusion, in the fasting state, dexamethasone-induced-retarded fatty acid utilisation may be involved in the augmented intramyocellular lipid accumulation in both glycolytic (PM) and oxidative (BF) muscle tissues. In the fed state, dexamethasone promoted the transcriptional activity of genes related to lipid uptake and oxidation in muscles. Unmatched lipid uptake and utilisation are suggested to be involved in the augmented intramyocellular lipid accumulation."}
{"id": "MED-928", "text": "Background Bioavailability of omega-3 fatty acids (FA) depends on their chemical form. Superior bioavailability has been suggested for phospholipid (PL) bound omega-3 FA in krill oil, but identical doses of different chemical forms have not been compared. Methods In a double-blinded crossover trial, we compared the uptake of three EPA+DHA formulations derived from fish oil (re-esterified triacylglycerides [rTAG], ethyl-esters [EE]) and krill oil (mainly PL). Changes of the FA compositions in plasma PL were used as a proxy for bioavailability. Twelve healthy young men (mean age 31 y) were randomized to 1680 mg EPA+DHA given either as rTAG, EE or krill oil. FA levels in plasma PL were analyzed pre-dose and 2, 4, 6, 8, 24, 48, and 72 h after capsule ingestion. Additionally, the proportion of free EPA and DHA in the applied supplements was analyzed. Results The highest incorporation of EPA+DHA into plasma PL was provoked by krill oil (mean AUC0-72 h: 80.03 \u00b1 34.71%*h), followed by fish oil rTAG (mean AUC0-72 h: 59.78 \u00b1 36.75%*h) and EE (mean AUC0-72 h: 47.53 \u00b1 38.42%*h). Due to high standard deviation values, there were no significant differences for DHA and the sum of EPA+DHA levels between the three treatments. However, a trend (p = 0.057) was observed for the differences in EPA bioavailability. Statistical pair-wise group comparison's revealed a trend (p = 0.086) between rTAG and krill oil. FA analysis of the supplements showed that the krill oil sample contained 22% of the total EPA amount as free EPA and 21% of the total DHA amount as free DHA, while the two fish oil samples did not contain any free FA. Conclusion Further studies with a larger sample size carried out over a longer period are needed to substantiate our findings and to determine differences in EPA+DHA bioavailability between three common chemical forms of LC n-3 FA (rTAG, EE and krill oil). The unexpected high content of free EPA and DHA in krill oil, which might have a significant influence on the availability of EPA+DHA from krill oil, should be investigated in more depth and taken into consideration in future trials."}
{"id": "MED-930", "text": "Mean hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) concentrations, measured in seawater and air samples, confirmed the decline in levels of these compounds in Antarctic air and water. However, low alpha/gamma-HCH ratios in air at the beginning of the sampling period suggest a predominance of fresh lindane entering the Antarctic atmosphere during the Austral spring probably due to current use in the Southern Hemisphere. Water-air fugacity ratios demonstrate the potential for HCH gas deposition to coastal Antarctic seas, while the water-air fugacity ratios for HCB imply that volatilization does not account for the observed decrease of HCB in surface seawater. HCH concentrations found in krill samples were correlated with seawater concentrations indicative of bioconcentration of HCHs from seawater."}
{"id": "MED-931", "text": "This study evaluated the toxicological sensitivity of non-feeding larval stages of a key Antarctic species (Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba) to p,p'-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) exposure. The aqueous uptake clearance rate of 84 mL g(-1) preserved weight (p.w.) h(-1) determined for p,p'-DDE in Antarctic krill larvae is comparable to previous findings for small cold water crustaceans and five times slower than the rates reported for an amphipod inhabiting warmer waters. Natural variations in larval physiology appear to influence contaminant uptake and larval krill behavioural responses, strongly highlighting the importance of time of measurement for ecotoxicological testing. Sublethal narcosis (immobility) was observed in larval Antarctic krill from p,p'-DDE body residues of 0.2 mmol/kg p.w., which is in agreement with findings for adult krill and temperate aquatic species. The finding of comparable body residue-based toxicity of p,p'-DDE between polar and temperate species supports the tissue residue approach for environmental risk assessment of polar ecosystems. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-943", "text": "A heat stable toxin present in needles of ponderosa pine was found to be soluble in methanol, ethanol, chloroform hexanes and 1-butanol. The embryotoxic effects of fresh green pine needles and a chloroform/methanol extract were determined by measuring embryo resorption in pregnant mice. Autoclaving the needles and extract for 1 hour prior to feeding enhanced the embryoresorptive effect by 28% and 32%, respectively. The results of this study revealed that the embryo resorptive dose (ERD50) of heat stable toxin for 1 mouse was 8.95 gms. for fresh green pine needles and 6.46 gms. for autoclaved green pine needles. In addition to embryocidal effects, feeding of the toxin resulted in significant weight loss in adult mice."}
{"id": "MED-948", "text": "Sprouted vegetable seeds used as food have been implicated as sources of outbreaks of Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. We profiled the microbiological quality of sprouts and seeds sold at retail shops in Seoul, Korea. Ninety samples of radish sprouts and mixed sprouts purchased at department stores, supermarkets, and traditional markets and 96 samples of radish, alfalfa, and turnip seeds purchased from online stores were analyzed to determine the number of total aerobic bacteria (TAB) and molds or yeasts (MY) and the incidence of Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, and Enterobacter sakazakii. Significantly higher numbers of TAB (7.52 log CFU/g) and MY (7.36 log CFU/g) were present on mixed sprouts than on radish sprouts (6.97 and 6.50 CFU/g, respectively). Populations of TAB and MY on the sprouts were not significantly affected by location of purchase. Radish seeds contained TAB and MY populations of 4.08 and 2.42 log CFU/g, respectively, whereas populations of TAB were only 2.54 to 2.84 log CFU/g and populations of MY were 0.82 to 1.69 log CFU/g on alfalfa and turnip seeds, respectively. Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 were not detected on any of the sprout and seed samples tested. E. sakazakii was not found on seeds, but 13.3% of the mixed sprout samples contained this potentially pathogenic bacterium."}
{"id": "MED-950", "text": "BACKGROUND: The association between consumption of multivitamins and breast cancer is inconsistent in epidemiologic studies. OBJECTIVE: To perform a meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies to evaluate multivitamin intake and its relationship with breast cancer risk. METHODS: The published literature was systematically searched and reviewed using MEDLINE (1950 through July 2010), EMBASE (1980 through July 2010), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2010 issue 1). Studies that included specific risk estimates were pooled using a random-effects model. The bias and quality of these studies were assessed with REVMAN statistical software (version 5.0) and the GRADE method of the Cochrane Collaboration. RESULTS: Eight of 27 studies that included 355,080 subjects were available for analysis. The total duration of multivitamin use in these trials ranged from 3 to 10 years. The frequency of current use in these studies ranged from 2 to 6 times/week. In analyses by duration of use 10 years or longer or 3 years or longer and by frequency 7 or more times/week that were reported in these studies, multivitamin use was not significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer. Only 1 recent Swedish cohort study concluded that multivitamin use is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The results of a meta-analysis that pooled data from 5 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies indicated that the overall multivariable relative risk and odds ratio were 0.10 (95% CI 0.60 to 1.63; p = 0.98) and 1.00 (95% CI 0.51 to 1.00; p = 1.00), respectively. The association was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Multivitamin use is likely not associated with a significant increased or decreased risk of breast cancer, but these results highlight the need for more case-control studies or randomized controlled clinical trials to further examine this relationship."}
{"id": "MED-951", "text": "BACKGROUND: Vitamin supplementation is used for many purposes with mainly alleged benefits. One of these is the use of various vitamins for the prevention of prostate cancer. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on this topic. Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Database were searched; as well, we hand searched the references in key articles. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies and case-control studies were included. The review assessed the effect of supplemental vitamins on the risk of prostate cancer and on disease severity and death in men with prostate cancer. RESULTS: Fourteen articles were included in the final assessment. Individually, a few of these studies showed a relationship between the ingestion of supplemental vitamins or minerals and the incidence or severity of prostate cancer, especially in smokers. However, neither the use of multivitamin supplementation nor the use of individual vitamin/mineral supplementation affected the overall occurrence of prostate cancer or the occurrence of advanced/metastatic prostate cancer or death from prostate cancer when the results of the studies were combined in a meta-analysis. We also conducted several sensitivity analyses by running meta-analysis using just the higher quality studies and just the RCTs. There were still no associations found. CONCLUSIONS: There is no convincing evidence that the use of supplemental multivitamins or any specific vitamin affects the occurrence or severity of prostate cancer. There was high heterogeneity among the studies so it is possible that unidentified subgroups may benefit or be harmed by the use of vitamins."}
{"id": "MED-955", "text": "Because of volatilization and leaching from their application in consumer and personal care products, phthalate esters are ubiquitous contaminants in the indoor environment. In this study, we measured concentrations and profiles of 9 phthalate esters in indoor dust samples collected from six cities in China (n = 75). For comparison, we also analyzed samples collected from Albany, New York, USA (n = 33). The results indicated that concentrations, except for dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and profiles of phthalate esters varied significantly between the two countries. Concentrations of diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-hexyl phthalate (DNHP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BzBP) were 5 to 10 times higher in dust samples collected from Albany than those from the Chinese cities. In contrast, concentrations of di-iso-butyl phthalate (DIBP) in dust samples from Albany were 5 times lower than those from the Chinese cities. We estimated the daily intake (DI) of phthalate esters through the routes of dust ingestion and dermal dust absorption. The extent of contribution of indoor dust to human exposures varied, depending on the type of phthalate esters. The contribution of dust to DEHP exposure was 2-5% and 10-58% of the estimated total DIs in China and the USA, respectively. On the basis of the estimates of total DIs of phthalates, extrapolated from urinary metabolite concentrations, the contributions of inhalation, dermal absorption, and dietary intake to total DIs were estimated. The results indicated that dietary intake is the main source of exposure to DEHP (especially in China), whereas dermal exposure was a major source for DEP. This is the first study to elucidate sources of human exposure to phthalates among the general population in China."}
{"id": "MED-956", "text": "For 20 years, many articles report the presence of new compounds, called \"emerging compounds\", in wastewater and aquatic environments. The US EPA (United States - Environmental Protection Agency) defines emerging pollutants as new chemicals without regulatory status and which impact on environment and human health are poorly understood. The objective of this work was to identify data on emerging pollutants concentrations in wastewater, in influent and effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and to determine the performance of sewage disposal. We collected 44 publications in our database. We sought especially for data on phthalates, Bisphenol A and pharmaceuticals (including drugs for human health and disinfectants). We gathered concentration data and chose 50 pharmaceutical molecules, six phthalates and Bisphenol A. The concentrations measured in the influent ranged from 0.007 to 56.63 \u03bcg per liter and the removal rates ranges from 0% (contrast media) to 97% (psychostimulant). Caffeine is the molecule whose concentration in influent was highest among the molecules investigated (in means 56.63 \u03bcg per liter) with a removal rate around 97%, leading to a concentration in the effluent that did not exceed 1.77 \u03bcg per liter. The concentrations of ofloxacin were the lowest and varied between 0.007 and 2.275 \u03bcg per liter in the influent treatment plant and 0.007 and 0.816 \u03bcg per liter in the effluent. Among phthalates, DEHP is the most widely used, and quantified by the authors in wastewater, and the rate of removal of phthalates is greater than 90% for most of the studied compounds. The removal rate for antibiotics is about 50% and 71% for Bisphenol A. Analgesics, anti inflammatories and beta-blockers are the most resistant to treatment (30-40% of removal rate). Some pharmaceutical molecules for which we have not collected many data and which concentrations seem high as Tetracycline, Codeine and contrast products deserve further research. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-957", "text": "Capsicum-derived ingredients function as skin-conditioning agents--miscellaneous, external analgesics, flavoring agents, or fragrance components in cosmetics. These ingredients are used in 19 cosmetic products at concentrations as high as 5%. Cosmetic-grade material may be extracted using hexane, ethanol, or vegetable oil and contain the full range of phytocompounds that are found in the Capsicum annuum or Capsicum frutescens plant (aka red chiles), including Capsaicin. Aflatoxin and N-nitroso compounds (N-nitrosodimethylamine and N-nitrosopyrrolidine) have been detected as contaminants. The ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectrum for Capsicum Annuum Fruit Extract indicates a small peak at approximately 275 nm, and a gradual increase in absorbance, beginning at approximately 400 nm. Capsicum and paprika are generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food. Hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate extracts of Capsicum Frutescens Fruit at 200 mg/kg resulted in death of all mice. In a short-term inhalation toxicity study using rats, no difference was found between vehicle control and a 7% Capsicum Oleoresin solution. In a 4-week feeding study, red chilli (Capsicum annuum) in the diet at concentrations up to 10% was relatively nontoxic in groups of male mice. In an 8-week feeding study using rats, intestinal exfoliation, cytoplasmic fatty vacuolation and centrilobular necrosis of hepatocytes, and aggregation of lymphocytes in the portal areas were seen at 10% Capsicum Frutescens Fruit, but not 2%. Rats fed 0.5 g/kg day-1 crude Capsicum Fruit Extract for 60 days exhibited no significant gross pathology at necropsy, but slight hyperemia of the liver and reddening of the gastric mucosa were observed. Weanling rats fed basal diets supplemented with whole red pepper at concentrations up to 5.0% for up to 8 weeks had no pathology of the large intestines, livers, and kidneys, but destruction of the taste buds and keratinization and erosion of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract were noted in groups fed 0.5% to 5.0% red pepper. The results of 9-and 12-month extension of this study showed normal large intestines and kidneys. In rabbits fed Capsicum Annuum Powder at 5 mg/kg day-1 in the diet daily for 12 months damage to the liver and spleen was noted. A rabbit skin irritation test of Capsicum Annuum Fruit Extract at concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 1.0% produced no irritation, but Capsicum Frutescens Fruit Extract induced concentration-dependent (at 25 to 500 microg/ml) cytotoxicity in a human buccal mucosa fibroblast cell line. An ethanol extract of red chili was mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium TA98, but not in TA100, or in Escherichia coli. Other genotoxicity assays gave a similar pattern of mixed results. Adenocarcinoma of the abdomen was observed in 7/20 mice fed 100 mg red chilies per day for 12 months; no tumors were seen in control animals. Neoplastic changes in the liver and intestinal tumors were observed in rats fed red chili powder at 80 mg/kg day-1 for 30 days, intestinal and colon tumors were seen in rats fed red chili powder and 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine, but no tumors were observed in controls. In another study in rats, however, red chile pepper in the diet at the same dose decreased the number of tumors seen with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. Other feeding studies evaluated the effect of red chili peppers on the incidence of stomach tumors produced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, finding that red pepper had a promoting effect. Capsicum Frutescens Fruit Extract promoted the carcinogenic effect of methyl(acetoxymethyl)nitrosamine (carcinogen) or benzene hexachloride (hepatocarcinogen) in inbred male and female Balb/c mice dosed orally (tongue application). Clinical findings include symptoms of cough, sneezing, and runny nose in chili factory workers. Human respiratory responses to Capsicum Oleoresin spray include burning of the throat, wheezing, dry cough, shortness of breath, gagging, gasping, inability to breathe or speak, and, rarely, cyanosis, apnea, and respiratory arrest. A trade name mixture containing 1% to 5% Capsicum Frutescens Fruit Extract induced very slight erythema in 1 of 10 volunteers patch tested for 48 h. Capsicum Frutescens Fruit Extract at 0.025% in a repeated-insult patch test using 103 subjects resulted in no clinically meaningful irritation or allergic contact dermatitis. One epidemiological study indicated that chili pepper consumption may be a strong risk factor for gastric cancer in populations with high intakes of chili pepper; however, other studies did not find this association. Capsaicin functions as an external analgesic, a fragrance ingredient, and as a skin-conditioning agent--miscellaneous in cosmetic products, but is not in current use. Capsaicin is not generally recognized as safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for fever blister and cold sore treatment, but is considered to be safe and effective as an external analgesic counterirritant. Ingested Capsaicin is rapidly absorbed from the stomach and small intestine in animal studies. Subcutaneous injection of Capsaicin in rats resulted in a rise in the blood concentration, reaching a maximum at 5 h; the highest tissue concentrations were in the kidney and lowest in the liver. In vitro percutaneous absorption of Capsaicin has been demonstrated in human, rat, mouse, rabbit, and pig skin. Enhancement of the skin permeation of naproxen (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent) in the presence of Capsaicin has also been demonstrated. Pharmacological and physiological studies demonstrated that Capsaicin, which contains a vanillyl moiety, produces its sensory effects by activating a Ca2 +-permeable ion channel on sensory neurons. Capsaicin is a known activator of vanilloid receptor 1. Capsaicin-induced stimulation of prostaglandin biosynthesis has been shown using bull seminal vesicles and rheumatoid arthritis synoviocytes. Capsaicin inhibits protein synthesis in Vero kidney cells and human neuroblastoma SHSY-5Y cells in vitro, and inhibits growth of E. coli, Pseudomonas solanacearum, and Bacillus subtilis bacterial cultures, but not Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Oral LD50 values as low as 161.2 mg/kg (rats) and 118.8 mg/kg (mice) have been reported for Capsaicin in acute oral toxicity studies, with hemorrhage of the gastric fundus observed in some of the animals that died. Intravenous, intraperitoneal, and subcutaneous LD50 values were lower. In subchronic oral toxicity studies using mice, Capsaicin produced statistically significant differences in the growth rate and liver/body weight increases. Capsaicin is an ocular irritant in mice, rats, and rabbits. Dose-related edema was observed in animals receiving Capsaicin injections into the hindpaw (rats) or application to the ear (mice). In guinea pigs, dinitrochlorobenzene contact dermatitis was enhanced in the presence of Capsaicin, injected subcutaneously, whereas dermal application inhibited sensitization in mice. Immune system effects have been observed in neonatal rats injected subcutaneously with Capsaicin. Capsaicin produced mixed results in S. typhimurium micronucleus and sister-chromatid exchange genotoxicity assays. Positive results for Capsaicin were reported in DNA damage assays. Carcinogenic, cocarcinogenic, anticarcinogenic, antitumorigenic, tumor promotion, and anti-tumor promotion effects of Capsaicin have been reported in animal studies. Except for a significant reduction in crown-rump length in day 18 rats injected subcutaneously with Capsaicin (50 mg/kg) on gestation days 14, 16, 18, or 20, no reproductive or developmental toxicity was noted. In pregnant mice dosed subcutaneously with Capsaicin, depletion of substance P in the spinal cord and peripheral nerves of pregnant females and fetuses was noted. In clinical tests, nerve degeneration of intracutaneous nerve fibers and a decrease in pain sensation induced by heat and mechanical stimuli were evident in subjects injected intradermally with Capsaicin. An increase in mean inspiratory flow was reported for eight normal subjects who inhaled nebulized 10(-7) M Capsaicin. The results of provocative and predictive tests involving human subjects indicated that Capsaicin is a skin irritant. Overall, studies suggested that these ingredients can be irritating at low concentrations. Although the genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and tumor promotion potential of Capsaicin have been demonstrated, so have opposite effects. Skin irritation and other tumor-promoting effects of Capsaicin appear to be mediated through interaction with the same vanilloid receptor. Given this mechanism of action and the observation that many tumor promoters are irritating to the skin, the Panel considered it likely that a potent tumor promoter may also be a moderate to severe skin irritant. Thus, a limitation on Capsaicin content that would significantly reduce its skin irritation potential is expected to, in effect, lessen any concerns relating to tumor promotion potential. Because Capsaicin enhanced the penetration of an anti-inflammatory agent through human skin, the Panel recommends that care should be exercised in using ingredients that contain Capsaicin in cosmetic products. The Panel advised industry that the total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)/pesticide contamination should be limited to not more than 40 ppm, with not more than 10 ppm for any specific residue, and agreed on the following limitations for other impurities: arsenic (3 mg/kg max), heavy metals (0.002% max), and lead (5 mg/kg max). Industry was also advised that aflatoxin should not be present in these ingredients (the Panel adopted < or =15 ppb as corresponding to \"negative\" aflatoxin content), and that ingredients derived from Capsicum annuum and Capsicum Frutescens Plant species should not be used in products where N-nitroso compounds may be formed. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)"}
{"id": "MED-963", "text": "The public perceives that the nutritional quality of eggs produced as free range is superior to that of eggs produced in cages. Therefore, this study compared the nutrient content of free-range vs. cage-produced shell eggs by examining the effects of the laboratory, production environment, and hen age. A flock of 500 Hy-Line Brown layers were hatched simultaneously and received the same care (i.e., vaccination, lighting, and feeding regimen), with the only difference being access to the range. The nutrient content of the eggs was analyzed for cholesterol, n-3 fatty acids, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, \u03b2-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E. The same egg pool was divided and sent to 4 different laboratories for analysis. The laboratory was found to have a significant effect on the content of all nutrients in the analysis except for cholesterol. Total fat content in the samples varied (P < 0.001) from a high of 8.88% to a low of 6.76% in laboratories D and C, respectively. Eggs from the range production environment had more total fat (P < 0.05), monounsaturated fat (P < 0.05), and polyunsaturated fat (P < 0.001) than eggs produced by caged hens. Levels of n-3 fatty acids were also higher (P < 0.05), at 0.17% in range eggs vs. 0.14% in cage eggs. The range environment had no effect on cholesterol (163.42 and 165.38 mg/50 g in eggs from caged and range hens, respectively). Vitamin A and E levels were not affected by the husbandry to which the hens were exposed but were lowest at 62 wk of age. The age of the hens did not influence the fat levels in the egg, but cholesterol levels were highest (P < 0.001) at 62 wk of age (172.54 mg/50 g). Although range production did not influence the cholesterol level in the egg, there was an increase in fat levels in eggs produced on the range."}
{"id": "MED-965", "text": "Since the discovery in the 1980s that nitric oxide (NO) is in fact the elusive endothelium-derived relaxing factor, it has become evident that NO is not only a major cardiovascular signalling molecule, but that changes in its bioavailability are crucial in determining whether atherosclerosis will develop or not. Sustained high levels of harmful circulating stimuli associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus elicit responses in endothelial cells that appear sequentially, namely endothelial cell activation and endothelial dysfunction (ED). ED, characterised by reduced NO bioavailability, is now recognised by many as an early, reversible precursor of atherosclerosis. The pathogenesis of ED is multifactorial; however, oxidative stress appears to be the common underlying cellular mechanism in the ensuing loss of vaso-active, inflammatory, haemostatic and redox homeostasis in the body\u2019s vascular system. The role of ED as a pathophysiological link between early endothelial cell changes associated with cardiovascular risk factors and the development of ischaemic heart disease is of importance to basic scientists and clinicians alike."}
{"id": "MED-969", "text": "The endothelium is a highly metabolically active organ that is involved in many physiological processes, including the control of vasomotor tone, barrier function, leukocyte adhesion and trafficking, inflammation, and hemostasis. Endothelial cell phenotypes are differentially regulated in space and time. Endothelial cell heterogeneity has important implications for developing strategies in basic research, diagnostics and therapeutics. The goals of this review are to: (i) consider mechanisms of endothelial cell heterogeneity; (ii) discuss the bench-to-bedside gap in endothelial biomedicine; (iii) revisit definitions for endothelial cell activation and dysfunction; and (iv) propose new goals in diagnosis and therapy. Finally, these themes will be applied to an understanding of vascular bed-specific hemostasis."}
{"id": "MED-970", "text": "Objective To examine the associations of a vegetarian diet and dietary fibre intake with risk of diverticular disease. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting The EPIC-Oxford study, a cohort of mainly health conscious participants recruited from around the United Kingdom. Participants 47\u2009033 men and women living in England or Scotland of whom 15\u2009459 (33%) reported consuming a vegetarian diet. Main outcome measures Diet group was assessed at baseline; intake of dietary fibre was estimated from a 130 item validated food frequency questionnaire. Cases of diverticular disease were identified through linkage with hospital records and death certificates. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the risk of diverticular disease by diet group and fifths of intake of dietary fibre were estimated with multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results After a mean follow-up time of 11.6 years, there were 812 cases of diverticular disease (806 admissions to hospital and six deaths). After adjustment for confounding variables, vegetarians had a 31% lower risk (relative risk 0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.55 to 0.86) of diverticular disease compared with meat eaters. The cumulative probability of admission to hospital or death from diverticular disease between the ages of 50 and 70 for meat eaters was 4.4% compared with 3.0% for vegetarians. There was also an inverse association with dietary fibre intake; participants in the highest fifth (\u226525.5 g/day for women and \u226526.1 g/day for men) had a 41% lower risk (0.59, 0.46 to 0.78; P<0.001 trend) compared with those in the lowest fifth (<14 g/day for both women and men). After mutual adjustment, both a vegetarian diet and a higher intake of fibre were significantly associated with a lower risk of diverticular disease. Conclusions Consuming a vegetarian diet and a high intake of dietary fibre were both associated with a lower risk of admission to hospital or death from diverticular disease."}
{"id": "MED-973", "text": "There is no recognized definition of what constitutes a high fiber diet. Intakes of dietary fiber in different populations internationally vary widely from less than 20 g to more than 80 g per day. The types of foods contributing fiber also vary; in some countries cereals contribute the most fiber, in others leafy or root vegetables predominate. Vegetables have the highest fiber content per Kcal, and in most populations with fiber intakes over 50 g, vegetables contribute over 50% of total fiber intake. In rural Uganda, where the fiber hypothesis was first developed by Burkitt and Trowell, vegetables contribute over 90% of fiber intake. An experimental diet, the \"Simian\" diet, has been developed to mimic as closely as possible using human foods, the diet consumed by our simian ancestors the great apes. It is also similar to the Ugandan diet in containing large amounts of vegetables and 50 g fiber/1000 Kcal. Though nutritionally adequate, this diet is very bulky and not a suitable model for general recommendations. Dietary guidelines are that fat intake should be < 30% of energy, with a fiber intake of 20-35 g/d. These recommendations are inconsistent with a high fiber diet because, for people consuming more than about 2400 Kcal, low fiber choices for fruits and grains must be selected to keep dietary fiber intake within the range of 20-35 g. In a 30% fat, 1800 Kcal omnivorous diet, selection of wholemeal bread and whole fruit, results in a fiber intake over 35 g/d, and for and 1800 Kcal vegetarian diet, with substitution of modest amounts of peanut butter and beans for meats, dietary fiber intake goes up to 45 g/d. Thus, if it is desirable to promote the use of unrefined foods, the recommended dietary fiber intake should be a minimum of 15-20 g/1000 Kcal."}
{"id": "MED-976", "text": "Phleboliths, and especially diverticular disease and hiatus hernia, are rarer in developing countries than in economically more developed communities, but all three conditions were as common in Black as in White Americans. This finding suggests that they are due to environmental rather than to genetic causes. A deficient intake of dietary fibre may be the common factor predisposing to these three conditions."}
{"id": "MED-977", "text": "Background & Aims Asymptomatic diverticulosis is commonly attributed to constipation secondary to a low-fiber diet, although evidence for this mechanism is limited. We examined the associations between constipation and low dietary fiber intake with risk of asymptomatic diverticulosis. Methods We performed a cross sectional study, analyzing data from 539 individuals with diverticulosis and 1569 without (controls). Participants underwent colonoscopy and assessment of diet, physical activity and bowel habits. Our analysis was limited our analysis to participants with no knowledge of their diverticular disease, to reduce the risk of biased responses. Results Constipation was not associated with an increased risk of diverticulosis. Participants with less frequent bowel movements (BM: <7/wk) had reduced odds of diverticulosis compared to those with regular (7/wk) BM (odds ratio [OR] 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40\u20130.80). Those reporting hard stools also had a reduced odds (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.55\u20131.02). There was no association between diverticulosis and straining (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.59\u20131.22) or incomplete BM (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.61\u20131.20). We found no association between dietary fiber intake and diverticulosis (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.71\u20131.30) in comparing the highest quartile to the lowest (mean intake 25 versus 8 g/day). Conclusions In our cross-sectional, colonoscopy-based study, neither constipation nor a low-fiber diet was associated with an increased risk of diverticulosis."}
{"id": "MED-980", "text": "Background An increased rate of brain atrophy is often observed in older subjects, in particular those who suffer from cognitive decline. Homocysteine is a risk factor for brain atrophy, cognitive impairment and dementia. Plasma concentrations of homocysteine can be lowered by dietary administration of B vitamins. Objective To determine whether supplementation with B vitamins that lower levels of plasma total homocysteine can slow the rate of brain atrophy in subjects with mild cognitive impairment in a randomised controlled trial (VITACOG, ISRCTN 94410159). Methods and Findings Single-center, randomized, double-blind controlled trial of high-dose folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12 in 271 individuals (of 646 screened) over 70 y old with mild cognitive impairment. A subset (187) volunteered to have cranial MRI scans at the start and finish of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups of equal size, one treated with folic acid (0.8 mg/d), vitamin B12 (0.5 mg/d) and vitamin B6 (20 mg/d), the other with placebo; treatment was for 24 months. The main outcome measure was the change in the rate of atrophy of the whole brain assessed by serial volumetric MRI scans. Results A total of 168 participants (85 in active treatment group; 83 receiving placebo) completed the MRI section of the trial. The mean rate of brain atrophy per year was 0.76% [95% CI, 0.63\u20130.90] in the active treatment group and 1.08% [0.94\u20131.22] in the placebo group (P\u200a=\u200a0.001). The treatment response was related to baseline homocysteine levels: the rate of atrophy in participants with homocysteine >13 \u00b5mol/L was 53% lower in the active treatment group (P\u200a=\u200a0.001). A greater rate of atrophy was associated with a lower final cognitive test scores. There was no difference in serious adverse events according to treatment category. Conclusions and Significance The accelerated rate of brain atrophy in elderly with mild cognitive impairment can be slowed by treatment with homocysteine-lowering B vitamins. Sixteen percent of those over 70 y old have mild cognitive impairment and half of these develop Alzheimer's disease. Since accelerated brain atrophy is a characteristic of subjects with mild cognitive impairment who convert to Alzheimer's disease, trials are needed to see if the same treatment will delay the development of Alzheimer's disease. Trial Registration Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN94410159"}
{"id": "MED-981", "text": "There is strong evidence indicating that elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels are a major independent biomarker and/or a contributor to chronic conditions, such as CVD. A deficiency of vitamin B\u2081\u2082 can elevate homocysteine. Vegetarians are a group of the population who are potentially at greater risk of vitamin B\u2081\u2082 deficiency than omnivores. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to appraise a range of studies that compared the homocysteine and vitamin B\u2081\u2082 levels of vegetarians and omnivores. The search methods employed identified 443 entries, from which, by screening using set inclusion and exclusion criteria, six eligible cohort case studies and eleven cross-sectional studies from 1999 to 2010 were revealed, which compared concentrations of plasma tHcy and serum vitamin B\u2081\u2082 of omnivores, lactovegetarians or lacto-ovovegetarians and vegans. Of the identified seventeen studies (3230 participants), only two studies reported that vegan concentrations of plasma tHcy and serum vitamin B\u2081\u2082 did not differ from omnivores. The present study confirmed that an inverse relationship exists between plasma tHcy and serum vitamin B\u2081\u2082, from which it can be concluded that the usual dietary source of vitamin B\u2081\u2082 is animal products and those who choose to omit or restrict these products are destined to become vitamin B\u2081\u2082 deficient. At present, the available supplement, which is usually used for fortification of food, is the unreliable cyanocobalamin. A well-designed study is needed to investigate a reliable and suitable supplement to normalise the elevated plasma tHcy of a high majority of vegetarians. This would fill the gaps in the present nutritional scientific knowledge."}
{"id": "MED-982", "text": "Mild to moderate hyperhomocysteinemia is a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. Human studies suggest that homocysteine (Hcy) plays a role in brain damage, cognitive and memory decline. Numerous studies in recent years investigated the role of Hcy as a cause of brain damage. Hcy itself or folate and vitamin B12 deficiency can cause disturbed methylation and/or redox potentials, thus promoting calcium influx, amyloid and tau protein accumulation, apoptosis, and neuronal death. The Hcy effect may also be mediated by activating the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subtype. Numerous neurotoxic effects of Hcy can be blocked by folate, glutamate receptor antagonists, or various antioxidants. This review describes the most important mechanisms of Hcy neurotoxicity and pharmacological agents known to reverse Hcy effects."}
{"id": "MED-984", "text": "We investigated total, free and protein-bound plasma homocysteine, cysteine and cysteinylglycine in 13 subjects aged 24-29 y after a breakfast at 0900 h containing 15-18 g of protein and a dinner at 1500 h containing approximately 50 g of protein. Twelve subjects had normal fasting homocysteine (mean +/- SD, 7.6 +/- 1.1 mumol/L) and methionine concentrations (22.7 +/- 3.5 mumol/L) and were included in the statistical analyses. Breakfast caused a small but significant increase in plasma methionine (22.2 +/- 20.6%) and a brief, nonsignificant increase followed by a significant decline in free homocysteine. However, changes in total and bound homocysteine were small. After dinner, there was a marked increase in plasma methionine by 16.7 +/- 8.9 mumol/L (87.9 +/- 49%), which was associated with a rapid and marked increase in free homocysteine (33.7 +/- 19.6%, 4 h after dinner) and a moderate and slow increase in total (13.5 +/- 7.5%, 8 h) and protein-bound (12.6 +/- 9.4%, 8 h) homocysteine. After both meals, cysteine and cysteinylglycine concentrations seemed related to changes in homocysteine, because there were parallel fluctuations in the free:bound ratios of all three thiols. Dietary changes in plasma homocysteine will probably not affect the evaluation of vitamin deficiency states associated with moderate to severe hyperhomocysteinemia but may be of concern in the risk assessment of cardiovascular disease in patients with mild hyperhomocysteinemia. Synchronous fluctuations in the free:bound ratio of the plasma aminothiol compounds indicate that biological effects of homocysteine may be difficult to separate from effects due to associated changes in other aminothiol compounds."}
{"id": "MED-985", "text": "Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) is the most common form of neurodegenerative disease. The vast majority cases of AD are sporadic, without clear cause, and a combination of environmental and genetic factors have been implicated. The hypothesis that homocysteine (Hcy) is a risk factor for AD was initially prompted by the observation that patients with histologically confirmed AD had higher plasma levels of Hcy, also called hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), than age-matched controls. Most evidence accumulated so far implicates HHcy as a risk factor for AD onset, but conflicting results also exist. In this review, we summarize reports on the relationship between HHCy and AD from epidemiological investigations, including observational studies and randomized controlled clinical trials. We also examine recent in vivo and in vitro studies of potential mechanisms whereby HHcy may influence AD development. Finally, we discuss possible reasons for the existing conflicting data, and provide suggestions for future studies."}
{"id": "MED-986", "text": "Elevated total plasma homocysteine has been linked to the development of cognitive impairment and dementia in later life and this can be reliably lowered by the daily supplementation of vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 English language randomized, placebo-controlled trials of homocysteine lowering B-vitamin supplementation of individuals with and without cognitive impairment at the time of study entry. We standardized scores to facilitate comparison between studies and to enable us to complete a meta-analysis of randomized trials. In addition, we stratified our analyses according to the folate status of the country of origin. B-vitamin supplementation did not show an improvement in cognitive function for individuals with (SMD = 0.10, 95%CI -0.08 to 0.28) or without (SMD = -0.03, 95%CI -0.1 to 0.04) significant cognitive impairment. This was irrespective of study duration (SMD = 0.05, 95%CI -0.10 to 0.20 and SMD = 0, 95%CI -0.08 to 0.08), study size (SMD = 0.05, 95%CI -0.09 to 0.19 and SMD = -0.02, 95%CI -0.10 to 0.05), and whether participants came from countries with low folate status (SMD = 0.14, 95%CI -0.12 to 0.40 and SMD = -0.10, 95%CI -0.23 to 0.04). Supplementation of vitamins B12, B6, and folic acid alone or in combination does not appear to improve cognitive function in individuals with or without existing cognitive impairment. It remains to be established if prolonged treatment with B-vitamins can reduce the risk of dementia in later life."}
{"id": "MED-991", "text": "Background Cognitive impairment without dementia is associated with increased risk for disability, increased health care costs, and progression to dementia. There are no population-based prevalence estimates of this condition in the United States. Objective To estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment without dementia in the United States and determine longitudinal cognitive and mortality outcomes. Design Longitudinal study from July 2001 to March 2005. Setting In-home assessment for cognitive impairment. Participants Participants in ADAMS (Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study) who were age 71 years or older drawn from the nationally representative HRS (Health and Retirement Study). Of 1770 selected individuals, 856 completed initial assessment, and of 241 selected individuals, 180 completed 16- to 18-month follow-up assessment. Measurements Assessments, including neuropsychological testing, neurologic examination, and clinical and medical history, were used to assign a diagnosis of normal cognition, cognitive impairment without dementia, or dementia. National prevalence rates were estimated by using a population-weighted sample. Results In 2002, an estimated 5.4 million people (22.2%) in the United States age 71 years or older had cognitive impairment without dementia. Prominent subtypes included prodromal Alzheimer disease (8.2%) and cerebrovascular disease (5.7%). Among participants who completed follow-up assessments, 11.7% with cognitive impairment without dementia progressed to dementia annually, whereas those with subtypes of prodromal Alzheimer disease and stroke progressed at annual rates of 17% to 20%. The annual death rate was 8% among those with cognitive impairment without dementia and almost 15% among those with cognitive impairment due to medical conditions. Limitations Only 56% of the nondeceased target sample completed the initial assessment. Population sampling weights were derived to adjust for at least some of the potential bias due to nonresponse and attrition. Conclusion Cognitive impairment without dementia is more prevalent in the United States than dementia, and its subtypes vary in prevalence and outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-992", "text": "BACKGROUND: Plasma homocysteine levels have been directly associated with cardiac disease risk. Current research raises concerns as to whether comprehensive lifestyle approaches including a plant-based diet may interact with other known modulators of homocysteine levels. METHODS: We report our observations of homocysteine levels in 40 self-selected subjects who participated in a vegan diet-based lifestyle program. Each subject attended a residential lifestyle change program at the Lifestyle Center of America in Sulphur, Oklahoma and had fasting plasma total homocysteine measured on enrollment and then after 1 week of lifestyle intervention. The intervention included a vegan diet, moderate physical exercise, stress management and spirituality enhancement sessions, group support, and exclusion of tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. B vitamin supplements known to reduce blood homocysteine levels were not provided. RESULTS: Subjects' mean homocysteine levels fell 13%: from 8.66 micromol/L (SD 2.7 micromol/L) to 7.53 micromol/L (SD 2.12 micromol/L; P < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis showed that homocysteine decreased across a range of demographic and diagnostic categories. Conclusions. Our results suggest that broad-based lifestyle interventions favorably impact homocysteine levels. Furthermore, analysis of Lifestyle Center of America program components suggests that other factors in addition to B vitamin intake may be involved in the observed homocysteine lowering."}
{"id": "MED-994", "text": "Is it possible to prevent atrophy of key brain regions related to cognitive decline and Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD)? One approach is to modify nongenetic risk factors, for instance by lowering elevated plasma homocysteine using B vitamins. In an initial, randomized controlled study on elderly subjects with increased dementia risk (mild cognitive impairment according to 2004 Petersen criteria), we showed that high-dose B-vitamin treatment (folic acid 0.8 mg, vitamin B6 20 mg, vitamin B12 0.5 mg) slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over 2 y. Here, we go further by demonstrating that B-vitamin treatment reduces, by as much as seven fold, the cerebral atrophy in those gray matter (GM) regions specifically vulnerable to the AD process, including the medial temporal lobe. In the placebo group, higher homocysteine levels at baseline are associated with faster GM atrophy, but this deleterious effect is largely prevented by B-vitamin treatment. We additionally show that the beneficial effect of B vitamins is confined to participants with high homocysteine (above the median, 11 \u00b5mol/L) and that, in these participants, a causal Bayesian network analysis indicates the following chain of events: B vitamins lower homocysteine, which directly leads to a decrease in GM atrophy, thereby slowing cognitive decline. Our results show that B-vitamin supplementation can slow the atrophy of specific brain regions that are a key component of the AD process and that are associated with cognitive decline. Further B-vitamin supplementation trials focusing on elderly subjets with high homocysteine levels are warranted to see if progression to dementia can be prevented."}
{"id": "MED-996", "text": "Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are persistent organic chemicals used as flame retardants in textiles, plastics, and consumer products. Although PBDE accumulation in humans has been noted since the 1970s, few studies have investigated PBDEs within the gestational compartment, and none to date has identified levels in amniotic fluid. The present study reports congener-specific brominated diphenyl ether (BDE) concentrations in second-trimester clinical amniotic fluid samples collected in 2009 from fifteen women in southeast Michigan, USA. Twenty-one BDE congeners were measured by GC/MS/NCI. The average total PBDE concentration was 3795 pg/ml amniotic fluid (range: 337 \u2013 21842 pg/ml). BDE-47 and BDE-99 were identified in all samples. Based on median concentrations, the dominant congeners were BDE-208, 209, 203, 206, 207, and 47 representing 23, 16, 12, 10, 9 and 6%, respectively, of the total detected PBDEs. PBDE concentrations were identified in all amniotic fluid samples from southeast Michigan, supporting a need for further investigations of fetal exposure pathways and potential impacts on perinatal health."}
{"id": "MED-998", "text": "Background: There is increasing interest in the potential effects of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) on children\u2019s neuropsychological development, but only a few small studies have evaluated such effects. Objectives: Our goal was to examine the association between PBDE concentrations in colostrum and infant neuropsychological development and to assess the influence of other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on such association. Methods: We measured concentrations of PBDEs and other POPs in colostrum samples of 290 women recruited in a Spanish birth cohort. We tested children for mental and psychomotor development with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 12\u201318 months of age. We analyzed the sum of the seven most common PBDE congeners (BDEs 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183, 209) and each congener separately. Results: Increasing \u03a37PBDEs concentrations showed an association of borderline statistical significance with decreasing mental development scores (\u03b2 per log ng/g lipid = \u20132.25; 95% CI: \u20134.75, 0.26). BDE-209, the congener present in highest concentrations, appeared to be the main congener responsible for this association (\u03b2 = \u20132.40, 95% CI: \u20134.79, \u20130.01). There was little evidence for an association with psychomotor development. After adjustment for other POPs, the BDE-209 association with mental development score became slightly weaker (\u03b2 = \u20132.10, 95% CI: \u20134.66, 0.46). Conclusions: Our findings suggest an association between increasing PBDE concentrations in colostrum and a worse infant mental development, particularly for BDE-209, but require confirmation in larger studies. The association, if causal, may be due to unmeasured BDE-209 metabolites, including OH-PBDEs (hydroxylated PBDEs), which are more toxic, more stable, and more likely to cross the placenta and to easily reach the brain than BDE-209."}
{"id": "MED-999", "text": "Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) used to protect people from fires by reducing the flammability of combustible materials. In recent years, PBDEs have become widespread environmental pollutants, while body burden in the general population has been increasing. A number of studies have shown that, as for other persistent organic pollutants, dietary intake is one of the main routes of human exposure to PBDEs. The most recent scientific literature concerning the levels of PBDEs in foodstuffs and the human dietary exposure to these BFRs are here reviewed. It has been noted that the available information on human total daily intake through food consumption is basically limited to a number of European countries, USA, China, and Japan. In spite of the considerable methodological differences among studies, the results show notable coincidences such as the important contribution to the sum of total PBDEs of some congeners such as BDEs 47, 49, 99 and 209, the comparatively high contribution of fish and seafood, and dairy products, and the probably limited human health risks derived from dietary exposure to PBDEs. Various issues directly related to human exposure to PBDEs through the diet still need investigation. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1000", "text": "Background Animal and in vitro studies demonstrated a neurotoxic potential of brominated flame retardants, a group of chemicals used in many household and commercial products to prevent fire. Although the first reports of detrimental neurobehavioral effects in rodents appeared more than ten years ago, human data are sparse. Methods As a part of a biomonitoring program for environmental health surveillance in Flanders, Belgium, we assessed the neurobehavioral function with the Neurobehavioral Evaluation System (NES-3), and collected blood samples in a group of high school students. Cross-sectional data on 515 adolescents (13.6-17 years of age) was available for the analysis. Multiple regression models accounting for potential confounders were used to investigate the associations between biomarkers of internal exposure to brominated flame retardants [serum levels of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners 47, 99, 100, 153, 209, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA)] and cognitive performance. In addition, we investigated the association between brominated flame retardants and serum levels of FT3, FT4, and TSH. Results A two-fold increase of the sum of serum PBDE\u2019s was associated with a decrease of the number of taps with the preferred-hand in the Finger Tapping test by 5.31 (95% CI: 0.56 to 10.05, p\u2009=\u20090.029). The effects of the individual PBDE congeners on the motor speed were consistent. Serum levels above the level of quantification were associated with an average decrease of FT3 level by 0.18 pg/mL (95% CI: 0.03 to 0.34, p\u2009=\u20090.020) for PBDE-99 and by 0.15 pg/mL (95% CI: 0.004 to 0.29, p\u2009=\u20090.045) for PBDE-100, compared with concentrations below the level of quantification. PBDE-47 level above the level of quantification was associated with an average increase of TSH levels by 10.1% (95% CI: 0.8% to 20.2%, p\u2009=\u20090.033), compared with concentrations below the level of quantification. We did not observe effects of PBDE\u2019s on neurobehavioral domains other than the motor function. HBCD and TBBPA did not show consistent associations with performance in the neurobehavioral tests. Conclusions This study is one of few studies and so far the largest one investigating the neurobehavioral effects of brominated flame retardants in humans. Consistently with experimental animal data, PBDE exposure was associated with changes in the motor function and the serum levels of the thyroid hormones."}
{"id": "MED-1003", "text": "background: California children\u2019s exposures to polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs) are among the highest worldwide. PBDEs are known endocrine disruptors and neurotoxicants in animals. Objective: Here we investigate the relation of in utero and child PBDE exposure to neurobehavioral development among participants in CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas), a California birth cohort. Methods: We measured PBDEs in maternal prenatal and child serum samples and examined the association of PBDE concentrations with children\u2019s attention, motor functioning, and cognition at 5 (n = 310) and 7 years of age (n = 323). Results: Maternal prenatal PBDE concentrations were associated with impaired attention as measured by a continuous performance task at 5 years and maternal report at 5 and 7 years of age, with poorer fine motor coordination\u2014particularly in the nondominant\u2014at both age points, and with decrements in Verbal and Full-Scale IQ at 7 years. PBDE concentrations in children 7 years of age were significantly or marginally associated with concurrent teacher reports of attention problems and decrements in Processing Speed, Perceptual Reasoning, Verbal Comprehension, and Full-Scale IQ. These associations were not altered by adjustment for birth weight, gestational age, or maternal thyroid hormone levels. Conclusions: Both prenatal and childhood PBDE exposures were associated with poorer attention, fine motor coordination, and cognition in the CHAMACOS cohort of school-age children. This study, the largest to date, contributes to growing evidence suggesting that PBDEs have adverse impacts on child neurobehavioral development."}
{"id": "MED-1004", "text": "Background Exposure of the U.S. population to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) is thought to be via exposure to dust and diet. However, little work has been done to empirically link body burdens of these compounds to either route of exposure. Objectives The primary goal of this research was to evaluate the dietary contribution to PBDE body burdens in the United States by linking serum levels to food intake. Methods We used two dietary instruments\u2014a 24-hr food recall (24FR) and a 1-year food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)\u2014to examine food intake among participants of the 2003\u20132004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We regressed serum concentrations of five PBDEs (BDE congeners 28, 47, 99, 100, and 153) and their sum (\u2211PBDE) against diet variables while adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, and body mass index. Results \u2211PBDE serum concentrations among vegetarians were 23% (p = 0.006) and 27% (p = 0.009) lower than among omnivores for 24FR and 1-year FFQ, respectively. Serum levels of five PBDE congeners were associated with consumption of poultry fat: Low, medium, and high intake corresponded to geometric mean \u2211PBDE concentrations of 40.6, 41.9, and 48.3 ng/g lipid, respectively (p = 0.0005). We observed similar trends for red meat fat, which were statistically significant for BDE-100 and BDE-153. No association was observed between serum PBDEs and consumption of dairy or fish. Results were similar for both dietary instruments but were more robust using 24FR. Conclusions Intake of contaminated poultry and red meat contributes significantly to PBDE body burdens in the United States."}
{"id": "MED-1005", "text": "Objective To determine the effect of fibre, antispasmodics, and peppermint oil in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Data sources Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane controlled trials register up to April 2008. Review methods Randomised controlled trials comparing fibre, antispasmodics, and peppermint oil with placebo or no treatment in adults with irritable bowel syndrome were eligible for inclusion. The minimum duration of therapy considered was one week, and studies had to report either a global assessment of cure or improvement in symptoms, or cure of or improvement in abdominal pain, after treatment. A random effects model was used to pool data on symptoms, and the effect of therapy compared with placebo or no treatment was reported as the relative risk (95% confidence interval) of symptoms persisting. Results 12 studies compared fibre with placebo or no treatment in 591 patients (relative risk of persistent symptoms 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.76 to 1.00). This effect was limited to ispaghula (0.78, 0.63 to 0.96). Twenty two trials compared antispasmodics with placebo in 1778 patients (0.68, 0.57 to 0.81). Various antispasmodics were studied, but otilonium (four trials, 435 patients, relative risk of persistent symptoms 0.55, 0.31 to 0.97) and hyoscine (three trials, 426 patients, 0.63, 0.51 to 0.78) showed consistent evidence of efficacy. Four trials compared peppermint oil with placebo in 392 patients (0.43, 0.32 to 0.59). Conclusion Fibre, antispasmodics, and peppermint oil were all more effective than placebo in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome."}
{"id": "MED-1006", "text": "Functional abdominal pain in the context of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a challenging problem for primary care physicians, gastroenterologists and pain specialists. We review the evidence for the current and future non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment options targeting the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. Cognitive interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnotherapy have demonstrated excellent results in IBS patients, but the limited availability and labor-intensive nature limit their routine use in daily practice. In patients who are refractory to first-line therapy, tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are both effective to obtain symptomatic relief, but only TCAs have been shown to improve abdominal pain in meta-analyses. A diet low in fermentable carbohydrates and polyols (FODMAP) seems effective in subgroups of patients to reduce abdominal pain, bloating, and to improve the stool pattern. The evidence for fiber is limited and only isphagula may be somewhat beneficial. The efficacy of probiotics is difficult to interpret since several strains in different quantities have been used across studies. Antispasmodics, including peppermint oil, are still considered the first-line treatment for abdominal pain in IBS. Second-line therapies for diarrhea-predominant IBS include the non-absorbable antibiotic rifaximin and the 5HT3 antagonists alosetron and ramosetron, although the use of the former is restricted because of the rare risk of ischemic colitis. In laxative-resistant, constipation-predominant IBS, the chloride-secretion stimulating drugs lubiprostone and linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase C agonist that also has direct analgesic effects, reduce abdominal pain and improve the stool pattern."}
{"id": "MED-1007", "text": "BACKGROUND: The impact of irritable bowel syndrome, a gastrointestinal motility disorder, is underestimated and poorly quantified, as clinicians may see only a minority of sufferers. AIM: To determine the prevalence, symptom patterns and impact of irritable bowel syndrome in the US. METHODS: This two-phase community survey used quota sampling and random-digit telephone dialing (screening interview) to identify individuals with medically diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome or individuals not formally diagnosed, but fulfilling irritable bowel syndrome diagnostic criteria (Manning, Rome I or II). Information on irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, general health status, lifestyle and impact of symptoms on individuals' lives was collected using in-depth follow-up interviews. Data were also collected for healthy controls identified in the screening interviews. RESULTS: The total prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome in 5009 screening interviews was 14.1% (medically diagnosed: 3.3%; undiagnosed, but meeting irritable bowel syndrome criteria: 10.8%). Abdominal pain/discomfort was the most common symptom prompting consultation. Most sufferers (74% medically diagnosed; 63% undiagnosed) reported alternating constipation and diarrhoea. Previously diagnosed gastrointestinal disorders occurred more often in sufferers than non-sufferers. Irritable bowel syndrome sufferers had more days off work (6.4 vs. 3.0) and days in bed, and reduced activities to a greater extent than non-sufferers. CONCLUSIONS: Most (76.6%) irritable bowel syndrome sufferers in the US are undiagnosed. Irritable bowel syndrome has a substantial impact on sufferers' well-being and health, with considerable socioeconomic consequences."}
{"id": "MED-1009", "text": "Herbal remedies, particularly peppermint, have been reported to be helpful in controlling symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study on 90 outpatients with IBS. Subjects took one capsule of enteric-coated, delayed-release peppermint oil (Colpermin) or placebo three times daily for 8 weeks. We visited patients after the first, fourth, and eighth weeks and evaluated their symptoms and quality of life. The number of subjects free from abdominal pain or discomfort changed from 0 at week 0 to 14 at week 8 in the Colpermin group and from 0 to 6 in controls (P < 0.001). The severity of abdominal pain was also reduced significantly in the Colpermin group as compared to controls. Furthermore, Colpermin significantly improved the quality of life. There was no significant adverse reaction. Colpermin is effective and safe as a therapeutic agent in patients with IBS suffering from abdominal pain or discomfort."}
{"id": "MED-1011", "text": "Background Placebo treatment can significantly influence subjective symptoms. However, it is widely believed that response to placebo requires concealment or deception. We tested whether open-label placebo (non-deceptive and non-concealed administration) is superior to a no-treatment control with matched patient-provider interactions in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Methods Two-group, randomized, controlled three week trial (August 2009-April 2010) conducted at a single academic center, involving 80 primarily female (70%) patients, mean age 47\u00b118 with IBS diagnosed by Rome III criteria and with a score \u2265150 on the IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS). Patients were randomized to either open-label placebo pills presented as \u201cplacebo pills made of an inert substance, like sugar pills, that have been shown in clinical studies to produce significant improvement in IBS symptoms through mind-body self-healing processes\u201d or no-treatment controls with the same quality of interaction with providers. The primary outcome was IBS Global Improvement Scale (IBS-GIS). Secondary measures were IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS), IBS Adequate Relief (IBS-AR) and IBS Quality of Life (IBS-QoL). Findings Open-label placebo produced significantly higher mean (\u00b1SD) global improvement scores (IBS-GIS) at both 11-day midpoint (5.2\u00b11.0 vs. 4.0\u00b11.1, p<.001) and at 21-day endpoint (5.0\u00b11.5 vs. 3.9\u00b11.3, p\u200a=\u200a.002). Significant results were also observed at both time points for reduced symptom severity (IBS-SSS, p\u200a=\u200a.008 and p\u200a=\u200a.03) and adequate relief (IBS-AR, p\u200a=\u200a.02 and p\u200a=\u200a.03); and a trend favoring open-label placebo was observed for quality of life (IBS-QoL) at the 21-day endpoint (p\u200a=\u200a.08). Conclusion Placebos administered without deception may be an effective treatment for IBS. Further research is warranted in IBS, and perhaps other conditions, to elucidate whether physicians can benefit patients using placebos consistent with informed consent. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01010191"}
{"id": "MED-1012", "text": "GOALS: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of enteric-coated peppermint oil capsules compared with placebo for the treatment of active irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). BACKGROUND: IBS is a common disorder that is often encountered in clinical practice. Medical interventions are limited and the focus is on symptom control. STUDY: Randomized placebo-controlled trials with a minimum treatment duration of 2 weeks were considered for inclusion. Cross-over studies that provided outcome data before the first cross-over were included. A literature search upto February 2013 identified all applicable randomized-controlled trials. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Outcomes included global improvement of IBS symptoms, improvement in abdominal pain, and adverse events. Outcomes were analyzed using an intention-to-treat approach. RESULTS: Nine studies that evaluated 726 patients were identified. The risk of bias was low for most of the factors assessed. Peppermint oil was found to be significantly superior to placebo for global improvement of IBS symptoms (5 studies, 392 patients, relative risk 2.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.78-2.81) and improvement in abdominal pain (5 studies, 357 patients, relative risk 2.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.64-2.79). Although peppermint oil patients were significantly more likely to experience an adverse event, such events were mild and transient in nature. The most commonly reported adverse event was heartburn. CONCLUSIONS: Peppermint oil is a safe and effective short-term treatment for IBS. Future studies should assess the long-term efficacy and safety of peppermint oil and its efficacy relative to other IBS treatments including antidepressants and antispasmodic drugs."}
{"id": "MED-1014", "text": "BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex syndrome that is difficult to manage. Here we present the evidence supporting medication treatments for specific IBS symptoms, discuss evidence-based management of IBS with medications including dose regimens and adverse effects and review progress on research for new IBS treatments. SUMMARY: Currently, there is evidence to support improvements in specific IBS symptoms following treatment with loperamide, psyllium, bran, lubiprostone, linaclotide, amitriptyline, trimipramine, desipramine, citalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, dicyclomine, peppermint oil, rifaximin, ketotifen, pregabalin, gabapentin and octreotide and there are many new medications being investigated for the treatment of IBS. Key Message: Of the medications with demonstrated improvements for IBS symptoms, rifaximin, lubiprostone, linaclotide, fiber supplementation and peppermint oil have the most reliable evidence supporting their use for the treatment of IBS. Onset of efficacy for the various medications has been noted to be as early as 6 days after initiation; however, the efficacy of most medications was not assessed prospectively at predefined periods. Additional studies of currently available and new medications are ongoing and are needed to better define their place in therapy and expand therapeutic options for the treatment of IBS. The most promising new medications for IBS include a variety of novel pharmacologic approaches, most notably the dual \u03bc-opioid receptor agonist and \u03b4-opioid antagonist, JNJ-27018966. \u00a9 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-1016", "text": "Linaclotide (Linzess) for irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and for chronic idiopathic constipation."}
{"id": "MED-1018", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the magnitude of the decrease in the risk of retinopathy progression observed with intensive treatment and its relationship to baseline retinopathy severity and duration of follow-up. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial, with 3 to 9 years of follow-up. SETTING AND PATIENTS: Between 1983 and 1989, 29 centers enrolled 1441 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus aged 13 to 39 years, including 726 patients with no retinopathy and a duration of diabetes of 1 to 5 years (primary prevention cohort) and 715 patients with very mild to moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and a duration of diabetes of 1 to 15 years (secondary intervention cohort). Ninety-five percent of all scheduled examinations were completed. INTERVENTIONS: Intensive treatment consisted of the administration of insulin at least three times a day by injection or pump, with doses adjusted based on self-blood glucose monitoring and with the goal of normoglycemia. Conventional treatment consisted of one or two daily insulin injections. OUTCOME MEASURES: Change between baseline and follow-up visits on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study retinopathy severity scale, assessed with masked gradings of stereoscopic color fundus photographs obtained every 6 months. RESULTS: Cumulative 8.5-year rates of retinopathy progression by three or more steps at two consecutive visits were 54.1% with conventional treatment and 11.5% with intensive treatment in the primary prevention cohort and 49.2% and 17.1% in the secondary intervention cohort. At the 6- and 12-month visits, a small adverse effect of intensive treatment was noted (\"early worsening\"), followed by a beneficial effect that increased in magnitude with time. Beyond 3.5 years of follow-up, the risk of progression was five or more times lower with intensive treatment than with conventional treatment. Once progression occurred, subsequent recovery was at least two times more likely with intensive treatment than with conventional treatment. Treatment effects were similar in all baseline retinopathy severity subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial strongly support the recommendation that most patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus use intensive treatment, aiming for levels of glycemia as close to the nondiabetic range as is safely possible."}
{"id": "MED-1019", "text": "Diabetic retinopathy is a common and specific microvascular complication of diabetes, and remains the leading cause of preventable blindness in working-aged people. It is identified in a third of people with diabetes and associated with increased risk of life-threatening systemic vascular complications, including stroke, coronary heart disease, and heart failure. Optimum control of blood glucose, blood pressure, and possibly blood lipids remains the foundation for reduction of risk of retinopathy development and progression. Timely laser therapy is effective for preservation of sight in proliferative retinopathy and macular oedema, but its ability to reverse visual loss is poor. Vitrectomy surgery might occasionally be needed for advanced retinopathy. New therapies, such as intraocular injection of steroids and antivascular endothelial growth-factor agents, are less destructive to the retina than are older therapies, and could be useful in patients who respond poorly to conventional therapy. The outlook for future treatment modalities, such as inhibition of other angiogenic factors, regenerative therapy, and topical therapy, is promising. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1020", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of visual impairment in working-age adults worldwide. Pan retinal photocoagulation (PRP) has provided an effective treatment to decrease the risk of severe vision loss in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy for the past four decades. Pattern scan laser (PASCAL) was developed to minimize the side effects of PRP. The purpose of this review is to discuss the differences between the traditional argon laser and the PASCAL. RECENT FINDINGS: PASCAL can achieve comparable results with the conventional argon PRP in the treatment of patients with diabetic retinopathy. The PASCAL delivery system creates well aligned arrays of retinal lesions in a shorter period. PASCAL provides amore comfortable profile when compared to the argon laser. SUMMARY: The PASCAL is now being substituted for the conventional argon laser for PRP in many clinics. Ophthalmologists should keep in mind that adjusting the PASCAL settings (including the duration, number, and size of laser burns) might become necessary to maintain regression and eliminate recurrence of neovascularization in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Further studies are needed to determine the parameters for optimal safety and efficacy on the PASCAL."}
{"id": "MED-1023", "text": "Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis is the most common cause of vision loss in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). CMV retinitis afflicted 25% to 42% of AIDS patients in the pre-highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, with most vision loss due to macula-involving retinitis or retinal detachment. The introduction of HAART significantly decreased the incidence and severity of CMV retinitis. Optimal treatment of CMV retinitis requires a thorough evaluation of the patient\u2019s immune status and an accurate classification of the retinal lesions. When retinitis is diagnosed, HAART therapy should be started or improved, and anti-CMV therapy with oral valganciclovir, intravenous ganciclovir, foscarnet, or cidofovir should be administered. Selected patients, especially those with zone 1 retinitis, may receive intravitreal drug injections or surgical implantation of a sustained-release ganciclovir reservoir. Effective anti-CMV therapy coupled with HAART significantly decreases the incidence of vision loss and improves patient survival. Immune recovery uveitis and retinal detachments are important causes of moderate to severe loss of vision. Compared with the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the treatment emphasis in the post- HAART era has changed from short-term control of retinitis to long-term preservation of vision. Developing countries face shortages of health care professionals and inadequate supplies of anti-CMV and anti-HIV medications. Intravitreal ganciclovir injections may be the most cost effective strategy to treat CMV retinitis in these areas."}
{"id": "MED-1027", "text": "Current concepts on the aetiology of varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis, and haemorrhoids have been examined and, in the light of epidemiological evidence, found wanting.It is suggested that the fundamental cause of these disorders is faecal arrest which is the result of a low-residue diet."}
{"id": "MED-1034", "text": "Background While symptom questionnaires provide a snapshot of bowel habits, they may not reflect day-to-day variations or the relationship between bowel symptoms and stool form. Aim To assess bowel habits by daily diaries in women with and without functional bowel disorders. Method From a community-based survey among Olmsted County, MN, women, 278 randomly selected subjects were interviewed by a gastroenterologist, who completed a bowel symptom questionnaire. Subjects also maintained bowel diaries for 2 wk. Results Among 278 subjects, questionnaires revealed diarrhea (26%), constipation (21%), or neither (53%). Asymptomatic subjects reported bowel symptoms (e.g., urgency) infrequently (i.e., <25% of the time) and generally for hard or loose stools. Urgency for soft, formed stools (i.e., Bristol form = 4) was more prevalent in subjects with diarrhea (31%) and constipation (27%) than in normals (16%). Stool form, straining to begin (odds ratio [OR] 4.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7\u201310.2) and end (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.6\u201315.2) defecation increased the odds for constipation. Straining to end defecation (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.2\u201312.0), increased stool frequency (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.02\u20133.7), incomplete evacuation (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.04\u20134.6), and rectal urgency (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.4\u20136.6) increased the odds for diarrhea. In contrast, variations in stool frequency and form were not useful for discriminating between health and disease. Conclusions Bowel symptoms occur in association with, but are only partly explained by, stool form disturbances. These observations support a role for other pathophysiological mechanisms in functional bowel disorders."}
{"id": "MED-1035", "text": "One hundred and fifty hospital outpatients were questioned about their bowel habits and then asked to record these in diary booklets for two weeks. Overall, recalled and recorded figures for frequency of defecation agreed fairly closely, but in 16% of patients there was a discrepancy of three or more bowel actions per week. This was usually an exaggeration of the difference from the norm of one a day. Patients were bad at predicting episodes of changed bowel frequency. These findings cast doubt on the value of population surveys of bowel habit based solely on questionnaires. They also suggest that the irritable bowel syndrome might be correctly diagnosed more often if patients were routinely asked to record their bowel actions."}
{"id": "MED-1037", "text": "Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations to have arisen, becoming the cradle of scientific enquiry and social development over 3 millennia; undoubtedly its knowledge of medicine has been vastly underestimated. Few artefacts survive which describe the medical organization, but from the extent of the diseases afflicting that ancient populus there would have been much to study. Evidence from papyri, tomb bas reliefs and the writings of historians of antiquity tell of an intense interest in the sciences, humanities and medicine born of an educated society which had overcome the superstitions of its nomadic ancestors."}
{"id": "MED-1038", "text": "We examined effects of fiber on stool output, since this is one of the primary mediating variables for the hypothesized relationship between fiber and disease. Total neutral detergent fiber in the dietary fiber source was predictive of stool weight but not frequency. Substantial individual differences in stool output remained when dietary factors were controlled. Personality measures were used to predict stool weight and frequency independently of diet, and accounted for about as much variance in stool output as did dietary fiber. These results suggest that personality factors predispose some persons to low stool output. These individuals may benefit particularly from dietary fiber."}
{"id": "MED-1040", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Defining normal stool habit is important when evaluating diarrhoea or constipation, but common confounders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or the intake of medications with gastrointestinal side effects have not been considered in earlier population based studies defining what is normal. We hypothesized that the exclusion of subjects with common confounders would help to better understand what are \"normal bowel habits\". We aimed to prospectively study bowel habits in a carefully studied random sample of the general population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two hundred and sixty-eight randomly selected subjects between 18 and 70 years completed symptom diaries for one week and were clinically evaluated by a gastroenterologist. They also had a colonoscopy and laboratory investigations to exclude organic disease. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-four subjects had no organic gastrointestinal abnormality, IBS, or relevant medication; 98% of them had between three stools per day and three per week. Seventy-seven percent of all stools were normal, 12% hard, and 10% loose in consistency. Urgency was reported by 36%; straining by 47% and incomplete defecation by 46%. After the exclusion of subjects with organic abnormalities, women had significantly more symptoms than men in terms of abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, urgency, and feeling of incomplete evacuation but these gender differences disappeared after excluding subjects with IBS. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that normal stool frequency is between three per week and three per day. We could not demonstrate any gender or age differences in terms of stool frequency, defecatory symptoms or abdominal bloating. Some degree of urgency, straining, and incomplete evacuation should be considered normal."}
{"id": "MED-1041", "text": "Physicians in ancient Egypt devoted their care to disorders of individual organs. Notable among the specialties was gastroenterology, a subject matter that occupied a major portion of the surviving medical papyri. Although they did not name diseases as we know them, Pharaonic physicians described a host of gastroenterological symptoms for which an extensive array of therapeutics was prescribed. Their clinical accounts indicated an impressive knowledge of gastric and anorectal conditions. In their thinking on disease mechanism, the circulating materia peccans absorbed from feces represented a major cause of medical symptoms and disorders. This served as the rationale for the popular practice of self-purgation with enemas."}
{"id": "MED-1042", "text": "The human colon is still a relatively unknown viscus, especially concerning its motor activity. However, in recent years, techniques have been perfected that allow a better understanding of colonic motility, especially through prolonged recording periods. In this way, it has been demonstrated that the viscus contracts according to a circadian trend, is responsive to physiological stimuli (meals, sleep), and features high amplitude, propulsive contractions that are part of the complex dynamic of the defecatory process. These physiological properties and their alterations in patients with chronic idiopathic constipation are reviewed in this article."}
{"id": "MED-1045", "text": "Colon cancer, rare in the past, and in developing populations, currently accounts for 2 to 4% of all deaths in Western populations. Evidence suggests the primary cause to be changes in diet, which affect the bowel milieu int\u00e9rieur. It is possible that in sophisticated populations, the higher concentrations of fecal bile acids and sterols, and longer transit time, favor the production of potentially carcinogenic metabolites. Of secular changes in diet, evidence suggests that the following may have etiological importance: 1) the fall in intake of fiber-containing foods with its effects on bowel physiology, and 2) the decreased fiber but increased fat intakes, in their respective capacities to raise concentrations of fecal bile acids, sterols, and other noxious substances. For possible prophylaxis against colon cancer, recommendations for a lower fat intake, or a higher intake of fiber-containing foods (apart from fiber ingestion from bran) are extremely unlikely to be adopted. For future research, western populations with considerably lower than average mortality rates, e.g., Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, the rural Finnish population, as well as developing populations, demand intensive study. Also requiring elucidation are the respective roles of diet and of genetic constitution on concentrations of fecal bile acids, etc., and on transit time, in prone and nonprone populations."}
{"id": "MED-1047", "text": "Fundamental studies of the laxative action of wheat bran were undertaken in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. Walker in South Africa extended these studies among African blacks and later suggested that cereal fiber protected them against certain metabolic disorders. Trowell in Uganda elaborated this concept with regard to the rarity of common noninfective diseases of the colon. Another stream of inquiry stemmed from the hypothesis of Cleave who postulated that the presence of refined sugar, and to a lesser extent white flour, caused many metabolic diseases, while the loss of fiber caused certain colonic disorders. Meanwhile Burkitt had collected massive evidence of the rarity of appendicitis and many venous disorders in rural Africa and parts of Asia. In 1972 Trowell proposed a new physiological definition of fiber in terms of the residue of plant foods that resisted digestion by alimentary enzymes of man. Southgate has proposed chemical methods to analyze the components of dietary fiber: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin."}
{"id": "MED-1048", "text": "Because the range of bowel habits and stool types in the community is unknown we questioned 838 men and 1059 women, comprising 72.2% of a random stratified sample of the East Bristol population. Most of them kept records of three consecutive defecations, including stool form on a validated six point scale ranging from hard, round lumps to mushy. Questionnaire responses agreed moderately well with recorded data. Although the most common bowel habit was once daily this was a minority practice in both sexes; a regular 24 hour cycle was apparent in only 40% of men and 33% of women. Another 7% of men and 4% of women seemed to have a regular twice or thrice daily bowel habit. Thus most people had irregular bowels. A third of women defecated less often than daily and 1% once a week or less. Stools at the constipated end of the scale were passed more often by women than men. In women of child bearing age bowel habit and the spectrum of stool types were shifted towards constipation and irregularity compared with older women and three cases of severe slow transit constipation were discovered in young women. Otherwise age had little effect on bowel habit or stool type. Normal stool types, defined as those least likely to evoke symptoms, accounted for only 56% of all stools in women and 61% in men. Most defecations occurred in the early morning and earlier in men than in women. We conclude that conventionally normal bowel function is enjoyed by less than half the population and that, in this aspect of human physiology, younger women are especially disadvantaged."}
{"id": "MED-1050", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of self-experience multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention on health care providers (HCPs), patients and clinics. METHODS: We randomized 15 primary-care clinics (serving 93,821 members), matched by patient profile, to provide the HCPs, either intervention or control HMO program. We followed personally 77 HCPs and 496 patients, and evaluated clinical measurement rate (CMR) changes (January-September 2010; Israel). RESULTS: HCPs within the intervention group demonstrated personal improvement in health initiative attitudes (p<0.05 vs. baseline), and a decrease in salt intake (p<0.05 vs. control). HCP intervention group's patients exhibited overall improvement in dietary patterns, specifically in salt, red meat (p<0.05 vs. baseline), fruit, and vegetable (p<0.05 vs. control) intake. Height, lipids, HbA1(C) and CMR increased within the intervention group's clinics (p<0.05 vs. baseline) with increased referral to angiography tests (p<0.05 vs. control). Within the intervention group, HCPs' salt pattern improvement was associated with increased lipid CMR (r=0.71; p=0.048), and lower HCPs' body weight was associated with increased blood pressure (r=-0.81; p=0.015) and lipid (r=-0.69; p=0.058) CMR. CONCLUSIONS: HCPs' personal lifestyles are directly correlated with their clinical performance. Interventions to promote health through HCP's self-experience are valuable and somewhat haloed to patients and clinics, suggesting an adjunct strategy in primary prevention. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1051", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To explore a potential \"priming effect\" of physician advice on patient responses to behavioral change interventions. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with a 3-month follow-up. SETTING: Four community-based group family medicine clinics in southeastern Missouri. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients (N = 915). INTERVENTIONS: Printed educational materials designed to encourage patients to quit smoking, eat less fat, and increase physical activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Recall, rating, and use of the educational materials; changes in smoking behavior, dietary fat consumption, and physical activity. RESULTS: Patients who received physician advice to quit smoking, eat less fat, or get more exercise prior to receiving intervention materials on the same topic were more likely to remember the materials, show them to others, and perceive the materials as applying to them specifically. They were also more likely to report trying to quit smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 1.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.95-2.40), quitting for at least 24 hours (OR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.02-3.34), and making some changes in diet (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.00-1.84) and physical activity (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 0.95-2.40). CONCLUSIONS: Findings support an integrated model of disease prevention in which physician advice is a catalyst for change and is supported by a coordinated system of information and activities that can provide the depth of detail and individualization necessary for sustained behavioral change."}
{"id": "MED-1053", "text": "CONTEXT: While some studies have shown that physicians with healthy personal habits are especially likely to discuss prevention with their patients, to our knowledge no one has published information testing whether physician credibility and patient motivation to adopt healthier habits are enhanced by physician's disclosures of their own healthy behaviors. DESIGN: Two brief health education videos about improving diet and exercise were produced and shown to subjects (n1 = 66, n2 = 65) in an Emory University general medical clinic waiting room in Atlanta, Ga. In one video, the physician revealed an additional half minute of information about her personal healthy dietary and exercise practices and had a bike helmet and an apple visible on her desk (physician-disclosure video). In the other video, discussion of personal practices and the apple and bike helmet were not included (control video). RESULTS: Viewers of the physician-disclosure video considered the physician to be generally healthier, some-what more believable, and more motivating than did viewers of the control video. They also rated this physician to be specifically more believable and motivating regarding exercise and diet (P < or = .001). CONCLUSION: Physicians' abilities to motivate patients to adopt healthy habits can be enhanced by conveying their own healthy habits. Educational institutions should consider encouraging health professionals-in-training to practice and demonstrate healthy personal lifestyles."}
{"id": "MED-1054", "text": "For a long time non communicable diseases (NCDs) were discussed as burden of the developed world. Recent alarming data show a reverse trend and a dramatic increase of NCDs in the developing world, in particular in highly populated transition countries. This is true for the main mortality triggering diseases such as CVD, cancer or diabetes. Almost 4 out of 5 NCD based deaths happen in low- and middle income countries. This development is multi-factorial and is based on some main trends such as globalization, supermarket growth, rapid urbanization and increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The latter leads to overweight or obesity, which again promotes NCDs similar as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and elevated blood glucose. A high quality diet including functional food or functional ingredients, accompanied by physical activity and a non-smoking policy, is one of the most promising factors in primary and secondary prevention of NCDs. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1055", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To indicate why the world's most powerful nation state and one powerful sector of the food and drink production and manufacturing industry are determined to demolish the 2004 WHO (World Health Organization) global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, and to disassociate it from the 2003 WHO/FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) expert report on diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases, which with its background papers is the immediate scientific basis for the strategy. To encourage representatives of nation states at the 2004 WHO World Health Assembly to support the strategy together with the report, so that the strategy is explicit and quantified, and responds to the need expressed by member states at the 2002 World Health Assembly. This is for an effective global strategy to prevent and control chronic diseases whose prevalence is increased by nutrient-poor food low in vegetables and fruits and high in energy-dense fatty, sugary and/or salty foods and drinks and also by physical inactivity. Of these diseases, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers of several sites are now the chief causes of morbidity and mortality in most countries in the world. METHOD: A summary of the global strategy and its roots in scientific knowledge accumulated over the last half-century. Reasons why the global strategy and the expert report are opposed by the current US government and the world sugar industry, with some reference to modern historical context. A summary of the trajectory of the global strategy since its first draft made in early 2003, and a further summary of its weaknesses, strengths and potential. CONCLUSION: The 2004 WHO global strategy and the 2003 WHO/FAO expert report are perceived by the current US administration as an impediment to US trade and international policy, within a general context of current US government hostility to the UN (United Nations) system as a brake on the exercise of its power as the world's dominant nation. Policy-makers throughout the world should be aware of the contexts of current pressures put on them by powerful nation states and sectors of industry whose ideologies and commercial interests are challenged by international initiatives designed to improve public health and to leave a better legacy for future generations."}
{"id": "MED-1056", "text": "Decades ago discussion of an impending global pandemic of obesity was thought of as heresy. Diets in the 1970\u2019s began to shift toward increased reliance upon processed foods, increased away from home intake and greater use of edible oils and sugar-sweetened beverages. Reduced physical activity and increased sedentary time was seen also. These changes began in the early 1990-\u2018s in the low and middle income world but did not become clearly recognized until diabetes, hypertension and obesity began to dominate the globe. Urban and rural areas from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia\u2019s poorest countries to the higher income ones are shown to have experienced rapid increases in overweight and obesity status. Concurrent rapid shifts in diet and activity are documented. An array of large-scale programmatic and policy shifts are being explored in a few countries; however despite the major health challenges faced, few countries are serious in addressing prevention of the dietary challenges faced."}
{"id": "MED-1058", "text": "The Sugar Association, representing the U.S. sugar industry, is highly critical of a WHO report on guidelines for healthy eating, which suggests that sugar should account for no more than 10 percent of a healthy diet. The association has demanded that Congress end its funding of the World Health Organization unless the WHO withdraws the guidelines, and the association and six other big food industry groups have also asked the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to use his influence to get the WHO report withdrawn. The WHO strongly rejects the sugar lobby's criticisms."}
{"id": "MED-1060", "text": "Environmental factors such as diets rich in saturated fats contribute to dysfunction and death of pancreatic \u03b2-cells in diabetes. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is elicited in \u03b2-cells by saturated fatty acids. Here we show that palmitate-induced \u03b2-cell apoptosis is mediated by the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway. By microarray analysis, we identified a palmitate-triggered ER stress gene expression signature and the induction of the BH3-only proteins death protein 5 (DP5) and p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA). Knockdown of either protein reduced cytochrome c release, caspase-3 activation, and apoptosis in rat and human \u03b2-cells. DP5 induction depends on inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1)\u2013dependent c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase and PKR\u2013like ER kinase (PERK)\u2013induced activating transcription factor (ATF3) binding to its promoter. PUMA expression is also PERK/ATF3-dependent, through tribbles 3 (TRB3)\u2013regulated AKT inhibition and FoxO3a activation. DP5\u2212/\u2212 mice are protected from high fat diet\u2013induced loss of glucose tolerance and have twofold greater pancreatic \u03b2-cell mass. This study elucidates the crosstalk between lipotoxic ER stress and the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis that causes \u03b2-cell death in diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1061", "text": "BACKGROUND: To determine whether there is an association between diet and plasma insulin concentration that is independent of obesity, we studied the relation of dietary composition and caloric intake to obesity and plasma insulin concentrations in 215 nondiabetic men aged 32-74 years with angiographically proven coronary artery disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: After adjusting for age, the intake of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol were positively correlated (p less than 0.05) with body mass index (r = 0.18, r = 0.16), waist-to-hip circumference ratio (r = 0.21, r = 0.22), and fasting insulin (r = 0.26, r = 0.23). Carbohydrate intake was negatively correlated with body mass index (r = -0.21), waist-to-hip ratio (r = -0.21), and fasting insulin (r = -0.16). Intake of monounsaturated fatty acids did not correlate significantly with body mass index or waist-to-hip circumference ratio but did correlate positively with fasting insulin (r = 0.24). Intake of dietary calories was negatively correlated with body mass index (r = -0.15). In multivariate analysis, intake of saturated fatty acids was significantly related to elevated fasting insulin concentration independently of body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: These cross-sectional findings in nondiabetic men with coronary artery disease suggest that increased consumption of saturated fatty acids is associated independently with higher fasting insulin concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-1062", "text": "The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is increasing dramatically as a result of the obesity epidemic, and poses a major health and socio-economic burden. Type 2 diabetes develops in individuals who fail to compensate for insulin resistance by increasing pancreatic insulin secretion. This insulin deficiency results from pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction and death. Western diets rich in saturated fats cause obesity and insulin resistance, and increase levels of circulating NEFAs [non-esterified ('free') fatty acids]. In addition, they contribute to beta-cell failure in genetically predisposed individuals. NEFAs cause beta-cell apoptosis and may thus contribute to progressive beta-cell loss in Type 2 diabetes. The molecular pathways and regulators involved in NEFA-mediated beta-cell dysfunction and apoptosis are beginning to be understood. We have identified ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress as one of the molecular mechanisms implicated in NEFA-induced beta-cell apoptosis. ER stress was also proposed as a mechanism linking high-fat-diet-induced obesity with insulin resistance. This cellular stress response may thus be a common molecular pathway for the two main causes of Type 2 diabetes, namely insulin resistance and beta-cell loss. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms contributing to pancreatic beta-cell loss will pave the way for the development of novel and targeted approaches to prevent Type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1063", "text": "BACKGROUND: The results of some epidemiologic studies conducted by using questionnaires suggest that dietary fat composition influences diabetes risk. Confirmation of this finding with use of a biomarker is warranted. OBJECTIVE: We prospectively investigated the relation of plasma cholesterol ester (CE) and phospholipid (PL) fatty acid composition with the incidence of diabetes mellitus. DESIGN: In 2909 adults aged 45-64 y, plasma fatty acid composition was quantified by using gas-liquid chromatography and was expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids. Incident diabetes (n = 252) was identified during 9 y of follow-up. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, sex, baseline body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, physical activity, education, and parental history of diabetes, diabetes incidence was significantly and positively associated with the proportions of total saturated fatty acids in plasma CE and PL. The rate ratios of incident diabetes across quintiles of saturated fatty acids were 1.00, 1.36, 1.16, 1.60, and 2.08 (P = 0.0013) in CE and 1.00, 1.75, 1.87, 2.40, and 3.37 (P < 0.0001) in PL. In CE, the incidence of diabetes was also positively associated with the proportions of palmitic (16:0), palmitoleic (16:1n-7), and dihomo-gamma-linolenic (20:3n-6) acids and inversely associated with the proportion of linoleic acid (18:2n-6). In PL, incident diabetes was positively associated with the proportions of 16:0 and stearic acid (18:0). CONCLUSIONS: The proportional saturated fatty acid composition of plasma is positively associated with the development of diabetes. Our findings with the use of this biomarker suggest indirectly that the dietary fat profile, particularly that of saturated fat, may contribute to the etiology of diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1066", "text": "The relations of dietary habits to insulin sensitivity and postprandial triglyceride metabolism were evaluated in 25 patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and 25 age-, body mass index (BMI)-, and gender-matched healthy controls. After a 7-day alimentary record, they underwent a standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and the insulin sensitivity index (ISI) was calculated from the OGTT; an oral fat load test was also performed in 15 patients and 15 controls. The dietary intake of NASH patients was richer in saturated fat (13.7% +/- 3.1% vs. 10.0% +/- 2.1% total kcal, respectively, P =.0001) and in cholesterol (506 +/- 108 vs. 405 +/- 111 mg/d, respectively, P =.002) and was poorer in polyunsaturated fat (10.0% +/- 3.5% vs. 14.5% +/- 4.0% total fat, respectively, P =.0001), fiber (12.9 +/- 4.1 vs. 23.2 +/- 7.8 g/d, respectively, P =.000), and antioxidant vitamins C (84.3 +/- 43.1 vs. 144.2 +/- 63.1 mg/d, respectively, P =.0001) and E (5.4 +/- 1.9 vs. 8.7 +/- 2.9 mg/d, respectively, P =.0001). The ISI was significantly lower in NASH patients than in controls. Postprandial total and very low density lipoproteins triglyceride at +4 hours and +6 hours, triglyceride area under the curve, and incremental triglyceride area under the curve were higher in NASH compared with controls. Saturated fat intake correlated with ISI, with the different features of the metabolic syndrome, and with the postprandial rise of triglyceride. Postprandial apolipoprotein (Apo) B48 and ApoB100 responses in NASH were flat and strikingly dissociated from the triglyceride response, suggesting a defect in ApoB secretion. In conclusion, dietary habits may promote steatohepatitis directly by modulating hepatic triglyceride accumulation and antioxidant activity as well as indirectly by affecting insulin sensitivity and postprandial triglyceride metabolism. Our findings provide further rationale for more specific alimentary interventions, particularly in nonobese, nondiabetic normolipidemic NASH patients."}
{"id": "MED-1067", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIM: Studies have shown monounsaturated oleic acid to be less toxic than palmitic acid and to prevent/attenuate palmitic acid hepatocites toxicity in steatosis models in vitro. However, to what degree these effects are mediated by steatosis extent is unknown. METHODS: We evaluated whether steatosis per se is associated with hepatocytes apoptosis and determined the role of oleic and palmitic acid, the most abundant fatty acids in western diets, on triglyceride accumulation and apoptosis in an in vitro model of steatosis induced in three hepatocytic cell lines (HepG2, HuH7, WRL68). The impact of incubation for 24 h with oleic (0.66 and 1.32 mM) and palmitic acid (0.33 and 0.66 mM), alone or combined (molar ratio 2 : 1) on steatosis, apoptosis, and insulin signalling, was evaluated. RESULTS: Concurrent with PPARgamma and SREBP-1 gene activation, steatosis extent was larger when cells were treated with oleic than with palmitic acid; the latter fatty acid was associated with increased PPARalpha expression. Cell apoptosis was inversely proportional to steatosis deposition. Moreover, palmitic, but not oleic acid, impaired insulin signalling. Despite the higher amount of fat resulting from incubation of the two fatty acids combined, the apoptosis rate and impaired insulin signalling were lower than in cells treated with palmitic acid alone, indicating a protective effect of oleic acid. CONCLUSIONS: Oleic acid is more steatogenic but less apoptotic than palmitic acid in hepatocityc cell cultures. These data may provide a biological basis for clinical findings on dietary patterns and pathogenetic models of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease."}
{"id": "MED-1069", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Prolonged elevation of plasma specific fatty acids may exert differential effects on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), insulin sensitivity and clearance. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We examined the effect of oral ingestion, at regular intervals for 24 h, of an emulsion containing either predominantly monounsaturated (MUFA), polyunsaturated (PUFA) or saturated (SFA) fat or water (control) on GSIS, insulin sensitivity and insulin clearance in seven overweight or obese, non-diabetic humans. Four studies were conducted in each individual in random order, 4-6 weeks apart. Twenty-four hours after initiation of oral ingestion, subjects underwent a 2 h, 20 mmol/l hyperglycaemic clamp to assess GSIS, insulin sensitivity and insulin clearance. RESULTS: Following oral ingestion of any of the three fat emulsions over 24 h, plasma NEFAs were elevated by approximately 1.5- to 2-fold over the basal level. Ingestion of any of the three fat emulsions resulted in reduction in insulin clearance, and SFA ingestion reduced insulin sensitivity. PUFA ingestion was associated with an absolute reduction in GSIS, whereas insulin secretion failed to compensate for insulin resistance in subjects who ingested SFA. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Oral ingestion of fats with differing degrees of saturation resulted in different effects on insulin secretion and action. PUFA ingestion resulted in an absolute reduction in insulin secretion and SFA ingestion induced insulin resistance. Failure of insulin secretion to compensate for insulin resistance implies impaired beta cell function in the SFA study."}
{"id": "MED-1070", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Defects in pancreatic beta cell turnover are implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes by genetic markers for diabetes. Decreased beta cell neogenesis could contribute to diabetes. The longevity and turnover of human beta cells is unknown; in rodents <1 year old, a half-life of 30 days is estimated. Intracellular lipofuscin body (LB) accumulation is a hallmark of ageing in neurons. To estimate the lifespan of human beta cells, we measured beta cell LB accumulation in individuals aged 1-81 years. METHODS: LB content was determined by electron microscopical morphometry in sections of beta cells from human (non-diabetic, n = 45; type 2 diabetic, n = 10) and non-human primates (n = 10; 5-30 years) and from 15 mice aged 10-99 weeks. Total cellular LB content was estimated by three-dimensional (3D) mathematical modelling. RESULTS: LB area proportion was significantly correlated with age in human and non-human primates. The proportion of human LB-positive beta cells was significantly related to age, with no apparent differences in type 2 diabetes or obesity. LB content was low in human insulinomas (n = 5) and alpha cells and in mouse beta cells (LB content in mouse <10% human). Using 3D electron microscopy and 3D mathematical modelling, the LB-positive human beta cells (representing aged cells) increased from >or=90% (<10 years) to >or=97% (>20 years) and remained constant thereafter. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Human beta cells, unlike those of young rodents, are long-lived. LB proportions in type 2 diabetes and obesity suggest that little adaptive change occurs in the adult human beta cell population, which is largely established by age 20 years."}
{"id": "MED-1098", "text": "The first U.S. nationwide food sampling with measurement of dioxins, dibenzofurans, and coplanar, mono-ortho and di-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is reported in this study. Twelve separate analyses were conducted on 110 food samples divided into pooled lots by category. The samples were purchased in 1995 in supermarkets in Atlanta, GA, Binghamton, NY, Chicago, IL, Louisville, KY, and San Diego, CA. Human milk also was collected to estimate nursing infants' consumption. The food category with highest World Health Organization (WHO) dioxin toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentration was farm-grown freshwater fish fillet with 1.7 pg/g, or parts per trillion (ppt), wet, or whole, weight. The category with the lowest TEQ level was a simulated vegandiet, with 0.09 ppt. TEQ concentrations in ocean fish, beef, chicken, pork, sandwich meat, eggs, cheese, and ice cream, as well as human milk, were in the range O.33 to 0.51 ppt, wet weight. In whole dairy milk TEQ was 0.16 ppt, and in butter 1.1 ppt. Mean daily intake of TEQ for U.S. breast-fed infants during the first year of life was estimated at 42 pg/kg body weight. For children aged 1-11 yr the estimated daily TEQ intake was 6.2 pg/kg body weight. For males and females aged 12-19 yr, the estimated TEQ intake was 3.5 and 2.7 pg/kg body weight, respectively. For adult men and women aged 20-79 yr, estimated mean daily TEQ intakes were 2.4 and 2.2 pg/kg body weight, respectively. Estimated mean daily intake of TEQ declined with age to a low of 1.9 pg/kg body weight at age 80 yr and older. For all ages except 80 yr and over, estimates were higher for males than females. For adults, dioxins, dibenzofurans, and PCBs contributed 42%, 30%, and 28% of dietary TEQ intake, respectively. DDE was also analyzed in the pooled food samples."}
{"id": "MED-1099", "text": "Pollutant chemicals that are widespread in the environment can affect endocrine signaling, as evidenced in laboratory experiments and in wildlife with relatively high exposures. Although humans are commonly exposed to such pollutant chemicals, the exposures are generally low, and clear effects on endocrine function from such exposures have been difficult to demonstrate. Several instances in which there are data from humans on exposure to the chemical agent and the endocrine outcome are reviewed, including age at weaning, age at puberty, and sex ratio at birth, and the strength of the evidence is discussed. Although endocrine disruption in humans by pollutant chemicals remains largely undemonstrated, the underlying science is sound and the potential for such effects is real."}
{"id": "MED-1100", "text": "Background Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides are endocrine disruptors, altering both thyroid and estrogen hormonal systems. Less is known of action on androgenic systems. Objective We studied the relationship between serum concentrations of testosterone in relation to levels of PCBs and three chlorinated pesticides in an adult Native American (Mohawk) population. Methods We collected fasting serum samples from 703 adult Mohawks (257 men and 436 women) and analyzed samples for 101 PCB congeners, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), and mirex, as well as testosterone, cholesterol, and triglycerides. The associations between testosterone and tertiles of serum organochlorine levels (both wet weight and lipid adjusted) were assessed using a logistic regression model while controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), and other analytes, with the lowest tertile being considered the referent. Males and females were considered separately. Results Testosterone concentrations in males were inversely correlated with total PCB concentration, whether using wet-weight or lipid-adjusted values. The odds ratio (OR) of having a testosterone concentration above the median was 0.17 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.05\u20130.69] for total wet-weight PCBs (highest vs. lowest tertile) after adjustment for age, BMI, total serum lipids, and three pesticides. The OR for lipid-adjusted total PCB concentration was 0.23 (95% CI, 0.06\u20130.78) after adjustment for other analytes. Testosterone levels were significantly and inversely related to concentrations of PCBs 74, 99, 153, and 206, but not PCBs 52, 105, 118, 138, 170, 180, 201, or 203. Testosterone concentrations in females are much lower than in males, and not significantly related to serum PCBs. HCB, DDE, and mirex were not associated with testosterone concentration in either men or women. Conclusions Elevation in serum PCB levels is associated with a lower concentration of serum testosterone in Native American men."}
{"id": "MED-1101", "text": "The effects exerted by three mixtures of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) were evaluated on human fetal corpora cavernosa cells, as a model for male external genitalia development. The three mixtures feature congeners grouped according to potentially shared modes of action: one dioxin-like (DL) (Mix2) and two non dioxin-like (NDL) mixtures featuring congeners defined as estrogenic (Mix1) and highly persistent-cytochrome P-450 inducers (Mix3). Congeners concentrations used were derived from human internal exposure data. Toxicogenomic analysis revealed that all mixtures modulated critical genes involved in genitourinary development, however displaying three different expression profiles. The DL Mix2 modulated actin-related, cell-cell and epithelial-mesenchymal communication morphogenetic processes; Mix1 modulated smooth muscle function genes, whereas Mix3 mainly modulated genes involved in cell metabolism (e.g., steroid and lipid synthesis) and growth. Our data indicate that fetal exposure to environmentally relevant PCB levels modulates several patterns of genitourinary programming; moreover, NDL congener groups may have specific modes of action. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1103", "text": "Background Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, is present in many everyday foods. Since the finding of its presence in foods in 2002, epidemiological studies have found some suggestive associations between dietary acrylamide exposure and the risk of various cancers. The aim of this prospective study is to investigate for the first time the association between dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of several histological subtypes of lymphatic malignancies. Methods The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer includes 120,852 men and women followed-up since September 1986. The number of person years at risk was estimated by using a random sample of participants from the total cohort that was chosen at baseline (n \u200a=\u200a5,000). Acrylamide intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire combined with acrylamide data for Dutch foods. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for acrylamide intake as a continuous variable as well as in categories (quintiles and tertiles), for men and women separately and for never-smokers, using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Results After 16.3 years of follow-up, 1,233 microscopically confirmed cases of lymphatic malignancies were available for multivariable-adjusted analysis. For multiple myeloma and follicular lymphoma, HRs for men were 1.14 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.27) and 1.28 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.61) per 10 \u00b5g acrylamide/day increment, respectively. For never-smoking men, the HR for multiple myeloma was 1.98 (95% CI: 1.38, 2.85). No associations were observed for women. Conclusion We found indications that acrylamide may increase the risk of multiple myeloma and follicular lymphoma in men. This is the first epidemiological study to investigate the association between dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of lymphatic malignancies, and more research into these observed associations is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-1106", "text": "Background: Vegetarian diets might affect the risk of cancer. Objective: The objective was to describe cancer incidence in vegetarians and nonvegetarians in a large sample in the United Kingdom. Design: This was a pooled analysis of 2 prospective studies including 61,647 British men and women comprising 32,491 meat eaters, 8612 fish eaters, and 20,544 vegetarians (including 2246 vegans). Cancer incidence was followed through nationwide cancer registries. Cancer risk by vegetarian status was estimated by using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. Results: After an average follow-up of 14.9 y, there were 4998 incident cancers: 3275 in meat eaters (10.1%), 520 in fish eaters (6.0%), and 1203 in vegetarians (5.9%). There was significant heterogeneity between dietary groups in risks of the following cancers: stomach cancer [RRs (95% CIs) compared with meat eaters: 0.62 (0.27, 1.43) in fish eaters and 0.37 (0.19, 0.69) in vegetarians; P-heterogeneity = 0.006], colorectal cancer [RRs (95% CIs): 0.66 (0.48, 0.92) in fish eaters and 1.03 (0.84, 1.26) in vegetarians; P-heterogeneity = 0.033], cancers of the lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue [RRs (95% CIs): 0.96 (0.70, 1.32) in fish eaters and 0.64 (0.49, 0.84) in vegetarians; P-heterogeneity = 0.005], multiple myeloma [RRs (95% CIs): 0.77 (0.34, 1.76) in fish eaters and 0.23 (0.09, 0.59) in vegetarians; P-heterogeneity = 0.010], and all sites combined [RRs (95% CIs): 0.88 (0.80, 0.97) in fish eaters and 0.88 (0.82, 0.95) in vegetarians; P-heterogeneity = 0.0007]. Conclusion: In this British population, the risk of some cancers is lower in fish eaters and vegetarians than in meat eaters."}
{"id": "MED-1108", "text": "Background: Despite safety reports of the artificial sweetener aspartame, health-related concerns remain. Objective: We prospectively evaluated whether the consumption of aspartame- and sugar-containing soda is associated with risk of hematopoetic cancers. Design: We repeatedly assessed diet in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). Over 22 y, we identified 1324 non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs), 285 multiple myelomas, and 339 leukemias. We calculated incidence RRs and 95% CIs by using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: When the 2 cohorts were combined, there was no significant association between soda intake and risks of NHL and multiple myeloma. However, in men, \u22651 daily serving of diet soda increased risks of NHL (RR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.72) and multiple myeloma (RR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.20, 3.40) in comparison with men who did not consume diet soda. We observed no increased risks of NHL and multiple myeloma in women. We also observed an unexpected elevated risk of NHL (RR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.51) with a higher consumption of regular, sugar-sweetened soda in men but not in women. In contrast, when sexes were analyzed separately with limited power, neither regular nor diet soda increased risk of leukemia but were associated with increased leukemia risk when data for men and women were combined (RR for consumption of \u22651 serving of diet soda/d when the 2 cohorts were pooled: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.02). Conclusion: Although our findings preserve the possibility of a detrimental effect of a constituent of diet soda, such as aspartame, on select cancers, the inconsistent sex effects and occurrence of an apparent cancer risk in individuals who consume regular soda do not permit the ruling out of chance as an explanation."}
{"id": "MED-1109", "text": "BACKGROUND: The distinctive racial/ethnic and geographic distribution of multiple myeloma (MM) suggests that both family history and environmental factors may contribute to its development. METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study consisting of 220 confirmed MM cases and 220 individually matched patient controls, by sex, age and hospital was carried out at 5 major hospitals in Northwest China. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on demographics, family history, and the frequency of food items consumed. RESULTS: Based on multivariate analysis, a significant association between the risk of MM and family history of cancers in first degree relatives was observed (OR=4.03, 95% CI: 2.50-6.52). Fried food, cured/smoked food, black tea, and fish were not significantly associated with the risk of MM. Intake of shallot and garlic (OR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.43-0.85), soy food (OR=0.52, 95% CI: 0.36-0.75) and green tea (OR=0.38, 95% CI: 0.27-0.53) was significantly associated with a reduced risk of MM. In contrast, intake of brined vegetables and pickle was significantly associated with an increased risk (OR=2.03, 95% CI: 1.41-2.93). A more than multiplicative interaction on the decreased risk of MM was found between shallot/garlic and soy food. CONCLUSION: Our study in Northwest China found an increased risk of MM with a family history of cancer, a diet characterized by low consumption of garlic, green tea and soy foods, and high consumption of pickled vegetables. The effect of green tea in reducing the risk of MM is an interesting new finding which should be further confirmed. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1111", "text": "Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a premalignant plasma-cell proliferative disorder associated with a life-long risk of progression to multiple myeloma (MM). It is not known whether MM is always preceded by a premalignant asymptomatic MGUS stage. Among 77\u2009469 healthy adults enrolled in the nationwide population-based prospective Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, we identified 71 subjects who developed MM during the course of the study in whom serially collected (up to 6) prediagnostic serum samples obtained 2 to 9.8 years prior to MM diagnosis were available. Using assays for monoclonal (M)\u2013proteins (electrophoresis/immunofixation) and kappa-lambda free light chains (FLCs), we determined longitudinally the prevalence of MGUS and characterized patterns of monoclonal immunoglobulin abnormalities prior to MM diagnosis. MGUS was present in 100.0% (87.2%-100.0%), 98.3% (90.8%-100.0%), 97.9% (88.9%-100.0%), 94.6% (81.8%-99.3%), 100.0% (86.3%-100.0%), 93.3% (68.1%-99.8%), and 82.4% (56.6%-96.2%) at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8+ years prior to MM diagnosis, respectively. In approximately half the study population, the M-protein concentration and involved FLC-ratio levels showed a yearly increase prior to MM diagnosis. In the present study, an asymptomatic MGUS stage consistently preceded MM. Novel molecular markers are needed to better predict progression to MM in patients with MGUS."}
{"id": "MED-1112", "text": "Because of the central role of the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in cell survival and proliferation in human multiple myeloma (MM), we explored the possibility of using it as a target for MM treatment by using curcumin (diferuloylmethane), an agent known to have very little or no toxicity in humans. We found that NF-kappaB was constitutively active in all human MM cell lines examined and that curcumin, a chemopreventive agent, down-regulated NF-kappaB in all cell lines as indicated by electrophoretic mobility gel shift assay and prevented the nuclear retention of p65 as shown by immunocytochemistry. All MM cell lines showed consitutively active IkappaB kinase (IKK) and IkappaBalpha phosphorylation. Curcumin suppressed the constitutive IkappaBalpha phosphorylation through the inhibition of IKK activity. Curcumin also down-regulated the expression of NF-kappaB-regulated gene products, including IkappaBalpha, Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), cyclin D1, and interleukin-6. This led to the suppression of proliferation and arrest of cells at the G(1)/S phase of the cell cycle. Suppression of NF-kappaB complex by IKKgamma/NF-kappaB essential modulator-binding domain peptide also suppressed the proliferation of MM cells. Curcumin also activated caspase-7 and caspase-9 and induced polyadenosine-5'-diphosphate-ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage. Curcumin-induced down-regulation of NF-kappaB, a factor that has been implicated in chemoresistance, also induced chemosensitivity to vincristine and melphalan. Overall, our results indicate that curcumin down-regulates NF-kappaB in human MM cells, leading to the suppression of proliferation and induction of apoptosis, thus providing the molecular basis for the treatment of MM patients with this pharmacologically safe agent."}
{"id": "MED-1113", "text": "Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) represent useful models for studying multiple myeloma precursor disease, and for developing early intervention strategies. Administering a 4g dose of curcumin, we performed a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over study, followed by an open-label extension study using an 8g dose to assess the effect of curcumin on FLC response and bone turnover in patients with MGUS and SMM. 36 patients (19 MGUS and 17 SMM) were randomised into two groups: one received 4g curcumin and the other 4g placebo, crossing over at 3 months. At completion of the 4g arm, all patients were given the option of entering an open-label, 8g dose extension study. Blood and urine samples were collected at specified intervals for specific marker analyses. Group values are expressed as mean \u00b1 1 SD. Data from different time intervals within groups were compared using Student's paired t-test. 25 patients completed the 4g cross-over study and 18 the 8g extension study. Curcumin therapy decreased the free light-chain ratio (rFLC), reduced the difference between clonal and nonclonal light-chain (dFLC) and involved free light-chain (iFLC). uDPYD, a marker of bone resorption, decreased in the curcumin arm and increased on the placebo arm. Serum creatinine levels tended to diminish on curcumin therapy. These findings suggest that curcumin might have the potential to slow the disease process in patients with MGUS and SMM. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1114", "text": "Several studies have suggested an increased risk of lymphoma among workers exposed to meat, without conclusive evidence. We conducted a multicenter case-control study during 1998-2004 in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain, including 2,007 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 339 cases of Hodgkin lymphoma and 2,462 controls. We collected detailed information on occupational history and assessed exposure to meat in general and several types of meat via expert assessment of the questionnaires. The odds ratio (OR) of non-Hodgkin lymphoma for ever occupational exposure to meat was 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.95-1.46), that for exposure to beef meat was 1.22 (95% CI 0.90-1.67), and that for exposure to chicken meat was 1.19 (95% CI 0.91-1.55). The ORs were higher among workers with longer duration of exposure. An increased risk among workers exposed to beef meat was mainly apparent for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (OR 1.49, 95%CI 0.96-2.33), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (OR 1.35, 95% CI 0.78-2.34) and multiple myeloma (OR 1.40, 95%CI 0.67-2.94). The latter 2 types were also associated with exposure to chicken meat (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.01-2.37, and OR 2.05, 95%CI 1.14-3.69). Follicular lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma, as well as Hodgkin lymphoma did not show any increase in risk. Occupational exposure to meat does not appear to represent an important risk factor of lymphoma, although an increased risk of specific types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cannot be excluded. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1115", "text": "There is marked racial disparity in the incidence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and multiple myeloma, with a two to threefold increased risk in blacks compared with whites. The increased risk has been seen both in Africans and African Americans. Similarly, an increased risk of monoclonal gammopathies in blacks compared with whites has been noted after adjusting for socioeconomic and other risk factors, suggesting a genetic predisposition. The higher risk of multiple myeloma in blacks is likely a result of the higher prevalence of the premalignant MGUS stage; there are no data to suggest that blacks have a higher progression rate of MGUS to myeloma. Studies are emerging that suggest the baseline cytogenetic characteristics, and progression may differ by race. In contrast, to the increased risk noted in blacks, studies suggest that the risk may be lower in certain racial and ethnic groups, notably persons from Japan and Mexico. We review the literature on racial disparity in the prevalence, pathogenesis and progression of MGUS and multiple myeloma between blacks and whites. We also discuss future directions for research that could inform management of these conditions and positively influence patient outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-1118", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To measure Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli antibody levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) during treatment by vegetarian diet. METHODS: Sera were collected from 53 RA patients who took part in a controlled clinical trial of fasting and a one year vegetarian diet. P mirabilis and E coli antibody levels were measured by an indirect immunofluorescence technique and an enzyme immunoassay, respectively. RESULTS: The patients on the vegetarian diet had a significant reduction in the mean anti-proteus titres at all time points during the study, compared with baseline values (all p < 0.05). No significant change in titre was observed in patients who followed an omnivorous diet. The decrease in anti-proteus titre was greater in the patients who responded well to the vegetarian diet compared with diet non-responders and omnivores. The total IgG concentration and levels of antibody against E coli, however, were almost unchanged in all patient groups during the trial. The decrease from baseline in proteus antibody levels correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with the decrease in a modified Stoke disease activity index. CONCLUSION: The decrease in P mirabilis antibody levels in the diet responders and the correlation between the decrease in proteus antibody level and decrease in disease activity supports the suggestion of an aetiopathogenetic role for P mirabilis in RA."}
{"id": "MED-1124", "text": "The effect of an uncooked extreme vegan diet on fecal microflora was studied by direct stool sample gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) of bacterial cellular fatty acids and by quantitative bacterial culture by using classical microbiological techniques of isolation, identification, and enumeration of different bacterial species. Eighteen volunteers were divided randomly into two groups. The test group received an uncooked vegan diet for 1 month and a conventional diet of mixed Western type for the other month of the study. The control group consumed a conventional diet throughout the study period. Stool samples were collected. Bacterial cellular fatty acids were extracted directly from the stool samples and measured by GLC. Computerized analysis of the resulting fatty acid profiles was performed. Such a profile represents all bacterial cellular fatty acids in a sample and thus reflects its microflora and can be used to detect changes, differences, or similarities of bacterial flora between individual samples or sample groups. GLC profiles changed significantly in the test group after the induction and discontinuation of the vegan diet but not in the control group at any time, whereas quantitative bacterial culture did not detect any significant change in fecal bacteriology in either of the groups. The results suggest that an uncooked extreme vegan diet alters the fecal bacterial flora significantly when it is measured by direct stool sample GLC of bacterial fatty acids."}
{"id": "MED-1126", "text": "Lignans are a class of secondary plant metabolites produced by oxidative dimerization of two phenylpropanoid units. Although their molecular backbone consists only of two phenylpropane (C6-C3) units, lignans show an enormous structural diversity. There is a growing interest in lignans and their synthetic derivatives due to applications in cancer chemotherapy and various other pharmacological effects. This review deals with lignans possessing anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities, and comprises the data reported in more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, so as to highlight the recently reported bioactive lignans that could be a first step towards the development of potential new therapeutic agents."}
{"id": "MED-1130", "text": "The beneficial effect of a 1-yr vegetarian diet in RA has recently been demonstrated in a clinical trial. We have analysed stool samples of the 53 RA patients by using direct stool sample gas-liquid chromatography of bacterial cellular fatty acids. Based on repeated clinical assessments disease improvement indices were constructed for the patients. At each time point during the intervention period the patients in the diet group were then assigned either to a group with a high improvement index (HI) or a group with a low improvement index (LI). Significant alteration in the intestinal flora was observed when the patients changed from omnivorous to vegan diet. There was also a significant difference between the periods with vegan and lactovegetarian diets. The faecal flora from patients with HI and LI differed significantly from each other at 1 and 13 months during the diet. This finding of an association between intestinal flora and disease activity may have implications for our understanding of how diet can affect RA."}
{"id": "MED-1131", "text": "To clarify the role of the faecal flora in the diet-induced decrease of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity, 43 RA patients were randomized into two groups: the test group to receive living food, a form of uncooked vegan diet rich in lactobacilli, and the control group to continue their ordinary omnivorous diets. Based on clinical assessments before, during and after the intervention period, a disease improvement index was constructed for each patient. According to the index, patients were assigned either to a group with a high improvement index (HI) or to a group with a low improvement index (LO). Stool samples collected from each patient before the intervention and at 1 month were analysed by direct stool sample gas-liquid chromatography of bacterial cellular fatty acids. This method has proved to be a simple and sensitive way to detect changes and differences in the faecal microbial flora between individual stool samples or groups of them. A significant, diet-induced change in the faecal flora (P = 0.001) was observed in the test group, but not in the control group. Further, in the test group, a significant (P = 0.001) difference was detected between the HI and LO categories at 1 month, but not in the pre-test samples. We conclude that a vegan diet changes the faecal microbial flora in RA patients, and changes in the faecal flora are associated with improvement in RA activity."}
{"id": "MED-1133", "text": "Background The last nationally representative assessment of kidney stone prevalence in the United States occurred in 1994. After a 13-yr hiatus, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reinitiated data collection regarding kidney stone history. Objective Describe the current prevalence of stone disease in the United States, and identify factors associated with a history of kidney stones. Design, setting, and participants A cross-sectional analysis of responses to the 2007\u20132010 NHANES (n = 12 110). Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Self-reported history of kidney stones. Percent prevalence was calculated and multivariable models were used to identify factors associated with a history of kidney stones. Results and limitations The prevalence of kidney stones was 8.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.1\u20139.5). Among men, the prevalence of stones was 10.6% (95% CI, 9.4\u201311.9), compared with 7.1% (95% CI, 6.4\u20137.8) among women. Kidney stones were more common among obese than normal-weight individuals (11.2% [95% CI, 10.0\u201312.3] compared with 6.1% [95% CI, 4.8\u20137.4], respectively; p < 0.001). Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic individuals were less likely to report a history of stone disease than were white, non-Hispanic individuals (black, non-Hispanic: odds ratio [OR]: 0.37 [95% CI, 0.28\u20130.49], p < 0.001; Hispanic: OR: 0.60 [95% CI, 0.49\u20130.73], p < 0.001). Obesity and diabetes were strongly associated with a history of kidney stones in multivariable models. The cross-sectional survey design limits causal inference regarding potential risk factors for kidney stones. Conclusions Kidney stones affect approximately 1 in 11 people in the United States. These data represent a marked increase in stone disease compared with the NHANES III cohort, particularly in black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic individuals. Diet and lifestyle factors likely play an important role in the changing epidemiology of kidney stones."}
{"id": "MED-1135", "text": "The hypothesis that the incidence of calcium stone disease is related to the consumption of animal protein has been examined. Within the male population, recurrent idiopathic stone formers consumed more animal protein than did normal subjects. Single stone formers had animal protein intakes intermediate between those of normal men and those of recurrent stone formers. A high animal protein intake caused a significant increase in the urinary excretion of calcium, oxalate and uric acid, 3 of the 6 main urinary risk factors for calcium stone formation. The overall relative probability of forming stones, calculated from the combination of the 6 main urinary risk factors, was markedly increased by a high animal protein diet. Conversely, a low animal protein intake, such as taken by vegetarians, was associated with a low excretion of calcium, oxalate and uric acid and a low relative probability of forming stones."}
{"id": "MED-1137", "text": "The lifetime prevalence of kidney stones is around 10 % and incidence rates are increasing. Diet may be an important determinant of kidney stone development. Our objective was to investigate the association between diet and kidney stone risk in a population with a wide range of diets. This association was examined among 51,336 participants in the Oxford arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition using data from Hospital Episode Statistics in England and Scottish Morbidity Records. In the cohort, 303 participants attended hospital with a new kidney stone episode. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and their 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI). Compared to those with high intake of meat (>100 g/day), the HR estimates for moderate meat-eaters (50-99 g/day), low meat-eaters (<50 g/day), fish-eaters and vegetarians were 0.80 (95 % CI 0.57-1.11), 0.52 (95 % CI 0.35-0.8), 0.73 (95 % CI 0.48-1.11) and 0.69 (95 % CI 0.48-0.98), respectively. High intakes of fresh fruit, fibre from wholegrain cereals and magnesium were also associated with a lower risk of kidney stone formation. A high intake of zinc was associated with a higher risk. In conclusion, vegetarians have a lower risk of developing kidney stones compared with those who eat a high meat diet. This information may be important to advise the public about prevention of kidney stone formation."}
{"id": "MED-1138", "text": "PURPOSE: We compared the effect of 3 animal protein sources on urinary stone risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 15 healthy subjects completed a 3-phase randomized, crossover metabolic study. During each 1-week phase subjects consumed a standard metabolic diet containing beef, chicken or fish. Serum chemistry and 24-hour urine samples collected at the end of each phase were compared using mixed model repeated measures analysis. RESULTS: Serum and urinary uric acid were increased for each phase. Beef was associated with lower serum uric acid than chicken or fish (6.5 vs 7.0 and 7.3 mg/dl, respectively, each p <0.05). Fish was associated with higher urinary uric acid than beef or chicken (741 vs 638 and 641 mg per day, p = 0.003 and 0.04, respectively). No significant difference among phases was noted in urinary pH, sulfate, calcium, citrate, oxalate or sodium. Mean saturation index for calcium oxalate was highest for beef (2.48), although the difference attained significance only compared to chicken (1.67, p = 0.02) but not to fish (1.79, p = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS: Consuming animal protein is associated with increased serum and urine uric acid in healthy individuals. The higher purine content of fish compared to beef or chicken is reflected in higher 24-hour urinary uric acid. However, as reflected in the saturation index, the stone forming propensity is marginally higher for beef compared to fish or chicken. Stone formers should be advised to limit the intake of all animal proteins, including fish. Copyright \u00a9 2014 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1139", "text": "There is growing evidence on the association between long-term exposure to pesticides in occupational settings and an elevated rate of chronic diseases, including different types of cancer. However, data on non-occupational exposures are scarce to draw any conclusion. The objective of this study was to investigate the putative associations of environmental pesticide exposures in the general population with several cancer sites and to discuss potential carcinogenic mechanisms by which pesticides develop cancer. A population-based case-control study was conducted among people residing in 10 Health districts from Andalusia (South Spain) to estimate the risk of cancer at different sites. Health districts were categorized into areas of high and low environmental pesticide exposure based on two quantitative criteria: number of hectares devoted to intensive agriculture and pesticide sales per capita. The study population consisted of 34,205 cancer cases and 1,832,969 age and health district matched controls. Data were collected by computerized hospital records (minimum dataset) between 1998 and 2005. Prevalence rates and the risk of cancer at most organ sites were significantly higher in districts with greater pesticide use related to those with lower pesticide use. Conditional logistic regression analyses showed that the population living in areas with high pesticide use had an increased risk of cancer at all sites studied (odds ratios between 1.15 and 3.45) with the exception of Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The results of this study support and extend previous evidence from occupational studies indicating that environmental exposure to pesticides may be a risk factor for different types of cancer at the level of the general population. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1140", "text": "Consumer concern over the quality and safety of conventional food has intensified in recent years, and primarily drives the increasing demand for organically grown food, which is perceived as healthier and safer. Relevant scientific evidence, however, is scarce, while anecdotal reports abound. Although there is an urgent need for information related to health benefits and/or hazards of food products of both origins, generalized conclusions remain tentative in the absence of adequate comparative data. Organic fruits and vegetables can be expected to contain fewer agrochemical residues than conventionally grown alternatives; yet, the significance of this difference is questionable, inasmuch as actual levels of contamination in both types of food are generally well below acceptable limits. Also, some leafy, root, and tuber organic vegetables appear to have lower nitrate content compared with conventional ones, but whether or not dietary nitrate indeed constitutes a threat to human health is a matter of debate. On the other hand, no differences can be identified for environmental contaminants (e.g. cadmium and other heavy metals), which are likely to be present in food from both origins. With respect to other food hazards, such as endogenous plant toxins, biological pesticides and pathogenic microorganisms, available evidence is extremely limited preventing generalized statements. Also, results for mycotoxin contamination in cereal crops are variable and inconclusive; hence, no clear picture emerges. It is difficult, therefore, to weigh the risks, but what should be made clear is that 'organic' does not automatically equal 'safe.' Additional studies in this area of research are warranted. At our present state of knowledge, other factors rather than safety aspects seem to speak in favor of organic food."}
{"id": "MED-1142", "text": "Chlorinated pesticides can contain impurities of dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and their precursors, as a result of various manufacturing processes and conditions. As precursor formation of PCDD/Fs can also be mediated by ultraviolet light (UV), this study investigated whether PCDD/Fs are formed when currently used pesticides are exposed to natural sunlight. Formulations containing pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB; n=2) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D; n=1) were exposed to sunlight in quartz tubes, and the concentration of 93 PCDD/F congeners were monitored over time. Considerable formation of PCDD/Fs was observed in both PCNB formulations (by up to 5600%, to a maximum concentration of 57000 \u03bcg \u2211PCDD/F kg(-1)) as well as the 2,4-D formulation (by 3000%, to 140 \u03bcg \u2211PCDD/F kg(-1)). TEQ also increased by up to 980%, to a maximum concentration of 28 \u03bcg kg(-1) in PCNB, but did not change in the 2,4-D formulation. Assuming similar yields as observed in the present study as a worst case scenario the use of PCNB in Australia may result in the formation of 155 g TEQ annum(-1), contributed primarily by OCDD formation. This warrants detailed evaluations on the contemporary release of PCDD/Fs to the environment after the use of pesticides. Changes in congener profiles (including the ratio of PCDDs to PCDFs (DF ratio)) suggest that pesticide sources of PCDD/Fs after sunlight exposure may not be recognized based on matching source fingerprints established from manufacturing impurities. These changes also provide preliminary insights into the possible formation routes and types of precursors involved. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1143", "text": "Consumer choice between organically (without pesticides) and conventionally grown produce is examined. Exploratory focus-group discussions and questionnaires (N = 43) suggest that individuals who purchase organically grown produce believe it is substantially less hazardous than the conventional alternative and are willing to pay significant premiums to obtain it (a median 50% above the cost of conventional produce). The value of risk reduction implied by this incremental willingness to pay is not high relative to estimates for other risks, since the perceived risk reduction is relatively large. Organic-produce consumers also appear more likely than conventional-produce consumers to mitigate other ingestion-related risks (e.g., contaminated drinking water) but less likely to use automobile seatbelts."}
{"id": "MED-1144", "text": "Public risk perceptions and demand for safer food are important factors shaping agricultural production practices in the United States. Despite documented food safety concerns, little attempt has been made to elicit consumers' subjective risk judgments for a range of food safety hazards or to identify factors most predictive of perceived food safety risks. In this study, over 700 conventional and organic fresh produce buyers in the Boston area were surveyed for their perceived food safety risks. Survey results showed that consumers perceived relatively high risks associated with the consumption and production of conventionally grown produce compared with other public health hazards. For example, conventional and organic food buyers estimated the median annual fatality rate due to pesticide residues on conventionally grown food to be about 50 per million and 200 per million, respectively, which is similar in magnitude to the annual mortality risk from motor vehicle accidents in the United States. Over 90% of survey respondents also perceived a reduction in pesticide residue risk associated with substituting organically grown produce for conventionally grown produce, and nearly 50% perceived a risk reduction due to natural toxins and microbial pathogens. Multiple regression analyses indicate that only a few factors are consistently predictive of higher risk perceptions, including feelings of distrust toward regulatory agencies and the safety of the food supply. A variety of factors were found to be significant predictors of specific categories of food hazards, suggesting that consumers may view food safety risks as dissimilar from one another. Based on study findings, it is recommended that future agricultural policies and risk communication efforts utilize a comparative risk approach that targets a range of food safety hazards."}
{"id": "MED-1146", "text": "The current paper provides an analysis of the potential number of cancer cases that might be prevented if half the U.S. population increased its fruit and vegetable consumption by one serving each per day. This number is contrasted with an upper-bound estimate of concomitant cancer cases that might be theoretically attributed to the intake of pesticide residues arising from the same additional fruit and vegetable consumption. The cancer prevention estimates were derived using a published meta-analysis of nutritional epidemiology studies. The cancer risks were estimated using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods, cancer potency estimates from rodent bioassays, and pesticide residue sampling data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The resulting estimates are that approximately 20,000 cancer cases per year could be prevented by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, while up to 10 cancer cases per year could be caused by the added pesticide consumption. These estimates have significant uncertainties (e.g., potential residual confounding in the fruit and vegetable epidemiologic studies and reliance on rodent bioassays for cancer risk). However, the overwhelming difference between benefit and risk estimates provides confidence that consumers should not be concerned about cancer risks from consuming conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1147", "text": "The main sources of cadmium (Cd) input to soils have been phosphate fertilizers and deposition from air. In organic farming, phosphate fertilizers are not used, which may in the long term result in lower Cd levels. In the present study, feed, kidney, liver, and manure from growing/finishing pigs raised conventionally and organically on the same farm were microwave-digested and analyzed for Cd by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Cd was also analyzed in soil and water. A quality control program was included. The organic pigs (n = 40) were raised outdoors and fed an organic feed; the conventional pigs (n = 40) were raised indoors and given a conventional feed. The Cd levels in organic and conventional feed were 39.9 microg/kg and 51.8 microg/kg, respectively. Organic feed contained 2% potato protein, which contributed 17% of the Cd content. Conventional feed contained 5% beet fiber, which contributed 38% of total Cd content. Both feeds contained vitamin-mineral mixtures with high levels of Cd: 991 microg/kg in organic and 589 microg/kg in conventional feed. There was a significant negative linear relationship between Cd concentration in kidney and kidney weight. There was no significant difference in liver Cd levels between organic and conventional pigs and the mean +/- SD was 15.4 +/- 3.0. In spite of the lower level of Cd in the organic feed, the organic pigs had significantly higher levels in kidneys than the conventional pigs, 96.1 +/- 19.5 microg/kg wet weight (mean +/- SD; n = 37) and 84.0 +/- 17.6 microg/kg wet weight (n = 40), respectively. Organic pigs had higher Cd levels in manure, indicating a higher Cd exposure from the environment, such as ingestion of soil. Differences in feed compositions and bioavailability of Cd from the feed components may also explain the different kidney levels of Cd."}
{"id": "MED-1149", "text": "Background Lifestyle, dietary patterns and nutritional status of organic food consumers have rarely been described, while interest for a sustainable diet is markedly increasing. Methods Consumer attitude and frequency of use of 18 organic products were assessed in 54,311 adult participants in the Nutrinet-Sant\u00e9 cohort. Cluster analysis was performed to identify behaviors associated with organic product consumption. Socio-demographic characteristics, food consumption and nutrient intake across clusters are provided. Cross-sectional association with overweight/obesity was estimated using polytomous logistic regression. Results Five clusters were identified: 3 clusters of non-consumers whose reasons differed, occasional (OCOP, 51%) and regular (RCOP, 14%) organic product consumers. RCOP were more highly educated and physically active than other clusters. They also exhibited dietary patterns that included more plant foods and less sweet and alcoholic beverages, processed meat or milk. Their nutrient intake profiles (fatty acids, most minerals and vitamins, fibers) were healthier and they more closely adhered to dietary guidelines. In multivariate models (after accounting for confounders, including level of adherence to nutritional guidelines), compared to those not interested in organic products, RCOP participants showed a markedly lower probability of overweight (excluding obesity) (25\u2264body mass index<30) and obesity (body mass index \u226530): \u221236% and \u221262% in men and \u221242% and \u221248% in women, respectively (P<0.0001). OCOP participants (%) generally showed intermediate figures. Conclusions Regular consumers of organic products, a sizeable group in our sample, exhibit specific socio-demographic characteristics, and an overall healthy profile which should be accounted for in further studies analyzing organic food intake and health markers."}
{"id": "MED-1151", "text": "Background: Organically produced foods are less likely than conventionally produced foods to contain pesticide residues. Methods: We examined the hypothesis that eating organic food may reduce the risk of soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other common cancers in a large prospective study of 623\u2009080 middle-aged UK women. Women reported their consumption of organic food and were followed for cancer incidence over the next 9.3 years. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted relative risks for cancer incidence by the reported frequency of consumption of organic foods. Results: At baseline, 30%, 63% and 7% of women reported never, sometimes, or usually/always eating organic food, respectively. Consumption of organic food was not associated with a reduction in the incidence of all cancer (n=53\u2009769 cases in total) (RR for usually/always vs never=1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99\u20131.07), soft tissue sarcoma (RR=1.37, 95% CI: 0.82\u20132.27), or breast cancer (RR=1.09, 95% CI: 1.02\u20131.15), but was associated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (RR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.65\u20130.96). Conclusions: In this large prospective study there was little or no decrease in the incidence of cancer associated with consumption of organic food, except possibly for non-Hodgkin lymphoma."}
{"id": "MED-1152", "text": "The incidence of testicular cancer (TC) has been increasing worldwide during the last decades. The reasons of the increase remains unknown, but recent findings suggest that organochlorine pesticides (OPs) could influence the development of TC. A hospital-based case-control study of 50 cases and 48 controls was conducted to determine whether environmental exposure to OPs is associated with the risk of TC, and by measuring serum concentrations of OPs, including p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) isomer and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in participants. A significant association was observed between TC and household insecticide use (odds ratio [OR] = 3.01, 95 % CI: 1.11-8.14; OR(adjusted) = 3.23, 95 % CI: 1.15-9.11). Crude and adjusted ORs for TC were also significantly associated with higher serum concentrations of total OPs (OR = 3.15, 95 % CI: 1.00-9.91; OR(adjusted) = 3.34, 95 % CI: 1.09-10.17) in cases compared with controls. These findings give additional support to the results of previous research that suggest that some environmental exposures to OPs may be implicated in the pathogenesis of TC."}
{"id": "MED-1153", "text": "Context Exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides is common, and although these compounds have known neurotoxic properties, few studies examined risks for children in the general population. Objective To examine the association between the concentrations of urinary dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites of OPs and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children age 8 to 15 years. Participants and Methods Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2000\u20132004) were available for 1,139 children representative of the general U.S. population. A structured interview with a parent was used to ascertain ADHD diagnostic status, based on slightly modified criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV. Results One hundred nineteen children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Children with higher concentrations of urinary DAPs, especially dimethyl alkylphosphates (DMAP), were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. A 10-fold increase in DMAP concentration was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.55 (95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.14\u20132.10), after adjusting for sex, age, race/ethnicity, poverty-income ratio, fasting duration, and urinary creatinine concentration. For the most commonly detected DMAP metabolite, dimethylthiophosphate, children with levels higher than the median of detectable concentrations had double the odds of ADHD (adjusted OR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.23\u20133.02]) compared with those with non-detectable levels. Conclusions These findings support the hypothesis that OP exposure, at levels common in U.S. children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence. Prospective studies are needed to establish whether this association is causal."}
{"id": "MED-1156", "text": "Background: Exposure to organochlorines has been examined as a potential risk factor for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), with inconsistent results that may be related to limited statistical power or to imprecise exposure measurements. Objective: Our purpose was to examine associations between organochlorine concentrations in prediagnostic adipose tissue samples and the risk of NHL. Methods: We conducted a case\u2013cohort study using a prospective Danish cohort of 57,053 persons enrolled between 1993 and 1997. Within the cohort we identified 256 persons diagnosed with NHL in the population-based nationwide Danish Cancer Registry and randomly selected 256 subcohort persons. We measured concentrations of 8 pesticides and 10 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in adipose tissue collected upon enrollment. Associations between the 18 organochlorines and NHL were analyzed in Cox regression models, adjusting for body mass index. Results: Incidence rate ratios and confidence intervals (CIs) for interquartile range increases in concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane (DDT), cis-nonachlor, and oxychlordane were 1.35 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.66), 1.13 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.36), and 1.11 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.38), respectively, with monotonic dose\u2013response trends for DDT and cis-nonachlor based on categorical models. The relative risk estimates were higher for men than for women. In contrast, no clear association was found between NHL and PCBs. Conclusion: We found a higher risk of NHL in association with higher adipose tissue levels of DDT, cis-nonachlor, and oxychlordane, but no association with PCBs. This is the first study of organochlorines and NHL using prediagnostic adipose tissue samples in the exposure assessment and provides new environmental health evidence that these organochlorines contribute to NHL risk."}
{"id": "MED-1157", "text": "In 1997 this laboratory initiated a research program with the objective of examining the effect that rinsing of produce with tap water would have on pesticide residues. Samples were obtained from local markets and/or grown at our experimental farm. Because approximately 35% of produce from retail sources contains pesticide residues, growing and treating produce at an experimental farm had the advantage that all such samples contain pesticide residues. Pesticides were applied under normal field conditions to a variety of food crops and the vegetation was allowed to undergo natural weathering prior to harvest. The resulting samples contained field-incurred or \"field-fortified\" residues. This experimental design was employed to mimic as closely as possible real world samples. Crops were treated, harvested, and divided into equal subsamples. One subsample was processed unwashed, whereas the other was rinsed under tap water. The extraction and analysis method used was a multi-residue method developed in our laboratory. Twelve pesticides were included in this study: the fungicides captan, chlorothalonil, iprodione, and vinclozolin; and the insecticides endosulfan, permethrin, methoxychlor, malathion, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, bifenthrin, and DDE (a soil metabolite of DDT). Statistical analysis of the data using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that rinsing removed residues for nine of the twelve pesticides studied. Residues of vinclozolin, bifenthrin, and chlorpyrifos were not reduced. The rinsability of a pesticide is not correlated with its water solubility."}
{"id": "MED-1158", "text": "The efficiencies of acidic solutions (radish, citric acid, ascorbic acid, acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide), neutral solutions (sodium chloride) and alkaline solution (sodium carbonate) as well as tap water in the elimination of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides from naturally contaminated potatoes were examined. The results indicated that acidic solutions were more effective than neutral and alkaline solutions in the elimination of the organochlorine compounds under investigation, Radish solutions eliminated pesticides completely, except o,p'-DDE (73.1% loss), followed by citric and ascorbic acid solutions. On the other hand, organophosphorus pesticides (pirimphos methyl, malathion and profenofos) were eliminated more by acidic, neutral and alkaline solutions than by organochlorines. The percentage of removal ranged from 98.5 to 100% for pirimphos methyl, 87.9 to 100% for malathion and 100% for profenofos."}
{"id": "MED-1162", "text": "Consumers are frequently urged to avoid imported foods as well as specific fruits and vegetables due to health concerns from pesticide residues and are often encouraged to choose organic fruits and vegetables rather than conventional forms. Studies have demonstrated that while organic fruits and vegetables have lower levels of pesticide residues than do conventional fruits and vegetables, pesticide residues are still frequently detected on organic fruits and vegetables; typical dietary consumer exposure to pesticide residues from conventional fruits and vegetables does not appear to be of health significance. Similarly, research does not demonstrate that imported fruits and vegetables pose greater risks from pesticide residues than do domestic fruits and vegetables or that specific fruits and vegetables singled out as being the most highly contaminated by pesticides should be avoided in their conventional forms."}
{"id": "MED-1164", "text": "We assessed organophosphorus (OP) pesticide exposure from diet by biological monitoring among Seattle, Washington, preschool children. Parents kept food diaries for 3 days before urine collection, and they distinguished organic and conventional foods based on label information. Children were then classified as having consumed either organic or conventional diets based on analysis of the diary data. Residential pesticide use was also recorded for each home. We collected 24-hr urine samples from 18 children with organic diets and 21 children with conventional diets and analyzed them for five OP pesticide metabolites. We found significantly higher median concentrations of total dimethyl alkylphosphate metabolites than total diethyl alkylphosphate metabolites (0.06 and 0.02 micro mol/L, respectively; p = 0.0001). The median total dimethyl metabolite concentration was approximately six times higher for children with conventional diets than for children with organic diets (0.17 and 0.03 micro mol/L; p = 0.0003); mean concentrations differed by a factor of nine (0.34 and 0.04 micro mol/L). We calculated dose estimates from urinary dimethyl metabolites and from agricultural pesticide use data, assuming that all exposure came from a single pesticide. The dose estimates suggest that consumption of organic fruits, vegetables, and juice can reduce children's exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current guidelines, thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a range of negligible risk. Consumption of organic produce appears to provide a relatively simple way for parents to reduce their children's exposure to OP pesticides."}
{"id": "MED-1165", "text": "The cooking-induced changes in the levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in various foodstuffs were investigated. Foods included fish (sardine, hake and tuna), meat (veal steak, loin of pork, breast and thigh of chicken, and steak and rib of lamb), string bean, potato, rice, and olive oil. For each food item, raw and cooked (fried, grilled, roasted, boiled) samples were analyzed. There were some variations in the concentrations of PBDEs before and after cooking. However, they depended not only on the cooking process, but mainly on the specific food item. The highest HCB concentrations were found in sardine, being lower in cooked samples. All cooking processes enhanced HCB levels in hake, while very scarce differences could be noted in tuna (raw and cooked). In general terms, the highest PAH concentrations were found after frying by being the values especially notable in fish, excepting hake, where the highest total PAH levels corresponded to roasted samples. The results of this study show that, in general, cooking processes are only of a limited value as a means of reducing PBDE, HCB and PAH concentrations in food."}
{"id": "MED-1166", "text": "Context: Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are neurotoxic at high doses. Few studies have examined whether chronic exposure at lower levels could adversely affect children\u2019s cognitive development. Objective: We examined associations between prenatal and postnatal exposure to OP pesticides and cognitive abilities in school-age children. Methods: We conducted a birth cohort study (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas study) among predominantly Latino farmworker families from an agricultural community in California. We assessed exposure to OP pesticides by measuring dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites in urine collected during pregnancy and from children at 6 months and 1, 2, 3.5, and 5 years of age. We administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition, to 329 children 7 years of age. Analyses were adjusted for maternal education and intelligence, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment score, and language of cognitive assessment. Results: Urinary DAP concentrations measured during the first and second half of pregnancy had similar relations to cognitive scores, so we used the average of concentrations measured during pregnancy in further analyses. Averaged maternal DAP concentrations were associated with poorer scores for Working Memory, Processing Speed, Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, and Full-Scale intelligence quotient (IQ). Children in the highest quintile of maternal DAP concentrations had an average deficit of 7.0 IQ points compared with those in the lowest quintile. However, children\u2019s urinary DAP concentrations were not consistently associated with cognitive scores. Conclusions: Prenatal but not postnatal urinary DAP concentrations were associated with poorer intellectual development in 7-year-old children. Maternal urinary DAP concentrations in the present study were higher but nonetheless within the range of levels measured in the general U.S. population."}
{"id": "MED-1167", "text": "Along with the wide use of pesticides in the world, the concerns over their health impacts are rapidly growing. There is a huge body of evidence on the relation between exposure to pesticides and elevated rate of chronic diseases such as different types of cancers, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson, Alzheimer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), birth defects, and reproductive disorders. There is also circumstantial evidence on the association of exposure to pesticides with some other chronic diseases like respiratory problems, particularly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, chronic nephropathies, autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematous and rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and aging. The common feature of chronic disorders is a disturbance in cellular homeostasis, which can be induced via pesticides' primary action like perturbation of ion channels, enzymes, receptors, etc., or can as well be mediated via pathways other than the main mechanism. In this review, we present the highlighted evidence on the association of pesticide's exposure with the incidence of chronic diseases and introduce genetic damages, epigenetic modifications, endocrine disruption, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and unfolded protein response (UPR), impairment of ubiquitin proteasome system, and defective autophagy as the effective mechanisms of action. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1169", "text": "BACKGROUND: Conventional food production commonly uses organophosphate (OP) pesticides, which can have negative health effects, while organic food is deemed healthier because it is produced without these pesticides. Studies suggest that organic food consumption may significantly reduce OP pesticide exposure in children who have relatively higher pesticide exposure than adults due to their different diets, body weight, behaviour and less efficient metabolism. OBJECTIVES: A prospective, randomised, crossover study was conducted to determine if an organic food diet reduces organophosphate exposure in adults. METHODS: Thirteen participants were randomly allocated to consume a diet of at least 80% organic or conventional food for 7 days and then crossed over to the alternate diet. Urinary levels of six dialkylphosphate metabolites were analysed in first-morning voids collected on day 8 of each phase using GC-MS/MS with detection limits of 0.11-0.51 \u03bcg/L. RESULTS: The mean total DAP results in the organic phase were 89% lower than in the conventional phase (M=0.032 [SD=0.038] and 0.294 [SD=0.435] respectively, p=0.013). For total dimethyl DAPs there was a 96% reduction (M=0.011 [SD=0.023] and 0.252 [SD=0.403] respectively, p=0.005). Mean total diethyl DAP levels in the organic phase were half those of the conventional phase (M=0.021 [SD=0.020] and 0.042 [SD=0.038] respectively), yet the wide variability and small sample size meant the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of an organic diet for one week significantly reduced OP pesticide exposure in adults. Larger scale studies in different populations are required to confirm these findings and investigate their clinical relevance. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1170", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine the potential association between parental occupational exposure to pesticides and the occurrence of brain tumors in children and young adults. METHODS: Studies identified from a MEDLINE search through 15 January 2013 and from the reference lists of identified publications were submitted to a systematic review and meta-analysis. Relative risk estimates were extracted from 20 studies published between 1974 and 2010. Most of the retrieved studies involved farm/agricultural jobs. Summary ratio estimates (SR) were calculated according to fixed and random-effect meta-analysis models. Separate analyses were conducted after stratification for study design, exposure parameters, disease definition, geographic location and age at diagnosis. RESULTS: Statistically significant associations were observed for parents potentially exposed to pesticides in occupational settings and the occurrence of brain tumor in their offspring after combining all case-control studies (summary odds ratio [SOR]: 1.30; 95%: 1.11, 1.53) or all cohort studies (summary rate ratio [SRR]: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.20, 1.95). Significantly increased risks were seen for prenatal exposure windows, for either exposed parent, for exposure defined as to pesticides as well as by occupational/industry title, for astroglial brain tumors and after combining case-control studies from North America or cohort studies from Europe. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis supports an association between parental occupational exposure to pesticides and brain tumors in children and young adults, and adds to the evidence leading to the recommendation of minimizing (parental) occupational exposure to pesticides. These results must, however, be interpreted with caution because the impact of work-related factors others than pesticide exposure is not known. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1171", "text": "A number of chemicals have been shown to demonstrate neurotoxic effects either in human or laboratory animal studies. This article aims at evaluating the impact of exposure to several chemicals including: organophosphate, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and lead on the neurodevelopment of children by reviewing the most recent published literature, and answer the question whether any progress has been made in the epidemiology of the neurodevelopment of children induced by exposure to those chemicals. The result of the presented studies show that exposure to the above-mentioned chemicals may impair the neurodevelopment of children. Neonates exposed to organophosphate pesticides demonstrated a higher proportion of abnormal reflexes, and young children had more attention problems. Exposure to organochlorine pesticides in children was associated with alertness, quality of alert responsiveness, cost of attention and other potential attention associated measures. The majority of studies indicate the negative impact of lead exposure at the level <10 \u00b5g/dl or even <5 \u00b5g/dl on the neurodevelopment of children. The results of studies on exposure to PCBs, mercury, and their effect on neurodevelopment are inconsistent. Some suggest that prenatal exposure to PCBs and mercury is related to performance impairments, attention and concentration problems, while other do not present any statistically significant association. The studies were mostly well designed, using prospective cohorts with the exposure assessment based on the biomarker of exposure. Concerning the covariates and confounders affecting the endpoints in most of the presented studies, confounders were included in data analysis. In order to recognize the early cognitive, motor and language outcomes of chemical exposures, well standardized tools were used for evaluating the neurodevelopmental effects and offer an early and fairly comprehensive measure of child development. Because the neurotoxicants may cross the placenta and the fetal brain, exposure consideration regarding the reduction of exposure to those chemicals should be implemented."}
{"id": "MED-1172", "text": "Background The widespread use of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides has led to frequent exposure in adults and children. Because such exposure may cause adverse health effects, particularly in children, the sources and patterns of exposure need to be studied further. Objectives We assessed young urban/suburban children\u2019s longitudinal exposure to OP pesticides in the Children\u2019s Pesticide Exposure Study (CPES) conducted in the greater Seattle, Washington, area, and used a novel study design that allowed us to determine the contribution of dietary intake to the overall OP pesticide exposure. Methods Twenty-three children 3\u201311 years of age who consumed only conventional diets were recruited for this 1-year study conducted in 2003\u20132004. Children switched to organic diets for 5 consecutive days in the summer and fall sampling seasons. We measured specific urinary metabolites for malathion, chlorpyrifos, and other OP pesticides in urine samples collected twice daily for a period of 7, 12, or 15 consecutive days during each of the four seasons. Results By substituting organic fresh fruits and vegetables for corresponding conventional food items, the median urinary metabolite concentrations were reduced to nondetected or close to non-detected levels for malathion and chlorpyrifos at the end of the 5-day organic diet intervention period in both summer and fall seasons. We also observed a seasonal effect on the OP urinary metabolite concentrations, and this seasonality corresponds to the consumption of fresh produce throughout the year. Conclusions The findings from this study demonstrate that dietary intake of OP pesticides represents the major source of exposure in young children."}
{"id": "MED-1173", "text": "We designed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes and behaviour towards organic foods, environmentally friendly behaviour (EFB), and perceived consequences of organic food choice in terms of human health, the environment and animal welfare. It was mailed in 1998 to a random nation-wide sample of 2000 Swedish citizens, ages 18-65 years, and 1154 (58%) responded. Self-reported purchase of organic foods was most strongly related to perceived benefit for human health. Performance of EFBs such as refraining from car driving was also a good predictor of purchase frequency. The results indicate that egoistic motives are better predictors of the purchase of organic foods than are altruistic motives."}
{"id": "MED-1174", "text": "We used a novel study design to measure dietary organophosphorus pesticide exposure in a group of 23 elementary school-age children through urinary biomonitoring. We substituted most of children\u2019s conventional diets with organic food items for 5 consecutive days and collected two spot daily urine samples, first-morning and before-bedtime voids, throughout the 15-day study period. We found that the median urinary concentrations of the specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced. The median concentrations for other organophosphorus pesticide metabolites were also lower in the organic diet consumption days; however, the detection of those metabolites was not frequent enough to show any statistical significance. In conclusion, we were able to demonstrate that an organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposures to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agricultural production. We also concluded that these children were most likely exposed to these organophosphorus pesticides exclusively through their diet. To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ a longitudinal design with a dietary intervention to assess children\u2019s exposure to pesticides. It provides new and persuasive evidence of the effectiveness of this intervention."}
{"id": "MED-1175", "text": "Objectives We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of childhood leukemia and parental occupational pesticide exposure. Data sources Searches of MEDLINE (1950\u20132009) and other electronic databases yielded 31 included studies. Data extraction Two authors independently abstracted data and assessed the quality of each study. Data synthesis Random effects models were used to obtain summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). There was no overall association between childhood leukemia and any paternal occupational pesticide exposure (OR = 1.09; 95% CI, 0.88\u20131.34); there were slightly elevated risks in subgroups of studies with low total-quality scores (OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 0.99\u20131.95), ill-defined exposure time windows (OR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.00\u20131.85), and exposure information collected after offspring leukemia diagnosis (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.05\u20131.70). Childhood leukemia was associated with prenatal maternal occupational pesticide exposure (OR = 2.09; 95% CI, 1.51\u20132.88); this association was slightly stronger for studies with high exposure-measurement-quality scores (OR = 2.45; 95% CI, 1.68\u20133.58), higher confounder control scores (OR = 2.38; 95% CI, 1.56\u20133.62), and farm-related exposures (OR = 2.44; 95% CI, 1.53\u20133.89). Childhood leukemia risk was also elevated for prenatal maternal occupational exposure to insecticides (OR = 2.72; 95% CI, 1.47\u20135.04) and herbicides (OR = 3.62; 95% CI, 1.28\u201310.3). Conclusions Childhood leukemia was associated with prenatal maternal occupational pesticide exposure in analyses of all studies combined and in several subgroups. Associations with paternal occupational pesticide exposure were weaker and less consistent. Research needs include improved pesticide exposure indices, continued follow-up of existing cohorts, genetic susceptibility assessment, and basic research on childhood leukemia initiation and progression."}
{"id": "MED-1176", "text": "Many studies have investigated the neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal and early childhood exposures to organophosphate (OP) pesticides among children, but they have not been collectively evaluated. The aim of the present article is to synthesize reported evidence over the last decade on OP exposure and neurodevelopmental effects in children. The Data Sources were PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, SciVerse Scopus, SpringerLink, SciELO and DOAJ. The eligibility criteria considered were studies assessing exposure to OP pesticides and neurodevelopmental effects in children from birth to 18 years of age, published between 2002 and 2012 in English or Spanish. Twenty-seven articles met the eligibility criteria. Studies were rated for evidential consideration as high, intermediate, or low based upon the study design, number of participants, exposure measurement, and neurodevelopmental measures. All but one of the 27 studies evaluated showed some negative effects of pesticides on neurobehavioral development. A positive dose\u2013response relationship between OP exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes was found in all but one of the 12 studies that assessed dose\u2013response. In the ten longitudinal studies that assessed prenatal exposure to OPs, cognitive deficits (related to working memory) were found in children at age 7 years, behavioral deficits (related to attention) seen mainly in toddlers, and motor deficits (abnormal reflexes) seen mainly in neonates. No meta-analysis was possible due to different measurements of exposure assessment and outcomes. Eleven studies (all longitudinal) were rated high, 14 studies were rated intermediate, and two studies were rated low. Evidence of neurological deficits associated with exposure to OP pesticides in children is growing. The studies reviewed collectively support the hypothesis that exposure to OP pesticides induces neurotoxic effects. Further research is needed to understand effects associated with exposure in critical windows of development."}
{"id": "MED-1177", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of published studies on the association between residential/household/domestic exposure to pesticides and childhood leukaemia, and to provide a quantitative estimate of the risk. METHODS: Publications in English were searched in MEDLINE (1966-31 December 2009) and from the reference list of identified publications. Extraction of relative risk (RR) estimates was performed independently by 2 authors using predefined inclusion criteria. Meta-rate ratio estimates (mRR) were calculated according to fixed and random-effect models. Separate analyses were conducted after stratification for exposure time windows, residential exposure location, biocide category and type of leukaemia. RESULTS: RR estimates were extracted from 13 case-control studies published between 1987 and 2009. Statistically significant associations with childhood leukaemia were observed when combining all studies (mRR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.37-2.21). Exposure during and after pregnancy was positively associated with childhood leukaemia, with the strongest risk for exposure during pregnancy (mRR: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.92-2.50). Other stratifications showed the greatest risk estimates for indoor exposure (mRR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.45-2.09), for exposure to insecticides (mRR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.33-2.26) as well as for acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia (ANLL) (mRR: 2.30, 95% CI: 1.53-3.45). Outdoor exposure and exposure of children to herbicides (after pregnancy) were not significantly associated with childhood leukaemia (mRR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.97-1.52; mRR: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.76-1.76, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the assumption that residential pesticide exposure may be a contributing risk factor for childhood leukaemia but available data were too scarce for causality ascertainment. It may be opportune to consider preventive actions, including educational measures, to decrease the use of pesticides for residential purposes and particularly the use of indoor insecticides during pregnancy. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1178", "text": "BACKGROUND: The health benefits of organic foods are unclear. PURPOSE: To review evidence comparing the health effects of organic and conventional foods. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE (January 1966 to May 2011), EMBASE, CAB Direct, Agricola, TOXNET, Cochrane Library (January 1966 to May 2009), and bibliographies of retrieved articles. STUDY SELECTION: English-language reports of comparisons of organically and conventionally grown food or of populations consuming these foods. DATA EXTRACTION: 2 independent investigators extracted data on methods, health outcomes, and nutrient and contaminant levels. DATA SYNTHESIS: 17 studies in humans and 223 studies of nutrient and contaminant levels in foods met inclusion criteria. Only 3 of the human studies examined clinical outcomes, finding no significant differences between populations by food type for allergic outcomes (eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization) or symptomatic Campylobacter infection. Two studies reported significantly lower urinary pesticide levels among children consuming organic versus conventional diets, but studies of biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences. All estimates of differences in nutrient and contaminant levels in foods were highly heterogeneous except for the estimate for phosphorus; phosphorus levels were significantly higher than in conventional produce, although this difference is not clinically significant. The risk for contamination with detectable pesticide residues was lower among organic than conventional produce (risk difference, 30% [CI, -37% to -23%]), but differences in risk for exceeding maximum allowed limits were small. Escherichia coli contamination risk did not differ between organic and conventional produce. Bacterial contamination of retail chicken and pork was common but unrelated to farming method. However, the risk for isolating bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics was higher in conventional than in organic chicken and pork (risk difference, 33% [CI, 21% to 45%]). LIMITATION: Studies were heterogeneous and limited in number, and publication bias may be present. CONCLUSION: The published literature lacks strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods. Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: None."}
{"id": "MED-1179", "text": "The US market for organic foods has grown from $3.5 billion in 1996 to $28.6 billion in 2010, according to the Organic Trade Association. Organic products are now sold in specialty stores and conventional supermarkets. Organic products contain numerous marketing claims and terms, only some of which are standardized and regulated. In terms of health advantages, organic diets have been convincingly demonstrated to expose consumers to fewer pesticides associated with human disease. Organic farming has been demonstrated to have less environmental impact than conventional approaches. However, current evidence does not support any meaningful nutritional benefits or deficits from eating organic compared with conventionally grown foods, and there are no well-powered human studies that directly demonstrate health benefits or disease protection as a result of consuming an organic diet. Studies also have not demonstrated any detrimental or disease-promoting effects from an organic diet. Although organic foods regularly command a significant price premium, well-designed farming studies demonstrate that costs can be competitive and yields comparable to those of conventional farming techniques. Pediatricians should incorporate this evidence when discussing the health and environmental impact of organic foods and organic farming while continuing to encourage all patients and their families to attain optimal nutrition and dietary variety consistent with the US Department of Agriculture's MyPlate recommendations. This clinical report reviews the health and environmental issues related to organic food production and consumption. It defines the term \"organic,\" reviews organic food-labeling standards, describes organic and conventional farming practices, and explores the cost and environmental implications of organic production techniques. It examines the evidence available on nutritional quality and production contaminants in conventionally produced and organic foods. Finally, this report provides guidance for pediatricians to assist them in advising their patients regarding organic and conventionally produced food choices."}
{"id": "MED-1180", "text": "The effects of extracts from five cultivars of strawberries on the proliferation of colon cancer cells HT29 and breast cancer cells MCF-7 were investigated, and possible correlations with the levels of several antioxidants were analyzed. In addition, the effects of organic cultivation compared to conventional cultivation on the content of antioxidants in the strawberries and strawberry extracts on the cancer cell proliferation were investigated. The ratio of ascorbate to dehydroascorbate was significantly higher in the organically cultivated strawberries. The strawberry extracts decreased the proliferation of both HT29 cells and MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent way. The inhibitory effect for the highest concentration of the extracts was in the range of 41-63% (average 53%) inhibition compared to controls for the HT29 cells and 26-56% (average 43%) for MCF-7 cells. The extracts from organically grown strawberries had a higher antiproliferative activity for both cell types at the highest concentration than the conventionally grown, and this might indicate a higher content of secondary metabolites with anticarcinogenic properties in the organically grown strawberries. For HT29 cells, there was a negative correlation at the highest extract concentration between the content of ascorbate or vitamin C and cancer cell proliferation, whereas for MCF-7 cells, a high ratio of ascorbate to dehydroascorbate correlated with a higher inhibition of cell proliferation at the second highest concentration. The significance of the effect of ascorbate on cancer cell proliferation might lie in a synergistic action with other compounds."}
{"id": "MED-1181", "text": "Demand for organic foods is partially driven by consumers' perceptions that they are more nutritious. However, scientific opinion is divided on whether there are significant nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods, and two recent reviews have concluded that there are no differences. In the present study, we carried out meta-analyses based on 343 peer-reviewed publications that indicate statistically significant and meaningful differences in composition between organic and non-organic crops/crop-based foods. Most importantly, the concentrations of a range of antioxidants such as polyphenolics were found to be substantially higher in organic crops/crop-based foods, with those of phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols and anthocyanins being an estimated 19 (95\u00a0% CI 5, 33)\u00a0%, 69 (95\u00a0% CI 13, 125)\u00a0%, 28 (95\u00a0% CI 12, 44)\u00a0%, 26 (95\u00a0% CI 3, 48)\u00a0%, 50 (95\u00a0% CI 28, 72)\u00a0% and 51 (95\u00a0% CI 17, 86)\u00a0% higher, respectively. Many of these compounds have previously been linked to a reduced risk of chronic diseases, including CVD and neurodegenerative diseases and certain cancers, in dietary intervention and epidemiological studies. Additionally, the frequency of occurrence of pesticide residues was found to be four times higher in conventional crops, which also contained significantly higher concentrations of the toxic metal Cd. Significant differences were also detected for some other (e.g. minerals and vitamins) compounds. There is evidence that higher antioxidant concentrations and lower Cd concentrations are linked to specific agronomic practices (e.g. non-use of mineral N and P fertilisers, respectively) prescribed in organic farming systems. In conclusion, organic crops, on average, have higher concentrations of antioxidants, lower concentrations of Cd and a lower incidence of pesticide residues than the non-organic comparators across regions and production seasons."}
{"id": "MED-1182", "text": "Background Sale of organic foods is one of the fastest growing market segments within the global food industry. People often buy organic food because they believe organic farms produce more nutritious and better tasting food from healthier soils. Here we tested if there are significant differences in fruit and soil quality from 13 pairs of commercial organic and conventional strawberry agroecosystems in California. Methodology/Principal Findings At multiple sampling times for two years, we evaluated three varieties of strawberries for mineral elements, shelf life, phytochemical composition, and organoleptic properties. We also analyzed traditional soil properties and soil DNA using microarray technology. We found that the organic farms had strawberries with longer shelf life, greater dry matter, and higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds, but lower concentrations of phosphorus and potassium. In one variety, sensory panels judged organic strawberries to be sweeter and have better flavor, overall acceptance, and appearance than their conventional counterparts. We also found the organically farmed soils to have more total carbon and nitrogen, greater microbial biomass and activity, and higher concentrations of micronutrients. Organically farmed soils also exhibited greater numbers of endemic genes and greater functional gene abundance and diversity for several biogeochemical processes, such as nitrogen fixation and pesticide degradation. Conclusions/Significance Our findings show that the organic strawberry farms produced higher quality fruit and that their higher quality soils may have greater microbial functional capability and resilience to stress. These findings justify additional investigations aimed at detecting and quantifying such effects and their interactions."}
{"id": "MED-1184", "text": "It has been shown that feces of patients with ulcerative colitis uniformly contain sulfate reducing bacteria. Sulfide produced by these bacteria interferes with butyrate-dependent energy metabolism of cultured colonocytes and may be involved in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis. Mucosal biopsies from the sigmoid rectum of 10 patients (no caner, polyps, inflammatory bowel disease) were incubated with either NaCl, sodium hydrogen sulfide (1 mmol/L), a combination of both sodium hydrogen sulfide and butyrate (10 mmol/L), or butyrate. Mucosal proliferation was assessed by bromodeoxyuridine labeling of cells in S-phase. Compared to NaCl, sulfide increased the labeling of the entire crypt significantly, by 19% (p < 0.05). This effect was due to an expansion of the proliferative zone to the upper crypt (compartments 3-5), where the increase in proliferation was 54%. Sulfide-induced hyperproliferation was reversed when samples were coincubated with sulfide and butyrate. The study shows that sodium hydrogen sulfide induces mucosal hyperproliferation. Our data support a possible role of sulfide in the pathogenesis of UC and confirm the role of butyrate in the regulation of colonic proliferation and in the treatment of UC."}
{"id": "MED-1185", "text": "Endogenous sulfite is generated as a consequence of the body's normal processing of sulfur-containing amino acids. Sulfites occur as a consequence of fermentation and also occur naturally in a number of foods and beverages. As food additives, sulfiting agents were first used in 1664 and approved in the United States as long ago as the 1800s. With such long experience with their use, it is easy to understand why these substances have been regarded as safe. They are currently used for a variety of preservative properties, including controlling microbial growth, preventing browning and spoilage, and bleaching some foods. It is estimated that up to 500,000 (< .05% of the population) sulfite-sensitive individuals live in the United States. Sulfite sensitivity occurs most often in asthmatic adults--predominantly women; it is uncommonly reported in preschool children. Adverse reactions to sulfites in nonasthmatics are extremely rare. Asthmatics who are steroid-dependent or who have a higher degree of airway hyperreactivity may be at greater risk of experiencing a reaction to sulfite-containing foods. Even within this limited population, sulfite sensitivity reactions vary widely, ranging from no reaction to severe. The majority of reactions are mild. These manifestations may include dermatologic, respiratory, or gastrointestinal signs and symptoms. Severe nonspecific signs and symptoms occur less commonly. Broncho-constriction is the most common sensitivity response in asthmatics. The precise mechanisms of the sensitivity responses have not been completely elucidated. Inhalation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) generated in the stomach following ingestion of sulfite-containing foods or beverages, a deficiency in a mitochondrial enzyme, and an IgE-mediated immune response have all been implicated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-1187", "text": "Background and aims: The causes of relapses of ulcerative colitis (UC) are unknown. Dietary factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of UC. The aim of this study was to determine which dietary factors are associated with an increased risk of relapse of UC. Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed with UC patients in remission, recruited from two district general hospitals, who were followed for one year to determine the effect of habitual diet on relapse. Relapse was defined using a validated disease activity index. Nutrient intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and categorised into tertiles. Adjusted odds ratios for relapse were determined using multivariate logistic regression, controlling for non-dietary factors. Results: A total of 191 patients were recruited and 96% completed the study. Fifty two per cent of patients relapsed. Consumption of meat (odds ratio (OR) 3.2 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.3\u20137.8)), particularly red and processed meat (OR 5.19 (95% CI 2.1\u201312.9)), protein (OR 3.00 (95% CI 1.25\u20137.19)), and alcohol (OR 2.71 (95% CI 1.1\u20136.67)) in the top tertile of intake increased the likelihood of relapse compared with the bottom tertile of intake. High sulphur (OR 2.76 (95% CI 1.19\u20136.4)) or sulphate (OR 2.6 (95% CI 1.08\u20136.3)) intakes were also associated with relapse and may offer an explanation for the observed increased likelihood of relapse. Conclusions: Potentially modifiable dietary factors, such as a high meat or alcoholic beverage intake, have been identified that are associated with an increased likelihood of relapse for UC patients. Further studies are needed to determine if it is the sulphur compounds within these foods that mediates the likelihood of relapse and if reducing their intake would reduce relapse frequency."}
{"id": "MED-1188", "text": "One hundred and eighteen missionaries working on 75 mission stations or hospitals in 24 sub-Saharan African countries provided information about their medical practice in the preceding year of 1981. Details were collected of the total number of patients seen and admitted during the year, and the number of cases of bloody diarrhoea, typhoid and inflammatory bowel disease. Over 1 million outpatients and about 190,000 inpatients were treated. These included 12,859 cases of bloody diarrhoea, of whom 1,914 had typhoid. Twenty-two cases of inflammatory bowel disease were also reported. Histological support was least available in West Africa and only 25% of hospitals had access to this facility. Nevertheless, the frequency with which inflammatory bowel disease in sub-Saharan Africa is difficult and limited by access to diagnostic facilities. It is likely to be some time before reliable estimates of the incidence and prevalence of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in the rural African population can be made."}
{"id": "MED-1190", "text": "The serum concentration of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the proportion it constitutes of total serum cholesterol are high in children and low in sufferers from coronary heart disease (CHD). Studies in elderly black Africans in Western Transvaal showed them to be free of CHD. HDL concentrations measured at birth and in groups of 10- to 12-year-olds, 16- to 18-year olds, and 60- to 69-year-olds showed mean values of 0.96, 1.71, 1.58, and 1.94 mmol/l (36, 66, 61, and 65 mg/100 ml) respectively; these concentrations constitued about 56%, 54%, and 45%, and 47%, of total cholesterol. Values thus did not fall from youth to age as they did in whites. Rural South African blacks live on a diet high in fibre and low in animal protein and fat; children are active; and adults remain active even when old. These high values of HDL may well be representative for a population that is active, used to a frugal traditional diet, and free from CHD."}
{"id": "MED-1193", "text": "Summary Background Statins reduce LDL cholesterol and prevent vascular events, but their net effects in people at low risk of vascular events remain uncertain. Methods This meta-analysis included individual participant data from 22 trials of statin versus control (n=134\u2008537; mean LDL cholesterol difference 1\u00b708 mmol/L; median follow-up 4\u00b78 years) and five trials of more versus less statin (n=39\u2008612; difference 0\u00b751 mmol/L; 5\u00b71 years). Major vascular events were major coronary events (ie, non-fatal myocardial infarction or coronary death), strokes, or coronary revascularisations. Participants were separated into five categories of baseline 5-year major vascular event risk on control therapy (no statin or low-intensity statin) (<5%, \u22655% to <10%, \u226510% to <20%, \u226520% to <30%, \u226530%); in each, the rate ratio (RR) per 1\u00b70 mmol/L LDL cholesterol reduction was estimated. Findings Reduction of LDL cholesterol with a statin reduced the risk of major vascular events (RR 0\u00b779, 95% CI 0\u00b777\u20130\u00b781, per 1\u00b70 mmol/L reduction), largely irrespective of age, sex, baseline LDL cholesterol or previous vascular disease, and of vascular and all-cause mortality. The proportional reduction in major vascular events was at least as big in the two lowest risk categories as in the higher risk categories (RR per 1\u00b70 mmol/L reduction from lowest to highest risk: 0\u00b762 [99% CI 0\u00b747\u20130\u00b781], 0\u00b769 [99% CI 0\u00b760\u20130\u00b779], 0\u00b779 [99% CI 0\u00b774\u20130\u00b785], 0\u00b781 [99% CI 0\u00b777\u20130\u00b786], and 0\u00b779 [99% CI 0\u00b774\u20130\u00b784]; trend p=0\u00b704), which reflected significant reductions in these two lowest risk categories in major coronary events (RR 0\u00b757, 99% CI 0\u00b736\u20130\u00b789, p=0\u00b70012, and 0\u00b761, 99% CI 0\u00b750\u20130\u00b774, p<0\u00b70001) and in coronary revascularisations (RR 0\u00b752, 99% CI 0\u00b735\u20130\u00b775, and 0\u00b763, 99% CI 0\u00b751\u20130\u00b779; both p<0\u00b70001). For stroke, the reduction in risk in participants with 5-year risk of major vascular events lower than 10% (RR per 1\u00b70 mmol/L LDL cholesterol reduction 0\u00b776, 99% CI 0\u00b761\u20130\u00b795, p=0\u00b70012) was also similar to that seen in higher risk categories (trend p=0\u00b73). In participants without a history of vascular disease, statins reduced the risks of vascular (RR per 1\u00b70 mmol/L LDL cholesterol reduction 0\u00b785, 95% CI 0\u00b777\u20130\u00b795) and all-cause mortality (RR 0\u00b791, 95% CI 0\u00b785\u20130\u00b797), and the proportional reductions were similar by baseline risk. There was no evidence that reduction of LDL cholesterol with a statin increased cancer incidence (RR per 1\u00b70 mmol/L LDL cholesterol reduction 1\u00b700, 95% CI 0\u00b796\u20131\u00b704), cancer mortality (RR 0\u00b799, 95% CI 0\u00b793\u20131\u00b706), or other non-vascular mortality. Interpretation In individuals with 5-year risk of major vascular events lower than 10%, each 1 mmol/L reduction in LDL cholesterol produced an absolute reduction in major vascular events of about 11 per 1000 over 5 years. This benefit greatly exceeds any known hazards of statin therapy. Under present guidelines, such individuals would not typically be regarded as suitable for LDL-lowering statin therapy. The present report suggests, therefore, that these guidelines might need to be reconsidered. Funding British Heart Foundation; UK Medical Research Council; Cancer Research UK; European Community Biomed Programme; Australian National Health and Medical Research Council; National Heart Foundation, Australia."}
{"id": "MED-1194", "text": "Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)--mainly cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases--are responsible for about two-thirds of deaths worldwide, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. There is an urgent need for policies and strategies that prevent NCDs by reducing their major risk factors. Effective approaches for large-scale NCD prevention include comprehensive tobacco and alcohol control through taxes and regulation of sales and advertising; reducing dietary salt, unhealthy fats, and sugars through regulation and well-designed public education; increasing the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and whole grains by lowering prices and improving availability; and implementing a universal, effective, and equitable primary-care system that reduces NCD risk factors, including cardiometabolic risk factors and infections that are precursors to NCDs, through clinical interventions."}
{"id": "MED-1196", "text": "Background Studies of diet and depression have focused primarily on individual nutrients. Aims To examine the association between dietary patterns and depression using an overall diet approach. Method Analyses were carried on data from 3486 participants (26.2% women, mean age 55.6 years) from the Whitehall II prospective cohort, in which two dietary patterns were identified: \u2018whole food\u2019 (heavily loaded by vegetables, fruits and fish) and \u2018processed food\u2019 (heavily loaded by sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products). Self-reported depression was assessed 5 years later using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies \u2013 Depression (CES\u2013D) scale. Results After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the highest tertile of the whole food pattern had lower odds of CES\u2013D depression (OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.56\u20130.99) than those in the lowest tertile. In contrast, high consumption of processed food was associated with an increased odds of CES\u2013D depression (OR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.11\u20132.23). Conclusions In middle-aged participants, a processed food dietary pattern is a risk factor for CES\u2013D depression 5 years later, whereas a whole food pattern is protective."}
{"id": "MED-1199", "text": "BACKGROUND: Enhanced oxidative stress or defective anti-oxidant defenses are related to the pathogenesis of depressive symptoms. Lycopene is the most powerful antioxidant amongst the carotenoids. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between different vegetables, including tomatoes/tomato products (a major source of lycopene), and depressive symptoms in a community-based elderly population. METHODS: We analyzed a cross-sectional survey including 986 community-dwelling elderly Japanese individuals aged 70 years and older. Dietary intake was assessed using a valid self-administered diet-history questionnaire, and depressive symptoms were evaluated using the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale with 2 cut-off points: 11 (mild and severe) and 14 (severe) or use of anti-depressive agents. RESULTS: The prevalence of mild and severe and severe depressive symptoms was 34.9% and 20.2%, respectively. After adjustments for potentially confounding factors, the odds ratios of having mild and severe depressive symptoms by increasing levels of tomatoes/tomato products were 1.00, 0.54, and 0.48 (p for trend <0.01). Similar relationships were also observed in the case of severe depressive symptoms. In contrast, no relationship was observed between intake of other kinds of vegetables and depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS: This is a cross-sectional study, and not for making a clinical diagnosis of depressive episodes. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that a tomato-rich diet is independently related to lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. These results suggest that a tomato-rich diet may have a beneficial effect on the prevention of depressive symptoms. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1200", "text": "Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathophysiology of many neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression etc. Both genetic and nongenetic factors have been found to cause increased cellular levels of reactive oxygen species beyond the capacity of antioxidant defense mechanism in patients of psychiatric disorders. These factors trigger oxidative cellular damage to lipids, proteins and DNA, leading to abnormal neural growth and differentiation. Therefore, novel therapeutic strategies such as supplementation with antioxidants can be effective for long-term treatment management of neuropsychiatric disorders. The use of antioxidants and PUFAs as supplements in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders has provided some promising results. At the same time, one should be cautious with the use of antioxidants since excessive antioxidants could dangerously interfere with some of the protective functions of reactive oxygen species. The present article will give an overview of the potential strategies and outcomes of using antioxidants as therapeutics in psychiatric disorders."}
{"id": "MED-1201", "text": "BACKGROUND: Several cross-sectional studies have focused on the low blood folate levels of depressive patients. Nevertheless, no prospective studies have been published on the association between dietary folate and depression. METHODS: We studied the association between dietary folate and cobalamin and receiving a discharge diagnosis of depression in a prospective follow-up setting. Our cohort was recruited between 1984 and 1989 and followed until the end of 2000, and it consisted of 2,313 men aged between 42 and 60 years from eastern Finland. RESULTS: The mean intake of folate in the whole cohort was 256 microg/day (SD=76). Those below the median of energy-adjusted folate intake had higher risk of getting discharge diagnosis of depression (RR 3.04, 95% CI: 1.58, 5.86) during the follow-up period than those who had a folate intake above the median. This excess risk remained significant after adjustment for current socioeconomic status, the baseline HPL depression score, the energy-adjusted daily intake of fibre and vitamin C, and the total fat intake. CONCLUSIONS: A low dietary intake of folate may be a risk factor for severe depression. This also indicates that nutrition may have a role in the prevention of depression."}
{"id": "MED-1204", "text": "BACKGROUND: Plaque rupture and/or erosion is the leading cause of cardiovascular events; however, the process is not well understood. Although certain morphologic characteristics have been associated with ruptured plaques, these observations are of static histological images and not of the dynamics of plaque rupture. To elucidate the process of plaque rupture, we investigated the transformation of cholesterol from liquid to solid crystal to determine whether growing crystals are capable of injuring the plaque cap. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that during cholesterol crystallization the spatial configuration rapidly changes, causing forceful expansion of sharp-edged crystals that can damage the plaque cap. METHODS: Two experiments were performed in vitro: first, cholesterol powder was melted in graduated cylinders and allowed to crystallize at room temperature. Volume changes from liquid to solid state were measured and timed. Second, thin biological membranes (20-40 microm) were put in the path of growing crystals to determine damage during crystallization. RESULTS: As cholesterol crystallized, the peak volume increased rapidly by up to 45% over 3 min and sharp-tipped crystals cut through and tore membranes. The amount of cholesterol and peak level of crystal growth correlated directly (r = 0.98; p < 0.01), as did the amount of cholesterol and rate of crystal growth (r = 0.99; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that crystallization of supersaturated cholesterol in atherosclerotic plaques can induce cap rupture and/or erosion. This novel insight may help in the development of therapeutic strategies that can alter cholesterol crystallization and prevent acute cardiovascular events."}
{"id": "MED-1205", "text": "Plaque disruption (PD) causes most acute cardiovascular events. Although cholesterol crystals (CCs) have been observed in plaques, their role in PD was unknown. However, cholesterol expands with crystallization tearing and perforating fibrous tissues. This study tested the hypothesis that CCs can damage plaques and intima, triggering PD, as observed in tissues prepared without ethanol solvents that dissolve CCs. Coronary arteries of patients who died of acute coronary syndrome (n = 19) and non-acute coronary syndrome causes (n = 12) and carotid plaques from patients with (n = 51) and without (n = 19) neurologic symptoms were studied. Samples were examined for CCs perforating the intima using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with ethanol or vacuum dehydration. In addition, fresh unfixed carotid plaques were examined at 37 degrees C using confocal microscopy. Crystal content using SEM was scored from 0 to +3. SEM using vacuum dehydration had significantly higher crystal content compared with SEM using ethanol dehydration (+2.5 +/- 0.53 vs +0.25 +/- 0.46; p <0.0003), with enhanced detection of CC perforations. The presence of CCs using SEM and confocal microscopy was similar, suggesting that CC perforation can occur in vivo at 37 degrees C. All patients with acute coronary syndrome had perforating CCs, but none was present in patients without acute coronary syndrome (p = 0.0001). For all plaques, there were strong associations of CCs with PD, thrombus, symptoms (p <0.0001), and plaque size (p <0.02). Crystal content was an independent predictor of thrombus and symptoms. In conclusion, by avoiding ethanol in tissue preparation, CCs perforating the intima were shown to be associated with PD. Crystal content was significantly associated with clinical events, suggesting that cholesterol crystallization may have a role in PD."}
{"id": "MED-1207", "text": "The response to arterial wall injury is an inflammatory process, which over time becomes integral to the development of atherosclerosis and subsequent plaque instability. However, the underlying injurious agent, critical to this process, has not received much attention. In this review, a model of plaque rupture is hypothesized with two stages of inflammatory activity. In stage I (cholesterol crystal-induced cell injury and apoptosis), intracellular cholesterol crystals induce foam cell apoptosis, setting up a vicious cycle by signaling more macrophages, resulting in accumulation of extra cellular lipids. This local inflammation eventually leads to the formation of a semi-liquid, lipid-rich necrotic core of a vulnerable plaque. In stage II (cholesterol crystal-induced arterial wall injury), the saturated lipid core is now primed for crystallization, which can manifest as a clinical syndrome with a systemic inflammation response. Cholesterol crystallization is the trigger that causes core expansion, leading to intimal injury. We recently demonstrated that when cholesterol crystallizes from a liquid to a solid state, it undergoes volume expansion, which can tear the plaque cap. This observation of cholesterol crystals perforating the cap and intimal surface was made in the plaques of patients who died with acute coronary syndrome. We have also demonstrated that several agents (ie, statins, aspirin, and ethanol) can dissolve cholesterol crystals and may be exerting their immediate benefits by this direct mechanism. Also, because recent studies have demonstrated that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein may be a reliable marker in selecting patients for statin therapy, it could reflect the presence of intimal injury by cholesterol crystals. This was demonstrated in an atherosclerotic rabbit model. Therefore, we propose that cholesterol crystallization could help explain in part both local and systemic inflammation associated with atherosclerosis. Copyright \u00a9 2010 National Lipid Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1208", "text": "The growing macabre fascination with \"last meals\" offers a window into one's true consumption desires when one's value of the future is discounted close to zero. But in contrast to popular anecdotes and individual case studies, we created an empirical catalog of actual last meals - the final food requests of 247 individuals executed in the United States during a recent five-year period. Our content analyses reveal three key findings: (1) the average last meal is calorically rich (2756 calories) and proportionally averages 2.5 times the daily recommended servings of protein and fat, (2) the most frequent requests are also calorie dense: meat (83.9%), fried food (67.9%), desserts (66.3%), and soft drinks (60.0%), and (3) 39.9% requested branded foods or beverages. These findings are respectfully consistent with a model of environmentally contingent temporal discounting, and they are consistent with studies of how food is used to mediate feelings of stress and distress. Given that some people who are warned about the ill effects of obesity might counterintuitively engage in unhealthy overconsumption, the findings also suggest further study relating to the artificial use of mortality salience in campaigns against obesity. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1209", "text": "BACKGROUND: Lifestyle choices are associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality. The purpose of this study was to compare adherence to healthy lifestyle habits in adults between 1988 and 2006. METHODS: Analysis of adherence to 5 healthy lifestyle trends (>or=5 fruits and vegetables/day, regular exercise >12 times/month, maintaining healthy weight [body mass index 18.5-29.9 kg/m(2)], moderate alcohol consumption [up to 1 drink/day for women, 2/day for men] and not smoking) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 were compared with results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2006 among adults aged 40-74 years. RESULTS: Over the last 18 years, the percent of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index >or=30 kg/m(2) has increased from 28% to 36% (P <.05); physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43% (P <.05); smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%); eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26% (P <.05), and moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51% (P <.05). Adherence to all 5 healthy habits has gone from 15% to 8% (P <.05). Although adherence to a healthy lifestyle was lower among minorities, adherence decreased more among non-Hispanic Whites over the period. Individuals with a history of hypertension/diabetes/cardiovascular disease were no more likely to be adherent to a healthy lifestyle than people without these conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Generally, adherence to a healthy lifestyle pattern has decreased during the last 18 years, with decreases documented in 3 of 5 healthy lifestyle habits. These findings have broad implications for the future risk of cardiovascular disease in adults."}
{"id": "MED-1210", "text": "Poor diet quality is thought to be a leading risk factor for years of life lost. We examined how scores on 4 commonly used diet quality indices-the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI), the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-are related to the risks of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer among postmenopausal women. Our prospective cohort study included 63,805 participants in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (from 1993-2010) who completed a food frequency questionnaire at enrollment. Cox proportional hazards models were fit using person-years as the underlying time metric. We estimated multivariate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for death associated with increasing quintiles of diet quality index scores. During 12.9 years of follow-up, 5,692 deaths occurred, including 1,483 from CVD and 2,384 from cancer. Across indices and after adjustment for multiple covariates, having better diet quality (as assessed by HEI, AHEI, aMED, and DASH scores) was associated with statistically significant 18%-26% lower all-cause and CVD mortality risk. Higher HEI, aMED, and DASH (but not AHEI) scores were associated with a statistically significant 20%-23% lower risk of cancer death. These results suggest that postmenopausal women consuming a diet in line with a priori diet quality indices have a lower risk of death from chronic disease. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US."}
{"id": "MED-1211", "text": "Objectives. We examined temporal and regional trends in the prevalence of health lifestyles in the United States. Methods. We used 1994 to 2007 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to assess 4 healthy lifestyle characteristics: having a healthy weight, not smoking, consuming fruits and vegetables, and engaging in physical activity. The concurrent presence of all 4 characteristics was defined as a healthy overall lifestyle. We used logistic regression to assess temporal and regional trends. Results. The percentages of individuals who did not smoke (4% increase) and had a healthy weight (10% decrease) showed the strongest temporal changes from 1994 to 2007. There was little change in fruit and vegetable consumption or physical activity. The prevalence of healthy lifestyles increased minimally over time and varied modestly across regions; in 2007, percentages were higher in the Northeast (6%) and West (6%) than in the South (4%) and Midwest (4%). Conclusions. Because of the large increases in overweight and the declines in smoking, there was little net change in the prevalence of healthy lifestyles. Despite regional differences, the prevalence of healthy lifestyles across the United States remains very low."}
{"id": "MED-1212", "text": "BACKGROUND: Many public health recommendations and clinical guidelines emphasize the importance of healthy lifestyles. Recent epidemiologic studies demonstrate that following a healthy lifestyle has substantial health benefits. The objectives of this study were to report on the prevalence of healthy lifestyle characteristics (HLCs) and to generate a single indicator of a healthy lifestyle. METHODS: National data for the year 2000 were obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which consists of annual, statewide, random digit-dialed household telephone surveys. We defined the following 4 HLCs: nonsmoking, healthy weight (body mass index [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters] of 18.5-25.0), consuming 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day, and regular physical activity (> or =30 minutes for > or =5 times per week). The 4 HLCs were summed to create a healthy lifestyle index (range, 0-4), and the pattern of following all 4 HLCs was defined as a single healthy lifestyle indicator. We report prevalences of each HLC and the indicator by major demographic subgroups. RESULTS: By using data from more than 153 000 adults, the prevalence (95% confidence interval) of the individual HLCs was as follows: nonsmoking, 76.0% (75.6%-76.4%); healthy weight, 40.1% (39.7%-40.5%); 5 fruits and vegetables per day, 23.3% (22.9%-23.7%); and regular physical activity, 22.2% (21.8%-22.6%). The overall prevalence of the healthy lifestyle indicator (ie, having all 4 HLCs) was only 3.0% (95% confidence interval, 2.8%-3.2%), with little variation among subgroups (range, 0.8%-5.7%). CONCLUSION: These data illustrate that a healthy lifestyle-defined as a combination of 4 HLCs-was undertaken by very few adults in the United States, and that no subgroup followed this combination to a level remotely consistent with clinical or public health recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-1213", "text": "Background The American Heart Association\u2019s 2020 Strategic Impact Goals target a 20% relative improvement in overall cardiovascular health with the use of 4 health behavior (smoking, diet, physical activity, body mass) and 3 health factor (plasma glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure) metrics. We sought to define current trends and forward projections to 2020 in cardiovascular health. Methods and Results We included 35 059 cardiovascular disease\u2013free adults (aged \u226520 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988\u20131994 and subsequent 2-year cycles during 1999\u20132008. We calculated population prevalence of poor, intermediate, and ideal health behaviors and factors and also computed a composite, individual-level Cardiovascular Health Score for all 7 metrics (poor=0 points; intermediate=1 point; ideal=2 points; total range, 0\u201314 points). Prevalence of current and former smoking, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension declined, whereas prevalence of obesity and dysglycemia increased through 2008. Physical activity levels and low diet quality scores changed minimally. Projections to 2020 suggest that obesity and impaired fasting glucose/diabetes mellitus could increase to affect 43% and 77% of US men and 42% and 53% of US women, respectively. Overall, population-level cardiovascular health is projected to improve by 6% overall by 2020 if current trends continue. Individual-level Cardiovascular Health Score projections to 2020 (men=7.4 [95% confidence interval, 5.7\u20139.1]; women=8.8 [95% confidence interval, 7.6\u20139.9]) fall well below the level needed to achieve a 20% improvement (men=9.4; women=10.1). Conclusions The American Heart Association 2020 target of improving cardiovascular health by 20% by 2020 will not be reached if current trends continue."}
{"id": "MED-1215", "text": "BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile colitis (CDC) is a major health concern in the United States (US), with earlier reports demonstrating a rising incidence. Studies analyzing predictors for total colectomy and mortality after colectomy are limited by small numbers. STUDY DESIGN: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2001 to 2010 was retrospectively reviewed for CDC trends, the associated colectomy and mortality rates. Patient and hospital variables were used in the LASSO algorithm for logistic regression with 10-fold cross validation to build a predictive model for colectomy requirement and mortality after colectomy. The association of colectomy day with mortality was also examined on multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: An estimated 2,773,521 discharges with a diagnosis of CDC were identified in the US over a decade. Colectomy was required in 19,374 cases (0.7%), with an associated mortality of 30.7%. Compared with the 2001 to 2005 period, the 2006 to 2010 period witnessed a 47% increase in the rate of CDC and a 32% increase in the rate of colectomies. The LASSO algorithm identified the following predictors for colectomy: coagulopathy (odds ratio [OR] 2.71), weight loss (OR 2.25), teaching hospitals (OR 1.37), fluid or electrolyte disorders (OR 1.31), and large hospitals (OR 1.18). The predictors of mortality after colectomy were: coagulopathy (OR 2.38), age greater than 60 years (OR 1.97), acute renal failure (OR 1.67), respiratory failure (OR 1.61), sepsis (OR 1.40), peripheral vascular disease (OR 1.39), and congestive heart failure (OR 1.25). Surgery more than 3 days after admission was associated with higher mortality rates (OR 1.09; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.14; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Clostridium difficile colitis is increasing in the US, with an associated increase in total colectomies. Mortality rates after colectomy remain elevated. Progression to colectomy and mortality thereafter are associated with several patient and hospital factors. Knowledge of these risk factors may help in risk-stratification and counseling. Copyright \u00a9 2013 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1216", "text": "Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) are traditionally seen in elderly and hospitalized patients who have used antibiotic therapy. In the community, CDIs requiring a visit to a general practitioner are increasingly occurring among young and relatively healthy individuals without known predisposing factors. C. difficile is also found as a commensal or pathogen in the intestinal tracts of most mammals, and various birds and reptiles. In the environment, including soil and water, C. difficile may be ubiquitous; however, this is based on limited evidence. Food products such as (processed) meat, fish and vegetables can also contain C. difficile, but studies conducted in Europe report lower prevalence rates than in North America. Absolute counts of toxigenic C. difficile in the environment and food are low, however the exact infectious dose is unknown. To date, direct transmission of C. difficile from animals, food or the environment to humans has not been proven, although similar PCR ribotypes are found. We therefore believe that the overall epidemiology of human CDI is not driven by amplification in animals or other sources. As no outbreaks of CDI have been reported among humans in the community, host factors that increase vulnerability to CDI might be of more importance than increased exposure to C. difficile. Conversely, emerging C. difficile ribotype 078 is found in high numbers in piglets, calves, and their immediate environment. Although there is no direct evidence proving transmission to humans, circumstantial evidence points towards a zoonotic potential of this type. In future emerging PCR ribotypes, zoonotic potential needs to be considered. \u00a9 2012 The Authors. Clinical Microbiology and Infection \u00a9 2012 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases."}
{"id": "MED-1217", "text": "Clostridium difficile has been recognized as an important human pathogen for several decades, but its importance as an agent of animal disease was established only recently. The number of reports on C. difficile in food is rising, but the findings vary among studies. In North America, the prevalence of contamination in retail meat and meat products ranges from 4.6% to 50%. In European countries, the percentage of C. difficile positive samples is much lower (0-3%). This chapter summarizes current data on association of C. difficile with different foods and the difficulties associated with isolation of the organism, and discusses the potential of C. difficile as a food-transmitted pathogen. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1218", "text": "There has been a recent increase in community-associated infections linked to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile. It is established that both pathogens can be recovered from retail pork, although it is unclear to what degree contamination is acquired at the farm in comparison to that acquired during processing. To address this gap, the following study reports on the carriage of MRSA and C. difficile on pigs from birth through to the end of processing. C. difficile was isolated from 28 (93%) of 30 pigs at 1 day of age, but prevalence declined sharply to 1 of 26 by market age (188 days). MRSA prevalence peaked at 74 days of age, with 19 (68%) of 28 pigs testing positive, but declined to 3 of 26 at 150 days of age, with no pig being detected as positive at market age. At the processing facility, C. difficile was isolated from the holding area, with a single carcass testing positive for the pathogen at preevisceration. MRSA was primarily isolated from nasal swabs with 8 (31%) carcasses testing positive at postbleed, which increased to 14 (54%) positive at postscald tanks. Only one carcass (sampled at postbleed) tested positive for MRSA, with no recovery of the pathogen from environmental samples taken. C. difficile ribotype 078 predominated in the longitudinal portion of the study, accounting for all of the 68 isolates recovered from pigs. Only three C. difficile isolates, which were identified as ribotype 078, were recovered at the slaughterhouse. MRSA spa type 539 (t034) predominated in pigs on the farm and samples taken at the slaughterhouse, accounting for 80% of all isolates recovered. The study demonstrated that both C. difficile and MRSA acquired on the farm can be transferred through to processing, although no evidence for significant cross-contamination between carcasses or the slaughterhouse environment was evident."}
{"id": "MED-1219", "text": "BACKGROUND It has been thought that Clostridium difficile infection is transmitted predominantly within health care settings. However, endemic spread has hampered identification of precise sources of infection and the assessment of the efficacy of interventions. METHODS From September 2007 through March 2011, we performed whole-genome sequencing on isolates obtained from all symptomatic patients with C. difficile infection identified in health care settings or in the community in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. We compared single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) between the isolates, using C. difficile evolution rates estimated on the basis of the first and last samples obtained from each of 145 patients, with 0 to 2 SNVs expected between transmitted isolates obtained less than 124 days apart, on the basis of a 95% prediction interval. We then identified plausible epidemiologic links among genetically related cases from data on hospital admissions and community location. RESULTS Of 1250 C. difficile cases that were evaluated, 1223 (98%) were successfully sequenced. In a comparison of 957 samples obtained from April 2008 through March 2011 with those obtained from September 2007 onward, a total of 333 isolates (35%) had no more than 2 SNVs from at least 1 earlier case, and 428 isolates (45%) had more than 10 SNVs from all previous cases. Reductions in incidence over time were similar in the two groups, a finding that suggests an effect of interventions targeting the transition from exposure to disease. Of the 333 patients with no more than 2 SNVs (consistent with transmission), 126 patients (38%) had close hospital contact with another patient, and 120 patients (36%) had no hospital or community contact with another patient. Distinct subtypes of infection continued to be identified throughout the study, which suggests a considerable reservoir of C. difficile. CONCLUSIONS Over a 3-year period, 45% of C. difficile cases in Oxfordshire were genetically distinct from all previous cases. Genetically diverse sources, in addition to symptomatic patients, play a major part in C. difficile transmission. (Funded by the U.K. Clinical Research Collaboration Translational Infection Research Initiative and others.)"}
{"id": "MED-1220", "text": "Clostridium difficile causes infectious diarrhoea in humans and animals. It has been found in both diarrhoeal and non-diarrhoeal pigs, horses and cattle, suggesting a potential reservoir for human insection, and in 20-40\u00a0% of meat products in Canada and the USA, suggesting the possibility, albeit not proven, of food-borne transmission. Although it is not yet completely clear, it is likely that excessive antimicrobial exposure is driving the establishment of C. difficile in animals, in a manner analogous to human infection, rather than the organism just being normal flora of the animal gastrointestinal tract. PCR ribotype 078 is the most common ribotype of C. difficile found in pigs (83\u00a0% in one study in the USA) and cattle (up to 100\u00a0%) and this ribotype is now the third most common ribotype of C. difficile found in human infection in Europe. Human and pig strains of C. difficile are genetically identical in Europe confirming that a zoonosis exists. Rates of community-acquired C. difficile infection (CDI) are increasing world wide, a fact that sits well with the notion that animals are a reservoir for human infection. Thus, there are three problems that require resolution: a human health issue, an animal health issue and the factor common to both these problems, environmental contamination. To successfully deal with these recent changes in the epidemiology of CDI will require a 'one health' approach involving human health physicians, veterinarians and environmental scientists."}
{"id": "MED-1221", "text": "Many articles have summarized the changing epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in humans, but the emerging presence of C. difficile in foods and animals and possible measures to reduce human exposure to this important pathogen have been infrequently addressed. CDIs have traditionally been assumed to be restricted to health-care settings. However, recent molecular studies indicate that this is no longer the case; animals and foods might be involved in the changing epidemiology of CDIs in humans; and genome sequencing is disproving person-to-person transmission in hospitals. Although zoonotic and foodborne transmission have not been confirmed, it is evident that susceptible people can be inadvertently exposed to C. difficile from foods, animals, or their environment. Strains of epidemic clones present in humans are common in companion and food animals, raw meats, poultry products, vegetables, and ready-to-eat foods, including salads. In order to develop science-based prevention strategies, it is critical to understand how C. difficile reaches foods and humans. This review contextualizes the current understanding of CDIs in humans, animals, and foods. Based on available information, we propose a list of educational measures that could reduce the exposure of susceptible people to C. difficile. Enhanced educational efforts and behavior change targeting medical and non-medical personnel are needed."}
{"id": "MED-1223", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To assess the life history consequences of cow milk consumption at different stages in early life (prenatal to adolescence), especially with regard to linear growth and age at menarche and the role of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in mediating a relationship among milk, growth and development, and long-term biological outcomes. METHODS: United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999 to 2004 and review of existing literature. RESULTS: The literature tends to support milk's role in enhancing growth early in life (prior to age 5 years), but there is less support for this relationship during middle childhood. Milk has been associated with early menarche and with acceleration of linear growth in adolescence. NHANES data show a positive relationship between milk intake and linear growth in early childhood and adolescence, but not middle childhood, a period of relatively slow growth. IGF-I is a candidate bioactive molecule linking milk consumption to more rapid growth and development, although the mechanism by which it may exert such effects is unknown. CONCLUSIONS: Routine milk consumption is an evolutionarily novel dietary behavior that has the potential to alter human life history parameters, especially vis-\u00e0-vis linear growth, which in turn may have negative long-term biological consequences. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1224", "text": "In adults, dietary protein seems to induce weight loss and dairy proteins may be insulinotropic. However, the effect of milk proteins in adolescents is unclear. The objective was to test whether milk and milk proteins reduce body weight, waist circumference, homeostatic model assessment, plasma insulin, and insulin secretion estimated as the plasma C-peptide concentration in overweight adolescents. Overweight adolescents (n = 203) aged 12-15 y with a BMI of 25.4 \u00b1 2.3 kg/m(2) (mean \u00b1 SD) were randomized to 1 L/d of skim milk, whey, casein, or water for 12 wk. All milk drinks contained 35 g protein/L. Before randomization, a subgroup of adolescents (n = 32) was studied for 12 wk before the intervention began as a pretest control group. The effects of the milk-based test drinks were compared with baseline (wk 0), the water group, and the pretest control group. Diet and physical activity were registered. Outcomes were BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZs), waist circumference, plasma insulin, homeostatic model assessment, and plasma C-peptide. We found no change in BAZ in the pretest control and water groups, whereas it was greater at 12 wk in the skim milk, whey, and casein groups compared with baseline and with the water and pretest control groups. The plasma C-peptide concentration increased from baseline to wk 12 in the whey and casein groups and increments were greater than in the pretest control (P < 0.02). There were no significant changes in plasma C-peptide in the skim milk or water group. These data suggest that high intakes of skim milk, whey, and casein increase BAZs in overweight adolescents and that whey and casein increase insulin secretion. Whether the effect on body weight is primary or secondary to the increased insulin secretion remains to be elucidated."}
{"id": "MED-1226", "text": "Background Several components of dairy products have been linked to earlier menarche. Methods/Findings This study assessed whether positive associations exist between childhood milk consumption and age at menarche or the likelihood of early menarche (<12 yrs) in a U.S sample. Data derive from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999\u20132004. Two samples were utilized: 2657 women age 20\u201349 yrs and 1008 girls age 9\u201312 yrs. In regression analysis, a weak negative relationship was found between frequency of milk consumption at 5\u201312 yrs and age at menarche (daily milk intake \u03b2\u200a=\u200a\u22120.32, P<0.10; \u201csometimes/variable milk intake\u201d \u03b2\u200a=\u200a\u22120.38, P<0.06, each compared to intake rarely/never). Cox regression yielded no greater risk of early menarche among those who drank milk \u201csometimes/varied\u201d or daily vs. never/rarely (HR: 1.20, P<0.42, HR: 1.25, P<0.23, respectively). Among the 9\u201312 yr olds, Cox regression indicated that neither total dairy kcal, calcium and protein, nor daily milk intake in the past 30 days contributed to early menarche. Girls in the middle tertile of milk intake had a marginally lower risk of early menarche than those in the highest tertile (HR: 0.6, P<0.06). Those in the lowest tertiles of dairy fat intake had a greater risk of early menarche than those in the highest (HR: 1.5, P<0.05, HR: 1.6, P<0.07, lowest and middle tertile, respectively), while those with the lowest calcium intake had a lower risk of early menarche (HR: 0.6, P<0.05) than those in the highest tertile. These relationships remained after adjusting for overweight or overweight and height percentile; both increased the risk of earlier menarche. Blacks were more likely than Whites to reach menarche early (HR: 1.7, P<0.03), but not after controlling for overweight. Conclusions There is some evidence that greater milk intake is associated with an increased risk of early menarche, or a lower age at menarche."}
{"id": "MED-1227", "text": "To correct methodologic flaws (Type II error, confounding variables, and nonblinding) in previous studies relating infant feeding to later obesity, we conducted case-control studies of 639 patients 12 to 18 years of age attending our Adolescent Clinic, and 533 similarly aged healthy children attending a Montreal high school. Each subject was classified as either obese, overweight, or nonobese based on measurements of height, weight, and triceps and subscapular skinfolds. Feeding history, family history, and demographic data were later ascertained \"blindly\" by telephone interview. Analysis of the raw data revealed a significantly elevated estimated relative risk of not breast-feeding and a significant trend for rates of breast-feeding among the three weight groups. The magnitude of the protective effect appeared to rise slightly with increased duration of breast-feeding. Delayed introduction of solid foods provided little if any additional benefit. Several demographic and clinical variables proved to be confounding, but the significant protective effect of breast-feeding persisted even after controlling for confounders. We conclude that breast-feeding does protect against later obesity and attribute the conflicting results of previous studies to insufficient attention to methodologic standards."}
{"id": "MED-1229", "text": "Milk has been recognized to represent a functionally active nutrient system promoting neonatal growth of mammals. Cell growth is regulated by the nutrient-sensitive kinase mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). There is still a lack of information on the mechanisms of mTORC1 up-regulation by milk consumption. This review presents milk as a materno-neonatal relay system functioning by transfer of preferential amino acids, which increase plasma levels of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), insulin, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) for mTORC1 activation. Importantly, milk exosomes, which regularly contain microRNA-21, most likely represent a genetic transfection system enhancing mTORC1-driven metabolic processes. Whereas human breast milk is the ideal food for infants allowing appropriate postnatal growth and species-specific metabolic programming, persistent high milk signaling during adolescence and adulthood by continued cow\u00b4s milk consumption may promote mTORC1-driven diseases of civilization."}
{"id": "MED-1230", "text": "This study examined the relationship between funding sources and the outcomes of published obesity-related research. A list of funded projects for human nutrition research linking food intake to obesity in 2001-2005 was drawn from two distinct sources: (a) the federal government's semi-public generic commodity promotion or \"checkoff\" programs for Fluid Milk and Dairy and (b) the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Principal Investigator for each funded project was determined. Published literature by that individual was located using an Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed author search. All articles related to both dairy and obesity were included. Financial sponsorship for each article and article conclusions were classified by independent groups of co-investigators. Seventy-nine relevant articles were included in the study. Of these, 62 were sponsored by the checkoff programs and 17 by the NIH. The study did not find consistent evidence that checkoff-funded projects were more likely to support an obesity prevention benefit from dairy consumption. The study did identify a new research methodology for the investigation of bias by source of sponsorship. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1231", "text": "BACKGROUND: Fiber intake is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk. Whether arterial stiffness is influenced by lifetime fiber intake is not known. Any such association could explain, at least in part, the cardioprotective effects attributed to fiber intake. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate whether a lower intake of fiber (and fiber-rich foods) throughout the course of young life (ie, from adolescence to adulthood) is associated with arterial stiffness in adulthood. DESIGN: This was a longitudinal cohort study among 373 participants in whom dietary intake was assessed between the ages of 13 to 36 y (2-8 repeated measures, median of 5), and arterial stiffness estimates of 3 large arteries (ultrasonography) were ascertained at age 36 y. RESULTS: After adjustment for sex, height, total energy intake, and other lifestyle variables, subjects with stiffer carotid arteries consumed less fiber (in g/d) during the 24-y study than did those with less stiff carotid arteries, as defined on the basis of the highest compared with the lowest sex-specific tertiles of the distensibility and compliance coefficients (reversed) and Young's elastic modulus: -1.9 (95% CI: -3.1, -0.7), -2.3 (-3.5, -1.1), and -1.3 (-2.5, -0.0), respectively. Furthermore, subjects with stiffer carotid arteries were characterized by a lower lifetime consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains-deleterious associations that could be explained, to a great extent, by related low fiber intake. CONCLUSIONS: Lower lifetime intake of fiber during the course of young age is associated with carotid artery stiffness in adulthood. Promoting consumption of fiber-rich foods among the young may offer a means to prevent accelerated arterial stiffening in adulthood and related cardiovascular sequelae."}
{"id": "MED-1233", "text": "BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Fiber intake is associated with reduced stroke risk in prospective studies, but no meta-analysis has been published to date. METHODS: Multiple electronic databases were searched for healthy participant studies reporting fiber intake and incidence of first hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, published between January 1990 and May 2012. RESULTS: Eight cohort studies from the United States, northern Europe, Australia, and Japan met inclusion criteria. Total dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with risk of hemorrhagic plus ischemic stroke, with some evidence of heterogeneity between studies (I(2); relative risk per 7 g/day, 0.93; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-0.98; I(2)=59%). Soluble fiber intake, per 4 g/day, was not associated with stroke risk reduction with evidence of low heterogeneity between studies, relative risk 0.94 (95% confidence interval, 0.88-1.01; I(2)=21%). There were few studies reporting stroke risk in relation to insoluble fiber or fiber from cereals, fruit, or vegetables. CONCLUSIONS: Greater dietary fiber intake is significantly associated with lower risk of first stroke. Overall, findings support dietary recommendations to increase intake of total dietary fiber. However, a paucity of data on fiber from different foods precludes conclusions regarding the association between fiber type and stroke. There is a need for future studies to focus on fiber type and to examine risk for ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes separately."}
{"id": "MED-1238", "text": "The relationship between dietary fat and glucose metabolism has been recognized for at least 60 years. In experimental animals, high fat diets result in impaired glucose tolerance. This impairment is associated with decreased basal and insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism. Impaired insulin binding and/or glucose transporters has been related to changes in the fatty acid composition of the membrane induced by dietary fat modification. In humans, high-fat diets, independent of fatty acid profile, have been reported to result in decreased insulin sensitivity. Saturated fat, relative to monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, appears to be more deleterious with respect to fat-induced insulin insensitivity. Some of the adverse effects induced by fat feeding can be ameliorated with omega-3 fatty acid. Epidemiological data in humans suggest that subjects with higher intakes of fat are more prone to develop disturbances in glucose metabolism, type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, than subjects with lower intakes of fat. Inconsistencies in the data may be attributable to clustering of high intakes of dietary fat (especially animal fat) with obesity and inactivity. Metabolic studies suggest that higher-fat diets containing a higher proportion of unsaturated fat result in better measures of glucose metabolism than high-carbohydrate diet. Clearly, the area of dietary fat and glucose metabolism has yet to be fully elucidated."}
{"id": "MED-1240", "text": "New antiemetic drug developments, formulations, guidelines, risk evaluation, and controversies have occurred in the area of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). These developments have helped improve our understanding of the prevention and treatment of PONV in the postanesthesia care unit and after discharge home or to the hospital ward. Antiemetic drug research has resulted in the introduction of the second-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine-3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonist palonosetron and the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor antagonist aprepitant, as well as new data on existing antiemetics. The next frontier and need for further nausea and vomiting research and therapy is the area of postdischarge nausea and vomiting after the patient is discharged home from phase II of the ambulatory stepdown unit or to the hospital ward. Antiemetic drug selection depends on efficacy, cost, safety, and ease of dosing. Safety concerns have arisen regarding the side effects of antiemetics, specifically their effect on the ECG with prolongation of the QTc interval by the butyrophenones and the first-generation 5-HT3 receptor antagonist class of antiemetics. The impact of pharmocogenetics on antiemetic drug metabolism and their resulting efficacy has been correlated with genetic makeup affecting drug response. A discussion of ethics in PONV research has been initiated by the meta-analysis of PONV studies. To help guide antiemetic selection and PONV therapy for clinical practitioners, the Society of Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA) PONV consensus guidelines have been introduced and updated."}
{"id": "MED-1241", "text": "PURPOSE: With little scientific evidence to support use of aromatherapy for postoperative nausea and/or vomiting (PONV) symptoms, this study evaluated controlled breathing with peppermint aromatherapy (AR) and controlled breathing alone (CB) for PONV relief. DESIGN: A single blind randomized control trial design was used. METHODS: On initial PONV complaint, symptomatic subjects received either CB (n = 16) or AR (n = 26) intervention based on randomization at enrollment. A second treatment was repeated at 5 minutes if indicated. Final assessment occurred 10 minutes post initial treatment. Rescue medication was offered for persistent symptoms. FINDINGS: Among eligible subjects, PONV incidence was 21.4% (42/196). Gender was the only risk factor contributing to PONV symptoms (P = .0024). Though not statistically significant, CB was more efficacious than AR, 62.5% versus 57.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: CB can be initiated without delay as an alternative to prescribed antiemetics. Data also support use of peppermint AR in conjunction with CB for PONV relief. Copyright \u00a9 2014 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1242", "text": "BACKGROUND: Recently, two centers have independently developed a risk score for predicting postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). This study investigated (1) whether risk scores are valid across centers and (2) whether risk scores based on logistic regression coefficients can be simplified without loss of discriminating power. METHODS: Adult patients from two centers (Oulu, Finland: n = 520, and Wuerzburg, Germany: n = 2202) received inhalational anesthesia (without antiemetic prophylaxis) for various types of surgery. PONV was defined as nausea or vomiting within 24 h of surgery. Risk scores to estimate the probability of PONV were obtained by fitting logistic regression models. Simplified risk scores were constructed based on the number of risk factors that were found significant in the logistic regression analyses. Original and simplified scores were cross-validated. A combined data set was created to estimate a potential center effect and to construct a final risk score. The discriminating power of each score was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: Risk scores derived from one center were able to predict PONV from the other center (area under the curve = 0.65-0.75). Simplification did not essentially weaken the discriminating power (area under the curve = 0.63-0.73). No center effect could be detected in a combined data set (odds ratio = 1.06, 95% confidence interval = 0.71-1.59). The final score consisted of four predictors: female gender, history of motion sickness (MS) or PONV, nonsmoking, and the use of postoperative opioids. If none, one, two, three, or four of these risk factors were present, the incidences of PONV were 10%, 21%, 39%, 61% and 79%. CONCLUSIONS: The risk scores derived from one center proved valid in the other and could be simplified without significant loss of discriminating power. Therefore, it appears that this risk score has broad applicability in predicting PONV in adult patients undergoing inhalational anesthesia for various types of surgery. For patients with at least two out of these four identified predictors a prophylactic antiemetic strategy should be considered."}
{"id": "MED-1243", "text": "Frequently, patients identified as high risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are treated prophylactically with intravenous (IV) ondansetron and postoperatively with IV promethazine. The purpose of this study was to determine if using an aromatic therapy of 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) would be more effective than promethazine in resolution of breakthrough PONV symptoms in groups of high-risk patients administered prophylactic ondansetron. All subjects enrolled were identified as high risk for PONV, administered general anesthesia and a prophylactic antiemetic of 4 mg of IV ondansetron, and randomized to receive IPA or promethazine for treatment of breakthrough PONV Demographics, verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS) scores for nausea, time to 50% reduction in VNRS scores, and overall antiemetic and incidence of PONV were measured. The data for 85 subjects were included in analysis; no differences in demographic variables or baseline measurements were noted between groups. The IPA group reported a faster time to 50% reduction in VNRS scores and decreased overall antiemetic requirements. A similar incidence in PONV was noted between groups. Based on these findings, we recommend that inhalation of 70% IPA is an option for treatment of PONV in high-risk patients who have received prophylactic ondansetron."}
{"id": "MED-1244", "text": "PURPOSE: This study examined the effect of peppermint spirits on postoperative nausea in women following a scheduled C-section. DESIGN: A pretest-posttest research design with three groups was used. The peppermint group inhaled peppermint spirits, the placebo aromatherapy control group inhaled an inert placebo, green-colored sterile water, and the standard antiemetic therapy control group received standard antiemetics, usually intravenous ondansetron or promethazine suppositories. METHODS: Women were randomly assigned to a group on admission to the hospital. If they became nauseated, nurses on the mother-baby unit assessed their nausea (baseline), administered the assigned intervention, and then reassessed participants' nausea 2 and 5 minutes after the initial intervention. Participants rated their nausea using a 6-point nausea scale. FINDINGS: Thirty-five participants became nauseated post-operatively. Participants in all three intervention groups had similar levels of nausea at baseline. The nausea levels of participants in the peppermint spirits group were significantly lower than those of participants in the other two groups 2 and 5 minutes after the initial intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Peppermint spirits may be a useful adjunct in the treatment of postoperative nausea. This study should be replicated with more participants, using a variety of aromatherapies to treat nausea in participants with different preoperative diagnoses."}
{"id": "MED-1245", "text": "Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) continues to be one of the most common complaints following surgery, occurring in more than 30% of surgeries, or as high as 70% to 80% in certain high-risk populations without prophylaxis. The 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 (5-HT(3)) receptor antagonists continue to be the mainstay of antiemetic therapy, but newer approaches, such as neurokinin-1 antagonists, a longer-acting serotonin receptor antagonist, multimodal management, and novel techniques for managing high-risk patients are gaining prominence. The related problem of postdischarge nausea and vomiting (PDNV) has received increasing attention from health care providers. The issues of PONV and PDNV are especially significant in the context of ambulatory surgeries, which comprise more than 60% of the combined 56.4 million ambulatory and inpatient surgery visits in the United States. Because of the relatively brief period that ambulatory patients spend in health care facilities, it is particularly important to prevent and treat PONV and PDNV swiftly and effectively. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1246", "text": "To determine whether aromatherapy can reduce postoperative nausea, the investigators studied 33 ambulatory surgery patients who complained of nausea in the PACU. After indicating the severity of nausea on a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS), subjects received randomized aromatherapy with isopropyl alcohol, oil of peppermint, or saline (placebo). The vapors were inhaled deeply through the nose from scented gauze pads held directly beneath the patients' nostrils and exhaled slowly through the mouth. Two and 5 minutes later, the subjects rated their nausea on the VAS. Overall nausea scores decreased from 60.6 +/- 4.3 mm (mean +/- SE) before aromatherapy to 43.1 +/- 4.9 mm 2 minutes after aromatherapy (P <.005), and to 28.0 +/- 4.6 mm 5 minutes after aromatherapy (P < 10(-6)). Nausea scores did not differ between the treatments at any time. Only 52% of the patients required conventional intravenous (IV) antiemetic therapy during their PACU stay. Overall satisfaction with postoperative nausea management was 86.9 +/- 4.1 mm and was independent of the treatment group. Aromatherapy effectively reduced the perceived severity of postoperative nausea. The fact that a saline \"placebo\" was as effective as alcohol or peppermint suggests that the beneficial effect may be related more to controlled breathing patterns than to the actual aroma inhaled."}
{"id": "MED-1247", "text": "Background: This study is aimed at determining the efficacy of Mentha spicata (M. spicata) and Mentha \u00d7 piperita (M. \u00d7 piperita) in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). Methods: This was a randomised, double-blind clinical trial study. Prior to the study, patients were randomly assigned into four groups to receive M. spicata or M. \u00d7 piperita. Statistical analysis included the \u03c72 test, relative risk, and Student\u2019s t-test. Fifty courses were analysed for each group that met our eligibility criteria. The treatment and placebo groups applied essential oils of M. spicata, M. \u00d7 piperita, or a placebo, while the control group continued with their previous antiemetic regimen. Patients or guardians recorded the number of emetic events, the intensity of nausea over 20 h of chemotherapy, as well as any possible adverse effects that occurred during this time. Results: There was a significant reduction in the intensity and number of emetic events in the first 24 h with M. spicata and M. \u00d7 piperita in both treatment groups (p < 0.05) when compared with the control and no adverse effects were reported. The cost of treatment was also reduced when essential oils were used. Conclusion: M. spicata or M. \u00d7 piperita essential oils are safe and effective for antiemetic treatment in patients, as well as being cost effective."}
{"id": "MED-1248", "text": "One hundred adult patients attending for day case surgery were surveyed by anonymous questionnaire in order to determine their attitudes to rectal drug administration. Fifty four patients did not want an analgesic drug (diclofenac sodium) administered rectally whilst under anaesthesia, all preferring to take it orally if available. Ninety eight patients thought that drugs administered per rectum should always be discussed with them beforehand and a few had very strong feelings about this route of administration. We suggest that prescribers of rectal diclofenac should always discuss it with patients pre-operatively. Whilst many are happy to have suppositories, some young patients are sensitive about this and prefer to take such medication by mouth."}
{"id": "MED-1249", "text": "The effect of dietary protein on the level of plasma cholesterol in young, healthy, normolipidemic women was investigated in two separate studies by feeding either a conventional diet containing mixed protein, or a plant protein diet in which the animal protein of the first diet was replaced by soy protein meat analogues and soy milk. The diets were similar with respect to carbohydrate, fat and sterol composition. The first study, lasting 73 days and involving six subjects, gave an indication that plasma cholesterol levels were lower on the plant protein diet. The second study, which incorporated a number of improvements based on experience, lasted 78 days and used a cross-over design involving two groups of five subjects each. In this study, the mean plasma cholesterol level was found to be significantly lower on the plant protein diet."}
{"id": "MED-1250", "text": "The effect of plant and animal protein on blood lipid levels was investigated in eight healthy normolipidemic men aged 18 to 27 yr. All subjects were fed both plant and animal protein diets in a cross-over design. Each diet was consumed for a 21-day period. Proteins from commonly used plant sources made up the plant protein diet. Beef protein was substituted for 55% of the plant proteins in the animal protein diet. Fasting venous blood samples were collected at the beginning of the study and at 7-day intervals throughout the 42-day study. Serum was analyzed for total cholesterol and triglycerides. Plasma low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were determined. There were not any statistically significant differences in mean serum total cholesterol or mean plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol when subjects consumed the diets. Mean plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly (p less than 0.05) elevated at the end of the 21-day period when the animal protein diet was consumed (48 +/- 3 mg/dl) compared to the period when the plant protein diet was fed (42 +/- 2 mg/dl). Mean serum triglyceride values were significantly (p less than 0.05) increased at day 7 of the plant protein diet period (136 +/- 19 mg/dl) compared to the same time period when the animal protein diet was consumed (84 +/- 12 mg/dl). The results of the study indicated that the ingestion of a diet in which 55% of the protein was supplied by beef protein was not associated with a hypercholesterolemic effect in healthy normolipidemic young men."}
{"id": "MED-1252", "text": "The effect of substituting soy for animal protein in mixed diets was determined in young men with mildly elevated plasma cholesterol, 218 to 307 mg/dl. The diets were low in cholesterol, 200 mg/day, with 13 to 16% of energy as protein, 30 to 35% as fat, and a polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio of 0.5. Of protein 65% was from either mixed animal proteins or isolated soy protein products made comparable by the addition of extracted animal fats. Fresh egg yolk was added to balance the cholesterol content of the diets. Proteins from grains and vegetables were identical in both menus and contributed about 35% of dietary protein. Twenty of 24 subjects decreased plasma cholesterol at the end of the protocol. Subjects were classified as responders or nonresponders as a function of greater or lesser than mean reduction in cholesterol for the groups. Mean decreases in plasma cholesterol, 16 and 13%, for responders in the animal and soy groups were significant, p less than 0.01 and 0.05, respectively. Responders in both groups had higher initial plasma cholesterol values than nonresponders. Although plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased slightly, the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to cholesterol ratio (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol/total cholesterol) remained constant for most individuals. The hypocholesterolemic effects were similar for both animal and soy protein (p less than 0.05) and fat (p less than 0.05) while on the experimental diet. All groups significantly decreased dietary cholesterol (p less than 0.001)."}
{"id": "MED-1253", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of replacing lean meat with a soy product, tofu, on serum lipoprotein concentrations. STUDY AND DESIGN: Randomized cross-over dietary intervention study. SUBJECTS: Forty-two free-living healthy males aged 35-62 y completed the dietary intervention. Three additional subjects were non-compliant and excluded prior to analysis. INTERVENTIONS: A diet containing lean meat (150 g/d) was compared with one with 290 g/d tofu in an isocaloric and isoprotein substitution. Both diet periods were 1 month, and fat intake was carefully controlled. RESULTS: Seven-day diet records showed the two diets were similar in energy, macronutrients and fibre. Total cholesterol (mean difference 0.23 mmol/l, 95% CI 0.02, 0.43; P=0.03) and triglycerides (mean difference 0.15 mmol/l, 95% CI 0.02, 0.31; P=0.017) were significantly lower on the tofu diet than the lean meat diet. However, HDL-C was also significantly lower on the tofu diet (mean difference 0.08 mmol/l, 95% CI 0.02, 0.14; P=0.01) although the LDL-C:HDL-C ratio was similar. CONCLUSION: The effect on HDL-C and the small LDL-C reduction differ from some other studies, where fat was often less controlled, and the comparison was of soy as textured protein or soymilk against casein. This suggests a differential effect of the various proteins compared to the soy may influence the findings. In practice, the replacement of meat with tofu would usually be associated with a decrease in saturated fat and an increase in polyunsaturated fat and this should enhance any small benefits due to the soy protein. SPONSOR: Deakin University with some contribution from a Commonwealth Department of Veterans Affairs research grant. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000) 54, 14-19"}
{"id": "MED-1254", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of replacing lean meat with a soy product, tofu, on coronary heart disease risk factors including serum lipoproteins, lipoprotein (a), factor VII, fibrinogen and in vitro susceptibility of LDL to oxidation. DESIGN: A randomized cross over dietary intervention study. SETTING: Free-living individuals studied at Deakin University. SUBJECTS: Forty-five free-living healthy males aged 35 to 62 years completed the dietary intervention. Three subjects were non-compliant and excluded prior to analysis. INTERVENTIONS: A diet containing 150 grams of lean meat per day was compared to a diet containing 290 grams of tofu per day in an isocaloric and isoprotein substitution. Each dietary period was one month duration. RESULTS: Analysis of the seven-day diet record showed that diets were similar in energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat, saturated and unsaturated fat, polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, alcohol and fiber. Total cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly lower, and in vitro LDL oxidation lag phase was significantly longer on the tofu diet compared to the meat diet. The hemostatic factors, factor VII and fibrinogen, and lipoprotein(a) were not significantly affected by the tofu diet. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in LDL oxidation lag phase would be expected to be associated with a decrease in coronary heart disease risk."}
{"id": "MED-1256", "text": "BACKGROUND: Limited consumption of red meat, including beef, is one of many often-suggested strategies to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the role that beef consumption specifically plays in promoting adverse changes in the cardiovascular risk factor profile is unclear. OBJECTIVE: A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled, clinical trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effects of beef, independent of other red and processed meats, compared with poultry and/or fish consumption, on lipoprotein lipids. METHODS: RCTs published from 1950 to 2010 were considered for inclusion. Studies were included if they reported fasting lipoprotein lipid changes after beef and poultry/fish consumption by subjects free of chronic disease. A total of 124 RCTs were identified, and 8 studies involving 406 subjects met the prespecified entry criteria and were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Relative to the baseline diet, mean \u00b1 standard error changes (in mg/dL) after beef versus poultry/fish consumption, respectively, were -8.1 \u00b1 2.8 vs. -6.2 \u00b1 3.1 for total cholesterol (P\u00a0= .630), -8.2 \u00b1 4.2 vs. -8.9 \u00b1 4.4 for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P\u00a0= .905), -2.3 \u00b1 1.0 vs. -1.9 \u00b1 0.8 for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P\u00a0= .762), and -8.1 \u00b1 3.6 vs. -12.9 \u00b1 4.0 mg/dL for triacylglycerols (P\u00a0= .367). CONCLUSION: Changes in the fasting lipid profile were not significantly different with beef consumption compared with those with poultry and/or fish consumption. Inclusion of lean beef in the diet increases the variety of available food choices, which may improve long-term adherence with dietary recommendations for lipid management. Copyright \u00a9 2012 National Lipid Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1257", "text": "Meat protein is associated with an increase in risk of heart disease. Recent data have shown that meat protein appeared to be associated with weight gain over 6.5\u00a0years, with 1\u00a0kg of weight increase per 125\u00a0g of meat per day. In the Nurses' Health Study, diets low in red meat, containing nuts, low-fat dairy, poultry, or fish, were associated with a 13% to 30% lower risk of CHD compared with diets high in meat. Low-carbohydrate diets high in animal protein were associated with a 23% higher total mortality rate whereas low-carbohydrate diets high in vegetable protein were associated with a 20% lower total mortality rate. Recent soy interventions have been assessed by the American Heart Association and found to be associated with only small reductions in LDL cholesterol. Although dairy intake has been associated with a lower weight and lower insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, the only long-term (6\u00a0months) dairy intervention performed so far has shown no effects on these parameters."}
{"id": "MED-1258", "text": "Reductions in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) result from diets containing almonds, or diets that are either low in saturated fat or high in viscous fibers, soy proteins, or plant sterols. We have therefore combined all of these interventions in a single diet (portfolio diet) to determine whether cholesterol reductions could be achieved of similar magnitude to those reported in recent statin trials which reduced cardiovascular events. Twenty-five hyperlipidemic subjects consumed either a portfolio diet (n=13), very low in saturated fat and high in plant sterols (1.2 g/1,000 kcal), soy protein (16.2 g/1,000 kcal), viscous fibers (8.3 g/1,000 kcal), and almonds (16.6 g/1,000 kcal), or a low-saturated fat diet (n=12) based on whole-wheat cereals and low-fat dairy foods. Fasting blood, blood pressure, and body weight were obtained at weeks 0, 2, and 4 of each phase. LDL-C was reduced by 12.1% +/- 2.4% (P<.001) on the low-fat diet and by 35.0% +/- 3.1% (P<.001) on the portfolio diet, which also reduced the ratio of LDL-C to high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) significantly (30.0% +/- 3.5%; P<.001). The reductions in LDL-C and the LDL:HDL-C ratio were both significantly lower on the portfolio diet than on the control diet (P<.001 and P<.001, respectively). Mean weight loss was similar on test and control diets (1.0 kg and 0.9 kg, respectively). No difference was seen in blood pressure, HDL-C, serum triglycerides, lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], or homocysteine concentrations between diets. Combining a number of foods and food components in a single dietary portfolio may lower LDL-C similarly to statins and so increase the potential effectiveness of dietary therapy."}
{"id": "MED-1259", "text": "We sought to determine whether consumption of blueberries could reduce postprandial oxidation when consumed with a typical high-carbohydrate, low-fat breakfast. Participants (n 14) received each of the three treatments over 3 weeks in a cross-over design. Treatments consisted of a high blueberry dose (75 g), a low blueberry dose (35 g) and a control (ascorbic acid and sugar content matching that of the high blueberry dose). Serum oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), serum lipoprotein oxidation (LO) and serum ascorbate, urate and glucose were measured at fasting, and at 1, 2 and 3 h after sample consumption. The mean serum ORAC was significantly higher in the 75 g group than in the control group during the first 2 h postprandially, while serum LO lag time showed a significant trend over the 3 h for both blueberry doses. Changes in serum ascorbate, urate and glucose were not significantly different among the groups. To our knowledge, this is the first report that has demonstrated that increased serum antioxidant capacity is not attributable to the fructose or ascorbate content of blueberries. In summary, a practically consumable quantity of blueberries (75 g) can provide statistically significant oxidative protection in vivo after a high-carbohydrate, low-fat breakfast. Though not tested directly, it is likely that the effects are due to phenolic compounds, either directly or indirectly, as they are a major family of compounds in blueberries with potential bioactive activity."}
{"id": "MED-1261", "text": "Contrary to concerns that fructose may have adverse metabolic effects, there is evidence that small, \u2018catalytic\u2019 doses (\u00a0\u2264\u00a010\u00a0g/meal) of fructose decrease the glycaemic response to high-glycaemic index meals in human subjects. To assess the longer-term effects of \u2018catalytic\u2019 doses of fructose, we undertook a meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library. Analyses included all controlled feeding trials \u2265\u00a07\u00a0d featuring \u2018catalytic\u2019 fructose doses (\u00a0\u2264\u00a036\u00a0g/d) in isoenergetic exchange for other carbohydrates. Data were pooled by the generic inverse variance method using random-effects models and expressed as mean differences (MD) with 95\u00a0% CI. Heterogeneity was assessed by the Q statistic and quantified by I2. The Heyland Methodological Quality Score assessed study quality. A total of six feeding trials (n 118) met the eligibility criteria. \u2018Catalytic\u2019 doses of fructose significantly reduced HbA1c (MD \u2212\u00a00\u00b740, 95\u00a0% CI \u2212\u00a00\u00b772, \u2212\u00a00\u00b708) and fasting glucose (MD \u2212\u00a00\u00b725, 95\u00a0% CI \u2212\u00a00\u00b744, \u2212\u00a00\u00b707). This benefit was seen in the absence of adverse effects on fasting insulin, body weight, TAG or uric acid. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses showed evidence of effect modification under certain conditions. The small number of trials and their relatively short duration limit the strength of the conclusions. In conclusion, this small meta-analysis shows that \u2018catalytic\u2019 fructose doses (\u00a0\u2264\u00a036\u00a0g/d) may improve glycaemic control without adverse effects on body weight, TAG, insulin and uric acid. There is a need for larger, longer (\u00a0\u2265\u00a06 months) trials using \u2018catalytic\u2019 fructose to confirm these results."}
{"id": "MED-1265", "text": "Determination of the environmental factors involved in neurodegenerative diseases has been elusive. Methylmercury and \u03b2-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) have both been implicated in this role. Exposure of primary cortical cultures to these compounds independently induced concentration-dependent neurotoxicity. Importantly, concentrations of BMAA (10-100 \u03bcM) that caused no toxicity alone potentiated methylmercury (3 \u03bcM) toxicity. In addition, concentrations of BMAA and methylmercury that had no effect by themselves on the main cellular antioxidant glutathione together decreased glutathione levels. Furthermore, the combined toxicity of methylmercury and BMAA was attenuated by the cell permeant form of glutathione, glutathione monoethyl ester. The results indicate a synergistic toxic effect of the environmental neurotoxins BMAA and methylmercury, and that the interaction is at the level of glutathione depletion."}
{"id": "MED-1266", "text": "There is mounting evidence to suggest that environmental factors play a major role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases like ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The non-protein amino acid beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) was first associated with the high incidence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex (ALS/PDC) in Guam, and has been implicated as a potential environmental factor in ALS, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. BMAA has a number of toxic effects on motor neurons including direct agonist action on NMDA and AMPA receptors, induction of oxidative stress, and depletion of glutathione. As a non-protein amino acid, there is also the strong possibility that BMAA could cause intraneuronal protein misfolding, the hallmark of neurodegeneration. While an animal model for BMAA-induced ALS is lacking, there is substantial evidence to support a link between this toxin and ALS. The ramifications of discovering an environmental trigger for ALS are enormous. In this article, we discuss the history, ecology, pharmacology and clinical ramifications of this ubiquitous, cyanobacteria-derived toxin."}
{"id": "MED-1267", "text": "\u03b2-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a neurotoxic nonprotein amino acid produced by most cyanobacteria, has been proposed to be the causative agent of devastating neurodegenerative diseases on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Because cyanobacteria are widespread globally, we hypothesized that BMAA might occur and bioaccumulate in other ecosystems. Here we demonstrate, based on a recently developed extraction and HPLC-MS/MS method and long-term monitoring of BMAA in cyanobacterial populations of a temperate aquatic ecosystem (Baltic Sea, 2007\u20132008), that BMAA is biosynthesized by cyanobacterial genera dominating the massive surface blooms of this water body. BMAA also was found at higher concentrations in organisms of higher trophic levels that directly or indirectly feed on cyanobacteria, such as zooplankton and various vertebrates (fish) and invertebrates (mussels, oysters). Pelagic and benthic fish species used for human consumption were included. The highest BMAA levels were detected in the muscle and brain of bottom-dwelling fishes. The discovery of regular biosynthesis of the neurotoxin BMAA in a large temperate aquatic ecosystem combined with its possible transfer and bioaccumulation within major food webs, some ending in human consumption, is alarming and requires attention."}
{"id": "MED-1268", "text": "Most amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases occur sporadically. Some environmental triggers have been implicated, including beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a cyanobacteria produced neurotoxin. This study aimed to identify environmental risk factors common to three sporadic ALS patients who lived in Annapolis, Maryland, USA and developed the disease within a relatively short time and within close proximity to each other. A questionnaire was used to identify potential risk factors for ALS among the cohort of patients. One common factor among the ALS patients was the frequent consumption of blue crab. Samples of blue crab from the patients' local fish market were tested for BMAA using LC-MS/MS. BMAA was identified in these Chesapeake Bay blue crabs. We conclude that the presence of BMAA in the Chesapeake Bay food web and the lifetime consumption of blue crab contaminated with BMAA may be a common risk factor for sporadic ALS in all three patients. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1271", "text": "Background Dietary exposure to the cyanotoxin BMAA is suspected to be the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Western Pacific Islands. In Europe and North America, this toxin has been identified in the marine environment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clusters but, to date, only few dietary exposures have been described. Objectives We aimed at identifying cluster(s) of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the H\u00e9rault district, a coastal district from Southern France, and to search, in the identified area(s), for the existence of a potential dietary source of BMAA. Methods A spatio-temporal cluster analysis was performed in the district, considering all incident amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases identified from 1994 to 2009 by our expert center. We investigated the cluster area with serial collections of oysters and mussels that were subsequently analyzed blind for BMAA concentrations. Results We found one significant amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cluster (p = 0.0024), surrounding the Thau lagoon, the most important area of shellfish production and consumption along the French Mediterranean coast. BMAA was identified in mussels (1.8 \u00b5g/g to 6.0 \u00b5g/g) and oysters (0.6 \u00b5g/g to 1.6 \u00b5g/g). The highest concentrations of BMAA were measured during summer when the highest picocyanobacteria abundances were recorded. Conclusions While it is not possible to ascertain a direct link between shellfish consumption and the existence of this ALS cluster, these results add new data to the potential association of BMAA with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, one of the most severe neurodegenerative disorder."}
{"id": "MED-1273", "text": "From 1975 to 1983, six cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were diagnosed in long-term residents of Two Rivers, Wis; the probability that this occurred due to chance was less than .05. To investigate potential risk factors for ALS, we conducted a case-control study using two control subjects matched to each case patient for age, gender, and duration of residence in Two Rivers. Physical trauma, the frequent consumption of freshly caught Lake Michigan fish, and a family history of cancer were reported more often by case patients than control subjects. These findings support previous studies proposing a role for trauma in ALS pathogenesis and suggest that the causative role of diet should be further explored. Continued surveillance for and epidemiologic investigation of ALS clusters with subsequent retrospective analysis may provide clues concerning the cause of ALS."}
{"id": "MED-1274", "text": "Sharks are among the most threatened groups of marine species. Populations are declining globally to support the growing demand for shark fin soup. Sharks are known to bioaccumulate toxins that may pose health risks to consumers of shark products. The feeding habits of sharks are varied, including fish, mammals, crustaceans and plankton. The cyanobacterial neurotoxin \u03b2-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) has been detected in species of free-living marine cyanobacteria and may bioaccumulate in the marine food web. In this study, we sampled fin clips from seven different species of sharks in South Florida to survey the occurrence of BMAA using HPLC-FD and Triple Quadrupole LC/MS/MS methods. BMAA was detected in the fins of all species examined with concentrations ranging from 144 to 1836 ng/mg wet weight. Since BMAA has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, these results may have important relevance to human health. We suggest that consumption of shark fins may increase the risk for human exposure to the cyanobacterial neurotoxin BMAA."}
{"id": "MED-1276", "text": "Previous evidence for spatial clustering of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is inconclusive. Studies that have identified apparent clusters have often been based on a small number of cases, which means the results may have occurred by chance processes. Also, most studies have used the geographic location at the time of death as the basis for cluster detection, rather than exploring clusters at other points in the life cycle. In this study, the authors examine 1,000 cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis distributed throughout Finland who died between June 1985 and December 1995. Using a spatial-scan statistic, the authors examine whether there are significant clusters of the disease at both time of birth and time of death. Two significant, neighboring clusters were identified in southeast and south-central Finland at the time of death. A single significant cluster was identified in southeast Finland at the time of birth, closely matching one of the clusters identified at the time of death. These results are based on a large sample of cases, and they provide convincing evidence of spatial clustering of this condition. The results demonstrate also that, if the cluster analysis is conducted at different stages of the cases' life cycle, different conclusions about where potential risk factors may exist might result."}
{"id": "MED-1277", "text": "There is a broad scientific consensus that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is caused by gene-environment interactions. Mutations in genes underlying familial ALS (fALS) have been discovered in only 5-10% of the total population of ALS patients. Relatively little attention has been paid to environmental and lifestyle factors that may trigger the cascade of motor neuron death leading to the syndrome of ALS, although exposure to chemicals including lead and pesticides, and to agricultural environments, smoking, certain sports, and trauma have all been identified with an increased risk of ALS. There is a need for research to quantify the relative roles of each of the identified risk factors for ALS. Recent evidence has strengthened the theory that chronic environmental exposure to the neurotoxic amino acid \u03b2-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) produced by cyanobacteria may be an environmental risk factor for ALS. Here we describe methods that may be used to assess exposure to cyanobacteria, and hence potentially to BMAA, namely an epidemiologic questionnaire and direct and indirect methods for estimating the cyanobacterial load in ecosystems. Rigorous epidemiologic studies could determine the risks associated with exposure to cyanobacteria, and if combined with genetic analysis of ALS cases and controls could reveal etiologically important gene-environment interactions in genetically vulnerable individuals."}
{"id": "MED-1280", "text": "Cyanobacteria can generate molecules hazardous to human health, but production of the known cyanotoxins is taxonomically sporadic. For example, members of a few genera produce hepatotoxic microcystins, whereas production of hepatotoxic nodularins appears to be limited to a single genus. Production of known neurotoxins has also been considered phylogenetically unpredictable. We report here that a single neurotoxin, \u03b2-N-methylamino-l-alanine, may be produced by all known groups of cyanobacteria, including cyanobacterial symbionts and free-living cyanobacteria. The ubiquity of cyanobacteria in terrestrial, as well as freshwater, brackish, and marine environments, suggests a potential for wide-spread human exposure."}
{"id": "MED-1281", "text": "The calcium ion (Ca2+) is a ubiquitous second messenger that is crucial for the regulation of a wide variety of cellular processes. The diverse transient signals transduced by Ca2+ are mediated by intracellular Ca2+-binding proteins, also known as Ca2+ sensors. A key obstacle to studying many Ca2+-sensing proteins is the difficulty in identifying the numerous downstream target interactions that respond to Ca2+-induced conformational changes. Among a number of Ca2+ sensors in the eukaryotic cell, calmodulin (CaM) is the most widespread and the best studied. Employing the mRNA display technique, we have scanned the human proteome for CaM-binding proteins and have identified and characterized a large number of both known and previously uncharacterized proteins that interact with CaM in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The interactions of several identified proteins with Ca2+/CaM were confirmed by using pull-down assays and coimmunoprecipitation. Many of the CaM-binding proteins identified belong to protein families such as the DEAD/H box proteins, ribosomal proteins, proteasome 26S subunits, and deubiquitinating enzymes, suggesting the possible involvement of Ca2+/CaM in different signaling pathways. The selection method described herein could be used to identify the binding partners of other calcium sensors on the proteome-wide scale."}
{"id": "MED-1282", "text": "Excitement about neurogenetics in the last two decades has diverted attention from environmental causes of sporadic ALS. Fifty years ago endemic foci of ALS with a frequency one hundred times that in the rest of the world attracted attention since they offered the possibility of finding the cause for non-endemic ALS throughout the world. Research on Guam suggested that ALS, Parkinson's disease and dementia (the ALS/PDC complex) was due to a neurotoxic non-protein amino acid, beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), in the seeds of the cycad Cycas micronesica. Recent discoveries that found that BMAA is produced by symbiotic cyanobacteria within specialized roots of the cycads; that the concentration of protein-bound BMAA is up to a hundred-fold greater than free BMAA in the seeds and flour; that various animals forage on the seeds (flying foxes, pigs, deer), leading to biomagnification up the food chain in Guam; and that protein-bound BMAA occurs in the brains of Guamanians dying of ALS/PDC (average concentration 627 microg/g, 5 mM) but not in control brains have rekindled interest in BMAA as a possible trigger for Guamanian ALS/PDC. Perhaps most intriguing is the finding that BMAA is present in brain tissues of North American patients who had died of Alzheimer's disease (average concentration 95 microg/g, 0.8mM); this suggests a possible etiological role for BMAA in non-Guamanian neurodegenerative diseases. Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous throughout the world, so it is possible that all humans are exposed to low amounts of cyanobacterial BMAA, that protein-bound BMAA in human brains is a reservoir for chronic neurotoxicity, and that cyanobacterial BMAA is a major cause of progressive neurodegenerative diseases including ALS worldwide. Though Montine et al., using different HPLC method and assay techniques from those used by Cox and colleagues, were unable to reproduce the findings of Murch et al., Mash and colleagues using the original techniques of Murch et al. have recently confirmed the presence of protein-bound BMAA in the brains of North American patients dying with ALS and Alzheimer's disease (concentrations >100 microg/g) but not in the brains of non-neurological controls or Huntington's disease. We hypothesize that individuals who develop neurodegenerations may have a genetic susceptibility because of inability to prevent BMAA accumulation in brain proteins and that the particular pattern of neurodegeneration that develops depends on the polygenic background of the individual."}
{"id": "MED-1283", "text": "Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease. The current status of the epidemiology, challenges to its study, and novel study design options are discussed in this paper. We focus on recent results from large-scale population based prospective studies, case-control studies and population based registries, risk factors, and neuropathologic findings in chronic traumatic encephalomyelopathy. We identify areas of interest for future research, including time-trends in the incidence and prevalence of ALS; the meaning of lifetime risk; the phenotypic description of ALS; the definition of familial versus sporadic ALS, syndromic aspects of ALS; specific risk factors such as military service, life style factors such as smoking, the use of statins, and the presence of \u03b2-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), an excitotoxic amino acid derivative possibly produced by cyanobacteria found in almost every terrestrial and aquatic habitat; the emergence and disappearance of an endemic ALS in areas of the Pacific; and gene-environment interactions in the etiology of ALS. To move the epidemiology forward, we suggest using well-characterized cohorts of newly diagnosed ALS patients to identify risk and prognostic factors; storing biological material for future studies; building on the National ALS Registry as a resource of future studies; working in multidisciplinary consortia; and addressing the possible early life etiology of ALS."}
{"id": "MED-1284", "text": "We conducted an investigation of the levels of the neurotoxin 2-amino-3-(methylamino)-propanoic acid (BMAA) in cycad flour. Analysis of 30 flour samples processed from the endosperm of Cycas circinalis seeds collected on Guam indicated that more than 87% of the total BMAA content was removed during processing. Furthermore, in 1/2 the samples almost all (greater than 99%) of the total BMAA was removed. We found no significant regional differences in the BMAA content of flour prepared from cycad seeds collected from several villages on Guam. Testing of different samples prepared by the same Chamorro woman over 2 years suggests that the washing procedure probably varies in thoroughness from preparation to preparation but is routinely efficient in removing at least 85% of the total BMAA from all batches. Analysis of a flour sample that had undergone only 24 hours of soaking indicated that this single wash removed 90% of the total BMAA. We conclude that processed cycad flour as prepared by the Chamorros of Guam and Rota contains extremely low levels of BMAA, which are in the order of only 0.005% by weight (mean values for all samples). Thus, even when cycad flour is a dietary staple and eaten regularly, it seems unlikely that these low levels could cause the delayed and widespread neurofibrillary degeneration of nerve cells observed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and the parkinsonism-dementia complex of Guam (ALS-PD)."}
{"id": "MED-1285", "text": "The Chamorro people of Guam have been afflicted with a complex of neurodegenerative diseases (now known as ALS-PDC) with similarities to ALS, AD, and PD at a far higher rate than other populations throughout the world. Chamorro consumption of flying foxes may have generated sufficiently high cumulative doses of plant neurotoxins to result in ALS-PDC neuropathologies, since the flying foxes forage on neurotoxic cycad seeds."}
{"id": "MED-1287", "text": "Recent studies demonstrate that most cyanobacteria produce the neurotoxin beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and that it can biomagnify in at least one terrestrial food chain. BMAA has been implicated as a significant environmental risk in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Parkinson\u2019s disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). We examined several blooms of cyanobacteria in South Florida, and the BMAA content of resident animals, including species used as human food. A wide range of BMAA concentrations were found, ranging from below assay detection limits to approximately 7000 \u03bcg/g, a concentration associated with a potential long-term human health hazard."}
{"id": "MED-1288", "text": "Beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) occurs in higher levels in museum specimens of the Guamanian flying fox than in the cycad seeds the flying foxes feed on, confirming the hypothesis that cycad neurotoxins are biomagnified within the Guam ecosystem. Consumption of a single flying fox may have resulted in an equivalent BMAA dose obtained from eating 174 to 1,014 kg of processed cycad flour. Traditional feasting on flying foxes may be related to the prevalence of neuropathologic disease in Guam."}
{"id": "MED-1289", "text": "As root symbionts of cycad trees, cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc produce \u03b2-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), a neurotoxic nonprotein amino acid. The biomagnification of BMAA through the Guam ecosystem fits a classic triangle of increasing concentrations of toxic compounds up the food chain. However, because BMAA is polar and nonlipophilic, a mechanism for its biomagnification through increasing trophic levels has been unclear. We report that BMAA occurs not only as a free amino acid in the Guam ecosystem but also can be released from a bound form by acid hydrolysis. After first removing free amino acids from tissue samples of various trophic levels (cyanobacteria, root symbioses, cycad seeds, cycad flour, flying foxes eaten by the Chamorro people, and brain tissues of Chamorros who died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinsonism dementia complex), we then hydrolyzed the remaining fraction and found BMAA concentrations increased 10- to 240-fold. This bound form of BMAA may function as an endogenous neurotoxic reservoir, accumulating and being transported between trophic levels and subsequently being released during digestion and protein metabolism. Within brain tissues, the endogenous neurotoxic reservoir can slowly release free BMAA, thereby causing incipient and recurrent neurological damage over years or even decades, which may explain the observed long latency period for neurological disease onset among the Chamorro people. The presence of BMAA in brain tissues from Canadian patients who died of Alzheimer's disease suggests that exposure to cyanobacterial neurotoxins occurs outside of Guam."}
{"id": "MED-1290", "text": "Although the cyanobacteria/BMAA hypothesis of the cause of ALS and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases remains to be proven, it is not too early to ask whether treatment would be possible if the hypothesis were correct. This paper reviews the possible ways that chronic BMAA neurotoxicity could be prevented or treated."}
{"id": "MED-1291", "text": "There is significant interest in the use of mushrooms and/or mushroom extracts as dietary supplements based on theories that they enhance immune function and promote health. To some extent, select mushrooms have been shown to have stimulatory action on immune responsiveness, particularly when studied in vitro. However, despite their widespread use for potential health benefits, there is a surprising paucity of epidemiologic and experimental studies that address the biologic activities of mushrooms after oral administration to animals or humans. There have been a number of studies that have addressed the ability of mushrooms to modulate mononuclear cell activation and the phenotypic expression of cytokines and their cognate receptors. There have also been a number of attempts to determine antitumor activities of mushrooms. Such studies are important because many of the components of mushrooms do potentially have significant biologic activity. All data, however, should be tempered by the possibility that there are toxic levels of metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury as well as the presence of radioactive contamination with 137Cs. In this review, we will present the comparative biology with respect to both immunological and antitumor activities of mushroom extracts and also highlight the need for further evidence-based research."}
{"id": "MED-1292", "text": "There has been enormous interest in the biologic activity of mushrooms and innumerable claims have been made that mushrooms have beneficial effects on immune function with subsequent implications for inhibition of tumor growth. The majority of these observations are anecdotal and often lack standardization. However, there remains considerable data on both in vitro and in vivo effects that reflect on the potential of mushroom compounds to influence human immunity. A number of these effects are beneficial but, unfortunately, many responses are still characterized based on phenomenology and there is more speculation than substance. With respect to tumor biology, although many neoplastic lesions are immunogenic, tumor antigens frequently are self antigens and induce tolerance and many patients with cancer exhibit suppressed immune responses, including defective antigen presentation. Therefore, if and when mushroom extracts are effective, they more likely function as a result of improved antigen presentation by dendritic cells than by a direct cytopathic effect. In this review we attempt to place these data in perspective, with a particular focus on dendritic cell populations and the ability of mushroom extracts to modulate immunity. There is, at present, no scientific basis for the use of either mushrooms or mushroom extracts in the treatment of human patients but there is significant potential for rigorous research to understand the potential of mushrooms in human disease and thence to focus on appropriate clinical trials to demonstrate effectiveness and/ or potential toxicity."}
{"id": "MED-1293", "text": "In the domain of nutrition, exploring the diet-health linkages is major area of research. The outcomes of such interventions led to widespread acceptance of functional and nutraceutical foods; however, augmenting immunity is a major concern of dietary regimens. Indeed, the immune system is incredible arrangement of specific organs and cells that enabled humans to carry out defense against undesired responses. Its proper functionality is essential to maintain the body homeostasis. Array of plants and their components hold immunomodulating properties. Their possible inclusion in diets could explore new therapeutic avenues to enhanced immunity against diseases. The review intended to highlight the importance of garlic (Allium sativum), green tea (Camellia sinensis), ginger (Zingiber officinale), purple coneflower (Echinacea), black cumin (Nigella sativa), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Astragalus and St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) as natural immune boosters. These plants are bestowed with functional ingredients that may provide protection against various menaces. Modes of their actions include boosting and functioning of immune system, activation and suppression of immune specialized cells, interfering in several pathways that eventually led to improvement in immune responses and defense system. In addition, some of these plants carry free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities that are helpful against cancer insurgence. Nevertheless, interaction between drugs and herbs/botanicals should be well investigated before recommended for their safe use, and such information must be disseminated to the allied stakeholders."}
{"id": "MED-1294", "text": "Beta-glucans are a heterogeneous group of natural polysaccharides mostly investigated for their immunological effects. Due to the low systemic availability of oral preparations, it has been thought that only parenterally applied beta-glucans can modulate the immune system. However, several in vivo and in vitro investigations have revealed that orally applied beta-glucans also exert such effects. Various receptor interactions, explaining possible mode of actions, have been detected. The effects mainly depend on the source and structure of the beta-glucans. In the meantime, several human clinical trials with dietary insoluble yeast beta-glucans have been performed. The results confirm the previous findings of in vivo studies. The results of all studies taken together clearly indicate that oral intake of insoluble yeast beta-glucans is safe and has an immune strengthening effect."}
{"id": "MED-1296", "text": "Natural immunomodulators are getting more and more popular. The popularity, however, often brings over-optimistic claims and mediocre effects. The purpose of the present study was to directly compare eleven most commonly used immunomodulators. Through testing both cellular and humoral branches of immune reactions, we found that most of the immunomodulators tested have limited, if any, effects, with glucan being consistently the most active molecule strongly stimulating every reaction evaluated. These data were also confirmed using a Lewis lung cancer model, where only glucan and resveratrol lowered the number of metastases."}
{"id": "MED-1299", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Several studies have shown a baker's yeast beta-1,3/1,6-d-glucan, extracted from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is effective in reducing the incidence of cold and flu symptoms. This study evaluated the effect of a specific beta-glucan supplement (Wellmune) on upper respiratory tract symptoms and psychological well-being in women with moderate levels of psychological stress. METHODS: Healthy women (38 \u00b1 12 years old) prescreened for moderate levels of psychological stress, self-administered a placebo (n = 38) or 250 mg of Wellmune (n = 39) daily for 12 weeks. We used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) psychological survey to assess changes in mental/physical energy levels (vigor) and overall well-being (global mood state). A quantitative health perception log was used to track upper respiratory symptoms. RESULTS: Subjects in the Wellmune group reported fewer upper respiratory symptoms compared to placebo (10% vs 29%), better overall well-being (global mood state: 99 \u00b1 19 vs 108 \u00b1 23, p < 0.05), and superior mental/physical energy levels (vigor: 19.9 \u00b1 4.7 vs 15.8 \u00b1 6.3, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These data show that daily dietary supplementation with Wellmune reduces upper respiratory symptoms and improves mood state in stressed subjects, and thus it may be a useful approach for maintaining immune protection against daily stressors."}
{"id": "MED-1303", "text": "The aim of the present review article is to summarize the available information related to the availability, production, chemical composition, pharmacological activity, and traditional uses of Avena sativa to highlight its potential to contribute to human health. Oats are now cultivated worldwide and form an important dietary staple for the people in number of countries. Several varieties of oats are available. It is a rich source of protein, contains a number of important minerals, lipids, \u03b2-glucan, a mixed-linkage polysaccharide, which forms an important part of oat dietary fiber, and also contains various other phytoconstituents like avenanthramides, an indole alkaloid-gramine, flavonoids, flavonolignans, triterpenoid saponins, sterols, and tocols. Traditionally oats have been in use since long and are considered as stimulant, antispasmodic, antitumor, diuretic, and neurotonic. Oat possesses different pharmacological activities like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, anticholesterolaemic, etc. A wide spectrum of biological activities indicates that oat is a potential therapeutic agent."}
{"id": "MED-1304", "text": "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the Western world and its incidence is increasing rapidly. NAFLD is a spectrum ranging from simple steatosis, which is relatively benign hepatically, to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can progress to cirrhosis. Obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia are the most important risk factors for NAFLD. Due to heavy enrichment with metabolic risk factors, individuals with NAFLD are at significantly higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Individuals with NAFLD have higher incidence of type 2 diabetes. The diagnosis of NAFLD requires imaging evidence of hepatic steatosis in the absence of competing etiologies including significant alcohol consumption. Liver biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosing NASH and for determining prognosis. Weight loss remains a cornerstone of treatment. Weight loss of \u223c5% is believed to improve steatosis, whereas \u223c10% weight loss is necessary to improve steatohepatitis. A number of pharmacologic therapies have been investigated to treat NASH, and agents such as vitamin E and thiazolidinediones have shown promise in select patient subgroups."}
{"id": "MED-1305", "text": "This viewpoint aims to 1) review the available scientific literature on the relationship between whole grain consumption and body weight regulation; 2) evaluate the potential mechanisms whereby whole grain intake may help reduce overweight and 3) try to understand why epidemiological studies and clinical trials provide diverging results on this topic. All the prospective epidemiological studies demonstrate that a higher intake of whole grains is associated with lower BMI and body weight gain. However, these results do not clarify whether whole grain consumption is simply a marker of a healthier lifestyle or a factor favoring \"per se\" lower body weight. Habitual whole grain consumption seems to cause lower body weight by multiple mechanisms such as lower energy density of whole grain based products, lower glycemic index, fermentation of non digestible carbohydrates (satiety signals) and finally by modulating intestinal microflora. In contrast with epidemiological evidence, the results of few clinical trials do not confirm that a whole grain low-calorie diet is more effective in reducing body weight than a refined cereal diet, but their results may have been affected by small sample size or short duration of the intervention. Therefore, further intervention studies with adequate methodology are needed to clarify this question. For the time being, whole grain consumption can be recommended as one of the features of the diet that may help control body weight but also because is associated with a lower risk to develop type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1307", "text": "Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the United States. While the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases guidelines define NAFLD as hepatic steatosis detected either on histology or imaging without a secondary cause of abnormal hepatic fat accumulation, no imaging modality is recommended as standard of care for screening or diagnosis. Bedside ultrasound has been evaluated as a non-invasive method of diagnosing NAFLD with the presence of characteristic sonographic findings. Prior studies suggest characteristic sonographic findings for NAFLD include bright hepatic echoes, increased hepatorenal echogenicity, vascular blurring of portal or hepatic vein and subcutaneous tissue thickness. These sonographic characteristics have not been shown to aid bedside clinicians easily identify potential cases of NAFLD. While sonographic findings such as attenuation of image, diffuse echogenicity, uniform heterogeneous liver, thick subcutaneous depth, and enlarged liver filling of the entire field could be identified by clinicians from bedside ultrasound. The accessibility, ease of use, and low-side effect profile of ultrasound make bedside ultrasound an appealing imaging modality in the detection of hepatic steatosis. When used with appropriate clinical risk factors and steatosis involves greater than 33% of the liver, ultrasound can reliably diagnose NAFLD. Despite the ability of ultrasound in detecting moderate hepatic steatosis, it cannot replace liver biopsy in staging the degree of fibrosis. The purpose of this review is to examine the diagnostic accuracy, utility, and limitations of ultrasound in the diagnosis of NAFLD and its potential use by clinicians in routine practices."}
{"id": "MED-1309", "text": "Obesity is associated with a great diversity of diseases including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Our recent report suggested that oat, rich in beta-glucan, had a metabolic-regulating and liver-protecting effect in an animal model. In this study, we performed a clinical trial to further confirm the effect of oat. Subjects with BMI \u226527 and aged 18-65, were randomly divided into a control (n=18) and an oat-treated (n=16) group, taking a placebo or beta glucan-containing oat cereal, respectively, for 12 weeks. Our data showed that consumption of oat reduced body weight, BMI, body fat and the waist-to-hip ratio. Profiles of hepatic function, including AST, but especially ALT, were useful resources to help in the evaluation of the liver, since both showed decrements in patients with oat consumption. Nevertheless, anatomic changes were still not observed by ultrasonic image analysis. Ingestion of oat was well tolerated and there was no adverse effect during the trial. In conclusion, consumption of oat reduced obesity, abdominal fat, and improved lipid profiles and liver functions. Taken as a daily supplement, oat could act as an adjuvant therapy for metabolic disorders."}
{"id": "MED-1312", "text": "The aim of this study was to evaluate the antiinflammatory effect of oatmeal extract oligomer on skin fragments stimulated by a neuromediator, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). Skin fragments (from plastic surgery) were maintained in survival conditions for 6 h. To induce inflammation, VIP was placed in contact with dermis by culture medium. Histological analysis was then performed on hematoxylin- and eosin-stained slides. Edema was evaluated with semiquantitative scores. Vasodilation was studied by quantifying the percentage of dilated vessels according to scores and by measuring their surface by morphometrical image analysis. TNF-alpha dosage was made on culture supernatants. Vasodilation was significantly increased after application of VIP. After treatment with oatmeal extract oligomer, the mean surface of dilated vessels and edema were significantly decreased compared with VIP-treated skin. Moreover, treatment with this extract decreased TNF-alpha."}
{"id": "MED-1314", "text": "The use of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors for the treatment of solid tumours is increasing. However, the tolerability profile for EGFR-inhibitors, such as the monoclonal antibody cetuximab and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib, is characterised by a unique group of skin reactions dominated by an acneiform eruption, xerosis, eczema and changes in the hair and nails. The possibility that this skin toxicity correlates with anti-tumour activity offers the potential to titrate dosing on a case-by-case basis. These skin effects may constitute a significant obstacle to treatment compliance. Accordingly, there is a need for consistent, multi-disciplinary management strategies that will allow patients to receive the recommended dosages of such targeted therapies. The eruption responds well to some acne therapies and xerosis can be controlled by standard emollients. Here we present an overview of the treatment options for skin reactions that are available today, and evaluate some of the ways in which the treatment of such EGFR-inhibitor-related skin reactions may be improved in the future. Evidence-based studies are needed to determine the best way to manage these effects."}
{"id": "MED-1315", "text": "PURPOSE: The EGFR-independent activation of the RAS/RAF/MEK/MAPK pathway is one of the resistance mechanisms to cetuximab. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We have evaluated, in vitro and in vivo, the effects of BAY 86-9766, a selective MEK1/2 inhibitor, in a panel of human colorectal cancer cell lines with primary or acquired resistance to cetuximab. RESULTS: Among the colorectal cancer cell lines, five with a KRAS mutation (LOVO, HCT116, HCT15, SW620, and SW480) and one with a BRAF mutation (HT29) were resistant to the antiproliferative effects of cetuximab, whereas two cells (GEO and SW48) were highly sensitive. Treatment with BAY 86-9766 determined dose-dependent growth inhibition in all cancer cells, including two human colorectal cancer cells with acquired resistance to cetuximab (GEO-CR and SW48-CR), with the exception of HCT15 cells. Combined treatment with cetuximab and BAY 86-9766 induced a synergistic antiproliferative and apoptotic effects with blockade in the MAPK and AKT pathway in cells with either primary or acquired resistance to cetuximab. The synergistic antiproliferative effects were confirmed using other two selective MEK1/2 inhibitors, selumetinib and pimasertib, in combination with cetuximab. Moreover, inhibition of MEK expression by siRNA restored cetuximab sensitivity in resistant cells. In nude mice bearing established human HCT15, HCT116, SW48-CR, and GEO-CR xenografts, the combined treatment with cetuximab and BAY 86-9766 caused significant tumor growth inhibition and increased mice survival. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that activation of MEK is involved in both primary and acquired resistance to cetuximab and the inhibition of EGFR and MEK could be a strategy for overcoming anti-EGFR resistance in patients with colorectal cancer. \u00a92014 American Association for Cancer Research."}
{"id": "MED-1316", "text": "Oatmeal has been used for centuries as a soothing agent to relieve itch and irritation associated with various xerotic dermatoses. In 1945, a ready to use colloidal oatmeal, produced by finely grinding the oat and boiling it to extract the colloidal material, became available. Today, colloidal oatmeal is available in various dosage forms from powders for the bath to shampoos, shaving gels, and moisturizing creams. Currently, the use of colloidal oatmeal as a skin protectant is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) according to the Over-The-Counter Final Monograph for Skin Protectant Drug Products issued in June 2003. Its preparation is also standardized by the United States Pharmacopeia. The many clinical properties of colloidal oatmeal derive from its chemical polymorphism. The high concentration in starches and beta-glucan is responsible for the protective and water-holding functions of oat. The presence of different types of phenols confers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Some of the oat phenols are also strong ultraviolet absorbers. The cleansing activity of oat is mostly due to saponins. Its many functional properties make colloidal oatmeal a cleanser, moisturizer, buffer, as well as a soothing and protective anti-inflammatory agent."}
{"id": "MED-1317", "text": "A high intake of whole grain foods is associated with reduced risk of colon cancer, but the mechanism underlying this protection has yet to be elucidated. Chronic inflammation and associated cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in the colon epithelium are causally related to epithelial carcinogenesis, proliferation, and tumor growth. We examined the effect of avenanthramides (Avns), unique polyphenols from oats with anti-inflammatory properties, on COX-2 expression in macrophages, colon cancer cell lines, and on proliferation of human colon cancer cell lines. We found that Avns-enriched extract of oats (AvExO) had no effect on COX-2 expression, but it did inhibit COX enzyme activity and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mouse peritoneal macrophages. Avns (AvExO, Avn-C, and the methylated form of Avn-C (CH3-Avn-C)) significantly inhibited cell proliferation of both COX-2-positive HT29, Caco-2, and LS174T, and COX-2-negative HCT116 human colon cancer cell lines, CH3-Avn-C being the most potent. However, Avns had no effect on COX-2 expression and PGE(2) production in Caco-2 and HT29 colon cancer cells. These results indicate that the inhibitory effect of Avns on colon cancer cell proliferation may be independent of COX-2 expression and PGE(2) production. Thus, Avns might reduce colon cancer risk through inhibition of macrophage PGE(2) production and non-COX-related antiproliferative effects in colon cancer cells. Interestingly, Avns had no effect on cell viability of confluence-induced differentiated Caco-2 cells, which display the characteristics of normal colonic epithelial cells. Our results suggest that the consumption of oats and oat bran may reduce the risk of colon cancer not only because of their high fiber content but also due to Avns, which attenuate proliferation of colonic cancer cells."}
{"id": "MED-1318", "text": "BACKGROUND: Rice consumption has been associated with risk of type 2 diabetes, but its relation with cardiovascular disease (CVD) is limited. OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between rice consumption and risk of CVD incidence and mortality in a Japanese population. DESIGN: This was a prospective study in 91,223 Japanese men and women aged 40-69 y in whom rice consumption was determined and updated from 3 self-administered food-frequency questionnaires, each 5 y apart. Follow-up for incidence was from 1990 to 2009 in cohort I and 1993 to 2007 in cohort II and for mortality was from 1990 to 2009 in cohort I and 1993 to 2009 in cohort II. HRs and 95% CIs of CVD incidence and mortality were calculated according to quintiles of cumulative average rice consumption. RESULTS: In 15-18 y of follow-up, we ascertained 4395 incident cases of stroke, 1088 incident cases of ischemic heart disease (IHD), and 2705 deaths from CVD. Rice consumption was not associated with risk of incident stroke or IHD; the multivariable HR (95% CI) in the highest compared with lowest rice consumption quintiles was 1.01 (0.90, 1.14) for total stroke and 1.08 (0.84, 1.38) for IHD. Similarly, there was no association between rice consumption and risk of mortality from CVD; the HR (95% CI) for mortality from total CVD was 0.97 (0.84, 1.13). There were no interactions with sex or effect modifications by body mass index for any endpoint. CONCLUSION: Rice consumption is not associated with risk of CVD morbidity or mortality. \u00a9 2014 American Society for Nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-1319", "text": "A comprehensive ecologic survey of dietary, life-style, and mortality characteristics of 65 counties in rural China showed that diets are substantially richer in foods of plant origin when compared with diets consumed in the more industrialized, Western societies. Mean intakes of animal protein (about one-tenth of the mean intake in the United States as energy percent), total fat (14.5% of energy), and dietary fiber (33.3 g/d) reflected a substantial preference for foods of plant origin. Mean plasma cholesterol concentration, at approximately 3.23-3.49 mmol/L, corresponds to this dietary life-style. The principal hypothesis under investigation in this paper is that chronic degenerative diseases are prevented by an aggregate effect of nutrients and nutrient-intake amounts that are commonly supplied by foods of plant origin. The breadth and consistency of evidence for this hypothesis was investigated with multiple intake-biomarker-disease associations, which were appropriately adjusted. There appears to be no threshold of plant-food enrichment or minimization of fat intake beyond which further disease prevention does not occur. These findings suggest that even small intakes of foods of animal origin are associated with significant increases in plasma cholesterol concentrations, which are associated, in turn, with significant increases in chronic degenerative disease mortality rates."}
{"id": "MED-1320", "text": "Context Because of a different degree of processing and nutrient contents, brown rice and white rice may have different effects on risk of type 2 diabetes. Objective To prospectively examine white rice and brown rice consumptions in relation to type 2 diabetes risk in US men and women aged 26\u201387 yr. Design and Setting The Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986\u20132006) and the Nurses\u2019 Health Study I (1984\u20132006) and II (1991\u20132005). Participants We prospectively ascertained diet, lifestyle practices, and disease status among 39,765 men and 157,463 women in these cohorts. All participants were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer at baseline. Intake of white rice, brown rice, other foods, and nutrients was assessed at baseline and updated every 2\u20134 years. Results During 3,318,196 person-years of follow-up, we documented 10,507 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. After multivariate adjustment for age and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, higher intake of white rice was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The pooled relative risk (95% confidence interval) of type 2 diabetes comparing \u22655 servings/week with <1 serving/month of white rice was 1.17 (1.02, 1.36). In contrast, high brown rice intake was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes: The pooled multivariate relative risk (95% confidence interval) was 0.89 (0.81, 0.97) for \u2265 2 servings/week of brown rice as compared with <1 serving/month. We estimated that replacing 50 grams/day (cooked, equivalent to \u2153 serving/day) intake of white rice with the same amount of brown rice was associated with a 16% (95% confidence interval: 9%, 21%) lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas the same replacement with whole grains as a group was associated with a 36% (95% confidence interval: 30%, 42%) lower diabetes risk. Conclusions Substitution of whole grains, including brown rice, for white rice may lower risk of type 2 diabetes. These data support the recommendation that most carbohydrate intake should come from whole grains rather than refined grains to facilitate the prevention of type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1321", "text": "Phospholipids (PLs) are a major class of lipid in rice grain. Although PLs are only a minor nutrient compared to starch and protein, they may have both nutritional and functional significance. We have systemically reviewed the literature on the class, distribution and variation of PLs in rice, their relation to rice end-use quality and human health, as well as available methods for analytical profiling. Phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and their lyso forms are the major PLs in rice. The deterioration of PC in rice bran during storage was considered as a trigger for the degradation of rice lipids with associated rancid flavour in paddy and brown rice. The lyso forms in rice endosperm represent the major starch lipid, and may form inclusion complexes with amylose, affecting the physicochemical properties and digestibility of starch, and hence its cooking and eating quality. Dietary PLs have a positive impact on several human diseases and reduce the side-effects of some drugs. As rice has long been consumed as a staple food in many Asian countries, rice PLs may have significant health benefits for those populations. Rice PLs may be influenced both by genetic (G) and environmental (E) factors, and resolving G\u00d7E interactions may allow future exploitation of PL composition and content, thus boosting rice eating quality and health benefits for consumers. We have identified and summarised the different methods used for rice PL analysis, and discussed the consequences of variation in reported PL values due to inconsistencies between methods. This review enhances the understanding of the nature and importance of PLs in rice and outlines potential approaches for manipulating PLs to improve the quality of rice grain and other cereals. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1322", "text": "Several studies have suggested a protective effect of intake of whole grains, but not refined grains on type 2 diabetes risk, but the dose-response relationship between different types of grains and type 2 diabetes has not been established. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of grain intake and type 2 diabetes. We searched the PubMed database for studies of grain intake and risk of type 2 diabetes, up to June 5th, 2013. Summary relative risks were calculated using a random effects model. Sixteen cohort studies were included in the analyses. The summary relative risk per 3 servings per day was 0.68 (95% CI 0.58-0.81, I(2) = 82%, n = 10) for whole grains and 0.95 (95% CI 0.88-1.04, I(2) = 53%, n = 6) for refined grains. A nonlinear association was observed for whole grains, p nonlinearity < 0.0001, but not for refined grains, p nonlinearity = 0.10. Inverse associations were observed for subtypes of whole grains including whole grain bread, whole grain cereals, wheat bran and brown rice, but these results were based on few studies, while white rice was associated with increased risk. Our meta-analysis suggests that a high whole grain intake, but not refined grains, is associated with reduced type 2 diabetes risk. However, a positive association with intake of white rice and inverse associations between several specific types of whole grains and type 2 diabetes warrant further investigations. Our results support public health recommendations to replace refined grains with whole grains and suggest that at least two servings of whole grains per day should be consumed to reduce type 2 diabetes risk."}
{"id": "MED-1323", "text": "Background: Fat and protein sources may influence whether low-carbohydrate diets are associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Objective: The objective was to compare the associations of 3 low-carbohydrate diet scores with incident T2D. Design: A prospective cohort study was conducted in participants from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who were free of T2D, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at baseline (n = 40,475) for up to 20 y. Cumulative averages of 3 low-carbohydrate diet scores (high total protein and fat, high animal protein and fat, and high vegetable protein and fat) were calculated every 4 y from food-frequency questionnaires and were associated with incident T2D by using Cox models. Results: We documented 2689 cases of T2D during follow-up. After adjustments for age, smoking, physical activity, coffee intake, alcohol intake, family history of T2D, total energy intake, and body mass index, the score for high animal protein and fat was associated with an increased risk of T2D [top compared with bottom quintile; hazard ratio (HR): 1.37; 95% CI: 1.20, 1.58; P for trend < 0.01]. Adjustment for red and processed meat attenuated this association (HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.30; P for trend = 0.20). A high score for vegetable protein and fat was not significantly associated with the risk of T2D overall but was inversely associated with T2D in men aged <65 y (HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.92; P for trend = 0.01, P for interaction = 0.01). Conclusions: A score representing a low-carbohydrate diet high in animal protein and fat was positively associated with the risk of T2D in men. Low-carbohydrate diets should obtain protein and fat from foods other than red and processed meat."}
{"id": "MED-1324", "text": "Six noninsulin-dependent diabetic subjects received meals containing 25 g carbohydrate either as potato or as spaghetti. The meals were repeated with the addition of 25 g protein and with 25 g protein and 25 g fat. Blood glucose and insulin responses were measured for 4 h after the test meal. When carbohydrate was given alone, the blood glucose and serum insulin increments were higher for the potato meal. The addition of protein increased the insulin responses to both carbohydrates and slightly reduced the glycemic response to mashed potato (F = 2.04, p less than 0.05). The further addition of fat reduced the glycemic response to mashed potato (F = 14.63, p less than 0.001) without any change in the blood glucose response to spaghetti (F = 0.94, NS). The different responses to coingestion of protein and fat reduced the difference between the glycemic responses to the two carbohydrates."}
{"id": "MED-1326", "text": "BACKGROUND: Because of the rapid change in lifestyle in China, there is concern that diabetes may become epidemic. We conducted a national study from June 2007 through May 2008 to estimate the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese adults. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 46,239 adults, 20 years of age or older, from 14 provinces and municipalities participated in the study. After an overnight fast, participants underwent an oral glucose-tolerance test, and fasting and 2-hour glucose levels were measured to identify undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes (i.e., impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance). Previously diagnosed diabetes was determined on the basis of self-report. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalences of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) and prediabetes were 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women) and 15.5% (16.1% among men and 14.9% among women), respectively, accounting for 92.4 million adults with diabetes (50.2 million men and 42.2 million women) and 148.2 million adults with prediabetes (76.1 million men and 72.1 million women). The prevalence of diabetes increased with increasing age (3.2%, 11.5%, and 20.4% among persons who were 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and > or = 60 years of age, respectively) and with increasing weight (4.5%, 7.6%, 12.8%, and 18.5% among persons with a body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters] of < 18.5, 18.5 to 24.9, 25.0 to 29.9, and > or = 30.0, respectively). The prevalence of diabetes was higher among urban residents than among rural residents (11.4% vs. 8.2%). The prevalence of isolated impaired glucose tolerance was higher than that of isolated impaired fasting glucose (11.0% vs. 3.2% among men and 10.9% vs. 2.2% among women). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that diabetes has become a major public health problem in China and that strategies aimed at the prevention and treatment of diabetes are needed. 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society"}
{"id": "MED-1327", "text": "Whole-grain and high fiber intakes are routinely recommended for prevention of vascular diseases; however, there are no comprehensive and quantitative assessments of available data in humans. The aim of this study was to systematically examine longitudinal studies investigating whole-grain and fiber intake in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), weight gain, and metabolic risk factors. We identified 45 prospective cohort studies and 21 randomized-controlled trials (RCT) between 1966 and February 2012 by searching the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane, Elsevier Medical Database, and PubMed. Study characteristics, whole-grain and dietary fiber intakes, and risk estimates were extracted using a standardized protocol. Using random effects models, we found that compared with never/rare consumers of whole grains, those consuming 48-80 g whole grain/d (3-5 serving/d) had an ~26% lower risk of T2D [RR = 0.74 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.80)], ~21% lower risk of CVD [RR = 0.79 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.85)], and consistently less weight gain during 8-13 y (1.27 vs 1.64 kg; P = 0.001). Among RCT, weighted mean differences in post-intervention circulating concentrations of fasting glucose and total and LDL-cholesterol comparing whole-grain intervention groups with controls indicated significantly lower concentrations after whole-grain interventions [differences in fasting glucose: -0.93 mmol/L (95% CI: -1.65, -0.21), total cholesterol: -0.83 mmol/L (-1.23, -0.42); and LDL-cholesterol: -0.82 mmol/L (-1.31, -0.33)]. [corrected] Findings from this meta-analysis provide evidence to support beneficial effects of whole-grain intake on vascular disease prevention. Potential mechanisms responsible for whole grains' effects on metabolic intermediates require further investigation in large intervention trials."}
{"id": "MED-1328", "text": "BACKGROUND: In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3\u00b74 million deaths, 3\u00b79% of years of life lost, and 3\u00b78% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) worldwide. The rise in obesity has led to widespread calls for regular monitoring of changes in overweight and obesity prevalence in all populations. Comparable, up-to-date information about levels and trends is essential to quantify population health effects and to prompt decision makers to prioritise action. We estimate the global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013. METHODS: We systematically identified surveys, reports, and published studies (n=1769) that included data for height and weight, both through physical measurements and self-reports. We used mixed effects linear regression to correct for bias in self-reports. We obtained data for prevalence of obesity and overweight by age, sex, country, and year (n=19,244) with a spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression model to estimate prevalence with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). FINDINGS: Worldwide, the proportion of adults with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m(2) or greater increased between 1980 and 2013 from 28\u00b78% (95% UI 28\u00b74-29\u00b73) to 36\u00b79% (36\u00b73-37\u00b74) in men, and from 29\u00b78% (29\u00b73-30\u00b72) to 38\u00b70% (37\u00b75-38\u00b75) in women. Prevalence has increased substantially in children and adolescents in developed countries; 23\u00b78% (22\u00b79-24\u00b77) of boys and 22\u00b76% (21\u00b77-23\u00b76) of girls were overweight or obese in 2013. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has also increased in children and adolescents in developing countries, from 8\u00b71% (7\u00b77-8\u00b76) to 12\u00b79% (12\u00b73-13\u00b75) in 2013 for boys and from 8\u00b74% (8\u00b71-8\u00b78) to 13\u00b74% (13\u00b70-13\u00b79) in girls. In adults, estimated prevalence of obesity exceeded 50% in men in Tonga and in women in Kuwait, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Libya, Qatar, Tonga, and Samoa. Since 2006, the increase in adult obesity in developed countries has slowed down. INTERPRETATION: Because of the established health risks and substantial increases in prevalence, obesity has become a major global health challenge. Not only is obesity increasing, but no national success stories have been reported in the past 33 years. Urgent global action and leadership is needed to help countries to more effectively intervene. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1329", "text": "White rice-based foods, which are high in refined carbohydrates, are widely consumed in China. A case-control study was conducted to investigate the association between white rice-based food consumption and the risk of ischemic stroke in the southern Chinese population. Information on diet and lifestyle was obtained from 374 incident ischemic stroke patients and 464 hospital-based controls. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the effects of rice-based foods on stroke risk. The mean weekly intake of rice foods appeared to be significantly higher in cases than in controls. Increased consumptions of cooked rice, congee, and rice noodle were associated with a higher risk for ischemic stroke after controlling for confounding factors. The corresponding adjusted odds ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) for the highest versus lowest intake level were 2.73 (1.31-5.69), 2.93 (1.68-5.13), and 2.03 (1.40-2.94), with significant dose-response relationships observed. The results provide evidence of a positive association between habitual rice food consumption and the risk of ischemic stroke in Chinese adults. Copyright \u00a9 2010 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1330", "text": "AIMS: To systematically review trends in diabetes mellitus (DM) prevalence in adults in China over the last 10 years and to identify the determinants of these trends. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted for studies published between 2000 and 2010. Studies reporting DM prevalence were included if they met the pre-determined criteria. The prevalence estimates and reported determinants of these studies were compared. RESULTS: Twenty-five manuscripts, reporting on 22 studies, were selected for inclusion in the review. There has been an increase in DM prevalence from 2.6% to 9.7% in China over the past decade. DM prevalence is strongly associated with age and is higher in urban residents compared with rural populations. Some studies found a difference in DM prevalence between males and females, but this finding was not consistent. Other commonly reported associations with DM included family history, obesity and hypertension. CONCLUSION: Over the period of 2000-2010, we identify a significant increase in DM prevalence at the national level. It is important for all levels of government to develop more effective strategies to prevent and manage this rising diabetes epidemic. There is also an important need for more large-scale studies of diabetes in the western and central regions of China. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1331", "text": "Many changes in diet and in physical activity are occurring simultaneously in the developing world. These diet shifts include large increases in energy density, in the proportion of the population consuming a high fat diet and in animal product intake. Animal source foods (ASF) play a major role in these diet shifts. This article documents the large shifts in the composition of diets and obesity across the developing world and notes that these changes are accelerating. Using China as a case study, evidence of the speeding up of this process is presented in descriptive and more rigorous dynamic longitudinal analysis. The implications of these changes for dietary and obesity patterns and cardiovascular disease are great. Indeed, developing countries are at a point where the prevalence of obesity is greater than that of undernutrition and concerns related to intake of saturated fat and energy imbalance must be considered more seriously by the agriculture sector. Current agriculture development policy in many developing countries focuses on livestock promotion and does not consider the potential adverse health consequences of this strategy. Although linkages between ASF intake and obesity cannot be established as clearly as they are for high ASF intakes, heart disease and cancer, the potential adverse health effects linked with an increased ASF intake should no longer be ignored."}
{"id": "MED-1332", "text": "Background The definition of incident type 2 diabetes varies across studies; hence, the actual incidence of type 2 diabetes in Japan is unclear. Here, we reviewed the various definitions of incident type 2 diabetes used in previous epidemiologic studies and estimated the diabetes incidence rate in Japan. Methods We searched for related literature in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Ichushi databases through September 2012. Two reviewers selected studies that evaluated incident type 2 diabetes in the Japanese population. Results From 1824 relevant articles, we included 33 studies with 386,803 participants. The follow-up period ranged from 2.3 to 14 years and the studies were initiated between 1980 and 2003. The random-effects model indicated that the pooled incidence rate of diabetes was 8.8 (95% confidence interval, 7.4\u201310.4) per 1000 person-years. We observed a high degree of heterogeneity in the results (I2 = 99.2%; p < 0.001), with incidence rates ranging from 2.3 to 52.6 per 1000 person-years. Three studies based their definition of incident type 2 diabetes on self-reports only, 10 on laboratory data only, and 20 on self-reports and laboratory data. Compared with studies defining diabetes using laboratory data (n = 30; pooled incidence rate = 9.6; 95% confidence interval = 8.3\u201311.1), studies based on self-reports alone tended to show a lower incidence rate (n = 3; pooled incidence rate = 4.0; 95% confidence interval = 3.2\u20135.0; p for interaction < 0.001). However, stratified analyses could not entirely explain the heterogeneity in the results. Conclusions Our systematic review and meta-analysis indicated the presence of a high degree of heterogeneity, which suggests that there is a considerable amount of uncertainty regarding the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Japan. They also suggested that laboratory data may be important for the accurate estimation of the incidence of type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1333", "text": "New epidemiology confirms that glucose intolerance is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, and that this association cannot be accounted for by an adverse impact of early pancreatic cancer on beta cell function. Previous reports indicate that risk for pancreatic cancer is increased in adult-onset diabetics. Since streptozotocin diabetes inhibits carcinogen-mediated induction of pancreatic cancer in hamsters, the most reasonable interpretation of these findings is that insulin (or some other beta cell product) acts as a promoter for pancreatic carcinogenesis. This view is consistent with a report that human pancreatic adenocarcinomas express insulin receptors that can stimulate mitosis; an additional possibility is that high insulin levels indirectly promote pancreatic carcinogenesis by boosting effective IGF-I activity via hepatic actions. In international ecologic epidemiology, pancreatic cancer rates correlate tightly with dietary intake of animal products; this may reflect the fact that vegan diets are associated with low diurnal insulin secretion. There is also suggestive evidence that macrobiotic vegan diets, which are low in glycemic index, may increase mean survival time in pancreatic cancer. However, other types of diets associated with decreased postprandial insulin response, such as high-protein diets or 'Mediterranean' diets high in oleic acid, may also have the potential for pancreatic cancer prevention. The huge increases of age-adjusted pancreatic cancer mortality in Japan and among African-Americans during the last century imply that pancreatic cancer is substantially preventable; a low-insulin-response diet coupled with exercise training, weight control, and smoking avoidance, commendable for a great many other reasons, may slash pancreatic cancer mortality dramatically. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1334", "text": "By 2002, China\u2019s prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults was 18.9 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. The Chinese traditional diet has been replaced by the \u201cWestern diet\u201d and major declines in all phases of activity and increased sedentary activity as the main reasons explaining the rapid increase in overweight and obesity, bring major economic and health costs. The Nutrition Improvement Work Management Approach was released in 2010. Overweight and obesity prevention-related policies were added to national planning for disease prevention and control. The Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Overweight and Obesity of Chinese Adults and the School-age Children and Teenagers Overweight and Obesity Prevention and Control Guidelines in China were promulgated in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Few education programs have been implemented. Selected academic intervention research projects dominate with a focus on reducing child obesity and promoting healthier diets; increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary time; and facilitating changes in family, school, social, and cultural environments. Intervention samples are small and have not addressed the increasing rates of obesity throughout the entire population. Government provision of effective policy measures, multisectoral cooperation and increasing corporate social responsibility are keys to curb the trend toward overweight and obesity in China."}
{"id": "MED-1335", "text": "AIMS: Diabetes rates are especially high in China. Risk of Type\u00a02 diabetes increases with high intakes of white rice, a staple food of Chinese people. Ethnic differences in postprandial glycaemia have been reported. We compared glycaemic responses to glucose and five rice varieties in people of European and Chinese ethnicity and examined possible determinants of ethnic differences in postprandial glycaemia. METHODS: Self-identified Chinese (n\u00a0=\u00a032) and European (n\u00a0=\u00a031) healthy volunteers attended on eight occasions for studies following ingestion of glucose and jasmine, basmati, brown, Doongara(\u00ae) and parboiled rice. In addition to measuring glycaemic response, we investigated physical activity levels, extent of chewing of rice and salivary \u03b1-amylase activity to determine whether these measures explained any differences in postprandial glycaemia. RESULTS: Glycaemic response, measured by incremental area under the glucose curve, was over 60% greater for the five rice varieties (P\u00a0<\u00a00.001) and 39% greater for glucose (P\u00a0<\u00a00.004) amongst Chinese compared with Europeans. The calculated glycaemic index was approximately 20% greater for rice varieties other than basmati (P\u00a0=\u00a00.01 to 0.05). Ethnicity [adjusted risk ratio 1.4 (1.2-1.8) P\u00a0<\u00a00.001] and rice variety were the only important determinants of incremental area under the glucose curve. CONCLUSIONS: Glycaemic responses following ingestion of glucose and several rice varieties are appreciably greater in Chinese compared with Europeans, suggesting the need to review recommendations regarding dietary carbohydrate amongst rice-eating populations at high risk of diabetes. \u00a9 2012 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine \u00a9 2012 Diabetes UK."}
{"id": "MED-1337", "text": "Milk contains calcium, phosphorus, and protein and is fortified with vitamin D in the United States. All these ingredients may improve bone health. However, the potential benefit of milk on hip fracture prevention is not well established. The objective of this study was to assess the association of milk intake with risk of hip fracture based on a meta-analysis of cohort studies in middle-aged or older men and women. Data sources for this study were English and non-English publications via Medline (Ovid, PubMed) and EMBASE search up to June 2010, experts in the field, and reference lists. The idea was to compare prospective cohort studies on the same scale so that we could calculate the relative risk (RR) of hip fracture per glass of milk intake daily (approximately 300\u2009mg calcium per glass of milk). Pooled analyses were based on random effects models. The data were extracted by two independent observers. The results show that in women (6 studies, 195,102 women, 3574 hip fractures), there was no overall association between total milk intake and hip fracture risk (pooled RR per glass of milk per day\u2009=\u20090.99; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96-1.02; Q-test p\u2009=\u2009.37). In men (3 studies, 75,149 men, 195 hip fractures), the pooled RR per daily glass of milk was 0.91 (95% CI 0.81-1.01). Our conclusion is that in our meta-analysis of cohort studies, there was no overall association between milk intake and hip fracture risk in women but that more data are needed in men. Copyright \u00a9 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research."}
{"id": "MED-1338", "text": "Objective To examine whether high milk consumption is associated with mortality and fractures in women and men. Design Cohort studies. Setting Three counties in central Sweden. Participants Two large Swedish cohorts, one with 61\u2009433 women (39-74 years at baseline 1987-90) and one with 45\u2009339 men (45-79 years at baseline 1997), were administered food frequency questionnaires. The women responded to a second food frequency questionnaire in 1997. Main outcome measure Multivariable survival models were applied to determine the association between milk consumption and time to mortality or fracture. Results During a mean follow-up of 20.1 years, 15\u2009541 women died and 17\u2009252 had a fracture, of whom 4259 had a hip fracture. In the male cohort with a mean follow-up of 11.2 years, 10\u2009112 men died and 5066 had a fracture, with 1166 hip fracture cases. In women the adjusted mortality hazard ratio for three or more glasses of milk a day compared with less than one glass a day was 1.93 (95% confidence interval 1.80 to 2.06). For every glass of milk, the adjusted hazard ratio of all cause mortality was 1.15 (1.13 to 1.17) in women and 1.03 (1.01 to 1.04) in men. For every glass of milk in women no reduction was observed in fracture risk with higher milk consumption for any fracture (1.02, 1.00 to 1.04) or for hip fracture (1.09, 1.05 to 1.13). The corresponding adjusted hazard ratios in men were 1.01 (0.99 to 1.03) and 1.03 (0.99 to 1.07). In subsamples of two additional cohorts, one in males and one in females, a positive association was seen between milk intake and both urine 8-iso-PGF2\u03b1 (a biomarker of oxidative stress) and serum interleukin 6 (a main inflammatory biomarker). Conclusions High milk intake was associated with higher mortality in one cohort of women and in another cohort of men, and with higher fracture incidence in women. Given the observational study designs with the inherent possibility of residual confounding and reverse causation phenomena, a cautious interpretation of the results is recommended."}
{"id": "MED-1339", "text": "BACKGROUND: Short-term studies established that calcium influences bone accretion during growth. Whether long-term supplementation influences bone accretion in young adults is not known. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the long-term effects of calcium supplementation on bone accretion among females from childhood to young adulthood. DESIGN: A 4-y randomized clinical trial recruited 354 females in pubertal stage 2 and optionally was extended for an additional 3 y. The mean dietary calcium intake of the participants over 7 y was approximately 830 mg/d; calcium-supplemented persons received an additional approximately 670 mg/d. Primary outcome variables were distal and proximal radius bone mineral density (BMD), total-body BMD (TBBMD), and metacarpal cortical indexes. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses of the primary outcomes indicated that calcium-supplementation effects vary over time. Follow-up univariate analyses indicated that all primary outcomes were significantly larger in the supplemented group than in the placebo group at the year 4 endpoint. However, at the year 7 endpoint, this effect vanished for TBBMD and distal radius BMD. Longitudinal models for TBBMD and proximal radius BMD, according to the time since menarche, showed a highly significant effect of supplementation during the pubertal growth spurt and a diminishing effect thereafter. Post hoc stratifications by compliance-adjusted total calcium intake and by final stature or metacarpal total cross-sectional area showed that calcium effects depend on compliance and body frame. CONCLUSIONS: Calcium supplementation significantly influenced bone accretion in young females during the pubertal growth spurt. By young adulthood, significant effects remained at metacarpals and at the forearm of tall persons, which indicated that the calcium requirement for growth is associated with skeletal size. These results may be important for both primary prevention of osteoporosis and prevention of bone fragility fractures during growth."}
{"id": "MED-1340", "text": "Importance Milk consumption during adolescence is recommended to promote peak bone mass and thereby reduce fracture risk in later life. However, its role in hip fracture prevention is not established and high consumption may adversely influence risk by increasing height. Objective To determine whether milk consumption during teenage years influences risk of hip fracture in older adults and to investigate the role of attained height in this association. Design Prospective cohort study over 22 years of follow-up Setting United States Participants Over 96,000 Caucasian postmenopausal women from the Nurses\u2019 Health Study and men age 50 and older from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study Exposures Frequency of consumption of milk and other foods during ages 13\u201318 and attained height were reported at baseline. Current diet, weight, smoking, physical activity, medication use, and other risk factors for hip fractures were reported on biennial questionnaires. Main Outcome Measures Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate relative risks (RR) of first incident hip fracture from low-trauma events per glass (8 fl oz or 240 mL) of milk consumed per day during teenage years. Results Over follow-up, 1226 hip fractures were identified in women and 490 in men. After controlling for known risk factors and current milk consumption, each additional glass of milk per day during teenage years was associated with a significant 9% higher risk of hip fracture in men (RR=1.09, 95% CI 1.01\u20131.17). The association was attenuated when height was added to the model (RR=1.06, 95% CI 0.98\u20131.14). Teenage milk consumption was not associated with hip fractures in women (RR=1.00, 95% CI 0.95\u20131.05 per glass per day). Conclusion and Relevance Greater milk consumption during teenage years was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture in older adults. The positive association observed in men was partially mediated through attained height."}
{"id": "MED-1341", "text": "SUMMARY: This study evaluated bone health in adults with galactosemia. Associations between bone mineral density (BMD) and nutritional and biochemical variables were explored. Calcium level predicted hip and spine BMD, and gonadotropin levels were inversely associated with spinal BMD in women. These results afford insights into management strategies for these patients. INTRODUCTION: Bone loss is a complication of galactosemia. Dietary restriction, primary ovarian insufficiency in women, and disease-related alterations of bone metabolism may contribute. This study examined relationships between clinical factors and BMD in patients with galactosemia. METHODS: This cross-sectional sample included 33 adults (16 women) with classic galactosemia, mean age 32.0\u2009\u00b1\u200911.8 years. BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and was correlated with age, height, weight, fractures, nutritional factors, hormonal status, and bone biomarkers. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in hip BMD between women and men (0.799 vs. 0.896 g/cm(2), p\u2009=\u20090.014). The percentage of subjects with BMD-Z <-2.0 was also greater for women than men [33 vs. 18 % (spine), 27 vs. 6 % (hip)], and more women reported sustaining fractures. Bivariate analyses yielded correlations between BMI and BMD-Z [at the hip in women (r\u2009=\u20090.58, p\u2009<\u20090.05) and spine in men (r\u2009=\u20090.53, p\u2009<\u20090.05)]. In women, weight was also correlated with BMD-Z (r\u2009=\u20090.57, p\u2009<\u20090.05 at hip), and C-telopeptides (r\u2009=\u2009-0.59 at spine and -0.63 hip, p\u2009<\u20090.05) and osteocalcin (r\u2009=\u2009-0.71 at spine and -0.72 hip, p\u2009<\u20090.05) were inversely correlated with BMD-Z. In final regression models, higher gonadotropin levels were associated with lower spinal BMD in women (p\u2009=\u20090.017); serum calcium was a significant predictor of hip (p\u2009=\u20090.014) and spine (p\u2009=\u20090.013) BMD in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Bone density in adults with galactosemia is low, indicating the potential for increased fracture risk, the etiology of which appears to be multifactorial."}
{"id": "MED-1344", "text": "Is it ever right to prescribe placebos to patients in clinical practice? The General Medical Council is ambivalent about the issue; the American Medical Association asserts that placebos can be administered only if the patient is (somehow) 'informed'. The potential problem with placebos is that they may involve deception: indeed, if this is the case, an ethical tension arises over the patient's autonomy and the physician's requirement to be open and honest, and the notion that medical care should be the primary concern. This paper examines the case of depression as an entry point for understanding the complexities of the prescription of placebos. Recent important meta-analyses of antidepressants claim that they are not significantly more effective in a clinical setting than placebos. Given that antidepressants have numerous adverse side effects and are hugely expensive, this provocative research has serious potential ethical and practical implications for patients and medical providers. Should placebos be prescribed in place of antidepressants? The case of depression highlights another important issue which medical ethical codes have hitherto overlooked: well-being is not synonymous with being realistic about oneself, one's circumstances and the future. While severely depressed individuals are unduly pessimistic about themselves and the world around them, treatment of depressed individuals can be deemed successful when patients have successfully attained those positive illusions that are indicative of psychological health. This is exactly what successful psychological treatments of depression seem to achieve. It is therefore possible that there may be a limited unavoidable role for deception in medicine."}
{"id": "MED-1348", "text": "Background Meta-analyses of antidepressant medications have reported only modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are included, the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance. Yet, the efficacy of the antidepressants may also depend on the severity of initial depression scores. The purpose of this analysis is to establish the relation of baseline severity and antidepressant efficacy using a relevant dataset of published and unpublished clinical trials. Methods and Findings We obtained data on all clinical trials submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the licensing of the four new-generation antidepressants for which full datasets were available. We then used meta-analytic techniques to assess linear and quadratic effects of initial severity on improvement scores for drug and placebo groups and on drug\u2013placebo difference scores. Drug\u2013placebo differences increased as a function of initial severity, rising from virtually no difference at moderate levels of initial depression to a relatively small difference for patients with very severe depression, reaching conventional criteria for clinical significance only for patients at the upper end of the very severely depressed category. Meta-regression analyses indicated that the relation of baseline severity and improvement was curvilinear in drug groups and showed a strong, negative linear component in placebo groups. Conclusions Drug\u2013placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication. Editors' Summary Background. Everyone feels miserable occasionally. But for some people\u2014those with depression\u2014these sad feelings last for months or years and interfere with daily life. Depression is a serious medical illness caused by imbalances in the brain chemicals that regulate mood. It affects one in six people at some time during their life, making them feel hopeless, worthless, unmotivated, even suicidal. Doctors measure the severity of depression using the \u201cHamilton Rating Scale of Depression\u201d (HRSD), a 17\u201321 item questionnaire. The answers to each question are given a score and a total score for the questionnaire of more than 18 indicates severe depression. Mild depression is often treated with psychotherapy or talk therapy (for example, cognitive\u2013behavioral therapy helps people to change negative ways of thinking and behaving). For more severe depression, current treatment is usually a combination of psychotherapy and an antidepressant drug, which is hypothesized to normalize the brain chemicals that affect mood. Antidepressants include \u201ctricyclics,\u201d \u201cmonoamine oxidases,\u201d and \u201cselective serotonin reuptake inhibitors\u201d (SSRIs). SSRIs are the newest antidepressants and include fluoxetine, venlafaxine, nefazodone, and paroxetine. Why Was This Study Done? Although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), and other licensing authorities have approved SSRIs for the treatment of depression, some doubts remain about their clinical efficacy. Before an antidepressant is approved for use in patients, it must undergo clinical trials that compare its ability to improve the HRSD scores of patients with that of a placebo, a dummy tablet that contains no drug. Each individual trial provides some information about the new drug's effectiveness but additional information can be gained by combining the results of all the trials in a \u201cmeta-analysis,\u201d a statistical method for combining the results of many studies. A previously published meta-analysis of the published and unpublished trials on SSRIs submitted to the FDA during licensing has indicated that these drugs have only a marginal clinical benefit. On average, the SSRIs improved the HRSD score of patients by 1.8 points more than the placebo, whereas NICE has defined a significant clinical benefit for antidepressants as a drug\u2013placebo difference in the improvement of the HRSD score of 3 points. However, average improvement scores may obscure beneficial effects between different groups of patient, so in the meta-analysis in this paper, the researchers investigated whether the baseline severity of depression affects antidepressant efficacy. What Did the Researchers Do and Find? The researchers obtained data on all the clinical trials submitted to the FDA for the licensing of fluoxetine, venlafaxine, nefazodone, and paroxetine. They then used meta-analytic techniques to investigate whether the initial severity of depression affected the HRSD improvement scores for the drug and placebo groups in these trials. They confirmed first that the overall effect of these new generation of antidepressants was below the recommended criteria for clinical significance. Then they showed that there was virtually no difference in the improvement scores for drug and placebo in patients with moderate depression and only a small and clinically insignificant difference among patients with very severe depression. The difference in improvement between the antidepressant and placebo reached clinical significance, however, in patients with initial HRSD scores of more than 28\u2014that is, in the most severely depressed patients. Additional analyses indicated that the apparent clinical effectiveness of the antidepressants among these most severely depressed patients reflected a decreased responsiveness to placebo rather than an increased responsiveness to antidepressants. What Do These Findings Mean? These findings suggest that, compared with placebo, the new-generation antidepressants do not produce clinically significant improvements in depression in patients who initially have moderate or even very severe depression, but show significant effects only in the most severely depressed patients. The findings also show that the effect for these patients seems to be due to decreased responsiveness to placebo, rather than increased responsiveness to medication. Given these results, the researchers conclude that there is little reason to prescribe new-generation antidepressant medications to any but the most severely depressed patients unless alternative treatments have been ineffective. In addition, the finding that extremely depressed patients are less responsive to placebo than less severely depressed patients but have similar responses to antidepressants is a potentially important insight into how patients with depression respond to antidepressants and placebos that should be investigated further. Additional Information. Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045."}
{"id": "MED-1349", "text": "Antidepressants are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance, specifically, a lack of serotonin in the brain. Indeed, their supposed effectiveness is the primary evidence for the chemical imbalance theory. But analyses of the published data and the unpublished data that were hidden by drug companies reveals that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect. Some antidepressants increase serotonin levels, some decrease it, and some have no effect at all on serotonin. Nevertheless, they all show the same therapeutic benefit. Even the small statistical difference between antidepressants and placebos may be an enhanced placebo effect, due to the fact that most patients and doctors in clinical trials successfully break blind. The serotonin theory is as close as any theory in the history of science to having been proved wrong. Instead of curing depression, popular antidepressants may induce a biological vulnerability making people more likely to become depressed in the future."}
{"id": "MED-1352", "text": "Antidepressant medications are the first-line treatment for people meeting current diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder. Most antidepressants are designed to perturb the mechanisms that regulate the neurotransmitter serotonin \u2013 an evolutionarily ancient biochemical found in plants, animals, and fungi. Many adaptive processes evolved to be regulated by serotonin, including emotion, development, neuronal growth and death, platelet activation and the clotting process, attention, electrolyte balance, and reproduction. It is a principle of evolutionary medicine that the disruption of evolved adaptations will degrade biological functioning. Because serotonin regulates many adaptive processes, antidepressants could have many adverse health effects. For instance, while antidepressants are modestly effective in reducing depressive symptoms, they increase the brain\u2019s susceptibility to future episodes after they have been discontinued. Contrary to a widely held belief in psychiatry, studies that purport to show that antidepressants promote neurogenesis are flawed because they all use a method that cannot, by itself, distinguish between neurogenesis and neuronal death. In fact, antidepressants cause neuronal damage and mature neurons to revert to an immature state, both of which may explain why antidepressants also cause neurons to undergo apoptosis (programmed death). Antidepressants can also cause developmental problems, they have adverse effects on sexual and romantic life, and they increase the risk of hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood plasma), bleeding, stroke, and death in the elderly. Our review supports the conclusion that antidepressants generally do more harm than good by disrupting a number of adaptive processes regulated by serotonin. However, there may be specific conditions for which their use is warranted (e.g., cancer, recovery from stroke). We conclude that altered informed consent practices and greater caution in the prescription of antidepressants are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-1353", "text": "Depression is a potentially life-threatening disorder affecting millions of people across the globe. It is a huge burden to both the individual and society, costing over \u00a39 billion in 2000 alone: the World Health Organisation (WHO) cited it as the third leading cause of global disability in 2004 (first in the developed world), and project it will be the leading cause by 2030. The serendipitous discovery of antidepressants has revolutionized both our understanding and management of depression: however, their efficacy in the treatment of depression has long been debated and recently been brought very much into the public limelight by a controversial publication by Kirsch, in which the role of placebo response in antidepressant efficacy trials is highlighted. Whilst antidepressants offer benefits in both the short and long term, important problems persist such as intolerability, delayed therapeutic onset, limited efficacy in milder depression and the existence of treatment-resistant depression."}
{"id": "MED-1354", "text": "Context Antidepressant medications represent the best established treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but there is little evidence that they have a specific pharmacological effect relative to pill-placebo for patients with less severe depression. Objective To estimate the relative benefit of medication vs placebo across a wide range of initial symptom severity in patients diagnosed with depression. Data Sources Pubmed, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched from January 1980 through March 2009, along with references from meta-analyses and reviews. Study Selection Randomized placebo-controlled trials of FDA approved antidepressants in the treatment of Major or Minor Depressive Disorder were selected. Studies were included if their authors provided the requisite original data, they comprised adult outpatients, included a medication vs placebo comparison for at least 6 weeks, did not exclude patients on the basis of a placebo washout period, and utilized the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Data from six studies (718 patients) were included. Data Extraction Individual patient-level data were obtained from study authors. Results Medication vs placebo differences varied substantially as a function of baseline severity. Among patients with Hamilton scores below 23, Cohen\u2019s d-type effect sizes for the difference between medication and placebo were estimated to be < .20 (a standard definition of a small effect). Estimates of the magnitude of the superiority of medication over placebo increased with increases in baseline Hamilton severity and crossed the NICE threshold for a clinically significant difference at a baseline score of 25. Conclusions The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo increases with severity of depression symptoms, and may be minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. For patients with very severe depression, the benefit of medications over placebo is substantial."}
{"id": "MED-1356", "text": "BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine the association between regular physical activity and mental disorders among adults in the United States. METHODS: Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to compare the prevalence of mental disorders among those who did and did not report regular physical activity using data from the National Comorbidity Survey (n = 8098), a nationally representative sample of adults ages 15-54 in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Slightly over one-half of adults reported regular physical activity (60.3%). Regular physical activity was associated with a significantly decreased prevalence of current major depression and anxiety disorders, but was not significantly associated with other affective, substance use, or psychotic disorders. The association between regular physical activity and lower prevalence of current major depression (OR = 0.75 (0.6,0.94)), panic attacks (OR = 0.73 (0.56, 0.96)), social phobia (OR = 0.65 (0.53, 0.8)), specific phobia (OR = 0.78 (0.63, 0.97)), and agoraphobia (OR = 0.64 (0.43, 0.94)) persisted after adjusting for differences in sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported physical disorders, and comorbid mental disorders. Self-reported frequency of physical activity also showed a dose-response relation with current mental disorders. DISCUSSION: These data document a negative association between regular physical activity and depressive and anxiety disorders among adults in the U.S. population. Future research that investigates the mechanism of this association using longitudinal data to examine the link between physical activity and incident and recurrent mental disorders across the lifespan is needed."}
{"id": "MED-1357", "text": "BACKGROUND: Previous observational and interventional studies have suggested that regular physical exercise may be associated with reduced symptoms of depression. However, the extent to which exercise training may reduce depressive symptoms in older patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) has not been systematically evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of an aerobic exercise program compared with standard medication (ie, antidepressants) for treatment of MDD in older patients, we conducted a 16-week randomized controlled trial. METHODS: One hundred fifty-six men and women with MDD (age, > or = 50 years) were assigned randomly to a program of aerobic exercise, antidepressants (sertraline hydrochloride), or combined exercise and medication. Subjects underwent comprehensive evaluations of depression, including the presence and severity of MDD using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores before and after treatment. Secondary outcome measures included aerobic capacity, life satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety, and dysfunctional cognitions. RESULTS: After 16 weeks of treatment, the groups did not differ statistically on HAM-D or BDI scores (P = .67); adjustment for baseline levels of depression yielded an essentially identical result. Growth curve models revealed that all groups exhibited statistically and clinically significant reductions on HAM-D and BDI scores. However, patients receiving medication alone exhibited the fastest initial response; among patients receiving combination therapy, those with less severe depressive symptoms initially showed a more rapid response than those with initially more severe depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: An exercise training program may be considered an alternative to antidepressants for treatment of depression in older persons. Although antidepressants may facilitate a more rapid initial therapeutic response than exercise, after 16 weeks of treatment exercise was equally effective in reducing depression among patients with MDD."}
{"id": "MED-1358", "text": "This paper documents the recent (1976-1995) literature on the acute mood effects associated with participation in single sessions of exercise. Issues regarding experimental design, \"ecological validity' and the operational definition of mood are addressed. Results from these studies suggest that both clinical and nonclinical subjects may benefit acutely from even a single bout of exercise. Finally, possible mechanisms and recommendations for future research are discussed."}
{"id": "MED-1359", "text": "Previous meta-analyses investigating the effect of exercise on depression have included trials where the control condition has been categorized as placebo despite the fact that this particular placebo intervention (e.g., meditation, relaxation) has been recognized as having an antidepressant effect. Because meditation and mindfulness-based interventions are associated with depression reduction, it is impossible to separate the effect of the physical exercise from the meditation-related parts. The present study determined the efficacy of exercise in reducing symptoms of depression compared with no treatment, placebo conditions or usual care among clinically defined depressed adults. Of 89 retrieved studies, 15 passed the inclusion criteria of which 13 studies presented sufficient information for calculating effect sizes. The main result showed a significant large overall effect favoring exercise intervention. The effect size was even larger when only trials that had used no treatment or placebo conditions were analyzed. Nevertheless, effect size was reduced to a moderate level when only studies with high methodological quality were included in the analysis. Exercise may be recommended for people with mild and moderate depression who are willing, motivated, and physically healthy enough to engage in such a program. \u00a9 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1360", "text": "Objective To assess whether patients receiving aerobic exercise training performed either at home or in a supervised group setting achieve reductions in depression comparable to standard antidepressant medication (sertraline) and greater reductions in depression compared to placebo controls. Methods Between October 2000 and November 2005, we performed a prospective, randomized controlled trial (SMILE study) with allocation concealment and blinded outcome assessment in a tertiary care teaching hospital. A total of 202 adults (153 women; 49 men) diagnosed with major depression were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: supervised exercise in a group setting; home-based exercise; antidepressant medication (sertraline, 50\u2013200 mg daily); or placebo pill for 16 weeks. Patients underwent the structured clinical interview for depression and completed the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). Results After 4 months of treatment, 41% of the participants achieved remission, defined as no longer meeting the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) and a HAM-D score of <8. Patients receiving active treatments tended to have higher remission rates than the placebo controls: supervised exercise = 45%; home-based exercise = 40%; medication = 47%; placebo = 31% (p = .057). All treatment groups had lower HAM-D scores after treatment; scores for the active treatment groups were not significantly different from the placebo group (p = .23). Conclusions The efficacy of exercise in patients seems generally comparable with patients receiving antidepressant medication and both tend to be better than the placebo in patients with MDD. Placebo response rates were high, suggesting that a considerable portion of the therapeutic response is determined by patient expectations, ongoing symptom monitoring, attention, and other nonspecific factors."}
{"id": "MED-1362", "text": "The aim of this research study was to meta-analyze the effects of adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD) on overall cancer risk, and different cancer types. Literature search was performed using the electronic databases MEDLINE, SCOPUS and EMBASE until January 10, 2014. Inclusion criteria were cohort or case-control studies. Study specific risk ratios (RRs) were pooled using a random effect model by the Cochrane software package Review Manager 5.2. Twenty-one cohort studies including 1,368,736 subjects and 12 case-control studies with 62,725 subjects met the objectives and were enclosed for meta-analyses. The highest adherence to MD category resulted in a significantly risk reduction for overall cancer mortality/incidence (cohort; RR: 0.90, 95% CI 0.86-0.95, p < 0.0001; I(2) = 55%), colorectal (cohort/case-control; RR: 0.86, 95% CI 0.80-0.93, p < 0.0001; I(2) = 62%], prostate (cohort/case-control; RR: 0.96, 95% CI 0.92-0.99, p = 0.03; I(2) = 0%) and aerodigestive cancer (cohort/case-control; RR: 0.44, 95% CI 0.26-0.77, p = 0.003; I(2) = 83%). Nonsignificant changes could be observed for breast cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer. The Egger regression tests provided limited evidence of substantial publication bias. High adherence to a MD is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of overall cancer mortality (10%), colorectal cancer (14%), prostate cancer (4%) and aerodigestive cancer (56%). \u00a9 2014 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-1363", "text": "Dietary guidelines to promote good health are usually based on foods, nutrients, and dietary patterns predictive of chronic disease risk in epidemiologic studies. However, sound nutritional recommendations for cardiovascular prevention should be based on the results of large randomized clinical trials with \"hard\" end-points as the main outcome. Such evidence has been obtained for the Mediterranean diet from the PREDIMED (Prevenci\u00f3n con Dieta Mediterr\u00e1nea) trial and the Lyon Heart Study. The traditional Mediterranean diet was that found in olive growing areas of Crete, Greece, and Southern Italy in the late 1950s. Their major characteristics include: a) a high consumption of cereals, legumes, nuts, vegetables, and fruits; b) a relatively high-fat consumption, mostly provided by olive oil; c) moderate to high fish consumption; d) poultry and dairy products consumed in moderate to small amounts; e) low consumption of red meats, and meat products; and f) moderate alcohol intake, usually in the form of red wine. However, these protective effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet may be even greater if we upgrade the health effects of this dietary pattern changing the common olive oil used for extra-virgin olive oil, increasing the consumption of nuts, fatty fish and whole grain cereals, reducing sodium intake, and maintaining a moderate consumption of wine with meals. \u00a9 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1365", "text": "The effects of bread consumption change over time on anthropometric measures have been scarcely studied. We analysed 2213 participants at high risk for CVD from the PREvenci\u00f3n con DIeta MEDiterr\u00e1nea (PREDIMED) trial to assess the association between changes in the consumption of bread and weight and waist circumference gain over time. Dietary habits were assessed with validated FFQ at baseline and repeatedly every year during 4 years of follow-up. Using multivariate models to adjust for covariates, long-term weight and waist circumference changes according to quartiles of change in energy-adjusted white and whole-grain bread consumption were calculated. The present results showed that over 4 years, participants in the highest quartile of change in white bread intake gained 0\u00b776 kg more than those in the lowest quartile (P for trend = 0\u00b7003) and 1\u00b728 cm more than those in the lowest quartile (P for trend < 0\u00b7001). No significant dose-response relationships were observed for change in whole-bread consumption and anthropometric measures. Gaining weight (>2 kg) and gaining waist circumference (>2 cm) during follow-up was not associated with increase in bread consumption, but participants in the highest quartile of changes in white bread intake had a reduction of 33 % in the odds of losing weight (>2 kg) and a reduction of 36 % in the odds of losing waist circumference (>2 cm). The present results suggest that reducing white bread, but not whole-grain bread consumption, within a Mediterranean-style food pattern setting is associated with lower gains in weight and abdominal fat."}
{"id": "MED-1366", "text": "My concern about diet as a public health problem began in the early 1950s in Naples, where we observed very low incidences of coronary heart disease associated with what we later came to call the \"good Mediterranean diet.\" The heart of this diet is mainly vegetarian, and differs from American and northern European diets in that it is much lower in meat and dairy products and uses fruit for dessert. These observations led to our subsequent research in the Seven Countries Study, in which we demonstrated that saturated fat is the major dietary villain. Today, the healthy Mediterranean diet is changing and coronary heart disease is no longer confined to medical textbooks. Our challenge is to persuade children to tell their parents to eat as Mediterraneans do."}
{"id": "MED-1371", "text": "Epidemiological evidence suggests that the Mediterranean diet (MD) could reduce the risk of breast cancer (BC). As evidence from the prospective studies remains scarce and conflicting, we investigated the association between adherence to the MD and risk of BC among 335,062 women recruited from 1992 to 2000, in ten European countries, and followed for 11 years on average. Adherence to the MD was estimated through an adapted relative Mediterranean diet (arMED) score excluding alcohol. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used while adjusting for BC risk factors. A total of 9,009 postmenopausal and 1,216 premenopausal first primary incident invasive BC were identified (5,862 estrogen or progesterone receptor positive [ER+/PR+] and 1,018 estrogen and progesterone receptor negative [ER-/PR-]). The arMED was inversely associated with the risk of BC overall and in postmenopausal women (high vs. low arMED score; hazard ratio [HR] = 0.94 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.88, 1.00] ptrend = 0.048, and HR = 0.93 [95% CI: 0.87, 0.99] ptrend = 0.037, respectively). The association was more pronounced in ER-/PR- tumors (HR = 0.80 [95% CI: 0.65, 0.99] ptrend = 0.043). The arMED score was not associated with BC in premenopausal women. Our findings show that adherence to a MD excluding alcohol was related to a modest reduced risk of BC in postmenopausal women, and this association was stronger in receptor-negative tumors. The results support the potential scope for BC prevention through dietary modification. Copyright \u00a9 2012 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-1373", "text": "The endothelium is involved in many of the processes related to the development of atherosclerosis, which is considered an inflammatory disease. Actually, traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis predispose to endothelial dysfunction, which is manifested as an increase in the expression of specific cytokines and adhesion molecules. There are firm evidence supporting the beneficial effects of olive oil, the most genuine component of the Mediterranean diet. Although the effects of olive oil and other oleic acid-rich dietary oils on atherosclerosis and plasma lipids are well known, the roles of minor components have been less investigated. Minor components constitute only 1-2% of virgin olive oil (VOO) and are composed of hydrocarbons, polyphenols, tocopherols, sterols, triterpenoids and other components usually found in traces. Despite their low concentration, non-fatty acid constituents may be of importance because studies comparing monounsaturated dietary oils have reported different effects on cardiovascular disease. Most of these compounds have demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypolipidemic properties. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the effects of these compounds contained in VOO on vascular dysfunction and the mechanisms by which they modulate endothelial activity. Such mechanisms involve the release of nitric oxide, eicosanoids (prostaglandins and leukotrienes) and adhesion molecules, in most cases by activation of nuclear factor kappaB by reactive oxygen species."}
{"id": "MED-1374", "text": "The Mediterranean diet has been linked to a number of health benefits, including reduced mortality risk and lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. Definitions of the Mediterranean diet vary across some settings, and scores are increasingly being employed to define Mediterranean diet adherence in epidemiological studies. Some components of the Mediterranean diet overlap with other healthy dietary patterns, whereas other aspects are unique to the Mediterranean diet. In this forum article, we asked clinicians and researchers with an interest in the effect of diet on health to describe what constitutes a Mediterranean diet in different geographical settings, and how we can study the health benefits of this dietary pattern."}
{"id": "MED-1375", "text": "BACKGROUND: Vegetarian diets have been associated with reduced mortality. Because a pure vegetarian diet might not easily be embraced by many individuals, consuming preferentially plant-derived foods would be a more easily understood message. A provegetarian food pattern (FP) emphasizing preference for plant-derived foods might reduce all-cause mortality. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify the association between an a priori-defined provegetarian FP and all-cause mortality. DESIGN: We followed 7216 participants (57% women; mean age: 67 y) at high cardiovascular risk for a median of 4.8 y. A validated 137-item semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire was administered at baseline and yearly thereafter. Fruit, vegetables, nuts, cereals, legumes, olive oil, and potatoes were positively weighted. Added animal fats, eggs, fish, dairy products, and meats or meat products were negatively weighted. Energy-adjusted quintiles were used to assign points to build the provegetarian FP (range: 12-60 points). Deaths were confirmed by review of medical records and the National Death Index. RESULTS: There were 323 deaths during the follow-up period (76 from cardiovascular causes, 130 from cancer, 117 for noncancer, noncardiovascular causes). Higher baseline conformity with the provegetarian FP was associated with lower mortality (multivariable-adjusted HR for \u2265 40 compared with <30 points: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.88). Similar results were found with the use of updated information on diet (RR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.89). CONCLUSIONS: Among omnivorous subjects at high cardiovascular risk, better conformity with an FP that emphasized plant-derived foods was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN35739639. \u00a9 2014 American Society for Nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-1376", "text": "Background. There are places around the world where people live longer and they are active past the age of 100 years, sharing common behavioral characteristics; these places (i.e., Sardinia in Italy, Okinawa in Japan, Loma Linda in California and Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica) have been named the \u201cBlue Zones\u201d. Recently it was reported that people in Ikaria Island, Greece, have also one of the highest life expectancies in the world, and joined the \u201cBlue Zones\u201d. The aim of this work work was to evaluate various demographic, lifestyle and psychological characteristics of very old (>80 years) people participated in Ikaria Study. Methods. During 2009, 1420 people (aged 30+) men and women from Ikaria Island, Greece, were voluntarily enrolled in the study. For this work, 89 males and 98 females over the age of 80 yrs were studied (13% of the sample). Socio-demographic, clinical, psychological and lifestyle characteristics were assessed using standard questionnaires and procedures. Results. A large proportion of the Ikaria Study's sample was over the age of 80; moreover, the percent of people over 90 were much higher than the European population average. The majority of the oldest old participants reported daily physical activities, healthy eating habits, avoidance of smoking, frequent socializing, mid-day naps and extremely low rates of depression. Conclusion. Modifiable risk factors, such as physical activity, diet, smoking cessation and mid-day naps, might depict the \u201csecrets\u201d of the long-livers; these findings suggest that the interaction of environmental, behavioral together with clinical characteristics may determine longevity. This concept must be further explored in order to understand how these factors relate and which are the most important in shaping prolonged life."}
{"id": "MED-1377", "text": "Increased attention in dietary research and guidance has been focused on dietary patterns, rather than on single nutrients or food groups, because dietary components are consumed in combination and correlated with one another. However, the collective body of research on the topic has been hampered by the lack of consistency in methods used. We examined the relationships between 4 indices\u2014the Healthy Eating Index\u20132010 (HEI-2010), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index\u20132010 (AHEI-2010), the alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)\u2014and all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study (n = 492,823). Data from a 124-item food-frequency questionnaire were used to calculate scores; adjusted HRs and 95% CIs were estimated. We documented 86,419 deaths, including 23,502 CVD- and 29,415 cancer-specific deaths, during 15 y of follow-up. Higher index scores were associated with a 12\u201328% decreased risk of all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality. Specifically, comparing the highest with the lowest quintile scores, adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality for men were as follows: HEI-2010 HR: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.80), AHEI-2010 HR: 0.76 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.78), aMED HR: 0.77 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.79), and DASH HR: 0.83 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.85); for women, these were HEI-2010 HR: 0.77 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.80), AHEI-2010 HR: 0.76 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.79), aMED HR: 0.76 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.79), and DASH HR: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.81). Similarly, high adherence on each index was protective for CVD and cancer mortality examined separately. These findings indicate that multiple scores reflect core tenets of a healthy diet that may lower the risk of mortality outcomes, including federal guidance as operationalized in the HEI-2010, Harvard\u2019s Healthy Eating Plate as captured in the AHEI-2010, a Mediterranean diet as adapted in an Americanized aMED, and the DASH Eating Plan as included in the DASH score."}
{"id": "MED-1378", "text": "Longevity is a very complex phenomenon, because many environmental, behavioral, socio-demographic and dietary factors influence the physiological pathways of aging and life-expectancy. Nutrition has been recognized to have an important impact on overall mortality and morbidity; and its role in extending life expectancy has been the object of extensive scientific research. This paper reviews the pathophysiological mechanisms that potentially link aging with diet and the scientific evidence supporting the anti-aging effect of the traditional Mediterranean diet, as well as of some specific foods. The diet and several of its components have additionally been shown to have beneficial effects on the co-morbidities typical of elderly populations. Furthermore, the epigenetic effects of diet on the aging process - through calorie restriction and the consumption of foods like red wine, orange juice, probiotics and prebiotics - have attracted scientific interest. Some, such as dark chocolate, red wine, nuts, beans, avocados are being promoted as anti-aging foods, due to their anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. Finally, an important moderator in the relationship between diet, longevity and human health remains the socio-economic status of individual, as a healthy diet, due to its higher cost, is closely related to higher financial and educational status. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1380", "text": "Objective To investigate the relative importance of the individual components of the Mediterranean diet in generating the inverse association of increased adherence to this diet and overall mortality. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Greek segment of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC). Participants 23\u2009349 men and women, not previously diagnosed with cancer, coronary heart disease, or diabetes, with documented survival status until June 2008 and complete information on nutritional variables and important covariates at enrolment. Main outcome measure All cause mortality. Results After a mean follow-up of 8.5 years, 652 deaths from any cause had occurred among 12\u2009694 participants with Mediterranean diet scores 0-4 and 423 among 10\u2009655 participants with scores of 5 or more. Controlling for potential confounders, higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with a statistically significant reduction in total mortality (adjusted mortality ratio per two unit increase in score 0.864, 95% confidence interval 0.802 to 0.932). The contributions of the individual components of the Mediterranean diet to this association were moderate ethanol consumption 23.5%, low consumption of meat and meat products 16.6%, high vegetable consumption 16.2%, high fruit and nut consumption 11.2%, high monounsaturated to saturated lipid ratio 10.6%, and high legume consumption 9.7%. The contributions of high cereal consumption and low dairy consumption were minimal, whereas high fish and seafood consumption was associated with a non-significant increase in mortality ratio. Conclusion The dominant components of the Mediterranean diet score as a predictor of lower mortality are moderate consumption of ethanol, low consumption of meat and meat products, and high consumption of vegetables, fruits and nuts, olive oil, and legumes. Minimal contributions were found for cereals and dairy products, possibly because they are heterogeneous categories of foods with differential health effects, and for fish and seafood, the intake of which is low in this population."}
{"id": "MED-1381", "text": "Perhaps one of the most unexpected and novel findings in nutritional epidemiology in the past 5 y has been that nut consumption seems to protect against ischemic heart disease (IHD). Frequency and quantity of nut consumption have been documented to be higher in vegetarian than in nonvegetarian populations. Nuts also constitute an important part of other plant-based diets, such as Mediterranean and Asian diets. In a large, prospective epidemiologic study of Seventh-day Adventists in California, we found that frequency of nut consumption had a substantial and highly significant inverse association with risk of myocardial infarction and death from IHD. The Iowa Women's Health Study also documented an association between nut consumption and decreased risk of IHD. The protective effect of nuts on IHD has been found in men and women and in the elderly. Importantly, nuts have similar associations in both vegetarians and nonvegetarians. The protective effect of nut consumption on IHD is not offset by increased mortality from other causes. Moreover, frequency of nut consumption has been found to be inversely related to all-cause mortality in several population groups such as whites, blacks, and the elderly. Thus, nut consumption may not only offer protection against IHD, but also increase longevity."}
{"id": "MED-1383", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The intake of antioxidant-rich foods may increase the blood levels of non enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC). NEAC takes into account all antioxidants from food and synergistic effects between them. We examined the effect of a 1-year intervention with Mediterranean diet on plasma NEAC and assessed whether it was related to baseline NEAC levels. METHODS AND RESULTS: Five hundred sixty-four participants at high cardiovascular risk were randomly selected from the PREDIMED (Prevenci\u00f3n con DIeta MEDiterr\u00e1nea) Study, a large 3-arm randomized clinical trial. Blood NEAC levels were measured at baseline and after 1-year of dietary intervention with 1) a Mediterranean diet supplemented with virgin olive oil (MED + VOO); 2) a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts (MED + nuts), or 3) a control low-fat diet. Plasma NEAC was analyzed using FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant potential) and TRAP (total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter) assays. Plasma FRAP levels increased after 1-year of intervention with MED + VOO [72.0 \u03bcmol/L (95% CI, 34.2-109.9)] and MED + nuts [48.9 \u03bcmol/L (24.3-73.5)], but not after the control low-fat diet [13.9 \u03bcmol/L (-11.9 to 39.8)]. Participants in the lowest quartile of plasma FRAP at baseline significantly increased their levels after any intervention, while those in the highest quartile decreased. Similar results occurred with TRAP levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a 1-year of MED diet intervention increases plasma TAC level in subjects at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Moreover, the effectiveness of dietary supplementation with antioxidants may be related to baseline levels of plasma NEAC. \u00a9 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1387", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies have shown inverse associations between nut consumption and diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and all-cause mortality, but results have not been consistent. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the relation between nut intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes, CVD, and all-cause mortality. DESIGN: We searched PubMed and EMBASE for all prospective cohort studies published up to March 2013 with RRs and 95% CIs for outcomes of interest. A random-effects model was used to pool risk estimates across studies. RESULTS: In 31 reports from 18 prospective studies, there were 12,655 type 2 diabetes, 8862 CVD, 6623 ischemic heart disease (IHD), 6487 stroke, and 48,818 mortality cases. The RR for each incremental serving per day of nut intake was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.94) for type 2 diabetes without adjustment for body mass index; with adjustment, the association was attenuated [RR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.91, 1.16; NS]. In the multivariable-adjusted model, pooled RRs (95% CIs) for each serving per day of nut consumption were 0.72 (0.64, 0.81) for IHD, 0.71 (0.59, 0.85) for CVD, and 0.83 (0.76, 0.91) for all-cause mortality. Pooled RRs (95% CIs) for the comparison of extreme quantiles of nut intake were 1.00 (0.84, 1.19; NS) for type 2 diabetes, 0.66 (0.55, 0.78) for IHD, 0.70 (0.60, 0.81) for CVD, 0.91 (0.81, 1.02; NS) for stroke, and 0.85 (0.79, 0.91) for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis indicates that nut intake is inversely associated with IHD, overall CVD, and all-cause mortality but not significantly associated with diabetes and stroke. The inverse association between the consumption of nuts and diabetes was attenuated after adjustment for body mass index. These findings support recommendations to include nuts as part of a healthy dietary pattern for the prevention of chronic diseases. \u00a9 2014 American Society for Nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-1388", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the association between nut consumption and all-cause mortality after 5-y follow-up in a Spanish cohort. METHODS: The SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra, University of Navarra Follow-up) project is a prospective cohort study, formed by Spanish university graduates. Information is gathered by mailed questionnaires collected biennially. In all, 17 184 participants were followed for up to 5 y. Baseline nut consumption was collected by self-reported data, using a validated 136-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Information on mortality was collected by permanent contact with the SUN participants and their families, postal authorities, and the National Death Index. The association between baseline nut consumption and all-cause mortality was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models to adjust for potential confounding. Baseline nut consumption was categorized in two ways. In a first analysis energy-adjusted quintiles of nut consumption (measured in g/d) were used. To adjust for total energy intake the residuals method was used. In a second analysis, participants were categorized into four groups according to pre-established categories of nut consumption (servings/d or servings/wk). Both analyses were adjusted for potential confounding factors. RESULTS: Participants who consumed nuts \u22652/wk had a 56% lower risk for all-cause mortality than those who never or almost never consumed nuts (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.44; 95% confidence intervals, 0.23-0.86). CONCLUSION: Nut consumption was significantly associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality after the first 5 y of follow-up in the SUN project. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1389", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), in which a non-classic feature is an increase in systemic oxidative biomarkers, presents a high risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is associated with a reduced risk of MetS. However, the effect of the MedDiet on biomarkers for oxidative damage has not been assessed in MetS individuals. We have investigated the effect of the MedDiet on systemic oxidative biomarkers in MetS individuals. METHODS: Randomized, controlled, parallel clinical trial in which 110 female with MetS, aged 55-80, were recruited into a large trial (PREDIMED Study) to test the efficacy of the traditional MedDiet on the primary prevention of CVD. Participants were assigned to a low-fat diet or two traditional MedDiets (MedDiet\u00a0+\u00a0virgin olive oil or MedDiet\u00a0+\u00a0nuts). Both MedDiet group participants received nutritional education and either free extra virgin olive oil for all the family (1\u00a0L/week), or free nuts (30\u00a0g/day). Diets were ad libitum. Changes in urine levels of F2-Isoprostane (F2-IP) and the DNA damage base 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) were evaluated at 1-year trial. RESULTS: After 1-year urinary F2-IP decreased in all groups, the decrease in MedDiet groups reaching a borderline significance versus that of the Control group. Urinary 8-oxo-dG was also reduced in all groups, with a higher decrease in both MedDiet groups versus the Control one (P\u00a0<\u00a00.001). CONCLUSIONS: MedDiet reduces oxidative damage to lipids and DNA in MetS individuals. Data from this study provide evidence to recommend the traditional MedDiet as a useful tool in the MetS management. Registered under Clinical Trials.gov Identifier no. NCT00123456. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1390", "text": "Background It is unknown whether individuals at high cardiovascular risk sustain a benefit in cardiovascular disease from increased olive oil consumption. The aim was to assess the association between total olive oil intake, its varieties (extra virgin and common olive oil) and the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk. Methods We included 7,216 men and women at high cardiovascular risk, aged 55 to 80 years, from the PREvenci\u00f3n con DIeta MEDiterr\u00e1nea (PREDIMED) study, a multicenter, randomized, controlled, clinical trial. Participants were randomized to one of three interventions: Mediterranean Diets supplemented with nuts or extra-virgin olive oil, or a control low-fat diet. The present analysis was conducted as an observational prospective cohort study. The median follow-up was 4.8 years. Cardiovascular disease (stroke, myocardial infarction and cardiovascular death) and mortality were ascertained by medical records and National Death Index. Olive oil consumption was evaluated with validated food frequency questionnaires. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards and generalized estimating equations were used to assess the association between baseline and yearly repeated measurements of olive oil intake, cardiovascular disease and mortality. Results During follow-up, 277 cardiovascular events and 323 deaths occurred. Participants in the highest energy-adjusted tertile of baseline total olive oil and extra-virgin olive oil consumption had 35% (HR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.47 to 0.89) and 39% (HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.44 to 0.85) cardiovascular disease risk reduction, respectively, compared to the reference. Higher baseline total olive oil consumption was associated with 48% (HR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.29 to 0.93) reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality. For each 10 g/d increase in extra-virgin olive oil consumption, cardiovascular disease and mortality risk decreased by 10% and 7%, respectively. No significant associations were found for cancer and all-cause mortality. The associations between cardiovascular events and extra virgin olive oil intake were significant in the Mediterranean diet intervention groups and not in the control group. Conclusions Olive oil consumption, specifically the extra-virgin variety, is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and mortality in individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Trial registration This study was registered at controlled-trials.com (http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN35739639). International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 35739639. Registration date: 5 October 2005."}
{"id": "MED-1393", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The Prevenci\u00f3n con Dieta Mediterr\u00e1nea (PREDIMED) trial showed that a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) supplemented with either extra virgin olive oil or 30 g/d of mixed nuts reduced incident cardiovascular events compared with a control (low fat) diet. The mechanisms of cardiovascular protection afforded by MedDiets remain to be uncovered. We assessed the effect of both supplemented MedDiets on internal carotid intima-media thickness (ICA-IMT) and plaque height, the ultrasound features that best predict future cardiovascular events, in subjects at high cardiovascular risk. APPROACH AND RESULTS: In a PREDIMED subcohort (n=175), plaque height and carotid IMT of 3 prespecified segments (ICA, bifurcation, and common) were sonographically assessed at baseline and after intervention for a mean of 2.4 years. We evaluated 164 subjects with complete data. In a multivariate model, mean ICA-IMT progressed in the control diet group (mean [95% confidence interval], 0.052 mm [-0.014 to 0.118 mm]), whereas it regressed in the MedDiet+nuts group (-0.084 mm [-0.158 to -0.010 mm]; P=0.024 versus control). Similar results were observed for maximum ICA-IMT (control, 0.188 mm [0.077 to 0.299 mm]; MedDiet+nuts, -0.030 mm [-0.153 to 0.093 mm]; P=0.034) and maximum plaque height (control, 0.106 mm [0.001 to 0.210 mm]; MedDiet+nuts, -0.091 mm [-0.206 to 0.023 mm]; P=0.047). There were no changes in ICA-IMT or plaque after the MedDiet+extra virgin olive oil. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with a control diet, consumption of a MedDiet supplemented with nuts is associated with delayed progression of ICA-IMT and plaque. The results contribute mechanistic evidence for the reduction of cardiovascular events observed in the PREDIMED trial. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.controlled-trials.com. Unique identifier: ISRCTN35739639."}
{"id": "MED-1394", "text": "BACKGROUND: Observational cohort studies and a secondary prevention trial have shown an inverse association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular risk. We conducted a randomized trial of this diet pattern for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events. METHODS: In a multicenter trial in Spain, we randomly assigned participants who were at high cardiovascular risk, but with no cardiovascular disease at enrollment, to one of three diets: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts, or a control diet (advice to reduce dietary fat). Participants received quarterly individual and group educational sessions and, depending on group assignment, free provision of extra-virgin olive oil, mixed nuts, or small nonfood gifts. The primary end point was the rate of major cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes). On the basis of the results of an interim analysis, the trial was stopped after a median follow-up of 4.8 years. RESULTS: A total of 7447 persons were enrolled (age range, 55 to 80 years); 57% were women. The two Mediterranean-diet groups had good adherence to the intervention, according to self-reported intake and biomarker analyses. A primary end-point event occurred in 288 participants. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios were 0.70 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 0.92) and 0.72 (95% CI, 0.54 to 0.96) for the group assigned to a Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil (96 events) and the group assigned to a Mediterranean diet with nuts (83 events), respectively, versus the control group (109 events). No diet-related adverse effects were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Among persons at high cardiovascular risk, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events. (Funded by the Spanish government's Instituto de Salud Carlos III and others; Controlled-Trials.com number, ISRCTN35739639.)."}
{"id": "MED-1395", "text": "In a prospective, randomised single-blinded secondary prevention trial we compared the effect of a Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet to the usual post-infarct prudent diet. After a first myocardial infarction, patients were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 302) or control group (n = 303). Patients were seen again 8 weeks after randomisation, and each year for 5 years. The experimental group consumed significantly less lipids, saturated fat, cholesterol, and linoleic acid but more oleic and alpha-linolenic acids confirmed by measurements in plasma. Serum lipids, blood pressure, and body mass index remained similar in the 2 groups. In the experimental group, plasma levels of albumin, vitamin E, and vitamin C were increased, and granulocyte count decreased. After a mean follow up of 27 months, there were 16 cardiac deaths in the control and 3 in the experimental group; 17 non-fatal myocardial infarction in the control and 5 in the experimental groups: a risk ratio for these two main endpoints combined of 0.27 (95% CI 0.12-0.59, p = 0.001) after adjustment for prognostic variables. Overall mortality was 20 in the control, 8 in the experimental group, an adjusted risk ratio of 0.30 (95% CI 0.11-0.82, p = 0.02). An alpha-linolenic acid-rich Mediterranean diet seems to be more efficient than presently used diets in the secondary prevention of coronary events and death."}
{"id": "MED-1397", "text": "Human beings evolved on a diet that was balanced in the omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and was high in antioxidants. Edible wild plants provide alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and higher amounts of vitamin E and vitamin C than cultivated plants. In addition to the antioxidant vitamins, edible wild plants are rich in phenols and other compounds that increase their antioxidant capacity. It is therefore important to systematically analyze the total antioxidant capacity of wild plants and promote their commercialization in both developed and developing countries. The diets of Western countries have contained increasingly larger amounts of linoleic acid (LA), which has been promoted for its cholesterol-lowering effect. It is now recognized that dietary LA favors oxidative modification of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and increases platelet response to aggregation. In contrast, ALA intake is associated with inhibitory effects on the clotting activity of platelets, on their response to thrombin, and on the regulation of arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism. In clinical studies, ALA contributed to lowering of blood pressure, and a prospective epidemiological study showed that ALA is inversely related to the risk of coronary heart disease in men. Dietary amounts of LA as well as the ratio of LA to ALA appear to be important for the metabolism of ALA to longer-chain omega-3 PUFAs. Relatively large reserves of LA in body fat. as are found in vegans or in the diet of omnivores in Western societies, would tend to slow down the formation of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids from ALA. Therefore, the role of ALA in human nutrition becomes important in terms of long-term dietary intake. One advantage of the consumption of ALA over omega-3 fatty acids from fish is that the problem of insufficient vitamin E intake does not exist with high intake of ALA from plant sources."}
{"id": "MED-1398", "text": "The concept that the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) was first proposed in the 1950s. Since then, there have been randomized controlled trials and large epidemiological studies that reported associations with lower CVD: in 1994 and 1999, the reports of the intermediate and final analyses of the trial Lyon Diet Heart Study; in 2003, a major epidemiological study in Greece showing a strong inverse association between a Mediterranean score and the risk of cardiovascular complications; in 2011-2012, several reports showing that even non-Mediterranean populations can gain benefits from long-term adhesion to the Mediterranean diet; and in 2013, the PREDIMED trial showing a significant risk reduction in a low-risk population. Contrary to the pharmacological approach of cardiovascular prevention, the adoption of the Mediterranean diet has been associated with a significant reduction in new cancers and overall mortality. Thus, in terms of evidence-based medicine, the full adoption of a modern version of the Mediterranean diet pattern can be considered one of the most effective approaches for the prevention of fatal and nonfatal CVD complications."}
{"id": "MED-1399", "text": "BACKGROUND: The Lyon Diet Heart Study is a randomized secondary prevention trial aimed at testing whether a Mediterranean-type diet may reduce the rate of recurrence after a first myocardial infarction. An intermediate analysis showed a striking protective effect after 27 months of follow-up. This report presents results of an extended follow-up (with a mean of 46 months per patient) and deals with the relationships of dietary patterns and traditional risk factors with recurrence. METHODS AND RESULTS: Three composite outcomes (COs) combining either cardiac death and nonfatal myocardial infarction (CO 1), or the preceding plus major secondary end points (unstable angina, stroke, heart failure, pulmonary or peripheral embolism) (CO 2), or the preceding plus minor events requiring hospital admission (CO 3) were studied. In the Mediterranean diet group, CO 1 was reduced (14 events versus 44 in the prudent Western-type diet group, P=0.0001), as were CO 2 (27 events versus 90, P=0.0001) and CO 3 (95 events versus 180, P=0. 0002). Adjusted risk ratios ranged from 0.28 to 0.53. Among the traditional risk factors, total cholesterol (1 mmol/L being associated with an increased risk of 18% to 28%), systolic blood pressure (1 mm Hg being associated with an increased risk of 1% to 2%), leukocyte count (adjusted risk ratios ranging from 1.64 to 2.86 with count >9x10(9)/L), female sex (adjusted risk ratios, 0.27 to 0. 46), and aspirin use (adjusted risk ratios, 0.59 to 0.82) were each significantly and independently associated with recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: The protective effect of the Mediterranean dietary pattern was maintained up to 4 years after the first infarction, confirming previous intermediate analyses. Major traditional risk factors, such as high blood cholesterol and blood pressure, were shown to be independent and joint predictors of recurrence, indicating that the Mediterranean dietary pattern did not alter, at least qualitatively, the usual relationships between major risk factors and recurrence. Thus, a comprehensive strategy to decrease cardiovascular morbidity and mortality should include primarily a cardioprotective diet. It should be associated with other (pharmacological?) means aimed at reducing modifiable risk factors. Further trials combining the 2 approaches are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-1400", "text": "BACKGROUND: The Mediterranean diet has long been reported to be protective against the occurrence of several different health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to update our previous meta-analysis of published cohort prospective studies that investigated the effects of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on health status. DESIGN: We conducted a comprehensive literature search through electronic databases up to June 2010. RESULTS: The updated review process showed 7 prospective studies published in the past 2 y that were not included in the previous meta-analysis (1 study for overall mortality, 3 studies for cardiovascular incidence or mortality, 1 study for cancer incidence or mortality, and 2 studies for neurodegenerative diseases). These recent studies included 2 health outcomes not previously investigated (ie, mild cognitive impairment and stroke). The meta-analysis for all studies with a random-effects model that was conducted after the inclusion of these recent studies showed that a 2-point increase in adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a significant reduction of overall mortality [relative risk (RR) = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.90, 0.94], cardiovascular incidence or mortality (RR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.87, 0.93), cancer incidence or mortality (RR = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.96), and neurodegenerative diseases (RR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.94). The meta-regression analysis showed that sample size was the most significant contributor to the model because it significantly influenced the estimate of the association for overall mortality. CONCLUSION: This updated meta-analysis confirms, in a larger number of subjects and studies, the significant and consistent protection provided by adherence to the Mediterranean diet in relation to the occurrence of major chronic degenerative diseases."}
{"id": "MED-1402", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To update previous meta-analyses of cohort studies that investigated the association between the Mediterranean diet and health status and to utilize data coming from all of the cohort studies for proposing a literature-based adherence score to the Mediterranean diet. DESIGN: We conducted a comprehensive literature search through all electronic databases up to June 2013. SETTING: Cohort prospective studies investigating adherence to the Mediterranean diet and health outcomes. Cut-off values of food groups used to compute the adherence score were obtained. SUBJECTS: The updated search was performed in an overall population of 4 172 412 subjects, with eighteen recent studies that were not present in the previous meta-analyses. RESULTS: A 2-point increase in adherence score to the Mediterranean diet was reported to determine an 8 % reduction of overall mortality (relative risk = 0\u00b792; 95 % CI 0\u00b791, 0\u00b793), a 10 % reduced risk of CVD (relative risk = 0\u00b790; 95 % CI 0\u00b787, 0\u00b792) and a 4 % reduction of neoplastic disease (relative risk = 0\u00b796; 95 % CI 0\u00b795, 0\u00b797). We utilized data coming from all cohort studies available in the literature for proposing a literature-based adherence score. Such a score ranges from 0 (minimal adherence) to 18 (maximal adherence) points and includes three different categories of consumption for each food group composing the Mediterranean diet. CONCLUSIONS: The Mediterranean diet was found to be a healthy dietary pattern in terms of morbidity and mortality. By using data from the cohort studies we proposed a literature-based adherence score that can represent an easy tool for the estimation of adherence to the Mediterranean diet also at the individual level."}
{"id": "MED-1404", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this work was to meta-analyze prospective studies that have evaluated the effect of a Mediterranean diet on the development of type 2 diabetes. MATERIALS/METHODS: PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched up to 20 November 2013. English language publications were allocated; 17 original research studies (1 clinical trial, 9 prospective and 7 cross-sectional) were identified. Primary analyses were limited to prospective studies and clinical trials, yielding to a sample of 136,846 participants. A systematic review and a random effects meta-analysis were conducted. RESULTS: Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with 23% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes (combined relative risk for upper versus lowest available centile: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.89). Subgroup analyses based on region, health status of participants and number of confounders controlling for, showed similar results. Limitations include variations in Mediterranean diet adherence assessment tools, confounders' adjustment, duration of follow up and number of events with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: The presented results are of major public health importance, since no consensus exists concerning the best anti-diabetic diet. Mediterranean diet could, if appropriately adjusted to reflect local food availability and individual's needs, constitute a beneficial nutritional choice for the primary prevention of diabetes. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1405", "text": "Background Polyphenols may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other chronic diseases due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as their beneficial effects on blood pressure, lipids and insulin resistance. However, no previous epidemiological studies have evaluated the relationship between the intake of total polyphenols intake and polyphenol subclasses with overall mortality. Our aim was to evaluate whether polyphenol intake is associated with all-cause mortality in subjects at high cardiovascular risk. Methods We used data from the PREDIMED study, a 7,447-participant, parallel-group, randomized, multicenter, controlled five-year feeding trial aimed at assessing the effects of the Mediterranean Diet in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Polyphenol intake was calculated by matching food consumption data from repeated food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) with the Phenol-Explorer database on the polyphenol content of each reported food. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between polyphenol intake and mortality were estimated using time-dependent Cox proportional hazard models. Results Over an average of 4.8\u00a0years of follow-up, we observed 327 deaths. After multivariate adjustment, we found a 37% relative reduction in all-cause mortality comparing the highest versus the lowest quintiles of total polyphenol intake (hazard ratio (HR)\u2009=\u20090.63; 95% CI 0.41 to 0.97; P for trend\u2009=\u20090.12). Among the polyphenol subclasses, stilbenes and lignans were significantly associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR =0.48; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.91; P for trend\u2009=\u20090.04 and HR\u2009=\u20090.60; 95% CI 0.37 to 0.97; P for trend\u2009=\u20090.03, respectively), with no significant associations apparent in the rest (flavonoids or phenolic acids). Conclusions Among high-risk subjects, those who reported a high polyphenol intake, especially of stilbenes and lignans, showed a reduced risk of overall mortality compared to those with lower intakes. These results may be useful to determine optimal polyphenol intake or specific food sources of polyphenols that may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality. Clinical trial registration ISRCTN35739639."}
{"id": "MED-1406", "text": "The relation between dietary magnesium intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or mortality was evaluated in several prospective studies, but few of them have assessed the risk of all-cause mortality, which has never been evaluated in Mediterranean adults at high cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to assess the association between magnesium intake and CVD and mortality risk in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk with high average magnesium intake. The present study included 7216 men and women aged 55-80 y from the PREDIMED (Prevenci\u00f3n con Dieta Mediterr\u00e1nea) study, a randomized clinical trial. Participants were assigned to 1 of 2 Mediterranean diets (supplemented with nuts or olive oil) or to a control diet (advice on a low-fat diet). Mortality was ascertained by linkage to the National Death Index and medical records. We fitted multivariable-adjusted Cox regressions to assess associations between baseline energy-adjusted tertiles of magnesium intake and relative risk of CVD and mortality. Multivariable analyses with generalized estimating equation models were used to assess the associations between yearly repeated measurements of magnesium intake and mortality. After a median follow-up of 4.8 y, 323 total deaths, 81 cardiovascular deaths, 130 cancer deaths, and 277 cardiovascular events occurred. Energy-adjusted baseline magnesium intake was inversely associated with cardiovascular, cancer, and all-cause mortality. Compared with lower consumers, individuals in the highest tertile of magnesium intake had a 34% reduction in mortality risk (HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.95; P < 0.01). Dietary magnesium intake was inversely associated with mortality risk in Mediterranean individuals at high risk of CVD. This trial was registered at controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN35739639."}
{"id": "MED-1408", "text": "OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively synthesize all studies that examine the association between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of stroke, depression, cognitive impairment, and Parkinson disease. METHODS: Potentially eligible publications were those providing effect estimates of relative risk (RR) for the association between Mediterranean diet and the aforementioned outcomes. Studies were sought in PubMed up to October 31, 2012. Maximally adjusted effect estimates were extracted; separate analyses were performed for high and moderate adherence. RESULTS: Twenty-two eligible studies were included (11 covered stroke, 9 covered depression, and 8 covered cognitive impairment; only 1 pertained to Parkinson's disease). High adherence to Mediterranean diet was consistently associated with reduced risk for stroke (RR = 0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.57-0.89), depression (RR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.54-0.86), and cognitive impairment (RR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.43-0.83). Moderate adherence was similarly associated with reduced risk for depression and cognitive impairment, whereas the protective trend concerning stroke was only marginal. Subgroup analyses highlighted the protective actions of high adherence in terms of reduced risk for ischemic stroke, mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and particularly Alzheimer disease. Meta-regression analysis indicated that the protective effects of Mediterranean diet in stroke prevention seemed more sizeable among males. Concerning depression, the protective effects of high adherence seemed independent of age, whereas the favorable actions of moderate adherence seemed to fade away with more advanced age. INTERPRETATION: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet may contribute to the prevention of a series of brain diseases; this may be of special value given the aging of Western societies. \u00a9 2013 American Neurological Association."}
{"id": "MED-1409", "text": "This study compares the prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD), risk factors (RF), and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among Cretan men from a rural area examined in 1960 and 1991. The study population consisted of 148 men in 1960 and 42 men in 1991 of the same age group (fifty-five to fifty-nine years old) and from the same rural area. All men had a complete examination of the cardiovascular system and a resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Systolic BP (SBP) > or = 140 mmHg was found in 42.6% of the subjects in 1960 and in 45.2% in 1991 (NS). Diastolic BP > or = 95 mmHG was found in 14.9% of the subjects in 1960 as opposed to 33.3% in 1991 (P < 0.02). Total serum cholesterol (TSCH) > or = 260 mg/dL approximately 6.7 mmol/L) was found in 12.8% of the subjects in 1960 and in 28.6% in 1991 (P < 0.01). Heavy smokers ( > or = 20 cigarettes/daily) were 27.0% in 1960 as compared with 35.7% in 1991 (:NS); 5.4% of the subjects in 1960 had light physical activity (PA) as compared with 14.3% in 1991 (P < 0.01); 74.7% of the subjects were farmers in 1960 as compared with 43.6% in 1991 (P < 0.1). The prevalence of CHD was 0.7% in 1960 as compared with 9.5% in 1991 (P < 0.001). Hypertensive heart disease was found in 3.4% of the subjects in 1960 and 4.8% in 1991 (NS). The prevalence of all major CVD was much higher in 1991 (19.1%) as compared with 1960 (8.8%) (P < 0.01). In conclusion, the prevalence of CHD RF and CVD was much higher in 1991 than in 1960 for Cretan men of the same age group. This higher prevalence seems to be related to dietary and life-style changes that have taken place in Crete during the last thirty years."}
{"id": "MED-1410", "text": "In 15 cohorts of the Seven Countries Study, comprising 11,579 men aged 40-59 years and \"healthy\" at entry, 2,288 died in 15 years. Death rates differed among cohorts. Differences in mean age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and smoking habits \"explained\" 46% of variance in death rate from all causes, 80% from coronary heart disease, 35% from cancer, and 45% from stroke. Death rate differences were unrelated to cohort differences in mean relative body weight, fatness, and physical activity. The cohorts differed in average diets. Death rates were related positively to average percentage of dietary energy from saturated fatty acids, negatively to dietary energy percentage from monounsaturated fatty acids, and were unrelated to dietary energy percentage from polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and alcohol. All death rates were negatively related to the ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fatty acids. Inclusion of that ratio with age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and smoking habits as independent variables accounted for 85% of variance in rates of deaths from all causes, 96% coronary heart disease, 55% cancer, and 66% stroke. Oleic acid accounted for almost all differences in monounsaturates among cohorts. All-cause and coronary heart disease death rates were low in cohorts with olive oil as the main fat. Causal relationships are not claimed but consideration of characteristics of populations as well as of individuals within populations is urged in evaluating risks."}
{"id": "MED-1411", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to meta-analyze epidemiological studies and clinical trials that have assessed the effect of a Mediterranean diet on metabolic syndrome (MS) as well as its components. BACKGROUND: The Mediterranean diet has long been associated with low cardiovascular disease risk in adult population. METHODS: The authors conducted a systematic review and random effects meta-analysis of epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials, including English-language publications in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials until April 30, 2010; 50 original research studies (35 clinical trials, 2 prospective and 13 cross-sectional), with 534,906 participants, were included in the analysis. RESULTS: The combined effect of prospective studies and clinical trials showed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced risk of MS (log hazard ratio: -0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.24 to -1.16). Additionally, results from clinical studies (mean difference, 95% CI) revealed the protective role of the Mediterranean diet on components of MS, like waist circumference (-0.42 cm, 95% CI: -0.82 to -0.02), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.17 mg/dl, 95% CI: 0.38 to 1.96), triglycerides (-6.14 mg/dl, 95% CI: -10.35 to -1.93), systolic (-2.35 mm Hg, 95% CI: -3.51 to -1.18) and diastolic blood pressure (-1.58 mm Hg, 95% CI: -2.02 to -1.13), and glucose (-3.89 mg/dl, 95% CI:-5.84 to -1.95), whereas results from epidemiological studies also confirmed those of clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: These results are of considerable public health importance, because this dietary pattern can be easily adopted by all population groups and various cultures and cost-effectively serve for primary and secondary prevention of the MS and its individual components. Copyright \u00a9 2011 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1412", "text": "Mean faecal pH values did not differ significantly in groups of rural South African Black schoolchildren of 10--12 years who ate their traditional high-fibre low-fat diet, and urban dwellers who consumed a partially westernized diet. However, both means were significantly lower than those of groups of White schoolchildren. In feeding studies of 5 days' duration, mean faecal pH value of Black children became significantly less acid when white bread replaced maize meal, and became significantly more acid when a supplement of 6 oranges was consumed daily. Supplements which consisted of skim milk, butter, and sugar had no significant effect on mean faecal pH value. In White children in an institution, the mean pH value of faeces became significantly more acid when a supplement of 6 oranges, although not of bran 'crunchies', was consumed daily."}
{"id": "MED-1413", "text": "The human oro-gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a complex system, consisting of oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus, which all together with the accessory digestive organs constitute the digestive system. The function of the digestive system is to break down dietary constituents into small molecules and then absorb these for subsequent distribution throughout the body. Besides digestion and carbohydrate metabolism, the indigenous microbiota has an important influence on host physiological, nutritional and immunological processes, and commensal bacteria are able to modulate the expression of host genes that regulate diverse and fundamental physiological functions. The main external factors that can affect the composition of the microbial community in generally healthy adults include major dietary changes and antibiotic therapy. Changes in some selected bacterial groups have been observed due to controlled changes to the normal diet e.g. high-protein diet, high-fat diet, prebiotics, probiotics and polyphenols. More specifically, changes in the type and quantity of non-digestible carbohydrates in the human diet influence both the metabolic products formed in the lower regions of the GI tract and the bacterial populations detected in faeces. The interactions between dietary factors, gut microbiota and host metabolism are increasingly demonstrated to be important for maintaining homeostasis and health. Therefore the aim of this review is to summarise the effect of diet, and especially dietary interventions, on the human gut microbiota. Furthermore, the most important confounding factors (methodologies used and intrinsic human factors) in relation to gut microbiota analyses are elucidated."}
{"id": "MED-1414", "text": "Considerable evidence suggests that the carcinogens or co-carcinogens responsible for the development of colorectal cancer are either bacterially degraded bile acids or cholesterol. It is proposed that a high colonic pH promotes co-carcinogen formation from these substances and that acidification of the colon either by dietary fibre (following its bacterial digestion to short-chain fatty acids) or milk (in lactose-intolerant individuals) may prevent this process."}
{"id": "MED-1415", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Consisting of \u224810(14) microbial cells, the intestinal microbiota represents the largest and the most complex microbial community inhabiting the human body. However, the influence of regular diets on the microbiota is widely unknown. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We examined faecal samples of vegetarians (n=144), vegans (n=105) and an equal number of control subjects consuming ordinary omnivorous diet who were matched for age and gender. We used classical bacteriological isolation, identification and enumeration of the main anaerobic and aerobic bacterial genera and computed absolute and relative numbers that were compared between groups. RESULTS: Total counts of Bacteroides spp., Bifidobacterium spp., Escherichia coli and Enterobacteriaceae spp. were significantly lower (P=0.001, P=0.002, P=0.006 and P=0.008, respectively) in vegan samples than in controls, whereas others (E. coli biovars, Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., other Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus spp., Lactobacillus spp., Citrobacter spp. and Clostridium spp.) were not. Subjects on a vegetarian diet ranked between vegans and controls. The total microbial count did not differ between the groups. In addition, subjects on a vegan or vegetarian diet showed significantly (P=0.0001) lower stool pH than did controls, and stool pH and counts of E. coli and Enterobacteriaceae were significantly correlated across all subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Maintaining a strict vegan or vegetarian diet results in a significant shift in the microbiota while total cell numbers remain unaltered."}
{"id": "MED-1416", "text": "Mean faecal urobilinogen levels and the pH of stools were both found to be higher in subjects from a population group at high risk of developing cancer of the colon than in subjects matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status from a low-risk population group. An alkaline reaction of the colon contents seems to have a tumorigenic effect by a direct action on the mucus of the mucous cells. An acidic reaction, on the other hand, appears to be protective. These differences are dependent on the patterns of diet and manner of eating. Proper mastication of food, roughage, cellulose and vegetable fibre, and short-chain fatty acids of milk and fermented milk products in the diet appear to be protective."}
{"id": "MED-1417", "text": "Background: Epidemiologic studies have suggested that most cases of sporadic colon cancer can be attributed to diet. The recognition that colonic microbiota have a major influence on colonic health suggests that they might mediate colonic carcinogenesis. Objective: To examine the hypothesis that the influence of diet on colon cancer risk is mediated by the microbiota through their metabolites, we measured differences in colonic microbes and their metabolites in African Americans with a high risk and in rural native Africans with a low risk of colon cancer. Design: Fresh fecal samples were collected from 12 healthy African Americans aged 50\u201365 y and from 12 age- and sex-matched native Africans. Microbiomes were analyzed with 16S ribosomal RNA gene pyrosequencing together with quantitative polymerase chain reaction of the major fermentative, butyrate-producing, and bile acid\u2013deconjugating bacteria. Fecal short-chain fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography and bile acids by liquid chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry. Results: Microbial composition was fundamentally different, with a predominance of Prevotella in native Africans (enterotype 2) and of Bacteroides in African Americans (enterotype 1). Total bacteria and major butyrate-producing groups were significantly more abundant in fecal samples from native Africans. Microbial genes encoding for secondary bile acid production were more abundant in African Americans, whereas those encoding for methanogenesis and hydrogen sulfide production were higher in native Africans. Fecal secondary bile acid concentrations were higher in African Americans, whereas short-chain fatty acids were higher in native Africans. Conclusion: Our results support the hypothesis that colon cancer risk is influenced by the balance between microbial production of health-promoting metabolites such as butyrate and potentially carcinogenic metabolites such as secondary bile acids."}
{"id": "MED-1418", "text": "Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) is produced by indigenous sulfate-reducing bacteria in the large intestine and represents an environmental insult to the colonic epithelium. Clinical studies have linked the presence of either sulfate-reducing bacteria or H(2)S in the colon with chronic disorders such as ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer, although at this point, the evidence is circumstantial and underlying mechanisms remain undefined. We showed previously that sulfide at concentrations similar to those found in the human colon induced genomic DNA damage in mammalian cells. The present study addressed the nature of the DNA damage by determining if sulfide is directly genotoxic or if genotoxicity requires cellular metabolism. We also questioned if sulfide genotoxicity is mediated by free radicals and if DNA base oxidation is involved. Naked nuclei from untreated Chinese hamster ovary cells were treated with sulfide; DNA damage was induced by concentrations as low as 1 micromol/L. This damage was effectively quenched by cotreatment with butylhydroxyanisole. Furthermore, sulfide treatment increased the number of oxidized bases recognized by formamidopyrimidine [fapy]-DNA glycosylase. These results confirm the genotoxicity of sulfide and strongly implicate that this genotoxicity is mediated by free radicals. These observations highlight the possible role of sulfide as an environmental insult that, given a predisposing genetic background, may lead to genomic instability or the cumulative mutations characteristic of colorectal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1419", "text": "To determine the effects of different diets on the genotoxicity of human faecal water, a diet rich in fat, meat and sugar but poor in vegetables and free of wholemeal products (diet 1) was consumed by seven healthy volunteers over a period of 12 days. One week after the end of this period, the volunteers started to consume a diet enriched with vegetables and wholemeal products but poor in fat and meat (diet 2) over a second period of 12 days. The genotoxic effect of faecal waters obtained after both diets was assessed with the single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet assay) using the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line HT29 clone 19a as a target. The fluorescence and length of the tails of the comet images reflects the degree of DNA damage in single cells. The mean DNA damage, expressed as the ratio of tail intensity (fluorescence in the tail) to total intensity of the comet after incubation with faecal water from volunteers consuming diet 1 was about twice as high as for diet 2. The susceptibility of the cells incubated with faecal water to DNA damage caused by additional hydrogen peroxide treatment showed no significant differences between the two diets. Generation of oxidized pyrimidine and purine bases revealed no differences after pretreatment with both types of faecal water. The results indicate that diets high in fat and meat but low in dietary fibre increase the genotoxicity of faecal water to colonic cells and may contribute to an enhanced risk of colorectal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1421", "text": "BACKGROUND: Hydrogen sulfide is a luminally acting, bacterially derived cell poison that has been implicated in ulcerative colitis. Sulfide generation in the colon is probably driven by dietary components such as sulfur-containing amino acids (SAAs) and inorganic sulfur (eg, sulfite). OBJECTIVE: We assessed the contribution of SAAs from meat to sulfide production by intestinal bacteria with use of both a model culture system in vitro and an in vivo human feeding study. DESIGN: Five healthy men were housed in a metabolic suite and fed a sequence of 5 diets for 10 d each. Meat intake ranged from 0 g/d with a vegetarian diet to 600 g/d with a high-meat diet. Fecal sulfide and urinary sulfate were measured in samples collected on days 9 and 10 of each diet period. Additionally, 5 or 10 g bovine serum albumin or casein/L was added to batch cultures inoculated with feces from 4 healthy volunteers. Concentrations of sulfide, ammonia, and Lowry-reactive substances were measured over 48 h. RESULTS: Mean (+/-SEM) fecal sulfide concentrations ranged from 0.22 +/- 0.02 mmol/kg with the 0-g/d diet to 3.38 +/- 0.31 mmol/kg with the 600-g/d diet and were significantly related to meat intake (P: < 0.001). Sulfide formation in fecal batch cultures supplemented with both bovine serum albumin and casein correlated with protein digestion, as measured by the disappearance of Lowry-reactive substances and the appearance of ammonia. CONCLUSION: Dietary protein from meat is an important substrate for sulfide generation by bacteria in the human large intestine."}
{"id": "MED-1425", "text": "We examined the correlation between the incidence of Crohn disease and dietary change in a relatively homogeneous Japanese population. The incidence and daily intake of each dietary component were compared annually from 1966 to 1985. The univariate analysis showed that the increased incidence of Crohn disease was strongly (P < 0.001) correlated with increased dietary intake of total fat (r = 0.919). animal fat (r = 0.880), n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (r = 0.883), animal protein (r = 0.908), milk protein (r = 0.924), and the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acid intake (r = 0.792). It was less correlated with intake of total protein (r = 0.482, P < 0.05), was not correlated with intake of fish protein (r = 0.055, P > 0.1), and was inversely correlated with intake of vegetable protein (r = -0.941, P < 0.001). The multivariate analysis showed that increased intake of animal protein was the strongest independent factor with a weaker second factor, an increased ration of n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The present study in association with reported clinical studies suggests that increased dietary intake of animal protein and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids with less n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may contribute to the development of Crohn disease."}
{"id": "MED-1431", "text": "Objective: Several studies report that diabetes increases risk of cognitive impairment; some have hypothesized that advanced glycation end products (AGEs) underlie this association. AGEs are cross-linked products that result from reactions between glucose and proteins. Little is known about the association between peripheral AGE concentration and cognitive aging. Methods: We prospectively studied 920 elders without dementia, 495 with diabetes and 425 with normal glucose (mean age 74.0 years). Using mixed models, we examined baseline AGE concentration, measured with urine pentosidine and analyzed as tertile, and performance on the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) at baseline and repeatedly over 9 years. Incident cognitive impairment (a decline of >1.0 SD on each test) was analyzed with logistic regression. Results: Older adults with high pentosidine level had worse baseline DSST score (p=0.05) but not different 3MS score (p=0.32). On both tests, there was a more pronounced 9-year decline in those with high and mid pentosidine level compared to those in the lowest tertile (3MS 7.0, 5.4, and 2.5 point decline, p overall <0.001; DSST 5.9, 7.4, and 4.5 point decline, p=0.03). Incident cognitive impairment was higher in those with high or mid pentosidine level than those in the lowest tertile (3MS: 24% vs 17%, odds ratio=1.55; 95% confidence interval 1.07\u20132.26; DSST: 31% vs 22%, odds ratio=1.62; 95% confidence interval 1.13\u20132.33). There was no interaction between pentosidine level, diabetes status, and cognitive decline. Multivariate adjustment for age, sex, race, education, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and diabetes diminished results somewhat but overall patterns remained similar. Conclusion: High peripheral AGE level is associated with greater cognitive decline in older adults with and without diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1432", "text": "Sirtuins (SIRTs), a family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylases, are emerging as key molecules that regulate aging and age-related diseases including cancers, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. Seven isoforms of SIRT (SIRT1\u20137) have been identified in mammals. SIRT1 and 6, mainly localized in the nucleus, regulate transcription of genes and DNA repair. SIRT3 in the mitochondria regulates mitochondrial bioenergetics. Initial studies in yeasts, nematodes, and flies indicated a strong connection of SIRT with the life-prolonging effects of calorie restriction (CR), a robust experimental intervention for longevity in a range of organisms. However, subsequent studies reported controversial findings regarding SIRT roles in the effect of CR. This review describes the functional roles of mammalian SIRTs and discusses their relevance to mechanisms underlying the longevity effect of CR."}
{"id": "MED-1433", "text": "Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are a heterogeneous, complex group of compounds that are formed when reducing sugar reacts in a non-enzymatic way with amino acids in proteins and other macromolecules. This occurs both exogenously (in food) and endogenously (in humans) with greater concentrations found in older adults. While higher AGEs occur in both healthy older adults and those with chronic diseases, research is progressing to both quantify AGEs in food and in people, and to identify mechanisms that would explain why some human tissues are damaged, and others are not. In the last twenty years, there has been increased evidence that AGEs could be implicated in the development of chronic degenerative diseases of aging, such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and with complications of diabetes mellitus. Results of several studies in animal models and humans show that the restriction of dietary AGEs has positive effects on wound healing, insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, the effect of restriction in AGEs intake has been reported to increase the lifespan in animal models. This paper will summarize the work that has been published for both food AGEs and in vivo AGEs and their relation with aging, as well as provide suggestions for future research."}
{"id": "MED-1434", "text": "Silent information regulator two proteins (sirtuins or SIRTs) are a group of histone deacetylases whose activities are dependent on and regulated by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). They suppress genome-wide transcription, yet upregulate a select set of proteins related to energy metabolism and pro-survival mechanisms, and therefore play a key role in the longevity effects elicited by calorie restriction. Recently, a neuroprotective effect of sirtuins has been reported for both acute and chronic neurological diseases. The focus of this review is to summarize the latest progress regarding the protective effects of sirtuins, with a focus on SIRT1. We first introduce the distribution of sirtuins in the brain and how their expression and activity are regulated. We then highlight their protective effects against common neurological disorders, such as cerebral ischemia, axonal injury, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Parkinson\u2019s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis. Finally, we analyze the mechanisms underlying sirtuin-mediated neuroprotection, centering on their non-histone substrates such as DNA repair enzymes, protein kinases, transcription factors, and coactivators. Collectively, the information compiled here will serve as a comprehensive reference for the actions of sirtuins in the nervous system to date, and will hopefully help to design further experimental research and expand sirtuins as therapeutic targets in the future."}
{"id": "MED-1435", "text": "Age-related loss of brain tissue has been inferred from cross-sectional neuroimaging studies, but direct measurements of gray and white matter changes from longitudinal studies are lacking. We quantified longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 92 nondemented older adults (age 59-85 years at baseline) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging to determine the rates and regional distribution of gray and white matter tissue loss in older adults. Using images from baseline, 2 year, and 4 year follow-up, we found significant age changes in gray (p < 0.001) and white (p < 0.001) volumes even in a subgroup of 24 very healthy elderly. Annual rates of tissue loss were 5.4 +/- 0.3, 2.4 +/- 0.4, and 3.1 +/- 0.4 cm3 per year for total brain, gray, and white volumes, respectively, and ventricles increased by 1.4 +/- 0.1 cm3 per year (3.7, 1.3, 2.4, and 1.2 cm3, respectively, in very healthy). Frontal and parietal, compared with temporal and occipital, lobar regions showed greater decline. Gray matter loss was most pronounced for orbital and inferior frontal, cingulate, insular, inferior parietal, and to a lesser extent mesial temporal regions, whereas white matter changes were widespread. In this first study of gray and white matter volume changes, we demonstrate significant longitudinal tissue loss for both gray and white matter even in very healthy older adults. These data provide essential information on the rate and regional pattern of age-associated changes against which pathology can be evaluated and suggest slower rates of brain atrophy in individuals who remain medically and cognitively healthy."}
{"id": "MED-1436", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Sirtuins are a family of enzymes highly conserved in evolution and involved in mechanisms known to promote healthy ageing and longevity. This review aims to discuss recent advances in understanding the role of sirtuins, in particular mammalian SIRT1, in promoting longevity and its potential molecular basis for neuroprotection against cognitive ageing and Alzheimer's disease pathology. RECENT FINDINGS: Accumulative increase in oxidative stress during ageing has been shown to decrease SIRT1 activity in catabolic tissue, possibly by direct inactivation by reactive oxygen. SIRT1 overexpression prevents oxidative stress-induced apoptosis and increases resistance to oxidative stress through regulation of the FOXO family of forkhead transcription factors. In addition, resveratrol strongly stimulates SIRT1 deacetylase activity in a dose-dependent manner by increasing its binding affinity to both the acetylated substrate and NAD(+). Recently, SIRT1 has been shown to affect amyloid production through its influence over the ADAM10 gene. Upregulation of SIRT1 can also induce the Notch pathway and inhibit mTOR signalling. SUMMARY: Recent studies have revealed some of the mechanisms and pathways that are associated with the neuroprotective effects of SIRT1."}
{"id": "MED-1437", "text": "Longevity, lifespan, cancer, cellular transformation, energy, calorie restriction, diabetes--what can tie together such a diversity of hot topics in biomedical research? Emerging findings suggest that the answer lies in understanding the functions of the recently discovered family of proteins known as Sirtuins. Barcelona hosted the first scientific meeting completely focused on these evolutionary conserved protein deacetylases, bringing together experts in the biochemistry to cellular biology, mice models, drug targeting and pathophysiology of these molecules. Their work, summarized here, establishes the Sirtuins as major players in cellular homeostasis and human diseases that act through a whole range of biochemical substrates and physiological processes. Undoubtedly, this is an increasingly expanding field that it is here to stay and growth."}
{"id": "MED-1438", "text": "Background Advanced glycations end products increase oxidant stress, inflammation, and neurotoxicity. Serum levels are increased in diabetes and aging. We examined the relationship between serum methylglyoxal derivatives (sMG), and cognitive decline, in 267 non-demented elderly. Methods Tobit mixed regression models assessed the association of baseline sMG with cognitive decline in the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) over time, controlling for sociodemographic factors (age, sex, and years of education), cardiovascular risk factors (diabetes and presence of an APOE4 allele), and kidney function. sMG was assessed by ELISA. Results The fully adjusted model showed an annual decline of 0.26 MMSE points per unit increase in baseline sMG (p=0.03). Significance was unchanged as additional risk factors were added to the model. The interactions of sMG with diabetes, sex, age, kidney function, and APOE4 genotype were not significant. Conclusions Higher levels of baseline sMG were associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline, after adjusting for several sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. This relationship did not differ by sex, APOE4 genotype, or diabetes status suggesting its generality. Since subjects were cognitively normal at the beginning of the study, elevated sMG may be indicative of brain cell injury initiated before clinically evident cognitive compromise."}
{"id": "MED-1439", "text": "BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the longitudinal age-related changes in human brain volume using stereological methods. METHODS: Sixty-six older participants (34 men, 32 women, age [mean +/- SD] 78.9 +/- 3.3 years, range 74-87 years) with normal baseline and follow-up examinations underwent 2 MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) of the brain on average 4.4 years apart. The volumes of the cerebrum (defined as cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and white matter), lateral ventricles, and cerebellum were estimated on the 2 MRIs using an unbiased stereological method (Cavalieri principle). RESULTS: The annual decrease (mean +/- SD) of the cerebral volume was 2.1% +/- 1.6% (P < .001). The average volume of the lateral ventricles on the second MRI was increased by 5.6% +/- 3.6% per year (P < .001). The average volume of the cerebellum on the second MRI was decreased by 1.2% +/- 2.2% per year (P < .001). Even though the average cerebral volume was significantly different between men and women on initial MRI and second MRI, the percentage change of the age-related cerebral volume decrease in male and female brains between initial MRI and second MRI were identical. CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed that there was age-related atrophy of cerebrum and cerebellum and age-related disproportional enlargement of lateral ventricles in normal older men and women."}
{"id": "MED-1440", "text": "Aging and metabolism-related disorders are risk factors for Alzheimer disease (AD). Since sirtuins may increase the lifespan through regulation of cellular metabolism, we compared the concentration of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in the brains of AD patients (n = 19) and controls (n = 22) using Western immunoblots and in situ hybridization. We report a significant reduction of SIRT1 (mRNA: \u221229%; protein: \u221245%) in the parietal cortex of AD patients, but not in the cerebellum. Further analyses in a second cohort of 36 subjects confirmed that cortical SIRT1 was decreased in the cortex of AD patients but not in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. SIRT1 mRNA and its translated protein correlated negatively with the duration of symptoms (mRNA: r2 = \u22120.367; protein: r2 = \u22120.326) and the accumulation of paired helical filament tau (mRNA: r2 = \u22120.230; protein: r2 = \u22120.119), but weakly with insoluble amyloid-\u03b2(A\u03b242 (mRNA: r2 = \u22120.090; protein: r2 = \u22120.072). A significant relationship between SIRT1 levels and global cognition scores proximate to death was also found (r2 = +0.09; p = 0.049). In contrast, cortical SIRT1 levels remained unchanged in a triple-transgenic animal model of AD. Collectively, our results indicate that loss of SIRT1 is closely associated with the accumulation of A\u03b2 and tau in the cerebral cortex of patients with AD."}
{"id": "MED-1441", "text": "Most ethnic foods and cooking practices have incorporated the use of spices and other food additives. Many common spices have crossed cultural boundaries and appear in multiple ethnic cuisines. Recent studies have demonstrated that many of these ingredients possess antimicrobial properties against common food spoilage microorganisms. We developed a laboratory exercise that promotes the use of scientific methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of salsa components at inhibiting the growth of undesirable microorganisms. Tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalape\u00f1o were tested for antimicrobial properties against a representative fungus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the common food spoilage bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli. Each component was ethanol extracted and a modification of the Kirby-Bauer method of antimicrobial sensitivity was employed. Garlic demonstrated the greatest inhibitory effects against all organisms tested. Onion demonstrated a slight inhibition of all four organisms, while cilantro showed some inhibition of all three bacteria but no effect against the fungus. Jalape\u00f1o may have slightly inhibited E. coli and S. aureus, as evidenced by a consistently measured increase in the zone of inhibition that was not statistically significant when compared to that of the control. Following the initial exercise, students were given the opportunity to repeat the exercise using other spices such as cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and coriander. Student learning outcomes were evaluated using preliminary and secondary surveys, mainly focusing on definitions of science and hypothesis as well as the process of science. Students enjoyed this exercise and met the learning goals of understanding the process and methodology of science, as well as the interdisciplinarity inherent in the sciences. Student learning was evidenced by an increase in the number of correct responses on the secondary survey in comparison to the preliminary."}
{"id": "MED-1442", "text": "We explored genetic influences on the perception of taste and smell stimuli. Adult twins rated the chemosensory aspects of water, sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, ethanol, quinine hydrochloride, phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), potassium chloride, calcium chloride, cinnamon, androstenone, Galaxolide\u2122, cilantro, and basil. For most traits, individual differences were stable over time and some traits were heritable (h2 from 0.41 to 0.71). Subjects were genotyped for 44 single nucleotide polymorphisms within and near genes related to taste and smell. The results of these association analyses confirmed previous genotype\u2013phenotype results for PTC, quinine, and androstenone. New associations were detected for ratings of basil and a bitter taste receptor gene, TAS2R60, and between cilantro and variants in three genes (TRPA1, GNAT3, and TAS2R50). The flavor of ethanol was related to variation within an olfactory receptor gene (OR7D4) and a gene encoding a subunit of the epithelial sodium channel (SCNN1D). Our study demonstrates that person-to-person differences in the taste and smell perception of simple foods and drinks are partially accounted for by genetic variation within chemosensory pathways."}
{"id": "MED-1444", "text": "Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), a herbal plant, belonging to the family Apiceae, is valued for its culinary and medicinal uses. All parts of this herb are in use as flavoring agent and/or as traditional remedies for the treatment of different disorders in the folk medicine systems of different civilizations. The plant is a potential source of lipids (rich in petroselinic acid) and an essential oil (high in linalool) isolated from the seeds and the aerial parts. Due to the presence of a multitude of bioactives, a wide array of pharmacological activities have been ascribed to different parts of this herb, which include anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anxiolytic, anti-epileptic, anti-depressant, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-dyslipidemic, anti-hypertensive, neuro-protective and diuretic. Interestingly, coriander also possessed lead-detoxifying potential. This review focuses on the medicinal uses, detailed phytochemistry, and the biological activities of this valuable herb to explore its potential uses as a functional food for the nutraceutical industry. Copyright \u00a9 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1445", "text": "PURPOSE: This study investigated the effect of a low-fat, plant-based diet on body weight, metabolism, and insulin sensitivity, while controlling for exercise in free-living individuals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In an outpatient setting, 64 overweight, postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to a low-fat, vegan diet or a control diet based on National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines, without energy intake limits, and were asked to maintain exercise unchanged. Dietary intake, body weight and composition, resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of food, and insulin sensitivity were measured at baseline and 14 weeks. RESULTS: Mean +/- standard deviation intervention-group body weight decreased 5.8 +/- 3.2 kg, compared with 3.8 +/- 2.8 kg in the control group (P = .012). In a regression model of predictors of weight change, including diet group and changes in energy intake, thermic effect of food, resting metabolic rate, and reported energy expenditure, significant effects were found for diet group (P < .05), thermic effect of food (P < .05), and resting metabolic rate (P < .001). An index of insulin sensitivity increased from 4.6 +/- 2.9 to 5.7 +/- 3.9 (P = .017) in the intervention group, but the difference between groups was not significant (P = .17). CONCLUSION: Adoption of a low-fat, vegan diet was associated with significant weight loss in overweight postmenopausal women, despite the absence of prescribed limits on portion size or energy intake."}
{"id": "MED-1446", "text": "Literature on the association of protein intake with body weight is inconsistent. Little is known about the relation of long-term protein intake to obesity. This study aimed to determine the association between protein intake and obesity. A cohort of 1,730 employed white men ages 40\u201355 years from the Chicago Western Electric Study was followed from 1958 to 1966. Diet was assessed twice with Burke\u2019s comprehensive diet history method, at two baseline examinations; height, weight, and other covariates were measured annually by trained interviewers. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to examine the relation of baseline total, animal, and vegetable protein intake to likelihood of being overweight or obese at sequential annual examinations. Dietary animal protein was positively related to overweight and obesity over seven years of follow up. With adjustment for potential confounders (age, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, energy, carbohydrate and saturated fat intake, and history of diabetes or other chronic disease), the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for obesity were 4.62 (2.68\u20137.98, p for trend<0.01) for participants in the highest compared to the lowest quartile of animal protein and 0.58 (0.36, 0.95, p for trend=0.053) for those in the highest quartile of vegetable protein intake. A statistically significant, positive association was seen between animal protein intake and obesity; those in higher quartiles of vegetable protein intake had lower odds of being obese. These results indicate that animal and vegetable protein may relate differently to occurrence of obesity in the long run."}
{"id": "MED-1447", "text": "Background/objectives: To assess the effects on macro- and micronutrient intake of a nutrition intervention program in corporate settings across the United States. Subjects/methods: Two hundred and ninety-two individuals who were overweight or had type 2 diabetes were recruited from 10 sites of a US insurance company. Two hundred and seventy-one participants completed baseline diet recalls, and 183 participants completed dietary recalls at 18 weeks. Sites were randomly assigned to an intervention group (five sites) or to a control group (five sites) for 18 weeks. At intervention sites, participants were asked to follow a low-fat vegan diet and attend weekly group meetings. At control sites, participants continued their usual diets. At baseline and 18 weeks, participants completed 2-day diet recalls. Between-group differences in changes in nutrient intake were assessed using an analysis of covariance. Results: Compared with those in the control group, intervention-group participants significantly reduced the reported intake of total fat (P=0.02), saturated (P=0.006) and monounsaturated fats (P=0.01), cholesterol (P=0.009), protein (P=0.03) and calcium (P=0.02), and increased the intake of carbohydrate (P=0.006), fiber (P=0.002), \u03b2-carotene (P=0.01), vitamin C (P=0.003), magnesium (P=0.04) and potassium (P=0.002). Conclusions: An 18-week intervention program in a corporate setting reduces intake of total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol and increases the intake of protective nutrients, particularly fiber, \u03b2-carotene, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. The reduction in calcium intake indicates the need for planning for this nutrient."}
{"id": "MED-1448", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To quantify per capita and aggregate medical expenditures and the value of lost productivity, including absenteeism and presenteeism, because of overweight, and grade I, II, and III obesity among U.S. employees. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the 2008 National Health and Wellness Survey. RESULTS: Among men, estimates range from -$322 for overweight to $6087 for grade III obese men. For women, estimates range from $797 for overweight to $6694 for grade III. In aggregate, the annual cost attributable to obesity among full-time employees is $73.1 billion. Individuals with a body mass index >35 represent 37% of the obese population but are responsible for 61% of excess costs. CONCLUSIONS: Successful efforts to reduce the prevalence of obesity, especially among those with a body mass index >35, could result in significant savings to employers."}
{"id": "MED-1449", "text": "Amid soaring health spending, there is growing interest in workplace disease prevention and wellness programs to improve health and lower costs. In a critical meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with such programs, we found that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent. Although further exploration of the mechanisms at work and broader applicability of the findings is needed, this return on investment suggests that the wider adoption of such programs could prove beneficial for budgets and productivity as well as health outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-1450", "text": "Background/objectives: To determine the effects of a low-fat plant-based diet program on anthropometric and biochemical measures in a multicenter corporate setting. Subjects/methods: Employees from 10 sites of a major US company with body mass index \u2a7e25\u2009kg/m2 and/or previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were randomized to either follow a low-fat vegan diet, with weekly group support and work cafeteria options available, or make no diet changes for 18 weeks. Dietary intake, body weight, plasma lipid concentrations, blood pressure and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) were determined at baseline and 18 weeks. Results: Mean body weight fell 2.9\u2009kg and 0.06\u2009kg in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P<0.001). Total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol fell 8.0 and 8.1\u2009mg/dl in the intervention group and 0.01 and 0.9\u2009mg/dl in the control group (P<0.01). HbA1C fell 0.6 percentage point and 0.08 percentage point in the intervention and control group, respectively (P<0.01). Among study completers, mean changes in body weight were \u22124.3\u2009kg and \u22120.08\u2009kg in the intervention and control groups, respectively (P<0.001). Total and LDL cholesterol fell 13.7 and 13.0\u2009mg/dl in the intervention group and 1.3 and 1.7\u2009mg/dl in the control group (P<0.001). HbA1C levels decreased 0.7 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point in the intervention and control group, respectively (P<0.01). Conclusions: An 18-week dietary intervention using a low-fat plant-based diet in a corporate setting improves body weight, plasma lipids, and, in individuals with diabetes, glycemic control."}
{"id": "MED-1451", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that comprehensive efforts to reduce a workforce's health and safety risks can be associated with a company's stock market performance. METHODS: Stock market performance of Corporate Health Achievement Award winners was tracked under four different scenarios using simulation and past market performance. RESULTS: A portfolio of companies recognized as award winning for their approach to the health and safety of their workforce outperformed the market. Evidence seems to support that building cultures of health and safety provides a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This research may have also identified an association between companies that focus on health and safety and companies that manage other aspects of their business equally well. CONCLUSIONS: Companies that build a culture of health by focusing on the well-being and safety of their workforce yield greater value for their investors."}
{"id": "MED-1454", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The amount and quality of fat in the diet could be of importance for development of insulin resistance and related metabolic disorders. Our aim was to determine whether a change in dietary fat quality alone could alter insulin action in humans. METHODS: The KANWU study included 162 healthy subjects chosen at random to receive a controlled, isoenergetic diet for 3 months containing either a high proportion of saturated (SAFA diet) or monounsaturated (MUFA diet) fatty acids. Within each group there was a second assignment at random to supplements with fish oil (3.6 g n-3 fatty acids/d) or placebo. RESULTS: Insulin sensitivity was significantly impaired on the saturated fatty acid diet (-10%, p = 0.03) but did not change on the monounsaturated fatty acid diet (+2%, NS) (p = 0.05 for difference between diets). Insulin secretion was not affected. The addition of n-3 fatty acids influenced neither insulin sensitivity nor insulin secretion. The favourable effects of substituting a monounsaturated fatty acid diet for a saturated fatty acid diet on insulin sensitivity were only seen at a total fat intake below median (37E%). Here, insulin sensitivity was 12.5% lower and 8.8% higher on the saturated fatty acid diet and monounsaturated fatty acid diet respectively (p = 0.03). Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) increased on the saturated fatty acid diet (+4.1%, p < 0.01) but decreased on the monounsaturated fatty acid diet (MUFA) (-5.2, p < 0.001), whereas lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] increased on a monounsaturated fatty acid diet by 12% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: A change of the proportions of dietary fatty acids, decreasing saturated fatty acid and increasing monounsaturated fatty acid, improves insulin sensitivity but has no effect on insulin secretion. A beneficial impact of the fat quality on insulin sensitivity is not seen in individuals with a high fat intake (> 37E%)."}
{"id": "MED-1455", "text": "The ingestion of excessive amounts of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and transfatty acids (TFAs) is considered to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and obesity. The focus of this paper was to elucidate the influence of dietary SFA and TFA intake on the promotion of lipotoxicity to the liver and cardiovascular, endothelial, and gut microbiota systems, as well as on insulin resistance and endoplasmic reticulum stress. The saturated and transfatty acids favor a proinflammatory state leading to insulin resistance. These fatty acids can be involved in several inflammatory pathways, contributing to disease progression in chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, allergy, cancer, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and heart hypertrophy as well as other metabolic and degenerative diseases. As a consequence, lipotoxicity may occur in several target organs by direct effects, represented by inflammation pathways, and through indirect effects, including an important alteration in the gut microbiota associated with endotoxemia. Interactions between these pathways may perpetuate a feedback process that exacerbates an inflammatory state. The importance of lifestyle modification, including an improved diet, is recommended as a strategy for treatment of these diseases."}
{"id": "MED-1456", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that dietary factors in the vegan diet lead to improved insulin sensitivity and lower intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) storage. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, London, UK. SUBJECTS: A total of 24 vegans and 25 omnivores participated in this study; three vegan subjects could not be matched therefore the matched results are shown for 21 vegans and 25 omnivores. The subjects were matched for gender, age and body mass index (BMI). INTERVENTIONS: Full anthropometry, 7-day dietary assessment and physical activity levels were obtained. Insulin sensitivity (%S) and beta-cell function (%B) were determined using the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA). IMCL levels were determined using in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; total body fat content was assessed by bioelectrical impedance. RESULTS: There was no difference between the groups in sex, age, BMI, waist measurement, percentage body fat, activity levels and energy intake. Vegans had a significantly lower systolic blood pressure (-11.0 mmHg, CI -20.6 to -1.3, P=0.027) and higher dietary intake of carbohydrate (10.7%, CI 6.8-14.5, P<0.001), nonstarch polysaccharides (20.7 g, CI 15.8-25.6, P<0.001) and polyunsaturated fat (2.8%, CI 1.0-4.6, P=0.003), with a significantly lower glycaemic index (-3.7, CI -6.7 to -0.7, P=0.01). Also, vegans had lower fasting plasma triacylglycerol (-0.7 mmol/l, CI -0.9 to -0.4, P<0.001) and glucose (-0.4 mmol/l, CI -0.7 to -0.09, P=0.05) concentrations. There was no significant difference in HOMA %S but there was with HOMA %B (32.1%, CI 10.3-53.9, P=0.005), while IMCL levels were significantly lower in the soleus muscle (-9.7, CI -16.2 to -3.3, P=0.01). CONCLUSION: Vegans have a food intake and a biochemical profile that will be expected to be cardioprotective, with lower IMCL accumulation and beta-cell protective."}
{"id": "MED-1457", "text": "Obesity and type 2 diabetes have been associated with a high-fat diet (HFD) and reduced mitochondrial mass and function. We hypothesized a HFD may affect expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function and biogenesis. To test this hypothesis, we fed 10 insulin-sensitive males an isoenergetic HFD for 3 days with muscle biopsies before and after intervention. Oligonucleotide microarray analysis revealed 297 genes were differentially regulated by the HFD (Bonferonni adjusted P < 0.001). Six genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) decreased. Four were members of mitochondrial complex I: NDUFB3, NDUFB5, NDUFS1, and NDUFV1; one was SDHB in complex II and a mitochondrial carrier protein SLC25A12. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 (PGC1) alpha and PGC1beta mRNA were decreased by -20%, P < 0.01, and -25%, P < 0.01, respectively. In a separate experiment, we fed C57Bl/6J mice a HFD for 3 weeks and found that the same OXPHOS and PGC1 mRNAs were downregulated by approximately 90%, cytochrome C and PGC1alpha protein by approximately 40%. Combined, these results suggest a mechanism whereby HFD downregulates genes necessary for OXPHOS and mitochondrial biogenesis. These changes mimic those observed in diabetes and insulin resistance and, if sustained, may result in mitochondrial dysfunction in the prediabetic/insulin-resistant state."}
{"id": "MED-1458", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vegans have a lower incidence of insulin resistance (IR)-associated diseases and a higher insulin sensitivity (IS) compared with omnivores. The aim of this study was to examine whether the higher IS in vegans relates to markers of mitochondrial biogenesis and to intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Eleven vegans and 10 matched (race, age, sex, body mass index, physical activity and energy intake) omnivorous controls were enrolled in a case-control study. Anthropometry, bioimpedance (BIA), ultrasound measurement of visceral and subcutaneous fat layer, parameters of glucose and lipid homeostasis, hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp and muscle biopsies were performed. Citrate synthase (CS) activity, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and IMCL content were assessed in skeletal muscle samples. RESULTS: Both groups were comparable in anthropometric and BIA parameters, physical activity and protein-energy intake. Vegans had significantly higher glucose disposal (M-value, vegans 8.11\u00b11.51 vs controls 6.31\u00b11.57\u2009mg/kg/min, 95% confidence interval: 0.402 to 3.212, P=0.014), slightly lower IMCL content (vegans 13.91 (7.8 to 44.0) vs controls 17.36 (12.4 to 78.5)\u2009mg/g of muscle, 95% confidence interval: -7.594 to 24.550, P=0.193) and slightly higher relative muscle mtDNA amount (vegans 1.36\u00b10.31 vs controls 1.13\u00b10.36, 95% confidence interval:-0.078 to 0.537, P=0.135). No significant differences were found in CS activity (vegans 18.43\u00b15.05 vs controls 18.16\u00b15.41\u2009\u03bcmol/g/min, 95% confidence interval: -4.503 to 5.050, P=0.906). CONCLUSIONS: Vegans have a higher IS, but comparable mitochondrial density and IMCL content with omnivores. This suggests that a decrease in whole-body glucose disposal may precede muscle lipid accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction in IR development."}
{"id": "MED-1459", "text": "Insulin resistance is a complex metabolic disorder that defies a single etiological pathway. Accumulation of ectopic lipid metabolites, activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway and innate immune pathways have all been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. However, these pathways are also closely linked to changes in fatty acid uptake, lipogenesis, and energy expenditure that can impact ectopic lipid deposition. Ultimately, accumulation of specific lipid metabolites (diacylglycerols and/or ceramides) in liver and skeletal muscle, may be a common pathway leading to impaired insulin signaling and insulin resistance."}
{"id": "MED-1460", "text": "Insulin resistance condition is associated to the development of several syndromes, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. Although the factors linking insulin resistance to these syndromes are not precisely defined yet, evidence suggests that the elevated plasma free fatty acid (FFA) level plays an important role in the development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance. Accordantly, in vivo and in vitro exposure of skeletal muscle and myocytes to physiological concentrations of saturated fatty acids is associated with insulin resistance condition. Several mechanisms have been postulated to account for fatty acids-induced muscle insulin resistance, including Randle cycle, oxidative stress, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. Here we reviewed experimental evidence supporting the involvement of each of these propositions in the development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance induced by saturated fatty acids and propose an integrative model placing mitochondrial dysfunction as an important and common factor to the other mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-1461", "text": "Insulin resistance is the best prediction factor for the clinical onset of type 2 diabetes. It was suggested that intramuscular triglyceride store may be a primary pathogenic factor for its development. To test this hypothesis, 14 young lean offspring of type 2 diabetic parents, a model of in vivo insulin resistance with increased risk to develop diabetes, and 14 healthy subjects matched for anthropomorphic parameters and life habits were studied with 1) euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp to assess whole body insulin sensitivity, 2) localized 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of the soleus (higher content of fiber type I, insulin sensitive) and tibialis anterior (higher content of fiber type IIb, less insulin sensitive) muscles to assess intramyocellular triglyceride content, 3) 13C NMR of the calf subcutaneous adipose tissue to assess composition in saturated/unsaturated carbons of triglyceride fatty acid chains, and 4) dual X-ray energy absorption to assess body composition. Offspring of diabetic parents, notwithstanding normal fat content and distribution, were characterized by insulin resistance and increased intramyocellular triglyceride content in the soleus (P < 0.01) but not in the tibialis anterior (P = 0.19), but showed a normal content of saturated/unsaturated carbons in the fatty acid chain of subcutaneous adipocytes. Stepwise regression analysis selected intramyocellular triglyceride soleus content and plasma free fatty acid levels as the main predictors of whole body insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy revealed intramyocellular abnormalities of lipid metabolism associated with whole body insulin resistance in subjects at high risk of developing diabetes, and might be useful tools for noninvasively monitoring these alterations in diabetes and prediabetic states."}
{"id": "MED-1463", "text": "Insulin resistance is a pathophysiological link of obesity to type 2 diabetes. The initial cause of insulin resistance is critical for prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Lipotoxicity is a well-known concept in the explanation of initiation of insulin resistance. Although there are several prevailing hypotheses about the cellular/molecular mechanisms of lipotoxicity, such as inflammation, oxidative stress, hyperinsulinemia, and ER stress, the relative importance of these hypothesized events remains to be determined. The role of hyperinsulinemia is relatively under documented in the literature for the initiation of insulin resistance. In this review, an interaction of fatty acid and beta-cells, and a synergy between free fatty acids (FFAs) and insulin are emphasized for the role of hyperinsulinemia. This article presents the evidence about FFA-induced insulin secretion in vitro and in vivo, recent advances in the molecular mechanism of FFA action in beta-cells, a role of GPR40 in the development of insulin resistance, and the negative feedback loop of the insulin receptor signal pathway. The negative feedback loop is discussed in detail with a focus on IRS-1 serine kinases. This article provides a substantial support for the role of insulin in the early stages of FFA-associated insulin resistance. The hypothesis of insulin's role in lipotoxicity is referred to as the \"insulin hypothesis\" in this review. According to this hypothesis, prevention of increased beta-cell response to glucose may be a potential approach for early intervention of metabolic syndrome."}
{"id": "MED-1466", "text": "Rat muscle studies suggest competition between free fatty acids (FFA) and glucose for oxidation, resulting in glucose-6-phosphate accumulation. However, FFA decrease glucose-6-phosphate in human skeletal muscle, indicating direct inhibition of glucose transport/phosphorylation. This mechanism could redirect glucose from muscle to brain during fasting and explain the insulin resistance associated with high-lipid diets and obesity."}
{"id": "MED-1467", "text": "Human adiposity has long been associated with insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular risk, and abdominal adiposity is considered particularly adverse. Intra-abdominal fat is associated with insulin resistance, possibly mediated by greater lipolytic activity, lower adiponectin levels, resistance to leptin, and increased inflammatory cytokines, although the latter contribution is less clear. Liver lipid is also closely associated with, and likely to be an important contributor to, insulin resistance, but it may also be in part the consequence of the lipogenic pathway of insulin action being up-regulated by hyperinsulinemia and unimpaired signaling. Again, intramyocellular triglyceride is associated with muscle insulin resistance, but anomalies include higher intramyocellular triglyceride in insulin-sensitive athletes and women (vs men). Such issues could be explained if the \"culprits\" were active lipid moieties such as diacylglycerol and ceramide species, dependent more on lipid metabolism and partitioning than triglyceride amount. Subcutaneous fat, especially gluteofemoral, appears metabolically protective, illustrated by insulin resistance and dyslipidemia in patients with lipodystrophy. However, some studies suggest that deep sc abdominal fat may have adverse properties. Pericardial and perivascular fat relate to atheromatous disease, but not clearly to insulin resistance. There has been recent interest in recognizable brown adipose tissue in adult humans and its possible augmentation by a hormone, irisin, from exercising muscle. Brown adipose tissue is metabolically active, oxidizes fatty acids, and generates heat but, because of its small and variable quantities, its metabolic importance in humans under usual living conditions is still unclear. Further understanding of specific roles of different lipid depots may help new approaches to control obesity and its metabolic sequelae."}
{"id": "MED-1468", "text": "Obesity is increasing in an epidemic manner in most countries and constitutes a public health problem by enhancing the risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. Owing to the increase in obesity, life expectancy may start to decrease in developed countries for the first time in recent history. The factors determining fat mass in adult humans are not fully understood, but increased lipid storage in already developed fat cells (adipocytes) is thought to be most important. Here we show that adipocyte number is a major determinant for the fat mass in adults. However, the number of fat cells stays constant in adulthood in lean and obese individuals, even after marked weight loss, indicating that the number of adipocytes is set during childhood and adolescence. To establish the dynamics within the stable population of adipocytes in adults, we have measured adipocyte turnover by analysing the integration of 14C derived from nuclear bomb tests in genomic DNA. Approximately 10% of fat cells are renewed annually at all adult ages and levels of body mass index. Neither adipocyte death nor generation rate is altered in early onset obesity, suggesting a tight regulation of fat cell number in this condition during adulthood. The high turnover of adipocytes establishes a new therapeutic target for pharmacological intervention in obesity."}
{"id": "MED-1470", "text": "Recent muscle biopsy studies have shown a relation between intramuscular lipid content and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to test this relation in humans by using a novel proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy technique, which enables non-invasive and rapid (approximately 45 min) determination of intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content. Normal weight non-diabetic adults (n = 23, age 29+/-2 years. BMI = 24.1+/-0.5 kg/m2) were studied using cross-sectional analysis. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by a 2-h hyperinsulinaemic (approximately 450 pmol/l)-euglycaemic (approximately 5 mmol/l) clamp test. Intramyocellular lipid concentrations were determined by using localized 1H NMR spectroscopy of soleus muscle. Simple linear regression analysis showed an inverse correlation (r = -0.579, p = 0.0037) [corrected] between intramyocellular lipid content and M-value (100-120 min of clamp) as well as between fasting plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentration and M-value (r = -0.54, p = 0.0267). Intramyocellular lipid content was not related to BMI, age and fasting plasma concentrations of triglycerides, non-esterified fatty acids, glucose or insulin. These results show that intramyocellular lipid concentration, as assessed non invasively by localized 1H NMR spectroscopy, is a good indicator of whole body insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic, non-obese humans."}
{"id": "MED-1471", "text": "Obesity is commonly associated with elevated plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels, as well as with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, two important cardiovascular risk factors. What causes insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia in obesity remains uncertain. Here, we have tested the hypothesis that FFAs are the link between obesity and insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia and that, therefore, lowering of chronically elevated plasma FFA levels would improve insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia and glucose tolerance in obese nondiabetic and diabetic subjects. Acipimox (250 mg), a long-acting antilipolytic drug, or placebo was given overnight (at 7:00 P.M., 1:00 A.M., 7:00 A.M.) to 9 lean control subjects, 13 obese nondiabetic subjects, 10 obese subjects with impaired glucose tolerance, and 11 patients with type 2 diabetes. Euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps and oral glucose tolerance tests (75 g) were performed on separate mornings after overnight Acipimox or placebo treatment. In the three obese study groups, Acipimox lowered fasting levels of plasma FFAs (by 60-70%) and plasma insulin (by approximately 50%). Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamping was more than twofold higher after Acipimox than after placebo. Areas under the glucose and insulin curves during oral glucose tolerance testing were both approximately 30% lower after Acipimox administration than after placebo. We conclude that lowering of elevated plasma FFA levels can reduce insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia and improve oral glucose tolerance in lean and obese nondiabetic subjects and in obese patients with type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1472", "text": "The initial effects of free fatty acids (FFAs) on glucose transport/phosphorylation were studied in seven healthy men in the presence of elevated (1.44 +/- 0.16 mmol/l), basal (0.35 +/- 0.06 mmol/l), and low (<0.01 mmol/l; control) plasma FFA concentrations (P < 0.05 between all groups) during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps. Concentrations of glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P), inorganic phosphate (Pi), phosphocreatine, ADP, and pH in calf muscle were measured every 3.2 min for 180 min by using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Rates of whole-body glucose uptake increased similarly until 140 min but thereafter declined by approximately 20% in the presence of basal and high FFAs (42.8 +/- 3.6 and 41.6 +/- 3.3 vs. control: 52.7 +/- 3.3 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1), P < 0.05). The rise of intramuscular G-6-P concentrations was already blunted at 45 min of high FFA exposure (184 +/- 17 vs. control: 238 +/- 17 micromol/l, P = 0.008). At 180 min, G-6-P was lower in the presence of both high and basal FFAs (197 +/- 21 and 213 +/- 18 vs. control: 286 +/- 19 micromol/l, P < 0.05). Intramuscular pH decreased by -0.013 +/- 0.001 (P < 0.005) during control but increased by +0.008 +/- 0.002 (P < 0.05) during high FFA exposure, while Pi rose by approximately 0.39 mmol/l (P < 0.005) within 70 min and then slowly decreased in all studies. In conclusion, the lack of an initial peak and the early decline of muscle G-6-P concentrations suggest that even at physiological concentrations, FFAs primarily inhibit glucose transport/phosphorylation, preceding the reduction of whole-body glucose disposal by up to 120 min in humans."}
{"id": "MED-1473", "text": "To examine the mechanism by which lipids cause insulin resistance in humans, skeletal muscle glycogen and glucose-6-phosphate concentrations were measured every 15 min by simultaneous 13C and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in nine healthy subjects in the presence of low (0.18 +/- 0.02 mM [mean +/- SEM]; control) or high (1.93 +/- 0.04 mM; lipid infusion) plasma free fatty acid levels under euglycemic (approximately 5.2 mM) hyperinsulinemic (approximately 400 pM) clamp conditions for 6 h. During the initial 3.5 h of the clamp the rate of whole-body glucose uptake was not affected by lipid infusion, but it then decreased continuously to be approximately 46% of control values after 6 h (P < 0.00001). Augmented lipid oxidation was accompanied by a approximately 40% reduction of oxidative glucose metabolism starting during the third hour of lipid infusion (P < 0.05). Rates of muscle glycogen synthesis were similar during the first 3 h of lipid and control infusion, but thereafter decreased to approximately 50% of control values (4.0 +/- 1.0 vs. 9.3 +/- 1.6 mumol/[kg.min], P < 0.05). Reduction of muscle glycogen synthesis by elevated plasma free fatty acids was preceded by a fall of muscle glucose-6-phosphate concentrations starting at approximately 1.5 h (195 +/- 25 vs. control: 237 +/- 26 mM; P < 0.01). Therefore in contrast to the originally postulated mechanism in which free fatty acids were thought to inhibit insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in muscle through initial inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase these results demonstrate that free fatty acids induce insulin resistance in humans by initial inhibition of glucose transport/phosphorylation which is then followed by an approximately 50% reduction in both the rate of muscle glycogen synthesis and glucose oxidation."}
{"id": "MED-1474", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Acute exposure to fatty acids causes insulin resistance in muscle, and excess dietary lipid and obesity are also strongly associated with muscle insulin resistance. Relevant mechanisms, however, are still not fully elucidated. Here we examine the latest evidence as to why lipids might accumulate in muscle and the possible mechanisms for lipid-induced insulin resistance. RECENT FINDINGS: Muscle lipid metabolites such as long chain fatty acid coenzyme As, diacylglycerol and ceramides may impair insulin signalling directly. Crosstalk between inflammatory signalling pathways and insulin signalling pathways, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress have also been put forward as major contributors to the development or maintenance of lipid-induced insulin resistance in muscle. Several animal models with gene deletions in pathways of fatty acid synthesis and storage also show increased metabolic rate, reduced intramuscular lipid storage and improved insulin action when challenged with a high lipid load. SUMMARY: Studies in genetic and dietary obese animal models, genetically modified animals and humans with obesity or type 2 diabetes suggest plausible mechanisms for effects of fatty acids, lipid metabolites, inflammatory pathways and mitochondrial dysfunction on insulin action in muscle. Many of these mechanisms, however, have been demonstrated in situations in which lipid accumulation (obesity) already exists. Whether the initial events leading to muscle insulin resistance are direct effects of fatty acids in muscle or are secondary to lipid accumulation in adipose tissue or liver remains to be clarified."}
{"id": "MED-1475", "text": "Objective To explain the predisposition for insulin resistance among African American (AA) adolescents, this study aimed to: 1) examine changes in intramyocellular lipid content (IMCL), and insulin sensitivity with intralipid (IL) infusion; and 2) determine whether the increase in IMCL is comparable between AA and Caucasian adolescents. Materials and Methods Thirteen AA and 15 Caucasian normal-weight adolescents (BMI <85th) underwent a 3-h hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, on two occasions in random order, after an overnight 12-hr infusion of: 1) 20% IL and 2) normal saline (NS). IMCL was quantified by 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in tibialis anterior muscle before and after IL infusion. Results During IL infusion, plasma TG, glycerol, FFA and fat oxidation increased significantly, with no race differences. Hepatic insulin sensitivity decreased with IL infusion with no difference between the groups. IL infusion was associated with a significant increase in IMCL, which was comparable between AA (\u0394 105%; NS: 1.9 \u00b1 0.8 vs. IL: 3.9 \u00b1 1.6 mmol/kg wet weight) and Caucasian (\u0394 86%; NS: 2.8 \u00b1 2.1 vs. IL: 5.2 \u00b1 2.4 mmol/kg wet weight), with similar reductions (P<0.01) in insulin sensitivity between the groups (\u0394 \u221244%: NS: 9.1 \u00b1 3.3 vs. IL: 5.1 \u00b1 1.8 mg/kg/min per \u00b5U/ml in AA) and (\u0394\u221239%: NS: 12.9 \u00b1 6.0 vs. IL: 7.9 \u00b1 3.8 mg/kg/min per \u00b5U/ml in Caucasian) adolescents. Conclusions In healthy adolescents, an acute elevation in plasma FFA with IL infusion is accompanied by significant increases in IMCL and reductions in insulin sensitivity with no race differential. Our findings suggest that AA normal-weight adolescents are not more susceptible than Caucasians to FFA-induced IMCL accumulation and insulin resistance."}
{"id": "MED-1476", "text": "The cave site of Moula-Guercy, 80 meters above the modern Rhone River, was occupied by Neanderthals approximately 100,000 years ago. Excavations since 1991 have yielded rich paleontological, paleobotanical, and archaeological assemblages, including parts of six Neanderthals. The Neanderthals are contemporary with stone tools and faunal remains in the same tightly controlled stratigraphic and spatial contexts. The inference of Neanderthal cannibalism at Moula-Guercy is based on comparative analysis of hominid and ungulate bone spatial distributions, modifications by stone tools, and skeletal part representations."}
{"id": "MED-1478", "text": "A quarter century has passed since the first publication of the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, according to which departures from the nutrition and activity patterns of our hunter-gatherer ancestors have contributed greatly and in specifically definable ways to the endemic chronic diseases of modern civilization. Refinements of the model have changed it in some respects, but anthropological evidence continues to indicate that ancestral human diets prevalent during our evolution were characterized by much lower levels of refined carbohydrates and sodium, much higher levels of fiber and protein, and comparable levels of fat (primarily unsaturated fat) and cholesterol. Physical activity levels were also much higher than current levels, resulting in higher energy throughput. We said at the outset that such evidence could only suggest testable hypotheses and that recommendations must ultimately rest on more conventional epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory studies. Such studies have multiplied and have supported many aspects of our model, to the extent that in some respects, official recommendations today have targets closer to those prevalent among hunter-gatherers than did comparable recommendations 25 years ago. Furthermore, doubts have been raised about the necessity for very low levels of protein, fat, and cholesterol intake common in official recommendations. Most impressively, randomized controlled trials have begun to confirm the value of hunter-gatherer diets in some high-risk groups, even as compared with routinely recommended diets. Much more research needs to be done, but the past quarter century has proven the interest and heuristic value, if not yet the ultimate validity, of the model."}
{"id": "MED-1479", "text": "Evolutionary paradigms of human health and nutrition center on the evolutionary discordance or \u201cmismatch\u201d model whereby human bodies, reflecting adaptations established in the Paleolithic era, are ill-suited to modern industrialized diets resulting in rapidly increasing rates of chronic metabolic disease. Whereas this model remains useful, we argue that its utility in explaining the evolution of human dietary tendencies is limited. The assumption that human diets are mismatched to our evolved biology implies that they are instinctual or genetically determined and rooted in the Paleolithic. We review current research indicating that human eating habits are primarily learned through behavioral, social and physiological mechanisms starting in utero and extending throughout the life course. Those adaptations that appear to be strongly genetic likely reflect Neolithic, rather than Paleolithic, adaptations and are significantly influenced by human niche-constructing behavior. Incorporating a broader understanding of the evolved mechanisms by which humans learn and imprint eating habits and the reciprocal effects of those habits on physiology would provide useful tools for structuring more lasting nutrition interventions."}
{"id": "MED-1482", "text": "BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene compliance rates among health care workers (HCW) rarely exceed 50%. Contact precautions are thought to increase HCWs' hand hygiene awareness. We sought to determine any differences in hand hygiene compliance rates for HCW between patients in contact precaution and those not in any isolation. METHODS: In a hospital's medical (MICU) and surgical (SICU) intensive care units, a trained observer directly observed hand hygiene by the type of room (contact precaution or noncontact precaution) and the type of HCW (nurse or doctor). RESULTS: The SICU had similar compliance rates (36/75 [50.7%] in contact precaution rooms vs 223/431 [51.7%] compliance in noncontact precaution rooms, P > .5); the MICU also had similar hand hygiene compliance rates (67/132 [45.1%] in contact precaution rooms vs 96/213 [50.8%] in noncontact precaution rooms, P > .10). Hand hygiene compliance rates stratified by HCW were similar with 1 exception. The MICU nurses had a higher rate of hand hygiene compliance in contact precaution rooms than in rooms with noncontact precautions (66.7% vs 51.6%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Compliance with hand hygiene among HCWs did not differ between contact precaution rooms and rooms with noncontact precautions with the exception of the nurses in the MICU. Published by Mosby, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1483", "text": "CONTEXT: Most medical interventions have modest effects, but occasionally some clinical trials may find very large effects for benefits or harms. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency and features of very large effects in medicine. DATA SOURCES: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR, 2010, issue 7). STUDY SELECTION: We separated all binary-outcome CDSR forest plots with comparisons of interventions according to whether the first published trial, a subsequent trial (not the first), or no trial had a nominally statistically significant (P < .05) very large effect (odds ratio [OR], \u22655). We also sampled randomly 250 topics from each group for further in-depth evaluation. DATA EXTRACTION: We assessed the types of treatments and outcomes in trials with very large effects, examined how often large-effect trials were followed up by other trials on the same topic, and how these effects compared against the effects of the respective meta-analyses. RESULTS: Among 85,002 forest plots (from 3082 reviews), 8239 (9.7%) had a significant very large effect in the first published trial, 5158 (6.1%) only after the first published trial, and 71,605 (84.2%) had no trials with significant very large effects. Nominally significant very large effects typically appeared in small trials with median number of events: 18 in first trials and 15 in subsequent trials. Topics with very large effects were less likely than other topics to address mortality (3.6% in first trials, 3.2% in subsequent trials, and 11.6% in no trials with significant very large effects) and were more likely to address laboratory-defined efficacy (10% in first trials,10.8% in subsequent, and 3.2% in no trials with significant very large effects). First trials with very large effects were as likely as trials with no very large effects to have subsequent published trials. Ninety percent and 98% of the very large effects observed in first and subsequently published trials, respectively, became smaller in meta-analyses that included other trials; the median odds ratio decreased from 11.88 to 4.20 for first trials, and from 10.02 to 2.60 for subsequent trials. For 46 of the 500 selected topics (9.2%; first and subsequent trials) with a very large-effect trial, the meta-analysis maintained very large effects with P < .001 when additional trials were included, but none pertained to mortality-related outcomes. Across the whole CDSR, there was only 1 intervention with large beneficial effects on mortality, P < .001, and no major concerns about the quality of the evidence (for a trial on extracorporeal oxygenation for severe respiratory failure in newborns). CONCLUSIONS: Most large treatment effects emerge from small studies, and when additional trials are performed, the effect sizes become typically much smaller. Well-validated large effects are uncommon and pertain to nonfatal outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-1484", "text": "SYNOPSIS Objective The purpose of this study was to provide a national estimate of the number of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and deaths in United States hospitals. Methods No single source of nationally representative data on HAIs is currently available. The authors used a multi-step approach and three data sources. The main source of data was the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system, data from 1990\u20132002, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey (for 2002) and the American Hospital Association Survey (for 2000) were used to supplement NNIS data. The percentage of patients with an HAI whose death was determined to be caused or associated with the HAI from NNIS data was used to estimate the number of deaths. Results In 2002, the estimated number of HAIs in U.S. hospitals, adjusted to include federal facilities, was approximately 1.7 million: 33,269 HAIs among newborns in high-risk nurseries, 19,059 among newborns in well-baby nurseries, 417,946 among adults and children in ICUs, and 1,266,851 among adults and children outside of ICUs. The estimated deaths associated with HAIs in U.S. hospitals were 98,987: of these, 35,967 were for pneumonia, 30,665 for bloodstream infections, 13,088 for urinary tract infections, 8,205 for surgical site infections, and 11,062 for infections of other sites. Conclusion HAIs in hospitals are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The method described for estimating the number of HAIs makes the best use of existing data at the national level."}
{"id": "MED-1486", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess expectations of effect when using statins in a treatment population. Further the aim was to examine factors, including history and concurrent risk of coronary heart disease, associated with a higher and lower treatment belief. METHODS: Eight hundred and twenty-nine (829) Swedish patients using statins completed postal questionnaires about their health, life style, cardiovascular risk factors and expectation of the treatment. Expected treatment benefit was used as outcome measurement. RESULTS: A medical history of coronary heart disease did not affect treatment expectations. Patients with a high risk of cardiovascular disease reported a slightly lower expectation of the treatment effect at a 10-year perspective (p<0.01) but not at shorter time perspectives. Low satisfaction with the explanation of the purpose of the treatment and a poor perceived control of own health was associated with a more negative view on treatment benefit. CONCLUSION: The rationale applied by physicians prescribing statins does not seem to relate to the patients' expectations, whereas factors relating to the patient-physician relationship, the social situation and the perceived control of health seem to affect patient belief. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The association between patients' poor satisfaction of treatment explanation and a low belief in treatment benefits emphasizes the importance of the patient-physician communication. It is suggested that clinical tools are developed in order to identify patients with poor belief in treatment benefit since tailored education for this group might reduce the risk of non-compliance and subsequently reduce the risk of coronary heart disease."}
{"id": "MED-1487", "text": "PURPOSE An informed decision to accept a health care intervention requires an understanding of its likely benefit. This study assessed participants' estimates of the benefit, as well as minimum acceptable benefit, of screening for breast and bowel cancer and medication to prevent hip fracture and cardiovascular disease. METHODS Three general practitioners sent questionnaires to all registered patients aged 50 to 70 years. Patients agreeing to participate in the study were asked to estimate the number of events (fractures or deaths) prevented in a group of 5,000 patients undergoing each intervention over a period of 10 years, and to indicate the minimum number of events avoided by the intervention that they considered justified its use. The proportions of participants that overestimated each intervention's benefit were calculated, and univariate and multivariable analyses of predictors of response were performed. RESULTS The participation rate was 36%: 977 patients were invited to participate in the study, and 354 returned a completed questionnaire. Participants overestimated the degree of benefit conferred by all interventions: 90% of participants overestimated the effect of breast cancer screening, 94% overestimated the effect of bowel cancer screening, 82% overestimated the effect of hip fracture preventive medication, and 69% overestimated the effect of preventive medication for cardiovascular disease. Estimates of minimum acceptable benefit were more conservative, but other than for cardiovascular disease mortality prevention, most respondents indicated a minimum benefit greater than these interventions achieve. A lower level of education was associated with higher estimates of minimum acceptable benefit for all interventions. CONCLUSION Patients overestimated the risk reduction achieved with 4 examples of screening and preventive medications. A lower level of education was associated with higher minimum benefit to justify intervention use. This tendency to overestimate benefits may affect patients' decisions to use such interventions, and practitioners should be aware of this tendency when discussing these interventions with patients."}
{"id": "MED-1488", "text": "Aims To discover whether patients have the same expectations of benefit from taking the first and any additional drugs for the treatment of hypertension and to investigate any patient characteristics which predict willingness to take treatment. Methods This was an anonymous questionnaire survey carried out in a single primary care group. A random sample of patients from the practice list stratified by age and gender were surveyed to determine what benefit they required before deciding to receive first and subsequent drugs to treat hypertension. They were asked to indicate the largest number needing treatment for 5 years (NNT5) to prevent myocardial infarction in 1 (smallest benefit) that would persuade them of the need for treatment. Demographic information which might explain variability in enthusiasm for treatment was also collected. Results Participants required far higher benefit to consider drug treatment than expected with a mean NNT5 for the first treatment of 15.0 (95% CI 12.3, 17.8). Marginal benefit demanded for the addition of second and third treatments was at least as great with an NNT5 of 13.2 (95% CI 10.8, 15.7) and NNT5 of 11.0 (95% CI 8.6, 13.4). Additional factors influencing willingness to take treatment were gender with a difference in NNT5 between men and women of 7.1 (95% CI 1.7, 12.5), difficulty in making the decision (very easy vs very difficult) of 14.9 (95% CI 6.0, 23.8), and years in full time education 2.0 (95% CI 0.9, 3.0) for each additional year of education. Any slope of NNT5 with increasing number of tablets disappeared when gender, years in education, and difficulty in reaching a decision were taken into account simultaneously. Conclusions People may have greater expectation of benefit from antihypertensive drug treatment than it provides. They certainly do not view the addition of subsequent drugs as any lesser step than starting the first in terms of the benefit expected. Full understanding of both the risks and benefits may be of critical importance with those spending longer in full time education and those expending more effort in making the decision accepting more treatment. The discrepancy between benefit expected and that available demands further research into methods of determining patients\u2019 expectations and informing individual patient decisions."}
{"id": "MED-1489", "text": "PURPOSE: Plant-based nutrition achieved coronary artery disease (CAD) arrest and reversal in a small study. However, there was skepticism that this approach could succeed in a larger group of patients. The purpose of our follow-up study was to define the degree of adherence and outcomes of 198 consecutive patient volunteers who received counseling to convert from a usual diet to plant-based nutrition. METHODS: We followed 198 consecutive patients counseled in plant-based nutrition. These patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) were interested in transitioning to plant-based nutrition as an adjunct to usual cardiovascular care. We considered participants adherent if they eliminated dairy, fish, and meat, and added oil. RESULTS: Of the 198 patients with CVD, 177 (89%) were adherent. Major cardiac events judged to be recurrent disease totaled one stroke in the adherent cardiovascular participants\u2014a recurrent event rate of .6%, significantly less than reported by other studies of plant-based nutrition therapy. Thirteen of 21 (62%) nonadherent participants experienced adverse events. CONCLUSION: Most of the volunteer patients with CVD responded to intensive counseling, and those who sustained plant-based nutrition for a mean of 3.7 years experienced a low rate of subsequent cardiac events. This dietary approach to treatment deserves a wider test to see if adherence can be sustained in broader populations. Plant-based nutrition has the potential for a large effect on the CVD epidemic."}
{"id": "MED-1490", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to find the threshold of benefit for a hypothetical cholesterol-lowering drug below which the subject would not be prepared to take the drug. We also looked at whether proximity to the target event (myocardial infarction) and the subjects' views on drug taking affected this threshold. DESIGN: We studied 307 subjects using a written questionnaire and interview. Group 1 (102 subjects) had just been discharged from the coronary care unit. Group 2 (105 subjects) were taking cardio-protective drugs but had no recent history of myocardial infarction. Group 3 (100 subjects) had no history of myocardial infarction and were taking no cardio-protective drugs. RESULTS: Median values for the threshold of benefit below which the subject would not take the preventive drug were 20%, 20%, and 30% absolute risk reduction for Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Median values for expectation of average prolongation of life were 12, 12 and 18 months respectively. Only 27% of subjects would take a drug offering 5% or less absolute risk reduction over five years. Subjects' views on medicinal drug taking in general and proximity to the target event were predictors of the acceptance of preventive drugs. Eighty percent of subjects wished to be told the numerical benefit of a preventive drug before starting on it. CONCLUSION: For the majority, the expectation of benefit from a preventive drug is higher than the actual benefit provided by current drug strategies. There is a tension between the patient's right to know about the chance of benefiting from a preventive drug and the likely reduction in uptake if they are so informed."}
{"id": "MED-1491", "text": "The potential to increase n-3 fatty acid (FA) intake via flaxseed fed pork is underestimated when restricted to pure longissimus muscle, whereas a combination of muscle and adipose tissue is typically consumed. Presently, the FA content of pigs fed 0%, 5% and 10% dietary flaxseed for 11 weeks was measured in loin, picnic and butt primals (lean muscle with epimysium (L), L plus seam fat (LS), and LS plus 5 mm backfat (LSS)). The n-3 FA content necessary for an enrichment claim in Canada (300 mg/100 g serving) was exceeded in L from all primals when feeding 5% flaxseed, being 4 fold that of controls (P<0.001), with further enrichment from inclusion of associated adipose tissues (P<0.001). Increasing flaxseed feeding levels in combination with adipose tissue inclusion amplified total long chain n-3 FA (P<0.05), particularly 20:5n-3 and 22:5n-3. Flaxseed-fed n-3 FA enriched pork can contribute substantially to daily long chain n-3 FA intakes, particularly for societies with typically low seafood consumption. \u00a9 2013."}
{"id": "MED-1492", "text": "BACKGROUND: The benefits of reducing blood pressure are well established, but there remains uncertainty about whether the magnitude of the effect varies with the initial blood pressure level. The objective was to compare the risk reductions achieved by different blood pressure-lowering regimens among individuals with different baseline blood pressures. METHODS: Thirty-two randomized controlled trials were included and seven comparisons between different types of treatments were made. For each comparison, the primary prespecified analysis included calculation of summary estimates of effect using random-effects meta-analysis for major cardiovascular events in four groups defined by baseline SBP (<140, 140-159, 160-179, and \u2265 180 mmHg). RESULTS: There were 201 566 participants among whom 20 079 primary outcome events were observed. There was no evidence of differences in the proportionate risk reductions achieved with different blood pressure-lowering regimens across groups defined according to higher or lower levels of baseline SBP (all P for trend > 0.17). This finding was broadly consistent for comparisons of different regimens, for DBP categories, and for commonly used blood pressure cut-points. CONCLUSION: It appears unlikely that the effectiveness of blood pressure-lowering treatments depends substantively upon starting blood pressure level. As the majority of patients in the trials contributing to these overviews had a history of hypertension or were receiving background blood pressure-lowering therapy, the findings suggest that additional blood pressure reduction in hypertensive patients meeting initial blood pressure targets will produce further benefits. More broadly, the data are supportive of the utilization of blood pressure-lowering regimens in high-risk patients with and without hypertension."}
{"id": "MED-1493", "text": "Presence of omega-3, omega-6 rich oil, alpha-linoleic acid, dietary fibers, secoisolariciresinol diglucoside, protein and minerals in flaxseed constitute a very strong basis for the utilization of flaxseed in various food preparations as a curative agent. An extensive body of literature illustrates that flaxseed has gained a significant position in the domain of nutritional sciences owing to its pivotal role as an antioxidant agent. The review discusses at length, numerous health benefits of flaxseed typically focusing its preventive role against cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and enhancement of spatial memory. Massive increase in the size of population with a special emphasize to the developing countries, there is an urge for exploration of the alternative dietary resources that can meet the dietary and nutritional needs of forthcoming generations. With respect to its remarkable nutritional importance, the review in question enables researchers engaged in nutritional sciences to further investigate the therapeutic value of flaxseed functional components and their dietary application in various food products and availability in processed foods as well as in the human cell line."}
{"id": "MED-1494", "text": "Flaxseed contains \u03c9-3 fatty acids, lignans, and fiber that together may provide benefits to patients with cardiovascular disease. Animal work identified that patients with peripheral artery disease may particularly benefit from dietary supplementation with flaxseed. Hypertension is commonly associated with peripheral artery disease. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of daily ingestion of flaxseed on systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in peripheral artery disease patients. In this prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, patients (110 in total) ingested a variety of foods that contained 30 g of milled flaxseed or placebo each day over 6 months. Plasma levels of the \u03c9-3 fatty acid \u03b1-linolenic acid and enterolignans increased 2- to 50-fold in the flaxseed-fed group but did not increase significantly in the placebo group. Patient body weights were not significantly different between the 2 groups at any time. SBP was \u2248 10 mm Hg lower, and DBP was \u2248 7 mm Hg lower in the flaxseed group compared with placebo after 6 months. Patients who entered the trial with a SBP \u2265 140 mm Hg at baseline obtained a significant reduction of 15 mm Hg in SBP and 7 mm Hg in DBP from flaxseed ingestion. The antihypertensive effect was achieved selectively in hypertensive patients. Circulating \u03b1-linolenic acid levels correlated with SBP and DBP, and lignan levels correlated with changes in DBP. In summary, flaxseed induced one of the most potent antihypertensive effects achieved by a dietary intervention."}
{"id": "MED-1495", "text": "Response surface methodology was used to study the effect of flaxseed flour (FS) and tomato paste (TP) addition, from 0 to 10% and 0 to 20% respectively, on beef patty quality characteristics. The assessed quality characteristics were color (L, a, and b), pH and texture profile analysis (TPA). Also, sensory analysis was performed for the assessment of color, juiciness, firmness, and general acceptance. FS addition reduced L and a values and decreased weight loss of cooked products (P<0.05). An opposite effect was observed when TP was added (P<0.05). All TPA parameters decreased when percentages of FS and TP were increased in the formulation of beef patties. Furthermore, FS and TP addition adversely affected the sensory characteristics of the cooked product (P<0.05); nevertheless, all sensory characteristics evaluated had an acceptable score (>5.6). Thus FS and TP are ingredients that can be used in beef patty preparation. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1496", "text": "Oxidative stress (OS) and damages due to excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) are common causes of injuries to cells and organisms. The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (ND) increases with aging and much of the research involving ROS and OS has emerged from works in this field. This text reviews some recent published articles about the role of OS in ND. Since there are many reviews in this field, the focus was centered in articles published recently. The Scientific Journals Directory supported by the Brazilian Ministry of Education Office for the Coordination of Higher Educational Personnel Improvement (CAPES) was used to search, download, and review articles. The search engine looked for the terms 'oxidative stress AND neurodegenerative diseases AND nutrition' in 10 different scientific collections. Biochemical markers for ND lack sensitivity or specificity for diagnosis or for tracking response to therapy today. OS has an intimate connection with ND, albeit low levels of ROS seem to protect the brain. Deleterious changes in mitochondria, OS, calcium, glucocorticoids, inflammation, trace metals, insulin, cell cycle, protein aggregation, and hundreds to thousands of genes occur in ND. The interaction of genes with their environment, may explain ND. Although OS has received much attention over the years, which increased the number of scientific works on antioxidant interventions, no one knows how to stop or delay ND at present. Interventions in vitro, in vivo, and in humans will continue to contribute for a better understanding of these pathologies."}
{"id": "MED-1497", "text": "Traumatic brain injury (TBI) constitutes a major global health and socio-economic problem with neurobehavioral sequelae contributing to long-term disability. It causes brain swelling, axonal injury and hypoxia, disrupts blood brain barrier function and increases inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, neurodegeneration and leads to cognitive impairment. Epidemiological studies show that 30% of patients, who die of TBI, have A\u03b2 plaques which are pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus TBI acts as an important epigenetic risk factor for AD. This review focuses on AD related genes which are expressed during TBI and its relevance to progression of the disease. Such understanding will help to diagnose the risk of TBI patients to develop AD and design therapeutic interventions. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1498", "text": "Many studies have documented the role of risk and protective factors for late life dementing illnesses, particularly Alzheimer's disease. A \"Systematic Review\" from the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institute on Aging concluded that because the overall quality of evidence was low, recommendations for public health could not be made. In order to gain evidence for the efficacy of lifestyle interventions, we propose a \"Modest Proposal\" to study 10,000 subjects over 40 years randomly assigned to groups of low or high saturated fat in the diet, head injury, and high or low levels of mental activity, physical activity, or inactivity as well as smoking or non-smoking. This proposed study cannot be accomplished. The \"Modest Proposal\" illustrates that the absence of definitive evidence should not restrict physicians from making reasonable recommendations based on the evidence that is available."}
{"id": "MED-1499", "text": "Nature has gifted mankind with a plethora of flora-bearing fruits, vegetables and nuts. The diverse array of bioactive nutrients present in these natural products plays a pivotal role in prevention and cure of various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease and other neuronal dysfunctions. Accumulated evidence suggests that naturally occurring phyto-compounds, such as polyphenolic antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, herbs and nuts, may potentially hinder neurodegeneration, and improve memory and cognitive function. Nuts such as walnut have also demonstrated neuroprotective effect against AD. The molecular mechanisms behind the curative effects rely mainly on the action of phytonutrients on distinct signalling pathways associated with protein folding and neuroinflammation. The neuroprotective effects of various naturally occurring compounds in AD is evaluating in this review."}
{"id": "MED-1500", "text": "BACKGROUND: Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables has been considered to be associated with a reduced risk of dementia and age-associated cognitive decline, although the association is currently unsupported by a systematic review of the literature. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, Biosis, ALOIS, the Cochrane library, different publisher databases as well as bibliographies of retrieved articles. All cohort studies with a follow-up of 6 months or longer were included if they reported an association of Alzheimer's disease or cognitive decline in regard to the frequency of fruit and vegetables consumption. FINDINGS: Nine studies with a total of 44,004 participants met the inclusion criteria. Six studies analyzed fruit and vegetables separately and five of them found that higher consumption of vegetables, but not fruit is associated with a decreased risk of dementia or cognitive decline. The same association was found by three further studies for fruit and vegetable consumption analytically combined. CONCLUSION: Increased intake of vegetables is associated with a lower risk of dementia and slower rates of cognitive decline in older age. Yet, evidence that this association is also valid for high fruit consumption is lacking."}
{"id": "MED-1501", "text": "BACKGROUND: Many biological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors may contribute to the delay or prevention of cognitive decline. PURPOSE: To summarize evidence about putative risk and protective factors for cognitive decline in older adults and the effects of interventions for preserving cognition. DATA SOURCES: English-language publications in MEDLINE, HuGEpedia, AlzGene, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 1984 through 27 October 2009. STUDY SELECTION: Observational studies with 300 or more participants and randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) with 50 or more adult participants who were 50 years or older, drawn from general populations, and followed for at least 1 year were included. Relevant, good-quality systematic reviews were also eligible. DATA EXTRACTION: Information on study design, outcomes, and quality were extracted by one researcher and verified by another. An overall rating of the quality of evidence was assigned by using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) criteria. DATA SYNTHESIS: 127 observational studies, 22 RCTs, and 16 systematic reviews were reviewed in the areas of nutritional factors; medical factors and medications; social, economic, or behavioral factors; toxic environmental exposures; and genetics. Few of the factors had sufficient evidence to support an association with cognitive decline. On the basis of observational studies, evidence that supported the benefits of selected nutritional factors or cognitive, physical, or other leisure activities was limited. Current tobacco use, the apolipoprotein E epsilon4 genotype, and certain medical conditions were associated with increased risk. One RCT found a small, sustained benefit from cognitive training (high quality of evidence) and a small RCT reported that physical exercise helps to maintain cognitive function. LIMITATIONS: The categorization and definition of exposures were heterogeneous. Few studies were designed a priori to assess associations between specific exposures and cognitive decline. The review included only English-language studies, prioritized categorical outcomes, and excluded small studies. CONCLUSION: Few potentially beneficial factors were identified from the evidence on risk or protective factors associated with cognitive decline, but the overall quality of the evidence was low. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institute on Aging, through the Office of Medical Applications of Research, National Institutes of Health."}
{"id": "MED-1502", "text": "Animal work over the last three decades has generated a convincing body of evidence that a Western diet - one high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates (HFS diet) - can damage various brain systems. In this review we examine whether there is evidence for this in humans, using converging lines of evidence from neuropsychological, epidemiological and neuroimaging data. Using the animal research as the organizing principal, we examined evidence for dietary induced impairments in frontal, limbic and hippocampal systems, and with their associated functions in learning, memory, cognition and hedonics. Evidence for the role of HFS diet in attention deficit disorder and in neurodegenerative conditions was also examined. While human research data is still at an early stage, there is evidence of an association between HFS diet and impaired cognitive function. Based upon the animal data, and a growing understanding of how HFS diets can disrupt brain function, we further suggest that there is a causal link running from HFS diet to impaired brain function in humans, and that HFS diets also contribute to the development of neurodegenerative conditions. Crown Copyright \u00a9 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1503", "text": "Epidemiologic studies suggest that dietary lutein and zeaxanthin may be of benefit in maintaining cognitive health. Among the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin are the only two that cross the blood-retina barrier to form macular pigment (MP) in the eye. They also preferentially accumulate in the human brain. Lutein and zeaxanthin in macula from nonhuman primates were found to be significantly correlated with their concentrations in matched brain tissue. Therefore, MP can be used as a biomarker of lutein and zeaxanthin in primate brain tissue. This is of interest given that a significant correlation was found between MP density and global cognitive function in healthy older adults. An examination of a relation between cognition and lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations in the brain tissue of decedents from a population-based study in centenarians found that zeaxanthin concentrations in brain tissue were significantly related to antemortem measures of global cognitive function, memory retention, verbal fluency, and dementia severity after adjustment for age, sex, education, hypertension, and diabetes. In univariate analyses, lutein was related to recall and verbal fluency, but the strength of the associations was attenuated with adjustment for covariates. However, lutein concentrations in the brain were significantly lower in individuals with mild cognitive impairment than in those with normal cognitive function. Last, in a 4-mo, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in older women that involved lutein supplementation (12 mg/d), alone or in combination with DHA (800 mg/d), verbal fluency scores improved significantly in the DHA, lutein, and combined-treatment groups. Memory scores and rate of learning improved significantly in the combined-treatment group, who also showed a trend toward more efficient learning. When all of these observations are taken into consideration, the idea that lutein and zeaxanthin can influence cognitive function in older adults warrants further study."}
{"id": "MED-1504", "text": "BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have investigated risk factors for Alzheimer disease (AD). However, at a recent National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference, an independent panel found insufficient evidence to support the association of any modifiable factor with risk of cognitive decline or AD. OBJECTIVE: To present key findings for selected factors and AD risk that led the panel to their conclusion. DATA SOURCES: An evidence report was commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. It included English-language publications in MEDLINE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 1984 through October 27, 2009. Expert presentations and public discussions were considered. STUDY SELECTION: Study inclusion criteria for the evidence report were participants aged 50 years and older from general populations in developed countries; minimum sample sizes of 300 for cohort studies and 50 for randomized controlled trials; at least 2 years between exposure and outcome assessment; and use of well-accepted diagnostic criteria for AD. DATA EXTRACTION: Included studies were evaluated for eligibility and data were abstracted. Quality of overall evidence for each factor was summarized as low, moderate, or high. DATA SYNTHESIS: Diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia in midlife, and current tobacco use were associated with increased risk of AD, and Mediterranean-type diet, folic acid intake, low or moderate alcohol intake, cognitive activities, and physical activity were associated with decreased risk. The quality of evidence was low for all of these associations. CONCLUSION: Currently, insufficient evidence exists to draw firm conclusions on the association of any modifiable factors with risk of AD."}
{"id": "MED-1505", "text": "The important role of diet in cardiometabolic health is generally well recognised; for mental health, it is not so well understood. However, lifestyle risk factors for poor physical health are the same risk factors for mental illness, including poor diet. This is reflected by the high level of poor physical health in people with mental illness. Mediterranean, whole food diets have been associated with reduced risk for chronic disease, but very little research has investigated their mental health benefits. We provide a model for the pathways by which food components provided by a Mediterranean-style diet can facilitate healthy brain function. We then review evidence for the role of selected nutrients/food components - antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins - in the brain and, hence, modulation of cognitive function and mental health. Converging evidence indicates multiple pathways by which these nutrients can assist in brain function, drawing from studies investigating them in isolation. There is very little work done on synergistic actions of nutrients and whole diets, highlighting a need for human intervention studies investigating benefits of Mediterranean-style diets for mental, as well as cardiometabolic health. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1506", "text": "Intake of saturated fats and simple carbohydrates, two of the primary components of a modern Western diet, is linked with the development of obesity and Alzheimer's Disease. The present paper summarizes research showing that Western diet intake is associated with cognitive impairment, with a specific emphasis on learning and memory functions that are dependent on the integrity of the hippocampus. The paper then considers evidence that saturated fat and simple carbohydrate intake is correlated with neurobiological changes in the hippocampus that may be related to the ability of these dietary components to impair cognitive function. Finally, a model is described proposing that Western diet consumption contributes to the development of excessive food intake and obesity, in part, by interfering with a type of hippocampal-dependent memory inhibition that is critical in the ability of animals to refrain from responding to environmental cues associated with food, and ultimately from consuming energy intake in excess of that driven solely by caloric need."}
{"id": "MED-1508", "text": "The obesity epidemic is attributed in part to reduced physical activity. Evidence supports that reducing time spent sitting, regardless of activity, may improve the metabolic consequences of obesity. Analyses were conducted in a large prospective study of US adults enrolled by the American Cancer Society to examine leisure time spent sitting and physical activity in relation to mortality. Time spent sitting and physical activity were queried by questionnaire on 53,440 men and 69,776 women who were disease free at enrollment. The authors identified 11,307 deaths in men and 7,923 deaths in women during the 14-year follow-up. After adjustment for smoking, body mass index, and other factors, time spent sitting (\u22656 vs. <3 hours/day) was associated with mortality in both women (relative risk = 1.34, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25, 1.44) and men (relative risk = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.11, 1.24). Relative risks for sitting (\u22656 hours/day) and physical activity (<24.5 metabolic equivalent (MET)-hours/week) combined were 1.94 (95% CI: 1.70, 2.20) for women and 1.48 (95% CI: 1.33, 1.65) for men, compared with those with the least time sitting and most activity. Associations were strongest for cardiovascular disease mortality. The time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level. Public health messages should include both being physically active and reducing time spent sitting."}
{"id": "MED-1509", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Sedentary (sitting) behaviours are ubiquitous in modern society. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the association of sedentary time with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. METHODS: Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for terms related to sedentary time and health outcomes. Cross-sectional and prospective studies were included. RR/HR and 95% CIs were extracted by two independent reviewers. Data were adjusted for baseline event rate and pooled using a random-effects model. Bayesian predictive effects and intervals were calculated to indicate the variance in outcomes that would be expected if new studies were conducted in the future. RESULTS: Eighteen studies (16 prospective, two cross-sectional) were included, with 794,577 participants. Fifteen of these studies were moderate to high quality. The greatest sedentary time compared with the lowest was associated with a 112% increase in the RR of diabetes (RR 2.12; 95% credible interval [CrI] 1.61, 2.78), a 147% increase in the RR of cardiovascular events (RR 2.47; 95% CI 1.44, 4.24), a 90% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.90; 95% CrI 1.36, 2.66) and a 49% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.49; 95% CrI 1.14, 2.03). The predictive effects and intervals were only significant for diabetes. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Sedentary time is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality; the strength of the association is most consistent for diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1511", "text": "Aims Prolonged sedentary time is ubiquitous in developed economies and is associated with an adverse cardio-metabolic risk profile and premature mortality. This study examined the associations of objectively assessed sedentary time and breaks (interruptions) in sedentary time with continuous cardio-metabolic and inflammatory risk biomarkers, and whether these associations varied by sex, age, and/or race/ethnicity. Methods and results Cross-sectional analyses with 4757 participants (\u226520 years) from the 2003/04 and 2005/06 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An Actigraph accelerometer was used to derive sedentary time [<100 counts per minute (cpm)] and breaks in sedentary time. Independent of potential confounders, including moderate-to-vigorous exercise, detrimental linear associations (P for trends <0.05) of sedentary time with waist circumference, HDL-cholesterol, C-reactive protein, triglycerides, insulin, HOMA-%B, and HOMA-%S were observed. Independent of potential confounders and sedentary time, breaks were beneficially associated with waist circumference and C-reactive protein (P for trends <0.05). There was limited evidence of meaningful differences in associations with biomarkers by age, sex, or race/ethnicity. Notable exceptions were sex-differences in the associations of sedentary time and breaks with HDL-cholesterol, and race/ethnicity differences in the association of sedentary time with waist circumference with associations detrimental in non-Hispanic whites, null in Mexican Americans, and beneficial in non-Hispanic blacks. Conclusion These are the first population-representative findings on the deleterious associations of prolonged sedentary time with cardio-metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers. The findings suggest that clinical communications and preventive health messages on reducing and breaking up sedentary time may be beneficial for cardiovascular disease risk."}
{"id": "MED-1512", "text": "BACKGROUND: Lifestyle modification (i.e., regular physical activity and diet) is effective in preventing the age-related increase in cardiovascular disease risks. Potential therapeutic effects of curcumin (diferuloylmethane) have been confirmed on various diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's disease, but the effects of curcumin have not been tested on central arterial hemodynamics. The aim of this pilot study was to test the hypothesis that the regular endurance exercise combined with daily curcumin ingestion lowers the age-related increase in left ventricular (LV) afterload to a greater extent than monotherapy with either intervention alone in postmenopausal women using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel manner. METHODS: Forty-five women were randomly assigned to four interventions: \"placebo ingestion\" (n = 11), \"curcumin ingestion\" (n = 11), \"exercise training with placebo ingestion\" (n = 11), or \"exercise training with curcumin ingestion\" (n = 12). Curcumin or placebo pills (150 mg/day) were administered for 8 weeks. Aortic blood pressure (BP) and augmentation index (AIx), an index of LV afterload, were evaluated by pulse wave analysis from tonometrically measured radial arterial pressure waveforms. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in baseline hemodynamic variables among four groups. After the interventions, brachial systolic BP (SBP) significantly decreased in both exercise-trained groups (P < 0.05 for both), whereas aortic SBP significantly decreased only in the combined-treatment (e.g., exercise and curcumin) group (P < 0.05). Heart rate (HR) corrected aortic AIx significantly decreases only in the combined-treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that regular endurance exercise combined with daily curcumin ingestion may reduce LV afterload to a greater extent than monotherapy with either intervention alone in postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-1515", "text": "Long periods of sedentary behaviour may adversely affect health irrespective of overall physical activity levels. This study compared the effects of sitting, standing and walking on postprandial lipaemia in healthy normolipidaemic Japanese men. 15 participants, aged 26.8\u00b12.0 years (mean\u00b1SD), completed 3, 2-day trials in a random order: 1) sitting (control), 2) standing, and 3) walking. On day 1 of the sitting trial, participants rested. On day 1 of the standing trial, participants stood for six, 45-min periods. On day 1 of the walking trial, participants walked briskly for 30 min at approximately 60% of maximum heart rate. On day 2 of each trial, participants rested and consumed test meals for breakfast and lunch. Venous blood samples were collected in the morning and afternoon on day 1, and in the fasted state (0 h) and at 2, 4 and 6 h postprandially on day 2. On day 2 area under the serum triacylglycerol concentration vs. time curve was 18% lower on the walking trial than the sitting and standing trials (1-factor ANOVA, P=0.015). Hence postprandial lipaemia was not reduced after standing but was reduced after low-volume walking compared with sitting in healthy normolipidaemic Japanese men. \u00a9 Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart \u00b7 New York."}
{"id": "MED-1519", "text": "Previous research indicates the presence of certain odors is associated with enhanced task performance. The present study investigated use of peppermint odor during typing performance, memorization, and alphabetization. Participants completed the protocol twice--once with peppermint odor present and once without. Analysis indicated significant differences in the gross speed, net speed, and accuracy on the typing task, with odor associated with improved performance. Alphabetization also improved significantly under the odor condition but not typing duration or memorization. These results suggest peppermint odor may promote a general arousal of attention, so participants stay focused on their task and increase performance."}
{"id": "MED-1520", "text": "Background Enhancing athletic performance is a great desire among the athletes, coaches and researchers. Mint is one of the most famous natural herbs used for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antioxidant, and vasoconstrictor effects. Even though inhaling mint aroma in athletes has been investigated, there were no significant effects on the exercise performance. Methods Twelve healthy male students every day consumed one 500\u2009ml bottle of mineral water, containing 0.05\u2009ml peppermint essential oil for ten days. Blood pressure, heart rate, and spirometry parameters including forced vital capacity (FVC), peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), and peak inspiratory flow (PIF) were determined one day before, and after the supplementation period. Participants underwent a treadmill-based exercise test with metabolic gas analysis and ventilation measurement using the Bruce protocol. Results The FVC (4.57\u2009\u00b1\u20090.90 vs. 4.79\u2009\u00b1\u20090.84; p\u2009<\u20090.001), PEF (8.50\u2009\u00b1\u20090.94 vs. 8.87\u2009\u00b1\u20090.92; p\u2009<\u20090.01), and PIF (5.71\u2009\u00b1\u20091.16 vs. 6.58 \u00b11.08; p\u2009<\u20090.005) significantly changed after ten days of supplementation. Exercise performance evaluated by time to exhaustion (664.5\u2009\u00b1\u2009114.2 vs. 830.2\u2009\u00b1\u2009129.8\u2009s), work (78.34 \u00b132.84 vs. 118.7\u2009\u00b1\u200947.38 KJ), and power (114.3\u2009\u00b1\u200924.24 vs. 139.4\u2009\u00b1\u200927.80 KW) significantly increased (p\u2009<\u20090.001). In addition, the results of respiratory gas analysis exhibited significant differences in VO2 (2.74\u2009\u00b1\u20090.40 vs. 3.03\u2009\u00b1\u20090.351\u2009L/min; p\u2009<\u20090.001), and VCO2 (3.08\u2009\u00b1\u20090.47 vs. 3.73\u2009\u00b1\u20090.518\u2009L/min; p\u2009<\u20090.001). Conclusions The results of the experiment support the effectiveness of peppermint essential oil on the exercise performance, gas analysis, spirometry parameters, blood pressure, and respiratory rate in the young male students. Relaxation of bronchial smooth muscles, increase in the ventilation and brain oxygen concentration, and decrease in the blood lactate level are the most plausible explanations."}
{"id": "MED-1521", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To justify the effects of Mentha piperita labiatae and Mentha spicata labiatae herbal teas on plasma total testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone levels and testicular histologic features. We performed this study because of major complaints in our area from men about the adverse effects of these herbs on male reproductive function. METHODS: The experimental study included 48 male Wistar albino rats (body weight 200 to 250 g). The rats were randomized into four groups of 12 rats each. The control group was given commercial drinking water, and the experimental groups were given 20 g/L M. piperita tea, 20 g/L M. spicata tea, or 40 g/L M. spicata tea. RESULTS: The follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels had increased and total testosterone levels had decreased in the experimental groups compared with the control group; the differences were statistically significant. Also, the Johnsen testicular biopsy scores were significantly different statistically between the experimental groups and the control group. Although the mean seminiferous tubular diameter of the experimental groups was relatively greater than in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant. The only effects of M. piperita on testicular tissue was segmental maturation arrest in the seminiferous tubules; however, the effects of M. spicata extended from maturation arrest to diffuse germ cell aplasia in relation to the dose. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the beneficial effects of M. piperita and M. spicata in digestion, we should also be aware of the toxic effects when the herbs are not used in the recommended fashion or at the recommended dose."}
{"id": "MED-1522", "text": "Hirsutism in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), consequent to elevated androgen levels leads to significant cosmetic and psychological problems. Recent research in Turkey has shown that spearmint tea has antiandrogenic properties in females with hirsutism. No research has yet been undertaken to assess whether a reduction in androgen levels brought about by spearmint tea, translates to a clinical improvement in the degree of hirsutism. This study was a two centre, 30 day randomized controlled trial. Forty two volunteers were randomized to take spearmint tea twice a day for a 1 month period and compared with a placebo herbal tea. At 0, 15 and 30 days of the study serum androgen hormone levels and gonadotrophins were checked, the degree of hirsutism was clinically rated using the Ferriman-Galwey score and a questionnaire (the modified DQLI = Dermatology Quality of Life Index) was used to assess improvements in the level of self-reported hirsutism. Forty one of 42 patients completed the study. Free and total testosterone levels were significantly reduced over the 30 day period in the spearmint tea group (p < 0.05). LH and FSH also increased (p < 0.05). Patient's subjective assessments of their degree of hirsutism scored by the modified DQLI were significantly reduced in the spearmint tea group (p < 0.05). There was, however, no significant reduction in the objective Ferriman-Galwey ratings of hirsutism between the two trial groups over the trial duration (p = 0.12). There was a clear and significant alteration in the relevant hormone levels. This is associated clinically with a reduction in the self-reported degree of hirsutism but unfortunately not with the objectively rated score. It was demonstrated and confirmed that spearmint has antiandrogen properties, the simple fact that this does not clearly translate into clinical practice is due to the relationship between androgen hormones and follicular hair growth and cell turnover time. Simply put, the study duration was not long enough. The original studies from Turkey were in fact only 5 days long. The time taken for hirsutism to resolve is significant and a much longer future study is proposed as the preliminary findings are encouraging that spearmint has the potential for use as a helpful and natural treatment for hirsutism in PCOS. (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1523", "text": "Peppermint oil is easily available as a constituent of medicines. A near fatal case due to ingestion of toxic dose of oral peppermint oil is being reported. The patient came in a comatosed state and was in shock. She was managed with mechanical ventilation and ionotropes. Her vital parameters reached normal within 8 hours and became conscious by 24 hours. The side effects of peppermint oil are considered to be mild but this case report warns that ingestion of oral toxic doses of peppermint oil could be dangerous."}
{"id": "MED-1524", "text": "Ever since smoking was prohibited in restaurants, bars, and clubs, undesirable smells that were previously masked by cigarette smoke became noticeable. This opens up opportunities to improve the dance club environment by introducing pleasant ambient scents that mask the unwanted odors and to allow competing clubs to differentiate themselves. A field study was conducted at three dance clubs using a 3\u2009\u00d7\u20093 Latin square design with pre- and post-measurements of no-scent control conditions. The three scents tested were orange, seawater, and peppermint. These scents were shown to enhance dancing activity and to improve the evaluation of the evening, the evaluation of the music, and the mood of the visitors over no added scent. However, no significant differences were found between the three scents."}
{"id": "MED-1525", "text": "Mentha spicata Labiatae, known as spearmint and Mentha piperita Labiatae, known as peppermint can be used for various kinds of illnesses in herbal medicine and flavoring in industry. M. spicata Labiatae grows on the Anamas plateau of Yenithornarbademli town of Isparta, located in southwest part of Turkey. In this town, clinicians thought that consumption of tea steeped with M. spicata or M. piperita caused a diminished libido. Because antiandrogenic effects of spearmint and peppermint were found previously in rats, it was decided to observe the effect of this herbal tea on the androgen levels in hirsute women.Twenty-one female hirsute patients, 12 with polycystic ovary syndrome and 9 with idiopathic hirsutism were included to the study. They were took a cup of herbal tea which was steeped with M. spicata for 5 days twice a day in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycles. After treatment with spearmint teas, there was a significant decrease in free testosterone and increase in luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol. There were no significant decreases in total testosterone or dehydroepiandrostenedione sulphate levels. Spearmint can be an alternative to antiandrogenic treatment for mild hirsutism. Further studies are needed to test the reliability of these results and the availability of spearmint as a drug for hirsutism. Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1526", "text": "The purpose of this study was to determine whether inhaling peppermint odor has effects on time of running, maximum heart rate (MHR), maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), oxygen consumption (VO2), minute ventilation (VE) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during acute intensive exercise or not. 36 women soccer player were chosen for participating in this research. They were randomly divided in 3 groups (control, inhaling peppermint, inhaling mixture of peppermint and ethanol). In order to be aware of similarity of groups, the subjects' BMI was determined and ANOVA did not show any significant differences (p < 0.05). The subjects of three groups ran on treadmill according to Bruce test. Heart rate, time of running, VO2max, VO2, VE and RER were measured by Gas Analyzer. After collecting the data, ANOVA was done (p < 0.05) and the results showed that in this study the inhaling of fragrant odors did not have any significant effect on the time of running, MHR, VO2max, VO2, VE and RER, which we think is due to the intensity and duration of training. Referring to our results of the present study; we suggest that inhaling peppermint odor during acute intensive exercise has no significant effect on pulmonary indexes and physical performance (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 21)."}
{"id": "MED-1527", "text": "Importance Some evidence suggests vegetarian dietary patterns may be associated with reduced mortality, but the relationship is not well established. Objective To evaluate the association between vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality. Design Prospective cohort study; mortality analysis by Cox proportional hazards regression, controlling for important demographic and lifestyle confounders. Setting Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2), a large North American cohort. Participants A total of 96 469 Seventh-day Adventist men and women recruited between 2002 and 2007, from which an analytic sample of 73 308 participants remained after exclusions. Exposures Diet was assessed at baseline by a quantitative food frequency questionnaire and categorized into 5 dietary patterns: nonvegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo\u2013vegetarian, and vegan. Main Outcome and Measure The relationship between vegetarian dietary patterns and all-cause and cause-specific mortality; deaths through 2009 were identified from the National Death Index. Results There were 2570 deaths among 73 308 participants during a mean follow-up time of 5.79 years. The mortality rate was 6.05 (95% CI, 5.82\u20136.29) deaths per 1000 person-years. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in all vegetarians combined vs non-vegetarians was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80\u20130.97). The adjusted HR for all-cause mortality in vegans was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.73\u20131.01); in lacto-ovo\u2013vegetarians, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.82\u20131.00); in pesco-vegetarians, 0.81 (95% CI, 0.69\u20130.94); and in semi-vegetarians, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.75\u20131.13) compared with nonvegetarians. Significant associations with vegetarian diets were detected for cardiovascular mortality, noncardiovascular noncancer mortality, renal mortality, and endocrine mortality. Associations in men were larger and more often significant than were those in women. Conclusions and Relevance Vegetarian diets are associated with lower all-cause mortality and with some reductions in cause-specific mortality. Results appeared to be more robust in males. These favorable associations should be considered carefully by those offering dietary guidance."}
{"id": "MED-1528", "text": "A vegetarian diet generally includes plenty of vegetables and fruits, which are rich in phytochemicals, antioxidants, fiber, magnesium, vitamins C and E, Fe\u00b3\u207a, folic acid and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and is low in cholesterol, total fat and saturated fatty acid, sodium, Fe\u00b2\u207a, zinc, vitamin A, B\u2081\u2082 and D, and especially n-3 PUFA. Mortality from all-cause, ischemic heart disease, and circulatory and cerebrovascular diseases was significantly lower in vegetarians than in omnivorous populations. Compared with omnivores, the incidence of cancer and type 2 diabetes was also significantly lower in vegetarians. However, vegetarians have a number of increased risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as increased plasma homocysteine, mean platelet volume and platelet aggregability compared with omnivores, which are associated with low intake of vitamin B\u2081\u2082 and n-3 PUFA. Based on the present data, it would seem appropriate for vegetarians to carefully design their diet, specifically focusing on increasing their intake of vitamin B\u2081\u2082 and n-3 PUFA to further reduce already low mortality and morbidity from non-communicable diseases. \u00a9 2013 Society of Chemical Industry."}
{"id": "MED-1529", "text": "BACKGROUND: Few previous prospective studies have examined differences in incident ischemic heart disease (IHD) risk between vegetarians and nonvegetarians. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the association of a vegetarian diet with risk of incident (nonfatal and fatal) IHD. DESIGN: A total of 44,561 men and women living in England and Scotland who were enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford study, of whom 34% consumed a vegetarian diet at baseline, were part of the analysis. Incident cases of IHD were identified through linkage with hospital records and death certificates. Serum lipids and blood pressure measurements were available for 1519 non cases, who were matched to IHD cases by sex and age. IHD risk by vegetarian status was estimated by using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: After an average follow-up of 11.6 y, there were 1235 IHD cases (1066 hospital admissions and 169 deaths). Compared with nonvegetarians, vegetarians had a lower mean BMI [in kg/m(2); -1.2 (95% CI: -1.3, -1.1)], non-HDL-cholesterol concentration [-0.45 (95% CI: -0.60, -0.30) mmol/L], and systolic blood pressure [-3.3 (95% CI: -5.9, -0.7) mm Hg]. Vegetarians had a 32% lower risk (HR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.81) of IHD than did nonvegetarians, which was only slightly attenuated after adjustment for BMI and did not differ materially by sex, age, BMI, smoking, or the presence of IHD risk factors. CONCLUSION: Consuming a vegetarian diet was associated with lower IHD risk, a finding that is probably mediated by differences in non-HDL cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure."}
{"id": "MED-1530", "text": "BACKGROUND: Prospective cohort studies have examined mortality and overall cancer incidence among vegetarians, but the results have been inconclusive. AIMS: The objective of the present meta-analysis was to investigate cardiovascular disease mortality and cancer incidence among vegetarians and nonvegetarians. METHODS: Medline, EMBASE and Web Of Science databases were searched for cohort studies published from inception to September 2011. Studies were included if they contained the relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% CI. Participants were from the UK, Germany, California, USA, the Netherlands and Japan. RESULTS: Seven studies with a total of 124,706 participants were included in this analysis. All-cause mortality in vegetarians was 9% lower than in nonvegetarians (RR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.66-1.16). The mortality from ischemic heart disease was significantly lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians (RR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.56-0.87). We observed a 16% lower mortality from circulatory diseases (RR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.54-1.14) and a 12% lower mortality from cerebrovascular disease (RR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.70-1.06) in vegetarians compared with nonvegetarians. Vegetarians had a significantly lower cancer incidence than nonvegetarians (RR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.67-0.97). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that vegetarians have a significantly lower ischemic heart disease mortality (29%) and overall cancer incidence (18%) than nonvegetarians. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-1531", "text": "Observational and ecological studies are generally used to determine the presence of effect of cancer risk-modifying factors. Researchers generally agree that environmental factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of physical activity, and low serum 25-hdyroxyvitamin D levels are important cancer risk factors. This ecological study used age-adjusted incidence rates for 21 cancers for 157 countries (87 with high-quality data) in 2008 with respect to dietary supply and other factors, including per capita gross domestic product, life expectancy, lung cancer incidence rate (an index for smoking), and latitude (an index for solar ultraviolet-B doses). The factors found to correlate strongly with multiple types of cancer were lung cancer (direct correlation with 12 types of cancer), energy derived from animal products (direct correlation with 12 types of cancer, inverse with two), latitude (direct correlation with six types, inverse correlation with three), and per capita gross national product (five types). Life expectancy and sweeteners directly correlated with three cancers, animal fat with two, and alcohol with one. Consumption of animal products correlated with cancer incidence with a lag time of 15\u201325 years. Types of cancer which correlated strongly with animal product consumption, tended to correlate weakly with latitude; this occurred for 11 cancers for the entire set of countries. Regression results were somewhat different for the 87 high-quality country data set and the 157-country set. Single-country ecological studies have inversely correlated nearly all of these cancers with solar ultraviolet-B doses. These results can provide guidance for prevention of cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1532", "text": "Although substantial nutrition transition, characterized by an increased intake of energy, animal fat, and red meats, has occurred during the last several decades in East Asia, few studies have systematically evaluated temporal trends in cancer incidence or mortality among populations in this area. Therefore, we sought to investigate this question with tremendous public health implications. Data on mortality rates of cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, esophagus, and stomach for China (1988-2000), Hong Kong (1960-2006), Japan (1950-2006), Korea (1985-2006), and Singapore (1963-2006) were obtained from WHO. Joinpoint regression was used to investigate trends in mortality of these cancers. A remarkable increase in mortality rates of breast, colon, and prostate cancers and a precipitous decrease in those of esophageal and stomach cancers have been observed in selected countries (except breast cancer in Hong Kong) during the study periods. For example, the annual percentage increase in breast cancer mortality was 5.5% (95% confidence interval: 3.8, 7.3%) for the period 1985-1993 in Korea, and mortality rates for prostate cancer significantly increased by 3.2% (95% confidence interval: 3.0, 3.3%) per year from 1958 to 1993 in Japan. These changes in cancer mortality lagged \u223c 10 years behind the inception of the nutrition transition toward a westernized diet in selected countries or regions. There have been striking changes in mortality rates of breast, colon, prostate, esophageal, and stomach cancers in East Asia during the last several decades, which may be at least in part attributable to the concurrent nutrition transition."}
{"id": "MED-1533", "text": "Snacks are an important part of children's dietary intake, but the role of dried fruit on energy intake in children is unknown. Therefore, the effect of ad libitum consumption of an after-school snack of raisins, grapes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies on appetite and energy intake in twenty-six 8- to 11-y-old normal-weight (15th to 85th percentile) children was examined. On 4 separate weekdays, 1 wk apart, children (11 M, 15 F) were given a standardized breakfast, morning snack (apple), and a standardized lunch. After school, children randomly received 1 of 4 ad libitum snacks and were instructed to eat until \"comfortably full.\" Appetite was measured before and 15, 30, and 45 min after snack consumption. Children consumed the least calories from raisins and grapes and the most from cookies (P < 0.001). However, weight of raisins consumed was similar to potato chips (about 75 g) and lower compared to grapes and cookies (P < 0.009). Raisins and grapes led to lower cumulative food intake (breakfast + morning snack + lunch + after-school snack) (P < 0.001), while the cookies increased cumulative food intake (P < 0.001) compared to the other snacks. Grapes lowered appetite compared to all other snacks (P < 0.001) when expressed as a change in appetite per kilocalorie of the snack. Ad libitum consumption of raisins has potential as an after-school snack to achieve low snack intake prior to dinner, similar to grapes, compared to potato chips, and cookies in children 8 to 11 y old. \u00a9 2013 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-1534", "text": "To determine whether realistic snacks containing added sugar evoke excessive insulin responses, 10 healthy subjects consumed four different snack meals, similar in fat and total energy content. Two snacks were based on sugary, manufactured products (chocolate-coated candy bar; cola drink with crisps) and two on whole foods (raisins and peanuts; bananas and peanuts). After the processed-food snacks, plasma-glucose levels tended to rise higher and to fall lower than after the whole-food snacks. The area under the plasma insulin curve was 70% greater after the manufactured snacks than after the raisin-peanut snack. The banana-peanut snack evoked an intermediate insulin response. One subject had pathological insulinaemia after both manufactured snacks but normal responses after both whole-food snacks. These findings suggest that foods and drinks containing added fiber-depleted sugars stress and sometimes overwhelm homeostatic mechanisms but also suggest that the insulin response to food is influenced by the physical state of the food."}
{"id": "MED-1535", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare effects of raisin snacks with conventional snacks on glycemia and cardiovascular risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 12-week, randomized, controlled trial compared 3-times-a-day consumption of raisins with intake of processed snacks on glycemia and cardiovascular risk factors. Men and women were randomized to snacks (n = 15) or raisins (n = 31). Outcome measures were performed at baseline, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. RESULTS: Fasting plasma glucose levels were not significantly affected by intake of raisins or snacks. Mean subject post prandial glucose levels were significantly reduced by raisin intake at 12 weeks; changes with raisin intake were -13.1 mg/dL (P = 0.003 vs baseline; P = 0.03 vs snacks). Eating raisins significantly decreased glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level (-0.12%; P = 0.004), a significantly greater level decrease than seen with snack intake (P = 0.036). Snack intake did not significantly affect subject systolic or diastolic blood pressure (BP). Raisin intake was associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 4, 8, and 12 weeks with mean changes of -6.0 to 10.2 mmHg; all these changes were statistically significant (P = 0.015 to 0.001). Raisins were associated with significantly greater changes in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at 4, 8, and 12 weeks than snacks (P < 0.05). Body weight did not significantly change within or between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Regular consumption of raisins may reduce glycemia and cardiovascular risk factors, including BP rate."}
{"id": "MED-1538", "text": "The effect of a premeal snack of grapes, raisins, or a mix of almonds and raisins, compared with a water control, on food intake (FI) was examined in 8- to 11-year-old normal-weight (15th to 85th percentile) children. Children randomly received 1 of 4 ad libitum (Experiment 1: 13 boys, 13 girls) or fixed-calorie (150 kcal; Experiment 2: 13 boys, 13 girls) treatments, followed by an ad libitum pizza meal 30 min later. Appetite was measured throughout the study, and FI was measured at 30 min. The ad libitum consumption (Experiment 1) of raisins reduced pizza intake (p < 0.037), compared with water (26%), grapes (22%), and the mixed snack (15%). Cumulative energy intake (in kcal: snack + pizza) was lower after water and raisins than after either grapes or the mixed snack (p < 0.031). As a fixed-calorie (150 kcal) snack (Experiment 2), raisins reduced pizza intake, compared with water (\u223c11%, p = 0.005), and resulted in a cumulative intake similar to water; however, both grapes and the mixed snack resulted in higher cumulative intakes (p < 0.015). Appetite was lower after all caloric ad libitum snacks (p < 0.003) and after fixed amounts of grapes and the mixed snack (p < 0.037), compared with water. In conclusion, consumption of a premeal snack of raisins, but not grapes or a mix of raisins and almonds, reduces meal-time energy intake and does not lead to increased cumulative energy intake in children."}
{"id": "MED-1540", "text": "A number of studies have evaluated the health of vegetarians. Others have studied the health effects of foods that are preferred or avoided by vegetarians. The purpose of this review is to look critically at the evidence on the health effects of vegetarian diets and to seek possible explanations where results appear to conflict. There is convincing evidence that vegetarians have lower rates of coronary heart disease, largely explained by low LDL cholesterol, probable lower rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and lower prevalence of obesity. Overall, their cancer rates appear to be moderately lower than others living in the same communities, and life expectancy appears to be greater. However, results for specific cancers are much less convincing and require more study. There is evidence that risk of colorectal cancer is lower in vegetarians and in those who eat less meat; however, results from British vegetarians presently disagree, and this needs explanation. It is probable that using the label \u201cvegetarian\u201d as a dietary category is too broad and that our understanding will be served well by dividing vegetarians into more descriptive subtypes. Although vegetarian diets are healthful and are associated with lower risk of several chronic diseases, different types of vegetarians may not experience the same effects on health."}
{"id": "MED-1541", "text": "We propose the hypothesis that a vegetarian diet reduces the risk of developing diabetes. Findings that have generated this hypothesis are from a population of 25,698 adult White Seventh-day Adventists identified in 1960. During 21 years of follow-up, the risk of diabetes as an underlying cause of death in Adventists was approximately one-half the risk for all US Whites. Within the male Adventist population, vegetarians had a substantially lower risk than non-vegetarians of diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death. Within both the male and female Adventist populations, the prevalence of self-reported diabetes also was lower in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians. The associations observed between diabetes and meat consumption were apparently not due to confounding by over- or under-weight, other selected dietary factors, or physical activity. All of the associations between meat consumption and diabetes were stronger in males than in females."}
{"id": "MED-1542", "text": "Background The American Heart Association's 2020 Strategic Impact Goals define a new concept, \u201ccardiovascular (CV) health\u201d; however, current prevalence estimates of the status of CV health in U.S. adults according to age, sex and race/ethnicity have not been published. Methods and Results We included 14,515 adults (\u226520 years) from the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Participants were stratified by young (20-39 years), middle (40-64 years), and older ages (65+ years). CV health behaviors (diet, physical activity, body mass index, smoking) and CV health factors (blood pressure, total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, smoking) were defined as poor, intermediate, or ideal. Less than 1% of adults exhibited ideal CV health for all 7 metrics. For CV health behaviors, non-smoking was most prevalent (range:60.2-90.4%) while ideal Healthy Diet Score was least prevalent (range:0.2-2.6%) across groups. Prevalence of ideal BMI (range:36.5-45.3%) and ideal physical activity levels (range:50.2-58.8%) were higher in young adults compared to middle or older ages. Ideal total cholesterol (range:23.7-36.2%), blood pressure (range:11.9-16.3%) and fasting blood glucose (range:31.2-42.9%) were lower in older adults compared with young and middle age adults.Prevalence of poor CV health factors was lowest in young age but higher at middle and older ages. Prevalence estimates by age and sex were consistent across race/ethnic groups. Conclusions These prevalence estimates of CV health represent a starting point from which effectiveness of efforts to promote CV health and prevent CV disease can be monitored and compared in U.S. adult populations."}
{"id": "MED-1543", "text": "The goal of this research was to evaluate the personal health behaviors of physicians in training and attending physicians in association with patient-related lifestyle counseling. Physicians at a major teaching hospital were surveyed regarding their personal lifestyle behavior, perceived confidence, and frequency of counseling patients regarding lifestyle behaviors. One hundred eighty-three total responses were received. Trainees were more likely to consume fast food and less likely to consume fruits and vegetables than attendings. Attending physicians were more likely to exercise 4 or more days per week and more than 150 minutes per week. Attending physicians were more likely to counsel their patients regarding a healthy diet (70.7% vs 36.3%, P<.0001) and regular exercise (69.1% vs 38.2%, P<.0001) compared with trainees. Few trainees or attendings were confident in their ability to change patients' behaviors. Predictors of confidence in counseling for exercise included the provider's own exercise time of > 150 minutes per week, being overweight, and reported adequate training in counseling. Only adequate training in counseling was a predictor of strong self-efficacy for counseling in diet. Many physicians lack confidence in their ability to counsel patients regarding lifestyle. Personal behaviors including regular exercise and better training in counseling techniques may improve patient counseling. \u00a9 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1545", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The smoking status of physicians can impact interactions with patients about smoking. The 'Smoking: The Opinions of Physicians' (STOP) survey examined whether an association existed between physician smoking status and beliefs about smoking and cessation and a physician's clinical interactions with patients relevant to smoking cessation, and perceptions of barriers to assisting with quitting. METHODS: General and family practitioners across 16 countries were surveyed via telephone or face-to-face interviews using a convenience-sample methodology. Physician smoking status was self-reported. RESULTS: Of 4473 physicians invited, 2836 (63%) participated in the survey, 1200 (42%) of whom were smokers. Significantly fewer smoking than non-smoking physicians volunteered that smoking was a harmful activity (64% vs 77%; P<0.001). More non-smokers agreed that smoking cessation was the single biggest step to improving health (88% vs 82%; P<0.001) and discussed smoking at every visit (45% vs 34%; P<0.001). Although more non-smoking physicians identified willpower (37% vs 32%; P<0.001) and lack of interest (28% vs 22%; P<0.001) as barriers to quitting, more smoking physicians saw stress as a barrier (16% vs 10%; P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Smoking physicians are less likely to initiate cessation interventions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: There is a need for specific strategies to encourage smoking physicians to quit, and to motivate all practitioners to adopt systematic approaches to assisting with smoking cessation."}
{"id": "MED-1546", "text": "Background \u201cCardiovascular health\u201d is a new construct defined by the American Heart Association (AHA) as part of its 2020 Impact Goals definition. The applicability of this construct to community-based populations and the distributions of its components by race and sex have not been reported. Methods and Results The AHA construct of \u201ccardiovascular health\u201d and the AHA \u201cideal health behaviors index\u201d and \u201cideal health factors index\u201d were evaluated among 1933 participants (mean age 59 years; 44% blacks; 66% female) in the community-based Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation study. One of 1933 participants (0.1%) met all 7 components of the AHA's definition of ideal cardiovascular health. Less than 10% of participants met \u22655 components of ideal cardiovascular health in all subgroups (by race, sex, age and income level). Thirty-nine subjects (2.0%) had all four components of the ideal health behaviors index and 27 (1.4%) had all three components of the ideal health factors index. Blacks had significantly fewer ideal cardiovascular health components than whites (2.0\u00b11.2 vs. 2.6\u00b11.4, p<0.001). After adjustment by sex, age and income level, blacks had 82% lower odds of having \u22655 components of ideal cardiovascular health (Odds Ratio 0.18, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)=0.10-0.34, p<0.001). No interaction was found between race and sex. Conclusion The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health is extremely low in a middle-age community-based study population. Comprehensive individual and population-based interventions must be developed to support the attainment of the AHA's 2020 Impact Goals for cardiovascular health."}
{"id": "MED-1548", "text": "This document details the procedures and recommendations of the Goals and Metrics Committee of the Strategic Planning Task Force of the American Heart Association, which developed the 2020 Impact Goals for the organization. The committee was charged with defining a new concept, cardiovascular health, and determining the metrics needed to monitor it over time. Ideal cardiovascular health, a concept well supported in the literature, is defined by the presence of both ideal health behaviors (nonsmoking, body mass index <25 kg/m(2), physical activity at goal levels, and pursuit of a diet consistent with current guideline recommendations) and ideal health factors (untreated total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, untreated blood pressure <120/<80 mm Hg, and fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL). Appropriate levels for children are also provided. With the use of levels that span the entire range of the same metrics, cardiovascular health status for the whole population is defined as poor, intermediate, or ideal. These metrics will be monitored to determine the changing prevalence of cardiovascular health status and define achievement of the Impact Goal. In addition, the committee recommends goals for further reductions in cardiovascular disease and stroke mortality. Thus, the committee recommends the following Impact Goals: \"By 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20%.\" These goals will require new strategic directions for the American Heart Association in its research, clinical, public health, and advocacy programs for cardiovascular health promotion and disease prevention in the next decade and beyond."}
{"id": "MED-1549", "text": "BACKGROUND: The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC VII) recommended lifestyle interventions, either with or without pharmacologic treatment, for all patients with high blood pressure. The objective of this study is to determine the association of physicians' personal habits with their attitudes and behaviors regarding JNC VII lifestyle modification guidelines. METHODS: One thousand primary care physicians completed DocStyles 2010, a voluntary web-based survey designed to provide insight into physician attitudes and behaviors regarding various health issues. RESULTS: The respondents' average age was 45.3 years, and 68% were male. In regards to physician behavior, 4.0% smoked at least once a week, 38.6% ate \u22655 cups of fruits and/or vegetables \u22655 days/week, and 27.4% exercised \u22655 days/week. When asked about specific types of advice offered to their hypertensive patients, physicians reported recommending that their patients eat a healthy diet (92.2%), or cut down on salt (96.1%), or attain or maintain a healthy weight (94.8%), or limit the use of alcohol (75.4%), or be physically active (94.4%). Collectively, 66.5% made all 5 lifestyle modification recommendations. Nonsmoking physicians were more likely to recommend each lifestyle intervention to their hypertensive patients. Those who exercised at least 1 day per week were more likely to recommend limiting alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The probability of recommending all 5 JNC VII interventions was greater for physicians who were nonsmoking and who exercised at least 1 day a week."}
{"id": "MED-1551", "text": "In a controlled trial, 21 strict vegetarians were studied prospectively for eight weeks: a two-week control period of the usual vegetarian diet was followed by four weeks, during which 250 g of beef was added isocalorically to the daily vegetarian diet and then by two weeks of the control diet. Plasma high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol did not change during the study, whereas plasma total cholesterol rose significantly by 19% at the end of the meat-eating period. Systolic blood pressure (BP) increased significantly during the meat eating by 3% over control values, whereas diastolic BP showed no major changes. Plasma renin activity, prostaglandin A and E levels, and urinary kallikrein, norepinephrine, and epinephrine excretions were within normal limits and did not change notably throughout the trial. The study suggests an adverse effect of consumption of beef on plasma lipid and BP levels."}
{"id": "MED-1552", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the quantitative importance of dietary fatty acids and dietary cholesterol to blood concentrations of total, low density lipoprotein, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies of solid food diets in healthy volunteers. SUBJECTS: 395 dietary experiments (median duration 1 month) among 129 groups of individuals. RESULTS: Isocaloric replacement of saturated fats by complex carbohydrates for 10% of dietary calories resulted in blood total cholesterol falling by 0.52 (SE 0.03) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.36 (0.05) mmol/l. Isocaloric replacement of complex carbohydrates by polyunsaturated fats for 5% of dietary calories resulted in total cholesterol falling by a further 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol falling by 0.11 (0.02) mmol/l. Similar replacement of carbohydrates by monounsaturated fats produced no significant effect on total or low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Avoiding 200 mg/day dietary cholesterol further decreased blood total cholesterol by 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.10 (0.02) mmol/l. CONCLUSIONS: In typical British diets replacing 60% of saturated fats by other fats and avoiding 60% of dietary cholesterol would reduce blood total cholesterol by about 0.8 mmol/l (that is, by 10-15%), with four fifths of this reduction being in low density lipoprotein cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-1553", "text": "Although consumers say they are concerned about nutrition and are aware that eating a healthful diet is important for good health, this knowledge does not always translate into healthful diet behaviors or motivate behavior change. In an effort to better understand consumer attitudes about nutrition and to explore alternatives for communicating dietary advice in language that is meaningful and motivates behavior change, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) conducted qualitative research with consumers (using focus groups) and registered dietitians (using telephone interviews) in 1998 and 1999. Results of the research are presented using dietary fat as a case study. Findings from the IFIC research were reported to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to assist the Committee in developing meaningful and action-oriented dietary advice related to dietary fat for inclusion in the 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that would be motivating and easy for consumers to implement. The recommendation to moderate fat intake in the new dietary guideline, \"Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat\" is consistent with communication recommendations in the IFIC research. Further, the moderate fat message is empowering because it suggests an achievable dietary regimen and reduces guilt and worry about foods. It allows flexibility to enjoy desired foods and promotes using common sense when it comes to diet. Several issues emerged from the IFIC research that apply to general nutrition communications with consumers, whether it be through national nutrition recommendations or in one-on-one counseling situations: to be effective, messages to consumers about nutrition, and specifically dietary fat, must address sources of discomfort about dietary choices; they must engender a sense of empowerment; and they should motivate both by providing clear information that propels toward taking action and appeals to the need to make personal choices."}
{"id": "MED-1554", "text": "BACKGROUND: Reduction or modification of dietary fat can improve total cholesterol levels, but may also have a variety of effects, both positive and negative, on other cardiovascular risk factors. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effect of reduction or modification of dietary fats on total and cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular morbidity over at least 6 months, using all available randomized clinical trials. SEARCH STRATEGY: The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CAB s, CVRCT registry and related Cochrane Groups' trial registers were searched through spring 1998, SIGLE to January 1999. Trials known to experts in the field and biographies were included through May 1999. SELECTION CRITERIA: Trials fulfilled the following criteria: 1) randomized with appropriate control group, 2) intention to reduce or modify fat or cholesterol intake (excluding exclusively omega-3 fat interventions), 3) not multi factorial, 4) healthy adult humans, 5) intervention at least six months, 6) mortality or cardiovascular morbidity data available. Inclusion decisions were duplicated, disagreement resolved by discussion or a third party. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Rate data were extracted by two independent reviewers and meta-analysis performed using random effects methodology. Meta-regression and funnel plots were used. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty seven studies were included (40 intervention arms, 30,901 person-years). There was no significant effect on total mortality (rate ratio 0.98, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.12), a trend towards protection form cardiovascular mortality (rate ratio 0.91, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.07), and significant protection from cardiovascular events (rate ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.99). The latter became non-significant on sensitivity analysis. Trials where participants were involved for more than 2 years showed significant reductions in the rate of cardiovascular events and a suggestion of protection from total mortality. The degree of protection from cardiovascular events appeared similar in high and low risk groups, but was statistically significant only in the former. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The findings are suggestive of a small but potentially important reduction in cardiovascular risk in trials longer than two years. Lifestyle advice to all those at high risk of cardiovascular disease (especially where statins are unavailable or rationed), and to lower risk population groups, should continue to include permanent reduction of dietary saturated fat and partial replacement by unsaturates."}
{"id": "MED-1555", "text": "The confounding that results from the uncontrolled conditions under which most epidemiologic observations are made is sufficient to undermine their validity with respect to investigation of the relationship between diet and serum cholesterol. In this paper, the authors show, using both a mathematical model and referring to empirical data, that if certain variances are sufficiently great, even when there is cause and effect, correlation coefficients close to zero would be expected from the actual data of a cross-sectional study. Cross-sectional designs are therefore not suitable for studying this relationship."}
{"id": "MED-1556", "text": "Background: A reduction in dietary saturated fat has generally been thought to improve cardiovascular health. Objective: The objective of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence related to the association of dietary saturated fat with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD; CHD inclusive of stroke) in prospective epidemiologic studies. Design: Twenty-one studies identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and secondary referencing qualified for inclusion in this study. A random-effects model was used to derive composite relative risk estimates for CHD, stroke, and CVD. Results: During 5\u201323 y of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. The pooled relative risk estimates that compared extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.19; P = 0.22) for CHD, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.05; P = 0.11) for stroke, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11; P = 0.95) for CVD. Consideration of age, sex, and study quality did not change the results. Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat."}
{"id": "MED-1557", "text": "AIM: To systematically review data from different countries on population intakes of total fat, saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and to compare these to recommendations from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/the World Health Organization (FAO/WHO). METHODS: Data from national dietary surveys or population studies published from 1995 were searched via MEDLINE, Web of Science and websites of national public health institutes. RESULTS: Fatty acid intake data from 40 countries were included. Total fat intake ranged from 11.1 to 46.2 percent of energy intake (% E), SFA from 2.9 to 20.9% E and PUFA from 2.8 to 11.3% E. The mean intakes met the recommendation for total fat (20-35% E), SFA (<10% E) and PUFA (6-11% E) in 25, 11 and 20 countries, respectively. SFA intake correlated with total fat intake (r = 0.76, p < 0.01) but not with PUFA intake (r = 0.03, p = 0.84). Twenty-seven countries provided data on the distribution of fatty acids intake. In 18 of 27 countries, more than 50% of the population had SFA intakes >10% E and in 13 of 27 countries, the majority of the population had PUFA intakes <6% E. CONCLUSIONS: In many countries, the fatty acids intake of adults does not meet the levels that are recommended to prevent chronic diseases. The relation between SFA and PUFA intakes shows that lower intakes of SFA in the populations are not accompanied by higher intakes of PUFA, as is recommended for preventing coronary heart disease."}
{"id": "MED-1558", "text": "Dietary fat and its effects on health and disease has attracted interest for research and Public Health. Since the 1980s many bodies and organizations have published recommendations regarding fat intake. In this paper different sets of recommendations are analyzed following a systematic review process to examine dietary reference intakes, nutritional goals and dietary guidelines for fat and fatty acids. A literature search was conducted in relevant literature databases along a search for suitable grey literature reports. Documents were included if they reported information on either recommended intake levels or dietary reference values or nutritional objectives or dietary guidelines regarding fat and/or fatty acids and/or cholesterol intake or if reported background information on the process followed to produce the recommendations. There is no standard approach for deriving nutrient recommendations. Recommendations vary between countries regarding the levels of intake advised, the process followed to set the recommendations. Recommendations on fat intake share similar figures regarding total fat intake, saturated fats and trans fats. Many sets do not include a recommendation about cholesterol intake. Most recent documents provide advice regarding specific n-3 fatty acids. Despite efforts to develop evidence based nutrient recommendations and dietary guidelines that may contribute to enhance health, there are still many gaps in research. It would be desirable that all bodies concerned remain transparent about the development of dietary recommendations. In order to achieve this, the type of evidence selected to base the recommendations should be specified and ranked. Regular updates of such recommendations should be planned."}
{"id": "MED-1559", "text": "Background The 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) guidelines encourage cancer survivors to follow its cancer prevention recommendations. We evaluated whether adherence to the WCRF/AICR guidelines for cancer prevention was associated with lower mortality among older female cancer survivors. Methods From 2004\u20132009, 2,017 participants in the Iowa Women\u2019s Health Study who had a confirmed cancer diagnosis (1986\u20132002) and completed the 2004 follow-up questionnaire were followed. Adherence scores for the WCRF/AICR guidelines for body weight, physical activity, and diet were computed assigning one, 0.5 or 0 points to each of eight recommendations depending on the degree of adherence. All-cause (n=461), cancer-specific (n=184), and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-specific mortality (n=145) were compared by the total adherence score and by adherence scores for each of the three components of the recommendations. Results Women with the highest (6\u20138) vs. lowest (0\u20134) adherence score had lower all-cause mortality (HR=0.67, 95%CI=0.50\u20130.94). Meeting the physical activity recommendation was associated with lower all-cause (ptrend<0.0001), cancer-specific (ptrend=0.04), and CVD-specific mortality (ptrend=0.03). Adherence to dietary recommendations was associated with lower all-cause mortality (ptrend<0.05), whereas adherence to the body weight recommendation was associated with higher all-cause mortality (ptrend=0.009). Conclusions Adherence to the WCRF/AICR guidelines was associated with lower all-cause mortality among older female cancer survivors. Adherence to the physical activity recommendation had the strongest association with lower all-cause and disease-specific mortality. Impact Older cancer survivors may decrease their risk of death by leading a healthy lifestyle after a cancer diagnosis."}
{"id": "MED-1560", "text": "Background The American Heart Association (AHA) has defined the concept of ideal cardiovascular health in promotion of their 2020 Strategic Impact Goals. We examined if adherence to ideal levels of the seven AHA cardiovascular health metrics was associated with incident cancers in the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) study over 17-19 years of follow-up. Methods and Results After exclusions for missing data and prevalent cancer, 13,253 ARIC participants were included for analysis. Baseline measurements were used to classify participants according to seven AHA cardiovascular health metrics. Combined cancer incidence (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) from 1987-2006 was captured using cancer registries and hospital surveillance; 2880 incident cancer cases occurred over follow-up. Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios for incident cancer. There was a significant (p-trend< .0001), graded, inverse association between the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics at baseline and cancer incidence. Participants meeting goals for 6-7 ideal health metrics (2.7% of the population) had 51% lower risk of incident cancer than those meeting goals for 0 ideal health metrics. When smoking was removed from the sum of ideal health metrics, the association was attenuated with participants meeting goals for 5-6 health metrics having 25% lower cancer risk than those meeting goals for 0 ideal health metrics (p-trend = .03). Conclusions Adherence to the seven ideal health metrics defined in the AHA 2020 goals is associated with lower cancer incidence. The AHA should continue to pursue partnerships with cancer advocacy groups to achieve reductions in chronic disease prevalence."}
{"id": "MED-1563", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Lifestyle factors are related to mortality. Although much is known about the impact of single factors, the current evidence about the combined effects of lifestyle behaviors on mortality has not yet been systematically compiled. METHOD: We searched Medline, Embase, Global Health, and Somed up to February 2012. Prospective studies were selected if they reported the combined effects of at least three of five lifestyle factors (obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, and physical activity). The mean effect sizes that certain numbers of combined lifestyle factors have on mortality were compared to the group with the least number of healthy lifestyle factors by meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore the robustness of the results. RESULTS: 21 studies (18 cohorts) met the inclusion criteria of which 15 were included in the meta-analysis that comprised 531,804 people with a mean follow-up of 13.24 years. The relative risks decreased proportionate to a higher number of healthy lifestyle factors for all cause mortality. A combination of at least four healthy lifestyle factors is associated with a reduction of the all cause mortality risk by 66% (95% confidence interval 58%-73%). CONCLUSION: Adherence to a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of mortality. Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1564", "text": "Background In 2007 the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) released eight recommendations related to body fatness, physical activity and diet aimed at preventing the most common cancers worldwide. However, limited information exists on the association between meeting these recommendations and risks of specific cancers, including breast cancer. Methods We operationalized six recommendations (related to body fatness, physical activity, foods that promote weight gain, plant foods, red and processed meats, and alcohol) and examined their association with invasive breast cancer incidence over 6.7 years of follow-up in the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) study cohort. Participants included 30,797 post-menopausal women ages 50\u201376 years at baseline in 2000\u20132002 with no history of breast cancer. Breast cancers (n=899) were tracked through the Western Washington Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Results Breast cancer risk was reduced by 60% in women who met at least five recommendations compared to those who met none (HR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.25\u20130.65; Ptrend<0.001). Further analyses that sequentially removed individual recommendations least associated with reduced risk suggested that this reduction is due to meeting recommendations related to body fatness, plant foods and alcohol (HR for meeting vs. not meeting these three recommendations: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.25\u20130.58; Ptrend <0.001). Conclusions Meeting the WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations, specifically those related to alcohol, body fatness and plant foods, is associated with reduced post-menopausal breast cancer incidence. Impact Increased adherence to the WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations could substantially reduce post-menopausal breast cancer risk in US women."}
{"id": "MED-1565", "text": "BACKGROUND: In 2007, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) issued recommendations on diet, physical activity, and weight management for cancer prevention on the basis of the most comprehensive collection of available evidence. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether concordance with WCRF/AICR recommendations is related to risk of death. DESIGN: The current study included 378,864 participants from 9 European countries enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. At recruitment (1992-1998), dietary, anthropometric, and lifestyle information was collected. A WCRF/AICR score, which incorporated 6 of the WCRF/AICR recommendations for men [regarding body fatness, physical activity, foods and drinks that promote weight gain, plant foods, animal foods, and alcoholic drinks (score range: 0-6)] and 7 WCRF/AICR recommendations for women [plus breastfeeding (score range: 0-7)], was constructed. Higher scores indicated greater concordance with WCRF/AICR recommendations. Associations between the WCRF/AICR score and risks of total and cause-specific death were estimated by using Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: After a median follow-up time of 12.8 y, 23,828 deaths were identified. Participants within the highest category of the WCRF/AICR score (5-6 points in men; 6-7 points in women) had a 34% lower hazard of death (95% CI: 0.59, 0.75) compared with participants within the lowest category of the WCRF/AICR score (0-2 points in men; 0-3 points in women). Significant inverse associations were observed in all countries. The WCRF/AICR score was also significantly associated with a lower hazard of dying from cancer, circulatory disease, and respiratory disease. CONCLUSION: Results of this study suggest that following WCRF/AICR recommendations could significantly increase longevity."}
{"id": "MED-1567", "text": "INTRODUCTION: American Seventh-day Adventists have been reported to have lower cancer mortality and incidence than the general population. Adventists do not consume tobacco, alcohol or pork, and many adhere to a lacto-ovo-vegetarian lifestyle. Baptists discourage excessive use of alcohol and tobacco. In this study, we investigated whether the incidence of cancer in a large cohort of Danish Adventists and Baptists was different compared to the general Danish population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We followed 11,580 Danish Adventists and Baptists in the nationwide Danish Cancer Registry, which contains information on cases of cancer for 1943-2008. Cancer incidence in the cohort was compared with that in the general Danish population as standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and within-cohort comparisons were made with a Cox model. RESULTS: Lower cancer incidences were observed for both Seventh-day Adventist men (SIR, 66; 95% CI, 60-72) and women (85; 80-91). The same result was observed for Baptists although not as low. The differences were most pronounced for smoking-related cancers such as those of the buccal cavity and lung (SIR, 20; 13-30 for Seventh-day Adventist men and 33; 22-49 for Seventh-day Adventist women). The incidences of other lifestyle-related cancers, such as of stomach, rectum, liver and cervix, were also decreased. In general, the SIRs were lower for men than for women, and Adventists had lower hazard rates than Baptists. DISCUSSION: Our findings point to the benefits of compliance with public health recommendations and indicate that lifestyle changes in the population might change the cancer risks of individuals. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1568", "text": "EMBO J (2012) 31 19, 3795\u20133808 doi:10.1038/emboj.2012.207; published online July312012 Ciguatera is one of the most common forms of food poisoning, occurring after consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. New work by Vetter et al (2012) reveals the key molecular players that underlie the altered temperature sensation associated with ciguatera. In particular, they show that ciguatoxins act on sensory neurons that express TRPA1, an ion channel implicated in the detection of noxious cold."}
{"id": "MED-1569", "text": "Biopsy-proved polymyositis subsequently developed in two patients who were severely poisoned by ciguatera fish toxin. Ciguatera toxin may have several mechanisms of action and may represent more than one toxin. The patients' clinical courses and the unlikelihood of coincidence of contracting both diseases suggested to us a causal relationship. Although we cannot prove this relationship, we suggest a mechanism by which the toxin predisposed the muscle to inflammation."}
{"id": "MED-1570", "text": "Ciguatera is an important form of human poisoning caused by the consumption of seafood. The disease is characterised by gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiovascular disturbances. In cases of severe toxicity, paralysis, coma and death may occur. There is no immunity, and the toxins are cumulative. Symptoms may persist for months or years, or recur periodically. The epidemiology of ciguatera is complex and of central importance to the management and future use of marine resources. Ciguatera is an important medical entity in tropical and subtropical Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, and in the tropical Caribbean. As reef fish are increasingly exported to other areas, it has become a world health problem. The disease is under-reported and often misdiagnosed. Lipid-soluble, polyether toxins known as ciguatoxins accumulated in the muscles of certain subtropical and tropical marine finfish cause ciguatera. Ciguatoxins arise from biotransformation in the fish of less polar ciguatoxins (gambiertoxins) produced by Gambierdiscus toxicus, a marine dinoflagellate that lives on macroalgae, usually attached to dead coral. The toxins and their metabolites are concentrated in the food chain when carnivorous fish prey on smaller herbivorous fish. Humans are exposed at the end of the food chain. More than 400 species of fish can be vectors of ciguatoxins, but generally only a relatively small number of species are regularly incriminated in ciguatera. Ciguateric fish look, taste and smell normal, and detection of toxins in fish remains a problem. More than 20 precursor gambiertoxins and ciguatoxins have been identified in G. toxicus and in herbivorous and carnivorous fish. The toxins become more polar as they undergo oxidative metabolism and pass up the food chain. The main Pacific ciguatoxin (P-CTX-1) causes ciguatera at levels=0.1 microg/kg in the flesh of carnivorous fish. The main Caribbean ciguatoxin (C-CTX-1) is less polar and 10-fold less toxic than P-CTX-1. Ciguatoxins activate sodium ion (Na ) channels, causing cell membrane excitability and instability. Worldwide coral bleaching is now well documented, and there is a strong association between global warming and the bleaching and death of coral. This, together with natural environmental factors such as earthquakes and hurricanes, and man-made factors such as tourism, dock construction, sewage and eutrophication, may create more favourable environments for G. toxicus. While low levels of G. toxicus are found throughout tropical and subtropical waters, the presence of bloom numbers is unpredictable and patchy. Only certain genetic strains produce ciguatoxins, and environmental triggers for increasing toxin production are unknown."}
{"id": "MED-1571", "text": "One hundred and fifty-nine ichtyosarcotoxic outbreaks, including 477 people, were recorded in the island of R\u00e9union (SW Indian ocean) between 1986 and 1994. Ciguatera outbreaks represented 78.6% of the total cases and its annual incidence rate was estimated to be 0.78/10,000 residents. Symptoms caused by ciguatera poisoning are not different from those reported in Pacific and Caribbean islands, except for the additional symptoms of hallucinatory poisoning in 16% of the patients. Serranidae fish, including species of great commercial value, were the most commonly incriminated accounting for 50% of the outbreaks."}
{"id": "MED-1572", "text": "Ciguatera fish poisoning results from the bioconcentration of a variety of toxins produced by marine dinoflagellates. Signs and symptoms vary widely, but it usually presents as gastrointestinal and neurologic complaints beginning shortly after the ingestion of fish containing the toxins. Symptoms may persist for months and sometimes even years. Although cases have been reported throughout the United States, epidemics are most common along tropical and subtropical coasts and usually involve the ingestion of large carnivorous fish. We review the literature and report the first epidemic of 25 cases of ciguatera fish poisoning presenting to area hospitals in Southern California that were successfully tracked by the Department of Health Services and isolated to fish caught off the coast of Baja California, Mexico."}
{"id": "MED-1573", "text": "BACKGROUND: Ciguatera and scombroid fish poisonings are common causes of fish-related foodborne illness in the United States; however, existing surveillance systems underestimate the overall human health impact. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe existing data on ciguatera and scombroid fish poisonings from outbreak and poison control center reports and to estimate the overall number of ciguatera and scombroid fish-poisoning illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States. METHODS: We analyzed outbreak data from the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance Systems (FDOSS) from 2000 to 2007 and poison control center call data from the National Poison Data System (NPDS) from 2005 to 2009 for reports of ciguatera and scombroid fish poisonings. Using a statistical model with many inputs, we adjusted the outbreak data for undercounting due to underreporting and underdiagnosis to generate estimates. Underreporting and underdiagnosis multipliers were derived from the poison control call data and the published literature. RESULTS: Annually, an average of 15 ciguatera and 28 scombroid fish-poisoning outbreaks, involving a total of 60 and 108 ill persons, respectively, were reported to FDOSS (2000-2007). NPDS reported an average of 173 exposure calls for ciguatoxin and 200 exposure calls for scombroid fish poisoning annually (2005-2009). After adjusting for undercounting, we estimated 15,910 (90% credible interval [CrI] 4140-37,408) ciguatera fish-poisoning illnesses annually, resulting in 343 (90% CrI 69-851) hospitalizations and three deaths (90% CrI 1-7). We estimated 35,142 (90% CrI: 10,496-78,128) scombroid fish-poisoning illnesses, resulting in 162 (90% CrI 0-558) hospitalizations and 0 deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Ciguatera and scombroid fish poisonings affect more Americans than reported in surveillance systems. Although additional data can improve these assessments, the estimated number of illnesses caused by seafood intoxication illuminates this public health problem. Efforts, including education, can reduce ciguatera and scombroid fish poisonings."}
{"id": "MED-1575", "text": "Background Epithelial barrier function is impaired in Crohn's disease. Aim To define the underlying cellular mechanisms with special attention to tight junctions. Methods Biopsy specimens from the sigmoid colon of patients with mild to moderately active or inactive Crohn's disease were studied in Ussing chambers, and barrier function was determined by impedance analysis and conductance scanning. Tight junction structure was analysed by freeze fracture electron microscopy, and tight junction proteins were investigated immunohistochemically by confocal laser scanning microscopy and quantified in immunoblots. Epithelial apoptosis was analysed in terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase\u2010mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick\u2010end labelling and 4\u2032,6\u2010diamidino\u20102\u2010phenylindole staining. Results Patients with active Crohn's disease showed an impaired intestinal barrier function as indicated by a distinct reduction in epithelial resistance. As distribution of conductivity was even, focal epithelial lesions (eg, microerosions) did not contribute to barrier dysfunction. Instead, freeze fracture electron microscopy analysis showed reduced and discontinuous tight junction strands. Occludin and the sealing tight junction proteins claudin 5 and claudin 8 were downregulated and redistributed off the tight junction, whereas the pore\u2010forming tight junctions protein claudin 2 was strongly upregulated, which constitute the molecular basis of tight junction changes. Other claudins were unchanged (claudins 1, 4 and 7) or not detectable in sigmoid colon (claudins 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16). Claudin 2 upregulation was less pronounced in active Crohn's disease compared with active ulcerative colitis and was inducible by tumour necrosis factor \u03b1. As a second source of impaired barrier function, epithelial apoptosis was distinctly increased in active Crohn's disease (mean (SD) 5.2 (0.5)% v 1.9 (0.2)% in control). By contrast, barrier function, tight junction proteins and apoptosis were unaffected in Crohn's disease in remission. Conclusion Upregulation of pore\u2010forming claudin 2 and downregulation and redistribution of sealing claudins 5 and 8 lead to altered tight junction structure and pronounced barrier dysfunction already in mild to moderately active Crohn's disease."}
{"id": "MED-1576", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing. Dietary factors such as the spread of the \"Western\" diet, high in fat and protein but low in fruits and vegetables, may be associated with the increase. Although many studies have evaluated the association between diet and IBD risk, there has been no systematic review. METHODS: We performed a systematic review using guideline-recommended methodology to evaluate the association between pre-illness intake of nutrients (fats, carbohydrates, protein) and food groups (fruits, vegetables, meats) and the risk of subsequent IBD diagnosis. Eligible studies were identified via structured keyword searches in PubMed and Google Scholar and manual searches. RESULTS: Nineteen studies were included, encompassing 2,609 IBD patients (1,269 Crohn's disease (CD) and 1,340 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients) and over 4,000 controls. Studies reported a positive association between high intake of saturated fats, monounsaturated fatty acids, total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), total omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, mono- and disaccharides, and meat and increased subsequent CD risk. Studies reported a negative association between dietary fiber and fruits and subsequent CD risk. High intakes of total fats, total PUFAs, omega-6 fatty acids, and meat were associated with an increased risk of UC. High vegetable intake was associated with a decreased risk of UC. CONCLUSIONS: High dietary intakes of total fats, PUFAs, omega-6 fatty acids, and meat were associated with an increased risk of CD and UC. High fiber and fruit intakes were associated with decreased CD risk, and high vegetable intake was associated with decreased UC risk."}
{"id": "MED-1577", "text": "Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare demyelinating disorder of the brain caused by a ubiquitous polyomavirus, JC virus. PML is almost always associated with some underlying immunosuppression and acquired immune deficiency syndrome has been the most common predisposing disorder. Recently, different pharmacological agents have been demonstrated to increase the risk of PML. Therapies that predispose people to PML can be classified into three categories: therapies that uniquely increase the risk for the disorder, such as the monoclonal antibodies natalizumab and efalizumab; therapies that appear to increase the risk in individuals already at risk of PML due to pre-existing conditions, such as rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil; and therapies with a mechanism of action that might suggest a potential for increased PML risk and/or with which rare cases of PML have been observed. Unlike the latter two classes, therapeutic agents uniquely increasing the risk of PML are associated with a much greater prevalence of the disorder and a latent interval from the time of drug initiation to the development of PML. PML development with pharmacological agents has provided new insight into the pathogenesis of this devastating disorder. This review focuses on the risks of PML with multiple pharmacological agents, the proposed pathogenesis with these agents, and potential risk mitigation strategies."}
{"id": "MED-1578", "text": "Crohn's disease is a complex inherited disorder of unknown pathogenesis with environmental, genetic and microbial factors involved in the development of the disease. A remarkable feature of this disease in childhood is the effective response to exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) therapy and the need for complete exclusion of normal diet required for success (principle of exclusivity). EEN or dietary interventions might act through removal of dietary components, which affect microbial composition, decrease a proinflammatory response and promote restitution of the epithelial barrier, likewise allowing termination of this vicious disease-forming cycle before a critical threshold is reached. Multiple traditional and nontraditional dietary components may affect the microbiome, mucous layer, intestinal permeability, or adherence and translocation of pathobionts. We review the epidemiological data, as well as data from animal models and cell lines, and propose a model for pathogenesis we have termed the 'bacterial penetration cycle', whereby dietary components such as animal fat, high sugar intake and gliadin, and consumption of emulsifiers, maltodextrin as well as low-fiber diets may be able to cause a localized acquired bacterial clearance defect, leading to bacterial adhesion and penetration, and subsequently inflammation in the gut. \u00a9 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-1579", "text": "Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects nearly 1.4 million Americans. The etiology of Crohn's disease is not completely understood, however, research has suggested a genetic link. There is currently no known cure for Crohn's disease and, as a result, most government-funded research is being conducted to increase the quality of life of afflicted patients (i.e. reducing chronic inflammation and alleviating growth impairment in pediatric patients). A number of treatment options are available including an alpha-4 integrin inhibitor and several TNF-alpha inhibitors. Furthermore, research is being conducted on several alternative treatment options to help understand exactly which cellular mechanisms (i.e. inducing apoptosis in leukocytes) are required for clinical efficacy. This review seeks to chronicle the current available treatment options for patients affected by Crohn's disease to aid in understanding potential cellular mechanistic requirements for an efficacious drug, and shed light on potential options for future treatment. Crown Copyright \u00a9 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1580", "text": "Background Crohn's disease is common in developed nations where the typical diet is low in fibre and high in processed food. Primary lesions overlie Peyer's patches and colonic lymphoid follicles where bacterial invasion through M-cells occurs. We have assessed the effect of soluble non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) and food emulsifiers on translocation of Escherichia coli across M-cells. Methods To assess effects of soluble plant fibres and food emulsifiers on translocation of mucosa-associated E coli isolates from Crohn's disease patients and from non-Crohn's controls, we used M-cell monolayers, generated by co-culture of Caco2-cl1 and Raji B cells, and human Peyer's patches mounted in Ussing chambers. Results E coli translocation increased across M-cells compared to parent Caco2-cl1 monocultures; 15.8-fold (IQR 6.2\u201332.0) for Crohn's disease E coli (N=8) and 6.7-fold (IQR 3.7\u201321.0) for control isolates (N=5). Electron microscopy confirmed E coli within M-cells. Plantain and broccoli NSP markedly reduced E coli translocation across M-cells at 5\u2005mg/ml (range 45.3\u201382.6% inhibition, p<0.01); apple and leek NSP had no significant effect. Polysorbate-80, 0.01% vol/vol, increased E coli translocation through Caco2-cl1 monolayers 59-fold (p<0.05) and, at higher concentrations, increased translocation across M-cells. Similarly, E coli translocation across human Peyer's patches was reduced 45\u00b17% by soluble plantain NSP (5\u2005mg/ml) and increased 2-fold by polysorbate-80 (0.1% vol/vol). Conclusions Translocation of E coli across M-cells is reduced by soluble plant fibres, particularly plantain and broccoli, but increased by the emulsifier Polysorbate-80. These effects occur at relevant concentrations and may contribute to the impact of dietary factors on Crohn's disease pathogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-1582", "text": "Background & Aims Increased intake of dietary fiber has been proposed to reduce risk of inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn\u2019s disease [CD], ulcerative colitis [UC]). However, few prospective studies have examined associations between long-term intake of dietary fiber and risk of incident CD or UC. Methods We collected and analyzed data from 170,776 women, followed over 26 y, who participated in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study, followed for 3,317,425 person-y. Dietary information was prospectively ascertained via administration of a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire every 4 y. Self-reported CD and UC were confirmed through review of medical records. Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for potential confounders, were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs). Results We confirmed 269 incident cases of CD (incidence 8/100,000 person-y) and 338 cases of UC (incidence 10/100,000 person-y). Compared to the lowest quintile of energy-adjusted cumulative average intake of dietary fiber, intake of the highest quintile (median of 24.3 g/day) was associated with a 40% reduction in risk of CD (multivariate HR for CD, 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39\u20130.90). This apparent reduction appeared to be greatest for fiber derived from fruits; fiber from cereals, whole grains, or legumes did not modify risk. In contrast, neither total intake of dietary fiber (multivariate HR, 0.82; 95% CI 0.58\u20131.17) nor intake of fiber from specific sources appeared to be significantly associated with risk of UC. Conclusion Based on data from the Nurses\u2019 Health Study, long-term intake of dietary fiber, particularly from fruit, is associated with lower risk of CD but not UC. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms that mediate this association."}
{"id": "MED-1588", "text": "Multiple pregnancy rates remain high after assisted conception because of a misconceived assumption that transferring three or more embryos will maximize pregnancy rates. Maternal morbidity is sevenfold greater in multiple pregnancies than in singletons, perinatal mortality rates are fourfold higher for twins and sixfold higher for triplets, while cerebral palsy rates are 1-1.5% in twin and 7-8% in triplet pregnancies. Therefore, multiple pregnancies must be considered a serious adverse outcome of assisted reproductive techniques. Primary prevention of multiple pregnancies is the solution. The overwhelming evidence presented in this chapter demonstrates that limiting the embryo transfer in in vitro fertilization to two embryos would significantly reduce adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes by reducing the incidence of high order multiple pregnancies without reducing take-home-baby rates. Secondary prevention by multifetal pregnancy reduction is effective, but not acceptable to all patients. New developments in blastocyst culture, single embryo transfer, embryo cryopreservation and pre-implantation aneuploidy exclusion, should allow improvements in pregnancy rates without increasing multiple pregnancies."}
{"id": "MED-1592", "text": "The presence of natural estrogen hormones as trace concentrations in the environment has been reported by many researchers and is of growing concern due to its possible adverse effects on the ecosystem. In this study, municipal biosolids, poultry manure (PM) and cow manure (CM), and spent mushroom compost (SMC) were analyzed for the presence of seven estrogen hormones. 17\u03b1-estradiol, 17\u03b2-estradiol, 17\u03b1-dihydroequilin, and estrone were detected in the sampled biosolids and manures at concentrations ranging from 6 to 462 ng/g of dry solids. 17\u03b1-estradiol, 17\u03b2-estradiol, and estrone were also detected in SMC at concentrations ranging from 4 to 28 ng/g of dry solids. Desorption experiments were simulated in the laboratory using deionized water (milli-Q), and the aqueous phase was examined for the presence of estrogen hormones to determine their desorption potential. Very low desorption of 0.4% and 0.2% estrogen hormones was observed from municipal biosolids and SMC, respectively. An estimate of total estrogen contribution from different solid waste sources is reported. Animal manures (PM and CM) contribute to a significant load of estrogen hormones in the natural environment."}
{"id": "MED-1593", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Based on the hypothesis that high-meat diets may increase breast cancer risk through hormonal pathways, the present analysis compared oestrogens in serum and urine by meat-eating status. DESIGN: Intervention with repeated measures. SETTING: Two randomized soya trials (BEAN1 and BEAN2) among premenopausal healthy women. SUBJECTS: BEAN1 participants completed seven unannounced 24 h dietary recalls and donated five blood and urine samples over 2 years. BEAN2 women provided seven recalls and three samples over 13 months. Serum samples were analysed for oestrone (E\u2081) and oestradiol (E\u2082) using RIA. Nine oestrogen metabolites were measured in urine by LC-MS. Semi-vegetarians included women who reported consuming <30 g of red meat, poultry and fish daily, and pescatarians those who reported consuming <20 g of meat/poultry but >10 g of fish daily. All other women were classified as non-vegetarians. We applied mixed models to compute least-square means by vegetarian status adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: The mean age of the 272 participants was 41\u00b79 (SD 4\u00b75) years. Serum E\u2081 (85 v. 100 pg/ml, P = 0\u00b704) and E\u2082 (140 v. 154 pg/ml, P = 0\u00b704) levels were lower in the thirty-seven semi-vegetarians than in the 235 non-vegetarians. The sum of the nine urinary oestrogen metabolites (183 v. 200 pmol/mg creatinine, P = 0\u00b727) and the proportions of individual oestrogens and pathways did not differ by meat-eating status. Restricting the models to the samples collected during the luteal phase strengthened the associations. CONCLUSIONS: Given the limitations of the study, the lower levels of serum oestrogens in semi-vegetarians than non-vegetarians need confirmation in larger populations."}
{"id": "MED-1594", "text": "The estrogens estrone (E1), 17alpha-estradiol (E2alpha), 17beta-estradiol (E2beta), and estriol (E3) are natural sex hormones produced by humans and animals. In addition, there are some synthetic estrogens, such as 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2), used for contraception purposes. These compounds are able to produce endocrine disruption in living organisms at nanogram-per-liter levels. In both humans and animals, estrogens are excreted in urine and feces, reaching the natural environment through discharge from sewage treatment plants (STP) and manure disposal units. In STPs, hormone removal depends on the type of treatment process and on different parameters such as the hydraulic and sludge retention times. Thus, hormone elimination rates vary from 0% to 90% in different STPs. Animals are also an important source of estrogens in the environment. Indeed, animals produce high concentrations of hormones which will end up in manure which is typically spread on land. Hence, waste-borne animal hormones may transfer these pollutants to the soil. The purpose of this review is to highlight the significance for both health and the environment of pollution by estrogens and critically review the existing knowledge on their fate and removal in different treatment processes. Relevant information on the microbial degradation of hormones and metabolic pathways is also included."}
{"id": "MED-1595", "text": "Hormones work in harmony in the body, and this status must be maintained to avoid metabolic disequilibrium and the subsequent illness. Besides, it has been reported that exogenous steroids (presence in the environment and food products) influence the development of several important illnesses in humans. Endogenous steroid hormones in food of animal origin are unavoidable as they occur naturally in these products. The presence of hormones in food has been connected with several human health problems. Bovine milk contains considerable quantities of hormones and it is of particular concern. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method, based on hydroxylamine derivatisation, has been developed and validated for the quantification of six sex hormones in milk [pregnenolone (P\u2085), progesterone (P\u2084), estrone (E\u2081), testosterone (T), androstenedione (A) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)]. This method has been applied to real raw milk samples and the existence of differences between milk from pregnant and non-pregnant cows has been statistically confirmed. Basing on a revision of existing published data, it could be concluded that maximum daily intakes for hormones are not reached through milk ingestion. Although dairy products are an important source of hormones, other products of animal origin must be considered as well for intake calculations."}
{"id": "MED-1596", "text": "Recent observed feminization of aquatic animals has raised concerns about estrogenic compounds in water supplies and the potential for these chemicals to reach drinking water. Public perception frequently attributes this feminization to oral contraceptives (OCs) in wastewater and raises concerns that exposure to OCs in drinking water may contribute to the recent rise in human reproductive problems. This paper reviews the literature regarding various sources of estrogens, in surface, source and drinking water, with an emphasis on the active molecule that comes from OCs. It includes discussion of the various agricultural, industrial, and municipal sources and outlines the contributions of estrogenic chemicals to the estrogenicity of waterways and estimates that the risk of exposure to synthetic estrogens in drinking water on human health is negligible. This paper also provides recommendations for strategies to better understand all the potential sources of estrogenic compounds in the environment and possibilities to reduce the levels of estrogenic chemicals in the water supply."}
{"id": "MED-1597", "text": "Background Detection of estrogens in the environment has raised concerns in recent years because of their potential to affect both wildlife and humans. Objectives We compared exposures to prescribed and naturally occurring estrogens in drinking water to exposures to naturally occurring background levels of estrogens in the diet of children and adults and to four independently derived acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) to determine whether drinking water intakes are larger or smaller than dietary intake or ADIs. Methods We used the Pharmaceutical Assessment and Transport Evaluation (PhATE) model to predict concentrations of estrogens potentially present in drinking water. Predicted drinking water concentrations were combined with default water intake rates to estimate drinking water exposures. Predicted drinking water intakes were compared to dietary intakes and also to ADIs. We present comparisons for individual estrogens as well as combined estrogens. Results In the analysis we estimated that a child\u2019s exposures to individual prescribed estrogens in drinking water are 730\u2013480,000 times lower (depending upon estrogen type) than exposure to background levels of naturally occurring estrogens in milk. A child\u2019s exposure to total estrogens in drinking water (prescribed and naturally occurring) is about 150 times lower than exposure from milk. Adult margins of exposure (MOEs) based on total dietary exposure are about 2 times smaller than those for children. Margins of safety (MOSs) for an adult\u2019s exposure to total prescribed estrogens in drinking water vary from about 135 to > 17,000, depending on ADI. MOSs for exposure to total estrogens in drinking water are about 2 times lower than MOSs for prescribed estrogens. Depending on the ADI that is used, MOSs for young children range from 28 to 5,120 for total estrogens (including both prescribed and naturally occurring sources) in drinking water. Conclusions The consistently large MOEs and MOSs strongly suggest that prescribed and total estrogens that may potentially be present in drinking water in the United States are not causing adverse effects in U.S. residents, including sensitive subpopulations."}
{"id": "MED-1598", "text": "Cigarette smoking remains a significant health threat for smokers and nonsmokers alike. Secondhand smoke (SHS) is intrinsically more toxic than directly inhaled smoke. Recently, a new threat has been discovered \u2013 Thirdhand smoke (THS) \u2013 the accumulation of SHS on surfaces that ages with time, becoming progressively more toxic. THS is a potential health threat to children, spouses of smokers and workers in environments where smoking is or has been allowed. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of THS on liver, lung, skin healing, and behavior, using an animal model exposed to THS under conditions that mimic exposure of humans. THS-exposed mice show alterations in multiple organ systems and excrete levels of NNAL (a tobacco-specific carcinogen biomarker) similar to those found in children exposed to SHS (and consequently to THS). In liver, THS leads to increased lipid levels and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a precursor to cirrhosis and cancer and a potential contributor to cardiovascular disease. In lung, THS stimulates excess collagen production and high levels of inflammatory cytokines, suggesting propensity for fibrosis with implications for inflammation-induced diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. In wounded skin, healing in THS-exposed mice has many characteristics of the poor healing of surgical incisions observed in human smokers. Lastly, behavioral tests show that THS-exposed mice become hyperactive. The latter data, combined with emerging associated behavioral problems in children exposed to SHS/THS, suggest that, with prolonged exposure, they may be at significant risk for developing more severe neurological disorders. These results provide a basis for studies on the toxic effects of THS in humans and inform potential regulatory policies to prevent involuntary exposure to THS."}
{"id": "MED-1599", "text": "In addition to passive inhalation, non-smokers, and especially children, are exposed to residual tobacco smoke gases and particles that are deposited to surfaces and dust, known as thirdhand smoke (THS). However, until now the potential cancer risks of this pathway of exposure have been highly uncertain and not considered in public health policy. In this study, we estimate for the first time the potential cancer risk by age group through non-dietary ingestion and dermal exposure to carcinogen N-nitrosamines and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) measured in house dust samples. Using a highly sensitive and selective analytical approach we have determined the presence of nicotine, eight N-nitrosamines and five tobacco-specific nitrosamines in forty-six settled dust samples from homes occupied by both smokers and non-smokers. Using observations of house dust composition, we have estimated the cancer risk by applying the most recent official toxicological information. Calculated cancer risks through exposure to the observed levels of TSNAs at an early life stage (1 to 6years old) exceeded the upper-bound risk recommended by the USEPA in 77% of smokers' and 64% of non-smokers' homes. The maximum risk from exposure to all nitrosamines measured in a smoker occupied home was one excess cancer case per one thousand population exposed. The results presented here highlight the potentially severe long-term consequences of THS exposure, particularly to children, and give strong evidence of its potential health risk and, therefore, they should be considered when developing future environmental and health policies. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1600", "text": "Over the past 10years there has been ongoing development of curing processes with natural ingredients designed to meet consumer demand and regulatory requirements for natural and organic processed meats. Initially, these processes utilized celery concentrates with a high nitrate content combined with a nitrate-reducing starter culture. Subsequent advances included celery concentrates with the nitrate converted to nitrite by suppliers. Further, as questions developed concerning reduced concentration of preservatives and the microbiological safety of these processed meats, additional advances have resulted in a wide variety of ingredients and processes designed to provide supplementary antimicrobial effects for improved product safety. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1601", "text": "Natural and organic food regulations preclude the use of sodium nitrite/nitrate and other antimicrobials for processed meat products. Consequently, processors have begun to use natural nitrate/nitrite sources, such as celery juice/powder, sea salt, and turbinado sugar, to manufacture natural and organic products with cured meat characteristics but without sodium nitrite. The objective of this study was to compare physio-chemical characteristics that affect Clostridium perfringens and Listeria monocytogenes growth in naturally cured and traditionally cured commercial frankfurters, hams, and bacon. Correlations of specific product characteristics to pathogen growth varied between products and pathogens, though water activity, salt concentration, and product composition (moisture, protein and fat) were common intrinsic factors correlated to pathogen growth across products. Other frequently correlated traits were related to curing reactions such as % cured pigment. Residual nitrite and nitrate were significantly correlated to C. perfringens growth but only for the ham products. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1602", "text": "Background: Nitrate and nitrite are present in many foods and are precursors of N-nitroso compounds, known animal carcinogens and potential human carcinogens. We prospectively investigated the association between nitrate and nitrite intake from dietary sources and risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) overall and clear cell and papillary histological subtypes in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Methods: Nitrate and nitrite intakes were estimated from a 124-item food frequency questionnaire. Over a mean follow-up of 9 years, we identified 1816 RCC cases (n=498, clear cell; n=115, papillary cell) among 491\u2009841 participants. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Individuals in the highest quintile of nitrite intake from animal sources compared with those in the lowest quintile, had an increased risk of total RCC and clear cell subtype (HR=1.28, 95% CI, 1.10\u20131.49 and HR=1.68, 95% CI, 1.25\u20132.27, respectively). Nitrite from processed meats and other animal sources were associated with increased clear cell adenocarcinoma risk (HR=1.33, 95% CI, 1.01\u20131.76 and HR=1.78, 95% CI, 1.34\u20132.36, respectively). We found no association for nitrite intake from plant sources or nitrate intake overall. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that nitrite from animal sources may increase the risk of RCC, particularly clear cell adenocarcinomas."}
{"id": "MED-1603", "text": "BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence shows that secondhand cigarette smoke undergoes numerous chemical changes after it is released into the air: it can adsorb to indoor surfaces, desorb back into the air and undergo chemical changes as it ages. OBJECTIVES: To test the effects of aging on the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nicotine and tobacco-specific nitrosamines in cigarette smoke. METHODS: We generated sidestream and mainstream cigarette smoke with a smoking machine, diluted it with conditioned filtered air, and passed it through a 6 m(3) flow reactor with air exchange rates that matched normal residential air exchange rates. We tested the effects of 60 min aging on the concentration of 16 PAHs, nicotine, cotinine and tobacco-specific nitrosamines. We also measured sorption and deposition of nicotine, cotinine and tobacco-specific nitrosamines on materials placed within the flow reactor. RESULTS: We observed mass losses of 62% for PAHs, 72%, for nicotine, 79% for N-nitrosonornicotine and 80% for 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). Extraction of cotton cloth exposed to smoke yielded nicotine and NNK. The ratio of NNK:nicotine on the exposed cloth was 10-fold higher than that in aerosol samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the majority of the PAHs, nicotine, cotinine and tobacco-specific nitrosamines that are released during smoking in homes and public places deposit on room surfaces. These data give an estimate of the potential for accumulation of carcinogens in thirdhand cigarette smoke. Exposure to PAHs and tobacco-specific nitrosamines, through dermal absorption and inhalation of contaminated dust, may contribute to smoking-attributable morbidity and mortality."}
{"id": "MED-1604", "text": "Previous cohort and case-control studies on the association between cruciferous vegetables consumption and risk of renal cell carcinoma have illustrated conflicting results so far. To demonstrate the potential association between them, a meta-analysis was performed. Eligible studies were retrieved via both computerized searches and review of references. The summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the highest vs. the lowest consumption of cruciferous vegetables were calculated. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also evaluated. Stratified analyses were performed as well. Three cohort and 7 case-control studies were included. A significantly decreased risk with renal cell carcinoma was observed in overall cruciferous vegetables consumption group (RR = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63-0.83) and subgroup of case-control studies (RR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.60-0.78), but not in cohort studies (RR = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.71-1.21). No heterogeneity and publication bias were detected across studies. Our findings supported that cruciferous vegetables consumption was related to the decreased risk of renal cell carcinoma. Because of the limited number of studies, further well-designed prospective studies and researches need to be conducted to better clarify the protective effect of cruciferous vegetables on renal cell carcinoma and potential mechanism."}
{"id": "MED-1605", "text": "The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gives the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco products. This commentary calls for immediate regulation of the carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and N\u2019-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) in cigarette tobacco as a logical path to cancer prevention. NNK and NNN, powerful carcinogens in laboratory animals, have been evaluated as \u201ccarcinogenic to humans\u201d by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. NNK and NNN are present in the tobacco of virtually all marketed cigarettes; levels in cigarette smoke are directly proportional to the amounts in tobacco. The NNK metabolite NNAL, itself a strong carcinogen, is present in the urine of smokers and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke. Some of the highest levels of NNK and NNN are found in U.S. products. It is well established that factors such as choice of tobacco blend, agricultural conditions, and processing methods influence levels of NNK and NNN in cigarette tobacco and cigarette smoke. Therefore, it is time to control these factors and produce cigarettes with 100 ppb or less each of NNK and NNN in tobacco, which would result in an approximate 15-20 fold reduction of these carcinogens in the mainstream smoke of popular cigarettes sold in the United States."}
{"id": "MED-1606", "text": "Background: Plant-based and fiber-rich diets high in vegetables, fruit, and whole grains are recommended to prevent cancer and chronic conditions associated with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Diet may play a role in the etiology of RCC directly and/or indirectly. Objective: In a large prospective cohort of US men and women, we comprehensively investigated dietary intake and food sources of fiber in relation to RCC risk. Design: Participants of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study (n = 491,841) completed a self-administered questionnaire of demographics, diet, lifestyle, and medical history. Over 9 (mean) years of follow-up we identified 1816 incident cases of RCC. HRs and 95% CIs were estimated within quintiles by using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Total dietary fiber intake was associated with a significant 15\u201320% lower risk of RCC in the 2 highest quintiles compared with the lowest (P-trend = 0.005). Intakes of legumes, whole grains, and cruciferous vegetables were also associated with a 16\u201318% reduced risk of RCC. Conversely, refined grain intake was positively associated with RCC risk in a comparison of quintile 5 with quintile 1 (HR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.39; P-trend = 0.04). The inverse association between fiber intake and RCC was consistent among participants who never smoked, had a body mass index [BMI (in kg/m2)] <30, and did not report a history of diabetes or hypertension. Conclusions: Intake of fiber and fiber-rich plant foods was associated with a significantly lower risk of RCC in this large US cohort. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00340015."}
{"id": "MED-1607", "text": "Background: As sodium, potassium and fluid intake are related to hypertension, an established risk factor for renal cell cancer (RCC), they may be independent risk factors for RCC. Methods: The Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS) with case-cohort design included 120\u2009852 participants aged 55\u201369 years. At baseline, diet and lifestyle were assessed with questionnaires. After 17.3 years of follow-up, 485 RCC cases and 4438 subcohort members were available for analyses. Results: Sodium intake increased RCC risk (P-trend=0.03), whereas fluid and potassium intake did not. For high sodium and low fluid intake, the RCC risk additionally increased (P-interaction=0.02). Conclusion: Sodium intake is a potential risk factor for RCC, particularly if fluid consumption is low."}
{"id": "MED-1609", "text": "To examine extra-alimentary effects of high-carbohydrate, high-fiber (HCF) diets, insulin-mediated glucose disposal employing the euglycemic clamp and hepatic glucose output (HGO) employing [6,6-2H2]glucose were measured in 12 healthy young and old individuals before and after 21-28 d of an HCF diet. Diet lowered fasting concentrations of glucose from 5.3 +/- 0.2 to 5.1 +/- 0.1 mmol/L (p less than 0.01) and insulin from 66.0 +/- 7.9 to 49.5 +/- 5.7 pmol/L (p less than 0.01). Fasting serum cholesterol decreased from 5.17 +/- 0.18 to 3.80 +/- 0.20 mmol/L (p less than 0.01) in young individuals and from 6.15 +/- 0.52 to 4.99 +/- 0.49 mmol/L (p less than 0.01) in elderly individuals. Fasting serum triglyceride concentrations, basal HGO, and insulin suppression of HGO were unchanged by the diet. Glucose disposal rates increased from 18.87 +/- 1.66 before 23.87 +/- 2.78 mumol.kg-1.min-1 after the diet (p less than 0.02). Therefore, HCF diets may improve carbohydrate economy by enhanced peripheral sensitivity to insulin."}
{"id": "MED-1610", "text": "The effects of three different meat-containing breakfast meals (pork, beef or chicken) on acute satiety and appetite regulatory hormones were compared using a within-subjects study design. Thirty fasting non-smoking pre-menopausal women attended a research centre on three test days to consume, a meat-containing meal matched in energy (kJ) and protein content, palatability, and appearance. No difference was found between meat groups for either energy intake or macronutrient profile of food consumed at a subsequent ad libitum buffet lunch, or over the rest of the day. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) ratings for hunger and satiety over an 180 min period did not differ between test meals. After consumption of the test meals, a significant difference was found in PYY response between pork and chicken meals (P=0.027) but not for levels of CCK, ghrelin, insulin or glucose. This study positions pork, beef, and chicken as equal in their effect on satiety and release of appetite-related intestinal hormones and of insulin. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1611", "text": "A growing body of evidence from observational studies and meta-analyses of the data suggest that diabetes mellitus is associated with an increased risk of cancer. Meta-analyses have shown that diabetes increases the risks of total cancer, and of site-specific cancers of the breast, endometrium, bladder, liver, colorectum and pancreas, and that it decreases the risk of prostate cancer. Insulin resistance and secondary hyperinsulinemia is the most frequently proposed hypothesis, and hyperglycemia itself might promote carcinogenesis. In addition to several facets of lifestyle including obesity, smoking and lack of exercise, treatment for diabetes might affect the risk of cancer. For instance, metformin, an insulin sensitizer, reportedly has a potential anticancer effect. In light of the exploding global epidemic of diabetes, even a modest increase in the cancer risk will translate into a substantial socioeconomic burden. The current insights underscore the need for clinical attention and better-designed studies of the complex interactions between diabetes and cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1612", "text": "Type II diabetic subjects were given 50 g protein, 50 g glucose, or 50 g glucose with 50 g protein as a single meal in random sequence. The plasma glucose and insulin response was determined over the subsequent 5 h. The plasma glucose area above the baseline following a glucose meal was reduced 34% when protein was given with the glucose. When protein was given alone, the glucose concentration remained stable for 2 h and then declined. The insulin area following glucose was only modestly greater than with a protein meal (97 +/- 35, 83 +/- 19 microU X h/ml, respectively). When glucose was given with protein, the mean insulin area was considerably greater than when glucose or protein was given alone (247 +/- 33 microU X h/ml). When various amounts of protein were given with 50 g glucose, the insulin area response was essentially first order. Subsequently, subjects were given 50 g glucose or 50 g glucose with 50 g protein as two meals 4 h apart in random sequence. The insulin areas were not significantly different for each meal but were higher when protein + glucose was given. After the second glucose meal the plasma glucose area was 33% less than after the first meal. Following the second glucose + protein meal the plasma glucose area was markedly reduced, being only 7% as large as after the first meal. These data indicate that protein given with glucose will increase insulin secretion and reduce the plasma glucose rise in at least some type II diabetic persons."}
{"id": "MED-1613", "text": "The present study was designed to examine the effects of habitual consumption of Taiwanese vegetarian diets on hormonal secretion, and on lipid and glycaemic control. Of the ninety-eight healthy female adults recruited from Hualien, Taiwan (aged 31-45 years), forty-nine were Buddhist lactovegetarians and forty-nine were omnivores. Dietary intakes were measured, and blood levels of nutrients and hormones were analysed. Vegetarians consumed less energy, fat and protein, but more fibre than the omnivores. Compared with the omnivores, the vegetarians had, on average, lower BMI and smaller waist circumference. Except for slightly lower levels of thyroxine (T4) in vegetarians, vegetarians and omnivores both showed similar levels of triiodothyronine (T3), free T4, thyroid-stimulating hormone, T3:T4 ratio and cortisol. Compared with the omnivores, the vegetarians had significantly lower levels of fasting insulin (median: 35.3 v. 50.6 pmol/l) and plasma glucose (mean: 4.7 (se 0.05) v. 4.9 (se 0.05) mmol/l). Insulin resistance, as calculated by the homeostasis model assessment method, was significantly lower in the vegetarians than in the omnivores (median: 1.10 v. 1.56), while beta-cell function was not different between the two groups. BMI and diet were both independent predictors for insulin resistance, and contributed 18 and 15 % of the variation in insulin resistance, respectively. In conclusion, Taiwanese vegetarians had lower glucose and insulin levels and higher insulin sensitivity than did the omnivores. Diet and lower BMI were partially responsible for the high insulin sensitivity observed in young Taiwanese vegetarians."}
{"id": "MED-1614", "text": "AIM: To compare the insulin sensitivity indices between Chinese vegetarians and omnivores. METHODS: The study included 36 healthy volunteers (vegetarian, n=19; omnivore, n=17) who had normal fasting plasma glucose levels. Each participant completed an insulin suppression test. We compared steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG), fasting insulin, the homeostasis model assessment for insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR and HOMA %S) and beta-cell function (HOMA %beta) between the groups. We also tested the correlation of SSPG with years on a vegetarian diet. RESULTS: The omnivore subjects were younger than the vegetarians (55.7+/-3.7 vs 58.6+/-3.6 year of age, P=0.022). There was no difference between the two groups in sex, blood pressure, renal function tests and lipid profiles. The omnivores had higher serum uric acid levels than vegetarians (5.25+/-0.84 vs 4.54+/-0.75 mg/dl, P=0.011). The results of the indices were different between omnivores and vegetarians (SSPG (mean+/-s.d.) 105.4+/-10.2 vs 80.3+/-11.3 mg/dl, P<0.001; fasting insulin, 4.06+/-0.77 vs 3.02+/-1.19 microU/ml, P=0.004; HOMA-IR, 6.75+/-1.31 vs 4.78+/-2.07, P=0.002; HOMA %S, 159.2+/-31.7 vs 264.3+/-171.7%, P=0.018) except insulin secretion index, HOMA %beta (65.6+/-18.0 vs 58.6+/-14.8%, P=0.208). We found a clear linear relation between years on a vegetarian diet and SSPG (r=-0.541, P=0.017). CONCLUSIONS: The vegetarians were more insulin sensitive than the omnivore counterparts. The degree of insulin sensitivity appeared to be correlated with years on a vegetarian diet."}
{"id": "MED-1615", "text": "Hyperinsulinemia, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia and obesity are independent risk factors for coronary artery disease and are often found in the same person. This study investigated the effects of an intensive, 3-week, dietary and exercise program on these risk factors. The group was divided into diabetic patients (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [NIDDM], n = 13), insulin-resistant persons (n = 29) and those with normal insulin, less than or equal to 10 microU/ml (n = 30). The normal groups had very small but statistically significant decreases in all of the risk factors. The patients with NIDDM had the greatest decreases. Insulin was reduced from 40 +/- 15 to 27 +/- 11 microU/ml, blood pressure from 142 +/- 9/83 +/- 3 to 132 +/- 6/71 +/- 3 mm Hg, triglycerides from 353 +/- 76 to 196 +/- 31 mg/dl and body mass index from 31.1 +/- 4.0 to 29.7 +/- 3.7 kg/m2. Although there was a significant weight loss for the group with NIDDM, resulting in the decrease in body mass index, 8 of 9 patients who were initially overweight were still overweight at the end of the program, and 5 of the 8 were still obese (body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2), indicating that normalization of body weight is not a requisite for a reduction or normalization of other risk factors. Insulin was reduced from 18.2 +/- 1.8 to 11.6 +/- 1.2 microU/ml in the insulin-resistant group, with 17 of the 29 subjects achieving normal fasting insulin (less than 10 microU/ml).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-1616", "text": "The role of very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets (VLCKD) in the long-term management of obesity is not well established. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether individuals assigned to a VLCKD (i.e. a diet with no more than 50 g carbohydrates/d) achieve better long-term body weight and cardiovascular risk factor management when compared with individuals assigned to a conventional low-fat diet (LFD; i.e. a restricted-energy diet with less than 30% of energy from fat). Through August 2012, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ScienceDirect,Scopus, LILACS, SciELO, ClinicalTrials.gov and grey literature databases were searched, using no date or language restrictions, for randomised controlled trials that assigned adults to a VLCKD or a LFD, with 12 months or more of follow-up. The primary outcome was bodyweight. The secondary outcomes were TAG, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), systolic and diastolic blood pressure,glucose, insulin, HbA1c and C-reactive protein levels. A total of thirteen studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. In the overall analysis,five outcomes revealed significant results. Individuals assigned to a VLCKD showed decreased body weight (weighted mean difference 20\u00b791 (95% CI 21\u00b765, 20\u00b717) kg, 1415 patients), TAG (weighted mean difference 20\u00b718 (95% CI 20\u00b727, 20\u00b708) mmol/l, 1258 patients)and diastolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference 21\u00b743 (95% CI 22\u00b749, 20\u00b737) mmHg, 1298 patients) while increased HDL-C(weighted mean difference 0\u00b709 (95% CI 0\u00b706, 0\u00b712) mmol/l, 1257 patients) and LDL-C (weighted mean difference 0\u00b712 (95% CI 0\u00b704,0\u00b72) mmol/l, 1255 patients). Individuals assigned to a VLCKD achieve a greater weight loss than those assigned to a LFD in the longterm; hence, a VLCKD may be an alternative tool against obesity."}
{"id": "MED-1617", "text": "Background Dietary modification via caloric restriction is associated with multiple effects related to improved metabolic and cardiovascular health. However, a mandated reduction in kilocalories is not well-tolerated by many individuals, limiting the long-term application of such a plan. The Daniel Fast is a widely utilized fast based on the Biblical book of Daniel. It involves a 21 day ad libitum food intake period, devoid of animal products and preservatives, and inclusive of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of the Daniel Fast to improve markers of metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk. Methods 43 subjects (13 men; 30 women; 35 \u00b1 1 yrs; range: 20-62 yrs) completed a 21 day period of modified food intake in accordance with detailed guidelines provided by investigators. All subjects purchased and prepared their own food. Following initial screening, subjects were given one week to prepare for the fast, after which time they reported to the lab for their pre-intervention assessment (day 1). After the 21 day fast, subjects reported to the lab for their post-intervention assessment (day 22). For both visits, subjects reported in a 12 hr fasted state, performing no strenuous physical activity during the preceding 24-48 hrs. At each visit, mental and physical health (SF-12 form), resting heart rate and blood pressure, and anthropometric variables were measured. Blood was collected for determination of complete blood count, metabolic panel, lipid panel, insulin, HOMA-IR, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Subjects' self-reported compliance, mood, and satiety in relation to the fast were also recorded. Diet records were maintained by all subjects during the 7 day period immediately prior to the fast (usual intake) and during the final 7 days of the fast. Results Subjects' compliance to the fast was 98.7 \u00b1 0.2% (mean \u00b1 SEM). Using a 10 point scale, subjects' mood and satiety were both 7.9 \u00b1 0.2. The following variables were significantly (p < 0.05) lower following the fast as compared to before the fast: white blood cell count (5.68 \u00b1 0.24 vs. 4.99 \u00b1 0.19 103\u00b7\u03bcL-1), blood urea nitrogen (13.07 \u00b1 0.58 vs. 10.14 \u00b1 0.59 mg\u00b7dL-1), blood urea nitrogen/creatinine (14.74 \u00b1 0.59 vs. 11.67 \u00b1 0.68), protein (6.95 \u00b1 0.07 vs. 6.77 \u00b1 0.06 g\u00b7dL-1), total cholesterol (171.07 \u00b1 4.57 vs. 138.69 \u00b1 4.39 mg\u00b7dL-1), LDL-C (98.38 \u00b1 3.89 vs. 76.07 \u00b1 3.53 mg\u00b7dL-1), HDL-C (55.65 \u00b1 2.50 vs. 47.58 \u00b1 2.19 mg\u00b7dL-1), SBP (114.65 \u00b1 2.34 vs. 105.93 \u00b1 2.12 mmHg), and DBP (72.23 \u00b1 1.59 vs. 67.00 \u00b1 1.43 mmHg). Insulin (4.42 \u00b1 0.52 vs. 3.37 \u00b1 0.35 \u03bcU\u00b7mL-1; p = 0.10), HOMA-IR (0.97 \u00b1 0.13 vs.0.72 \u00b1 0.08; p = 0.10), and CRP (3.15 \u00b1 0.91 vs. 1.60 \u00b1 0.42 mg\u00b7L-1; p = 0.13), were lowered to a clinically meaningful, albeit statistically insignificant extent. No significant difference was noted for any anthropometric variable (p > 0.05). As expected, multiple differences in dietary intake were noted (p < 0.05), including a reduction in total kilocalorie intake (2185 \u00b1 94 vs. 1722 \u00b1 85). Conclusion A 21 day period of modified dietary intake in accordance with the Daniel Fast is 1) well-tolerated by men and women and 2) improves several risk factors for metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Larger scale, randomized studies, inclusive of a longer time period and possibly a slight modification in food choice in an attempt to maintain HDL cholesterol, are needed to extend these findings."}
{"id": "MED-1618", "text": "To study the effect of a moderate increase in insulin secretion produced by an increased daily protein intake on dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), a balanced randomized crossover trial consisting of three strictly controlled dietary regimens was performed in six healthy male volunteers. The basic diet (B) contained 50 g protein/d; diets P and M (also basic diets) were enriched with either 32 g protein/d (P) or 10 mmol L-methionine/d (M). Methionine was given (as a specific nonprotein source of endogenously derived sulfate) to control for possible confounding effects on DHEAS due to an increased sulfate supply. At the end of each 4-day diet period, blood and 24-hour urine samples were collected. Fasting plasma levels of testosterone, cortisol, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and insulin, as well as urinary output of total (hot acid-cleaved) testosterone conjugates and 3alpha-androstanediol glucuronide, did not show significant changes in response to dietary manipulations. Endogenous sulfate availability (as reflected by renal sulfate output per 24 hours) approximately doubled with diets P and M. However, plasma levels (6.3 +/- 1.5, 6.8 +/- 1.8, and 6.9 +/- 2.1 micromol/L for B, P, and M, respectively) and urinary excretion (8.8 +/- 9.8, 9.4 +/- 11.2, 8.0 +/- 8.3 micromol/d) of DHEAS remained unaffected. Considering the clear increments (P < .01) in urinary C-peptide excretion with diet P (20.4 +/- 10.3 nmol/d) versus diets B and M (12.6 +/- 5.1 and 13.2 +/- 3.6 nmol/d), respectively, our results suggest that a moderately strong diet-induced increase in daily insulin secretion does not alter urinary and plasma levels of DHEAS."}
{"id": "MED-1619", "text": "BACKGROUND: Diets rich in carbohydrates with a low glycemic index and with high fiber content are associated with flat post-prandial rises of blood glucose, minimal post-prandial insulin secretion and maintenance of insulin sensitivity. Protective food commodities in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance syndrome or diabetes are crucial components of the vegetarian diet. AIM OF THE STUDY: Insulin resistance values were assessed in relation to different nutrition. Metabolic abnormality is a predictor of age-related diseases and can be more pronounced in obese subjects. Insulin resistance values in normal weight subjects of two different nutritional habits were correlated with age. METHODS: Fasting concentrations of glucose and insulin as well as calculated values of insulin resistance IR (HOMA) were assessed in two nutritional groups of apparently healthy adult subjects (age range 19 - 64 years) with normal weight (body mass index 18.6 - 25.0 kg/m(2)): a vegetarian group (95 long-term lacto-ovo-vegetarians; duration of vegetarianism 10.2 +/- 0.5 years) and a non-vegetarian control group (107 subjects of general population on traditional western diet). Intake of energy and main nutrients (fats, saccharides, proteins) was similar in both groups. RESULTS: Glucose and insulin concentrations and IR (HOMA) values were significantly lower in vegetarians (glucose 4.47 +/- 0.05 vs. 4.71 +/- 0.07 mmol/l; insulin 4.96 +/- 0.23 vs. 7.32 +/- 0.41 mU/l; IR (HOMA) 0.99 +/- 0.05 vs. 1.59 +/- 0.10). IR (HOMA) dependence on age was only significant in subjects on a western diet. A significant increase of IR was found already in the age range 31-40 years, compared to vegetarians and it continued in later age decades. Age independent and low insulin resistance values in vegetarians are a consequence of an effective diet prevention by long-term frequent consumption of protective food. Vegetarians had a significantly higher consumption of whole grain products, pulses, products from oat and barley. CONCLUSION: The results of age independent and low values of insulin resistance document a beneficial effect of long-term vegetarian nutrition in prevention of metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-1620", "text": "Background The Daniel Fast is a vegan diet that prohibits the consumption of animal products, refined foods, white flour, preservatives, additives, sweeteners, flavorings, caffeine, and alcohol. Following this dietary plan for 21 days has been demonstrated to improve blood pressure, LDL-C, and certain markers of oxidative stress, but it has also been shown to lower HDL-C. Krill oil supplementation has been shown to increase HDL-C. Methods We investigated the effects of following a Daniel Fast dietary plan with either krill oil supplementation (2 g/day) or placebo supplementation (coconut oil; 2 g/day) for 21 days. The subjects in this study (12 men and 27 women) were heterogeneous with respect to body mass index (BMI) (normal weight, overweight, and obese), blood lipids (normolipidemic and hyperlipidemic), blood glucose (normal fasting glucose, impaired fasting glucose, and type 2 diabetic), and blood pressure (normotensive and hypertensive). Results Krill oil supplementation had no effect on any outcome measure (all p\u2009>\u20090.05), and so the data from the krill oil group and the placebo group were collapsed and analyzed to examine the effects of following a 21-day Daniel Fast. Significant reductions were observed in LDL-C (100.6\u2009\u00b1\u20094.3 mg/dL vs. 80.0\u2009\u00b1\u20093.7 mg/dL), the LDL:HDL ratio (2.0\u2009\u00b1\u20090.1 vs. 1.7\u2009\u00b1\u20090.1), fasting blood glucose (101.4\u2009\u00b1\u20097.5 mg/dL vs. 91.7\u2009\u00b1\u20093.4 mg/dL), fasting blood insulin (7.92\u2009\u00b1\u20090.80 \u03bcU/mL vs. 5.76\u2009\u00b1\u20090.59 \u03bcU/mL), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (2.06\u2009\u00b1\u20090.30 vs. 1.40\u2009\u00b1\u20090.21), systolic BP (110.7\u2009\u00b1\u20092.2 mm Hg vs. 105.5\u2009\u00b1\u20091.7 mm Hg), and body weight (74.1\u2009\u00b1\u20092.4 kg vs. 71.5\u2009\u00b1\u20092.3 kg) (all p\u2009<\u20090.05). Conclusion Following a Daniel Fast dietary plan improves a variety of cardiometabolic parameters in a wide range of individuals in as little as 21 days, and these improvements are unaffected by krill oil supplementation. Trial registration Clinicaltrial.govNCT01378767"}
{"id": "MED-1621", "text": "Except for conflicting evidence about coffee and risk of coronary disease, coffee and tea are not linked to major causes of death. Because of widespread use of both beverages and limitations of prior studies, concern persists. Using Cox models (ten covariates) we studied relations in 128,934 persons to 4501 subsequent deaths. Except for slightly increased risk from acute myocardial infarction among heavier (> or = 4 cups/d) coffee users (relative risk versus nondrinkers = 1.4, 95% confidence interval = 1.0 to 1.9, P = 0.07), there was no increased risk of mortality for all deaths (relative risk per cup of coffee per day = 0.99, 95% confidence interval = 0.97 to 1.01; relative risk per cup of tea per day = 0.98, 95% confidence interval = 0.96 to 1.00) or major causes in adjusted analyses. Coffee was related to lower risk of liver cirrhosis death (relative risk per cup of coffee per day = 0.77, 95% confidence interval = 0.67 to 0.89). Use of both beverages was related to a lower risk of suicide, progressively lower at higher coffee intake (relative risk per cup of coffee per day = 0.87, 95% confidence interval = 0.77 to 0.98). We conclude that coffee and tea have no overall relation to mortality risk. If coffee increases coronary risk, this is balanced by an unexplained lower risk of other conditions, notably cirrhosis and suicide."}
{"id": "MED-1622", "text": "Objective To evaluate the association between coffee and caffeine consumption and suicide risk in three large-scale cohorts of U.S. men and women. Methods We accessed data of 43,599 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS, 1988\u20132008), 73,820 women in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study (NHS, 1992\u20132008), and 91,005 women in the NHS II (1993\u20132007). Consumption of caffeine, coffee, and decaffeinated coffee, was assessed every four years by validated food-frequency questionnaires. Deaths from suicide were determined by physician review of death certificates. Multivariate adjusted relative risks (RRs) were estimated with Cox proportional hazard models. Cohort specific RRs were pooled using random-effect models. Results We documented 277 deaths from suicide. Compared to those consuming \u22641 cup/week of caffeinated coffee (\u22648 oz/237 ml), the pooled multivariate RR (95% confidence interval [CI]) of suicide was 0.55 (0.38\u20130.78) for those consuming 2\u20133 cups/day and 0.47 (0.27\u20130.81) for those consuming \u22654 cups/day (P trend <0.001). The pooled multivariate RR (95% CI) for suicide was 0.75 (0.63\u20130.90) for each increment of 2 cups/day of caffeinated coffee and 0.77 (0.63\u20130.93) for each increment of 300 mg/day of caffeine. Conclusions These results from three large cohorts support an association between caffeine consumption and lower risk of suicide."}
{"id": "MED-1623", "text": "The artificial sweetener aspartame (L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanyl-methyl ester), is consumed, primarily in beverages, by a very large number of Americans, causing significant elevations in plasma and, probably, brain phenylalanine levels. Anecdotal reports suggest that some people suffer neurologic or behavioral reactions in association with aspartame consumption. Since phenylalanine can be neurotoxic and can affect the synthesis of inhibitory monoamine neurotransmitters, the phenylalanine in aspartame could conceiveably mediate neurologic effects. If mice are given aspartame in doses that elevate plasma phenylalanine levels more than those of tyrosine (which probably occurs after any aspartame dose in humans), the frequency of seizures following the administration of an epileptogenic drug, pentylenetetrazole, is enhanced. This effect is simulated by equimolar phenylalanine and blocked by concurrent administration of valine, which blocks phenylalanine's entry into the brain. Aspartame also potentiates the induction of seizures by inhaled fluorothyl or by electroconvulsive shock. Perhaps regulations concerning the sale of food additives should be modified to require the reporting of adverse reactions and the continuing conduct of mandated safety research."}
{"id": "MED-1624", "text": "The use of the artificial sweetener, aspartame, has long been contemplated and studied by various researchers, and people are concerned about its negative effects. Aspartame is composed of phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%) and methanol (10%). Phenylalanine plays an important role in neurotransmitter regulation, whereas aspartic acid is also thought to play a role as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. Glutamate, asparagines and glutamine are formed from their precursor, aspartic acid. Methanol, which forms 10% of the broken down product, is converted in the body to formate, which can either be excreted or can give rise to formaldehyde, diketopiperazine (a carcinogen) and a number of other highly toxic derivatives. Previously, it has been reported that consumption of aspartame could cause neurological and behavioural disturbances in sensitive individuals. Headaches, insomnia and seizures are also some of the neurological effects that have been encountered, and these may be accredited to changes in regional brain concentrations of catecholamines, which include norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine. The aim of this study was to discuss the direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain, and we propose that excessive aspartame ingestion might be involved in the pathogenesis of certain mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR 2000) and also in compromised learning and emotional functioning."}
{"id": "MED-1625", "text": "Sugar is an inseparable part of the food we consume. But too much sugar is not ideal for our teeth and waistline. There have been some controversial suggestions that excessive sugar may play an important role in certain degenerative diseases. So artificial sweeteners or artificially sweetened products continue to attract consumers. A sugar substitute (artificial sweetener) is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, but usually has less food energy. Besides its benefits, animal studies have convincingly proven that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain, brain tumors, bladder cancer and many other health hazards. Some kind of health related side effects including carcinogenicity are also noted in humans. A large number of studies have been carried out on these substances with conclusions ranging from \u201csafe under all conditions\u201d to \u201cunsafe at any dose\u201d. Scientists are divided in their views on the issue of artificial sweetener safety. In scientific as well as in lay publications, supporting studies are often widely referenced while the opposing results are de-emphasized or dismissed. So this review aims to explore the health controversy over perceived benefits of sugar substitutes."}
{"id": "MED-1626", "text": "This study was designed to ascertain whether individuals with mood disorders are particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of aspartame. Although the protocol required the recruitment of 40 patients with unipolar depression and a similar number of individuals without a psychiatric history, the project was halted by the Institutional Review Board after a total of 13 individuals had completed the study because of the severity of reactions within the group of patients with a history of depression. In a crossover design, subjects received aspartame 30 mg/kg/day or placebo for 7 days. Despite the small n, there was a significant difference between aspartame and placebo in number and severity of symptoms for patients with a history of depression, whereas for individuals without such a history there was not. We conclude that individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and its use in this population should be discouraged."}
{"id": "MED-1627", "text": "Sweetened beverages, coffee, and tea are the most consumed non-alcoholic beverages and may have important health consequences. We prospectively evaluated the consumption of various types of beverages assessed in 1995\u20131996 in relation to self-reported depression diagnosis after 2000 among 263,923 participants of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were derived from multivariate logistic regressions. The OR (95% CI) comparing \u22654 cans/cups per day with none were 1.30 (95%CI: 1.17\u20131.44) for soft drinks, 1.38 (1.15\u20131.65) for fruit drinks, and 0.91 (0.84\u20130.98) for coffee (all P for trend<0.0001). Null associations were observed for iced-tea and hot tea. In stratified analyses by drinkers of primarily diet versus regular beverages, the ORs were 1.31 (1.16\u20131.47) for diet versus 1.22 (1.03\u20131.45) for regular soft drinks, 1.51 (1.18\u20131.92) for diet versus 1.08 (0.79\u20131.46) for regular fruit drinks, and 1.25 (1.10\u20131.41) for diet versus 0.94 (0.83\u20131.08) for regular sweetened iced-tea. Finally, compared to nondrinkers, drinking coffee or tea without any sweetener was associated with a lower risk for depression, adding artificial sweeteners, but not sugar or honey, was associated with higher risks. Frequent consumption of sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, may increase depression risk among older adults, whereas coffee consumption may lower the risk."}
{"id": "MED-1628", "text": "Earlier research has implicated coffee drinking as a possible protective factor for suicide. We followed-up 43,166 subjects for the mean 14.6 years, and 213 suicides were committed. Daily coffee drinking had a J-shaped association with the risk of suicide. Using the Cox model we controlled for potential covariates, and found that among heavy coffee drinkers (> or = 8 cups/day) the risk of suicide was 58% higher compared with more moderate drinkers."}
{"id": "MED-1630", "text": "Despite its widespread use, the artificial sweetener aspartame remains one of the most controversial food additives, due to mixed evidence on its neurobehavioral effects. Healthy adults who consumed a study-prepared high-aspartame diet (25\u2009mg/kg body weight/day) for 8 days and a low-aspartame diet (10\u2009mg/kg body weight/day) for 8 days, with a 2-week washout between the diets, were examined for within-subject differences in cognition, depression, mood, and headache. Measures included weight of foods consumed containing aspartame, mood and depression scales, and cognitive tests for working memory and spatial orientation. When consuming high-aspartame diets, participants had more irritable mood, exhibited more depression, and performed worse on spatial orientation tests. Aspartame consumption did not influence working memory. Given that the higher intake level tested here was well below the maximum acceptable daily intake level of 40-50\u2009mg/kg body weight/day, careful consideration is warranted when consuming food products that may affect neurobehavioral health. \u00a9 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1631", "text": "Background Caffeine is the world\u2019s most widely used central nervous system stimulant, with about 80% consumed in form of coffee. However, studies that analyzed prospectively the relation of coffee or caffeine consumption and depression risk are scarce. Methods A total of 50,739 U.S. women (mean age=63 years) free from depressive symptoms at baseline (1996) were prospectively followed until 2006. Caffeine and coffee consumption, and other caffeinated and decaffeinated beverages, were obtained from validated questionnaires completed between 1980 through 2002 and computed as cumulative average of consumption with a 2-year latency applied. Clinical depression was defined as reporting both physician-diagnosed depression and antidepressant use. Relative risks of clinical depression were estimate using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results During 10 years of follow-up (1996\u20132006), 2,607 incident cases of depression were identified. Compared to women consuming caffeinated coffee less frequently (\u22641 cup/wk), multivariate relative risk of depression was 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75 to 0.95) for those consuming 2\u20133 cups/d and 0.80 (95%CI, 0.64 to 0.99; P trend <0.001) for those consuming \u22654 cups/d. Multivariate relative risk for depression was 0.80 (95%CI, 0.68 to 0.95; P trend=0.02) for women in the highest (\u2265550 mg/d) vs. lowest (<100 mg/d) of the 5 caffeine consumption categories. Decaffeinated coffee was not associated with depression risk. Conclusions In this large longitudinal study we found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption. Further investigations are needed to confirm this finding and to determine whether usual caffeinated coffee consumption may contribute to depression prevention."}
{"id": "MED-1634", "text": "ESC is to create an inventory of cardiovascular disease registries and a task force on data standardization"}
{"id": "MED-1635", "text": "Background Tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease including stroke. Direct effects of tea components on the vasculature, particularly the endothelium, may partly explain this association. Objective We performed a meta-analysis of controlled human intervention studies on the effect of tea on flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, a measurement of endothelial function, which is suggested to be associated with cardiovascular risk. Methods Human intervention studies were identified by systematic search of the databases Medline, Embase, Chemical s and Biosis through March 2009 and by hand-searching related articles. Studies were selected based on predefined criteria: intervention with tea as the sole experimental variable, placebo-controlled design, and no missing data on FMD outcome or its variability. A random effects model was used to calculate the pooled overall effect on FMD due to the intake of tea. The impact of various subject and treatment characteristics was investigated in the presence of heterogeneity. Results In total, 9 studies from different research groups were included with 15 relevant study arms. The overall absolute increase in FMD of tea vs. placebo was 2.6% of the arterial diameter (95% CI: 1.8-3.3%; P-value <0.001) for a median daily dose of 500 mL of tea (2\u20133 cups). This is a relative increase of approximately 40% compared to the average FMD of 6.3% measured under placebo or baseline conditions. There was significant heterogeneity between studies (P-value <0.001) that might partly be explained by the cuff position either distal or proximal to the area of FMD measurement. No indication for publication bias was found. Conclusion Moderate consumption of tea substantially enhances endothelial-dependent vasodilation. This may provide a mechanistic explanation for the reduced risk of cardiovascular events and stroke observed among tea drinkers."}
{"id": "MED-1636", "text": "Coffee drinking has been associated with increased serum cholesterol levels in some, but not all, studies. A Medline search of the English-language literature published prior to December 1998, a bibliography review, and consultations with experts were performed to identify 14 published trials of coffee consumption. Information was abstracted independently by two reviewers using a standardized protocol. With a random-effects model, treatment effects were estimated by pooling results from individual trials after weighting the results by the inverse of total variance. A dose-response relation between coffee consumption and both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol was identified (p < 0.01). Increases in serum lipids were greater in studies of patients with hyperlipidemia and in trials of caffeinated or boiled coffee. Trials using filtered coffee demonstrated very little increase in serum cholesterol. Consumption of unfiltered, but not filtered, coffee increases serum levels of total and LDL cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-1637", "text": "Epidemiologic studies suggest that tea consumption decreases the risk for cardiovascular events. However, there has been no clinical report examining the effects of tea consumption on coronary circulation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of black tea on coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE). This was a double-blind crossover study of 10 healthy male volunteers conducted to compare the effects of black tea and caffeine on coronary circulation. The coronary flow velocity of the left anterior descending coronary artery was measured at baseline and at hyperemia during adenosine triphosphate infusion by TTDE to determine CFVR. The CFVR ratio was defined as the ratio of CFVR after beverage consumption to CFVR before beverage consumption. All data were divided into 2 groups according to beverage type: group T (black tea) and group C (caffeine). Two-way analysis of variance showed a significant group effect and interaction in CFVR before and after beverage consumption (p = 0.001). CFVR significantly increased after tea consumption in group T (4.5 +/- 0.9 vs 5.2 +/- 0.9, p <0.0001). The CFVR ratio of group T was larger than that of group C (1.18 +/- 0.07 vs 1.04 +/- 0.08, p = 0.002). Acute black tea consumption improves coronary vessel function, as determined by CFVR."}
{"id": "MED-1638", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Migratory capacity of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and mature endothelial cells (ECs) is a key prerequisite for endothelial repair after denuding injury or endothelial damage. METHODS AND RESULTS: We demonstrate that caffeine in physiologically relevant concentrations (50 to 100 micromol/L) induces migration of human EPCs as well as mature ECs. In patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), caffeinated coffee increased caffeine serum concentration from 2 micromol/L to 23 micromol/L, coinciding with a significant increase in migratory activity of patient-derived EPCs. Decaffeinated coffee neither affected caffeine serum levels nor migratory capacity of EPCs. Treatment with caffeine for 7 to 10 days in a mouse-model improved endothelial repair after denudation of the carotid artery. The enhancement of reendothelialization by caffeine was significantly reduced in AMPK knockout mice compared to wild-type animals. Transplantation of wild-type and AMPK(-/-) bone marrow into wild-type mice revealed no difference in caffeine challenged reendothelialization. ECs which were depleted of mitochondrial DNA did not migrate when challenged with caffeine, suggesting a potential role for mitochondria in caffeine-dependent migration. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence that caffeine enhances endothelial cell migration and reendothelialization in part through an AMPK-dependent mechanism, suggesting a beneficial role for caffeine in endothelial repair."}
{"id": "MED-1639", "text": "Although coffee is a widely used, pharmacologically active beverage, its impact on the cardiovascular system is controversial. To explore the effect of acute caffeine ingestion on brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in subjects without coronary artery disease (CAD; controls) and patients with CAD, we prospectively assessed brachial artery FMD in 40 controls and 40 age- and gender-matched patients with documented stable CAD on 2 separate mornings 1 week to 2 weeks apart. After overnight fasting, discontinuation of all medications for \u226512 hours, and absence of caffeine for >48 hours, participants received capsules with caffeine 200 mg or placebo. One hour after drug ingestion, participants underwent brachial artery FMD and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NTG) using high-resolution ultrasound. As expected, patients with CAD were more often diabetic, hypertensive, obese, dyslipidemic, and smoked more than controls (p <0.01 for all comparisons). Aspirin, Clopidogrel, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, \u03b2 blockers, and statins were significantly more common in patients with CAD than in controls (p <0.01 for all comparisons). At baseline, FMD, but not NTG, was significantly lower in patients with CAD compared to controls. Acute caffeine ingestion significantly increased FMD (patients with CAD 5.6 \u00b1 5.0% vs 14.6 \u00b1 5.0%, controls 8.4 \u00b1 2.9% vs 18.6 \u00b1 6.8%, p <0.001 for all comparisons) but not NTG (patients with CAD 13.0 \u00b1 5.2% vs 13.8 \u00b1 6.1%, controls 12.9 \u00b1 3.9% vs 13.9 \u00b1 5.8%, p = NS for all comparisons) and significantly decreased high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (patients with CAD 2.6 \u00b1 1.4 vs 1.4 \u00b1 1.2 mg/L, controls 3.4 \u00b1 3.0 vs 1.2 \u00b1 1.0 mg/L, p <0.001 for all comparisons) in the 2 groups compared to placebo. In conclusion, acute caffeine ingestion significantly improved endothelial function assessed by brachial artery FMD in subjects with and without CAD and was associated with lower plasma markers of inflammation. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1640", "text": "Coffee is one of the most widely used pharmacologically active beverages. The present study was designed to evaluate the acute effect of coffee ingestion on endothelial function in healthy individuals, and the potential role of caffeine. We studied 17 healthy young adults (28.9+/-3.0 years old; nine men), who were regular non-heavy coffee drinkers. The endothelial performance was estimated by endothelium-dependent FMD (flow-mediated dilatation) of the brachial artery before and 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after ingestion of a cup of caffeinated coffee (80 mg of caffeine) or the corresponding decaffeinated beverage (< 2 mg of caffeine) in two separate sessions, following a randomized single-blind cross-over design. There was no difference in baseline FMD values between the two sessions [7.78 compared with 7.07% after caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee respectively; P = NS (not significant)]. Caffeinated coffee led to a decline of FMD (7.78, 2.86, 2.12, 4.44 and 4.57% at baseline, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min respectively; P < 0.001). This adverse effect was focused at 30 (P = 0.004) and 60 min (P < 0.001). No significant effect on FMD was found with the decaffeinated coffee session (7.07, 6.24, 5.21, 7.41 and 5.20%; P = NS). The composite effect of the type of coffee consumed over time on FMD was significantly different (P = 0.021). In conclusion, coffee exerts an acute unfavourable effect on the endothelial function in healthy adults, lasting for at least 1 h after intake. This effect might be attributed to caffeine, given that decaffeinated coffee was not associated with any change in the endothelial performance."}
{"id": "MED-1641", "text": "Background Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed pharmacologically active substances. Its acute effect on myocardial blood flow is widely unknown. Our aim was to assess the acute effect of caffeine in a dose corresponding to two cups of coffee on myocardial blood flow (MBF) in coronary artery disease (CAD). Methodology/Principal Findings MBF was measured with 15O-labelled H2O and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) at rest and after supine bicycle exercise in controls (n\u200a=\u200a15, mean age 58\u00b113 years) and in CAD patients (n\u200a=\u200a15, mean age 61\u00b19 years). In the latter, regional MBF was assessed in segments subtended by stenotic and remote coronary arteries. All measurements were repeated fifty minutes after oral caffeine ingestion (200 mg). Myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) was calculated as ratio of MBF during bicycle stress divided by MBF at rest. Resting MBF was not affected by caffeine in both groups. Exercise-induced MBF response decreased significantly after caffeine in controls (2.26\u00b10.56 vs. 2.02\u00b10.56, P<0.005), remote (2.40\u00b10.70 vs. 1.78\u00b10.46, P<0.001) and in stenotic segments (1.90\u00b10.41 vs. 1.38\u00b10.30, P<0.001). Caffeine decreased MPR significantly by 14% in controls (P<0.05 vs. baseline). In CAD patients MPR decreased by 18% (P<0.05 vs. baseline) in remote and by 25% in stenotic segments (P<0.01 vs. baseline). Conclusions We conclude that caffeine impairs exercise-induced hyperaemic MBF response in patients with CAD to a greater degree than age-matched controls."}
{"id": "MED-1642", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Coffee is known to contain antioxidant substances whose effects may be blunted because of caffeine that may unfavorably affect the cardiovascular system. This study was designed to investigate the acute dose-dependent effects of decaffeinated coffee (DC) on endothelial function measured by the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD). SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 15 (8 men and 7 women) healthy nonobese subjects underwent a single-blind, crossover study. Subjects ingested one and two cups of decaffeinated Italian espresso coffee in random order at 5- to 7-day intervals. RESULTS: In the hour following the ingestion of two cups of DC, FMD increased (mean+/-s.e.m.): 0 min, 7.4+/-0.7%; 30 min, 8.0+/-0.6%; 60 min, 10.8+/-0.8%; P<0.001) as compared to consumption of one cup of DC (0 min, 6.9+/-0.7%; 30 min, 8.4+/-1.2%; 60 min, 8.5+/-1.1%; 3 x 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance: P=0.037 for time x treatment effect). Blood pressure did not differ between groups, and basal heart rate was lower in the two-cup group at baseline and 60 min. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated a significant acute favorable dose-dependent effect of decaffeinated espresso coffee on endothelial function. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of chronic use of DC especially with respect to caffeinated coffee and in subjects with cardiovascular diseases."}
{"id": "MED-1643", "text": "AIMS: To examine the acute effect of red wine and de-alcoholized red wine on endothelial function. METHODS AND RESULTS: High frequency ultrasound was used to measure blood flow and percentage brachial artery dilatation after reactive hyperaemia induced by forearm cuff occlusion in 12 healthy subjects, less than 40 years of age, without known cardiovascular risk factors. The subjects drank 250 ml of red wine with or without alcohol over 10 min according to a randomized procedure. Brachial artery dilatation was measured again 30 and 60 min after the subjects had finished drinking. The subjects were studied a second time within a week of the first study in a cross-over design. After the red wine with alcohol the resting brachial artery diameter, resting blood flow, heart rate and plasma-ethanol increased significantly. After the de-alcoholized red wine these parameters were unchanged. Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery was significantly higher (P<0.05) after drinking de-alcoholized red wine (5.6+/-3.2%) than after drinking red wine with alcohol (3.6+/-2.2%) and before drinking (3.9+/-2.5%). CONCLUSION: After ingestion of red wine with alcohol the brachial artery dilated and the blood flow increased. These changes were not observed following the de-alcoholized red wine and were thus attributable to ethanol. These haemodynamic changes may have concealed an effect on flow-mediated brachial artery dilatation which did not increase after drinking red wine with alcohol. Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery increased significantly after de-alcoholized red wine and this finding may support the hypothesis that antioxidant qualities of red wine, rather than ethanol in itself, may protect against cardiovascular disease. Copyright 2000 The European Society of Cardiology."}
{"id": "MED-1645", "text": "BACKGROUND: Tea consumption is associated with decreased cardiovascular risk. Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery is related to coronary endothelial function and it is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. Black tea has a beneficial effect on endothelial function; the effect, however, of green tea on brachial artery reactivity has not been defined yet. DESIGN AND METHODS: We studied 14 healthy individuals (age 30+/-3 years) with no cardiovascular risk factors except from smoking (50%) on three separate occasions on which they took: (a) 6 g of green tea, (b) 125 mg of caffeine (the amount contained in 6 g of tea), or (c) hot water. FMD of the brachial artery was measured before each intervention and 30, 90, and 120 min afterward. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukins 6 (Il-6) and 1b (Il-1b), total plasma antioxidative capacity, and total plasma oxidative status/stress were measured at baseline and at 120 min after each intervention. RESULTS: Resting and hyperemic brachial artery diameter did not change either with tea or with caffeine. FMD increased significantly with tea (by 3.69%, peak at 30 min, P<0.02), whereas it did not change significantly with caffeine (increase by 1.72%, peak at 30 min, P=NS). Neither tea nor caffeine had any effect on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, Il-6, Il-1b, total plasma antioxidative capacity, or total plasma oxidative status/stress. CONCLUSION: Green tea consumption has an acute beneficial effect on endothelial function, assessed with FMD of the brachial artery, in healthy individuals. This may be involved in the beneficial effect of tea on cardiovascular risk."}
{"id": "MED-1646", "text": "The Beverage Guidance Panel was assembled to provide guidance on the relative health and nutritional benefits and risks of various beverage categories. The beverage panel was initiated by the first author. The Panel's purpose is to attempt to systematically review the literature on beverages and health and provide guidance to the consumer. An additional purpose of the Panel is to develop a deeper dialog among the scientific community on overall beverage consumption patterns in the United States and on the great potential to change this pattern as a way to improve health. Over the past several decades, levels of overweight and obesity have increased across all population groups in the United States. Concurrently, an increased daily intake of 150-300 kcal (for different age-sex groups) has occurred, with approximately 50% of the increased calories coming from the consumption of calorically sweetened beverages. The panel ranked beverages from the lowest to the highest value based on caloric and nutrient contents and related health benefits and risks. Drinking water was ranked as the preferred beverage to fulfill daily water needs and was followed in decreasing value by tea and coffee, low-fat (1.5% or 1%) and skim (nonfat) milk and soy beverages, noncalorically sweetened beverages, beverages with some nutritional benefits (fruit and vegetable juices, whole milk, alcohol, and sports drinks), and calorically sweetened, nutrient-poor beverages. The Panel recommends that the consumption of beverages with no or few calories should take precedence over the consumption of beverages with more calories."}
{"id": "MED-1647", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies suggest that tea consumption decreases cardiovascular risk, but the mechanisms of benefit remain undefined. Endothelial dysfunction has been associated with coronary artery disease and increased oxidative stress. Some antioxidants have been shown to reverse endothelial dysfunction, and tea contains antioxidant flavonoids. Methods and Results-- To test the hypothesis that tea consumption will reverse endothelial dysfunction, we randomized 66 patients with proven coronary artery disease to consume black tea and water in a crossover design. Short-term effects were examined 2 hours after consumption of 450 mL tea or water. Long-term effects were examined after consumption of 900 mL tea or water daily for 4 weeks. Vasomotor function of the brachial artery was examined at baseline and after each intervention with vascular ultrasound. Fifty patients completed the protocol and had technically suitable ultrasound measurements. Both short- and long-term tea consumption improved endothelium- dependent flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery, whereas consumption of water had no effect (P<0.001 by repeated-measures ANOVA). Tea consumption had no effect on endothelium-independent nitroglycerin-induced dilation. An equivalent oral dose of caffeine (200 mg) had no short-term effect on flow-mediated dilation. Plasma flavonoids increased after short- and long-term tea consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Short- and long-term black tea consumption reverses endothelial vasomotor dysfunction in patients with coronary artery disease. This finding may partly explain the association between tea intake and decreased cardiovascular disease events."}
{"id": "MED-1648", "text": "Although coffee is largely consumed by adults in Western countries, controversy exists about its impact on the cardiovascular system. We recently demonstrated that caffeinated and decaffeinated espresso coffee have different acute effects on endothelial function in healthy subjects, measured using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. In this study, we measured the anti-oxidant capacity of two coffee substances in terms of free stable radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl 50% inhibition (I(50) DPPH). The caffeinated coffee had a slightly higher anti-oxidant capacity than decaffeinated espresso coffee (I(50) DPPH: 1.13\u00b10.02 vs 1.30\u00b10.03\u2009\u03bcl; P<0.001). We suggest that the unfavourable effects observed after caffeinated coffee ingestion are due to caffeine and that the antioxidant activity is responsible for the increased FMD observed after decaffeinated coffee ingestion. Further clinical and epidemiological studies are needed to understand the chronic effects of coffee consumption on health."}
{"id": "MED-1649", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The association of coffee consumption with cardiovascular disease remains controversial. Endothelial function is associated with cardiovascular risk. We examined the association between chronic coffee consumption and endothelium function in elderly inhabitants of the island of Ikaria. METHODS: The analysis was conducted on 142 elderly subjects (aged 66-91 years) of the Ikaria Study. Endothelial function was evaluated by ultrasound measurement of flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Coffee consumption was evaluated based on a food frequency questionnaire and was categorized as 'low' (< 200 ml/day), 'moderate' (200-450 ml/day), or 'high' (> 450 ml/day). RESULTS: From the subjects included in the study, 87% consumed a boiled Greek type of coffee. Moreover, 40% had a 'low', 48% a 'moderate' and 13% a 'high' daily coffee consumption. There was a linear increase in FMD according to coffee consumption ('low': 4.33 \u00b1 2.51% vs 'moderate': 5.39 \u00b1 3.09% vs 'high': 6.47 \u00b1 2.72%; p = 0.032). Moreover, subjects consuming mainly a boiled Greek type of coffee had a significantly higher FMD compared with those consuming other types of coffee beverages (p = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: Chronic coffee consumption is associated with improved endothelial function in elderly subjects, providing a new connection between nutrition and vascular health."}
{"id": "MED-1650", "text": "Short abstract Campaigns to promote healthy eating are undermined by the ubiquity of processed, energy dense foods. A global strategy is now needed to tackle the rising prevalence of obesity"}
{"id": "MED-1651", "text": "Background Limited information is available regarding the impact of candy consumption on health. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between typical frequency of candy consumption and body weight status and select cardiovascular risk factors among adults in the United States. Methods Using data collected in the 2003\u20132006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), adults were categorized as infrequent (\u2264 3 eating occasions [EO]/month), moderate (> 3 EO/month and \u2264 3.5 EO/week), or frequent (> 3.5 EO/week) candy consumers based on the combined frequency of chocolate and other candy consumption over the previous 12\u00a0months. Weight and adiposity status were analyzed using logistic regression models, and blood pressure, lipids, and insulin sensitivity were analyzed using linear regression models. Models were adjusted for age, sex and race/ethnicity, and also for additional covariates with potential associations with the outcomes. Appropriate statistical weights were used to yield results generalizable to the US population. Results Frequency of candy consumption was not associated with the risk of obesity, overweight/obesity, elevated waist circumference, elevated skinfold thickness, blood pressure, low density lipoprotein (LDL) or high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, or insulin resistance. Increased frequency of candy consumption was associated with higher energy intakes and higher energy adjusted intakes of carbohydrates, total sugars and added sugars, total fat, saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids (p\u2009<\u20090.05), and lower adjusted intakes of protein and cholesterol (p\u2009<\u20090.001). Conclusions Increased frequency of candy consumption among adults in the United States was not associated with objective measures of adiposity or select cardiovascular risk factors, despite associated dietary differences. Given the cross-sectional study design, however, it cannot be concluded that candy consumption does not cause obesity or untoward levels of cardiovascular risk markers. The lack of an association between frequency of candy consumption and cardiovascular risk factors could be due to reduced intake of candy among the overweight due to dieting or a health professional\u2019s recommendations. Additionally, it is important to note that the analysis was based on frequency of candy consumption and not amount of candy consumed. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the lack of associations between frequency of candy consumption and cardiovascular risk factors."}
{"id": "MED-1655", "text": "In 1940, a young German refugee physician scientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina began to treat patients with accelerated or \"malignant\" hypertension with a radical diet consisting of only white rice and fruit, with strikingly favorable results. He reported rapid reduction in blood pressure, rapid improvement in renal failure, papilledema, congestive heart failure and other manifestations of this previously fatal illness. This treatment was based on his theory that the kidney had both an excretory and a metabolic function, and that removing most of the sodium and protein burden from this organ enabled it to regain its normal ability to perform its more important metabolic functions. It was also effective in \"ordinary\" hypertension, in the absence of the dramatic vasculopathy of the accelerated form. The results were so dramatic that many experienced physicians suspected him of falsifying data. Among these results was the normalization of the ECG changes seen with hypertension. This paper reviews his published experience with this radical therapy, its controversial rise to fame, and its decline in popularity with the advent of effective antihypertensive drugs. It features the ECG changes seen in this then fatal disease, and the reversal of these changes by the rice diet. This treatment, though very difficult for the patient, produced effects which make it equal or superior to current multi-drug treatment of hypertension. A poorly known but important observation was that patients who were able to follow the regime, and who were slowly guided through a gradual modification of the diet over many months, were able to transition into a very tolerable low fat, largely vegetarian diet, while leading a normal, active life, without medications, indicating that the disease state had been permanently modified. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1656", "text": "Background Low back pain (LBP) is common in children and adolescents, and it is becoming a public health concern. In recent years there has been a considerable increase in research studies that examine the prevalence of LBP in this population, but studies exhibit great variability in the prevalence rates reported. The purpose of this research was to examine, by means of a meta-analytic investigation, the prevalence rates of LBP in children and adolescents. Methods Studies were located from computerized databases (ISI Web of Knowledge, MedLine, PEDro, IME, LILACS, and CINAHL) and other sources. The search period extended to April 2011. To be included in the meta-analysis, studies had to report a prevalence rate (whether point, period or lifetime prevalence) of LBP in children and/or adolescents (\u2264 18 years old). Two independent researchers coded the moderator variables of the studies, and extracted the prevalence rates. Separate meta-analyses were carried out for the different types of prevalence in order to avoid dependence problems. In each meta-analysis, a random-effects model was assumed to carry out the statistical analyses. Results A total of 59 articles fulfilled the selection criteria. The mean point prevalence obtained from 10 studies was 0.120 (95% CI: 0.09 and 0.159). The mean period prevalence at 12 months obtained from 13 studies was 0.336 (95% CI: 0.269 and 0.410), whereas the mean period prevalence at one week obtained from six studies was 0.177 (95% CI: 0.124 and 0.247). The mean lifetime prevalence obtained from 30 studies was 0.399 (95% CI: 0.342 and 0.459). Lifetime prevalence exhibited a positive, statistically significant relationship with the mean age of the participants in the samples and with the publication year of the studies. Conclusions The most recent studies showed higher prevalence rates than the oldest ones, and studies with a better methodology exhibited higher lifetime prevalence rates than studies that were methodologically poor. Future studies should report more information regarding the definition of LBP and there is a need to improve the methodological quality of studies."}
{"id": "MED-1664", "text": "The intervertebral disc is a cartilaginous structure that resembles articular cartilage in its biochemistry, but morphologically it is clearly different. It shows degenerative and ageing changes earlier than does any other connective tissue in the body. It is believed to be important clinically because there is an association of disc degeneration with back pain. Current treatments are predominantly conservative or, less commonly, surgical; in many cases there is no clear diagnosis and therapy is considered inadequate. New developments, such as genetic and biological approaches, may allow better diagnosis and treatments in the future."}
{"id": "MED-1667", "text": "Non-specific low back pain has become a major public health problem worldwide. The lifetime prevalence of low back pain is reported to be as high as 84%, and the prevalence of chronic low back pain is about 23%, with 11-12% of the population being disabled by low back pain. Mechanical factors, such as lifting and carrying, probably do not have a major pathogenic role, but genetic constitution is important. History taking and clinical examination are included in most diagnostic guidelines, but the use of clinical imaging for diagnosis should be restricted. The mechanism of action of many treatments is unclear, and effect sizes of most treatments are low. Both patient preferences and clinical evidence should be taken into account for pain management, but generally self-management, with appropriate support, is recommended and surgery and overtreatment should be avoided. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1670", "text": "The effect of polyphenols, phenolic acids and tannins (PPTs) from strawberry and apple on uptake and apical to basolateral transport of glucose was investigated using Caco-2 intestinal cell monolayers. Substantial inhibition on both uptake and transport was observed by extracts from both strawberry and apple. Using sodium-containing (glucose transporters SGLT1 and GLUT2 both active) and sodium-free (only GLUT2 active) conditions, we show that the inhibition of GLUT2 was greater than that of SGLT1. The extracts were analyzed and some of the constituent PPTs were also tested. Quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside (IC\u2085\u2080 =31\u2009\u03bcM), phloridzin (IC\u2085\u2080=146\u2009\u03bcM), and 5-caffeoylquinic acid (IC\u2085\u2080=2570\u2009\u03bcM) contributed 26, 52 and 12%, respectively, to the inhibitory activity of the apple extract, whereas pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside (IC\u2085\u2080=802\u2009\u03bcM) contributed 26% to the total inhibition by the strawberry extract. For the strawberry extract, the inhibition of transport was non-competitive based on kinetic analysis, whereas the inhibition of cellular uptake was a mixed-type inhibition, with changes in both V(max) and apparent K(m) . The results in this assay show that some PPTs inhibit glucose transport from the intestinal lumen into cells and also the GLUT2-facilitated exit on the basolateral side. Copyright \u00a9 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-1671", "text": "BACKGROUND: Sucrose induces high postprandial glucose and insulin responses. In vitro studies suggest that berries may reduce the digestion and absorption of sucrose and thereby suppress postprandial glycemia, but the evidence in humans is limited. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of sucrose ingested with blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum) and lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) on postprandial glucose, insulin, and free fatty acid responses. DESIGN: Twenty healthy women participated in a randomized, controlled, crossover meal study. They consumed whole blackcurrants or lingonberries (150 g served as pur\u00e9es) or blackcurrant or lingonberry nectars (300 mL), each with 35 g added sucrose. Sucrose alone (35 g in 300 mL water) was used as a reference. Blood samples were collected at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min. RESULTS: In comparison with sucrose alone, ingestion of sucrose with whole berries resulted in reduced glucose and insulin concentrations during the first 30 min and a slower decline during the second hour and a significantly improved glycemic profile. Berries prevented the sucrose-induced late postprandial hypoglycemic response and the compensatory free fatty acid rebound. Nearly similar effects were observed when sucrose was consumed with berry nectars. The improved responses were evident despite the higher content of available carbohydrate in the berry and nectar meals, because of the natural sugars present in berries. CONCLUSIONS: Blackcurrants and lingonberries, as either whole berries or nectars, optimize the postprandial metabolic responses to sucrose. The responses are consistent with delayed digestion of sucrose and consequent slower absorption of glucose."}
{"id": "MED-1675", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Unhealthy food intake, specifically fructose, has been associated with metabolic alterations and with the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In a cohort of patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (G1 CHC), we tested the association of fructose intake with the severity of liver histology. METHODS: Anthropometric and metabolic factors, including waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), dorso-cervical lipohypertrophy and HOMA were assessed in 147 consecutive biopsy-proven G1 CHC patients. Food intake, namely industrial and fruit fructose, was investigated by a three-day structured interview and a computed database. All biopsies were scored by an experienced pathologist for staging and grading (Scheuer classification), and graded for steatosis, which was considered moderate-severe if \u2265 20%. Features of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in CHC were also assessed (Bedossa classification). RESULTS: Mean daily intake of total, industrial and fruit fructose was 18.0\u00b18.7g, 6.0\u00b14.7g, and 11.9\u00b17.2g, respectively. Intake of industrial, not fruit fructose, was independently associated with higher WHR (p=0.02) and hypercaloric diet (p<0.001). CHC patients with severe liver fibrosis (\u2a7eF3) reported a significantly higher intake of total (20.8\u00b110.2 vs. 17.2\u00b18.1g/day; p=0.04) and industrial fructose (7.8\u00b16.0 vs. 5.5\u00b14.2; p=0.01), not fruit fructose (12.9\u00b18.0 vs. 11.6\u00b17.0; p=0.34). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older age (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.004-1.094, p=0.03), severe necroinflammatory activity (OR 3.325, 95% CI 1.347-8.209, p=0.009), moderate-severe steatosis (OR 2.421, 95% CI 1.017-6.415, p=0.04), and industrial fructose intake (OR 1.147, 95% CI 1.047-1.257, p=0.003) were independently linked to severe fibrosis. No association was found between fructose intake and liver necroinflammatory activity, steatosis, and the features of NASH. CONCLUSIONS: The daily intake of industrial, not fruit fructose is a risk factor for metabolic alterations and the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with G1 CHC. Copyright \u00a9 2013 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1676", "text": "Starch in white wheat bread (WB) induces high postprandial glucose and insulin responses. For rye bread (RB), the glucose response is similar, whereas the insulin response is lower. In vitro studies suggest that polyphenol-rich berries may reduce digestion and absorption of starch and thereby suppress postprandial glycemia, but the evidence in humans is limited. We investigated the effects of berries consumed with WB or RB on postprandial glucose and insulin responses. Healthy females (n = 13-20) participated in 3 randomized, controlled, crossover, 2-h meal studies. They consumed WB or RB, both equal to 50 g available starch, with 150 g whole-berry pur\u00e9e or the same amount of bread without berries as reference. In study 1, WB was served with strawberries, bilberries, or lingonberries and in study 2 with raspberries, cloudberries, or chokeberries. In study 3, WB or RB was served with a mixture of berries consisting of equal amounts of strawberries, bilberries, cranberries, and blackcurrants. Strawberries, bilberries, lingonberries, and chokeberries consumed with WB and the berry mixture consumed with WB or RB significantly reduced the postprandial insulin response. Only strawberries (36%) and the berry mixture (with WB, 38%; with RB, 19%) significantly improved the glycemic profile of the breads. These results suggest than when WB is consumed with berries, less insulin is needed for maintenance of normal or slightly improved postprandial glucose metabolism. The lower insulin response to RB compared with WB can also be further reduced by berries."}
{"id": "MED-1677", "text": "Background The combination of healthy lifestyle factors is associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and total cardiovascular disease. Little is known about the impact of multiple lifestyle factors on risk of stroke. Methods and results We conducted a prospective cohort study among 43,685 men from Health Professionals Follow-up Study and 71,243 women from the Nurses' Health Study. Diet and other lifestyle factors were updated from self-reported questionnaires. We defined a low-risk lifestyle as not smoking, a body mass index <25 kg/m 2, \u226530 minutes/day of moderate activity, consuming alcohol modestly (men:5\u201330g; women:5\u201315g alcohol/day), and scoring within the top 40% of a healthy diet score. We documented 1559 strokes (853 ischemic, 278 hemorrhagic) among women and 994 strokes (600 ischemic, 161 hemorrhagic) among men during follow-up. Women with all five low-risk factors had a relative risk of 0.21 (95%CI:0.12, 0.36) for total and 0.19 (95%CI:0.09, 0.40) for ischemic stroke, compared to women who had none of these factors. Among men, the relative risks were 0.31 (95%CI:0.19, 0.53) for total and 0.20 (95%CI: 0.10, 0.42) for ischemic stroke for the same comparison. Among the women, 47% (95%CI:18%, 69%) of total and 54% (95%CI:15%, 78%) of ischemic stroke cases were attributable to lack of adherence to a low-risk lifestyle; among the men, 35% (95%CI:7%, 58%) of total and 52% (95%CI:19%, 75%) of ischemic stroke may have been prevented. Conclusions A low-risk lifestyle that is associated with a reduced risk of multiple chronic diseases may also be beneficial in the prevention of stroke, especially ischemic stroke."}
{"id": "MED-1678", "text": "BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on the benefit of combining healthy dietary and lifestyle behaviors in the prevention of myocardial infarction (MI) in women. METHODS: We used factor analysis to identify a low-risk behavior-based dietary pattern in 24 444 postmenopausal women from the population-based prospective Swedish Mammography Cohort who were free of diagnosed cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus at baseline (September 15, 1997). We also defined 3 low-risk lifestyle factors: nonsmoking, waist-hip ratio less than the 75th percentile (< 0.85), and being physically active (at least 40 minutes of daily walking or bicycling and 1 hour of weekly exercise). RESULTS: During 6.2 years (151 434 person-years) of follow-up, we ascertained 308 cases of primary MI. Two major identified dietary patterns, \"healthy\" and \"alcohol,\" were significantly associated with decreased risk of MI. The low-risk diet (high scores for the healthy dietary pattern) characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish, and legumes, in combination with moderate alcohol consumption (>/= 5 g of alcohol per day), along with the 3 low-risk lifestyle behaviors, was associated with 92% decreased risk (95% confidence interval, 72%-98%) compared with findings in women without any low-risk diet and lifestyle factors. This combination of healthy behaviors, present in 5%, may prevent 77% of MIs in the study population. CONCLUSION: Most MIs in women may be preventable by consuming a healthy diet and moderate amounts of alcohol, being physically active, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight."}
{"id": "MED-1680", "text": "BACKGROUND: Although more than 80% of the global burden of cardiovascular disease occurs in low-income and middle-income countries, knowledge of the importance of risk factors is largely derived from developed countries. Therefore, the effect of such factors on risk of coronary heart disease in most regions of the world is unknown. METHODS: We established a standardised case-control study of acute myocardial infarction in 52 countries, representing every inhabited continent. 15152 cases and 14820 controls were enrolled. The relation of smoking, history of hypertension or diabetes, waist/hip ratio, dietary patterns, physical activity, consumption of alcohol, blood apolipoproteins (Apo), and psychosocial factors to myocardial infarction are reported here. Odds ratios and their 99% CIs for the association of risk factors to myocardial infarction and their population attributable risks (PAR) were calculated. FINDINGS: Smoking (odds ratio 2.87 for current vs never, PAR 35.7% for current and former vs never), raised ApoB/ApoA1 ratio (3.25 for top vs lowest quintile, PAR 49.2% for top four quintiles vs lowest quintile), history of hypertension (1.91, PAR 17.9%), diabetes (2.37, PAR 9.9%), abdominal obesity (1.12 for top vs lowest tertile and 1.62 for middle vs lowest tertile, PAR 20.1% for top two tertiles vs lowest tertile), psychosocial factors (2.67, PAR 32.5%), daily consumption of fruits and vegetables (0.70, PAR 13.7% for lack of daily consumption), regular alcohol consumption (0.91, PAR 6.7%), and regular physical activity (0.86, PAR 12.2%), were all significantly related to acute myocardial infarction (p<0.0001 for all risk factors and p=0.03 for alcohol). These associations were noted in men and women, old and young, and in all regions of the world. Collectively, these nine risk factors accounted for 90% of the PAR in men and 94% in women. INTERPRETATION: Abnormal lipids, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, abdominal obesity, psychosocial factors, consumption of fruits, vegetables, and alcohol, and regular physical activity account for most of the risk of myocardial infarction worldwide in both sexes and at all ages in all regions. This finding suggests that approaches to prevention can be based on similar principles worldwide and have the potential to prevent most premature cases of myocardial infarction."}
{"id": "MED-1681", "text": "BACKGROUND: Previous studies have examined individual dietary and lifestyle factors in relation to type 2 diabetes, but the combined effects of these factors are largely unknown. METHODS: We followed 84,941 female nurses from 1980 to 1996; these women were free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer at base line. Information about their diet and lifestyle was updated periodically. A low-risk group was defined according to a combination of five variables: a bodymass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of less than 25; a diet high in cereal fiber and polyunsaturated fat and low in trans fat and glycemic load (which reflects the effect of diet on the blood glucose level); engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for at least half an hour per day; no current smoking; and the consumption of an average of at least half a drink of an alcoholic beverage per day. RESULTS: During 16 years of follow-up, we documented 3300 new cases of type 2 diabetes. Overweight or obesity was the single most important predictor of diabetes. Lack of exercise, a poor diet, current smoking, and abstinence from alcohol use were all associated with a significantly increased risk of diabetes, even after adjustment for the body-mass index. As compared with the rest of the cohort, women in the low-risk group (3.4 percent of the women) had a relative risk of diabetes of 0.09 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.05 to 0.17). A total of 91 percent of the cases of diabetes in this cohort (95 percent confidence interval, 83 to 95) could be attributed to habits and forms of behavior that did not conform to the low-risk pattern. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the hypothesis that the vast majority of cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented by the adoption of a healthier lifestyle."}
{"id": "MED-1682", "text": "Background The health positive effects of diets high in fruits and vegetables are generally not replicated in supplementation trials with isolated antioxidants and vitamins, and as a consequence the emphasis of chronic disease prevention has shifted to whole foods and whole food products. Methods We carried out a human intervention trial with the golden kiwifruit, Actinidia chinensis, measuring markers of antioxidant status, DNA stability, plasma lipids, and platelet aggregation. Our hypothesis was that supplementation of a normal diet with kiwifruits would have an effect on biomarkers of oxidative status. Healthy volunteers supplemented a normal diet with either one or two golden kiwifruits per day in a cross-over study lasting 2 \u00d7 4 weeks. Plasma levels of vitamin C, and carotenoids, and the ferric reducing activity of plasma (FRAP) were measured. Malondialdehyde was assessed as a biomarker of lipid oxidation. Effects on DNA damage in circulating lymphocytes were estimated using the comet assay with enzyme modification to measure specific lesions; another modification allowed estimation of DNA repair. Results Plasma vitamin C increased after supplementation as did resistance towards H2O2-induced DNA damage. Purine oxidation in lymphocyte DNA decreased significantly after one kiwifruit per day, pyrimidine oxidation decreased after two fruits per day. Neither DNA base excision nor nucleotide excision repair was influenced by kiwifruit consumption. Malondialdehyde was not affected, but plasma triglycerides decreased. Whole blood platelet aggregation was decreased by kiwifruit supplementation. Conclusion Golden kiwifruit consumption strengthens resistance towards endogenous oxidative damage."}
{"id": "MED-1683", "text": "In recent years, it has been shown that platelets are not only involved in the arterial thrombotic process, but also that they play an active role in the inflammatory process of atherogenesis from the beginning. The interaction between platelets and endothelial cells occurs in two manners: activated platelets unite with intact endothelial cells, or platelets in resting adhere to activated endothelium. In this context, inhibition of the platelet function (adhesion/aggregation) could contribute to the prevention of atherothrombosis, the leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity. This can be achieved with antiplatelet agents. However, at the public health level, the level of primary prevention, a healthy diet has also been shown to exert beneficial effects. Among those elements of a healthy diet, the consumption of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) stands out for its effect on platelet anti-aggregation activity and endothelial protection, which may be beneficial for cardiovascular health. This article briefly discusses the involvement of platelets in atherogenesis and the possible mechanisms of action provided by tomatoes for platelet anti-aggregation activity and endothelial protection."}
{"id": "MED-1685", "text": "Among all fruits tested in vitro for their anti-platelet property, tomato had the highest activity followed by grapefruit, melon, and strawberry, whereas pear and apple had little or no activity. Tomato extract (20-50 microl of 100% juice) inhibited both ADP- and collagen-induced aggregation by up to 70% but could not inhibit arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation and concomitant thromboxane synthesis under similar experimental conditions. The anti-platelet components (MW <1000 Da) in tomatoes are water soluble, heat stable and are concentrated in the yellow fluid around the seeds. The active fractions were separated using gel filtration and HPLC. The aqueous fraction (110 000 xg supernatant) of tomatoes containing anti-platelet activity was subjected to gel filtration column chromatography (Biogel P2 column). The activity was fractionated into two peaks, peak-3 and peak-4 (major peak). Subsequently, peak-4 was further purified by HPLC using a reversed-phase column. NMR and mass spectroscopy studies indicated that peak F2 (obtained from peak 4) contained adenosine and cytidine. Deamination of peak F2 with adenosine deaminase almost completely abolished its anti-platelet activity, confirming the presence of adenosine in this fraction. In comparison, deamination of peak-4 resulted in only partial loss of inhibitory activity while the activity of peak-3 remained unaffected. These results indicate that tomatoes contain anti-platelet compounds in addition to adenosine. Unlike aspirin, the tomato-derived compounds inhibit thrombin-induced platelet aggregation. All these data indicate that tomato contains very potent anti-platelet components, and consuming tomatoes might be beneficial both as a preventive and therapeutic regime for cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-1686", "text": "Beneficial effects of consumption of fruit and vegetables on the cardiovascular system have been reported. Fruit and vegetable components affect the cardiovascular system in both antioxidant and nonantioxidant ways. The mechanisms of their actions are, however, still not well understood. The compounds present in fruits and vegetables may function individually or in concert to protect lipoproteins and vascular cells from oxidation or by other mechanisms such as reducing plasma lipid levels, high blood pressure, and platelet hyperactivity. Emerging data indicate that kiwifruit is beneficial in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, as consumption of two or three fruit per day for 28 days or more lowers platelet hyperactivity, plasma lipids, and blood pressure in human volunteers. These studies suggest that kiwifruit may provide a new dietary means as part of a preventive or therapeutic strategy to favorably modify cardiovascular risk factors. The relevance of lowering the cardiovascular risk factors by kiwifruit in human health is discussed. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1687", "text": "Effect of aqueous extract of several herbs on human platelet aggregation in vitro was investigated. Out of 28 herbs/nutriceuticals investigated, camomile, nettle alfalfa, garlic and onion exhibited most significant anti-platelet activity (>or=45% inhibition). Aqueous extracts of alfalfa, fresh nettle, and camomile inhibited ADP induced-platelet aggregation by 73, 65 and 60%, respectively, compared with control (P < 0.05). Camomile and alfalfa inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation by 84 and 65%, respectively, but nettle could not inhibit collagen-induced aggregation. In contrast, nettle was the most potent inhibitor (66%) of whole blood aggregation induced by collagen, followed by alfalfa (52%), and camomile (30%) compared with control (P < 0.05). None of these three herbs however could inhibit arachidonic acid or thrombin induced platelet aggregation. Camomile and alfalfa strongly inhibited thromboxane B2 synthesis induced by ADP or collagen, but nettle had no effect. Alfalfa and nettle increased cGMP levels in platelets by 50 and 35%, respectively, compared with the control (1.85 +/- 0.23 nM) (P < 0.005). All these data indicate that camomile, nettle and alfalfa have potent anti-platelet properties, and their inhibitory actions are mediated via different mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-1689", "text": "BACKGROUND: Regular consumption of fruits and vegetables (e.g., tomatoes) has been shown to be beneficial in terms of reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The industrial processing of tomatoes into tomato-based products includes several thermal treatments. Very little is known on the effect of tomato industrial processing on antiaggregatory activity and phenolic profile. METHODS: It was assessed the effect of tomato and by-products extracts on platelet aggregation induced by ADP, collagen, TRAP-6 and arachidonic acid. These in vitro antithrombotic properties were further supported in an in vivo model of thrombosis. A set of antiplatelet compounds has been selected for HPLC analysis in the different extracts. RESULTS: Some natural compounds such as chlorogenic, caffeic, ferulic and p-coumaric acids were identified by HPLC in tomatoes and its products may inhibit platelet activation. Red tomatoes, tomato products (sauce, ketchup and juice) and by-products extracts inhibited platelet aggregation induced adenosine 5'-diphosphate, collagen, thrombin receptor activator peptide-6 and arachidonic acid, but to a different extent. Also, pomace extract presents antithrombotic activity. CONCLUSIONS: Processed tomatoes may have a higher content of health-benefiting compounds than fresh ones. Pomace even presents the best antiplatelet activity. Finally, tomato products may be used as a functional ingredient adding antiplatelet activities to processed foods."}
{"id": "MED-1691", "text": "An increased prothrombotic state is a major risk factor for the development of heart attacks, strokes, and venous thromboembolism. Platelet activation and aggregation play an important role in determining a prothrombotic state. Although pharmaceutical agents such as aspirin, heparin, and warfarin are able to reduce prothrombotic tendency, long-term drug treatment may produce a variety of side effects, including bleeding. Diet is generally recognized to be significantly involved in modifying the individual risk for the development of thrombotic diseases, although its influence during the treatment of these disorders is probably less important. Dietary intervention has proven effective in lowering serum lipid levels, which are otherwise essential elements in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Likewise, certain dietary components have also been proven effective in decreasing platelet activation through various mechanisms and therefore may contribute to attenuating the future risk of thrombosis. This article provides an up-to-date review of the role of nutrient and nonnutrient supplements on platelet aggregation and risk of thrombosis. \u00a9 Thieme Medical Publishers."}
{"id": "MED-1693", "text": "Diet is believed to play a complex role in the development of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the Western world. Tomatoes, the second most produced and consumed vegetable nationwide, are a rich source of lycopene, beta-carotene, folate, potassium, vitamin C, flavonoids, and vitamin E. The processing of tomatoes may significantly affect the bioavailability of these nutrients. Homogenization, heat treatment, and the incorporation of oil in processed tomato products leads to increased lycopene bioavailability, while some of the same processes cause significant loss of other nutrients. Nutrient content is also affected by variety and maturity. Many of these nutrients may function individually, or in concert, to protect lipoproteins and vascular cells from oxidation, the most widely accepted theory for the genesis of atherosclerosis. This hypothesis has been supported by in vitro, limited in vivo, and many epidemiological studies that associate reduced cardiovascular risk with consumption of antioxidant-rich foods. Other cardioprotective functions provided by the nutrients in tomatoes may include the reduction of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, homocysteine, platelet aggregation, and blood pressure. Because tomatoes include several nutrients associated with theoretical or proven effects and are widely consumed year round, they may be considered a valuable component of a cardioprotective diet."}
{"id": "MED-1695", "text": "Fruits and vegetables have been thought to be beneficial in cardiovascular disease. The beneficial effects of fruits and vegetables may be explained by the antioxidants and other components contained therein. These nutrients may function individually or in concert to protect lipoproteins and vascular cells from oxidation, or by other mechanisms such as reducing plasma lipid levels (LDL cholesterol, triglycerides), and platelet aggregation response. Kiwi fruit which contains high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin E and polyphenols may be beneficial in cardiovascular disease; however very little is known about its cardioprotective effects. Platelets are involved in atherosclerotic disease development and the reduction of platelet activity by medications reduces the incidence and severity of disease. To this end, we evaluated whether consuming kiwi fruit modulated platelet activity and plasma lipids in human volunteers in a randomized cross-over study. We report that consuming two or three kiwi fruit per day for 28 days reduced platelet aggregation response to collagen and ADP by 18% compared with the controls (P < 0.05). In addition, consumption of kiwi fruit lowered blood triglycerides levels by 15% compared with control (P < 0.05), whereas no such effects were observed in the case of cholesterol levels. All these data indicate that consuming kiwi fruit may be beneficial in cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-1697", "text": "Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Healthy eating is among its safeguards, especially the daily intake of fruits and vegetables. In this context it has been shown that tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) presents antiplatelet activity. In the present study, we evaluated in vitro antiplatelet activity of fresh hybrid tomato process (nine hybrids: Apt 410, H 9888, Bos 8066, Sun 6366, AB3, HMX 7883, H 9665, H 7709, and H 9997), paste and its by-product of industrial processes (pomace). We assessed antiplatelet activity ex vivo and bleeding time in rats that ingested 0.1 and 1.0\u2009g/kg of pomace each day. In studies in vitro, no significant differences in antiplatelet activity was observed in fresh tomato hybrids. Furthermore, the agro-industrial process did not affect the antiplatelet activity of paste and pomace. Likewise, pomace intake of 1.0\u2009g/kg per day prolonged bleeding time and reduced ex vivo platelet aggregation in rats. The data obtained indicate that tomato has one or more compounds that caused antiplatelet activity. Regular consumption of tomato and its industrial derivatives could be part of a CVD prevention regimen."}
{"id": "MED-1699", "text": "BACKGROUND: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet has been associated with lower risk of various age-related diseases including dementia. Although narrative reviews have been published, no systematic review has synthesized studies on the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and cognitive function or dementia. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of 11 electronic databases (including Medline) of published articles up to January 2012. Reference lists, selected journal contents, and relevant websites were also searched. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed independently by two reviewers using predefined criteria. Studies were included if they examined the association between a Mediterranean diet adherence score and cognitive function or dementia. RESULTS: Twelve eligible papers (11 observational studies and one randomized controlled trial) were identified, describing seven unique cohorts. Despite methodological heterogeneity and limited statistical power in some studies, there was a reasonably consistent pattern of associations. Higher adherence to Mediterranean diet was associated with better cognitive function, lower rates of cognitive decline, and reduced risk of Alzheimer disease in nine out of 12 studies, whereas results for mild cognitive impairment were inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Published studies suggest that greater adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with slower cognitive decline and lower risk of developing Alzheimer disease. Further studies would be useful to clarify the association with mild cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. Long-term randomized controlled trials promoting a Mediterranean diet may help establish whether improved adherence helps to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer disease and dementia."}
{"id": "MED-1700", "text": "Objective To relate dietary fat types to cognitive change in healthy community-based elders. Methods Among 6,183 older participants in the Women\u2019s Health Study, we related intake of major fatty acids (FAs) (saturated [SFA], mono-unsaturated [MUFA], total poly-unsaturated [PUFA], trans-unsaturated) to late-life cognitive trajectory. Serial cognitive testing, conducted over 4 years, began 5 years post-dietary assessment. Primary outcomes were global cognition (averaging tests of general cognition, verbal memory and semantic fluency) and verbal memory (averaging tests of recall). We used analyses of response profiles and logistic regression to estimate multivariable-adjusted differences in cognitive trajectory and risk of worst cognitive change (worst 10%) by fat intake. Results Higher SFA intake was associated with worse global cognitive (p-linear-trend=0.008) and verbal memory (p-linear-trend=0.01) trajectories. There was a higher risk of worst cognitive change, comparing highest vs. lowest SFA quintiles: the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval, CI) was 1.64 (1.04,2.58) for global cognition and 1.65 (1.04,2.61) for verbal memory. By contrast, higher MUFA intake was related to better global cognitive (p-linear-trend<0.001) and verbal memory (p-linear-trend=0.009) trajectories, and lower OR (95% CI) of worst cognitive change in global cognition (0.52 [0.31,0.88]) and verbal memory (0.56 [0.34,0.94]). Total fat, PUFA, and trans fat intakes were not associated with cognitive trajectory. Interpretation Higher SFA intake was associated with worse global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories, while higher MUFA intake was related to better trajectories. Thus, different consumption levels of the major specific fat types, rather than total fat intake itself, appeared to influence cognitive aging."}
{"id": "MED-1702", "text": "Background We previously reported that the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) is related to lower risk for Alzheimer disease (AD). Whether MeDi is associated with subsequent AD course and outcomes has not been investigated. Objectives To examine the association between MeDi and mortality in patients with AD. Methods A total of 192 community-based individuals in New York who were diagnosed with AD were prospectively followed every 1.5 years. Adherence to the MeDi (0- to 9-point scale with higher scores indicating higher adherence) was the main predictor of mortality in Cox models that were adjusted for period of recruitment, age, gender, ethnicity, education, APOE genotype, caloric intake, smoking, and body mass index. Results Eighty-five patients with AD (44%) died during the course of 4.4 (\u00b13.6, 0.2 to 13.6) years of follow-up. In unadjusted models, higher adherence to MeDi was associated with lower mortality risk (for each additional MeDi point hazard ratio 0.79; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.91; p = 0.001). This result remained significant after controlling for all covariates (0.76; 0.65 to 0.89; p = 0.001). In adjusted models, as compared with AD patients at the lowest MeDi adherence fertile, those at the middle fertile had lower mortality risk (0.65; 0.38 to 1.09; 1.33 years\u2019 longer survival), whereas subjects at the highest fertile had an even lower risk (0.27; 0.10 to 0.69; 3.91 years\u2019 longer survival; p for trend = 0.003). Conclusion Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) may affect not only risk for Alzheimer disease (AD) but also subsequent disease course: Higher adherence to the MeDi is associated with lower mortality in AD. The gradual reduction in mortality risk for higher MeDi adherence tertiles suggests a possible dose\u2013response effect."}
{"id": "MED-1703", "text": "There are currently approximately 33.9 million individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) worldwide, and prevalence is expected to triple over the next 40 years. The goal of this review was to summarize the evidence regarding seven potentially modifiable AD risk factors: diabetes, mid-life hypertension, mid-life obesity, smoking, depression, low educational attainment and physical inactivity. In addition, we projected the impact of risk factor reduction on AD prevalence by calculating population attributable risks (PARs, the percent of cases attributable to a given factor) and the number of AD cases that could potentially be prevented by 10% and 25% risk factor reductions worldwide and in the US. Together, these factors contributed to up to half of AD cases globally (17.2 million) and in the US (2.9 million). A 10%\u201325% reduction in all seven risk factors could potentially prevent as many as 1.1\u20133.0 million cases worldwide and 184,000\u2013492,000 cases in the US."}
{"id": "MED-1705", "text": "Despite an archive of over 73,000 research papers published in the last two decades on the subject of Alzheimer's disease (AD), little clinical progress has been made relative to how people get sporadic AD and what can be done to help them avoid it. This review spotlights strategic steps that could be a turning point in the dramatic lowering of Alzheimer prevalence. The main strategy includes application of four pillars of prevention: 1) early identification of AD vascular risk factors; 2) early detection of AD vascular risk factors; 3) early intervention of AD vascular risk factors based on evidence-based medical decisions; 4) patient follow-up to assess and modify interventions as needed. Tandem to these four pillars of prevention, a proactive lifestyle consisting of a healthy diet coupled to physical and mental activity should be applied as part of any therapeutic intervention. We are persuaded by mounting and compelling evidence that AD is a multifactorial disorder kindled by vascular risk factors that generate chronic brain hypoperfusion (CBH) during advanced aging. A pathobiological cascade of biochemical events in the presence of CBH that leads to oxidative stress and neurodegeneration appears to involve multiple biofactors including micronutrients, trace metals, lipids, and pro-oxidants, as reviewed in this special issue of BioFactors. Modulation of these biofactors may help prevent or control incipient AD. \u00a9 2012 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Copyright \u00a9 2012 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1708", "text": "High intakes of dietary sugars in the setting of a worldwide pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease have heightened concerns about the adverse effects of excessive consumption of sugars. In 2001 to 2004, the usual intake of added sugars for Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day (355 calories per day). Between 1970 and 2005, average annual availability of sugars/added sugars increased by 19%, which added 76 calories to Americans' average daily energy intake. Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in Americans' diets. Excessive consumption of sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions, as well as shortfalls of essential nutrients. Although trial data are limited, evidence from observational studies indicates that a higher intake of soft drinks is associated with greater energy intake, higher body weight, and lower intake of essential nutrients. National survey data also indicate that excessive consumption of added sugars is contributing to overconsumption of discretionary calories by Americans. On the basis of the 2005 US Dietary Guidelines, intake of added sugars greatly exceeds discretionary calorie allowances, regardless of energy needs. In view of these considerations, the American Heart Association recommends reductions in the intake of added sugars. A prudent upper limit of intake is half of the discretionary calorie allowance, which for most American women is no more than 100 calories per day and for most American men is no more than 150 calories per day from added sugars."}
{"id": "MED-1709", "text": "In the preceding point narrative, Drs. Bray and Popkin provide their opinion and review data that suggest to them that we need to reconsider the consumption of dietary sugar based on the growing concern of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the counterpoint narrative below, we argue that there is no clear or convincing evidence that any dietary or added sugar has a unique or detrimental impact relative to any other source of calories on the development of obesity or diabetes. Sugar is purely a highly palatable source of energy; because it has no other property that appears to contribute to our nutritional well-being, it is not an essential food for most of us. For those who wish to reduce energy consumption, ingesting less sugar is a good place to start. However, doing so does not automatically portend any clinical benefit."}
{"id": "MED-1710", "text": "Sugar intake in the United States has increased by >40 fold since the American Revolution. The health concerns that have been raised about the amounts of sugar that are in the current diet, primarily as beverages, are the subject of this review. Just less than 50% of the added sugars (sugar and high-fructose corn syrup) are found in soft drinks and fruit drinks. The intake of soft drinks has increased 5-fold between 1950 and 2000. Most meta-analyses have shown that the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome are related to consumption of beverages sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Calorically sweetened beverage intake has also been related to the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and, in men, gout. Calorically sweetened beverages contribute to obesity through their caloric load, and the intake of beverages does not produce a corresponding reduction in the intake of other food, suggesting that beverage calories are \u201cadd-on\u201d calories. The increase in plasma triglyceride concentrations by sugar-sweetened beverages can be attributed to fructose rather than glucose in sugar. Several randomized trials of sugar-containing soft drinks versus low-calorie or calorie-free beverages show that either sugar, 50% of which is fructose, or fructose alone increases triglycerides, body weight, visceral adipose tissue, muscle fat, and liver fat. Fructose is metabolized primarily in the liver. When it is taken up by the liver, ATP decreases rapidly as the phosphate is transferred to fructose in a form that makes it easy to convert to lipid precursors. Fructose intake enhances lipogenesis and the production of uric acid. By worsening blood lipids, contributing to obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, and gout, fructose in the amounts currently consumed is hazardous to the health of some people."}
{"id": "MED-1714", "text": "BACKGROUND: Western diets, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles are associated with increased cancer risk. The mechanisms responsible for this increased risk, however, are not clear. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that long-term low protein, low calorie intake and endurance exercise are associated with low concentrations of plasma growth factors and hormones that are linked to an increased risk of cancer. DESIGN: Plasma growth factors and hormones were evaluated in 21 sedentary subjects, who had been eating a low-protein, low-calorie diet for 4.4 +/- 2.8 y (x +/- SD age: 53.0 +/- 11 y); 21 endurance runners matched by body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2); and 21 age- and sex-matched sedentary subjects eating Western diets. RESULTS: BMI was lower in the low-protein, low-calorie diet (21.3 +/- 3.1) and runner (21.6 +/- 1.6) groups than in the Western diet (26.5 +/- 2.7; P < 0.005) group. Plasma concentrations of insulin, free sex hormones, leptin, and C-reactive protein were lower and sex hormone-binding globulin was higher in the low-protein, low-calorie diet and runner groups than in the sedentary Western diet group (all P < 0.05). Plasma insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and the concentration ratio of IGF-I to IGF binding protein 3 were lower in the low-protein, low-calorie diet group (139 +/- 37 ng/mL and 0.033 +/- 0.01, respectively) than in the runner (177 +/- 37 ng/mL and 0.044 +/- 0.01, respectively) and sedentary Western (201 +/- 42 ng/mL and 0.046 +/- 0.01, respectively) diet groups (P < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Exercise training, decreased adiposity, and long-term consumption of a low-protein, low-calorie diet are associated with low plasma growth factors and hormones that are linked to an increased risk of cancer. Low protein intake may have additional protective effects because it is associated with a decrease in circulating IGF-I independent of body fat mass."}
{"id": "MED-1715", "text": "Summary Reduced function mutations in the insulin/IGF-I signaling pathway increase maximal lifespan and health span in many species. Calorie restriction (CR) decreases serum IGF-1 concentration by ~40%, protects against cancer and slows aging in rodents. However, the long-term effects of CR with adequate nutrition on circulating IGF-1 levels in humans are unknown. Here we report data from two long-term CR studies (1 and 6 years) showing that severe CR without malnutrition did not change IGF-1 and IGF-1 : IGFBP-3 ratio levels in humans. In contrast, total and free IGF-1 concentrations were significantly lower in moderately protein-restricted individuals. Reducing protein intake from an average of 1.67 g kg \u22121 of body weight per day to 0.95 g kg \u22121 of body weight per day for 3 weeks in six volunteers practicing CR resulted in a reduction in serum IGF-1 from 194 ng mL \u22121 to 152 ng mL \u22121 . These findings demonstrate that, unlike in rodents, long-term severe CR does not reduce serum IGF-1 concentration and IGF-1 : IGFBP-3 ratio in humans. In addition, our data provide evidence that protein intake is a key determinant of circulating IGF-1 levels in humans, and suggest that reduced protein intake may become an important component of anticancer and anti-aging dietary interventions."}
{"id": "MED-1716", "text": "Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the developed world. The progression from obesity to diabetes mellitus type 2, via metabolic syndrome, is recognised, and the significant associated increase in the risk of major human cancers acknowledged. We review the molecular basis of the involvement of morbidly high concentrations of endogenous or therapeutic insulin and of insulin-like growth factors in the progression from obesity to diabetes and finally to cancer. Epidemiological and biochemical studies establish the role of insulin and hyperinsulinaemia in cancer risk and progression. Insulin-like growth factors, IGF-1 and IGF-2, secreted by visceral or mammary adipose tissue have significant paracrine and endocrine effects. These effects can be exacerbated by increased steroid hormone production. Structural studies elucidate how each of the three ligands, insulin, IGF-1, and IGF-2, interacts differently with isoforms A and B of the insulin receptor and with type I IGF receptor and explain how these protagonists contribute to diabetes-associated cancer. The above should inform appropriate treatment of cancers that arise in obese individuals and in those with diabetes mellitus type 2. Novel drugs that target the insulin and insulin-like growth factor signal transduction pathways are in clinical trial and should be effective if appropriate biomarker-informed patient stratification is implemented."}
{"id": "MED-1717", "text": "BACKGROUND: Excess bodyweight, expressed as increased body-mass index (BMI), is associated with the risk of some common adult cancers. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the strength of associations between BMI and different sites of cancer and to investigate differences in these associations between sex and ethnic groups. METHODS: We did electronic searches on Medline and Embase (1966 to November 2007), and searched reports to identify prospective studies of incident cases of 20 cancer types. We did random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions of study-specific incremental estimates to determine the risk of cancer associated with a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI. FINDINGS: We analysed 221 datasets (141 articles), including 282,137 incident cases. In men, a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI was strongly associated with oesophageal adenocarcinoma (RR 1.52, p<0.0001) and with thyroid (1.33, p=0.02), colon (1.24, p<0.0001), and renal (1.24, p <0.0001) cancers. In women, we recorded strong associations between a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI and endometrial (1.59, p<0.0001), gallbladder (1.59, p=0.04), oesophageal adenocarcinoma (1.51, p<0.0001), and renal (1.34, p<0.0001) cancers. We noted weaker positive associations (RR <1.20) between increased BMI and rectal cancer and malignant melanoma in men; postmenopausal breast, pancreatic, thyroid, and colon cancers in women; and leukaemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both sexes. Associations were stronger in men than in women for colon (p<0.0001) cancer. Associations were generally similar in studies from North America, Europe and Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region, but we recorded stronger associations in Asia-Pacific populations between increased BMI and premenopausal (p=0.009) and postmenopausal (p=0.06) breast cancers. INTERPRETATION: Increased BMI is associated with increased risk of common and less common malignancies. For some cancer types, associations differ between sexes and populations of different ethnic origins. These epidemiological observations should inform the exploration of biological mechanisms that link obesity with cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1718", "text": "The number of cancer cases caused by being obese is estimated to be 20% with the increased risk of malignancies being influenced by diet, weight change, and body fat distribution together with physical activity. Reports from the International Agency for Research into Cancer and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) have shown that the strongest evidence exists for an association of obesity with the following cancer types: endometrial, esophageal adenocarcinoma, colorectal, postmenopausal breast, prostate, and renal, whereas the less common malignancies are leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, malignant melanoma, and thyroid tumours. To be able to develop novel methods in prevention and treatment, we first must understand the underlying processes which link cancer to obesity. Four main systems have been identified as potential producers of cancer in obesity: insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I, sex steroids, and adipokines. Various novel candidate mechanisms have been proposed: chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, crosstalk between tumour cells and surrounding adipocytes, migrating adipose stromal cells, obesity-induced hypoxia, shared genetic susceptibility, and the functional defeat of immune function. Herein, we review the major pathogenic links between obesity and susceptibility to cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1719", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Overexpression of IGF-I occurs in tumors diagnosed in childhood (osteosarcoma, Wilms tumor, neuroblastoma, etc.) and in adults (breast, ovaries, colon and prostate cancer). The aim of our study was to establish the prevalence of malignancies in states of congenital IGF-I deficiency. SUBJECTS: We surveyed 222 patients with congenital IGF-I deficiency (Laron syndrome, GH gene deletion, GHRH receptor defects and IGF-I resistance) and 338 first and second-degree relatives. RESULTS: None of the IGF-I deficient patients had cancer, whereas 9-24% of the family members had a history of malignancy. CONCLUSIONS: Congenital IGF-I deficiency acts as a protecting factor for the development of cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1720", "text": "BACKGROUND: Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and its main binding protein, IGFBP-3, modulate cell growth and survival, and are thought to be important in tumour development. Circulating concentrations of IGF-I might be associated with an increased risk of cancer, whereas IGFBP-3 concentrations could be associated with a decreased cancer risk. METHODS: We did a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of case-control studies, including studies nested in cohorts, of the association between concentrations of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 and prostate, colorectal, premenopausal and postmenopausal breast, and lung cancer. Study-specific dose-response slopes were obtained by relating the natural log of odds ratios for different exposure levels to blood concentrations normalised to a percentile scale. FINDINGS: We identified 21 eligible studies (26 datasets), which included 3609 cases and 7137 controls. High concentrations of IGF-I were associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer (odds ratio comparing 75th with 25th percentile 1.49, 95% CI 1.14-1.95) and premenopausal breast cancer (1.65, 1.26-2.08) and high concentrations of IGFBP-3 were associated with increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer (1.51, 1.01-2.27). Associations were larger in assessments of plasma samples than in serum samples, and in standard case-control studies compared with nested studies. INTERPRETATION: Circulating concentrations of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 are associated with an increased risk of common cancers, but associations are modest and vary between sites. Although laboratory methods need to be standardised, these epidemiological observations could have major implications for assessment of risk and prevention of cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1721", "text": "Objective To examine the relation between body mass index (kg/m2) and cancer incidence and mortality. Design Prospective cohort study. Participants 1.2 million UK women recruited into the Million Women Study, aged 50-64 during 1996-2001, and followed up, on average, for 5.4 years for cancer incidence and 7.0 years for cancer mortality. Main outcome measures Relative risks of incidence and mortality for all cancers, and for 17 specific types of cancer, according to body mass index, adjusted for age, geographical region, socioeconomic status, age at first birth, parity, smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, years since menopause, and use of hormone replacement therapy. Results 45\u2009037 incident cancers and 17\u2009203 deaths from cancer occurred over the follow-up period. Increasing body mass index was associated with an increased incidence of endometrial cancer (trend in relative risk per 10 units=2.89, 95% confidence interval 2.62 to 3.18), adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus (2.38, 1.59 to 3.56), kidney cancer (1.53, 1.27 to 1.84), leukaemia (1.50, 1.23 to 1.83), multiple myeloma (1.31, 1.04 to 1.65), pancreatic cancer (1.24, 1.03 to 1.48), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (1.17, 1.03 to 1.34), ovarian cancer (1.14, 1.03 to 1.27), all cancers combined (1.12, 1.09 to 1.14), breast cancer in postmenopausal women (1.40, 1.31 to 1.49) and colorectal cancer in premenopausal women (1.61, 1.05 to 2.48). In general, the relation between body mass index and mortality was similar to that for incidence. For colorectal cancer, malignant melanoma, breast cancer, and endometrial cancer, the effect of body mass index on risk differed significantly according to menopausal status. Conclusions Increasing body mass index is associated with a significant increase in the risk of cancer for 10 out of 17 specific types examined. Among postmenopausal women in the UK, 5% of all cancers (about 6000 annually) are attributable to being overweight or obese. For endometrial cancer and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus, body mass index represents a major modifiable risk factor; about half of all cases in postmenopausal women are attributable to overweight or obesity."}
{"id": "MED-1723", "text": "The lower rates of some cancers in Asian countries than in Western countries may be partly because of diet, although the mechanisms are unknown. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether a plant-based (vegan) diet is associated with a lower circulating level of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) compared with a meat-eating or lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet among 292 British women, ages 20-70 years. The mean serum IGF-I concentration was 13% lower in 92 vegan women compared with 99 meat-eaters and 101 vegetarians (P = 0.0006). The mean concentrations of both serum IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-1 and IGFBP-2 were 20-40% higher in vegan women compared with meat-eaters and vegetarians (P = 0.005 and P = 0.0008 for IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2, respectively). There were no significant differences in IGFBP-3, C-peptide, or sex hormone-binding globulin concentrations between the diet groups. Intake of protein rich in essential amino acids was positively associated with serum IGF-I (Pearson partial correlation coefficient; r = 0.27; P < 0.0001) and explained most of the differences in IGF-I concentration between the diet groups. These data suggest that a plant-based diet is associated with lower circulating levels of total IGF-I and higher levels of IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2."}
{"id": "MED-1724", "text": "A considerable amount of evidence is consistent with the proposition that systemic IGF-I activity acts as pacesetter in the aging process. A reduction in IGF-I activity is the common characteristic of rodents whose maximal lifespan has been increased by a wide range of genetic or dietary measures, including caloric restriction. The lifespans of breeds of dogs and strains of rats tend to be inversely proportional to their mature weight and IGF-I levels. The link between IGF-I and aging appears to be evolutionarily conserved; in worms and flies, lifespan is increased by reduction-of-function mutations in signaling intermediates homologous to those which mediate insulin/IGF-I activity in mammals. The fact that an increase in IGF-I activity plays a key role in the induction of sexual maturity, is consistent with a broader role for-IGF-I in aging regulation. If down-regulation of IGF-I activity could indeed slow aging in humans, a range of practical measures for achieving this may be at hand. These include a low-fat, whole-food, vegan diet, exercise training, soluble fiber, insulin sensitizers, appetite suppressants, and agents such as flax lignans, oral estrogen, or tamoxifen that decrease hepatic synthesis of IGF-I. Many of these measures would also be expected to decrease risk for common age-related diseases. Regimens combining several of these approaches might have a sufficient impact on IGF-I activity to achieve a useful retardation of the aging process. However, in light of the fact that IGF-I promotes endothelial production of nitric oxide and may be of especial importance to cerebrovascular health, additional measures for stroke prevention-most notably salt restriction-may be advisable when attempting to down-regulate IGF-I activity as a pro-longevity strategy."}
{"id": "MED-1725", "text": "Methods: During the 1980s, the National Cancer Institute conducted three case-control studies of NHL in the midwestern United States. These pooled data were used to examine pesticide exposures in farming as risk factors for NHL in men. The large sample size (n = 3417) allowed analysis of 47 pesticides simultaneously, controlling for potential confounding by other pesticides in the model, and adjusting the estimates based on a prespecified variance to make them more stable. Results: Reported use of several individual pesticides was associated with increased NHL incidence, including organophosphate insecticides coumaphos, diazinon, and fonofos, insecticides chlordane, dieldrin, and copper acetoarsenite, and herbicides atrazine, glyphosate, and sodium chlorate. A subanalysis of these \"potentially carcinogenic\" pesticides suggested a positive trend of risk with exposure to increasing numbers. Conclusion: Consideration of multiple exposures is important in accurately estimating specific effects and in evaluating realistic exposure scenarios."}
{"id": "MED-1726", "text": "Pesticides are used throughout the world as mixtures called formulations. They contain adjuvants, which are often kept confidential and are called inerts by the manufacturing companies, plus a declared active principle, which is usually tested alone. We tested the toxicity of 9 pesticides, comparing active principles and their formulations, on three human cell lines (HepG2, HEK293, and JEG3). Glyphosate, isoproturon, fluroxypyr, pirimicarb, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, tebuconazole, epoxiconazole, and prochloraz constitute, respectively, the active principles of 3 major herbicides, 3 insecticides, and 3 fungicides. We measured mitochondrial activities, membrane degradations, and caspases 3/7 activities. Fungicides were the most toxic from concentrations 300\u2013600 times lower than agricultural dilutions, followed by herbicides and then insecticides, with very similar profiles in all cell types. Despite its relatively benign reputation, Roundup was among the most toxic herbicides and insecticides tested. Most importantly, 8 formulations out of 9 were up to one thousand times more toxic than their active principles. Our results challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake for pesticides because this norm is calculated from the toxicity of the active principle alone. Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone."}
{"id": "MED-1728", "text": "The United States Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies around the world have registered glyphosate as a broad-spectrum herbicide for use on multiple food and non-food use crops. Glyphosate is widely considered by regulatory authorities and scientific bodies to have no carcinogenic potential, based primarily on results of carcinogenicity studies of rats and mice. To examine potential cancer risks in humans, we reviewed the epidemiologic literature to evaluate whether exposure to glyphosate is associated causally with cancer risk in humans. We also reviewed relevant methodological and biomonitoring studies of glyphosate. Seven cohort studies and fourteen case-control studies examined the association between glyphosate and one or more cancer outcomes. Our review found no consistent pattern of positive associations indicating a causal relationship between total cancer (in adults or children) or any site-specific cancer and exposure to glyphosate. Data from biomonitoring studies underscore the importance of exposure assessment in epidemiologic studies, and indicate that studies should incorporate not only duration and frequency of pesticide use, but also type of pesticide formulation. Because generic exposure assessments likely lead to exposure misclassification, it is recommended that exposure algorithms be validated with biomonitoring data. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1729", "text": "We previously demonstrated that the frequency of birth defects among children of residents of the Red River Valley (RRV), Minnesota, USA, was significantly higher than in other major agricultural regions of the state during the years 1989-1991, with children born to male pesticide applicators having the highest risk. The present, smaller cross-sectional study of 695 families and 1,532 children, conducted during 1997-1998, provides a more detailed examination of reproductive health outcomes in farm families ascertained from parent-reported birth defects. In the present study, in the first year of life, the birth defect rate was 31.3 births per 1,000, with 83% of the total reported birth defects confirmed by medical records. Inclusion of children identified with birth or developmental disorders within the first 3 years of life and later led to a rate of 47.0 per 1,000 (72 children from 1,532 live births). Conceptions in spring resulted in significantly more children with birth defects than found in any other season (7.6 vs. 3.7%). Twelve families had more than one child with a birth defect (n = 28 children). Forty-two percent of the children from families with recurrent birth defects were conceived in spring, a significantly higher rate than that for any other season. Three families in the kinships defined contributed a first-degree relative other than a sibling with the same or similar birth defect, consistent with a Mendelian inheritance pattern. The remaining nine families did not follow a Mendelian inheritance pattern. The sex ratio of children with birth defects born to applicator families shows a male predominance (1.75 to 1) across specific pesticide class use and exposure categories exclusive of fungicides. In the fungicide exposure category, normal female births significantly exceed male births (1.25 to 1). Similarly, the proportion of male to female children with birth defects is significantly lower (0.57 to 1; p = 0.02). Adverse neurologic and neurobehavioral developmental effects clustered among the children born to applicators of the fumigant phosphine (odds ratio [OR] = 2.48; confidence interval [CI], 1.2-5.1). Use of the herbicide glyphosate yielded an OR of 3.6 (CI, 1.3-9.6) in the neurobehavioral category. Finally, these studies point out that (a) herbicides applied in the spring may be a factor in the birth defects observed and (b) fungicides can be a significant factor in the determination of sex of the children of the families of the RRV. Thus, two distinct classes of pesticides seem to have adverse effects on different reproductive outcomes. Biologically based confirmatory studies are needed."}
{"id": "MED-1730", "text": "The United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory agencies around the world have registered glyphosate as a broad-spectrum herbicide for use on multiple food and non-food use crops. To examine potential health risks in humans, we searched and reviewed the literature to evaluate whether exposure to glyphosate is associated causally with non-cancer health risks in humans. We also reviewed biomonitoring studies of glyphosate to allow for a more comprehensive discussion of issues related to exposure assessment and misclassification. Cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies on glyphosate and non-cancer outcomes evaluated a variety of endpoints, including non-cancer respiratory conditions, diabetes, myocardial infarction, reproductive and developmental outcomes, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, and Parkinson's disease. Our review found no evidence of a consistent pattern of positive associations indicating a causal relationship between any disease and exposure to glyphosate. Most reported associations were weak and not significantly different from 1.0. Because accurate exposure measurement is crucial for valid results, it is recommended that pesticide-specific exposure algorithms be developed and validated. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1731", "text": "Glyphosate surfactant herbicide (GlySH) toxicity is an uncommon poisoning. We report two fatalities involving suicidal ingestion of this herbicide. Both deaths occurred despite early recognition of the serious nature of the poisoning and aggressive treatment. The deaths in this series are analysed in the context of a review of existing literature. Although traditionally regarded as minimally toxic, many deaths have been reported following suicidal ingestion. Severe GlySH toxicity may be refractory even to the most intensive supportive care. The triad of pulmonary oedema, metabolic acidosis and hyperkalaemia portends poor outcome. While containing a carbon phosphorus moiety, GlySH does not exhibit organophosphate toxicity. A clinical guide to assessing severity of GlySH toxicity is proposed and treatment modalities discussed."}
{"id": "MED-1732", "text": "Glyphosate is an active ingredient of the most widely used herbicide and it is believed to be less toxic than other pesticides. However, several recent studies showed its potential adverse health effects to humans as it may be an endocrine disruptor. This study focuses on the effects of pure glyphosate on estrogen receptors (ERs) mediated transcriptional activity and their expressions. Glyphosate exerted proliferative effects only in human hormone-dependent breast cancer, T47D cells, but not in hormone-independent breast cancer, MDA-MB231 cells, at 10\u207b\u00b9\u00b2 to 10\u207b\u2076M in estrogen withdrawal condition. The proliferative concentrations of glyphosate that induced the activation of estrogen response element (ERE) transcription activity were 5-13 fold of control in T47D-KBluc cells and this activation was inhibited by an estrogen antagonist, ICI 182780, indicating that the estrogenic activity of glyphosate was mediated via ERs. Furthermore, glyphosate also altered both ER\u03b1 and \u03b2 expression. These results indicated that low and environmentally relevant concentrations of glyphosate possessed estrogenic activity. Glyphosate-based herbicides are widely used for soybean cultivation, and our results also found that there was an additive estrogenic effect between glyphosate and genistein, a phytoestrogen in soybeans. However, these additive effects of glyphosate contamination in soybeans need further animal study. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1733", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Glyphosate-surfactant herbicide (GlySH) is widely used as a non-selective herbicide. Most intoxicated cases are from ingestion, inhalation, and skin exposure. Intramuscular injection of GlySH has never been reported. We present a case of GlySH intoxication via intramuscular injection. CASE REPORT: A 42-year-old woman came to the emergency department complaining of painful swelling of left upper limb for 12 h. She had performed an intramuscular injection of 6 mL of GlySH over the lateral aspect of the left elbow 15 h previously. Physical examination disclosed painful swelling over left distal arm, elbow, and forearm with three needle punctures. CT scan revealed ill-defined areas of heterogeneous high density with marked swelling at subcutaneous tissue over posterior aspect of the elbow. DISCUSSION: The mechanism of toxicity of GlySH is complicated and surfactant was thought to play an important role in GlySH intoxication. Intramuscular GlySH poisoning is different from oral GlySH intoxication. Care should be taken when monitoring acute rhabdomyolysis and compartment syndrome, which may develop rapidly and contribute to the surfactant component of glyphosate formulation."}
{"id": "MED-1736", "text": "Glyphosate is a herbicide widely used to kill weeds both in agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. Its reproductive toxicity is related to the inhibition of a StAR protein and an aromatase enzyme, which causes an in vitro reduction in testosterone and estradiol synthesis. Studies in vivo about this herbicide effects in prepubertal Wistar rats reproductive development were not performed at this moment. Evaluations included the progression of puberty, body development, the hormonal production of testosterone, estradiol and corticosterone, and the morphology of the testis. Results showed that the herbicide (1) significantly changed the progression of puberty in a dose-dependent manner; (2) reduced the testosterone production, in semineferous tubules' morphology, decreased significantly the epithelium height (P < 0.001; control = 85.8 +/- 2.8 microm; 5 mg/kg = 71.9 +/- 5.3 microm; 50 mg/kg = 69.1 +/- 1.7 microm; 250 mg/kg = 65.2 +/- 1.3 microm) and increased the luminal diameter (P < 0.01; control = 94.0 +/- 5.7 microm; 5 mg/kg = 116.6 +/- 6.6 microm; 50 mg/kg = 114.3 +/- 3.1 microm; 250 mg/kg = 130.3 +/- 4.8 microm); (4) no difference in tubular diameter was observed; and (5) relative to the controls, no differences in serum corticosterone or estradiol levels were detected, but the concentrations of testosterone serum were lower in all treated groups (P < 0.001; control = 154.5 +/- 12.9 ng/dL; 5 mg/kg = 108.6 +/- 19.6 ng/dL; 50 mg/dL = 84.5 +/- 12.2 ng/dL; 250 mg/kg = 76.9 +/- 14.2 ng/dL). These results suggest that commercial formulation of glyphosate is a potent endocrine disruptor in vivo, causing disturbances in the reproductive development of rats when the exposure was performed during the puberty period."}
{"id": "MED-1737", "text": "Roundup is the major herbicide used worldwide, in particular on genetically modified plants that have been designed to tolerate it. We have tested the toxicity and endocrine disruption potential of Roundup (Bioforce on human embryonic 293 and placental-derived JEG3 cells, but also on normal human placenta and equine testis. The cell lines have proven to be suitable to estimate hormonal activity and toxicity of pollutants. The median lethal dose (LD(50)) of Roundup with embryonic cells is 0.3% within 1 h in serum-free medium, and it decreases to reach 0.06% (containing among other compounds 1.27 mM glyphosate) after 72 h in the presence of serum. In these conditions, the embryonic cells appear to be 2-4 times more sensitive than the placental ones. In all instances, Roundup (generally used in agriculture at 1-2%, i.e., with 21-42 mM glyphosate) is more efficient than its active ingredient, glyphosate, suggesting a synergistic effect provoked by the adjuvants present in Roundup. We demonstrated that serum-free cultures, even on a short-term basis (1 h), reveal the xenobiotic impacts that are visible 1-2 days later in serum. We also document at lower non-overtly toxic doses, from 0.01% (with 210 microM glyphosate) in 24 h, that Roundup is an aromatase disruptor. The direct inhibition is temperature-dependent and is confirmed in different tissues and species (cell lines from placenta or embryonic kidney, equine testicular, or human fresh placental extracts). Furthermore, glyphosate acts directly as a partial inactivator on microsomal aromatase, independently of its acidity, and in a dose-dependent manner. The cytotoxic, and potentially endocrine-disrupting effects of Roundup are thus amplified with time. Taken together, these data suggest that Roundup exposure may affect human reproduction and fetal development in case of contamination. Chemical mixtures in formulations appear to be underestimated regarding their toxic or hormonal impact."}
{"id": "MED-1738", "text": "Glyphosate is the active ingredient of several widely used herbicide formulations. Glyphosate targets the shikimate metabolic pathway, which is found in plants but not in animals. Despite the relative safety of glyphosate, various adverse developmental and reproductive problems have been alleged as a result of exposure in humans and animals. To assess the developmental and reproductive safety of glyphosate, an analysis of the available literature was conducted. Epidemiological and animal reports, as well as studies on mechanisms of action related to possible developmental and reproductive effects of glyphosate, were reviewed. An evaluation of this database found no consistent effects of glyphosate exposure on reproductive health or the developing offspring. Furthermore, no plausible mechanisms of action for such effects were elucidated. Although toxicity was observed in studies that used glyphosate-based formulations, the data strongly suggest that such effects were due to surfactants present in the formulations and not the direct result of glyphosate exposure. To estimate potential human exposure concentrations to glyphosate as a result of working directly with the herbicide, available biomonitoring data were examined. These data demonstrated extremely low human exposures as a result of normal application practices. Furthermore, the estimated exposure concentrations in humans are >500-fold less than the oral reference dose for glyphosate of 2 mg/kg/d set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA 1993). In conclusion, the available literature shows no solid evidence linking glyphosate exposure to adverse developmental or reproductive effects at environmentally realistic exposure concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-1740", "text": "To assess human health risk from environmental chemicals, we have studied the effect on cell cycle regulation of the widely used glyphosate-containing pesticide Roundup. As a model system we have used sea urchin embryonic first divisions following fertilization, which are appropriate for the study of universal cell cycle regulation without interference with transcription. We show that 0.8% Roundup (containing 8 mM glyphosate) induces a delay in the kinetic of the first cell cleavage of sea urchin embryos. The delay is dependent on the concentration of Roundup. The delay in the cell cycle could be induced using increasing glyphosate concentrations (1-10 mM) in the presence of a subthreshold concentration of Roundup 0.2%, while glyphosate alone was ineffective, thus indicating synergy between glyphosate and Roundup formulation products. The effect of Roundup was not lethal and involved a delay in entry into M-phase of the cell cycle, as judged cytologically. Since CDK1/cyclin B regulates universally the M-phase of the cell cycle, we analyzed CDK1/cyclin B activation during the first division of early development. Roundup delayed the activation of CDK1/cyclin B in vivo. Roundup inhibited also the global protein synthetic rate without preventing the accumulation of cyclin B. In summary, Roundup affects cell cycle regulation by delaying activation of the CDK1/cyclin B complex, by synergic effect of glyphosate and formulation products. Considering the universality among species of the CDK1/cyclin B regulator, our results question the safety of glyphosate and Roundup on human health."}
{"id": "MED-1741", "text": "Roundup is a glyphosate-based herbicide used worldwide, including on most genetically modified plants that have been designed to tolerate it. Its residues may thus enter the food chain, and glyphosate is found as a contaminant in rivers. Some agricultural workers using glyphosate have pregnancy problems, but its mechanism of action in mammals is questioned. Here we show that glyphosate is toxic to human placental JEG3 cells within 18 hr with concentrations lower than those found with agricultural use, and this effect increases with concentration and time or in the presence of Roundup adjuvants. Surprisingly, Roundup is always more toxic than its active ingredient. We tested the effects of glyphosate and Roundup at lower nontoxic concentrations on aromatase, the enzyme responsible for estrogen synthesis. The glyphosate-based herbicide disrupts aromatase activity and mRNA levels and interacts with the active site of the purified enzyme, but the effects of glyphosate are facilitated by the Roundup formulation in microsomes or in cell culture. We conclude that endocrine and toxic effects of Roundup, not just glyphosate, can be observed in mammals. We suggest that the presence of Roundup adjuvants enhances glyphosate bioavailability and/or bioaccumulation."}
{"id": "MED-1743", "text": "This article describes the nutrient and elemental composition, including residues of herbicides and pesticides, of 31 soybean batches from Iowa, USA. The soy samples were grouped into three different categories: (i) genetically modified, glyphosate-tolerant soy (GM-soy); (ii) unmodified soy cultivated using a conventional \"chemical\" cultivation regime; and (iii) unmodified soy cultivated using an organic cultivation regime. Organic soybeans showed the healthiest nutritional profile with more sugars, such as glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose, significantly more total protein, zinc and less fibre than both conventional and GM-soy. Organic soybeans also contained less total saturated fat and total omega-6 fatty acids than both conventional and GM-soy. GM-soy contained high residues of glyphosate and AMPA (mean 3.3 and 5.7 mg/kg, respectively). Conventional and organic soybean batches contained none of these agrochemicals. Using 35 different nutritional and elemental variables to characterise each soy sample, we were able to discriminate GM, conventional and organic soybeans without exception, demonstrating \"substantial non-equivalence\" in compositional characteristics for 'ready-to-market' soybeans. Copyright \u00a9 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1745", "text": "The composition of glyphosate-tolerant (Roundup Ready) soybean 40-3-2 was compared with that of conventional soybean grown in Romania in 2005 as part of a comparative safety assessment program. Samples were collected from replicated field trials, and compositional analyses were performed to measure proximates (moisture, fat, ash, protein, and carbohydrates by calculation), fiber, amino acids, fatty acids, isoflavones, raffinose, stachyose, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitor, and lectin in grain as well as proximates and fiber in forage. The mean values for all biochemical components assessed for Roundup Ready soybean 40-30-2 were similar to those of the conventional control and were within the published range observed for commercial soybean. The compositional profile of Roundup Ready soybean 40-3-2 was also compared to that of conventional soybean varieties grown in Romania by calculating a 99% tolerance interval to describe compositional variability in the population of traditional soybean varieties already on the marketplace. These comparisons, together with the history of the safe use of soybean as a common component of animal feed and human food, lead to the conclusion that Roundup Ready soybean 40-3-2 is compositionally equivalent to and as safe and nutritious as conventional soybean varieties grown commercially."}
{"id": "MED-1746", "text": "The global area covered with transgenic (genetically modified) crops has rapidly increased since their introduction in the mid-1990s. Most of these crops have been rendered herbicide resistant, for which it can be envisaged that the modification has an impact on the profile and level of herbicide residues within these crops. In this article, the four main categories of herbicide resistance, including resistance to acetolactate-synthase inhibitors, bromoxynil, glufosinate and glyphosate, are reviewed. The topics considered are the molecular mechanism underlying the herbicide resistance, the nature and levels of the residues formed and their impact on the residue definition and maximum residue limits (MRLs) defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and national authorities. No general conclusions can be drawn concerning the nature and level of residues, which has to be done on a case-by-case basis. International residue definitions and MRLs are still lacking for some herbicide-crop combinations, and harmonisation is therefore recommended. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Society of Chemical Industry."}
{"id": "MED-1747", "text": "Knowledge of the US Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee is sometime cited as a principal reason for the relatively low participation rates seen among racial/ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, in biomedical research. However, only a few studies have actually explored this possibility. We use data from a random digit dial telephone survey of 510 African-Americans and 253 Latinos, age 18 to 45 years, to investigate associations between knowledge of the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories. All respondents were drawn from an area of low-income, predominantly race-segregated inner city households in Los Angeles. Results indicate that African Americans were significantly more likely than Latinos to endorse HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories. Further, African Americans were more aware of the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (SST). Nevertheless, 72% of African Americans and 94% of Latinos reported that they have never heard of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Further, while awareness of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was a significant predictor of endorsing HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories, results suggest that other factors may be more important in accounting for low biomedical and behavioral study participation rates."}
{"id": "MED-1748", "text": "Our bloodstream is considered to be an environment well separated from the outside world and the digestive tract. According to the standard paradigm large macromolecules consumed with food cannot pass directly to the circulatory system. During digestion proteins and DNA are thought to be degraded into small constituents, amino acids and nucleic acids, respectively, and then absorbed by a complex active process and distributed to various parts of the body through the circulation system. Here, based on the analysis of over 1000 human samples from four independent studies, we report evidence that meal-derived DNA fragments which are large enough to carry complete genes can avoid degradation and through an unknown mechanism enter the human circulation system. In one of the blood samples the relative concentration of plant DNA is higher than the human DNA. The plant DNA concentration shows a surprisingly precise log-normal distribution in the plasma samples while non-plasma (cord blood) control sample was found to be free of plant DNA."}
{"id": "MED-1749", "text": "Pesticides associated to genetically modified foods (PAGMF), are engineered to tolerate herbicides such as glyphosate (GLYP) and gluphosinate (GLUF) or insecticides such as the bacterial toxin bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between maternal and fetal exposure, and to determine exposure levels of GLYP and its metabolite aminomethyl phosphoric acid (AMPA), GLUF and its metabolite 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (3-MPPA) and Cry1Ab protein (a Bt toxin) in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. Blood of thirty pregnant women (PW) and thirty-nine nonpregnant women (NPW) were studied. Serum GLYP and GLUF were detected in NPW and not detected in PW. Serum 3-MPPA and CryAb1 toxin were detected in PW, their fetuses and NPW. This is the first study to reveal the presence of circulating PAGMF in women with and without pregnancy, paving the way for a new field in reproductive toxicology including nutrition and utero-placental toxicities. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1750", "text": "The discovery of myostatin and our introduction to the \u201cMighty Mouse\u201d over a decade ago spurred both basic and applied research and impacted popular culture as well. The myostatin-null genotype produces \u201cdouble muscling\u201d in mice and livestock and was recently described in a child. The field\u2019s rapid growth is by no means surprising considering the potential benefits of enhancing muscle growth in clinical and agricultural settings. Indeed, several recent studies suggest that blocking myostatin\u2019s inhibitory effects could improve the clinical treatment of several muscle growth disorders, whereas comparative studies suggest that these actions are at least partly conserved. Thus, neutralizing myostatin\u2019s effects could also have agricultural significance. Extrapolating between studies that use different vertebrate models, particularly fish and mammals, is somewhat confusing because whole genome duplication events have resulted in the production and retention of up to four unique myostatin genes in some fish species. Such comparisons, however, suggest that myostatin\u2019s actions may not be limited to skeletal muscle per se, but may additionally influence other tissues including cardiac muscle, adipocytes, and the brain. Thus, therapeutic intervention in the clinic or on the farm must consider the potential of alternative side effects that could impact these or other tissues. In addition, the presence of multiple and actively diversifying myostatin genes in most fish species provides a unique opportunity to study adaptive molecular evolution. It may also provide insight into myostatin\u2019s nonmuscle actions as results from these and other comparative studies gain visibility in biomedical fields."}
{"id": "MED-1751", "text": "There are many ways to categorise conspiracy theories. In the present study, we examined individual and demographic predictors of beliefs in commercial conspiracy theories among a British sample of over 300 women and men. Results showed many people were cynical and sceptical with regard to advertising tricks, as well as the tactics of organisations like banks and alcohol, drug and tobacco companies. Beliefs sorted into four identifiable clusters, labelled sneakiness, manipulative, change-the-rules and suppression/prevention. The high alpha for the overall scale suggested general beliefs in commercial conspiracy. Regressions suggested that those people who were less religious, more left-wing, more pessimistic, less (self-defined as) wealthy, less Neurotic and less Open-to-Experience believed there was more commercial conspiracy. Overall the individual difference variables explained relatively little of the variance in these beliefs. The implications of these findings for the literature on conspiracy theories are discussed. Limitations of the study are also discussed."}
{"id": "MED-1752", "text": "The transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily encompasses a large group of growth and differentiation factors playing important roles in regulating embryonic development and in maintaining tissue homeostasis in adult animals. Using degenerate polymerase chain reaction, we have identified a new murine TGF-beta family member, growth/differentiation factor-8 (GDF-8), which is expressed specifically in developing and adult skeletal muscle. During early stages of embryogenesis, GDF-8 expression is restricted to the myotome compartment of developing somites. At later stages and in adult animals, GDF-8 is expressed in many different muscles throughout the body. To determine the biological function of GDF-8, we disrupted the GDF-8 gene by gene targeting in mice. GDF-8 null animals are significantly larger than wild-type animals and show a large and widespread increase in skeletal muscle mass. Individual muscles of mutant animals weigh 2-3 times more than those of wild-type animals, and the increase in mass appears to result from a combination of muscle cell hyperplasia and hypertrophy. These results suggest that GDF-8 functions specifically as a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth."}
{"id": "MED-1753", "text": "Given the history of GMO conflict and debate, the GM animal future is dependent on the response of the regulatory landscape and its associated range of interest groups at national, regional and international levels. Focusing on the EU and the USA, this article examines the likely form of that multi-level response, the increased role of cultural values, the contribution of new and existing interest groups and the consequent implications for the commercialization of both green and red GM animal biotechnology. Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1754", "text": "Conspiracist ideation has been repeatedly implicated in the rejection of scientific propositions, although empirical evidence to date has been sparse. A recent study involving visitors to climate blogs found that conspiracist ideation was associated with the rejection of climate science and the rejection of other scientific propositions such as the link between lung cancer and smoking, and between HIV and AIDS (Lewandowsky et al., in press; LOG12 from here on). This article analyses the response of the climate blogosphere to the publication of LOG12. We identify and trace the hypotheses that emerged in response to LOG12 and that questioned the validity of the paper\u2019s conclusions. Using established criteria to identify conspiracist ideation, we show that many of the hypotheses exhibited conspiratorial content and counterfactual thinking. For example, whereas hypotheses were initially narrowly focused on LOG12, some ultimately grew in scope to include actors beyond the authors of LOG12, such as university executives, a media organization, and the Australian government. The overall pattern of the blogosphere\u2019s response to LOG12 illustrates the possible role of conspiracist ideation in the rejection of science, although alternative scholarly interpretations may be advanced in the future."}
{"id": "MED-1757", "text": "During 1 year, samples were taken on 4 days, one sample in each season, from pigs, the floor, and the air inside pig barns and from the ambient air and soil at different distances outside six commercial livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA)-positive pig barns in the north and east of Germany. LA-MRSA was isolated from animals, floor, and air samples in the barn, showing a range of airborne LA-MRSA between 6 and 3,619 CFU/m3 (median, 151 CFU/m3). Downwind of the barns, LA-MRSA was detected in low concentrations (11 to 14 CFU/m3) at distances of 50 and 150 m; all upwind air samples were negative. In contrast, LA-MRSA was found on soil surfaces at distances of 50, 150, and 300 m downwind from all barns, but no statistical differences could be observed between the proportions of positive soil surface samples at the three different distances. Upwind of the barns, positive soil surface samples were found only sporadically. Significantly more positive LA-MRSA samples were found in summer than in the other seasons both in air and soil samples upwind and downwind of the pig barns. spa typing was used to confirm the identity of LA-MRSA types found inside and outside the barns. The results show that there is regular airborne LA-MRSA transmission and deposition, which are strongly influenced by wind direction and season, of up to at least 300 m around positive pig barns. The described boot sampling method seems suitable to characterize the contamination of the vicinity of LA-MRSA-positive pig barns by the airborne route."}
{"id": "MED-1759", "text": "Background Livestock-Associated MRSA (LA-MRSA) belonging to ST398 lineage, common among pigs and other animals, emerged in Central and Northern Europe, becoming a new risk factor for MRSA among farm workers. Strains belonging to ST398 can be responsible for human colonization and infection, mainly in areas with high livestock-farming. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) human colonization and infections in an area of the Lombardy Region (Italy), the Italian region with the highest density of pig farming. Methods In the period March-April 2010, 879 nasal swabs were taken from subjects at admission to a local hospital serving an area of the Lombardy Region devoted to agriculture and farming. In the period March 2010-February 2011, all MRSA strains from community-acquired infection (CAI) observed in the same hospital, were collected. Molecular characterization of the isolates included SCCmec typing, spa typing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Results Out of 879 nasal swabs examined, 9 (1%) yielded MRSA. Five strains were assigned to sequence type (ST)398 (spa t899, 3 isolates; t108 and t2922, 1 isolate each) and were therefore categorized as LA-MRSA. The other 4 isolates were likely of hospital origin. No strains were positive for Panton-Valentine Leukocidin genes. Twenty MRSA isolates were detected from CAI, 17 were from skin and soft-tissue infections and 3 from other infections. An MRSA isolate from otitis externa was t899/ST398 and PVL-negative, hence categorized as LA-MRSA. Four isolates were assigned to t127/ST1. Eight strains were PVL-positive community acquired (CA)-MRSA and belonged to different clones, the most frequent being ST8. Conclusions In an area of Italy with high density of pig farming, LA-MRSA is able to colonize the population and rarely to produce infections. Typical CA-MRSA is more common than LA-MRSA among CAI."}
{"id": "MED-1760", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of cumulative, real-world marketing and brand exposures on young children by testing the influence of branding from a heavily marketed source on taste preferences. DESIGN: Experimental study. Children tasted 5 pairs of identical foods and beverages in packaging from McDonald's and matched but unbranded packaging and were asked to indicate if they tasted the same or if one tasted better. SETTING: Preschools for low-income children. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-three children (mean +/- SD age, 4.6 +/- 0.5 years; range, 3.5-5.4 years). MAIN EXPOSURE: Branding of fast foods. OUTCOME MEASURES: A summary total taste preference score (ranging from -1 for the unbranded samples to 0 for no preference and +1 for McDonald's branded samples) was used to test the null hypothesis that children would express no preference. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD total taste preference score across all food comparisons was 0.37 +/- 0.45 (median, 0.20; interquartile range, 0.00-0.80) and significantly greater than zero (P<.001), indicating that children preferred the tastes of foods and drinks if they thought they were from McDonald's. Moderator analysis found significantly greater effects of branding among children with more television sets in their homes and children who ate food from McDonald's more often. CONCLUSION: Branding of foods and beverages influences young children's taste perceptions. The findings are consistent with recommendations to regulate marketing to young children and also suggest that branding may be a useful strategy for improving young children's eating behaviors."}
{"id": "MED-1761", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were (1) to determine fast food restaurant prevalence in hospitals with pediatric residencies and (2) to evaluate how hospital environment affects purchase and perception of fast food. METHODS: We first surveyed pediatric residency programs regarding fast food restaurants in their hospitals to determine the prevalence of fast food restaurants in these hospitals. We then surveyed adults with children after pediatric outpatient visits at 3 hospitals: hospital M with an on-site McDonald's restaurant, hospital R without McDonald's on site but with McDonald's branding, and hospital X with neither on-site McDonald's nor branding. We sought to determine attitudes toward, consumption of, and influences on purchase of fast food and McDonald's food. RESULTS: Fifty-nine of 200 hospitals with pediatric residencies had fast food restaurants. A total of 386 outpatient surveys were analyzed. Fast food consumption on the survey day was most common among hospital M respondents (56%; hospital R: 29%; hospital X: 33%), as was the purchase of McDonald's food (hospital M: 53%; hospital R: 14%; hospital X: 22%). McDonald's accounted for 95% of fast food consumed by hospital M respondents, and 83% of them bought their food at the on-site McDonald's. Using logistic regression analysis, hospital M respondents were 4 times more likely than respondents at the other hospitals to have purchased McDonald's food on the survey day. Visitors to hospitals M and R were more likely than those at hospital X to believe that McDonald's supported the hospital financially. Respondents at hospital M rated McDonald's food healthier than did respondents at the other hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Fast food restaurants are fairly common in hospitals that sponsor pediatric residency programs. A McDonald's restaurant in a children's hospital was associated with significantly increased purchase of McDonald's food by outpatients, belief that the McDonald's Corporation supported the hospital financially, and higher rating of the healthiness of McDonald's food."}
{"id": "MED-1762", "text": "Background In the United States, anabolic sex steroids are administered to cattle for growth promotion. There is concern regarding the reproductive consequences of this practice for men who eat beef. We investigated whether meat consumption was associated with semen quality parameters and reproductive hormone levels in young men. Methods Semen samples were obtained from 189 men aged 18-22 years. Diet was assessed with a previously validated food frequency questionnaire. We used linear regression to analyze the cross-sectional associations of meat intake with semen quality parameters and reproductive hormones, while adjusting for potential confounders. Results There was an inverse relation between processed red meat intake and total sperm count. The adjusted relative differences in total sperm counts for men in increasing quartiles of processed meat intake were 0 (ref), \u22123 (95% confidence interval = \u221267 to 37), \u221214 (\u221282 to 28), and \u221278 (\u2212202 to \u22125) million (test for trend, P = 0.01). This association was strongest among men with abstinence time less than 2 days and was driven by a strong inverse relation between processed red meat intake and ejaculate volume (test for trend, P =0.003). Conclusions In our population of young men, processed meat intake was associated with lower total sperm count. We cannot distinguish whether this association is due to residual confounding by abstinence time or represents a true biological effect."}
{"id": "MED-1763", "text": "The current trends of increasing incidences of testis, breast and prostate cancers are poorly understood, although it is assumed that sex hormones play a role. Disrupted sex hormone action is also believed to be involved in the increased occurrence of genital abnormalities among newborn boys and precocious puberty in girls. In this article, recent literature on sex steroid levels and their physiological roles during childhood is reviewed. It is concluded that (i) circulating levels of estradiol in prepubertal children are lower than originally claimed; (ii) children are extremely sensitive to estradiol and may respond with increased growth and/or breast development even at serum levels below the current detection limits; (iii) no threshold has been established, below which no hormonal effects can be seen in children exposed to exogenous steroids or endocrine disruptors; (iv) changes in hormone levels during fetal and prepubertal development may have severe effects in adult life and (v) the daily production rates of sex steroids in children estimated by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999 and still used in risk assessments are highly overestimated and should be revised. Because no lower threshold for estrogenic action has been established, caution should be taken to avoid unnecessary exposure of fetuses and children to exogenous sex steroids and endocrine disruptors, even at very low levels."}
{"id": "MED-1764", "text": "The decline in sperm count rates over the last 50 years appears to parallel the rising prevalence of obesity. As lipids levels are strongly associated with obesity, high lipids levels or hyperlipidemia may thus play an important role in the decline in fertility in addition to other environmental or lifestyle factors. The objective of this population based cohort study was to evaluate the association between men\u2019s serum lipid concentrations and semen quality parameters among 501 male partners of couples desiring pregnancy and discontinuing contraception. Each participant provided prospectively up to two semen samples (94% of men provided one or more semen samples, and 77% of men provided a second sample approximately one month later). Linear mixed effects models were used to estimate the associations between baseline lipid concentrations and semen quality parameters, adjusted for age, body mass index, and race. We found that higher levels of serum total cholesterol, free cholesterol and phospholipids were associated with a significantly lower percentage of sperm with intact acrosome and smaller sperm head area and perimeter. Our results suggest that lipid concentrations may affect semen parameters, specifically sperm head morphology, highlighting the importance of cholesterol and lipid homeostasis for male fecundity."}
{"id": "MED-1765", "text": "Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis by hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors could, in theory, adversely affect male gonadal function because cholesterol is a precursor of steroid hormones. The objective of this randomized double-blind trial was to compare the effects of simvastatin, pravastatin, and placebo on gonadal testosterone production and spermatogenesis. After a 6-week placebo and lipid-lowering diet run-in period, 159 male patients aged 21 to 55 years with type IIa or IIb hypercholesterolemia, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol between 145 and 240 mg/dL, and normal basal levels of testosterone were randomly assigned to treatment with simvastatin 20 mg (n = 40), simvastatin 40 mg (n = 41), pravastatin 40 mg (n = 39), or placebo (n = 39) once daily. After 24 weeks of treatment, mean total cholesterol levels were decreased 24% to 27% and mean LDL cholesterol was decreased 30% to 34% in the 3 active-treatment groups (P < .001 for all comparisons to placebo). At 24 weeks, there were no statistically significant differences between the placebo group and any of the active-treatment groups for the change from baseline in testosterone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)stimulated testosterone, free testosterone index, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), or sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences at week 12 or week 24 for the change from baseline in sperm concentration, ejaculate volume, or sperm motility for any active treatment relative to placebo. Both simvastatin and pravastatin were well tolerated. In summary, we found no evidence for clinically meaningful effects of simvastatin or pravastatin on gonadal testosterone production, testosterone reserve, or multiple parameters of semen quality."}
{"id": "MED-1766", "text": "We studied 19 male patients with primary hyperlipoproteinaemia, a control group of 28 healthy men and 44 infertile males before any treatment was undertaken. Spermiogram, seminal biochemical studies, measurements of plasma hormone levels and lipid determinations were carried out. Most hyperlipoproteinaemic patients showed abnormalities in the spermiograms and the mean values were lower than in the controls except for semen volume. Seminal biochemical determinations were normal in the majority and the hormone profile showed some abnormal values, mainly for E2. Lipid abnormalities were more common in azoospermic infertile men and mean lipid levels were higher. Correlation studies suggest that high levels of C and/or Tg are associated with poor semen quality and higher FSH levels. The results of our studies suggest that high lipid levels exert adverse direct effects at the testicular level."}
{"id": "MED-1768", "text": "The role of environmental compounds with estrogenic activity in the development of male reproductive disorders has been a source of great concern. Among the routes of human exposure to estrogens, we are particularly concerned about cows' milk, which contains considerable amounts of estrogens. The major sources of animal-derived estrogens in the human diet are milk and dairy products, which account for 60-70% of the estrogens consumed. Humans consume milk obtained from heifers in the latter half of pregnancy, when the estrogen levels in cows are markedly elevated. The milk that we now consume may be quite unlike that consumed 100 years ago. Modern genetically-improved dairy cows, such as the Holstein, are usually fed a combination of grass and concentrates (grain/protein mixes and various by-products), allowing them to lactate during the latter half of pregnancy, even at 220 days of gestation. We hypothesize that milk is responsible, at least in part, for some male reproductive disorders. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-1770", "text": "Oestrogens govern reproductive functions in vertebrates, and are present in all animal tissues. The theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) of oestradiol-17beta by consumption of cattle meat is calculated to be 4.3 ng. Following the use of oestradiol-containing growth-promoting agents, TMDI is increased by a factor of 4.6 to 20 ng oestradiol-17beta, assuming that single dosage and 'good animal husbandry' are observed. Pork and poultry probably contain similar amounts of oestrogens as untreated cattle. The mean concentration of oestradiol-17beta in whole milk is estimated at 6.4 pg/ml. Scarce data available on eggs report up to 200 pg/g oestradiol-17beta. The risk evaluation of oestrogenic growth-promoting agents is limited by analytical uncertainties. Residues of oestradiol-17alpha and the importance of oestrogen conjugates are widely unknown. The performance of mass spectrometry still needs to be improved for confirmation of oestrogen concentrations in most food. At present, the potential relevance of oestradiol acyl esters, the actual daily production rate of oestradiol in prepubertal children, and the role of oestradiol metabolites in cancer are obscure. The presence of different cytoplasmic oestrogen receptor subtypes and potential oestradiol effects in non-reproductive functions require further examination."}
{"id": "MED-1771", "text": "Semen analysis of 66 unmarried medical students in the age group of 17-21 years was carried out. A higher liquefaction time pH, motility, lower sperm count and abnormal forms were observed compared to reported values. Liquefaction time, pH and sperm count was found significantly different in non-vegetarians and vegetarians, perhaps due to difference in their dietary proteins."}
{"id": "MED-1773", "text": "STUDY QUESTION Is increased consumption of dairy foods associated with lower semen quality? SUMMARY ANSWER We found that intake of full-fat dairy was inversely related to sperm motility and morphology. These associations were driven primarily by intake of cheese and were independent of overall dietary patterns. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY It has been suggested that environmental estrogens could be responsible for the putative secular decline in sperm counts. Dairy foods contain large amounts of estrogens. While some studies have suggested dairy as a possible contributing factor for decreased semen quality, this finding has not been consistent across studies. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION The Rochester Young Men's Study (n = 189) was a cross-sectional study conducted between 2009 and 2010 at the University of Rochester. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Men aged 18\u201322 years were included in this analysis. Diet was assessed via food frequency questionnaire. Linear regression was used to analyze the relation between dairy intake and conventional semen quality parameters (total sperm count, sperm concentration, progressive motility, morphology and ejaculate volume) adjusting for age, abstinence time, race, smoking status, body mass index, recruitment period, moderate-to-intense exercise, TV watching and total calorie intake. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Total dairy food intake was inversely related to sperm morphology (P-trend = 0.004). This association was mostly driven by intake of full-fat dairy foods. The adjusted difference (95% confidence interval) in normal sperm morphology percent was \u22123.2% (\u22124.5 to \u22121.8) between men in the upper half and those in the lower half of full-fat dairy intake (P < 0.0001), while the equivalent contrast for low-fat dairy intake was less pronounced [\u22121.3% (\u22122.7 to \u22120.07; P= 0.06)]. Full-fat dairy intake was also associated with significantly lower percent progressively motile sperm (P= 0.05). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION As it was a cross-sectional study, causal inference is limited. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Further research is needed to prove a causal link between a high consumption of full-fat dairy foods and detrimental effects on semen quality. If verified our findings would mean that intake of full-fat dairy foods should be considered in attempts to explain secular trends in semen quality and that men trying to have children should restrict their intake. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) European Union Seventh Framework Program (Environment), \u2018Developmental Effects of Environment on Reproductive Health\u2019 (DEER) grant 212844. Grant P30 {\"type\":\"entrez-nucleotide\",\"attrs\":{\"text\":\"DK046200\",\"term_id\":\"187635970\",\"term_text\":\"DK046200\"}}DK046200 and Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 DK007703-16 from the National Institutes of Health. None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare."}
{"id": "MED-1774", "text": "This study measured 21 persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) pollutants in the US milk supply. Since milk fat is likely to be among the highest dietary sources of exposure to PBTs, it is important to understand their levels in this food. Nationwide samples were collected from 45 dairy plants in July of 2000 and again in January 2001. The levels of all chemicals in the chlorobenzene, pesticide and other halogenated organic groups were determined to be below their detection limits in all samples. National averages were computed for 11 chemicals or chemical groups found above the detection limits. The national average CDD/CDF and PCB TEQ concentrations were 14.30 and 8.64 pg/l, respectively, for a total of 22.94 pg/l. These levels are about half the values found in a similar study conducted in 1996. If this difference is in fact indicative of declining milk levels and assuming exposure levels from nondairy pathways have remained the same over this time period, this would result in an overall decrease in adult background dioxin exposure of 14%. Six PAHs were detected with national averages ranging from 40 to 777 ng/l. Cadmium concentrations ranged from 150 to 870 ng/l with a national average of 360 ng/l. Lead concentrations were consistently higher than those of cadmium, ranging from 630 to 1950 ng/l with a national average of 830 ng/l. PAHs showed the strongest seasonal/geographic differences, with higher levels in winter than summer, north than south and east than west. Average adult daily intakes from total milk fat ingestion were computed for all detected compounds and compared to total intakes from all pathways: CDD/CDF/PCB TEQs: 8 vs. 55 pg/day, PAHs: 0.6 vs. 3 micro g/day, lead: 0.14 vs. 4-6 micro g/day, and cadmium: 0.06 vs. 30 micro g/day."}
{"id": "MED-1775", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To measure individual antioxidants in sperm and seminal plasma from fertile and infertile men to determine if any particular antioxidant is reduced in infertile men. DESIGN: Semen samples were prepared by a discontinuous Percoll gradient to separate sperm and seminal plasma, and the antioxidant concentrations of each were assessed. Samples also were screened for phorbol ester-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity. SETTING: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Clinical Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. PATIENT(S): Fifty-nine male patients attending our infertility center: 18 men whose wives had ongoing pregnancies from IVF with normozoospermic semen profiles, 20 infertile men with normozoospermic and 21 men with asthenozoospermic semen profiles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Ascorbate, urate, sulphydryl groups, tocopherol and carotenoid concentrations were measured in sperm and seminal plasma from fertile and infertile men. RESULT(S): In seminal plasma, ascorbate contributes almost twice as much as urate and thiol levels are about one third of ascorbate. Ascorbate levels in seminal plasma of asthenozoospermic individuals (+ROS) are significantly reduced. In sperm, thiols contributed most and ascorbate only a fraction of the total. CONCLUSION(S): In seminal plasma, ascorbate, urates, and thiols are the major antioxidants present. In contrast, within sperm, this group is the major contributor. In samples exhibiting ROS activity, ascorbate concentrations in the seminal plasma are significantly reduced."}
{"id": "MED-1776", "text": "A retrospective study carried out recently in a large sample of men, close to the general population, has reported a significant and strong decline in sperm concentration and morphology in the whole of France between 1989 and 2005. We studied these trends within each region of France. Data were obtained from the Fivnat database. The study sample comprised male partners of sterile women in whom both tubes were absent or blocked. They were located at the assisted reproductive technology center. A Bayesian spatio-temporal model with parametric time trends, adjusted for age, was used to model overall time trends for each region. The results show that sperm concentration decreased in almost all regions of France. Among them, Aquitaine showed the highest decrease and Midi-Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es had the lowest average for the whole period. Regarding total motility, most regions showed a slight increase while Bourgogne showed a steep and significant decrease. While considering sperm morphology, there was a decrease in most of the regions. The decrease in Aquitaine and Midi-Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es was stronger when compared with the overall trend. In conclusion, a decrease in sperm concentration and morphology, already shown at the French metropolitan territory level, was observed in most regions of France. This is consistent with a global change in environmental exposure, according to the endocrine disruptor hypothesis especially. Indeed, ubiquitary exposure to chemicals has been growing in the general population of France since the 1950s, and the results do not appear to support the lifestyle hypothesis. The highest decreases and lowest values are consistently observed in two proximate regions that are both highly agricultural and densely populated."}
{"id": "MED-1777", "text": "We systematically examined the evidence of declining sperm counts and the hypothesis that an increased exposure to environmental pollutants is responsible for such decline. Search engines, including PUBMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, and Cochrane library, were used to identify epidemiologic studies published from 1985 to 2013. We concluded that there is no enough evidence to confirm a worldwide decline in sperm counts. Also, there seems to be no scientific truth of a causative role for endocrine disruptors in the temporal decline of sperm production. Such assumptions are based on few meta-analyses and retrospective studies, while other well-conducted researches could not confirm these findings. We acknowledge that difficult-to-control confounding factors in the highly variable nature of semen, selection criteria, and comparability of populations from different time periods in secular-trend studies, the quality of laboratory methods for counting sperm, and apparently geographic variations in semen quality are the main issues that complicate the interpretation of the available evidence. Owing to the importance of this subject and the uncertainties still prevailing, there is a need not only for continuing monitoring of semen quality, reproductive hormones, and xenobiotics, but also for a better definition of fecundity."}
{"id": "MED-1778", "text": "Objective To examine the relationship between dairy food intake and semen parameters Design Longitudinal study Setting Men attending academic medical center fertility clinic in Boston, MA Patients 155 men Interventions None Main Outcome Measures total sperm count, sperm concentration, progressive motility, and morphology Results Low-fat dairy intake was positively related to sperm concentration and progressive motility. On average, men in the highest quartile of intake (1.22\u20133.54 servings/day) had 33% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1, 55) higher sperm concentration and 9.3 (95%CI 1.4, 17.2) percentage units higher sperm motility than men in the lowest quartile of intake (\u22640.28 servings/day). These associations were primarily explained by intake of low-fat milk. The corresponding results for low-fat milk were 30% (95%CI 1,51) higher sperm concentration and 8.7 (95%CI 3.0, 14.4) percentage units higher sperm motility. Cheese intake was associated with lower sperm concentration among ever smokers. In this group, men in the highest tertile of intake (0.82\u20132.43 servings/day) had 53.2% (95%CI 9.7, 75.7) lower sperm concentration than men in the lowest tertile of cheese intake (<0.43 servings/day). Conclusions Our findings suggest that low-fat dairy intake, particularly low-fat milk, is related to higher sperm concentration and progressive motility, while cheese intake to lower sperm concentration among past or current smokers."}
{"id": "MED-1779", "text": "The imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in seminal fluid indicates oxidative stress and is correlated with male infertility. A composite ROS-TAC score may be more strongly correlated with infertility than ROS or TAC alone. We measured ROS, TAC, and ROS-TAC scores in semen from 127 patients and 24 healthy controls. Of the patients, 56 had varicocele, eight had varicocele with prostatitis, 35 had vasectomy reversals, and 28 had idiopathic infertility. ROS levels were higher among infertile men, especially those with varicocele with prostatitis (mean +/- SE, 3.25 +/- 0.89) and vasectomy reversals (2.65 +/- 1.01). All infertile groups had significantly lower ROS-TAC scores than control. ROS-TAC score identified 80% of patients and was significantly better than ROS at identifying varicocele and idiopathic infertility. The 13 patients whose partners later achieved pregnancies had a mean ROS-TAC score of 47.7 +/- 13.2, similar to controls but significantly higher than the 39 patients who remained infertile (35.8 +/- 15.0; P < 0.01). ROS-TAC score is a novel measure of oxidative stress and is superior to ROS or TAC alone in discriminating between fertile and infertile men. Infertile men with male factor or idiopathic diagnoses had significantly lower ROS-TAC scores than controls, and men with male factor diagnoses that eventually were able to initiate a successful pregnancy had significantly higher ROS-TAC scores than those who failed."}
{"id": "MED-1780", "text": "Semen quality appears to have declined in recent decades in some populations, e.g. north-western Europe. At the same time, couple fertility may have increased. Hypotheses are suggested for this apparent inconsistency. Alongside the deterioration of spermatogenesis there is clear evidence of an increase in other related problems, notably testicular cancer. The sharply rising trend in this condition started a century ago--decades earlier than sometimes thought. This and other evidence clearly indicates an environmental origin, but there is also a definite genetic component. The relationship of genetics and environment is discussed in the context of the puzzle that infertility is inherited, which appears to be impossible from an evolutionary standpoint. Poor semen quality is related not only to testicular cancer but also to zygote development, in which cancer-like disruption of the genetic apparatus is observed, with serious implications for offspring health. This needs to be seen in the context that human reproduction is prone to a higher degree of impairment than that of other mammalian species, in relation to spermatogenesis, couple fertility, early pregnancy loss and embryonic aneuploidy; female- and male-mediated pathways are both implicated. It is unclear whether such human specificity originated on an evolutionary/genetic or a historico-social timescale, which is important in relation to pathogenesis. The evidence clearly indicates that the currently most popular explanation for male reproductive system impairment, the endocrine disruption hypothesis, cannot explain the main features of the descriptive epidemiology. An alternative pathogenesis is outlined, and some possible exposures considered that could be responsible."}
{"id": "MED-1781", "text": "BACKGROUND: Saturated fat intake has been associated with both cardiovascular disease and cancer risk, and a newly published study found an association between saturated fat intake and a lower sperm concentration in infertile men. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the association between dietary fat intake and semen quality among 701 young Danish men from the general population. DESIGN: In this cross-sectional study, men were recruited when they were examined to determine their fitness for military service from 2008 to 2010. They delivered a semen sample, underwent a physical examination, and answered a questionnaire comprising a quantitative food-frequency questionnaire to assess food and nutrient intakes. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed with semen variables as outcomes and dietary fat intakes as exposure variables, adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: A lower sperm concentration and total sperm count in men with a high intake of saturated fat was found. A significant dose-response association was found, and men in the highest quartile of saturated fat intake had a 38% (95% CI: 0.1%, 61%) lower sperm concentration and a 41% (95% CI: 4%, 64%) lower total sperm count than did men in the lowest quartile. No association between semen quality and intake of other types of fat was found. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are of potentially great public interest, because changes in diet over the past decades may be part of the explanation for the recently reported high frequency of subnormal human sperm counts. A reduction in saturated fat intake may be beneficial for both general and reproductive health."}
{"id": "MED-1782", "text": "Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have a negative impact on sperm DNA, leading to the formation of oxidative products such as 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroxyguanosine. This compound causes fragmentation and, thus, has a mutagenic effect. Patient treatment with oral antioxidant vitamins is, therefore, standard practice for male infertility, in an attempt to decrease formation of ROS and improve fertility. In this study, the DNA fragmentation index and the degree of sperm decondensation were measured using the sperm chromatin structure assay before and after 90 days treatment with antioxidant vitamins associated with zinc and selenium. Antioxidant treatment led to a decrease in sperm DNA fragmentation (-19.1%, P < 0.0004), suggesting that at least part of the decay was linked to ROS. However, it also led to an unexpected negative effect: an increase in sperm decondensation with the same order of magnitude (+22.8%, P < 0.0009). The opening of interchain disulphide bridges in protamines may explain this aspect, as antioxidant vitamins, especially vitamin C, are able to open the cystin net, thus interfering with paternal gene activity during preimplantation development. This observation might explain the discrepancy observed concerning the role of these antioxidant treatments in improving male fertility."}
{"id": "MED-1783", "text": "Objective To assess the relationship between dietary antioxidant intake and semen quality in young healthy males Design Cross-sectional study Setting University and college campuses in the Rochester, New York, area Patients 189 university-aged men Interventions None Main Outcome Measures Semen volume, total sperm count, concentration, motility, total motile count, and morphology Results Progressive motility was 6.5 (95% CI 0.6, 12.3) percentage units higher among men in the highest quartile of \u03b2-carotene intake compared to men in the lowest quartile. Similar results were observed for lutein intake. Lycopene intake was positively related to sperm morphology. The adjusted percentages (95% CI) of morphologically normal sperm in increasing quartiles of lycopene intake were 8.0 (6.7, 9.3), 7.7 (6.4, 9.0), 9.2 (7.9, 10.5) and 9.7 (8.4, 11.0). There was a non-linear relationship between vitamin C intake and sperm concentration, with men in the second quartile of intake having, on average, the highest sperm concentrations and men in the top quartile of intake having the lowest concentrations. Conclusions In a population of healthy young men, carotenoid intake was associated with higher sperm motility and, in the case of lycopene, better sperm morphology. Our data suggest that dietary carotenoids may have a positive impact on semen quality."}
{"id": "MED-1784", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To determine seminal antioxidant capacity, oxidative stress markers, and their association with semen quality as oxidative stress is considered to be a major etiological factor in male infertility. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Semen samples were obtained from 138 men and categorized on the basis of sperm count, motility, and morphology. Seminal oxidative and antioxidant markers are as follows: lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyls (PC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), thiols, and ascorbic acid were determined. RESULTS: Sperm count significantly correlated positively with progressive sperm motility and normal morphology. Sperm count and normal morphology showed significant negative correlation with LPO and PC. Sperm count and progressive motility showed significant positive relationship with SOD. The SOD, CAT, and thiols positively whereas LPO and PC negatively associated with elevated sperm count. CONCLUSION: Insufficient antioxidant enzymes and increased oxidative stress may attribute to the risk of declining semen quality and hence protective role for antioxidant enzymes against the oxidative damage cannot be ruled out. Copyright \u00a9 2010 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1785", "text": "We tested the hypothesis that 75 g of whole-shelled walnuts/day added to the Western-style diet of healthy young men would beneficially affect semen quality. A randomized, parallel two-group dietary intervention trial with single-blind masking of outcome assessors was conducted with 117 healthy men, age 21-35 yr old, who routinely consumed a Western-style diet. The primary outcome was improvement in conventional semen parameters and sperm aneuploidy from baseline to 12 wk. Secondary endpoints included blood serum and sperm fatty acid (FA) profiles, sex hormones, and serum folate. The group consuming walnuts (n = 59) experienced improvement in sperm vitality, motility, and morphology, but no change was seen in the group continuing their usual diet but avoiding tree nuts (n = 58). Comparing differences between the groups from baseline, significance was found for vitality (P = 0.003), motility (P = 0.009), and morphology (normal forms; P = 0.04). Serum FA profiles improved in the walnut group with increases in omega-6 (P = 0.0004) and omega-3 (P = 0.0007) but not in the control group. The plant source of omega-3, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) increased (P = 0.0001). Sperm aneuploidy was inversely correlated with sperm ALA, particularly sex chromosome nullisomy (Spearman correlation, -0.41, P = 0.002). Findings demonstrated that walnuts added to a Western-style diet improved sperm vitality, motility, and morphology."}
{"id": "MED-1786", "text": "Fertility status may predict later mortality, but no studies have examined the effect of semen quality on subsequent mortality. Men referred to the Copenhagen Sperm Analysis Laboratory by general practitioners and urologists from 1963 to 2001 were, through a unique personal identification number, linked to the Danish central registers that hold information on all cases of cancer, causes of death, and number of children in the Danish population. The men were followed until December 31, 2001, death, or censoring, whichever occurred first, and the total mortality and cause-specific mortality of the cohort were compared with those of all age-standardized Danish men or according to semen characteristics. Among 43,277 men without azospermia referred for infertility problems, mortality decreased as the sperm concentration increased up to a threshold of 40 million/mL. As the percentages of motile and morphologically normal spermatozoa and semen volume increased, mortality decreased in a dose-response manner (P(trend) < 0.05). The decrease in mortality among men with good semen quality was due to a decrease in a wide range of diseases and was found among men both with and without children; therefore, the decrease in mortality could not be attributed solely to lifestyle and/or social factors. Semen quality may therefore be a fundamental biomarker of overall male health."}
{"id": "MED-1787", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether semen quality has changed during the past 50 years. DESIGN: Review of publications on semen quality in men without a history of infertility selected by means of Cumulated Index Medicus and Current List (1930-1965) and MEDLINE Silver Platter database (1966-August 1991). SUBJECTS: 14,947 men included in a total of 61 papers published between 1938 and 1991. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean sperm density and mean seminal volume. RESULTS: Linear regression of data weighted by number of men in each study showed a significant decrease in mean sperm count from 113 x 10(6)/ml in 1940 to 66 x 10(6)/ml in 1990 (p < 0.0001) and in seminal volume from 3.40 ml to 2.75 ml (p = 0.027), indicating an even more pronounced decrease in sperm production than expressed by the decline in sperm density. CONCLUSIONS: There has been a genuine decline in semen quality over the past 50 years. As male fertility is to some extent correlated with sperm count the results may reflect an overall reduction in male fertility. The biological significance of these changes is emphasised by a concomitant increase in the incidence of genitourinary abnormalities such as testicular cancer and possibly also cryptorchidism and hypospadias, suggesting a growing impact of factors with serious effects on male gonadal function."}
{"id": "MED-1788", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether lifestyle factors such as increased dietary intake of micronutrients reduce the risks of sperm DNA damage, and whether older men benefit more than younger men. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study design with equalized assignments into age groups. SETTING: National laboratory and university. PATIENT(S): Nonclinical group of 22-80-year-old nonsmoking men (n = 80) who reported no fertility problems. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sperm DNA damage measured by alkaline and neutral DNA electrophoresis (i.e., sperm Comet assay). RESULT(S): Sociodemographics, occupational exposures, medical and reproductive histories, and lifestyle habits were determined by questionnaire. The average daily dietary and supplement intake of micronutrients (vitamin C, vitamin E, b-carotene, zinc, and folate) was determined using the 100-item Modified Block Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Men with the highest intake of vitamin C had approximately 16% less sperm DNA damage (alkaline sperm Comet) than men with the lowest intake, with similar findings for vitamin E, folate, and zinc (but not \u03b2-carotene). Older men (>44 years) with the highest vitamin C intake had approximately 20% less sperm DNA damage compared with older men with the lowest intake, with similar findings for vitamin E and zinc. The older men with the highest intake of these micronutrients showed levels of sperm damage that were similar to those of the younger men. However, younger men (<44 years) did not benefit from higher intakes of the micronutrients surveyed. CONCLUSION(S): Men with higher dietary and supplement intake of certain micronutrients may produce sperm with less DNA damage, especially among older men. This raises the broader question of how lifestyle factors, including higher intakes of antioxidants and micronutrients, might protect somatic as well as germ cells against age-associated genomic damage. Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1789", "text": "SCOPE: Dietary polyphenols (PP) can be divided into two groups: extractable polyphenols (EPP) or compounds solubilized by aqueous organic solvents, and nonextractable polyphenols (NEPP) or compounds that remain in their corresponding extraction residues. Most studies on food polyphenols and dietary intakes address exclusively EPP. The objective of this work was to determine the actual amount of PP, including NEPP, in food and in a whole diet. METHODS AND RESULTS: HPLC-MS analyses were performed to identify EPP in methanol-acetone extracts and NEPP in the acidic hydrolyzates of their extraction residues in cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. NEPP contents, estimated as hydrolyzable PP plus nonextractable proanthocyanidins (PA), ranged from 880 mg/100 g dry weight in fruits to 210 mg/100 g in cereals and were substantially higher than the contents of EPP. NEPP intake (day/person) in the Spanish diet (942 mg) is higher than EPP intake (258 mg) fruits and vegetables (746 mg) are the major contributors to the total PP intake (1201 mg). CONCLUSION: Non extractable polyphenols are the major part of dietary polyphenols. The knowledge of intakes and physiological properties of NEPP may be useful for a better understanding of the potential health effects of dietary PP."}
{"id": "MED-1790", "text": "The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 presents an opportunity to change the nutritional quality of foods served in low-income childcare centers, including Head Start centers. Excessive fruit juice consumption is associated with increased risk for obesity. Moreover, there is recent scientific evidence that sucrose consumption without the corresponding fiber, as is commonly present in fruit juice, is associated with the metabolic syndrome, liver injury, and obesity. Given the increasing risk of obesity among preschool children, we recommend that the US Department of Agriculture\u2019s Child and Adult Food Care Program, which manages the meal patterns in childcare centers such as Head Start, promote the elimination of fruit juice in favor of whole fruit for children."}
{"id": "MED-1791", "text": "BACKGROUND: Short-term studies in adolescents have generally shown an enhancement of calcium absorption by inulin-type fructans (prebiotics). Results have been inconsistent; however, and no studies have been conducted to determine whether this effect persists with long-term use. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to assess the effects on calcium absorption and bone mineral accretion after 8 wk and 1 y of supplementation with an inulin-type fructan. DESIGN: Pubertal adolescents were randomly assigned to receive 8 g/d of a mixed short and long degree of polymerization inulin-type fructan product (fructan group) or maltodextrin placebo (control group). Bone mineral content and bone mineral density were measured before randomization and after 1 y. Calcium absorption was measured with the use of stable isotopes at baseline and 8 wk and 1 y after supplementation. Polymorphisms of the Fok1 vitamin D receptor gene were determined. RESULTS: Calcium absorption was significantly greater in the fructan group than in the control group at 8 wk (difference: 8.5 +/- 1.6%; P < 0.001) and at 1 y (difference: 5.9 +/- 2.8%; P = 0.04). An interaction with Fok1 genotype was present such that subjects with an ff genotype had the least initial response to fructan. After 1 y, the fructan group had a greater increment in both whole-body bone mineral content (difference: 35 +/- 16 g; P = 0.03) and whole-body bone mineral density (difference: 0.015 +/- 0.004 g/cm(2); P = 0.01) than did the control group. CONCLUSION: Daily consumption of a combination of prebiotic short- and long-chain inulin-type fructans significantly increases calcium absorption and enhances bone mineralization during pubertal growth. Effects of dietary factors on calcium absorption may be modulated by genetic factors, including specific vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms."}
{"id": "MED-1792", "text": "PURPOSE: Fruit consumption is associated with a decreased risk of CVD in cohort studies and is therefore endorsed by health authorities as part of the '5 or more a day' campaigns. A glass of fruit juice is generally counted as one serving. Fruit may cause protection by affecting common risk factors of CVD. METHODS: Apples are among the most commonly consumed fruits and were chosen for a comprehensive 5 \u00d7 4 weeks dietary crossover study to assess the effects of whole apples (550 g/day), apple pomace (22 g/day), clear and cloudy apple juices (500 ml/day), or no supplement on lipoproteins and blood pressure in a group of 23 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: The intervention significantly affected serum total and LDL-cholesterol. Trends towards a lower serum LDL-concentration were observed after whole apple (6.7%), pomace (7.9%) and cloudy juice (2.2%) intake. On the other hand, LDL-cholesterol concentrations increased by 6.9% with clear juice compared to whole apples and pomace. There was no effect on HDL-cholesterol, TAG, weight, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, inflammation (hs-CRP), composition of the gut microbiota or markers of glucose metabolism (insulin, IGF1 and IGFBP3). CONCLUSIONS: Apples are rich in polyphenols and pectin, two potentially bioactive constituents; however, these constituents segregate differently during processing into juice products and clear juice is free of pectin and other cell wall components. We conclude that the fibre component is necessary for the cholesterol-lowering effect of apples in healthy humans and that clear apple juice may not be a suitable surrogate for the whole fruit in nutritional recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-1793", "text": "Most research studies in the field of dietary polyphenols or phenolic compounds use a chemical approach focusing exclusively on polyphenols extracted from plant foods with organic solvents. However, an appreciable part of polyphenols are not extracted with organic solvents and thus are ignored in biological, nutritional, and epidemiological studies. Recent studies have shown that these nonextractable polyphenols (NEPP) are a major part of total dietary polyphenols and that they exhibit a significant biological activity. A physiological approach is proposed on the basis that the bioavailability and health-related properties of polyphenols depend on their solubility in intestinal fluids, which is different from their solubility in organic solvents. This paper tries to clarify the concept of NEPP, distinguishing between chemical and physiological approaches and pointing out the main qualitative and quantitative differences between them. It is stressed that the literature and databases refer to only extractable polyphenols. Greater attention to NEPP may fill the current gap in the field of dietary polyphenols."}
{"id": "MED-1794", "text": "Nonstarch polysaccharides (NSPs) occur naturally in many foods. The physiochemical and biological properties of these compounds correspond to dietary fiber. Nonstarch polysaccharides show various physiological effects in the small and large intestine and therefore have important health implications for humans. The remarkable properties of dietary NSPs are water dispersibility, viscosity effect, bulk, and fermentibility into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These features may lead to diminished risk of serious diet related diseases which are major problems in Western countries and are emerging in developing countries with greater affluence. These conditions include coronary heart disease, colo-rectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, breast cancer, tumor formation, mineral related abnormalities, and disordered laxation. Insoluble NSPs (cellulose and hemicellulose) are effective laxatives whereas soluble NSPs (especially mixed-link \u03b2-glucans) lower plasma cholesterol levels and help to normalize blood glucose and insulin levels, making these kinds of polysaccharides a part of dietary plans to treat cardiovascular diseases and Type 2 diabetes. Moreover, a major proportion of dietary NSPs escapes the small intestine nearly intact, and is fermented into SCFAs by commensal microflora present in the colon and cecum and promotes normal laxation. Short chain fatty acids have a number of health promoting effects and are particularly effective in promoting large bowel function. Certain NSPs through their fermented products may promote the growth of specific beneficial colonic bacteria which offer a prebiotic effect. Various modes of action of NSPs as therapeutic agent have been proposed in the present review. In addition, NSPs based films and coatings for packaging and wrapping are of commercial interest because they are compatible with several types of food products. However, much of the physiological and nutritional impact of NSPs and the mechanism involved is not fully understood and even the recommendation on the dose of different dietary NSPs intake among different age groups needs to be studied."}
{"id": "MED-1795", "text": "Objective To determine whether individual fruits are differentially associated with risk of type 2 diabetes. Design Prospective longitudinal cohort study. Setting Health professionals in the United States. Participants 66 105 women from the Nurses\u2019 Health Study (1984-2008), 85 104 women from the Nurses\u2019 Health Study II (1991-2009), and 36 173 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2008) who were free of major chronic diseases at baseline in these studies. Main outcome measure Incident cases of type 2 diabetes, identified through self report and confirmed by supplementary questionnaires. Results During 3 464 641 person years of follow-up, 12 198 participants developed type 2 diabetes. After adjustment for personal, lifestyle, and dietary risk factors of diabetes, the pooled hazard ratio of type 2 diabetes for every three servings/week of total whole fruit consumption was 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.96 to 0.99). With mutual adjustment of individual fruits, the pooled hazard ratios of type 2 diabetes for every three servings/week were 0.74 (0.66 to 0.83) for blueberries, 0.88 (0.83 to 0.93) for grapes and raisins, 0.89 (0.79 to 1.01) for prunes, 0.93 (0.90 to 0.96) for apples and pears, 0.95 (0.91 to 0.98) for bananas, 0.95 (0.91 to 0.99) for grapefruit, 0.97 (0.92 to 1.02) for peaches, plums, and apricots, 0.99 (0.95 to 1.03) for oranges, 1.03 (0.96 to 1.10) for strawberries, and 1.10 (1.02 to 1.18) for cantaloupe. The pooled hazard ratio for the same increment in fruit juice consumption was 1.08 (1.05 to 1.11). The associations with risk of type 2 diabetes differed significantly among individual fruits (P<0.001 in all cohorts). Conclusion Our findings suggest the presence of heterogeneity in the associations between individual fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes. Greater consumption of specific whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes, and apples, is significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas greater consumption of fruit juice is associated with a higher risk."}
{"id": "MED-1796", "text": "Background Several studies have shown that Adenovirus 36 (Ad36) influences the risk of obesity in humans. Clarifying the relationship between Ad36 infection and obesity could lead to more effective approaches for the management of obesity. The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to confirm the influence of Ad36 infection on obesity and metabolic markers. Methodology/Principal Findings We searched MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library for pertinent articles (including their references) published between 1951 and April 22, 2012. Only English language reports of original observational studies were included in this meta-analysis. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) and pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated using the random effects model. Of 237 potentially relevant studies, 10 cross-sectional studies (n\u200a=\u200a2,870) conformed to the selection criteria. Pooled analysis showed that the WMD for BMI of Ad36 infection compared with non-infection was 3.19 (95% CI 1.44\u20134.93; P<0.001). Sensitivity analysis restricted to studies of adults yielded a similar result of 3.18 (95% CI 0.78\u20135.57; P\u200a=\u200a0.009). The increased risk of obesity associated with Ad36 infection was also significant (OR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.01\u20133.56; P\u200a=\u200a0.047). No significant differences were found in relation to total cholesterol (P\u200a=\u200a0.83), triglycerides (P\u200a=\u200a0.64), HDL (P\u200a=\u200a0.69), blood glucose (P\u200a=\u200a0.08), waist circumstance (P\u200a=\u200a0.09), and systolic blood pressure (P\u200a=\u200a0.25). Conclusion/Significance Ad36 infection was associated with the risk of obesity and weight gain, but was not associated with abnormal metabolic markers including waist circumstance. It suggests that Ad36 infection is more associated with accumulation of subcutaneous fat than that of visceral fat. The relationship between Ad36 and obesity should be assessed by further studies, including well-designed prospective studies, to gain a better understanding of whether Ad36 plays a role in the etiology of human obesity."}
{"id": "MED-1797", "text": "The selection of meat-type chickens (broilers) for rapid growth has been accompanied by excessive fat deposition. In this study, we analysed 53 candidate genes that are associated with obesity and obesity-related traits in humans, for which we found chicken orthologues by BLAST searches. We have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with significant differences in allele frequencies between broilers and layers in each of the following six candidate genes: adrenergic, beta-2-, receptor, surface (ADRB2); melanocortin 5 receptor (MC5R); leptin receptor (LEPR), McKusick-Kaufman syndrome (MKKS), milk fat globule-EGF factor 8 protein (MFGE8) and adenylate kinase 1 (AK1). To examine associations with fatness and/or body weight, we used birds of extreme phenotypes in F(2) and backcross populations with varying levels of abdominal fat weight per cent (%AFW) and body weight. We then assessed the level of gene expression by real-time PCR. In two genes, ADRB2 and MFGE8, we found significant association with %AFW. The ADRB2 gene was found to have a significantly higher expression in the liver of lean chickens compared with those of the fat individuals. We believe that this approach can be applied for the identification of other quantitative genes. \u00a9 2011 The Authors, Animal Genetics \u00a9 2011 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics."}
{"id": "MED-1798", "text": "The most important factors leading to fat accumulation in children are genetic inheritance, endocrine alterations, and behavioural/environmental causes. In addition, experimental animal studies have shown that infections due to various pathogens can lead to overweight and obesity conditions, and studies of humans have found that the incidence of seroconversion against some of these may be significantly more frequent in obese adults and children than in normal subjects. However, the results of these studies are not conclusive and, in some cases, have raised more questions than answers. We reviewed the literature concerning the role of adenovirus 36 (AD-36), the most widely studied infectious agent in animals and humans, because of its potential association with childhood obesity. The available evidence suggests that more studies are needed to evaluate whether or not the association between the presence of AD-36 antibodies and obesity is simply unrelated, and to verify whether there are subjects that have greater tendency to become obese because more easily susceptible to AD-36 infection or with a predisposition to suffer from persistent viral infection more easily leading to the development of obesity. If it is demonstrated that AD-36 does play a role in obesity, it will be important to investigate possible vaccines against the infection itself or antiviral drugs capable of inhibiting disease progression. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1799", "text": "Human adenovirus Ad-36 is causatively and correlatively linked with animal and human obesity, respectively. Ad-36 enhances differentiation of rodent preadipocytes, but its effect on adipogenesis in humans is unknown. To indirectly assess the role of Ad-36-induced adipogenesis in human obesity, the effect of the virus on commitment, differentiation, and lipid accumulation was investigated in vitro in primary human adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (hASC). Ad-36 infected hASC in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Even in the presence of osteogenic media, Ad-36-infected hASC showed significantly greater lipid accumulation, suggestive of their commitment to the adipocyte lineage. Even in the absence of adipogenic inducers, Ad-36 significantly increased hASC differentiation, as indicated by a time-dependent expression of genes within the adipogenic cascade\u2014CCAAT/Enhancer binding protein-\u03b2, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-\u03b3, and fatty acid-binding protein\u2014and consequentially increased lipid accumulation in a time- and viral dose-dependent manner. Induction of hASC to the adipocyte state by Ad-36 was further supported by increased expression of lipoprotein lipase and the accumulation of its extracellular fraction. hASC from subjects harboring Ad-36 DNA in their adipose tissue due to natural infection had significantly greater ability to differentiate compared with Ad-36 DNA-negative counterparts, which offers a proof of concept. Thus, Ad-36 has the potential to induce adipogenesis in hASC, which may contribute to adiposity induced by the virus."}
{"id": "MED-1800", "text": "Background Experimental and natural human adenovirus-36 (Adv36) infection of multiple animal species results in obesity through increasing adipogenesis and lipid accumulation in adipocytes. Presence of Adv36 antibodies detected by serum neutralization assay has previously been associated with obesity in children and adults living in the USA, South Korea and Italy, whereas no association with adult obesity was detected in Belgium/the Netherlands nor among USA military personnel. Adv36 infection has also been shown to reduce blood lipid levels, increase glucose uptake by adipose tissue and skeletal muscle biopsies, and to associate with improved glycemic control in non-diabetic individuals. Principal Findings Using a novel ELISA, 1946 clinically well-characterized individuals including 424 children and 1522 non-diabetic adults, and 89 anonymous blood donors, residing in central Sweden representing the population in Stockholm area, were studied for the presence of antibodies against Adv36 in serum. The prevalence of Adv36 positivity in lean individuals increased from \u223c7% in 1992\u20131998 to 15\u201320% in 2002\u20132009, which paralleled the increase in obesity prevalence. We found that Adv36-positive serology was associated with pediatric obesity and with severe obesity in females compared to lean and overweight/mildly obese individuals, with a 1.5 to 2-fold Adv36 positivity increase in cases. Moreover, Adv36 positivity was less common among females and males on antilipid pharmacological treatment or with high blood triglyceride level. Insulin sensitivity, measured as lower HOMA-IR, showed a higher point estimate in Adv36-positive obese females and males, although it was not statistically significant (p\u200a=\u200a0.08). Conclusion Using a novel ELISA we show that Adv36 infection is associated with pediatric obesity, severe obesity in adult females and lower risk of high blood lipid levels in non-diabetic Swedish individuals."}
{"id": "MED-1801", "text": "OBJECTIVE: In 1976, the Royal College of Physicians and the British Cardiac Society recommended eating less fatty red meat and more poultry instead because it was lean. However, the situation has changed since that time, with a striking increase in fat content of the standard broiler chicken. The aim of the present study was to report a snapshot of data on fat in chickens now sold to the public. DESIGN: Samples were obtained randomly between 2004 and 2008 from UK supermarkets, farm shops and a football club. The amount of chicken fat was estimated by emulsification and chloroform/methanol extraction. SETTING: Food sold in supermarkets and farms in England. SUBJECTS: Chicken samples. RESULTS: The fat energy exceeded that of protein. There has been a loss of n-3 fatty acids. The n-6:n-3 ratio was found to be as high as 9:1, as opposed to the recommendation of about 2:1. Moreover, the TAG level in the meat and whole bird mostly exceeded the proportion of phospholipids, which should be the higher for muscle function. The n-3 fatty acid docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, 22 : 5n-3) was in excess of DHA (22 : 6n-3). Previous analyses had, as usual for birds, more DHA than DPA. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional poultry and eggs were one of the few land-based sources of long-chain n-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is synthesized from its parent precursor in the green food chain. In view of the obesity epidemic, chickens that provide several times the fat energy compared with protein seem illogical. This type of chicken husbandry needs to be reviewed with regard to its implications for animal welfare and human nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-1802", "text": "Hypotheses regarding the role of meat consumption in body weight modulation are contradictory. Prospective studies on an association between meat consumption and BMI change are limited. We assessed the association between meat consumption and change in BMI over time in 3902 men and women aged 55-69 y from the Netherlands Cohort Study. Dietary intake was estimated at baseline using a FFQ. BMI was ascertained through baseline self-reported height (1986) and weight (1986, 1992, and 2000). Analyses were based on sex-specific categories of daily total fresh meat, red meat, beef, pork, minced meat, chicken, processed meat, and fish consumption at baseline. Linear mixed effect modeling adjusted for confounders was used to assess longitudinal associations. Significant cross-sectional differences in BMI between quintiles of total meat intake were observed (P-trend < 0.01; both sexes). No association between total fresh meat consumption and prospective BMI change was observed in men (BMI change highest vs. lowest quintile after 14 y: -0.06 kg/m\u00b2; P = 0.75) and women (BMI change: 0.26 kg/m\u00b2; P = 0.20). Men with the highest intake of beef experienced a significantly lower increase in BMI after 6 and 14 y than those with the lowest intake (BMI change after 14 y 0.60 kg/m\u00b2). After 14 y, a significantly higher increase in BMI was associated with higher intakes of pork in women (BMI change highest vs. lowest quintile: 0.47 kg/m\u00b2) and chicken in both sexes (BMI change highest vs. lowest category in both men and women: 0.36 kg/m\u00b2). The results remained similar when stratifying on median baseline BMI, and age-stratified analyses yielded mixed results. Differential BMI change effects were observed for several subtypes of meat. However, total meat consumption, or factors directly related to total meat intake, was not strongly associated with weight change during the 14-y prospective follow-up in this elderly population."}
{"id": "MED-1803", "text": "WHO has declared obesity to be a global epidemic. Obesity management strategies mainly target behavioural components of the disorder, but are only marginally effective. A comprehensive understanding of the causative factors of obesity might provide more effective management approaches. Several microbes are causatively and correlatively linked with obesity in animals and human beings. If infections contribute to human obesity, then entirely different prevention and treatment strategies and public health policies could be needed to address this subtype of the disorder. Ethical reasons preclude experimental infection of human beings with candidate microbes to unequivocally determine their contribution to obesity. As an alternative, the available information about the adipogenic human adenovirus Ad36 has been used to create a template that can be used to examine comprehensively the contributions of specific candidate microbes to human obesity. Clinicians should be aware of infectobesity (obesity of infectious origin), and its potential importance in effective obesity management. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1804", "text": "There is increasing evidence that obesity in humans is associated with infection with human adenovirus-36 (Adv36). Infection of experimental animals with Adv36 demonstrates that this virus causes obesity. Human studies have shown a prevalence of Adv36 infection of 30% or greater in obese adult humans, but a correlation with obesity has not always been demonstrated. In contrast, three published studies and one presented study with a total of 559 children all show that there is an increase in prevalence of Adv36 infection in obese children (28%) compared to non-obese children (10%). The explanation for the apparently more robust correlation of Adv36 infection with obesity in children vs. adults is not clear. The data in animals and people suggests that Adv36 has contributed to the worldwide increase in childhood obesity. More research is needed to identify prevalences and consequences of Adv36 infection in people of all age groups and geographic locations."}
{"id": "MED-1806", "text": "OBJECTIVE Ad36, a human adenovirus, increases adiposity but improves glycemic control in animal models. Similarly, natural Ad36 infection is cross-sectionally associated with greater adiposity and better glycemic control in humans. This study compared longitudinal observations in indices of adiposity (BMI and body fat percentage) and glycemic control (fasting glucose and insulin) in Ad36-infected versus uninfected adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Baseline sera from Hispanic men and women (n = 1,400) were screened post hoc for the presence of Ad36-specific antibodies. Indices of adiposity and glycemic control at baseline and at \u223c10 years past the baseline were compared between seropositive and seronegative subjects, with adjustment for age and sex. In addition to age and sex, indices of glycemic control were adjusted for baseline BMI and were analyzed only for nondiabetic subjects. RESULTS Seropositive subjects (14.5%) had greater adiposity at baseline, compared with seronegative subjects. Longitudinally, seropositive subjects showed greater adiposity indices but lower fasting insulin levels. Subgroup analyses revealed that Ad36-seropositivity was associated with better baseline glycemic control and lower fasting insulin levels over time in the normal-weight group (BMI \u226425 kg/m2) and longitudinally, with greater adiposity in the overweight (BMI 25\u201330 kg/m2) and obese (BMI >30 kg/m2) men. Statistically, the differences between seropositive and seronegative individuals were modest in light of the multiple tests performed. CONCLUSIONS This study strengthens the plausibility that in humans, Ad36 increases adiposity and attenuates deterioration of glycemic control. Panoptically, the study raises the possibility that certain infections may modulate obesity or diabetes risk. A comprehensive understanding of these under-recognized factors is needed to effectively combat such metabolic disorders."}
{"id": "MED-1807", "text": "BACKGROUND: As protein is considered to increase thermogenesis and satiety more than other macronutrients, it may have beneficial effects on prevention of weight gain and weight maintenance. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to assess the association between the amount and type of dietary protein, and subsequent changes in weight and waist circumference (WC). METHODS: 89,432 men and women from five countries participating in European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) were followed for a mean of 6.5 years. Associations between the intake of protein or subgroups of protein (from animal and plant sources) and changes in weight (g per year) or WC (cm per year) were investigated using gender and centre-specific multiple regression analyses. Adjustments were made for other baseline dietary factors, baseline anthropometrics, demographic and lifestyle factors and follow-up time. We used random effect meta-analyses to obtain pooled estimates across centres. RESULTS: Higher intake of total protein, and protein from animal sources was associated with subsequent weight gain for both genders, strongest among women, and the association was mainly attributable to protein from red and processed meat and poultry rather than from fish and dairy sources. There was no overall association between intake of plant protein and subsequent changes in weight. No clear overall associations between intakes of total protein or any of the subgroups and changes in WC were present. The associations showed some heterogeneity between centres, but pooling of estimates was still considered justified. CONCLUSION: A high intake of protein was not found associated with lower weight or waist gain in this observational study. In contrast, protein from food items of animal origin, especially meat and poultry, seemed to be positively associated with long-term weight gain. There were no clear associations for waist changes."}
{"id": "MED-1808", "text": "BACKGROUND: Human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36) is thought to induce obesity by a direct effect of the viral E4orf1 gene on lipogenic enzymes in host adipocytes. Ad-36 prevalence is 30% in obese adults, but prevalence has not been reported in childhood obesity. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of Ad-36 infection in obese Korean children (age 14.8 +/- 1.9; range 8.3-6.3 years); correlation of infection with BMI z-score and other obesity measures. METHODS: Blood was drawn at the annual school physical exam or clinic visit; Ad-36 status was determined by serum neutralization assay; and routine serum chemistry values. RESULTS: A total of 30% of subjects were positive (N = 25) for Ad-36; 70% were negative (N = 59). Significantly higher BMI z-scores (1.92 vs. 1.65, p < 0.01) and waist circumferences (96.3 vs. 90.7 cm, p = 0.05) were found in infected versus uninfected children. Cardiovascular risk factors were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Ad-36 infection is common in obese Korean children and correlates highly with obesity. Ad-36 may have played a role in the obesity and Type 2 diabetes epidemic in children."}
{"id": "MED-1810", "text": "BACKGROUND: We previously reported that human adenovirus Ad-36 induces adiposity and paradoxically lower levels of serum cholesterol (CHOL) and triglycerides (TG) in animals. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the transmissibility of Ad-36 and Ad-36 induced adiposity using a chicken model. DESIGN: Experiment 1--four chickens were housed (two per cage) and one from each cage was inoculated with Ad-36. Duration of presence of Ad-36 DNA in the blood of all chickens was monitored. Experiment 2--two groups of chickens were intranasally inoculated with Ad-36 (infected donors, I-D) or media (control donors, C-D). Blood drawn 36 h later from I-D and C-D groups was inoculated into wing veins of recipient chickens (infected receivers, I-R, and control receivers, C-R, respectively). On sacrifice, 5 weeks post-inoculation, blood was drawn, body weight noted and visceral fat was separated and weighed. RESULTS: Experiment 1--Ad-36 DNA appeared in the blood of the inoculated chickens and that of uninoculated chickens (cage mates) within 12 h of inoculation and the viral DNA persisted up to 25 days in the blood. Experiment 2--compared with C-D, visceral and total body fat were significantly greater and CHOL significantly lower for the I-D and I-R. TG were significantly lower for the I-D. Ad-36 was isolated from 12 out of 16 blood samples of the I-D that were used for inoculating I-R chickens. Ad-36 DNA was present in the blood and the adipose tissue of the I-D and I-R but not in the skeletal muscles of animals selected randomly for testing. CONCLUSION: As seen in experiment 1, Ad-36 infection can be transmitted horizontally from an infected chicken to another chicken sharing the cage. Additionally, experiment 2 demonstrated blood-borne transmission of Ad-36-induced adiposity in chickens. Transmissibility of Ad-36-induced adiposity in chicken model raises serious concerns about such a possibility in humans that needs further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-1811", "text": "BACKGROUND: A growing number of preclinical studies have demonstrated that curcumin could be a promising anticancer drug; however, poor bioavailability has been the major obstacle for its clinical application. To overcome this problem, we developed a new form of curcumin (Theracurmin) and reported high plasma curcumin levels could be safely achieved after a single administration of Theracurmin in healthy volunteers. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety of repetitive administration of Theracurmin in cancer patients. METHODS: Pancreatic or biliary tract cancer patients who failed standard chemotherapy were eligible for this study. Based on our previous pharmacokinetic study, we selected Theracurmin containing 200 mg of curcumin (Level 1) as a starting dose, and the dose was safely escalated to Level 2, which contained 400 mg of curcumin. Theracurmin was orally administered every day with standard gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. In addition to safety and pharmacokinetics data, NF-\u03baB activity, cytokine levels, efficacy, and quality-of-life score were evaluated. RESULTS: Ten patients were assigned to level 1 and six were to level 2. Peak plasma curcumin levels (median) after Theracurmin administration were 324 ng/mL (range, 47-1,029 ng/mL) at Level 1 and 440 ng/mL (range, 179-1,380 ng/mL) at Level 2. No unexpected adverse events were observed and 3 patients safely continued Theracurmin administration for >9 months. CONCLUSIONS: Repetitive systemic exposure to high concentrations of curcumin achieved by Theracurmin did not increase the incidence of adverse events in cancer patients receiving gemcitabine-based chemotherapy."}
{"id": "MED-1812", "text": "Epidemiologic studies of diet and pancreas cancer are few, and include ecologic comparisons and a limited number of prospective and case-control studies. Foods and/or nutrients that have been suggested to be associated with increased risk of this cancer include total fat intake, eggs, animal protein, sugar, meat, coffee and butter. Consumption of raw fruits and vegetables has been consistently associated with decreased risk. Dietary habits and medical history variables were evaluated in a prospective study of fatal pancreas cancer among 34,000 California Seventh-day Adventists between 1976 and 1983. Forty deaths from pancreas cancer occurred during the follow-up period. Compared to all US whites, Adventists experienced decreased risk from pancreas cancer death (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 72 for men; 90 for women), which was not statistically significant. Although there was a suggestive relationship between increasing meat, egg, and coffee consumption and increased pancreatic cancer risk, these variables were not significantly related to risk after controlling for cigarette smoking. However, increasing consumption of vegetarian protein products, beans, lentils, and peas as well as dried fruit was associated with highly significant protective relationships to pancreas cancer risk. A prior history of diabetes was associated with increased risk of subsequent fatal pancreas cancer, as was a history of surgery for peptic or duodenal ulcer. A history of tonsillectomy was associated with a slight, nonsignificant protective relationship as was history of various allergic reactions. These findings suggest that the protective relationships associated with frequent consumption of vegetables and fruits high in protease-inhibitor content are more important than any increase in pancreas cancer risk attendant on frequent consumption of meat or other animal products. Furthermore, the previously reported positive associations between diabetes and abdominal surgery and pancreas cancer risk are supported in these data."}
{"id": "MED-1814", "text": "Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal, and identifying modifiable risk factors could have substantial public health impact. In this population-based case-control study (532 cases, 1701 controls), we used principal component analysis and multivariable unconditional logistic regression models to examine whether a particular dietary pattern was associated with risk of pancreatic cancer, adjusting for other known risk factors. A Prudent dietary pattern, characterized by greater intake of vegetables, fruit, fish, poultry, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, was associated with an approximate 50% reduction in pancreatic cancer risk among men (OR=0.51, 95% CI 0.31-0.84, p-trend=0.001) and women (OR=0.51, 95% CI 0.29-0.90, p-trend=0.04). A Western dietary pattern, characterized by higher intake of red and processed meats, potato chips, sugary beverages, sweets, high fat dairy, eggs, and refined grains, was associated with a 2.4-fold increased risk of pancreatic cancer among men (95% CI 1.3-4.2, p-trend=0.008); but was not associated with risk among women. Among men, those in the upper quintiles of the Western diet and lower quintiles of the Prudent diet had a 3-fold increased risk. Consistent with what has been recommended for several other chronic diseases, consuming a diet rich in plant-based foods, whole grains, and white meat, might reduce risk of pancreatic cancer."}
{"id": "MED-1817", "text": "Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death worldwide with large geographical variation, which implies the contribution of diet and lifestyle in its etiology. We examined the association of meat and fish consumption with risk of pancreatic cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). A total of 477,202 EPIC participants from 10 European countries recruited between 1992 and 2000 were included in our analysis. Until 2008, 865 nonendocrine pancreatic cancer cases have been observed. Calibrated relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using multivariable-adjusted Cox hazard regression models. The consumption of red meat (RR per 50 g increase per day = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.93-1.14) and processed meat (RR per 50 g increase per day = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.71-1.23) were not associated with an increased pancreatic cancer risk. Poultry consumption tended to be associated with an increased pancreatic cancer risk (RR per 50 g increase per day = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.04-2.84); however, there was no association with fish consumption (RR per 50 g increase per day = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.92-1.62). Our results do not support the conclusion of the World Cancer Research Fund that red or processed meat consumption may possibly increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The positive association of poultry consumption with pancreatic cancer might be a chance finding as it contradicts most previous findings. Copyright \u00a9 2012 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-1818", "text": "PURPOSE: Few data are available on the role of combinations of foods and/or nutrients on pancreatic cancer risk. To add further information on dietary patterns potentially associated to pancreatic cancer, we applied an exploratory principal component factor analysis on 28 major nutrients derived from an Italian case-control study. METHODS: Cases were 326 incident pancreatic cancer cases and controls 652 frequency-matched controls admitted to hospital for non-neoplastic diseases. Dietary information was collected through a validated and reproducible food frequency questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic variables and major recognized risk factors for pancreatic cancer were used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) of pancreatic cancer for each dietary pattern. RESULTS: We identified four dietary patterns-named \"animal products,\" \"unsaturated fats,\" \"vitamins and fiber,\" and \"starch rich,\" that explain 75% of the total variance in nutrient intake in this population. After allowing for all the four patterns, positive associations were found for the animal products and the starch rich patterns, the OR for the highest versus the lowest quartiles being 2.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-3.19) and 1.69 (95% CI, 1.02-2.79), respectively; an inverse association emerged for the vitamins and fiber pattern (OR,\u00a00.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.86), whereas no association was observed for the unsaturated fats pattern (OR,\u00a01.13; 95% CI, 0.71-1.78). CONCLUSIONS: A diet characterized by a high consumption of meat and other animal products, as well as of (refined) cereals and sugars, is positively associated with pancreatic cancer risk, whereas a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is inversely associated. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1819", "text": "Gemcitabine is a first line cancer drug widely used for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, its therapeutic efficiency is significantly limited by resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to this and other chemotherapeutic drugs. We have investigated the cytotoxic effect of Turmeric Force (TF), a supercritical and hydroethanolic extract of turmeric, alone and in combination with gemcitabine in two pancreatic carcinoma cell lines (BxPC3 and Panc-1). TF is highly cytotoxic to BxPC3 and Panc-1 cell lines with IC50 values of 1.0 and 1.22 microg/ml, respectively with superior cytotoxicity than curcumin. Gemcitabine IC50 value for both of these cell line is 0.03 microg/ml; however, 30-48% of the pancreatic cancer cells are resistant to gemcitabine even at concentrations >100 microg/ml. In comparison, TF induced cell death in 96% of the cells at 50 microg/ml. The combination of gemcitabine and TF was synergistic with IC90 levels achieved in both pancreatic cancer cell lines at lower concentrations. CalcuSyn analysis of cytotoxicity data showed that the Gemcitabine + Turmeric Force combination has strong synergism with combination index (CI) values of 0.050 and 0.183 in BxPC3 and Panc-1 lines, respectively at IC50 level. This synergistic effect is due to the increased inhibitory effect of the combination on nuclear factor-kappaB activity and signal transducer and activator of transcription factor 3 expression as compared to the single agent."}
{"id": "MED-1825", "text": "Background. Flax is a food and dietary supplement commonly used for menopausal symptoms. Flax is known for its lignan, \u03b1-linolenic acid, and fiber content, components that may possess phytogestrogenic, anti-inflammatory, and hormone modulating effects, respectively. We conducted a systematic review of flax for efficacy in improving menopausal symptoms in women living with breast cancer and for potential impact on risk of breast cancer incidence or recurrence. Methods. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and AMED from inception to January 2013 for human interventional or observational data pertaining to flax and breast cancer. Results. Of 1892 records, we included a total of 10 studies: 2 randomized controlled trials, 2 uncontrolled trials, 1 biomarker study, and 5 observational studies. Nonsignificant (NS) decreases in hot flash symptomatology were seen with flax ingestion (7.5 g/d). Flax (25 g/d) increased tumor apoptotic index (P < .05) and decreased HER2 expression (P < .05) and cell proliferation (Ki-67 index; NS) among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients when compared with placebo. Uncontrolled and biomarker studies suggest beneficial effects on hot flashes, cell proliferation, atypical cytomorphology, and mammographic density, as well as possible anti-angiogenic activity at doses of 25 g ground flax or 50 mg secoisolariciresinol diglycoside daily. Observational data suggests associations between flax and decreased risk of primary breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.69-0.97), better mental health (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI = 1.05-2.94), and lower mortality (multivariate hazard ratio = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.50-0.95) among breast cancer patients. Conclusions. Current evidence suggests that flax may be associated with decreased risk of breast cancer. Flax demonstrates antiproliferative effects in breast tissue of women at risk of breast cancer and may protect against primary breast cancer. Mortality risk may also be reduced among those living with breast cancer. \u00a9 The Author(s) 2013."}
{"id": "MED-1826", "text": "PURPOSE: To investigate the association between intake of flaxseed-the richest source of dietary lignans (a class of phytoestrogens)-and breast cancer risk. METHODS: A food frequency questionnaire was used to measure the consumption of flaxseed and flax bread by 2,999 women with breast cancer and 3,370 healthy control women who participated in the Ontario Women's Diet and Health Study (2002-2003). Logistic regression was used to investigate associations between consumption of flaxseed and flax bread and breast cancer risk. Confounding by established and suspected breast cancer risk factors, as well as dietary factors, was assessed. RESULTS: Flaxseed or flax bread was consumed at least weekly by 21 % of control women. None of the 19 variables assessed were identified as confounders of the associations between flaxseed or flax bread and breast cancer risk. Consumption of flaxseed was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk (odds ratio (OR) = 0.82, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.69-0.97), as was consumption of flax bread (OR = 0.77, 95 % CI 0.67-0.89). CONCLUSIONS: This Canadian study is, to our knowledge, the first to report on the association between flaxseed alone and breast cancer risk and has found that flaxseed intake is associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk. As dietary intake of flaxseed is modifiable, this finding may be of public health importance with respect to breast cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-1827", "text": "BACKGROUND: Actin cytoskeleton is involved in actin-based cell adhesion, cell motility, and matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs) MMP2, MMP9, MMP11 and MMP14 are responsible for cell invasion in breast cancer metastasis. The dietary intake of lignan from flax seed gets converted to enterolactone (EL) and enterodiol in the human system. Here we show that the enterolactone has a very significant anti-metastatic activity as demonstrated by its ability to inhibit adhesion and invasion and migration in MCF-7 and MDA MB231 cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Migration inhibition assay, actin-based cell motility assay along with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for MMP2, MMP9, MMP11 and MMP14 genes were performed in MCF-7 and MDA MB 231 cell lines. RESULTS: Enterolactone seems to inhibit actin-based cell motility as evidenced by confocal imaging and photo documentation of cell migration assay. The results are supported by the observation that the enterolactone in vitro significantly down-regulates the metastasis-related metalloproteinases MMP2, MMP9 and MMP14 gene expressions. No significant alteration in the MMP11 gene expression was found. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore we suggest that the anti-metastatic activity of EL is attributed to its ability to inhibit cell adhesion, cell invasion and cell motility. EL affects normal filopodia and lamellipodia structures, polymerization of actin filaments at their leading edges and thereby inhibits actin-based cell adhesion and cell motility. The process involves multiple force-generating mechanisms of actin filaments i.e. protrusion, traction, deadhesion and tail-retraction. By down-regulating the metastasis-related MMP2, MMP9 and MMP14 gene expressions, EL may be responsible for cell invasion step of metastasis."}
{"id": "MED-1828", "text": "The first quantitative method for the determination of both lignans and isoflavonoid phytoestrogens in plasma is presented. Using ion-exchange chromatography the diphenols are separated into two fractions 1) the biologically \"active\" fraction containing the free compounds + mono- and disulfates and 2) the biologically \"inactive\" fraction containing the mono- and diglucuronides and the sulfoglucuronides. After hydrolysis the fractions are further purified by solid phase extraction and ion exchange chromatography. Losses during the complete procedure are corrected for using radioactive estrogen conjugates during the first steps and later by adding deuterated internal standards of all compounds measured (matairesinol, enterodiol, enterolactone, daidzein, O-desmethylangolensin, equol, and genistein). The final determination is carried out by isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring mode (GC/MS/SIM). The diphenols may be measured at concentrations as low as 0.2 to 1.0 nmol/l. Results of plasma analyses of all compounds in 27 pre- and postmenopausal omnivorous and vegetarian women are presented for the first time. The most important findings are that the free+sulfate fraction is low for genistein (3.8% of total), but as much as 21-25% of enterolactone and enterodiol occurs in this fraction. A good correlation between plasma and urine values was found. Total concentrations of individual compounds vary greatly between the subjects (from pmol/l to mumol/l), the vegetarians having higher values, particularly one vegan subject. The highest total enterolactone concentration value exceeded 1 mumol/l. It is concluded that a highly specific method for the assay of 3 lignans and 4 isoflavonoids in plasma has been developed. This method will be useful in future studies of lignan and isoflavonoid metabolism."}
{"id": "MED-1829", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Sex steroid exposure increases the risk of breast cancer by unclear mechanisms. Diet modifications may be one breast cancer prevention strategy. The proinflammatory cytokine family of IL-1 is implicated in cancer progression. IL-1Ra is an endogenous inhibitor of the proinflammatory IL-1\u03b1 and IL-1\u03b2. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to elucidate whether estrogen, tamoxifen, and/or diet modification altered IL-1 levels in normal human breast tissue. DESIGN AND METHODS: Microdialysis was performed in healthy women under various hormone exposures, tamoxifen therapy, and diet modifications and in breast cancers of women before surgery. Breast tissue biopsies from reduction mammoplasties were cultured. RESULTS: We show a significant positive correlation between estradiol and in vivo levels of IL-1\u03b2 in breast tissue and abdominal sc fat, whereas IL-1Ra exhibited a significant negative correlation with estradiol in breast tissue. Tamoxifen or a dietary addition of 25 g flaxseed per day resulted in significantly increased levels of IL-1Ra in the breast. These results were confirmed in ex vivo culture of breast biopsies. Immunohistochemistry of the biopsies did not reveal any changes in cellular content of the IL-1s, suggesting that mainly the secreted levels were affected. In breast cancer patients, intratumoral levels of IL-1\u03b2 were significantly higher compared with normal adjacent breast tissue. CONCLUSION: IL-1 may be under the control of estrogen in vivo and may be attenuated by antiestrogen therapy and diet modifications. The increased IL-1\u03b2 in breast cancers of women strongly suggests IL-1 as a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer treatment and prevention."}
{"id": "MED-1830", "text": "Background There are conflicting reports and a lack of evidence-based data regarding effects of medications on cognition in cognitively normal older adults. We explored whether use of 100 common medications taken by older adults is associated with longitudinal cognitive performance. Methods A longitudinal observational cohort was used with analysis of data collected September 2005 through May 2011 and maintained in the National Alzheimer\u2019s Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set. Participants were aged 50 years or older and cognitively normal (N=4414). Composite scores were constructed from 10 psychometric tests. Scores for each participant reflecting change in the psychometric composite score from the baseline clinical assessment to the next assessment were calculated. General linear models were used to test whether the mean composite change score differed for participants who reported starting, stopping, continuing, or not taking each of the 100 most frequently-used medications in the NACC sample. Results The average time between assessments was 1.2 years (SD=0.42). Nine medications showed a difference (p<0.05) across the four participant groups in mean psychometric change scores from the first to the second assessment. Medications associated with improved psychometric performance were: naproxen, calcium-vitamin D, ferrous sulfate, potassium chloride, flax, and sertraline. Medications associated with declining psychometric performance were: bupropion, oxybutynin, and furosemide. Conclusions Reported use of common medications is associated with cognitive performance in older adults, but studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying these effects."}
{"id": "MED-1831", "text": "In children, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may elicit a suite of health benefits including enhancement of cognitive development. Subsequently, dietary supplements containing omega-3 PUFAs have become increasingly popular. Often, the largest source of beneficial PUFAs in these supplements is fish oil, which may contain significant levels of contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The objectives of this study were to evaluate congener-specific PCB concentrations in 13 over-the-counter children's dietary supplements containing fish oils/powders and assess potential PCB exposures through ingestion of these products on a daily basis. Every supplement analysed contained PCBs, with a mean concentration of 9 \u00b1 8 ng PCBs/g supplement. When following serving size suggestions, mean daily exposure values ranged from 2.5 to 50.3 ng PCBs/day. Daily exposures for children's supplements were significantly lower than those previously reported for adult supplements and may be explained, in part, by the variability in the amount of fish oil (and PUFA content) in a serving size. Based on this study, factors such as fish oil purification methods (e.g., molecular distillation) and the trophic level of the fish species used to make the fish oil cannot be used as indicators of PCB levels within children's supplements. Fish supplements may decrease or increase daily PCB exposure compared with ingestion of fresh fish. However, eating fish high in omega-3 PUFAs and low in PCBs may reduce PCB exposure compared with daily supplementation with fish oils for some products studied."}
{"id": "MED-1832", "text": "The need for a dietary supply of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic aid (AA) in term infants was evaluated in a double-masked randomized clinical trial of the effects of supplementation of term infant formula with DHA (0.35% of total fatty acids) or with DHA (0.36%) and AA (0.72%) on visual acuity development. One hundred and eight healthy term infants were enrolled in the study; 79 were exclusively formula-fed from birth (randomized group) and 29 were exclusively breast-fed (gold standard group). Infants were evaluated at four time points during the first 12 mo of life for blood fatty acid composition, growth, sweep visual evoked potential (VEP) acuity, and forced choice preferential looking acuity. Supplementation of term infant formula with DHA or with DHA and AA during the first 4 mo of life yields clear differences in total red blood cell (RBC) lipid composition. Supplementation of term infant formula with DHA or with DHA and AA also yields better sweep VEP acuity at 6, 17, and 52 wk of age but not at 26 wk of age, when acuity development reaches a plateau. The RBC lipid composition and sweep VEP acuity of supplemented infants was similar to that of human milk-fed infants, whereas the RBC lipid composition and sweep VEP acuity of unsupplemented infants was significantly different from human milk-fed infants. Differences in acuity among diet groups were too subtle to be detected by the forced choice preferential looking protocol. Infants in all diet groups had similar rates of growth and tolerated all diets well. Thus, early dietary intake of preformed DHA and AA appears necessary for optimal development of the brain and eye of the human infant."}
{"id": "MED-1833", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cod liver oil is an important source of vitamin D, but also contains other fat-soluble components such as vitamin A. Before 1999, the cod liver oil formula in Norway contained a high concentration of vitamin A (1000 \u00b5g per 5 ml). High vitamin A status is associated with increased risks of several chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between cod liver oil intake and asthma development. METHODS: In the Nord-Tr\u00f8ndelag Health Study, a total of 25 616 Norwegian adults aged 19-55 years were followed up from 1995-1997 to 2006-2008. Current analysis based on 17 528 subjects who were free of asthma and had complete information on cod liver oil intake at baseline. Cod liver oil intake was defined as daily intake \u2265 1 month during the year prior to baseline. Incident asthma was reported as new-onset asthma during the 11-year follow-up. RESULTS: Of the 17 528 subjects, 18% (n=3076) consumed cod liver oil daily for \u2265 1 month over the past year. Cod liver oil intake was significantly associated with incident asthma with an OR of 1.62 (95% CI 1.32 to 1.98) after adjustment for age, sex, daily smoking, physical activity, education, socio-economic status, family history of asthma, and body mass index (BMI). The positive association was consistent across age (< 40/\u2265 40 years), sex (men/women), family history of asthma (yes/no) and BMI subgroups (< 25/\u2265 25 kg/m(2)). CONCLUSIONS: Intake of cod liver oil with high vitamin A content was significantly associated with increased incidence of adult-onset asthma."}
{"id": "MED-1834", "text": "Observations of increasing allergy prevalence with decreasing distance from the Equator and positive associations with ambient ultraviolet radiation have contributed to a growing interest in the possible role of vitamin D in the etiology of allergy. The aims of this study were to describe any latitudinal variation in the prevalence of childhood allergy in Australia and to evaluate, in parallel, the individual associations between ultraviolet radiation (UVR)- and vitamin D-related measures and hayfever asthma and both conditions. Participants were population-based controls who took part in a multicenter case-control study, aged 18-61 yr and resident in one of four study regions ranging in latitude from 27\u00b0S to 43\u00b0S. Data were derived from a self-administered questionnaire, interview and examination by a research officer and biologic sampling. Latitude and longitude coordinates were geocoded from participants' residential locations and climatic data were linked to postcodes of current residence. Stored serum was analyzed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and silicone rubber casts of the skin were used as an objective measure of cumulative actinic damage. There was an inverse latitude gradient for asthma (a 9% decrease per increasing degree of latitude); however, this pattern did not persist after adjusting for average daily temperature. There was no association between any of the UVR- or vitamin D-related measures and childhood asthma, but greater time in the sun in winter between the ages 6-15 yr was associated with an increase in the odds of having hayfever [adjusted odds ratios (OR) 1.29; 95% CI 1.01-1.63]. Oral supplementation with cod liver oil in childhood increased the odds of a history of having both asthma and hayfever (2.87; 1.00-8.32). Further investigation of the possible role of early vitamin D supplementation in the development of allergy is warranted. Our results also suggest that solar exposure during childhood may be important in allergic sensitization. Plausible explanations, including biologic mechanisms, exist for both observations. \u00a9 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S."}
{"id": "MED-1837", "text": "Because manganese (Mn) is potentially toxic, and because dietary fat type may affect Mn absorption, the objectives of the current study were to determine whether diets containing very low or very high amounts of Mn and enriched in either saturated or unsaturated fats affected measures of neuropsychological and basic metabolic function. Healthy young women were fed for 8 wk each, in a crossover design, diets that provided 0.8 or 20 mg of Mn/d. One half of the subjects received 15% of energy as cocoa butter, and one half received 15% of energy as corn oil. A meal containing (54)Mn was fed after 4 wk, and subjects underwent whole-body counting for the next 21 d. Blood draws and neuropsychological tests were administered at regular intervals during the dietary periods. When subjects consumed the diets low in Mn, compared with the high Mn diets, they absorbed a significantly higher percentage of (54)Mn, but had a significantly longer biological half-life of the absorbed (54)Mn. Manganese intake did not affect any neurological measures and only minimally affected psychologic variables. These data show that efficient mechanisms operate to maintain Mn homeostasis over the range of intakes that may be encountered in a mixed Western diet. Thus, dietary intakes of Mn from 0.8 to 20 mg for 8 wk likely do not result in Mn deficiency or toxicity signs in healthy adults."}
{"id": "MED-1838", "text": "The determination of Al, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, P, Zn and Ca, K, Mg by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), respectively, in digests and infusions of Hibiscus sabdariffa (petals), Rosa canina (receptacles), Ginkgo biloba (leaves), Cymbopogon citratus (leaves), Aloe vera (leaves) and Panax ginseng (roots) was carried out in this study. Particular attention has been given to Al and heavy metals for the identification of possible raw material contaminants, their transformation into the infusion and for predicting their eventual role in the human diet during daily consumption. Additionally, Ion Chromatography (IC) speciation of Al in the leachates was carried out. In dry herbs, hibiscus and ginkgo appeared to contain the greatest contents of Al, Fe, K, Mn, Ni, Zn and B, Mg, P, respectively. A. vera contained the highest amount of Ca and highest values of Cu and P were observed in ginseng. In infusions, the topmost concentrations of Al, B, Cu, Fe, P, K, Mn, Ni, Zn were detected in those prepared from hibiscus petals, Ca from aloe leaves and Mg from leaves of ginkgo. According to a possible daily consumption exceeding 1 L, hibiscus decoction was identified as potentially dietetically significant in the content of certain elements. It seems to be possibly one of the top contributors of B from food (up to 5.5\u00b10.2 mg/L). The Mg contained in the infusion (up to 106\u00b15 mg/L) may be a contributor in the attenuation of blood pressure. A high amount of accessible Mn (up to 17.4\u00b11.1 mg/L) can probably have an adverse effect in humans. The total Al allowance (up to 1.2\u00b10.1 mg/L) suggests that no more than 1 L of the hibiscus infusion should be consumed per day by sensitive individuals including pregnant women and should be completely excluded from the diet of children under 6 months of age and children with chronic renal failure. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1839", "text": "Ten subjects with normal renal function were given different single doses of aluminium containing antacids (1, 4, or 8 tablets). The antacid tablets (aluminium content 244 mg tablet-1) were chewed and swallowed either with water, with orange juice, or with citric acid solution. There was a marked increase in serum concentration of aluminium when the antacids was ingested with citric acid (P less than 0.001) or with orange juice (P less than 0.05). When antacids were taken with water, a slight, but significant increase in serum aluminium concentration was seen with 4, but not with 1 or with 8 tablets. Following all doses of antacid, a significant increase in 24 h urinary excretion of aluminium was seen. The estimated absorption of aluminium was 8 and 50 times higher when antacids were taken with orange juice or with citric acid, respectively, than when taken with water. Thus, measurable quantities of aluminium are absorbed from single oral doses of antacids. The absorption is substantially enhanced by concomitant ingestion of citric acid."}
{"id": "MED-1841", "text": "Ten healthy men ingested, twice daily between meals, during each of the seven-day experimental periods: (a) citric acid (as lemon juice), (b) Al(OH)3, or (c) Al(OH)3 + citric acid. Whole blood sampled after each dietary period was analyzed electrothermally after digestion with nitric acid. Moderate, but significant, increases in mean Al concentrations as compared with pretreatment values [5 (SD 3) micrograms of Al per liter] were seen after ingestion of either citric acid or Al(OH)3: 9 (SD 4) and 12 (SD 3) micrograms/L, respectively. Ingestion of both Al(OH)3 and citric acid resulted in a more pronounced, highly significant (p less than 0.001) increase in Al concentrations, to 23 (SD 2) micrograms Al/L, probably owing to formation and absorption of Al-citrate complexes."}
{"id": "MED-1842", "text": "Considering the high prevalence of hypertension, its debilitating end organ damage, and the side effects of chemical drugs used for its treatment, we conducted this experimental study to evaluate the effect of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on essential hypertension. For this purpose, 31 and 23 patients with moderate essential hypertension were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group, respectively. Patients with secondary hypertension or those consuming more than two drugs were excluded from the study. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured before and 15 days after the intervention. In the experimental group, 45% of the patients were male and 55% were female, and the mean age was 52.6 +/- 7.9 years. In the control group, 30% of the patients were male, 70% were female, and the mean age of the patients was 51.5 +/- 10.1 years. Statistical findings showed an 11.2% lowering of the systolic blood pressure and a 10.7% decrease of diastolic pressure in the experimental group 12 days after beginning the treatment, as compared with the first day. The difference between the systolic blood pressures of the two groups was significant, as was the difference of the diastolic pressures of the two groups. Three days after stopping the treatment, systolic blood pressure was elevated by 7.9%, and diastolic pressure was elevated by 5.6% in the experimental and control groups. This difference between the two groups was also significant. This study proves the public belief and the results of in vitro studies concerning the effects of sour tea on lowering high blood pressure. More extensive studies on this subject are needed."}
{"id": "MED-1843", "text": "In the early 1970s, aluminium toxicity was first implicated in the pathogenesis of clinical disorders in patients with chronic renal failure involving bone (renal osteomalacia) or brain tissue (dialysis encephalopathy). Before that time the toxic effects of aluminium ingestion were not considered to be a major concern because absorption seemed unlikely to occur. Meanwhile, aluminium toxicity has been investigated in countless epidemiological and clinical studies as well as in animal experiments and many papers have been published on the subject. It is now commonly acknowledged that aluminium toxicity can be induced by infusion of aluminium-contaminated dialysis fluids, by parenteral nutrition solutions, and by oral exposure as a result of aluminium-containing pharmaceutical products such as aluminium-based phosphate binders or antacid intake. Over-the-counter antacids are the most important source for human aluminium exposure from a quantitative point of view. However, aluminium can act as a powerful neurological toxicant and provoke embryonic and fetal toxic effects in animals and humans after gestational exposure. Despite these facts, the patient information leaflets from European antacids that are available OTC show substantial differences regarding warnings from aluminium toxicity. It seems advisable that all patients should receive the same information on aluminium toxicity from patient information leaflets, in particular with regard to the increased absorption through concomitant administration with citrate-containing beverages and the use of such antacids during pregnancy."}
{"id": "MED-1844", "text": "Total aluminum, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, and nickel were determined in black tea, green tea, Hibiscus sabdariffa, and Ilex paraguariensis (mate) by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after nitric/perchloric acid digestion. In each case, one ground sample of commercially available leafy material was prepared and three 0.5-g subsamples were run in parallel. The infusions were also analyzed and the percentage of each element leached into the liquor was evaluated. The obtained results indicated that hibiscus and mate contained lower levels of aluminum (272+/-19 microg/g and 369+/-22 microg/g, respectively) as referred to black tea (759+/-31 microg/g) or green tea (919micro29 microg/g) and suggested that mate drinking could be a good dietary source of essential micronutrient manganese (total content 2223+/-110 microg/g, 48.1% leached to the infusion). It was also found that the infusion of hibiscus could supply greater amounts of iron (111+/-5 microg/g total, 40.5% leached) and copper (5.9+/-0.3 microg/g total, 93.4% leached) as compared to other infusions. Moreover, it was found that the percentage of element leached to the infusion was strongly related to the tannins content in the beverage (correlation coefficients > 0.82 with the exception for nickel); for lower tannins level, better leaching was observed."}
{"id": "MED-1846", "text": "The effects of the chemical composition of fruit juices and fruit on the absorption of iron from a rice (Oryza sativa) meal were measured in 234 parous Indian women, using the erythrocyte utilization of radioactive Fe method. The corrected geometric mean Fe absorptions with different juices varied between 0.040 and 0.129, with the variation correlating closely with the ascorbic acid contents of the juices (rs 0.838, P less than 0.01). Ascorbic acid was not the only organic acid responsible for the promoting effects of citrus fruit juices on Fe absorption. Fe absorption from laboratory 'orange juice' (100 ml water, 33 mg ascorbic acid and 750 mg citric acid) was significantly better than that from 100 ml water and 33 mg ascorbic acid alone (0.097 and 0.059 respectively), while Fe absorption from 100 ml orange juice (28 mg ascorbic acid) was better than that from 100 ml water containing the same amount of ascorbic acid (0.139 and 0.098 respectively). Finally, Fe absorption from laboratory 'lemon juice' (100 ml orange juice and 4 g citric acid) was significantly better than that from 100 ml orange juice (0.226 and 0.166 respectively). The corrected geometric mean Fe absorption from the rice meal was 0.025. Several fruits had little or no effect on Fe absorption from the meal (0.013-0.024). These included grape (Vitis vinifera), peach (Prunus persica), apple (Malus sylvestris) and avocado pear (Persea americana). Fruit with a mild to moderate enhancing effect on Fe absorption (0.031-0.088) included strawberry (Fragaria sp.) (uncorrected values), plum (Prunus domestica), rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum), banana (Musa cavendishii), mango (Mangifera indica), pear (Pyrus communis), cantaloup (Cucumis melo) and pineapple (Ananas comosus) (uncorrected values). Guava (Psidium guajava) and pawpaw (Carica papaya) markedly increased Fe absorption (0.126-0.293). There was a close correlation between Fe absorption and the ascorbic acid content of the fruits tested (rs 0.738, P less than 0.0001). There was also a weaker but significant correlation with the citric acid content (rs 0.55, P less than 0.03). Although this may have reflected a direct effect of citric acid on Fe absorption, it should be noted that fruits containing citric acid also contained ascorbic acid (rs 0.70, P less than 0.002).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-1847", "text": "The in vitro speciation of aluminium (Al) in black tea infusion (pH 4.8) was assessed using 3000, 10,000 and 30,000 Da cut-off ultrafilters, and the effect of adding human gastric juice (pH 2.3) and then raising the pH to 6.5 were also studied. 78% Al in the tea infusion passed through the 3000-Da ultrafilter; this percentage increased to more than 90% with the addition of gastric juice at pH 2.3, but then reduced to approximately 5% when the incubate was adjusted to pH 6.5. The breakdown of tea-derived polyphenols to low molecular weight phenols in vivo was measured using high-resolution 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis of ileostomy effluent, but there was no evidence of low molecular weight breakdown products from the polyphenols of ingested tea in this effluent. These results suggest that only a small proportion of Al in tea is potentially available for absorption throughout the small bowel. It may be misleading to estimate systemic Al absorption from tea drinking simply from total urinary aluminium excretion as has been done previously."}
{"id": "MED-1848", "text": "BACKGROUND: In a cross-sectional case-control study conducted in northern Italy, 64 former aluminium dust-exposed workers were compared with 32 unexposed controls from other companies matched for age, professional training, economic status, educational and clinical features. The findings lead the authors to suggest a possible role of the inhalation of aluminium dust in pre-clinical mild cognitive disorder which might prelude Alzheimer's disease (AD) or AD-like neurological deterioration. METHODS: The investigation involved a standardised occupational and medical history with particular attention to exposure and symptoms, assessments of neurotoxic metals in serum: aluminium (Al-s), copper (Cu-s) and zinc (Zn-s), and in blood: manganese (Mn-b), lead (Pb-b) and iron (Fe-b). Cognitive functions were assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) and auditory evoked Event-Related Potential (ERP-P300). To detect early signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the time required to solve the MMSE (MMSE-time) and CDT (CDT-time) was also measured. RESULTS: Significantly higher internal doses of Al-s and Fe-b were found in the ex-employees compared to the control group. The neuropsychological tests showed a significant difference in the latency of P300, MMSE score, MMSE-time, CDT score and CDT-time between the exposed and the control population. P300 latency was found to correlate positively with Al-s and MMSE-time. Al-s has significant effects on all tests: a negative relationship was observed between internal Al concentrations, MMSE score and CDT score; a positive relationship was found between internal Al concentrations, MMSE-time and CDT-time. All the potential confounders such as age, height, weight, blood pressure, schooling years, alcohol, coffee consumption and smoking habit were taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a role of aluminium in early neurotoxic effects that can be detected at a pre-clinical stage by P300, MMSE, MMSE-time, CDT-time and CDT score, considering a 10 micrograms/l cut-off level of serum aluminium, in aluminium foundry workers with concomitant high blood levels of iron. The authors raise the question whether pre-clinical detection of aluminium neurotoxicity and consequent early treatment might help to prevent or retard the onset of AD or AD-like pathologies."}
{"id": "MED-1849", "text": "The neuroanatomic specificity with which Alzheimer's disease (AD) progresses could provide clues to AD etiopathology. Magnetic resonance imaging studies of AD clinical progression have confirmed general conclusions from earlier studies of AD neuropathological progression wherein neurofibrillary tangle pathology was observed to spread along a well-defined sequence of corticocortical and corticosubcortical connections, preferentially affecting certain cell types, while sparing others. Identical and non-identical twin studies have consistently shown AD has mixed (environmental and genetic) etiopathogenesis. The decades-long prodromal phase over which AD develops suggests slow but progressive accumulation of a toxic or infective agent over time. Major environmental candidates are reviewed to assess which best fits the profile of an agent that slowly accrues in susceptible cell types of AD-vulnerable brain regions to toxic levels by old age, giving rise to AD neuropathology without rapid neuronal lysis. Chronic aluminum neurotoxicity best matches this profile. Many humans routinely ingest aluminum salts as additives contained in processed foods and alum-treated drinking water. The physical properties of aluminum and ferric iron ions are similar, allowing aluminum to use mechanisms evolved for iron to enter vulnerable neurons involved in AD progression, accumulate in those neurons, and cause neurofibrillary damage. The genetic component of AD etiopathogenesis apparently involves a susceptibility gene, yet to be identified, that increases aluminum absorption because AD and Down syndrome patients have higher than normal plasma, and brain, aluminum levels. This review describes evidence for aluminum involvement in AD neuropathology and the clinical progression of sporadic AD."}
{"id": "MED-1851", "text": "The brain is a highly compartmentalized organ exceptionally susceptible to accumulation of metabolic errors. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease of the elderly and is characterized by regional specificity of neural aberrations associated with higher cognitive functions. Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant neurotoxic metal on earth, widely bioavailable to humans and repeatedly shown to accumulate in AD-susceptible neuronal foci. In spite of this, the role of Al in AD has been heavily disputed based on the following claims: 1) bioavailable Al cannot enter the brain in sufficient amounts to cause damage, 2) excess Al is efficiently excreted from the body, and 3) Al accumulation in neurons is a consequence rather than a cause of neuronal loss. Research, however, reveals that: 1) very small amounts of Al are needed to produce neurotoxicity and this criterion is satisfied through dietary Al intake, 2) Al sequesters different transport mechanisms to actively traverse brain barriers, 3) incremental acquisition of small amounts of Al over a lifetime favors its selective accumulation in brain tissues, and 4) since 1911, experimental evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that chronic Al intoxication reproduces neuropathological hallmarks of AD. Misconceptions about Al bioavailability may have misled scientists regarding the significance of Al in the pathogenesis of AD. The hypothesis that Al significantly contributes to AD is built upon very solid experimental evidence and should not be dismissed. Immediate steps should be taken to lessen human exposure to Al, which may be the single most aggravating and avoidable factor related to AD."}
{"id": "MED-1860", "text": "To compare the antihypertensive effectiveness of sour tea (ST; Hibiscus sabdariffa) with black tea (BT) infusion in diabetic patients, this double-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out. Sixty diabetic patients with mild hypertension, without taking antihypertensive or antihyperlipidaemic medicines, were recruited in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to the ST and BT groups and instructed to drink ST and BT infusions two times a day for 1 month. Their blood pressure (BP) was measured on days 0, 15 and 30 of the study. The mean of systolic BP (SBP) in the ST group decreased from 134.4+/-11.8 mm Hg at the beginning of the study to 112.7+/-5.7 mm Hg after 1 month (P-value <0.001), whereas this measure changed from 118.6+/-14.9 to 127.3+/-8.7 mm Hg (P-value=0.002) in the BT group during the same period. The intervention had no statistically significant effect on the mean of diastolic BP (DBP) in either the ST or BT group. The mean pulse pressure (PP) of the patients in the ST group decreased from 52.2+/-12.2 to 34.5+/-9.3 mm Hg (P-value <0.001) during the study, whereas in the BT group, it increased from 41.9+/-11.7 to 47.3+/-9.6 mm Hg (P-value=0.01). In conclusion, consuming ST infusion had positive effects on BP in type II diabetic patients with mild hypertension. This study supports the results of similar studies in which antihypertensive effects have been shown for ST."}
{"id": "MED-1862", "text": "BACKGROUND: The main 6-month results from the PREMIER trial showed that comprehensive behavioral intervention programs improve lifestyle behaviors and lower blood pressure. OBJECTIVE: To compare the 18-month effects of 2 multicomponent behavioral interventions versus advice only on hypertension status, lifestyle changes, and blood pressure. DESIGN: Multicenter, 3-arm, randomized trial conducted from January 2000 through November 2002. SETTING: 4 clinical centers and a coordinating center. PATIENTS: 810 adult volunteers with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension (systolic blood pressure, 120 to 159 mm Hg; diastolic blood pressure, 80 to 95 mm Hg). INTERVENTIONS: A multicomponent behavioral intervention that implemented long-established recommendations (\"established\"); a multicomponent behavioral intervention that implemented the established recommendations plus the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet (\"established plus DASH\"); and advice only. MEASUREMENTS: Lifestyle variables and blood pressure status. Follow-up for blood pressure measurement at 18 months was 94%. RESULTS: Compared with advice only, both behavioral interventions statistically significantly reduced weight, fat intake, and sodium intake. The established plus DASH intervention also statistically significantly increased fruit, vegetable, dairy, fiber, and mineral intakes. Relative to the advice only group, the odds ratios for hypertension at 18 months were 0.83 (95% CI, 0.67 to 1.04) for the established group and 0.77 (CI, 0.62 to 0.97) for the established plus DASH group. Although reductions in absolute blood pressure at 18 months were greater for participants in the established and the established plus DASH groups than for the advice only group, the differences were not statistically significant. LIMITATIONS: The exclusion criteria and the volunteer nature of this cohort may limit generalizability. Although blood pressure is a well-accepted risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the authors were not able to assess intervention effects on clinical cardiovascular events in this limited time and with this sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Over 18 months, persons with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension can sustain multiple lifestyle modifications that improve control of blood pressure and could reduce the risk for chronic disease."}
{"id": "MED-1863", "text": "IMPORTANCE Previous studies have suggested an association between vegetarian diets and lower blood pressure (BP), but the relationship is not well established. OBJECTIVE To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials and observational studies that have examined the association between vegetarian diets and BP. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE and Web of Science were searched for articles published in English from 1946 to October 2013 and from 1900 to November 2013, respectively. STUDY SELECTION All studies met the inclusion criteria of the use of (1) participants older than 20 years, (2) vegetarian diets as an exposure or intervention, (3) mean difference in BP as an outcome, and (4) a controlled trial or observational study design. In addition, none met the exclusion criteria of (1) use of twin participants, (2) use of multiple interventions, (3) reporting only categorical BP data, or (4) reliance on case series or case reports. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Data collected included study design, baseline characteristics of the study population, dietary data, and outcomes. The data were pooled using a random-effects model. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Net differences in systolic and diastolic BP associated with the consumption of vegetarian diets were assessed. RESULTS Of the 258 studies identified, 7 clinical trials and 32 observational studies met the inclusion criteria. In the 7 controlled trials (a total of 311 participants; mean age, 44.5 years), consumption of vegetarian diets was associated with a reduction in mean systolic BP (-4.8 mm Hg; 95% CI, -6.6 to -3.1; P\u2009<\u2009.001; I2\u2009=\u20090; P\u2009=\u2009.45 for heterogeneity) and diastolic BP (-2.2 mm Hg; 95% CI, -3.5 to -1.0; P\u2009<\u2009.001; I2\u2009=\u20090; P\u2009=\u2009.43 for heterogeneity) compared with the consumption of omnivorous diets. In the 32 observational studies (a total of 21,604 participants; mean age, 46.6 years), consumption of vegetarian diets was associated with lower mean systolic BP (-6.9 mm Hg; 95% CI, -9.1 to -4.7; P\u2009<\u2009.001; I2\u2009=\u200991.4; P\u2009<\u2009.001 for heterogeneity) and diastolic BP (-4.7 mm Hg; 95% CI, -6.3 to -3.1; P\u2009<\u2009.001; I2\u2009=\u200992.6; P\u2009<\u2009.001 for heterogeneity) compared with the consumption of omnivorous diets. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Consumption of vegetarian diets is associated with lower BP. Such diets could be a useful nonpharmacologic means for reducing BP."}
{"id": "MED-1864", "text": "The effectiveness of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (HS) in the treatment of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease is assessed in this review by taking a comprehensive approach to interpreting the randomized clinical trial (RCT) results in the context of the available ethnomedical, phytochemical, pharmacological, and safety and toxicity information. HS decoctions and infusions of calyxes, and on occasion leaves, are used in at least 10 countries worldwide in the treatment of hypertension and hyperlipidemia with no reported adverse events or side effects. HS extracts have a low degree of toxicity with a LD50 ranging from 2,000 to over 5,000 mg/kg/day. There is no evidence of hepatic or renal toxicity as the result of HS extract consumption, except for possible adverse hepatic effects at high doses. There is evidence that HS acts as a diuretic, however in most cases the extract did not significantly influence electrolyte levels. Animal studies have consistently shown that consumption of HS extract reduces blood pressure in a dose dependent manner. In RCTs, the daily consumption of a tea or extract produced from HS calyxes significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in adults with pre to moderate essential hypertension and type 2 diabetes. In addition, HS tea was as effective at lowering blood pressure as the commonly used blood pressure medication Captropril, but less effective than Lisinopril. Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides were lowered in the majority of normolipidemic, hypolipidemic, and diabetic animal models, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was generally not affected by the consumption of HS extract. Over half of the RCTs showed that daily consumption of HS tea or extracts had favorable influence on lipid profiles including reduced total cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides, as well as increased HDL-C. Anthocyanins found in abundance in HS calyxes are generally considered the phytochemicals responsible for the antihypertensive and hypocholesterolemic effects, however evidence has also been provided for the role of polyphenols and hibiscus acid. A number of potential mechanisms have been proposed to explain the hypotensive and anticholesterol effects, but the most common explanation is the antioxidant effects of the anthocyanins inhibition of LDL-C oxidation, which impedes atherosclerosis, an important cardiovascular risk factor. This comprehensive body of evidence suggests that extracts of HS are promising as a treatment of hypertension and hyperlipidemia, however more high quality animal and human studies informed by actual therapeutic practices are needed to provide recommendations for use that have the potential for widespread public health benefit."}
{"id": "MED-1865", "text": "In vitro studies show Hibiscus sabdariffa L., an ingredient found in many herbal tea blends and other beverages, has antioxidant properties, and, in animal models, extracts of its calyces have demonstrated hypocholesterolemic and antihypertensive properties. Our objective in this study was to examine the antihypertensive effects of H. sabdariffa tisane (hibiscus tea) consumption in humans. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted in 65 pre- and mildly hypertensive adults, age 30-70 y, not taking blood pressure (BP)-lowering medications, with either 3 240-mL servings/d of brewed hibiscus tea or placebo beverage for 6 wk. A standardized method was used to measure BP at baseline and weekly intervals. At 6 wk, hibiscus tea lowered systolic BP (SBP) compared with placebo (-7.2 +/- 11.4 vs. -1.3 +/- 10.0 mm Hg; P = 0.030). Diastolic BP was also lower, although this change did not differ from placebo (-3.1 +/- 7.0 vs. -0.5 +/- 7.5 mm Hg; P = 0.160). The change in mean arterial pressure was of borderline significance compared with placebo (-4.5 +/- 7.7 vs. -0.8 +/- 7.4 mm Hg; P = 0.054). Participants with higher SBP at baseline showed a greater response to hibiscus treatment (r = -0.421 for SBP change; P = 0.010). No effects were observed with regard to age, gender, or dietary supplement use. These results suggest daily consumption of hibiscus tea, in an amount readily incorporated into the diet, lowers BP in pre- and mildly hypertensive adults and may prove an effective component of the dietary changes recommended for people with these conditions."}
{"id": "MED-1868", "text": "Obesity is associated with a great diversity of diseases including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Our previous report suggested that Hibiscus sabdariffa extracts (HSE) had a metabolic-regulating and liver-protecting potential. In this study, we performed a clinical trial to further confirm the effect of HSE. Subjects with a BMI \u2267 27 and aged 18-65, were randomly divided into control (n = 17) and HSE-treated (n = 19) groups, respectively, for 12 weeks. Our data showed that consumption of HSE reduced body weight, BMI, body fat and the waist-to-hip ratio. Serum free fatty acid (FFA) was lowered by HSE. Anatomic changes revealed that HSE improved the illness of liver steatosis. Ingestion of HSE was well tolerated and there was no adverse effect during the trial. No alteration was found for serum \u03b1-amylase and lipase. The clinical effect should mainly be attributed to the polyphenols of HSE, since composition analysis showed that branched chain-amino acids, which is associated with obesity, is not obviously high. In conclusion, consumption of HSE reduced obesity, abdominal fat, serum FFA and improved liver steatosis. HSE could act as an adjuvant for preventing obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver."}
{"id": "MED-1871", "text": "In order to compare the antihypertensive effectiveness and tolerability of a standardized extract from Hibiscus sabdariffa with captopril, a controlled and randomized clinical trial was done. Patients from 30 to 80 years old with diagnosed hypertension and without antihypertensive treatment for at least 1 month before were included. The experimental procedure consisted of the administration of an infusion prepared with 10 g of dry calyx from H. sabdariffa on 0.51 water (9.6 mg anthocyanins content), daily before breakfast, or captopril 25 mg twice a day, for 4 weeks. The outcome variables were tolerability, therapeutic effectiveness (diastolic reduction > or = 10 mm Hg) and, in the experimental group, urinary electrolytes modification. Ninety subjects were included, 15 withdrew from the study due to non-medical reasons; so, the analysis included 39 and 36 patients from the experimental and control group, respectively. The results showed that H. sabdariffa was able to decrease the systolic blood pressure (BP) from 139.05 to 123.73mm Hg (ANOVA p < 0.03) and the diastolic BP from 90.81 to 79.52mm Hg (ANOVA p < 0.06). At the end of the study, there were no significant differences between the BP detected in both treatment groups (ANOVA p > 0.25). The rates of therapeutic effectiveness were 0.7895 and 0.8438 with H. sabdariffa and captopril, respectively (chi2, p > 0.560), whilst the tolerability was 100% for both treatments. A natriuretic effect was observed with the experimental treatment. The obtained data confirm that the H. sabdariffa extract, standardized on 9.6mg of total anthocyanins, and captopril 50 mg/day, did not show significant differences relative to hypotensive effect, antihypertensive effectiveness, and tolerability."}
{"id": "MED-1872", "text": "CONTEXT: Weight loss, sodium reduction, increased physical activity, and limited alcohol intake are established recommendations that reduce blood pressure (BP). The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet also lowers BP. To date, no trial has evaluated the effects of simultaneously implementing these lifestyle recommendations. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect on BP of 2 multicomponent, behavioral interventions. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized trial with enrollment at 4 clinical centers (January 2000-June 2001) among 810 adults (mean [SD] age, 50 [8.9] years; 62% women; 34% African American) with above-optimal BP, including stage 1 hypertension (120-159 mm Hg systolic and 80-95 mm Hg diastolic), and who were not taking antihypertensive medications. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomized to one of 3 intervention groups: (1) \"established,\" a behavioral intervention that implemented established recommendations (n = 268); (2) \"established plus DASH,\"which also implemented the DASH diet (n = 269); and (3) an \"advice only\" comparison group (n = 273). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blood pressure measurement and hypertension status at 6 months. RESULTS: Both behavioral interventions significantly reduced weight, improved fitness, and lowered sodium intake. The established plus DASH intervention also increased fruit, vegetable, and dairy intake. Across the groups, gradients in BP and hypertensive status were evident. After subtracting change in advice only, the mean net reduction in systolic BP was 3.7 mm Hg (P<.001) in the established group and 4.3 mm Hg (P<.001) in the established plus DASH group; the systolic BP difference between the established and established plus DASH groups was 0.6 mm Hg (P =.43). Compared with the baseline hypertension prevalence of 38%, the prevalence at 6 months was 26% in the advice only group, 17% in the established group (P =.01 compared with the advice only group), and 12% in the established plus DASH group (P<.001 compared with the advice only group; P =.12 compared with the established group). The prevalence of optimal BP (<120 mm Hg systolic and <80 mm Hg diastolic) was 19% in the advice only group, 30% in the established group (P =.005 compared with the advice only group), and 35% in the established plus DASH group (P<.001 compared with the advice only group; P =.24 compared with the established group). CONCLUSION: Individuals with above-optimal BP, including stage 1 hypertension, can make multiple lifestyle changes that lower BP and reduce their cardiovascular disease risk."}
{"id": "MED-1873", "text": "Research finding on the composition of macronutrient intakes on body weight has not been consistent. Furthermore, little research has examined the impact of subcomponents of macronutrients such as saturated fat or plant protein on body weight. The purpose of this report was to examine the impact of saturated fat, animal and plant protein, and other macronutrient intakes at the end of an intensive intervention on subsequent follow-up body weight. This is a secondary, observational data analysis using data from PREMIER, an 18-month randomized clinical trial that enrolled a total of 810 participants. Participants completed group and individual sessions designed to help them improve blood pressure (BP) control by making lifestyle changes. Dietary intakes were assessed by two 24-h diet recalls at baseline, 6, and 18 months. Body weight and physical fitness were monitored regularly. Regression models were used to examine the impact of animal or plant protein and other macronutrient intakes on subsequent body weight. After controlling for potential confounders, none of the calorie-contributing nutrient intakes at baseline was associated with subsequent weight at 6 or 18 months. However, a greater intake of saturated fat at 6 months was associated with higher weight at 18 months (P = 0.002). A greater intake of plant protein at 6 month was marginally associated with lower absolute weight at 18 month (P = 0.069). We conclude that macronutrient intakes before the intervention were not associated with subsequent body weight at 6 or 18 months. However, a lower saturated fat intake achieved after 6-month intervention predicts a lower body weight at 18 months and thus greater weight-loss maintenance."}
{"id": "MED-1874", "text": "It is likely that plant food consumption throughout much of human evolution shaped the dietary requirements of contemporary humans. Diets would have been high in dietary fiber, vegetable protein, plant sterols and associated phytochemicals, and low in saturated and trans-fatty acids and other substrates for cholesterol biosynthesis. To meet the body's needs for cholesterol, we believe genetic differences and polymorphisms were conserved by evolution, which tended to raise serum cholesterol levels. As a result modern man, with a radically different diet and lifestyle, especially in middle age, is now recommended to take medications to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Experimental introduction of high intakes of viscous fibers, vegetable proteins and plant sterols in the form of a possible Myocene diet of leafy vegetables, fruit and nuts, lowered serum LDL-cholesterol in healthy volunteers by over 30%, equivalent to first generation statins, the standard cholesterol-lowering medications. Furthermore, supplementation of a modern therapeutic diet in hyperlipidemic subjects with the same components taken as oat, barley and psyllium for viscous fibers, soy and almonds for vegetable proteins and plant sterol-enriched margarine produced similar reductions in LDL-cholesterol as the Myocene-like diet and reduced the majority of subjects' blood lipids concentrations into the normal range. We conclude that reintroduction of plant food components, which would have been present in large quantities in the plant based diets eaten throughout most of human evolution into modern diets can correct the lipid abnormalities associated with contemporary eating patterns and reduce the need for pharmacological interventions."}
{"id": "MED-1876", "text": "BACKGROUND: High whole-grain intake has been reportedly associated with reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D), which is an effect possibly subject to genetic effect modification. Confirmation in prospective studies and investigations on the impact on prediabetes is needed. OBJECTIVES: In a prospective population-based study, we investigated whether a higher intake of whole grain protects against the development of prediabetes and T2D and tested for modulation by polymorphisms of the TCF7L2 gene. DESIGN: We examined the 8-10-y incidence of prediabetes (impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose, or the combination of both) and T2D in relation to the intake of whole grain. Baseline data were available for 3180 women and 2297 men aged 35-56 y. RESULTS: A higher intake of whole grain (>59.1 compared with <30.6 g/d) was associated with a 34% lower risk to deteriorate in glucose tolerance (to prediabetes or T2D; women and men combined). The association remained after adjustments for age, family history of diabetes, BMI, physical activity, smoking, education, and blood pressure (OR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.96). Risk reduction was significant in men (OR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.85) but not in women. Associations were significant for prediabetes per se (all, OR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.94; men, OR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.80). The intake of whole grain correlated inversely with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The impact of whole-grain intake was undetectable in men who harbored diabetogenic polymorphisms of the TCF7L2 gene. CONCLUSIONS: A higher intake of whole grain is associated with decreased risk of deteriorating glucose tolerance including progression from normal glucose tolerance to prediabetes by mechanisms likely tied to effects on insulin sensitivity. Effect modifications by TCF7L2 genetic polymorphisms are supported."}
{"id": "MED-1878", "text": "Excerpt Second in a series of publications from the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Health Care in America project Today's health care providers have more research findings and more technology available to them than ever before. Yet recent reports have raised serious doubts about the quality of health care in America. Crossing the Quality Chasm makes an urgent call for fundamental change to close the quality gap. This book recommends a sweeping redesign of the American health care system and provides overarching principles for specific direction for policymakers, health care leaders, clinicians, regulators, purchasers, and others. In this comprehensive volume the committee offers: A set of performance expectations for the 21st century health care system. A set of 10 new rules to guide patient-clinician relationships. A suggested organizing framework to better align the incentives inherent in payment and accountability with improvements in quality. Key steps to promote evidence-based practice and strengthen clinical information systems. Analyzing health care organizations as complex systems, Crossing the Quality Chasm also documents the causes of the quality gap, identifies current practices that impede quality care, and explores how systems approaches can be used to implement change. Copyright 2001 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1879", "text": "The study hypothesis was that fasting glucose, insulin, fructosamine, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-6 decrease and adiponectin increases with daily flaxseed consumption in overweight or obese individuals with pre-diabetes. In this randomized, cross-over study overweight or obese men and postmenopausal women (n = 25) with pre-diabetes consumed 0, 13, or 26 g ground flaxseed for 12 weeks. Glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR), and normalized percent of \u03b1-linolenic fatty acid (ALA) were significantly different by treatment (multiple analysis of variance, P = .036, P = .013, P = .008, P = .024 respectively). Paired t tests showed glucose decreased on the 13 g intervention compared to the 0 g period [13 g = -2.10 \u00b1 1.66 mg/L (mean \u00b1 SEM), 0 g = 9.22 \u00b1 4.44 mg/L, P = .036]. Insulin decreased on the 13 g intervention but not the 26 g (P = .021) and 0 g (P = .013) periods (13 g = -2.12 \u00b1 1.00 mU/L, 26 g = 0.67 \u00b1 0.84 mU/L, 0 g = 1.20 \u00b1 1.16 mU/L). HOMA-IR decreased on the 13 g period but not on the 26 g (P = .012) and 0 g (P = .008) periods (13 g = -0.71 \u00b1 0.31, 26 g = 0.27 \u00b1 0.24, 0 g = 0.51 \u00b1 0.35). The \u03b1-linolenic fatty acid decrease for the 0 g period was different than the 13 g (P = .024) and 26 g (P = .000) periods (13 g = 0.20 \u00b1 0.04, 26 g = 0.35 \u00b1 0.07, 0 g = -0.01 \u00b1 0.07). Fructosamine, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, adiponectin, and high-sensitivity interleukin-6 had no significant differences. Flaxseed intake decreased glucose and insulin and improved insulin sensitivity as part of a habitual diet in overweight or obese individuals with pre-diabetes. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1880", "text": "Legumes are the bas\u00e9s diet in several countries. They hold a high nutritional value, but other properties related to human health are nowadays being studied. The aim of this work was to study the influence of processes (boiling or germination) on the phenolic composition of dark beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L. c.v. Tolosana) and their effect on their antioxidant, neuroprotective and anticancer ability. Phenolic composition of raw and processed dark beans was analysed by HPLC-PAD and HPLC-ESI/MS. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by ORAC. Astrocytes cultures (U-373) have been used to test their neuroprotective effect. Anticancer activities were evaluated on three different cell lines (renal adenocarcinoma (TK-10), breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and melanoma (UACC-62)) by sulphorhodamine B method. Qualitative and quantitative differences in phenolic composition have been observed between raw and processed dark beans that influence the antioxidant activity, mainly for germinated samples which show a decrease of antioxidant capacity. Although every assayed extracts decreased reactive oxygen species release and exhibited cytotoxicity activities on cancer cell lines, raw beans proved to be the most active in neuroprotective and antitumoral effects; this sample is especially rich in phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins. This study further demonstrated that phenolic composition of dark beans is related with cooking process and so with their neuroprotective and anticancer activity; cooking of dark beans improves their digestion and absorption at intestinal level, while maintaining its protective ability on oxidative process at cellular level. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1881", "text": "BACKGROUND: Despite many studies on cognitive function and its influential factors among old population, relatively little research has been designed to study the relationship between dietary intake and cognitive function in elderly. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a population-based, prospective nested case-control study to investigate the association between dietary habits and declines in cognitive function over three years among Chinese illiterate elderly. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was part of the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Study (CLHLS). Six thousand nine hundred and eleven illiterate residents aged 65 or older were investigated. Socio-demographic and dietary habits data were collected at baseline. The cognitive function of illiterate elderly persons was assessed using Chinese revised Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE-r) in 2002 and 2005. Cognitive decline was defined as MMSE-r score dropped to less than 18 at follow-up among those with normal cognitive function (MMSE-r\u226518 at baseline). Odds ratios (OR) were calculated via logistic regression models. RESULTS: Five thousand six hundred and ninety one elderly were included in the current analysis. In bivariate analysis, cognitive decline was associated with gender, marital status ,financial status, smoking, drinking alcohol, drinking tea, eating fruits, vegetables, legumes, fishes, meat, egg and sugar. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that always eating vegetable (Adjusted OR: 0.66; 95% confidence intervals, CI: 0.58, 0.75), always consuming legumes (AOR:0.78; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.96) were inversely associated with cognitive decline. CONCLUSIONS: Lower intakes of vegetables and legumes were associated with cognitive decline among illiterate elderly Chinese. Dietary factors may be important for prevention cognitive decline."}
{"id": "MED-1886", "text": "Background Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy measures the number and size of lipoprotein particles, instead of their cholesterol or triglyceride content, but its clinical utility is uncertain. Methods and Results Baseline lipoproteins were measured by NMR in 27,673 initially healthy women followed for incident cardiovascular disease (CVD, N=1,015) over 11 years. Adjusting for non-lipid risk factors, hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for top vs bottom quintile of NMR-measured lipoprotein particle concentration (particles/L) were, for low-density lipoprotein (LDLNMR) 2.51 (1.91\u22123.30), high-density lipoprotein (HDLNMR) 0.91 (0.75\u22121.12), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDLNMR) 1.71 (1.38\u22122.12), and LDLNMR/HDLNMR ratio 2.25 (1.80\u22122.81). Similarly-adjusted results for NMR-measured lipoprotein particle size (nanometers) were, for LDLNMR size 0.64 (0.52\u22120.79), HDLNMR size 0.65 (0.51\u22120.81), and VLDLNMR size 1.37 (1.10\u22121.70). Hazard ratios for NMR measures were comparable but not superior to standard lipids: total cholesterol 2.08 (1.63\u22122.67), LDL cholesterol 1.74 (1.40\u22122.16), HDL cholesterol 0.52 (0.42\u22120.64), triglycerides 2.58 (1.95\u22123.41), non-HDL cholesterol 2.52 (1.95\u22123.25), total/HDL cholesterol ratio 2.82 (2.23\u22123.58); and apolipoproteins: B100 2.57 (1.98\u22123.33), A-1 0.63 (0.52\u22120.77), B100/A-1 ratio 2.79 (2.21\u22123.54). There was essentially no reclassification improvement with adding LDLNMR particle concentration or apolipoprotein B100 to a model that already included the total/HDL cholesterol ratio and non-lipid risk factors (net reclassification index [NRI], 0% and 1.9%, respectively), nor did the addition of either variable result in a statistically significant improvement in the c-index. Conclusions In this prospective study of healthy women, CVD risk prediction associated with lipoprotein profiles evaluated by NMR was comparable but not superior to standard lipids or apolipoproteins."}
{"id": "MED-1887", "text": "Some practitioners use advanced lipoprotein analysis with the goal of better predicting risk and individualizing lifestyle and drug therapy for cardiovascular prevention. Unfortunately, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particle number and size, other lipoprotein subfractionation, apolipoproteins B and A, and lipoprotein(a) have not yet met current standards for biomarker evaluation, and it remains to be determined whether these tests incrementally add to cardiovascular risk predicted by traditional risk factors. More importantly, it has yet to be determined whether treatment strategies guided by, or targeting, these measures improve cardiovascular outcomes. Drug therapies known to alter advanced lipoprotein analysis parameters, specifically niacin and fenofibrate, have not been shown to additionally reduce cardiovascular risk in recent randomized trials of high-risk patients treated with statin therapy. These findings suggest advanced lipoprotein analysis-guided strategies may not further reduce cardiovascular events and could lead to increased adverse effects and costs; this approach needs further research to establish its role in individualizing therapies for cardiovascular prevention. In contrast, a large body of evidence supports focusing on LDL cholesterol reduction and intensification of statin therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk. Copyright \u00a9 2012 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1888", "text": "BACKGROUND Recent studies in animals have shown a mechanistic link between intestinal microbial metabolism of the choline moiety in dietary phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) and coronary artery disease through the production of a proatherosclerotic metabolite, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). We investigated the relationship among intestinal microbiota-dependent metabolism of dietary phosphatidylcholine, TMAO levels, and adverse cardiovascular events in humans. METHODS We quantified plasma and urinary levels of TMAO and plasma choline and betaine levels by means of liquid chromatography and online tandem mass spectrometry after a phosphatidylcholine challenge (ingestion of two hard-boiled eggs and deuterium [d9]-labeled phosphatidylcholine) in healthy participants before and after the suppression of intestinal microbiota with oral broad-spectrum antibiotics. We further examined the relationship between fasting plasma levels of TMAO and incident major adverse cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, or stroke) during 3 years of follow-up in 4007 patients undergoing elective coronary angiography. RESULTS Time-dependent increases in levels of both TMAO and its d9 isotopologue, as well as other choline metabolites, were detected after the phosphatidylcholine challenge. Plasma levels of TMAO were markedly suppressed after the administration of antibiotics and then reappeared after withdrawal of antibiotics. Increased plasma levels of TMAO were associated with an increased risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event (hazard ratio for highest vs. lowest TMAO quartile, 2.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.96 to 3.28; P<0.001). An elevated TMAO level predicted an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events after adjustment for traditional risk factors (P<0.001), as well as in lower-risk subgroups. CONCLUSIONS The production of TMAO from dietary phosphatidylcholine is dependent on metabolism by the intestinal microbiota. Increased TMAO levels are associated with an increased risk of incident major adverse cardiovascular events. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.)"}
{"id": "MED-1890", "text": "BACKGROUND: Several epidemiologic studies found no effect of egg consumption on the risk of coronary heart disease. It is possible that the adverse effect of eggs on LDL-cholesterol is offset by their favorable effect on HDL cholesterol. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to review the effect of dietary cholesterol on the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol. DESIGN: Studies were identified by MEDLINE and Biological s searches (from 1974 to June 1999) and by reviewing reference lists. In addition, we included data from a more recently published study. Studies were included if they had a crossover or parallel design with a control group, if the experimental diets differed only in the amount of dietary cholesterol or number of eggs and were fed for > or =14 d, and if HDL-cholesterol concentrations were reported. Of the 222 studies identified, 17 studies involving 556 subjects met these criteria. RESULTS: The addition of 100 mg dietary cholesterol/d increased the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol by 0.020 units (95% CI: 0.010, 0.030), total cholesterol concentrations by 0.056 mmol/L (2.2 mg/dL) (95% CI: 0.046, 0.065 mmol/L; 1.8, 2.5 mg/dL), and HDL-cholesterol concentrations by 0.008 mmol/L (0.3 mg/dL) (95% CI: 0.005, 0.010 mmol/L; 0.2, 0.4 mg/dL). CONCLUSIONS: Dietary cholesterol raises the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol and, therefore, adversely affects the cholesterol profile. The advice to limit cholesterol intake by reducing consumption of eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods may therefore still be valid."}
{"id": "MED-1914", "text": "How can adverse experiences in early life, such as maltreatment, exert such powerful negative effects on health decades later? The answer may lie in changes to DNA. New research suggests that exposure to stress can accelerate the erosion of DNA segments called telomeres. Shorter telomere length correlates with chronological age and also disease morbidity and mortality. Thus, telomere erosion is a potential mechanism linking childhood stress to health problems later in life. However, an array of mechanistic, methodological, and basic biological questions must be addressed in order to translate telomere discoveries into clinical applications for monitoring health and predicting disease risk. This paper covers the current state of the science and lays out new research directions."}
{"id": "MED-1915", "text": "Background Psychological stress is suggested to accelerate the rate of biological aging. We investigated whether work-related exhaustion, an indicator of prolonged work stress, is associated with accelerated biological aging, as indicated by shorter leukocyte telomeres, that is, the DNA-protein complexes that cap chromosomal ends in cells. Methods We used data from a representative sample of the Finnish working-age population, the Health 2000 Study. Our sample consisted of 2911 men and women aged 30\u201364. Work-related exhaustion was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey. We determined relative leukocyte telomere length using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -based method. Results After adjustment for age and sex, individuals with severe exhaustion had leukocyte telomeres on average 0.043 relative units shorter (standard error of the mean 0.016) than those with no exhaustion (p\u200a=\u200a0.009). The association between exhaustion and relative telomere length remained significant after additional adjustment for marital and socioeconomic status, smoking, body mass index, and morbidities (adjusted difference 0.044 relative units, standard error of the mean 0.017, p\u200a=\u200a0.008). Conclusions These data suggest that work-related exhaustion is related to the acceleration of the rate of biological aging. This hypothesis awaits confirmation in a prospective study measuring changes in relative telomere length over time."}
{"id": "MED-1916", "text": "BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity is an important risk factor for many aging-related diseases. Leukocyte telomere dynamics (telomere length and age-dependent attrition rate) are ostensibly a biological indicator of human aging. We therefore tested the hypothesis that physical activity level in leisure time (over the past 12 months) is associated with leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in normal healthy volunteers. METHODS: We studied 2401 white twin volunteers, comprising 2152 women and 249 men, with questionnaires on physical activity level, smoking status, and socioeconomic status. Leukocyte telomere length was derived from the mean terminal restriction fragment length and adjusted for age and other potential confounders. RESULTS: Leukocyte telomere length was positively associated with increasing physical activity level in leisure time (P< .001); this association remained significant after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, socioeconomic status, and physical activity at work. The LTLs of the most active subjects were 200 nucleotides longer than those of the least active subjects (7.1 and 6.9 kilobases, respectively; P= .006). This finding was confirmed in a small group of twin pairs discordant for physical activity level (on average, the LTL of more active twins was 88 nucleotides longer than that of less active twins; P= .03). CONCLUSIONS: A sedentary lifestyle (in addition to smoking, high body mass index, and low socioeconomic status) has an effect on LTL and may accelerate the aging process. This provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potentially antiaging effect of regular exercise."}
{"id": "MED-1917", "text": "The telomere length is an indicator of biologic aging, and shorter telomeres have been associated with coronary artery calcium (CAC), a validated indicator of coronary atherosclerosis. It is unclear, however, whether healthy lifestyle behaviors affect the relation between telomere length and CAC. In a sample of subjects aged 40 to 64 years with no previous diagnosis of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, or cancer (n = 318), healthy lifestyle behaviors of greater fruit and vegetable consumption, lower meat consumption, exercise, being at a healthy weight, and the presence of social support were examined to determine whether they attenuated the association between a shorter telomere length and the presence of CAC. Logistic regression analyses controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and Framingham risk score revealed that the relation between having shorter telomeres and the presence of CAC was attenuated in the presence of high social support, low meat consumption, and high fruit and vegetable consumption. Those with shorter telomeres and these characteristics were not significantly different from those with longer telomeres. Conversely, the subjects with shorter telomeres and less healthy lifestyles had a significantly increased risk of the presence of CAC: low fruit and vegetable consumption (odds ratio 3.30, 95% confidence interval 1.61 to 6.75), high meat consumption (odds ratio 3.33, 95% confidence interval 1.54 to 7.20), and low social support (odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.24 to 5.37). Stratification by gender yielded similar results for men; however, among women, only fruit and vegetable consumption attenuated the shorter telomere length and CAC relation. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that being involved in healthy lifestyle behaviors might attenuate the association between shorter telomere length and coronary atherosclerosis, as identified using CAC. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1918", "text": "BACKGROUND: Telomerase activity is a predictor of long-term cellular viability, which decreases with chronic psychological distress (Epel et al., 2004). Buddhist traditions claim that meditation decreases psychological distress and promotes well-being (e.g., Dalai Lama and Cutler, 2009). Therefore, we investigated the effects of a 3-month meditation retreat on telomerase activity and two major contributors to the experience of stress: Perceived Control (associated with decreased stress) and Neuroticism (associated with increased subjective distress). We used mediation models to test whether changes in Perceived Control and Neuroticism explained meditation retreat effects on telomerase activity. In addition, we investigated whether two qualities developed by meditative practice, increased Mindfulness and Purpose in Life, accounted for retreat-related changes in the two stress-related variables and in telomerase activity. METHODS: Retreat participants (n=30) meditated for \u223c6 h daily for 3 months and were compared with a wait-list control group (n=30) matched for age, sex, body mass index, and prior meditation experience. Retreat participants received instruction in concentrative meditation techniques and complementary practices used to cultivate benevolent states of mind (Wallace, 2006). Psychological measures were assessed pre- and post-retreat. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples were collected post-retreat for telomerase activity. Because there were clear, a priori hypotheses, 1-tailed significance criteria were used throughout. RESULTS: Telomerase activity was significantly greater in retreat participants than in controls at the end of the retreat (p<0.05). Increases in Perceived Control, decreases in Neuroticism, and increases in both Mindfulness and Purpose in Life were greater in the retreat group (p<0.01). Mediation analyses indicated that the effect of the retreat on telomerase was mediated by increased Perceived Control and decreased Neuroticism. In turn, changes in Perceived Control and Neuroticism were both partially mediated by increased Mindfulness and Purpose in Life. Additionally, increases in Purpose in Life directly mediated the telomerase group difference, whereas increases in Mindfulness did not. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to link meditation and positive psychological change with telomerase activity. Although we did not measure baseline telomerase activity, the data suggest that increases in perceived control and decreases in negative affectivity contributed to an increase in telomerase activity, with implications for telomere length and immune cell longevity. Further, Purpose in Life is influenced by meditative practice and directly affects both perceived control and negative emotionality, affecting telomerase activity directly as well as indirectly. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1919", "text": "Telomerases constitute a group of specialized ribonucleoprotein enzymes that remediate chromosomal shrinkage resulting from the \u201cend-replication\u201d problem. Defects in telomere length regulation are associated with several diseases as well as with aging and cancer. Despite significant progress in understanding the roles of telomerase, the complete structure of the human telomerase enzyme bound to telomeric DNA remains elusive, with the detailed molecular mechanism of telomere elongation still unknown. By application of computational methods for distant homology detection, comparative modeling, and molecular docking, guided by available experimental data, we have generated a three-dimensional structural model of a partial telomerase elongation complex composed of three essential protein domains bound to a single-stranded telomeric DNA sequence in the form of a heteroduplex with the template region of the human RNA subunit, TER. This model provides a structural mechanism for the processivity of telomerase and offers new insights into elongation. We conclude that the RNA\u2236DNA heteroduplex is constrained by the telomerase TEN domain through repeated extension cycles and that the TEN domain controls the process by moving the template ahead one base at a time by translation and rotation of the double helix. The RNA region directly following the template can bind complementarily to the newly synthesized telomeric DNA, while the template itself is reused in the telomerase active site during the next reaction cycle. This first structural model of the human telomerase enzyme provides many details of the molecular mechanism of telomerase and immediately provides an important target for rational drug design."}
{"id": "MED-1920", "text": "Overweight and obesity are major contributors to both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Moreover, individuals with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese are at particularly high risk for CVD morbidity and mortality. Although short-term weight loss has been shown to ameliorate obesity-related metabolic abnormalities and CVD risk factors, the long-term consequences of intentional weight loss in overweight or obese individuals with type 2 diabetes have not been adequately examined. The primary objective of the Look AHEAD clinical trial is to assess the long-term effects (up to 11.5 years) of an intensive weight loss program delivered over 4 years in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Approximately 5000 male and female participants who have type 2 diabetes, are 45-74 years of age, and have a body mass index >or=25 kg/m(2) will be randomized to one of the two groups. The intensive lifestyle intervention is designed to achieve and maintain weight loss through decreased caloric intake and increased physical activity. This program is compared to a control condition given diabetes support and education. The primary study outcome is time to incidence of a major CVD event. The study is designed to provide a 0.90 probability of detecting an 18% difference in major CVD event rates between the two groups. Other outcomes include components of CVD risk, cost and cost-effectiveness, diabetes control and complications, hospitalizations, intervention processes, and quality of life."}
{"id": "MED-1921", "text": "Dietary factors, including dietary fat, may affect the biological aging process, as reflected by the shortening of telomere length (TL), by affecting levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. We examined the direct relations of total and types of dietary fats and fat-rich foods to peripheral leukocyte TL. In 4029 apparently healthy postmenopausal women who participated in the Women\u2019s Health Initiative, intakes of total fat, individual fatty acids, and fat-rich foods were assessed by a questionnaire. TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Intake of short-to-medium-chain saturated fatty acids (SMSFAs; aliphatic tails of \u226412 carbons) was inversely associated with TL. Compared with participants in other quartiles of SMSFA intake, women who were in the highest quartile (median: 1.29% of energy) had shorter TLs [mean: 4.00 kb (95% CI: 3.89, 4.11 kb)], whereas women in the lowest quartile of intake (median: 0.29% of energy) had longer TLs [mean: 4.13 kb (95% CI: 4.03, 4.24 kb); P-trend = 0.046]. Except for lauric acid, all other individual SMSFAs were inversely associated with TL (P < 0.05). In isoenergetic substitution models, the substitution of 1% of energy from SMSFAs with any other energy source was associated with 119 bp longer TLs (95% CI: 21, 216 bp). Intakes of nonskim milk, butter, and whole-milk cheese (major sources of SMSFAs) were all inversely associated with TL. No significant associations were found with long-chain saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In conclusion, we found that higher intakes of SMSFAs and SMSFA-rich foods were associated with shorter peripheral leukocyte TL among postmenopausal women. These findings suggest the potential roles of SMSFAs in the rate of biological aging."}
{"id": "MED-1922", "text": "In the past decade, the growing field of telomere science has opened exciting new avenues for understanding the cellular and molecular substrates of stress and stress-related aging processes ver the lifespan. Shorter telomere length is associated with advancing chronological age and also increased disease morbidity and mortality. Emerging studies suggest that stress accelerates the erosion of telomeres from very early in life and possibly even influences the initial (newborn) setting of telomere length. In this review, we highlight recent empirical evidence linking stress and mental illnesses at various times across the lifespan with telomere erosion. We first present findings in the developmental programming of telomere biology linking prenatal stress to newborn and adult telomere length. We then present findings linking exposure to childhood trauma and to certain mental disorders with telomere shortening. Last, we review studies that characterize the relationship between related health-risk behaviors with telomere shortening over the lifespan, and how this process may further buffer the negative effects of stress on telomeres. A better understanding of the mechanisms that govern and regulate telomere biology throughout the lifespan may inform our understanding of etiology and the long-term consequences of stress and mental illnesses on aging processes in diverse populations and settings."}
{"id": "MED-1923", "text": "Relatively short telomere length may serve as a marker of accelerated aging, and shorter telomeres have been linked to chronic stress. Specific lifestyle behaviors that can mitigate the effects of stress might be associated with longer telomere lengths. Previous research suggests a link between behaviors that focus on the well-being of others, such as volunteering and caregiving, and overall health and longevity. We examined relative telomere length in a group of individuals experienced in Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), a practice derived from the Buddhist tradition which utilizes a focus on unselfish kindness and warmth towards all people, and control participants who had done no meditation. Blood was collected by venipuncture, and Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. Quantitative real time PCR was used to measure relative telomere length (RTL) (Cawthon, 2002) in fifteen LKM practitioners and 22 control participants. There were no significant differences in age, gender, race, education, or exposure to trauma, but the control group had a higher mean body mass index (BMI) and lower rates of past depression. The LKM practitioners had longer RTL than controls at the trend level (p=.083); among women, the LKM practitioners had significantly longer RTL than controls, (p=.007), which remained significant even after controlling for BMI and past depression. Although limited by small sample size, these results offer the intriguing possibility that LKM practice, especially in women, might alter RTL, a biomarker associated with longevity. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1924", "text": "Cellular senescence is an in vivo and in vitro phenomenon, accompanied by physiological changes including cessation of division and disturbances of organelle structure and function. Review of the literature was undertaken to determine whether there is evidence that whole organism aging and cell senescence share a common initiation pathway. In vivo aged cells of different lineages, including aged T lymphocytes, show high expression of the INK4A-p16 gene. In cell culture when telomeres are shortened past a key length or state, the Arf/Ink gene system (p16/p14 humans, p16/p19 mice) switches on and activates p53, which suppresses further cell division. The p53 gene is a key tumor suppressor and its deletion or mutation allows cancerous growth. The switching on of p53 also causes changes in fatty acid metabolism, especially down-regulation of both fatty acid synthase and stearoyl-CoA (delta-9) desaturase. The co-suppression of these genes together with enhanced uptake of extracellular fatty acids, leads to raised levels of cellular palmitate and induction of either apoptosis or senescence. In senescent cells, the fatty acid composition of the cellular membranes alters and leads to changes in both structure and function of organelles, especially mitochondria. Animal models of accelerated aging exhibit repression of stearoyl-CoA desaturase activity while anti-aging calorie restriction stimulates the same enzyme system. It is concluded that aging in cells and whole organisms share a common initiation pathway and that cellular senescence is protective against cancer. Healthy longevity is likely to be most enhanced by factors that actively suppress excessive cell division."}
{"id": "MED-1926", "text": "OBJECTIVE: It has been reported that women benefit from the maintenance of telomere length by estrogen. Exercise may favorably influence telomere length, although results are inconsistent regarding the duration and type of exercise and the cell type used to measure telomere length. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between habitual physical exercise and telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women were chosen as study participants because they are typically estrogen deficient. METHODS: This experimental-control, cross-sectional study included 44 healthy, nondiabetic, nonsmoking, postmenopausal women. Habitual exercisers and sedentary participants were matched for age and body mass index. Body weight, height, blood pressure, and waist and hip circumference were measured. Mitochondrial DNA copy number and telomere length in PBMCs were determined, and biochemical tests were performed. Habitual physical exercise was defined as combined aerobic and resistance exercise performed for at least 60 minutes per session more than three times a week for more than 12 months. RESULTS: The mean age of all participants was 58.11 \u00b1 6.84 years, and participants in the habitual exercise group had been exercising more than three times per week for an average of 19.23 \u00b1 5.15 months. Serum triglyceride levels (P = 0.01), fasting insulin concentrations (P < 0.01), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (P < 0.01) were significantly lower and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (P < 0.01), circulating adiponectin (P < 0.01), mitochondrial DNA copy number (P < 0.01), and telomere length (P < 0.01) were significantly higher in the habitual exercise group than in the sedentary group. In a stepwise multiple regression analysis, habitual exercise (\u03b2 = 0.522, P < 0.01) and adiponectin levels (\u03b2 = 0.139, P = 0.03) were the independent factors associated with the telomere length of PBMCs in postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS: Habitual physical exercise is associated with greater telomere length in postmenopausal women. This finding suggests that habitual physical exercise in postmenopausal women may reduce telomere attrition."}
{"id": "MED-1928", "text": "Purpose of review There has been growing evidence that lifestyle factors may affect the health and lifespan of an individual by affecting telomere length. The purpose of this review was to highlight the importance of telomeres in human health and aging and to summarize possible lifestyle factors that may affect health and longevity by altering the rate of telomere shortening. Recent findings Recent studies indicate that telomere length, which can be affected by various lifestyle factors, can affect the pace of aging and onset of age-associated diseases. Summary Telomere length shortens with age. Progressive shortening of telomeres leads to senescence, apoptosis, or oncogenic transformation of somatic cells, affecting the health and lifespan of an individual. Shorter telomeres have been associated with increased incidence of diseases and poor survival. The rate of telomere shortening can be either increased or decreased by specific lifestyle factors. Better choice of diet and activities has great potential to reduce the rate of telomere shortening or at least prevent excessive telomere attrition, leading to delayed onset of age-associated diseases and increased lifespan. This review highlights the role of telomeres in aging and describes the lifestyle factors which may affect telomeres, human health, and aging."}
{"id": "MED-1929", "text": "BACKGROUND This study examined the effects of brief daily yogic meditation on mental health, cognitive functioning, and immune cell telomerase activity in family dementia caregivers with mild depressive symptoms. METHODS Thirty-nine family dementia caregivers (mean age 60.3 years old (SD=10.2)) were randomized to practicing Kirtan Kriya or listening to relaxation music for 12 minutes per day for eight weeks. The severity of depressive symptoms, mental and cognitive functioning were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBC) was examined in peripheral PBMC pre- and post-intervention. RESULTS The meditation group showed significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms and greater improvement in mental health and cognitive functioning compared to the relaxation group. In the meditation group, 65.2% showed 50% improvement on the Hamilton Depression Rating scale and 52% of the participants showed 50% improvement on the Mental Health Composite Summary score (MCS) of the SF-36 scale; compared to 31.2% and 19% respectively in the relaxation group (pp<0.05). The meditation group showed 43% improvement in telomerase activity compared to 3.7% in the relaxation group (p=0.05). CONCLUSION This pilot study found that brief daily meditation practices by family dementia caregivers can lead to improved mental and cognitive functioning, and lower levels of depressive symptoms. This improvement is accompanied by an increase in telomerase activity suggesting improvement in stress-induced cellular aging. These results need to be confirmed in a larger sample."}
{"id": "MED-1930", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with several chronic diseases, but only a few studies have assessed the association between dietary factors and LTL. Our objective was to study the association between fats, fruits, vegetables and LTL in a cross-sectional study design. We hypothesized that intakes of fruits and vegetables would be positively associated with LTL and that intakes of fats, and especially saturated fatty acids (SFAs), would be negatively associated with LTL. SUBJECTS/METHODS: LTL was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 1942 men and women aged 57-70 years from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. We assessed the whole diet by a validated semiquantitative 128-item food-frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: In general, there were only a few significant results. However, total fat and SFA intake (P=0.04 and 0.01, respectively) were inversely associated with LTL in men adjusting for age and energy intake. In women, vegetable intake was positively associated with LTL (P=0.05). Men consuming the most butter and least fruits had significantly shorter telomeres than those consuming the lowest amounts of butter and highest amounts of fruits (P=0.05). We found no association between LTL and body mass index, waist-hip ratio, smoking, physical activity or educational attainment. CONCLUSIONS: In this cross-sectional study of elderly men and women, there were only a few statistically significant effects of diet, but in general they support the hypothesis that fat and vegetable intakes were associated with LTL."}
{"id": "MED-1931", "text": "Caregivers of Alzheimer\u2019s disease patients endure chronic stress associated with a decline of immune function. To assess the psychological and immunological changes of caregivers, we compared depressive symptoms, PBMC composition, in vitro activation-induced proliferation and cytokine production, and telomere length and telomerase activity of 82 individuals (41 caregivers and 41 age- and gender-matched controls). We found depressive symptoms were significantly higher in caregivers than in controls (p < 0.001). Correspondingly, caregivers had significantly lower T cell proliferation but higher production of immune-regulatory cytokines (TNF-\u03b1 and IL-10) than controls in response to stimulation in vitro. We examined the impact of these changes on cellular replicative lifespan and found that caregivers had significantly shorter telomere lengths in PBMC than controls (6.2 and 6.4 kb, respectively, p < 0.05) with similar shortening in isolated T cells and monocytes and that this telomere attrition in caregivers was not due to an increase of shorter telomere possessing T cell subsets in PBMC. Finally, we showed that basal telomerase activity in PBMC and T cells was significantly higher in caregivers than in controls (p < 0.0001), pointing to an unsuccessful attempt of cells to compensate the excessive loss of telomeres in caregivers. These findings demonstrate that chronic stress is associated with altered T cell function and accelerated immune cell aging as suggested by excessive telomere loss."}
{"id": "MED-1932", "text": "There is increasing interest in discovering mechanisms that mediate the effects of childhood stress on late-life disease morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have suggested one potential mechanism linking stress to cellular aging, disease and mortality in humans: telomere erosion. We examined telomere erosion in relation to children\u2019s exposure to violence, a salient early-life stressor, which has known long-term consequences for well-being and is a major public-health and social-welfare problem. In the first prospective-longitudinal study with repeated telomere measurements in children while they experienced stress, we tested the hypothesis that childhood violence exposure would accelerate telomere erosion from age 5 to age 10 years. Violence was assessed as exposure to maternal domestic violence, frequent bullying victimization and physical maltreatment by an adult. Participants were 236 children (49% females; 42% with one or more violence exposures) recruited from the Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994\u20131995 birth cohort. Each child\u2019s mean relative telomere length was measured simultaneously in baseline and follow-up DNA samples, using the quantitative PCR method for T/S ratio (the ratio of telomere repeat copy numbers to single-copy gene numbers). Compared with their counterparts, the children who experienced two or more kinds of violence exposure showed significantly more telomere erosion between age-5 baseline and age-10 follow-up measurements, even after adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status and body mass index (B = \u22120.052, s.e. = 0.021, P = 0.015). This finding provides support for a mechanism linking cumulative childhood stress to telomere maintenance, observed already at a young age, with potential impact for life-long health."}
{"id": "MED-1933", "text": "Numerous studies demonstrate links between chronic stress and indices of poor health, including risk factors for cardiovascular disease and poorer immune function. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of how stress gets \u201cunder the skin\u201d remain elusive. We investigated the hypothesis that stress impacts health by modulating the rate of cellular aging. Here we provide evidence that psychological stress\u2014 both perceived stress and chronicity of stress\u2014is significantly associated with higher oxidative stress, lower telomerase activity, and shorter telomere length, which are known determinants of cell senescence and longevity, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy premenopausal women. Women with the highest levels of perceived stress have telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low stress women. These findings have implications for understanding how, at the cellular level, stress may promote earlier onset of age-related diseases."}
{"id": "MED-1934", "text": "Objective Investigate the effects of 12 months of dietary weight loss and/or aerobic exercise on leukocyte telomere length in postmenopausal women. Design and Methods 439 overweight or obese women (50\u201375 y) were randomized to: i) dietary weight loss (N=118); ii) aerobic exercise (N=117), iii) diet + exercise (N=117), or iv) control (N=87). The diet intervention was a group-based program with a 10% weight loss goal. The exercise intervention was 45 mins/day, 5 days/week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic activity. Fasting blood samples were taken at baseline and 12 months. DNA was extracted from isolated leukocytes and telomere length was measured by quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Mean changes were compared between groups (intent-to-treat) using generalized estimating equations. Results Baseline telomere length was inversely associated with age (r=\u22120.12 p<0.01) and positively associated with maximal oxygen uptake (r=0.11, p=0.03), but not with BMI or %body fat. Change in telomere length was inversely correlated with baseline telomere length (r=\u22120.47, p<0.0001). No significant difference in leukocyte telomere length was detected in any intervention group compared to controls, nor was the magnitude of weight loss associated with telomere length at 12 months. Conclusions Twelve-months of dietary weight loss and exercise did not change telomere length in postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-1935", "text": "Recent evidences have highlighted an influence of micronutrients in the maintenance of telomere length (TL). In order to explore whether diet-related telomere shortening had any physiological relevance and was accompanied by significant damage in the genome, in the present study, TL was assessed by terminal restriction fragment (TRF) analysis in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 56 healthy subjects for which detailed information on dietary habits was available and data were compared \\with the incidence of nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs), a marker of chromosomal instability related to telomere dysfunction visualised with the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay. To increase the capability to detect even slight impairment of telomere function, the incidence of NPBs was also evaluated on cells exposed in vitro to ionising radiation. Care was taken to control for potential confounding factors that might influence TL, viz. age, hTERT genotype and smoking status. Data showed that higher consumption of vegetables was related with significantly higher mean TL (P = 0.013); in particular, the analysis of the association between micronutrients and mean TL highlighted a significant role of antioxidant intake, especially beta-carotene, on telomere maintenance (P = 0.004). However, the diet-related telomere shortening did not result in associated increased spontaneous or radiation-induced NPBs. The distribution of TRFs was also analysed and a slight prevalence of radiation-induced NPBs (P = 0.03) was observed in subjects with higher amount of very short TRFs (<2 kb). The relative incidence of very short TRFs was positively associate with ageing (P = 0.008) but unrelated to vegetables consumption and daily intake of micronutrients, suggesting that the degree of telomere erosion related with low dietary intake of antioxidants observed in this study was not so extensive to lead to chromosome instability."}
{"id": "MED-1936", "text": "BACKGROUND: The underlying molecular mechanisms of the vasculoprotective effects of physical exercise are incompletely understood. Telomere erosion is a central component of aging, and telomere-associated proteins regulate cellular senescence and survival. This study examines the effects of exercising on vascular telomere biology and endothelial apoptosis in mice and the effects of long-term endurance training on telomere biology in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS: C57/Bl6 mice were randomized to voluntary running or no running wheel conditions for 3 weeks. Exercise upregulated telomerase activity in the thoracic aorta and in circulating mononuclear cells compared with sedentary controls, increased vascular expression of telomere repeat-binding factor 2 and Ku70, and reduced the expression of vascular apoptosis regulators such as cell-cycle-checkpoint kinase 2, p16, and p53. Mice preconditioned by voluntary running exhibited a marked reduction in lipopolysaccharide-induced aortic endothelial apoptosis. Transgenic mouse studies showed that endothelial nitric oxide synthase and telomerase reverse transcriptase synergize to confer endothelial stress resistance after physical activity. To test the significance of these data in humans, telomere biology in circulating leukocytes of young and middle-aged track and field athletes was analyzed. Peripheral blood leukocytes isolated from endurance athletes showed increased telomerase activity, expression of telomere-stabilizing proteins, and downregulation of cell-cycle inhibitors compared with untrained individuals. Long-term endurance training was associated with reduced leukocyte telomere erosion compared with untrained controls. CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity regulates telomere-stabilizing proteins in mice and in humans and thereby protects from stress-induced vascular apoptosis."}
{"id": "MED-1939", "text": "Introduction Curcumin is a polyphenolic compound derived from the plant Curcuma Long Lin that has been demonstrated to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects as well as effects on reducing beta-amyloid aggregation. It reduces pathology in transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is a promising candidate for treating human AD. The purpose of the current study is to generate tolerability and preliminary clinical and biomarker efficacy data on curcumin in persons with AD. Methods We performed a 24-week randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study of Curcumin C3 Complex\u00ae with an open-label extension to 48 weeks. Thirty-six persons with mild-to-moderate AD were randomized to receive placebo, 2 grams/day, or 4 grams/day of oral curcumin for 24 weeks. For weeks 24 through 48, subjects that were receiving curcumin continued with the same dose, while subjects previously receiving placebo were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to 2 grams/day or 4 grams/day. The primary outcome measures were incidence of adverse events, changes in clinical laboratory tests and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) at 24 weeks in those completing the study. Secondary outcome measures included the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study - Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) scale, levels of A\u03b21-40 and A\u03b21-42 in plasma and levels of A\u03b21-42, t-tau, p-tau181 and F2-isoprostanes in cerebrospinal fluid. Plasma levels of curcumin and its metabolites up to four hours after drug administration were also measured. Results Mean age of completers (n = 30) was 73.5 years and mean Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score was 22.5. One subject withdrew in the placebo (8%, worsened memory) and 5/24 subjects withdrew in the curcumin group (21%, 3 due to gastrointestinal symptoms). Curcumin C3 Complex\u00ae was associated with lowered hematocrit and increased glucose levels that were clinically insignificant. There were no differences between treatment groups in clinical or biomarker efficacy measures. The levels of native curcumin measured in plasma were low (7.32 ng/mL). Conclusions Curcumin was generally well-tolerated although three subjects on curcumin withdrew due to gastrointestinal symptoms. We were unable to demonstrate clinical or biochemical evidence of efficacy of Curcumin C3 Complex\u00ae in AD in this 24-week placebo-controlled trial although preliminary data suggest limited bioavailability of this compound. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00099710."}
{"id": "MED-1942", "text": "Curcumin, from the curry spice turmeric, has been shown to possess potent antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties and to reduce beta-amyloid and plaque burden in experimental studies, but epidemiologic evidence is lacking. The authors investigated the association between usual curry consumption level and cognitive function in elderly Asians. In a population-based cohort (n = 1,010) of nondemented elderly Asian subjects aged 60-93 years in 2003, the authors compared Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores for three categories of regular curry consumption, taking into account known sociodemographic, health, and behavioral correlates of MMSE performance. Those who consumed curry \"occasionally\" and \"often or very often\" had significantly better MMSE scores than did subjects who \"never or rarely\" consumed curry. The authors reported tentative evidence of better cognitive performance from curry consumption in nondemented elderly Asians, which should be confirmed in future studies."}
{"id": "MED-1944", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine overall and age-specific incidence rates of AD in a rural, population-based cohort in Ballabgarh, India, and to compare them with those of a reference US population in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania. METHODS: A 2-year, prospective, epidemiologic study of subjects aged > or =55 years utilizing repeated cognitive and functional ability screening, followed by standardized clinical evaluation using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria for the diagnosis, and the Clinical Dementia Rating scale for the staging, of dementia and AD. RESULTS: Incidence rates per 1000 person-years for AD with CDR > or =0.5 were 3.24 (95% CI: 1.48-6.14) for those aged > or =65 years and 1.74 (95% CI: 0.84-3.20) for those aged > or =55 years. Standardized against the age distribution of the 1990 US Census, the overall incidence rate in those aged > or =65 years was 4.7 per 1000 person-years, substantially lower than the corresponding rate of 17.5 per 1000 person-years in the Monongahela Valley. CONCLUSION: These are the first AD incidence rates to be reported from the Indian subcontinent, and they appear to be among the lowest ever reported. However, the relatively short duration of follow-up, cultural factors, and other potential confounders suggest caution in interpreting this finding."}
{"id": "MED-1949", "text": "The first infants to experience modern pre- and neonatal care are now in their thirties, an age at which the incidence of cardiometabolic disease is low. However, data from cohorts born preterm prior to the introduction of modern care suggest an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. For young adult cohorts of former very small or very preterm infants, there is accumulating evidence of increased risk factors for later cardiovascular disease, including higher blood pressure, lower lean body mass, impaired glucose regulation, and perhaps a more atherogenic lipid profile. Regarding lifestyle, adults born very small or very preterm undertake less non-conditioning physical activity and may have a lower intake of fruit and milk products. Any intervention reducing risk factors, in particular blood pressure and low physical activity, would have a substantial potential to reduce the lifetime disease burden in small preterm infants. There are now enough data to warrant an expert evaluation of the level of evidence for cardiometabolic disease in individuals born very small or very preterm, which has possible public health implications. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1950", "text": "Several studies have found associations between microbial infections during pregnancy and preterm delivery (PTD). We investigated the influence of food with antimicrobial and prebiotic components on the risk of spontaneous PTD. A literature search identified microbes associated with spontaneous PTD. Subsequently, 2 main food types (alliums and dried fruits) were identified to contain antimicrobial components that affect the microbes associated with spontaneous PTD; they also contained dietary fibers recognized as prebiotics. We investigated intake in 18,888 women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort (MoBa), of whom 950 (5%) underwent spontaneous PTD (<37 gestational weeks). Alliums (garlic, onion, leek, and spring onion) [OR: 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72, 0.94), P = 0.005] and dried fruits (raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, and dates) [OR: 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72, 0.94); P = 0.005] were associated with a decreased risk of spontaneous PTD. Intake of alliums was related to a more pronounced risk reduction in early spontaneous PTD (gestational weeks 28\u201331) [OR: 0.39 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.80)]. The strongest association in this group was with garlic [OR: 0.47 (95% CI: 0.25\u20130.89)], followed by cooked onions. Intake of dried fruits showed an association with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) [OR: 0.74 (95% CI: 0.65, 0.95)]; the strongest association in this group was with raisins [OR: 0.71 (95% CI: 0.56, 0.92)]. The strongest association with PPROM in the allium group was with garlic [OR: 0.74 (95% CI: 0.56, 0.97)]. In conclusion, intake of food with antimicrobial and prebiotic compounds may be of importance to reduce the risk of spontaneous PTD. In particular, garlic was associated with overall lower risk of spontaneous PTD. Dried fruits, especially raisins, were associated with reduced risk of PPROM."}
{"id": "MED-1951", "text": "Late preterm (LP) birth (34 0/7 - 36 6/7 weeks' gestation) accounts for nearly three-fourths of all preterm births, making this population a sizeable public health concern. The immature fetal development associated with LP delivery increases the risk of mortality and short-term medical complications. Which combination of maternal, fetal, or neonatal risk factors may be most critical has only recently begun to be addressed, and whether LP birth's disruptive impact on brain development will exert adverse effects on neuropsychological functioning in childhood and adolescence has been understudied. Early data have shown a graded response, with LP children often functioning better than very preterm children but worse than term children, and with subtle intellectual and neuropsychological deficits in LP children compared with healthy children born at term gestational age. Further characterization of the neuropsychological profile is required and would be best accomplished through prospective longitudinal studies. Moreover, since moderate and LP births result in disparate medical and psychological outcomes, the common methodology of combining these participants into a single research cohort to assess risk and outcome should be reconsidered. The rapidly growing LP outcomes literature reinforces a critical principle: fetal development occurs along a dynamic maturational continuum from conception to birth, with each successive gestational day likely to improve overall outcome."}
{"id": "MED-1952", "text": "There is growing interest in the long-term mental health sequelae of extremely preterm birth. In this paper we review literature relating to mental health outcomes across the lifespan. Studies conducted in the preschool years, school age and adolescence, and adulthood show continuity in outcomes and point to an increased risk for inattention, socio-communicative problems and emotional difficulties in individuals born extremely preterm. Both behavioural and neuroimaging studies also provide evidence of a neurodevelopmental origin for mental health disorders in this population. Here we summarise contemporary evidence and highlight key methodological considerations for carrying out and interpreting studies in this field. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1953", "text": "Although garlic has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years, investigations into its mode of action are relatively recent. Garlic has a wide spectrum of actions; not only is it antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiprotozoal, but it also has beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems. Resurgence in the use of natural herbal alternatives has brought the use of medicinal plants to the forefront of pharmacological investigations, and many new drugs are being discovered. This review aims to address the historical use of garlic and its sulfur chemistry, and to provide a basis for further research into its antimicrobial properties."}
{"id": "MED-1954", "text": "The behaviour problems of children born preterm at school age are well known, but there have been few studies on the behaviour problems of preterm-born infants during infancy and at preschool age. Fourteen cohort studies published in PubMed and PsycINFO between 2000 and 2012 were reviewed with a focus on the type, occurrence, comorbidity, stability, prediction, perinatal, social, and relational risk factors for behaviour problems of preterm-born children in infancy (0-2y) and at preschool age (3-5y). The relational risk factor was considered in an additional four papers. Very-preterm, very-low-birthweight, and moderately-preterm children, in both age groups, show more behaviour problems than term-born comparison children even after perinatal and social risk factors and cognitive performance have been controlled for. Poor social/interactive skills, poor behavioural and emotional self-regulation, emotional difficulties, and reduced attention are the most common behaviour problems. Behaviour problems in infancy are predictive of later behaviour problems and they should be included in follow-up programmes. \u00a9 The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology \u00a9 2013 Mac Keith Press."}
{"id": "MED-1955", "text": "Objective To examine whether an association exists between maternal dietary patterns and risk of preterm delivery. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Norway, between 2002 and 2008. Participants 66\u2009000 pregnant women (singletons, answered food frequency questionnaire, no missing information about parity or previously preterm delivery, pregnancy duration between 22+0 and 41+6 gestational weeks, no diabetes, first enrolment pregnancy). Main outcome measure Hazard ratio for preterm delivery according to level of adherence to three distinct dietary patterns interpreted as \u201cprudent\u201d (for example, vegetables, fruits, oils, water as beverage, whole grain cereals, fibre rich bread), \u201cWestern\u201d (salty and sweet snacks, white bread, desserts, processed meat products), and \u201ctraditional\u201d (potatoes, fish). Results After adjustment for covariates, high scores on the \u201cprudent\u201d pattern were associated with significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery hazard ratio for the highest versus the lowest third (0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.97). The prudent pattern was also associated with a significantly lower risk of late and spontaneous preterm delivery. No independent association with preterm delivery was found for the \u201cWestern\u201d pattern. The \u201ctraditional\u201d pattern was associated with reduced risk of preterm delivery for the highest versus the lowest third (hazard ratio 0.91, 0.83 to 0.99). Conclusion This study showed that women adhering to a \u201cprudent\u201d or a \u201ctraditional\u201d dietary pattern during pregnancy were at lower risk of preterm delivery compared with other women. Although these findings cannot establish causality, they support dietary advice to pregnant women to eat a balanced diet including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fish and to drink water. Our results indicate that increasing the intake of foods associated with a prudent dietary pattern is more important than totally excluding processed food, fast food, junk food, and snacks."}
{"id": "MED-1956", "text": "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) terminated the use of ball clay from a mine in Mississippi as an additive in animal feed after discovering nanogram per gram concentrations of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). The FDA collected chicken eggs and farm-raised catfish in affected areas and throughout the remaining continental United States to assess levels of 2,3,7,8-TCDD. A new method using quadrupole ion storage tandem-in-time mass spectrometry (QISTMS) measured the 2,3,7,8-TCDD levels in 42 catfish fillet composites, 3 Tilapia fillet composites, 46 chicken egg samples, and 6 chicken feeds. Six catfish composites and 20 egg samples had 2,3,7,8-TCDD concentrations significantly above 1.0 pg/g wet weight of fillet or whole egg. Farm-raised catfish not exposed to feed containing ball clay had a mean 2,3,7,8-TCDD concentration of 0.12 pg/g. The TCDD isomer pattern in ball clay differed from the TCDD isomer pattern in a fly ash sample and from the \"chick edema factor\" TCDD pattern in a sample of reference toxic fat used as a feed ingredient in the 1950s."}
{"id": "MED-1957", "text": "One combined catfish feed sample from Arkansas, USA, and its eight ingredients were analyzed for PCDDs and PCDFs. One of the ingredients, soybean meal, was highly contaminated by PCDDs, especially the toxic 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners, e.g., 7.3 pg/g dry weight or 370 pg/g lipid for the 2,3,7,8-tetra CDD. The I-TEQ value for the soybean meal was 11.4 pg/g dry weight or 576 pg/g fat. The corresponding values for the combined catfish feed concentrations were approximately 3 times lower. The congener pattern, the congener profile and the ratio sigma PCDDs/sigma PCDFs for the soybean meal were quite unique. We are not aware of any environmental sample or technical product with similar characteristics. As a result, natural formation of the PCDDs found in the soybean meal cannot be ruled out."}
{"id": "MED-1958", "text": "Food, especially meat, milk, and fish, is the immediate source of almost all polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and dioxinlike compounds in the general population. To estimate intake of these highly toxic compounds, we performed congener-specific dioxin analyses for the first time on U.S. food for 18 dairy meat, and fish samples from a supermarket in upstate New York. 2,3,7,8 Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, \"dioxin\") toxic equivalents (TEqs) on a wet weight basis for the dairy products ranged for 0.04 to 0.7 ppt, meat TEqs ranged from 0.03 to 1.5 ppt, and fish TEqs ranged from 0.02 to 0.13 ppt. Previous human breast milk and infant formula analyses were used with the current preliminary food data to estimate a range of dioxin intake for Americans. Average daily food intake of TEqs for an adult weighing 65 kg was estimated to be between 0.3 and 3.0 pg/kg body weight, for a total of 18-192 pg TEq, using 1986 American consumption rates. Due to the relatively high level of PCDDs and PCDFs commonly found in human breast milk from American women and from women in other industrial countries, a nursing infant may consume an average of 35-53 pg TEq/kg body weight/day in its first year of life. This may be compared with the current U.S. EPA virtually safe dose of 0.006 pg TCDD/kg body weight per day over a 70-year lifetime based on an upper limit cancer risk of 10(-6), or the 10 pg/kg/day used by some European government agencies."}
{"id": "MED-1959", "text": "Since 1991 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has conducted annual surveys of pesticide residues in foods under the Agricultural Marketing Service's Pesticide Data Program (PDP). To assess chemical residues in domestically marketed catfish products, 1479 catfish samples were collected during the 2008-2010 PDPs. A subset of 202 samples was analysed for 17 toxic polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). The average pattern of the individual PCDD/F congener concentrations in the catfish was rather unique in that it had almost no measurable amounts of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), but all PCDDs were present. This pattern was more dominant in the domestically produced catfish products than in the imported products (China/Taiwan). Comparison of the pattern to known sources of PCDD/Fs showed strong similarities to the pattern of PCDD/Fs found in kaolin clays which have often been used as anti-caking agents in animal feeds. To investigate whether catfish feeds may be the source of the PCDD/Fs found in the catfish, archived catfish feed data from a US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) database were examined. In 61 out of 112 feed samples, the PCDD concentrations were 50 times higher than the PCDF concentrations and resembled the pattern found in the catfish products and in clays mined in the south-eastern United States. Although the source of PCDD/Fs in domestically marketed catfish products cannot be definitively established, mined clay products used in feeds should be considered a likely source and, given the wide concentration range of PCDD/Fs that has been found in clays, a critical control point for PCDD/Fs entrance to the food supply."}
{"id": "MED-1960", "text": "Nine catfish fillets, three catfish nuggets, two feed samples, and one pond sediment were analyzed for PCDD, PCDF, and PCB. Farm-raised catfish from Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas contained significant levels of 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD and PCDF. In addition, a large number of non-2,3,7,8-substituted congeners were present in all samples. The catfish fillets and catfish nuggets also contained high concentrations of dioxin-like PCB, as well as a number of non-dioxin-like PCB. The TEQ based on PCDD and PCDF ranged from 9.5 to 43.0 pg/g lipid and the TEQ based on PCB ranged from 0.45 to 4.9 pg/g lipid for all catfish samples. The dioxin-like PCB contributed 4-16% to the total TEQ (PCDD/PCDF/PCB) for the catfish samples. The major source for the PCDD, PCDF, and PCB appears to be from feed and not from pond sediment. Immunoreactive CYP1A protein was elevated 2.5 fold in the pond-raised catfish compared to the aquarium-raised one. The results of this study suggest that the PCDD/PCDF are more important than the PCB in the CYP1A induction."}
{"id": "MED-1961", "text": "Dioxins and related compounds are undesirable and unintended contaminants in the food supply, and dietary intake is the major route of exposure. Reducing dietary exposure to dioxins among the most vulnerable segments of the population (i.e., pregnant women, infants, and young girls) is an effective strategy for reducing body burdens in future generations. Exposure to dioxins through foods can be minimized by selecting lower-fat versions of meats, poultry, and dairy products. Consuming all foods, including fatty fish, in recommended amounts is congruent with the goal of reducing dioxin intake exposure and maintaining good health."}
{"id": "MED-1962", "text": "The concentrations of the 2,3,7,8-Cl substituted dibenzo-p-dioxins/-furans (PCDDs/PCDFs) were determined in the edible tissues of whole chicken fryers and compared with the values found in their abdominal fat. The values are presented both on a whole weight basis and on a lipid adjusted basis for each tissue. While there is a marked difference in the concentration of the 2,3,7,8-dibenzo-p-dioxins in the edible tissues expressed on a whole weight basis, the lipid-adjusted concentrations of the individual dioxins were not statistically different in the various tissues. This validates the use of lipid adjusted concentrations of 2,3,7,8-PCDDs/PCDFs in abdominal fat for the determination of the presence of these compounds in different tissues."}
{"id": "MED-1963", "text": "In 1994, we analyzed 43 foodstuff samples from local supermarkets in southern Mississippi, USA, for PCDD/PCDF. 2,3,7,8-Cl4DD could be quantified in 31 of these samples. On a lipid basis, levels in meat (0.53-1.10 pg I-TEQ/g) and dairy products (0.42-1.10 pg I-TEQ/g) were slightly lower than those reported from other industrialized countries. While levels in dairy samples from the United States and Europe are comparable, there is a difference in the contribution of individual congeners to the I-TEQ: for example, in milk samples from Germany approximately 40% of the I-TEQ is due to the presence of 2,3, 4,7,8-Cl5DF while in the Mississippi samples this congener only contributes 16%. The highest concentrations of PCDD/PCDF in our study were detected in the farm-raised catfish (10.2-27.8 pg I-TEQ/g). A unique finding was that in addition to the 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD/PCDF the catfish samples contained many non-2,3,7,8-substituted congeners. This is unusual because vertebrate animals selectively eliminate or metabolize the non-2,3,7,8-substituted congeners."}
{"id": "MED-1966", "text": "Attempts to estimate the effects of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol by meta-analysis have not previously included baseline together with added dietary cholesterol in a mathematical model. Mean reported changes in serum cholesterol from 27 studies in which controlled diets were supplied by a metabolic kitchen provided 76 data points, each weighted by the number of subjects in nonlinear regression. A good fit to the data (P less than 0.0005, and r = 0.617 between observed and predicted points) was given by the equation y = 1.22(e-0.00384 chi 0) (1-e-0.0136 chi) where y is the change in serum cholesterol (in mmol/L), chi is added dietary cholesterol, and chi 0 is baseline dietary cholesterol (both in mg/d). Possible reasons for the hyperbolic shape of the relationship between change in serum cholesterol and added dietary cholesterol, mechanisms for individual responsiveness to dietary cholesterol, and important implications regarding interpretation of prior studies and public health issues are discussed."}
{"id": "MED-1968", "text": "Our aim was to determine the effects of increasing amounts of dietary cholesterol (0-710 mg) on the postprandial plasma lipid responses and lipoprotein changes in normolipidemic human subjects. Ten subjects were fed five different test meals in a random order: one meal did not contain fat or cholesterol while the four others contained a fixed amount of lipids (45 g) and 0, 140, 280, and 710 mg cholesterol, respectively. Fasting and post-meal blood samples were obtained for 7 h. Large and small triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRL), low density (LDL), and high density (HDL) lipoproteins were isolated. Compared to the no-fat, no-cholesterol meal, the fat-enriched meals raised (P < 0.05) plasma triglycerides, phospholipids, and free cholesterol and lowered cholesteryl esters postprandially. The meals containing zero or 140 mg cholesterol generally elicited comparable postprandial plasma and lipoprotein lipid responses. The meals providing 280 or 710 mg cholesterol significantly increased postprandial plasma phospholipids and large TRL triglycerides and decreased plasma esterified cholesterol. The lipid composition of the large TRLs and the concentrations of the small TRL lipid components were not altered postprandially by cholesterol intake. On the other hand, LDL free cholesterol increased after 3 h, LDL cholesteryl esters dropped after 3 and 7 h, HDL cholesteryl esters dropped after 3 h, and HDL phospholipids increased 7 h after ingesting meals highly enriched in cholesterol. Blood insulin, apoA-I and apoB were not altered postprandially by cholesterol intake. Thus, the data show that ingesting more than 140 mg cholesterol per meal significantly alters the postprandial lipoprotein response in healthy subjects."}
{"id": "MED-1977", "text": "Reports have documented colonization of swine in Europe, North America and more recently in China with livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA). Contamination of pig farmers, veterinarians and abattoir workers with these strains has been observed. However, although contamination levels of 10% of retail pork were reported from the Netherlands and Canada, there are limited data of contamination rates of workers handling raw meat. We investigated the rates of MRSA contamination of local butchers working in wet markets, where recently slaughtered pigs are cut up. Nasal swabs collected from 300 pork butchers at markets throughout Hong Kong were enriched in brain heart infusion broth with 5% salt and cultured on MRSASelect(\u00ae) . Isolates were confirmed as Staphylococcus aureus and susceptibility testing performed. The presence of mecA was confirmed, SCCmec and spa type determined and relatedness investigated by PFGE. Subjects completed a questionnaire on MRSA carriage risk factors. Seventeen samples (5.6%) yielded MRSA, 15 harbouring SCCmec IVb. Ten strains were t899 (CC9), previously reported from local pig carcasses. Five strains were healthcare associated: SCCmec type II, t701(CC6), colonizing two subjects at the same establishment, and single isolates of t008 (CC8), t002 (CC5) and t123 (CC45). The remaining isolates were t359 (CC97), previously reported from buffaloes, and t375 (CC5), reported from bovine milk. None of these butchers reported recent hospitalization or a healthcare worker in the family. Two had recently received antibiotics, one for a skin infection. Four reported wound infections within the last year. All were exposed to meat for >9 h per day. Carriage of MRSA was higher in butchers than in the general community. Although five strains were probably of healthcare origin, the high incidence of t899 (CC9) suggests that cross-contamination from pork occurs frequently. Washing of hands after touching raw pork is advised. \u00a9 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH."}
{"id": "MED-1978", "text": "Context Nearly 80% of antibiotics in the United States are sold for use in livestock feeds. The manure produced by these livestock contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resistance genes, and antibiotics, and is subsequently applied to crop fields where it may put community members at risk for antibiotic-resistant infections. Objective To assess the association between individual exposure to swine and dairy/veal industrial agriculture and risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. Design, Setting, and Participants A population-based, nested case-control study of Geisinger primary care patients in Pennsylvania from 2005\u20132010. Incident MRSA cases were identified using electronic health records, classified as community-associated or healthcare-associated, and frequency-matched to randomly selected controls and patients with skin and soft tissue infection. Nutrient management plans were used to create two exposure variables: seasonal crop field manure application and number of livestock at the operation. In a sub-study we collected 200 isolates from patients stratified by location of diagnosis and proximity to livestock operations. Main outcome measures Community-associated MRSA, healthcare associated-MRSA, and skin and soft tissue infection status (with no history of MRSA) compared to controls. Results From 446,480 patients, 1539 community-associated MRSA, 1335 healthcare-associated MRSA, 2895 skin and soft tissue infection cases, and 2914 controls were included. After adjustment for MRSA risk factors, the highest quartile of swine crop field exposure was significantly associated with community-associated MRSA, healthcare-associated MRSA, and skin and soft tissue infection case status (adjusted odds ratio, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.13\u20131.69], 1.30 [95% CI, 1.05\u20131.61], and 1.37 [95% CI, 1.18\u20131.60], respectively); and there was a trend of increasing odds across quartiles for each outcome (all P for trend \u22640.01). There were similar but weaker associations of swine operations with community-associated MRSA and skin and soft tissue infection. Molecular testing of 200 isolates identified 31 unique spa types, none of which corresponded to CC398, but some have been previously found in swine. Conclusion Proximity to swine manure application to crop fields and livestock operations each was associated with MRSA and skin and soft tissue infection. These findings contribute to the growing concern about the potential public health impacts of high-density livestock production."}
{"id": "MED-1979", "text": "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major global public health concern and could be a food safety issue. Recurrent reports have documented that pig herds are an important reservoir for MRSA, specifically the livestock-associated sequence type 398. The high prevalence of MRSA in pig primary production facilities and the frequent detection of MRSA of the same types in pork and pig meat products raise the question of underlying mechanisms behind the introduction and transmission of MRSA along the pork production chain. A comprehensive review of current literature on the worldwide presence of livestock-associated MRSA in various steps of the pork production chain revealed that the slaughter process plays a decisive role in MRSA transmission from farm to fork. Superficial heat treatments such as scalding and flaming during the slaughter process can significantly reduce the burden of MRSA on the carcasses. However, recontamination with MRSA might occur via surface treating machinery, as a result of fecal contamination at evisceration, or via increased human handling during meat processing. By optimizing processes for carcass decontamination and avoiding recontamination by effective cleaning and personal hygiene management, transmission of MRSA from pig to pork can be minimized."}
{"id": "MED-1980", "text": "Enterobacterial strains producing clavulanic-acid-inhibited extended-spectrum \u03b2-lactamases (ESBLs) are increasingly reported worldwide. Conventional detection of ESBL production remains time-consuming (24 to 48 h). Therefore, the ESBL NDP (Nordmann/Dortet/Poirel) test was developed for a rapid identification of ESBLs in Enterobacteriaceae. This biochemical test was based on the in vitro detection of a cephalosporin (cefotaxime) hydrolysis that is inhibited by tazobactam addition. The ESBL activity was evidenced by a color change (red to yellow) of a pH indicator (red phenol) due to carboxyl-acid formation resulting from cefotaxime hydrolysis that was reversed by addition of tazobactam (positive test). The ESBL NDP test was applied to cultured strains (215 ESBL producers and 40 ESBL nonproducers). Its sensitivity and specificity were 92.6% and 100%, respectively. Its sensitivity (100%) was excellent for detection of CTX-M producers. A few ESBL producers (n = 16) that remained susceptible to cefotaxime were not detected. The test was also evaluated on spiked blood cultures and showed excellent sensitivity and specificity (100% for both). The test was rapid (less than 1 h) and cost-effective. It can be implemented in any health care facility and is well adapted for infection control purposes in particular."}
{"id": "MED-1981", "text": "The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society; the consequences affect everybody in the world. Similarities with climate change are evident. Many efforts have been made to describe the many different facets of antibiotic resistance and the interventions needed to meet the challenge. However, coordinated action is largely absent, especially at the political level, both nationally and internationally. Antibiotics paved the way for unprecedented medical and societal developments, and are today indispensible in all health systems. Achievements in modern medicine, such as major surgery, organ transplantation, treatment of preterm babies, and cancer chemotherapy, which we today take for granted, would not be possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections. Within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially, and economically, unless real and unprecedented global coordinated actions are immediately taken. Here, we describe the global situation of antibiotic resistance, its major causes and consequences, and identify key areas in which action is urgently needed. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-1982", "text": "In a study of 40 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriers, hand contamination was equally likely after contact with commonly examined skin sites and commonly touched environmental surfaces in patient rooms (40% vs 45%). These findings suggest that contaminated surfaces may be an important source of MRSA transmission."}
{"id": "MED-1983", "text": "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a pathogen that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and has been isolated at low population numbers in retail meat products. The objectives of this study were to estimate the potential transfer of MRSA from contaminated retail pork products to food contact surfaces and to estimate the potential for human exposure to MRSA by contact with those contaminated surfaces. Pork loins, bacon, and fresh pork sausage were inoculated with a four-strain mixed MRSA culture over a range of populations from approximately 4 to 8 log, vacuum packaged, and stored for 2 weeks at 5\u00b0C to simulate normal packaging and distribution. Primary transfer was determined by placing inoculated products on knife blades, cutting boards, and a human skin model (pork skin) for 5 min. Secondary transfer was determined by placing an inoculated product on the contact surface, removing it, and then placing the secondary contact surface on the initial contact surface. A pork skin model was used to simulate transfer to human skin by placing it into contact with the contact surface. The percentages of transfer for primary transfer from the inoculated products to the cutting board ranged from 39 to 49%, while the percentages of transfer to the knife ranged from 17 to 42%. The percentages of transfer from the inoculated products to the pork skin ranged from 26 to 36%. The secondary transfer percentages ranged from 2.2 to 5.2% across all products and contact surfaces. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in the amounts of transfer between transfer surfaces and across cell concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-1985", "text": "The relationship between diet and attained height was studied in children and adolescents in Southern California. Diet pattern was determined from an extensive food frequency questionnaire in 1765 Caucasian children of 7-18 years, attending state schools (452 m and 443 f) and Seventh-day Adventist schools (427 m and 443 f). The major difference in diet pattern between state and Adventist school children was in meat consumption. The Adventist children were split evenly between three categories of frequency in meat consumption (less than 1/week, 1/week-less than 1/d, and greater than or equal to 1/d), while 92 percent of state school children consumed meat daily. Vegetarians (those consuming meat less than 1/week) differed significantly in the consumption of other major food groups, such as fruit and vegetables. All school and diet subgroups were at or above the 50th percentile of the National Center for Health Statistics. Age-adjusted regression analysis showed that on average Adventist vegetarian children were taller than their meat-consuming classmates (2.5 and 2.0 cm for boys and girls, respectively). These results did not change materially when adjusting for other food groups. Nor did adjustment for parental height and socioeconomic factors in a sub-sample of 518 children. The results indicate that vegetarian children and adolescents on a balanced diet grow at least as tall as children who consume meat."}
{"id": "MED-1986", "text": "BACKGROUND: Overweight in adults is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In contrast, the long-term effect of overweight in adolescence on morbidity and mortality is not known. METHODS: We studied the relation between overweight and morbidity and mortality in 508 lean or overweight adolescents 13 to 18 years old who participated in the Harvard Growth Study of 1922 to 1935. Overweight adolescents were defined as those with a body-mass index that on two occasions was greater than the 75th percentile in subjects of the same age and sex in a large national survey. Lean adolescents were defined as those with a body-mass index between the 25th and 50th percentiles. Subjects who were still alive were interviewed in 1988 to obtain information about their medical history, weight, functional capacity, and other risk factors. For those who had died, information on the cause of death was obtained from death certificates. RESULTS: Overweight in adolescent subjects was associated with an increased risk of mortality from all causes and disease-specific mortality among men, but not among women. The relative risks among men were 1.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.2 to 2.7; P = 0.004) for mortality from all causes and 2.3 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.4 to 4.1; P = 0.002) for mortality from coronary heart disease. The risk of morbidity from coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis was increased among men and women who had been overweight in adolescence. The risk of colorectal cancer and gout was increased among men and the risk of arthritis was increased among women who had been overweight in adolescence. Overweight in adolescence was a more powerful predictor of these risks than overweight in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight in adolescence predicted a broad range of adverse health effects that were independent of adult weight after 55 years of follow-up."}
{"id": "MED-1987", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Over the last 3 decades, the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically in North America, ushering in a variety of health problems, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which previously was not typically seen until much later in life. This technical report describes, in detail, the procedures undertaken to develop the recommendations given in the accompanying clinical practice guideline, \"Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Children and Adolescents,\" and provides in-depth information about the rationale for the recommendations and the studies used to make the clinical practice guideline's recommendations. METHODS: A primary literature search was conducted relating to the treatment of T2DM in children and adolescents, and a secondary literature search was conducted relating to the screening and treatment of T2DM's comorbidities in children and adolescents. Inclusion criteria were prospectively and unanimously agreed on by members of the committee. An article was eligible for inclusion if it addressed treatment (primary search) or 1 of 4 comorbidities (secondary search) of T2DM, was published in 1990 or later, was written in English, and included an abstract. Only primary research inquiries were considered; review articles were considered if they included primary data or opinion. The research population had to constitute children and/or adolescents with an existing diagnosis of T2DM; studies of adult patients were considered if at least 10% of the study population was younger than 35 years. All retrieved titles, abstracts, and articles were reviewed by the consulting epidemiologist. RESULTS: Thousands of articles were retrieved and considered in both searches on the basis of the aforementioned criteria. From those, in the primary search, 199 abstracts were identified for possible inclusion, 58 of which were retained for systematic review. Five of these studies were classified as grade A studies, 1 as grade B, 20 as grade C, and 32 as grade D. Articles regarding treatment of T2DM selected for inclusion were divided into 4 major subcategories on the basis of type of treatment being discussed: (1) medical treatments (32 studies); (2) nonmedical treatments (9 studies); (3) provider behaviors (8 studies); and (4) social issues (9 studies). From the secondary search, an additional 336 abstracts relating to comorbidities were identified for possible inclusion, of which 26 were retained for systematic review. These articles included the following: 1 systematic review of literature regarding comorbidities of T2DM in adolescents; 5 expert opinions presenting global recommendations not based on evidence; 5 cohort studies reporting natural history of disease and comorbidities; 3 with specific attention to comorbidity patterns in specific ethnic groups (case-control, cohort, and clinical report using adult literature); 3 reporting an association between microalbuminuria and retinopathy (2 case-control, 1 cohort); 3 reporting the prevalence of nephropathy (cohort); 1 reporting peripheral vascular disease (case series); 2 discussing retinopathy (1 case-control, 1 position statement); and 3 addressing hyperlipidemia (American Heart Association position statement on cardiovascular risks; American Diabetes Association consensus statement; case series). A breakdown of grade of recommendation shows no grade A studies, 10 grade B studies, 6 grade C studies, and 10 grade D studies. With regard to screening and treatment recommendations for comorbidities, data in children are scarce, and the available literature is conflicting. Therapeutic recommendations for hypertension, dyslipidemia, retinopathy, microalbuminuria, and depression were summarized from expert guideline documents and are presented in detail in the guideline. The references are provided, but the committee did not independently assess the supporting evidence. Screening tools are provided in the Supplemental Information."}
{"id": "MED-1988", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review recent literature on important topics in pediatric office practice: bullying, screening for the prediabetic state, and pediatric oral health. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent literature shows that bullying behaviors are common in children as young as kindergarten age, that there is a strong association between being a bully or victim and a range of psychosomatic and depressive symptoms in children, and that interventions including family therapy and school-based programs are effective for bullies and victims. Recent studies have further delineated glucose and insulin metabolism. Recent work has provided new models to help practitioners screen for the prediabetic state in hope of providing earlier opportunities to intervene and avoid the morbidities associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Recent literature emphasizes continued gaps in dental healthcare for patients who are most at risk. Recent studies emphasize the important role that diet and sealants have in preventing dental caries. SUMMARY: Recent literature emphasizes the important role that office-based pediatricians have in identifying patients who are involved in bullying, at risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, or have poor dental health. Future research will help delineate these problems and provide us with refined primary prevention and treatment guidelines."}
{"id": "MED-1990", "text": "BACKGROUND: The optimal target range for blood glucose in critically ill patients remains unclear. METHODS: Within 24 hours after admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), adults who were expected to require treatment in the ICU on 3 or more consecutive days were randomly assigned to undergo either intensive glucose control, with a target blood glucose range of 81 to 108 mg per deciliter (4.5 to 6.0 mmol per liter), or conventional glucose control, with a target of 180 mg or less per deciliter (10.0 mmol or less per liter). We defined the primary end point as death from any cause within 90 days after randomization. RESULTS: Of the 6104 patients who underwent randomization, 3054 were assigned to undergo intensive control and 3050 to undergo conventional control; data with regard to the primary outcome at day 90 were available for 3010 and 3012 patients, respectively. The two groups had similar characteristics at baseline. A total of 829 patients (27.5%) in the intensive-control group and 751 (24.9%) in the conventional-control group died (odds ratio for intensive control, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.28; P=0.02). The treatment effect did not differ significantly between operative (surgical) patients and nonoperative (medical) patients (odds ratio for death in the intensive-control group, 1.31 and 1.07, respectively; P=0.10). Severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose level, < or = 40 mg per deciliter [2.2 mmol per liter]) was reported in 206 of 3016 patients (6.8%) in the intensive-control group and 15 of 3014 (0.5%) in the conventional-control group (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in the median number of days in the ICU (P=0.84) or hospital (P=0.86) or the median number of days of mechanical ventilation (P=0.56) or renal-replacement therapy (P=0.39). CONCLUSIONS: In this large, international, randomized trial, we found that intensive glucose control increased mortality among adults in the ICU: a blood glucose target of 180 mg or less per deciliter resulted in lower mortality than did a target of 81 to 108 mg per deciliter. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00220987.) 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society"}
{"id": "MED-1991", "text": "The objective of this article is to review the epidemiologic literature examining the role of plant foods and plant-based diets in the prevention of childhood obesity. Available data suggest a protective effect of ready-to-eat cereal on risk of obesity, although prospective studies are still needed. Studies on fruit and vegetables; grains other than cereal; high-protein foods, including beans, legumes, and soy; fiber; and plant-based dietary patterns are inconsistent or generally null. The evidence base is limited, and most studies are fraught with methodologic limitations, including cross-sectional design, inadequate adjustment for potential confounders, and lack of consideration of reporting errors, stage of growth, and genetic influences. Well-designed prospective studies are needed. The lack of evidence showing an association between plant-based diets and childhood obesity does not mean that such diets should not be encouraged. Plant foods are highlighted in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and children do not meet the current recommendations for most plant foods. Although the advice to consume a plant-based, low-energy-dense diet is sound, ethical questions arise concerning the relatively high price of these diets in the United States and the way in which such diets are perceived in other parts of the world. Reducing the burden of childhood obesity, eliminating health disparities, and preventing the further spread of the disease around the globe will require not only policy interventions to ensure that plant foods are affordable and accessible to children of all income levels but also awareness of sociocultural norms that affect consumption."}
{"id": "MED-1992", "text": "Summary Prediabetes (or \u201cintermediate hyperglycaemia\u201d), based on glycaemic parameters above normal but below diabetes thresholds is a high risk state for diabetes with an annualized conversion rate of 5%\u201310%; with similar proportion converting back to normoglycaemia. The prevalence of prediabetes is increasing worldwide and it is projected that >470 million people will have prediabetes in 2030. Prediabetes is associated with the simultaneous presence of insulin resistance and \u03b2-cell dysfunction, abnormalities that start before glucose changes are detectable. Observational evidence shows associations of prediabetes with early forms of nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, small fibre neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and increased risk of macrovascular disease. Multifactorial risk scores could optimize the estimation of diabetes risk using non-invasive parameters and blood-based metabolic traits in addition to glycaemic values. For prediabetic individuals, lifestyle modification is the cornerstone of diabetes prevention with evidence of a 40%\u201370% relative risk reduction. Accumulating data also suggests potential benefits from pharmacotherapy."}
{"id": "MED-1993", "text": "Type 2 diabetes mellitus is emerging as a new clinical problem within pediatric practice. Recent reports indicate an increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents around the world in all ethnicities, even if the prevalence of obesity is not increasing any more. The majority of young people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus was found in specific ethnic subgroups such as African-American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islanders and American Indians. Clinicians should be aware of the frequent mild or asymptomatic manifestation of type 2 diabetes mellitus in childhood. Therefore, a screening seems meaningful especially in high risk groups such as children and adolescents with obesity, relatives with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and clinical features of insulin resistance (hypertension, dyslipidemia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or acanthosis nigricans). Treatment of choice is lifestyle intervention followed by pharmacological treatment (e.g., metformin). New drugs such as dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors or glucagon like peptide 1 mimetics are in the pipeline for treatment of youth with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, recent reports indicate a high dropout of the medical care system of adolescents with type 2 diabetes mellitus suggesting that management of children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes mellitus requires some remodeling of current healthcare practices."}
{"id": "MED-1994", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The prevalence of obesity in youth is increasing alarmingly among children and adolescents in the United States. The problem falls disproportionately on African-American and Hispanic children. Many of the metabolic and cardiovascular complications associated with obesity are already present during childhood and are closely linked to the concomitant insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia and degree of obesity. Moreover, these co-morbidities persist into adulthood. RECENT FINDINGS: The progression from normal glucose tolerance to type 2 diabetes mellitus involves an intermediate stage known as prediabetes or impaired glucose regulation. Prediabetes is characterized by peripheral insulin-resistance and impaired glucose sensitivity of first-phase insulin secretion. On the other hand, in overt type 2 diabetes mellitus beta-cell failure becomes fully manifested. Progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes mellitus in youth is characterized by marked weight gain and further reduction in insulin secretion and insulin resistance. SUMMARY: Reverting obesity through lifestyle modification, that involves nutrition education, behavior modification and exercise, is an important step to prevent the progression to diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-1996", "text": "Until recently, the majority of cases of diabetes mellitus among children and adolescents were immune-mediated type 1a diabetes. Obesity has led to a dramatic increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among children and adolescents over the past 2 decades. Obesity is strongly associated with insulin resistance, which, when coupled with relative insulin deficiency, leads to the development of overt T2DM. Children and adolescents with T2DM may experience the microvascular and macrovascular complications of this disease at younger ages than individuals who develop diabetes in adulthood, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, stroke, myocardial infarction, and sudden death; renal insufficiency and chronic renal failure; limb-threatening neuropathy and vasculopathy; and retinopathy leading to blindness. Health care professionals are advised to perform the appropriate screening in children at risk for T2DM, diagnose the condition as early as possible, and provide rigorous management of the disease."}
{"id": "MED-1997", "text": "The increased prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is not unique to industrialized societies; dramatic increases are occurring in urbanized areas of developing countries. In light of the consensus that obesity is a significant public health concern and that many weight-loss interventions have been unsuccessful in the long term, an exploration of food patterns that are beneficial in the primary prevention of obesity is warranted. The focus of this article is to review the relation between vegetarian diets and obesity, particularly as they relate to childhood obesity. Epidemiologic studies indicate that vegetarian diets are associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and a lower prevalence of obesity in adults and children. A meta-analysis of adult vegetarian diet studies estimated a reduced weight difference of 7.6 kg for men and 3.3 kg for women, which resulted in a 2-point lower BMI (in kg/m(2)). Similarly, compared with nonvegetarians, vegetarian children are leaner, and their BMI difference becomes greater during adolescence. Studies exploring the risk of overweight and food groups and dietary patterns indicate that a plant-based diet seems to be a sensible approach for the prevention of obesity in children. Plant-based diets are low in energy density and high in complex carbohydrate, fiber, and water, which may increase satiety and resting energy expenditure. Plant-based dietary patterns should be encouraged for optimal health and environmental benefits. Food policies are warranted to support social marketing messages and to reduce the cultural and economic forces that make it difficult to promote plant-based dietary patterns."}
{"id": "MED-1998", "text": "The growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of premature morbidity and mortality worldwide, mainly due to the micro- and macrovascular complications associated with the disease. A growing body of evidence suggests that although the risk of developing complications is greater with glucose levels beyond the established threshold for diagnosis--increasing in parallel with rising hyperglycemia-individuals with glucose levels in the prediabetic range are already at increased risk. Early intervention, ideally as soon as abnormalities in glucose homeostasis are detected, is of great importance to minimize the burden of the disease. However, as the early stages of the disease are asymptomatic, diagnosing prediabetes and early overt type 2 diabetes is challenging. The aim of this article is to discuss these challenges, the benefits of early intervention--with emphasis on the prevention trials showing that progression to type 2 diabetes can be delayed by addressing prediabetes--and the existing evidence-based guidelines that have been drawn to optimize the standards of care at the prediabetes and overt type 2 diabetes stages. Copyright \u00a9 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-1999", "text": "Diabetes is a major and growing public health challenge which threatens to overwhelm medical services in the future. Type 2 diabetes confers significant morbidity and mortality, most notably with target organ damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves and heart. The magnitude of cardiovascular risk associated with diabetes is best illustrated by its position as a coronary heart disease risk equivalent. Complications related to neuropathy are also vast, often working in concert with vascular abnormalities and resulting in serious clinical consequences such as foot ulceration. Increased understanding of the natural history of this disorder has generated the potential to intervene and halt pathological progression before overt disease ensues, after which point management becomes increasingly challenging. The concept of prediabetes as a formal diagnosis has begun to be translated from the research setting to clinical practice, but with continually updated guidelines, varied nomenclature, emerging pharmacotherapies and an ever-changing evidence base, clinicians may be left uncertain of best practice in identifying and managing patients at the prediabetic stage. This review aims to summarize the epidemiological data, new concepts in disease pathogenesis and guideline recommendations in addition to lifestyle, pharmacological and surgical therapies targeted at stopping progression of prediabetes to diabetes. While antidiabetic medications, with newer anti-obesity medications and interventional bariatric procedures have shown some promising benefits, diet and therapeutic lifestyle change remains the mainstay of management to improve the metabolic profile of individuals with glucose dysregulation. New risk stratification tools to identify at-risk individuals, coupled with unselected population level intervention hold promise in future practice."}
{"id": "MED-2000", "text": "Background People with diabetes can suffer from diverse complications that seriously erode quality of life. Diabetes, costing the United States more than $174 billion per year in 2007, is expected to take an increasingly large financial toll in subsequent years. Accurate projections of diabetes burden are essential to policymakers planning for future health care needs and costs. Methods Using data on prediabetes and diabetes prevalence in the United States, forecasted incidence, and current US Census projections of mortality and migration, the authors constructed a series of dynamic models employing systems of difference equations to project the future burden of diabetes among US adults. A three-state model partitions the US population into no diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes, and diagnosed diabetes. A four-state model divides the state of \"no diabetes\" into high-risk (prediabetes) and low-risk (normal glucose) states. A five-state model incorporates an intervention designed to prevent or delay diabetes in adults at high risk. Results The authors project that annual diagnosed diabetes incidence (new cases) will increase from about 8 cases per 1,000 in 2008 to about 15 in 2050. Assuming low incidence and relatively high diabetes mortality, total diabetes prevalence (diagnosed and undiagnosed cases) is projected to increase from 14% in 2010 to 21% of the US adult population by 2050. However, if recent increases in diabetes incidence continue and diabetes mortality is relatively low, prevalence will increase to 33% by 2050. A middle-ground scenario projects a prevalence of 25% to 28% by 2050. Intervention can reduce, but not eliminate, increases in diabetes prevalence. Conclusions These projected increases are largely attributable to the aging of the US population, increasing numbers of members of higher-risk minority groups in the population, and people with diabetes living longer. Effective strategies will need to be undertaken to moderate the impact of these factors on national diabetes burden. Our analysis suggests that widespread implementation of reasonably effective preventive interventions focused on high-risk subgroups of the population can considerably reduce, but not eliminate, future increases in diabetes prevalence."}
{"id": "MED-2001", "text": "In 2010, approximately one in three U.S. adults aged\u226520 years (an estimated 79 million persons) had prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose or hemoglobin A1c (A1c) levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Persons with prediabetes are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90%-95% of all cases of diabetes. Each year, 11% of persons with prediabetes who do not lose weight and do not engage in moderate physical activity will progress to type 2 diabetes during the average 3 years of follow-up. Evidence-based lifestyle programs that encourage dietary changes, moderate-intensity physical activity, and modest weight loss can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes in persons with prediabetes. Identifying persons with prediabetes and informing them about their increased risk for type 2 diabetes are first steps in encouraging persons with prediabetes to make healthy lifestyle changes. However, during 2005-2006, only approximately 7% of persons with prediabetes were aware that they had prediabetes. To examine recent changes in awareness of prediabetes and factors associated with awareness among adults aged\u226520 years, CDC analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, during 2009-2010, approximately 11% of those with prediabetes were aware of their condition. Furthermore, during 2005-2010, estimated awareness of prediabetes was <14% across all population subgroups, different levels of health-care access or use, and other factors. In the United States, persons with prediabetes, including those with regular access to health care, might benefit from efforts aimed at making them aware that they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and that they can reduce that risk by making modest lifestyle changes. Efforts are needed to increase awareness."}
{"id": "MED-2002", "text": "BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasingly common, primarily because of increases in the prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. Whether type 2 diabetes can be prevented by interventions that affect the lifestyles of subjects at high risk for the disease is not known. METHODS: We randomly assigned 522 middle-aged, overweight subjects (172 men and 350 women; mean age, 55 years; mean body-mass index [weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 31) with impaired glucose tolerance to either the intervention group or the control group. Each subject in the intervention group received individualized counseling aimed at reducing weight, total intake of fat, and intake of saturated fat and increasing intake of fiber and physical activity. An oral glucose-tolerance test was performed annually; the diagnosis of diabetes was confirmed by a second test. The mean duration of follow-up was 3.2 years. RESULTS: The mean (+/-SD) amount of weight lost between base line and the end of year 1 was 4.2+/-5.1 kg in the intervention group and 0.8+/-3.7 kg in the control group; the net loss by the end of year 2 was 3.5+/-5.5 kg in the intervention group and 0.8+/-4.4 kg in the control group (P<0.001 for both comparisons between the groups). The cumulative incidence of diabetes after four years was 11 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 6 to 15 percent) in the intervention group and 23 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 17 to 29 percent) in the control group. During the trial, the risk of diabetes was reduced by 58 percent (P<0.001) in the intervention group. The reduction in the incidence of diabetes was directly associated with changes in lifestyle. CONCLUSIONS: Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by changes in the lifestyles of high-risk subjects."}
{"id": "MED-2003", "text": "Background Type 2 diabetes affects approximately 8 percent of adults in the United States. Some risk factors \u2014 elevated plasma glucose concentrations in the fasting state and after an oral glucose load, over-weight, and a sedentary lifestyle \u2014 are potentially reversible. We hypothesized that modifying these factors with a lifestyle-intervention program or the administration of metformin would prevent or delay the development of diabetes. Methods We randomly assigned 3234 nondiabetic persons with elevated fasting and post-load plasma glucose concentrations to placebo, metformin (850 mg twice daily), or a lifestyle-modification program with the goals of at least a 7 percent weight loss and at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. The mean age of the participants was 51 years, and the mean body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) was 34.0; 68 percent were women, and 45 percent were members of minority groups. Results The average follow-up was 2.8 years. The incidence of diabetes was 11.0, 7.8, and 4.8 cases per 100 person-years in the placebo, metformin, and lifestyle groups, respectively. The lifestyle intervention reduced the incidence by 58 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 48 to 66 percent) and metformin by 31 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 17 to 43 percent), as compared with placebo; the lifestyle intervention was significantly more effective than metformin. To prevent one case of diabetes during a period of three years, 6.9 persons would have to participate in the lifestyle-intervention program, and 13.9 would have to receive metformin. Conclusions Lifestyle changes and treatment with metformin both reduced the incidence of diabetes in persons at high risk. The lifestyle intervention was more effective than metformin."}
{"id": "MED-2004", "text": "The incidence and prevalence of diabetes (primarily type 2 diabetes) has risen sharply since 1990. It is projected to increase another 64% between 2010 and 2025, affecting 53.1 million people and resulting in medical and societal costs of a half trillion dollars a year. We know how to prevent many cases of diabetes and how to treat it effectively. Early appropriate treatment makes a significant difference in preventing major complications and reducing premature death, but it does not cure the disease. Early detection of prediabetes, in conjunction with lifestyle changes, can reduce the number of people with diabetes. A dramatic reduction in diabetes prevalence over time will require significant lifestyle changes on the part of society as a whole. The purpose of this study is to increase public awareness of the severity of regional diabetes trends by providing detailed forecasts for all states and several metropolitan areas for 2010, 2015, and 2025. A model was created to utilize the latest national diabetes and population data and projections, and to transform these into state and metropolitan area forecasts for the whole population and major subgroups. These forecasts were then summarized in easy-to-understand briefing papers for each state and selected metro areas, which are provided online for easy public access. This research is important because little data exist that project the future prevalence and potential costs of diabetes at the state and metro area level. With this data, key stakeholders can make informed decisions concerning diabetes, its impact on their communities, and resource allocation."}
{"id": "MED-2005", "text": "Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy extract an enormous toll on patients with diabetes and an enormous burden on the health care system. With aggressive control of glycemia and blood pressure, coupled with aggressive use of laser photocoagulation and treatment of microalbuminuria, these problems can largely be eliminated. In the future, specific interventions may emerge that will allow interdiction of the pathophysiologic processes that lead to initiation and progression of these microvascular complications. The challenge for the primary care physician and diabetologist is to attain excellent glycemic control and aggressive control of blood pressure, while assuring that every patient has appropriate dilated fundus examinations at least annually, preferably by an ophthalmologist or retinal specialist, and regular screening for microalbuminuria. With such medical management, appropriate intervention can occur to reduce the risk of blindness and renal failure and to lessen the burden from diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy."}
{"id": "MED-2006", "text": "Eisenberg's helical hydrophobic moment (less than mu H greater than) algorithm was applied to the analysis of the primary structure of amphipathic alpha-helical peptide hormones and an optimal method for identifying other peptides of this class determined. We quantitate and compare known amphipathic helical peptide hormones with a second group of peptides with proven nonamphipathic properties and determine the best method of distinguishing between them. The respective means of the maximum 11 residue less than mu H greater than for the amphipathic helical and control peptides were 0.46 (+/-/-0.07) and 0.33 (0.07) (P + 0.004). To better reflect the amphipathic potential of the entire peptide, the percent of 11 residue segments in each peptide above a particular less than mu H greater than was plotted vs less than mu H greater than. The resulting curves are referred to as HM-C. The mean HM-C (of the two groups) was highly significantly different such that the HM-C method was superior to others in its ability to distinguish amphipathic from nonamphipathic peptides. Several potential new members of this structural class were identified using this approach. Molecular modeling of a portion of one of these, prolactin inhibitory factor, reveals a strongly amphipathic alpha helix at residues 4-21. This computer-based method may enable rapid identification of peptides of the amphipathic alpha-helix class."}
{"id": "MED-2007", "text": "BACKGROUND: Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) are pre-diabetic states, treatment of which may prevent or delay the onset of overt diabetes and thus potentially reduce major cardiovascular (CV) events. We therefore sought to determine whether interventions (including diet, exercise and pharmacological therapy), altered all-cause and cardiovascular related mortality in such subjects. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of prospective, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that were identified in the medical literature and databases. Trials were eligible for inclusion if they reported all-cause mortality rates (at a minimum), recruited approximately 100 patients and had a minimum follow-up of one year. Interventions were divided into pharmacological and non-pharmacological. RESULTS: Ten RCTs that enrolled 23,152 patients met the above entry criteria. Trials ran for an average of 3.75 years. Diabetes was delayed or prevented by these interventions vs control (risk ratio 0.83, 95%CI 0.80-0.86). Non-drug approaches (n\u2009=\u20093495) were superior to drug-based approaches (n\u2009=\u200920,872) in diabetes prevention (0.52, 0.46-0.58 vs 0.70, 0.58-0.85, P\u2009<\u20090.05). There was no difference in risk of all-cause mortality in the intervention versus control group (0.96, 0.84-1.10) and no difference in CV death (1.04, 0.61-1.78). There was a non-significant trend towards reduction in fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction (0.59, 0.23-1.50). Fatal and non-fatal stroke was borderline reduced (0.76, 0.58-0.99) with intervention versus control. CONCLUSIONS: Despite interventions being mostly successful in retarding progression to overt diabetes, this did not result in reductions in all-cause or cardiovascular mortality, or myocardial infarction, with the possible exception of stroke."}
{"id": "MED-2008", "text": "Our purpose was to determine the effects of a pulse-based diet in individuals 50 years or older for reducing CVD risk factors. A total of 108 participants were randomised to receive pulse-based foods (two servings daily of beans, chickpeas, peas or lentils; about 150 g/d dry weight) or their regular diet for 2 months, followed by a washout of 1 month and a cross-over to the other diet for 2 months. Anthropometric measures, body composition and biochemical markers (i.e. serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), as the primary outcome, and other lipids, glucose, insulin and C-reactive protein) were assessed before and after each diet phase. A total of eighty-seven participants (thirty males and fifty-seven females; 59\u00b77 (sd 6\u00b73) years, body mass 76 (sd 16) kg) completed the study. Compared with the regular diet, the pulse-based diet decreased total cholesterol by 8\u00b73 % (pulse, 4\u00b757 (sd 0\u00b793) to 4\u00b711 (sd 0\u00b791) mmol/l; regular, 4\u00b747 (sd 0\u00b794) to 4\u00b739 (sd 0\u00b797) mmol/l; P < 0\u00b7001) and LDL-C by 7\u00b79 % (pulse, 2\u00b793 (sd 0\u00b784) to 2\u00b755 (sd 0\u00b775) mmol/l; regular, 2\u00b796 (sd 0\u00b786) to 2\u00b781 (sd 0\u00b783) mmol/l; P = 0\u00b701). In a sub-analysis of individuals with high lipid levels at baseline (twenty individuals with high cholesterol), the pulse-based diet reduced cholesterol by 6 % compared with the regular diet (pulse, 5\u00b762 (sd 0\u00b778) to 5\u00b726 (sd 0\u00b768) mmol/l; regular, 5\u00b760 (sd 0\u00b791) to 5\u00b757 (sd 0\u00b785) mmol/l; P = 0\u00b705). A pulse-based diet is effective for reducing total cholesterol and LDL-C in older adults and therefore reduces the risk of CVD."}
{"id": "MED-2009", "text": "Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop grown and consumed all over the world, especially in the Afro-Asian countries. It is a good source of carbohydrates and protein, and protein quality is considered to be better than other pulses. Chickpea has significant amounts of all the essential amino acids except sulphur-containing amino acids, which can be complemented by adding cereals to the daily diet. Starch is the major storage carbohydrate followed by dietary fibre, oligosaccharides and simple sugars such as glucose and sucrose. Although lipids are present in low amounts, chickpea is rich in nutritionally important unsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic and oleic acids. \u03b2-Sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol are important sterols present in chickpea oil. Ca, Mg, P and, especially, K are also present in chickpea seeds. Chickpea is a good source of important vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, folate and the vitamin A precursor \u03b2-carotene. As with other pulses, chickpea seeds also contain anti-nutritional factors which can be reduced or eliminated by different cooking techniques. Chickpea has several potential health benefits, and, in combination with other pulses and cereals, it could have beneficial effects on some of the important human diseases such as CVD, type 2 diabetes, digestive diseases and some cancers. Overall, chickpea is an important pulse crop with a diverse array of potential nutritional and health benefits."}
{"id": "MED-2010", "text": "Legumes (including alfalfa, clover, lupins, green beans and peas, peanuts, soybeans, dry beans, broad beans, dry peas, chickpeas, and lentils) represent an important component of the human diet in several areas of the world, especially in the developing countries, where they complement the lack of proteins from cereals, roots, and tubers. In some regions of the world, legume seeds are the only protein supply in the diet. The health benefits of legume consumption have received rising interest from researchers, and their consumption and production extends worldwide. Among European countries, higher legume consumption is observed around the Mediterranean, with per capita daily consumption between 8 and 23 g, while in Northern Europe, the daily consumption is less than 5 g per capita. The physiological effects of different legumes vary significantly. These differences may result from the polysaccharides composition, in particular, the quantity and variety of dietary fibers and starch, protein make-up, and variability in phytochemical content. The majority of legumes contain phytochemicals: bioactive compounds, including enzyme inhibitors, phytohemagglutinins (lectins), phytoestrogens, oligosaccharides, saponins, and phenolic compounds, which play metabolic roles in humans who frequently consume these foods. Dietary intake of phytochemicals may provide health benefits, protecting against numerous diseases or disorders, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and inflammation. The synergistic or antagonistic effects of these phytochemical mixtures from food legumes, their interaction with other components of the diet, and the mechanism of their action have remained a challenge with regard to understanding the role of phytochemicals in health and diseases. Their mitigating effects and the mechanism of their action need to be further addressed if we are to understand the role of phytochemicals in health and diseases. This review provides an overview of the nutritional quality of legumes and their potential contribution in cardiometabolic risk prevention."}
{"id": "MED-2011", "text": "The relationship between diet diversity and hypertension was examined in a cross-sectional exploratory study of 82 randomly selected adult residents of Saba Island, Netherlands Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean Basin. Blood pressure measurements, taken over 4 years, and the appropriate use of antihypertensive medications, were used to identify chronic hypertensives. A 24-hour dietary recall, semi-quantitative food frequency interviews, and ethnographic confirmation techniques were used to calculate diet diversity, a measure of the overall dietary pattern. Results suggest hypertension is associated with lack of an overall balance of food groups in the daily diet beyond any imbalance of a particular dietary cation such as sodium, potassium, or calcium. Bivariate analyses found a significant association between a poorly diversified diet and hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 4.25, 95 percent confidence intervals [CI] = 1.47,12.30). Dietary intake of sodium, potassium, and calcium was also examined and found not to be associated with the presence of hypertension in bivariate analyses. Including these cations individually in logistic regression models, which also included diet diversity, did not diminish the diet diversity-hypertension association. Multiple logistic regression models in which other potential confounding variables were individually entered as a control variable (body fat, skin color, age, sex, perceived stress, alcohol intake, aerobic activity, and socioeconomic status) did not alter this result. Analysis of the presence or absence of individual food groups indicate a lack of legumes in the daily diet is also associated with the diagnosis of hypertension (OR = 4.71, 95 percent CI = [1.71,13.01])."}
{"id": "MED-2013", "text": "As the gluten-free diet (GFD) gains in popularity with the general public, health practitioners are beginning to question its real health benefits. For those patients with celiac disease (CD), the GFD is considered medical nutrition therapy, as well as the only proven treatment that results in improvements in symptomatology and small bowel histology. Those with wheat allergy also benefit from the GFD, although these patients often do not need to restrict rye, barley, and oats from their diet. Gluten sensitivity is a controversial subject, where patients who have neither CD nor wheat allergy have varying degrees of symptomatic improvement on the GFD. Conditions in this category include dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and neurologic diseases such as gluten-sensitive ataxia and autism. It is important for patients and healthcare practitioners to understand the differences between these conditions, even though they may all respond to a GFD. Patients with CD can experience comorbid nutrition deficiencies and are at higher risk for the development of cancers and other autoimmune conditions. Those with wheat allergy and gluten sensitivity are thought not to be at higher risk for these complications. Defining the symptoms and biochemical markers for gluten-sensitive conditions is an important area for future investigations, and high-quality, large-scale randomized trials are needed to prove the true benefits of the GFD in this evolving field."}
{"id": "MED-2014", "text": "BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal symptoms that respond to the removal of wheat and/or gluten are becoming more common. Patients who avoid wheat and/or gluten (PWAWG) are a heterogeneous group and predominantly self-diagnosed prior to presenting for clinical evaluation. SPECIFIC AIM: We characterized PWAWGs seen at a tertiary care referral center and compared them to patients with celiac disease (CD) and subjects in the National Health and Nutrition examination survey (NHANES). METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study evaluating patients seen by four gastroenterologists at a CD referral center. Baseline characteristics, laboratory values, and medical comorbidities were compared to CD patients who presented at the same center and subjects enrolled in NHANES. RESULTS: Eighty-four PWAWGs were identified and compared to 585 CD patients and 2,686 NHANES patients. Thirty-two alternative diagnoses were made in 25 (30%) PWAWGs, including small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and fructose/lactose intolerance. When compared to patients with CD, PWAWGs had similar body mass index (BMI, 23.1 vs. 23.5, p = 0.54) and mean hemoglobin value (13.4 vs. 13.3, p = 0.6). When compared to male and female patients in NHANES, BMI, folate, and mean hemoglobin values were lower in PWAWGs. Both male and female PWAWGs had a lower prevalence of hypertension. CONCLUSION: While there are similarities between CD and PWAWGs that could possibly be due to shared HLA haplotypes or an effect of the gluten-free diet, alternative diagnoses are common in these patients. PWAWGs have a similar cardiovascular profile as CD patients in terms of lower BMI and lower prevalence of hypertension."}
{"id": "MED-2016", "text": "BACKGROUND: Coeliac disease is a common, autoimmune disorder, for which the only treatment is lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet. This study evaluates the economic burden of adhering to a gluten-free diet. METHODS: A market basket of products identified by name brand, weight or package size for both regular wheat-based products and gluten-free counterparts was developed. The differences in price between purchase venues, both type of store (general grocery store, an upscale grocery store and a health food store and four internet-based grocery sites) and region was also analysed. RESULTS: Availability of gluten-free products varied between the different venues, regular grocery stores carried 36%, while upscale markets carried 41%, and health food stores 94%, compared with 100% availability on the internet. Overall, every gluten-free product was more expensive than their wheat-based counterpart (P <or= 0.05). Bread and pasta was twice as expensive as their wheat-based counterparts. Cost was affected more by shopping venue than geographic location. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that gluten-free foods have poor availability and are more expensive than their gluten-containing counterparts. The impact of these findings on dietary compliance and the quality of life needs to be addressed."}
{"id": "MED-2018", "text": "A decade ago celiac disease was considered extremely rare outside Europe and, therefore, was almost completely ignored by health care professionals. In only 10 years, key milestones have moved celiac disease from obscurity into the popular spotlight worldwide. Now we are observing another interesting phenomenon that is generating great confusion among health care professionals. The number of individuals embracing a gluten-free diet (GFD) appears much higher than the projected number of celiac disease patients, fueling a global market of gluten-free products approaching $2.5 billion (US) in global sales in 2010. This trend is supported by the notion that, along with celiac disease, other conditions related to the ingestion of gluten have emerged as health care concerns. This review will summarize our current knowledge about the three main forms of gluten reactions: allergic (wheat allergy), autoimmune (celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis and gluten ataxia) and possibly immune-mediated (gluten sensitivity), and also outline pathogenic, clinical and epidemiological differences and propose new nomenclature and classifications."}
{"id": "MED-2019", "text": "Nine healthy volunteers were divided into a test group (n = 5) and a control group (n = 4). The test group consumed 3 grams per d of wheat gluten hydrolysate for 6 d, and their NK cell activity and hematological parameters were measured: The same assessments were performed in the control group, which did not receive wheat gluten hydrolysate. In the test group, NK cell activity increased significantly (P = 0.018) after wheat gluten hydrolysate intake. No adverse effects were observed in either group."}
{"id": "MED-2022", "text": "Epidemiological studies find that whole-grain intake is protective against cancer, CVD, diabetes, and obesity. Despite recommendations to consume three servings of whole grains daily, usual intake in Western countries is only about one serving/d. Whole grains are rich in nutrients and phytochemicals with known health benefits. Whole grains have high concentrations of dietary fibre, resistant starch, and oligosaccharides. Whole grains are rich in antioxidants including trace minerals and phenolic compounds and these compounds have been linked to disease prevention. Other protective compounds in whole grains include phytate, phyto-oestrogens such as lignan, plant stanols and sterols, and vitamins and minerals. Published whole-grain feeding studies report improvements in biomarkers with whole-grain consumption, such as weight loss, blood-lipid improvement, and antioxidant protection. Although it is difficult to separate the protective properties of whole grains from dietary fibre and other components, the disease protection seen from whole grains in prospective epidemiological studies far exceeds the protection from isolated nutrients and phytochemicals in whole grains."}
{"id": "MED-2024", "text": "Celiac disease (CD) is a gluten-dependent immune-mediated disease with a prevalence in the general population estimated between 0.3% and 1.2%. Large-scale epidemiological studies have shown that only 10-20% of cases of CD are identified on the basis of clinical findings and that laboratory tests are crucial to identify subjects with subtle or atypical symptoms. The correct choice and clinical use of these diagnostic tools may enable accurate diagnosis and early recognition of silent CD cases. In this review, we have considered some relevant aspects related to the laboratory diagnosis of CD and, more extensively, of gluten intolerance, such as the best combination of tests for early and accurate diagnosis, the diagnostic role of new tests for detecting antibodies against neoepitopes produced by the transglutaminase-gliadin complex, the forms of non-celiac gluten intolerance (gluten sensitivity), and the use and significance of measuring cytokines in CD."}
{"id": "MED-2026", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in the United States is unknown. We sought to estimate CD prevalence nationwide by using a nationally representative sample. METHODS: This study included 7,798 persons aged 6 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2010. Serum samples from all participants were tested for immunoglobulin A (IgA) tissue transglutaminase antibodies and, if findings were abnormal, also for IgA endomysial antibodies. Information about prior diagnosis of CD and use of a gluten-free diet (GFD) was obtained by direct interview. CD was defined as having either double-positive serology (serologically diagnosed CD) or a reported diagnosis of CD by a doctor or other health-care professional and being on a GFD (reported clinical diagnosis of CD). RESULTS: CD was found in 35 participants, 29 of whom were unaware of their diagnosis. Median age was 45 years (interquartile range, 23-66 years); 20 were women and 29 were non-Hispanic white. The prevalence of CD in the United States was 0.71% (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.58-0.86%), with 1.01% (95% CI, 0.78-1.31%) among non-Hispanic whites. In all, 55 participants reported following a GFD, which corresponded to a prevalence of 0.63% (95% CI, 0.36-1.07%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of CD in the United States was 0.71% (1 in 141), similar to that found in several European countries. However, most cases were undiagnosed. CD was rare among minority groups but affected 1% of non-Hispanic whites. Most persons who were following a GFD did not have a diagnosis of CD."}
{"id": "MED-2027", "text": "Background: Nonceliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), occurring in patients without celiac disease yet whose gastrointestinal symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet (GFD), is largely a self-reported diagnosis and would appear to be very common. The aims of this study were to characterize patients who believe they have NCGS. Materials and Methods: Advertising was directed toward adults who believed they had NCGS and were willing to participate in a clinical trial. Respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire about symptoms, diet, and celiac investigation. Results: Of 248 respondents, 147 completed the survey. Mean age was 43.5 years, and 130 were women. Seventy-two percent did not meet the description of NCGS due to inadequate exclusion of celiac disease (62%), uncontrolled symptoms despite gluten restriction (24%), and not following a GFD (27%), alone or in combination. The GFD was self-initiated in 44% of respondents; in other respondents it was prescribed by alternative health professionals (21%), dietitians (19%), and general practitioners (16%). No celiac investigations had been performed in 15% of respondents. Of 75 respondents who had duodenal biopsies, 29% had no or inadequate gluten intake at the time of endoscopy. Inadequate celiac investigation was common if the GFD was initiated by self (69%), alternative health professionals (70%), general practitioners (46%), or dietitians (43%). In 40 respondents who fulfilled the criteria for NCGS, their knowledge of and adherence to the GFD were excellent, and 65% identified other food intolerances. Conclusions: Just over 1 in 4 respondents self-reporting as NCGS fulfill criteria for its diagnosis. Initiation of a GFD without adequate exclusion of celiac disease is common. In 1 of 4 respondents, symptoms are poorly controlled despite gluten avoidance. \u00a9 2014 American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-2029", "text": "A large national investigation into the extent of gluten cross-contamination of naturally gluten-free ingredients (flours and starches) sold in Canada was performed. Samples (n = 640) were purchased from eight Canadian cities and via the internet during the period 2010-2012 and analysed for gluten contamination. The results showed that 61 of the 640 (9.5%) samples were contaminated above the Codex-recommended maximum level for gluten-free products (20 mg kg\u207b\u00b9) with a range of 5-7995 mg kg\u207b\u00b9. For the ingredients that were labelled gluten-free the contamination range (5-141 mg kg\u207b\u00b9) and number of samples were lower (3 of 268). This picture was consistent over time, with approximately the same percentage of samples above 20 mg kg\u207b\u00b9 in both the initial set and the subsequent lot. Looking at the total mean (composite) contamination for specific ingredients the largest and most consistent contaminations come from higher fibre ingredients such as soy (902 mg kg\u207b\u00b9), millet (272 mg kg\u207b\u00b9) and buckwheat (153 mg kg\u207b\u00b9). Of the naturally gluten-free flours and starches tested that do not contain a gluten-free label, the higher fibre ingredients would constitute the greatest probability of being contaminated with gluten above 20 mg kg\u207b\u00b9."}
{"id": "MED-2031", "text": "BACKGROUND: There has been increasing interest in the entity of Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) in recent years; however, it still remains a controversial topic and its pathogenesis is not well understood. Celiac Disease, in contrast, is a well-studied condition that has become increasingly recognized as a prevalent condition arising from a heightened immunological response to gluten. Wheat allergy is an IgE-mediated condition capable of causing a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms. However, the number of patients who have neither celiac disease nor wheat allergy, but appear to derive benefit from a gluten-free diet, is also increasing substantially. The use of the term NCGS as a way of describing this condition has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. PURPOSE: In this review, we will focus on gastrointestinal manifestations of NCGS and discuss the evidence for the condition and its putative pathogenesis. We will discuss areas of controversy and areas for potential future research. \u00a9 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2032", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Non-celiac wheat sensitivity (WS) is considered a new clinical entity. An increasing percentage of the general population avoids gluten ingestion. However, the real existence of this condition is debated and specific markers are lacking. Our aim was thus to demonstrate the existence of WS and define its clinical, serologic, and histological markers. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical charts of all subjects with an irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like presentation who had been diagnosed with WS using a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) challenge in the years 2001-2011. One hundred celiac disease (CD) patients and fifty IBS patients served as controls. RESULTS: Two hundred and seventy-six patients with WS, as diagnosed by DBPC challenge, were included. Two groups showing distinct clinical characteristics were identified: WS alone (group 1) and WS associated with multiple food hypersensitivity (group 2). As a whole group, the WS patients showed a higher frequency of anemia, weight loss, self-reported wheat intolerance, coexistent atopy, and food allergy in infancy than the IBS controls. There was also a higher frequency of positive serum assays for IgG/IgA anti-gliadin and cytometric basophil activation in \"in vitro\" assay. The main histology characteristic of WS patients was eosinophil infiltration of the duodenal and colon mucosa. Patients with WS alone were characterized by clinical features very similar to those found in CD patients. Patients with multiple food sensitivity were characterized by clinical features similar to those found in allergic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirm the existence of non-celiac WS as a distinct clinical condition. We also suggest the existence of two distinct populations of subjects with WS: one with characteristics more similar to CD and the other with characteristics pointing to food allergy."}
{"id": "MED-2033", "text": "BACKGROUND: A significant percentage of the general population report problems caused by wheat and/or gluten ingestion, even though they do not have celiac disease (CD) or wheat allergy (WA), because they test negative both for CD-specific serology and histopathology and for immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated assays. Most patients report both gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal symptoms, and all report improvement of symptoms on a gluten-free diet. This clinical condition has been named non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). AIM: We attempt to define the current pathogenic, clinical, and diagnostic criteria of this \"new\" disease, to provide a practical view that might be useful to evaluate, diagnose, and manage NCGS patients. METHODS: We reviewed the international literature through PubMed and Medline, using the search terms \"wheat (hyper)sensitivity,\" \"wheat allergy,\" \"wheat intolerance,\" \"gluten (hyper)sensitivity,\" and \"gluten intolerance,\" and we discuss current knowledge about NCGS. RESULTS: It has been demonstrated that patients suffering from NCGS are a heterogeneous group, composed of several subgroups, each characterized by different pathogenesis, clinical history, and, probably, clinical course. NCGS diagnosis can be reached only by excluding CD and WA. Recent evidence shows that a personal history of food allergy in infancy, coexistent atopy, positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antigliadin antibodies and flow cytometric basophil activation test, with wheat and duodenal and/or ileum-colon intraepithelial and lamina propria eosinophil counts, could be useful to identify NCGS patients. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should aim to identify reliable biomarkers for NCGS diagnosis and to better define the different NCGS subgroups. Key teaching points: \u2022 Most patients report both gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal symptoms, and all agree that there is an improvement of symptoms on a gluten-free diet. \u2022 NCGS diagnosis can be reached only by excluding celiac disease and wheat allergy. \u2022 Patients suffering from NCGS are a heterogeneous group, composed of several subgroups, each characterized by different pathogenesis, clinical history, and, probably, clinical course. \u2022 A personal history of food allergy in infancy, coexistent atopy, positive IgG antigliadin antibodies (AGA) and flow cytometric basophil activation test, with wheat and duodenal and/or ileum-colon intraepithelial and lamina propria eosinophil counts, could be useful to identify NCGS patients. \u2022 Future research should aim to identify reliable biomarkers for NCGS diagnosis and to better define the different NCGS subgroup."}
{"id": "MED-2036", "text": "The prevalence of allergic-related diseases, food intolerance, and chemical sensitivities in both the pediatric and adult population has increased dramatically over the last two decades, with escalating rates of associated morbidity. Conditions of acquired allergy, food intolerance and chemical hypersensitivity are frequently the direct sequelae of a toxicant induced loss of tolerance (TILT) in response to a significant initiating toxic exposure. Following the primary toxicant insult, the individuals become sensitive to low levels of diverse and unrelated triggers in their environment such as commonly encountered chemical, inhalant or food antigens. Among sensitized individuals, exposure to assorted inciting stimuli may precipitate diverse clinical and/or immune sequelae as may be evidenced by clinical symptoms as well as varied lymphocyte, antibody, or cytokine responses in some cases. Recently recognized as a mechanism of disease development, TILT and resultant sensitivity-related illness (SRI) may involve various organ systems and evoke wide-ranging physical or neuropsychological manifestations. With escalating rates of toxicant exposure and bioaccumulation in the population-at-large, an increasing proportion of contemporary illness is the direct result of TILT and ensuing SRI. Avoidance of triggers will preclude symptoms, and desensitization immunotherapy or immune suppression may ameliorate symptomatology in some cases. Resolution of SRI generally occurs on a gradual basis following the elimination of bioaccumulated toxicity and avoidance of further initiating adverse environmental exposures. As has usually been the case throughout medical history whenever new evidence regarding disease mechanisms emerges, resistance to the translation of knowledge abounds. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2037", "text": "Celiac disease is an immune-mediated inflammatory disorder of the small intestine caused by sensitivity to dietary gluten and related proteins in genetically predisposed individuals. Over the past several years, the concept of non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) has gained significant interest from the scientific community and mass media and the number of individuals embracing a gluten-free diet is rapidly growing. This condition is characterized by gastrointestinal or extraintestinal symptoms that respond to gluten withdrawal without evidence for underlying celiac disease or wheat allergy. Symptoms display significant overlap with the irritable bowel syndrome. Many important factors regarding this relatively novel condition remain to be elucidated; no discriminative markers to support a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity have been identified yet and its pathogenesis remains obscure. Here we review the current knowledge on NCGS, and outline potential pathogenic pathways of different gluten related disorders in order to gain clues about the pathophysiology of this novel condition."}
{"id": "MED-2038", "text": "OBJECTIVE: In contrast to coeliac disease (CD), the mechanism behind non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is unclear. The aims of the study were to measure the presence of somatization, personality traits, anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life in NCGS individuals compared with CD patients and healthy controls, and to compare the response to gluten challenge between NCGS and CD patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined 22 CD patients and 31 HLA-DQ2+ NCGS patients without CD, all on a gluten-free diet. All but five CD patients were challenged orally for 3 days with gluten; symptom registration was performed during challenge. A comparison group of 40 healthy controls was included. Patients and healthy controls completed questionnaires regarding anxiety, depression, neuroticism and lie, hostility and aggression, alexithymia and health locus of control, physical complaints, and health-related quality of life. RESULTS: The NCGS patients reported more abdominal (p = 0.01) and non-abdominal (p < 0.01) symptoms after gluten challenge than CD patients. There were no significant differences between CD and NCGS patients regarding personality traits, level of somatization, quality of life, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The somatization level was low in CD and NCGS groups. Symptom increase after gluten challenge was not related to personality in NCGS patients. CONCLUSIONS: NCGS patients did not exhibit a tendency for general somatization. Personality and quality of life did not differ between NCGS and CD patients, and were mostly at the same level as in healthy controls. NCGS patients reported more symptoms than CD patients after gluten challenge."}
{"id": "MED-2039", "text": "BACKGROUND: Current evidence suggests that many patients with self-reported non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) retain gastrointestinal symptoms on a gluten-free diet (GFD) but continue to restrict gluten as they report 'feeling better'. AIM: To investigate the notion that a major effect of gluten in those with NCGS is on mental state and not necessarily on gastrointestinal symptoms. METHODS: Twenty-two subjects (24-62 years, five male) with irritable bowel syndrome who had coeliac disease excluded but were symptomatically controlled on a GFD, undertook a double-blind cross-over study. Participants randomly received one of three dietary challenges for 3 days, followed by a minimum 3-day washout before crossing over to the next diet. Challenge gluten-free food was supplemented with gluten (16 g/day), whey (16 g/day) or not supplemented (placebo). End-points included mental state as assessed by the Spielberger State Trait Personality Inventory (STPI), cortisol secretion and gastrointestinal symptoms. RESULTS: Gluten ingestion was associated with higher overall STPI state depression scores compared to placebo [M = 2.03, 95% CI (0.55-3.51), P = 0.010] but not whey [M = 1.48, 95% CI (-0.14 to 3.10), P = 0.07]. No differences were found for other STPI state indices or for any STPI trait measures. No difference in cortisol secretion was identified between challenges. Gastrointestinal symptoms were induced similarly across all dietary challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term exposure to gluten specifically induced current feelings of depression with no effect on other indices or on emotional disposition. Gluten-specific induction of gastrointestinal symptoms was not identified. Such findings might explain why patients with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity feel better on a gluten-free diet despite the continuation of gastrointestinal symptoms. \u00a9 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2041", "text": "in English, German Die Z\u00f6liakie ist weltweit eine der h\u00e4ufigsten Erkrankungen, die aus einer Kombination von Umwelt-(Gluten) und genetischen (humanes Leukozyten-Antigen (HLA) und Nicht-HLA-Gene) Faktoren resultiert. Abh\u00e4ngig von der geographischen Lage, wird die Pr\u00e4valenz der Z\u00f6liakie auf etwa 0,5-1% der Bev\u00f6lkerung gesch\u00e4tzt. Die einzige Behandlung, die derzeit bei Z\u00f6liakie verf\u00fcgbar ist, besteht in einer glutenfreien Di\u00e4t (GFD), die glutenhaltige Getreide wie Weizen, Roggen und Gerste sowie andere Lebensmittel mit nat\u00fcrlichem oder zugesetztem Gluten ausschlie\u00dft. Die Complianceraten und die Akzeptanz durch die Patienten sind jedoch oft schlecht. Weiterhin kann die Di\u00e4t selbst bei Patienten, die diese vollst\u00e4ndig einhalten, m\u00f6glicherweise nicht zu einer klinischen oder histologischen Verbesserung f\u00fchren. Daher ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass Studien zeigen, dass Z\u00f6liakie-Patienten sehr an nichtdi\u00e4tetischen Alternativen interessiert sind. Die folgende \u00dcbersicht konzentriert sich auf aktuelle pathophysiologische Konzepte der Z\u00f6liakie, bei denen jene Signalwege herausgestellt werden, die als m\u00f6gliche neue, nichtdi\u00e4tetische therapeutische Ansatzpunkte in der Behandlung der Z\u00f6liakie dienen k\u00f6nnten. Coeliac disease (CD) is one of the most common diseases worldwide, resulting from a combination of environmental (gluten) and genetic (human leucocyte antigen (HLA) and non-HLA genes) factors. Depending on the geographical location, the prevalence of CD has been estimated to approximate 0.5-1%. The only treatment currently available for CD is a gluten-free diet (GFD) excluding gluten-containing cereals such as wheat, rye, and barley, and other foodstuffs with natural or added gluten. However, adherence rates and patient acceptance are often poor. Moreover, even in fully adherent patients, the diet may fail to induce clinical or histological improvement. Hence, it is unsurprising that studies show CD patients to be highly interested in non-dietary alternatives. The following review focuses on current pathophysiological concepts of CD, spotlighting those pathways which may serve as new possible, non-dietary therapeutic targets in the treatment of CD."}
{"id": "MED-2042", "text": "An ever-growing volume of peer-reviewed publications speaks to the recent and rapid growth in both scope and understanding of exercise immunology. Indeed, more than 95% of all peer-reviewed publications in exercise immunology (currently >2, 200 publications using search terms \"exercise\" and \"immune\") have been published since the formation of the International Society of Exercise and Immunology (ISEI) in 1989 (ISI Web of Knowledge). We recognise the epidemiological distinction between the generic term \"physical activity\" and the specific category of \"exercise\", which implies activity for a specific purpose such as improvement of physical condition or competition. Extreme physical activity of any type may have implications for the immune system. However, because of its emotive component, exercise is likely to have a larger effect, and to date the great majority of our knowledge on this subject comes from exercise studies."}
{"id": "MED-2043", "text": "Natural killer (NK) cell activity and concentration of CD16+ cells (NK cells) and CD20+ cells (monocytes) in peripheral blood were measured in highly trained racing cyclists and in age- and sex-matched untrained controls. Median NK cell activity was 38.1% (range 20.0%-57.1%) in trained vs 30.3% (range 19.7%-43.1%) in untrained (P = 0.008). Median %CD16+ cells was 17% (range 7%-33%) in trained vs 11% (3%-29%) in untrained (P = 0.007). Indomethacin in vitro enhanced the NK cell activity in both groups. There was, however, no significant difference between the NK cell activity in trained and untrained after exposure to indomethacin in vitro. Indomethacin-enhanced NK cell activity was 45.9% (range 24.4%-67.5%) in trained and 40.0% (range 23.9%-68.5%) in untrained (P = 0.138). Mean %CD14+ cells was 8.3% (range 2%-15%) in trained vs 3.8% (2%-8%) in untrained (P less than 0.0001). The increased NK cell function thus demonstrated in highly trained persons might result in better resistance against infectious disease."}
{"id": "MED-2044", "text": "Cancer incidence increases with advancing age. Over 60% of new cancers and 70% of cancer deaths occur in individuals aged 65 years or older. One factor that may contribute to this is immunosenescence - a canopy term that is used to describe age-related declines in the normal functioning of the immune system. There are multiple age-related deficits in both the innate and adaptive systems that may play a role in the increased incidence of cancer. These include decreased NK-cell function, impaired antigen uptake and presentation by monocytes and dendritic cells, an increase in 'inflammaging', a decline in the number of na\u00efve T-cells able to respond to evolving tumor cells, and an increase in functionally exhausted senescent cells. There is consensus that habitual physical exercise can offer protection against certain types of cancer; however the evidence linking immunological mechanisms, exercise, and reduced cancer risk remain tentative. Multiple studies published over the last two decades suggest that exercise can mitigate the deleterious effects of age on immune function, thus increasing anti-cancer immunity. The potential ameliorative effect of exercise on these mechanisms include evidence that physical activity is able to stimulate greater NK-cell activity, enhance antigen-presentation, reduce inflammation, and prevent senescent cell accumulation in the elderly. Here we discuss the role played by the immune system in preventing and controlling cancer and how aging may retard these anti-cancer mechanisms. We also propose a pathway by which exercise-induced alterations in immunosenescence may decrease the incidence of cancer and help improve prognosis in cancer patients. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2045", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: The prevalence of chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) remains high and the complications of infection are common. Our goal was to project the future prevalence of CH-C and its complications. METHODS: We developed a multicohort natural history model to overcome limitations of previous models for predicting disease outcomes and benefits of therapy. RESULTS: Prevalence of CH-C peaked in 2001 at 3.6 million. Fibrosis progression was inversely related to age at infection, so cirrhosis and its complications were most common after the age of 60 years, regardless of when infection occurred. The proportion of CH-C with cirrhosis is projected to reach 25% in 2010 and 45% in 2030, although the total number with cirrhosis will peak at 1.0 million (30.5% higher than the current level) in 2020 and then decline. Hepatic decompensation and liver cancer will continue to increase for another 10 to 13 years. Treatment of all infected patients in 2010 could reduce risk of cirrhosis, decompensation, cancer, and liver-related deaths by 16%, 42%, 31%, and 36% by 2020, given current response rates to antiviral therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of hepatitis C cirrhosis and its complications will continue to increase through the next decade and will mostly affect those older than 60 years of age. Current treatment patterns will have little effect on these complications, but wider application of antiviral treatment and better responses with new agents could significantly reduce the impact of this disease in coming years."}
{"id": "MED-2046", "text": "AIM: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Chlorella in 18 patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1. METHODS: Eighteen adults with chronic infection by HCV genotype 1 received daily oral supplementation of Chlorella for 12 wk. Changes in the RNA levels of HCV, as well as those of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were evaluated following this treatment period. Paired t tests were conducted to compare the means of the different variables at the beginning and end of the study. Side effects and quality of life aspects were also compared between weeks 0 and 12 of the study period. RESULTS: A majority 84.61% of the patients had a significant decrease in their ALT levels from week 0 to week 12. Evaluation of side effects showed that Chlorella was well tolerated. Quality of life assessment showed that 76.9 of the participants reported an improvement in their energy levels and 46.1% reported an improvement in their perception of general health. Although 69.23% also showed a decrease in their AST levels, this was not statistically significant. Most patients that exhibited an improvement in their ALT and AST levels also showed a tendency toward a decreased HCV viral load. The HCV RNA levels showed a decrease in 69.23% of the patients, which along with changes in AST/ALT ratios from week 0 to week 12, these results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Chlorella supplementation was well tolerated in patients with chronic HCV and associated with a significant decrease in ALT liver enzyme levels."}
{"id": "MED-2047", "text": "The relationship between cardiorespiratory exercise, immune function, and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was studied in elderly women utilizing a randomized controlled experimental design with a follow-up of 12 wk. Thirty-two sedentary, elderly Caucasian women, 67-85 yr of age, who met specific selection criteria, were randomized to either a walking or calisthenic group; 30 completed the study. Twelve highly conditioned elderly women, 65-84 yr of age, who were active in endurance competitions, were recruited at baseline for cross-sectional comparisons. Intervention groups exercised 30-40 min, 5 d.wk-1, for 12 wk, with the walking group training at 60% heart rate reserve and the calisthenic group engaging in mild range-of-motion and flexibility movements that kept their heart rates close to resting levels. At baseline, the highly conditioned subjects exhibited superior NK (119 +/- 13 vs 77 +/- 8 lytic units, P < 0.01) and T (33.3 +/- 4.9 vs 21.4 +/- 2.1 cpm x 10(-3) using PHA, P < 0.05) cell function, despite no differences in circulating levels of lymphocyte subpopulations. Twelve weeks of moderate cardiorespiratory exercise improved the VO2max of the sedentary subjects 12.6%, but did not result in any improvement in NK cell activity or T cell function. Incidence of URTI was lowest in the highly conditioned group and highest in the calisthenic control group during the 12-wk study, with the walkers in an intermediate position (chi-square = 6.36, P = 0.042). In conclusion, the highly conditioned elderly women in this study had superior NK and T cell function when compared with their sedentary counterparts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-2048", "text": "Background Chlorella, a unicellular green alga that grows in fresh water, contains high levels of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers. Some studies have reported favorable immune function-related effects on biological secretions such as blood and breast milk in humans who have ingested a chlorella-derived multicomponent supplement. However, the effects of chlorella-derived supplement on mucosal immune functions remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether chlorella ingestion increases the salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) secretion in humans using a blind, randomized, crossover study design. Methods Fifteen men took 30 placebo and 30 chlorella tablets per day for 4 weeks separated by a 12-week washout period. Before and after each trial, saliva samples were collected from a sterile cotton ball that was chewed after overnight fasting. Salivary SIgA concentrations were measured using ELISA. Results Compliance rates for placebo and chlorella ingestions were 97.0 \u00b1 1.0% and 95.3 \u00b1 1.6%, respectively. No difference was observed in salivary SIgA concentrations before and after placebo ingestion (P = 0.38). However, salivary SIgA concentrations were significantly elevated after chlorella ingestion compared to baseline (P < 0.01). No trial \u00d7 period interaction was identified for the saliva flow rates. Although the SIgA secretion rate was not affected by placebo ingestion (P = 0.36), it significantly increased after 4-week chlorella ingestion than before intake (P < 0.01). Conclusions These results suggest 4-week ingestion of a chlorella-derived multicomponent supplement increases salivary SIgA secretion and possibly improves mucosal immune function in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2049", "text": "Background In vitro and animal studies have demonstrated that Chlorella is a potent biological response modifier on immunity. However, there were no direct evidences for the effect of Chlorella supplementation on immune/inflammation response in healthy humans. Methods This study was designed for an 8-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial: 5g of Chlorella (n=23) or Placebo (n=28) as form of tablets. Mainly, cytotoxic activities of Natural killer (NK) cells and serum concentrations of interferon-\u03b3, interleukin-1\u03b2 and interleukin-12 were measured. Results After the 8-week, serum concentrations of interferon-\u03b3 (p<0.05) and interleukin-1\u03b2 (p<0.001) significantly increased and that of interleukin-12 (p<0.1) tended to increase in the Chlorella group. The increments of these cytokines after the intervention were significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than those in the placebo group. In addition, NK cell activities (%) were significantly increased in Chlorella group, but not in Placebo group. The increments of NK cell activities (%) were also significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than the placebo group. Additionally, changed levels of NK cell activity were positively correlated with those of serum interleukin-1\u03b2 (r=0.280, p=0.047) and interferon-\u03b3 (r=0.271, p<0.005). Signficantly positive correlations were also observed among the changed levels of serum cytokines; between interferon-\u03b3 and interleukin-1\u03b2 (r=0.448, p<0.001), between interleukin-12 and interleukin-1\u03b2 (r=0.416, p=0.003) and between interleukin-12 and interferon-\u03b3 (r=0.570, p<001). Conclusion These results may suggest a beneficial immunostimulatory effect of short-term Chlorella supplementation which enhances the NK cell activity and produces interferon-\u03b3 and interleukin-12 as well as interleukin-1\u03b2, the Th-1 cell-induced cytokines in healthy people."}
{"id": "MED-2050", "text": "A randomly controlled 15-wk exercise training (ET) study (five 45-min sessions/wk, brisk walking at 60% heart rate reserve) with a group of 36 mildly obese, sedentary women was conducted to investigate the relationship between improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness, changes in natural killer (NK) cell number and activity, and acute upper respiratory tract infection (URI) symptomatology. The study was conducted using a 2 (exercise and nonexercise groups) x 3 (baseline, 6-, and 15-wk testing sessions) factorial design, with data analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. No significant change in NK cell number occurred as a result of ET as measured by the CD16 and Leu-19 monoclonal antibodies. ET did have a significant effect on NK cell activity (E:T 50:1) especially during the initial 6-wk period [F(2.68) = 12.34, p less than 0.001]. Using data from daily logs kept by each subject, the exercise group was found to have significantly fewer URI symptom days/incident than the nonexercise group (3.6 +/- 0.7 vs 7.0 +/- 1.4 days, respectively, p = 0.049). Improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness was correlated significantly with a reduction in URI symptom days/incident (r = 0.37, p = 0.025) and a change in NK cell activity from baseline to six but not 15 wks (r = 0.35, p = 0.036). In summary, moderate ET is associated with elevated NK cell activity after six but not 15 weeks, and reduced URI symptomatology in comparison to a randomized, sedentary control group."}
{"id": "MED-2051", "text": "In 2011, the protease inhibitors boceprevir and telaprevir were approved in the United States and European Union for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. While remarkably effective, the newly approved therapies are also accompanied by additional side effects and considerable costs. Understanding the balance between costs and effectiveness is critical to making decisions about the optimal use of these new agents, especially for health care systems constrained by rising costs. Our goal for this review is to facilitate an understanding of the importance of cost-effectiveness analyses in guiding policy decisions about the use of newly approved drugs as well as future therapies for hepatitis C."}
{"id": "MED-2052", "text": "The addition of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) to hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment regimens has made treatment more effective and patient management more complex. Shepherding patients through a full course of HCV therapy requires motivation and involvement on the part of the patient and the physician. Indeed, physician inexperience and lack of confidence in guiding patients through the challenges of treatment appears to be a primary reason for early discontinuation of therapy. Among the many complications of HCV treatment that must be managed efficiently and effectively are depression and other psychiatric disorders; hematologic abnormalities including DAA- and ribavirin-associated anemia and peginterferon alfa-associated neutropenia and thrombocytopenia; rash and drug eruptions, including telaprevir-associated rash; and weight loss. Practical considerations in management of these common complications are offered. This article summarizes a presentation by Kenneth E. Sherman, MD, PhD, at the IAS-USA live continuing medical education course held in New York in June 2012."}
{"id": "MED-2053", "text": "OBJECTIVES: It has been reported that a number of children with constipation respond to a diet free of cow's-milk (CM) proteins, although evidence is lacking to support an immunoglobulin E-mediated mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed an open-label crossover study comparing CM and rice milk in 69 children who fulfilled Rome III criteria for chronic constipation. Clinical, physical, and immunologic parameters of patients who responded (R) and who did not respond (NR) to a CM-free diet were compared. RESULTS: Thirty-five of the 69 children (51%) improved during the first CM-free diet phase, 8 of these did not develop constipation when CM was reintroduced, and 27 children (39%) developed constipation during the CM challenge and improved during the second CM-free diet phase (R group). Thirty-four children (49%) did not improve during the first CM-free diet phase (NR group). Bowel movements per week among R children significantly increased compared with NR children (R: 2.8-7.7 vs NR: 2.6-2.7) (P < 0.001). Seventy-eight percent of the children with developmental delay responded to the CM-free diet (P = 0.007). No significant statistical difference was found between the R and NR children in terms of fiber and milk consumption; atopic or allergic history; full-blood eosinophil count and percentage, and lymphocyte populations; immunoglobulins, immunoglobulin (Ig)G subclasses, total IgE; and serum-specific immunoglobulin E for CM proteins. CONCLUSIONS: A clear association between CM consumption and constipation has been found in more than one third of children. However, analytical parameters do not demonstrate an immunoglobulin E-mediated immunologic mechanism."}
{"id": "MED-2054", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of constipation in children <or=2 years, describe the symptoms of constipation, and review how often specific interventions were effective. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. RESULTS: Of 4,157 children <2 years of age, 185 children had constipation. The prevalence rate for constipation in the first year of life was 2.9%, and in the second year of life, the rate was 10.1%. Functional constipation was the cause in 97% of the children. Boys and girls were affected with equal frequency. Constipation was caused by an underlying organic disease in 1.6% of cases, and 97% of the children had functional constipation. Dietary changes and corn syrup were the initial treatment suggestions for 116 children; 93% of these children underwent follow-up examinations, and the constipation resolved in 25% of the children. Of 100 children treated with milk of magnesia or polyethylene glycol 3350 without electrolytes, 93 children underwent follow-up examinations, and the constipation was resolved with treatment in 92% of the children. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary changes, corn syrup, or both resolved constipation in 25% of children, and laxatives resolved constipation in 92% of children. Both milk of magnesia and polyethylene glycol were efficient and safe in infants and toddlers."}
{"id": "MED-2055", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chronic diarrhea is the most common gastrointestinal symptom of intolerance of cow's milk among children. On the basis of a prior open study, we hypothesized that intolerance of cow's milk can also cause severe perianal lesions with pain on defecation and consequent constipation in young children. METHODS: We performed a double-blind, crossover study comparing cow's milk with soy milk in 65 children (age range, 11 to 72 months) with chronic constipation (defined as having one bowel movement every 3 to 15 days). All had been referred to a pediatric gastroenterology clinic and had previously been treated with laxatives without success; 49 had anal fissures and perianal erythema or edema. After 15 days of observation, the patients received cow's milk or soy milk for two weeks. After a one-week washout period, the feedings were reversed. A response was defined as eight or more bowel movements during a treatment period. RESULTS: Forty-four of the 65 children (68 percent) had a response while receiving soy milk. Anal fissures and pain with defecation resolved. None of the children who received cow's milk had a response. In all 44 children with a response, the response was confirmed with a double-blind challenge with cow's milk. Children with a response had a higher frequency of coexistent rhinitis, dermatitis, or bronchospasm than those with no response (11 of 44 children vs. 1 of 21, P=0.05); they were also more likely to have anal fissures and erythema or edema at base line (40 of 44 vs. 9 of 21, P<0.001), evidence of inflammation of the rectal mucosa on biopsy (26 of 44 vs. 5 of 21, P=0.008), and signs of hypersensitivity, such as specific IgE antibodies to cow's-milk antigens (31 of 44 vs. 4 of 21, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In young children, chronic constipation can be a manifestation of intolerance of cow's milk."}
{"id": "MED-2056", "text": "Background. Recurrent perianal inflammation has great etiologic diversity. A possible cause is cow's milk allergy (CMA). The aim was to assess the magnitude of this cause. Subjects and Methods. This follow up clinical study was carried out on 63 infants with perianal dermatitis of more than 3 weeks with history of recurrence. Definitive diagnosis was made for each infant through medical history taking, clinical examination and investigations including stool analysis and culture, stool pH and reducing substances, perianal swab for different cultures and staining for Candida albicans. Complete blood count and quantitative determination of cow's milk-specific serum IgE concentration were done for all patients. CMA was confirmed through an open withdrawal-rechallenge procedure. Serum immunoglobulins and CD markers as well as gastrointestinal endoscopies were done for some patients. Results. Causes of perianal dermatitis included CMA (47.6%), bacterial dermatitis (17.46%), moniliasis (15.87%), enterobiasis (9.52%) and lactose intolerance (9.5%). Predictors of CMA included presence of bloody and/or mucoid stool, other atopic manifestations, anal fissures, or recurrent vomiting. Conclusion. We can conclude that cow's milk allergy is a common cause of recurrent perianal dermatitis. Mucoid or bloody stool, anal fissures or ulcers, vomiting and atopic manifestations can predict this etiology."}
{"id": "MED-2057", "text": "Objective Cow's milk allergy has different presentations in children and can cause functional bowel symptoms such as chronic constipation. The aims of this study were to investigate the role of cow's milk allergy as a cause of chronic constipation and effect of cow's milk free diet (CMFD) on its treatment in children. Methods We performed a randomized clinical study comparing CMFD with cow's milk diet (CMD) in two groups each consisting of 70 patients (age range, 1-13 years) with chronic functional constipation (defined as Rome III criteria). All subjects had been referred to a pediatric gastroenterology clinic and had previously been treated with laxatives for at least 3 months without success; also all 140 patients performed skin prick test. The case group received CMFD for 4 weeks. After that they received CMD for 2 extra weeks. The control group received CMD for whole 6 weeks. A response was defined as decreased in signs and symptoms that not fulfilled Rome III criteria after 4 weeks of CMFD and came back to Rome III criteria after 2 weeks of CMD challenge. Findings After 4 weeks 56 (80%) patients of the case group responded in comparison to 33 (47.1%) patients in the control group (P=0.0001). In the case group after 2 weeks challenge 24 out of 56 (42.8%) responders developed constipation according to Rome III criteria. With other words, the frequency of cow's milk allergy among constipated patients was 80%. Only one patient had positive skin prick test. Conclusion In children, chronic constipation can be a manifestation of cow's milk allergy. At present, although several aspects must be further investigated, a therapeutic attempt with elimination diet is advisable in all children with constipation unresponsive to correct laxative treatment."}
{"id": "MED-2058", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine daily cows milk consumption and duration of breastfeeding in infants and young children with anal fissure and constipation. METHODS: Two groups of 30 consecutive children aged between 4 months and 3 years were evaluated retrospectively. Group I comprised children with chronic constipation and anal fissure in whom surgical causes were excluded, and group II comprised normal children. The daily consumption of cows milk, duration of breastfeeding and other clinical features of the children were investigated RESULTS: The mean daily consumption of cows milk was significantly higher in group I (756 mL, range 200-1500 mL) than group II (253 mL, range 0-1000 mL) (P < 0.001). Group I children were breastfed for a significantly shorter period (5.8 months, range 0-18 months) than group II (10.1 months, range 2-24 months) (P < 0.006). The odds ratios for the two factors - children consuming more than 200 mL of cows milk per day (25 children in group I, 11 children in group II) and breastfeeding for less than 4 months (16 children in group I, 5 children in group II) - were calculated to be 8.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23-0.74, P = 0.0005) and 5.7 (95% CI: 0.37-0.66, P = 0.007), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Infants and young children with chronic constipation and anal fissure may consume larger amounts of cows milk than children with a normal bowel habit. Additionally, shorter duration of breastfeeding and early bottle feeding with cows milk may play a role in the development of constipation and anal fissure in infants and young children."}
{"id": "MED-2059", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chronic constipation is common in the general population. Some studies have shown that in children cow's milk protein hypersensitivity can cause chronic constipation unresponsive to laxative treatment. AIMS: To review the literature and summarize the data that point to a relationship between refractory chronic constipation and food hypersensitivity, and to discuss the hypothesis that the pathogenesis of constipation due to food hypersensitivity. METHODS: A search in the U.S. National Library of Medicine was performed, matching the key words 'chronic constipation, food intolerance and allergy'. RESULTS: Thirty-three papers were found but only 19 of them were related to the topic of this review. Most of the data indicated a relationship between constipation and food allergy in a subgroup of paediatric patients with 'idiopathic' constipation unresponsive to laxative treatment. There was only one study in adults that demonstrated the resolution of chronic constipation on hypoallergenic diet in four patients. CONCLUSIONS: An increasing number of reports suggest a relationship between refractory chronic constipation and food allergy in children. Similar data in adults are scarce and need to be confirmed. Further studies should be performed to obtain firmer evidence for the role of allergy in constipation and clarify the pathogenetic mechanisms involved."}
{"id": "MED-2060", "text": "Cow's milk protein (CMP) allergy was investigated in 25 children (age-range 3 months to 11 years) with chronic constipation. A diagnosis of constipation was made on the basis of a history of painful elimination of hard stools for at least 1 month, whether or not associated with a reduced frequency of stools or soiling. The children were evaluated using clinical parameters and the following laboratory tests: total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE); specific IgE (radioallergosorbent test [RAST]) for whole cow's milk, alpha-lactoalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, and a food group; and skin-prick tests with whole milk, alpha-lactoalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, and casein. Following the evaluation, the children were submitted to a CMP-free diet for a period of 4 weeks. In seven patients (28%), constipation disappeared during the CMP-free diet and reappeared within 48-72 h following challenge with cow's milk. In two infants a rectal biopsy revealed allergic colitis and they therefore did not undergo the challenge. High serum levels of total IgE were observed in five of the children who showed a clinical improvement (71%), a positive skin-test in two (29%), and detectable specific IgE in two (29%). These results suggest that CMP allergy or intolerance should be considered as a cause of chronic refractory constipation in children, although the underlying mechanism still require further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-2061", "text": "Twenty-seven consecutive infants (mean age, 20.6 months) with chronic \"idiopathic\" constipation were studied to investigate the possible relation between constipation and cow milk protein allergy (CMPA). The infants were initially observed on an unrestricted diet, and the number of stools per day was recorded. Subsequently the infants were put on a diet free of cow milk protein (CMP) for two periods of 1 month each, separated by two challenges with CMP. During the CMP-free diet, there was a resolution of symptoms in 21 patients; during the two consecutive challenges, constipation reappeared within 48 to 72 hours. In another six patients the CMP-free diet did not lead to improvement of constipation. Only four of the patients who improved on the CMP-free diet had concomitant symptoms of suspected CMPA, but a medical history of CMPA was found in 15 of the 21 patients cured and in only one of the six patients whose condition had not improved (p < 0.05); in addition, in 15 of the 21 cured patients, results of one or more laboratory tests (specific IgE, IgG, anti-beta-lactoglobulin, circulating eosinophils) were positive at the time of diagnosis, indicating hypersensitivity, compared with one of the six patients whose condition did not improve (p < 0.05). The endoscopic and histologic findings at the time of diagnosis showed proctitis with monocytic infiltration in two patients cured with the CMP-free diet; after 1 month on this diet, they were completely normal. We conclude that constipation in infants may have an allergic pathogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2062", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Patients with chronic constipation due to food hypersensitivity (FH) had an elevated anal sphincter resting pressure. No studies have investigated a possible role of FH in anal fissures (AFs). We aimed to evaluate (1) the effectiveness of diet in curing AFs and to evaluate (2) the clinical effects of a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) challenge, using cow's milk protein or wheat. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-one patients with AFs were randomized to receive a \"true-elimination diet\" or a \"sham-elimination diet\" for 8 weeks; both groups also received topical nifedipine and lidocaine. Sixty patients who were cured with the \"true-elimination diet\" underwent DBPC challenge in which cow's milk and wheat were used. RESULTS: At the end of the study, 69% of the \"true-diet group\" and 45% of the \"sham-diet group\" showed complete healing of AFs (P<0.0002). Thirteen of the 60 patients had AF recurrence during the 2-week cow's milk DBPC challenge and 7 patients had AF recurrence on wheat challenge. At the end of the challenge, anal sphincter resting pressure significantly increased in the patients who showed AF reappearance (P<0.0001), compared with the baseline values. The patients who reacted to the challenges had a significantly higher number of eosinophils in the lamina propria and intraepithelial lymphocytes than those who did not react to the challenges. CONCLUSIONS: An oligo-antigenic diet combined with medical treatment improved the rate of chronic AF healing. In more than 20% of the patients receiving medical and dietary treatment, AFs recurred on DBPC food challenge."}
{"id": "MED-2063", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chronic constipation in children can be caused by cows' milk intolerance (CMI), but its pathogenesis is unknown. AIMS: To evaluate the histology and manometry pattern in patients with food intolerance-related constipation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-six consecutive children with chronic constipation were enrolled. All underwent an elimination diet and successive double-blind food challenge. All underwent rectal biopsy and anorectal manometry. RESULTS: A total of 14 patients were found to be suffering from CMI and three from multiple food intolerance. They had a normal stool frequency on elimination diet, whereas constipation recurred on food challenge. The patients with food intolerance showed a significantly higher frequency of erosions of the mucosa, and the number of intra-epithelial lymphocytes and eosinophils. The rectal mucous gel layer showed that the food-intolerant patients had a significantly lower thickness of mucus than the other subjects studied. Manometry showed a higher anal sphincter resting pressure and a lower critical volume in food intolerance patients than in the others suffering from constipation unrelated to food intolerance. Both histology and manometry abnormalities disappeared on the elimination diet. CONCLUSIONS: Food intolerance-related constipation is characterized by proctitis. Increased anal resting pressure and a reduced mucous gel layer can be considered to be contributory factors in the pathogenesis of constipation."}
{"id": "MED-2064", "text": "Epidemiological evidence shows that regular consumption of Brassicaceae is associated with a reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. Cruciferous species are usually processed before eating and the real impact of cooking practices on their bioactive properties is not fully understood. We have evaluated the effect of common cooking practices (boiling, microwaving, and steaming) on the biological activities of broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Anti-proliferative and chemoprotective effects towards DNA oxidative damage of fresh and cooked vegetable extracts were evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium and Comet assays on HT-29 human colon carcinoma cells. The fresh vegetable extracts showed the highest anti-proliferative and antioxidant activities on HT-29 cells (broccoli>cauliflower = Brussels sprouts). No genotoxic activity was detected in any of the samples tested. The cooking methods that were applied influenced the anti-proliferative activity of Brassica extracts but did not alter considerably the antioxidant activity presented by the raw vegetables. Raw, microwaved, boiled (except broccoli) and steamed vegetable extracts, at different concentrations, presented a protective antioxidative action comparable with vitamin C (1 mm). These data provide new insight into the influence of domestic treatment on the quality of food, which could support the recent epidemiological studies suggesting that consumption of cruciferous vegetables, mainly cooked, may be related to a reduced risk of developing cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2065", "text": "Sulforaphane [1-isothiocyanate-(4R)-(methylsulfinyl)butane] is a natural dietary isothiocyanate produced by the enzymatic action of the myrosinase on glucopharanin, a 4-methylsulfinylbutyl glucosinolate contained in cruciferous vegetables of the genus Brassica such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. Studies on this compound is increasing because its anticarcinogenic and cytoprotective properties in several in vivo experimental paradigms associated with oxidative stress such as focal cerebral ischemia, brain inflammation, intracerebral hemorrhage, ischemia and reperfusion induced acute renal failure, cisplatin induced-nephrotoxicity, streptozotocin-induced diabetes, carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity and cardiac ischemia and reperfusion. This protective effect also has been observed in in vitro studies in different cell lines such as human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y, renal epithelial proximal tubule LLC-PK1 cells and aortic smooth muscle A10 cells. Sulforaphane is considered an indirect antioxidant; this compound is able to induce many cytoprotective proteins, including antioxidant enzymes, through the Nrf2-antioxidant response element pathway. Heme oxygenase-1, NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase, glutathione-S-transferase, gamma-glutamyl cysteine ligase, and glutathione reductase are among the cytoprotective proteins induced by sulforaphane. In conclusion, sulforaphane is a promising antioxidant agent that is effective to attenuate oxidative stress and tissue/cell damage in different in vivo and in vitro experimental paradigms. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2066", "text": "Glucosinolates (GLSs) are found in Brassica vegetables. Examples of these sources include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and various root vegetables (e.g. radish and turnip). A number of epidemiological studies have identified an inverse association between consumption of these vegetables and the risk of colon and rectal cancer. Animal studies have shown changes in enzyme activities and DNA damage resulting from consumption of Brassica vegetables or isothiocyanates, the breakdown products (BDP) of GLSs in the body. Mechanistic studies have begun to identify the ways in which the compounds may exert their protective action but the relevance of these studies to protective effects in the human alimentary tract is as yet unproven. In vitro studies with a number of specific isothiocyanates have suggested mechanisms that might be the basis of their chemoprotective effects. The concentration and composition of the GLSs in different plants, but also within a plant (e.g. in the seeds, roots or leaves), can vary greatly and also changes during plant development. Furthermore, the effects of various factors in the supply chain of Brassica vegetables including breeding, cultivation, storage and processing on intake and bioavailability of GLSs are extensively discussed in this paper."}
{"id": "MED-2067", "text": "A number of natural compounds with inhibitory effects on tumorigenesis have been identified from our diet. Several studies have documented the cancer-preventive activity of a significant number of isothiocyanates (ITCs), the majority of which occur in plants, especially in Cruciferous vegetables. The most characterized ITC is sulforaphane (SFN). SFN has received a great deal of attention because of its ability to simultaneously modulate multiple cellular targets involved in cancer development, including: (i) DNA protection by modulating carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes and blocking the action of mutagens; (ii) inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis, thereby retarding or eliminating clonal expansion of initiated, transformed, and/or neoplastic cells; (iii) inhibition of neoangiogenesis, progression of benign tumors to malignant tumors, and metastasis formation. SFN is therefore able to prevent, delay, or reverse preneoplastic lesions, as well as to act on cancer cells as a therapeutic agent. Taking into account this evidence and its favorable toxicological profile, SFN can be viewed as a conceptually promising agent in cancer prevention and/or therapy."}
{"id": "MED-2068", "text": "SCOPE: Sulforaphane (a potent anticarcinogenic isothiocyanate derived from glucoraphanin) is widely considered responsible for the protective effects of broccoli consumption. Broccoli is typically purchased fresh or frozen and cooked before consumption. We compared the bioavailability and metabolism of sulforaphane from portions of lightly cooked fresh or frozen broccoli, and investigated the bioconversion of sulforaphane to erucin. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eighteen healthy volunteers consumed broccoli soups produced from fresh or frozen broccoli florets that had been lightly cooked and sulforaphane thio-conjugates quantified in plasma and urine. Sulforaphane bioavailability was about tenfold higher for the soups made from fresh compared to frozen broccoli, and the reduction was shown to be due to destruction of myrosinase activity by the commercial blanching-freezing process. Sulforaphane appeared in plasma and urine in its free form and as several thio-conjugates forms. Erucin N-acetyl-cysteine conjugate was a significant urinary metabolite, and it was shown that human gut microflora can produce sulforaphane, erucin, and their nitriles from glucoraphanin. CONCLUSION: The short period of blanching used to produce commercial frozen broccoli destroys myrosinase and substantially reduces sulforaphane bioavailability. Sulforaphane was converted to erucin and excreted in urine, and it was shown that human colonic flora were capable of this conversion. \u00a9 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-2070", "text": "Induction of phase 2 detoxication enzymes [e.g., glutathione transferases, epoxide hydrolase, NAD(P)H: quinone reductase, and glucuronosyltransferases] is a powerful strategy for achieving protection against carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, and other forms of toxicity of electrophiles and reactive forms of oxygen. Since consumption of large quantities of fruit and vegetables is associated with a striking reduction in the risk of developing a variety of malignancies, it is of interest that a number of edible plants contain substantial quantities of compounds that regulate mammalian enzymes of xenobiotic metabolism. Thus, edible plants belonging to the family Cruciferae and genus Brassica (e.g., broccoli and cauliflower) contain substantial quantities of isothiocyanates (mostly in the form of their glucosinolate precursors) some of which (e.g., sulforaphane or 4-methylsulfinylbutyl isothiocyanate) are very potent inducers of phase 2 enzymes. Unexpectedly, 3-day-old sprouts of cultivars of certain crucifers including broccoli and cauliflower contain 10\u2013100 times higher levels of glucoraphanin (the glucosinolate of sulforaphane) than do the corresponding mature plants. Glucosinolates and isothiocyanates can be efficiently extracted from plants, without hydrolysis of glucosinolates by myrosinase, by homogenization in a mixture of equal volumes of dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, and acetonitrile at \u221250\u00b0C. Extracts of 3-day-old broccoli sprouts (containing either glucoraphanin or sulforaphane as the principal enzyme inducer) were highly effective in reducing the incidence, multiplicity, and rate of development of mammary tumors in dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-treated rats. Notably, sprouts of many broccoli cultivars contain negligible quantities of indole glucosinolates, which predominate in the mature vegetable and may give rise to degradation products (e.g., indole-3-carbinol) that can enhance tumorigenesis. Hence, small quantities of crucifer sprouts may protect against the risk of cancer as effectively as much larger quantities of mature vegetables of the same variety."}
{"id": "MED-2071", "text": "Sulforaphane, a naturally occurring cancer chemopreventive, is the hydrolysis product of glucoraphanin, the main glucosinolate in broccoli. The hydrolysis requires myrosinase isoenzyme to be present in sufficient activity; however, processing leads to its denaturation and hence reduced hydrolysis. In this study, the effect of adding mustard seeds, which contain a more resilient isoform of myrosinase, to processed broccoli was investigated with a view to intensify the formation of sulforaphane. Thermal inactivation of myrosinase from both broccoli and mustard seeds was studied. Thermal degradation of broccoli glucoraphanin was investigated in addition to the effects of thermal processing on the formation of sulforaphane and sulforaphane nitrile. Limited thermal degradation of glucoraphanin (less than 12%) was observed when broccoli was placed in vacuum sealed bag (sous vide) and cooked in a water bath at 100\u00b0C for 8 and 12 min. Boiling broccoli in water prevented the formation of any significant levels of sulforaphane due to inactivated myrosinase. However, addition of powdered mustard seeds to the heat processed broccoli significantly increased the formation of sulforaphane. Crown Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2073", "text": "Brassica vegetables contain a diverse range of phytochemicals with biological properties such as antioxidant and anticancer activity. However, knowledge about how biological activities are affected by processing is lacking. A green cultivar and a red cultivar of curly kale were evaluated for water/methanol-soluble phytochemicals before and after processing involving blanching, freeze storage, and boil-in-bag heat treatment. In both kale cultivars, processing resulted in a significant decrease of total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, and content and distribution of flavonols, anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acids, glucosinolates, and vitamin C. Interestingly, the red curly kale cultivar had a higher capacity to withstand thermal loss of phytochemicals. The extracts of both green and red curly kale inhibited the cell proliferation of three human colon cancer cell lines (Caco-2, HT-29, and HCT 116). However, extracts from fresh plant material had a significantly stronger antiproliferative effect than extracts from processed plant material."}
{"id": "MED-2074", "text": "Frozen broccoli can provide a cheaper product, with a longer shelf life and less preparation time than fresh broccoli. We previously showed that several commercially available frozen broccoli products do not retain the ability to generate the cancer-preventative agent sulforaphane. We hypothesized that this was because the necessary hydrolyzing enzyme myrosinase was destroyed during blanching, as part of the processing that frozen broccoli undergoes. This study was carried out to determine a way to overcome loss of hydrolyzing activity. Industrial blanching usually aims to inactivate peroxidase, although lipoxygenase plays a greater role in product degradation during frozen storage of broccoli. Blanching at 86 \u00b0C or higher inactivated peroxidase, lipoxygenase, and myrosinase. Blanching at 76 \u00b0C inactivated 92% of lipoxygenase activity, whereas there was only an 18% loss in myrosinase-dependent sulforaphane formation. We considered that thawing frozen broccoli might disrupt membrane integrity, allowing myrosinase and glucoraphanin to come into contact. Thawing frozen broccoli for 9 h did not support sulforaphane formation unless an exogenous source of myrosinase was added. Thermal stability studies showed that broccoli root, as a source of myrosinase, was not more heat stable than broccoli floret. Daikon radish root supported some sulforaphane formation even when heated at 125 \u00b0C for 10 min, a time and temperature comparable to or greater than microwave cooking. Daikon radish (0.25%) added to frozen broccoli that was then allowed to thaw supported sulforaphane formation without any visual alteration to that of untreated broccoli. \u00a9 2013 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-2075", "text": "Isothiocyanates are found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. Epidemiologic studies suggest that cruciferous vegetable intake may lower overall cancer risk, including colon and prostate cancer. Sulforaphane (SFN) is an isothiocyanate found in cruciferous vegetables and is especially high in broccoli and broccoli sprouts. SFN has proved to be an effective chemoprotective agent in cell culture, carcinogen-induced and genetic animal cancer models, as well as in xenograft models of cancer. Early research focused on the \u201cblocking activity\u201d of SFN via Phase 2 enzyme induction, as well as inhibition of enzymes involved in carcinogen activation, but there has been growing interest in other mechanisms of chemoprotection by SFN. Recent studies suggest that SFN offers protection against tumor development during the \u201cpost-initiation\u201d phase and mechanisms for suppression effects of SFN, including cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction are of particular interest. In humans, a key factor in determining the efficacy of SFN as a chemoprevention agent is gaining an understanding of the metabolism, distribution and bioavailability of SFN and the factors that alter these parameters. This review discusses the established anti-cancer properties of SFN, with an emphasis on the possible chemoprevention mechanisms. The current status of SFN in human clinical trials also is included, with consideration of the chemistry, metabolism, absorption and factors influencing SFN bioavailability."}
{"id": "MED-2076", "text": "BACKGROUND: Berries are a particularly rich source of polyphenols. They also contain other bioactive substances, such as vitamin C. Previous studies indicated that the consumption of polyphenol-rich foods (eg, cocoa, tea, and red wine) may induce beneficial changes in pathways related to cardiovascular health. Whether the consumption of berries has similar effects is unknown. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the effects of berry consumption on hemostatic function, serum lipids, and blood pressure (BP). DESIGN: Middle-aged unmedicated subjects (n = 72) with cardiovascular risk factors consumed moderate amounts of berry or control products for 8 wk in a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled intervention trial. RESULTS: Berry consumption inhibited platelet function as measured with a platelet function analyzer (using collagen and ADP as platelet activator) [changes: 11% and -1.4% in the berry and control groups, respectively; P = 0.018, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)]. Plasma biomarkers of platelet activation, coagulation, and fibrinolysis did not change during the intervention. Serum HDL-cholesterol concentrations increased significantly more (P = 0.006, ANCOVA) in the berry than in the control group (5.2% and 0.6%, respectively), but total cholesterol and triacylglycerol remained unchanged. Systolic BP decreased significantly (P = 0.050, ANCOVA); the decrease mostly occurred in subjects with high baseline BP (7.3 mm Hg in highest tertile; P = 0.024, ANCOVA). Polyphenol and vitamin C concentrations in plasma increased, whereas other nutritional biomarkers (ie, folate, tocopherols, sodium, and potassium) were unaffected. CONCLUSION: The consumption of moderate amounts of berries resulted in favorable changes in platelet function, HDL cholesterol, and BP. The results indicate that regular consumption of berries may play a role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-2077", "text": "Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries, and although many processes play a role in the development of vascular disease, thrombosis is the primary event that precipitates stroke and acute coronary syndromes. The blood platelets are of significant importance in medicine. These cells are involved in many physiological processes, particularly haemostasis through their ability to aggregate and form clots in response to activation. In addition, these dynamic cells display activities that extend beyond thrombosis, including an important role in initiating and sustaining vascular inflammation. The expansion of knowledge from basic and clinical research has highlighted the critical position of platelets in several inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and atherosclerosis. Platelets are emerging as important mediators of inflammation and provide important signals to mediate phenotype of other blood and vascular cells. The important role of platelets in arterial thrombosis and the onset of acute myocardial infarction after atherosclerotic plaque rupture make inhibition of platelet aggregation a critical step in preventing thrombotic events associated with stroke, heart attack, and peripheral arterial thrombosis. However, the use of platelet inhibitors for thrombosis prevention must seek a delicate balance between inhibiting platelet activation and an associated increased bleeding risk. The aim of this review is to up-date the knowledge on platelets physiology and dysfunction in pathologies, such as diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension, emphasizing the link between platelets and the inflammation-related atherosclerosis. The review evaluates the opportunities offered by the novel platelet inhibitors to efficiently alleviate the thrombotic events. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2078", "text": "Platelet hyperactivity is one of the most important factors responsible for the incidence of cardiovascular disease. There are many nutritive and non-nutritive compounds present in the diet which may affect platelet function in various ways. Recent discovery of anti-platelet factors in plants, vegetables and fruits provides a new dietary means for a long-term strategy to favorably modify human blood platelet activity. This review summarises the effects of these dietary components on human platelet function both in vitro and in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-2079", "text": "Strawberries are an important fruit in the Mediterranean diet because of their high content of essential nutrients and beneficial phytochemicals, which seem to exert beneficial effects in human health. Healthy volunteers were supplemented daily with 500 g of strawberries for 1 month. Plasma lipid profile, circulating and cellular markers of antioxidant status, oxidative stress and platelet function were evaluated at baseline, after 30 days of strawberry consumption and 15 days after the end of the study. A high concentration of vitamin C and anthocyanins was found in the fruits. Strawberry consumption beneficially influenced the lipid profile by significantly reducing total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides levels (-8.78%, -13.72% and -20.80%, respectively; P<.05) compared with baseline period, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol remained unchanged. Strawberry supplementation also significant decreased serum malondialdehyde, urinary 8-OHdG and isoprostanes levels (-31.40%, -29.67%, -27.90%, respectively; P<.05). All the parameters returned to baseline values after the washout period. A significant increase in plasma total antioxidant capacity measured by both ferric reducing ability of plasma and oxygen radical absorbance capacity assays and vitamin C levels (+24.97%, +41.18%, +41.36%, respectively; P<.05) was observed after strawberry consumption. Moreover, the spontaneous and oxidative hemolysis were significant reduced (-31.7% and -39.03%, respectively; P<.05), compared to the baseline point, which remained stable after the washout period. Finally, strawberry intake significant decrease (P<.05) the number of activated platelets, compared to both baseline and washout values. Strawberries consumption improves plasma lipids profile, biomarkers of antioxidant status, antihemolytic defenses and platelet function in healthy subjects, encouraging further evaluation on a population with higher cardiovascular disease risk. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2080", "text": "Beyond obvious functions in haemostasis and thrombosis, platelets are considered to be essential in proinflammatory surroundings such as atherosclerosis, allergy, rheumatoid arthritis and even cancer. In atherosclerosis, platelets facilitate the recruitment of inflammatory cells towards the lesion sites and release a plethora of inflammatory mediators, thereby enriching and boosting the inflammatory milieu. Platelets do so by interacting with endothelial cells, circulating leukocytes (monocytes, neutrophils, dendritic cells, T-cells) and progenitor cells. This cross-talk enforces leukocyte activation, adhesion and transmigration. Furthermore, platelets are known to function in innate host defense through the release of antimicrobial peptides and the expression of pattern recognition receptors. In severe sepsis, platelets are able to trigger the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which bind and clear pathogens. The present antiplatelet therapies that target key pathways of platelet activation and aggregation therefore hold the potential to modulate platelet-derived immune functions by reducing cellular interactions of platelets with other immune components and by reducing the secretion of inflammatory proteins into the milieu. The objective of this review is to update and discuss the current perceptions of the platelet immune constituents and their prospect as therapeutic targets in an atherosclerotic setting."}
{"id": "MED-2082", "text": "BACKGROUND: Reliable and timely information on the leading causes of death in populations, and how these are changing, is a crucial input into health policy debates. In the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010), we aimed to estimate annual deaths for the world and 21 regions between 1980 and 2010 for 235 causes, with uncertainty intervals (UIs), separately by age and sex. METHODS: We attempted to identify all available data on causes of death for 187 countries from 1980 to 2010 from vital registration, verbal autopsy, mortality surveillance, censuses, surveys, hospitals, police records, and mortuaries. We assessed data quality for completeness, diagnostic accuracy, missing data, stochastic variations, and probable causes of death. We applied six different modelling strategies to estimate cause-specific mortality trends depending on the strength of the data. For 133 causes and three special aggregates we used the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) approach, which uses four families of statistical models testing a large set of different models using different permutations of covariates. Model ensembles were developed from these component models. We assessed model performance with rigorous out-of-sample testing of prediction error and the validity of 95% UIs. For 13 causes with low observed numbers of deaths, we developed negative binomial models with plausible covariates. For 27 causes for which death is rare, we modelled the higher level cause in the cause hierarchy of the GBD 2010 and then allocated deaths across component causes proportionately, estimated from all available data in the database. For selected causes (African trypanosomiasis, congenital syphilis, whooping cough, measles, typhoid and parathyroid, leishmaniasis, acute hepatitis E, and HIV/AIDS), we used natural history models based on information on incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality. We separately estimated cause fractions by aetiology for diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and meningitis, as well as disaggregations by subcause for chronic kidney disease, maternal disorders, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. For deaths due to collective violence and natural disasters, we used mortality shock regressions. For every cause, we estimated 95% UIs that captured both parameter estimation uncertainty and uncertainty due to model specification where CODEm was used. We constrained cause-specific fractions within every age-sex group to sum to total mortality based on draws from the uncertainty distributions. FINDINGS: In 2010, there were 52\u00b78 million deaths globally. At the most aggregate level, communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional causes were 24\u00b79% of deaths worldwide in 2010, down from 15\u00b79 million (34\u00b71%) of 46\u00b75 million in 1990. This decrease was largely due to decreases in mortality from diarrhoeal disease (from 2\u00b75 to 1\u00b74 million), lower respiratory infections (from 3\u00b74 to 2\u00b78 million), neonatal disorders (from 3\u00b71 to 2\u00b72 million), measles (from 0\u00b763 to 0\u00b713 million), and tetanus (from 0\u00b727 to 0\u00b706 million). Deaths from HIV/AIDS increased from 0\u00b730 million in 1990 to 1\u00b75 million in 2010, reaching a peak of 1\u00b77 million in 2006. Malaria mortality also rose by an estimated 19\u00b79% since 1990 to 1\u00b717 million deaths in 2010. Tuberculosis killed 1\u00b72 million people in 2010. Deaths from non-communicable diseases rose by just under 8 million between 1990 and 2010, accounting for two of every three deaths (34\u00b75 million) worldwide by 2010. 8 million people died from cancer in 2010, 38% more than two decades ago; of these, 1\u00b75 million (19%) were from trachea, bronchus, and lung cancer. Ischaemic heart disease and stroke collectively killed 12\u00b79 million people in 2010, or one in four deaths worldwide, compared with one in five in 1990; 1\u00b73 million deaths were due to diabetes, twice as many as in 1990. The fraction of global deaths due to injuries (5\u00b71 million deaths) was marginally higher in 2010 (9\u00b76%) compared with two decades earlier (8\u00b78%). This was driven by a 46% rise in deaths worldwide due to road traffic accidents (1\u00b73 million in 2010) and a rise in deaths from falls. Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lower respiratory infections, lung cancer, and HIV/AIDS were the leading causes of death in 2010. Ischaemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections, stroke, diarrhoeal disease, malaria, and HIV/AIDS were the leading causes of years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs) in 2010, similar to what was estimated for 1990, except for HIV/AIDS and preterm birth complications. YLLs from lower respiratory infections and diarrhoea decreased by 45-54% since 1990; ischaemic heart disease and stroke YLLs increased by 17-28%. Regional variations in leading causes of death were substantial. Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional causes still accounted for 76% of premature mortality in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010. Age standardised death rates from some key disorders rose (HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease in particular), but for most diseases, death rates fell in the past two decades; including major vascular diseases, COPD, most forms of cancer, liver cirrhosis, and maternal disorders. For other conditions, notably malaria, prostate cancer, and injuries, little change was noted. INTERPRETATION: Population growth, increased average age of the world's population, and largely decreasing age-specific, sex-specific, and cause-specific death rates combine to drive a broad shift from communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional causes towards non-communicable diseases. Nevertheless, communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional causes remain the dominant causes of YLLs in sub-Saharan Africa. Overlaid on this general pattern of the epidemiological transition, marked regional variation exists in many causes, such as interpersonal violence, suicide, liver cancer, diabetes, cirrhosis, Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis, melanoma, and others. Regional heterogeneity highlights the importance of sound epidemiological assessments of the causes of death on a regular basis. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2083", "text": "Coronary artery disease is responsible for much mortality and morbidity around the world. Platelets are involved in atherosclerotic disease development and the reduction of platelet activity by medications reduces the incidence and severity of disease. Red wine and grapes contain polyphenolic compounds, including flavonoids, which can reduce platelet aggregation and have been associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease. Citrus fruits contain different classes of polyphenolics that may not share the same properties. This study evaluated whether commercial grape, orange and grapefruit juices, taken daily, reduce ex vivo platelet activity. In a randomized cross-over design, ten healthy human subjects (ages 26-58 y, five of each gender) drank 5-7.5 mL/(kg. d) of purple grape juice, orange juice or grapefruit juice for 7-10 d each. Platelet aggregation (whole blood impedance aggregometry, Chronolog Model #590) at baseline was compared to results after consumption of each juice. Drinking purple grape juice for one week reduced the whole blood platelet aggregation response to 1 mg/L of collagen by 77% (from 17.9 +/- 2.3 to 4.0 +/- 6.8 ohms, P = 0.0002). Orange juice and grapefruit juice had no effect on platelet aggregation. The purple grape juice had approximately three times the total polyphenolic concentration of the citrus juices and was a potent platelet inhibitor in healthy subjects while the citrus juices showed no effect. The platelet inhibitory effect of the flavonoids in grape juice may decrease the risk of coronary thrombosis and myocardial infarction."}
{"id": "MED-2085", "text": "A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is known to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the information regarding the antithrombotic activity (antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and fibrinolytic) of fruits and vegetables is scarce. The aim of this study was to assess the antithrombotic activity of extracts from fruits and vegetables widely consumed in central Chile. The study included samples of 19 fruits and 26 vegetables, representative of the local diet. The extracts prepared from each sample included an aqueous (juice or pressed solubles) and/or methanol-soluble fraction. The extracts were evaluated for antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and fibrinolytic activity in vitro at a final concentration of 1 mg/ml. The antiplatelet activity was assessed by platelet aggregation inhibition; anticoagulant activity was measured by the prothrombin time (PT), diluted prothrombin time (dPT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), kaolin clotting time (KCT), and thrombin time. The fibrinolytic effect was determined with the euglobin clot lysis time and fibrin plate methods. Extracts of green beans and tomatoes inhibited platelet aggregation induced by ADP and arachidonic acid, in a concentration-dependent manner. The methanolic extracts of grapes prolonged the PT and dPT. Finally, extracts of raspberry prolonged the APTT and also presented fibrinolytic activity. In conclusion, from a screening that included a variety of fruits and vegetables, we found antiplatelet activity in green beans and tomatoes, anticoagulant activities in grapes and raspberries, whereas fibrinolytic activity was observed only in raspberries. Further investigations are necessary to advance in knowledge of the active compounds of these fruits and vegetables and their mechanisms of action."}
{"id": "MED-2086", "text": "Endocrine research in the 1930s increased and extended the use of sex hormones as medical therapies in an unprecedented way, especially for female ailments. In the 1950s the therapeutic use of sex hormones extended to the treatment of 'tall' girls. Ambiguity in the definition of the 'tall' girl, the arbitrary nature of the treatment decision, and diversity in the therapeutic regimes highlight the problematic nature of this medical practice. Using linguistic repertoires to study the political and ideological implications found in the patterned use of language, this paper reports on a discourse analysis of the medical literature on treatment of tall girls between the 1950s and 1990s, when this treatment was at its peak. Three linguistic repertoires emerged: the institutional authority of medicine to determine the 'abnormality' of tall stature in females; the clinical knowledge and experience in the diagnosis of medical risk associated with tall stature in women; and using hormones as cosmetic therapy to (re)produce femininity in tall girls. All three related to the maintenance of the cultural representations and social expectations of femininity. With no evidence of psychological harm associated with tall stature in women, and no long-term studies of either effectiveness or benefit, over five decades clinicians persuaded themselves and their patients that tall stature required therapeutic intervention. The treatment of tall girls with high dose oestrogen must be viewed as the medicalisation of a normal physical attribute adversely related to the social construction of gender. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2087", "text": "Diethylstilboestrol (DES) is an endocrine disrupter which causes cancer in rodents. It was prescribed in large amounts to treat women with gynaecological problems; some of the daughters of these women subsequently developed a rare cancer (vaginal clear cell adenocarcinoma) while genital abnormalities were found in some of the sons. It was used for decades in livestock feed and this may have contaminated the food chain leading to the exposure of the more general population. DES appears to cause epigenetic effects in animals and there is some evidence that this also occurs in man. The mechanisms of carcinogenesis are complex and the effects are difficult to prove due to the background of dietary and environmental phyto- and xenooestrogens. It has been suggested that, like other endocrine disrupters, DES may have acted as an obesogen in the human population. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2088", "text": "Organoarsenical drugs are widely used in the production of broiler chickens in the United States. Feathers from these chickens are processed into a meal product that is used as an animal feed additive and as an organic fertilizer. Research conducted to date suggests that arsenical drugs, specifically roxarsone, used in poultry production result in the accumulation of arsenic in the keratinous material of poultry feathers. The use of feather meal product in the human food system and in other settings may result in human exposures to arsenic. Consequently, the presence and nature of arsenic in twelve samples of feather meal product from six US states and China were examined. Since arsenic toxicity is highly species-dependent, speciation analysis using HPLC/ICPMS was performed to determine the biological relevance of detected arsenic. Arsenic was detected in all samples (44-4100 \u03bcg kg(-1)) and speciation analyses revealed that inorganic forms of arsenic dominated, representing 37 - 83% of total arsenic. Roxarsone was not detected in the samples (<20 \u03bcg As kg(-1)). Feather meal products represent a previously unrecognized source of arsenic in the food system, and may pose additional risks to humans as a result of its use as an organic fertilizer and when animal waste is managed. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2090", "text": "Taking into consideration genetic damage plays an important role in carcinogenesis, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on the genotoxic potential of some endodontic compounds currently used in dentistry, such as formocresol, paramonochlorophenol, calcium hydroxide, resin-based sealers, phenolic compounds, chlorhexidine, mineral trioxide aggregate, and others. Some of these compounds appear capable of exerting noxious activity on the genetic material. The action mechanisms are discussed. Therefore, this is an area that warrants investigation since the estimation of risk of these substances with respect to genotoxicity will be added to those used for regulatory purposes in improving oral health and preventing oral carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2091", "text": "BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of 0.5% tea, 2% neem, and 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwashes on oral health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized blinded controlled trial with 30 healthy human volunteers of age group 18-25 years was carried out. The subjects were randomly assigned to 3 groups i.e., group A - 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate (bench mark control), Group B - 2% neem, and group C - 0.5% tea of 10 subjects per group. Plaque accumulation and gingival condition were recorded using plaque index and gingival index. Oral hygiene was assessed by simplified oral hygiene index (OHIS). Salivary pH was assessed by indikrom pH strips. Plaque, gingival, and simplified OHI scores as well as salivary pH were recorded at baseline, immediately after 1 st rinse, after 1 week, 2 nd week, and 3 rd week. The 3 rd week was skipped for group A. RESULTS: Mean plaque and gingival scores were reduced over the 3 week trial period for experimental and control groups. Anti-plaque effectiveness was observed in all groups and the highest being in group C (P < 0.05). Neem and tea showed comparative effectiveness on gingiva better than chlorhexidine (P < 0.05). The salivary pH rise was sustained and significant in Group B and C compared to Group A. Oral hygiene improvement was better appreciated in Group B and Group C. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of 0.5% tea was more compared to 2% neem and 0.2% chlorhexidine mouth rinse."}
{"id": "MED-2092", "text": "Objectives To determine the cytotoxicity of three commercial mouthrinses Klorhex, Andorex and Tanflex on buccal epithelial cells using micronucleus (MN) test. Materials and Methods 28 patients with aged 16\u201324 undergone three mouthrinses\u2019 application were analyzed before and after one week exposure. Physiologic saline was used for the control group. The MN incidence was scored in the buccal epithelial of each participants. The difference in pre- and post-treatment after one week incidence of MN and plaque (PI) and gingival indices (GI) was compared by non-parametric statistical tests. Results The micronuclei incidence increased in Klorhex, Tanflex and Andorex groups after exposure to mouth rinses (P<.05). But when compared with the control group, there was not any difference between Andorex and control group (P>.05). In the other study groups, MN incidence was significantly increased after 7 days treatment (P<.05). GI scores of all groups were decreased significantly (P<.05). PI scores were decreased only in the Klorhex group (P<.05). Conclusions Our primary findings support the presence of possible cytotoxic effects of the mouthrinses on gingival epithelial cells."}
{"id": "MED-2093", "text": "Chlorhexidine (CHX) is one of the most commonly prescribed antiseptic agents in the dental field. It has a long-lasting antibacterial activity with a broad-spectrum of action and it has been shown to reduce plaque, gingival inflammation and bleeding. Its use is considered a powerful adjuvant to mechanical oral hygiene (brushing and flossing), especially in those cases in which it cannot be performed correctly. Available as mouthwash, gel, aerosol, spray and disks, CHX is considered a safe compound, with minimal and transitory local and systemic side effects. Data support its periodic use as an adjuvant to normal brushing and flossing in subjects unable to maintain proper oral hygiene due to physical and/or mental impairment, or lack of motivation, or decreased salivary rate. CHX is also a useful alternative to mechanical oral hygiene procedures in those cases in which they are contraindicated, e.g. after a surgical procedure, or as a preoperative rinse before procedures in which use of a dental dam is not possible. The aim of this article is to offer a complete review of literature regarding the characteristics, the applications and the problems associated with the use of chlorhexidine in the dental field."}
{"id": "MED-2095", "text": "During the last few years, there has been increasing interest in buccal epithelial cells for cytogenetic evaluation of different materials. In the present study, the use of these cells and peripheral lymphocytes for cytogenetic evaluation of chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) with comet assay (single cell gel electrophoresis, or SCGE) is reported. This technique detects DNA strand breaks in individual cells in alkaline conditions. Thirteen volunteers were requested to rinse their mouths with 0.12% CHX solution for 18 days. Buccal epithelial cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes were obtained from all participants at baseline and the end of the experimental period. One hundred cells per subject were analysed for the DNA damage. A statistical increase was observed in the damaged buccal and blood cells after the CHX application. The mean grade of damage in buccal cells was statistically different from that in blood cells. Due to minimal absorption of chlorhexidine into the tissues and low concentrations of free chlorhexidine in the oral cavity, the DNA damage produced by chlorhexidine in lymphocytes was lower than in buccal epithelial cells. As chlorhexidine does not accumulate in the body, the frequencies of DNA damage could be transient. Detected DNA damage after CHX use might be the indication of an earlier effect, before DNA repair begins, and could be reversible."}
{"id": "MED-2098", "text": "Bile acid binding capacity has been related to the cholesterol-lowering potential of foods and food fractions. Lowered recirculation of bile acids results in utilization of cholesterol to synthesize bile acid and reduced fat absorption. Secondary bile acids have been associated with increased risk of cancer. Bile acid binding potential has been related to lowering the risk of heart disease and that of cancer. Previously, we have reported bile acid binding by several uncooked vegetables. However, most vegetables are consumed after cooking. How cooking would influence in vitro bile acid binding of various vegetables was investigated using a mixture of bile acids secreted in human bile under physiological conditions. Eight replicate incubations were conducted for each treatment simulating gastric and intestinal digestion, which included a substrate only, a bile acid mixture only, and 6 with substrate and bile acid mixture. Cholestyramine (a cholesterol-lowering, bile acid binding drug) was the positive control treatment and cellulose was the negative control. Relative to cholestyramine, in vitro bile acid binding on dry matter basis was for the collard greens, kale, and mustard greens, 13%; broccoli, 10%; Brussels sprouts and spinach, 8%; green bell pepper, 7%; and cabbage, 5%. These results point to the significantly different (P < or = .05) health-promoting potential of collard greens = kale = mustard greens > broccoli > Brussels sprouts = spinach = green bell pepper > cabbage as indicated by their bile acid binding on dry matter basis. Steam cooking significantly improved the in vitro bile acid binding of collard greens, kale, mustard greens, broccoli, green bell pepper, and cabbage compared with previously observed bile acid binding values for these vegetables raw (uncooked). Inclusion of steam-cooked collard greens, kale, mustard greens, broccoli, green bell pepper, and cabbage in our daily diet as health-promoting vegetables should be emphasized. These green/leafy vegetables, when consumed regularly after steam cooking, would lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, advance human nutrition research, and improve public health."}
{"id": "MED-2099", "text": "Water-soluble dietary fibers from apple peels and water-insoluble dietary fibers from wheat bran and soybean-seed hull were used to evaluate their binding capacities for four toxic elements (Pb, Hg, Cd, and As), lard, cholesterol, and bile acids. The water-soluble dietary fibers showed a higher binding capacity for three toxic cations, cholesterol, and sodium cholate; and a lower binding capacity for lard, compared to the water-insoluble ones. A mixture of the dietary fibers from all samples - apple peels, wheat bran, and soybean-seed hull - in the ratio 2:4:4 (w/w) significantly increased the binding capacity of water-insoluble dietary fibers for the three toxic cations, cholesterol, and sodium cholate; moreover, the mixture could lower the concentrations of Pb(2+) and Cd(+) in the tested solutions to levels lower than those occurring in rice and vegetables grown in polluted soils. However, all the tested fibers showed a low binding capacity for the toxic anion, AsO(3)(3-). Copyright \u00a9 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V."}
{"id": "MED-2100", "text": "The relation between epithelial dysplasia in nipple aspirates of breast fluid and frequency of bowel movements was studied in 1481 white women. There was a significant positive association with dysplasia (risk ratio 4.5; 95% confidence interval 1.9-11.9) in women reporting severe constipation, i.e., two or fewer bowel movements weekly, which was not seen in women reporting more than one bowel movement daily. Women who had one bowel movement daily or one every other day had increased risk ratios. Cytological abnormalities in breast epithelium associated with severe constipation may be relevant to studies of diet and breast disease since the intestinal flora has been reported to metabolism bile salts and oestrogens secreted by the liver into the gastrointestinal tract-a process which may be enhanced by severe constipation."}
{"id": "MED-2101", "text": "The notion that a breast-gut connection might modulate the microenvironment of breast tissue was supported by the finding that breast cyst fluid contains bile acids that are characteristically found in the intestines. To establish that the gut, rather than circulating steroid precursors, is the source of bile acids in breast cyst fluid, we gave two patients deuterium-labelled chenodeoxycholic acid (three 200 mg doses by mouth), starting 9 days before aspiration of breast cysts. The chenodeoxycholic acid concentration of seven samples of aspirated cyst fluid ranged from 42 to 94 mumol/L. The corresponding serum concentrations of chenodeoxycholic acid on the same day were 0.8 and 2.9 mumol/L, of which the labelled compound comprised 13.0% (0.38 mumol/L) and 28.2% (0.23 mumol/L). The deuterated chenodeoxycholic acid concentrations in cyst fluid were 0.79 and 1.26 mumol/L in two samples from patient 1 and 3.22 mumol/L in patient 2; these values are equivalent to 11-17% of the serum concentrations [corrected]. This study shows that intestinal bile acids rapidly gain access to cyst fluid. Further studies should investigate the mechanisms that govern the exchange processes and the maintenance of the high cyst fluid to plasma concentration gradients, and the biological half-lives of individual constituents."}
{"id": "MED-2102", "text": "The effects of the major human serum bile acid, glycochenodeoxycholic acid (GCDC), as well as unconjugated chenodeoxycholic acid (CDC), on the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line have been studied in vitro under oestrogen and bile acid deprived culture conditions. GCDC increased the growth of the breast cancer cells over the range 10-300 microM. At concentrations in excess of the bile acid binding capacity of the medium cell growth was prevented. In contrast 10 microM CDC tended to reduce cell growth. Oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR) receptors, pS2 and total cathepsin D were quantified by monoclonal antibody based immunoassays. Ten to 100 microM GCDC and 10 microM CDC down-regulated ER protein and this was accompanied by induction of the oestrogen-regulated proteins PgR, pS2 and possibly cathepsin D, including increased secretion of the latter two proteins into the culture medium. All these changes were quantitatively similar to those observed with 10 nM oestradiol. The bile acid effects on ER and PgR were not due to interference with the assay procedures. Cells incubated with 50 microM GCDC or 10 microM CDC had higher pmolar concentrations of the bile acids than controls. This study suggests that naturally occurring bile acids influence the growth and steroid receptor function of human breast cancer cells."}
{"id": "MED-2103", "text": "OBJECTIVE: High concentrations of plasma deoxycholic acid (DCA) are found in human breast cyst fluid and it has been hypothesised that this may be related to risk of breast cancer. The aim of this pilot study was to ascertain whether plasma bile acid concentrations were greater in women with breast cancer. DESIGN: A case-control study comparing postmenopausal women with breast cancer with healthy controls was conducted. SUBJECTS: Twenty Caucasian postmenopausal breast cancer patients were recruited at the time of diagnosis together with 20 healthy controls matched for age and body mass index. Exclusion criteria included any treatment for breast cancer, use of hormone replacement therapy in the last 12 months, diabetes mellitus, a history of liver or gall bladder disease or abnormal liver function. MEASUREMENTS: Fasting plasma bile acid concentrations were determined by gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. RESULTS: The mean plasma DCA concentration was 52% higher (P=0.012) in patients with breast cancer compared with controls. CONCLUSION: These results support the hypothesis that DCA may be involved in the aetiology of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2105", "text": "DNA damage is an essential component of the genesis of colonic cancer. Gut microbial products and food components are thought to be principally responsible for the damage that initiates disease progression. Modified Ames tests and Comet assays have been developed for measuring mutagenicity and genotoxicity. Their relevance to oncogenesis remains to be confirmed, as does the relative importance of different mutagenic and genotoxic compounds present in fecal water and the bacteria involved in their metabolism. Dietary intervention studies provide clues to the likely risks of oncogenesis. High-protein diets lead to increases in N-nitroso compounds in fecal water and greater DNA damage as measured by the Comet assay, for example. Other dietary interventions, such as non-digestible carbohydrates and probiotics, may lead to lower fecal genotoxicity. In order to make recommendations to the general public, we must develop a better understanding of how genotoxic compounds are formed in the colon, how accurate the Ames and Comet assays are, and how diet affects genotoxicity."}
{"id": "MED-2106", "text": "Bile acids were first proposed to be carcinogens in 1939 and 1940. On the basis of later work with rodent models, bile acids came to be regarded as cancer promoters rather than carcinogens. However, considerable indirect evidence, obtained more recently, supports the view that bile acids are carcinogens in humans. At least 15 reports, from 1980 through 2003, indicate that bile acids cause DNA damage. The mechanism is probably indirect, involving induction of oxidative stress and production of reactive oxygen species that then damage DNA. Repeated DNA damage likely increases the mutation rate, including the mutation rate of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Additional reports, from 1994 through 2002, indicate that bile acids, at the increased concentrations accompanying a high fat diet, induce frequent apoptosis. Those cells within the exposed population with reduced apoptosis capability tend to survive and selectively proliferate. That bile acids cause DNA damage and may select for apoptosis-resistant cells (both leading to increased mutation), indicates that bile acids are likely carcinogens. In humans, an increased incidence of cancer of the laryngopharyngeal tract, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, the small intestine (near the Ampulla of Vater) and the colon are associated with high levels of bile acids. The much larger number of cell generations in the colonic (and, likely, other gastrointestinal) epithelia of humans compared to rodents may allow time for induction and selection of mutations leading to cancer in humans, although not in rodents."}
{"id": "MED-2107", "text": "Intestinal transit has a substantial influence on the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids and steroid hormones, on colonic pH, and on short chain fatty acid concentrations in the distal colon. Slow transit is likely to favor disease processes that are related to over-efficient enterohepatic recirculation and to lack of short chain fatty acid in the distal colon. These include gallstones, large bowel cancer, and possibly breast cancer. The best-documented influence of slow colonic transit is on bile acid metabolism. Slowing colonic transit increases deoxycholate and raises cholesterol saturation of bile, making gallstone formation more likely. In this review, we also examine the evidence that slow colonic transit may be important in the etiology of large bowel and breast cancer. There is a lack of data pertaining to the relationship between colonic transit and diseases such as colon and breast cancer. Should slow colonic transit prove to be a significant factor in the etiology of such diseases, then the health of the population might benefit from dietary and lifestyle changes that speed up intestinal transit."}
{"id": "MED-2108", "text": "A 3-day diary with portion sizes weighed by the subject and a 24-h recall were obtained on 50 sets of subjects: Seventh-day Adventist lacto-ovo-vegetarians and nonvegetarians, and general population nonvegetarians, matched on age (+/- 5 yr), sex, marital status, education, type of milk preferred, and an index of the frequency of dairy and egg product use. An additional 18 unmatched persons who follow a pure vegetarian dietary pattern (use no meat, fish, fowl, dairy, or egg products) were recruited into the study. The rational for the dietary methods used is presented and details of each of the methods used are given. The results of the nutrient analysis of the 24-h recall and 3-day diary are presented. The 3-day nutrient intake means for the four groups are compared to the sex-specific recommended daily allowance both with and without supplements. The contribution of nutritional supplements to the nutrient intake is discussed. All groups show adequate or excess intake levels of calories, protein, and fat when either the 24-h recall or the 3-day diary values are considered. The higher intake of calories noted among nonvegetarians can be explained by a higher intake of both fat and protein in these groups. A, B, and C vitamin levels (3-day dairy estimates) are adequate both with and without supplements. Calcium intake is much below recommended levels for pure vegetarian females. Iron intake is low for all females. A heme iron source does not improve the intake levels for nonvegetarian females. A comparison of these results with prior reports of nutrient intake among Seventh-day Adventists is presented."}
{"id": "MED-2109", "text": "Thirty-nine newborn infants with severe persistent pulmonary hypertension and respiratory failure who met criteria for 85% likelihood of dying were enrolled in a randomized trial in which extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy was compared with conventional medical therapy (CMT). In phase I, 4 of 10 babies in the CMT group died and 9 of 9 babies in the ECMO group survived. Randomization was halted after the fourth CMT death, as planned before initiating the study, and the next 20 babies were treated with ECMO (phase II). Of the 20, 19 survived. All three treatment groups (CMT and ECMO in phase I and ECMO, phase II) were comparable in severity of illness and mechanical ventilator support. The overall survival of ECMO-treated infants was 97% (28 of 29) compared with 60% (6 of 10) in the CMT group (P less than .05)."}
{"id": "MED-2110", "text": "Almost all types of newborn respiratory failure are reversible. However, supportive treatment (oxygen and positive airway pressure) can damage the lung, and newborn respiratory failure remains a major cause of morbidity and death in infants. Prolonged extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides life support while allowing the lung to \"rest.\" We have used ECMO in 45 moribund newborn infants; 25 survived. Neonatologists referred patients who were unresponsive to maximal therapy. The right atrium and aortic arch were cannulated via the jugular vein and carotid artery. Heparin was infused continuously to main activated clotting time at 200 to 300 seconds. Airway oxygenation and pressure were reduced to low levels. Primary diagnoses were hyaline membrane disease, 14 (6 survived, 8 died); meconium aspiration, 22 (15 survived, 7 died); persistent fetal circulation including diaphragmatic hernia, 5 (3 survived, 2 died); and sepsis, 4 (1 survived, 3 died). Growth, development, and brain and lung function are normal in 20 of 25 survivors. ECMO decreased newborn respiratory failure mortality and morbidity rates in this phase I trial. A controlled randomized study is underway. The results suggest that ECMO may be effective in older patients if used before irreversible lung damage occurs."}
{"id": "MED-2111", "text": "Coronary artery disease is essentially nonexistent in cultures whose nutrition assures cholesterol levels <150 mg/dl. Patients with advanced coronary artery disease may abolish disease progression through a plant-based diet and cholesterol-lowering medication to achieve and maintain a total cholesterol <150 mg/dl."}
{"id": "MED-2112", "text": "Medical students in the United States are taught little about nutrition and dietetics. Worse yet, their training biases them against the studies that show the power of dietary approaches to managing disease. The current approach to evidence-based medicine encourages physicians to ignore any information that does not come from a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Yet human beings cannot be blinded to a dietary intervention. As a result, physicians are biased toward drug treatments and against dietary interventions for the management of chronic disease. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2114", "text": "Acne in adolescents of developed countries is an epidemic skin disease and has currently been linked to the Western diet (WD). It is the intention of this viewpoint to discuss the possible impact of WD-mediated nutrient signalling in the pathogenesis of acne. High glycaemic load and dairy protein consumption both increase insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signalling (IIS) that is superimposed on elevated IGF-1 signalling of puberty. The cell's nutritional status is primarily sensed by the forkhead box transcription factor O1 (FoxO1) and the serine/threonine kinase mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). Increased IIS extrudes FoxO1 into the cytoplasm, whereas nuclear FoxO1 suppresses hepatic IGF-1 synthesis and thus impairs somatic growth. FoxO1 attenuates androgen signalling, interacts with regulatory proteins important for sebaceous lipogenesis, regulates the activity of innate and adaptive immunity, antagonizes oxidative stress and most importantly functions as a rheostat of mTORC1, the master regulator of cell growth, proliferation and metabolic homoeostasis. Thus, FoxO1 links nutrient availability to mTORC1-driven processes: increased protein and lipid synthesis, cell proliferation, cell differentiation including hyperproliferation of acroinfundibular keratinocytes, sebaceous gland hyperplasia, increased sebaceous lipogenesis, insulin resistance and increased body mass index. Enhanced androgen, TNF-\u03b1 and IGF-1 signalling due to genetic polymorphisms promoting the risk of acne all converge in mTORC1 activation, which is further enhanced by nutrient signalling of WD. Deeper insights into the molecular interplay of FoxO1/mTORC1-mediated nutrient signalling are thus of critical importance to understand the impact of WD on the promotion of epidemic acne and more serious mTORC1-driven diseases of civilization."}
{"id": "MED-2115", "text": "Dietary PUFA, mainly those of the n-3 family, are known to play essential roles in the maintenance of energy balance and in the reduction of body fat deposition through the upregulation of mitochondrial uncoupling that is the main source of reactive oxygen species. We hypothesized that rat supplementation with raw donkey's milk (DM), characterized by low-fat content and higher n3:n6 ratio, may affect energy balance, lipid metabolism, and prooxidant status as compared to animals treated with cow's milk. In the present study, the effects of drinking raw DM (for 4 weeks) on energy balance, lipid metabolism, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant/detoxifying defences was compared to that produced by rat intake of an iso-energetic amount of raw cow's milk. The hypolipidemic effect produced by DM paralleled with the enhanced mitochondrial activity/proton leakage and with the increased activity or expression of mitochondrial markers namely, carnitine palmitoyl transferase and uncoupling protein 2. The association of decreased energy efficiency with reduced proinflammatory signs (TNF-\u03b1 and LPS levels) with the significant increase antioxidant (total thiols) and detoxifying enzyme activities (glutathione-S-transferase NADH quinone oxidoreductase) in DM-treated animals, indicated that beneficial effects were attributable, at least in part, to the activation of nuclear factor 2 erythroid-related factor 2 pathway. \u00a9 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-2116", "text": "Over the past 10 years, the increase in comprehension of the mechanisms behind acne has been truly exponential. Starting with the ethnological work of Cordain, accelerated by the epidemiological work of Adebamowo, supported by the clinical trials of Smith and Mann, Kwon, DiLandro and others, the interface of diet and acne is coming into focus. Melnik now presents an exceptional pair of papers that illustrate for dermatologists what translational research is all about. The Western diet, the role of dairy, FoxO1 and mTORC1, the interplay of agonists and antagonists, therapeutics present and future \u2013 the jigsaw puzzle is coming together."}
{"id": "MED-2117", "text": "Recent evidence underlines the role of Western diet in the pathogenesis of acne. Acne is absent in populations consuming Palaeolithic diets with low glycaemic load and no consumption of milk or dairy products. Two randomized controlled studies, one of which is presented in this issue of Acta Dermato-Venereologica, have provided evidence for the beneficial therapeutic effects of low glycaemic load diets in acne. Epidemiological evidence confirms that milk consumption has an acne-promoting or acne-aggravating effect. Recent progress in understanding the nutrient-sensitive kinase mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) allows a new view of nutrient signalling in acne by both high glycaemic load and increased insulin-, IGF-1-, and leucine signalling due to milk protein consumption. Acne should be regarded as an mTORC1-driven disease of civilization, like obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer induced by Western diet. Early dietary counselling of teenage acne patients is thus a great opportunity for dermatology, which will not only help to improve acne but may reduce the long-term adverse effects of Western diet on more serious mTORC1-driven diseases of civilization."}
{"id": "MED-2120", "text": "In a recent study, prostatectomy specimens from which Propionibacterium acnes was cultured were more likely to have inflammation than culture-negative specimens or specimens positive for other bacteria, leading the authors to hypothesize that P. acnes-mediated inflammation may contribute to prostate carcinogenesis. To indirectly explore associations between P. acnes and prostate cancer, we investigated severe acne, as measured by tetracycline use for four or more years, in relation to incident prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. On the 1992 follow-up questionnaire, participants were asked whether they had ever used \u201ctetracycline for at least two months at a time (e.g., for acne or other reason)\u201d and their duration of use. Prostate cancer diagnoses were ascertained on each subsequent biennial questionnaire and confirmed by medical record review. Between 1992 and 2002, 2,147 cases of prostate cancer were reported among 34,629 eligible participants. Men who used tetracycline for four or more years had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer (16 cases, 1,569 person-years) than men who did not use tetracycline (2,071 cases, 304,822 person-years, multivariable-adjusted RR=1.70, 95% CI:1.03\u20132.80). Although intriguing, this finding should be viewed cautiously because of the small number of exposed cases, indirect assessment of severe acne, and complex etiology of acne, which is not limited to P. acnes infection. Therefore, additional biologic and epidemiologic studies are necessary to determine and elucidate the possible role of P. acnes infection in prostate carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2121", "text": "The purpose of this paper is to highlight the endocrine signaling of Western diet, a fundamental environmental factor involved in the pathogenesis of epidemic acne. Western nutrition is characterized by high calorie uptake, high glycemic load, high fat and meat intake, as well as increased consumption of insulin- and IGF-1-level elevating dairy proteins. Metabolic signals of Western diet are sensed by the nutrient-sensitive kinase, mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), which integrates signals of cellular energy, growth factors (insulin, IGF-1) and protein-derived signals, predominantly leucine, provided in high amounts by milk proteins and meat. mTORC1 activates SREBP, the master transcription factor of lipogenesis. Leucine stimulates mTORC1-SREBP signaling and leucine is directly converted by sebocytes into fatty acids and sterols for sebaceous lipid synthesis. Over-activated mTORC1 increases androgen hormone secretion and most likely amplifies androgen-driven mTORC1 signaling of sebaceous follicles. Testosterone directly activates mTORC1. Future research should investigate the effects of isotretinoin on sebocyte mTORC1 activity. It is conceivable that isotretinoin may downregulate mTORC1 in sebocytes by upregulation of nuclear levels of FoxO1. The role of Western diet in acne can only be fully appreciated when all stimulatory inputs for maximal mTORC1 activation, i.e., glucose, insulin, IGF-1 and leucine, are adequately considered. Epidemic acne has to be recognized as an mTORC1-driven disease of civilization like obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. These new insights into Western diet-mediated mTORC1-hyperactivity provide a rational basis for dietary intervention in acne by attenuating mTORC1 signaling by reducing (1) total energy intake, (2) hyperglycemic carbohydrates, (3) insulinotropic dairy proteins and (4) leucine-rich meat and dairy proteins. The necessary dietary changes are opposed to the evolution of industrialized food and fast food distribution of Westernized countries. An attenuation of mTORC1 signaling is only possible by increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit, the major components of vegan or Paleolithic diets. The dermatologist bears a tremendous responsibility for his young acne patients who should be advised to modify their dietary habits in order to reduce activating stimuli of mTORC1, not only to improve acne but to prevent the harmful and expensive march to other mTORC1-related chronic diseases later in life."}
{"id": "MED-2122", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To clarify the hormonal context of breast cancer etiology we used data from a large, population-based case-control study to investigate the relationship between breast cancer risk and a history of diabetes mellitus, disorders associated with estrogen stimulation (uterine fibroids, endometriosis, gallstones), and disorders associated with androgen stimulation (acne, hirsutism, and polycystic ovaries). METHODS: Breast cancer patients between 50 and 75 years old were identified from state-wide tumor registries in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; controls were randomly selected from drivers' license lists (age less than 65) or Medicare enrollment files (age 65-74). Information on reproductive history, medical history, and personal habits was obtained by telephone interview. A total of 5659 cases and 5928 controls were interviewed and provided suitable data. RESULTS: There was no overall association between breast cancer risk and reported history of diabetes mellitus, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, gallstones, or cholecystectomy. However, the disorders with androgenic associations all conferred an increased risk: the overall odds ratio (OR) for a history of acne was 1.4 (95% CI 1.0-1.9), that for hirsutism was 1.2 (95% CI 0.81-1.8), and that for polycystic ovaries 1.6 (95% CI 0.8-3.2). Diabetes mellitus diagnosed before age 35 conferred an odds ratio of 0.52 (95% 0.25-1.1), while diabetes diagnosed at a later age was associated with an increased risk (OR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.4). CONCLUSIONS: Androgen-related phenomena are likely to be important in the etiology of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2123", "text": "Milk has been recognized to represent a functionally active nutrient system promoting neonatal growth of mammals. Cell growth is regulated by the nutrient-sensitive kinase mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). There is still a lack of information on the mechanisms of mTORC1 up-regulation by milk consumption. This review presents milk as a materno-neonatal relay system functioning by transfer of preferential amino acids, which increase plasma levels of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), insulin, growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) for mTORC1 activation. Importantly, milk exosomes, which regularly contain microRNA-21, most likely represent a genetic transfection system enhancing mTORC1-driven metabolic processes. Whereas human breast milk is the ideal food for infants allowing appropriate postnatal growth and species-specific metabolic programming, persistent high milk signaling during adolescence and adulthood by continued cow\u00b4s milk consumption may promote mTORC1-driven diseases of civilization."}
{"id": "MED-2124", "text": "Acne appears to represent a visible indicator disease of over-activated mTORC1 signalling, an unfavour-able metabolic deviation on the road to serious common Western diseases of civilisation associated with increased body mass index and insulin resistance. Exaggerated mTORC1 signalling by Western diet explains the association of acne with increased body mass index, insulin resistance, and early onset of menarche. Both, a high glycaemic load and increased consumption of milk and milk products, staples of Western diet, aggravate mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 signalling. This review of the literature summarises present evidence for an association between acne, increased body mass index, insulin resistance and Western diet. By dietary intervention with a Palaeolithic-type diet, the dermatologist has the chance to attenuate patients' increased mTORC1 signalling by reducing glycaemic load and milk consumption, which may not only improve acne but may delay the march to more serious mTORC1-driven diseases of civilisation."}
{"id": "MED-2126", "text": "Increased protein supply by feeding cow-milk-based infant formula in comparison to lower protein content of human milk is a well-recognized major risk factor of childhood obesity. However, there is yet no conclusive biochemical concept explaining the mechanisms of formula-induced childhood obesity. It is the intention of this article to provide the biochemical link between leucine-mediated signalling of mammalian milk proteins and adipogenesis as well as early adipogenic programming. Leucine has been identified as the predominant signal transducer of mammalian milk, which stimulates the nutrient-sensitive kinase mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). Leucine thus functions as a maternal-neonatal relay for mTORC1-dependent neonatal \u03b2-cell proliferation and insulin secretion. The mTORC1 target S6K1 plays a pivotal role in stimulation of mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into adipocytes and to induce insulin resistance. It is of most critical concern that infant formulas provide higher amounts of leucine in comparison to human milk. Exaggerated leucine-mediated mTORC1-S6K1 signalling induced by infant formulas may thus explain increased adipogenesis and generation of lifelong elevated adipocyte numbers. Attenuation of mTORC1 signalling of infant formula by leucine restriction to physiologic lower levels of human milk offers a great chance for the prevention of childhood obesity and obesity-related metabolic diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2127", "text": "The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a conserved protein kinase involved in a multitude of cellular processes including cell growth. Increased mTOR activation is observed in multiple human cancers and inhibition of mTOR has proven efficacious in numerous clinical trials. mTOR comprises two complexes, termed mTORC1 and mTORC2. Both complexes respond to growth factors, whereas only mTORC1 is controlled by nutrients, such as glucose and amino acids. Since the discovery of mTOR, extensive studies have intricately detailed the molecular mechanisms by which mTORC1 is regulated. Somewhat paradoxically, amino acid induced mTORC1 activation\u2014arguably the most essential stimulus leading to mTORC1 activation\u2014is the least understood. Here we review the current knowledge of nutrient dependent regulation of mTORC1."}
{"id": "MED-2128", "text": "BACKGROUND: Recipients of organ transplants are susceptible to Kaposi's sarcoma as a result of treatment with immunosuppressive drugs. Sirolimus (rapamycin), an immunosuppressive drug, may also have antitumor effects. METHODS: We stopped cyclosporine therapy in 15 kidney-transplant recipients who had biopsy-proven Kaposi's sarcoma and began sirolimus therapy. All patients underwent an excisional biopsy of the lesion and one biopsy of normal skin at the time of diagnosis. A second biopsy was performed at the site of a previous Kaposi's sarcoma lesion six months after sirolimus therapy was begun. We examined biopsy specimens for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Flk-1/KDR protein, and phosphorylated Akt and p70S6 kinase, two enzymes in the signaling pathway targeted by sirolimus. RESULTS: Three months after sirolimus therapy was begun, all cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma lesions had disappeared in all patients. Remission was confirmed histologically in all patients six months after sirolimus therapy was begun. There were no acute episodes of rejection or changes in kidney-graft function. Levels of Flk-1/KDR and phosphorylated Akt and p70S6 kinase were increased in Kaposi's sarcoma cells. The expression of VEGF was increased in Kaposi's sarcoma cells and even more so in normal skin cells around the Kaposi's sarcoma lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Sirolimus inhibits the progression of dermal Kaposi's sarcoma in kidney-transplant recipients while providing effective immunosuppression. Copyright 2005 Massachusetts Medical Society."}
{"id": "MED-2129", "text": "The act of increasing mass, either in non-dividing cells or in dividing cells seeking to provide new material for daughter cells, depends upon the continued presence of extracellular nutrients in order to conserve mass. For amino acid nutrients, it appears that their insufficiency for new protein synthesis is actively monitored by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, eliciting appropriate cellular responses that may depend not only on bulk nutrient supply, but also on the abundance of specific amino acids. \u00a9 2012 The Author Journal compilation \u00a9 2012 FEBS."}
{"id": "MED-2130", "text": "In metazoans, TOR is an essential protein that functions as a master regulator of cellular growth and proliferation. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of information about this critical master kinase, ranging from the composition of the TOR protein complex to its ability to act as an integrator of numerous extracellular signals. Unfortunately, this plethora of information has also raised numerous questions regarding TOR function. Currently, the prevailing view is that mammalian TOR (mTOR) exists in at least two molecular complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, which are largely defined by the presence of either RAPTOR or RICTOR. However, additional co-factors have been identified for each complex, and their importance in mediating mTOR signals has been incompletely elucidated. Similarly, there are differences in mTOR function that reflect the tissue of origin. In this review, we present an alternative view to mTOR complex formation and function, which envisions mTOR regulation and signal propagation as a reflection of cell type- and basal state-dependent conditions. The re-interpretation of mTOR biology in this framework may facilitate the design of therapies most likely to effectively inhibit this central regulator of cell behavior."}
{"id": "MED-2132", "text": "The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a protein kinase that plays key roles in cellular regulation. It forms complexes with additional proteins. The best-understood one is mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1). The regulation and cellular functions of mTORC1 have been the subjects of intense study; despite this, many questions remain to be answered. They include questions about the actual mechanisms by which mTORC1 signaling is stimulated by hormones and growth factors, which involves the small GTPase Rheb, and by amino acids, which involves other GTPase proteins. The control of Rheb and the mechanism by which it activates mTORC1 remain incompletely understood. Although it has been known for many years that rapamycin interferes with some functions of mTORC1, it is not known how it does this, or why only some functions of mTORC1 are affected. mTORC1 regulates diverse cellular functions. Several mTORC1 substrates are now known, although in several cases their physiological roles are poorly or incompletely understood. In the case of several processes, although it is clear that they are regulated by mTORC1, it is not known how mTORC1 does this. Lastly, mTORC1 is implicated in ageing, but again it is unclear what mechanisms account for this. Given the importance of mTORC1 signaling both for cellular functions and in human disease, it is a high priority to gain further insights into the control of mTORC1 signaling and the mechanisms by which it controls cellular functions and animal physiology."}
{"id": "MED-2134", "text": "Proteins regulating the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), as well as some of the targets of the mTOR kinase, are overexpressed or mutated in cancer. Rapamycin, the naturally occurring inhibitor of mTOR, along with a number of recently developed rapamycin analogs (rapalogs) consisting of synthetically derived compounds containing minor chemical modifications to the parent structure, inhibit the growth of cell lines derived from multiple tumor types in vitro, and tumor models in vivo. Results from clinical trials indicate that the rapalogs may be useful for the treatment of subsets of certain types of cancer. The sporadic responses from the initial clinical trials, based on the hypothesis of general translation inhibition of cancer cells are now beginning to be understood owing to a more complete understanding of the dynamics of mTOR regulation and the function of mTOR in the tumor microenvironment. This review will summarize the preclinical and clinical data and recent discoveries of the function of mTOR in cancer and growth regulation."}
{"id": "MED-2135", "text": "Fisetin, a flavonol present in vegetables and fruits, possesses antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we have demonstrated that fisetin prevents diet-induced obesity through regulation of the signaling of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), a central mediator of cellular growth, cellular proliferation and lipid biosynthesis. To evaluate whether fisetin regulates mTORC1 signaling, we investigated the phosphorylation and kinase activity of the 70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) and mTORC1 in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Fisetin treatment of preadipocytes reduced the phosphorylation of S6K1 and mTORC1 in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. To further our understanding of how fisetin negatively regulates mTORC1 signaling, we analyzed the phosphorylation of S6K1, mTOR and Akt in fisetin-treated TSC2-knockdown cells. The results suggested that fisetin treatment inhibits mTORC1 activity in an Akt-dependent manner. Recent studies have shown that adipocyte differentiation is dependent on mTORC1 activity. Fisetin treatment inhibited adipocyte differentiation, consistent with the negative effect of fisetin on mTOR. The inhibitory effect of fisetin on adipogenesis is dependent of mTOR activity, suggesting that fisetin inhibits adipogenesis and the accumulation of intracellular triglycerides during adipocyte differentiation by targeting mTORC1 signaling. Fisetin supplementation in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) significantly attenuated HFD-induced increases in body weight and white adipose tissue. We also observed that fisetin efficiently suppressed the phosphorylation of Akt, S6K1 and mTORC1 in adipose tissue. Collectively, these results suggest that inhibition of mTORC1 signaling by fisetin prevents adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and obesity in HFD-fed mice. Therefore, fisetin may be a useful phytochemical agent for attenuating diet-induced obesity. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2136", "text": "Prostate cancer (PCa) is dependent on androgen receptor signaling and aberrations of the PI3K-Akt-mTORC1 pathway mediating excessive and sustained growth signaling. The nutrient-sensitive kinase mTORC1 is upregulated in nearly 100% of advanced human PCas. Oncogenic mTORC1 signaling activates key subsets of mRNAs that cooperate in distinct steps of PCa initiation and progression. Epidemiological evidence points to increased dairy protein consumption as a major dietary risk factor for the development of PCa. mTORC1 is a master regulator of protein synthesis, lipid synthesis and autophagy pathways that couple nutrient sensing to cell growth and cancer. This review provides evidence that PCa initiation and progression are promoted by cow\u00b4s milk, but not human milk, stimulation of mTORC1 signaling. Mammalian milk is presented as an endocrine signaling system, which activates mTORC1, promotes cell growth and proliferation and suppresses autophagy. Naturally, milk-mediated mTORC1 signaling is restricted only to the postnatal growth phase of mammals. However, persistent consumption of cow\u00b4s milk proteins in humans provide highly insulinotropic branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) provided by milk\u00b4s fast hydrolysable whey proteins, which elevate postprandial plasma insulin levels, and increase hepatic IGF-1 plasma concentrations by casein-derived amino acids. BCAAs, insulin and IGF-1 are pivotal activating signals of mTORC1. Increased cow\u00b4s milk protein-mediated mTORC1 signaling along with constant exposure to commercial cow\u00b4s milk estrogens derived from pregnant cows may explain the observed association between high dairy consumption and increased risk of PCa in Westernized societies. As well-balanced mTORC1-signaling plays an important role in appropriate prostate morphogenesis and differentiation, exaggerated mTORC1-signaling by high cow\u00b4s milk consumption predominantly during critical growth phases of prostate development and differentiation may exert long-term adverse effects on prostate health. Attenuation of mTORC1 signaling by contemporary Paleolithic diets and restriction of dairy protein intake, especially during mTORC1-dependent phases of prostate development and differentiation, may offer protection from the most common dairy-promoted cancer in men of Western societies."}
{"id": "MED-2137", "text": "Common cancer is an age-related disease. Slow aging is associated with reduced and delayed carcinogenesis. Calorie restriction (CR), the most studied anti-aging intervention, prevents cancer by slowing down the aging process. Evidence is emerging that CR decelerates aging by deactivating MTOR (Target of Rapamycin). Rapamycin and other rapalogs suppress cellular senescence, slow down aging and postpone age-related diseases including cancer. At the same time, rapalogs are approved for certain cancer treatments. Can cancer prevention be explained by direct targeting of cancer cells? Or does rapamycin prevent cancer indirectly through slowing down the aging process? Increasing evidence points to the latter scenario."}
{"id": "MED-2138", "text": "CONTEXT: Restricting caloric intake is one of the most effective ways to extend lifespan and to reduce spontaneous tumor occurrence in experimental animals, but whether similar associations hold in humans has not been appropriately studied. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether caloric restriction in early life reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study using data from the Swedish Inpatient Registry, the Swedish Cancer Registry, the Swedish Death Registry, and the Swedish Fertility Registry. Participants were 7303 Swedish women hospitalized for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 years between 1965 and 1998. Women were excluded (n = 31) if they were diagnosed with cancer prior to their first discharge from hospitalization for anorexia nervosa. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence of invasive breast cancer. RESULTS: Compared with the Swedish general population, women hospitalized for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 years had a 53% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3%-81%) lower incidence of breast cancer; nulliparous women with anorexia nervosa had a 23% (95% CI, 79% higher to 75% lower) lower incidence, and parous women with anorexia nervosa had a 76% (95% CI, 13%-97%) lower incidence. CONCLUSIONS: Severe caloric restriction in humans may confer protection from invasive breast cancer. Low caloric intake prior to first birth followed by a subsequent pregnancy appears to be associated with an even more pronounced reduction in risk."}
{"id": "MED-2139", "text": "The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a key role in the regulation of cellular metabolism, growth and proliferation. It forms two multi-protein complexes known as complex 1 (mTORC1) and 2 (mTORC2). Raptor and Rictor are the core proteins for mTORC1 and mTORC2, respectively. This study examines the relationship between mTORC1, Rictor and Raptor mRNA expression and human breast cancer. Furthermore, the correlation between mTORC1 and hTERT was investigated. Breast cancer tissues (n=150) and normal tissues (n=31) were analysed using reverse transcription and quantitative PCR. Transcript levels were correlated with clinicopathological data. Higher mTOR expression was noted in breast cancer tissue (P=0.0018), higher grade tumours (grade 2 vs. 3, P=0.047), in ductal tumours (P=0.0014), and was associated with worse overall survival (P=0.01). Rictor expression was significantly higher in background breast tissues compared with tumours and was inversely related to the Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI1 vs. 2, P=0.03) and tumour grade (grade 1 vs. 3, P=0.01) and was associated with better overall (P=0.037) and disease-free survival (P=0.048). The mRNA expression of Raptor was higher in tumours compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, the expression of Raptor was associated with a higher tumour grade (grade 1 vs. 3, P=0.027). A highly significant positive correlation between mTOR and hTERT (P<0.00001) was observed. These observations are consistent with the role of mTORC1 in the anti-apoptosis pathway and suggest that selective inhibitors of mTORC1 may be more efficacious in human breast cancer. Our findings support the hypothesis that mTORC1 is an important upregulator of telomerase in breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2140", "text": "Background Around the world, beans and rice are commonly consumed together as a meal. With type 2 diabetes increasing, the effect of this traditional diet pattern on glycemic response has not been studied fully. Methods We evaluated the glycemic response of bean and rice traditional meals compared to rice alone in adults with type 2 diabetes. Seventeen men and women with type 2 diabetes controlled by metformin (n\u2009=\u200914) or diet/exercise (n\u2009=\u20093) aged 35\u201370\u2009years participated in the randomized 4\u2009\u00d7\u20094 crossover trial. The white long grain rice control, pinto beans/rice, black beans/rice, red kidney beans/rice test meals, matched for 50 grams of available carbohydrate, were consumed at breakfast after a 12 hour fast. Capillary blood glucose concentrations at baseline and at 30 minute intervals up to 180 minutes postprandial were collected. MANOVA for repeated measures established glucose differences between treatments. Paired t tests identified differences between bean types and the rice control following a significant MANOVA. Results Postprandial net glucose values were significantly lower for the three bean/rice treatments in contrast to the rice control at 90, 120 and 150 minutes. Incremental area under the curve values were significantly lower for the pinto and black bean/rice meals compared to rice alone, but not for kidney beans. Conclusions Pinto, dark red kidney and black beans with rice attenuate the glycemic response compared to rice alone. Promotion of traditional foods may provide non-pharmaceutical management of type 2 diabetes and improve dietary adherence with cultural groups. Trial registration Clinical Trials number NCT01241253"}
{"id": "MED-2141", "text": "We investigated the association between dietary patterns and insulin resistance in the 3871 healthy Korean adults from the 2007 to 2008 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The whole grains and beans pattern was associated with lower prevalence of insulin resistance (OR for highest quintile=0.80, 95% CI=0.61-1.03, P for trend=0.013). Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2143", "text": "Many therapeutic agents had been used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus before insulin was discovered and several hundred plants have shown some extent of antidiabetic activity. This study tries to explore which agents were most widely used in Europe in the pre-insulin era. According to the scientific literature and the proprietary drug industry around 1900, more than 100 agents were considered to have hypoglycemic activity. Most of them seem to have been used only occasionally while some others were recommended and marketed to a large extent. Among the medicinal plants, Syzygium cumini (syn. S. jambolanum, Eugenia jambolana), Vaccinum myrtillus and Phaseolus sp. were most common, and other frequently used agents were opium, opium alkaloids, other alkaloids like quinine or Belladonna alkaloids, salicylates, alkaline substances like sodium (bi)carbonate and even strong poisons like arsenic or uranium salts. Syzygium jambolanum seed powder seems to be one of the most intensively studied antidiabetic agents of plant origin."}
{"id": "MED-2144", "text": "Bean pods (Phaseolus vulgaris) are among the most widely used traditional remedies against diabetes mellitus. Historical knowledge is summarized and compared to recent study results. Reports dating from the first half of the 20(th) century as well as recent publications show contradictory results. It seems that Phaseolus preparations should not be considered the first choice in phytopharmaceutical treatment of diabetes or lead structure research. To be effective, fairly high doses of aqueous extracts need to be given. Because of their fiber content and an alpha-amylase inhibitory effect, beans might be more useful as food components in preventing or ameliorating type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-2145", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Dietary non-oil-seed pulses (chickpeas, beans, peas, lentils, etc.) are a good source of slowly digestible carbohydrate, fibre and vegetable protein and a valuable means of lowering the glycaemic-index (GI) of the diet. To assess the evidence that dietary pulses may benefit glycaemic control, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled experimental trials investigating the effect of pulses, alone or as part of low-GI or high-fibre diets, on markers of glycaemic control in people with and without diabetes. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library for relevant controlled trials of >or=7 days. Two independent reviewers (A. Esfahani and J. M. W. Wong) extracted information on study design, participants, treatments and outcomes. Data were pooled using the generic inverse variance method and expressed as standardised mean differences (SMD) with 95% CIs. Heterogeneity was assessed by chi (2) and quantified by I (2). Meta-regression models identified independent predictors of effects. RESULTS: A total of 41 trials (39 reports) were included. Pulses alone (11 trials) lowered fasting blood glucose (FBG) (-0.82, 95% CI -1.36 to -0.27) and insulin (-0.49, 95% CI -0.93 to -0.04). Pulses in low-GI diets (19 trials) lowered glycosylated blood proteins (GP), measured as HbA(1c) or fructosamine (-0.28, 95% CI -0.42 to -0.14). Finally, pulses in high-fibre diets (11 trials) lowered FBG (-0.32, 95% CI -0.49 to -0.15) and GP (-0.27, 95% CI -0.45 to -0.09). Inter-study heterogeneity was high and unexplained for most outcomes, with benefits modified or predicted by diabetes status, pulse type, dose, physical form, duration of follow-up, study quality, macronutrient profile of background diets, feeding control and design. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Pooled analyses demonstrated that pulses, alone or in low-GI or high-fibre diets, improve markers of longer term glycaemic control in humans, with the extent of the improvements subject to significant inter-study heterogeneity. There is a need for further large, well-designed trials."}
{"id": "MED-2146", "text": "Over the last few decades, lifestyle changes have resulted in a drastic increase in the incidence of diabetes all over the world, especially in the developing countries. Oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin form the mainstay in controlling diabetes, but they have prominent side effects and fail to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications. Appropriate diet and exercise programs that form a part of lifestyle modifications have proven to be greatly effective in the management of this disease. Dietary therapy is showing a bright future in the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Legumes, owing to their high nutritive value, are increasingly being used in dietetic formulations in the treatment and prevention of diabetes on account of their antidiabetic potential. Given this background, this paper reviews the glucose- and lipid-lowering action possessed by various commonly consumed legumes through several animal and human studies. It is concluded that the various legumes not only have varying degrees of antidiabetic potential but are also beneficial in decreasing the risk factors for cardiovascular and renal disease."}
{"id": "MED-2147", "text": "Consumption of Phaseolus vulgaris bean species such as pinto, black, navy or kidney may be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. In particular, conditions that are promoted by increased glycaemic stress (hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia) including diabetes, CVD and cancer seem to be reduced in individuals who eat more of these beans. The present paper discusses the influence of P. vulgaris species on glycaemic response and the impact that relationship may have on the risk of developing diabetes, CVD and cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2148", "text": "Pulses are low in energy density, supporting their inclusion in the diet for the management of risk factors of the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn). The aim of the present study was to describe the effects of frequent consumption (five cups/week over 8 weeks) of pulses (yellow peas, chickpeas, navy beans and lentils), compared with counselling to reduce energy intake by 2093 kJ/d (500 kcal/d), on risk factors of the MetSyn in two groups (nineteen and twenty-one subjects, respectively) of overweight or obese (mean BMI 32\u00b78 kg/m2) adults. Body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood parameters and 24 h food intakes were measured at weeks 1, 4 and 8. Blood glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and ghrelin were measured after a 75 g oral glucose load at weeks 1 and 8. At week 8, both groups reported reductions in energy intake, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, glycosylated Hb (HbA1c) and glucose AUC and homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) following the glucose load (P < 0\u00b705). However, HDL, fasting C-peptide and insulin AUC responses were dependent on diet (P < 0\u00b705). HDL and C-peptide increased by 4\u00b75 and 12\u00b73 %, respectively, in the pulse group, but decreased by 0\u00b78 and 7\u00b76 %, respectively, in the energy-restricted group. Insulin AUC decreased in both females and males on the energy-restricted diet by 24\u00b72 and 4\u00b78 %, respectively, but on the pulse diet it decreased by 13\u00b79 % in females and increased by 27\u00b73 % in males (P < 0\u00b705). In conclusion, frequent consumption of pulses in an ad libitum diet reduced risk factors of the MetSyn and these effects were equivalent, and in some instances stronger, than counselling for dietary energy reduction."}
{"id": "MED-2150", "text": "Previous investigations, of adolescent diet recalled in adulthood, found lower risk for benign breast disease (BBD) with higher intakes of vegetable fat and nuts during high school. We investigate whether vegetable protein and fat, derived from diets reported during pre-adolescence and adolescence, are associated with subsequent risk for BBD in young women. The Growing Up Today Study includes 9,039 females, 9\u201315 years in 1996, who completed questionnaires annually through 2001, and then in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2010. Food frequency questionnaires (1996\u20132001) obtained intake data on a variety of foods. Beginning in 2005, women (18\u201330 years) reported whether they had ever been diagnosed with BBD that was confirmed by breast biopsy (n = 112 cases). Logistic regression estimated associations between intakes of vegetable protein and fat and biopsy-confirmed BBD. Those individual foods that were the largest contributors of protein and fat in this cohort were also investigated. In analyses of intakes from 1996 through 1998, when our cohort was youngest, vegetable fat (OR = 0.72/(10 gm/day), 95 % CI 0.53\u20130.98; p = 0.04) was inversely associated with BBD risk. The greatest sources of vegetable fat and protein in these girls were peanut butter, peanuts, nuts, beans (beans, lentils, and soybeans), and corn. A daily serving of any one of these was associated with lower risk (OR = 0.32/(serv/day), 95 % CI 0.13\u20130.79; p = 0.01). Peanut butter (and nuts) at age 11 years was inversely associated with risk (p = 0.01). In analyses of intakes at age 14 years, vegetable protein was associated with lower BBD risk (OR = 0.64/(10 gm/day), 95 % CI 0.43\u20130.95; p = 0.03). A daily serving at 14 years of any one of the foods was associated with lower risk (OR = 0.34, 95 % CI 0.16\u20130.75; p = 0.01), as was peanut butter (and nuts) (p = 0.02). Girls with a family history of breast cancer had significantly lower risk if they consumed these foods or vegetable fat. In conclusion, consumption of vegetable protein, fat, peanut butter, or nuts by older girls may help reduce their risk of BBD as young women."}
{"id": "MED-2152", "text": "Walnuts contain bioactive molecules that may contribute to their beneficial effects, including alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and phytosterols. In these studies, extracts of walnut, purified compounds, or postprandial serum were examined for effects on breast cancer cell proliferation and gene expression. Extracts derived from walnut oil decreased proliferation of MCF-7 cells, as did ALA and \u03b2-sitosterol. The gene expression response of ALA in the mouse breast cancer cell line TM2H indicates this molecule has multiple cellular targets with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) target genes, liver X receptor (LXR), and farnesoid X receptor (FXR) target genes being affected. In transactivation assays, walnut oil extracts increased activity of FXR to a greater extent than the other tested nuclear receptors. When examined separately, walnut components ALA and \u03b2-sitosterol were the most efficacious activators of FXR. When serum from individuals fed walnut components were applied to MCF-7 cells, there was a correlation between body mass index and breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro. Taken together, these data support an effect of walnut and its bioactive constituents on mammary epithelial cells and that multiple molecular targets may be involved."}
{"id": "MED-2153", "text": "Background: Increasing nut intake has been associated with reduced risk of diabetes mellitus, which is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Methods: We prospectively followed 75\u2009680 women in the Nurses' Health Study, and examined the association between nut consumption and pancreatic cancer risk. Participants with a previous history of cancer were excluded. Nut consumption was assessed at baseline and updated every 2 to 4 years. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: We documented 466 incident cases of pancreatic cancer. After adjusting for age, height, smoking, physical activity, and total energy intake, women who consumed a 28-g (1\u2009oz) serving size of nuts \u2a7e2 times per week experienced a significantly lower risk of pancreatic cancer (RR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.47\u20130.92; P for trend=0.007) when compared with those who largely abstained from nuts. The results did not appreciably change after further adjustment for body mass index (BMI) and history of diabetes mellitus (RR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.48\u20130.95; P for trend=0.01). The inverse association persisted within strata defined by BMI, physical activity, smoking, and intakes of red meat, fruits, and vegetables. Conclusion: Frequent nut consumption is inversely associated with risk of pancreatic cancer in this large prospective cohort of women, independent of other potential risk factors for pancreatic cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2154", "text": "Obesity has been recognized as a key component of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular morbidity. In addition, obesity has been linked to higher frequency of cancers in a variety of tissues including the liver. Liver cancer most often occurs as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) complicating cirrhosis due to chronic viral infection or toxic injury and remains the third leading cause of cancer death in the world. However, HCC is increasingly diagnosed among individuals with obesity and related disorders. As these metabolic conditions have become globally prevalent, they coexist with well-established risk factors of HCC and create a unique challenge for the liver as a chronically diseased organ. Obesity-associated HCC has recently been attributed to molecular mechanisms such as chronic inflammation due to adipose tissue remodeling and pro-inflammatory adipokine secretion, ectopic lipid accumulation and lipotoxicity, altered gut microbiota, and disrupted senescence in stellate cells, as well as insulin resistance leading to increased levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factors. These mechanisms synergize with those occurring in chronic liver disease resulting from other etiologies and accelerate the development of HCC before or after the onset of cirrhosis. Increasingly common interactions between oncogenic pathways linked to obesity and chronic liver disease may explain why HCC is one of the few malignancies with rising incidence in developed countries. Better understanding of this complex process will improve our strategies of cancer prevention, prediction, and surveillance. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2155", "text": "Coffee, after water, is the most widely consumed beverage in the United States, and is the principal source of caffeine intake among adults. The biological effects of coffee may be substantial and are not limited to the actions of caffeine. Coffee is a complex beverage containing hundreds of biologically active compounds, and the health effects of chronic coffee intake are wide ranging. From a cardiovascular (CV) standpoint, coffee consumption may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension, as well as other conditions associated with CV risk such as obesity and depression; but it may adversely affect lipid profiles depending on how the beverage is prepared. Regardless, a growing body of data suggests that habitual coffee consumption is neutral to beneficial regarding the risks of a variety of adverse CV outcomes including coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and stroke. Moreover, large epidemiological studies suggest that regular coffee drinkers have reduced risks of mortality, both CV and all-cause. The potential benefits also include protection against neurodegenerative diseases, improved asthma control, and lower risk of select gastrointestinal diseases. A daily intake of \u223c2 to 3 cups of coffee appears to be safe and is associated with neutral to beneficial effects for most of the studied health outcomes. However, most of the data on coffee's health effects are based on observational data, with very few randomized, controlled studies, and association does not prove causation. Additionally, the possible advantages of regular coffee consumption have to be weighed against potential risks (which are mostly related to its high caffeine content) including anxiety, insomnia, tremulousness, and palpitations, as well as bone loss and possibly increased risk of fractures. Copyright \u00a9 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2156", "text": "BACKGROUND: Coffee is associated with a reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic C hepatitis. This prospective trial was aimed at assessing the mechanisms underlying coffee-related protective effects. METHODS: Forty patients with chronic hepatitis C were randomized into two groups: the first consumed 4 cups of coffee/day for 30 days, while the second remained coffee \"abstinent\". At day 30, the groups were switched over for a second month. RESULTS: At baseline, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were lower in patients drinking 3-5 (Group B) than 0-2 cups/day (Group A) (56 \u00b1 6 vs 74 \u00b1 11/60 \u00b1 3 vs 73 \u00b1 7 U/L p=0.05/p=0.04, respectively). HCV-RNA levels were significantly higher in Group B [(6.2 \u00b1 1.5) \u00d7 10(5)vs (3.9 \u00b1 1.0) \u00d7 10(5)UI/mL, p=0.05]. During coffee intake, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine and collagen levels were significantly lower than during abstinence (15 \u00b1 3 vs 44 \u00b1 16 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine/10(5)deoxyguanosine, p=0.05 and 56 \u00b1 9 vs 86 \u00b1 21 ng/mL, p=0.04). Telomere length was significantly higher in patients during coffee intake (0.68 \u00b1 0.06 vs 0.48 \u00b1 0.04 Arbitrary Units, p=0.006). Telomere length and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine were inversely correlated. CONCLUSION: In chronic hepatitis C coffee consumption induces a reduction in oxidative damage, correlated with increased telomere length and apoptosis, with lower collagen synthesis, factors that probably mediate the protection exerted by coffee with respect to disease progression. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2158", "text": "Background Epidemiologic studies have reported inconsistent results regarding coffee consumption and the risk of liver cancer. We performed a meta-analysis of published case\u2013control and cohort studies to investigate the association between coffee consumption and liver cancer. Methods We searched Medline, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science and the Cochrane library for studies published up to May 2012. We performed a meta-analysis of nine case\u2013control studies and seven cohort studies. Results The summary odds ratio (OR) for high vs no/almost never drinkers was 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42\u20130.59), with no significant heterogeneity across studies (Q = 16.71; P = 0.337; I2 = 10.2%). The ORs were 0.50 (95% CI: 0.40\u20130.63) for case\u2013control studies and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.38\u20130.62) for cohort studies. The OR was 0.38 (95% CI: 0.25\u20130.56) in males and 0.60 (95% CI: 0.33\u20131.10) in females. The OR was 0.45 (95% CI: 0.36\u20130.56) in Asian studies and 0.57 (95% CI: 0.44\u20130.75) in European studies. The OR was 0.39 (95% CI: 0.28\u20130.54) with no adjustment for a history of liver disease and 0.54 (95% CI: 0.46\u20130.66) after adjustment for a history of liver disease. Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis suggested an inverse association between coffee consumption and liver cancer. Because of the small number of studies, further prospective studies are needed."}
{"id": "MED-2160", "text": "Background: Coffee intake is associated with reduced risk of liver cancer and chronic liver disease as reported in previous studies, including prospective ones conducted in Asian populations where hepatitis B viruses (HBVs) and hepatitis C viruses (HCVs) are the dominant risk factors. Yet, prospective studies in Western populations with lower HBV and HCV prevalence are sparse. Also, although preparation methods affect coffee constituents, it is unknown whether different methods affect disease associations. Methods: We evaluated the association of coffee intake with incident liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality in 27\u2009037 Finnish male smokers, aged 50\u201369, in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study, who recorded their coffee consumption and were followed up to 24 years for incident liver cancer or chronic liver disease mortality. Multivariate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Coffee intake was inversely associated with incident liver cancer (RR per cup per day=0.82, 95% CI: 0.73\u20130.93; P-trend across categories=0.0007) and mortality from chronic liver disease (RR=0.55, 95% CI: 0.48\u20130.63; P-trend<0.0001). Inverse associations persisted in those without diabetes, HBV- and HCV-negative cases, and in analyses stratified by age, body mass index, alcohol and smoking dose. We observed similar associations for those drinking boiled or filtered coffee. Conclusion: These findings suggest that drinking coffee may have benefits for the liver, irrespective of whether coffee was boiled or filtered."}
{"id": "MED-2162", "text": "BACKGROUND: The influence of excess body weight on the risk of death from cancer has not been fully characterized. METHODS: In a prospectively studied population of more than 900,000 U.S. adults (404,576 men and 495,477 women) who were free of cancer at enrollment in 1982, there were 57,145 deaths from cancer during 16 years of follow-up. We examined the relation in men and women between the body-mass index in 1982 and the risk of death from all cancers and from cancers at individual sites, while controlling for other risk factors in multivariate proportional-hazards models. We calculated the proportion of all deaths from cancer that was attributable to overweight and obesity in the U.S. population on the basis of risk estimates from the current study and national estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the U.S. adult population. RESULTS: The heaviest members of this cohort (those with a body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters] of at least 40) had death rates from all cancers combined that were 52 percent higher (for men) and 62 percent higher (for women) than the rates in men and women of normal weight. For men, the relative risk of death was 1.52 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.13 to 2.05); for women, the relative risk was 1.62 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.40 to 1.87). In both men and women, body-mass index was also significantly associated with higher rates of death due to cancer of the esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney; the same was true for death due to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Significant trends of increasing risk with higher body-mass-index values were observed for death from cancers of the stomach and prostate in men and for death from cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, and ovary in women. On the basis of associations observed in this study, we estimate that current patterns of overweight and obesity in the United States could account for 14 percent of all deaths from cancer in men and 20 percent of those in women. CONCLUSIONS: Increased body weight was associated with increased death rates for all cancers combined and for cancers at multiple specific sites. Copyright 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society"}
{"id": "MED-2163", "text": "Gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was measured in 1579 men, aged 20-54 years, and 1654 women, aged 20-49 years, screened for coronary risk factors. The distribution was right-skewed with medians 15 and 10 U/l for men and women, respectively. Less than 3.8% of the men and 0.8% of the women had GGT greater than or equal to 50 U/l. The low level of GGT matched well with the low mortality of cirrhosis and the modest use of alcohol in Norway. Multiple regression analysis for each sex showed a strong positive association with body mass index, use of alcohol and, unexpectedly, a negative association with coffee consumption, whereas serum triglycerides and the time since the last meal showed a weaker positive association. In women, use of oral contraceptives was positively associated with GGT."}
{"id": "MED-2164", "text": "Essential tremor (ET) is among the more prevalent neurological disorders, yet prevalence estimates have varied enormously, making it difficult to establish prevalence with precision. We: (1) reviewed the worldwide prevalence of ET in population-based epidemiological studies, (2) derived as precisely as possible an estimate of disease prevalence, and (3) examined trends and important differences across studies. We identified 28 population-based prevalence studies (19 countries). In a meta-analysis, pooled prevalence (all ages) = 0.9%, with statistically significant heterogeneity across studies (I(2) = 99%, P < 0.001). In additional descriptive analyses, crude prevalence (all ages) = 0.4%. Prevalence increased markedly with age, and especially with advanced age. In the meta-analysis, prevalence (age >or= 65 years) = 4.6%, and in additional descriptive analyses, median crude prevalence (age >or= 60-65) = 6.3%. In one study of those age >or= 95 years, crude prevalence = 21.7%. Several studies reported ethnic differences in prevalence, although more studies are needed. Greater than one-third of studies show a gender difference, with most demonstrating a higher prevalence among men. This possible gender preference is interesting given clinical, epidemiological, and pathological associations between ET and Parkinson's disease. Precise prevalence estimates such as those we provide are important because they form the numerical basis for planned public health initiatives, provide data on the background occurrence of disease for family studies, and offer clues about the existence of environmental or underlying biological factors of possible mechanistic importance. (c) 2010 Movement Disorder Society."}
{"id": "MED-2165", "text": "Death of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD) may partially be caused by synthesis and accumulation of endogenous and exogenous toxins. Because of structural similarity to MPTP, beta-carbolines, like norharman and harman, have been proposed as putative neurotoxins. In vivo they may easily be formed by cyclization of indoleamines with e.g. aldehydes. For further elucidation of the role of beta-carbolines in neurodegenerative disorders harman and norharman levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured in 14 patients with PD and compared to an age- and sex-matched control group (n = 14). CSF levels of norharman and harman in PD were significantly higher compared to controls. These results may suggest a possible role of harman and norharman or its N-methylated carbolinium ions in the pathophysiological processes initiating PD. However the origin of increased levels of these beta-carbolines remains unclear. On the one hand one may speculate, that unknown metabolic processes induce the increased synthesis of harman and norharman in PD. On the other hand a possible impact of exogenous sources may also be possible."}
{"id": "MED-2166", "text": "Essential tremor (ET) is a widespread late-life neurological disease. Genetic and environmental factors are likely to play important etiological roles. Harmane (1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole) is a potent tremor-producing neurotoxin. Previously, elevated blood harmane concentrations were demonstrated in ET cases compared to controls, but these observations were all been cross-sectional, assessing each subject at only one time point. Thus, no one has ever repeat-assayed blood harmane in the same subjects twice. Whether the observed case-control difference persists at a second time point, years later, is unknown. The current goal was to re-assess a sample of our ET cases and controls to determine whether blood harmane concentration remained elevated in ET at a second time point. Blood harmane concentrations were quantified by a well-established high performance liquid chromatography method in 63 ET cases and 70 controls. A mean of approximately 6 years elapsed between the initial and this subsequent blood harmane determination. The mean log blood harmane concentration was significantly higher in cases than controls (0.30 \u00b1 0.61 g\u221210/ml vs. 0.08 \u00b1 0.55 g\u221210/ml), and the median value in cases was double that of controls: 0.22 g\u221210/ml vs. 0.11 g\u221210/ml. The log blood harmane concentration was highest in cases with a family history of ET. Blood harmane concentration was elevated in ET cases compared to controls when re-assessed at a second time point several years later, indicating what seems to be a stable association between this environmental toxin and ET."}
{"id": "MED-2167", "text": "BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that environmental factors may be associated with essential tremor (ET). This study was carried out to evaluate the association of caffeine intake with ET. METHOD: In a case control study, patients diagnosed with ET and healthy controls underwent a standardized questionnaire interview to evaluate the exposure to coffee and tea intake. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to evaluate the association of caffeine intake and other environmental factors with risk of ET. RESULTS: 179 subjects including 79 ET patients and 100 controls matched for age, gender and ethnicity were included in the analysis. Univariate analysis revealed that caffeine consumption in ET patients was higher than control group (median and 90th percentile range: 2300 (0, 9000) mg-years versus 1500 (0, 6090) mg-years, p=0.01). However, the multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that caffeine was no longer a significant factor associated with ET (p=0.119). There was no significant correlation between amount of caffeine intake and disease duration (Spearman's r=0.194; p=0.202) or total tremor score (Spearman's r=0.045; p=0.771) in ET patients. CONCLUSION: Caffeine consumption was not associated with risk of ET in our study population. Further studies are needed to investigate the significance of gene-environmental interaction in ET."}
{"id": "MED-2168", "text": "Harmane, one of the heterocyclic amines (HCAs), is a potent neurotoxin linked to human diseases. Dietary exposure, especially in cooked meats, is the major source of exogenous exposure for humans. However, knowledge of harmane concentrations in cooked meat samples is limited. Our goals were to (1) quantify the concentration of harmane in different types of cooked meat samples, (2) compare its concentration to that of other more well-understood HCAs, and (3) examine the relationship between harmane concentration and level of doneness. Thirty barbecued/grilled meat samples (8 beef steak, 12 hamburger, 10 chicken) were analyzed for harmane and four other HCAs (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine [PhIP], amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline [MeIQx], 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline [DiMeIQx], and 2-amino-1,6-dimethylfuro[3,2-e]imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine [IFP]). Mean (+/- SD) harmane concentration was 5.63 (+/- 6.63) ng/g; harmane concentration was highest in chicken (8.48 +/- 9.86 ng/g) and lowest in beef steak (3.80 +/- 3.6 ng/g). Harmane concentration was higher than that of the other HCAs and significantly correlated with PhIP concentration. Harmane concentration was associated with meat doneness in samples of cooked beef steak and hamburger, although the correlation between meat doneness and concentration was greater for PhIP than for harmane. Evidence indicates that harmane was detectable in nanograms per gram quantities in cooked meat (especially chicken) and, moreover, was more abundant than other HCAs. There was some correlation between meat doneness and harmane concentration, although this correlation was less robust than that observed for PhIP. Data such as these may be used to improve estimation of human dietary exposure to this neurotoxin."}
{"id": "MED-2169", "text": "Norharman and harman are two heterocyclic beta-carboline (9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole) alkaloids with biological and potential toxicological activity that appear in foodstuffs and environmental sources. To assess the occurrence and distribution of these compounds and to estimate the exposure levels based on the detected amounts, numerous samples of foodstuffs and cigarette smoke were analysed by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence. The levels found of beta-carbolines were highly variable. Low processed foodstuffs (i.e. milk, yoghurt, uncooked meats and fish) did not contain norharman and harman above the detection limit. Others, however, contained relatively high concentrations (at the tens of ng g(-1) or microg l(-1) level) depending on the processing conditions as, for example, 'well-done' cooked meat and fish. The highest amounts of norharman and harman were found in brewed coffee (29-207 microg l(-1)), sauces (soy sauce and Tabasco, among others; 4-252 microg l(-1)), 'well done' cooked meat and fish (57-160 ng g(-1)), toasted bread (42-160 ng g(-1)), and fermented alcoholic beverages (n.d.-41 mug l(-1)). beta-Carbolines also occurred in a high amount in the mainstream of cigarette smoke (207-2780 ng/cigarette), which is an important contributor to daily exposure to these compounds. Based on these results, it is concluded that the daily exposure to beta-carbolines in humans might be from tens to hundreds of micrograms, with cigarette smoke, coffee, certain seasonings, cooked foods and alcoholic beverages, in this order, being the major contributors. Many other foodstuffs might also contribute with minor amounts of norharman and harman. Foods and tobacco smoke might be potential contributors to the reported endogenous presence of beta-carbolines in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2170", "text": "Background/Aim Harmane [1-methyl-9H-pyrido(3,4-b)indole] is a tremor-producing neurotoxin. Blood harmane concentrations are elevated in essential tremor (ET) patients for unclear reasons. Potential mechanisms include increased dietary harmane intake (especially through well-cooked meat) or genetic-metabolic factors. We tested the hypothesis that meat consumption and level of meat doneness are higher in ET cases than in controls. Methods Detailed data were collected using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Meat Questionnaire. Results Total current meat consumption was greater in men with than without ET (135.3 \u00b1 71.1 vs. 110.6 \u00b1 80.4 g/day, p = 0.03) but not in women with versus without ET (80.6 \u00b1 50.0 vs. 79.3 \u00b1 51.0 g/day, p = 0.76). In an adjusted logistic regression analysis in males, higher total current meat consumption was associated with ET (OR = 1.006, p = 0.04, i.e., with 10 additional g/day of meat, odds of ET increased by 6%). Male cases had higher odds of being in the highest than lowest quartile of total current meat consumption (adjusted OR = 21.36, p = 0.001). Meat doneness level was similar in cases and controls. Conclusion This study provides evidence of a dietary difference between male ET cases and male controls. The etiological ramifications of these results warrant additional investigation. Copyright \u00a9 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel"}
{"id": "MED-2171", "text": "Essential tremor (ET) is among the most prevalent neurological diseases, yet its etiology is not well understood. Susceptibility genotypes undoubtedly underlie many ET cases, although no genes have been identified thus far. Environmental factors are also likely to contribute to the etiology of ET. Harmane (1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-\u03b2]indole) is a potent, tremor-producing \u03b2-carboline alkaloid, and emerging literature has provided initial links between this neurotoxin and ET. In this report, we review this literature. Two studies, both in New York, have demonstrated higher blood harmane levels in ET cases than controls and, in one study, especially high levels in familial ET cases. Replication studies of populations outside of New York and studies of brain harmane levels in ET have yet to be undertaken. A small number of studies have explored several of the biological correlates of exposure to harmane in ET patients. Studies of the mechanisms of this putative elevation of harmane in ET have explored the role of increased dietary consumption, finding weak evidence of increased exogenous intake in male ET cases, and other studies have found initial evidence that the elevated harmane in ET might be due to a hereditarily reduced capacity to metabolize harmane to harmine (7-methoxy-1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-\u03b2]-indole). Studies of harmane and its possible association with ET have been intriguing. Additional studies are needed to establish more definitively whether these toxic exposures are associated with ET and are of etiological importance."}
{"id": "MED-2172", "text": "Co-mutagenic beta-carbolines, such as norharman and harman, were quantified in mainstream and sidestream smoke condensates of six Japanese brands of cigarettes, and also in 13 kinds of cooked foods, using a combination of blue cotton treatment and HPLC. Norharman and harman were detected in all the cigarette smoke condensate samples. Their levels in the mainstream smoke case were 900-4240 ng per cigarette for norharman, and 360-2240 ng for harman, and in sidestream smoke, 4130-8990 ng for norharman and 2100-3000 ng for harman. These beta-carbolines were also found to be present in all the cooked food samples, at levels of 2.39-795 ng for norharman and 0.62-377 ng for harman per gram of cooked food. The observed concentrations are much higher than those found for mutagenic and carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs), suggesting that humans are exposed to norharman and harman in daily life to a larger extent than to HCAs."}
{"id": "MED-2173", "text": "MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) causes selective destruction of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway in humans and other primates. It is less specific and much less potent in mice and has only slight effects in rats. Differences in rates and sites of metabolism of MPTP to its active, toxic, highly polar metabolite, MPP+ (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridine), appear to influence species specificity. In rats, type B monoamine oxidase (MAO-B), which mediates the conversion of MPTP to MPP+, may act as an enzymatic barrier at brain microvessels, whereas in primates the enzyme, present mainly in astrocytes, appears important for bioactivation of MPTP into the toxic metabolite. MPP+ is a substrate for catecholamine uptake sites and is concentrated in these neurons. The molecular mechanism of MPP+ toxicity has not been established definitively, but conversion to a free radical or uptake by mitochondria and inhibition of mitochondrial respiratory enzymes, leading to calcium release and cell death have been suggested. The discovery of toxin which causes an animal model of Parkinson's disease has stimulated new research on environmental factors that might contribute to this progressive degenerative disorder and provides a means for assessing new approaches to therapy."}
{"id": "MED-2174", "text": "Background Blood concentrations of harmane, a tremor-producing neurotoxin, are elevated in essential tremor (ET). Harmane is also a co-mutagen. Objective To compare the prevalence of cancer in ET cases vs. controls, and determine whether blood harmane concentrations are elevated among ET cases with cancer. Methods Case-control design. Results 66/267 (24.7%) ET cases vs. 55/331 (16.6%) controls had cancer (adjusted OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.01 \u2013 2.30, p = 0.04). Among specific cancer types, colon cancer was more prevalent in ET cases than controls (2.6% vs. 0.6%, p = 0.04). Log blood harmane concentration was higher in ET cases vs. controls (p = 0.02) and in participants with vs. without cancer (p = 0.02). Log blood harmane concentration was highest in ET cases with cancer when compared with other groups (p = 0.009). Discussion These links between cancer and ET and between high blood harmane and cancer in ET deserve further study."}
{"id": "MED-2175", "text": "BACKGROUND: On proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ((1)H MRSI), there is a decrease in cerebellar N-acetylaspartate/total creatine (NAA/tCr) in essential tremor (ET), signifying cerebellar neuronal dysfunction or degeneration. Harmane, which is present in the human diet, is a potent tremor-producing neurotoxin. Blood harmane concentrations seem to be elevated in ET. OBJECTIVES: To assess in patients with ET whether blood harmane concentration is correlated with cerebellar NAA/tCR, a neuroimaging measure of neuronal dysfunction or degeneration. METHODS: Twelve patients with ET underwent (1)H MRSI. The major neuroanatomic structure of interest was the cerebellar cortex. Secondary regions were the central cerebellar white matter, cerebellar vermis, thalamus, and basal ganglia. Blood concentrations of harmane and another neurotoxin, lead, were also assessed. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD cerebellar NAA/tCR was 1.52 +/- 0.41. In a linear regression model that adjusted for age and gender, log blood harmane concentration was a predictor of cerebellar NAA/tCR (beta = -0.41, p = 0.009); every 1 g(-10)/mL unit increase in log blood harmane concentration was associated with a 0.41 unit decrease in cerebellar NAA/tCR. The association between blood harmane concentration and brain NAA/tCR only occurred in the cerebellar cortex; it was not observed in secondary brain regions of interest. Furthermore, the association was specific to harmane and not another neurotoxin, lead. CONCLUSION: This study provides additional support for the emerging link between harmane, a neurotoxin, and ET. Further studies are warranted to address whether cerebellar harmane concentrations are associated with cerebellar pathology in postmortem studies of the ET brain."}
{"id": "MED-2176", "text": "The aromatic beta-carbolines norharman and harman have been implicated in a number of human diseases including Parkinson's disease, tremor, addiction and cancer. It has been shown that these compounds are normal body constituents formed endogenously but external sources have been identified. Here, we summarise literature data on levels of norharman and harman in fried meat and fish, meat extracts, alcoholic drinks, and coffee brews. Other sources include edible and medicinal plants but tobacco smoke has been identified as a major source. Exposure levels from these different dietary sources are estimated to a maximum of 4 microg norharman per kg body weight (bw) per day and 1 microg harman per kg bw per day. Exposure via tobacco smoke depends on smoking habits and type of cigarettes but can be estimated to 1.1 microg/kg bw for norharman and 0.6 microg/kg bw for harman per package of cigarettes smoked. Studies on toxicokinetics indicate that inhalative exposure leads to a rapid increase in plasma levels and high bioavailability of norharman and harman. Oral bioavailability is lower but there are indications that sublingual absorption may increase dietary uptake of beta-carbolines. Endogenous formation can be estimated to be 50-100 ng/kg bw per day for norharman and about 20 ng/kg bw per day for harman but these rates may increase with high intake of precursors. Biomarker studies on plasma levels of beta-carbolines reported on elevated levels of norharman, harman or both in diseased patients, alcoholics and following tobacco smoking or consumption of beta-carboline-containing food. Cigarette smoking has been identified as major influence but dietary exposure may contribute to exposure."}
{"id": "MED-2177", "text": "Four persons developed marked parkinsonism after using an illicit drug intravenously. Analysis of the substance injected by two of these patients revealed primarily 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) with trace amounts of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-4-propionoxy-piperidine (MPPP). On the basis of the striking parkinsonian features observed in our patients, and additional pathological data from one previously reported case, it is proposed that this chemical selectively damages cells in the substantia nigra."}
{"id": "MED-2178", "text": "Background Tremor is a widespread phenomenon in human populations. Environmental factors are likely to play an etiological role. Harmane (1-methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-\u03b2]indole) is a potent tremor-producing \u03b2-carboline alkaloid. Lead is another tremor-producing neurotoxicant. The effects of harmane and lead with respect to tremor have been studied in isolation. Objectives We tested the hypothesis that tremor would be particularly severe among individuals who had high blood concentrations of both of these toxicants. Methods Blood concentrations of harmane and lead were each quantified in 257 individuals (106 essential tremor cases and 151 controls) enrolled in an environmental epidemiological study. Total tremor score (range = 0 \u2013 36) was a clinical measure of tremor severity. Results The total tremor score ranged from 0 \u2013 36, indicating that a full spectrum of tremor severities was captured in our sample. Blood harmane concentration correlated with total tremor score (p = 0.007), as did blood lead concentration (p = 0.045). The total tremor score was lowest in participants with both low blood harmane and lead concentrations (8.4 \u00b1 8.2), intermediate in participants with high concentrations of either toxicant (10.5 \u00b1 9.8), and highest in participants with high concentrations of both toxicants (13.7 \u00b1 10.4)(p = 0.01). Conclusions Blood harmane and lead concentrations separately correlated with total tremor scores. Participants with high blood concentrations of both toxicants had the highest tremor scores, suggesting an additive effect of these toxicants on tremor severity. Given the very high population prevalence of tremor disorders, identifying environmental determinants is important for primary disease prevention."}
{"id": "MED-2179", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between cooking behaviour and long-term survival among elderly Taiwanese. DESIGN: Cohort study. The duration of follow-up was the interval between the date of interview and the date of death or 31 December 2008, when censored for survivors. Information used included demographics, socio-economic status, health behaviours, cooking frequencies, physical function, cognitive function, nutrition knowledge awareness, eating out habits and food and nutrient intakes. These data were linked to death records. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to evaluate cooking frequency on death from 1999 to 2008 with related covariate adjustments. SETTING: Elderly Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan, 1999-2000. SUBJECTS: Nationally representative free-living elderly people aged \u226565 years (n 1888). RESULTS: During a 10-year follow-up, 695 participants died. Those who cooked most frequently were younger, women, unmarried, less educated, non-drinkers of alcohol, non-smokers, without chewing difficulty, had spouse as dinner companion, normal cognition, who walked or shopped more than twice weekly, who ate less meat and more vegetables. Highly frequent cooking (>5 times/week, compared with never) predicted survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 0\u00b747; 95 % CI, 0\u00b736, 0\u00b761); with adjustment for physical function, cognitive function, nutrition knowledge awareness and other covariates, HR was 0\u00b759 (95 % CI, 0\u00b741, 0\u00b786). Women benefited more from cooking more frequently than did men, with decreased HR, 51 % v. 24 %, when most was compared with least. A 2-year delay in the assessment of survivorship led to similar findings. CONCLUSIONS: Cooking behaviour favourably predicts survivorship. Highly frequent cooking may favour women more than men."}
{"id": "MED-2180", "text": "Objectives To compare the energy and macronutrient content of main meals created by television chefs with ready meals sold by supermarkets, and to compare both with nutritional guidelines published by the World Health Organization and UK Food Standards Agency. Design Cross sectional study. Setting Three supermarkets with the largest share of the grocery market in the United Kingdom, 2010. Samples 100 main meal recipes from five bestselling cookery books by UK television chefs and 100 own brand ready meals from the three leading UK supermarkets. Main outcome measures Number of meals for which the nutritional content complied with WHO recommendations, and the proportion of nutrients classified as red, amber, or green using the UK FSA\u2019s \u201ctraffic light\u201d system for labelling food. Results No recipe or ready meal fully complied with the WHO recommendations. The ready meals were more likely to comply with the recommended proportions of energy derived from carbohydrate (18% v 6%, P=0.01) and sugars (83% v 81%, P=0.05) and fibre density (56% v 14% P<0.01). The recipes were more likely to comply with the recommended sodium density (36% v 4%, P<0.01), although salt used for seasoning was not assessed. The distributions of traffic light colours under the FSA\u2019s food labelling recommendations differed: the modal traffic light was red for the recipes (47%) and green for ready meals (42%). Overall, the recipes contained significantly more energy (2530 kJ v 2067 kJ), protein (37.5 g v 27.9 g), fat (27.1 g v 17.2 g), and saturated fat (9.2 g v 6.8 g; P<0.01 for all) and significantly less fibre (3.3 g v 6.5 g, P<0.01) per portion than the ready meals. Conclusions Neither recipes created by television chefs nor ready meals sold by three of the leading UK supermarkets complied with WHO recommendations. Recipes were less healthy than ready meals, containing significantly more energy, protein, fat, and saturated fat, and less fibre per portion than the ready meals."}
{"id": "MED-2181", "text": "Background Little is known about the impact of location of food consumption and preparation upon daily energy intake for children. Objective To examine trends in daily energy intake by children for foods eaten at home or away-from-home, by source of preparation, and for combined categories of eating location and food source. Subjects The analysis uses data from 29,217 children aged 2\u201318 years from the 1977\u20131978 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, 1989\u20131991 and 1994\u20131998 Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals, and 2003\u20132006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Methods Nationally representative weighted percentages and means of daily energy intake by eating location were analyzed for trends from 1977 to 2006. Comparisons by food source were examined from 1994 to 2006. Analyses were repeated for 3 age groups: 2\u20136, 7\u201312, and 13\u201318 year olds. Difference testing was conducted using a t test. Results Increased energy intake (+179 kcal/d) by children from 1977\u20132006 was associated with a major increase in calories eaten away-from-home (+255 kcal/d). The percentage of kcal/d eaten away-from-home increased from 23.4% to 33.9% from 1977\u20132006. No further increase was observed from 1994\u20132006, but the sources of calories shifted. The percentage of calories from fast food increased to surpass intake from schools and become the largest contributor to foods prepared away-from-home for all age groups. For foods eaten away-from-home, the percentage of kcal/d from stores increased to become the largest source of calories eaten away-from-home. Fast food eaten at home and store-bought food eaten away-from-home increased significantly. Conclusion Eating location and food source significantly impact daily energy intake for children. Foods prepared away-from-home, including fast food eaten at home and store-prepared food eaten away-from-home, are fueling the increase in total calorie intake. However, further research using alternative data sources is necessary to verify that store-bought foods eaten away-from-home are increasingly store-prepared."}
{"id": "MED-2182", "text": "Over the past century, a major shift in North American food practices has been taking place. However, the literature on this topic is lacking in several areas. Some available research on food and cooking practices in the current context is presented, with a focus on how these are affecting health and how they might be contributing to health inequalities within the population. First, cooking and cooking skills are examined, along with the ambiguities related to terms associated with cooking in the research literature. Food choice, cooking, and health are described, particularly in relation to economic factors that may lead to health inequalities within the population. The importance of developing an understanding of factors within the wider food system as part of food choice and cooking skills is presented, and gaps in the research literature are examined and areas for future research are presented. Cooking practices are not well studied but are important to an understanding of human nutritional health as it relates to cultural, environmental, and economic factors."}
{"id": "MED-2183", "text": "Objective Cooking programs are growing in popularity; however an extensive review has not examined overall impact. Therefore, this study reviewed previous research on cooking/home food preparation interventions and diet and health-related outcomes among adults and identified implications for practice and research. Design Literature review and descriptive summative method. Main outcome measures Dietary intake, knowledge/skills, cooking attitudes and self-efficacy/confidence, health outcomes. Analysis Articles evaluating effectiveness of interventions that included cooking/home food preparation as the primary aim (January 1980 through December 2011) were identified via OVID MEDLINE, Agricola and Web of Science databases. Studies grouped according to design and outcomes were reviewed for validity using an established coding system. Results were summarized for several outcome categories. Results Of 28 studies identified, 12 included a control group with six as non-randomized and six as randomized controlled trials. Evaluation was done post-intervention for five studies, pre- and post-intervention for 23 and beyond post-intervention for 15. Qualitative and quantitative measures suggested a positive influence on main outcomes. However, non-rigorous study designs, varying study populations, and use of non-validated assessment tools limited stronger conclusions. Conclusions and Implications Well-designed studies are needed that rigorously evaluate long-term impact on cooking behavior, dietary intake, obesity and other health outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-2184", "text": "Objectives. We examined the effects of state-level unemployment rates during the recession of 2008 on patterns of home food preparation and away-from-home (AFH) eating among low-income and minority populations. Methods. We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data on 118\u2009635 adults aged 18 years or older who took part in the American Time Use Study. Multinomial logistic regression models stratified by gender were used to evaluate the associations between state-level unemployment, poverty, race/ethnicity, and time spent cooking, and log binomial regression was used to assess respondents\u2019 AFH consumption patterns. Results. High state-level unemployment was associated with only trivial increases in respondents\u2019 cooking patterns and virtually no change in their AFH eating patterns. Low-income and racial/ethnic minority groups were not disproportionately affected by the recession. Conclusions. Even during a major economic downturn, US adults are resistant to food-related behavior change. More work is needed to understand whether this reluctance to change is attributable to time limits, lack of knowledge or skill related to food preparation, or lack of access to fresh produce and raw ingredients."}
{"id": "MED-2185", "text": "Orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) has been identified as a good source of beta-carotene but the beta-carotene bioaccessibility is affected by processing. In this study, the effect of traditional heat processing methods on the microstructure and in vitro bioaccessibility of beta-carotene from OFSP were investigated. Bioaccessibility was determined using simulated in vitro digestion model followed by membrane filtration to separate the micellar fraction containing bioaccessible beta-carotene. Processing led to decrease in the amount of all-trans-beta-carotene and increase in 13-cis-beta-carotene. Processed OFSP had significantly higher (P < 0.05) bioaccessible beta-carotene compared to the raw forms. Bioaccessibility varied with processing treatments in the order; raw < baked < steamed/boiled < deep fried. Light microscopy showed that the microstructure of OFSP was disrupted by the processing methods employed. The cell walls of OFSP were sloughed by the traditional heat processing methods applied. The findings show that heat processing improves bioaccessibility of beta-carotene in OFSP and this was probably due to disruption of the tissue microstructure."}
{"id": "MED-2189", "text": "AIM: To investigate the effects of proteins purified from sweet potato storage roots on human colorectal cancer cell lines. METHODS: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining and Boyden transwell chamber methods were used to determine whether purified sweet potato protein (SPP) from fresh sweet potato roots affected proliferation, migration and invasion, respectively, of human colorectal cancer SW480 cells in vitro. The inhibitory effects of SPP on growth of human colorectal cancer HCT-8 cells intraperitoneally xenografted in nude mice and spontaneous lung metastasis of murine Lewis lung carcinoma 3LL cells subcutaneously transplanted in C57 BL/6 mice were also investigated in vivo. RESULTS: SPP inhibited the proliferation of SW480 cells in a dose-dependent manner, with an IC50 value of 38.732 \u03bcmol/L (r2 = 0.980, P = 0.003) in the MTT assay. Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining further revealed inhibition of cell viability and induction of apoptosis by SPP. The transwell assay disclosed significant reduction in migrated cells/field by 8 \u03bcmol/L SPP (8.4 \u00b1 2.6 vs 23.3 \u00b1 5.4, P = 0.031) and invaded cells/field through the ECMatrix by 0.8 \u03bcmol/L SPP, compared with the control (25.2 \u00b1 5.2 vs 34.8 \u00b1 6.1, P = 0.038). Both intraperitoneal (ip) and intragastric (ig) administration of SPP led to significant suppression of growth of intraperitoneally inoculated HCT-8 cells in nude mice to 58.0% \u00b1 5.9% (P = 0.037) and 43.5% \u00b1 7.1% (P = 0.004) of the controls, respectively, after 9 d treatment. Bloody ascites additionally disappeared after ip injection of trypsin inhibitor. Notably, ig and ip administration of SPP induced a significant decrease in spontaneous pulmonary metastatic nodule formation in C57 BL/6 mice (21.0 \u00b1 12.3 and 27.3 \u00b1 12.7 nodules/lung vs 42.5 \u00b1 4.5 nodules/lung in controls, respectively, P < 0.05) after 25 d treatment. Moreover, the average weight of primary tumor nodules in the hind leg of mice decreased from 8.2 \u00b1 1.3 g/mice in the control to 6.1 \u00b1 1.4 g/mice in the ip group (P = 0.035). CONCLUSION: SPP exerts significant antiproliferative and antimetastatic effects on human colorectal cancer cell lines, both in vitro and in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-2194", "text": "Scope Anthocyanins, the natural pigments in plant foods, have been associated with cancer prevention. However, the content of anthocyanins in staple foods is typically low and the mechanisms by which they exert anti-cancer activity is not yet fully defined. Methods and results We selected an anthocyanin-enriched purple-fleshed sweet potato clone, P40, and investigated its potential anti-cancer effect in both in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal model. In addition to a high level of total phenolics and antioxidant capacity, P40 possesses a high content of anthocyanins at 7.5 mg/g dry matter. Treatment of human colonic SW480 cancer cells with P40 anthocyanin extracts at 0\u201340 \u03bcM of peonidin-3-glucoside equivalent resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in cell number due to cytostatic arrest of cell cycle at G1 phase but not cytotoxicity. Furthermore, dietary P40 at 10\u201330% significantly suppressed azoxymethane-induced formation of aberrant crypt foci in the colons of CF-1 mice in conjunction with, at least in part, a lesser proliferative PCNA and a greater apoptotic caspase-3 expression in the colon mucosal epithelial cells. Conclusion These observations, coupled with both in vitro and in vivo studies reported here, suggest anthocyanin-enriched sweet potato P40 may protect against colorectal cancer by inducing cell cycle arrest, anti-proliferative and apoptotic mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-2195", "text": "The objective of this study was to evaluate the precursors of acrylamide formation in sweet potato (SP) (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) chips and to determine the effect of different types of vegetable oils (VOs), that is, palm olein, coconut oil, canola oil, and soya bean oil, on acrylamide formation. The reducing sugars and amino acids in the SP slices were analyzed, and the acrylamide concentrations of SP chips were measured. SP chips that were fried in a lower degree of unsaturation oils contained a lower acrylamide concentration (1443 \u03bcg/kg), whereas those fried with higher degree of unsaturated oils contained a higher acrylamide concentration (2019 \u03bcg/kg). SP roots were found to contain acrylamide precursors, that is, 4.17 mg/g glucose and 5.05 mg/g fructose, and 1.63 mg/g free asparagine. The type of VO and condition used for frying, significantly influenced acrylamide formation. This study clearly indicates that the contribution of lipids in the formation of acrylamide should not be neglected. \u00a9 2013 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-2200", "text": "Cancer of the gallbladder is rare but fatal, and has an unusual geographic and demographic distribution. Gallstones and obesity have been suggested as possible risk factors. As diet is known to influence both these factors, we carried out the present study to evaluate the possible role of diet in gallbladder carcinogenesis. A case-control study involving 64 newly diagnosed cases of gallbladder cancer and 101 cases of gallstones was carried out. The dietary evaluation was carried out by the dietary recall method based on a preset questionnaire developed specifically for the present study, keeping in mind the common dietary habits prevailing in this part of the world. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for various dietary items. A significant reduction in odds ratio was seen with the consumption of radish (OR 0.4; 95% CI 0.17-0.94), green chilli (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.21-0.94) and sweet potato (OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.13-0.83) among vegetables, and mango (OR 0.4; 95% CI 0.16-0.99), orange (OR; 0.45; 95% CI 0.22-0.93), melon (OR 0.3; 95% CI 0.14-0.64) and papaya (OR 0.44; 95% 0.2-0.64) among fruits. A reduction in odds was also seen with the consumption of cruciferous vegetables, beans, onion and turnip, however the difference was not statistically significant. On the other hand, an increase in the odds was observed with consumption of capsicum (OR 2.2), beef (OR 2.58), tea (OR 1.98), red chilli (OR 1.29) and mutton (OR 1.2), however the difference was statistically not significant. In conclusion, the results of the present study show a protective effect of vegetables and fruits on gallbladder carcinogenesis, but red meat (beef and mutton) was found to be associated with increased risk of gallbladder cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2201", "text": "Measuring food prices per gram, rather than per calorie, is one way to make healthful vegetables appear less expensive. However, a better measure of affordability would take the nutrient content of vegetables into account. This study, based on analyses of US Department of Agriculture datasets, aimed to identify which vegetables, including juices and soups, provided the most nutrients per unit cost. Nutrient density was measured using the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) index, based on nine nutrients to encourage: protein; fiber; vitamins A, C, and E; calcium; iron; magnesium; and potassium; and on three nutrients to limit: saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium. Food cost in dollars was calculated per 100 g, per 100 kcal, per serving, and per nutrient content. One-way analyses of variance with post hoc tests were used to determine statistical significance. Results showed that tomato juices and tomato soups, dark green leafy and nonleafy vegetables, and deep yellow vegetables, including sweet potatoes, had the highest NRF scores overall. Highest NRF scores per dollar were obtained for sweet potatoes, white potatoes, tomato juices and tomato soups, carrots, and broccoli. Tomato sauces, raw tomatoes, and potato chips were eaten more frequently than were many other vegetables that were both more affordable and more nutrient-rich. These new measures of affordable nutrition can help foodservice and health professionals identify those vegetables that provide the highest nutrient density per unit cost. Processed vegetables, including soups and juices, can contribute to the quality and the affordability of the diet. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2202", "text": "The overall objective of this chapter is to review the past, present, and future role of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) in human nutrition. Specifically, the chapter describes the role of the sweet potato in human diets; outlines the biochemical and nutritional composition of the sweet potato with emphasis on its beta-carotene and anthocyanin contents; highlights sweet potato utilization, and its potential as value-added products in human food systems; and demonstrates the potential of the sweet potato in the African context. Early records have indicated that the sweet potato is a staple food source for many indigenous populations in Central and South Americas, Ryukyu Island, Africa, the Caribbean, the Maori people, Hawaiians, and Papua New Guineans. Protein contents of sweet potato leaves and roots range from 4.0% to 27.0% and 1.0% to 9.0%, respectively. The sweet potato could be considered as an excellent novel source of natural health-promoting compounds, such as beta-carotene and anthocyanins, for the functional food market. Also, the high concentration of anthocyanin and beta-carotene in sweet potato, combined with the high stability of the color extract make it a promising and healthier alternative to synthetic coloring agents in food systems. Starch and flour processing from sweet potato can create new economic and employment activities for farmers and rural households, and can add nutritional value to food systems. Repositioning sweet potato production and its potential for value-added products will contribute substantially to utilizing its benefits and many uses in human food systems. Multidisciplinary, integrated research and development activities aimed at improving production, storage, postharvest and processing technologies, and quality of the sweet potato and its potential value-added products are critical issues, which should be addressed globally."}
{"id": "MED-2203", "text": "Constipation is a common health problem that adversely affects quality of life and the prognosis of hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). The purpose of this study was to develop and test the sweet potato/footbath/acupressure massage (SFA) intervention as a safe treatment for prevention of constipation and to increase satisfaction with bowel emptying in hospitalized patients with ACS. The study was a prospective, randomized controlled trial with a sample of 93 patients (SFA group, n = 44; usual care group, n = 49). Patients in the SFA group received SFA intervention combined with usual care. The results showed that there were statistical differences between the two groups in terms of (1) the incidence of constipation; (2) the use of laxatives and enemas; (3) patients' subjective satisfaction with their bowel emptying during hospitalization; and (4) sensation of incomplete evacuation and anorectal obstruction/blockade. The SFA intervention was more effective, economical, and practical than usual care alone in managing constipation and satisfaction with defecation in patients hospitalized with ACS."}
{"id": "MED-2204", "text": "The initial investigation of the nature of the proteins in the tuber of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) revealed a globulin-designated \"ipomoein,\" which was reported by Jones and Gersdorff, (1931). Later, \"ipomoein\" was renamed \"sporamin\" and was found to be a major storage protein that accounted for over 80% of the total protein in the tuberous root. To date, sporamin has been studied by a series of biochemical and molecular approaches. The first purification of sporamin into two major fractions, A and B, was successfully completed in 1985. Several characteristics of the protein, such as the diversification of the nucleotide sequences in the gene family, the protein structure, the biological functions of storage, defense, inhibitory activity and ROS scavenging, were identified. In the past decade, sporamin was classified as a Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor, and its insect-resistance capability has been examined in transgenic tobacco and cauliflower plants, indicating the multiple functions of this protein has evolved to facilitate the growth and development of sweet potato. Sporamin is constitutively expressed in the tuberous root and is not normally expressed in the stem or leaves. However, this protein is expressed systemically in response to wounding and other abiotic stresses. These dual expression patterns at the transcriptional level revealed that the complex regulatory mechanism of sporamin was modulated by environmental stresses. The versatile functions of sporamin make this storage protein a good research model to study molecular evolution, regulatory mechanisms and physiological functions in plants. This review summarizes and discusses recent approaches and future perspectives in agricultural biotechnology. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2205", "text": "AIM: To investigate the effects of proteins purified from sweet potato storage roots on human colorectal cancer cell lines. METHODS: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining and Boyden transwell chamber methods were used to determine whether purified sweet potato protein (SPP) from fresh sweet potato roots affected proliferation, migration and invasion, respectively, of human colorectal cancer SW480 cells in vitro. The inhibitory effects of SPP on growth of human colorectal cancer HCT-8 cells intraperitoneally xenografted in nude mice and spontaneous lung metastasis of murine Lewis lung carcinoma 3LL cells subcutaneously transplanted in C57 BL/6 mice were also investigated in vivo. RESULTS: SPP inhibited the proliferation of SW480 cells in a dose-dependent manner, with an IC50 value of 38.732 \u03bcmol/L (r2 = 0.980, P = 0.003) in the MTT assay. Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining further revealed inhibition of cell viability and induction of apoptosis by SPP. The transwell assay disclosed significant reduction in migrated cells/field by 8 \u03bcmol/L SPP (8.4 \u00b1 2.6 vs 23.3 \u00b1 5.4, P = 0.031) and invaded cells/field through the ECMatrix by 0.8 \u03bcmol/L SPP, compared with the control (25.2 \u00b1 5.2 vs 34.8 \u00b1 6.1, P = 0.038). Both intraperitoneal (ip) and intragastric (ig) administration of SPP led to significant suppression of growth of intraperitoneally inoculated HCT-8 cells in nude mice to 58.0% \u00b1 5.9% (P = 0.037) and 43.5% \u00b1 7.1% (P = 0.004) of the controls, respectively, after 9 d treatment. Bloody ascites additionally disappeared after ip injection of trypsin inhibitor. Notably, ig and ip administration of SPP induced a significant decrease in spontaneous pulmonary metastatic nodule formation in C57 BL/6 mice (21.0 \u00b1 12.3 and 27.3 \u00b1 12.7 nodules/lung vs 42.5 \u00b1 4.5 nodules/lung in controls, respectively, P < 0.05) after 25 d treatment. Moreover, the average weight of primary tumor nodules in the hind leg of mice decreased from 8.2 \u00b1 1.3 g/mice in the control to 6.1 \u00b1 1.4 g/mice in the ip group (P = 0.035). CONCLUSION: SPP exerts significant antiproliferative and antimetastatic effects on human colorectal cancer cell lines, both in vitro and in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-2206", "text": "Sweet potato is one of the crops selected for NASA's Advanced Life Support Program for potential long-duration lunar/Mars missions. This article presents recipes of products made from sweet potato and determines the consumer acceptability of products containing from 6% to 20% sweet potato on a dry weight basis. These products were developed for use in nutritious and palatable meals for future space explorers. Sensory evaluation (appearance/color, aroma, texture, flavor/taste, and overall acceptability) studies were conducted to determine the consumer acceptability of vegetarian products made with sweet potato using panelists at NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. None of these products including the controls, contained any ingredient of animal origin with the exception of sweet potato pie. A 9-point hedonic scale (9 being like extremely and 1 being dislike extremely) was used to evaluate 10 products and compare them to similar commercially available products used as controls. The products tested were pancakes, waffles, tortillas, bread, pie, pound cake, pasta, vegetable patties, doughnuts, and pretzels. All of the products were either liked moderately or liked slightly with the exception of the sweet potato vegetable patties, which were neither liked nor disliked. Mean comparisons of sensory scores of sweet potato recipes and their controls were accomplished by using the Student t-test. Because of their nutritional adequacy and consumer acceptability, these products are being recommended to NASA's Advanced Life Support Program for inclusion in a vegetarian menu plan designed for lunar/Mars space missions."}
{"id": "MED-2207", "text": "The objective of this study was to investigate the antiproliferative effect and the mechanism of trypsin inhibitor (TI) from sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. 'Tainong 57'] storage roots on NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells. The results showed that TI inhibited cellular growth of NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner, and treatment for 72 h induced a marked inhibition of cellular growth, showing an IC50 of 57.1 +/- 8.26 microg/mL. TI caused cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase as determined by flow cytometric analysis and apoptosis as shown by DNA laddering. TI-induced cell apoptosis involved p53, Bcl-2, Bax, and cytochrome c protein in NB4 cells. P53 and Bax proteins were accumulated, and antiapoptotic molecule Bcl-2 was decreased in the tested cells in a time-dependent manner during TI treatment. TI also induced a substantial release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria into the cytosol. Hence, TI induced apoptosis in NB4 cells through a mitochondria-dependent pathway, which was associated with the activation of caspase-3 and -8. These results demonstrated that TI induces NB4 cell apoptosis through the inhibition of cell growth and the activation of the pathway of caspase-3 and -8 cascades."}
{"id": "MED-2209", "text": "This study investigated the effect of different traditional cooking methods on glycemic index (GI) and glycemic response of ten Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) cultivars commonly eaten in Jamaica. Matured tubers were cooked by roasting, baking, frying, or boiling then immediately consumed by the ten nondiabetic test subjects (5 males and 5 females; mean age of 27 \u00b1 2 years). The GI varied between 41 \u00b1 5\u201393 \u00b1 5 for the tubers studied. Samples prepared by boiling had the lowest GI (41 \u00b1 5\u201350 \u00b1 3), while those processed by baking (82 \u00b1 3\u201394 \u00b1 3) and roasting (79 \u00b1 4\u201393 \u00b1 2) had the highest GI values. The study indicates that the glycemic index of Jamaican sweet potatoes varies significantly with the method of preparation and to a lesser extent on intravarietal differences. Consumption of boiled sweet potatoes could minimize postprandial blood glucose spikes and therefore, may prove to be more efficacious in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus."}
{"id": "MED-2210", "text": "We investigated the effects of sporamin, the major soluble protein with a kunitz-type trypsin inhibitory activity in the root tuber of the sweet potato, on cell proliferation, apoptosis, Akt/GSK-3 signaling and its related genes to provide more insights in the mechanism behind the inhibitory effects of sporamin in a human tongue cancer line Tca8113. In this study, sporamin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in Tca8113 cells in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner. Consistently, Bax was up-regulated and Bcl-2 was down-regulated in sporamin-treated cells. Furthermore, Akt/GSK-3 signaling was down-regulated in sporamin-treated cells. Consistently, the phosphorylated Bad was significantly declined in sporamin-treated Tca8113 cells. These results suggest the antiproliferative effects of sporamin in Tca8113 cells might result partly from induction of apoptosis by down-regulating Akt/GSK-3 pathway. \u00a9 2010 The Authors Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology \u00a9 2010 Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise de Pharmacologie et de Th\u00e9rapeutique."}
{"id": "MED-2211", "text": "BACKGROUND: China is increasingly facing the challenge of control of the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. We assessed the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in China between 1990, and 2010, to improve estimates of the burden of disease, analyse time trends, and inform health policy decisions relevant to China's rapidly ageing population. METHODS: In our systematic review we searched for reports of Alzheimer's disease or dementia in China, published in Chinese and English between 1990 and 2010. We searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and PubMed databases. Two investigators independently assessed case definitions of Alzheimer's disease and dementia: we excluded studies that did not use internationally accepted case definitions. We also excluded reviews and viewpoints, studies with no numerical estimates, and studies not done in mainland China. We used Poisson regression and UN demographic data to estimate the prevalence (in nine age groups), incidence, and standardised mortality ratio of dementia and its subtypes in China in 1990, 2000, and 2010. FINDINGS: Our search returned 12,642 reports, of which 89 met the inclusion criteria (75 assessed prevalence, 13 incidence, and nine mortality). In total, the included studies had 340,247 participants, in which 6357 cases of Alzheimer's disease were recorded. 254,367 people were assessed for other forms of dementia, of whom 3543 had vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, or Lewy body dementia. In 1990 the prevalence of all forms of dementia was 1\u00b78% (95% CI 0\u00b70-44\u00b74) at 65-69 years, and 42\u00b71% (0\u00b70-88\u00b79) at age 95-99 years. In 2010 prevalence was 2\u00b76% (0\u00b70-28\u00b72) at age 65-69 years and 60\u00b75% (39\u00b77-81\u00b73) at age 95-99 years. The number of people with dementia in China was 3\u00b768 million (95% CI 2\u00b722-5\u00b714) in 1990, 5\u00b762 million (4\u00b742-6\u00b782) in 2000, and 9\u00b719 million (5\u00b792-12\u00b748) in 2010. In the same period, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease was 1\u00b793 million (1\u00b715-2\u00b771) in 1990, 3\u00b771 million (2\u00b784-4\u00b758) people in 2000, and 5\u00b769 million (3\u00b785-7\u00b753) in 2010. The incidence of dementia was 9\u00b787 cases per 1000 person-years, that of Alzheimer's disease was 6\u00b725 cases per 1000 person-years, that of vascular dementia was 2\u00b742 cases per 1000 person-years, and that of other rare forms of dementia was 0\u00b746 cases per 1000 person-years. We retrieved mortality data for 1032 people with dementia and 20,157 healthy controls, who were followed up for 3-7 years. The median standardised mortality ratio was 1\u00b794:1 (IQR 1\u00b774-2\u00b745). INTERPRETATION: Our analysis suggests that previous estimates of dementia burden, based on smaller datasets, might have underestimated the burden of dementia in China. The burden of dementia seems to be increasing faster than is generally assumed by the international health community. Rapid and effective government responses are needed to tackle dementia in low-income and middle-income countries. FUNDING: Nossal Institute of Global Health (University of Melbourne, Australia), the National 12th Five-Year Major Projects of China, National Health and Medical Research Council Australia-China Exchange Fellowship, Importation and Development of High-Calibre Talents Project of Beijing Municipal Institutions, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2212", "text": "With the republication of Grant (18), the first paper providing epidemiologic evidence linking diet to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is an appropriate time to review the findings and hypotheses therein in light of the subsequent literature. The main findings, that dietary fat and energy in old age are high risk factors, while fish and cereals are risk-reduction factors, have been supported in various recent epidemiologic studies. Diet contributes to the development of AD through modulating oxidative stress and inflammation, which is also linked to oxidative stress, but may also arise from series 2 prostaglandins. Thus, as one ages, dietary modifications and additional supplements designed to reduce free radical production and inflammation provide a significant measure of reduction in risk for the development of AD."}
{"id": "MED-2213", "text": "CONTEXT: Alzheimer disease (AD) represents a major and increasing public health problem. If populations were identified with significantly lower or higher incidence rates of AD, the search for risk factors in the genesis of AD could be greatly enhanced. OBJECTIVE: To compare incidence rates of dementia and AD in 2 diverse, elderly community-dwelling populations. DESIGN: The Indianapolis-Ibadan Dementia Project, a longitudinal, prospective population-based study consisting of a baseline survey (1992-1993) and 2 subsequent follow-up waves after 2 years (1994-1995) and 5 years (1997-1998). Each wave followed a 2-stage design, with an in-home screening interview followed by a full diagnostic workup of a subsample of participants based on screening performance. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2459 community-dwelling Yoruba residents of Ibadan, Nigeria, without dementia, and 2147 community-dwelling African American residents of Indianapolis, Ind, without dementia (all aged 65 years or older). The cohorts were followed up for a mean of 5.1 years and 4.7 years, respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incident cases of dementia and AD in each of the 2 populations. RESULTS: The age-standardized annual incidence rates were significantly lower among Yoruba than among African Americans for dementia (Yoruba, 1.35% [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13%-1.56%]; African Americans, 3.24% [95% CI, 2.11%-4.38%]) and for AD (Yoruba, 1.15% [95% CI, 0.96%-1.35%]; African Americans, 2.52% [95% CI, 1.40%-3.64%]). CONCLUSION: This is the first report of incidence rate differences for dementia and AD in studies of 2 populations from nonindustrialized and industrialized countries using identical methods and the same group of investigators in both sites. Further explorations of these population differences may identify potentially modifiable environmental or genetic factors to account for site differences in dementia and AD."}
{"id": "MED-2214", "text": "Summary Background 100 years after the first description, Alzheimer's disease is one of the most disabling and burdensome health conditions worldwide. We used the Delphi consensus method to determine dementia prevalence for each world region. Methods 12 international experts were provided with a systematic review of published studies on dementia and were asked to provide prevalence estimates for every WHO world region, for men and women combined, in 5-year age bands from 60 to 84 years, and for those aged 85 years and older. UN population estimates and projections were used to estimate numbers of people with dementia in 2001, 2020, and 2040. We estimated incidence rates from prevalence, remission, and mortality. Findings Evidence from well-planned, representative epidemiological surveys is scarce in many regions. We estimate that 24\u00b73 million people have dementia today, with 4\u00b76 million new cases of dementia every year (one new case every 7 seconds). The number of people affected will double every 20 years to 81\u00b71 million by 2040. Most people with dementia live in developing countries (60% in 2001, rising to 71% by 2040). Rates of increase are not uniform; numbers in developed countries are forecast to increase by 100% between 2001 and 2040, but by more than 300% in India, China, and their south Asian and western Pacific neighbours. Interpretation We believe that the detailed estimates in this paper constitute the best currently available basis for policymaking, planning, and allocation of health and welfare resources."}
{"id": "MED-2215", "text": "We investigated the relationship between animal product consumption and evidence of dementia in two cohort substudies. The first enrolled 272 California residents matched for age, sex, and zip code (1 vegan, 1 lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and 2 'heavy' meat eaters in each of 68 quartets). This design ensured a wide range of dietary exposure. The second included 2,984 unmatched subjects who resided within the Loma Linda, California area. All subjects were enrolled in the Adventist Health Study. The matched subjects who ate meat (including poultry and fish) were more than twice as likely to become demented as their vegetarian counterparts (relative risk 2.18, p = 0.065) and the discrepancy was further widened (relative risk 2.99, p = 0.048) when past meat consumption was taken into account. There was no significant difference in the incidence of dementia in the vegetarian versus meat-eating unmatched subjects. There was no obvious explanation for the difference between the two substudies, although the power of the unmatched sub-study to detect an effect of 'heavy' meat consumption was unexpectedly limited. There was a trend towards delayed onset of dementia in vegetarians in both substudies."}
{"id": "MED-2216", "text": "BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) rates in Japan and developing countries have risen rapidly in recent years. Researchers have associated factors such as the Western diet, obesity, alcohol consumption, and smoking with risk of AD. OBJECTIVE: This paper evaluates whether the dietary transition might explain the rising trend of AD prevalence in Japan and in developing countries, evaluating other factors when possible. METHODS: This study used two approaches to see whether dietary or other changes could explain AD trends in Japan and developing countries. One approach involved comparing trends of AD in Japan with changes in national dietary supply factors, alcohol consumption, and lung cancer mortality rates from zero to 25 years before the prevalence data. The second compared AD prevalence values for eight developing countries with dietary supply factors from zero to 25 years before the prevalence data. RESULTS: For Japan, alcohol consumption, animal product, meat and rice supply, and lung cancer rates correlated highly with AD prevalence data, with the strongest correlation for a lag of 15-25 years. In the eight-country study, total energy and animal fat correlated highly with AD prevalence data, with a lag of 15-20 years. Mechanisms to explain the findings include increased obesity for the eight countries, and increases in cholesterol, saturated fat, and iron from increases in animal products and meat supply for Japan. CONCLUSION: Evidently AD rates will continue rising in non-Western countries for some time unless we address major risk factors involving diet, obesity, and smoking."}
{"id": "MED-2217", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of AD and other dementias in a rural elderly Hindi-speaking population in Ballabgarh in northern India. DESIGN: The authors performed a community survey of a cohort of 5,126 individuals aged 55 years and older, 73.3% of whom were illiterate. Hindi cognitive and functional screening instruments, developed for and validated in this population, were used to screen the cohort. A total of 536 subjects (10.5%) who met operational criteria for cognitive and functional impairment and a random sample of 270 unimpaired control subjects (5.3%) underwent standardized clinical assessment for dementia using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition diagnostic criteria, the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR), and National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) criteria for probable and possible AD. RESULTS: We found an overall prevalence rate of 0.84% (95% CI, 0.61 to 1.13) for all dementias with a CDR score of at least 0.5 in the population aged 55 years and older, and an overall prevalence rate of 1.36% (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.88) in the population aged 65 years and older. The overall prevalence rate for AD was 0.62% (95% CI, 0.43 to 0.88) in the population aged 55+ and 1.07% (95% CI, 0.72 to 1.53) in the population aged 65+. Greater age was associated significantly with higher prevalence of both AD and all dementias, but neither gender nor literacy was associated with prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: In this population, the prevalence of AD and other dementias was low, increased with age, and was not associated with gender or literacy. Possible explanations include low overall life expectancy, short survival with the disease, and low age-specific incidence potentially due to differences in the underlying distribution of risk and protective factors compared with populations with higher prevalence."}
{"id": "MED-2218", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine prevalence of dementia and its subtypes in Japanese-American men and compare these findings with rates reported for populations in Japan and elsewhere. DESIGN AND SETTING: The Honolulu Heart Program is a prospective population-based study of cardiovascular disease established in 1965. Prevalence estimates were computed from cases identified at the 1991 to 1993 examination. Cognitive performance was assessed using standardized methods, instruments, and diagnostic criteria. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects were 3734 Japanese-American men (80% of surviving cohort) aged 71 through 93 years, living in the community or in institutions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Age-specific, age-standardized, and cohort prevalence estimates were computed for dementia (all cause) defined by 2 sets of diagnostic criteria and 4 levels of severity. Prevalence levels for Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia were also estimated. RESULTS: Dementia prevalence by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised ranged from 2.1% in men aged 71 through 74 years to 33.4% in men aged 85 through 93 years. Age-standardized prevalence was 7.6%. Prevalence estimates for the cohort were 9.3% for dementia (all cause), 5.4% for Alzheimer disease (primary or contributing), and 4.2% for vascular dementia (primary or contributing). More than 1 possible cause was found in 26% of cases. The Alzheimer disease/vascular dementia ratio was 1.5 for cases attributed primarily to Alzheimer disease or vascular dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of Alzheimer disease in older Japanese-American men in Hawaii appears to be higher than in Japan but similar to European-ancestry populations. Prevalence of vascular dementia appears to be slightly lower than in Japan, but higher than in European-ancestry populations. Further cross-national research with emphasis on standardized diagnostic methods is needed."}
{"id": "MED-2220", "text": "It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that the total diet or overall pattern of food eaten is the most important focus of healthy eating. All foods can fit within this pattern if consumed in moderation with appropriate portion size and combined with physical activity. The Academy strives to communicate healthy eating messages that emphasize a balance of food and beverages within energy needs, rather than any one food or meal. Public policies and dietary patterns that support the total diet approach include the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet, MyPlate, Let's Move, Nutrition Facts labels, Healthy People 2020, and the Dietary Reference Intakes. In contrast to the total diet approach, classification of specific foods as good or bad is overly simplistic and can foster unhealthy eating behaviors. Alternative approaches are necessary in some situations. Eating practices are dynamic and influenced by many factors, including taste and food preferences, weight concerns, physiology, time and convenience, environment, abundance of foods, economics, media/marketing, perceived product safety, culture, and attitudes/beliefs. To increase the effectiveness of nutrition education in promoting sensible food choices, skilled food and nutrition practitioners utilize appropriate behavioral theory and evidence-based strategies. Focusing on variety, moderation, and proportionality in the context of a healthy lifestyle, rather than targeting specific nutrients or foods, can help reduce consumer confusion and prevent unnecessary reliance on supplements. Proactive, empowering, and practical messages that emphasize the total diet approach promote positive lifestyle changes. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2221", "text": "Context: In 1954 the tobacco industry paid to publish the \u201cFrank Statement to Cigarette Smokers\u201d in hundreds of U.S. newspapers. It stated that the public's health was the industry's concern above all others and promised a variety of good-faith changes. What followed were decades of deceit and actions that cost millions of lives. In the hope that the food history will be written differently, this article both highlights important lessons that can be learned from the tobacco experience and recommends actions for the food industry. Methods: A review and analysis of empirical and historical evidence pertaining to tobacco and food industry practices, messages, and strategies to influence public opinion, legislation and regulation, litigation, and the conduct of science. Findings: The tobacco industry had a playbook, a script, that emphasized personal responsibility, paying scientists who delivered research that instilled doubt, criticizing the \u201cjunk\u201d science that found harms associated with smoking, making self-regulatory pledges, lobbying with massive resources to stifle government action, introducing \u201csafer\u201d products, and simultaneously manipulating and denying both the addictive nature of their products and their marketing to children. The script of the food industry is both similar to and different from the tobacco industry script. Conclusions: Food is obviously different from tobacco, and the food industry differs from tobacco companies in important ways, but there also are significant similarities in the actions that these industries have taken in response to concern that their products cause harm. Because obesity is now a major global problem, the world cannot afford a repeat of the tobacco history, in which industry talks about the moral high ground but does not occupy it."}
{"id": "MED-2222", "text": "Prospective studies indicate that high intake of dietary flavanols, such as those contained in cocoa/chocolate, are associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality in humans. Numerous mechanisms may underlie these associations such as favorable effects of flavanols on blood pressure, platelet aggregation, thrombosis, inflammation, and the vascular endothelium. The brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) technique has emerged as a robust method to quantify endothelial function in humans. Collectively, the preponderance of evidence indicates that FMD is a powerful surrogate measure for firm cardiovascular endpoints, such as cardiovascular-related mortality, in humans. Thus, literally thousands of studies have utilized this technique to document group differences in FMD, as well as to assess the effects of various interventions on FMD. In regards to the latter, numerous studies indicate that both acute and chronic ingestion of cocoa/chocolate increases FMD in humans. Increases in FMD after cocoa/chocolate ingestion appear to be dose-dependent such that greater increases in FMD are observed after ingestion of larger quantities. The mechanisms underlying these responses are likely diverse, however most data suggest an effect of increased nitric oxide bioavailability. Thus, positive vascular effects of cocoa/chocolate on the endothelium may underlie (i.e., be linked mechanistically to) reductions in cardiovascular risk in humans. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2223", "text": "Chocolate antioxidant properties are often claimed; however, they are frequently different from the parent natural sources due to the industry or artisan transformation. In particular, antioxidant property of chocolate and cocoa are not adequately taken into consideration by consumers who normally make use of this food just for its flavor and taste properties. In this study, we have investigated the antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content of cocoa nibs, cocoa masses, and corresponding chocolate bars with different percentages of cocoa from different origins. The antioxidant capacity of the different samples was measured by two different assays [1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant of potency (FRAP) tests]. The Folin\u2013Ciocalteu reagent was used to assess the total phenolic content. The masses showed a higher antioxidant power than the nibs, and this has been attributed to the fact that in the nibs is still present the lipid part, which will form the cocoa butter. The influence of milk, whey, and soy proteins was also investigated. Our results showed that the extra dark cocoa bar, 100% cocoa chocolate, is the best in terms of total polyphenol content and in terms of antioxidant capacity according to the DPPH and FRAP tests. In addition, the bars of organic dark chocolate 80%, dark Tanzania 80%, and Trinidad 80% products are well performing in all respects. As highlighted by us, the antiradical properties of cocoa products are higher than many antioxidant supplements in tablets."}
{"id": "MED-2224", "text": "BACKGROUND: Dark chocolate has potent antioxidant properties. Coronary atherosclerosis is promoted by impaired endothelial function and increased platelet activation. Traditional risk factors, high oxidative stress, and reduced antioxidant defenses play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, particularly in transplanted hearts. Thus, flavonoid-rich dark chocolate holds the potential to have a beneficial impact on graft atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed the effect of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate compared with cocoa-free control chocolate on coronary vascular and platelet function in 22 heart transplant recipients in a double-blind, randomized study. Coronary vasomotion was assessed with quantitative coronary angiography and cold pressor testing before and 2 hours after ingestion of 40 g of dark (70% cocoa) chocolate or control chocolate, respectively. Two hours after ingestion of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate, coronary artery diameter was increased significantly (from 2.36+/-0.51 to 2.51+/-0.59 mm, P<0.01), whereas it remained unchanged after control chocolate. Endothelium-dependent coronary vasomotion improved significantly after dark chocolate (4.5+/-11.4% versus -4.3+/-11.7% in the placebo group, P=0.01). Platelet adhesion decreased from 4.9+/-1.1% to 3.8+/-0.8% (P=0.04) in the dark chocolate group but remained unchanged in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Dark chocolate induces coronary vasodilation, improves coronary vascular function, and decreases platelet adhesion 2 hours after consumption. These immediate beneficial effects were paralleled by a significant reduction of serum oxidative stress and were positively correlated with changes in serum epicatechin concentration."}
{"id": "MED-2225", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cocoa is rich in flavonoids, has anti-oxidative properties and increases the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO). Adequate renal tissue oxygenation is crucial for the maintenance of renal function. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of cocoa-rich dark chocolate (DC) on renal tissue oxygenation in humans, as compared to flavonoid-poor white chocolate (WC). METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers with preserved kidney function (mean age \u00b1 SD 35 \u00b1 12 years, 70% women, BMI 21 \u00b1 3 kg/m2) underwent blood oxygenation level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI) before and 2 hours after the ingestion of 1 g/kg of DC (70% cocoa). Renal tissue oxygenation was determined by the measurement of R2* maps on 4 coronal slices covering both kidneys. The mean R2* (= 1/T2*) values in the medulla and cortex were calculated, a low R2* indicating high tissue oxygenation. Eight participants also underwent BOLD-MRI at least 1 week later, before and 2 hours after the intake of 1 g/kg WC. RESULTS: The mean medullary R2* was lower after DC intake compared to baseline (28.2 \u00b1 1.3 s-1 vs. 29.6 \u00b1 1.3 s-1, p = 0.04), whereas cortical and medullary R2* values did not change after WC intake. The change in medullary R2* correlated with the level of circulating (epi)catechines, metabolites of flavonoids (r = 0.74, p = 0.037), and was independent of plasma renin activity. CONCLUSION: This study suggests for the first time an increase of renal medullary oxygenation after intake of dark chocolate. Whether this is linked to flavonoid-induced changes in renal perfusion or oxygen consumption, and whether cocoa has potentially renoprotective properties, merits further study."}
{"id": "MED-2226", "text": "BACKGROUND: Studies of cocoa suggest an array of cardiovascular benefits; however, the effects of daily intake of sugar-free and sugar-sweetened cocoa beverages on endothelial function (EF) have yet to be established. METHODS: 44 adults (BMI 25-35 kg/m2) participated in a randomized, controlled, crossover trial. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment sequence: sugar-free cocoa beverage, sugar-sweetened cocoa beverage, and sugar-sweetened cocoa-free placebo. Treatments were administered daily for 6 weeks, with a 4-week washout period. RESULTS: Cocoa ingestion improved EF measured as flow-mediated dilation (FMD) compared to placebo (sugar-free cocoa: change, 2.4% [95% CI, 1.5 to 3.2] vs. -0.8% [95% CI, -1.9 to 0.3]; difference, 3.2% [95% CI, 1.8 to 4.6]; p<0.001 and sugar-sweetened cocoa: change, 1.5% [95% CI, 0.6 to 2.4] vs. -0.8% [95% CI, -1.9 to 0.3]; difference, 2.3% [95% CI, 0.9 to 3.7]; p=0.002). The magnitude of improvement in FMD after consumption of sugar-free versus sugar-sweetened cocoa was greater, but not significantly. Other biomarkers of cardiac risk did not change appreciably from baseline. BMI remained stable throughout the study. CONCLUSIONS: Daily cocoa ingestion improves EF independently of other biomarkers of cardiac risk, and does not cause weight gain. Sugar-free preparations may further augment endothelial function. Copyright \u00a9 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2227", "text": "Dark chocolate and other cocoa products are popular in the population as a whole, but their overall health benefit remains controversial. Observations from the Kuna Indian population have shown an impressive cardiovascular health benefit from cocoa. For various reasons, this benefit has not been as robust as in other populations. Additionally, several mechanisms have been proposed that might confer cocoa's possible health benefit, but no consensus has been reached on cocoa's physiologic role in promoting cardiovascular health. Flavanols, as well as theobromine, may contribute to enhancements in endothelial function and subsequent improvements in various contributors to cardiovascular disease (CVD) including hypertension, platelet aggregation and adhesion, insulin resistance, and hypercholesterolemia. While the benefits of cocoa may be altered at the various stages of growth, development, and production, it appears that for many people \"healthy\" dark chocolate may, indeed, provide a pleasurable role in CVD risk reduction. The objectives of this review are to discuss the associations of cocoa with decreased blood pressure and improved CVD risk, to describe the possible mechanisms for these potential benefits, and to highlight considerations for the use of cocoa as a dietary supplement."}
{"id": "MED-2228", "text": "BACKGROUND: There is substantial interest in chocolate and flavan-3-ols for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). OBJECTIVE: The objective was to systematically review the effects of chocolate, cocoa, and flavan-3-ols on major CVD risk factors. DESIGN: We searched Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of chocolate, cocoa, or flavan-3-ols. We contacted authors for additional data and conducted duplicate assessment of study inclusion, data extraction, validity, and random-effects meta-analyses. RESULTS: We included 42 acute or short-term chronic (\u226418 wk) RCTs that comprised 1297 participants. Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR: -0.67; 95% CI: -0.98, -0.36) was improved by chocolate or cocoa due to significant reductions in serum insulin. Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) improved after chronic (1.34%; 95% CI: 1.00%, 1.68%) and acute (3.19%; 95% CI: 2.04%, 4.33%) intakes. Effects on HOMA-IR and FMD remained stable to sensitivity analyses. We observed reductions in diastolic blood pressure (BP; -1.60 mm Hg; 95% CI: -2.77, -0.43 mm Hg) and mean arterial pressure (-1.64 mm Hg; 95% CI: -3.27, -0.01 mm Hg) and marginally significant effects on LDL (-0.07 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.13, 0.00 mmol/L) and HDL (0.03 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.00, 0.06 mmol/L) cholesterol. Chocolate or cocoa improved FMD regardless of the dose consumed, whereas doses >50 mg epicatechin/d resulted in greater effects on systolic and diastolic BP. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation, a tool to assess quality of evidence and strength of recommendations) suggested low- to moderate-quality evidence of beneficial effects, with no suggestion of negative effects. The strength of evidence was lowered due to unclear reporting for allocation concealment, dropouts, missing data on outcomes, and heterogeneity in biomarker results in some studies. CONCLUSIONS: We found consistent acute and chronic benefits of chocolate or cocoa on FMD and previously unreported promising effects on insulin and HOMA-IR. Larger, longer-duration, and independently funded trials are required to confirm the potential cardiovascular benefits of cocoa flavan-3-ols."}
{"id": "MED-2229", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: In vitro and animal studies have reported that young broccoli sprouts improve oxidative stress status in diabetic condition. The objective of this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial was to investigate the effects of broccoli sprouts powder (BSP) on some oxidative stress parameters in type 2 diabetes patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 81 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups for 4 weeks. The groups received either 10 g/d BSP (n=27), 5 g/d BSP (n=29) or placebo (n=25). Serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were measured at baseline and at 4 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: In all, 63 patients in three groups were included in the analysis: 10 g/d BSP (n=21), 5 g/d (n=22) and placebo (n=20). After 4 weeks, consumption of BSP resulted in significant decrease in MDA (P=0.001 for treatment effect), oxidized low density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.03 for treatment effect), OSI (P=0.001 for treatment effect) and significant increase in TAC (P=0.001 for treatment effect). No effects were found on TOS. CONCLUSION: BSP had favorable effects on oxidative stress status in type 2 diabetes patients."}
{"id": "MED-2231", "text": "Functional foods and their nutraceutical components are now considered as supplementary treatments in type 2 diabetes and prevention of its long-term complications. Young broccoli sprouts as a functional food contain many bioactive compounds specially sulforaphane. In hyperglycemic and oxidative conditions, sulforaphane has the potential to activate the NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2)-dependent antioxidant response-signaling pathway, induces phase 2 enzymes, attenuates oxidative stress, and inactivates nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-\u03baB), a key modulator of inflammatory pathways. Interestingly, sulforaphane induces some peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, which contribute to lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis. In animal and in vitro models, sulforaphane also shows antihypertensive, anticancer, cardioprotective, and hypocholesterolemic capacity, and has bactericidal properties against Helicobacter pylori. Supplementation of type 2 diabetics with high sulforaphane content broccoli sprouts resulted in increased total antioxidant capacity of plasma and in decreased oxidative stress index, lipid peroxidation, serum triglycerides, oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/LDL-cholesterol ratio, serum insulin, insulin resistance, and serum high-sensitive C-reactive protein. Sulforaphane could prevent nephropathy, diabetes-induced fibrosis, and vascular complications. Potential efficacy of sulforaphane and probably other bioactive components of young broccoli sprouts makes it as an excellent choice for supplementary treatment in type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-2232", "text": "Many studies have supported the protective effects of broccoli and broccoli sprouts against cancer. The chemopreventive properties of sulforaphane, which is derived from the principal glucosinolate of broccoli and broccoli sprouts, have been extensively studied. Recent research into the effects of sulforaphane on cancer stem cells (CSCs) has drawn lots of interest. CSCs are suggested to be responsible for initiating and maintaining cancer, and to contribute to recurrence and drug resistance. A number of studies have indicated that sulforaphane may target CSCs in different types of cancer through modulation of NF-\u03baB, SHH, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and Wnt/\u03b2-catenin pathways. Combination therapy with sulforaphane and chemotherapy in preclinical settings has shown promising results. In this article, we focus on the effects of sulforaphane on CSCs and self-renewal pathways, as well as giving a brief review of recent human studies using broccoli sprout preparations."}
{"id": "MED-2233", "text": "Changes in physiological and biochemical metabolism as well as glucoraphanin and sulforaphane contents of germinating broccoli seeds and sprouts were investigated in this study. Sprout length, root length, and fresh weight increased with germination time. Dry weight varied from 2.5 to 3.0 mg per sprout. A rapid increase in respiratory rate of sprouts occurred between 24 and 36 h of germination and then stayed at a high level. HPLC analysis found that glucoraphanin content increased at the early stage (0-12 h) of germination, decreased to a low value of 3.02 mg/g at 48 h, and then reached the highest value of 6.30 mg/g at 72 h of germination. Sulforaphane content decreased dramatically during the first day of germination, then increased slowly, and reached a high value of 3.38 mg/g at 48 h before declining again."}
{"id": "MED-2234", "text": "Use of antioxidant components is a new approach for improvement of insulin resistance (IR) as a main feature of type 2 diabetes and its complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of broccoli sprouts powder (BSP) containing high concentration of sulphoraphane on IR in type 2 diabetic patients. Eighty-one patients were randomly assigned to receive 10 g/d BSP (A, n = 27), 5 g/d BSP (B, n = 29) and placebo (C, n = 25) for 4 weeks. Fasting serum glucose and insulin concentration, glucose to insulin ratio and homoeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) index were measured at baseline and again 4 weeks after treatment. Seventy-two patients completed the study and 63 were included in the analysis. After 4 weeks, consumption of 10 g/d BSP resulted in a significant decrease in serum insulin concentration and HOMA-IR (p = 0.05 for treatment effect). Therefore, broccoli sprouts may improve IR in type 2 diabetic patients."}
{"id": "MED-2235", "text": "Broccoli consumption may reduce the risk of various cancers and many broccoli supplements are now available. The bioavailability and excretion of the mercapturic acid pathway metabolites isothiocyanates after human consumption of broccoli supplements has not been tested. Two important isothiocyanates from broccoli are sulforaphane and erucin. We employed a cross-over study design in which 12 subjects consumed 40 grams of fresh broccoli sprouts followed by a 1 month washout period and then the same 12 subjects consumed 6 pills of a broccoli supplement. As negative controls for isothiocyanate consumption four additional subjects consumed alfalfa sprouts during the first phase and placebo pills during the second. Blood and urine samples were collected for 48 hours during each phase and analyzed for sulforaphane and erucin metabolites using LC-MS/MS. The bioavailability of sulforaphane and erucin is dramatically lower when subjects consume broccoli supplements compared to fresh broccoli sprouts. The peaks in plasma concentrations and urinary excretion were also delayed when subjects consumed the broccoli supplement. GSTP1 polymorphisms did not affect the metabolism or excretion of sulforaphane or erucin. Sulforaphane and erucin are able to interconvert in vivo and this interconversion is consistent within each subject but variable between subjects. This study confirms that consumption of broccoli supplements devoid of myrosinase activity does not produce equivalent plasma concentrations of the bioactive isothiocyanate metabolites compared to broccoli sprouts. This has implications for people who consume the recommended serving size (1 pill) of a broccoli supplement and believe they are getting equivalent doses of isothiocyanates."}
{"id": "MED-2237", "text": "In India, lung cancer is one of the most common and lethal cancers, and tobacco smoking remains its most important etiologic factors. The objective of our study is to examine the effects of different tobacco consumption forms, including smoking and chewing, on lung cancer risk of men in southern India, especially to compare the effects of bidi smoking to cigarette smoking on lung carcinogenesis. We also evaluated the possible role of Indian alcohol beverages and non-Indian alcohol beverages on lung carcinogenesis. We conducted a case-control study in Chennai and Trivandrum. In total, 778 lung cancer cases and 3,430 controls, including 1,503 cancer controls and 1,927 healthy controls, were recruited. The effects of cigarette, bidi smoking, chewing and alcohol drinking on the risk of lung cancer were estimated from unconditional multivariate logistic regression. We also applied the generalized additive model (GAM) with locally-weighted running-line smoothers (loess) to find the most plausible curve for the dose-response relationship. The results from GAM suggest a plateau after 35 years of smoking or 10 cigarette-equivalent pack-years for both cigarette and bidi. The OR is 4.54 (95%CI=2.96-6.95) and 6.45 (95%CI=4.38-9.50) for more than 30 years of cigarette-only and bidi-only smoking, respectively, and 6.87 (95%CI=4.62-10.2) and 10.7 (95%CI=5.82-19.6) for more than 12 weighted cumulative cigarette-only and bidi-only consumption, respectively. The lung cancer risk of former cigarette smokers drops down more quickly after quitting smoking compared to former bidi smokers. There is no evidence for the effect of chewing and lung cancer risk nor clear evidence of an effect of overall alcohol drinking among never-smokers, although Indian alcohol drinking seemed to remain associated with lung cancer risk under limited power (OR=2.67, 95%CI=1.02-7.02). Bidi smoking seems to have a stronger carcinogenic effect than cigarette smoking: this difference holds no matter which aspect of smoking was considered. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2238", "text": "Rose G (Department of Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK). Sick individuals and sick populations. International Journal of Epidemiology 1985;14:32--38. Aetiology confronts two distinct issues: the determinants of individual cases, and the determinants of incidence rate. If exposure to a necessary agent is homogeneous within a population, then case/control and cohort methods will fail to detect it: they will only identify markers of susceptibility. The corresponding strategies in control are the 'high-risk' approach, which seeks to protect susceptible individuals, and the population approach, which seeks to control the causes of incidence. The two approaches are not usually in competition, but the prior concern should always be to discover and control the causes of incidence."}
{"id": "MED-2239", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections remain a leading cause of mortality worldwide. In the U.S. strategies via screening and vaccination prevent HPV-associated cervical neoplasms, but consume immense healthcare costs. The spice component curcumin has potent anticancer and antiviral properties, which have been difficult to harness as a treatment, due to its poor systemic bioavailability. This project tests the possibility of developing a curcumin-based therapy for cervical cancer. METHODS: Using four HPV(+) cervical cancer cell lines and normal fibroblasts we first tested the selectivity and potency of curcumin in eliminating HPV(+) cells. Subsequently, we developed a curcumin-based cervical cream and tested its efficacy in eliminating apposed HPV(+) cells and also its possible side effects on the vaginal epithelium of healthy mice. RESULTS: Curcumin selectively eliminates a variety of HPV(+) cervical cancer cells (HeLa, ME-180, SiHa, and SW756), suppresses the transforming antigen E6, dramatically inhibits the expression of the pro-cancer protein epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and concomitantly induces p53. Additionally, Vacurin, a uniform colloidal solution of curcumin in a clinically used amphipathic vaginal cream, eliminates apposed HeLa cells while suppressing the expression of EGFR. In mice, daily intravaginal application of Vacurin for three weeks produced no change in body weight and when the mice were sacrificed, the vaginal tract epithelium showed no Vacurin-evoked adverse effects. CONCLUSION: We have developed a curcumin-based vaginal cream, which effectively eradicates HPV(+) cancer cells and does not affect non-cancerous tissue. Our preclinical data support a novel approach for the treatment of cervical HPV infection. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2244", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Familialadenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal-dominant disorder characterized by the development of hundreds of colorectal adenomas and eventual colorectal cancer. Regression of adenomas in this syndrome occurs with the administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, but these compounds can have considerable side effects. We evaluated the efficacy of the combination of diet-derived nonprescription supplements curcumin and quercetin to regress adenomas in patients with FAP. METHODS: Five FAP patients with prior colectomy (4 with retained rectum and 1 with an ileal anal pouch) received curcumin 480 mg and quercetin 20 mg orally 3 times a day. The number and size of polyps were assessed at baseline and after therapy. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine differences in the number and size of polyps. Treatment side effects and medication compliance also were evaluated. RESULTS: All 5 patients had a decreased polyp number and size from baseline after a mean of 6 months of treatment with curcumin and quercetin. The mean percent decrease in the number and size of polyps from baseline was 60.4% (P < .05) and 50.9% (P < .05), respectively. Minimal adverse side effects and no laboratory abnormalities were noted. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of curcumin and quercetin appears to reduce the number and size of ileal and rectal adenomas in patients with FAP without appreciable toxicity. Randomized controlled trials are needed to validate these findings."}
{"id": "MED-2245", "text": "Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is being considered as a potential chemopreventive agent in humans. In vitro it inhibits transcription by NF-kappaB, and the activity of lipoxygenase or cyclooxygenase enzymes, which facilitate tumor progression. In vivo it is protective in rodent models of chemical carcinogenesis. Curcumin contains an alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone, a reactive chemical substituent that is responsible for its repression of NF-kappaB. In compounds other than curcumin this same electrophilic moiety is associated with inactivation of the tumor suppressor, p53. Here we report that curcumin behaves analogously to these compounds. It disrupts the conformation of the p53 protein required for its serine phosphorylation, its binding to DNA, its transactivation of p53-responsive genes and p53-mediated cell cycle arrest."}
{"id": "MED-2246", "text": "Curcuma spp. extracts, particularly the dietary polyphenol curcumin, prevent colon cancer in rodents. In view of the sparse information on the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of curcumin in humans, a dose-escalation pilot study of a novel standardized Curcuma extract in proprietary capsule form was performed at doses between 440 and 2200 mg/day, containing 36-180 mg of curcumin. Fifteen patients with advanced colorectal cancer refractory to standard chemotherapies received Curcuma extract daily for up to 4 months. Activity of glutathione S-transferase and levels of a DNA adduct (M(1)G) formed by malondialdehyde, a product of lipid peroxidation and prostaglandin biosynthesis, were measured in patients' blood cells. Oral Curcuma extract was well tolerated, and dose-limiting toxicity was not observed. Neither curcumin nor its metabolites were detected in blood or urine, but curcumin was recovered from feces. Curcumin sulfate was identified in the feces of one patient. Ingestion of 440 mg of Curcuma extract for 29 days was accompanied by a 59% decrease in lymphocytic glutathione S-transferase activity. At higher dose levels, this effect was not observed. Leukocytic M(1)G levels were constant within each patient and unaffected by treatment. Radiologically stable disease was demonstrated in five patients for 2-4 months of treatment. The results suggest that (a) Curcuma extract can be administered safely to patients at doses of up to 2.2 g daily, equivalent to 180 mg of curcumin; (b) curcumin has low oral bioavailability in humans and may undergo intestinal metabolism; and (c) larger clinical trials of Curcuma extract are merited."}
{"id": "MED-2247", "text": "The genetic alterations in colorectal cancer progression are determined by one of two separate and distinct underlying pathways of genomic instability. The first pathway, chromosomal instability, is characterized by allelic losses and aneuploidy. The second pathway, microsatellite instability, is characterized by an abundance of subtle DNA mutations and diploidy. Although the genes causing chromosomal instability remain unknown, microsatellite instability is caused by inactivation of a DNA mismatch repair gene (predominantly MLH1 or MSH2). Microsatellite instability is present in 15% of colorectal cancers, and is diagnosed by analysis of tumor DNA from paraffin blocks and by demonstration of loss of mismatch repair protein expression in cancers. In addition to the unique profile of genetic alterations, colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability have distinct pathologic features and improved survival. Finally, cancers from most patients with hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (or Lynch syndrome) have microsatellite instability due to germline mutations in the DNA mismatch repair genes. Identification of the microsatellite instability pathway has enormous implications for the clinical investigation and management of colorectal cancer patients."}
{"id": "MED-2248", "text": "The consequences of a change from a mixed to a lactovegetarian diet for 12 mo on trace element concentrations in plasma, hair, urine, and feces were studied in 16 women and 4 men. After the diet shift, intakes of zinc and magnesium did not change but that of selenium decreased by 40%. Three months after the diet shift, plasma and hair concentrations of zinc, copper, and selenium had decreased but those of magnesium had increased and the concentrations of mercury, lead, and cadmium in hair were lower. Also, the excretion of zinc, copper, and magnesium in urine, and that of selenium in urine and feces had decreased. Only small changes occurred during the remaining lactovegetarian-diet period. Three years later trace element concentrations had reverted towards baseline concentrations; copper values were similar to baseline concentrations but data for magnesium were slightly higher, and more complex patterns were observed for zinc and selenium. It is concluded that a shift to a lactovegetarian diet changes trace element status."}
{"id": "MED-2249", "text": "High-level cadmium (Cd) exposure has long been known to induce nephropathy, severe osteoporosis, and fractures in humans. More recent epidemiology, however, reveals that, in populations not known to have important industrial exposure to this heavy metal, high-normal blood or urine Cd levels correlate with increased risk for vascular disorders, cancers, diabetes, and total mortality, as well as osteoporosis and nephropathy. Since these disorders appear unlikely to expedite Cd absorption, and since Cd has promoted these pathologies in rodent studies, it seems reasonable to conclude that Cd is an important mediating risk factor for these disorders in humans. Avoiding tobacco smoke or frequent ingestion of shellfish or organ meats can lessen humans exposure to Cd, but the chief dietary sources of Cd are plant-derived foods - green leafy vegetables, whole grains, tubers, and root vegetables - typically recommended for their health-supportive properties; indeed, among non-smokers, vegans tend to have the highest Cd body burden. Fortunately, iron sufficiency and ample dietary intakes of calcium, magnesium, and zinc can impede absorption of dietary Cd, both by down-regulating intestinal expression of mineral transporters, and by directly competing with Cd for access to these transporters. Correction of iron deficiency appears to be of particular importance for controlling Cd absorption. Moreover, zinc supplementation can counteract the toxicity of Cd already in the body via induction of metallothionein, which binds Cd avidly via its sulfhydryl groups; so long as it remains sequestered in this form, Cd is innocuous. Zinc supplementation may in any case be recommendable, as optimal zinc status exerts protective anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunosupportive effects. Inasmuch as the toxicity of Cd appears to be mediated in large part by oxidative stress, ingestion of spirulina, lipoic acid, melatonin, and N-acetylcysteine may also have potential for mitigating the risk associated with Cd exposure, as suggested by rodent studies. Hence, although Cd may prove to be a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality in humans, practical strategies for limiting its absorption and pathogenic impact are at hand. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2251", "text": "The ubiquitous food contaminant cadmium has features of an estrogen mimetic that may promote the development of estrogen-dependent malignancies, such as breast cancer. However, no prospective studies of cadmium exposure and breast cancer risk have been reported. We examined the association between dietary cadmium exposure (at baseline, 1987) and the risk of overall and estrogen receptor (ER)-defined (ER(+) or ER(-)) breast cancer within a population-based prospective cohort of 55,987 postmenopausal women. During an average of 12.2 years of follow-up, 2,112 incident cases of invasive breast cancer were ascertained (1,626 ER(+) and 290 ER(-)). After adjusting for confounders, including consumption of whole grains and vegetables (which account for 40% of the dietary exposure, but also contain putative anticarcinogenic phytochemicals), dietary cadmium intake was positively associated with overall breast cancer tumors, comparing the highest tertile with the lowest [rate ratio (RR), 1.21; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07-1.36; P(trend) = 0.02]. Among lean and normal weight women, statistically significant associations were observed for all tumors (RR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.07-1.50) and for ER(+) tumors (RR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.03-1.52) and similar, but not statistically significant associations were found for ER(-) tumors (RR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.76-1.93). The risk of breast cancer increased with increasing cadmium exposure similarly within each tertile of whole grain/vegetable consumption and decreased with increasing consumption of whole grain/vegetables within each tertile of cadmium exposure (P(interaction) = 0.73). Overall, these results suggest a role for dietary cadmium in postmenopausal breast cancer development."}
{"id": "MED-2252", "text": "Studies suggested the intake of Cd from diet can be approximately equivalent to that from smoking. Moreover, a mutual metabolic influence between Cd and nutrients has been reported. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between blood cadmium concentration (BCdC) and food consumption, nutrients intake (Ca, Fe, Zn, vitamin C, and vitamin D), tobacco smoking, and some other variables (age, body mass index, and residence) in 243 adults living in the Italian island of Sardinia (Sassari Province). Specifically, we hypothesized that offal consumption contributes to Cd intakes and blood levels. The BCdC was quantified by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, and information on personal data was collected through questionnaires. Smoke significantly contributed to the BCdC (P < .001). Nonsmoker subjects who eat offal showed significantly higher BCdC (P = .04). Moreover, slightly higher BCdCs were also observed in nonsmoker subjects who eat rice, fish, and bread. The BCdC positively correlated with age of subjects (r = 0.144; P = .025) and offal daily intake in nonsmokers (r = 0.393; P < .001). The intake of Ca was negatively correlated (r = -0.281; P = .001) with the BCdC in females. The multiple linear regression analysis showed smoking > consumption of offal > body mass index \u2248 age as the most important risk factors for the BCdC in the selected population. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2253", "text": "Twenty three adults ingested 203Pb as lead acetate on the 12th hour of a 19 h fast. Retention measured 7 days later in a whole-body counter was 61% and whole-body turnover rates suggested that initial uptake had been considerably greater. Balanced meals eaten with 203Pb reduced lead uptake to 4% and the influence of the food lasted for up to 3 h. The effects of phytate, ethylene-diaminetetra acetate (EDTA), caffeine, alcohol, glucose, a liquid meal and a light snack were tested separately with intermediate results. The effect of a meal was probably largely due to its content of calcium and phosphate salts but lead uptake was probably further reduced by phytate which is plentiful in whole cereals and it was probably increased by a factor in milk. Uptake with skimmed milk was the same as with whole milk and we suggested that the factor was not fat. Comestibles with low mineral and phytate contents reduced lead uptake by intermediate amounts, possibly by stimulation of digestive secretions. The avid uptake of lead during a fast, the large reduction of lead uptake with meals and the likelihood of variations in gastric-emptying rates and dietary habits may be major causes of variation in body burdens of lead in the population."}
{"id": "MED-2254", "text": "The aim of this study was to estimate the dietary cadmium (Cd) intake of the Belgian adult population, to compare this dietary Cd exposure to the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) recently established by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and to determine the major food groups that contribute to dietary Cd exposure in Belgium. Food consumption data were derived from the 2004 Belgian food consumption survey (two 24 h recalls, 3083 participants). Cadmium concentrations in food items (n = 4000) were gathered from the control program of the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain for the period 2006-2008. Dietary intake per individual was calculated from consumption data and median Cd concentrations. The population mean, median and 95th percentile of the dietary intake values were 0.98, 0.85 and 2.02 \u00b5g kg\u207b\u00b9 body weight per week respectively. Two percent of the Belgian adult population has a dietary Cd intake above the recent TWI of 2.5 \u00b5g kg\u207b\u00b9 body weight established by EFSA in 2009. Cereal products and potatoes contribute for more than 60% to Cd intake."}
{"id": "MED-2255", "text": "Background Diet is a major source of cadmium intake among the non-smoking general population. Recent studies have determined that cadmium exposure may produce adverse health effects at lower exposure levels than previously predicted. We conducted a meta-analysis to combine and analyze the results of previous studies that have investigated the association of dietary cadmium intake and cancer risk. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE database for case-control and cohort studies that assessed the association of dietary cadmium intake and cancer risk. We performed a meta-analysis using eight eligible studies to summarize the data and summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random effects model. Results Overall, dietary cadmium intake showed no statistically significant association with cancer risk (RR = 1.10; 95% CI: 0.99\u20131.22, for highest vs. lowest dietary cadmium group). However, there was strong evidence of heterogeneity, and subgroup analyses were conducted using the study design, geographical location, and cancer type. In subgroup analyses, the positive associations between dietary cadmium intake and cancer risk were observed among studies with Western populations (RR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.08\u20131.23) and studies investigating some hormone-related cancers (prostate, breast, and endometrial cancers). Conclusion Our analysis found a positive association between dietary cadmium intake and cancer risk among studies conducted in Western countries, particularly with hormone-related cancers. Additional experimental and epidemiological studies are required to verify our findings."}
{"id": "MED-2258", "text": "Breast cancer is the most prevalent women's cancer, with an age-adjusted incidence of 122.9 per 100,000 US women. Cadmium, a ubiquitous carcinogenic pollutant with multiple biological effects, has been reported to be associated with breast cancer in one US regional case-control study. We examined the association of breast cancer with urinary cadmium (UCd), in a case-control sample of women living on Long Island (LI), NY (100 with breast cancer and 98 without), a region with an especially high rate of breast cancer (142.7 per 100,000 in Suffolk County) and in a representative sample of US women (NHANES 1999-2008, 92 with breast cancer and 2,884 without). In a multivariable logistic model, both samples showed a significant trend for increased odds of breast cancer across increasing UCd quartiles (NHANES, p=0.039 and LI, p=0.023). Compared to those in the lowest quartile, LI women in the highest quartile had increased risk for breast cancer (OR=2.69; 95% CI=1.07, 6.78) and US women in the two highest quartiles had increased risk (OR=2.50; 95% CI=1.11, 5.63 and OR=2.22; 95% CI=.89, 5.52, respectively). Further research is warranted on the impact of environmental cadmium on breast cancer risk in specific populations and on identifying the underlying molecular mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-2261", "text": "Seven zinc-containing dietary supplements were analyzed for zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) by inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS). Cadmium was detected in all samples; however, the amount of Cd per 15 mg Zn (the daily US Recommended Dietary Allowance) varied by over 37-fold (0.039 to 1.46 micrograms Cd/15 mg Zn). Supplements with Zn in the form of a gluconate consistently contained the lowest amounts of Cd. Because Cd is a non-essential potentially toxic element for humans, its concentration in nutritional supplements should be minimized and possibly regulated by government-established standards."}
{"id": "MED-2262", "text": "The role of cadmium (Cd) bioaccessibility in risk assessment is less well studied. The aim of this study was to assess human health risk to Cd through inhalation and seafood consumption by incorporating bioaccessibility. The relationships between trophically available Cd and bioaccessibility were constructed based on available experimental data. We estimated Cd concentrations in human urine and blood via daily intake from seafood consumption and inhalation based on a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. A Hill-based dose-response model was used to assess human renal dysfunction and peripheral arterial disease risks for long-term Cd exposure. Here we showed that fish had higher bioaccessibility (~83.7%) than that of shellfish (~73.2%) for human ingestion. Our results indicated that glomerular and tubular damage among different genders and smokers ranged from 18.03 to 18.18%. Our analysis showed that nonsmokers had 50% probability of peripheral arterial disease level exceeding from 3.28 to 8.80%. Smoking populations had 2-3 folds higher morbidity risk of peripheral arterial disease than those of nonsmokers. Our study concluded that the adverse effects of Cd exposure are exacerbated when high seafood consumption coincides with cigarette smoking. Our work provides a framework that could more accurately address risk dose dependency of Cd hazard. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2263", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chronic dietary cadmium (Cd) exposure results in kidney dysfunction and decrease in bone mineral density. OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare the bioavailability of Cd from vegetable and animal-based foods. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Caco-2 cells were exposed to Cd in boiled pig kidney, ark shell, kale, raw kale, mixed boiled pig kidney with raw kale and CdCl2 after in vitro digestion. Then cellular Cd uptake from the digests and reference CdCl2 solution was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. RESULTS: Cd bioavailability from animal-based foods was higher than that from vegetable-based foods. In addition, raw kale exhibited an inhibitory effect on Cd bioavailability when mixed with boiled pig kidney. However Cd in kale was increasingly absorbed after boiling. CONCLUSION: Cd binding to different molecular species, other food components in vegetable and animal-based foods, food combination, as well as cooking processes influenced the uptake of dietary Cd. A relative bioavailability factor accounted for the food matrix might be necessary for exposure assessment and consequently for estimation and prevention of the risk of dietary Cd."}
{"id": "MED-2264", "text": "Cadmium is a toxic element ubiquitous in the environment, which damages biological systems in various ways. The major source of cadmium exposure is food. High cadmium content in the soil leads to high cadmium concentrations in certain plants such as grains (above all surface layers and germs), oil or non-oil seeds, fruit and vegetables. These food commodities are the crucial components of a vegetarian nutrition. Blood cadmium concentrations were measured in two non-smoking population groups: the vegetarian group (n = 80) and the non-vegetarian (control) group of general population on traditional mixed diet (n = 84). The significantly higher blood cadmium content (1.78 +/- 0.22 vs. 0.45 +/- 0.04 microg/l) was measured in vegetarian group. Healthy risk values > 5 microg/l were found in 6 vegetarians vs. no non-vegetarian. The highest cadmium concentration (3.15 +/- 0.77 microg/l) was measured in vegan subgroup (plant food only, n = 10) and that value decreased with increasing animal food consumption (1.75 +/- 0.36 microg/l, lactovegetarian and lactoovovegetarian subgroup/added dairy products and eggs, n = 41/, 1.34 +/- 0.21 microg/I, semivegetarian subgroup /as a previous subgroup and added white meat, n = 291). Risk vegetarians vs. non-risk vegetarians consume significantly higher amounts of whole grain products, grain sprouts and oil seeds. Blood cadmium content is directly influenced by age (r = 0.32, p < 0.001), by whole grain product intake (r = 0.66, p < 0.001) and by duration of vegetarianism (r = 0.5, p < 0.001). Oxidative stress plays a major role in chronic cadmium induced hepatic and renal toxicity as well as in other consequences of cadmium injuries. Vegetarians have significantly higher plasma concentrations of natural antioxidants. The sufficient antioxidative protection against cadmium induced free radical formation in vegetarians may inhibit the harmful effects of greater cadmium intake from plant food."}
{"id": "MED-2265", "text": "Control and triathlete volunteers (n=8 and n=15, respectively) were given 400 mL and 200 mL of aronia-citrus juice (AC-juice), respectively. The 24h urine samples were hydrolysed to determine the flavanones concentration by UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. The flavanones metabolites in both groups of volunteers were glucuronides, sulfates, and sulfo-glucuronides, and the total excretion of flavanones increased fivefold in the triathletes compared with the control volunteers. The increase of ninefold in the homoeriodictyol of triathletes compared to control volunteers may suggest the overactivation of the microbiota metabolism caused by physical exercise. No differences concerning the bioavailability were detected between men and women in controlboth groups. The AC-juice could provide synergistic effects on health due to the increase in the bioavailability of flavanones, avoiding the deleterious effects caused by the overdosage of nutritional supplements. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2266", "text": "BACKGROUND: Exposure to over-the-counter (OTC) ibuprofen and other OTC non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is substantial. Although the literature on gastrointestinal (GI) safety of NSAID therapy is extensive, the risk profiles of OTC and prescription dosing are seldom separated, and few studies provide risks specific to OTC ibuprofen. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a literature review to evaluate the risk of GI bleeding events related to OTC ibuprofen use. METHODS: Published clinical trials, observational studies, and meta-analyses of OTC ibuprofen use, defined as up to 1200\u2009mg/day or stated as 'over the counter,' reporting endpoints of incidence rates and proportions of GI bleeding events (e.g., GI bleeding-related hospitalizations and deaths) were identified via MEDLINE through 2010. Data from these studies were summarized. RESULTS: Twenty studies (nine observational, ten clinical trials, one meta-analysis) reporting incidence rates and proportions of a GI bleeding-related event associated with OTC or OTC-specific doses of ibuprofen were included. The frequency of a GI-related hospitalization was <0.2% for patients on OTC-comparable doses. Incidence rates among those using OTC-comparable doses ranged from 0 to 3.19 per 1000 patient-years. The incidence of a GI bleeding-related event increased with age and the use of concomitant medications, and there was a general, though not always statistically significant, ibuprofen dose-response relationship. The relative risk of any GI bleeding-related event ranged from 1.1 to 2.4 for users of OTC-specific doses of ibuprofen compared to non-users. CONCLUSIONS: Studies reported low incidence of GI bleeding events with use of OTC ibuprofen. Few published studies that specifically investigated OTC ibuprofen use were identified. Varying methodologies and definitions of exposure and outcomes prevented direct comparison of many results. Only studies that used the methods herein described were identified. Further research evaluating the risk of GI bleeding events in patients taking OTC-specific ibuprofen use may be useful."}
{"id": "MED-2267", "text": "Intestinal permeability was estimated in healthy subjects after ingestion of aspirin (1.2+1.2 g), ibuprofen (400+400 mg) and indomethacin (75+50 mg) at midnight and an hour before starting a 51chromium labelled ethylenediaminetetraacetate absorption test. Intestinal permeability increased significantly from control levels following each drug and the effect was related to drug potency to inhibit cyclooxygenase. Intestinal permeability increased to a similar extent after oral and rectal administration of indomethacin showing that the effect is systemically mediated. Prostaglandin E2 decreased intestinal permeability significantly but failed to prevent the indomethacin induced increased intestinal permeability. These studies show that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs disrupt the intestinal barrier function in man and suggest that the morphological correlates of the damage may reside at the level of the intercellular junctions."}
{"id": "MED-2269", "text": "Over the past few decades, inflammation has been recognized as a major risk factor for various human diseases. Acute inflammation is short-term, self-limiting and it's easy for host defenses to return the body to homeostasis. Chronic inflammatory responses are predispose to a pathological progression of chronic illnesses characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells, excessive production of cytokines, dysregulation of cellular signaling and loss of barrier function. Targeting reduction of chronic inflammation is a beneficial strategy to combat several human diseases. Flavonoids are widely present in the average diet in such foods as fruits and vegetables, and have been demonstrated to exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities for human health including an anti-inflammatory property. Numerous studies have proposed that flavonoids act through a variety mechanisms to prevent and attenuate inflammatory responses and serve as possible cardioprotective, neuroprotective and chemopreventive agents. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and underlying mechanisms on anti-inflammatory activities of flavonoids and their implicated effects in the development of various chronic inflammatory diseases. This journal is \u00a9 The Royal Society of Chemistry 2010"}
{"id": "MED-2270", "text": "Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used. It is well recognised that they may adversely cause damage throughout the gastrointestinal tract and aggravate pre-existing disease. Their side effects on the upper gastrointestinal tract can be assessed by various means; each study type has different clinical connotations. Short-term use (less than 14 days) demonstrates dose-dependent damage of prescribed NSAIDs; the damage is proportional to the acidity of the drugs and not seen with Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selective inhibitors that have a pKa over 7.0. There have not been any serious outcomes, such as bleeding or perforation in these studies, and Helicobacter pylori (HP) plays no role in this damage. Long-term (3 months or more) endoscopy studies in patients show ulcer rates from 15%-35% with the various NSAIDs, but serious outcomes are exceedingly rare. Epidemiological studies show an association between NSAID intake and serious events. Ibuprofen is consistently at the lower end of toxicity rankings, whereas ketorolac and azapropazone are the worst. The risk of bleeding is increased with advancing age, presence of HP, previous history of bleeding, anticoagulant use, etc. The mega-trials show that COX-2 selective agents halve the bleeding episodes, but NSAID-induced gastric bleeding is very rare usually, less than 1 in 200 subjects taking them for a year. Seventy percent of patients develop NSAID-enteropathy, which is associated with intestinal blood and protein loss and rarely strictures. Over-the-counter (OTC) use of ibuprofen and diclofenac is associated with symptomatic gastrointestinal side effects comparable with placebo. Ibuprofen is shown to be remarkably well tolerated at OTC doses in a number of studies. There are recent studies to suggest that OTC NSAIDs should be taken on a fasting stomach, not with food as commonly advocated. \u00a9 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2271", "text": "l-Citrulline is an excellent candidate to reduce muscle soreness, and watermelon is a fruit rich in this amino acid. This study investigated the potential of watermelon juice as a functional drink for athletes. An in vitro study of intestinal absorption of l-citrulline in Caco-2 cells was performed using unpasteurized (NW), pasteurized (80 \u00b0C for 40 s) watermelon juice (PW) and, as control, a standard of l-citrulline. l-citrulline bioavailability was greater when it was contained in a matrix of watermelon and when no heat treatment was applied. In the in vivo experiment (maximum effort test in a cycloergometer), seven athletes were supplied with 500 mL of natural watermelon juice (1.17 g of l-citrulline), enriched watermelon juice (4.83 g of l-citrulline plus 1.17 g from watermelon), and placebo. Both watermelon juices helped to reduce the recovery heart rate and muscle soreness after 24 h."}
{"id": "MED-2272", "text": "To assess the physiologic effects of cherry consumption, we measured plasma urate, antioxidant and inflammatory markers in 10 healthy women who consumed Bing sweet cherries. The women, age 22-40 y, consumed two servings (280 g) of cherries after an overnight fast. Blood and urine samples were taken before the cherry dose, and at 1.5, 3 and 5 h postdose. Plasma urate decreased 5 h postdose, mean +/- SEM = 183 +/- 15 micro mol/L compared with predose baseline of 214 +/- 13 micro mol/L (P < 0.05). Urinary urate increased postdose, with peak excretion of 350 +/- 33 micro mol/mmol creatinine 3 h postdose compared with 202 +/- 13 at baseline (P < 0.01). Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations had decreased marginally 3 h postdose (P < 0.1), whereas plasma albumin and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were unchanged. The vitamin C content of the cherries was solely as dehydroascorbic acid, but postdose increases in plasma ascorbic acid indicated that dehydroascorbic acid in fruits is bioavailable as vitamin C. The decrease in plasma urate after cherry consumption supports the reputed anti-gout efficacy of cherries. The trend toward decreased inflammatory indices (CRP and NO) adds to the in vitro evidence that compounds in cherries may inhibit inflammatory pathways."}
{"id": "MED-2273", "text": "Objective To examine and quantify the relation between purine intake and the risk of recurrent gout attacks among gout patients. Methods The authors conducted a case-crossover study to examine associations of a set of putative risk factors with recurrent gout attacks. Individuals with gout were prospectively recruited and followed online for 1 year. Participants were asked about the following information when experiencing a gout attack: the onset date of the gout attack, clinical symptoms and signs, medications (including antigout medications), and presence of potential risk factors (including daily intake of various purine-containing food items) during the 2-day period prior to the gout attack. The same exposure information was also assessed over 2-day control periods. Results This study included 633 participants with gout. Compared with the lowest quintile of total purine intake over a 2-day period, OR of recurrent gout attacks were 1.17, 1.38, 2.21 and 4.76, respectively, with each increasing quintile (p for trend <0.001). The corresponding OR were 1.42, 1.34, 1.77 and 2.41 for increasing quintiles of purine intake from animal sources (p for trend <0.001), and 1.12, 0.99, 1.32 and 1.39 from plant sources (p=0.04), respectively. The effect of purine intake persisted across subgroups by sex, use of alcohol, diuretics, allopurinol, NSAIDs and colchicine. Conclusions The study findings suggest that acute purine intake increases the risk of recurrent gout attacks by almost fivefold among gout patients. Avoiding or reducing amount of purine-rich foods intake, especially of animal origin, may help reduce the risk of gout attacks."}
{"id": "MED-2274", "text": "Objective To study the relation between cherry intake and the risk of recurrent gout attacks among individuals with gout. Methods We conducted a case-crossover study to examine associations of a set of putative risk factors with recurrent gout attacks. Individuals with gout were prospectively recruited and followed online for one year. Participants were asked about the following information when experiencing a gout attack: the onset date of the gout attack, symptoms and signs, medications (including anti-gout medications), and potential risk factors (including daily intake of cherries and cherry extract) during the 2-day period prior to the gout attack. We assessed the same exposure information over 2-day control periods. We estimated the risk of recurrent gout attacks related to cherry intake using conditional logistic regression. Results Our study included 633 individuals with gout. Cherry intake over a 2-day period was associated with a 35% lower risk of gout attacks compared with no intake (multivariate odds ratio [OR] = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.50-0.85). Cherry extract intake showed a similar inverse association (multivariate OR=0.55, 95% CI: 0.30-0.98). The effect of cherry intake persisted across subgroups by sex, obesity status, purine intake, alcohol use, diuretic use, and use of anti-gout medications. When cherry intake was combined with allopurinol use, the risk of gout attacks was 75% lower than periods without either exposure (OR=0.25, 95% CI: 0.15-0.42). Conclusions These findings suggest that cherry intake is associated with a lower risk of gout attacks."}
{"id": "MED-2276", "text": "A limited number of studies have demonstrated that some modulators of inflammation can be altered by the consumption of sweet cherries. We have taken a proteomics approach to determine the effects of dietary cherries on targeted gene expression. The purpose was then to determine changes caused by cherry consumption in the plasma concentrations of multiple biomarkers for several chronic inflammatory diseases in healthy humans with modestly elevated C-reactive protein (CRP; range, 1-14 mg/L; mean, 3.5 mg/L; normal, <1.0 mg/L). Eighteen men and women (45-61 y) supplemented their diets with Bing sweet cherries (280 g/d) for 28 d. Fasting blood samples were taken before the start of consuming the cherries (study d 7), 28 d after the initiation of cherry supplementation (d 35), and 28 d after the discontinuation (d 63). Of the 89 biomarkers assessed, cherry consumption for 28 d altered concentrations of 9, did not change those of 67, and the other 13 were below the detection limits. Cherry consumption decreased (P < 0.05) plasma concentrations of extracellular newly identified ligand for the receptor for advanced glycation end products (29.0%), CRP (20.1%), ferritin (20.3%), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (19.9%), endothelin-1 (13.7%), epidermal growth factor (13.2%), and IL-18 (8.1%) and increased that of IL-1 receptor antagonist (27.9%) compared with corresponding values on study d 7. The ferritin concentration continued to decrease between d 35 and 63 and it was significantly lower on d 63 than on d 7. Because the participants in this study were healthy, no clinical pathology end points were measured. However, results from the present study demonstrate that cherry consumption selectively reduced several biomarkers associated with inflammatory diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2278", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To investigate the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects of anthocyanins from cherries on Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) in rats. METHODS: Arthritis was induced intradermally by injection with 0.1 mL of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the right hind footpad of male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Anthocyanins at 40, 20 and 10 mg/kg (body weight) were administered orally to the treated rats for 28 days after the injection. Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) in serum and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in paws were assayed by radioimmunoassay (RIA), and anti-oxidative effects was assayed by measuring total anti-oxidative capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum. RESULTS: Anthocyanins at 40 mg/kg significantly decreased the levels of TNFalpha in serum and PGE2 in paws, simultaneously improving the anti-oxidative status of AIA. We found that at this dosage T-AOC was potentized, the activity of SOD increased and the level of MDA in serum decreased. However, anthocyanins at 20 and 10 mg/kg had less effect on the inflammatory factors and anti-oxidative capacity of AIA. CONCLUSIONS: Anthocyanins have potential anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects on AIA."}
{"id": "MED-2279", "text": "COX-1 and COX-2 are two cyclooxygenase enzymes responsible for prostanoid production. COX-2 is expressed in inflammatory cells and fibroblasts of the gastric mucosa, and through the production of various growth factors including hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), plays a key role in the tissue repair process. Aspirin induces and acetylates COX-2 to produce 15-(R)-epi-lipoxinA4, an anti-inflammatory mediator thought to protect the gastric mucosa against aspirin-induced injury. Recently, three different PGE synthases have been identified, that convert COX-2 metabolites into PGE2. mPGE synthase (mPGES)-1 has been shown to be inducible, and to colocalize with COX-2 in fibroblasts and macrophages infiltrating the gastric ulcer bed. cPGES and mPGES-2 have been found expressed in normal gastric mucosa, with no change in expression levels seen in gastritis or gastric ulcer tissue. Finally, this review discusses the role of these enzymes in the pathophysiology of the gastric mucosa, as well as the biologcal significance of their inhibition."}
{"id": "MED-2280", "text": "Anthocyanins from tart cherries, Prunus cerasus L. (Rosaceae) cv. Balaton and Montmorency; sweet cherries, Prunus avium L. (Rosaceae); bilberries, Vaccinum myrtillus L. (Ericaceae); blackberries, Rubus sp. (Rosaceae); blueberries var. Jersey, Vaccinium corymbosum L. (Ericaceae); cranberries var. Early Black, Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait. (Ericaceae); elderberries, Sambucus canadensis (Caprifoliaceae); raspberries, Rubus idaeus (Rosaceae); and strawberries var. Honeoye, Fragaria x ananassa Duch. (Rosaceae), were investigated for cyclooxygenase inhibitory and antioxidant activities. The presence and levels of cyanidin-3-glucosylrutinoside 1 and cyanidin-3-rutinoside 2 were determined in the fruits using HPLC. The antioxidant activity of anthocyanins from cherries was comparable to the commercial antioxidants, tert-butylhydroquinone, butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole, and superior to vitamin E, at a test concentration of 125 microg/ml. Anthocyanins from raspberries and sweet cherries demonstrated 45% and 47% cyclooxygenase-I and cyclooxygenase-II inhibitory activities, respectively, when assayed at 125 microg/ml. The cyclooxygenase inhibitory activities of anthocyanins from these fruits were comparable to those of ibuprofen and naproxen at 10 microM concentrations. Anthocyanins 1 and 2 are present in both cherries and raspberry. The yields of pure anthocyanins 1 and 2 in 100 g Balaton and Montmorency tart cherries, sweet cherries and raspberries were 21, 16.5; 11, 5; 4.95, 21; and 4.65, 13.5 mg, respectively. Fresh blackberries and strawberries contained only anthocyanin 2 in yields of 24 and 22.5 mg/100 g, respectively. Anthocyanins 1 and 2 were not found in bilberries, blueberries, cranberries or elderberries."}
{"id": "MED-2281", "text": "Nonaspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most frequently used drugs in many countries. Use of the majority of NSAIDs increases with age, primarily for symptoms associated with osteoarthritis and other chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Population-based studies have shown that, on any given day, 10-20% of elderly people (> or = 65 years old) have a current or recent NSAID prescription. Over a 6-month period in Alberta, Canada, 27% of elderly people were prescribed NSAIDs. Furthermore, in Tennessee (USA), 40% of elderly people received at least one NSAID prescription annually, and 6% had NSAID prescriptions for > 75% of the year. NSAIDs cause a wide variety of side-effects. The most clinically important side-effects are upper gastrointestinal tract dyspepsia, peptic ulceration, hemorrhage, and perforation, leading to death in some patients. Gastrointestinal side-effects are common; the most common NSAID-associated side-effect is epigastric pain/indigestion. Gastrointestinal side-effects are also a frequent reason both for withdrawal of NSAIDs and for co-treatment with another drug. Indeed, in two population-based studies of people aged > or = 65 years, the use of agents to prevent peptic ulcers or relieve dyspepsia was nearly twice as common in regular NSAID users (20-26%) than in non-NSAID users (11%). In Alberta, Canada, it has been estimated that NSAID use accounts for 28% of all prescriptions for anti-ulcer drugs in people aged at least 65 years. Many studies have now shown that NSAIDs increase the risk of peptic ulcer complications by 3-5-fold, and in several different populations it has been estimated that 15-35% of all peptic ulcer complications are due to NSAIDs. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 41,000 hospitalizations and 3,300 deaths each year among the elderly that are associated with NSAIDs. Factors that increase the risk of serious peptic ulcer disease include older age, history of peptic ulcer disease, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, dyspepsia, and/or previous NSAID intolerance, as well as several measures of poor health."}
{"id": "MED-2282", "text": "Background Some people who suffer an upper gastrointestinal bleed or perforation die. The mortality rate was estimated at 12% in studies published before 1997, but a systematic survey of more recent data is needed. Better treatment is likely to have reduced mortality. An estimate of mortality is helpful in explaining to patients the risks of therapy, especially with NSAIDs. Methods A systematic review of studies published before 1997, and between 1997 and 2008. Any study architecture was acceptable if it reported on cases who died from any cause of upper gastrointestinal bleed or perforation. Analyses were conducted separately for all cases, and those prescribed NSAID or aspirin. Results Information was available for 61,067 cases (81% published since 1997) of whom 5,001 died. The mortality rate in all cases fell significantly, from 11.6% (95% confidence interval, 11.0 to 12.2) in pre-1997 studies to 7.4% (7.2 to 7.6) in those published since 1997. In 5,526 patients taking NSAID or aspirin, mortality increased, from 14.7% (13.6 to 15.8) before 1997 to 20.9% (18.8 to 22.9) since 1997. Conclusion Upper gastrointestinal bleed or perforation still carries a finite risk of death. Differences in study architecture, population characteristics, risk factors, definition of mortality, and reporting of outcomes impose limitations on interpreting effect size. Data published since 1997 suggest that mortality in patients suffering from an upper gastrointestinal bleed or perforation has fallen to 1 in 13 overall, but remains higher at about 1 in 5 in those exposed to NSAID or aspirin."}
{"id": "MED-2284", "text": "In 1999, drug manufacturers introduced a class of NSAIDs called COX-2 inhibitors or coxibs. The drugs were avidly promoted directly to the consumers and became bestsellers from the start. Arthritis sufferers were eager to take medications that eased joint pain with less risk of causing gastrointestinal pain, bleeding and other side-effects. In the year after their introduction, doctors wrote over 100 million prescriptions for celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx). Celebrex is the sixth best-selling drug, with sales of more than US$ 4 billion since its debut in 1999. Vioxx had sales of US$ 2.6 billion in 2001. However, the coxibs increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and their price, in the USA, is obscene. The manufacturers faced a possibly complicit, toothless and bloodless FDA, and used every maneuvering to fleece the patients. We must now reflect on attitudes that we thought only belong to the tobacco industry. Fortunately, safe and active alternatives exist."}
{"id": "MED-2285", "text": "Processing of fruits and vegetables affects their phytochemical and nutrient content. Tart cherries are commercially promoted to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. However, processing affects their phytochemical content and may affect their related health benefits. The current study compares the in vitro antioxidant capacity and anti-inflammatory cyclooxygenase activity of processed tart cherry (Prunus cerasus) products-cherry juice concentrate, individually quick-frozen cherries, canned cherries, and dried cherries. Cherry products were analyzed for total anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin content and profile. On a per serving basis, total anthocyanins were highest in frozen cherries and total proanthocyanidins were highest in juice concentrate. Total phenolics were highest in juice concentrate. Juice concentrate had the highest oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and peroxynitrite radical averting capacity (NORAC). Dried cherries had the highest hydroxyl radical averting capacity (HORAC) and superoxide radical averting capacity (SORAC). Processed tart cherry products compared very favorably to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-reported ORAC of other fresh and processed fruits. Inhibition of in vitro inflammatory COX-1 activity was greatest in juice concentrate. In summary, all processed tart cherry products possessed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, but processing differentially affected phytochemical content and in vitro bioactivity. On a per serving basis, juice concentrate was superior to other tart cherry products. \u00a9 2012 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-2287", "text": "A complex system of interacting mediators exists in the gastric mucosa to strengthen its resistance against injury. In this system prostaglandins play an important role. Prostaglandin biosynthesis is catalysed by the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX), which exists in two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. Initially the concept was developed that COX-1 functions as housekeeping enzyme, whereas COX-2 yields prostaglandins involved in pathophysiological reactions such as inflammation. In the gastrointestinal tract, the maintenance of mucosal integrity was attributed exclusively to COX-1 without a contribution of COX-2 and ulcerogenic effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were believed to be the consequence of inhibition of COX-1. Recent findings, however, indicate that both COX-1 and COX-2 either alone or in concert contribute to gastric mucosal defence. Thus, in normal rat gastric mucosa specific inhibition of COX-1 does not elicit mucosal lesions despite near-maximal suppression of gastric prostaglandin formation. When a selective COX-2 inhibitor which is not ulcerogenic when given alone is added to the COX-1 inhibitor, severe gastric damage develops. In contrast to normal gastric mucosa which requires simultaneous inhibition of COX-1 and COX-2 for breakdown of mucosal resistance, in the acid-challenged rat stomach inhibition of COX-1 alone results in dose-dependent injury which is further increased by additional inhibition of COX-2 enzyme activity or prevention of acid-induced up-regulation of COX-2 expression by dexamethasone. COX-2 inhibitors do not damage the normal or acid-challenged gastric mucosa when given alone. However, when nitric oxide formation is suppressed or afferent nerves are defunctionalized, specific inhibition of COX-2 induces severe gastric damage. Ischemia-reperfusion of the gastric artery is associated with up-regulation of COX-2 but not COX-1 mRNA. COX-2 inhibitors or dexamethasone augment ischemia-reperfusion-induced gastric damage up to four-fold, an effect abolished by concurrent administration of 16,16-dimethyl-PGE(2). Selective inhibition of COX-1 is less effective. Furthermore, COX-2 inhibitors antagonize the protective effect of a mild irritant or intragastric peptone perfusion in the rat stomach, whereas the protection induced by chronic administration of endotoxin is mediated by COX-1. Finally, an important function of COX-2 is the acceleration of ulcer healing. COX-2 is up-regulated in chronic gastric ulcers and inhibitors of COX-2 impair the healing of ulcers to the same extent as non-selective NSAIDs. Taken together, these observations show that both COX isoenzymes are essential factors in mucosal defence with specific contributions in various physiological and pathophysiological situations."}
{"id": "MED-2288", "text": "In recent years there has been considerable interest in the benefits of high-protein diets. This study determined current usual intake of protein in America. Using the most recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003-2004, usual protein intake for Americans aged 2+ years was estimated. Usual protein intake was calculated on a grams per day, grams per kilogram ideal body weight, and a percentage of calories basis. Protein intake averaged 56 +/- 14 g/d in young children, increased to a high of approximately 91 +/- 22 g/d in adults aged 19-30 y, and decreased to approximately 66 +/- 17 g/d in the elderly. The percentage of the male population who consumed less than the estimated average requirement was very low. Our estimates indicated that 7.7% of adolescent females and 7.2-8.6% of older adult women reported consuming protein levels below their estimated average requirement. The median intake of protein on a percentage of calories basis ranged from 13.4% in children aged 4-8 y to 16.0% in men aged 51-70 y. Even the 95th percentile of protein intake did not approach the highest acceptable macronutrient distribution range of 35% for an age/sex group. The highest 95th percentile of protein intake was 20.8% of calories in men aged 51-70 y. Given the demonstrated benefits of higher protein intake on weight management, sarcopenia, and other physiologic functions, efforts should be undertaken to ensure that Americans consume the recommended amount of protein (17-21% of calories as expected from MyPyramid food patterns)."}
{"id": "MED-2290", "text": "Background Differences in nutrient profiles between vegetarian and non vegetarian dietary patterns reflect nutritional differences that may contribute to the development of disease. Objective To compare nutrient intakes between dietary patterns characterized by consumption or exclusion of meat and dairy products. Design Cross-sectional study of 71751 subjects (mean age 59 years) from the Adventist-Health-Study-2. Data was collected between 2002 and 2007. Participants completed a 204-item validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns compared were: non vegetarian, semi vegetarian, pesco vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian and strict vegetarian. ANCOVA was used to analyze differences in nutrient intakes by dietary patterns and were adjusted for age, and sex and race. BMI and other relevant demographic data were reported and compared by dietary pattern using chi-square tests and ANOVA. Results Many nutrient intakes varied significantly between dietary patterns. Non vegetarians had the lowest intakes of plant proteins, fiber, \u03b2-Carotene, and Mg than those following vegetarian dietary patterns and the highest intakes of saturated, trans, arachidonic, and docosahexaenoic fatty acids. The lower tails of some nutrient distributions in strict vegetarians suggested inadequate intakes by a portion of the subjects. Energy intake was similar among dietary patterns at close to 2000 kcal/d with the exception of semi vegetarians that had an intake of 1713 kcal/d. Mean BMI was highest in non-vegetarians (mean; standard deviation [SD]) (28.7; [6.4]) and lowest in strict vegetarians (24.0; [4.8]). Conclusions Nutrient profiles varied markedly between dietary patterns that were defined by meat and dairy intakes. These differences can be of interest in the etiology of obesity and chronic diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2291", "text": "PURPOSE: This review focuses on the health benefits of viscous versus nonviscous soluble fibers, why symptoms can occur with increased fiber consumption, and how to avoid symptoms to improve adherence with a high-fiber diet. DATA SOURCES: Review of scientific literature as well as evidence-based guidelines and resources. CONCLUSIONS: While it is generally known that \"fiber is good for you,\" it is less well known that specific health benefits are associated with specific fiber characteristics. Many of the health benefits of fiber can be directly correlated with the viscosity of soluble fibers when hydrated (i.e., gel-forming). A reduction in viscosity of a given fiber will attenuate these health benefits, and a nonviscous fiber does not exhibit these health benefits. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Increasing the viscosity of chyme with a viscous soluble fiber has been shown clinically to lower cholesterol for cardiovascular health, improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes, normalize stool form in both constipation (softens hard stool) and diarrhea (firms loose/liquid stool), and improve the objective clinical measures of metabolic syndrome (glycemic control, lipoprotein profile, body mass index/weight loss, and blood pressure). \u00a92012 The Author(s) Journal compilation \u00a92012 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners."}
{"id": "MED-2292", "text": "In industrialized nations, diverticular disease affects up to 70% of individuals by 60 years of age, with symptoms that can range from mild gastrointestinal disturbance to incapacitating pain. Diverticular disease appears to be related to increasing affluence and changed diet: Current theory holds that diverticular disease's origin is low-fiber diet. This explains why its incidence is highest and accelerating in the more prosperous countries where intake of fiber has decreased and intake of milled grains and refined sugars has increased over time. Not all patients develop symptoms, but if they do, the most frequent complaints associated with diverticulosis are cramping in the left-lower quadrant, bloating, constipation, and soiling. If diverticula perforate the gut's wall into the pericolic tissue, small and large abscesses, accompanied by bleeding, can form. Fistulization, when it occurs, most often penetrates to the bladder. Treatment addresses symptoms and may require hospitalization. During symptomatic periods, patients do best on low-fiber, bland diets. Once the acute episode or highly symptomatic period resolves or chronic disease is managed, patients should gradually increase dietary fiber to 20 to 30 grams daily or take dietary fiber in the form of bulk stimulants like psyllium."}
{"id": "MED-2293", "text": "The CODEX Alimentarius definition of dietary fiber includes all nondigestible carbohydrate polymers with a degree of polymerization of 3 or more as dietary fiber with the proviso that they show health benefits. The global definition, if accepted by all authoritative bodies, offers a chance for international harmonization in research, food composition tables, and food labeling. Its nonacceptance highlights problems that may develop when definitions vary by region. The definition requires that the research community agrees upon physiological effects for which there is substantial scientific agreement, e.g., fibers\u2019 effects on laxation and gut health, on attenuating blood lipids and blood glucose and insulin, and in promoting fermentation in the large bowel. The definition also necessitates the delineation of research protocols to prove the benefits of various isolated and synthesized fibers. These should emanate from evidence-based reviews that fairly weigh epidemiological data while considering that added fibers are not reflected in many food composition databases. They then should include well-controlled, randomized, control trials and utilize animal studies to determine mechanisms. Agreement on many study variables such as the type of subject and the type of baseline diet that best fits the question under investigation will also be needed. Finally, the definition establishes that all types of fiber can address the severe fiber consumption gap that exists throughout the world by recognizing that the combination of fiber-rich and -fortified foods increases fiber intake while allowing consumers to stay within allowed energy levels."}
{"id": "MED-2294", "text": "The number of studies comparing nutritional quality of restrictive diets is limited. Data on vegan subjects are especially lacking. It was the aim of the present study to compare the quality and the contributing components of vegan, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and omnivorous diets. Dietary intake was estimated using a cross-sectional online survey with a 52-items food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) were calculated as indicators for diet quality. After analysis of the diet questionnaire and the FFQ, 1475 participants were classified as vegans (n = 104), vegetarians (n = 573), semi-vegetarians (n = 498), pesco-vegetarians (n = 145), and omnivores (n = 155). The most restricted diet, i.e., the vegan diet, had the lowest total energy intake, better fat intake profile, lowest protein and highest dietary fiber intake in contrast to the omnivorous diet. Calcium intake was lowest for the vegans and below national dietary recommendations. The vegan diet received the highest index values and the omnivorous the lowest for HEI-2010 and MDS. Typical aspects of a vegan diet (high fruit and vegetable intake, low sodium intake, and low intake of saturated fat) contributed substantially to the total score, independent of the indexing system used. The score for the more prudent diets (vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians) differed as a function of the used indexing system but they were mostly better in terms of nutrient quality than the omnivores."}
{"id": "MED-2295", "text": "BACKGROUND: Intake of dietary fiber has been recommended for many years as part of the guidelines from the American Heart Association, the Institute of Medicine, and other groups. The recommended Adequate Intake for dietary fiber for adults is 25 to 38 g/day (14 g/1,000 kcal/day). OBJECTIVE: To determine the average daily intake of dietary fiber among adults during the past decade and, specifically, to document progress toward national goals. DESIGN: Cross-sectional weighted data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey among adults aged 18 years and older. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Data were collected from noninstitutionalized adults aged 18 years and older using a nationally representative, complex, multistage, probability-based survey of people living in the United States that was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily dietary fiber intake by members of the US population based on 2-year groupings of the continuous survey from 1999 to 2008. RESULTS: Mean daily dietary fiber intake for 1999-2000 was 15.6 g/day, for 2001-2002 intake was 16.1g/day, for 2003-2004 intake was 15.5 g/day, for 2005-2006 intake was 15.8 g/day, and for 2007-2008 intake was 15.9 g/day. Participants with obesity (body mass index \u226530) consistently reported lower fiber intake than did individuals with normal weight or overweight (14.6 to 15.4 g/day and 15.6 to 16.8 g/day, respectively; P<0.0001). Mexican Americans had significantly higher intake in 1999-2000 than non-Hispanic whites (18.0 vs 16.1g/day; P<0.05), but Mexican Americans' intake did not increase over time (17.7 g/day in 2007-2008). Non-Hispanic blacks had fiber intake of 12.5 g/day at baseline that increased modestly to 13.1 g/day by 2007-2008. CONCLUSIONS: Daily fiber intake generally has not progressed toward national goals during the past decade, but there are some differences according to health and social factors. Additional clinical practice and public health strategies are needed. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2296", "text": "This study aimed to investigate health belief as a major motive for diet and lifestyle behaviors of 100 vegans in the United States; and to determine congruence with selected health and nutrition outcomes. Response data from an administered questionnaire was analyzed. Statistical analyses determined the most common factors influencing diet choice; the number of vegans practicing particular lifestyle behaviors; body mass index; and prevalence of self-reported chronic disease diagnoses. Nutrient intakes were analyzed and assessed against Dietary Reference Intakes. Health was the most reported reason for diet choice (47%). In the health belief, animal welfare, and religious/other motive categories, low percentages of chronic disease diagnoses were reported: 27%, 11%, and 15%, respectively. There were no significant differences in health behaviors and indices among vegan motive categories, except for product fat content choices. Within the entire study population, health-related vegan motive coincided with regular exercise; 71% normal BMI (mean=22.6); minimal alcohol and smoking practices; frequently consumed vegetables, nuts, and grains; healthy choices in meal types, cooking methods, and low-fat product consumption; and adequate intakes for most protective nutrients when compared to reference values. But incongruence was found with 0% intake adequacy for vitamin D; and observation of excessive sodium use. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2297", "text": "Energy expenditure of about 1000 kcal (4200 kJ) per week (equivalent to walking 1 hour 5 days a week) is associated with significant health benefits. Health benefits can be achieved through structured or nonstructured physical activity, accumulated throughout the day (even through short 10-minute bouts) on most days of the week. In this article we outline the means of evaluating cardiovascular and musculoskeletal fitness, the methods of evaluating physical activity levels, the current recommendations for exercise (including intensity, type, time and frequency) and the resources available for patients and physicians interested in learning more about the evaluation of physical activity and fitness levels and the prescription of exercise."}
{"id": "MED-2298", "text": "Exercise is a fundamental component of good health. The American College of Sports Medicine and \"Exercise is Medicine\" recommend treating exercise as a vital sign, and assessing and prescribing physical activity at every medical visit. Meeting the recommended goals of physical activity results in a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. Physicians can improve health by prescribing exercise. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2299", "text": "BACKGROUND: Evidence is limited regarding the association between the combinations of multiple health practices and mortality. METHODS: In 1990, 28,333 men and women in Miyagi Prefecture in rural northern Japan (40-64 year of age) completed a self-administered questionnaire. A lifestyle score was calculated by adding the number of high-risk practices (smoking, consuming > or = 22.8 g alcohol/d, walking < 1 hr/d, body mass index < 18.5 or > or = 30.0). Cox regression was used to estimate relative risk (RR) of mortality according to the lifestyle score, with adjustment for age, education, marital status, past history of diseases, and dietary variables. During 11 years of follow-up, 1,200 subjects had died. RESULTS: We observed linear increase in risk of death associated with increasing number of high-risk practices: compared with men who had no high-risk practices, multivariate RRs for men who had 1 to 4 practices were 1.20, 1.66, 1.94, and 3.96, respectively (P for trend<0.001), and corresponding RRs for women were 1.31, 2.14, 3.98, 5.56, respectively (P for trend<0.001). A unit increase in the number of high-risk practices corresponded to being 2.8 and 4.8 years older for men and women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective cohort study of middle-aged men and women in rural Japan, a larger number of high-risk practices was associated with linear increase in risk of all-cause mortality."}
{"id": "MED-2300", "text": "Aging is a natural and complex physiological process influenced by many factors, some of which are modifiable. As the number of older individuals continues to increase, it is important to develop interventions that can be easily implemented and contribute to \"successful aging\". In addition to a healthy diet and psychosocial well-being, the benefits of regular exercise on mortality, and the prevention and control of chronic disease affecting both life expectancy and quality of life are well established. We summarize the benefits of regular exercise on longevity, present the current knowledge regarding potential mechanisms, and outline the main recommendations. Exercise can partially reverse the effects of the aging process on physiological functions and preserve functional reserve in the elderly. Numerous studies have shown that maintaining a minimum quantity and quality of exercise decreases the risk of death, prevents the development of certain cancers, lowers the risk of osteoporosis and increases longevity. Training programs should include exercises aimed at improving cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle function, as well as flexibility and balance. Though the benefits of physical activity appear to be directly linked to the notion of training volume and intensity, further research is required in the elderly, in order to develop more precise recommendations, bearing in mind that the main aim is to foster long-term adherence to physical activity in this growing population. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2301", "text": "Objective To determine the comparative effectiveness of exercise versus drug interventions on mortality outcomes. Design Metaepidemiological study. Eligibility criteria Meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials with mortality outcomes comparing the effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions with each other or with control (placebo or usual care). Data sources Medline and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, May 2013. Main outcome measure Mortality. Data synthesis We combined study level death outcomes from exercise and drug trials using random effects network meta-analysis. Results We included 16 (four exercise and 12 drug) meta-analyses. Incorporating an additional three recent exercise trials, our review collectively included 305 randomised controlled trials with 339\u2009274 participants. Across all four conditions with evidence on the effectiveness of exercise on mortality outcomes (secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation of stroke, treatment of heart failure, prevention of diabetes), 14\u2009716 participants were randomised to physical activity interventions in 57 trials. No statistically detectable differences were evident between exercise and drug interventions in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and prediabetes. Physical activity interventions were more effective than drug treatment among patients with stroke (odds ratios, exercise v anticoagulants 0.09, 95% credible intervals 0.01 to 0.70 and exercise v antiplatelets 0.10, 0.01 to 0.62). Diuretics were more effective than exercise in heart failure (exercise v diuretics 4.11, 1.17 to 24.76). Inconsistency between direct and indirect comparisons was not significant. Conclusions Although limited in quantity, existing randomised trial evidence on exercise interventions suggests that exercise and many drug interventions are often potentially similar in terms of their mortality benefits in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation after stroke, treatment of heart failure, and prevention of diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-2303", "text": "Genetic and environmental factors, including diet and life-style, both contribute to cardiovascular disease, cancers, and other major causes of mortality, but various lines of evidence indicate that environmental factors are most important. Overly enthusiastic expectations regarding the benefits of genetic research for disease prevention have the potential to distort research priorities and spending for health. However, integration of new genetic information into epidemiologic studies can help clarify causal relations between both life-style and genetic factors and risks of disease. Thus, a balanced approach should provide the best data to make informed choices about the most effective means to prevent disease."}
{"id": "MED-2304", "text": "Background There is overwhelming evidence that behavioural factors influence health, but their combined impact on the general population is less well documented. We aimed to quantify the potential combined impact of four health behaviours on mortality in men and women living in the general community. Methods and Findings We examined the prospective relationship between lifestyle and mortality in a prospective population study of 20,244 men and women aged 45\u201379 y with no known cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline survey in 1993\u20131997, living in the general community in the United Kingdom, and followed up to 2006. Participants scored one point for each health behaviour: current non-smoking, not physically inactive, moderate alcohol intake (1\u201314 units a week) and plasma vitamin C >50 mmol/l indicating fruit and vegetable intake of at least five servings a day, for a total score ranging from zero to four. After an average 11 y follow-up, the age-, sex-, body mass\u2013, and social class\u2013adjusted relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for all-cause mortality(1,987 deaths) for men and women who had three, two, one, and zero compared to four health behaviours were respectively, 1.39 (1.21\u20131.60), 1.95 (1.70\u2013-2.25), 2.52 (2.13\u20133.00), and 4.04 (2.95\u20135.54) p < 0.001 trend. The relationships were consistent in subgroups stratified by sex, age, body mass index, and social class, and after excluding deaths within 2 y. The trends were strongest for cardiovascular causes. The mortality risk for those with four compared to zero health behaviours was equivalent to being 14 y younger in chronological age. Conclusions Four health behaviours combined predict a 4-fold difference in total mortality in men and women, with an estimated impact equivalent to 14 y in chronological age.  Editors' Summary Background. Every day, or so it seems, new research shows that some aspect of lifestyle\u2014physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption, and so on\u2014affects health and longevity. For the person in the street, all this information is confusing. What is a healthy diet, for example? Although there are some common themes such as the benefit of eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, the details often differ between studies. And exactly how much physical activity is needed to improve health? Is a gentle daily walk sufficient or simply a stepping stone to doing enough exercise to make a real difference? The situation with alcohol consumption is equally confusing. Small amounts of alcohol apparently improve health but large amounts are harmful. As a result, it can be hard for public-health officials to find effective ways to encourage the behavioral changes that the scientific evidence suggests might influence the health of populations. Why Was This Study Done? There is another factor that is hindering official attempts to provide healthy lifestyle advice to the public. Although there is overwhelming evidence that individual behavioral factors influence health, there is very little information about their combined impact. If the combination of several small differences in lifestyle could be shown to have a marked effect on the health of populations, it might be easier to persuade people to make behavioral changes to improve their health, particularly if those changes were simple and relatively easy to achieve. In this study, which forms part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), the researchers have examined the relationship between lifestyle and the risk of dying using a health behavior score based on four simply defined behaviors\u2014smoking, physical activity, alcohol drinking, and fruit and vegetable intake. What Did the Researchers Do and Find? Between 1993 and 1997, about 20,000 men and women aged 45\u201379 living in Norfolk UK, none of whom had cancer or cardiovascular disease (heart or circulation problems), completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire, had a health examination, and had their blood vitamin C level measured as part of the EPIC-Norfolk study. A health behavior score of between 0 and 4 was calculated for each participant by giving one point for each of the following healthy behaviors: current non-smoking, not physically inactive (physical inactivity was defined as having a sedentary job and doing no recreational exercise), moderate alcohol intake (1\u201314 units a week; a unit of alcohol is half a pint of beer, a glass of wine, or a shot of spirit), and a blood vitamin C level consistent with a fruit and vegetable intake of at least five servings a day. Deaths among the participants were then recorded until 2006. After allowing for other factors that might have affected their likelihood of dying (for example, age), people with a health behavior score of 0 were four times as likely to have died (in particular, from cardiovascular disease) than those with a score of 4. People with a score of 2 were twice as likely to have died. What Do These Findings Mean? These findings indicate that the combination of four simply defined health behaviors predicts a 4-fold difference in the risk of dying over an average period of 11 years for middle-aged and older people. They also show that the risk of death (particularly from cardiovascular disease) decreases as the number of positive health behaviors increase. Finally, they can be used to calculate that a person with a health score of 0 has the same risk of dying as a person with a health score of 4 who is 14 years older. These findings need to be confirmed in other populations and extended to an analysis of how these combined health behaviors affect the quality of life as well as the risk of death. Nevertheless, they strongly suggest that modest and achievable lifestyle changes could have a marked effect on the health of populations. Armed with this information, public-health officials should now be in a better position to encourage behavior changes likely to improve the health of middle-aged and older people. Additional Information. Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050012."}
{"id": "MED-2305", "text": "BACKGROUND: Our objective was to describe the reduction in relative risk of developing major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer associated with 4 healthy lifestyle factors among German adults. METHODS: We used data from 23,153 German participants aged 35 to 65 years from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. End points included confirmed incident type 2 diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, stroke, and cancer. The 4 factors were never smoking, having a body mass index lower than 30 (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), performing 3.5 h/wk or more of physical activity, and adhering to healthy dietary principles (high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread and low meat consumption). The 4 factors (healthy, 1 point; unhealthy, 0 points) were summed to form an index that ranged from 0 to 4. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 7.8 years, 2006 participants developed new-onset diabetes (3.7%), myocardial infarction (0.9%), stroke (0.8%), or cancer (3.8%). Fewer than 4% of participants had zero healthy factors, most had 1 to 3 healthy factors, and approximately 9% had 4 factors. After adjusting for age, sex, educational status, and occupational status, the hazard ratio for developing a chronic disease decreased progressively as the number of healthy factors increased. Participants with all 4 factors at baseline had a 78% (95% confidence interval [CI], 72% to 83%) lower risk of developing a chronic disease (diabetes, 93% [95% CI, 88% to 95%]; myocardial infarction, 81% [95% CI, 47% to 93%]; stroke, 50% [95% CI, -18% to 79%]; and cancer, 36% [95% CI, 5% to 57%]) than participants without a healthy factor. CONCLUSION: Adhering to 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2306", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine the links between three fundamental healthy lifestyle behaviors (not smoking, healthy diet, and adequate physical activity) and all-cause mortality in a national sample of adults in the United States. METHOD: We used data from 8375 U.S. participants aged \u2265 20 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002 who were followed through 2006. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 5.7 years, 745 deaths occurred. Compared with their counterparts, the risk for all-cause mortality was reduced by 56% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 35%-70%) among adults who were nonsmokers, 47% (95% CI: 36%, 57%) among adults who were physically active, and 26% (95% CI: 4%, 42%) among adults who consumed a healthy diet. Compared with participants who had no healthy behaviors, the risk decreased progressively as the number of healthy behaviors increased. Adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval were 0.60 (0.38, 0.95), 0.45 (0.30, 0.67), and 0.18 (0.11, 0.29) for 1, 2, and 3 healthy behaviors, respectively. CONCLUSION: Adults who do not smoke, consume a healthy diet, and engage in sufficient physical activity can substantially reduce their risk for early death. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2308", "text": "Background Few studies have evaluated the linkage between food cost and mortality among older adults. This study considers the hypothesis that greater food expenditure in general, and particularly on more nutritious plant and animal-derived foods, decreases mortality in older adults. Methods This study uses the 1999\u20132000 Elderly Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan and follows the cohort until 2008, collecting 24-hr dietary recall data for 1781 participants (874 men and 907 women) aged 65 y or older. Using monthly mean national food prices and 24-hr recall, this study presents an estimate of daily expenditures for vegetable, fruit, animal-derived, and grain food categories. Participants were linked to the national death registry. Results Of the 1781 original participants, 625 died during the 10-y follow-up period. Among the 4 food categories, the fourth and fifth expenditure quintiles for vegetables and for fruits had the highest survival rates. After adjusting for co-variates, higher (Q4) vegetable and higher fruit (Q4) food expenditures referent to Q1 were significantly predictive of reduced mortality (HR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.39-0.78 and HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.42\u20130.99, respectively) and the risk decreased by 12% and 10% for every NT$15 (US$0.50) increase in their daily expenditures. Animal-derived and grain food spending was not predictive of mortality. Conclusion Greater and more achievable vegetable and fruit affordability may improve food security and longevity for older adults."}
{"id": "MED-2310", "text": "OBJECTIVES To examine the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, and all-cause mortality in older women. DESIGN Six Cox proportional hazards models examined independent and additive relationships between physical activity, carotenoids, and all-cause mortality. Additional models tested whether physical activity and carotenoids were conjointly related to mortality. Models were adjusted for age, education, and race and ethnicity. SETTING Baltimore, Maryland. PARTICIPANTS Seven hundred thirteen women aged 70 to 79 participating in the Women\u2019s Health and Aging Studies. MEASUREMENTS Total serum carotenoids, a marker of fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity were measured at baseline. Physical activity was measured according to kilocalorie expenditure. RESULTS During 5 years of follow-up, 82 (11.5%) participants died. Measured continuously, physical activity improved survival (HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.41\u20130.66, P < .001). The most active women were more likely to survive than the least physically active women (HR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.13\u20130.59, P < .001). Continuous measures of carotenoids improved survival (HR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.51\u20130.89, P = .01). Women in the highest tertile of total carotenoids were more likely to survive those in the lowest (HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.27\u20130.91, P = .03). When examined in the same model, continuous measures of physical activity (HR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.42\u20130.68, P < .001) and carotenoids (HR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.59\u20130.98, P = .04) predicted survival during follow-up. CONCLUSION The combination of low total serum carotenoids and low physical activity, both modifiable risk factors, strongly predicted earlier mortality. These findings provide preliminary support that higher fruit and vegetable intake and exercise improve survival."}
{"id": "MED-2311", "text": "BACKGROUND: The association between fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and overall mortality has seldom been investigated in large cohort studies. Findings from the few available studies are inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the dose-response relation between FV consumption and mortality, in terms of both time and rate, in a large prospective cohort of Swedish men and women. DESIGN: FV consumption was assessed through a self-administrated questionnaire in a population-based cohort of 71,706 participants (38,221 men and 33,485 women) aged 45-83 y. We performed a dose-response analysis to evaluate 10th survival percentile differences (PDs) by using Laplace regression and estimated HRs by using Cox regression. RESULTS: During 13 y of follow-up, 11,439 deaths (6803 men and 4636 women) occurred in the cohort. In comparison with 5 servings FV/d, a lower consumption was progressively associated with shorter survival and higher mortality rates. Those who never consumed FV lived 3 y shorter (PD: -37 mo; 95% CI: -58, -16 mo) and had a 53% higher mortality rate (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.99) than did those who consumed 5 servings FV/d. Consideration of fruit and vegetables separately showed that those who never consumed fruit lived 19 mo shorter (PD: -19 mo; 95% CI: -29, -10 mo) than did those who ate 1 fruit/d. Participants who consumed 3 vegetables/d lived 32 mo longer than did those who never consumed vegetables (PD: 32 mo; 96% CI: 13, 51 mo). CONCLUSION: FV consumption <5 servings/d is associated with progressively shorter survival and higher mortality rates. The Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of Swedish Men were registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01127698 and NCT01127711, respectively."}
{"id": "MED-2315", "text": "Background The word selectivity describes a drug's ability to affect a particular cell population in preference to others. As part of the current state of art in the search for new therapeutic agents, the property of selectivity is a mode of action thought to have a high degree of desirability. Consequently there is a growing activity in this area of research. Selectivity is generally a worthy property in a drug because a drug having high selectivity may have a dramatic effect when there is a single agent that can be targeted against the appropriate molecular-driver involved in the pathogenesis of a disease. An example is chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). CML has a specific chromosomal abnormality, the Philadelphia chromosome, that results in a single gene that produces an abnormal protein Discussion There is a burgeoning understanding of the cellular mechanisms that control the etiology and pathogeneses of diseases. This understanding both enables and motivates the development of drugs that induce a specific action in a selected cell population; i.e., a targeted treatment. Consequently, drugs that can target distinct molecular targets involved in pathologic/pathogenetic processes, or signal-transduction pathways, are being developed. However, in most cases, diseases involve multiple abnormalities. A disease may be associated with more than one dysfunctional protein and these may be out-of-balance with each other. Likewise a drug might strongly target a protein that shares a similar active domain with other proteins. A drug may also target pleiotropic cytokines, or other proteins that have multi-physiological functions. In this way multiple normal cellular pathways can be simultaneously influenced. Long term experience with drugs supposedly designed for only a single target, but which unavoidably involve other functional effects, is uncovering the fact that molecular targeting is not medically flawless. Summary We contend that an ideal drug may be one whose efficacy is based not on the inhibition of a single target, but rather on the rebalancing of the several proteins or events, that contribute to the etiology, pathogeneses, and progression of diseases, i.e., in effect a promiscuous drug. Ideally, if this could be done at minimum drug concentration, side effects could be minimized. Corollaries to this argument are that the growing fervor for researching truly selective drugs may be imprudent when considering the totality of responses; and that the expensive screening techniques used to discover these, may be both medically and financially inefficient."}
{"id": "MED-2322", "text": "The global demand for more affordable therapeutics and concerns about side effects of commonly used drugs are refocusing interest on Eastern traditional medicines, particularly those of India and China."}
{"id": "MED-2324", "text": "The level of food restriction that results in life extension and retarded aging in rodents also enhances their ability to cope with intense stressors. Moreover, this level of dietary restriction (DR) leads to a modest increase in the daily peak concentration of plasma free corticosterone, which strongly points to DR as a low-intensity stressor. These findings suggest that hormesis plays a role in the life-extending and anti-aging actions of DR. The evidence for and against this possibility is considered, and it is concluded that hormesis does have an important role."}
{"id": "MED-2325", "text": "Restriction of food intake by 10-50% of ad libitum on a per unit of weight or energy content basis can extend the lifespan of a wide variety of species and prevent or delay age-related disease. This review first briefly summarizes the data delineating mortality trajectories of various species' populations maintained on restricted diets to provide insight into the effects of nutrient deprivation on distinct components of the aging process. Next, I discuss a number of important studies that have addressed the question whether it is the lack of calories and/or specific nutrients that determines the longevity response to dietary restriction. Finally, I review the evidence for hormesis as a proximate mechanism underpinning the impact of dietary restriction on lifespan. In aggregate, the currently available demographic data suggest that dietary restriction can both slow the age-related progressive accumulation of cellular damage and also enhance the ability of organisms to cope with irreversible injury. Restriction of essential nutrients as well as calories may affect life expectancy, perhaps in a species specific fashion. Hormesis, i.e. an evolutionary conserved stress response routine providing protection against a wide variety of (other) hazards in response to low levels of stress, is very likely to contribute to the beneficial health effects of dietary restriction. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2326", "text": "The radioactivity from 3H-methyl methionine was rapidly incorporated into the surface lipids of Mycobacterium avium. The transmethylation reaction was efficiently inhibited by DL-ethionine, D-norleucine and DL-norleucine. The structure of the outerlayer of the M. avium envelope was profoundly altered in the bacteria treated with DL-norleucine."}
{"id": "MED-2327", "text": "A wide variety of phytochemicals present in our diet, including fruits, vegetables, and spices, have been shown to possess a broad range of health-beneficial properties. The cytoprotective and restorative effects of dietary phytochemicals are likely to result from the modulation of several distinct cellular signal transduction pathways. Many dietary phytochemicals that are synthesized as secondary metabolites function as toxins, that is, \"phytoalexins,\" and hence protect plants against insects and other damaging organisms and stresses. However, at the relatively low doses consumed by humans and other mammals, these same toxic plant-derived chemicals, as mild stressors, activate adaptive cellular response signaling, conferring stress resistance and other health benefits. This phenomenon has been referred to as xenohormesis. This review highlights the xenohormesis mechanisms underlying chemopreventive effects of some dietary chemopreventive phytochemicals, with special focus on the nuclear transcription factor erythroid 2p45 (NF-E2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2) as a key player. \u00a9 2011 New York Academy of Sciences."}
{"id": "MED-2328", "text": "During the last decade, biogerontologists have labored to understand the biological basis of the aging process by studying the genes and signaling pathways that regulate it. But the last year has seen a breakthrough in a different direction: toward treatments that might slow aging by mimicking the effects of dietary restriction."}
{"id": "MED-2330", "text": "Hormesis is a term used by toxicologists to refer to a biphasic dose response to an environmental agent characterized by a low dose stimulation or beneficial effect and a high dose inhibitory or toxic effect. In the fields of biology and medicine hormesis is defined as an adaptive response of cells and organisms to a moderate (usually intermittent) stress. Examples include ischemic preconditioning, exercise, dietary energy restriction and exposures to low doses of certain phytochemicals. Recent findings have elucidated the cellular signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that mediate hormetic responses which typically involve enzymes such as kinases and deacetylases, and transcription factors such as Nrf-2 and NF-\u03baB. As a result, cells increase their production of cytoprotective and restorative proteins including growth factors, phase 2 and antioxidant enzymes, and protein chaperones. A better understanding of hormesis mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels is leading to and to novel approaches for the prevention and treatment of many different diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2331", "text": "Many plant molecules interact with and modulate key regulators of mammalian physiology in ways that are beneficial to health, but why? We propose that heterotrophs (animals and fungi) are able to sense chemical cues synthesized by plants and other autotrophs in response to stress. These cues provide advance warning about deteriorating environmental conditions, allowing the heterotrophs to prepare for adversity while conditions are still favorable."}
{"id": "MED-2332", "text": "Plants have evolved a variety of responses to elevated temperatures that minimize damage and ensure protection of cellular homeostasis. New information about the structure and function of heat stress proteins and molecular chaperones has become available. At the same time, transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis has revealed the involvement of factors other than classical heat stress responsive genes in thermotolerance. Recent reports suggest that both plant hormones and reactive oxygen species also contribute to heat stress signaling. Additionally, an increasing number of mutants that have altered thermotolerance have extended our understanding of the complexity of the heat stress response in plants."}
{"id": "MED-2333", "text": "Until recently, the study and understanding of plant and animal signalling and response mechanisms have developed independently. Recent biochemical and molecular work is producing a growing list of elements involved in responses to biotic and abiotic stimuli that are very similar across kingdoms. Some of the more interesting examples of these include prostaglandin/octadecanoid-mediated responses to wounding, steroid-based signalling systems, and pathogen-recognition mechanisms. Some of these similarities probably represent evolutionary convergence; others may be ancestral to plants and animals. Ecological and evolutionary implications of such overlaps include the existence of pathogens that can cause disease in plants and animals, the ability of herbivores to manipulate plant responses, usurpation of microbial mechanisms and genes by herbivorous animals and plants, evolution of plant defenses exploiting shared signals in animals, and the medicinal use of plants by humans. Comparative study of the signalling and response mechanisms used by plants, animals, and microbes provides novel and useful insights to the ecology and evolution of interactions across kingdoms."}
{"id": "MED-2335", "text": "Xenohormesis is a biological principle that explains how environmentally stressed plants produce bioactive compounds that can confer stress resistance and survival benefits to animals that consume them. Animals can piggyback off products of plants' sophisticated stress response which has evolved as a result of their stationary lifestyle. Factors eliciting the plant stress response can judiciously be employed to maximize yield of health-promoting plant compounds. The xenohormetic plant compounds can, when ingested, improve longevity and fitness by activating the animal's cellular stress response and can be applied in drug discovery, drug production, and nutritional enhancement of diet."}
{"id": "MED-2336", "text": "Accumulated evidence shows that some phytochemicals provide beneficial effects for human health. Recently, a number of mechanistic studies have revealed that direct interactions between phytochemicals and functional proteins play significant roles in exhibiting their bioactivities. However, their binding selectivities to biological molecules are considered to be lower due to their small and simple structures. In this study, we found that zerumbone, a bioactive sesquiterpene, binds to numerous proteins with little selectivity. Similar to heat-denatured proteins, zerumbone-modified proteins were recognized by heat shock protein 90, a constitutive molecular chaperone, leading to heat shock factor 1-dependent heat shock protein induction in hepa1c1c7 mouse hepatoma cells. Furthermore, oral administration of this phytochemical up-regulated heat shock protein expressions in the livers of Sprague-Dawley rats. Interestingly, pretreatment with zerumbone conferred a thermoresistant phenotype to hepa1c1c7 cells as well as to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. It is also important to note that several phytochemicals with higher hydrophobicity or electrophilicity, including phenethyl isothiocyanate and curcumin, markedly induced heat shock proteins, whereas most of the tested nutrients did not. These results suggest that non-specific protein modifications by xenobiotic phytochemicals cause mild proteostress, thereby inducing heat shock response and leading to potentiation of protein quality control systems. We considered these bioactivities to be xenohormesis, an adaptation mechanism against xenobiotic chemical stresses. Heat shock response by phytochemicals may be a fundamental mechanism underlying their various bioactivities."}
{"id": "MED-2337", "text": "Urticaria, defined by the presence of wheals and/or angio-edema, is a common condition in children, prompting parents to consult physicians. For its successful management, paediatric-specific features must be taken into account, regarding the identification of eliciting triggers and pharmacological therapy. This review systematically discusses the current best-available evidence on spontaneous acute and chronic urticaria as well as physical and other urticaria types in children. Potential underlying causes, namely infections, food and drug hypersensitivity, autoreactivity and autoimmune or other conditions, and eliciting stimuli are considered, with practical recommendations for specific diagnostic approaches. Second-generation antihistamines are the mainstay of pharmacological treatment aimed at relief of symptoms, which require dose adjustment for pae-diatric use. Other therapeutic interventions are also discussed. In addition, unmet needs are highlighted, aiming to promote research into the paediatric population, ultimately aiming at the effective management of childhood urticaria."}
{"id": "MED-2338", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chronic urticaria (CU) may affect up to 1% of the general population. Anisakis simplex hypersensitivity is frequent in areas where raw fish is consumed and A. simplex allergy represents a relevant cause of acute urticaria. We assessed the possible association between CU and A. simplex sensitization in an area where marinated fish is very frequently eaten. METHODS: A thorough history of CU was sought in 919 adults seen at the Allergy Center, Bari. CU patients and 187 controls underwent skin-prick testing with a commercial extract of A. simplex, and reactors were recommended a 6-month raw-fish-free diet regimen. Responders were followed after a further 3 months. RESULTS: Of 919 subjects, 213 (23%) met the criteria for CU and 106/213 (49.7%) were sensitized to A. simplex with a significant difference between patients aged >65 or <65 years (56 vs. 41%, respectively; p < 0.05). All patients hypersensitive to A. simplex were regular consumers of marinated fish. In a control population without CU, the prevalence of A. simplex sensitization was 16% (p < 0.001). The 6-month diet regimen led to the disappearance of urticaria in 82/106 cases (77%) versus 1/42 (2%) subjects who did not change their dietary habits (p < 0.001). All nonresponders were sensitized to house-dust mites. Of 75 responders who were followed-up after 3 months, CU relapsed in 88% of those who had reintroduced raw fish versus 14% of those who were still on the diet (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In areas where raw or marinated fish is frequently eaten, A. simplex hypersensitivity is a frequent cause of CU. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-2339", "text": "BACKGROUND: Allergic reactions to food can be produced by contaminants that induce sensitization. Among these, Anisakis simplex can cause seafood infestation, and allergic symptoms (urticaria-angioedema, anaphylaxis, and asthma) can follow the eating or handling of affected fish. Although seafood is the principal source of human infections by this parasite, we have found allergic symptoms in 8 patients previously diagnosed as having A simplex sensitization after they ate chicken meat. Chicken feed usually has a high proportion of fishmeal, which might possibly be contaminated by this nematode. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to determine whether parasite proteins present in chicken meat could be responsible for the symptoms reported by these subjects. METHODS: We carried out in vivo tests (prick, bronchial challenge, and double-blind placebo-controlled challenge with meat chicken) in these 8 patients. We performed immunoblotting using the sera from the 8 patients and controls in order to detect A simplex sensitization. We also investigated the presence of A simplex proteins in sera from chickens fed with fishmeal and in other sera from chickens fed only with cereals. We excluded sensitization to other chicken nematodes by serologic methods. RESULTS: All 8 patients presented positive prick and challenges to A simplex. When we used serum from chickens fed with fishmeal as the antigen in blotting, patients 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 recognized a band of 16 kd, also obtained when using pools of fish-shellfish and A simplex larva. No detection was observed with sera from chickens fed with only cereals. CONCLUSION: We provide evidence, based on in vivo and in vitro tests, that subjects highly sensitized to A simplex can detect the presence of Anisakis species allergens in chicken meat."}
{"id": "MED-2340", "text": "After observing a patient allergic to cat dander and pork but devoid of other allergies, we prospectively screened patients known to be allergic to cat for a second sensitization to pork. After collecting the sera of 10 young patients found to contain specific IgE to cat dander and pork, we undertook this study to detect the possible cross-reactive allergen, define its molecular characteristics, and evaluate its clinical relevance. Through immunoblotting techniques, cat and porcine serum albumin were found to be jointly recognized molecules. These findings were further analyzed by specific anti-albumin IgE titrations and cross-inhibition experiments. Cat serum albumin cDNA was obtained from cat liver, and the corresponding amino acid sequence was deduced and compared to the known porcine and human serum albumin sequences. Inhibition experiments showed that the spectrum of IgE reactivity to cat serum albumin completely contained IgE reactivity to porcine serum albumin, suggesting that sensitization to cat was the primary event. In two cohorts of cat-allergic persons, the frequency of sensitization to cat serum albumin was found to lie between 14% and 23%. Sensitization to porcine albumin was found to lie between 3% and 10%. About 1/3 of these persons are likely to experience allergic symptoms in relation to pork consumption. Sensitization to cat serum albumin should be considered a useful marker of possible cross-sensitization not only to porcine serum albumin but also to other mammalian serum albumins."}
{"id": "MED-2341", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to examine milk allergic patients to determine concomitant reactivity between milk, beef, pork and cat and dog dander and other common inhalant allergens. METHODS: 19 patients were selected according to their Immuno-CAP results, which had increased Ig-E levels against milk, pork or beef. Patients were also tested against Johnson grass, short ragweed, cat/dog dander and d. farina. RESULTS: Pearson's test revealed strong correlation between beef and pork, beef and milk, pork and milk Ig-E counts (consecutively r2 = 0.89, r2 = 0.81, r2 = 0.60 and p < 0.01. All cat allergic patients also appeared to be allergic to either beef/pork meat or milk. The correlation between pork and dog dander Ig-E counts was also significant (r2 = 0.38, p < 0.01). No correlation detected between milk-meat-pet and grass-weed-dust allergies. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Patients who are known to have pet allergies may need to be screened for meat and milk allergy. Milk allergic patients may also need to avoid cows and pork meat."}
{"id": "MED-2344", "text": "The increased consumption of fish and shellfish has resulted in more frequent reports of adverse reactions to seafood, emphasizing the need for more specific diagnosis and treatment of this condition and exploring reasons for the persistence of this allergy. This review discusses interesting and new findings in the area of fish and shellfish allergy. New allergens and important potential cross-reacting allergens have been identified within the fish family and between shellfish, arachnids, and insects. The diagnostic approach may require prick to-prick tests using crude extracts of both raw and cooked forms of seafood for screening seafood sensitization before a food challenge or where food challenge is not feasible. Allergen-specific immunotherapy can be important; mutated less allergenic seafood proteins have been developed for this purpose. The persistence of allergy because of seafood proteins' resistance after rigorous treatment like cooking and extreme pH is well documented. Additionally, IgE antibodies from individuals with persistent allergy may be directed against different epitopes than those in patients with transient allergy. For a topic as important as this one, new areas of technological developments will likely have a significant impact, to provide more accurate methods of diagnosing useful information to patients about the likely course of their seafood allergy over the course of their childhood and beyond. \u00a9 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2345", "text": "Anisakis simplex is a parasite that, if present in uncooked and contaminated saltwater fish, can invade the human gut. Two different clinical situations are recognized: the first, known as a gastrointestinal disease, varying from an asymptomatic episode to vomiting and diarrhea, and the second, classified as an adverse reaction to food, characterized by a wide spectrum of allergic reactions like rhinitis, conjunctivitis, or even anaphylaxis causing hypotension and/or shock. The intestinal epithelium, the major defense system against external molecules, represents an open gate for toxins and allergens if its protective function is compromised. Previous data have demonstrated a strict relationship between an altered intestinal permeability (I.P.) and worsening of the clinical manifestations in patients with adverse reactions to the food. In this article we evaluated the sensitization to A. simplex among patients who referred clinical symptoms of allergy. All subjects underwent commonly used alimentary skin prick test for food allergens, to which Ani s1, an A. simplex allergen, was added. In addition, in A. simplex-sensitized subjects, I.P. was determined upon their enrolment to the study (time 0) and after 6 months of consuming a raw fish-free diet (time 6). Five hundred and forty subjects were screened, and 170 had a positive skin prick test, 87 (51.2%) of whom were positive to Ani s1. Increased I.P. was evidenced in A. simplex-sensitized subjects with worse clinical symptoms, which receded after 6 months' elimination of raw seafood. With our data we demonstrated that the alimentary habit to eat raw fish represents a high risk for the integrity of the intestinal mucosa, and we suggest that this pathological situation may constitute an ideal, under-estimated, open gate for molecules that predispose to other, more important pathologies."}
{"id": "MED-2346", "text": "Summary: Infection of humans with the nematode worm parasite Anisakis simplex was first described in the 1960s in association with the consumption of raw or undercooked fish. During the 1990s it was realized that even the ingestion of dead worms in food fish can cause severe hypersensitivity reactions, that these may be more prevalent than infection itself, and that this outcome could be associated with food preparations previously considered safe. Not only may allergic symptoms arise from infection by the parasites (\u201cgastroallergic anisakiasis\u201d), but true anaphylactic reactions can also occur following exposure to allergens from dead worms by food-borne, airborne, or skin contact routes. This review discusses A. simplex pathogenesis in humans, covering immune hypersensitivity reactions both in the context of a living infection and in terms of exposure to its allergens by other routes. Over the last 20 years, several studies have concentrated on A. simplex antigen characterization and innate as well as adaptive immune response to this parasite. Molecular characterization of Anisakis allergens and isolation of their encoding cDNAs is now an active field of research that should provide improved diagnostic tools in addition to tools with which to enhance our understanding of pathogenesis and controversial aspects of A. simplex allergy. We also discuss the potential relevance of parasite products such as allergens, proteinases, and proteinase inhibitors and the activation of basophils, eosinophils, and mast cells in the induction of A. simplex-related immune hypersensitivity states induced by exposure to the parasite, dead or alive."}
{"id": "MED-2347", "text": "Urticaria affects nearly 25% of the population at some time in their lives. In a subset of children, urticaria will develop into a chronic condition that can greatly affect quality of life. Although numerous causes and triggers are proposed for chronic urticaria (CU) in children, ranging from infections, allergens, and medications to physical factors and autoimmune disease, the exact etiology is not always identifiable. Accordingly, a large subset of cases are designated \"chronic idiopathic urticaria.\" Because of the clinical complexities of CU, as well as the confusing literature on this topic, we have developed a conceptual framework based on the cumulative evidence to assist with the categorization, clinical evaluation, and treatment of CU in children. \u00a9 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2348", "text": "BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Despite a thorough history and comprehensive testing, many children who present with recurrent symptoms consistent with allergic reactions elude diagnosis. Recent research has identified a novel cause for \u201cidiopathic\u201d allergic reactions; immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody specific for the carbohydrate galactose-\u03b1-1,3-galactose (\u03b1-Gal) has been associated with delayed urticaria and anaphylaxis that occurs 3 to 6 hours after eating beef, pork, or lamb. We sought to determine whether IgE antibody to \u03b1-Gal was present in sera of pediatric patients who reported idiopathic anaphylaxis or urticaria. METHODS: Patients aged 4 to 17 were enrolled in an institutional review board\u2013approved protocol at the University of Virginia and private practice allergy offices in Lynchburg, VA. Sera was obtained and analyzed by ImmunoCAP for total IgE and specific IgE to \u03b1-Gal, beef, pork, cat epithelium and dander, Fel d 1, dog dander, and milk. RESULTS: Forty-five pediatric patients were identified who had both clinical histories supporting delayed anaphylaxis or urticaria to mammalian meat and IgE antibody specific for \u03b1-Gal. In addition, most of these cases had a history of tick bites within the past year, which itched and persisted. CONCLUSIONS: A novel form of anaphylaxis and urticaria that occurs 3 to 6 hours after eating mammalian meat is not uncommon among children in our area. Identification of these cases may not be straightforward and diagnosis is best confirmed by specific testing, which should certainly be considered for children living in the area where the Lone Star tick is common."}
{"id": "MED-2349", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The present review serves to address urticaria - both acute and chronic - as well as the differential diagnosis of urticarial syndromes in the pediatric population. We also wish to update the reader on progress in the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of urticaria. RECENT FINDINGS: Acute and chronic urticaria represent syndromes caused by a variety of triggers. Recent literature continues to describe subtypes of urticaria that may be differentially responsive to particular therapies. Recent associations highlight the need to fully evaluate patients for allergic and infectious triggers of urticaria. It is important to distinguish idiopathic urticaria from related conditions such as anaphylaxis, systemic conditions and autoimmune urticaria. Although antihistamines remain a cornerstone of therapy, particular urticaria subtypes may also respond to novel therapies such as omalizumab. Chronic urticaria has a significant impact on a patient's quality of life. SUMMARY: Urticaria is a common condition. Our understanding of distinct urticaria subtypes differentially responsive to targeted therapies continues to increase. Due to the myriad of triggers that may cause urticaria, careful individualized patient assessment is necessary to exclude potential etiologies prior to a diagnosis of idiopathic urticaria."}
{"id": "MED-2350", "text": "BACKGROUND: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) captures a nationally representative probability sample from hospital emergency departments (EDs) in the United States. OBJECTIVE: Emergency department data from NEISS were analyzed to assess the magnitude and severity of adverse events attributable to food allergies. METHODS: Emergency department events describing food-related allergic symptomatology were identified from 34 participating EDs from August 1 to September 30, 2003. RESULTS: Extrapolation of NEISS event data predicts a total of 20,821 hospital ED visits, 2333 visits for anaphylaxis, and 520 hospitalizations caused by food allergy in the United States during the 2-month study period. The median age was 26 years; 24% of visits involved children < or =5 years old. Shellfish was the most frequently implicated food in persons > or =6 years old, whereas children < or =5 years old experienced more events from eggs, fruit, peanuts, and tree nuts. There were no reported deaths. Review of medical records found that only 19% of patients received epinephrine, and, using criteria established by a 2005 anaphylaxis symposium, 57% of likely anaphylactic events did not have an ED diagnosis of anaphylaxis. CONCLUSION: Analysis of NEISS data may be a useful tool for assessing the magnitude and severity of food-allergic events. A criteria-based review of medical records suggests underdiagnosis of anaphylactic events in EDs."}
{"id": "MED-2351", "text": "Anti-Gal is a natural Ab abundantly produced in humans. It interacts specifically with the carbohydrate epitope Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc-R (termed the alpha-galactosyl epitope). This epitope is expressed in large amounts on thyrocytes of nonprimate mammals, but not of humans. We have previously found that binding of anti-Gal to alpha-galactosyl epitopes on porcine thyrocytes results in stimulatory effects similar to those exerted by thyroid-stimulating hormone (thyrotropin). In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that anti-Gal may contribute to Graves' disease (GD) pathogenesis by stimulation of the thyrocytes of patients with this autoimmune disorder. Anti-Gal binding and stimulatory effects were assessed in primary thyrocyte cultures. Anti-Gal specifically bound to GD thyrocytes and induced an increase in cAMP synthesis, 125I uptake, and DNA synthesis in these cells. Furthermore, the stimulatory effects of autologous sera on GD thyrocytes were greatly reduced after specific depletion of anti-Gal from these sera. No binding and no stimulatory effects of anti-Gal were observed, however, with normal human thyrocytes and with thyrocytes from thyrotoxic patients who lack thyroid-stimulating Igs or thyrotropin binding inhibiting Igs. These in vitro stimulatory effects of anti-Gal on GD thyrocytes suggest that this natural Ab may contribute to the in vivo continuous stimulation of thyrocytes in GD patients. The possibility that anti-Gal may stimulate GD thyrocytes via interaction with aberrantly expressed alpha-galactosyl epitopes on the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor is discussed."}
{"id": "MED-2352", "text": "BACKGROUND: Carbohydrate-specific IgE antibodies present on nonprimate mammalian proteins were incriminated recently in delayed meat anaphylaxis. The aim of this study was to explore whether anaphylaxis to mammalian kidney is also associated with galactose-\u03b1-1,3-galactose (\u03b1Gal)-specific IgE. METHODS: Fourteen patients with anaphylaxis to pork or beef kidney underwent prick tests to meat and kidney. Some patients also underwent skin tests to Erbitux(\u00ae) (cetuximab). IgE antibodies to \u03b1Gal, swine urine proteins, beef and pork meat, serum albumin proteins, cat, and rFel d 1 were measured by ImmunoCAP(\u00ae). The \u03b1Gal levels were estimated in meats and kidney by ELISA inhibition assay. Cross-reactivity between \u03b1Gal and pork kidney was studied with the ImmunoCAP(\u00ae) inhibition assay. RESULTS: Among the 14 patients, 12 presented with anaphylactic shock. Reactions occurred within 2 h from exposure in 67% of patients. Associated risk factors were observed in 10 cases, and alcohol was the main cofactor. Three patients underwent an oral challenge to pork kidney, and anaphylaxis occurred after ingestion of small quantities (1-2 g). Prick tests to kidney were positive in 54% of patients. All tested patients showed positive skin tests to Erbitux(\u00ae). All patients tested positive for IgE to \u03b1Gal, with levels ranging from 0.4 to 294 kU/l. IgE binding to \u03b1Gal was inhibited by raw pork kidney extract (mean, 77%; range, 55-87%), which showed a high amount of \u03b1Gal determinants. CONCLUSIONS: Pork or beef kidney anaphylaxis is related to \u03b1Gal IgE. Its peculiar severity could be due to an elevated content of \u03b1Gal epitopes in kidney. \u00a9 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S."}
{"id": "MED-2353", "text": "Summary Anti-Gal is the most abundant natural antibody in humans, constituting \u223c\u00a01% of immunoglobulins. Anti-Gal is naturally produced also in apes and Old World monkeys. The ligand of anti-Gal is a carbohydrate antigen called the \u2018\u03b1-gal epitope\u2019 with the structure Gal\u03b11-3Gal\u03b21-4GlcNAc-R. The \u03b1-gal epitope is present as a major carbohydrate antigen in non-primate mammals, prosimians and New World monkeys. Anti-Gal can contributes to several immunological pathogeneses. Anti-Gal IgE produced in some individuals causes allergies to meat and to the therapeutic monoclonal antibody cetuximab, all presenting \u03b1-gal epitopes. Aberrant expression of the \u03b1-gal epitope or of antigens mimicking it in humans may result in autoimmune processes, as in Graves' disease. \u03b1-Gal epitopes produced by Trypanosoma cruzi interact with anti-Gal and induce \u2018autoimmune like\u2019 inflammatory reactions in Chagas' disease. Anti-Gal IgM and IgG further mediate rejection of xenografts expressing \u03b1-gal epitopes. Because of its abundance, anti-Gal may be exploited for various clinical uses. It increases immunogenicity of microbial vaccines (e.g. influenza vaccine) presenting \u03b1-gal epitopes by targeting them for effective uptake by antigen-presenting cells. Tumour lesions are converted into vaccines against autologous tumour-associated antigens by intra-tumoral injection of \u03b1-gal glycolipids, which insert into tumour cell membranes. Anti-Gal binding to \u03b1-gal epitopes on tumour cells targets them for uptake by antigen-presenting cells. Accelerated wound healing is achieved by application of \u03b1-gal nanoparticles, which bind anti-Gal, activate complement, and recruit and activate macrophages that induce tissue regeneration. This therapy may be of further significance in regeneration of internally injured tissues such as ischaemic myocardium and injured nerves."}
{"id": "MED-2354", "text": "A new natural anti-alpha-galactosyl IgG antibody (anti-Gal) was found to be present in high titer in the serum of every normal individual studied. The antibody was isolated by affinity chromatography on a melibiose-Sepharose column. The reactivity of the antibody was assessed by its interaction with alpha-galactosyl residues on rabbit erythrocytes (RabRBC). The specificity was determined by inhibition experiments with various carbohydrates. The anti-Gal interacts with alpha-galactosyl residues, possibly on glycolipids of human RBC (HuRBC), after removal of membrane proteins by treatment with pronase. In addition, the anti-Gal bind specifically to normal and pathologically senescent HuRBC, suggesting a physiological role for this natural antibody in the aging of RBC. The ubiquitous presence of anti-Gal in high titers throughout life implies a constant antigenic stimulation. In addition to the theoretical interest in the antibody, the study of the anti-Gal reactivity seems to bear immunodiagnostic significance. Decrease in the antibody titer was found to reflect humoral immunodeficiency disorders."}
{"id": "MED-2355", "text": "Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can be rapidly progressing and fatal. In instances where the triggering allergen is not known, establishing the etiology of anaphylaxis is pivotal to long-term risk management. Our recent work has identified a novel IgE antibody (Ab) response to a mammalian oligosaccharide epitope, galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), that has been associated with two distinct forms of anaphylaxis: (1) immediate onset anaphylaxis during first exposure to intravenous cetuximab, and (2) delayed onset anaphylaxis 3\u20136 h after ingestion of mammalian food products (e.g., beef and pork). The results of our studies strongly suggest that tick bites are a cause, if not the only significant cause, of IgE Ab responses to alpha-gal in the southern, eastern and central United States. Patients with IgE Ab to alpha-gal continue to emerge and, increasingly, these cases involve children. This IgE Ab response cross-reacts with cat and dog but does not appear to pose a risk for asthma; however, it may impair diagnostic testing in some situations."}
{"id": "MED-2356", "text": "Background In 2009, we reported a novel form of delayed anaphylaxis to red meat, which is related to serum IgE antibodies to the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal). Most of these patients had tolerated meat for many years previously. The implication is that some exposure in adult life had stimulated the production of these IgE antibodies. Objectives To investigate possible causes of this IgE antibody response, focusing on evidence related to tick bites, which are common in the region where these reactions occur. Methods Serum assays were carried out using biotinylated proteins and extracts bound to a streptavidin ImmunoCAP. Results Prospective studies on IgE antibodies in three subjects following tick bites showed an increase in IgE to alpha-gal of twenty-fold or greater. Other evidence included i) a strong correlation between histories of tick bites and IgE to alpha-gal (\u03c72=26.8, p<0.001), ii) evidence that these IgE antibodies are common in areas where the tick Amblyomma americanum is common, and iii) a significant correlation between IgE antibodies to alpha-gal and IgE antibodies to proteins derived from A. americanum (rs=0.75, p<0.001). Conclusion The results presented here provide evidence that tick bites are a cause, or possibly the only cause, of IgE specific for alpha-gal in this area of the United States. Both the number of subjects becoming sensitized and the titer of IgE antibodies to alpha-gal are striking. Here we report the first example of a response to an ectoparasite giving rise to an important form of food allergy."}
{"id": "MED-2357", "text": "Patients with cancer have circulating heterophile antibodies that agglutinate animal red cells via recognition of the mammalian cell surface sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), which was long considered an oncofetal antigen in humans. However, humans are genetically deficient in Neu5Gc production and instead metabolically accumulate Neu5Gc from dietary sources, particularly red meats and milk products. Moreover, mice with a human-like defect showed no alternate pathway for Neu5Gc synthesis and even normal humans express anti-Neu5Gc antibodies. We show here that human tumors accumulate Neu5Gc that is covalently attached to multiple classes of glycans. The paradox of human tumor Neu5Gc accumulation in the face of circulating anti-Neu5Gc antibodies was hypothesized to be due to facilitation of tumor progression by the resulting low-grade chronic inflammation. Indeed, murine tumors expressing human-like levels of Neu5Gc show accelerated growth in syngeneic mice with a human-like Neu5Gc deficiency, coincident with the induction of anti-Neu5Gc antibodies and increased infiltration of inflammatory cells. Transfer of polyclonal monospecific syngeneic mouse anti-Neu5Gc serum also enhanced growth of transplanted syngeneic tumors bearing human-like levels of Neu5Gc, with tumors showing evidence for antibody deposition, enhanced angiogenesis and chronic inflammation. These effects were suppressed by a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, a drug type known to reduce human carcinoma risk. Finally, affinity-purified human anti-Neu5Gc antibodies also accelerate growth of Neu5Gc-containing tumors in Neu5Gc-deficient mice. Taken together, the data suggest that the human propensity to develop diet-related carcinomas is contributed to by local chronic inflammation, resulting from interaction of metabolically-accumulated dietary Neu5Gc with circulating anti-Neu5Gc antibodies."}
{"id": "MED-2359", "text": "INTRODUCTION: ALPHA-GAL is a glycoconjugate present on cell membranes of mammals and bacteria but not humans who display anti-Gal antibodies (AB) in high titers provoked by the commensal gut flora. In the present study, we sought to determine the longitudinal course of alpha-Gal specific AB titers of all isotypes over 8 weeks among healthy adult subjects. Furthermore, we hypothesized that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients display increased anti-Gal titers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We drew serum from healthy probands (n=20) weekly for 8 weeks and obtained plasma samples of from patients suffering from Crohn's disease (n=20) and ulcerative colitis (n=20). We measured anti-Gal ABs of all isotypes and total immunoglobulin (Ig) content using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. For statistical evaluation of the longitudinal titers, we calculated confidence intervals for the slopes of a random intercept model, comparing variances between and within the probands. For group comparisons, we performed paired student t-tests and Pearson correlations. RESULTS: Alpha-Gal specific IgG, IgM, IgD, and IgA titers remained unvaried within a narrow range upon longitudinal observation. Most probands did not display alpha-Gal specific IgE ABs. Crohn's disease patients showed highly increased alpha-Gal-specific IgA titers compared with control subjects (P<.01). CONCLUSION: Apart from IgE, alpha-Gal-specific ABs of all isotypes remained constant over longer time periods in healthy subjects. Thus, significant titer changes actually represent increased antigen exposure and a specific anti-alpha-Gal response. Crohn's disease patients display increased anti-Gal IgA titers compared with healthy controls, which reflects a chronically impaired mucosal gut barrier in this patient cohort. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2360", "text": "Lyme-like illness (also known as southern tick-associated rash illness [STARI] or Masters disease) is vectored by the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Lyme-like illness lesions, which are similar to the erythema migrans rash of Lyme disease, tend to have lymphocytic dermal infiltrates. With the exception of Borrelia lonestari, the possible causative agent or agents of Lyme-like illness have not been cultured. More research is needed to fully understand this newly recognized zoonosis. Clinicians are encouraged to increase their knowledge and awareness of this Lyme disease mimic."}
{"id": "MED-2361", "text": "The most common clinical manifestation of Lyme disease is the characteristic rash, erythema migrans (EM). In the 1980s EM-like eruptions were reported in Missouri and other southeastern states. The EM-like eruptions, which were of unknown etiology, often followed the bite of the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) and the rash is called STARI (southern tick-associated rash illness). Although the Lone Star tick is found in the Lyme disease-endemic areas of New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, STARI has been reported only once from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. We report a child from Connecticut who visited Long Island, New York, and developed a rash that was thought to be EM. Because the patient failed to respond to antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease, an investigation ensued, and the diagnosis of STARI was established."}
{"id": "MED-2362", "text": "The study of the expression of Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residues on mammalian glycoconjugates is of particular interest since as many as 1% of circulating IgG antibodies in man (the natural anti-Gal antibody) interact specifically with this carbohydrate residue. In recent studies, we have found that Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residues are abundant on red cells and nucleated cells of nonprimate mammals, prosimians, and New World monkeys, but their expression is diminished in Old World monkeys, apes, and humans. In the present work, we have analyzed the expression of these residues on secreted mammalian glycoproteins. For this purpose, we have developed a radioimmunoassay (RIA) which enables the quantification of Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residues on the secreted glycoproteins. Purified biotinylated anti-Gal was used as the antibody in the RIA, and bovine thyroglobulin enriched for Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residues served as a solid-phase antigen. In this study, it is reported for the first time that the evolutionary pattern of Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residue distribution in in vivo secreted glycoproteins is similar to that observed in membranes of cell lines and of red cells. Thyroglobulin, fibrinogen, or IgG molecules from nonprimate mammals and from New World monkeys express varying amounts of Gal alpha 1----3Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc residues ranging between 0.01 and 11 residues per molecule, whereas no such residues are present on any of these glycoproteins of human or Old World monkey origin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-2363", "text": "We have previously shown that an antibody pool present in normal human serum binds cytokine receptors in vitro and may therefore interfere with assays that capture cytokines using their receptors. Here we show that this antibody pool is the same as the natural antibody termed anti-gal, that binds to the alpha-galactosyl carbohydrate epitope (alpha-gal) and which is the predominant obstacle to xenotransplantation. We report that there are high levels of IgD anti alpha-gal in most volunteers, in addition to the IgG2, IgA and IgM immunoglobulin isotypes against alpha-gal previously described. To determine if anti-gal may interfere with assays that depend on capture of cytokine with its receptor, we measured levels of several anti-carbohydrate antibodies in a cohort of patients with advanced atherosclerosis that had previously been used to measure levels of active TGF-beta using such an assay. For many isotype / carbohydrate combinations, there is a large and significant difference between the levels of anti-carbohydrate antibodies in patients with atherosclerosis and controls, after adjustment for age, sex and blood group. These results are similar to the previous data obtained for active TGF-beta, and therefore we cannot discount the possibility that anti-gal contributed to the previous data. Following further adjustment for several risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, several anti-carbohydrate antibodies were still significantly different between patients and controls. Therefore, anti-carbohydrate antibodies may represent a new class of risk factors that may be associated with presence of advanced atherosclerosis, although larger studies will be required to confirm this hypothesis."}
{"id": "MED-2364", "text": "We have recently demonstrated that both antibodies to Gal alpha(1,3)Gal, and the Gal alpha(1,3)Gal binding lectin (IB4), bind a synthetic peptide (DAHWESWL), there being a similar recognition of carbohydrate and peptide structures. We now report that the anti-Gal alpha(1,3)Gal antibodies and IB4 lectin also react with peptides encoded by mucin genes (MUC 1, 3, 4)-sequences known to be rich in serine, threonine and proline. This activity was demonstrated (1) by the ability of mucin derived peptides to block the reaction of anti-Gal alpha(1,3)Gal antibodies and IB4 lectin with a Gal alpha(1,3)Gal+ pig endothelial cell line; the reactions were specific and did not occur with a random peptide containing the same sequences or with other mucin peptides; (2) by the fact that anti-mucin1 antibodies could react with the Gal alpha(1,3)Gal expressed after transfection of COS cells (Gal alpha(1,3)Gal-,Muc1-) with cDNA encoding the pig alpha, 3galactosyltransferase; and (3) that the IB4 lectin and anti-Gal alpha(1,3)Gal antibodies could react with mucin 1 found on the surface of human breast cancer cells. Thus natural occurring anti-Gal alpha(1,3)Gal antibodies found in all human serum can react with self (Muc1) peptides expressed in large amounts on the surface of tumour cells but not on normal cells. The findings are of interest and serve to explain the previously reported findings that human cells can, at times, express Gal alpha(1,3)Gal; such expression is an artefact, the reaction is due to the phenomenon described herein, i.e. that anti-Gal alpha(1,3)Gal antibodies react with mucin peptides."}
{"id": "MED-2365", "text": "Twenty-five patients living in a tick-endemic region of Sydney, New South Wales developed red meat allergy after experiencing large local reactions to tick bites. This represents a potentially novel cross-reaction between an arthropod and a food protein. (MJA 2009; 190: 510-511)."}
{"id": "MED-2366", "text": "Glycoconjugates and their antibodies are vital components of host-tumor interaction. This review concentrates on the oncological implications of research concerning the alpha gal triad; the alpha 1-->3 galactosyl epitope (alpha Gal), the enzyme responsible for its construction, alpha 1,3 galactosyl transferase (alpha 1-3GT), and its associated antibody: anti-gal. Alpha gal epitopes, previously assumed to be absent from human tissue, have been demonstrated on several human cancer cell lines, senescent red blood cells, and Graves' disease thyrocytes. Alpha-gal presence on neoplastic lines is correlated with increased metastatic formation in animal models. The mechanisms of human response to these neoantigens are complex, as natural anti-gal antibodies exist in high titers in normal sera, thus predicting immunological recognition of cells expressing alpha gal epitopes. Hypotheses vary regarding the pathogenic contributions of metastasis-associated phenomena such as de novo expression of alpha gal and its unmasking by desialylation. The means by which alpha gal is sporadically expressed in human tissue remain unknown, as the galactosyl transferase which produces this epitope in constitutively expressive animals has undergone significant mutation at the genomic level in humans. Pathological re-expression is presumed to require permissive changes at a cellular level. Detailing these alterations is a prerequisite to the comprehension of the metastatic phenotype. In this context, the possibility of therapeutic strategies affecting alpha gal expression are also discussed."}
{"id": "MED-2367", "text": "Naturally developing xenospecific Abs are well-documented barriers to xenograft transplantation in humans, but whether analogous xenoreactive T cell immunity develops is not known. We used an enzyme-linked immunospot assay to determine the frequency and cytokine profiles of xenoreactive PBLs from a panel of human volunteers. Because naive T cells produce only IL-2 in short term culture, IFN-gamma production by this approach is a measure of a memory immune response. Stimulation of human PBLs or purified T lymphocytes with stimulator cells from inbred swine revealed a high frequency of IFN-gamma producers with 5-fold fewer IL-2 producers. In contrast, lymphocytes obtained from neonatal umbilical cord blood contained swine-specific IL-2 producers but few IFN-gamma producers, which is what one would expect to find with a naive phenotype. Moreover, PBLs from adults with a history of abstention from pork consumption responded to swine cells with a significantly lower frequency of IFN-gamma producers than PBLs from adults with unrestricted diets did, suggesting that pork consumption may result in priming of swine-specific T cell immunity. Our findings provide the first evidence for naturally occurring xenospecific T cell immunity in humans. The detected strength of this memory response suggests that it will present a formidable barrier to transplantation of swine organs."}
{"id": "MED-2368", "text": "BACKGROUND: Microparticles (MPs) with procoagulant activity are present in human atherosclerosis, but no detailed information is available on their composition. METHODS AND RESULTS: To obtain insights into the role of MPs in atherogenesis, MP proteins were identified by tandem mass spectrometry, metabolite profiles were determined by high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and antibody reactivity was assessed against combinatorial antigen libraries. Plaque MPs expressed surface antigens consistent with their leukocyte origin, including major histocompatibility complex classes I and II, and induced a dose-dependent stimulatory effect on T-cell proliferation. Notably, taurine, the most abundant free organic acid in human neutrophils, which scavenges myeloperoxidase-catalyzed free radicals, was highly enriched in plaque MPs. Moreover, fluorescent labeling of proteins on the MP surface suggested immunoglobulins to be trapped inside, which was confirmed by flow cytometry analysis on permeabilized and nonpermeabilized plaque MPs. Colabeling for CD14 and IgG established that more than 90% of the IgG containing MPs were CD14(+), indicating a macrophage origin. Screening against an antigen library revealed that the immunologic profiles of antibodies in MPs were similar to those found in plaques but differed profoundly from antibodies in plasma and unexpectedly, showed strong reactions with oligosaccharide antigens, in particular blood group antigen A. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence that immunoglobulins are present within MPs derived from plaque macrophages, that the portfolio of plaque antibodies is different from circulating antibodies in plasma, and that anticarbohydrate antibodies are retained in human atherosclerotic lesions."}
{"id": "MED-2369", "text": "Background Carbohydrate moieties are frequently encountered in food and can elicit IgE responses, the clinical significance of which has been unclear. Recent work, however, has shown that IgE antibodies to galactose-\u03b1-1,3-galactose (\u03b1-gal), a carbohydrate commonly expressed on nonprimate mammalian proteins, are capable of eliciting serious, even fatal, reactions. Objective We sought to determine whether IgE antibodies to \u03b1-gal are present in sera from patients who report anaphylaxis or urticaria after eating beef, pork, or lamb. Methods Detailed histories were taken from patients presenting to the University of Virginia Allergy Clinic. Skin prick tests (SPTs), intradermal skin tests, and serum IgE antibody analysis were performed for common indoor, outdoor, and food allergens. Results Twenty-four patients with IgE antibodies to \u03b1-gal were identified. These patients described a similar history of anaphylaxis or urticaria 3 to 6 hours after the ingestion of meat and reported fewer or no episodes when following an avoidance diet. SPTs to mammalian meat produced wheals of usually less than 4 mm, whereas intradermal or fresh-food SPTs provided larger and more consistent wheal responses. CAP-RAST testing revealed specific IgE antibodies to beef, pork, lamb, cow\u2019s milk, cat, and dog but not turkey, chicken, or fish. Absorption experiments indicated that this pattern of sensitivity was explained by an IgE antibody specific for \u03b1-gal. Conclusion We report a novel and severe food allergy related to IgE antibodies to the carbohydrate epitope \u03b1-gal. These patients experience delayed symptoms of anaphylaxis, angioedema, or urticaria associated with eating beef, pork, or lamb."}
{"id": "MED-2370", "text": "In this third installment of the series, we point out that the absence of an explicit, detailed and plausible hypothesis linking hypercholesterolemia to the events in the artery wall was probably an important reason for continuing skepticism and for failure to treat elevated blood cholesterol levels. The rapid advances in understanding of lipoprotein metabolism in the 1950s and 1960s and the application of modern cellular biology in the 1970s provided the context for a modern consensus on pathogenetic mechanisms of atherogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2374", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To assess the dose-response relationship between egg consumption and the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes. METHODS: We systematically searched MEDLINE database through December 2012. Fixed- or random-effects model was used to pool the relative risks (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup analyses was performed to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Weighted linear regression model was used to estimate the dose-response relationship. RESULTS: Fourteen studies involving 320,778 subjects were included. The pooled RRs of the risk of CVD, CVD for separated diabetes patients, and diabetes for the highest vs lowest egg intake were 1.19 (95% CI 1.02-1.38), 1.83 (95% CI 1.42-2.37), 1.68 (95% CI 1.41-2.00), respectively. For each 4/week increment in egg intake, the RRs of the risk for CVD, CVD for separated diabetes patients, diabetes was 1.06 (95% CI 1.03-1.10), 1.40 (95% CI 1.25-1.57), 1.29 (95% CI 1.21-1.37), respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that population in other western countries have increased CVD than ones in USA (RR 2.00, 95% CI 1.14 to 3.51 vs 1.13, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.30, P = 0.02 for subgroup difference). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that there is a dose-response positive association between egg consumption and the risk of CVD and diabetes. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2378", "text": "Background Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk, although the mechanisms are incompletely understood. In a previous article, we showed significant reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and several markers of inflammation with increasing intake of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) from walnuts and flax. Objective To examine effects of ALA on cardiovascular responses to acute stress, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, and blood concentrations of endothelin-1 and arginine-vasopressin (AVP). Design Using a randomized, crossover study design, cardiovascular responses to acute stress were assessed in 20 hypercholesterolemic subjects, a subset of whom also underwent FMD testing (n = 12). Participants were fed an average American diet (AAD) and 2 experimental diets that varied in the amount of ALA and linoleic acid (LA) that they contained. The AAD provided 8.7% energy from PUFA (7.7% LA, 0.8% ALA). On the LA diet, saturated fat was reduced, and PUFA from walnuts and walnut oil provided 16.4% of energy (12.6% LA, 3.6% ALA). On the ALA diet, walnuts, walnut oil, and flax oil provided 17% energy from PUFA (10.5% LA, 6.5% ALA). Results The ALA and LA diets significantly reduced diastolic blood pressure (\u22122 to \u22123 mm Hg) and total peripheral resistance (\u22124%), and this effect was evident at rest and during stress (main effect of diet, p < 0.02). FMD increased (+34%) on the diet containing additional ALA. AVP also increased by 20%, and endothelin-1 was unchanged. Conclusions These results suggest novel mechanisms for the cardioprotective effects of walnuts and flax, and further work is needed to identify the bioactives responsible for these effects."}
{"id": "MED-2379", "text": "Objectives Metabolic syndrome is a precursor of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Walnut ingestion has been shown to reduce CVD risk indices in diabetes. This randomized controlled crossover trial was performed to investigate the effects of daily walnut consumption on endothelial function and other biomarkers of cardiac risk in a population of overweight individuals with visceral adiposity. Methods Forty-six overweight adults (average age, 57.4 years; 28 women, 18 men) with elevated waist circumference and 1 or more additional signs of metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to two 8-week sequences of walnut-enriched ad libitum diet and ad libitum diet without walnuts, which were separated by a 4-week washout period. The primary outcome measure was the change in flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. Secondary measures included serum lipid panel, fasting glucose and insulin, Homeostasis Model Assessment\u2013Insulin Resistance values, blood pressure, and anthropometric measures. Results FMD improved significantly from baseline when subjects consumed a walnut-enriched diet as compared with the control diet (1.4% \u00b1 2.4% versus 0.3% \u00b1 1.5%; p = 0.019). Beneficial trends in systolic blood pressure reduction were seen, and maintenance of the baseline anthropometric values was also observed. Other measures were unaltered. Conclusion Daily ingestion of 56 g of walnuts improves endothelial function in overweight adults with visceral adiposity. The addition of walnuts to the diet does not lead to weight gain. Further study of the potential role of walnut intake in diabetes and CVD prevention is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-2380", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: High blood pressure (BP) is considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Among lifestyle factors, diet plays a key role in the prevention and control of high BP. Therefore, it is important to elucidate which dietary components can exert beneficial effects on BP through modulation of endothelial function (EF) or by other mechanisms. In this paper we review the role of nutrients, foods, particularly nuts, and dietary patterns on BP control. DATA SYNTHESIS: Because nuts are low in sodium and contain significant amounts of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, fiber, minerals such as magnesium, potassium and calcium, and antioxidants, they have been suggested as potentially protective foods against hypertension. Limited evidence from prospective studies and clinical trials suggests that nut consumption has a beneficial effect on both BP and EF. However, BP changes were a secondary outcome in nut feeding trials and no study used ambulatory BP monitoring as the standard for BP measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Further clinical trials, ideally using ambulatory BP monitoring, are needed to establish the potential protective effect of nut consumption on hypertension and vascular reactivity. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2381", "text": "The inverse association of nut consumption and risk markers of coronary heart disease (lipids) has sparked the interest of the scientific and lay community. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to investigate the effects of nuts on the lipid profile. Medline and Web of Science databases were searched from the start of the database to August 2004 and supplemented by cross-checking reference lists of relevant publications. Human intervention trials with the objective of investigating independent effects of nuts on lipid concentrations were included. From the literature search, 415 publications were screened and 23 studies were included. These papers received a rating based upon the methodology as it appeared in the publication. No formal statistical analysis was performed due to the large differences in study designs of the dietary intervention trials. The results of 3 almond (50-100 g/d), 2 peanut (35-68 g/d), 1 pecan nut (72 g/d), and 4 walnut (40-84 g/d) studies showed decreases in total cholesterol between 2 and 16% and LDL cholesterol between 2 and 19% compared with subjects consuming control diets. Consumption of macadamia nuts (50-100 g/d) produced less convincing results. In conclusion, consumption of approximately 50-100 g (approximately 1.5-3.5 servings) of nuts > or = 5 times/wk as part of a heart-healthy diet with total fat content (high in mono- and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids) of approximately 35% of energy may significantly decrease total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in normo- and hyperlipidemic individuals."}
{"id": "MED-2383", "text": "During the last decades, nuts have attracted the attention of researchers for their potential benefits in cardiovascular prevention. We discuss here some aspects of the assumed beneficial effects of nuts, weighing them against potential harm. Epidemiological observations and controlled intervention trials consistently suggest that nuts consumption is associated with improved serum lipid profile, thus helping decrease cardiovascular risk. Being nuts an energy dense food, their impact on energy balance and body weight should be considered. In particular, the claim that adding nuts to the habitual diet, thus increasing calorie intake, does not cause body fat accumulation still needs evidence and biological plausibility. The potential risk associated with the relatively frequent occurrence of allergic reactions following the consumption of nuts is also discussed. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2384", "text": "BACKGROUND: Tree nuts, particularly almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, have been shown to possess cardioprotective effects. However, there is little information on the effects of hazelnut consumption on cardiovascular risk markers. METHODS: The antiatherogenic effect of hazelnut before and after consumption in hypercholesterolemic subjects was investigated. Twenty-one hypercholesterolemic volunteers (18 men and 3 women) were recruited in a double control sandwich model intervention study with a single group and three isoenergetic diet periods. These were control diet I (4 weeks), hazelnut-enriched diet (4 weeks; hazelnut contributing 18%-20% of the total daily energy intake), and control diet period II (4 weeks). The cardiovascular risk biomarkers such as endothelial function, using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) technique, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation products and inflammatory markers such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) as well as lipids and lipoprotein levels were monitored. RESULTS: Consumption of a hazelnut-enriched diet significantly improved FMD (56.6%), total cholesterol (-7.8%), triacylglycerol (-7.3%), LDL-cholesterol (-6.17%), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (6.07%) compared with the control diet I. Oxidized-LDL, hs-CRP, and sVCAM-1 levels were significantly lower in the group ingesting a hazelnut-enriched diet compared with the control diets I and II. Modest correlations between sVCAM-1 and FMD and between sVCAM-1 and hs-CRP were observed (r = -0.49, P < .025; r = 0.66, P < .001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Hazelnut-enriched diets may exert antiatherogenic effect by improving endothelial function, preventing LDL oxidation, and inflammatory markers, in addition to their lipid and lipoprotein-lowering effects. These beneficial effects appeared to be reversible after 4 weeks on a hazelnut-free diet. Therefore, hazelnut may be incorporated into daily diet without change in total caloric intake for sustained health benefit. Copyright \u00a9 2013 National Lipid Association. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2385", "text": "The purpose of this investigation was to estimate the total hair mercury of diseased people (not including patients of mercury poisoning such as Minamata disease). Hair samples were collected from 133 diseased volunteers in Tokyo and the surrounding areas from Oct. 1992 to June 1993. The total mercury concentrations in the hair of ordinary diseased people (atopic dermatitis, asthma, dementia, cerebral infarct, osteoporosis, hypertension and diabetes) were from 2.08 ppm to 36.5 ppm. Those values were considerably higher than that of healthy people of the same age groups. However, the uptake routes and the metabolic mechanism of high hair mercury concentrations in diseased people are not clear."}
{"id": "MED-2386", "text": "OBJECTIVE Emerging in vitro and animal evidence suggests that methylmercury could increase type 2 diabetes, but little evidence exists in humans. We aimed to prospectively determine associations of mercury exposure, as assessed by biomarker measurement, with incident diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used neutron activation analysis to measure toenail mercury, an objective biomarker of methylmercury exposure, in 9,267 adults free of diabetes at baseline in two separate U.S. prospective cohorts. Incident diabetes was identified from biennial questionnaires and confirmed by validated supplementary questionnaire using symptoms, diagnostic tests, and medical therapy. Associations of mercury exposure with incident diabetes were assessed using Cox proportional hazards. RESULTS During mean \u00b1 SD follow-up of 19.7 \u00b1 7.0 years, 1,010 new cases of diabetes were diagnosed. The 95th percentile of toenail mercury was 1.32 \u03bcg/g in men and 0.76 \u03bcg/g in women, corresponding to exposures \u223c3.5-fold and 2-fold higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose. In multivariable analyses, toenail mercury concentrations were not associated with higher incidence of diabetes in women, men, or both cohorts combined. Comparing the highest to lowest quintile of exposure, the hazard ratio (95% CI) for incident diabetes was 0.86 (0.66\u20131.11) in women, 0.69 (0.42\u20131.15) in men, and 0.77 (0.61\u20130.98) in the combined cohorts. Findings were similar when more extreme categories (deciles) of mercury were compared, and in analyses stratified by fish or omega-3 consumption, BMI, and age. CONCLUSIONS These findings from two separate large prospective cohorts do not support adverse effects of methylmercury on development of diabetes in men or women at usual levels of exposure seen in these populations."}
{"id": "MED-2388", "text": "Insulin resistance and the defective function of pancreatic \u03b2-cells can occur several years before the development of type 2 diabetes. It is necessary to investigate and clarify the integrated effects of moderate-to-high exposure to dioxins and mercury on the pancreatic endocrine function. This cross-sectional study investigated 1449 non-diabetic residents near a deserted pentachlorophenol and chloralkali factory. Metabolic syndrome related factors were measured to examine associations with serum dioxin and blood mercury. We also investigated associations between insulin resistance (HOMA-IR > 75th percentile), defective pancreatic \u03b2-cells function (HOMA \u03b2-cell > 75th percentile), serum dioxins and blood mercury. After adjusting for confounding factors, we found that insulin resistance increased with serum dioxins (b = 0.13, P < 0.001) and blood mercury (b = 0.01, P < 0.001). Moreover, participants with higher serum dioxins or blood mercury were at a significantly increasing risk for insulin resistance (P(trend) < 0.001). The joint highest tertile of serum dioxins and blood mercury was associated with elevated HOMA-IR at 11 times the odds of the joint lowest tertile (AOR 11.00, 95% CI: 4.87, 26.63). We hypothesize that simultaneous exposure to dioxins and mercury heightens the risk of insulin resistance more than does individual exposure. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2389", "text": "Background: Prospective data regarding persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) are limited, and the results for individual POPs are not entirely consistent across studies. Objectives: We prospectively examined plasma POP concentrations in relation to incident T2D and summarized existing evidence in a meta-analysis. Methods: Plasma polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) concentrations were measured in 1,095 women who were free of diabetes at blood draw in 1989\u20131990 and participated in two case\u2013control studies in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study. We identified 48 incident T2D cases through 30 June 2008. We conducted a literature search in PubMed and EMBASE through December 2011 to identify prospective studies on POPs in relation to diabetes. We used a fixed-effects model to summarize results. Results: After multivariable adjustment, plasma HCB concentration was positively associated with incident T2D [pooled odds ratio (OR) 3.59 (95% CI: 1.49, 8.64, ptrend = 0.003) comparing extreme tertiles]. Other POPs were not significantly associated with diabetes. After pooling our results with those of six published prospective studies that included 842 diabetes cases in total, we found that HCB and total PCBs both were associated with diabetes: the pooled ORs were 2.00 (95% CI: 1.13, 3.53; I2 = 21.4%, pheterogeneity = 0.28) and 1.70 (95% CI: 1.28, 2.27; I2 = 16.3%, pheterogeneity = 0.30) for HCB and total PCBs, respectively. Conclusions: These findings support an association between POP exposure and the risk of T2D."}
{"id": "MED-2391", "text": "Objectives The objective of this article is to extend our previous studies of persistent organic pollutant (POP) contamination of U.S. food by measuring perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), organochlorine pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in composite food samples. This study is part of a larger study reported in two articles, the other of which reports levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and hexabromocyclododecane brominated flame retardants in these composite foods [Schecter et al. 2010. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclodecane (HBCD) in composite U.S. food samples, Environ Health Perspect 118:357\u2013362]. Methods In this study we measured concentrations of 32 organochlorine pesticides, 7 PCBs, and 11 PFCs in composite samples of 31 different types of food (310 individual food samples) purchased from supermarkets in Dallas, Texas (USA), in 2009. Dietary intake of these chemicals was calculated for an average American. Results Contamination varied greatly among chemical and food types. The highest level of pesticide contamination was from the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) metabolite p,p\u2032- dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, which ranged from 0.028 ng/g wet weight (ww) in whole milk yogurt to 2.3 ng/g ww in catfish fillets. We found PCB congeners (28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, and 180) primarily in fish, with highest levels in salmon (PCB-153, 1.2 ng/g ww; PCB-138, 0.93 ng/g ww). For PFCs, we detected perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in 17 of 31 samples, ranging from 0.07 ng/g in potatoes to 1.80 ng/g in olive oil. In terms of dietary intake, DDT and DDT metabolites, endosulfans, aldrin, PCBs, and PFOA were consumed at the highest levels. Conclusion Despite product bans, we found POPs in U.S. food, and mixtures of these chemicals are consumed by the American public at varying levels. This suggests the need to expand testing of food for chemical contaminants."}
{"id": "MED-2394", "text": "Background One of the outcomes positively associated with dioxin exposure in humans is type 2 diabetes. Objectives This study was conducted in order to find the molecular biological evidence for the diabetogenic action of dioxin in adipose samples from Vietnam veterans. Methods We obtained 313 adipose tissue samples both from Vietnam veterans who were exposed to dioxin (Operation Ranch Hand) and from comparison veterans who served in Southeast Asia with no record of dioxin exposure. We conducted quantitative reverse-transcribed polymerase chain reaction studies on selected marker mRNAs from these samples. Results We found the most sensitive and reliable molecular indicator of dioxin-induced diabetes to be the ratio of mRNA of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) and nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF\u03baB), a marker of inflammation. This ratio showed significant correlations to serum dioxin residues and to fasting glucose among those in the Ranch Hand group and, surprisingly, even in the comparison group, who have low levels of dioxin comparable to the general public. Such a correlation in the comparison group was particularly significant among those with known risk factors such as obesity and family history of diabetes. Conclusions These results show that the GLUT4:NF\u03baB ratio is a reliable marker for the diabetogenic action of dioxin, particularly at very low exposure levels that are not much higher than those found in the general public, implying a need to address current exposure levels."}
{"id": "MED-2395", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Low-level exposure to some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) has recently become a focus because of their possible link with the risk of diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional associations of the serum concentrations of POPs with diabetes prevalence were investigated in 2,016 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002. Six POPs (2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-heptachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9-octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, oxychlordane, p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, and trans-nonachlor) were selected, because they were detectable in >or=80% of participants. RESULTS: Compared with subjects with serum concentrations below the limit of detection, after adjustment for age, sex, race and ethnicity, poverty income ratio, BMI, and waist circumference, diabetes prevalence was strongly positively associated with lipid-adjusted serum concentrations of all six POPs. When the participants were classified according to the sum of category numbers of the six POPs, adjusted odds ratios were 1.0, 14.0, 14.7, 38.3, and 37.7 (P for trend < 0.001). The association was consistent in stratified analyses and stronger in younger participants, Mexican Americans, and obese individuals. CONCLUSIONS: There were striking dose-response relations between serum concentrations of six selected POPs and the prevalence of diabetes. The strong graded association could offer a compelling challenge to future epidemiologic and toxicological research."}
{"id": "MED-2396", "text": "Rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), both in the United States and worldwide, have been rising at an alarming rate over the last two decades. Because this disease is viewed as primarily being attributable to unhealthy lifestyle habits, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on encouraging increased exercise, better dietary habits, and weight loss. Recent studies reveal that the presence of several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) can confer greater risk for developing the disease than some of the established lifestyle risk factors. In fact, evidence suggests the hypothesis that obesity might only be a significant risk factor when adipose tissue contains high amounts of POPs. Chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, in particular, have been strongly linked to the development of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and T2DM. In addition to reviewing the evidence associating POPs to these conditions, this article explores the possible contribution of farmed Atlantic salmon - a significant and common dietary source of POPs - with blood sugar dysregulation conditions."}
{"id": "MED-2397", "text": "Background Studies have demonstrated ubiquitous human exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as p,p\u2032-diphenyldichloroethene (DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Although there is considerable evidence that POP exposures are associated with prevalent diabetes, these studies do not establish causality because the cross-sectional study design does not allow for assessment of temporality of the exposure\u2013disease association. Prospective studies, however, have been lacking. Objectives This study was designed to determine whether POP body burdens are related to incidence of diabetes in a cohort of Great Lakes sport fish consumers. Methods The cohort was established in the early 1990s and followed through 2005. We tested serum for DDE and PCB congeners and assessed diabetes diagnosis, demographics, and fish consumption. Associations of diabetes with exposures were examined prospectively in participants without diabetes in 1994\u20131995, followed through 2005. Annual percent changes in DDE and PCB-132/153 from 1994 to 2005 were examined by diabetes status. Results DDE exposure was associated with incident diabetes. Incident diabetes was not associated with mono-ortho PCB-118, total PCBs, or years of sport fish consumption. Annual percent change in DDE and PCB-132/153 did not differ significantly by diabetes status. Conclusions This study demonstrates an association between DDE exposure and incident diabetes. The findings of an association of DDE with incident diabetes and the lack of effect of diabetes on annual percent change in POPs do not support the hypothesis that associations of POPs with diabetes are attributable to reverse causality. Additional studies should address the biological pathways by which DDE could affect glucose homeostasis."}
{"id": "MED-2398", "text": "The worldwide increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) poses an immense public health hazard leading to a variety of complications such as cardiovascular diseases, nephropathy and neuropathy. Diet, as a key component of a healthy human lifestyle, plays an important role in the prevention and management of T2DM and its complications. The dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been associated with various favourable functions such as anti-inflammatory effects, improving endothelial function, controlling the blood pressure, and reducing hypertriglyceridemia and insulin insensitivity. According to some epidemiological studies, a lower prevalence of T2DM was found in populations consuming large amounts of seafood products, which are rich in n-3 PUFAs. However, the evidence on the relation between fish intake, dietary n-3 PUFAs, and risk of T2DM is controversial. Therefore, this paper aimed to review the epidemiological and clinical studies on the role of dietary n-3 PUFAs in T2DM. Also, the limitations of these studies and the need for potential further research on the subject are discussed. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2400", "text": "The early effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) exposure in the population involved in the Seveso, Italy, incident in 1976, have been examined in numerous studies. Chloracne was the only effect linked with sufficient certainty to dioxin exposure. The possible long-term consequences were investigated with mortality and cancer incidence studies. Mortality and morbidity findings during the 20-year period following the accident showed increased risk from lymphoemopoietic neoplasm, digestive system cancer (rectum in males, and biliary tract among females, in particular) and respiratory system cancer (lung, among males). In the incidence analyses, also thyroid gland and pleura cancer appeared suggestively increased. Soft tissue sarcomas showed an increase in the largest, yet least exposed, exposure sub-cohort. Several hypotheses associating non-cancer effects with dioxin exposure were corroborated by findings in the Seveso population: this was the case with cardiovascular effects (possibly linked to both chemical exposure and stressful disaster experience), endocrine effects (diabetes among females) and reproductive effects: exposure of men to TCDD was linked to a lowered male/female sex ratio in their offspring. The results of many Seveso studies point to possible gender effects, in accordance with animal models. Notwithstanding the acknowledged study limitations (lack of individual exposure markers, short latency, and small population size for certain cancer types), results of previous experimental and epidemiological studies, along with mechanistic knowledge on dioxin toxicity, support the hypotheses that the observed excesses might be associated with dioxin exposure. The mortality and cancer incidence follow-up of the Seveso cohort are continuing."}
{"id": "MED-2402", "text": "Despite a proposed protective effect of fish intake on the risk of cardiovascular disease, epidemiologic evidence on fish intake and mortality is inconsistent. We investigated associations of fish intake, assessed through a validated food frequency questionnaire, with risks of total and cause-specific mortality in 2 prospective cohort studies of 134,296 Chinese men and women (1997\u20132009). Vital status and date and cause of death were ascertained through annual linkage to the Shanghai Vital Statistics Registry database and biennial home visits. Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals. After excluding the first year of observation, the analysis included 3,666 deaths among women and 2,170 deaths among men. Fish intake was inversely associated with risks of total, ischemic stroke, and diabetes mortality; the corresponding hazard ratios for the highest quintiles of intake compared with the lowest were 0.84 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.76, 0.92), 0.63 (95% CI: 0.41, 0.94), and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.39, 0.95), respectively. No associations with cancer or ischemic heart disease mortality were observed. Further analyses suggested that the inverse associations with total, ischemic stroke, and diabetes mortality were primarily related to consumption of saltwater fish and intake of long-chain n-3 fatty acids. Overall, our findings support the postulated health benefits of fish consumption."}
{"id": "MED-2404", "text": "Background Epidemiologic studies suggest that there may be an association between environmental exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and diabetes. Objective The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that residential proximity to POP-contaminated waste sites result in increased rates of hospitalization for diabetes. Methods We determined the number of hospitalized patients 25\u201374 years of age diagnosed with diabetes in New York State exclusive of New York City for the years 1993\u20132000. Descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression were used to compare diabetes hospitalization rates in individuals who resided in ZIP codes containing or abutting hazardous waste sites containing POPs (\u201cPOP\u201d sites); ZIP codes containing hazardous waste sites but with wastes other than POPs (\u201cother\u201d sites); and ZIP codes without any identified hazardous waste sites (\u201cclean\u201d sites). Results Compared with the hospitalization rates for diabetes in clean sites, the rate ratios for diabetes discharges for people residing in POP sites and \u201cother\u201d sites, after adjustment for potential confounders were 1.23 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.15\u20131.32] and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.16\u20131.34), respectively. In a subset of POP sites along the Hudson River, where there is higher income, less smoking, better diet, and more exercise, the rate ratio was 1.36 (95% CI, 1.26\u20131.47) compared to clean sites. Conclusions After controlling for major confounders, we found a statistically significant increase in the rate of hospitalization for diabetes among the population residing in the ZIP codes containing toxic waste sites."}
{"id": "MED-2405", "text": "The contribution of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the incidence of diabetes has received little attention until recently. A number of reports have emerged, however, concerning elevated diabetes in persons occupationally exposed to dioxin. United States (US) Air Force personnel in Vietnam who sprayed Agent Orange containing dioxin as a contaminant had elevated rates of diabetes, leading to US government compensation for diabetes in these veterans. Recent studies in populations exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides found a dose-dependent elevated risk of diabetes. An elevation in risk of diabetes in relation to levels of several POPs has been demonstrated by two different groups using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a random sampling of US citizens. The strong associations seen in quite different studies suggest the possibility that exposure to POPs could cause diabetes. One striking observation is that obese persons that do not have elevated POPs are not at elevated risk of diabetes, suggesting that the POPs rather than the obesity per se is responsible for the association. Although a specific mechanism is not known, most POPs induce a great number and variety of genes, including several that alter insulin action. Because diabetes is a dangerous disease that is increasing in frequency throughout the world, further study of the possibility that exposure to POPs contributes to the etiology of diabetes is critical."}
{"id": "MED-2406", "text": "Objective. To examine the association between fish and marine long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC n-3 PUFA) consumption and incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in prospective cohort studies. Methods. Meta-analytic procedures were used to estimate the relative risk (RR) using random effects or fixed effects generic inverse variance model. Publication bias and study heterogeneity were assessed using Egger's test and I2 statistic. Results. We found no significant association between the intake of fish/seafood (pooled RR: 1.04; P = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.9 to 1.2, 549, 955 participants) or marine LC n-3 PUFA (pooled RR: 1.08, P = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.90 to 1.30, 346, 710 participants) and T2D risk. Significant study heterogeneity was observed in fish/seafood and marine LC n-3 PUFA studies (P < 0.00001). Subgroup analysis revealed no obvious sources for high heterogeneity. We also found a significant protective effect of oily fish intake on T2D risk (pooled RR = 0.89, P = 0.005, 95% CI: 0.82 to 0.96). Dose-response analysis suggested that every 80\u2009g per day intake of oily fish may reduce 20% risk of T2D. Conclusion. We found no significant effect of fish/seafood or marine LC n-3 PUFA intake on risk of T2D but a significant effect of oily fish intake on risk of T2D."}
{"id": "MED-2407", "text": "Background Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are hazardous chemicals omnipresent in our food chain, which have been internationally regulated to ensure public health. Initially described for their potency to affect reproduction and promote cancer, recent studies have highlighted an unexpected implication of POPs in the development of metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes and obesity. Based on this novel knowledge, this article aims at stimulating discussion and evaluating the effectiveness of current POP legislation to protect humans against the risk of metabolic diseases. Furthermore, the regulation of POPs in animal food products in the European Union (EU) is addressed, with a special focus on marine food since it may represent a major source of POP exposure to humans. Discussion There is mounting scientific evidence showing that current POP risk assessment and regulation cannot effectively protect humans against metabolic disorders. Better regulatory control of POPs in dietary products should be of high public health priority. Summary The general population is exposed to sufficient POPs, both in term of concentration and diversity, to induce metabolic disorders. This situation should attract the greatest attention from the public health and governmental authorities."}
{"id": "MED-2409", "text": "Background Prospective cohort studies in relation to the associations between n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) were inconsistent. Differences in tissue n-3 PUFA compositions in subjects with and without T2D were also inconsistent in both cohort and case-control studies. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to examine the associations of fish and n-3 PUFA intake with T2D risk. The differences in tissue n-3 PUFA compositions in subjects with and without T2D were investigated based on cohort and case-control studies. Methods and Findings PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Chinese VIP database up to January 2012 was used to identify relevant studies, and reference lists from retrieved studies were reviewed. Two authors independently extracted the data. Random-effects models were used to pool the summary relative risk (RR). Twenty-four studies including 24,509 T2D patients and 545,275 participants were identified. For cohort studies, the summary RR of T2D for the highest vs lowest categories of total fish, marine n-3 PUFA and alpha-linolenic acid intake was 1.07 (95% CI: 0.91, 1.25), 1.07 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.20) and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.07), respectively. Subgroup analyses indicated that summary RR (highest vs lowest category) of T2D for fish and marine n-3 PUFA intake was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.81, 0.98) and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.96) for Asian populations, and 1.20 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.44) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.28) for Western populations. Asian subjects with T2D had significantly lower tissue compositions of C22\u22366n-3 (SMD: \u22121.43; 95% CI: \u22121.75, \u22121.12) and total n-3 PUFA (SMD: \u22121.41; 95% CI: \u22122.23, \u22120.59) compared with those without T2D. Conclusion This systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence that marine n-3 PUFA have beneficial effects on the prevention of T2D in Asian populations."}
{"id": "MED-2410", "text": "Background and aims Previous research on the association between fish consumption and incident type 2 diabetes has been inconclusive. In addition, few studies have investigated how fish consumption may be related to the metabolic abnormalities underlying diabetes. Therefore, we examined the association of fish consumption with measures of insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in a multi-ethnic population. Methods and results We examined the cross-sectional association between fish consumption and measures of insulin sensitivity and secretion in 951 non-diabetic participants in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). Fish consumption, categorized as <2 vs. \u22652 portions/week, was measured using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Insulin sensitivity (SI) and acute insulin response (AIR) were determined from frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance tests. Higher fish consumption was independently associated with lower SI-adjusted AIR (\u03b2=\u22120.13 [\u22120.25, \u22120.016], p=0.03, comparing \u2265 2 vs. <2 portions/week). Fish consumption was positively associated with intact and split proinsulin/C-peptide ratios, however, these associations were confounded by ethnicity (multivariable-adjusted \u03b2=0.073 [\u22120.014, 0.16] for intact proinsulin/C-peptide ratio, \u03b2=0.031 [\u22120.065, 0.13] for split proinsulin/C-peptide ratio). We also observed a significant positive association between fish consumption and fasting blood glucose (multivariable-adjusted \u03b2=2.27 [0.68, 3.86], p=0.005). We found no association between fish consumption and SI (multivariable-adjusted \u03b2= \u22120.015 [\u22120.083, 0.053]) or fasting insulin (multivariable-adjusted \u03b2=0.016 [\u22120.066, 0.10]). Conclusions Fish consumption was not associated with measures of insulin sensitivity in the multi-ethnic IRAS cohort. However, higher fish consumption may be associated with pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction."}
{"id": "MED-2411", "text": "The relationship between omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) from seafood (eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA; docosahexaenoic acid, DHA) or plant (alpha-linolenic acid, ALA) sources and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) remains unclear. We systematically searched multiple literature databases through June 2011 to identify prospective studies examining relations of dietary n-3 PUFA, dietary fish and/or seafood, and circulating n-3 PUFA biomarkers with incidence of DM. Data were independently extracted in duplicate by 2 investigators, including multivariate-adjusted relative risk (RR) estimates and corresponding 95% CIs. Generalized least-squares trend estimation was used to assess dose-response relationships, with pooled summary estimates calculated by both fixed-effect and random-effect models. From 288 identified abstracts, 16 studies met inclusion criteria, including 18 separate cohorts comprising 540,184 individuals and 25,670 cases of incident DM. Consumption of fish and/or seafood was not significantly associated with DM (n=13 studies; RR per 100g/d=1.12, 95% CI=0.94, 1.34); nor were consumption of EPA+DHA (n=16 cohorts; RR per 250mg/d=1.04, 95% CI=0.97, 1.10) or circulating levels of EPA+DHA biomarkers (n=5 cohorts; RR per 3% of total fatty acids=0.94, 95% CI=0.75, 1.17). Both dietary ALA (n=7 studies; RR per 0.5g/d=0.93, 95% CI=0.83, 1.04) and circulating ALA biomarker levels (n=6 studies; RR per 0.1% of total fatty acid=0.90, 95% CI=0.80, 1.00, P=0.06) were associated with non-significant trend towards lower risk of DM. Substantial heterogeneity (I2~80%) was observed among studies of fish/seafood or EPA+DHA and DM; moderate heterogeneity (<55%) was seen for dietary and biomarker ALA and DM. In unadjusted meta-regressions, study location (Asia vs. North America/Europe), mean BMI, and duration of follow-up each modified the association between fish/seafood and EPA+DHA consumption and DM risk (P-Interaction \u2264 0.02 each). We had limited statistical power to determine the independent effect of these sources of heterogeneity due to their high collinearity. The overall pooled findings do not support either major harms or benefits of fish/seafood or EPA+DHA on development of DM, and suggest that ALA may be associated with modestly lower risk. Reasons for potential heterogeneity of effects, which could include true biologic heterogeneity, publication bias, or chance, deserve further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-2412", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of fish oil supplementation on lipid levels and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A comprehensive search of Medline, Embase, Lilacs, the Cochrane Clinical Trials Registry bibliographies of relevant papers, and expert input updated through September 1998 was undertaken. All randomized placebo-controlled trials were included in which fish oil supplementation was the only intervention in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Three investigators performed data extraction and quality scoring independently with discrepancies resolved by consensus. Eighteen trials including 823 subjects followed for a mean of 12 weeks were included. Doses of fish oil used ranged from 3 to 18 g/day The outcomes studied were glycemic control and lipid levels. RESULTS: Meta-analysis of pooled data demonstrated a statistically significant effect of fish oil on lowering triglycerides (-0.56 mmol/l [95% CI -0.71 to -0.41]) and raising LDL cholesterol (0.21 mmol/l [0.02 to 0.41]). No statistically significant effect was observed for fasting glucose. HbA1c total cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol. The triglyceride-lowering effect and the elevation in LDL cholesterol were most marked in those trials that recruited hypertriglyceridemic subjects and used higher doses of fish oil. Heterogeneity was observed and explained by the recruitment of subjects with baseline hypertriglyceridemia in some studies. CONCLUSIONS: Fish oil supplementation in type 2 diabetes lowers triglycerides, raises LDL cholesterol, and has no statistically significant effect on glycemic control. Trials with hard clinical end points are needed."}
{"id": "MED-2413", "text": "Results from observational studies on the association of fish and n-3 fatty acid consumption with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk are conflicting. Hence, a meta-analysis was performed to investigate this association from cohort studies. A comprehensive search was then conducted to identify cohort studies on the association of fish and/or n-3 fatty acid intake with T2DM risk. In the highest v. lowest categorical analyses, the fixed or random-effect model was selected based on the homogeneity test among studies. Linear and non-linear dose-response relationships were also assessed by univariate and bivariate random-effect meta-regression with restricted maximum likelihood estimation. In the highest v. lowest categorical analyses, the pooled relative risk (RR) of T2DM for intake of fish and n-3 fatty acid was 1\u00b7146 (95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b7975, 1\u00b7346) and 1\u00b7076 (95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b7955, 1\u00b7213), respectively. In the linear dose-response relationship, the pooled RR for an increment of one time (about 105\u00a0g)/week of fish intake (four times/month) and of 0\u00b71\u00a0g/d of n-3 fatty acid intake was 1\u00b7042 (95\u00a0% CI 1\u00b7026, 1\u00b7058) and 1\u00b7057 (95\u00a0% CI 1\u00b7042, 1\u00b7073), respectively. The significant non-linear dose-response associations of fish and n-3 fatty acid intake with T2DM risk were not observed. The present evidence from observational studies suggests that the intake of both fish and n-3 fatty acids might be weakly positively associated with the T2DM risk. Further studies are needed to confirm these results."}
{"id": "MED-2414", "text": "Conjectured associations between dietary acrylamide intake and cancer have been evaluated in more than 15 epidemiologic studies examining almost every major cancer site. We have critically reviewed the epidemiologic studies of estimated dietary acrylamide exposure and cancer. As substantially greater acrylamide exposure occurs through tobacco smoke than dietary exposure, we present the results separately for never smokers or adjusted statistically for smoking status, where possible. After an extensive examination of the published literature, we found no consistent or credible evidence that dietary acrylamide increases the risk of any type of cancer in humans, either overall or among nonsmokers. In particular, the collective evidence suggests that a high level of dietary acrylamide intake is not a risk factor for breast, endometrial, or ovarian cancers, which have generated particular interest because of a conjectured hormonal mechanism of acrylamide. Moreover, the absence of a positive association between smoking and ovarian and endometrial cancers suggests that any association of these cancers with the much lower, more sporadic dietary acrylamide intake is unlikely. In conclusion, epidemiologic studies of dietary acrylamide intake have failed to demonstrate an increased risk of cancer. In fact, the sporadically and slightly increased and decreased risk ratios reported in more than two dozen papers examined in this review strongly suggest the pattern one would expect to find for a true null association over the course of a series of trials. Therefore, continued epidemiologic investigation of acrylamide and cancer risk appears to be a misguided research priority."}
{"id": "MED-2416", "text": "BACKGROUND: Relatively high concentrations of acrylamide in commonly ingested food products, such as French fries, potato chips, or cereals, may constitute a potential risk to human health. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the possible connection between chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing potato chips and oxidative stress or inflammation. DESIGN: Fourteen healthy volunteers (mean age: 35 y; 8 women and 6 smokers of >20 cigarettes/d) were given 160 g of potato chips containing 157 microg [corrected] acrylamide daily for 4 wk. RESULTS: An increase in acrylamide-hemoglobin adducts in blood was found in all the study subjects, with a mean of 43.1 pmol x L(-1) x g(-1) hemoglobin (range: 27-76; P < 0.01) in nonsmokers and 59.0 pmol x L(-1) x g(-1) hemoglobin (range: 43-132; P < 0.05) in smokers. Concurrently, a significant increase (P < 0.01) in the oxidized LDL, high-sensitivity interleukin-6, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and gamma-glutamyltransferase concentrations was observed in both smokers and nonsmokers. A significant increase in reactive oxygen radical production by monocytes, lymphocytes, and granulocytes and an increase in CD14 expression in macrophages (P < 0.001) were found after intake of potato chips. Twenty-eight days from the discontinuation of the experiment, the variables under study decreased to some extent. It has been shown also that acrylamide increases the production of reactive oxygen species in isolated human monocyte-macrophages in vitro and decreases the cellular glutathione concentration. CONCLUSION: These novel findings seem to indicate that chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing products induces a proinflammatory state, a risk factor for progression of atherosclerosis."}
{"id": "MED-2417", "text": "BACKGROUND: Inconsistent associations have been reported between diet and breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: We prospectively examined the association between dietary patterns and postmenopausal breast cancer risk in a US-wide cohort study. DESIGN: Data were analyzed from 40 559 women who completed a self-administered 61-item Block food-frequency questionnaire in the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project, 1987-1998; 1868 of those women developed breast cancer. Dietary patterns were defined by using principal components factor analysis. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to assess breast cancer risk. RESULTS: Three major dietary patterns emerged: vegetable-fish/poultry-fruit, beef/pork-starch, and traditional southern. The vegetable-fish/poultry-fruit pattern was associated with higher education than were the other patterns, but was similar in nutrient intake to the traditional southern pattern. After adjustment for confounders, there was no significant association between the vegetable-fish/poultry-fruit and beef/pork-starch patterns and breast cancer. The traditional southern pattern, however, was associated with a nonsignificantly reduced breast cancer risk among all cases (in situ and invasive) that was significant for invasive breast cancer (relative hazard = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.65, 0.95; P for trend = 0.003). This diet was also associated with a reduced risk in women without a family history of breast cancer (P = 0.05), who were underweight or normal weight [body mass index (in kg/m(2)) < 25; P = 0.02], or who had tumors positive for estrogen receptor (P = 0.01) or progesterone receptor (P = 0.003). Foods in the traditional southern pattern associated with reduced breast cancer risk were legumes, low mayonnaise-salad dressing intake, and possibly cabbage. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional southern diet or its components are associated with a reduced risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-2418", "text": "Background Evidence suggests that high-heat cooking methods may increase the risk of prostate cancer (PCa). The addition of oil/fat, as in deep-frying, may be of particular concern, and has not specifically been investigated in relation to PCa. Potential mechanisms include the formation of potentially carcinogenic agents such as aldehydes, acrolein, heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and acrylamide. Methods We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between tertiles of intake of deep-fried foods from a food frequency questionnaire (French fries, fried chicken, fried fish, doughnuts and snack chips) and PCa risk, adjusted for potential confounders, among 1,549 cases and 1,492 controls. We additionally examined associations with more aggressive PCa (defined as regional/distant stage, elevated Gleason score or prostate specific antigen level). Results Compared with <1/week, there was a positive association with PCa risk for intake \u2265 1/week of French fries (OR=1.37; 95% CI, 1.11\u20131.69), fried chicken (OR=1.30; 95% CI, 1.04\u20131.62), fried fish (OR=1.32; 95% CI, 1.05\u20131.66), and doughnuts (OR=1.35; 95% CI, 1.11\u20131.66). There was no association for snack chips (OR=1.08; 95% CI, 0.89\u20131.32). Most of the estimates were slightly stronger for more aggressive disease (OR=1.41; 95% CI, 1.04\u20131.92 for fried fish). Conclusion Regular consumption of select deep-fried foods is associated with increased PCa risk. Whether this risk is specific to deep-fried foods, or whether it represents risk associated with regular intake of foods exposed to high heat and/or other aspects of the Western lifestyle, such as fast food consumption, remains to be determined."}
{"id": "MED-2420", "text": "Acrylamide occurs in foods commonly consumed in diets worldwide. It is formed from the reaction of reducing sugars (e.g., glucose or fructose) with the amino acid asparagine via the Maillard reaction, which occurs during heat processing of foods, primarily those derived from plant origin, such as potato and cereal products, above 120\u00b0C (248\u00b0F). The majority of epidemiological studies concerning potential relationships between acrylamide consumption and different types of cancer have indicated no increased risk, except with a few types that warrant further study. Efforts to reduce the formation of acrylamide in food products have resulted in some successes, but there is no common approach that works for all foods. Reduction in some foods is probably not possible. The results from a major toxicological study (aqueous intake of acrylamide by rats and mice) are in the process of being released. The status of current knowledge in these areas is reviewed."}
{"id": "MED-2421", "text": "Background: Acrylamide is a common dietary exposure that crosses the human placenta. It is classified as a probable human carcinogen, and developmental toxicity has been observed in rodents. Objectives: We examined the associations between prenatal exposure to acrylamide and birth outcomes in a prospective European mother\u2013child study. Methods: Hemoglobin (Hb) adducts of acrylamide and its metabolite glycidamide were measured in cord blood (reflecting cumulated exposure in the last months of pregnancy) from 1,101 singleton pregnant women recruited in Denmark, England, Greece, Norway, and Spain during 2006\u20132010. Maternal diet was estimated through food-frequency questionnaires. Results: Both acrylamide and glycidamide Hb adducts were associated with a statistically significant reduction in birth weight and head circumference. The estimated difference in birth weight for infants in the highest versus lowest quartile of acrylamide Hb adduct levels after adjusting for gestational age and country was \u2013132 g (95% CI: \u2013207, \u201356); the corresponding difference for head circumference was \u20130.33 cm (95% CI: \u20130.61, \u20130.06). Findings were similar in infants of nonsmokers, were consistent across countries, and remained after adjustment for factors associated with reduced birth weight. Maternal consumption of foods rich in acrylamide, such as fried potatoes, was associated with cord blood acrylamide adduct levels and with reduced birth weight. Conclusions: Dietary exposure to acrylamide was associated with reduced birth weight and head circumference. Consumption of specific foods during pregnancy was associated with higher acrylamide exposure in utero. If confirmed, these findings suggest that dietary intake of acrylamide should be reduced among pregnant women."}
{"id": "MED-2422", "text": "Human exposure to acrylamide (AA) through consumption of French fries and other foods has been recognized as a potential health concern. Here, we used a statistical non-linear regression model, based on the two most influential factors, cooking temperature and time, to estimate AA concentrations in French fries. The R(2) of the predictive model is 0.83, suggesting the developed model was significant and valid. Based on French fry intake survey data conducted in this study and eight frying temperature-time schemes which can produce tasty and visually appealing French fries, the Monte Carlo simulation results showed that if AA concentration is higher than 168 ppb, the estimated cancer risk for adolescents aged 13-18 years in Taichung City would be already higher than the target excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR), and that by taking into account this limited life span only. In order to reduce the cancer risk associated with AA intake, the AA levels in French fries might have to be reduced even further if the epidemiological observations are valid. Our mathematical model can serve as basis for further investigations on ELCR including different life stages and behavior and population groups. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2423", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women worldwide. Several studies have examined the role of single nutrients and food groups in breast cancer pathogenesis but fewer investigations have addressed the role of dietary patterns. Our main objective was to identify the relationship between major dietary patterns and breast cancer risk among Iranian women. DESIGN: Hospital-based case-control study. SETTING: Shohada Teaching Hospital, Tehran, Iran. SUBJECTS: Overall, 100 female patients aged 30-65 years with breast cancer and 174 female hospital controls were included in the present study. Dietary intake was assessed using a valid and reliable semi-quantitative FFQ consisting of 168 food items. RESULTS: Two dietary patterns were identified explaining 24\u00b731 % of dietary variation in the study population. The 'healthy' food pattern was characterized by the consumption of vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, legumes, olive and vegetable oils, fish, condiments, organ meat, poultry, pickles, soya and whole grains; while the 'unhealthy' food pattern was characterized by the consumption of soft drinks, sugars, tea and coffee, French fries and potato chips, salt, sweets and desserts, hydrogenated fats, nuts, industrial juice, refined grains, and red and processed meat. Compared with the lowest tertile, women in the highest tertile of the 'healthy' dietary pattern score had 75 % decreased risk of breast cancer (OR = 0\u00b725, 95 % CI 0\u00b708, 0\u00b778), whereas women in the highest tertile of the 'unhealthy' dietary pattern had a significantly increased breast cancer risk (OR = 7\u00b778, 95 % CI 2\u00b731, 26\u00b722). CONCLUSIONS: A healthy dietary pattern may be negatively associated with breast cancer risk, while an unhealthy dietary pattern is likely to increase the risk among Iranian women."}
{"id": "MED-2424", "text": "Events before puberty may affect adult risk of breast cancer. We examined whether diet during preschool age may affect a woman's risk of breast cancer later in life. We conducted a case-control study including 582 women with breast cancer and 1,569 controls free of breast cancer selected from participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Nurses' Health Study II. Information concerning childhood diet of the nurses at ages 3-5 years was obtained from the mothers of the participants with a 30-item food-frequency questionnaire. An increased risk of breast cancer was observed among woman who had frequently consumed French fries at preschool age. For one additional serving of French fries per week, the odds ratio (OR) for breast cancer adjusted for adult life breast cancer risk factors was 1.27 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12-1.44). Consumption of whole milk was associated with a slightly decreased risk of breast cancer (covariate-adjusted OR for every additional glass of milk per day = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.82-0.99). Intake of none of the nutrients calculated was related to the risk of breast cancer risk in this study. These data suggest a possible association between diet before puberty and the subsequent risk of breast cancer. Differential recall of preschool diet by the mothers of cases and controls has to be considered as a possible explanation for the observed associations. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether the association between preschool diet and breast cancer is reproducible in prospective data not subject to recall bias. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2426", "text": "Acrylamide is a probable human carcinogen, with industrial contact, tobacco smoking and foods processed at high temperatures as the main routes of exposure. In animal studies oral intake of acrylamide has been related to cancer development, with indications that the increased cancer occurrence especially regards endocrine related tumors. In human epidemiological studies, dietary exposure to acrylamide has also been suggested related to higher risk of endocrine related tumors, like estrogen sensitive breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if pre-diagnostic acrylamide exposure, measured by acrylamide and glycidamide hemoglobin adducts (AA-Hb and GA-Hb), were associated to mortality in breast cancer cases. Among 24,697 postmenopausal women included into a Danish cohort between 1993 and 1997, 420 developed breast cancer before 2001 and 110 died before 2009. AA-Hb and GA-Hb concentrations measured in blood samples were related to mortality by Cox proportional hazard models. Estimates are given per 25 pmol/g globin higher levels. Among non-smokers, higher concentrations of GA-Hb were associated to a higher hazard rate of breast cancer specific mortality (HR (95% CI): 1.63 (1.06-2.51)), the hazard rate among women diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive tumors was (HR (95% CI): 2.23 (1.38-3.61)). For AA-Hb the tendency was similar, but only statistically significant among those with estrogen receptor positive tumors (HR (95% CI): 1.31 (1.02-1.69)). In conclusion, the present study indicates that pre-diagnostic exposure to acrylamide may be related to mortality among breast cancer patients and that this may especially concern the most endocrine related type of breast cancer. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2427", "text": "Lipid rafts/caveolae are membrane platforms for signaling molecules that regulate various cellular functions, including cell survival. To better understand the role of rafts in tumor progression and therapeutics, we investigated the effect of raft disruption on cell viability and compared raft levels in human cancer cell lines versus their normal counterparts. Here, we report that cholesterol depletion using methyl-\u03b2 cyclodextrin caused anoikis-like apoptosis, which in A431 cells involved decreased raft levels, Bcl-xL down-regulation, caspase-3 activation, and Akt inactivation regardless of epidermal growth factor receptor activation. Cholesterol repletion replenished rafts on the cell surface and restored Akt activation and cell viability. Moreover, the breast cancer and the prostate cancer cell lines contained more lipid rafts and were more sensitive to cholesterol depletion-induced cell death than their normal counterparts. These results indicate that cancer cells contain increased levels of rafts and suggest a potential use of raft-modulating agents as anti-cancer drugs."}
{"id": "MED-2428", "text": "This paper is based on a longer report on the benefits, safety and modalities of information representation with regard to women and statin use, situated within the historical context of Women's Health Movement which has advocated for unbiased, appropriate medical research and prescribing for women based on the goals of full-disclosure, informed consent, evidence-based medicine and gender-based analysis. The evidence base for prescribing statins for women, especially for primary prevention is weak, yet Canadian data suggest that half of all prescriptions are for women. Safety meta-analyses do not disaggregate for women; do not consider female vulnerability to statin induced muscle problems, and women-centred concerns such as breast-cancer, miscarriage or birth defects are under-researched. Many trials have not published their non-cardiac serious adverse event data. These factors suggest that the standards of full-disclosure, informed consent, evidence-based prescribing and gender-based analysis are not being met and women should proceed with caution."}
{"id": "MED-2429", "text": "Emerging evidence suggests that statins' may decrease the risk of cancers. However, available evidence on breast cancer is conflicting. We, therefore, examined the association between statin use and risk of breast cancer by conducting a detailed meta-analysis of all observational studies published regarding this subject. PubMed database and bibliographies of retrieved articles were searched for epidemiological studies published up to January 2012, investigating the relationship between statin use and breast cancer. Before meta-analysis, the studies were evaluated for publication bias and heterogeneity. Combined relative risk (RR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random-effects model (DerSimonian and Laird method). Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analysis, and cumulative meta-analysis were also performed. A total of 24 (13 cohort and 11 case-control) studies involving more than 2.4 million participants, including 76,759 breast cancer cases contributed to this analysis. We found no evidence of publication bias and evidence of heterogeneity among the studies. Statin use and long-term statin use did not significantly affect breast cancer risk (RR = 0.99, 95 % CI = 0.94, 1.04 and RR = 1.03, 95 % CI = 0.96, 1.11, respectively). When the analysis was stratified into subgroups, there was no evidence that study design substantially influenced the effect estimate. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of our results. Cumulative meta-analysis showed a change in trend of reporting risk of breast cancer from positive to negative in statin users between 1993 and 2011. Our meta-analysis findings do not support the hypothesis that statins' have a protective effect against breast cancer. More randomized clinical trials and observational studies are needed to confirm this association with underlying biological mechanisms in the future."}
{"id": "MED-2430", "text": "The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the dietary phytosterol beta-sitosterol (SIT) and the antiestrogen drug tamoxifen (TAM) on cell growth and ceramide (CER) metabolism in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. The MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were studied as models of estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells. Growth of both cell lines as determined using the sulforhodamine B assay was inhibited by treatment with 16 microM SIT but only MCF-7 cell growth was inhibited by treatment with 1 microM TAM. The combination of SIT and TAM further inhibited growth in both cell lines, most significantly in MDA-MB-231 cells. CER is a proapoptotic signal and CER levels were increased in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells by individual treatment with SIT and TAM and the combined treatment raised cellular CER content even further. SIT and TAM raised CER levels by different means. SIT potently activated de novo CER synthesis in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells by stimulating serine palmitoyltransferase activity; whereas TAM promoted CER accumulation in both cell types by inhibiting CER glycosylation. These results suggest that the combination regimen of dietary SIT and TAM chemotherapy may be beneficial in the management of breast cancer patients."}
{"id": "MED-2432", "text": "It is likely that plant food consumption throughout much of human evolution shaped the dietary requirements of contemporary humans. Diets would have been high in dietary fiber, vegetable protein, plant sterols and associated phytochemicals, and low in saturated and trans-fatty acids and other substrates for cholesterol biosynthesis. To meet the body's needs for cholesterol, we believe genetic differences and polymorphisms were conserved by evolution, which tended to raise serum cholesterol levels. As a result modern man, with a radically different diet and lifestyle, especially in middle age, is now recommended to take medications to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Experimental introduction of high intakes of viscous fibers, vegetable proteins and plant sterols in the form of a possible Myocene diet of leafy vegetables, fruit and nuts, lowered serum LDL-cholesterol in healthy volunteers by over 30%, equivalent to first generation statins, the standard cholesterol-lowering medications. Furthermore, supplementation of a modern therapeutic diet in hyperlipidemic subjects with the same components taken as oat, barley and psyllium for viscous fibers, soy and almonds for vegetable proteins and plant sterol-enriched margarine produced similar reductions in LDL-cholesterol as the Myocene-like diet and reduced the majority of subjects' blood lipids concentrations into the normal range. We conclude that reintroduction of plant food components, which would have been present in large quantities in the plant based diets eaten throughout most of human evolution into modern diets can correct the lipid abnormalities associated with contemporary eating patterns and reduce the need for pharmacological interventions."}
{"id": "MED-2434", "text": "The specific role of dietary fat in breast cancer progression is unclear, although a low-fat diet was associated with decreased recurrence of estrogen receptor alpha negative (ER(-)) breast cancer. ER(-) basal-like MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436 breast cancer cell lines contained a greater number of cytoplasmic lipid droplets compared to luminal ER(+) MCF-7 cells. Therefore, we studied lipid storage functions in these cells. Both triacylglycerol and cholesteryl ester (CE) concentrations were higher in the ER(-) cells, but the ability to synthesize CE distinguished the two types of breast cancer cells. Higher baseline, oleic acid- and LDL-stimulated CE concentrations were found in ER(-) compared to ER(+) cells. The differences corresponded to greater mRNA and protein levels of acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase 1 (ACAT1), higher ACAT activity, higher caveolin-1 protein levels, greater LDL uptake, and lower de novo cholesterol synthesis in ER(-) cells. Human LDL stimulated proliferation of ER(-) MDA-MB-231 cells, but had little effect on proliferation of ER(+) MCF-7 cells. The functional significance of these findings was demonstrated by the observation that the ACAT inhibitor CP-113,818 reduced proliferation of breast cancer cells, and specifically reduced LDL-induced proliferation of ER(-) cells. Taken together, our studies show that a greater ability to take up, store and utilize exogenous cholesterol confers a proliferative advantage to basal-like ER(-) breast cancer cells. Differences in lipid uptake and storage capability may at least partially explain the differential effect of a low-fat diet on human breast cancer recurrence."}
{"id": "MED-2436", "text": "The content of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors in tissue from primary breast cancers was determined and its prognostic information compared with that of variables of established prognostic importance. Frozen tumour specimens were selected, and tissue from 72 patients (32 of whom had died) were studied. The LDL receptor content showed an inverse correlation with the survival time. Analysis by a multivariate statistical method showed that the presence of axillary metastasis, content of receptors for oestrogen and LDL, diameter of the tumour, and DNA pattern were all of prognostic value with regard to patient survival. Improved methods of predicting survival time in patients with breast cancer may be of value in the choice of treatment for individual patients."}
{"id": "MED-2437", "text": "BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Extensive research has been completed to evaluate the relationship between dietary factors and breast cancer risk and survival after breast cancer; however, a summary report with clinical inference is needed. Materials and METHODS: This review summarizes the current epidemiological and clinical trial evidence relating diet to breast cancer incidence, recurrence, survival, and mortality. The review includes emerging epidemiological studies that assess risk within breast cancer subtypes as well as a summary of previous and ongoing dietary intervention trials designed to modify breast cancer risk. RESULTS: The available literature suggests that both low-fat and high-fiber diets may be weakly protective against breast cancer, whereas total energy intake and alcohol appear to be positively associated. Fiber may be weakly protective possibly through modulation of estrogen, whereas fruit and vegetable intake is not clearly associated with risk. Obesity is a risk factor for postmenopausal disease, and adult weight gain should be avoided to reduce risk. In survivors, diet has the greatest potential influence on overall mortality rather than breast cancer-specific events. CONCLUSION: Diet is modestly associated with breast cancer risk; associations appear more pronounced for postmenopausal disease, and healthy choices after diagnosis and treatment likely support longevity more so than reduced risk for recurrent disease."}
{"id": "MED-2438", "text": "Phytoestrogens are structurally similar to estrogens and may affect breast cancer risk by mimicking estrogenic/antiestrogenic properties. In Western societies, whole grains and possibly soy foods are rich sources of phytoestrogens. A population-based case-control study in German postmenopausal women was used to evaluate the association of phytoestrogen-rich foods and dietary lignans with breast cancer risk. Dietary data were collected from 2,884 cases and 5,509 controls using a validated food-frequency questionnaire, which included additional questions phytoestrogen-rich foods. Associations were assessed using conditional logistic regression. All analyses were adjusted for relevant risk and confounding factors. Polytomous logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the associations by estrogen receptor (ER) status. High and low consumption of soybeans as well as of sunflower and pumpkin seeds were associated with significantly reduced breast cancer risk compared to no consumption (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.70-0.97; and OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.77-0.97, respectively). The observed associations were not differential by ER status. No statistically significant associations were found for dietary intake of plant lignans, fiber, or the calculated enterolignans. Our results provide evidence for a reduced postmenopausal breast cancer risk associated with increased consumption of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and soybeans."}
{"id": "MED-2442", "text": "A few patients remain severely affected by atopic dermatitis into adult life despite treatment with systemic steroids, azathioprine, and photochemotherapy. 33 patients took part in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study to assess the efficacy and safety of cyclosporin (5 mg/kg per day) in adults with severe refractory atopic dermatitis. Treatments were given for eight weeks each with one group (n = 16) receiving placebo followed by cyclosporin and another (n = 17) receiving cyclosporin and then placebo. Disease activity, extent of disease, sleep and itch, topical steroid use, and adverse events were assessed every two weeks. Both extent and activity of dermatitis were significantly improved (p less than 0.001) as were subjective measures of disease. 20 patients receiving cyclosporin reported adverse events compared with 8 taking placebo, although no patient required withdrawal from the study. Cyclosporin therapy led to an increase in the mean serum urea, creatinine, and bilirubin concentrations, although only the rise in bilirubin was significant (p = 0.001). Our results confirm that cyclosporin is a safe and effective short-term treatment for severe, refractory atopic dermatitis."}
{"id": "MED-2444", "text": "This is a review of the side-effects of cyclosporin A (CyA) in patients with severe psoriasis; renal dysfunction and hypertension are discussed elsewhere. In particular, paraesthesia, hypertrichosis, gingival hyperplasia and gastrointestinal disorders may occur, but are generally transient, mild-to-moderate in severity and only rarely require discontinuation of CyA. Infections are not a problem. As expected with an immunosuppressive drug, there is the possible risk of tumour development, particularly squamous cell carcinomas. However, these skin malignancies developed almost exclusively in patients previously treated with PUVA and/or methotrexate. The few lymphoproliferative disorders regressed spontaneously on discontinuation of the drug. Whether the isolated cases of solid tumours were CyA-related is not known. Apart from a raised serum creatinine, an important indicator of renal dysfunction, the laboratory abnormalities included hypomagnesaemia, hyperkalaemia, increased uric acid, changes in liver function tests, and fluctuations in the serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Although most of these changes were not clinically relevant, laboratory monitoring of patients with psoriasis treated with CyA is essential."}
{"id": "MED-2445", "text": "Allergic disorders encompass skin, food and respiratory allergies. Sensitization to a normally harmless allergen results in the immune system being biased to a predominant T-helper type 2 response. Re-exposure to the same allergen leads to a robust secretion of allergy-related mediators that eventually triggers symptoms. Our understanding of these disorders has enabled the search of therapeutic approaches that can either modulate the sensitization process or impact on allergic mediators, thus helping manage allergic symptoms. Polyphenols are one such class of compounds that are found in foods and plant sources and have been investigated for their anti-allergic effect in different disease models and in human clinical trials. Their anti-inflammatory profile is known to impact on the recruitment of immune cells to the skin and in preventing the development of secondary infections following disruption of the skin barrier. The interaction of polyphenols with proteins can modulate the process of allergic sensitization and their direct effect on allergic effector cells such as mast cells inhibit mediator release, resulting in the alleviation of symptoms. In addition, their endogenous anti-oxidant ability limits the extent of cellular injury from free radicals during the allergic insult. Overall, polyphenols hold promise as anti-allergy agents capable of influencing multiple biological pathways and immune cell functions in the allergic immune response and deserve further investigation. The objective of the current review is to summarize the key findings and progress made in studying polyphenols as anti-allergic ingredients. Special emphasis is placed in this review to highlight key physiological, cellular and signalling pathways implicated in the mechanism of action of different polyphenols in the context of allergic disorders and their manifestations. \u00a9 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2446", "text": "BACKGROUND: Allergic diseases have risen in prevalence over recent decades. The aetiology remains unclear but is likely to be a result of changing lifestyle and/or environment. A reduction in antioxidant intake, consequent to reduced intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, has been suggested as a possible cause. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether dietary antioxidant intake at age 5 was related to atopy at 5 and 8 years of age amongst children in an unselected birth cohort. METHODS: Children were followed from birth. Parents completed a validated respiratory questionnaire and children were skin prick tested at 5 and 8 years of age. Serum IgE levels were measured at age 5. At age 5, antioxidant intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). A nutrient analysis program computed nutrient intake, and frequency counts of foods high in the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E were assessed. RESULTS: Eight hundred and sixty-one children completed both the respiratory and FFQ. Beta-carotene intake was associated with reduced risk of allergic sensitization at age 5 [0.80 (0.68-0.93)] and 8 [0.81 (0.70-0.94)]. In addition, beta-carotene intake was negatively associated with total IgE levels (P = 0.002). Vitamin E intake was associated with an increased risk of allergic sensitization [1.19 (1.02-1.39)], only at age 5. There was no association between antioxidant intakes and wheeze or eczema. CONCLUSION: Increased beta-carotene intake was associated with a reduced risk of allergic sensitization and lower IgE levels, in 5- and 8-year-old children. Dietary antioxidants may play a role in the development of allergic sensitization."}
{"id": "MED-2448", "text": "A double-blind comparative study was conducted on cedar pollinosis patients in order to evaluate the treatment efficacy of apple polyphenol (Ap). Ap was administered (500 mg) once daily for 12 weeks, starting about 2 weeks prior to cedar pollen dispersion. Pollinosis symptoms during the study were evaluated according to the classification in the guidelines for allergic rhinitis diagnosis and treatment. The results show that the sneezing score was significantly lower for the Ap group than with the placebo group during the early period of pollen dispersion and during the main dispersion period. In addition, no adverse reactions were induced by Ap during the study. These results suggest that Ap may alleviate the symptoms of cedar pollinosis."}
{"id": "MED-2449", "text": "BACKGROUND: Recently, some common foods in daily life have been found to have anti-allergic effects. We have reported that tomato extract (TE) could possibly inhibit histamine release and mouse ear-swelling responses. Moreover, it is reported that TE could relieve the symptoms for Japanese cedar pollinosis. METHODS: To evaluate the anti-allergic effect of TE, we performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 33 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) using oral administration of TE (360 mg per day) or placebo for 8 weeks. RESULTS: We found that the sneezing score significantly decreased in the TE group at the end of the trial compared to the beginning (P < 0.05). There were decreasing tendencies of rhinorrhea and nasal obstruction in the TE group. The patients' quality of life was significantly improved in the TE group after 8 weeks of treatment (P < 0.05), but not in placebo group. A significant improvement in total symptom scores, combining sneezing, rhinorrhea and nasal obstruction, was observed after oral administration of TE for 8 weeks (P < 0.01). The safety of TE treatment was confirmed by laboratory tests and inspection of general conditions. CONCLUSIONS: TE can be expected to safely improve the nasal symptoms of PAR."}
{"id": "MED-2450", "text": "Background Atopy is not uncommon among children living in rural Crete, but wheeze and rhinitis are rare. A study was undertaken to examine whether this discrepancy could be attributed to a high consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables or adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet. Methods A cross\u2010sectional survey was performed in 690 children aged 7\u201318\u2005years in rural Crete. Parents completed a questionnaire on their child's respiratory and allergic symptoms and a 58\u2010item food frequency questionnaire. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet was measured using a scale with 12 dietary items. Children underwent skin prick tests with 10 common aeroallergens. Results 80% of children ate fresh fruit (and 68% vegetables) at least twice a day. The intake of grapes, oranges, apples, and fresh tomatoes\u2014the main local products in Crete\u2014had no association with atopy but was protective for wheezing and rhinitis. A high consumption of nuts was found to be inversely associated with wheezing (OR 0.46; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.98), whereas margarine increased the risk of both wheeze (OR 2.19; 95% CI 1.01 to 4.82) and allergic rhinitis (OR 2.10; 95% CI 1.31 to 3.37). A high level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet was protective for allergic rhinitis (OR 0.34; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.64) while a more modest protection was observed for wheezing and atopy. Conclusion The results of this study suggest a beneficial effect of commonly consumed fruits, vegetables and nuts, and of a high adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet during childhood on symptoms of asthma and rhinitis. Diet may explain the relative lack of allergic symptoms in this population."}
{"id": "MED-2451", "text": "BACKGROUND\u2014A prospective cohort study of 2512 Welshmen aged 45-59 living in Caerphilly in 1979-1983 was used to investigate associations between diet and lung function. METHODS\u2014At baseline (phase I) and at five year follow up (phase II), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was measured using a McDermott spirometer and dietary data were obtained using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS\u2014Good lung function, indicated by high maximum FEV1 given age and height, was associated with high intakes of vitamin C, vitamin E, \u03b2-carotene, citrus fruit, apples, and the frequent consumption of fruit juices/squashes. Lung function was inversely associated with magnesium intake but there was no evidence of an association with fatty fish. Following adjustment for confounders including body mass index, smoking history, social class, exercise, and total energy intake, only the associations with vitamin E and apples persisted, with lung function estimated to be 39 ml (95% confidence interval (CI) 9 to 69) higher for vitamin E intakes one standard deviation (SD) apart and 138 ml higher (95% CI 58to 218) for those eating five or more apples per week compared with non-consumers. Decline in lung function between phases was not significantly associated with the changing intakes of apples or vitamin E. An association between high average apple consumption and slow decline in lung function lost significance after adjustment for confounders. CONCLUSIONS\u2014A strong positive association is seen between lung function and the number of apples eaten per week cross sectionally, consistent with a protective effect of hard fruit rather than soft/citrus fruit. The recent suggestion that such effects are reversible was not supported by our longitudinal analysis."}
{"id": "MED-2452", "text": "A role for diet in the pathophysiology of asthma may be mediated by altered immune or antioxidant activity with consequent effects on airway inflammation. We evaluated associations between several dietary factors assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire, and incidence of asthma over a 10-yr period in 77,866 women 34 to 68 yr of age. Women in the highest quintile of vitamin E intake from diet, but not from supplements, had a risk of 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.33 to 0.86) compared with women in the lowest quintile. This relationship, however, was attenuated when the contribution from nuts, a major source of vitamin E in these data and a possible allergen, was removed (relative risk = 0.74 [0.50 to 1.10], p for trend = 0.007). Positive associations were found for vitamins C and E from supplements, but appeared to be explained by women at high risk of asthma initiating use of vitamin supplements prior to diagnosis. A nonsignificant inverse association with carotene intake was noted, but no clear relations with asthma were demonstrated for intake of linoleic acid or omega-3 fatty acids. These data suggest that antioxidant supplementation and intake of various fats during adulthood are not important determinants of asthma, although vitamin E from diet may have a modest protective effect."}
{"id": "MED-2453", "text": "BACKGROUND: Fresh fruit consumption and vitamin C intake have been associated with improved lung function in adults. Whether this is due to enhancement of lung growth, to a reduction in lung function decline, or to protection against bronchospasm is unclear. METHODS: In a cross- sectional school based survey of 2650 children aged 8-11 from 10 towns in England and Wales the main outcome measure was forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) standardised for body size and sex. Exposure was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire to parents and by measurement of plasma levels of vitamin C in a subsample of 278 children. RESULTS: FEV1 was positively associated with frequency of fresh fruit consumption. After adjustment for possible confounding variables including social class and passive smoking, those who never ate any fresh fruit had an estimated FEV1 some 79 ml (4.3%) lower than those who ate these items more than once a day (95% CI 22 to 136 ml). The association between FEV1 and fruit consumption was stronger in subjects with wheeze than in non-wheezers (p = 0.020 for difference in trend), though wheeze itself was not related to fresh fruit consumption. Frequency of consumption of salads and of green vegetables were both associated with FEV1 but the relationships were weaker than for fresh fruit. Plasma vitamin C levels were unrelated to FEV1 (r = - 0.01, p = 0.92) or to wheeze and were only weakly related to fresh fruit consumption (r = 0.13, p = 0.055). CONCLUSIONS: Fresh fruit consumption appears to have a beneficial effect on lung function in children. Further work is needed to confirm whether the effect is restricted to subjects who wheeze and to identify the specific nutrient involved."}
{"id": "MED-2456", "text": "Several studies have suggested that the increasing prevalence of symptoms of asthma, rhinitis and eczema, could be associated with dietary factors. In the present paper, a global analysis of prevalence rates of wheeze, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema was performed in relation to diet, as defined by national food intake data. Analyses were based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) data for 6-7 and 13-14 yr old children. Symptoms of wheeze, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema symptom prevalence were regressed against per capita food intake, and adjusted for gross national product to account for economic development. Dietary data were based on 1995 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations data for 53 of the 56 countries that took part in ISAAC phase I (1994/1995). The 13-14 year age group showed a consistent pattern of decreases in symptoms of wheeze (current and severe), allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema, associated with increased per capita consumption of calories from cereal and rice, protein from cereals and nuts, starch, as well as vegetables and vegetable nutrients. The video questionnaire data for 13-14 yr olds and the ISAAC data for 6-7 yr olds showed similar patterns for these foods. A consistent inverse relationship was seen between prevalence rates of the three conditions and the intake of starch, cereals, and vegetables. If these findings could be generalised, and if the average daily consumption of these foods increased, it is speculated that an important decrease in symptom prevalence may be achieved."}
{"id": "MED-2458", "text": "BACKGROUND: Antioxidant-rich diets are associated with reduced asthma prevalence in epidemiologic studies. We previously showed that short-term manipulation of antioxidant defenses leads to changes in asthma outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate the effects of a high-antioxidant diet compared with those of a low-antioxidant diet, with or without lycopene supplementation, in asthma. DESIGN: Asthmatic adults (n = 137) were randomly assigned to a high-antioxidant diet (5 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit daily; n = 46) or a low-antioxidant diet (\u22642 servings of vegetables and 1 serving of fruit daily; n = 91) for 14 d and then commenced a parallel, randomized, controlled supplementation trial. Subjects who consumed the high-antioxidant diet received placebo. Subjects who consumed the low-antioxidant diet received placebo or tomato extract (45 mg lycopene/d). The intervention continued until week 14 or until an exacerbation occurred. RESULTS: After 14 d, subjects consuming the low-antioxidant diet had a lower percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s and percentage predicted forced vital capacity than did those consuming the high-antioxidant diet. Subjects in the low-antioxidant diet group had increased plasma C-reactive protein at week 14. At the end of the trial, time to exacerbation was greater in the high-antioxidant than in the low-antioxidant diet group, and the low-antioxidant diet group was 2.26 (95% CI: 1.04, 4.91; P = 0.039) times as likely to exacerbate. Of the subjects in the low-antioxidant diet group, no difference in airway or systemic inflammation or clinical outcomes was observed between the groups that consumed the tomato extract and those who consumed placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Modifying the dietary intake of carotenoids alters clinical asthma outcomes. Improvements were evident only after increased fruit and vegetable intake, which suggests that whole-food interventions are most effective. This trial was registered at http://www.actr.org.au as ACTRN012606000286549."}
{"id": "MED-2459", "text": "BACKGROUND: Free radical-mediated oxidative damage to lipids is thought to be an important process in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Although previous studies have demonstrated a beneficial impact of antioxidant vitamin supplements on lipid peroxidation, the effect of dietary patterns on lipid peroxidation is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: During the 3-week run-in period of a randomized trial, 123 healthy individuals were fed a control diet, low in fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, with 37% of calories from fat. Participants were then randomized to consume for 8 weeks: (1) the control diet, (2) a diet rich in fruits and vegetables but otherwise similar to the control diet, and (3) a combination diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and reduced in fat. Serum oxygen radical-absorbing capacity, malondialdehyde (an in vitro measure of lipid peroxidation), and breath ethane (an in vivo measure of lipid peroxidation) were measured at the end of run-in and intervention periods. Between run-in and intervention, mean (95% CI) change in oxygen radical-absorbing capacity (U/mL) was -35 (-93, 13) in the control diet, 26 (-15, 67) in the fruits and vegetables diet (P=0.06 compared with control), and 19 (-22, 54) in the combination diet (P=0.10 compared with control). Median (interquartile range) change in ethane was 0.84 (0.10, 1.59) in the control diet, 0.02 (-0.61, 0.83) in the fruits and vegetables diet (P=0.04 compared with control), and -1.00 (-1.97, 0.25) in the combination diet (P=0.005 compared with control). Change in malondialdehyde did not differ between diets. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that modification of diet can favorably affect serum antioxidant capacity and protect against lipid peroxidation."}
{"id": "MED-2461", "text": "This study aimed to evaluate the association of diet with respiratory symptoms and asthma in schoolchildren in Taipei, Taiwan. An in-class interview survey elicited experiences of asthma and respiratory symptoms and consumption frequencies of the major food categories in 2290 fifth graders. Respiratory symptoms surveyed included persistent cough, chest tightness, wheezing with cold, wheezing without cold, dyspnea-associated wheezing, and exercise-induced cough or wheezing. Results showed that the consumption of sweetened beverages had the strongest association with respiratory symptoms and was positively associated with six of the seven respiratory symptoms (all p < 0.05). The adjusted odds ratios (aOR) ranged from 1.05 (95% confidence interval (CI = 1.01-1.09) for exercise-induced cough to 1.09 (95% CI = 1.03-1.16) for wheezing without cold. Egg consumption was associated with 5 of the 7 respiratory symptoms. Consumptions of seafood, soy products, and fruits were each negatively associated with one of the seven respiratory symptoms (all p < 0.05). Consumption of seafood was negatively associated with physician-diagnosed asthma and consumptions of sweetened beverages and eggs were positively associated with suspected asthma (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study suggests that diet is associated with the respiratory symptoms in schoolchildren in Taipei. Consumptions of sweetened beverages and eggs are associated with increased risk of respiratory symptoms and asthma whereas consumptions of soy products and fruits are associated with reduced risk of respiratory symptoms."}
{"id": "MED-2464", "text": "BACKGROUND: In recent decades, children's diet quality has changed and asthma prevalence has increased, although it remains unclear if these events are associated. OBJECTIVE: To examine children's total and component diet quality and asthma and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), a proxy for asthma severity. METHODS: Food frequency questionnaires adapted from the Nurses' Health Study and supplemented with foods whose nutrients which have garnered interest of late in relation to asthma were administered. From these data, diet quality scores (total and component), based on the Youth Healthy Eating Index (YHEI adapted) were developed. Asthma assessments were performed by pediatric allergists and classified by atopic status: Allergic asthma (\u22651 positive skin prick test to common allergens >3 mm compared to negative control) versus non-allergic asthma (negative skin prick test). AHR was assessed via the Cockcroft technique. Participants included 270 boys (30% with asthma) and 206 girls (33% with asthma) involved in the 1995 Manitoba Prospective Cohort Study nested case-control study. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between diet quality and asthma, and multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between diet quality and AHR. RESULTS: Four hundred seventy six children (56.7% boys) were seen at 12.6 \u00b1 0.5 years. Asthma and AHR prevalence were 26.2 and 53.8%, respectively. In fully adjusted models, high vegetable intake was protective against allergic asthma (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.29-0.84; P < 0.009) and moderate/severe AHR (OR 0.58; 0.37-0.91; P < 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Vegetable intake is inversely associated with allergic asthma and moderate/severe AHR. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2468", "text": "BACKGROUND AND METHODS: We estimated the prevalence of self-reported asthma in adult Indians and examined several risk factors influencing disease prevalence. Analysis is based on 99 574 women and 56 742 men aged 20\u201349 years included in India\u2019s third National Family Health Survey, 2005\u20132006. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the prevalence odds ratios for asthma, adjusting for various risk factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported asthma was 1.8% (95%CI 1.6\u20132.0) among men and 1.9% (95%CI 1.8\u20132.0) among women, with higher rates in rural than in urban areas and marked geographic differences. After adjustment for known asthma risk factors, women were 1.2 times more likely to have asthma than men. Daily/weekly consumption of milk/milk products, green leafy vegetables and fruits were associated with a lower asthma risk, whereas consumption of chicken/meat, a lower body mass index (BMI; <16 kg/m2, OR 2.08, 95%CI 1.73\u20132.50) as well as a higher BMI (>30 kg/m2, OR 1.67, 95%CI 1.36\u20132.06), current tobacco smoking (OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.12\u20131.50) and ever use of alcohol (OR 1.21, 95%CI 1.05\u20131.39) were associated with an increased asthma risk. CONCLUSIONS: There are wide regional variations in the prevalence of asthma in India. With the exception of the findings for BMI, however, most of the associations of asthma with the risk factors are relatively weak and account for only a small proportion of cases. R\u00c9SUM\u00c9 CONTEXTE ET M\u00c9THODES: Nous avons estim\u00e9 la pr\u00e9valence auto-rapport\u00e9e de l\u2019asthme chez les Indiens adultes et examin\u00e9 plusieurs facteurs de risque influen\u00e7ant la pr\u00e9valence de la maladie. L\u2019analyse repose sur 99 574 femmes et 56 742 hommes \u00e2g\u00e9s de 20 \u00e0 49 ans et inclus dans la troisi\u00e8me Enqu\u00eate Nationale des Familles en Inde, 2005\u20132006. On a utilis\u00e9 l\u2019analyse de r\u00e9gression logistique multiple pour estimer les odds ratio de pr\u00e9valence pour l\u2019asthme, apr\u00e8s ajustement pour divers facteurs de risque. R\u00c9SULTATS: La pr\u00e9valence auto-rapport\u00e9e de l\u2019asthme est de 1,8% (IC95% 1,6\u20132,0) parmi les hommes et de 1,9% (IC95% 1,8\u20132,0) parmi les femmes, les taux \u00e9tant plus \u00e9lev\u00e9s dans les zones rurales que dans les zones urbaines, et les diff\u00e9rences g\u00e9ographiques \u00e9tant marqu\u00e9es. Apr\u00e8s ajustement pour les facteurs de risque d\u2019asthme connus, les femmes sont 1,2 fois plus susceptibles de souffrir de l\u2019asthme que les hommes. La consommation quotidienne ou hebdomadaire de lait/produits laitiers, de l\u00e9gumes \u00e0 feuilles vertes et de fruits est en association avec un risque plus faible d\u2019asthme alors que la consommation de poulet ou de viande, un index de masse corporelle (BMI) plus bas (<16 kg/m2, OR 2,08 ; IC95% 1,73\u20132,50) ainsi qu\u2019un BMI plus \u00e9lev\u00e9 (>30 kg/m2, OR 1,67 ; IC95% 1,36\u20132,06), le fait de fumer du tabac actuellement (OR 1,30 ; IC95% 1,12\u20131,50) et l\u2019utilisation de l\u2019alcool \u00e0 un moment quelconque (OR 1,21 ; IC95% 1,05\u20131,39) sont en association avec un risque accru d\u2019asthme. La pr\u00e9valence de l\u2019asthme en Inde varie largement selon les r\u00e9gions. Toutefois, \u00e0 l\u2019exception des observations sur le BMI, l\u2019association de l\u2019asthme avec les facteurs de risque est relativement faible et ne rend compte que d\u2019une petite proportion des cas seulement. RESUMEN MARCO DE REFERENCIA Y M\u00c9TODOS: Se calcul\u00f3 la prevalencia de asma autorreferida en los adultos en la India y se evaluaron varios factores de riesgo que influyen sobre la prevalencia de la enfermedad. El estudio se bas\u00f3 en las 99 574 mujeres y los 56 742 hombres de 20 a 49 a\u00f1os de edad que participaron en la tercera Encuesta Nacional sobre la Salud de la Familia en la India entre el 2005 y el 2006. Mediante un an\u00e1lisis de regresi\u00f3n log\u00edstica multifactorial se calcul\u00f3 la prevalencia de asma y el cociente de posibilidades de padecerla, al corregir diversos factores de riesgo. RESULTADOS: La prevalencia de asma autorreferida fue 1,8% en los hombres (intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95% 1,6 a 2,0) y 1,9% en las mujeres (IC95% 1,8 a 2,0); se observaron tasas m\u00e1s altas en las zonas rurales que en las zonas urbanas y se presentaron diferencias geogr\u00e1ficas considerables. Tras corregir en funci\u00f3n de algunos factores de riesgo de padecer asma conocidos, las mujeres presentaron una probabilidad 1,2 veces superior a los hombres de sufrir la enfermedad. El consumo diario o semanal de leche o productos l\u00e1cteos, hortalizas de hojas verdes y frutas se asoci\u00f3 con un menor riesgo de asma y el consumo de carne de pollo o de res, un bajo \u00edndice de masa corporal (<16 kg/m2; OR 2,08; IC95% 1,73 a 2,50) igual que un alto \u00edndice de masa corporal (>30 kg/m2; OR 1,67; IC95% 1,36 a 2,06), el tabaquismo actual (OR 1,30; IC95% 1,12 a 1,50) y el consumo de alcohol en alg\u00fan momento de la vida (OR 1,21; IC95% 1,05 a 1,39) se asociaron con un mayor riesgo de padecer la enfermedad. CONCLUSI\u00d3N: Existen amplias variaciones geogr\u00e1ficas en la prevalencia de asma en la India. Sin embargo, con la excepci\u00f3n del \u00edndice de masa corporal, la mayor parte de las asociaciones del asma con los factores de riesgo fueron d\u00e9biles y explican solo una peque\u00f1a proporci\u00f3n de los casos."}
{"id": "MED-2469", "text": "The intestinal flora is considered to have an impact on the development of the immune system. In the anthroposophic lifestyle, a diet comprising vegetables spontaneously fermented by lactobacilli, and a restrictive use of antibiotics, anti-pyretics and vaccinations, is typical. The aim of this study was to assess the gut flora in infants in relation to certain lifestyle characteristics associated with anthroposophy. Sixty-nine children < 2 years of age with an anthroposophic lifestyle, and 59 infants of a similar age with a traditional lifestyle, were clinically examined and questionnaire replies assessed. Fecal samples were analyzed by bacterial enumeration, bacterial typing through biochemical fingerprinting and by measuring microflora-associated characteristics (MACs). The numbers of colony-forming units (CFU)/g of feces were significantly higher for enterococci and lactic acid bacteria in children who had never been exposed to antibiotics (5.5 x 107 vs. 2.1 x 107; p < 0.001 and 10 x 107 vs. 4.1 x 107; p < 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the number of enterococci was significantly higher in breastfed and vegetarian infants (p < 0.01). The diversity (Simpson's diversity index) of lactobacilli, as determined by biochemical fingerprinting, was higher in infants born at home than in those born in hospital (p < 0.01). Several MACs were related to specific lifestyle features, and infants with an anthroposophic lifestyle had a higher proportion of acetic acid and a lower proportion of propionic acid in their stool as compared to the control children. In conclusion, lifestyle factors related to the anthroposophic way of life influenced the composition of the gut flora in the infants. These differences may contribute to the lower prevalence of atopic disease previously observed in children in anthroposophic families."}
{"id": "MED-2471", "text": "The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase One showed large worldwide variations in the prevalence of symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema, up to 10 to 20 fold between countries. Ecological analyses were undertaken with ISAAC Phase One data to explore factors that may have contributed to these variations, and are summarised and reviewed here. In ISAAC Phase One the prevalence of symptoms in the past 12 months of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema were estimated from studies in 463,801 children aged 13 - 14 years in 155 centres in 56 countries, and in 257,800 children aged 6-7 years in 91 centres in 38 countries. Ecological analyses were undertaken between symptom prevalence and the following: Gross National Product per capita (GNP), food intake, immunisation rates, tuberculosis notifications, climatic factors, tobacco consumption, pollen, antibiotic sales, paracetamol sales, and outdoor air pollution. Symptom prevalence of all three conditions was positively associated with GNP, trans fatty acids, paracetamol, and women smoking, and inversely associated with food of plant origin, pollen, immunisations, tuberculosis notifications, air pollution, and men smoking. The magnitude of these associations was small, but consistent in direction between conditions. There were mixed associations of climate and antibiotic sales with symptom prevalence. The potential causality of these associations warrant further investigation. Factors which prevent the development of these conditions, or where there is an absence of a positive correlation at a population level may be as important from the policy viewpoint as a focus on the positive risk factors. Interventions based on small associations may have the potential for a large public health benefit."}
{"id": "MED-2472", "text": "Thirty-five patients who had suffered from bronchial asthma for an average of 12 yr, all receiving long-term medication, 20 including cortisone, were subject to therapy with vegan food for 1 yr. In almost all cases, medication was withdrawn or drastically reduced. There was a significant decrease in asthma symptoms. Twenty-four patients (69%) fulfilled the treatment. Of these, 71% reported improvement at 4 months and 92% at 1 yr. There was a significant improvement in a number of clinical variables; for example, vital capacity, forced expiratory volume at one sec and physical working capacity, as well as a significant change in various biochemical indices as haptoglobin, IgM, IgE, cholesterol, and triglycerides in blood. Selected patients, with a fear of side-effects of medication, who are interested in alternative health care, might get well and replace conventional medication with this regimen."}
{"id": "MED-2474", "text": "This ISAAC Phase Three synthesis provides summarised information on the main findings of the study, regional tables and figures related to the prevalence and severity of current symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in the main regions of the world. The large number of surveyed children (\u22481,200,000), the large number of centres (233) and countries (98) that participated in ISAAC Phase Three makes this study the most comprehensive survey of these diseases ever undertaken. Globally, the prevalence for current asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in the 13-14-year age group was 14.1%, 14.6% and 7.3%, respectively. In the 6-7-year age group the prevalence for current asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema was 11.7%, 8.5% and 7.9%, respectively. The study shows a wide variability in the prevalence and severity of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema which occurs not just between regions and countries but between centres in the same country and centres in the same city. This study definitively establishes that the prevalence of those diseases can be very high in non-affluent centres with low socioeconomic conditions. The large variability also suggests a crucial role of local environment characteristics to determine the differences in prevalence between one place and another. Thus, ISAAC Phase Three has provided a large body of epidemiological information on asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in childhood from contrasting environments which is expected to yield new clues about the aetiology of those conditions and reasons for their marked global variability. Copyright \u00a9 2012 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2475", "text": "Current understanding of the use of exclusion diets in the management of asthma in children is limited and controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of excluding eggs and milk on the occurrence of symptoms in children with asthma and involved 22 children aged between three and 14 years clinically diagnosed as having mild to moderate disease. The investigation was single blind and prospective, and parents were given the option of volunteering to join the 'experiment' group, avoiding eggs, milk and their products for eight weeks, or the 'control' group, who consumed their customary food. Thirteen children were recruited to the experimental group and nine to the control group. A trained paediatrician at the beginning and end of the study period assessed the children. A seven-day assessment of food intake was made before, during and immediately after the period of dietary intervention in both groups. A blood sample was taken from each child for determination of food specific antibodies and in those children who could do so, the peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was measured. Based on the recommended nutrient intake (RNI), the mean percentage energy intake of the children in the experimental group was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the experimental group. After the eight-week study period and compared with baseline values, the mean serum anti-ovalbumin IgG and anti-beta lactoglobulin IgG concentrations were statistically significantly reduced (p < 0.05) for both in the experimental group. In contrast, the values for anti-ovalbumin IgG in the control group were significantly increased and those for anti-beta lactoglobulin IgG were practically unchanged. The total IgE values were unchanged in both groups. Over the study period, the PEFR in those children in the experimental group able to perform the test was significantly increased, but no such change was noted in the children in the control group who could do the test. These results suggest that even over the short time period of eight weeks, an egg- and milk-free diet can reduce atopic symptoms and improve lung function in asthmatic children."}
{"id": "MED-2476", "text": "An increase in asthma and atopic disease has been recorded in many countries where society has become more prosperous. We have investigated two possible explanations: a reduction in childhood infections and a change in diet. In a cohort of people followed up since 1964, originally selected as a random sample of primary school children, we have investigated the relevance of family size and the common childhood infectious diseases to development of eczema, hay fever and asthma. Although membership of a large family reduced risks of hay fever and eczema (but not asthma), this was not explained by the infections the child had suffered. Indeed, the more infections the child had had, the greater the likelihood of asthma, although measles gave a modest measure of protection. We have investigated dietary factors in two separate studies. In the first, we have shown the risks of bronchial hyper-reactivity are increased seven-fold among those with the lowest intake of vitamin C, while the lowest intake of saturated fats gave a 10-fold protection. In the second, we have shown that the risk of adult-onset wheezy illness is increased five-fold by the lowest intake of vitamin E and doubled by the lowest intake of vitamin C. These results were supported by direct measurements of the vitamins and triglycerides in plasma. We have proposed that changes in the diet of pregnant women may have reflected those observed in the population as a whole and that these may have resulted in the birth of cohorts of children predisposed to atopy and asthma. The direct test of this is to study the diet and nutritional status of a large cohort of pregnant women and to follow their offspring forward. This is our current research."}
{"id": "MED-2479", "text": "BACKGROUND: The prevalence of allergic diseases seems to have increased particularly over the past 35-40 years. Furthermore, allergic disease is less common among children in the formerly socialist countries of central and Eastern Europe as compared with Western Europe. It has been suggested that a reduced microbial stimulation during infancy and early childhood would result in a slower postnatal maturation of the immune system and development of an optimal balance between TH1- and TH2-like immunity. AIMS: To test the hypothesis that allergic disease among children may be associated with differences in their intestinal microflora in two countries with a low (Estonia) and a high (Sweden) prevalence of allergy. METHODS: From a prospective study of the development of allergy in relation to environmental factors, 29 Estonian and 33 Swedish 2-year-old children were selected. They were either nonallergic (n = 36) or had a confirmed diagnosis of allergy (n = 27) as verified by typical history and at least one positive skin prick test to egg or cow's milk. Weighed samples of faeces were serially diluted (10-2-10-9) and grown under anaerobic conditions. The counts of the various genera and species were calculated for each child. In addition, the relative amounts of the particular microbes were expressed as a proportion of the total count. RESULTS: The allergic children in Estonia and Sweden were less often colonized with lactobacilli (P < 0.01), as compared with the nonallergic children in the two countries. In contrast, the allergic children harboured higher counts of aerobic micro-organisms (P < 0. 05), particularly coliforms (P < 0.01) and Staphylococcus aureus (P < 0.05). The proportions of aerobic bacteria of the intestinal flora were also higher in the allergic children (P < 0.05), while the opposite was true for anaerobes (P < 0.05). Similarly, in the allergic children the proportions of coliforms were higher (P < 0. 05) and bacteroides lower (P < 0.05) than in the nonallergic children. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in the indigenous intestinal flora might affect the development and priming of the immune system in early childhood, similar to what has been shown in rodents. The role of intestinal microflora in relation to the development of infant immunity and the possible consequences for allergic diseases later in life requires further study, particularly as it would be readily available for intervention as a means for primary prevention of allergy by the administration of probiotic bacteria."}
{"id": "MED-2482", "text": "Previous studies have suggested that probiotic administration may have therapeutic and/or preventive effects on atopic dermatitis in infants; however, its role in allergic airway diseases remains controversial. To determine whether daily supplementation with specific Lactobacillus gasseri A5 for 8 weeks can improve the clinical symptoms and immunoregulatory changes in school children suffering from asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR). We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on school children (age, 6-12 years) with asthma and AR. The eligible study subjects received either L. gasseri A5 (n = 49) or a placebo (n = 56) daily for 2 months. Pulmonary function tests were performed, and the clinical severity of asthma and AR was evaluated by the attending physicians in the study period. Diary cards with records of the day- and nighttime peak expiratory flow rates (PEFR), symptoms of asthma, and AR scores of the patients were used for measuring the outcome of the treatment. Immunological parameters such as the total IgE and cytokine production by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were determined before and after the probiotic treatments. Our results showed the pulmonary function and PEFR increased significantly, and the clinical symptom scores for asthma and AR decreased in the probiotic-treated patients as compared to the controls. Further, there was a significant reduction in the TNF-\u03b1, IFN-\u03b3, IL-12, and IL-13 production by the PBMCs following the probiotic treatment. In conclusion, probiotic supplementation may have clinical benefits for school children suffering from allergic airway diseases such as asthma and AR."}
{"id": "MED-2484", "text": "Paediatric asthma is a major clinical concern worldwide and represents a huge burden on family and society. It accounts for a large number of lost school days and may deprive the child of both academic achievement and social interaction. Childhood asthma also places strain on healthcare resources as a result of doctor and hospital visits and the cost of treatment. The prevalence of asthma varies worldwide, possibly because of different exposure to respiratory infection, indoor and outdoor pollution, and diet. Certain risk factors appear to predispose children to developing asthma and atopic disease, including incidence and severity of wheezing, atopy, maternal smoking, and number of fever episodes. This paper discusses the burden, prevalence, and risk factors associated with paediatric asthma."}
{"id": "MED-2488", "text": "Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cost Americans billions of dollars per year. High cholesterol levels, which are closely related to dietary habits, are a major contributor to CVD. In this article, we study whether changes in food prices are related to cholesterol levels and whether taxes or subsidies on particular foods would be effective in lowering cholesterol levels and, consequently, CVD costs. We find that prices of vegetables, processed foods, whole milk and whole grains are significantly associated with blood cholesterol levels. Having analyzed the costs and benefits of government interventions, we find that a subsidy of vegetables and whole grains would be an efficient way to reduce CVD expenditures. Published by Elsevier B.V."}
{"id": "MED-2489", "text": "A historical view on how our agricultural systems evolved and how they are contributing to obesity and disease."}
{"id": "MED-2490", "text": "Background: Rice can be a major source of inorganic arsenic (Asi) for many sub-populations. Rice products are also used as ingredients in prepared foods, some of which may not be obviously rice based. Organic brown rice syrup (OBRS) is used as a sweetener in organic food products as an alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. We hypothesized that OBRS introduces As into these products. Objective: We determined the concentration and speciation of As in commercially available brown rice syrups and in products containing OBRS, including toddler formula, cereal/energy bars, and high-energy foods used by endurance athletes. Methods: We used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ion chromatography coupled to ICP-MS to determine total As (Astotal) concentrations and As speciation in products purchased via the Internet or in stores in the Hanover, New Hampshire, area. Discussion: We found that OBRS can contain high concentrations of Asi and dimethyl-arsenate (DMA). An \u201corganic\u201d toddler milk formula containing OBRS as the primary ingredient had Astotal concentrations up to six times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency safe drinking water limit. Cereal bars and high-energy foods containing OBRS also had higher As concentrations than equivalent products that did not contain OBRS. Asi was the main As species in most food products tested in this study. Conclusions: There are currently no U.S. regulations applicable to As in food, but our findings suggest that the OBRS products we evaluated may introduce significant concentrations of Asi into an individual\u2019s diet. Thus, we conclude that there is an urgent need for regulatory limits on As in food."}
{"id": "MED-2491", "text": "Exposure limits for arsenic and lead in drinking water have long been established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and new regulations regarding the presence of these contaminants in bottled water went into effect in California in 2009. No comparable exposure limits or regulations are available, however, for juices and other beverages that may contain arsenic and lead. In the study described in this article, 20 apple juices (or ciders), 15 apple-containing juices, one grape, and one citrus juice were analyzed for arsenic and lead. Arsenic was detected in all juices while lead was detected in more than 94% of juices analyzed. Twelve samples (32%) demonstrated arsenic levels nearly at or above the drinking water exposure limit of 10 parts per billion. No juices contained lead above drinking water exposure limits. Expanding drinking water limits to include juices (and other frequently consumed beverages) would better protect consumers while regular testing of these juices would better inform consumers of the risks posed by specific juices and brands."}
{"id": "MED-2492", "text": "Background: Inorganic arsenic (iAs) causes cancer and possibly other adverse health outcomes. Arsenic-based drugs are permitted in poultry production; however, the contribution of chicken consumption to iAs intake is unknown. Objectives: We sought to characterize the arsenic species profile in chicken meat and estimate bladder and lung cancer risk associated with consuming chicken produced with arsenic-based drugs. Methods: Conventional, antibiotic-free, and organic chicken samples were collected from grocery stores in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas from December 2010 through June 2011. We tested 116 raw and 142 cooked chicken samples for total arsenic, and we determined arsenic species in 65 raw and 78 cooked samples that contained total arsenic at \u2265 10 \u00b5g/kg dry weight. Results: The geometric mean (GM) of total arsenic in cooked chicken meat samples was 3.0 \u00b5g/kg (95% CI: 2.5, 3.6). Among the 78 cooked samples that were speciated, iAs concentrations were higher in conventional samples (GM = 1.8 \u00b5g/kg; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.3) than in antibiotic-free (GM = 0.7 \u00b5g/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 1.0) or organic (GM = 0.6 \u00b5g/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.8) samples. Roxarsone was detected in 20 of 40 conventional samples, 1 of 13 antibiotic-free samples, and none of the 25 organic samples. iAs concentrations in roxarsone-positive samples (GM = 2.3 \u00b5g/kg; 95% CI: 1.7, 3.1) were significantly higher than those in roxarsone-negative samples (GM = 0.8 \u00b5g/kg; 95% CI: 0.7, 1.0). Cooking increased iAs and decreased roxarsone concentrations. We estimated that consumers of conventional chicken would ingest an additional 0.11 \u00b5g/day iAs (in an 82-g serving) compared with consumers of organic chicken. Assuming lifetime exposure and a proposed cancer slope factor of 25.7 per milligram per kilogram of body weight per day, this increase in arsenic exposure could result in 3.7 additional lifetime bladder and lung cancer cases per 100,000 exposed persons. Conclusions: Conventional chicken meat had higher iAs concentrations than did conventional antibiotic-free and organic chicken meat samples. Cessation of arsenical drug use could reduce exposure and the burden of arsenic-related disease in chicken consumers."}
{"id": "MED-2493", "text": "There is now compelling evidence that developmental exposure to chemicals from our environment contributes to disease later in life, with animal models supporting this concept in reproductive, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases. In contrast, data regarding how developmental exposures impact the susceptibility of the immune system to functional alterations later in life are surprisingly scant. Given that the immune system forms an integrated network that detects and destroys invading pathogens and cancer cells, it provides the body\u2019s first line of defense. Thus, the consequences of early-life exposures that reduce immune function are profound. This review summarizes available data for pollutants such as cigarette smoke and dioxin-like compounds, which consistently support the idea that developmental exposures critically impact the immune system. These findings suggest that exposure to common chemicals from our daily environment represent overlooked contributors to the fact that infectious diseases remain among the top five causes of death worldwide."}
{"id": "MED-2494", "text": "Background In the absence of current cumulative dietary exposure assessments, this analysis was conducted to estimate exposure to multiple dietary contaminants for children, who are more vulnerable to toxic exposure than adults. Methods We estimated exposure to multiple food contaminants based on dietary data from preschool-age children (2\u20134 years, n=207), school-age children (5\u20137 years, n=157), parents of young children (n=446), and older adults (n=149). We compared exposure estimates for eleven toxic compounds (acrylamide, arsenic, lead, mercury, chlorpyrifos, permethrin, endosulfan, dieldrin, chlordane, DDE, and dioxin) based on self-reported food frequency data by age group. To determine if cancer and non-cancer benchmark levels were exceeded, chemical levels in food were derived from publicly available databases including the Total Diet Study. Results Cancer benchmark levels were exceeded by all children (100%) for arsenic, dieldrin, DDE, and dioxins. Non-cancer benchmarks were exceeded by >95% of preschool-age children for acrylamide and by 10% of preschool-age children for mercury. Preschool-age children had significantly higher estimated intakes of 6 of 11 compounds compared to school-age children (p<0.0001 to p=0.02). Based on self-reported dietary data, the greatest exposure to pesticides from foods included in this analysis were tomatoes, peaches, apples, peppers, grapes, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, dairy, pears, green beans, and celery. Conclusions Dietary strategies to reduce exposure to toxic compounds for which cancer and non-cancer benchmarks are exceeded by children vary by compound. These strategies include consuming organically produced dairy and selected fruits and vegetables to reduce pesticide intake, consuming less animal foods (meat, dairy, and fish) to reduce intake of persistent organic pollutants and metals, and consuming lower quantities of chips, cereal, crackers, and other processed carbohydrate foods to reduce acrylamide intake."}
{"id": "MED-2495", "text": "We investigated whether prenatal exposure from the maternal diet to the toxicants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins is associated with the development of immune-related diseases in childhood. Children participating in BraMat, a sub-cohort of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), were followed in the three first years of life using annual questionnaires (0-3years; n=162, 2-3years; n=180), and blood parameters were examined at three years of age (n=114). The maternal intake of the toxicants was calculated using a validated food frequency questionnaire from MoBa. Maternal exposure to PCBs and dioxins was found to be associated with an increased risk of wheeze and more frequent upper respiratory tract infections. Furthermore, maternal exposure to PCBs and dioxins was found to be associated with reduced antibody response to a measles vaccine. No associations were found between prenatal exposure and immunophenotype data, allergic sensitization and vaccine-induced antibody responses other than measles. Our results suggest that prenatal dietary exposure to PCBs and dioxins may increase the risk of wheeze and the susceptibility to infectious diseases in early childhood. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2496", "text": "Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) exert harmful effects on cognitive, endocrine and immune functions and bioaccumulate in the environment and human tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the body burden of several POPs in the adult population (n=246) and their association to diet and other lifestyle factors in a Swedish national survey. Serum concentrations of several polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and the pesticides hexachlorobenzene (HCB), \u03b2-hexachlorocyclohexane (\u03b2-HCH), chlordane compounds and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) were determined by liquid-liquid extraction, silica column cleanup and gas chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry. Diet was assessed using 4-day food records and complementary dietary and lifestyle factors by questionnaire. Fish intake was additionally assessed by plasma fatty acid composition. Clustering of the compounds revealed that PCBs were separated into two clusters, one including low-chlorinated PCB 28 and 52, and the other high-chlorinated mono- and di-ortho PCBs, suggesting similarities and dissimilarities in exposure sources and possibly also toxicokinetics. Men had 24% and 32% higher levels of PCB 138-180 and chlordane compounds, respectively, compared with women. This may partly be explained by elimination of the POPs among women reporting a history of breastfeeding. The proportion of very long-chain n-3 fatty acids in plasma were positively correlated with the pollutants: r=0.24 (PCB 28), r=0.33 (PCB 118), r=0.35 (PCB 138-180), r=0.29 (HCB), r=0.18 (\u03b2-HCH), r=0.34 (chlordane compounds), r=0.34 (p,p'-DDE), p\u22640.005. Individuals consuming fatty Baltic fish\u22651 time per months had 45% higher serum levels of PCB 118 compared with non-consumers. Levels of PCB 28 were associated with the age of the residential building. To conclude, the population-distributed approach of surveying dietary habits, lifestyle factors and POP body burdens, made it possible to identify personal characteristics associated with the POP body burdens in Sweden. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2497", "text": "The birth cohort BraMat (n = 205; a sub-cohort of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health) was established to study whether prenatal exposure to toxicants from the maternal diet affects immunological health outcomes in children. We here report on the environmental pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, as well as acrylamide generated in food during heat treatment. The frequency of common infections, eczema or itchiness, and periods of more than 10 days of dry cough, chest tightness or wheeze (called wheeze) in the children during the first year of life was assessed by questionnaire data (n = 195). Prenatal dietary exposure to the toxicants was estimated using a validated food frequency questionnaire from MoBa. Prenatal exposure to PCBs and dioxins was found to be associated with increased risk of wheeze and exanthema subitum, and also with increased frequency of upper respiratory tract infections. We found no associations between prenatal exposure to acrylamide and the health outcomes investigated. Our results suggest that prenatal dietary exposure to dioxins and PCBs may increase the risk of wheeze and infectious diseases during the first year of life. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2498", "text": "Dietary restriction (DR) and reduced growth factor signaling both elevate resistance to oxidative stress, reduce macromolecular damage, and increase lifespan in model organisms. In rodents, both DR and decreased growth factor signaling reduce the incidence of tumors and slow down cognitive decline and aging. DR reduces cancer and cardiovascular disease and mortality in monkeys, and reduces metabolic traits associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer in humans. Neoplasias and diabetes are also rare in humans with loss of function mutations in the growth hormone receptor. DR and reduced growth factor signaling may thus slow aging by similar, evolutionarily conserved, mechanisms. We review these conserved anti-aging pathways in model organisms, discuss their link to disease prevention in mammals, and consider the negative side effects that might hinder interventions intended to extend healthy lifespan in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2501", "text": "Amino acids play fundamental roles in the cell both as the building blocks of new proteins and as metabolic precursors. To adapt to their limitation during periods of protein starvation, multiple adaptive mechanisms have evolved, including a rapid cessation of new protein synthesis, an increase in amino acid biosynthesis and transport, and autophagy. Here, we discuss what we currently know about how amino acid limitation is sensed, and how this sensing might be transmitted to mTORC1 to regulate protein synthesis and autophagy. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2502", "text": "Dietary restriction (DR) without malnutrition is widely regarded to be a universal mechanism for prolonging lifespan. It is generally believed that the benefits of DR arise from eating fewer calories (termed caloric restriction, CR). Here we argue that, rather than calories, the key determinant of the relationship between diet and longevity is the balance of protein to non-protein energy ingested. This ratio affects not only lifespan, but also total energy intake, metabolism, immunity and the likelihood of developing obesity and associated metabolic disorders. Among various possible mechanisms linking macronutrient balance to lifespan, the nexus between the TOR and AMPK signaling pathways is emerging as a central coordinator."}
{"id": "MED-2504", "text": "It is well established that the target of rapamycin (TOR) protein kinase has pivotal roles in controlling cell functions (including protein synthesis, cell growth and cell proliferation) and is implicated in numerous human diseases. Mammalian TOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signalling is activated by hormones and growth factors, and is also stimulated by intracellular amino acids. Recent research has provided important new insight into the poorly understood mechanism by which amino acids activate mTORC1 signalling, showing that the protein kinase MAP4K3 and Rag GTPases have important roles in this. mTORC1 is known to control the G1/S transition of the cell cycle: new data show that (m)TORC1 also controls G2/M progression in yeast and mammals, albeit in contrasting ways."}
{"id": "MED-2505", "text": "BACKGROUND: Relative risk estimates suggest that effective implementation of behaviors commonly advocated in preventive medicine should increase life expectancy, although there is little direct evidence. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that choices regarding diet, exercise, and smoking influence life expectancy. METHODS: A total of 34 192 California Seventh-Day Adventists (75% of those eligible) were enrolled in a cohort and followed up from 1976 to 1988. A mailed questionnaire provided dietary and other exposure information at study baseline. Mortality for all subjects was ascertained by matching to state death tapes and the National Death Index. RESULTS: California Adventists have higher life expectancies at the age of 30 years than other white Californians by 7.28 years (95% confidence interval, 6.59-7.97 years) in men and by 4.42 years (95% confidence interval, 3.96-4.88 years) in women, giving them perhaps the highest life expectancy of any formally described population. Commonly observed combinations of diet, exercise, body mass index, past smoking habits, and hormone replacement therapy (in women) can account for differences of up to 10 years of life expectancy among Adventists. A comparison of life expectancy when these factors take high-risk compared with low-risk values shows independent effects that vary between 1.06 and 2.74 years for different variables. The effect of each variable is assessed with all others at either medium- or high-risk levels. CONCLUSIONS: Choices regarding diet, exercise, cigarette smoking, body weight, and hormone replacement therapy, in combination, appear to change life expectancy by many years. The longevity experience of Adventists probably demonstrates the beneficial effects of more optimal behaviors."}
{"id": "MED-2506", "text": "Long-term caloric restriction (CR) is a robust means of reducing age-related diseases and extending life span in multiple species, but the effects in humans are unknown. The low caloric intake, long life expectancy, and the high prevalence of centenarians in Okinawa have been used as an argument to support the CR hypothesis in humans. However, no long-term, epidemiologic analysis has been conducted on traditional dietary patterns, energy balance, and potential CR phenotypes for the specific cohort of Okinawans who are purported to have had a calorically restricted diet. Nor has this cohort's subsequent mortality experience been rigorously studied. Therefore, we investigated six decades of archived population data on the elderly cohort of Okinawans (aged 65-plus) for evidence of CR. Analyses included traditional diet composition, energy intake, energy expenditure, anthropometry, plasma DHEA, mortality from age-related diseases, and current survival patterns. Findings include low caloric intake and negative energy balance at younger ages, little weight gain with age, life-long low BMI, relatively high plasma DHEA levels at older ages, low risk for mortality from age-related diseases, and survival patterns consistent with extended mean and maximum life span. This study lends epidemiologic support for phenotypic benefits of CR in humans and is consistent with the well-known literature on animals with regard to CR phenotypes and healthy aging."}
{"id": "MED-2507", "text": "Increased plasma levels of adiponectin, metformin therapy of diabetes, rapamycin administration in transplant patients, and lifelong consumption of low-protein plant-based diets have all been linked to decreased risk for various cancers. These benefits may be mediated, at least in part, by down-regulated activity of the mTORC1 complex, a key regulator of protein translation. By boosting the effective availability of the translation initiator eIF4E, mTORC1 activity promotes the translation of a number of \"weak\" mRNAs that code for proteins, often up-regulated in cancer, that promote cellular proliferation, invasiveness, and angiogenesis, and that abet cancer promotion and chemoresistance by opposing apoptosis. Measures which inhibit eIF4E activity, either directly or indirectly, may have utility not only for cancer prevention, but also for the treatment of many cancers in which eIF4E drives malignancy. Since eIF4E is overexpressed in many cancers, strategies which target eIF4E directly--some of which are now being assessed clinically--may have the broadest efficacy in this regard. Many of the \"weak\" mRNAs coding for proteins that promote malignant behavior or chemoresistance are regulated transcriptionally by NF-kappaB and/or Stat3, which are active in a high proportion of cancers; thus, regimens concurrently targeting eIF4E, NF-kappaB, and Stat3 may suppress these proteins at both the transcriptional and translational levels, potentially achieving a very marked reduction in their expression. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2509", "text": "DR (dietary restriction), or reduced food intake without malnutrition, is associated with extended longevity, improved metabolic fitness and increased stress resistance in a wide range of organisms. DR is often referred to as calorie restriction, implying that reduced energy intake is responsible for its widespread and evolutionarily conserved benefits. However, recent data indicate dietary amino acid restriction as a key mediator of DR benefits. In fruitflies, an imbalance in essential amino acid intake is thought to underlie longevity benefits of DR. In mammals, reduced dietary protein or essential amino acid intake can extend longevity, improve metabolic fitness and increase stress resistance. In the present paper we review two evolutionarily conserved signal transduction pathways responsible for sensing amino acid levels. The eIF2\u03b1 (eukaryotic initiation factor 2\u03b1) kinase GCN2 (general amino acid control non-derepressible 2) senses the absence of one or more amino acids by virtue of direct binding to uncharged cognate tRNAs. The presence of certain amino acids, such as leucine, permits activation of the master growth regulating kinase TOR (target of rapamycin). These two signal transduction pathways react to amino acid deprivation by inhibiting general protein translation while at the same time increasing translation of specific mRNAs involved in restoring homoeostasis. Together, these pathways may contribute to the regulation of longevity, metabolic fitness and stress resistance."}
{"id": "MED-2510", "text": "Dietary restriction (DR) extends the lifespan of a wide range of species, although the universality of this effect has never been quantitatively examined. Here, we report the first comprehensive comparative meta-analysis of DR across studies and species. Overall, DR significantly increased lifespan, but this effect is modulated by several factors. In general, DR has less effect in extending lifespan in males and also in non-model organisms. Surprisingly, the proportion of protein intake was more important for life extension via DR than the degree of caloric restriction. Furthermore, we show that reduction in both age-dependent and age-independent mortality rates drives life extension by DR among the well-studied laboratory model species (yeast, nematode worms, fruit flies and rodents). Our results suggest that convergent adaptation to laboratory conditions better explains the observed DR-longevity relationship than evolutionary conservation although alternative explanations are possible. \u00a9 2012 The Authors. Aging Cell \u00a9 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland."}
{"id": "MED-2511", "text": "Residents of Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, are known for their long average life expectancy, high numbers of centenarians, and accompanying low risk of age-associated diseases. Much of the longevity advantage in Okinawa is thought to be related to a healthy lifestyle, particularly the traditional diet, which is low in calories yet nutritionally dense, especially with regard to phytonutrients in the form of antioxidants and flavonoids. Research suggests that diets associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases are similar to the traditional Okinawan diet, that is, vegetable and fruit heavy (therefore phytonutrient and antioxidant rich) but reduced in meat, refined grains, saturated fat, sugar, salt, and full-fat dairy products. Many of the characteristics of the diet in Okinawa are shared with other healthy dietary patterns, such as the traditional Mediterranean diet or the modern DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Features such as the low levels of saturated fat, high antioxidant intake, and low glycemic load in these diets are likely contributing to a decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and other chronic diseases through multiple mechanisms, including reduced oxidative stress. A comparison of the nutrient profiles of the three dietary patterns shows that the traditional Okinawan diet is the lowest in fat intake, particularly in terms of saturated fat, and highest in carbohydrate intake, in keeping with the very high intake of antioxidant-rich yet calorie-poor orange-yellow root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, and green leafy vegetables. Deeper analyses of the individual components of the Okinawan diet reveal that many of the traditional foods, herbs, or spices consumed on a regular basis could be labeled \"functional foods\" and, indeed, are currently being explored for their potential health-enhancing properties."}
{"id": "MED-2512", "text": "Ageing is a challenge for any living organism and human longevity is a complex phenotype. With increasing life expectancy, maintaining long-term health, functionality and well-being during ageing has become an essential goal. To increase our understanding of how ageing works, it may be advantageous to analyze the phenotype of centenarians, perhaps one of the best examples of successful ageing. Healthy ageing involves the interaction between genes, the environment, and lifestyle factors, particularly diet. Besides evaluating specific gene-environment interactions in relation to exceptional longevity, it is important to focus attention on modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet and nutrition to achieve extension of health span. Furthermore, a better understanding of human longevity may assist in the design of strategies to extend the duration of optimal human health. In this article we briefly discuss relevant topics on ageing and longevity with particular focus on dietary patterns of centenarians and nutrient-sensing pathways that have a pivotal role in the regulation of life span. Finally, we also discuss the potential role of Nrf2 system in the pro-ageing signaling emphasizing its phytohormetic activation."}
{"id": "MED-2513", "text": "Over the last several years, new evidence has kept pouring in about the remarkable effect of caloric restriction (CR) on the conspicuous bedfellows- aging and cancer. Through the use of various animal models, it is now well established that by reducing calorie intake one can not only increase life span but, also, lower the risk of various age related diseases such as cancer. Cancer cells are believed to be more dependent on glycolysis for their energy requirements than normal cells and, therefore, can be easily targeted by alteration in the energy-metabolic pathways, a hallmark of CR. Apart from inhibiting the growth of transplantable tumors, CR has been also shown to inhibit the development of spontaneous, radiation, and chemically induced tumors. The question regarding the potentiality of the anti-tumor effect of CR in humans has been in part answered by the resistance of a cohort of women, who had suffered from anorexia in their early life, to breast cancer. However, human research on the beneficial effect of CR is still at an early stage and needs further validation. Though the complete mechanism of the anti-tumor effect of CR is far from clear, the plausible involvement of nutrient sensing pathways or IGF-1 pathways proposed for its anti-aging action cannot be overruled. In fact, cancer cell lines, mutant for proteins involved in IGF-1 pathways, failed to respond to CR. In addition, CR decreases the levels of many growth factors, anabolic hormones, inflammatory cytokines, and oxidative markers that are deregulated in several cancers. In this review, we discuss the anti-tumor effect of CR, describing experiments done in vitro in tumor models and in vivo in mouse models in which the tumor was induced by means of radiation or chemical exposure, expressing oncogenes or deleting tumor suppression genes. We also discuss the proposed mechanisms of CR anti-tumor action. Lastly, we argue the necessity of gene expression studies in cancerous versus normal cells upon CR."}
{"id": "MED-2514", "text": "Healthy life span is rapidly increasing and human aging seems to be postponed. As recently exclaimed in Nature, these findings are so perplexing that they can be dubbed the 'longevity riddle'. To explain current increase in longevity, I discuss that certain genetic variants such as hyper-active mTOR (mTarget of Rapamycin) may increase survival early in life at the expense of accelerated aging. In other words, robustness and fast aging may be associated and slow-aging individuals died prematurely in the past. Therefore, until recently, mostly fast-aging individuals managed to survive into old age. The progress of civilization (especially 60 years ago) allowed slow-aging individuals to survive until old age, emerging as healthy centenarians now. I discuss why slow aging is manifested as postponed (healthy) aging, why the rate of deterioration is independent from aging and also entertain hypothetical use of rapamycin in different eras as well as the future of human longevity."}
{"id": "MED-2517", "text": "Many experts in the biology of ageing believe that pharmacological interventions to slow ageing are a matter of \u2018when\u2019 rather than \u2018if\u2019. A leading target for such interventions is the nutrient response pathway defined by the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR). Inhibition of this pathway extends lifespan in model organisms and confers protection against a growing list of age-related pathologies. Characterized inhibitors of this pathway are already clinically approved, and others are under development. Although adverse side effects currently preclude use in otherwise healthy individuals, drugs that target the mTOR pathway could one day become widely used to slow ageing and reduce age-related pathologies in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2518", "text": "Aging is not and cannot be programmed. Instead, aging is a continuation of developmental growth, driven by genetic pathways such as mTOR. Ironically, this is often misunderstood as a sort of programmed aging. In contrast, aging is a purposeless quasi-program or, figuratively, a shadow of actual programs. \u201cThe brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.\u201d -George Martin"}
{"id": "MED-2519", "text": "To date, the only intervention that has consistently been shown to slow the rate of aging, and to increase mean and maximum lifespan in short-lived species, is life-long calorie restriction. It is yet unclear whether long-term calorie restriction in longer lived species (i.e. primates and humans) will have a similar effect. In humans, several studies investigating short-term calorie restriction or \"weight loss\" programs suggest beneficial outcomes on parameters of cardiovascular disease. Studies on long-term calorie restriction are performed on a self-selected group of human subjects and show similar effects. However, few studies are currently investigating the quality of life and potential pitfalls of long-term calorie restriction in humans. It is likely that some of the physiological and psychological effects of caloric restriction that occur in animals may impact the human life very differently. For certain, calorie restriction has a plethora of health benefits in mammals, such as a reduction in age-related diseases such as cancer. However, despite the \"magic\" of CR, this intervention in humans may present itself with a number of health concerns, which may not be applicable to or impact the life of experimental animals, but may do so in humans. These potential pitfalls and \"side effects\" are not clearly addressed in the literature and will be a focus of this review."}
{"id": "MED-2520", "text": "This article discusses that the traditional analogy of an aging organism with a rusting (albeit self-repairing) car is misleading. The true analogy is a speeding car that enters a low-speed zone and damages itself because it does not and cannot slow down. For such a car without brakes (and actually without a driver), aging from rusting never occurs. Using simple analogies (although turning gerontology upside down), this article discusses the origin of aging, how overactivation of the mTOR (Target of Rapamycin) pathway causes aging, why aging causes damage (organ damage) not damage causes aging, the link between aging and age-related diseases, slow aging versus aging tolerance and suppression of aging with rapamycin."}
{"id": "MED-2521", "text": "A streptomycete was isolated from an Easter Island soil sample and found to inhibit Candida albicans, Microsporum gypseum and Trichophyton granulosum. The antibiotic-producing microorganism was characterized and identified as Streptomyces hygroscopicus. The antifungal principle was extracted with organic solvent from the mycelium, isolated in crystalline form and named rapamycin. Rapamycin is mainly active against Candida albicans; minimum inhibitory concentration against ten strains ranged from 0.02 to 0.2 mug/ml. Its apparent activity against Microsporum gypseum and Trichophyton granulosum is lower because of its instability in culture media on prolonged incubation required by these fungi. No activity was observed against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Acute toxicity in mice is low."}
{"id": "MED-2522", "text": "BACKGROUND: Diets that are based on the ABO blood group system have been promoted over the past decade and claim to improve health and decrease risk of disease. To our knowledge, the evidence to support the effectiveness of blood type diets has not previously been assessed in the scientific literature. OBJECTIVE: In this current systematic review, published studies that presented data related to blood type diets were identified and critically appraised by using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. DESIGN: A systematic search was performed to answer the following question: In humans grouped according to blood type, does adherence to a specific diet improve health and/or decrease risk of disease compared with nonadherence to the diet? The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and Embase were systematically searched by using sensitive search strategies. RESULTS: Sixteen articles were identified from a total of 1415 screened references, with only one article that was considered eligible according to the selection criteria. The identified article studied the variation between LDL-cholesterol responses of different MNS blood types to a low-fat diet. However, the study did not directly answer the current question. No studies that showed the health effects of ABO blood type diets were identified. CONCLUSIONS: No evidence currently exists to validate the purported health benefits of blood type diets. To validate these claims, studies are required that compare the health outcomes between participants adhering to a particular blood type diet (experimental group) and participants continuing a standard diet (control group) within a particular blood type population."}
{"id": "MED-2523", "text": "Background The \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diet advises individuals to eat according to their ABO blood group to improve their health and decrease risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease. However, the association between blood type-based dietary patterns and health outcomes has not been examined. The objective of this study was to determine the association between \u2018blood-type\u2019 diets and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and whether an individual's ABO genotype modifies any associations. Methods Subjects (n\u200a=\u200a1,455) were participants of the Toronto Nutrigenomics and Health study. Dietary intake was assessed using a one-month, 196-item food frequency questionnaire and a diet score was calculated to determine relative adherence to each of the four \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diets. ABO blood group was determined by genotyping rs8176719 and rs8176746 in the ABO gene. ANCOVA, with age, sex, ethnicity, and energy intake as covariates, was used to compare cardiometabolic biomarkers across tertiles of each \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diet score. Results Adherence to the Type-A diet was associated with lower BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, HOMA-IR and HOMA-Beta (P<0.05). Adherence to the Type-AB diet was also associated with lower levels of these biomarkers (P<0.05), except for BMI and waist circumference. Adherence to the Type-O diet was associated with lower triglycerides (P<0.0001). Matching the \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diets with the corresponding blood group did not change the effect size of any of these associations. No significant association was found for the Type-B diet. Conclusions Adherence to certain \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diets is associated with favorable effects on some cardiometabolic risk factors, but these associations were independent of an individual's ABO genotype, so the findings do not support the \u2018Blood-Type\u2019 diet hypothesis."}
{"id": "MED-2524", "text": "Following a heart-healthy diet to lower cholesterol levels is often assumed to be difficult, to be burdensome, and to have a negative impact on quality of life (QOL). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of medical nutrition therapy (MNT) versus usual care (UC) for hypercholesterolemia on patient satisfaction and QOL. Ninety ambulatory care patients (60 men and 30 women), age 28 to 66, were randomly assigned to receive either MNT from dietitians using a National Cholesterol Education Program-based protocol or UC from their physicians. Patients who received MNT reported no difference in QOL related to the taste or enjoyment of food compared with UC patients. However, the MNT group reported initial improvements in QOL related to the convenience and cost of following a low-fat diet when compared with the UC group. The MNT group also reported significant and lasting improvements in perceived QOL related to self-care compared with the UC group. MNT patients were more satisfied with the interaction at visits, knowledge and ability to manage their cholesterol, eating habits, appearance, time spent exercising, and life in general. Moreover, MNT patients did not report any negative impact related to following a low-fat diet in regard to feeling restricted by diet; interference with lifestyle activities; or difficulty planning, purchasing, or preparing meals or eating away from home. Contrary to popular belief there is no apparent reduction but rather an improvement in some measures of QOL and patient satisfaction with MNT for hypercholesterolemia."}
{"id": "MED-2525", "text": "AIMS: Guidelines for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention cite high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) as a major risk factor and recommend LDL-C goals for various risk groups. Lifestyle changes are advised as first-line treatment for patients with high cholesterol, and statins are recommended in high-risk patients. The From The Heart study investigated current practice for the diagnosis and treatment of high cholesterol, and attitudes towards management of the condition. METHODS: Physicians were randomly selected from 10 countries, and completed a confidential, semi-structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Of 2790 physicians agreeing to participate, 750 (27%) responded. Physicians rated CVD as the leading cause of death, although physicians (80%) perceived that cancer was the most feared illness among patients. Physicians (71%) believed smoking to be the greatest CVD risk factor, while only 50% thought high cholesterol was the greatest risk. Most physicians (81%) used guidelines to set cholesterol goals, primarily their national guidelines (34%) or the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines (24%). Although only 47% of patients reached and maintained their cholesterol goals, 61% of physicians believed that a sufficient number of patients achieved goals, and 53% did not feel frustrated that they could not always effectively treat patients with CVD. CONCLUSION: Results indicate discrepancies between guideline recommendations and clinical practice. Although physicians appreciate the risk of CVD, the importance of achieving healthy cholesterol levels for CVD prevention does not seem to be widely endorsed. There is a need for improved communication regarding the importance of cholesterol lowering and investigation of initiatives to improve goal achievement among physicians."}
{"id": "MED-2526", "text": "Investigators collected and analyzed mortality data for >50 diseases, including 7 different cancers, from 65 counties and 130 villages in rural mainland China. Blood, urine, food samples, and detailed dietary data were collected from 50 adults in each village and analyzed for a variety of nutritional, viral, hormonal, and toxic chemical factors. In rural China, fat intake was less than half that in the United States, and fiber intake was 3 times higher. Animal protein intake was very low, only about 10% of the US intake. Mean serum total cholesterol was 127 mg/dL in rural China versus 203 mg/dL for adults aged 20-74 years in the United States. Coronary artery disease mortality was 16.7-fold greater for US men and 5.6-fold greater for US women than for their Chinese counterparts. The combined coronary artery disease mortality rates for both genders in rural China were inversely associated with the frequency of intake of green vegetables and plasma erythrocyte monounsaturated fatty acids, but positively associated with a combined index of salt intake plus urinary sodium and plasma apolipoprotein B. These apolipoproteins, in turn, are positively associated with animal protein intake and the frequency of meat intake and inversely associated with plant protein, legume, and light-colored vegetable intake. Rates of other diseases were also correlated with dietary factors. There was no evidence of a threshold beyond which further benefits did not accrue with increasing proportions of plant-based foods in the diet."}
{"id": "MED-2527", "text": "BACKGROUND: One of the major issues in controlling serum cholesterol through dietetic intervention appears to be the need to improve patient adherence. AIMS: To explore the many questions regarding barriers to, and motivators for, cholesterol-lowering diet adherence. METHODS: We surveyed French general practitioners' dietetic practices for patients with hypercholesterolaemia, and looked at their patients' attitudes towards such an approach. RESULTS: We analysed 234 doctors' personal questionnaires and 356 patient self-survey questionnaires. Patients' reasons for not complying with the prescribed diet included: 'already having satisfactory food habits' (34.7%), 'unwillingness to suffer nutritional deprivation' (33.3%), 'difficulties to conciliate a diet with family life' (27.8%) and 'taking cholesterol-lowering drugs' (22.2%). Despite a generally good understanding by patients of doctors' recommendations, some discrepancies were seen between their respective declarations. While doctors largely thought that patients needed more explanation on why and how a diet can lower cholesterol (and avoid taking drugs), only 39.4% of patients declared needing this kind of information. Other discrepancies were observed concerning barriers to, and motivators for, patient adherence. Moreover, some dietetic rules appeared to be more difficult to comply with than others, e.g. 82.6% patients remembered they should 'eat more fish' but only 51.3% actually did so. Finally, physicians, as well as patients, displayed a lack of confidence in lipid-lowering diet efficiency. CONCLUSION: Improving patient education, especially concerning their perception of risk, as well as increasing the involvement of dieticians, are motivators to explore in order to improve adherence. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2528", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in negative emotions among participants of a cholesterol-lowering study. DESIGN: Cohort study. Quantitative evaluation of changes in negative emotions in relation to diet and plasma cholesterol levels before and after a 5-year dietary intervention program aimed at reducing plasma cholesterol levels. SETTING: Community-dwelling families of the Family Heart Study, Portland, Oregon. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred forty-nine men and 156 women from 233 families (mean age, 37.7 years). MEASUREMENTS: Changes in negative emotions including depression and aggressive hostility as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90). RESULTS: Improvement in overall emotional state was noted for the entire sample. Those who consumed a low-fat, high complex-carbohydrate diet at the end of the study showed significantly greater improvements in depression (P = 0.044; difference in improvement, 2.9 points) and aggressive hostility (P = 0.035; difference in improvement, 3.3 points) as well as a reduction in their plasma cholesterol levels (P = 0.024; difference in improvement, 2.7%) compared with those who ate a high-fat \"American diet.\" CONCLUSIONS: Participation in a cholesterol-lowering program may not be associated with a worsening in emotional state. To the contrary, improvements in diet appear to be associated with reductions in depression and aggressive hostility as well as with lowered plasma cholesterol levels."}
{"id": "MED-2529", "text": "We tested the effects of feeding a diet very high in fiber from fruit and vegetables. The levels fed were those, which had originally inspired the dietary fiber hypothesis related to colon cancer and heart disease prevention and also may have been eaten early in human evolution. Ten healthy volunteers each took 3 metabolic diets of 2 weeks duration. The diets were: high-vegetable, fruit, and nut (very-high-fiber, 55 g/1,000 kcal); starch-based containing cereals and legumes (early agricultural diet); or low-fat (contemporary therapeutic diet). All diets were intended to be weight-maintaining (mean intake, 2,577 kcal/d). Compared with the starch-based and low-fat diets, the high-fiber vegetable diet resulted in the largest reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (33% +/- 4%, P <.001) and the greatest fecal bile acid output (1.13 +/- 0.30 g/d, P =.002), fecal bulk (906 +/- 130 g/d, P <.001), and fecal short-chain fatty acid outputs (78 +/- 13 mmol/d, P <.001). Nevertheless, due to the increase in fecal bulk, the actual concentrations of fecal bile acids were lowest on the vegetable diet (1.2 mg/g wet weight, P =.002). Maximum lipid reductions occurred within 1 week. Urinary mevalonic acid excretion increased (P =.036) on the high-vegetable diet reflecting large fecal steroid losses. We conclude that very high-vegetable fiber intakes reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon cancer. Vegetable and fruit fibers therefore warrant further detailed investigation. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company"}
{"id": "MED-2530", "text": "Our understanding of coronary artery disease risk and the atherosclerotic process has changed greatly in recent years. For example, it is now known that angiographically apparent coronary artery plaque is not the major cause of myocardial infarction (MI). Rather, it is unstable, soft plaque that cannot be seen angiographically that is prone to rupture and result in infarction. Also important are changes in vascular reactivity resulting from diet. Cholesterol levels by themselves reveal little about a patient's coronary artery disease risk. Most infarctions occur in patients who have normal total cholesterol levels. At-risk patients can be identified using the ratio of total-to-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. The ratio of triglyceride to HDL cholesterol levels is also important. Simple steps to assess patients' risk in practice are outlined. Primary prevention trials demonstrate that coronary artery disease risk can be lowered dramatically with diet and drug therapy."}
{"id": "MED-2544", "text": "Large differences exist between human populations in the frequency of colonic cancer. Epidemiological evidence indicates that these differences are strongly influenced by country of residence, and a negative correlation has been found between the fiber content of the diet and frequency of colonic cancer. This has prompted the hypothesis that high-fiber diets are in some way protective. However, reanalysis of the dietary data provides equally strong support for the hypothesis that the protective element may be phytic acid (inositol hexaphosphate). This heat- and acid-stable substance is present in high concentration in many food items, including cereal grains, nuts, and seeds. Phytic acid forms chelates with various metals and suppresses damaging iron-catalyzed redox reactions. Inasmuch as colonic bacteria have been shown to produce oxygen radicals in appreciable amounts, dietary phytic acid might suppress oxidant damage to intestinal epithelium and neighboring cells. Indeed, rapidly accumulating data from animal models indicate that dietary supplementation with phytic acid may provide substantial protection against experimentally induced colonic cancer. Should further investigations yield additional support for this hypothesis, purposeful amplification of dietary phytic acid content would represent a simple method for reducing the risk of colonic carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2546", "text": "BACKGROUND: We have shown that inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), a natural compound and a potent anti-cancer agent, inhibited cancer cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, thereby leading to inhibition of cell migration and invasion. Cell adhesion to ECM is mediated by specific cell surface integrins, which transduce intracellular signals through their interaction and activation of other proteins that are recruited to the focal adhesion. We hypothesize that IP6 decreases cell adhesion by suppressing the integrin receptors and their subsequent signaling pathway. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed integrin expressions of the highly invasive estrogen receptor-negative human breast cancer MDA-MB 231 cells exposed to IP6 by flow cytometry. The expression of focal adhesion proteins was investigated by immunocytochemistry and Western blotting. RESULTS: IP6 treatment caused a significant (P < 0.005) decrease in the expression of integrin heterodimers alpha 2 beta 1 (collagen receptor), alpha 5 beta 1 (fibronectin receptor) and alpha v beta 3 (vitronectin receptor); flow cytometry showed that it was the alpha 5 subunit that was down-regulated ( < 0.001). However, the expression of the alpha 2, alpha v, beta 1 and beta 3 subunits were not affected by IP6 treatment. When the expression of integrins on the cell surface was assessed, there was a dramatic 82% decrease in the expression of alpha 5 beta 1 on IP6-treated cells (P < 0.0001), indicating a decrease in cell surface expression of the heterodimers. No effect was seen when inositol hexasulfate (IS6), an analogue of IP6, was used as a control. Immunocytochemistry showed a lack of clustering of paxillin; tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins in IP6-treated cells were discontinuous and scattered around the cell periphery, whereas the patterns were more dense and localized in control cells. Consistent with these observations, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) autophosphorylation at tyrosine-397 residue was suppressed, albeit modestly, by IP6 treatment, suggesting a down-regulation in the integrin-mediated signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that IP6-induced inhibition of cancer cell adhesion, migration and invasion may be mediated through the modulation of integrin dimerization, cell surface expression and integrin-associated signaling pathway."}
{"id": "MED-2559", "text": "Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) has anti-cancer properties, but recently other extracellular functions have been observed for IP6, including enhancing superoxide production and phagocytosis by neutrophils in the presence of microbial stimuli. This study investigated other inflammatory functions of IP6 on adherent neutrophils. The effect of IP6 on the release of IL-8, tumour necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and IL-6 by neutrophils attached to either plastic or laminin for up to 6 hours in response to stimulation with lipopolysaccharide or N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) was investigated. An increase in IL-8 secretion by stimulated cells occurred in the presence of IP6. The incubation of cells attached to laminin with IP6 alone (100-250 BM) did not effect cell morphology, but in the presence of 10(-7) M fMLP altered cell shape. A direct effect of IP6 on cell function was to trigger a sustained assembly of F-actin. Thus, exposure of neutrophils to low levels of IP6 appears to modulate selective neutrophil functions."}
{"id": "MED-2568", "text": "Inositol hexaphosphate (InsP6 or IP6) is ubiquitous. At 10 microM to 1 mM concentrations, IP6 and its lower phosphorylated forms (IP(1-5)) as well as inositol (Ins) are contained in most mammalian cells, wherein they are important in regulating vital cellular functions such as signal transduction, cell proliferation and differentiation. A striking anti-cancer action of IP6 has been demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro, which is based on the hypotheses that exogenously administered IP6 may be internalized, dephosphorylated to IP(1-5), and inhibit cell growth. There is additional evidence that Ins alone may further enhance the anti-cancer effect of IP6. Besides decreasing cellular proliferation, IP6 also causes differentiation of malignant cells often resulting in a reversion to normal phenotype. These data strongly point towards the involvement of signal transduction pathways, cell cycle regulatory genes, differentiation genes, oncogenes and perhaps, tumor suppressor genes in bringing about the observed anti-neoplastic action of IP6."}
{"id": "MED-2570", "text": "The functional properties, including antioxidant and chemopreventative capacities as well as the inhibitory effects on angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), \u03b1-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase, of three Australian-grown faba bean genotypes (Nura, Rossa and TF(Ic*As)*483/13) were investigated using an array of in vitro assays. Chromatograms of on-line post column derivatisation assay coupled with HPLC revealed the existence of active phenolics (hump) in the coloured genotypes, which was lacking in the white-coloured breeding line, TF(Ic*As)*483/13. Roasting reduced the phenolic content, and diminished antioxidant activity by 10-40 % as measured by the reagent-based assays (diphenylpicrylhydrazyl, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity) in all genotypes. Cell culture-based antioxidant activity assay (cellular antioxidant activity) showed an increase of activity in the coloured genotypes after roasting. Faba bean extracts demonstrated cellular protection ability against H\u2082O\u2082-induced DNA damage (assessed using RAW264.7 cells), and inhibited the proliferation of all human cancer cell lines (BL13, AGS, Hep G2 and HT-29) evaluated. However, the effect of faba bean extracts on the non-transformed human cells (CCD-18Co) was negligible. Flow cytometric analyses showed that faba bean extracts successfully induced apoptosis of HL-60 (acute promyelocytic leukaemia) cells. The faba bean extracts also exhibited ACE, \u03b1-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase inhibitory activities. Overall, extracts from Nura (buff-coloured) and Rossa (red-coloured) were comparable, while TF(Ic*As)*483/13 (white-coloured) contained the lowest phenolic content and exhibited the least antioxidant and enzyme inhibition activities. These results are important to promote the utilisation of faba beans in human diets for various health benefits."}
{"id": "MED-2571", "text": "Background Prospective, randomized, pilot clinical study was conducted to evaluate the beneficial effects of inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) + Inositol in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant therapy. Patients and methods Patients with invasive ductal breast cancer where polychemotherapy was indicated were monitored in the period from 2005-2007. Fourteen patients in the same stage of ductal invasive breast cancer were involved in the study, divided in two randomized groups. One group was subjected to take IP6 + Inositol while the other group was taking placebo. In both groups of patients the same laboratory parameters were monitored. When the treatment was finished, all patients have filled questionnaires QLQ C30 and QLQ-BR23 to determine the quality of life. Results Patients receiving chemotherapy, along with IP6 + Inositol did not have cytopenia, drop in leukocyte and platelet counts. Red blood cell counts and tumor markers were unaltered in both groups. However, patients who took IP6 + Inositol had significantly better quality of life (p = 0.05) and functional status (p = 0.0003) and were able to perform their daily activities. Conclusion IP6 + Inositol as an adjunctive therapy is valuable help in ameliorating the side effects and preserving quality of life among the patients treated with chemotherapy."}
{"id": "MED-2572", "text": "In traditional cultures, balancing health with a balanced lifestyle was a core belief. The diseases of modern civilization were rare. Indigenous people have patterns of illness very different from Western civilization; yet, they rapidly develop diseases once exposed to Western foods and lifestyles. Food and medicine were interwoven. All cultures used special or functional foods to prevent disease. Food could be used at different times either as food or medicine. Foods, cultivation, and cooking methods maximized community health and well-being. With methods passed down through generations, cooking processes were utilized that enhanced mineral and nutrient bioavailability. This article focuses on what researchers observed about the food traditions of indigenous people, their disease patterns, the use of specific foods, and the environmental factors that affect people who still eat traditional foods."}
{"id": "MED-2573", "text": "A significant anticancer activity of the naturally occurring carbohydrate inositol hexaphosphate (IP(6)) has been reported against numerous cancer models. Since tumors require angiogenesis for growth and metastasis, we hypothesize that IP(6) reduces tumor growth by inhibiting angiogenesis. Because angiogenesis depends on the interaction between endothelial and tumor cells, we investigated the effect of IP(6) on both. IP(6) inhibited the proliferation and induced the differentiation of endothelial cells in vitro; the growth of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) evaluated by MTT proliferation assay was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner (IC(50) = 0.74 mM). The combination of IP(6) and vasostatin, a calreticulin fragment with anti-angiogenic activity, was synergistically superior in growth inhibition than either compound. IP(6) inhibited human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation (in vitro capillary differentiation) on a reconstituted extracellular matrix, Matrigel, and disrupted pre-formed tubes. IP(6) significantly reduced basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-induced vessel formation (P < 0.01) in vivo in Matrigel plug assay. Exposure of HepG2, a human hepatoma cell line, to IP(6) for 8 h, resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in the mRNA levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), as assessed by RT-PCR. IP(6) treatment of HepG2 cells for 24 h also significantly reduced the VEGF protein levels in conditioned medium, in a concentration-dependent manner (P = 0.012). Thus, IP(6) has an inhibitory effect on induced angiogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2574", "text": "Inositol hexaphosphate (IP(6)) is a naturally occurring polyphosphorylated carbohydrate, abundantly present in many plant sources and in certain high-fiber diets, such as cereals and legumes. In addition to being found in plants, IP(6) is contained in almost all mammalian cells, although in much smaller amounts, where it is important in regulating vital cellular functions such as signal transduction, cell proliferation, and differentiation. For a long time IP(6) has been recognized as a natural antioxidant. Recently IP(6) has received much attention for its role in cancer prevention and control of experimental tumor growth, progression, and metastasis. In addition, IP(6) possesses other significant benefits for human health, such as the ability to enhance immune system, prevent pathological calcification and kidney stone formation, lower elevated serum cholesterol, and reduce pathological platelet activity. In this review we show the efficacy and discuss some of the molecular mechanisms that govern the action of this dietary agent. Exogenously administered IP(6) is rapidly taken up into cells and dephosphorylated to lower inositol phosphates, which further affect signal transduction pathways resulting in cell cycle arrest. A striking anticancer action of IP(6) was demonstrated in different experimental models. In addition to reducing cell proliferation, IP(6) also induces differentiation of malignant cells. Enhanced immunity and antioxidant properties also contribute to tumor cell destruction. Preliminary studies in humans show that IP(6) and inositol, the precursor molecule of IP(6), appear to enhance the anticancer effect of conventional chemotherapy, control cancer metastases, and improve quality of life. Because it is abundantly present in regular diet, efficiently absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and safe, IP(6) + inositol holds great promise in our strategies for cancer prevention and therapy. There is clearly enough evidence to justify the initiation of full-scale clinical trials in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2575", "text": "Introduction Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have repeatedly been shown to play a very active role in extracellular matrix degradation associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. Tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) are well-known for their ability to inhibit MMP activity thereby inhibiting malignant progression. Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6 phytic acid) has been recognized to have both preventive and therapeutic effects against various cancers including that of colon. In in vitro studies, IP6 has been demonstrated to inhibit cancer cell adhesion and migration. In the present study, the effect of IP6 on the expression of MMP and TIMP genes was evaluated in unstimulated and IL-1\u03b2-stimulated colon cancer cell line Caco-2. Materials and methods Real-time QRT-PCR was used to validate the transcription level of selected MMP and TIMP genes in Caco-2 cells after treatment with 1\u00a0ng/ml of IL-1\u03b2, 2.5\u00a0mM of IP6, and both for 6, 12, and 24\u00a0h. Results Stimulation of cells with IL-1\u03b2 only resulted in an overexpression of MMP and their TIMP mRNAs. A significant decrease in MMP-13, MMP-3, MMP-2, and TIMP-1 basal expression was achieved by IP6. IP6 was also an efficient downregulator of MMP-1, MMP-9, and TIMP-2 genes transcription stimulated by IL-1\u03b2 in 6\u00a0h lasting culture. After 12\u00a0h, IL-1\u03b2-induced MMP-2 mRNA expression was significantly reduced by IP6. Conclusion Proinflammatory cytokine IL-1\u03b2 upregulates MMP and TIMP mRNAs expression in colon cancer epithelial cells Caco-2. IP6 (2.5\u00a0mM) influences constitutive expression of both MMP and TIMP genes and downregulates IL-1\u03b2 stimulated transcription of some of these genes. IP6 exerts its anti-metastatic activity through modulation of MMP and TIMP genes expression to prevent cancer cell migration and invasion."}
{"id": "MED-2577", "text": "A case-control study probing the role of diet on the incidence of colorectal cancer was undertaken in Athens, Greece, in a population characterized by ethnic homogeneity but substantial heterogeneity with respect to dietary habits. The case series consisted of 100 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed colorectal cancer admitted to two large hospitals of Athens during a 16-month period; the control series consisted of orthopaedic patients, admitted to the same hospitals during the same time period, individually matched to the index cases by age and sex. Dietary histories concerning the frequency of consumption (per month or per week) of about 80 food items were obtained by the same interviewer. Cases reported significantly less frequent consumption of vegetables (particularly beets, spinach, lettuce and cabbage) and, independently, significantly more frequent consumption of meat (notably lamb and beef). Between the two extremes (high-vegetable, low-meat diet versus high-meat, low-vegetable diet) a risk ratio of about 8 appears to exist, sufficient (in size and direction) to explain a substantial part of the international variation in the incidence of colorectal cancer. Significant associations were not found with beer or other alcoholic beverages, and significant interactions were not noted with respect to age, sex and anatomic localization (colon vs. rectum)."}
{"id": "MED-2578", "text": "The incidence of colonic cancer differs widely between various human populations. It has been suggested that dietary fiber content is of utmost importance and is inversely related to the occurrence of colonic cancer. However, high-fiber diets are not always correlated with low frequency of colonic cancer, suggesting the involvement of additional dietary constituents. Inositol hexaphosphate (phytic acid) is an abundant plant seed component present in many, but not all, fiber-rich diets. The authors have found that phytic acid is a potent inhibitor of iron-mediated generation of the hazardous oxidant, hydroxyl radical. Herein, the authors propose that inhibition of intracolonic hydroxyl radical generation, via the chelation of reactive iron by phytic acid, may help explain the suppression of colonic carcinogenesis and other inflammatory bowel diseases by diets rich in phytic acid."}
{"id": "MED-2579", "text": "There are now extensive scientific data suggesting the potential role of dietary and non-dietary phytochemicals in the prevention and control of prostate cancer (PCA) growth and progression. PCA is a disease of elderly male populations with a relatively slower rate of growth and progression as compared to most other cancers and, therefore, is a candidate disease for preventive intervention. Overall, PCA growth and progression involve aberrant mitogenic and survival signaling and deregulated cell cycle progression, accompanied by gradual accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes over a period of years. Several mechanisms, including overexpression of growth, survival and angiogenic factors and their receptors, together with a loss/decrease of tumor suppressor p53, retinoblastoma and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, have been implicated in PCA growth and progression. Therefore, phytochemicals targeting these molecular events could have a promising role in PCA prevention and/or therapy. Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) is a major constituent of most cereals, legumes, nuts, oil seeds and soybean. Taken orally as an over-the-counter dietary/nutrient supplement, and is recognised as offering several health benefits without any known toxicity. In vitro anticancer efficacy of IP6 has been observed in many human, mouse and rat prostate cancer cells. Completed studies also show that oral feeding of IP6 inhibits human PCA xenograft growth in nude mice without toxicity. In a recently completed pilot study, we observed similar preventive effects of IP6 on prostate tumorigenesis in the TRAMP model. Mechanistic studies indicate that IP6 targets mitogenic and survival signaling, as well as cell cycle progression, in PCA cells. IP6 is also shown to target molecular events associated with angiogenesis. Moreover, IP6 has pleiotropic molecular targets for its overall efficacy against PCA and, therefore, could be a suitable candidate agent for preventive intervention of this malignancy in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2580", "text": "Adequate fruit and vegetable intake was suggested to protect against colorectal cancer and colorectal adenomas; however, several recent prospective studies reported no association. We examined the association between fruits and vegetables and adenomatous polyp recurrence in the Polyp Prevention Trial (PPT). The PPT was a low-fat, high-fiber, high-fruit, and vegetable dietary intervention trial of adenoma recurrence, in which there were no differences in the rate of adenoma recurrence in participants in the intervention and control arms of the trial. In this analysis of the entire PPT trial\u2013based cohort, multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of advanced and nonadvanced adenoma recurrence within quartiles of baseline and change (baseline minus the mean over 3 y) in fruit and vegetable intake, after adjustment for age, total energyy intake, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, BMI, and gender. There were no significant associations between nonadvanced adenoma recurrence and overall change in fruit and vegetable consumption; however, those in the highest quartile of change in dry bean intake (greatest increase) compared with those in the lowest had a significantly reduced OR for advanced adenoma recurrence (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.18\u20130.69; P for trend = 0.001). The median in the highest quartile of change in dry bean intake was 370% higher than the baseline intake. The PPT trial\u2013based cohort provides evidence that dry beans may be inversely associated with advanced adenoma recurrence."}
{"id": "MED-2581", "text": "A hospital-based case-control study of diet and colorectal cancer was conducted among Chinese in Singapore (who constitute 77% of the population). A total of 203 cases and 425 controls were included. A history of the usual dietary intake one year prior to interview was taken using a quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Daily intakes of nutrients and selected food items were computed and stratified by tertiles of the control range, to assess risk in low-, medium- and high-intake categories. Effects were adjusted in analysis for age, sex, Chinese dialect group and occupation. For cancers of colon and rectum combined, significant observations were a protective effect of high cruciferous vegetable intake (OR = 0.50, p less than 0.01) and a predisposing effect of a high meat/vegetable consumption ratio (OR = 1.77, p less than 0.05). Similar results were observed for colon cancer alone. For rectal cancer alone (only 71 cases), significant (p less than 0.05) protective effects were observed for high intakes of protein (OR = 0.61), fibre (OR = 0.46), beta-carotene (OR = 0.54), cruciferous vegetables (OR = 0.51) and total vegetables (OR = 0.51). When further assessed by multiple logistic regression, tests for trend and assessment of risk in the extreme highest and lowest quintiles of the control range, the factors consistently significant were cruciferous vegetable intake and the meat/vegetable ratio. A particularly high relative risk was also noted in association with low coffee consumption (OR = 1.59, with p less than 0.05 for trend). No consistent trends were noted for fat or fibre intakes. For non-dietary variables investigated, a history of cholecystectomy increased the risk of both cancers combined (OR = 3.43, p less than 0.05) and colon cancer alone (OR = 4.39, p less than 0.01). This study in an Asian population of countries of Southern and Eastern Asia newly undergoing industrialization and in which rapid economic change is reflected in changing cancer patterns, suggests that the protective effects of certain dietary constituents, notably the cruciferous vegetables, may be more important than the hitherto stressed carcinogenic potential of fat and protein."}
{"id": "MED-2582", "text": "Nonstarch polysaccharide (NSP) intake was measured in representative samples of 30 men aged 50-59 in 2 urban and 2 rural Scandinavian populations that exhibited a 3-4 fold difference in incidence of large bowel cancer. Intake was measured by chemical analysis of complete duplicate portions of all food eaten over one day by each individual. NSP intakes showed a rural-urban gradient, with 18.4 +/- 7.8 g/day in rural Finland and 18.0 +/- 6.4 g/day in rural Denmark versus 14.5 +/- 5.4 g/day in urban Finland and 13.2 +/- 4.8 g/day in urban Denmark. NSP intakes were also calculated (using food tables) from weighed food records kept over 4 days, one of which was the day on which the duplicate collection was made. Intakes were 2-2.5 g/day higher with this method than with direct chemical analysis, mainly because published tables of values have become outdated and inaccurate as a result of improved methods for measuring NSP in food. Individual variation from day to day in NSP intake was considerable. Average NSP intake and intake of some of its component sugars were inversely related to colon cancer incidence in this geographical comparison. To show a relationship at the individual level between diet and cancer risk in a prospective study would require detailed and accurate methods for the assessment of NSP consumption."}
{"id": "MED-2583", "text": "Inositol hexaphosphate (IP(6)), a naturally polyphosphorylated carbohydrate, has been reported to have significant in vivo and in vitro anticancer activity against numerous tumours, such as colon, prostate, breast, liver and rhabdomyosarcomas. To confirm this activity in haematological malignancies and to characterize some of the mechanisms of IP(6) action, we analysed its effects on human leukaemic cell lines and fresh chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) progenitor cells using a combined cellular and molecular approach. IP(6) had a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on all of the evaluated cell lines, with accumulation in the G2M phase in two out of five cell lines tested. At the molecular level, cDNA microarray analysis after IP(6) exposure showed an extensive downmodulation of genes involved in transcription and cell cycle regulation and a coherent upregulation of cell cycle inhibitors. Furthermore, IP(6) treatment of fresh leukaemic samples of bone marrow CD34+ CML progenitor cells significantly inhibited granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming unit (CFU-GM) formation (P = 0.0062) in comparison to normal bone marrow specimens, which were not affected. No differentiating effect on HL60 cells was observed. Taken together, our results confirm the antiproliferative activity of IP(6) and suggest that it may have a specific antitumour effect also in chronic myeloid leukaemias, via active gene modulation."}
{"id": "MED-2584", "text": "In a 6-year prospective study, the authors examined the relation between diet and incident colon cancer among 32,051 non-Hispanic white cohort members of the Adventist Health Study (California, 1976-1982) who, at baseline, had no documented or reported history of cancer. The risk of colon cancer was determined from proportional hazards regression with adjustment for age and other covariates. The authors found a positive association with total meat intake (risk ratio (RR) for > or =1 time/week vs. no meat intake = 1.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-2.87; p for trend = 0.01) and, among subjects who favored specific types of meat, positive associations with red meat intake (RR for > or =1 time/week vs. no red meat intake = 1.90, 95% CI 1.16-3.11; p for trend = 0.02) and white meat intake (RR for > or =1 time/week vs. no white meat intake = 3.29, 95% CI 1.60-6.75; p for trend = 0.006). An inverse association with legume intake (RR for >2 times/week vs. <1 time/week = 0.53, 95% CI 0.33-0.86; p for trend = 0.03) was observed. Among men, a positive association with body mass index was observed (relative to the RR for tertile III (>25.6 kg/m2) vs. tertile I (<22.5 kg/m2) = 2.63, 95% CI 1.12-6.13; p for trend = 0.05). A complex relation was identified whereby subjects exhibiting a high red meat intake, a low legume intake, and a high body mass experienced a more than threefold elevation in risk relative to all other patterns based on these variables. This pattern of putative risk factors would likely contribute to increases in both insulin resistance (high body mass, high red meat intake) and glycemic load (low legume intake), a synergism that, if causal, implicates hyperinsulinemic exposure in colon carcinogenesis. The overall findings from this cohort identify both red meat intake and white meat intake as important dietary risk factors for colon cancer and raise the possibility that the risk due to red meat intake reflects a more complex etiology."}
{"id": "MED-2585", "text": "Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) is a naturally occurring polyphosphorylated carbohydrate that is present in substantial amounts in almost all plant and mammalian cells. It was recently recognized to possess multiple biological functions. A striking anticancer effect of IP6 was demonstrated in different experimental models. Inositol is also a natural constituent possessing moderate anticancer activity. The most consistent and best anticancer results were obtained from the combination of IP6 plus inositol. In addition to reducing cell proliferation, IP6 increases differentiation of malignant cells, often resulting in a reversion to normal phenotype. Exogenously administered IP6 is rapidly taken into the cells and dephosphorylated to lower-phosphate inositol phosphates, which further interfere with signal transduction pathways and cell cycle arrest. Enhanced immunity and antioxidant properties can also contribute to tumor cell destruction. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this anticancer action are not fully understood. Because it is abundantly present in regular diet, efficiently absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and safe, IP6 holds great promise in our strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancer. IP6 plus inositol enhances the anticancer effect of conventional chemotherapy, controls cancer metastases, and improves the quality of life, as shown in a pilot clinical trial. The data strongly argue for the use of IP6 plus inositol in our strategies for cancer prevention and treatment. However, the effectiveness and safety of IP6 plus inositol at therapeutic doses needs to be determined in phase I and phase II clinical trials in humans."}
{"id": "MED-2586", "text": "A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out to study the effects of low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors (search performed on PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus databases). A total of 23 reports, corresponding to 17 clinical investigations, were identified as meeting the pre-specified criteria. Meta-analysis carried out on data obtained in 1,141 obese patients, showed the LCD to be associated with significant decreases in body weight (-7.04 kg [95% CI -7.20/-6.88]), body mass index (-2.09 kg m(-2) [95% CI -2.15/-2.04]), abdominal circumference (-5.74 cm [95% CI -6.07/-5.41]), systolic blood pressure (-4.81 mm Hg [95% CI -5.33/-4.29]), diastolic blood pressure (-3.10 mm Hg [95% CI -3.45/-2.74]), plasma triglycerides (-29.71 mg dL(-1) [95% CI -31.99/-27.44]), fasting plasma glucose (-1.05 mg dL(-1) [95% CI -1.67/-0.44]), glycated haemoglobin (-0.21% [95% CI -0.24/-0.18]), plasma insulin (-2.24 micro IU mL(-1) [95% CI -2.65/-1.82]) and plasma C-reactive protein, as well as an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.73 mg dL(-1) [95%CI 1.44/2.01]). Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and creatinine did not change significantly, whereas limited data exist concerning plasma uric acid. LCD was shown to have favourable effects on body weight and major cardiovascular risk factors; however the effects on long-term health are unknown. \u00a9 2012 The Authors. obesity reviews \u00a9 2012 International Association for the Study of Obesity."}
{"id": "MED-2587", "text": "Recent research has demonstrated that successful simultaneous treatment of multiple risk factors including cholesterol, triglycerides, homocysteine, lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)], fibrinogen, antioxidants, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, infection, and dietary factors can lead to the regression of coronary artery disease and the recovery of viable myocardium. However, preliminary work revealed that a number of individuals enrolled in the original study went on popular high-protein diets in an effort to lose weight. Despite increasing numbers of individuals following high-protein diets, little or no information is currently available regarding the effect of these diets on coronary artery disease and coronary blood flow. Twenty-six people were studied for 1 year by using myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), echocardiography (ECHO), and serial blood work to evaluate the extent of changes in regional coronary blood flow, regional wall motion abnormalities, and several independent variables known to be important in the development and progression of coronary artery disease. Treatment was based on homocysteine, Lp (a), C-reactive protein (C-RP), triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fibrinogen levels. Each variable was independently treated as previously reported. MPI and ECHO were performed at the beginning and end of the study for each individual. The 16 people (treatment group/TG) studied modified their dietary intake as instructed. Ten additional individuals elected a different dietary regimen consisting of a \"high-protein\" (high protein group/HPG) diet, which they believed would \"improve\" their overall health. Patients in the TG demonstrated a reduction in each of the independent variables studied with regression in both the extent and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) as quantitatively measured by MPI. Recovery of viable myocardium was seen in 43.75% of myocardial segments in these patients, documented with both MPI and ECHO evaluations. Individuals in the HPG showed worsening of their independent variables. Most notably, fibrinogen, Lp (a), and C-RP increased by an average of 14%, 106%, and 61% respectively. Progression of the extent and severity of CAD was documented in each of the vascular territories with an overall cumulative progression of 39.7%. The differences between progression and extension of disease in the HPG and the regression of disease in the TG were statistically (p<0.001) significant. Patients following recommended treatment for each of the independent variables were able to regress both the extent and severity of their coronary artery disease (CAD), as well as improve their myocardial wall motion (function) while following the prescribed medical and dietary guidelines. However, individuals receiving the same medical treatment but following a high-protein diet showed a worsening of independent risk factors, in addition to progression of CAD. These results would suggest that high-protein diets may precipitate progression of CAI) through increases in lipid deposition and inflammatory and coagulation pathways."}
{"id": "MED-2588", "text": "Objective Low-carbohydrate diets and their combination with high-protein diets have been gaining widespread popularity to control weight. In addition to weight loss, they may have favorable short-term effects on the risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our objective was to elucidate their long-term effects on mortality and CVD incidence. Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov for relevant articles published as of September 2012. Cohort studies of at least one year\u2019s follow-up period were included. Review methods Identified articles were systematically reviewed and those with pertinent data were selected for meta-analysis. Pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality, CVD mortality and CVD incidence were calculated using the random-effects model with inverse-variance weighting. Results We included 17 studies for a systematic review, followed by a meta-analysis using pertinent data. Of the 272,216 people in 4 cohort studies using the low-carbohydrate score, 15,981 (5.9%) cases of death from all-cause were reported. The risk of all-cause mortality among those with high low-carbohydrate score was significantly elevated: the pooled RR (95% CI) was 1.31 (1.07\u20131.59). A total of 3,214 (1.3%) cases of CVD death among 249,272 subjects in 3 cohort studies and 5,081 (2.3%) incident CVD cases among 220,691 people in different 4 cohort studies were reported. The risks of CVD mortality and incidence were not statistically increased: the pooled RRs (95% CIs) were 1.10 (0.98\u20131.24) and 0.98 (0.78\u20131.24), respectively. Analyses using low-carbohydrate/high-protein score yielded similar results. Conclusion Low-carbohydrate diets were associated with a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality and they were not significantly associated with a risk of CVD mortality and incidence. However, this analysis is based on limited observational studies and large-scale trials on the complex interactions between low-carbohydrate diets and long-term outcomes are needed."}
{"id": "MED-2589", "text": "BACKGROUND: Determination of the effects of dietary modification and hyperlipidemic medications in the elderly (> sixty-five years of age) patient has not been significantly investigated to date despite knowledge that elevated cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels increase the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: Twenty-seven individuals were placed into one of three treatment groups and longitudinally followed up to examine the effects of diet and hyperlipidemic medications on TC and TG levels. Group 1 (n = 14) received neither dietary nor drug therapy. Group 2 (n = 9) received dietary counseling without concomitant hyperlipidemic medications. Subjects in group 3 (n = 4) underwent dietary instruction for six months and hyperlipidemic medication(s) for eighteen months. RESULTS: Subjects in group 1 demonstrated a statistical increase in TC (P < or = 0.001) during the study. Patients in groups 2 (P < or = 0.001) and 3 (P < or = 0.05) demonstrated statistical improvement in TC reduction during dietary counseling. The effect on TC was blunted in group 3 after dietary counseling was discontinued. Reductions in TG levels were significant (P < or = 0.001) only for patients in group 2. CONCLUSION: Elderly individuals were able to significantly reduce both TC and TG levels by dietary modification alone. Minimal improvement was seen with the addition of hyperlipidemic medications."}
{"id": "MED-2590", "text": "Nineteen people without prior history of documented heart disease were studied for 8 months to determine the effect of treatment based on an immunologic unified theory of vascular disease. Subjects underwent myocardial perfusion imaging to quantify the extent and severity of coronary artery disease, along with assessment of wall motion abnormalities and ejection fraction by both nuclear and echocardiographic methods. These tests were repeated at the end of the study. Treatment consisted of dietary changes, treatment of cholesterol, triglycerides, homocysteine, lipoprotein (a), fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, and infection. Patients who followed the dietary recommendations demonstrated statistically reduced disease in all three major coronary arteries, whereas those individuals who followed high-protein diets demonstrated statistically greater levels of disease."}
{"id": "MED-2591", "text": "Low-carbohydrate diets have become increasingly popular for weight loss. Although they may improve some metabolic markers, particularly in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) or the metabolic syndrome (MS), their net effect on arterial wall function remains unclear. The objective was to evaluate the relation between dietary macronutrient composition and the small artery reactive hyperaemia index (saRHI), a marker of small artery endothelial function, in a cohort of patients at increased cardiovascular (CV) risk. The present cross-sectional study included 247 patients. Diet was evaluated by a 3-d food-intake register and reduced to a novel low-carbohydrate diet score (LCDS). Physical examination, demographic, biochemical and anthropometry parameters were recorded, and the saRHI was measured in each patient. Individuals in the lowest LCDS quartile (Q1, 45 % carbohydrate; 20 % protein; 32 % fat) had higher saRHI values than those in the top quartile (Q4, 29 % carbohydrate, 24 % protein, 40 % fat; 1.66 (sd 0.41) v. 1.52 (sd 0.22), P= 0.037). These results were particularly strong in patients with the MS (Q1 = 1.82 (sd 0.32) v. Q4 = 1.61 (sd 027); P= 0.021) and T2D (Q1 = 1.78 (sd 0.31) v. Q4 = 1.62 (sd 0.35); P= 0.011). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that individuals in the highest LCDS quartile had a significantly negative coefficient of saRHI, which was independent of confounders (OR -0.85; 95 % CI 0.19, 0.92; P= 0.031). These findings suggest that a dietary pattern characterised by a low amount of carbohydrate, but high amounts of protein and fat, is associated with a poorer small artery vascular reactivity in patients with increased CV risk."}
{"id": "MED-2592", "text": "Background Studies have shown that pistachios can improve blood lipid profiles in subjects with moderate hypercholesterolemia which could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, there is also a widely perceived view that eating nuts can lead to body weight gain due to their high fat content. Purpose To investigate the impact of different dosages of pistachios on body weight, blood pressure, blood lipids, blood glucose and insulin in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Methods Ninety subjects with metabolic syndrome (consistent with 2005 International Diabetes Federation metabolic syndrome standard without diabetes) were enrolled in three endocrinology outpatient clinics in Beijing. All subjects received dietary counseling according to the guidelines of the American Heart Association Step I diet. After a 4 week run-in, subjects were randomized to consume either the recommended daily serving of 42 g pistachios (RSG), a higher daily serving of 70 g pistachio (HSG) or no pistachios (DCG) for 12 weeks. Results Subjects in all three groups were matched at baseline for BMI: DCG 28.03 \u00b1 4.3; RSG 28.12 \u00b1 3.22; and HSG 28.01 \u00b1 4.51 kg/m2. There were no significant changes in body weight or BMI in any groups during the study nor any change from baseline at any time point in any group. During the entire study, there were no significant differences in waist-to-hip ratio among the groups or any change from baseline in any group (DCG -0.00 \u00b1 0.03, RSG -0.01 \u00b1 0.02 and HSG 0.01 \u00b1 0.04). There were no significant differences detected among groups in triglycerides, fasting glucose and 2 hour postprandial glucose following a 75 gram glucose challenge. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that glucose values 2 h after a 75 gm glucose challenge were significantly lower at week 12 compared with baseline values in the HSG group (-1.13 \u00b1 2.58 mmol/L, p = 0.02), and a similar trend was noted in the RSG group (-0.77 \u00b1 2.07 mmol/L, p = 0.06), while no significant change was seen in the DCG group (-0.15 \u00b1 2.27 mmol/L, p = 0.530). At the end of study, serum triglyceride levels were significantly lower compared with baseline in the RSG group (-0.38 \u00b1 0.79 mmol/L, p = 0.018), but no significant changes were observed in the HSG or DCG groups. Conclusion Despite concerns that pistachio nut consumption may promote weight gain, the daily ingestion of either 42 g or 70 g of pistachios for 12 weeks did not lead to weight gain or an increase in waist-to-hip ratio in Chinese subjects with metabolic syndrome. In addition, pistachio consumption may improve the risk factor associated with the metabolic syndrome."}
{"id": "MED-2593", "text": "Background Prospective studies in non-Mediterranean populations have consistently related increasing nut consumption to lower coronary heart disease mortality. A small protective effect on all-cause and cancer mortality has also been suggested. To examine the association between frequency of nut consumption and mortality in individuals at high cardiovascular risk from Spain, a Mediterranean country with a relatively high average nut intake per person. Methods We evaluated 7,216 men and women aged 55 to 80 years randomized to 1 of 3 interventions (Mediterranean diets supplemented with nuts or olive oil and control diet) in the PREDIMED (\u2018PREvenci\u00f3n con DIeta MEDiterr\u00e1nea\u2019) study. Nut consumption was assessed at baseline and mortality was ascertained by medical records and linkage to the National Death Index. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression and multivariable analyses with generalized estimating equation models were used to assess the association between yearly repeated measurements of nut consumption and mortality. Results During a median follow-up of 4.8 years, 323 total deaths, 81 cardiovascular deaths and 130 cancer deaths occurred. Nut consumption was associated with a significantly reduced risk of all-cause mortality (P for trend <0.05, all). Compared to non-consumers, subjects consuming nuts >3 servings/week (32% of the cohort) had a 39% lower mortality risk (hazard ratio (HR) 0.61; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.83). A similar protective effect against cardiovascular and cancer mortality was observed. Participants allocated to the Mediterranean diet with nuts group who consumed nuts >3 servings/week at baseline had the lowest total mortality risk (HR 0.37; 95% CI 0.22 to 0.66). Conclusions Increased frequency of nut consumption was associated with a significantly reduced risk of mortality in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk. Please see related commentary: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/165. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov. International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 35739639. Registration date: 5 October 2005."}
{"id": "MED-2594", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies have shown an inverse association between the frequency of nut consumption and body mass index (BMI) and risk of obesity. However, clinical trials that evaluated nut consumption on adiposity have been scarce and inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published, randomized nut-feeding trials to estimate the effect of nut consumption on adiposity measures. DESIGN: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched for relevant clinical trials of nut intake that provided outcomes of body weight, BMI (in kg/m(2)), or waist-circumference measures and were published before December 2012. There were no language restrictions. Two investigators independently selected and reviewed eligible studies. The weighted mean difference (WMD) between nut or control diets was estimated by using a random-effects meta-analysis with 95% CIs. RESULTS: Thirty-three clinical trials met our inclusion criteria. Pooled results indicated a nonsignificant effect on body weight (WMD: -0.47 kg; 95% CI: -1.17, 0.22 kg; I(2) = 7%), BMI (WMD: -0.40 kg/m(2); 95% CI: -0.97, 0.17 kg/m(2); I(2) = 49%), or waist circumference (WMD: -1.25 cm; 95% CI: -2.82, 0.31 cm; I(2) = 28%) of diets including nuts compared with control diets. These findings were remarkably robust in the sensitivity analysis. No publication bias was shown. CONCLUSION: Compared with control diets, diets enriched with nuts did not increase body weight, body mass index, or waist circumference in controlled clinical trials."}
{"id": "MED-2595", "text": "Nuts are an integral part of the Mediterranean food patterns, and their incorporation into the regular diets of human beings is believed to provide many health benefits. The recent recognition of nuts as \"heart-healthy\" foods by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given a major boost to the positive image of nuts. Nut consumption has been associated with several health benefits, such as antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, cardioprotective, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic benefits, among other functional properties. However, although nuts possess these many health benefits, their consumption has been hampered by a lack of adequate information regarding those benefits. In addition, because nuts are energy-dense foods with high-fat content, there is a misconception among consumers that increased consumption may lead to unwanted gain in body weight with the risk of developing overweight/obesity. Nonetheless, available epidemiologic studies and short-term controlled feeding trials have supported the theory that the inclusion of nuts in the typical diet does not induce weight gain, despite an expected increase in total caloric intake. To address the misperception about nuts and body weight gain, the present review focuses mainly on the relation between nut consumption and body weight gain, in the context of the many health benefits of nuts. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2596", "text": "BACKGROUND Increased nut consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the association between nut consumption and mortality remains unclear. METHODS We examined the association between nut consumption and subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 76,464 women in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study (1980\u20132010) and 42,498 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986\u20132010). Participants with a history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke were excluded. Nut consumption was assessed at baseline and updated every 2 to 4 years. RESULTS During 3,038,853 person-years of follow-up, 16,200 women and 11,229 men died. Nut consumption was inversely associated with total mortality among both women and men, after adjustment for other known or suspected risk factors. The pooled multivariate hazard ratios for death among participants who ate nuts, as compared with those who did not, were 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 to 0.96) for the consumption of nuts less than once per week, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86 to 0.93) for once per week, 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83 to 0.90) for two to four times per week, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.79 to 0.91) for five or six times per week, and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73 to 0.86) for seven or more times per week (P<0.001 for trend). Significant inverse associations were also observed between nut consumption and deaths due to cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease. CONCLUSIONS In two large, independent cohorts of nurses and other health professionals, the frequency of nut consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality, independently of other predictors of death. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research and Education Foundation.)"}
{"id": "MED-2597", "text": "Since the beginning of the 1990s, increasing evidence supports beneficial effects of nut consumption on health. A new analysis of the Spanish PREDIMED trial, published in BMC Medicine, has expanded our knowledge. The study showed that individuals eating nuts more than three times per week died less often from cardiovascular disease and cancer than non-consumers. The study also adds an important finding that previous epidemiological studies could not provide: a protective effect on premature mortality was only seen in the intervention group in which nut consumption increased during the 4.8 years of follow-up, not in the intervention group with additional olive oil consumption or in the control group. Nut consumption actually decreased during follow-up in the latter two groups. Questions remain to be answered on the quantity of nuts to be consumed for health benefits, on possible mechanisms of action, and on whether some types of nuts should be favored. Please see related research: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/164."}
{"id": "MED-2598", "text": "Death receptors belong to the TNF receptor family and are characterised by an intracellular death domain that serves to recruit adapter proteins such as TRADD and FADD and cysteine proteases such as Caspase-8. Activation of Caspase-8 on the aggregated receptor leads to apoptosis. Triggering of death receptors is mediated through the binding of specific ligands of the TNF family, which are homotrimeric type-2 membrane proteins displaying three receptor binding sites. There are various means of modulating the activation of death receptors. The status of the ligand (membrane-bound vs. soluble) is critical in the activation of Fas and of TRAIL receptors. Cleavage of membrane-bound FasL to a soluble form (sFasL) does not affect its ability to bind to Fas but drastically decreases its cytotoxic activity. Conversely, cross-linking epitope-tagged sFasL with anti-tag antibodies to mimic membrane-bound ligand results in a 1000-fold increase in cytotoxicity. This suggests that more than three Fas molecules need to be aggregated to efficiently signal apoptosis. Death receptors can also be regulated by decoy receptors. The cytotoxic ligand TRAIL interacts with five receptors, only two of which (TRAIL-R1 and -R2) have a death domain. TRAIL-R3 is anchored to the membrane by a glycolipid and acts as a dominant negative inhibitor of TRAIL-mediated apoptosis when overexpressed on TRAIL-sensitive cells. Intracellular proteins interacting with the apoptotic pathway are potential modulators of death receptors. FLIP resembles Caspase-8 in structure but lacks protease activity. It interacts with both FADD and Caspase-8 to inhibits the apoptotic signal of death receptors and, at the same time, can activate other signalling pathways such as that leading to NF-kappa B activation."}
{"id": "MED-2602", "text": "In this study, we investigated the molecular pathways targeted by curcumin during apoptosis of human melanoma cell lines. We found that curcumin caused cell death in eight melanoma cell lines, four with wild-type and four with mutant p53. We demonstrate that curcumin-induced apoptosis is both dose- and time-dependent. We found that curcumin did not induce p53, suggesting that curcumin activates other apoptosis pathways. Our data show that curcumin activates caspases-3 and -8 but not caspase-9, supporting the rationale that apoptosis occurs via a membrane-mediated mechanism. Both a caspase-8 and broad-based caspase inhibitor, but not a caspase-9 specific inhibitor, suppressed curcumin-induced cell death. To further support our hypothesis that curcumin induces activation of a death receptor pathway, we show that curcumin induces Fas receptor aggregation in a FasL-independent manner and that low-temperature incubation, previously shown to inhibit receptor aggregation, prevented curcumin-induced cell death. Moreover, we demonstrate that expression of dominant negative FADD significantly inhibited curcumin-induced cell death. In addition, our results indicate that curcumin also blocks the NF-kappaB cell survival pathway and suppresses the apoptotic inhibitor, XIAP. Since melanoma cells with mutant p53 are strongly resistant to conventional chemotherapy, curcumin may overcome the chemoresistance of these cells and provide potential new avenues for treatment."}
{"id": "MED-2603", "text": "FAS-associated protein with death domain (FADD) is the key adaptor protein transmitting apoptotic signals mediated by the main death receptors (DRs). Besides being an essential instrument in cell death, FADD is also implicated in proliferation, cell cycle progression, tumor development, inflammation, innate immunity, and autophagy. Recently, many of these new functions of FADD were shown to be independent of DRs. Moreover, FADD function is dictated by protein localization and phosphorylation state. Thus, FADD is a crucial and unique controller of many essential cellular processes. The full understanding of the networks dictating the ultimate function of FADD may provide a new paradigm for other multifaceted proteins. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2607", "text": "Numerous natural compounds have been extensively investigated for their potential for cancer prevention over decades. Curcumin, from Curcuma longa, is a highly promising natural compound that can be potentially used for chemoprevention of multiple cancers. Curcumin modulates multiple molecular pathways involved in the lengthy carcinogenesis process to exert its chemopreventive effects through several mechanisms: promoting apoptosis, inhibiting survival signals, scavenging reactive oxidative species (ROS), and reducing the inflammatory cancer microenvironment. Curcumin fulfills the characteristics for an ideal chemopreventive agent with its low toxicity, affordability, and easy accessibility. Nevertheless, the clinical application of curcumin is currently compromised by its poor bioavailability. Here we review the potential of curcumin in cancer prevention, its molecular targets, and action mechanisms. Finally, we suggest specific recommendations to improve its efficacy and bioavailability for clinical applications."}
{"id": "MED-2608", "text": "The effects of curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice, turmeric (Curcuma longa) on the mutagenicity of several environmental mutagens were investigated in the Salmonella/microsome test with or without Aroclor 1254-induced rat-liver homogenate (S-9 mix). With Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 in the presence of S-9 mix, curcumin inhibited the mutagenicity of bidi and cigarette smoke condensates, tobacco and masheri extracts, benzo[a]pyrne and dimethyl benzo[a]anthracene in a dose-dependent manner. Curcumin did not influence the mutagenicity without S-9 mix of sodium azide, monoacetylhydrazine and streptozocin in strain TA100 nor of 4-nitrophenylenediamine in strain TA98. Our observations indicate that curcumin may alter the metabolic activation and detoxification of mutagens."}
{"id": "MED-2617", "text": "Because of recent studies indicating possible embryolethality and teratogenicity of FD&C Red No. 2, and ad hoc committee was convened by the Food and Drug Administration to consider these questions. The committee suggested a collaborative study by three laboratories [Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT), and National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR)] in which Red No. 2 was given at 200 mg/kg body weight, by gavage during days 0-19, 6-15, or 7-9 of gestation. FD&C Red No. 2 was also given at the same dose level via water bottle. Appropriate controls were utilized. FDA used Osborne-Mendel strain rats, IBT used Charles River, and NCTR used both strains. No significant increases in skeletal or visceral abnormalities were seen. No significant increase in resorptions was seen in the Osborne-Mendel strain, but the Charles River strain at IBT showed a significant increase in litters with two or more resorptions after dams had been given 200 mg/kg at 0-19 days of gestation. The NCTR study on the Charles River strain also showed an increase in the same parameter for the same dose level and in addition showed a significant increase in the percentage of resorptions per litter. It was concluded that because of the inherent variation and the absence of an increase in abnormalities or other indications of embryotoxicity, there is reason to doubt that this effect is either biologically significant or reproducible."}
{"id": "MED-2618", "text": "BACKGROUND: Food dyes, synthesized originally from coal tar and now petroleum, have long been controversial because of safety concerns. Many dyes have been banned because of their adverse effects on laboratory animals or inadequate testing. CONCLUSIONS: This review finds that all of the nine currently US-approved dyes raise health concerns of varying degrees. Red 3 causes cancer in animals, and there is evidence that several other dyes also are carcinogenic. Three dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6) have been found to be contaminated with benzidine or other carcinogens. At least four dyes (Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6) cause hypersensitivity reactions. Numerous microbiological and rodent studies of Yellow 5 were positive for genotoxicity. Toxicity tests on two dyes (Citrus Red 2 and Orange B) also suggest safety concerns, but Citrus Red 2 is used at low levels and only on some Florida oranges and Orange B has not been used for several years. The inadequacy of much of the testing and the evidence for carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, and hypersensitivity, coupled with the fact that dyes do not improve the safety or nutritional quality of foods, indicates that all of the currently used dyes should be removed from the food supply and replaced, if at all, by safer colorings. It is recommended that regulatory authorities require better and independent toxicity testing, exercise greater caution regarding continued approval of these dyes, and in the future approve only well-tested, safe dyes."}
{"id": "MED-2619", "text": "Erythrosine (ErB) is a xanthene and an US Food and Drug Administration approved dye used in foods, drugs and cosmetics. Although its utilization is permitted, ErB is described as inhibitor of enzymes and protein-protein interactions and is toxic to pituitary and spermatogenesis processes. However, the genotoxicity and mutagenicity of ErB is inconclusive in the literature. This study aimed to analyze the genotoxicity of this dye using the alkaline comet assay and is the first investigation to evaluate ErB mutagenicity using the cytokinesis block micronucleus cytome (CBMN-Cyt) assay in HepG2 cells. These cells were chosen because they produce phase I and phase II enzymes that can mimic in vivo metabolism. The cells were treated with seven concentrations (0.1-70.0 \u03bcg mL(-1)) of ErB, and the results showed genotoxicity at the two highest concentrations and mutagenicity at six concentrations. Furthermore, as micronuclei result from clastogenic and aneugenic processes, while comet assay is often considered more sensitive and detects DNA single strain breaks, we suggest that an aneugenic is responsible for the observed damage. Although ErB is approved for use in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, it must be used carefully because it damages the DNA structure. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2627", "text": "Human exposure to endocrine disrupters (EDs) is widespread and is considered to pose a growing threat to human health. Recent advances in molecular and genetic research and better understanding of mechanisms of blastic cell transformation have led to efforts to improve cancer risk assessment for populations exposed to this family of xenobiotics. In risk assessment, low dose extrapolation of cancer incidence data from both experimental animals and epidemiology studies has been largely based on models assuming linear correlation at low doses, despite existence of evidence showing otherwise. Another weakness of ED risk assessment is poor exposure data in ecological studies. Those are frequently rough estimates derived from contaminated items of local food basket surveys. Polyhalogenated hydrocarbons are treated as examples. There is growing sense of urgency to develop a biologically based dose response model of cancer risk, integrating emerging data from molecular biology and epidemiology to provide more realistic data for risk assessors, public, public health managers and environmental issues administrators."}
{"id": "MED-2643", "text": "The incidence and/or prevalence of health problems associated with endocrine-disruption have increased. Many chemicals have endocrine-disrupting properties, including bisphenol A, some organochlorines, polybrominated flame retardants, perfluorinated substances, alkylphenols, phthalates, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkylphenols, solvents, and some household products including some cleaning products, air fresheners, hair dyes, cosmetics, and sunscreens. Even some metals were shown to have endocrine-disrupting properties. Many observations suggesting that endocrine disruptors do contribute to cancer, diabetes, obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and infertility are listed in this paper. An overview is presented of mechanisms contributing to endocrine disruption. Endocrine disruptors can act through classical nuclear receptors, but also through estrogen-related receptors, membrane-bound estrogen-receptors, and interaction with targets in the cytosol resulting in activation of the Src/Ras/Erk pathway or modulation of nitric oxide. In addition, changes in metabolism of endogenous hormones, cross-talk between genomic and nongenomic pathways, cross talk with estrogen receptors after binding on other receptors, interference with feedback regulation and neuroendocrine cells, changes in DNA methylation or histone modifications, and genomic instability by interference with the spindle figure can play a role. Also it was found that effects of receptor activation can differ in function of the ligand."}
{"id": "MED-2644", "text": "Alkylphenols are widely used as plastic additives and surfactants. We report the identification of an alkylphenol, nonylphenol, as an estrogenic substance released from plastic centrifuge tubes. This compound was extracted with methanol, purified by flash chromatography and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Nonylphenol induced both cell proliferation and progesterone receptor in human estrogen-sensitive MCF7 breast tumor cells. Nonylphenol also triggered mitotic activity in rat endometrium; this result confirms the reliability of the MCF7 cell proliferation bioassay. The estrogenic properties of alkylphenols, specifically nonylphenols, indicate that the use of plasticware containing these chemicals in experimental and diagnostic tests may lead to spurious results, and these compounds as well as alkylphenol polyethoxylates may also be potentially harmful to exposed humans and the environment at large."}
{"id": "MED-2645", "text": "The development of the male reproductive ducts and external genitalia in vertebrates is dependent on elevated androgen concentrations during embryonic development and the period of postnatal growth. We have observed that a population of juvenile alligators living on Lake Apopka exhibit significantly smaller penis size (24% average decrease) and lower plasma concentrations of testosterone (70% lower concentrations) when compared to animals of similar size on Lake Woodruff. In addition to smaller phalli, no relationship exists between plasma testosterone concentrations and penile size in males from Lake Apopka, whereas a positive relationship exists for males from Lake Woodruff. The alligators on Lake Apopka are known to have elevated concentrations of the antiandrogenic DDT breakdown product p.p'-DDE stored in their fat. We suggest a number of hypotheses that could explain the modification in the phenotype of the juvenile male living in Lake Apopka. These modifications in phenotype include a smaller penis size, lower plasma androgen concentrations, and lack of responsiveness of the penis to the plasma androgens present."}
{"id": "MED-2646", "text": "BACKGROUND: Certain foods may increase or decrease the risk of developing asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema. We explored the impact of the intake of types of food on these diseases in Phase Three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. METHODS: Written questionnaires on the symptom prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema and types and frequency of food intake over the past 12 months were completed by 13-14-year-old adolescents and by the parents/guardians of 6-7-year-old children. Prevalence ORs were estimated using logistic regression, adjusting for confounders, and using a random (mixed) effects model. RESULTS: For adolescents and children, a potential protective effect on severe asthma was associated with consumption of fruit \u22653 times per week (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.97; OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.97, respectively). An increased risk of severe asthma in adolescents and children was associated with the consumption of fast food \u22653 times per week (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.49; OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.42, respectively), as well as an increased risk of severe rhinoconjunctivitis and severe eczema. Similar patterns for both ages were observed for regional analyses, and were consistent with gender and affluence categories and with current symptoms of all three conditions. CONCLUSIONS: If the association between fast foods and the symptom prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema is causal, then the findings have major public health significance owing to the rising consumption of fast foods globally."}
{"id": "MED-2647", "text": "Continuing evidence of the feminising effects of xenoestrogens on a range of wildlife species increases the need to assess the human health risk of these estrogen mimics. We have estimated the exposure of New Zealand males, females and young men to a range of naturally occurring and synthetic xenoestrogens found in food. Only estrogenic compounds that act by interaction with the estrogen receptor have been included. Theoretical plasma estrogen activity levels were derived from estrogen exposure estimates and estrogenic potency data. Theoretical plasma levels were compared with published data for specific xenoestrogens. There was surprisingly close agreement. Xenoestrogenicity from dietary intake was almost equally attributed to naturally occurring and synthetic xenoestrogens. Relative contributions for a male, for example were isoflavones (genistein and daidzein) (36%) and bisphenol A (34%) with smaller contributions from alkyl phenols (18%) and the flavonoids (phloretin and kaempferol) (12%). It is suggested that dietary xenoestrogens might have a pharmacological effect on New Zealand males and postmenopausal women, but are unlikely to be significant for pre-menopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-2648", "text": "The aim of this study was to compare results obtained by eight different short-term assays of estrogenlike actions of chemicals conducted in 10 different laboratories in five countries. Twenty chemicals were selected to represent direct-acting estrogens, compounds with estrogenic metabolites, estrogenic antagonists, and a known cytotoxic agent. Also included in the test panel were 17beta++-estradiol as a positive control and ethanol as solvent control. The test compounds were coded before distribution. Test methods included direct binding to the estrogen receptor (ER), proliferation of MCF-7 cells, transient reporter gene expression in MCF-7 cells, reporter gene expression in yeast strains stably transfected with the human ER and an estrogen-responsive reporter gene, and vitellogenin production in juvenile rainbow trout. 17beta-Estradiol, 17alpha-ethynyl estradiol, and diethylstilbestrol induced a strong estrogenic response in all test systems. Colchicine caused cytotoxicity only. Bisphenol A induced an estrogenic response in all assays. The results obtained for the remaining test compounds--tamoxifen, ICI 182.780, testosterone, bisphenol A dimethacrylate, 4-n-octylphenol, 4-n-nonylphenol, nonylphenol dodecylethoxylate, butylbenzylphthalate, dibutylphthalate, methoxychlor, o,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, endosulfan, chlomequat chloride, and ethanol--varied among the assays. The results demonstrate that careful standardization is necessary to obtain a reasonable degree of reproducibility. Also, similar methods vary in their sensitivity to estrogenic compounds. Thus, short-term tests are useful for screening purposes, but the methods must be further validated by additional interlaboratory and interassay comparisons to document the reliability of the methods."}
{"id": "MED-2649", "text": "Background Dietary fat exerts numerous complex effects on proinflammatory and immunologic pathways. Several epidemiological studies have examined the relationships between intake of fatty acids and/or foods high in fat and allergic rhinitis, but have provided conflicting findings. The current cross-sectional study investigated such relationships in Japan. Methods Study subjects were 1745 pregnant women. The definition of rhinoconjunctivitis was based on criteria from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Information on dietary factors was collected using a validated self-administered diet history questionnaire. Adjustment was made for age; gestation; region of residence; number of older siblings; number of children; smoking; secondhand smoke exposure at home and at work; family history of asthma, atopic eczema, and allergic rhinitis; household income; education; and body mass index. Results The prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis in the past 12 months was 25.9%. Higher meat intake was significantly associated with an increased prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis: the adjusted odds ratio between extreme quartiles was 1.71 (95% confidence interval: 1.25-2.35, P for trend = 0.002). No measurable association was found between fish intake and rhinoconjunctivitis. Intake of total fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, \u03b1-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid, and cholesterol and the ratio of n-3 to n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake were not evidently related to the prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis. Conclusions The current results suggest that meat intake may be positively associated with the prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis in young adult Japanese women."}
{"id": "MED-2650", "text": "Over the last 40 years there have been constant reports concerning environmental chemicals with hormone-like effects in wildlife. An endocrine disruptor is an exogenous substance that causes adverse health effects in an intact organism or its progeny, secondary to changes in endocrine function. Endocrine disruptors of widely diverse chemical structures that have oestrogenic properties are known as oestrogenic xenobiotics or xenoestrogens. Some of these substances, such as phytoestrogens and mycoestrogens, can come from diet or from the environment. Although the oestrogenic activity of these substances is weaker than that of oestradiol, new chemicals with endocrine disrupting potential continue to be discovered, inadvertent forms of exposure are constantly being identified, and there is increasing concern about cumulative effects. Studies in the 1960s and 1970s characterized the oestrogenicity of a number of industrial compounds and the pesticides o,p-DDT, kepone, methoxychlor, phenolic derivatives and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In the last 5 years, several environmental chemicals have been added to the list of xenoestrogens, including the pesticides toxaphene, dieldrin and endosulphan, and several different compounds used in the food industry, antioxidants such a t-butylhydroxyanisole; plasticizers such as benzylbutylphthalate and 4-OH-alkylphenols; and substances used in dental restorations, such as bisphenol-A. The relevance of these newly discovered endocrine disruptors to human health is now starting to emerge. The few studies that have investigated their effect in humans point in the same direction: if there is indeed an association between exposure to substances with hormone-disruptive activity and certain disorders of endocrine organs, the incidence of such disorders would be greater in areas where exposure to agents with this activity is high. A closer scrutiny is required to determine whether these newly discovered endocrine disrupting chemicals contribute, together with oestrogenic pesticides, to the exposure of humans to xenoestrogens."}
{"id": "MED-2651", "text": "The aims of this study were to determine the concentrations of 4-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-octylphenol (OP) in 59 human milk samples and to examine related factors including mothers' demographics and dietary habits. Women who consumed over the median amount of cooking oil had significantly higher OP concentrations (0.98 ng/g) than those who consumed less (0.39 ng/g) (P < 0.05). OP concentration was significantly associated with the consumption of cooking oil (beta = 0.62, P < 0.01) and fish oil capsules (beta = 0.39, P < 0.01) after adjustment for age and body mass index (BMI). NP concentration was also significantly associated with the consumption of fish oil capsules (beta = 0.38, P < 0.01) and processed fish products (beta = 0.59, P < 0.01). The food pattern of cooking oil and processed meat products from factor analysis was strongly associated with OP concentration in human milk (P < 0.05). These determinations should aid in suggesting foods for consumption by nursing mothers in order to protect their infants from NP/OP exposure. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2652", "text": "The exposure to some chemicals can lead to hormone disrupting effects. Presently, much attention is focused on so-called xeno-estrogens, synthetic compounds that interact with hormone receptors causing a number of reactions that eventually lead to effects related to reproduction and development. The current study was initiated to investigate the presence of a number of such compounds in precipitation as a follow-up on a previous study in which pesticide concentrations in air and precipitation were determined. Rainwater samples were collected at about 50 locations in The Netherlands in a four week period. The samples were analysed for bisphenol-A, alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates, phthalates, flame retardants and synthetic musk compounds. The results clearly indicated the presence of these compounds in precipitation. The concentrations ranged from the low ng l(-1) range for flame retardants to several thousands of ng l(-1) for the phthalates. Bisphenol-A was found in 30% of the samples in concentrations up to 130 ng l(-1), while alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates were found in virtually all locations in concentrations up to 920 ng l(-1) for the individual compounds. Phthalates were by far the most abundant xeno-estrogens in the precipitation samples and were found in every sample. Di-isodecyl phthalate was found in a surprisingly high concentration of almost 100 000 ng l(-1). Polybrominated flame retardants were found in the low ng l(-1) range and generally in less than 20% of the samples. Noticeable was the finding of hexabromocyclododecane, a replacement for the polybrominted diphenyl ethers at one location in a concentration of almost 2000 ng l(-1). Finally, as expected, synthetic musk compounds were detected in almost all samples. This is especially true for the polycyclic musks HHCB and AHTN. Nitro musks were found, but only on a few locations. Kriging techniques were used to calculate precipitation concentrations in between actual sampling locations to produce contour plots for a number of compounds. These plots clearly show located emission sources for a number of compounds such as bisphenol-A, nonylphenol ethoxylate, phthalates and AHTN. On the contrary, the results for HHCB and some phthalates indicated diffuse emission patterns, probably as the result of the use of consumer products containing these compounds."}
{"id": "MED-2653", "text": "Human milk is the most important form of nourishment for newborn children. Its consumption is strongly recommended by health authorities also for other important advantages. Unfortunately, in the last three decades a great number of investigations have shown the occurrence of several environmental contaminants in human milk, especially those with lipophilic properties. This study investigates the presence of nonylphenol, octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO) and two octylphenol ethoxylates (OPEOs) (namely OP1EO and OP2EO), in human breast milk of Italian women. NP was the contaminant found at the highest levels with mean concentrations of 32 ng/mL, about two orders of magnitude higher than OP (0.08 ng/mL), OP1EO (0.07 ng/mL) and OP2EO (0.16 ng/mL). In the group of study a positive correlation among fish consumption and levels of NP in the milk was observed, in accordance with the evidence that seafood represents one of the most important sources of exposure to this group of contaminants in Italy. On the basis of the concentrations found in the breast milk samples, a maximum NP daily intake of 3.94 microg/kg/day can be calculated, which is close to the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 5 microg/kg body weight (bw) proposed by the Danish Institute of Safety and Toxicology. In the cases of OP no TDI is available, but its intake is at least six orders of magnitude lower than the NOAEL of 10 mg/kg/day derived from a two generation study on rats."}
{"id": "MED-2654", "text": "4-Nonylphenols (NPs) are common products of biodegradation of a widely used group of nonionic surfactants, the nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). These compounds are known to be persistent, toxic, and estrogen active. There is a worldwide scientific and public discussion on the potential consequences of human long term dietary exposure to such endocrine disrupters. Despite numerous determinations of NPs in environmental samples no systematical reports exist relating to concentrations of NPs in food. We analyzed NPs in 60 different foodstuff commercially available in Germany. The results indicate that NPs are ubiquitous in food. The concentrations of NPs on a fresh weight basis varied between 0.1 and 19.4 microg/kg regardless of the fat content of the foodstuff. Based on data on German food consumption rates and these first analyses of NPs in food, the daily intake for an adult was calculated to be 7.5 microg/day NPs. For infants exclusively fed with breast milk or infant formulas daily intakes of 0.2 microg/day and 1.4 microg/day NPs, respectively, can be estimated."}
{"id": "MED-2655", "text": "Background Broad dietary patterns have been linked to asthma but the relative contribution of specific nutrients is unclear. Soy genistein has important anti-inflammatory and other biological effects that might be beneficial in asthma. A positive association was previously reported between soy genistein intake and lung function but not with asthma exacerbations. Aims To conduct a post-hoc analysis of patients with inadequately controlled asthma enrolled in a prospective multicentre clinical trial to replicate this association. Methods A total of 300 study participants were included in the analysis. Dietary soy genistein intake was measured using the Block Soy Foods Screener. The level of soy genistein intake (little or no intake, moderate intake, or high intake) was compared with baseline lung function (pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)) and asthma control (proportion of participants with an episode of poor asthma control (EPAC) and annualised rates of EPACs over a 6-month follow-up period. Results Participants with little or no genistein intake had a lower baseline FEV1 than those with a moderate or high intake (2.26L vs. 2.53L and 2.47L, respectively; p=0.01). EPACs were more common among those with no genistein intake than in those with a moderate or high intake (54% vs. 35% vs. 40%, respectively; p<0.001). These findings remained significant after adjustment for patient demographics and body mass index. Conclusions In patients with asthma, consumption of a diet with moderate to high amounts of soy genistein is associated with better lung function and better asthma control."}
{"id": "MED-2656", "text": "The aim of previous research into the causes of allergic diseases, including asthma was mostly to identify potential risk factors in the environment. No major risk factors have been identified, however. Over the past 10 years, focus has, therefore, more been directed towards protective factors that could enhance the development of tolerance to allergens which were previously encountered early in life, but are now lost in modern affluent societies. In particular, the role of childhood infections has been discussed, but so far these studies have not been conclusive. Recent epidemiological studies and experimental research suggest that the microbial environment and exposure to microbial products in infancy modifies immune responses and enhances the development of tolerance to ubiquitous allergens. The intestinal microflora may play a particular role in this respect, as it is the major external driving force in the maturation of the immune system after birth, and animal experiments have shown it to be a prerequisite for normal development of oral tolerance. Recent studies have shown differences in the composition of the microflora between healthy and allergic infants in countries with a high and low prevalence of allergies and between healthy and allergic infants within such countries. These differences are apparent within the first week of life and thus precede clinical symptoms. The use of live microorganisms that might be beneficial to health has a long tradition and the safety is well documented. Very recently, several prospective intervention studies, modifying the gut flora from birth have yielded encouraging results and may suggest a new mode of primary prevention of allergy in the future."}
{"id": "MED-2657", "text": "BACKGROUND: Japanese cedar pollinosis, caused by the pollen of the Japanese cedar tree (Cryptomeria japonica), is the commonest seasonal allergic disease in Japan. A number of epidemiological surveys have been reported on Japanese cedar pollinosis, but it has never been assessed systematically or quantitatively. To confirm the increasing prevalence of Japanese cedar pollinosis and related factors, we conducted a meta-regression analysis on population-based surveys in Japan. METHODS: We searched for data from population-based surveys in which serological methods were used to test all participants. Weighted regression of logit-transformed prevalence and sensitization rates were used to evaluate the effects of the year of survey, age, and degree of urbanization. We also analyzed the relationship between prevalence and sensitization rate. RESULTS: Thirty-eight reports with 27 subgroups for prevalence and 134 subgroups for sensitization rate were selected from the literature published in the years between 1986 and 2000. The Japanese cedar pollen sensitization rate was found to be significantly correlated with the year of survey, age, and degree of urbanization (adjusted R(2) = 0.55). The coefficient for the correlation between the prevalence and the sensitization rate revealed a statistically significant correlation (Pearson's r = 0.70, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of Japanese cedar pollinosis among adolescents was predicted to be 28.7% in metropolitan areas and 24.5% in the general population in urban areas in the year 2004, derived from the estimated sensitization rate and the relationship between sensitization rate and prevalence. The prevalence of Japanese cedar pollinosis increased 2.6-fold between 1980 and 2000, and the prevalence differed considerably according to age and degree of urbanization. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel"}
{"id": "MED-2658", "text": "The prevalence of allergic diseases has increased in recent decades. Allergic diseases, particularly asthma, are complex diseases with strong gene-environment interactions. Epidemiological studies have identified a variety of risk factors for the development of allergic diseases. Among them, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) play an important role in triggering or exacerbating these diseases. 4-Nonylphenol (NP) and 4-octylphenol (OP)--two major alkylphenols--have been recognized as common toxic and xenobiotic endocrine disrupters. Due to their low solubility, high hydrophobicity, and low estrogenic activity, they tend to accumulate in the human body and may be associated with the adverse effects of allergic diseases. Recently, new evidence has supported the importance of alkylphenols in the in vitro allergic response. This review focuses on the effects of alkylphenols on several key cell types in the context of allergic inflammation. Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V."}
{"id": "MED-2659", "text": "U.S. and European regulators and researchers disagree over risks of a common class of surfactants."}
{"id": "MED-2660", "text": "BACKGROUND: Rapid socioeconomic development in Japan since the beginning of the Seven Countries Study in 1958 has brought remarkable changes in lifestyle and dietary patterns. We investigated the relationship between time trends in nutrient intake and serum cholesterol levels in a Japanese cohort of the Seven Countries Study, in Tanushimaru, a typical farming town on Kyushu Island. METHODS: Subjects totaled 628 in 1958, 539 in 1977, 602 in 1982, 752 in 1989, and 402 in 1999, and all of the subjects were men aged 40-64 years. Eating patterns were evaluated by 24-hour dietary recall from 1958 through 1989, and by a food frequency questionnaire in 1999. We also measured serum cholesterol levels in each health examination. RESULTS: The total daily energy intake decreased from 2837 kcal in 1958 to 2202 kcal in 1999. The carbohydrate intake in percentage of total daily energy intake decreased markedly, from 84% in 1958 to 62% in 1999, in contrast to large increases during this period in protein intake (from 11% to 18%) and fat intake (from 5% to 20%). In proportion to the dramatic change in protein and fat intake, serum cholesterol levels showed large increases (from 152.5mg/dl to 194.2 mg/ dL). CONCLUSIONS: In spite of such big dietary changes toward a westernized diet, the incidence of coronary artery disease in a rural Japanese area remains low. However, careful surveillance is needed in the future because of the remarkably increasing intake of fats, especially saturated fatty acids."}
{"id": "MED-2661", "text": "This paper presents the results of an investigation on the occurrence of alkylphenols (APs) and their ethoxylates (APEs) in 8 edible marine species from the Adriatic Sea and tries to estimate the corresponding intake for the Italian population. Two crustaceans, Nephrops norvegicus (Norway lobster) and Squilla mantis (spottail mantis shrimp), plus six fish species, Engraulis enchrascicolus (anchovy), Scomber scombrus (Atlantic mackerel), Merluccius merluccius (European hake), Mullus barbatus (red mullet), Solea vulgaris (common sole) and Lophius piscatorius (angler) were analyzed for their content of nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP) and octylphenol polyethoxylates (OPEs). These compounds were found in all analysed samples. NP was detected at the highest concentrations: 118-399 and 9.5-1431 ng g(-1) fresh weight (fw) respectively in crustaceans and fish. OP was found at respective levels of 2.7-4.7 and 0.3-3.8 ng g(-1) fw in crustaceans and fish, whereas OPE was determined at respective concentrations of 1.2-16.8 and 0.2-21.1 ng g(-1) fw in the same species. These results, together with those from a previous study on 4 edible mollusc, allow to estimate respective daily intakes for NP, OP, and OPE of about 12, 0.1, and 0.1 microg day(-1) for an Italian adult living along the Adriatic Coast. In relation to NP and OP, these intakes are much lower than the doses associated with toxic effects in laboratory animals (9 mg kg(-1) bw for rats). Nevertheless, data of exposure from other sources to these chemicals and others with similar biological characteristics are needed."}
{"id": "MED-2662", "text": "A human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) was used to develop an in vitro screening assay for the detection of xenoestrogenic environmental pollutants. MCF-7 cells were cultured in DMEM containing 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS). An estrogenic response was defined as an increase in the frequency of proliferating MCF-7 cells, and was measured using a thymidine analog, bromodeoxyuridine, and flow cytometry. Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) were used as model chemicals. The proliferation rate of S-phase cells after 24 h of exposure to various concentrations of 17beta-estradiol and to model compounds was compared with a positive and a negative control, containing 1 nM 17beta-estradiol and 0.1% ethanol, respectively. DEHP and 4-n-NP increased the frequency of proliferating MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The lowest concentration that significantly increased the proliferation of MCF-7 cells was 10 microM for DEHP and 1 microM for 4-n-NP. The results showed that the assay is accurate and quick to perform. It may prove a valuable tool for screening potential estrogen-mimicking environmental pollutants."}
{"id": "MED-2663", "text": "Today, tens of millions of elderly individuals worldwide suffer from dementia. While the pathogenesis of dementia is complex and incompletely understood, it may be, at least to a certain extent, the consequence of systemic vascular pathology. The metabolic syndrome and its individual components induce a proinflammatory state that damages blood vessels. This condition of chronic inflammation may damage the vasculature of the brain or be directly neurotoxic. Associations have been established between the metabolic syndrome, its constituents and dementia. A relationship has also been observed between certain dietary factors, such as constituents of the 'Mediterranean diet', and the metabolic syndrome; similar associations have been noted between these dietary factors and dementia. Fruit juices and extracts are under investigation as treatments for cognitive impairment. Blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, grape and plum juices or extracts have been successfully tested in cognitively impaired rodents. Published trials of the benefits of grape and blueberry juice in the treatment of small numbers of cognitively impaired persons have recently appeared. The benefits of fruit products are thought to be a result of its polyphenol content. A grape polyphenol found in grapes, resveratrol, now being studied in humans, and one in grapes and blueberries, pterostilbene, have been found to improve cognition in rodents. In the design of future human trials, one ought to consider the poor bioavailability of these products, the possible need to initiate the experimental therapy long before the onset of symptoms, and currently limited knowledge about the appropriate form (e.g. juice, powder or individual polyphenol) of treatment."}
{"id": "MED-2664", "text": "In the 21st century, human aging will be one of the biggest challenges for most societies throughout the world. The decline in human fitness is a typical hallmark of the aging process. Aside from the cardiovascular system, the brain most often suffers significantly from the life-long impact of stressors, such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Oxytosis, i.e. oxidative stress-induced cell death, has been identified to play a major role in the development and onset of chronic diseases. Foods, especially of plant origin, are rich in antioxidants and numerous in vivo data suggest that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables supports the maintenance of animal and human health. These beneficial effects also extend to the central nervous system, which, due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier, tightly controls the influx of metabolites and nutrients. In earlier studies the impact of antioxidant vitamins, such as alpha-tocopherol and ascorbic acid, on brain health has been of interest. Recently, the focus moved to assessing the potential of unsaturated fatty acids and secondary plant metabolites, particularly of polyphenols, to act as neuroprotectants. Considerable experimental evidence suggests that polyphenols and other plant-derived bioactivities affect animal and human brain function not only by directly lowering oxidative stress load but also by modulating various signal transduction pathways."}
{"id": "MED-2665", "text": "Objective Berries are high in flavonoids, especially anthocyanidins, and improve cognition in experimental studies. We prospectively evaluated whether greater long-term intakes of berries and flavonoids are associated with slower rates of cognitive decline in older women. Methods Beginning in 1980, a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was administered every four years to Nurses\u2019 Health Study participants. In 1995\u20132001, we began measuring cognitive function in 16,010 participants, aged \u226570 years; follow-up assessments were conducted twice, at two-year intervals. To ascertain long-term diet, we averaged dietary variables from 1980 through the initial cognitive interview. Using multivariable-adjusted, mixed linear regression, we estimated mean differences in slopes of cognitive decline by long-term berry and flavonoid intakes. Results Greater intakes of blueberries and strawberries were associated with slower rates of cognitive decline (e.g., for a global score averaging all six cognitive tests, for blueberries: p-trend=0.014 and mean difference=0.04 [95% CI=0.01, 0.07] comparing extreme categories of intake; for strawberries: p-trend= 0.022 and mean difference=0.03 [95% CI=0.00, 0.06] comparing extreme categories of intake), after adjusting for multiple potential confounders. These effect estimates were equivalent to those we find for approximately 1.5 to 2.5 years of age in our cohort, indicating that berry intake appears to delay cognitive aging by up to 2.5 years. Additionally, in further supporting evidence, greater intakes of anthocyanidins and total flavonoids were associated with slower rates of cognitive decline (p-trends= 0.015 and 0.053, respectively, for the global score). Interpretation Higher intake of flavonoids, particularly from berries, appears to reduce rates of cognitive decline in older adults."}
{"id": "MED-2667", "text": "Ample research indicates that age-related neuronal-behavioral decrements are the result of oxidative stress that may be ameliorated by antioxidants. Our previous study had shown that rats given dietary supplements of fruit and vegetable extracts with high antioxidant activity for 8 months beginning at 6 months of age retarded age-related declines in neuronal and cognitive function. The present study showed that such supplements (strawberry, spinach, or blueberry at 14.8, 9.1, or 18.6 gm of dried aqueous extract per kilogram of diet, respectively) fed for 8 weeks to 19-month-old Fischer 344 rats were also effective in reversing age-related deficits in several neuronal and behavioral parameters including: oxotremorine enhancement of K(+)-evoked release of dopamine from striatal slices, carbachol-stimulated GTPase activity, striatal Ca(45) buffering in striatal synaptosomes, motor behavioral performance on the rod walking and accelerod tasks, and Morris water maze performance. These findings suggest that, in addition to their known beneficial effects on cancer and heart disease, phytochemicals present in antioxidant-rich foods may be beneficial in reversing the course of neuronal and behavioral aging."}
{"id": "MED-2668", "text": "Polyphenol compounds found in berry fruits, in particular flavonoids, have been associated with health benefits including improvement in cognition and neuronal function with aging. Concord grape juice contains polyphenols, including anthocyanins and flavanols, and previous research has shown improvement in a number of human health conditions with grape juice supplementation. In the current study, older adult subjects with mild cognitive impairment consumed Concord grape juice or placebo for 16 weeks and were administered assessments of memory function and brain activation pre- and postintervention. Participants who consumed grape juice showed reduced semantic interference on memory tasks. Relatively greater activation in anterior and posterior regions of the right hemisphere was also observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging in the grape juice treated subjects. These findings provide further evidence that Concord grape juice can enhance neurocognitive function in older adults with mild memory decline."}
{"id": "MED-2669", "text": "Concord grape juice contains polyphenol compounds, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and influence neuronal signalling. Concord grape juice supplementation has been shown to reduce inflammation, blood pressure and vascular pathology in individuals with CVD, and consumption of such flavonoid-containing foods is associated with a reduced risk for dementia. In addition, preliminary animal data have indicated improvement in memory and motor function with grape juice supplementation, suggesting potential for cognitive benefit in ageing humans. In this initial investigation of neurocognitive effects, we enrolled twelve older adults with memory decline but not dementia in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial with Concord grape juice supplementation for 12 weeks. We observed significant improvement in a measure of verbal learning and non-significant enhancement of verbal and spatial recall. There was no appreciable effect of the intervention on depressive symptoms and no effect on weight or waist circumference. A small increase in fasting insulin was observed for those consuming grape juice. These preliminary findings suggest that supplementation with Concord grape juice may enhance cognitive function for older adults with early memory decline and establish a basis for more comprehensive investigations to evaluate potential benefit and assess mechanisms of action."}
{"id": "MED-2670", "text": "As the population of people in the United States over the age of 65 years continues to increase, so too will the incidence of age-related pathologies, including decreases in cognitive and motor function. In cases of severe deficits in memory or motor function, hospitalization and/or custodial care would be a likely outcome. This means that unless some way is found to reduce these age-related decrements in neuronal function, health care costs will continue to rise exponentially. Evidence is accumulating that consumption of blueberries may be one strategy to forestall or even reverse age-related neuronal deficits, as well as their subsequent behavioral manifestations, in order to increase healthy aging. Research suggests that the polyphenolic compounds found in blueberries exert their beneficial effects either through their ability to lower oxidative stress and inflammation or directly by altering the signaling involved in neuronal communication. These interventions, in turn, may protect against age-related deficits in cognitive and motor function. Appropriately, the US Department of Agriculture has figured prominently in these discoveries, through the efforts of two USDA researchers who worked for the department 100 years apart. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-2671", "text": "Microbiology of meats has been a subject of great concern in food science and public health in recent years. Although many articles have been devoted to the microbiology of beef, pork, and poultry meats, much less has been written about microbiology of lamb meat and even less on restructured lamb meat. This article presents data on microbiology and shelf-life of fresh lamb meat; restructured meat products, restructured lamb meat products, bacteriology of restructured meat products, and important foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes in meats and lamb meats. Also, the potential use of sodium and potassium lactates to control foodborne pathogens in meats and restructured lamb meat is reviewed This article should be of interest to all meat scientists, food scientists, and public health microbiologists who are concerned with the safety of meats in general and lamb meat in particular."}
{"id": "MED-2672", "text": "To quantify objectionable levels of connective tissues, restructured beef products were made with 2\u00b75 and 5% added tendon; 5 and 10% added epimysium, gristle, or peri/endomysium; and a control. Initial tenderness (IT), residual connective tissue (CT), and overall texture (OT) were evaluated by a sensory panel. Panelists adversely scored IT, CT, and OT for 2\u00b75 and 5% tendon and CT and OT for 10% epimysium and gristle. CT and OT scores correlated with hydroxyproline content and Lee-Kramer peak shear force for uncooked steaks with added tendon, gristle and epimysium but not peri/endomysium. Acceptable products can be made when raw materials are free of tendons and contain only limited amounts of epimysium. Copyright \u00a9 1990. Published by Elsevier Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2673", "text": "Transglutaminase is an enzyme that can be used to cross-link pieces of meat, fish or meat products. The resulting product gives the optical impression of an intact chunk of meat. The usage of transglutaminase as a food additive is permitted in some countries. However, its utilisation has to be declared to ensure transparency for consumers. This paper describes two orthogonal analytical methods suited for the detection of technological relevant transglutaminase concentrations (around 25 mg pure enzyme in 1 kg of product) in meat and meat products. The mass spectrometry-based approach relies on a previous digestion with Achromobacter lyticus protease and LC-MS/MS separation and detection. Sufficient selectivity was obtained by monitoring four different peptides. The orthogonal (complementary and independent), ELISA-based approach relies on two commercially available bacterial transglutaminase-specific antibodies, combined to a sandwich ELISA. The two methods were tested by analysing some 60 samples obtained from the market."}
{"id": "MED-2674", "text": "The process of malignant transformation universally entails genetic damage and oncogenic signaling, two stresses that are signaled to p53 through different genetic pathways. Based on this, it is possible to distinguish two jobs for p53: \"guardian of the genome\" that consists in sensing and reacting to DNA damage through the ATM/ATR and Chk1/Chk2 kinases, and \"policeman of the oncogenes\" that, correspondingly, consists in responding to oncogenic signaling through the p53-stabilizing protein ARF. Contrary to expectation, recent genetic evidence in mice indicates that the response of p53 to DNA damage has little or no impact on cancer protection. In contrast, ARF-dependent activation of p53 is critical for p53-mediated tumor suppression. Here, we discuss the mechanistic implications of these observations and their relevance for cancer therapy."}
{"id": "MED-2675", "text": "Although products of pyrolysis are often cytotoxic and mutagenic, the relationship between the type of material pyrolysed and the toxicity of the resulting pyrolysis products is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of several types of common pyrolysis products. The cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of these products were assessed by using neutral red uptake and Ames mutagenicity assays, respectively. The biological activities of four liquid smoke food flavourings (LSF) were compared with two other pyrolysis-derived materials; cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) and a wood smoke condensate (WSC). Results indicated all of the mixtures exhibited a concentration-dependent cytotoxic response. The CSC and WSC were less cytotoxic than three of the LSFs, but more cytotoxic than one of the brands. The CSC was mutagenic in two Salmonella strains; however, none of the LSFs or WSC was mutagenic using TA98, and only three of the LSFs were positive with TA100. The six pyrolysis-derived materials evaluated in this study showed differing patterns and magnitudes of cytotoxicity and mutagenicity. These results indicate that the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of complex mixtures derived from pyrolysis products are affected by the type of material pyrolysed and/or the method used to prepare the mixture. The cytotoxic potential of some commercial smoke flavourings is greater than cigarette smoke condensate and several of the food flavourings are mutagenic in one Salmonella strain."}
{"id": "MED-2676", "text": "Smokehouse smoke, which is used for flavouring meat products, was investigated for its mutagenic activity in the Salmonella typhimurium assay. We were chiefly concerned with the fractions free of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons but containing phenol compounds, which are responsible for the preservative and aromatizing properties of the smoke. The most abundantly occurring phenol compounds (phenol, cresols, 2,4-dimethylphenol, brenzcatechine, syringol, eugenol, vanilline and guaiacol) gave negative results when they were tested for mutagenicity at five concentrations up to 5000 micrograms/plate, with and without S-9 mix, using five strains of S. typhimurium. Even when phenol was further investigated in a variety of test conditions, no induction of his+ revertants was observed. When smokehouse smoke was condensed and fractionated the majority of the various phenolic fractions also gave negative results when tested at five concentrations using five strains of S. typhimurium. However there was a slight increase in the number of revertants in a few cases. The presence in the phenolic fractions of very small amounts of mutagenic impurities, the nature of which needs further investigation, cannot be excluded. These results support the further development of non-hazardous smoke-aroma preparations, based on the phenolic components of smokehouse smoke."}
{"id": "MED-2677", "text": "Population differences in age-related diseases and cancer could stem from differences in diet. To characterize DNA strand-breaking activities in selected foods/beverages, flavorings, and some of their constituent chemicals, we used p53R cells, a cellular assay sensitive to such breaks. Substances testing positive included reference chemicals: quinacrine (peak response, 51X) and etoposide (33X); flavonoids: EGCG (19X), curcumin (12X), apigenin (9X), and quercetin (7X); beverages: chamomile (11X), green (21X), and black tea (26X) and coffee (3 to 29X); and liquid smoke (4 to 28X). Damage occurred at dietary concentrations: etoposide near 5 \u03bcg/ml produced responses similar to a 1:1000 dilution of liquid smoke, a 1:20 dilution of coffee, and a 1:5 dilution of tea. Pyrogallol-related chemicals and tannins are present in dietary sources and individually produced strong activity: pyrogallol (30X), 3-methoxycatechol (25X), gallic acid (21X), and 1,2,4-benzenetriol (21X). From structure-activity relationships, high activities depended on specific orientations of hydroxyls on the benzene ring. Responses accompanied cellular signals characteristic of DNA breaks such as H2AX phosphorylation. Breaks were also directly detected by comet assay. Cellular toxicological effects of foods and flavorings could guide epidemiologic and experimental studies of potential disease risks from DNA strand-breaking chemicals in diets."}
{"id": "MED-2678", "text": "Smoked foods including turkey, pork, chicken, beef and fish products were screened for the presence of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Eighteen commercial liquid smoke flavourings and seasonings were also analysed. Total PAH concentrations in smoked meat products ranged from 2.6 micrograms/kg in a cooked ham sample to 29.8 micrograms/kg in grilled pork chops, while those in fish products ranged from 9.3 micrograms/kg in smoked shrimp to 86.6 micrograms/kg in smoked salmon. Total concentrations of the carcinogenic PAHs (benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, and indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene) ranged from non-detectable in several meat products to 7.4 micrograms/kg in grilled pork chops, and from 0.2 micrograms/kg in trout to 16.0 micrograms/kg in salmon. In liquid smoke flavourings and seasonings, total PAH concentrations ranged from 6.3 to 43.7 micrograms/kg, with the carcinogenic PAHs ranging from 0.3 to 10.2 micrograms/kg."}
{"id": "MED-2679", "text": "Commercial aqueous wood-smoke flavouring induced significant increases in the 6-thioguanine resistance mutation frequency of TK6 human lymphoblasts at 0.1 microliter flavouring/ml of cell suspension. This corresponds to 6 micrograms/ml of dissolved 'solids' as determined by fully drying the aqueous flavouring in a vacuum desiccator. In AHH-1 human lymphoblasts, which contain a cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase system, mutations were induced at 0.3 microliter/ml, corresponding to 18 microliters/ml of dissolved 'solids'. The flavouring did not induce 8-azaguanine resistant mutations in Salmonella typhimurium at concentrations up to 1.5 microliter/ml. At higher concentrations the flavouring was toxic to bacteria. The flavouring did not induce lung adenomas or other tumours in newborn mice when injected ip with total doses of up to 26 microliters over a 3-wk period. Toxicity to the kidney, colon and rectum was observed in some mice at 15 wk of age."}
{"id": "MED-2693", "text": "Antioxidants, primarily from fruits and vegetables, have been hypothesized to protect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assay, which measures total antioxidant capacity of individual foods and accounts for synergism, can be estimated using a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We tested the hypothesis that higher intake of antioxidant nutrients from foods, supplements, and FFQ-based ORAC values are associated with a lower risk of NHL in a clinic-based study of 603 incident cases and 1007 frequency-matched controls. Diet was assessed with a 128-item FFQ. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for age, sex, residence and total energy. Dietary intake of \u03b1-tocopherol (OR=0.50; p-trend=0.0002), \u03b2-carotene (OR=0.58; p-trend=0.0005), lutein/zeaxanthin (OR=0.62; p-trend=0.005), zinc (OR=0.54; p-trend=0.003) and chromium (OR=0.68; p-trend=0.032) were inversely associated with NHL risk. Inclusion of supplement use had little impact on these associations. Total vegetables (OR=0.52; p-trend<0.0001), particularly green leafy (OR=0.52; p-trend<0.0001) and cruciferous (OR=0.68; p-trend=0.045) vegetables, were inversely associated with NHL risk. NHL risk was inversely associated with both hydrophilic ORAC (OR=0.61, p-trend=0.003) and lipophilic ORAC (OR=0.48, p-trend=0.0002), although after simultaneous adjustment for other antioxidants or total vegetables only the association for lipophilic ORAC remained significant. There was no striking heterogeneity in results across the common NHL subtypes. Higher antioxidant intake as estimated by the FFQ-ORAC, particularly the lipophilic component, was associated with a lower NHL risk after accounting for other antioxidant nutrients and vegetable intake, supporting this as potentially useful summary measure of total antioxidant intake."}
{"id": "MED-2695", "text": "BACKGROUND: There are no previous studies investigating the effect of all dietary antioxidants in relation to myocardial infarction. The total antioxidant capacity of diet takes into account all antioxidants and synergistic effects between them. The aim of this study was to examine how total antioxidant capacity of diet and antioxidant-containing foods were associated with incident myocardial infarction among middle-aged and elderly women. METHODS: In the population-based prospective Swedish Mammography Cohort of 49-83-year-old women, 32,561 were cardiovascular disease-free at baseline. Women completed a food-frequency questionnaire, and dietary total antioxidant capacity was calculated using oxygen radical absorbance capacity values. Information on myocardial infarction was identified from the Swedish Hospital Discharge and the Cause of Death registries. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: During the follow-up (September 1997-December 2007), we identified 1114 incident cases of myocardial infarction (321,434 person-years). In multivariable-adjusted analysis, the HR for women comparing the highest quintile of dietary total antioxidant capacity to the lowest was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.67-0.97; P for trend=0.02). Servings of fruit and vegetables and whole grains were nonsignificantly inversely associated with myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that dietary total antioxidant capacity, based on fruits, vegetables, coffee, and whole grains, is of importance in the prevention of myocardial infarction. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2696", "text": "A high intake of dietary antioxidant compounds has been hypothesized to be an appropriate strategy to reduce gastric cancer (GC) development. We investigated the effect of dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in relation to GC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) study including 23 centers in 10 European countries. A total of 521,457 subjects (153,447 men) aged mostly 35-70 years old, were recruited largely between 1992 and 1998. Ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), measuring reducing and chain-breaking antioxidant capacity were used to measure dietary TAC from plant foods. Dietary antioxidant intake is associated with a reduction in the risk of GC for both FRAP (adjusted HR 0.66; 95%CI (0.46-0.95) and TRAP (adjusted HR 0.61; 95%CI (0.43-0.87) (highest vs. lowest quintile). The association was observed for both cardia and noncardia cancers. A clear effect was observed in smokers with a significant reduction in GC risk for the fifth quintile of intake for both assays (highest vs. lowest quintile: adjusted HR 0.41; 95%CI (0.22-0.76) p for trend <0.001 for FRAP; adjusted HR 0.52; 95%CI (0.28-0.97) p for trend <0.001 for TRAP) but not in nonsmokers. In former smokers, the association with FRAP intake was statistically significant (highest vs. lowest quintile: adjusted HR 0.4; 95%CI (0.21-0.75) p < 0.05); no association was observed for TRAP. Dietary antioxidant capacity intake from different sources of plant foods is associated with a reduction in the risk of GC. Copyright \u00a9 2011 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-2697", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that intake of used cooking fat is associated with impaired endothelial function. BACKGROUND: Diets containing high levels of lipid oxidation products may accelerate atherogenesis, but the effect on endothelial function is unknown. METHODS: Flow-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation and glyceryl trinitrate-induced endothelium-independent dilation of the brachial artery were investigated in 10 men. Subjects had arterial studies before and 4 h after three test meals: 1) a meal (fat 64.4 g) rich in cooking fat that had been used for deep frying in a fast food restaurant; 2) the same meal (fat 64.4 g) rich in unused cooking fat, and 3) a corresponding low fat meal (fat 18.4 g) without added fat. RESULTS: Endothelium-dependent dilation decreased between fasting and postprandial studies after the used fat meal (5.9 +/- 2.3% vs. 0.8 +/- 2.2%, p = 0.0003), but there was no significant change after the unused fat meal (5.3 +/- 2.1% vs. 6.0 +/- 2.5%) or low fat meal (5.3 +/- 2.3% vs. 5.4 +/- 3.3%). There was no significant difference in endothelium-independent dilation after any of the meals. Plasma free fatty acid concentration did not change significantly during any of the meals. The level of postprandial hypertriglyceridemia was not associated with change in endothelial function. CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of a meal rich in fat previously used for deep frying in a commercial fast food restaurant resulted in impaired arterial endothelial function. These findings suggest that intake of degradation products of heated fat contribute to endothelial dysfunction."}
{"id": "MED-2698", "text": "BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Consumption of antioxidant-rich foods may reduce the risk of stroke by inhibition of oxidative stress and inflammation. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) takes into account all antioxidants and the synergistic effects between them. We examined the association between dietary TAC and stroke incidence in cardiovascular disease (CVD)-free women and in women with CVD history at baseline. METHODS: The study included women (31,035 CVD-free and 5680 with CVD history at baseline), aged 49 to 83 years, from the Swedish Mammography Cohort. Diet was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. Dietary TAC was calculated using oxygen radical absorbance capacity values. Stroke cases were ascertained by linkage with the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. RESULTS: During follow-up (September 1997 to December 2009), we identified 1322 stroke cases (988 cerebral infarctions, 226 hemorrhagic strokes, and 108 unspecified strokes) among CVD-free women and 1007 stroke cases (796 cerebral infarctions, 100 hemorrhagic strokes, and 111 unspecified strokes) among women with a CVD history. The multivariable hazard ratio of total stroke comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of dietary TAC was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.70-0.99; P for trend=0.04) in CVD-free women. Among women with a CVD history, the hazard ratios for the highest versus lowest quartile of TAC were 0.90 (95% CI, 0.75-1.07; P for trend=0.30) for total stroke and 0.55 (95% CI, 0.32-0.95; P for trend=0.03) for hemorrhagic stroke. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that dietary TAC is inversely associated with total stroke among CVD-free women and hemorrhagic stroke among women with CVD history."}
{"id": "MED-2699", "text": "Significance: The free radical theory of aging has provided a theoretical framework for an enormous amount of work leading to significant advances in our understanding of aging. Up to the turn of the century, the theory received abundant support from observations coming from fields as far apart as comparative physiology or molecular biology. Recent Advances: Work from many laboratories supports the theory, for instance showing that overexpression of antioxidant enzymes results in increases in life-span. But other labs have shown that in some cases, there is an increased oxidative stress and increased longevity. The discovery that free radicals can not only cause molecular damage to cells, but also serve as signals; led to the proposal that they act as modulators of physiological processes. For instance, reactive oxygen species (ROS) stimulate physiological adaptations to physical exercise. Critical Issues: A critical blow to the free radical theory of aging came from epidemiological studies showing that antioxidant supplementation did not lower the incidence of many age-associated diseases but, in some cases, increased the risk of death. Moreover, recent molecular evidence has shown that increasing generation of ROS, in some cases, increases longevity. Future Directions: Gerontologists interested in free radical biology are at a crossroads and clearly new insights are required to clarify the role of ROS in the process of aging. The hurdles are, no doubt, very high, but the intellectual and practical promise of these studies is of such magnitude that we feel that all efforts will be generously rewarding. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 19, 779\u2013787."}
{"id": "MED-2700", "text": "Blood components, especially hemoglobin, are powerful promoters of lipid oxidation and may decrease the shelf life of meat products. Therefore, this study examined different slaughter techniques to determine their effects on pH (24 h), color (L*a*b* values at 24 h), lipid oxidation, residual hemoglobin concentration (24 h), and sensory evaluation (d 1 and 4 postmortem; PM) in broiler breast fillets. The treatments included 1) CO(2) slaughter and not bled, 2) no stunning and bled, 3) electrical stunning (ES) and bled, 4) CO(2) stunning and bled, and 5) ES and decapitation. The birds were conventionally processed, and analyses were performed at 24 h PM except residual hemoglobin for which the samples were frozen (-80 degrees C) until analyses ( < 2 mo). There were no significant differences in pH or b* values at 24 h PM among any of the treatments. L* values were significantly higher, indicating lighter fillets in the ES and decapitated birds compared with the darker fillets from the CO(2) stunned and bled birds. The CO(2) slaughter and not bled birds had significantly higher a* values, indicating more red color, when compared with the ES and bled and decapitated birds. There were no significant differences in the residual hemoglobin contents in the broiler breast muscle when comparing all of the treatments except CO(2) slaughter and not bled, which was significantly (around 15%) greater. Overall TBA-reactive substances (TBARS; raw, cooked at 24 h, and cooked at 72 h PM) indicated that ES and bled birds had the lowest TBARS when compared with the remaining treatments. Consumer panels detected increased aroma (chicken meaty and warmed-over aromas) and flavor (chicken meaty and warmed-over flavors) in not bled samples at 24 h PM. By 72 h PM, however, there were no significant differences in aroma or flavor. Therefore, different slaughter and bleeding method may affect color and sensory properties of the broiler breast fillets, and the ES and decapitation method had the most favorable results for sensory quality."}
{"id": "MED-2702", "text": "BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress can cause cancer. Our aim was to establish whether antioxidant supplements reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal cancer and mortality. METHODS: With the Cochrane Collaboration methodology, we reviewed all randomised trials comparing antioxidant supplements with placebo for prevention of gastrointestinal cancers. We searched electronic databases and reference lists (February, 2003). Outcome measures were incidence of gastrointestinal cancers, overall mortality, and adverse effects. Outcomes were analysed with fixed-effect and random-effects model meta-analyses and were reported as relative risk with 95% CIs. FINDINGS: We identified 14 randomised trials (n=170,525). Trial quality was generally high. Heterogeneity of results was low to moderate. Neither the fixed-effect (relative risk 0.96, 95% CI 0.88-1.04) nor random-effects meta-analyses (0.90, 0.77-1.05) showed significant effects of supplementation with beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, E, and selenium (alone or in combination) versus placebo on oesophageal, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancer incidences. In seven high-quality trials (n=131727), the fixed-effect model showed that antioxidant significantly increased mortality (1.06, 1.02-1.10), unlike the random-effects meta-analysis (1.06, 0.98-1.15). Low-quality trials showed no significant effect of antioxidant supplementation on mortality. The difference between the mortality estimates in high-quality and low-quality trials was significant (Z=2.10, p=0.04 by test of interaction). beta-carotene and vitamin A (1.29, 1.14-1.45) and beta-carotene and vitamin E (1.10, 1.01-1.20) significantly increased mortality, whereas beta-carotene alone only tended to increase mortality (1.05, 0.99-1.11). In four trials (three with unclear or inadequate methodology), selenium showed significant beneficial effect on the incidence of gastrointestinal cancer. INTERPRETATION: We could not find evidence that antioxidant supplements can prevent gastrointestinal cancers; on the contrary, they seem to increase overall mortality. The potential preventive effect of selenium should be studied in adequate randomised trials."}
{"id": "MED-2703", "text": "Extensive experimental data have revealed a central role for oxidative stress in atherogenesis and suggested a potential role for 'antioxidant' treatment in cardiovascular disease (CVD) [1-11]. Experimental data, however, have not translated into clinical benefit: most antioxidant vitamin trials have failed to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality [12]. Moreover, recent clinical trials have suggested that mono-therapy with certain antioxidant vitamins like vitamin E may, in fact, be detrimental [13]. As a result of the disappointing outcome of 'antioxidant' vitamin trials, some authors have questioned both the utility of 'antioxidant' treatment in CVD and the supposedly central role of oxidative stress in atherogenesis [14-19]. Other investigators, however, sustain that the beneficial effects of lipid lowering and anti-hypertensive treatment are at least, in part, due to their 'antioxidant' properties, in addition to their specific pharmacological properties [20, 21]. Oxidant stress plays a pivotal role in atherogenesis, however, the clinical promise of antioxidant vitamins has failed to translate into clinical benefit. Increasing evidence suggests that more rigorous clinical trial designs are necessary to effectively divulge antioxidant utility and that a multifaceted antioxidant approach to atherosclerosis may yield the most clinical reward. This article reviews currently available evidence on the role of oxidant stress in atherosclerosis, analyzes the results of large anti-oxidant trials, and suggests ways to investigate the true role of antioxidant treatment in the clinical setting."}
{"id": "MED-2704", "text": "Lipid peroxidation is, in most instances, a free radical chain reaction that can be described in terms of initiation, propagation, branching and termination processes. With regard to lipid peroxidation, one of the most important questions concerns the source of the primary catalysts that initiate peroxidation in situ in muscle foods. When cells are injured, such as in muscle foods after slaughtering, lipid peroxidation is favored, and traces of O(2) and H(2)O(2), indicating lipid peroxides, are formed. The stability of a muscle food product will depend on the 'tone' of these peroxides and especially from the involvement of metal ions in the process. The cytosol contains not only prooxidants but also antioxidants and the tone of both affects the overall oxidation. Lipid peroxidation is one of the primary mechanisms of quality deterioration in foods and especially in meat products. The changes in quality can be manifested by deterioration in flavor, color, texture, nutritive value and the production of toxic compounds. Copyright \u00a9 1993. Published by Elsevier Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2707", "text": "Essential oils have been used as remedies for a long time in different cultures across the world. However, scientific proof of such application is scarce. We included 72 patients between the ages of 22 and 57 while waiting for dental treatment in our study. The participants were assigned to either a control group (14 men, 23 women) or to an odor group (18 men and 17 women). Ambient odor of orange was diffused in the waiting room through an electrical dispenser in the odor group whereas in the control group no odor was in the air. We assessed by means of self-report demographic and cognitive variables, trait and state anxiety, and current pain, mood, alertness, and calmness. In this study, we report that exposure to ambient odor of orange has a relaxant effect. Specifically, compared to the controls, women who were exposed to orange odor had a lower level of state anxiety, a more positive mood, and a higher level of calmness. Our data support the previous notion of sedative properties of the natural essential oil of orange (Citrus sinensis)."}
{"id": "MED-2708", "text": "PURPOSE: To determine whether the inhalation of aromatherapy during radiotherapy reduces anxiety. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three hundred thirteen patients undergoing radiotherapy were randomly assigned to receive either carrier oil with fractionated oils, carrier oil only, or pure essential oils of lavender, bergamot, and cedarwood administered by inhalation concurrently with radiation treatment. Patients underwent assessment by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE) at baseline and at treatment completion. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in HADS depression or SPHERE scores between the randomly assigned groups. However, HADS anxiety scores were significantly lower at treatment completion in the carrier oil only group compared with either of the fragrant arms (P =.04). CONCLUSION: Aromatherapy, as administered in this study, is not beneficial."}
{"id": "MED-2709", "text": "This systematic review aims to summarize all reported cases of cardiac tamponade after acupuncture. Five electronic databases and our own files were searched for reports of cardiac tamponade after acupuncture. No restrictions in time or language were imposed. Data were extracted by two independent reviewers according to predefined criteria. We found a total of 26 cases. In 14 patients, the complications were fatal. In most instances, there is little doubt about causality. We conclude that cardiac tamponade is a serious, often fatal complication after acupuncture. As it is theoretically avoidable, acupuncturists should be trained to minimize the risk. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2711", "text": "Oil of bergamot is an extract from the rind of bergamot orange (Citrus aurantium ssp bergamia) that has a pleasant, refreshing scent; until a few years ago it had been widely used as an ingredient in cosmetics but was restricted or banned in most countries because of certain adverse effects. More recently, oil of bergamot preparations have been gaining renewed popularity in aromatherapy. Oil of bergamot possesses photosensitive and melanogenic properties because of the presence of furocoumarins, primarily bergapten (5-methoxypsoralen [5-MOP]). However, 5-MOP is also potentially phototoxic and photomutagenic. Despite its increasing application, there are only a few recent reports of phototoxic reactions to bergamot aromatherapy oil. We describe two patients with localized and disseminated bullous phototoxic skin reactions developing within 48 to 72 hours after exposure to bergamot aromatherapy oil and subsequent ultraviolet exposure. One patient (case 2) had no history of direct contact with aromatherapy oil but developed bullous skin lesions after exposure to aerosolized (evaporated) aromatherapy oil in a sauna and subsequent UVA radiation in a tanning salon. This report highlights the potential health hazard related to the increasing use of psoralen-containing aromatherapy oils."}
{"id": "MED-2712", "text": "PURPOSE: We reviewed studies from 1990 to 2010 on using aromatherapy for people with anxiety or anxiety symptoms and examined their clinical effects. METHODS: The review was conducted on available electronic databases to extract journal articles that evaluated the anxiolytic effects of aromatherapy for people with anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: The results were based on 16 randomized controlled trials examining the anxiolytic effects of aromatherapy among people with anxiety symptoms. Most of the studies indicated positive effects to quell anxiety. No adverse events were reported. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that aromatherapy could be applied as a complementary therapy for people with anxiety symptoms. Further studies with better quality on methodology should be conducted to identify its clinical effects and the underlying biologic mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-2714", "text": "Aromatherapy is becoming increasingly popular; however there are few clear indications for its use. To systematically review the literature on aromatherapy in order to discover whether any clinical indication may be recommended for its use, computerised literature searches were performed to retrieve all randomised controlled trials of aromatherapy from the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, British Nursing Index, CISCOM, and AMED. The methodological quality of the trials was assessed using the Jadad score. All trials were evaluated independently by both authors and data were extracted in a pre-defined, standardised fashion. Twelve trials were located: six of them had no independent replication; six related to the relaxing effects of aromatherapy combined with massage. These studies suggest that aromatherapy massage has a mild, transient anxiolytic effect. Based on a critical assessment of the six studies relating to relaxation, the effects of aromatherapy are probably not strong enough for it to be considered for the treatment of anxiety. The hypothesis that it is effective for any other indication is not supported by the findings of rigorous clinical trials."}
{"id": "MED-2715", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Obesity results from protracted energy imbalance. Whether this comprises excessive energy intake, lowered physical activity or both, remains disputed. DESIGN: Physical activity energy expenditure, evaluated in three different ways from daily energy expenditure (DEE) measured using doubly labelled water, was examined for trends over time. Data included subjects in Europe (Maastricht, the Netherlands) and North America extending back to the 1980s. These data were compared with measures from the third world, and measures made on wild terrestrial mammals. RESULTS: Physical activity expenditure in Europe (residual of the regression of DEE on basal energy expenditure (BEE)) has slightly but significantly increased since the 1980s. There was no trend over time in physical activity level (PAL=DEE/BEE), or in the residual variance in DEE once mass, sex and age were accounted for. This latter index of physical activity expenditure also significantly increased over time in North America. DEE of individuals in Europe and North America was not significantly different from individuals measured in the third world. In wild terrestrial mammals, DEE mostly depended on body mass and ambient temperature. Predicted DEE for a 78 kg mammal living at 20 degrees C was 9.2 MJ per day (95% CI: 7.9-12.9 MJ per day), not significantly different from the measured DEE of modern humans (around 10.2-12.6 MJ per day). CONCLUSION: As physical activity expenditure has not declined over the same period that obesity rates have increased dramatically, and daily energy expenditure of modern man is in line with energy expenditure in wild mammals, it is unlikely that decreased expenditure has fuelled the obesity epidemic."}
{"id": "MED-2716", "text": "BACKGROUND Many beliefs about obesity persist in the absence of supporting scientific evidence (presumptions); some persist despite contradicting evidence (myths). The promulgation of unsupported beliefs may yield poorly informed policy decisions, inaccurate clinical and public health recommendations, and an unproductive allocation of research resources and may divert attention away from useful, evidence-based information. METHODS Using Internet searches of popular media and scientific literature, we identified, reviewed, and classified obesity-related myths and presumptions. We also examined facts that are well supported by evidence, with an emphasis on those that have practical implications for public health, policy, or clinical recommendations. RESULTS We identified seven obesity-related myths concerning the effects of small sustained increases in energy intake or expenditure, establishment of realistic goals for weight loss, rapid weight loss, weight-loss readiness, physical-education classes, breast-feeding, and energy expended during sexual activity. We also identified six presumptions about the purported effects of regularly eating breakfast, early childhood experiences, eating fruits and vegetables, weight cycling, snacking, and the built (i.e., human-made) environment. Finally, we identified nine evidence-supported facts that are relevant for the formulation of sound public health, policy, or clinical recommendations. CONCLUSIONS False and scientifically unsupported beliefs about obesity are pervasive in both scientific literature and the popular press. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.)"}
{"id": "MED-2717", "text": "The United States is in the midst of a significant public health problem that relates to obesity and inactivity. This epidemic has far-ranging consequences for our workforce and our children and shows no signs of slowing in the near future. Significant research has been performed on the effects of exercise for the reduction of body weight; results of most studies indicate that exercise alone has a small effect on body-weight reduction independent of caloric restriction. However, when combined with dietary restriction, exercise has a synergistic effect and enhances weight loss beyond the effect of diet alone. In addition, exercise has been shown to have significant beneficial effects on cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors independent of actual weight loss, and losing just a small amount of weight can have a significant beneficial effect on these parameters. Genetic factors related to obesity have been found to be positively modified when persons incorporate physical activity into their lifestyle. Sitting time appears to be an independent risk factor for the development of metabolic risk factors; persons who spend more time sitting and watching television have worse metabolic profiles, even if they achieve the recommended amount of physical activity per week, than do those who move about throughout the day. Exercise also is essential for the prevention of weight gain over a life span, although the amount required to prevent weight gain may be closer to twice the amount of exercise recommended by the current Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (www.health.gov/paguidelines). In many ways, the physiatrist is the most well prepared of all the specialists to address the complex, multidimensional problems of obesity and inactivity. Copyright \u00a9 2012 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2718", "text": "This paper describes the interplay among energy intake, energy expenditure and body energy stores and illustrates how an understanding of energy balance can help develop strategies to reduce obesity. First, reducing obesity will require modifying both energy intake and energy expenditure and not simply focusing on either alone. Food restriction alone will not be effective in reducing obesity if human physiology is biased toward achieving energy balance at a high energy flux (i.e. at a high level of energy intake and expenditure). In previous environments a high energy flux was achieved with a high level of physical activity but in today's sedentary environment it is increasingly achieved through weight gain. Matching energy intake to a high level of energy expenditure will likely be more a more feasible strategy for most people to maintain a healthy weight than restricting food intake to meet a low level of energy expenditure. Second, from an energy balance point of view we are likely to be more successful in preventing excessive weight gain than in treating obesity. This is because the energy balance system shows much stronger opposition to weight loss than to weight gain. While large behavior changes are needed to produce and maintain reductions in body weight, small behavior changes may be sufficient to prevent excessive weight gain. In conclusion, the concept of energy balance combined with an understanding of how the body achieves balance may be a useful framework in helping develop strategies to reduce obesity rates."}
{"id": "MED-2721", "text": "BACKGROUND: The major drivers of the obesity epidemic are much debated and have considerable policy importance for the population-wide prevention of obesity. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine the relative contributions of increased energy intake and reduced physical activity to the US obesity epidemic. DESIGN: We predicted the changes in weight from the changes in estimated energy intakes in US children and adults between the 1970s and 2000s. The increased US food energy supply (adjusted for wastage and assumed to be proportional to energy intake) was apportioned to children and adults and inserted into equations that relate energy intake to body weight derived from doubly labeled water studies. The weight increases predicted from the equations were compared with weight increases measured in representative US surveys over the same period. RESULTS: For children, the measured weight gain was 4.0 kg, and the predicted weight gain for the increased energy intake was identical at 4.0 kg. For adults, the measured weight gain was 8.6 kg, whereas the predicted weight gain was somewhat higher (10.8 kg). CONCLUSIONS: Increased energy intake appears to be more than sufficient to explain weight gain in the US population. A reversal of the increase in energy intake of approximately 2000 kJ/d (500 kcal/d) for adults and of 1500 kJ/d (350 kcal/d) for children would be needed for a reversal to the mean body weights of the 1970s. Alternatively, large compensatory increases in physical activity (eg, 110-150 min of walking/d), or a combination of both, would achieve the same outcome. Population approaches to reducing obesity should emphasize a reduction in the drivers of increased energy intake."}
{"id": "MED-2722", "text": "Background Obesity and physical inactivity are associated with several chronic conditions, increased medical care costs, and premature death. Methods We used the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based random-digit telephone survey that covers the majority of United States counties, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative sample of the US civilian noninstitutionalized population. About 3.7 million adults aged 20\u00a0years or older participated in the BRFSS from 2000 to 2011, and 30,000 adults aged 20 or older participated in NHANES from 1999 to 2010. We calculated body mass index (BMI) from self-reported weight and height in the BRFSS and adjusted for self-reporting bias using NHANES. We calculated self-reported physical activity\u2014both any physical activity and physical activity meeting recommended levels\u2014from self-reported data in the BRFSS. We used validated small area estimation methods to generate estimates of obesity and physical activity prevalence for each county annually for 2001 to 2011. Results Our results showed an increase in the prevalence of sufficient physical activity from 2001 to 2009. Levels were generally higher in men than in women, but increases were greater in women than men. Counties in Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, and California reported the largest gains. This increase in level of activity was matched by an increase in obesity in almost all counties during the same time period. There was a low correlation between level of physical activity and obesity in US counties. From 2001 to 2009, controlling for changes in poverty, unemployment, number of doctors per 100,000 population, percent rural, and baseline levels of obesity, for every 1 percentage point increase in physical activity prevalence, obesity prevalence was 0.11 percentage points lower. Conclusions Our study showed that increased physical activity alone has a small impact on obesity prevalence at the county level in the US. Indeed, the rise in physical activity levels will have a positive independent impact on the health of Americans as it will reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Other changes such as reduction in caloric intake are likely needed to curb the obesity epidemic and its burden."}
{"id": "MED-2723", "text": "Rising prevalence of obesity is a worldwide health concern because excess weight gain within populations forecasts an increased burden from several diseases, most notably cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancers. In this report, we used a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences in the next two decades from a continued rise in obesity in two ageing populations--the USA and the UK. These trends project 65 million more obese adults in the USA and 11 million more obese adults in the UK by 2030, consequently accruing an additional 6-8\u00b75 million cases of diabetes, 5\u00b77-7\u00b73 million cases of heart disease and stroke, 492,000-669,000 additional cases of cancer, and 26-55 million quality-adjusted life years forgone for USA and UK combined. The combined medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48-66 billion/year in the USA and by \u00a31\u00b79-2 billion/year in the UK by 2030. Hence, effective policies to promote healthier weight also have economic benefits. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2725", "text": "IMPORTANCE: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance allows food manufacturers to determine whether additives to food are \"generally recognized as safe\" (GRAS). Manufacturers are not required to notify the FDA of a GRAS determination, although in some instances they notify the agency. The individuals that companies select to make these determinations may have financial conflicts of interest. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which individuals selected by manufacturers to make GRAS determinations have conflicts of interest between their obligations to ensure that the use of the additive is safe and their financial relationships to the company. DESIGN Using conflict of interest criteria developed by a committee of the Institute of Medicine, we analyzed 451 GRAS notifications that were voluntarily submitted to the FDA between 1997 and 2012. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Number of GRAS notices submitted to the FDA; frequency of various types of relationships between decision maker and additive manufacturer; frequency of participation on GRAS panels by individuals; and number of GRAS safety determinations identified by the FDA that were not submitted to the agency. RESULTS: For the 451 GRAS notifications, 22.4% of the safety assessments were made by an employee of an additive manufacturer, 13.3% by an employee of a consulting firm selected by the manufacturer, and 64.3% by an expert panel selected by either a consulting firm or the manufacturer. A standing expert panel selected by a third party made none of these safety assessments. The 290 panels that made GRAS determinations had an average of 3.5 members, with a maximum of 7. Ten individuals served on 27 or more panels; 1 individual served on 128 panels (44.1%). At least 1 of the 10 individuals with the most frequent service was a member of 225 panels (77.6%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Between 1997 and 2012, financial conflicts of interest were ubiquitous in determinations that an additive to food was GRAS. The lack of independent review in GRAS determinations raises concerns about the integrity of the process and whether it ensures the safety of the food supply, particularly in instances where the manufacturer does not notify the FDA of the determination. The FDA should address these concerns."}
{"id": "MED-2726", "text": "The 2011 UN high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) called for multisectoral action including with the private sector and industry. However, through the sale and promotion of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed food and drink (unhealthy commodities), transnational corporations are major drivers of global epidemics of NCDs. What role then should these industries have in NCD prevention and control? We emphasise the rise in sales of these unhealthy commodities in low-income and middle-income countries, and consider the common strategies that the transnational corporations use to undermine NCD prevention and control. We assess the effectiveness of self-regulation, public-private partnerships, and public regulation models of interaction with these industries and conclude that unhealthy commodity industries should have no role in the formation of national or international NCD policy. Despite the common reliance on industry self-regulation and public-private partnerships, there is no evidence of their effectiveness or safety. Public regulation and market intervention are the only evidence-based mechanisms to prevent harm caused by the unhealthy commodity industries. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2736", "text": "Campylobacter represents the leading cause of gastroenteritis in Europe. Campylobacteriosis is mainly due to C. jejuni and C. coli. Poultry meat is the main source of contamination, and cross-contaminations in the consumer's kitchen appear to be the important route for exposure. The aim of this study was to examine the transfer of Campylobacter from naturally contaminated raw poultry products to a cooked chicken product via the cutting board and to determine the characteristics of the involved isolates. This study showed that transfer occurred in nearly 30% of the assays and that both the C. jejuni and C. coli species were able to transfer. Transfer seems to be linked to specific isolates: some were able to transfer during separate trials while others were not. No correlation was found between transfer and adhesion to inert surfaces, but more than 90% of the isolates presented moderate or high adhesion ability. All tested isolates had the ability to adhere and invade Caco-2 cells, but presented high variability between isolates. Our results highlighted the occurrence of Campylobacter cross-contamination via the cutting board in the kitchen. Moreover, they provided new interesting data to be considered in risk assessment studies. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2738", "text": "Although survey results measuring the safety of consumers' food handling and risky food consumption practices have been published for over 20 years, evaluation of trends is impossible because the designs of published studies are not comparable. The Food Safety Surveys used comparable methods to interview U.S. adults by telephone in 1988, 1993, 2001, 2006, and 2010 about food handling (i.e., cross-contamination prevention) and risky consumption practices (eating raw or undercooked foods from animals) and perceived risk from foodborne illness. Sample sizes ranged from 1,620 to 4,547. Responses were analyzed descriptively, and four indices measuring meat, chicken, and egg cross-contamination, fish cross-contamination, risky consumption, and risk perceptions were analyzed using generalized linear models. The extent of media coverage of food safety issues was also examined. We found a substantial improvement in food handling and consumption practices and an increase in perceived risk from foodborne illness between 1993 and 1998. All indices were stable or declined between 1998 and 2006. Between 2006 and 2010, the two safe food handling practice indices increased significantly, but risk perceptions did not change, and safe consumption declined. Women had safer food handling and consumption practices than men. The oldest and youngest respondents and those with the highest education had the least safe food handling behaviors. Changes in safety of practices over the survey years are consistent with the change in the number of media stories about food safety in the periods between surveys. This finding suggests that increased media attention to food safety issues may raise awareness of food safety hazards and increase vigilance in food handling by consumers."}
{"id": "MED-2741", "text": "Overcrowding stress is a reality in the poultry industry. Chickens exposed to long-term stressful situations present a reduction of welfare and immunosuppression. We designed this experiment to analyse the effects from overcrowding stress of 16 birds/m(2) on performance parameters, serum corticosterone levels, the relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius, plasma IgA and IgG levels, intestinal integrity, macrophage activity and experimental Salmonella Enteritidis invasion. The results of this study indicate that overcrowding stress decreased performance parameters, induced enteritis and decreased macrophage activity and the relative bursa weight in broiler chickens. When the chickens were similarly stressed and infected with Salmonella Enteritidis, there was an increase in feed conversion and a decrease in plasma IgG levels in the stressed and Salmonella-infected birds. We observed moderate enteritis throughout the duodenum of chickens stressed and infected with Salmonella. The overcrowding stress decreased the macrophage phagocytosis intensity and increased Salmonella Enteritidis counts in the livers of birds challenged with the pathogenic bacterium. Overcrowding stress via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that is associated with an increase in corticosterone and enteritis might influence the quality of the intestinal immune barrier and the integrity of the small intestine. This effect allowed pathogenic bacteria to migrate through the intestinal mucosa, resulting in inflammatory infiltration and decreased nutrient absorption. The data strengthen the hypothesis that control of the welfare of chickens and avoidance of stress from overcrowding in poultry production are relevant factors for the maintenance of intestinal integrity, performance and decreased susceptibility to Salmonella infection."}
{"id": "MED-2742", "text": "A national telephone survey was conducted of 1,620 randomly selected U.S. residents who spoke English, were at least 18 years old, and resided in households with kitchen facilities. Respondents were interviewed about their recognition of foodborne pathogens, foods at risk for transmitting infection, knowledge of safe food handling, and food-handling practices. One-third of the respondents who prepared meals reported unsafe food hygiene practices: e.g., they did not wash hands or take precautions to prevent cross-contamination from raw meat. Unsafe practices were reported more often by men, adults 18 to 29 years of age, and occasional food preparers than by women, persons 30 years old or older, and frequent food preparers. Respondents who identified a food vehicle for Salmonella spp. were more likely to report washing their hands and cleaning cutting boards after preparing raw meat and poultry. The results raise concerns about consumer food-handling practices. The influence of food safety training, food-handling experience, and age on food-handling practices should be studied further. Awareness of a food vehicle for Salmonella spp., for example, may indicate knowledge of the etiology of foodborne disease that promotes safe food handling. Understanding the factors associated with safe food handling will assist in development of effective safe-food instruction programs."}
{"id": "MED-2743", "text": "In June 2012, the Oregon Health Authority and the Washington State Department of Health noted an increase in the number of Salmonella enterica serotype Heidelberg clinical isolates sharing an identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern. In 2004, this pattern had been linked to chicken from Foster Farms by the Washington State Department of Health; preliminary 2012 interviews with infected persons also indicated exposure to Foster Farms chicken. On August 2, 2012, CDC's PulseNet* detected a cluster of 19 Salmonella Heidelberg clinical isolates matching the outbreak pattern. This report summarizes the investigation by CDC, state and local health departments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and reinforces the importance of safe food handling to prevent illness. A total of 134 cases from 13 states were identified, including 33 patients who were hospitalized. This multifaceted investigation used standard epidemiologic and laboratory data along with patient shopper card purchase information, and PFGE data from the retail meat component of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS)\u2020, a relatively novel tool in outbreak investigation, to link the outbreak strain to chicken from Foster Farms."}
{"id": "MED-2744", "text": "Homicide disproportionately affects persons aged 10-24 years in the United States and consistently ranks in the top three leading causes of death in this age group, resulting in approximately 4,800 deaths and an estimated $9 billion in lost productivity and medical costs in 2010. To investigate trends in homicide among persons aged 10-24 years for the period 1981-2010, CDC analyzed National Vital Statistics System data on deaths caused by homicide of persons in this age group and examined trends by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and mechanism of injury. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that homicide rates varied substantially during the study period, with a sharp rise from 1985 to 1993 followed by a decline that has slowed since 1999. During the period 2000-2010, rates declined for all groups, although the decline was significantly slower for males compared with females and for blacks compared with Hispanics and persons of other racial/ethnic groups. By mechanism of injury, the decline for firearm homicides from 2000 to 2010 was significantly slower than for nonfirearm homicides. The homicide rate among persons aged 10-24 years in 2010 was 7.5 per 100,000, the lowest in the 30-year study period. Primary prevention strategies remain critical, particularly among groups at increased risk for homicide."}
{"id": "MED-2745", "text": "The current study was undertaken to acquire data on contamination of chicken parts with Salmonella at retail and to acquire data on cross-contamination of cooked chicken with Salmonella from raw chicken during meal preparation. Whole raw chickens (n = 31) were obtained from local retail stores and cut into two wings, two breasts without skin or bones, two thighs, and two drumsticks. Data for cross-contamination were obtained by cutting up a sterile, cooked chicken breast with the same board and knife used to cut up the raw chicken. The board, knife, and latex gloves used by the food handler were not rinsed or washed before cutting up the sterile, cooked chicken breast, thus providing a worst-case scenario for cross-contamination. Standard curves for the concentration of Salmonella bacteria in 400 ml of buffered peptone water after 6 h of incubation of chicken parts as a function of the initial log number of Salmonella bacteria inoculated onto chicken parts were developed and used to enumerate Salmonella bacteria. Standard curves were not affected by the type of chicken part but did differ (P < 0.05) among the five isolates of Salmonella examined. Consequently, Salmonella bacteria were enumerated on naturally contaminated chicken parts using a standard curve developed with the serotype of Salmonella that was isolated from the original sample. The prevalence of contamination was 3 % (4 of 132), whereas the incidence of cross-contamination was 1.8 % (1 of 57). The positive chicken parts were a thigh from chicken 4, which contained 3 CFU of Salmonella enterica serotype Kentucky, and both wings, one thigh, and one cooked breast portion from chicken 15, which all contained 1 CFU of serotype 8,20:-:z(6). These results indicated that the poultry industry is providing consumers in the studied area with chicken that has a low prevalence and low number of Salmonella bacteria at retail and that has a low incidence and low level of cross-contamination of cooked chicken with Salmonella from raw chicken during meal preparation under a worst-case scenario."}
{"id": "MED-2746", "text": "Foods prepared in the kitchen can become cross-contaminated with Campylobacter by contacting raw products, particularly skinned poultry. We measured the percent transfer rate from naturally contaminated poultry legs purchased in supermarkets. Transfer of Campylobacter from skin (n = 43) and from meat (n = 12) to high-density polyethylene cutting board surfaces was quantitatively assessed after contact times of 1 and 10 min. The percent transfer rate was defined as the ratio between the number of Campylobacter cells counted on the cutting board surface and the initial numbers of Campylobacter naturally present on the skin (i.e., the sum of Campylobacter cells on the skin and board). Qualitative transfer occurred in 60.5% (95% confidence interval, 45.5 to 75.4) of the naturally contaminated legs studied and reached 80.6% (95% confidence interval, 63.0 to 98.2) in the subpopulation of legs that were in contact with the surface for 10 min. The percent transfer rate varied from 5 x 10(-2)% to 35.7% and was observed as being significantly different (Kruskall-Wallis test, P < 0.025) and inversely related to the initial counts on poultry skin. This study provides quantitative data describing the evolution of the proportion of Campylobacter organisms transferred from naturally contaminated poultry under kitchen conditions. We emphasize the linear relationship between the initial load of Campylobacter on the skin and the value of the percent transfer rate. This work confirms the need for modeling transfer as a function of initial load of Campylobacter on leg skin, the weight of poultry pieces, and the duration of contact between the skin and surface."}
{"id": "MED-2748", "text": "The consumption of fresh produce is frequently associated with outbreaks of human norovirus (hNoV) disease. To prevent the contamination of fresh produce with hNoV, knowledge of the possible introduction sources of the viruses, such as water, is needed to be able to implement appropriate and efficient preventive measures. Contaminated water used to reconstitute pesticides could be a relevant source of infectious hNoV, determined by the initial level of virus contamination and the persistence of these viruses in reconstituted pesticides. We studied the persistence of hNoV GI.4, hNoV GII.4 and murine norovirus (MNV-1), the only culturable norovirus, in eight different pesticides after 0 and 2h. Virus concentrations were determined by reverse transcriptase PCR, and infectivity of MNV-1 was determined by endpoint dilutions followed by maximum likelihood estimations. MNV-1 was found to remain infectious in seven of the eight tested pesticides at the highest concentration applied in practice. In the presence of the insecticide Vertimec, MNV-1 infectivity decreased rapidly with a 1.9 log(10)-unit reduction at timepoint T(0). Also, the concentration of NoV GI.4 RNA decreased considerably with a 1.7 log(10)-unit reduction; whereas the detected PCR fragment of hNoV GII.4 remained stable. Assuming a similar persistence of infectious MNV-1 and hNoV we can conclude that water containing hNoV used to dilute pesticides may be an important source of infectious hNoV in fresh produce chains. The application of pesticides may therefore not only be a chemical hazard, but also a microbiological hazard for public health. The inclusion of antiviral substances in reconstituted pesticides may be appropriate to reduce the virological health risk posed by the application of pesticides. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2749", "text": "Noroviruses are the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. To better guide interventions, we analyzed 2,922 foodborne disease outbreaks for which norovirus was the suspected or confirmed cause, which had been reported to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during 2001\u20132008. On average, 365 foodborne norovirus outbreaks were reported annually, resulting in an estimated 10,324 illnesses, 1,247 health care provider visits, 156 hospitalizations, and 1 death. In 364 outbreaks attributed to a single commodity, leafy vegetables (33%), fruits/nuts (16%), and mollusks (13%) were implicated most commonly. Infected food handlers were the source of 53% of outbreaks and may have contributed to 82% of outbreaks. Most foods were likely contaminated during preparation and service, except for mollusks, and occasionally, produce was contaminated during production and processing. Interventions to reduce the frequency of foodborne norovirus outbreaks should focus on food workers and production of produce and shellfish."}
{"id": "MED-2750", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To see whether mortality among men with angina can be reduced by dietary advice. DESIGN: A randomized controlled factorial trial. SETTING: Male patients of general practitioners in south Wales. SUBJECTS: A total of 3114 men under 70 y of age with angina. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomly allocated to four groups: (1) advised to eat two portions of oily fish each week, or to take three fish oil capsules daily; (2) advised to eat more fruit, vegetables and oats; (3) given both the above types of advice; and (4) given no specific dietary advice. Mortality was ascertained after 3-9 y. RESULTS: Compliance was better with the fish advice than with the fruit advice. All-cause mortality was not reduced by either form of advice, and no other effects were attributable to fruit advice. Risk of cardiac death was higher among subjects advised to take oily fish than among those not so advised; the adjusted hazard ratio was 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.00, 1.58; P=0.047), and even greater for sudden cardiac death (1.54; 95% CI 1.06, 2.23; P=0.025). The excess risk was largely located among the subgroup given fish oil capsules. There was no evidence that it was due to interactions with medication. CONCLUSIONS: Advice to eat more fruit was poorly complied with and had no detectable effect on mortality. Men advised to eat oily fish, and particularly those supplied with fish oil capsules, had a higher risk of cardiac death. This result is unexplained; it may arise from risk compensation or some other effect on patients' or doctors' behaviour."}
{"id": "MED-2751", "text": "Recent data on fishmeal and fish-oil supply are presented identifying key producer countries and raw material sources and distinguishing between whole fish and by-products. The conversion of these raw materials into marine ingredients is discussed and global volumes presented. This is followed by a summary of the main countries using these marine ingredients over recent years. Uses of fishmeal and fish-oil by market segment are then presented. From this, a global mass balance of inputs and outputs is derived which allows the calculation of the input-to-output ratios (fish in:fish out; FIFO) for the main aquaculture production types to be made. Current areas of focus by the industry include the need to demonstrate sustainable practice, more strategic use of marine ingredients, greater use of fishery and land-animal by-products as well as vegetable substitutes, and novel sources of essential omega-3 fats, notably the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids. Implications are drawn for future supply prospects of fishmeal and fish-oil and their future role in aquaculture, agriculture and human health. \u00a9 2013 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles."}
{"id": "MED-2752", "text": "CONTEXT: Considerable controversy exists regarding the association of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and major cardiovascular end points. OBJECTIVE: To assess the role of omega-3 supplementation on major cardiovascular outcomes. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials through August 2012. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials evaluating the effect of omega-3 on all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, and stroke. DATA EXTRACTION: Descriptive and quantitative information was extracted; absolute and relative risk (RR) estimates were synthesized under a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic and I2. Subgroup analyses were performed for the presence of blinding, the prevention settings, and patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and meta-regression analyses were performed for the omega-3 dose. A statistical significance threshold of .0063 was assumed after adjustment for multiple comparisons. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of the 3635 citations retrieved, 20 studies of 68,680 patients were included, reporting 7044 deaths, 3993 cardiac deaths, 1150 sudden deaths, 1837 myocardial infarctions, and 1490 strokes. No statistically significant association was observed with all-cause mortality (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.02; risk reduction [RD] -0.004, 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.02), cardiac death (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.98; RD, -0.01; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.00), sudden death (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.01; RD, -0.003; 95% CI, -0.012 to 0.006), myocardial infarction (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.04; RD, -0.002; 95% CI, -0.007 to 0.002), and stroke (RR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.18; RD, 0.001; 95% CI, -0.002 to 0.004) when all supplement studies were considered. CONCLUSION: Overall, omega-3 PUFA supplementation was not associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, or stroke based on relative and absolute measures of association."}
{"id": "MED-2753", "text": "The Diet and Reinfarction Trial (DART) involved 2033 men (mean age 56.5 years) recovering from myocardial infarction. They were randomly allocated to receive advice or to receive no advice on each of three dietary factors: an increase in fatty fish intake; a reduction in fat intake with an increase in polyunsaturated fat:saturated fat; an increased intake of cereal fibre. Compliance was satisfactory with the fish and fibre advice, but less so with the fat advice. The men given fish advice had 29% lower 2-year all-cause mortality; the other forms of advice did not have any significant effects. The Diet and Angina Randomized Trial (DART-2) involved 3114 men (mean age 61.1 years) with stable angina, who were followed up for 3-9 years. Advice to eat oily fish or take fish oil did not affect all-cause mortality, but it was associated with a significant increase in sudden cardiac death (P=0.018), and this effect was largely confined to the subgroup given fish oil capsules. Advice to eat more fruit and vegetables had no effect, probably because of poor compliance. The outcome of DART-2 appears to conflict with that of DART and some other studies; various possible explanations are considered. Nutritional interventions are not equally acceptable and should be tailored to the individuals for whom they are intended. Various distinct groups have a raised risk of CHD, and it cannot be assumed that the same nutritional interventions are appropriate to them all. Nutritional supplements do not necessarily have the same effects as the foods from which they are derived."}
{"id": "MED-2754", "text": "BACKGROUND: Although previous randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials reported the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplements in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the evidence remains inconclusive. Using a meta-analysis, we investigated the efficacy of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in the secondary prevention of CVD. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library in April 2011. Two of us independently reviewed and selected eligible randomized controlled trials. RESULTS: Of 1007 articles retrieved, 14 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (involving 20 485 patients with a history of CVD) were included in the final analyses. Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids did not reduce the risk of overall cardiovascular events (relative risk, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.89-1.09), all-cause mortality, sudden cardiac death, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, or transient ischemic attack and stroke. There was a small reduction in cardiovascular death (relative risk, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.99), which disappeared when we excluded a study with major methodological problems. Furthermore, no significant preventive effect was observed in subgroup analyses by the following: country location, inland or coastal geographic area, history of CVD, concomitant medication use, type of placebo material in the trial, methodological quality of the trial, duration of treatment, dosage of eicosapentaenoic acid or docosahexaenoic acid, or use of fish oil supplementation only as treatment. CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis showed insufficient evidence of a secondary preventive effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplements against overall cardiovascular events among patients with a history of cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-2755", "text": "A randomised controlled trial with a factorial design was done to examine the effects of dietary intervention in the secondary prevention of myocardial infarction (MI). 2033 men who had recovered from MI were allocated to receive or not to receive advice on each of three dietary factors: a reduction in fat intake and an increase in the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat, an increase in fatty fish intake, and an increase in cereal fibre intake. The advice on fat was not associated with any difference in mortality, perhaps because it produced only a small reduction (3-4%) in serum cholesterol. The subjects advised to eat fatty fish had a 29% reduction in 2 year all-cause mortality compared with those not so advised. This effect, which was significant, was not altered by adjusting for ten potential confounding factors. Subjects given fibre advice had a slightly higher mortality than other subjects (not significant). The 2 year incidence of reinfarction plus death from ischaemic heart disease was not significantly affected by any of the dietary regimens. A modest intake of fatty fish (two or three portions per week) may reduce mortality in men who have recovered from MI."}
{"id": "MED-2756", "text": "BACKGROUND: Fish consumption and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake are shown to protect from cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, most fish contain environmental contaminants such as dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and methylmercury (MeHg) that may have adverse effects on cardiovascular health. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to elucidate the associations of fish consumption, omega-3 PUFAs, environmental contaminants with low-grade inflammation, early atherosclerosis, and traditional CVD risk factors. METHODS: The Health 2000 survey participants (n=1173) represented the general Finnish population and the Fishermen study participants (n=255) represented a population with high fish consumption and high exposure to environmental contaminants. Model-adjusted geometric means and tests for linear trend were calculated for CVD risk factors by tertiles of fish consumption and serum omega-3 PUFAs, and additionally in the Fishermen study only, by tertiles of serum PCDD/F+PCB, and blood MeHg. RESULTS: Serum triglyceride decreased across omega-3 PUFA tertiles in both sexes and studies. Insulin resistance, C-reactive protein, tumour necrosis factor \u03b1, and interleukin 6 decreased across omega-3 PUFA tertiles among the Health 2000 survey participants. Among the Fishermen study men, insulin resistance and arterial stiffness indicated by \u03b2-stiffness index tended to increase and the RR estimate for carotid artery plaque tended to decrease across tertiles of PCDD/F+PCB and MeHg. CONCLUSION: Previously established hypotriglyceridemic and anti-inflammatory effects of omega-3 PUFAs were seen also in this study. The hypothesised favourable effect on insulin sensitivity and arterial elasticity was suggested to be counteracted by high exposure to environmental contaminants but the effect on plaque prevalence appeared not to be harmful. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2757", "text": "BACKGROUND: Multivitamins are the most commonly used supplement in the developed world. Recent epidemiologic findings suggest that multivitamin use increases the risk of mortality. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether multivitamin-multimineral treatment, used for primary or secondary prevention, increases the risk of mortality in independently living adults. DESIGN: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Multiple electronic databases were systematically searched from March to October 2012. Randomized controlled primary or secondary prevention trials were considered for inclusion. Eligible trials investigated daily multivitamin-multimineral supplementation for \u22651 y. Cohorts described as institutionalized or as having terminal illness (tertiary prevention) were excluded. The number of deaths and the sample size of each study arm were extracted independently by 2 researchers. Twenty-one articles were included in the analysis, which generated a total pooled sample of 91,074 people and 8794 deaths. These trials were pooled in a meta-analysis, and the outcomes were expressed as RRs and 95% CIs. RESULTS: The average age of the pooled sample was 62 y, and the average duration of supplementation was 43 mo. Across all studies, no effect of multivitamin-multimineral treatment on all-cause mortality (RR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.02) was observed. There was a trend for a reduced risk of all-cause mortality across primary prevention trials (RR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.00). Multivitamin-multimineral treatment had no effect on mortality due to vascular causes (RR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.09) or cancer (RR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.88, 1.04). No statistical evidence of heterogeneity or publication bias was observed. CONCLUSION: Multivitamin-multimineral treatment has no effect on mortality risk."}
{"id": "MED-2759", "text": "A commercial weight loss program with a client base composed of >95% women experienced sporadic complaints of nausea and vomiting after changing its multivitamin supplier. This retrospective and observational study was designed to determine if related adverse event reports were significant, and to investigate potential mechanism for their occurrence in this group of subjects, many of whom were concurrently receiving oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy. Incidence of nausea, vomiting, rash, and total complaints in the 3 months following the change of the multivitamin formulation was compared with the same complaints in the 3 months before the change. In the 3 months following the multivitamin change, there were 166 complaints of nausea and vomiting, 9 complaints of rash and 194 total complaints from a group of 88,468 patients. In the 3 months before the change in the multivitamin, there had been 2 complaints of nausea and vomiting, no complaints of rash, and 11 total complaints from 88,252 patients. The difference detected by a chi-squared test was significant for all events studied; nausea and vomiting (P < 0.0001), rash (P < 0.02), and total complaints (P < 0.0001). The altered multivitamins contained added citrus bioflavanoids not included in the original formula. Citrus bioflavanoids decrease the clearance of exogenous estrogens by inhibiting cytochrome P450 enzyme systems. Elevated estrogen levels could account for the increased incidence of nausea and vomiting. This experience demonstrates that adding dietary herbal supplements to multivitamins may be associated with adverse interactions with prescription drugs."}
{"id": "MED-2760", "text": "Context Multivitamin preparations are the most common dietary supplement, taken by at least one-third of all US adults. Limited observational studies have not provided evidence regarding associations of multivitamin use with total and site-specific cancer incidence or mortality. Objective To determine whether long-term multivitamin supplementation decreases the risk of total and site-specific cancer events among men. Design The Physicians\u2019 Health Study II is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a common multivitamin that began in 1997 with treatment and follow-up through June 1, 2011. Setting and Participants A total of 14,641 male U.S. physicians initially aged \u226550 years (mean [\u00b1 SD] age; 64.3 [\u00b1 9.2] years), including 1,312 men with a history of cancer at randomization, were enrolled. Intervention Daily multivitamin, as Centrum Silver. Main Outcome Measures A primary outcome was total cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer), with prostate, colorectal, and other site-specific cancers among secondary endpoints included in this report. Results During a median (interquartile range) follow-up of 11.2 (10.7 to 13.3) years, there were 2,669 men with confirmed cancer, including 1,373 cases of prostate cancer and 210 cases of colorectal cancer. Compared with placebo, men taking a daily multivitamin had a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of total cancer (active and placebo multivitamin groups, 17.0 and 18.3 events, respectively, per 1,000 person-years; hazard ratio [HR], 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86\u20130.998; P=0.044). There was no significant effect of a daily multivitamin on prostate cancer (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88\u20131.09; P=0.76), colorectal cancer (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.68\u20131.17; P=0.39), or other site-specific cancers There was a lower risk of cancer mortality that did not reach statistical significance (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.77\u20131.01; P=0.07). Daily multivitamin use was associated with a reduction in total cancer among 1,312 men with a baseline history of cancer (HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56\u20130.96; P=0.022), but this did not differ significantly from that among 13,329 men initially free of cancer (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.87\u20131.02; P=0.15) (P, interaction = 0.07). Conclusions In this large prevention trial of male physicians, daily multivitamin supplementation modestly but significantly reduced the risk of total cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2761", "text": "PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of self-reported multivitamin use in the Physicians' Health Study (PHS) cohort and its association with various lifestyle, clinical, and dietary factors to improve our understanding of who tends to use multivitamins. METHODS: Among 18,040 middle-aged and older men, information on lifestyle and clinical factors was collected from a baseline enrollment questionnaire, and supplement use and dietary factors were assessed through a food-frequency questionnaire. Four categories of multivitamin use were considered: (1) no supplement use, (2) use of multivitamins only, (3) use of multivitamins with other individual vitamin/mineral supplements, and (4) use of other supplements only. We used logistic regression to calculate multivariate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of taking multivitamin supplements for various lifestyle, clinical and dietary factors. RESULTS: Overall, 36% of men reported current multivitamin use. Men who were older, current smokers, and currently using aspirin were 143, 43, and 74% more likely to use multivitamins only. Men having a history of hypercholesterolemia were 16% more likely to use multivitamins only. A 14, 24, and 26% greater likelihood of using multivitamins was also observed among men consuming more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and tea, respectively. Similar associations were observed for the likelihood of using multivitamins with other supplements; however, men with higher physical activity, history of cancer, hypertension, higher consumption of nuts, and lower consumption of red meat and coffee were also more likely to use multivitamins with other supplements (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Self-reported multivitamin use associated with lifestyle, clinical and dietary factors may be an indicator of healthy behaviors. These results provide important information for the interpretation of the recent findings from the PHS II trial and consideration of results from observational studies of multivitamin use and chronic disease."}
{"id": "MED-2762", "text": "BACKGROUND: Vitamin and mineral supplements are commonly used to prevent chronic diseases. PURPOSE: To systematically review evidence for the benefit and harms of vitamin and mineral supplements in community-dwelling, nutrient-sufficient adults for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Database of s of Reviews of Effects were searched from January 2005 to 29 January 2013, with manual searches of reference lists and gray literature. STUDY SELECTION: Two investigators independently selected and reviewed fair- and good-quality trials for benefit and fair- and good-quality trials and observational studies for harms. DATA EXTRACTION: Dual quality assessments and data abstraction. DATA SYNTHESIS: Two large trials (n = 27 658) reported lower cancer incidence in men taking a multivitamin for more than 10 years (pooled unadjusted relative risk, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.87 to 0.99]). The study that included women showed no effect in that group. High-quality studies (k = 24; n = 324 653) of single and paired nutrients (such as vitamins A, C, or D; folic acid; selenium; or calcium) were scant and heterogeneous and showed no clear evidence of benefit or harm. Neither vitamin E nor \u03b2-carotene prevented CVD or cancer, and \u03b2-carotene increased lung cancer risk in smokers. LIMITATIONS: The analysis included only primary prevention studies in adults without known nutritional deficiencies. Studies were conducted in older individuals and included various supplements and doses under the set upper tolerable limits. Duration of most studies was less than 10 years. CONCLUSION: Limited evidence supports any benefit from vitamin and mineral supplementation for the prevention of cancer or CVD. Two trials found a small, borderline-significant benefit from multivitamin supplements on cancer in men only and no effect on CVD. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality."}
{"id": "MED-2763", "text": "Despite compelling statistics that show we could eliminate 80%of all heart disease and strokes, 90% of all diabetes, and 60% of all cancers with basic lifestyle changes, we have failed to motivate the public to make these changes and failed to motivate policy makers to make healthy choices the easiest choice. Dr. Katz suggests we have failed because we have focused too much on statistics and too little on passion. He implores all of us to tap into people's passion by connecting each of these statistics with a human story."}
{"id": "MED-2765", "text": "To prevent or delay the occurrence of chronic diseases, scientific bodies from the cardiologic and oncologic disciplines have made recommendations regarding the daily dietary intake of certain macro- and micronutrients. This study assessed the knowledge of a random population of 2,305 individuals comprising members of the public, health care workers, university graduate students, and health club attendees. Segments of this population might be expected to have a greater understanding and ability to implement these dietary recommendations. We found that over 90% of the participants were unaware of the recommendations for calcium, salt, vitamin A, and fiber, and the fiber content in a high fiber cereal. Approximately 80% of the participants were unaware of the recommendations regarding fat intake and could not calculate the fat content of a food product. Almost half of the study population took a vitamin pill daily. Of the subjects who were aware of the correct unit measurement for vitamin A (IU), almost 25% of gave a response that exceeded the recommended daily intake. A majority of this study population were unaware of the dietary recommendations regarding the prevention of cardiovascular events and cancer. Subgroups of this study population that might be expected to have more information regarding these recommendations (i.e., having higher education or being a health care professional) did not display a satisfactory level of knowledge. To further compound the problems of adhering to the recommended guidelines, the labeling of many food products is misleading. The recommendations on dietary intake and the information on food product content must be transmitted to the public in a form that allows for ready application when purchasing and consuming food."}
{"id": "MED-2769", "text": "The authors investigated whether early-life residency in certain areas of Iceland marked by distinct differences in milk intake was associated with risk of prostate cancer in a population-based cohort of 8,894 men born between 1907 and 1935. Through linkage to cancer and mortality registers, the men were followed for prostate cancer diagnosis and mortality from study entry (in waves from 1967 to 1987) through 2009. In 2002\u20132006, a subgroup of 2,268 participants reported their milk intake in early, mid-, and current life. During a mean follow-up period of 24.3 years, 1,123 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 371 with advanced disease (stage 3 or higher or prostate cancer death). Compared with early-life residency in the capital area, rural residency in the first 20 years of life was marginally associated with increased risk of advanced prostate cancer (hazard ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97, 1.73), particularly among men born before 1920 (hazard ratio = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.56). Daily milk consumption in adolescence (vs. less than daily), but not in midlife or currently, was associated with a 3.2-fold risk of advanced prostate cancer (95% CI: 1.25, 8.28). These data suggest that frequent milk intake in adolescence increases risk of advanced prostate cancer."}
{"id": "MED-2770", "text": "Although breast and ovarian cancers are rare in Japan compared with other developed countries, the death rates for both are increasing. In Japan, dramatic lifestyle changes occurred after World War II. Over the past 50 years (1947-1997), the age-standardized death rates of breast and ovarian cancers increased about 2- and 4-fold, respectively, and the respective intake of milk, meat, and eggs increased 20-, 10-, and 7-fold. The increase in the annual death rates from breast and ovarian cancers might be due to the lifestyle changes (increased consumption of animal-derived food) that occurred after 1945. Among the food, milk and dairy products should receive particular attention since they contain considerable amounts of estrogens."}
{"id": "MED-2771", "text": "We have previously found a positive association between milk consumption and prostate cancer risk using meta-analysis to analyze published case-control studies. In the present study, further meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the summary relative risk (RR) between the consumption of milk and dairy products and prostate cancer from cohort studies published between 1966- 2006. We found 18 relevant articles and 13 independent studies were available for our analysis. The summary RR was 1.13 (95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.24) when comparing the highest with the lowest quantile of consumption. The summary RRs by study stratification showed a positive association. A dose-response relationship was identified when combining the studies that partitioned the consumption by quintiles. We also evaluated the effects of some limitations, such as dairy classification, prostate cancer stages and publication bias, in the present study. These findings, together with the previous study, suggest that the consumption of milk and dairy products increases the risk of prostate cancer. This is biologically plausible since milk contains considerable amounts of fat, hormones, and calcium that are associated with prostate cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-2772", "text": "Prostate cancer has become the most common cancer among men in the United States. Although milk consumption is considered to be a risk factor in some epidemiological studies, the results are inconsistent. A meta-analysis method was conducted to estimate the combined odds ratio (OR) between milk consumption and prostate cancer from case-control studies published between 1984 and 2003 using commercial software (comprehensive meta-analysis). The combined OR was 1.68 (95% confidence interval = 1.34-2.12) in the 11 published case-control studies. The combined OR varied little by study stratification. Additionally, we evaluated the possible risk factors in milk for prostate cancer. In conclusion, we found a positive association between milk consumption and prostate cancer. The underlying mechanisms, including fat, calcium, hormones, and other factors, should be investigated further. Copyright 2004 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2773", "text": "In Japan dramatic lifestyle changes occurred after World War 2. To examine the experience of Japan as a clue to the etiology, trends in the mortality rates of testicular and prostatic cancers from 1947 to 1998 were related to changes in dietary practices. The male population born before 1945 had a peak in death from testicular cancer in their thirties or forties, whereas those born after 1946 had a peak in their twenties. The death rate of prostatic cancer increased 25-fold almost linearly after the war. The intake of milk, meat, and eggs increased 20-, 9-, and 7-fold, respectively, after the war. In connection with the development and growth of testicular and prostatic cancers in Japan, particular attention should be paid to milk, because the increase in its consumption in this country is a recent occurrence and because milk contains considerable amounts of estrogens plus saturated fats."}
{"id": "MED-2774", "text": "Concern has been expressed about the fact that cows' milk contains estrogens and could stimulate the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors. In this study, organic cows' milk and two commercial substitutes were digested in vitro and tested for their effects on the growth of cultures of prostate and breast cancer cells. Cows' milk stimulated the growth of LNCaP prostate cancer cells in each of 14 separate experiments, producing an average increase in growth rate of over 30%. In contrast, almond milk suppressed the growth of these cells by over 30%. Neither cows' milk nor almond milk affected the growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells or AsPC-1 pancreatic cancer cells significantly. Soy milk increased the growth rate of the breast cancer cells. These data indicate that prostate and breast cancer patients should be cautioned about the possible promotional effects of commercial dairy products and their substitutes."}
{"id": "MED-2775", "text": "The incidence and mortality rates of testicular and prostatic cancers in 42 countries were correlated with the dietary practices in these countries using the cancer rates (1988-92) provided by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the food supply data (1961-90) provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Among the food items we examined, cheese was most closely correlated with the incidence of testicular cancer at ages 20-39, followed by animal fats and milk. The correlation coefficient (r) was highest (r = 0.804) when calculated for cheese consumed during the period 1961-65 (maternal or prepubertal consumption). Stepwise-multiple-regression analysis revealed that milk + cheese (1961-65) made a significant contribution to the incidence of testicular cancer (standardized regression coefficient [R] = 0.654). Concerning prostatic cancer, milk (1961-90) was most closely correlated (r = 0.711) with its incidence, followed by meat and coffee. Stepwise-multiple-regression analysis identified milk + cheese as a factor contributing to the incidence of prostatic cancer (R = 0.525). The food that was most closely correlated with the mortality rate of prostatic cancer was milk (r = 0.766), followed by coffee, cheese and animal fats. Stepwise-multiple-regression analysis revealed that milk + cheese was a factor contributing to mortality from prostatic cancer (R = 0.580). The results of our study suggest a role of milk and dairy products in the development and growth of testicular and prostatic cancers. The close correlation between cheese and testicular cancer and between milk and prostatic cancer suggests that further mechanistic studies should be undertaken concerning the development of male genital organ cancers. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2780", "text": "Spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander and turmeric are used all over the world as flavouring and colouring ingredients in Indian foods. Previous studies have shown that spices contain variable amounts of total oxalates but there are few reports of soluble oxalate contents. In this study, the total, soluble and insoluble oxalate contents of ten different spices commonly used in Indian cuisine were measured. Total oxalate content ranged from 194 (nutmeg) to 4,014 (green cardamom) mg/100\u00a0g DM, while the soluble oxalate contents ranged from 41 (nutmeg) to 3,977 (green cardamom) mg/100\u00a0g DM. Overall, the percentage of soluble oxalate content of the spices ranged from 4.7 to 99.1% of the total oxalate content which suggests that some spices present no risk to people liable to kidney stone formation, while other spices can supply significant amounts of soluble oxalates and therefore should be used in moderation."}
{"id": "MED-2783", "text": "Although much has been published about curcumin, which is obtained from turmeric, comparatively little is known about turmeric itself. Turmeric, a golden spice obtained from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa, has been used to give color and taste to food preparations since ancient times. Traditionally, this spice has been used in Ayurveda and folk medicine for the treatment of such ailments as gynecological problems, gastric problems, hepatic disorders, infectious diseases, and blood disorders. Modern science has provided the scientific basis for the use of turmeric against such disorders. Various chemical constituents have been isolated from this spice, including polyphenols, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenoids, sterols, and alkaloids. Curcumin, which constitutes 2-5% of turmeric, is perhaps the most-studied component. Although some of the activities of turmeric can be mimicked by curcumin, other activities are curcumin-independent. Cell-based studies have demonstrated the potential of turmeric as an antimicrobial, insecticidal, larvicidal, antimutagenic, radioprotector, and anticancer agent. Numerous animal studies have shown the potential of this spice against proinflammatory diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, depression, diabetes, obesity, and atherosclerosis. At the molecular level, this spice has been shown to modulate numerous cell-signaling pathways. In clinical trials, turmeric has shown efficacy against numerous human ailments including lupus nephritis, cancer, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, acne, and fibrosis. Thus, a spice originally common in the kitchen is now exhibiting activities in the clinic. In this review, we discuss the chemical constituents of turmeric, its biological activities, its molecular targets, and its potential in the clinic. \u00a9 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-2790", "text": "Vasa (Adhatoda vasica Linn.) is a well known and easily available drug in almost all the seasons. Easy availability of any drug gains popularity among physicians as well as pharmaceuticals and this is the reason why almost every Kalpana of Vasa is found described in the Ayurvedika text. The different dosage forms of Vasa like Kvatha, Avaleha, Sneha, and Sandhana have been used for the treatment of Shwasa Roga. A number of research studies have been performed on different formulations of Vasa and its effect on Shwasa Roga. Therefore, a review study has been carried out on the Vasa extract, Vasa Avaleha (prepared from Svarasa and Kvatha), Vasa Ghrita, Vasarishta, and Vasakasava on Shwasa Roga, to know which formulation is better. It was found in the review that Vasa Ghana, Vasa Ghrita (1), and Vasa Avaleha have shown good results on Tamaka Shwasa."}
{"id": "MED-2793", "text": "Piperine, a major active component of black and long peppers, has been reported to enhance drug bioavailability. The present studies were aimed at understanding the interaction of piperine with enzymatic drug biotransforming reactions in hepatic tissue in vitro and in vivo. Piperine inhibited arylhydrocarbon hydroxylation, ethylmorphine-N-demethylation, 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylation and 3-hydroxy-benzo(a)pyrene glucuronidation in rat postmitochondrial supernatant in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. Piperine inhibition of these reactions in postmitochondrial supernatant from 3-methylcholanthrene- and phenobarbital-treated rats was similar to the controls. Inhibition by piperine of arylhydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) from 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats was comparable to that observed with 7,8-benzoflavone. Piperine caused noncompetitive inhibition of hepatic microsomal AHH from the untreated and 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats with a Ki of 30 microM which was close to the apparent Km of AHH observed in the controls. Similarly, the kinetics of inhibition of ethylmorphine-N-demethylase from control rat liver microsomes exhibited noncompetitive inhibition with an apparent Km of 0.8 mM and Ki of 35 microM. These studies demonstrated that piperine is a nonspecific inhibitor of drug metabolism which shows little discrimination between different cytochrome P-450 forms. Oral administration of piperine in rats strongly inhibited the hepatic AHH and UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities. The maximal inhibition of AHH observed within 1 hr restored to normal value in 6 hr. Pretreatment with piperine prolonged hexobarbital sleeping time and zoxazolamine paralysis time in mice at half the dose of SKF-525A. These results demonstrate that piperine is a potent inhibitor of drug metabolism."}
{"id": "MED-2797", "text": "Osteoarthritis (OA) has long been considered a \"wear and tear\" disease leading to loss of cartilage. OA used to be considered the sole consequence of any process leading to increased pressure on one particular joint or fragility of cartilage matrix. Progress in molecular biology in the 1990s has profoundly modified this paradigm. The discovery that many soluble mediators such as cytokines or prostaglandins can increase the production of matrix metalloproteinases by chondrocytes led to the first steps of an \"inflammatory\" theory. However, it took a decade before synovitis was accepted as a critical feature of OA, and some studies are now opening the way to consider the condition a driver of the OA process. Recent experimental data have shown that subchondral bone may have a substantial role in the OA process, as a mechanical damper, as well as a source of inflammatory mediators implicated in the OA pain process and in the degradation of the deep layer of cartilage. Thus, initially considered cartilage driven, OA is a much more complex disease with inflammatory mediators released by cartilage, bone and synovium. Low-grade inflammation induced by the metabolic syndrome, innate immunity and inflammaging are some of the more recent arguments in favor of the inflammatory theory of OA and highlighted in this review. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2799", "text": "Objective: To compare selected immunohistological features of inflammation in synovial tissue from patients with early and late osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: Synovial tissue samples were obtained from 10 patients with knee pain, normal radiographs, and arthroscopic manifestations of OA (early OA), and from 15 patients with OA undergoing knee joint arthroplasty (late OA). Conventional immunohistochemical techniques were used to measure microscopic manifestations of inflammation. The inflammatory cell infiltrate, blood vessel formation, and angiogenic factors, NF-\u03baB activation, expression of tumour necrosis factor \u03b1 (TNF\u03b1) and interleukin 1\u00df (IL1\u00df), and the presence of cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 were quantified. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) were isolated from early and late OA tissue samples to compare in vitro production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) Results: Synovial tissue from patients with early OA demonstrated significantly greater CD4+ (p = 0.017) and CD68+ (p<0.001) cell infiltration, blood vessel formation (p = 0.01), vascular endothelial growth factor (p = 0.001), and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression (p<0.001). Numbers of cells producing TNF\u03b1 and IL1\u00df were also significantly greater in early OA (p<0.001). Manifestations of inflammation in early OA were associated with increased expression of the NF-\u03baB1 (p<0.001) and RelA (p = 0.015) subunits, and with increased COX-2 expression (p = 0.04). Cytokine-induced PGE2 production by cultured FLS was similar in both groups. Conclusion: Increased mononuclear cell infiltration and overexpression of mediators of inflammation were seen in early OA, compared with late OA. Isolated FLS were functionally similar in both groups, consistent with microenvironmental differences in the synovial tissue during different phases of OA. These observations may have important therapeutic implications for some patients during the early evolution of OA."}
{"id": "MED-2800", "text": "The management of osteoarthritis represents a real challenge. This complex and multi-factorial disease evolves over decades and requires not only the alleviation of symptoms, i.e. pain and joint function but also the preservation of articular structure without side effects. Nutraceuticals are good candidates for the management of OA due to their safety profile and potential efficacy. However, they are not part of the treatment guidelines and published recommendations. Curcumin is the yellow pigment isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric. Curcumin is a highly pleiotropic molecule with an excellent safety profile. Strong molecular evidence has been published for its potency to target multiple inflammatory diseases. However, naturally occurring curcumin cannot achieve its optimum therapeutic outcomes due to its low solubility and poor bioavailability. Nevertheless, curcumin presents great potential for treating OA and has been categorized as having preclinical evidence of efficacy. This review aimed at gathering most of the available information to document the potential efficacy of curcumin based on the results obtained in in vitro models of cartilage and osteoarthritis and in other diseases."}
{"id": "MED-2801", "text": "Turmeric has been long recognized for its anti-inflammatory and health-promoting properties. Curcumin is one of the principal anti-inflammatory and healthful components of turmeric comprising 2-8% of most turmeric preparations. Experimental evidence supports the activity of curcumin in promoting weight loss and reducing the incidence of obesity-related diseases. With the discovery that obesity is characterized by chronic low-grade metabolic inflammation, phytochemicals like curcumin which have anti-inflammatory activity are being intensely investigated. Recent scientific research reveals that curcumin directly interacts with white adipose tissue to suppress chronic inflammation. In adipose tissue, curcumin inhibits macrophage infiltration and nuclear factor \u03baB (NF-\u03baB) activation induced by inflammatory agents. Curcumin reduces the expression of the potent proinflammatory adipokines tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 (TNF\u03b1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), and it induces the expression of adiponectin, the principal anti-inflammatory agent secreted by adipocytes. Curcumin also has effects to inhibit adipocyte differentiation and to promote antioxidant activities. Through these diverse mechanisms curcumin reduces obesity and curtails the adverse health effects of obesity. Copyright \u00a9 2013 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2802", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of Curcuma domestica extracts in pain reduction and functional improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The design and setting were a randomized controlled study at a university hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. METHODS: One-hundred and seven (107) patients with primary knee osteoarthritis (OA) with pain score of > or =5 were randomized to receive ibuprofen 800 mg per day or C. domestica extracts 2 g per day for 6 weeks. The main outcomes were improvement in pain on level walking, pain on stairs, and functions of knee assessed by time spent during 100-m walk and going up and down a flight of stairs. The adverse events were also recorded. RESULTS: Fifty-two (52) and 55 patients were randomized to C. domestica extracts and ibuprofen groups, respectively. Baseline characteristics of the patients in both groups were not different. The mean scores of the aforementioned outcomes at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6 were significantly improved when compared with the baseline values in both groups. There was no difference in those parameters between the patients receiving ibuprofen and C. domestica extracts, except pain on stairs (p = 0.016). No significant difference of adverse events between both groups was found (33.3% versus 44.2%, p = 0.36 in C. domestica extracts and ibuprofen groups, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: C. domestica extracts seem to be similarly efficacious and safe as ibuprofen for the treatment of knee OA."}
{"id": "MED-2803", "text": "Osteoarthritis is a condition caused in part by injury, loss of cartilage structure and function, and an imbalance in inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways. It primarily affects the articular cartilage and subchondral bone of synovial joints and results in joint failure, leading to pain upon weight bearing including walking and standing. There is no cure for osteoarthritis, as it is very difficult to restore the cartilage once it is destroyed. The goals of treatment are to relieve pain, maintain or improve joint mobility, increase the strength of the joints and minimize the disabling effects of the disease. Recent studies have shown an association between dietary polyphenols and the prevention of osteoarthritis-related musculoskeletal inflammation. This review discusses the effects of commonly consumed polyphenols, including curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate and green tea extract, resveratrol, nobiletin and citrus fruits, pomegranate, as well as genistein and soy protein, on osteoarthritis with an emphasis on molecular antiosteoarthritic mechanisms. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2804", "text": "Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis in the US, and a leading cause of disability. It is typically defined in epidemiologic studies on the basis of radiographic findings and consideration of symptoms. Its incidence and prevalence are rising, likely related to the aging of the population and increasing obesity. Risk factors for OA include a number of person-level factors, such as age, sex, obesity, and genetics, as well as joint-specific factors that are likely reflective of abnormal loading of the joints. A number of methodologic challenges exist in studying OA that can hamper our ability to identify pertinent relationships."}
{"id": "MED-2805", "text": "Obesity is a significant risk factor for developing osteoarthritis in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing joints. Although the pathogenesis of obesity-associated osteoarthritis is not completely understood, recent studies indicate that pro-inflammatory metabolic factors contribute to an increase in osteoarthritis risk. Adipose tissue, and in particular infrapatellar fat, is a local source of pro-inflammatory mediators that are increased with obesity and have been shown to increase cartilage degradation in cell and tissue culture models. One adipokine in particular, leptin, may be a critical mediator of obesity-associated osteoarthritis via synergistic actions with other inflammatory cytokines. Biomechanical factors may also increase the risk of osteoarthritis by activating cellular inflammation and promoting oxidative stress. However, some types of biomechanical stimulation, such as physiologic cyclic loading, inhibit inflammation and protect against cartilage degradation. A high percentage of obese individuals with knee osteoarthritis are sedentary, suggesting that a lack of physical activity may increase the susceptibility to inflammation. A more comprehensive approach to understanding how obesity alters daily biomechanical exposures within joint tissues may provide new insight into the protective and damaging effects of biomechanical factors on inflammation in osteoarthritis."}
{"id": "MED-2807", "text": "In a previous three-month study of Meriva, a proprietary curcumin-phosphatidylcholine phytosome complex, decreased joint pain and improvement in joint function were observed in 50 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Since OA is a chronic condition requiring prolonged treatment, the long-term efficacy and safety of Meriva were investigated in a longer (eight months) study involving 100 OA patients. The clinical end points (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities [WOMAC] score, Karnofsky Performance Scale Index, and treadmill walking performance) were complemented by the evaluation of a series of inflammatory markers (interleukin [IL]-1beta, IL-6, soluble CD40 ligand [sCD40L], soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM)-1, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR]). This represents the most ambitious attempt, to date, to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of curcumin as an anti-inflammatory agent. Significant improvements of both the clinical and biochemical end points were observed for Meriva compared to the control group. This, coupled with an excellent tolerability, suggests that Meriva is worth considering for the long-term complementary management of osteoarthritis."}
{"id": "MED-2808", "text": "Chemotherapy remains the core of anticancer treatment. However, despite the tremendous strides made in the development of targeted anticancer therapies, emergence of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs is still a major obstacle in the successful management of resistant tumours. Therefore, profound investigation into the in-depth molecular mechanisms of drug resistance is essential and may hopefully translate into effective therapies that can flip the switch from drug resistance to susceptibility. Mechanistically, resistance phenomena may be explained by (i) overexpression of drug efflux pumps, (ii) enhanced drug detoxification, (iii) rapid DNA repair efficiency, (iv) defects in apoptosis regulation, and (v) active cell survival signals. Several adverse effects associated with multidrug resistance and the need for safe multi-targeted anticancer drugs instigated the use of the phytochemical, curcumin, the yellow pigment of the spice turmeric, which has pleotropic activities. We performed a structured literature review using PubMed and Medline searches with secondary review of cited publications, identifying studies on the role of curcumin in conquering drug resistance in cancer. This review describes how curcumin sensitizes cancer cells through regulation of multiple multidrug resistance pathways, thus employing one drug for multiple targets. Curcumin helps the cancer cells to regain their 'forgotten' apoptosis, modulates drug-target interaction at different levels, restrains survival pathways when their proteins are overexpressed, and finds an alternate way to carry forward the process of sensitization of different resistant tumours. Additionally, the review dissects the role of curcumin, if any, in targeting the major culprit of drug resistance, cancer stem cells (CSC), thereby circumventing resistance. Taken together, this review strongly suggests that curcumin is a promising chemosensitizing agent and that the unique properties of curcumin may be exploited for successful management of resistant tumours."}
{"id": "MED-2809", "text": "Extensive research over the past half century has shown that curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a component of the golden spice turmeric (Curcuma longa), can modulate multiple cell signaling pathways. Extensive clinical trials over the past quarter century have addressed the pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of this nutraceutical against numerous diseases in humans. Some promising effects have been observed in patients with various pro-inflammatory diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, uveitis, ulcerative proctitis, Crohn\u2019s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel disease, tropical pancreatitis, peptic ulcer, gastric ulcer, idiopathic orbital inflammatory pseudotumor, oral lichen planus, gastric inflammation, vitiligo, psoriasis, acute coronary syndrome, atherosclerosis, diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic microangiopathy, lupus nephritis, renal conditions, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, \u03b2-thalassemia, biliary dyskinesia, Dejerine-Sottas disease, cholecystitis, and chronic bacterial prostatitis. Curcumin has also shown protection against hepatic conditions, chronic arsenic exposure, and alcohol intoxication. Dose-escalating studies have indicated the safety of curcumin at doses as high as 12\u00a0g/day over 3\u00a0months. Curcumin\u2019s pleiotropic activities emanate from its ability to modulate numerous signaling molecules such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, apoptotic proteins, NF\u2013\u03baB, cyclooxygenase-2, 5-LOX, STAT3, C-reactive protein, prostaglandin E2, prostate-specific antigen, adhesion molecules, phosphorylase kinase, transforming growth factor-\u03b2, triglyceride, ET-1, creatinine, HO-1, AST, and ALT in human participants. In clinical trials, curcumin has been used either alone or in combination with other agents. Various formulations of curcumin, including nanoparticles, liposomal encapsulation, emulsions, capsules, tablets, and powder, have been examined. In this review, we discuss in detail the various human diseases in which the effect of curcumin has been investigated."}
{"id": "MED-2810", "text": "Although turmeric (Curcuma longa; an Indian spice) has been described in Ayurveda, as a treatment for inflammatory diseases and is referred by different names in different cultures, the active principle called curcumin or diferuloylmethane, a yellow pigment present in turmeric (curry powder) has been shown to exhibit numerous activities. Extensive research over the last half century has revealed several important functions of curcumin. It binds to a variety of proteins and inhibits the activity of various kinases. By modulating the activation of various transcription factors, curcumin regulates the expression of inflammatory enzymes, cytokines, adhesion molecules, and cell survival proteins. Curcumin also downregulates cyclin D1, cyclin E and MDM2; and upregulates p21, p27, and p53. Various preclinical cell culture and animal studies suggest that curcumin has potential as an antiproliferative, anti-invasive, and antiangiogenic agent; as a mediator of chemoresistance and radioresistance; as a chemopreventive agent; and as a therapeutic agent in wound healing, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and arthritis. Pilot phase I clinical trials have shown curcumin to be safe even when consumed at a daily dose of 12g for 3 months. Other clinical trials suggest a potential therapeutic role for curcumin in diseases such as familial adenomatous polyposis, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, hypercholesteremia, atherosclerosis, pancreatitis, psoriasis, chronic anterior uveitis and arthritis. Thus, curcumin, a spice once relegated to the kitchen shelf, has moved into the clinic and may prove to be \"Curecumin\"."}
{"id": "MED-2811", "text": "Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprising of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) is a major ailment affecting the small and large bowel. In clinics, IBD is treated using 5-amninosalicylates, antibiotics, the steroids and immunomodulators. Unfortunately, the long term usages of these agents are associated with undue side effects and compromise the therapeutic advantage. Accordingly, there is a need for novel agents that are effective, acceptable and non toxic to humans. Preclinical studies in experimental animals have shown that curcumin, an active principle of the Indian spice turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn) is effective in preventing or ameliorating UC and inflammation. Over the last few decades there has been increasing interest in the possible role of curcumin in IBD and several studies with various experimental models of IBD have shown it to be effective in mediating the inhibitory effects by scavenging free radicals, increasing antioxidants, influencing multiple signaling pathways, especially the kinases (MAPK, ERK), inhibiting myeloperoxidase, COX-1, COX-2, LOX, TNF-\u03b1, IFN-\u03b3, iNOS; inhibiting the transcription factor NF-\u03baB. Clinical studies have also shown that co-administration of curcumin with conventional drugs was effective, to be well-tolerated and treated as a safe medication for maintaining remission, to prevent relapse and improve clinical activity index. Large randomized controlled clinical investigations are required to fully understand the potential of oral curcumin for treating IBD."}
{"id": "MED-2812", "text": "Curcumin derived from the tropical plant Curcuma longa has a long history of use as a dietary agent, food preservative, and in traditional Asian medicine. It has been used for centuries to treat biliary disorders, anorexia, cough, diabetic wounds, hepatic disorders, rheumatism, and sinusitis. The preventive and therapeutic properties of curcumin are associated with its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. Extensive research over several decades has attempted to identify the molecular mechanisms of curcumin action. Curcumin modulates numerous molecular targets by altering their gene expression, signaling pathways, or through direct interaction. Curcumin regulates the expression of inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF, IL-1), growth factors (e.g., VEGF, EGF, FGF), growth factor receptors (e.g., EGFR, HER-2, AR), enzymes (e.g., COX-2, LOX, MMP9, MAPK, mTOR, Akt), adhesion molecules (e.g., ELAM-1, ICAM-1, VCAM-1), apoptosis related proteins (e.g., Bcl-2, caspases, DR, Fas), and cell cycle proteins (e.g., cyclin D1). Curcumin modulates the activity of several transcription factors (e.g., NF-\u03baB, AP-1, STAT) and their signaling pathways. Based on its ability to affect multiple targets, curcumin has the potential for the prevention and treatment of various diseases including cancers, arthritis, allergies, atherosclerosis, aging, neurodegenerative disease, hepatic disorders, obesity, diabetes, psoriasis, and autoimmune diseases. This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms of modulation of gene expression by curcumin. Copyright \u00a9 2012 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2813", "text": "The use of turmeric, derived from the root of the plant Curcuma longa, for treatment of different inflammatory diseases has been described in Ayurveda and in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. The active component of turmeric responsible for this activity, curcumin, was identified almost two centuries ago. Modern science has revealed that curcumin mediates its effects by modulation of several important molecular targets, including transcription factors (e.g., NF-kappaB, AP-1, Egr-1, beta-catenin, and PPAR-gamma), enzymes (e.g., COX2, 5-LOX, iNOS, and hemeoxygenase-1), cell cycle proteins (e.g., cyclin D1 and p21), cytokines (e.g., TNF, IL-1, IL-6, and chemokines), receptors (e.g., EGFR and HER2), and cell surface adhesion molecules. Because it can modulate the expression of these targets, curcumin is now being used to treat cancer, arthritis, diabetes, Crohn's disease, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, psoriasis, and other pathologies. Interestingly, 6-gingerol, a natural analog of curcumin derived from the root of ginger (Zingiber officinalis), exhibits a biologic activity profile similar to that of curcumin. The efficacy, pharmacologic safety, and cost effectiveness of curcuminoids prompt us to \"get back to our roots.\""}
{"id": "MED-2815", "text": "Curcumin, an active polyphenol of the golden spice turmeric, is a highly pleiotropic molecule with the potential to modulate the biological activity of a number of signaling molecules. Traditionally, this polyphenol has been used in Asian countries to treat such human ailments as acne, psoriasis, dermatitis, and rash. Recent studies have indicated that curcumin can target newly identified signaling pathways including those associated with microRNA, cancer stem cells, and autophagy. Extensive research from preclinical and clinical studies has delineated the molecular basis for the pharmaceutical uses of this polyphenol against cancer, pulmonary diseases, neurological diseases, liver diseases, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and numerous other chronic diseases. Multiple studies have indicated the safety and efficacy of curcumin in numerous animals including rodents, monkeys, horses, rabbits, and cats and have provided a solid basis for evaluating its safety and efficacy in humans. To date, more than 65 human clinical trials of curcumin, which included more than 1000 patients, have been completed, and as many as 35 clinical trials are underway. Curcumin is now used as a supplement in several countries including the United States, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, Turkey, South Africa, Nepal, and Pakistan. In this review, we provide evidence for the pharmaceutical uses of curcumin for various diseases. Copyright \u00a9 2013 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-2816", "text": "Plants contain numerous polyphenols, which have been shown to reduce inflammation and hereby to increase resistance to disease. Examples of such polyphenols are isothiocyanates in cabbage and broccoli, epigallocatechin in green tee, capsaicin in chili peppers, chalones, rutin and naringenin in apples, resveratrol in red wine and fresh peanuts and curcumin/curcuminoids in turmeric. Most diseases are maintained by a sustained discreet but obvious increased systemic inflammation. Many studies suggest that the effect of treatment can be improved by a combination of restriction in intake of proinflammatory molecules such as advanced glycation end products (AGE), advanced lipoperoxidation end products (ALE), and rich supply of antiinflammatory molecules such as plant polyphenols. To the polyphenols with a bulk of experimental documentation belong the curcuminoid family and especially its main ingredient, curcumin. This review summarizes the present knowledge about these turmericderived ingredients, which have proven to be strong antioxidants and inhibitors of cyclooxigenase-2 (COX-2), lipoxygenase (LOX) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) but also AGE. A plethora of clinical effects are reported in various experimental diseases, but clinical studies in humans are few. It is suggested that supply of polyphenols and particularly curcuminoids might be value as complement to pharmaceutical treatment, but also prebiotic treatment, in conditions proven to be rather therapy-resistant such as Crohn's, long-stayed patients in intensive care units, but also in conditions such as cancer, liver cirrhosis, chronic renal disease, chronic obstructive lung disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease."}
{"id": "MED-2819", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is the principal biochemical component of the spice turmeric and has been shown to possess potent anti-catabolic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, properties. This article aims to provide a summary of the actions of curcumin on articular chondrocytes from the available literature with the use of a text-mining tool. We highlight both the potential benefits and drawbacks of using this chemopreventive agent for treating osteoarthritis (OA). We also explore the recent literature on the molecular mechanisms of curcumin mediated alterations in gene expression mediated via activator protein 1 (AP-1)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) signalling in chondrocytes, osteoblasts and synovial fibroblasts. METHODS: A computer-aided search of the PubMed/Medline database aided by a text-mining tool to interrogate the ResNet Mammalian database 6.0. RESULTS: Recent work has shown that curcumin protects human chondrocytes from the catabolic actions of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) including matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 up-regulation, inhibition of collagen type II and down-regulation of beta1-integrin expression. Curcumin blocks IL-1beta-induced proteoglycan degradation, AP-1/NF-kappaB signalling, chondrocyte apoptosis and activation of caspase-3. CONCLUSIONS: The available data from published in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that curcumin may be a beneficial complementary treatment for OA in humans and companion animals. Nevertheless, before initiating extensive clinical trials, more basic research is required to improve its solubility, absorption and bioavailability and gain additional information about its safety and efficacy in different species. Once these obstacles have been overcome, curcumin and structurally related biochemicals may become safer and more suitable nutraceutical alternatives to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are currently used for the treatment of OA. Copyright 2009 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2820", "text": "Scope The incidence of cancer is significantly lower in regions where turmeric is heavily consumed. Whether lower cancer incidence is due to turmeric was investigated by examining its effects on tumor cell proliferation, on pro-inflammatory transcription factors NF-\u03baB and STAT3, and on associated gene products. Methods and results Cell proliferation and cell cytotoxicity were measured by the MTT method, NF-\u03baB activity by EMSA, protein expression by Western blot analysis, ROS generation by FACS analysis, and osteoclastogenesis by TRAP assay. Turmeric inhibited NF-\u03baB activation and down-regulated NF-\u03baB-regulated gene products linked to survival (Bcl-2, cFLIP, XIAP, and cIAP1), proliferation (cyclin D1 and c-Myc), and metastasis (CXCR4) of cancer cells. The spice suppressed the activation of STAT3, and induced the death receptors (DR)4 and DR5. Turmeric enhanced the production of ROS, and suppressed the growth of tumor cell lines. Furthermore, turmeric sensitized the tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents capecitabine and taxol. Turmeric was found to be more potent than pure curcumin for cell growth inhibition. Turmeric also inhibited NF-\u03baB activation induced by RANKL that correlated with the suppression of osteoclastogenesis. Conclusion Our results indicate that turmeric can effectively block the proliferation of tumor cells through the suppression of NF-\u03baB and STAT3 pathways."}
{"id": "MED-2821", "text": "The purpose of this review is to summarize the pertinent literature published in the present era regarding the antiulcerogenic property of curcumin against the pathological changes in response to ulcer effectors (Helicobacter pylori infection, chronic ingestion of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and exogenous substances). The gastrointestinal problems caused by different etiologies was observed to be associated with the alterations of various physiologic parameters such as reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide synthase, lipid peroxidation, and secretion of excessive gastric acid. Gastrointestinal ulcer results probably due to imbalance between the aggressive and the defensive factors. In 80% of the cases, gastric ulcer is caused primarily due to the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory category of drug, 10% by H. pylori, and about 8-10% by the intake of very spicy and fast food. Although a number of antiulcer drugs and cytoprotectants are available, all these drugs have side effects and limitations. In the recent years a widespread search has been launched to identify new antiulcer drugs from synthetic and natural resources. An Indian dietary derivative (curcumin), a yellow pigment found in the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has been widely used for the treatment of several diseases. Epidemiologically, it was suggested that curcumin might reduce the risk of inflammatory disorders, such as cancer and ulcer. These biological effects are attributed to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. It can, therefore, be reported from the literature that curcumin PRevents gastrointestinal-induced ulcer and can be recommended as a novel drug for ulcer treatment."}
{"id": "MED-2823", "text": "Curcumin, the yellow pigment from the rhizoma of Curcuma longa, is a widely studied phytochemical which has a variety of biological activities: anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative. In this review we discuss the biological mechanisms and possible clinical effects of curcumin treatment on cancer therapy, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, with particular attention to the cell death processes induced by curcumin. Since oxidative stress and inflammation are major determinants of the aging process, we also argue that curcumin can have a more general effect that slows down the rate of aging. Finally, the effects of curcumin can be described as xenohormetic, since it activates a sort of stress response in mammalian cells."}
{"id": "MED-2825", "text": "Turmeric, a dried powder derived from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has been used for centuries in certain parts of the world and has been linked to numerous biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antigrowth, anti-arthritic, anti-atherosclerotic, antidepressant, anti-aging, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, wound healing, and memory-enhancing activities. One component of turmeric is curcumin, which has been extensively studied, as indicated by more than 5600 citations, most of which have appeared within the past decade. Recent research has identified numerous chemical entities from turmeric other than curcumin. It is unclear whether all of the activities ascribed to turmeric are due to curcumin or whether other compounds in turmeric can manifest these activities uniquely, additively, or synergistically with curcumin. However, studies have indicated that turmeric oil, present in turmeric, can enhance the bioavailability of curcumin. Studies over the past decade have indicated that curcumin-free turmeric (CFT) components possess numerous biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antidiabetic activities. Elemene derived from turmeric is approved in China for the treatment of cancer. The current review focuses on the anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities exhibited by CFT and by some individual components of turmeric, including turmerin, turmerone, elemene, furanodiene, curdione, bisacurone, cyclocurcumin, calebin A, and germacrone. \u00a9 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-2830", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to determine the bioavailability of herbs and spices after human consumption by measuring the ability to protect lymphocytes from an oxidative injury and by examining the impact on inflammatory biomarkers in activated THP-1 cells. METHODS: Ten to 12 subjects in each of 13 groups consumed a defined amount of herb or spice for 7 days. Blood was drawn from subjects before consumption and 1 hour after taking the final herb or spice capsules. Subject serum and various extractions of the herbs and spices were analyzed for antioxidant capacity by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) analysis or by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH). Subject peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in medium with10% autologous serum were incubated with hydrogen peroxide to induce DNA strand breaks. Subject serum was also used to treat activated THP-1 cells to determine relative quantities of 3 inflammatory cytokine (tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 [TNF-\u03b1], interleukin-1\u03b1 [IL-1\u03b1], and IL-6) mRNAs. RESULTS: Herbs and spices that protected PBMCs against DNA strand breaks were paprika, rosemary, ginger, heat-treated turmeric, sage, and cumin. Paprika also appeared to protect cells from normal apoptotic processes. Of the 3 cytokine mRNAs studied (TNF-\u03b1, IL-1\u03b1, and IL-6), TNF-\u03b1 was the most sensitive responder to oxidized LDL-treated macrophages. Clove, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric were able to significantly reduce oxidized LDL-induced expression of TNF-\u03b1. Serum from those consuming ginger reduced all three inflammatory biomarkers. Ginger, rosemary, and turmeric showed protective capacity by both oxidative protection and inflammation measures. CONCLUSIONS: DNA strand breaks and inflammatory biomarkers are a good functional measure of a food's bioavailability."}
{"id": "MED-2843", "text": "BACKGROUND: The risk of major congenital malformations (MCM) is increased in women with pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM). Whether this risk is increased in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is still debated. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review (and meta-analysis) of major congenital malformations in women with gestational diabetes versus a reference population. METHODS: We conducted a MEDLINE search (1 January 1995 to 31 December 2009) of original studies reporting data on major congenital malformations in women with gestational diabetes and a reference group. Information on pregestational diabetes was collected when available. Two investigators considered studies for inclusion and extracted data; discrepancies were solved by consensus. Meta-analysis tools were used to summarize results. MOOSE and PRISMA guidelines were followed. RESULTS: Two case control and 15 cohort studies were selected out of 3488 retrieved abstracts. A higher risk of major congenital malformations was observed in offspring of women with gestational diabetes with the following relative risk (RR)/odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI): RR 1.16 (1.07-1.25) in cohort studies and OR 1.4 (1.22-1.62) in case control studies. Risk of major congenital malformations was much higher in offspring of women with PGDM than in those of the reference group: RR 2.66 (2.04-3.47) in cohort studies and OR 4.7 (3.01-6.95) in the single case control study providing information. CONCLUSION: There is a slightly higher risk of major congenital malformations in women with gestational diabetes than in the reference group. The contribution of women with overt hyperglycemia and other factors could not be ascertained. This risk, however, is much lower than in women with pregestational diabetes. Copyright \u00a9 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-2844", "text": "OBJECTIVE It is important to identify modifiable factors that may lower gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk. Dietary iron is of particular interest given that iron is a strong prooxidant, and high body iron levels can damage pancreatic \u03b2-cell function and impair glucose metabolism. The current study is to determine if prepregnancy dietary and supplemental iron intakes are associated with the risk of GDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A prospective study was conducted among 13,475 women who reported a singleton pregnancy between 1991 and 2001 in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study II. A total of 867 incident GDM cases were reported. Pooled logistic regression was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) of GDM by quintiles of iron intake controlling for dietary and nondietary risk factors. RESULTS Dietary heme iron intake was positively and significantly associated with GDM risk. After adjusting for age, BMI, and other risk factors, RRs (95% CIs) across increasing quintiles of heme iron were 1.0 (reference), 1.11 (0.87\u20131.43), 1.31 (1.03\u20131.68), 1.51 (1.17\u20131.93), and 1.58 (1.21\u20132.08), respectively (P for linear trend 0.0001). The multivariate adjusted RR for GDM associated with every 0.5-mg per day of increase in intake was 1.22 (1.10\u20131.36). No significant associations were observed between total dietary, nonheme, or supplemental iron intake and GDM risk. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that higher prepregnancy intake of dietary heme iron is associated with an increased GDM risk."}
{"id": "MED-2845", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological studies suggest that high body iron stores are associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between dietary intake of iron and the risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study within the Nurses' Health Study. We followed 85,031 healthy women aged 34-59 years from 1980 to 2000. Dietary data were collected every 4 years, and data on medical history and lifestyle factors were updated biennially. RESULTS: During the 20 years of follow-up, we documented 4,599 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. We found no association between total, dietary, supplemental, or nonheme iron and the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, heme iron intake (derived from animal products) was positively associated with risk; relative risks (RRs) across increasing quintiles of cumulative intake were 1.00, 1.08 (95% CI 0.97-1.19), 1.20 (1.09-1.33), 1.27 (1.14-1.41), and 1.28 (1.14-1.45) (P(trend) < 0.0001) after controlling for age, BMI, and other nondietary and dietary risk factors. In addition, when we modeled heme iron in seven categories, the multivariate RR comparing women who consumed > or =2.25 mg/day and those with intake <0.75 mg/day was 1.52 (1.22-1.88). The association between heme iron and the risk of diabetes was significant in both overweight and lean women. CONCLUSIONS: This large cohort study suggests that higher heme iron intake is associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-2846", "text": "OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional institutional-based study was undertaken to know the prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) among Indian pregnant women. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 325 pregnant women were screened for evidence of diabetes who were previously not known to be diabetic. They underwent 75 g, 2 hour, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Chi-square test was done for statistically association of variables in GDM. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that bad obstetrics history, obese patient on high calorie diet especially non vegetarian diet with less physical activity are highly prone to develop GDM."}
{"id": "MED-2847", "text": "BACKGROUND: Women with gestational diabetes are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but the risk and time of onset have not been fully quantified. We therefore did a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the strength of association between these conditions and the effect of factors that might modify the risk. METHODS: We identified cohort studies in which women who had developed type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes were followed up between Jan 1, 1960, and Jan 31, 2009, from Embase and Medline. 205 relevant reports were hand searched. We selected 20 studies that included 675 455 women and 10 859 type 2 diabetic events. We calculated and pooled unadjusted relative risks (RRs) with 95% CIs for each study using a random-effects model. Subgroups analysed were the number of cases of type 2 diabetes, ethnic origin, duration of follow-up, maternal age, body-mass index, and diagnostic criteria. FINDINGS: Women with gestational diabetes had an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who had a normoglycaemic pregnancy (RR 7.43, 95% CI 4.79-11.51). Although the largest study (659 164 women; 9502 cases of type 2 diabetes) had the largest RR (12.6, 95% CI 12.15-13.19), RRs were generally consistent among the subgroups assessed. INTERPRETATION: Increased awareness of the magnitude and timing of the risk of type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes among patients and clinicians could provide an opportunity to test and use dietary, lifestyle, and pharmacological interventions that might prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in affected women. FUNDING: None."}
{"id": "MED-2848", "text": "Type 1 diabetes is increasing rapidly in many parts of the Western world, most evidently in Scandinavia. A low concordance rate of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus among monozygotic twins clearly indicates that genetic risk factors may be necessary, but are not sufficient for the disease to occur. The strongest genetic risk markers are located in the HLA region of chromosome 6, but these DNA specificities differ in different populations. Risk genes are indicated in other chromosomes of the human genome, suggesting a complex interaction between genes and environment as the cause of the disease. The pathogenesis of the disease is proposed to be autoimmune in nature and environmental risk factors may either initiate autoimmunity or accelerate an already ongoing beta-cell destruction. Risk factors disclosed by epidemiological studies that may accelerate the pathogenetic process are: a cold environment, a high growth rate, infections and stressful life events. Risk factors that may initiate the autoimmune process include early exposure to cow's milk proteins, nitrosamines or early foetal events such as blood group incompatibility or foetal viral infections. In conclusion, population-based epidemiological studies have helped to confirm proposed aetiological models that have arisen from experimental research. These epidemiological studies have also introduced important new findings that may reveal the complex aetiology of the disease and advance understanding closer to the ultimate goal of primary prevention."}
{"id": "MED-2849", "text": "Higher egg and cholesterol intakes are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, their association with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has not been evaluated. The authors assessed such associations in both a prospective cohort study (1996\u20132008; 3,158 participants) and a case-control study (1998\u20132002; 185 cases, 411 controls). A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess maternal diet. Multivariable models were used to derive relative risks and 95% confidence intervals. Compared with no egg consumption, adjusted relative risks for GDM were 0.94, 1.01, 1.12, 1.54, and 2.52 for consumption of \u22641, 2\u20133, 4\u20136, 7\u20139, and \u226510 eggs/week, respectively (P for trend = 0.008). Women with high egg consumption (\u22657/week) had a 1.77-fold increased risk compared with women with lower consumption (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.19, 2.63). The relative risk for the highest quartile of cholesterol intake (\u2265294 mg/day) versus the lowest (<151 mg/day) was 2.35 (95% CI: 1.35, 4.09). In the case-control study, the adjusted odds ratio for consuming \u22657 eggs/week versus <7 eggs/week was 2.65 (95% CI: 1.48, 4.72), and the odds of GDM increased with increasing cholesterol intake (P for trend = 0.021). In conclusion, high egg and cholesterol intakes before and during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of GDM."}
{"id": "MED-2850", "text": "Background: Fatty acids play a vital role in glucose homeostasis; however, studies on habitual dietary fat intakes and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk are limited and provide conflicting findings. Objective: We determined whether the total amount and the type and source of prepregnancy dietary fats are related to risk of GDM. Design: A prospective study was conducted in 13,475 women who reported a singleton pregnancy between 1991 and 2001 in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study II. In these women, 860 incident GDM cases were reported. The adjusted RR of GDM was estimated for quintiles of total fat, specific fat, and the source of fat intakes by pooled logistic regression. Results: Higher animal fat and cholesterol intakes were significantly associated with increased GDM risk. Across increasing quintiles of animal fat, RRs (95% CIs) for GDM were 1.00 (reference), 1.55 (1.20, 1.98), 1.43 (1.09, 1.88), 1.40 (1.04, 1.89), and 1.88 (1.36, 2.60) (P-trend = 0.05). Corresponding RRs (95% CIs) for dietary cholesterol were 1.00 (reference), 1.08 (0.84, 1.32), 1.02 (0.78, 1.29), 1.20 (0.93, 1.55), and 1.45 (1.11, 1.89) (P-trend = 0.04). The substitution of 5% of energy from animal fat for an equal percentage of energy from carbohydrates was associated with significantly increased risk of GDM [RR (95% CI): 1.13 (1.08, 1.18); P < 0.0001]. No significant associations were observed between dietary polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, or trans fat intakes and GDM risk. Conclusion: Higher prepregnancy intakes of animal fat and cholesterol were associated with elevated GDM risk."}
{"id": "MED-2851", "text": "OBJECTIVE Higher heme iron intake is associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk. However, no previous study has evaluated gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk in relation to heme iron intake during pregnancy. We investigated associations of maternal preconceptional and early pregnancy heme and nonheme iron intake with subsequent GDM risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study of 3,158 pregnant women. A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess maternal diet. Multivariable generalized linear regression models were used to derive estimates of relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs. RESULTS Approximately 5.0% of the cohort developed GDM (n = 158). Heme iron intake was positively and significantly associated with GDM risk (Ptrend = 0.04). After adjusting for confounders, women reporting the highest heme iron intake levels (\u22651.52 vs. <0.48 mg per day) experienced a 3.31-fold\u2013increased GDM risk (95% CI 1.02\u201310.72). In fully adjusted models, we noted that a 1-mg per day increase in heme iron was associated with a 51% increased GDM risk (RR 1.51 [95% CI 0.99\u20132.36]). Nonheme iron was inversely, though not statistically significantly, associated with GDM risk, and the corresponding RRs were 1.00, 0.83, 0.62, and 0.61 across quartiles of nonheme iron intake (Ptrend = 0.08). CONCLUSIONS High levels of dietary heme iron intake during the preconceptional and early pregnancy period may be associated with increased GDM risk. Associations of GDM risk with dietary nonheme iron intake are less clear. Confirmation of these findings by future studies is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-2852", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this study was to prospectively examine whether dietary patterns are related to risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 13,110 women who were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and history of GDM. Subjects completed a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire in 1991, and reported at least one singleton pregnancy between 1992 and 1998 in the Nurses' Health Study II. Two major dietary patterns (i.e. 'prudent' and 'Western') were identified through factor analysis. The prudent pattern was characterised by a high intake of fruit, green leafy vegetables, poultry and fish, whereas the Western pattern was characterised by high intake of red meat, processed meat, refined grain products, sweets, French fries and pizza. RESULTS: We documented 758 incident cases of GDM. After adjustment for age, parity, pre-pregnancy BMI and other covariates, the relative risk (RR) of GDM, comparing the highest with the lowest quintile of the Western pattern scores, was 1.63 (95% CI 1.20-2.21; p (trend)=0.001), whereas the RR comparing the lowest with the highest quintile of the prudent pattern scores was 1.39 (95% CI 1.08-1.80; p (trend)=0.018). The RR for each increment of one serving/day was 1.61 (95% CI 1.25-2.07) for red meat and 1.64 (95% CI 1.13-2.38) for processed meat. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These findings suggest that pre-pregnancy dietary patterns may affect women's risk of developing GDM. A diet high in red and processed meat was associated with a significantly elevated risk."}
{"id": "MED-2853", "text": "Background Two criteria based on a 2 h 75 g OGTT are being used for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes (GDM), those recommended over the years by the World Health Organization (WHO), and those recently recommended by the International Association for Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG), the latter generated in the HAPO study and based on pregnancy outcomes. Our aim is to systematically review the evidence for the associations between GDM (according to these criteria) and adverse outcomes. Methods We searched relevant studies in MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, the Cochrane Library, CINHAL, WHO-Afro library, IMSEAR, EMCAT, IMEMR and WPRIM. We included cohort studies permitting the evaluation of GDM diagnosed by WHO and or IADPSG criteria against adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes in untreated women. Only studies with universal application of a 75 g OGTT were included. Relative risks (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained for each study. We combined study results using a random-effects model. Inconsistency across studies was defined by an inconsistency index (I2) > 50%. Results Data were extracted from eight studies, totaling 44,829 women. Greater risk of adverse outcomes was observed for both diagnostic criteria. When using the WHO criteria, consistent associations were seen for macrosomia (RR = 1.81; 95%CI 1.47-2.22; p < 0.001); large for gestational age (RR = 1.53; 95%CI 1.39-1.69; p < 0.001); perinatal mortality (RR = 1.55; 95% CI 0.88-2.73; p = 0.13); preeclampsia (RR = 1.69; 95%CI 1.31-2.18; p < 0.001); and cesarean delivery (RR = 1.37;95%CI 1.24-1.51; p < 0.001). Less data were available for the IADPSG criteria, and associations were inconsistent across studies (I2 \u2265 73%). Magnitudes of RRs and their 95%CIs were 1.73 (1.28-2.35; p = 0.001) for large for gestational age; 1.71 (1.38-2.13; p < 0.001) for preeclampsia; and 1.23 (1.01-1.51; p = 0.04) for cesarean delivery. Excluding either the HAPO or the EBDG studies minimally altered these associations, but the RRs seen for the IADPSG criteria were reduced after excluding HAPO. Conclusions The WHO and the IADPSG criteria for GDM identified women at a small increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Associations were of similar magnitude for both criteria. However, high inconsistency was seen for those with the IADPSG criteria. Full evaluation of the latter in settings other than HAPO requires additional studies."}
{"id": "MED-2882", "text": "Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells are vital for retinal health. However, they are susceptible to injury with ageing and exposure to excessive light, including UV (100-380 nm) and visible (380-760 nm) radiation. To evaluate the protective effect of blueberry anthocyanins on RPE cells, in vitro cell models of replicative senescent and light-induced damage were established in the present study. After purification and fractionation, blueberry anthocyanin extracts (BAE) were yielded with total anthocyanin contents of 31\u00b70 (SD 0\u00b75) % and were used in this study. Replicative senescence of RPE cells was induced by repeatedly passaging cells from the fourth passage to the tenth. From the fifth passage, cultured RPE cells began to enter a replicative senescence, exhibiting reduced cell proliferation along with an increase in the number of \u03b2-galactosidase-positive cells. RPE cells maintained high cell viability (P < 0\u00b701) and a low (P < 0\u00b701) percentage of \u03b2-galactosidase-positive cells when treated with 0\u00b71 \u03bcg/ml BAE. In contrast, after exposure to 2500 (SD 500) lx light (420-800 nm) for 12 h, RPE cells in the positive control (light exposure, no BAE treatment) exhibited premature senescence, low (P < 0\u00b701) cell viability and increased (P < 0\u00b701) vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release compared with negative control cells, which were not subjected to light irradiation and BAE exposure. Correspondingly, BAE is beneficial to RPE cells by protecting these cells against light-induced damage through the suppression of ageing and apoptosis as well as the down-regulation of the over-expressed VEGF to normal level. These results demonstrate that BAE is efficacious against senescence and light-induced damage of RPE cells."}
{"id": "MED-2884", "text": "Two carotenoids found in egg yolk, lutein and zeaxanthin, accumulate in the macular retina where they may reduce photostress. Increases in serum lutein and zeaxanthin were observed in previous egg interventions, but no study measured macular carotenoids. The objective of this project was to determine whether increased consumption of eggs would increase retinal lutein and zeaxanthin, or macular pigment. Twenty-four females, between 24 and 59 y, were assigned to a pill treatment (PILL) or 1 of 2 egg treatments for 12 wk. Individuals in the PILL treatment consumed 1 sugar-filled capsule/d. Individuals in the egg treatments consumed 6 eggs/wk, containing either 331 microg (EGG 1) or 964 microg (EGG 2) of lutein and zeaxanthin/yolk. Serum cholesterol, serum carotenoids, and macular pigment OD (MPOD) were measured at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 wk of intervention. Serum cholesterol concentrations did not change in either egg treatment group, but total cholesterol (P = 0.04) and triglycerides (P = 0.02) increased in the PILL group. Serum zeaxanthin, but not serum lutein, increased in both the EGG 1 (P = 0.04) and EGG 2 (P = 0.01) groups. Likewise, MPOD increased in both the EGG 1 (P = 0.001) and EGG 2 (P = 0.049) groups. Although the aggregate concentration of carotenoid in 1 egg yolk may be modest relative to other sources, such as spinach, their bioavailability to the retina appears to be high. Increasing egg consumption to 6 eggs/wk may be an effective method to increase MPOD."}
{"id": "MED-2885", "text": "OBJECTIVE: This overview of ultraviolet (UV) phototoxicity considers the interaction of UVA and short-wavelength VIS light with the retina and retinal pigment epithelium. METHODS: The damage mechanisms underlying UV retinal phototoxicity are illustrated with a literature survey and presentation of experimental results. RESULTS: Depending on the wavelength and exposure duration, light interacts with tissue by three general mechanisms: thermal, mechanical, or photochemical. Although the anterior structures of the eye absorb much of the UV component of the optical radiation spectrum, a portion of the UVA band (315-400 nm) penetrates into the retina. Natural sources, such as the sun, emit energetic UV photons in relatively long durations, which typically do not result in energy confinement in the retina, and thus do not produce thermal or mechanical damage but are capable of inducing photochemical damage. Photochemical damage in the retina proceeds through Type 1 (direct reactions involving proton or electron transfers) and Type 2 (reactions involving reactive oxygen species) mechanisms. Commonly used drugs, such as certain antibiotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, psychotherapeutic agents, and even herbal medicines, may act as photosensitizers that promote retinal UV damage, if they are excited by UVA or visible light and have sufficient retinal penetration. CONCLUSIONS: Although the anterior portion of the eye is the most susceptible to UV damage, the retina is at risk to the longer UV wavelengths that propagate through the ocular media. Some phototoxicity may be counteracted or reduced by dietary intake of antioxidants and protective phytonutrients."}
{"id": "MED-2886", "text": "PURPOSE: Goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) is purported to benefit vision because of its high antioxidant (especially zeaxanthin) content, although this effect has not been demonstrated in high-quality human studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of daily supplementation with a proprietary milk-based formulation of goji berry, Lacto-Wolfberry (LWB), on macular characteristics and plasma zeaxanthin and antioxidant capacity levels in elderly subjects. METHODS: This was a double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in healthy elderly subjects (range, 65 to 70 years) receiving 13.7 g/d of LWB (n = 75) or placebo (n = 75) for 90 days. Subjects underwent direct ophthalmic examination to assess pigmentation and soft drusen count in the macula and a blood draw to measure plasma zeaxanthin level and total antioxidant capacity. RESULTS: The placebo group demonstrated hypopigmentation and soft drusen accumulation in the macula, whereas the LWB group remained stable. Both plasma zeaxanthin level and antioxidant capacity increased significantly in the LWB group, by 26% and 57%, respectively, but did not change in the placebo group. No product-related adverse events were reported in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, daily dietary supplementation with goji berry for 90 days increases plasma zeaxanthin and antioxidant levels as well as protects from hypopigmentation and soft drusen accumulation in the macula of elderly subjects. However, the mechanism of action is unclear, given the lack of relationship between change in plasma zeaxanthin and change in macular characteristics."}
{"id": "MED-2888", "text": "Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common disorder that causes irreversible loss of central vision. Increased intake of foods containing zeaxanthin may be effective in preventing AMD because the macula accumulates zeaxanthin and lutein, oxygenated carotenoids with antioxidant and blue light-absorbing properties. Lycium barbarum L. is a small red berry known as Fructus lycii and wolfberry in the West, and Kei Tze and Gou Qi Zi in Asia. Wolfberry is rich in zeaxanthin dipalmitate, and is valued in Chinese culture for being good for vision. The aim of this study, which was a single-blinded, placebo-controlled, human intervention trial of parallel design, was to provide data on how fasting plasma zeaxanthin concentration changes as a result of dietary supplementation with whole wolfberries. Fasting blood was collected from healthy, consenting subjects; fourteen subjects took 15 g/d wolfberry (estimated to contain almost 3 mg zeaxanthin) for 28 d. Repeat fasting blood was collected on day 29. Age- and sex-matched controls (n 13) took no wolfberry. Responses in the two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. After supplementation, plasma zeaxanthin increased 2.5-fold: mean values on day 1 and 29 were 0.038 (sem 0.003) and 0.096 (sem 0.009) micromol/l (P<0.01), respectively, for the supplementation group; and 0.038 (sem 0.003) and 0.043 (sem 0.003) micromol/l (P>0.05), respectively, for the control group. This human supplementation trial shows that zeaxanthin in whole wolfberries is bioavailable and that intake of a modest daily amount markedly increases fasting plasma zeaxanthin levels. These new data will support further study of dietary strategies to maintain macular pigment density."}
{"id": "MED-2889", "text": "Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries. Cataract extraction is the most common surgical procedure in developed countries. Lutein (L) and zeaxanthin (Z), retinal carotenoids, are the most powerful retinal anti-oxidants and absorb the harmful blue light. The depletion of L+Z induces the development of the lens opacification-cataract. Cataract reduces the retinal oxidative stress (OS), which causes a reduction of the probability to develop AMD. Oxidative Stress at the retinal level is the common pathway in the development of AMD and cataract. AMD and cataract are not two independent processes. Cataract is a self-defense reaction of the retina to reduce OS and retinal damage. Restoring the anti-oxidative capabilities of the retina by increasing intake of L+Z reduces the likelihood of AMD and cataract. Extracting the opaque lens elevates the retinal OS and increases the rate of AMD. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2890", "text": "Myopia is a worldwide public health problem. However, its understanding is incomplete, and many of its preventative and therapeutic aspects remain controversial. Nearwork is a primary, environmentally based factor in the aetiology of permanent myopia (PM), with nearwork-induced transient myopia (NITM) being a possible contributory component. A relationship between PM and NITM has been suggested, but that connection has remained somewhat indirect and elusive. However, based on recent converging evidence from clinical, laboratory and modelling studies, a five-fold argument will be advanced for a possible link between PM and NITM."}
{"id": "MED-2891", "text": "BACKGROUND: Patients who report use of herbs to their physicians may not be able to accurately describe the ingredients or recommended dosage because the products for the same herb may differ. The purpose of this study was to describe variations in label information of products for each of the 10 most commonly purchased herbs. METHODS: Products for each of 10 herbs were surveyed in a convenience sample of 20 retail stores in a large metropolitan area. Herbs were those with the greatest sales dollars in 1998: echinacea, St John's wort, Ginkgo biloba, garlic, saw palmetto, ginseng, goldenseal, aloe, Siberian ginseng, and valerian. RESULTS: Each herb had a large range in label ingredients and recommended daily dose (RDD) across available products. Strengths were not directly comparable because of ingredient variability. Among 880 products, 43% were consistent with a benchmark in ingredients and RDD, 20% in ingredients only, and 37% were either not consistent or label information was insufficient. Price per RDD was a significant predictor of consistency with the benchmark, but store type was not. CONCLUSIONS: Persons self-medicating with an herb may be ingesting ingredients substantially different from that recommended by a benchmark, both in quantity and content. Higher price per label RDD was the best predictor of consistency with a benchmark. This study demonstrates that health providers and consumers need to closely examine label ingredients of presumably the same or similar herbal products."}
{"id": "MED-2892", "text": "PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of bilberry on night visual acuity (VA) and night contrast sensitivity (CS). METHODS: This study utilized a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. The subjects were young males with good vision; eight received placebo and seven received active capsules for three weeks. Active capsules contained 160 mg of bilberry extract (25-percent anthocyanosides), and the placebo capsules contained only inactive ingredients. Subjects ingested one active or placebo capsule three times daily for 21 days. After the three-week treatment period, a one-month washout period was employed to allow any effect of bilberry on night vision to dissipate. In the second three-week treatment period, the eight subjects who first received placebo were given active capsules, and the seven who first received active capsules were given placebo. Night VA and night CS was tested throughout the three-month experiment. RESULTS: There was no difference in night VA during any of the measurement periods when examining the average night VA or the last night VA measurement during active and placebo treatments. In addition, there was no difference in night CS during any of the measurement periods when examining the average night CS or the last night CS measurement during active and placebo treatments. CONCLUSION: The current study failed to find an effect of bilberry on night VA or night CS for a high dose of bilberry taken for a significant duration. Hence, the current study casts doubt on the proposition that bilberry supplementation, in the forms currently available and in the doses recommended, is an effective treatment for the improvement of night vision in this population."}
{"id": "MED-2893", "text": "Lutein and zeaxanthin are thought to decrease the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD); however, findings have been inconsistent. We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin and AMD risk. Relevant studies were identified by searching five databases up to April 2010. Reference lists of articles were retrieved, and experts were contacted. Literature search, data extraction and study quality assessment were performed independently by two reviewers and results were pooled quantitatively using meta-analysis methods. The potential sources of heterogeneity and publication bias were also estimated. The search yielded six longitudinal cohort studies. The pooled relative risk (RR) for early AMD, comparing the highest with the lowest category of lutein and zeaxanthin intake, was 0\u00b796 (95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b778, 1\u00b717). Dietary intake of these carotenoids was significantly related with a reduction in risk of late AMD (RR 0\u00b774; 95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b757, 0\u00b797); and a statistically significant inverse association was observed between lutein and zeaxanthin intake and neovascular AMD risk (RR 0\u00b768; 95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b751, 0\u00b792). The results were essentially consistent among subgroups stratified by participant characteristics. The findings of the present meta-analysis indicate that dietary lutein and zeaxanthin is not significantly associated with a reduced risk of early AMD, whereas an increase in the intake of these carotenoids may be protective against late AMD. However, additional studies are needed to confirm these relationships."}
{"id": "MED-2894", "text": "AIM: To examine the influence of the black currant anthocyanins (BCACs) on the disease progression of open-angle glaucoma (OAG), a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked trial was made in 38 patients with OAG treated by antiglaucoma drops. METHODS: BCACs (50 mg/day, n = 19) or their placebos (n = 19) were orally administered once daily for a 24-month period. Systemic blood pressure, pulse rates, intraocular pressure (IOP), ocular blood circulation by laser-speckle flowgraphy, and Humphrey visual field mean deviation (MD) were measured during the 24-month period. RESULTS: As a main outcome measurement, we evaluated the difference between the groups in MD deterioration in the eye with a better MD from the trial's baseline through 24 months. A statistically significant difference was observed between the treatment groups in mean change from baseline in MD 24 months after therapy (p = 0.039, unpaired t test). Upon administration of BCACs, the ocular blood flows during the 24-month observational period increased in comparison with placebo-treated patients. However, no significant changes were observed in systemic and ocular conditions including IOP during the 24-month period. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that oral administration of BCACs may be a safe and promising supplement for patients with OAG in addition to antiglaucoma medication. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-2895", "text": "PURPOSE: The retinal carotenoids lutein (L) and zeaxanthin (Z) that form the macular pigment (MP) may help to prevent neovascular age-related macular degeneration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether MP density in the retina could be raised by increasing dietary intake of L and Z from foods. METHODS: Macular pigment was measured psychophysically for 13 subjects. Serum concentrations of L, Z, and beta-carotene were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Eleven subjects modified their usual daily diets by adding 60 g of spinach (10.8 mg L, 0.3 mg Z, 5 mg beta-carotene) and ten also added 150 g of corn (0.3 mg Z, 0.4 mg L); two other subjects were given only corn. Dietary modification lasted up to 15 weeks. RESULTS: For the subjects fed spinach or spinach and corn, three types of responses to dietary modification were identified: Eight \"retinal responders\" had increases in serum L (mean, 33%; SD, 22%) and in MP density (mean, 19%; SD, 11%); two \"retinal nonresponders\" showed substantial increases in serum L (mean, 31%) but not in MP density (mean, -11%); one \"serum and retinal nonresponder\" showed no changes in serum L, Z, or beta-carotene and no change in MP density. For the two subjects given only corn, serum L changed little (+11%, -6%), but in one subject serum Z increased (70%) and MP density increased (25%). CONCLUSIONS: Increases in MP density were obtained within 4 weeks of dietary modification for most, but not all, subjects. When MP density increased with dietary modification, it remained elevated for at least several months after resuming an unmodified diet. Augmentation of MP for both experimental and clinical investigation appears to be feasible for many persons."}
{"id": "MED-2896", "text": "The relation between dietary antioxidant intake and primary open-angle glaucoma risk was examined in participants aged over 40 years in the Nurses' Health Study (n = 76,200) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (n = 40,284). They were followed biennially from 1980 and 1986, respectively, to 1996, during periods when they received an eye examination. Dietary intakes were measured repeatedly from 1980 in the Nurses' Health Study and from 1986 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study using validated food frequency questionnaires. The authors analyzed 474 self-reported glaucoma cases confirmed by medical chart review to have primary open-angle glaucoma with visual field loss. The authors used Cox proportional hazards models for cohort-specific multivariate analyses, and results were pooled using random effects models. The pooled multivariate rate ratios for primary open-angle glaucoma comparing the highest versus lowest quintile of cumulative updated intake were 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87, 1.58) for alpha-carotene, 1.10 (95% CI: 0.82, 1.48) for beta-carotene, 0.95 (95% CI: 0.70, 1.29) for beta-cryptoxanthin, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.60, 1.12) for lycopene, 0.92 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.24) for lutein/zeaxanthin, 1.05 (95% CI: 0.59, 1.89) for vitamin C, 0.97 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.52) for vitamin E, and 1.11 (95% CI: 0.82, 1.51) for vitamin A. In conclusion, the authors did not observe any strong associations between antioxidant consumption and the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma."}
{"id": "MED-2898", "text": "PURPOSE: Age and advanced disease in the fellow eye are the two most important risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between these variables and the optical density of macular pigment (MP) in a group of subjects from a northern European population. METHODS: The optical density of MP was measured psychophysically in 46 subjects ranging in age from 21 to 81 years with healthy maculae and in 9 healthy eyes known to be at high-risk of AMD because of advanced disease in the fellow eye. Each eye in the latter group was matched with a control eye on the basis of variables believed to be associated with the optical density of MP (iris color, gender, smoking habits, age, and lens density). RESULTS: There was an age-related decline in the optical density of macular pigment among volunteers with no ocular disease (right eye: r(2) = 0.29, P = 0.0006; left eye: r(2) = 0.29, P < 0.0001). Healthy eyes predisposed to AMD had significantly less MP than healthy eyes at no such risk (Wilcoxon's signed rank test: P = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The two most important risk factors for AMD are associated with a relative absence of MP. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that supplemental lutein and zeaxanthin may delay, avert, or modify the course of this disease."}
{"id": "MED-2899", "text": "The present study was designed to assess the relationship between iris color and macular pigment optical density. Both melanin and carotenoids (responsible for iris color and macular pigment composition, respectively) appear to protect the retina through similar mechanisms and higher concentrations may reduce the incidence of retinal degenerations. To evaluate this relationship, 95 subjects were examined and the following variables were measured: iris color; macular pigment optical density (MP); plasma concentrations of lutein and zeaxanthin and beta-carotene; dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin and beta-carotene; and total fat intake. Iris color was determined by self assessment and classified as blue or gray (group I), green or hazel (group II) or brown or black (group III). MP density was measured psychophysically by measuring foveal and parafoveal sensitivities to lights of 460 and 550 nm, using the method of heterochromatic flicker photometry. Plasma carotenoid concentrations were measured using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Dietary intake was determined by a detailed food-frequency questionnaire. Despite similarities in diet and in blood concentrations of carotenoids, significant differences in macular pigment density (P < 0.02) were found for different colored irises (group I, n = 38, MP = 0.25; group II, n = 26, MP = 0.32; group III, n = 31, MP = 0.38). The covariation of iris color and MP indicates that past epidemiologic studies have not adequately determined the independent effects of either factor. The relationship of MP and iris color may be the result of one or two factors: the evolution of a shared tendency to accumulate melanin and carotenoids due to similar environmental pressures (e.g. light and oxygen); and/or MP might be depleted due to the tendency for eyes with light irises to transmit more light than eyes with dark irises, thus causing increased oxidative stress."}
{"id": "MED-2900", "text": "Purpose To explore the association between consumption of fruits and vegetables and the presence of glaucoma in older African American women. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Disc photographs and suprathreshold visual fields were obtained from the 662 African American participants in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Masked, trained readers graded all discs, and two glaucoma specialists reviewed photos and visual fields. The Block Food Frequency Questionnaire assessed food consumption. Relationships between selected fruit/vegetable/nutrient consumption and glaucoma were evaluated using logistic regression models after adjusting for potential confounders. Results After excluding women missing Food Frequency Questionnaire and disc data, 584 African American women (88.2% of total African American cohort) were included. Glaucoma was diagnosed in at least one eye in 77 subjects (13%). Women who ate 3 or more servings/day of fruits/fruit juices were 79% (odds ratio [OR]=0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.08\u20130.60) less likely to have glaucoma than women who ate less than one serving/day. Women who consumed more than 2 servings/week of fresh oranges (OR=0.18; 95%CI: 0.06\u20130.51) and peaches (OR=0.30; 95%CI: 0.13\u20130.67) had a decreased odds of glaucoma compared to those consuming less than one serving/week. For vegetables, >1 serving/week compared to \u22641 serving/month of collard-greens/kale decreased the odds of glaucoma by 57% (OR=0.43; 95%CI: 0.21\u20130.85). There was a protective trend against glaucoma in those consuming more fruit/fruit juices (p=0.023), fresh oranges (p=0.002), fresh peaches (p=0.002), and collard greens/kale (p=0.014). Higher consumption of carrots (p=0.061) and spinach (p=0.094) also showed some associations. Individual nutrient intake from food sources found protective trends with higher intakes of vitamin A (p=0.011), vitamin C (p=0.018), and \u03b1-carotene (p=0.021), and close to statistically significant trends with \u03b2-carotene (p=0.052), folate (p=0.056), and lutein/zeaxanthin (p=0.077). Conclusion Higher intake of certain fruits and vegetables high in Vitamins A and C and carotenoids may be associated with a decreased likelihood of glaucoma in older African American women. Randomized controlled trials are needed to determine whether the intake of specific nutrients changes the risk of glaucoma."}
{"id": "MED-2901", "text": "Purpose. To investigate the relationship between supplementary consumption of the oxidants calcium and iron and the prevalence of glaucoma. Methods. This cross-sectional study included 3833 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2007 and 2008, \u226540 years of age, who reported a presence or absence of glaucoma. Participants were interviewed regarding the use of dietary supplements and antacids during the preceding 30-day period. Data pertaining to the supplementary intake of calcium and iron was aggregated and divided into quintiles. Information regarding the presence or absence of glaucoma and demographics, comorbidities, and health-related behavior was obtained via interview. Results. Participants who consumed \u2265800 mg/d of supplementary calcium or \u226518 mg/d of supplementary iron had significantly higher odds of having been diagnosed with glaucoma than did those who had not consumed supplementary calcium or iron, after adjustment for potential confounders (odds ratio [OR] 2.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25\u20134.76 for calcium; OR 3.80, 95% CI 1.79\u20138.06 for iron). Concurrent consumption of both calcium and iron above these levels was associated with still greater odds of having been diagnosed with glaucoma (OR 7.24, 95% CI 2.42\u201321.62). A clear dose\u2013response relationship between quintiles of supplementary calcium or iron intake and glaucoma prevalence was not found. Conclusions. These results suggest that there may be a threshold intake of iron and calcium above which there is an increased risk of development of glaucoma. Prospective longitudinal studies are needed, to assess whether oxidant intake is a risk factor for development and progression of glaucoma."}
{"id": "MED-2904", "text": "Background Prenatal exposure to mercury has been associated with adverse childhood neurologic outcomes in epidemiologic studies. Dose\u2013response information for this relationship is useful for estimating benefits of reduced mercury exposure. Objectives We estimated a dose\u2013response relationship between maternal mercury body burden and subsequent childhood decrements in intelligence quotient (IQ), using a Bayesian hierarchical model to integrate data from three epidemiologic studies. Methods Inputs to the model consist of dose\u2013response coefficients from studies conducted in the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, and the Seychelles Islands. IQ coefficients were available from previous work for the latter two studies, and a coefficient for the Faroe Islands study was estimated from three IQ subtests. Other tests of cognition/achievement were included in the hierarchical model to obtain more accurate estimates of study-to-study and end point\u2013to\u2013end point variability. Results We find a central estimate of \u22120.18 IQ points (95% confidence interval, \u22120.378 to \u22120.009) for each parts per million increase of maternal hair mercury, similar to the estimates for both the Faroe Islands and Seychelles studies, and lower in magnitude than the estimate for the New Zealand study. Sensitivity analyses produce similar results, with the IQ coefficient central estimate ranging from \u22120.13 to \u22120.25. Conclusions IQ is a useful end point for estimating neurodevelopmental effects, but may not fully represent cognitive deficits associated with mercury exposure, and does not represent deficits related to attention and motor skills. Nevertheless, the integrated IQ coefficient provides a more robust description of the dose\u2013response relationship for prenatal mercury exposure and cognitive functioning than results of any single study."}
{"id": "MED-2905", "text": "Fish consumption during gestation can provide the fetus with long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) and other nutrients essential for growth and development of the brain. However, fish consumption also exposes the fetus to the neurotoxicant, methyl mercury (MeHg). We studied the association between these fetal exposures and early child development in the Seychelles Child Development Nutrition Study (SCDNS). Specifically, we examined a priori models of \u03a9-3 and \u03a9-6 LCPUFA measures in maternal serum to test the hypothesis that these LCPUFA families before or after adjusting for prenatal MeHg exposure would reveal associations with child development assessed by the BSID-II at ages 9 and 30 months. There were 229 children with complete outcome and covariate data available for analysis. At 9 months, the PDI was positively associated with total \u03a9-3 LCPUFA and negatively associated with the ratio of \u03a9-6/\u03a9-3 LCPUFA. These associations were stronger in models adjusted for prenatal MeHg exposure. Secondary models suggested that the MeHg effect at 9 months varied by the ratio of \u03a9-6/\u03a9-3 LCPUFA. There were no significant associations between LCPUFA measures and the PDI at 30 months. There were significant adverse associations, however, between prenatal MeHg and the 30 month PDI when the LCPUFA measures were included in the regression analysis. The BSID-II Mental Developmental Index (MDI) was not associated with any exposure variable. These data support the potential importance to child development of prenatal availability of \u03a9-3 LCPUFA present in fish and of LCPUFA in the overall diet. Furthermore, they indicate that the beneficial effects of LCPUFA can obscure the determination of adverse effects of prenatal MeHg exposure in longitudinal observational studies."}
{"id": "MED-2906", "text": "BACKGROUND: Different chemical forms of mercury occur naturally in human milk. The most controversial aspect of early post-natal exposure to organic mercury is ethylmercury (EtHg) in thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCV) still being used in many countries. Thus exclusively breastfed infants can be exposed to both, fish derived methylmercury (MeHg) in maternal diets and to EtHg from TCV. The aim of the study is to evaluate a new analytical method for ethyl and methyl mercury in hair samples of breastfed infants who had received the recommended schedule of TCV. METHODS: The hair of infants (<12 months) that had been exposed to TCV (Hepatitis B and DTaP) was analysed. A method coupling isothermal gas chromatography with cold-vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry was used for MeHg which can also speciate EtHg in biological matrices. RESULTS: In 20 samples of infants' hair, all but two samples showed variable amounts of MeHg (10.3 to 668 ng/g), while precise and reliable concentrations of EtHg (3.7 to 65.0 ng/g) were found in 15 of the 20 samples. A statistically significant inverse association (r=-05572; p=0.0384) was found between hair-EtHg concentrations and the time elapsed after the last TCV shot. CONCLUSIONS: The analytical method proved sensitive enough to quantify EtHg in babies' hair after acute exposure to thimerosal in vaccine shots. Provided that the mass of hair was above 10mg, organic-mercury exposure during early life can be speciated, and quantified in babies' first hair, thus opening opportunities for clinical and forensic studies. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2907", "text": "Background: Diverse perspectives have influenced fish consumption choices. Objectives: We summarized the issue of fish consumption choice from toxicological, nutritional, ecological, and economic points of view; identified areas of overlap and disagreement among these viewpoints; and reviewed effects of previous fish consumption advisories. Methods: We reviewed published scientific literature, public health guidelines, and advisories related to fish consumption, focusing on advisories targeted at U.S. populations. However, our conclusions apply to groups having similar fish consumption patterns. Discussion: There are many possible combinations of matters related to fish consumption, but few, if any, fish consumption patterns optimize all domains. Fish provides a rich source of protein and other nutrients, but because of contamination by methylmercury and other toxicants, higher fish intake often leads to greater toxicant exposure. Furthermore, stocks of wild fish are not adequate to meet the nutrient demands of the growing world population, and fish consumption choices also have a broad economic impact on the fishing industry. Most guidance does not account for ecological and economic impacts of different fish consumption choices. Conclusion: Despite the relative lack of information integrating the health, ecological, and economic impacts of different fish choices, clear and simple guidance is necessary to effect desired changes. Thus, more comprehensive advice can be developed to describe the multiple impacts of fish consumption. In addition, policy and fishery management inter-ventions will be necessary to ensure long-term availability of fish as an important source of human nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-2910", "text": "Hit Reaction Time latencies (HRT) in the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) measure the speed of visual information processing. The latencies may involve different neuropsychological functions depending on the time from test initiation, i.e., first orientation, learning and habituation, then cognitive processing and focused attention, and finally sustained attention as the dominant demand. Prenatal methylmercury exposure is associated with increased reaction time (RT) latencies. We therefore examined the association of methylmercury exposure with the average HRT at age 14 years at three different time intervals after test initiation. A total of 878 adolescents (87% of birth cohort members) completed the CPT. The RT latencies were recorded for 10 minutes, with visual targets presented at 1000 ms intervals. After confounder adjustment, regression coefficients showed that CPT-RT outcomes differed in their associations with exposure biomarkers of prenatal methylmercury exposure: During the first two minutes, the average HRT was weakly associated with methylmercury (beta (SE) for a ten-fold increase in exposure, (3.41 (2.06)), was strongly for the 3-to-6 minute interval (6.10 (2.18)), and the strongest during 7\u201310 minutes after test initiation (7.64 (2.39)). This pattern was unchanged when simple reaction time and finger tapping speed were included in the models as covariates. Postnatal methylmercury exposures did not affect the outcomes. Thus, these findings suggest that sustained attention as a neuropsychological domain is particularly vulnerable to developmental methylmercury exposure, indicating probable underlying dysfunction of the frontal lobes. When using CPT data as a possible measure of neurotoxicity, test results should therefore be analyzed in regard to time from test initiation and not as overall average reaction times."}
{"id": "MED-2913", "text": "The elimination kinetics of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in humans is difficult to assess in observational studies, because PCB exposure is never completely abolished. In a community with high dietary PCB exposures from whale blubber, we examined two groups of children with increased body burdens from breast-feeding. Follow-up was from ages 4.5 years to 7.5 years (99 subjects) and 7 to 14 years (101 subjects). The calculations were performed by the use of structural equation models, with adjustment for body weight and dietary blubber intake as the main source of postnatal exposure. As a likely result of background exposures, apparent elimination half-lives were unexpectedly long when based on results from all cohort members. Subjects with exposures above the median and in the highest quartile showed half-lives of about 3-4 years for CB-138, and 4.5-5.5 years for CB-105 and CB-118; 6.5-7.5 years for CB-156, CB-170, and CB-187; and 7-9 years for CB-153 and CB-180. The longest half-lives correspond to elimination of the parent PCB solely with a daily fat excretion rate of 1-2 g, while shorter half-lives assume metabolic break-down."}
{"id": "MED-2917", "text": "The effect of alternative dietary habits and prolonged lactation on the nutrient and contaminant concentrations in human milk was studied. The study sample consisted of mothers on macrobiotic diets, containing little or no diary products and meat, at 2-3 months postpartum (n = 9) and 9-13 months postpartum (n = 12), and mothers on omnivorous diets at 2-3 months postpartum (n = 10). Protein and zinc concentrations in breast-milk from macrobiotic mothers decreased with stage of lactation. After adjustment for stage of lactation, milk from macrobiotic mothers contained less calcium, magnesium and saturated fatty acids C15:0-C20:0, and more polyunsaturated fatty acids. Observed tendencies for lower protein and fat and higher lactose concentrations in the macrobiotic group were not statistically significant. Concentrations of vitamin B12, HCB and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 118, PCB 138, PCB 153 and PCB 180) were lower in the macrobiotic group. After adjustment for confounding variables, meat and fish consumption, but not dairy products, contributed to vitamin B12 concentrations. Meat and diary products strongly contributed to breast-milk concentrations of dieldrin and PCBs, fish to PCB 118, and smoking to DDT and dieldrin. Our findings suggest that breast-milk contamination could be reduced by abstinence from smoking and a moderate intake of animal products. However, risk of nutritional deficiencies rules out complete avoidance of meat, fish or diary products. Quantitative research on the effects of a reduced consumption of animal products, as well as smoking, on breast-milk contamination is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-2921", "text": "Background: Methylmercury (MeHg) is a known neuro-toxicant. Emerging evidence indicates it may have adverse effects on the neuro-logic and other body systems at common low levels of exposure. Impacts of MeHg exposure could vary by individual susceptibility or be confounded by bene-ficial nutrients in fish containing MeHg. Despite its global relevance, synthesis of the available literature on low-level MeHg exposure has been limited. Objectives: We undertook a synthesis of the current knowledge on the human health effects of low-level MeHg exposure to provide a basis for future research efforts, risk assessment, and exposure remediation policies worldwide. Data sources and extraction: We reviewed the published literature for original human epidemio-logic research articles that reported a direct biomarker of mercury exposure. To focus on high-quality studies and those specifically on low mercury exposure, we excluded case series, as well as studies of populations with unusually high fish consumption (e.g., the Seychelles), marine mammal consumption (e.g., the Faroe Islands, circumpolar, and other indigenous populations), or consumption of highly contaminated fish (e.g., gold-mining regions in the Amazon). Data synthesis: Recent evidence raises the possibility of effects of low-level MeHg exposure on fetal growth among susceptible subgroups and on infant growth in the first 2 years of life. Low-level effects of MeHg on neuro-logic outcomes may differ by age, sex, and timing of exposure. No clear pattern has been observed for cardio-vascular disease (CVD) risk across populations or for specific CVD end points. For the few studies evaluating immunologic effects associated with MeHg, results have been inconsistent. Conclusions: Studies targeted at identifying potential mechanisms of low-level MeHg effects and characterizing individual susceptibility, sexual dimorphism, and non-linearity in dose response would help guide future prevention, policy, and regulatory efforts surrounding MeHg exposure."}
{"id": "MED-2922", "text": "Overwhelming evidence suggests that edible small and soft-fleshed berry fruits may have beneficial effects against several types of human cancers. The anticancer potential of berries has been related, at least in part, to a multitude of bioactive phytochemicals that these colorful fruits contain, including polyphenols (flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, ellagitannins, gallotannins, phenolic acids), stilbenoids, lignans, and triterpenoids. Studies show that the anticancer effects of berry bioactives are partially mediated through their abilities to counteract, reduce, and also repair damage resulting from oxidative stress and inflammation. In addition, berry bioactives also regulate carcinogen and xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, various transcription and growth factors, inflammatory cytokines, and subcellular signaling pathways of cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, and tumor angiogenesis. Berry phytochemicals may also potentially sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents by inhibiting pathways that lead to treatment resistance, and berry fruit consumption may provide protection from therapy-associated toxicities. Although a wide variety of berry fruits are consumed worldwide, this paper focuses on those commonly consumed in North America, namely, blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, red raspberries, and strawberries. In addition, a large body of studies on singly purified berry bioactives is available, but this paper focuses on studies of \"whole berries\" per se, that is, as berry extracts and purified fractions, juices, and freeze-dried powders. Potential mechanisms of anticancer action and bioavailability of berry phenolics, as well as gaps in knowledge and recommendations for future berry research, are also briefly discussed."}
{"id": "MED-2923", "text": "Activation of apoptosis via death receptors is a tightly regulated event, and the death pathway itself is open to interference on the part of soluble or membrane-bound decoy receptors. The aggregation state of the death-inducing ligand is a crucial factor, particularly when these molecules are used as recombinant drugs against tumors. Whether tumors are sensitive to such ligands is determined by both the net abundance of death receptors versus decoy receptors and the balance between intracellular apoptotic and antiapoptotic mechanisms. This means that in vivo elimination of tumor cells by effector arms such as T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells is dependent on both the function of activated lymphoid cells and the genetic properties of tumor cells. Death receptor ligands, however, may be a double-edged sword. When expressed on cytotoxic T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells, they induce the apoptosis of many tumor cells, whereas their expression on tumor cells induces the apoptosis of killer cells. The in vivo result is influenced by the number of infiltrating cells, their state of activation, the cytokine repertoire in the tumor microenvironment, and the ability of the tumor to produce soluble factors inhibiting their cytolytic functions."}
{"id": "MED-2925", "text": "Lycium barbarum has been traditionally used in combination with several herbs for medicinal properties, but systematic modern clinical evaluation as a single herb has not been reported. To examine the systematic effects of L. barbarum on immune function, general well-being, and safety, we tested the effects of a standardized L. barbarum fruit juice (GoChi, FreeLife International, Phoenix, AZ, USA) at 120 mL/day, equivalent to at least 150 g of fresh fruit, the amount traditionally used, or placebo for 30 days in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study in 60 older healthy adults (55-72 years old). The GoChi group showed a statistically significant increase in the number of lymphocytes and levels of interleukin-2 and immunoglobulin G compared to pre-intervention and the placebo group, whereas the number of CD4, CD8, and natural killer cells or levels of interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin A were not significantly altered. The placebo group showed no significant changes in any immune measures. Whereas the GoChi group showed a significant increase in general feelings of well-being, such as fatigue and sleep, and showed a tendency for increased short-term memory and focus between pre- and post-intervention, the placebo group showed no significant positive changes in these measures. No adverse reactions, abnormal symptoms, or changes in body weight, blood pressure, pulse, visual acuity, urine, stool, or blood biochemistry were seen in either group. In conclusion, daily consumption of GoChi significantly increased several immunological responses and subjective feelings of general well-being without any adverse reactions."}
{"id": "MED-2938", "text": "Since the adoption of vegetarian diets as a healthy lifestyle has become popular, the cardiovascular effects of long-term vegetarianism need to be explored. The present study aimed to compare the presence and severity of carotid atherosclerosis (CA), and the blood levels of Vitamin B12, homocysteine (Hcy) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) between 57 healthy postmenopausal vegetarians and 61 age-matched omnivores. Carotid atherosclerosis, as measured by ultrasound, was found to be of no significant difference between the two groups. Yet, fasting blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and Vitamin B12 were significantly lower, while Hcy and sVCAM-1 were higher in the vegetarians as comparing with the omnivores. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the level of Vitamin B12 was negatively associated with the level of Hcy. Vegetarianism itself and Hcy level were significantly associated with sVCAM-1 level in univariate analysis; however, after adjustment for covariates, we identified age but not vegetarianism as the determinant of sVCAM-1 level. Multiple linear regression analysis identified age and systolic blood pressure, but not vegetarianism, as determinants of common carotid artery IMT. In conclusion, there was no significant difference in CA between apparently healthy postmenopausal vegetarians and omnivores. The findings of elevated Hcy in vegetarians indicate the importance of prevention of Vitamin B12 deficiency."}
{"id": "MED-2939", "text": "Background: Vegetarianism is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. However, studies of arterial function in vegetarians are limited. Methods: This study investigated arterial function in vegetarianism by comparing 49 healthy postmenopausal vegetarians with 41 age-matched omnivores. The arterial function of the common carotid artery was assessed by carotid duplex, while the pulse dynamics method was used to measure brachial artery distensibility (BAD), compliance (BAC), and resistance (BAR). Fasting blood levels of glucose, lipids, lipoprotein (a), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and vitamin B12 were also measured. Results: Vegetarians had significantly lower serum cholesterol, high-density and low-density lipoprotein, and glucose compared with omnivores. They also had lower vitamin B12 but higher homocysteine levels. Serum levels of lipoprotein (a) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were no different between the two groups. There were no significant differences in carotid beta stiffness index, BAC, and BAD between the two groups even after adjustment for associated covariates. However, BAR was significantly lower in vegetarians than in omnivores. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age and pulse pressure were two important determinants of carotid beta stiffness index and BAD. Vegetarianism is not associated with better arterial elasticity. Conclusion: Apparently healthy postmenopausal vegetarians are not significantly better in terms of carotid beta stiffness index, BAC, and BAD, but have significantly decreased BAR than omnivores. Prevention of vitamin B12 deficiency might be beneficial for cardiovascular health in vegetarians."}
{"id": "MED-2940", "text": "In the past 3 decades, the total number of CT scans performed has grown exponentially. In 2007, > 70 million CT scans were performed in the United States. CT scan studies of the chest comprise a large portion of the CT scans performed today because the technology has transformed the management of common chest diseases, including pulmonary embolism and coronary artery disease. As the number of studies performed yearly increases, a growing fraction of the population is exposed to low-dose ionizing radiation from CT scan. Data extrapolated from atomic bomb survivors and other populations exposed to low-dose ionizing radiation suggest that CT scan-associated radiation may increase an individual's lifetime risk of developing cancer. This finding, however, is not incontrovertible. Because this topic has recently attracted the attention of both the scientific community and the general public, it has become increasingly important for physicians to understand the cancer risk associated with CT scan and be capable of engaging in productive dialogue with patients. This article reviews the current literature on the public health debate surrounding CT scan and cancer risk, quantifies radiation doses associated with specific studies, and describes efforts to reduce population-wide CT scan-associated radiation exposure. CT scan examinations of the chest, including CT scan pulmonary and coronary angiography, high-resolution CT scan, low-dose lung cancer screening, and triple rule-out CT scan, are specifically considered."}
{"id": "MED-2941", "text": "Several cohort studies have examined the association of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) with the risk of stroke or myocardial infarction in apparently healthy persons. We investigated the predictive value of IMT of cardiovascular mortality in elderly community-dwelling people, beyond the prediction provided by age and MMSE. assessed by means of a multivariate Cox model. Carotid IMT and plaque were evaluated bilaterally with ultrasonography in 298 people older than 75 years ( 120 men and 178 women, average age: 79.6 years). The LILAC study started on July 25, 2000. Consultations were repeated every year. The follow-up ended on November 30, 2004. During the mean follow-up span of 1152 days, 30 subjects (21 men and nine women) died. Nine deaths were attributable to cardiovascular causes Imyocardial infarction: two men and three women; stroke: two men and two women). The age- and MMSE-adjusted relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of developing all-cause mortality was assessed. A 0.3 mm increase in left IMT was associated with a RR of predicted 1.647 (1.075-2.524), and a similar increase in right IMT with a RR of 3.327 (1.429-7.746). For cardiovascular mortality, the corresponding RR values were 2.351 (1.029-5.372) and 2.890 (1.059-7.891), respectively. Carotid IMT assessed by ultrasonography is positively associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death in elderly community-dwelling people."}
{"id": "MED-2942", "text": "BACKGROUND: There are no long-term prospective studies assessing the impact of the vegan diet on vitamin B-12 (B-12) status. Many vegans take B-12 supplements irregularly or refuse to adopt them at all, considering them to be \"unnatural\" products. The use of B-12 fortified food may be an alternative. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the long-term effect of a vegan diet on serum B-12 concentrations in healthy omnivore adults, comparing the influence of natural products consumption and B-12 fortified food. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A five year prospective study was carried out comprising 20 omnivore healthy adult subjects, who moved to strict vegan diet for 5 years. Ten volunteers followed vegan diet based entirely on natural products, while the remaining ten subjects consumed food fortified in B-12. In all subjects serum vitamin B-12 concentration was determined before and 6, 12, 24 and 60 months after the implementation of the diet. RESULTS: A significant decrease (p < 0.0002) of serum B-12 concentrations in the whole studied group was noted after 60 months of vegan diet. However, observed changes were in fact limited to the subgroup consuming exclusively natural products (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Transition from omnivore to vegan diet is associated with the risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency. B-12 fortified products might constitute a valuable alternative in vegans refusing to take vitamin supplements."}
{"id": "MED-2943", "text": "BACKGROUND: Western diets, which typically contain large amounts of energy-dense processed foods, together with a sedentary lifestyle are associated with increased cardiometabolic risk. We evaluated the long-term effects of consuming a low-calorie low-protein vegan diet or performing regular endurance exercise on cardiometabolic risk factors. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, cardiometabolic risk factors were evaluated in 21 sedentary subjects, who had been on a low-calorie low-protein raw vegan diet for 4.4 +/- 2.8 years, (mean age, 53.1 +/- 11 yrs), 21 body mass index (BMI)-matched endurance runners consuming Western diets, and 21 age- and gender-matched sedentary subjects, consuming Western diets. RESULTS: BMI was lower in the low-calorie low-protein vegan diet (21.3 +/- 3.1 kg/m(2)) and endurance runner (21.1 +/- 1.6 kg/m(2)) groups than in the sedentary Western diet group (26.5 +/- 2.7 kg/m(2)) (p < 0.005). Plasma concentrations of lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein, blood pressure (BP), and carotid artery intima-media thickness were lower in the low-calorie low-protein vegan diet and runner groups than in the Western diet group (all p < 0.05). Both systolic and diastolic BP were lower in the low-calorie low-protein vegan diet group (104 +/- 15 and 62 +/- 11 mm Hg) than in BMI-matched endurance runners (122 +/- 13 and 72 +/- 9 mmHg) and Western diet group (132 +/- 14 and 79 +/- 8 mm Hg) (p < 0.001); BP values were directly associated with sodium intake and inversely associated with potassium and fiber intake. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term consumption of a low-calorie low-protein vegan diet or regular endurance exercise training is associated with low cardiometabolic risk. Moreover, our data suggest that specific components of a low-calorie low-protein vegan diet provide additional beneficial effects on blood pressure."}
{"id": "MED-2944", "text": "The need for consistent and current data describing the true incidence of SCA and/or SCD was highlighted during the most recent Sudden Cardiac Arrest Thought Leadership Alliance\u2019s (SCATLA) Think Tank meeting of national experts with broad representation of key stakeholders including thought leaders and representatives from the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the Heart Rhythm Society. As such, to evaluate the true magnitude of this public health problem, we performed a systematic literature search in MEDLINE using the MeSH headings, \u201cdeath, sudden\u201d OR the terms \u201csudden cardiac death\u201d OR \u201csudden cardiac arrest\u201d OR \u201ccardiac arrest\u201d OR \u201ccardiac death\u201d OR \u201csudden death\u201d OR \u201carrhythmic death.\u201d Study selection criteria included peer-reviewed publications of primary data used to estimate SCD incidence in the U.S. We used Web of Science\u00ae\u2019s Cited Reference Search to evaluate the impact of each primary estimate on the medical literature by determining the number of times each \u201cprimary source\u201d has been cited. The estimated U.S. annual incidence of SCD varied widely from 180,000 to > 450,000 among 6 included studies. These different estimates were in part due to different data sources (with data age ranging from 1980 to 2007), definitions of SCD, case ascertainment criteria, methods of estimation/extrapolation, and sources of case ascertainment. The true incidence of SCA and/or SCD in the U.S. remains unclear with a wide range in the available estimates, which are badly dated. As reliable estimates of SCD incidence are important for improving risk stratification and prevention, future efforts are clearly needed to establish uniform definitions of SCA and SCD and then to prospectively and precisely capture cases of SCA and SCD in the overall U.S. population."}
{"id": "MED-2945", "text": "BACKGROUND: To investigate whether the Chinese lacto-vegetarian diet has protective effects on metabolic and cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: One hundred sixty-nine healthy Chinese lacto-vegetarians and 126 healthy omnivore men aged 21-76 years were enrolled. Anthropometric indexes, lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, pancreatic \u03b2 cell function, and intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries were assessed and compared. Cardiovascular risk points and probability of developing CVD in 5-10 years in participants aged 24-55 years were calculated. RESULTS: Compared with omnivores, lacto-vegetarians had remarkably lower body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and serum levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, \u03b3-glutamyl transferase, serum creatinine, uric acid, fasting blood glucose, as well as lower total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio. Vegetarians also had higher homeostasis model assessment \u03b2 cell function and insulin secretion index and thinner carotid IMT than the omnivores did. These results corresponded with lower cardiovascular risk points and probability of developing CVD in 5-10 years in vegetarians 24-55 years old. CONCLUSIONS: In healthy Chinese men, the lacto-vegetarian diet seems to exert protective effects on blood pressure, lipid profiles, and metabolic parameters and results in significantly lower carotid IMT. Lower CVD risks found in vegetarians also reflect the beneficial effect of the Chinese lacto-vegetarian diet."}
{"id": "MED-2946", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Vegetarians are more vascular-healthy but those with subnormal vitamin B-12 status have impaired arterial endothelial function and increased intima-media thickness. We aimed to study the impact of vitamin B-12 supplementation on these markers, in the vegetarians. DESIGN: Double-blind, placebo controlled, randomised crossover study. SETTING: Community dwelling vegetarians. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty healthy vegetarians (vegetarian diet for at least 6 years) were recruited. INTERVENTION: Vitamin B-12 (500 \u00b5g/day) or identical placebo were given for 12 weeks with 10 weeks of placebo-washout before crossover (n=43), and then open label vitamin B-12 for additional 24 weeks (n=41). MEASUREMENT: Flow-mediated dilation of brachial artery (FMD) and intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid artery were measured by ultrasound. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 45\u00b19 years and 22 (44%) were male. Thirty-five subjects (70%) had serum B-12 levels <150 pmol/l. Vitamin B-12 supplementation significantly increased serum vitamin B-12 levels (p<0.0001) and lowered plasma homocysteine (p<0.05). After vitamin B-12 supplementation but not placebo, significant improvement of brachial FMD (6.3\u00b11.8% to 6.9\u00b11.9%; p<0.0001) and in carotid IMT (0.69\u00b10.09 mm to 0.67\u00b10.09 mm, p<0.05) were found, with further improvement in FMD (to 7.4\u00b11.7%; p<0.0001) and IMT (to 0.65\u00b10.09 mm; p<0.001) after 24 weeks open label vitamin B-12. There were no significant changes in blood pressures or lipid profiles. On multivariate analysis, changes in B-12 (\u03b2=0.25; p=0.02) but not homocysteine were related to changes in FMD, (R=0.32; F value=3.19; p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin B-12 supplementation improved arterial function in vegetarians with subnormal vitamin B-12 levels, proposing a novel strategy for atherosclerosis prevention."}
{"id": "MED-2947", "text": "PURPOSE: To measure prospectively and directly both organ dose and effective dose (ED) for adult cardiac and pulmonary computed tomographic (CT) angiography by using current clinical protocols for 64-detector CT in an anthropomorphic female phantom and to estimate lifetime attributable risk of breast and lung cancer incidence on the basis of measured ED and organ dose. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cardiac and pulmonary 64-detector CT angiography was performed by using current clinical protocols to evaluate the pulmonary veins (electrocardiographically [ECG] gated, 64 sections at 0.625-mm collimation, 120 kVp, 300 mA, 0.35-second tube rotation), native coronary arteries (ECG gated; 64 sections at 0.625 mm; 120 kVp; maximum current, 500-750 mA; minimum, 100-350 mA; 0.35-second tube rotation) and pulmonary embolus (64 sections at 1.25 mm, 140 kVp, 645 mA, 0.5-second tube rotation). Absorbed organ doses were measured by using an anthropomorphic female phantom and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor detectors. ED was calculated from measured organ doses and the dose-length product. RESULTS: ED for current adult cardiac and pulmonary 64-detector CT angiography protocols were 12.4-31.8 mSv. Overall, skin, breast, and esophagus and heart had the highest recorded absorbed organ doses. Relative risk for breast cancer incidence for girls and women was 1.004-1.042 for a single examination. Relative risk for lung cancer incidence for men and women was 1.005-1.076 from a single examination. CONCLUSION: EDs and organ doses from 64-detector CT are higher than those previously reported for adult cardiac and pulmonary CT angiography protocols. Risk for breast and lung cancer induction from these studies is greatest for the younger patient population. (c) RSNA, 2007."}
{"id": "MED-2951", "text": "Background A plant-based diet protects against chronic oxidative stress-related diseases. Dietary plants contain variable chemical families and amounts of antioxidants. It has been hypothesized that plant antioxidants may contribute to the beneficial health effects of dietary plants. Our objective was to develop a comprehensive food database consisting of the total antioxidant content of typical foods as well as other dietary items such as traditional medicine plants, herbs and spices and dietary supplements. This database is intended for use in a wide range of nutritional research, from in vitro and cell and animal studies, to clinical trials and nutritional epidemiological studies. Methods We procured samples from countries worldwide and assayed the samples for their total antioxidant content using a modified version of the FRAP assay. Results and sample information (such as country of origin, product and/or brand name) were registered for each individual food sample and constitute the Antioxidant Food Table. Results The results demonstrate that there are several thousand-fold differences in antioxidant content of foods. Spices, herbs and supplements include the most antioxidant rich products in our study, some exceptionally high. Berries, fruits, nuts, chocolate, vegetables and products thereof constitute common foods and beverages with high antioxidant values. Conclusions This database is to our best knowledge the most comprehensive Antioxidant Food Database published and it shows that plant-based foods introduce significantly more antioxidants into human diet than non-plant foods. Because of the large variations observed between otherwise comparable food samples the study emphasizes the importance of using a comprehensive database combined with a detailed system for food registration in clinical and epidemiological studies. The present antioxidant database is therefore an essential research tool to further elucidate the potential health effects of phytochemical antioxidants in diet."}
{"id": "MED-2966", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Determine 1) if consumption of a meal of different fruits or berries increases plasma hydrophilic (H-) or lipophilic (L-) antioxidant capacity (AOC) measured as Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC(FL)); 2) if including macronutrients in the meal alters postprandial changes in AOC; and 3) if preliminary recommendations can be developed for antioxidant intake. METHODS: Changes in plasma AOC following consumption of a single meal of berries/fruits (blueberry, dried plum, dried plum juice, grape, cherry, kiwifruit and strawberry) were studied in 5 clinical trials with 6-10 subjects per experiment. In two studies with blueberry or grape, additional macronutrients (carbohydrate, fat, protein) were included in the control and treatment meals. Blood samples collected before and after the meal were analyzed for AOC. RESULTS: Consumption of dried plums or dried plum juice did not alter either the H- or L-AOC area under the curve (AUC). Consumption of blueberry in 2 studies and of mixed grape powder [12.5 (Study #1), 39.9 (Study #4) and 8.6 (Study #5) mmole Trolox Equivalents (TE) AOC, respectively] increased hydrophilic AOC AUC. L-AOC increased following a meal of blueberry containing 12.5 mmole TE AOC (Study #1). Consumption of 280 g of cherries (4.5 mmol TE AOC) increased plasma L-AOC but not H-AOC. The AOC in the control groups in which additional macronutrients (Studies #4 and #5) were added decreased from the postprandial baseline AOC measurement. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that consumption of certain berries and fruits such as blueberries, mixed grape and kiwifruit, was associated with increased plasma AOC in the postprandial state and consumption of an energy source of macronutrients containing no antioxidants was associated with a decline in plasma AOC. However, without further long term clinical studies, one cannot necessarily translate increased plasma AOC into a potential decreased risk of chronic degenerative disease. Preliminary estimates of antioxidant needs based upon energy intake were developed. Consumption of high antioxidant foods with each meal is recommended in order to prevent periods of postprandial oxidative stress."}
{"id": "MED-2967", "text": "The hypothesis that plasma chylomicrons in persons who ingest a cholesterol-rich diet are atherogenic is evaluated. Evidence is presented that in humans, and experimental animals, chylomicron remnants as well as low-density lipoproteins are taken up by arterial cells. In persons who do not have familial hyperlipoproteinemia, atherogenesis may occur during the postprandial period. Research directions that may contribute to the evaluation of chylomicron remnants as a risk factor for atherogenesis are discussed. Lipoprotein studies after administration of a test meal containing fat and cholesterol are urgently needed."}
{"id": "MED-2968", "text": "There is increasing evidence implicating a dietary source of plasma lipid peroxides that become elevated in the postprandial state. This phenomenon may be a contributing factor to the correlation found between postprandial hyperlipidemia and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Using a newly developed method for measuring lipid hydroperoxides directly in plasma, a pilot study was performed which revealed that lipid hydroperoxides are indeed elevated following a fatty meal. Lipid hydroperoxides increased within 2-4 h after the meal and returned to basal levels, corresponding to the usual postprandial hyperlipidemia. A marked suppression of postprandial hydroperoxides was found when a meal was consumed with wine, suggesting that these hydroperoxides can be formed and then absorbed during the digestive process."}
{"id": "MED-2969", "text": "OBJECTIVE: We have previously shown that 300 kcal from glucose intake induces a significant increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) binding in the circulating mononuclear cells in healthy normal subjects. We hypothesized that the intake of 300 calories as orange juice or fructose, the other major carbohydrate in orange juice, would induce a significantly smaller response than that of glucose. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Four groups (eight subjects each) of normal-weight subjects were given a 300-cal drink of glucose (75 g), fructose (75 g), or orange juice or water sweetened with saccharin (control group) to drink, and then blood samples were collected. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in ROS generation by mononuclear cells (by 130 +/- 18%, P < 0.001), polymorph nuclear cells (by 95 +/- 22%, P < 0.01), and in NF-kappaB binding in mononuclear cells by 82 +/- 16% (P < 0.01) over the baseline after 2 h of glucose intake. These changes were absent following fructose, orange juice, or water intake. There was significantly lower ROS generation and NF-kappaB binding following orange juice, fructose, and water compared with glucose (P < 0.001 for all). Furthermore, incubation of mononuclear cells in vitro with 50 mmol/l of the flavonoids hesperetin or naringenin reduced ROS generation by 52 +/- 7% and 77 +/- 8% (P < 0.01), respectively, while fructose or ascorbic acid did not cause any change. CONCLUSIONS: Caloric intake in the form of orange juice or fructose does not induce either oxidative or inflammatory stress, possibly due to its flavonoids content and might, therefore, represent a potentially safe energy source."}
{"id": "MED-2970", "text": "There is increasing evidence that the postprandial state is an important contributing factor to chronic disease. The role of fruit phenolic compounds to protect health and lower disease risk through their actions in mitigating fed-state metabolic and oxidative stressors is of interest and the topic of the present paper. Two main questions are posed: first, what is the role of plant foods, specifically fruits rich in complex and simple phenolic compounds in postprandial metabolic management; and second, does the evidence support consuming these fruits with meals as a practical strategy to preserve health and lower risk for disease? This review provides an overview of the postprandial literature, specifically on the effect of fruits and their inherent phenolic compounds in human subjects on postprandial lipaemia, glycaemia/insulinaemia and associated events, such as oxidative stress and inflammation. Among the identified well-controlled human trials using a postprandial paradigm, >50\u00a0% of the trials used wine or wine components and the remaining used various berries. Notwithstanding the need for more research, the collected data suggest that consuming phenolic-rich fruits increases the antioxidant capacity of the blood, and when they are consumed with high fat and carbohydrate 'pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory' meals, they may counterbalance their negative effects. Given the content and availability of fat and carbohydrate in the Western diet, regular consumption of phenolic-rich foods, particularly in conjunction with meals, appears to be a prudent strategy to maintain oxidative balance and health."}
{"id": "MED-2971", "text": "Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased ROS generation, oxidative injury and obesity. To elucidate the relationship between nutrition and ROS generation, we have investigated the effect of glucose challenge on ROS generation by leucocytes, p47phox protein, a key protein in the enzyme NADPH oxidase and alpha-tocopherol levels. Blood samples were drawn from 14 normal subjects prior to, at 1, 2 and 3 h following ingestion of 75 g glucose. ROS generation by polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNL) and mononuclear cells (MNC) increased to a peak of 244 +/- 42% and 233 +/- 34% of the basal respectively at 2h. The levels of p47phox in MNC homogenates increased significantly at 2 h and 3 h after glucose intake. alpha-Tocopherol levels decreased significantly at 1 h, 2 h and 3 h. We conclude that glucose intake stimulates ROS generation and p417phox of NADPH oxidase; increases oxidative load and causes a fall in alpha-tocopherol concentration."}
{"id": "MED-2972", "text": "BACKGROUND: Elevated levels of lipids, such as total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and triglycerides (TG), are widely recognized as risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Oxidized LDL (OxLDL) is an emerging risk factor considered relevant in oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction, which is implicated in the progression of CVD. Consumption of a diet rich in polyphenols may be cardioprotective through its impact on oxidative stress and protecting LDL from oxidation. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to test the ability of strawberry phenolic compounds to mitigate the postprandial effects of a high-fat meal on OxLDL as well as investigate the effects of phenolic compounds on lipid metabolism. METHODS: Twenty-four hyperlipidemic men and women (14 women, 10 men; mean age 50.9 +/- SD 15 years) were recruited to participate in this randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, 12-wk crossover trial. After a 10-day run-in period, subjects consumed either an active strawberry beverage (Str; containing 10 g freeze-dried fruit) or a placebo (Pbo) beverage matched in energy and macronutrient composition for 6 weeks. Twice before randomization and once at the 6-week crossover point, subjects received either Str or Pbo with a high-fat challenge meal (HFM). TC, LDL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, TG, and OxLDL were measured at defined intervals for 6 h before and after HFM challenge. Fasting concentrations of blood variables at 0, 6, and 12 weeks were compared to assess chronic intake of Str or Pbo. RESULTS: After the HFM during the run-in period, TG and OxLDL were lower after Str than Pbo (p = 0.005, p = 0.01, and p = 0.0008, respectively). HFM responses after 6 weeks of Str versus Pbo resulted in decreased lipid levels and a sex by treatment interaction for OxLDL (p = < 0.0001, and p = 0.0002). CONCLUSION: The present results support a role for strawberry in mitigating fed-state oxidative stressors that may contribute to atherogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-2973", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Type 2 diabetes mellitus appears to involve an interaction between susceptible genetic backgrounds and environmental factors including highly calorific diets. As it is important to identify modifiable risk factors that may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, the aim of the present study was to determine the association between egg consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. DESIGN: A specifically designed questionnaire was used to collect information on possible risk factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for type 2 diabetes mellitus were calculated by conditional logistic regression. SETTING: A case-control study in a Lithuanian out-patient clinic was performed in 2001. SUBJECTS: A total of 234 cases with a newly confirmed diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus and 468 controls free of the disease. RESULTS: Variables such as BMI, family history of diabetes, cigarette smoking, education, morning exercise and plasma TAG level were retained in multivariate logistic regression models as confounders because their inclusion changed the value of the odds ratio by more than 10 % in any exposure category. After adjustment for possible confounders more than twofold increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus was determined for individuals consuming 3-4\u00b79 eggs/week (OR = 2\u00b760; 95 % CI 1\u00b734, 5\u00b708) and threefold increased risk of the disease was determined for individuals consuming \u22655 eggs/week (OR = 3\u00b702; 95 % CI 1\u00b714, 7\u00b798) compared with those eating <1 egg/week. CONCLUSIONS: Our data support a possible relationship of egg consumption and increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus."}
{"id": "MED-2975", "text": "BACKGROUND: Although egg consumption has been associated with elevated plasma levels of cholesterol and triglyceride and with risk of cardiovascular disease in some populations, epidemiologic studies on egg consumption and the risk of diabetes are extremely sparse, particularly in the Chinese population. METHOD: Data from a household survey in the year 2002 among 2849 adults aged \u226520 y from a nationally representative sample in Jiangsu Province, China, were used. Dietary information was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire and 3 d weighed food records. Fasting blood specimens were collected. RESULTS: After the adjustment for age, total calorie intake, education, smoking, family history of diabetes, and sedentary activity, egg consumption was significantly and positively associated with diabetes risk, particularly in women. The odds ratios (OR) (95% CI) of diabetes associated with egg consumption <2/wk, 2-6/wk, and \u22651/d in the total sample were 1.00, 1.75, 2.28 (1.14-4.54), respectively (P for trend 0.029). Corresponding ORs (95% CI) in women were 1.00, 1.66, and 3.01 (1.12, 8.12), respectively (P for trend 0.022). Additional adjustment of body mass index attenuated the association, but it remained significant. There was a similar, however, not statistically significant association in men. In addition, plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol levels were significantly higher in women who consumed \u22652 eggs/wk than those who consumed eggs less often. CONCLUSION: Egg consumption was positively associated with the risk of diabetes among the Chinese, particularly in women. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2976", "text": "Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains an important public health issue in the United States. There are limited and inconsistent data on the association between egg consumption and fasting glucose or incident diabetes. Objectives: We assessed the association between egg intake and incident diabetes in older adults. Design: In this prospective study of 3898 men and women from the Cardiovascular Health Study (1989\u20132007), we assessed egg consumption by using a picture-sorted food questionnaire and ascertained incident T2D annually by using information on hypoglycemic agents and plasma glucose. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted relative risks. Results: During a mean follow-up of 11.3 y, 313 new cases of T2D occurred. Crude incidence rates of T2D were 7.39, 6.83, 7.00, 6.72, and 12.20 per 1000 person-years in people who reported egg consumption of never, <1 egg/mo, 1\u20133 eggs/mo, 1\u20134 eggs/wk, and almost daily, respectively. In multivariable-adjusted models, there was no association between egg consumption and increased risk of T2D in either sex and overall. In a secondary analysis, dietary cholesterol was not associated with incident diabetes (P for trend = 0.47). In addition, egg consumption was not associated with clinically meaningful differences in fasting glucose, fasting insulin, or measures of insulin resistance despite small absolute analytic differences that were significant. Conclusion: In this cohort of older adults with limited egg intake, there was no association between egg consumption or dietary cholesterol and increased risk of incident T2D."}
{"id": "MED-2977", "text": "OBJECTIVE\u2014Whereas limited and inconsistent findings have been reported on the relation between dietary cholesterol or egg consumption and fasting glucose, no previous study has examined the association between egg consumption and type 2 diabetes. This project sought to examine the relation between egg intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes in two large prospective cohorts. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS\u2014In this prospective study, we used data from two completed randomized trials: 20,703 men from the Physicians' Health Study I (1982\u20132007) and 36,295 women from the Women's Health Study (1992\u20132007). Egg consumption was ascertained using questionnaires, and we used the Cox proportional hazard model to estimate relative risks of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS\u2014During mean follow-up of 20.0 years in men and 11.7 years in women, 1,921 men and 2,112 women developed type 2 diabetes. Compared with no egg consumption, multivariable adjusted hazard ratios for type 2 diabetes were 1.09 (95% CI 0.87\u20131.37), 1.09 (0.88\u20131.34), 1.18 (0.95\u20131.45), 1.46 (1.14\u20131.86), and 1.58 (1.25\u20132.01) for consumption of <1, 1, 2\u20134, 5\u20136, and \u22657 eggs/week, respectively, in men (P for trend <0.0001). Corresponding multivariable hazard ratios for women were 1.06 (0.92\u20131.22), 0.97 (0.83\u20131.12), 1.19 (1.03\u20131.38), 1.18 (0.88\u20131.58), and 1.77 (1.28\u20132.43), respectively (P for trend <0.0001). CONCLUSIONS\u2014These data suggest that high levels of egg consumption (daily) are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Confirmation of these findings in other populations is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-2978", "text": "Diets high in protein have shown positive effects on short-term weight reduction and glycaemic control. However, the understanding of how dietary macronutrient composition relates to long-term risk of type 2 diabetes is limited. The aim of the present study was to examine intakes of macronutrients, fibre and protein sources in relation to incident type 2 diabetes. In total, 27 140 individuals, aged 45-74 years, from the population-based Malm\u00f6 Diet and Cancer cohort, were included. Dietary data were collected with a modified diet history method, including registration of cooked meals. During 12 years of follow-up, 1709 incident type 2 diabetes cases were identified. High protein intake was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio (HR) 1.27 for highest compared with lowest quintile; 95 % CI 1.08, 1.49; P for trend = 0.01). When protein consumption increased by 5 % of energy at the expense of carbohydrates (HR 1.20; 95 % CI 1.09, 1.33) or fat (HR 1.21; 95 % CI 1.09, 1.33), increased diabetes risk was observed. Intakes in the highest quintiles of processed meat (HR 1.16; 95 % CI 1.00, 1.36; P for trend = 0.01) and eggs (HR 1.21; 95 % CI 1.04, 1.41; P for trend = 0.02) were associated with increased risk. Intake of fibre-rich bread and cereals was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes (HR 0.84; 95 % CI 0.73, 0.98; P for trend = 0.004). In conclusion, results from the present large population-based prospective study indicate that high protein intake is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Replacing protein with carbohydrates may be favourable, especially if fibre-rich breads and cereals are chosen as carbohydrate sources."}
{"id": "MED-2979", "text": "Disrupted iron metabolism and excess iron accumulation has been reported in the brains of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Because excessive iron can induce oxidative stress subsequently causing degradation of nigral dopaminergic neurons in PD, we determined the protective effect of a naturally occurring iron chelator, phytic acid (IP6), on 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP(+))-induced cell death in immortalized rat mesencephalic/dopaminergic cells. Cell death was induced with MPP(+) in normal and iron-excess conditions and cytotoxicity was measured by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT assay) and trypan blue staining. Apoptotic cell death was also measured with caspase-3 activity, DNA fragmentation, and Hoechst nuclear staining. Compared to MPP(+) treatment, IP6 (30 micromol/L) increased cell viability by 19% (P<0.05) and decreased cell death by 22% (P<0.05). A threefold increase in caspase-3 activity (P<0.001) and a twofold increase in DNA fragmentation (P<0.05) with MPP(+) treatment was decreased by 55% (P<0.01) and 52% (P<0.05), respectively with IP6. Cell survival was increased by 18% (P<0.05) and 42% (P<0.001) with 30 and 100 micromol/L of IP6, respectively in iron-excess conditions. A 40% and 52% (P<0.001) protection was observed in caspase-3 activity with 30 and 100 micromol/L IP6, respectively in iron-excess condition. Similarly, a 45% reduction (P<0.001) in DNA fragmentation was found with 100 micromol/L IP6. In addition, Hoechst nuclear staining results confirmed the protective effect of IP6 against apoptosis. Similar protection was also observed with the differentiated cells. Collectively, our results demonstrate a significant neuroprotective effect of phytate in a cell culture model of PD."}
{"id": "MED-2980", "text": "Background Inoxitol hexakisphosphate (IP6) has been found to have an important role in biomineralization and a direct effect inhibiting mineralization of osteoblasts in vitro without impairing extracellular matrix production and expression of alkaline phosphatase. IP6 has been proposed to exhibit similar effects to those of bisphosphonates on bone resorption, however, its direct effect on osteoclasts (OCL) is presently unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of IP6 on the RAW 264.7 monocyte/macrophage mouse cell line and on human primary osteoclasts. On one hand, we show that IP6 decreases the osteoclastogenesis in RAW 264.7 cells induced by RANKL, without affecting cell proliferation or cell viability. The number of TRAP positive cells and mRNA levels of osteoclast markers such as TRAP, calcitonin receptor, cathepsin K and MMP-9 was decreased by IP6 on RANKL-treated cells. On the contrary, when giving IP6 to mature osteoclasts after RANKL treatment, a significant increase of bone resorption activity and TRAP mRNA levels was found. On the other hand, we show that 1 \u00b5M of IP6 inhibits osteoclastogenesis of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) and their resorption activity both, when given to undifferentiated and to mature osteoclasts. Conclusions/Significance Our results demonstrate that IP6 inhibits osteoclastogenesis on human PBMNC and on the RAW264.7 cell line. Thus, IP6 may represent a novel type of selective inhibitor of osteoclasts and prove useful for the treatment of osteoporosis."}
{"id": "MED-2982", "text": "AIM: Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is a serious oral complication of supportive cancer therapy and the best method of treatment is still unclear. The purpose of this article is to analyze the type of treatment and outcome in a large patient cohort with BRONJ. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 142 patients suffering from BRONJ at different sites were studied. All patients had been treated with intravenous bisphosphonates for various oncological disease. A descriptive analysis of all relevant patient data was performed with particular emphasis on surgical outcome. RESULTS: The mandible was affected in 58% of the patients. All but two patients had previous invasive dental procedures. The mean duration of bisphosphonate treatment was 37.1 months. A total of 86% of the patients were treated surgically, including sequestrectomies and mandibular resections. Soft-tissue reconstruction was achieved by local closure, myofascial flap using the mylohyoid muscle, and a vascularized fasciocutaneous flap in one patient. No bony reconstruction was performed. CONCLUSION: Surgical treatment of BRONJ remains challenging. There is only limited evidence that oncologic patients with BRONJ are candidates for vascularized bone reconstruction."}
{"id": "MED-2983", "text": "The effects of maize-bran phytate and of a polyphenol (tannic acid) on iron absorption from a white-bread meal were tested in 199 subjects. The phytate content was varied by adding different concentrations of phytate-free and ordinary maize bran. Iron absorption decreased progressively when maize bran containing increasing amounts of phytate phosphorous (phytate P) (from 10 to 58 mg) was given. The inhibitory effect was overcome by 30 mg ascorbic acid. The inhibitory effects of tannic acid (from 12 to 55 mg) were also dose dependent. Studies suggested that greater than or equal to 50 mg ascorbic acid would be required to overcome the inhibitory effects on iron absorption of any meal containing greater than 100 mg tannic acid. Our findings indicate that it may be possible to predict the bioavailability of iron in a diet if due account is taken of the relative content in the diet of the major promoters and inhibitors of iron absorption."}
{"id": "MED-2984", "text": "In nutritional epidemiology, it is often assumed that nutrient absorption is proportional to nutrient intake. For several nutrients, including non-haem Fe, this assumption may not hold. Depending on the nutrients ingested with non-haem Fe, its availability for absorption varies greatly. Therefore, using Fe intake to examine associations between Fe and health can impact upon the validity of findings. Previous algorithms that adjust Fe intakes for dietary factors known to affect absorption have been found to underestimate Fe absorption and, in the present study, perform poorly on independent dietary data. We have designed a new algorithm to adjust Fe intakes for the effects of ascorbic acid, meat, fish and poultry, phytate, polyphenols and Ca, incorporating not only absorption data from test meals but also current understanding of Fe absorption. In so doing, we have created a robust and universal Fe algorithm with potential for use in large cohorts. The algorithm described aims not to predict Fe absorption but available Fe in the gut, a measure we believe to be of greater use in epidemiological research. Available Fe is Fe available for absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, taking into account enhancing or inhibiting effects of dietary modifiers. Our algorithm successfully estimated average Fe availability in test meal data used to construct the algorithm and, unlike other algorithms tested, also provided plausible predictions when applied to independent dietary data. Future research is needed to evaluate the extent to which this algorithm is useful in epidemiological research to relate Fe to health outcomes."}
{"id": "MED-2985", "text": "Several risk factors seem to play a role in the development of osteoporosis. Phytate is a naturally occurring compound that is ingested in significant amounts by those with diets rich in whole grains. The aim of this study was to evaluate phytate consumption as a risk factor in osteoporosis. In a first group of 1,473 volunteer subjects, bone mineral density was determined by means of dual radiological absorptiometry in the calcaneus. In a second group of 433 subjects (used for validation of results obtained for the first group), bone mineral density was determined in the lumbar column and the neck of the femur. Subjects were individually interviewed about selected osteoporosis risk factors. Dietary information related to phytate consumption was acquired by questionnaires conducted on two different occasions, the second between 2 and 3 months after performing the first one. One-way analysis of variance or Student's t test was used to determine statistical differences between groups. Bone mineral density increased with increasing phytate consumption. Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that body weight and low phytate consumption were the risk factors with greatest influence on bone mineral density. Phytate consumption had a protective effect against osteoporosis, suggesting that low phytate consumption should be considered an osteoporosis risk factor."}
{"id": "MED-2986", "text": "Zinc metabolism in male rats was studied by combining nutritional balance methods with an analysis of 65Zn kinetics. The rats, two groups of 84 each, were fed zinc-adequate diets (33 ppm Zn) with either 0 (basal) or 2% phytic acid added as sodium phytate. A fourth-order exponential function described the time-course of 65Zn in plasma, and compartmental models were developed accordingly. Plasma zinc exchanged more rapidly with zinc in liver and kidneys than it did with zinc in testes, skeletal muscle, or bone. Total body zinc content (2.6 mg/100 g live body weight) measured chemically was about 9 times higher than estimates of exchangeable zinc in the body. Whole-body retention of 65Zn was higher and endogenous fecal zinc excretion was lower in rats fed phytate than in those fed the basal diet; these responses to phytate may reflect a homeostatic adjustment to decreased absorption of zinc. Respective values for apparent absorption and true absorption of zinc were 13 and 32% of zinc intake in rats fed phytate, and 19 and 46% of zinc intake in rats fed the basal diet. When whole grains or mature seeds constitute a major portion of the diet, the phytate: zinc molar ratio may approach that (60:1) used in our study. Whether or not phytic acid occurring naturally in foods affects zinc metabolism to the same extent as sodium phytate can not be determined from our study."}
{"id": "MED-2987", "text": "INTRODUCTION: The objective of this paper was to evaluate the relationship between urinary concentrations of InsP6, bone mass loss and risk fracture in postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 157 postmenopausal women were included in the study: 70 had low (\u22640.76 \u03bcM), 42 intermediate (0.76-1.42 \u03bcM) and 45 high (\u22651.42 \u03bcM) urinary phytate concentrations. Densitometry values for neck were measured at enrollment and after 12 months (lumbar spine and femoral neck), and 10-year risk fracture was calculated using the tool FRAX(\u00ae). RESULTS: Individuals with low InsP6 levels had significantly greater bone mass loss in the lumbar spine (3.08 \u00b1 0.65 % vs. 0.43 \u00b1 0.55 %) than did those with high phytate levels. Moreover, a significantly greater percentage of women with low than with high InsP6 levels showed more than 2 % of bone mass loss in the lumbar spine (55.6 vs. 20.7 %). The 10-year fracture probability was also significantly higher in the low-phytate group compared to the high-phytate group, both in hip (0.37 \u00b1 0.06 % vs 0.18 \u00b1 0.04 %) and major osteoporotic fracture (2.45 \u00b1 0.24 % vs 1.83 \u00b1 0.11 %). DISCUSSION: It can be concluded that high urinary phytate concentrations are correlated with reduced bone mass loss in lumbar spine over 12 months and with reduced 10-year probability of hip and major osteoporotic fracture, indicating that increased phytate consumption can prevent development of osteoporosis."}
{"id": "MED-2988", "text": "This review describes the present state of knowledge about phytic acid (phytate), which is often present in legume seeds. The antinutritional effects of phytic acid primarily relate to the strong chelating associated with its six reactive phosphate groups. Its ability to complex with proteins and particularly with minerals has been a subject of investigation from chemical and nutritional viewpoints. The hydrolysis of phytate into inositol and phosphates or phosphoric acid occurs as a result of phytase or nonenzymatic cleavage. Enzymes capable of hydrolysing phytates are widely distributed in micro-organisms, plants and animals. Phytases act in a stepwise manner to catalyse the hydrolysis of phytic acid. To reduce or eliminate the chelating ability of phytate, dephosphorylation of hexa- and penta-phosphate forms is essential since a high degree of phosphorylation is necessary to bind minerals. There are several methods of decreasing the inhibitory effect of phytic acid on mineral absorption (cooking, germination, fermentation, soaking, autolysis). Nevertheless, inositol hexaphosphate is receiving increased attention owing to its role in cancer prevention and/or therapy and its hypocholesterolaemic effect."}
{"id": "MED-2989", "text": "This study evaluated the relationship between phytate urinary levels and bone characteristics in a large population of postmenopausal women. The study population consisted of 180 postmenopausal women who participated in a descriptive cross-sectional study. A urine sample was collected from each subject to determine phytate levels and the volunteers were divided into two groups according to phytate urinary concentration (i.e., low and high levels). Bone mineral density was determined in the lumbar spine and femoral neck of groups with low and high phytate urinary levels. Urinary levels of phytate were linked to dietary phytate consumption. Hence, bone mineral density values were significantly higher in the lumbar spines and femoral necks of women who consumed high levels of phytate than in women with low urinary phytate concentrations. Higher urinary levels of phytate correlated with higher bone mineral density in the lumbar spine and femoral necks of postmenopausal women. This finding demonstrates the potential use of phytate in the treatment of bone related diseases, as it uses a mechanism of action similar to some bisphosphonates."}
{"id": "MED-2990", "text": "ONJ has been increasingly suspected to be a potential complication of bisphosphonate therapy in recent years. Thus, the ASBMR leadership appointed a multidisciplinary task force to address key questions related to case definition, epidemiology, risk factors, diagnostic imaging, clinical management, and future areas for research related to the disorder. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the task force. INTRODUCTION: The increasing recognition that use of bisphosphonates may be associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) led the leadership of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) to appoint a task force to address a number of key questions related to this disorder. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multidisciplinary expert group reviewed all pertinent published data on bisphosphonate-associated ONJ. Food and Drug Administration drug adverse event reports were also reviewed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A case definition was developed so that subsequent studies could report on the same condition. The task force defined ONJ as the presence of exposed bone in the maxillofacial region that did not heal within 8 wk after identification by a health care provider. Based on review of both published and unpublished data, the risk of ONJ associated with oral bisphosphonate therapy for osteoporosis seems to be low, estimated between 1 in 10,000 and <1 in 100,000 patient-treatment years. However, the task force recognized that information on incidence of ONJ is rapidly evolving and that the true incidence may be higher. The risk of ONJ in patients with cancer treated with high doses of intravenous bisphosphonates is clearly higher, in the range of 1-10 per 100 patients (depending on duration of therapy). In the future, improved diagnostic imaging modalities, such as optical coherence tomography or MRI combined with contrast agents and the manipulation of image planes, may identify patients at preclinical or early stages of the disease. Management is largely supportive. A research agenda aimed at filling the considerable gaps in knowledge regarding this disorder was also outlined."}
{"id": "MED-2991", "text": "PURPOSE: To determine the contents of chicken nuggets from 2 national food chains. BACKGROUND: Chicken nuggets have become a major component of the American diet. We sought to determine the current composition of this highly processed food. METHODS: Randomly selected nuggets from 2 different national fast food chains were fixed in formalin, sectioned and stained for microscopic analysis. RESULTS: Striated muscle (chicken meat) was not the predominate component in either nugget. Fat was present in equal or greater quantities along with epithelium, bone, nerve, and connective tissue. CONCLUSION: Chicken nuggets are mostly fat, and their name is a misnomer. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-2992", "text": "4-Methylimidazole (4MI) is used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, photographic chemicals, dyes and pigments, cleaning and agricultural chemicals, and rubber. It has been identified as a by-product of fermentation in foods and has been detected in mainstream and side stream tobacco smoke. 4MI was studied because of its high potential for human exposure. Groups of 50 male and 50 female F344/N rats were fed diets containing 0-, 625-, 1,250-, or 2,500-ppm 4MI (males) or 0-, 1,250-, 2,500-, or 5,000-ppm 4MI (females) for 106 weeks. Based on the food consumption the calculated average daily doses were approximately 30, 55, or 115 mg 4MI/kg body weight to males and 60, 120, or 250 mg 4MI/kg to females. Survival of all exposed groups of males and females was similar to that of the control groups. Mean body weights of males in the 1,250- and 2,500-ppm groups and females in the 2,500- and 5,000-ppm groups were less than those of the control groups throughout the study. Feed consumption by 5,000-ppm females was less than that by the controls. Clonic seizures, excitability, hyperactivity, and impaired gait were observed primarily in 2,500- and 5,000-ppm females. The incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia in the 5,000-ppm females was significantly greater than that in the controls. The incidences of hepatic histiocytosis, chronic inflammation, and focal fatty change were significantly increased in all exposed groups of male and female rats. The incidences of hepatocellular eosinophilic and mixed cell foci were significantly increased in 2,500-ppm males and 5,000-ppm females. Groups of 50 male and 50 female B6C3F1 mice were fed diets containing 0-, 312-, 625-, or 1,250-ppm 4MI for 106 weeks. Based on the food consumption the calculated average daily doses were approximately 40, 80, or 170 mg 4MI/kg body weight to males and females. Survival of all exposed groups of males and females was similar to that of the control groups. Mean body weights of males and females in the 1,250-ppm groups and that in the 312- and 625-ppm females were less than those of the control groups. Feed consumption by exposed groups of male and female mice was similar to that by the controls. The incidences of alveolar/bronchiolar adenoma in all exposed groups of females, alveolar/bronchiolar carcinoma in 1,250-ppm males, and alveolar/bronchiolar adenoma or carcinoma (combined) in 1,250-ppm males and 625- and 1,250-ppm females were significantly greater than those in the control groups. The incidence of alveolar epithelial hyperplasia was significantly increased in the 1,250-ppm females. 4MI is carcinogenic inducing alveolar/bronchiolar adenoma and carcinoma in male and female mice. 4MI may also induce mononuclear cell leukemia in female rats."}
{"id": "MED-2994", "text": "2- and 4-methylimidazoles are present as contaminants in caramel colorings manufactured with ammonia catalysts. Both contaminants have been shown to induce cancer in animals and may be present in caramel colorings in amounts that exceed federal guidelines. California requires warning notices on products that could lead to consumption of more than 30 micrograms per day. The US Food and Drug Administration should bar the use of excessively contaminated caramel coloring in food."}
{"id": "MED-2999", "text": "Many of the commonest diseases in the economically more developed communities are characteristic of modern Western culture. Evidence is presented suggesting that they represent a failure of adaptation to the dramatic changes in diet that have been associated with the emergence of modern Western culture. Dietary changes aimed at the alleviation and prevention of these diseases are discussed and recommended."}
{"id": "MED-3000", "text": "An increased risk for colorectal cancer has been consistently reported for long-time consumption of cooked and processed red meat. This has frequently been attributed to chemical carcinogens arising during the cooking process of meat. Long-time fish or poultry consumption apparently does not increase the risk, although similar or higher concentrations of chemical carcinogens were recorded in their preparation for consumption. The geographic epidemiology of colorectal cancer seems to correspond to regions with a high rate of beef consumption. Countries with a virtual absence of beef in the diet (India) or where preferably lamb or goat meat is consumed (several Arabic countries) reveal low rates of colorectal cancer. In China, pork consumption has a long tradition, with an intermediate colorectal cancer rate. In Japan and Korea, large scale beef and pork imports started after World War II or after the Korean War. A steep rise in colorectal cancer incidence was noted after 1970 in Japan and 1990 in Korea. The consumption of undercooked beef (e.g., shabu-shabu, Korean yukhoe and Japanese yukke) became very popular in both countries. The available data are compatible with the interpretation that a specific beef factor, suspected to be one or more thermoresistant potentially oncogenic bovine viruses (e.g., polyoma-, papilloma- or possibly single-stranded DNA viruses) may contaminate beef preparations and lead to latent infections in the colorectal tract. Preceding, concomitant or subsequent exposure to chemical carcinogens arising during cooking procedures should result in increased risk for colorectal cancer synergistic with these infections. Copyright \u00a9 2011 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-3001", "text": "Over the last three decades, the concept of Western disease has become well established. Medicine has approached this group of diseases by searching for new cures but has achieved relatively little success. We argue that medicine should now accept the failure of this strategy and place a major emphasis on prevention. The key objective is to change the climate of opinion so that prevention is taken seriously by the general population. The chief activity should be a wide ranging public education campaign so as to persuade people to live a healthier lifestyle. Medicine will require restructuring in order to carry out this work. Medical education needs to be reformed so that medical students receive the necessary training. This must be done as part of an integrated approach in which government, industry and medical research all play a major role. Governments should use taxation and subsidies in areas such as food and tobacco so as to shift consumption patterns towards healthier products. Governments must also tighten laws on tobacco sales and advertising, support health education, and improve food labelling. Industry must be made far more responsive to the health needs of the population. This should be done both by public education, so as to alter demand, and by government action. Medical research should change its emphasis from studying the detailed mechanisms of disease (\"complex research\") to studying the role of lifestyle factors (\"simple research\")."}
{"id": "MED-3012", "text": "The fish ingredient N3-docosahexaenoic acid 22:6 n-3 (DHA) stimulates brain development. On the other hand methylmercury (MeHg) in fish disturbs the developing central nervous system. In this Context the IQ score in children is considered as an aggregate measure of in utero brain development. To determine the effect of DHA exposure on prenatal neurodevelopment the maternal DHA intake during pregnancy was compared with its epidemiologically observed effect on the IQ score of children. For MeHg the maternal intake was converted into its accumulation in the maternal body. The maternal body burden then was compared with its epidemiologically observed relationship with the IQ score. Taking the MeHg and DHA content of 33 fish species the net effect of these compounds on the IQ score was quantified. For most fish species the adverse effect of MeHg on the IQ score exceeded the beneficial effect of DHA. In the case of long-living predators a negative effect up to 10 points on the IQ score was found. The results of this study indicate that food interventions aiming at the beneficial effects of fish consumption should focus on fish species with a high DHA content, while avoiding fish species with a high MeHg content. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3013", "text": "A 2002 analysis documented $54.9 billion in annual costs of environmentally mediated diseases in US children. However, few important changes in federal policy have been implemented to prevent exposures to toxic chemicals. We therefore updated and expanded the previous analysis and found that the costs of lead poisoning, prenatal methylmercury exposure, childhood cancer, asthma, intellectual disability, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were $76.6 billion in 2008. To prevent further increases in these costs, efforts are needed to institute premarket testing of new chemicals; conduct toxicity testing on chemicals already in use; reduce lead-based paint hazards; and curb mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants."}
{"id": "MED-3019", "text": "Background: Methylmercury (MeHg) is a known neuro-toxicant. Emerging evidence indicates it may have adverse effects on the neuro-logic and other body systems at common low levels of exposure. Impacts of MeHg exposure could vary by individual susceptibility or be confounded by bene-ficial nutrients in fish containing MeHg. Despite its global relevance, synthesis of the available literature on low-level MeHg exposure has been limited. Objectives: We undertook a synthesis of the current knowledge on the human health effects of low-level MeHg exposure to provide a basis for future research efforts, risk assessment, and exposure remediation policies worldwide. Data sources and extraction: We reviewed the published literature for original human epidemio-logic research articles that reported a direct biomarker of mercury exposure. To focus on high-quality studies and those specifically on low mercury exposure, we excluded case series, as well as studies of populations with unusually high fish consumption (e.g., the Seychelles), marine mammal consumption (e.g., the Faroe Islands, circumpolar, and other indigenous populations), or consumption of highly contaminated fish (e.g., gold-mining regions in the Amazon). Data synthesis: Recent evidence raises the possibility of effects of low-level MeHg exposure on fetal growth among susceptible subgroups and on infant growth in the first 2 years of life. Low-level effects of MeHg on neuro-logic outcomes may differ by age, sex, and timing of exposure. No clear pattern has been observed for cardio-vascular disease (CVD) risk across populations or for specific CVD end points. For the few studies evaluating immunologic effects associated with MeHg, results have been inconsistent. Conclusions: Studies targeted at identifying potential mechanisms of low-level MeHg effects and characterizing individual susceptibility, sexual dimorphism, and non-linearity in dose response would help guide future prevention, policy, and regulatory efforts surrounding MeHg exposure."}
{"id": "MED-3021", "text": "The hair-to-blood ratio and biological half-life of methylmercury in a one-compartment model seem to differ between past and recent studies. To reevaluate them, 27 healthy volunteers were exposed to methylmercury at the provisional tolerable weekly intake (3.4 \u00b5g/kg body weight/week) for adults through fish consumption for 14 weeks, followed by a 15-week washout period after the cessation of exposure. Blood was collected every 1 or 2 weeks, and hair was cut every 4 weeks. Total mercury (T-Hg) concentrations were analyzed in blood and hair. The T-Hg levels of blood and hair changed with time (p < 0.001). The mean concentrations increased from 6.7 ng/g at week 0 to 26.9 ng/g at week 14 in blood, and from 2.3 to 8.8 \u00b5g/g in hair. The mean hair-to-blood ratio after the adjustment for the time lag from blood to hair was 344 \u00b1 54 (S.D.) for the entire period. The half-lives of T-Hg were calculated from raw data to be 94 \u00b1 23 days for blood and 102 \u00b1 31 days for hair, but the half-lives recalculated after subtracting the background levels from the raw data were 57 \u00b1 18 and 64 \u00b1 22 days, respectively. In conclusion, the hair-to-blood ratio of methylmercury, based on past studies, appears to be underestimated in light of recent studies. The crude half-life may be preferred rather than the recalculated one because of the practicability and uncertainties of the background level, though the latter half-life may approximate the conventional one."}
{"id": "MED-3022", "text": "Methylmercury (MM) is a very potent neurotoxic agent. Its role in polluting the environment is well documented. A vast amount of study over the past several decades has finally provided insight into many aspects of its effect. Exposure to MM may be through ingestion of poisoned fish or inadvertent misuse of grain treated with the poison as a fungicide. Major epidemics have occurred in Japan (Fetal Minamata disease), Iraq, Pakistan, Guatemala, and Ghana. Sporadic incidences have occurred in the United States and Canada. There is no effective antidote to counteract the effect of MM on the central nervous system, although the information documented should provide hope for more effective therapy in acute cases."}
{"id": "MED-3023", "text": "Exposure to methylmercury at any stage of central nervous system development could induce alterations and result in severe congenital abnormalities. Total mercury level in maternal hair during pregnancy correlates well with blood levels of methylmercury and with total mercury levels in fetal brain. A prospective study has been conducted and a total of 137 childbearing women living at the coastal region with term, normal pregnancies were included and their newborns evaluated by ultrasonography. Mothers and their newborns are divided in two groups according to their hair mercury levels; examined group with high body levels of mercury (\u2265 1 \u03bcg/g) and control group with low body levels of mercury (<1 \u03bcg/g). Neurosonographic examination was conducted to all newborns. Two dimensions of cerebellum in the sagital-medial plane have been measured: maximum height and width starting from the roof of the fourth chamber. Majority of mothers had hair mercury levels lower than 1 \u03bcg/g (N = 107). Mean value was 0.88 \u03bcg/g (SD 1.24), ranging from 0.02 to 8.71 \u03bcg/g. There was no significant difference between the two groups when it comes to the width of cerebellum (Mann-Whitney test: Z = 1471; p = 0.141). However, comparison related to the length of cerebellum shows statistically significant smaller cerebellum in newborns whose mother had hair mercury levels higher than 1 \u03bcg/g (Mann-Whitney test: Z = 2329; p = 0.019). Our results lead to a conclusion that prenatal exposure to, what we consider to be, low-levels of methylmercury does influence fetal brain development detected as decreased size of newborn's cerebellum. From a clinical point of view, a question related to the influence of prenatal low-level methylmercury exposure on fetal neurodevelopment remains open. Our further objectives are to direct the research towards performing detailed neuropshychological tests on children at the age of 18 months. Such tests could indicate the presence of subtle neurological or neuropsychological deficits. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3024", "text": "This experiment aimed to study the molecular toxicity of methylmercury (MeHg) in liver, brain and white muscle of Atlantic salmon fed a diet based on fish oil (FO, high dietary n-3/n-6 ratio) compared to an alternative diet mainly based on vegetable oil (VO, low dietary n-3/n-6 ratio). Juvenile salmon were fed decontaminated diets or the FO and VO diets enriched with 5 mg Hg/kg (added as MeHg) for three months. The dietary lipid composition affected the fatty acid composition in the tissues, especially in liver and white muscle. After 84 days of exposure, the liver accumulated three times as much MeHg as the brain and white muscle. Vitamin C content and heme oxygenase, tubulin alpha (TUBA) and Cpt1 transcriptional levels all showed significant effects of MeHg exposure in the liver. TBARS, \u03b1-tocopherol, \u03b3-tocopherol, and the transcriptional levels of thioredoxin, heme oxygenase, TUBA, PPARB1, D5D and D6D showed an effect of dietary lipid composition in liver tissue. Effects of dietary lipids were observed in brain tissue for MT-A, HIF1, Bcl-X and TUBA. Interaction effects between MeHg exposure and dietary lipid composition were observed in all tissues. Our data suggest that dietary fats have modulating effects on MeHg toxicity in Atlantic salmon. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3025", "text": "Detailed clinical and neuropathological studies have been made in two fullterm newborn human infants who were exposed to methylmercury in utero as a result of maternal ingestion of methylmercury-contaminated bread in early phases of pregnancy. High levels of mercury were detected in various regions of the brain at autopsy. Study of the brains revealed a disturbance in the development in both cases, consisting essentially of an incomplete or abnormal migration of neurons to the cerebellar and cerebral cortices, and deranged cortical organization of the cerebrum. There were numerous heterotopic neurons, both isolated and in groups, in the white matter of cerebrum and cerebellum and the laminar cortical pattern of the laminar cortical pattern of the cerebrum was disturbed in many regions as was shown by the irregular groupings and the deranged alignment of cortical. Prominent in the white matter of the cerebrum and the cerebellum was diffuse gemistocytic astrocytosis accompanied by an accumulation of mercury grains in their cytoplasm. These findings indicate a high degree of vulnerability of human fetal brain to maternal intoxication by methylmercury. A major effect appears to be related to faulty development and not to destructive focal neuronal damage as has been observed in mercury intoxicaiton in adults and children exposed postnatally."}
{"id": "MED-3027", "text": "Background Some persistent environmental chemicals are suspected of causing an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, a disease particularly common after age 70. This concern was examined in a cross-sectional study of elderly subjects in a population with elevated contaminant exposures from seafood species high in the food chain. Methods Clinical examinations of 713 Faroese residents aged 70-74 years (64% of eligible population) included fasting plasma concentrations of glucose and insulin, and glycosylated hemoglobin. Lifetime exposure to persistent environmental chemicals from pilot whale and other traditional food was estimated from a dietary questionnaire and by analysis of blood samples for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and related food contaminants. Results Septuagenarians with type 2 diabetes or impaired fasting glycemia tended to have higher PCB concentrations and higher past intake of traditional foods, especially during childhood and adolescence. In non-diabetic subjects, the fasting insulin concentration decreased by 7% (95% CI= \u221212% to \u22122%) for each doubling of the PCB concentration after adjustment for sex and body mass index at age 20. Conversely, the fasting glucose concentration increased by 6% (\u22121% to 13%) for each doubling in PCB. Similar associations were seen in subjects without impaired fasting glycemia, while further adjustment for current body mass index and lipid metabolism parameters attenuated some of the associations. Conclusions Impaired insulin secretion appears to constitute an important part of the type 2 diabetes pathogenesis associated with exposure to persistent lipophilic food contaminants."}
{"id": "MED-3028", "text": "OBJECTIVE The evidence on the association between fish consumption, dietary long-chain n-3 fatty acids, and risk of type 2 diabetes is inconsistent. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available prospective evidence. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Studies were identified by searching the PubMed and EMBASE databases through 15 December 2011 and by reviewing the reference lists of retrieved articles. Prospective studies were included if they reported relative risk (RR) estimates with 95% CIs for the association between fish consumption and/or dietary long-chain n-3 fatty acids and incidence of type 2 diabetes. A dose-response random-effects model was used to combine study-specific RRs. Potential sources of heterogeneity were explored by prespecified stratifications. RESULTS Sixteen studies involving 527,441 participants and 24,082 diabetes cases were included. Considerable statistical heterogeneity in the overall summary estimates was partly explained by geographical differences. For each serving per week increment in fish consumption, the RRs (95% CIs) of type 2 diabetes were 1.05 (1.02\u20131.09), 1.03 (0.96\u20131.11), and 0.98 (0.97\u20131.00) combining U.S., European, and Asian/Australian studies, respectively. For each 0.30 g per day increment in long-chain n-3 fatty acids, the corresponding summary estimates were 1.17 (1.09\u20131.26), 0.98 (0.70\u20131.37), and 0.90 (0.82\u20130.98). CONCLUSIONS Results from this meta-analysis indicate differences between geographical regions in observed associations of fish consumption and dietary intake of long-chain n-3 fatty acids with risk of type 2 diabetes. In consideration of the heterogeneous results, the relationship warrants further investigation. Meanwhile, current public health recommendations on fish consumption should be upheld unchanged."}
{"id": "MED-3029", "text": "Background: Diverse perspectives have influenced fish consumption choices. Objectives: We summarized the issue of fish consumption choice from toxicological, nutritional, ecological, and economic points of view; identified areas of overlap and disagreement among these viewpoints; and reviewed effects of previous fish consumption advisories. Methods: We reviewed published scientific literature, public health guidelines, and advisories related to fish consumption, focusing on advisories targeted at U.S. populations. However, our conclusions apply to groups having similar fish consumption patterns. Discussion: There are many possible combinations of matters related to fish consumption, but few, if any, fish consumption patterns optimize all domains. Fish provides a rich source of protein and other nutrients, but because of contamination by methylmercury and other toxicants, higher fish intake often leads to greater toxicant exposure. Furthermore, stocks of wild fish are not adequate to meet the nutrient demands of the growing world population, and fish consumption choices also have a broad economic impact on the fishing industry. Most guidance does not account for ecological and economic impacts of different fish consumption choices. Conclusion: Despite the relative lack of information integrating the health, ecological, and economic impacts of different fish choices, clear and simple guidance is necessary to effect desired changes. Thus, more comprehensive advice can be developed to describe the multiple impacts of fish consumption. In addition, policy and fishery management inter-ventions will be necessary to ensure long-term availability of fish as an important source of human nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-3030", "text": "Consumption of marine fish provides both benefits (lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids and essential nutrients) and risks (main source of mercury (Hg) exposure for humans). Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and the source of more fish advisories nationwide than any other toxicant. Despite the widespread nature of Hg, it is unknown whether local Hg contamination reflects national and regional levels often used as bases to inform consumers of potential fish consumption risk. Thus, the objectives of our study were to examine Hg levels of six commonly consumed marine species harvested locally off the North Carolina coast and to compare our results to published regional (Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch List) and national (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and Food and Drug Administration, FDA) Hg averages, action levels, and guidelines. We found significant differences in Hg concentrations among collected species, and we identified correlations between Hg concentration and fish length and trophic levels. Collected mahi mahi and triggerfish were below the EPA fish tissue action level (0.3ppm). Wahoo and grouper exceeded the EPA action level but were below the FDA action level (1.0ppm). King mackerel had the highest Hg concentration among targeted species, exceeding both EPA and FDA action levels. Further, our local results were not always consistent with calculated averages from EPA and FDA databases for the same species, and although many of our findings were consistent with Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch List (southeast region), recommendations based on Hg levels would conflict with recommendations they provide based on sustainability. We find regional and national averages are not always reflective of local Hg contamination and suggest local data may be needed to accurately assess consumer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3031", "text": "Background: Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that presents public health risks through fish consumption. A major source of uncertainty in evaluating harmful exposure is inadequate knowledge of Hg concentrations in commercially important seafood. Objectives: We examined patterns, variability, and knowledge gaps of Hg in common commercial seafood items in the United States and compared seafood Hg concentrations from our database to those used for exposure estimates and consumption advice. Methods: We developed a database of Hg concentrations in fish and shellfish common to the U.S. market by aggregating available data from government monitoring programs and the scientific literature. We calculated a grand mean for individual seafood items, based on reported means from individual studies, weighted by sample size. We also compared database results to those of federal programs and human health criteria [U.S. Food and Drug Administration Hg Monitoring Program (FDA-MP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)]. Results: Mean Hg concentrations for each seafood item were highly variable among studies, spanning 0.3\u20132.4 orders of magnitude. Farmed fish generally had lower grand mean Hg concentrations than their wild counterparts, with wild seafood having 2- to12-fold higher concentrations, depending on the seafood item. However, farmed fish are relatively understudied, as are specific seafood items and seafood imports from Asia and South America. Finally, we found large discrepancies between mean Hg concentrations estimated from our database and FDA-MP estimates for most seafood items examined. Conclusions: The high variability in Hg in common seafood items has considerable ramifications for public health and the formulation of consumption guidelines. Exposure and risk analyses derived from smaller data sets do not reflect our collective, available information on seafood Hg concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-3032", "text": "Fish consumption during gestation can provide the fetus with long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) and other nutrients essential for growth and development of the brain. However, fish consumption also exposes the fetus to the neurotoxicant, methyl mercury (MeHg). We studied the association between these fetal exposures and early child development in the Seychelles Child Development Nutrition Study (SCDNS). Specifically, we examined a priori models of \u03a9-3 and \u03a9-6 LCPUFA measures in maternal serum to test the hypothesis that these LCPUFA families before or after adjusting for prenatal MeHg exposure would reveal associations with child development assessed by the BSID-II at ages 9 and 30 months. There were 229 children with complete outcome and covariate data available for analysis. At 9 months, the PDI was positively associated with total \u03a9-3 LCPUFA and negatively associated with the ratio of \u03a9-6/\u03a9-3 LCPUFA. These associations were stronger in models adjusted for prenatal MeHg exposure. Secondary models suggested that the MeHg effect at 9 months varied by the ratio of \u03a9-6/\u03a9-3 LCPUFA. There were no significant associations between LCPUFA measures and the PDI at 30 months. There were significant adverse associations, however, between prenatal MeHg and the 30 month PDI when the LCPUFA measures were included in the regression analysis. The BSID-II Mental Developmental Index (MDI) was not associated with any exposure variable. These data support the potential importance to child development of prenatal availability of \u03a9-3 LCPUFA present in fish and of LCPUFA in the overall diet. Furthermore, they indicate that the beneficial effects of LCPUFA can obscure the determination of adverse effects of prenatal MeHg exposure in longitudinal observational studies."}
{"id": "MED-3033", "text": "Rates of lung cancer in American men have greatly exceeded those in Japanese men for several decades despite the higher smoking prevalence in Japanese men. It is not known whether the relative risk of lung cancer associated with cigarette smoking is lower in Japanese men than American men and whether these risks vary by the amount and duration of smoking. To estimate smoking-specific relative risks for lung cancer in men, a multicentric case-control study was carried out in New York City, Washington, DC, and Nagoya, Japan from 1992 to 1998. A total of 371 cases and 373 age-matched controls were interviewed in United States hospitals and 410 cases and 252 hospital controls in Japanese hospitals; 411 Japanese age-matched healthy controls were also randomly selected from electoral rolls. The odds ratio (OR) for lung cancer in current United States smokers relative to nonsmokers was 40.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 21.8-79.6], which was >10 times higher than the OR of 3.5 for current smokers in Japanese relative to hospital controls (95% CI = 1.6-7.5) and six times higher than in Japanese relative to community controls (OR = 6.3; 95% CI = 3.7-10.9). There were no substantial differences in the mean number of years of smoking or average daily number of cigarettes smoked between United States and Japanese cases or between United States and Japanese controls, but American cases began smoking on average 2.5 years earlier than Japanese cases. The risk of lung cancer associated with cigarette smoking was substantially higher in United States than in Japanese males, consistent with population-based statistics on smoking prevalence and lung cancer incidence. Possible explanations for this difference in risk include a more toxic cigarette formulation of American manufactured cigarettes as evidenced by higher concentrations of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in both tobacco and mainstream smoke, the much wider use of activated charcoal in the filters of Japanese than in American cigarettes, as well as documented differences in genetic susceptibility and lifestyle factors other than smoking."}
{"id": "MED-3034", "text": "In the 1970s several states in the Great Lakes region became concerned about mercury contamination in lakes and rivers and were the first to issue local fish consumption advisories. In 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised pregnant women, nursing mothers, young children, and women who may become pregnant not to consume shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish and recommended that these women not exceed 12 ounces of other fish per week. In 2004, FDA reissued this advice jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and modified it slightly to provide information about consumption of canned tuna and more details about consumption of recreationally caught fish. Though several studies have examined consumers' awareness of the joint FDA and EPA advisory as well as different state advisories, few used representative data. We examined the changes in awareness and knowledge of mercury as a problem in fish using the pooled nationally representative 2001 and 2006 Food Safety Surveys (FSS) with sample sizes of 4482 in 2001 and 2275 in 2006. Our results indicated an increase in consumers' awareness of mercury as a problem in fish (69% in 2001 to 80% in 2006, p<.001). In our regression models, we found that in both years, parents having children less than 5 years of age were more aware of mercury in fish and knowledgeable about the information contained in the national advisories about mercury in fish (p<.01) than other adults. In both 2001 and 2006, women of childbearing age (aged 18-45) were less aware and knowledgeable about this information than other women. However, women of all age groups had larger gains in awareness and knowledge than their male counterparts during this time. Participants' race, education, income, region, fish preparation experiences, having a foodborne illness in the past year, and risk perceptions about the safety of food were significant predictors of their awareness and knowledge. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3035", "text": "Prenatal and early childhood exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are associated with deficits in cognitive, sensory, motor and other functions measured by neurobehavioral tests. The main objective of this pilot study was to determine whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is effective for visualization of brain function alterations related to neurobehavior in subjects with high prenatal exposure to the two neurotoxicants, MeHg and PCBs. Twelve adolescents (all boys) from a Faroese birth cohort assembled in 1986\u20131987 were recruited based on their prenatal exposures to MeHg and PCB. All underwent fMRI scanning during behavioral tasks at age 15 years. Subjects with high mixed exposure to MeHg and PCBs were compared to those with low mixed exposure on fMRI photic stimulation and a motor task. Boys with low mixed exposures showed patterns of fMRI activation during visual and motor tasks that are typical of normal control subjects. However, those with high exposures showed activation in more areas of the brain and different and wider patterns of activation than the low mixed exposure group. The brain activation patterns observed in association with increased exposures to MeHg and PCBs are meaningful in regard to the known neurotoxicity of these substances. This methodology therefore has potential utility in visualizing structural neural system determinants of exposure-induced neurobehavioral dysfunction."}
{"id": "MED-3044", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Cocaine-related cues have been hypothesized to perpetuate drug abuse by inducing a craving response that prompts drug-seeking behavior. However, the mechanisms, underlying neuroanatomy, and specificity of this neuroanatomy are not yet fully understood. METHOD: To address these issues, experienced cocaine users (N=17) and comparison subjects (N=14) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing three separate films that portrayed 1 ) individuals smoking crack cocaine, 2) outdoor nature scenes, and 3) explicit sexual content. Candidate craving sites were identified as those that showed significant activation in the cocaine users when viewing the cocaine film. These sites were then required to show significantly greater activation when contrasted with comparison subjects viewing the cocaine film (population specificity) and cocaine users viewing the nature film (content specificity). RESULTS: Brain regions that satisfied these criteria were largely left lateralized and included the frontal lobe (medial and middle frontal gyri, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus), parietal lobe (bilateral inferior parietal lobule), insula, and limbic lobe (anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus). Of the 13 regions identified as putative craving sites, just three (anterior cingulate, right inferior parietal lobule, and the caudate/lateral dorsal nucleus) showed significantly greater activation during the cocaine film than during the sex film in the cocaine users, which suggests that cocaine cues activated similar neuroanatomical substrates as naturally evocative stimuli in the cocaine users. Finally, contrary to the effects of the cocaine film, cocaine users showed a smaller response than the comparison subjects to the sex film. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that cocaine craving is not associated with a dedicated and unique neuroanatomical circuitry; instead, unique to the cocaine user is the ability of learned, drug-related cues to produce brain activation comparable to that seen with nondrug evocative stimuli in healthy comparison subjects."}
{"id": "MED-3046", "text": "Tobacco smoking is the most frequent form of substance abuse. Several studies have shown that the addictive action of nicotine is mediated by the mesolimbic dopamine system. This system is implicated in reward processing. In order to better understand the relationship between nicotine addiction and reward in humans, we investigated differences between smokers and nonsmokers in the activation of brain regions involved in processing reward information. Using [H2(15O)] positron emission tomography (PET), we measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy smokers and nonsmokers while they performed a prelearned, pattern-recognition task. We compared two conditions involving nonmonetary reinforcement or monetary reward with a baseline condition in which nonsense feedback was presented. With monetary reward, we found activation in the frontal and orbitofrontal cortex, occipital cortex, cingulate gyrus, cerebellum, and midbrain in both groups. Additionally, monetary reward activated typical dopaminergic regions such as the striatum in nonsmokers but not in smokers. We found a similar pattern of activation associated with nonmonetary reinforcement in nonsmokers, whereas activation was found in smokers only in the cerebellum. The different patterns of activation suggest that the brains of smokers react in a different way to reward than those of nonsmokers. This difference involves in particular the regions of the dopaminergic system including the striatum. In principle these observations could be interpreted either as a consequence of tobacco use or as a primitive condition of the brain that led people to smoke. Supported by related nonimaging studies, we interpret these differences as a consequence of tobacco smoking, even if a short-term effect of smoking prior to the experiment cannot be excluded."}
{"id": "MED-3050", "text": "Background: Weight gain leads to reduced reward-region responsivity to energy-dense food receipt, and consumption of an energy-dense diet compared with an isocaloric, low-energy-density diet leads to reduced dopamine receptors. Furthermore, phasic dopamine signaling to palatable food receipt decreases after repeated intake of that food, which collectively suggests that frequent intake of an energy-dense food may reduce striatal response to receipt of that food. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that frequent ice cream consumption would be associated with reduced activation in reward-related brain regions (eg, striatum) in response to receipt of an ice cream\u2013based milkshake and examined the influence of adipose tissue and the specificity of this relation. Design: Healthy-weight adolescents (n = 151) underwent fMRI during receipt of a milkshake and during receipt of a tasteless solution. Percentage body fat, reported food intake, and food craving and liking were assessed. Results: Milkshake receipt robustly activated the striatal regions, yet frequent ice cream consumption was associated with a reduced response to milkshake receipt in these reward-related brain regions. Percentage body fat, total energy intake, percentage of energy from fat and sugar, and intake of other energy-dense foods were not related to the neural response to milkshake receipt. Conclusions: Our results provide novel evidence that frequent consumption of ice cream, independent of body fat, is related to a reduction in reward-region responsivity in humans, paralleling the tolerance observed in drug addiction. Data also imply that intake of a particular energy-dense food results in attenuated reward-region responsivity specifically to that food, which suggests that sensory aspects of eating and reward learning may drive the specificity."}
{"id": "MED-3052", "text": "Drug addiction and obesity appear to share several properties. Both can be defined as disorders in which the saliency of a specific type of reward (food or drug) becomes exaggerated relative to, and at the expense of others rewards. Both drugs and food have powerful reinforcing effects, which are in part mediated by abrupt dopamine increases in the brain reward centres. The abrupt dopamine increases, in vulnerable individuals, can override the brain's homeostatic control mechanisms. These parallels have generated interest in understanding the shared vulnerabilities between addiction and obesity. Predictably, they also engendered a heated debate. Specifically, brain imaging studies are beginning to uncover common features between these two conditions and delineate some of the overlapping brain circuits whose dysfunctions may underlie the observed deficits. The combined results suggest that both obese and drug-addicted individuals suffer from impairments in dopaminergic pathways that regulate neuronal systems associated not only with reward sensitivity and incentive motivation, but also with conditioning, self-control, stress reactivity and interoceptive awareness. In parallel, studies are also delineating differences between them that centre on the key role that peripheral signals involved with homeostatic control exert on food intake. Here, we focus on the shared neurobiological substrates of obesity and addiction. \u00a9 2012 The Authors. obesity reviews \u00a9 2012 International Association for the Study of Obesity."}
{"id": "MED-3054", "text": "The relationship between overeating, substance abuse and (behavioral) addiction is controversial. Medically established forms of addiction so far pertain to substance use disorders only. But the preliminary Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders V (DSM V) suggests replacing the previous category 'Substance-Related Disorders' with 'Addiction and Related Disorders', thus for the first time allowing the diagnosis of behavioral addictions. In the past psychiatrists and psychologists have been reluctant to systematically delineate and classify the term behavioral addiction. However, there is a broad overlap between chemical and behavioral addiction including phenomenological, therapeutic, genetic, and neurobiological aspects. It is of interest to point out that the hormone leptin in itself has a pronounced effect on the reward system, thus suggesting an indirect link between overeating and 'chemical' addiction. Thus, leptin-deficient individuals could be classified as fulfilling criteria for food addiction. In our overview we first review psychological findings in chemical (substance-based) and subsequently in behavioral addiction to analyze the overlap. We discuss the diagnostic validity of food addiction, which in theory can be chemically and/or behaviorally based. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg."}
{"id": "MED-3055", "text": "Both drug addiction and obesity can be defined as disorders in which the saliency value of one type of reward (drugs and food, respectively) becomes abnormally enhanced relative to, and at the expense of others. This model is consistent with the fact that both drugs and food have powerful reinforcing effects-partly mediated by dopamine increases in the limbic system-that, under certain circumstances or in vulnerable individuals, could overwhelm the brain's homeostatic control mechanisms. Such parallels have generated significant interest in understanding the shared vulnerabilities and trajectories between addiction and obesity. Now, brain imaging discoveries have started to uncover common features between these two conditions and to delineate some of the overlapping brain circuits whose dysfunctions may explain stereotypic and related behavioral deficits in human subjects. These results suggest that both obese and drug-addicted individuals suffer from impairments in dopaminergic pathways that regulate neuronal systems associated not only with reward sensitivity and incentive motivation, but also with conditioning (memory/learning), impulse control (behavioural inhibition), stress reactivity, and interoceptive awareness. Here, we integrate findings predominantly derived from positron emission tomography that shed light on the role of dopamine in drug addiction and in obesity, and propose an updated working model to help identify treatment strategies that may benefit both of these conditions."}
{"id": "MED-3056", "text": "Opioids are important in reward processes leading to addictive behavior such as self-administration of opioids and other drugs of abuse including nicotine and alcohol. Opioids are also involved in a broadly distributed neural network that regulates eating behavior, affecting both homeostatic and hedonic mechanisms. In this sense, opioids are particularly implicated in the modulation of highly palatable foods, and opioid antagonists attenuate both addictive drug taking and appetite for palatable food. Thus, craving for palatable food could be considered as a form of opioid-related addiction. There are three main families of opioid receptors (\u00b5, \u0138, and \u03b4) of which \u00b5-receptors are most strongly implicated in reward. Administration of selective \u00b5-agonists into the NAcc of rodents induces feeding even in satiated animals, while administration of \u00b5-antagonists reduces food intake. Pharmacological studies also suggest a role for \u0138- and \u03b4-opioid receptors. Preliminary data from transgenic knockout models suggest that mice lacking some of these receptors are resistant to high-fat diet-induced obesity. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg."}
{"id": "MED-3057", "text": "The ongoing epidemics of obesity is one main health concern of the present time. Overeating in some obese individuals shares similarities with the loss of control and compulsive behavior observed in drug-addicted subjects, suggesting that obesity may involve food addiction. Here, we review the contributions provided by the use of positron emission tomography to the current understanding of the cerebral control of obesity and food intake in humans. The available studies have shown that multiple areas in the brain are involved with the reward properties of food, such as prefrontal, orbitofrontal, somatosensory cortices, insula, thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and others. This review summarizes the current evidence, supporting the concepts that i) regions involved in the somatosensory response to food sight, taste, and smell are activated by palatable foods and may be hyperresponsive in obese individuals, ii) areas controlling executive drive seem to overreact to the anticipation of pleasure during cue exposure, and iii) those involved in cognitive control and inhibitory behavior may be resistant to the perception of reward after food exposure in obese subjects. All of these features may stimulate, for different reasons, ingestion of highly palatable and energy-rich foods. Though these same regions are similarly involved in drug abusers and game-addicted individuals, any direct resemblance may be an oversimplification, especially as the heterogeneities between studies and the prevalent exclusion of sensitive groups still limit a coherent interpretation of the findings. Further work is required to comprehensively tackle the multifaceted phenotype of obesity and identify the role of food dependency in its pathophysiology. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg."}
{"id": "MED-3058", "text": "Recent research indicates similarities between obesity and addictive disorders on both the phenomenological and neurobiological level. In particular, neuroendocrine and imaging studies suggest a close link between the homeostatic regulation of appetite on the on hand, and motivation and reward expectancy on the other. In addition, findings from neuropsychological studies additionally demonstrate alterations of cognitive function in both obesity and addictive disorders that possibly contribute to a lack of control in resisting consumption. In this review, recent findings on overlapping neurobiological and phenomenological pathways are summarized and the impact with regard to new treatment approaches for obesity is discussed. \u00a9 2011 The Authors, Addiction Biology \u00a9 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction."}
{"id": "MED-3085", "text": "Objective To determine the prevalence of phosphorus-containing food additives in best selling processed grocery products and to compare the phosphorus content of a subset of top selling foods with and without phosphorus additives. Design The labels of 2394 best selling branded grocery products in northeast Ohio were reviewed for phosphorus additives. The top 5 best selling products containing phosphorus additives from each food category were matched with similar products without phosphorus additives and analyzed for phosphorus content. Four days of sample meals consisting of foods with and without phosphorus additives were created and daily phosphorus and pricing differentials were computed. Setting Northeast Ohio Main outcome measures Presence of phosphorus-containing food additives, phosphorus content Results 44% of the best selling grocery items contained phosphorus additives. The additives were particularly common in prepared frozen foods (72%), dry food mixes (70%), packaged meat (65%), bread & baked goods (57%), soup (54%), and yogurt (51%) categories. Phosphorus additive containing foods averaged 67 mg phosphorus/100 gm more than matched non-additive containing foods (p=.03). Sample meals comprised mostly of phosphorus additive-containing foods had 736 mg more phosphorus per day compared to meals consisting of only additive-free foods. Phosphorus additive-free meals cost an average of $2.00 more per day. Conclusion Phosphorus additives are common in best selling processed groceries and contribute significantly to their phosphorus content. Moreover, phosphorus additive foods are less costly than phosphorus additive-free foods. As a result, persons with chronic kidney disease may purchase these popular low-cost groceries and unknowingly increase their intake of highly bioavailable phosphorus."}
{"id": "MED-3086", "text": "Campylobacter spp. are responsible for a large number of the bacterial food poisoning cases worldwide. Despite being sensitive to oxygen and nutritionally fastidious, Campylobacter spp. are able to survive in food processing environments and reach consumers in sufficient numbers to cause disease. To investigate Campylobacter persistence on processed chicken, exudates from chickens produced for consumer sale were collected and sterilized. Two types of exudates from chicken products were collected: enhanced, where a marinade was added to the chickens during processing, and nonenhanced, where no additives were added during processing. Exudates from enhanced chicken products examined in this study contained a mixture of polyphosphates. Exudate samples were inoculated with Campylobacter jejuni or Campylobacter coli strains and incubated under a range of environmental conditions, and viable bacteria present in the resultant cultures were enumerated. When incubated at 42\u00b0C in a microaerobic environment, exudates from enhanced chicken products resulted in increased survival of C. jejuni and C. coli compared with that in nonenhanced exudates in the range of <1 to >4 log CFU/ml. Under more relevant food storage conditions (4\u00b0C and normal atmosphere), the exudates from enhanced chicken products also demonstrated improved Campylobacter survival compared with that in nonenhanced exudates. Polyphosphates present in the enhanced exudates were determined to be largely responsible for the improved survival observed when the two types of exudates were compared. Therefore, polyphosphates used to enhance chicken quality aid in sustaining the numbers of Campylobacter bacteria, increasing the opportunity for disease via cross-contamination or improperly cooked poultry."}
{"id": "MED-3087", "text": "Sixty random samples of bulk farm milk, market milk, locally manufactured processed cheese, and milk powder were collected to be analyzed for aluminum (Al) concentration using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). The results were compared with provisional acceptable permissible limits (PAPLs). The maximum estimated dietary intake (MEDI) of Al for the examined samples was calculated. In addition, an experimental study was conducted to determine the possible leaching of Al from cookware in milk during boiling. The obtained results showed that Al concentration in examined bulk farm milk samples was found to be negligible. In contrast, market milk revealed higher concentration, 65.0% of the examined samples were above the PAPLs. The results revealed significant difference of Al concentration among them. The Al levels in processed cheese wrapped in Al foil were significantly higher than those found in samples packed in glass containers with a significant difference of Al concentration between them. Also, 20% of the examined milk powder samples exceeded the PAPLs (0.01 to 0.4 mg/kg). The MEDI for Al in bulk farm milk, control market milk, market milk boiled in Al cookware, market milk boiled in stainless-steel cookware, processed cheese wrapped in Al foil, processed cheese packed in glass containers, and milk powder were calculated as 3.0%, 61.0%, 63.0%, 61.0%, 428.0%, 220.0%, and 166.0% from \"PTDI,\" respectively. The results of the experimental study showed no marked significant differences of Al concentration between market milk (control group) and those boiled in Al cookware, as well as to those boiled in stainless-steel cookware. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: \u2002 The results of the present study indicate that Al level in milk kept in Al containers and dairy products packed in Al foil is beyond the permissible limits, suggesting health hazard. Therefore, all milk cans should be constructed of stainless steel, prevent the entrance of tap water into milk, and the processed cheese should be packed in glass containers and not wrapped in Al foil. Leaching of Al increased to a significant percent more during storage than during boiling, so milk should be kept in stainless steel or glass containers in the refrigerator."}
{"id": "MED-3088", "text": "Elevated serum phosphorus is a major, preventable etiologic factor associated with the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality of dialysis patients. An important determinant of serum phosphorus is the dietary intake of this mineral; this makes dietary restriction of phosphorus a cornerstone for the prevention and treatment of hyperphosphatemia. The average daily dietary intake of phosphorus is about 1550 mg for males and 1000 mg for females. In general, foods high in protein are also high in phosphorus. These figures, however, are changing as phosphates are currently being added to a large number of processed foods including meats, cheeses, dressings, beverages, and bakery products. As a result, and depending on the food choices, such additives may increase the phosphorus intake by as a much as 1 g/day. Moreover, nutrient composition tables usually do not include the phosphorus from these additives, resulting in an underestimate of the dietary intake of phosphorus in our patients. Our goal is to convey an understanding of the phosphorus content of the current American diet to better equip nephrologists in their attempt to control hyperphosphatemia."}
{"id": "MED-3089", "text": "Objective Phosphorus containing additives are increasingly added to food products. We sought to determine the potential impact of these additives. We focused on chicken products as an example. Methods We purchased a variety of chicken products, prepared them according to package directions, and performed laboratory analyses to determine their actual phosphorus content. We used ESHA Food Processor SQL Software to determine the expected phosphorus content of each product. Results Of 38 chicken products, 35 (92%) had phosphorus containing additives listed among their ingredients. For every category of chicken products containing additives, the actual phosphorus content was greater than the content expected from nutrient database. For example, actual phosphorus content exceeded expected phosphorus content by an average of 84 mg/100g for breaded breast strips. There was also a great deal of variation within each category. For example, the difference between actual and expected phosphorus content ranged from 59 to 165 mg/100g for breast patties. Two 100 g servings of additive containing products contain an average of 440 mg of phosphorus, or about half the total daily recommended intake for dialysis patients. Conclusion Phosphorus containing additives significantly increase the amount of phosphorus in chicken products. Available nutrient databases do not reflect this higher phosphorus content, and the variation between similar products makes it impossible for patients and dietitians to accurately estimate phosphorus content. We recommend that dialysis patients limit their intake of additive containing products and that the phosphorus content of food products be included on nutrition facts labels."}
{"id": "MED-3090", "text": "Background Hyperphosphatemia has been identified in the past decade as a strong predictor of mortality in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). For example, a study of patients in stage CKD 5 (with an annual mortality of about 20%) revealed that 12% of all deaths in this group were attributable to an elevated serum phosphate concentration. Recently, a high-normal serum phosphate concentration has also been found to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality in the general population. Therefore, phosphate additives in food are a matter of concern, and their potential impact on health may well have been underappreciated. Methods We reviewed pertinent literature retrieved by a selective search of the PubMed and EU databases (www.zusatzstoffe-online.de, www.codexalimentarius.de), with the search terms \u201cphosphate additives\u201d and \u201chyperphosphatemia.\u201d Results There is no need to lower the content of natural phosphate, i.e. organic esters, in food, because this type of phosphate is incompletely absorbed; restricting its intake might even lead to protein malnutrition. On the other hand, inorganic phosphate in food additives is effectively absorbed and can measurably elevate the serum phosphate concentration in patients with advanced CKD. Foods with added phosphate tend to be eaten by persons at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, who consume more processed and \u201cfast\u201d food. The main pathophysiological effect of phosphate is vascular damage, e.g. endothelial dysfunction and vascular calcification. Aside from the quality of phosphate in the diet (which also requires attention), the quantity of phosphate consumed by patients with advanced renal failure should not exceed 1000 mg per day, according to the guidelines. Conclusion Prospective controlled trials are currently unavailable. In view of the high prevalence of CKD and the potential harm caused by phosphate additives to food, the public should be informed that added phosphate is damaging to health. Furthermore, calls for labeling the content of added phosphate in food are appropriate."}
{"id": "MED-3091", "text": "Phosphate toxicity is an important determinant of mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), particularly those undergoing hemodialysis treatments. CKD patients are advised to take a low phosphate-containing diet, and are additionally prescribed with phosphate-lowering drugs. Since these patients usually seek guidance from their physicians and nurses for their dietary options, we conducted a survey to determine the levels of awareness regarding the high phosphate content in commercially processed food and drinks among medical and nursing students at the Hirosaki University School of Medicine in Japan. For this survey, 190 medical and nursing students (average age 21.7\u00b13 years) were randomly selected, and provided with a list of questions aimed at evaluating their awareness of food and drinks containing artificially added phosphate ingredients. While 98.9% of these students were aware of the presence of sugar in commercially available soda drinks, only 6.9% were aware of the presence of phosphate (phosphoric acid). Similarly, only 11.6% of these students were aware of the presence of phosphate in commercially processed food, such as hamburgers and pizza. Moreover, around two thirds of the surveyed students (67.7%) were unaware of the harmful effects of unrestricted consumption of phosphate-containing food and drinks. About 28% of the surveyed students consume such \u201cfast food\u201d once a week, while 40% drink at least 1\u223c5 cans of soda drinks/week. After realizing the potential long-term risks of consuming excessive phosphate-containing food and drinks, 40.5% of the survey participants considered reducing their phosphate intake by minimizing the consumption of commercially processed \u201cfast food\u201d items and soda drinks. Moreover, another 48.4% of students showed interest in obtaining more information on the negative health effects of consuming excessive amounts of phosphate. This survey emphasizes the need for educational initiative to raise awareness of the health risks posed by excessive consumption of phosphate additives."}
{"id": "MED-3092", "text": "BACKGROUND: Restriction of dietary phosphorus is a major aspect of patient care in those with renal disease. Restriction of dietary phosphorus is necessary to control for phosphate balance during both conservative therapy and dialysis treatment. The extra amount of phosphorus which is consumed as a result of phosphate-containing food additives is a real challenge for patients with renal disease and for dieticians because it represents a \"hidden\" phosphate load. The objective of this study was to measure phosphorus content in foods, common protein sources in particular, and comprised both those which included a listing of phosphate additives and those which did not. METHODS: Determinations of dry matter, nitrogen, total and soluble phosphate ions were carried out in 60 samples of foods, namely cooked ham, roast breast turkey, and roast breast chicken, of which, 30 were with declared phosphate additives and the other 30 similar items were without additives. RESULTS: Total phosphorus (290 \u00b1 40 mg/100 g vs. 185 \u00b1 23 mg/100 g, P < .001) and soluble phosphorus (164 \u00b1 25 mg/100 g vs. 100 \u00b1 19 mg/100 g, P < .001) content were higher in products containing additives than in foods without additives. No difference was detected between the 2 groups regarding dry matter (27.2 \u00b1 2.0 g/100 g vs. 26.7 \u00b1 1.9 g/100 g) or total nitrogen (3.15 \u00b1 0.40 g/100 g vs. 3.19 \u00b1 0.40 g/100 g). Consequently, phosphorus intake per gram of protein was much greater in the foods containing phosphorus additives (15.0 \u00b1 3.1 mg/g vs. 9.3 \u00b1 0.7 mg/g, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that those foods which contain phosphate additives have a phosphorus content nearly 70% higher than the samples which did not contain additives. This creates a special concern because this extra amount of phosphorus is almost completely absorbed by the intestinal tract. These hidden phosphates worsen phosphate balance control and increase the need for phosphate binders and related costs. Information and educational programs are essential to make patients with renal disease aware of the existence of foods with phosphate additives. Moreover, these facts highlight the need for national and international authorities to devote more attention to food labels which should clearly report the amount of natural or added phosphorus. Copyright \u00a9 2011 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3093", "text": "BACKGROUND: Dietary intake of phosphorus is derived largely from protein sources and is a critical determinant of phosphorus balance in patients with chronic kidney disease. Information about the phosphorus content of prepared foods generally is unavailable, but it is believed to contribute significantly to the phosphorus burden of patients with chronic kidney disease. DESIGN: Analysis of dietary components. SETTING: We measured the phosphorus content of 44 food products, including 30 refrigerated or frozen precooked meat, poultry, and fish items, generally national brands. OUTCOMES: Measured and reported phosphorus content of foods. MEASUREMENTS: Phosphorus by using Association of Analytical Communities official method 984.27; protein by using Association of Analytical Communities official method 990.03. RESULTS: We found that the ratio of phosphorus to protein content in these items ranged from 6.1 to 21.5 mg of phosphorus per 1 g of protein. The mean ratio in the 19 food products with a label listing phosphorus as an additive was 14.6 mg/g compared with 9.0 mg/g in the 11 items without listed phosphorus. The phosphorus content of only 1 precooked food product was available in a widely used dietary database. LIMITATIONS: Results cannot be extrapolated to other products. Manufacturers also may alter the phosphorus content of foods at any time. Protein content was not directly measured for all foods. CONCLUSION: Better reporting of phosphorus content of foods by manufacturers could result in improved dietary phosphorus control without risk of protein malnutrition."}
{"id": "MED-3094", "text": "Sensory attributes of fully aged broiler breast fillets marinated in a 6% NaCl solution containing 2% sodium tripolyphosphate (2P), 2% citric acid (2C), 2% acetic acid (2A), 1% citric acid plus 1% phosphate solution (1C), or 1% acetic acid solution plus 1% phosphate (1A) were studied. A 6% NaCl (6S) solution with no additives was used as control. Oven-cooked samples (177C degrees oven; 75 degrees C internal temperature) were evaluated by a 9-member trained descriptive analysis sensory panel that rated the intensities of 26 different flavor and texture attributes using 15-point line scales. Data were analyzed using general linear model SAS procedures to determine significant differences (P < or = 0.05) in individual sensory attributes due to marinade treatment. All sensory attributes were scored in the low intensity range (1.5 to 5.0). Brothy, vinegar, and residual particles were the only individual attributes rated significantly different (P < or = 0.05) due to treatment. Multivariate analyses indicated that all sensory attributes formed 2 dimensions that explained 57% of variation in the data. The low intensity values for texture attributes indicated possible negative consequences due to phosphates, salt, and acids when used with fully aged fillets."}
{"id": "MED-3095", "text": "Campylobacter spp. are nutritionally fastidious organisms that are sensitive to normal atmospheric oxygen levels and lack homologues of common cold shock genes. At first glance, these bacteria seem ill equipped to persist within food products under processing and storage conditions; however, they survive in numbers sufficient to cause the largest number of foodborne bacterial disease annually. A mechanism proposed to play a role in Campylobacter survival is the addition of polyphosphate-containing marinades during poultry processing. Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains incubated in chicken exudates collected from poultry treated with a marinade demonstrated considerable survival advantages (1 to 4 log CFU/ml) over the same strains incubated in chicken exudate from untreated birds. Polyphosphates, which constitute a large portion of the commercial poultry marinades, were shown to account for a majority of the observed influence of the marinades on Campylobacter survival. When six different food grade polyphosphates (disodium pyrophosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, pentasodium triphosphate, sodium polyphosphate, monosodium phosphate, and trisodium phosphate) were utilized to compare the survival of Campylobacter strains in chicken exudate, significant differences were observed with regard to Campylobacter survival between the different polyphosphates. It was then determined that the addition of polyphosphates to chicken exudate increased the pH of the exudate, with the more sodiated polyphosphates increasing the pH to a greater degree than the less sodiated polyphosphates. It was confirmed that the change in pH mediated by polyphosphates is responsible for the observed increases in Campylobacter survival."}
{"id": "MED-3096", "text": "Background and objectives: Uncooked meat and poultry products are commonly enhanced by food processors using phosphate salts. The addition of potassium and phosphorus to these foods has been recognized but not quantified. Design, setting, participants, & measurements: We measured the phosphorus, potassium, and protein content of 36 uncooked meat and poultry products: Phosphorus using the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) official method 984.27, potassium using AOAC official method 985.01, and protein using AOAC official method 990.03. Results: Products that reported the use of additives had an average phosphate-protein ratio 28% higher than additive free products; the content ranged up to almost 100% higher. Potassium content in foods with additives varied widely; additive free products all contained <387 mg/100 g, whereas five of the 25 products with additives contained at least 692 mg/100 g (maximum 930 mg/100 g). Most but not all foods with phosphate and potassium additives reported the additives (unquantified) on the labeling; eight of 25 enhanced products did not list the additives. The results cannot be applied to other products. The composition of the food additives used by food processors may change over time. Conclusions: Uncooked meat and poultry products that are enhanced may contain additives that increase phosphorus and potassium content by as much as almost two- and three-fold, respectively; this modification may not be discernible from inspection of the food label."}
{"id": "MED-3098", "text": "AIM OF THE STUDY: Drinking camel urine has been used traditionally to treat numerous cases of cancer yet, the exact mechanism was not investigated. Therefore, we examined the ability of three different camel urines (virgin, lactating, and pregnant source) to modulate a well-known cancer-activating enzyme, the cytochrome P450 1a1 (Cyp1a1) in murine hepatoma Hepa 1c1c7 cell line. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effect of different camel urines, compared to bovine urines, on Cyp1a1 mRNA was determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cyp1a1 protein and catalytic activity levels were determined using Western blot analysis and 7-ethoxyresorufin as a substrate, respectively. The role of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-dependent mechanism was determined using electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and the AhR-dependent luciferase reporter gene. RESULTS: All types of camel, but not bovine, urines differentially inhibited the induction of Cyp1a1 gene expression by TCDD, the most potent Cyp1a1 inducer and known carcinogenic chemical. Importantly, virgin camel urine showed the highest degree of inhibition at the activity level, followed by lactating and pregnant camel urines. Furthermore, we have shown that virgin camel urine significantly inhibited the TCDD-mediated induction of Cyp1a1 at the mRNA and protein expression levels. Mechanistically, the ability of virgin camel urine to inhibit Cyp1a1 was strongly correlated with its ability to inhibit AhR-dependent luciferase activity and DNA binding as determined by EMSA, suggesting that AhR-dependent mechanism is involved. CONCLUSIONS: The present work provides the first evidence that camel urine but not that of bovine inhibits the TCDD-mediated toxic effect by inhibiting the expression of Cyp1a1, at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels through an AhR-dependent mechanism. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3099", "text": "This review reconsiders a major cause of cardiovascular diseases, tobacco smoking, as the activation of the Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR), also known as the dioxin receptor, by aryl hydrocarbons from the tar fraction of tobacco in various organs of the cardiovascular domain. This concept sheds new light on well-known albeit controversial epidemiological concepts such as the Mediterranean diet and the French paradox. We also review the discovery that resveratrol, a natural AhR antagonist, may be of interest in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases."}
{"id": "MED-3100", "text": "Dioxins invade the body mainly through the diet, and produce toxicity through the transformation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). An inhibitor of the transformation should therefore protect against the toxicity and ideally be part of the diet. We examined flavonoids ubiquitously expressed in plant foods as one of the best candidates, and found that the subclasses flavones and flavonols suppressed antagonistically the transformation of AhR induced by 1 nM of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, without exhibiting agonistic effects that transform AhR. The antagonistic IC(50) values ranged from 0.14 to 10 microM, close to the physiological levels in human."}
{"id": "MED-3102", "text": "BACKGROUND: Halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons including dioxins and non-halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are ligands of an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and stimulate its transformation. Exposure to these environmental contaminants occurs mainly through diet. Recent articles demonstrated that certain food factors regulate the AhR transformation and expression of downstream drug-metabolizing enzymes. OBJECTIVE: To explain the actions of these food factors on the AhR transformation, as the mechanisms underlying are not fully understood. METHODS: This review introduces recent articles that have demonstrated the molecular mechanisms by which food factors regulate the AhR transformation and downstream drug-metabolizing enzymes. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: The role of classical ligands including dioxins as agonists of the receptor is well documented. As to the food factors, they act as antagonists because they basically suppress the AhR transformation by different mechanisms. Moreover, the fate and metabolism of food factors are important to understand their mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-3103", "text": "The mucosal immune system is constantly exposed to a wide range of commensal and potentially pathogenic microbial species. Chronic exposure to foreign organisms makes generation of an appropriate immune response critical in maintaining a balance between elimination of harmful pathogens, peaceful coexistence with commensals, and prevention of autoimmunity. Intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes provide a first line of defense at this extensive barrier with the outside world, and as such, understanding their role in immunity is critical."}
{"id": "MED-3109", "text": "The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is responsible for the toxic effects of environmental pollutants such as dioxin, but little is known about its normal physiological functions. Li et al. (2011) now show that specific dietary compounds present in cruciferous vegetables act through the AhR to promote intestinal immune function, revealing AhR as a critical link between diet and immunity. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3110", "text": "Leflunomide, flutamide, nimodipine, mexiletine, sulindac, tranilast, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, and omeprazole are pharmaceuticals previously characterized as aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonists in various cell lines and animal models. In this study, the eight AHR-active pharmaceuticals were investigated in highly aggressive aryl hydrocarbon (Ah)-responsive BT474 and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cell lines, and their effects on AHR protein, CYP1A1 (protein and mRNA), CYP1B1 (mRNA), and cell migration were determined. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was used as a positive control. The AHR agonist activities of the pharmaceuticals depended on structure, response, and cell context. Most compounds induced one or more AHR-mediated responses in BT474 cells, whereas in Ah-responsive MDA-MB-468 cells effects of the AHR-active pharmaceuticals were highly variable. 4-Hydroxytamoxifen, mexiletine, and tranilast did not induce CYP1A1 in MDA-MB-468 cells; moreover, in combination with TCDD, mexiletine was a potent AHR antagonist, tranilast was a partial antagonist, and 4-hydroxytamoxifen also exhibited some AHR antagonist activity. Omeprazole and, to a lesser extent, sulindac and leflunomide were full and partial AHR agonists, respectively, in both breast cancer cell lines. These data indicate that the AHR-active pharmaceuticals are selective AHR modulators, and applications of these drugs for targeting the AHR must be confirmed by studies using the most relevant cell context."}
{"id": "MED-3112", "text": "The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor present in many cells. The AhR links environmental chemical stimuli with adaptive responses, such as detoxification, cellular homoeostasis or immune responses. Furthermore, novel roles of AhR in physiological and genetic functions are being discovered. This is a report of a recent meeting in D\u00fcsseldorf. The meeting highlighted that AhR research has moved from its focus on toxic effects of dioxins and other environmental pollutants to its biological roles. For instance, it was recently discovered that AhR-responsive elements in retrotransposons contribute to the functional structure of the genome. Other exciting new reports concerned the way plant-derived compounds in our diet are necessary for a fully functioning immune system of the gut. Also, human brain tumours use the AhR system to gain growth advantages. Other aspects covered were neurotoxicology, the circadian rhythm, or the breadth of the adaptive and innate immune system (hematopoietic stem cells, dendritic cells, T cells, mast cells). Finally, the meeting dealt with the discovery of new xenobiotic and natural ligands and their use in translational medicine, or cancer biology and AhR."}
{"id": "MED-3113", "text": "Chronic diseases with a lifestyle-based aetiology currently make up a significant proportion of primary care consultations, but management often falls between the demands of public and clinical health. A modified clinical approach, based around the concept of \"lifestyle medicine\", helps fill the gap by adding behavioural, motivational and environmental skills to conventional medical practice. When used in a multidisciplinary setting, lifestyle medicine offers potential cost and effectiveness benefits, which are beginning to be realised."}
{"id": "MED-3123", "text": "DietCompLyf is a multi-centre prospective study designed to investigate associations between phytoestrogens - naturally occurring plant compounds with oestrogenic properties - and other diet and lifestyle factors with breast cancer recurrence and survival. 3159 women with grades I-III breast cancer were recruited 9-15 months post-diagnosis from 56 UK hospitals. Detailed information on clinico-pathological, diet, lifestyle and quality of life is collected annually up to 5 years. Biological samples have also been collected as a resource for subsequent evaluation. The characteristics of the patients and associations between pre-diagnosis intake of phytoestrogens (isoflavones and lignans; assessed using the EPIC-Norfolk UK 130 question food frequency questionnaire) and breast cancer (i) risk factors and (ii) prognostic factors are described for 1797 women who had complete data for all covariates and phytoestrogens of interest. Isoflavone intakes were higher in the patients who were younger at diagnosis, in the non-smokers, those who had breast-fed and those who took supplements. Lignan intakes were higher in patients with a higher age at diagnosis, in ex-smokers, those who had breast-fed, who took supplements, had a lower BMI at diagnosis, lower age at menarche and were nulliparous. No significant associations between pre-diagnosis phytoestrogen intake and factors associated with improved breast cancer prognosis were observed. The potential for further exploration of the relationship between phytoestrogens and breast cancer recurrence and survival, and for the establishment of evidence to improve dietary and lifestyle advice offered to patients following breast cancer diagnosis using DietCompLyf data is discussed. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3129", "text": "BRCA1 mutations have been associated with hereditary breast cancer only. Recent studies indicate that a subgroup of sporadic breast cancer might also be associated with reduction in BRCA1 mRNA levels and protein expression. However, the mechanism of reduced mRNA and protein expression is yet not fully elucidated. This study aims to assess BRCA1 protein expression and the role of BRCA1 promoter methylation in sporadic breast cancer in North Indian population and to correlate these with known prognostic factors and molecular profiles of breast cancer. BRCA1 protein expression was normal (>50\u00a0% tumour cells) in 41 (43\u00a0%) cases, reduced (20-50\u00a0% tumour cells) in 33 (35\u00a0%) cases and absent/markedly reduced (<20\u00a0% tumour cells) in 21 (22.1\u00a0%) cases. Cases which were negative for BRCA1 protein were more frequently positive for basal markers (29 versus 5\u00a0%) and were more often ER-negative (62 versus 39\u00a0%) than BRCA1-positive tumours. Methylation of BRCA1 promoter region was seen in 11/45 cases (24\u00a0%). All 11 cases showing BRCA1 methylation had absent (eight cases) or reduced (three cases) BRCA1 protein expression. BRCA1 protein-negative tumours were more frequently basal marker-positive and ER-negative, highlighting the 'BRCAness' of sporadic breast cancer with loss of BRCA1 protein expression through promoter hypermethylation similar to hereditary breast cancer with BRCA1 mutations. Loss of BRCA1 in sporadic breast cancer suggests that therapeutics targeting BRCA1 pathway in hereditary breast cancer like PARP inhibitors might be used as therapeutic targets for sporadic breast tumours."}
{"id": "MED-3130", "text": "Although soy phytoestrogens have been postulated to exert a protective effect against breast cancer, the attendant mechanisms, in particular epigenetics underpinnings, have remained elusive. We investigated the putative effects on DNA methylation by two naturally occurring isoflavones, genistein and daidzein, in a study of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 oncosuppressor genes in breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB 231, and MCF10a). A demethylant agent, the 5-azacytidine, and a methylant, the budesonide, were used as treatment controls. DNA methylation of BRCA1 and BRCA2 was investigated with methylated DNA immunoprecipitation coupled with PCR. In parallel, protein expression was determined by Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and confocal microscopy. Our results suggest that treatment with 18.5\u2009\u03bcM Genistein or 78.5\u2009\u03bcM Daidzein might reverse DNA hypermethylation and restore the expression of the oncosuppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. 5-Azacitydine also enhanced the reexpression of these genes while budesonide had an opposite effect. To the best of our knowledge, these observations, while requiring replication, provide new evidence on potential epigenetic mechanisms by which genistein and daidzein might contribute to regulation of the BRCA1 and BRCA2. Future studies are warranted on whether the demethylating effect of genistein and daidzein is global or focused on select candidate genes."}
{"id": "MED-3132", "text": "Little is known about dietitians current practice in counselling clients about the use of legumes in a low fat, high fibre diet. An exploratory e-mail questionnaire was sent to members of Dietitians of Canada to assess: dietitian use and preferences for legumes, dietitian practice, opinions about clients attitudes and preferences, and resource needs. Counsellors (n=256) had high personal use of legumes (64% > or = 1 serving/week) and frequently recommended legumes in counselling. The legumes most preferred by respondents and their clients were: peanuts, kidney beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils. Respondents often recommended canned bean products (76%) and tofu (61%), but other legume grocery products were less often recommended. The most common client issues identified were: flatulence (87% agreed), lack of familiarity (85%), and knowledge of preparation (82%). Dietitians were not satisfied with current resources to support practice, especially those respondents providing primarily clinical counselling services. The most requested resources were: recipes (90%), pamphlets (82%), food demonstrations (75%) and Internet sites (63%). Client level research is now needed to confirm the importance of the issues identified and to develop and test strategies for legume promotion in counselling."}
{"id": "MED-3136", "text": "The objective of this study was to determine the influence of frequent and long-term consumption of legume seeds on colonic function. Two groups of subjects were studied--one group habitually consumed legume seeds as part of their normal diet, a second group only infrequently consumed legumes. No differences between these groups could be detected for fecal output and frequency, intestinal transit time, VFA excretion or fecal pH during 23-day study periods in which subjects consumed either their usual diet or 100 g red kidney beans, daily. However, the addition of beans to the diets of both groups provided significantly more dietary fiber, and produced greater fecal output and a higher concentration of VFA in feces. Fecal output appeared to be determined by two independent parameters--dietary fiber intake and VFA excretion. Beans provided a physiologically useful source of dietary fiber and favorably influenced colonic function."}
{"id": "MED-3137", "text": "A longstanding goal of dietary surveillance has been to estimate the proportion of the population with intakes above or below a target, such as a recommended level of intake. However, until now, statistical methods for assessing the alignment of food intakes with recommendations have been lacking. The purposes of this study were to demonstrate the National Cancer Institute\u2019s method of estimating the distribution of usual intake of foods and determine the proportion of the U.S. population who does not meet federal dietary recommendations. Data were obtained from the 2001\u20132004 NHANES for 16,338 persons, aged 2 y and older. Quantities of foods reported on 24-h recalls were translated into amounts of various food groups using the MyPyramid Equivalents Database. Usual dietary intake distributions were modeled, accounting for sequence effect, weekend/weekday effect, sex, age, poverty income ratio, and race/ethnicity. The majority of the population did not meet recommendations for all of the nutrient-rich food groups, except total grains and meat and beans. Concomitantly, overconsumption of energy from solid fats, added sugars, and alcoholic beverages (\u201cempty calories\u201d) was ubiquitous. Over 80% of persons age \u226571 y and over 90% of all other sex-age groups had intakes of empty calories that exceeded the discretionary calorie allowances. In conclusion, nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. These findings add another piece to the rather disturbing picture that is emerging of a nation\u2019s diet in crisis."}
{"id": "MED-3138", "text": "Background Many consumers avoid eating beans because they believe legume consumption will cause excessive intestinal gas or flatulence. An increasing body of research and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans supports the benefits of a plant-based diet, and legumes specifically, in the reduction of chronic disease risks. The purpose of the current research was to investigate the perception of increased flatulence and gastrointestinal discomfort among participants who consumed a \u00bd cup of beans daily for 8 or 12 weeks. Methods Participants in three studies to test the effects of beans on heart disease biomarkers completed the same weekly questionnaire to assess gastrointestinal discomfort issues such as increased flatulence, stool changes, and bloating. Studies 1 and 2 were randomized crossover trials. Participants consumed \u00bd cup of pinto beans, black-eyed peas, and canned carrots as control (n = 17) in Study 1 for three randomized 8-week phases. For Study 2, participants ate \u00bd cup baked beans or canned carrots as control (n = 29) for two randomized 8-week phases. Study 3 was a parallel arm trial with 40 subjects receiving \u00bd cup pinto beans and 40 consuming a control soup for 12 weeks. Changes in the frequency of perceived flatulence, stool characteristics, and bloating were the primary outcome measures. Chi-square distributions were examined for the presence or absence of symptoms and demographic characteristics to determine differences by gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and bean type. Results Less than 50% reported increased flatulence from eating pinto or baked beans during the first week of each trial, but only 19% had a flatulence increase with black-eyed peas. A small percentage (3-11%) reported increased flatulence across the three studies even on control diets without flatulence-producing components. Conclusions People's concerns about excessive flatulence from eating beans may be exaggerated. Public health nutritionists should address the potential for gastrointestinal discomfort when increasing fiber intake from beans with clients. It is important to recognize there is individual variation in response to different bean types."}
{"id": "MED-3139", "text": "Background: Soy isoflavones have antiestrogenic and anticancer properties but also possess estrogen-like properties, which has raised concern about soy food consumption among breast cancer survivors. Objective: We prospectively evaluated the association between postdiagnosis soy food consumption and breast cancer outcomes among US and Chinese women by using data from the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project. Design: The analysis included 9514 breast cancer survivors with a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer between 1991 and 2006 from 2 US cohorts and 1 Chinese cohort. Soy isoflavone intake (mg/d) was measured with validated food-frequency questionnaires. HRs and 95% CIs were estimated by using delayed-entry Cox regression models, adjusted for sociodemographic, clinical, and lifestyle factors. Results: After a mean follow-up of 7.4 y, we identified 1171 total deaths (881 from breast cancer) and 1348 recurrences. Despite large differences in soy isoflavone intake by country, isoflavone consumption was inversely associated with recurrence among both US and Chinese women, regardless of whether data were analyzed separately by country or combined. No heterogeneity was observed. In the pooled analysis, consumption of \u226510 mg isoflavones/d was associated with a nonsignificant reduced risk of all-cause (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.70, 1.10) and breast cancer\u2013specific (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.64, 1.07) mortality and a statistically significant reduced risk of recurrence (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.92). Conclusion: In this large study of combined data on US and Chinese women, postdiagnosis soy food consumption of \u226510 mg isoflavones/d was associated with a nonsignificant reduced risk of breast cancer\u2013specific mortality and a statistically significant reduced risk of recurrence. One of the studies included in the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project, the Women's Healthy Eating & Living Study, was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00003787."}
{"id": "MED-3140", "text": "To identify protective dietary predictors amongst long-lived elderly people (N= 785), the \"Food Habits in Later Life \"(FHILL) study was undertaken among five cohorts in Japan, Sweden, Greece and Australia. Between 1988 and 1991, baseline data on food intakes were collected. There were 785 participants aged 70 and over that were followed up to seven years. Based on an alternative Cox Proportional Hazard model adjusted to age at enrollment (in 5-year intervals), gender and smoking, the legume food group showed 7-8% reduction in mortality hazard ratio for every 20g increase in daily intake with or without controlling for ethnicity (RR 0.92; 95% CI 0.85-0.99 and RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.87-0.99, respectively). Other food groups were not found to be consistently significant in predicting survival amongst the FHILL cohorts."}
{"id": "MED-3141", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the associations with chronic disease risk and mortality of the consequences of bean-free diets in Taiwanese adults with regard to gender. DESIGN: A sub-sample of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2001 agreed to physical examination in the subsequent year. This group then took part in the Taiwanese Survey of Hyperglycaemia, Hyperlipidaemia and Hypertension (TwSHHH) in 2002. SETTING: Individual records were linked to the eventual death files from 2002 to 2008. SUBJECTS: Up to the end of 2008, a total of 2820 men and 2950 women were tracked by death registry over the 6\u00b78 years of follow-up. RESULTS: Among 38,077 person-years, an average follow-up 6\u00b75 years, 225 all-cause deaths were identified. Generalized linear models showed beans to be favourable for metabolic syndrome (other than for fasting glucose) in men; in women, beans were favourable for waist circumference and HbA1c. Cumulative logistic regression models for the effect of a bean-free diet on metabolic syndrome scores according to the Taiwanese-modified National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-tw) gave adjusted odds ratios of 1\u00b783 in men and 1\u00b745 in women. Cox regression models for the bean-free diet showed an increased hazard ratio for all-cause mortality among women (1\u00b798, 95% CI 1\u00b703, 3\u00b781) but not men (1\u00b728, 95% CI 0\u00b776, 2\u00b716). CONCLUSIONS: A bean-free diet may play a role in developing the metabolic syndrome in both genders, and is a significant predictor of all-cause mortality in Taiwanese women but not men."}
{"id": "MED-3142", "text": "AIM: Soy foods are the major source of isoflavones, which are believed to play important roles in genesis of breast cancer and its progression. We here conducted a prospective study to evaluate the association of soy isoflavone food consumption with breast cancer prognosis. METHODS: A prospective study was performed from January 2004 and January 2006 in China. Trained interviewers conducted face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire to collect information on dietary habits and potential confounding factors. The relative risk [hazard ratio (HR)] and 95% CI were calculated from the Cox regression model for all significant predictors from cancer diagnosis to the endpoint of the study (event). RESULTS: After a median follow up of 52.1 months (range, 9-60 months), a total of 79 breast cancer related deaths were recorded in our study, risk being inversely associated with a high intake of soy isoflavone. With an average intake of soy isoflavone above 17.3 mg/day, the mortality of breast cancer can be reduced by about 38-36%. We also found the decreased breast cancer death with high soy protein intake, with a HR (95% CI) of 0.71 (0.52-0.98). Stratified analysis with reference to the ER status, further demonstrated a better prognosis of ER positive breast cancer with a high intake of soy isoflavone (HR 0.59, 0.40-0.93). CONCLUSION: Our study shows the soy food intake is associated with longer survival and low recurrence among breast cancer patients. A cohort study with a larger sample size and long term follow-up is now needed."}
{"id": "MED-3143", "text": "BACKGROUND: Olestra is a nonabsorbable, energy-free fat substitute. Because it is not absorbed, it may cause digestive symptoms when consumed in large amounts. OBJECTIVE: To compare the frequency and impact of gastrointestinal symptoms in adults and children who freely consume snacks containing olestra or regular snacks in the home. DESIGN: 6-week, double-blind, randomized, parallel, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: General community. PARTICIPANTS: 3181 volunteers 2 to 89 years of age. INTERVENTION: Households received identical packages labeled as containing olestra corn or potato chips. These packages contained either olestra or regular chips (control). MEASUREMENT: Gastrointestinal symptoms and their impact on daily activities were reported in a daily record. RESULTS: At least one gastrointestinal symptom was reported by 619 of 1620 (38.2%) persons in the olestra group and 576 of 1561 (36.9%) controls (difference, 1.3 percentage points [95% CI, -3.6 to 6.2 percentage points]; P = 0.60). In general, the groups did not differ significantly in the proportion of participants who reported individual gastrointestinal symptoms; however, more controls reported nausea (8.4% compared with 5.7%; difference, -2.7 percentage points [CI, -4.9 to -0.4 percentage points]; P = 0.02). The only difference between groups for the mean numbers of days on which symptoms were reported was that participants in the olestra group had 1 more symptom-day of more frequent bowel movements than did controls (3.7 symptom-days compared with 2.8 symptom days; difference, 0.9 symptom-days [CI, 0.1 to 1.8 symptom-days]; P = 0.04). The groups did not differ in the impact of symptoms on daily activities. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically meaningful or bothersome gastrointestinal effects are not associated with unregulated consumption of olestra corn and potato chips in the home."}
{"id": "MED-3144", "text": "The opiate alkaloids present in poppy seed intended for use in food recently have raised major concerns. An efficient method for routine analysis of morphine and codeine using liquid chromatography in combination with tandem mass spectrometry on a triple quadrupole instrument (LC/MS/MS) was therefore developed. The optimal sample preparation was found to be cold extraction of 10 g of unground poppy seed with 30 mL of methanol containing 0.1% acetic acid for 60 min shaken at 250 rpm. The fate of morphine during food processing was also studied. All experiments led to a significant reduction of morphine and codeine. For poppy cake only 16-50% of the morphine was recovered, and in poppy buns at the highest temperature (220 degrees C) only 3% of the original morphine content was found. Ground poppy seed showed significantly lower recoveries than untreated seed. Morphine elimination during food processing has to be taken into account in the current discussion about its maximum limits in poppy seed."}
{"id": "MED-3146", "text": "Seeds of the opium poppy plant are legally sold and widely consumed as food. Due to contamination during harvesting, the seeds can contain morphine and other opiate alkaloids. The objective of this study is to review the toxicology of poppy seed foods regarding influence on opiate drug tests. Computer-assisted literature review resulted in 95 identified references. Normal poppy seed consumption is generally regarded as safe. During food processing, the morphine content is considerably reduced (up to 90%). The possibility of false-positive opiate drug tests after poppy food ingestion exists. There are no unambiguous markers available to differentiate poppy food ingestion from heroin or pharmaceutical morphine use. This is also a problem in heroin-assisted maintenance programs. A basic requirement in such substitution programs is the patients' abstinence from any other drugs, including additional illicit heroin. Also a lack of forensic ingestion trials was detected that consider all factors influencing the morphine content in biologic matrices after consumption. Most studies did not control for the losses during food processing, so that the initial morphine dosage was overestimated. The large reduction of the morphine content during past years raises questions about the validity of the \"poppy seed defence.\" However, a threshold of food use that would not lead to positive drug tests with certainty is currently unavailable. Research is needed to prove if the morphine contents in today's foods still pose the possibility of influencing drug tests. Future trials should consider processing-related morphine losses."}
{"id": "MED-3148", "text": "We examined the resting metabolic rate (RMR) and sympathetic nervous system activity of young male vegetarians (n = 17) and nonvegetarians (n = 40). Subjects were characterized for RMR by indirect calorimetry, norepinephrine kinetics from infusions of tritiated norepinephrine, energy and macronutrient intake from a 3-day food diary, and body composition by underwater weighing. Vegetarians reported a greater relative intake of carbohydrates (62% +/- 5% v 51% +/- 6%, P < .01) and a lower relative intake of fat (25% +/- 5% v 33% +/- 6%, P < .01) than nonvegetarians, whereas no differences were observed in daily energy intake, body composition, or maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) between groups. Vegetarians exhibited an 11% higher absolute RMR (1.29 +/- 0.15 v 1.16 +/- 0.13 kcal/min, P < .01), a higher plasma concentration of norepinephrine (216 +/- 33 v 165 +/- 18 pg/mL, P < .01), and a greater norepinephrine appearance rate (0.50 +/- 0.08 v 0.36 +/- 0.09 micrograms/min, P < .01) than nonvegetarians. After statistically controlling for differences in relative amounts of carbohydrate and fat in the diet and for norepinephrine concentrations, no significant differences in adjusted RMR between vegetarians and nonvegetarians were noted. These results suggest that the higher RMR observed in young male vegetarians is partially mediated by differences in dietary macronutrient composition and increased sympathetic nervous system activity."}
{"id": "MED-3149", "text": "Many health conditions are treated, at least in part, by therapeutic diets. Although the success of any intervention depends on its acceptability to the patient, the acceptability of therapeutic diets and factors that influence it have been largely neglected in nutrition research. A working definition of acceptability is proposed and an examination and summary are provided of available data on the acceptability of common diet regimens used for medical conditions. The goal is to suggest ways to improve the success of therapeutic diets. The proposed working definition of \"acceptability\" refers to the user's judgment of the advantages and disadvantages of a therapeutic diet-in relation to palatability, costs, and effects on eating behaviour and health-that influence the likelihood of adherence. Very low-calorie, reduced-fat omnivorous, vegetarian and vegan, and low-carbohydrate diets all achieve acceptability among the majority of users in studies of up to one year, in terms of attrition and adherence rates and results of questionnaires assessing eating behaviours. Longer studies are fewer, but they suggest that vegetarian, vegan, and reduced-fat diets are acceptable, as indicated by sustained changes in nutrient intake. Few studies of this length have been published for very low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diets. Long-term studies of adherence and acceptability of these and other therapeutic diets are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3150", "text": "Background Exercise can alter health in children in both beneficial (eg reduced long\u2010term risk of atherosclerosis) and adverse (eg exercise\u2010induced asthma) ways. The mechanisms linking exercise and health are not known, but may rest, partly, on the ability of exercise to increase circulating immune cells. Little is known about the effect of brief exercise, more reflective of naturally occurring patterns of physical activity in children, on immune cell responses. Objectives To determine whether (1) a 6\u2010min bout of exercise can increase circulating inflammatory cells in healthy children and (2) the effect of brief exercise is greater in children with a history of asthma. Methods Children with mild\u2013moderate persistent asthma and age\u2010matched controls (n\u200a=\u200a14 in each group, mean age 13.6\u2005years) performed a 6\u2010min bout of cycle\u2010ergometer exercise. Spirometry was performed at baseline and after exercise. Blood was drawn before and after exercise, leucocytes were quantified and key lymphocyte cell surface markers were assessed by flow cytometry. Results Exercise decreased spirometry only in children with asthma, but increased (p<0.001) most types of leucocytes (eg lymphocytes (controls, mean (SD) 1210 (208)\u2005cells/\u03bcl; children with asthma, 1119 (147)\u2005cells/\u03bcl) and eosinophils (controls, 104 (22)\u2005cells/\u03bcl; children with asthma, 88 (20)\u2005cells/\u03bcl)) to the same degree in both groups. Similarly, exercise increased T helper cells (controls, 248 (60)\u2005cells/\u03bcl; children with asthma, 232 (53)\u2005cells/\u03bcl) and most other lymphocyte subtypes tested. By contrast, although basophils (16 (5)\u2005cells/\u03bcl) and CD4+ CD45RO+ RA+ lymphocytes (19 (4)\u2005cells/\u03bcl) increased in controls, no increase in these cell types was found in children with asthma. Conclusions Exercise increased many circulating inflammatory cells in both children with asthma and controls. Circulating inflammatory cells did increase in children with asthma, but not to a greater degree than in controls. In fact, basophils and T helper lymphocyte memory transition cells did not increase in children with asthma, whereas they did increase in controls. Even brief exercise in children and adolescents robustly mobilises circulating immune cells."}
{"id": "MED-3151", "text": "Strenuous aerobic exercise is known to weaken the immune system, and while many nutritional supplements have been proposed to boost post-exercise immunity, few are known to be effective. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether 10 d of supplementation with a defined source of baker's yeast \u03b2-glucan (BG, Wellmune WGP\u00ae) could minimise post-exercise immunosuppression. Recreationally active men and women (n 60) completed two 10 d trial conditions using a cross-over design with a 7 d washout period: placebo (rice flour) and baker's yeast BG (250 mg/d of \u03b2-1,3/1,6-glucans derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae) before a bout of cycling (49 \u00b1 6 min) in a hot (38 \u00b1 2\u00b0C), humid (45 \u00b1 2 % relative humidity) environment. Blood was collected at baseline (before supplement), pre- (PRE), post- (POST) and 2 h (2H) post-exercise. Total and subset monocyte concentration was measured by four-colour flow cytometry. Plasma cytokine levels and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cytokine production were measured using separate multiplex assays. Total (CD14\u207a) and pro-inflammatory monocyte concentrations (CD14\u207a/CD16\u207a) were significantly greater at POST and 2H (P<0\u00b705) with BG supplementation. BG supplementation boosted LPS-stimulated production of IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 and interferon-\u03b3 (IFN-\u03b3) at PRE and POST (P<0\u00b705). Plasma IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-\u03b3 concentrations were greater at 2H following BG supplementation. It appears that 10 d of supplementation with BG increased the potential of blood leucocytes for the production of IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-\u03b3. The key findings of the present study demonstrate that BG may have potential to alter immunity following a strenuous exercise session."}
{"id": "MED-3153", "text": "This was a placebo-controlled, double-blind study designed to evaluate the effect of a commercially available dietary supplement on upper-respiratory tract symptoms (URTI) and mood state. Seventy-five marathon runners (35 men, 40 women) ranging in age from 18-53 years, mean age: 36 \u00b1 9, self-administered placebo, 250 mg or 500 mg of BETA 1,3/1,6 GLUCAN (commercial name Wellmune WGP\u00ae) daily during the 4 week post-marathon trial period following the 2007 Carlsbad Marathon. Subjects filled out the profile of mood state (POMS) assessment and a questionnaire style health log measuring health status and URTI symptoms after 2- and 4-week treatment administrations. During the course of the 4-week study, subjects in the treatment groups (250 mg and 500 mg BETA-GLUCAN per day) reported significantly fewer URTI symptoms, better overall health and decreased confusion, fatigue, tension, and anger, and increased vigor based on the POMS survey compared to placebo. BETA-GLUCAN may prevent URTI symptoms, and improve overall health and mood following a competitive marathon. Key points"}
{"id": "MED-3154", "text": "Anecdotal, survey, and epidemiological data suggest that endurance athletes are at an increased risk for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) during periods of heavy training and the 1 - to 2-wk period after race events. The majority of athletes, however, who participate in endurance race events do not experience illness. Of greater public health importance is the consistent finding of a reduction in URTI risk reported by fitness enthusiasts and athletes who engage in regular exercise training while avoiding overreaching/overtraining. Although it naturally follows that infection risk should in some way be linked to acute and chronic exercise-induced alterations in immunity, attempts thus far to measure this association have been unsuccessful. There is growing evidence that for several hours subsequent to heavy exertion, several components of both the innate and adaptive immune system exhibit suppressed function. The immune response to heavy exertion is transient, however, and further research on the mechanisms underlying the immune response to prolonged and intensive endurance exercise is necessary before meaningful clinical applications can be drawn. Some attempts have been made through chemical or nutritional means (e.g., indomethacin, glutamine, vitamin C, and carbohydrate supplementation) to attenuate immune changes after intensive exercise to lower the risk of infection. No consistent relationship between nutritional interventions, exercise immunology, and alteration in URTI risk has yet been established."}
{"id": "MED-3164", "text": "Prolonged exercise and heavy training are associated with depressed immune cell function. To maintain immune function, athletes should eat a well-balanced diet sufficient to meet their energy, carbohydrate, protein, and micronutrient requirements. Consuming carbohydrate during prolonged strenuous exercise attenuates rises in stress hormones and appears to limit the degree of exercise-induced immune depression. Recent evidence suggests that antioxidant vitamin supplementation may also reduce exercise stress and impairment of leukocyte functions. Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of other antioxidants and dietary immunostimulants such as probiotics and echinacea on exercise-induced immune impairment."}
{"id": "MED-3165", "text": "Much of the current literature regarding the biological effects of antioxidant nutrients has concentrated on their potential role in inhibiting or preventing tissue damage induced by free radical species produced during metabolism. Recent findings indicate that antioxidants may also have more subtle roles, regulating changes in gene expression induced by oxidizing free radical species. There is increasing evidence that free radicals act as signals for cell adaptation in a variety of cell types and the nature of the mechanisms by which free radical species influence gene expression is the subject of much current research. Processes such as these may be particularly important in tissues regularly exposed to varying amounts of oxidative stress as part of their normal physiological functions. Examples of such tissues include skin exposed to u.v. light and skeletal muscle subjected to repeated bouts of exercise."}
{"id": "MED-3166", "text": "PURPOSE: Acute antioxidant supplementation may modulate oxidative stress and some immune perturbations that typically occur following prolonged exercise. The aims of the present study were to examine the effects of acutely consuming dark chocolate (high polyphenol content) on plasma antioxidant capacity, markers of oxidative stress and immunoendocrine responses to prolonged exercise. METHODS: Fourteen healthy men cycled for 2.5 h at ~60% maximal oxygen uptake 2 h after consuming 100 g dark chocolate (DC), an isomacronutrient control bar (CC) or neither (BL) in a randomised-counterbalanced design. RESULTS: DC enhanced pre-exercise antioxidant status (P = 0.003) and reduced by trend (P = 0.088) 1 h post-exercise plasma free [F\u2082-isoprostane] compared with CC (also, [F\u2082-isoprostane] increased post-exercise in CC and BL but not DC trials). Plasma insulin concentration was significantly higher pre-exercise (P = 0.012) and 1 h post-exercise (P = 0.026) in the DC compared with the CC trial. There was a better maintenance of plasma glucose concentration on the DC trial (2-way ANOVA trial \u00d7 time interaction P = 0.001), which decreased post-exercise in all trials but was significantly higher 1 h post-exercise (P = 0.039) in the DC trial. There were no between trial differences in the temporal responses (trial \u00d7 time interactions all P > 0.05) of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress hormones, plasma interleukin-6, the magnitude of leukocytosis and neutrophilia and changes in neutrophil function. CONCLUSION: Acute DC consumption may affect insulin, glucose, antioxidant status and oxidative stress responses, but has minimal effects on immunoendocrine responses, to prolonged exercise."}
{"id": "MED-3168", "text": "Legumes and the polyphenolic compounds present in them have gained a lot of interest due to their beneficial health implications. Dietary polyphenolic compounds, especially flavonoids, exert antioxidant properties and are potent inhibitors of xanthine oxidase (XO) activity. XO is the main contributor of free radicals during exercise but it is also involved in pathogenesis of several diseases such as vascular disorders, cancer and gout. In order to discover new natural, dietary XO inhibitors, some polyphenolic fractions and pure compounds isolated from two legume plant extracts were tested for their effects on XO activity. The fractions isolated from both Vicia faba and Lotus edulis plant extracts were potent inhibitors of XO with IC50 values range from 40\u2013135 \u00b5g/mL and 55\u2013260 \u00b5g/mL, respectively. All the pure polyphenolic compounds inhibited XO and their Ki values ranged from 13\u2013767 \u00b5M. Ten of the compounds followed the non competitive inhibitory model whereas one of them was a competitive inhibitor. These findings indicate that flavonoid isolates from legume plant extracts are novel, natural XO inhibitors. Their mode of action is under investigation in order to examine their potential in drug design for diseases related to overwhelming XO action."}
{"id": "MED-3169", "text": "BACKGROUND: Anecdotal reports and a single case-control epidemiological survey have suggested an association between the helminthic disease neurocysticercosis and primary headache. The present study was undertaken to determine whether neurocysticercosis is more common among patients with primary headaches than in other neurological disorders. METHODS: We determined the prevalence of neurocysticercosis in a cohort of patients with primary headache who were seen at our institution over a 20-year period. We used as controls all people from the same cohort with four major different categories of neurological disorders, including cerebrovascular disease, degenerative disorders of the CNS, head trauma, and primary brain tumors. We evaluated differences in the prevalence of neurocysticercosis between patients and controls. RESULTS: Forty-eight of 1017 patients with primary headache and 31 of 1687 controls had neurocysticercosis (4.7% vs 1.8%, p\u2009<\u20090.0001). Calcified parenchymal brain cysticerci were more frequent among patients with primary headache than in those with cerebrovascular disease (4.7% vs 1%, p\u2009<\u20090.001), degenerative disorders of the CNS (4.7% vs 2.4%, p\u2009<\u20090.05), and head trauma (4.7% vs 2.3%, p\u2009<\u20090.05). There were no significant differences, however, for the subset of controls with primary brain tumors (4.7% vs 3.5%), a condition that has also been associated with neurocysticercosis. CONCLUSIONS: There is a relationship between calcified neurocysticercosis and primary headache disorders. It is possible that periodic remodeling of cysticercotic calcifications, with liberation of antigens to the brain parenchyma, contributes to the occurrence of headache in these patients."}
{"id": "MED-3170", "text": "Background Few studies have focused on the cognitive morbidity of neurocysticercosis (NCC), one of the most common parasitic infections of the central nervous system. We longitudinally assessed the cognitive status and quality of life (QoL) of patients with incident symptomatic NCC cases and matched controls. Methodology/Principal Findings The setting of the study was the Sabogal Hospital and Cysticercosis Unit, Department of Transmissible Diseases, National Institute of Neurological Sciences, Lima, Peru. The design was a longitudinal study of new onset NCC cases and controls. Participants included a total of 14 patients with recently diagnosed NCC along with 14 healthy neighborhood controls and 7 recently diagnosed epilepsy controls. A standardized neuropsychological battery was performed at baseline and at 6 months on NCC cases and controls. A brain MRI was performed in patients with NCC at baseline and 6 months. Neuropsychological results were compared between NCC cases and controls at both time points. At baseline, patients with NCC had lower scores on attention tasks (p<0.04) compared with epilepsy controls but no significant differences compared to healthy controls. Six months after receiving anti-parasitic treatment, the NCC group significantly improved on tasks involving psychomotor speed (p<0.02). QoL at baseline suggested impaired mental function and social function in both the NCC and epilepsy group compared with healthy controls. QoL gains in social function (p\u200a=\u200a0.006) were noted at 6 months in patients with NCC. Conclusions/Significance Newly diagnosed patients with NCC in this sample had mild cognitive deficits and more marked decreases in quality of life at baseline compared with controls. Improvements were found in both cognitive status and quality of life in patients with NCC after treatment. Author Summary Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is one of the most common parasitic infections of the central nervous system. Cognitive changes have been frequently reported with this disease but have not been well studied. Our study team recruited a group of new onset NCC cases and a matched set of healthy neighborhood controls and new onset epilepsy controls in Lima, Peru for this study. A neuropsychological battery was administered at baseline and at 6 months to all groups. Brain MRI studies were also obtained on NCC cases at baseline and at 6 months. Newly diagnosed patients with NCC had mild cognitive deficits and more marked decreases in quality of life at baseline compared with controls. Improvements were found in both cognitive status and quality of life in patients with NCC after treatment. This study is the first to assess cognitive status and quality of life longitudinally in patients with NCC and provides new data on an important clinical morbidity outcome."}
{"id": "MED-3171", "text": "A method for culturing cysticerci that allows successful evagination and growth of scolexes from metacestodes of Taenia solium was used to study the survival of cysticerci subjected to low temperatures. Refrigeration of pork muscle infested with cysticerci at temperatures above 0 degrees C did not affect the parasites' survival in culture. Conversely, freezing of meat prevented survival of cysts. A practical procedure to kill cysticerci is the storage of pork muscle for four days at -5 degrees C, three days at -15 degrees C, or one day at -24 degrees C. These simple measures would help prevent the most frequent parasitosis of man's central nervous system."}
{"id": "MED-3172", "text": "Recent studies suggest that neurocysticercosis may be a risk factor for human cancer. Pathogenetic mechanisms explaining possible oncogenic effects of cysticerci include the following: (a) parasite-induced modulation of the host immune response that may be associated with loss of regulatory mechanisms implicated in the immunological surveillance against cancer; (b) transfer of genetic material from the parasite to the host, causing DNA damage and malignant transformation of host cells, and (c) chronic inflammation with liberation of nitric oxide and inhibition of tumor suppressor genes. Further research is needed to confirm the potential role of cysticercosis in the development of cancer. These studies should determine the presence of cysticercotic factors responsible for the transfer of genetic material and potential mutations in the tumor suppressor genes in proliferating astrocytes surrounding cysticercotic lesions. Additionally, the complex interaction between the immune state of the host with variable cytokine release and the presence of inflammatory cells releasing nitric oxide that cause DNA damage and impair tumor suppressive mechanisms needs to be investigated."}
{"id": "MED-3173", "text": "Objectives Polyphenols, natural compounds found in plant-based foods, possess special properties that can battle oxidative stress and stimulate the activation of molecules that aid in synaptic plasticity, a process that underlies cognitive function. Unlike many traditional treatments, polyphenols affect a broad range of mechanisms in the brain that can assist in the maintenance of cognitive and mental health, as well as the recovery from neurodegenerative diseases. Examining the molecular basis underlying the link between food intake and brain function has presented the exciting possibility of using diet as a viable method to battle cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Methods We will discuss the molecular systems that link polyphenols, the gut, and the brain, as well as introduce published human and animal studies demonstrating the effects of polyphenol consumption on brain plasticity and cognition. Results By influencing cellular energy metabolism and modulating the signaling pathways of molecules involved with brain plasticity, dietary factors \u2013 formerly recognized for just their effects on bodily systems \u2013 have emerged as affecters of the brain. Conclusion Thus, the consumption of diets enriched with polyphenols may present the potential of dietary manipulation as a non-invasive, natural, and inexpensive therapeutic means to support a healthy brain."}
{"id": "MED-3174", "text": "To assess the burden of neurocysticercosis (NCC) in California we examined statewide hospital discharge data for 2009. There were 304 cases hospitalized with NCC identified (incidence\u200a=\u200a0.8 per 100,000). Cases were mostly Latino (84.9%), slightly more likely to be male than female (men 57.6%, women 42.4%) with an average age of 43.5 years. A majority of cases were hospitalized in Southern California (72.1%) and many were hospitalized in Los Angeles County (44.7%). Men were more likely than women to have severe disease including hydrocephalus (29.7% vs. 18.6%, p\u200a=\u200a0.027), resulting in longer hospitalizations (>4 days, 48.0% vs. 32.6%, p\u200a=\u200a0.007) that were more costly (charge>$40 thousand men\u200a=\u200a46.9% vs. woman\u200a=\u200a4.1%, p\u200a=\u200a0.026). Six deaths were recorded (2.0%). The total of NCC-related hospital charges exceeded $17 million; estimated hospital costs exceeded $5 million. Neurocysticercosis causes appreciable disease and exacts a considerable economic burden in California. Author Summary Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is considered one of the major neglected infections of poverty in the United States, with mortality studies indicating that California bears the highest burden of this disease. Although NCC is a reportable disease in California, studies indicate that this disease goes largely under-reported, contributing to the lack of information about the disease distribution and burden. In this manuscript, we reviewed the distribution of NCC hospitalizations in California, demographics of those hospitalized and total hospital-related charges for 2009. This study revealed that a majority of persons hospitalized with NCC in California receive their medical service in Southern California hospitals, primarily in the County of Los Angeles. As compared to women hospitalized for this disease, men had a longer and more costly hospitalization with more severe symptoms such as hydrocephalus, a diagnosis suggestive of extraparenchymal infection. The reasons for this difference in NCC severity by gender are not clear, but do not appear to be due to delay in seeking medical care or a language barrier. The intensity of hospital care needed to manage these cases and the sizable NCC hospitalization charge underscores the considerable economic burden this disease presents in California."}
{"id": "MED-3175", "text": "Infection with pork tapeworm, or Taenia solium, affects approximately 50 million people worldwide. The most important and potentially devastating form of the infestation, neurocysticercosis, occurs when the parasite invades the central nervous system. There has been a significant increase in the number of cases in the United States due to immigration from endemic areas. This case study of a pregnant woman in the 35th week of gestation exemplifies the serious consequences of this infection in pregnancy, and discusses an evidence-based approach to the diagnosis, treatment and eradication of this preventable disease. \u00a9 2012 AWHONN."}
{"id": "MED-3176", "text": "Methods: Ninety consecutive patients with untreated NCC underwent a cognitive assessment (Mini-mental State Examination, Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination, and IQCODE) and were classified as having or not having dementia according to DSM-IV criteria. Imaging and cerebrospinal fluid examination data were recorded. The cognitive measures were repeated six months after treatment with albendazole and steroids. Results: At the initial evaluation 15.5% (n = 14) of the patients were classified as having dementia. Dementia was associated with older age, lower education level, increased number of parasitic lesions in the brain (mostly in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes). After six months, 21.5% of the patients from the dementia group continued to have a full dementia disorder and 78.5% no longer fulfilled the DSM-IV criteria for dementia, although some of these patients still showed mild cognitive decline. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that dementia occurs frequently in patients with untreated NCC, and it is reversible in most cases."}
{"id": "MED-3177", "text": "Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is an infection of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by the metacestode larval form of the parasite Taenia sp. Many factors can contribute to the endemic nature of cysticercosis. The inflammatory process that occurs in the tissue surrounding the parasite and/or distal from it can result from several associated mechanisms and may be disproportionate with the number of cysts. This discrepancy may lead to difficulty with the proper diagnosis in people from low endemic regions or regions that lack laboratory resources. In the CNS, the cysticerci have two basic forms, isolated cysts (Cysticercus cellulosae=CC) and racemose cysts (Cysticercus racemosus=CR), and may be meningeal, parenchymal, or ventricular or have a mixed location. The clinical manifestations are based on two fundamental syndromes that may occur in isolation or be associated: epilepsy and intracranial hypertension. They may be asymptomatic, symptomatic or fatal; have an acute, sub-acute or chronic picture; or may be in remission or exacerbated. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may be normal, even in patients with viable cysticerci, until the patients begin to exhibit the classical syndrome of NCC in the CSF, or show changes in one or more routine analysed parameters. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have allowed non-invasive diagnoses, but can lead to false negatives. Treatment is a highly controversial issue and is characterised by individualised therapy sessions. Two drugs are commonly used, praziquantel (PZQ) and albendazole (ABZ). The choice of anti-inflammatory drugs includes steroids and dextrochlorpheniramine (DCP). Hydrocephalus is a common secondary effect of NCC. Surgical cases of hydrocephalus must be submitted to ventricle-peritoneal shunt (VPS) immediately before cysticidal treatment, and surgical extirpation of the cyst may lead to an absence of the surrounding inflammatory process. The progression of NCC may be simple or complicated, have remission with or without treatment and may exhibit symptoms that can disappear for long periods of time or persist until death. Unknown, neglected and controversial aspects of NCC, such as the impaired fourth ventricle syndrome, the presence of chronic brain oedema and psychic complaints, in addition to the lack of detectable glucose in the CSF and re-infection are discussed."}
{"id": "MED-3178", "text": "Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most frequent parasitic disease of the human brain. Modern imaging studies, CT and MRI, have defined the diagnosis and characterization of the disease. Through these studies the therapeutic approach for each case may be individualized with the aid of antihelmintics, steroids, symptomatic medicines, or surgery. The use of one or various therapeutic measures largely depends on the peculiar combination of number, location, and biological stage of lesions as well as the degree of inflammatory response to the parasites. Although there is not a typical clinical picture of NCC, epilepsy is the most frequent manifestation of parenchymal NCC, whereas hydrocephalus is the most frequent manifestation of meningeal NCC. Eradication of cysticercosis is an attainable goal by public education and sanitary improvement in endemic areas."}
{"id": "MED-3179", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Neurocysticercosis (NCYST) is the most frequent CNS parasitic disease worldwide, affecting more than 50 million people. However, some of its clinical findings, such as cognitive impairment and dementia, remain poorly characterized, with no controlled studies conducted so far. We investigated the frequency and the clinical profile of cognitive impairment and dementia in a sample of patients with NCYST in comparison with cognitively healthy controls (HC) and patients with cryptogenic epilepsy (CE). METHODS: Forty treatment-naive patients with NCYST, aged 39.25 +/- 10.50 years and fulfilling absolute criteria for definitive active NCYST on MRI, were submitted to a comprehensive cognitive and functional evaluation and were compared with 49 HC and 28 patients with CE of similar age, educational level, and seizure frequency. RESULTS: Patients with NCYST displayed significant impairment in executive functions, verbal and nonverbal memory, constructive praxis, and verbal fluency when compared with HC (p < 0.05). Dementia was diagnosed in 12.5% patients with NCYST according to DSM-IV criteria. When compared with patients with CE, patients with NCYST presented altered working and episodic verbal memory, executive functions, naming, verbal fluency, constructive praxis, and visual-spatial orientation. No correlation emerged between cognitive scores and number, localization, or type of NCYST lesions on MRI. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive impairment was ubiquitous in this sample of patients with active neurocysticercosis (NCYST). Antiepileptic drug use and seizure frequency could not account for these features. Dementia was present in a significant proportion of patients. These data broaden our knowledge on the clinical presentations of NCYST and its impact in world public health."}
{"id": "MED-3180", "text": "Four cases of suggestive inflammatory aneurysms in patients with neurocysticercosis have been described. We report a case of a 49-year-old woman who presented with subarachnoid haemorrhage from a right middle cerebral artery bifurcation aneurysm and had a casual relationship with neurocysticercosis. At surgery, a viable cysticercus without signs of inflammation or thickened leptomeninges was found in the distal position of the aneurysm. Postoperatively, the patient received albendazole and dextrochlorpheniramine. In the subsequent three years, the patient was asymptomatic and took drugs to prevent convulsion and arterial hypertension. The relationship between NCC and the presence of cerebral aneurysm is discussed."}
{"id": "MED-3181", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and features of psychiatric morbidity in a cross section of 38 outpatients with neurocysticercosis. METHODS: Diagnosis of neurocysticercosis was established by CT, MRI, and CSF analysis. Psychiatric diagnoses were made by using the present state examination and the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia-lifetime version; cognitive state was assessed by mini mental state examination and Strub and Black's mental status examination. RESULTS: Signs of psychiatric disease and cognitive decline were found in 65.8 and 87.5% of the cases respectively. Depression was the most frequent psychiatric diagnosis (52.6%) and 14.2% of the patients were psychotic. Active disease and intracranial hypertension were associated with higher psychiatric morbidity, and previous history of mood disorders was strongly related to current depression. Other variables, such as number and type of brain lesions, severity of neuropsychological deficits, epilepsy, and use of steroids did not correlate with mental disturbances in this sample. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric abnormalities, particularly depression syndromes, are frequent in patients with neurocysticercosis. Although regarded as a rare cause of dementia, mild cognitive impairment may be a much more prevalent neuropsychological feature of patients with neurocysticercosis. The extent to which organic mechanisms related to brain lesions may underlie the mental changes is yet unclear, although the similar sex distribution of patients with and without depression, as well as the above mentioned correlations, provide further evidence of the part played by organic factors in the cause of these syndromes."}
{"id": "MED-3182", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Review of human cysticercosis in Canada, to estimate the magnitude of the disease and to describe the pattern of disease expression in this country. METHODS: MEDLINE and manual search of case reports and case series of patients with cysticercosis diagnosed in Canada. ed data included year of diagnosis, citizenship status, clinical manifestations, and form of cysticercosis. FINDINGS: A total of 21 articles reporting 60 patients were found. Forty (67%) of these patients were diagnosed in the past two decades. Most cases came from Ontario (n=43) and Quebec (n=14). Immigrants accounted for 96% of the 28 cases in whom citizenship information was available. Neurocysticercosis was observed in 55 patients, and isolated compromise of striated muscles in the remaining five. Seizures was the primary or sole manifestation of the disease in 72% of patients, and most of them had parenchymal brain cysticerci (either viable cysts or calcifications). Two of seven patients were positive for Taenia eggs. In no case were household contacts of the patients investigated for taeniasis. CONCLUSIONS: An increasing number of patients with cysticercosis have been reported from Canada in the past two decades, suggesting that the prevalence of this parasitic disease may be on the rise. While most cases occur in immigrants, it is possible that at least some of these patients had acquired the disease in Canada."}
{"id": "MED-3193", "text": "Background Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a B cell neoplasm causing lytic or osteopenic bone abnormalities. Whole body skeletal survey (WBSS), Magnetic resonance (MR) and 18F-FDG PET/CT are imaging techniques routinely used for the evaluation of bone involvement in MM patients. Aim As MM bone lesions may present low 18F-FDG uptake; the aim of this study was to assess the possible added value and limitations of 11C-Choline to that of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients affected with MM. Methods Ten patients affected with MM underwent a standard 11C-Choline PET/CT and an 18F-FDG PET/CT within one week. The results of the two scans were compared in terms of number, sites and SUVmax of lesions. Results Four patients (40%) had a negative concordant 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans. Two patients (20%) had a positive 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans that identified the same number and sites of bone lesions. The remaining four patients (40%) had a positive 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scan, but the two exams identified different number of lesions. Choline showed a mean SUVmax of 5 while FDG showed a mean SUVmax of 3.8 (P = 0.042). Overall, 11C-Choline PET/CT scans detected 37 bone lesions and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans detected 22 bone lesions but the difference was not significant (P = 0.8). Conclusion According to these preliminary data, 11C-Choline PET/CT appears to be more sensitive than 18F-FDG PET/CT for the detection of bony myelomatous lesions. If these data are confirmed in larger series of patients, 11C-Choline may be considered a more appropriate functional imaging in association with MRI for MM bone staging."}
{"id": "MED-3197", "text": "Background: A Step I diet with lean beef compared with lean white meat both decrease LDL cholesterol. To our knowledge, no studies have evaluated a low\u2013saturated fatty acid (SFA) (<7% calories) diet that contains lean beef. Objective: We studied the effect on LDL cholesterol of cholesterol-lowering diets with varying amounts of lean beef [ie, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH): 28 g beef/d; Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD): 113 g beef/d; and Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet plus additional protein (BOLD+): 153 g beef/d] compared with that of a healthy American diet (HAD). Design: Thirty-six hypercholesterolemic participants (with LDL-cholesterol concentrations >2.8 mmol/L) were randomly assigned to consume each of the 4 diets (HAD: 33% total fat, 12% SFA, 17% protein, and 20 g beef/d), DASH (27% total fat, 6% SFA, 18% protein, and 28 g beef/d), BOLD (28% total fat, 6% SFA, 19% protein, and 113 g beef/d), and BOLD+ (28% total fat, 6% SFA, 27% protein, and 153 g beef/d) for 5 wk. Results: There was a decrease in total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.05) after consumption of the DASH (\u22120.49 \u00b1 0.11 and \u22120.37 \u00b1 0.09 mmol/L, respectively), BOLD (\u22120.48 \u00b1 0.10 and \u22120.35 \u00b1 0.9 mmol/L, respectively), and BOLD+ (\u22120.50 \u00b1 0.10 and \u22120.345 \u00b1 0.09 mmol/L, respectively) diets compared with after consumption of the HAD (\u22120.22 \u00b1 0.10 and \u22120.14 \u00b1 0.10 mmol/L, respectively). Apolipoprotein A-I, C-III, and C-III bound to apolipoprotein A1 particles decreased after BOLD and BOLD+ diets compared with after the HAD, and there was a greater decrease in apolipoprotein B after consumption of the BOLD+ diet than after consumption of the HAD (P < 0.05 for both). LDL cholesterol and TC decreased after consumption of the DASH, BOLD, and BOLD+ diets when the baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration was <1 mg/L; LDL cholesterol and TC decreased when baseline CRP concentration was >1 mg/L with the BOLD and BOLD+ diets. Conclusions: Low-SFA, heart-healthy dietary patterns that contain lean beef elicit favorable effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) lipid and lipoprotein risk factors that are comparable to those elicited by a DASH dietary pattern. These results, in conjunction with the beneficial effects on apolipoprotein CVD risk factors after consumption of the BOLD and BOLD+ diets, which were greater with the BOLD+ diet, provide support for including lean beef in a heart-healthy dietary pattern. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00937898."}
{"id": "MED-3198", "text": "BACKGROUND: Despite its high content of saturated fatty acids, cheese does not seem to increase plasma total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations when compared with an equivalent intake of fat from butter. This effect may be due to the high calcium content of cheese, which results in a higher excretion of fecal fat. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to compare the effects of diets of equal fat content rich in either hard cheese or butter or a habitual diet on blood pressure and fasting serum blood lipids, C-reactive protein, glucose, and insulin. We also examined whether fecal fat excretion differs with the consumption of cheese or butter. DESIGN: The study was a randomized dietary intervention consisting of two 6-wk crossover periods and a 14-d run-in period during which the subjects consumed their habitual diet. The study included 49 men and women who replaced part of their habitual dietary fat intake with 13% of energy from cheese or butter. RESULTS: After 6 wk, the cheese intervention resulted in lower serum total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol concentrations and higher glucose concentrations than did the butter intervention. Cheese intake did not increase serum total or LDL-cholesterol concentrations compared with the run-in period, during which total fat and saturated fat intakes were lower. Fecal fat excretion did not differ between the cheese and butter periods. CONCLUSION: Cheese lowers LDL cholesterol when compared with butter intake of equal fat content and does not increase LDL cholesterol compared with a habitual diet. This trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01140165."}
{"id": "MED-3199", "text": "It has been well established that complex mixtures of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables can be beneficial for human health. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly apparent that phytochemicals can influence the pharmacological activity of drugs by modifying their absorption characteristics through interactions with drug transporters as well as drug-metabolizing enzyme systems. Such effects are more likely to occur in the intestine and liver, where high concentrations of phytochemicals may occur. Alterations in cytochrome P450 and other enzyme activities may influence the fate of drugs subject to extensive first-pass metabolism. Although numerous studies of nutrient-drug interactions have been published and systematic reviews and meta-analyses of these studies are available, no generalizations on the effect of nutrient-drug interactions on drug bioavailability are currently available. Several publications have highlighted the unintended consequences of the combined use of nutrients and drugs. Many phytochemicals have been shown to have pharmacokinetic interactions with drugs. The present review is limited to commonly consumed fruits and vegetables with significant beneficial effects as nutrients and components in folk medicine. Here, we discuss the phytochemistry and pharmacokinetic interactions of the following fruit and vegetables: grapefruit, orange, tangerine, grapes, cranberry, pomegranate, mango, guava, black raspberry, black mulberry, apple, broccoli, cauliflower, watercress, spinach, tomato, carrot, and avocado. We conclude that our knowledge of the potential risk of nutrient-drug interactions is still limited. Therefore, efforts to elucidate potential risks resulting from food-drug interactions should be intensified in order to prevent undesired and harmful clinical consequences. \u00a9 2011 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-3200", "text": "In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is involved in the metabolism of oestrogens. There is evidence that grapefruit, an inhibitor of CYP3A4, increases plasma oestrogen concentrations. Since it is well established that oestrogen is associated with breast cancer risk, it is plausible that regular intake of grapefruit would increase a woman's risk of breast cancer. We investigated the association of grapefruit intake with breast cancer risk in the Hawaii\u2013Los Angeles Multiethnic Cohort Study, a prospective cohort that includes over 50\u2009000 postmenopausal women from five racial/ethnic groups. A total of 1657 incident breast cancer cases were available for analysis. Grapefruit intake was significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer (relative risk=1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.06\u20131.58) for subjects in the highest category of intake, that is, one-quarter grapefruit or more per day, compared to non-consumers (Ptrend=0.015). An increased risk of similar magnitude was seen in users of oestrogen therapy, users of oestrogen+progestin therapy, and among never users of hormone therapy. Grapefruit intake may increase the risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-3201", "text": "Background Reducing dietary energy density has proven to be an effective strategy to reduce energy intakes and promote weight control. This effect appears most robust when a low energy dense preload is consumed before meals. Yet, much discussion continues regarding the optimal form of a preload. The purpose of the present study was to compare effects of a solid (grapefruit), liquid (grapefruit juice) and water preload consumed prior to breakfast, lunch and dinner in the context of caloric restriction. Methods Eighty-five obese adults (BMI 30-39.9) were randomly assigned to (127 g) grapefruit (GF), grapefruit juice (GFJ) or water preload for 12 weeks after completing a 2-week caloric restriction phase. Preloads were matched for weight, calories, water content, and energy density. Weekly measures included blood pressure, weight, anthropometry and 24-hour dietary intakes. Resting energy expenditure, body composition, physical performance and cardiometabolic risk biomarkers were assessed. Results The total amount (grams) of food consumed did not change over time. Yet, after preloads were combined with caloric restriction, average dietary energy density and total energy intakes decreased by 20-29% from baseline values. Subjects experienced 7.1% weight loss overall, with significant decreases in percentage body, trunk, android and gynoid fat, as well as waist circumferences (-4.5 cm). However, differences were not statistically significant among groups. Nevertheless, the amount and direction of change in serum HDL-cholesterol levels in GF (+6.2%) and GFJ (+8.2%) preload groups was significantly greater than water preload group (-3.7%). Conclusions These data indicate that incorporating consumption of a low energy dense dietary preload in a caloric restricted diet is a highly effective weight loss strategy. But, the form of the preload did not have differential effects on energy balance, weight loss or body composition. It is notable that subjects in GF and GFJ preload groups experienced significantly greater benefits in lipid profiles. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00581074"}
{"id": "MED-3203", "text": "The contents of the bioactive compounds in red and blond grapefruits and their influence on humans suffering from hypertriglyceridemia were studied. It was found that red grapefruit has a higher content of bioactive compounds and a higher antioxidant potential than blond grapefruit, determined by oxygen radical scavenging capacity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, carotenoid bleaching, and Folin-Ciocalteu assays. Fifty-seven hyperlipidemic patients, ages 39-72 years, after coronary bypass surgery, recruited from the Institute's pool of volunteers, were randomly divided into three equal in number (19) groups: two experimental (red and blond groups) and one control group (CG). During 30 consecutive days of the investigation the diets of the patients of the red and blond dietary groups were daily supplemented with one equal in weight fresh red or blond grapefruit, respectively. Before and after this trial, serum lipid levels of all fractions and serum antioxidant activity were determined. It was found that serum lipid levels in patients of the red and blond groups versus the CG after treatment were decreased: (a) total cholesterol, 6.69 versus 7.92 mmol/L, 15.5%, and 7.32 versus 7.92 mmol/L, 7.6%, respectively; (b) low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 5.01 versus 6.29 mmol/L, 20.3%, and 5.62 versus 6.29 mmol/L, 10.7%, respectively; (c) triglycerides, 1.69 versus 2.32 mmol/L, 17.2%, and 2.19 versus 2.32 mmol/L, 5.6%, respectively. No changes in the serum lipid levels in patients of the CG were found. In conclusion, fresh red grapefruit contains higher quantities of bioactive compounds and has significantly higher antioxidant potential than blond grapefruit. Diet supplemented with fresh red grapefruit positively influences serum lipid levels of all fractions, especially serum triglycerides and also serum antioxidant activity. The addition of fresh red grapefruit to generally accepted diets could be beneficial for hyperlipidemic, especially hypertriglyceridemic, patients suffering from coronary atherosclerosis."}
{"id": "MED-3206", "text": "To study the effects of grapefruit and grapefruit products on body weight and metabolic syndrome, 91 obese patients were randomized to either placebo capsules and 7 ounces (207 mL) of apple juice, grapefruit capsules with 7 ounces (207 mL) of apple juice, 8 ounces (237 mL) of grapefruit juice with placebo capsule, or half of a fresh grapefruit with a placebo capsule three times a day before each meal. Metabolic syndrome parameters were measured at the beginning and end of 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, the fresh grapefruit group had lost 1.6 kg, the grapefruit juice group had lost 1.5 kg, the grapefruit capsule group had lost 1.1 kg, and the placebo group had lost 0.3 kg. The fresh grapefruit group lost significantly more weight than the placebo group (P < .05). A secondary analysis of those with the metabolic syndrome in the four treatment groups demonstrated a significantly greater weight loss in the grapefruit, grapefruit capsule, and grapefruit juice groups compared with placebo (P < .02). There was also a significant reduction in 2-hour post-glucose insulin level in the grapefruit group compared with placebo. Half of a fresh grapefruit eaten before meals was associated with significant weight loss. In metabolic syndrome patients the effect was also seen with grapefruit products. Insulin resistance was improved with fresh grapefruit. Although the mechanism of this weight loss is unknown it would appear reasonable to include grapefruit in a weight reduction diet."}
{"id": "MED-3208", "text": "This study evaluated the effect of adding fruit or oats to the diet of free-living women on energy consumption and body weight. Fruit and oat cookies had the same amount of fiber and total calories ( approximately 200 kcal), but differed in energy density. We analyzed data from a clinical trial conducted in a primary care unit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Forty-nine women, ages ranging from 30 to 50 years, with body mass index (BMI)>25 kg/m2, were randomly chosen to add three apples (0.63 kcal/g energy density) or three pears (0.64 kcal/g energy density) or three oat cookies (3.7 kcal/g energy density) to their usual diet for 10 weeks. Fiber composition was similar ( approximately 6g). Statistical analysis of the repeated measures of dietary composition and body weight were analyzed using mixed model procedures. Results showed a significant decrease in the energy density during the follow-up (-1.23 kcal/g, p<0.04, and -1.29 kcal/g, p<0.05) for apples and pears, respectively, compared to the oat group. The energy intake also decreased significantly (-25.05 and -19.66 kcal/day) for the apple and pear group, respectively, but showed a small increase (+0.93) for the oat group. Apples and pears were also associated (p<0.001) with weight reduction (-0.93 kg for the apple and -0.84 for the pear group), whereas weight was unchanged (+0.21; p=0.35) in the oat group. Results suggest that energy densities of fruits, independent of their fiber amount can reduce energy consumption and body weight over time."}
{"id": "MED-3215", "text": "The average American diet, which is high in protein and low in fruits and vegetables, generates a large amount of acid, mainly as sulfates and phosphates. The kidneys respond to this dietary acid challenge with net acid excretion, as well as ammonium and titratable acid excretion. Concurrently, the skeleton supplies buffer by active resorption of bone. Indeed, calciuria is directly related to net acid excretion. Different food proteins differ greatly in their potential acid load, and therefore in their acidogenic effect. A diet high in acid-ash proteins causes excessive calcium loss because of its acidogenic content. The addition of exogenous buffers, as chemical salts or as fruits and vegetables, to a high protein diet results in a less acid urine, a reduction in net acid excretion, reduced ammonium and titratable acid excretion, and decreased calciuria. Bone resorption may be halted, and bone accretion may actually occur. Alkali buffers, whether chemical salts or dietary fruits and vegetables high in potassium, reverse acid-induced obligatory urinary calcium loss. We conclude that excessive dietary protein from foods with high potential renal acid load adversely affects bone, unless buffered by the consumption of alkali-rich foods or supplements."}
{"id": "MED-3216", "text": "Increasing dietary protein results in an increase in urinary calcium. Despite over 80 y of research, the source of the additional urinary calcium remains unclear. Because most calcium balance studies found little effect of dietary protein on intestinal calcium absorption, it was assumed that the skeleton was the source of the calcium. The hypothesis was that the high endogenous acid load generated by a protein-rich diet would increase bone resorption and skeletal fracture. However, there are no definitive nutrition intervention studies that show a detrimental effect of a high protein diet on the skeleton and the hypothesis remains unproven. Recent studies from our laboratory demonstrate that dietary protein affects intestinal calcium absorption. We conducted a series of short-term nutrition intervention trials in healthy adults where dietary protein was adjusted to either low, medium or high. The highest protein diet resulted in hypercalciuria with no change in serum parathyroid hormone. Surprisingly, within 4 d, the low protein diet induced secondary hyperparathyroidism that persisted for 2 wk. The secondary hyperparathyroidism induced by the low protein diet was attributed to a reduction in intestinal calcium absorption (as assessed by dual stable calcium isotopes). The long-term consequences of these low protein-induced changes in calcium metabolism are not known, but they could be detrimental to skeletal health. Several recent epidemiological studies demonstrate reduced bone density and increased rates of bone loss in individuals habitually consuming low protein diets. Therefore, studies are needed to determine whether low protein intakes directly affect rates of bone resorption, bone formation or both."}
{"id": "MED-3217", "text": "To investigate whether systemic acid-base equilibrium changes with aging in normal adult humans, we reviewed published articles reporting the acid-base composition of arterial, arterialized venous, or capillary blood in age-identified healthy subjects. We extracted or calculated blood hydrogen ion concentration ([H+]), plasma bicarbonate concentration ([HCO3(-)]), blood PCO2, and age, and computed a total of 61 age-group means, distributed among eight 10-year intervals from age 20 to 100 years. Using linear regression analysis, we found that with increasing age, there is a significant increase in the steady-state blood [H+] (p < .001), and reduction in steady-state plasma [HCO3(-)] (p < .001), indicative of a progressively worsening low-level metabolic acidosis. Blood PCO2 decreased with age (p < .05), in keeping with the expected respiratory adaptation to metabolic acidosis. Such age-related increasing metabolic acidosis may reflect in part the normal decline of renal function with increasing age. The role of age-related metabolic acidosis in the pathogenesis of the degenerative diseases of aging warrants consideration."}
{"id": "MED-3220", "text": "Background Maintaining muscle mass while aging is important to prevent falls and fractures. Metabolic acidosis promotes muscle wasting, and the net acid load from diets that are rich in net acid\u2013producing protein and cereal grains relative to their content of net alkali\u2013producing fruit and vegetables may therefore contribute to a reduction in lean tissue mass in older adults. Objective We aimed to determine whether there was an association of 24-h urinary potassium and an index of fruit and vegetable content of the diet with the percentage lean body mass (%LBM) or change in %LBM in older subjects. Design Subjects were 384 men and women \u226565 y old who participated in a 3-y trial comparing calcium and vitamin D with placebo. Potassium was measured in 24-h urine collections at baseline. The %LBM, defined as total body nonfat, nonbone tissue weight \u00f7 weight \u00d7 100, was measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 3 y. Physical activity, height, and weight were assessed at baseline and at 3 y. Results At baseline, the mean urinary potassium excretion was 67.0 \u00b1 21.1 mmol/d. Urinary potassium (mmol/d) was significantly positively associated with %LBM at baseline (\u03b2 = 0.033, P = 0.006; adjusted for sex, weight, and nitrogen excretion) but not with 3-y change in %LBM. Over the 3-y study, %LBM increased by 2.6 \u00b1 3.6%. Conclusion Higher intake of foods rich in potassium, such as fruit and vegetables, may favor the preservation of muscle mass in older men and women."}
{"id": "MED-3221", "text": "Background The finding reported in a previous paper - alkalization of urine facilitates uric acid excretion - is contradictory to what one might expect to occur: because food materials for the alkalization of urine contain fewer purine bodies than those for acidification, less uric acid in alkaline urine should have been excreted than in acid urine. To make clear what component of uric acid excretion mechanisms is responsible for this unexpected finding, we simultaneously collected data for the concentration of both creatinine and uric acid in serum as well as in urine, in order to calculate both uric acid and creatinine clearances. Methods Within the framework of the Japanese government\u2019s health promotion program, we made recipes which consisted of protein-rich and less vegetable-fruit food materials for H\u2009+\u2009-load (acidic diet) and others composed of less protein and more vegetable-fruit rich food materials (alkaline diet). This is a crossover study within some limitations. Healthy female students, who had no medical problems at the regular physical examination provided by the university, were enrolled in this consecutive 5-day study for each test. From whole-day collected urine, total volume, pH, organic acid, creatinine, uric acid, titratable acid and all cations (Na+,K+,Ca2+,Mg2+,NH4+) and anions (Cl\u2212,SO42\u2212,PO4\u2212) necessary for the estimation of acid\u2013base balance were measured. In the early morning before breakfast of the 1st, 3rd and 5th experimental day, we sampled 5\u2009mL of blood to estimate the creatinine and uric acid concentration in serum. Results and discussion Urine pH reached a steady state 3\u2009days after switching from ordinary daily diets to specified regimens. The amount of acid generated ([SO42\u2212]\u2009+\u2009organic acid\u2009\u2212\u2009gut alkali)was linearly related with the excretion of acid (titratable acid\u2009+\u2009[NH4+]\u2009\u2212\u2009[HCO3\u2212]), indicating that H\u2009+\u2009in urine is generated by the metabolic degradation of food materials. Uric acid and excreted urine pH retained a linear relationship, as reported previously. Among the five factors which are associated with calculating clearances for both uric acid and creatinine, we identified a conspicuous difference between acidic and alkaline diets in the uric acid concentration in serum as well as in urine; uric acid in the serum was higher in the acidic group than in the alkaline group, while uric acid in the urine in the acidic group was lower than that in the alkaline group. These changes of uric acid in acidic urine and in serum were reflected in the reduction of its clearance. From these observations, it is considered that uric acid may be reabsorbed more actively in acidic urine than in alkaline urine. Conclusion We conclude that alkalization of urine by eating nutritionally well-designed alkaline -prone food is effective for removing uric acid from the body."}
{"id": "MED-3226", "text": "Context and Objective: Dietary intake of animal proteins is associated with an increase in urinary calcium and nephrolithiasis risk. We tested the hypothesis that the acid load imposed by dietary proteins causes this hypercalciuria. Design and Setting: In a short-term crossover metabolic study, an alkali salt was provided with a high-protein diet (HPD) to neutralize the acid load imparted by dietary proteins. Participants and Interventions: Eleven healthy volunteers were evaluated at the end of each of four phases while consuming metabolic diets with fixed calcium and sodium content. Phases 1 and 3 consisted of a control diet (CD). Phases 2 and 4 consisted of a eucaloric HPD (60 g/d animal proteins added to CD). Along with HPD in phases 2 and 4, subjects ingested 30 mEq twice daily of either potassium citrate (KCitrate, alkaline salt) or potassium chloride (KCl, control neutral salt). Results: KCitrate completely neutralized the acid load imparted by HPD (based on changes in urine pH and net acid excretion) and increased urinary citrate. Urinary calcium increased during both HPD phases compared with CD but was not significantly different between the HPD + KCl and HPD + KCitrate phases (182 \u00b1 85 vs. 170 \u00b1 85 mg/d; P = 0.28). Increased urinary saturation with respect to calcium oxalate and uric acid with HPD was abrogated by KCitrate. Conclusions: This study suggests that, at least in the short-term, mechanism(s) other than acid load account for hypercalciuria induced by HPD. The beneficial effect of KCitrate on nephrolithiasis risk with HPD is through correction of declines in urine pH and citrate."}
{"id": "MED-3227", "text": "Although high-protein diets induce hypercalciuria in humans, the source of the additional urinary calcium remains unclear. One hypothesis is that the high endogenous acid load of a high-protein diet is partially buffered by bone, leading to increased skeletal resorption and hypercalciuria. We used dual stable calcium isotopes to quantify the effect of a high-protein diet on calcium kinetics in women. The study consisted of 2 wk of a lead-in, well-balanced diet followed by 10 d of an experimental diet containing either moderate (1.0 g/kg) or high (2.1 g/kg) protein. Thirteen healthy women received both levels of protein in random order. Intestinal calcium absorption increased during the high-protein diet in comparison with the moderate (26.2 +/- 1.9% vs. 18.5 +/- 1.6%, P < 0.0001, mean +/- sem) as did urinary calcium (5.23 +/- 0.37 vs. 3.57 +/- 0.35 mmol/d, P < 0.0001, mean +/- sem). The high-protein diet caused a significant reduction in the fraction of urinary calcium of bone origin and a nonsignificant trend toward a reduction in the rate of bone turnover. There were no protein-induced effects on net bone balance. These data directly demonstrate that, at least in the short term, high-protein diets are not detrimental to bone."}
{"id": "MED-3228", "text": "A precise understanding of the role of dietary protein in bone health has been evasive despite decades of research. It is known that a dietary acid load is harmful to bone, and sulfur-containing amino acids are metabolized to provide such an acid load. It is also known that protein elevates urine calcium loss. However, recent clinical studies and a meta-analysis have indicated either no effect or a modest benefit associated with higher protein intakes. These contradictory considerations may be explained by the existence of a two-faced relationship between protein and bone, with simultaneous positive and negative pathways. In opposition to the negative effects of dietary acid load, protein may exert positive effects related to improving calcium absorption, increasing insulin-like growth factor 1, or improving lean body mass, which, in turn, improves bone strength. Putative mechanisms behind these pathways are reviewed here, and some limitations in the historical literature as well as suggested measures to counter these in the future are identified. When positive and negative pathways are considered in tandem, protein may offer modest benefits to bone in the presence of adequate dietary calcium and acid-neutralizing fruits and vegetables. \u00a9 2011 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-3229", "text": "High-protein (HP) diets exert a hypercalciuric effect at constant levels of calcium intake, even though the effect may depend on the nature of the dietary protein. Lower urinary pH is also consistently observed for subjects consuming HP diets. The combination of these two effects was suspected to be associated with a dietary environment favorable for demineralization of the skeleton. However, increased calcium excretion due to HP diet does not seem to be linked to impaired calcium balance. In contrast, some data indicate that HP intakes induce an increase of intestinal calcium absorption. Moreover, no clinical data support the hypothesis of a detrimental effect of HP diet on bone health, except in a context of inadequate calcium supply. In addition, HP intake promotes bone growth and retards bone loss and low-protein diet is associated with higher risk of hip fractures. The increase of acid and calcium excretion due to HP diet is also accused of constituting a favorable environment for kidney stones and renal diseases. However, in healthy subjects, no damaging effect of HP diets on kidney has been found in either observational or interventional studies and it seems that HP diets might be deleterious only in patients with preexisting metabolic renal dysfunction. Thus, HP diet does not seem to lead to calcium bone loss, and the role of protein seems to be complex and probably dependent on other dietary factors and the presence of other nutrients in the diet."}
{"id": "MED-3230", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Diet affects urine pH and acid-base balance. Both excess acid/alkaline ash (EAA) and estimated net acid excretion (NAE) calculations have been used to estimate the effects of diet on urine pH. This study's goal was to determine if free-living vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and omnivores have increasingly acidic urine, and to assess the ability of EAA and estimated NAE calculations to predict urine pH. DESIGN: This study used a cross-sectional design. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This study assessed urine samples of 10 vegan, 16 lacto-ovo vegetarian, and 16 healthy omnivorous women in the Boston metropolitan area. Six 3-day food records from each dietary group were analyzed for EAA content and estimated NAE, and correlations with measured urine pH were calculated. RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) urine pH was 6.15 +/- 0.40 for vegans, 5.90 +/- 0.36 for lacto-ovo vegetarians, and 5.74 +/- 0.21 for omnivores (analysis of variance, P = .013). Calculated EAA values were not significantly different among the three groups, whereas mean estimated NAE values were significantly different: 17.3 +/- 14.5 mEq/day for vegans, 31.3 +/- 8.5 mEq/day for lacto-ovo vegetarians, and 42.6 +/- 13.2 mEq/day for omnivores (analysis of variance, P = .01). The average deattenuated correlation between urine pH and EAA was 0.333; this value was -0.768 for estimated NAE and urine pH, with a regression equation of pH = 6.33 - 0.014 NAE (P = .02, r = -0.54). CONCLUSIONS: Habitual diet and estimated NAE calculations indicate the probable ranking of urine pH by dietary groups, and may be used to determine the likely acid-base status of an individual; EAA calculations were not predictive of urine pH."}
{"id": "MED-3231", "text": "This review looks at the role of an alkaline diet in health. Pubmed was searched looking for articles on pH, potential renal acid loads, bone health, muscle, growth hormone, back pain, vitamin D and chemotherapy. Many books written in the lay literature on the alkaline diet were also reviewed and evaluated in light of the published medical literature. There may be some value in considering an alkaline diet in reducing morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases and further studies are warranted in this area of medicine."}
{"id": "MED-3232", "text": "High dietary acid load (DAL) may be detrimental to bone mineral density (BMD). The objectives of the study were to: 1) evaluate the cross-sectional relation between DAL and BMD; 2) determine whether calcium intake modifies this association. Men (n=1218) and women (n=907) \u226560y were included from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005\u20132008. Nutrient intake from 2\u201324h recalls was used to calculate net endogenous acid production (NEAP) and potential renal acid load (PRAL) (mEq/d). PRAL was calculated from dietary calcium (PRALdiet) and diet + supplemental calcium (PRALtotal). Tests for linear trend in adjusted mean BMD of the hip and lumbar spine were performed across energy adjusted NEAP and PRAL quartiles. Modification by calcium intake (dietary or total) above or below 800 mg/d was assessed by interaction terms. Overall, mean age was 69 \u00b1 0.3y. Among women, there was no association between NEAP and BMD. PRALdiet was positively associated with proximal femur BMD (p trend=0.04). No associations were observed with PRALtotal at any BMD site (P-range: 0.38\u20130.82). Among men, no significant associations were observed of BMD with NEAP or PRAL. However, an interaction between PRALdiet and calcium intake was observed with proximal femur BMD (p=0.08). An inverse association between PRALdiet and proximal femur BMD was detected among men <800 mg/d dietary calcium (p=0.02); and no associations \u2265800 mg/d (p=0.98). A significant interaction with PRALtotal was not observed. In conclusion, when supplemental calcium is considered, there is no association between DAL and BMD among adults. Men with low dietary calcium showed an inverse relation with PRAL at the proximal femur; in women no interaction was observed. This study highlights the importance of calcium intakes in counteracting the adverse effect of DAL on bone health. Further research should determine the relation between DAL and change in BMD with very low calcium intake."}
{"id": "MED-3233", "text": "Our objective in this study was to determine the effects of a high-protein and high-potential renal acid load (PRAL) diet on calcium (Ca) absorption and retention and markers of bone metabolism. In a randomized crossover design, 16 postmenopausal women consumed 2 diets: 1 with low protein and low PRAL (LPLP; total protein: 61 g/d; PRAL: -48 mEq/d) and 1 with high protein and high PRAL (HPHP; total protein: 118 g/d; PRAL: 33 mEq/d) for 7 wk each separated by a 1-wk break. Ca absorption was measured by whole body scintillation counting of radio-labeled (47)Ca. Compared with the LPLP diet, the HPHP diet increased participants' serum IGF-I concentrations (P < 0.0001), decreased serum intact PTH concentrations (P < 0.001), and increased fractional (47)Ca absorption (mean \u00b1 pooled SD: 22.3 vs. 26.5 \u00b1 5.4%; P < 0.05) and urinary Ca excretion (156 vs. 203 \u00b1 63 mg/d; P = 0.005). The net difference between the amount of Ca absorbed and excreted in urine did not differ between 2 diet periods (55 vs. 28 \u00b1 51 mg/d). The dietary treatments did not affect other markers of bone metabolism. In summary, a diet high in protein and PRAL increases the fractional absorption of dietary Ca, which partially compensates for increased urinary Ca, in postmenopausal women. The increased IGF-I and decreased PTH concentrations in serum, with no change in biomarkers of bone resorption or formation, indicate a high-protein diet has no adverse effects on bone health."}
{"id": "MED-3235", "text": "Background Maintaining muscle mass while aging is important to prevent falls and fractures. Metabolic acidosis promotes muscle wasting, and the net acid load from diets that are rich in net acid\u2013producing protein and cereal grains relative to their content of net alkali\u2013producing fruit and vegetables may therefore contribute to a reduction in lean tissue mass in older adults. Objective We aimed to determine whether there was an association of 24-h urinary potassium and an index of fruit and vegetable content of the diet with the percentage lean body mass (%LBM) or change in %LBM in older subjects. Design Subjects were 384 men and women \u226565 y old who participated in a 3-y trial comparing calcium and vitamin D with placebo. Potassium was measured in 24-h urine collections at baseline. The %LBM, defined as total body nonfat, nonbone tissue weight \u00f7 weight \u00d7 100, was measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 3 y. Physical activity, height, and weight were assessed at baseline and at 3 y. Results At baseline, the mean urinary potassium excretion was 67.0 \u00b1 21.1 mmol/d. Urinary potassium (mmol/d) was significantly positively associated with %LBM at baseline (\u03b2 = 0.033, P = 0.006; adjusted for sex, weight, and nitrogen excretion) but not with 3-y change in %LBM. Over the 3-y study, %LBM increased by 2.6 \u00b1 3.6%. Conclusion Higher intake of foods rich in potassium, such as fruit and vegetables, may favor the preservation of muscle mass in older men and women."}
{"id": "MED-3236", "text": "A first objective of the present study was to estimate the acid-base balance of the food intake in vegetarians and non-vegetarians. A second objective was to evaluate if additional input of specific food items on the existing potential renal acid load (PRAL) list was necessary for the comparison of the two dietary patterns. Thirty vegetarians between the age of 18 and 30 years were matched for sex, age and BMI with 30 non-vegetarians. Based on the 3-days food diaries the acid-base status of the food intake was estimated using the PRAL method. Mean PRAL values as estimated with the standard table yielded an alkaline load of -5.4 +/- 14.4 mEq/d in the vegetarians compared to an acid load of 10.3 +/- 14.4 mEq/d in the nonvegetarians (p<0.001). Mean PRAL values as estimated with the extended table yielded an alkaline load of -10.9 +/-19.7 mEq/d in the vegetarians compared to an acid load of 13.8 +/- 17.1 mEq/d for the non-vegetarians (p<0.001). The findings of this study indicate that vegetarian food intake produces more alkaline outcomes compared to non-vegetarian diets. The use of the standard PRAL table was sufficient for discrimination between the two diets."}
{"id": "MED-3237", "text": "The modern Western-type diet is deficient in fruits and vegetables and contains excessive animal products, generating the accumulation of non-metabolizable anions and a lifespan state of overlooked metabolic acidosis, whose magnitude increases progressively with aging due to the physiological decline in kidney function. In response to this state of diet-derived metabolic acidosis, the kidney implements compensating mechanisms aimed to restore the acid-base balance, such as the removal of the non-metabolizable anions, the conservation of citrate, and the enhancement of kidney ammoniagenesis and urinary excretion of ammonium ions. These adaptive processes lower the urine pH and induce an extensive change in urine composition, including hypocitraturia, hypercalciuria, and nitrogen and phosphate wasting. Low urine pH predisposes to uric acid stone formation. Hypocitraturia and hypercalciuria are risk factors for calcium stone disease. Even a very mild degree of metabolic acidosis induces skeletal muscle resistance to the insulin action and dietary acid load may be an important variable in predicting the metabolic abnormalities and the cardiovascular risk of the general population, the overweight and obese persons, and other patient populations including diabetes and chronic kidney failure. High dietary acid load is more likely to result in diabetes and systemic hypertension and may increase the cardiovascular risk. Results of recent observational studies confirm an association between insulin resistance and metabolic acidosis markers, including low serum bicarbonate, high serum anion gap, hypocitraturia, and low urine pH. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3238", "text": "The protective effect of vegetables on the risk of breast cancer recurrence is uncertain. We sought to evaluate the association between breast cancer recurrence and vegetable intake including analyses stratified on tamoxifen use. Experimental evidence of anti-carcinogenic activity of phytochemicals in cruciferous vegetables in combination with tamoxifen led to specific evaluation of this class of vegetables as well. To assess the association between vegetable intake and breast cancer recurrence, vegetable intake from repeat 24-h dietary recalls were examined as a secondary analysis of 3,080 breast cancer survivors enrolled in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study. At the time of enrollment women were, on average, 23.5 months post-diagnosis. The hazard of recurrence, controlling for relevant and significant clinical and demographic variables, with vegetable intake was assessed overall and separately for women taking tamoxifen. WHEL participants reported mean baseline intakes (\u207bx, SE) of 3.1 \u00b1 0.05 and 0.5 \u00b1 0.02 servings/day of total and cruciferous vegetables, respectively. Baseline vegetable intake in the highest as compared to lowest tertiles was associated with an overall lower adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for recurrence of 0.69, 95% CI 0.55-0.87. Among women taking tamoxifen, the HRs were 0.56, 95% CI 0.41-0.77 for total vegetables and 0.65, 95% CI 0.47-0.89 for cruciferous vegetable intake. The hazard in women using tamoxifen who reported cruciferous vegetable intake above the median and who were within the highest tertile of total vegetable intake was HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.32-0.70. This secondary analysis in over 3,000 breast cancer survivors suggests that baseline vegetable intake may be associated with a reduction in the risk of breast cancer recurrent or new events particularly for those using tamoxifen. Such associations should be explored further as the possibility that vegetable intake is simply a surrogate for other health-promoting behaviors cannot be ruled out."}
{"id": "MED-3241", "text": "The diagnosis of cancer can motivate survivors to alter their lifestyle habits. Healthcare providers need to be aware of what changes patients are likely to make in order to derive more pertinent recommendations; however, few studies have reported pre- and post-diagnostic lifestyle behaviours. Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) completed approximately 1 year after diagnosis were used to evaluate dietary intake and supplement use before and after diagnosis in a cohort of 1,560 breast cancer patients participating in the UK, prospective DietCompLyf study. Intake of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and lean sources of protein increased significantly post-diagnosis (P < 0.05, each). Conversely, after diagnosis consumption of high-fat, high-sugar products, red meat, coffee, some alcoholic drinks and refined grains significantly decreased (P < 0.05, each). Post-diagnostic changes in diet were accompanied by changes in the intake of macronutrients and a number of vitamins and minerals. Supplement use was highly prevalent (56.1%) pre-diagnosis, increasing to 62.8% after diagnosis (P = 0.001). Fish oils, multivitamin and minerals, and evening primrose oil were most often used and the proportion of users significantly increased (P < 0.05, each) after diagnosis. The percentage of women using oestrogenic botanical supplements (OBSs) was small but more than doubled to 8.4% after diagnosis (P < 0.05). British women participating in the DietCompLyf study reported significant changes in dietary intake and supplement use after their breast cancer diagnosis. These findings contribute to our understanding of female cancer survivors' dietary behaviours which is crucial for developing and implementing recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-3242", "text": "Previous studies have suggested that dietary factors may be important in the development of bladder cancer. We examined macronutrient intake in relation to risk of urothelial cell carcinoma among 469,339 men and women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Associations were examined using Cox regression, stratified by sex, age at recruitment and centre and further adjusted for smoking status and duration, body mass index and total energy intake. After an average of 11.3 years of follow-up, 1,416 new cases of urothelial cell carcinoma were identified. After allowing for measurement error, a 3% increase in the consumption of energy intake from animal protein was associated with a 15% higher risk (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3-30%; p(trend) = 0.01) and a 2% increase in energy from plant protein intake was associated with a 23% lower risk (95% CI: 36-7%, p(trend) = 0.006). Dietary intake of fat, carbohydrate, fibre or calcium was not associated with risk. These findings suggest that animal and/or plant protein may affect the risk of urothelial cell carcinoma, and examination of these associations in other studies is needed. Copyright \u00a9 2012 UICC."}
{"id": "MED-3243", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Considerable evidence has shown that diet can affect both the incidence and the progression of prostate cancer. The objective of this study was to determine whether men in this situation could make a change to a diet emphasizing plant-based foods and fish and to examine the effect on quality of life (QOL) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity. METHODS: A total of 36 men and their partners were randomly assigned to attend a series of 11 dietary and cooking classes that also integrated mindfulness practice as a support in making the change or a wait-list control group. Assessments were made of dietary intake, QOL, and PSA at baseline, after intervention (11 weeks), and 3 months after intervention. RESULTS: The intervention group showed significant reductions in the consumption of saturated fat and increased consumption of vegetable proteins with accompanying reductions in animal proteins, including dairy products. They also showed increased QOL. Although no significant change was found in the rate of PSA increase between the two groups, the mean PSA doubling time for the intervention group was substantially longer at the 3-month follow-up visit than that of the controls. CONCLUSIONS: Men with a increasing PSA level after primary treatment were able to make a change to a prostate-healthy diet, accompanied by increases in QOL. No significant difference was found in the log PSA slope between the two groups; however, the PSA doubling time increased substantially in the intervention group compared with that in the controls. Future trials should examine the effect of the prostate-healthy diet with a larger sample of men for a longer period."}
{"id": "MED-3244", "text": "Diet may represent a modifiable prostate cancer (CaP) risk factor, but a vegetable-based prostate-healthy diet is a major change for most men. We used a ratio of animal:vegetable proteins (A:V ratio) to evaluate whether a comprehensive dietary change was self-sustaining following completion of 11 weekly dietary and cooking classes that integrated mindfulness training (MT). Thirty-six men with recurring CaP were randomized to the intervention or wait-list control. Assessments were at baseline, three months and six months. Of the 17 men randomized to the intervention, 14 completed the requirements. Nineteen were randomized to control and 17 completed requirements. Compared to controls, a significant post-intervention (3 months) decrease in A:V ratio in the intervention group (p=.01) was self-maintained 3 months post-intervention (p=0.049). At each assessment, the A:V ratio was correlated with lycopene, fiber, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol; four dietary components linked to clinically relevant outcomes in CaP. Change in A:V ratio was also significantly correlated with changes in fiber, saturated fat and dietary cholesterol intake. Participants reported regular MT practice and there was a significant correlation between MT practice and changes in both initiation and maintenance of the change in the A:V ratio. These pilot results provide encouraging evidence for the feasibility of a dietary program that includes MT in supporting dietary change for men with recurrent CaP and invite further study to explore the possible role of MT as a means of supporting both initiation of dietary changes and maintenance of those changes over time."}
{"id": "MED-3245", "text": "Cruciferous vegetables, tomato sauce, and legumes have been associated with reduced risk of incident advanced prostate cancer. In vitro and animal studies suggest these foods may inhibit progression of prostate cancer, but there are limited data in men. Therefore, we prospectively examined whether intake of total vegetables, and specifically cruciferous vegetables, tomato sauce, and legumes, after diagnosis reduce risk of prostate cancer progression among 1,560 men diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer and participating in the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor, a United States prostate cancer registry. As a secondary analysis, we also examined other vegetable sub-groups, total fruit, and subgroups of fruits. The participants were diagnosed primarily at community-based clinics and followed from 2004\u20132009. We assessed vegetable and fruit intake via a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, and ascertained prostate cancer outcomes via urologist report and medical records. We observed 134 events of progression (53 biochemical recurrences, 71 secondary treatments likely due to recurrence, six bone metastases, four prostate cancer deaths) during 3,171 person-yrs. Men in the fourth quartile of post-diagnostic cruciferous vegetable intake had a statistically significant 59% decreased risk of prostate cancer progression compared to men in the lowest quartile (hazard ratio (HR): 0.41; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.22, 0.76; p-trend: 0.003). No other vegetable or fruit group was statistically significantly associated with risk of prostate cancer progression. In conclusion, cruciferous vegetable intake after diagnosis may reduce risk of prostate cancer progression."}
{"id": "MED-3247", "text": "Objective: The chemotherapeutic agent mitoxantrone was approved for use in multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2000. After a review of all the available evidence, the original report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee in 2003 concluded that mitoxantrone probably reduced clinical attack rates, MRI activity, and disease progression. Subsequent reports of decreased systolic function, heart failure, and leukemia prompted the US Food and Drug Administration to institute a \u201cblack box\u201d warning in 2005. This review was undertaken to examine the available literature on the efficacy and safety of mitoxantrone use in patients with MS since the initial report. Methods: Relevant articles were obtained through a review of the medical literature and the strength of the available evidence was graded according to the American Academy of Neurology evidence classification scheme. Results: The accumulated Class III and IV evidence suggests an increased incidence of systolic dysfunction and therapy-related acute leukemia (TRAL) with mitoxantrone therapy. Systolic dysfunction occurs in \u223c12% of patients with MS treated with mitoxantrone, congestive heart failure occurs in \u223c0.4%, and leukemia occurs in \u223c0.8%. The number needed to harm is 8 for systolic dysfunction and 123 for TRAL. There is no new efficacy evidence that would change the recommendation from the previous report. Conclusions: The risk of systolic dysfunction and leukemia in patients treated with mitoxantrone is higher than suggested at the time of the previous report, although comprehensive postmarketing surveillance data are lacking. GLOSSARY"}
{"id": "MED-3248", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between retinal artery disease and cerebral small-vessel disease (SVD). METHODS: In a prospective cohort of patients with symptomatic atherosclerotic disease, the authors performed retinal photographs and brain MRI. Two ophthalmologists, not aware of the MR results, independently assessed retinal arterial narrowing, crossings, sclerosis, and tortuosity according to standard scoring lists. Two observers independently assessed white matter lesions (WML) and lacunar infarcts on the MR images. Lesions were considered abnormal only when both ophthalmologists or MR raters agreed. Cerebral SVD was defined as the presence of WML or lacunar infarcts. RESULTS: In 179 patients, retinal photographs and brain MRI were performed. Of the 108 patients with MR signs of SVD, 92% had at least one retinal vascular abnormality; of the 71 patients without SVD, 77% had retinal pathology (p < 0.01). All types of retinal vascular pathology occurred more frequently in patients with SVD, but only retinal arterial narrowing and sclerosis differed significantly. In the 109 normotensive patients, the presence of any retinal vascular change correlated with signs of SVD (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Pathologic changes in the retinal arteries parallel changes in the small cerebral arteries that cause WML and lacunes, both in hypertensive and in normotensive patients."}
{"id": "MED-3249", "text": "144 multiple sclerosis patients took a low-fat diet for 34 years. For each of three categories of neurological disability (minimum, moderate, severe) patients who adhered to the prescribed diet (less than or equal to 20 g fat/day) showed significantly less deterioration and much lower death rates than did those who consumed more fat than prescribed (greater than 20 g fat/day). The greatest benefit was seen in those with minimum disability at the start of the trial; in this group, when those who died from non-MS diseases were excluded from the analysis, 95% survived and remained physically active."}
{"id": "MED-3250", "text": "The purpose of this study was to determine whether a single LDL apheresis would improve impaired endothelium-dependent dilation of the coronary artery in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Hypercholesterolemia is associated with impaired endothelial function, and human studies using cholesterol-lowering drugs indicate that endothelial function in the coronary arteries improves with reduction of serum LDL cholesterol over 6 to 12 months. The internal diameter of the left coronary artery and the coronary blood flow were measured by intracoronary Doppler-wire measurement and quantitative angiography before and immediately after a single LDL apheresis in a population of 15 patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation was assessed by intracoronary infusion of acetylcholine (1, 10, and 50 microg/min), and endothelium-independent vasodilation was assessed by intracoronary bolus infusion of isosorbide dinitrate (2.5 mg) or papaverine (10 mg). A single 3-hour LDL apheresis reduced serum LDL cholesterol by an average of 86.6 +/- 1.7%. After the LDL apheresis, the changes in the coronary artery diameter and coronary blood flow in response to an infusion of 50 microg/min of acetylcholine increased significantly compared to the pre-apheresis values (from -19.7 +/- 4.8 to -2.9 +/- 3.0% [P < 0.01] and from 80.7 +/- 27.6 to 155.3 +/- 23.5% [P < 0.01], respectively). The LDL apheresis did not significantly change the response of either parameter to infusion with isosorbide dinitrate or papaverine. The endothelial function of the epicardial coronary artery and the coronary microvasculature improved in hypercholesterolemic patients after only a single LDL apheresis, a procedure that markedly reduces the serum level of LDL cholesterol. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3251", "text": "CONTEXT: Interferon beta is widely prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis (MS); however, its relationship with disability progression has yet to be established. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between interferon beta exposure and disability progression in patients with relapsing-remitting MS. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Retrospective cohort study based on prospectively collected data (1985-2008) from British Columbia, Canada. Patients with relapsing-remitting MS treated with interferon beta (n = 868) were compared with untreated contemporary (n = 829) and historical (n = 959) cohorts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measure was time from interferon beta treatment eligibility (baseline) to a confirmed and sustained score of 6 (requiring a cane to walk 100 m; confirmed at >150 days with no measurable improvement) on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) (range, 0-10, with higher scores indicating higher disability). A multivariable Cox regression model with interferon beta treatment included as a time-varying covariate was used to assess the hazard of disease progression associated with interferon beta treatment. Analyses also included propensity score adjustment to address confounding by indication. RESULTS: The median active follow-up times (first to last EDSS measurement) were as follows: for the interferon beta-treated cohort, 5.1 years (interquartile range [IQR], 3.0-7.0 years); for the contemporary control cohort, 4.0 years (IQR, 2.1-6.4 years); and for the historical control cohort, 10.8 years (IQR, 6.3-14.7 years). The observed outcome rates for reaching a sustained EDSS score of 6 were 10.8%, 5.3%, and 23.1% in the 3 cohorts, respectively. After adjustment for potential baseline confounders (sex, age, disease duration, and EDSS score), exposure to interferon beta was not associated with a statistically significant difference in the hazard of reaching an EDSS score of 6 when either the contemporary control cohort (hazard ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.92-1.83; P = .14) or the historical control cohort (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.58-1.02; P = .07) were considered. Further adjustment for comorbidities and socioeconomic status, where possible, did not change interpretations, and propensity score adjustment did not substantially change the results. CONCLUSION: Among patients with relapsing-remitting MS, administration of interferon beta was not associated with a reduction in progression of disability."}
{"id": "MED-3252", "text": "It is commonly accepted that nutrition is one of the possible environmental factors involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), but its role as complementary MS treatment is unclear and largely disregarded. At present, MS therapy is not associated to a particular diet, probably due to lack of information on the effects of nutrition on the disease. To overcome the distrust of the usefulness of dietary control in MS and to encourage nutritional interventions in the course of the disease, it is necessary to assess the nature and the role of bioactive dietary molecules and their targets, and establish how a dietary control can influence cell metabolism and improve the wellness of MS patients. The aim of this review is to provide a rationale for a nutritional intervention in MS by evaluating at the molecular level the effects of dietary molecules on the inflammatory and autoimmune processes involved in the disease. Present data reveal that healthy dietary molecules have a pleiotropic role and are able to change cell metabolism from anabolism to catabolism and down-regulate inflammation by interacting with enzymes, nuclear receptors and transcriptional factors. The control of gut dysbiosis and the combination of hypo-caloric, low-fat diets with specific vitamins, oligoelements and dietary integrators, including fish oil and polyphenols, may slow-down the progression of the disease and ameliorate the wellness of MS patients. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3253", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Atherosclerosis begins in childhood and progresses during adolescence and young adulthood. The Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth Study previously reported risk scores to estimate the probability of advanced atherosclerotic lesions in young individuals aged 15 to 34 years using the coronary heart disease risk factors (gender, age, serum lipoprotein concentrations, smoking, hypertension, obesity, and hyperglycemia). In this study we investigated the relation of these risk scores to the early atherosclerotic lesions. METHODS: We measured atherosclerotic lesions in the left anterior descending coronary artery, right coronary artery, and abdominal aorta and the coronary heart disease risk factors in persons 15 to 34 years of age who died as a result of external causes and were autopsied in forensic laboratories. RESULTS: Risk scores computed from the modifiable risk factors were associated with prevalence of microscopically demonstrable lesions of atherosclerosis (American Heart Association grade 1) in the left anterior descending coronary artery and with the extent of the earliest detectable gross lesion (fatty streaks) in the right coronary artery and abdominal aorta. Risk scores computed from the modifiable risk factors also were associated with prevalence of lesions of higher degrees of microscopic severity (intermediate as well as advanced) in the left anterior descending coronary artery and with extent of lesions of higher degrees of severity (intermediate and raised lesions) in the right coronary artery and abdominal aorta. CONCLUSIONS: Risk scores calculated from traditional coronary heart disease risk factors to identify individual young persons with high probability of having advanced atherosclerotic lesions also are associated with earlier atherosclerotic lesions, including the earliest anatomically demonstrable atherosclerotic lesion. These results support lifestyle modification in youth to prevent development of the initial lesions and the subsequent progression to advanced lesions and, thereafter, to prevent or delay coronary heart disease."}
{"id": "MED-3254", "text": "We assessed the relation of risk factors for cardiovascular disease to early atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary arteries in 35 persons (mean age at death, 18 years). Aortic involvement with fatty streaks was greater in blacks than in whites (37 vs. 17 percent, P less than 0.01). However, aortic fatty streaks were strongly related to antemortem levels of both total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = 0.67, P less than 0.0001 for each association), independently of race, sex, and age, and were inversely correlated with the ratio of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to low-density plus very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = -0.35, P = 0.06). Coronary-artery fatty streaks were correlated with very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = 0.41, P = 0.04). Mean systolic blood-pressure levels also tended to be higher in the four subjects with coronary-artery fibrous plaques than in those without them: 112 mm Hg as compared with 104 (P = 0.09). These results document the importance of risk-factor levels to early anatomical changes in the aorta and coronary arteries. The progression of fatty streaks to fibrous plaques is uncertain, but these data suggest that a rational approach to the prevention of cardiovascular disease should begin early in life."}
{"id": "MED-3255", "text": "BACKGROUND: Early childhood introduction of nutritional habits aimed at atherosclerosis prevention reduces children's serum total cholesterol concentration, but its effect on vascular endothelial function is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between 1990 and 1992, we randomized healthy 7-month-old infants (n=1062) to intervention (low-saturated-fat diet) and control (unrestricted diet) groups. At the age of 11 years, endothelium-dependent (flow-mediated) and endothelium-independent (nitrate-mediated) vasodilatory responses of the brachial artery were measured with high-resolution ultrasound in 179 intervention and 190 control children. The effect of intervention on endothelial function was significant in boys (P=0.0034) but not in girls (P=0.69). The maximum endothelium-dependent dilation response (mean+/-SD) was 9.62+/-3.53% and 8.36+/-3.85% in intervention boys and control boys and 8.84+/-4.00% and 8.44+/-3.60% in intervention girls and control girls, respectively. Intervention had no effect on nitrate-mediated dilation. The difference in endothelial function in boys remained significant after adjustment for current serum total or LDL cholesterol but became nonsignificant after adjustment for mean cholesterol measured under 3 years of age (adjusted means: 9.46% [CI 8.68% to 10.24%] versus 8.54% [CI 7.75% to 9.32%], P=0.11). CONCLUSIONS: A low-saturated-fat diet introduced in infancy and maintained during the first decade of life is associated with enhanced endothelial function in boys. The effect is explained in part by the diet-induced reduction in serum cholesterol concentration."}
{"id": "MED-3271", "text": "Most metastatic tumors, such as those originating in the prostate, lung, and gastrointestinal tract, respond poorly to conventional chemotherapy. Novel treatment strategies for advanced cancer are therefore desperately needed. Dietary restriction of the essential amino acid methionine offers promise as such a strategy, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy or other treatments. Numerous in vitro and animal studies demonstrate the effectiveness of dietary methionine restriction in inhibiting growth and eventually causing death of cancer cells. In contrast, normal host tissues are relatively resistant to methionine restriction. These preclinical observations led to a phase I clinical trial of dietary methionine restriction for adults with advanced cancer. Preliminary findings from this trial indicate that dietary methionine restriction is safe and feasible for the treatment of patients with advanced cancer. In addition, the trial has yielded some preliminary evidence of antitumor activity. One patient with hormone-independent prostate cancer experienced a 25% reduction in serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after 12 weeks on the diet, and a second patient with renal cell cancer experienced an objective radiographic response. The possibility that methionine restriction may act synergistically with other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy is being explored. Findings to date support further investigation of dietary methionine restriction as a novel treatment strategy for advanced cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3273", "text": "Recent studies confirm that dietary methionine restriction increases both mean and maximal lifespan in rats and mice, achieving \"aging retardant\" effects very similar to those of caloric restriction, including a suppression of mitochondrial superoxide generation. Although voluntary caloric restriction is never likely to gain much popularity as a pro-longevity strategy for humans, it may be more feasible to achieve moderate methionine restriction, in light of the fact that vegan diets tend to be relatively low in this amino acid. Plant proteins - especially those derived from legumes or nuts - tend to be lower in methionine than animal proteins. Furthermore, the total protein content of vegan diets, as a function of calorie content, tends to be lower than that of omnivore diets, and plant protein has somewhat lower bioavailability than animal protein. Whole-food vegan diets that moderate bean and soy intake, while including ample amounts of fruit and wine or beer, can be quite low in methionine, while supplying abundant nutrition for health (assuming concurrent B12 supplementation). Furthermore, low-fat vegan diets, coupled with exercise training, can be expected to promote longevity by decreasing systemic levels of insulin and free IGF-I; the latter effect would be amplified by methionine restriction - though it is not clear whether IGF-I down-regulation is the sole basis for the impact of low-methionine diets on longevity in rodents."}
{"id": "MED-3276", "text": "Methionine is an essential amino acid with many key roles in mammalian metabolism such as protein synthesis, methylation of DNA and polyamine synthesis. Restriction of methionine may be an important strategy in cancer growth control particularly in cancers that exhibit dependence on methionine for survival and proliferation. Methionine dependence in cancer may be due to one or a combination of deletions, polymorphisms or alterations in expression of genes in the methionine de novo and salvage pathways. Cancer cells with these defects are unable to regenerate methionine via these pathways. Defects in the metabolism of folate may also contribute to the methionine dependence phenotype in cancer. Selective killing of methionine dependent cancer cells in co-culture with normal cells has been demonstrated using culture media deficient in methionine. Several animal studies utilizing a methionine restricted diet have reported inhibition of cancer growth and extension of a healthy life-span. In humans, vegan diets, which can be low in methionine, may prove to be a useful nutritional strategy in cancer growth control. The development of methioninase which depletes circulating levels of methionine may be another useful strategy in limiting cancer growth. The application of nutritional methionine restriction and methioninase in combination with chemotherapeutic regimens is the current focus of clinical studies. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3277", "text": "Methionine dependence is a metabolic defect that occurs in many human tumor cell lines but not normal in unestablished cell strains. Methionine-dependent tumor cell lines are unable to proliferate and arrest in the late S/G2 phase of the cell cycle when methionine is replaced by its immediate precursor homocysteine in the culture medium (MET-HCY+ medium). However, it is not known whether methionine dependence occurs in fresh patient tumors as it does in cell lines. In order to determine whether methionine dependence occurs in fresh patient tumors as well as whether methionine dependence occurs in fresh patient tumors as well as in cell lines we took advantage of the technique of sponge-gel-supported histoculture to grow tumors directly from surgery. We then measured nuclear DNA content by image analysis to determine the cell cycle position in MET-HCY+ compared to MET+HCY- medium in 21 human patient tumors. Human tumor cell lines found to be methionine dependent by cell count were used as positive controls and were found to have marked reduction of cells in G1 compared to total cells in the cell cycle in MET-HCY+ medium with respect to the G1: total cell ratio in MET+HCY- medium. Therefore late cell cycle arrest was used as a marker of methionine dependence for histocultured patient tumors. We found that 5 human tumors of 21, including tumors of the colon, breast, ovary, prostate, and a melanoma, were methionine dependent based on cell cycle analysis. These data on fresh human tumors indicate that methionine dependence may frequently occur in the cancer patient population. Implications for potential therapy based on methionine dependence are discussed."}
{"id": "MED-3279", "text": "Various pesticides are being used to destabilize, perturb, or inhibit crucial biochemical and physiological targets related to metabolism, growth, development, nervous communication, or behavior in pestiferous organisms. Chitin is an eukaryotic extracellular aminosugar biopolymer, massively produced by most fungal systems and by invertebrates, notably arthropods. Being an integral supportive component in fungal cell wall, insect cuticle, and nematode egg shell, chitin has been considered as a selective target for pesticide action. Throughout the elaborate processes of chitin formation and deposition, only the polymerization events associated with the cell membrane compartment are so far available for chemical interference. Currently, the actinomycetes-derived nucleoside peptide fungicides such as the polyoxins and the insecticidal benzoylaryl ureas have reached commercial pesticide status. The polyoxins and other structurally-related antibiotics like nikkomycins are strong competitive inhibitors of the polymerizing enzyme chitin synthase. The exact biochemical lesion inflicted by the benzoylaryl ureas is still elusive, but a post-polymerization event, such as translocation of chitin chains across the cell membrane, is suggested. Hydrolytic degradation of the chitin polymer is essential for hyphal growth, branching, and septum formation in fungal systems as well as for the normal molting of arthropods. Recently, insect chitinase activity was strongly and specifically suppressed by allosamidin, an actimomycetes-derived metabolite. In part, the defense mechanism in plants against invasion of pathogens is associated with induced chitinases. Chitin, chitosan, and their oligomers are able to act as elicitors which induce enhanced levels of chitinases in various plants. Lectins which bind to N-acetyl-D-glucosamine strongly interfere with fungal and insect chitin synthases. Plant lectins with similar properties may be involved in plant-pathogen interaction inter alia by suppressing fungal invasion."}
{"id": "MED-3280", "text": "Conventional chemotherapies have showed their limits, notably for patients with advanced cancer. New therapeutic strategies must be identified, and the metabolic abnormalities of cancer cells offer such opportunities. Many human cancer cell lines and primary tumors have absolute requirements for methionine, an essential amino acid. In contrast, normal cells are relatively resistant to exogenous methionine restriction. The biochemical mechanism for methionine dependency has been studied extensively, but the fundamental mechanism remains unclear. A number of investigators have attempted to exploit the methionine dependence of tumors for therapeutic effects in vivo. To reduce in vivo methionine in plasma and tumours, dietary and pharmacological treatments have been used. Methionine-free diet or methionine-deprived total parenteral nutrition causes regression of a variety of animal tumours. Alternatively, methionine depletion was achieved by the use of methioninase. This enzyme specifically degrades methionine and inhibits tumour growth in preclinical models. Because of potential toxicity and quality of life problems, prolonged methionine restriction with diet or with methioninase is not suitable for clinical use. Methionine restriction may find greater application in association with various chemotherapeutic agents. Several preclinical studies have demonstrated synergy between methionine restriction and various cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs. The experimental results accumulated during the last three decades suggest that methionine restriction can become an additional cancer therapeutic strategy, notably in association with chemotherapy."}
{"id": "MED-3281", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Amino acid auxotrophy or the metabolic defect which renders cancer incapable of surviving under amino acid depleted conditions is being exploited and explored as a therapeutic against cancer. Early clinical data on asparagine- and arginine-depleting drugs have demonstrated low toxicity and efficacy in melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Methionine auxotrophy is a novel niche currently under exploration for targeting certain cancers. AREAS COVERED: In this review we explore the discovery of methionine auxotrophy followed by in vitro, in vivo and patient data on targeting cancer with methionine depletion. We end with a small discussion on bioengineering, pegylation and red blood cell encapsulation as mechanisms for decreasing immunogenicity of methionine-depleting drugs. We hope to provide a platform for future pharmacology, toxicology and cytotoxicity studies with methionine depletion therapy and drugs. EXPERT OPINION: Although methionine auxotrophy seems as a viable target, extensive research addressing normal versus cancer cell toxicity needs to be conducted. Further research also needs to be conducted into the molecular mechanism associated with methionine depletion therapy. Finally, novel methods need to be developed to decrease the immunogenicity of methionine-depleting drugs, a current issue with protein therapeutics."}
{"id": "MED-3282", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The mechanisms of cancer cell growth and metastasis are still not entirely understood, especially from the viewpoint of chemical reactions in tumours. Glycolytic metabolism is markedly accelerated in cancer cells, causing the accumulation of glucose (a reducing sugar) and methionine (an amino acid), which can non-enzymatically react and form carcinogenic substances. There is speculation that this reaction produces gaseous sulfur-containing compounds in tumour tissue. The aims of this study were to clarify the products in tumour and to investigate their effect on tumour proliferation. METHODS: Products formed in the reaction between glucose and methionine or its metabolites were analysed in vitro using gas chromatography. Flatus samples from patients with colon cancer and exhaled air samples from patients with lung cancer were analysed using near-edge x-ray fine adsorption structure spectroscopy and compared with those from healthy individuals. The tumour proliferation rates of mice into which HT29 human colon cancer cells had been implanted were compared with those of mice in which the cancer cells were surrounded by sodium hyaluronate gel to prevent diffusion of gaseous material into the healthy cells. RESULTS: Gaseous sulfur-containing compounds such as methanethiol and hydrogen sulfide were produced when glucose was allowed to react with methionine or its metabolites homocysteine or cysteine. Near-edge x-ray fine adsorption structure spectroscopy showed that the concentrations of sulfur-containing compounds in the samples of flatus from patients with colon cancer and in the samples of exhaled air from patients with lung cancer were significantly higher than in those from healthy individuals. Animal experiments showed that preventing the diffusion of sulfur-containing compounds had a pronounced antitumour effect. CONCLUSIONS: Gaseous sulfur-containing compounds are the main products in tumours and preventing the diffusion of these compounds reduces the tumour proliferation rate, which suggests the possibility of a new approach to cancer treatment."}
{"id": "MED-3283", "text": "Available information indicates that long-lived mammals have low rates of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and oxidative damage at their mitochondria. On the other hand, many studies have consistently shown that dietary restriction (DR) in rodents also decreases mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) production and oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA and proteins. It has been observed that protein restriction also decreases mtROS generation and oxidative stress in rat liver, whereas neither carbohydrate nor lipid restriction change these parameters. This is interesting because protein restriction also increases maximum longevity in rodents (although to a lower extent than DR) and is a much more practicable intervention for humans than DR, whereas neither carbohydrate nor lipid restriction seem to change rodent longevity. Moreover, it has been found that isocaloric methionine restriction also decreases mtROS generation and oxidative stress in rodent tissues, and this manipulation also increases maximum longevity in rats and mice. In addition, excessive dietary methionine also increases mtROS generation in rat liver. These studies suggest that the reduced intake of dietary methionine can be responsible for the decrease in mitochondrial ROS generation and the ensuing oxidative damage that occurs during DR, as well as for part of the increase in maximum longevity induced by this dietary manipulation. In addition, the mean intake of proteins (and thus methionine) of Western human populations is much higher than needed. Therefore, decreasing such levels to the recommended ones has a great potential to lower tissue oxidative stress and to increase healthy life span in humans while avoiding the possible undesirable effects of DR diets."}
{"id": "MED-3288", "text": "In the fall of 2007, the Minnesota Department of Health was notified of 11 cases of an unexplained neurological illness, all linked to a pork processing plant, Quality Pork Processors, Inc., in Austin, MN. The cluster of workers had been experiencing similar symptoms, including fatigue, pain, numbness, and tingling in their extremities as well as weakness. The symptoms were described as more sensory than motor, and all patients had evidence of polyradiculoneuropathy with signs of nerve root irritation. An epidemiological investigation revealed that the only commonality between cases was their exposure to a pork brain extraction procedure involving compressed air. As relatives of the cases remained asymptomatic and all cultures for known pathogens were negative, the etiology of the syndrome seemed not to be infectious. Clinically, the syndrome was most akin to chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Laboratory tests corroborated the clinical findings, revealing inflammation of peripheral nerves and nerve roots; however, these cases also had features clinically distinct from chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy as well as laboratory testing revealing a novel immunoglobulin G immunostaining pattern. This suggested that the observed inflammation was the result of 1 or more unidentified antigens. This syndrome was ultimately dubbed progressive inflammatory neuropathy and was theorized to be an autoimmune reaction to aerosolized porcine neural tissue. Since the investigation's outset, 18 cases of progressive inflammatory neuropathy have been identified at the Minnesota pork processing plant, with 5 similar cases at an Indiana plant and 1 case at a Nebraskan plant. The plants in which cases have been identified have since stopped the use of compressed air in removing pork brains. All cases have stabilized or improved, with some requiring immunosuppressive and analgesic treatment. The study of progressive inflammatory neuropathy is ongoing, and the details of this investigation highlight the value of epidemiological principles in the identification and containment of outbreaks while researchers attempt to uncover the unique pathophysiology and potential etiology of the illness. Mt Sinai J Med 76:442-447, 2009. (c) 2009 Mount Sinai School of Medicine."}
{"id": "MED-3292", "text": "The human APOBEC3G protein is an innate anti-viral factor that can dominantly inhibit the replication of some endogenous and exogenous retroviruses. The prospects of purposefully harnessing such an anti-viral defense are under investigation. Here, long-term co-culture experiments were used to show that porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) transmission from pig to human cells is reduced to nearly undetectable levels by expressing human APOBEC3G in virus-producing pig kidney cells. Inhibition occurred by a deamination-independent mechanism, likely after particle production but before the virus could immortalize by integration into human genomic DNA. PERV inhibition did not require the DNA cytosine deaminase activity of APOBEC3G and, correspondingly, APOBEC3G-attributable hypermutations were not detected. In contrast, over-expression of the sole endogenous APOBEC3 protein of pigs failed to interfere significantly with PERV transmission. Together, these data constitute the first proof-of-principle demonstration that APOBEC3 proteins can be used to fortify the innate anti-viral defenses of cells to prevent the zoonotic transmission of an endogenous retrovirus. These studies suggest that human APOBEC3G-transgenic pigs will provide safer, PERV-less xenotransplantation resources and that analogous cross-species APOBEC3-dependent restriction strategies may be useful for thwarting other endogenous as well as exogenous retrovirus infections."}
{"id": "MED-3295", "text": "Background Few studies have investigated mortality in seafood workers worldwide, and no such study has been conducted in the United States. The objective of this study was to investigate mortality in American seafood workers. Methods The study population was derived from 4 states and consisted of 4116 subjects who worked mainly in seafood processing plants. They were followed up from 1966 to 2003. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) were estimated, using the US general population for comparison. Results About 45% of the cohort was born after 1949. A total of 788 deaths were recorded; 53% of the decedents were female, and 88% were white. The SMRs for stomach cancer and disorders of the thyroid gland in the cohort as a whole were 2.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1\u20133.8) and 6.1 (95% CI 1.3\u201318.0), respectively. The SMRs for breast cancer, and occlusion/stenosis of the pre-cerebral/cerebral arteries in the cohort as a whole were 0.5 (95% CI, 0.3\u20130.9) and 0.5 (95% CI, 0.2\u20130.8), respectively. The SMR for ischemic heart disease in white females was 0.8 (95% CI, 0.6\u20130.9). Conclusions This cohort had excess deaths from stomach cancer and disorders of the thyroid gland, and deficit of deaths from breast cancer, stroke and ischemic heart disease. The significance of these findings is unknown, especially as less than 20% of the cohort were deceased. Nevertheless, the cohort is unique and important, and further follow-up may shed more light on mortality patterns in this occupational group."}
{"id": "MED-3302", "text": "In November 2007 a novel neuropathy, immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy (IP), was identified among workers at a Minnesota swine abattoir where a unique compressed air technique was used to remove porcine brains. An epidemiologic investigation at another abattoir in Indiana that also uses this process was launched to evaluate workers self-reporting neurologic illness compatible with IP. A nested case-control study was performed to identify cases and risk factors. Six confirmed, one probable, and three possible IP cases were detected. IP cases were 28-52 years old, of Latino origin, and 62.5% female. Onset dates ranged from April 2005-December 2007; 60% were hospitalized. IP cases at this plant were similar in clinical presentation and exposure risks to those detected in Minnesota. Swine abattoirs using similar brain extraction methods should discontinue this process."}
{"id": "MED-3305", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIM: The occurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) has been reported among population groups with no documented professional exposure to asbestos fibres living in different geographic areas. This paper reviews existing data related to non occupational MPM including its occurrence in the province of Catania (Sicily, Italy). METHODS: An electronic search of literature related to non occupational MPM was performed including the year 2005. RESULTS: Non occupational MPM in subjects living in areas contaminated by a variety of asbestos and non asbestos fibres has been well documented through a number of epidemiologic studies including cases series, case-control studies, and a cohort study. In addition, the observation of familial clustering of MPM, suggests that genetic factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of this malignancy. The epidemiological evidence also suggests that MPM may occur as a result of the interaction between environmental carcinogens, genetic factors, and virus infection. CONCLUSION: It is likely that genetic predisposition and non-occupational exposure to low doses of asbestos and asbestos-like fibres may concur to the development of malignant mesothelioma. However, additional epidemiological and laboratory studies are needed to further understand the relationship between environmental exposure and individual susceptibility to this malignancy."}
{"id": "MED-3306", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Occupation as a farmer has been associated with increased risks of haematological cancers in adults. This study aimed to examine whether farm exposures in childhood contribute to these risks, by using parental occupation in farming as a proxy for growing up on a farm. METHODS: New Zealand death records (1998-2003) of persons aged 35-85 were extracted (n=114 289). For 82.3% usual occupation and the occupation of at least one of the parents could be coded (n=94 054). Unconditional logistic regression analyses included 3119 haematological cancer deaths (cases) and 90 935 deaths from other causes (controls). ORs for farming and growing up on a farm were adjusted for each other, year of birth, age at death, socio-economic status, M\u0101ori ethnicity, immigration status and sex. RESULTS: Growing up on a livestock farm was positively associated with haematological cancer (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.41), particularly for poultry farms (OR 2.99, 95% CI 1.44 to 6.21), while growing up on a crop farm was not (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.03). Crop farming in adulthood was associated with an increased haematological cancer risk (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.96), while livestock farming was not (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.00), except for beef cattle farming (OR 2.99, 95% CI 1.28 to 7.00). These results did not change appreciably when different control groups with different causes of death were used. CONCLUSIONS: These results could suggest a role for early life biological exposures in the development of haematological cancers."}
{"id": "MED-3307", "text": "OBJECTIVE: workers in slaughterhouses and processing plants that handle pigs, and pork butchers/meatcutters have been little studied for health risks associated with employment, in spite of the fact that they are potentially exposed to oncogenic and non-oncogenic transmissible agents and chemical carcinogens at work. We report here on an update of mortality in 510 workers employed in abattoirs and processing plants that almost exclusively handled pigs and pork products. METHODS: standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were estimated for the cohort as a whole, and in subgroups defined by race and sex, using the corresponding US general population mortality rates for comparison. Study subjects were followed up from January 1950 to December 2006, during which time 45% of them died. RESULTS: mortality was significantly increased overall in the cohort. A statistically significant excess of deaths was observed for colon and lung cancers in the entire cohort, SMR=2.7 (95% CI, 1.2-5.1), SMR=1.8 (95% CI, 1.1-2.7), respectively. Significant SMRs in the cohort as a whole were also observed for senile and pre-senile psychotic conditions (SMR=5.1, 95% CI, 1.4-13.1), and pneumonia (SMR=2.6, 95% CI, 1.3-4.8). An observed excess of subarachnoid hemorrhage was seen mainly in whites (SMR=10.1, 95% CI, 1.2-36.3). There was a suggestion of an excess of deaths from ischemic heart disease also, but the elevated SMR was confined to men and was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: this study confirms the excess occurrence of lung and colon cancers, and stroke previously reported in this occupational group. New findings are the excess of risk for senile and pre-senile psychotic conditions and pneumonia, which together with the excess of colon cancer appear specific for pig/pork workers, as they were not evident in much larger studies of workers in abattoirs and processing plants handling cattle and sheep. However, caution should be exercised in interpreting these findings, since some of them could have occurred by chance, resulting from our examination of a large number of causes of death in multiple study subgroups. For the moment, the significance of these findings remains unknown until they are confirmed in larger studies of adequate statistical power. Studies that will take into account possible occupational and non-occupational confounding factors are needed. Copyright \u00a9 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3308", "text": "An occupational health survey conducted in a workshop in which asbestos cement was used showed initial atmospheric asbestos levels ranging from 1.9 to 27.5 fibres per millilitre of air. Radiological changes suggestive of asbestos-related pleural disease were found in 2 workers (2.5%), while 3 (3.8%) had borderline features of asbestosis. The survey confirmed that uncontrolled and hazardous use of asbestos continues in industry despite public awareness of its dangers and the Asbestos Regulations of 1987."}
{"id": "MED-3309", "text": "The human APOBEC3G protein is an innate anti-viral factor that can dominantly inhibit the replication of some endogenous and exogenous retroviruses. The prospects of purposefully harnessing such an anti-viral defense are under investigation. Here, long-term co-culture experiments were used to show that porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) transmission from pig to human cells is reduced to nearly undetectable levels by expressing human APOBEC3G in virus-producing pig kidney cells. Inhibition occurred by a deamination-independent mechanism, likely after particle production but before the virus could immortalize by integration into human genomic DNA. PERV inhibition did not require the DNA cytosine deaminase activity of APOBEC3G and, correspondingly, APOBEC3G-attributable hypermutations were not detected. In contrast, over-expression of the sole endogenous APOBEC3 protein of pigs failed to interfere significantly with PERV transmission. Together, these data constitute the first proof-of-principle demonstration that APOBEC3 proteins can be used to fortify the innate anti-viral defenses of cells to prevent the zoonotic transmission of an endogenous retrovirus. These studies suggest that human APOBEC3G-transgenic pigs will provide safer, PERV-less xenotransplantation resources and that analogous cross-species APOBEC3-dependent restriction strategies may be useful for thwarting other endogenous as well as exogenous retrovirus infections."}
{"id": "MED-3310", "text": "We observed five consecutive cases of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis in subjects working in a salami factory. The workers had to clean the white mould growing on salami surface using a manual wire brush. The five patients (four female) had a mean age of 39 +/- 15 years; two were smokers. Three patients had an acute clinical presentation with fever, dyspnoea, dry cough, oxygen desaturation, and presented at the emergency department with suspected diagnosis of community acquired pneumonia. The mean latency for developing respiratory symptoms was 11.6 days. Pulmonary function test demonstrated a reduction in diffusing capacity (DLCO) in all 5 patients (60 +/- 15% of predicted value). Skin prick test was positive for Penicillium spp in 3 cases and for Cladosporium and Aspergillus spp in 2 others. Specific IgG antibodies against Penicillium spp were positive in 3 subjects; 2 were positive for Aspergillus Fumigatus. The prevailing radiological pattern was a ground glass appearance in the three patients with acute clinical onset and a centrilobular one in patients with subacute onset. All patients were advised to avoid exposure to the antigens. Follow-up visits including pulmonary function testing, and DLCO measurement were conducted at one, three and six months. HRCT was performed at six month. Four subjects had a complete radiological and clinical resolution after changing work. Only one patient was treated with oral steroids for severe dyspnoea and progressive reduction of DLCO, gaining a complete radiological and clinical stability at six months."}
{"id": "MED-3311", "text": "OBJECTIVES: We studied mortality in two separate cohorts of workers in abattoirs (N=4996) and meat processing plants (N=3642) belonging to a meatcutters' union, because they were exposed to viruses that cause cancer in food animals, and also to chemical carcinogens at work. METHODS: Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) were estimated for each cohort as a whole and in subgroups defined by race and sex, using the US general population mortality rates for comparison. Study subjects were followed up from January 1950 to December 2006, during which time over 60% of them died. RESULTS: An excess of deaths from cancers of the base of the tongue, esophagus, lung, skin, bone and bladder, lymphoid leukemia, and benign tumors of the thyroid and other endocrine glands, and possibly Hodgkin's disease, was observed in abattoir and meat processing workers. Significantly lower SMRs were recorded for cancer of the thymus, mediastinum, pleura, etc., breast cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the excess occurrence of cancer in workers in abattoirs and meat processing plants, butchers, and meatcutters, previously reported in this cohort and other similar cohorts worldwide. Large nested case-control studies are now needed to examine which specific occupational and non-occupational exposures are responsible for the excess. There is now sufficient evidence for steps to be taken to protect workers from carcinogenic exposures at the workplace. There are also serious implications for the general population which may also be exposed to some of these viruses. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3312", "text": "BACKGROUND: Heavy alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis, and diabetes are risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, to the authors' knowledge, the information concerning their interaction effect in patients with risk of HCC is sparse. METHODS: A population-based, case-control study of HCC was conducted during 1984-2002. The study involved 295 HCC cases and 435 age-, gender-, and race-matched control subjects among Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites and blacks in Los Angeles County, California. Lifestyle risk factors were ascertained through in-person interviews. Infections with the hepatitis B and C (HCV) viruses were determined using their serologic markers. RESULTS: Fourteen HCC cases but no control subjects tested positive for the hepatitis B surface antigen. Seropositivity for antibodies to HCV was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 125 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 17-909) for HCC, whereas seropositivity for antibodies to the hepatitis B core antigen was related to an OR of 2.9 (95% CI, 1.7-5.0). Heavy alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking were found to be independently associated with a statistically significant two to threefold increase in risk of HCC after adjustment for hepatitis B and C serology. Subjects with a history of diabetes had an OR of 2.7 (95% CI, 1.6-4.3) for HCC compared with nondiabetic subjects. A synergistic interaction on HCC risk was observed between heavy alcohol consumption and diabetes (OR = 4.2; 95% CI, 2.6-5.8), heavy alcohol consumption and viral hepatitis (OR = 5.5; 95% CI, 3.9-7.0), or between diabetes and viral hepatitis (OR = 4.8; 95% CI, 2.7-6.9). CONCLUSIONS: Heavy alcohol consumption, diabetes, and viral hepatitis were found to exert independent and synergistic effects on risk of HCC in U.S. blacks and whites. Copyright 2004 American Cancer Society."}
{"id": "MED-3313", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Asbestos is banned in most Western countries but related malignancies are still of clinical concern because of their long latencies. This review identifies and addresses some controversial occupational and clinical aspects of asbestos-related malignancies. METHODS: Papers published in English from 1980 to 2009 were retrieved from PubMed. A total of 307 original articles were identified and 159 were included. ASSESSMENT OF EXPOSURE: The retrospective assessment of exposure is usually performed by using questionnaires and job exposure matrices and by careful collection of medical history. In this way crucial information about manufacturing processes and specific jobs can be obtained. In addition, fibers and asbestos bodies are counted in lung tissue, broncho-alveolar lavage, and sputum, but different techniques and interlaboratory variability hamper the interpretation of reported measurements. SCREENING FOR MALIGNANCIES: The effectiveness of low-dose chest CT screening in exposed workers is debatable. Several biomarkers have also been considered to screen individuals at risk for lung cancer and mesothelioma but reliable signatures are still missing. ATTRIBUTION OF LUNG CANCER: Exposures correlating with lung cancer are high and in the same range where asbestosis occurs. However, the unresolved question is whether the presence of fibrosis is a requirement for the attribution of lung cancer to asbestos. The etiology of lung cancer is difficult to define in cases of low-level asbestos exposure and concurrent smoking habits. MESOTHELIOMA: The diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma may also be difficult, because of procedures in sampling, fixation, and processing, and uses of immunohistochemical probes. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of exposure is crucial and requires accurate medical and occupational histories. Quantitative analysis of asbestos body burden is better performed in digested lung tissues by counting asbestos bodies by light microscopy and/or uncoated fibers by transmission electron microscopy. The benefits of screenings for asbestos-related malignancies are equivocal. The attribution of lung cancer to asbestos exposure is difficult in a clinical setting because of the need to assess asbestos body burden and the fact that virtually all these patients are also tobacco smokers or former smokers. Given the premise that asbestosis is necessary to causally link lung cancer to asbestos, it follows that the assessment of both lung fibrosis and asbestos body burden is necessary."}
{"id": "MED-3314", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Evidence suggests that certain occupations and related exposures may increase the risk of malignant lymphoma. Farming, printing and paper industry, wood processing, meat handling and processing, welding, shoe and leather manufacturing and teaching profession are among the categories that have been implicated in previous studies. The relationship between occupation and malignant lymphoma has been investigated in a large European prospective study. METHODS: We investigated occupational risks for lymphomas in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). The mean follow-up time for 348,555 subjects was 9 years (SD: 2 years). The analysis was based on 866 and 48 newly diagnosed cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). These were identified in the EPIC subcohorts with occupational data. Data on 52 occupations were collected through standardised questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard models were used to explore the association between occupation and risk of malignant lymphoma. RESULTS: The following occupations were positively associated with malignant NHL after adjustment for study centre, age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), smoking and alcohol: butchers (HR=1.53, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.48, including multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma; HR=1.30, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.66, excluding multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma) and car repair workers (HR=1.50, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.00, including multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma; HR=1.51, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.31, excluding multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma). HL was associated with gasoline station occupation (HR=4.59, 95% CI 1.08 to 19.6). CONCLUSION: The findings in this current study of a higher risk of NHL among car repair workers and butchers and a higher risk of HL among gasoline station workers suggest a possible role from occupationally related exposures, such as solvents and zoonotic viruses, as risk factors for malignant lymphoma."}
{"id": "MED-3315", "text": "PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses that widely occurs occupationally in poultry workers and in the general population, may be associated with increased risks of deaths from liver and pancreatic cancers, and to identify new risk factors. METHODS: A pilot case-cohort study of both cancers within a combined cohort of 30,411 highly exposed poultry workers and 16,408 control subjects was conducted, and risk assessed by logistic regression odds ratios (OR) and proportional hazards risk ratios. RESULTS: New occupational findings were recorded respectively for pancreatic/liver cancers, for slaughtering of poultry (OR = 8.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7-29.3)/OR = 9.1, 95% CI: 1.9-42.9); catching of live chickens (OR = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.2-10.9)/OR = 1.0, 95% CI: 0.1-8.5); killing other types of animals for food (OR = 4.8, 95% CI: 1.5-16.6)/OR = 2.0, 95% CI: 0.2-18.2), and ever worked on a pig raising farm (OR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.0-8.2) for pancreatic cancer only. New non-occupational findings for liver cancer were for receiving immunization with yellow fever vaccine (OR = 8.7, 95% CI: 1.0-76.3); and vaccination with typhoid vaccine (OR = 6.3, 95% CI: 1.1-37.4). The study also confirmed previously reported risk factors for both diseases. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides preliminary evidence that exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses may possibly be associated with the occurrence of liver and pancreatic cancers. Case-control studies nested within occupational cohorts of highly exposed subjects of sufficient statistical power may provide an efficient and valid method of investigating/confirming these findings. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3316", "text": "BACKGROUND: Between November, 2006, and May, 2008, a subacute neurological syndrome affected workers from two swine abattoirs in Minnesota and Indiana who had occupational exposure to aerosolised porcine brain. We aimed to describe the pathogenic and immunological characteristics of this illness. METHODS: All patients from two abattoirs who presented or were referred to the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) with neurological symptoms were included. We recorded details of exposure to aerosolised brain tissue and did comprehensive neurological, laboratory, neuroimaging, electrophysiological, pathological, and autoimmune serological assessments. Healthy controls were recruited from the community and from workers at the plant in Minnesota. FINDINGS: 24 patients were identified (21 from Minnesota, three from Indiana). The shortest duration from first exposure to symptom onset was 4 weeks. No infectious agent that could trigger disease was identified. All patients developed polyradiculoneuropathy, which was usually sensory predominant and painful. Two patients had initial CNS manifestations: transverse myelitis and meningoencephalitis. Nerve conduction studies localised abnormalities to the most proximal and distal nerve segments. Quantitative sensory and autonomic testing revealed involvement of large and small sensory fibres and sweat fibres. MRI showed prominent abnormalities of roots and ganglia. Nerve biopsies identified mild demyelination, axonal degeneration, and perivascular inflammation. Protein concentrations were high in the CSF of 18 (86%) of 21 patients. Sera from all patients and 29 (34%) of 85 unaffected workplace controls (but none of 178 community controls) had a distinctive neural-reactive IgG; 75% of patients' sera contained an IgG specific to myelin basic protein. Seropositivity correlated directly with exposure risk in patients and controls. 17 patients required immunomodulatory therapies, six improved spontaneously, and one was lost to follow-up after exposure stopped. INTERPRETATION: The neurological disorder described is autoimmune in origin and is related to occupational exposure to multiple aerosolised porcine brain tissue antigens. The pattern of nerve involvement suggests vulnerability of nerve roots and terminals where the blood-nerve barrier is most permeable. FUNDING: Mayo Clinic Foundation; Minnesota Department of Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3317", "text": "Twenty-four patients, all of whom were exposed to aerosolized porcine brain tissue through work-place environment (abattoir), developed a syndrome of immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy; three also had central nervous system manifestations (transverse myelitis, meningoencephalitis, and aseptic meningitis). Patients had characteristic electrophysiological findings of very distal and proximal conduction slowing (prolonged distal and F-wave latencies, regions where the blood-nerve barrier is the most permeable) and all patients' serum contained a novel IgG immunofluorescence pattern. Nerve pathology, when available, showed mild changes of segmental demyelination, axonal degeneration, and inflammatory changes. Patients had meaningful improvement of symptoms and electrophysiologic findings with immune therapy and with removal of exposure to aerosolized brain tissue. We postulate that this outbreak is an auto-immune polyradiculoneuropathy triggered by occupational exposure to multiple aerosolized porcine neural tissue antigens that result in neural damage where the blood-nerve barrier is the least robust. \u00a9 2011 Peripheral Nerve Society."}
{"id": "MED-3318", "text": "Smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer; however, detailed examination of the association of smoking intensity, smoking duration, and cumulative smoking dose with pancreatic cancer is limited. The authors analyzed pooled data from the international Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium nested case-control study (1,481 cases, 1,539 controls). Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using unconditional logistic regression. Smoking intensity effects were examined with an excess odds ratio model that was linear in pack-years and exponential in cigarettes smoked per day and its square. When compared with never smokers, current smokers had a significantly elevated risk (odds ratio (OR)\u2009=\u20091.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.38, 2.26). Risk increased significantly with greater intensity (\u226530 cigarettes/day: OR\u2009=\u20091.75, 95% CI: 1.27, 2.42), duration (\u226550 years: OR\u2009=\u20092.13, 95% CI: 1.25, 3.62), and cumulative smoking dose (\u226540 pack-years: OR\u2009=\u20091.78, 95% CI: 1.35, 2.34). Risk more than 15 years after smoking cessation was similar to that for never smokers. Estimates of excess odds ratio per pack-year declined with increasing intensity, suggesting greater risk for total exposure delivered at lower intensity for longer duration than for higher intensity for shorter duration. This finding and the decline in risk after smoking cessation suggest that smoking has a late-stage effect on pancreatic carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-3319", "text": "Background In October 2007, a cluster of patients experiencing a novel polyradiculoneuropathy was identified at a pork abattoir (Plant A). Patients worked in the primary carcass processing area (warm room); the majority processed severed heads (head-table). An investigation was initiated to determine risk factors for illness. Methods and Results Symptoms of the reported patients were unlike previously described occupational associated illnesses. A case-control study was conducted at Plant A. A case was defined as evidence of symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and compatible electrodiagnostic testing in a pork abattoir worker. Two control groups were used - randomly selected non-ill warm-room workers (n\u200a=\u200a49), and all non-ill head-table workers (n\u200a=\u200a56). Consenting cases and controls were interviewed and blood and throat swabs were collected. The 26 largest U.S. pork abattoirs were surveyed to identify additional cases. Fifteen cases were identified at Plant A; illness onsets occurred during May 2004\u2013November 2007. Median age was 32 years (range, 21\u201355 years). Cases were more likely than warm-room controls to have ever worked at the head-table (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 6.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6\u201326.7), removed brains or removed muscle from the backs of heads (AOR, 10.3; 95% CI, 1.5\u201368.5), and worked within 0\u201310 feet of the brain removal operation (AOR, 9.9; 95% CI, 1.2\u201380.0). Associations remained when comparing head-table cases and head-table controls. Workers removed brains by using compressed air that liquefied brain and generated aerosolized droplets, exposing themselves and nearby workers. Eight additional cases were identified in the only two other abattoirs using this technique. The three abattoirs that used this technique have stopped brain removal, and no new cases have been reported after 24 months of follow up. Cases compared to controls had higher median interferon-gamma (IFN\u03b3) levels (21.7 pg/ml; vs 14.8 pg/ml, P<0.001). Discussion This novel polyradiculoneuropathy was associated with removing porcine brains with compressed air. An autoimmune mechanism is supported by higher levels of IFN\u03b3 in cases than in controls consistent with other immune mediated illnesses occurring in association with neural tissue exposure. Abattoirs should not use compressed air to remove brains and should avoid procedures that aerosolize CNS tissue. This outbreak highlights the potential for respiratory or mucosal exposure to cause an immune-mediated illness in an occupational setting."}
{"id": "MED-3320", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REV) are a group of retroviruses like avian leukosis/sarcoma viruses (ALSV) that naturally infect and cause cancers in chickens. We recently found that ALSV antibody levels were associated with job tasks in the poultry industry. The objectives of this study are to examine whether a similar association can be found with REV antibody levels and to examine the correlation between REV and ALSV antibody levels. METHODS: Relative risk was estimated comparing REV antibody levels of 45 poultry workers with those of 44 controls. The expected mean antibody level was predicted for the association with employment by a generalized linear model. Correlation coefficient was measured between ALSV and REV antibody levels. RESULTS: REV antibody levels were significantly higher in poultry workers than in control subjects and were associated with gender and employment conditions, especially employment duration. The relative risk was significantly higher for some job categories. A significant correlation was observed between REV and ALSV antibody levels, which was strong among poultry workers, but weak among the control subjects. CONCLUSION: Antibody levels can be validly used to identify certain job tasks associated with high risk of exposure to REV in the workplace, and the practical implication is recommendations for protection at these job tasks. Importantly, in situations where there is exposure to multiple pathogens in the workplace, the analysis of antibody levels of one pathogen may sufficiently represent exposure to the other correlated pathogens. This suggested exposure assessment may hold true for pathogens with a similar route of transmission."}
{"id": "MED-3321", "text": "Avian leukosis/sarcoma viruses (ALSV) infect and cause cancers in chickens. Poultry workers are exposed to ALSV and other infectious agents in the workplace. This study examines if industrial hygiene assessment of antibody levels in poultry workers can identify risky job tasks at the higher exposure risk to an infectious agent, i.e., ALSV. We compared ALSV antibody levels in poultry workers and control subjects. Occupational and demographical factors were examined for an association with the exposure risk in poultry workers. We found that the antibody levels were significantly higher in poultry workers than in control subjects. Job category and age together were significantly associated with the antibody levels in workers. Certain job tasks were identified with significantly higher antibody levels as compared to others, implying that recommendations should be made to protect workers at these jobs. The findings of this study indicate that the measurement of antibody levels in workers can be useful for industrial hygiene assessment of exposure to infectious agents."}
{"id": "MED-3348", "text": "Fruit and vegetable consumption is inadequate among adults in the United States; this contributes to preventable morbidity and mortality. More effective dietary intervention strategies are needed. Recently, interventions that advertise the consequences of behavior for appearance have been successful in modifying sun-exposure habits and tobacco use. Such an approach might also facilitate dietary improvement. Consumption of carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetables positively affects skin color, which influences perceptions of health and attractiveness, and promoting such an effect may motivate target audiences to increase consumption of this important food group. This approach represents a novel direction for the field and is potentially suitable for cost-effective, population-level dissemination through the visual media."}
{"id": "MED-3350", "text": "Normotensive adults on low-sodium, weight-loss, and control diets recorded preferences and perceived saltiness for sodium chloride (NaCl) added to cream soup at intervals over 1 yr. Reduction in sodium intake and excretion accompanied a shift in preference toward less salt: preferred concentrations by ad libitum salting declined from 0.72% at the onset to 0.33% NaCl at week 24; hedonic scores for high concentrations of NaCl decreased significantly while scores for low concentrations increased. After 3 mo of sodium restriction, NaCl preferences readjusted to a lower level: ad libitum additions of NaCl were similar after 13, 24, and 52 wk. Less hedonic variation was observed among controls than among Na-restricted groups. The weight-loss group showed increased liking for mid-range NaCl levels. Mechanisms underlying preference changes, including physiological, behavioral, and context effects, may provide insights into maintenance of low-sodium diets for treatment and prevention of hypertension."}
{"id": "MED-3351", "text": "Based on evidence that the color red elicits avoidance motivation across contexts (Mehta & Zhu, 2009), two studies investigated the effect of the color red on snack food and soft drink consumption. In line with our hypothesis, participants drank less from a red labeled cup than from a blue labeled cup (Study 1), and ate less snack food from a red plate than from a blue or white plate (Study 2). The results suggest that red functions as a subtle stop signal that works outside of focused awareness and thereby reduces incidental food and drink intake. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3352", "text": "The popularity of low- and reduced-fat foods has increased as consumers seek to decrease their energy consumption. Fat replacers may be used in fat-reduced products to maintain their sensory properties. However, these ingredients have been largely formulated to replicate nongustatory properties of fats to foods and have only achieved moderate success. There is increasing evidence that fats also activate the taste system and uniquely evoke responses that may influence product acceptance. Work supporting a taste component of fat has prompted questions about whether fat constitutes an additional \"primary\" or \"basic\" taste quality. This review briefly summarizes this evidence, focusing on human studies, when possible. Effective stimuli, possible receptors, and physiological changes due to oral fat exposure are discussed. Some studies suggest that there are fatty acid tasters and nontasters and if verified could have implications for targeted product development. \u00a9 2011 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-3353", "text": "Skin blood perfusion and oxygenation depends upon cardiovascular, hormonal and circulatory health in humans and provides socio-sexual signals of underlying physiology, dominance and reproductive status in some primates. We allowed participants to manipulate colour calibrated facial photographs along empirically-measured oxygenated and deoxygenated blood colour axes both separately and simultaneously, to optimise healthy appearance. Participants increased skin blood colour, particularly oxygenated, above basal levels to optimise healthy appearance. We show, therefore, that skin blood perfusion and oxygenation influence perceived health in a way that may be important to mate choice."}
{"id": "MED-3354", "text": "The luminance contrast between facial features and facial skin is greater in women than in men, and women's use of make-up enhances this contrast. In black-and-white photographs, increased luminance contrast enhances femininity and attractiveness in women's faces, but reduces masculinity and attractiveness in men's faces. In Caucasians, much of the contrast between the lips and facial skin is in redness. Red lips have been considered attractive in women in geographically and temporally diverse cultures, possibly because they mimic vasodilation associated with sexual arousal. Here, we investigate the effects of lip luminance and colour contrast on the attractiveness and sex typicality (masculinity/femininity) of human faces. In a Caucasian sample, we allowed participants to manipulate the colour of the lips in colour-calibrated face photographs along CIELab L* (light--dark), a* (red--green), and b* (yellow--blue) axes to enhance apparent attractiveness and sex typicality. Participants increased redness contrast to enhance femininity and attractiveness of female faces, but reduced redness contrast to enhance masculinity of men's faces. Lip blueness was reduced more in female than male faces. Increased lightness contrast enhanced the attractiveness of both sexes, and had little effect on perceptions of sex typicality. The association between lip colour contrast and attractiveness in women's faces may be attributable to its association with oxygenated blood perfusion indicating oestrogen levels, sexual arousal, and cardiac and respiratory health."}
{"id": "MED-3355", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of a high-fat and low-fat diet on taste sensitivity to oleic acid (C18:1) in lean and overweight/obese (OW/OB) subjects. DESIGN: Randomized cross-over dietary intervention involving the consumption of a high-fat (>45% fat) and low-fat (<20% fat) diet, both consumed over a 4-week period. SUBJECTS: A total of 19 lean, mean age 33\u00b113 years, mean body mass index (BMI) 23.2\u00b12.2\u2009kg\u2009m(-2) and 12 OW/OB, mean age 39.5\u00b13 years, mean BMI 28\u00b12.6\u2009kg\u2009m(-2), subjects participated in the study, which measured taste thresholds for C18:1, fat perception and hedonic ratings for regular (RF) and lowered-fat (LF) foods before, and following consumption of a high- and low-fat diet. RESULTS: Consumption of the low-fat diet increased taste sensitivity to C18:1 among lean and OW/OB subjects (P<0.05) and increased the subjects ability to perceive small differences in the fat content of custard (P=0.05). Consumption of the high-fat diet significantly decreased taste sensitivity to C18:1 among lean subjects (P<0.05), with no change in sensitivity among OW/OB persons (P=0.609). The hedonic ratings for several RF and LF foods differed following the diets. CONCLUSION: Alterations in the fat content of the diet modulated taste sensitivity to C18:1 among lean subjects, which was increased following a 4-week period of fat restriction and attenuated following the high-fat diet. The failure of the high-fat diet to alter fatty acid taste thresholds among OW/OB subjects suggests that these individuals were 'adapted' to high-fat exposure, perhaps because of differences in habitual fat consumption. Taken together, these data suggest that excessive dietary fat attenuates nutrient sensing epithelia response in the oral cavity, which could be associated with changes in diet and weight status."}
{"id": "MED-3356", "text": "OBJECTIVE: This study examined changes in desires to eat high-fat and low-fat foods across an obesity treatment program. The hypotheses under examination were (1) preferences for low-fat foods would increase across time and (2) preferences for high-fat foods would decrease across time. DESIGN: Single-group, prospective examination of desires to eat 48 foods, categorized according to fat content, before and after the 16-week treatment program. SETTING: University clinic, Memphis, Tennessee. PARTICIPANTS: 118 obese (mean weight = 194.4 lbs) women (mean age = 45.24 years) participating in an obesity treatment program. INTERVENTION: A 16-week cognitive-behavioral program for obesity. VARIABLES MEASURED: Desires to eat 48 foods varying in fat content and whether or not participants actually ate these foods. ANALYSIS: Analysis of variance, multiple regression, and paired t tests. RESULTS: The results indicate that during the program, preferences for low-fat foods increased, whereas preferences for high-fat foods decreased. These changes mirrored the changes in consumption of both low-fat and high-fat foods. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Within a behavioral economic perspective, the reinforcement value of low-fat foods may increase following a low-fat dietary intervention, whereas the reinforcing properties of high-fat foods may decline. This is desirable as low-fat foods hold many advantages over high-fat foods in terms of weight maintenance."}
{"id": "MED-3358", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Taste sensitivity to fatty acids influences food ingestion and may regulate fat intake and body weight status. Fatty acids are detected via homologous receptors within the mouth and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, where attenuated sensitivity may be associated with greater fat intake and BMI. This study aimed to extend observations surrounding fatty acid taste, specifically the types of foods consumed and dietary behaviours that may be associated with fatty acid taste sensitivity. METHODS: 51 subjects (41 female; BMI, 21.4 \u00b1 0.46 kg/m\u00b2, age, 20 \u00b1 0.52 yrs, 10 male; BMI, 23.6 \u00b1 1.4 kg/m\u00b2, age, 22 \u00b1 1 yrs) were screened for oral sensitivity to oleic acid (3.8 mM) using triplicate sensory evaluations, and classified as hypersensitive; (3/3 correct identifications), or hyposensitive, (<3/3). Fat-taste perception (using sensory-matched custards made with 0, 2, 6, 10% oil), recent diet (4-day diet record) and food habits and behaviours (food habits and behaviours questionnaire) were also established. RESULTS: 75% (n = 38) of subjects were classified as hyposensitive to oleic acid and these subjects differed from those who were classified as hypersensitive. Hyposensitive subjects consumed significantly more energy, fat, saturated fat, fatty foods (butter, meat, dairy), had greater BMI and were less perceptive of small changes in the fat content of custard (all P < 0.05), compared to hypersensitive subjects. CONCLUSION: An inability to perceive low concentrations of fatty acids in foods was associated with greater consumption of fatty foods, specifically butter, meat, dairy, and increasing BMI. 2011 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3359", "text": "Background Fruit and vegetable consumption and ingestion of carotenoids have been found to be associated with human skin-color (yellowness) in a recent cross-sectional study. This carotenoid-based coloration contributes beneficially to the appearance of health in humans and is held to be a sexually selected cue of condition in other species. Methodology and Principal Findings Here we investigate the effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on skin-color longitudinally to determine the magnitude and duration of diet change required to change skin-color perceptibly. Diet and skin-color were recorded at baseline and after three and six weeks, in a group of 35 individuals who were without makeup, self-tanning agents and/or recent intensive UV exposure. Six-week changes in fruit and vegetable consumption were significantly correlated with changes in skin redness and yellowness over this period, and diet-linked skin reflectance changes were significantly associated with the spectral absorption of carotenoids and not melanin. We also used psychophysical methods to investigate the minimum color change required to confer perceptibly healthier and more attractive skin-coloration. Modest dietary changes are required to enhance apparent health (2.91 portions per day) and attractiveness (3.30 portions). Conclusions Increased fruit and vegetable consumption confers measurable and perceptibly beneficial effects on Caucasian skin appearance within six weeks. This effect could potentially be used as a motivational tool in dietary intervention."}
{"id": "MED-3369", "text": "Background: Strategies are needed to increase children's intake of a variety of vegetables, including vegetables that are not well liked. Objective: We investigated whether incorporating pur\u00e9ed vegetables into entr\u00e9es to reduce the energy density (ED; in kcal/g) affected vegetable and energy intake over 1 d in preschool children. Design: In this crossover study, 3- to 5-y-old children (n = 40) were served all meals and snacks 1 d/wk for 3 wk. Across conditions, entr\u00e9es at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and evening snack were reduced in ED by increasing the proportion of pur\u00e9ed vegetables. The conditions were 100% ED (standard), 85% ED (tripled vegetable content), and 75% ED (quadrupled vegetable content). Entr\u00e9es were served with unmanipulated side dishes and snacks, and children were instructed to eat as much as they liked. Results: The daily vegetable intake increased significantly by 52 g (50%) in the 85% ED condition and by 73 g (73%) in the 75% ED condition compared with that in the standard condition (both P < 0.0001). The consumption of more vegetables in entr\u00e9es did not affect the consumption of the vegetable side dishes. Children ate similar weights of food across conditions; thus, the daily energy intake decreased by 142 kcal (12%) from the 100% to 75% ED conditions (P < 0.05). Children rated their liking of manipulated foods similarly across ED amounts. Conclusion: The incorporation of substantial amounts of pur\u00e9ed vegetables to reduce the ED of foods is an effective strategy to increase the daily vegetable intake and decrease the energy intake in young children. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01252433."}
{"id": "MED-3370", "text": "The primary aim of this study was to investigate how serving styles of snack vegetables appeal to children, focusing on size and shape. A secondary aim was to investigate children's willingness to participate in fruit and vegetable subscription services at school, and how these could be designed. One hundred and thirty eight children aged 9-12 years indicated their liking for a snack meal comprising a combination of carrots, cucumber, and red pepper. The meal was presented in eight different serving styles: two sizes; small and ordinary, and four shapes; whole/chunk, slices, sticks, and figures (stars). Furthermore, children indicated their willingness to participate in vegetable subscription services, and answered specific questions on how they wanted such servings to be designed (including choice of stimuli and details regarding presentation style). Shape was very influential; children clearly preferred having their vegetables cut. Figures were liked the most, whereas no differences were observed between slices and sticks. Size only mattered for the whole/chunk, where the ordinary size was preferred. Children expressed high willingness to participate in vegetable subscription services. In conclusion, cutting vegetables in shapes children like can relatively easy be done by parents and producers alike, and children seem very interested in receiving such servings during school. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3371", "text": "Background: The overconsumption of energy-dense foods leads to excessive energy intakes. The substitution of low-energy-dense vegetables for foods higher in energy density can help decrease energy intakes but may be difficult to implement if individuals dislike the taste of vegetables. Objective: We investigated whether incorporating pur\u00e9ed vegetables to decrease the energy density of entr\u00e9es at multiple meals reduced daily energy intakes and increased daily vegetable intakes. Design: In this crossover study, 20 men and 21 women ate ad libitum breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the laboratory once a week for 3 wk. Across conditions, entr\u00e9es at meals varied in energy density from standard versions (100% condition) to reduced versions (85% and 75% conditions) by the covert incorporation of 3 or 4.5 times the amount of pur\u00e9ed vegetables. Entr\u00e9es were accompanied by unmanipulated side dishes. Participants rated their hunger and fullness before and after meals. Results: Subjects consumed a consistent weight of foods across conditions of energy density; thus, the daily energy intake significantly decreased by 202 \u00b1 60 kcal in the 85% condition (P < 0.001) and by 357 \u00b1 47 kcal in the 75% condition (P < 0.0001). Daily vegetable consumption significantly increased from 270 \u00b1 17 g of vegetables in the 100% condition to 487 \u00b1 25 g of vegetables in the 75% condition (P < 0.0001). Despite the decreased energy intake, ratings of hunger and fullness did not significantly differ across conditions. Entr\u00e9es were rated as similar in palatability across conditions. Conclusions: Large amounts of pur\u00e9ed vegetables can be incorporated into various foods to decrease the energy density. This strategy can lead to substantial reductions in energy intakes and increases in vegetable intakes. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01165086."}
{"id": "MED-3372", "text": "The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of parent and child characteristics in explaining children's fruit and vegetable intakes. In 2008, parents of preschoolers (mean age 3.5 years) from 56 schools in Belgium-Flanders completed questionnaires including a parent and child fruit and vegetable food frequency questionnaire, general parenting styles (laxness, overreactivity and positive interactions), specific food parenting practices (child-centered and parent-centered feeding practices) and children's characteristics (children's shyness, emotionality, stubbornness, activity, sociability, and negative reactions to food). Multiple linear regression analyses (n = 755) indicated a significant positive association between children's fruit and vegetable intake and parent's intake and a negative association with children's negative reactions to food. No general parenting style dimension or child personality characteristic explained differences in children's fruit and vegetable intakes. Child-centered feeding practices were positively related to children's fruit and vegetable intakes, while parent-centered feeding practices were negatively related to children's vegetable intakes. In order to try to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption, parents should be guided to improve their own diet and to use child-centered parenting practices and strategies known to decrease negative reactions to food. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3373", "text": "Objectives. We considered the relationship between an urban adult population's fruit and vegetable consumption and several selected social and psychological processes, beneficial aesthetic experiences, and garden participation. Methods. We conducted a population-based survey representing 436 residents across 58 block groups in Denver, Colorado, from 2006 to 2007. We used multilevel statistical models to evaluate the survey data. Results. Neighborhood aesthetics, social involvement, and community garden participation were significantly associated with fruit and vegetable intake. Community gardeners consumed fruits and vegetables 5.7 times per day, compared with home gardeners (4.6 times per day) and nongardeners (3.9 times per day). Moreover, 56% of community gardeners met national recommendations to consume fruits and vegetables at least 5 times per day, compared with 37% of home gardeners and 25% of nongardeners. Conclusions. Our study results shed light on neighborhood processes that affect food-related behaviors and provides insights about the potential of community gardens to affect these behaviors. The qualities intrinsic to community gardens make them a unique intervention that can narrow the divide between people and the places where food is grown and increase local opportunities to eat better."}
{"id": "MED-3374", "text": "OBJECTIVE: This study will determine if the selective use of attractive names can be a sustainable, scalable means to increase the selection of vegetables in school lunchrooms. METHODS: Study 1 paired an attractive name with carrots in five elementary schools (n=147) and measured selection and consumption over a week compared to controls. Study 2 tracked food sales of vegetables in two elementary schools (n=1017) that were systematically attractively named or not named over a two-month period. Both studies were conducted in New York in 2011. RESULTS: Study 1 found that elementary students ate twice the percentage of their carrots if attractively named as \"X-ray Vision Carrots,\" than if un-named or generically named as the \"Food of the Day.\" Study 2 found that elementary school students were 16% more likely to persistently choose more hot vegetable dishes (p<0.001) when they were given fun or attractive names. DISCUSSION: Attractive names effectively and persistently increased healthy food consumption in elementary schools. The scalability of this is underscored by the success of Study 2, which was implemented and executed for negligible cost by a high school student volunteer. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3375", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To describe food and beverage types offered and consumed during classroom celebrations at an elementary school in a low-income, urban community. In addition, to report student intake of fresh fruit provided alongside other party foods. METHODS: Observations held during 4 classroom celebrations. Food and beverage items were measured and counted before and after each celebration. Consumption data were recorded in aggregate for the entire classroom and later adjusted to mean intake per student. RESULTS: Majority of items offered were low-nutrient, energy-dense foods. Mean caloric intake during celebrations ranged from 259 to 455 cal. Fruit provided during 2 of the 4 classroom celebrations resulted in a mean intake of 1 full serving per student. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Caloric intake from low-nutrient, energy-dense foods and beverages offered during classroom celebrations contributed 20% or more of daily caloric needs. However, fresh fruit may be a reasonable addition to the party food table. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3376", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Examine the influence of altering the size of snack food (ie, small vs large cookies) on short-term energy intake. METHODS: First- and sixth-graders (n = 77) participated in a between-subjects experimental design. All participants were offered the same gram weight of cookies during an afternoon tea at their school. For half of the participants, food was cut in 2 to make the small item size. Food intake (number of cookies, gram weight, and energy intake) was examined using ANOVA. RESULTS: Decreasing the item size of food led to a decrease of 25% in gram weight intake, corresponding to 68 kcal. Appetitive ratings and subject and food characteristics had no moderating effect. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Reducing the item size of food could prove a useful dietary prevention strategy based on decreased consumption, aimed at countering obesity-promoting eating behaviors favored by the easy availability of large food portions. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3377", "text": "BACKGROUND: Evidence-based strategies for promoting vegetable consumption among children are limited. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of providing a palatable \u201cdip\u201d along with repeated exposure to a raw vegetable on preschoolers' liking and intake. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifty-two predominately Hispanic preschool-aged children studied in Head Start classrooms in 2008. DESIGN: A between-subjects, quasiexperimental design was used. A moderately-liked raw vegetable (broccoli) was offered twice weekly at afternoon snacks for 7 weeks. Classrooms were randomized to receive broccoli in one of four conditions differing in the provision of dip. Bitter taste sensitivity was assessed using 6-n-propylthiouracil. INTERVENTION: Broccoli was provided in four conditions: with regular salad dressing as a dip, with a light (reduced energy/fat) version of the dressing as a dip, mixed with the regular dressing as a sauce, or plain (without dressing). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean broccoli intake during 7 weeks of exposure and broccoli liking following exposure. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Descriptive statistics were generated. Multilevel models for repeated measures tested effects of condition and bitter sensitivity on mean broccoli intake during exposure and on pre- and post-exposure liking while adjusting for classroom effects and potential covariates. RESULTS: The majority of Hispanic preschoolers (70%) showed sensitivity to the bitter taste of 6-n-propylthiouracil. Children's broccoli liking increased following exposure but did not vary by dip condition or bitter sensitivity. Bitter-sensitive children, however, ate 80% more broccoli with dressing than when served plain (P<0.001); effects did vary based on whether regular or light dressing was provided as a dip or sauce. Dip did not promote broccoli intake among bitter-insensitive children. CONCLUSIONS: Providing dip\u2014regular, light, or as a sauce\u2014increased raw broccoli intake among bitter-sensitive Hispanic preschoolers. Findings suggest that offering low-fat dips can promote vegetable intake among some children who are sensitive to bitter tastes."}
{"id": "MED-3378", "text": "BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In 1981, a Petrol-Lead Phase-Out Program (PLPOP) was launched in Taiwan for the abatement of environmental lead emissions. The present study was intended to examine whether the high Petrol-Lead Emission Areas (PLEA) would result in an increase in the incidence rate of brain cancer based on a national data bank. METHODS: The national brain cancer incidence data was obtained from the Taiwan National Cancer Registry. Age standardized incidence rates were calculated based on the 2000 WHO world standard population, and gasoline consumption data was obtained from the Bureau of Energy. The differences in the trend tests for age-standardized incidence rates of brain cancer between high, median, low, and small PLEA were analyzed. RESULTS: A significant increase was found from small to high PLEA in age-standardized incidence rates of brain cancer. By taking six possible confounders into account, the age-standardized incidence rates for brain cancer were highly correlated with the median and high PLEA by reference to the small PLEA. CONCLUSION: After being adjusted for a number of relevant confounders, it could be concluded that high PLEA might result in an increase in the incidence rate of brain cancer resulting from high lead exposures. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3379", "text": "We evaluate air Pb emissions and latent aggravated assault behavior at the scale of the city. We accomplish this by regressing annual Federal Bureau of Investigation aggravated assault rate records against the rise and fall of annual vehicle Pb emissions in Chicago (Illinois), Indianapolis (Indiana), Minneapolis (Minnesota), San Diego (California), Atlanta (Georgia), and New Orleans (Louisiana). Other things held equal, a 1% increase in tonnages of air Pb released 22 years prior raises the present period aggravated assault rate by 0.46% (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.64). Overall our model explains 90% of the variation in aggravated assault across the cities examined. In the case of New Orleans, 85% of temporal variation in the aggravated assault rate is explained by the annual rise and fall of air Pb (total=10,179 metric tons) released on the population of New Orleans 22 years earlier. For every metric ton of Pb released 22 years prior, a latent increase of 1.59 (95% CI, 1.36 to 1.83, p<0.001) aggravated assaults per 100,000 were reported. Vehicles consuming fuel containing Pb additives contributed much larger quantities of Pb dust than generally recognized. Our findings along with others predict that prevention of children's lead exposure from lead dust now will realize numerous societal benefits two decades into the future, including lower rates of aggravated assault. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3380", "text": "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common behavioral disorders in children. Symptoms of ADHD include hyperactivity, low frustration tolerance, impulsivity, and inattention. While the biological pathways leading to ADHD are not clearly delineated, a number of genetic and environmental risk factors for the disorder are recognized. In the early 1970s, research conducted by Dr. Benjamin Feingold found that when hyperactive children were given a diet free of artificial food additives and dyes, symptoms of hyperactivity were reduced. While some clinical studies supported these findings, more rigorous empirical studies conducted over the next 20 years were less positive. As a result, research on the role of food additives in contributing to ADHD waned. In recent years, however, interest in this area has revived. In response to more recent research and public petitions, in December 2009 the British government requested that food manufacturers remove most artificial food dyes from their products. While these strictures could have positive effects on behavior, the removal of food dyes is not a panacea for ADHD, which is a multifaceted disorder with both biological and environmental underpinnings. \u00a9 2011 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-3381", "text": "Background: The proposition that synthetic food colors can induce adverse behavioral effects in children was first enunciated in 1975 by Feingold [Why Your Child Is Hyperactive. New York:Random House (1975)], who asserted that elevated sensitivity to food additives underlies the signs of hyperactivity observed in some children. Although the evidence suggested that some unknown proportion of children did respond to synthetic food colors, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) interpreted the evidence as inconclusive. A study published in 2007 [McCann et al. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 370:1560\u20131567 (2007)] drew renewed attention to the hypothesis because of the study\u2019s size and scope. It led the FDA to review the evidence, hold a public hearing, and seek the advice of its Food Advisory Committee. In preparation for the hearing, the FDA reviewed the available evidence and concluded that it did not warrant further agency action. Objectives: In this commentary I examine the basis of the FDA\u2019s position, the elements of the review that led to its decision and that of the Food Advisory Committee, and the reasons that this is an environmental health issue. Discussion: The FDA review confined itself, in essence, to the clinical diagnosis of hyperactivity, as did the charge to the committee, rather than asking the broader environmental question of behavioral effects in the general population; it failed to recognize the significance of vulnerable subpopulations; and it misinterpreted the meaning of effect size as a criterion of risk. The FDA\u2019s response would have benefited from adopting the viewpoints and perspectives common to environmental health research. At the same time, the food color debate offers a lesson to environmental health researchers; namely, too narrow a focus on a single outcome or criterion can be misleading."}
{"id": "MED-3382", "text": "Artificial food colors (AFCs) have not been established as the main cause of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but accumulated evidence suggests that a subgroup shows significant symptom improvement when consuming an AFC-free diet and reacts with ADHD-type symptoms on challenge with AFCs. Of children with suspected sensitivities, 65% to 89% reacted when challenged with at least 100 mg of AFC. Oligoantigenic diet studies suggested that some children in addition to being sensitive to AFCs are also sensitive to common nonsalicylate foods (milk, chocolate, soy, eggs, wheat, corn, legumes) as well as salicylate-containing grapes, tomatoes, and orange. Some studies found \"cosensitivity\" to be more the rule than the exception. Recently, 2 large studies demonstrated behavioral sensitivity to AFCs and benzoate in children both with and without ADHD. A trial elimination diet is appropriate for children who have not responded satisfactorily to conventional treatment or whose parents wish to pursue a dietary investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3386", "text": "Common complications of thoracic radiotherapy include esophagitis and radiation pneumonitis. However, it is important to be aware of uncommon post-radiotherapy complications such as bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). We report on two patients with carcinoma of the breast who developed an interstitial lung disease consistent with BOOP. BOOP responds to treatment with corticosteroids and the prognosis is generally good despite of the need for long-term administration of corticosteroids as relapses can occur during tapering of steroids. This report provides guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of patients with pulmonary infiltrates after radiotherapy."}
{"id": "MED-3387", "text": "Respiratory exposure to diacetyl and diacetyl-containing flavorings used in butter-flavored microwave popcorn (BFMP) causes lung disease, including bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), in flavorings and popcorn manufacturing workers. However, there are no published reports of lung disease among BFMP consumers. We present a case series of three BFMP consumers with biopsy-confirmed BO. We review data relating to consumer exposures, estimate case exposures, and compare them to diacetyl-containing flavoring-exposed manufacturing workers with lung disease. These consumer cases' exposure levels are comparable to those that caused disease in workers. We were unable to identify any other exposures or diseases known or suspected to cause BO in these cases. BFMP poses a significant respiratory risk to consumers. Some manufacturers have substituted diacetyl with other alpha-diketones that are likely to pose a similar risk. Simple consumer practices such as cooling the popcorn bag would eliminate the risk of severe lung disease."}
{"id": "MED-3394", "text": "Few studies have examined multiple risk factors for mortality or formally compared their associations across specific causes of death. The authors used competing risks survival analysis to evaluate associations of lifestyle and dietary factors with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among 50,112 participants in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study. There were 4,893 deaths between 1986 and 2004: 1,026 from cardiovascular disease, 931 from smoking-related cancers, 1,430 from cancers not related to smoking, and 1,506 from all other causes. Age, body mass index at age 18 years, weight change, height, current smoking and pack-years of smoking, glycemic load, cholesterol intake, systolic blood pressure and use of blood pressure medications, diabetes, parental myocardial infarction before age 60 years, and time since menopause were directly related to all-cause mortality, whereas there were inverse associations for physical activity and intakes of nuts, polyunsaturated fat, and cereal fiber. Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased mortality. A model that incorporated differences in the associations of some risk factors with specific causes of death had a significantly better fit compared with a model in which all risk factors had common associations across all causes. In the future, this new model may be used to identify individuals at increased risk of mortality."}
{"id": "MED-3395", "text": "The available large prospective studies supporting an inverse association between better adherence to the Mediterranean diet and lower mortality have mainly included older adults. It is not clear whether this inverse association is also present among younger individuals at lower mortality risk. Our aim was to assess the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and total mortality in middle-aged adults from the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project. We followed 15,535 Spanish university graduates for a mean of 6.8 y. Their mean age was 38 \u00b1 12 y, 59.6% were females, and all were initially free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. A validated FFQ was used to assess dietary habits. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was categorized into 3 groups according to the Mediterranean Diet Score (low, 0-2 points; moderate, 3-5 points; and high, 6-9 points). The outcome variable was total mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate HR and 95% CI. We adjusted the estimates for sex, age, years of university education, BMI, smoking, physical activity, television watching, history of depression and baseline hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. We observed 125 deaths during 105,980 person-years of follow-up. The fully adjusted HR for moderate and high adherence were 0.58 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.99; P = 0.05) and 0.38 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.70; P = 0.002), respectively. For each 2-point increment in the Mediterranean Diet Score, the HR of death was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.58, 0.91; P = 0.006). Among highly educated, middle-aged adults, adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced risk of death."}
{"id": "MED-3396", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To summarize and compare evidence on harms in sildenafil- and placebo-treated men with erectile dysfunction (ED) in a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) were identified using an electronic search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, and Cochrane CENTRAL. The rates of any adverse events (AEs), most commonly reported AEs, withdrawals because of adverse events, and serious adverse events were ascertained and compared between sildenafil and placebo groups. The results of men with ED were stratified by clinical condition(s). Statistical heterogeneity was explored. Meta-analyses based on random-effects model were also performed. RESULTS: A total of 49 RCTs were included. Sildenafil-treated men had a higher risk for all-cause AEs (RR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.38, 1.76), headache, flushing, dyspepsia, and visual disturbances compared with placebo-treated men. The magnitude of excess risk was greater in fixed- than in flexible-dose trials. The rates of serious adverse events and withdrawals because of adverse events did not differ in sildenafil vs placebo groups. A higher dose of sildenafil corresponded to a greater risk of AEs. The increased risk of harms was observed within and across clinically defined specific groups of patients. CONCLUSIONS: There was a lack of RCTs reporting long-term (>6 months) harms data. In short-term trials, men with ED randomized to sildenafil had an increased risk of all-cause any AEs, headache, flushing, dyspepsia, and visual disturbances. The exploration of different modes of dose optimization of sildenafil may be warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3398", "text": "Although erectile dysfunction is frequently seen in patients with manifestations of arteriosclerotic disease, the independent contribution of serum cholesterol in predicting erectile dysfunction is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between serum cholesterol and erectile dysfunction. Medical histories, physical examinations, and blood tests were obtained at Cooper Clinic, Dallas, Texas, from 3,250 men aged 26-83 years (mean, 51 years) without erectile dysfunction at their first visit, who had one more clinic visit, all between 1987 and 1991. These men were followed 6-48 months after the first clinic visit (mean, 22 months). Erectile dysfunction was reported in 71 men (2.2%) during follow-up. Every mmol/liter of increase in total cholesterol was associated with 1.32 times the risk of erectile dysfunction (95% confidence interval 1.04-1.68), while every mmol/liter of increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with 0.38 times the risk (95% confidence interval 0.18-0.80). Men with a high density lipoprotein cholesterol measurement over 1.55 mmol/liter (60 mg/dl) had 0.30 times the risk (95% confidence interval 0.09-1.03) as did men with less than 0.78 mmol/liter (30 mg/dl). Men with total cholesterol over 6.21 mmol/liter (240 mg/dl) had 1.83 times the risk (95% confidence interval 1.00-3.37) as did men with less than 4.65 mmol/liter (180 mg/dl). Those differences remained essentially unchanged after adjustment for other potential confounders. The authors conclude that a high level of total cholesterol and a low level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol are important risk factors for erectile dysfunction."}
{"id": "MED-3399", "text": "We investigated the effects of Antep pistachio on International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scores, penile color Doppler ultrasound (PCDU) parameters and serum lipid levels in patients with ED. A total of 17 married male patients with ED for at least 12 months were included in this prospective study. Patients were put on a 100 g pistachio nuts diet for 3 weeks. IIEF and PCDU were evaluated before and after the pistachio diet. In addition, plasma total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglyceride were measured before and after dietary modifications from all subjects. Mean IIEF-15 score was 36 \u00b1 7.5 before the diet and 54.2 \u00b1 4.9 after the diet (P=0.001). Similarly, an increase in all five domains of IIEF was observed after the diet (P<0.05). Mean peak systolic velocity values before and after the pistachio diet were 35.5 \u00b1 15.2 and 43.3 \u00b1 12.4 cm\u2009s(-1), respectively (P=0.018). After the pistachio diet, TC and LDL levels decreased significantly, whereas HDL level increased (P=0.008, 0.007 and 0.001, respectively). We demonstrated that a pistachio diet improved IIEF scores and PCDU parameters without any associated side effects in patients with ED. Furthermore, the lipid parameters showed statistically significant improvements after this diet."}
{"id": "MED-3420", "text": "Introduction Erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) share pathophysiological mechanisms and often co-occur. Yet it is not known whether ED provides an early warning for increased CVD or other causes of mortality. Aim We sought to examine the association of ED with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Methods Prospective, population-based study of 1,709 men (of 3,258 eligible) aged 40\u201370 years. ED was measured by self-report. Subjects were followed for a mean of 15 years. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Main outcome measures Mortality due to all causes, CVD, malignant neoplasms, and other causes. Results Of 1,709 men, 1,284 survived to the end of 2004 and had complete ED and age data. Of 403 men who died, 371 had complete data. After adjustment for age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, physical activity, cigarette smoking, self-assessed health, and self-reported heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, ED was associated with HRs of 1.26 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01\u20131.57] for all-cause mortality and 1.43 (95% CI, 1.00\u20132.05) for CVD mortality. The HR for CVD mortality associated with ED is of comparable magnitude to HRs of some conventional CVD risk factors. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that ED is significantly associated with increased all-cause mortality, primarily through its association with CVD mortality."}
{"id": "MED-3421", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Although penile blood flow (PBF) has been recommended as an additional diagnostic test in identifying erectile dysfunction (ED) patients at risk for latent cardiovascular disease, no study has ever assessed the possible association of PBF and the relational component of sexual function with incident major cardiovascular events (MACE). AIM: The aim of this study is to investigate whether severity of ED, PBF, and other factors related to a couple's relationship predict incident MACE. METHODS: A consecutive series of 1,687 patients was studied. Different clinical, biochemical, and instrumental (penile flow at color Doppler ultrasound) parameters were evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Information on MACE was obtained through the City of Florence Registry Office. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 4.3 +/- 2.6 years, 139 MACE, 15 of which were fatal, were observed. Cox regression analysis, after adjustment for age and Chronic Disease Score, showed that severe ED predicted MACE (hazard ratio [HR] 1.75; 95% confidence interval 1.10-2.78; P < 0.05). In addition, lower PBF, evaluated both in flaccid (before) and dynamic (after prostaglandin-E1 stimulation) conditions, was associated with an increased risk of MACE (HR = 2.67 [1.42-5.04] and 1.57 [1.01-2.47], respectively, for flaccid [<13 cm/second] and dynamic [<25 cm/second] peak systolic velocity; both P < 0.05). Reported high sexual interest in the partner and low sexual interest in the patient proved to have a protective effect against MACE. CONCLUSIONS: The investigation of male sexuality, and in particular PBF, and sexual desire, could provide insights not only into present cardiovascular status but also into prospective risk."}
{"id": "MED-3423", "text": "INTRODUCTION: There are no reported studies assessing the relation between diet and sexual function in women with diabetes. AIM: In the present study, we explored the relation between consumption of a Mediterranean-type diet and sexual function in a population of type 2 diabetic women. METHODS: Patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled if they had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes for at least six months but less than 10 years, age 35-70 years, body mass index (BMI) of 24 or higher, HbA1c of 6.5% or higher, treatment with diet or oral drugs. All diabetic patients were invited to complete a food-frequency questionnaire and self-report measures of sexual function. A total of 595 (90.2%) of the 659 women completed both questionnaires and were analyzed in the present study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adherence to a Mediterranean diet was assessed by a 9-point scale that incorporated the salient characteristics of this diet (range of scores, 0-9, with higher scores indicating greater adherence). The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was used for assessing the key dimensions of female sexual function. RESULTS: Diabetic women with the highest scores (6-9) had lower BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio, a lower prevalence of depression, obesity and metabolic syndrome, a higher level of physical activity, and better glucose and lipid profiles than the diabetic women who scored <3 points on the scale. The proportion of sexually active women showed a significant increase across tertiles of adherence to Mediterranean diet (from 54.2% to 65.1%, P = 0.01). Based on the FSFI cutoff score for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) of 23, women with the highest score of adherence had a lower prevalence of sexual dysfunction as compared with women of lower tertiles (47.6%, 53.9%, and 57.8%, higher, middle, and lower tertile, respectively, P = 0.01). These associations remained significant after adjustment for many potential confounders. CONCLUSIONS: In women with type 2 diabetes, greater adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower prevalence of FSD."}
{"id": "MED-3425", "text": "OBJECTIVES: We examined whether common coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors measured in mid-life predict erectile dysfunction (ED) 25 years later. BACKGROUND: Retrospective and cross-sectional studies have suggested that ED is associated with classic CHD risk factors, but few prospective studies have studied these associations. METHODS: In this prospective study of community-dwelling men age 30 to 69 years, seven classic CHD risk factors (age, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and obesity) were assessed from 1972 to 1974. In 1998, after an average follow-up of 25 years, surviving male participants were asked to complete the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5), which allows stratification of ED into five groups. RESULTS: Sixty-eight percent of the surviving men returned, and 60% completed the IIEF-5 questionnaire. Respondents had more favorable levels of all heart disease risk factors at baseline than non-respondents. At baseline, the average age of the 570 ED study participants was 46 years; at follow-up, their average age was 72 years. Mean age, body mass index, cholesterol, and triglycerides were each significantly associated with an increased risk of ED. Cigarette smoking was marginally more common in those with severe/complete ED, as compared with those without ED. Blood pressure and fasting blood glucose were not significantly associated with ED, likely due to selective mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Improving CHD risk factors in mid-life may decrease the risk of ED as well as CHD. Erectile dysfunction should be included as an outcome in clinical trials of lipid-lowering agents and lifestyle modifications."}
{"id": "MED-3426", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was to assess the prevalence and extent of coronary artery atherosclerosis in asymptomatic patients with vascular erectile dysfunction (ED). BACKGROUND: An association between ED and ischemic heart disease has been suggested, but it is unknown if it represents a marker of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS: We studied 70 consecutive patients with vascular ED, evaluated by penile Doppler, and 73 control subjects with no history of coronary artery disease. We measured traditional coronary risk factors, circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), endothelial function by ultrasound of brachial artery, and coronary artery calcification by multi-slice computed tomography. RESULTS: The patients and the control group were similar for age, race, and coronary risk score. Patients with ED had significantly higher high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels (2.62 vs. 1.03 mg/l, p < 0.001). Flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery was more impaired in patients with ED than in controls (2.36 vs. 3.92, p < 0.001). Coronary artery calcification was more frequent in individuals with ED than in control subjects (p = 0.01). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that patients with ED had an overall odds ratio of 3.68 for having calcium score above the 75th percentile, compared to the controls. CONCLUSIONS: Coronary atherosclerosis is more severe in patients with vascular ED; ED predicts the presence and extent of subclinical atherosclerosis independent of traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Thus, ED may be considered an additional, early warning sign of coronary atherosclerosis."}
{"id": "MED-3427", "text": "Lifestyle and nutrition have been increasingly recognized as central factors influencing vascular nitric oxide (NO) production and erectile function. This review underscores the importance of NO as the principal mediator influencing cardiovascular health and erectile function. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is associated with smoking, excessive alcohol intake, physical inactivity, abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and decreased antioxidant defenses, all of which reduce NO production. Better lifestyle choices; physical exercise; improved nutrition and weight control; adequate intake of or supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, calcium, and folic acid; and replacement of any testosterone deficiency will all improve vascular and erectile function and the response to phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, which also increase vascular NO production. More frequent penile-specific exercise improves local endothelial NO production. Excessive intake of vitamin E, calcium, l-arginine, or l-citrulline may impart significant cardiovascular risks. Interventions discussed also lower blood pressure or prevent hypertension. Certain angiotensin II receptor blockers improve erectile function and reduce oxidative stress. In men aged <60 years and in men with diabetes or hypertension, erectile dysfunction can be a critical warning sign for existing or impending cardiovascular disease and risk for death. The antiarrhythmic effect of omega-3 fatty acids may be particularly crucial for these men at greatest risk for sudden death. In conclusion, by better understanding the complex factors influencing erectile and overall vascular health, physicians can help their patients prevent vascular disease and improve erectile function, which provides more immediate motivation for men to improve their lifestyle habits and cardiovascular health. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3432", "text": "Men with the metabolic syndrome demonstrate an increased prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED). In the present study, we tested the effect of a Mediterranean-style diet on ED in men with the metabolic syndrome. Men were identified in our database of subjects participating in controlled trials evaluating the effect of lifestyle changes and were included if they had a diagnosis of ED associated with a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, complete follow-up in the study trial, and intervention focused mainly on dietary changes. Sixty-five men with the metabolic syndrome met the inclusion/exclusion criteria; 35 out of them were assigned to the Mediterranean-style diet and 30 to the control diet. After 2 years, men on the Mediterranean diet consumed more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grain, and olive oil as compared with men on the control diet. Endothelial function score and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein) improved in the intervention group, but remained stable in the control group. There were 13 men in the intervention group and two in the control group (P=0.015) that reported an IIEF score of 22 or higher. Mediterranean-style diet rich in whole grain, fruits, vegetables, legumes, walnut, and olive oil might be effective per se in reducing the prevalence of ED in men with the metabolic syndrome."}
{"id": "MED-3433", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to evaluate the association between erectile dysfunction (ED) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality by conducting a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. BACKGROUND: Observational studies suggest an association between ED and the incidence of CVD. However, whether ED is an independent risk factor of CVD remains controversial. METHODS: The PubMed database was searched through January 2011 to identify studies that met pre-stated inclusion criteria. Reference lists of retrieved articles were also reviewed. Two authors independently extracted information on the designs of the studies, the characteristics of the study participants, exposure and outcome assessments, and control for potential confounding factors. Either a fixed- or a random-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates. RESULTS: Twelve prospective cohort studies involving 36,744 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The overall combined relative risks for men with ED compared with the reference group were 1.48 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25 to 1.74) for CVD, 1.46 (95% CI: 1.31 to 1.63) for coronary heart disease, 1.35 (95% CI: 1.19 to 1.54) for stroke, and 1.19 (95% CI: 1.05 to 1.34) for all-cause mortality. Sensitivity analysis restricted to studies with control for conventional cardiovascular risk factors yielded similar results. No evidence of publication bias was observed. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies suggests that ED significantly increases the risk of CVD, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality, and the increase is probably independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Copyright \u00a9 2011 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3434", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Although epidemiological evidence seems to support a role for lifestyle factors in the pathogenesis of erectile dysfunction (ED), limited data are available suggesting that dietary changes may improve ED. AIM: To provide an update on clinical evidence regarding the role of dietary factors in ED. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed using MEDLINE and other database (EMBASE, SCOPUS) with MeSH terms and keywords for \"erectile dysfunction\", \"diet\", \"dietary patterns\", \"Mediterranean diet\", and \"lifestyle\". MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: To examine the data relating to erectile dysfunction with dietary factors, its relationship and the impact of dietary treatment. RESULTS: Only few studies assessed the role or the effect of diet on ED. A dietary pattern which is high in fruit, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and fish but low in red and processed meat and refined grains is more represented in subjects without ED. Mediterranean diet has been proposed as a healthy dietary pattern based on evidence that greater adherence to this diet is associated with lower all-cause and disease-specific survival. In type 2 diabetic men, those with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the lowest prevalence of ED and were more likely to be sexually active. In clinical trials, Mediterranean diet was more effective than a control diet in ameliorating ED or restoring absent ED in people with obesity or metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSION: The adoption of a Mediterranean diet may be associated with an improvement of erectile dysfunction."}
{"id": "MED-3435", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Previous cross-sectional studies have suggested that erectile dysfunction (ED) represents an independent risk factor for future cardiovascular events. However, very few studies have attempted to examine the association between ED and subsequent stroke. AIM: The aim of this study is to estimate the risk of stroke during a 5-year follow-up period after the first ambulatory care visit for the treatment of ED using nationwide, population-based data and a retrospective case-control cohort design in Taiwan. METHODS: This study used data sourced from the \"Longitudinal Health Insurance Database.\" The study cohort comprised 1,501 patients who received a principal diagnosis of ED between 1997 and 2001 and 7,505 randomly selected subjects as the comparison cohort. Each patient (N = 9,006) was then individually tracked for 5 years from their index ambulatory care visit to identify those who had diagnosed episodes of stroke. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed as a means of comparing the 5-year stroke-free survival rate for the two cohorts. RESULTS: Of the sampled patients, 918 (10.2%) developed stroke within the 5-year follow-up period, that is, 188 individuals (12.5% of the patients with ED) from the study cohort and 730 individuals (9.7% of patients in the comparison cohort) from the comparison cohort. The log-rank test indicated that patients with ED had significantly lower 5-year stroke-free survival rates than those in the comparison cohort (P < 0.001). After adjusting for the patient's monthly income, geographical location, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, and hyperlipidemia, patients with ED were more likely to have a stroke during the 5-year follow-up period than patients in the comparison cohort (hazard ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval = 1.08 - 1.54, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that ED is a surrogate marker for future stroke in men. \u00a9 2010 International Society for Sexual Medicine."}
{"id": "MED-3436", "text": "Erectile dysfunction (ED) is an early marker for systemic atherosclerosis and is a predictor for coronary artery disease and cardiac events. The aim of this paper is to convey the importance of addressing cardiovascular risk factors in patients with ED and to inform urologists as well as other physicians who are not specialized in cardiology how to carry out a basic cardiovascular evaluation, including history, physical examination and objective data. We review the evidence and pathophysiology linking ED to cardiovascular disease, and then describe how to carry out a basic cardiovascular evaluation. We present data from the literature showing that appropriate use of lifestyle modifications and medical therapy has a positive effect on mortality, on numerous cardiovascular end points and on ED. Suggestions of when to refer the ED patient to an internist or cardiologist are provided. Identifying and treating cardiovascular risk factors may not only benefit the patient's ED, but it might also save the patient's life."}
{"id": "MED-3437", "text": "INTRODUCTION: The use of the penile peak systolic velocity (PSV) measured in the flaccid state during penile color Doppler ultrasound (PCDU) examination has been questioned without substantial evidence. AIM: To assess the validity of PSV measured in the flaccid state during PCDU, in patients consulting for erectile dysfunction (ED). METHODS: A consecutive series of 1,346 (mean age 55.0 +/- 12.0 years) male patients was studied. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: All patients underwent PCDU performed both in the flaccid state and dynamic (after prostaglandin E1 stimulation) conditions. A subset of 20 subjects with uncomplicated type 2 diabetes underwent diagnostic testing for silent coronary heart disease by means of adenosine stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (SPECT). In these subjects penile arterial flow was simultaneously assessed by PCDU before and after systemic adenosine administration. RESULTS: Flaccid PSV showed a significant (r = 0.513, P < 0.0001) correlation with dynamic PSV. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that when a threshold of 13 cm/seconds was chosen, flaccid PSV was predictive for dynamic PSV < 25 and <35 cm/seconds with an accuracy of 89% and 82%, respectively. Among the subset of patients who underwent SPECT, an impaired coronary flow reserve (ICFR) occurred in nine cases (45%). When the same threshold of <13 cm/seconds was chosen, PSV before SPECT was predictive of ICFR with an accuracy of 80% (area under the ROC curve = 0.798 +/- 0.10; P < 0.05). After adjustment for confounders, anxiety symptoms were related to dynamic PSV (Adj. r = -0.154, P < 0.05) but not to flaccid PSV. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that flow in the cavernosal arteries can be routinely evaluated by PCDU in the flaccid state. Performing PCDU only in the flaccid state allows identifying subjects with pathological dynamic PSV with accuracy higher than 80%. Furthermore, our preliminary data suggest that the same examination could identify diabetic subjects with ICFR with an accuracy of 80%."}
{"id": "MED-3438", "text": "Erectile dysfunction (ED) is defined as the inability to achieve or maintain an erection satisfactory for sexual performance. Evidence is accumulating to consider ED as a vascular disorder. Common risk factors for atherosclerosis are frequently found in association with ED, and ED is frequently reported in vascular syndromes, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, and diabetes mellitus. Finally, similar early impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and late obstructive vascular changes has been reported in both ED and other vascular syndromes. Recently, we proposed a pathophysiologic mechanism to explain the link between ED and CAD called the artery size hypothesis. Given the systemic nature of atherosclerosis, all major vascular beds should be affected to the same extent. However, symptoms rarely become evident at the same time. This difference in rate of occurrence of different symptoms is proposed to be caused by the different size of the arteries supplying different vascular beds that allow a larger vessel to better tolerate the same amount of plaque compared with a smaller one. According to this hypothesis, because penile arteries are smaller in diameter than coronary arteries, patients with ED will seldom have concomitant symptoms of CAD, whereas patients with CAD will frequently complain of ED. Available clinical evidence appears to support this hypothesis."}
{"id": "MED-3440", "text": "INTRODUCTION: It is unclear whether men with erectile dysfunction (ED) ultimately die of cardiovascular (CV) causes. AIM: This study examined the causes of death in men with ED and their risk of CV death. METHODS: Based on statutory death registrations and hospital morbidity data, the risk of CV death in men with ED in a linked-data study was assessed against the CV mortality risk in a reference male population. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Deaths from CV causes as proportions of all deaths. Age-specific rate, mortality rate ratio (MRR), standardized mortality rate ratio (SMRR), and adjusted hazard ratio (HR). RESULTS: CV mortality was 4.0%. Compared with the reference population, the risk of CV death was higher in men with ED (SMRR 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6, 3.0). Risk of CV mortality was higher in men with CV disease prior to ED (adjusted HR 1.7; 95% CI 1.1, 2.6) or with history of hospital admissions for CV events (adjusted HR 2.2; 95% CI 1.3, 3.8), compared with those without the respective history. MRR was significantly increased in the 40-69 years age group (MRR 4.1; 95% CI 3.2, 5.2). The median time interval between manifestation of ED and CV death was 10.0 years. A greater proportion of deaths from oncological than from CV causes (25.0% vs. 10.8%) occurred within the first 5 years of the manifestation of ED. CONCLUSIONS: Although the risk of CV mortality is greater in men with ED, almost as many men die of oncological as of CV causes, with a higher proportion of oncological deaths occurring sooner subsequent to the first manifestation of ED. \u00a9 2011 International Society for Sexual Medicine."}
{"id": "MED-3441", "text": "As modern lifestyles and new feeding habits settle in the world, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have evolved to be major causes of disability in developing as well as developed countries. As a concomitant effect, there is a growing interest in natural, healthy food and an increasing awareness of risk factors and determinants of disease. This chapter describes some nutritional facts about seaweeds, which have been used as food since ancient times in China, Japan, Egypt, and India and comments on the potential utilization of marine algae as functional foods. This concept and the description of metabolic syndrome are used as a basis to comprehension of seaweeds against two dreadful illnesses of our times: high blood pressure and cancer. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3442", "text": "Gim (Porphyra sp.) and miyeok (Undaria pinnatifida) are the seaweeds most consumed by Koreans. We investigated the association between the intake of gim and miyeok and the risk of breast cancer in a case-control study. Cases were 362 women aged 30-65 years old, who were histologically confirmed to have breast cancer. Controls visiting the same hospital were matched to cases according to their age (sd 2 years) and menopausal status. Food intake was estimated by the quantitative FFQ with 121 items, including gim and miyeok. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to obtain the OR and corresponding 95 % CI. The average intake and consumption frequency of gim in cases were lower than in controls. The daily intake of gim was inversely associated with the risk of breast cancer (5th v. 1st quintile, OR, 0.48; 95 % CI, 0.27, 0.86; P for trend, 0.026) after adjustment for potential confounders. After stratification analysis was performed according to menopausal status, premenopausal women (5th v. 1st quintile, OR, 0.44; 95 % CI, 0.24, 0.80; P for trend, 0.007) and postmenopausal women (5th v. 1st quintile, OR, 0.32; 95 % CI, 0.13, 0.80; P for trend, 0.06) showed similar inverse associations between gim intake and the risk of breast cancer after an adjustment for potential confounders except dietary factors. Miyeok consumption did not have any significant associations with breast cancer. These results suggest that high intake of gim may decrease the risk of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3443", "text": "Incidence of the metabolic syndrome is increasing worldwide, with notable exceptions of some Asian countries where seaweeds are commonly consumed. 13 men (mean age 47.4+/-9.9 yr) and 14 women (average age 45.6+/-12.2 yr) with at least one symptom of the metabolic syndrome were recruited in Quito Ecuador to a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. Subjects were assigned to either Group 1 (1 m placebo, followed by 1 m 4 g/d seaweed [Undaria pinnatifida]) or Group 2 (1 m of 4 g/d seaweed, followed by 1 m of 6 g/d of seaweed). Blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, inflammation biomarkers, and lipids were measured monthly. Repeated measures analysis of variance with Tukey's multiple comparison tests were used for statistical analysis. In Group 2, systolic blood pressure decreased 10.5 mmHg after a month of 6 g/d seaweed (95% CI: 4.1, 16.8 mmHg; p<0.05), primarily in subjects with high-normal baseline blood pressure. Waist circumference changed only for women participants, with a 2.4 cm decrease in Group 1 after treatment with placebo (95% CI: 1.0, 3.7 cm; p<0.01). In Group 2, women had a mean decrease of 2.1 cm after 4 g/d (95% CI: 0.4, 3.7 cm; p<0.05) and a further 1.8 cm decrease after 1 m 6 g/d seaweed (95 % CI: 0.1, 3.4, p<0.05). No other changes were observed. Consumption of 4 to 6 g/d seaweed, typical for most people in Japan, may be associated with low metabolic syndrome prevalence."}
{"id": "MED-3444", "text": "Research on the relationship between iodine exposure and thyroid cancer risk is limited, and the findings are inconclusive. In most studies, fish/shellfish consumption has been used as a proxy measure of iodine exposure. The present study extends this research by quantifying dietary iodine exposure as well as incorporating a biomarker of long-term (1 year) exposure, i.e., from toenail clippings. This study is conducted in a multiethnic population with a wide variation in thyroid cancer incidence rates and substantial diversity in exposure. Women, ages 20-74, residing in the San Francisco Bay Area and diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 1995 and 1998 (1992-1998 for Asian women) were compared with women selected from the general population via random digit dialing. Interviews were conducted in six languages with 608 cases and 558 controls. The established risk factors for thyroid cancer were found to increase risk in this population: radiation to the head/neck [odds ratio (OR), 2.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-5.5]; history of goiter/nodules (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.5-5.6); and a family history of proliferative thyroid disease (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.6-3.8). Contrary to our hypothesis, increased dietary iodine, most likely related to the use of multivitamin pills, was associated with a reduced risk of papillary thyroid cancer. This risk reduction was observed in \"low-risk\" women (i.e., women without any of the three established risk factors noted above; OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.33-0.85) but not in \"high-risk\" women, among whom a slight elevation in risk was seen (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.56-3.4). However, no association with risk was observed in either group when the biomarker of exposure was evaluated. In addition, no ethnic differences in risk were observed. The authors conclude that iodine exposure appears to have, at most, a weak effect on the risk of papillary thyroid cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3445", "text": "A population-based case-control interview study was designed to test the hypothesis that dietary iodine or the consumption of goitrogenic vegetables increases the risk of thyroid cancer. A total of 191 histologically confirmed cases (64 percent female) and 441 matched controls from five ethnic groups in Hawaii were available for analysis. Among women, intake of seafood (especially shellfish), harm ha (a fermented fish sauce), and dietary iodine were associated with an increased risk of cancer, whereas consumption of goitrogenic (primarily cruciferous) vegetables was associated with a decreased risk. Non-dietary risk factors included miscarriage (especially at first pregnancy), use of fertility drugs, family history of thyroid disease, obesity, and work as a farm laborer. The odds ratio for the combined effect of a high iodine intake and a first-pregnancy miscarriage was 4.8 (95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-19.2); and for high iodine intake and use of fertility drugs 7.3 (95 percent CI = 1.5-34.5). Among men, positive associations were found for obesity, work as a farm laborer, and a past history of benign thyroid disease. Although this study identified several dietary and non-dietary risk factors for thyroid cancer, it could not fully explain the exceptionally high incidence rates among Filipino women in Hawaii."}
{"id": "MED-3446", "text": "Seaweed and soy foods are consumed daily in Japan, where breast cancer rates for postmenopausal women are significantly lower than in the West. Likely mechanisms include differences in diet, especially soy consumption, and estrogen metabolism. Fifteen healthy postmenopausal women participated in this double-blind trial of seaweed supplementation with soy challenge. Participants were randomized to 7 wk of either 5 g/d seaweed (Alaria) or placebo (maltodextrin). During wk 7, participants also consumed a daily soy protein isolate (2 mg isoflavones/kg body weight). After a 3-wk washout period, participants were crossed over to the alternate supplement schedule. There was an inverse correlation between seaweed dose (mg/kg body weight) and serum estradiol (E2) (seaweed-placebo = y = -2.29 x dose + 172.3; r = -0.70; P = 0.003), [corrected] which was linear across the range of weights. Soy supplementation increased urinary daidzein, glycitein, genistein, and O-desmethylangolensin (P = 0.0001) and decreased matairesinol and enterolactone (P < 0.05). Soy and seaweed plus soy (SeaSoy) increased urinary excretion of 2-hydroxyestrogen (2-OHE) (P = 0.0001) and the ratio of 2-OHE:16alpha-hydroxyestrone (16alphaOHE(1)) (P = 0.01). For the 5 equol excretors, soy increased urinary equol excretion (P = 0.0001); the combination of SeaSoy further increased equol excretion by 58% (P = 0.0001). Equol producers also had a 315% increase in 2:16 ratio (P = 0.001) with SeaSoy. Seaweed favorably alters estrogen and phytoestrogen metabolism and these changes likely include modulation of colonic bacteria."}
{"id": "MED-3447", "text": "To investigate the chemopreventive effects of seaweed on breast cancer, we have been studying the relationship between iodine and breast cancer. We found earlier that the seaweed, wakame, showed a suppressive effect on the proliferation of DMBA (dimethylbenz(a)anthracene)-induced rat mammary tumors, possibly via apoptosis induction. In the present study, powdered mekabu was placed in distilled water, and left to stand for 24 h at 4 degrees C. The filtered supernatant was used as mekabu solution. It showed an extremely strong suppressive effect on rat mammary carcinogenesis when used in daily drinking water, without toxicity. In vitro, mekabu solution strongly induced apoptosis in 3 kinds of human breast cancer cells. These effects were stronger than those of a chemotherapeutic agent widely used to treat human breast cancer. Furthermore, no apoptosis induction was observed in normal human mammary cells. In Japan, mekabu is widely consumed as a safe, inexpensive food. Our results suggest that mekabu has potential for chemoprevention of human breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3448", "text": "Iodine is a suspected risk factor for thyroid cancer. Seaweed accounts for about 80% of Japanese people's iodine intake. We examined the association between seaweed consumption and the risk of thyroid cancer in Japanese women. Women participating in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (n=52 679; age: 40-69 years) were followed up for a mean of 14.5 years; 134 new thyroid cancer cases, including 113 papillary carcinoma cases, were identified. Seaweed consumption was assessed using a food-frequency questionnaire and divided into three categories: 2 days/week or less (reference); 3-4 days/week; and almost daily. The Cox proportional hazards model was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Seaweed consumption was clearly associated with an increased risk of papillary carcinoma (HR for almost daily consumption compared with 2 days/week or less=1.71; 95% CI: 1.01-2.90; trend P=0.04). After stratification for menopausal status, an increased risk was observed in postmenopausal women (papillary carcinoma HR for almost daily consumption compared with 2 days/week or less=3.81, 95% CI: 1.67-8.68; trend P<0.01), but not in premenopausal women (HR=0.91, 95% CI: 0.44-1.91; trend P=0.76). This study identified a positive association between seaweed consumption and the risk of thyroid cancer (especially for papillary carcinoma) in postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-3449", "text": "Watercress (Cruciferae), an integral part of Mediterranean diets, is a nutritive food which is used in the treatment of several diseases. Oxidative DNA damage seems to play a crucial role in chronic, aging-related diseases and it is considered an important and probably carcinogenic factor. The aim of this work was to determine the impact of watercress extract on cell viability and its potential antigenotoxic properties against induced oxidative damage, using a comet assay and peripheral blood cells as an in vitro model. An aqueous extract of the leaves was prepared using a juice processor, centrifuged, filtered and preserved at -20\u2009\u00b0C. Two concentrations of the aqueous extract (13.2 and 26.4\u2009mg/mL) were assayed. No differences were found in cell viability between the control and treated groups at any time. Significant antigenotoxic effects were observed for both concentrations, expressed as the damage index (p\u2009=\u20090.005 at 30\u2009min; p\u2009<\u20090.001 at 60 and 90\u2009min), the percentage reductions in damage being similar between them (67.1-75.2% respectively). These results suggest that the consumption watercress in the diet is a powerful tool for improving health and the quality of life. Copyright \u00a9 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3450", "text": "Although assays for the most popular markers of exercise-induced oxidative stress may experience methodological flaws, there is sufficient credible evidence to suggest that exercise is accompanied by an increased generation of free radicals, resulting in a measurable degree of oxidative modifications to various molecules. However, the mechanisms responsible are unclear. A common assumption that increased mitochondrial oxygen consumption leads per se to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is not supported by in vitro and in vivo data. The specific contributions of other systems (xanthine oxidase, inflammation, haem protein auto-oxidation) are poorly characterised. It has been demonstrated that ROS have the capacity to contribute to the development of muscle fatigue in situ, but there is still a lack of convincing direct evidence that ROS impair exercise performance in vivo in humans. It remains unclear whether exercise-induced oxidative modifications have little significance, induce harmful oxidative damage, or are an integral part of redox regulation. It is clear that ROS play important roles in numerous physiological processes at rest; however, the detailed physiological functions of ROS in exercise remain to be elucidated."}
{"id": "MED-3451", "text": "Oxidative stress is a natural physiological process that describes an imbalance between free radical production and the ability of the antioxidant defence system of the body to neutralize free radicals. Free radicals can be beneficial as they may promote wound healing and contribute to a healthy immune response. However, free radicals can have a detrimental impact when they interfere with the regulation of apoptosis and thus play a role in the promotion of some cancers and conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Antioxidants are molecules that reduce the damage associated with oxidative stress by counteracting free radicals. Regular exercise is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle, although it can increase oxidative stress. As a typical vegetarian diet comprises a wide range of antioxidant-rich foods, it is plausible that the consumption of these foods will result in an enhanced antioxidant system capable of reducing exercise-induced oxidative stress. In addition, a relationship between a vegetarian diet and lower risks of cardiovascular disease and some cancers has been established. This review explores the current available evidence linking exercise, vegetarians, antioxidants, and oxidative stress."}
{"id": "MED-3452", "text": "Vitamins have traditionally been considered as food components that are required in the normal diet to prevent deficiencies. However, a newer concept of the function of vitamins in nutrition has taken them beyond simply prevention of deficiency symptoms. This concept considers that many vitamins, when taken in relatively large doses, have important functions beyond preventing deficiencies. Linus Pauling was instrumental in putting forward this concept, particularly for vitamin C. Thus, relatively high intakes of vitamins, and in particular vitamins C and E which are antioxidants, are considered to be healthy for the human population. This may be true in some special situations such as, for instance, the prevention of Alzheimer's disease progression. However, recent epidemiological evidence has not supported the claim that antioxidant vitamins increase well-being and prolong life span. In fact, vitamin supplementation may be even detrimental and reduce life span. A new concept that we would like to put forward is that nutrients up-regulate the endogenous antioxidant defences. This is particularly true in the case of phytoestrogens for example, which bind to oestrogen receptors and eventually up-regulate the expression of antioxidant genes. In this review we discuss the pros and cons of antioxidant vitamin supplementation and also the possibility that the ingestion of some nutrients may be very effective in increasing antioxidant defences by up-regulating the activity of antioxidant enzymes which are normally present in the cell."}
{"id": "MED-3453", "text": "There has been no investigation to determine if the widely used over-the-counter, water-soluble antioxidants vitamin C and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) could act as pro-oxidants in humans during inflammatory conditions. We induced an acute-phase inflammatory response by an eccentric arm muscle injury. The inflammation was characterized by edema, swelling, pain, and increases in plasma inflammatory indicators, myeloperoxidase and interleukin-6. Immediately following the injury, subjects consumed a placebo or vitamin C (12.5 mg/kg body weight) and NAC (10 mg/kg body weight) for 7 d. The resulting muscle injury caused increased levels of serum bleomycin-detectable iron and the amount of iron was higher in the vitamin C and NAC group. The concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), and myoglobin were significantly elevated 2, 3, and 4 d postinjury and returned to baseline levels by day 7. In addition, LDH and CK activities were elevated to a greater extent in the vitamin C and NAC group. Levels of markers for oxidative stress (lipid hydroperoxides and 8-iso prostaglandin F2alpha; 8-Iso-PGF2alpha) and antioxidant enzyme activities were also elevated post-injury. The subjects receiving vitamin C and NAC had higher levels of lipid hydroperoxides and 8-Iso-PGF2alpha 2 d after the exercise. This acute human inflammatory model strongly suggests that vitamin C and NAC supplementation immediately post-injury, transiently increases tissue damage and oxidative stress."}
{"id": "MED-3454", "text": "To determine if 6 weeks of supplementation with antioxidants could alleviate exercise-induced DNA damage, we studied 21 runners during a 50 km ultramarathon. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups: (1) placebos (PL) or (2) antioxidants (AO) (1000 mg vitamin C and 400 IU RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate). The comet assay was used to assess DNA damage in circulating leukocytes at selected time points: pre-, mid-, and 2 h postrace and daily for 6 days postrace. All subjects completed the race: run time 7.1 +/- 0.1 h, energy expenditure 5008 +/- 80 kcal for women (n = 10) and 6932 +/- 206 kcal for men (n = 11). Overall, the percentage DNA damage increased at midrace (p <.02), but returned to baseline by 2 h postrace, indicating that the exercise bout induced nonpersistent DNA damage. There was a gender x treatment x time interaction (p <.01). One day postrace, women taking AO had 62% less DNA damage than women taking PL (p <.0008). In contrast, there were no statistically significant differences between the two treatment groups of men at any time point. Thus, endurance exercise resulted in DNA damage as shown by the comet assay and AO seemed to enhance recovery in women but not in men."}
{"id": "MED-3455", "text": "Exercise-induced deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage is often associated with an increase in free radicals; however, there is a lack of evidence examining the two in parallel. This study tested the hypothesis that high-intensity exercise has the ability to produce free radicals that may be capable of causing DNA damage. Twelve apparently healthy male subjects (age: 23 \u00b1 4 years; stature: 181 \u00b1 8 cm; body mass: 80 \u00b1 9 kg; and VO(2max) : 49 \u00b1 5 ml/kg/min) performed three 5 min consecutive and incremental stages (40, 70, and 100% of VO(2max) ) of aerobic exercise with a 15-min period separating each stage. Blood was drawn after each bout of exercise for the determination of ex vivo free radicals, DNA damage, protein carbonyls, lipid hydroperoxide (LOOH) concentration, and a range of lipid-soluble antioxidants. Lipid-derived oxygen-centered free radicals (hyperfine coupling constants a(Nitrogen) = 13.7 Gauss (G) and a\u03b2(Hydrogen) = 1.8 G) increased as a result of acute moderate and high-intensity exercise (P < 0.05), while DNA damage was also increased (P < 0.05). Systemic changes were observed in LOOH and for lipid-soluble antioxidants throughout exercise (P < 0.05); however, there was no observed change in protein carbonyl concentration (P > 0.05). These findings identify lipid-derived free radical species as possible contributors to peripheral mononuclear cell DNA damage in the human exercising model. This damage occurs in the presence of lipid oxidation but in the absence of any change to protein carbonyl concentration. The significance of these findings may have relevance in terms of immune function, the aging process, and the pathology of carcinogenesis. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3456", "text": "Pharmacological antioxidant vitamins have previously been investigated for a prophylactic effect against exercise-induced oxidative stress. However, large doses are often required and may lead to a state of pro-oxidation and oxidative damage. Watercress contains an array of nutritional compounds such as \u03b2-carotene and \u03b1-tocopherol which may increase protection against exercise-induced oxidative stress. The present randomised controlled investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that acute (consumption 2 h before exercise) and chronic (8 weeks consumption) watercress supplementation can attenuate exercise-induced oxidative stress. A total of ten apparently healthy male subjects (age 23 (SD 4) years, stature 179 (SD 10) cm and body mass 74 (SD 15) kg) were recruited to complete the 8-week chronic watercress intervention period (and then 8 weeks of control, with no ingestion) of the experiment before crossing over in order to compete the single-dose acute phase (with control, no ingestion). Blood samples were taken at baseline (pre-supplementation), at rest (pre-exercise) and following exercise. Each subject completed an incremental exercise test to volitional exhaustion following chronic and acute watercress supplementation or control. The main findings show an exercise-induced increase in DNA damage and lipid peroxidation over both acute and chronic control supplementation phases (P< 0.05 v. supplementation), while acute and chronic watercress attenuated DNA damage and lipid peroxidation and decreased H\u2082O\u2082 accumulation following exhaustive exercise (P< 0.05 v. control). A marked increase in the main lipid-soluble antioxidants (\u03b1-tocopherol, \u03b3-tocopherol and xanthophyll) was observed following watercress supplementation (P< 0.05 v. control) in both experimental phases. These findings suggest that short- and long-term watercress ingestion has potential antioxidant effects against exercise-induced DNA damage and lipid peroxidation."}
{"id": "MED-3457", "text": "Reactive oxygen species produced during vigorous exercise may permeate into cell nuclei and induce oxidative DNA damage, but the supporting evidence is still lacking. By using a 42 km marathon race as a model of massive aerobic exercise, we demonstrated a significant degree of unrepaired DNA base oxidation in peripheral immunocompetent cells, despite a concurrent increase in the urinary excretion of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine. Single cell gel electrophoresis with the incorporation of lesion-specific endonucleases further revealed that oxidized pyrimidines (endonuclease III-sensitive sites) contributed to most of the postexercise nucleotide oxidation. The oxidative DNA damage correlated significantly with plasma levels of creatinine kinase and lipid peroxidation metabolites, and lasted for more than 1 week following the race. This phenomenon may be one of the mechanisms behind the immune dysfunctions after exhaustive exercise."}
{"id": "MED-3458", "text": "The single cell gel electrophoresis (SCG) assay (comet assay) is a sensitive technique for detecting the presence of DNA strand-breaks and alkali-labile damage in individual cells. This technique was used to study peripheral blood cells from three volunteers after physical activity. The test subjects had to run on a treadmill and were checked for blood pressure and ECG, lactate concentration and creatine kinase activity. Blood was taken before and several times during and after the run. In a first multiple step test, the volunteers ran as long as possible with increasing speed. In a second test they had to run for 45 min with a fixed individual speed which was defined to ensure an aerobic metabolism. In the first test, the white blood cells of all subjects showed increased DNA migration in the SCG assay. The effect was seen 6 h after the end of the exercise and reached its maximum 24 h later. After 72 h, DNA migration decreased to about control level. The distribution of DNA migration among cells clearly demonstrated that the majority of white blood cells exhibited increased DNA migration and that the effect was not only due to a small fraction of damaged cells. From the same blood samples, blood cultures were set up to study a possible effect on the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), another indicator for genotoxic effects. However, there was no significant increase in SCE in any of the cultures. In the second exercise, during aerobic metabolism, the effect on DNA migration was not seen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-3461", "text": "It is well documented in animal and human research that unaccustomed eccentric muscle action of sufficient intensity and/or duration causes disruption of connective and/or contractile tissue. In humans, this appears to be associated with the sensation of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). During the late 1970's, it was proposed that this sensation of soreness might be associated with the acute inflammatory response. However, subsequent research failed to substantiate this theory. The present article suggests that the results of much of the research concerning DOMS reflect events typically seen in acute inflammation. Similarities between the two events include: the cardinal symptoms of pain, swelling, and loss of function; evidence of cellular infiltrates, especially the macrophage; biochemical markers such as increased lysosomal activity and increased circulating levels of some of the acute phase proteins; and histological changes during the initial 72 h. In the final section of this paper, a theoretical sequence of events is proposed, based on research involving acute inflammation and DOMS."}
{"id": "MED-3462", "text": "Immediate and delayed-onset muscle soreness differ mainly in chronology of presentation. Both conditions share the same quality of pain, eliciting and relieving activities and a varying degree of functional deficits. There is no single mechanism for muscle soreness; instead, it is a culmination of 6 different mechanisms. The developing pathway of DOMS begins with microtrauma to muscles and then surrounding connective tissues. Microtrauma is then followed by an inflammatory process and subsequent shifts of fluid and electrolytes. Throughout the progression of these events, muscle spasms may be present, exacerbating the overall condition. There are a multitude of modalities to manage the associated symptoms of immediate soreness and DOMS. Outcomes of each modality seem to be as diverse as the modalities themselves. The judicious use of NSAIDs and continued exercise are suggested to be the most reliable methods and recommended. This review article and each study cited, however, represent just one part of the clinician's decisionmaking process. Careful affirmation of temporary deficits from muscle soreness is not to be taken lightly, nor is the advisement and medical management of muscle soreness prescribed by the clinician."}
{"id": "MED-3464", "text": "The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of consuming sweet cherries on plasma lipids and markers of inflammation in healthy humans. Healthy men and women (n = 18) supplemented their diets with Bing sweet cherries (280 g/d) for 28 d. After a 12-h fast, blood samples were taken before the start of cherry consumption (study d 0 and 7), 14 and 28 d after the start of cherry supplementation (study d 21 and 35), and 28 d after the discontinuation (study d 64) of cherry consumption. After cherries were consumed for 28 d, circulating concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES), and NO decreased by 25 (P < 0.05), 21 (P < 0.05), and 18% (P = 0.07) respectively. After the discontinuation of cherry consumption for 28 d (d 64), concentrations of RANTES continued to decrease (P = 0.001), whereas those of CRP and NO did not differ from either d 7 (pre-cherries) or d 35 (post-cherries). Plasma concentrations of IL-6 and its soluble receptor, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 did not change during the study. Cherry consumption did not affect the plasma concentrations of total-, HDL-, LDL-, and VLDL- cholesterol, triglycerides, subfractions of HDL, LDL, VLDL, and their particle sizes and numbers. It also did not affect fasting blood glucose or insulin concentrations or a number of other chemical and hematological variables. Results of the present study suggest a selective modulatory effect of sweet cherries on CRP, NO, and RANTES. Such anti-inflammatory effects may be beneficial for the management and prevention of inflammatory diseases."}
{"id": "MED-3465", "text": "Blueberries are rich in antioxidants known as anthocyanins, which may exhibit significant health benefits. Strenous exercise is known to acutely generate oxidative stress and an inflammatory state, and serves as an on-demand model to test antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. The purpose of this study was to examine whether 250 g of blueberries per day for 6 weeks and 375 g given 1 h prior to 2.5 h of running at \u223c72% maximal oxygen consumption counters oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune changes. Twenty-five well-trained subjects were recruited and randomized into blueberry (BB) (N = 13) or control (CON) (N = 12) groups. Blood, muscle, and urine samples were obtained pre-exercise and immediately postexercise, and blood and urine 1 h postexercise. Blood was examined for F\u2082-isoprostanes for oxidative stress, cortisol, cytokines, homocysteine, leukocytes, T-cell function, natural killer (NK), and lymphocyte cell counts for inflammation and immune system activation, and ferric reducing ability of plasma for antioxidant capacity. Muscle biopsies were examined for glycogen and NFkB expression to evaluate stress and inflammation. Urine was tested for modification of DNA (8-OHDG) and RNA (5-OHMU) as markers of nucleic acid oxidation. A 2 (treatment) \u00d7 3 (time) repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. Increases in F\u2082-isoprostanes and 5-OHMU were significantly less in BB and plasma IL-10 and NK cell counts were significantly greater in BB vs. CON. Changes in all other markers did not differ. This study indicates that daily blueberry consumption for 6 weeks increases NK cell counts, and acute ingestion reduces oxidative stress and increases anti-inflammatory cytokines."}
{"id": "MED-3466", "text": "This investigation determined the efficacy of a tart cherry juice in aiding recovery and reducing muscle damage, inflammation and oxidative stress. Twenty recreational Marathon runners assigned to either consumed cherry juice or placebo for 5 days before, the day of and for 48 h following a Marathon run. Markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, muscle soreness and isometric strength), inflammation [interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and uric acid], total antioxidant status (TAS) and oxidative stress [thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) and protein carbonyls] were examined before and following the race. Isometric strength recovered significantly faster (P=0.024) in the cherry juice group. No other damage indices were significantly different. Inflammation was reduced in the cherry juice group (IL-6, P<0.001; CRP, P<0.01; uric acid, P<0.05). TAS was ~10% greater in the cherry juice than the placebo group for all post-supplementation measures (P<0.05). Protein carbonyls was not different; however, TBARS was lower in the cherry juice than the placebo at 48 h (P<0.05). The cherry juice appears to provide a viable means to aid recovery following strenuous exercise by increasing total antioxidative capacity, reducing inflammation, lipid peroxidation and so aiding in the recovery of muscle function. \u00a9 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S."}
{"id": "MED-3469", "text": "The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of unsweetened fruit juice and regular, decaffeinated soda on postprandial serum glucose levels in individuals with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) when these liquids are ingested separately as part of mixed meals. Eighteen individuals with NIDDM consumed three test breakfasts calculated using the diabetic exchange meal-planning system. Foods were identical in each of the breakfasts except for foods in the fruit exchange. Carbohydrate-equivalent amounts of fresh orange slices, unsweetened orange juice, and regular, decaffeinated Coke were consumed in breakfasts 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Serum glucose samples were drawn at fasting and 1, 2, and 3 hours postprandially. No difference was found in the postprandial serum glucose response when Coke versus orange juice was consumed in the breakfast. These findings question the appropriateness of using unsweetened fruit juices in routine meal planning for individuals with NIDDM."}
{"id": "MED-3474", "text": "CONTEXT: Few studies have evaluated the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between fruit and vegetable intake and ischemic stroke. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS: Prospective cohort studies, including 75 596 women aged 34 to 59 years in the Nurses' Health Study with 14 years of follow-up (1980-1994), and 38683 men aged 40 to 75 years in the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study with 8 years of follow-up (1986-1994). All individuals were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes at baseline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence of ischemic stroke by quintile of fruit and vegetable intake. RESULTS: A total of 366 women and 204 men had an ischemic stroke. After controlling for standard cardiovascular risk factors, persons in the highest quintile of fruit and vegetable intake (median of 5.1 servings per day among men and 5.8 servings per day among women) had a relative risk (RR) of 0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-0.92) compared with those in the lowest quintile. An increment of 1 serving per day of fruits or vegetables was associated with a 6% lower risk of ischemic stroke (RR, 0.94; 95 % CI, 0.90-0.99; P =.01, test for trend). Cruciferous vegetables (RR, 0.68 for an increment of 1 serving per day; 95% CI, 0.49-0.94), green leafy vegetables (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.62-0.99), citrus fruit including juice (RR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68-0.96), and citrus fruit juice (RR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.61-0.93) contributed most to the apparent protective effect of total fruits and vegetables. Legumes or potatoes were not associated with lower ischemic stroke risk. The multivariate pooled RR for total stroke was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.93-1.00) for each increment of 2 servings per day. CONCLUSIONS: These data support a protective relationship between consumption of fruit and vegetables-particularly cruciferous and green leafy vegetables and citrus fruit and juice-and ischemic stroke risk."}
{"id": "MED-3475", "text": "Eight varieties of lettuce (Lactuca sativum) and three varieties of endive (Cichorium endivia) were analyzed for flavonoid composition and content. Total flavonoid contents, expressed as units of aglycon for fresh material, were in the ranges of 0.3-229 microg/g for lettuce and 44-248 microg/g for endive. Five quercetin conjugates [quercetin 3-O-galactoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-glucuronide, quercetin 3-O-(6-O-malonyl)glucoside, and quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside] and luteolin 7-O-glucuronide were measured in the green-leafed lettuce and an additional two cyanidin conjugates [cyanidin 3-O-glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-[(6-O-malonyl)glucoside]] in the red-leafed varieties. Three kaempferol conjugates [kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-glucuronide, and kaempferol 3-O-[6-O-malonyl)glucoside]] were measured in each of the endive varieties. The presence and identity of kaempferol 3-O-(6-O-malonyl)glucoside in endive was shown for the first time. Shredding of lettuce leaf followed by exposure to light produced significant losses of the flavonoid moiety in the green oak leaf (94%), red oak leaf (43%), iceberg (36%), green batavia (25%), lollo biondo (24%), and lollo rosso (6%) samples, whereas cos and green salad bowl samples did not show an overall loss. Shredding of endive also produced loss of the flavonoid moiety in escarole (32%), fine frisee (13%), and coarse frisee (8%). Significant demalonation was observed for both the quercetin and cyanidin glucosides in lettuce, whereas a similar degradation of the kaempferol analogue was found in endive tissue. Storage of whole heads of both lettuce and endive in the dark at 1 degrees C and 98% humidity for 7 days resulted in losses of total flavonol glycosides in the range of 7-46%. The identification of the amounts, position of substitution, and nature of the sugars is important for understanding the potential bioavailability and biological activities of flavonoids in salads."}
{"id": "MED-3476", "text": "Fruit and vegetable consumption reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease development. The postprandial state is an important contributor to chronic disease development. Orange flavonoids may reduce postprandial oxidation. It was hypothesized that a mixture of orange flavonoids would reduce postprandial oxidation better than a single orange flavonoid or orange sugar and ascorbic acid, but not as well as orange juice, when consumed with a typical breakfast. A placebo-controlled crossover trial (16 male and female participants, 4 treatments, 4 visits) was carried out. Treatments were placebo (ascorbic acid and sugar equivalent to orange juice); placebo plus hesperidin; placebo plus hesperidin, luteolin, and naringenin (mixture; found to have synergistic antioxidant properties in vitro in previous work); and orange juice (positive control). Serum oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), total plasma phenolics (TP), and serum lipoprotein oxidation (LO) were measured after a 12-hour baseline fast and at 1, 2, and 3 hours after sample consumption. The placebo plus mixture and orange juice groups were significantly increased in ORAC and LO lag time. Data for TP were inconsistent with ORAC and LO. Contrary to previous studies attributing the protective postprandial effect to fructose and ascorbate in other fruit trials, orange phenolic compounds contribute directly to the postprandial oxidative protection of serum, despite an inconsistent change in serum TP. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3478", "text": "Colon cancer is one of the serious health problems in most developed countries and its incidence rate is increasing in India. Hesperetin (HN) (3',5,7-trihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavonone) and hesperetin analogue (HA) were tested for their apoptosis inducing ability. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay revealed a dose as well as duration-dependent reduction of HT-29 (colon adenocarcinoma) cellular growth in response to HN and HA treatment. At 24 h 70 \u03bcM of HN and 32 \u03bcM of HA showed 50% reduction of HT-29 cellular growth. Acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining showed apoptotic features of cell death induced by HN and HA. Rhodamine 123 staining showed significant reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential induced by HN and HA. HN and HA induced DNA damage was confirmed by comet tail formation. Lipid peroxidation markers (TBARS) and protein oxidation marker (PCC) were significantly elevated in HN and HA treated groups. Enzymic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were slightly decreased in their activities compared to control (untreated HT-29 cells). Results of Western blot analysis of apoptosis associated genes revealed an increase in cytochrome C, Bax, cleaved caspase-3 expression and a decrease in Bcl-2 expression. These findings indicate that HN and HA induce apoptosis on HT-29 via Bax dependent mitochondrial pathway involving oxidant/antioxidant imbalance. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3480", "text": "Studies on the association between plant foods and cerebrovascular diseases have given contradictory results suggesting the existence of some effect-modifying factors. The present study determines whether the consumption of plant foods (i.e. fruits and berries, vegetables, and cereals) predicts a decreased cerebrovascular disease incidence in a population with low fruit and vegetable and high wholegrain intake. This cohort study on 3932 men and women was based on data from the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey, conducted in 1968-72. The participants were 40-74 years of age and free of cardiovascular diseases at baseline. Data on the plant food consumption were derived from a 1-year dietary history interview. During a 24-year follow-up 625 cases of cerebrovascular diseases occurred, leading to either hospitalisation or death. An inverse association was found between fruit consumption and the incidence of cerebrovascular diseases, ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage. The adjusted relative risks (RR) between the highest and lowest quartiles of intake of any cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage were 0.75 (95 % CI 0.59, 0.94), 0.73 (95 % CI 0.54, 1.00) and 0.47 (95 % CI 0.24, 0.92), respectively. These associations were primarily due to the consumption of citrus fruits and occurred only in men. Total consumption of vegetables or cereals was not associated with the cerebrovascular disease incidence. The consumption of cruciferous vegetables, however, predicted a reduced risk of cerebrovascular diseases (RR 0.79; 95 % CI 0.63, 0.99), ischaemic stroke (RR 0.67; 95 % CI 0.49, 0.92) and intracerebral haemorrhage (RR 0.49; 95 % CI 0.25, 0.98). In conclusion, the consumption of fruits, especially citrus, and cruciferous vegetables may protect against cerebrovascular diseases."}
{"id": "MED-3482", "text": "Background We previously showed, in healthy, middle-aged, moderately overweight men, that orange juice decreases diastolic blood pressure and significantly improves postprandial microvascular endothelial reactivity and that hesperidin could be causally linked to the observed beneficial effect of orange juice. The objective was to determine the effect of chronic consumption of orange juice on the gene expression profile of leukocytes in healthy volunteers and to assess to what extent hesperidin is involved in the effect of orange juice. Methodology/Principal Findings Volunteers were included in a randomized, controlled, crossover study. Throughout three 4-week periods, volunteers consumed daily: 500 ml orange juice, 500 ml control drink plus hesperidin or 500 ml control drink and placebo. Blood samplings were performed on 10 overnight-fasted subjects after the 4-week treatment period. Global gene expression profiles were determined using human whole genome cDNA microarrays. Both orange juice and hesperidin consumption significantly affected leukocyte gene expression. Orange juice consumption induced changes in expression of, 3,422 genes, while hesperidin intake modulated the expression of 1,819 genes. Between the orange juice and hesperidin consumption groups, 1,582 regulated genes were in common. Many of these genes are implicated in chemotaxis, adhesion, infiltration and lipid transport, which is suggestive of lower recruitment and infiltration of circulating cells to vascular wall and lower lipid accumulation. Conclusions This study shows that regular consumption of orange juice for 4 weeks alters leukocyte gene expression to an anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic profile, and hesperidin displays a relevant role in the genomic effect of this beverage. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT 00983086"}
{"id": "MED-3483", "text": "Recent attention has been given to the influence of dietary factors on health and mental well-being. Oxidative stress is associated with many diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. Dietary flavonoids exert cardioprotective, chemopreventive, and neuroprotective effects. The biological activities of flavonoids have been attributed to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and signaling properties. A clear understanding of the mechanisms of action, as either antioxidants or signaling molecules, is crucial for the application of flavonoids as interventions in neurodegeneration and as brain foods. Citrus flavonoids exert little adverse effect and have low or no cytotoxicity to healthy, normal cells. The main citrus flavonoids can also traverse the blood-brain barrier; hence, they are promising candidates for intervention in neurodegeneration and as constituents in brain foods. In this review, we discuss the bioactivity, multiple neuroprotection mechanisms, and antioxidant and signaling properties of citrus flavonoids. Receptor-mediated neuroprotective actions and parallel signaling pathways are also explored. Finally, the induction of cellular defense proteins against oxidative stress and neurotoxicity by hesperetin, a main and widespread citrus flavonoid, are also discussed. It is suggested that citrus fruits, which are rich in abundant sources of hesperetin and other flavonoids, are promising for the development of general food-based neuroprotection and brain foods."}
{"id": "MED-3484", "text": "The objective of this work is to review data from epidemiological and preclinical studies addressing the potential benefits of diets based on flavonoids for cancer prevention. Flavonoids are subdivided into subclasses including flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanidins, and isoflavones. Epidemiological studies suggest dietary intake of flavonoids may reduce the risk of tumors of the breast, colon, lung, prostate, and pancreas. However, some studies have reported inconclusive or even harmful associations. A major challenge in the interpretation of epidemiological studies is that most of the data originate from case-control studies and retrospective acquisition of flavonoid intake. Differences in agricultural, sociodemographics, and lifestyle factors contribute to the heterogeneity in the intake of flavonoids among populations residing in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Dose and timing of exposure may influence the anticancer response to flavonoid-rich diets. A limited number of intervention trials of flavonoids have documented cancer preventative effects. Proposed anticancer mechanisms for flavonoids are inhibition of proliferation, inflammation, invasion, metastasis, and activation of apoptosis. Prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to develop biomarkers of flavonoid intake and effect. Mechanistic studies are needed to ascertain how flavonoid-rich diets influence gene regulation for cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-3485", "text": "BACKGROUND: Individuals consuming diets dense in fruits and vegetables consume an array of phytonutrients as well as recognized nutritional components, including vitamins, minerals, and fiber. There is a growing body of evidence that phytonutrients may play positive roles in health. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to estimate usual intakes of nine individual phytonutrients by Americans consuming recommended levels of fruits and vegetables compared to intakes by adults not meeting these recommendations, and to identify contributions of food sources to total phytonutrient intakes. The phytonutrients examined in this study are found predominantly in fruits and vegetables. DESIGN: Food consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2003-2006 and phytonutrient concentration data from US Department of Agriculture databases and the published literature were used to estimate energy-adjusted usual intakes. Student's t tests were used to compare mean energy-adjusted phytonutrient intakes between subpopulations who consumed recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables vs those who did not. Percentage contributions of each phytonutrient by food source were estimated for all adults. RESULTS: Energy-adjusted intakes of all phytonutrients other than ellagic acid were considerably higher among both men and women meeting dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable intakes compared to those not meeting the recommendations; energy-adjusted intakes of ellagic acid were higher only among women meeting vs not meeting the recommendations. For five of the nine phytonutrients (\u03b1-carotene, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, hesperetin, and ellagic acid), a single food accounted for 64% or more of the total intake of the phytonutrient. CONCLUSIONS: Energy-adjusted intakes of carotenoids and flavonoids are higher among men and women whose diets conform to dietary guidance for fruits and vegetables. A limited number of foods provide the majority of these phytonutrients. Findings from this research provide important reference information on the phytonutrient contributions of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables."}
{"id": "MED-3486", "text": "The Dietary Supplements Information Expert Committee (DSI-EC) of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) reviews the safety of dietary supplements and dietary supplement ingredients for the purpose of determining whether they should be admitted as quality monographs into the United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary (USP-NF). The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has enforcement authority to pursue a misbranding action in those instances where a dietary supplement product indicates that it conforms to USP standards but fails to so conform. Recently DSI-EC undertook a safety evaluation of spirulina, a widely used dietary ingredient. DSI-EC reviewed information from human clinical trials, animal studies, and regulatory and pharmacopeial sources and analyzed 31 adverse event reports regarding spirulina to assess potential health concerns. At the conclusion of this review, DSI-EC assigned a Class A safety rating for Spirulina maxima and S. platensis, thereby permitting the admission of quality monographs for these dietary supplement ingredients in USP-NF. DSI-EC continually monitors reports concerning the safety of dietary supplements and dietary supplement ingredients for which USP dietary supplement monographs are developed. The DSI-EC may revisit the safety classification of spirulina as new information on this dietary ingredient becomes available."}
{"id": "MED-3487", "text": "Weight loss supplements often contain powerful pharmacoactive ingredients with the potential to cause harm. Trials used to determine product safety and effectiveness, meanwhile, tend to be small, of short duration, and frequently lack financial conflict of interest disclosures. These factors could conspire to place consumers at risk, especially when published research cited in advertising cloaks products with the suggestion that their safety and effectiveness have been proven by science. Examples of current and former weight loss products backed by potentially conflicted or low quality research include Metabolife-356, Hydroxycut, Xenadrine and LeptiCore. Published research, especially in the field of weight loss supplements, needs better conflict of interest disclosure, and regulators should consider how research findings are used in marketing claims."}
{"id": "MED-3488", "text": "Aloe has been widely used in phytomedicine. Phytomedicine describes aloe as a herb which has anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-aging effects. In recent years several cases of aloe-induced hepatotoxicity were reported. But its pharmacokinetics and toxicity are poorly described in the literature. Here we report three cases with aloe-induced toxic hepatitis. A 57-yr-old woman, a 62-yr-old woman and a 55-yr-old woman were admitted to the hospital for acute hepatitis. They had taken aloe preparation for months. Their clinical manifestation, laboratory findings and histologic findings met diagnostic criteria (RUCAM scale) of toxic hepatitis. Upon discontinuation of the oral aloe preparations, liver enzymes returned to normal level. Aloe should be considered as a causative agent in hepatotoxicity."}
{"id": "MED-3489", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine in overweight humans the short-term safety and efficacy for weight loss of an herbal supplement containing Ma Huang, Guarana and other ingredients. DESIGN: An 8 week randomized, double-blind placebo controlled study of a herbal dietary supplement (72 mg/day ephedrine alkaloids and 240 mg/day caffeine). SUBJECTS: Overweight men and women (body mass index, > or =29 and < or =35 kg/m2). MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome variable was body weight change. Secondary variables included anthropometric, metabolic and cardiovascular changes. RESULTS: Sixty-seven subjects were randomized to either placebo (n=32) or active Ma Huang/Guarana (n=35). Twenty-four subjects in each group completed the study. Active treatment produced significantly (P<0.006) greater loss of weight (X+/-s.d.,-4.0+/-3.4 kg) and fat (-2.1+/-3.0% fat) over the 8-week treatment period than did placebo (-0.8+/-2.4 kg and 0.2+/-2.3% fat). Active treatment also produced greater reductions in hip circumference and serum triglyceride levels. Eight of the 35 actively treated subjects (23%) and none of the 32 placebo-treated control subjects withdrew from the protocol because of potential treatment-related effects. Dry mouth, insomnia and headache were the adverse symptoms reported most frequently by the herbal vs placebo group at the final evaluation visit. CONCLUSIONS: This herbal mixture of Ma Huang and Guarana effectively promoted short-term weight and fat loss. Safety with long-term use requires further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3490", "text": "Liquid dietary supplements represent a fast growing market segment, including botanically-based beverages containing mangosteen, acai, and noni. These products often resemble fruit juice in packaging and appearance, but may contain pharmacologically active ingredients. While little is known about the human health effects or safety of consuming such products, manufacturers make extensive use of low-quality published research to promote their products. This report analyzes the science-based marketing claims of two of the most widely consumed mangosteen liquid dietary supplements, and compares them to the findings of the research being cited. The reviewer found that analyzed marketing claims overstate the significance of findings, and fail to disclose severe methodological weaknesses of the research they cite. If this trend extends to other related products that are similarly widely consumed, it may pose a public health threat by misleading consumers into assuming that product safety and effectiveness are backed by rigorous scientific data."}
{"id": "MED-3492", "text": "AIM: The efficacy of optimal doses of highly bioavailable (-)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) alone and in combination with niacin-bound chromium (NBC) and a standardized Gymnema sylvestre extract (GSE) on weight loss in moderately obese subjects was evaluated by monitoring changes in body weight, body mass index (BMI), appetite, lipid profiles, serum leptin and excretion of urinary fat metabolites. HCA-SX has been shown to reduce appetite, inhibit fat synthesis and decrease body weight without stimulating the central nervous system. NBC has demonstrated its ability to maintain healthy insulin levels, while GSE has been shown to regulate weight loss and blood sugar levels. METHODS: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human study was conducted in Elluru, India for 8 weeks in 60 moderately obese subjects (ages 21-50, BMI >26 kg/m(2)). Subjects were randomly divided into three groups. Group A was administered HCA-SX 4667 mg, group B was administered a combination of HCA-SX 4667 mg, NBC 4 mg and GSE 400 mg, while group C was given placebo daily in three equally divided doses 30-60 min before meals. All subjects received a 2000 kcal diet/day and participated in supervised walking. RESULTS: At the end of 8 weeks, body weight and BMI decreased by 5-6% in both groups A and B. Food intake, total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins, triglycerides and serum leptin levels were significantly reduced in both groups, while high-density lipoprotein levels and excretion of urinary fat metabolites increased in both groups. A marginal or non-significant effect was observed in all parameters in group C. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that optimal doses of HCA-SX and, to a greater degree, the combination of HCA-SX, NBC and GSE can serve as an effective and safe weight-loss formula that can facilitate a reduction in excess body weight and BMI, while promoting healthy blood lipid levels."}
{"id": "MED-3494", "text": "Americans are becoming more health conscious in their food choices and many are interested in reducing dietary fat intake. Fat replacers can affect meat flavor both by adding flavors of their own, by reducing the original aroma-generating substrate (fat) and by altering release of aroma compounds. When fat is removed from meat, water is generally added to replace it. Water-binding compounds can be added to prevent the added water from cooking out or evaporating and to prevent patty shrinkage. Fat replacers are generally classified by their composition: protein-based replacers including whey, soy and collagen, lipid-based substances such as soy lecithin which function as emulsifiers maintaining the fat that is retained distributed in the product, and carbohydrate-based substances including flours (wheat, soy, oat), starches (potato, modified corn starch, tapioca) and gums (carrageenan, xanthin). Duplication of the characteristics contributed by fat often requires a combination of replacers to address juiciness and texture (firmness) without negatively impacting flavor. Published by Elsevier Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3496", "text": "The widely used food additive carrageenan (CGN) has been shown to induce intestinal inflammation, ulcerative colitis-like symptoms, or neoplasm in the gut epithelia in animal models, which are also clinical features of human inflammatory bowel disease. In this study, the effects of CGN on pro-inflammatory transcription factors NF-\u03baB and early growth response gene 1 product (EGR-1) were evaluated in terms of human intestinal epithelial barrier integrity. Both pro-inflammatory transcription factors were elevated by CGN and only NF-\u03baB activation was shown to be involved in the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8. Moreover, the integrity of the in vitro epithelial monolayer under the CGN insult was maintained by both activated pro-inflammatory transcription factors NF-\u03baB and EGR-1. Suppression of NF-\u03baB or EGR-1 aggravated barrier disruption by CGN, which was associated with the reduced gene expression of tight junction component zonula occludens 1 and its irregular localization in the epithelial monolayer. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3497", "text": "This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, with a view to recommending acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The Committee also evaluated the risk posed by two food contaminants, with the aim of deriving tolerable intakes where appropriate and advising on risk management options for the purpose of public health protection. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives and contaminants. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for certain food additives (aluminium-containing food additives, Benzoe Tonkinensis, glycerol ester of gum rosin, glycerol ester of tall oil rosin, glycerol ester of wood rosin, octenyl succinic acid modified gum arabic, polydimethyl siloxane, Ponceau 4R, pullulan, pullulanase from Bacillus deromificans expressed in Bacillus licheniformis, Quinoline Yellow and Sunset Yellow FCF) and two food contaminants (cyanogenic glycosides and fumonisins). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: aluminium lakes of colouring matters; beta-apo-8'-carotenal; beta-apo-8'-carotenoic acid ethyl ester; beta-carotene, synthetic; hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose; magnesium silicate, synthetic; modified starches; nitrous oxide; sodium carboxymethyl cellulose; and sucrose monoesters of lauric, palmitic or stearic acid. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of the food additives and contaminants considered."}
{"id": "MED-3498", "text": "Acrylamide is a heat-induced carcinogen compound that is found in some foods consequently to cooking or other thermal processes. In the second French Total Diet Study (TDS), acrylamide was analysed in 192 food samples collected in mainland France to be representative of the population diet and prepared \"as consumed\". Highest mean concentrations were found in potato chips/crisps (954 \u03bcg/kg), French fries and other fried potatoes (724 \u03bcg/kg), and salted biscuits other than potato chips (697 \u03bcg/kg). Exposure of general adult and child populations was assessed by combining analytical results with national consumption data. Mean acrylamide exposure was assessed to be 0.43\u00b10.33 \u03bcg/kg of body weight (bw) per day for adults and 0.69\u00b10.58 \u03bcg/kg bw/day for children. Although the exposure assessed is lower than in previous evaluations, the calculated margins of exposure, based on benchmark dose limits defined for carcinogenic effects, remain very low especially for young children (below 100 at the 95th percentile of exposure), indicating a health concern. It is therefore advisable to continue efforts in order to reduce dietary exposure to acrylamide. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3499", "text": "Carrageenans are sulfated linear polysaccharides of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-D-galactose extracted from red seaweeds. They have been used by the food industry for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties, and more recently by the meat industry for reduced fat products. Meat is a complex system of muscle tissue, connective tissue, fat, and water; during processing, numerous interactions occur among all these components. These interactions are responsible for the functional properties of the meat system. In meat products, carrageenans contribute to gel formation and water retention. Their addition is of special interest in low-fat meat products because fat reduction often leads to unacceptable, tough textures. When carrageenans are incorporated in these formulations, they improve the textural characteristics of the product by decreasing toughness and increasing juiciness. Although carrageenan interactions with milk proteins have been studied extensively, the mechanism by which carrageenans interact with meat proteins and the other meat components is not fully understood."}
{"id": "MED-3501", "text": "Carrageenan is a high molecular weight sulfated polygalactan used to improve the texture of commercial food products. Its use increased markedly during the last half century, although carrageenan is known to induce inflammation in rheumatological models and in intestinal models of colitis. We performed studies to determine its direct effects on human intestinal cells, including normal human intestinal epithelial cells from colonic surgeries, the normal intestinal epithelial cell line NCM460, and normal rat ileal epithelial cells. Cells were treated with high molecular weight lambda-carrageenan at a concentration of 1 mug/ml for 1-96 h. IL-8, IL-8 promoter activity, total and nuclear NF-kappaB, IkappaBalpha, phospho-IkappaBalpha, and Bcl10 were assessed by immunohistochemistry, Western blot, ELISA, and cDNA microarray. Increased Bcl10, nuclear and cytoplasmic NF-kappaB, IL-8 promoter activation, and IL-8 secretion were detected following carrageenan exposure. Knockdown of Bcl10 by siRNA markedly reduced the increase in IL-8 that followed carrageenan exposure in the NCM460 cells. These results show, for the first time, that exposure of human intestinal epithelial cells to carrageenan triggers a distinct inflammatory pathway via activation of Bcl10 with NF-kappaB activation and upregulation of IL-8 secretion. Since Bcl10 contains a caspase-recruitment domain, similar to that found in NOD2/CARD15 and associated with genetic predisposition to Crohn's disease, the study findings may represent a link between genetic and environmental etiologies of inflammatory bowel disease. Because of the high use of carrageenan as a food additive in the diet, the findings may have clinical significance."}
{"id": "MED-3502", "text": "In this article I review the association between exposure to carrageenan and the occurrence of colonic ulcerations and gastrointestinal neoplasms in animal models. Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1982 identified sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of degraded carrageenan in animals to regard it as posing a carcinogenic risk to humans, carrageenan is still used widely as a thickener, stabilizer, and texturizer in a variety of processed foods prevalent in the Western diet. I reviewed experimental data pertaining to carrageenan's effects with particular attention to the occurrence of ulcerations and neoplasms in association with exposure to carrageenan. In addition, I reviewed from established sources mechanisms for production of degraded carrageenan from undegraded or native carrageenan and data with regard to carrageenan intake. Review of these data demonstrated that exposure to undegraded as well as to degraded carrageenan was associated with the occurrence of intestinal ulcerations and neoplasms. This association may be attributed to contamination of undegraded carrageenan by components of low molecular weight, spontaneous metabolism of undegraded carrageenan by acid hydrolysis under conditions of normal digestion, or the interactions with intestinal bacteria. Although in 1972, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considered restricting dietary carrageenan to an average molecular weight > 100,000, this resolution did not prevail, and no subsequent regulation has restricted use. Because of the acknowledged carcinogenic properties of degraded carrageenan in animal models and the cancer-promoting effects of undegraded carrageenan in experimental models, the widespread use of carrageenan in the Western diet should be reconsidered."}
{"id": "MED-3503", "text": "BACKGROUND: Dysmenorrhoea is a common gynaecological complaint consisting of painful cramps accompanying menstruation, which in the absence of any underlying abnormality is known as primary dysmenorrhoea. Research has shown that women with dysmenorrhoea have high levels of prostaglandins, hormones known to cause cramping abdominal pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are drugs which act by blocking prostaglandin production. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this review is to compare all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea with placebo, with paracetamol and with each other to evaluate their effectiveness and safety. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group trials register (11 April 2003), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1st quarter 2003), MEDLINE (1966-April 2003), and EMBASE (1980 - Week 15 2003). Attempts were also made to identify trials from the National Research Register and the Clinical Trials Register. Citation lists of relevant publications, review articles, abstracts of major scientific meetings and included studies were also searched. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled comparisons of NSAID therapies versus placebo, versus other NSAIDs or versus paracetamol when used to treat primary dysmenorrhoea. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently assessed trials for quality and extracted data, calculating odds ratios for dichotomous outcomes and weighted mean differences for continuous outcomes. Crossover trial data were presented in additional tables and other data were summarised descriptively. MAIN RESULTS: In women with dysmenorrhoea, NSAIDs were found significantly more effective for pain relief than placebo (OR 7.91, 95% CI 5.65 to 11.09), though overall adverse effects were also significantly more common (OR 1.52 95% CI 1.09 to 2.12). When NSAIDs were compared with each other or with paracetamol, there was little evidence of the superiority of any individual NSAID with regard to either efficacy or safety. However the available evidence had little power to detect such differences, as most individual comparisons were based on very few small trials, most of which were unsuitable for meta-analysis. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: NSAIDs are an effective treatment for dysmenorrhoea, though women using them need to be aware of the significant risk of adverse effects. There is insufficient evidence to determine which (if any) individual NSAID is the most safe and effective for the treatment of dysmenorrhoea."}
{"id": "MED-3504", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of surgical interruption of pelvic nerve pathways in primary and secondary dysmenorrhea. Data sources. The Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group Trials Register (9 June 2004), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 2, 2004), MEDLINE (1966 to Nov. 2003), EMBASE (1980 to Nov. 2003), CINAHL (1982 to Oct. 2003), MetaRegister of Controlled Trials, the citation lists of review articles and included trials, and contact with the corresponding author of each included trial. REVIEW METHODS: The inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials of uterosacral nerve ablation or presacral neurectomy (both open and laparoscopic procedures) for the treatment of dysmenorrhea. The main outcome measures were pain relief and adverse effects. Two reviewers extracted data on characteristics of the study quality and the population, intervention, and outcome independently. RESULTS: Nine randomized controlled trials were included in the systematic review. There were two trials with open presacral neurectomy; all other trials used laparoscopic techniques. For the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, laparoscopic uterosacral nerve ablation at 12 months was better when compared to a control or no treatment (OR 6.12; 95% CI 1.78-21.03). The comparison of laparoscopic uterosacral nerve ablation with presacral neurectomy for primary dysmenorrhea showed that at 12 months follow-up, presacral neurectomy was more effective (OR 0.10; 95% CI 0.03-0.32). In secondary dysmenorrhea, along with laparoscopic surgical treatment of endometriosis, the addition of laparoscopic uterosacral nerve ablation did not improve the pain relief (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.43-1.39), while presacral neurectomy did (OR 3.14; 95% CI 1.59-6.21). Adverse events were more common for presacral neurectomy than procedures without presacral neurectomy (OR 14.6; 95% CI 5-42.5). CONCLUSION: The evidence for nerve interruption in the management of dysmenorrhea is limited. Methodologically sound and sufficiently powered randomized controlled trials are needed."}
{"id": "MED-3508", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Approximately 10% of the millions of persons with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGDs) including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) had their illness onset following an acute bout of infectious diarrhea and are referred to as having postinfectious (PI) FGD or PI-IBS. Recent studies have helped to identify the pathogenesis and natural history of these disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: Groups of patients with acute diarrhea or dysentery (passage of grossly bloody stools) are being followed for development of PI-IBS. Persistent mucosal inflammation, air trapping in the gut, and alteration of intestinal motility contribute to the disease symptoms in genetically susceptible persons. The prognosis of postinfectious forms of IBS is more favorable compared with people with idiopathic forms of the disorder. SUMMARY: With full characterization of postdiarrhea forms of FGDs, we should be able to define the mechanisms of disease early in the course of chronic illness and to better understand the more common idiopathic forms of the disease. We are likely to identify specific alteration of gut pathophysiology in postinfectious FGDs and to then classify them not as a poorly characterized group of functional disorders but as specific gastrointestinal disorders."}
{"id": "MED-3512", "text": "BACKGROUND: Abdominal pain, that characterizes irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) together with bloating and disordered defecation, is mainly related to a visceral hypersensitivity due to an increase of TRPV(1) nociceptive nerve fiber activity. AIM: As capsaicin contained in red pepper is able to desensitize the TRPV(1) fibres, we evaluated whether the red pepper oral administration can decrease the symptoms of visceral hypersensitivity in IBS patients. METHODS: The study was performed on 50 patients with IBS diagnosed following Rome II criteria. After a 2-week washout period, 23 patients were planned to receive 4 pills/day, for 6\u00a0weeks randomly and in a double blind manner, each containing 150\u00a0mg of red pepper powder with a coat that dissolves in the colon, and 27 patients placebo. The patients scored each day in a diary the abdominal pain and bloating intensities following the 5-point Likert scale. The weekly symptom mean scores and the final patient subjective evaluation on treatment effectiveness were statistically compared among groups and intra-groups with appropriate tests. RESULTS: Eight patients dropped from the study: 6 in the red pepper group for abdominal pain and 2 in the placebo group. In 8 patients, the pills were reduced to 2/day, because of the abdominal pain at the onset of treatment. The intra-group comparisons showed that in patients taking red pepper the abdominal pain and bloating mean score values of the last weeks of treatment were significantly improved with respect to pre-treatment values, unlike patients taking placebo. The final patient subjective evaluation on the treatment effectiveness showed that red pepper group scored significantly better than placebo. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this preliminary study indicate that the chronic administration of red pepper powder in IBS patients with enteric-coated pills was significantly more effective than placebo in decreasing the intensity of abdominal pain and bloating and was considered by the patients more effective than placebo."}
{"id": "MED-3516", "text": "1. Topical application of capsaicin to the human nasal mucosa induced a burning sensation and sneezing. A dose-dependent seromucous nasal secretion was also observed. Capsaicin (75 micrograms) was more potent than methacholine (50 mg) in producing nasal secretion, while topical histamine (200 micrograms), substance P (135 micrograms) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (36 micrograms) did not induce rhinorrhea. 2. Pretreatment with either topical ipratropium bromide, systemic dexchlorpheniramine or indomethacin did not influence the effects induced by capsaicin. Topical pretreatment with lidocaine inhibited the painful sensation but failed to block the rhinorrhea. Desensitization to the effects of capsaicin occurred following 4-5 subsequent applications, and full recovery was observed within 30-40 days. 3. It is proposed that the effects of capsaicin in human nasal mucosa are due to excitation of primary afferent neurones that (a) convey burning and painful sensation, (b) evoke a sneezing reflex and (c) induce nasal secretion by releasing transmitter(s) from their peripheral terminals."}
{"id": "MED-3517", "text": "Preliminary studies have shown that repeated nasal applications of capsaicin prevented the occurrence of cluster headache attacks. The present study was designed to verify the difference in efficacy of treatment with nasal capsaicin, depending on the side of application. Fifty-two patients affected by episodic form were divided into 2 groups, one receiving the treatment on the same side where the attacks occurred (ipsilateral side), the other on the controlateral side. Eighteen patients with a chronic form alternately received both ipsilateral and controlateral treatments. Seventy percent of the episodic patients, treated on the ipsilateral side, showed a marked amelioration whereas no improvement was noted in the patients treated on the contralateral side. The efficacy of ipsilateral treatment was emphasized by the results obtained in chronic patients. However, in these patients, the maximum period of amelioration lasted no more than 40 days. The difference between the effects of the 2 treatments (contralateral and ipsilateral) was statistically significant in both episodic and chronic sufferers. The efficacy of repeated nasal applications of capsaicin in cluster headache is congruent with previous reports on the therapeutic effect of capsaicin in other pain syndromes (post-herpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia) and supports the use of the drug to produce a selective analgesia."}
{"id": "MED-3518", "text": "Compared with other industrialized countries, the lower incidence of chronic-degenerative disorders in Mediterranean populations has been emphasized in recent decades. The health-promoting effects arising from Mediterranean dietary habits have been attributed to the large intake of plant foodstuffs rich in bioactive phytochemicals, such as melatonin. Recently, it has been suggested that melatonin present in edible plants may improve human health, by virtue of its biological activities and its good bioavailability. Plant melatonin, besides contributing to optimize the physiological functions regulated, in humans, by endogenous melatonin, may be involved in nutritional therapy to reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases in western populations. In this view, the presence of melatonin in some Mediterranean foods and beverages adds a new element to the hypothesis of health benefits associated to Mediterranean dietary patterns, although the available data are still preliminary and incomplete."}
{"id": "MED-3519", "text": "BACKGROUND: Tart Montmorency cherries have been reported to contain high levels of phytochemicals including melatonin, a molecule critical in regulating the sleep-wake cycle in humans. PURPOSE: The aim of our investigation was to ascertain whether ingestion of a tart cherry juice concentrate would increase the urinary melatonin levels in healthy adults and improve sleep quality. METHODS: In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, 20 volunteers consumed either a placebo or tart cherry juice concentrate for 7 days. Measures of sleep quality recorded by actigraphy and subjective sleep questionnaires were completed. Sequential urine samples over 48 h were collected and urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (major metabolite of melatonin) determined; cosinor analysis was used to determine melatonin circadian rhythm (mesor, acrophase and amplitude). In addition, total urinary melatonin content was determined over the sampled period. Trial differences were determined using a repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Total melatonin content was significantly elevated (P < 0.05) in the cherry juice group, whilst no differences were shown between baseline and placebo trials. There were significant increases in time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency total (P < 0.05) with cherry juice supplementation. Although there was no difference in timing of the melatonin circardian rhythm, there was a trend to a higher mesor and amplitude. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that consumption of a tart cherry juice concentrate provides an increase in exogenous melatonin that is beneficial in improving sleep duration and quality in healthy men and women and might be of benefit in managing disturbed sleep."}
{"id": "MED-3520", "text": "Melatonin has been attributed a role in a number of physiological processes. Changes in distal skin temperature and blood pressure after intake of melatonin suggest that melatonin induces peripheral vasodilation. The effect on the cerebral blood flow is still unknown. We examined the effect of a single pulse of melatonin on cerebral and peripheral blood flow, using the latter as a positive control. Ten male healthy volunteers (mean age, 22 +/- 3.2 yr) participated in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. On one occasion 10 microg melatonin were infused i.v., and on the other occasion saline was infused as the matching placebo. Cerebral blood flow was measured using phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging. Peripheral blood flow was determined from changes in the distal to proximal skin temperature gradient and finger pulse volume. Serum melatonin concentration increased from 12 +/- 5 pg/ml at baseline to 487 +/- 377 pg/ml at 5 min and 156 +/- 68 pg/ml at 10 min after melatonin administration. There was no significantly different time course for cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular resistance. Compared with placebo, melatonin significantly increased peripheral blood flow, as measured by distal to proximal skin temperature gradient and finger pulse volume. These data demonstrate that melatonin does not have an acute regulatory effect on cerebral blood flow in humans."}
{"id": "MED-3521", "text": "The identification of phenolics from various cultivars of fresh sweet and sour cherries and their protective effects on neuronal cells were comparatively evaluated in this study. Phenolics in cherries of four sweet and four sour cultivars were extracted and analyzed for total phenolics, total anthocyanins, and their antineurodegenerative activities. Total phenolics in sweet and sour cherries per 100 g ranged from 92.1 to 146.8 and from 146.1 to 312.4 mg gallic acid equivalents, respectively. Total anthocyanins of sweet and sour cherries ranged from 30.2 to 76.6 and from 49.1 to 109.2 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalents, respectively. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that anthocyanins such as cyanidin and peonidin derivatives were prevalent phenolics. Hydroxycinnamic acids consisted of neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, and p-coumaric acid derivatives. Glycosides of quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin were also found. Generally, sour cherries had higher concentrations of total phenolics than sweet cherries, due to a higher concentration of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamic acids. A positive linear correlation (r2 = 0.985) was revealed between the total anthocyanins measured by summation of individual peaks from HPLC analysis and the total anthocyanins measured by the pH differential method, indicating that there was in a close agreement with two quantifying methods for measuring anthocyanin contents. Cherry phenolics protected neuronal cells (PC 12) from cell-damaging oxidative stress in a dose-dependent manner mainly due to anthocyanins. Overall results showed that cherries are rich in phenolics, especially in anthocyanins, with a strong antineurodegenerative activity and that they can serve as a good source of biofunctional phytochemicals in our diet."}
{"id": "MED-3522", "text": "Melatonin has been detected in bacteria, eukaryotic unicells, macroalgae, plants, fungi and various taxa of invertebrates. Although precise determinations are missing in many of these organisms and the roles of melatonin are still unknown, investigations in some species allow more detailed conclusions. Non-vertebrate melatonin is not necessarily circadian, and if so, not always peaking at night, although nocturnal maxima are frequently found. In the cases under study, the major biosynthetic pathway is identical with that of vertebrates. Mimicking of photoperiodic responses and concentration changes upon temperature decreases have been studied in more detail only in dinoflagellates. In plants, an involvement in photoperiodism seems conceivable but requires further support. No stimulation of flowering has been demonstrated to date. A participation in antioxidative protection might be possible in many aerobic non-vertebrates, although evidence for a contribution at physiological levels is mostly missing. Protection from stress by oxidotoxins or/and extensions of lifespan have been shown in very different organisms, such as the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium, the ciliate Paramecium, the rotifer Philodina and Drosophila. Melatonin can be taken up from the food, findings with possible implications in ecophysiology as well as for human nutrition and, with regard to high levels in medicinal plants, also in pharmacology."}
{"id": "MED-3523", "text": "Melatonin, which is contained in certain vegetables, may have an influence on circulatory melatonin concentrations. This study examined the effects of the consumption of vegetables on 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations in morning urine. Ninety-four healthy women aged 24-55 were recruited through a city public health center in Japan. The women randomly allocated to the intervention group were requested to consume high amounts of six selected vegetables, with a target of 350 g/day for 65 days, while those in the control group were asked to avoid the same six vegetables during the same period. First-void morning urine was collected before and at the end of the intervention period, and creatinine-adjusted 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations were measured. At the end of the intervention period, daily mean intake of melatonin from the six vegetables was 1288.0 ng in the intervention group and 5.3 ng in the control group. In the intervention group, the mean concentration of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin changed from 48.1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 40.4-57.2] ng/mg creatinine to 49.6 (95% CI: 42.8-57.3) ng/mg creatinine across the intervention period. In the control group, the mean concentration of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin changed from 55.5 (95% CI: 48.7-63.2) ng/mg creatinine to 50.8 (95% CI: 44.0-58.7) ng/mg creatinine across the intervention period. A comparison of the two groups with regard to the changes in the 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentrations across the intervention period showed a significant difference (P = 0.03). The results indicate that increased consumption of vegetables raises circulatory melatonin concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-3524", "text": "Sleep, much like eating, is an essential part of life. The mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and are the subject of intense research. There is increasing evidence showing that sleep has an influence on dietary choices. Both cross-sectional and epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that those who sleep less are more likely to consume energy-rich foods (such as fats or refined carbohydrates), to consume fewer portions of vegetables, and to have more irregular meal patterns. In this narrative review, we pose the opposite question: can ingested food affect sleep? The purpose of this review is to discuss the evidence linking diet and sleep and to determine whether what we eat and what kind of nutrients we obtain from the food consumed before bedtime matter. In addition, scientific evidence behind traditional sleep-promoting foods such as milk and some herbal products is briefly described. These are reviewed using data from clinical trials, mostly in healthy subjects. In addition, we discuss the possible mechanisms behind these observations. Lastly, we summarize our findings that emerging evidence confirms a link between diet and sleep. Overall, foods impacting the availability of tryptophan, as well as the synthesis of serotonin and melatonin, may be the most helpful in promoting sleep. Although there are clear physiological connections behind these effects, the clinical relevance needs to be studied further. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3525", "text": "Although the hormone melatonin is a key factor for the proper functioning of the circadian timing system (CTS) and exogenous melatonin has been shown to be beneficial in cases of CTS disturbances, a deficit of melatonin has yet to be defined as a disorder. The aim of our study was to collect a normative data set on 24-h melatonin excretion in healthy human adults living in a natural environment. Urine samples were collected from 75 healthy subjects (45 women/30 men; mean age 47.2, SD 19.5, range 20-84) after five consecutive periods: 2300-0700, 0700-1100, 1100-1800, 1800-2300 and 2300-0700 h. 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) concentrations were analyzed in duplicate by IBL (Hamburg) using a highly sensitive, competitive ELISA kit. Twenty-four hour-aMT6s total amount (rho=-0.68, p<0.001), aMT6s nighttime excretion (rho=-0.69, p<0.001), aMT6s morning excretion (rho=-0.66, p<0.001) and evening excretion (r=-0.26, p=0.023) were negatively associated with age, whereas daytime excretion (r=-0.17, p=0.15) was not. The intra-subject night-day ratio varied up to 10.5 (mean 6.0) in young subjects (aged 20-35) and up to 5.4 (mean 2.8) in older individuals (age>65). The total amount of 24 h-aMT6s (range 7.5-58 microg) as well as the amount of aMT6s excreted during the nighttime period (range 327-6.074 ng/h) varied as much as 20-fold between individuals. Our data show an age-related decline in melatonin excretion in healthy subjects living in a natural environment. The high inter-individual variability of excretion rates may explain why a normative data set is of no use in replacement strategies."}
{"id": "MED-3526", "text": "Tryptophan, serotonin, and melatonin, present in Jerte Valley cherries, participate in sleep regulation and exhibit antioxidant properties. The effect of the intake of seven different Jerte Valley cherry cultivars on the sleep-wake cycle, 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels, and urinary total antioxidant capacity in middle-aged and elderly participants was evaluated. Volunteers were subjected to actigraphic monitoring to record and display the temporal patterns of their nocturnal activity and rest. 6-sulfatoxymelatonin and total antioxidant capacity were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and colorimetric assay kits, respectively. The intake of each of the cherry cultivars produced beneficial effects on actual sleep time, total nocturnal activity, assumed sleep, and immobility. Also, there were significant increases in 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels and total antioxidant capacity in urine after the intake of each cultivar. These findings suggested that the intake of Jerte Valley cherries exerted positive effect on sleep and may be seen as a potential nutraceutical tool to counteract oxidation."}
{"id": "MED-3527", "text": "BACKGROUND: : Jet-lag commonly affects air travellers who cross several time zones. It results from the body's internal rhythms being out of step with the day-night cycle at the destination. Melatonin is a pineal hormone that plays a central part in regulating bodily rhythms and has been used as a drug to re-align them with the outside world. OBJECTIVES: : To assess the effectiveness of oral melatonin taken in different dosage regimens for alleviating jet-lag after air travel across several time zones. SEARCH STRATEGY: : We searched the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychLit and Science Citation Index electronically, and the journals 'Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine' and 'Sleep' by hand. We searched citation lists of relevant studies for other relevant trials. We asked principal authors of relevant studies to tell us about unpublished trials. Reports of adverse events linked to melatonin use outside randomised trials were searched for systematically in 'Side Effects of Drugs' (SED) and SED Annuals, 'Reactions Weekly', MEDLINE, and the adverse drug reactions databases of the WHO Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) and the US Food & Drug Administration. SELECTION CRITERIA: : Randomised trials in airline passengers, airline staff or military personnel given oral melatonin, compared with placebo or other medication. Outcome measures should consist of subjective rating of jet-lag or related components, such as subjective wellbeing, daytime tiredness, onset and quality of sleep, psychological functioning, duration of return to normal, or indicators of circadian rhythms. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: : Ten trials met the inclusion criteria. All compared melatonin with placebo; one in addition compared it with a hypnotic, zolpidem. Nine of the trials were of adequate quality to contribute to the assessment, one had a design fault and could not be used in the assessment. Reports of adverse events outside trials were found through MEDLINE, 'Reactions Weekly', and in the WHO UMC database. MAIN RESULTS: : Nine of the ten trials found that melatonin, taken close to the target bedtime at the destination (10pm to midnight), decreased jet-lag from flights crossing five or more time zones. Daily doses of melatonin between 0.5 and 5mg are similarly effective, except that people fall asleep faster and sleep better after 5mg than 0.5mg. Doses above 5mg appear to be no more effective. The relative ineffectiveness of 2mg slow-release melatonin suggests that a short-lived higher peak concentration of melatonin works better. Based on the review, the number needed to treat (NNT) is 2. The benefit is likely to be greater the more time zones are crossed, and less for westward flights. The timing of the melatonin dose is important: if it is taken at the wrong time, early in the day, it is liable to cause sleepiness and delay adaptation to local time. The incidence of other side effects is low. Case reports suggest that people with epilepsy, and patients taking warfarin may come to harm from melatonin. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: : Melatonin is remarkably effective in preventing or reducing jet-lag, and occasional short-term use appears to be safe. It should be recommended to adult travellers flying across five or more time zones, particularly in an easterly direction, and especially if they have experienced jet-lag on previous journeys. Travellers crossing 2-4 time zones can also use it if need be. The pharmacology and toxicology of melatonin needs systematic study, and routine pharmaceutical quality control of melatonin products must be established. The effects of melatonin in people with epilepsy, and a possible interaction with warfarin, need investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3528", "text": "The antioxidant melatonin was recently identified in a variety of edible plants and seeds in high concentrations. In plants, as in animals, melatonin is believed to function as a free radical scavenger and possibly in photoperiodism. In this study, melatonin was detected and quantified in fresh-frozen Balaton and Montmorency tart cherries (Prunus cerasus) using high-performance liquid chromatography. Both cherry species contain high levels of melatonin compared to the melatonin concentrations in the blood of mammals. Montmorency cherries (13.46 +/- 1.10 ng/g) contain approximately 6 times more melatonin than do Balaton cherries (2.06 +/- 0.17 ng/g). Neither the orchard of origin nor the time of harvest influenced the amount of melatonin in fresh cherries. The implication of the current findings is that consuming cherries could be an important source of dietary melatonin inasmuch as melatonin is readily absorbed when taken orally. Also, previously published data and the results presented here show that melatonin is not only endogenously produced but also present in the diet."}
{"id": "MED-3530", "text": "An analytical method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of serotonin, melatonin, trans- and cis-piceid, and trans- and cis-resveratrol using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) with electrospray ionization (ESI) in both positive and negative ionization modes. HPLC optimal analytical separation was achieved using a mixture of acetonitrile and water with 0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase in linear gradient elution. The mass spectrometry parameters were optimized for reliable quantification and the enhanced selectivity and sensitivity selected reaction monitoring mode (SRM) was applied. For extraction, the direct analysis of initial methanol extracts was compared with further ethyl acetate extraction. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this analytical method, serotonin, melatonin, trans- and cis-piceid, and trans- and cis-resveratrol from 24 kinds of commonly consumed fruits were quantified. The highest serotonin content was found in plantain, while orange bell peppers had the highest melatonin content. Grape samples possessed higher trans- and cis-piceid, and trans- and cis-resveratrol contents than the other fruits. The results indicate that the combination of HPLC-MS detection and simple sample preparation allows the rapid and accurate quantification of serotonin, melatonin, trans- and cis-piceid, and trans- and cis-resveratrol in fruits. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3531", "text": "The anthocyanins (1-3) and cyanidin isolated from tart cherries exhibited in vitro antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities comparable to commercial products. The inhibition of lipid peroxidation of anthocyanins 1-3 and their aglycon, cyanidin, were 39, 70, 75, and 57%, respectively, at 2-mM concentrations. The antioxidant activities of 1-3 and cyanidin were comparable to the antioxidant activities of tert-butylhydroquinone and butylated hydroxytoluene and superior to vitamin E at 2-mM concentrations. In the antiinflammatory assay, cyanidin gave IC50 values of 90 and 60 mM, respectively, for prostaglandin H endoperoxide synthase-1 and prostaglandin H endoperoxide synthase-2 enzymes."}
{"id": "MED-3532", "text": "Melatonin is a neurohormone produced by the pineal gland of animals. Serotonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter and one of the precursors of melatonin biosynthesis. These two indoleamines have recently been reported to have widespread occurrence in many edible plants. Consuming foodstuffs containing melatonin and serotonin could raise their physiologic concentrations in blood and enhance human health. Literature concerning analytical methods suitable for determination of melatonin and serotonin in edible plants is limited, although several liquid chromatographic (LC) techniques have been used for their quantification. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods combine selectivity, sensitivity, and high precision, and enable the simultaneous determination of melatonin and serotonin. This work reviews LC and LC-MS techniques used to determine melatonin and serotonin, and the available data on melatonin and serotonin levels in edible plants. \u00a9 2011 Crown Copyright"}
{"id": "MED-3533", "text": "This study ascertained whether a proprietary tart cherry juice blend (CherryPharm, Inc., Geneva, NY, USA) associated with anecdotal reports of sleep enhancement improves subjective reports of insomnia compared to a placebo beverage. The pilot study used a randomized, double-blind, crossover design where each participant received both treatment and placebo for 2 weeks with an intervening 2-week washout period. Sleep continuity (sleep onset, wake after sleep onset, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency) was assessed by 2-week mean values from daily sleep diaries and disease severity by the Insomnia Severity Index in a cohort of 15 older adults with chronic insomnia who were otherwise healthy. The tart cherry juice beverage was associated with statistically significant pre- to post-treatment improvements on all sleep variables. When compared to placebo, the study beverage produced significant reductions in insomnia severity (minutes awake after sleep onset); no such improvements were observed for sleep latency, total sleep time, or sleep efficiency compared to placebo. Effect sizes were moderate and in some cases negligible. The results of this pilot study suggest that CherryPharm, a tart cherry juice blend, has modest beneficial effects on sleep in older adults with insomnia with effect sizes equal to or exceeding those observed in studies of valerian and in some, but not all, studies of melatonin, the two most studied natural products for insomnia. These effects, however, were considerably less than those for evidence-based treatments of insomnia: hypnotic agents and cognitive-behavioral therapies for insomnia."}
{"id": "MED-3534", "text": "Background Numerous antioxidant and anti\u2010inflammatory agents have been identified in tart cherries. Objective To test the efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage. Methods This was a randomised, placebo controlled, crossover design. Fourteen male college students drank 12\u2005fl oz of a cherry juice blend or a placebo twice a day for eight consecutive days. A bout of eccentric elbow flexion contractions (2 \u00d7 20 maximum contractions) was performed on the fourth day of supplementation. Isometric elbow flexion strength, pain, muscle tenderness, and relaxed elbow angle were recorded before and for four days after the eccentric exercise. The protocol was repeated two weeks later with subjects who took the placebo initially, now taking the cherry juice (and vice versa). The opposite arm performed the eccentric exercise for the second bout to avoid the repeated bout protective effect. Results Strength loss and pain were significantly less in the cherry juice trial versus placebo (time by treatment: strength p<0.0001, pain p \u200a=\u200a 0.017). Relaxed elbow angle (time by treatment p \u200a=\u200a 0.85) and muscle tenderness (time by treatment p \u200a=\u200a 0.81) were not different between trials. Conclusions These data show efficacy for this cherry juice in decreasing some of the symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage. Most notably, strength loss averaged over the four days after eccentric exercise was 22% with the placebo but only 4% with the cherry juice."}
{"id": "MED-3535", "text": "Cherries, and in particular sweet cherries, are a nutritionally dense food rich in anthocyanins, quercetin, hydroxycinnamates, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and melatonin. UV concentration, degree of ripeness, postharvest storage conditions, and processing, each can significantly alter the amounts of nutrients and bioactive components. These constituent nutrients and bioactive food components support the potential preventive health benefits of cherry intake in relation to cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and Alzheimer's disease. Mechanistically, cherries exhibit relatively high antioxidant activity, low glycemic response, COX 1 and 2 enzyme inhibition, and other anti-carcinogenic effects in vitro and in animal experiments. Well-designed cherry feeding studies are needed to further substantiate any health benefits in humans."}
{"id": "MED-3536", "text": "Epidemiologists have published more than 50 studies of insomnia based on data collected in various representative community-dwelling samples or populations. These surveys provide estimates of the prevalence of insomnia according to four definitions: insomnia symptoms, insomnia symptoms with daytime consequences, sleep dissatisfaction and insomnia diagnoses. The first definition, based on insomnia criteria as defined by the DSM-IV, recognizes that about one-third of a general population presents at least one of them. The second definition shows that, when daytime consequences of insomnia are taken into account, the prevalence is between 9% and 15%. The third definition represents 8-18% of the general population. The last definition, more precise and corresponding to a decision-making diagnosis, sets the prevalence at 6% of insomnia diagnoses according to the DSM-IV classification. These four definitions of insomnia have higher prevalence rates in women than in men. The prevalence of insomnia symptoms generally increases with age, while the rates of sleep dissatisfaction and diagnoses have little variation with age. Numerous factors can initiate or maintain insomnia. Mental disorders and organic diseases are the factors that have been the most frequently studied. The association between insomnia and major depressive episodes has been constantly reported: individuals with insomnia are more likely to have a major depressive illness. Longitudinal studies have shown that the persistence of insomnia is associated with the appearance of a new depressive episode. Future epidemiological studies should focus on the natural evolution of insomnia. Epidemiological genetic links of insomnia are yet to be studied."}
{"id": "MED-3537", "text": "Study Objectives: To examine the association between sleep-related factors and memory impairment. Design: Cross-sectional study Setting: Community-based study in Guangzhou, China. Participants: 28,670 older Chinese (20,776 women and 7,894 men) aged 50 to 85 years. Measurements and Results: Demographic and socioeconomic data, sleep-related factors, and cognitive function were collected by face-to-face interview. Potential confounders, such as employment and occupational status, smoking, alcohol and tea use, physical activity, self-rated health, anthropometry, blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose and lipids were measured. After adjusting for multiple potential confounders, an inverted U-shaped association between sleep duration and delayed word recall test (DWRT) score, a validated measure of memory impairment, was found, with 7 to 8 h of habitual sleep duration showing the highest score (P-values for trend from 3 to 7 h and from 7 to \u2265 10 h were all \u2264 0.001). Compared to sleep duration of 7 h, the adjusted odds ratio for memory impairment from the sleep duration of 3 to 4 or \u2265 10 h was 1.29 (95% confidence interval 1.07-1.56) and 1.52 (1.25-1.86), respectively. Subjects with daily napping, morning tiredness, or insomnia had significantly lower DWRT scores than those without (P ranged from < 0.001 to 0.01). Conclusions: Short or long sleep duration was an important sleep-related factor independently associated with memory impairment and may be a useful marker for increased risk of cognitive impairment in older people. Citation: Xu L; Jiang CQ; Lam TH; Liu B; Jin YL; Zhu T; Zhang WS; Cheng KK; Thomas GN. Short or long sleep duration is associated with memory impairment in older Chinese: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. SLEEP 2011;34(5):575-580."}
{"id": "MED-3538", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To inform the debate over whether human sleep can be chronically reduced without consequences, we conducted a dose-response chronic sleep restriction experiment in which waking neurobehavioral and sleep physiological functions were monitored and compared to those for total sleep deprivation. DESIGN: The chronic sleep restriction experiment involved randomization to one of three sleep doses (4 h, 6 h, or 8 h time in bed per night), which were maintained for 14 consecutive days. The total sleep deprivation experiment involved 3 nights without sleep (0 h time in bed). Each study also involved 3 baseline (pre-deprivation) days and 3 recovery days. SETTING: Both experiments were conducted under standardized laboratory conditions with continuous behavioral, physiological and medical monitoring. PARTICIPANTS: A total of n = 48 healthy adults (ages 21-38) participated in the experiments. INTERVENTIONS: Noctumal sleep periods were restricted to 8 h, 6 h or 4 h per day for 14 days, or to 0 h for 3 days. All other sleep was prohibited. RESULTS: Chronic restriction of sleep periods to 4 h or 6 h per night over 14 consecutive days resulted in significant cumulative, dose-dependent deficits in cognitive performance on all tasks. Subjective sleepiness ratings showed an acute response to sleep restriction but only small further increases on subsequent days, and did not significantly differentiate the 6 h and 4 h conditions. Polysomnographic variables and delta power in the non-REM sleep EEG-a putative marker of sleep homeostasis--displayed an acute response to sleep restriction with negligible further changes across the 14 restricted nights. Comparison of chronic sleep restriction to total sleep deprivation showed that the latter resulted in disproportionately large waking neurobehavioral and sleep delta power responses relative to how much sleep was lost. A statistical model revealed that, regardless of the mode of sleep deprivation, lapses in behavioral alertness were near-linearly related to the cumulative duration of wakefulness in excess of 15.84 h (s.e. 0.73 h). CONCLUSIONS: Since chronic restriction of sleep to 6 h or less per night produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation, it appears that even relatively moderate sleep restriction can seriously impair waking neurobehavioral functions in healthy adults. Sleepiness ratings suggest that subjects were largely unaware of these increasing cognitive deficits, which may explain why the impact of chronic sleep restriction on waking cognitive functions is often assumed to be benign. Physiological sleep responses to chronic restriction did not mirror waking neurobehavioral responses, but cumulative wakefulness in excess of a 15.84 h predicted performance lapses across all four experimental conditions. This suggests that sleep debt is perhaps best understood as resulting in additional wakefulness that has a neurobiological \"cost\" which accumulates over time."}
{"id": "MED-3539", "text": "Numerous studies have revealed that kiwifruit contains many medicinally useful compounds, among which antioxidants and serotonin may be beneficial in the treatment of the sleep disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of kiwifruit on sleep patterns, including sleep onset, duration, and quality. In this study, we applied a free-living, self-controlled diet design. Twenty-four subjects (2 males, 22 females) 20 to 55 years of age consumed 2 kiwifruits 1 hour before bedtime nightly for 4 weeks. The Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI), a 3-day sleep diary, and the Actigraph sleep/activity logger watch were used to assess the subjective and objective parameters of sleep quality, including time to bed, time of sleep onset, waking time after sleep onset, time of getting up, total sleep time, and self-reported sleep quality and sleep onset latency, waking time after sleep onset, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency before and after the intervention. After 4 weeks of kiwifruit consumption, the subjective CPSQI score, waking time after sleep onset, and sleep onset latency were significantly decreased (42.4%, 28.9%, and 35.4%, respectively). Total sleep time and sleep efficiency were significantly increased (13.4% and 5.41%, respectively). Kiwifruit consumption may improve sleep onset, duration, and efficiency in adults with self-reported sleep disturbances. Further investigation of the sleep-promoting properties of kiwifruit may be warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3540", "text": "The 1950s saw the clinical introduction of the first two specifically antidepressant drugs: iproniazid, a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor that had been used in the treatment of tuberculosis, and imipramine, the first drug in the tricyclic antidepressant family. Iproniazid and imipramine made two fundamental contributions to the development of psychiatry: one of a social-health nature, consisting in an authentic change in the psychiatric care of depressive patients; and the other of a purely pharmacological nature, since these agents have constituted an indispensable research tool for neurobiology and psychopharmacology, permitting, among other things, the postulation of the first aetiopathogenic hypotheses of depressive disorders. The clinical introduction of fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, in the late 1980s, once again revolutionized therapy for depression, opening the way for new families of antidepressants. The present work reviews, from a historical perspective, the entire process that led to the discovery of these drugs, as well as their contribution to the development of the neuroscientific disciplines. However, all of these antidepressants, like the rest of those currently available for clinical practice, share the same action mechanism, which involves the modulation of monoaminergic neurotransmission at a synaptic level, so that the future of antidepressant therapy would seem to revolve around the search for extraneuronal non-aminergic mechanisms or mechanisms that modulate the intraneuronal biochemical pathways."}
{"id": "MED-3541", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The study evaluated the association between consumption frequencies of the major food categories and the risk of new depression four years later in older Taiwanese. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study with multistage random sampling. Logistic regression analysis evaluated the significance of the longitudinal associations of intake frequencies of the major food categories with future (4 years later) risk of new depression, controlled for possible confounding factors with or without adjustment for cognitive status. SETTING: Population-based free-living elderly. SUBJECTS: Men and women (n 1609) \u226565 years of age. RESULTS: In a regression model that controlled for demographic, socio-economic, lifestyle and disease/health-related variables but not cognitive status, both fruits (OR = 0\u00b766, 95 % CI 0\u00b745, 0\u00b798, P = 0\u00b7038) and vegetables (OR = 0\u00b738, 95 % CI 0\u00b717, 0\u00b786, P = 0\u00b7021) were protective against depressive symptoms 4 years later. However, when the same regression model was also adjusted for cognitive status, only vegetables (OR = 0\u00b740, 95 % CI 0\u00b717, 0\u00b795, P = 0\u00b7039) were protective against depressive symptoms. Higher consumption of eggs was close to being significant in both regression models (P = 0\u00b7087 and 0\u00b7069, respectively). Other food categories including meat/poultry, fish, seafood, dairy, legumes, grains and tea showed no significant associations. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that although confounding factors cannot be totally ruled out, more frequent consumption of vegetables seems to be protective against depressive symptoms in the elderly. Further studies are needed to elucidate the causal role and the mechanism of the association."}
{"id": "MED-3542", "text": "The behavior of inhibitors of monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) is considered in terms of the possibility of having an effective antidepressant that does not give rise to hypertensive interactions with dietary tyramine. Studies with punch-biopsy samples of human intestine and rat intestinal samples show MAO-A to be the predominant form of the enzyme in both species. Transport studies with everted rat intestinal preparations indicate that tyramine is extensively metabolized during transport through the intestine. Selective inhibition of MAO-A by clorgyline results in a large increase in the amount of unchanged tyramine transported, whereas selective inhibition of MAO-B with L-deprenyl (selegiline) has no significant effect. The behavior of reversible MAO-A inhibitors can significantly reduce, but not entirely eliminate, these effects on the intestinal metabolism of tyramine, but only if the inhibition is competitive in nature."}
{"id": "MED-3543", "text": "Inhibition of monoamine oxidase is one way to treat depression and anxiety. The information now available on the pharmacokinetics of flavonoids and of the components of tobacco prompted an exploration of whether a healthy diet (with or without smoking) provides active compounds in amounts sufficient to partially inhibit monoamine oxidase. A literature search was used to identify dietary monoamine oxidase inhibitors, the levels of these compounds in foods, the pharmacokinetics of the absorption and distribution, and tissue levels observed. An estimated daily intake and the expected tissue concentrations were compared with the measured efficacies of the compounds as inhibitors of monoamine oxidases. Norharman, harman and quercetin dietary presence, pharmacokinetics, and tissue levels were consistent with significant levels reaching neuronal monoamine oxidase from the diet or smoking; 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline, eugenol, 1-piperoylpiperidine, and coumarin were not. Quercetin was equipotent with norharman as a monoamine oxidase A inhibitor and its metabolite, isorhamnetin, also inhibits. Total quercetin was the highest of the compounds in the sample diet. Although bioavailability was variable depending on the source, a healthy diet contains amounts of quercetin that might give sufficient amounts in brain to induce, by monoamine oxidase A inhibition, a small decrease in neurotransmitter breakdown."}
{"id": "MED-3544", "text": "Whole-body PET-scan studies in brains of tobacco smokers have shown a decrease in monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, which reverts to control level when they quit smoking. The observed decrease in MAO activity in smokers is presumably due to their exposure to tobacco constituents that possess MAO-inhibiting properties. The inhibition of MAO activity seems, however, not to be a unique feature of tobacco smoking as subjects with Type II alcoholism have been reported to show a similar decrease in MAO activity that reverses when they cease to use alcohol. The present review summarizes the data on MAO-inhibiting tobacco constituents and explains that the decrease in MAO activity observed in alcoholics is probably due to concomitant tobacco use. It is concluded that the inhibition of MAO by constituents contained in tobacco and tobacco smoke, enhances the addiction induced by tobacco smoking."}
{"id": "MED-3545", "text": "Background Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic acid (AA) compared to vegetarian diets. Research shows that high intakes of AA promote changes in brain that can disturb mood. Omnivores who eat fish regularly increase their intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), fats that oppose the negative effects of AA in vivo. In a recent cross-sectional study, omnivores reported significantly worse mood than vegetarians despite higher intakes of EPA and DHA. This study investigated the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood. Findings Thirty-nine omnivores were randomly assigned to a control group consuming meat, fish, and poultry daily (OMN); a group consuming fish 3-4 times weekly but avoiding meat and poultry (FISH), or a vegetarian group avoiding meat, fish, and poultry (VEG). At baseline and after two weeks, participants completed a food frequency questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales. After the diet intervention, VEG participants reduced their EPA, DHA, and AA intakes, while FISH participants increased their EPA and DHA intakes. Mood scores were unchanged for OMN or FISH participants, but several mood scores for VEG participants improved significantly after two weeks. Conclusions Restricting meat, fish, and poultry improved some domains of short-term mood state in modern omnivores. To our knowledge, this is the first trial to examine the impact of restricting meat, fish, and poultry on mood state in omnivores."}
{"id": "MED-3546", "text": "CONTEXT: The monoamine theory of depression proposes that monoamine levels are lowered, but there is no explanation for how monoamine loss occurs. Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is an enzyme that metabolizes monoamines, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether MAO-A levels in the brain are elevated during untreated depression. SETTING: Tertiary care psychiatric hospital. PATIENTS: Seventeen healthy and 17 depressed individuals with major depressive disorder that met entry criteria were recruited from the care of general practitioners and psychiatrists. All study participants were otherwise healthy and nonsmoking. Depressed individuals had been medication free for at least 5 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Harmine labeled with carbon 11, a radioligand selective for MAO-A and positron emission tomography, was used to measure MAO-A DVS (specific distribution volume), an index of MAO-A density, in different brain regions (prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, caudate, putamen, thalamus, anterior temporal cortex, midbrain, hippocampus, and parahippocampus). RESULTS: The MAO-A DVS was highly significantly elevated in every brain region assessed (t test; P=.001 to 3x10(-7)). The MAO-A DVS was elevated on average by 34% (2 SDs) throughout the brain during major depression. CONCLUSIONS: The sizable magnitude of this finding and the absence of other compelling explanations for monoamine loss during major depressive episodes led to the conclusion that elevated MAO-A density is the primary monoamine-lowering process during major depression."}
{"id": "MED-3547", "text": "Monoamine theories associate depression with reduced brain monoamine levels. These theories achieved broad popularity in the mid-1960s. The present article reviews the historical development of monoamine theories and their subsequent impact on biomedical research. Alleged divisions between West European and US researchers over competing versions of the theories are investigated using bibliometrics. Subsequently, the application of monoamine theories in the NIMH Collaborative Program on the Psychobiology of Depression is covered. The article argues that the impact of monoamine theories is best explained by the ability of researchers, governmental agencies, and pharmaceutical companies to invoke theories that advance various projects and agendas."}
{"id": "MED-3548", "text": "Cancer metastasis refers to the spread of cancer cells from the primary neoplasm to distant sites, where secondary tumors are formed, and is the major cause of death from cancer. Natural phytochemicals containing phenolic compounds have been widely demonstrated to have the capability to prevent cancer metastasis. Among phenolic compounds, flavonoids are a very large subclass, and they are abundant in food and nutraceuticals. The number of reports demonstrating that flavonoids are an effective natural inhibitor of cancer invasion and metastasis is increasing in the scientific literature. Catechin derivatives, (\u2212)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, (\u2212)-epigallocatechin, (\u2212)-epicatechin-3-gallate,and (\u2212)-epicatechin, are the most studied compounds in this topic so far; genistein/genistin, silibinin, quercetin, and anthocyanin have also been widely investigated for their inhibitory activities on invasion/metastasis. Other flavonoids in dietary vegetable foods that are responsible for anti-invasive and anti-metastatic activities of tumors include luteolin,apigenin, myricetin, tangeretin, kaempferol, glycitein, licoricidin,daidzein, and naringenin. To effectively overcome the metastatic cascade, including cell-cell attachment, tissue barrier degradation, migration, invasion, cell-matrix adhesion,and angiogenesis, it is essential that a bioactive compound prevent tumor cells from metastasizing. This review summarizes the effects of flavonoids on the metastatic cascade and the related proteins, the in vitro anti-invasive activity of flavonoids against cancer cells, and the effects of flavonoids on antiangiogenic and in vivo anti-metastatic models. The available scientific evidence indicates that flavonoids are a ubiquitous dietary phenolics subclass and exert extensive in vitro anti-invasive and in vivo anti-metastatic activities."}
{"id": "MED-3550", "text": "Between 2000 and 2050, the number of new cancer patients diagnosed annually is expected to double, with an accompanying increase in treatment costs of more than $80 billion over just the next decade. Efficacious strategies for cancer prevention will therefore be vital for improving patients' quality of life and reducing healthcare costs. Judah Folkman first proposed antiangiogenesis as a strategy for preventing dormant microtumors from progressing to invasive cancer. Although antiangiogenic drugs are now available for many advanced malignancies (colorectal, lung, breast, kidney, liver, brain, thyroid, neuroendocrine, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome), cost and toxicity considerations preclude their broad use for cancer prevention. Potent antiangiogenic molecules have now been identified in dietary sources, suggesting that a rationally designed antiangiogenic diet could provide a safe, widely available, and novel strategy for preventing cancer. This paper presents the scientific, epidemiologic, and clinical evidence supporting the role of an antiangiogenic diet for cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-3551", "text": "Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women in the United States and the rest of the world. About 8% of women develop breast cancer during the course of their lives. Dietary habits are closely associated with both the risk and progression of breast cancer. Dietary agents have accumulated increasing importance with regards to the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. One such manner by which these compounds can target breast cancer development and progression is through interference with the angiogenic pathways. Angiogenesis is an intricate process that involves the development of new capillaries from previously existing blood vessels. Disruption of this pathway, therefore, provides a novel and effective avenue for therapeutic intervention of breast cancer. Various phytochemicals found in the diet kill breast cancer cells in vitro and prevent as well as suppress breast cancer progression in various preclinical animal models. This review examines the value of dietary phytoconstituents in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer through modulation of the intricate and complex process of angiogenesis. In addition, the potential benefits, challenges, and future directions of research on anti-angiogenic dietary phytochemicals in the prevention and intervention of breast cancer are also addressed. Copyright \u00a9 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-3552", "text": "The study evaluated the protective effects of purple rice (Oryza sativa L.) bran extract (PRE) and its constituents, cyanidin and peonidin, against angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The effects of VEGF and PRE were examined by in vitro tube formation assays and following 14-day co-culture of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and fibroblasts. The antiangiogenic mechanism of PRE was evaluated by VEGF-induced proliferation and migration of HUVECs and/or human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs) and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38. The PRE significantly suppressed VEGF-induced tube formation, proliferation and migration in HUVECs and HRMECs as well as phosphorylation of ERK and p38. Cyanidin and peonidin also suppressed the proliferation and migration induced by VEGF. These findings indicate that PRE and anthocyanidins suppress VEGF-induced angiogenesis by inhibiting proliferation and migration and suggest that the inhibition of phosphorylated-ERK and -p38 may be involved in the underlying mechanism. Copyright \u00a9 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3554", "text": "A great deal of effort is now being devoted to the development of new drugs that hopefully will control the spread of inoperable cancer by safely inhibiting tumor-evoked angiogenesis. However, there is growing evidence that certain practical nutritional measures have the potential to slow tumor angiogenesis, and it is reasonable to anticipate that, by combining several measures that work in distinct but complementary ways to impede the angiogenic process, a clinically useful 'multifocal angiostatic therapy' (MAT) might be devised. Several measures which might reasonably be included in such a protocol are discussed below, and include: a low-fat, low-glycemic index vegan diet, which may down-regulate the systemic IGF-I activity that supports angiogenesis; supplemental omega-3-rich fish oil, which has been shown to inhibit endothelial expression of Flk-1, a functionally crucial receptor for VEGF, and also can suppress tumor production of pro-angiogenic eicosanoids; high-dose selenium, which has recently been shown to inhibit tumor production of VEGF; green tea polyphenols, which can suppress endothelial responsiveness to both VEGF and fibroblast growth factor; and high-dose glycine, whose recently reported angiostatic activity may reflect inhibition of endothelial cell mitosis, possibly mediated by activation of glycine-gated chloride channels. In light of evidence that tumor-evoked angiogenesis has a high requirement for copper, copper depletion may have exceptional potential as an angiostatic measure, and is most efficiently achieved with the copper-chelating drug tetrathiomolybdate. If logistical difficulties make it difficult to acquire this experimental drug, high-dose zinc supplementation can achieve a slower depletion of the body's copper pool, and in any case can be used as maintenance therapy to maintain an adequate level of copper depletion. A provisional protocol is offered for a nutritionally based MAT entailing a vegan diet and supplemental intakes of fish oil, selenium, green tea polyphenols, glycine, and zinc. Inasmuch as cox-2 is overexpressed in many cancers, and cAMP can boost tumor production of various angiogenic factors as well as autogenous growth factors, adjunctive use of cox-2-specific NSAIDS may be warranted in some cases."}
{"id": "MED-3555", "text": "A number of epidemiological studies have investigated associations between various phytochemicals and cancer risk. Phytoestrogens and carotenoids are the two most commonly studied classes of phytochemicals; phytosterols, isothiocyanates, and chlorophyll also have been investigated, although to a much lesser extent. Because there have been no systematic reviews of the literature on all phytochemicals and cancer risk to date, this article systematically reviews 96 published epidemiological studies that examined associations between phytochemicals and cancer risk. Most studies found null associations between individual phytochemicals and cancer risk at various sites. In addition, results from past studies have been largely inconsistent, and observed associations have been of relatively modest magnitude. The most consistent protective effects were observed for higher levels--dietary intake, serum, plasma, or urinary metabolites--of \u03b2-carotene and renal cell cancer, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin and lung cancer, isothiocyanates and lung cancer, isothiocyanates and gastrointestinal cancer, lignans and postmenopausal breast cancer, and flavonoids and lung cancer. Although elevated risk of certain cancers with higher levels of certain phytochemicals was observed, an insufficient pool of studies examining the same associations or inconsistent findings across studies limit the ability to conclude that any one phytochemical increases cancer risk. Additional research is needed to support previously identified associations in cases where only one study has examined a particular relationship. Importantly, continued research efforts are needed to evaluate the cumulative and interactive effects of numerous phytochemicals and phytochemical-rich foods on cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3557", "text": "Background Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US. Dietary factors account for at least 30% of all cancers in Western countries. Since people do not consume individual foods but rather combinations of them, the assessment of dietary patterns may offer valuable information when determining associations between diet and cancer risk. Methods We examined the association between dietary patterns (non-vegetarians, lacto, pesco, vegan, and semi-vegetarian) and the overall cancer incidence among 69,120 participants of the Adventist Health Study-2. Cancer cases were identified by matching to cancer registries. Cox-proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to estimate hazard ratios, with \u201cattained age\u201d as the time variable. Results 2,939 incident cancer cases were identified. The multivariate HR of overall cancer risk among vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians was statistically significant (HR=0.92; 95%CI: 0.85, 0.99) for both genders combined. Also, a statistically significant association was found between vegetarian diet and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (HR=0.76; 95%CI: 0.63, 0.90). When analyzing the association of specific vegetarian dietary patterns, vegan diets showed statistically significant protection for overall cancer incidence (HR=0.84; 95%CI: 0.72, 0.99) in both genders combined and for female-specific cancers (HR=0.66; 95%CI: 0.47, 0.92). Lacto-ovo-vegetarians appeared to be associated with decreased risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal system (HR=0.75; 95%CI: 0.60, 0.92). Conclusion Vegetarian diets seem to confer protection against cancer. Impact Vegan diet seems to confer lower risk for overall and female-specific cancer compared to other dietary patterns. The lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets seem to confer protection from cancers of the gastrointestinal tract."}
{"id": "MED-3558", "text": "Oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main etiologic factor for cervical neoplasia, although infection alone is insufficient to produce disease. Cofactors such as nutritional factors may be necessary for viral progression to neoplasia. Results from previous studies have suggested that higher dietary consumption and circulating levels of certain micronutrients may be protective against cervical neoplasia. This study evaluated the role of vitamin A and carotenoids on HPV persistence comparing women with intermittent and persistent infections. As determined by the Hybrid Capture II system, oncogenic HPV infections were assessed at baseline and at approximately 3 and 9 months postbaseline. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk of persistent HPV infection associated with each tertile of dietary and circulating micronutrients. Higher levels of vegetable consumption were associated with a 54% decrease risk of HPV persistence (adjusted odds ratio, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.97). Also, a 56% reduction in HPV persistence risk was observed in women with the highest plasma cis-lycopene concentrations compared with women with the lowest plasma cis-lycopene concentrations (adjusted odds ratio, 0.44; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-1.01). These data suggest that vegetable consumption and circulating cis-lycopene may be protective against HPV persistence."}
{"id": "MED-3559", "text": "Considering the involvement of a redox-regulatory pathway in the expression of human papillomaviruses (HPVs), HPV type 16 (HPV-16)-immortalized human keratinocytes were treated with the antioxidant pyrrolidine-dithiocarbamate (PDTC). PDTC induces elevated binding of the transcription factor AP-1 to its cognate recognition site within the viral regulatory region. Despite of increased AP-1 binding, normally indispensable for efficient HPV-16 transcription, viral gene expression was selectively suppressed at the level of initiation of transcription. Electrophoretic mobility supershift assays showed that the composition of the AP-1 complex, predominantly consisting of Jun homodimers in untreated cells, was altered. Irrespective of enhanced c-fos expression, c-jun was phosphorylated and became primarily heterodimerized with fra-1, which was also induced after PDTC incubation. Additionally, there was also an increased complex formation between c-jun and junB. Because both fra-1 and junB overexpression negatively interferes with c-jun/c-fos trans-activation of AP-1-responsive genes, our results suggest that the observed block in viral transcription is mainly the consequence of an antioxidant-induced reconstitution of the AP-1 transcription complex. Since expression of the c-jun/c-fos gene family is tightly regulated during cellular differentiation, defined reorganization of a central viral transcription factor may represent a novel mechanism controlling the transcription of pathogenic HPVs during keratinocyte differentiation and in the progression to cervical cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3560", "text": "Persistent infection with a high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is generally accepted as a necessary cause of cervical cancer. However, cervical cancer is a rare complication of an hrHPV infection since most such infections are transient, not even giving rise to cervical lesions. On average, it takes 12-15 years before a persistent hrHPV infection may ultimately, via consecutive premalignant stages (ie CIN lesions), lead to an overt cervical carcinoma. This argues that HPV-induced cervical carcinogenesis is multi-step in nature. In this review, the data from hrHPV-mediated in vitro transformation studies and those obtained from analysis of clinical specimens have been merged into a cervical cancer progression model. According to this model, a crucial decision maker in the early stages following infection involves individual susceptibility for certain HPV types depending on the genetic make-up of immune surveillance determinants. Once a CIN lesion has developed, altered transcriptional regulation of the viral E6/E7 oncogenes, resulting in genomic instability and distinguishing the process of cell transformation from a productive viral infection, probably provides the subsequent important step towards malignancy. The additional (epi)genetic alterations that subsequently accumulate in high-grade CIN lesions may result in overt malignancy via immortality and growth conditions that gradually become less sensitive to growth-modulating influences mediated by cytokines and cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions. The potential implications of hrHPV testing and some other biomarkers deduced from this model for cervical screening and the clinical management of CIN disease are also discussed. Copyright 2006 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3561", "text": "The definition of cervical neoplasia as a sexually determined disease caused by some types of human papillomavirus has been widely accepted. Recent epidemiologic studies, however, have failed to identify a correlation between sexual activity and human papillomavirus infection. Moreover, sexual activity has also been shown to be independent of human papillomavirus infection in increasing cervical cancer risk. These incoherences are analyzed with respect to etiologic models for cervical neoplasia and by considering the role of misclassification of human papillomavirus infection in interpreting the relations assumed under these models. Even small levels of misclassification can considerably distort (1) the presumed prevalence of viral infection, (2) the association between sexual activity and human papillomavirus infection, and (3) the ability to control the relation between sexual activity and cancer by human papillomavirus infection. In field surveys, the presumed rates of human papillomavirus infection based on a DNA assay such as the filter in situ hybridization may be a gross overestimation of the true viral prevalence. Use of moderately misclassified human papillomavirus infection test results for effect estimation and covariate adjustment in data analysis may seriously distort the underlying relations. Consequently, considering these conditions, the apparent incoherence of recent epidemiologic findings should not be construed as evidence against the role of human papillomavirus in the etiology of cervical cancer or the validity of the sexually transmitted disease model."}
{"id": "MED-3562", "text": "Invasive cervical cancer is the third most common gynecologic malignancy. The prognosis is based on the stage, size, and histologic grade of the primary tumor and the status of the lymph nodes. Assessment of the stage of disease is important in determining whether the patient may benefit from surgery or will receive radiation therapy. The official clinical staging system of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics has led to errors of 65%-90% in stage III and IV disease; the result has been unofficial extended staging with cross-sectional imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT). CT is useful in staging advanced disease and in monitoring patients for recurrence. The primary tumor is heterogeneous and hypoattenuating relative to normal stroma on contrast material-enhanced scans. Obliteration of the periureteral fat plane and a soft-tissue mass are the most reliable signs of parametrial extension. Less than 3 mm separation of the tumor from the pelvic muscles and vascular encasement are signs of pelvic side wall invasion. Lymphatic spread is along the external and internal iliac nodal chains and the presacral route to the paraaortic nodes. Distant metastases are seen with primary or recurrent disease and can involve the liver, lung, and bone."}
{"id": "MED-3563", "text": "In developing countries like India, occurrence of Human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical cancer as well as in the asymptomatic population was observed to be very high. Studies on HPV prevalence have been conducted in different parts of the country but no data were available from the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The present study aimed to determine the status of HPV prevalence and its association with different socio-demographic factors in this population. Prevalence of HPV was investigated in a total of 2424 cervical scrape samples of asymptomatic women. Primer sets from L1 consensus region of viral genome were used to detect the presence of HPV, and the positive samples were genotyped by sequencing. Univariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate association of socio-demographic factors with HPV. 9.9% of the clinically asymptomatic women were found to be infected with HPV comprising 26 different genotypes. Among HPV-positive women, 80.8% showed single infection, while 15.4% harboured multiple infections. HPV-16 (63.7%) was the most prevalent, followed by HPV-31 (6.7%), HPV-6 (5.4%), HPV-81 (4.6%) and HPV-33 (4.2%). Significant association of HPV with non-vegetarian diet (P less than 0.05) and rural residential areas (P less than 0.01) were observed. High prevalence of HPV-16 in asymptomatic women of this population, a frequency comparable to invasive cervical cancers, highlights an urgent need for a therapeutic HPV vaccine covering HPV-16 and other high-risk types to provide protection against the disease."}
{"id": "MED-3567", "text": "In 2008, approximately 21.8 million persons aged \u226515 years sustained nonfatal, unintentional injuries, resulting in approximately $67.3 billion in lifetime medical costs. Information about where injuries occur is limited, but bathrooms commonly are believed to be a particularly hazardous location. To investigate this assumption, CDC analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of emergency departments (EDs) to describe the incidence and circumstances of nonfatal injuries in bathrooms (in any setting) among persons aged \u226515 years in the United States. This report describes the results of that investigation, which found that, based on 3,339 cases documented in the 2008 National Electronic Surveillance System All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP) database, an estimated 234,094 nonfatal bathroom injuries were treated in U.S. EDs. Injury rates increased with age, and most injuries (81.1%) were caused by falls. All persons, but especially older adults, should be aware of bathroom activities that are associated with a high risk for injury and of environmental modifications that might reduce that risk."}
{"id": "MED-3570", "text": "A recent report that 93 per cent of invasive cervical cancers worldwide contain human papillomavirus (HPV) may be an underestimate, due to sample inadequacy or integration events affecting the HPV L1 gene, which is the target of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based test which was used. The formerly HPV-negative cases from this study have therefore been reanalyzed for HPV serum antibodies and HPV DNA. Serology for HPV 16 VLPs, E6, and E7 antibodies was performed on 49 of the 66 cases which were HPV-negative and a sample of 48 of the 866 cases which were HPV-positive in the original study. Moreover, 55 of the 66 formerly HPV-negative biopsies were also reanalyzed by a sandwich procedure in which the outer sections in a series of sections are used for histological review, while the inner sections are assayed by three different HPV PCR assays targeting different open reading frames (ORFs). No significant difference was found in serology for HPV 16 proteins between the cases that were originally HPV PCR-negative and -positive. Type-specific E7 PCR for 14 high-risk HPV types detected HPV DNA in 38 (69 per cent) of the 55 originally HPV-negative and amplifiable specimens. The HPV types detected were 16, 18, 31, 33, 39, 45, 52, and 58. Two (4 per cent) additional cases were only HPV DNA-positive by E1 and/or L1 consensus PCR. Histological analysis of the 55 specimens revealed that 21 were qualitatively inadequate. Only two of the 34 adequate samples were HPV-negative on all PCR tests, as against 13 of the 21 that were inadequate ( p< 0.001). Combining the data from this and the previous study and excluding inadequate specimens, the worldwide HPV prevalence in cervical carcinomas is 99.7 per cent. The presence of HPV in virtually all cervical cancers implies the highest worldwide attributable fraction so far reported for a specific cause of any major human cancer. The extreme rarity of HPV-negative cancers reinforces the rationale for HPV testing in addition to, or even instead of, cervical cytology in routine cervical screening. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3572", "text": "Chemotherapeutic options to treat tuberculosis are severely restricted by the intrinsic resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the majority of clinically applied antibiotics. Such resistance is partially provided by the low permeability of their unique cell envelope. Here we describe a complementary system that coordinates resistance to drugs that have penetrated the envelope, allowing mycobacteria to tolerate diverse classes of antibiotics that inhibit cytoplasmic targets. This system depends on whiB7, a gene that pathogenic Mycobacterium shares with Streptomyces, a phylogenetically related genus known as the source of diverse antibiotics. In M. tuberculosis, whiB7 is induced by subinhibitory concentrations of antibiotics (erythromycin, tetracycline, and streptomycin) and whiB7 null mutants (Streptomyces and Mycobacterium) are hypersusceptible to antibiotics in vitro. M. tuberculosis is also antibiotic sensitive within a monocyte model system. In addition to antibiotics, whiB7 is induced by exposure to fatty acids that pathogenic Mycobacterium species may accumulate internally or encounter within eukaryotic hosts during infection. Gene expression profiling analyses demonstrate that whiB7 transcription determines drug resistance by activating expression of a regulon including genes involved in ribosomal protection and antibiotic efflux. Components of the whiB7 system may serve as attractive targets for the identification of inhibitors that render M. tuberculosis or multidrug-resistant derivatives more antibiotic-sensitive."}
{"id": "MED-3577", "text": "PROBLEM/CONDITION: During the twenty first century, growth in the number of older adults (persons aged > or =65 years) in the United States will produce an unprecedented increase in the number of persons at risk for costly age-associated chronic diseases and other health conditions and injuries. REPORTING PERIOD: 1995-1996. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEMS: This report uses data from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to report on leading causes of death in 1996 (from the National Vital Statistics System), major causes of hospitalization (1996 National Hospital Discharge Survey [NHDSI), and major chronic conditions (1995 National Health Interview Survey [NHIS]). The National Vital Statistics System compiles information regarding all death certificates filed in the United States. NHDS is an annual probability sample of discharges from nonfederal, short-stay hospitals. NHIS is an ongoing annual cross-sectional household survey of the U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population. In addition, health-care expenditures for older adults are examined by using information obtained from published reports from the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and health-services literature. RESULTS: The leading causes of death among adults aged > or =65 years were heart disease (1,808 deaths/100,000 population), malignant neoplasms (1,131/100,000), and cerebrovascular disease (415/100,000). Several leading causes of mortality among older adults differed by race, with deaths caused by Alzheimer's disease more frequent among whites and deaths caused by diabetes, kidney diseases, septicemia, and hypertension more frequent among blacks. Rates of hospitalization and length of hospital stays increased with age. Hospitalizations for heart disease represented the highest proportion of all discharges among older adults (23%). Discharge rates for malignant neoplasms, stroke, and pneumonia were similar for adults aged > or =65 years and, as with heart disease, were higher for men than for women. However, the rate of hospitalization for fractures among women exceeded the rate among men. Arthritis was the most prevalent chronic condition among adults aged > or =65 years (48.9/100 adults), followed by hypertension (40.3/100) and heart disease (28.6/100). In 1995, adults aged > or =65 years comprised 13% of the population but accounted for 35% of total personal health care dollars spent ($310 billion), and real per capita personal health-care expenditure for this age group increased at an average annual rate of 5.8% during 1985-1995. Projections for future medical expenditures for older adults vary; however, all project substantial increases after the year 2000. Hip fracture, dementia, and urinary incontinence are discussed as examples of prevalent and costly health conditions among older adults that differ in potential for prevention. These conditions were selected because they result in substantial medical and social costs and they differ in potential for prevention. INTERPRETATION: The higher prevalence of serious and costly health conditions among adults aged > or =65 years highlights the importance of implementing preventive health measures in this population. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS: Data regarding causes of morbidity, mortality, and health-care expenditures among older adults provide information for measuring the effectiveness of public health efforts to reduce modifiable risk factors for morbidity and mortality in this population."}
{"id": "MED-3582", "text": "Breakfasts of lentils or wholemeal bread of identical carbohydrate content were taken by seven healthy volunteers. The lentils produced a significant 71% (p less than 0.001) reduction in the blood glucose area and flattened the plasma insulin and gastric inhibitory polypeptide responses by comparison with the bread. In addition, the lentil breakfast was followed by a significantly flatter blood glucose response to the standard bread lunch which followed 4 h later (by 38%, p less than 0.01). The blood glucose pattern was mimicked by feeding the bread breakfast slowly over the 4 h before lunch. Giving a bread breakfast containing a quarter of the carbohydrate reduced the breakfast glucose profile but resulted in a significantly impaired blood glucose response to lunch (168% of control, p less than 0.01). These results, together with breath hydrogen studies, performed on a separate group of four volunteers, indicate that the flattened response to lentils is not due to carbohydrate malabsorption. Slow release or \"lente\" carbohydrate foods such as lentils may form a useful part of the diets of those with impaired carbohydrate tolerance."}
{"id": "MED-3583", "text": "Pulses are low-glycemic appetite-suppressing foods, but it is not known whether these properties persist after being consumed as part of a meal and after a second meal. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a fixed-size pulse meal on appetite and blood glucose (BG) before and after an ad libitum test meal (pizza) and on food intake (FI) at the test meal. Males (n = 25; 21.3 \u00b1 0.5 years; 21.6 \u00b1 0.3 kg\u00b7m(-2)) randomly consumed 4 isocaloric meals: chickpea; lentil; yellow split pea; and macaroni and cheese (control). Commercially available canned pulses provided 250 kcal, and were consumed with macaroni and tomato sauce. FI was measured at a pizza meal 260 min after consumption of the isocaloric meal. BG and appetite were measured from 0 to 340 min. The lentil and yellow pea, but not chickpea, treatments led to lower appetite ratings during the 260 min prepizza meal period, and less FI at the pizza meal, compared with macaroni and cheese (p < 0.05). All pulse treatments lowered BG immediately following consumption (at 20 min) (p < 0.05), but there was no effect of treatment on prepizza meal BG AUC (p = 0.07). Immediately after the pizza meal, BG was lower following the chickpea and lentil treatments, but not the yellow pea treatment (p < 0.05). Postpizza meal BG AUC was lower following the chickpea and lentil treatments than in the yellow pea treatment (p < 0.05). The beneficial effects of consuming a pulse meal on appetite, FI at a later meal, and the BG response to a later meal are dependent on pulse type."}
{"id": "MED-3584", "text": "Background: A high intake of white rice is associated with the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Costa Ricans follow a staple dietary pattern that includes white rice and beans, yet the combined role of these foods on cardiometabolic risk factors has not been studied. Objective: We aimed to determine the association between intake of white rice and beans and the metabolic syndrome and its components in Costa Rican adults (n = 1879) without diabetes. Design: Multivariate-adjusted means were calculated for components of the metabolic syndrome by daily servings of white rice and beans (<1, 1, or >1) and by the ratio of beans to white rice. The OR for the metabolic syndrome was calculated by substituting one serving of beans for one serving of white rice. Results: An increase in daily servings of white rice was positively associated with systolic blood pressure (BP), triglycerides, and fasting glucose and inversely associated with HDL cholesterol (P-trend <0.01 for all). An increase in servings of beans was inversely associated with diastolic BP (P = 0.049). Significant trends for higher HDL cholesterol and lower BP and triglycerides were observed for 1:3, 1:2, 1:1, and 2:1 ratios of beans to white rice. Substituting one serving of beans for one serving of white rice was associated with a 35% (95% CI: 15%, 50%) lower risk of the metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Increasing the ratio of beans to white rice, or limiting the intake of white rice by substituting beans, may lower cardiometabolic risk factors."}
{"id": "MED-3585", "text": "The inhibitory effect of Old Coke, caffeine-free New Coke, New Coke, Diet Coke and Pepsi-Cola on human sperm motility was studied with a trans-membrane migration method. None of them could decrease sperm motility to less than 70% of control within one hour. A previous study which claimed a marked variation of spermicidal potencies among different formulations of Coca-Cola could not be confirmed. Even if cola has a spermicidal effect, its potency is relatively weak as compared with other well-known spermicidal agents."}
{"id": "MED-3586", "text": "BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to examine the relation between dietary fats and semen quality parameters. METHODS Data from 99 men with complete dietary and semen quality data were analyzed. Fatty acid levels in sperm and seminal plasma were measured using gas chromatography in a subgroup of men (n = 23). Linear regression was used to determine associations while adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS Men were primarily Caucasian (89%) with a mean (SD) age of 36.4 (5.3) years; 71% were overweight or obese; and 67% were never smokers. Higher total fat intake was negatively related to total sperm count and concentration. Men in the highest third of total fat intake had 43% (95% confidence interval (CI): 62\u201314%) lower total sperm count and 38% (95% CI: 58\u201310%) lower sperm concentration than men in the lowest third (Ptrend = 0.01). This association was driven by intake of saturated fats. Levels of saturated fatty acids in sperm were also negatively related to sperm concentration (r= \u22120.53), but saturated fat intake was unrelated to sperm levels (r = 0.09). Higher intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats was related to a more favorable sperm morphology. Men in the highest third of omega-3 fatty acids had 1.9% (0.4\u20133.5%) higher normal morphology than men in the lowest third (Ptrend = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS In this preliminary cross-sectional study, high intake of saturated fats was negatively related to sperm concentration whereas higher intake of omega-3 fats was positively related to sperm morphology. Further, studies with larger samples are now required to confirm these findings."}
{"id": "MED-3587", "text": "In 1992 Carlsen et al. reported a significant global decline in sperm density between 1938 and 1990 [Evidence for Decreasing Quality of Semen during Last 50 Years. Br Med J 305:609-613 (1992)]. We subsequently published a reanalysis of the studies included by Carlsen et al. [Swan et al. Have Sperm Densities Declined? A Reanalysis of Global Trend Data. Environ Health Perspect 105:1228-1232 (1997)]. In that analysis we found significant declines in sperm density in the United States and Europe/Australia after controlling for abstinence time, age, percent of men with proven fertility, and specimen collection method. The declines in sperm density in the United States (approximately 1.5%/year) and Europe/Australia (approximately 3%/year) were somewhat greater than the average decline reported by Carlsen et al. (approximately 1%/year). However, we found no decline in sperm density in non-Western countries, for which data were very limited. In the current study, we used similar methods to analyze an expanded set of studies. We added 47 English language studies published in 1934-1996 to those we had analyzed previously. The average decline in sperm count was virtually unchanged from that reported previously by Carlsen et al. (slope = -0.94 vs. -0.93). The slopes in the three geographic groupings were also similar to those we reported earlier. In North America, the slope was somewhat less than the slope we had found for the United States (slope = -0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI), -1.37--0.24). Similarly, the decline in Europe (slope = -2.35; CI, -3.66--1.05) was somewhat less than reported previously. As before, studies from other countries showed no trend (slope = -0.21; CI, -2.30-1.88). These results are consistent with those of Carlsen et al. and our previous results, suggesting that the reported trends are not dependent on the particular studies included by Carlsen et al. and that the observed trends previously reported for 1938-1990 are also seen in data from 1934-1996."}
{"id": "MED-3588", "text": "Background Many studies have examined whether caffeine, alcohol, or specific beverages containing these affect fertility in women. However most of these studies have retrospectively collected information on alcohol and caffeine intake, making the results susceptible to biases. Methods We followed 18,555 married women without a history of infertility for 8 years as they attempted to become (or became) pregnant. Diet was measured twice during this period and prospectively related to the incidence of ovulatory disorder infertility. Results There were 438 incident report of ovulatory disorder infertility during follow-up. Intakes of alcohol and caffeine were unrelated to the risk of ovulatory disorder infertility. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk (RR), 95% confidence interval (CI), P for trend comparing the highest to lowest categories of intake were 1.11 (0.76\u20131.64; 0.78) for alcohol and 0.86 (0.61\u20131.20; 0.44) for total caffeine. However, intake of caffeinated soft drinks was positively related to ovulatory disorder infertility. The multivariate-adjusted RR 95% CI, and P for trend comparing the highest to lowest categories of caffeinated soft drink consumption were 1.47 (1.09\u20131.98; 0.01). Similar associations were observed for noncaffeinated, sugared, diet and total soft drinks. Conclusions Our findings do not support the hypothesis that alcohol and caffeine impair ovulation to the point of decreasing fertility. The association between soft drinks and ovulatory disorder infertility appears not to be attributable to their caffeine or sugar content, and deserves further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3589", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare dietary habits in normospermic and oligoasthenoteratospermic patients attending a reproductive assisted clinic. DESIGN: An observational, analytical case-control study. SETTING: Private fertility clinics. PATIENT(S): Thirty men with poor semen quality (cases) and 31 normospermic control couples attending our fertility clinics. INTERVENTION(S): We recorded dietary habits and food consumption using a food frequency questionnaire adapted to meet specific study objectives. Analysis of semen parameters, hormone levels, Y microdeletions, and karyotypes were also carried out. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Frequency of intake food items were registered in a scale with nine categories ranging from no consumption to repeated daily consumption. RESULT(S): Controls had a higher intake of skimmed milk, shellfish, tomatoes, and lettuce, and cases consumed more yogurt, meat products, and potatoes. In the logistic regression model cases had lower intake of lettuce and tomatoes, fruits (apricots and peaches), and significantly higher intake of dairy and meat processed products. CONCLUSION(S): Frequent intake of lipophilic foods like meat products or milk may negatively affect semen quality in humans, whereas some fruits or vegetables may maintain or improve semen quality."}
{"id": "MED-3590", "text": "Male reproductive disorders that are of interest from an environmental point of view include sexual dysfunction, infertility, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and testicular cancer. Several reports suggest declining sperm counts and increase of these reproductive disorders in some areas during some time periods past 50 years. Except for testicular cancer this evidence is circumstantial and needs cautious interpretation. However, the male germ line is one of the most sensitive tissues to the damaging effects of ionizing radiation, radiant heat and a number of known toxicants. So far occupational hazards are the best documented risk factors for impaired male reproductive function and include physical exposures (radiant heat, ionizing radiation, high frequency electromagnetic radiation), chemical exposures (some solvents as carbon disulfide and ethylene glycol ethers, some pesticides as dibromochloropropane, ethylendibromide and DDT/DDE, some heavy metals as inorganic lead and mercury) and work processes such as metal welding. Improved working conditions in affluent countries have dramatically decreased known hazardous workplace exposures, but millions of workers in less affluent countries are at risk from reproductive toxicants. New data show that environmental low-level exposure to biopersistent pollutants in the diet may pose a risk to people in all parts of the world. For other toxicants the evidence is only suggestive and further evaluation is needed before conclusions can be drawn. Whether compounds as phthalates, bisphenol A and boron that are present in a large number of industrial and consumer products entails a risk remains to be established. The same applies to psychosocial stressors and use of mobile phones. Finally, there are data indicating a particular vulnerability of the fetal testis to toxicants\u2014for instance maternal tobacco smoking. Time has come where male reproductive toxicity should be addressed form entirely new angles including exposures very early in life."}
{"id": "MED-3591", "text": "Background In recent decades, young men in some industrialized areas have reportedly experienced a decrease in semen quality. Objective We examined effects of perinatal dioxin exposure on sperm quality and reproductive hormones. Methods We investigated sperm quality and hormone concentrations in 39 sons (mean age, 22.5 years) born between 1977 and 1984 to mothers exposed to dioxin after the accident in Seveso, Italy (1976), and 58 comparisons (mean age, 24.6 years) born to mothers exposed only to background dioxin. Maternal dioxin levels at conception were extrapolated from the concentrations measured in 1976 serum samples. Results The 21 breast-fed sons whose exposed mothers had a median serum dioxin concentration as low as 19 ppt at conception had lower sperm concentration (36.3 vs. 86.3 million/mL; p = 0.002), total count (116.9 vs. 231.1; p = 0.02), progressive motility (35.8 vs. 44.2%; p = 0.03), and total motile count (38.7 vs. 98 million; p = 0.01) than did the 36 breast-fed comparisons. The 18 formula-fed exposed and the 22 formula-fed and 36 breast-fed comparisons (maternal dioxin background 10 ppt at conception) had no sperm-related differences. Follicle-stimulating hormone was higher in the breast-fed exposed group than in the breast-fed comparisons (4.1 vs. 2.63 IU/L; p = 0.03) or the formula-fed exposed (4.1 vs. 2.6 IU/L; p = 0.04), and inhibin B was lower (breast-fed exposed group, 70.2; breast-fed comparisons, 101.8 pg/mL, p = 0.01; formula-fed exposed, 99.9 pg/mL, p = 0.02). Conclusions In utero and lactational exposure of children to relatively low dioxin doses can permanently reduce sperm quality."}
{"id": "MED-3592", "text": "Levels of contaminants in fish are of particular interest because of the potential risk to humans who consume them. While attention has focused on self-caught fish, most of the fish eaten by the American public comes from commercial sources. We sampled 11 types of fish and shellfish obtained from supermarkets and specialty fish markets in New Jersey and analyzed them for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury, and selenium. We test the null hypothesis that metal levels do not vary among fish types, and we consider whether the levels of any metals could harm the fish themselves or their predators or pose a health risk for human consumers. There were significant interspecific differences for all metals, and no fish types had the highest levels of more than two metals. There were few significant correlations (Kendall tau) among metals for the three most numerous fish (yellowfin tuna, bluefish, and flounder), the correlations were generally low (below 0.40), and many correlations were negative. Only manganese and lead positively were correlated for tuna, bluefish, and flounder. The levels of most metals were below those known to cause adverse effects in the fish themselves. However, the levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium in some fish were in the range known to cause some sublethal effects in sensitive predatory birds and mammals and in some fish exceeded health-based standards. The greatest risk from different metals resided in different fish; the species of fish with the highest levels of a given metal sometimes exceeded the human health guidance or standards for that metal. Thus, the risk information given to the public (mainly about mercury) does not present a complete picture. The potential of harm from other metals suggests that people not only should eat smaller quantities of fish known to accumulate mercury but also should eat a diversity of fish to avoid consuming unhealthy quantities of other heavy metals. However, consumers should bear in mind that standards have a margin of safety."}
{"id": "MED-3593", "text": "The aim of this study was to determine the accumulation of selected heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg, As) in meat and liver of cattle. The animals were divided into four age-groups which allowed the analysis of statistical-mathematical correlations between the age of the animals and contamination of meat. The research material for determination of heavy metal levels was taken from the longissimus back muscle (m. longissimus dorsi) and samples from the tail lobe of the liver. Analysis showed that contamination by Cd and Pb is clearly dependent on the age of the animal."}
{"id": "MED-3595", "text": "The effect of heavy metals at environmentally relevant concentrations on couple fecundity has received limited study despite ubiquitous exposure. In 2005\u20132009, couples (n=501) desiring pregnancy and discontinuing contraception were recruited and asked to complete interviews and to provide blood specimens for the quantification of cadmium (\u03bcg/L), lead (\u03bcg/dL) and mercury (\u03bcg/L) using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Couples completed daily journals on lifestyle and intercourse along with menstruation and pregnancy testing for women. Couples were followed for 12 months or until pregnant. Fecundability odds ratios (FORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated adjusting for age, body mass index, cotinine, and serum lipids in relation to female then male exposures. FORs <1 denote a longer time to pregnancy. In adjusted models, reduced FORs were observed for both female cadmium (0.78; 95% CI 0.63\u20130.97) and male lead (0.85; 95% CI 0.73\u20130.98) concentrations. When jointly modeling couples\u2019 exposures, only male lead concentration significantly reduced the FOR (0.82; 95% CI 0.68, 0.97), though the FOR remained <1 for female cadmium (0.80; 95% CI 0.64, 1.00). This prospective couple based cohort with longitudinal capture of time to pregnancy is suggestive of cadmium and lead\u2019s reproductive toxicity at environmentally relevant concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-3596", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine if eating habits, physical activity and BMI can influence assisted reproduction outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study analyzed 436 patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. Patients answered a questionnaire and regression analysis examined the relationship between lifestyle and BMI with the intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles outcomes. RESULTS: No influence of lifestyle and obesity was observed on the number of oocytes recovered. Obesity reduced the normal fertilization rate (coefficient [Coef.]: -16.0; p = 0.01) and increased the risk of miscarriage (OR: 14.3; p = 0.03). Physical activity positively affected implantation (Coef.: 9.4; p = 0.009), increased the chance of pregnancy (OR: 1.83; p = 0.013) and tended to decrease the risk of miscarriage (OR: 0.30; p = 0.068). In addition, an inverse correlation was found between physical activity and BMI, and a direct correlation was found between soft-drink consumption and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Eating habits, physical activity and obesity could affect clinical outcomes of assisted reproduction."}
{"id": "MED-3597", "text": "Background Dietary trans fatty acids (dTFA) are primarily synthetic compounds that have been introduced only recently; little is known about their behavioral effects. dTFA inhibit production of omega-3 fatty acids, which experimentally have been shown to reduce aggression. Potential behavioral effects of dTFA merit investigation. We sought to determine whether dTFA are associated with aggression/irritability. Methodolgy/Prinicpal Findings We capitalized on baseline dietary and behavioral assessments in an existing clinical trial to analyze the relationship of dTFA to aggression. Of 1,018 broadly sampled baseline subjects, the 945 adult men and women who brought a completed dietary survey to their baseline visit are the target of this analysis. Subjects (seen 1999\u20132004) were not on lipid medications, and were without LDL-cholesterol extremes, diabetes, HIV, cancer or heart disease. Outcomes assessed adverse behaviors with impact on others: Overt Aggression Scale Modified-aggression subscale (primary behavioral endpoint); Life History of Aggression; Conflict Tactics Scale; and self-rated impatience and irritability. The association of dTFA to aggression was analyzed via regression and ordinal logit, unadjusted and adjusted for potential confounders (sex, age, education, alcohol, and smoking). Additional analyses stratified on sex, age, and ethnicity, and examined the prospective association. Greater dTFA were strongly significantly associated with greater aggression, with dTFA more consistently predictive than other assessed aggression predictors. The relationship was upheld with adjustment for confounders, was preserved across sex, age, and ethnicity strata, and held cross-sectionally and prospectively. Conclusions/Significance This study provides the first evidence linking dTFA with behavioral irritability and aggression. While confounding is always a concern in observational studies, factors including strength and consistency of association, biological gradient, temporality, and biological plausibility add weight to the prospect of a causal connection. Our results may have relevance to public policy determinations regarding dietary trans fats. Clinicaltrials.gov # NCT00330980"}
{"id": "MED-3598", "text": "Trans-fatty acids (TFA) have adverse effects on blood lipids, but whether TFA from different sources are associated with risk of CVD remains unresolved. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the association between TFA intake from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVO), partially hydrogenated fish oils (PHFO) and ruminant fat (rTFA) and risks of death of CVD, CHD, cerebrovascular diseases and sudden death in the Norwegian Counties Study, a population-based cohort study. Between 1974 and 1988, participants were examined for up to three times. Fat intake was assessed with a semi-quantitative FFQ. A total of 71,464 men and women were followed up through 2007. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI were estimated with Cox regression. Energy from TFA was compared to energy from all other sources, carbohydrates or unsaturated cis-fatty acids with different multivariable models. During follow-up, 3870 subjects died of CVD, 2383 of CHD, 732 of cerebrovascular diseases and 243 of sudden death. Significant risks, comparing highest to lowest intake category, were found for: TFA from PHVO and CHD (HR 1.23 (95 % CI 1.00, 1.50)) and cerebrovascular diseases (HR 0.65 (95 % CI 0.45, 0.94)); TFA from PHFO and CVD (HR 1.14 (95 % CI 1.03, 1.26)) and cerebrovascular diseases (HR 1.32 (95 % CI 1.04, 1.69)); and rTFA intake and CVD (HR 1.30 (95 % CI 1.05, 1.61)), CHD (HR 1.50 (95 % CI 1.11, 2.03)) and sudden death (HR 2.73 (95 % CI 1.19, 6.25)) in women. These associations with rTFA intake were not significant in men (P interaction \u2265 0.01). The present study supports that TFA intake, irrespective of source, increases CVD risk. Whether TFA from PHVO decreases risk of cerebrovascular diseases warrants further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3599", "text": "The dietary intake of industrially-produced trans fatty acids (IP-TFA) was estimated for the US population (aged 2 years or more), children (aged 2-5 years) and teenage boys (aged 13-18 years) using the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) food consumption database, market share information and trans fat levels based on label survey data and analytical data for packaged and in-store purchased foods. For fast foods, a Monte Carlo model was used to estimate IP-TFA intake. Further, the intake of trans fat was also estimated using trans fat levels reported in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22 (SR 22, 2009) and the 2003-2006 NHANES food consumption database. The cumulative intake of IP-TFA was estimated to be 1.3 g per person per day (g/p/d) at the mean for the US population. Based on this estimate, the mean dietary intake of IP-TFA has decreased significantly from that cited in the 2003 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final rule that established labelling requirements for trans fat (4.6 g/p/d for adults). Although the overall intake of IP-TFA has decreased as a result of the implementation of labelling requirements, individuals with certain dietary habits may still consume high levels of IP-TFA if certain brands or types of food products are frequently chosen."}
{"id": "MED-3601", "text": "Experimentation involving children is not a new phenomenon. Children have been used as research subjects in a diverse set of experiments, including the trials of new vaccines and sera, in efforts to understand normal pediatric anatomy and physiology and in the development of new drugs and procedures. Concern about child participants in research is also not a new development. For more than a century, critics of medical research have called attention to the fact that children and other vulnerable populations--pregnant women, prisoners, the mentally ill--have too often served as the unwitting and unwilling subjects of medical experiments. This paper looks at several early cases in which children participated, including the first trial of cowpox vaccine, the first human trial of rabies vaccine, and the first treatment of Listerian wound antisepsis. The history of concern for children, especially institutionalized children, in medical research is considered along with the development of regulations or guidelines, including the Declaration of Helsinki (1964)."}
{"id": "MED-3602", "text": "Ginger has long been used as an alternative medication to prevent motion sickness. The mechanism of its action, however, is unknown. We hypothesize that ginger ameliorates the nausea associated with motion sickness by preventing the development of gastric dysrhythmias and the elevation of plasma vasopressin. Thirteen volunteers with a history of motion sickness underwent circular vection, during which nausea (scored 0-3, i.e., none to severe), electrogastrographic recordings, and plasma vasopressin levels were assessed with or without ginger pretreatment in a crossover-design, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study. Circular vection induced a maximal nausea score of 2.5 +/- 0.2 and increased tachygastric activity and plasma vasopressin. Pretreatment with ginger (1,000 and 2,000 mg) reduced the nausea, tachygastria, and plasma vasopressin. Ginger also prolonged the latency before nausea onset and shortened the recovery time after vection cessation. Intravenous vasopressin infusion at 0.1 and 0.2 U/min induced nausea and increased bradygastric activity; ginger pretreatment (2,000 mg) affected neither. Ginger effectively reduces nausea, tachygastric activity, and vasopressin release induced by circular vection. In this manner, ginger may act as a novel agent in the prevention and treatment of motion sickness."}
{"id": "MED-3603", "text": "In November 1906, Richard Pearson Strong, then head of the Philippine Biological Laboratory, inoculated 24 men--inmates of Manila's Bilibid Prison--with a cholera vaccine that somehow had been contaminated with plague organisms; 13 men died. The governor-general of the Philippines appointed a general committee to investigate the affair, and the U.S. Senate demanded information about the episode. Although the Senate, the secretary of war, and even the president were kept informed of developments, no mainland investigations ensued. The general committee concluded that Strong was negligent for not having locks on his incubators and for leaving a visiting physician alone in the laboratory, where he might have mixed up the cholera and plague cultures on the fateful day. The committee's charge was referred to the attorney general, who found Strong innocent of criminal negligence, whereupon the governor-general exonerated Strong. Strong was despondent over Bilibid but recovered and developed a noteworthy career in American tropical medicine. In retrospect, the disaster at Bilibid presents an epitome of the problems surrounding the use of prisoner-subjects without authorization and without their voluntary consent. Far ahead of its time, the general committee recognized and condemned the shortcomings and urged reform, pleas the government ignored. The Bilibid episode remains, however, as a cautionary tale for those engaged in clinical research."}
{"id": "MED-3604", "text": "The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), established to review allegations of abuses of human subjects in federally sponsored radiation research, was charged with identifying appropriate standards to evaluate the ethics of cold war radiation experiments. One central question for ACHRE was to determine what role, if any, the Nuremberg Code played in the norms and practices of US medical researchers. Based on the evidence from ACHRE's Ethics Oral History Project and extensive archival research, we conclude that the Code, at the time it was promulgated, had little effect on mainstream medical researchers engaged in human subjects research. Although some clinical investigators raised questions about the conduct of research involving human beings, the medical profession did not pursue this issue until the 1960s."}
{"id": "MED-3606", "text": "Radiation is an important modality in treating people with cancer especially when surgical intervention is impracticable or might debilitate the patient. However, effective use of ionizing radiation is compromised by the side effects that result from radiation-induced damage to normal tissue. The use of radioprotective compounds, which can selectively protect normal tissues against radiation injury is of immense use because in addition to association with protecting the normal tissue, it will also permits use of higher doses of radiation to obtain better cancer control and possible cure. However, till date no ideal radioprotectors are available as most synthetic compounds are toxic at their optimal concentrations. Plants commonly used as dietary and or therapeutic agents have recently been the focus of attention since in most cases they are non-toxic and are easily accepted for human use. Ginger, the rhizomes of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae), has widely been used as both culinary and medicinal agent. Preclinical studies carried out in the last decade has shown that ginger and its phytochemicals dehydrozingerone, zingerone possess radioprotective effects in laboratory animals and in cultured cells in vitro. The hydroalcoholic extract of ginger rhizome when administered either through intraperitoneal or oral route was effective in protecting against gamma radiation-induced sickness and mortality. The phytochemicals dehydrogingerone and zingerone present in ginger are also shown to protect mice against radiation-induced sickness and mortality. Mechanistic studies have indicated that the free radical scavenging, antioxidant affects, anti-inflammatory and anti-clastogenic effects may contribute towards the observed protection. Additionally, studies with tumor bearing mice have also shown that zingerone selectively protects the normal tissues against the tumoricidal effects of radiation. This review for the first time summarizes the results related to the radioprotective properties and also emphasizes the aspects that warrant future research to establish its activity and utility as a radioprotective agent."}
{"id": "MED-3607", "text": "The development of radioprotective agents has been the subject of intense research in view of their potential for use within a radiation environment, such as space exploration, radiotherapy and even nuclear war. However, no ideal, safe synthetic radioprotectors are available to date, so the search for alternative sources, including plants, has been on going for several decades. In Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, several plants have been used to treat free radical-mediated ailments and, therefore, it is logical to expect that such plants may also render some protection against radiation damage. A systematic screening approach can provide leads to identifying potential new candidate drugs from plant sources, for mitigation of radiation injury. This article reviews some of the most promising plants, and their bioactive principles, that are widely used in traditional systems of medicine, and which have rendered significant radioprotection in both in vitro and in vivo model systems. Plants and their constituents with pharmacological activities that may be relevant to amelioration of radiation-mediated damage, including antiemetic, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, cell proliferative, wound healing and haemopoietic stimulatories are also discussed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3608", "text": "Excessive production of reactive oxygen species has been observed following acute and chronic exposure to radiation in animal models which can lead to several detrimental and irreversible outcomes in vital organs. Aim of this study was to determine the oxidative stress status in radiology unit workers which are exposed to persistent low-dose radiation. METHODS: : A group of 32 radiology unit employees along with 32 sex- and age-matched hospital workers, not exposed to low-dose radiation were recruited from two separate hospitals for the study. Exposed subjects showed higher levels of lipid peroxidation (P=0.009), total antioxidant capacity (P=0.0006) and thiol groups (P=0.03). It is concluded that occupationally exposed individuals are oxidatively stressed and precautions such as antioxidant therapy seems reasonable."}
{"id": "MED-3609", "text": "Zingerone a dietary compound was investigated for its ability to protect against radiation induced genotoxicity and apoptosis in human lymphocytes growing in vitro. The radiation antagonistic potential of zingerone was assessed by alkaline comet, cytokinesis-block micronucleus, apoptosis and reactive oxygen species inhibition assays. Treatment of lymphocytes with zingerone (10\u03bcg/ml) prior exposure to 2Gy gamma radiation resulted in a significant reduction of frequency of micronuclei as compared to the control set of cells evaluated by cytokinesis blocked micronucleus assay. Similarly, treatment of lymphocytes with zingerone prior to radiation exposure showed significant decrease in the DNA damage as assessed by comet parameters, such as percent tail DNA and Olive tail moment. Further, treatment with zingerone (10\u03bcg/ml) before irradiation significantly decreased the percentage of apoptotic cells analyzed microscopically method and by DNA ladder assay. Similarly, the radiation induced reactive oxygen species levels were significantly (P<0.01) inhibited by zingerone. Our study demonstrates the protective effect of zingerone against radiation induced DNA damage and antiapoptotic effect in human lymphocytes, which may be partly attributed to scavenging of radiation induced free radicals and also by the inhibition of radiation induced oxidative stress. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3610", "text": "The aim of this study was to determine the capability of Melissa officinalis L. (Lemon balm) infusion on improvement of oxidative stress status in radiology staff that were exposed to persistent low-dose radiation during work. The study was a before-after clinical trial performed on 55 radiology staff. They were asked to drink Lemon balm infusion which was prepared like a tea bag twice daily (1.5 g/100 mL) for 30 days. In the plasma, lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, catalase, superoxide dismutase, myeloperoxidase, and glutathione peroxidase activity were measured before and after using Lemon balm infusion.Use of Lemon balm infusion in radiology unit workers resulted in a significant improvement in plasma levels of catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase and a marked reduction in plasma DNA damage, myeloperoxidase, and lipid peroxidation. It is concluded that infusion of Lemon balm markedly improve oxidative stress condition and DNA damage in radiology staff when used as a dietary supplement for radiation protection."}
{"id": "MED-3615", "text": "Cytogenetic analysis was performed in peripheral blood lymphocytes from hospital workers chronically exposed to ionizing radiation in comparison to matched non-exposed individuals. The accumulated absorbed doses calculated for the radiation workers ranged from 9.5 to 209.4 mSv. The endpoints used were chromosomal aberrations (CA), micronuclei (MN), and sister chromatid exchanges (SCE). The frequencies of CA/100 cells observed for the exposed group were significantly (P=0.018) higher than in the control group: 3.2 and 2.6, respectively. Similarly, the mean numbers of SCE per cell were statistically higher (P=0.025) in the exposed group (6.2) in comparison with the control group (5.8). In the case of micronuclei analysis, no significant (P=0,06) difference between both groups was found, but these data should be cautiously interpreted since an increase in the frequencies of MN was found for radiation workers (3.0 MN/100 cells), compared to the control group (2.6 MN/100 cells) and this increase occur in parallel to CA and SCE frequencies. The difference between the results could be explained by the nature of CA and MN generation. The increased frequencies of CA and SCE in radiation workers indicate the cumulative effect of low-level chronic exposure to ionizing radiation, and the relevance of conducting cytogenetic analysis in parallel to physical dosimetry in the working place. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3617", "text": "Background: Dietary antioxidants may protect against DNA damage induced by endogenous and exogenous sources, including ionizing radiation (IR), but data from IR-exposed human populations are limited. Objective: The objective was to examine the association between the frequency of chromosome translocations, as a biomarker of cumulative DNA damage, and intakes of vitamins C and E and carotenoids in 82 male airline pilots. Design: Dietary intakes were estimated by using a self-administered semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Translocations were scored by using fluorescence in situ hybridization with whole chromosome paints. Negative binomial regression was used to estimate rate ratios and 95% CIs, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: Significant and inverse associations were observed between translocation frequency and intakes of vitamin C, \u03b2-carotene, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin, and lutein-zeaxanthin from food (P < 0.05). Translocation frequency was not associated with the intake of vitamin E, \u03b1-carotene, or lycopene from food; total vitamin C or E from food and supplements; or vitamin C or E or multivitamin supplements. The adjusted rate ratios (95% CI) for \u2265median compared with <median servings per week of high\u2013vitamin C fruit and vegetables, citrus fruit, and green leafy vegetables were 0.61 (0.43, 0.86), 0.64 (0.46, 0.89), and 0.59 (0.43, 0.81), respectively. The strongest inverse association was observed for \u2265median compared with <median combined intakes of vitamins C and E, \u03b2-carotene, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin, and lutein-zeaxanthin from food: 0.27 (0.14, 0.55). Conclusion: High combined intakes of vitamins C and E, \u03b2-carotene, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin, and lutein-zeaxanthin from food, or a diet high in their food sources, may protect against cumulative DNA damage in IR-exposed persons."}
{"id": "MED-3618", "text": "BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: The National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements updated its recommendations on radiation protection in dentistry in 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published its Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings in 2003, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its selection criteria for dental radiographs in 2004. This report summarizes the recommendations presented in these documents and addresses additional topics such as patient selection criteria, film selection for conventional radiographs, collimation, beam filtration, patient protective equipment, film holders, operator protection, film exposure and processing, infection control, quality assurance, image viewing, direct digital radiography and continuing education of dental health care workers who expose radiographs. CONCLUSIONS: This report discusses implementation of proper radiographic practices. In addition to these guidelines, dentists should be aware of, and comply with, applicable federal and state regulations. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Dentists should weigh the benefits of dental radiographs against the consequences of increasing a patient's exposure to radiation and implement appropriate radiation control procedures."}
{"id": "MED-3619", "text": "Diagnostic imaging is an indispensable part of contemporary medical and dental practice. Over the last few decades there has been a dramatic increase in the use of ionizing radiation for diagnostic imaging. The carcinogenic effects of high-dose exposure are well known. Does diagnostic radiation rarely cause cancer? We don't know but we should act as if it does. Accordingly, dentists should select patients wisely - only make radiographs when there is patient-specific reason to believe there is a reasonable expectation the radiograph will offer unique information influencing diagnosis or treatment. Low-dose examinations should be made: intraoral imaging - use fast film or digital sensors, thyroid collars, rectangular collimation; panoramic and lateral cephalometric imaging - use digital systems or rare-earth film screen combinations; and cone beam computed tomography - use low-dose machines, restrict field size to region of interest, reduce mA and length of exposure arc as appropriate. \u00a9 2012 Australian Dental Association."}
{"id": "MED-3620", "text": "Dietary factors such as fruit and vegetables are thought to reduce the risk of cancer incidence and mortality. We investigated the effect of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables against the long-term effects of radiation exposure on the risk of cancer. A cohort of 36,228 atomic-bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for whom radiation dose estimates were currently available, had their diet assessed in 1980. They were followed for a period of 20 years for cancer mortality. The joint-effect of fruit and vegetables intake and radiation exposure on risk of cancer death was examined, in additive (sum of effects of diet alone and radiation alone) and multiplicative (product of effects of diet alone and radiation alone) models. In the additive model, a daily intake of fruit and vegetables significantly reduced the risk of cancer deaths by 13%, compared to an intake of once or less per week. Radiation exposure of 1 Sievert (Sv) increased significantly the risk of cancer death by 48-49%. The additive joint-effects showed a lower risk of cancer among those exposed to 1 Sv who had a diet rich in vegetables (49%-13%=36%) or fruit (48%-13%=35%). The multiplicative model gave similar results. The cancer risk reduction by vegetables in exposed persons went from 52% (effect of radiation alone) to 32% (product of effect of vegetables and radiation), and cancer risk reduction by fruit was 52% (radiation alone) to 34% (product of effect of fruit and radiation). There was no significant evidence to reject either the additive or the multiplicative model. A daily intake of fruit and vegetables was beneficial to the persons exposed to radiation in reducing their risks of cancer death."}
{"id": "MED-3621", "text": "Context Ionizing radiation is a consistently identified and potentially modifiable risk factor for meningioma, the most frequently reported primary brain tumor in the United States. Objective To examine the association between dental x-rays, the most common artificial source of ionizing radiation, and risk of intra-cranial meningioma. Design and Setting Population-based case-control study design. Participants The study includes 1433 intra-cranial meningioma cases aged 29-79 years diagnosed among residents of the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, the San Francisco Bay Area and eight Houston, Texas counties between May 1, 2006 and April 28, 2011 and 1350 controls that were frequency-matched on age, sex and geography. Main Outcome Measure The association of intra-cranial meningioma diagnosis with self-report of bitewing, full-mouth, and panorex dental x-rays. Results Over a lifetime, cases were more than twice (Odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4-2.9) as likely as controls to report having ever had a bitewing exam. Regardless of the age at which the films were received, persons who reported receiving bitewing films on a yearly or greater frequency had an elevated risk with odds ratios of 1.4 (95%CI: 1.0-1.8), 1.6 (95%CI: 1.2-2.0), 1.9 (95%CI: 1.4-2.6), and 1.5 (95%CI: 1.1-2.0) for ages <10, 10-19, 20-49, and 50+ years, respectively. Increased risk of meningioma was also associated with panorex films taken at a young age or on a yearly or greater frequency with persons reporting receiving such films under the age of 10 years at 4.9 times (95%CI: 1.8-13.2) increased risk of meningioma. No association was appreciated with location of tumor above or below the tentorium. Conclusion Exposure to some dental x-rays performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era, appears to be associated with increased risk of intra-cranial meningioma. As with all sources of artificial ionizing radiation, considered use of this modifiable risk factor may be of benefit to patients."}
{"id": "MED-3622", "text": "The authors evaluated the possible association between dietary history and plasma clastogenic factors in children who immigrated to Israel between 1989 and 1993 from regions contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. The authors compared questionnaire data about demographic variables, dietary histories before and after immigration occurred, and health status with clastogenic factor scores for 162 immigrants. Logistic regression analysis revealed a negative association between clastogenic factor scores and frequency of consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit among children < or = 7 yr of age during the postimmigration period. Intake of eggs and fish by boys who were < or = 7 yr of age prior to immigration was associated positively with clastogenic factor scores. Consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits afforded protection to the immune systems of children who were < or = 7 yr of age."}
{"id": "MED-3623", "text": "This article presents an analysis of issues related to low-dose radiation, with a focus on pediatric computed tomography (CT). It references several early studies that are seldom quoted in radiation research papers, then quantifies the excess lifetime fatal cancer yield attributable to an estimated 6.5 million pediatric abdominal CT scans. The authors highlight an important policy document issued jointly by the National Cancer Institute and the Society for Pediatric Radiology--specifically, its conclusion that a small dose from CT represents \"a public health concern.\" Finally, the article identifies several contentious issues and proposes policy initiatives that, if implemented, could result in significant reductions of future radiogenic cancers and chronic injuries. The authors call for discussions between professional radiology societies and public interest health organizations, thereby involving all stakeholders."}
{"id": "MED-3624", "text": "OBJECTIVE: In light of the rapidly increasing frequency of pediatric CT examinations, the purpose of our study was to assess the lifetime cancer mortality risks attributable to radiation from pediatric CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Organ doses as a function of age-at-diagnosis were estimated for common CT examinations, and estimated attributable lifetime cancer mortality risks (per unit dose) for different organ sites were applied. Standard models that assume a linear extrapolation of risks from intermediate to low doses were applied. On the basis of current standard practice, the same exposures (milliampere-seconds) were assumed, independent of age. RESULTS: The larger doses and increased lifetime radiation risks in children produce a sharp increase, relative to adults, in estimated risk from CT. Estimated lifetime cancer mortality risks attributable to the radiation exposure from a CT in a 1-year-old are 0.18% (abdominal) and 0.07% (head)-an order of magnitude higher than for adults-although those figures still represent a small increase in cancer mortality over the natrual background rate. In the United States, of approximately 600,000 abdominal and head CT examinations annually performed in children under the age of 15 years, a rough estimate is that 500 of these individuals might ultimately die from cancer attributable to the CT radiation. CONCLUSION: The best available risk estimates suggest that pediatric CT will result in significantly increased lifetime radiation risk over adult CT, both because of the increased dose per milliampere-second, and the increased lifetime risk per unit dose. Lower milliampere-second settings can be used for children without significant loss of information. Although the risk-benefit balance is still strongly tilted toward benefit, because the frequency of pediatric CT examinations is rapidly increasing, estimates that quantitative lifetime radiation risks for children undergoing CT are not negligible may stimulate more active reduction of CT exposure settings in pediatric patients."}
{"id": "MED-3625", "text": "Short abstract Radiological and nuclear medicine examinations confer a definite (albeit low) long term risk of cancer, but patients undergoing such examinations often receive no or inaccurate information about these risks. Picano argues that this disregard of patient autonomy is no longer acceptable and suggests a practicable way of communicating risk"}
{"id": "MED-3626", "text": "Objectives The Radiation Protection of Patients Unit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is concerned about the effectiveness of justification of diagnostic medical exposures. Recent published work and the report of an initial IAEA consultation in the area gave grounds for such concerns. There is a significant level of inappropriate usage, and, in some cases, a poor level of awareness of dose and risk among some key groups involved. This article aims to address this. Methods The IAEA convened a second group of experts in November 2008 to review practical and achievable actions that might lead to more effective justification. Results This report summarises the matters that this group considered and the outcome of their deliberations. There is a need for improved communication, both within professions and between professionals on one hand, and between professionals and the patients/public on the other. Coupled with this, the issue of consent to imaging procedures was revisited. The need for good evidence-based referral guidelines or criteria of acceptability was emphasised, as was the need for their global adaptation and dissemination. Conclusion Clinical audit was regarded as a key tool in ensuring that justification becomes an effective, transparent and accountable part of normal radiological practice. In summary, justification would be facilitated by the \u201c3 As\u201d: awareness, appropriateness and audit."}
{"id": "MED-3627", "text": "BACKGROUND: The use of computed tomographic (CT) scans in the United States (US) has increased more than 3-fold since 1993 to approximately 70 million scans annually. Despite the great medical benefits, there is concern about the potential radiation-related cancer risk. We conducted detailed estimates of the future cancer risks from current CT scan use in the US according to age, sex, and scan type. METHODS: Risk models based on the National Research Council's \"Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation\" report and organ-specific radiation doses derived from a national survey were used to estimate age-specific cancer risks for each scan type. These models were combined with age- and sex-specific scan frequencies for the US in 2007 obtained from survey and insurance claims data. We estimated the mean number of radiation-related incident cancers with 95% uncertainty limits (UL) using Monte Carlo simulations. RESULTS: Overall, we estimated that approximately 29 000 (95% UL, 15 000-45 000) future cancers could be related to CT scans performed in the US in 2007. The largest contributions were from scans of the abdomen and pelvis (n = 14 000) (95% UL, 6900-25 000), chest (n = 4100) (95% UL, 1900-8100), and head (n = 4000) (95% UL, 1100-8700), as well as from chest CT angiography (n = 2700) (95% UL, 1300-5000). One-third of the projected cancers were due to scans performed at the ages of 35 to 54 years compared with 15% due to scans performed at ages younger than 18 years, and 66% were in females. CONCLUSIONS: These detailed estimates highlight several areas of CT scan use that make large contributions to the total cancer risk, including several scan types and age groups with a high frequency of use or scans involving relatively high doses, in which risk-reduction efforts may be warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3628", "text": "The distribution and behaviour of the natural-series alpha-emitter polonium-210 in the marine environment has been under study for many years primarily due to its enhanced bioaccumulation, its strong affinity for binding with certain internal tissues, and its importance as a contributor to the natural radiation dose received by marine biota as well as humans consuming seafoods. Results from studies spanning nearly 5 decades show that (210)Po concentrations in organisms vary widely among the different phylogenic groups as well as between the different tissues of a given species. Such variation results in (210)Po concentration factors ranging from approximately 10(3) to over 10(6) depending upon the organism or tissue considered. (210)Po/(210)Pb ratios in marine species are generally greater than unity and tend to increase up the food chain indicating that (210)Po is preferentially taken up by organisms compared to its progenitor (210)Pb. The effective transfer of (210)Po up the food chain is primarily due to the high degree of assimilation of the radionuclide from ingested food and its subsequent strong retention in the organisms. In some cases this mechanism may lead to an apparent biomagnification of (210)Po at the higher trophic level. Various pelagic species release (210)Po and (210)Pb packaged in organic biodetrital particles that sink and remove these radionuclides from the upper water column, a biogeochemical process which, coupled with scavenging rates of this radionuclide pair, is being examined as a possible proxy for estimating downward organic carbon fluxes in the sea. Data related to preferential bioaccumulation in various organisms, their tissues, resultant radiation doses to these species, and the processes by which (210)Po is transferred and recycled through the food web are discussed. In addition, the main gaps in our present knowledge and proposed areas for future studies on the biogeochemical behaviour of (210)Po and its use as a tracer of oceanographic processes are highlighted in this review. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3629", "text": "The Fukushima Dai-ichi release of radionuclides into ocean waters caused significant local and global concern regarding the spread of radioactive material. We report unequivocal evidence that Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis, transported Fukushima-derived radionuclides across the entire North Pacific Ocean. We measured \u03b3-emitting radionuclides in California-caught tunas and found 134Cs (4.0 \u00b1 1.4 Bq kg\u22121) and elevated 137Cs (6.3 \u00b1 1.5 Bq kg\u22121) in 15 Pacific bluefin tuna sampled in August 2011. We found no 134Cs and background concentrations (\u223c1 Bq kg\u22121) of 137Cs in pre-Fukushima bluefin and post-Fukushima yellowfin tunas, ruling out elevated radiocesium uptake before 2011 or in California waters post-Fukushima. These findings indicate that Pacific bluefin tuna can rapidly transport radionuclides from a point source in Japan to distant ecoregions and demonstrate the importance of migratory animals as transport vectors of radionuclides. Other large, highly migratory marine animals make extensive use of waters around Japan, and these animals may also be transport vectors of Fukushima-derived radionuclides to distant regions of the North and South Pacific Oceans. These results reveal tools to trace migration origin (using the presence of 134Cs) and potentially migration timing (using 134Cs:137Cs ratios) in highly migratory marine species in the Pacific Ocean."}
{"id": "MED-3632", "text": "The multiple nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima plants beginning on March 11, 2011, are releasing large amounts of airborne radioactivity that has spread throughout Japan and to other nations; thus, studies of contamination and health hazards are merited. In the United States, Fukushima fallout arrived just six days after the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns. Some samples of radioactivity in precipitation, air, water, and milk, taken by the U.S. government, showed levels hundreds of times above normal; however, the small number of samples prohibits any credible analysis of temporal trends and spatial comparisons. U.S. health officials report weekly deaths by age in 122 cities, about 25 to 35 percent of the national total. Deaths rose 4.46 percent from 2010 to 2011 in the 14 weeks after the arrival of Japanese fallout, compared with a 2.34 percent increase in the prior 14 weeks. The number of infant deaths after Fukushima rose 1.80 percent, compared with a previous 8.37 percent decrease. Projecting these figures for the entire United States yields 13,983 total deaths and 822 infant deaths in excess of the expected. These preliminary data need to be followed up, especially in the light of similar preliminary U.S. mortality findings for the four months after Chernobyl fallout arrived in 1986, which approximated final figures."}
{"id": "MED-3634", "text": "INTRODUCTION: To determine the tobacco industry's policy and action with respect to radioactive polonium 210 ((210)Po) in cigarette smoke and to assess the long-term risk of lung cancer caused by alpha particle deposits in the lungs of regular smokers. METHODS: Analysis of major tobacco industries' internal secret documents on cigarette radioactivity made available online by the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998. RESULTS: The documents show that the industry was well aware of the presence of a radioactive substance in tobacco as early as 1959. Furthermore, the industry was not only cognizant of the potential \"cancerous growth\" in the lungs of regular smokers but also did quantitative radiobiological calculations to estimate the long-term (25 years) lung radiation absorption dose (rad) of ionizing alpha particles emitted from the cigarette smoke. Our own calculations of lung rad of alpha particles match closely the rad estimated by the industry. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the industry's and our estimate of long-term lung rad of alpha particles causes 120-138 lung cancer deaths per year per 1,000 regular smokers. Acid wash was discovered in 1980 to be highly effectively in removing (210)Po from the tobacco leaves; however, the industry avoided its use for concerns that acid media would ionize nicotine converting it into a poorly absorbable form into the brain of smokers thus depriving them of the much sought after instant \"nicotine kick\" sensation. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence of lung cancer risk caused by cigarette smoke radioactivity is compelling enough to warrant its removal."}
{"id": "MED-3635", "text": "Using the infrastructure of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), numerous measurements of radionuclide wet deposition over North America were made for 167 NADP sites before and after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station incident of March 12, 2011. For the period from March 8 through April 5, 2011, wet-only precipitation samples were collected by NADP and analyzed for fission-product isotopes within whole-water and filterable solid samples by the United States Geological Survey using gamma spectrometry. Variable amounts of (131)I, (134)Cs, or (137)Cs were measured at approximately 21% of sampled NADP sites distributed widely across the contiguous United States and Alaska. Calculated 1- to 2-week individual radionuclide deposition fluxes ranged from 0.47 to 5100 Becquerels per square meter during the sampling period. Wet deposition activity was small compared to measured activity already present in U.S. soil. NADP networks responded to this complex disaster, and provided scientifically valid measurements that are comparable and complementary to other networks in North America and Europe."}
{"id": "MED-3636", "text": "The medical response to radiation--whether the result of radiological warfare, terrorist deployment of improvised radiation dispersal weapons, political assassination, occupational or industrial accidents or the medically radiated patient remains one of the least taught among all disciplines within medical education. In the aftermath of 9/11 among medical vulnerabilities to toxicant threats, of all the categories of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--whether using the CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive) or NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) acronym--radiation is the least taught in professional schools, responder cultures or civil preparedness organizations. To date, few health care professionals (HCP) possess the fundamental knowledge or skills to identify and diagnose, let alone treat a radiation victim; this vulnerability made even more obvious in the aftermath of the high profile assassination of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. He was poisoned with Polonium210. Radioactive substances are ubiquitous with radiation sources being in or transported through virtually every region nationwide. It is essential to increase preparedness among community and rural health care facilities as well as urban and university hospitals. Managing radiation injuries effectively requires access to specialized equipment and expertise. Radiation sickness is progressive and may require acute, critical and long-term care throughout the course of illness. Regardless of the source, preparedness rests upon acknowledging a threat exists and dedicating the resources to address the risks including the enhancement of training and equipment. Mass or individual exposures to radiation present unique challenges to the entire response continuum from law enforcement, first responders and emergency medical care. Increased education about and practice in responding to radiological threats is essential to enhance preparedness."}
{"id": "MED-3641", "text": "Cranberry juice is known to inhibit bacterial adhesion. We examined the inhibitory effect of cranberry juice on the adhesion of oral streptococci strains labeled with [3H]-thymidine to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite beads (s-HA). When the bacterial cells were momentarily exposed to cranberry juice, their adherence to s-HA decreased significantly compared with the control (P < 0.01). Their hydrophobicity also decreased dependently with the concentration of cranberry juice. We also evaluated the inhibitory effect of cranberry juice on biofilm formation. By using a microplate system, we found that the high molecular mass constituents of cranberry juice inhibited the biofilm formation of the tested streptococci. The inhibitory activity was related to the reduction of the hydrophobicity. The present findings suggest that cranberry juice component(s) can inhibit colonization by oral streptococci to the tooth surface and can thus slow development of dental plaque. Copyright Blackwell Munksgaard, 2004."}
{"id": "MED-3644", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cranberries have been used widely for several decades for the prevention and treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs). OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of cranberry products in preventing UTIs in susceptible populations. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL in The Cochrane Library) and the Internet. We contacted companies involved with the promotion and distribution of cranberry preparations and checked reference lists of review articles and relevant studies. Date of last search: January 2007. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs of cranberry products for the prevention of UTIs in all populations. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed and extracted information. Information was collected on methods, participants, interventions and outcomes (UTIs - symptomatic and asymptomatic, side effects, adherence to therapy). Relative risk (RR) were calculated where appropriate, otherwise a narrative synthesis was undertaken. Quality was assessed using the Cochrane criteria. MAIN RESULTS: Ten studies (n = 1049, five cross-over, five parallel group) were included. Cranberry/cranberry-lingonberry juice versus placebo, juice or water was evaluated in seven studies, and cranberries tablets versus placebo in four studies (one study evaluated both juice and tablets). Cranberry products significantly reduced the incidence of UTIs at 12 months (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.90) compared with placebo/control. Cranberry products were more effective reducing the incidence of UTIs in women with recurrent UTIs, than elderly men and women or people requiring catheterisation. Six studies were not included in the meta-analyses due to methodological issues or lack of available data. However, only one reported a significant result for the outcome of symptomatic UTIs. Side effects were common in all studies, and dropouts/withdrawals in several of the studies were high. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence that cranberry juice may decrease the number of symptomatic UTIs over a 12 month period, particularly for women with recurrent UTIs. It's effectiveness for other groups is less certain. The large number of dropouts/withdrawals indicates that cranberry juice may not be acceptable over long periods of time. It is not clear what is the optimum dosage or method of administration (e.g. juice, tablets or capsules). Further properly designed studies with relevant outcomes are needed."}
{"id": "MED-3646", "text": "BACKGROUND: The increasing prevalence of uropathogens resistant to antimicrobial agents has stimulated interest in cranberries to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). METHODS: In a double-blind, double-dummy noninferiority trial, 221 premenopausal women with recurrent UTIs were randomized to 12-month prophylaxis use of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), 480 mg once daily, or cranberry capsules, 500 mg twice daily. Primary end points were the mean number of symptomatic UTIs over 12 months, the proportion of patients with at least 1 symptomatic UTI, the median time to first UTI, and development of antibiotic resistance in indigenous Escherichia coli. RESULTS: After 12 months, the mean number of patients with at least 1 symptomatic UTI was higher in the cranberry than in the TMP-SMX group (4.0 vs 1.8; P = .02), and the proportion of patients with at least 1 symptomatic UTI was higher in the cranberry than in the TMP-SMX group (78.2% vs 71.1%). Median time to the first symptomatic UTI was 4 months for the cranberry and 8 months for the TMP-SMX group. After 1 month, in the cranberry group, 23.7% of fecal and 28.1% of asymptomatic bacteriuria E coli isolates were TMP-SMX resistant, whereas in the TMP-SMX group, 86.3% of fecal and 90.5% of asymptomatic bacteriuria E coli isolates were TMP-SMX resistant. Similarly, we found increased resistance rates for trimethoprim, amoxicillin, and ciprofloxacin in these E coli isolates after 1 month in the TMP-SMX group. After discontinuation of TMP-SMX, resistance reached baseline levels after 3 months. Antibiotic resistance did not increase in the cranberry group. Cranberries and TMP-SMX were equally well tolerated. CONCLUSION: In premenopausal women, TMP-SMX, 480 mg once daily, is more effective than cranberry capsules, 500 mg twice daily, to prevent recurrent UTIs, at the expense of emerging antibiotic resistance. TRIAL REGISTRATION: isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN50717094."}
{"id": "MED-3648", "text": "PURPOSE: The fecal-perineal-urethral hypothesis to explain the cause of urinary tract infections (UTI) by enteric bacteria has been supported by longitudinal studies using methods of serotyping and detecting urovirulence factors such as P fimbriae. However, genetic techniques to more accurately characterize Escherichia coli strains have not been exploited. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 2,700 E. coli colonies isolated from the urine and rectal swabs of 9 female subjects with acute uncomplicated cystitis and from the rectal swabs of 30 healthy women were serotyped and examined for genes encoding various urovirulence factors by colony hybridization test. The clonality of the urine and fecal isolates of E. coli from the cystitis subjects was further evaluated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). RESULTS: E. coli strains causing cystitis dominated the rectal flora of 7 of 9 patients. In the remaining 2 patients, similar clones comprised at least 20% of the fecal flora. Carriage of E. coli strains with a variety of urovirulence factors was quite common among healthy women. PFGE demonstrated that most of the isolates sharing the same serotypic characteristics and virulence factors in the urine and rectal swab samples from each subject were identical. CONCLUSIONS: Based upon precise genetic techniques, our results clearly support the fecal-perineal-urethral hypothesis, indicating that E. coli strains residing in the rectal flora serve as a reservoir for urinary tract infections, e.g., cystitis."}
{"id": "MED-3649", "text": "Most human extraintestinal Escherichia coli infections, including those involving antimicrobial resistant strains, are caused by the members of a limited number of distinctive E. coli lineages, termed extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), that have a special ability to cause disease at extraintestinal sites when they exit their usual reservoir in the host's intestinal tract. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that many of the ExPEC strains encountered in humans with urinary tract infection, sepsis, and other extraintestinal infections, especially the most extensively antimicrobial-resistant strains, may have a food animal source, and may be transmitted to humans via the food supply. This review summarizes the evidence that food-borne organisms are a significant cause of extraintestinal E. coli infections in humans."}
{"id": "MED-3651", "text": "Thirteen sites in each of 60 domestic kitchens were examined for Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. following the preparation of a chicken for cooking and the application of different hygiene regimes. During food preparation bacteria became widely disseminated to hand and food contact surfaces. Where cleaning was carried out with detergent and hot water using a prescribed routine there was no significant decrease in the frequency of contaminated surfaces. Where hypochlorite was used in addition, a significant reduction in the number of contaminated sites was observed. The study suggests that there is a need to better understand and promote effective hygiene procedures for the domestic kitchen."}
{"id": "MED-3652", "text": "Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli sequence type 131 (ST131) has recently emerged as a globally distributed cause of extraintestinal infections in humans. Diverse factors have been investigated as explanations for ST131's rapid and successful dissemination, including transmission through animal contact and consumption of food, as suggested by the detection of ST131 in a number of nonhuman species. For example, ST131 has recently been identified as a cause of clinical infection in companion animals and poultry, and both host groups have been confirmed as faecal carriers of ST131. Moreover, a high degree of similarity has been shown among certain ST131 isolates from humans, companion animals, and poultry based on resistance characteristics and genomic background and human and companion animal ST131 isolates tend to exhibit similar virulence genotypes. However, most ST131 isolates from poultry appear to possess specific virulence genes that are typically absent from human and companion animal isolates, including genes associated with avian pathogenic E. coli. Since the number of reported animal and food-associated ST131 isolates is quite small, the role of nonhuman host species in the emergence, dissemination, and transmission of ST131 to humans remains unclear. Nevertheless, given the profound public health importance of the emergent ST131 clonal group, even the limited available evidence indicates a pressing need for further careful study of this significant question. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3653", "text": "We previously described how retail meat, particularly chicken, might be a reservoir for extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) causing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in humans. To rule out retail beef and pork as potential reservoirs, we tested 320 additional E. coli isolates from these meats. Isolates from beef and pork were significantly less likely than those from chicken to be genetically related to isolates from humans with UTIs. We then tested whether the reservoir for ExPEC in humans could be food animals themselves by comparing geographically and temporally matched E. coli isolates from 475 humans with UTIs and from cecal contents of 349 slaughtered animals. We found genetic similarities between E. coli from animals in abattoirs, principally chickens, and ExPEC causing UTIs in humans. ExPEC transmission from food animals could be responsible for human infections, and chickens are the most probable reservoir."}
{"id": "MED-3654", "text": "Nutrient profiling of foods, described as the science of ranking foods based on their nutrient content, is fast becoming the basis for regulating nutrition labels, health claims, and marketing and advertising to children. A number of nutrient profile models have now been developed by research scientists, regulatory agencies, and by the food industry. Whereas some of these models have focused on nutrients to limit, others have emphasized nutrients known to be beneficial to health, or some combination of both. Although nutrient profile models are often tailored to specific goals, the development process ought to follow the same science-driven rules. These include the selection of index nutrients and reference amounts, the development of an appropriate algorithm for calculating nutrient density, and the validation of the chosen nutrient profile model against healthy diets. It is extremely important that nutrient profiles be validated rather than merely compared to prevailing public opinion. Regulatory agencies should act only when they are satisfied that the scientific process has been followed, that the algorithms are transparent, and that the profile model has been validated with respect to objective measures of a healthy diet."}
{"id": "MED-3655", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a disturbance of vaginal microflora, is a common cause of vaginal symptoms and is associated with an increased risk of acquisition of sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and with adverse pregnancy outcomes. We determined prevalence and associations with BV among a representative sample of women of reproductive age in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: Women aged 14-49 years participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2004 were asked to submit a self-collected vaginal swab for Gram staining. BV, determined using Nugent's score, was defined as a score of 7-10. RESULTS: The prevalence of BV was 29.2% (95% confidence interval 27.2%-31.3%) corresponding to 21 million women with BV; only 15.7% of the women with BV reported vaginal symptoms. Prevalence was 51.4% among non-Hispanic blacks, 31.9% among Mexican Americans, and 23.2% among non-Hispanic whites (P <0.01 for each comparison). Although BV was also associated with poverty (P <0.01), smoking (P <0.05), increasing body mass index (chi2 P <0.0001 for trend), and having had a female sex partner (P <0.005), in the multivariate model, BV only remained positively associated with race/ethnicity, increasing lifetime sex partners (chi2 P <0.001 for trend), increasing douching frequency (chi2 P for trend <0.001), low educational attainment (P <0.01), and inversely associated with current use of oral contraceptive pills (P <0.005). CONCLUSION: BV is a common condition; 84% of women with BV did not report symptoms. Because BV increases the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, BV could contribute to racial disparities in these infections."}
{"id": "MED-3656", "text": "The etiology of bacterial vaginosis is unknown, and there are no long-term therapies for preventing this frequently recurring condition. Vaginal douching has been reported to be associated with bacterial vaginosis in observational studies. However, this association may be due to confounding by indication\u2014that is, confounding by women douching in response to vaginal symptoms associated with bacterial vaginosis. The authors used marginal structural modeling to estimate the causal effect of douching on bacterial vaginosis risk while controlling for this confounding effect. In 1999\u20132002, nonpregnant women (n = 3,620) were recruited into a prospective study when they visited one of 12 public health clinics in Birmingham, Alabama, for routine care. Participants were assessed quarterly for 1 year. Bacterial vaginosis was based on a Nugent's Gram stain score of 7 or higher. Thirty-two percent of participants douched in every study interval, and 43.0% never douched. Of the 12,349 study visits, 40.2% were classified as involving bacterial vaginosis. The relative risk for regular douching as compared with no douching was 1.21 (95% confidence interval: 1.08, 1.38). These findings indicate that douching confers increased risk of disruption of vaginal flora. In the absence of a large randomized trial, these findings provide the best evidence to date for a risk of bacterial vaginosis associated with douching."}
{"id": "MED-3657", "text": "Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common condition of unknown etiology and has been linked to adverse reproductive and obstetric health outcomes. Prior dietary research on BV has focused on specific macro- and micronutrients, but not dietary indices. We assessed the relationship between BV and selected dietary indicators among a cohort of 1735 nonpregnant women ages 15\u201344 y from Birmingham, Alabama. Annual intake was assessed with the Block98 FFQ, and the glycemic index, glycemic load (GL), and Healthy Eating Index were calculated by the Block Dietary Data System. The Naturally Nutrient Rich (NNR) score was also calculated. Vaginal flora was evaluated using Nugent Gram-stain criteria. Crude OR and adjusted OR were determined by multinomial and logistic regression in cross-sectional and prospective analyses, respectively. Participants were predominantly African American (85.5%) aged 25.3 \u00b1 6.8 y (mean \u00b1 SD). Per 10-unit increase, GL was positively (adjusted OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 1.00\u20131.03) and NNR was negatively (adjusted OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.88\u20130.99) associated with BV compared to normal vaginal flora. In prospective analyses, only GL was associated with BV progression (adjusted OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.00\u20131.05) and persistence (adjusted OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 1.01\u20131.04) after adjustment. Both GL and NNR were associated with greater BV prevalence and GL was associated with an increase in BV persistence and acquisition. These results suggest that diet composition may contribute to vaginal flora imbalances and be important for elucidating the etiology of BV."}
{"id": "MED-3658", "text": "The triptans, selective serotonin 5-HT1B/1D agonists, are very effective acute migraine drugs. Soon, seven different triptans will be clinically available at 13 different oral doses, making evidence-based selection guidelines necessary. Triptan trials have similar designs, facilitating meta-analysis. We wished to provide an evidence-based foundation for using triptans in clinical practice, and to review the methodological issues surrounding triptan trials. We asked pharmaceutical companies and the principal investigators of company-independent trials for the 'raw patient data' of all double-blind, randomized, controlled, clinical trials with oral triptans in migraine. All data were cross-checked with published or presented data. We calculated summary estimates across studies for important efficacy and tolerability parameters, and compared these with those from direct, head-to-head, comparator trials. Out of 76 eligible clinical trials, 53 (12 not yet published) involving 24089 patients met the criteria for inclusion. Mean results (and 95% confidence intervals) for sumatriptan 100 mg, the first available and most widely prescribed oral triptan, are 59% (57-60) for 2 h headache response (improvement from moderate or severe to mild or no pain); 29% (27-30) for 2 h pain free (improvement to no pain); 20% (18-21) for sustained pain free (pain free by 2 h and no headache recurrence or use of rescue medication 2-24 h post-dose), and 67% (63-70) for consistency (response in at least two out of three treated attacks); placebo-subtracted proportions for patients with at least one adverse event (AE) are 13% (8-18), for at least one central nervous system AE 6% (3-9), and for at least one chest AE 1.9% (1.0-2.7). Compared with these data: rizatriptan 10 mg shows better efficacy and consistency, and similar tolerability; eletriptan 80 mg shows better efficacy, similar consistency, but lower tolerability; almotriptan 12.5 mg shows similar efficacy at 2 h but better sustained pain-free response, consistency, and tolerability; sumatriptan 25 mg, naratriptan 2.5 mg and eletriptan 20 mg show lower efficacy and better tolerability; zolmitriptan 2.5 mg and 5 mg, eletriptan 40 mg, and rizatriptan 5 mg show very similar results. The results of the 22 trials that directly compared triptans show the same overall pattern. We received no data on frovatriptan, but publicly available data suggest substantially lower efficacy. The major methodological issues involve the choice of the primary endpoint, consistency over multiple attacks, how to evaluate headache recurrence, use of placebo-subtracted proportions to control for across-study differences, and the difference between tolerability and safety. In addition, there are a number of methodological issues specific for direct comparator trials, including encapsulation and patient selection. At marketed doses, all oral triptans are effective and well tolerated. Differences among them are in general relatively small, but clinically relevant for individual patients. Rizatriptan 10 mg, eletriptan 80 mg and almotriptan 12.5 mg provide the highest likelihood of consistent success. Sumatriptan features the longest clinical experience and the widest range of formulations. All triptans are contra-indicated in the presence of cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-3659", "text": "We report the annual results of patch testing with lavender oil for a 9-year period from 1990 to 1998 in Japan. Using Finn Chambers and Scanpor tape, we performed 2-day closed patch testing with lavender oil 20% pet. on the upper back of each patient suspected of having cosmetic contact dermatitis. We compared the frequency of positive patch tests to lavender oil each year with those to other fragrances. We diagnosed contact allergy when patch test reactions were + or <+ at 1 day after removal. The positivity rate of lavender oil was 3.7% (0-13.9%) during the 9-year period from 1990 to 1998. The positivity rate of lavender oil increased suddenly in 1997. Recently, in Japan, there has been a trend for aromatherapy using lavender oil. With this trend, placing dried lavender flowers in pillows, drawers, cabinets, or rooms has become a new fashion. We asked patients who showed a positive reaction to lavender oil about their use of dried lavender flowers. We confirmed the use of dried lavender flowers in 5 cases out of 11 positive cases in 1997 and 8 out of 15 positive cases in 1998. We concluded that the increase in patch test positivity rates to lavender oil in 1997 and 1998 was due to the above fashion, rather than due to fragrances in cosmetic products."}
{"id": "MED-3662", "text": "Essential oils distilled from members of the genus Lavandula have been used both cosmetically and therapeutically for centuries with the most commonly used species being L. angustifolia, L. latifolia, L. stoechas and L. x intermedia. Although there is considerable anecdotal information about the biological activity of these oils much of this has not been substantiated by scientific or clinical evidence. Among the claims made for lavender oil are that is it antibacterial, antifungal, carminative (smooth muscle relaxing), sedative, antidepressive and effective for burns and insect bites. In this review we detail the current state of knowledge about the effect of lavender oils on psychological and physiological parameters and its use as an antimicrobial agent. Although the data are still inconclusive and often controversial, there does seem to be both scientific and clinical data that support the traditional uses of lavender. However, methodological and oil identification problems have severely hampered the evaluation of the therapeutic significance of much of the research on Lavandula spp. These issues need to be resolved before we have a true picture of the biological activities of lavender essential oil. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3665", "text": "There is widespread belief that the use of aromatherapy and massage in an intensive care environment offers a means of increasing the quality of sensory input that patients receive, as well as reducing levels of stress and anxiety. Despite a wealth of anecdotal evidence in support of these claims, there have been few objective studies to evaluate the effects of these therapies. In this experimental study 122 patients admitted to a general intensive care unit were randomly allocated to receive either massage, aromatherapy using essential oil of lavender, or a period of rest. Both pre- and post-therapy assessments included physiological stress indicators and patients' evaluation of their anxiety levels, mood and ability to cope with their intensive care experience. Ninety-three patients (77%) were able to complete subjective assessments. There were no statistically significant differences in the physiological stress indicators or observed or reported behaviour of patients' ability to cope following any of the three interventions. However, those patients who received aromatherapy reported significantly greater improvement in their mood and perceived levels of anxiety. They also felt less anxious and more positive immediately following the therapy, although this effect was not sustained or cumulative."}
{"id": "MED-3666", "text": "Most cases of male prepubertal gynecomastia are classified as idiopathic. We investigated possible causes of gynecomastia in three prepubertal boys who were otherwise healthy and had normal serum concentrations of endogenous steroids. In all three boys, gynecomastia coincided with the topical application of products that contained lavender and tea tree oils. Gynecomastia resolved in each patient shortly after the use of products containing these oils was discontinued. Furthermore, studies in human cell lines indicated that the two oils had estrogenic and antiandrogenic activities. We conclude that repeated topical exposure to lavender and tea tree oils probably caused prepubertal gynecomastia in these boys. 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society"}
{"id": "MED-3667", "text": "The potential genotoxicity of lavender essential oil and its major components, linalool, and linalyl acetate, was evaluated in vitro by the micronucleus test on peripheral human lymphocytes. In the range of non-toxic concentrations (0.5-100 \u03bcg/ml), linalyl acetate increased the frequency of micronuclei significantly and in concentration-dependent manner; lavender oil did so only at the highest concentration tested, whereas linalool was devoid of genotoxicity. None of the tested substances led to an increase in nucleoplasmic bridges or nuclear buds frequency. These findings suggest that the mutagenic activity of lavender oil can be related to the presence of linalyl acetate, which seems to have a profile of an aneugenic agent. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3668", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Investigate the effects of lavender oil on the central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, and mood responses in humans after inhalation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Twenty healthy volunteers participated in the experiments. The present study assessed autonomic parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature to determine the arousal level of the autonomic nervous system. In addition, subjects were asked to estimate their mood responses such as feeling pleasant or unpleasant, uncomfortable, sensuality, relaxation, or refreshing in order to assess subjective behavioral arousal. Finally, electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from 31 electrodes on the scalp according to the international 10 to 20 system, and EEG power spectra were calculated by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Data was analyzed by comparing the effects of lavender oil on physiological and mood states with sweet almond oil. These assessments were measured before and after using paired t-test statistical procedure. RESULTS: The results revealed that lavender oil caused significant decreases of blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature, which indicated a decrease of autonomic arousal. In terms of mood responses, the subjects in the lavender oil group categorized themselves as more active, fresher relaxed than subjects just inhaling base oil. Compared with base oil, lavender oil increased the power of theta (4-8 Hz) and alpha (8-13 Hz) brain activities. The topographic map showed obviously more scattering power in alpha range waves particularly in bilateral temporal and central area. CONCLUSION: The findings provided evidence the relaxing effect of inhaling lavender oil."}
{"id": "MED-3669", "text": "EEG activity, alertness, and mood were assessed in 40 adults given 3 minutes of aromatherapy using two aromas, lavender (considered a relaxing odor) or rosemary (considered a stimulating odor). Participants were also given simple math computations before and after the therapy. The lavender group showed increased beta power, suggesting increased drowsiness, they had less depressed mood (POMS) and reported feeling more relaxed and performed the math computations faster and more accurately following aromatherapy. The rosemary group, on the other hand, showed decreased frontal alpha and beta power, suggesting increased alertness. They also had lower state anxiety scores, reported feeling more relaxed and alert and they were only faster, not more accurate, at completing the math computations after the aromatherapy session."}
{"id": "MED-3670", "text": "Generalized and persistent anxiety, accompanied by nervousness and other symptoms (Generalised Anxiety Disorder, GAD) is frequent in the general population and leads to benzodiazepine usage. Unfortunately, these substances induce sedation and have a high potential for drug abuse, and there is thus a need for alternatives. As the anxiolytic properties of lavender have already been demonstrated in pharmacological studies and small-scale clinical trials, it was postulated that lavender has a positive effect in GAD. A controlled clinical study was then performed to evaluate the efficacy of silexan, a new oral lavender oil capsule preparation, versus a benzodiazepine. In this study, the efficacy of a 6-week-intake of silexan compared to lorazepam was investigated in adults with GAD. The primary target variable was the change in the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A-total score) as an objective measurement of the severity of anxiety between baseline and week 6. The results suggest that silexan effectively ameliorates generalized anxiety comparable to a common benzodiazepine (lorazepam). The mean of the HAM-A-total score decreased clearly and to a similar extent in both groups (by 11.3+/-6.7 points (45%) in the silexan group and by 11.6+/-6.6 points (46%) in the lorazepam group, from 25+/-4 points at baseline in both groups). During the active treatment period, the two HAM-A subscores \"somatic anxiety\" (HAM-A subscore I) and \"psychic anxiety\" (HAM-A subscore II) also decreased clearly and to a similar extent in both groups. The changes in other subscores measured during the study, such as the SAS (Self-rating Anxiety Scale), PSWQ-PW (Penn State Worry Questionnaire), SF 36 Health survey Questionnaire and Clinical Global Impressions of severity of disorder (CGI item 1, CGI item 2, CGI item 3), and the results of the sleep diary demonstrated comparable positive effects of the two compounds. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that silexan is as effective as lorazepam in adults with GAD. The safety of silexan was also demonstrated. Since lavender oil showed no sedative effects in our study and has no potential for drug abuse, silexan appears to be an effective and well tolerated alternative to benzodiazepines for amelioration of generalised anxiety. Copyright 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3671", "text": "This study examined the impact of academic stress on salivary cortisol concentrations and lactic acid bacteria activity. Whole, unstimulated saliva samples and faecal samples were collected from 23 healthy undergraduate students (23.0+/-6.8 years; range 18-44) over two 1-week periods: during the beginning of semester (low-stress baseline condition) and during the first week of exams (high-stress condition). Students also completed a series of questionnaires measuring perceived levels of stress, gastrointestinal symptoms, and nutritional intake. Significant findings indicated that faecal lactic acid bacterial levels were lower during the high-stress condition. Paralleling this, students rated perceived levels of stress as being greater during the exam period compared to the baseline condition. The findings from this study have provided further insight into the link between stress and gastrointestinal flora activity in humans."}
{"id": "MED-3672", "text": "This is a rapidly emerging field. The application of knowledge regarding the relationship between neural and immune systems in order to gain a better understanding of human conditions has been slow. In this discussion we describe how the brain and microbiota interact, and try to bring this into a context that is clinically relevant. We begin by describing established facts pertaining to the gut\u2013brain axis and the role of gut bacteria. We then focus upon emerging data that will contribute to the generation of a new conceptual framework about the microbiota\u2013gut\u2013brain axis. In the final section we anticipate future directions of this field."}
{"id": "MED-3673", "text": "Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disease characterized by unexplained disabling fatigue and a combination of accompanying symptoms the pathology of which is incompletely understood. Many CFS patients complain of gut dysfunction. In fact, patients with CFS are more likely to report a previous diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common functional disorder of the gut, and experience IBS-related symptoms. Recently, evidence for interactions between the intestinal microbiota, mucosal barrier function, and the immune system have been shown to play a role in the disorder's pathogenesis. Studies examining the microecology of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract have identified specific microorganisms whose presence appears related to disease; in CFS, a role for altered intestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis of the disease has recently been suggested. Mucosal barrier dysfunction promoting bacterial translocation has also been observed. Finally, an altered mucosal immune system has been associated with the disease. In this article, we discuss the interplay between these factors in CFS and how they could play a significant role in GI dysfunction by modulating the activity of the enteric nervous system, the intrinsic innervation of the gut. If an altered intestinal microbiota, mucosal barrier dysfunction, and aberrant intestinal immunity contribute to the pathogenesis of CFS, therapeutic efforts to modify gut microbiota could be a means to modulate the development and/or progression of this disorder. For example, the administration of probiotics could alter the gut microbiota, improve mucosal barrier function, decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines, and have the potential to positively influence mood in patients where both emotional symptoms and inflammatory immune signals are elevated. Probiotics also have the potential to improve gut motility, which is dysfunctional in many CFS patients."}
{"id": "MED-3674", "text": "The concept that the gut and the brain are closely connected, and that this interaction plays an important part not only in gastrointestinal function but also in certain feeling states and in intuitive decision making, is deeply rooted in our language. Recent neurobiological insights into this gut\u2013brain crosstalk have revealed a complex, bidirectional communication system that not only ensures the proper maintenance of gastrointestinal homeostasis and digestion but is likely to have multiple effects on affect, motivation and higher cognitive functions, including intuitive decision making. Moreover, disturbances of this system have been implicated in a wide range of disorders, including functional and inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders, obesity and eating disorders."}
{"id": "MED-3675", "text": "Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is complex illness of unknown etiology. Among the broad range of symptoms, many patients report disturbances in the emotional realm, the most frequent of which is anxiety. Research shows that patients with CFS and other so-called functional somatic disorders have alterations in the intestinal microbial flora. Emerging studies have suggested that pathogenic and non-pathogenic gut bacteria might influence mood-related symptoms and even behavior in animals and humans. In this pilot study, 39 CFS patients were randomized to receive either 24 billion colony forming units of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) or a placebo daily for two months. Patients provided stool samples and completed the Beck Depression and Beck Anxiety Inventories before and after the intervention. We found a significant rise in both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria in those taking the LcS, and there was also a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms among those taking the probiotic vs controls (p = 0.01). These results lend further support to the presence of a gut-brain interface, one that may be mediated by microbes that reside or pass through the intestinal tract."}
{"id": "MED-3676", "text": "In a previous clinical study, a probiotic formulation (PF) consisting of Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175 (PF) decreased stress-induced gastrointestinal discomfort. Emerging evidence of a role for gut microbiota on central nervous system functions therefore suggests that oral intake of probiotics may have beneficial consequences on mood and psychological distress. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anxiolytic-like activity of PF in rats, and its possible effects on anxiety, depression, stress and coping strategies in healthy human volunteers. In the preclinical study, rats were daily administered PF for 2 weeks and subsequently tested in the conditioned defensive burying test, a screening model for anti-anxiety agents. In the clinical trial, volunteers participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised parallel group study with PF administered for 30\u00a0d and assessed with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-90), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Perceived Stress Scale, the Coping Checklist (CCL) and 24\u00a0h urinary free cortisol (UFC). Daily subchronic administration of PF significantly reduced anxiety-like behaviour in rats (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705) and alleviated psychological distress in volunteers, as measured particularly by the HSCL-90 scale (global severity index, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705; somatisation, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705; depression, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705; and anger-hostility, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705), the HADS (HADS global score, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705; and HADS-anxiety, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b706), and by the CCL (problem solving, P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705) and the UFC level (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705). L. helveticus R0052 and B. longum R0175 taken in combination display anxiolytic-like activity in rats and beneficial psychological effects in healthy human volunteers."}
{"id": "MED-3677", "text": "I hypothesize here that the ability of probiotics to synthesize neuroactive compounds provides a unifying microbial endocrinology-based mechanism to explain the hitherto incompletely understood action of commensal microbiota that affect the host's gastrointestinal and psychological health. Once ingested, probiotics enter an interactive environment encompassing microbiological, immunological, and neurophysiological components. By utilizing a trans-disciplinary framework known as microbial endocrinology, mechanisms that would otherwise not be considered become apparent since any candidate would need to be shared among all three components. The range of neurochemicals produced by probiotics includes neurochemicals for which receptor-based targets on immune and neuronal elements (intestinal and extra-intestinal) have been well characterized. Production of neurochemicals by probiotics therefore allows for their consideration as delivery vehicles for neuroactive compounds. This unifying microbial endocrinology-based hypothesis, which may facilitate the selection and design of probiotics for clinical use, also highlights the largely unrecognized role of neuroscience in understanding how microbes may influence health. Copyright \u00a9 2011 WILEY Periodicals, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-3678", "text": "Evidence is accumulating to suggest that gut microbes (microbiota) may be involved in neural development and function, both peripherally in the enteric nervous system and centrally in the brain. There is an increasing and intense current interest in the role that gut bacteria play in maintaining the health of the host. Altogether the mass of intestinal bacteria represents a virtual inner organ with 100 times the total genetic material contained in all the cells in the human body. Surprisingly, the characterization of this extraordinarily diverse population is only just beginning, since some 60% of these microbes have never been cultured. Commensal organisms live in a state of harmonious symbiosis with each other and their host, however, a disordered balance amongst gut microbes is now thought to be an associated or even causal factor for chronic medical conditions as varied as obesity and inflammatory bowel diseases. While evidence is still limited in psychiatric illnesses, there are rapidly coalescing clusters of evidence which point to the possibility that variations in the composition of gut microbes may be associated with changes in the normal functioning of the nervous system. This review focuses on these data and suggests that the concept should be explored further to increase our understanding of mood disorders, and possibly even uncover missing links to a number of co-morbid medical diseases."}
{"id": "MED-3679", "text": "Commercial literature on various probiotic products suggests that they can be taken before meals, during meals or after meals or even without meals. This has led to serious confusion for the industry and the consumer. The objective of our study was to examine the impact of the time of administration with respect to mealtime and the impact of the buffering capacity of the food on the survival of probiotic microbes during gastrointestinal transit. We used an in vitro Digestive System (IViDiS) model of the upper gastrointestinal tract to examine the survival of a commercial multi-strain probiotic, ProtecFlor\u00ae. This product, in a capsule form, contains four different microbes: two lactobacilli (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus R0011), Bifidobacterium longum R0175 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii. Enumeration during and after transit of the stomach and duodenal models showed that survival of all the bacteria in the product was best when given with a meal or 30 minutes before a meal (cooked oatmeal with milk). Probiotics given 30 minutes after the meal did not survive in high numbers. Survival in milk with 1% milk fat and oatmeal-milk gruel were significantly better than apple juice or spring water. S. boulardii was not affected by time of meal or the buffering capacity of the meal. The protein content of the meal was probably not as important for the survival of the bacteria as the fat content. We conclude that ideally, non-enteric coated bacterial probiotic products should be taken with or just prior to a meal containing some fats."}
{"id": "MED-3680", "text": "BACKGROUND: Probiotics may improve a person's health by regulating their immune function. Some studies show that probiotic strains can prevent respiratory infections. However, no evidence of the benefits of probiotics for acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and related potential adverse effects has been published. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and safety of probiotics for preventing acute URTIs. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2011, Issue 2), which includes the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group's Specialised Register, MEDLINE (Ovid) (1950 to May week 1, 2011), EMBASE (1974 to May 2011), Web of Science which includes Science Citation Index (from 1900 to May 2011) and Conference Proceedings Citation Index (from 1991 to May 2011), the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, which includes the China Biological Medicine Database (from 1978 to May 2011), the Chinese Medicine Popular Science Literature Database (from 2000 to May 2011) and the Masters Degree Dissertation of Beijing Union Medical College Database (from 1981 to May 2011). SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing probiotics with placebo to prevent acute URTIs. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed eligibility, quality of trials and extracted data. MAIN RESULTS: We included 14 RCTs, although we could only extract available data to meta-analyse in 10 trials which involved 3451 participants. We found that probiotics were better than placebo when measuring the number of participants experiencing episodes of acute URTI: at least one episode: odds ratio (OR) 0.58; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36 to 0.92; at least three episodes: OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.36 to 0.80; rate ratio of episodes of acute URTI: rate ratio 0.88; 95% CI 0.81 to 0.96; and reduced antibiotic prescription rates for acute URTIs: OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.98. Probiotics and placebo were similar when measuring the mean duration (MD) of an episode of acute URTI: MD -0.29; 95% CI -3.71 to 3.13 and adverse events: OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.37 to 2.28. Side effects of probiotics were minor and gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common. We found that some subgroups had a high level of heterogeneity when conducting pooled analyses. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Probiotics were better than placebo in reducing the number of participants experiencing episodes of acute URTIs, the rate ratio of episodes of acute URTI and reducing antibiotic use. This indicates that probiotics may be more beneficial than placebo for preventing acute URTIs. However, the results have some limitations and there were no data for older people."}
{"id": "MED-3681", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of the probiotic lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001, on natural cellular immunity when delivered orally in normal low-fat milk (LFM) or lactose-hydrolyzed low-fat milk (LFM-LH). DESIGN: A three stage, pre-post intervention trial, spanning nine weeks. SETTING: Taipei Medical College Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. SUBJECTS: Fifty-two healthy middle-aged and elderly volunteers (17 males, 35 females; median age 63.5, range 44-80). INTERVENTIONS: Stage 1 (run-in diet): 25 g/200 mL reconstituted LFM powder, twice daily for 3 weeks. Stage 2 (probiotic intervention): LFM or LFM-LH, supplemented with 10(9) CFUs/g L. rhamnosus HN001 in each case, for 3 weeks. Stage 3 (wash-out): LFM for 3 weeks. MEASURES OF OUTCOME: In vitro phagocytic capacity of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes; in vitro tumoricidal activity of natural killer (NK) leukocytes. RESULTS: Immunological responses were unaffected by the run-in diet of LFM alone. In contrast, the relative proportion of PMN cells showing phagocytic activity increased by 19% and 15%, respectively, following consumption of HN001 in either LFM or LFM-LH; the relative level of NK cell tumor killing activity increased by 71% and 147%. In most cases these levels declined following cessation, but remained above baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary consumption of L. rhamnosus HN001, in a base of low-fat milk or lactose-hydrolyzed low-fat milk, appears to enhance systemic cellular immune responses and may be useful as a dietary supplement to boost natural immunity."}
{"id": "MED-3682", "text": "BACKGROUND: Infants with wheezing and allergic diseases have a microflora that differs from that of healthy infants. The fetus acquires microorganisms during birth when exposed to the maternal vaginal microflora. It is therefore conceivable that the maternal vaginal microflora might influence the establishment of the infant flora and, as a consequence, the development of wheezing and allergic diseases. OBJECTIVE: We sought to study the associations between the composition of the maternal vaginal microflora and the development of wheezing and asthma in childhood. METHODS: We performed a population-based cohort study in Denmark. Vaginal samples for bacterial analysis were obtained during pregnancy. A total of 2927 women (80% of the invited women) completed the study and had 3003 live infants. Infant wheezing was assessed as one or more hospitalizations for asthma between 0 and 3 years of age. Asthma was assessed as use of 3 or more packages of antiasthma medication between 4 and 5 years of age. RESULTS: Maternal vaginal colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum during pregnancy was associated with infant wheezing (odds ratio [OR], 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.6), but not with asthma, during the fifth year of life. Maternal colonization with staphylococci (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4-3.4) and use of antibiotics in pregnancy (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.6) were associated with asthma during the fifth year of life. CONCLUSION: The composition of the maternal vaginal micro-flora might be associated with wheezing and asthma in the offspring up to 5 years of age."}
{"id": "MED-3683", "text": "BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether consumption of Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL 9 (DSM 15312) and Lactobacillus paracasei 8700:2 (DSM 13434) could affect naturally acquired common cold infections in healthy subjects. METHODS: A randomised, parallel, double-blind placebo-controlled study was performed to investigate whether intake of this probiotic mixture could reduce the risk of common cold episodes, number of days with common cold symptoms, frequency and severity of symptoms, and cellular immune response in common cold infections. A total of 272 subjects were supplemented daily with either 10(9) cfu (colony forming units) of probiotics (N = 135) or control (N = 137) for a 12-week period. RESULTS: The incidence of acquiring one or more common cold episode was reduced from 67% in the control group to 55% in the probiotic group (p < 0.05). Also, the number of days with common cold symptoms were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 8.6 days in the control group to 6.2 days, in the probiotic group, during the 12-week period. The total symptom score was reduced during the study period from a mean of 44.4 for the control group to 33.6 for the probiotic group. The reduction in pharyngeal symptoms was significant (p < 0.05). In addition, the proliferation of B lymphocytes was significantly counteracted in the probiotic group (p < 0.05) in comparison with the control group. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, intake of the probiotic strains Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL 9 (DSM 15312) and Lactobacillus paracasei 8700:2 (DSM 13434) reduces the risk of acquiring common cold infections."}
{"id": "MED-3685", "text": "BACKGROUND: Studies of delivery by caesarean section (c-section) and the offspring's risk of allergic diseases are of current interest due to concerns about the increased use of c-section in many countries. However, previous studies have reported inconsistent findings. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether delivery by c-section is associated with an increased risk of atopy and allergic disease by reviewing the literature, performing a meta-analysis, and assessing publication bias. METHODS: We used a systematic literature search of MEDLINE (1966 to May 2007). Six common allergic outcomes were included: food allergy/food atopy, inhalant atopy, eczema/atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and hospitalization for asthma. For each outcome a meta-analysis was performed, where a summary odds ratio (OR) was calculated taking into account heterogeneity between the study-specific relative risks. Publication bias was assessed using the funnel plot method. RESULTS: We identified 26 studies on delivery by c-section and one or more of the six allergic outcomes. C-section was associated with an increased summary OR of food allergy/food atopy (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12-1.55; six studies), allergic rhinitis (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.12-1.35; seven studies), asthma (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05-1.32; 13 studies), and hospitalization for asthma (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.12-1.31; seven studies), whereas there was no association with inhalant atopy (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.82-1.38; four studies) and eczema/atopic dermatitis (OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.98-1.09; six studies). Funnel plots indicated that the association with food allergy/food atopy could be difficult to interpret due to publication bias. For each significant association with an allergic outcome, only 1-4% of cases were attributable to c-section. CONCLUSION: Delivery by c-section is associated with a moderate risk increase for allergic rhinitis, asthma, hospitalization for asthma, and perhaps food allergy/food atopy, but not with inhalant atopy or atopic dermatitis. The increased use of c-section during the last decades is unlikely to have contributed much to the allergy epidemic observed during the same period."}
{"id": "MED-3686", "text": "BACKGROUND: The aging process can lead to a decline in cellular immunity. Therefore, the elderly could benefit from safe and effective interventions that restore cellular immune functions. OBJECTIVE: We determined whether dietary supplementation with the known immunostimulating probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 could enhance aspects of cellular immunity in elderly subjects. DESIGN: Thirty healthy elderly volunteers (age range: 63-84 y; median: 69 y) participated in a 3-stage dietary supplementation trial lasting 9 wk. During stage 1 (run-in), subjects consumed low-fat milk (200 mL twice daily for 3 wk) as a base-diet control. During stage 2 (intervention), they consumed milk supplemented with B. lactis HN019 in a typical dose (5 x 10(10) organisms/d) or a low dose (5 x 10(9) organisms/d) for 3 wk. During stage 3 (washout), they consumed low-fat milk for 3 wk. Changes in the relative proportions of leukocyte subsets and ex vivo leukocyte phagocytic and tumor-cell-killing activity were determined longitudinally by assaying peripheral blood samples. RESULTS: Increases in the proportions of total, helper (CD4(+)), and activated (CD25(+)) T lymphocytes and natural killer cells were measured in the subjects' blood after consumption of B. lactis HN019. The ex vivo phagocytic capacity of mononuclear and polymorphonuclear phagocytes and the tumoricidal activity of natural killer cells were also elevated after B. lactis HN019 consumption. The greatest changes in immunity were found in subjects who had poor pretreatment immune responses. In general, the 2 doses of B. lactis HN019 had similar effectiveness. CONCLUSION: B. lactis HN019 could be an effective probiotic dietary supplement for enhancing some aspects of cellular immunity in the elderly."}
{"id": "MED-3687", "text": "This study was aimed at determining the probiotic potential of a large number of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria isolated from fruit and vegetables. Survival under simulated gastric and intestinal conditions showed that 35% of the strains, mainly belonging to the species Lactobacillus plantarum maintained high cell densities. Selected strains did not affect the immune-mediation by Caco-2 cells. All strains stimulated all 27 immune-mediators by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). A significant (P<0.05; P<0.01) increase of the major part of cytokines and growth factors was found. A few chemokines were stimulated. Immune-mediators with pro-inflammatory activity (IL-17, EOTAXIN and IFN\u03b3) were significantly (P<0.01) stimulated by all strains, followed by IL-1b>IP-10>IL-6>MIP1\u03b1. Stimulation of IL-12, IL-2 and IL-7 was strain dependent. Only a few strains increased the synthesis of cytokines with anti-inflammatory activity. Six L.\u00a0plantarum strains were further selected. Four were defined as the strongly adhesive strains (more than 40 bacteria adhering to one Caco-2 cell), and 2 as the adhesive strains (5-40 bacteria adhering to one Caco-2 cell). Five strains grew and acidified chemically defined medium with fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) as the only carbon source. End-products of FOS fermentation were found. All strains inhibited enterohemorragic Escherichia coli K12 and Bacillus megaterium F6 isolated from human sources. The results of this study showed that some autochthonous lactic acid bacteria from raw fruit and vegetables have functional features to be considered as novel probiotic candidates. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3688", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Standard therapies for antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) have limited efficacy. Probiotic prophylaxis is a promising alternative for reduction of AAD and CDAD incidence. METHODS: In this single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-ranging study, we randomized 255 adult inpatients to one of three groups: two probiotic capsules per day (Pro-2, n=86), one probiotic capsule and one placebo capsule per day (Pro-1, n=85), or two placebo capsules per day (n=84). Each probiotic capsule contained 50 billion c.f.u. of live organisms (Lactobacillus acidophilus CL1285 +Lactobacillus casei LBC80R Bio-K+ CL1285). Probiotic prophylaxis began within 36 h of initial antibiotic administration, continued for 5 days after the last antibiotic dose, and patients were followed for an additional 21 days. RESULTS: Pro-2 (15.5%) had a lower AAD incidence vs. Pro-1 (28.2%). Each probiotic group had a lower AAD incidence vs. placebo (44.1%). In patients who acquired AAD, Pro-2 (2.8 days) and Pro-1 (4.1 days) had shorter symptom duration vs. placebo (6.4 days). Similarly, Pro-2 (1.2%) had a lower CDAD incidence vs. Pro-1 (9.4%). Each treatment group had a lower CDAD incidence vs. placebo (23.8%). Gastrointestinal symptoms were less common in the treatment groups vs. placebo and in Pro-2 vs. Pro-1. CONCLUSIONS: The proprietary probiotic blend used in this study was well tolerated and effective for reducing risk of AAD and, in particular, CDAD in hospitalized patients on antibiotics. A dose-ranging effect was shown with 100 billion c.f.u., yielding superior outcomes and fewer gastrointestinal events compared to 50 billion c.f.u. (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00958308)."}
{"id": "MED-3689", "text": "OBJECTIVES: While fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is historically known to be an effective means to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) refractory to standard antibiotic therapies, the procedure is rarely performed. At least some of the reasons for limited availability are those of practicality, including aesthetic concerns and costs of donor screening. The objective of this study was to overcome these barriers in our clinical FMT program. METHODS: We report clinical experience with 43 consecutive patients who were treated with FMT for recurrent CDI since inception of this program at the University of Minnesota. During this time, we simplified donor identification and screening by moving from patient-identified individual donors to standard volunteer donors. Material preparation shifted from the endoscopy suite to a standardized process in the laboratory, and ultimately to banking frozen processed fecal material that is ready to use when needed. RESULTS: Standardization of material preparation significantly simplified the practical aspects of FMT without loss of apparent efficacy in clearing recurrent CDI. Approximately 30% of the patients had underlying inflammatory bowel disease, and FMT was equally effective in this group. CONCLUSIONS: Several key steps in the standardization of donor material preparation significantly simplified the clinical practice of FMT for recurrent CDI in patients failing antibiotic therapy."}
{"id": "MED-3690", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To critically appraise evidence on probiotic use for prevention and treatment of diarrhea in children and adults. RECENT FINDINGS: Several randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses suggested that probiotics are effective in primary and secondary prevention of gastroenteritis and its treatment. Selected Lactobacillus strains had a modest, although significant effect in primary prevention. Saccharomyces boulardii was effective in antibiotic-associated and in Clostridium difficile diarrhea. There is evidence that it might prevent diarrhea in day-care centers. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was associated with reduced diarrheal duration and severity, more evident in case of childhood Rotavirus diarrhea. Similar, although weaker, evidence was obtained with S. boulardii. Both strains are included in evidence-based recommendations for gastroenteritis management in children. Data on other Lactobacillus strains are preliminary. Probiotic efficacy was related to cause, early administration and bacterial load, and their mechanisms were associated with antiinfectious action in the intestine or, indirectly, to modulation of innate and adaptive immunity. SUMMARY: Probiotics have gained a role as adjunctive treatment of infantile gastroenteritis together with rehydration. Their efficacy is less convincing in adults, but promising in antibiotic-associated diarrhea. However, evidence of efficacy is limited to a few strains."}
{"id": "MED-3691", "text": "Background Previous reviews (2005 to 2009) on preterm infants given probiotics or prebiotics with breast milk or mixed feeds focused on prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis, sepsis and diarrhea. This review assessed if probiotics, prebiotics led to improved growth and clinical outcomes in formula fed preterm infants. Methods Cochrane methodology was followed using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compared preterm formula containing probiotic(s) or prebiotic(s) to conventional preterm formula in preterm infants. The mean difference (MD) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported for continuous outcomes, risk ratio (RR) and corresponding 95% CI for dichotomous outcomes. Heterogeneity was assessed by visual inspection of forest plots and a chi2 test. An I2 test assessed inconsistencies across studies. I2> 50% represented substantial heterogeneity. Results Four probiotics studies (N=212), 4 prebiotics studies (N=126) were included. Probiotics: There were no significant differences in weight gain (MD 1.96, 95% CI: -2.64 to 6.56, 2 studies, n=34) or in maximal enteral feed (MD 35.20, 95% CI: -7.61 to 78.02, 2 studies, n=34), number of stools per day increased significantly in probiotic group (MD 1.60, 95% CI: 1.20 to 2.00, 1 study, n=20). Prebiotics: Galacto-oligosaccharide / Fructo-oligosaccharide (GOS/FOS) yielded no significant difference in weight gain (MD 0.04, 95% CI: -2.65 to 2.73, 2 studies, n=50), GOS/FOS yielded no significant differences in length gain (MD 0.01, 95% CI: -0.03 to 0.04, 2 studies, n=50). There were no significant differences in head growth (MD \u22120.01, 95% CI: -0.02 to 0.00, 2 studies, n=76) or age at full enteral feed (MD \u22120.79, 95% CI: -2.20 to 0.61, 2 studies, n=86). Stool frequency increased significantly in prebiotic group (MD 0.80, 95% CI: 0.48 to 1.1, 2 studies, n=86). GOS/FOS and FOS yielded higher bifidobacteria counts in prebiotics group (MD 2.10, 95% CI: 0.96 to 3.24, n=27) and (MD 0.48, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.68, n=56). Conclusions There is not enough evidence to state that supplementation with probiotics or prebiotics results in improved growth and clinical outcomes in exclusively formula fed preterm infants."}
{"id": "MED-3692", "text": "Probiotics are live microorganisms that confer a health benefit on the host when administered in appropriate amounts. Over 700 randomized, controlled, human studies have been conducted with probiotics thus far, with the results providing strong support for the use of probiotics in the clinical prevention or treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders and metabolic syndrome. The present review is based on webinar presentations that were developed by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) in partnership with the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and the North American branch of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI North America). The presentations provided gastroenterologists and researchers with fundamental and current scientific information on the influence of gut microbiota on human health and disease, as well as clinical intervention strategies and practical guidelines for the use of probiotics and prebiotics. \u00a9 2011 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-3693", "text": "Probiotics are widely used to prevent and treat several diseases. Many commercial products are available worldwide. However, there is no clear international or local legislation about them and previous studies showed that most of the tested products are not in conformity with international guidelines. The aim of this study was to determine if products available in the USA market in 2009 were correctly labeled in terms of quantity of viable bacteria, identification of species and cross contamination by species not on the label. Disturbingly, we found that only 4 of 13 products (31%) were in accordance with label claims. Our results suggest the need for adequate control of probiotic production as well as periodical screenings by competent organizations to monitor the effect of storage on product quality."}
{"id": "MED-3694", "text": "Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea and colitis have emerged as major complications associated with use of systemic antimicrobials. In this study, the medical records for 18 subjects who received donor stool by nasogastric tube for recurrent C. difficile infection during a 9-year period at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. During the period between the initial diagnosis of C. difficile colitis and the stool treatments, the 18 subjects received a total of 64 courses of antimicrobials (range, 2-7 courses; median, 3 courses). During the 90 days after receipt of treatment with stool, 2 patients died of unrelated illnesses. One of the 16 survivors experienced a single recurrence of C. difficile colitis during 90-day follow-up. No adverse effects associated with stool treatment were observed. Patients with recurrent C. difficile colitis may benefit from the introduction of stool from healthy donors via a nasogastric tube."}
{"id": "MED-3695", "text": "BACKGROUND: Antibiotics alter the microbial balance within the gastrointestinal tract. Probiotics may prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) via restoration of the gut microflora. Antibiotics are prescribed frequently in children and AAD is common in this population. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy and adverse effects of probiotics (any specified strain or dose) for the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children. To assess adverse events associated with the use of probiotics when co-administered with antibiotics in children. SEARCH STRATEGY: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL , AMED, and the Web of Science (inception to August 2006) were searched along with specialized registers including the Cochrane IBD/FBD Review Group, CISCOM, Chalmers PedCAM Research Register and trial registries from inception to 2005. Letters were sent to authors of included trials, nutra/pharmaceutical companies, and experts in the field requesting additional information on ongoing or unpublished trials. Conference proceedings, dissertation abstracts, and reference lists from included and relevant articles were hand searched. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized, parallel, controlled (placebo, active, or no treatment) trials comparing co-administered probiotics with antibiotics for the prevention of diarrhea secondary to antibiotic use in children (0 to 18 years). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Methodological quality assessment and data extraction were conducted independently by two authors (BCJ, AS). Dichotomous data (incidence of diarrhea, adverse events) were combined using pooled relative risks, and continuous data (mean duration of diarrhea, mean daily stool frequency) as weighted mean differences, along with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Adverse events were summarized using risk difference. For overall pooled results on the incidence of diarrhea, a priori sensitivity analyses included per protocol versus intention to treat, random versus fixed effects, and methodological quality criterion. Subgroup analysis were conducted on probiotic strain, dose, definition of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and antibiotic agent. MAIN RESULTS: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Trials included treatment with either Lactobacilli spp., Bifidobacterium spp., Streptococcus spp., or Saccharomyces boulardii alone or in combination. Six studies used a single strain probiotic agent and four combined two probiotic strains. The per protocol analysis for 9/10 trials reporting on the incidence of diarrhea show statistically significant results favouring probiotics over active/non active controls (RR 0.49; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.74). However, intention to treat analysis showed non-significant results overall (RR 0.90; 95% CI 0.50 to 1.63). Five of ten trials monitored for adverse events (n = 647); none reported a serious adverse event. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Probiotics show promise for the prevention of pediatric AAD. While per protocol analysis yields treatment effect estimates that are both statistically and clinically significant, as does analysis of high quality studies, the estimate from the intention to treat analysis was not statistically significant. Future studies should involve probiotic strains and doses with the most promising evidence (e.g., Lactobacillus GG, Lactobacillus sporogenes, Saccharomyces boulardii at 5 to 40 billion colony forming units/day). Research done to date does not permit determination of the effect of age (e.g., infant versus older children) or antibiotic duration (e.g., 5 days versus 10 days). Future trials would benefit from a validated primary outcome measure for antibiotic-associated diarrhea that is sensitive to change and reflects what treatment effect clinicians, parents, and children consider important. The current data are promising, but it is premature to routinely recommend probiotics for the prevention of pediatric AAD."}
{"id": "MED-3696", "text": "The authors assessed the association between moderate alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in the Women's Health Study (United States, 1992-2004). During an average of 10 years of follow-up, 1,484 cases of total breast cancer (1,190 invasive and 294 in situ) were documented among 38,454 women who, at baseline, were free of cancer and cardiovascular disease and provided detailed dietary information, including alcohol consumption, for the preceding 12 months. Higher alcohol consumption was associated with a modest increase in breast cancer risk; the multivariable relative risks for > or =30 g/day of alcohol vs. none were 1.32 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.96, 1.82) for total breast cancer and 1.43 (95% CI: 1.02, 2.02) for invasive breast cancer. An increased risk was limited to estrogen receptor (ER)- and progesterone receptor (PR)-positive tumors; the multivariable relative risks for an increment of 10 g/day of alcohol were 1.11 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.20) for ER+PR+ tumors (804 cases), 1.00 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.24) for ER+PR- tumors (125 cases), and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.82, 1.20) for ER-PR- tumors (167 cases). The association also seemed strongest among those taking postmenopausal hormones currently, but the test for interaction was not significant. The findings from this prospective study suggest that moderate alcohol consumption increases breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3697", "text": "BACKGROUND: Many studies have analyzed the effect of behavioral risk factors such as common lifestyle patterns on the risk of disease. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a healthy lifestyle index on the risk of breast cancer. METHODS: A population-based case-control study was conducted in Mexico from 2004 to 2007. One thousand incident cases and 1,074 controls, matched to cases by 5-year age category, region, and health institution, participated in the study. A healthy lifestyle index was developed by means of principal components by using dietary pattern, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco smoking. A conditional logistic regression model was used to assess this association. RESULTS: The healthy lifestyle index was defined as the combined effect of moderate and/or vigorous-intensity physical activity, low consumption of fat, processed foods, refined cereals, complex sugars, and the avoidance of tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Results showed a protective effect on both pre- (OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.29-0.84) and postmenopausal women (OR = O.20, 95% CI: 0.11-0.37) when highest versus lowest index quintiles were compared. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy lifestyle was associated with a reduction in the odds of having breast cancer. Primary prevention of this disease should be promoted in an integrated manner. Effective strategies need to be identified to engage women in healthy lifestyles. IMPACT: This study is the first to assess a healthy lifestyle index in relation to the risk of breast cancer. \u00a92011 AACR."}
{"id": "MED-3698", "text": "Purpose Single-variable analyses have associated physical activity, diet, and obesity with survival after breast cancer. This report investigates interactions among these variables. Patients and Methods A prospective study was performed of 1,490 women diagnosed and treated for early-stage breast cancer between 1991 and 2000. Enrollment was an average of 2 years postdiagnosis. Only seven women were lost to follow-up through December 2005. Results In univariate analysis, reduced mortality was weakly associated with higher vegetable-fruit consumption, increased physical activity, and a body mass index that was neither low weight nor obese. In a multivariate Cox model, only the combination of consuming five or more daily servings of vegetables-fruits, and accumulating 540+ metabolic equivalent tasks-min/wk (equivalent to walking 30 minutes 6 d/wk), was associated with a significant survival advantage (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.98). The approximate 50% reduction in risk associated with these healthy lifestyle behaviors was observed in both obese and nonobese women, although fewer obese women were physically active with a healthy dietary pattern (16% v 30%). Among those who adhered to this healthy lifestyle, there was no apparent effect of obesity on survival. The effect was stronger in women who had hormone receptor\u2013positive cancers. Conclusion A minority of breast cancer survivors follow a healthy lifestyle that includes both recommended intakes of vegetables-fruits and moderate levels of physical activity. The strong protective effect observed suggests a need for additional investigation of the effect of the combined influence of diet and physical activity on breast cancer survival."}
{"id": "MED-3699", "text": "BACKGROUND: In 2007 the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) issued 8 recommendations (plus 2 special recommendations) on diet, physical activity, and weight management for cancer prevention on the basis of the most comprehensive collection of available evidence. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether concordance with the WCRF/AICR recommendations was related to cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. DESIGN: The present study included 386,355 EPIC participants from 9 European countries. At recruitment, dietary, anthropometric, and lifestyle information was collected. A score was constructed based on the WCRF/AICR recommendations on weight management, physical activity, foods and drinks that promote weight gain, plant foods, animal foods, alcoholic drinks, and breastfeeding for women; the score range was 0-6 for men and 0-7 for women. Higher scores indicated greater concordance with WCRF/AICR recommendations. The association between the score and cancer risk was estimated by using multivariable Cox regression models. RESULTS: Concordance with the score was significantly associated with decreased risk of cancer. A 1-point increment in the score was associated with a risk reduction of 5% (95% CI: 3%, 7%) for total cancer, 12% (95% CI: 9%, 16%) for colorectal cancer, and 16% (95% CI: 9%, 22%) for stomach cancer. Significant associations were also observed for cancers of the breast, endometrium, lung, kidney, upper aerodigestive tract, liver, and esophagus but not for prostate, ovarian, pancreatic, and bladder cancers. CONCLUSION: Adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations for cancer prevention may lower the risk of developing most types of cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3700", "text": "Background An increased risk of breast cancer is associated with alcohol consumption; however, it is controversial whether red wine increases this risk. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) prevent the conversion of androgens to estrogen and occur naturally in grapes, grape juice, and red, but not white wine. We tested whether red wine is a nutritional AI in premenopausal women. Methods In a cross-over design, 36 women (mean age [SD], 36 [8] years) were assigned to 8 ounces (237\u2009mL) of red wine daily then white wine for 1 month each, or the reverse. Blood was collected twice during the menstrual cycle for measurement of estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), androstenedione (A), total and free testosterone (T), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). Results Red wine demonstrated higher free T vs. white wine (mean difference 0.64\u2009pg/mL [0.2\u2009SE], p=0.009) and lower SHBG (mean difference \u22125.0\u2009nmol/L [1.9\u2009SE], p=0.007). E2 levels were lower in red vs. white wine but not statistically significant. LH was significantly higher in red vs. white wine (mean difference 2.3\u2009mIU/mL [1.3\u2009SE], p=0.027); however, FSH was not. Conclusion Red wine is associated with significantly higher free T and lower SHBG levels, as well as a significant higher LH level vs. white wine in healthy premenopausal women. These data suggest that red wine is a nutritional AI and may explain the observation that red wine does not appear to increase breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3701", "text": "Estrogen synthesized in situ plays a more important role in breast cancer cell proliferation than does circulating estrogen. Aromatase is the enzyme that converts androgen to estrogen and is expressed at a higher level in breast cancer tissue than in surrounding noncancer tissue. A promising route of chemoprevention against breast cancer may be through the suppression of in situ estrogen formation using aromatase inhibitors. A diet high in fruits and vegetables may reduce the incidence of breast cancer, because they contain phytochemicals that can act as aromatase inhibitors. In our previous studies, we found that grapes and wine contain potent phytochemicals that can inhibit aromatase. We show that red wine was more effective than white wine in suppressing aromatase activity. Interestingly, our results from white wine studies suggest a weak inductive effect of alcohol on aromatase activity. On the other hand, the potent effect of anti-aromatase chemicals in red wine overcomes the weak inductive effect of alcohol in wine. Several purification procedures were performed on whole red wine to separate active aromatase inhibitors from non-active compounds. These techniques included liquid-liquid extraction, silica gel chromatography, various solid phase extraction (SPE) columns, and high performance liquid chromatography. An active Pinot Noir red wine SPE C18 column fraction (20% acetonitrile:water) was more effective than complete Pinot Noir wine in suppressing aromatase assay. This red wine extract was further analyzed in a transgenic mouse model in which aromatase was over-expressed in mammary tissue. Our gavaged red wine extract completely abrogated aromatase-induced hyperplasia and other neoplastic changes in mammary tissue. These results suggest that red wine or red wine extract may be a chemopreventive diet supplement for postmenopausal women who have a high risk of breast cancer. Further research is underway to purify and characterize the active compounds in red wine that are responsible for the inhibition of aromatase."}
{"id": "MED-3702", "text": "BACKGROUND: Increased prevalence of allergic diseases in western societies has been described as an epidemic. The precise turning point for the epidemic and the antigens responsible for it remain obscure. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how the prevalence of atopic disease has changed in terms of detectable sensitization to aeroallergens and dietary allergens in a cross-sectional comparison of subjects from birth cohorts more than 60 years apart. METHODS: We studied four groups of 100 subjects each (at ages 7, 27, 47 and 67 years), representing those born in 1990, 1963-66, 1943-46 and in 1923-26, respectively. Serum total and specific IgE concentrations against aeroallergens and dietary allergens were determined. A questionnaire elicited information on symptoms, allergic diseases and medication. RESULTS: The proportion of subjects with detectable IgE antibodies against aeroallergens increased consistently from the oldest to the youngest birth cohorts; chi2 trend=56.809, P<0.0001. Similar progression was not seen in sensitization to dietary allergens. The proportion of those with diagnosed asthma differed significantly (chi2=13.45, P=0.004) across the birth cohorts. The lowest prevalence of asthma and sensitization to dietary allergens was detected in those born in 1943-46, i.e. during or immediately after World War II. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of sensitization to airborne allergens, unlike that to dietary allergens, has increased over a long period of time. Our results support the concept of the immune function being programmed by external factors early in life. They also call for caution when interpretations of the pace and possible causes of the allergy epidemic are made on the basis of short-term studies."}
{"id": "MED-3703", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of what is currently known about the relationship between allergies and cancer. DATA SOURCES: Publications were selected from a systematic review of the English-language literature from established databases (eg, MEDLINE, EBSCO) and the references of materials identified through these databases. STUDY SELECTION: Publications assessing the association between asthma, hay fever, or other allergy-related diseases and cancer were included in this review. RESULTS: Individuals with any type of allergy have a decreased risk for cancer (compared with the general population), including glioma, colorectal cancer, cancer of the larynx, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, cancer of the esophagus, oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, and uterine body cancer. However, an increased risk for bladder cancer, lymphoma, myeloma, and prostate cancer exists among those with allergies. Studies that involve breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, melanoma, and thyroid cancer have shown no association or conflicting results related to allergies. More research is needed before conclusions can be made about the relation between allergies and Kaposi sarcoma, liver cancer, and cancer of the ovaries. CONCLUSIONS: The association between allergies and cancer is site specific. Further research is needed to verify these results and to determine why such associations exist."}
{"id": "MED-3704", "text": "The most relevant cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is the lung pathology characterized by chronic infection and inflammation sustained mainly by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Innovative pharmacological approaches to control the excessive inflammatory process in the lung of CF patients are thought to be beneficial to reduce the extensive airway tissue damage. Medicinal plants from the so-called traditional Asian medicine are attracting a growing interest because of their potential efficacy and safety. Due to the presence of different active compounds in each plant extract, understanding the effect of each component is important to pursue selective and reproducible applications. Extracts from Emblica officinalis (EO) were tested in IB3-1 CF bronchial epithelial cells exposed to the P. aeruginosa laboratory strain PAO1. EO strongly inhibited the PAO1-dependent expression of the neutrophil chemokines IL-8, GRO-alpha, GRO-gamma, of the adhesion molecule ICAM-1 and of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. Pyrogallol, one of the compounds extracted from EO, inhibited the P. aeruginosa-dependent expression of these pro-inflammatory genes similarly to the whole EO extract, whereas a second compound purified from EO, namely 5-hydroxy-isoquinoline, had no effect. These results identify Pyrogallol as an active compound responsible for the anti-inflammatory effect of EO and suggest to extend the investigation in pre-clinical studies in airway animal models in vivo, to test the efficacy and safety of this molecule in CF chronic lung inflammatory disease."}
{"id": "MED-3705", "text": "The association of inflammation with modern human diseases (e.g. obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer) remains an unsolved mystery of current biology and medicine. Inflammation is a protective response to noxious stimuli that unavoidably occurs at a cost to normal tissue function. This fundamental tradeoff between the cost and benefit of the inflammatory response has been optimized over evolutionary time for specific environmental conditions. Rapid change of the human environment due to niche construction outpaces genetic adaptation through natural selection, leading increasingly to a mismatch between the modern environment and selected traits. Consequently, multiple tradeoffs that affect human physiology are not optimized to the modern environment, leading to increased disease susceptibility. Here we examine the inflammatory response from an evolutionary perspective. We discuss unique aspects of the inflammatory response and its evolutionary history that can help explain the association between inflammation and modern human diseases."}
{"id": "MED-3706", "text": "Autoimmune diseases are complex diseases resulting of the interaction between both genetics and environmental factors over time. Different phases in the development of autoimmune diseases are characterized by the detection of serum autoantibodies several months or years before the onset of clinical manifestations and subsequent diagnosis. In addition to serum antibodies, genetic susceptibility factors may predict the future development of the disease. Currently, prediction in type 1 diabetes is the most accurate, with the analysis of genetic susceptibility factors in first-degree relatives of patients and several autoantibody tests. In the future, multiple antibodies test, in combination with the analysis of genetics, epigenetics and immunological anomalies in fine models may allow the precise prediction in autoimmune diseases. Prevention measures might thus be introduced as an attempt to avoid or delay the disease. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3707", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) acts as the first line of adaptive humoral immune defense at mucosal surfaces. A lack of SIgA or the inability to produce antigen-specific SIgA can lead to an increased risk of infections. Dietary intake may improve mucosal immunity by accelerating SIgA secretion. This study investigated the effect of dietary intake of Agaricus bisporus white button mushroom (WBM) on salivary IgA (sIgA) secretion in healthy subjects. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to a normal daily diet (control group) or a normal diet with WBM. The subjects in the active group (n = 12, 41.4 \u00b1 11.3 y old) consumed 100 g of blanched WBM daily with their normal diet for 1 wk, whereas those in the control group consumed their normal diet (n = 12, 43.5 \u00b1 12.5 y old) without WBM. Saliva was collected before and after commencement of the study and every week thereafter for 3 wk. Saliva flow rate, sIgA concentration, and osmolality were determined and the sIgA:osmolality ratio and the sIgA secretion rate were calculated. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between pre- and postdietary mushroom intakes for all indices in the control group (P > 0.05). In contrast, the mean sIgA secretion rate increased significantly at weeks 1 and 2 by 53% and 56%, respectively, compared with that at week 0 (P < 0.0005) in the WBM intake group and then returned to a baseline level at week 3. Changes in sIgA secretion rate over the intervention period were greater in the WBM group than in the control group without WBM. In both groups, no significant changes in osmolality and saliva IgG were noted. There was, however, a significant increase in the sIgA:osmolality ratio (P < 0.0012), confirming the postdietary WBM-induced sIgA increase. CONCLUSION: The dietary intake of A. bisporus WBM significantly accelerates sIgA secretion, thereby indicating its potential health benefits for improving mucosal immunity. Crown Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3708", "text": "Asthma is a phenotypically heterogeneous disorder of multifactorial origins that affects 300 million people suffering from asthma and more than 250,000 asthma-related deaths each year. Although treatment for asthma has improved, its prevalence continues to increase, particularly in low and middle income countries, or in some ethnic groups in which prevalence was previously low. Observed spatio-temporal variations in the increased prevalence of asthma depend on exposure to environmental factors. Recently, several arguments are also in favor of the involvement of host susceptibility and stress in the observed increase of asthma prevalence. Further\u00a0investigations are warranted to better understand mechanisms underlying asthma increase or stagnation. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3709", "text": "The gut immune system has the challenge of responding to pathogens while remaining relatively unresponsive to food antigens and the commensal microflora. In the developed world, this ability appears to be breaking down, with chronic inflammatory diseases of the gut commonplace in the apparent absence of overt infections. In both mouse and man, mutations in genes that control innate immune recognition, adaptive immunity, and epithelial permeability are all associated with gut inflammation. This suggests that perturbing homeostasis between gut antigens and host immunity represents a critical determinant in the development of gut inflammation and allergy."}
{"id": "MED-3710", "text": "A two-step method was developed to quantitatively assess the infection rate of the entomophthoraceous fungus, Zoophthora anhuiensis (Li) Humber, on the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer). Firstly, a standard time-dose-mortality relationship, established by modeling data from bioassay 1 at varying conidial dosages (0.4 - 10.4 conidia/mm2) of Z. anhuiensis F97028, was used to yield an estimate of expected mortality probability at a given dosage. Secondly, bioassay 2 was conducted by simultaneously exposing six < or = 4-day-old nymphal colonies to a shower of Z. anhuiensis conidia at each of four dosages (resulting from exposures of 0.3 - 8.0 min). Subsequently, the colonies were separately immersed in a 0.1% chlorothalonil solution for 0.5 min to disinfect all surviving conidia on the host integument from 1 - 12 h after exposure under temperature treatments of 15 and 20 degrees C, respectively. The infection rate during a specific period from the end of the exposure to the immersion was then estimated as the ratio of the observed mortality over the expected mortality probability at a particular dosage. The results showed that the infection of M. persicae from Z. anhuiensis was highly rapid with little difference between aphid colonies maintained at 15 and 20 degrees C before being immersed in the fungicidal solution after exposure. The first 6-hour period after exposure was most crucial to successful infection of the fungus with the infection rate greatly depending on conidial dosages. It took < or = 1 h to infect > 50% of the aphids at a dosage of > 1.5 conida/mm2 and > 90% at > 50 conidia/mm2."}
{"id": "MED-3711", "text": "The incidence of autoimmune, allergic and inflammatory disease is increasing due to as yet unidentified environmental factors related to western living conditions. Here, I propose that alterations in the gut microbiome, acting via regulatory T cells (Tregs), may be responsible for this epidemic. Tregs control the threshold for peripheral antigen recognition via tonic downregulation of dendritic cell (DC) costimulation, and are also implicated in maintaining the tolerogenic function of DCs. In this model, minor perturbations in Treg number or function are predicted to lower the activation threshold, allowing proliferation and differentiation of self-reactive CD4T cells of too low an affinity to have undergone negative selection in the thymus. Failure to maintain the tolerogenic commitment of DCs exposed to commensal microbes and allergens could result in potentially pathogenic, allergic and inflammatory responses at epithelial surfaces."}
{"id": "MED-3712", "text": "Herein, it was reported and compared the chemical composition and nutritional value of the most consumed species as fresh cultivated mushrooms: Agaricus bisporus (white and brown mushrooms), Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom), Pleurotus eryngii (King oyster mushroom), Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) and Flammulina velutipes (Golden needle mushroom). Shiitake revealed the highest levels of macronutrients, unless proteins, as also the highest sugars, tocopherols and PUFA levels, and the lowest SFA content. White and brown mushrooms showed similar macronutrients composition, as also similar values of total sugars, MUFA, PUFA and total tocopherols. Oyster and king oyster mushrooms gave the highest MUFA contents with similar contents in PUFA, MUFA and SFA in both samples. They also revealed similar moisture, ash, carbohydrates and energy values. This study contributes to the elaboration of nutritional databases of the most consumed fungi species worldwide, allowing comparison between them. Moreover it was reported that cultivated and the wild samples of the same species have different chemical composition, including sugars, fatty acids and tocopherols profiles. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3713", "text": "BACKGROUND: Th17 is a subset of T-helper lymphocytes that produce proinflammatory cytokines, mainly IL-17. Serum IL-17 is increased in allergic patients and relates to clinical severity. Recently, it has been reported that CD161 is a highly upregulated gene in Th17 clones and all IL-17-producing cells are contained in CD161(+) T cells. This study aimed at comparing the frequency of peripheral CD161(+) T cells in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and in healthy controls and at relating CD161 expression with symptom severity. METHODS: Forty-four patients with AR and 29 healthy non-allergic subjects were evaluated. CD161 expression was evaluated on CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD8(+) cells by double immunofluorescence staining and fluorescence activated cell sorter analysis. Symptom severity was assessed by the Visual Analogue Scale. RESULTS: Allergic patients showed a significantly higher frequency of CD3(+)CD161(+), CD4(+)CD161(+) and CD8(+)CD161(+) cells than healthy non-allergic subjects (p < 0.0001). Moreover, the expression of CD161 cells was significantly related to clinical severity. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that a higher frequency of CD161(+) T cells is present in the peripheral blood of AR patients. Copyright \u00a9 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-3715", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Questions have recently arisen in the popular press about the association between specific sexual behaviors, namely, fellatio and cunnilingus, with head and neck cancers. Although there has been an overall decline in the incidence of head and neck cancers over the past 25 years, there has been a shift in the distribution of these cancers toward a particular type known as oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), and a younger demographic. These particular cancers, OSCCs, have been shown to be associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Several researchers have suggested that this shift in the epidemiology of head and neck cancers might be attributable to changing sexual practices. While this speculation has caught on in the popular press, there are several interesting contradictions in the existing evidence that suggest this conclusion might be premature and overreached. AIM: The intent of this article is to help clarify the issues so that sexual medicine professionals can give accurate and up-to-date information to their patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This is a review article; no outcome data are reported. This is a review article; no measures were collected. METHODS: Pubmed search on HPV, oral sex, oral cancers, and OSCCs. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-six articles on HPV were found; 63 articles on oral sex, 55 on oral cancer, and 5 articles on OSCCs were identified as relevant. CONCLUSIONS: HPV infections occur commonly and are usually cleared within 18 months, thus HPV infection should not be a cause for concern among monogamous couples with a rich and varied sex life as long as the sexual system remains closed and other immune compromising factors are not present. HPV becomes a concern in the context of immune system compromise and infection persistence. Factors contributing to immune system compromise, HPV persistence, and oncogenesis are reviewed. \u00a9 2012 International Society for Sexual Medicine."}
{"id": "MED-3716", "text": "Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the effects of topical application of a 10% (w/w) freeze-dried black raspberry (FBR) gel on oral intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN) variables that included histologic diagnoses and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) indices. Microsatellite instability and/or LOH at tumor suppressor gene \u2013 associated chromosomal loci have been associated with a higher risk for oral IEN progression to oral squamous cell carcinoma. Previously, our laboratories have shown that FBRs are well tolerated and possess potent antioxidant, apoptotic, and differentiation-inducing properties. Experimental Design Each participant with IEN served as their own internal control. Before treatment, all lesions were photographed, and lesional tissue was hemisected to obtain a pretreatment diagnosis and baseline biochemical and molecular variables. Gel dosing (0.5 g applied four times daily for 6 weeks) was initiated 1 week after the initial biopsy. Genomic DNA was isolated from laser-captured basilar and suprabasilar surface epithelial cells followed by PCR amplification using primer sets that targeted known and presumed tumor suppressor gene loci associated with INK4a/ARF, p53, and FHIT. Allelic imbalance was determined by sequence analysis using normal participant tissues to establish microsatellite marker peak patterns and allele sizes. Results Confirming earlier phase I data, none of the 27 participants developed FBR gel \u2013 associated toxicities. Furthermore, our results show histologic regression in a subset of patients as well as statistically significant reduction in LOH at tumor suppressor gene \u2013 associated loci. Conclusions These preliminary data suggest that further evaluation of berry gels for oral IEN chemoprevention is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3718", "text": "The American Cancer Society (ACS) publishes Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines to serve as a foundation for its communication, policy, and community strategies and ultimately, to affect dietary and physical activity patterns among Americans. These Guidelines, published every 5 years, are developed by a national panel of experts in cancer research, prevention, epidemiology, public health, and policy, and as such, they represent the most current scientific evidence related to dietary and activity patterns and cancer risk. The ACS Guidelines include recommendations for individual choices regarding diet and physical activity patterns, but those choices occur within a community context that either facilitates or interferes with healthy behaviors. Community efforts are essential to create a social environment that promotes healthy food choices and physical activity. Therefore, this committee presents one key recommendation for community action to accompany the four recommendations for individual choices to reduce cancer risk. This recommendation for community action recognizes that a supportive social environment is indispensable if individuals at all levels of society are to have genuine opportunities to choose healthy behaviors. The ACS Guidelines are consistent with guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association for the prevention of coronary heart disease and diabetes, as well as for general health promotion, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services' 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans."}
{"id": "MED-3720", "text": "Black raspberries are a rich natural source of chemopreventive phytochemicals. Recent studies have shown that freeze-dried black raspberries inhibit the development of oral, esophageal, and colon cancer in rodents, and extracts of black raspberries inhibit benzo(a)pyrene-induced cell transformation of hamster embryo fibroblasts. However, the molecular mechanisms and the active components responsible for black raspberry chemoprevention are unclear. In this study, we found that 2 major chemopreventive components of black raspberries, ferulic acid and beta-sitosterol, and a fraction eluted with ethanol (RO-ET) during silica column chromatography of the organic extract of freeze-dried black raspberries inhibit the growth of premalignant and malignant but not normal human oral epithelial cell lines. Another fraction eluted with CH2Cl2/ethanol (DM:ET) and ellagic acid inhibited the growth of normal as well as premalignant and malignant human oral cell lines. We investigated the molecular mechanisms by which ferulic acid and beta-sitosterol and the RO-ET fraction selectively inhibited the growth of premalignant and malignant oral cells using flow cytometry and Western blotting of cell cycle regulatory proteins. There was no discernable change in the cell cycle distribution following treatment of cells with the RO-ET fraction. Premalignant and malignant cells redistributed to the G2/M phase of the cell cycle following incubation with ferulic acid. beta-sitosterol treated premalignant and malignant cells accumulated in the G0/G1 and G2/M phases, respectively. The RO-ET fraction reduced the levels of cyclin A and cell division cycle gene 2 (cdc2) in premalignant cells and cyclin B1, cyclin D1, and cdc2 in the malignant cell lines. This fraction also elevated the levels of p21waf1/cip1 in the malignant cell line. Ferulic acid treatment led to increased levels of cyclin B1 and cdc2 in both cell lines, and p21waf1/cip1 was induced in the malignant cell line. beta-sitosterol reduced the levels of cyclin B1 and cdc2 while increasing p21waf1/cip1 in both the premalignant and malignant cell lines. These results show for the first time that the growth inhibitory effects of black raspberries on premalignant and malignant human oral cells may reside in specific components that target aberrant signaling pathways regulating cell cycle progression."}
{"id": "MED-3721", "text": "Reduced expression of proapoptotic and terminal differentiation genes in conjunction with increased levels of the proinflammatory and angiogenesis-inducing enzymes, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), correlate with malignant transformation of oral intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN). Accordingly, this study investigated the effects of a 10% (w/w) freeze-dried black raspberry gel on oral IEN histopathology, gene expression profiles, intraepithelial COX-2 and iNOS proteins, and microvascular densities. Our laboratories have shown that freeze-dried black raspberries possess antioxidant properties and also induce keratinocyte apoptosis and terminal differentiation. Oral IEN tissues were hemisected to provide samples for pretreatment diagnoses and establish baseline biochemical and molecular variables. Treatment of the remaining lesional tissue (0.5 g gel applied four times daily for 6 weeks) began 1 week after the initial biopsy. RNA was isolated from snap-frozen IEN lesions for microarray analyses, followed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR validation. Additional epithelial gene-specific quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analyses facilitated the assessment of target tissue treatment effects. Surface epithelial COX-2 and iNOS protein levels and microvascular densities were determined by image analysis quantified immunohistochemistry. Topical berry gel application uniformly suppressed genes associated with RNA processing, growth factor recycling, and inhibition of apoptosis. Although the majority of participants showed posttreatment decreases in epithelial iNOS and COX-2 proteins, only COX-2 reductions were statistically significant. These data show that berry gel application modulated oral IEN gene expression profiles, ultimately reducing epithelial COX-2 protein. In a patient subset, berry gel application also reduced vascular densities in the superficial connective tissues and induced genes associated with keratinocyte terminal differentiation."}
{"id": "MED-3722", "text": "BACKGROUND: The role of dietary habits on esophageal cancer risk has been rarely considered in terms of dietary patterns. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed data from an Italian case-control study, including 304 cases with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and 743 hospital controls. Dietary habits were evaluated using a food frequency questionnaire. A posteriori dietary patterns were identified through principal component factor analysis performed on 28 selected nutrients. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained from multiple logistic regression models applied on quartiles of factor scores, adjusting for potential confounding variables. RESULTS: We identified five major dietary patterns, named 'animal products and related components', 'vitamins and fiber', 'starch-rich', 'other polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D', and 'other fats'. The 'animal products and related components' pattern was positively related to esophageal cancer (OR = 1.64, 95% CI:1.06-2.55, for the highest versus the lowest quartile of factor scores category). The 'vitamins and fiber' (OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.32-0.78) and the 'other polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D' (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.31-0.74) were inversely related to esophageal cancer. No significant association was observed for the other patterns. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that a diet rich in foods from animal origin and poor in foods containing vitamins and fiber increase esophageal cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3723", "text": "Epidemiological studies investigating the association between dietary intake and oesophageal cancer have mostly focused on nutrients and food groups instead of dietary patterns. We conducted a population-based case-control study, which included 365 oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC), 426 oesophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma (OGJAC) and 303 oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cases, with frequency matched on age, sex and geographical location to 1580 controls. Data on demographic, lifestyle and dietary factors were collected using self-administered questionnaires. We used principal component analysis to derive three dietary patterns: 'meat and fat', 'pasta and pizza' and 'fruit and vegetable', and unconditional logistic regression models to estimate risks of OAC, OGJAC and OSCC associated with quartiles (Q) of dietary pattern scores. A high score on the meat-and-fat pattern was associated with increased risk of all three cancers: multivariable-adjusted OR 2\u00b712 (95 % CI 1\u00b730, 3\u00b746) for OAC; 1\u00b788 (95% CI 1\u00b721, 2\u00b794) for OGJAC; 2\u00b784 (95% CI 1\u00b767, 4\u00b783) for OSCC (P-trend <0\u00b701 for all three cancers). A high score on the pasta-and-pizza pattern was inversely associated with OSCC risk (OR 0\u00b758, 95 % CI 0\u00b736, 0\u00b796, P for trend=0\u00b7009); and a high score on the fruit-and-vegetable pattern was associated with a borderline significant decreased risk of OGJAC (OR for Q4 v. Q1 0\u00b766, 95% CI 0\u00b742, 1\u00b704, P=0\u00b707) and significantly decreased risk of OSCC (OR 0\u00b741, 95% CI 0\u00b724, 0\u00b770, P for trend=0\u00b7002). High-fat dairy foods appeared to play a dominant role in the association between the meat-and-fat pattern and risk of OAC and OGJAC. Further investigation in prospective studies is needed to confirm these findings."}
{"id": "MED-3724", "text": "Drug resistance remains an on-going challenge in ovarian cancer chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to determine the effect on synergism in activity from the sequenced combinations of cisplatin (Cis) with curcumin (Cur) and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in the human ovarian cancer cell lines. The drugs were added in binary combinations: Cis combined with Cur, and Cis combined with EGCG to the human ovarian A2780 and A2780(cisR) cancer cell lines, using five different sequences of administration: 0/0 h, 4/0 h, 0/4 h, 24/0 h and 0/24 h. The combination index (CI) was used to assess the combined action of the drugs. CIs <1, =1 and >1 indicated synergism, additiveness and antagonism respectively. Cellular accumulation of platinum and platinum-DNA binding levels from Cis and its combination with the phytochemicals were determined using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Addition of Cis 4 h before Cur and EGCG (0/4 h combination) produced the most synergistic outcomes in both the A2780 and A2780(cisR) cell lines. The cellular accumulations of platinum and platinum-DNA binding resulting from the 0/4 h combinations were greater as compared to the values using Cis alone, thus providing an explanation for the synergistic action. When sequenced combinations of Cis with Cur and with EGCG are applied to human ovarian A2780 and A2780(cisR) cancer cell lines, lower concentrations and shorter time gap between the two additions seem to produce a higher cytotoxic effect."}
{"id": "MED-3726", "text": "Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore, the fight against cancer is one of the most important areas of research in medicine, and one that possibly contributes to the increased interest in chemoprevention as an alternative approach to the control of cancer. Cancer prevention by nutraceuticals present in fruits and vegetables has received considerable attention because of their low cost and wide safety margin. A substantial amount of evidence from human, animal, and cell culture studies has shown cancer chemopreventive effects from these natural products. However, single-agent intervention has failed to produce the expected outcome in clinical trials; therefore, combinations of nutraceuticals are gaining increasing popularity. Thus, combinations of nutraceuticals that mimic real-life situations and are competent in targeting multiple targets with very little or virtually no toxicity are needed. In this review, we summarize the results of those studies that report combinatorial cancer chemopreventive action of various nutraceuticals and their combinations with anticancer drugs. \u00a9 2011 New York Academy of Sciences."}
{"id": "MED-3728", "text": "On the basis of copious preclinical data supporting the preventive efficacy of small fruits such as berries and grapes, Chen and colleagues conducted a randomized (noncomparative) phase II trial evaluating two doses of strawberry powder (60 g/d or 30 g/d for six months) to prevent esophageal cancer in China (reported in this issue of the journal, beginning on page 41); 60 g/d reduced the histologic grade of dysplastic lesions and reduced localized biomarkers, whereas 30 g/d was not effective. Fundamental questions remain such as the best formulation of strawberry powder, the active components associated with powder, and the actual mechanism of action, and standardized preparations will be required to permit the widespread use of strawberry powder with a predicable outcome. Clearly, however, this work is a good example of proof-of-principle and highlights the important role of diet, nutrition, and natural products in cancer prevention. \u00a92012 AACR."}
{"id": "MED-3729", "text": "Oxidative stress is a key component in linking environmental toxicity to the multistage carcinogenic process. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated in response to both endogenous and exogenous stimuli. To counterbalance ROS-mediated injury, an endogenous antioxidants defense system exists; however, when oxidation exceeds the control mechanisms, oxidative stress arises. Chronic and cumulative oxidative stress induces deleterious modifications to a variety of macromolecular components, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. A primary mechanism of many chemotherapy drugs against cancer cells is the formation of ROS, or free radicals. Radiotherapy is based on the fact that ionizing radiation destroys tumor cells. Radiotherapy induces direct lesions in the DNA or biological molecules, which eventually affect DNA. Free radicals produced by oncology therapy are often a source of serious side effects as well. The objective of this review is to provide information about the effects of antioxidants during oncology treatments and to discuss the possible events and efficacy. Much debate has arisen about whether antioxidant supplementation alters the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy. There is still limited evidence in both quality and sample size, suggesting that certain antioxidant supplements may reduce adverse reactions and toxicities. Significant reductions in toxicity may alleviate dose-limiting toxicities so that more patients are able to complete prescribed chemotherapy regimens and thus, in turn, improve the potential for success in terms of tumor response and survival. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3730", "text": "Dysplasia is a histologic precursor of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). We previously showed that dietary freeze-dried, or lyophilized, strawberry powder inhibits N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-induced SCC in the rat esophagus. On the basis of this observation, we conducted a randomized (noncomparative) phase II trial in China to investigate the effects of two doses of freeze-dried strawberries in patients with esophageal dysplastic lesions in a high-risk area for esophageal cancer. We randomly assigned 75 patients identified by endoscopy to have dysplastic esophageal premalignant lesions to receive freeze-dried strawberry powder at either 30 g/d (37 patients) or 60 g/d (38 patients) for six months; the powder was mixed with water and drunk. After six months, we assessed the changes in histologic grade of these lesions (primary endpoint) in a blinded fashion. The dose of 30 g/d, did not significantly affect histology or any other measured parameter. The dose of 60 g/d, however, reduced the histologic grade of dysplastic premalignant lesions in 29 (80.6%) of the 36 patients at this dose who were evaluated for histology (P < 0.0001). The strawberry powder was well tolerated, with no toxic effects or serious adverse events. Strawberries (60 g/d) also reduced protein expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by 79.5% (P < 0.001), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) by 62.9% (P < 0.001), phospho-nuclear factor kappa B (NF\u03baB)-p65 (pNF\u03baB-p65) by 62.6% (P < 0.001), and phospho-S6 (pS6) by 73.2% (P < 0.001). Freeze-dried strawberries (60 g/d) also significantly inhibited the Ki-67 labeling index by 37.9% (P = 0.023). Our present results indicate the potential of freeze-dried strawberry powder for preventing human esophageal cancer, supporting further clinical testing of this natural agent in this setting. \u00a92011 AACR."}
{"id": "MED-3731", "text": "Esophageal cancer is highly aggressive and is a common cancer both worldwide and in the US. In the past two decades, the incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer in the US have both increased, where as the incidence and mortality of other cancers have decreased. Although esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma differ in their histology and epidemiologic distribution, some of their risk factors (e.g. dietary deficiencies and tobacco) and underlying mechanisms of carcinogenesis are the same. Intensive research into risk factors combined with the ability to identify precursor lesions (e.g.squamous dysplasia in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and Barrett's esophagus in esophageal adenocarcinoma) has paved the way for studies of chemoprevention for esophageal cancer, some of which have shown promising results."}
{"id": "MED-3732", "text": "Background Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is an advanced technique of therapeutic endoscopy alternative to endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for superficial gastrointestinal neoplasms >2 cm. ESD allows for the direct dissection of the submucosa and large lesions can be resected en bloc. ESD is not limited by resection size, increases histologically complete resection rates and may reduce the local recurrence. Nevertheless, the technique is time-consuming, technically demanding and associated with a high complication rate. To reduce the risk of complications, different devices and technical advances have been proposed with conflicting results and, still, ESD en bloc resections of huge lesions are associated with increased complications. Case Presentation We successfully used a combined ESD/EMR technique for huge rectal laterally spreading tumors (LSTs). ESD was used for circumferential resection of 2/3 of the lesion followed by piecemeal resection (2-3 pieces) of the central part of the tumour. In all three patients we obtained the complete dissection of the polyp and the complete histological evaluation in absence of complications and recurrence at 6 months' follow up. Conclusions In the treatment of rectal LSTs, the combined treatment - ESD/EMR resection may be considered a suitable therapeutic option, indicated in selected cases as an alternative to surgery, in which the two techniques are neither reliable nor safe separately. However, to confirm our results, larger trials with longer follow up are required together with improvement of the technique and of the technical devices."}
{"id": "MED-3734", "text": "Cranberry products and especially cranberry juice (CJ) have been consumed for health reasons primarily due to their effect on urinary tract infections. We investigated the quantity of both free and total (after hydrolysis) phenolic antioxidants in cranberry products using the Folin assay. The order of amount of total polyphenols in cranberry foods on a fresh weight basis was as follows: dried > frozen > sauce > jellied sauce. On a serving size basis for all cranberry products, the order was as follows: frozen > 100% juice > dried > 27% juice > sauce > jellied sauce. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a major source of sugar consumption in the U.S. and contains both glucose and fructose, potential mediators of oxidative stress. We investigated the effect of the consumption of HFCS and ascorbate with CJ antioxidants or without CJ (control) given to 10 normal individuals after an overnight fast. Plasma antioxidant capacity, glucose, triglycerides, and ascorbate were measured 6 times over 7 h after the consumption of a single 240 mL serving of the two different beverages. The control HFCS caused a slight decrease in plasma antioxidant capacity at all time points and thus an oxidative stress in spite of the presence of ascorbate. CJ produced an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity that was significantly greater than control HFCS at all time points. Postprandial triglycerides, due to fructose in the beverages, were mainly responsible for the oxidative stress and were significantly correlated with the oxidative stress as measured by the antioxidant capacity. Cranberries are an excellent source of high quality antioxidants and should be examined in human supplementation studies."}
{"id": "MED-3738", "text": "The human health benefits from consumption of cranberry products have been associated with the fruits' unique flavonoid composition, including a complex profile of anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins. However, when processed by techniques such as pressing, canning, concentrating, or drying, a number of these natural components may be compromised or inactivated due to physical separation, thermal degradation, or oxidation. Fresh cranberries were compared to freeze-dried berries and individual fruit tissues (skin and peeled fruit). Products examined included cranberry juices (commercial and prepared from concentrate), cranberry sauces (commercial and homemade), and sweetened-dried cranberries (commercial). Freeze-drying resulted in no detectable losses of anthocyanins or proanthocyanidins from cranberry fruits. Anthocyanins were localized in the skin. Proanthocyanins were higher in the skin than in the flesh, with the exception of procyanidin A-2 dimer which was concentrated in the flesh. Anthocyanins were significantly higher in not-from-concentrate juice than in reconstituted juice from concentrate (8.3 mg and 4.2 mg/100 mL, respectively). Similarly, proanthocyanidins were markedly higher in not-from-concentrate juice compared to juice from concentrate (23.0 mg and 8.9 mg/100 mL, respectively). Homemade sauce contained far higher anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins (15.9 and 87.9 mg/100 g, respectively) than canned sauces processed with whole berries (9.6 and 54.4 mg/100 g, respectively) or jelled-type (1.1 and 16 mg/100 g, respectively). Sweetened-dried cranberries were quite low in anthocyanins (7.9 mg/100 g), but they still retained considerable proanthocyanidins (64.2 mg/100 g). Commercially processed products contained significantly lower levels of polyphenols as compared to fresh and home-processed preparations. Anthocyanins were more sensitive to degradation than proanthocyanidins. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: As cranberry juices and other products are increasingly consumed for their recognized health benefits (including prophylaxis against urinary tract infection), it is relevant to consider how various degrees of commercial and home processing can alter innate levels of the biologically active flavonoids (especially anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins) characteristic to the intact fruits. \u00a9 2012 Institute of Food Technologists\u00ae"}
{"id": "MED-3742", "text": "Background: Dietary flavonoids have beneficial effects on blood pressure in intervention settings, but there is limited information on habitual intake and risk of hypertension in population-based studies. Objective: We examined the association between habitual flavonoid intake and incident hypertension in a prospective study in men and women. Design: A total of 87,242 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II, 46,672 women from the NHS I, and 23,043 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) participated in the study. Total flavonoid and subclass intakes were calculated from semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires collected every 4 y by using an updated and extended US Department of Agriculture database. Results: During 14 y of follow-up, 29,018 cases of hypertension in women and 5629 cases of hypertension in men were reported. In pooled multivariate-adjusted analyses, participants in the highest quintile of anthocyanin intake (predominantly from blueberries and strawberries) had an 8% reduction in risk of hypertension [relative risk (RR): 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.98; P < 0.03] compared with that for participants in the lowest quintile of anthocyanin intake; the risk reduction was 12% (RR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.93; P < 0.001) in participants \u226460 y of age and 0.96 (0.91, 1.02) in participants >60 y of age (P for age interaction = 0.02). Although intakes of other subclasses were not associated with hypertension, pooled analyses for individual compounds suggested a 5% (95% CI: 0.91, 0.99; P = 0.005) reduction in risk for the highest compared with the lowest quintiles of intake of the flavone apigenin. In participants \u226460 y of age, a 6% (95% CI: 0.88, 0.97; P = 0.002) reduction in risk was observed for the flavan-3-ol catechin when the highest and the lowest quintiles were compared. Conclusions: Anthocyanins and some flavone and flavan-3-ol compounds may contribute to the prevention of hypertension. These vasodilatory properties may result from specific structural similarities (including the B-ring hydroxylation and methyoxylation pattern)."}
{"id": "MED-3743", "text": "Anthocyanins were isolated from male bracts of 10 wild species of bananas (Musa spp. and Ensete spp.) distributed in Thailand. Six major anthocyanin pigments were identified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), mass spectrometry (MS), and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). They are delphinidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 611.2), cyanidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 595.8), petunidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 624.9), pelargonidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 579.4), peonidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 608.7), and malvidin-3-rutinoside (m/z 638.8). On the basis of the types of pigment present, the wild bananas can be divided into 5 groups. The first group comprises M. itinerans, Musa sp. one, Musa sp. two, and M. acuminata accessions, which contain almost or all anthocyanin pigments except for pelargonidin-3-rutinoside, including both nonmethylated and methylated anthocyanins. The second group, M. acuminata subsp. truncata, contains only malvidin-3-rutinoside while the third group, M. coccinea, contains cyanidin-3-rutinoside and pelargonidin-3-rutinoside. The forth group, M. acuminata yellow bract and E. glaucum do not appear to contain any anthocyanin pigment. The fifth group consists of M. balbisiana, M. velutina, M. laterita, and E. superbum which contain only nonmethylated anthocyanin, delphinidin-3-rutinoside, and cyanidin-3-rutinoside. Total anthocyanin content in the analyzed bracts ranged from 0-119.70 mg/100 g bract fresh weight. The differences in the type of anthocyanin and variation in the amounts present indicate that wild bananas show biochemical diversity, which may be useful for identifying specific groups of bananas or for clarifying the evolution of flavonoid metabolism in each banana group."}
{"id": "MED-3744", "text": "Consumption of fruits and vegetables has been associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Phytochemicals, especially phenolics, in fruits and vegetables are suggested to be the major bioactive compounds for the health benefits. However, the phenolic contents and their antioxidant activities in fruits and vegetables were underestimated in the literature, because bound phenolics were not included. This study was designed to investigate the profiles of total phenolics, including both soluble free and bound forms in common fruits, by applying solvent extraction, base digestion, and solid-phase extraction methods. Cranberry had the highest total phenolic content, followed by apple, red grape, strawberry, pineapple, banana, peach, lemon, orange, pear, and grapefruit. Total antioxidant activity was measured using the TOSC assay. Cranberry had the highest total antioxidant activity (177.0 +/- 4.3 micromol of vitamin C equiv/g of fruit), followed by apple, red grape, strawberry, peach, lemon, pear, banana, orange, grapefruit, and pineapple. Antiproliferation activities were also studied in vitro using HepG(2) human liver-cancer cells, and cranberry showed the highest inhibitory effect with an EC(50) of 14.5 +/- 0.5 mg/mL, followed by lemon, apple, strawberry, red grape, banana, grapefruit, and peach. A bioactivity index (BI) for dietary cancer prevention is proposed to provide a new alternative biomarker for future epidemiological studies in dietary cancer prevention and health promotion."}
{"id": "MED-3745", "text": "Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) are an excellent dietary source of phytochemicals that include flavonol glycosides, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins (condensed tannins), and organic and phenolic acids. Using C-18 and Sephadex Lipophilic LH-20 column chromatography, HPLC, and tandem LC-ES/MS, the total cranberry extract (TCE) has been analyzed, quantified, and separated into fractions enriched in sugars, organic acids, total polyphenols, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins (39.4, 30.0, 10.6, 5.5, and 1.2% composition, respectively). Using a luminescent ATP cell viability assay, the antiproliferative effects of TCE (200 microg/mL) versus all fractions were evaluated against human oral (KB, CAL27), colon (HT-29, HCT116, SW480, SW620), and prostate (RWPE-1, RWPE-2, 22Rv1) cancer cell lines. The total polyphenol fraction was the most active fraction against all cell lines with 96.1 and 95% inhibition of KB and CAL27 oral cancer cells, respectively. For the colon cancer cells, the antiproliferative activity of this fraction was greater against HCT116 (92.1%) than against HT-29 (61.1%), SW480 (60%), and SW620 (63%). TCE and all fractions showed >/=50% antiproliferative activity against prostate cancer cells with total polyphenols being the most active fraction (RWPE-1, 95%; RWPE-2, 95%; 22Rv1, 99.6%). Cranberry sugars (78.8 microg/mL) did not inhibit the proliferation of any cancer cell lines. The enhanced antiproliferative activity of total polyphenols compared to TCE and its individual phytochemicals suggests synergistic or additive antiproliferative interactions of the anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, and flavonol glycosides within the cranberry extract."}
{"id": "MED-3746", "text": "Research suggests that anthocyanins from berry fruit may affect a variety of physiological responses, including endothelial function, but little information is available regarding the pharmacokinetics of these flavonoids in humans. To determine the pharmacokinetics of cranberry anthocyanins, a study was undertaken in 15 participants (age: 62 +/- 8 y) with coronary artery disease. Blood and urine samples were collected between baseline (0 h) and 4 h after consumption of 480 mL cranberry juice (54% juice; 835 mg total polyphenols; 94.47 mg anthocyanins). Marked inter-individual differences in plasma anthocyanin pharmacokinetics were observed with maximum anthocyanin concentrations detected between 1 and 3 h. Cranberry anthocyanins were bioavailable but with notable differences in the maximum concentration and area under the curve(0-4h) between individual participants. The pattern of anthocyanin glucosides observed in plasma and urine generally reflected the relative concentration determined in the juice. Plasma concentrations of the individual anthocyanins ranged between 0.56 and 4.64 nmol/L. Total recovery of urinary anthocyanin was 0.79 +/- 0.90% of the dose delivered. These data are in agreement with the pharmacokinetics of anthocyanins from other foods suggesting that cranberry anthocyanins are poorly absorbed and rapidly removed from plasma. Observed concentrations of plasma anthocyanins appear insufficient to alter radical load or redox potential but may be adequate to affect signal transduction and/or gene expression."}
{"id": "MED-3747", "text": "Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, and its prevalence is expected to increase appreciably in the coming decades. As such, more research is necessary to understand the etiology, progression and possible preventative measures to delay or to stop the development of this disease. Recently, there has been interest in examining the effects of whole extracts from commonly harvested crops on the behaviour and progression of cancer. Here, we describe the effects of whole cranberry extract (WCE) on the behaviour of DU145 human prostate cancer cells in vitro. Following treatment of DU145 human prostate cancer cells with 10, 25 and 50 \u03bcg ml\u207b\u00b9 of WCE, respectively for 6 h, WCE significantly decreased the cellular viability of DU145 cells. WCE also decreased the proportion of cells in the G2-M phase of the cell cycle and increased the proportion of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle following treatment of cells with 25 and 50 \u03bcg ml\u207b\u00b9 treatment of WCE for 6 h. These alterations in cell cycle were associated with changes in cell cycle regulatory proteins and other cell cycle associated proteins. WCE decreased the expression of CDK4, cyclin A, cyclin B1, cyclin D1 and cyclin E, and increased the expression of p27. Changes in p16(INK4a) and pRBp107 protein expression levels also were evident, however, the changes noted in p16(INK4a) and pRBp107 protein expression levels were not statistically significant. These findings demonstrate that phytochemical extracts from the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) can affect the behaviour of human prostate cancer cells in vitro and further support the potential health benefits associated with cranberries."}
{"id": "MED-3748", "text": "Berries have been recognized as a functional food with potential to protect against a variety of health conditions, including some cancers. Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) production and consumption have grown in recent years, warranting further evaluation of potential health benefits. Extracts and isolated constituents from cranberry fruit inhibit growth and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro, and recent data from animal studies lend further support to cranberry's reputation as a cancer fighter. Several likely mechanisms of action for cranberry against prostate and other cancers have been identified, including induction of apoptosis and inhibition of events linked to cellular invasion and migration. This article attempts to put into perspective what is known about cranberry's potential chemopreventive properties, what is yet to be determined, and some factors to consider as research moves forward. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Society of Chemical Industry."}
{"id": "MED-3751", "text": "Preliminary information has suggested that megestrol acetate leads to appetite stimulation and nonfluid weight gain in patients with breast cancer, other cancers, and AIDS. Pursuant to this, we developed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of megestrol acetate in patients with cancer-associated anorexia and cachexia. We randomly assigned 133 eligible patients to receive 800 mg of megestrol acetate per day or a placebo. Patients assigned to megestrol acetate more frequently reported improved appetite (P = .003) and food intake (P = .009) when compared with patients receiving the placebo. A weight gain of 15 lb or more over baseline was seen in 11 of 67 (16%) patients receiving megestrol acetate compared with one of 66 (2%) given the placebo (P = .003). Patients receiving megestrol acetate reported significantly less nausea (13% vs. 38%; P = .001) and emesis (8% vs. 25%, P = .009). No clinically or statistically significant toxic reactions were ascribed to megestrol acetate, with the exception of mild edema. This study convincingly demonstrated that megestrol acetate can stimulate appetite and food intake in patients with anorexia and cachexia associated with cancer, leading to significant weight gain in a proportion of such patients."}
{"id": "MED-3753", "text": "BACKGROUND: No regulations govern placebo composition. The composition of placebos can influence trial outcomes and merits reporting. PURPOSE: To assess how often investigators specify the composition of placebos in randomized, placebo-controlled trials. DATA SOURCES: 4 English-language general and internal medicine journals with high impact factors. STUDY SELECTION: 3 reviewers screened titles and abstracts of the journals to identify randomized, placebo-controlled trials published from January 2008 to December 2009. DATA EXTRACTION: Reviewers independently abstracted data from the introduction and methods sections of identified articles, recording treatment type (pill, injection, or other) and whether placebo composition was stated. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus. DATA SYNTHESIS: Most studies did not disclose the composition of the study placebo. Disclosure was less common for pills than for injections and other treatments (8.2% vs. 26.7%; P = 0.002). LIMITATION: Journals with high impact factors may not be representative. CONCLUSION: Placebos were seldom described in randomized, controlled trials of pills or capsules. Because the nature of the placebo can influence trial outcomes, placebo formulation should be disclosed in reports of placebo-controlled trials."}
{"id": "MED-3756", "text": "The present study surveyed Dunedin general practitioners to determine whether they would deliberately use placebo treatments, under what conditions they would do so, their basic understanding of the placebo effect, and their perception of their use of placebos relative to that of their colleagues. Results indicated that almost all GPS surveyed would deliberately use a placebo treatment under some circumstances. However, there was a clear and statistically significant tendency to understate their use relative to that of their colleagues. It was also clear that a significant number of those surveyed felt placebo treatments to be more appropriate for \"imaginary illnesses\". Results are discussed in comparison with overseas studies and in regard to their implications for medical training."}
{"id": "MED-3758", "text": "Homeopathy remains one of the most controversial subjects in therapeutics. This article is an attempt to clarify its effectiveness based on recent systematic reviews. Electronic databases were searched for systematic reviews/meta-analysis on the subject. Seventeen articles fulfilled the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Six of them related to re-analyses of one landmark meta-analysis. Collectively they implied that the overall positive result of this meta-analysis is not supported by a critical analysis of the data. Eleven independent systematic reviews were located. Collectively they failed to provide strong evidence in favour of homeopathy. In particular, there was no condition which responds convincingly better to homeopathic treatment than to placebo or other control interventions. Similarly, there was no homeopathic remedy that was demonstrated to yield clinical effects that are convincingly different from placebo. It is concluded that the best clinical evidence for homeopathy available to date does not warrant positive recommendations for its use in clinical practice."}
{"id": "MED-3759", "text": "Objective To describe the attitudes and behaviours regarding placebo treatments, defined as a treatment whose benefits derive from positive patient expectations and not from the physiological mechanism of the treatment itself. Design Cross sectional mailed survey. Setting Physicians\u2019 clinical practices. Participants 1200 practising internists and rheumatologists in the United States. Main outcome measures Investigators measured physicians\u2019 self reported behaviours and attitudes concerning the use of placebo treatments, including measures of whether they would use or had recommended a \u201cplacebo treatment,\u201d their ethical judgments about the practice, what they recommended as placebo treatments, and how they typically communicate with patients about the practice. Results 679 physicians (57%) responded to the survey. About half of the surveyed internists and rheumatologists reported prescribing placebo treatments on a regular basis (46-58%, depending on how the question was phrased). Most physicians (399, 62%) believed the practice to be ethically permissible. Few reported using saline (18, 3%) or sugar pills (12, 2%) as placebo treatments, while large proportions reported using over the counter analgesics (267, 41%) and vitamins (243, 38%) as placebo treatments within the past year. A small but notable proportion of physicians reported using antibiotics (86, 13%) and sedatives (86, 13%) as placebo treatments during the same period. Furthermore, physicians who use placebo treatments most commonly describe them to patients as a potentially beneficial medicine or treatment not typically used for their condition (241, 68%); only rarely do they explicitly describe them as placebos (18, 5%). Conclusions Prescribing placebo treatments seems to be common and is viewed as ethically permissible among the surveyed US internists and rheumatologists. Vitamins and over the counter analgesics are the most commonly used treatments. Physicians might not be fully transparent with their patients about the use of placebos and might have mixed motivations for recommending such treatments."}
{"id": "MED-3760", "text": "The authors sent a questionnaire to 772 randomly selected Danish clinicians and asked them about their use of placebo interventions. Sixty-five percent responded. Among the general practitioners, 86% (95% confidence interval 81-91) reported to have used placebo interventions at least once, and 48% (41-55) to have used placebo interventions more than ten times, within the last year. Hospital-based doctors and private specialists reported to have used placebo interventions less frequently (p < .001). The most important reason for the use of placebo interventions was to avoid a confrontation with the patient. Typical placebos were antibiotics for viral infections. Approximately 30% (28-36) of the clinicians believed in an effect of placebo interventions on objective outcomes, and 46% (42-50) found clinical placebo interventions generally ethically acceptable."}
{"id": "MED-3761", "text": "A group of 200 patients who presented in general practice with symptoms but no abnormal physical signs and in whom no definite diagnosis was made were randomly selected for one of four consultations: a consultation conducted in a \"positive manner,\" with and without treatment, and a consultation conducted in a \"non-positive manner,\" called a negative consultation, with and without treatment. Two weeks after consultation there was a significant difference in patient satisfaction between the positive and negative groups but not between the treated and untreated groups. Similarly, 64% of those receiving a positive consultation got better, compared with 39% of those who received a negative consultation (p = 0.001) and 53% of those treated got better compared with 50% of those not treated (p = 0.5)."}
{"id": "MED-3762", "text": "Context Multiple studies have linked alcohol consumption to breast cancer risk, but the risk of lower levels of consumption has not been well quantified. In addition, the role of drinking patterns (i.e. frequency of drinking and \u201cbinge\u201d drinking) and consumption at different times of adult life are not well understood. Objective To evaluate the association of breast cancer with alcohol consumption during adult life, including quantity, frequency, and age at consumption. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective observational study of 105,986 women enrolled in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study followed from 1980 until 2008 with early adult and eight updated alcohol assessments during this time. Main Outcome Measures Relative risks of developing invasive breast cancer. Results 7690 cases developed during 2.4 million person-years of follow-up. Increasing alcohol consumption was associated with increased breast cancer risk that was statistically significant at levels as low as 5.0-9.9 gm/day, equivalent to 3-6 drinks/week (RR 1.15 (95% CI 1.06-1.24) 332 cases/100,000 person-years). After controlling for cumulative alcohol intake, binge drinking, but not frequency of drinking, was associated with breast cancer risk. Alcohol intake both earlier and later in adult life was independently associated with risk. Conclusion Low levels of alcohol consumption were associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk, with the most consistent measure being cumulative alcohol intake throughout adult life. Alcohol intake both earlier and later in adult life was independently associated with risk."}
{"id": "MED-3763", "text": "The aim of this study was to explore oral exposure to carcinogenic (group 1) acetaldehyde after single sips of strong alcoholic beverages containing no or high concentrations of acetaldehyde. Eight volunteers tasted 5 ml of ethanol diluted to 40 vol.% with no acetaldehyde and 40 vol.% calvados containing 2400 \u03bcM acetaldehyde. Salivary acetaldehyde and ethanol concentrations were measured by gas chromatography. The protocol was repeated after ingestion of ethanol (0.5 g/kg body weight). Salivary acetaldehyde concentration was significantly higher after sipping calvados than after sipping ethanol at 30s both with (215 vs. 128 \u03bcmol/l, p<0.05) and without (258 vs. 89 \u03bcmol/l, p<0.05) alcohol ingestion. From 2 min onwards there were no significant differences in the decreasing salivary acetaldehyde concentration, which remained above the level of carcinogenicity still at 10 min. The systemic alcohol distribution from blood to saliva had no additional effect on salivary acetaldehyde after sipping of the alcoholic beverages. Carcinogenic concentrations of acetaldehyde are produced from ethanol in the oral cavity instantly after a small sip of strong alcoholic beverage, and the exposure continues for at least 10 min. Acetaldehyde present in the beverage has a short-term effect on total acetaldehyde exposure. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3764", "text": "Increasing evidence suggests that acetaldehyde, the first and genotoxic metabolite of ethanol, mediates the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages. Ethanol is also contained in a number of ready-to-use mouthwashes typically between 5 and 27% vol. An increased risk of oral cancer has been discussed for users of such mouthwashes; however, epidemiological evidence had remained inconclusive. This study is the first to investigate acetaldehyde levels in saliva after use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes. Ready-to-use mouthwashes and mouthrinses (n = 13) were rinsed in the mouth by healthy, nonsmoking volunteers (n = 4) as intended by the manufacturers (20 ml for 30 sec). Saliva was collected at 0.5, 2, 5 and 10 min after mouthwash use and analyzed using headspace gas chromatography. The acetaldehyde content in the saliva was 41 +/- 15 microM, range 9-85 microM (0.5 min), 52 +/- 14 microM, range 11-105 microM (2 min), 32 +/- 7 microM, range 9-67 microM (5 min) and 15 +/- 7 microM, range 0-37 microM (10 min). The contents were significantly above endogenous levels and corresponding to concentrations normally found after alcoholic beverage consumption. A twice-daily use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes leads to a systemic acetaldehyde exposure of 0.26 microg/kg bodyweight/day on average, which corresponds to a lifetime cancer risk of 3E-6. The margin of exposure was calculated to be 217,604, which would be seen as a low public health concern. However, the local acetaldehyde contents in the saliva are reaching concentrations associated with DNA adduct formation and sister chromatid exchange in vitro, so that concerns for local carcinogenic effects in the oral cavity remain."}
{"id": "MED-3765", "text": "Approximately 3.6% of cancers worldwide derive from chronic alcohol drinking, including those of the upper aerodigestive tract, the liver, the colorectum and the breast. Although the mechanisms for alcohol-associated carcinogenesis are not completely understood, most recent research has focused on acetaldehyde, the first and most toxic ethanol metabolite, as a cancer-causing agent. Ethanol may also stimulate carcinogenesis by inhibiting DNA methylation and by interacting with retinoid metabolism. Alcohol-related carcinogenesis may interact with other factors such as smoking, diet and comorbidities, and depends on genetic susceptibility."}
{"id": "MED-3766", "text": "AIMS: To update epidemiological data on alcohol and breast cancer, with special emphasis on light alcohol consumption, and to review mechanisms of alcohol mediated mammary carcinogenesis. METHODS: For epidemiological data, in November 2011 we performed a literature search in various bibliographic databases, and we conducted a meta-analysis of data on light alcohol drinking. Relevant mechanistic studies were also reviewed to November 2011. RESULTS: A significant increase of the order of 4% in the risk of breast cancer is already present at intakes of up to one alcoholic drink/day. Heavy alcohol consumption, defined as three or more drinks/day, is associated with an increased risk by 40-50%. This translates into up to 5% of breast cancers attributable to alcohol in northern Europe and North America for a total of approximately 50,000 alcohol-attributable cases of breast cancer worldwide. Up to 1-2% of breast cancers in Europe and North America are attributable to light drinking alone, given its larger prevalence in most female populations when compared with heavy drinking. Alcohol increases estrogen levels, and estrogens may exert its carcinogenic effect on breast tissue either via the ER or directly. Other mechanisms may include acetaldehyde, oxidative stress, epigenetic changes due to a disturbed methyl transfer and decreased retinoic acid concentrations associated with an altered cell cycle. CONCLUSIONS: Women should not exceed one drink/day, and women at elevated risk for breast cancer should avoid alcohol or consume alcohol occasionally only."}
{"id": "MED-3767", "text": "BACKGROUND: There is convincing evidence that alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer of the colorectum, breast, larynx, liver, esophagus, oral cavity and pharynx. Most of the data derive from studies that focused on the effect of moderate/high alcohol intakes, while little is known about light alcohol drinking (up to 1 drink/day). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the association between light drinking and cancer of the colorectum, breast, larynx, liver, esophagus, oral cavity and pharynx, through a meta-analytic approach. We searched epidemiological studies using PubMed, ISI Web of Science and EMBASE, published before December 2010. RESULTS: We included 222 articles comprising \u223c92 000 light drinkers and 60 000 non-drinkers with cancer. Light drinking was associated with the risk of oropharyngeal cancer [relative risk, RR = 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.29], esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (RR = 1.30; 95% CI 1.09-1.56) and female breast cancer (RR = 1.05; 95% CI 1.02-1.08). We estimated that \u223c5000 deaths from oropharyngeal cancer, 24 000 from esophageal SCC and 5000 from breast cancer were attributable to light drinking in 2004 worldwide. No association was found for colorectum, liver and larynx tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Light drinking increases the risk of cancer of oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus and female breast."}
{"id": "MED-3769", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare differences across food groups for food cost, energy, and nutrient profiles of 100 items from a cross-sectional survey of 225 stores in 18 counties across the Lower Mississippi Delta of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. METHODS: Energy, nutrient, and cost profiles for food items were calculated by using Naturally Nutrient Rich methodology and converting price per 100 g edible portion to price per serving. Foods were grouped into 6 food groups. Mean differences were compared with ANOVA. RESULTS: Significant differences existed by food group for each measure. Energy density was highest for fats/oils/sweets, whereas nutrient density was highest for vegetables. Price per serving was lowest for fats/oils/sweets and highest for meats. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Educational messages focusing on a complete diet should consider the role of food costs and provide specific recommendations for increasing nutrient-dense foods by replacing a portion of the meat serving at meals with culturally acceptable lower-cost nutrient-dense foods. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2012 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3770", "text": "Background: Comparisons of the cost of different foods relative to their energy and nutritive value were conducted in the 1800s by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Objective: The objective was to reestablish the relations between food cost, energy, and nutrients by using contemporary nutrient composition and food prices data from the USDA. Design: The USDA Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies 1.0 (FNDDS 1.0) and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion food prices database were used for analysis. For 1387 foods, key variables were as follows: energy density (kcal/g), serving size (g), unit price ($/100 g), serving price ($/serving), and energy cost ($/kcal). A regression model tested associations between nutrients and unit price ($/100 g). Comparisons between food groups were tested by using one-factor analyses of variance. Relations between energy density and price within food groups were tested by using Spearman's correlations. Results: Grains and fats food groups supplied the lowest-cost dietary energy. The energy cost for vegetables was higher than that for any other food group except for fruit. Serving sizes increased with water content and varied inversely with energy density of foods. The highest prices per serving were for meats, poultry, and fish, and the lowest prices per serving were for the fats category. Although carbohydrates, sugar, and fat were associated with lower price per 100 g, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals were associated with higher price per 100 g, after adjustment for energy. Conclusions: Grains and sugars food groups were cheaper than vegetables and fruit per calorie and were cheaper than fruit per serving. These price differentials may help to explain why low-cost, energy-dense foods that are nutrient poor are associated with lower education and incomes."}
{"id": "MED-3771", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Hyperosmotic stress on cells limits many aspects of cell function, metabolism and health. International data suggest that schoolchildren may be at risk of hyperosmotic stress on cells because of suboptimal water intake. The present study explored the cell hydration status of two samples of children in the USA. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study describing the urine osmolality (an index of hyperosmotic cell shrinkage) and water intake of convenience samples from Los Angeles (LA) and New York City (NYC). SETTING: Each participant collected a urine sample at an outpatient clinic on the way to school on a weekday morning in spring 2009. Each was instructed to wake, eat, drink and do as usual before school, and complete a dietary record form describing the type and amounts of all foods and beverages consumed after waking, before giving the sample. SUBJECTS: The children (9-11 years) in LA (n 337) and NYC (n 211) considered themselves healthy enough to go to school on the day they gave the urine sample. RESULTS: Elevated urine osmolality (>800 mmol/kg) was observed in 63 % and 66 % of participants in LA and NYC, respectively. In multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models, elevated urine osmolality was associated with not reporting intake of drinking water in the morning (LA: OR = 2\u00b71, 95 % CI 1\u00b72, 3\u00b75; NYC: OR = 1\u00b78, 95 % CI 1\u00b70, 3\u00b75). Although over 90 % of both samples had breakfast before giving the urine sample, 75 % did not drink water. CONCLUSIONS: Research is warranted to confirm these results and pursue their potential health implications."}
{"id": "MED-3772", "text": "A clinical link exists between severe dehydration and cognitive performance. Using rapid and severe water loss induced either by intense exercise and/or heat stress, initial studies suggested there were alterations in short-term memory and cognitive function related to vision, but more recent studies have not all confirmed these data. Some studies argue that water loss is not responsible for the observations made, and studies compensating water losses have failed to prevent the symptoms. Studies in children have suggested that drinking extra water helps cognitive performance, but these data rely on a small number of children. In older adults (mean age around 60) the data are not strong enough to support a relationship between mild dehydration and cognitive function. Data on frail elderly and demented people are lacking. Methodological heterogeneity in these studies are such that the relationship between mild dehydration and cognitive performance cannot be supported."}
{"id": "MED-3774", "text": "While dehydration has well-documented negative effects on adult cognition, there is little research on hydration and cognitive performance in children. We investigated whether having a drink of water improved children's performance on cognitive tasks. Fifty-eight children aged 7-9 years old were randomly allocated to a group that received additional water or a group that did not. Results showed that children who drank additional water rated themselves as significantly less thirsty than the comparison group (p=0.002), and they performed better on visual attention tasks (letter cancellation, p=0.02; spot the difference memory tasks, ps=0.019 and 0.014)."}
{"id": "MED-3775", "text": "We investigated the beneficial effects of drinking supplementary water during the school day on the cognitive performance and transitory subjective states, such as fatigue or vigor, in 168 children aged between 9 and 11years who were living in a hot climate (South Italy, Sardinia). The classes were randomly divided into an intervention group, which received water supplementation, and a control group. Dehydration was determined by urine sampling and was defined as urine osmolality greater than 800mOsm/kg H(2)O (Katz, Massry, Agomn, & Toor, 1965). The change in the scores from the morning to the afternoon of hydration levels, cognitive performance and transitory subjective states were correlated. In line with a previous observational study that evaluated the hydration status of school children living in a country with a hot climate (Bar-David, Urkin, & Kozminsky, 2005), our results showed that a remarkable proportion of children were in a state of mild, voluntary dehydration at the beginning of the school day (84%). We found a significant negative correlation between dehydration and the auditory number span, which indicates a beneficial effect of drinking supplementary water at school on short-term memory. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between dehydration and performance in the verbal analogy task. The results are discussed in the light of the complexity of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the relationship between hydration status and cognition. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3776", "text": "Little research has examined the effect of water consumption on cognition in children. We examined whether drinking water improves performance from baseline to test in twenty-three 6-7-year-old children. There were significant interactions between time of test and water group (water/no water), with improvements in the water group on thirst and happiness ratings, visual attention and visual search, but not visual memory or visuomotor performance. These results indicate that even under conditions of mild dehydration, not as a result of exercise, intentional water deprivation or heat exposure, children's cognitive performance can be improved by having a drink of water."}
{"id": "MED-3779", "text": "The question of whether menstrual disturbances are more common in vegetarian than in nonvegetarian women is complex. Disturbances of the cycle may be clinical (ie, amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea) or subclinical (i.e., normal-length cycles with anovulation or a short or defective luteal phase). Detection of the latter requires that the menstrual cycle be monitored, but may help prevent recruitment bias in studies comparing vegetarians with nonvegetarians because vegetarians with menstrual disturbances may be more likely to volunteer for a study on menstrual disturbances and vegetarianism. Three general mechanisms that could contribute to menstrual disturbances that may differ between vegetarians and nonvegetarians include energy imbalances associated with body-weight disturbances or exercise, psychosocial and cognitive factors, and dietary components. Evidence for each of these mechanisms is reviewed and studies comparing menstrual function between vegetarians and nonvegetarians are described in this article. Although results from several cross-sectional studies suggest that clinical menstrual disturbances may be more common in vegetarians, a prospective study that controlled for many potential confounders found that subclinical disturbances were less common in weight-stable, healthy vegetarian women. Because the sample studied may not be representative of all vegetarian women, however, these results cannot be generalized. Population studies are needed to draw definitive conclusions."}
{"id": "MED-3780", "text": "Metabolomics studies hold promise for discovery of pathways linked to disease processes. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. A metabolomics approach was used to generate unbiased small molecule metabolic profiles in plasma that predict risk for CVD. Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine, namely choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), and betaine, were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort. Dietary supplementation of mice with choline, TMAO or betaine promoted up-regulation of multiple macrophage scavenger receptors linked to atherosclerosis, and supplementation with choline or TMAO promoted atherosclerosis. Studies using germ-free mice confirmed a critical role for dietary choline and gut flora in TMAO production, augmented macrophage cholesterol accumulation and foam cell formation. Suppression of intestinal microflora in atherosclerosis-prone mice inhibited dietary choline-enhanced atherosclerosis. Genetic variations controlling expression of flavin monooxygenases (FMOs), an enzymatic source of TMAO, segregated with atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic mice. Discovery of a relationship between gut flora-dependent metabolism of dietary phosphatidylcholine and CVD pathogenesis provides opportunities for development of both novel diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches for atherosclerotic heart disease."}
{"id": "MED-3781", "text": "In this study, a panel of normal human prostate cells (HPCs) and tumor cells derived from metastases were studied by (1)H NMR spectroscopy to determine whether the malignant transformation of HPCs results in the elevation of choline compounds. Although an elevated choline signal has been observed previously in clinical studies, the contribution of the different Cho compounds to this elevation, as well as their quantification, has not been established until now. Here we have shown that HPCs derived from metastases exhibit significantly higher phosphocholine as well as glycerophosphocholine levels compared with normal prostate epithelial and stromal cells. Thus the elevation of the choline peak observed clinically in prostate cancer is attributable to an alteration of phospholipid metabolism and not simply to increased cell density, doubling time, or other nonspecific effects. Androgen deprivation of the androgen receptor-positive cell lines resulted in a significant increase of choline compounds after chronic androgen deprivation of the LNCaP cell line and in a decrease of choline compounds after a more acute androgen deprivation of the LAPC-4 cell line. These data strongly support the use of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to detect the presence of prostate cancer for diagnosis, to detect response subsequent to androgen ablation therapy, and to detect recurrence."}
{"id": "MED-3782", "text": "Red and processed meat may increase risk of advanced prostate cancer. Data on post-diagnostic diet and prostate cancer are sparse, but post-diagnostic intake of poultry with skin and eggs may increase risk of disease progression. Therefore, we prospectively examined total, unprocessed, and processed red meat, poultry, and eggs in relation to risk of lethal prostate cancer (e.g. men without cancer at baseline who developed distant organ metastases or died from prostate cancer during follow-up) among 27, 607 men followed from 1994\u20132008. We also performed a case-only survival analysis to examine post-diagnostic consumption of these foods and risk of lethal prostate cancer among the 3,127 men initially diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer during follow-up. In the incidence analysis, we observed 199 events during 306,715 person-years. Men who consumed 2.5 or more eggs per week had an 81% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer compared to men who consumed less than 0.5 eggs per week (HR: 1.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13, 2.89; p-trend: 0.01). In the case-only survival analysis, we observed 123 events during 19,354 person-years. There were suggestive, but not statistically significant, positive associations between post-diagnostic poultry (HR \u22653.5 vs. <1.5 servings per week: 1.69; 95%CI: 0.96, 2.99; p-trend: 0.07) and post-diagnostic processed red meat (HR \u22653 vs. <0.5 servings per week: 1.45; 95%CI: 0.73, 2.87; p-trend: 0.08) and risk of progression of localized prostate cancer to lethal disease. In conclusion, consumption of eggs may increase risk of developing a lethal-form of prostate cancer among healthy men."}
{"id": "MED-3783", "text": "Fish odour syndrome (trimethylaminuria) is a metabolic syndrome caused by abnormal excretion of trimethylamine in the breath, urine, sweat, saliva and vaginal secretions. Trimethylamine is derived from the intestinal bacterial degradation of foods rich in choline and carnitine and is normally oxidised by the liver to odourless trimethylamine N-oxide which is then excreted in the urine. Impaired oxidation of trimethylamine is thought to be the cause of the fish odour syndrome and is responsible for the smell of rotting fish. Certain foods rich in choline exacerbate the condition and the patients have a variety of psychological problems. Recognition of the condition is important as dietary adjustments reduce the excretion of trimethylamine and may reduce the odour. Occasionally, a short course of metronidazole, neomycin and lactulose may suppress production of trimethylamine by reducing the activity of gut microflora. Keywords: fish odour syndrome; trimethylaminuria"}
{"id": "MED-3784", "text": "Dietary choline and betaine have been hypothesized to decrease the risk of cancer because of their role as methyl donors in the one-carbon metabolism. However, it remains unknown whether dietary intake of choline and betaine is associated with colorectal cancer risk. We prospectively examined the associations between dietary choline and betaine intake and risk of colorectal cancer in men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. We followed 47,302 men and identified a total of 987 incident colorectal cancer cases from 1986 to 2004. We assessed dietary and supplemental choline and betaine intake every four years using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate multivariate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). All statistical tests were two-sided. We did not find any statistically significant associations between choline intake or betaine intake and risk of colorectal cancer. Comparing the top quintile with bottom quintile, multivariate RRs (95% CI) were 0.97 (0.79-1.20; Ptrend = 0.87) for choline intake and 0.94 (0.77-1.16; Ptrend = 0.79) for betaine intake. Similarly, we observed no associations between colorectal cancer risk and choline from free choline, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine, or sphingomyelin. Our data do not support that choline and betaine intake is inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3785", "text": "PURPOSE: Components of one-carbon metabolism are believed to influence cancer development with suggested mechanisms, including DNA methylation and DNA repair mechanisms. However, few prospective studies have investigated one-carbon metabolism in relation to prostate cancer risk, and the results have been conflicting. The aim of this study was to do a comprehensive investigation of the components of one-carbon metabolism in relation to prostate cancer risk. A panel of seven circulating B vitamins and related metabolites was selected, most of which have not been studied before. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed plasma concentrations of betaine, choline, cysteine, methionine, methylmalonic acid (MMA), vitamin B2, and vitamin B6 in 561 cases and 1,034 controls matched for age and recruitment date, nested within the population-based Northern Sweden Health and Disease Cohort. Relative risks of prostate cancer were estimated by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Positive associations with prostate cancer risk were observed for choline and vitamin B2, and an inverse association was observed for MMA. The relative risks for a doubling in concentrations were 1.46 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.04-2.05; P(trend) = 0.03] for choline, 1.11 (95% CI, 1.00-1.23; P(trend) = 0.04) for vitamin B2, and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.63-0.97; P(trend) = 0.03) for MMA. Concentrations of betaine, cysteine, methionine, and vitamin B6 were not associated with prostate cancer risk. CONCLUSION: The results of this large prospective study suggest that elevated plasma concentrations of choline and vitamin B2 may be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. These novel findings support a role of one-carbon metabolism in prostate cancer etiology and warrant further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3786", "text": "This article describes the development of a series of choline- and betaine-controlled diets that were served to research subjects as part of an ongoing study of diet requirements in humans. These diets were developed based on the analysis of choline and betaine in individual foods. The calculated diets were compared with analyses of all foods combined into a single sample for each day. The laboratory analyses of choline and betaine in the whole-diet aliquots matched the estimated amounts in the diets that were calculated from the analyses of individual foods. These diets were adjusted for several levels of choline and betaine and were well accepted by research subjects who consumed them for a time period of up to 2 months. This article describes applications of this diet for use in clinical research on methyl-group requirements in humans and for use in clinical practice for counseling the client who requires a choline-controlled diet."}
{"id": "MED-3787", "text": "Background Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a B cell neoplasm causing lytic or osteopenic bone abnormalities. Whole body skeletal survey (WBSS), Magnetic resonance (MR) and 18F-FDG PET/CT are imaging techniques routinely used for the evaluation of bone involvement in MM patients. Aim As MM bone lesions may present low 18F-FDG uptake; the aim of this study was to assess the possible added value and limitations of 11C-Choline to that of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients affected with MM. Methods Ten patients affected with MM underwent a standard 11C-Choline PET/CT and an 18F-FDG PET/CT within one week. The results of the two scans were compared in terms of number, sites and SUVmax of lesions. Results Four patients (40%) had a negative concordant 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans. Two patients (20%) had a positive 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans that identified the same number and sites of bone lesions. The remaining four patients (40%) had a positive 11C-Choline and 18F-FDG PET/CT scan, but the two exams identified different number of lesions. Choline showed a mean SUVmax of 5 while FDG showed a mean SUVmax of 3.8 (P = 0.042). Overall, 11C-Choline PET/CT scans detected 37 bone lesions and 18F-FDG PET/CT scans detected 22 bone lesions but the difference was not significant (P = 0.8). Conclusion According to these preliminary data, 11C-Choline PET/CT appears to be more sensitive than 18F-FDG PET/CT for the detection of bony myelomatous lesions. If these data are confirmed in larger series of patients, 11C-Choline may be considered a more appropriate functional imaging in association with MRI for MM bone staging."}
{"id": "MED-3788", "text": "Intestinal microbiota metabolism of choline/phosphatidylcholine produces trimethylamine (TMA), which is further metabolized to a proatherogenic species, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). Herein we demonstrate that intestinal microbiota metabolism of dietary L-carnitine, a trimethylamine abundant in red meat, also produces TMAO and accelerates atherosclerosis. Omnivorous subjects are shown to produce significantly more TMAO than vegans/vegetarians following ingestion of L-carnitine through a microbiota-dependent mechanism. Specific bacterial taxa in human feces are shown to associate with both plasma TMAO and dietary status. Plasma L-carnitine levels in subjects undergoing cardiac evaluation (n = 2,595) predict increased risks for both prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) and incident major adverse cardiac events (MI, stroke or death), but only among subjects with concurrently high TMAO levels. Chronic dietary L-carnitine supplementation in mice significantly altered cecal microbial composition, markedly enhanced synthesis of TMA/TMAO, and increased atherosclerosis, but not following suppression of intestinal microbiota. Dietary supplementation of TMAO, or either carnitine or choline in mice with intact intestinal microbiota, significantly reduced reverse cholesterol transport in vivo. Intestinal microbiota may thus participate in the well-established link between increased red meat consumption and CVD risk."}
{"id": "MED-3789", "text": "Background: Meat, milk, and eggs have been inconsistently associated with the risk of advanced prostate cancer. These foods are sources of choline\u2014a nutrient that may affect prostate cancer progression through cell membrane function and one-carbon metabolism. No study has examined dietary choline and the risk of lethal prostate cancer. Objective: Our objective was to examine whether dietary choline, choline-containing compounds, and betaine (a choline metabolite) increase the risk of lethal prostate cancer. Design: We prospectively examined the intake of these nutrients and the risk of lethal prostate cancer among 47,896 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. In a case-only survival analysis, we examined the postdiagnostic intake of these nutrients and the risk of lethal prostate cancer among 4282 men with an initial diagnosis of nonmetastatic disease during follow-up. Diet was assessed with a validated questionnaire 6 times during 22 y of follow-up. Results: In the incidence analysis, we observed 695 lethal prostate cancers during 879,627 person-years. Men in the highest quintile of choline intake had a 70% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer (HR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.45; P-trend = 0.005). In the case-only survival analysis, we observed 271 lethal cases during 33,679 person-years. Postdiagnostic choline intake was not statistically significantly associated with the risk of lethal prostate cancer (HR for quintile 5 compared with quintile 1: 1.69; 95% CI: 0.93, 3.09; P-trend = 0.20). Conclusion: Of the 47,896 men in our study population, choline intake was associated with an increased risk of lethal prostate cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3790", "text": "Background: Processed meat and fish have been shown to be associated with the risk of advanced prostate cancer, but few studies have examined diet after prostate cancer diagnosis and risk of its progression. Objective: We examined the association between postdiagnostic consumption of processed and unprocessed red meat, fish, poultry, and eggs and the risk of prostate cancer recurrence or progression. Design: We conducted a prospective study in 1294 men with prostate cancer, without recurrence or progression as of 2004\u20132005, who were participating in the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor and who were followed for an average of 2 y. Results: We observed 127 events (prostate cancer death or metastases, elevated prostate-specific antigen concentration, or secondary treatment) during 2610 person-years. Intakes of processed and unprocessed red meat, fish, total poultry, and skinless poultry were not associated with prostate cancer recurrence or progression. Greater consumption of eggs and poultry with skin was associated with 2-fold increases in risk in a comparison of extreme quantiles: eggs [hazard ratio (HR): 2.02; 95% CI: 1.10, 3.72; P for trend = 0.05] and poultry with skin (HR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.36, 3.76; P for trend = 0.003). An interaction was observed between prognostic risk at diagnosis and poultry. Men with high prognostic risk and a high poultry intake had a 4-fold increased risk of recurrence or progression compared with men with low/intermediate prognostic risk and a low poultry intake (P for interaction = 0.003). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the postdiagnostic consumption of processed or unprocessed red meat, fish, or skinless poultry is not associated with prostate cancer recurrence or progression, whereas consumption of eggs and poultry with skin may increase the risk."}
{"id": "MED-3791", "text": "Experimental and epidemiological evidence suggest that a diet with dietary fat as low as 20% of kcal may be necessary to reduce the risk of breast cancer. Two groups of women, postmenopausal women treated for breast cancer and premenopausal women with cystic breast disease accompanied by cyclical mastaligia, participated in an intervention program to determine the feasibility of such a low-fat diet. After 3 mo of intervention both groups were consuming a low-fat diet; in the premenopausal groups serum estrogen levels decreased in response to the fat reduction. Other nutrition-education programs in research institutions, restaurants, and schools are attempting to influence the public's knowledge and behavior regarding the importance of dietary fat reduction."}
{"id": "MED-3792", "text": "Basal serum prolactin and serum oestradiol-17-beta concentrations were measured four times during one menstrual cycle in 20 women with severe cyclical mastalgia and normal to slightly fibroadenotic breasts. A group of 10 normal women who had never experienced mastalgia served as controls. Basal serum prolactin was significantly elevated in patients compared to normals, although within the normal range. Serum oestradiol concentrations did not differ in the two groups and were also within the normal range. A significant positive correlation between oestradiol and prolactin was found in patients and normals, but with larger prolactin levels in patients. The results point towards a prolactin secretory hypersensitivity for oestradiol in patients with cyclical mastalgia. Prolactin is considered a central factor in the eliciting of cyclical mastalgia."}
{"id": "MED-3793", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To determine cross-cultural and other effects on women's experiences of premenstrual symptoms and their impact on activities of daily life (ADL). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. Sample A total of 7226 women aged 15-49 recruited by random sampling with approximately 400 each from France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, Pakistan and Thailand. Approximately 1000 women in Japan and Korea and 500 Australian women were found using Internet panels. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Questionnaire of 23 premenstrual symptoms, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, ADL and women's knowledge of premenstrual terms. RESULTS: The most prevalent symptoms were abdominal bloating, cramps or abdominal pain, irritability, mastalgia and joint/muscle/back pains. Severity of symptoms was directly proportional to duration (number of affected cycles) (R = 0.78). A linear model found that symptom prevalence (duration \u00d7 severity) was associated with age (linear and quadratic effects), parity, current smoking and country. Premenstrual physical and mental symptom domains had similar negative effects on ADL. Impact on ADL was affected by education and exercise participation. Women's knowledge of the terms premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) varied by symptom intensity, age, education and country. CONCLUSIONS: Four of the five most prevalent premenstrual symptoms were physical. There was a great deal of similarities of women's experiences of these symptoms across countries and regions. Women's knowledge of PMS terms is highly dependent on the country in which they live."}
{"id": "MED-3794", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a low-fat, vegetarian diet reduces dysmenorrhea and premenstrual symptoms by its effect on serum sex-hormone binding globulin concentration and estrogen activity. METHODS: In a crossover design, 33 women followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet for two menstrual cycles. For two additional cycles, they followed their customary diet while taking a supplement placebo pill. Dietary intake, serum sex-hormone binding globulin concentration, body weight, pain duration and intensity, and premenstrual symptoms were assessed during each study phase. RESULTS: Mean (+/- standard deviation [SD]) serum sex-hormone binding globulin concentration was higher during the diet phase (46.7 +/- 23.6 nmol/L) than during the supplement phase (39.3 +/- 19.8 nmol/L, P < .001). Mean (+/- SD) body weight was lower during the diet (66.1 +/- 11.3 kg) compared with the supplement phase (67.9 +/- 12.1 kg, P < .001). Mean dysmenorrhea duration fell significantly from baseline (3.9 +/- 1.7 days) to diet phase (2.7 +/- 1.9 days) compared with change from baseline to supplement phase (3.6 +/- 1.7 days, P < .01). Pain intensity fell significantly during the diet phase, compared with baseline, for the worst, second-worst, and third-worst days, and mean durations of premenstrual concentration, behavioral change, and water retention symptoms were reduced significantly, compared with the supplement phase. CONCLUSION: A low-fat vegetarian diet was associated with increased serum sex-hormone binding globulin concentration and reductions in body weight, dysmenorrhea duration and intensity, and premenstrual symptom duration. The symptom effects might be mediated by dietary influences on estrogen activity."}
{"id": "MED-3795", "text": "Mastalgia affects up to two-thirds of women at some time during their reproductive lives. It is usually benign, but thefear of underlying breast cancer is why many women present for evaluation. Mastalgia can be associated with premenstrual syndrome, fibrocystic breast disease, psychologic disturbance and, rarely, breast cancer. Occasionally, extramammary conditions, like Tietzie syndrome, present as mastalgia. A thorough clinical evaluation is required to assess the cause. The majority of women can be reassured after a clinical evaluation. Approximately 15% require pain-relieving therapy. Mechanical breast support; a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet; and topical nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents are reasonable first-line treatments. Hormonal agents, such as bromocriptine, tamoxifen and danazol, have all demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of mastalgia. Side effects, however, limit their extensive use. Danazol is the only FDA-approved hormonal treatment and is best used in cyclic form to limit the adverse effects. Lisuride maleate is a new agent recently studied for the treatment of mastalgia. Initial data on this medication are encouraging. Sixty percent of cyclic mastalgia recurs after treatment. Noncyclic mastalgia responds poorly to treatment but resolves spontaneously in up to 50% of cases."}
{"id": "MED-3796", "text": "Lignans are a group of phytochemicals shown to have weakly estrogenic and antiestrogenic properties. Two specific lignans, enterodiol and enterolactone, are absorbed after formation in the intestinal tract from plant precursors particularly abundant in fiber-rich food and are excreted in the urine. We evaluated the effect of the ingestion of flax seed powder, known to produce high concentrations of urinary lignans, on the menstrual cycle in 18 normally cycling women, using a balanced randomized cross-over design. Each subject consumed her usual omnivorous, low fiber (control) diet for 3 cycles and her usual diet supplemented with flax seed for another 3 cycles. The second and third flax cycles were compared to the second and third control cycles. Three anovulatory cycles occurred during the 36 control cycles, compared to none during the 36 flax seed cycles. Compared to the ovulatory control cycles, the ovulatory flax cycles were consistently associated with longer luteal phase (LP) lengths (mean +/- SEM, 12.6 +/- 0.4 vs. 11.4 +/- 0.4 days; P = 0.002). There were no significant differences between flax and control cycles for concentrations of either estradiol or estrone during the early follicular phase, midfollicular phase, or LP. Although flax seed ingestion had no significant effect on LP progesterone concentrations, the LP progesterone/estradiol ratios were significantly higher during the flax cycles. Midfollicular phase testosterone concentrations were slightly higher during flax cycles. Flax seed ingestion had no effect on early follicular phase concentrations of DHEA-S, PRL, or sex hormone-binding globulin. Our data suggest a significant specific role for lignans in the relationship between diet and sex steroid action, and possibly between diet and the risk of breast and other hormonally dependent cancers."}
{"id": "MED-3797", "text": "A double blind crossover trial of the prolactin inhibitor bromocriptine in painful benign breast disease is reported. Twenty-nine women with cyclical mastalgia and 11 with non-cyclical pain were treated with bromocriptine, 5 mg daily, and placebo over six menstrual cycels. Assessment of response to treatment was made by a linear analogue system and clinical examination together with plasma prolactin estimations. Bromocriptine produced a significant improvement in breast symptoms and a significant fall in prolactin levels in the cyclical pain group, but had no effect in the non-cyclical group. These results suggest that bromocriptine offers a new and effective approach in the management of cyclical breast pain."}
{"id": "MED-3798", "text": "The Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MMDQ) was completed by thirty healthy premenopausal women randomized into one of two sets of weight-maintaining diets, those with a ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (P/S ratio) of 1.0 and those with a P/S ratio of 0.3. After a baseline interval of one menstrual cycle, both groups were fed a high fat diet (40% energy from fat) for four menstrual cycles per subject, followed by a similar interval on a low fat diet (20% energy from fat). There were no significant differences in self-reported menstrual symptoms between the two P/S groups. During both menses and the premenstrual week of the low fat dietary period there were significant decreases in self-reported symptoms associated with water retention. A decrease in symptoms in the group labelled \"arousal\" during the rest of the menstrual cycle was also reported."}
{"id": "MED-3799", "text": "Modifiable factors, including diet, might alter breast cancer risk. We used the WHI Dietary Modification (DM) trial to test the effect of the intervention on risk of benign proliferative breast disease, a condition associated with increased risk of and considered to be on the pathway to invasive breast cancer. The WHI DM trial was a randomized, controlled, primary prevention trial conducted in 40 US clinical centers from 1993\u20132005. 48,835 postmenopausal women, aged 50\u201379 years, without prior breast cancer, were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned to the DM intervention group or to the comparison group. The intervention was designed to reduce total dietary fat intake to 20% of total energy intake, and to increase fruit and vegetable intake to \u22655 servings/day and intake of grain products to \u22656 servings/day, but resulted in smaller, albeit significant changes in practice. Participants had biennial mammograms and regular clinical breast exams. We identified women who reported breast biopsies free of cancer, obtained the histologic sections, and subjected them to standardized central review. During follow-up (average, 7.7 years), 570 incident cases of benign proliferative breast disease were ascertained in the intervention group and 793 in the comparison group. The hazard ratio for the association between DM and benign proliferative breast disease was 1.09 (95%CI, 0.98\u20131.23). Risk varied by levels of baseline total vitamin D intake but it varied little by levels of other baseline variables. These results suggest that a modest reduction in fat intake and increase in fruit, vegetable, and grain intake does not alter the risk of benign proliferative breast disease."}
{"id": "MED-3800", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To review the current management of women with breast pain. OPTIONS: The effect of various treatment modes and health practices, including medications, was considered for the management of both cyclical and noncyclical breast pain. OUTCOMES: Effective and timely management of the woman with breast pain and improved quality of life. EVIDENCE: A literature search was performed to identify reports published in English between 1975 and July 2003 using MEDLINE and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. VALUES: Levels of evidence, as outlined, have been determined using the criteria outlined by the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination. Participants were the principal authors: a clinical dietitian, a surgeon oncologist, and a nurse. BENEFITS, HARMS, AND COSTS: Utilizing the information will increase knowledge, enabling a consistent approach, which will reduce the number of ineffective interventions and ensure appropriate use medications. VALIDATION: Comparison has been made with management protocols in the literature, but no clinical guidelines have been located. No formal clinical testing has taken place. SPONSOR: The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC). Work on these guidelines was initiated by team members to fill a need for practice guidelines at Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Breast Health Centre, Winnipeg, MB. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Education and reassurance is an integral part of the management of mastalgia and should be the first-line treatment. (II-1 A) 2. The use of a well-fitting bra that provides good support should be considered for the relief of cyclical and noncyclical mastalgia. (II-3 B) 3. A change in dose, formulation, or scheduling should be considered for women on HRT. HRT may be discontinued if appropriate. (III C) 4. Women with breast pain should not be advised to reduce caffeine intake. (1 E) 5. Vitamin E should not be considered for the treatment of mastalgia. (1 E) 6. There is presently insufficient evidence to recommend the use of evening primrose oil (EPO) in the treatment of breast pain. (II-2 C) 7. Flaxseed should be considered as a first-line treatment for cyclical mastalgia. (I A) 8. Topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel, such as diclofenac 2% in pluronic lethicin organogel, should be considered for pain control for localized treatment of mastalgia. (I A) 9. Tamoxifen 10 mg daily or danazol 200 mg daily should be considered when first-line treatments are ineffective. (I A) 10. Mastectomy or partial mastectomy should not be considered an effective treatment for mastalgia. (III E)."}
{"id": "MED-3801", "text": "21 patients with severe persistent cyclical mastopathy of at least 5 years' duration were randomised to a control group who received general dietary advice or to an intervention group who were taught how to reduce the fat content of their diet to 15% of calories while increasing complex carbohydrate consumption to maintain caloric intake. Both groups were followed for 6 months with food records and measurement of plasma hormone and lipid levels. Severity of symptoms was recorded with daily diaries and patients were assessed at the beginning and end of the study by a physician who was unaware of their dietary regimen. After 6 months there was a significant reduction in the intervention group in the severity of premenstrual breast tenderness and swelling. Physical examination showed reduced breast swelling, tenderness, and nodularity in 6 of 10 patients in the intervention group and 2 of 9 patients in the control group."}
{"id": "MED-3802", "text": "Methylchavicol (CH(3)-CV), an important aromatic constituent of different plants like tarragon and basils, has been shown to be carcinogenic by a mechanism yet unclear, although it has been reported that carcinogenicity of CH(3)-CV in rodent might be linked to its metabolic conversion into a genotoxic electrophilic metabolite generated through a two steps bioactivation pathway catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes and sulfotransferases. The induction of carcinogenesis by certain agents has been associated with the generation of oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to determine whether pure methylchavicol applied on a human hepatoma cell line, HepG2, could promote oxidative stress and might alter the expression of procarcinogenic biomarkers such as the drug-metabolizing enzyme (CYP2E1), the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and might induce the expression of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) and Mn-SOD that control the redox equilibrium of the cells. CH(3)-CV was shown to cause a significant induction of oxidative stress, as revealed by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (LDCL) and to alter dramatically the expression of CYP2E1, iNOS and Mn-SOD, indicating that the toxic effect of CH(3)-CV could be mediated through a nitric oxide dependent mechanism. Under similar experimental conditions, the extracts from tarragon, chervil and basil did not induce such biological changes. These results provide evidence that the generation of an oxidative stress may be a significant event occurring during CH(3)-CV-induced toxicity. It also suggests that natural extracts containing different amounts of CH(3)-CV (tarragon, chervil and basil) did not elicit such toxicity and might contain compounds able to counteract this detrimental property. Copyright \u00a9 2012. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS."}
{"id": "MED-3807", "text": "Artemisia dracunculus L. (tarragon) has a long history of use as a spice and remedy. Two well-described \"cultivars\" (Russian and French) are used widely and differ in ploidy level, morphology, and chemistry. Key biologically active secondary metabolites are essential oils (0.15-3.1%), coumarins (>1%), flavonoids, and phenolcarbonic acids. In vivo studies mainly in rodents, particularly from Russian sources, highlight potential anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and antihyperglycemic effects. Despite concerns about the toxic effects of two of its main constituents, estragole (up to 82%) and methyleugenol (up to 39%), no acute toxicity or mutagenic activity has been reported at doses relevant for human consumption. Water extracts of A. dracunculus contain very low amounts of estragole and methyleugenol and, therefore, are considered to pose a very limited risk. Overall, a stronger focus on clinical studies and precise taxonomic and phytochemical definition of the source material will be essential for future research efforts."}
{"id": "MED-3808", "text": "Methylchavicol (or estragole), a natural flavouring substance present in tarragon, was confirmed as a genotoxic chemical in the in vitro UDS test in cultured rat hepatocytes and in the in vivo UDS test in hepatocytes of exposed rats. Deep-frozen tarragon was clearly less genotoxic than methylchavicol at equivalent dose levels, and desiccated tarragon was negative. Both forms of tarragon tested in vitro have the ability to decrease significantly the genotoxicity of methylchavicol added to the culture medium at concentrations </=10 muM for deep-frozen and </=55 muM for desiccated tarragon. The decrease may be attributed to antimutagenic properties of tarragon leaves and/or to adsorption of methylchavicol, which would decrease its bioavailability. Desiccated tarragon powder was not genotoxic in the in vivo UDS test when administered up to the maximum dose of 6.25 g/kg bw (18.75 mg/kg bw of methylchavicol). In vivo, desiccated tarragon did not show antimutagenic properties, because it did not decrease the genotoxicity of methylchavicol added at high concentrations. Considering the low exposure level at the maximum daily tarragon consumption, the rapid detoxification and excretion in humans and the no-genotoxic-effect-level of methylchavicol by the oral route when given to rats as tarragon leaves, a high margin of exposure exists. We can conclude that tarragon consumption presents no genotoxic risk to humans. Copyright \u00a9 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3809", "text": "Mutagenicity and liver toxicity of the herb tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) were evaluated using single cell gel (comet) electrophoresis. Ten microlitres aliquots of peripheral venous human blood were incubated with tarragon extract, saline, or the mutagen sodium dichromate. Cell suspensions dispersed in low-melting agarose were electrophoresed in ethidium bromide. The resulting DNA migration trails were obtained using fluorescent microscopy at 400\u00d7 magnification, and graded according to the mutagenicity index (MI) for each cell incubation condition. The in vivo liver toxicity of Artemisia dracunculus was assessed in the blood of mice treated orally with the extract of the herb, using alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) as liver function indicators. Liver morphology was assessed using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of liver tissue. The present study demonstrated a direct correlation between tarragon extract dosage and three major outcome variables: MI; serum liver enzyme activity; and liver histopathology. These outcomes are possibly due to the presence in tarragon of methylchavicol and other genotoxic compounds. These findings provide a preliminary guide for risk assessment of tarragon in diet and in possible therapeutic applications. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3810", "text": "The typical spices used in winter include nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and anise. These spices contain two groups of chemicals, the allylbenzenes and their isomers, the propenylbenzenes. It was suggested 40 years ago by Alexander Shulgin that these substances act as metabolic precursors of amphetamines. The biotransformation of these precursors to nitrogen-containing metabolites is reviewed. These reactions have not been reported in humans. Whether or not the pharmacology and toxicology of spices such as nutmeg can be explained on the basis of their allylbenzene or propenylbenzene content is speculative. Humans may be exposed to amphetamines derived from these precursors in forno, the formation during baking and cooking, for example in the preparation of Lebkuchen, or Christmas gingerbread. It is possible that this may be responsible, in part, for uplifting our mood in winter. However, the role of these aromatic substances, acting simply as odours, evoking old memories of winters past, cannot be ignored. Whether spices have a true pharmacological effect or they act as aromatherapy remains to be elucidated through clinical and laboratory studies."}
{"id": "MED-3811", "text": "Cinnamon, the dry bark and twig of Cinnamomum spp., is a rich botanical source of polyphenolics that has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine and has been shown to affect blood glucose and insulin signaling. Cinnamon's effects on blood glucose have been the subject of many clinical and animal studies; however, the issue of cinnamon intake's effect on fasting blood glucose (FBG) in people with type 2 diabetes and/or prediabetes still remains unclear. A meta-analysis of clinical studies of the effect of cinnamon intake on people with type 2 diabetes and/or prediabetes that included three new clinical trials along with five trials used in previous meta-analyses was done to assess cinnamon's effectiveness in lowering FBG. The eight clinical studies were identified using a literature search (Pub Med and Biosis through May 2010) of randomized, placebo-controlled trials reporting data on cinnamon and/or cinnamon extract and FBG. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (Biostat Inc., Englewood, NJ, USA) was performed on the identified data for both cinnamon and cinnamon extract intake using a random-effects model that determined the standardized mean difference ([i.e., Change 1(control) - Change 2(cinnamon)] divided by the pooled SD of the post scores). Cinnamon intake, either as whole cinnamon or as cinnamon extract, results in a statistically significant lowering in FBG (-0.49\u00b10.2 mmol/L; n=8, P=.025) and intake of cinnamon extract only also lowered FBG (-0.48 mmol/L\u00b10.17; n=5, P=.008). Thus cinnamon extract and/or cinnamon improves FBG in people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes."}
{"id": "MED-3812", "text": "AIMS: Various spices display insulin-potentiating activity in vitro, and in particular, cinnamon spice and its phenolic extracts have been shown to exhibit these capabilities. In vivo study shows that cinnamon may have beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis; therefore the aim of this study was to further investigate this phenomenon in humans. METHODS: Seven lean healthy male volunteers, aged 26 +/- 1 years, body mass index 24.5 +/- 0.3 kg/m(2) (mean +/- s.e.m.), underwent three oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) supplemented with either a 5 g placebo (OGTT(control)), 5 g of cinnamon (OGTT(cin)), or 5 g of cinnamon taken 12 h before (OGTT(cin12hpre)) in a randomized-crossover design. RESULTS: Cinnamon ingestion reduced total plasma glucose responses (AUC) to oral glucose ingestion [-13% and -10% for OGTT(cin) (p < 0.05) and OGTT(cin12hpre) (p < 0.05), respectively], as well as improving insulin sensitivity as assessed by insulin sensitivity index measures based on Matsuda's model in both OGTT(cin) (p < 0.05) and OGTT(cin12hpre) (p < 0.05) trials compared with OGTT(control). CONCLUSIONS: These data illustrate that cinnamon spice supplementation may be important to in vivo glycaemic control and insulin sensitivity in humans, and not only are its effects immediate, they also appear to be sustained for 12 h."}
{"id": "MED-3813", "text": "Cinnamon can improve fasting glucose in humans yet data on insulin sensitivity are limited and controversial. Eight male volunteers (aged 25 +/- 1 years, body mass 76.5 +/- 3.0 kg, BMI 24.0 +/- 0.7 kg m(-2); mean +/- SEM) underwent two 14-day interventions involving cinnamon or placebo supplementation (3 g day(-1)). Placebo supplementation was continued for 5 days following this 14 day period. Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were performed on days 0, 1, 14, 16, 18, and 20. Cinnamon ingestion reduced the glucose response to OGTT on day 1 (-13.1 +/- 6.3% vs. day 0; P < 0.05) and day 14 (-5.5 +/- 8.1% vs. day 0; P = 0.09). Cinnamon ingestion also reduced insulin responses to OGTT on day 14 (-27.1 +/- 6.2% vs. day 0; P < 0.05), as well as improving insulin sensitivity on day 14 (vs. day 0; P < 0.05). These effects were lost following cessation of cinnamon feeding. Cinnamon may improve glycaemic control and insulin sensitivity, but the effects are quickly reversed."}
{"id": "MED-3816", "text": "Most of adult women exhibit cellulite on the hips, buttock and thighs. Although extracellular matrix and lymphatic system disorders can increase its appearance, cellulite basically results from an excessive fat storage in the adipose tissue which exerts considerable pressure on the surrounding skin tissue and creates a dimpled irregular appearance. Caffeine, the most widely used anti-cellulite ingredient, favours fat break-down by inhibiting the phosphodiesterase enzyme and encouraging a high intracellular level of cAMP. A series of studies has shown that spermine and spermidine, two ubiquitous polyamines, encouraged fat storage and slowed fat break-down in the adipose tissue. Besides, it was shown that heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans had a strong affinity for polyamines. To design a new cosmetic ingredient with anti-cellulite properties, we used molecular modelling to screen several ingredients with a structure similar to that of heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans. This way, we identified sulfo-carrabiose as a potent molecule for trapping spermine and spermidine. These virtual results were first confirmed in tubo where sulfo-carrabiose was shown to dose-dependently inactivate spermine and spermidine. In vitro, adipocytes cultured with sulfo-carrabiose exhibited a significant reduction of lipogenesis and a significant increase of lipolysis. When sulfo-carrabiose was incorporated in a cosmetic formula, significant improvements were observed in thigh circumference, with better results than those obtained with caffeine after 28 days of use. Furthermore, a combination of caffeine and sulfo-carrabiose led to results significantly better than those obtained with caffeine alone. As measured by fringe projection, thigh volume was also significantly reduced after sulfo-carrabiose treatment. Finally, the appearance of cellulite assessed by clinical evaluation was also significantly reduced within 28 days. \u00a9 2010 BASF Beauty Care Solutions. ICS \u00a9 2010 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise de Cosm\u00e9tologie."}
{"id": "MED-3817", "text": "Background: Putrescine, spermidine, and spermine are the polyamines required for human cell growth. The inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), which is the rate-limiting enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, decreases tumor growth and the development of colorectal adenomas. A database was developed to estimate dietary polyamine exposure and relate exposure to health outcomes. Objective: We hypothesized that high polyamine intake would increase risk of colorectal adenoma and that the allelic variation at ODC G>A +316 would modify the association. Design: Polyamine exposure was estimated in subjects pooled (n = 1164) from the control arms of 2 randomized trials for colorectal adenoma prevention [Wheat Bran Fiber low-fiber diet arm (n = 585) and Ursodeoxycholic Acid placebo arm (n = 579)] by using baseline food-frequency questionnaire data. All subjects had to have a diagnosis of colorectal adenoma to be eligible for the trial. Results: A dietary intake of polyamines above the median amount in the study population was associated with 39% increased risk of colorectal adenoma at follow-up (adjusted OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.83) in the pooled sample. In addition, younger participants (OR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.23, 3.08), women (OR: 2.43; 95% CI: 1.48, 4.00), and ODC GG genotype carriers (OR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.53) had significantly increased odds of colorectal adenoma if they consumed above-median polyamine amounts. Conclusions: This study showed a role for dietary polyamines in colorectal adenoma risk. Corroboration of these findings would confirm a previously unrecognized, modifiable dietary risk factor for colorectal adenoma."}
{"id": "MED-3821", "text": "Reducing the concentration of polyamines (spermine, spermidine, and putrescine) in the body pool may slow the cancer process. Because dietary spermine, spermidine, and putrescine contribute to the body pool of polyamines, quantifying them in the diet is important. Limited information about polyamine content of food is available, especially for diets in the United States. This brief report describes the development of a polyamine database linked to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Values for spermine, spermidine, and putrescine were calculated and reported per serving size (nmol/serving). Of the foods from the database that were evaluated, fresh and frozen corn contain the highest levels of putrescine (560,000 nmol/serving and 902,880 nmol/serving) and spermidine (137,682 nmol/serving and 221,111 nmol/serving), and green pea soup contains the highest concentration of spermine (36,988 nmol/serving). The polyamine database and FFQ were tested with a convenience sample (n=165). Average daily polyamine intakes from the sample were: 159,133 nmol/day putrescine, 54,697 nmol/day spermidine, and 35,698 nmol/day spermine. Orange and grapefruit juices contributed the greatest amount of putrescine (44,441 nmol/day) to the diet. Green peas contributed the greatest amount of spermidine (3,283 nmol/day) and ground meat contributed the greatest amount of spermine (2,186 nmol/day). Development of this database linked to an FFQ provides a means of estimating polyamine intake and contributes to investigations relating polyamines to cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3830", "text": "Dietary lignan intakes have been associated with reduced breast cancer risks; however, no previous studies have investigated whether lignan intake might be associated with breast cancer survival. We examined the association of dietary lignan intakes with survival in 1122 women with primary, incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer identified between 1996 and 2001, and with vital status determined through December 31, 2006. Diet in the 12\u201324 months before diagnosis was assessed with an extensive food frequency questionnaire, and potential confounders assessed from an extensive epidemiologic interview and abstracted clinical data. Lignan intake was calculated using published food composition data. Hazard ratios (HR), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dietary lignan intakes with all cause, and breast cancer mortality were estimated using Cox proportional hazards adjusting for age, education, race, total energy intake, tumor stage, and body mass index. Of the 1122 women with complete dietary data, 160 had died by the end of follow-up. Among postmenopausal women only, those in the highest versus lowest quartile of lignan intakes had a statistically significant reduction in the risk of all cause mortality (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26\u20130.91) and a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer mortality (HR 0.29, 95% CI 0.11\u20130.76). Higher intakes of dried beans (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36\u20131.03), but not fruits, vegetables, or grains, were also weakly associated with overall mortality. In summary, our results suggest that higher lignan intakes may be associated with improved survival among postmenopausal women with breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3833", "text": "Preclinical and correlative studies suggest reduced breast cancer with higher lignan intake or blood levels. We conducted a pilot study of modulation of risk biomarkers for breast cancer in premenopausal women after administration of the plant lignan secoisolariciresinol given as the diglycoside (SDG). Eligibility criteria included regular menstrual cycles, no oral contraceptives, a greater than 3-fold increase in 5 year risk, and baseline Ki-67 \u22652% in areas of hyperplasia in breast tissue sampled by random periareolar fine needle aspiration (RPFNA) during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. SDG 50 mg daily was given for 12 months, followed by repeat RPFNA. The primary endpoint was change in Ki-67. Secondary endpoints included change in cytomorphology, mammographic breast density, serum bioavailable estradiol, and testosterone IGF-I and IGFBP-3, and plasma lignan levels. Forty-five of 49 eligible women completed the study with excellent compliance (median = 96%) and few serious side effects (4% grade 3). Median plasma enterolactone increased ~ 9-fold, and total lignans 16 fold. Thirty-six (80%) of the 45 evaluable subjects demonstrated a decrease in Ki-67, from a median of 4% (range 2\u201316.8 %) to 2% (range 0\u201315.2%) (p<0.001 by Wilcoxon signed rank test). A decrease from baseline in the proportion of women with atypical cytology (p=0.035) was also observed. Based on favorable risk biomarker modulation and lack of adverse events, we are initiating a randomized trial of SDG vs. placebo in premenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-3834", "text": "Dietary lignan intakes have been associated with reduced breast cancer risks; however, no previous studies have investigated whether lignan intake might be associated with breast cancer survival. We examined the association of dietary lignan intakes with survival in 1122 women with primary, incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer identified between 1996 and 2001, and with vital status determined through December 31, 2006. Diet in the 12\u201324 months before diagnosis was assessed with an extensive food frequency questionnaire, and potential confounders assessed from an extensive epidemiologic interview and abstracted clinical data. Lignan intake was calculated using published food composition data. Hazard ratios (HR), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dietary lignan intakes with all cause, and breast cancer mortality were estimated using Cox proportional hazards adjusting for age, education, race, total energy intake, tumor stage, and body mass index. Of the 1122 women with complete dietary data, 160 had died by the end of follow-up. Among postmenopausal women only, those in the highest versus lowest quartile of lignan intakes had a statistically significant reduction in the risk of all cause mortality (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26\u20130.91) and a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer mortality (HR 0.29, 95% CI 0.11\u20130.76). Higher intakes of dried beans (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36\u20131.03), but not fruits, vegetables, or grains, were also weakly associated with overall mortality. In summary, our results suggest that higher lignan intakes may be associated with improved survival among postmenopausal women with breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3836", "text": "PURPOSE: Flaxseed, the richest source of mammalian lignan precursors, has previously been shown to reduce the growth of tumors in rats. This study examined, in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial, the effects of dietary flaxseed on tumor biological markers and urinary lignan excretion in postmenopausal patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Patients were randomized to daily intake of either a 25 g flaxseed-containing muffin (n = 19) or a control (placebo) muffin (n = 13). At the time of diagnosis and again at definitive surgery, tumor tissue was analyzed for the rate of tumor cell proliferation (Ki-67 labeling index, primary end point), apoptosis, c-erbB2 expression, and estrogen and progesterone receptor levels. Twenty-four-hour urine samples were analyzed for lignans, and 3-day diet records were evaluated for macronutrient and caloric intake. Mean treatment times were 39 and 32 days in the placebo and flaxseed groups, respectively. RESULTS: Reductions in Ki-67 labeling index (34.2%; P = 0.001) and in c-erbB2 expression (71.0%; P = 0.003) and an increase in apoptosis (30.7%; P = 0.007) were observed in the flaxseed, but not in the placebo group. No significant differences in caloric and macronutrient intake were seen between groups and between pre- and posttreatment periods. A significant increase in mean urinary lignan excretion was observed in the flaxseed group (1,300%; P < 0.01) compared with placebo controls. The total intake of flaxseed was correlated with changes in c-erbB2 score (r = -0.373; P = 0.036) and apoptotic index (r = 0.495; P < 0.004). CONCLUSION: Dietary flaxseed has the potential to reduce tumor growth in patients with breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3841", "text": "Preclinical and correlative studies suggest reduced breast cancer with higher lignan intake or blood levels. We conducted a pilot study of modulation of risk biomarkers for breast cancer in premenopausal women after administration of the plant lignan secoisolariciresinol given as the diglycoside (SDG). Eligibility criteria included regular menstrual cycles, no oral contraceptives, a greater than 3-fold increase in 5 year risk, and baseline Ki-67 \u22652% in areas of hyperplasia in breast tissue sampled by random periareolar fine needle aspiration (RPFNA) during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. SDG 50 mg daily was given for 12 months, followed by repeat RPFNA. The primary endpoint was change in Ki-67. Secondary endpoints included change in cytomorphology, mammographic breast density, serum bioavailable estradiol, and testosterone IGF-I and IGFBP-3, and plasma lignan levels. Forty-five of 49 eligible women completed the study with excellent compliance (median = 96%) and few serious side effects (4% grade 3). Median plasma enterolactone increased ~ 9-fold, and total lignans 16 fold. Thirty-six (80%) of the 45 evaluable subjects demonstrated a decrease in Ki-67, from a median of 4% (range 2\u201316.8 %) to 2% (range 0\u201315.2%) (p<0.001 by Wilcoxon signed rank test). A decrease from baseline in the proportion of women with atypical cytology (p=0.035) was also observed. Based on favorable risk biomarker modulation and lack of adverse events, we are initiating a randomized trial of SDG vs. placebo in premenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-3842", "text": "The mammalian lignans enterolactone and enterodiol, which are produced by the microflora in the colon of humans and animals from precursors in foods, have been suggested to have potential anticancer effects. This study determined the production of mammalian lignans from precursors in food bars containing 25 g unground whole flaxseed (FB), sesame seed (SB), or their combination (FSB; 12.5 g each). In a randomized crossover study, healthy postmenopausal women supplemented their diets with the bars for 4 wk each separated by 4-wk washout periods, and urinary mammalian lignan excretion was measured at baseline and after 4 wk as a marker of mammalian lignan production. Results showed an increase with all treatments (65.1-81.0 mumol/day; P < 0.0001), which did not differ among treatments. Lignan excretion with the whole flaxseed was similar to results of other studies using ground flaxseed. An unidentified lignan metabolite was detected after consumption of SB and FSB but not of FB. Thus, we demonstrated for the first time that 1) precursors from unground whole flaxseed and sesame seed are converted by the bacterial flora in the colon to mammalian lignans and 2) sesame seed, alone and in combination with flaxseed, produces mammalian lignans equivalent to those obtained from flaxseed alone."}
{"id": "MED-3843", "text": "PURPOSE: Phytoestrogens are plant-derived, non-steroidal phytochemicals with anticarcinogenic potential. The major structural classes are the isoflavones and lignans. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of the plant-derived lignans secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol with the human lignans enterodiol and enterolactone as well as with 17\u03b2 estradiol and tamoxifen on cell proliferation of breast carcinoma cell lines. METHODS: The influence of the lignans, 17\u03b2 estradiol and tamoxifen on cell proliferation was determined using the BrdU test in MCF 7 and BT 20 cell lines. RESULTS: Enterodiol and enterolactone induced a stronger inhibition of cell growth in MCF 7 and BT 20 cells than secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol. The inhibition effects were less expressed in the BT 20 than in the MCF 7 cells. CONCLUSIONS: The human lignans enterodiol and enterolactone are more biologically active than their precursors secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol, and may be defined as the real drugs in cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-3844", "text": "Low lignan status has been reported to be related to an elevated risk of breast cancer. Since lignan status is reduced by antibacterial medications, it is plausible to hypothesize that repeated use of antibiotics may also be a risk factor for breast cancer. History of treatment for urinary tract infection was studied for its prediction of breast cancer among 9461 Finnish women 19\u201389 years of age and initially cancer-free. During a follow-up in 1973\u20131991, a total of 157 breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Women reporting previous or present medication for urinary tract infection at baseline showed an elevated breast cancer risk in comparison with other women. The age-adjusted relative risk was 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.98\u20131.83). The association was concentrated to women under 50 years of age. The relative risk for these women was 1.74 (95% CI 1.13\u20132.68), whereas it was 0.97 (95% CI 0.59\u20131.58) for older women. The relative risk in the younger age-group was 1.47 (95% CI 0.73\u20132.97) during the first 10 years of follow-up, and 1.93 (95% CI 1.11\u20133.37) for follow-up times longer than 10 years. These data suggest that premenopausal women using long-term medication for urinary tract infections show a possible elevated risk of future breast cancer. The results are, however, still inconclusive and the hypothesis needs to be tested by other studies. \u00a9 2000 Cancer ResearchCampaign"}
{"id": "MED-3845", "text": "We previously demonstrated that high serum enterolactone levels are associated with a reduced incidence of breast cancer in healthy women. The present study was aimed at investigating whether a similar association might be found between serum enterolactone levels and the mortality of women with early breast cancer. The levels of enterolactone in cryopreserved serum aliquots obtained from 300 patients, operated on for breast cancer, were measured using a time-resolved fluoro-immunoassay. Levels were analyzed in respect to the risk of mortality following surgery. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to check for prognostic features, to estimate hazard ratios for group comparisons and to test for the interaction on mortality hazards between the variables and enterolactone concentrations. The Fine and Gray competing risk proportional hazard regression model was used to predict the probabilities of breast cancer-related and breast cancer-unrelated mortalities. At a median follow-up time of 23 years (range 0.6-26.1), 180 patients died, 112 of whom died due to breast cancer-related events. An association between a decreased mortality risk and enterolactone levels \u2265 10 nmol/l was found in respect to both all-cause and breast cancer-specific mortality. The difference in mortality hazards was statistically significant, but it appeared to decrease and to lose significance after the first 10 years, though competing risk analysis showed that breast cancer-related mortality risk remained constantly lower in those patients with higher enterolactone levels. Our findings are consistent with those of most recent literature and provide further evidence that mammalian lignans might play an important role in reducing all-cause and cancer-specific mortality of the patients operated on for breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-3846", "text": "A HPLC method was developed for the analysis of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) and hydroxycinnamic acid glucosides in milled defatted flaxseed flour. Direct extraction by 1 M NaOH for 1 h at 20 degrees C resulted in a higher yield than that obtained by hydrolysis of alcoholic extracts. An internal standard, o-coumaric acid, was used and the method was found to be easy, fast, and with good repeatability. On dry matter basis, different samples of flaxseeds varied considerably in their content of (+)-SDG (11.9-25.9 mg/g), (-)-SDG (2.2-5.0 mg/g), p-coumaric acid glucoside (1.2-8.5 mg/g), and ferulic acid glucoside (1.6-5.0 mg/g)."}
{"id": "MED-3847", "text": "In our laboratories, for several years, two phenolic compounds have been detected during gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of urinary steroid extracts from human and animal species. Although features of the mass spectra of their trimethylsilyl (TMS) ether derivatives resembled those of oestrogens, they were atypical of steroids. The possibility that they were artefacts of the isolation procedures was discounted after careful studies with blanks, by varying the extraction method and because they were present almost exclusively as conjugates of glucuronic acid. Several of the general characteristics of the unknown compounds were reported after one (referred to as compound 180/442) was found to have a cyclic pattern of excretion during the menstrual cycle of an adult vervet monkey (Fig. 1). An investigation of the nature and distribution of the compounds has shown them to be urinary constituents in humans, baboons, vervet monkeys and rats, and further related compounds have been detected, so far only in vervet monkey urine. We now report spectroscopic and chemical studies that show the two original compounds to be lignans, which have a 2,3-dibenzylbutane skeleton as their basic structure. Unlike all previously known natural lignans, invariably of plant origin, the two mammalian compounds carry phenolic hydroxy groups only in the meta position of the aromatic rings."}
{"id": "MED-3848", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies that examined whether lignans, the most important class of phytoestrogens in the Western diet, protect against breast cancer have yielded inconsistent results. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we conducted meta-analyses on the association between lignans and breast cancer risk. DESIGN: We performed a systematic MEDLINE search to identify epidemiologic studies published between 1997 and August 2009. We calculated pooled risk estimates (REs) for total lignan exposure, dietary lignan intake, enterolignan exposure, and blood or urine concentrations of enterolactone and according to menopausal and estrogen receptor (ER) status of tumors. RESULTS: We included 21 studies (11 prospective cohort studies and 10 case-control studies) in the meta-analyses. Lignan exposure was not associated with an overall breast cancer risk (RE: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.02; P for heterogeneity = 0.004). However, in postmenopausal women, high lignan intake was associated with a significant reduced risk of breast cancer (13 studies; RE: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.94; P for heterogeneity = 0.32). Breast cancer risk was also inversely associated with enterolignan exposure (4 studies; RE: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.97) but not with blood or urine enterolactone concentrations. The associations were not significantly different between ER-status subgroups (6 studies). CONCLUSIONS: High lignan exposure may be associated with a reduced breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. Additional work is warranted to clarify the association between lignan exposure and breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3849", "text": "Lignans are a large group of fiber-associated phenolic compounds widely distributed in edible plants. Some of the ingested plant lignans are converted by intestinal microbiota to enterolignans, enterodiol (END) and enterolactone (ENL), the latter of which has been thought to be the major biologically active lignan, and suggested to be associated with low risk of breast cancer. In line with this, administration of plant lignans which are further metabolized to ENL, or ENL as such, have been shown to inhibit or delay the growth of experimental mammary cancer. The mechanism of anticarcinogenic action of ENL is not yet fully understood, but there is intriguing evidence for ENL as a modulator of estrogen signaling. These findings have generated interest in the use of lignans as components of breast cancer risk reducing functional foods. Identification of target groups, who would benefit most, is of pivotal importance. Therefore, further identification and validation of relevant biomarkers, which can be used as indicators of lignan or ENL action and breast cancer risk reduction at different stages of the disease, are of importance."}
{"id": "MED-3850", "text": "The regular occurrence of a peak due to an unidentified substance (X) in the gas chromatographic traces obtained from phenolic extracts of urine from human pregnant and non-pregnant females has been reported. The biphasic excretion of X with maxima in the luteal phase of the ovulatory cycle and relatively high levels in the first trimester of pregnancy were noteworthy and suggested that the substance may have a biological significance. Close similarities between the excretory pattern, the chemical and chromatographic properties of X and of those of the known phenolic steroids suggested initially that this compound was steroidal in nature. The same, or a similar, substance seems to be excreted in the vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops pygerythrus). We now report the excretory pattern of X in more detail, the isolation of the pure compound from pooled pregnancy urine and the chemical structure. The structure determined by mass spectrometry, IR spectroscopy and NMR spectrometry is: trans-(+/-)-3,4-bis[(3-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]dihydro-2-(3H)-furanone (HPMF) and was confirmed by synthesis."}
{"id": "MED-3852", "text": "Recently two groups of compounds with diphenolic structure, the lignans and the isoflavonic phytoestrogens, were detected and identified in human urine and other biological fluids. These compounds are of great biological interest because they exhibit both in vitro and in vivo weak estrogenic and sometimes also antiestrogenic activities and many plant lignans have been shown to have anticarcinogenic, antiviral, antifungal and other interesting biological effects. The compounds found in relatively large amounts (10-1000 times more than estrogens) in urine are modified by intestinal bacteria from plant lignans and phytoestrogens, which are present in fiber-rich food such as grain and beans. They bind with low affinity to estrogen receptors and preliminary results suggest that they may induce production of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in the liver and in this way may influence sex hormone metabolism and biological effects. Five compounds, the lignans enterolactone (Enl), enterodiol (End) and the isoflavonic phytoestrogen metabolites daidzein (Da), equol (Eq) and O-desmethylangolensin (O-Dma) were measured in urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (selected ion monitoring) using deuterated internal standards in 5 groups of women (total number 53). The members of three dietary groups (omnivores, lactovegetarians and macrobiotics) were living in Boston and of two groups in Helsinki (omnivores and lactovegetarians). Until now measurements have been carried out in 94 72-h samples. The highest mean excretion of the most abundant compound, enterolactone, was found in the macrobiotic group and the lowest in the omnivoric groups. Total mean 24-h excretion of enterolactone was 17,680 nmol in the macrobiotics, 4,170 nmol in the Boston lactovegetarians, 3,650 nmol in the Helsinki lactovegetarians, 2,460 nmol in the Helsinki omnivores and 2,050 nmol in the Boston omnivores. The other diphenols followed approximately the same pattern. In an earlier study the lowest excretion of enterolactone (1,040 nmol/24 h) was found in a group of postmenopausal apparently healthy breast cancer patients living in Boston. It is concluded that further studies are necessary to elucidate the possible role of these compounds in cancer and other diseases. However, the evidence obtained until now seems to justify the conclusion that these compounds may be among the dietary factors affording protection against hormone-dependent cancers in vegetarians and semivegetarians."}
{"id": "MED-3853", "text": "PURPOSE: Lignans--plant-derived compounds with estrogen-dependent and -independent anticarcinogenic properties--have been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, but data are limited regarding their effect on survival. Dietary lignans are metabolized to enterolignans, which are subsequently absorbed and become bioavailable. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We assessed the prognosis of 1,140 postmenopausal patients with breast cancer age 50 to 74 years who were diagnosed between 2002 and 2005. Vital status through the end of 2009 was ascertained via local population registries, and deaths were verified by death certificates. Information on recurrences and secondary tumors was verified by clinical records and attending physicians. Associations of postdiagnostic serum enterolactone (a biomarker for dietary lignans) with overall survival and distant disease-free survival were assessed by using Cox proportional hazards models stratified by age at diagnosis and adjusted for prognostic factors. RESULTS: Median enterolactone levels for deceased patients and those still alive were 17.0 and 21.4 nmol/L, respectively. During a median of 6.1 years of follow-up after diagnosis, 162 deaths were confirmed. Higher serum enterolactone levels were associated with significantly reduced hazard ratios (HRs) for death (HR per 10 nmol/L increment, 0.94; P = .04; HR for the highest quartile, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.99). For distant disease, HR was 0.94 per 10 nmol/L increment (P = .08) and 0.62 (95% CI, 0.35 to 1.09) for the highest quartile. The highest quartile of serum enterolactone was associated with a significantly reduced risk of death only for estrogen receptor-negative tumors (HR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.87) but not for estrogen receptor-positive tumors (HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.45 to 1.84: P for heterogeneity = .09). CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal patients with breast cancer who have high serum enterolactone levels may have better survival."}
{"id": "MED-3854", "text": "Phytoestrogens are polyphenolic secondary plant metabolites that have structural and functional similarities to 17beta-oestradiol and have been associated with a protective effect against hormone-related cancers. Most foods in the UK only contain small amounts of phytoestrogens (median content 21 microg/100 g) and the highest content is found in soya and soya-containing foods. The highest phytoestrogen content in commonly consumed foods is found in breads (average content 450 microg/100 g), the main source of isoflavones in the UK diet. The phytoestrogen consumption in cases and controls was considerably lower than in Asian countries. No significant associations between phytoestrogen intake and breast cancer risk in a nested case-control study in EPIC Norfolk were found. Conversely, colorectal cancer risk was inversely associated with enterolignan intake in women but not in men. Prostate cancer risk was positively associated with enterolignan intake, however this association became non-significant when adjusting for dairy intake, suggesting that enterolignans can act as a surrogate marker for dairy or calcium intake. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3855", "text": "Background: Lignans \u2013 oestrogenic substances present in various foods \u2013 are associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, but not much is known regarding their effects on survival. Methods: In a follow-up study of 2653 postmenopausal breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2005, vital status and causes of death were verified through end of 2009. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for estimated enterolignans, lignan-rich foods, and dietary fibre in relation to overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models stratified by age at diagnosis and adjusted for prognostic/confounding factors. Results: Median follow-up time was 6.4 years, and 321 women died, 235 with breast cancer. High estimated enterolactone and enterodiol levels were associated with significantly lower overall mortality (highest quintile, HR=0.60, 95% CI=0.40\u20130.89, PTrend=0.02 and HR=0.63, 95% CI=0.42\u20130.95, PTrend=0.02, respectively). Fibre intake was also associated with a significantly lower overall mortality. Differentiated by median fibre intake, associations with estimated enterolignans were still evident at low but not high fibre intake. There was no effect modification by oestrogen receptor status and menopausal hormone therapy. Conclusion: Postmenopausal breast cancer patients with high estimated enterolignans may have a better survival."}
{"id": "MED-3856", "text": "The hypothesis that antibiotic use may increase cancer risk was first proposed several decades ago and some research suggests an increased risk of breast cancer among women with conditions likely to require long-term antibiotic use (e.g., acne, recurrent urinary-tract infections, UTI). However, this hypothesis has not been verified and the possible biological mechanisms are not entirely clear. A recent cohort study in Finland reported an increased risk of breast-cancer associated with antibiotic use for UTI. The effect of antibiotics on the ability of intestinal microflora to metabolise phytochemicals from edible plants into compounds that may protect against cancer was proposed as a potential mechanism. We extend this hypothesis by proposing that antibiotic use may be associated with breast-cancer risk through effects on immune and inflammatory factors, such as cytokines, T lymphocytes, prostaglandins, and matrix metalloproteinases, as well as disruption of phytochemical and oestrogen metabolism by intestinal microflora. We suggest that some mechanisms may increase breast-cancer risk, while others may decrease risk, depending on the antibiotic classification."}
{"id": "MED-3857", "text": "Lignans found in plant foods are converted by the intestinal microflora to enterolignans. The structure of enterolignans is similar to that of estrogens, which has inspired researchers to examine a potential protective association in relation to health outcomes. Numerous epidemiological studies have measured concentration of enterolignans, mainly enterolactone, in blood or urine as a biomarker of lignan exposure and studied its relation to breast cancer risk. Case-control studies have shown decreased breast cancer risk associated with high circulating enterolactone concentrations, but results demonstrated by prospective cohort studies are less clear. The purpose of this review is to discuss factors that may contribute to these contradictory findings obtained in epidemiological studies, including age distribution, enterolactone measurement error, heterogeneity of breast cancer subtypes, and genetic factors. Different sources of enterolactone precursors may also contribute to inconclusive results. In conclusion, to get robust evidence of the health effects of lignans and enterolactone, more effort has to be put on methodological problems, including reducing measurement errors in enterolactone estimation, and to identify factors that modify the effect. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3858", "text": "BACKGROUND: Observational and preclinical studies suggest that dietary fiber intake may reduce the risk of breast cancer, but the results are inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the association between dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer by conducting a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. DESIGN: Relevant studies were identified by a PubMed database search through January 2011. Reference lists from retrieved articles were also reviewed. We included prospective cohort studies that reported RRs with 95% CIs for the association between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk. Both fixed- and random-effects models were used to calculate the summary risk estimates. RESULTS: We identified 10 prospective cohort studies of dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer involving 16,848 cases and 712,195 participants. The combined RR of breast cancer for the highest compared with the lowest dietary fiber intake was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83, 0.96), and little evidence of heterogeneity was observed. The association between dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer did not significantly differ by geographic region, length of follow-up, or menopausal status of the participants. Omission of any single study had little effect on the combined risk estimate. Dose-response analysis showed that every 10-g/d increment in dietary fiber intake was associated with a significant 7% reduction in breast cancer risk. Little evidence of publication bias was found. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis provides evidence of a significant inverse dose-response association between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-3860", "text": "Purpose Evaluate the hypothesis that relation of breast cancer associated with dietary fiber intakes varies by type of fiber, menopausal, and the tumor\u2019s hormone receptor status. Methods A case-control study of female breast cancer was conducted in Connecticut. A total of 557 incident breast cancer cases and 536 age frequency-matched controls were included in the analysis. Information on dietary intakes was collected through in-person interviews with a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and was converted into nutrient intakes. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by unconditional logistic regression. Results Among pre-menopausal women, higher intake of soluble fiber (highest versus lowest quartile of intake) was associated with a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer (OR = 0.38, 95% CI, 0.15\u20130.97, Ptrend = 0.08). When further restricted to pre-menopausal women with ER\u2212 tumors, the adjusted OR for the highest quartile of intake was 0.15 (95% CI, 0.03\u20130.69, Ptrend = 0.02) for soluble fiber intake. Among post-menopausal women, no reduced risk of breast cancer was observed for either soluble or insoluble fiber intakes or among ER+ or ER\u2212 tumor groups. Conclusions The results from this study show that dietary soluble fiber intake is associated with a significantly reduced risk of ER\u2212 breast cancer among pre-menopausal women. Additional studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm these results."}
{"id": "MED-3862", "text": "We conducted a combined analysis of the original data to evaluate the consistency of 12 case-control studies of diet and breast cancer. Our analysis shows a consistent, statistically significant, positive association between breast cancer risk and saturated fat intake in postmenopausal women (relative risk for highest vs. lowest quintile, 1.46; P less than .0001). A consistent protective effect for a number of markers of fruit and vegetable intake was demonstrated; vitamin C intake had the most consistent and statistically significant inverse association with breast cancer risk (relative risk for highest vs. lowest quintile, 0.69; P less than .0001). If these dietary associations represent causality, the attributable risk (i.e., the percentage of breast cancers that might be prevented by dietary modification) in the North American population is estimated to be 24% for postmenopausal women and 16% for premenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-3863", "text": "The phenomenon of 'sensitive skin' is a relatively recent complaint in which certain individuals report more intense and frequent adverse sensory effects than the normal population upon use of cosmetic (personal-care) products. Originally defined as a minority complaint, sensitive skin is now claimed by a majority of women in industrialized countries and nearly half of men. Sensitive skin is self-diagnosed and typically unaccompanied by any obvious physical signs of irritation, and the number of individuals who claim sensitivity has risen steadily with the number of consumer products targeted towards this supposedly uncommon group. Believed by many dermatologists, therefore, to be a 'princess and the pea' phenomenon, the problem of sensitive skin has largely avoided focussed research. Over the last few years, however, the evidence of documentable biophysical changes associated with the largely sensory symptoms of this disorder has accumulated, including some gained by improved methods of identifying subclinical signs of skin irritation. Although the understanding of the aetiology of this phenomenon is as yet incomplete, existing research now supports a biophysical origin for this disorder. Effective methods of diagnosis, intrinsic and extrinsic contributors to exaggerated neural sensitivity, and the specific mechanisms of the discomfort associated with the compliant are required, as are appropriate means of prevention and treatment."}
{"id": "MED-3865", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Sensitive skin is a complex dermatological condition, defined by abnormal sensory symptoms. The aim of this epidemiological survey was to assess the prevalence of sensitive skin and collect data on sensitive skin in the US population. METHODS: A phone survey was conducted in the USA by a poll institute in 2007. A sample was drawn from a representative national cohort of the American population at least 18years of age through the quota method. Data on demographic characteristics, environmental and climatic factors, skin characteristics, dermatological disorders, cosmetics use, and visits to the dermatologist were collected. RESULTS: Of 994 subjects who answered (495 men and 499 women), 44.6% declared having \"sensitive\" or \"very sensitive\" skin. Women were more concerned than men (50.9% vs. 38.2%, P<0.0001). There was no significant difference related to geographic localization, age, or ethnic distribution. Subjects with sensitive skin had mainly dry (34.5%) or mixed skin (35.7%), fair phototypes, dermatological disorders, higher skin reactivity to cosmetics and various environmental factors in comparison with subjects who stated having only a \"slightly\" sensitive or not sensitive skin. The dermatologist had a strong influence on subjects with \"sensitive\" or \"very sensitive\" skin through the prescription of skin care products. CONCLUSION: This study, based on a representative sample of the American population, reveals a high prevalence of sensitive skin in the USA. Sensitive skin is mainly associated with dry skin, fair phototype, reactivity to climatic and environmental factors, and cosmetics. American dermatologists seem largely involved in the care of this condition. \u00a9 2011 The International Society of Dermatology."}
{"id": "MED-3866", "text": "Background Obesity leads to an increase in inflammation and insulin resistance. This study determined antioxidant activity of flaxseed and its role in inflammation and insulin resistance in obese glucose intolerant people. Methods Using a randomized crossover design, nine obese glucose intolerant people consumed 40 g ground flaxseed or 40 g wheat bran daily for 12 weeks with a 4-week washout period. Plasma inflammation biomarkers (CRP, TNF-\u03b1, and IL-6), glucose, insulin, and thiobaribituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) were measured before and after of each supplementation. Results Flaxseed supplementation decreased TBARS (p = 0.0215) and HOMA-IR (p = 0.0382). Flaxseed or wheat bran supplementation did not change plasma inflammatory biomarkers. A positive relationship was found between TBARS and HOMA-IR (r = 0.62, p = 0.0003). Conclusions The results of the study weakly support that decreased insulin resistance might have been secondary to antioxidant activity of flaxseed. However, the mechanism(s) of decreased insulin resistance by flaxseed should be further determined using flaxseed lignan."}
{"id": "MED-3867", "text": "Although high alpha-linolenic acid flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) is one of the richest dietary sources of alpha-linolenic acid and is also a good source of soluble fibre mucilage, it is relatively unstudied in human nutrition. Healthy female volunteers consumed 50 g ground, raw flaxseed/d for 4 weeks which provided 12-13% of energy intake (24-25 g/100 g total fat). Flaxseed raised alpha-linolenic acid and long-chain n-3 fatty acids in both plasma and erythrocyte lipids, as well as raising urinary thiocyanate excretion 2.2-fold. Flaxseed also lowered serum total cholesterol by 9% and low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol by 18%. Changes in plasma alpha-linolenic acid were equivalent when 12 g alpha-linolenic acid/d was provided as raw flaxseed flour (50 g/d) or flaxseed oil (20 g/d) suggesting high bioavailability of alpha-linolenic acid from ground flaxseed. Test meals containing 50 g carbohydrate from flaxseed or 25 g flaxseed mucilage each significantly decreased postprandial blood glucose responses by 27%. Malondialdehyde levels in muffins containing 15 g flaxseed oil or flour/kg were similar to those in wheat-flour muffins. Cyanogenic glycosides (linamarin, linustatin, neolinustatin) were highest in extracted flaxseed mucilage but were not detected in baked muffins containing 150 g flaxseed/kg. We conclude that up to 50 g high-alpha-linolenic acid flaxseed/d is palatable, safe and may be nutritionally beneficial in humans by raising n-3 fatty acids in plasma and erythrocytes and by decreasing postprandial glucose responses."}
{"id": "MED-3868", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of dietary consumption of milled flaxseed or flaxseed oil on glycemic control, n-3 fatty acid status, anthropometrics, and adipokines in individuals with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Thirty-four participants were randomized into a parallel, controlled trial. SUBJECTS: The participants were adults with type 2 diabetes (age 52.4 +/- 1.5 years, body mass index 32.4 +/- 1.0 kg/m(2), n = 17 men and 17 women). INTERVENTIONS: Participants consumed a selection of bakery products containing no flax (control group [CTL], n = 9), milled flaxseed (FXS, n = 13; 32 g/d), or flaxseed oil (FXO, n = 12; 13 g/d) daily for 12 weeks. The FXS and FXO groups received equivalent amounts of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA; 7.4 g/day). MEASURES OF OUTCOME: The primary outcome measures were fasting plasma hemoglobin A(1c), glucose, insulin, and phospholipid fatty acid composition. The secondary outcome measures were fasting circulating leptin and adiponectin, as well as body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference. Dietary intake assessment and calculations for homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance and quantified insulin sensitivity check were also completed. RESULTS: The FXS and FXO groups had increases in plasma phospholipid n-3 fatty acids (ALA, eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA], or decosapentaenoic acid [DPA], but not docosahexaenoic acid), and the FXO group had more EPA and DPA in plasma phospholipids compared to the FXS group. All groups had similar caloric intakes; however, the CTL group experienced a 4% weight gain compared to baseline (p < 0.05), while both flax groups had constant body weights during the study period. All other parameters, including glycemic control, were unchanged by dietary treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Milled FXS and FXO intake does not affect glycemic control in adults with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. Possible prevention of weight gain by flax consumption warrants further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-3869", "text": "Diabetes mellitus is characterized by hyperglycemia and associated with aberrations in the metabolism of carbohydrate, protein, and lipid that result in development of secondary complications. Extensive studies have indicated that nutritional therapy plays a pivotal role in the controlling or postponing of development of these secondary complications. Several functional foods have been shown to possess hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic properties. Flax seed (FS) is a functional food that is rich in omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants and is low in carbohydrates. In exploratory studies, FS was incorporated in recipes, which resulted in a reduction in the glycemic index of the food items. These observations prompted us to investigate the efficacy of FS supplementation in type 2 diabetics (n = 29). Subjects were assigned to the experimental (n = 18) or the control group (n = 11) on the basis of their desire to participate in the study. The experimental group's diet was supplemented daily with 10 g of FS powder for a period of 1 month. The control group received no supplementation or placebo. During the study, diet and drug intake of the subjects remained unaltered. The efficacy of supplementation with FS was evaluated through a battery of clinico-biochemical parameters. Supplementation with FS reduced fasting blood glucose by 19.7% and glycated hemoglobin by 15.6%. A favorable reduction in total cholesterol (14.3%), triglycerides (17.5%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (21.8%), and apolipoprotein B and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (11.9%) were also noticed. These observations suggest the therapeutic potential of FS in the management of diabetes mellitus."}
{"id": "MED-3874", "text": "Background Prostate cancer affects one-out-of-six men during their lifetime. Dietary factors are postulated to influence the development and progression of prostate cancer. Low-fat diets and flaxseed supplementation may offer potentially protective strategies. Methods We undertook a multi-site, randomized controlled trial to test the effects of low-fat and/or flaxseed-supplemented diets on the biology of the prostate and other biomarkers. Prostate cancer patients (n=161) scheduled at least 21 days before prostatectomy were randomly assigned to one of the following arms: 1) control (usual diet); 2) flaxseed-supplemented diet (30 g/day); 2) low-fat diet (<20% total energy); or 4) flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet. Blood was drawn at baseline and prior to surgery and analyzed for prostate specific antigen (PSA), sex hormone binding globulin, testosterone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and binding protein-3, c-reactive protein, and total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Tumors were assessed for proliferation (Ki-67, the primary endpoint) and apoptosis. Results Men were on protocol an average of 30 days. Proliferation rates were significantly lower (P < 0.002) among men assigned to the flaxseed arms. Median Ki-67 positive cells/total nuclei ratios (x100) were 1.66 (flaxseed-supplemented diet) and 1.50 (flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet) vs. 3.23 (control) and 2.56 (low-fat diet). No differences were observed between arms with regard to side effects, apoptosis, and most serological endpoints; however, men on low-fat diets experienced significant decreases in serum cholesterol (P=0.048). Conclusions Findings suggest that flaxseed is safe, and associated with biologic alterations that may be protective for prostate cancer. Data also further support low-fat diets to manage serum cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-3875", "text": "BACKGROUND: Mammalian lignans, enterolactone (EL) and enterodiol (ED), have been shown to inhibit breast and colon carcinoma. To date, there have been no reports of the effect of lignans on prostatic carcinoma. We investigated the effects of ED and EL on three human prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3, DU-145 and LNCaP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cells were treated with either 0.1% (v/v) DMSO (vehicle) or 10-100 microM of EL, ED or genistein (positive control) for 72 hours. Cell viability was measured by the propidium iodide nuclei staining fluorometric assay with each assay performed in triplicate. RESULTS: At 10-100 microM, EL significantly inhibited the growth of all cell lines, whereas ED only inhibited PC-3 and LNCaP cells. While EL was a more potent growth inhibitor than ED, both were less potent than genistein. The dose for 50% growth inhibition of LNCaP cells (IC50) by EL was 57 microM, whereas IC50 was 100 microM for ED, (the observed IC50 for genistein was 25 microM). CONCLUSION: ED and EL suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells, and may do so via hormonally-dependent and independent mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-3876", "text": "BACKGROUND: Chinese men have lower incidences of prostate cancer compared to men from Europe and North America. Asians consume large quantities of soya, a rich source of isoflavanoids phyto-oestrogens and have high plasma and urinary levels of these compounds. The mammalian lignans, enterolactone and enterodiol, are another group of weak plant oestrogens and are derived from seeds, cereals and grains. Vegetarians have high plasma and urinary concentrations of lignans. METHODS: The concentrations lignans and isoflavonic phyto-oestrogens were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in plasma and prostatic fluid from Portuguese, Chinese and British men consuming their traditional diets. RESULTS: In prostatic fluid the mean concentrations of enterolactone were 31, 162 and 20.3 ng/ml for Hong Kong, Portugal and Britain respectively. Very high levels of enterolactone (> 600 ng/ml) were observed in the prostatic fluid of some of the men from Portugal. High concentrations of equol (3270 ng/ml) and daidzein (532 ng/ml) were found in a sample of prostatic fluid from Hong Kong. Higher mean levels of daidzein were observed in prostatic fluid from Hong Kong at 70 ng/ml, compared to 4.6 and 11.3 ng/ml in samples from Portugal and Britain respectively. Mean levels of daidzein were higher in the plasma samples from Hong Kong (31.3 ng/ml) compared to those from Portugal (1.3 ng/ml) and Britain (8.2 ng/ml). In general, the mean plasma concentrations of enterolactone from the three centres were similar, at 6.2, 3.9 and 3.9 ng/ml in samples from Hong Kong Portugal and Britain respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Higher concentrations of the isoflavanoid phyto-oestrogens, daidzein and equol, were found in the plasma and prostatic fluid of men from Hong Kong compared to those from Britain and Portugal. However, the levels of the lignan, enterolactone, were very much higher in prostatic fluid of Portuguese men. Isoflavanoids and lignans have many interesting properties and may, in part, be responsible for lower incidences of prostate cancer in men from Asia and also some Mediterranean countries. The isoflavanoids from soya, which are present in high concentrations in the prostatic fluid of Asian men, may be protective against prostate disease."}
{"id": "MED-3877", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Dietary factors may influence the prostate and have an impact on prostatic growth and disease. A small number of studies have suggested that flaxseed-supplemented, fat-restricted diets may thwart prostate cancer growth in both animals and humans. Unknown, however, is the potential effect of such a diet on benign prostatic epithelium. METHODS: We undertook a pilot study to explore whether a flaxseed-supplemented, fat-restricted diet affects the proliferation rates in benign epithelium. We also explored the effects on circulating levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), total testosterone, and cholesterol. Fifteen men who were scheduled to undergo repeat prostate biopsy were instructed to follow a low-fat (less than 20% kcal), flaxseed-supplemented (30 g/day) diet and were provided with a supply of flaxseed to last throughout the 6-month intervention period. The PSA, total testosterone, and cholesterol levels were determined at baseline and at 6 months of follow-up. Reports from the original and repeat biopsies were compared, and proliferation (MIB-1) rates were quantified in the benign prostatic epithelium. RESULTS: Statistically significant decreases in PSA (8.47 +/- 3.82 to 5.72 +/- 3.16 ng/mL; P = 0.0002) and cholesterol (241.1 +/- 30.8 to 213.3 +/- 51.2 mg/dL; P = 0.012) were observed. No statistically significant change was seen in total testosterone (434.5 +/- 143.6 to 428.3 +/- 92.5 ng/dL). Although 6-month repeat biopsies were not performed in 2 cases because of PSA normalization, of the 13 men who underwent repeat biopsy, the proliferation rates in the benign epithelium decreased significantly from 0.022 +/- 0.027 at baseline to 0.007 +/- 0.014 at 6 months of follow-up (P = 0.0168). CONCLUSIONS: These pilot data suggest that a flaxseed-supplemented, fat-restricted diet may affect the biology of the prostate and associated biomarkers. A randomized controlled trial is needed to determine whether flaxseed supplementation, a low-fat diet, or a combination of the two regimens may be of use in controlling overall prostatic growth."}
{"id": "MED-3878", "text": "Diet, nutritional status, and certain dietary supplements are postulated to influence the development and progression of prostate cancer. Angiogenesis and inflammation are central to tumor growth and progression, but the effect of diet on these processes remains uncertain. We explored changes in 50 plasma cytokines and angiogenic factors (CAFs) in 145 men with prostate cancer enrolled in a pre-operative, randomized controlled phase-II trial with four arms: control (usual diet); low-fat (LF) diet; flaxseed-supplemented (FS) diet; and flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet. The mean duration of dietary intervention was 30\u201331 days. Among the individual arms, the largest number of significant changes (baseline vs pre-operative follow-up) was observed in the LF arm, with 19 CAFs decreasing and one increasing (p<.05). Compared to the control arm, 6 CAFs\u2014including pro-angiogenic factors (stromal-cell derived-1\u03b1 and myeloid factors (granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor, macrophage colony-stimulating factor \u2014 all decreased in the LF arm compared to controls; 3 and 4 CAFs changed in the FS and FS+LF arms, respectively. Weight loss occurred in the LF arms and significantly correlated with VEGF decreases (P <0.001). The CAFs that changed in the LF arm are all known to be regulated by nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-\u03baB), and a pathway analysis identified NF-\u03baB as the most likely regulatory network associated with these changes in the LF arm, but not in the FS-containing arms. These results suggest that a low-fat diet without flaxseed may reduce levels of specific inflammatory cytokines and angiogenic factors and suggests that the NF-\u03baB pathway may be a mediator of these changes."}
{"id": "MED-3880", "text": "A common approach to reducing microbial contamination has been the implementation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) program to prevent or reduce contamination during production. One example is the Pathogen Reduction HACCP program implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). This program consisted of a staged implementation between 1996 and 2000 to reduce microbial contamination on meat and poultry products. Of the commodities regulated by FSIS, one of the largest observed reductions was for Salmonella contamination on broiler chicken carcasses. Nevertheless, how this reduction might have influenced the total number of salmonellosis cases in the United States has not been assessed. This study incorporates information from public health surveillance and surveys of the poultry slaughter industry into a model that estimates the number of broiler-related salmonellosis cases through time. The model estimates that-following the 56% reduction in the proportion of contaminated broiler carcasses observed between 1995 and 2000-approximately 190,000 fewer annual salmonellosis cases (attributed to broilers) occurred in 2000 compared with 1995. The uncertainty bounds for this estimate range from approximately 37,000 to 500,000 illnesses. Estimated illnesses prevented, due to the more modest reduction in contamination of 13% between 2000 and 2007, were not statistically significant. An analysis relating the necessary magnitude of change in contamination required for detection via human surveillance also is provided."}
{"id": "MED-3882", "text": "Salmonella enterica is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness in the United States. Although salmonellosis is usually self-limiting, severe infections typically require antimicrobial treatment, and ceftriaxone, an extended-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC), is commonly used in both adults and children. Surveillance conducted by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) has shown a recent increase in ESC resistance among Salmonella Heidelberg isolated from food animals at slaughter, retail meat, and humans. ESC resistance among Salmonella in the United States is usually mediated by a plasmid-encoded bla(CMY) \u03b2-lactamase. In 2009, we identified 47 ESC-resistant bla(CMY)-positive Heidelberg isolates from humans (n=18), food animals at slaughter (n=16), and retail meats (n=13) associated with a spike in the prevalence of this serovar. Almost 90% (26/29) of the animal and meat isolates were isolated from chicken carcasses or retail chicken meat. We screened NARMS isolates for the presence of bla(CMY), determined whether the gene was plasmid-encoded, examined pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns to assess the genetic diversities of the isolates, and categorized the bla(CMY) plasmids by plasmid incompatibility groups and plasmid multi-locus sequence typing (pMLST). All 47 bla(CMY) genes were found to be plasmid encoded. Incompatibility/replicon typing demonstrated that 41 were IncI1 plasmids, 40 of which only conferred bla(CMY)-associated resistance. Six were IncA/C plasmids that carried additional resistance genes. pMLST of the IncI1-bla(CMY) plasmids showed that 27 (65.8%) were sequence type (ST) 12, the most common ST among bla(CMY)-IncI1 plasmids from Heidelberg isolated from humans. Ten plasmids had a new ST profile, ST66, a type very similar to ST12. This work showed that the 2009 increase in ESC resistance among Salmonella Heidelberg was caused mainly by the dissemination of bla(CMY) on IncI1 and IncA/C plasmids in a variety of genetic backgrounds, and is likely not the result of clonal expansion."}
{"id": "MED-3884", "text": "Microbes have evolved over 3.5 billion years and are arguably the most adaptable organisms on earth. Restricted genetically by their inability to reproduce sexually, bacteria have acquired several additional mechanisms by which to exchange genetic material horizontally. Such mechanisms have allowed bacteria to inhabit some of the most inhospitable environments on earth. It is thus hardly surprising that when faced with a barrage of inimical chemicals (antibiotics) they have responded with an equal and opposite force. This article compares and contrasts the evolution of antimicrobial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics over the last 70 years in two bacterial species, namely Staphylococcus aureus, a highly evolved human pathogen, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen."}
{"id": "MED-3885", "text": "The treatment of bacterial infections is increasingly complicated by the ability of bacteria to develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial agents are often categorized according to their principal mechanism of action. Mechanisms include interference with cell wall synthesis (eg, beta-lactams and glycopeptide agents), inhibition of protein synthesis (macrolides and tetracyclines), interference with nucleic acid synthesis (fluoroquinolones and rifampin), inhibition of a metabolic pathway (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole), and disruption of bacterial membrane structure (polymyxins and daptomycin). Bacteria may be intrinsically resistant to > or =1 class of antimicrobial agents, or may acquire resistance by de novo mutation or via the acquisition of resistance genes from other organisms. Acquired resistance genes may enable a bacterium to produce enzymes that destroy the antibacterial drug, to express efflux systems that prevent the drug from reaching its intracellular target, to modify the drug's target site, or to produce an alternative metabolic pathway that bypasses the action of the drug. Acquisition of new genetic material by antimicrobial-susceptible bacteria from resistant strains of bacteria may occur through conjugation, transformation, or transduction, with transposons often facilitating the incorporation of the multiple resistance genes into the host's genome or plasmids. Use of antibacterial agents creates selective pressure for the emergence of resistant strains. Herein 3 case histories-one involving Escherichia coli resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, another focusing on the emergence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and a third detailing multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa-are reviewed to illustrate the varied ways in which resistant bacteria develop."}
{"id": "MED-3886", "text": "The treatment of bacterial infections is increasingly complicated by the ability of bacteria to develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial agents are often categorized according to their principal mechanism of action. Mechanisms include interference with cell wall synthesis (e.g., beta-lactams and glycopeptide agents), inhibition of protein synthesis (macrolides and tetracyclines), interference with nucleic acid synthesis (fluoroquinolones and rifampin), inhibition of a metabolic pathway (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole), and disruption of bacterial membrane structure (polymyxins and daptomycin). Bacteria may be intrinsically resistant to > or =1 class of antimicrobial agents, or may acquire resistance by de novo mutation or via the acquisition of resistance genes from other organisms. Acquired resistance genes may enable a bacterium to produce enzymes that destroy the antibacterial drug, to express efflux systems that prevent the drug from reaching its intracellular target, to modify the drug's target site, or to produce an alternative metabolic pathway that bypasses the action of the drug. Acquisition of new genetic material by antimicrobial-susceptible bacteria from resistant strains of bacteria may occur through conjugation, transformation, or transduction, with transposons often facilitating the incorporation of the multiple resistance genes into the host's genome or plasmids. Use of antibacterial agents creates selective pressure for the emergence of resistant strains. Herein 3 case histories-one involving Escherichia coli resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, another focusing on the emergence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and a third detailing multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa--are reviewed to illustrate the varied ways in which resistant bacteria develop."}
{"id": "MED-3887", "text": "Summary: Antimicrobials are valuable therapeutics whose efficacy is seriously compromised by the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The provision of antibiotics to food animals encompasses a wide variety of nontherapeutic purposes that include growth promotion. The concern over resistance emergence and spread to people by nontherapeutic use of antimicrobials has led to conflicted practices and opinions. Considerable evidence supported the removal of nontherapeutic antimicrobials (NTAs) in Europe, based on the \u201cprecautionary principle.\u201d Still, concrete scientific evidence of the favorable versus unfavorable consequences of NTAs is not clear to all stakeholders. Substantial data show elevated antibiotic resistance in bacteria associated with animals fed NTAs and their food products. This resistance spreads to other animals and humans\u2014directly by contact and indirectly via the food chain, water, air, and manured and sludge-fertilized soils. Modern genetic techniques are making advances in deciphering the ecological impact of NTAs, but modeling efforts are thwarted by deficits in key knowledge of microbial and antibiotic loads at each stage of the transmission chain. Still, the substantial and expanding volume of evidence reporting animal-to-human spread of resistant bacteria, including that arising from use of NTAs, supports eliminating NTA use in order to reduce the growing environmental load of resistance genes."}
{"id": "MED-3888", "text": "BACKGROUND: Salmonella enterica causes an estimated 1 million cases of domestically acquired foodborne illness in humans annually in the United States; Enteritidis (SE) is the most common serotype. Public health authorities, regulatory agencies, food producers, and food processors need accurate information about rates and changes in SE infection to implement and evaluate evidence-based control policies and practices. METHODS: We analyzed the incidence of human SE infection during 1996-2009 in the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), an active, population-based surveillance system for laboratory-confirmed infections. We compared FoodNet incidence with passively collected data from complementary surveillance systems and with rates of SE isolation from processed chickens and egg products; shell eggs are not routinely tested. We also compared molecular subtyping patterns of SE isolated from humans and chickens. RESULTS: Since the period 1996-1999, the incidence of human SE infection in FoodNet has increased by 44%. This change is mirrored in passive national surveillance data. The greatest relative increases were in young children, older adults, and FoodNet sites in the southern United States. The proportion of patients with SE infection who reported recent international travel has decreased in recent years, whereas the proportion of chickens from which SE was isolated has increased. Similar molecular subtypes of SE are commonly isolated from humans and chickens. CONCLUSIONS: Most SE infections in the United States are acquired from domestic sources, and the problem is growing. Chicken and eggs are likely major sources of SE. Continued close attention to surveillance data is needed to monitor the impact of recent regulatory control measures."}
{"id": "MED-3889", "text": "Contamination of retail chicken meat by Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria likely contributes to the increasing incidence of infections with these bacteria in humans. This study aimed to compare the prevalence and load of ESBL positive isolates between organic and conventional retail chicken meat samples, and to compare the distribution of ESBL genes, strain genotypes and co-resistance. In 2010, 98 raw chicken breasts (n=60 conventional; n=38 organic) were collected from 12 local stores in the Netherlands. Prevalence of ESBL producing micro-organisms was 100% on conventional and 84% on organic samples (p<0.001). Median loads of ESBL producing micro-organisms were 80 (range <20-1360) in conventional, and <20 (range 0-260) CFU/25 g in organic samples (p=0.001). The distribution of ESBL genes in conventional samples and organic samples was 42% versus 56%, respectively (N.S.), for CTX-M-1, 20% versus 42% (N.S.) for TEM-52, and 23% versus 3% (p<0.001) for SHV-12. CTX-M-2 (7%), SHV-2 (5%) and TEM-20 (3%) were exclusively found in conventional samples. Co-resistance rates of ESBL positive isolates were not different between conventional and organic samples (co-trimoxazole 56%, ciprofloxacin 14%, and tobramycin 2%), except for tetracycline, 73% and 46%, respectively, p<0.001). Six of 14 conventional meat samples harbored 4 MLST types also reported in humans and 5 of 10 organic samples harbored 3 MLST types also reported in humans (2 ST10, 2 ST23, ST354). In conclusion, the majority of organic chicken meat samples were also contaminated with ESBL producing E. coli, and the ESBL genes and strain types were largely the same as in conventional meat samples. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3890", "text": "The connection between farm-generated animal waste and the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in soil microbial communities, via mobile genetic elements, remains obscure. In this study, electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveying of a broiler chicken farm assisted soil sampling from a chicken-waste-impacted site and a marginally affected site. Consistent with the EMI survey, a disparity existed between the two sites with regard to soil pH, tetracycline resistance (Tcr) levels among culturable soil bacteria, and the incidence and prevalence of several tet and erm genes in the soils. No significant difference was observed in these aspects between the marginally affected site and several sites in a relatively pristine regional forest. When the farm was in operation, tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), erm(A), erm(B), and erm(C) genes were detected in the waste-affected soil. Two years after all waste was removed from the farm, tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), and erm(C) genes were still detected. The abundances of tet(L), tet(O), and erm(B) were measured using quantitative PCR, and the copy numbers of each were normalized to eubacterial 16S rRNA gene copy numbers. tet(L) was the most prevalent gene, whereas tet(O) was the most persistent, although all declined over the 2-year period. A mobilizable plasmid carrying tet(L) was identified in seven of 14 Tcr soil isolates. The plasmid's hosts were identified as species of Bhargavaea, Sporosarcina, and Bacillus. The plasmid's mobilization (mob) gene was quantified to estimate its prevalence in the soil, and the ratio of tet(L) to mob was shown to have changed from 34:1 to 1:1 over the 2-year sampling period."}
{"id": "MED-3891", "text": "Escherichia coli isolates were recovered from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System retail meat program and examined for antimicrobial susceptibility. Retail meat samples (n = 11,921) from four U.S. states collected during 2002 to 2008, consisting of 2,988 chicken breast, 2,942 ground turkey, 2,991 ground beef, and 3,000 pork chop samples, were analyzed. A total of 8,286 E. coli isolates were recovered. The greatest numbers of samples contaminated with the organism were chicken (83.5%) and turkey (82.0%), followed by beef (68.9%) and pork (44.0%). Resistance was most common to tetracycline (50.3%), followed by streptomycin (34.6%), sulfamethoxazole-sulfisoxazole (31.6%), ampicillin (22.5%), gentamicin (18.6%), kanamycin (8.4%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (6.4%), and cefoxitin (5.2%). Less than 5% of the isolates had resistance to trimethoprim, ceftriaxone, ceftiofur, nalidixic acid, chloramphenicol, and ciprofloxacin. All isolates were susceptible to amikacin. Compared to beef and pork isolates, the poultry meat isolates had a greater percentage of resistance to all tested drugs, with the exception of chloramphenicol, to which pork isolates had the most resistance. More than half of the turkey isolates (56%) were resistant to multidrugs (\u22653 classes) compared to 38.9% of chicken, 17.3% of pork, and 9.3% of beef isolates. The blaCMY gene was present in all ceftriaxone- and ceftiofur-resistant isolates. The cmlA, flo, and catI genes were present in 45%, 43%, and 40% of chloramphenicol-resistant isolates, respectively. Most nalidixic acid-resistant isolates (98.5%) had a gyrA mutation in S83 or D87 or both, whereas only 6.7% had a parC mutation in either S80 or E84. The results showed that E. coli was commonly present in the retail meats, and antimicrobial resistance profiles differed according to the animal origin of the isolates."}
{"id": "MED-3892", "text": "Mathematical models that estimate the proportion of foodborne illnesses attributable to food commodities at specific points in the food chain may be useful to risk managers and policy makers to formulate public health goals, prioritize interventions, and document the effectiveness of mitigations aimed at reducing illness. Using human surveillance data on laboratory-confirmed Salmonella infections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Salmonella testing data from U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service's regulatory programs, we developed a point-of-processing foodborne illness attribution model by adapting the Hald Salmonella Bayesian source attribution model. Key model outputs include estimates of the relative proportions of domestically acquired sporadic human Salmonella infections resulting from contamination of raw meat, poultry, and egg products processed in the United States from 1998 through 2003. The current model estimates the relative contribution of chicken (48%), ground beef (28%), turkey (17%), egg products (6%), intact beef (1%), and pork (<1%) across 109 Salmonella serotypes found in food commodities at point of processing. While interpretation of the attribution estimates is constrained by data inputs, the adapted model shows promise and may serve as a basis for a common approach to attribution of human salmonellosis and food safety decision-making in more than one country."}
{"id": "MED-3893", "text": "Seven cyclists exercised at 70% of maximal O2 uptake (VO2max) until fatigue (170 +/- 9 min) on three occasions, 1 wk apart. During these trials, plasma glucose declined from 5.0 +/- 0.1 to 3.1 +/- 0.1 mM (P less than 0.001) and respiratory exchange ratio (R) fell from 0.87 +/- 0.01 to 0.81 +/- 0.01 (P less than 0.001). After resting 20 min the subjects attempted to continue exercise either 1) after ingesting a placebo, 2) after ingesting glucose polymers (3 g/kg), or 3) when glucose was infused intravenously (\"euglycemic clamp\"). Placebo ingestion did not restore euglycemia or R. Plasma glucose increased (P less than 0.001) initially to approximately 5 mM and R rose (P less than 0.001) to approximately 0.83 with glucose infusion or carbohydrate ingestion. Plasma glucose and R then fell gradually to 3.9 +/- 0.3 mM and 0.81 +/- 0.01, respectively, after carbohydrate ingestion but were maintained at 5.1 +/- 0.1 mM and 0.83 +/- 0.01, respectively, by glucose infusion. Time to fatigue during this second exercise bout was significantly longer during the carbohydrate ingestion (26 +/- 4 min; P less than 0.05) or glucose infusion (43 +/- 5 min; P less than 0.01) trials compared with the placebo trial (10 +/- 1 min). Plasma insulin (approximately 10 microU/ml) and vastus lateralis muscle glycogen (approximately 40 mmol glucosyl U/kg) did not change during glucose infusion, with three-fourths of total carbohydrate oxidation during the second exercise bout accounted for by the euglycemic glucose infusion rate (1.13 +/- 0.08 g/min).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-3894", "text": "The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a natural carbohydrate (CHO) source in the form of sun-dried raisins (SDRs) vs. Sports Jelly Beans\u2122 (SJBs) on endurance performance in trained cyclists and triathletes. Ten healthy men (18-33 years) completed 1 water-only acclimatization exercise trial and 2 randomized exercise trials administered in a crossover fashion. Each trial consisted of a 120-minute constant-intensity glycogen depletion period followed by a 10-km time trial (TT). During each experimental trial, participants consumed isocaloric amounts of SDRs or SJBs in 20-minute intervals. Measurements included time to complete 10-km TT, power output during 10-km TT, blood glucose levels and respiratory exchange ratio during glycogen depletion period, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), 'flow' questionnaire responses, and a hedonic (i.e., pleasantness) sensory acceptance test. There were no significant differences in endurance performance for TT time (SDRs vs. SJBs, 17.3 \u00b1 0.4 vs. 17.3 \u00b1 0.4 seconds) or power (229.3 \u00b1 13.0 vs. 232.0 \u00b1 13.6 W), resting blood glucose levels (5.8 \u00b1 04 mmol\u00b7L(-1) for SDRs and 5.4 \u00b1 0.2 mmol\u00b7L(-1) for SJBs), RPE, or flow experiences between SDR and SJB trials. However, the mean sensory acceptance scores were significantly higher for the SDRs compared to the SJBs (50.7 \u00b1 1.7 vs. 44.3 \u00b1 2.7). Consuming SDRs or SJBs during 120 minutes of intense cycling results in similar subsequent TT performances and are equally effective in maintaining blood glucose levels during exercise. Therefore, SDRs are a natural, pleasant, cost-effective CHO alternative to commercial SJBs that can be used during moderate- to high-intensity endurance exercise."}
{"id": "MED-3895", "text": "Research suggests that pre-exercise sources of dietary carbohydrate with varying glycemic indexes may differentially affect metabolism and endurance. This study was designed to examine potential differences in metabolism and cycling performance after consumption of moderate glycemic raisins vs. a high glycemic commercial sports gel. Eight endurance-trained male (n = 4) and female (n = 4) cyclists 30 +/- 5 years of age completed 2 trials in random order. Subjects were fed 1 g carbohydrate per kilogram body weight from either raisins or sports gel 45 minutes prior to exercise on a cycle ergometer at 70% V(.-)O2max. After 45 minutes of submaximal exercise, subjects completed a 15-minute performance trial. Blood was collected prior to the exercise bout, as well as after the 45th minute of exercise, to determine serum concentrations of glucose, insulin, lactate, free fatty acids (FFAs), triglycerides, and beta-hydroxybutyrate. Performance was not different (p > 0.05) between the raisin (189.5 +/- 69.9 kJ) and gel (188.0 +/- 64.8 kJ) trials. Prior to exercise, serum concentrations of glucose and other fuel substrates did not differ between trials; however, insulin was higher (p < 0.05) for the gel (110.0 +/- 70.4 microU x ml(-1)) vs. raisin trial (61.4 +/- 37.4 microU x ml(-1)). After 45 minutes of exercise, insulin decreased to 14.2 +/- 6.2 microU x ml(-1) and 13.3 +/- 18.9 microU x ml(-1) for gel and raisin trials, respectively. The FFA concentration increased (+0.2 +/- 0.1 mmol x L(-1)) significantly (p < 0.05) during the raisin trial. Overall, minor differences in metabolism and no difference in performance were detected between the trials. Raisins appear to be a cost-effective source of carbohydrate for pre-exercise feeding in comparison to sports gel for short-term exercise bouts."}
{"id": "MED-3896", "text": "BACKGROUND: The frequency of unhealthful snacking has increased dramatically over the last three decades. Fruits and nuts have been shown to have positive health effects. No study has investigated the aggregate effects of various fruits combined with nuts in the form of snack bars on cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this randomised trial was to investigate the effects of a fruit and nut snack bar on anthropomorphic measures, lipid panel and blood pressure in overweight adults. METHODS: Ninety-four overweight adults (body mass index > 25 kg m(-2)) were randomly assigned to add two fruit and nut bars totalling 1421.9 kJ (340 kcal) to their ad libitum diet (intervention group) or to continue with their ad libitum diet (control group). Subjects underwent assessment for weight (primary outcome measure), as well as waist circumference, lipid panel and blood pressure (secondary outcome measures), before and at the end of the 8-week treatment. RESULTS: Weight did not change from baseline after snack bar addition compared to controls (P = 0.44). Waist circumference (P = 0.69), blood pressure (systolic, P = 0.83; diastolic, P = 0.79) and blood lipid panel (total cholesterol, P = 0.72; high-density lipoprotein, P = 0.11; total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein, P = 0.37; triglycerides, P = 0.89; low-density lipoprotein, P = 0.81) also did not change from baseline compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: Two daily fruit and nut bars, totalling 1421.9 kJ (340 kcal), did not cause weight gain. The role of habitual snacking on nutrient dense and satiating foods on both weight over time, and diet quality, warrants further study. Satiating snacks rich in fibre may provide a means to weight stabilisation. \u00a9 2011 The Authors. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics \u00a9 2011 The British Dietetic Association Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3897", "text": "Background This study was designed to determine the glycemic indices of five commonly used varieties of dates in healthy subjects and their effects on postprandial glucose excursions in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods Composition analysis was carried out for five types of dates (Tamer stage). The weights of the flesh of the dates equivalent to 50 g of available carbohydrates were calculated. The study subjects were thirteen healthy volunteers with a mean (\u00b1 SD) age of 40.2 \u00b1 6.7 years and ten participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (controlled on lifestyle measures and/or metformin) with a mean HbA1c (\u00b1 SD) of 6.6 \u00b1 (0.7%) and a mean age (\u00b1 SD) of 40.8 \u00b1 5.7 years. Each subject was tested on eight separate days with 50 g of glucose (on 3 occasions) and 50 g equivalent of available carbohydrates from the 5 varieties of date (each on one occasion). Capillary glucose was measured in the healthy subjects at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min and for the diabetics at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min. The glycemic indices were determined as ratios of the incremental areas under the response curves for the dates compared to glucose. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test and repeated measures analysis of variance. Results Mean glycemic indices \u00b1 SEM of the dates for the healthy individuals were 54.0 \u00b1 6.1, 53.5 \u00b1 8.6, 46.3 \u00b1 7.1, 49.1 \u00b1 3.6 and 55.1 \u00b1 7.7 for Fara'd, Lulu, Bo ma'an, Dabbas and Khalas, respectively. Corresponding values for those with type 2 diabetes were very similar (46.1 \u00b1 6.2, 43.8 \u00b1 7.7, 51.8 \u00b1 6.9, 50.2 \u00b1 3.9 and 53.0 \u00b1 6.0). There were no statistically significant differences in the GIs between the control and the diabetic groups for the five types of dates, nor were there statistically significant differences among the dates' GIs (df = 4, F = 0.365, p = 0.83). Conclusion The results show low glycemic indices for the five types of dates included in the study and that their consumption by diabetic individuals does not result in significant postprandial glucose excursions. These findings point to the potential benefits of dates for diabetic subjects when used in a healthy balanced diet. Trial Registration Number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01307904"}
{"id": "MED-3900", "text": "Epidemiological studies examining potential associations between dried fruit consumption, diet quality, and weight status are lacking. The goal of this study was to examine the association of dried fruit consumption with nutrient intake, diet quality, and anthropometric indicators of overweight/obesity. A secondary analysis of dietary and anthropometric data collected from adult (19+ years) participants (n = 13\u00a0292) of the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was conducted. Dried fruit consumers were defined as those consuming amounts \u215b cup-equivalent fruit per day or more and identified using 24-hour recalls. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index 2005. Covariate-adjusted means, SEs, prevalence rates, and odds ratios were determined to conduct statistical tests for differences between dried fruit consumers and nonconsumers. Seven percent of the population consumed dried fruit. Mean differences (P < .01) between consumers and nonconsumers in adult shortfall nutrients were dietary fiber (+6.6 g/d); vitamins A (+173 \u03bcg retinol activity equivalent per day), E (+1.5 mg \u03b1-tocopherol per day), C (+20 mg/d), and K (+20 mg/d); calcium (+103 mg/d); phosphorus (+126 mg/d); magnesium (+72 mg/d); and potassium (+432 mg/d). Dried fruit consumers had improved MyPyramid food intake, including lower solid fats/alcohol/added sugars intake, and a higher solid fats/alcohol/added sugars score (11.1 \u00b1 0.2 vs 8.2 \u00b1 0.1) than nonconsumers. The total Healthy Eating Index 2005 score was significantly higher (P < .01) in consumers (59.3 \u00b1 0.5) than nonconsumers (49.4 \u00b1 0.3). Covariate-adjusted weight (78.2 \u00b1 0.6 vs 80.7 \u00b1 0.3 kg), body mass index (27.1 \u00b1 0.2 vs 28.1 \u00b1 0.2), and waist circumference (94.0 \u00b1 0.5 vs 96.5 \u00b1 0.2 cm) were lower (P < .01) in consumers than nonconsumers, respectively. Dried fruit consumption was associated with improved nutrient intakes, a higher overall diet quality score, and lower body weight/adiposity measures. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3904", "text": "BACKGROUND: Treatment of chronic constipation remains challenging with 50% of patients dissatisfied with current therapy. There is an unmet need for natural and safe alternatives. Dried plums (prunes) have been used traditionally for constipation but their efficacy is not known. Aim To assess and compare the effects of dried plums and psyllium in patients with chronic constipation. METHODS: Subjects were enrolled in an 8-week, single-blind, randomised cross-over study. Subjects received either dried plums (50 g b.d., fibre=6 gm/day) or psyllium (11 g b.d., fibre=6 gm/day) for 3 weeks each, in a crossover trial with a 1-week washout period. Subjects maintained a daily symptom and stool diary. Assessments included number of complete spontaneous bowel movements per week, global relief of constipation, stool consistency, straining, tolerability and taste. RESULTS: Forty constipated subjects (m/f=3/37, mean age=38 years) participated. The number of complete spontaneous bowel movements per week (primary outcome measure) and stool consistency scores improved significantly (P<0.05) with dried plums when compared to psyllium. Straining and global constipation symptoms did not differ significantly between treatments (P=N.S.). Dried plums and psyllium were rated as equally palatable and both were safe and well tolerated. CONCLUSION: Dried plums are safe, palatable and more effective than psyllium for the treatment of mild to moderate constipation, and should be considered as a first line therapy. \u00a9 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-3906", "text": "Date palm is one of the oldest trees cultivated by man. In the folk-lore, date fruits have been ascribed to have many medicinal properties when consumed either alone or in combination with other herbs. Although, fruit of the date palm served as the staple food for millions of people around the world for several centuries, studies on the health benefits are inadequate and hardly recognized as a healthy food by the health professionals and the public. In recent years, an explosion of interest in the numerous health benefits of dates had led to many in vitro and animal studies as well as the identification and quantification of various classes of phytochemicals. On the basis of available documentation in the literature on the nutritional and phytochemical composition, it is apparent that the date fruits are highly nutritious and may have several potential health benefits. Although dates are sugar-packed, many date varieties are low GI diet and refutes the dogma that dates are similar to candies and regular consumption would develop chronic diseases. More investigations in these areas would validate its beneficial effects, mechanisms of actions, and fully appreciate as a potential medicinal food for humans all around the world. Therefore, in this review we summarize the phytochemical composition, nutritional significance, and potential health benefits of date fruit consumption and discuss its great potential as a medicinal food for a number of diseases inflicting human beings."}
{"id": "MED-3907", "text": "Background This study was designed to determine the glycemic indices of five commonly used varieties of dates in healthy subjects and their effects on postprandial glucose excursions in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods Composition analysis was carried out for five types of dates (Tamer stage). The weights of the flesh of the dates equivalent to 50 g of available carbohydrates were calculated. The study subjects were thirteen healthy volunteers with a mean (\u00b1 SD) age of 40.2 \u00b1 6.7 years and ten participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus (controlled on lifestyle measures and/or metformin) with a mean HbA1c (\u00b1 SD) of 6.6 \u00b1 (0.7%) and a mean age (\u00b1 SD) of 40.8 \u00b1 5.7 years. Each subject was tested on eight separate days with 50 g of glucose (on 3 occasions) and 50 g equivalent of available carbohydrates from the 5 varieties of date (each on one occasion). Capillary glucose was measured in the healthy subjects at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min and for the diabetics at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min. The glycemic indices were determined as ratios of the incremental areas under the response curves for the dates compared to glucose. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test and repeated measures analysis of variance. Results Mean glycemic indices \u00b1 SEM of the dates for the healthy individuals were 54.0 \u00b1 6.1, 53.5 \u00b1 8.6, 46.3 \u00b1 7.1, 49.1 \u00b1 3.6 and 55.1 \u00b1 7.7 for Fara'd, Lulu, Bo ma'an, Dabbas and Khalas, respectively. Corresponding values for those with type 2 diabetes were very similar (46.1 \u00b1 6.2, 43.8 \u00b1 7.7, 51.8 \u00b1 6.9, 50.2 \u00b1 3.9 and 53.0 \u00b1 6.0). There were no statistically significant differences in the GIs between the control and the diabetic groups for the five types of dates, nor were there statistically significant differences among the dates' GIs (df = 4, F = 0.365, p = 0.83). Conclusion The results show low glycemic indices for the five types of dates included in the study and that their consumption by diabetic individuals does not result in significant postprandial glucose excursions. These findings point to the potential benefits of dates for diabetic subjects when used in a healthy balanced diet. Trial Registration Number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01307904"}
{"id": "MED-3908", "text": "BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that consumption of apple or its bioactive components modulate lipid metabolism and reduce the production of proinflammatory molecules. However, there is a paucity of such research in human beings. OBJECTIVE: Women experience a lower rate of cardiovascular disease before menopause compared with men. However, after the onset of menopause, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases drastically due to ovarian hormone deficiency. Hence, we conducted a 1-year clinical trial to evaluate the effect of dried apple vs dried plum consumption in reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: One-hundred sixty qualified postmenopausal women were recruited from the greater Tallahassee, FL, area during 2007-2009 and were randomly assigned to one of two groups: dried apple (75 g/day) or dried plum (comparative control). Fasting blood samples were collected at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months to measure various parameters. Physical activity recall and 7-day dietary recall were also obtained. RESULTS: Neither of the dried fruit regimens significantly affected the participants' reported total energy intake throughout the study period. On the contrary, women who consumed dried apple lost 1.5 kg body weight by the end of the study, albeit not significantly different from the dried plum group. In terms of cholesterol, serum total cholesterol levels were significantly lower in the dried apple group compared with the dried plum group only at 6 months. Although dried plum consumption did not significantly reduce serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, it lowered their levels numerically by 3.5% and 8%, respectively, at 12 months compared with baseline. This may explain the lack of significance observed between the groups. However, within the group, women who consumed dried apple had significantly lower serum levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 9% and 16%, respectively, at 3 months compared with baseline. These serum values were further decreased to 13% and 24%, respectively, after 6 months but stayed constant thereafter. The within-group analysis also reported that daily apple consumption profoundly improved atherogenic risk ratios, whereas there were no significant changes in lipid profile or atherogenic risk ratios as a result of dried plum consumption. Both dried fruits were able to lower serum levels of lipid hydroperoxide and C-reactive protein. However, serum C-reactive protein levels were significantly lower in the dried plum group compared with the dried apple group at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: There were no significant differences between the dried apple and dried plum groups in altering serum levels of atherogenic cholesterols except total cholesterol at 6 months. However, when within treatment group comparisons are made, consumption of 75 g dried apple (about two medium-sized apples) can significantly lower atherogenic cholesterol levels as early as 3 months. Furthermore, consumption of dried apple and dried plum are beneficial to human health in terms of anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3910", "text": "Background Figs are a rich source of soluble fiber. We evaluated the effect of consuming dried California Mission figs on serum lipids in hyperlipidemic adults. Methods In a crossover trial men and women aged 30\u201375 years with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (100\u2013189 mg/dl) were randomized to add dried California Mission figs (120 g/day) to their usual diet for 5 weeks or eat their usual diet for 5 weeks, then crossed over to the other condition for another 5 weeks. Six 24-hour dietary recalls were obtained. Results Low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations did not differ between usual and figs-added diets (Bonferroni-corrected p > 0.017), while total cholesterol tended to increase with fig consumption (p = 0.02). Total cholesterol increased in participants (n = 41) randomized to usual followed by figs-added diet (p = 0.01), but remained unchanged in subjects (n = 42) who started with figs-added followed by usual diet (p = 0.4). During the figs-added diet, soluble fiber intake was 12.6 \u00b1 3.7 versus 8.2 \u00b1 4.1 g/day in the usual diet (p < 0.0001). Sugar intake increased from 23.4 \u00b1 6.5 to 32.2 \u00b1 6.3% of kcal in the figs-added diet (p < 0.0001). Body weight did not change (p = 0.08). Conclusions Daily consumption of figs did not reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Triglyceride concentrations were not significantly changed despite an increase in sugar intake."}
{"id": "MED-3921", "text": "BACKGROUND: To evaluate health benefits attributed to Hibiscus sabdariffa L. a randomized, open-label, two-way crossover study was undertaken to compare the impact of an aqueous H. sabdariffa L. extract (HSE) on the systemic antioxidant potential (AOP; assayed by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)) with a reference treatment (water) in eight healthy volunteers. The biokinetic variables were the areas under the curve (AUC) of plasma FRAP, ascorbic acid and urate that are above the pre-dose concentration, and the amounts excreted into urine within 24 h (Ae(0-24) ) of antioxidants as assayed by FRAP, ascorbic acid, uric acid, malondialdehyde (biomarker for oxidative stress), and hippuric acid (metabolite and potential biomarker for total polyphenol intake). RESULTS: HSE caused significantly higher plasma AUC of FRAP, an increase in Ae(0-24) of FRAP, ascorbic acid and hippuric acid, whereas malondialdehyde excretion was reduced. Furthermore, the main hibiscus anthocyanins as well as one glucuronide conjugate could be quantified in the volunteers' urine (0.02% of the administered dose). CONCLUSION: The aqueous HSE investigated in this study enhanced the systemic AOP and reduced the oxidative stress in humans. Furthermore, the increased urinary hippuric acid excretion after HSE consumption indicates a high biotransformation of the ingested HSE polyphenols, most likely caused by the colonic microbiota. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Society of Chemical Industry."}
{"id": "MED-3923", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Inadvertent exposure to the ubiquitous weed, Urtica dioica, called \"stinging nettles\" produces an immediate stinging and burning sensation on the skin. This investigation evaluates the structural effect that stinging nettle spicules may have on the clinical manifestation of these symptoms. This hypothesis was investigated by exposing murine skin to stinging nettles and then evaluating the skin using electron microscopy. It was hypothesized that the mechanism of action of stinging nettles is both biochemical and mechanical, which may have clinical significance regarding treatment for acute exposure. METHODS: Fresh post-mortem dermis samples from the carcasses of genetically modified hairless mice were brushed under the stem and leaf of a stinging nettle plant, mimicking the clinical method of exposure a patient might experience. Another set of mouse skin samples was obtained but not exposed to the nettles. Both sets of skin samples were imaged with scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS: The skin samples that were not exposed to nettle leaves were uniform, with occasional striated hairs on the skin surface and no nettle spicules. The skin samples exposed to nettle leaves showed many smooth nettle spicules piercing the skin surface. A few spicules retained their bases, which appear empty of any liquid contents. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanism of action of stinging nettles dermatitis appears to be both biochemical and mechanical. Impalement of spicules into the skin likely accounts for the mechanical irritation in addition to the known adverse chemical effects of stinging nettles. Further investigation of treatment modalities is warranted. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3924", "text": "PURPOSE: To determine the effects of therapy with Urtica dioica for symptomatic relief of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A 6-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, partial crossover, comparative trial of Urtica dioica with placebo in 620 patients was conducted. Patients were evaluated using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), the maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual urine volume (PVR), Serum Prostatic- Specific Antigen (PSA), testosterone levels, and prostate size. At the end of 6-month trial, unblinding revealed that patients who initially received the placebo were switched to Urtica dioica. Both groups continued the medication up to 18 months. RESULTS: 558 patients (90%) completed the study (287/305, 91% in the Urtica dioica group, and 271/315, 86% in the placebo group). By intention- to-treat analysis, at the end of 6-month trial, 232 (81%) of 287 patients in the Urtica dioica group reported improved LUTS compared with 43 (16%) of 271 patients in the placebo group (P < 0.001). Both IPSS and Qmax showed greater improvement with drug than with placebo. The IPSS went from 19.8 down to 11.8 with Urtica dioica and from 19.2 to 17.7 with placebo (P = 0.002). Peak flow rates improved by 3.4 mL/s for placebo recipients and by 8.2 mL/s for treated patients (P < 0.05). In Urtica dioica group, PVR decreased from an initial value of 73 to 36 mL (P < 0.05). No appreciable change was seen in the placebo group. Serum PSA and testosterone levels were unchanged in both groups. A modest decrease in prostate size as measured by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) was seen in Urtica dioica group (from 40.1 cc initially to 36.3 cc; P < 0.001). There was no change in the prostate volume at the end of study with placebo. At 18-month follow-up, only patients who continued therapy, had a favorable treatment variables value. No side effects were identified in either group. CONCLUSION: In the present study, Urtica dioica have beneficial effects in the treatment of symptomatic BPH. Further clinical trials should be conducted to confirm these results before concluding that Urtica dioica is effective."}
{"id": "MED-3925", "text": "This study describes how foods rich in fisetin and hexacosanol added to a strict diet reversed most symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) in one patient. This is a case report involving outpatient care. The subject was a dietitian diagnosed with idiopathic PD in 2000 at the age of 53 years old, with a history of exposure to neurotoxins and no family history of PD. A basic diet started in 2000 consisted of predominantly fruits, vegetables, 100% whole grains, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, nonfat milk products, tea, coffee, spices, small amounts of dark chocolate, and less than 25 g of animal fat daily. The basic diet alone failed to prevent decline due to PD. In 2009, the basic diet was enhanced with a good dietary source of both fisetin and hexacosanol. Six months after the patient started the enhanced diet rich in fisetin and hexacosanol, a clinically significant improvement in symptoms was noted; the patient's attending neurologist reported that the clinical presentation of cogwheel rigidity, micrographia, bradykinesia, dystonia, constricted arm swing with gait, hypomimia, and retropulsion appeared to be resolved. The only worsening of symptoms occurred when the diet was not followed precisely. Little improvement in tremor or seborrhea was observed. The clinical improvement has persisted to date. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case where adjunctive diet therapy resulted in a significant reduction of symptoms of PD without changing the type or increasing the amount of medications."}
{"id": "MED-3926", "text": "Sixteen parkinsonian patients with daily fluctuations in the clinical response to levodopa have been placed on a redistribution protein diet. The diet was virtually protein-free until the evening meal and then unrestricted until bedtime. While on the redistribution protein diet, a group of patients (5 out of 16) had a clear and significant benefit from dietary therapy showing a definite reduction of diurnal motor performance fluctuations. In addition, all patients tended to show an improvement and a more constant response to levodopa treatment. A trial of redistribution protein diet appears a simple, reasonable, worthwhile approach to PD patients who begin to experience oscillating clinical response to levodopa treatment."}
{"id": "MED-3927", "text": "Objective: Epidemiologic studies consistently link caffeine, a nonselective adenosine antagonist, to lower risk of Parkinson disease (PD). However, the symptomatic effects of caffeine in PD have not been adequately evaluated. Methods: We conducted a 6-week randomized controlled trial of caffeine in PD to assess effects upon daytime somnolence, motor severity, and other nonmotor features. Patients with PD with daytime somnolence (Epworth >10) were given caffeine 100 mg twice daily \u00d73 weeks, then 200 mg twice daily \u00d73 weeks, or matching placebo. The primary outcome was the Epworth Sleepiness Scale score. Secondary outcomes included motor severity, sleep markers, fatigue, depression, and quality of life. Effects of caffeine were analyzed with Bayesian hierarchical models, adjusting for study site, baseline scores, age, and sex. Results: Of 61 patients, 31 were randomized to placebo and 30 to caffeine. On the primary intention-to-treat analysis, caffeine resulted in a nonsignificant reduction in Epworth Sleepiness Scale score (\u22121.71 points; 95% confidence interval [CI] \u22123.57, 0.13). However, somnolence improved on the Clinical Global Impression of Change (+0.64; 0.16, 1.13, intention-to-treat), with significant reduction in Epworth Sleepiness Scale score on per-protocol analysis (\u22121.97; \u22123.87, \u22120.05). Caffeine reduced the total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score (\u22124.69 points; \u22127.7, \u22121.6) and the objective motor component (\u22123.15 points; \u22125.50, \u22120.83). Other than modest improvement in global health measures, there were no changes in quality of life, depression, or sleep quality. Adverse events were comparable in caffeine and placebo groups. Conclusions: Caffeine provided only equivocal borderline improvement in excessive somnolence in PD, but improved objective motor measures. These potential motor benefits suggest that a larger long-term trial of caffeine is warranted. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class I evidence that caffeine, up to 200 mg BID for 6 weeks, had no significant benefit on excessive daytime sleepiness in patients with PD."}
{"id": "MED-3928", "text": "Seven patients with Parkinson's disease who experienced severe motor fluctuations in response to levodopa were studied in detail with relation to the effect of dietary protein on their motor function. The levodopa dose for each patient was not changed during the period of study, and no other antiparkinsonian drugs were used. Regular and high-protein diets resulted in a marked elevation in the plasma concentrations of large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) that are known to compete with levodopa for transport across the blood-brain barrier. Despite elevated plasma levodopa levels, all patients with elevated LNAA levels experienced parkinsonian symptoms. When the amino acid level dropped while plasma levodopa levels were elevated, patients experienced relief of these symptoms. On a low-protein diet, LNAA levels remained low and all patients were consistently dyskinetic throughout the day, even though the mean plasma levodopa levels were somewhat lower than when the patients consumed a high-protein diet. A redistribution diet that is virtually protein free until supper and then unrestricted until bedtime is tolerated by patients because this simple manipulation permits near-normal daytime motor function."}
{"id": "MED-3929", "text": "Objective: To prospectively examine whether higher intakes of total flavonoids and their subclasses (flavanones, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, flavones, and polymers) were associated with a lower risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: In the current analysis, we included 49,281 men in the Health Professional Follow-up Study and 80,336 women from the Nurses' Health Study. Five major sources of flavonoid-rich foods (tea, berry fruits, apples, red wine, and orange/orange juice) were also examined. Flavonoid intake was assessed using an updated food composition database and a validated food frequency questionnaire. Results: We identified 805 participants (438 men and 367 women) who developed PD during 20\u201322 years of follow-up. In men, after adjusting for multiple confounders, participants in the highest quintile of total flavonoids had a 40%lower PD risk than those in the lowest quintile (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.60; 95% confidence interval 0.43, 0.83; p trend = 0.001). No significant relationship was observed in women (p trend = 0.62) or in pooled analyses (p trend = 0.23). In the pooled analyses for the subclasses, intakes of anthocyanins and a rich dietary source, berries, were significantly associated with a lower PD risk (HR comparing 2 extreme intake quintiles were 0.76 for anthocyanins and 0.77 for berries, respectively; p trend < 0.02 for both). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that intake of some flavonoids may reduce PD risk, particularly in men, but a protective effect of other constituents of plant foods cannot be excluded."}
{"id": "MED-3930", "text": "Studies that have addressed the association between the intake of coffee or caffeine and Parkinson's disease (PD) were conducted mainly in Western countries. Little is known about this relationship in an Asian population. Therefore, we performed an assessment of the association of the intake of coffee, other caffeine-containing beverages, and caffeine with the risk of PD in Japan. The study involved 249 PD cases and 368 control subjects. Information on dietary factors was obtained through a self-administered diet history questionnaire. Adjustment was made for sex, age, region of residence, educational level, pack-years of smoking, body mass index, the dietary glycemic index, and intake of cholesterol, vitamin E, \u03b2-carotene, vitamin B(6,) alcohol, and iron. Intake of coffee, black tea, and Japanese and Chinese teas was significantly inversely associated with the risk of PD: the adjusted odds ratios in comparison of the highest with the lowest quartile were 0.52, 0.58, and 0.59, respectively (95% confidence intervals = 0.30-0.90, 0.35-0.97, and 0.35-0.995, respectively). A clear inverse dose-response relationship between total caffeine intake and PD risk was observed. We confirmed that the intake of coffee and caffeine reduced the risk of PD. Furthermore, this is the first study to show a significant inverse relationship between the intake of Japanese and Chinese teas and the risk of PD. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3931", "text": "Although a plant-based diet can provide some benefits in Parkinson's disease (PD), no study to date has evaluated the effectiveness of a plant-food diet in the management of the disease. In this pilot study, we compared the effect of a plant-food menu (PFD) and of a omnivorous menu on motor performance of 25 PD patients, 12 in the intervention group (PDi) and 13 in the control group (PDc). After 4 weeks, the PDi group showed a significant reduction (Mann-Whitney test) in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, total score (47.67 vs. 74.46, P = 0.008) and sub-score III motor performances (25.42 vs. 46.46, P = 0.001), and the modified Hoehn and Yahr Staging Scale (1.96 vs. 3.15, P = 0.005). These data suggest that PFD may be useful in the management of PD patients by improving their motor performances. Additional studies are needed in order to confirm these preliminary results."}
{"id": "MED-3932", "text": "Background Caffeine consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson disease. The association is strong and consistent in men, but uncertain in women, possibly because of an interaction with hormone replacement therapy. We sought to confirm these findings using data on Parkinson disease incidence in the CPS II Nutrition Cohort, a large prospective study of men and women. Methods We conducted a prospective study of caffeine intake and risk of PD within the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort. Intakes of coffee and other sources of caffeine were assessed at baseline. Incident cases of PD (n = 317; 197 men and 120 women) were confirmed by treating physicians and medical record review. Relative risks (RR) were estimated using proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, smoking and alcohol consumption. Results After adjustment for age, smoking and alcohol intake, high caffeine consumption was associated with a reduced risk of PD. The relative risk comparing the 5th to the 1st quintile of caffeine intake was 0.43 (CI: 0.26, 0.71, p-trend = <0.002) in men, and 0.61 (95% CI: 0.34, 1.09; p for trend =0.05) in women. Among women, this association was stronger among never users of hormone replacement therapy (RR=0.32) than among ever users (RR=0.81, p-interaction = 0.15). Consumption of decaffeinated coffee was not associated with PD risk. Conclusion Findings from this large prospective study of men and women are consistent with a protective effect of caffeine intake on PD incidence, with an attenuating influence of hormone replacement therapy in women."}
{"id": "MED-3933", "text": "In this study, the effects of a diet rich in insoluble fiber (DRIF) on motor disability and the peripheral pharmacokinetics of orally administered L-dopa in Parkinsonian patients with marked constipation are analyzed. We found a useful effect of a DRIF on plasma L-dopa concentration and motor function. The greatest effect on the plasma L-dopa levels was found early (at 30 and 60 min) after oral administration. There was a relationship between the improvement of constipation and the higher bioavailability of L-dopa. DRIF can be a coadjuvant treatment in patients with Parkinson's disease."}
{"id": "MED-3935", "text": "Background Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. People with PD, their families, scientists, health care providers, and the general public are increasingly interested in identifying environmental contributors to PD risk. Methods In June 2007, a multidisciplinary group of experts gathered in Sunnyvale, California, USA, to assess what is known about the contribution of environmental factors to PD. Results We describe the conclusions around which they came to consensus with respect to environmental contributors to PD risk. We conclude with a brief summary of research needs. Conclusions PD is a complex disorder, and multiple different pathogenic pathways and mechanisms can ultimately lead to PD. Within the individual there are many determinants of PD risk, and within populations, the causes of PD are heterogeneous. Although rare recognized genetic mutations are sufficient to cause PD, these account for < 10% of PD in the U.S. population, and incomplete penetrance suggests that environmental factors may be involved. Indeed, interplay among environmental factors and genetic makeup likely influences the risk of developing PD. There is a need for further understanding of how risk factors interact, and studying PD is likely to increase understanding of other neurodegenerative disorders."}
{"id": "MED-3936", "text": "Background Exposure to pesticides has been reported to increase the risk of Parkinson disease (PD), but identification of the specific pesticides is lacking. Three studies have found elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides in postmortem PD brains. Objective To determine whether elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides are present in the serum of patients with PD. Design Case-control study. Setting An academic medical center. Participants Fifty patients with PD, 43 controls, and 20 patients with Alzheimer disease. Main Outcome Measures Levels of 16 organochlorine pesticides in serum samples. Results \u03b2-Hexachlorocyclohexane (\u03b2-HCH) was more often detectable in patients with PD (76%) compared with controls (40%) and patients with Alzheimer disease (30%). The median level of \u03b2-HCH was higher in patients with PD compared with controls and patients with Alzheimer disease. There were no marked differences in detection between controls and patients with PD concerning any of the other 15 organochlorine pesticides. Finally, we observed a significant odds ratio for the presence of \u03b2-HCH in serum to predict a diagnosis of PD vs control (odds ratio, 4.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.67\u201311.6) and PD vs Alzheimer disease (odds ratio, 5.20), which provides further evidence for the apparent association between serum \u03b2-HCH and PD. Conclusions These data suggest that \u03b2-HCH is associated with a diagnosis of PD. Further research is warranted regarding the potential role of \u03b2-HCH as a etiologic agent for some cases of PD."}
{"id": "MED-3937", "text": "BACKGROUND: The goal of the present study was to analyze the epidemiology and specific risk factors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the Asterix illustrated comic books. Among the illustrated literature, TBI is a predominating injury pattern. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of TBI in all 34 Asterix comic books was performed by examining the initial neurological status and signs of TBI. Clinical data were correlated to information regarding the trauma mechanism, the sociocultural background of victims and offenders, and the circumstances of the traumata, to identify specific risk factors. RESULTS: Seven hundred and four TBIs were identified. The majority of persons involved were adult and male. The major cause of trauma was assault (98.8%). Traumata were classified to be severe in over 50% (GCS 3-8). Different neurological deficits and signs of basal skull fractures were identified. Although over half of head-injury victims had a severe initial impairment of consciousness, no case of death or permanent neurological deficit was found. The largest group of head-injured characters was constituted by Romans (63.9%), while Gauls caused nearly 90% of the TBIs. A helmet had been worn by 70.5% of victims but had been lost in the vast majority of cases (87.7%). In 83% of cases, TBIs were caused under the influence of a doping agent called \"the magic potion\". CONCLUSIONS: Although over half of patients had an initially severe impairment of consciousness after TBI, no permanent deficit could be found. Roman nationality, hypoglossal paresis, lost helmet, and ingestion of the magic potion were significantly correlated with severe initial impairment of consciousness (p\u2009\u2264\u20090.05)."}
{"id": "MED-3938", "text": "Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chemicals primarily used as coolants and insulators in electrical equipment. Although banned for several decades, PCBs continue to exist in the environment because of their long half-life, continued presence in items produced before the ban, and poor disposal practices. Epidemiological and experimental studies have identified exposure to PCBs as a potential risk factor for Parkinson\u2019s disease, perhaps more so in females. The objective of this work was to examine the association between PCB levels in post-mortem human brain tissue and the diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s disease, as well as the degree of nigral depigmentation. We also sought to determine if this association was more significant when patients were stratified by sex. Post-mortem brain samples from control patients and those diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease were obtained from the Emory University Brain Bank and from the Nun Study. Concentrations of eight prevalent PCB congeners were extracted from post-mortem brain tissue and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. PCB congeners 153 and 180 were significantly elevated in the brains of Parkinson\u2019s disease patients. When stratified by sex, the female Parkinson\u2019s disease group demonstrated significantly elevated concentrations of total PCBs and specifically congeners 138, 153, and 180 compared to controls, whereas PCB concentrations in males were not significantly different between control and Parkinson\u2019s disease groups. In a separate population of women (Nun Study) who had no clinical signs or symptoms of PD, elevated concentrations total PCB and congeners 138, 153 and 180 were also observed in post-mortem brain tissue exhibiting moderate nigral depigmentation compared to subjects with mild or no depigmentation. These quantitative data demonstrate an association between brain PCB levels and Parkinson\u2019s disease-related pathology. Furthermore, these data support epidemiological and laboratory studies reporting a link between PCB exposure and an increased risk for Parkinson\u2019s disease, including greater susceptibility of females."}
{"id": "MED-3939", "text": "Excerpt This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) on the treatment of TBI in U.S. hospitals in 2004. Hospital utilization and costs for TBI admissions are compared with hospital stays for all other injuries. Additionally, trends in hospital stays for TBI and differences in the distribution of TBI admissions by various patient characteristics are examined. Finally, common causes of TBIs resulting in hospital admission, as well as the coexisting conditions often associated with these injuries, are described. All differences between estimates noted in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better."}
{"id": "MED-3940", "text": "Objective: To determine whether evidence of neuronal dysfunction or demise preceded deposition of Lewy pathology in vulnerable neurons in Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: We examined the extent of nigral dysfunction and degeneration among 63 normal, incidental Lewy body disease (ILBD), and PD cases based on tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity and neuron densities, respectively. The relationship between these markers and Lewy pathology (LP) burden in the substantia nigra (SN) and Braak PD stage was assessed. Results: Compared with normal subjects, ILBD cases displayed a significantly higher percentage of TH-negative cells and lower neuronal densities in the SN as early as Braak PD stages 1 and 2, before LP deposition in the nigrostriatal system. ILBD nigral neuron densities were intermediate between normal subjects and PD cases, and TH-negative percentages were higher in ILBD than either normal or PD cases. Furthermore, neuron density and neuronal dysfunction levels remained relatively constant across Braak PD stages in ILBD. Conclusions: These results suggest that significant neurodegeneration and cellular dysfunction precede LP in the SN, challenging the pathogenic role of LP in PD and the assumption that ILBD always represents preclinical PD."}
{"id": "MED-3941", "text": "The effects of a\u00e7ai polyphenolics on the antiproliferation and induction of apoptosis in HL-60 human leukemia cells were investigated. Interactions between anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin-polyphenolics in both their glycosidic and their aglycone forms were also investigated to determine additive or nonadditive responses. Polyphenolic fractions at 0.17-10.7 microM were found to reduce cell proliferation from 56 to 86% likely due to caspase-3 activation (apoptosis). Anthocyanin and polyphenolic fractions were nonadditive in their contribution to the cell antiproliferation activity. At equimolar concentrations, the glycosidic forms of phenolic acids and flavonoids induced a higher magnitude of change in cell parameters (proliferation and apoptosis) than their respective aglycone forms, while the opposite trend was observed for anthocyanin aglycones. This study demonstrated that a\u00e7ai offers a rich source of bioactive polyphenolics and confirmed the importance of investigating whole food systems when evaluating the potential health benefits of individual phytochemical compounds."}
{"id": "MED-3942", "text": "Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a\u00e7ai fruit pulp on risk factors for metabolic disorders in overweight subjects. The a\u00e7a\u00ed palm (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), which is native to South America, produces a small, black-purple fruit which is edible. The fruit has recently become popular as a functional food due to its antioxidant potential. Although several studies have been conducted in vitro and with animals, little is known about the potential health benefits in humans aside from an increase in plasma anti-oxidant capacity. Metabolic syndrome is a condition which is defined by a cluster of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and/or type-2 diabetes. Preliminary studies indicate that a reduction in reactive oxygen species can assist in the normalization of the metabolic pathways involved in this syndrome. Methods This was an open label pilot study conducted with 10 overweight adults (BMI \u2265 25 kg/m2 and \u2264 30 kg/m2) who took 100 g a\u00e7ai pulp twice daily for 1 month. The study endpoints included levels of fasting plasma glucose, insulin, cholesterol, triglycerides, exhaled (breath) nitric oxide metabolites (eNO) and plasma levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). The response of blood glucose, blood pressure and eNO to a standardized meal was determined at baseline and following the 30 day treatment. Results Compared to baseline, there were reductions in fasting glucose and insulin levels following the 30 day treatment (both p < 0.02). There was also a reduction in total cholesterol (p = 0.03), as well as borderline significant reductions in LDL-cholesterol and the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol (both p = 0.051). Compared to baseline, treatment with a\u00e7ai ameliorated the post-prandial increase in plasma glucose following the standardized meal, measured as the area under the curve (p = 0.047). There was no effect on blood pressure, hs-CRP or eNO. Conclusion In this uncontrolled pilot study, consumption of a\u00e7ai fruit pulp reduced levels of selected markers of metabolic disease risk in overweight adults, indicating that further studies are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-3943", "text": "The health benefits associated with pomegranate juice have led to the development of pomegranate extracts as botanical dietary supplements. Pomegranates contain hydrolyzable tannins in the form of punicalagins and punicalin as well as tannin-based complex oligomers that account for much of the antioxidant activity in juice. The content of ellagic acid has been used to standardize most pomegranate extract dietary supplements marketed. However, supplements can be adulterated with ellagic acid from less expensive plant sources and undercut this method of standardization. To compare the phytochemical contents and antioxidant activities of commercially available pomegranate extract dietary supplements beyond their content of ellagic acid, a total of 27 different supplements in the form of capsules, tablets, and soft gels were studied. Total phenolics were measured using both gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and ellagic acid equivalent (EAE) assays. Punicalagins, punicalin, and ellagic acid contents were determined by HPLC, whereas antioxidant capacity was measured using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay. Of the 27 supplements tested, only 5 had the typical pomegranate tannin profile by HPLC, 17 had ellagic acid as the predominant chemical with minor or no detectable pomegranate tannins, and 5 had no detectable tannins or ellagic acid. Therefore, standardization of pomegranate extract supplements based on their ellagic acid content does not guarantee pomegranate supplement authenticity. Future research is needed to assess the health impact of substituting ellagic acid for the complex mix of phytochemicals in a pomegranate extract dietary supplement."}
{"id": "MED-3944", "text": "Dietary interventions involving antioxidants are of interest for reducing inflammation, improving joint motion, and altering pain perception. We evaluated the effect of oral consumption of a fruit and berry blend on pain and range of motion (ROM). This open-label clinical pilot study involved 14 study participants with limitations in ROM that was associated with pain and affected daily living. Participants included but were not limited to those with age-related osteoarthritis. Study participants consumed 120\u2009mL MonaVie Active\u00ae fruit juice, predominantly containing a\u00e7ai pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and other fruit concentrates, daily for 12 weeks. Study participants were assessed at baseline and 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks by structured nurse interviews, pain and activities of daily living (ADL) questionnaires, blood samples, and ROM assessment. Pain was scored by using a visual analogue scale. ROM was assessed by using dual digital inclinometry as recommended by American Medical Association guidelines. Consumption of the juice resulted in significant pain reduction, improved ROM measures, and improvement in ADLs. Serum antioxidant status, as monitored by the cell-based antioxidant protection in erythrocytes (CAP-e) assay, was improved within 2 weeks and continued to improve throughout the 12 weeks of study participation (P<.01). The inflammatory marker C-reactive protein was reduced at 12 weeks, but this change did not reach statistical significance. Lipid peroxidation decreased mildly at 12 weeks. The antioxidant status, as measured by the CAP-e bioassay, showed the best correlation with improvements in physical well-being (pain, ROM, and ADL). The significant association among increased antioxidant status, improved ROM, and pain reduction warrants further study."}
{"id": "MED-3945", "text": "The pomegranate fruit ( Punica granatum ) has become an international high-value crop for the production of commercial pomegranate juice (PJ). The perceived consumer value of PJ is due in large part to its potential health benefits based on a significant body of medical research conducted with authentic PJ. To establish criteria for authenticating PJ, a new International Multidimensional Authenticity Specifications (IMAS) algorithm was developed through consideration of existing databases and comprehensive chemical characterization of 45 commercial juice samples from 23 different manufacturers in the United States. In addition to analysis of commercial juice samples obtained in the United States, data from other analyses of pomegranate juice and fruits including samples from Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Syria, India, and China were considered in developing this protocol. There is universal agreement that the presence of a highly constant group of six anthocyanins together with punicalagins characterizes polyphenols in PJ. At a total sugar concentration of 16 degrees Brix, PJ contains characteristic sugars including mannitol at >0.3 g/100 mL. Ratios of glucose to mannitol of 4-15 and of glucose to fructose of 0.8-1.0 are also characteristic of PJ. In addition, no sucrose should be present because of isomerase activity during commercial processing. Stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry as > -25 per thousand assures that there is no added corn or cane sugar added to PJ. Sorbitol was present at <0.025 g/100 mL; maltose and tartaric acid were not detected. The presence of the amino acid proline at >25 mg/L is indicative of added grape products. Malic acid at >0.1 g/100 mL indicates adulteration with apple, pear, grape, cherry, plum, or aronia juice. Other adulteration methods include the addition of highly concentrated aronia, blueberry, or blackberry juices or natural grape pigments to poor-quality juices to imitate the color of pomegranate juice, which results in abnormal anthocyanin profiles. To adjust the astringent taste of poor-quality juice or peel extract, addition of nonpomegranate sugars is a commonly detected adulteration method. The profile generated from these analyses combined with information from existing databases and published literature has been integrated into a validated IMAS for PJ, which can be utilized to detect PJ adulteration. In this survey of commercial pomegranate juices, only 6 of 23 strictly met all of the IMAS criteria."}
{"id": "MED-3946", "text": "The fruit of Euterpe oleraceae, commonly known as acai, has been demonstrated to exhibit significantly high antioxidant capacity in vitro, especially for superoxide and peroxyl scavenging, and, therefore, may have possible health benefits. In this study, the antioxidant capacities of freeze-dried acai fruit pulp/skin powder (OptiAcai) were evaluated by different assays with various free radical sources. It was found to have exceptional activity against superoxide in the superoxide scavenging (SOD) assay, the highest of any food reported to date against the peroxyl radical as measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay with fluorescein as the fluorescent probe (ORACFL), and mild activity against both the peroxynitrite and hydroxyl radical by the peroxynitrite averting capacity (NORAC) and hydroxyl radical averting capacity (HORAC) assays, respectively. The SOD of acai was 1614 units/g, an extremely high scavenging capacity for O2*-, by far the highest of any fruit or vegetable tested to date. Total phenolics were also tested as comparison. In the total antioxidant (TAO) assay, antioxidants in acai were differentiated into \"slow-acting\" and \"fast-acting\" components. An assay measuring inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in freshly purified human neutrophils showed that antioxidants in acai are able to enter human cells in a fully functional form and to perform an oxygen quenching function at very low doses. Furthermore, other bioactivities related to anti-inflammation and immune functions were also investigated. Acai was found to be a potential cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 inhibitor. It also showed a weak effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide but no effect on either lymphocyte proliferation and phagocytic capacity."}
{"id": "MED-3947", "text": "Hibiscus sabdariffa Linne (Malvaceae), an attractive plant believed to be native to Africa, is cultivated in the Sudan and Eastern Taiwan. Anthocyanins exist widely in many vegetables and fruits. Some reports demonstrated that anthocyanins extracted from H. sabdariffa L., Hibiscus anthocyanins (HAs) (which are a group of natural pigments existing in the dried calyx of H. sabdariffa L.) exhibited antioxidant activity and liver protection. Therefore, in this study, we explored the effect of HAs on human cancer cells. The result showed that HAs could cause cancer cell apoptosis, especially in HL-60 cells. Using flow cytometry, we found that HAs treatment (0-4 mg/ml) markedly induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The result also revealed increased phosphorylation in p38 and c-Jun, cytochrome c release, and expression of tBid, Fas, and FasL in the HAs-treated HL-60 cells. We further used SB203580 (p38 inhibitor), PD98059 (MEK inhibitor), SP600125 (JNK inhibitor), and wortmannin (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; PI-3K inhibitor) to evaluate their effect on the HAs-induced HL-60 death. The data showed that only SB203580 had strong potential in inhibiting HL-60 cell apoptosis and related protein expression and phosphorylation. Therefore, we suggested that HAs mediated HL-60 apoptosis via the p38-FasL and Bid pathway. According to these results, HAs could be developed as chemopreventive agents. However, further investigations into the specificity and mechanism(s) of HAs are needed."}
{"id": "MED-3949", "text": "In a prelminary communication, we described the establishment of a continuous human myeloid cell line (HL-60). Here we report the detailed properties of this cell line and document its derivation from the peripheral blood leukocytes of a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia. As characterized by light and electron microscopy, the predominant cell type in both the fresh and cultured sources is a neutrophilic promyelocyte with prominent nuclear/cytoplasmic asynchrony. Up to 10% of the cultured cells spontaneously differentiate beyond the promyelocyte stage, and the proportion of terminally differentiated cells is markedly enhanced by compounds known to stimulate differentiation of mouse (Friend) erythroleukemia cells. The HL-60 cells lack specific markers for lymphoid cells, but express surface receptors for Fc fragment and complement (C3), which have been associated with differentiated granulocytes. They exhibit phagocytic activity and responsiveness to a chemotactic stimulus commensurate with the proportion of mature cells. As characteristic of transformed cells, the HL-60 cells form colonies in semisolid medium and produce subcutaneous myeloid tumors (chloromas) in nude mice. A source of colony-stimulating activity stimulated the cloning efficiency in soft agar 5--30-fold. Despite adaptations to culture, the morphological phenotype and responsiveness to chemical induction of differentiation is essentially unchanged through at least 85 passages. Cytogenetic studies reveal aneuploidy. Metaphases with 44 chromosomes predominated in vivo and in early culture passages; however, clones with 45 or 46 chromosomes became predominant with continued passaging. The most consistent karyotypic abnormalities were the deletion of chromosomes 5, 8, and X and the addition of a marker resembling a D-group acrocentric and of a submetacentric marker, most likely an abnormal E-group chromosome. No DNA herpesvirus or RNA retrovirus was isolated in the fresh or cultured cells. The HL-60 cultured cell line provides a continuous source of human cells for studying the molecular events of myeloid differentiation and the effects of physiologic, pharmacologic, and virologic elements on this process."}
{"id": "MED-3950", "text": "The A\u00e7a\u00ed (Acai) fruit is a popular nutritional supplement that purportedly enhances immune system function. These anecdotal claims are supported by limited studies describing immune responses to the Acai polyphenol fraction. Previously, we characterized \u03b3\u03b4 T cell responses to both polyphenol and polysaccharide fractions from several plant-derived nutritional supplements. Similar polyphenol and polysaccharide fractions are found in Acai fruit. Thus, we hypothesized that one or both of these fractions could activate \u03b3\u03b4 T cells. Contrary to previous reports, we did not identify agonist activity in the polyphenol fraction; however, the Acai polysaccharide fraction induced robust \u03b3\u03b4 T cell stimulatory activity in human, mouse, and bovine PBMC cultures. To characterize the immune response to Acai polysaccharides, we fractionated the crude polysaccharide preparation and tested these fractions for activity in human PBMC cultures. The largest Acai polysaccharides were the most active in vitro as indicated by activation of myeloid and \u03b3\u03b4 T cells. When delivered in vivo, Acai polysaccharide induced myeloid cell recruitment and IL-12 production. These results define innate immune responses induced by the polysaccharide component of Acai and have implications for the treatment of asthma and infectious disease."}
{"id": "MED-3951", "text": "INTRODUCTION: This case report describes a patient who developed rhabdomyolysis temporally associated with the use of a mislabeled acai berry dietary supplement. METHODS AND RESULTS: The authors describe a 22-year-old man presenting with rhabdomyolysis approximately 2 weeks after starting a weight-loss dietary supplement. His medical history was significant only for hypertension treated with amlodipine. The diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis was confirmed (creatine kinase, 84,000 IU/L, positive urine myoglobin) with other potential causes ruled out. The signs and symptoms of the patient gradually resolved and he was discharged on hospital day 5. Assessment using the Naranjo Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale yielded a score of 3, indicating a possible relationship between the supplement and rhabdomyolysis. Although the product was labeled and promoted as containing acai berry and additional ingredients, there was no acai berry found on analysis. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should be aware that all dietary supplements may vary in uniformity and contain unknown contaminants."}
{"id": "MED-3952", "text": "Endothelial anti-inflammatory effects of ac\u0327ai\u0301 (Ac) and red muscadine grape (Gp) polyphenolics have not been extensively investigated. It was hypothesized that polyphenolics from Ac and Gp exert comparable protective effects in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC) upon inflammatory stress. Furthermore, this study investigated whether microRNAs relevant to endothelial function might be regulated by Ac and Gp. Results showed that Ac and Gp (5-20 mg gallic acid equivalent/L) protected HUVEC against glucose-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Glucose-induced expression of interleukin-6 and -8 was down-regulated by Ac and Gp at mRNA and protein levels. Upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1 \u03bcg/L)-induced inflammation, Ac and Gp inhibited gene expression of adhesion molecules and NF-\u03baB activation to similar extents, although Gp was more effective in decreasing PECAM-1 and ICAM-1 protein. Of the screened microRNAs, only microRNA-126 expression was found to be modulated by Ac and Gp as the underlying mechanism to inhibit gene and protein expression of VCAM-1."}
{"id": "MED-3953", "text": "An evidence-based systematic review of acai (Euterpe oleracea) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration consolidates the safety and efficacy data available in the scientific literature using a validated, reproducible grading rationale. This article includes written and statistical analysis of clinical trials, plus a compilation of expert opinion, folkloric precedent, history, pharmacology, kinetics/dynamics, interactions, adverse effects, toxicology, and dosing."}
{"id": "MED-3954", "text": "BACKGROUND: A male epidemic of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) emerges with economic development. It has previously been hypothesised that this epidemic is due to nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex steroids, which lead to a more atherogenic body shape and lipid profile in boys but not girls, without any sex-specific effects on glucose metabolism. This study tests this hypothesis by examining the association of childhood meat eating with IHD risk in a developing Chinese population. METHODS: Multivariable linear and censored regression was used in a cross-sectional study of 19,418 Chinese older (\u2265 50 years) men and women from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (phases 2 and 3) to assess the adjusted associations of childhood meat eating with waist to hip ratio (WHR), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and fasting plasma glucose. RESULTS: Adjusted for age, childhood hunger, life-course socioeconomic position and current lifestyle childhood almost daily meat eating compared with less than weekly meat eating was associated with higher WHR (0.007, 95% CI 0.0003 to 0.01) in men but not women. No association with fasting glucose was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Given the potential limitations of this study, especially the crude nature of the exposure and modest findings, the results should be considered as preliminary. However, they do lend support to the hypothesis that the male epidemic of premature IHD and sexual divergence in IHD rates that occur with economic development may be nutritionally driven in childhood. In elucidating the developmental origins of non-communicable chronic diseases, more attention should be focused on the sociohistorical context and the role of puberty."}
{"id": "MED-3955", "text": "BACKGROUND Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), widely used as flame retardants since the 1970s, have exhibited endocrine disruption in experimental studies. Tetra- to hexa-BDE congeners are estrogenic, while hepta-BDE and 6-OH-BDE-47 are antiestrogenic. Most PBDEs also have antiandrogenic activity. It is not clear, however, whether PBDEs affect human reproduction. OBJECTIVES The analysis was designed to investigate the potential endocrine disruption of PBDEs on the age at menarche in adolescent girls. METHODS We analyzed the data from a sample of 271 adolescent girls (age 12\u201319 years) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003\u20132004. We estimated the associations between individual and total serum BDEs (BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, and -154, lipid adjusted) and mean age at menarche. We also calculated the risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for menarche prior to age 12 years in relation to PBDE exposure. RESULTS The median total serum BDE concentration was 44.7 ng/g lipid. Higher serum PBDE concentrations were associated with slightly earlier ages at menarche. Each natural log unit of total BDEs was related to a change of \u22120.10 (95% CI: \u22120.33, 0.13) years of age at menarche and a RR of 1.60 (95% CI: 1.12, 2.28) for experiencing menarche before 12 years of age, after adjustment for potential confounders. CONCLUSION These data suggest high concentrations of serum PBDEs during adolescence are associated with a younger age of menarche."}
{"id": "MED-3956", "text": "Early onset of puberty may confer adverse health consequences. Thus, modifiable factors influencing the timing of puberty are of public health interest. Childhood overweight as a factor in the earlier onset of menarche has been supported by prospective evidence; nonetheless, its overall contribution may have been overemphasized, since secular trends toward a younger age at menarche have not been a universal finding during the recent obesity epidemic. Current observational studies suggest notable associations between dietary intakes and pubertal timing beyond contributions to an energy imbalance: children with the highest intakes of vegetable protein or animal protein experience pubertal onset up to 7 months later or 7 months earlier, respectively. Furthermore, girls with high isoflavone intakes may experience the onset of breast development and peak height velocity approximately 7-8 months later. These effect sizes are on the order of those observed for potentially neuroactive steroid hormones. Thus, dietary patterns characterized by higher intakes of vegetable protein and isoflavones and lower intakes of animal protein may contribute to a lower risk of breast cancer or a lower total mortality. \u00a9 2012 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-3958", "text": "Flanders is densely populated with much industry and intensive farming. Sexual maturation of adolescents (aged 14-15 years) was studied in relation to internal exposure to pollutants. Serum levels of pollutants and sex hormones were measured in 1679 participants selected as a random sample of the adolescents residing in the study areas. Data on sexual development were obtained from the medical school examination files. Self-assessment questionnaires provided information on health, use of medication and lifestyle factors. In boys, serum levels of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), p,p'-DDE and polychlorinated biphenyls (sum of marker PCB138, 153 and 180) were significantly and positively associated with pubertal staging (pubic hair and genital development). Higher levels of serum HCB and blood lead were associated with, respectively, a lower and a higher risk of gynecomastia. In girls, significant and negative associations were detected between blood lead and pubic hair development; higher exposure to PCBs was significantly associated with a delay in timing of menarche. Environmental exposures to pollutants at levels actually present in the Flemish population are associated with measurable effects on pubertal development. However, further understanding of toxic mode of action and sensitive windows of exposure is needed to explain the current findings."}
{"id": "MED-3959", "text": "Context: Earlier age at menarche is associated with rapid infancy weight gain and childhood obesity. The role of hormone levels in mediating these associations is unclear. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify childhood hormone levels at age 8 yr that are associated with early menarche, independent of body size. Design, Settings, and Subjects: A total of 329 girls from a prospective United Kingdom birth cohort study provided blood samples at mean age 8.1 yr (range, 8.0\u20138.5) for hormone measurements and were followed longitudinally to establish age at menarche. Main Outcome Measures: Fasting plasma levels of IGF-I, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), leptin, insulin, IGF binding protein-1, and SHBG were measured. Age at menarche was reported by questionnaire and categorized as before 12.0, 12.0\u201313.0, or later than 13 yr. Results: Earlier menarche was associated with greater body weight, height, and body mass index at age 8 yr (all P-trend <0.001). Before adjustment for body size, earlier menarche was associated with higher levels of IGF-I, androstenedione, DHEAS, leptin, and fasting insulin, and with lower levels of IGF binding protein-1 and SHBG at age 8 yr (all P < 0.01). After adjustment for body mass index and height at age 8 yr, only IGF-I (P = 0.004), androstenedione (P = 0.01), and DHEAS (P = 0.01) remained associated with earlier menarche. Conclusions: Associations between higher levels of IGF-I and adrenal androgens at age 8 yr with earlier menarche, independent of body size, support functional roles of these hormones in regulating puberty timing in girls. Higher levels of these hormones reported in children who exhibited rapid weight gain during infancy may indicate their role in developmental pathways leading to earlier sexual maturation."}
{"id": "MED-3960", "text": "Dietary microparticles are non-biological bacterial-sized particles of the gastrointestinal lumen that occur due to endogenous formation (calcium phosphate) or following oral exposure (exogenous microparticle). In the UK, about 40 mg (1012) of exogenous microparticles are ingested per person per day, through exposure to food additives, pharmaceutical/supplement excipients or toothpaste constituents. Once ingested, exogenous microparticles are unlikely to pass through the gastrointestinal tract without adsorbing to their surfaces some ions and molecules of the intestinal lumen. Both entropy and ionic attraction drive such interactions. Calcium ions are especially well adsorbed by dietary microparticles which then provide a positively charged surface for the attraction (adsorption) of other organic molecules such as lipopolysaccharides, peptidoglycans or protein antigen from the diet or commensal flora. The major (but not only) sites of microparticle entry into intestinal tissue are the M-cell rich lymphoid aggregates (termed Peyer\u2019s patches in the small bowel). Indeed, it is well established that this is an efficient transport route for non-biological microparticles although it is unclear why. We hypothesise that this pathway exists for \u201cendogenous microparticles\u201d of calcium phosphate, with immunological and physiological benefit, and that \u201cexogenous dietary microparticles\u201d, such as titanium dioxide and the silicates, hijack this route. This overview focuses on what is known of these microparticles and outlines their potential role in immune tolerance of the gut (endogenous microparticles) or immune activation (exogenous microparticles) and inflammation of the gut."}
{"id": "MED-3961", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Dietary microparticles, which are bacteria-sized and non-biological, found in the modern Western diet, have been implicated in both the aetiology and pathogenesis of Crohn's disease. Following on from the findings of a previous pilot study, we aimed to confirm whether a reduction in the amount of dietary microparticles facilitates induction of remission in patients with active Crohn's disease, in a single-blind, randomized, multi-centre, placebo controlled trial. METHODS: Eighty-three patients with active Crohn's disease were randomly allocated in a 2 x 2 factorial design to a diet low or normal in microparticles and/or calcium for 16 weeks. All patients received a reducing dose of prednisolone for 6 weeks. Outcome measures were Crohn's disease activity index, Van Hees index, quality of life and a series of objective measures of inflammation including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, intestinal permeability and faecal calprotectin. After 16 weeks patients returned to their normal diet and were followed up for a further 36 weeks. RESULTS: Dietary manipulation provided no added effect to corticosteroid treatment on any of the outcome measures during the dietary trial (16 weeks) or follow-up (to 1 year); e.g., for logistic regression of Crohn's disease activity index based rates of remission (P=0.1) and clinical response (P=0.8), in normal versus low microparticle groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our adequately powered and carefully controlled dietary trial found no evidence that reducing microparticle intake aids remission in active Crohn's disease."}
{"id": "MED-3962", "text": "Pathological colonic tissues were investigated with an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope technique to verify the presence of inorganic, non-biodegradable pollutants, i.e. micro- and nano-debris of exogenous origin, after debris in liver and kidney had been discovered. In all, 18 samples of colon tissues affected by cancer and Crohn's disease were evaluated and found in all the cases to contain micro- and nano-particles. Their chemistry, detected with an X-ray microprobe, indicated a heterogeneous nature, whereas the size of the particles was homogeneous. Three control samples of healthy, young, cadavers were analysed and showed the absence of debris within the normal, healthy colon mucosa. The study reveals the presence of particulate debris, generally considered as biocompatible, in pathological specimens of human colon. The findings suggest a possible link between the presence of such particles and the underlying pathology in the cases analysed."}
{"id": "MED-3963", "text": "Dietary microparticles are non-biological, bacterial-sized particles. Endogenous sources are derived from intestinal Ca and phosphate secretion. Exogenous sources are mainly titanium dioxide (TiO2) and mixed silicates (Psil); they are resistant to degradation and accumulate in human Peyer's patch macrophages and there is some evidence that they exacerbate inflammation in Crohn's disease (CD). However, whether their intake differs between those with and without CD has not been studied. We aimed to identify dietary microparticle sources and intakes in subjects with and without CD. Patients with inactive CD and matched general practice-based controls (ninety-one per group) completed 7 d food diaries. Intake data for dietary fibre and sucrose were compared as positive controls. All foods, pharmaceuticals and toothpastes were examined for microparticle content, and intakes of Ca and exogenous microparticles were compared between the two groups. Dietary intakes were significantly different between cases and controls for dietary fibre (12 (SD 5) v. 14 (SD 5) g/d; P=0.001) and sucrose (52 (SD 27) v. 45 (SD 18) g/d; P=0.04) but not for Ca. Estimated median TiO2 and Psil intakes (2.5 and 35 mg/individual per d respectively, totalling 10(12)-10(13) microparticles/individual per d) were broadly similar to per capita estimates and while there was wide variation in intakes between individuals there was no significant difference between subjects with CD and controls. Hence, if exposure to microparticles is associated with the inflammation of CD, then the present study rules out excess intake as the problem. Nonetheless, microparticle-containing foods have now been identified which allows a low-microparticle diet to be further assessed in CD."}
{"id": "MED-3964", "text": "BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the environmental factors leading to inflammatory bowel disease should help to prevent occurrence of the disease and its relapses. AIM: To review current knowledge on dietary risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS: The PubMed, Medline and Cochrane Library were searched for studies on diet and risk of inflammatory bowel disease. RESULTS: Established non-diet risk factors include family predisposition, smoking, appendectomy, and antibiotics. Retrospective case-control studies are encumbered with methodological problems. Prospective studies on European cohorts, mainly including middle-aged adults, suggest that a diet high in protein from meat and fish is associated with a higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease. Intake of the n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid linoleic acid may confer risk of ulcerative colitis, whereas n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may be protective. No effect was found of intake of dietary fibres, sugar, macronutrients, total energy, vitamin C, D, E, Carotene, or Retinol (vitamin A) on risk of ulcerative colitis. No prospective data was found on risk related to intake of fruits, vegetables or food microparticles (titanium dioxide and aluminium silicate). CONCLUSIONS: A diet high in protein, particular animal protein, may be associated with increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease and relapses. N-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids may predispose to ulcerative colitis whilst n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid may protect. These results should be confirmed in other countries and in younger subjects before dietary counselling is recommended in high risk subjects. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3965", "text": "BACKGROUND: Ultrafine and fine particles are potent adjuvants in antigen-mediated immune responses, and cause inflammation in susceptible individuals. Following recent findings that microparticles accumulate in the phagocytes of intestinal lymphoid aggregates, this study is the first investigation of whether their reduction in the diet improves the symptoms of Crohn's disease. METHODS: In a double blind study, 20 patients with active corticosteroid-treated ileal or ileo-colonic Crohn's disease randomly received either a low microparticle diet (trial group; n = 10) or a control diet (n = 10) for 4 months. Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) and corticosteroid requirements were compared. RESULTS: One patient in each group was withdrawn. In the trial group there was a progressive decrease in CDAI from entry (392 +/- 25) to month 4 (145 +/- 47) (P = 0.002 vs control group) and seven patients were in remission (CDAI <150). In contrast, the control group had returned to baseline levels (302 +/- 28 on entry and 295 +/- 25 at month 4), with none in remission. Corticosteroid intake was reduced more in the trial group although this did not reach significance. CONCLUSIONS: A low microparticle diet may be effective in the management of ileal Crohn's disease and could explain the efficacy of elemental diets, which similarly are low in microparticles."}
{"id": "MED-3966", "text": "Crohn's disease is a modern Western disease characterised by transmural inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. It is of unknown aetiology, but evidence suggests that it results from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Bacterial-sized microparticles (0.1-1.0 microm) are potent adjuvants in model antigen-mediated immune responses and are increasingly associated with disease. Microparticles of TiO2 and aluminosilicate accumulate in macrophages of human gut-associated lymphoid tissue where the earliest signs of lesions in Crohn's disease are observed. Dietary microparticles are of endogenous or exogenous origin. Endogenous microparticles dominate and are calcium phosphate (most probably hydroxyapatite), which precipitates in the lumen of the mid-distal gastrointestinal tract due to secretion of Ca and phosphate in the succus entericus. Exogenous dietary microparticles are contaminants (soil and/or dust) and food additives. TiO2, for example, is a food colourant, and aluminosilicates are anti-caking agents, although some aluminosilicates occur as natural contaminants. Food additives alone account for ingestion of approximately 10(12) particles/person per d. Possible mechanisms for the role of exogenous and endogenous dietary microparticles in promoting toleragenic or immune responses of gastrointestinal mucosal phagocytosis are discussed. In a double-blind randomised pilot study we have shown that a diet low in Ca and exogenous microparticles appears to alleviate the symptoms of ileal Crohn's disease, with a significant (P= 0.002) improvement in the Crohn's disease activity index. A multi-centre trial and further mechanistic studies at the cellular level are underway."}
{"id": "MED-3967", "text": "OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: Western diets regularly expose the gastrointestinal tract (GI) to large quantities ( > 10(12)/day) of man-made, submicron-sized, particles derived from food additives and excipients. These are taken up by M cells, accumulate in gut macrophages, and may influence the aetiology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). MATERIALS: We investigated the effects of common dietary microparticles on the function of macrophages from healthy donors or active Crohn's disease (CD) patients. METHODS: Macrophages were incubated for 24 h with microparticles before being assayed for cytokine production and phagocytic activity. RESULTS: Microparticles alone were non-stimulatory but, in the presence of bacterial antigens such as LPS, they could act as adjuvants to induce potent cytokine responses. Uptake of high concentrations of microparticles also impaired macrophage phagocytic capacity - but not their ability - to take up 2microM fluorescent beads. CONCLUSIONS: While dietary microparticles alone have limited effects on basic macrophage functions, their ability to act as adjuvants could aggravate ongoing inflammatory responses towards bacterial antigens in the GI tract."}
{"id": "MED-3968", "text": "Humans have evolved with oral exposure to dietary microparticles and nanoparticles as a normal occurrence but the ever-growing exploitation of nanotechnology is likely to increase exposure further, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Moreover, unlike the situation with respirable particles, relatively little is known about gastrointestinal intake and handling of nanoparticles. With a long term interest in gut exposure and responses to dietary microparticles, our group is now applying its expertise to nanoparticles in the gastrointestinal tract. Here we aim to address (i) the current challenges associated with the characterisation of particle-host or particle-cell interactions, (ii) the origin and mechanisms of uptake of particles in the gastrointestinal tract, especially via the Peyer's patch and (iii) potential cellular effects of nanoparticles in the generation of reactive oxygen species and inflammasome activation, or microparticles in their adjuvant activity in pro-inflammatory signalling and immune responsiveness. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-3969", "text": "Titanium dioxide is a common additive in many food, personal care, and other consumer products used by people, which after use can enter the sewage system, and subsequently enter the environment as treated effluent discharged to surface waters or biosolids applied to agricultural land, incinerated wastes, or landfill solids. This study quantifies the amount of titanium in common food products, derives estimates of human exposure to dietary (nano-) TiO2, and discusses the impact of the nanoscale fraction of TiO2 entering the environment. The foods with the highest content of TiO2 included candies, sweets and chewing gums. Among personal care products, toothpastes and select sunscreens contained 1% to >10% titanium by weight. While some other cr\u00e8mes contained titanium, despite being colored white, most shampoos, deodorants, and shaving creams contained the lowest levels of titanium (<0.01 \u03bcg/mg). For several high-consumption pharmaceuticals, the titanium content ranged from below the instrument detection limit (0.0001 \u03bcg Ti/mg) to a high of 0.014 \u03bcg Ti/mg. Electron microscopy and stability testing of food-grade TiO2 (E171) suggests that approximately 36% of the particles are less than 100 nm in at least one dimension and that it readily disperses in water as fairly stable colloids. However, filtration of water solubilized consumer products and personal care products indicated that less than 5% of the titanium was able to pass through 0.45 or 0.7 \u03bcm pores. Two white paints contained 110 \u03bcg Ti/mg while three sealants (i.e., prime coat paint) contained less titanium (25 to 40 \u03bcg Ti/mg). This research showed that while many white-colored products contained titanium, it was not a prerequisite. Although several of these product classes contained low amounts of titanium, their widespread use and disposal down the drain and eventually to WWTPs deserves attention. A Monte Carlo human exposure analysis to TiO2 through foods identified children as having the highest exposures because TiO2 content of sweets is higher than other food products, and that a typical exposure for a US adult may be on the order of 1 mg Ti per kilogram body weight per day. Thus, because of the millions of tons of titanium based white pigment used annually, testing should focus on food-grade TiO2 (E171) rather than that adopted in many environmental health and safety tests (i.e., P25), which is used in much lower amounts in products less likely to enter the environment (e.g., catalyst supports, photocatalytic coatings)."}
{"id": "MED-3970", "text": "Various specific and non-specific environmental factors have been associated with the induction and/or exacerbation of disease activity in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. One such factor is the potential role of ingested ultrafine particles. In fact, based on a Western diet, recent data suggest that more than 10(12)ultrafine particles are ingested per person every day. These microparticles have been considered inert although they adsorb endogenous constituents of the intestinal lumen and are taken up by human intestinal lymphoid aggregates. Based on these observations, we determined whether one such dietary microparticle, titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), alters intestinal cell responsiveness to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) using colonic biopsy specimens from 28 patients with ulcerative colitis, 21 with Crohn's disease, and 36 healthy controls. These samples, as well as peripheral blood mononuclear cells when available, were incubated alone (control), or with either (a) LPS (1-2,000 ng/ml), (b) TiO(2)(5 microg/ml) or (c) LPS (1 ng/ml) adsorbed to TiO(2)(5 microg/ml). In each case, the levels of interleukin 1 (IL-1) produced in these assays were quantitated by bioassay and by ELISA. Interestingly, there was dramatic stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells using the TiO(2)-LPS conjugate, with values 30-60-fold above controls and only minor stimulation with LPS or TiO(2)alone. In intestinal organ cultures there was no increase in IL-1 secretion when challenged with TiO(2)alone or with up to 2,000 ng/ml LPS. However, the TiO(2)-LPS conjugate produced a two-to-three-fold, significant increase in the intestinal secretion of IL-1. Our data demonstrate that ultrafine dietary particles are not immunologically inert and may be important adjuncts in overcoming normal gut cell hyporesponsiveness to endogenous luminal molecules. This may be particularly relevant to patients with inflammatory bowel disease where there is abnormal intestinal permeability. Copyright 2000 Academic Press."}
{"id": "MED-3971", "text": "Iodine-induced hypothyroidism that develops in patients who gargle routinely with povidone iodine is well known. Usually the hypothyroidism is mild and resolves spontaneously upon cessation of gargling. Here, we report a 63-year-old patient with overt hypothyroidism that developed due to habitual gargling with povidone iodine for more than 10 years. The urinary excretion of iodine was estimated to be greater than 5 mg/day, based on values obtained from 18 normal subjects who gargled three times a day (4.6+/-2.1 mg, mean+/-SD). After discontinuation of the gargling, the patient has been euthyroid for more than 10 months."}
{"id": "MED-3972", "text": "BACKGROUND: Gargling to wash the throat is commonly performed in Japan, and people believe that such hygienic routine, especially with gargle medicine, prevents upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Its effectiveness, however, has not been established by clinical trials. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial carried out in 2002-2003 winter season and analyzed in 2003 and 2004. PARTICIPANTS: Healthy volunteers (387) aged 18 to 65 years. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to water gargling, povidone-iodine gargling, and usual care (control). Subjects in the two gargling groups were requested to gargle with water or diluted povidone-iodine at least three times a day. Participants were followed for 60 days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was first URTI incidence. Severity of URTI symptoms among incident cases was also evaluated. Both outcomes were assessed with a self-administered symptom record. Analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis. RESULTS: A total of 130 participants contracted URTIs. The incidence rate of first URTI was 0.26 episodes/30 person-days among control subjects. The rate decreased to 0.17 episodes/30 person-days in the water gargling group, and 0.24 episodes/30 person-days in the povidone-iodine gargling group. Respective incidence rate ratios against controls were 0.64 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.41-0.99) and 0.89 (95% CI=0.60-1.33). A Cox regression (proportional hazard model) revealed the efficacy of water gargling (hazard ratio=0.60, 95% CI=0.39-0.95). Even when a URTI occurred, water gargling tended to attenuate bronchial symptoms (p=0.055). CONCLUSIONS: Simple water gargling was effective to prevent URTIs among healthy people. This virtually cost-free modality would appreciably benefit the general population."}
{"id": "MED-3973", "text": "Background Fever is one of the most common symptoms among children and is usually caused by respiratory infections. Although Japanese health authorities have long recommended gargling to prevent respiratory infections, its effectiveness among children is not clear. Methods The children in this observational study were enrolled from 145 nursery schools in Fukuoka City, Japan. Children in the exposure group were instructed to gargle at least once a day. The endpoints of this study were incidence of fever during the daytime and incidence of sickness absence. Differences among gargling agents for each endpoint were also analyzed. Results A total of 19 595 children aged 2 to 6 years were observed for 20 days (391 900 person-days). In multivariate logistic regression, the overall odds ratio (OR) for fever onset in the gargling group was significantly lower (OR = 0.68). In age-stratified analysis, ORs were significantly lower at age 2 (OR = 0.67), 4 (OR = 0.46), and 5 (OR = 0.41) years. Regarding sickness absence, the overall OR was 0.92 (not significant) in the gargling group. In age-stratified analysis, ORs were significantly lower at age 4 (OR = 0.68), 5 (OR = 0.59), and 6 (OR = 0.63) years. In subgroup analysis, significantly lower ORs for fever onset were observed for children who gargled with green tea (OR = 0.32), functional water (OR = 0.46), or tap water (OR = 0.70). However, the ORs were not significant for sickness absence. Conclusions Gargling might be effective in preventing febrile diseases in children."}
{"id": "MED-3974", "text": "BACKGROUND: Viral respiratory tract infection (VRTI) is the most common illness in humans. Despite the high incidence, the economic impact of non-influenza-related VRTI has not been rigorously explored. Our objectives were to obtain an updated incidence of non-influenza-related VRTI in the United States and to quantify the health care resource use (direct costs) and productivity losses (indirect costs) associated with these infections. METHODS: A nationwide telephone survey of US households (N = 4051) was conducted between November 3, 2000, and February 12, 2001 to obtain a representative estimate of the self-reported incidence of non-influenza-related VRTI and related treatment patterns. Direct treatment costs measured included outpatient clinician encounters, use of over-the-counter and prescription drugs, and associated infectious complications of non-influenza-related VRTI. Absenteeism estimates for infected individuals and parents of infected children were extrapolated from National Health Interview Survey data. RESULTS: Of survey respondents, 72% reported a non-influenza-related VRTI within the past year. Respondents who experienced a self-reported non-influenza-related VRTI averaged 2.5 episodes annually. When these rates are extrapolated to the entire US population, approximately 500 million non-influenza-related VRTI episodes occur per year. Similarly, if the treatment patterns reported by the respondents are extended to the population, the total economic impact of non-influenza-related VRTI approaches $40 billion annually (direct costs, $17 billion per year; and indirect costs, $22.5 billion per year). CONCLUSIONS: Largely because of the high attack rate, non-influenza-related VRTI imposes a greater economic burden than many other clinical conditions. The pending availability of effective antiviral therapies warrants increased attention be paid to this common and expensive illness."}
{"id": "MED-3975", "text": "Background In Japan, gargling is a generally accepted way of preventing upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). The effectiveness of gargling for preventing URTI has been shown in a randomized controlled trial that compared incidences of URTI between gargling and control groups. From the perspective of the third-party payer, gargling is dominant due to the fact that the costs of gargling are borne by the participant. However, the cost-effectiveness of gargling from a societal perspective should be considered. In this study, economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial was performed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of gargling for preventing URTI from a societal perspective. Methods Among participants in the gargling trial, 122 water-gargling and 130 control subjects were involved in the economic analysis. Sixty-day cumulative follow-up costs and effectiveness measured by quality-adjusted life days (QALD) were compared between groups on an intention-to-treat basis. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was converted to dollars per quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The 95% confidence interval (95%CI) and probability of gargling being cost-effective were estimated by bootstrapping. Results After 60 days, QALD was increased by 0.43 and costs were $37.1 higher in the gargling group than in the control group. ICER of the gargling group was $31,800/QALY (95%CI, $1,900\u2013$248,100). Although this resembles many acceptable forms of medical intervention, including URTI preventive measures such as influenza vaccination, the broad confidence interval indicates uncertainty surrounding our results. In addition, one-way sensitivity analysis also indicated that careful evaluation is required for the cost of gargling and the utility of moderate URTI. The major limitation of this study was that this trial was conducted in winter, at a time when URTI is prevalent. Care must be taken when applying the results to a season when URTI is not prevalent, since the ICER will increase due to decreases in incidence. Conclusion This study suggests gargling as a cost-effective preventive strategy for URTI that is acceptable from perspectives of both the third-party payer and society."}
{"id": "MED-3976", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of dog and cat contacts on the frequency of respiratory symptoms and infections during the first year of life. METHODS: In this birth cohort study, 397 children were followed up from pregnancy onward, and the frequency of respiratory symptoms and infections together with information about dog and cat contacts during the first year of life were reported by using weekly diaries and a questionnaire at the age of 1 year. All the children were born in eastern or middle Finland between September 2002 and May 2005. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, children having dogs at home were healthier (ie, had fewer respiratory tract symptoms or infections) than children with no dog contacts (adjusted odds ratio, [aOR]: 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-1.52). Furthermore, children having dog contacts at home had less frequent otitis (aOR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.38-0.81) and tended to need fewer courses of antibiotics (aOR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.52-0.96) than children without such contacts. In univariate analysis, both the weekly amount of contact with dogs and cats and the average yearly amount of contact were associated with decreased respiratory infectious disease morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that dog contacts may have a protective effect on respiratory tract infections during the first year of life. Our findings support the theory that during the first year of life, animal contacts are important, possibly leading to better resistance to infectious respiratory illnesses during childhood."}
{"id": "MED-3977", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to revisit findings from previous studies reporting that pet ownership improves outcome following an admission for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHOD: Four hundred and twenty-four patients admitted to a cardiac unit with an ACS completed questions regarding pet ownership in hospital. Rates of cardiac death and readmission were assessed 1 year following hospitalization. RESULTS: Pet owners were more likely to experience a death or readmission following their hospitalization, after controlling for key psychosocial and medical covariates. When dog and cat owners were considered separately, cat ownership was significantly associated with increased risk of death or readmission. CONCLUSION: In this independent study, pet ownership at baseline, and cat ownership in particular, was associated with increased cardiac morbidity and mortality in the year following an admission for an acute coronary syndrome, a finding contrary to previous reports."}
{"id": "MED-3978", "text": "SUMMARY The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between dog and cat ownership and gastroenteritis in young children. A diary study of 965 children aged 4\u20136 years living in rural or semi-rural South Australia was undertaken. Data were collected on pet ownership, drinking water and other risk factors for gastroenteritis. Overall 89% of households had pets and dog ownership was more common than cat ownership. The multivariable models for gastroenteritis and pet ownership indicated that living in a household with a dog or cat was associated with a reduced risk of gastroenteritis (adj. OR 0\u00b771, 95% CI 0\u00b755\u20130\u00b792; OR 0\u00b770, % CI 0\u00b751\u20130\u00b797 respectively). This paper adds to the evidence that pets are not a major source of gastroenteritis in the home and lends support to the health benefits of pet ownership. However, this must be weighed against the potential negative consequences, such as dog bites, particularly for this age group."}
{"id": "MED-3979", "text": "Respiratory infections are the most frequent health problem in childhood. There is little precise information on how many respiratory illness episodes can be expected in a normal child. This study was designed to create reference values for the frequency of respiratory infections as recordable by history. Respiratory illnesses were recorded in a prospective birth cohort of 1314 German children born in 1990 and tracked until age 12 yr (760 children). Parents recorded the child's illnesses in a diary and answered structured questions yearly up to age 12. Age of study subjects was categorized into infancy (0-2 yr), pre-school age (3-5 yr), and school age (6-12 yr). The mean cumulative number of respiratory infection episodes up to age 12 yr was 21.9 (s.d. 9.0) episodes. In infancy, the mean annual number was 3.4 (3.7) episodes; at pre-school age, 2.3 (2.6) episodes; and at school, age 1.1 (1.2) episodes. The mean cumulative time of episodes up to age 7 yr was 20.1 (15.2) wk. Forty-five percent of the infants in the upper episode incidence tertile continued to be in the upper tertile at school age. Based on a twofold standard deviation of the mean number, up to 11 respiratory infection episodes per year in infancy, 8 episodes per year at pre-school age, and 4 episodes per year at school age could be regarded as normal. Episodes within these reference values per se should not cause unwarranted concern or intervention because of suspected immunodeficiency."}
{"id": "MED-3980", "text": "Background Pet ownership is thought to have health benefits, but not all scientific explorations have been founded on proper applications of representative samples or statistically correct methodologies. Databanks have been too small for proper statistical analyses; or, instead of a random sample, participation has been voluntary. The direction of causality has been evaluated incorrectly or control of relevant factors noted deficient. This study examined the associations of pet ownership with perceived health and disease indicators by taking into account socio-demographic background factors together with health risk factors, including exercise. Methodology/Principal Findings The present study used baseline data from the 15-year Health and Social Support Study (the HeSSup Study). The Finnish Population Register Centre was used to draw population-based random samples stratified according to gender and four age groups (20\u201324, 30\u201334, 40\u201344, and 50\u201354 years). A total of 21,101 working-aged Finns responded to the baseline survey questionnaire of the 15-year HeSSup Study in 1998. Ordinal and binary logistic regression was used to analyze the cross-sectional data. Pet ownership was associated with poor rather than good perceived health. BMI surfaced as the risk factor most strongly associated with pet ownership. Conclusions/Significance Pet owners set in their ways and getting older were found to have a slightly higher BMI than the rest. Additional research is needed for the testing of hypotheses involving effects of pet ownership with various health dimensions within population groups that are composed of different kinds of background characteristics."}
{"id": "MED-3981", "text": "The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between child characteristics, parental and environmental factors and the occurrence of acute respiratory illness (ARI) and acute otitis media (AOM) among Finnish children attending day care centres (DCCs). The study was a cross-sectional questionnaire of 594 children aged 1-6 y from 18 DCCs in Helsinki, Finland. Recurrent (> or =4 diseases/y) ARI was present in 44% of the 1-3-y-olds and 23% of the 4-6-y-olds, and recurrent AOM in 15% and 2.5%, respectively. Parent atopic disease (odds ratio (OR) 1.53, p = 0.033), mother's academic education (OR 1.77, p = 0.008) and a medium length of DCC attendance compared to a short period (OR 1.67, p = 0.049) increased, while furry pets (OR 0.44, p = 0.003) and older child age (OR 0.38, p < 0.001) reduced the risk of recurrent ARI. Recurrent ARI (OR 3.96, p = 0.008), mother's academic education (OR 5.02, p = 0.003), and a medium length of DCC attendance compared to a short period (OR 3.34, p = 0.044) increased, while partial breastfeeding > or =6 months (OR 0.20, p = 0.002) and older child age (OR 0.05, p < 0.001) reduced the risk of recurrent AOM. Parental and environmental factors had a significant impact on recurrent ARI and AOM episodes in children attending DCCs. These risk factors should be considered in future studies intending to reduce DCC infections."}
{"id": "MED-3982", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To test the claim that pet ownership reduces cardiovascular risk. DESIGN: Community survey. PARTICIPANTS: 2528 adults aged 40-44 years and 2551 aged 60-64 years who lived in the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan, New South Wales, and were drawn randomly from the Australian electoral roll in 2000 and 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sociodemographic measures, including pet ownership, and measures of physical health (including body mass index [BMI], alcohol and cigarette consumption, and levels of physical activity). Two readings of diastolic and systolic blood pressure were also taken. RESULTS: While pet owners and non-pet owners had similar levels of systolic blood pressure, those with pets had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure. Pet owners also had higher BMI and were more likely to smoke. While those with pets undertook more mild physical activity, they continued to have significantly higher diastolic blood pressure after controlling for hypertensive risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found no evidence that pet ownership per se is associated with cardiovascular health benefits. Rather, pet owners had higher diastolic blood pressure than those without pets. It is likely that this increased health risk is linked to other hypertensive risk factors that are only indirectly associated with pet ownership."}
{"id": "MED-3983", "text": "This study was aimed at determining the molecular epidemiology of rabies virus (RABV) circulating in Vietnam. Intra vitam samples (saliva and cerebrospinal fluid) were collected from 31 patients who were believed to have rabies and were admitted to hospitals in northern provinces of Vietnam. Brain samples were collected from 176 sick or furious rabid dogs from all over the country. The human and canine samples were subjected to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. The findings showed that 23 patients tested positive for RABV. Interestingly, 5 rabies patients did not have any history of dog or cat bites, but they had an experience of butchering dogs or cats, or consuming their meat. RABV was also detected in 2 of the 100 sick dogs from slaughterhouses. Molecular epidemiological analysis of 27 RABV strains showed that these viruses could be classified into two groups. The RABVs classified into Group 1 were distributed throughout Vietnam and had sequence similarity with the strains from China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. However, the RABVs classified into Group 2 were only found in the northern provinces of Vietnam and showed high sequence similarity with the strain from southern China. This finding suggested the recent influx of Group 2 RABVs between Vietnam and China across the border. Although the incidence of rabies due to circulating RABVs in slaughterhouses is less common than that due to dog bite, the national program for rabies control and prevention in Vietnam should include monitoring of the health of dogs meant for human consumption and vaccination for workers at dog slaughterhouses. Further, monitoring of and research on the circulating RABVs in dog markets may help to determine the cause of rabies and control the spread of rabies in slaughterhouses in Vietnam."}
{"id": "MED-3984", "text": "In recent years, the number of human rabies cases in the People\u2019s Republic of China has increased during severe epidemics in 3 southern provinces (Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan). To analyze the causes of the high incidence of human rabies in this region, during 2005\u20132007, we collected 2,887 brain specimens from apparently healthy domestic dogs used for meat consumption in restaurants, 4 specimens from suspected rabid dogs, and 3 from humans with rabies in the 3 provinces. Partial nucleoprotein gene sequences were obtained from rabies-positive specimens. Phylogenetic relationships and distribution of viruses were determined. We infer that the spread of rabies viruses from high-incidence regions, particularly by long-distance movement or transprovincial translocation of dogs caused by human-related activities, may be 1 cause of the recent massive human rabies epidemics in southern China."}
{"id": "MED-3985", "text": "Deficiency of vitamin D is usually caused by dietary deficiency and/or lack of exposure to sunlight in dark skinned individuals living at northern latitudes. Simple vitamin D deficiency is commonly treated by prescribing a vitamin D containing calcium supplement. This report presents a patient who rejected this approach and instead, after researching alternative treatment options independently, opted to self-treat by consuming UVB-irradiated mushrooms. The beneficial effect of this on the patient's plasma biochemical markers is shown. Further research into the beneficial effect of consuming UVB-irradiated mushrooms is required."}
{"id": "MED-3986", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Mushrooms contain very little or any vitamin D(2) but are abundant in ergosterol, which can be converted into vitamin D(2) by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Our objective was to investigate the bioavailability of vitamin D(2) from vitamin D(2)-enhanced mushrooms by UV-B in humans, and comparing it with a vitamin D(2) supplement. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Fresh mushrooms were irradiated with an UV-B dose of 1.5 J/cm(2), increasing vitamin D(2) content from <1 to 491 \u03bcg/100 g and made to an experimental soup. In this 5-week, single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 26 young subjects with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) \u2264 50 nmol/l were randomly assigned into three groups ((a) mushroom, (b) supplement and (c) placebo). They received during winter (a) 28,000 IU (700 \u03bcg) vitamin D(2) via the experimental soup, or (b) 28,000 IU vitamin D(2) via a supplement or (c) placebo, respectively. RESULTS: After 2 weeks, serum 25OHD was significantly higher in the mushroom than in the placebo group (P=0.001). The serum 25OHD concentrations in the mushroom and supplement groups rose significantly and similarly over the study period by 3.9 nmol/l (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 2.9, 4.8) and by 4.7 nmol/l per week (95% CI: 3.8, 5.7), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We are the first to demonstrate in humans that the bioavailability of vitamin D(2) from vitamin D(2)-enhanced button mushrooms via UV-B irradiation was effective in improving vitamin D status and not different to a vitamin D(2) supplement. This trial was registered at http://germanctr.de as DRKS00000195."}
{"id": "MED-3987", "text": "Background: Currently, there is a lack of clarity in the literature as to whether there is a definitive difference between the effects of vitamins D2 and D3 in the raising of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. Objective: The objective of this article was to report a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have directly compared the effects of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 on serum 25(OH)D concentrations in humans. Design: The ISI Web of Knowledge (January 1966 to July 2011) database was searched electronically for all relevant studies in adults that directly compared vitamin D3 with vitamin D2. The Cochrane Clinical Trials Registry, International Standard Randomized Controlled Trials Number register, and clinicaltrials.gov were also searched for any unpublished trials. Results: A meta-analysis of RCTs indicated that supplementation with vitamin D3 had a significant and positive effect in the raising of serum 25(OH)D concentrations compared with the effect of vitamin D2 (P = 0.001). When the frequency of dosage administration was compared, there was a significant response for vitamin D3 when given as a bolus dose (P = 0.0002) compared with administration of vitamin D2, but the effect was lost with daily supplementation. Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicates that vitamin D3 is more efficacious at raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations than is vitamin D2, and thus vitamin D3 could potentially become the preferred choice for supplementation. However, additional research is required to examine the metabolic pathways involved in oral and intramuscular administration of vitamin D and the effects across age, sex, and ethnicity, which this review was unable to verify."}
{"id": "MED-3988", "text": "Context: Two reports suggested that vitamin D2 is less effective than vitamin D3 in maintaining vitamin D status. Objective: Our objective was to determine whether vitamin D2 was less effective than vitamin D3 in maintaining serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or increased the catabolism of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. Subjects and Design: This was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study of healthy adults ages 18\u201384 yr who received placebo, 1000 IU vitamin D3, 1000 IU vitamin D2, or 500 IU vitamin D2 plus 500 IU vitamin D3 daily for 11 wk at the end of the winter. Results: Sixty percent of the healthy adults were vitamin D deficient at the start of the study. The circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (mean \u00b1 sd) increased to the same extent in the groups that received 1000 IU daily as vitamin D2 (baseline 16.9 \u00b1 10.5 ng/ml; 11 wk 26.8 \u00b1 9.6 ng/ml), vitamin D3 (baseline 19.6 \u00b1 11.1 ng/ml; 11 wk 28.9 \u00b1 11.0 ng/ml), or a combination of 500 IU vitamin D2 and 500 IU vitamin D3 (baseline 20.2 \u00b1 10.4 ng/ml; 11 wk 28.4 \u00b1 7.7 ng/ml). The 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels did not change in the group that received 1000 IU vitamin D2 daily. The 1000 IU dose of vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 did not raise 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in vitamin D-deficient subjects above 30 ng/ml. Conclusion: A 1000 IU dose of vitamin D2 daily was as effective as 1000 IU vitamin D3 in maintaining serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and did not negatively influence serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels. Therefore, vitamin D2 is equally as effective as vitamin D3 in maintaining 25-hydroxyvitamin D status."}
{"id": "MED-3989", "text": "Vitamin D(2) (ergocalciferol) and sterols were analyzed in mushrooms sampled nationwide in the United States to update the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. Vitamin D(2) was assayed using HPLC with [(3)H]-vitamin D(3) internal standard and sterols by GC-FID mass spectrometric (MS) confirmation. Vitamin D(2) was low (0.1-0.3 \u03bcg/100 g) in Agaricus bisporus (white button, crimini, portabella) and enoki, moderate in shiitake and oyster (0.4-0.7 \u03bcg/100 g), and high in morel, chanterelle, maitake (5.2-28.1 \u03bcg/100 g) and UV-treated portabella (3.4-20.9 \u03bcg/100 g), with significant variability among composites for some types. Ergosterol (mg/100 g) was highest in maitake and shiitake (79.2, 84.9) and lowest in morel and enoki (26.3, 35.5); the range was <10 mg/100 g among white button composites but 12-50 mg/100 g among samples of other types. All mushrooms contained ergosta-5,7-dienol (22,23-dihydroergosterol) (3.53-18.0 mg/100 g) and (except morel) ergosta-7-enol. Only morel contained brassicasterol (28.6 mg/100 g) and campesterol (1.23-4.54 mg/100 g) and no ergosta-7,22-dienol. MS was critical in distinguishing campesterol from ergosta-7,22-dienol."}
{"id": "MED-3990", "text": "BACKGROUND: The available evidence on vitamin D and mortality is inconclusive. OBJECTIVES: To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of vitamin D for prevention of mortality in adults. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, the Science Citation Index Expanded, and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (to January 2011). We scanned bibliographies of relevant publications and asked experts and pharmaceutical companies for additional trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised trials that compared vitamin D at any dose, duration, and route of administration versus placebo or no intervention. Vitamin D could have been administered as supplemental vitamin D (vitamin D(3) (cholecalciferol) or vitamin D(2) (ergocalciferol)) or an active form of vitamin D (1\u03b1-hydroxyvitamin D (alfacalcidol) or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitriol)). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Six authors extracted data independently. Random-effects and fixed-effect model meta-analyses were conducted. For dichotomous outcomes, we calculated the risk ratios (RR). To account for trials with zero events, meta-analyses of dichotomous data were repeated using risk differences (RD) and empirical continuity corrections. Risk of bias was considered in order to minimise risk of systematic errors. Trial sequential analyses were conducted to minimise the risk of random errors. MAIN RESULTS: Fifty randomised trials with 94,148 participants provided data for the mortality analyses. Most trials included elderly women (older than 70 years). Vitamin D was administered for a median of two years. More than one half of the trials had a low risk of bias. Overall, vitamin D decreased mortality (RR 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94 to 1.00, I(2) = 0%). When the different forms of vitamin D were assessed separately, only vitamin D(3) decreased mortality significantly (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.98, I(2) = 0%; 74,789 participants, 32 trials) whereas vitamin D(2), alfacalcidol, or calcitriol did not. Trial sequential analysis supported our finding regarding vitamin D(3), corresponding to 161 individuals treated to prevent one additional death. Vitamin D(3) combined with calcium increased the risk of nephrolithiasis (RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.34, I(2) = 0%). Alfacalcidol and calcitriol increased the risk of hypercalcaemia (RR 3.18, 95% CI 1.17 to 8.68, I(2) = 17%). Data on health-related quality of life and health economics were inconclusive. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D in the form of vitamin D(3) seems to decrease mortality in predominantly elderly women who are mainly in institutions and dependent care. Vitamin D(2), alfacalcidol, and calcitriol had no statistically significant effect on mortality. Vitamin D(3) combined with calcium significantly increased nephrolithiasis. Both alfacalcidol and calcitriol significantly increased hypercalcaemia."}
{"id": "MED-3991", "text": "Few foods contain ergocalciferol or cholecalciferol. Treatment of mushrooms with UV light increases ergocalciferol content and could provide a dietary source of vitamin D. We evaluated the impact of consuming UV-treated white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) on the vitamin D status of healthy adults. Thirty-eight volunteers were randomized to 4 treatments consumed with a standard meal for 6 wk: the control (C) group received untreated mushrooms providing 0.85 \u03bcg/d ergocalciferol (n = 10); groups M1 and M2 received UV-treated mushrooms providing 8.8 (n = 10) and 17.1 \u03bcg/d (n = 9), respectively; and the supplement (S) group received purified ergocalciferol plus untreated mushrooms, providing a total of 28.2 \u03bcg/d (n = 9). Serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and 25-hydroxyergocalciferol [25(OH)D2] were 83 \u00b1 38 and 2.4 \u00b1 2.0 nmol/L, respectively, at baseline (mean \u00b1 SD). At wk 6, 25(OH)D2 had increased and was higher in all treatment groups than in the C group, whereas 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D3] had decreased and was lower in the M2 and S groups than in the C group. Increases in 25(OH)D2 for groups C, M1, M2, and S were 1.2 \u00b1 5.2, 13.8 \u00b1 7.3, 12.7 \u00b1 3.7, and 32.8 \u00b1 3.3 nmol/L and decreases in 25(OH)D3 were -3.9 \u00b1 16.3, -10.4 \u00b1 6.4, -20.6 \u00b1 14.6, and -29.5 \u00b1 15.9 nmol/L, respectively. Concentrations did not change in group C. In summary, ergocalciferol was absorbed and metabolized to 25(OH)D2 but did not affect vitamin D status, because 25(OH)D3 decreased proportionally."}
{"id": "MED-4000", "text": "Coconut oil is a common edible oil in many countries, and there is mixed evidence for its effects on lipid profiles and cardiovascular disease risk. Here we examine the association between coconut oil consumption and lipid profiles in a cohort of 1,839 Filipino women (age 35\u201369 years) participating in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, a community based study in Metropolitan Cebu City. Coconut oil intake was measured as individual coconut oil intake calculated using two 24-hour dietary recalls (9.54 \u00b1 8.92 grams). Cholesterol profiles were measured in plasma samples collected after an overnight fast. Mean lipid values in this sample were total cholesterol (TC) (186.52 \u00b1 38.86 mg/dL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) (40.85 \u00b1 10.30 mg/dL), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) (119.42 \u00b1 33.21 mg/dL), triglycerides (130.75 \u00b1 85.29 mg/dL) and the TC/HDL ratio (4.80 \u00b1 1.41). Linear regression models were used to estimate the association between coconut oil intake and each plasma lipid outcome after adjusting for total energy intake, age, body mass index (BMI), number of pregnancies, education, menopausal status, household assets and urban residency. Dietary coconut oil intake was positively associated with HDL-c levels."}
{"id": "MED-4001", "text": "Introduction. This is an open-label pilot study on four weeks of virgin coconut oil (VCO) to investigate its efficacy in weight reduction and its safety of use in 20 obese but healthy Malay volunteers. Methodology. Efficacy was assessed by measuring weight and associated anthropometric parameters and lipid profile one week before and one week after VCO intake. Safety was assessed by comparing organ function tests one week before and one week after intake of VCO. Paired t-test was used to analyse any differences in all the measurable variables. Results. Only waist circumference (WC) was significantly reduced with a mean reduction of 2.86\u2009cm or 0.97% from initial measurement (P = .02). WC reduction was only seen in males (P < .05). There was no change in the lipid profile. There was a small reduction in creatinine and alanine transferase levels. Conclusion. VCO is efficacious for WC reduction especially in males and it is safe for use in humans."}
{"id": "MED-4002", "text": "The effects of dietary supplementation with coconut oil on the biochemical and anthropometric profiles of women presenting waist circumferences (WC) >88 cm (abdominal obesity) were investigated. The randomised, double-blind, clinical trial involved 40 women aged 20-40 years. Groups received daily dietary supplements comprising 30 mL of either soy bean oil (group S; n = 20) or coconut oil (group C; n = 20) over a 12-week period, during which all subjects were instructed to follow a balanced hypocaloric diet and to walk for 50 min per day. Data were collected 1 week before (T1) and 1 week after (T2) dietary intervention. Energy intake and amount of carbohydrate ingested by both groups diminished over the trial, whereas the consumption of protein and fibre increased and lipid ingestion remained unchanged. At T1 there were no differences in biochemical or anthropometric characteristics between the groups, whereas at T2 group C presented a higher level of HDL (48.7 +/- 2.4 vs. 45.00 +/- 5.6; P = 0.01) and a lower LDL:HDL ratio (2.41 +/- 0.8 vs. 3.1 +/- 0.8; P = 0.04). Reductions in BMI were observed in both groups at T2 (P < 0.05), but only group C exhibited a reduction in WC (P = 0.005). Group S presented an increase (P < 0.05) in total cholesterol, LDL and LDL:HDL ratio, whilst HDL diminished (P = 0.03). Such alterations were not observed in group C. It appears that dietetic supplementation with coconut oil does not cause dyslipidemia and seems to promote a reduction in abdominal obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4004", "text": "Evidence suggests that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats facilitate greater absorption of carotenoids than saturated fats. However, the comparison of consuming a polyunsaturated fat source versus a saturated fat source on tomato carotenoid bioaccumulation has not been examined. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of coconut oil and safflower oil on tomato carotenoid tissue accumulation in Mongolian gerbils ( Meriones unguiculatus ) fed a 20% fat diet. Coconut oil feeding increased carotenoid concentrations among many compartments including total carotenoids in the serum (p = 0.0003), adrenal glandular phytoene (p = 0.04), hepatic phytofluene (p = 0.0001), testicular all-trans-lycopene (p = 0.01), and cis-lycopene (p = 0.006) in the prostate-seminal vesicle complex compared to safflower oil. Safflower oil-fed gerbils had greater splenic lycopene concentrations (p = 0.006) compared to coconut oil-fed gerbils. Coconut oil feeding increased serum cholesterol (p = 0.0001) and decreased hepatic cholesterol (p = 0.0003) compared to safflower oil. In summary, coconut oil enhanced tissue uptake of tomato carotenoids to a greater degree than safflower oil. These results may have been due to the large proportion of medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil, which might have caused a shift in cholesterol flux to favor extrahepatic carotenoid tissue deposition."}
{"id": "MED-4005", "text": "The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of a single high-fat meal with different fat quality on circulating inflammatory markers and gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to elucidate the role of fat quality on postprandial inflammation. A postprandial study with fourteen healthy females consuming three test meals with different fat quality was performed. Test days were separated by 2 weeks. Fasting and postprandial blood samples at 3 and 6\u00a0h after intake were analysed. The test meal consisted of three cakes enriched with coconut fat (43\u00a0% energy as saturated fat and 1\u00a0% energy as \u03b1-linolenic acid (ALA)), linseed oil (14\u00a0% energy as ALA and 30\u00a0% energy as saturated fat) and cod liver oil (5\u00a0% energy as EPA and DHA and 5\u00a0% energy as ALA in addition to 31\u00a0% energy as saturated fat). In addition, ex vivo PBMC experiments were performed in eight healthy subjects investigating the effects of EPA and ALA on release and gene expression of inflammatory markers. The IL-8 mRNA level was significantly increased after intake of the cod liver oil cake at 6\u00a0h compared with fasting level, which was significantly different from the effect observed after the intake of linseed cake. In contrast, no effect was seen on circulating level of IL-8. In addition, ALA and EPA were shown to elicit different effects on the release and mRNA expression levels of inflammatory markers in PBMC cultured ex vivo, with EPA having the most prominent pro-inflammatory potential."}
{"id": "MED-4006", "text": "BACKGROUND: Dietary fat type is known to modulate the plasma lipid profile, but its effects on plasma homocysteine and inflammatory markers are unclear. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effects of high-protein Malaysian diets prepared with palm olein, coconut oil (CO), or virgin olive oil on plasma homocysteine and selected markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy adults. DESIGN: A randomized-crossover intervention with 3 dietary sequences of 5 wk each was conducted in 45 healthy subjects. The 3 test fats, namely palmitic acid (16:0)-rich palm olein (PO), lauric and myristic acid (12:0 + 14:0)-rich CO, and oleic acid (18:1)-rich virgin olive oil (OO), were incorporated at two-thirds of 30% fat calories into high-protein Malaysian diets. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the effects of the 3 diets on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and the inflammatory markers TNF-\u03b1, IL-1\u03b2, IL-6, and IL-8, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and interferon-\u03b3. Diets prepared with PO and OO had comparable nonhypercholesterolemic effects; the postprandial total cholesterol for both diets and all fasting lipid indexes for the OO diet were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than for the CO diet. Unlike the PO and OO diets, the CO diet was shown to decrease postprandial lipoprotein(a). CONCLUSION: Diets that were rich in saturated fatty acids prepared with either PO or CO, and an OO diet that was high in oleic acid, did not alter postprandial or fasting plasma concentrations of tHcy and selected inflammatory markers. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00941837."}
{"id": "MED-4007", "text": "Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by early and region-specific declines in cerebral glucose metabolism. Ketone bodies are produced by the body during glucose deprivation and are metabolized by the brain. An oral ketogenic compound, AC-1202, was tested in subjects with probable AD to examine if ketosis could improve cognitive performance. Methods Daily administration of AC-1202 was evaluated in 152 subjects diagnosed with mild to moderate AD in a US-based, 90-day, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study. Subjects were on a normal diet and continued taking approved AD medications. Primary cognitive end points were mean change from Baseline in the AD Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), and global scores in the AD Cooperative Study \u2013 Clinical Global Impression of Change (ADCS-CGIC). AC-1202 was compared to Placebo in several population groups, including: intention-to-treat (ITT), per protocol, and dosage compliant groups. Results were also stratified by APOE4 carriage status (a predefined analysis based on the epsilon 4 (E4) variant of the apolipoprotein E gene). This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, registry number NCT00142805, information available at http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00142805 Results AC-1202 significantly elevated a serum ketone body (\u03b2-hydroxybutyrate) 2 hours after administration when compared to Placebo. In each of the population groups, a significant difference was found between AC-1202 and Placebo in mean change from Baseline in ADAS-Cog score on Day 45: 1.9 point difference, p = 0.0235 in ITT; 2.53 point difference, p = 0.0324 in per protocol; 2.6 point difference, p = 0.0215 in dosage compliant. Among participants who did not carry the APOE4 allele (E4(-)), a significant difference was found between AC-1202 and Placebo in mean change from Baseline in ADAS-Cog score on Day 45 and Day 90. In the ITT population, E4(-) participants (N = 55) administered AC-1202 had a significant 4.77 point difference in mean change from Baseline in ADAS-Cog scores at Day 45 (p = 0.0005) and a 3.36 point difference at Day 90 (p = 0.0148) compared to Placebo. In the per protocol population, E4(-) participants receiving AC-1202 (N = 37) differed from placebo by 5.73 points at Day 45 (p = 0.0027) and by 4.39 points at Day 90 (p = 0.0143). In the dosage compliant population, E4(-) participants receiving AC-1202 differed from placebo by 6.26 points at Day 45 (p = 0.0011, N = 38) and 5.33 points at Day 90 (p = 0.0063, N = 35). Furthermore, a significant pharmacologic response was observed between serum \u03b2-hydroxybutyrate levels and change in ADAS-Cog scores in E4(-) subjects at Day 90 (p = 0.008). Adverse events occurred more frequently in AC-1202 subjects, were primarily restricted to the gastrointestinal system, and were mainly mild to moderate in severity and transient in nature. Conclusion AC-1202 rapidly elevated serum ketone bodies in AD patients and resulted in significant differences in ADAS-Cog scores compared to the Placebo. Effects were most notable in APOE4(-) subjects who were dosage compliant."}
{"id": "MED-4013", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether periodontal disease is associated with endothelial dysfunction and systemic inflammation. Epidemiological studies suggest that severe periodontal disease is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, but the mechanisms remain unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed flow-mediated dilation and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation of the brachial artery using vascular ultrasound in 26 subjects with advanced periodontal disease and 29 control subjects. The groups were matched for age and sex, and patients with hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and history of cigarette smoking were excluded. We also examined serum levels of C-reactive protein using an established high-sensitivity method. Subjects with advanced periodontal disease had lower flow-mediated dilation compared with control patients (7.8+/-4.6% versus 11.7+/-5.3%, P=0.005). Nitroglycerin-mediated dilation was equivalent in the two groups. Subjects with advanced periodontitis exhibited higher serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein compared with healthy controls patients (2.3+/-2.3 versus 1.0+/-1.0 mg/L, P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with advanced periodontal disease exhibit endothelial dysfunction and evidence of systemic inflammation, possibly placing them at increased risk for cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-4019", "text": "BACKGROUND: The dental care setting is an appropriate place to deliver dietary assessment and advice as part of patient management. However, we do not know whether this is effective in changing dietary behaviour. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of one-to-one dietary interventions for all ages carried out in a dental care setting in changing dietary behaviour.\u00a0The effectiveness of these interventions in the subsequent changing of oral and general health is also assessed. SEARCH METHODS: The following electronic databases were searched: the Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register (to 24 January 2012), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 1), MEDLINE via OVID (1950 to 24 January 2012), EMBASE via OVID (1980 to 24 January 2012), CINAHL via EBSCO (1982 to 24 January 2012), PsycINFO via OVID (1967 to 24 January 2012), and Web of Science (1945 to 12 April 2011). We also undertook an electronic search of key conference proceedings (IADR and ORCA between 2000 and 13 July 2011). Reference lists of relevant articles, thesis publications (Dissertations s Online 1861 to 2011) were searched. The authors of eligible trials were contacted to identify any unpublished work. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of one-to-one dietary interventions delivered in a dental care setting. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:  screening, eligibility screening and data extraction decisions were all carried out independently and in duplicate by two review authors.\u00a0Consensus between the two opinions was achieved by discussion, or involvement of a third review author. MAIN RESULTS: Five studies met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Two of these were multi-intervention studies where the dietary intervention was one component of a wider programme of prevention, but where data on dietary behaviour change were reported. One of the single intervention studies was concerned with dental caries prevention.\u00a0The other two concerned general health outcomes. There were no studies concerned with dietary change aimed at preventing tooth erosion. In four out of the five included studies a significant change in dietary behaviour was found for at least one of the primary outcome variables. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence that one-to-one dietary interventions in the dental setting can change behaviour, although the evidence is greater for interventions aiming to change fruit/vegetable and alcohol consumption than for those aiming to change dietary sugar consumption. There is a need for more studies, particularly in the dental practice setting, as well as greater methodological rigour in the design, statistical analysis and reporting of such studies."}
{"id": "MED-4022", "text": "BACKGROUND: Erectile dysfunction (ED) and chronic periodontitis (CP) share common risk factors. There is only one report on the association between ED and CP. Thus, the aim of this study is to find the association between vasculogenic ED and CP. METHODS: A total of 70 patients (mean age: 35.3 \u00b1 3.64 years) clinically diagnosed with ED were included in the study. They were given the Sexual Health Inventory for Men Questionnaire and subjected to colored penile Doppler ultrasound. Periodontal parameters of probing depth and periodontal attachment level were recorded. Five patients with ED and CP were selected randomly for cardiac color Doppler to assess the integrity. RESULTS: Among the selected vasculogenic patients with ED, mild-to-moderate vasculogenic ED showed the highest prevalence, whereas prevalence for CP among all vasculogenic patients with ED was highest among severe ED (81.8%). Association of CP and vasculogenic ED was found to be correlated positively, but it showed no statistical significance. Two of five patients were found to have vascular insufficiency. CONCLUSIONS: It can be hypothesized that an association exists between vasculogenic ED and CP in young males. However, a large-scale study with confounder analysis and a longitudinal follow-up is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-4023", "text": "INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to determine the potential relation between vegetarian diet and tooth erosion and abrasion. MATERIAL/METHODS: The examination included 46 vegetarians and the same number in the control group. Clinical research was carried out in order to detect the presence of abrasive and erosive changes and the level of hygiene in oral cavities. The questionnaire survey concerned dietary and hygienic habits. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted with Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test. The relations between following a vegetarian diet and the occurrence of non-carious cavities was tested with models of logistic regression. RESULTS: Tooth erosion was present among 39.1% of vegetarians and 23.9% of controls, while abrasion appeared among 26.1% and 10.9%, respectively, and the differences were statistically insignificant. The distribution of the changes was similar in both groups. Among vegetarians, significantly more frequent consumption of sour products (predominantly raw vegetables and fruit and tomatoes) was observed. The level of oral hygiene and hygienic habits were similar in both groups. The analysis of statistical regression did not reveal any relations between following a vegetarian diet and the occurrence of tooth erosion and abrasion. DISCUSSION: The results did not reveal any direct influence of vegetarian diet on the occurrence of erosive and abrasive changes. However, in the vegetarian group, more frequent consumption of some sour products and more commonly used horizontal brushing method were observed, with a slightly higher occurrence of non-carious cavities. Further research is required to obtain unambiguous conclusions."}
{"id": "MED-4024", "text": "We reviewed data from six cohort studies and approximately 40 case-control studies on the relation between selected aspects of diet and the risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer. Fruit and vegetables were inversely related to the risk: the pooled relative risk (RR) for high vegetable consumption was 0.65 from three cohort studies on upper aerodigestive tract cancers and 0.52 from 18 case-control studies of oral and pharyngeal cancer; corresponding RRs for high fruit consumption were 0.78 and 0.55. beta-carotene, vitamin C and selected flavonoids have been inversely related to the risk, but it is difficult to disentangle their potential effect from that of fruit and vegetables. Whole grain, but not refined grain, intake was also favorably related to oral cancer risk. The results were not consistent with reference to other foods beverages, and nutrients, but it is now possible to exclude a strong relation between these foods and oral and pharyngeal cancer risk. In western countries, selected aspects of diet may account for 20-25% of oral and pharyngeal cancer, and the population attributable risk increases to 85-95% when tobacco and alcohol consumption are also considered."}
{"id": "MED-4025", "text": "Excessive consumption of acidic drinks and foods contributes to tooth erosion. The aims of the present in vitro study were twofold: (1) to assess the erosive potential of different dietary substances and medications; (2) to determine the chemical properties with an impact on the erosive potential. We selected sixty agents: soft drinks, an energy drink, sports drinks, alcoholic drinks, juice, fruit, mineral water, yogurt, tea, coffee, salad dressing and medications. The erosive potential of the tested agents was quantified as the changes in surface hardness (\u0394SH) of enamel specimens within the first 2\u00a0min (\u0394SH2-0\u00a0=\u00a0SH2\u00a0min\u00a0-\u00a0SHbaseline) and the second 2\u00a0min exposure (\u0394SH4-2\u00a0=\u00a0SH4\u00a0min\u00a0-\u00a0SH2\u00a0min). To characterise these agents, various chemical properties, e.g. pH, concentrations of Ca, Pi and F, titratable acidity to pH 7\u00b70 and buffering capacity at the original pH value (\u03b2), as well as degree of saturation (pK\u00a0-\u00a0pI) with respect to hydroxyapatite (HAP) and fluorapatite (FAP), were determined. Erosive challenge caused a statistically significant reduction in SH for all agents except for coffee, some medications and alcoholic drinks, and non-flavoured mineral waters, teas and yogurts (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b701). By multiple linear regression analysis, 52\u00a0% of the variation in \u0394SH after 2\u00a0min and 61\u00a0% after 4\u00a0min immersion were explained by pH, \u03b2 and concentrations of F and Ca (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b705). pH was the variable with the highest impact in multiple regression and bivariate correlation analyses. Furthermore, a high bivariate correlation was also obtained between (pK\u00a0-\u00a0pI)HAP, (pK\u00a0-\u00a0pI)FAP and \u0394SH."}
{"id": "MED-4026", "text": "AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate possible risk factors for dental caries in primary school children. METHODS: Children aged 10-12 years (n = 257) residing in Lithgow, a non-fluoridated community in New South Wales, Australia, were examined for caries experience in the permanent dentition. Information on dental practices, diet, residential movements, and socioeconomic status were obtained from self-completed questionnaires. RESULTS: Caries risk in the permanent teeth was associated with social disadvantage and diet. Among the dietary factors, the frequency of fruit consumption was associated with higher odds of caries experience (odds ratio: 1.52, 95% confidence intervals: 1.05, 2.21). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to a high level of fruit consumption was suggestive of increased caries risk. Longitudinal studies are required to investigate the relationship between fruit consumption and dental caries. \u00a9 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4027", "text": "Objectives To study the dietary behavior and knowledge about dental erosion and self-reported symptoms that can be related to dental erosion among Chinese adults in Hong Kong. Methods Chinese adults aged 25-45 years were randomly selected from a list of registered telephone numbers generated by computer. A telephone survey was administered to obtain information on demographic characteristics, dietary habits, dental visits, and knowledge of and presence of self-reported symptoms that can be related to dental erosion. Results A total of 520 participants were interviewed (response rate, 75%; sampling error, \u00b1 4.4%) and their mean age was 37. Most respondents (79%) had ever had caries, and about two thirds (64%) attended dental check-ups at least once a year. Respondents had a mean of 5.4 meals per day and 36% had at least 6 meals per day. Fruit (89%) and lemon tea/water (41%) were the most commonly consumed acidic food and beverage. When asked if they ever noticed changes in their teeth, most respondents (92%) said they had experienced change that can be related to erosion. However, many (71%) had never heard about dental erosion and 53% mixed up dental erosion with dental caries. Conclusion Hong Kong Chinese adults have frequent intake of food and many have experienced symptoms that can be related to dental erosion. Their level of awareness of and knowledge about dental erosion is generally low, despite most of them have regular dental check-ups. Dental health education is essential to help the public understand dental erosion and its damaging effects."}
{"id": "MED-4028", "text": "This paper aims to provide dental health professionals with practical advice to pass on to patients about diet and dental health. Sugars are the most important dietary factor contributing to dental caries. Different foods carry different dental health risks; those containing non-milk, extrinsic sugars are potentially the most damaging. In the UK, sugared soft drinks and confectionery contribute approximately 50% to total intake of non-milk extrinsic sugars. Patients should be encouraged to reduce the frequency of intake of sugary foods. Intake of acidic foods and drinks contributes to dental erosion and consumption of such foods should also be limited. Dietary advice to dental patients should be positive and personalized if possible and can be in line with dietary recommendations for general health. These are to increase the consumption of starchy staple foods (eg bread, potatoes and unsweetened cereals), vegetables and fruit and to reduce the consumption of sugary and fatty foods."}
{"id": "MED-4029", "text": "We compared the effect on enamel demineralisation in situ of both whole and juiced fruits and vegetables. Volunteers wore removable mandibular appliances carrying pre-demineralised human enamel slabs and consumed one of the test foods 7 times a day for 10 days. The test foods were apples, oranges, grapes, carrots, and tomatoes, consumed either whole (sugars located intrinsically) or as a juice (extrinsic or free sugars). Raisins containing 64% sugars, but intrinsic by definition, were also studied. The mineral profile of the enamel slabs was studied before and after the test period using transverse microradiography and showed further demineralisation for all test foods, irrespective of the form of consumption. Significant demineralisation was also observed with raisins. No significant differences were found between the solid and juiced foods. In conclusion, sugars present intrinsically on consumption had a similar demineralising potential as free sugars and could not be considered less cariogenic. Copyright \u00a9 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-4030", "text": "BACKGROUND: Oral health care professionals can play an important role in preventing oral cancer by performing oral mucosal examinations to detect pre-cancerous changes and by educating patients about oral cancer prevention strategies, including dietary approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence supports a diet high in fruits, vegetables and plant-based foods for prevention of oral cancer. Dietary supplements-including vitamins and minerals-have not been shown to be effective as substitutes for a diet high in fruits and vegetables. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In addition to discussing tobacco and alcohol use with patients (and, if relevant, betel nut and gutka consumption), as well as the risk of sexual transmission of human papillo-mavirus, clinicians should provide dietary advice for the prevention of oral cancer as part of routine patient education practices."}
{"id": "MED-4031", "text": "INTRODUCTION: High low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In recent years, some evidence has been presented that periodontitis, an infectious inflammatory condition of the periodontium, is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. To further elucidate this association, we have studied the levels of LDL cholesterol, a known risk marker for cardiovascular disease, in a periodontally-diseased group. METHODS: The levels of serum LDL cholesterol in 47 subjects with mild to severe (clinical attachment loss equal to or greater than 1 mm) chronic generalized (at least 30% of teeth affected) periodontitis with the mean age of 42.21 \u00b1 1.46 years were measured and compared with those obtained from 42 age (39.83 \u00b1 0.94) and sex matched controls. Both groups were free from systemic illnesses. RESULTS: The mean serum LDL cholesterol in periodontitis patients was found to be significantly higher (P < 0.001) as compared to that of the controls. The mean clinical attachment loss was positively correlated with serum LDL cholesterol (P < 0.01) and gingival index (P<0.05). The frequency of persons with pathologic values of LDL cholesterol was significantly higher in periodontitis patients compared with that of the controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that high serum LDL cholesterol may be associated with periodontitis in healthy people. However, it is unclear whether periodontitis causes an increase in the levels of serum LDL or an increased LDL is a risk factor for both periodontitis and cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-4032", "text": "AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate oral changes in subjects who have assumed a vegan diet for a long time (at least 18 months), that is to say, a diet completely lacking in meat and animal derivatives. METHODS: A sample of 15 subjects was analyzed, all from northern Italy and aged 24 to 60 year, composed of 11 men and 4 women who had been following a vegan diet for a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 20 years. In parallel with the study sample, a control group (15 subjects) with the same criteria of age, sex, and place of origin all following an omnivorous diet was chosen. The sample answered a questionnaire that investigated their eating habits, the frequency with which they eat meals, the main foodstuffs assumed, oral hygiene habits, and any painful symptomatology of the teeth or more general problems in the oral cavity. The sample was then subject to objective examination in which the saliva pH was measured and the teeth were checked for demineralization of the enamel, white spots, and caries (using KaVo DIAGNOdent) with particular attention being paid to the localization of these lesions, and lastly, sounding was carried out to detect any osseous defects and periodontal pockets. RESULTS: The study revealed greater incidence of demineralization and white spots in the vegan subjects compared to the omnivorous ones localized at the neck of the teeth and on the vestibular surfaces of dental elements (with the exception of the lower anterior group). The saliva pH, more acid in the omnivorous patients, ranged between four and six. Changes in oral conditions in both groups of subjects were observed. CONCLUSION: In order to research into the cause-effect relationship of the vegan diet on the oral cavity effectively, the sample needs to be studied for a longer period of time and the results re-evaluated."}
{"id": "MED-4033", "text": "Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) produce an inflammatory response. Hyperinflammation is now recognized as one of the key underlying etiologic factors in periodontal disease. The longitudinal relationship between dietary SFAs and periodontal disease in 264 Japanese individuals, aged 75 years, for whom data were available for the years 2003-2004, was investigated. SFA intake was assessed with a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire. Participants were classified by quartiles of SFA intake. Full-mouth periodontal status, measured as the clinical attachment level (CAL), was recorded at baseline and follow-up examinations. The number of teeth with a loss of CAL\u22653 mm at any site over a year was calculated as 'periodontal disease events'. Poisson regression analysis was conducted, with dietary SFAs as the primary predictor of interest, to estimate their influence on periodontal disease events. High dietary SFA intake was significantly associated with a greater number of periodontal disease events among non-smokers. The multivariate adjusted relative risk (95% confidence intervals) in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartiles of dietary SFAs was 1.00, 1.19 (0.72-1.97), 1.55 (0.95-2.52), and 1.92 (1.19-3.11), respectively. These findings suggest an independent association of dietary SFA intake to the progression of periodontal disease in older Japanese non-smokers. ABBREVIATIONS: saturated fatty acid (SFA); clinical attachment level (CAL); Toll-like receptor (TLR); lipopolysaccharide (LPS); brief self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ); decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT); clinical attachment level (CAL); body mass index (BMI); relative risk (RR); confidence intervals (CI); nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-\u03baB)."}
{"id": "MED-4034", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To determine whether foods that are good to excellent sources of fiber reduce periodontal disease progression in men. DESIGN: Prospective, observational study. SETTING: Greater Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS: Six hundred twenty-five community-dwelling men participating in the Department of Veterans Affairs Dental Longitudinal Study. MEASUREMENTS: Dental and physical examinations were conducted every 3 to 5 years. Diet was assessed using food frequency questionnaires (FFQs). Mean follow-up was 15 years (range: 2-24 years). Periodontal disease progression on each tooth was defined as alveolar bone loss (ABL) advancement of 40% or more, probing pocket depth (PPD) of 2 mm or more, or tooth loss. Good and excellent fiber sources provided 2.5 g or more of fiber per serving. Multivariate proportional hazards regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of periodontal disease progression and tooth loss in relation to fiber sources, stratified according to age younger than 65 versus 65 and older, and controlled for smoking, body mass index, calculus, baseline periodontal disease level, caries, education, exercise, carotene, thiamin and caffeine intake, and tooth brushing. RESULTS: In men aged 65 and older, each serving of good to excellent sources of total fiber was associated with lower risk of ABL progression (HR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.60-0.95) and tooth loss (HR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.53-0.97). Of the different food groups, only fruits that were good to excellent sources of fiber were associated with lower risk of progression of ABL (HR = 0.86 per serving, 95% CI = 0.78-0.95), PPD (HR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.91-0.99), and tooth loss (HR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.78-0.99). No significant associations were seen in men younger than 65. CONCLUSION: Benefits of higher intake of high-fiber foods, especially fruits, on slowing periodontal disease progression are most evident in men aged 65 and older. \u00a9 2012, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation \u00a9 2012, The American Geriatrics Society."}
{"id": "MED-4035", "text": "The aim of the present in situ study was to evaluate the effect of different periods of intra-oral remineralisation on the susceptibility of softened dentin to toothbrushing abrasion. Groups of 6 human dentin specimens (A-F) were recessed in the buccal aspects of intra-oral appliances which were worn for 21 days by 11 volunteers. The samples were demineralised twice a day extra-orally in the acidic beverage Sprite Light (pH 2.9) for 90 s. Subsequently, the dentin specimens were brushed at different times. Specimen A was brushed immediately after demineralisation. Specimens B-E were brushed after the intra-oral appliances had been worn for various periods in the mouth: specimen B for 10 min, C for 20 min, D for 30 min and E for 60 min. Specimen F was not brushed (control). After 21 days, dentin wear was measured with a profilometer. The following values (means +/- standard deviation) were recorded (microm): A, 23.6 +/- 16.7; B, 37.9 +/- 29.7; C, 31.8 +/- 26.5; D, 18.5 +/- 10.5; E, 15.3 +/- 11.6; F, 12.6 +/- 6.7. There was a statistically significantly increased dentin loss for groups A, B and C as compared to the controls (U test: p < 0.05). However, after intra-oral periods of 30 and 60 min, wear was not significantly higher than in unbrushed controls. It is concluded that for protection of dentin surfaces at least 30 min should elapse before toothbrushing after an erosive attack. Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel"}
{"id": "MED-4036", "text": "Oral health is related to diet in many ways, for example, nutritional influences on craniofacial development, oral cancer and oral infectious diseases. Dental diseases impact considerably on self-esteem and quality of life and are expensive to treat. The objective of this paper is to review the evidence for an association between nutrition, diet and dental diseases and to present dietary recommendations for their prevention. Nutrition affects the teeth during development and malnutrition may exacerbate periodontal and oral infectious diseases. However, the most significant effect of nutrition on teeth is the local action of diet in the mouth on the development of dental caries and enamel erosion. Dental erosion is increasing and is associated with dietary acids, a major source of which is soft drinks. Despite improved trends in levels of dental caries in developed countries, dental caries remains prevalent and is increasing in some developing countries undergoing nutrition transition. There is convincing evidence, collectively from human intervention studies, epidemiological studies, animal studies and experimental studies, for an association between the amount and frequency of free sugars intake and dental caries. Although other fermentable carbohydrates may not be totally blameless, epidemiological studies show that consumption of starchy staple foods and fresh fruit are associated with low levels of dental caries. Fluoride reduces caries risk but has not eliminated dental caries and many countries do not have adequate exposure to fluoride. It is important that countries with a low intake of free sugars do not increase intake, as the available evidence shows that when free sugars consumption is <15-20 kg/yr ( approximately 6-10% energy intake), dental caries is low. For countries with high consumption levels it is recommended that national health authorities and decision-makers formulate country-specific and community-specific goals for reducing the amount of free sugars aiming towards the recommended maximum of no more than 10% of energy intake. In addition, the frequency of consumption of foods containing free sugars should be limited to a maximum of 4 times per day. It is the responsibility of national authorities to ensure implementation of feasible fluoride programmes for their country."}
{"id": "MED-4037", "text": "In the present study, 21 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) congeners were measured in the exhaust stack of 3 types of restaurants: 9 Chinese, 7 Western, and 4 barbeque (BBQ). The total PAH concentration of BBQ restaurants (58.81 \u00b1 23.89 \u03bcg m(-3)) was significantly higher than that of Chinese (20.99 \u00b1 13.67 \u03bcg m(-3)) and Western (21.47 \u00b1 11.44 \u03bcg m(-3)) restaurants. The total benzo[a]pyrene potency equivalent (B[a]P(eq)) concentrations, however, were highest in Chinese restaurants (1.82 \u00b1 2.24 \u03bcg m(-3)), followed by Western (0.86 \u00b1 1.43 \u03bcg m(-3), p<0.01) and BBQ-type restaurants (0.59 \u00b1 0.55 \u03bcg m(-3), p<0.01). We further developed a probabilistic risk model to assess the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for people exposed to carcinogenic PAHs. Because the exhaust stack directly affected the back-door neighbors of these restaurants, we were concerned with the real exposure of groups near the exhaust stack outlets of these restaurants. The ILCRs for total exposure of the neighbors (inhalation+dermal contact+ingestion) were 2.6-31.3, 1.5-14.8, and 1.3-12.2 \u00d7 10(-6) in Chinese, Western, and BBQ restaurants, respectively. We suggest that the maximum acceptable exposure time to the exhaust stack outlet area for Chinese, Western, and BBQ restaurants ranges between 5-19, 17-42, and 18-56 h month(-1), respectively, based on an ILCR of less than 10(-6). Crown Copyright \u00a9 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4038", "text": "We previously reported an association between prenatal exposure to airborne PAH and lower birth weight, birth length and head circumference. The main goal of the present analysis was to assess the possible impact of co-exposure to PAH-containing of barbecued meat consumed during pregnancy on birth outcomes. The birth cohort consisted of 432 pregnant women who gave birth at term (>36 weeks of gestation). Only non-smoking women with singleton pregnancies, 18-35 years of age, and who were free from chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension were included in the study. Detailed information on diet over pregnancy was collected through interviews and the measurement of exposure to airborne PAHs was carried out by personal air monitoring during the second trimester of pregnancy. The effect of barbecued meat consumption on birth outcomes (birthweight, length and head circumference at birth) was adjusted in multiple linear regression models for potential confounding factors such as prenatal exposure to airborne PAHs, child\u2019s sex, gestational age, parity, size of mother (maternal prepregnancy weight, weight gain in pregnancy) and prenatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The multivariable regression model showed a significant deficit in birthweight associated with barbecued meat consumption in pregnancy (coeff = \u2212106.0 g; 95%CI: \u2212293.3, \u221235.8); The effect of exposure to airborne PAHs was about the same magnitude order (coeff. = \u2212164.6 g; 95%CI: \u2212172.3, \u2212 34.7). Combined effect of both sources of exposure amounted to birth weight deficit of 214.3 g (95%CI: \u2212419.0, \u2212 9.6). Regression models performed for birth length and head circumference showed similar trends but the estimated effects were of borderline significance level. As the intake of barbecued meat did not affect the duration of pregnancy, the reduced birthweight could not have been mediated by shortened gestation period. In conclusion, the study results provided epidemiologic evidence that prenatal PAH exposure from diet including grilled meat might be hazardous for fetal development."}
{"id": "MED-4040", "text": "The consumption of cooked meat appears to predispose individuals to colonic cancer and heterocyclic aromatic amines (HA), formed during the cooking of meat, have been suggested as aetiological agents. Consumption of cruciferous vegetables is thought to protect against cancer. To study the effect of cruciferous vegetables on heterocyclic aromatic amine metabolism in man, a three-period, dietary intervention study has been carried out with 20 non-smoking Caucasian male subjects consuming cooked meat meals containing known amounts of these carcinogens. A high cruciferous vegetable diet (250 g each of Brussels sprouts and broccoli per day) was maintained during period 2 but such vegetables were excluded from periods 1 and 3. At the end of each period, subjects consumed a cooked meat meal and urinary excretion of the HA 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoxaline (MeIQx) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo(4,5-b)pyridine (PhIP) was measured. Following a 12 day period of cruciferous vegetable consumption (period 2), induction of hepatic CYP1A2 activity was apparent from changes in the kinetics of caffeine metabolism. Excretion of MeIQx and PhIP in urine at the end of this period of the study was reduced by 23 and 21%, respectively, compared with period 1. This reduction in excretion is probably due to an increase in amine metabolism that might be expected given the observed increase in CYP1A2 activity, since this enzyme has been shown to be primarily responsible for the oxidative activation of MeIQx and PhIP in man. In period 2, urinary mutagenicity was increased relative to period 1 by 52 and 64% in the absence and presence, respectively, of a human liver microsomal activation system, yet no evidence was found of PhIP adduction to lymphocyte DNA, a potential biomarker of the activation process. After another 12 days without cruciferous vegetables (period 3 of the study), the kinetics of caffeine metabolism had returned to original values but excretion of MeIQx and PhIP was still reduced by 17 and 30%, respectively, and urinary mutagenicity (with metabolic activation) was still elevated compared with period 1. This prolonged response of amine metabolism to the cruciferous vegetable diet, shown especially with PhIP, suggests that enzyme systems other than CYP1A2 are involved and affected by a cruciferous vegetable diet."}
{"id": "MED-4047", "text": "The total phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of garlics from California, Oregon, Washington, and New York were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy (400-4000 cm(-1)). The total phenolic content was quantified [Folin-Ciocalteu assay (FC)] and three antioxidant activity assays, 2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), were employed for reference measurements. Four independent partial least-squares regression (PLSR) models were constructed with spectra from 25 extracts and their corresponding FC, DPPH, TEAC, and FRAP with values for 20 additional extracts predicted (R > 0.95). The standard errors of calibration and standard error of cross-validation were <1.45 (TEAC), 0.36 (FRAP), and 0.33 \u03bcmol Trolox/g FW (DPPH) and 0.55 mg gallic acid/g FW (FC). Cluster and dendrogram analyses could segregate garlic grown at different locations. Hydroxyl and phenolic functional groups most closely correlated with garlic antioxidant activity."}
{"id": "MED-4049", "text": "More than 85% of breast cancers are sporadic and attributable to long-term exposure to environmental carcinogens, such as those in the diet, through a multistep disease process progressing from non-cancerous to premalignant and malignant stages. The chemical carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) is one of the most abundant heterocyclic amines found in high-temperature cooked meats and is recognized as a mammary carcinogen. However, the PhIP\u2019s mechanism of action in breast cell carcinogenesis is not clear. Here, we demonstrated, for the first time, that cumulative exposures to PhIP at physiologically achievable, pico to nanomolar concentrations effectively induced progressive carcinogenesis of human breast epithelial MCF10A cells from a non-cancerous stage to premalignant and malignant stages in a dose- and exposure-dependent manner. Progressive carcinogenesis was measured by increasingly- acquired cancer-associated properties of reduced dependence on growth factors, anchorage-independent growth, acinar-conformational disruption, proliferation, migration, invasion, tumorigenicity with metastasis and increased stem-like cell populations. These biological changes were accompanied by biochemical and molecular changes, including upregulated H-Ras gene expression, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway activation, Nox-1 expression, reactive oxygen species (ROS) elevation, increased HIF-1\u03b1, Sp1, tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, aldehyde dehydrogenase activity and reduced E-cadherin. The Ras-ERK-Nox-ROS pathway played an important role in not only initiation but also maintenance of cellular carcinogenesis induced by PhIP. Using biological, biochemical and molecular changes as targeted endpoints, we identified that the green tea catechin components epicatechin-3-gallate and epigallocatechin-3-gallate, at non-cytotoxic doses, were capable of suppressing PhIP-induced cellular carcinogenesis and tumorigenicity."}
{"id": "MED-4050", "text": "Green tea is a commonly consumed beverage in Asia and has been suggested to have anti-inflammatory and possible anti-carcinogenic properties in laboratory studies. We sought to examine the association between green tea consumption and risk of breast cancer incidence or recurrence, using all available epidemiologic evidence to date. We conducted a systematic search of five databases and performed a meta-analysis of studies of breast cancer risk and recurrence published between 1998 and 2009, encompassing 5,617 cases of breast cancer. Summary relative risks (RR) were calculated using a fixed effects model, and tests of heterogeneity across combined studies were conducted. We identified two studies of breast cancer recurrence and seven studies of breast cancer incidence. Increased green tea consumption (more than three cups a day) was inversely associated with breast cancer recurrence (Pooled RR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.56-0.96). An analysis of case-control studies of breast cancer incidence suggested an inverse association with a pooled RR of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.88) while no association was found among cohort studies of breast cancer incidence. Combining all studies of breast cancer incidence resulted in significant heterogeneity. Available epidemiologic evidence supports the hypothesis that increased green tea consumption may be inversely associated with risk of breast cancer recurrence. The association between green tea consumption and breast cancer incidence remains unclear based on the current evidence."}
{"id": "MED-4051", "text": "The food mutagens IQ (2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline) and PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine) are heterocyclic amines (HCA), generated when heating proteinaceous food. This study investigates the protective potential of the flavonoids quercetin (Q) and rutin (R) against oxidative stress induced in vitro by IQ and PhIP in lymphocytes from healthy individuals and untreated, newly diagnosed colon cancer patients using the Comet assay. In the presence of up to 500\u03bcM Q and R, the DNA damage resulting from a high dose of PhIP (75\u03bcM) or IQ (150\u03bcM) was significantly reduced (P<0.001) to levels comparable to six times lower IQ or 7.5 times lower PhIP doses. Lymphocytes from colon cancer patients had greater baseline DNA damage than those from healthy individuals (P<0.01) and this higher level of damage was also observed throughout in vitro treatment. Except for the >50years of age group and male gender, confounding factors such as smoking, drinking and/or dietary habits were not found to be significant. In conclusion, flavonoids reduced oxidative stress caused by food mutagens in vitro in lymphocytes of healthy individuals and colon cancer patients. Thus, dietary supplementation with flavonoid-rich vegetables and fruits may prove very effective in protecting against oxidative stress. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4053", "text": "Heterocyclic amines (HCAs), potent mutagens and a risk factor for human cancers, are produced in meats cooked at high temperature. The aim of this study was to determine the HCA content in cooked meat products (beef, chicken, pork, fish) prepared by various cooking methods (pan frying, oven broiling, and oven baking at 170 to 230\u00b0C) that are preferred by U.S. meat consumers. The primary HCAs in these samples were PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine) (1.49-10.89ng/g), MeIQx (2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoxaline) (not detected-4.0ng/g), and DiMeIQx (2-amino-3,4,8-trimethyl-imidazo [4,5-f]quinoxaline) (not detected-3.57ng/g). Type and content of HCAs in cooked meat samples were highly dependent on cooking conditions. The total HCA content in well-done meat was 3.5 times higher than that of medium-rare meat. Fried pork (13.91ng/g) had higher levels of total HCAs than fried beef (8.92ng/g) and fried chicken (7.00ng/g). Among the samples, fried bacon contained the highest total HCA content (17.59ng/g). Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4055", "text": "Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are formed when meat products such as beef, chicken, pork and fish are cooked at high temperatures. The most abundant HCA found in the human diet is 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b] pyridine (PhIP). PhIP causes mammary carcinomas in female rats and mice, and is associated with an increased risk of developing colon, breast, and prostate cancer in humans. PhIP is metabolized by cytochrome P-450s producing N-OH-PhIP. The N-OH-PhIP can be esterified by phase II enzymes forming an arylnitrenium ion that binds to DNA causing adducts. Furthermore, N-OH-PhIP may be reduced by cytochrome b5 reductase producing superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals causing DNA strand breaks. Diallyl sulfide (DAS) has been shown to prevent cancer in several animal models, presumably by metabolic modulation. We hypothesize that PhIP produces reactive oxygen species causing DNA strand breaks and that DAS will inhibit the formation of PhIP induced DNA strand breaks. To test this hypothesis we treated normal breast epithelial (MCF-10A) cells with PhIP, DAS and a combination of PhIP and DAS. The detection of lipid peroxides was used as a surrogate for ROS. Lipid peroxides were detected using a PeroxiDetect kit (Sigma). PhIP increased the production of lipid peroxides and DAS decreased the PhIP-induced peroxidation by 47%. To determine if PhIP causes DNA strand breaks in MCF-10A cells, cells were treated for 3, 6, 9, and 24 h with PhIP (100 microM), DAS (100 microM) and a combination of PhIP (100 microM) and DAS (100 microM). DNA strand breaks were evaluated using the Comet assay. PhIP produced DNA strand breaks in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. We have shown that DAS inhibits PhIP-induced DNA strand breaks by inhibiting the production of reactive oxygen species. Therefore, we propose that DAS can prevent PhIP-induced breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4057", "text": "BACKGROUND: Heterocyclic amines, mutagens formed in meats cooked at high temperatures, have been demonstrated as mammary carcinogens in animals. We conducted a nested, case-control study among 41836 cohort members of the Iowa Women's Health Study to evaluate the potential role of heterocyclic amines and intake of well-done meat in the risk for human breast cancer. METHODS: A questionnaire was mailed to individuals in the cohort who had breast cancer diagnosed during the period from 1992 through 1994 and a random sample of cancer-free cohort members to obtain information on usual intake of meats and on meat preparation practices. Color photographs showing various doneness levels of hamburger, beefsteak, and bacon were included. Multivariate analysis was performed on data from 273 case subjects and 657 control subjects who completed the survey. RESULTS: A dose-response relationship was found between doneness levels of meat consumed and breast cancer risk. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for very well-done meat versus rare or medium-done meat were 1.54 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.96-2.47) for hamburger, 2.21 (95% CI=1.30-3.77) for beef steak, and 1.64 (95% CI=0.92-2.93) for bacon. Women who consumed these three meats consistently very well done had a 4.62 times higher risk (95% CI=1.36-15.70) than that of women who consumed the meats rare or medium done. Risk of breast cancer was also elevated with increasing intake of well-done to very well-done meat. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of well-done meats and, thus, exposures to heterocyclic amines (or other compounds) formed during high-temperature cooking may play an important role in the risk of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4058", "text": "A facile method was established to measure heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) accumulated in human hair and rodent fur. The samples were digested by base hydrolysis, and the liberated HAAs were isolated by tandem solvent/solid-phase extraction. Quantification was done by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, using a triple stage quadrupole mass spectrometer in the selected reaction monitoring mode. In a pilot study of 12 human volunteers, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) was detected in hair of six meat-eaters at levels ranging from 290 to 890 pg/g hair. 2-Amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) and 2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (A\u03b1C) were below the limit of quantification (LOQ) (50 pg/g hair) in hair from meat-eaters and six vegetarians. PhIP was detected in the hair from one vegetarian, and at level just above the LOQ (65 pg/g hair), indicating PhIP exposure occurs primarily through meat consumption. The levels of PhIP in hair samples from two meat-eaters varied by less than 24% over a 6-month interval, signifying that the exposure to PhIP and its accumulation in hair are relatively constant over time. In a controlled feeding study, female C57BL/6 mice were given these HAAs in their drinking water for 1 month, at six daily dose concentrations ranging from 0, 0.080 to 800 \u00b5g/kg body weight. PhIP was detected in fur of mice at all doses, whereas A\u03b1C and MeIQx were detected in fur at dosages \u22650.8 \u00b5g A\u03b1C/kg body weight and \u22658 \u00b5g MeIQx/kg body weight. There was a strong positive relationship between dosage and each of the HAAs accumulated in fur and their DNA adducts formed in liver and colon (p-values <0.0001); however, the levels of HAA in fur did not correlate to the levels of DNA adducts after adjustment of dose. Thus, hair appears to be a promising long-lived biomarker with by which we can assess the exposure to PhIP, a potential human carcinogen."}
{"id": "MED-4059", "text": "2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) is the most abundant heterocyclic amine formed in meat and fish during cooking and can be used as a model compound for this class of chemicals possibly involved in human carcinogenesis. Knowing the exposure to heterocyclic amines is important for establishing their role in human diseases. Serum albumin (SA) and globin (Gb) adducts were first tested as biomarkers of exposure to PhIP in male Fischer 344 rats given oral doses of 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 10 mg/kg. Blood samples were collected 24 hr after treatment and PhIP released from SA and Gb after acidic hydrolysis was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry or liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. PhIP-SA and Gb adducts increased linearly with the dose. Studies on 35 volunteers with different dietary habits exhibited that diet was a major determinant in the formation of both adducts. PhIP-SA adducts were significantly higher in meat consumers than in vegetarians (6.7 +/- 1.6 and 0.7 +/- 0.3 fmol/mg SA; respectively, mean +/- SE; p = 0.04, Mann-Whitney U test). The Gb adduct pattern was quantitatively lower but paralleled SA (3 +/- 0.8 in meat consumers and 0.3 +/- 0.1 in vegetarians). PhIP-SA adducts were no different in smokers and in non-smokers. The results show for the first time that PhIP-blood protein adducts are present in humans not given the synthetic compound. Both biomarkers appear to be suitable for assessing dietary exposure and internal PhIP dose and may be promising tools for studying the role of heterocyclic amines in the etiology of colon cancer and other diseases. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4060", "text": "Heteroyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are a class of hazardous chemicals that are receiving heightened attention as a risk factor for human cancer. HAAs arise during the cooking of meats, fish, and poultry, and several HAAs also occur in tobacco smoke condensate and diesel exhaust. Many HAAs are carcinogenic and induce tumors at multiple sites in rodents. A number of epidemiologic studies have reported that frequent consumption of well-done cooked meats containing HAAs can result in elevated risks for colon, prostate, and mammary cancers. Moreover, DNA adducts of HAAs have been detected in human tissues, demonstrating that HAAs induce genetic damage even though the concentrations of these compounds in cooked meats are generally in the low parts-per-billion (ppb) range. With recent improvements in sensitivity of mass spectrometry instrumentation, HAAs, their metabolites, and DNA adducts can be detected at trace amounts in biological fluids and tissues of humans. The incorporation of HAA biomarkers in epidemologic studies will help to clarify the role of these dietary genotoxicants in the etiology of human cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4068", "text": "The cooked meat derived genotoxic carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) induces cancer of the colon, prostate and mammary gland when fed to rats. Epidemiology studies link these tumours to a Western diet and exposure to heterocyclic amines such as PhIP. We have shown that PhIP is also potently estrogenic and have proposed that this hormonal activity contributes to its target site carcinogenicity. We now postulate that the estrogenic properties of PhIP influence metastatic potential. We have used an in vitro assay for cell invasion based upon digestion and migration through a reconstituted basement membrane model. Zymography and immunoblotting were used to confirm PhIP-mediated changes associated with induction of the invasive phenotype. Treatment of the mammary cancer cell lines MCF-7 and T47D with PhIP induces cells to digest and migrate through a reconstituted basement membrane. The response was dose dependent, observed at sub-nanomolar concentrations of PhIP and was inhibited by the antiestrogen ICI 182,780. The PhIP-induced invasive phenotype was associated with expression of cathepsin D, cyclooxygenase-2 and matrix metalloproteinase activity. These findings emphasise the range and potency of the biological activities associated with this cooked meat product and mechanistically support the tissue-specific carcinogenicity of the chemical. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4069", "text": "To examine whether meat intake modifies breast-cancer risk, a case-control study was conducted in Uruguay. Dietary patterns were assessed in detail (for cases, before diagnosis or symptoms occurred) using a food frequency questionnaire involving 64 food items, which allowed total energy intake to be calculated. Nutrient residuals were calculated through regression analysis. After adjustment for potential confounders (which included family history of breast cancer, menopausal status, body-mass index, total energy and total alcohol intake), an increased risk associated with consumption of total meat intake, red meat intake, total fat and saturated fat intake was observed. The strongest effect was observed for red meat intake (OR 4.2, 95% CL 2.3-7.7) for consumption in the upper quartile, after controlling for protein and fat intake. This suggests an independent effect for meat. Since experimental studies have shown a strong effect of heterocyclic amines in rat mammary carcinogenesis, further studies should be performed in human epidemiology, perhaps using biomarkers of heterocyclic amine exposure."}
{"id": "MED-4070", "text": "It has been suggested that mutagens in fried meat may be involved in the cancer process. Therefore the relationships between intake of fried meat and subsequent risk of cancers at different sites were studied among 9,990 Finnish men and women, 15-99 years of age and initially free of cancer. The baseline study was carried out in 1966-1972, and cases of cancer were identified through data linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry. During a 24-year follow-up, 853 cancer cases were diagnosed. The intake of fried meat was estimated from a dietary history interview covering the total diet of the participants during the previous year. There was a positive association between fried meat intake and the risk of female-hormone-related cancers, i.e., cancer of the breast, endometrium and ovary combined. The relative risk of these cancers combined between persons in the highest and lowest tertiles of daily intake of fried meat adjusted for age, personal characteristics and intake of other main food groups was 1.77 (95% confidence interval = 1.11-2.84). Pancreatic and nervous system cancers also presented non-significant suggestive associations. No associations were observed with respect to other single cancer sites studied or to all sites of cancer combined. Further epidemiological efforts are needed to ascertain the potential link between fried-food mutagens and cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4071", "text": "An increased risk of breast cancer has been observed in women who consume \"very well-done\" meats. Heterocyclic amines are mutagenic and carcinogenic pyrolysis products formed during high temperature cooking of meats. In the present study, human milk samples were analyzed for PhIP, one of the most abundant dietary heterocyclic amine. A protocol was developed with a mixed-mode cation exchange sorbent for the extraction of heterocyclic amines from milk. Milk samples were acquired from healthy Canadian women. With LC/MS analysis and the method of isotope dilution for quantification, levels of PhIP were determined in human milk samples. PhIP was detected in 9 of the 11 milk samples, at levels as high as 59 pg/mL (ppt). No PhIP was detected in the milk of the vegetarian donor. Detection of PhIP in milk indicates that ductal mammary epithelial cells are directly exposed to this carcinogen, suggesting that heterocyclic amines are possible human mammary carcinogens."}
{"id": "MED-4072", "text": "It was the aim of this study to examine the association of the consumption of meat in general, meat prepared by different cooking methods and the dietary intake of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCA) with the level of DNA adducts in the breast tissue of women undergoing reduction mammoplasty. Dietary intake of meat and HCA were assessed via questionnaire in 44 women undergoing reduction mammoplasty. DNA adduct analysis in breast tissue was performed by (32)P-postlabelling analysis. Spearman rank correlation coefficients (r) were calculated to examine the association of meat consumption and dietary HCA intake with tissue DNA adduct levels. A median DNA adduct level of 18.45 (interquartile range 12.81-25.65) per 10(9) nucleotides in breast tissue was observed; median HCA intake was 40.43 ng/day (interquartile range 19.55-102.33 ng/day). Total HCA intake (r = 0.33, P = 0.03), consumption of fried meat (r = 0.39, P = 0.01), beef (r = 0.32, P = 0.03) and processed meat (r = 0.51, P = 0.0004) were statistically significantly correlated with the level of DNA adducts in breast tissue. The detected DNA adducts could not be confirmed to be specific HCA-derived DNA adducts by comparison with external standards, using the (32)P-postlabelling assay. We observed strong correlations of dietary HCA intake and consumption of fried and processed meat with DNA adduct levels in breast tissue of 44 women. Since the detected DNA adducts were not necessarily specific only for HCA, it is possible that HCA intake is a surrogate of other genotoxic substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in meat prepared at high temperatures."}
{"id": "MED-4073", "text": "The cooked meat carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) induces tumours of the breast, colon and prostate in rats. Here we show that in addition to its well-established genotoxicity, which can be detected at concentrations >10(-6) M, PhIP is also oestrogenic. In COS-1 cells transiently transfected with an oestrogen-responsive reporter gene, PhIP (10(-10)-10(-6) M) mediated transcription through oestrogen receptor (ER) alpha, but not ER-beta, and inhibition by the pure ER antagonist ICI 182 780 demonstrated a requirement for a functional ER. In contrast, the structurally related food-derived carcinogen 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) failed to induce reporter gene transcription. Additionally, we show that in a hormonally responsive breast cancer cell line (MCF-7 cells), PhIP induced transcriptional activation using endogenously expressed ER. Examination of the genotoxic potential of PhIP using a model mammalian cell mutation assay (hprt(-) locus) demonstrated that the genetic toxicology of PhIP was readily detectable, but separate, in terms of effective concentration, from its oestrogenic activity. To determine whether the oestrogenicity of PhIP could mediate oestrogen-dependent responses such as cell growth, we examined the growth of hormonally responsive cells (MCF-7 cells). We show that PhIP can stimulate cell proliferation and, again, this was dependent upon a functional ER. Using ligand blotting, we further show that PhIP can stimulate the expression of progesterone receptor (PR-A and PR-B) and c-MYC and activate the MAPK signal transduction pathway. These responses were similar to that produced by oestradiol, in terms of temporal aspects, potency and a requirement for a functional ER. Each of these dose-dependent mitogenic responses occurred at concentrations of PhIP ( approximately 10(-9)-10(-11)M) that are likely to be equivalent to systemic human exposure via consumption of cooked meat. Thus PhIP can induce cellular responses that encompass altered gene expression and mitogenesis. We suggest that the combination of genetic toxicology and oestrogen-like promotion of genomic and cellular events provide a mechanism for the tissue-specific tumorigenicity of this compound."}
{"id": "MED-4075", "text": "Liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS) with a triple quadrupole MS was used to identify known and novel heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in human urine. The identities of 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (8-MeIQx) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) were confirmed by their product ion spectra. The constant neutral loss scan mode was employed to probe for other analytes in urine that display the transition [M+H]+-->[M+H-CH3*]+*, which is common to HAAs containing an N-methylimidazo moiety, and led to the detection of a previously unreported isomer of 8-MeIQx [Holland, R., et al. (2004) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 17, 1121-1136]. We now report the identification of another novel HAA, 2-amino-1-methylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoline (IQ[4,5-b]), an isomer of the powerful animal carcinogen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ). The amounts of IQ[4,5-b] measured in the urine of human volunteers who consumed grilled beef ranged from 15 to 135% of the ingested dose, while the amounts of 8-MeIQx and PhIP excreted in urine were on average <2% of the ingested dose. Base treatment of urine at 70 degrees C increased the concentrations of 8-MeIQx and PhIP by as much as 6-fold, indicating the presence of phase II conjugates; however, the amount of IQ[4,5-b] increased by more than 100-fold. IQ[4,5-b] was also detected in the urine of vegetarians following base hydrolysis. The formation of IQ[4,5-b], but not IQ, 8-MeIQx, or PhIP, also occurred in urine incubated at 37 degrees C. Creatinine and 2-aminobenzaldehyde are likely precursors of IQ[4,5-b]. The detection of IQ[4,5-b] in the urine of both meat eaters and vegetarians suggests that this HAA may be present in nonmeat staples or that IQ[4,5-b] formation may occur endogenously within the urinary bladder or other biological fluids."}
{"id": "MED-4080", "text": "Background Alterations in the intestinal bacterial flora are believed to be contributing factors to many chronic inflammatory and degenerative diseases including rheumatic diseases. While microbiological fecal culture analysis is now increasingly used, little is known about the relationship of changes in intestinal flora, dietary patterns and clinical outcome in specific diseases. To clarify the role of microbiological culture analysis we aimed to evaluate whether in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or fibromyalgia (FM) a Mediterranean diet or an 8-day fasting period are associated with changes in fecal flora and whether changes in fecal flora are associated with clinical outcome. Methods During a two-months-period 51 consecutive patients from an Integrative Medicine hospital department with an established diagnosis of RA (n = 16) or FM (n = 35) were included in the study. According to predefined clinical criteria and the subjects' choice the patients received a mostly vegetarian Mediterranean diet (n = 21; mean age 50.9 +/-13.3 y) or participated in an intermittent modified 8-day fasting therapy (n = 30; mean age 53.7 +/- 9.4 y). Quantitative aerob and anaerob bacterial flora, stool pH and concentrations of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) were analysed from stool samples at the beginning, at the end of the 2-week hospital stay and at a 3-months follow-up. Clinical outcome was assessed with the DAS 28 for RA patients and with a disease severity rating scale in FM patients. Results We found no significant changes in the fecal bacterial counts following the two dietary interventions within and between groups, nor were significant differences found in the analysis of sIgA and stool ph. Clinical improvement at the end of the hospital stay tended to be greater in fasting vs. non-fasting patients with RA (p = 0.09). Clinical outcome was not related to alterations in the intestinal flora. Conclusion Neither Mediterranean diet nor fasting treatments affect the microbiologically assessed intestinal flora and sIgA levels in patients with RA and FM. The impact of dietary interventions on the human intestinal flora and the role of the fecal flora in rheumatic diseases have to be clarified with newer molecular analysis techniques. The potential benefit of fasting treatment in RA and FM should be further tested in randomised trials."}
{"id": "MED-4081", "text": "This article reviews the existing literature on fibromyalgia (FM) and diet, discusses the possible role of diet on central sensitization in FM, proposes a novel hypothesis of possible food-related contributors to central sensitization, and makes recommendations for future dietary research directions."}
{"id": "MED-4088", "text": "The influence of a 3-week vegetarian diet and fasting on serum concentration of peroxides, lipids, apolipoproteins, and plasma fibrinogen was studied in ten middle-aged fibromyalgia/fibrositis patients (eight women, two men). Mean serum peroxide concentration (estimated as thiobarbituric acid reacting substances) was reduced from 3.60 +/- 0.14 to 2.82 +/- 0.15 umol/l (p = 0.01) and plasma fibrinogen from 3.33 +/- 0.25 to 2.74 +/- 0.15 g/l (p = 0.02). Serum total cholesterol fell from 6.61 +/- 0.50 to 4.83 +/- 0.35 mmol/l (p < 0.0001), apolipoprotein B from 1.77 +/- 0.14 to 1.31 +/- 0.11 g/l (p < 0.0001), and apolipoprotein A from 1.41 +/- 0.09 to 1.23 +/- 0.05 g/l (p = 0.03). High density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration also decreased somewhat (from 1.26 +/- 0.09 to 1.07 +/- 0.04 mmol/l, p = 0.03) An atherogenic index, reflecting the balance between low and high density lipoproteins, was reduced by 31% (from 5.74 +/- 0.79 to 3.97 +/- 0.60, p = 0.02). The results suggest that vegetarian diet/fasting may have a beneficial influence on the concentration of serum peroxides and plasma fibrinogen concentration, and on the serum level of several lipoprotein-related coronary risk factors."}
{"id": "MED-4089", "text": "Studies have shown an inverse relationship between the consumption of apples and the risk of several cancers. The peels of apple, which have been shown to possess exceptionally high concentrations of antioxidants, are often discarded. In this study, we evaluated the antiproliferative effects of apple peel extract (APE) in variety of cancer cell types. Our data demonstrated that APE, obtained from organic Gala apples, imparted significant reduction in the viability of a variety of cancer cell lines. Further, our data showed a significant decrease in growth and clonogenic survival of human prostate carcinoma CWR22Rnu1 and DU145 cells and breast carcinoma Mcf-7 and Mcf-7:Her18 cells. Also, the antiproliferative effects of APE were found to be accompanied by a G0-G1 phase arrest of prostate and breast cancer cells. Furthermore, APE treatment resulted in a marked concentration-dependent decrease in the protein levels of proliferative cell nuclear antigen, a marker for proliferation. In addition, APE treatment resulted in a marked increase in maspin, a tumor suppressor protein that negatively regulates cell invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Our data suggested that APE possesses strong antiproliferative effects against cancer cells, and apple peels should not be discarded from the diet. Detailed mechanistic studies, especially in appropriate in vivo animal models, are needed to further examine the antiproliferative and preventive effects of APE against cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4090", "text": "Apple peel is a waste product from dried apple manufacture. The content of phenolic compounds, dietary fiber, and mineral are higher in apple peel, compared to other edible parts of this fruits. The objective of this study was to develop an ingredient from Granny Smith apple peel, using a pilot scale double drum-dryer, as drying technology. The control of all steps to maximize the retention of phenolic compounds and dietary fiber was considered. Operational conditions, such as drying temperature and time were determined, as well as important preprocessing steps like grinding and PPO inhibition. In addition, the physical-chemical characteristics, mineral and sugar content, and technological functional properties such as water retention capacity, solubility index, and dispersability among others, were analyzed. A simple, economical, and suitable pilot scale process, to produce a powder ingredient from apple peel by-product, was obtained. The drying process includes the application of ascorbic acid at 0.5% in the fresh apple peel slurry, drum-dryer operational conditions were 110 degrees C, 0.15 rpm and 0.2 mm drum clearance. The ingredient developed could be considered as a source of phenolic compounds (38.6 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry base) and dietary fiber (39.7% dry base) in the formulation of foods. Practical Application: A method to develop an ingredient from Granny Smith apple peel using a pilot scale double drum-dryer as drying technology was developed. The method is simple, economical, feasible, and suitable and maximizes the retention of phenolic compounds and dietary fiber present in the raw matter. The ingredient could be used in the formulation of foods."}
{"id": "MED-4091", "text": "In this study, six common tests for measuring antioxidant activity were evaluated by comparing four antioxidants and applying them to beverages (tea and juices): Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay (TEAC I-III assay), Total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter assay (TRAP assay), 2,2-diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl assay (DPPH assay), N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylendiamine assay (DMPD assay), Photochemiluminescence assay (PCL assay) and Ferric reducing ability of plasma assay (FRAP assay). The antioxidants included gallic acid representing the group of polyphenols, uric acid as the main antioxidant in human plasma, ascorbic acid as a vitamin widely spread in fruits and Trolox as water soluble vitamin E analogue. The six methods presented can be divided into two groups depending on the oxidising reagent. Five methods use organic radical producers (TEAC I-III, TRAP, DPPH, DMPD, PCL) and one method works with metal ions for oxidation (FRAP). Another difference between these tests is the reaction procedure. Three assays use the delay in oxidation and determine the lag phase as parameter for the antioxidant activity (TEAC I, TRAP, PCL). They determine the delay of radical generation as well as the ability to scavenge the radical. In contrast, the assays TEAC II and III, DPPH, DMPD and FRAP analyse the ability to reduce the radical cation (TEAC II and III, DPPH, DMPD) or the ferric ion (FRAP). The three tests acting by radical reduction use preformed radicals and determine the decrease in absorbance while the FRAP assay measures the formed ferrous ions by increased absorbance. Gallic acid was the strongest antioxidant in all tests with exception of the DMPD assay. In contrast, uric acid and ascorbic acid showed low activity in some assays. Most of the assays determine the antioxidant activity in the micromolar range needing minutes to hours. Only one assay (PCL) is able to analyse the antioxidant activity in the nanomolar range. Black currant juice showed highest antioxidant activity in all tests compared to tea, apple juice and tomato juice. Despite these differences, results of these in vitro assays give an idea of the protective efficacy of secondary plant products. It is strongly recommended to use at least two methods due to the differences between the test systems investigated."}
{"id": "MED-4094", "text": "BACKGROUND: Evidence from case-control studies suggest that dietary fiber may be inversely related to breast cancer risk, but it is unclear if this is supported by prospective data. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence from prospective studies. METHODS: PubMed was searched for prospective studies of fiber intake and breast cancer risk until 31st August 2011. Random effects models were used to estimate summary relative risks (RRs). RESULTS: Sixteen prospective studies were included. The summary RR for the highest versus the lowest intake was 0.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89-0.98, I(2) = 0%] for dietary fiber, 0.95 (95% CI 0.86-1.06, I(2) = 4%) for fruit fiber, 0.99 (95% CI 0.92-1.07, I(2) = 1%) for vegetable fiber, 0.96 (95% CI 0.90-1.02, I(2) = 5%) for cereal fiber, 0.91 (95% CI 0.84-0.99, I(2) = 7%) for soluble fiber and 0.95 (95% CI 0.89-1.02, I(2) = 0%) for insoluble fiber. The summary RR per 10 g/day of dietary fiber was 0.95 (95% CI 0.91-0.98, I(2) = 0%, P(heterogeneity) = 0.82). In stratified analyses, the inverse association was only observed among studies with a large range (\u226513 g/day) or high level of intake (\u226525 g/day). CONCLUSION: In this meta-analysis of prospective studies, there was an inverse association between dietary fiber intake and breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4095", "text": "Statistics compiled by the National Cancer Institute indicate that, between 1935 and 1974, age-adjusted mortality from most 'Western' cancers (those of the breast, colon, prostate, pancreas, ovary, and kidney) rose dramatically in African-Americans. This phenomenon is paralleled by marked increases in the incidence of these cancers in Asia and Southern Europe during the latter 20th century, in conjunction with increased intakes of dietary animal products. A credible case can be made that diets rich in animal products work in various complementary ways to up-regulate serum levels of insulin, free IGF-I, and free sex hormones: hormones that appear to have important promotional activity for Western cancers. It seems likely that dietary animal product intake by black Americans increased substantially during the 20th century, and that this fact is primarily responsible for their concurrent marked increase in mortality from Western cancers. A whole-food vegan diet rich in fruits and vegetables, especially if coupled with regular exercise and smoking avoidance, could be expected to have a remarkably positive impact on African-American cancer risk, reversing the increases in cancer risk incurred during the 20th century. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4096", "text": "A variety of statistics are used to quantify the burden (occurrence and outcome) of cancer generally and of breast cancer specifically. When undertaking any cancer control program, understanding these statistics, their source, and their quality is important for assessing the current situation, allocating resources to different control strategies, and evaluating progress. Two core statistics are the cancer incidence rate and the cancer mortality rate, which provide estimates of the average risk of acquiring and of dying from the disease, respectively. About 16% of the world's population is covered by registration systems that produce cancer incidence statistics, while mortality data are available for about 29%. Breast cancer incidence and mortality vary considerably by world region. In general, the incidence is high (greater than 80 per 100,000) in developed regions of the world and low (less than 30 per 100,000), though increasing, in developing regions; the range of mortality rates is much less (approximately 6-23 per 100,000) because of the more favorable survival of breast cancer in (high-incidence) developed regions. The incidence of breast cancer is increasing almost everywhere. This unfavorable trend is due in part to increases in risk factors (decreased childbearing and breast-feeding, increased exogenous hormone exposure, and detrimental dietary and lifestyle changes, including obesity and less physical activity). On the other hand, mortality is now decreasing in many high-risk countries due to a combination of intensified early detection efforts and the introduction of mammographic screening, resulting in the diagnosis of more small, early stage tumors, and advances in treatment."}
{"id": "MED-4097", "text": "The identification of modifiable lifestyle factors that could reduce the risk of breast cancer is a research priority. Despite the enormous chemo preventive potential of green tea and compelling evidence from animal studies, its role in breast cancer development in humans is still unclear. Part of the uncertainty is related to the relatively small number of epidemiological studies on green tea and breast cancer and that the overall results from case-control studies and prospective cohort studies are discordant. In addition, the mechanisms by which green tea intake may influence risk of breast cancer in humans remains not well studied. We review the human studies that have evaluated the relationship between green tea intake and four biomarkers (sex steroid hormones, mammographic density, insulin-like growth factor, adiponectin) that are believed to be important in breast cancer development. Results from these biomarker studies are also inconclusive. Limitations of human studies and areas of further investigations are discussed."}
{"id": "MED-4099", "text": "OBJECTIVE: A meta-analysis was performed on epidemiologic studies to assess the relation between \u03b2-glucan consumption from oats and from barley on blood cholesterol level, triglyceride/triacylglycerol (TGL/TAG) level, and blood glucose level (BGL) in humans. In addition, the effect of \u03b2-glucan on total cholesterol (TC) and BGL was translated into an empirical dose-response model. METHODS: Thirty research articles that evaluated the effect of different exposure levels of \u03b2-glucan on blood cholesterol and BGL were analyzed, yielding 126 clinical studies. RESULTS: There was a significant inverse relation in TC (-0.60 mmol/L, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.85 to -0.34), low-density lipoprotein (-0.66 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.96 to -0.36), and TGL/TAG (-0.04 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.15 to 0.07) after consumption of \u03b2-glucan. In contrast, an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was noted (0.03 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.13) with the random-effect model. The analysis showed a significant change in BGL (-2.58 mmol/L, 95% CI -3.22 to -1.84) with high heterogeneity between (I(2) = 97%) and across (\u03c4(2) = 5.88) the studies. The fixed-effect model showed a significant change in TC, low-density lipoprotein, and BGL, whereas it showed no significant changes in high-density lipoprotein and TGL/TAG. The dose-response model showed that a 3-g/d dose of oat or barley \u03b2-glucan was sufficient to decrease TC. CONCLUSION: Consumption of 3 g/d of oat or barley \u03b2-glucan is sufficient to decrease blood cholesterol, whereas the effect on BGL is still inconclusive, with high heterogeneity, and requires further clinical research studies with longer intervention periods. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4100", "text": "The contribution of obesity to cardiovascular risk has not been adequately appreciated because of a failure to recognize the involvement of upper-body predominance of body weight with hypertension, diabetes, and hypertriglyceridemia even in the absence of significant overall obesity. This article examines the evidence that upper-body obesity, as usually induced by caloric excess in the presence of androgens, mediates these problems by way of hyperinsulinemia. Because of these interrelationships, there is a need to identify and prevent upper-body obesity or, failing that, to provide therapies that will control the associated problems without aggravating hyperinsulinemia."}
{"id": "MED-4101", "text": "The metabolic syndrome is a common complex entity that has emerged as a worldwide epidemic and major public health care concern with a prevalence of approximately 25% in the United States. There have been a number of different definitions of the metabolic syndrome but all center around the metabolic abnormalities of central obesity, hypertension, decreased high-density lipoproteins and elevated triglycerides with insulin resistance as the uniting physiologic factor. The importance of the metabolic syndrome is not just related to its high prevalence rate but also because it predicts the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is now recognized to be the hepatic component of the metabolic syndrome, which along with its individual components - particularly diabetes and elevated triglycerides, are the major risk factors for the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH); the most severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. NASH may progress to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure. It is currently the third most common cause for liver transplantation and is projected to be the leading cause for liver transplantation in 2020. Weight loss (via diet or bariatric surgery) and vitamin E have recently been demonstrated to be effective treatments of NASH. Although these and other agents may prove to be effective treatments for NASH, the most effective therapeutic strategy would be early screening and intervention to prevent the development of insulin resistance and oxidative stress at a societal level. \u00a9 2011 The Author. Journal of Digestive Diseases \u00a9 2011 Chinese Medical Association Shanghai Branch, Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4102", "text": "OBJECTIVE The study objective was to compare dietary patterns in their relationship with metabolic risk factors (MRFs) and the metabolic syndrome (MetS). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Cross-sectional analysis of 773 subjects (mean age 60 years) from the Adventist Health Study 2 was performed. Dietary pattern was derived from a food frequency questionnaire and classified as vegetarian (35%), semi-vegetarian (16%), and nonvegetarian (49%). ANCOVA was used to determine associations between dietary pattern and MRFs (HDL, triglycerides, glucose, blood pressure, and waist circumference) while controlling for relevant cofactors. Logistic regression was used in calculating odds ratios (ORs) for MetS. RESULTS A vegetarian dietary pattern was associated with significantly lower means for all MRFs except HDL (P for trend < 0.001 for those factors) and a lower risk of having MetS (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.30\u20130.64, P < 0.001) when compared with a nonvegetarian dietary pattern. CONCLUSIONS A vegetarian dietary pattern is associated with a more favorable profile of MRFs and a lower risk of MetS. The relationship persists after adjusting for lifestyle and demographic factors."}
{"id": "MED-4104", "text": "BACKGROUND: Although vegan diets improve diabetes management, little is known about the nutrient profiles or diet quality of individuals with type 2 diabetes who adopt a vegan diet. OBJECTIVE: To assess the changes in nutrient intake and dietary quality among participants following a low-fat vegan diet or the 2003 American Diabetes Association dietary recommendations. DESIGN: A 22-week randomized, controlled clinical trial examining changes in nutrient intake and diet quality. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Participants with type 2 diabetes (n=99) in a free-living setting. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to a low-fat vegan diet or a 2003 American Diabetes Association recommended diet. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Nutrient intake and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) scores were collected at baseline and 22 weeks. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Between-group t tests were calculated for changes between groups and paired comparison t tests were calculated for changes within-group. Pearson's correlation assessed relationship of AHEI score to hemoglobin A1c and body weight changes. RESULTS: Both groups reported significant decreases in energy, protein, fat, cholesterol, vitamin D, selenium, and sodium intakes. The vegan group also significantly reduced reported intakes of vitamin B-12 and calcium, and significantly increased carbohydrate, fiber, total vitamin A activity, beta carotene, vitamins K and C, folate, magnesium, and potassium. The American Diabetes Association recommended diet group also reported significant decreases in carbohydrate and iron, but reported no significant increases. The vegan group significantly improved its AHEI score (P<0.0001), while the American Diabetes Association recommended diet group did not (P=0.7218). The difference in AHEI score at 22 weeks between groups was significant (P<0.0001). With both groups combined, AHEI score was negatively correlated with both changes in hemoglobin A1c value (r=-0.24, P=0.016) and weight (r=-0.27, P=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Vegan diets increase intakes of carbohydrate, fiber, and several micronutrients, in contrast with the American Diabetes Association recommended diet. The vegan group improved its AHEI score whereas the American Diabetes Association recommended diet group's AHEI score remained unchanged."}
{"id": "MED-4106", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the relation between the level of habitual potassium intake and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). BACKGROUND: Prospective cohort studies have evaluated the relationship between habitual potassium intake and incidence of vascular disease, but their results have not been not entirely consistent. METHODS: We performed a systematic search for prospective studies published, without language restrictions (1966 to December 2009). Criteria for inclusion were prospective adult population study, assessment of baseline potassium intake, assessment of vascular events as outcome, and follow-up of at least 4 years. For each study, relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted and pooled using a random-effect model, weighted for the inverse of the variance. Heterogeneity, publication bias, subgroup, and meta-regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Eleven studies were identified, providing 15 cohort samples that included 247,510 male and female participants (follow-up 5 to 19 years), 7,066 strokes, 3,058 coronary heart disease (CHD) events, and 2,497 total CVD events. Potassium intake was assessed by 24-h dietary recall (n = 2), food frequency questionnaire (n = 6), or 24-h urinary excretion (n = 3). In the pooled analysis, a 1.64-g (42 mmol) per day higher potassium intake was associated with a 21% lower risk of stroke (RR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.68 to 0.90; p = 0.0007), with a trend toward lower risk of CHD and total CVD that attained statistical significance after the exclusion of a single cohort, based on sensitivity analysis (RR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.87 to 0.99; p = 0.03 and RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.91; p = 0.0037). CONCLUSIONS: Higher dietary potassium intake is associated with lower rates of stroke and might also reduce the risk of CHD and total CVD. These results support recommendations for higher consumption of potassium-rich foods to prevent vascular diseases. Copyright \u00a9 2011 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4107", "text": "Background: The American Heart Association (AHA), Institute of Medicine (IOM), and US Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans all recommend that Americans limit sodium intake and choose foods that contain potassium to decrease the risk of hypertension and other adverse health outcomes. Objective: We estimated the distributions of usual daily sodium and potassium intakes by sociodemographic and health characteristics relative to current recommendations. Design: We used 24-h dietary recalls and other data from 12,581 adults aged \u226520 y who participated in NHANES in 2003\u20132008. Estimates of sodium and potassium intakes were adjusted for within-individual day-to-day variation by using measurement error models. SEs and 95% CIs were assessed by using jackknife replicate weights. Results: Overall, 99.4% (95% CI: 99.3%, 99.5%) of US adults consumed more sodium daily than recommended by the AHA (<1500 mg), and 90.7% (89.6%, 91.8%) consumed more than the IOM Tolerable Upper Intake Level (2300 mg). In US adults who are recommended by the Dietary Guidelines to further reduce sodium intake to 1500 mg/d (ie, African Americans aged \u226551 y or persons with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease), 98.8% (98.4%, 99.2%) overall consumed >1500 mg/d, and 60.4% consumed >3000 mg/d\u2014more than double the recommendation. Overall, <2% of US adults and \u223c5% of US men consumed \u22654700 mg K/d (ie, met recommendations for potassium). Conclusion: Regardless of recommendations or sociodemographic or health characteristics, the vast majority of US adults consume too much sodium and too little potassium."}
{"id": "MED-4112", "text": "Co-stimulatory signals through the CD28 receptor enhance the survival of T cells that have their antigen receptor (TCR) engaged. Here we show that stimulation through the CD28 receptor in the absence of TCR engagement with either an anti-CD28 cross-linking antibody or the CD80 ligand transiently increases expression of the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) on T cells. Antibodies that block signaling through the IGF-IR decrease the survival of T cells activated through the TCR and CD28 in the presence of IL-2 by more than 50%, and also enhance susceptibility to Fas-induced apoptosis. CD28 stimulation increases IGF-IR expression on Jurkat cells, and exogenously added IGF-I can protect these cells from Fas-induced apoptosis. We conclude that CD28-mediated enhancement of IGF-IR expression provides activated T cells with essential survival signals that are independent of survival mediated by IL-2 and Bcl-xl."}
{"id": "MED-4114", "text": "Induced apoptosis of autoreactive T-lymphocyte precursors in the thymus is crucial for the prevention of autoimmune disorders. IGF-I and prolactin, which are lymphocyte growth factors, may have the potential to suppress apoptosis in thymocytes and thus encourage autoimmunity; conversely, dietary fish oil rich in omega-3 fats appears to upregulate apoptosis in lymphocytes. Since whole-food vegan diets may downregulate systemic IGF-I activity, it is proposed that such a diet, in conjunction with fish oil supplementation and treatment with dopamine agonists capable of suppressing prolactin secretion, may have utility for treating and preventing autoimmune disorders. This prediction is consistent with the extreme rarity of autoimmune disorders among sub-Saharan black Africans as long as they followed their traditional quasi-vegan lifestyles, and with recent ecologic studies correlating risks for IDDM and for multiple sclerosis mortality with animal product and/or saturated fat consumption. Moreover, there is evidence that vegan or quasi-vegan diets are useful in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and possibly SLE. The dopamine agonist bromocryptine exerts anti-inflammatory effects in rodent models of autoimmunity, and there is preliminary evidence that this drug may be clinically useful in several human autoimmune diseases; better tolerated D2-specific agonists such as cabergoline may prove to be more practical for use in therapy. The moderate clinical utility of supplemental fish oil in rheumatoid arthritis and certain other autoimmune disorders is documented. It is not unlikely that extra-thymic anti-inflammatory effects contribute importantly to the clinical utility of vegan diets, bromocryptine, and fish oil in autoimmunity. The favorable impact of low latitude or high altitude on autoimmune risk may be mediated by superior vitamin D status, which is associated with decreased secretion of parathyroid hormone; there are theoretical grounds for suspecting that parathyroid hormone may inhibit apoptosis in thymocytes. Androgens appear to up-regulate thymocyte apoptosis, may be largely responsible for the relative protection from autoimmunity enjoyed by men, and merit further evaluation for the management of autoimmunity in women. It will probably prove more practical to prevent autoimmune disorders than to reverse them once established; a whole-food vegan diet, coupled with fish oil and vitamin D supplementation, may represent a practical strategy for achieving this prevention, while concurrently lowering risk for many other life-threatening 'Western' diseases. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4116", "text": "The growths of many and perhaps all tumors may be stimulated rather than inhibited by a quantitatively low level of immunity. The reason tumors have antigens may be that tumors do not develop in vivo in the absence of at least a minimal immune reaction; in this sense, cancer may be considered an autoimmune disease. This review, based largely on the work of our own laboratory, outlines the data showing that the titration of anti-tumor immunity exhibits the phenomenon of hormesis, i.e. the dose-response curve is non-linear such that low levels of immunity are generally stimulatory but larger quantities of the same immune reactants may inhibit tumor growth. Evidence is also reviewed that suggests that the immune response may vary qualitatively and quantitatively during progression, such that there seems to be, during oncogenesis, a very low level of immune reaction that aids initial tumor growth, followed by a larger reaction that may cause remission of early neoplasms, followed, if the neoplasm survives, by a relative immunologic tolerance to the tumor that may be dependent, at least in part, on suppressor cells. This knowledge may help to explain some clinical observations concerning the relationships among tumor types and the organ distribution of metastases."}
{"id": "MED-4117", "text": "Breast cancer is a complex disease. Its aetiology is multifactorial, its period of development can span decades, and its clinical course is highly variable. Evaluation of the role of the immune response in either the development or control of breast cancer is also complex. Nevertheless, there is substantial information that in this disease, the immune response is not a host defence reaction and may even serve to facilitate cancer development. This evidence comes from a variety of sources including clinical-pathological investigations in women that show a correlation between the intensity of lymphocytic infiltration into the tumour mass with poor prognosis, studies in breast cancer patients that demonstrate a similar correlation between delayed hypersensitivity reactivity or in vitro assays of immune reactivity to tumour cell membranes or non-specific antigens and poor prognosis, and analyses of cancer incidence in chronically immunosuppressed, kidney transplant recipients who develop an unexpectedly low incidence of breast cancer. The overall conclusions from these human studies are corroborated by observations in mouse mammary tumour models that also demonstrate immune enhancement of breast cell proliferation in vitro and of breast cancer development in vivo. Potential mechanisms for these effects include production, by inflammatory cell infiltrates, of direct or indirect modulators of breast cell growth, e.g. cytokines, peptide or steroid hormones, enzymes involved in steroid metabolism, as well as of antibodies to growth factors or their receptors. These immune facilitatory mechanisms must be overcome if immune-based therapies are to be applied successfully in breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4121", "text": "The present study investigated the feasibility of a new experimental approach for studying the effect of covert nutritive dilution on the spontaneous food intake of obese individuals. Eight obese subjects were studied as inpatients on a metabolic unit for 15 days during which time they were unaware that their food intake was being monitored. A platter method of food presentation encouraged ad libitum ingestion. Caloric dilution was achieved by replacing sucrose-containing products with aspartame-sweetened analogues in an otherwise normal diet. During the base-line period the subjects spontaneously ate sufficient conventional food to maintain or even slightly increase body weight. Covert substitution of aspartame-sweetened products for their sucrose counterparts resulted in an immediate reduction in spontaneous energy intake of approximately 25%. The aspartame analogues were as well accepted as their conventional counterparts, as indicated by the equal quantity of each consumed. These preliminary results demonstrate that, in a metabolic ward setting, it is possible to maintain the spontaneous food intake of obese individuals at levels sufficient to preserve body weight and arbitrarily to decrease those levels of intake by 25% or more through covert changes in the caloric density of the diet."}
{"id": "MED-4124", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, and the onset and progression of diabetic complications are strongly linked. Reduction of oxidative stress could be of utmost importance in the long-term treatment of diabetic patients. The chronic nature of the disease calls for a mode of antioxidant intake that can be sustained easily, e.g., by the diet. Erythritol, a simple polyol, could be such a compound. It is orally available, well tolerated, and its chemical structure resembles that of mannitol, a well-known hydroxyl radical (HO*) scavenger. METHODS: We studied the antioxidant properties of erythritol in vitro and subsequently determined its antioxidant activity and its vasoprotective effect in the streptozotocin diabetic rat. RESULTS: Erythritol was shown to be an excellent HO* radical scavenger and an inhibitor of 2,2'-azobis-2-amidinopropane dihydrochloride-induced hemolysis but inert toward superoxide radicals. High-performance liquid chromatographic and electron spin resonance spectroscopy studies showed that the reaction of erythritol with hydroxyl radicals resulted in the formation of erythrose and erythrulose by abstraction of a carbon-bound hydrogen atom. In the streptozotocin diabetic rat, erythritol displayed an endothelium-protective effect and, in accordance with the in vitro experiments, erythrose was found in the urine of erythritol-consuming rats. CONCLUSION: Erythritol acts as an antioxidant in vivo and may help protect against hyperglycemia-induced vascular damage. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4125", "text": "Erythritol, a naturally occurring polyol, is gaining attention as a bulk sweetener for human nutrition. Industrially, it is produced from glucose by fermentation. From various studies it is known to be non-cariogenic. Moreover, it is rapidly absorbed in the small intestine and quantitatively excreted in the urine. Only about 10 % enters the colon. Earlier in vitro experiments showed that erythritol remained unfermented for a fermentation period of 12 h. In order to investigate whether fresh human intestinal microbiota is able to adapt its enzyme activities to erythritol, a 24 h lasting fermentation was carried out under well-standardised in vitro conditions. For comparison maltitol, lactulose and blank (faecal inoculum only) were incubated as well. Fermentation patterns were established by following total gas production, hydrogen accumulation, changes in pH value, SCFA production and substrate degradation. Taking all fermentation parameters into account, erythritol turned out to be completely resistant to bacterial attack within 24 h, thus excluding an adaptation within that period. Since under in vivo conditions more easily fermentable substrates enter the colon continuously, it seems very unlikely that erythritol will be fermented in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-4126", "text": "Aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener that has been linked to pediatric and adolescent migraines. Upon ingestion, aspartame is broken, converted, and oxidized into formaldehyde in various tissues. We present the first case series of aspartame-associated migraines related to clinically relevant positive reactions to formaldehyde on patch testing."}
{"id": "MED-4127", "text": "We report for the first time an unusual musculoskeletal adverse effect of aspartame in two patients. A 50-year-old woman had been suffering from widespread pain and fatigue for more than 10 years leading to the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. During a vacation in a foreign country, she did not suffer from painful symptoms since she had forgotten to take her aspartame. All of the symptoms reappeared in the days following her return when she reintroduced aspartame into her daily diet. Thus, aspartame was definitively excluded from her diet, resulting in a complete regression of the fibromyalgia symptoms. A 43-year-old man consulted for a 3-year history of bilateral forearm, wrist, and hand and cervical pain with various unsuccessful treatments. A detailed questioning allowed to find out that he had been taking aspartame for three years. The removal of aspartame was followed by a complete regression of pain, without recurrence. We believe that these patients' chronic pain was due to the ingestion of aspartame, a potent flavouring agent, widely used in food as a calorie-saver. The benefit/ risk ratio of considering the diagnosis of aspartame-induced chronic pain is obvious: the potential benefit is to cure a disabling chronic disease, to spare numerous laboratory and imaging investigations, and to avoid potentially harmful therapies; the potential risk is to temporarily change the patient's diet. Thus, practitioners should ask patients suffering from fibromyalgia about their intake of aspartame. In some cases, this simple question might lead to the resolution of a disabling chronic disease."}
{"id": "MED-4128", "text": "Various methods have been described in the literature for the detection of virulent Yersinia enterocolitica in pigs. The risk factors for pig herd contamination have yet to be determined. The objective of this study was to validate a sensitive method for the detection of Y. enterocolitica and to describe the distribution of the bacteria in pigs at slaughter from conventional and alternative (\"organic\") housing systems. First, samples were collected from tonsils, caecum with caecal contents, and the caecal lymph nodes of 60 slaughter pigs. These samples were used to compare the sensitivity of six different laboratory culture methods either in common use or described in the literature with that of a polymerase chain reaction with two primer pairs (multiplex PCR). Then, only PCR was used to examine tonsils, caecum and caecal lymph nodes from two groups of slaughter pigs: 210 from six conventional fattening farms and 200 from three with alternative housing. The results of the multiplex PCR were positive in 28 cases. All culture methods proved inferior to PCR in sensitivity. In the second part of the study, PCR detected 36 (18%) positive pigs from alternative housing and 60 (29%) from conventional housing (p<0.05). The highest rate of Y. enterocolitica contamination was found in tonsils (11% alternative, 22% conventional; p<0.05), followed by caecum (5%, 11%) and lymph nodes (2%, 7%). The housing system appears to be one important factor in the prevalence of this common pathogen in pig herds, as we found important differences between the two systems studied here. In the conventional system, the main risk factors appeared to be sourcing pigs from different pig suppliers, use of commercial feed and transportation to slaughter."}
{"id": "MED-4129", "text": "Pigs are considered as a major reservoir of human pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica and a source of human yersiniosis. However, the transmission route of Y. enterocolitica from farm to pork is still unclear. The transmission of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica from pigs to carcasses and pluck sets was investigated by collecting samples from 364 individual ear-tagged pigs on the farm and at the slaughterhouse. In addition, isolated strains were analyzed, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Isolation of similar genotypes of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3 in animals on the farm and at the slaughterhouse and in carcasses shows that carcass contamination originates from the strains a pig carries during the fattening period. Direct contamination from the carrier pig to its subsequent pluck set is also the primary contamination route for pluck sets, but cross-contamination appears to have a larger impact on pluck set contamination than on carcasses. In this study, the within-farm prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica varied from 0% to 100%, indicating specific farm factors affect the prevalence of Y. enterocolitica in pigs. The association of farm factors with the high prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica on farms was studied for the first time, using correlation and two-level logistic regression analyses. Specific farm factors, i.e. drinking from a nipple, absence of coarse feed or bedding for slaughter pigs, and no access of pest animals to pig house, were associated with a high prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3."}
{"id": "MED-4130", "text": "We investigated characteristics of Yersinia enterocolitica infection in Ontario finisher pig herds. Our specific objectives were to estimate or test: prevalence of Y. enterocolitica shedding in finisher pigs, bioserotype distribution, agreement between the herd-level tests based on sampling pig and pooled fecal samples, whether bioserotypes cluster by farms, and whether Y. enterocolitica-positive herds cluster spatially. In total, 3747 fecal samples were collected from 100 farms over the years 2001, 2002, and 2004 (250 total herd visits). Fecal samples were tested by culture and positive isolates were biotyped and serotyped. Apparent pig-level prevalence of Y. enterocolitica was 1.8%, 3.2%, and 12.5% in 2001, 2002, and 2004, respectively. Estimated true pig-level prevalence of Y. enterocolitica was 5.1%, 9.1%, and 35.1% in 2001, 2002, and 2004, respectively. Herd-level prevalence was 16.3%, 17.9%, and 37.5% in 2001, 2002, and 2004, respectively. In all years, the most common bioserotype was 4, O:3, followed by bioserotype 2, O:5,27. Kappa between herd-level status based on pig and pooled samples ranged between 0.51 and 0.68 for biotype 1A and bioserotype 4, O:3, respectively. For 4, O:3, a significant bias in discordant pairs was detected, indicating that pig samples were more sensitive than pooled samples in declaring a herd as positive. Farms tended to be repeatedly positive with the same bioserotype, but positive study farms did not cluster spatially (suggesting lack of between herd transmission and lack of a common geographic risk factor). Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4131", "text": "In this article we estimate the annual cost of illness and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) loss in the United States caused by 14 of the 31 major foodborne pathogens reported on by Scallan et al. (Emerg. Infect. Dis. 17:7-15, 2011), based on their incidence estimates of foodborne illness in the United States. These 14 pathogens account for 95 % of illnesses and hospitalizations and 98 % of deaths due to identifiable pathogens estimated by Scallan et al. We estimate that these 14 pathogens cause $14.0 billion (ranging from $4.4 billion to $33.0 billion) in cost of illness and a loss of 61,000 QALYs (ranging from 19,000 to 145,000 QALYs) per year. Roughly 90 % of this loss is caused by five pathogens: nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica ($3.3 billion; 17,000 QALYs), Campylobacter spp. ($1.7 billion; 13,300 QALYs), Listeria monocytogenes ($2.6 billion; 9,400 QALYs), Toxoplasma gondii ($3 billion; 11,000 QALYs), and norovirus ($2 billion; 5,000 QALYs). A companion article attributes losses estimated in this study to the consumption of specific categories of foods. To arrive at these estimates, for each pathogen we create disease outcome trees that characterize the symptoms, severities, durations, outcomes, and likelihoods of health states associated with that pathogen. We then estimate the cost of illness (medical costs, productivity loss, and valuation of premature mortality) for each pathogen. We also estimate QALY loss for each health state associated with a given pathogen, using the EuroQol 5D scale. Construction of disease outcome trees, outcome-specific cost of illness, and EuroQol 5D scoring are described in greater detail in a second companion article."}
{"id": "MED-4132", "text": "Understanding the relative public health impact of major microbiological hazards across the food supply is critical for a risk-based national food safety system. This study was conducted to estimate the U.S. health burden of 14 major pathogens in 12 broad categories of food and to then rank the resulting 168 pathogen-food combinations. These pathogens examined were Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, norovirus, Salmonella enterica, Toxoplasma gondii, and all other FoodNet pathogens. The health burden associated with each pathogen was measured using new estimates of the cost of illness and loss of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) from acute and chronic illness and mortality. A new method for attributing illness to foods was developed that relies on both outbreak data and expert elicitation. This method assumes that empirical data are generally preferable to expert judgment; thus, outbreak data were used for attribution except where evidence suggests that these data are considered not representative of food attribution. Based on evaluation of outbreak data, expert elicitation, and published scientific literature, outbreak-based attribution estimates for Campylobacter, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, and Yersinia were determined not representative; therefore, expert-based attribution were included for these four pathogens. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the effect of attribution data assumptions on rankings. Disease burden was concentrated among a relatively small number of pathogen-food combinations. The top 10 pairs were responsible for losses of over $8 billion and 36,000 QALYs, or more than 50 % of the total across all pairs. Across all 14 pathogens, poultry, pork, produce, and complex foods were responsible for nearly 60 % of the total cost of illness and loss of QALYs."}
{"id": "MED-4133", "text": "BACKGROUND: Yersinia enterocolitica (YE) infection has long been implicated in the pathogenesis of Graves' disease (GD). The association between YE and GD could, however, also be due to common genetic or environmental factors affecting the development of both YE infection and GD. This potential confounding can be minimized by investigation of twin pairs discordant for GD. AIM: To examine whether YE infection is associated with GD. DESIGN: We first conducted a classical case-control study of individuals with (61) and without (122) GD, and then a case-control study of twin pairs (36) discordant for GD. METHODS: Immunoglobulin (Ig)A and IgG antibodies to virulence-associated Yersinia outer membrane proteins (YOPs) were measured. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence of YOP IgA and IgG antibodies. RESULTS: Subjects with GD had a higher prevalence of YOP IgA (49%vs. 34%, P = 0.054) and YPO IgG (51%vs. 35%, P = 0.043) than the external controls. The frequency of chronic YE infection, reflected by the presence of both IgA and IgG YOP antibodies, was also higher among cases than controls (49%vs. 33%, P = 0.042). Similar results were found in twin pairs discordant for GD. In the case-control analysis, individuals with GD had an increased odds ratio (OR) of YE infection: IgA 1.84 (95% CI 0.99-3.45) and IgG 1.90 (95% CI 1.02-3.55). In the co-twin analysis, the twin with GD also had an increased OR of YE infection: IgA 5.5 (95% CI 1.21-24.81) and IgG 5.0 (95% CI 1.10-22.81). CONCLUSION: The finding of an association between GD and YE in the case-control study and within twin pairs discordant for GD supports the notion that YE infection plays an aetiological role in the occurrence of GD, or vice versa. Future studies should examine the temporal relationship of this association in more depth."}
{"id": "MED-4134", "text": "Yersinia enterocolitica is considered an important food-borne pathogen impacting the pork production and processing industry in the United States. Since this bacterium is a commensal of swine, the primary goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica in pigs in the United Sates using feces as the sample source. A total of 2,793 fecal samples were tested for its presence in swine. Fecal samples were collected from late finisher pigs from 77 production sites in the 15 eastern and midwestern pork-producing states over a period of 27 weeks (6 September 2000 to 20 March 2001). The prevalence of ail-positive Y. enterocolitica was determined in samples using both a fluorogenic 5\u2032 nuclease PCR assay and a culture method. The mean prevalence was 13.10% (366 of 2,793 fecal samples tested) when both PCR- and culture-positive results were combined. Forty-one of 77 premises (53.25%) contained at least one fecal sample positive for the ail sequence. The PCR assay indicated a contamination rate of 12.35% (345/2,793) compared to 4.08% (114/2,793) by the culture method. Of the 345 PCR-positive samples, 252 were culture negative, while of the 114 culture-positive samples, 21 were PCR negative. Among 77 premises, the PCR assay revealed a significantly (P < 0.05) higher percentage (46.75%, n = 36 sites) of samples positive for the pathogen (ail sequence) than the culture method (22.08%, n = 17 sites). Thus, higher sensitivity, with respect to number of samples and sites identified as positive for the PCR method compared with the culture method for detecting pathogenic Y. enterocolitica, was demonstrated in this study. The results support the hypothesis that swine are a reservoir for Y. enterocolitica strains potentially pathogenic for humans."}
{"id": "MED-4135", "text": "Yersinia enterocolitica are ubiquitous, being isolated frequently from soil, water, animals, and a variety of foods. They comprise a biochemically heterogeneous group that can survive and grow at refrigeration temperatures. The ability to propagate at refrigeration temperatures is of considerable significance in food hygiene. Virulent strains of Yersinia invade mammalian cells such as HeLa cells in tissue culture. Two chromosomal genes, inv and ail, were identified for cell invasion of mammalian. The pathogen can cause diarrhoea, appendicitis and post-infection arthritis may occur in a small proportion of cases. The most common transmission route of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica is thought to be fecal-oral via contaminated food. Direct person-to-person contact is rare. Occasionally, pathogenic Y. enterocolitica has been detected in vegetables and environmental water; thus, vegetables and untreated water are also potential sources of human yersiniosis. However, the isolation rates of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica have been low, which may be due to the limited sensitivity of the detection methods. To identify other possible transmission vehicles, different food items should be studied more extensively. Many factors related to the epidemiology of Y. enterocolitica, such as sources, transmission routes, and predominating genotypes remain obscure because of the low sensitivity of detection methods."}
{"id": "MED-4136", "text": "BACKGROUND: In the United States, contaminated food causes approximately 1,000 reported disease outbreaks and an estimated 48 million illnesses, 128,000 METHODS: The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) conducts surveillance among 15% of the U.S. population for laboratory-confirmed infections with nine pathogens transmitted commonly through food. Overall and pathogen-specific changes in incidence were estimated from 1996-1998 to 2010 and from 2006-2008 to 2010.hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths annually. This report summarizes 2010 surveillance data and describes trends since 1996. RESULTS: A total of 19,089 infections, 4,247 hospitalizations, and 68 deaths were reported from FoodNet sites in 2010. Salmonella infection was the most common infection reported (17.6 illnesses per 100,000 persons) and was associated with the largest number of hospitalizations (2,290) and deaths (29); no significant change in incidence of Salmonella infection has occurred since the start of surveillance during 1996-1998. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 infection caused 0.9 illnesses per 100,000. Compared with 1996-1998, overall incidence of infection with six key pathogens in 2010 was 23% lower, and pathogen-specific incidence was lower for Campylobacter, Listeria, STEC O157, Shigella, and Yersinia infection but higher for Vibrio infection. Compared with a more recent period, 2006--2008, incidence in 2010 was lower for STEC O157 and Shigella infection but higher for Vibrio infection. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of STEC O157 infection has declined to reach the 2010 national health objective target of \u22651 case per 100,000. This success, as well as marked declines since 1996-1998 in overall incidence of six key foodborne infections, demonstrates the feasibility of preventing foodborne illnesses. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE: Salmonella infection should be targeted because it has not declined significantly in more than a decade, and other data indicate that it is one of the most common foodborne infections, resulting in an estimated $365 million in direct medical costs annually. The prevention measures that reduced STEC O157 infection need to be applied more broadly to reduce Salmonella and other infections. Effective measures from farm to table include preventing contamination of meat during slaughter and of all foods, including produce, during processing and preparation; cooking meat thoroughly; vigorously detecting and investigating outbreaks; and recalling contaminated food."}
{"id": "MED-4137", "text": "Swine have been identified as the primary reservoir of pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica (YE), but little research has focused on the epidemiology of YE at the farm level. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of YE in different production phases on swine farms. In this cross-sectional study, individual pigs on eight swine operations were sampled for the presence of YE. On each farm, both feces and oral-pharyngeal swabs were collected from pigs in five different production phases: gestating, farrowing, suckling, nursery, and finishing. A pig was considered positive if either sample tested positive. Samples were cultured with cold enrichment followed by isolation on selective media plates. Presumptive isolates were confirmed as YE and assayed for the presence of ail with a multiplex PCR. Of the 2,349 pigs sampled, 120 (5.1%) tested positive, and of those, 51 were ail positive (42.5% of YE isolates). On all farms, there was a trend of increasing prevalence as pigs mature. Less than 1% of suckling piglets tested positive for YE. Only 1.4% (44.4% of which were ail positive) of nursery pigs tested positive, but 10.7% (48.1% of which were ail positive) of finishing pigs harbored YE. Interestingly, gestating sows had the second highest prevalence of YE at 9.1% (26.7% of which were ail positive), yet YE was never detected from the farrowing sows. These results represent the first on-farm description of YE in U.S. herds and provide the initial step for designing future studies of YE."}
{"id": "MED-4138", "text": "Yersinia enterocolitica is a zoonotic agent that causes gastrointestinal disease in humans, as well as reactive arthritis and erythema nodosum. Enteropathogenic Yersinia are the etiological agents for yersiniosis, which can be acquired through the consumption of contaminated foods. As porcine animals are the main carriers of Y. enterocolitica, food safety measures to minimize human infection are of increasing interest to the scientific and medical community. In this review, we examine why it is imperative that information on the reservoirs, prevalence, virulence, and ability of this pathogen to survive in different environments is further investigated to provide rational measures to prevent or decrease associated disease risks."}
{"id": "MED-4139", "text": "Pigs are the major animal reservoir for Yersinia enterocolitica strains, which are potentially pathogenic for humans. The goals of this study were (i) to estimate the individual animal and on-farm prevalences of Y. enterocolitica in hogs based on tonsil samples collected during National Animal Health Monitoring System Swine 2002 study and (ii) to use these data with data previously published for fecal samples to determine on-farm risk factors for Y. enterocolitica. Tonsil swabs (1,218) and fecal samples (2,847) were collected on 124 farms located in the top 17 pork-producing states. Ten percent of tonsils (122 of 1,218 samples) were positive in irgasan-tiracillin-chlorate (ITC) enrichment broth by real-time PCR, but only 5.6% of samples (68 of 1,218) were positive after subculture on the more selective cefsulodin-irgasan-novobiocin (CIN) agar. For tonsils, the on-farm prevalence based on real-time PCR detection of the ail gene in ITC enrichment broth cultures was 32% (32 of 100 premises sampled); the prevalence based on subculture in CIN agar was 19.6% (20 of 102 premises). Results of bacteriological isolation and real-time PCR analysis of tonsils and feces were combined to estimate prevalence (individual animal and farm), which was subsequently correlated with 40 farm management practices. Four factors and their accompanying odds ratios (ORs) were identified in the final regression model: location in a central state (OR = 0.3), vaccination for Escherichia coli (OR = 3.0), percentage of deaths due to scours (OR = 3.5), and presence of meat or bone meal in grower-finisher diet (OR = 4.1)."}
{"id": "MED-4140", "text": "A survey of 788 pigs from 120 farms was conducted to determine the within-farm prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica and a questionnaire of management conditions was mailed to the farms afterwards. A univariate statistical analysis with carriage and shedding as outcomes was conducted with random-effects logistic regression with farm as a clustering factor. Variables with a P value <0\u00b715 were included into the respective multivariate random-effects logistic regression model. The use of municipal water was discovered to be a protective factor against carriage and faecal shedding of the pathogen. Organic production and buying feed from a certain feed manufacturer were also protective against total carriage. Tonsillar carriage, a different feed manufacturer, fasting pigs before transport to the slaughterhouse, higher-level farm health classification, and snout contacts between pigs were risk factors for faecal shedding. We concluded that differences in management can explain different prevalences of Y. enterocolitica between farms."}
{"id": "MED-4141", "text": "To study the origin and spread of Yersinia enterocolitica among pigs, fecal and blood samples were repeatedly taken on a fattening farm. A few piglets were found to be already infected on breeding farms. After the piglets were mixed, the infection spread through the whole unit. Eventually, all the pigs excreted the pathogen."}
{"id": "MED-4142", "text": "Swine confinement buildings in eastern Canada are enclosed and equipped with modern production systems to manage waste. Bioaerosols of these swine confinement buildings could be contaminated by human pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria which could colonize exposed workers. We therefore wanted to analyze bioaerosols of swine confinement buildings and nasal flora of Canadian hog producers to evaluate possible colonization with human pathogens and tetracycline-resistant bacteria. Culturable and non-culturable human pathogens and tet genes were investigated in the bioaerosols of 18 barns. The nasal passages of 35 hog producers were sampled and total DNA was extracted from the calcium-alginate swabs to detect, by PCR, Campylobacter, C. perfringens, Enterococcus, E. coli, Y. enterocolitica, tetA/tetC, tetG and ribosomal protection protein genes. Airborne culturable C. perfringens, Enterococcus, E. coli, and Y. enterocolitica were present in the bioaerosols of 16, 17, 11 and 6 of the 18 facilities. Aerosolized total (culturable/non culturable) Campylobacter, C. perfringens, Enterococcus, E. coli and Y. enterocolitica were detected in 10, 6, 15, 18 and 2 barns, respectively. Tet genes were found in isolates of culturable human pathogens. TetA/tetC, tetG and ribosomal protection protein genes were detected in the bioaerosols of all 18 studied buildings. Campylobacter, C. perfringens, Enterococcus, E. coli, and Y. enterocolitica were found respectively in 4, 9, 17, 14 and one nasal flora of workers. One and 10 workers were positive for tetA/tetC and tetG genes, respectively. In swine confinement buildings, hog producers are exposed to aerosolized human pathogens and tetracycline-resistant bacteria that can contaminate the nasal flora. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4143", "text": "In this study, we hoped to provide valuable clinical information on yersiniosis for clinicians. Two thousand six hundred stool samples were collected from in- and outpatients with diarrhea, which were tested with both culture method and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In total, 188 positive samples were detected by RT-PCR (178) and culture method (160), while the incidence was about 7.23%. The detection rate of RT-PCR was significantly higher than culture method and a higher incidence in autumn-winter was also noticeably identified than in spring-summer. Infection sources mostly focused on unboiled foods (101) and pets (45), while clinical manifestation mainly presented as gastroenteritis (156), pseudoappendicitis (32), and extraintestinal complications (46). The morbidity of extraintestinal complications in adults was significantly higher than in children and it was the same for high-risk patients between adults over the age of 60 years (4.7%) and children under the age of 3 years (1.4%), whereas the constituent ratio of children versus adults with yersiniosis in different systems was not significant. Of 160 isolates tested for antimicrobial susceptibility, the majority were susceptible to third-generation cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, whereas only a small portion was susceptible to the first-generation cephalosporins and penicillins. During autumn-winter months, clinicians should pay more attention to clinical manifestation, early diagnosis, and treatment with susceptible antibiotics of yersiniosis and its complications, targeting high-risk patients."}
{"id": "MED-4145", "text": "A number of technologies that increase feed efficiency and lean tissue deposition while decreasing fat deposition have been developed in an effort to improve profitability of animal production. In general, the mode of action of these metabolic modifiers is to increase muscle deposition while often simultaneously reducing fat deposition. However, there have been some concerns that the focus on increasing production efficiency and lean meat yield has been to the detriment of meat quality. The aim of this review is to collate data on the effects of these metabolic modifiers on meat quality, and then discuss these overall effects. When data from the literature are collated and subject to meta-analyses it appears that conservative use of each of these technologies will result in a 5-10% (0.3-0.5kg) increase in shear force with a similar reduction in perception of tenderness. However, it should be borne in mind that the magnitude of these increases are similar to those observed with similar increases in carcass leanness obtained through other means (e.g. nutritional, genetic selection) and may be an inherent consequence of the production of leaner meat. To counter this, there are some other metabolic factors and dietary additives that offer some potential to improve meat quality (for example immuncastration) and it is possible that these can be used on their own or in conjunction with somatotropin, approved \u03b2-agonists, anabolic implants and CLA to maintain or improve meat quality."}
{"id": "MED-4146", "text": "The objective was to summarize previous literature, using a meta-analysis approach, on the effects of ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) when fed at doses of 5 to 10 mg/kg for up to 35 d before harvest on carcass cutability and belly quality of finishing pigs. The meta-analysis provided an opportunity to determine the consensus of previously published literature. Ten studies were evaluated to determine cutting yields and 8 studies were used to determine belly quality in this review. Pooled dietary RAC concentrations (5 mg/kg, 7.4 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, and step-up feeding programs) and pooled feeding durations (up to 35 d before harvest) were compared with pigs not fed RAC (controls) and were analyzed as a meta-analysis using the mixed procedure of SAS. Ractopamine inclusion was the fixed effect in the model and the individual study was considered a random variable. The only difference between RAC and control pigs for whole primals as a percentage of side weight was the whole ham (P < 0.01). No other differences were detected for whole primals as a percentage of side weight. Yet, differences were detected in the standardized trimmed primal yields. A difference (P < 0.05) in percentages of the side weight was detected for the Boston butt, trimmed loin, and trimmed ham. This translated into RAC pigs having a carcass cutting yield (74.70% vs. 73.69%, respectively; P = 0.02; SED = 0.33) advantage of 1.01% units and a bone in lean cutting yield (61.43% vs. 60.33%, respectively; P = 0.03; SED = 0.40) advantage of 1.10% units when compared with control pigs. The advantage in bone-in cutability was a result of increased boneless sub primal yields in each of the lean cuts (shoulder, loin, and ham). When further evaluated, RAC pigs had a boneless shoulder (Boston butt + picnic) yield advantage of 0.32% units (P < 0.01; SED = 0.11), a 0.43% unit (P = 0.01; SED = 0.13) yield advantage in the boneless loin (Canadian back + tenderloin + sirloin), and a 0.51% unit (P < 0.001; SED = 0.11) advantage in the boneless ham (inside + outside + knuckle). A boneless yield was calculated using a summation of the percentage of side weight from the boneless shoulder, boneless loin, and boneless ham, which resulted in a 1.08% unit (36.28% vs. 35.20%, respectively; P = 0.002; SED = 0.25) advantage of RAC pigs when compared with control pigs. There were no subprimal yield differences (P = 0.93) in the trimmed belly between RAC pigs (12.18%) and control pigs (12.18%). However, RAC pigs (15.27 cm; 73.42) had narrower flop distances (P = 0.02; SED = 0.62) and greater iodine values (P = 0.01; SED = 0.33), respectively, when compared with control pigs (17.08 cm; 71.48)."}
{"id": "MED-4147", "text": "Wastewater impoundments at concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) represent a potential source of veterinary pharmaceuticals and steroid hormone contamination to shallow groundwater. This study investigates the occurrence of seventeen veterinary pharmaceuticals and thirteen steroid hormones and hormone metabolites in lagoons and adjacent groundwater at operating swine and beef cattle facilities. These sites were chosen because subsurface geology and previous monitoring of nitrate, ammonia and chloride levels in shallow ground water strongly indicated direct infiltration, and as such represent worst cases for ground water contamination by waste water. Pharmaceutical compounds detected in samples obtained from cattle facilities include sulfamerazine; sulfamethazine; erythromycin; monensin; tiamulin; and sulfathiazole. Lincomycin; ractopamine; sulfamethazine; sulfathiazole; erythromycin; tiamulin and sulfadimethoxine were detected in wastewater samples obtained from swine facilities. Steroid hormones were detected less frequently than veterinary pharmaceuticals in this study. Estrone, testosterone, 4-androstenedione, and androsterone were detected in wastewater impoundments at concentrations ranging from 30 to 3600ng/L, while only estrone and testosterone were detected in groundwater samples at concentrations up to 390ng/L. The co-occurrence of veterinary pharmaceutical and steroid hormone contamination in groundwater at these locations and the correlation between pharmaceutical occurrence in lagoon wastewater and hydraulically downgradient groundwater indicates that groundwater underlying some livestock wastewater impoundments is susceptible to contamination by veterinary pharmaceuticals and steroid hormones originating in wastewater lagoons. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4148", "text": "Under farm conditions, aggression related to the formation of social hierarchy and competition for resources can be a major problem because of associated injuries, social stress, and carcass losses. Any factor that may affect the regulation and amount of aggression within a farmed system, for instance, feeding the beta-adrenoreceptor agonist ractopamine (RAC), is therefore worthy of investigation. The objectives of this study were to assess the effects of the widely used swine feed additive RAC, considering also the effects of sex and social rank on aggressiveness and concentrations of brain amines, neurotransmitters essential for controlling aggression, in finishing pigs. Thirty-two barrows and 32 gilts (4 pigs/pen by sex) were fed either a control diet or a diet with RAC (Paylean, Elanco Animal Health, Greenfield, IN) added (5 mg/kg for 2 wk, followed by 10 mg/kg for 2 wk). The top dominant and bottom subordinate pigs (16 pigs/sex) in each pen were determined after mixing by a 36-h period of continuous behavioral observation. These pigs were then subjected to resident-intruder tests (maximum 300 s) during the feeding trial to measure aggressiveness. At the end of wk 4, the amygdala, frontal cortex, hypothalamus, and raphe nuclei were dissected and analyzed for concentrations of dopamine (DA); serotonin (5-HT); their metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), respectively; norepinephrine; and epinephrine using HPLC. Ractopamine-fed gilts performed more attacks during the first 30 s of testing than pigs in all other subgroups (P < 0.05). By the end of the resident-intruder test (300 s), the dominant control gilts and barrows, and both dominant and subordinate RAC-fed gilts performed the greatest percentage of attacks (P < 0.05). Gilts had decreased norepinephrine and DOPAC concentrations in the amygdala and frontal cortex, and when fed RAC, gilts also had the least 5-HIAA concentration and greatest DA turnover rate in the amygdala (P < 0.05). The 5-HT concentration was less in the frontal cortex of gilts compared with barrows and in the raphe nuclei (single site for brain 5-HT synthesis) of dominant gilts (P < 0.05). Ractopamine may be affecting aggressive behavior through indirect action on central regulatory mechanisms such as the DA system. The aggressive pattern observed in the tested pigs, especially in gilts, is likely linked to brain monoamine profiling of a deficient serotonergic system in the raphe nuclei, amygdala, and frontal cortex, and enhanced DA metabolism in the amygdala, brain areas vital for aggression regulation."}
{"id": "MED-4149", "text": "Oxidative stress, i.e. excessive content of reactionary, oxygen, and nitrogen compounds (ROAC), including free radicals, is one of the causes of various dangerous diseases as well as premature aging. The adverse effect of free radicals can be neutralized by antioxidants. In order to carry out antioxidant therapy, one needs to know the contents of antioxidants in food products. We have created the databank for the contents of antioxidants in 1,140 food products, beverages, etc. Apart from water-soluble antioxidants, fat-soluble antioxidants in dairy and fish products, cacao, chocolate, nuts etc. were determined for the first time using an amperometric method."}
{"id": "MED-4150", "text": "Fenugreek, maple syrup and the urine of maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) patients all share a characteristic odour originating from a common component, sotolone. Ingestion of fenugreek by mothers during labour resulted in a maple syrup-like odour in their newborn infants, leading to a false suspicion of MSUD."}
{"id": "MED-4151", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the independent relationships of television viewing or other screen-based entertainment (\"screen time\") with all-cause mortality and clinically confirmed cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. A secondary objective was to examine the extent to which metabolic (body mass index, high-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol) and inflammatory (C-reactive protein) markers mediate the relationship between screen time and CVD events. BACKGROUND: Although some evidence suggests that prolonged sitting is linked to CVD risk factor development regardless of physical activity participation, studies with hard outcomes are scarce. METHODS: A population sample of 4,512 (1,945 men) Scottish Health Survey 2003 respondents (\u226535 years) were followed up to 2007 for all-cause mortality and CVD events (fatal and nonfatal combined). Main exposures were interviewer-assessed screen time (<2 h/day; 2 to <4 h/day; and \u22654 h/day) and moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. RESULTS: Two hundred fifteen CVD events and 325 any-cause deaths occurred during 19,364 follow-up person-years. The covariable (age, sex, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, social class, long-standing illness, marital status, diabetes, hypertension)-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06 to 2.16) and for CVD events was 2.30 (95% CI: 1.33 to 3.96) for participants engaging in \u22654 h/day of screen time relative to <2 h/day. Adjusting for physical activity attenuated these associations only slightly (all-cause mortality: HR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.04 to 2.13; CVD events: HR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.30 to 3.89). Exclusion of participants with CVD events in the first 2 years of follow-up and previous cancer registrations did not change these results appreciably. Approximately 25% of the association between screen time and CVD events was explained collectively by C-reactive protein, body mass index, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2011 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4153", "text": "CONTEXT: Emerging evidence suggests that sedentary behavior (i.e., time spent sitting) may be negatively associated with health. The aim of this study was to systematically review the evidence on associations between occupational sitting and health risks. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Studies were identified in March-April 2009 by literature searches in PubMed, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PEDro, with subsequent related-article searches in PubMed and citation searches in Web of Science. Identified studies were categorized by health outcome. Two independent reviewers assessed methodologic quality using a 15-item quality rating list (score range 0-15 points, higher score indicating better quality). Data on study design, study population, measures of occupational sitting, health risks, analyses, and results were extracted. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: 43 papers met the inclusion criteria (21% cross-sectional, 14% case-control, 65% prospective); they examined the associations between occupational sitting and BMI (n=12); cancer (n=17); cardiovascular disease (CVD, n=8); diabetes mellitus (DM, n=4); and mortality (n=6). The median study-quality score was 12 points. Half the cross-sectional studies showed a positive association between occupational sitting and BMI, but prospective studies failed to confirm a causal relationship. There was some case-control evidence for a positive association between occupational sitting and cancer; however, this was generally not supported by prospective studies. The majority of prospective studies found that occupational sitting was associated with a higher risk of DM and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Limited evidence was found to support a positive relationship between occupational sitting and health risks. The heterogeneity of study designs, measures, and findings makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions at this time. Copyright \u00a9 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4154", "text": "Daily diet may have implications for skin ageing. However, data on the relationship between diet and the parameters of skin conditions are scarce. The present study aimed to examine the associations of biophysical properties of the skin of women with intakes of fats and antioxidant micronutrients as well as food groups as sources of these nutrients. In a cross-sectional study, we measured the hydration, surface lipids and elasticity of the skin of 716 Japanese women using non-invasive techniques. The extent of facial wrinkles in the crow's-foot area was determined by observation using the Daniell scale. Each subject's usual diet was determined with the use of a validated FFQ. After controlling for covariates including age, smoking status, BMI and lifetime sun exposure, the results showed that higher intakes of total fat, saturated fat and monounsaturated fat were significantly associated with increased skin elasticity. A higher intake of green and yellow vegetables was significantly associated with a decreased Daniell wrinkling score. Intake of saturated fat was significantly inversely associated with the Daniell wrinkling score after additional adjustment for green and yellow vegetable intake. Further studies with more accurate measurement methods are needed to investigate the role of daily diet in skin ageing."}
{"id": "MED-4156", "text": "The Gerson regimen, developed by Max Gerson in the 1930s, is promoted as an alternative cancer treatment. It involves consuming fresh, raw fruit and vegetable juices, eliminating salt from the diet, taking supplements such as potassium, vitamin B12, thyroid hormone, pancreatic enzymes, and detoxifying liver with coffee enemas to stimulate metabolism. Gerson therapy is based on the theory that cancer is caused by alteration of cell metabolism by toxic environmental substances and processed food, which changes its sodium and potassium content. It emphasizes increasing potassium intake and minimizing sodium consumption in an effort to correct the electrolyte imbalance, repair tissue, and detoxify the liver. The coffee enemas are believed to cause dilation of bile ducts and excretion of toxic breakdown products by the liver and through the colon wall. None of these theories has been substantiated by scientific research. Despite proponents' claims of recovery rates as high as 70% to 90%, case reviews by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the New York County Medical Society found no evidence of usefulness for the Gerson diet. An NCI-sponsored study of Gonzalez therapy, which is similar to the Gerson diet, showed that patients with inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma who underwent standard chemotherapy with gemcitabine (Gemzar) survived three times longer and had better quality of life than those who chose enzyme treatment, which included pancreatic enzymes, nutritional supplements, detoxification, and an organic diet."}
{"id": "MED-4157", "text": "Although improvement in long-term health is no longer an indication for menopausal hormone therapy, evidence supporting fewer adverse events in younger women, combined with its high overall effectiveness, has reinforced its usefulness for short-term treatment of menopausal symptoms. Menopausal therapy has been provided not only by commercially available products but also by compounding, or creation of an individualized preparation in response to a health care provider's prescription to create a medication tailored to the specialized needs of an individual patient. The Women's Health Initiative findings, coupled with an increase in the direct-to-consumer marketing and media promotion of compounded bioidentical hormonal preparations as safe and effective alternatives to conventional menopausal hormone therapy, have led to a recent increase in the popularity of compounded bioidentical hormones as well as an increase in questions about the use of these preparations. Not only is evidence lacking to support superiority claims of compounded bioidentical hormones over conventional menopausal hormone therapy, but these claims also pose the additional risks of variable purity and potency and lack efficacy and safety data. The Committee on Gynecologic Practice of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine provide an overview of the major issues of concern surrounding compounded bioidentical menopausal hormone therapy and provide recommendations for patient counseling. Copyright \u00a9 2012 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4158", "text": "Background Postmenopausal conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) therapies increase the risk of cognitive impairment in women aged 65 years or older and are associated with smaller regional brain volumes; however, the link between these two phenomena has not been established. Methods Standardized magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 1,403 women, 1\u20134 years after they had participated in randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials of CEE-based therapies. Women included in this report were aged 65\u201380 years and free of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) when originally enrolled in the trials, which lasted an average of 4\u20136 years and were conducted at 14 academic U.S. medical centers. The associations that regional brain volumes and ischemic lesion volumes had with the development of cognitive impairment (i.e., dementia or MCI) were contrasted between treatment groups using analyses of covariance. Results Fifty-three women developed MCI or probable dementia during follow-up. Among women who had been prescribed CEE-based therapies, cognitive impairment was associated with relatively smaller hippocampal (p = .0002) and total brain volumes (p = .03). Qualitatively, these associations appeared to be independent of their level of pretreatment cognitive function. Among women who had been prescribed placebo, these relationships were not evident; instead, cognitive impairment was associated with greater ischemic lesion volume in the frontal lobe (p = .007) and overall (p = .02). Conclusion A mechanism by which CEE-based postmenopausal hormone therapy induces cognitive impairment appears to be through increased brain atrophy."}
{"id": "MED-4159", "text": "CONTEXT: The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) previously found increased risk for dementia and no effect on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in women treated with conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of CEE alone and CEE plus MPA on incidence of probable dementia and MCI in older women. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of CEE (estrogen-alone trial) or CEE plus MPA (estrogen plus progestin trial) in community-dwelling women aged 65 to 79 years, conducted from June 1995 to July 8, 2002 (estrogen plus progestin; n = 4532), or to February 29, 2004 (estrogen-alone; n = 2947), in 39 of the 40 WHI clinical centers. INTERVENTIONS: In the estrogen-alone trial, 1 daily tablet containing either 0.625 mg/d of CEE vs matching placebo; in the estrogen plus progestin trial, 1 daily tablet containing CEE (0.625 mg/d) plus MPA (2.5 mg/d) vs matching placebos. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Probable dementia and MCI. RESULTS: In the estrogen-alone trial, 47 participants were diagnosed with probable dementia, of whom 28 were assigned to CEE and 19 to placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-2.66). Incidence rates for probable dementia in the estrogen-alone trial were statistically similar to those in the estrogen plus progestin trial (45 vs 22 per 10 000 person-years for CEE plus MPA vs placebo, respectively; P =.11). When data were pooled per the original WHIMS protocol, the overall HR for probable dementia was 1.76 (95% CI, 1.19-2.60; P =.005). After excluding participants with baseline Modified Mini-Mental State Examination scores at or below the screening cut point, the HR was 1.77 (95% CI, 0.74-4.23; P =.20) in the estrogen-alone trial and 2.19 (95% CI, 1.25-3.84; P =.006) in the pooled trials. In the estrogen-alone trial, 76 participants were diagnosed with MCI in the CEE group vs 58 in the placebo group (HR, 1.34; 95% CI, 0.95-1.89). In the combined trial data, the HR was similar (1.25; 95% CI, 0.97-1.60). In the estrogen-alone trial, 93 participants receiving CEE were diagnosed with either probable dementia or MCI vs 69 receiving placebo (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.01-1.89; P =.04). CONCLUSIONS: Estrogen therapy alone did not reduce dementia or MCI incidence and increased the risk for both end points combined. Pooling data for estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin resulted in increased risks for both end points. Use of hormone therapy to prevent dementia or cognitive decline in women 65 years of age or older is not recommended."}
{"id": "MED-4160", "text": "CONTEXT: Despite decades of accumulated observational evidence, the balance of risks and benefits for hormone use in healthy postmenopausal women remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To assess the major health benefits and risks of the most commonly used combined hormone preparation in the United States. DESIGN: Estrogen plus progestin component of the Women's Health Initiative, a randomized controlled primary prevention trial (planned duration, 8.5 years) in which 16608 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years with an intact uterus at baseline were recruited by 40 US clinical centers in 1993-1998. INTERVENTIONS: Participants received conjugated equine estrogens, 0.625 mg/d, plus medroxyprogesterone acetate, 2.5 mg/d, in 1 tablet (n = 8506) or placebo (n = 8102). MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: The primary outcome was coronary heart disease (CHD) (nonfatal myocardial infarction and CHD death), with invasive breast cancer as the primary adverse outcome. A global index summarizing the balance of risks and benefits included the 2 primary outcomes plus stroke, pulmonary embolism (PE), endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, hip fracture, and death due to other causes. RESULTS: On May 31, 2002, after a mean of 5.2 years of follow-up, the data and safety monitoring board recommended stopping the trial of estrogen plus progestin vs placebo because the test statistic for invasive breast cancer exceeded the stopping boundary for this adverse effect and the global index statistic supported risks exceeding benefits. This report includes data on the major clinical outcomes through April 30, 2002. Estimated hazard ratios (HRs) (nominal 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) were as follows: CHD, 1.29 (1.02-1.63) with 286 cases; breast cancer, 1.26 (1.00-1.59) with 290 cases; stroke, 1.41 (1.07-1.85) with 212 cases; PE, 2.13 (1.39-3.25) with 101 cases; colorectal cancer, 0.63 (0.43-0.92) with 112 cases; endometrial cancer, 0.83 (0.47-1.47) with 47 cases; hip fracture, 0.66 (0.45-0.98) with 106 cases; and death due to other causes, 0.92 (0.74-1.14) with 331 cases. Corresponding HRs (nominal 95% CIs) for composite outcomes were 1.22 (1.09-1.36) for total cardiovascular disease (arterial and venous disease), 1.03 (0.90-1.17) for total cancer, 0.76 (0.69-0.85) for combined fractures, 0.98 (0.82-1.18) for total mortality, and 1.15 (1.03-1.28) for the global index. Absolute excess risks per 10 000 person-years attributable to estrogen plus progestin were 7 more CHD events, 8 more strokes, 8 more PEs, and 8 more invasive breast cancers, while absolute risk reductions per 10 000 person-years were 6 fewer colorectal cancers and 5 fewer hip fractures. The absolute excess risk of events included in the global index was 19 per 10 000 person-years. CONCLUSIONS: Overall health risks exceeded benefits from use of combined estrogen plus progestin for an average 5.2-year follow-up among healthy postmenopausal US women. All-cause mortality was not affected during the trial. The risk-benefit profile found in this trial is not consistent with the requirements for a viable intervention for primary prevention of chronic diseases, and the results indicate that this regimen should not be initiated or continued for primary prevention of CHD."}
{"id": "MED-4162", "text": "Large numbers of US women stopped taking hormone therapies (HT), especially estrogen/progestin (EP) formulations, after the Women's Health Initiative trial detected elevated risks of breast cancer in EP users and was halted in July 2002. Recent reports have indicated substantial and significant declines in population-based breast cancer incidence, particularly hormone-sensitive forms, for 2003 and 2004. Are these events linked? This commentary considers the available evidence linking the mass cessation of HT in 2002 to the breast cancer incidence declines of 2003/2004 and quantifies the potential impact of the cessation on the overall burden of breast cancer in the US."}
{"id": "MED-4163", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The health benefits of vegetarian diets are well-recognized; however, long-term adherence to these diets may be associated with nutrient inadequacies, particularly vitamins B12 and D, calcium, iron, zinc, and protein. The dietary reference intakes (DRIs) expert panels recommended adjustments to the iron, zinc, and calcium DRIs for vegetarians to account for decreased bioavailability, but no adjustments were considered necessary for the protein DRI under the assumption that vegetarians consume about 50% of protein from animal (dairy/egg) sources. This study examined dietary protein sources in a convenience sample of 21 young adult vegetarian women who completed food logs on 4 consecutive days (3 weekdays and 1 weekend day). METHODS: The daily contribution percentages of protein consumed from cereals, legumes, nuts/seeds, fruits/vegetables, and dairy/egg were computed, and the protein digestibility corrected amino acid score of the daily diets was calculated. RESULTS: The calculated total dietary protein digestibility score for participants was 82 \u00b1 1%, which differed significantly (P < 0.001) from the DRI reference score, 88%, and the 4-d average protein digestibility corrected amino acid score for the sample was 80 \u00b1 2%, which also differed significantly (P < 0.001) from the DRI reference value, 100%. The analyses indicated that animal protein accounted for only 21% of dietary protein. CONCLUSION: This research suggests that the protein DRI for vegetarians consuming less than the expected amounts of animal protein (45% to 50% of total protein) may need to be adjusted from 0.8 to about 1.0 g/kg to account for decreased protein bioavailability. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4165", "text": "Ergothioneine is a native membrane-impermeable thiol compound that is specifically accumulated in cells via the organic cation transporter OCTN1. In humans, OCTN1 and ergothioneine have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune disorders. However, available evidence about dietary sources and the functional role of ergothioneine in human physiology is scarce. Here, we analyzed the ergothioneine content in common foods using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry. Additionally, we assessed the protective potency of ergothioneine against various oxidative stressors in OCTN1-expressing cells in comparison with the main intracellular thiol antioxidant glutathione by evaluating cell viability with the MTT reduction assay. Only some food contained ergothioneine with highest concentrations detected in specialty mushrooms, kidney, liver, black and red beans, and oat bran. Ergothioneine exhibited cell protection only against copper(II)-induced toxicity but was far less potent than glutathione, indicting that ergothioneine is not involved in the intracellular antioxidant thiol defense system."}
{"id": "MED-4166", "text": "Antibiotics are used by veterinarians and producers to treat disease and improve animal production. The federal government, to ensure the safety of the food supply, establishes antibiotic residue tolerances in edible animal tissues and determines the target tissues (e.g., muscle) for residue monitoring. However, when muscle is selected as the target tissue, the federal government does not specify which type of muscle tissue is used for monitoring (e.g., breast versus thigh). If specific muscle tissues incorporate residues at higher concentrations, these tissues should be selected for residue monitoring. To evaluate this possibility in poultry, chickens were divided into four groups and at 33 days of age were dosed with enrofloxacin (Baytril), as per label directions, at either 25 ppm for 3 days, 25 ppm for 7 days, 50 ppm for 3 days, or 50 ppm for 7 days. Breast and thigh muscle tissues were collected from each bird (n = 5 birds per day per group) during the dosing and withdrawal period, and fluoroquinolone concentrations were determined. The results indicate higher overall enrofloxacin concentrations in breast versus thigh muscle for each treatment group (P < 0.05). These data indicate, at least for enrofloxacin, that not all muscle tissues incorporate antibiotics at the same concentrations. These results may be helpful to regulatory agencies as they determine what tissues are to be monitored to ensure that the established residue safety tolerance levels are not exceeded."}
{"id": "MED-4167", "text": "Antibiotic entry into the water environment has been of growing concern. However, few investigations have been performed to examine the potential for indirect human exposure to environmental antibiotic residues. We evaluated the contribution of drinking water and major food consumption to inadvertent intake of antibiotic residues among general human population in Korea. We estimated daily human intake of six antibiotics, i.e., sulfamethazine (SMZ), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfathiazole (STZ), trimethoprim (TMP), enrofloxacin (EFX), and roxithromycin (RTM), by measuring the concentrations of the antibiotics and their major metabolites in urine from general population in Korea (n=541). In addition, we measured antibiotics from source water of drinking water as well as in tap water samples, and surveyed water consumption rates among the study population. To assess the contribution of dietary factor, we also surveyed consumption pattern for several major foods which are suspected of antibiotics residue. SMZ, Sulfamethazine-N4-acetyl (SMZ-N4), TMP, EFX, ciprofloxacin (CFX), and RTM were detected up to 448, 6210, 11,900, 6970, 32,400, and 151pg/ml in the urine samples, respectively. Estimates of daily intake of major antibiotics did not appear to be related with consumption of drinking water although antibiotics were frequently detected in source waters (10-67ng/l). Consumption of several foods correlated significantly with urinary excretion of several antibiotics. Daily intake estimates of EFX and CFX were associated with consumption of beef, pork, and dairy products; those of SMZ and TMP associated with pork and dairy products; and that of TMP related with raw fish. Daily antibiotics intake estimates however did not exceed the acceptable daily intake levels. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4168", "text": "Diet is purported to be means of exposure to many environmental contaminants. The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of dietary change on the levels of exposure to several environmental chemicals - in particular, antibiotics and phthalates. For this purpose, we examined the extent to which short-term changes in diet influenced the inadvertent exposure levels to these chemicals in an adult population. We recruited participants (n=25) of a five-day 'Temple Stay' program in Korea and collected urine samples before and after the program. We also conducted a questionnaire survey on participants' dietary patterns prior to their participation. During the program, participants followed the daily routines of Buddhist monks and maintained a vegetarian diet. Urinary levels of three antibiotics and their major metabolites, metabolites of four major phthalates, and malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidative stress biomarker were analyzed. The frequency and levels of detection for antibiotics and phthalates noticeably decreased during the program. Urinary MDA levels were significantly lower than before program participation (0.16 versus 0.27mg/g creatinine). Although the exposure to target compounds might be influenced by other behavioral patterns, these results suggest that even short-term changes in dietary behavior may significantly decrease inadvertent exposure to antibiotics and phthalates and hence may reduce oxidative stress levels. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4169", "text": "This paper reviews the recent scientific literature on PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs in human milk. All the papers reporting levels of these contaminants in human breast milk published from January 2000 to January 2009 and available on the www.sciencedirect.com web site were identified and included. The aim was (1) to study levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in human milk in mothers from different geographical areas and assess infant exposure to these contaminants; (2) to study the effect of variables such as the mother's age, number of deliveries, dietary and smoking habits and her own nutrition in infancy, and the environment, on levels of the contaminants in breast milk; (3) to study time patterns, and (4) to identify data gaps. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4170", "text": "Researchers have long debated the adverse effects of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on children versus the benefits of breastfeeding. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the known health effects of PCBs in children and examine the level of evidence regarding the risk of postnatal exposure via breastfeeding. The major source of PCBs is environmental, with over 90% of human exposure through the food chain. PCB exposure in infants is predominantly via breast milk, but limited evidence exists of significant toxicity associated with this mode of transmission. Breastfeeding should, therefore, continue to be encouraged on the basis of evidence of the benefits derived from human milk coupled with inconclusive proof that lactational PCB exposure has major detrimental effects on the overall health and development of infants."}
{"id": "MED-4171", "text": "We studied pregnancy-related changes in serum concentrations of five polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, CB 118, CB 138, CB 153, CB 156, CB 180), three hydroxylated PCB metabolites (4-OH-CB107, 4-OH-CB146, 4-OH-CB187), and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Median serum lipid content increased 2-fold between early (weeks 9-13) and late pregnancy (weeks 35-36) (N=10), whereas median PCB levels in serum lipids decreased 20-46%, suggesting a dilution of PCB concentrations in serum lipids. Nevertheless, strong positive intra-individual correlations (Spearman's r=0.61-0.99) were seen for PCBs during the whole study period. Thus, if samples have been collected within the same relative narrow time window during pregnancy, PCB results from one single sampling occasion can be used in assessment of relative differences in body burdens during the whole pregnancy period. Concentrations of OH-PCBs in blood serum tended to decline as pregnancy progressed, although among some women the concentrations increased at the end of pregnancy. Positive intra-individual correlations (r=0.66-0.99) between OH-PCB concentrations were observed during the first and second trimester, whereas correlations with third trimester concentrations were more diverging (r=-0.70-0.85). No decline in PCP concentrations was observed during pregnancy and no significant correlations were found between concentrations at different sampling periods. Our results suggest that for both OH-PCBs and PCP, sampling has to be more specifically timed depending on the time period during pregnancy that is of interest. The differences in patterns of intra- and inter-individual variability of the studied compounds may be due to a combination of factors, including lipid solubility, persistence of the compounds, distribution in blood, metabolic formation, and pregnancy-related changes in body composition and physiological processes. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4172", "text": "Using a repeated measures design, in a nursery setting, a modelling and rewards intervention targeted preschool children's consumption of 8 fruit and 8 vegetables (presented as 4 different food sets, each comprising 2 fruit and 2 vegetables). During the 16-day Baseline 1, and subsequent baselines, the children received a different food set daily, first at snacktime and again at lunchtime; consumption of these foods was not rewarded. In the 32-day fruit intervention phase, Food Set 2 and Food Set 3 were presented on alternate days; rewards were presented only at snacktime, and only for consumption of the fruit components. Following Baseline 2 and Baseline 3, the intervention targeted snack consumption of the vegetable components of Food Sets 1 and 4. Finally, Baseline 4, and 6-month Follow up were conducted. The interventions produced large and significant increases in target fruit and vegetable consumption with smaller, but significant, increases for the paired, opposite category, non-target foods. Immediately after each intervention, increases based on within-category generalisation were also evident. All increases generalised strongly to the no-rewards lunchtime context. Contrary to theories predicting response decrements, the increases in preschoolers' fruit and vegetable consumption were maintained at Follow up, six months after rewards were withdrawn. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4173", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To assess the public health significance of premature weaning of infants from breast milk on later-life risk of chronic illness. DESIGN: A review and summary of recent meta-analyses of studies linking premature weaning from breast milk with later-life chronic disease risk is presented followed by an estimation of the approximate exposure in a developed Western country, based on historical breast-feeding prevalence data for Australia since 1927. The population-attributable proportion of chronic disease associated with current patterns of artificial feeding in infancy is estimated. RESULTS: After adjustment for major confounding variables, current research suggests that the risks of chronic disease are 30-200 % higher in those who were not breast-fed compared to those who were breast-fed in infancy. Exposure to premature weaning ranges from 20 % to 90 % in post-World War II age cohorts. Overall, the attributable proportion of chronic disease in the population is estimated at 6-24 % for a 30 % exposure to premature weaning. CONCLUSIONS: Breast-feeding is of public health significance in preventing chronic disease. There is a small but consistent effect of premature weaning from breast milk in increasing later-life chronic disease risk. Risk exposure in the Australian population is substantial. Approximately 90 % of current 35-45-year-olds were weaned from breast-feeding by 6 months of age. Encouraging greater duration and exclusivity of breast-feeding is a potential avenue for reducing future chronic disease burden and health system costs."}
{"id": "MED-4174", "text": "Perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride based compounds have been used in a wide variety of consumer products, such as carpets, upholstery, and textiles. These compounds degrade to perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), a persistent metabolite that accumulates in tissues of humans and wildlife. Previous studies have reported the occurrence of PFOS, perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) in human sera collected from the United States. In this study, concentrations of PFOS, PFHxS, PFOA, and PFOSA were measured in 473 human blood/serum/plasma samples collected from the United States, Colombia, Brazil, Belgium, Italy, Poland, India, Malaysia, and Korea. Among the four perfluorochemicals measured, PFOS was the predominant compound found in blood. Concentrations of PFOS were the highest in the samples collected from the United States and Poland (>30 ng/mL); moderate in Korea, Belgium, Malaysia, Brazil, Italy, and Colombia (3 to 29 ng/mL); and lowest in India (<3 ng/mL). PFOA was the next most abundant perfluorochemical in blood samples, although the frequency of occurrence of this compound was relatively low. No age- or gender-related differences in the concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were found in serum samples. The degree of association between the concentrations of four perfluorochemicals varied, depending on the origin of the samples. These results suggested the existence of sources with varying levels and compositions of perfluorochemicals, and differences in exposure patterns to these chemicals, in various countries. In addition to the four target fluorochemicals measured, qualitative analysis of selected blood samples showed the presence of other perfluorochemicals such as perfluorodecanesulfonate (PFDS), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA), and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA) in serum samples, at concentrations approximately 5- to 10-fold lower than the concentration of PFOS. Further studies should focus on identifying sources and pathways of human exposure to perfluorochemicals."}
{"id": "MED-4175", "text": "In this study, 10 perfluorochemicals (PFCs) were measured in meat, meat products, and eggs, and in indoor dust, collected in China. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were the most frequently detected PFCs in these samples. Mean concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in foodstuffs were in the range of 0.05-1.99 ng/g fresh wt and 0.06-12.5 ng/g fresh wt, respectively. The mean concentrations of PFOA, perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), and PFOS in indoor dust were 205, 14.0, and 4.86 ng/g, dry wt, respectively. The estimated daily intake of PFOS and PFOA from meat, meat products and eggs (EDI(meat&eggs)) ranged from 6.00 to 9.64 ng/d and from 254 to 576 ng/d, respectively, when the values below the limit of quantitation (LOQ) were assigned as 0, and from 8.80 to 15.0 ng/d and from 255 to 577 ng/d, respectively, when the values below the LOQ were set at 1/2LOQ. The EDI(meat&eggs) of PFOS and PFOA increased with increasing family income. The estimated daily intake of PFOS and PFOA through inhalation of dust (EDI(dust)) ranged from 0.23 to 0.31 ng/d and from 9.68 to 13.4 ng/d, respectively. The daily intakes of PFOS and PFOA from the consumption of meat, meat products, and eggs, and from dust ingestion, as calculated from our samples in this study, were compared with estimated daily intake of PFCs reported from the concentrations in drinking water, fish and seafood from China. Our calculations indicate that dietary sources (EDI(dietary)) account for the overwhelming proportion of (>99% for PFOS and 98% for PFOA) total daily intake (TDI) in adults. The analyzed foodstuffs (meat, meat products, and eggs) were not the major contributors to dietary exposure to PFOS, whereas, meat was the primary contributor to dietary exposure to PFOA."}
{"id": "MED-4176", "text": "Perfluorooctanesulfonylfluoride (POSF)-based compounds have been manufactured and used in a variety of industrial applications. These compounds degrade to perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) which is regarded as a persistent end-stage metabolite and is found to accumulate in tissues of humans and wildlife. PFOS, perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) have been found in human sera from the United States. In this study, concentrations of PFHxS, perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS), PFOS, perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), PFOA, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA), perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoDA), and PFOSA were measured in 85 samples of whole human blood collected from nine cities (eight provinces) in China, including Shenyang (Liaoning), Beijing (Hebei), Zhengzhou (Henan), Jintan (Jiangsu), Wuhan (Hubei), Zhoushan (Zhejiang), Guiyang (Guizhou), Xiamen (Fujian), and Fuzhou (Fujian). Among the 10 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) measured, PFOS was the predominant compound. The mean concentration of PFOS was greatest in samples collected from Shenyang (79.2 ng/mL) and least in samples from Jintan (3.72 ng/mL). PFHxS was the next most abundant perfluorochemical in the samples. No age-related differences in the concentrations of PFOA, PFOS, PFOSA, and PFHxS were observed. Gender-related differences were found,with males higher for PFOS and PFHxS, and females higher in PFUnDA. Concentrations of PFHxS were positively correlated with those of PFOS, while concentrations of PFNA, PFDA, and PFUnDA were positively correlated with those of PFOA. There were differences in the concentration profiles (percentage composition) of various PFCs in the samples among the nine cities."}
{"id": "MED-4177", "text": "Fifty-six seasonal snowpack samples were collected at remote alpine, sub-arctic, and arctic sites in eight Western US national parks during three consecutive years (2003\u20132005). Four current-use pesticides (CUPs) (dacthal (DCPA), chlorpyrifos, endosulfan, and \u03b3-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH)) and four historic-use pesticides (HUPs) (dieldrin, \u03b1-HCH, chlordane, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB)) were commonly measured at all sites, during all years. The mean coefficient of variation for pesticide concentrations was 15% for site replicate samples, 41% for intra-park replicate samples, and 59% for inter-annual replicate samples. The relative pesticide concentration profiles were consistent from year to year but unique for individual parks, indicating a regional source effect. HUP concentrations were well-correlated with regional cropland intensity when the effect of temperature on snow-air partitioning was considered. The mass of individual CUPs used in regions located one-day upwind of the parks was calculated using air mass back trajectories and this was used to explain the distribution of CUPs among the parks. The percent of the snowpack pesticide concentration due to regional transport was high (>75%) for the majority of pesticides in all parks. These results suggest that the majority of pesticide contamination in US national parks is due to pesticide use in North America."}
{"id": "MED-4178", "text": "A method has been developed to identify pesticide residues and foodstuffs for inclusion in national monitoring programs with different priority levels. It combines two chronic dietary intake indicators: ATMDI based on maximum residue levels and agricultural uses, and EDI on food contamination data. The mean and 95th percentile of exposure were calculated for 490 substances using individual and national consumption data. The results show that mean ATMDI exceeds the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for 10% of the pesticides, and the mean upper-bound EDI is above the ADI for 1.8% of substances. A seven-level risk scale is presented for substances already analyzed in food in France and substances not currently sought. Of 336 substances analyzed, 70 pesticides of concern (levels 2-5) should be particularly monitored, 22 of which are priority pesticides (levels 4 and 5). Of 154 substances not sought, 36 pesticides of concern (levels 2-4) should be included in monitoring programs, including 8 priority pesticides (level 4). In order to refine exposure assessment, analytical improvements and developments are needed to lower the analytical limits for priority pesticide/commodity combinations. Developed nationally, this method could be applied at different geographic scales. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4179", "text": "Rainfall samples were collected during the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons at four agricultural locales across the USA in Maryland, Indiana, Nebraska, and California. The samples were analyzed for 21 insecticides, 18 herbicides, three fungicides, and 40 pesticide degradates. Data from all sites combined show that 7 of the 10 most frequently detected pesticides were herbicides, with atrazine (70%) and metolachlor (83%) detected at every site. Dacthal, acetochlor, simazine, alachlor, and pendimethalin were detected in more than 50% of the samples. Chlorpyrifos, carbaryl, and diazinon were the only insecticides among the 10 most frequently detected compounds. Of the remaining pesticide parent compounds, 18 were detected in fewer than 30% of the samples, and 13 were not detected. The most frequently detected degradates were deethylatrazine; the oxygen analogs (OAs) of the organophosphorus insecticides chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion; and 1-napthol (degradate of carbaryl). Deethylatrazine was detected in nearly 70% of the samples collected in Maryland, Indiana, and Nebraska but was detected only once in California. The OAs of chlorpyrifos and diazinon were detected primarily in California. Degradates of the acetanilide herbicides were rarely detected in rain, indicating that they are not formed in the atmosphere or readily volatilized from soils. Herbicides accounted for 91 to 98% of the total pesticide mass deposited by rain except in California, where insecticides accounted for 61% in 2004. The mass of pesticides deposited by rainfall was estimated to be less than 2% of the total applied in these agricultural areas."}
{"id": "MED-4180", "text": "The aim was to determine half-life of six most abundant PCB congeners in the body of early adolescents. In 304 environmentally exposed children, PCB serum concentration was determined at the age of 8 and 12years. Half-life was determined for each child assuming exponential decrease or for the whole cohort using multiple regression. Results obtained by both approaches were in agreement. PCB reuptakes corrupting half-life estimates for each child and each congener were evaluated. If one of the serum PCB concentration values fell below the level of detection (LOD) the pair was excluded and if PCB half-life value exceeded the arbitrary value of 30years. The following median half-lives in years 4.46, 10.59, 9.7, 4.7, 9.1 and 9.8 were obtained for PCB congeners 118, 138(+163), 153, 156(+171), 170 and 180, respectively. The elimination half-life values were not systematically related to PCB serum concentration at any examination age. Between half-life values, percentage of children with significant reuptakes and PCB congener abundance in serum were found significant associations. Copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4181", "text": "Exposure of pregnant women to organochlorine (OC) pesticides largely derives from contaminated food, but environmental, occupational, and domestic factors have also been implicated. We investigated the presence of nine OC residues in the umbilical cord blood of newborns in Southern Spain and analyzed the relationship of this exposure with maternal and pregnancy variables, including maternal adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD). OCs were detected in 95% of umbilical cord blood samples from the 318 mothers, who had a mean degree of adherence to the MD of 56.77 (SD: 16.35) (range, 0-100). The MD prioritizes consumption of vegetable and fruit over meat and dairy products, and OCs are generally lipophilic molecules that accumulate in foods of animal origin. Consumption of meat, fish, and dairy products was associated with dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) in umbilical cord serum, and dairy product intake with lindane. Vegetable consumption was also associated with lindane and fruit intake with endosulfan I. We found no significant association between MD adherence and the presence of OC residues in serum. However, closer adherence to the MD may offer greater protection against OC exposure because of its reduced content in meat and dairy products. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4182", "text": "Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) body burdens in the general U.S. population have been linked to the consumption of red meat and poultry. Exposure estimates have also indicated that meat products are a major contributor to PBDE dietary intake. To establish solid estimates of PBDE concentrations in domestic meat and poultry, samples from two statistically designed surveys of U.S. meat and poultry were analyzed for PBDEs. The two surveys were conducted in 2002-2003 and 2007-2008, between which times the manufacturing of penta-BDE and octa-BDE formulations had ceased in the United States (December 2004). Thus, the data provided an opportunity to observe prevalence and concentration trends that may have occurred during this time frame and to compare the mean PBDE levels among the meat and poultry industries. On the basis of composite samples, the average sum of the seven most prevalent PBDEs (BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, -154, and -183) decreased by >60% from 1.95 ng/g lipid in 2002-2003 to 0.72 ng/g lipid in 2007-2008 for meat and poultry. PBDEs measured in individual samples in 2008 showed that beef samples had the lowest PBDE levels followed by hogs and chickens and then by turkeys. The PBDE congener pattern was the same for both surveys and resembled the penta-BDE formulation with BDE-47 and -99 accounting for 30 and 40% of the total, respectively. On the basis of the data from the two surveys, it appears that PBDE levels in U.S. meat and poultry have declined since manufacturing ceased; however, exposure pathways of PBDEs to livestock are still not known."}
{"id": "MED-4183", "text": "A previous study from our laboratory showed that pet cats had much higher serum levels of flame retardants compared to humans, despite sharing the same household environment. Dogs, on the other hand, are expected to have lower serum levels of flame retardants because they are metabolically better equipped to degrade these compounds. Thus, we hypothesized that dogs might be more similar to humans in their response to these environmental stressors and be better indicators of human exposures to these contaminants. Serum samples and their food were collected from 18 dogs and analyzed for PBDEs and other emerging flame retardants. The concentrations of PBDEs in dog serum and dog food averaged 1.8 \u00b1 0.4 ng/g wet weight (ww) and 1.1 \u00b1 0.2 ng/g ww, respectively. While the dog serum samples were dominated by the tetra to hepta BDE congeners, BDE-209 was the most abundant congener in the dog food. This difference in congener pattern was analyzed in terms of half-lives. Assuming food as the main exposure source, the average half-life in dog serum was 450 \u00b1 170 days for the less brominated congeners and 2.3 \u00b1 0.5 days for BDE-209. Dust was also considered as an additional exposure source, giving unreasonable residence times. In addition to PBDEs, other flame retardants, including Dechlorane Plus, decabromodiphenylethane, and hexabromocyclododecane, were identified in these samples."}
{"id": "MED-4184", "text": "We measured major PBDEs and PCBs in breast adipose tissues of California women participating in a breast cancer study in the late 1990s. Samples were analyzed using gas chromatography with electron impact ionization and tandem mass spectrometry detection. The congener profile observed was: BDE47>BDE99>BDE153>BDE100>BDE154 and PCB153>PCB180>PCB138>PCB118. Whereas high correlations were observed within each chemical class, very weak correlations appeared between classes, pointing to different exposure pathways. Weak negative associations were observed for PBDE congeners and age. Our PBDE data are among the highest reported, exceeding data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and consistent with the high use of PBDEs in California. These data may be helpful in establishing a baseline for PBDE body burdens to gauge changes over time as a result of restrictions in the use of PBDE formulations. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4185", "text": "The adverse effect of bisphenol-A (BPA) on the male reproductive system observed in animal studies has not been well examined in human populations. BPA is potentially a serious public health problem because of its widely detected presence in the human body. This study was conducted among 427 male workers in regions where high levels of BPA exposure existed. All participants provided urine samples, which were tested for BPA concentration using high-performance liquid chromatography. Male sexual dysfunction was ascertained using standard male sexual function inventories. Male sexual dysfunction was measured in 4 domains using 7 indices. After controlling for potential confounders using linear regression, increasing urine BPA level was associated with worsening male sexual function on a continuous scale. All 7 indices demonstrated this negative linear correlation. Increasing urine BPA level was associated with decreased sexual desire (P < .001), more difficulty having an erection (P < .001), lower ejaculation strength (P < .001), and lower level of overall satisfaction with sex life (P < .01). A similar negative correlation was also observed among participants exposed to BPA from only environmental sources (no occupational exposure to BPA), although the estimates in this group were less stable because of a smaller sample size. Our results reveal a correlation between a biological measure of urine BPA level and declining male sexual function. This finding may enhance the understanding of the BPA effect in human populations, and may have important public health implications given the widespread human exposure to BPA."}
{"id": "MED-4186", "text": "Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used for lining metal cans and in polycarbonate plastics, such as baby bottles. In rodents, BPA is associated with early sexual maturation, altered behavior, and effects on prostate and mammary glands. In humans, BPA is associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and male sexual dysfunction in exposed workers. Food is a major exposure source. We know of no studies reporting BPA in U.S. fresh food, canned food, and food in plastic packaging in peer reviewed journals. We measured BPA levels in 105 fresh and canned foods, foods sold in plastic packaging, and in cat and dog foods in cans and plastic packaging. We detected BPA in 63 of 105 samples, including fresh turkey, canned green beans, and canned infant formula. Ninety-three of these samples were triplicates which had similar detected levels. Detected levels ranged from 0.23 to 65.0 ng/g ww and were not associated with type of food or packaging but did vary with pH. BPA levels were higher for foods of pH 5 compared to more acidic and alkaline foods. Detected levels were comparable to those found by others. Further research is indicated to determine BPA levels in U.S. food in larger, representative sampling."}
{"id": "MED-4187", "text": "BACKGROUND: Xenobiotic organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are a major environmental problem because of their historic widespread use, pronounced persistence against chemical and biological degradation, and bioaccumulation in the food chain. Pesticide use is prevalent in the production of edible bamboo shoots, which are exported widely from China. To evaluate the quality of Chinese bamboo shoots we determined the residual content of some OCPs in shoot samples. RESULTS: Three types of OCPs-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), 1,1,1-trichlor-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB)-were detected in bamboo shoots from Zhejiang province, China. Detection rates were 100%, 100% and 75% for HCH, DDT and PCNB, respectively. However, the average residue concentration did not exceed the maximum residue limit for pesticides detected in food in China (50 \u00b5g kg(-1) ). In terms of residue concentrations of the pesticides, 82.14% of the bamboo shoot samples could be classified as safe. CONCLUSION: While all sampled bamboo shoots contained OCP, most (82.14%) were safe for consumption. 2010 Society of Chemical Industry."}
{"id": "MED-4188", "text": "Depressive disorders are very common in clinical practice, with approximately 11.3 of all adults afflicted during any a year. Saffron is the world's most expensive spice and apart from its traditional value as a food additive, recent studies indicate several therapeutic effects for saffron. It is used for depression in Persian traditional medicine. Our objective was to compare the efficacy of hydro-alcoholic extract of Crocus sativus (stigma) with fluoxetine in the treatment of mild to moderate depression in a 6-week double-blind, randomized trial. Forty adult outpatients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition for major depression based on the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV and with mild to moderate depression participated in the trial. In this double-blind, single-center trial and randomized trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive capsules of saffron 30 mg/day (BD) (Group 1) and capsule of fluoxetine 20 mg/day (BD) (Group 2) for a 6-week study. Saffron at this dose was found to be effective similar to fluoxetine in the treatment of mild to moderate depression (F = 0.13, d.f. = 1, P = 0.71). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side effects. The results of this study indicate the efficacy of Crocus sativus in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. A large-scale trial is justified."}
{"id": "MED-4193", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this double-blind and placebo-controlled trial was to investigate whether saffron (stigma of Crocus sativus L.) could relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). DESIGN: Double-blind, randomised and placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Departments of Gynaecology/Obstetrics and Psychiatry, Tehran and Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. POPULATION: Women aged 20-45 years with regular menstrual cycles and experience of PMS symptoms for at least 6 months were eligible for the study. METHOD: Women were randomly assigned to receive capsule saffron 30 mg/day (15 mg twice a day; morning and evening) (group A) or capsule placebo (twice a day) for a two menstrual cycles (cycles 3 and 4). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was the Daily Symptom Report, and secondary outcome measure was the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. RESULTS: In this trial, saffron was found to be effective in relieving symptoms of PMS. A significant difference was observed in efficacy of saffron in cycles 3 and 4 in the Total Premenstrual Daily Symptoms and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate the efficacy of C. sativus L. in the treatment of PMS. However, a tolerable adverse effects profile of saffron may well confirm the application of saffron as an alternative treatment for PMS. These results deserved further investigations."}
{"id": "MED-4194", "text": "In this review recent publications are cited for a number of antimutagens. The molecules surveyed are potential or proven \"desmutagens\" or \"interceptors.\" These are biologically prevalent or synthetic molecules that are most often small metabolites proficient in binding to, or reacting with, mutagenic chemicals and free radicals. Many of this class of \"blocking agents\" are \"soft\" and \"hard\" nucleophiles with consequently varying abilities to react with particular classes of electrophiles, the major classes of direct-acting mutagens. Although they serve as a first line of defense against mutagens and carcinogens, many interceptor molecules are under-investigated with regard to their spectra of activity and their possible relevance to prophylaxis or treatment of human disease states."}
{"id": "MED-4195", "text": "Chlorophyll (Chla) and chlorophyllin (CHL) were shown previously to reduce carcinogen bioavailability, biomarker damage, and tumorigenicity in trout and rats. These findings were partially extended to humans, where CHL reduced excretion of aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1))-DNA repair products in Chinese unavoidably exposed to dietary AFB(1). However, neither AFB(1) pharmacokinetics nor Chla effects were examined. We conducted an unblinded crossover study to establish AFB(1) pharmacokinetic parameters among four human volunteers, and to explore possible effects of CHL or Chla cotreatment in three of those volunteers. For protocol 1, fasted subjects received an Institutional Review Board-approved dose of 14C-AFB(1) (30 ng, 5 nCi) by capsule with 100 mL water, followed by normal eating and drinking after 2 hours. Blood and cumulative urine samples were collected over 72 hours, and 14C- AFB(1) equivalents were determined by accelerator mass spectrometry. Protocols 2 and 3 were similar except capsules also contained 150 mg of purified Chla or CHL, respectively. Protocols were repeated thrice for each volunteer. The study revealed rapid human AFB(1) uptake (plasma k(a), 5.05 + or - 1.10 h(-1); T(max), 1.0 hour) and urinary elimination (95% complete by 24 hours) kinetics. Chla and CHL treatment each significantly impeded AFB(1) absorption and reduced Cmax and AUCs (plasma and urine) in one or more subjects. These initial results provide AFB(1) pharmacokinetic parameters previously unavailable for humans, and suggest that Chla or CHL co-consumption may limit the bioavailability of ingested aflatoxin in humans, as they do in animal models."}
{"id": "MED-4198", "text": "In this study, silkworm moth (Bombyx mori L.) larvae were regarded as an animal protein source for astronauts in the bioregenerative life support system during long-term deep space exploration in the future. They were fed with mulberry and stem lettuce leaves during the first three instars and the last two instars, respectively. In addition, this kind of environmental approach, which utilised inedible biomass of plants to produce animal protein of high quality, can likewise be applied terrestrially to provide food for people living in extreme environments and/or impoverished agro-ecosystems, such as in polar regions, isolated military bases, ships, submarines, etc. Respiration characteristics of the larvae during development under two main physiological conditions, namely eating and not-eating of leaves, were studied. Nutrient compositions of silkworm powder (SP), ground and freeze-dried silkworms on the 3rd day of the 5th instar larvae, including protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and fatty acids, were measured using international standard methods. Silkworms' respiration rates, measured when larvae were eating mulberry leaves, were higher than those of similar larvae that hadn't eaten such leaves. There was a significant difference between silkworms fed on mulberry leaves and those fed on stem lettuce in the 4th and 5th instars (P<0.01). Amounts of CO2 exhaled by the silkworms under the two physiological regimes differed from each other (P<0.01). There was also a significant difference between the amount of O2 inhaled when the insects were under the two physiological statuses (P<0.01). Moreover, silkworms' respiration quotient under the eating regime was larger than when under the not-eating regime. The SP was found to be rich in protein and amino acids in total; 12 essential vitamins, nine minerals and twelve fatty acids were detected. Moreover, 359\u200akcal could be generated per 100\u200agram of SP (dry weight)."}
{"id": "MED-4200", "text": "A low-grade inflammatory response ('metaflammation') has been found to be associated with certain chronic diseases. Proposed inducers of this have been aspects of the modern lifestyle, including newly introduced foods. Plasma TAG, and the inflammatory cytokines C-reactive protein (CRP), TNF-alpha and IL-6 were compared in a randomised, cross-over trial using ten healthy subjects before and after eating 100 g of kangaroo, or a 'new' form of hybridised beef (wagyu) separated by about 1 week. Postprandial levels for 1 and 2 h of TAG, IL-6 and TNF-alpha were significantly higher after eating wagyu compared with kangaroo (P = 0.002 for TAG at 1 h, P < 0.001 at 2 h; P < 0.001 for IL-6 and TNF-alpha at 1 and 2 h). CRP was significantly higher 1 h postprandially after wagyu (P = 0.011) and non-significantly higher 2 h postprandially (P = 0.090). We conclude that the metaflammatory reaction to ingestion of a 'new' form of hybridised beef (wagyu) is indicative of a low-grade, systemic, immune reaction when compared with lean game meat (kangaroo). Further studies using isoenergetic intake and isolating fatty acid components of meats are proposed."}
{"id": "MED-4201", "text": "The life of game birds (pheasants) in nature is coupled with a number of difficulties in all seasons of the year. This refers to finding food, breeding, laying eggs, raising the young, fleeing from their natural enemies and lack of protection from unfavorable climatic conditions. The pheasants that live in captivity--aviaries for pheasants--do not have such difficulties--they are fed regularly by quality feed for pheasants, they are protected from bad weather and natural enemies. Our research was aimed at determining the biological value of meat of pheasants grown in the two different settings--in captivity and in nature. The highest weight achieved wild pheasant males (1232.4 +/- 147.36 g). The differences between tested pheasant groups were statistically very high significant (P < 0.001). The differences between groups related to breast weight and tights with drumsticks weight were statistically very high significant (P < 0.001). Between breast parts (%) and legs parts (%) were notified very high (P < 0.001) i.e. high (P = 0.002) differences. The highest weight breast muscles and tights with drumsticks had wild pheasants (282.6 +/- 63.53 g i.e. 206.2 +/- 37.88g). Wilde pheasants had lower part (%) and lighter (g) skin with subcutaneous fatty tissue on breasts. Female pheasants cultivated on both ways had higher skin part (%) and subcutaneous fatty tissue in tights with drumsticks. Related to chemical composition of breast muscles is established statistically significant differences (P < 0.001 i.s. P = 0.040)) in part of Ca (%) and P (%). In wild pheasant tights with drumsticks muscles established statistically very significant (P < 0.001) higher part of moisture, protein and Ca, i.e. statistically very high significant (P < 0.001) lower part of fat and energetic value. Research results indicate that the quality of meat of pheasants grown in nature has higher biological value than the meat of pheasants kept in aviaries, which means it has advantages in human nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-4202", "text": "A form of low-grade, systemic inflammation ('metaflammation') is linked to many types of chronic disease. Initially, this was thought to be causally related to weight gain and obesity and a possible explanation of the link between obesity and disease. However, several lifestyle-related inducers of such inflammation, some of which are associated with obesity, but some of which are not, have now been identified. The most common of these have been nutritive related, suggesting that there could still be a relationship, either directly or indirectly, with obesity. Here we provide evidence for non-nutritive inflammatory inducers, providing further support for an earlier suggestion that while obesity, beyond a point, may have a direct link with disease, this may be neither necessary nor sufficient to explain the current epidemic of chronic disease. A more ubiquitous cause encompassing all inflammatory inducers is the modern, post-industrial environment and lifestyles emanating from this. Obesity may thus be more of 'a canary in the mineshaft', warning of bigger global problems, than just a single pathway to modern environmentally driven disease. \u00a9 2010 The Authors. obesity reviews \u00a9 2010 International Association for the Study of Obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4205", "text": "Since the Second World War the consumer behaviour in developed countries changed drastically. Primarily there existed the demand for sufficient food after a period of starvation, afterwards the desire for higher quality was arising, whereas today most people ask for safe and healthy food with high quality. Therefore a united approach comprising consistent standards, sound science and robust controls is required to ensure consumers' health and to maintain consumers' confidence and satisfaction. Chemical analysis along the whole food chain downstream (tracking) from primary production to the consumer and upstream (tracing) from the consumer to primary production is an important prerequisite to ensure food safety and quality. In this frame the focus of the following paper is the \"chemical safety of meat and meat products\" taking into account inorganic as well as organic residues and contaminants, the use of nitrite in meat products, the incidence of veterinary drugs, as well as a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) system assessing (prioritizing) vulnerable food chain steps to decrease or eliminate vulnerability."}
{"id": "MED-4206", "text": "Vegetarian diets are rich in antioxidant phytochemicals. However, they may not act as antioxidants in vivo, and yet still have important signaling and regulatory functions. Some may act as pro-oxidants, modulating cellular redox tone and oxidizing redox sensitive sites. In this review, evidence for health benefits of vegetarian diets is presented from different perspectives: epidemiological, biomarker, evolutionary, and public health, as well as antioxidant. From the perspective of molecular connections between diet and health, evidence of a role for plasma ascorbic acid as a biomarker for future disease risk is presented. Basic concepts of redox-based cell signaling are presented, and effects of antioxidant phytochemicals on signaling, especially via redox tone, sulfur switches and the Antioxidant Response Element (ARE), are explored. Sufficient scientific evidence exists for public health policy to promote a plant-rich diet for health promotion. This does not need to wait for science to provide all the answers as to why and how. However, action and interplay of dietary antioxidants in the nonequilibrium systems that control redox balance, cell signaling, and cell function provide rich ground for research to advance understanding of orthomolecular nutrition and provide science-based evidence to advance public health in our aging population."}
{"id": "MED-4211", "text": "Circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) have each been associated with premenopausal breast cancer risks. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 261 premenopausal Japanese women aged 20-54 yr with adequate nutritional status to evaluate the relationships between concentrations of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in serum and dietary intakes of soy, fats and other nutrients. Diet was assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. There was no significant correlation between soy product as well as soy isoflavone intake and serum IGF-1 or IGFBP-3 levels after controlling for age, total energy, percent body fat, and education level. Total fat intake was significantly inversely correlated with serum IGFBP-3 level (r = -0.13, P = 0.04). The correlations of saturated and monounsaturated fats with serum IGFBP-3 were of borderline significance (r = -0.12, P = 0.06 and r = -0.11, P = 0.07, respectively)."}
{"id": "MED-4212", "text": "Soya foods may protect against the development of breast cancer. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 is under investigation as a possible link between nutrition and cancer. We examined the effect of soya foods on circulating IGF-1 and IGF binding protein (BP)-3 levels among 196 healthy premenopausal women in a 2-year randomised nutritional trial. The intervention group consumed two daily servings of soya foods including tofu, soya milk, soya nuts and soya protein powder (equivalent to 50 mg isoflavones and 5-22 g soya protein per serving); the controls maintained their regular diet. Five serum samples at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months were collected in the morning during the luteal phase and analysed for IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 by double-antibody ELISA. We applied mixed models to investigate the intervention effect and predictors of serum levels while considering the repeated measurement design. Adherence with the study regimen was high and dropout rates were acceptable. Randomisation resulted in similar mean IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels by group. We did not observe a significant intervention effect on IGF-1, IGFBP-3, and their molar ratio during the entire study period. However, urinary isoflavone excretion during the study period was positively associated with IGF-1 (P=0.04) and the IGF-1:IGFBP-3 ratio (P=0.06). The effect was consistent over time. Adding soya foods to the diet of premenopausal women does not appear to lower serum levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3; if anything, the greater protein intake from soya may lead to a small increase in IGF-1 serum levels."}
{"id": "MED-4216", "text": "High levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, whereas increased levels of some of its binding proteins (IGFBPs) seem to be protective. High intakes of dietary protein, especially animal and soy protein, appear to increase IGF-1. However, soy isoflavones have demonstrated anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects both in vitro and in vivo. We evaluated dietary intakes of total protein and soy isoflavones in relation to the IGF axis in prostate cancer patients making comprehensive lifestyle changes including a very low-fat vegan diet supplemented with soy protein (58 g/day). After one year, intervention group patients reported significantly higher intakes of dietary protein and soy isoflavones compared to usual-care controls (P < 0.001). IGF-1 increased significantly in both groups, whereas IGFBP-1 rose in the experimental group only (P < 0.01). Increases in vegetable protein over one year were associated with increases in IGFBP-1 among intervention group patients (P < 0.05). These results suggest that dietary protein and soy isoflavones, in the context of comprehensive lifestyle changes, may not significantly alter IGF-1. However, given the recent literature indicating that high intake of protein rich in essential amino acids (animal or soy protein) may increase IGF-1, it may be prudent for men with early stage prostate cancer not to exceed dietary protein recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-4220", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Accumulating evidence indicates that prostate cancer is associated with high levels of serum IGF-I. This study was conducted to determine whether a low-fat diet and exercise (DE) intervention may modulate the IGF axis and reduce prostate cancer cell growth in vitro. METHODS: Fasting serum was obtained from 14 men (age 60 +/- 3 years) participating in an 11-day DE program and from eight similarly aged men who had followed the DE program for 14.2 +/- 1.7 years (long-term). Insulin, IGF-I, IGFBP-1, and IGFBP-3 were measured by ELISA, and serum was used to stimulate LNCaP cell growth in vitro. RESULTS: Serum IGF-I levels decreased by 20% while IGFBP-1 increased by 53% after 11-day DE. In the long-term group, IGF-I was 55% lower, while IGFBP-1 was 150% higher relative to baseline. Serum insulin decreased by 25% after 11-day DE and was 68% lower in the long-term group, relative to baseline. No changes in serum IGFBP-3 were observed. Serum-stimulated LNCaP cell growth was reduced by 30% in post-11-day serum and by 44% in long-term serum relative to baseline. LNCaP cells incubated with post-DE serum showed increased apoptosis/ necrosis, compared to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: A low-fat diet and exercise intervention induces in-vivo changes in the circulating IGF axis and is associated with reduced growth and enhanced apoptosis/necrosis of LNCaP tumor cells in vitro."}
{"id": "MED-4222", "text": "Life span extending mutations in growth signaling pathways protect against age-dependent DNA damage in yeast and decrease insulin resistance and cancer in mice. To test their effect in humans, we monitored for 22 years Ecuadorian subjects with mutations in the growth hormone receptor gene leading to severe growth hormone receptor (GHR) and IGF-I deficiencies and combined this information with surveys to identify the cause and age of death for subjects who died before this period. The individuals with GHR deficiency (GHRD) exhibited only one non-lethal malignancy and no cases of diabetes, in contrast to 17% cancer and 5% diabetes prevalence in the controls. A possible explanation for the very low incidence of cancer may be revealed by in vitro studies: serum from GHRD subjects reduced DNA breaks but increased apoptosis in human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) treated with hydrogen peroxide. We also observed reduced insulin concentrations (1.4 \u03bcU/ml vs. 4.4\u03bcU/ml in unaffected relatives) and a very low homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index (0.34 vs. 0.96 in unaffected relatives) in GHRD individuals, indicating increased insulin sensitivity, which could explain the absence of diabetes in these subjects. Incubation of HMECs with GHRD serum also resulted in reduced expression of RAS, PKA and TOR, and up-regulation of SOD2, changes that promote cellular protection and life span extension in model organisms. These results provide evidence for a role of evolutionarily conserved pathways in promoting aging and diseases in humans and identify a candidate drug target for healthy life span extension."}
{"id": "MED-4223", "text": "Summary Background Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) stimulates mitosis and inhibits apoptosis. Some published results have shown an association between circulating IGF1 and breast-cancer risk, but it has been unclear whether this relationship is consistent or whether it is modified by IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP3), menopausal status, oestrogen receptor status or other factors. The relationship of IGF1 (and IGFBP3) with breast-cancer risk factors is also unclear. The Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group was established to analyse pooled individual data from prospective studies to increase the precision of the estimated associations of endogenous hormones with breast-cancer risk. Methods Individual data on prediagnostic IGF1 and IGFBP3 concentrations were obtained from 17 prospective studies in 12 countries. The associations of IGF1 with risk factors for breast cancer in controls were examined by calculating geometric mean concentrations in categories of these factors. The odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs of breast cancer associated with increasing IGF1 concentrations were estimated by conditional logistic regression in 4790 cases and 9428 matched controls, with stratification by study, age at baseline, and date of baseline. All statistical tests were two-sided, and a p value of less than 0\u00b705 was considered significant. Findings IGF1 concentrations, adjusted for age, were positively associated with height and age at first pregnancy, inversely associated with age at menarche and years since menopause, and were higher in moderately overweight women and moderate alcohol consumers than in other women. The OR for breast cancer for women in the highest versus the lowest fifth of IGF1 concentration was 1\u00b728 (95% CI 1\u00b714\u20131\u00b744; p<0\u00b70001). This association was not altered by adjusting for IGFBP3, and did not vary significantly by menopausal status at blood collection. The ORs for a difference in IGF1 concentration between the highest and lowest fifth were 1\u00b738 (95% CI 1\u00b714\u20131\u00b768) for oestrogen-receptor-positive tumours and 0\u00b780 (0\u00b757\u20131\u00b713) for oestrogen-receptor-negative tumours (p for heterogeneity=0\u00b7007). Interpretation Circulating IGF1 is positively associated with breast-cancer risk. The association is not substantially modified by IGFBP3, and does not differ markedly by menopausal status, but seems to be confined to oestrogen-receptor-positive tumours. Funding Cancer Research UK."}
{"id": "MED-4228", "text": "Insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I, IGF-II) and their binding proteins (IGFBP-1-6) play a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, suggesting possible involvement in carcinogenesis. Several epidemiological studies show associations of IGFs with prostate cancer. We searched the published literature for all studies relating levels of IGFs or IGFBPs with prostate cancer. We performed random effects meta-analysis to calculate summary odds ratios. The number of studies (prostate cancer cases) included in each meta-analysis were 42 (7,481) IGF-I; 10 (923) IGF-II; 3 (485) IGFBP-1; 5 (577) IGFBP-2; 29 (6,541) IGFBP-3; and 11 (3,545) IGF-1:IGFBP-3 ratio. The pooled odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) per standard deviation increase in peptide, were: IGF-I, OR = 1.21 (1.07, 1.36); IGF-II, OR = 1.17 (0.93, 1.47); IGFBP-1, OR = 1.21 (0.62, 2.33); IGFBP-2, OR = 1.18 (0.90, 1.54); IGFBP-3, OR = 0.88 (0.79, 0.98); IGFI:IGFBP-3 ratio, OR = 1.10 (0.97, 1.24). For all exposures, there was substantial heterogeneity (all I2 > 75%), partly explained by study design: the magnitude of associations was smaller in prospective versus retrospective studies, and for IGFBP-3 the inverse association with prostate cancer risk was seen in retrospective but not prospective studies. There was weak evidence that associations of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 with prostate cancer were stronger for advanced disease. Our meta-analysis confirms that raised circulating lGF-I is positively associated with prostate cancer risk. Associations between IGFBP-3 and prostate cancer were inconsistent, and there was little evidence for a role of IGF-II, IGFBP-1 or IGFBP-2 in prostate cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4230", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Although age, genetics, and sex steroid hormones play prominent roles in the cause of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), recent epidemiological studies suggest that modifiable lifestyle factors also contribute substantially to the pathogenesis of these conditions. RECENT FINDINGS: Lifestyle and metabolic factors associated with significantly increased risks of benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms include obesity, diabetes, and meat and fat consumption. Factors associated with decreased risks include physical activity, moderate alcohol intake, and vegetable consumption. Factors for which no clear risk patterns have emerged include lipids and smoking. Randomized clinical trials of lifestyle alterations - such as weight loss, exercise, and diet - for the prevention or treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms have yet to be performed. SUMMARY: Lifestyle factors present a novel opportunity for the prevention and treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms. Although clinical trials of lifestyle modifications have not yet been undertaken, promotion of healthy lifestyle alternatives within the context of standard benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms treatment algorithms is potentially beneficial."}
{"id": "MED-4231", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between onion and garlic intake and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), using data from a multicenter case-control study conducted in Italy. METHODS: A multicenter case-control study of 1369 patients with BPH and 1451 controls, admitted to the same hospitals for a wide spectrum of acute, non-neoplastic conditions, was conducted in Italy between 1991 and 2002. Information was collected by trained interviewers using a validated and reproducible food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained after allowance for recognized confounding factors and energy intake. RESULTS: Compared with nonusers, the multivariate ORs for the highest category of onion and garlic intake were 0.41 (95% CI 0.24 to 0.72) and 0.72 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.91), respectively. The combined OR for frequent users versus nonusers of both onion and garlic was 0.65 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.86). The inverse relationships were consistent across age strata. CONCLUSIONS: This uniquely large data set from European populations showed an inverse association between allium vegetable consumption and BPH."}
{"id": "MED-4232", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the role of a wide range of foods on the risk of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), we conducted a case-control study in Italy between 1991 and 2002. Although BPH is an extremely common condition, particularly among older men, its risk factors, including dietary ones, remain largely undefined. METHODS: Included in the study were 1369 patients younger than 75 years old surgically treated for BPH and 1451 controls younger than 75 years of age who had been admitted to the same hospitals as cases for a wide spectrum of acute, non-neoplastic conditions. A validated and reproducible food frequency questionnaire, including 78 foods and beverages, plus a separate section on alcoholic beverages, was used to assess patients' dietary habits 2 years before diagnosis or hospital admission. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) were obtained after allowance for energy intake and other major potential confounding factors. RESULTS: A significant trend of increasing risk with more frequent consumption was found for cereals (OR 1.55 for the greatest versus lowest quintile), bread (OR 1.69), eggs (OR 1.43), and poultry (OR 1.39). Inverse associations were observed for soups (OR 0.74), pulses (OR 0.74), cooked vegetables (OR 0.66), and citrus fruit (OR 0.82). No association was observed for milk and yogurt products, coffee and tea, pasta and rice, fish, cheese, row vegetables, potatoes, fruit, or desserts. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest a role for dietary habits on the risk of BPH. In particular, a diet rich in cereals and some types of meat and poor in vegetables and pulses may have an unfavorable effect in this Italian population."}
{"id": "MED-4233", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Dietary fat and fiber affect hormonal levels and may influence cancer progression. Flaxseed is a rich source of lignan and omega-3 fatty acids and may thwart prostate cancer. The potential effects of flaxseed may be enhanced with concomitant fat restriction. We undertook a pilot study to explore whether a flaxseed-supplemented, fat-restricted diet could affect the biomarkers of prostatic neoplasia. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with prostate cancer who were awaiting prostatectomy were instructed on a low-fat (20% of kilocalories or less), flaxseed-supplemented (30 g/day) diet. The baseline and follow-up levels of prostate-specific antigen, testosterone, free androgen index, and total serum cholesterol were determined. The tumors of diet-treated patients were compared with those of historic cases (matched by age, race, prostate-specific antigen level at diagnosis, and biopsy Gleason sum) with respect to apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase [TdT]-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling [TUNEL]) and proliferation (MIB-1). RESULTS: The average duration on the diet was 34 days (range 21 to 77), during which time significant decreases were observed in total serum cholesterol (201 +/- 39 mg/dL to 174 +/- 42 mg/dL), total testosterone (422 +/- 122 ng/dL to 360 +/- 128 ng/dL), and free androgen index (36.3% +/- 18.9% to 29.3% +/- 16.8%) (all P <0.05). The baseline and follow-up levels of prostate-specific antigen were 8.1 +/- 5.2 ng/mL and 8.5 +/- 7.7 ng/mL, respectively, for the entire sample (P = 0.58); however, among men with Gleason sums of 6 or less (n = 19), the PSA values were 7.1 +/- 3.9 ng/mL and 6.4 +/- 4.1 ng/mL (P = 0.10). The mean proliferation index was 7.4 +/- 7.8 for the historic controls versus 5.0 +/- 4.9 for the diet-treated patients (P = 0.05). The distribution of the apoptotic indexes differed significantly (P = 0.01) between groups, with most historic controls exhibiting TUNEL categorical scores of 0; diet-treated patients largely exhibited scores of 1. Both the proliferation rate and apoptosis were significantly associated with the number of days on the diet (P = 0.049 and P = 0.017, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: These pilot data suggest that a flaxseed-supplemented, fat-restricted diet may affect prostate cancer biology and associated biomarkers. Further study is needed to determine the benefit of this dietary regimen as either a complementary or preventive therapy."}
{"id": "MED-4239", "text": "BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most common solid-tumor cancer in US males but is rare in Asian males. When Asian men adopt the US lifestyle, clinical prostate cancer increases greatly. Epidemiological data from men in the US indicate that regular activity may reduce the risk for prostate cancer. METHODS: Serum was obtained from three groups of similar-aged men, Control, Diet and Exercise, and Exercise alone were used to stimulate LNCaP cells in culture. Growth and apoptosis of tumor cells were measured. Serum samples were also used to measure insulin, IGF-1, IGFBP-1. RESULTS: The Diet and Exercise and the Exercise alone groups had lower serum insulin and IGF-1 but higher IGFBP-1 compared to Controls. LNCaP cell growth was reduced in both groups compared to Control and there was a major increase in apoptosis of tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS: A low-fat diet and/or intensive exercise results in change in serum hormones and growth factors in vivo that can reduce growth and induce apoptosis of LNCaP prostate tumor cells in vitro. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4243", "text": "CONTEXT: The Lifestyle Heart Trial demonstrated that intensive lifestyle changes may lead to regression of coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year. OBJECTIVES: To determine the feasibility of patients to sustain intensive lifestyle changes for a total of 5 years and the effects of these lifestyle changes (without lipid-lowering drugs) on coronary heart disease. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial conducted from 1986 to 1992 using a randomized invitational design. PATIENTS: Forty-eight patients with moderate to severe coronary heart disease were randomized to an intensive lifestyle change group or to a usual-care control group, and 35 completed the 5-year follow-up quantitative coronary arteriography. SETTING: Two tertiary care university medical centers. INTERVENTION: Intensive lifestyle changes (10% fat whole foods vegetarian diet, aerobic exercise, stress management training, smoking cessation, group psychosocial support) for 5 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adherence to intensive lifestyle changes, changes in coronary artery percent diameter stenosis, and cardiac events. RESULTS: Experimental group patients (20 [71%] of 28 patients completed 5-year follow-up) made and maintained comprehensive lifestyle changes for 5 years, whereas control group patients (15 [75%] of 20 patients completed 5-year follow-up) made more moderate changes. In the experimental group, the average percent diameter stenosis at baseline decreased 1.75 absolute percentage points after 1 year (a 4.5% relative improvement) and by 3.1 absolute percentage points after 5 years (a 7.9% relative improvement). In contrast, the average percent diameter stenosis in the control group increased by 2.3 percentage points after 1 year (a 5.4% relative worsening) and by 11.8 percentage points after 5 years (a 27.7% relative worsening) (P=.001 between groups. Twenty-five cardiac events occurred in 28 experimental group patients vs 45 events in 20 control group patients during the 5-year follow-up (risk ratio for any event for the control group, 2.47 [95% confidence interval, 1.48-4.20]). CONCLUSIONS: More regression of coronary atherosclerosis occurred after 5 years than after 1 year in the experimental group. In contrast, in the control group, coronary atherosclerosis continued to progress and more than twice as many cardiac events occurred."}
{"id": "MED-4247", "text": "In a prospective, randomised, controlled trial to determine whether comprehensive lifestyle changes affect coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year, 28 patients were assigned to an experimental group (low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training, and moderate exercise) and 20 to a usual-care control group. 195 coronary artery lesions were analysed by quantitative coronary angiography. The average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 40.0 (SD 16.9)% to 37.8 (16.5)% in the experimental group yet progressed from 42.7 (15.5)% to 46.1 (18.5)% in the control group. When only lesions greater than 50% stenosed were analysed, the average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 61.1 (8.8)% to 55.8 (11.0)% in the experimental group and progressed from 61.7 (9.5)% to 64.4 (16.3)% in the control group. Overall, 82% of experimental-group patients had an average change towards regression. Comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to bring about regression of even severe coronary atherosclerosis after only 1 year, without use of lipid-lowering drugs."}
{"id": "MED-4249", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Virgin olive oil (VOO) and nuts are basic components of the Mediterranean diet, a heart-healthy dietary pattern. Nuts have well known cholesterol lowering effects, while evidence is unclear for VOO. We designed a study in hypercholesterolemic patients to assess the effects on serum lipids and other intermediate markers of cardiovascular risk of replacing 40% of the fat in the background diet with VOO, walnuts or almonds. METHODS AND RESULTS: After a 4 week run-in period with a healthy diet, eligible candidates were randomized into three diet sequences in a crossover design, with a common background diet enriched with VOO, walnuts or almonds, lasting 4 weeks each. Outcomes were changes of serum lipids and oxidation and inflammation markers, measured by standard methods. Plasma fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography to assess compliance. In 18 participants completing the study (9 women, mean age 56 y, BMI 25.7\u00a0kg/m(2)), LDL-cholesterol was reduced from baseline by 7.3%, 10.8% and 13.4% after the VOO, walnut and almond diets, respectively (P\u00a0=\u00a00.001, Friedman test). Total cholesterol and LDL/HDL ratios decreased in parallel. LDL-cholesterol decreases were greater than predicted from dietary fatty acid and cholesterol exchanges among diets. No changes of other lipid fractions, oxidation analytes or inflammatory biomarkers were observed. Plasma fatty acid changes after each diet sequence supported good compliance. CONCLUSION: The results confirm the cholesterol lowering properties of nut-enriched diets. They also suggest that phenolic-rich VOO has a cholesterol lowering effect independently of its fatty acid content, which clearly deserves further study. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4250", "text": "The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that a preload including dried prunes consumed as a snack before a meal, compared to an isoenergetic and equal weighed bread product preload would: (a) have greater short-term effect on satiety measured by subsequent ad libitum meal intake, (b) induce greater satiety as assessed by visual analogue scales (VAS), and (c) reduce appetite for dessert offered shortly after lunch. Forty-five healthy, normal-weight subjects participated in this randomised within-subject crossover study. Statistical analysis of the results showed that when subjects consumed the preload that included dried prunes, also consumed less amount of dessert and had lower total energy intake at meal. Additionally, subjects' feeling of hunger, desire and motivation to eat, as assessed with the use of VAS, were lower at all time points between snack and meal. Since macronutrients content of both preloads were similar, the satiating power of prunes could be due to their relatively high fiber content. Identifying meal patterns and foods that promote satiety without increasing considerably the overall energy intake is very important. The addition of dried prunes to a snack seems to promote satiety besides providing valuable nutrients. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4253", "text": "We investigated the glycemic index (GI) and the insulinemic index (II) of cake made from whole soy powder (SBC) and the suppressive effects of SBC on the postprandial blood glucose and insulin by other carbohydrate foods. Furthermore, breath hydrogen excretion was simultaneously investigated. Twenty subjects were given 114 g SBC, 144 g cooked paddy-rice, and 60 g SBC with 144 g cooked paddy-rice in random order using a within-subject, repeated-measures design. Blood and end-expiratory gas were collected at the indicated periods after ingestion. The GI and the II of SBC were 22+/-6 and 48+/-29, respectively. The elevation of blood glucose by cooked paddy-rice was significantly suppressed by the addition of 60 g SBC, although the insulin secretion did not decrease. Breath hydrogen excretion by the addition of SBC to 144 g cooked paddy-rice was not significantly increased in comparison with cooked paddy-rice alone. SBC was of low GI and low II, but the postprandial insulin secretion in response to cooked paddy-rice was not suppressed."}
{"id": "MED-4255", "text": "The world's advanced countries have easy access to plentiful high-fat food; ironically, it is this rich diet that produces atherosclerosis. In the world's poorer nations, many people subsist on a primarily plant-based diet, which is far healthier, especially in terms of heart disease. To treat coronary heart disease, a century of scientific investigation has produced a device-driven, risk factor-oriented strategy. Nevertheless, many patients treated with this approach experience progressive disability and death. This strategy is a rear-guard defensive one. In contrast, compelling data from nutritional studies, population surveys, and interventional studies support the effectiveness of a plant-based diet and aggressive lipid lowering to arrest, prevent, and selectively reverse heart disease. In essence, this is an offensive strategy. The single biggest step toward adopting this strategy would be to have United States dietary guidelines support a plant-based diet. An expert committee purged of industrial and political influence is required to assure that science is the basis for dietary recommendations. (c)2001 CHF, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4256", "text": "This systematic review collated seventy-eight studies exploring waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and waist circumference (WC) or BMI as predictors of diabetes and CVD, published in English between 1950 and 2008. Twenty-two prospective analyses showed that WHtR and WC were significant predictors of these cardiometabolic outcomes more often than BMI, with similar OR, sometimes being significant predictors after adjustment for BMI. Observations from cross-sectional analyses, forty-four in adults, thirteen in children, supported these predictions. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed mean area under ROC (AUROC) values of 0\u00b7704, 0\u00b7693 and 0\u00b7671 for WHtR, WC and BMI, respectively. Mean boundary values for WHtR, covering all cardiometabolic outcomes, from studies in fourteen different countries and including Caucasian, Asian and Central American subjects, were 0\u00b750 for men and 0\u00b750 for women. WHtR and WC are therefore similar predictors of diabetes and CVD, both being stronger than, and independent of, BMI. To make firmer statistical comparison, a meta-analysis is required. The AUROC analyses indicate that WHtR may be a more useful global clinical screening tool than WC, with a weighted mean boundary value of 0\u00b75, supporting the simple public health message 'keep your waist circumference to less than half your height'."}
{"id": "MED-4257", "text": "We conducted a systematic review investigating body fat distribution in older adults and its association with morbidity and mortality. Our search yielded 2,702 citations. Following three levels of screening, 25 studies were selected to evaluate the association between body fat distribution and comorbidity, and 17 studies were used in the mortality analysis. Most of the selected studies in our analyses used anthropometric measures, e.g., body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-hip ratio; relatively few studies used direct measures, such as body fat/lean mass, and percentage body fat. Studies reported inconsistent findings regarding the strongest predictor(s) of morbidity and mortality. However, the majority of studies suggested that BMI per se was not the most appropriate predictor of morbidity and mortality in the elderly because of its inability to discern or detect age-related body fat redistribution. In addition, studies using BMI found that the optimal BMI range for the lowest mortality in the elderly was overweight (25 kg/m2 \u2264 BMI < 30 kg/m2) or mildly obese (30 kg/m2 \u2264 BMI < 35 kg/m2). Our findings suggest that the current clinical guidelines, recommending that overweight and obesity are major risk factors for increased morbidity and mortality are not applicable to this population. Therefore, the central message of this review is to admonish the government to establish new guidelines specifically for this population, using a combination of body fat distribution measurements, and to certify that these guidelines will not be applied to inappropriate populations."}
{"id": "MED-4258", "text": "The objective of the present study was to assess animal and plant protein intakes in the Belgian population and to examine their relationship with overweight and obesity (OB). The subjects participated in the Belgian National Food Consumption Survey conducted in 2004. Food consumption was assessed by using two non-consecutive 24\u00a0h dietary recalls. About 3083 participants (\u00a0\u2265\u00a015 years of age; 1546 males, 1537 females) provided completed dietary information. Animal protein intake (47\u00a0g/d) contributed more to total protein intakes of 72\u00a0g/d than plant protein intake, which accounted for 25\u00a0g/d. Meat and meat products were the main contributors to total animal protein intakes (53\u00a0%), whereas cereals and cereal products contributed most to plant protein intake (54\u00a0%). Males had higher animal and plant protein intakes than females (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b7001). Legume and soya protein intakes were low in the whole population (0\u00b7101 and 0\u00b7174\u00a0g/d, respectively). In males, animal protein intake was positively associated with BMI (\u03b2\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7013; P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7001) and waist circumference (WC; \u03b2\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7041; P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7002). Both in males and females, plant protein intake was inversely associated with BMI (males: \u03b2\u00a0=\u00a0-\u00a00\u00b7036; P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b7001; females: \u03b2\u00a0=\u00a0-\u00a00\u00b7046; P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7001) and WC (male: \u03b2\u00a0=\u00a0-\u00a00\u00b7137; P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b7001; female: \u03b2\u00a0=\u00a0-\u00a00\u00b7096; P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7024). In conclusion, plant protein intakes were lower than animal protein intakes among a representative sample of the Belgian population and decreased with age. Associations with anthropometric data indicated that plant proteins could offer a protective effect in the prevention of overweight and OB in the Belgian population."}
{"id": "MED-4261", "text": "BACKGROUND: Meat intake may be related to weight gain because of its high energy and fat content. Some observational studies have shown that meat consumption is positively associated with weight gain, but intervention studies have shown mixed results. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess the association between consumption of total meat, red meat, poultry, and processed meat and weight gain after 5 y of follow-up, on average, in the large European population who participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Physical Activity, Nutrition, Alcohol, Cessation of Smoking, Eating Out of Home and Obesity (EPIC-PANACEA) project. DESIGN: A total of 103,455 men and 270,348 women aged 25-70 y were recruited between 1992 and 2000 in 10 European countries. Diet was assessed at baseline with the use of country-specific validated questionnaires. A dietary calibration study was conducted in a representative subsample of the cohort. Weight and height were measured at baseline and self-reported at follow-up in most centers. Associations between energy from meat (kcal/d) and annual weight change (g/y) were assessed with the use of linear mixed models, controlled for age, sex, total energy intake, physical activity, dietary patterns, and other potential confounders. RESULTS: Total meat consumption was positively associated with weight gain in men and women, in normal-weight and overweight subjects, and in smokers and nonsmokers. With adjustment for estimated energy intake, an increase in meat intake of 250 g/d (eg, one steak at approximately 450 kcal) would lead to a 2-kg higher weight gain after 5 y (95% CI: 1.5, 2.7 kg). Positive associations were observed for red meat, poultry, and processed meat. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a decrease in meat consumption may improve weight management."}
{"id": "MED-4262", "text": "Satiety, which is the inhibition of eating following the end of a meal, is influenced by a number of food characteristics, including compositional and structural factors. An increased understanding of these factors and the mechanisms whereby they exert their effects on satiety may offer a food-based approach to weight management. Water and gas, which are often neglected in nutrition, are major components of many foods and contribute to volume, and to sensory and other characteristics. A review of previous short-term studies that evaluated the effects of water or gas in foods on satiety showed that while satiety was generally increased, effects on subsequent intakes were not always apparent. These studies were diverse in terms of design, timings and food matrices, which precludes definitive conclusions. However, the results indicate that solids may be more effective at increasing satiety than liquids, but gas may be as effective as water. Although increased gastric distension may be the main mechanism underlying these effects, pre-ingestive and ingestive impacts on cognitive, anticipatory and sensory responses also appear to be involved. Furthermore, there is limited evidence that water on its own may be effective at increasing satiety and decreasing intakes when drunk before, but not with, a meal. Longer-term extrapolation suggests that increasing food volumes with water or gas may offer weight-management strategies. However, from a practical viewpoint, the effects of water and gas on satiety may be best exploited by using these non-nutrients to manipulate perceived portion sizes, without increasing energy contents."}
{"id": "MED-4264", "text": "Domestic winter indoor temperatures in the USA, UK and other developed countries appear to be following an upwards trend. This review examines evidence of a causal link between thermal exposures and increases in obesity prevalence, focusing on acute and longer-term biological effects of time spent in thermal comfort compared with mild cold. Reduced exposure to seasonal cold may have a dual effect on energy expenditure, both minimizing the need for physiological thermogenesis and reducing thermogenic capacity. Experimental studies show a graded association between acute mild cold and human energy expenditure over the range of temperatures relevant to indoor heating trends. Meanwhile, recent studies of the role of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in human thermogenesis suggest that increased time spent in conditions of thermal comfort can lead to a loss of BAT and reduced thermogenic capacity. Pathways linking cold exposure and adiposity have not been directly tested in humans. Research in naturalistic and experimental settings is needed to establish effects of changes in thermal exposures on weight, which may raise possibilities for novel public health strategies to address obesity. \u00a9 2011 The Authors. obesity reviews \u00a9 2011 International Association for the Study of Obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4265", "text": "Two groups of beneficial bacteria are dominant in the human gut, the Bacteroidetes and the Firmicutes. Here we show that the relative proportion of Bacteroidetes is decreased in obese people by comparison with lean people, and that this proportion increases with weight loss on two types of low-calorie diet. Our findings indicate that obesity has a microbial component, which might have potential therapeutic implications."}
{"id": "MED-4266", "text": "The relative proportion of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes is decreased in obese people. This imbalance in gut microbiota generates signals controlling the expression of genes by the epithelial intestinal cells. Both dairy and non-dairy probiotics increase body weight, reportedly through Lactobacillus species growth in the gut. On the other hand, daily intake of some fruits and drinks such as three apples or three pears or grapefruit, or green tea, which all are rich in polyphenols, can significantly reduce body weight in obese people. Metabolism of polyphenols by microbiota involves the cleavage of glycosidic linkages. Glycans, which are the product of glycosidic cleavage, are necessary for survival of the intestinal microbiota as a nutrient foundation. There are two pivotal points: (i) Firmicutes possess a disproportionately smaller number of glycan-degrading enzymes than Bacteroidetes, (ii) Firmicutes are more repressed than the Bacteroidetes by phenolic compounds' antimicrobial properties. The Bacteroidetes community prevails following dietary polyphenol intake and its fermentation to phenolic compounds, due to having more glycan-degrading enzymes, so this may thus be a mechanism by which dietary polyphenols exert their weight lowering effect. I suggest that future studies utilize clone libraries and fingerprinting techniques enabling identification of the composition and community structure of the microbiota, and dot blot hybridization or fluorescent in situ hybridization to analyze abundance of particular taxa in obese and individuals. A supplementation with polyphenols with high bioavailability in obese individuals with higher Firmicutes/Bacteroides community ratio phenotype, when associated to a probiotic restricted diet, is proposed for weight loss; this hypothesis could have relevant implication in planning a successful dietary regimen and/or neutraceutical/pharmaceutical preparations for achieving and maintaining a normal body weight in obese individuals, especially including much more use of polyphenol-rich foodstuffs and/or polyphenol-rich syrups, and including low amounts of probiotic-rich foodstuffs like yogurt, soy yogurt, or as probiotic supplements. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4267", "text": "The aim of our studies was to determine the amount of polyphenols reaching the colon after oral intake of apple juice and blueberries. After a polyphenol-free diet healthy ileostomy volunteers consumed a polyphenol-rich cloudy apple juice while others consumed anthocyanin-rich blueberries. Ileostomy effluent was collected and polyphenols were identified using HPLC-DAD as well as HPLC-ESI-MS/MS; quantification was performed with HPLC-DAD. Most of the orally administered apple polyphenols were absorbed from or metabolized in the small intestine. Between 0 and 33% of the oral dose was recovered in the ileostomy bags with a maximum of excretion after 2 h. A higher amount of the blueberry anthocyanins under study (up to 85%, depending on the sugar moiety) were determined in the ileostomy bags and therefore would reach the colon under physiological circumstances. Such structure-related availability has to be considered when polyphenols are used in model systems to study potential preventive effects in colorectal diseases."}
{"id": "MED-4271", "text": "Dietary fibres are indigestible food ingredients that reach the colon and are then fermented by colonic bacteria, resulting mainly in the formation of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Those SCFA, especially butyrate, are recognised for their potential to act on secondary chemoprevention by slowing growth and activating apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Additionally, SCFA can also act on primary prevention by activation of different drug metabolising enzymes. This can reduce the burden of carcinogens and, therefore, decrease the number of mutations, reducing cancer risk. Activation of GSTs by butyrate has been studied on mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity level by real-time RT-PCR, cDNA microarrays, Western blotting, or photometrical approaches, respectively. Butyrate had differential effects in colon cells of different stages of cancer development. In HT29 tumour cells, e.g., mRNA GSTA4, GSTP1, GSTM2, and GSTT2 were induced. In LT97 adenoma cells, GSTM3, GSTT2, and MGST3 were induced, whereas GSTA2, GSTT2, and catalase (CAT) were elevated in primary colon cells. Colon cells of different stages of carcinogenesis differed in post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms because butyrate increased protein levels of different GST isoforms and total GST enzyme activity in HT29 cells, whereas in LT97 cells, GST protein levels and activity were slightly reduced. Because butyrate increased histone acetylation and phosphorylation of ERK in HT29 cells, inhibition of histone deacetylases and the influence on MAPK signalling are possible mechanisms of GST activation by butyrate. Functional consequences of this activation include a reduction of DNA damage caused by carcinogens like hydrogen peroxide or 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) in butyrate-treated colon cells. Treatment of colon cells with the supernatant from an in vitro fermentation of inulin increased GST activity and decreased HNE-induced DNA damage in HT29 cells. Additional animal and human studies are needed to define the exact role of dietary fibre and butyrate in inducing GST activity and reducing the risk of colon cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4276", "text": "Propionate is produced along with acetate and butyrate as a result of fermentative activity of gut microflora on dietary fiber. It has long been known to exhibit hypophagic effects in ruminants, however, its potential physiological roles in non-ruminants as well as humans remained unnoticed over the years. In view of various studies pointing towards the hypophagic as well as hypocholesterolemic effects of propionate in humans, it may act as an important factor in amelioration of obesity, a lifestyle disease arising due to energy imbalance and growing at a startling rate globally. Short chain fatty acids have recently been ascribed as ligands to G-protein coupled receptors (GPRs) 41 and 43. Thus, propionate along with acetate may also be involved in the regulation of adipogenesis and adipokine release mediated via GPRs. The present review summarizes the evidence which collectively raise the possibility of propionate as a dietary factor to depress appetite and combat the obesity epidemic. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4278", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To describe the lifestyle characteristics and nutrient intakes of the Oxford cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). DESIGN: Cohort of men and women recruited through general practices or by post to include a high proportion of non meat-eaters. Dietary, anthropometric and lifestyle data were collected at baseline and four diet groups were defined. SETTING: United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 65 429 men and women aged 20 to 97 years, comprising 33 883 meat-eaters, 10 110 fish-eaters, 18 840 lacto-ovo vegetarians and 2596 vegans. RESULTS: Nutrient intakes and lifestyle factors differed across the diet groups, with striking differences between meat-eaters and vegans, and fish-eaters and vegetarians usually having intermediate values. Mean fat intake in each diet group was below the UK dietary reference value of 33% of total energy intake. The mean intake of saturated fatty acids in vegans was approximately 5% of energy, less than half the mean intake among meat-eaters (10-11%). Vegans had the highest intakes of fibre, vitamin B1, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium and iron, and the lowest intakes of retinol, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium and zinc. CONCLUSIONS: The EPIC-Oxford cohort includes 31 546 non meat-eaters and is one of the largest studies of vegetarians in the world. The average nutrient intakes in the whole cohort are close to those currently recommended for good health. Comparisons of the diet groups show wide ranges in the intakes of major nutrients such as saturated fat and dietary fibre. Such variation should increase the ability of the study to detect associations of diet with major cancers and causes of death."}
{"id": "MED-4281", "text": "Over the past 20 years, growing interest in the biochemistry, nutrition, and pharmacology of L-arginine has led to extensive studies to explore its nutritional and therapeutic roles in treating and preventing human metabolic disorders. Emerging evidence shows that dietary L-arginine supplementation reduces adiposity in genetically obese rats, diet-induced obese rats, finishing pigs, and obese human subjects with Type-2 diabetes mellitus. The mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of L-arginine are likely complex, but ultimately involve altering the balance of energy intake and expenditure in favor of fat loss or reduced growth of white adipose tissue. Recent studies indicate that L-arginine supplementation stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and brown adipose tissue development possibly through the enhanced synthesis of cell-signaling molecules (e.g., nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, polyamines, cGMP, and cAMP) as well as the increased expression of genes that promote whole-body oxidation of energy substrates (e.g., glucose and fatty acids) Thus, L-arginine holds great promise as a safe and cost-effective nutrient to reduce adiposity, increase muscle mass, and improve the metabolic profile in animals and humans."}
{"id": "MED-4284", "text": "Peanuts and peanut butter are commonly consumed as a snack, meal component and ingredient in various commercial products. Their consumption is associated with reduced CVD risk and they pose little threat to positive energy balance. However, questions have arisen as to whether product form (e.g. whole nut v. butter) and processing properties (e.g. roasting and adding flavours) may compromise their positive health effects. The present study investigated the effects of peanut form and processing on two CVD risk factors: fasting plasma lipids and body weight. One hundred and eighteen adults (forty-seven males and seventy-one females; age 29.2 (sd 8.4) years; BMI 30.0 (sd 4.5) kg/m2) from Brazil, Ghana and the United States were randomised to consume 56 g of raw unsalted (n 23), roasted unsalted (n 24), roasted salted (n 23) or honey roasted (n 24) peanuts, or peanut butter (n 24) daily for 4 weeks. Peanut form and processing did not differentially affect body weight or fasting plasma lipid responses in the total sample. However, HDL-cholesterol increased significantly at the group level, and total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and TAG concentrations decreased significantly in individuals classified as having elevated fasting plasma lipids compared with those with normal fasting plasma lipids. These observations suggest that the processing attributes assessed in this trial do not compromise the lipid-lowering effects of peanuts, and do not negatively impact body weight. Further studies are warranted to determine the effects of form and processing on other health risk factors."}
{"id": "MED-4286", "text": "Nuts are rich sources of multiple nutrients and phytochemicals associated with health benefits, including reduced cardiovascular disease risk. This has prompted recommendations to increase their consumption. However, they are also high in fat and are energy dense. The associations between these properties, positive energy balance and body weight raise questions about such recommendations. Numerous epidemiological and clinical studies show that nuts are not associated with weight gain. Mechanistic studies indicate this is largely attributable to the high satiety and low metabolizable energy (poor bioaccessibility leading to inefficient energy absorption) properties of nuts. Compensatory dietary responses account for 55-75% of the energy provided by nuts. Limited data suggest that routine nut consumption is associated with elevated resting energy expenditure and the thermogenic effect of feeding, resulting in dissipation of another portion of the energy they provide. Additionally, trials contrasting weight loss through regimens that include or exclude nuts indicate improved compliance and greater weight loss when nuts are permitted. Nuts may be included in the diet, in moderation, to enhance palatability, nutrient quality, and chronic disease risk reduction without compromising weight loss or maintenance."}
{"id": "MED-4287", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of snacking based on fast acting carbohydrates (candy) or fat and protein (peanuts) in a prospective randomized, parallel intervention study. METHODS: Basal metabolic rate (BMR) and cardiovascular risk factors were measured before and after hyper-alimentation by addition of 20 kcal/kg (84 kJ/kg) body weight of either candy or roasted peanuts, to the regular caloric intake, for two weeks in healthy subjects. Eleven men and 14 women completed the randomized study. RESULTS: Energy-intake increased similarly in the groups (candy: +46.1+/-35%, peanuts: +46.8+/-28% p=0.96). Body-weight (candy: from 67.3+/-7.6 kg to 68.1+/-7.3 kg, p=0.01, nuts: from 68.7+/-6.1 kg to 69.0+/-5.7 kg p=0.3) and waist circumference increased significantly only in the candy group. At the end of the study LDL cholesterol (candy: 2.6+/-0.4 mmol/l peanuts: 2.1+/-0.4 mmol/l, p=0.005) and ApoB/ApoA-1-ratio (candy: 0.68+/-0.16 peanuts 0.53+/-0.11, p=0.01) were higher in the candy group than in the peanut group. On the other hand, BMR increased only in the peanut group (candy: from 6.657+/-1.1 MJ/24 h to 6.762+/-1.1 MJ/24 h, p=0.3 nuts: from 6.896+/-0.98 MJ/24 h to 7.256+/-1.1 MJ/24 h, p=0.02). CONCLUSION: Two weeks of snacking based on peanuts does not cause the same negative metabolic effects as an isocaloric diet in which the snacking is based on short acting carbohydrates in the form of candy in non-obese healthy subjects."}
{"id": "MED-4288", "text": "The purpose of this study was to determine the association of out-of-hand nut (OOHN) consumption with nutrient intake, diet quality, and the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Data from 24-hour recalls from individuals aged 2+ years (n = 24,385) participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used. The population was divided into children aged 2 to 11, 12 to 18, and adults 19+ years, and each group was dichotomized into OOHN consumers and nonconsumers. Out-of-hand nut consumers were defined as those individuals consuming \u00bc oz of nuts or more per d. Means, standard errors, and covariate-adjusted analyses of variance were determined using appropriate sample weights. Diet quality was determined using the Healthy Eating Index-2005. Significance was set at P < .05. The percent of OOHN consumers increased with age: 2.1% \u00b1 0.3%, 2.6% \u00b1 0.3%, 6.5% \u00b1 0.5%, and 9.6% \u00b1 0.5% those aged 2 to 11, 12 to 18, 19 to 50, and 51+ years, respectively. The 2 latter groups were combined into a single group of consumers aged 19+ years for subsequent analyses. Consumers of OOHN from all age groups had higher intakes of energy, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fiber, copper, and magnesium and lower intakes of carbohydrates, cholesterol, and sodium than did nonconsumers. Diet quality was higher in OOHN consumers of all age groups. In children aged 2 to 11 years, consumers had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity. In those aged 12 to 18 years, weight and percent overweight were lower in consumers. Adult consumers had higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, red blood cell folate, and serum folate levels and lower insulin, glycohemoglobin, and C-reactive protein levels than did nonconsumers. Adult consumers also had a 19% decreased risk of hypertension and a 21% decreased risk of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Data suggested that OOHN consumption was associated with improved nutrient intake, diet quality, and, in adults, a lower prevalence of 2 risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Consumption of OOHN, as part of a healthy diet, should be encouraged by health professionals. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4289", "text": "BACKGROUND: Few recent epidemiologic studies have assessed the effect that nut consumption (including tree nuts and peanuts) has on health risks, including metabolic syndrome (MetS). OBJECTIVE: This study compared the health risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and MetS of nut consumers with that of nonconsumers. DESIGN: Adults 19+ years (n = 13,292) participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used. Intake from 24-hour recalls was used to determine intake. Nut/tree nut consumers consumed \u2265\u00bc; ounce per day. Covariate-adjusted means, standard errors, and prevalence rates were determined for the nut consumption groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of nut consumers was 18.6% \u00b1 0.7% and 21.0% \u00b1 0.9% in those 19-50 years and 51 years and older, respectively. Nut consumption was associated with a decreased body mass index (27.7 kg/m(2) \u00b1 0.2 vs 28.1 \u00b1 0.1 kg/m(2), p < 0.05), waist circumference (95.6 \u00b1 0.4 cm vs 96.4 \u00b1 0.3 cm, p < 0.05), and systolic blood pressure (121.9 \u00b1 0.4 mmHg vs 123.20 \u00b1 0.3 mmHg, p < 0.01) compared with nonconsumers. Tree nut consumers also had a lower weight (78.8 \u00b1 0.7 kg vs 80.7 \u00b1 0.3 kg, p < 0.05). Nut consumers had a lower percentage of two risk factors for MetS: hypertension (31.5% \u00b1 1.0% vs 34.2% \u00b1 0.8%, p < 0.05) and low high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (29.6% \u00b1 1.0% vs 34.8% \u00b1 0.8%, p < 0.01). Tree nut consumers had a lower prevalence of four risk factors for MetS: abdominal obesity (43.6% \u00b1 1.6% vs 49.5% \u00b1 0.8%, p < 0.05), hypertension (31.4% \u00b1 1.2% vs 33.9% \u00b1 0.8%, p < 0.05), low HDL-C (27.9% \u00b1 1.7% vs 34.5% \u00b1 0.8%, p < 0.01), high fasting glucose (11.4% \u00b1 1.4% vs 15.0% \u00b1 0.7%, p < 0.05), and a lower prevalence of MetS (21.2% \u00b1 2.1% vs 26.6% \u00b1 0.7%, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Nut/tree nut consumption was associated with a decreased prevalence of selected risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and MetS."}
{"id": "MED-4290", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Nut intake has been inversely related to body mass index (BMI) in prospective studies. We examined dietary determinants of adiposity in an elderly Mediterranean population with customarily high nut consumption. METHODS AND RESULTS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 847 subjects (56% women, mean age 67 years, BMI 29.7kg/m(2)) at high cardiovascular risk recruited into the PREDIMED study. Food consumption was evaluated by a validated semi-quantitative questionnaire, energy expenditure in physical activity by the Minnesota Leisure Time Activity questionnaire, and anthropometric variables by standard measurements. Nut intake decreased across quintiles of both BMI and waist circumference (P-trend <0.005; both). Alcohol ingestion was inversely related to BMI (P-trend=0.020) and directly to waist (P-trend=0.011), while meat intake was directly associated with waist circumference (P-trend=0.018). In fully adjusted multivariable models, independent dietary associations of BMI were the intake of nuts inversely (P=0.002) and that of meat and meat products directly (P=0.042). For waist circumference, independent dietary associations were intake of nuts (P=0.002) and vegetables (P=0.040), both inversely, and intake of meat and meat products directly (P=0.009). From the regression coefficients, it was predicted that BMI and waist circumference decreased by 0.78kg/m(2) and 2.1cm, respectively, for each serving of 30g of nuts. Results were similar in men and women. CONCLUSION: Nut consumption was inversely associated with adiposity independently of other lifestyle variables. It remains to be explored whether residual confounding related to a healthier lifestyle of nut eaters might in part explain these results. Copyright \u00a9 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4291", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Short-term trials support that adding tree nuts or peanuts to usual diets does not induce weight gain. We reviewed the available epidemiological evidence on long-term nut consumption and body weight changes. We also report new results from the SUN (\"Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra\") cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: Published epidemiologic studies with \u22651-yr follow-up were located. Two published reports from large cohorts (SUN and Nurses Health Study-2) showed inverse associations between frequency of nut consumption and long-term weight changes. A beneficial effect of a Mediterranean diet supplemented with tree nuts on waist circumference was reported after 1-yr follow-up in the first 1224 high-risk participants in the PREDIMED (\"PREvencion DIeta MEDiterranea\") trial. After assessing 11,895 participants of the SUN cohort, a borderline significant (p value for trend\u00a0=\u00a00.09) inverse association between baseline nut consumption and average yearly weight gain (multivariate-adjusted means\u00a0=\u00a00.32\u00a0kg/yr (95% confidence interval: 0.22-0.42) and 0.24 (0.11-0.37) kg/yr for participants with no consumption and >4\u00a0servings/week, respectively) was found after a 6-yr follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of nuts was not associated with a higher risk of weight gain in long-term epidemiologic studies and clinical trials. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4292", "text": "There is currently no single dietary or lifestyle intervention that is effective in long-term weight loss. Traditional weight loss diets tend to be low in total fat and therefore often restrict nut consumption. However, nuts are an important source of many vitamins, minerals, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. This paper reviewed all the available evidence from the literature in relation to nut consumption and body weight. The findings show that the role of nut consumption in body weight management is varied. Nuts, when included as part of an energy-controlled diet, were found in some instances to assist with weight loss. However, when nuts were added to an existing diet without controlling for energy intake, body weight increased, although to a lesser extent than theoretically predicted. There is limited evidence on the effect nut consumption has on type 2 diabetes, although available evidence indicates that nuts as part of a healthy diet do not cause weight gain and can have a positive influence on the fatty acid profile of a person with diabetes. This review shows there is a lack of evidence to support the restriction of nut consumption in weight management, indicating that further research is needed to assess the role of nuts in weight management."}
{"id": "MED-4295", "text": "Phytosterols were quantified in nuts and seeds commonly consumed in the United States. Total lipid extracts were subjected to acid hydrolysis and then alkaline saponfication, and free sterols were analyzed as trimethylsilyl derivatives by capillary GC-FID and GC-MS. Delta5-Avenasterol was quantified after alkaline saponification plus direct analysis of the glucoside. Sesame seed and wheat germ had the highest total phytosterol content (400-413 mg/100 g) and Brazil nuts the lowest (95 mg/100 g). Of the products typically consumed as snack foods, pistachio and sunflower kernel were richest in phytosterols (270-289 mg/100 g). beta-Sitosterol, Delta5-avenasterol, and campesterol were predominant. Campestanol ranged from 1.0 to 12.7 mg/100 g. Only 13 mg/100 g beta-sitosterol was found in pumpkin seed kernel, although total sterol content was high (265 mg/100 g). Phytosterol concentrations were greater than reported in existing food composition databases, probably due to the inclusion of steryl glycosides, which represent a significant portion of total sterols in nuts and seeds."}
{"id": "MED-4296", "text": "Background/Objectives Extrinsic phytosterols supplemented to the diet reduce intestinal cholesterol absorption and plasma LDL-cholesterol. However, little is known about their effects on cholesterol metabolism when given in native, unpurified form and in amounts achievable in the diet. The objective of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that intrinsic phytosterols present in unmodified foods alter whole-body cholesterol metabolism. Subjects/Methods Twenty out of 24 subjects completed a randomized, crossover feeding trial where all meals were provided by a metabolic kitchen. Each subject consumed two diets for 4 weeks each. The diets differed in phytosterol content (phytosterol-poor diet, 126 mg phytosterols/2000 kcal; phytosterol-abundant diet, 449 mg/2000 kcal) but were otherwise matched for nutrient content. Cholesterol absorption and excretion were determined by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry after oral administration of stable isotopic tracers. Results The phytosterol-abundant diet resulted in lower cholesterol absorption [54.2 \u00b1 2.2 % (95% confidence interval, 50.5%, 57.9%) vs. 73.2 \u00b1 1.3% (69.5%, 76.9%), P<0.0001] and 79% higher fecal cholesterol excretion [1322 \u00b1 112 (1083.2, 1483.3) vs. 739 \u00b1 97 mg/day (530.1, 930.2), P<0.0001] relative to the phytosterol-poor diet. Plasma lathosterol/cholesterol ratio rose 82% [from 0.71 \u00b1 0.11 (0.41, 0.96) to 1.29 \u00b1 0.14 \u03bcg/mg (0.98, 1.53), (P<0.0001)]. LDL-cholesterol was similar between diets. Conclusions Intrinsic phytosterols at levels present in a healthy diet are biologically active and have large effects on whole body cholesterol metabolism not reflected in circulating LDL. More work is needed to assess the effects of phytosterol-mediated fecal cholesterol excretion on coronary heart disease risk in humans."}
{"id": "MED-4298", "text": "Diet plays a seminal role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Consumption of tree nuts has been shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a primary target for coronary disease prevention, by 3-19%. Almonds have been found to have a consistent LDL-C-lowering effect in healthy individuals, and in individuals with high cholesterol and diabetes, in both controlled and free-living settings. Almonds are low in saturated fatty acids, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, and contain fiber, phytosterols, and plant protein. Other cardioprotective nutrients unique to almonds include \u03b1-tocopherol, arginine, magnesium, copper, manganese, calcium, and potassium. Mechanisms responsible for the LDL-C reduction observed with almond consumption are likely associated with the nutrients almonds provide. Biologically active by nature, these nutrients target primary mechanistic routes of LDL-C reduction, including decreased (re)absorption of cholesterol and bile acid, increased bile acid and cholesterol excretion, and increased LDL-C receptor activity. The nutrients present in almonds may regulate enzymes involved in de novo cholesterol synthesis and bile acid production. Research is needed to understand all mechanisms by which almonds reduce cardiovascular disease risk. \u00a9 2011 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-4300", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Nuts have been part of the human diet since prehistoric times. The aim of the present article is to describe the most important historical and cultural aspects of nut consumption throughout history. DATA SYNTHESIS: We discuss the following historical aspects of nuts originating in the Mediterranean: prehistory, the Egyptian civilization, their spread through the Mediterranean region by the Greek, Phoenician and Roman civilizations, and their reintroduction into Europe by means of the Al-Andalus culture. Particular emphasis is placed on the healthy and nutritional attributes that nuts have had throughout history. We also consider the role of the first globalization of food--the exchange of nuts between continents--and discuss the symbolism that nuts have had for humans throughout history in the context of cultural aspects of the Mediterranean region. CONCLUSIONS: Nuts and fruits are probably the earliest foods consumed by humans and are considered to be important because of their nutritional properties. Nuts have also been used in the past by different civilizations as drugs to prevent or treat several diseases. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4301", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have consistently associated nut consumption with reduced risk for coronary heart disease. Subsequently, many dietary intervention trials investigated the effects of nut consumption on blood lipid levels. The objectives of this study were to estimate the effects of nut consumption on blood lipid levels and to examine whether different factors modify the effects. METHODS: We pooled individual primary data from 25 nut consumption trials conducted in 7 countries among 583 men and women with normolipidemia and hypercholesterolemia who were not taking lipid-lowering medications. In a pooled analysis, we used mixed linear models to assess the effects of nut consumption and the potential interactions. RESULTS: With a mean daily consumption of 67 g of nuts, the following estimated mean reductions were achieved: total cholesterol concentration (10.9 mg/dL [5.1% change]), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration (LDL-C) (10.2 mg/dL [7.4% change]), ratio of LDL-C to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration (HDL-C) (0.22 [8.3% change]), and ratio of total cholesterol concentration to HDL-C (0.24 [5.6% change]) (P < .001 for all) (to convert all cholesterol concentrations to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0259). Triglyceride levels were reduced by 20.6 mg/dL (10.2%) in subjects with blood triglyceride levels of at least 150 mg/dL (P < .05) but not in those with lower levels (to convert triglyceride level to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0113). The effects of nut consumption were dose related, and different types of nuts had similar effects on blood lipid levels. The effects of nut consumption were significantly modified by LDL-C, body mass index, and diet type: the lipid-lowering effects of nut consumption were greatest among subjects with high baseline LDL-C and with low body mass index and among those consuming Western diets. CONCLUSION: Nut consumption improves blood lipid levels in a dose-related manner, particularly among subjects with higher LDL-C or with lower BMI."}
{"id": "MED-4302", "text": "English walnuts have been shown to decrease cardiovascular disease risk; however, black walnuts do not appear to have not been studied for their cardioprotective effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of English versus black walnut consumption on blood lipids, body weight, fatty-acid composition of red blood cell (RBC) membranes, and endothelial function. Consumption of 30 g of English walnuts per day for 30 days, by 36 human participants, improved blood lipids; the effects of black walnuts were dependent on the participant's sex. Addition of either nut to the diet did not result in weight gain. The fatty-acid composition of RBC membranes was favorably affected by walnut consumption. RBC polyunsaturated fatty acids increased after consumption of either type of nut; however, eicosapentaenoic acid increased significantly more after English walnut consumption. Endothelial function of 6 unmedicated humans with hypercholesterolemia was maintained after consumption of English walnuts with a meal high in high saturated fats; however, consumption of black walnuts with the same meal did not maintain endothelial function. Overall, these results support the recommendation that consumption of 1 oz of English walnuts per day may decrease cardiovascular risk, but more research on black walnut consumption is necessary before an appropriate recommendation can be made."}
{"id": "MED-4303", "text": "Four out of eight 'healthier' oils-namely, almond oil, avocado oil, hazelnut oil and macadamia nut oil-studied were rich sources of monounsaturated fatty acids like olive oil. Grape seed oil, rice barn oil (marketed recently), toasted sesame oil and walnut oil contained high levels of essential fatty acids. The order of oxidative stability determined by Rancimat measuring of the induction period at four temperatures (90 degrees C, 100 degrees C, 110 degrees C, and 120 degrees C) was found to be macadamia oil > rice bran oil approximately toasted sesame oil > avocado oil > almond oil > hazelnut oil > grape seed oil > walnut oil. High-level monounsaturated fatty acid oils gave a linear relationship between 100 times the reciprocal of the induction period against the total unsaturated fatty acid content obtained as %C18:2 + 0.08 x C18:1 + 2.08 x %C18:3, while the polyunsaturated fatty acid oils gave an exponential relationship. In the case of rice bran and hazelnut oils, shelf-life prediction from the extrapolation of the Arrhenius plots and the Q(10) factors was compared well with that of storage time given by the oil producers. In the cases of the other oils (with an exception of macadamia nut oil), the predicted shelf-lives were significantly lower than that of the storage times; especially, walnut oil (very prone to oxidation) gave 15-20 times lower shelf-life than the best-before storage life."}
{"id": "MED-4308", "text": "We examined the occurrence and coincidence of depressed mood and excessive carbohydrate intake in 19 patients who claimed to suffer from severe premenstrual syndrome and in nine control subjects, all as inpatients, during the early follicular and late luteal phases of their menstrual cycles. Mood was assessed with the Hamilton Depression Scale and an addendum that evaluated fatigue, sociability, appetite, and carbohydrate craving. Calorie and nutrient intakes were measured directly. The subjects with premenstrual syndrome significantly increased calorie intake during the late luteal phase (from 1892 +/- 104 to 2395 +/- 93 kcal, mean +/- SEM); carbohydrate intake increased by 24% from meals and by 43% from snacks. Protein intake failed to change, whereas intake of fat, a fixed constituent of all of the test foods, rose in proportion to calorie intake. The Hamilton Depression Scale and addendum scores rose from 2.0 +/- 0.5 to 21.2 +/- 0.8 (Hamilton Scale) and from 0.5 +/- 0.5 to 10.2 +/- 0.6 (addendum) among subjects with premenstrual syndrome during the luteal phase but failed to change among the controls (2.1 +/- 0.8 to 2.4 +/- 0.8, and 0.4 +/- 0.3 to 0.6 +/- 0.3). Consumption of a carbohydrate-rich, protein-poor evening test meal during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle improved depression, tension, anger, confusion, sadness, fatigue, alertness, and calmness scores (p less than 0.01) among patients with premenstrual syndrome. No effect of the meal was observed during the follicular phase or among the control subjects during either phase. Because synthesis of brain serotonin, which is known to be involved in mood and appetite, increases after carbohydrate intake, premenstrual syndrome subjects may overconsume carbohydrates in an attempt to improve their dysphoric mood state."}
{"id": "MED-4309", "text": "Biogenic monoamines such as serotonin, tryptamine, and tyramine function as neurotransmitters and mitogenic factors in animals and are involved in flowering, morphogenesis, and protection from and adaptation to environmental changes in plants. In plants, serotonin and tyramine are conjugated to form phenolic compounds via thioester linkages during the synthesis of hydroxycinnamic acid amides, including p-coumaroylserotonin (CS), feruloylserotonin (FS), p-coumaroyltyramine (CT), and feruloyltyramine (FT). In this study, we determined the amounts of the biogenic monoamines CS, FS, CT, and FT in commonly consumed vegetables using high-performance liquid chromatography. Serotonin, tryptamine, and tyramine were detected in all vegetables tested. The serotonin levels ranged from 1.8 to 294 microg/g of dry weight, the tryptamine levels ranged from 0.8 to 372 microg/g of dry weight, and the tyramine levels ranged from 1.4 to 286 microg/g of dry weight. The highest serotonin and tryptamine contents were found in tomato and cherry tomato (140.3-222 microg/g of dry weight), while paprika and green pepper had higher tyramine contents than the other vegetables (286 and 141.5 microg/g of dry weight, respectively). Overall, the levels of CS, FS, CT, and FT ranged from 0.03 to 13.8 microg/g of dry weight, with green onion possessing the highest levels of CS (0.69 microg/g of dry weight), FT (1.99 microg/g of dry weight), and CT (13.85 microg/g of dry weight)."}
{"id": "MED-4313", "text": "BACKGROUND: Population-based studies have shown that vegetarians have lower body mass index than nonvegetarians, suggesting that vegetarian diet plans may be an approach for weight management. However, a perception exists that vegetarian diets are deficient in certain nutrients. OBJECTIVE: To compare dietary quality of vegetarians, nonvegetarians, and dieters, and to test the hypothesis that a vegetarian diet would not compromise nutrient intake when used to manage body weight. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2004) dietary and anthropometric data. Diet quality was determined using United States Department of Agriculture's Healthy Eating Index 2005. Participants included adults aged 19 years and older, excluding pregnant and lactating women (N = 13,292). Lacto-ovo vegetarian diets were portrayed by intakes of participants who did not eat meat, poultry, or fish on the day of the survey (n = 851). Weight-loss diets were portrayed by intakes of participants who consumed 500 kcal less than their estimated energy requirements (n = 4,635). Mean nutrient intakes and body mass indexes were adjusted for energy, sex, and ethnicity. Using analysis of variance, all vegetarians were compared to all nonvegetarians, dieting vegetarians to dieting nonvegetarians, and nondieting vegetarians to nondieting nonvegetarians. RESULTS: Mean intakes of fiber, vitamins A, C, and E, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, calcium, magnesium, and iron were higher for all vegetarians than for all nonvegetarians. Although vegetarian intakes of vitamin E, vitamin A, and magnesium exceeded that of nonvegetarians (8.3 \u00b1 0.3 vs 7.0 \u00b1 0.1 mg; 718 \u00b1 28 vs 603 \u00b1 10 \u03bcg; 322 \u00b1 5 vs 281 \u00b1 2 mg), both groups had intakes that were less than desired. The Healthy Eating Index score did not differ for all vegetarians compared to all nonvegetarians (50.5 \u00b1 0.88 vs 50.1 \u00b1 0.33, P = 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that vegetarian diets are nutrient dense, consistent with dietary guidelines, and could be recommended for weight management without compromising diet quality. Copyright \u00a9 2011 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4314", "text": "The prevalence of cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality is increasing worldwide. This fact is mainly attributed to the modern lifestyle with predominant characteristics the change of dietary habits and the reduced physical activity which lead to metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Therefore, drastic dietary interventions are considered necessary in order to reduce cardiovascular risk. Nuts, as a nutritional component have drawn particular attention, due to their beneficial cardiovascular properties derived from their nutrient composition. This is a comprehensive review concerning the potential general effects of nuts. It includes data from older large epidemiologic studies as well as recent significant information from clinical trials regarding this topic. All studies conclude that nuts can play an important role as part of a healthy diet in order to minimize cardiovascular risk and obtain multiple health benefits. Copyright \u00a9 2010 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4316", "text": "The intestinal absorption of the essential trace element iron and its mobilization from storage sites in the body are controlled by systemic signals that reflect tissue iron requirements. Recent advances have indicated that the liver-derived peptide hepcidin plays a central role in this process by repressing iron release from intestinal enterocytes, macrophages and other body cells. When iron requirements are increased, hepcidin levels decline and more iron enters the plasma. It has been proposed that the level of circulating diferric transferrin, which reflects tissue iron levels, acts as a signal to alter hepcidin expression. In the liver, the proteins HFE, transferrin receptor 2 and hemojuvelin may be involved in mediating this signal as disruption of each of these molecules decreases hepcidin expression. Patients carrying mutations in these molecules or in hepcidin itself develop systemic iron loading (or hemochromatosis) due to their inability to down regulate iron absorption. Hepcidin is also responsible for the decreased plasma iron or hypoferremia that accompanies inflammation and various chronic diseases as its expression is stimulated by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6. The mechanisms underlying the regulation of hepcidin expression and how it acts on cells to control iron release are key areas of ongoing research. IUBMB Life, 57: 499-503, 2005."}
{"id": "MED-4317", "text": "Iron is an essential trace metal in human metabolism. However, imbalances in iron homeostasis are prevalent worldwide and have detrimental effects on human health. Humans do not have the ability to remove excess iron and therefore iron homeostasis is maintained by regulating the amount of iron entering the body from the diet. Iron is present in the human diet in number of different forms, including heme (from meat) and a variety of non-heme iron compounds. While heme is absorbed intact, the bioavailability of non-heme iron varies greatly depending on dietary composition. A number of dietary components are capable of interacting with iron to regulate its solubility and oxidation state. Interestingly, there is an emerging body of evidence suggesting that some nutrients also have direct effects on the expression and function of enterocyte iron transporters. In addition to dietary factors, body iron status is a major determinant of iron absorption. The roles of these important dietary and systemic factors in regulating iron absorption will be discussed in this review."}
{"id": "MED-4318", "text": "Preliminary data in the literature indicate that iron absorption from a meal may be increased when consumed with low-pH beverages such as cola, and it is also possible that sugar iron complexes may alter iron availability. A randomized, crossover trial was conducted to compare the bioavailability of nonheme iron from a vegetarian pizza meal when consumed with 3 different beverages (cola, diet cola, and mineral water). Sixteen women with serum ferritin concentrations of 11-54 \u00b5g/L were recruited and completed the study. The pizza meal contained native iron and added ferric chloride solution as a stable isotope extrinsic label; the total iron content of the meal was ~5.3 mg. Incorporation of iron from the meal into RBC was not affected by the type of drink (9.9% with cola, 9.4% with diet cola, and 9.6% with water). Serum ferritin and plasma hepcidin were correlated (r = 0.66; P<0.001) and both were significant predictors of iron bioavailability, but their combined effect explained only 30% of the inter-individual variation (P<0.001) and illustrates the current lack of understanding of mechanisms responsible for the fine-tuning of iron absorption. Although there was no effect of low-pH drinks on iron bioavailability in healthy women, their effect on absorption of fortification iron that requires solubilization in dilute acid, such as reduced iron, and in individuals with low gastric acid production, such as older people and individuals with Helicobacter pylori infection, warrants further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-4319", "text": "The article gives an overview of phytic acid in food and of its significance for human nutrition. It summarises phytate sources in foods and discusses problems of phytic acid/phytate contents of food tables. Data on phytic acid intake are evaluated and daily phytic acid intake depending on food habits is assessed. Degradation of phytate during gastro-intestinal passage is summarised, the mechanism of phytate interacting with minerals and trace elements in the gastro-intestinal chyme described and the pathway of inositol phosphate hydrolysis in the gut presented. The present knowledge of phytate absorption is summarised and discussed. Effects of phytate on mineral and trace element bioavailability are reported and phytate degradation during processing and storage is described. Beneficial activities of dietary phytate such as its effects on calcification and kidney stone formation and on lowering blood glucose and lipids are reported. The antioxidative property of phytic acid and its potentional anticancerogenic activities are briefly surveyed. Development of the analysis of phytic acid and other inositol phosphates is described, problems of inositol phosphate determination and detection discussed and the need for standardisation of phytic acid analysis in foods argued."}
{"id": "MED-4320", "text": "Bioavailability of micronutrients iron and zinc is particularly low from plant foods. Hence there is a need to evolve a food-based strategy to improve the same to combat widespread deficiencies of these minerals in a population dependent on plant foods. Dietary sulfur-containing amino acids have been reported to improve the mineral status of experimental animals. Our objective was to examine whether sulfur compound-rich Allium spices have a similar potential of beneficially modulating the mineral bioavailability. In this context, we examined the influence of exogenously added garlic and onion on the bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from food grains. Two representative cereals and pulses each were studied in both raw and cooked condition employing two levels of garlic (0.25 and 0.5 g/10 g of grain) and onion (1.5 and 3 g/10 g of grain). The enhancing effect of these two spices on iron bioaccessibility was generally evidenced in the case of both the cereals (9.4-65.9% increase) and pulses (9.9-73.3% increase) in both raw and cooked conditions. The two spices similarly enhanced the bioaccessibility of zinc from the food grains, the extent of increase in cereals ranging from 10.4% to 159.4% and in pulses from 9.8% to 49.8%. Thus, both garlic and onion were evidenced here to have a promoting influence on the bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from food grains. This novel information has the potential application in evolving a food-based strategy to improve the bioavailability of trace minerals and hence contributes to the human health benefit."}
{"id": "MED-4322", "text": "The marked age-related decline in serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) has suggested that a deficiency of these steroids may be causally related to the development of a series of diseases that are generally associated with aging. Postulated consequences of low DHEA levels include insulin resistance, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, reduction of the immune defence system as well as psychosocial problems such as depression and a general deterioration in the sensation of well-being and cognitive function. Clinically, the spectrum of women that would benefit from DHEA therapy is not clearly defined and nor is the dosage of hormone treatment. Whether DHEA therapy could be prescribed as a general anti-aging therapy or could be an alternative treatment for women suffering from androgen deficiency syndrome remains uncertain across studies. The lack of definitive evidence for biological mechanisms and the presence of only a few studies that address these emerging issues of DHEA therapy in postmenopausal women might encourage a new critical analysis of the available literature, evidencing current limits and incongruities."}
{"id": "MED-4323", "text": "Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is the major steroid produced by the adrenal zona reticularis and, in contrast to cortisol and aldosterone, its secretion declines with ageing. This has generated major interest in its putative role as an 'anti-ageing' hormone. However, it is not clear that the age-associated, physiological decline in DHEA secretion represents a harmful deficiency. DHEA exhibits its action mainly by conversion to sex steroids. In addition, DHEA has neurosteroidal properties and may exhibit direct action via specific binding sites on endothelial cells. There is convincing evidence for beneficial effects of DHEA in patients with adrenal insufficiency and future research will hopefully elucidate its role in patients receiving pharmacological glucocorticoid treatment. However, in healthy elderly subjects, current evidence from randomised, controlled trials does not justify the use of DHEA, with no major beneficial effects reported and, in addition, potentially adverse effects on sex steroid-dependent tumour growth need to be considered. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4324", "text": "BACKGROUND: Increasingly the potential harm from high cholesterol intake, and specifically from egg yolks, is considered insignificant. We therefore assessed total plaque area (TPA) in patients attending Canadian vascular prevention clinics to determine if the atherosclerosis burden, as a marker of arterial damage, was related to egg intake. To provide perspective on the magnitude of the effect, we also analysed the effect of smoking (pack-years). METHODS: Consecutive patients attending vascular prevention clinics at University Hospital had baseline measurement of TPA by duplex ultrasound, and filled out questionnaires regarding their lifestyle and medications, including pack-years of smoking, and the number of egg yolks consumed per week times the number of years consumed (egg-yolk years). RESULTS: Data were available in 1262 patients; mean (SD) age was 61.5 (14.8) years; 47% were women. Carotid plaque area increased linearly with age after age 40, but increased exponentially with pack-years of smoking and with egg-yolk years. Plaque area in patients consuming <2 eggs per week (n = 388) was 125 \u00b1 129 mm(2), versus 132 \u00b1 142 mm(2) in those consuming 3 or more eggs per week (n = 603); (p < 0.0001 after adjustment for age). In multiple regression, egg-yolk years remained significant after adjusting for coronary risk factors. INTERPRETATION: Our findings suggest that regular consumption of egg yolk should be avoided by persons at risk of cardiovascular disease. This hypothesis should be tested in a prospective study with more detailed information about diet, and other possible confounders such as exercise and waist circumference. Copyright \u00a9 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4325", "text": "Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional disorder of the gastrointestinal system, and is characterized by abdominal pain, diarrhea (IBS/D), constipation (IBS/C), and alternating diarrhea and constipation (IBSC/A). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a four week kiwifruit intervention on bowel function in patients diagnosed with IBS/C. Fifty-four patients with IBS/C and 16 healthy adults participated in this study. All subjects participated in the 6 week, three phase study, which included a baseline phase (1 week), a dietary intervention period (4 weeks), and a post-intervention phase (1 week). Forty-one IBS/C patients and all healthy adults consumed two Hayward green (Actinida deliciosa var) kiwifruits per day for 4 weeks. Thirteen IBS/C patients in the control group took two placebo capsules per day for 4 weeks. Colon transit time was measured immediately prior to and following the intervention period. All subjects completed daily defecation records. After the 4-week intervention, weekly defecation frequency significantly increased in the IBS/C group of participants who consumed kiwifruit (p<0.05). Colon transit time significantly decreased (p=0.026) in the IBS/C group that consumed kiwi fruit. These findings suggest that kiwifruit consumption for 4 weeks shortens colon transit time, increases defecation frequency, and improves bowel function in adults diagnosed with IBS/C."}
{"id": "MED-4327", "text": "Hyperphosphatemia and hyperparathyroidism, frequently observed in patients with endstage renal disease, are associated with renal osteodystrophy, organ calcification, cardiovascular disease and sudden death. Restriction of dietary protein and phosphorus is beneficial in slowing the progression of renal failure. Dietary phosphorus restriction must be prescribed at all stages of renal failure in adults. It may be achieved by decreasing protein intake and avoiding foods rich in phosphorus. An average of 60-80% of the phosphorus intake is absorbed in the gut in dialysis patients. If phosphate binders are employed, the phosphorus absorbed from the diet may be reduced to 40%. Conventional hemodialysis with a high-flux, high-efficiency dialyzer removes approximately 30 mmol (900 mg) phosphorus during each dialysis performed three times weekly. Therefore, 750 mg of phosphorus intake should be the critical value above which a positive balance of phosphorus may occur. This value corresponds to a protein diet of 45-50 g/day or 0.8 g/kg body weight/day for a 60 kg patient. Target levels should become 9.2-9.6 mg/dl for calcium, 2.5-5.5 mg/dl for phosphorus, <55 mg2/dl2 for the calcium-phosphorus product, and 100-200 pg/ml for intact parathyroid hormone."}
{"id": "MED-4330", "text": "Scope Observational studies have evaluated the relationship between green tea intake and cancers of the ovary and endometrium, but we are not aware of the published studies on green tea intake and risk of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers of the cervix, vagina, or vulva. Methods and results A critical review of the published literature on tea intake and risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers was conducted. In meta-analyses, we report inverse associations for green tea intake and risk of ovarian cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54, 0.80), and for green tea and risk of endometrial cancer (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.98). There was no association for black tea and ovarian cancer risk (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.87, 1.02) and a positive association with endometrial cancer risk (OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.38). We summarized the experimental evidence supporting the antiviral and immunomodulatory activities of green tea catechins, and results from randomized clinical trials that demonstrated green tea catechin efficacy on treatment of cervical lesions and external genital warts. Conclusion Observational data support a protective role of green tea on risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers. Observational data are needed to evaluate whether green tea reduces risk of human papillomavirus-related cancers."}
{"id": "MED-4331", "text": "There is a belief that caffeinated drinks, such as tea, may adversely affect hydration. This was investigated in a randomised controlled trial. Healthy resting males (n 21) were recruited from the general population. Following 24 h of abstention from caffeine, alcohol and vigorous physical activity, including a 10 h overnight fast, all men underwent four separate test days in a counter-balanced order with a 5 d washout in between. The test beverages, provided at regular intervals, were 4 \u00d7 240 ml black (i.e. regular) tea and 6 \u00d7 240 ml black tea, providing 168 or 252 mg of caffeine. The controls were identical amounts of boiled water. The tea was prepared in a standardised way from tea bags and included 20 ml of semi-skimmed milk. All food taken during the 12 h intervention period was controlled, and subjects remained at rest. No other beverages were offered. Blood was sampled at 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 h, and a 24 h urine sample was collected. Outcome variables were whole blood cell count, Na, K, bicarbonate, total protein, urea, creatinine and osmolality for blood; and total volume, colour, Na, K, creatinine and osmolality for urine. Although data for all twenty-one participants were included in the analysis (mean age 36 years and mean BMI 25\u00b78 kg/m(2)), nineteen men completed all conditions. Statistical analysis, using a factorial ANOVA approach within PROC MIXED, revealed no significant differences between tea and water for any of the mean blood or urine measurements. It was concluded that black tea, in the amounts studied, offered similar hydrating properties to water."}
{"id": "MED-4332", "text": "There is growing interest in the potential health benefits of tea, including the antimutagenic properties. Four varieties of white tea, which represent the least processed form of tea, were shown to have marked antimutagenic activity in the Salmonella assay, particularly in the presence of S9. The most active of these teas, Exotica China white tea, was significantly more effective than Premium green tea (Dragonwell special grade) against 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) and four other heterocyclic amine mutagens, namely 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx), 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethyl-3H-imidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (4,8-DiMeIQx), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), and 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-2). Mechanism studies were performed using rat liver S9 in assays for methoxyresorufin O-demethylase (MROD), a marker for the enzyme cytochrome P4501A2 that activates heterocyclic amines, as well as Salmonella assays with the direct-acting mutagen 2-hydroxyamino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (N-hydroxy-IQ). White tea at low concentrations in the assay inhibited MROD activity, and attenuated the mutagenic activity of N-hydroxy-IQ in the absence of S9. Nine of the major constituents found in green tea also were detected in white tea, including high levels of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and several other polyphenols. When these major constituents were mixed to produce \"artificial\" teas, according to their relative levels in white and green teas, the complete tea exhibited higher antimutagenic potency compared with the corresponding artificial tea. The results suggest that the greater inhibitory potency of white versus green tea in the Salmonella assay might be related to the relative levels of the nine major constituents, perhaps acting synergistically with other (minor) constituents, to inhibit mutagen activation as well as \"scavenging\" the reactive intermediate(s)."}
{"id": "MED-4333", "text": "OBJECTIVE To evaluate the changes in circulating endotoxin after a high\u2013saturated fat meal to determine whether these effects depend on metabolic disease state. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Subjects (n = 54) were given a high-fat meal (75 g fat, 5 g carbohydrate, 6 g protein) after an overnight fast (nonobese control [NOC]: age 39.9 \u00b1 11.8 years [mean \u00b1 SD], BMI 24.9 \u00b1 3.2 kg/m2, n = 9; obese: age 43.8 \u00b1 9.5 years, BMI 33.3 \u00b1 2.5 kg/m2, n = 15; impaired glucose tolerance [IGT]: age 41.7 \u00b1 11.3 years, BMI 32.0 \u00b1 4.5 kg/m2, n = 12; type 2 diabetic: age 45.4 \u00b1 10.1 years, BMI 30.3 \u00b1 4.5 kg/m2, n = 18). Blood was collected before (0 h) and after the meal (1\u20134 h) for analysis. RESULTS Baseline endotoxin was significantly higher in the type 2 diabetic and IGT subjects than in NOC subjects, with baseline circulating endotoxin levels 60.6% higher in type 2 diabetic subjects than in NOC subjects (P < 0.05). Ingestion of a high-fat meal led to a significant rise in endotoxin levels in type 2 diabetic, IGT, and obese subjects over the 4-h time period (P < 0.05). These findings also showed that, at 4 h after a meal, type 2 diabetic subjects had higher circulating endotoxin levels (125.4%\u2191) than NOC subjects (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These studies have highlighted that exposure to a high-fat meal elevates circulating endotoxin irrespective of metabolic state, as early as 1 h after a meal. However, this increase is substantial in IGT and type 2 diabetic subjects, suggesting that metabolic endotoxinemia is exacerbated after high fat intake. In conclusion, our data suggest that, in a compromised metabolic state such as type 2 diabetes, a continual snacking routine will cumulatively promote their condition more rapidly than in other individuals because of the greater exposure to endotoxin."}
{"id": "MED-4335", "text": "Chronic and acute inflammation underlies the molecular basis of atherosclerosis. Cocoa-based products are among the richest functional foods based upon flavanols and their influence on the inflammatory pathway, as demonstrated by several in vitro or ex vivo studies. Indeed, flavanols modify the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the synthesis of eicosanoids, the activation of platelets, and nitric oxide-mediated mechanisms. A relative paucity of data still characterizes the in vivo implications of these findings albeit there have been studies suggesting that the regular or occasional consumption of cocoa-rich compounds exerts beneficial effects on blood pressure, insulin resistance, vascular damage, and oxidative stress. Accordingly, rigorous controlled human studies with adequate follow-up and with the use of critical dietary questionnaires are needed to determine the effects of flavanols on the major endpoints of cardiovascular health."}
{"id": "MED-4336", "text": "Dark chocolate contains high concentrations of flavonoids and may have antiinflammatory properties. We evaluated the association of dark chocolate intake with serum C-reactive protein (CRP). The Moli-sani Project is an ongoing cohort study of men and women aged >/=35 y randomly recruited from the general population. By July 2007, 10,994 subjects had been enrolled. Of 4849 subjects apparently free of any chronic disease, 1317 subjects who declared having eaten any chocolate during the past year (mean age 53 +/- 12 y; 51% men) and 824 subjects who ate chocolate regularly in the form of dark chocolate only (50 +/- 10 y; 55% men) were selected. High sensitivity-CRP was measured by an immunoturbidimetric method. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition FFQ was used to evaluate nutritional intake. After adjustment for age, sex, social status, physical activity, systolic blood pressure, BMI, waist:hip ratio, food groups, and total energy intake, dark chocolate consumption was inversely associated with CRP (P = 0.038). When adjusted for nutrient intake, analyses showed similar results (P = 0.016). Serum CRP concentrations [geometric mean (95% CI)] univariate concentrations were 1.32 (1.26-1.39 mg/L) in nonconsumers and 1.10 (1.03-1.17 mg/L) in consumers (P < 0.0001). A J-shaped relationship between dark chocolate consumption and serum CRP was observed; consumers of up to 1 serving (20 g) of dark chocolate every 3 d had serum CRP concentrations that were significantly lower than nonconsumers or higher consumers. Our findings suggest that regular consumption of small doses of dark chocolate may reduce inflammation."}
{"id": "MED-4337", "text": "The ingestion of fatty meals is associated with a transient, low-grade systemic inflammatory response in human subjects, involving the activation of circulating monocytes and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, it is not yet clear how different foodstuffs may promote inflammatory signalling. In a screen of forty filter-sterilised soluble extracts from common foodstuffs, seven were found to induce the secretion of TNF-\u03b1 and IL-6 from human monocytes in vitro. To investigate what may differentiate inflammatory from non-inflammatory food extracts, stimulants of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 were quantified using human embryonic kidney-293 cells transfected with each TLR, and calibrated with defined bacterial lipopeptide (BLP) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) standards. These assays revealed that while most foods contained undetectable levels of TLR2 or TLR4 stimulants, all TNF-\u03b1-inducing foods contained stimulants of either TLR2 (up to 1100\u00a0ng BLP-equivalent/g) or TLR4 (up to 2700\u00a0ng LPS-equivalent/g) in both the soluble and insoluble fractions. TLR stimulants were present mainly in meat products and processed foods, but were minimal or undetectable in fresh fruit and vegetables. The capacity of food extracts to induce TNF-\u03b1 secretion in monocytes correlated with the content of both TLR2 (r 0\u00b7837) and TLR4 stimulants (r 0\u00b7748), and was completely abolished by specific inhibition of TLR2 and TLR4. LPS and BLP were found to be highly resistant to typical cooking times and temperatures, low pH and protease treatment. In conclusion, apparently unspoiled foodstuffs can contain large quantities of stimulants of TLR2 and TLR4, both of which may regulate their capacity to stimulate inflammatory signalling."}
{"id": "MED-4342", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Diet composition has long been suspected to contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but has not been thoroughly assessed, and has been assessed only in retrospective studies that are prone to recall bias. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of dietary macronutrients in the etiology of IBD in a large prospective cohort. METHODS: The Etude \u00c9pid\u00e9miologique des femmes de la Mutuelle G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l'Education Nationale cohort consists of women living in France, aged 40-65 years, and free of major diseases at inclusion. A self-administered questionnaire was used to record dietary habits at baseline. Questionnaires on disease occurrence and lifestyle factors were completed every 24 months. IBDs were assessed in each questionnaire until June 2005, and subsequently validated using clinical and pathological criteria. We estimated the association between nutrients or foods and IBD using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for energy intake. RESULTS: Among 67,581 participants (705,445 person-years, mean follow-up since completion of the baseline dietary questionnaire 10.4 years), we validated 77 incident IBD cases. High total protein intake, specifically animal protein, was associated with a significantly increased risk of IBD, (hazards ratio for the third vs. first tertile and 95% confidence interval being 3.31 and 1.41-7.77 (P trend=0.007), and 3.03 and 1.45-6.34 (P trend=0.005) for total and animal protein, respectively). Among sources of animal protein, high consumption of meat or fish but not of eggs or dairy products was associated with IBD risk. CONCLUSIONS: High protein intake is associated with an increased risk of incident IBD in French middle-aged women."}
{"id": "MED-4345", "text": "BACKGROUND: n-3 (omega-3) Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), fish, and nuts can regulate inflammatory processes and responses. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether dietary intakes of PUFAs [n-3, n-6 (omega-6), and \u03b1-linolenic acid], fish, and nuts were associated with 15-y mortality attributed to noncardiovascular, noncancer inflammatory diseases. DESIGN: The analyses involved 2514 participants aged \u226549 y at baseline. Dietary data were collected by using a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire, and PUFA, fish, and nut intakes were calculated. Inflammatory disease mortality was confirmed from the Australian National Death Index. RESULTS: Over 15 y, 214 subjects died of inflammatory diseases. Women in the highest tertiles of total n-3 PUFA intake, compared with those in the lowest tertile of intake at baseline, had a 44% reduced risk of inflammatory disease mortality (P for trend = 0.03). This association was not observed in men. In both men and women, each 1-SD increase in energy-adjusted intake of \u03b1-linolenic acid was inversely associated with inflammatory mortality (hazard ratio: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.98). Subjects in the second and third tertiles of nut consumption had a 51% and 32% reduced risk of inflammatory disease mortality, respectively, compared with those in the first tertile (reference). Dietary intakes of long-chain n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and fish were not associated with inflammatory disease mortality. CONCLUSIONS: We report on a novel link between dietary intake of total n-3 PUFA and risk of inflammatory disease mortality in older women. Furthermore, our data indicate a protective role of nuts, but not fish, against inflammatory disease mortality."}
{"id": "MED-4346", "text": "Background Inflammation is a common pathophysiological pathway for a number of chronic diseases, and is strongly influenced by sociodemographic factors and lifestyle. Less is known about factors that may influence the inflammatory response in individuals of distinct ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between ethnicity and blood levels of inflammatory markers in a sample of non-smoking church-goers. Methods In a cross-sectional investigation, 508 men and women (>35 years old, 62% White, 38% Black) participated in the Biopsy-chosocial Religion and Health substudy of the Adventist Health Study 2. The contribution of socioeconomic status (education level and difficulty meeting expenses for basic needs) and health covariates (exercise, vegetarian or other type of diet, body mass index, and presence of inflammatory conditions) toward serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-\u03b1) was assessed with linear regression models. Levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10), an anti-inflammatory marker, were also assessed. Results Blacks showed higher levels of CRP and IL-6 than Whites. Controlling for socio-demographic and health variables attenuated the ethnic difference in CRP while IL-6 levels remained higher in Blacks than in Whites (\u03b2=.118; 95% confidence interval=.014\u2013.206; P=.025). Ethnic differences in IL-10 and TNF-\u03b1 were not found. Vegetarian diet was associated with lower CRP levels while exercise frequency was associated with higher IL-10 levels. Conclusion Higher susceptibility of Blacks to inflammatory diseases may reflect higher IL-6, which could be important in assessing health disparities among Blacks and Whites. Vegetarian diet and exercise may counteract effects of disparities."}
{"id": "MED-4349", "text": "Inflammation is a pathological condition underlying a number of diseases including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases. In addition, healthy, obese subjects also express markers of inflammation in their blood. Diet provides a variety of nutrients as well as non-nutritive bioactive constituents which modulate immunomodulatory and inflammatory processes. Epidemiological data suggest that dietary patterns strongly affect inflammatory processes. Primarily the intake of fruit and vegetables as well as of whole wheat is inversely associated with the risk of inflammation. In addition to observational studies there are also data from human intervention studies suggesting an anti-inflammatory potential of these plant foods. At the level of bioactive compounds occurring in plant foods, primarily carotenoids and flavonoids seem to modulate inflammatory as well as immunological processes. In conclusion, there is convincing evidence that plant foods and non-nutritive constituents associated with these foods modulate immunological and inflammatory processes. By means of anti-inflammatory activities a plant-based diet may contribute to the lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. A high intake of vegetables, fruit, and whole wheat as recommended by all international nutrition authorities provides a wide spectrum of bioactive compounds at health-promoting concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-4350", "text": "Potatoes have the highest daily per capita consumption of all vegetables in the U.S. diet. Pigmented potatoes contain high concentrations of antioxidants, including phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and carotenoids. In a single-dose study six to eight microwaved potatoes with skins or a comparable amount of refined starch as cooked biscuits was given to eight normal fasting subjects; repeated samples of blood were taken over an 8 h period. Plasma antioxidant capacity was measured by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). A 24 h urine was taken before and after each regimen. Urine antioxidant capacity due to polyphenol was measured by Folin reagent after correction for nonphenolic interferences with a solid phase (Polyclar) procedure. Potato caused an increase in plasma and urine antioxidant capacity, whereas refined potato starch caused a decrease in both; that is, it acted as a pro-oxidant. In a crossover study 18 hypertensive subjects with an average BMI of 29 were given either six to eight small microwaved purple potatoes twice daily or no potatoes for 4 weeks and then given the other regimen for another 4 weeks. There was no significant effect of potato on fasting plasma glucose, lipids, or HbA1c. There was no significant body weight increase. Diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased 4.3%, a 4 mm reduction. Systolic blood pressure decreased 3.5%, a 5 mm reduction. This blood pressure drop occurred despite the fact that 14 of 18 subjects were taking antihypertensive drugs. This is the first study to investigate the effect of potatoes on blood pressure. Thus, purple potatoes are an effective hypotensive agent and lower the risk of heart disease and stroke in hypertensive subjects without weight gain."}
{"id": "MED-4351", "text": "The past decade has seen an explosion in research focusing on innate immunity. Through a wide range of mechanisms including phagocytosis, intracellular killing, and activation of pro-inflammatory or antiviral cytokine production via pattern recognition receptors, the cells of the innate immune system initiate and support adaptive immunity. The effects of aging on innate immune responses remain incompletely understood, particularly in humans. Here, we review advances in the study of human immunosenescence in the diverse cells of the innate immune system, including neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, NK and NKT cells, and dendritic cells\u2014with a focus on consequences for the response to infection or vaccination in old age."}
{"id": "MED-4352", "text": "Changes in the concentration and composition of serum VLDL, LDL, and HDL were studied in rabbits transferred from Chow diets to cholesterol-free, semipurified diets containing casein or isolated soy protein. During the first week on the casein diet, there was a marked increase in LDL-cholesterol and these higher levels were maintained during the subsequent 3 weeks of the study. Similar but less marked changes were obtained with the soy protein diet. When the percent composition of the particles was determined, both VLDL and LDL had a higher proportion of cholesterol. Turnover studies indicated that the FCRs for radiolabelled VLDL and LDL were reduced in casein-fed animals compared to those fed soy protein. The elevated LDL levels in casein-fed rabbits were primarily due to a reduction in receptor-mediated catabolism of LDL-apo B. Receptor-independent removal in the two groups was similar. These studies show that the hypercholesterolemia in casein-fed rabbits, compared to those fed soy protein, is associated with cholesterol enrichment of LDL and impaired receptor-dependent removal of LDL-apo B."}
{"id": "MED-4353", "text": "We have compared the effects of dietary soy protein and casein in diets low in cholesterol (less than 100 mg/d) and in diets enriched in cholesterol (500 mg/d) to examine whether the level of cholesterol intake affects the response of plasma lipoproteins to dietary proteins of plant and animal origin. Normal men and women consumed formula diets containing 20% of calories as soy protein or casein, 27% as fat and 53% as carbohydrate in 2 crossover studies. The dietary periods lasted for 31 days and were separated by a month-long interim period on self-chosen food. Following an initial reduction of plasma total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels on all diets, the plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations stabilized. On low-cholesterol diets the concentration of each of the major lipoprotein classes were similar during the soy and the casein dietary periods. On cholesterol-enriched diets, the concentration of LDL-C stabilized at a 16% lower level on soy protein than on the casein diet (p less than 0.02), while the concentration of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was 16% higher (p less than 0.01). Since the difference in LDL-C (p less than 0.05) and in HDL-C (p less than 0.025) levels on casein and on soy protein diets were significantly greater on the high than on the low cholesterol intake, the findings indicate that the level of dietary cholesterol may determine whether plant and animal dietary proteins have similar or different effects on plasma LDL-C and HDL-C concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-4354", "text": "Concerns about foodborne salmonellosis have led many countries to introduce microbiological criteria for certain food products. If such criteria are not well-grounded in science, they could be an unjustified obstacle to trade. Raw poultry products are an important part of the global food market. Import and export ambiguities and regulatory confusion resulting from different Salmonella requirements were the impetus for convening an international group of scientific experts from 16 countries to discuss the scientific and technical issues that affect the setting of a microbiological criterion for Salmonella contamination of raw chicken. A particular concern for the group was the use of criteria implying a zero tolerance for Salmonella and suggesting complete absence of the pathogen. The notion can be interpreted differently by various stakeholders and was considered inappropriate because there is neither an effective means of eliminating Salmonella from raw poultry nor any practical method for verifying its absence. Therefore, it may be more useful at present to set food safety metrics that involve reductions in hazard levels. Such terms as \"zero tolerance\" or \"absence of a microbe\" in relation to raw poultry should be avoided unless defined and explained by international agreement. Risk assessment provides a more meaningful approach than a zero tolerance philosophy, and new metrics, such as performance objectives that are linked to human health outcomes, should be utilized throughout the food chain to help define risk and identify ways to reduce adverse effects on public health."}
{"id": "MED-4355", "text": "Sixty percent of the U.S. population experiences acute diarrheal illness each year, but little is understood regarding public knowledge and beliefs about the causes and treatment of these diseases. We performed a telephone survey of 2117 Tennessee residents regarding knowledge and practices associated with diarrheal illness. Bloody stool, dehydration, and persistent symptoms were the most common reasons for which the respondents would seek medical care. Although most acute diarrheal disease is self-limited, overuse of antimicrobials for treatment is common. Few people believed that stool cultures (4.5%) or antibiotics (6.9%) are routinely necessary for diarrhea. Over 60% of respondents believed that food is the most common source of diarrhea. Three-fourths believed that it is normal for uncooked meat to contain bacteria, and 45% believed it is legal to sell such products. These results have implications for medical providers, regulators, and public health in the management and prevention of diarrheal disease."}
{"id": "MED-4356", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Delusional parasitosis has been described in a wide range of patients with general medical conditions, but there are few reports about its frequency and possible pathogenic mechanisms in neurological patients. This paper describes this delusional syndrome in a sample of neurological patients. METHODS: We reviewed all clinical charts of hospitalized patients at the neuropsychiatry ward of a neurological center, from January 2005 to June 2009. Cases with delusional parasitosis were described in terms of demographic, clinical and brain imaging features. RESULTS: From a total sample of 1598 patients, we identified 636 patients with neurological disease (39.80%); of these, four patients showed delusional parasitosis (0.62% of the neurological sample). Their diagnoses were brain cysticercosis (n=1), cerebrovascular disease (n=2), and dementia due to vitamin B12 deficit (n=1). They were women in late life, with depressive features. Three of them had significant cognitive decline. Two of them had paraesthesia and pruritus related to peripheral neuropathy. One of them had pruritus of unknown origin (possibly hallucinatory). CONCLUSIONS: Delusional parasitosis was infrequent in this sample of hospitalized neurological patients. Female sex, advanced age, depressive features, cognitive decline, pruritus and paraesthesia of peripheral or central origin may contribute to delusional parasitosis in this population. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4357", "text": "The peptide mixture from housefly pupae has broad spectrum antimicrobial activity but has not previously been reported as a food preservative. In this study, the preservation effects of a housefly pupae peptide mixture, nisin, and sodium dehydroacetate (DHA-S) on the number of mesophilic aerobic bacteria (MAB), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), and pH value of chilled pork were compared. All results showed that a good preservation effect was observed among 3 treatments with the peptide mixture of housefly pupae, nisin, and DHA-S and that there was no significant difference among them. These results indicate that housefly peptide mixture has a great potential as a food preservative. The results of scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy suggest that the primary mechanism of housefly pupae peptide mixture may be bacterial cytoplasmic membrane lysis and pores induced in the membranes. Practical Applications: Peptide mixture extracted from housefly pupae using low-cost and simple method has broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. According to the effect on chilled pork preservation, extracted housefly peptide mixture has a great potential as a food preservative."}
{"id": "MED-4361", "text": "A total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the \"index of economic freedom,\" indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation. Other factors that appear to influence the number of bacteria on banknotes were the age of the banknotes and the material used to produce the notes (polymer-based vs. cotton-based). The banknotes were also screened for the presence of a range of pathogens. It was found that pathogens could only be isolated after enrichment and their mere presence does not appear to be alarming. In light of our international findings, it is recommended that current guidelines as they apply in most countries with regard to the concurrent hygienic handling of foods and money should be universally adopted. This includes that, in some instances, the handling of food and money have to be physically separated by employing separate individuals to carry out one task each; whereas in other instances, it could be advantageous to handle food only with a gloved hand and money with the other hand. If neither of these precautions can be effectively implemented, it is highly recommended that food service personnel practice proper hand washing procedures after handling money and before handling food."}
{"id": "MED-4363", "text": "Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important but extremely understudied pathogen. The mechanisms of HEV replication and pathogenesis are poorly understood, and a vaccine against HEV is not yet available. HEV is classified in the family Hepeviridae consisting of at least four recognized major genotypes. Genotypes 1 and 2 HEV are restricted to humans and associated with epidemics in developing countries, whereas genotypes 3 and 4 HEV are zoonotic and responsible for sporadic cases worldwide. The identification and characterization of a number of animal strains of HEV from pigs, chickens, rabbits, rats, mongoose, deer, and possibly cattle and sheep have significantly broadened the host range and diversity of HEV. The demonstrated ability of cross-species infection by some animal strains of HEV raises public health concerns for zoonotic HEV infection. Pigs are a recognized reservoir for HEV, and pig handlers are at increased risk of zoonotic HEV infection. Sporadic cases of hepatitis E have been definitively linked to the consumption of raw or undercooked animal meats such as pig livers, sausages, and deer meats. In addition, since large amounts of viruses excreted in feces, animal manure land application and runoffs can contaminate irrigation and drinking water with concomitant contamination of produce or shellfish. HEV RNA of swine origin has been detected in swine manure, sewage water and oysters, and consumption of contaminated shellfish has also been implicated in sporadic cases of hepatitis E. Therefore, the animal strains of HEV pose not only a zoonotic risk but also food and environmental safety concerns."}
{"id": "MED-4364", "text": "Tracing risk factors for acquiring hepatitis C virus (HCV) in an HCV-infected patient, the only identified risk was working at the same butcher's counter of a supermarket as another HCV-infected patient, using a common ham cutting machine, with frequent bleeding hand injuries. A phylogenetic analysis showed a high percentage of nucleotide homology between the two patients' strains. \u00a9 2010 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. No claim to original US government works."}
{"id": "MED-4365", "text": "A myriad of health claims are being made in favor of the consumption of green tea. However, mostly due to the easy availability and greater than ever popularity of highly concentrated green tea extracts, sometimes combined with an attitude of more-is-better, certain health risks of green tea consumption have begun to emerge. Among such risks are the possibility of liver damage, the potential to interact with prescription drugs to alter their therapeutic efficacy, and the chance to cause harm when combined with other highly popular herbal remedies. This review will summarize documented examples of adverse effects of green tea in humans, and will discuss risks of copious consumption of highly concentrated green tea extracts as indicated by studies in animals. While there is no intention to minimize any of the scientifically established benefits of the use of green tea, the purpose of this review is to focus primarily on the potential for adverse effects and raise awareness of the rare, yet under-appreciated risks. Copyright \u00a9 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-4369", "text": "Background Nausea, retching and vomiting are very commonly experienced by women in early pregnancy. There are considerable physical and psychological effects on women who experience these symptoms. This is an update of a review of interventions for nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy previously published in 2003. Objectives To assess the effectiveness and safety of all interventions for nausea, vomiting and retching in early pregnancy, up to 20 weeks\u2019 gestation. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group\u2019s Trials Register (28 May 2010). Selection criteria All randomised controlled trials of any intervention for nausea, vomiting and retching in early pregnancy. We excluded trials of interventions for hyperemesis gravidarum which are covered by another review. We also excluded quasi-randomised trials and trials using a crossover design. Data collection and analysis Four review authors, in pairs, reviewed the eligibility of trials and independently evaluated the risk of bias and extracted the data for included trials. Main results Twenty-seven trials, with 4041 women, met the inclusion criteria. These trials covered many interventions, including acupressure, acustimulation, acupuncture, ginger, vitamin B6 and several antiemetic drugs. We identified no studies of dietary or other lifestyle interventions. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of P6 acupressure, auricular (ear) acupressure and acustimulation of the P6 point was limited. Acupuncture (P6 or traditional) showed no significant benefit to women in pregnancy. The use of ginger products may be helpful to women, but the evidence of effectiveness was limited and not consistent. There was only limited evidence from trials to support the use of pharmacological agents including vitamin B6, and anti-emetic drugs to relieve mild or moderate nausea and vomiting. There was little information on maternal and fetal adverse outcomes and on psychological, social or economic outcomes. We were unable to pool findings from studies for most outcomes due to heterogeneity in study participants, interventions, comparison groups, and outcomes measured or reported. The methodological quality of the included studies was mixed. Authors\u2019 conclusions Given the high prevalence of nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy, health professionals need to provide clear guidance to women, based on systematically reviewed evidence. There is a lack of high-quality evidence to support that advice. The difficulties in interpreting the results of the studies included in this review highlight the need for specific, consistent and clearly justified outcomes and approaches to measurement in research studies."}
{"id": "MED-4370", "text": "BACKGROUND: Many pregnant women use dietary supplements during pregnancy; however, relatively scant information is available on the safety of these products. Consumers of dietary supplements often rely on employees of health food stores to provide recommendations. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate recommendations made by health food store employees in the Phoenix metropolitan area regarding treatment of nausea/vomiting and migraines during pregnancy. METHODS: Phone calls were made by a disguised shopper to 155 health food stores in the greater Phoenix area. The caller posed as a woman 8 weeks' pregnant asking for recommendations for treatment of nausea/vomiting and migraines. Responses and recommendations were recorded and then compared with current scientific evidence obtained during a search of the literature using MEDLINE (1966-September 2004) as to whether or not the supplements and the methods of their use during pregnancy were contraindicated. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of stores offered recommendations for nausea/vomiting, and 82% provided recommendations for migraines. The use of ginger was the most recommended therapy for nausea/vomiting. Only 3.6% of respondents recommended correct usage, but failed to supply the correct dosage and duration. A total of 15 of 278 (5%) recommendations, for both nausea/vomiting and migraines, were for products contraindicated in pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the increased use of dietary supplements by women during pregnancy, the willingness of personnel in health food stores to make any recommendations should foster concerns by patients and healthcare providers alike. Use of dietary supplements contraindicated in pregnancy could cause significant harm to the mother and/or fetus. Studies are needed to address the need for more stringent guidelines regarding health food stores and their recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-4372", "text": "Alternative health practices have become increasingly popular in recent years. Many patients visit specific complementary practitioners, while others attempt to educate themselves, trusting advice from employees at local health food stores or the Internet. Thirty-two retail health food stores were surveyed on the nature of the information provided by their staff. A research assistant visited the stores and presented as the mother of a child in whom Crohn's disease had been diagnosed. Seventy-two per cent (23 of 32) of store employees offered advice, such as to take nutritional and herbal supplements. Of the 23 stores where recommendations were made, 15 (65%) based their recommendation on a source of information. Fourteen of the 15 stores using information sources used the same reference book. This had a significant impact on the recommendations; the use of nutritional supplements was favoured. In conclusion, retail health food stores are not as inconsistent as hypothesized, although there are many variances in the types of supplements recommended for the same chronic disease."}
{"id": "MED-4373", "text": "The use of nutritional supplements in the general population and in cancer patients has become very popular. These supplements are not perceived as medications and are presumed to be safe by cancer patients, who may however be at risk for hypercalcemia. We note that many of our patients who have developed symptomatic hypercalcemia were taking vitamin D, calcium, or shark cartilage supplements. We report eight cases of hypercalcemia in cancer patients seen at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in whom these nutritional supplements may have contributed to the prevalence or severity of hypercalcemia."}
{"id": "MED-4374", "text": "CONTEXT: Despite cancer patients' widespread and growing use of complementary and alternative medicine, minimal attention has been paid to the role of health food stores in the \"supply side\" of this phenomenon. OBJECTIVE: To gain a better understanding of health food store personnel's recommendations for breast cancer patient care. DESIGN: Researcher posing as the daughter of a breast cancer patient and surveying health food store personnel on their product recommendations for cancer care. SETTING: Oahu, Hawaii, summer 1998. PARTICIPANTS: All health food stores (N = 40) offering products for cancer patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Recommended products and services, proposed mechanism of action, and costs. RESULTS: Store personnel readily provided information and product recommendations, with shark cartilage being the most frequent. Suggested mechanisms of action drew on traditional healing, scientific, and pseudoscientific rationales. Costs for recommended dosages varied multifold across stores and brands. CONCLUSIONS: Retailers supplying supplements can play an important role in the network of \"authorities\" for patients with breast and other cancers, as they readily provide advice and recommend products. The reasons why patients seek health food store remedies are useful in developing approaches to patient education. Physicians and other providers are in a key position to assist cancer patients in making informed choices when considering health store products."}
{"id": "MED-4375", "text": "There is widespread concern over the presence of Hg in fish consumed by humans. While studies have been focused on determining the Hg concentration in sport fish and some commercial fish, little attention has been directed to canned tuna; it is widely held that concentrations are low. In the present study, the amount of Hg present in canned tuna purchased in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, was examined, and the brand, temporal variation, type, and packaging medium impacts on Hg concentrations in tuna were explored. A significant (p < 0.001) brand difference was noted: Brand 3 contained higher Hg concentrations ($\\bar x$ standard deviation (SD) (0.777 +/- 0.320 ppm) than Brands 1 (0.541 +/- 0.114 ppm) and 2 (0.550 +/- 0.199 ppm). Chunk white tuna (0.619 +/- 0.212 ppm) and solid white tuna (0.576 +/- 0.178 ppm) were both significantly (p < 0.001) higher in mean Hg than chunk light tuna (0.137 +/- 0.063 ppm). No significant temporal variation was noted, and packaging had no significant effect on Hg concentration. In total, 55% of all tuna examined was above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) safety level for human consumption (0.5 ppm), and 5% of the tuna exceeded the action level established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) (1.0 ppm). These results indicate that stricter regulation of the canned tuna industry is necessary to ensure the safety of sensitive populations such as pregnant women, infants, and children. According to the U.S. EPA reference dose of 0.1 microg/kg body weight per day and a mean Hg value of 0.619 ppm, a 25-kg child may consume a meal (75 g) of canned chunk white tuna only once every 18.6 d. Continued monitoring of the industry and efforts to reduce Hg concentrations in canned tuna are recommended. Environ. Copyright 2009 SETAC."}
{"id": "MED-4378", "text": "Background: The associations between different sources of dietary n\u22123 (omega-3) and n\u22126 (omega-6) fatty acids and the risk of depression have not been prospectively studied. Objective: The objective was to examine the relation between different n\u22123 and n\u22126 types with clinical depression incidence. Design: We prospectively studied 54,632 US women from the Nurses' Health Study who were 50\u201377 y of age and free from depressive symptoms at baseline. Information on diet was obtained from validated food-frequency questionnaires. Clinical depression was defined as reporting both physician-diagnosed depression and regular antidepressant medication use. Results: During 10 y of follow-up (1996\u20132006), 2823 incident cases of depression were documented. Intake of long-chain n\u22123 fatty acids from fish was not associated with depression risk [relative risk (RR) for 0.3-g/d increment: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.88, 1.10], whereas \u03b1-linolenic acid (ALA) intake was inversely associated with depression risk (multivariate RR for 0.5-g/d increment: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.94). The inverse association between ALA and depression was stronger in women with low linoleic acid (LA) intake (P for interaction = 0.02): a 0.5-g/d increment in ALA was inversely associated with depression in the first, second, and third LA quintiles [RR (95% CI): 0.57 (0.37, 0.87), 0.62 (0.41, 0.93), and 0.68 (0.47, 0.96), respectively] but not in the fourth and fifth quintiles. Conclusions: The results of this large longitudinal study do not support a protective effect of long-chain n\u22123 from fish on depression risk. Although these data support the hypothesis that higher ALA and lower LA intakes reduce depression risk, this relation warrants further investigation."}
{"id": "MED-4379", "text": "Pharmaceuticals and personal care products are being increasingly reported in a variety of biological matrices, including fish tissue; however, screening studies have presently not encompassed broad geographical areas. A national pilot study was initiated in the United States to assess the accumulation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in fish sampled from five effluent-dominated rivers that receive direct discharge from wastewater treatment facilities in Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA. Fish were also collected from the Gila River, New Mexico, USA, as a reference condition expected to be minimally impacted by anthropogenic influence. High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of pharmaceuticals revealed the presence of norfluoxetine, sertraline, diphenhydramine, diltiazem, and carbamazepine at nanogram-per-gram concentrations in fillet composites from effluent-dominated sampling locations; the additional presence of fluoxetine and gemfibrozil was confirmed in liver tissue. Sertraline was detected at concentrations as high as 19 and 545 ng/g in fillet and liver tissue, respectively. Gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of personal care products in fillet composites revealed the presence of galaxolide and tonalide at maximum concentrations of 2,100 and 290 ng/g, respectively, and trace levels of triclosan. In general, more pharmaceuticals were detected at higher concentrations and with greater frequency in liver than in fillet tissues. Higher lipid content in liver tissue could not account for this discrepancy as no significant positive correlations were found between accumulated pharmaceutical concentrations and lipid content for either tissue type from any sampling site. In contrast, accumulation of the personal care products galaxolide and tonalide was significantly related to lipid content. Results suggest that the detection of pharmaceuticals and personal care products was dependent on the degree of wastewater treatment employed."}
{"id": "MED-4380", "text": "Domoic acid is a potent neurotoxin that is naturally produced by several diatom species of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. The toxin acts as a glutamate agonist and is excitotoxic in the vertebrate central nervous system and other glutamate receptor-rich organs. Human exposure to domoic acid occurs via the consumption of contaminated shellfish that have accumulated the toxin while filter feeding on toxigenic phytoplankton during blooms. The first reported human domoic acid poisoning event occurred in Canada in 1987 during which clinical signs of acute toxicity such as gastrointestinal distress, confusion, disorientation, memory loss, coma and death were observed. The illness was named amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) and due to effective seafood monitoring programs there have been no documented ASP cases since 1987. However, domoic acid poisoning has a significant effect on marine wildlife and multiple poisoning events have occurred in marine birds and mammals over the last few decades. Currently, domoic acid producing diatom blooms are thought to be increasing in frequency world wide, posing an increasing threat to wildlife and human health. Of particular concern are the potential impacts of long-term low-level exposure in \"at risk\" human populations. The impacts of repetitive low-level domoic acid exposure are currently unknown. This review provides a basic description of the mechanism of action of domoic acid as well as a synthesis of information pertaining to domoic acid exposure routes, toxin susceptibility, and the importance of effective monitoring programs. The importance of investigating the potential human health impacts of long-term low-level domoic acid exposure in \"at risk\" human populations is also discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4381", "text": "Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) is caused by consumption of shellfish that have accumulated domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by some strains of phytoplankton. The neurotoxic properties of domoic acid result in neuronal degeneration and necrosis in specific regions of the hippocampus. A serious outbreak of ASP occurred in Canada in 1987 and involved 150 reported cases, 19 hospitalisations and 4 deaths after consumption of contaminated mussels. Symptoms ranged from gastrointestinal disturbances, to neurotoxic effects such as hallucinations, memory loss and coma. Monitoring programmes are in place in numerous countries worldwide and closures of shellfish harvesting areas occur when domoic acid concentrations exceed regulatory limits. This paper reviews the chemistry, sources, metabolism and toxicology of domoic acid as well as human case reports of ASP and discusses a possible mechanism of toxicity."}
{"id": "MED-4382", "text": "BACKGROUND: Age-related cataract is a major cause of morbidity. Previous studies of diet and cataract risk have focused on specific nutrients or healthy eating indexes but not on identifiable dietary groups such as vegetarians. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between diet and cataract risk in a population that has a wide range of diets and includes a high proportion of vegetarians. DESIGN: We used Cox proportional hazards regression to study cataract risk in relation to baseline dietary and lifestyle characteristics of 27,670 self-reported nondiabetic participants aged \u226540 y at recruitment in the Oxford (United Kingdom) arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford) by using data from the Hospital Episode Statistics in England and Scottish Morbidity Records. RESULTS: There was a strong relation between cataract risk and diet group, with a progressive decrease in risk of cataract in high meat eaters to low meat eaters, fish eaters (participants who ate fish but not meat), vegetarians, and vegans. After multivariable adjustment, incidence rate ratios (95% CIs) for moderate meat eaters (50-99 g meat/d), low meat eaters (<50 g meat/d), fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans compared with high-meat eaters (\u2265100 g meat/d) were 0.96 (0.84, 1.11), 0.85 (0.72, 0.99), 0.79 (0.65, 0.97), 0.70 (0.58, 0.84), and 0.60 (0.38, 0.96), respectively (P < 0.001 for heterogeneity). Associations between cataract risk and intakes of selected nutrients and foods generally reflected the strong association with diet group. CONCLUSION: Vegetarians were at lower risk of cataract than were meat eaters in this cohort of health-conscious British residents."}
{"id": "MED-4383", "text": "OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relation between plasma carotenoids, retinol and tocopherol levels and ovarian cancer risk in Korean women. DESIGN: Hospital-based case-control study. SETTING: Six tertiary medical institutes in Korea. POPULATION: Forty-five epithelial ovarian cancers and 135 age-matched controls. METHODS: Preoperative plasma concentrations of beta-carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthin plus lutein, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and gamma-tocopherol were measured by reverse-phase, gradient high-pressure liquid chromatography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated by tertiles to evaluate the effect of micronutrients on endometrial cancer risk after adjustment for body mass (BMI) index, menopause, parity, oral contraceptive use, smoking status, and alcohol consumption status. RESULTS: Women in the highest tertile for beta-carotene had 0.12-times the risk of ovarian cancer of in the lowest tertile (OR 0.12; 95%CI 0.04-0.36). Women with the highest tertiles of lycopene (OR 0.09; 95%CI 0.03-0.32), zeaxanthin/lutein (OR 0.21; 95%CI 0.09-0.52), retinol (OR 0.45; 95%CI 0.21-0.98), alpha-tocopherol (OR 0.23; 95%CI 0.10-0.53) and gamma-tocopherol (OR 0.28; 95%CI 0.11-0.70) had lower risk of ovarian cancer than women in the lowest tertiles. Results were consistent across strata of socio-epidemiologic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Micronutrients, specifically ss-carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthin, lutein, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and gamma-tocopherol, may play a role in reducing the risk of ovarian cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4384", "text": "PURPOSE: To explore the association between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the presence of glaucoma. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study. METHODS: In a sample of 1,155 women located in multiple centers in the United States, glaucoma specialists diagnosed glaucoma in at least one eye by assessing optic nerve head photographs and 76-point suprathreshold screening visual fields. Consumption of fruits and vegetables was assessed using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire. The relationship between selected fruit and vegetable consumption and glaucoma was investigated using adjusted logistic regression models. RESULTS: Among 1,155 women, 95 (8.2%) were diagnosed with glaucoma. In adjusted analysis, the odds of glaucoma risk were decreased by 69% (odds ratio [OR], 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.11 to 0.91) in women who consumed at least one serving per month of green collards and kale compared with those who consumed fewer than one serving per month, by 64% (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.77) in women who consumed more than two servings per week of carrots compared with those who consumed fewer than one serving per week, and by 47% (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.97) in women who consumed at least one serving per week of canned or dried peaches compared with those who consumed fewer than one serving per month. CONCLUSIONS: A higher intake of certain fruits and vegetables may be associated with a decreased risk of glaucoma. More studies are needed to investigate this relationship."}
{"id": "MED-4385", "text": "The idea that normal constituents of the diet can influence visual function is not new. As early as 1782, Buzzi identified the yellow of the macula and Schulze (1866) specifically postulated that the yellow pigments led to improvements in human vision. These pigments were later found to be derived from dietary lutein and zeaxanthin that are known to be oxygenated carotenoids (xanthophylls). Walls and Judd (1933) postulated that these yellow intraocular pigments could improve visual performance by absorbing light scattered both within (for example, glare) and outside of the eye (increasing visual range by absorbing blue light scattered in the atmosphere), and by improving spatial vision through enhancing contrast and reducing chromatic blur. In this article, evidence for these ideas is reviewed with particular emphasis towards more recent data on glare effects."}
{"id": "MED-4388", "text": "Objective To examine overall diet quality in relation to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods This case-control study identified 437 advanced AMD patients and 259 unrelated controls using stereoscopic color fundus photographs. Participants were predominantly non-Hispanic white men and women from North Carolina and Tennessee. A 97-item Block food frequency questionnaire was used to gather diet information, and overall diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Results Participants in the highest quartile of diet quality had significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the AHEI score (0.54, 95% confidence interval 0.30 \u2013 0.99) and non-significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the HEI (0.75, 0.41 \u2013 1.38). Odds of AMD were also 51% lower in the highest quartile of fish intake compared to the lowest quartile (odds ratio = 0.49, 0.26 \u2013 0.90). Conclusions We found that advanced AMD was significantly related to overall diet quality. The AHEI score may be a useful instrument for assessing AMD risk due to diet, and it could potentially be improved by incorporating more specific information regarding micronutrient intake."}
{"id": "MED-4389", "text": "Significant benefits for diabetes prevention and management have been observed with vegetarian and especially vegan diets. This article reviews observational studies and intervention trials on such diets, and discusses their efficacy, nutritional adequacy, acceptability, and sustainability. Research to date has demonstrated that a low-fat, plant-based nutritional approach improves control of weight, glycemia, and cardiovascular risk. These studies have also shown that carefully planned vegan diets can be more nutritious than diets based on more conventional diet guidelines, with an acceptability that is comparable with that of other therapeutic regimens. Current intervention guidelines from professional organizations offer support for this approach. Vegetarian and vegan diets present potential advantages in managing type 2 diabetes that merit the attention of individuals with diabetes and their caregivers."}
{"id": "MED-4392", "text": "Limonoids are a prominent group of secondary metabolites in citrus fruit. The bitter character of some compounds in this group has historically compromised the quality of citrus fruit and juice. Detecting bitter limonoids in citrus, understanding their origins, and developing methods for their removal from citrus juices have provided the basis for citrus limonoid research. Evaluation of the biological activity of citrus limonoids has indicated the potential of these compounds to improve human health as anticancer, cholesterol-lowering, and antiviral agents. This review chronicles the evolution of citrus limonoid research from defining their participation in citrus bitterness to their potential utilization as important contributors to improving human health and well-being."}
{"id": "MED-4393", "text": "BACKGROUND: Individuals consuming diets dense in fruits and vegetables consume an array of phytonutrients as well as recognized nutritional components, including vitamins, minerals, and fiber. There is a growing body of evidence that phytonutrients may play positive roles in health. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to estimate usual intakes of nine individual phytonutrients by Americans consuming recommended levels of fruits and vegetables compared to intakes by adults not meeting these recommendations, and to identify contributions of food sources to total phytonutrient intakes. The phytonutrients examined in this study are found predominantly in fruits and vegetables. DESIGN: Food consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2003-2006 and phytonutrient concentration data from US Department of Agriculture databases and the published literature were used to estimate energy-adjusted usual intakes. Student's t tests were used to compare mean energy-adjusted phytonutrient intakes between subpopulations who consumed recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables vs those who did not. Percentage contributions of each phytonutrient by food source were estimated for all adults. RESULTS: Energy-adjusted intakes of all phytonutrients other than ellagic acid were considerably higher among both men and women meeting dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable intakes compared to those not meeting the recommendations; energy-adjusted intakes of ellagic acid were higher only among women meeting vs not meeting the recommendations. For five of the nine phytonutrients (\u03b1-carotene, \u03b2-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, hesperetin, and ellagic acid), a single food accounted for 64% or more of the total intake of the phytonutrient. CONCLUSIONS: Energy-adjusted intakes of carotenoids and flavonoids are higher among men and women whose diets conform to dietary guidance for fruits and vegetables. A limited number of foods provide the majority of these phytonutrients. Findings from this research provide important reference information on the phytonutrient contributions of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables."}
{"id": "MED-4394", "text": "Acne vulgaris, the most common skin disease of western civilization, has evolved to an epidemic affecting more than 85% of adolescents. Acne can be regarded as an indicator disease of exaggerated insulinotropic western nutrition. Especially milk and whey protein-based products contribute to elevations of postprandial insulin and basal insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) plasma levels. It is the evolutional principle of mammalian milk to promote growth and support anabolic conditions for the neonate during the nursing period. Whey proteins are most potent inducers of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide secreted by enteroendocrine K cells which in concert with hydrolyzed whey protein-derived essential amino acids stimulate insulin secretion of pancreatic \u03b2-cells. Increased insulin/IGF-I signaling activates the phosphoinositide-3 kinase/Akt pathway, thereby reducing the nuclear content of the transcription factor FoxO1, the key nutrigenomic regulator of acne target genes. Nuclear FoxO1 deficiency has been linked to all major factors of acne pathogenesis, i.e. androgen receptor transactivation, comedogenesis, increased sebaceous lipogenesis, and follicular inflammation. The elimination of the whey protein-based insulinotropic mechanisms of milk will be the most important future challenge for nutrition research. Both, restriction of milk consumption or generation of less insulinotropic milk will have an enormous impact on the prevention of epidemic western diseases like obesity, diabetes mellitus, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and acne. Copyright \u00a9 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-4396", "text": "There has been a remarkable paucity of evidence for an association between diet and acne. Our previous studies suggest that there is an association between milk intake and teenage acne. This is a prospective cohort study to evaluate that relationship. We studied 6,094 girls, aged 9-15 years in 1996, who reported dietary intake on up to three food frequency questionnaires from 1996 to 1998. Presence and severity of acne was assessed by questionnaire in 1999. We computed multivariate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 percent confidence intervals for acne. After accounting for age at baseline, height and energy intake, the multivariate PRs (95 % CI; p-value for test of trend) for acne comparing highest (2 or more servings per day) to lowest (<1 per week) intake categories in 1996, were 1.20 (1.09, 1.31; <0.001) for total milk, 1.19 (1.06, 1.32; <0.001) for whole milk, 1.17 (1.04, 1.31; 0.002) for low fat milk and 1.19 (1.08, 1.31; <0.001) for skim milk. This result did not change appreciably when we excluded girls who reported use of contraceptives and when we restricted our analysis to those younger than 11 years of age at baseline. We found a positive association between intake of milk and acne. This finding supports earlier studies and suggests that the metabolic effects of milk are sufficient to elicit biological responses in consumers."}
{"id": "MED-4398", "text": "BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest possible associations between Western diet and acne. We examined data from the Nurses Health Study II to retrospectively evaluate whether intakes of dairy foods during high school were associated with physician-diagnosed severe teenage acne. METHODS: We studied 47,355 women who completed questionnaires on high school diet in 1998 and physician-diagnosed severe teenage acne in 1989. We estimated the prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals of acne history across categories of intakes. RESULTS: After accounting for age, age at menarche, body mass index, and energy intake, the multivariate prevalence ratio (95% confidence intervals; P value for test of trend) of acne, comparing extreme categories of intake, were: 1.22 (1.03, 1.44; .002) for total milk; 1.12 (1.00, 1.25; .56) for whole milk; 1.16 (1.01, 1.34; .25) for low-fat milk; and 1.44 (1.21, 1.72; .003) for skim milk. Instant breakfast drink, sherbet, cottage cheese, and cream cheese were also positively associated with acne. CONCLUSION: We found a positive association with acne for intake of total milk and skim milk. We hypothesize that the association with milk may be because of the presence of hormones and bioactive molecules in milk."}
{"id": "MED-4399", "text": "Casomorphins are the most important during the first year of life, when postnatal formation is most active and milk is the main source of both nutritive and biologically active material for infants. This study was conducted on a total of 90 infants, of which 37 were fed with breast milk and 53 were fed with formula containing cow milk. The study has firstly indicated substances with immunoreactivity of human (irHCM) and bovine (irBCM) beta-casomorphins-7 in blood plasma of naturally and artificially fed infants, respectively. irHCM and irBCM were detected both in the morning before feeding (basal level), and 3h after feeding. Elevation of irHCM and irBCM levels after feeding was detected mainly in infants in the first 3 months of life. Chromatographic characterization of the material with irBCM has demonstrated that it has the same molecular mass and polarity as synthetic bovine beta-casomorphin-7. The highest basal irHCM was observed in breast-fed infants with normal psychomotor development and muscle tone. In contrast, elevated basal irBCM was found in formula-fed infants showing delay in psychomotor development and heightened muscle tone. Among formula-fed infants with normal development, the rate of this parameter directly correlated to basal irBCM. The data indicate that breast feeding has an advantage over artificial feeding for infants' development during the first year of life and support the hypothesis for deterioration of bovine casomorphin elimination as a risk factor for delay in psychomotor development and other diseases such as autism."}
{"id": "MED-4402", "text": "Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the most common cause of death in infants and its pathogenesis is complex and multifactorial. The aim of this review is to summarize recent novel findings regarding the possible association of beta-casomorphin (beta-CM) to apnea in SIDS, which has not been widely appreciated by pediatricians and scientists. beta-CM is an exogenous bioactive peptide derived from casein, a major protein in milk and milk products, which has opioid activity. Mechanistically, circulation of this peptide into the infant's immature central nervous system might inhibit the respiratory center in the brainstem leading to apnea and death. This paper will review the possible relationship between beta-CM and SIDS in the context of passage of beta-CM through the gastrointestinal tract and the blood-brain barrier (BBB), permeability of the BBB to peptides in infants, and characterization of the casomorphin system in the brain."}
{"id": "MED-4403", "text": "Samples of Mimolette (France) and Milbenkase (Germany) cheeses traditionally ripened by mites were analyzed to determine the mite species present on each sample. Scientific literature was reviewed to understand which mite species most commonly infest cheese. Morphological features possessed by mites were then studied to understand what unique characteristics are required to ensure accurate identification. After identification and compilation of a detailed key of stored food mites (subclass Acari, order Astigmata) and their delineating features, the mites were viewed through a cryogenic scanning electron microscope. It was determined that Mimolette cheese is inoculated with Acarus siro L. The features studied to identify this mite species included idiosomal length and shape, setae length and arrangement, leg size, placement of anus and genitals, and solenidia shape. The Milbenkase cheese is inoculated with Tyrolichus casei Oudemans, which was evident after viewing the same features used to identify A. siro and the supracoxal seta shape. With this knowledge, further research can be conducted on the 2 cheese varieties to understand what chemical, physical, and microbial changes occur within the cheeses because of mites. It is important to identify the mite species present on each cheese variety to improve our understanding of their role in creating the distinctive characteristics that set these cheeses apart from others. Copyright (c) 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4404", "text": "Creatine when combined with P forms phosphocreatine that acts as a reserve of high-energy phosphate. Creatine is found mostly in meat, fish and other animal products, and the levels of muscle creatine are known to be lower in vegetarians. Creatine supplementation influences brain functioning as indicated by imaging studies and the measurement of oxygenated Hb. Given the key role played by creatine in the provision of energy, the influence of its supplementation on cognitive functioning was examined, contrasting the effect in omnivores and vegetarians. Young adult females (n 128) were separated into those who were and were not vegetarian. Randomly and under a double-blind procedure, subjects consumed either a placebo or 20\u00a0g of creatine supplement for 5\u00a0d. Creatine supplementation did not influence measures of verbal fluency and vigilance. However, in vegetarians rather than in those who consume meat, creatine supplementation resulted in better memory. Irrespective of dietary style, the supplementation of creatine decreased the variability in the responses to a choice reaction-time task."}
{"id": "MED-4405", "text": "Creatine monohydrate is a popular sports supplement used to maintain levels of high-energy phosphates during exercise. As a supplement, varying amounts are consumed per person corresponding to parameters such as body mass and level of training (i.e. maintenance versus loading doses). Numerous studies have reported beneficial effects including increased muscle mass during training and neural protection. However, negative reports have also been made of possible side effects, such as muscle cramping during exercise, and potential impurities. The present paper introduces the positive and negative aspects of creatine supplementation and focuses on the toxicological data of creatine, its metabolites and associated mutagenicity or carcinogenicity, genomeceutical effect(s), and any potential 'contaminants.' Additionally, the novel applications of creatine to the areas of neurology, cardiology, and diabetes are presented and discussed along with the representative data for sports nutrition."}
{"id": "MED-4406", "text": "Objective To investigate longitudinal associations between community-level gasoline price and physical activity (PA). Method In the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, 5,115 black and white participants aged 18\u201330 at baseline 1985\u201386 were recruited from four U.S. cities (Birmingham, Chicago, Minneapolis and Oakland) and followed over time. We used data from 3 follow-up exams: 1992\u201393, 1995\u201396, and 2000\u201301, when the participants were located across 48 states. From questionnaire data, a total PA score was summarized in exercise units (EU) based on intensity and frequency of 13 PA categories. Using Geographic Information Systems, participants\u2019 residential locations were linked to county-level inflation-adjusted gasoline price data collected by the Council for Community & Economic Research. We used a random-effect longitudinal regression model to examine associations between time-varying gasoline price and time-varying PA, controlling for age, race, gender, baseline study center, and time-varying education, marital status, household income, county cost of living, county bus fare, census block-group poverty, and urbanicity. Results Holding all control variables constant, a 25-cent increase in inflation-adjusted gasoline price was significantly associated with an increase of 9.9 EU in total PA (95%CI: 0.8\u201319.1). Conclusion Rising prices of gasoline may be associated with an unintended increase in leisure PA."}
{"id": "MED-4407", "text": "Chronic inhalation of cigarette smoke (CS) induces emphysema by the damage contributed by oxidative stress during inhalation of CS. Ingestion of a\u00e7ai fruits (Euterpe oleracea) in animals has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. This study compared lung damage in mice induced by chronic (60-day) inhalation of regular CS and smoke from cigarettes containing 100mg of hydroalcoholic extract of a\u00e7ai berry stone (CS + A). Sham smoke-exposed mice served as the control group. Mice were sacrificed on day 60, bronchoalveolar lavage was performed, and the lungs were removed for histological and biochemical analyses. Histopathological investigation showed enlargement of alveolar space in CS mice compared to CS + A and control mice. The increase in leukocytes in the CS group was higher than the increase observed in the CS + A group. Oxidative stress, as evaluated by antioxidant enzyme activities, mieloperoxidase, glutathione, and 4-hydroxynonenal, was reduced in mice exposed to CS+A versus CS. Macrophage and neutrophil elastase levels were reduced in mice exposed to CS + A versus CS. Thus, the presence of a\u00e7ai extract in cigarettes had a protective effect against emphysema in mice, probably by reducing oxidative and inflammatory reactions. These results raise the possibility that addition of a\u00e7a\u00ed extract to normal cigarettes could reduce their harmful effects. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4408", "text": "The influence of protein oxidation, as measured by the dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) method, on colour and texture changes during chill storage (2 degrees C, 12days) of cooked burger patties was studied. Extracts from arbutus-berries (Arbutus unedoL., AU), common hawthorns (Crataegus monogynaL., CM), dog roses (Rosa caninaL., RC) and elm-leaf blackberries (Rubus ulmifoliusSchott., RU) were prepared, added to burger patties (3% of total weight) and evaluated as inhibitors of protein oxidation and colour and texture changes. Negative (no added extract, C) and positive control (added quercetin; 230mg/kg, Q) groups were also considered. The significant increase of protein carbonyls during chill storage of control burger patties reflect the intense oxidative degradation of the muscle proteins. Concomitantly, an intense loss of redness and increase of hardness was found to take place in burger patties throughout refrigerated storage. Most fruit extracts as well as Q significantly reduced the formation of protein carbonyls and inhibited colour and texture deterioration during chill storage. Likely mechanisms through which protein oxidation could play a major role on colour and texture changes during chill storage of burger patties are discussed. Amongst the extracts, RC was most suitable for use as a functional ingredient in processed meats since it enhanced oxidative stability, colour and texture properties of burger patties with no apparent drawbacks. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4411", "text": "Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by increased oxidative stress. Dietary factors, such as ample consumption of foods rich in antioxidants, such as fruit and vegetables, might have beneficial effects in COPD patients. The association between dietary shift to foods rich in antioxidants and lung function in COPD was investigated in a 3-yr prospective study. A total of 120 COPD patients were randomised to follow either a diet based on increased consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables (intervention group (IG)) or a free diet (control group (CG)). The mean consumption of foods containing antioxidants was higher in the IG than in the CG throughout the study period (p<0.05). The relationship between consumption of foods rich in antioxidants and percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s was assessed using a general linear model for repeated measures; the two groups overall were different in time (p = 0.03), with the IG showing a better outcome. In investigating the effect of several confounders (sex, age, smoking status, comorbid conditions and exacerbation) of group response over time, nonsignificant interactions were found between confounders, group and time. These findings suggest that a dietary shift to higher-antioxidant food intake may be associated with improvement in lung function, and, in this respect, dietary interventions might be considered in COPD management."}
{"id": "MED-4412", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate whether nutritional risk factors, especially black tea consumptions, are inversely associated with the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in male smokers. METHODS: Forty male smokers with clinical diagnosis of COPD (Group-I (GI)) and 36 healthy smokers without COPD (Group-II (GII)) were included in this study. We compared the dietary habits and food intakes of the two groups using an adaptation of the Arizona Food Frequency Questionnaire (AFFQ). Question form included a list of 65 food items formed from five main food groups (grain, meat and alternatives, dairy products, vegetables-fruits and fat) and 25 dietary habits. The data were evaluated by binary logistic regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Student's t, Mann-Whitney, and Chi-square tests. RESULTS: When both groups compared, black tea consumptions (GI-700ml; GII-1600ml (OR: 0.635, P<0.001)), vegetable fruits scores (GI-54.30; GII-63.81 (OR: 0.863, P<0.001)), regularly breakfast habit (GI-24 patients; GII-36 cases (OR: 0.549, P<0.001)) and eating salty (GI-22 patients; GII-5 cases (P<0.001)) made significant differences. In ROC curves, the area under the curve of black tea (0.898 (95% CI: 0.819-0.977) and vegetables-fruits (0.833 (95% CI: 0.727-0.938) provided high accuracy to distinguish between COPD group and controls (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: High intakes of black tea and vegetables-fruits consumptions may be protecting male smokers from developing COPD."}
{"id": "MED-4413", "text": "Estimation of total antioxidant intake is the first step to investigate the protective effects of antioxidants on oxidative stress-mediated disease. The present study was designed to develop an algorithm to estimate total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the US diet. TAC of individual antioxidants and 50 popular antioxidant-rich food items in the US diet were determined by 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) assay and the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Theoretical TAC of foods was calculated as the sum of individual antioxidant capacities of compounds. The top 10 TAC food items in the US diet according to standard serving size were blueberry > plum > green tea > strawberry > green tea (decaffeinated) > red wine > grape juice > black tea > cherry > grape. Major contributors to TAC were the total phenolic content (r = 0.952, P < 0.001) and flavonoid content (r = 0.827, P < 0.001) of 50 foods. Theoretical TAC was positively correlated to experimental TAC of 50 foods determined by the ABTS assay (r = 0.833, P < 0.001) and the DPPH assay (r = 0.696, P < 0.001), and to TAC from the USDA database for the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (r = 0.484, P = 0.001, n = 44). The TAC database of the US diet has been established and validated. In future studies, TAC of the US diet can be linked to biomarkers of chronic disease."}
{"id": "MED-4415", "text": "Cinnamon has been used as a spice and as traditional herbal medicine for centuries. The available in vitro and animal in vivo evidence suggests that cinnamon has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovascular, cholesterol-lowering, and immunomodulatory effects. In vitro studies have demonstrated that cinnamon may act as an insulin mimetic, to potentiate insulin activity or to stimulate cellular glucose metabolism. Furthermore, animal studies have demonstrated strong hypoglycemic properties. However, there are only very few well-controlled clinical studies, a fact that limits the conclusions that can be made about the potential health benefits of cinnamon for free-living humans. The use of cinnamon as an adjunct to the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most promising area, but further research is needed before definitive recommendations can be made."}
{"id": "MED-4418", "text": "Coumarin is a secondary phytochemical with hepatotoxic and carcinogenic properties. For the carcinogenic effect, a genotoxic mechanism was considered possible, but was discounted by the European Food Safety Authority in 2004 based on new evidence. This allowed the derivation of a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for the first time, and a value of 0.1 mg/kg body weight was arrived at based on animal hepatotoxicity data. However, clinical data on hepatotoxicity from patients treated with coumarin as medicinal drug is also available. This data revealed a subgroup of the human population being more susceptible for the hepatotoxic effect than the animal species investigated. The cause of the high susceptibility is currently unknown; possible mechanisms are discussed. Using the human data, a TDI of 0.1 mg/kg body weight was derived, confirming that of the European Food Safety Authority. Nutritional exposure may be considerably, and is mainly due to use of cassia cinnamon, which is a popular spice especially, used for cookies and sweet dishes. To estimate exposure to coumarin during the Christmas season in Germany, a telephone survey was performed with more than 1000 randomly selected persons. Heavy consumers of cassia cinnamon may reach a daily coumarin intake corresponding to the TDI."}
{"id": "MED-4419", "text": "Watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.) is a natural and rich source of the non-essential amino acid citrulline. Citrulline is used in the nitric oxide system in humans and has potential antioxidant and vasodilatation roles. A method using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed to separate citrulline from glutamic acid, which co-elute when analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Watermelons were analyzed by GC-MS to determine the citrulline content among varieties, types, flesh colors, and tissues. Citrulline content ranged from 3.9 to 28.5 mg/g dry weight (dwt) and was similar between seeded and seedless types (16.6 and 20.3 mg/g dwt, respectively). Red flesh watermelons had slightly less citrulline than the yellow or orange flesh watermelons (7.4, 28.5 and 14.2 mg/g dwt, respectively). Rind contained more citrulline than flesh on a dry weight basis (24.7 and 16.7 mg/g dwt, respectively) but a little less on a fresh weight (fwt) basis (1.3 and 1.9 mg/g fwt, respectively). These results indicate that watermelon rind, an underutilized agricultural waste, offers a source of natural citrulline."}
{"id": "MED-4421", "text": "BACKGROUND: Oral L-citrulline is efficiently converted to L-arginine, the precursor for endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. Oral L-arginine supplementation reduces brachial blood pressure (BP). We evaluated the effects of watermelon supplementation on aortic BP and arterial function in individuals with prehypertension. METHODS: Heart rate (HR), brachial systolic BP (bSBP), brachial pulse pressure (bPP), aortic SBP (aSBP), aortic PP (aPP), augmentation index (AIx), AIx adjusted for HR of 75 beats/min (AIx@75), amplitude of the first (P1) and second (P2) systolic peaks, reflection time (Tr), and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) were evaluated in the supine position in nine subjects (four men/five women, age 54 \u00b1 3 years) with prehypertension (134/77 \u00b1 5/3 mm Hg). Subjects were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of watermelon supplementation (L-citrulline/L arginine, 2.7 g/1.3 g/day) or placebo followed by a 4-week washout period and then crossover. RESULTS: There was a significant treatment effect (change in the value of watermelon minus placebo from baseline to 6 weeks) on bPP (-8 \u00b1 3 mm Hg, P < 0.05), aSBP (-7 \u00b1 2 mm Hg, P < 0.05), aPP (-6 \u00b1 2 mm Hg, P < 0.01), AIx (-6 \u00b1 3%, P < 0.05), AIx@75 (-4 \u00b1 2%, P < 0.05), and P2 (-2 \u00b1 1 mm Hg, P < 0.05). There was no significant treatment effect (P > 0.05) on bSBP, brachial diastolic BP (DBP), aortic DBP, Tr, P1, HR, and carotid-femoral PWV. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study shows that watermelon supplementation improves aortic hemodynamics through a decrease in the amplitude of the reflected wave in individuals with prehypertension."}
{"id": "MED-4426", "text": "Riding in a shopping cart next to raw meat or poultry is a risk factor for Salmonella and Campylobacter infections in infants. To describe the frequency of, and factors associated with, this behavior, we surveyed parents of children aged younger than 3 years in Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network sites. We defined exposure as answering yes to one of a series of questions asking if packages of raw meat or poultry were near a child in a shopping cart, or if a child was in the cart basket at the same time as was raw meat or poultry. Among 1,273 respondents, 767 (60%) reported that their children visited a grocery store in the past week and rode in shopping carts. Among these children, 103 (13%) were exposed to raw products. Children who rode in the baskets were more likely to be exposed than were those who rode only in the seats (odds ratio [OR], 17.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11.0 to 28.9). In a multivariate model, riding in the basket (OR, 15.5; 95% CI, 9.2 to 26.1), income less than $55,000 (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.0 to 3.1), and Hispanic ethnicity (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2 to 4.5) were associated with exposure. Our study shows that children can be exposed to raw meat and poultry products while riding in shopping carts. Parents should separate children from raw products and place children in the seats rather than in the baskets of the cart. Retailer use of leak-proof packaging, customer placement of product in a plastic bag and on the rack underneath the cart, use of hand sanitizers and wipes, and consumer education may also be helpful."}
{"id": "MED-4431", "text": "BACKGROUND: Workers in poultry plants have high exposure to a variety of transmissible agents present in poultry and their products. Subjects in the general population are also exposed. It is not known whether many of these agents cause disease in humans. If they do, we reason this would be readily evident in a highly exposed group such as poultry workers. We report here on mortality from non-malignant diseases in a cohort of poultry workers. METHODS: Mortality was compared with that of the US general population, and with that of a comparison group from the same union. Risk was estimated by standardized mortality ratio, proportional mortality ratio, and directly standardized risk ratio. RESULTS: Poultry workers as a group had an overall excess of deaths from diabetes, anterior horn disease, and hypertensive disease, and a deficit of deaths from intracerebral hemorrhage. Deaths from zoonotic bacterial diseases, helminthiasis, myasthenia gravis, schizophrenia, other diseases of the spinal cord, diseases of the esophagus and peritonitis were non-significantly elevated overall by all analyses, and significantly so in particular race/sex subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Poultry workers may have excess occurrence of disease affecting several organs and systems, probably originating from widespread infection with a variety of microorganisms. The results for neurologic diseases could well represent important clues to the etiology of these diseases in humans. The small numbers of deaths involved in some cases limit interpretation."}
{"id": "MED-4433", "text": "BACKGROUND: The role of zoonotic biological agents in human cancer occurrence has been little studied. Humans are commonly exposed to viruses that naturally infect and cause cancer in food animals such as poultry that constitute part of the biological environment. It is not known if these viruses cause cancer in humans. OBJECTIVE: To study cancer mortality in the largest cohort to date, of 20,132 workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants, a group with the highest human exposures to these viruses. METHODS: Mortality in poultry workers was compared with that in the US general population through the estimation of standardized mortality ratios. RESULTS: Significantly increased risks were observed in the cohort as a whole or in subgroups, for several cancer sites, viz: cancers of the buccal cavity and pharynx; pancreas; trachea/bronchus/lung; brain; cervix; lymphoid leukemia; monocytic leukemia; and tumors of the hemopoietic and lymphatic systems. Elevated SMRs that were not statistically significant were observed for cancers of the liver, nasopharynx, myelofibrosis, and myeloma. New sites observed to be significantly in excess in this study were cancers of the cervix and penis. CONCLUSION: This large study provides evidence that a human group with high exposure to poultry oncogenic viruses has increased risk of dying from several cancers. Other occupational carcinogenic exposures could be of importance in explaining some of the findings, such as fumes from wrapping machines. These findings may have implications for public health amongst persons in the general population who may also be exposed to these viruses. What is needed now are epidemiologic studies that can demonstrate whether the excess of specific cancers can be attributed to specific occupational exposures while adequately controlling for other potential occupational and non-occupational carcinogenic exposures. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4436", "text": "The consumption of meat and other foods of animal origin is a risk factor for several types of cancer, but the results for lymphomas are inconclusive. Therefore, we examined these associations among 411,097 participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. During a median follow-up of 8.5 years, 1,334 lymphomas (1,267 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and 67 Hodgkin lymphomas) were identified. Consumption of red and processed meat, poultry, milk and dairy products was assessed by dietary questionnaires. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to evaluate the association of the consumption of these food groups with lymphoma risk. Overall, the consumption of foods of animal origin was not associated with an increased risk of NHLS or HL, but the associations with specific subgroups of NHL entities were noted. A high intake of processed meat was associated with an increased risk of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (BCLL) [relative risk (RR) per 50 g intake = 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.63], but a decreased risk of follicular lymphomas (FL) (RR = 0.58; CI 0.38-0.89). A high intake of poultry was related to an increased risk of B-cell lymphomas (RR = 1.22; CI 1.05-1.42 per 10 g intake), FL (RR = 1.65; CI 1.18-2.32) and BCLL (RR = 1.54; CI 1.18-2.01) in the continuous models. In conclusion, no consistent associations between red and processed meat consumption and lymphoma risk were observed, but we found that the consumption of poultry was related to an increased risk of B-cell lymphomas. Chance is a plausible explanation of the observed associations, which need to be confirmed in further studies."}
{"id": "MED-4437", "text": "Offals are widely consumed in different cuisines, but information on the occurrence of dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in these foods is sparse. In the first structured investigation of its kind, this study reports levels of these contaminants in commonly consumed offals (n=173) such as lamb, ox, deer and pig's liver, kidneys, tongue and heart, and offal products such as p\u00e2t\u00e9, haggis, tripe and black pudding. The results support literature observations on the preferential accumulation of contaminants in liver tissue, as the highest concentrations of PCDD/Fs were observed in liver, relative to the other organs (e.g. 8.4 ng WHO-TEQ kg(-1) lamb liver compared to 1.1 ng WHO-TEQ kg(-1) lamb kidney and 1.27 ng WHO-TEQ kg(-1) lamb heart). Offal products generally showed lower contaminant levels which may be a result of processing or dilution. For most samples, the main contribution to WHO-TEQ arose from PCDD/Fs rather than PCBs. Just under half of the lamb liver samples showed PCDD/F concentrations that exceeded the EU maximum limit of 6 ng kg(-1) fat weight (although deer liver which is not subject to the regulation, generally showed higher levels). Dietary exposure estimates indicate that the weekly consumption of up to two 100g portions of lamb, ox, calf or pig liver or one portion of deer liver would not breach the tolerable daily intake (TDI) level even when the rest of the diet was included. However, the consumption of more than one portion of deer liver per week may lead to the TDI being exceeded. Crown Copyright \u00a9 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4438", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The beneficial effects of human caffeine consumption deserve clarification. METHODS: A detailed literature review was conducted and summarized. RESULTS: A large body of scientific evidence describes the beneficial effects of human caffeine consumption on a number of physiologic systems. CONCLUSION: The consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine 1) increases energy availability, 2) increases daily energy expenditure, 3) decreases fatigue, 4) decreases the sense of effort associated with physical activity, 5) enhances physical performance, 6) enhances motor performance, 7) enhances cognitive performance, 8) increases alertness, wakefulness, and feelings of \"energy,\" 9) decreases mental fatigue, 10) quickens reactions, 11) increases the accuracy of reactions, 12) increases the ability to concentrate and focus attention, 13) enhances short-term memory, 14) increases the ability to solve problems requiring reasoning, 15) increases the ability to make correct decisions, 16) enhances cognitive functioning capabilities and neuromuscular coordination, and 17) in otherwise healthy non-pregnant adults is safe. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4439", "text": "Caffeine is a natural alkaloid methylxanthine that is found in various plants such as coffee or tea. Symptoms of a severe overdose may present with hypokalemia, hyponatremia, ventricular arrhythmias, hypertension followed by hypotension, respiratory failure, seizures, rhabdomyolysis, ventricular fibrillation and finally circulatory collapse. A 21-year-old woman called for the ambulance herself soon after the ingestion of about 10,000 mg of caffeine. At the arrival of the ambulance, the patient went into cardiac arrest almost immediately. After a total resuscitation period of 34 min including seven counter-shocks and 2 mg epinephrine, the patient was stable enough to be transferred to the hospital. The patient soon went into VF again and received two more counter-shocks and 1 mg epinephrine and finally an intravenous bolus dose of 300 mg amiodarone. The initial arterial blood gas showed pH at 6.47, lactate at 33 mmol/l and potassium level at 2.3 mmol/l. Unfortunately, no blood samples for caffeine analysis were taken. Three days after hospital admission, the patient developed myoclonus, which did not respond to medical treatment. Excessive intake of caffeine may produce arrhythmias and pronounced hypokalemia and ensuing ventricular fibrillation. In case of counter-shock-resistant VF, it can be necessary to give an early loading dose of amiodarone. Furthermore, it may be beneficial to replace the potassium as early as possible. Epinephrine and buffer solutions used during resuscitation may further decrease blood potassium levels and should be administrated cautiously. Epinephrine can be replaced by other vasopressor drugs, such as vasopressin without effects on beta-receptors."}
{"id": "MED-4440", "text": "BACKGROUND: Contrary to earlier clinical studies suggesting that soy may promote breast tumor growth, two recent studies show that soy-containing foods are not adversely related to breast cancer prognosis. We examined, using data from the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study, the effect of soy intake on breast cancer prognosis. METHODS: Three thousand eighty-eight breast cancer survivors, diagnosed between 1991 and 2000 with early-stage breast cancer and participating in WHEL, were followed for a median of 7.3 years. Isoflavone intakes were measured postdiagnosis by using a food frequency questionnaire. Women self-reported new outcome events semiannually, which were then verified by medical records and/or death certificates. HRs and 95% CIs representing the association between either a second breast cancer event or death and soy intake were computed, adjusting for study group and other covariates, using the delayed entry Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: As isoflavone intake increased, risk of death decreased (P for trend = 0.02). Women at the highest levels of isoflavone intake (>16.3 mg isoflavones) had a nonsignificant 54% reduction in risk of death. CONCLUSION: Our study is the third epidemiologic study to report no adverse effects of soy foods on breast cancer prognosis. IMPACT: These studies, taken together, which vary in ethnic composition (two from the United States and one from China) and by level and type of soy consumption, provide the necessary epidemiologic evidence that clinicians no longer need to advise against soy consumption for women with a diagnosis of breast cancer. \u00a92011 AACR."}
{"id": "MED-4443", "text": "Flaxseed is one of the most important oilseed crops for industrial as well as food, feed, and fiber purposes. Almost every part of the flaxseed plant is utilized commercially, either directly or after processing. The stem yields good quality fiber having high strength and durability. The seed provides oil rich in omega-3, digestible proteins, and lignans. In addition to being one of the richest sources of \u03b1-linolenic acid oil and lignans, flaxseed is an essential source of high quality protein and soluble fiber and has considerable potential as a source of phenolic compounds. Flaxseed is emerging as an important functional food ingredient because of its rich contents of \u03b1-linolenic acid (ALA), lignans, and fiber. Lignans appear to be anti-carcinogenic compounds. The omega-3s and lignan phytoestrogens of flaxseed are in focus for their benefits for a wide range of health conditions and may possess chemo-protective properties in animals and humans. This paper presents a review of literature on the nutritional composition of flaxseed, its health benefits, and disease-prevention qualities, utilization of flaxseed for food, feed, and fiber, and processing of flaxseed."}
{"id": "MED-4446", "text": "Twenty-four plant lignans were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in bran extracts of 16 cereal species, in four nut species, and in two oilseed species (sesame seeds and linseeds). Eighteen of these were lignans previously unidentified in these species, and of these, 16 were identified in the analyzed samples. Four different extraction methods were applied as follows: alkaline extraction, mild acid extraction, a combination of alkaline and mild acid extraction, or accelerated solvent extraction. The extraction method was of great importance for the lignan yield. 7-Hydroxymatairesinol, which has not previously been detected in cereals because of destructive extraction methods, was the dominant lignan in wheat, triticale, oat, barley, millet, corn bran, and amaranth whole grain. Syringaresinol was the other dominant cereal lignan. Wheat and rye bran had the highest lignan content of all cereals; however, linseeds and sesame seeds were by far the most lignan-rich of the studied species."}
{"id": "MED-4447", "text": "Enterolignans (enterodiol and enterolactone) can potentially reduce the risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Enterolignans are formed by the intestinal microflora after the consumption of plant lignans. Until recently, only secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol were considered enterolignan precursors, but now several new precursors have been identified, of which lariciresinol and pinoresinol have a high degree of conversion. Quantitative data on the contents in foods of these new enterolignan precursors are not available. Thus, the aim of this study was to compile a lignan database including all four major enterolignan precursors. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify lariciresinol, pinoresinol, secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol in eighty-three solid foods and twenty-six beverages commonly consumed in The Netherlands. The richest source of lignans was flaxseed (301,129 microg/100 g), which contained mainly secoisolariciresinol. Also, lignan concentrations in sesame seeds (29,331 microg/100 g, mainly pinoresinol and lariciresinol) were relatively high. For grain products, which are known to be important sources of lignan, lignan concentrations ranged from 7 to 764 microg/100 g. However, many vegetables and fruits had similar concentrations, because of the contribution of lariciresinol and pinoresinol. Brassica vegetables contained unexpectedly high levels of lignans (185-2321 microg/100 g), mainly pinoresinol and lariciresinol. Lignan levels in beverages varied from 0 (cola) to 91 microg/100 ml (red wine). Only four of the 109 foods did not contain a measurable amount of lignans, and in most cases the amount of lariciresinol and pinoresinol was larger than that of secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol. Thus, available databases largely underestimate the amount of enterolignan precursors in foods."}
{"id": "MED-4448", "text": "Flavonoids have been hypothesized to reduce cancer risk. Previous epidemiological studies conducted to evaluate this hypothesis have not assessed all flavonoids, including classes that could contribute to intake among Americans, which would result in an underestimation of intake. This misclassification could mask variability among individuals, resulting in attenuated effect estimates for the association between flavonoids and cancer. To augment flavonoid and lignan intake estimates, we developed a database that can be used in conjunction with a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Coupling information derived from the available literature with the U.S. Department of Agriculture databases, we estimated content of 6 flavonoid classes and lignans for 50 food group items. We combined these estimates with responses from a modified Block FFQ that was self-completed in 1996-1997 by a population-based sample of women without breast cancer on Long Island, New York (n = 1,500). Total flavonoid and lignan content of food items ranged from 0 to 129 mg/100 g, and the richest sources were tea, cherries, and grapefruit. Individual intake estimates, from highest to lowest, were flavan-3-ols, flavanones, flavonols, lignans, isoflavones, anthocyanidins, and flavones. Each class of flavonoids and lignans exhibited a wide range of intake levels. This database is useful to quantify flavonoid and lignan intake for other observational studies conducted in the United States that utilize the Block FFQ."}
{"id": "MED-4450", "text": "Little is known about the effects of diet after breast cancer diagnosis on survival. We prospectively examined the relation between post-diagnosis dietary factors and breast cancer and all-cause survival in women with a history of invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 1987 and 1999 (at ages 20\u201379 years). Diet after breast cancer diagnosis was measured using a 126-item food frequency questionnaire. Among 4,441 women without a history of breast cancer recurrence prior to completing the questionnaire, 137 subsequently died from breast cancer within 7 years of enrollment. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for intake of macronutrients as well as selected micronutrients and food groups from Cox proportional hazards regression models. After adjustment for factors at diagnosis (age, state of residence, menopausal status, smoking, breast cancer stage, alcohol, history of hormone replacement therapy), interval between diagnosis and diet assessment, and at follow-up (energy intake, breast cancer treatment, body mass index, and physical activity), women in the highest compared to lowest quintile of intake of saturated fat and trans fat had a significantly higher risk of dying from any cause (HR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.06 to 1.87, P-trend = 0.03) for saturated fat; (HR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.35 to 2.32, P-trend = 0.01) for trans fat intake. Associations were similar, though did not achieve statistical significance, for breast cancer survival. This study suggests that lower intake of saturated and trans fat in the post-diagnosis diet is associated with improved survival after breast cancer diagnosis."}
{"id": "MED-4451", "text": "Research leading to the discovery of a series of mutagenic and carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) was inspired by the idea that smoke produced during cooking of food, especially meat or fish, might be carcinogenic. More than ten kinds of HCAs, actually produced by cooking or heating of meat or fish, have now been isolated and their structures determined, most being previously unregistered compounds. They are highly mutagenic towards Salmonella typhimurium in the presence of S9 mix and are also mutagenic in vitro and in vivo toward mammalian cells. HCAs have now been chemically synthesized in quantity and subjected to long-term animal testing. When HCAs were fed in the diet, rodents developed cancers in many organs, including the colon, breast and prostate, and one HCA produced hepatomas in monkeys. The lesions exhibited alteration in genes including Apc, beta-catenin and Ha-ras, and these changes provide clues to the induction mechanisms. The HCAs are oxidized to hydroxyamino derivatives by cytochrome P450s, and further converted to ester forms by acetyltransferase and sulfotransferase. Eventually, they produce DNA adducts through the formation of N-C bonds at guanine bases. There are HCA-sensitive and resistant strains of rodents and a search for the responsible genes is now under way. While the content of HCAs in dishes consumed in ordinary life is low and not sufficient in itself to explain human cancer, the coexistence of many other mutagens/carcinogens of either autobiotic or xenobiotic type and the possibility that HCAs induce genomic instability and heightened sensitivity to tumor promoters suggest that avoidance of exposure to HCAs or reduction of HCAs' biological effects as far as possible are to be highly recommended. Usage of microwave ovens for cooking and supplementation of the diet, for example with soy-isoflavones, which have been found to suppress the occurrence of HCA-induced breast cancers, should be encouraged. Advice to the general public about how to reduce the carcinogenic load imposed by HCAs would be an important contribution to cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-4452", "text": "Background: Evidence for the role of diet and physical activity in cancer incidence is well documented, but owing to increased cancer survivorship, an understanding of these lifestyle factors after a cancer diagnosis is of crucial importance. The purpose of this review was to update the literature in a review undertaken for the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative and to include observational studies that were not included in the WCRF survivorship systematic review. Methods: Evidence was initially gathered from pre-defined searches of the Cochrane Library Database and PubMed from March 2006 to February 2010. After a comprehensive review regarding lifestyle and cancer, for the purpose of this article, any studies not related to diet and physical activity, prognostic outcomes, and breast, colorectal or prostate cancers were excluded. Another search of 2011 literature was conducted to update the evidence. Results: A total of 43 records were included in this review. Evidence from observational studies suggests that a low-fat, high-fibre diet might be protective against cancer recurrence and progression. However, there is a paucity of RCTs substantiating this. There is more support for physical activity, with a dose response for better outcomes. When synthesized with findings from the World Cancer Research Fund review of RCTs investigating the effect of diet and physical activity interventions on cancer survival, evidence suggests that the mechanism of benefit from diet and physical activity pertains to body weight, with excess body weight being a risk factor, which is modifiable through lifestyle. Implications: Cancer survivors would like to have a more active role in their health care and to know how to look after themselves after diagnosis, including what diet and lifestyle changes they should make. The challenge is in integrating lifestyle support into standardised models of aftercare."}
{"id": "MED-4454", "text": "The aim of this study was to determine the bioavailability and kinetics of the supposed anticarcinogen sulforaphane, the hydrolysis product of glucoraphanin, from raw and cooked broccoli. Eight men consumed 200 g of crushed broccoli, raw or cooked, with a warm meal in a randomized, free-living, open cross-over trial. Higher amounts of sulforaphane were found in the blood and urine when broccoli was eaten raw (bioavailability of 37%) versus cooked (3.4%, p ) 0.002). Absorption of sulforaphane was delayed when cooked broccoli was consumed (peak plasma time ) 6 h) versus raw broccoli (1.6 h, p ) 0.001). Excretion half-lives were comparable, 2.6 and 2.4 h on average, for raw and cooked broccoli, respectively (p ) 0.5). This study gives complete kinetic data and shows that consumption of raw broccoli results in faster absorption, higher bioavailability, and higher peak plasma amounts of sulforaphane, compared to cooked broccoli."}
{"id": "MED-4455", "text": "The importance of dietary sulforaphane in helping maintain good health continues to gain support within the health-care community and awareness among U.S. consumers. In addition to the traditional avenue for obtaining sulforaphane, namely, the consumption of appropriate cruciferous vegetables, other consumer products containing added glucoraphanin, the natural precursor to sulforaphane, are now appearing in the United States. Crucifer seeds are a likely source for obtaining glucoraphanin, owing to a higher concentration of glucoraphanin and the relative ease of processing seeds as compared to vegetative parts. Seeds of several commonly consumed crucifers were analyzed not only for glucoraphanin but also for components that might have negative health implications, such as certain indole-containing glucosinolates and erucic acid-containing lipids. Glucoraphanin, 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin, other glucosinolates, and lipid erucic acid were quantified in seeds of 33 commercially available cultivars of broccoli, 4 cultivars each of kohlrabi, radish, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage, and 2 cultivars of raab."}
{"id": "MED-4456", "text": "Broccoli sprouts are widely consumed in many parts of the world. There have been no reported concerns with respect to their tolerance and safety in humans. A formal phase I study of safety, tolerance, and pharmacokinetics appeared justified because these sprouts are being used as vehicles for the delivery of the glucosinolate glucoraphanin and its cognate isothiocyanate sulforaphane [1-isothiocyanato-(4R)-(methylsulfinyl)butane] in clinical trials. Such trials have been designed to evaluate protective efficacy against development of neoplastic and other diseases. A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical study of sprout extracts containing either glucosinolates (principally glucoraphanin, the precursor of sulforaphane) or isothiocyanates (principally sulforaphane) was conducted on healthy volunteers who were in-patients on our clinical research unit. The subjects were studied in three cohorts, each comprising three treated individuals and one placebo recipient. Following a 5-day acclimatization period on a crucifer-free diet, the broccoli sprout extracts were administered orally at 8-h intervals for 7 days (21 doses), and the subjects were monitored during this period and for 3 days after the last treatment. Doses were 25 micromol of glucosinolate (cohort A), 100 micromol of glucosinolate (cohort B), or 25 micromol of isothiocyanate (cohort C). The mean cumulative excretion of dithiocarbamates as a fraction of dose was very similar in cohorts A and B (17.8 +/- 8.6% and 19.6 +/- 11.7% of dose, respectively) and very much higher and more consistent in cohort C (70.6 +/- 2.0% of dose). Thirty-two types of hematology or chemistry tests were done before, during, and after the treatment period. Indicators of liver (transaminases) and thyroid [thyroid-stimulating hormone, total triiodothyronine (T3), and free thyroxine (T4)] function were examined in detail. No significant or consistent subjective or objective abnormal events (toxicities) associated with any of the sprout extract ingestions were observed."}
{"id": "MED-4457", "text": "Sulforaphane (SFR), an isothiocyanate from cruciferous vegetables, possesses growth-inhibiting and apoptosis-inducing activities in cancer cell lines. Recently, SFR has been shown to promote the mitochondrial formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human cancer cell lines. The present study was undertaken to see whether SFR-derived ROS might cause DNA damage in cultured human cells, namely T limphoblastoid Jurkat and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). 1-3 h treatments with 10-30 microM SFR elicited intracellular ROS formation (as assayed with dihydrorhodamine, DHR, oxidation) as well as DNA breakage (as assessed with fast halo assay, FHA). These effects lacked cell-type specificity, since could be observed in both Jurkat and HUVEC. Differential-pH FHA analysis of damaged DNA showed that SFR causes frank DNA single strand breaks (SSBs); no DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) were found within the considered treatment times (up to 3 h). SFR-derived ROS were formed at the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) level: indeed rotenone or myxothiazol (MRC Complex I and III inhibitors, respectively) abrogated ROS formation. Furthermore ROS were not formed in Jurkat cells pharmacologically depleted of respiring mitochondria (MRC-/Jurkat). Formation of ROS was causally linked to the induction of SSBs: indeed all the experimental conditions capable of preventing ROS formation also prevented the damage of nuclear DNA from SFR-intoxicated cells. As to the toxicological relevance of SSBs, we found that their prevention slightly but significantly attenuated SFR cytotoxicity, suggesting that high-dose SFR toxicity is the result of a complex series of events among which GSH depletion seems to play a pivotal role. In conclusion, the present study identifies a novel mechanism contributing to SFR toxicity which - since DNA damage is a prominent mechanism underlying the cytotoxic activity of established antineoplastic agents - might help to exploit the therapeutic value of SFR in anticancer drug protocols. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4460", "text": "BACKGROUND: The multistep process of carcinogenesis is characterized by progressive disorganization and occurrence of initiation, promotion, and progression events. Several new strategies such as chemoprevention are being developed for treatment and prevention at various stages of carcinogenesis. Sulforaphane, a potential chemopreventive agent, possesses anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities and has attracted extensive interest for better cancer management. METHODS: We evaluated the effect of sulforaphane alone or in combination with gemcitabine on HeLa cells by cell viability assay and confirmed the results by apoptosis assay. Further we analyzed the effect of sulforaphane on the expression of Bcl-2, COX-2 and IL-1\u03b2 by RT-PCR on HeLa cells. RESULTS: In the present study, sulforaphane was found to induce dose-dependent selective cytotoxicity in HeLa cells in comparison to normal cells pointing to its safe cytotoxicity profile. Additionally, a combination of sulforaphane and gemcitabine was found to increase the growth inhibition in a synergistic manner in HeLa cells compared to the individual drugs. Also, the expression analysis of genes involved in apoptosis and inflammation revealed significant downregulation of Bcl-2, COX-2 and IL-1\u03b2 upon treatment with sulforaphane. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that sulforaphane exerts its anticancer activities via apoptosis induction and anti-inflammatory properties and provides the first evidence demonstrating synergism between sulforaphane and gemcitabine which may enhance the therapeutic index of prevention and/or treatment of cervical cancer. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4461", "text": "The objective of this study was to investigate, whether the plant-derived isothiocyanate Sulforaphane (SFN) enhances the antitumor activities of the chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin (Ox) in a cell culture model of colorectal cancer. Caco-2 cells were cultured under standard conditions and treated with increasing concentrations of SFN [1-20 \u03bcM] and/or Ox [100 nM-10 \u03bcM]. For co-incubation, cells were pre-treated with SFN for 24 h. Cell growth was determined by BrdU incorporation. Drug interactions were assessed using the combination-index method (CI) (Cl < 1 indicates synergism). Apoptotic events were characterized by different ELISA techniques. Protein levels were examined by Western blot analysis. Annexin V- and propidium iodide (PI) staining followed by FACS analysis was used to differentiate between apoptotic and necrotic events. SFN and Ox alone inhibited cell growth of Caco-2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, an effect, which could be synergistically enhanced, when cells were incubated with the combination of both agents. Co-treated cells further displayed distinctive morphological changes that occurred during the apoptotic process, such as cell surface exposure of phosphatidylserine, membrane blebbing as well as the occurence of cytoplasmic histone-associated DNA fragments. Further observations thereby pointed toward simultaneous activation of both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways. With increasing concentrations and treatment duration, a shift from apoptotic to necrotic cell death could be observed. In conclusion, the data suggest that the isothiocyanate SFN sensitizes colon cancer cells to Ox-induced cell growth inhibition via induction of different modes of cell death."}
{"id": "MED-4462", "text": "Chondrocyte cell death can contribute to cartilage degeneration in articular diseases, such as osteoarthritis (OA). Sulforaphane (SFN), a natural compound derived from cruciferous aliment, is well known as an anti-carcinogen, but according to recent evidence it also shows cytoprotective effects on a variety of non-tumoral cells. Therefore we have tested the ability of SFN to protect chondrocytes from cell death in vitro. Treatment of growing monolayer cultures of human C-28/I2 chondrocytes with SFN in the low micro-molecular range for a few days, reduced cell growth without affecting cell survival or inducing apoptosis. However it decreased cell death in C-28/I2 chondrocytes exposed to stimuli previously reported to promptly trigger apoptosis, that is, the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-\u03b1 (TNF) plus cycloheximide (CHX) or the polyamine analogue N(1),N(11)-diethylnorspermine (DENSPM) plus CHX. In particular pre-treatment with SFN reduced effector and initiator caspase activities and the associated activation of JNK kinases. SFN exerted a cytoprotective action even versus H(2)O(2) , which differently from the previous stimuli induced cell death without producing an evident caspase activation. SFN pre-treatment also prevented caspase activation in three-dimensional micromass cultures of OA chondrocytes stimulated with growth-related oncogene \u03b1 (GRO\u03b1), a pro-apoptotic chemokine. The suppression of caspase activation in micromasses appeared to be related to the inhibition of p38 MAPK phosphorylation. In conclusion, the present work shows that low micro-molecular SFN concentrations exert pro-survival and anti-apoptotic actions and influence signaling pathways in a variety of experimental conditions employing chondrocyte cell lines and OA chondrocytes treated with a range of death stimuli. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4463", "text": "Naturally-occurring chemopreventive agent phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), derived primarily from watercress, has been shown to inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in cancer cells. In this study, we examined the potential of PEITC in enhancing cisplatin-induced apoptosis in cervical cancer cells. HeLa cells were exposed to PEITC, cisplatin or both. Pretreatment of cells with PEITC strongly enhanced cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity. PEITC activated the mitogen-activated protein kinases, including JNK, ERK, and p38. The synergistic induction of apoptosis was significantly attenuated by MEK1/2 inhibitor U0126, but not by JNK or p38 inhibitor, suggesting that ERK activation is responsible for the synergistic effect. We found that NF-\u03baB signaling pathway is not involved in the synergistic effect. Sulforaphane and benzyl isothiocyanate, two other members of the isothiocyanate family, also sensitize HeLa cells to apoptosis induced by cisplatin. Furthermore, we found that the synergistic effect was not seen in normal cells. Finally, we demonstrated that Noxa induction was associated with apoptosis induced by PEITC plus cisplatin. Taken together, this study shows that PEITC can sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis induced by cisplatin and this effect is mediated through ERK activation, suggesting the potential of PEITC to be used as an adjuvant with cisplatin in combination therapeutic treatments."}
{"id": "MED-4464", "text": "Over the last decade, the notion that tumors are maintained by their own stem cells, the so-called cancer stem cells, has created great excitement in the research community. This review attempts to summarize the underlying concepts of this notion, to distinguish hard facts from beliefs and to define the future challenges of the field."}
{"id": "MED-4465", "text": "Adult stem cells of the mammary gland (MaSCs) are a highly dynamic population of cells that are responsible for the generation of the gland during puberty and its expansion during pregnancy. In recent years significant advances have been made in understanding how these cells are regulated during these developmentally important processes both in humans and in mice. Understanding how MaSCs are regulated is becoming a particularly important area of research, given that they may be particularly susceptible targets for transformation in breast cancer. Here, we summarize the identification of MaSCs, how they are regulated and the evidence for their serving as the origins of breast cancer. In particular, we focus on how changes in MaSC populations may explain both the increased risk of developing aggressive ER/PR(\u2212) breast cancer shortly after pregnancy and the long-term decreased risk of developing ER/PR(+) tumors."}
{"id": "MED-4466", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of 3-month kale (Brassica oleracea acephala) juice supplementation on coronary artery disease risk factors among hypercholesterolemic men. METHODS: Thirty-two men with hypercholesterolemia (> 200 mg/dL) were recruited after annual health examinations among the faculty and staff at university. The subjects consumed 150 mL of kale juice per day for a 12-week intervention period. Dietary and anthropometric assessments were performed and blood samples were collected to evaluate biochemical profiles before and after supplementation. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of HDL-cholesterol, and HDL- to LDL-cholesterol ratio were significantly increased by 27% (P<0.0001) and 52% (P<0.0001), respectively. The LDL-cholesterol concentration and the atherogenic index were significantly reduced by 10% (P=0.0007) and 24.2% (P<0.0001), respectively without affecting body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, or nutrient intakes after three months of supplementation. While there was no difference in the concentration of malondialdehyde, significant increase in glutathione peroxidase activity (P=0.0005) were accompanied by a significant increase in the serum selenium level (P=0.0132). It was also found that the responses of these risk factors to kale juice administration were dependent on smoking status. CONCLUSION: Regular meals supplementation with kale juice can favorably influence serum lipid profiles and antioxidant systems, and hence contribute to reduce the risks of coronary artery disease in male subjects with hyperlipidemia."}
{"id": "MED-4469", "text": "The nutritional patterns of Paleolithic humans influenced genetic evolution during the time segment within which defining characteristics of contemporary humans were selected. Our genome can have changed little since the beginnings of agriculture, so, genetically, humans remain Stone Agers--adapted for a Paleolithic dietary regimen. Such diets were based chiefly on wild game, fish and uncultivated plant foods. They provided abundant protein; a fat profile much different from that of affluent Western nations; high fibre; carbohydrate from fruits and vegetables (and some honey) but not from cereals, refined sugars and dairy products; high levels of micronutrients and probably of phytochemicals as well. Differences between contemporary and ancestral diets have many pathophysiological implications. This review addresses phytochemicals and cancer; calcium, physical exertion, bone mineral density and bone structural geometry; dietary protein, potassium, renal acid secretion and urinary calcium loss; and finally sarcopenia, adiposity, insulin receptors and insulin resistance. While not, yet, a basis for formal recommendations, awareness of Paleolithic nutritional patterns should generate novel, testable hypotheses grounded in evolutionary theory and it should dispel complacency regarding currently accepted nutritional tenets."}
{"id": "MED-4470", "text": "The properties of N-nitroso compounds (NNC) and of vitamins C and E are briefly described. The author reviews the ability of vitamins C and E to inhibit NNC formation in chemical systems, in nitrite-preserved meat, in experimental animals and in humans. Dietary vitamins C and E both produced 30% to 60% inhibitions in most carcinogenesis experiments employing preformed carcinogens. Vitamin C reversed transformation in an in vitro system. Carcinogenicity tests of the vitamins are reviewed (vitamin C can promote bladder carcinogenesis). Intake of fresh fruits and vegetables (which contain vitamin C) is negatively correlated with cancer of the stomach, esophagus, larynx, mouth and cervix. For gastric and esophageal cancer, there is evidence that this association is due to an inhibition of in vivo NNC formation. Vitamin C is apparently not a useful treatment for cancer. The author supports the recommendation that fresh fruit and vegetable intake be increased to lower the risk of cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4471", "text": "Some indoor activities increase the number concentration of small particles and, hence, enhance the dose delivered to the lungs. The received particle dose indoors may exceed noticeably the dose from ambient air under routine in-house activities like cooking. In the present work, the internal dose by inhalation of ultrafine and fine particles is assessed, using an appropriate mechanistic model of lung deposition, accommodating aerosol, and inhalation dynamics. The analysis is based on size distribution measurements (10-350 nm) of indoor and outdoor aerosol number concentrations in a typical residence in Athens, Greece. Four different cases are examined, namely, a cooking event, a no activity period indoors and the equivalent time periods outdoors. When the cooking event (frying of bacon-eggs with a gas fire) occurred, the amount of deposited particles deep into the lung of an individual indoors exceeded by up to 10 times the amount received by an individual at the same time period outdoors. The fine particle deposition depends on the level of physical exertion and the hygroscopic properties of the inhaled aerosol. The dose is not found linearly dependant on the indoor/outdoor concentrations during the cooking event, whereas it is during the no activity period. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The necessity for determining the dose in specific regions of the human lung, as well as the non-linear relationship between aerosol concentration and internal dose makes the application of dosimetry models important. Lung dose of fine and ultrafine particles, during a cooking event, is compared with the dose at no indoor activity and the dose received under outdoor exposure conditions. The dose is expressed in terms of number or surface of deposited particles. This permits to address the dosimetry of very small particles, which are released by many indoor sources but represent a slight fraction of the particulate matter mass. The enhancement of the internal dose resulting from fine and ultrafine particles generated during the cooking event vs. the dose when no indoor source is active is assessed. The results for those cases are also compared with the dose calculated for the measured aerosol outdoors."}
{"id": "MED-4472", "text": "N-Nitroso compounds were known almost 40 years ago to be present in food treated with sodium nitrite, which made fish meal hepatotoxic to animals through formation of nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Since that time, N-nitroso compounds have been shown in animal experiments to be the most broadly acting and the most potent group of carcinogens. The key role of nitrite and nitrogen oxides in forming N-nitroso compounds by interaction with secondary and tertiary amino compounds has led to the examination worldwide of foods for the presence of N-nitroso compounds, which have been found almost exclusively in those foods containing nitrite or which have become exposed to nitrogen oxides. Among these are cured meats, especially bacon-and especially when cooked; concentrations of 100 micrograms kg(-1) have been found or, more usually, near 10 micrograms kg(-1). This would correspond to consumption of 1 microgram of NDMA in a 100-g portion. Much higher concentrations of NDMA (but lower ones of other nitrosamines) have been found in Japanese smoked and cured fish (more than 100 micrograms kg(-1)). Beer is one source of NDMA, in which as much as 70 micrograms l(-1) has been reported in some types of German beer, although usual levels are much lower (10 or 5 micrograms l(-1)); this could mean a considerable intake for a heavy beer drinker of several liters per day. Levels of nitrosamines have been declining during the past three decades, concurrent with a lowering of the nitrite used in food and greater control of exposure of malt to nitrogen oxides in beer making. There have been declines of N-nitroso compound concentrations in many foods during the past two decades. The small amounts of nitrosamines in food are nonetheless significant because of the possibility-even likelihood-that humans are more sensitive to these carcinogens than are laboratory rodents. Although it is probable that alkylnitrosamides (which induce brain tumors in rodents) are present in cured meats and other potentially nitrosated products in spite of much searching, there has been only limited indirect evidence of their presence. Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V."}
{"id": "MED-4474", "text": "The effect of dietary components on the levels of nitrosoproline ( NPRO ) excreted over a 24 h period in the urine was examined in volunteers ingesting known amounts of various food products. The ingestion of nitrite-preserved meats (85-170 g per meal), including canned, rolled or Yunnan ham, cured pork, luncheon meat, and various Chinese and European-style sausages, led to urinary NPRO excretion levels ranging from 2.5 to 78.5 micrograms/24 h, whereas the consumption of non-preserved meat and fish products, including chicken, herring, salmon, shrimp, ground beef (hamburger), pork chops and beef liver, led to relatively low NPRO excretion levels, ranging from 0.0 to 0.8 micrograms/24 h. The urinary NPRO levels of 22 vegetarians and 14 lacto-vegetarians averaged 0.8 and 1.4 micrograms/24 h, respectively. A change from a nitrite-preserved meat diet to a vegetarian diet was accompanied by an approximately six-fold reduction in urinary NPRO levels; however, these remained above control levels for at least 3 days following the dietary change. The relatively high NPRO levels following the ingestion of nitrite-preserved meats could not be reduced by nitrite-trapping chemicals, including ascorbic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, or phenolic-containing mixtures such as coffee and tea, which were effective in suppressing endogenous NPRO formation following the intake of nitrate and proline. The high urinary NPRO levels after ingestion of preserved meat products appear to be due to the consumption of preformed NPRO . An understanding of the relative contribution of preformed and endogenously formed nitrosamines appears to be essential when designing dietary intervention programmes."}
{"id": "MED-4475", "text": "The deleterious effects of tumor-promoting tobacco carcinogen, nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK, nicotine-derived nitrosamine ketone) have undoubtedly been stipulated. Though many tobacco agents play a part in the development of lung tumors, the potent effects of NNK remain unmatched. It is therefore critical to distinguish the variety of cofactors involved in NNK-mediated pathogenesis, and the unique pathways necessary for successful cellular biotransformation. Current reviews have consistently identified the strengths of NNK and prospective tumor capabilities. Others have delineated specific cellular factors mediating NNK and lung tumors, and have identified metabolic and signaling pathways largely responsible for NNK activation and tumorigenic initiation. Unique to this review is that it summarizes the extensive network of cofactors and cellular mechanisms that promote NNK-specific lung tumorigenesis. As such, it displays a fuller, more comprehensive overview, bringing us one step closer to understanding the fatal consequences of NNK, thus, discovering new avenues that successfully break the cycle of NNK-mediated lung carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-4476", "text": "Total N-nitroso compounds (NOC) and NOC precursors (NOCP) were determined in extracts of food and tobacco products. Following Walters' method, NOC were decomposed to NO with refluxing HBr/HCl/HOAc/EtOAc and NO was measured by chemiluminescence. NOC were determined after sulfamic acid treatment to destroy nitrite, and NOCP were determined after treatment with 110 mM nitrite and then sulfamic acid. Analysis without HBr gave results < or =20% of those with HBr. This NOC method was efficient for nitrosamines but not nitrosoureas. The standard nitrosation for determining NOCP gave high yields for readily nitrosated amines, including 1-deoxy-1-fructosylvaline, but not for simple amines, dipeptides, and alkylureas. Mean NOC and NOCP results were (respectively, in micromol/kg of product) 5.5 and 2700 for frankfurters, 0.5 and 660 for fresh meat, 5.8 and 5800 for salted, dried fish, and 660 and 2900 for chewing tobacco (all for aqueous extracts) and 220 and 20000 nmol/cigarette for MeCN extracts of cigarette smoke filter pads."}
{"id": "MED-4477", "text": "Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were evaluated for use in the extraction and preconcentration of volatile nitrosamines in meat products. Parameters affecting MAE, such as the extraction solvent used, and DLLME, including the nature and volume of the extracting and disperser solvents, extraction time, salt addition and centrifugation time, were optimized. In the MAE method, 0.25g of sample mass was extracted in 10mL NaOH (0.05M) in a closed-vessel system. For DLLME, 1.5mL of methanol (disperser solvent) containing 20\u03bcL of carbon tetrachloride (extraction solvent) was rapidly injected by syringe into 5mL of the sample extract solution (previously adjusted to pH 6), thereby forming a cloudy solution. Phase separation was performed by centrifugation, and a volume of 3\u03bcL of the sedimented phase was analyzed by GC-MS. The enrichment factors provided by DLLME varied from 220 to 342 for N-nitrosodiethylamine and N-nitrosopiperidine, respectively. The matrix effect was evaluated for different samples, and it was concluded that sample quantification can be carried out by aqueous calibration. Under the optimized conditions, detection limits ranged from 0.003 to 0.014ngmL(-1) for NPIP and NMEA, respectively (0.12-0.56ngg(-1) in the meat products). Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4479", "text": "The objective of this study is to investigate the risk of esophageal carcinoma in a cohort with long-term occupational exposure to sodium nitrite. The method used was a retrospective cohort study. A small wood screw manufacturer was founded in 1977 and closed down in 2000. In their production process, the sodium nitrite solution was used to serve as anticorrosive and coolant fluid. One hundred sixty workers in turning and milling shops had direct exposure to sodium nitrite through skin, mouth, and airway because of lack of occupational protective knowledge (study group), whereas 255 workers from other workshops without direct contact with sodium nitrite served as control group. The incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of esophageal carcinoma as well as other malignant tumors in these two groups were followed until the end of 2007. The sodium nitrite exposure time in the study group ranged from 16 to 23 years, with an average of 22.1 years. During 30 years of follow-up, there were 11 esophageal carcinomas and 10 other malignant tumors (4 hepatic cell carcinomas, 3 lung cancers, 2 breast cancers, and 1 leukemia) documented in the study group, while no cancer developed in the control group. The risk for esophageal carcinoma was significantly increased in the study group compared with the control group (relative risk = 1.26, 95% confidence interval = 1.08-1.46, chi-square = 116.83, P < 0.001). Long-term exposure to sodium nitrite markedly increases the risk of esophageal carcinoma in human body. \u00a9 2010 Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation \u00a9 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus."}
{"id": "MED-4480", "text": "Purpose To perform pattern analyses of dietary and lifestyle factors in relation to risk of esophageal and gastric cancers. Methods We evaluated risk factors for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA), and other gastric cancers (OGA) using data from a population-based case-control study conducted in Connecticut, New Jersey, and western Washington state. Dietary/lifestyle patterns were created using principal component analysis (PCA). Impact of the resultant scores on cancer risk was estimated through logistic regression. Results PCA identified six patterns: meat/nitrite, fruit/vegetable, smoking/alcohol, legume/meat alternate, GERD/BMI, and fish/vitamin C. Risk of each cancer under study increased with rising meat/nitrite score. Risk of EA increased with increasing GERD/BMI score, and risk of ESCC rose with increasing smoking/alcohol score and decreasing GERD/BMI score. Fruit/vegetable scores were inversely associated with EA, ESCC, and GCA. Conclusions PCA may provide a useful approach for summarizing extensive dietary/lifestyle data into fewer interpretable combinations that discriminate between cancer cases and controls. The analyses suggest that meat/nitrite intake is associated with elevated risk of each cancer under study, while fruit/vegetable intake reduces risk of EA, ESCC, and GCA. GERD/obesity were confirmed as risk factors for EA and smoking/alcohol as risk factors for ESCC."}
{"id": "MED-4481", "text": "The aim of this study was to investigate whether dietary fat and meat intakes are associated with reflux esophagitis (RE), Barrett\u2019s esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). In this all-Ireland case-control study, dietary intake data was collected using a food frequency questionnaire in 219 RE patients, 220 BE patients, 224 EAC patients, and 256 frequency-matched controls between 2002 and 2005. Unconditional multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between dietary variables and disease risk using quartiles of intake, to attain odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI), while adjusting for potential confounders. Patients in the highest quartile of total fat intake had a higher risk of RE (OR=3.54; 95%CI=1.32\u20139.46) and EAC (OR=5.44; 95%CI=2.08\u201314.27). A higher risk of RE and EAC was also reported for patients in the highest quartile of saturated fat intake (OR=2.79; 95%CI=1.11\u20137.04; OR=2.41; 95%CI=1.14\u20135.08, respectively) and monounsaturated fat intake (OR=2.63; 95%CI=1.01\u20136.86; OR=5.35; 95%CI=2.14\u201313.34, respectively). Patients in the highest quartile of fresh red meat intake had a higher risk of EAC (OR=3.15; 95%CI=1.38\u20137.20). Patients in the highest category of processed meat intake had a higher risk of RE (OR=4.67; 95%CI=1.71\u201312.74). No consistent associations were seen for BE with either fat or meat intakes. Further studies, investigating the association between dietary fat and food sources of fat are needed to confirm these results."}
{"id": "MED-4482", "text": "Consumption of red meat, particularly well done meat, has been associated with increased prostate cancer risk. High temperature cooking methods such as grilling and barbequeing may produce heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are known carcinogens. We assessed the association with meat consumption and estimated HCA and PAH exposure in a population-based case-control study of prostate cancer. Newly diagnosed cases aged 40\u201379 years (531 advanced cases, 195 localized cases) and 527 controls were asked about dietary intake, including usual meat cooking methods and doneness levels. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multivariate logistic regression. For advanced prostate cancer, but not localized disease, increased risks were associated with higher consumption of hamburgers (OR=1.79. CI=1.10\u20132.92), processed meat (OR=1.57, CI=1.04, 2.36), grilled red meat (OR=1.63, CI=0.99\u20132.68), and well done red meat (OR=1.52, CI=0.93\u20132.46), and intermediate intake of 2-amino-1-methyl1-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) (quartile 2 vs. 1: OR=1.41, CI=0.98\u20132.01; quartile 3 vs. 1: OR=1.42, CI=0.98\u20132.04), but not for higher intake. White meat consumption was not associated with prostate cancer. These findings provide further evidence that consumption of processed meat and red meat cooked at high temperature is associated with increased risk of advanced, but not localized prostate cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4483", "text": "BACKGROUND: Humans are exposed to preformed N-nitroso compounds (NOCs) and endogenous NOCs. Several NOCs are potential human carcinogens, including N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), but evidence from population studies is inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We examined the relation between dietary NOCs (NDMA), the endogenous NOC index, and dietary nitrite and cancer incidence in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk, United Kingdom, study. DESIGN: This was a prospective study of 23,363 men and women, aged 40-79 y, who were recruited in 1993-1997 and followed up to 2008. The baseline diet was assessed with food-frequency questionnaires. RESULTS: There were 3268 incident cancers after a mean follow-up of 11.4 y. Dietary NDMA intake was significantly associated with increased cancer risk in men and women [hazard ratio (HR): 1.14; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.27; P for trend = 0.03] and in men (HR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.44; P for trend = 0.005) when the highest quartile was compared with the lowest quartile in age- and sex-adjusted analyses but not in multivariate analyses (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.97, 1.24; HR for men: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.40; P for trend \u2265 0.05). When continuously analyzed, NDMA was associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal cancers (HR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.28), specifically of rectal cancer (HR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.84) per 1-SD increase after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, cigarette smoking status, alcohol intake, energy intake, physical activity, education, and menopausal status (in women). The endogenous NOC index and dietary nitrite were not significantly associated with cancer risk. There was a significant interaction between plasma vitamin C concentrations and dietary NDMA intake on cancer incidence (P for interaction < 0.00001). CONCLUSIONS: Dietary NOC (NDMA) was associated with a higher gastrointestinal cancer incidence, specifically of rectal cancer. Plasma vitamin C may modify the relation between NDMA exposure and cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4484", "text": "This study assesses the association between salt added at the table, processed meat and the risk of various cancers. Mailed questionnaires were completed by 19 732 patients with histologically confirmed incident cancer of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast, ovary, prostate, testis, kidney, bladder, brain, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or leukaemia, and 5039 population controls,between 1994 and 1997. Measurement included information on socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits and diet. A 69-item food frequency questionnaire provided data on eating habits 2 years before the study. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived through unconditional logistic regression. Compared with never adding salt at the table, always or often adding salt at the table was associated with an increased risk of stomach, lung, testicular and bladder cancer. Processed meat was significantly related to the risk of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, prostate, testis, kidney and bladder cancer and leukaemia; the odds ratios for the highest quartile ranged from 1.3 to 1.7. The findings add to the evidence that high consumption of salt and processed meat may play a role in the aetiology of several cancers."}
{"id": "MED-4485", "text": "Background Meat could be involved in bladder carcinogenesis via multiple potentially carcinogenic meat-related compounds related to cooking and processing, including nitrate, nitrite, heterocyclic amines (HCAs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We comprehensively investigated the association between meat and meat components and bladder cancer. Methods During 7 years of follow-up, 854 transitional cell bladder cancer cases were identified among 300,933 men and women who completed a validated food frequency questionnaire in the large prospective NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. We estimated intake of nitrate and nitrite from processed meat and HCAs and PAHs from cooked meat using quantitative databases of measured values. We calculated total dietary nitrate and nitrite based on literature values. Results The hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for red meat (HR for fifth compared to first quintile=1.22, 95% CI=0.96\u20131.54, p-trend=0.07) and the HCA 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) (HR=1.19, 95% CI=0.95\u20131.48, p-trend=0.06) conferred a borderline statistically significant increased risk of bladder cancer. We observed positive associations in the top quintile for total dietary nitrite (HR=1.28, 95% CI=1.02\u20131.61, p-trend= 0.06) and nitrate plus nitrite intake from processed meat (HR=1.29 95% CI=1.00\u20131.67, p-trend= 0.11). Conclusions These findings provide modest support for a role for total dietary nitrite and nitrate plus nitrite from processed meat in bladder cancer. Our results also suggest a positive association between red meat and PhIP and bladder carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-4486", "text": "Diet plays an important role in the etiology of certain cancers, but there is limited evidence with regard to the association between diet and risk of endometrial cancer. Few prospective studies have investigated meat intake as a potential determinant of endometrial cancer risk. The objective of this study was to examine the association between endometrial cancer risk and total meat, red meat, processed meat, fish, and poultry intake. We conducted a case-cohort analysis within the Canadian Study of Diet, Lifestyle, and Health, a prospective cohort of 73 909 adults (39 614 women). Participants were recruited from 1992 to 1999, predominantly from three Canadian universities. We conducted a linkage with the Ontario Cancer Registry for the years 1992-2007 for the female cohort members, who resided in Ontario at the time of enrollment (n=26 024), to yield data on cancer incidence. The analytic sample was comprised of 107 incident cases and 1830 subcohort members, the latter being an age-stratified sample of the full cohort. A nonsignificant increase in the risk of endometrial cancer was associated with increased consumption of red meat [hazard ratio (HR)=1.62, 95% confidence intervals (CI)=0.86-3.08, for high vs. low intake; P trend=0.13)], processed meat (HR=1.45, 95% CI=0.80-2.61, for high vs. low intake; P trend=0.058), and all meat combined (HR=1.50, 95% CI=0.78-2.89, for high vs. low intake; P trend=0.14). No clear patterns were noted for poultry or fish. The results of this study, although based on a limited number of cases, suggest that relatively high meat intake may be associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4487", "text": "Background The evidence that red and processed meat influences colorectal carcinogenesis was judged convincing in the 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research report. Since then, ten prospective studies have published new results. Here we update the evidence from prospective studies and explore whether there is a non-linear association of red and processed meats with colorectal cancer risk. Methods and Findings Relevant prospective studies were identified in PubMed until March 2011. For each study, relative risks and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were extracted and pooled with a random-effects model, weighting for the inverse of the variance, in highest versus lowest intake comparison, and dose-response meta-analyses. Red and processed meats intake was associated with increased colorectal cancer risk. The summary relative risk (RR) of colorectal cancer for the highest versus the lowest intake was 1.22 (95% CI \u200a=\u200a1.11\u22121.34) and the RR for every 100 g/day increase was 1.14 (95% CI \u200a=\u200a1.04\u22121.24). Non-linear dose-response meta-analyses revealed that colorectal cancer risk increases approximately linearly with increasing intake of red and processed meats up to approximately 140 g/day, where the curve approaches its plateau. The associations were similar for colon and rectal cancer risk. When analyzed separately, colorectal cancer risk was related to intake of fresh red meat (RR for 100 g/day increase \u200a=\u200a1.17, 95% CI \u200a=\u200a1.05\u22121.31) and processed meat (RR for 50 g/day increase \u200a=\u200a1.18, 95% CI \u200a=\u200a1.10\u22121.28). Similar results were observed for colon cancer, but for rectal cancer, no significant associations were observed. Conclusions High intake of red and processed meat is associated with significant increased risk of colorectal, colon and rectal cancers. The overall evidence of prospective studies supports limiting red and processed meat consumption as one of the dietary recommendations for the prevention of colorectal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4488", "text": "Nitrosamines mediate their mutagenic effects by causing DNA damage, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and pro-inflammatory cytokine activation, which lead to increased cellular degeneration and death. However, the very same pathophysiological processes comprise the \"unbuilding\" blocks of aging and insulin-resistance diseases including, neurodegeneration, diabetes mellitus (DM), and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Previous studies demonstrated that experimental exposure to streptozotocin, a nitrosamine-related compound, causes NASH, and diabetes mellitus Types 1, 2 and 3 (Alzheimer (AD)-type neurodegeneration). Herein, we review evidence that the upwardly spiraling trends in mortality rates due to DM, AD, and Parkinson's disease typify exposure rather than genetic-based disease models, and parallel the progressive increases in human exposure to nitrates, nitrites, and nitrosamines via processed/preserved foods. We propose that such chronic exposures have critical roles in the pathogenesis of our insulin resistance disease pandemic. Potential solutions include: 1) eliminating the use of nitrites in food; 2) reducing nitrate levels in fertilizer and water used to irrigate crops; and 3) employing safe and effective measures to detoxify food and water prior to human consumption. Future research efforts should focus on refining our ability to detect and monitor human exposures to nitrosamines and assess early evidence of nitrosamine-mediated tissue injury and insulin resistance."}
{"id": "MED-4489", "text": "It has been demonstrated that nitrates are reduced to nitrites in humans, possibly through bacterial activity. Nitrites, together with ubiquitous amines, can lead to an in-vivo synthesis of carcinogenic nitrosamines. The average daily intake of nitrates depends upon the amount of vegetables consumed and on the nitrate concentration in drinking water. Agricultural practices play an important part in the concentration of nitrate in both water and vegetables. If nitrate is taken up by the plant and not metabolised to amino acids, proteins or nucleic acids, it is stored in cell vacuoles as a reserve. However, with an over-supply of nitrate relative to possible photosynthesis, this stored nitrate is still present at harvest and leads to high concentrations in plant tissue. The nitrate content in plants also depends upon other factors, such as plant variety (cultivar), kind and amount of fertiliser, time of harvest and environmental factors such as light intensity, temperature, etc. It is suggested that we should try to meet the recommendations of toxicologists who believe a dramatic reduction nitrate intake for humans is necessary. It has been demonstrated that modern biological-organic farming methods clearly lead both to lower leaching of nitrates and to lower nitrate content in vegetables. Since no synthetic fungicides are used in this farming method, problems with the reaction of metabolites of such products and nitrites e.g. to highly cancerogenic and multigenic nitroso-ethylenethiourea do not exist."}
{"id": "MED-4490", "text": "Sodium nitrite and formalin have been used as preservatives in the fish meal industry in Norway since 1953. In 1957, fur farms suffered losses of mink due to a new, malignant liver disease. Experimental feeding of herring meal to cows and sheep resulted in the death of some of the animals. Further studies showed that amines (TMAO) normally present in fish, can react with sodium nitrite used as preservative, or nitrogen oxides from the combustion of fuel oils used during processing, to produce the toxic agent, NDMA. Mink and fox may consume considerable amounts of fish meal in their diets. If the fish meal contains sufficient NDMA, the incidence of liver failure or tumours can be quite high. Long-term exposure to as little as 0.1 mg NDMA/kg b.w./day in the diet of mink, cows and sheep can produce fibro-occlusive changes in the hepatic vessels. These lesions can later cause capillary ectasies-like changes in cows, which are similar in appearance to hemangiomas seen in mink. The mink liver hemangiomas develop into hemangiosarcomas. We currently consider capillary ectasies-like changes in cows exposed to NDMA to represent pre-cancerous lesions."}
{"id": "MED-4491", "text": "Dry-cured ham is a traditional product with a strong presence in markets in the Mediterranean area. It is very popular with European consumers and is of enormous economic importance for the meat industry in the Mediterranean area. Although the great palatability of ham largely outweighs other considerations, aspects relating to health and wellbeing are increasingly important factors in consumer decisions. The potential role of ham in a context of healthy nutrition has not been clearly elucidated, especially considering that origins and production methods of dry-cured hams can induce differences in composition. The object of this review was on the one hand to provide an analysis of the components of dry-cured ham and their role in a healthy diet, and on the other hand to suggest possible strategies for improving its nutritional composition. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4492", "text": "OBJECTIVE: N-Nitroso compounds (NOCs) are recognized neural carcinogens in animal models and are suspected human carcinogens. A meta-analysis was performed examining the possible association of maternal intake of cured meat (an important source of dietary NOCs) during pregnancy and the risk of pediatric brain tumors. METHODS: Data from epidemiological studies were pooled using a general variance-based meta-analytic method employing confidence intervals described by Greenland in 1986. The outcome of interest was a summary relative risk (RR) reflecting the risk of childhood brain tumor (CBT) development associated with maternal intake of cured meats during pregnancy. Sensitivity analyses were performed when necessary to explain any observed statistical heterogeneity. RESULTS: Seven observational studies were found that met the protocol-specified inclusion criteria. Analysis for heterogeneity demonstrated a lack of statistical heterogeneity (p = 0.59), indicating that the data could be statistically combined. Pooling data from the 6 reports containing data on maternal cured meat intake of all types yielded an RR of 1.68 (1.30- 2.17), being a statistically significant result. Analyzing CBT risk by type of cured meat ingested showed that hot dog consumption increased CBT risk by 33% (1.08-1.66), with a similar increase shown by frequent ingestion of sausage, i.e. 44%. CONCLUSION: The data provide support for the suspected causal association between ingestion of NOCs from cured meats during pregnancy and subsequent CBT in offspring. Limitations in study design preclude definitive conclusions, but the relationship warrants exploration via additional observational and laboratory-based studies. Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel"}
{"id": "MED-4493", "text": "Processed meat intake may be involved in the etiology of colorectal cancer, a major cause of death in affluent countries. The epidemiologic studies published to date conclude that the excess risk in the highest category of processed meat-eaters is comprised between 20 and 50% compared with non-eaters. In addition, the excess risk per gram of intake is clearly higher than that of fresh red meat. Several hypotheses, which are mainly based on studies carried out on red meat, may explain why processed meat intake is linked to cancer risk. Those that have been tested experimentally are (i) that high-fat diets could promote carcinogenesis via insulin resistance or fecal bile acids; (ii) that cooking meat at a high temperature forms carcinogenic heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; (iii) that carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds are formed in meat and endogenously; (iv) that heme iron in red meat can promote carcinogenesis because it increases cell proliferation in the mucosa, through lipoperoxidation and/or cytotoxicity of fecal water. Nitrosation might increase the toxicity of heme in cured products. Solving this puzzle is a challenge that would permit to reduce cancer load by changing the processes rather than by banning processed meat."}
{"id": "MED-4494", "text": "Background: Fifty percent of American Indians (AIs) develop diabetes by age 55 y. Whether processed meat is associated with the risk of diabetes in AIs, a rural population with a high intake of processed meat (eg, canned meats in general, referred to as \u201cspam\u201d) and a high rate of diabetes, is unknown. Objective: We examined the associations of usual intake of processed meat with incident diabetes in AIs. Design: This prospective cohort study included AI participants from the Strong Heart Family Study who were free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease at baseline and who participated in a 5-y follow-up examination (n = 2001). Dietary intake was ascertained by using a Block food-frequency questionnaire at baseline. Incident diabetes was defined on the basis of 2003 American Diabetes Association criteria. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the associations of dietary intake with incident diabetes. Results: We identified 243 incident cases of diabetes. In a comparison of upper and lower quartiles, intake of processed meat was associated with a higher risk of incident diabetes (OR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.63), after adjustment for potential confounders. The relation was particularly strong for spam (OR for the comparison of upper and lower quartiles: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.30, 3.27). Intake of unprocessed red meat was not associated with incident diabetes (OR for the comparison of upper and lower quartiles: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.59, 1.37). Conclusion: The consumption of processed meat, such as spam, but not unprocessed red meat, was associated with higher risk of diabetes in AIs, a rural population at high risk of diabetes and with limited access to healthy foods."}
{"id": "MED-4496", "text": "BACKGROUND: Many constituents of fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk for coronary heart disease, but data on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk for coronary heart disease are sparse. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of fruit and vegetable consumption with risk for coronary heart disease. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: The Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study. PARTICIPANTS: 84 251 women 34 to 59 years of age who were followed for 14 years and 42 148 men 40 to 75 years who were followed for 8 years. All were free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: The main outcome measure was incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease (1127 cases in women and 1063 cases in men). Diet was assessed by using food-frequency questionnaires. RESULTS: After adjustment for standard cardiovascular risk factors, persons in the highest quintile of fruit and vegetable intake had a relative risk for coronary heart disease of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.93) compared with those in the lowest quintile of intake. Each 1-serving/d increase in intake of fruits or vegetables was associated with a 4% lower risk for coronary heart disease (relative risk, 0.96 [CI, 0.94 to 0.99]; P = 0.01, test for trend). Green leafy vegetables (relative risk with 1-serving/d increase, 0.77 [CI, 0.64 to 0.93]), and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables (relative risk with 1-serving/d increase, 0.94 [CI, 0.88 to 0.99]) contributed most to the apparent protective effect of total fruit and vegetable intake. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of fruits and vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, appears to have a protective effect against coronary heart disease."}
{"id": "MED-4497", "text": "Purple discoloration of the large bowel at autopsy was related to beetroot ingestion and post-mortem changes."}
{"id": "MED-4498", "text": "We present a case of a critically ill infant with severe multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia and bacteremia who was treated with garlic and antibiotics after in vitro demonstration of a change in the resistance pattern via the disc diffusion method on garlic-treated Mueller Hinton agar. To our knowledge, this is the first report of therapeutic garlic use in a critically ill infant in the literature."}
{"id": "MED-4501", "text": "Beeturia, the passage of pink or red urine after the ingestion of beetroot, is said to occur in 10-14% of the population, and is more common in iron deficiency and malabsorption. A specific HPLC assay for betacyanins, the red beetroot pigments, in biological fluids was developed to study the prevalence of this apparent polymorphism in humans, and to investigate its basis in rats. Two major peaks were observed in chromatograms of extracts of unpickled beetroot. They had identical UV absorption spectra (lambda max = 535 nm) by diode array analysis, and mass spectrometry indicated that one (betacyanin 1) was betanin or its epimer and the other (betacyanin 2) a disaccharide of betacyanin 1. In a population of 100 normal subjects the 0-8 h urinary recoveries after an oral dose of 60 mg beetroot extract were 0.06-0.54% for betacyanin 1 and 0.01-0.6% for betacyanin 2. The distributions of these data were skewed but not clearly bimodal by visual inspection or by kernel density analysis. Four subjects produced visibly red urine and had betacyanin recoveries at the upper end of the population range. Studies using in situ isolated perfused rat jejunum and liver preparations indicated a negligible absorption of the pigments after 1 h and no detectable metabolism or biliary secretion. Intact anaesthetized rats given i.v. bolus doses of beetroot extract cleared both betacyanins from plasma at the rate of 3.3 +/- 0.9 (SD) ml min-1 (n = 5). The total urinary recovery of both pigments amounted to 80% of the dose, and their renal clearances approached their plasma clearances. These data suggest that beeturia does not arise from deficiencies in hepatic metabolism or renal excretion of betacyanins. After oral administration of beetroot extract to rats the betacyanin content of the stomach decreased rapidly with time but neither the intestines nor the bile duct were stained visibly red. These findings together with those showing instability of the betacyanins in acid conditions suggest that variability in the biological fate of beetroot pigments may be determined largely by gastric pH and emptying rate."}
{"id": "MED-4504", "text": "Dietary supplementation with beetroot juice (BR) has been shown to reduce resting blood pressure and the O(2) cost of submaximal exercise and to increase tolerance to high-intensity cycling. We tested the hypothesis that the physiological effects of BR were consequent to its high NO(3)(-) content per se, and not the presence of other potentially bioactive compounds. We investigated changes in blood pressure, mitochondrial oxidative capacity (Q(max)), and physiological responses to walking and moderate- and severe-intensity running following dietary supplementation with BR and NO(3)(-)-depleted BR [placebo (PL)]. After control (nonsupplemented) tests, nine healthy, physically active male subjects were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to receive BR (0.5 l/day, containing \u223c6.2 mmol of NO(3)(-)) and PL (0.5 l/day, containing \u223c0.003 mmol of NO(3)(-)) for 6 days. Subjects completed treadmill exercise tests on days 4 and 5 and knee-extension exercise tests for estimation of Q(max) (using (31)P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy) on day 6 of the supplementation periods. Relative to PL, BR elevated plasma NO(2)(-) concentration (183 \u00b1 119 vs. 373 \u00b1 211 nM, P < 0.05) and reduced systolic blood pressure (129 \u00b1 9 vs. 124 \u00b1 10 mmHg, P < 0.01). Q(max) was not different between PL and BR (0.93 \u00b1 0.05 and 1.05 \u00b1 0.22 mM/s, respectively). The O(2) cost of walking (0.87 \u00b1 0.12 and 0.70 \u00b1 0.10 l/min in PL and BR, respectively, P < 0.01), moderate-intensity running (2.26 \u00b1 0.27 and 2.10 \u00b1 0.28 l/min in PL and BR, respectively, P < 0.01), and severe-intensity running (end-exercise O(2) uptake = 3.77 \u00b1 0.57 and 3.50 \u00b1 0.62 l/min in PL and BL, respectively, P < 0.01) was reduced by BR, and time to exhaustion during severe-intensity running was increased by 15% (7.6 \u00b1 1.5 and 8.7 \u00b1 1.8 min in PL and BR, respectively, P < 0.01). In contrast, relative to control, PL supplementation did not alter plasma NO(2)(-) concentration, blood pressure, or the physiological responses to exercise. These results indicate that the positive effects of 6 days of BR supplementation on the physiological responses to exercise can be ascribed to the high NO(3)(-) content per se."}
{"id": "MED-4505", "text": "The anion nitrate-abundant in our diet-has recently emerged as a major pool of nitric oxide (NO) synthase-independent NO production. Nitrate is reduced stepwise in vivo to nitrite and then NO and possibly other bioactive nitrogen oxides. This reductive pathway is enhanced during low oxygen tension and acidosis. A recent study shows a reduction in oxygen consumption during submaximal exercise attributable to dietary nitrate. We went on to study the effects of dietary nitrate on various physiological and biochemical parameters during maximal exercise. Nine healthy, nonsmoking volunteers (age 30+/-2.3 years, VO(2max) 3.72+/-0.33 L/min) participated in this study, which had a randomized, double-blind crossover design. Subjects received dietary supplementation with sodium nitrate (0.1 mmol/kg/day) or placebo (NaCl) for 2 days before the test. This dose corresponds to the amount found in 100-300 g of a nitrate-rich vegetable such as spinach or beetroot. The maximal exercise tests consisted of an incremental exercise to exhaustion with combined arm and leg cranking on two separate ergometers. Dietary nitrate reduced VO(2max) from 3.72+/-0.33 to 3.62+/-0.31 L/min, P<0.05. Despite the reduction in VO(2max) the time to exhaustion trended to an increase after nitrate supplementation (524+/-31 vs 563+/-30 s, P=0.13). There was a correlation between the change in time to exhaustion and the change in VO(2max) (R(2)=0.47, P=0.04). A moderate dietary dose of nitrate significantly reduces VO(2max) during maximal exercise using a large active muscle mass. This reduction occurred with a trend toward increased time to exhaustion implying that two separate mechanisms are involved: one that reduces VO(2max) and another that improves the energetic function of the working muscles. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4506", "text": "PURPOSE: Dietary nitrate supplementation has been shown to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and to improve high-intensity exercise tolerance. However, it is presently unknown whether it may enhance performance during simulated competition. The present study investigated the effects of acute dietary nitrate supplementation on power output (PO), VO2, and performance during 4- and 16.1-km cycling time trials (TT). METHODS: After familiarization, nine club-level competitive male cyclists were assigned in a randomized, crossover design to consume 0.5 L of beetroot juice (BR; containing \u223c 6.2 mmol of nitrate) or 0.5 L of nitrate-depleted BR (placebo, PL; containing \u223c 0.0047 mmol of nitrate), \u223c 2.5 h before the completion of a 4- and a 16.1-km TT. RESULTS: BR supplementation elevated plasma [nitrite] (PL = 241 \u00b1 125 vs BR = 575 \u00b1 199 nM, P < 0.05). The VO2 values during the TT were not significantly different between the BR and PL conditions at any elapsed distance (P > 0.05), but BR significantly increased mean PO during the 4-km (PL = 279 \u00b1 51 vs BR = 292 \u00b1 44 W, P < 0.05) and 16.1-km TT (PL = 233 \u00b1 43 vs BR = 247 \u00b1 44 W, P < 0.01). Consequently, BR improved 4-km performance by 2.8% (PL = 6.45 \u00b1 0.42 vs BR = 6.27 \u00b1 0.35 min, P < 0.05) and 16.1-km performance by 2.7% (PL = 27.7 \u00b1 2.1 vs BR = 26.9 \u00b1 1.8 min, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that acute dietary nitrate supplementation with 0.5 L of BR improves cycling economy, as demonstrated by a higher PO for the same VO2 and enhances both 4- and 16.1-km cycling TT performance."}
{"id": "MED-4507", "text": "Recent studies surprisingly show that dietary inorganic nitrate, abundant in vegetables, can be metabolized in vivo to form nitrite and then bioactive nitric oxide. A reduction in blood pressure was recently noted in healthy volunteers after dietary supplementation with nitrate; an effect consistent with formation of vasodilatory nitric oxide. Oral bacteria have been suggested to play a role in bioactivation of nitrate by first reducing it to the more reactive anion nitrite. In a cross-over designed study in seven healthy volunteers we examined the effects of a commercially available chlorhexidine-containing antibacterial mouthwash on salivary and plasma levels of nitrite measured after an oral intake of sodium nitrate (10mg/kg dissolved in water). In the control situation the salivary and plasma levels of nitrate and nitrite increased greatly after the nitrate load. Rinsing the mouth with the antibacterial mouthwash prior to the nitrate load had no effect on nitrate accumulation in saliva or plasma but abolished its conversion to nitrite in saliva and markedly attenuated the rise in plasma nitrite. We conclude that the acute increase in plasma nitrite seen after a nitrate load is critically dependent on nitrate reduction in the oral cavity by commensal bacteria. The removal of these bacteria with an antibacterial mouthwash will very likely attenuate the NO-dependent biological effects of dietary nitrate."}
{"id": "MED-4508", "text": "Nitrate, an inorganic anion abundant in vegetables, is converted in vivo to bioactive nitrogen oxides including NO. We recently demonstrated that dietary nitrate reduces oxygen cost during physical exercise, but the mechanism remains unknown. In a double-blind crossover trial we studied the effects of a dietary intervention with inorganic nitrate on basal mitochondrial function and whole-body oxygen consumption in healthy volunteers. Skeletal muscle mitochondria harvested after nitrate supplementation displayed an improvement in oxidative phosphorylation efficiency (P/O ratio) and a decrease in state 4 respiration with and without atractyloside and respiration without adenylates. The improved mitochondrial P/O ratio correlated to the reduction in oxygen cost during exercise. Mechanistically, nitrate reduced the expression of ATP/ADP translocase, a protein involved in proton conductance. We conclude that dietary nitrate has profound effects on basal mitochondrial function. These findings may have implications for exercise physiology- and lifestyle-related disorders that involve dysfunctional mitochondria. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4509", "text": "Hypercholesterolemia is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Some, but not all, studies have shown that soy protein intake decreases total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides and increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The objective of this meta-analysis was to examine the effect of soy protein supplementation on serum lipid levels in adults. English language articles were retrieved by searching MEDLINE (1966 to February 2005) and the bibliographies of the retrieved articles. A total of 41 randomized controlled trials in which isolated soy protein supplementation was the only intervention and the net changes in serum lipids during intervention were reported. Information on study design, sample size, participant characteristics, intervention, follow-up duration, and treatment outcomes was independently abstracted using a standardized protocol. Using a random-effects model, data from each study were pooled and weighted by the inverse of their variance. Soy protein supplementation was associated with a significant reduction in mean serum total cholesterol (-5.26 mg/dl, 95% confidence interval [CI] -7.14 to -3.38), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-4.25 mg/dl, 95% CI -6.00 to -2.50), and triglycerides (-6.26 mg/dl, 95% CI -9.14 to -3.38) and a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.77 mg/dl, 95% CI 0.20 to 1.34). Meta-regression analyses showed a dose-response relation between soy protein and isoflavone supplementation and net changes in serum lipids. These results indicate that soy protein supplementation reduces serum lipids among adults with or without hypercholesterolemia. In conclusion, replacing foods high in saturated fat, trans-saturated fat, and cholesterol with soy protein may have a beneficial effect on coronary risk factors."}
{"id": "MED-4510", "text": "Background and Aims Studies evaluating the effect of legume consumption on cholesterol have focused on soybeans, however non-soy legumes, such as a variety of beans, peas, and some seeds, are commonly consumed in Western countries. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of non-soy legume consumption on blood lipids. Methods and Results Studies were retrieved by searching MEDLINE (from January 1966 through July 2009), EMBASE (from January 1980 to July 2009), and the Cochrane Collaboration's Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials using the following terms as medical subject headings and keywords: fabaceae not soybeans not isoflavones and diet or dietary fiber and cholesterol or hypercholesterolemia or triglycerides or cardiovascular diseases. Bibliographies of all retrieved articles were also searched. From 140 relevant reports, 10 randomized clinical trials were selected which compared a non-soy legume diet to control, had a minimum duration of 3 weeks, and reported blood lipid changes during intervention and control. Data on sample size, participant characteristics, study design, intervention methods, duration, and treatment results were independently abstracted by 2 investigators using a standardized protocol. Data from 10 trials representing 268 participants were examined using a random-effects model. Pooled mean net change in total cholesterol for those treated with a legume diet compared to control was \u221211.8 mg/dL (95% confidence interval [CI], \u221216.1 to \u22127.5); mean net change in low density lipoprotein cholesterol was \u22128.0 mg/dL (95% CI, \u221211.4 to \u22124.6). Conclusion These results indicate that a diet rich in legumes other than soy decreases total and LDL cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-4511", "text": "BACKGROUND: Pure vegetarian diets might cause cobalamin deficiency due to lack of dietary intake. It was hypothesized that a population following a vegan diet consuming mostly raw fruits and vegetables, carrot juice, and dehydrated barley grass juice would be able to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency naturally. METHODS: Subjects were recruited at a health ministers' reunion based on adherence to the Hallelujah diet for at least 2 years. Serum cobalamin and urinary methylmalonic acid (MMA) assays were performed. Follow-up with sublingual tablets, nutritional yeast, or probiotic supplements was carried out on subjects with abnormal MMA results. RESULTS: 49 subjects were tested. Most subjects (10th to 90th percentile) had followed this diet 23-49 months. 6 subjects had serum B12 concentrations <147 pmol/l (200 pg/ml). 37 subjects (76%) had serum B12 concentrations <221 pmol/l (300 pg/ml). 23 subjects (47%) had abnormal urinary MMA concentrations above or equal to 4.0 microg/mg creatinine. Sublingual cyanocobalamin and nutritional yeast, but not probiotic supplements, significantly reduced group mean MMA concentrations (tablet p < 0.01; yeast p < 0.05, probiotic > 0.20). CONCLUSIONS: The urinary MMA assay is effective for identifying early metabolic cobalamin deficiency. People following the Hallelujah diet and other raw-food vegetarian diets should regularly monitor their urinary MMA levels, consume a sublingual cobalamin supplement, or consume cobalamin in their food."}
{"id": "MED-4512", "text": "A cross-sectional survey was conducted in order to describe the use of oral cobalamin among geriatricians, hematologists, and general practitioners, and to explore factors related to its use. The study population consisted of all geriatricians (n = 138) and hematologists (n = 317) listed in the Canadian Medical Directory plus a random sample of 307 general practitioners. The overall response rate was 40%. Intramuscular and oral cobalamin was prescribed by 76 and 32% of the respondents, respectively. Twenty seven percent reported using both oral and intramuscular cobalamin and 6% reported using only oral cobalamin. Only 25% of respondents indicated they were aware of a RCT demonstrating the efficacy of oral cobalamin prior to reading a synopsis of the study in the survey. After multivariate adjustment, only the belief that oral cobalamin was effective and certainty about who carried oral preparations remained independently associated with oral cobalamin use. Oral cobalamin has been shown to be an efficacious, cost efficient and safe method of treating cobalamin deficiency. Nonetheless, it is not used by the majority of physicians treating this condition. Strategies to promote the use of oral cobalamin should be directed at educating physicians of its efficacy and providing them with prescribing information on where it can be purchased."}
{"id": "MED-4513", "text": "BACKGROUND: Vitamin B\u2081\u2082 deficiency is common among the elderly, and early detection is clinically important. However, clinical signs and symptoms have limited diagnostic accuracy and there is no accepted reference test method. METHODS: In elderly subjects (n = 700; age range 63-97 years), we investigated the ability of serum cobalamin, holotranscobalamin (holoTC), total homocysteine (tHcy), methylmalonic acid (MMA), serum and erythrocyte folate, and other hematologic variables to discriminate cobalamin deficiency, defined as red blood cell cobalamin <33 pmol/L. RESULTS: Serum holoTC was the best predictor, with area under the ROC curve (95% CI) 0.90 (0.86-0.93), and this was significantly better (P \u2264 0.0002) than the next best predictors; serum cobalamin, 0.80 (0.75-0.85), and MMA, 0.78 (0.72-0.83). For these 3 analytes, we constructed a 3-zone partition of positive and negative zones and a deliberate indeterminate zone between. The boundaries were values of each test that resulted in a posttest probability of deficiency of 60% and a posttest probability of no deficiency of 98%. The proportion of indeterminate observations for holoTC, cobalamin, and MMA was 14%, 45%, and 50%, respectively. Within the holoTC indeterminate zone (defined as 20-30 pmol/L), discriminant analysis selected only erythrocyte folate, which correctly allocated 65% (58/89) of the observations. Renal dysfunction compromised the diagnostic accuracy of MMA but not holoTC or serum cobalamin. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the use of holoTC as the first-line diagnostic procedure for vitamin B\u2081\u2082 status."}
{"id": "MED-4514", "text": "Background Data on the long-term association between low-carbohydrate diets and mortality are sparse. Objective To examine the association of low-carbohydrate diets with mortality during 26 years of follow-up in women and 20 years in men. Design A prospective cohort study of women and men, followed from 1980 (women) or 1986 (men) until 2006. Low-carbohydrate diets, either animal-based (emphasizing animal sources of fat and protein), or vegetable-based (emphasizing vegetable sources of fat and protein) were computed from multiple validated food frequency questionnaire assessed during follow-up. Setting Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals' Follow-up Study Participants 85,168 women (aged 34-59 years at baseline) and 44,548 men (aged 40-75 years at baseline) without heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Measurement Investigator documented 12,555 deaths (2,458 cardiovascular, 5,780 cancer) in women and 8,678 deaths (2,746 cardiovascular, 2,960 cancer) in men. Results The overall low-carbohydrate score was associated with a modest increase in overall mortality in pooled analysis (Hazard Ratio, HR, comparing extreme deciles=1.12 (95% CI=1.01-1.24, p-trend=0.14). The animal low-carbohydrate score was associated with a higher all-cause mortality (pooled HR comparing extreme deciles=1.23, 95% CI=1.11-1.37, p-trend=0.05), cardiovascular mortality (corresponding HR=1.14, 95% CI=1.01-1.29, p-trend=0.029), and cancer mortality (corresponding HR=1.28, 95% CI 1.02-1.60, p for trend = 0.09). In contrast, a higher vegetable low-carbohydrate score was associated with lower all-cause (HR=0.80, 95% CI=0.75-0.85, p-trend<0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR=0.77, 95% CI=0.68-0.87, p-trend<0.001). Limitations Diet and lifestyle characteristics were assessed with some degree of error, however, sensitivity analyses indicated that results were not unlikely to be substantially affected by residual or confounding or an unmeasured confounder. In addition, participants were not a representative sample of the U.S. population. Conclusion A low-carbohydrate diet based on animal sources was associated with higher all-cause mortality in both men and women, whereas a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates. Primary funding source NIH grants CA87969, HL60712, and CA95589"}
{"id": "MED-4515", "text": "BACKGROUND: Low-carbohydrate, high-animal protein diets, which are advocated for weight loss, may not promote the desired reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration. The effect of exchanging the animal proteins and fats for those of vegetable origin has not been tested. Our objective was to determine the effect on weight loss and LDL-C concentration of a low-carbohydrate diet high in vegetable proteins from gluten, soy, nuts, fruits, vegetables, cereals, and vegetable oils compared with a high-carbohydrate diet based on low-fat dairy and whole grain products. METHODS: A total of 47 overweight hyperlipidemic men and women consumed either (1) a low-carbohydrate (26% of total calories), high-vegetable protein (31% from gluten, soy, nuts, fruit, vegetables, and cereals), and vegetable oil (43%) plant-based diet or (2) a high-carbohydrate lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (58% carbohydrate, 16% protein, and 25% fat) for 4 weeks each in a parallel study design. The study food was provided at 60% of calorie requirements. RESULTS: Of the 47 subjects, 44 (94%) (test, n = 22 [92%]; control, n = 22 [96%]) completed the study. Weight loss was similar for both diets (approximately 4.0 kg). However, reductions in LDL-C concentration and total cholesterol-HDL-C and apolipoprotein B-apolipoprotein AI ratios were greater for the low-carbohydrate compared with the high-carbohydrate diet (-8.1% [P = .002], -8.7% [P = .004], and -9.6% [P = .001], respectively). Reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were also seen (-1.9% [P = .052] and -2.4% [P = .02], respectively). CONCLUSION: A low-carbohydrate plant-based diet has lipid-lowering advantages over a high-carbohydrate, low-fat weight-loss diet in improving heart disease risk factors not seen with conventional low-fat diets with animal products."}
{"id": "MED-4517", "text": "Low fecal weight and slow bowel transit time are thought to be associated with bowel cancer risk, but few published data defining bowel habits in different communities exist. Therefore, data on stool weight were collected from 20 populations in 12 countries to define this risk more accurately, and the relationship between stool weight and dietary intake of nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) (dietary fiber) was quantified. In 220 healthy U.K. adults undertaking careful fecal collections, median daily stool weight was 106 g/day (men, 104 g/day; women, 99 g/day; P = 0.02) and whole-gut transit time was 60 hours (men, 55 hours; women, 72 hours; P = 0.05); 17% of women, but only 1% of men, passed < 50 g stool/day. Data from other populations of the world show average stool weight to vary from 72 to 470 g/day and to be inversely related to colon cancer risk (r = -0.78). Meta-analysis of 11 studies in which daily fecal weight was measured accurately in 26 groups of people (n = 206) on controlled diets of known NSP content shows a significant correlation between fiber intake and mean daily stool weight (r = 0.84). Stool weight in many Westernized populations is low (80-120 g/day), and this is associated with increased colon cancer risk. Fecal output is increased by dietary NSP. Diets characterized by high NSP intake (approximately 18 g/day) are associated with stool weights of 150 g/day and should reduce the risk of bowel cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4518", "text": "Scarcely-absorbed antioxidants might reach the large bowel and exhibit antioxidant activity, opposing the action of reactive O species by bacterial and cellular metabolism and thus contributing to protection from oxidative damage-induced gastrointestinal diseases. This study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant activity in the faeces of a group of healthy subjects on a freely-selected diet, and to look for possible associations with the intake of some macro- and micronutrients and food groups. Fourteen subjects recorded their food intake three times for a period of 2 d, each time collecting all the faeces passed during the next 24 h. Total antioxidant activity (TAA; mmol 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8 tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox)/kg) of faecal suspensions was measured using the 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid radical cation (ABTS(.+)) decolorisation assay. The average TAA value of faeces was 26.6 (sd 10.2) mmol Trolox/kg wet faeces (range 7.5-50.5). The total amount of antioxidant equivalents excreted over 24 h, derived by multiplying the TAA by the amount of faeces passed over 24 h, was 3.24 (sd 1.51) mmol Trolox (range 0.92-5.82) and this was significantly correlated with the average 24 h intake of coffee red wine and particularly to the sum of coffee and red wine In conclusion, the faeces of healthy subjects show detectable capacity to scavenge radical cations, suggesting that antioxidant activity occurs in the colonic lumen. Moreover, such activity seems at least in part to be related to dietary habits."}
{"id": "MED-4520", "text": "Evidence suggests that endothelial dysfunction is on the causal pathway for both atherogenesis and destabilization of established plaques. In this review, the role of flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) as a non-invasive method to assess endothelial function is discussed. Technical modifications and development of analysis software have significantly improved the variability of the method. Following a strict standardized protocol enables reproducible measurements to be achieved and export of the technique from specialized laboratories to population studies and multicentre settings. Endothelial function assessed by FMD has been shown to be affected by cardiovascular risk factors, to be related to structural arterial disease and to cardiovascular outcome, validating its use for studying the pathophysiology of arterial disease. Numerous studies have also demonstrated that it is responsive to physiological and pharmacological interventions. Flow-mediated dilatation provides unique opportunities in drug development programmes to assess an early rapidly responsive signal of risk or benefit, complementing endpoints of structural arterial disease and cardiovascular outcomes that take much longer and are more expensive."}
{"id": "MED-4522", "text": "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Oxidative stress has been advocated as a major cause for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and low plasma antioxidant concentrations are associated with endothelial dysfunction, the first step towards atherosclerosis. However, although the antioxidant content in fruits and vegetables may explain at least in part their protective effect against CVD, supplementation with antioxidant vitamins fails to improve endothelial function and reduce CVD risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a diet rich in antioxidants on endothelial function measured by flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in volunteers at low cardiovascular risk. METHODS AND RESULTS: In a crossover trial, 24 subjects (13 women, mean age 61\u00a0\u00b1\u00a03 years), received, in a randomised order, a 14-day high (HT) and a 14-day low (LT) antioxidant diets, with a 2-week wash-out (WO) in between. Both diets were comparable in daily portions of fruits and vegetables, and in alcohol, fibre and macronutrient intake, but differed in their total antioxidant capacity. Before and after each diet, anthropometrics, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile, hepatic enzymes, circulating antioxidant concentrations, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and FMD were assessed. FMD increased significantly during the HT diet compared to the LT (p\u00a0<\u00a00.000). FMD values were 2.3% higher after HT compared with LT (p\u00a0<\u00a00.001) after adjustment for age, gender and diet order. \u03b1-tocopherol increased significantly (p\u00a0<\u00a00.05) and hs-CRP and of \u03b3-glutamyltranspeptidase decreased significantly (p\u00a0<\u00a00.05 and p\u00a0<\u00a00.01, respectively) during the HT diet, compared with the LT diet. CONCLUSIONS: A short-term HT diet improves endothelial function in volunteers at low cardiovascular risk, which may further reduce their risk of CVD. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4523", "text": "Both lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidant capacities were determined using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC(FL)) assay with fluorescein as the fluorescent probe and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride as a peroxyl radical generator on over 100 different kinds of foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, spices, cereals, infant, and other foods. Most of the foods were collected from four different regions and during two different seasons in U.S. markets. Total phenolics of each sample were also measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Hydrophilic ORAC(FL) values (H-ORAC(FL)) ranged from 0.87 to 2641 micromol of Trolox equivalents (TE)/g among all of the foods, whereas lipophilic ORAC(FL) values (L-ORAC(FL)) ranged from 0.07 to 1611 micromol of TE/g. Generally, L-ORAC(FL) values were <10% of the H-ORAC(FL) values except for a very few samples. Total antioxidant capacity was calculated by combining L-ORAC(FL) and H-ORAC(FL). Differences of ORAC(FL) values in fruits and vegetables from different seasons and regions were relatively large for some foods but could not be analyzed in detail because of the sampling scheme. Two different processing methods, cooking and peeling, were used on selected foods to evaluate the impact of processing on ORAC(FL). The data demonstrated that processing can have significant effects on ORAC(FL). Considering all of the foods analyzed, the relationship between TP and H-ORAC(FL) showed a very weak correlation. Total hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant capacity intakes were calculated to be 5558 and 166 micromol of TE/day, respectively, on the basis of data from the USDA Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (1994-1996)."}
{"id": "MED-4524", "text": "This review summarizes the multifaceted aspects of antioxidants and the basic kinetic models of inhibited autoxidation and analyzes the chemical principles of antioxidant capacity assays. Depending upon the reactions involved, these assays can roughly be classified into two types: assays based on hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions and assays based on electron transfer (ET). The majority of HAT-based assays apply a competitive reaction scheme, in which antioxidant and substrate compete for thermally generated peroxyl radicals through the decomposition of azo compounds. These assays include inhibition of induced low-density lipoprotein autoxidation, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), total radical trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), and crocin bleaching assays. ET-based assays measure the capacity of an antioxidant in the reduction of an oxidant, which changes color when reduced. The degree of color change is correlated with the sample's antioxidant concentrations. ET-based assays include the total phenols assay by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (FCR), Trolox equivalence antioxidant capacity (TEAC), ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), \"total antioxidant potential\" assay using a Cu(II) complex as an oxidant, and DPPH. In addition, other assays intended to measure a sample's scavenging capacity of biologically relevant oxidants such as singlet oxygen, superoxide anion, peroxynitrite, and hydroxyl radical are also summarized. On the basis of this analysis, it is suggested that the total phenols assay by FCR be used to quantify an antioxidant's reducing capacity and the ORAC assay to quantify peroxyl radical scavenging capacity. To comprehensively study different aspects of antioxidants, validated and specific assays are needed in addition to these two commonly accepted assays."}
{"id": "MED-4525", "text": "The red sap obtained by slashing the bark of Croton urucurana Baill. (Euphorbiaceae), also known as dragon's blood, was screened for a possible antidiarrhoeal activity on castor oil-induced diarrhoea in rats, cholera toxin-induced intestinal secretion in mice and on small intestinal transit in mice. Dragon's blood at an oral dose of 600 mg/kg caused in marked inhibition of the diarrhoeal response following castor oil administration as well as the intestinal fluid accumulation promoted by cholera toxin. At a similar dose the red sap significantly inhibited the small intestinal transit which was, however, found to be independent of the opioid mechanism. These results suggest a potential usefulness of the red sap from Croton urucurana Baill. in the control of secretory diarrhoea associated pathologies. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4526", "text": "The sap of Croton lechleri Muell.-Arg (Euphorbiaceae), called Dragon's blood, is used in folk medicine as a cicatrizant, anti-inflammatory and to treat cancer. In this research, the antioxidant activity of Croton lechleri sap was evaluated against the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and against maize plantlets treated with the oxidative agents apomorphine and hydrogen peroxide. The mutagenic activity of the sap was also analyzed using the Salmonella/microsome assay (Salmonella typhimurium TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102, TA1535) and in cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The results showed that Croton lechleri sap possesses significant antioxidant activity against the oxidative damages induced by apomorphine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae under all the conditions studied. However, in the case of hydrogen peroxide, antioxidant activity of the sap was detected only in cells in the stationary phase of growth. The sap was also able to protect cells of the maize plantlets from the toxic effect of apomorphine. This sap showed mutagenic activity for strain TA1535 of Salmonella typhimurium in the presence of metabolic activation and a weak mutagenic activity for strain TA98. These strains detect base pair substitutions and frameshift mutations, respectively. Mutagenicity was also observed in a haploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain XV185-14c for the lys1-1, his1-7 locus-specific reversion and hom3-10 frameshift mutations."}
{"id": "MED-4527", "text": "Sangre de grado is an ethnomedicinal red tree sap obtained from Croton spp. that is used to treat gastrointestinal ulcers, cancer and to promote wound healing. To evaluate the potential role of sangre de grado (SdG) in cancer we examined its effects on human cancer cells, AGS (stomach), HT29 and T84 (colon). Viability of cells treated with SdG (10-200 microg/ml) decreased (P<0.01) in a dose dependent manner measured over a 24-h period. Cell proliferation at 48 h decreased (P<0.01) in all cells treated with SdG (>100 microg/ml). When cells in suspension were treated with SdG (100 microg/ml) cell adherence was severely compromised (>85%). Cells treated with SdG (100 microg/ml) underwent apoptosis as detected by nucleus condensation and DNA fragmentation determined by ELISA, and flow cytometry. Morphological changes as assessed by acridine orange. These effects were similar to that observed with Taxol (30 microM). A significant alteration of microtubular architecture was equally observed in both stomach and colon cancer cells exposed to SdG (100 microg/ml). The induction of apoptosis and microtubule damage in AGS, HT29 and T84 cells suggest that sangre de grado should be evaluated further as a potential source of anti-cancer agents."}
{"id": "MED-4529", "text": "Context Lead, mercury, and arsenic have been detected in a substantial proportion of Indian-manufactured traditional Ayurvedic medicines. Metals may be present due to the practice of rasa shastra (combining herbs with metals, minerals, and gems). Whether toxic metals are present in both US- and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines is unknown. Objectives To determine the prevalence of Ayurvedic medicines available via the Internet containing detectable lead, mercury, or arsenic and to compare the prevalence of toxic metals in US- vs Indian-manufactured medicines and between rasa shastra and non\u2013rasa shastra medicines. Design A search using 5 Internet search engines and the search terms Ayurveda and Ayurvedic medicine identified 25 Web sites offering traditional Ayurvedic herbs, formulas, or ingredients commonly used in Ayurveda, indicated for oral use, and available for sale. From 673 identified products, 230 Ayurvedic medicines were randomly selected for purchase in August\u2013October 2005. Country of manufacturer/Web site supplier, rasa shastra status, and claims of Good Manufacturing Practices were recorded. Metal concentrations were measured using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of medicines with detectable toxic metals in the entire sample and stratified by country of manufacture and rasa shastra status. Results One hundred ninety-three of the 230 requested medicines were received and analyzed. The prevalence of metal-containing products was 20.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.2%\u201327.1%). The prevalence of metals in US-manufactured products was 21.7% (95% CI, 14.6%\u201330.4%) compared with 19.5% (95% CI, 11.3%\u201330.1%) in Indian products (P=.86). Rasa shastra compared with non\u2013rasa shastra medicines had a greater prevalence of metals (40.6% vs 17.1%; P=.007) and higher median concentrations of lead (11.5 \u03bcg/g vs 7.0 \u03bcg/g; P=.03) and mercury (20 800 \u03bcg/g vs 34.5 \u03bcg/g; P=.04). Among the metal-containing products, 95% were sold by US Web sites and 75% claimed Good Manufacturing Practices. All metal-containing products exceeded 1 or more standards for acceptable daily intake of toxic metals. Conclusion One-fifth of both US-manufactured and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines purchased via the Internet contain detectable lead, mercury, or arsenic."}
{"id": "MED-4531", "text": "Traditional herbal preparations used in Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Tibetan medicine, and other Asian traditional medicine systems may contain significant amounts of mercury, arsenic or lead. Though deliberately incorporated in Asian traditional herbal preparations for therapeutic purposes, these constituents have caused intoxications worldwide. The aim of this study was therefore to determine mercury, arsenic, and lead levels in Asian traditional herbal preparations on the Dutch market. A total of 292 traditional herbal preparations used in Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Tibetan medicine were sampled between 2004 and 2007. Samples were mostly multi-ingredient traditional herbal preparations containing herbs and minerals. The labeling of less than 20% of the traditional herbal preparations suggested the presence of mercury, arsenic or lead. These elements were shown by inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in 186 (64%) of 292 traditional herbal preparations. Estimated weekly mercury, arsenic, and lead intake levels were calculated for each traditional herbal preparation from the analytically determined concentrations and the recommended dose. A total of 59 traditional herbal preparations (20%) were likely to result in intakes of these elements significantly exceeding safety limits. Of these 59 traditional herbal preparations, intake estimates for 50 traditional herbal preparations significantly exceeded the safety limit for mercury (range = 1.4-1747 mg week(-1)); intake estimates for 26 traditional herbal preparations significantly exceeded the safety limit for arsenic (range = 0.53-427 mg week(-1)) and intake estimates for eight traditional herbal preparations were significantly above the safety limit for lead (range = 2.6-192 mg week(-1)). It is concluded that the mercury, arsenic, and lead contents of traditional herbal preparations used in Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Tibetan medicine remain a cause for concern and require strict control."}
{"id": "MED-4532", "text": "The cytotoxic effects of Triphala (TPL), an Indian Ayurvedic formulation with known anti-cancer properties, has been investigated on two human breast cancer cell lines differing in their p53 status. In vitro studies showed that MCF 7 with wild type p53 was more sensitive to TPL than T 47 D, which is p53 negative. TPL induced loss of cell viability was determined by MTT assay. After 72h incubation, the IC 50 values for MCF 7 was found to be approximately 8microg/ml and that for T 47 D was approximately 26microg/ml. Moreover, TPL inhibited the clonogenic growth of MCF 7 cells, which was significantly recovered by pifithrin-alpha, the p53 inhibitor. However, pifithrin-alpha, did not modify TPL induced cytotoxicity in T 47 D cells. Exogenous addition of antioxidants, glutathione (GSH) and N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) inhibited the anti-proliferative ability of TPL in both MCF 7 and T47 D. Annexin-V and propidium iodide double staining of cells treated with TPL for 2h revealed that TPL induced significant apoptosis in both the cell lines in a dose dependant manner but magnitude of apoptosis was significantly higher in MCF 7 than in T 47-D cells. TPL was also found to induce dose and time dependent increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species in both the cell lines. Present results have demonstrated that MCF 7 and T 47 D cells exhibited differential sensitivity to TPL, which seems to be dependant on their p53 status. Inhibition of anti-proliferative ability of TPL by antioxidants suggests a role for TPL induced ROS in the induction of apoptosis. It is concluded that p53 status of cancer cells formed an important factor in predicting the response of cancer cells to prooxidant drugs."}
{"id": "MED-4533", "text": "CONTEXT: Lead, mercury, and arsenic intoxication have been associated with the use of Ayurvedic herbal medicine product (HMPs). OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and concentration of heavy metals in Ayurvedic HMPs manufactured in South Asia and sold in Boston-area stores and to compare estimated daily metal ingestion with regulatory standards. DESIGN AND SETTING: Systematic search strategy to identify all stores 20 miles or less from Boston City Hall that sold Ayurvedic HMPs from South Asia by searching online Yellow Pages using the categories markets, supermarkets, and convenience stores, and business names containing the word India, Indian cities, and Indian words. An online national directory of Indian grocery stores, a South Asian community business directory, and a newspaper were also searched. We visited each store and purchased all unique Ayurvedic HMPs between April 25 and October 24, 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Concentrations (microg/g) of lead, mercury, and arsenic in each HMP as measured by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Estimates of daily metal ingestion for adults and children estimated using manufacturers' dosage recommendations with comparisons to US Pharmacopeia and US Environmental Protection Agency regulatory standards. RESULTS: A total of 14 (20%) of 70 HMPs (95% confidence interval, 11%-31%) contained heavy metals: lead (n = 13; median concentration, 40 microg/g; range, 5-37,000), mercury (n = 6; median concentration, 20,225 microg/g; range, 28-104,000), and/or arsenic (n = 6; median concentration, 430 microg/g; range, 37-8130). If taken as recommended by the manufacturers, each of these 14 could result in heavy metal intakes above published regulatory standards. CONCLUSIONS: One of 5 Ayurvedic HMPs produced in South Asia and available in Boston South Asian grocery stores contains potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury, and/or arsenic. Users of Ayurvedic medicine may be at risk for heavy metal toxicity, and testing of Ayurvedic HMPs for toxic heavy metals should be mandatory."}
{"id": "MED-4534", "text": "BACKGROUND: Triphala (Sanskrit tri\u2009=\u2009three and phala\u2009=\u2009fruits), composed of the three medicinal fruits Phyllanthus emblica L. or Emblica officinalis Gaertn., Terminalia chebula Retz., and Terminalia belerica Retz. is an important herbal preparation in the traditional Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda. Triphala is an antioxidant-rich herbal formulation and possesses diverse beneficial properties. It is a widely prescribed Ayurvedic drug and is used as a colon cleanser, digestive, diuretic, and laxative. Cancer is a major cause of death, and globally studies are being conducted to prevent cancer or to develop effective nontoxic therapeutic agents. Experimental studies in the past decade have shown that Triphala is useful in the prevention of cancer and that it also possesses antineoplastic, radioprotective and chemoprotective effects. CONCLUSIONS: This review for the first time summarizes these results, with emphasis on published observations. Furthermore, the possible mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects and lacunas in the existing knowledge that need to be bridged are also discussed."}
{"id": "MED-4535", "text": "Herbal formulations are getting popular throughout the world and commercialized extensively for various medicinal properties. WHO has emphasized the need for quality assurance of herbal products, including testing of heavy metals and pesticides residues. In view of WHO guidelines, single herbal drugs used in herbal formulations were collected from local market, for testing heavy metals and persistent pesticides residue. Therefore, in the present case, we have examined few local samples of certain herbs viz. Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica, and Withania somnifera. The present studies were selected for estimation of four heavy metals namely Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury. Apart from these, pesticide residue Viz. Organochlorine pesticides, Organophosphorus pesticides, and Pyrethroids were analyzed in the four samples of single crude drugs. Heavy metals and pesticide residue were found below detection limits in all the samples."}
{"id": "MED-4536", "text": "The cytotoxic effects of aqueous extract of Triphala, an ayurvedic formulation, were investigated on human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and a transplantable mouse thymic lymphoma (barcl-95). The viability of treated cells was found to decrease with the increasing concentrations of Triphala. On the other hand, treatment of normal breast epithelial cells, MCF-10 F, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, mouse liver and spleen cells, with similar concentrations of Triphala did not affect their cytotoxicity significantly. The drug treatment was found to induce apoptosis in MCF-7 and barcl-95 cells in vitro as determined by annexin-V fluorescence and proportion of apoptotic cells was found dependent on Triphala concentration. MCF-7 cells treated with Triphala when subjected to single cell gel electrophoresis, revealed a pattern of DNA damage, characteristic of apoptosis. Studies on Triphala treated MCF-7 and barcl-95 cells showed significant increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a concentration dependent manner. ROS increase was, however, found to be insignificant in MCF-10 F as well as in murine spleen and liver normal cells. In vivo, direct oral feeding of Triphala to mice (40 mg/kg body weight) transplanted with barcl-95 produced significant reduction in tumor growth as evaluated by tumor volume measurement. It was also found that apoptosis was significantly higher in the excised tumor tissue of Triphala fed mice as compared to the control, suggesting the involvement of apoptosis in tumor growth reduction. These results suggest that Triphala possessed ability to induce cytotoxicity in tumor cells but spared the normal cells. The differential effect of Triphala on normal and tumor cells seems to be related to its ability to evoke differential response in intracellular ROS generation. The differential response of normal and tumor cells to Triphala in vitro and the substantial regression of transplanted tumor in mice fed with Triphala points to its potential use as an anticancer drug for clinical treatment."}
{"id": "MED-4538", "text": "The present study evaluated the anti-hyperglycemic and lipid-lowering properties of Emblica officinalis Gaertn. fruit in normal and diabetic human volunteers. The results indicated a significant decrease (P <\u00a0 0.05) in fasting and 2-h post-prandial blood glucose levels on the 21st day in both normal and diabetic subjects receiving 1, 2 or 3 g E. officinalis powder per day as compared with their baseline values. Significant (P <\u00a0 0.05) decreases were also observed in total cholesterol and triglycerides in both normal and diabetic volunteers on day 21 that were given either 2 or 3 g E. officinalis powder per day. However, diabetic volunteers receiving only 3 g E. officinalis powder exhibited a significant (P <\u00a0 0.05) decrease in total lipids on day 21. Both normal and diabetic volunteers receiving 2 or 3 g E. officinalis powder significantly (P <\u00a0 0.05) improved high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and lowered low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels."}
{"id": "MED-4540", "text": "BACKGROUND: Red yeast rice (RYR) is a widely available dietary supplement used by millions of patients as an alternative therapy for hyperlipidemia. It contains 14 active compounds called monacolins that inhibit hepatic cholesterol synthesis. Although studies have suggested that some formulations of RYR may be effective and safe for lipid lowering, monacolin levels are not standardized among marketed products and are generally not published on labels. We evaluated monacolin levels in 12 commercial RYR formulations and tested for citrinin, a mycotoxin that is nephrotoxic in animals. METHODS: Each formulation of RYR was labeled \"600 mg/capsule\" of active product. Analyses for monacolins and citrinin were performed between August 2006 and June 2008 using high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectroscopy-mass spectroscopy detection. Laboratory analyses of RYR products were conducted by ConsumerLab.com, White Plains, New York. RESULTS: There was marked variability in the 12 RYR products in total monacolins (0.31-11.15 mg/capsule), monacolin K (lovastatin) (0.10-10.09 mg/capsule), and monacolin KA (0.00-2.30 mg/capsule). Four products had elevated levels of citrinin. CONCLUSIONS: We found striking variability in monacolin content in 12 proprietary RYR products and the presence of citrinin in one-third of the formulations tested. Although RYR may have potential as an alternative lipid-lowering agent, our findings suggest the need for improved standardization of RYR products and product labeling. Until this occurs, physicians should be cautious in recommending RYR to their patients for the treatment of hyperlipidemia and primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease."}
{"id": "MED-4543", "text": "Phyllanthus emblica Linn. (PE) is a medicinal fruit used in many Asian traditional medicine systems for the treatment of various diseases including cancer. The present study tested the potential anticancer effects of aqueous extract of PE in four ways: (1) against cancer cell lines, (2) in vitro apoptosis, (3) mouse skin tumourigenesis and (4) in vitro invasiveness. The PE extract at 50-100 microg/mL significantly inhibited cell growth of six human cancer cell lines, A549 (lung), HepG2 (liver), HeLa (cervical), MDA-MB-231 (breast), SK-OV3 (ovarian) and SW620 (colorectal). However, the extract was not toxic against MRC5 (normal lung fibroblast). Apoptosis in HeLa cells was also observed as PE extract caused DNA fragmentation and increased activity of caspase-3/7 and caspase-8, but not caspase-9, and up-regulation of the Fas protein indicating a death receptor-mediated mechanism of apoptosis. Treatment of PE extract on mouse skin resulted in over 50% reduction of tumour numbers and volumes in animals treated with DMBA/TPA. Lastly, 25 and 50 microg/mL of PE extract inhibited invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 cells in the in vitro Matrigel invasion assay. These results suggest P. emblica exhibits anticancer activity against selected cancer cells, and warrants further study as a possible chemopreventive and antiinvasive agent. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4544", "text": "Emblica officinalis Gaertn. or Phyllanthus emblica Linn, commonly known as Indian gooseberry or amla, is arguably the most important medicinal plant in the Indian traditional system of medicine, the Ayurveda. Various parts of the plant are used to treat a range of diseases, but the most important is the fruit. The fruit is used either alone or in combination with other plants to treat many ailments such as common cold and fever; as a diuretic, laxative, liver tonic, refrigerant, stomachic, restorative, alterative, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, hair tonic; to prevent peptic ulcer and dyspepsia, and as a digestive. Preclinical studies have shown that amla possesses antipyretic, analgesic, antitussive, antiatherogenic, adaptogenic, cardioprotective, gastroprotective, antianemia, antihypercholesterolemia, wound healing, antidiarrheal, antiatherosclerotic, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and neuroprotective properties. In addition, experimental studies have shown that amla and some of its phytochemicals such as gallic acid, ellagic acid, pyrogallol, some norsesquiterpenoids, corilagin, geraniin, elaeocarpusin, and prodelphinidins B1 and B2 also possess antineoplastic effects. Amla is also reported to possess radiomodulatory, chemomodulatory, chemopreventive effects, free radical scavenging, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic and immunomodulatory activities, properties that are efficacious in the treatment and prevention of cancer. This review for the first time summarizes the results related to these properties and also emphasizes the aspects that warrant future research to establish its activity and utility as a cancer preventive and therapeutic drug in humans."}
{"id": "MED-4545", "text": "Reducing oxidative damage is thought to be an effective aging intervention. A\u00e7ai, a fruit indigenous to the Amazon, is rich in phytochemicals that possesses high anti-oxidant activities, and has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular disease properties. However, little is known about its potential anti-aging properties especially at the organismal level. Here we evaluated the effect of a\u00e7ai pulp on modulating lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster. We found that a\u00e7ai supplementation at 2% in the food increased the lifespan of female flies fed a high fat diet compared to the non-supplemented control. We measured transcript changes induced by a\u00e7ai for age-related genes. Although transcript levels of most genes tested were not altered, a\u00e7ai increased the transcript level of l(2)efl, a small heat-shock-related protein, and two detoxification genes, gstD1 and mtnA, while decreasing the transcript level of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pepck), a key gene involved in gluconeogenesis. Furthermore, a\u00e7ai increased the lifespan of oxidative stressed females caused by sod1 RNAi. This suggests that a\u00e7ai improves survival of flies fed a high fat diet through activation of stress response pathways and suppression of Pepck expression. A\u00e7ai has the potential to antagonize the detrimental effect of fat in the diet and alleviate oxidative stress in aging."}
{"id": "MED-4546", "text": "The acute and subacute toxicity of five biogenic amines-tyramine, spermidine, spermine, putrescine and cadaverine-were examined in Wistar rats. Tyramine and cadaverine had a low acute oral toxicity of more than 2000 mg/kg body weight. Putrescine had an acute oral toxicity of 2000 mg/kg body weight and spermidine and spermine each of 600 mg/kg body weight. All amines investigated caused a dose-related decrease in blood pressure after intravenous administration, except for tyramine, where an increase was found. In 6-wk studies the biogenic amines were administered in the diet to groups of 10 male and 10 female rats. Tyramine and cadaverine were given at levels of 0, 200, 2000 or 10,000 ppm, spermine and putrescine at levels of 0, 200, 2000 or 5000 ppm and spermidine at levels of 0, 20, 200 or 500/1000 ppm in the first study and at levels of 0 or 10,000 ppm in a second study. Spermine was the most toxic. The high dose level showed a great number of changes, such as emaciation, aggressiveness, convulsions and paralysis of the hind legs. Growth, food intake and water intake were considerably decreased. Slight anaemia (males) and changes in plasma clinical chemistry occurred. The relative weights of the thyroid, adrenals, spleen and heart were increased and that of the liver decreased. Impaired kidney function, together with renal histopathological changes and changes in plasma electrolytes and urea, occurred with spermine. Histopathological examinations also revealed decreased glycogen content in the liver, reduction of spermatogenesis, severe depletion of splenic white pulp, acute involution of the thymus and moderate myocardial degeneration in the heart. Myocardial degeneration was also seen in one mid-dose male. Adverse effects were also observed in the top dose groups of all other amines. Decreased body weights associated with diminished food intake were generally seen. Slight increases in packed cell volume, haemoglobin concentration and thrombocytes occurred with cadaverine. With spermidine, decreased plasma creatinine, calcium and inorganic phosphate were observed and decreased potassium levels with cadaverine. The no-observed-adverse-effect level was 2000 ppm (180 mg/kg body weight/day) for tyramine, cadaverine and putrescine, 1000 ppm (83 mg/kg body weight/day) for spermidine and 200 ppm (19 mg/kg body weight/day) for spermine."}
{"id": "MED-4547", "text": "Biogenic amines, produced by bacterial decarboxylation of amino acids, have been associated with toxicological symptoms in food products. Twenty-three samples of traditionally available Korean fermented soybean paste samples (Doenjang) were analyzed in order to determine the content of biogenic amines. Amines were extracted with 0.4M perchloric acid and derivatized with dansyl chloride. Nine biogenic amines were separated from Doenjang samples by high performance liquid chromatography using gradient elution (acetonitrile and ammonium acetate), and detected with spectrophotometric UV-vis detection at 254 nm. The pH value of all the samples was ranged from 4.8 to 6.0, and the strong amino acid decarboxylase activity was found to be in an acidic environment. The mean values of biogenic amines (tryptamine, 2-phenyl-ethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, agmatine, histamine, tyramine, spermidine and spermine) determined in 23 Doenjang samples were found to be 18.37, 82.03, 70.84, 34.24, 47.32, 26.79, 126.66, 74.41 and 244.36 mg%, respectively. The findings of this study enhance the safety of not only Doenjang but other salted and/or fermented food products. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4548", "text": "Background The risk of indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on allergic airway diseases in children remains unknown. Objective We examined the residential concentrations of VOCs, emitted from building materials, paints, furniture, and other lifestyle practices and the risks of multiple allergic diseases as well as the IgE-sensitization in pre-school age children in Sweden. Methods In a case-control investigation (198 case children with asthma and allergy and 202 healthy controls), air samples were collected in the room where the child slept. The air samples were analyzed for the levels of eight classes of VOCs. Results A natural-log unit of summed propylene glycol and glycol ethers (PGEs) in bedroom air (equal to interquartile range, or 3.43 \u2013 15.65 \u00b5g/m3) was associated with 1.5-fold greater likelihood of being a case (95% CI, 1.1 \u2013 2.1), 1.5-fold greater likelihood of asthma (95% CI, 1.0 \u2013 2.3), 2.8-fold greater likelihood of rhinitis (95% CI, 1.6 \u2013 4.7), and 1.6-fold greater likelihood of eczema (95% CI, 1.1 \u2013 2.3), accounting for gender, secondhand smoke, allergies in both parents, wet cleaning with chemical agents, construction period of the building, limonene, cat and dog allergens, butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP). When the analysis was restricted to the cases, the same unit concentration was associated with 1.8-fold greater likelihood of IgE-sensitization (95% CI, 1.1 \u2013 2.8) compared to the non-IgE sensitized cases. No similar associations were found for the other classes of VOCs. Conclusion We propose a novel hypothesis that PGEs in indoor air exacerbate and/or induce the multiple allergic symptoms, asthma, rhinitis and eczema, as well as IgE sensitization respectively."}
{"id": "MED-4550", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vegetarian diet has become an increasing trend in western world and in Poland. The frequency of allergies is growing, and the effectiveness of vegetarian diet in allergic diseases is a concern for research. We aimed to study an effect of vegetarian diet on lipid profile in serum in a group of Polish children in Poland and to investigate lipid parameters in healthy vegetarian children and in omnivorous children with diagnosed atopic disease. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Serum lipid profiles (triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, fatty acids) were assessed in groups of children: healthy vegetarians (n=24) and children with diagnosed atopic diseases (n=16), with control group of healthy omnivores (n=18). Diet classification was assessed by a questionnaire. RESULTS: No differences were observed in serum triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids level in all groups. In the group of Polish vegetarian children, we recorded high consumption of vegetable oils rich in monounsaturated fatty acid, and sunflower oil containing linoleic acid. This observation was associated with higher content of linoleic acid in serum in this group. Among polyunsaturated n-6 fatty acids, linoleic acid revealed significantly (P<0.05) lower levels in allergy vs vegetarian groups. In case of eicosapentaenoic acid (n-3 fatty acid), the allergy group showed higher levels of this compound in comparison to vegetarians. CONCLUSIONS: Significantly higher concentration of linoleic acid in vegetarian children in comparison to allergy group indicated possible alternative path of lipid metabolism in studied groups, and in consequence, some elements of vegetarian diet may promote protection against allergy."}
{"id": "MED-4551", "text": "Interest has increased in the possibility that maternal dietary intake during pregnancy might influence the development of allergic disorders in children. The present prospective study examined the association of maternal intake of selected foods high in fatty acids and specific types of fatty acids during pregnancy with the risk of suspected atopic eczema among Japanese infants aged 3-4 months. Subjects were 771 mother-child pairs. Information on maternal dietary intake during pregnancy was assessed with a validated self-administered diet history questionnaire. The term 'suspected atopic eczema' was used to define an outcome based on results of our questionnaire completed by mothers 3-4 months postpartum. The risk of suspected atopic eczema was 8.4% (n = 65). Higher maternal intake of meat during pregnancy was significantly associated with an increased risk of suspected atopic eczema in the offspring: the multivariate odds ratio (OR) for the highest vs. lowest quartile was 2.59 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-6.17, p for trend = 0.01]. The positive association was strengthened when the definition of the outcome was confined to a definite physician's diagnosis of atopic eczema (n = 35): the multivariate OR between extreme quartiles was 3.53 (95% CI: 1.19-12.23, p for trend = 0.02). No material exposure-response relationships were observed between maternal intake of eggs, dairy products, fish, total fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid and cholesterol and the ratio of n-3 to n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption and the risk of suspected atopic eczema. Higher maternal meat intake may increase the risk of infantile atopic eczema, whereas we found no evidence that maternal intake of fish and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are preventive against infantile atopic eczema. (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S"}
{"id": "MED-4553", "text": "Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common dementing disorder of late life. Although there might be various different triggering events in the early stages of the disease, they seem to converge on a few characteristic final pathways in the late stages, characterized by inflammation and neurodegeneration. In this review, we put forward the hypothesis that advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and their precursors, including methylglyoxal, are both biomarkers and causative agents (\"gerontotoxins\") characteristic for this disorder. Accumulation of AGEs is a normal feature of aging, but is accelerated in AD, where AGEs can be detected in amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. AGE modification may explain many of the neuropathological and biochemical features of AD such as extensive protein cross-linking, inflammation, oxidative stress and neuronal cell death. We suggest that methylglyoxal is one of the major carbonyl species responsible for the formation of AGEs. We propose that one promising pharmacological approach to prevent the formation of AGEs would be to lower the methylglyoxal concentration. This can be achieved, for example, by decreasing the concentration of methylglyoxal precursors such as d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate by allowing a higher flux through the pentose phosphate pathway or by increasing methylglyoxal detoxification through the glyoxalase system. Alternatively, methylglyoxal could be scavenged by various types of carbonyl scavengers. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4554", "text": "Modern diets are largely heat-processed and as a result contain high levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Dietary advanced glycation end products (dAGEs) are known to contribute to increased oxidant stress and inflammation, which are linked to the recent epidemics of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This report significantly expands the available dAGE database, validates the dAGE testing methodology, compares cooking procedures and inhibitory agents on new dAGE formation, and introduces practical approaches for reducing dAGE consumption in daily life. Based on the findings, dry heat promotes new dAGE formation by >10- to 100-fold above the uncooked state across food categories. Animal-derived foods that are high in fat and protein are generally AGE-rich and prone to new AGE formation during cooking. In contrast, carbohydrate-rich foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and milk contain relatively few AGEs, even after cooking. The formation of new dAGEs during cooking was prevented by the AGE inhibitory compound aminoguanidine and significantly reduced by cooking with moist heat, using shorter cooking times, cooking at lower temperatures, and by use of acidic ingredients such as lemon juice or vinegar. The new dAGE database provides a valuable instrument for estimating dAGE intake and for guiding food choices to reduce dAGE intake."}
{"id": "MED-4555", "text": "BACKGROUND: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease is an insidious condition with an 85% chance of death after rupture. Ultrasound screening can reduce mortality, but its use is advocated only for a limited subset of the population at risk. METHODS: We used data from a retrospective cohort of 3.1 million patients who completed a medical and lifestyle questionnaire and were evaluated by ultrasound imaging for the presence of AAA by Life Line Screening in 2003 to 2008. Risk factors associated with AAA were identified using multivariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We observed a positive association with increasing years of smoking and cigarettes smoked and a negative association with smoking cessation. Excess weight was associated with increased risk, whereas exercise and consumption of nuts, vegetables, and fruits were associated with reduced risk. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians had lower risk of AAA than whites and Native Americans. Well-known risk factors were reaffirmed, including male gender, age, family history, and cardiovascular disease. A predictive scoring system was created that identifies aneurysms more efficiently than current criteria and includes women, nonsmokers, and individuals aged <65 years. Using this model on national statistics of risk factors prevalence, we estimated 1.1 million AAAs in the United States, of which 569,000 are among women, nonsmokers, and individuals aged <65 years. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking cessation and a healthy lifestyle are associated with lower risk of AAA. We estimated that about half of the patients with AAA disease are not eligible for screening under current guidelines. We have created a high-yield screening algorithm that expands the target population for screening by including at-risk individuals not identified with existing screening criteria."}
{"id": "MED-4556", "text": "Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) are important, in part because they are used for estimating the percentage of the population at potential risk of adverse effects from excessive nutrient intake. The IOM did not set ULs for trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol because any intake level above 0% of energy increased LDL cholesterol concentration and these three food components are unavoidable in ordinary diets. The purpose of the analysis presented in this review was to evaluate clinical trial and prospective observational data that were not previously considered for setting a UL with the aim of determining whether the current UL model could be used for saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. The results of this analysis confirm the limitations of the risk assessment model for setting ULs because of its inability to identify a UL for food components, such as cholesterol, that lack an intake threshold associated with increased chronic disease risk. \u00a9 2011 International Life Sciences Institute."}
{"id": "MED-4559", "text": "The cardiovascular risk reduction associated with different statins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and the cardiovascular risk increase associated with excess dietary intake of fat have been quantified. However, these relative risks have never been directly juxtaposed to determine whether an increase in relative risk by 1 activity could be neutralized by an opposing change in relative risk from a second activity. The investigators compared the increase in relative risk for cardiovascular disease associated with the total fat and trans fat content of fast foods against the relative risk decrease provided by daily statin consumption from a meta-analysis of statins in primary prevention of coronary artery disease (7 randomized controlled trials including 42,848 patients). The risk reduction associated with the daily consumption of most statins, with the exception of pravastatin, is more powerful than the risk increase caused by the daily extra fat intake associated with a 7-oz hamburger (Quarter Pounder) with cheese and a small milkshake. In conclusion, statin therapy can neutralize the cardiovascular risk caused by harmful diet choices. In other spheres of human activity, individuals choosing risky pursuits (motorcycling, smoking, driving) are advised or compelled to use measures to minimize the risk (safety equipment, filters, seatbelts). Likewise, some individuals eat unhealthily. Routine accessibility of statins in establishments providing unhealthy food might be a rational modern means to offset the cardiovascular risk. Fast food outlets already offer free condiments to supplement meals. A free statin-containing accompaniment would offer cardiovascular benefits, opposite to the effects of equally available salt, sugar, and high-fat condiments. Although no substitute for systematic lifestyle improvements, including healthy diet, regular exercise, weight loss, and smoking cessation, complimentary statin packets would add, at little cost, 1 positive choice to a panoply of negative ones."}
{"id": "MED-4563", "text": "BACKGROUND: The use of nasal irrigation for the treatment of nose and sinus complaints has its foundations in yogic and homeopathic traditions. There has been increasing use of saline irrigation, douches, sprays and rinsing as an adjunct to the medical management of chronic rhinosinusitis. Treatment strategies often include the use of topical saline from once to more than four times a day. Considerable patient effort is often involved. Any additional benefit has been difficult to discern from other treatments. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of topical saline in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis. SEARCH STRATEGY: Our search included the Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders Group Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, Issue 4 2006), MEDLINE (1950 to 2006) and EMBASE (1974 to 2006). The date of the last search was November 2006. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials in which saline was evaluated in comparison with either no treatment, a placebo, as an adjunct to other treatments or against treatments. The comparison of hypertonic versus isotonic solutions was also compared. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Trials were graded for methodological quality using the Cochrane approach (modification of Chalmers 1990). Only symptom scores from saline versus no treatment and symptom and radiological scores from the hypertonic versus isotonic group could be pooled for statistical analysis. A narrative overview of the remaining results is presented. MAIN RESULTS: Eight trials were identified that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Three studies compared topical saline against no treatment, one against placebo, one as an adjunct to and one against an intranasal steroid spray. Two studies compared different hypertonic solutions against isotonic saline. There is evidence that saline is beneficial in the treatment of the symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis when used as the sole modality of treatment. Evidence also exists in favour of saline as a treatment adjunct. No superiority was seen when saline was compared against a reflexology 'placebo'. Saline is not as effective as an intranasal steroid. Some evidence suggests that hypertonic solutions improve objective measures but the impact on symptoms is less clear. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Saline irrigations are well tolerated. Although minor side effects are common, the beneficial effect of saline appears to outweigh these drawbacks for the majority of patients. The use of topical saline could be included as a treatment adjunct for the symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis."}
{"id": "MED-4564", "text": "Rhinosinusitis is one of the most common conditions for which patients seek medical care. Subtypes of rhinosinusitis include acute, subacute, recurrent acute, and chronic. Acute rhinosinusitis is further specified as bacterial or viral. Most cases of acute rhinosinusitis are caused by viral infections associated with the common cold. Symptomatic treatment with analgesics, decongestants, and saline nasal irrigation is appropriate in patients who present with nonsevere symptoms (e.g., mild pain, temperature less than 101\u00b0F [38.3\u00b0C]). Narrow-spectrum antibiotics, such as amoxicillin or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, are recommended in patients with symptoms or signs of acute rhinosinusitis that do not improve after seven days, or that worsen at any time. Limited evidence supports the use of intranasal corticosteroids in patients with acute rhinosinusitis. Radiographic imaging is not recommended in the evaluation of uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis. Computed tomography of the sinuses should not be used for routine evaluation, although it may be used to define anatomic abnormalities and evaluate patients with suspected complications of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis. Rare complications of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis include orbital, intracranial, and bony involvement. If symptoms persist or progress after maximal medical therapy, and if computed tomography shows evidence of sinus disease, referral to an otolaryngologist is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-4565", "text": "OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: This study aimed to assess the clinical relevance of contamination of nasal irrigation bottles in patients with recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Secondary investigations to identify the presence of bacterial biofilms on the inner surface of the bottles and to assess different sterilization methods were also undertaken. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, observational. METHODS: Eleven patients with recalcitrant CRS who were already using nasal irrigation as part of their treatment regimen were examined every 2 weeks for a period of 6 weeks. At each visit, a culture sample was taken from their irrigation bottle and middle meatus, and they were given a new irrigation bottle. Irrigation bottles from six patients were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to detect biofilm formation. Finally, new bottles were inoculated with different strains of Staphylococcus aureus and then cleaned with different methods. The bottles were cultured immediately after cleaning and 48 hours later. RESULTS: Overall, 42 of 43 (97%) bottles collected demonstrated bacterial growth. Concurrent sinonasal and bottle infection with S. aureus was seen in 51% of patients during the study. Bacterial biofilms were demonstrated on the inner surface of four of the six irrigation bottles tested. Treatment with Milton's solution (1% NaOCl plus 19% NaCl) and microwaving were found to be effective methods for sterilizing the bottles both initially after the cleaning and 48 hours later. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who irrigate their nose and sinuses commonly contaminate their irrigation bottle, most often with S. aureus, which can be in the biofilm form. Simple cleaning methods could reduce contamination of the bottles."}
{"id": "MED-4566", "text": "Many patients treated for vitamin D deficiency fail to achieve an adequate serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] despite high doses of ergo- or cholecalciferol. The objective of this study was to determine whether administration of vitamin D supplement with the largest meal of the day would improve absorption and increase serum levels of 25(OH)D. This was a prospective cohort study in an ambulatory tertiary-care referral center. Patients seen at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Bone Clinic for the treatment of vitamin D deficiency who were not responding to treatment make up the study group. Subjects were instructed to take their usual vitamin D supplement with the largest meal of the day. The main outcome measure was the serum 259(OH)D level after 2 to 3 months. Seventeen patients were analyzed. The mean age (+/-SD) and sex (F/M) ratio were 64.5 +/- 11.0 years and 13 females and 4 males, respectively. The dose of 25(OH)D ranged from 1000 to 50,000 IU daily. The mean baseline serum 25(OH)D level (+/-SD) was 30.5 +/- 4.7 ng/mL (range 21.6 to 38.8 ng/mL). The mean serum 25(OH)D level after diet modification (+/-SD) was 47.2 +/- 10.9 ng/mL (range 34.7 to 74.0 ng/mL, p < .01). Overall, the average serum 25(OH)D level increased by 56.7% +/- 36.7%. A subgroup analysis based on the weekly dose of vitamin D was performed, and a similar trend was observed.Thus it is concluded that taking vitamin D with the largest meal improves absorption and results in about a 50% increase in serum levels of 25(OH)D levels achieved. Similar increases were observed in a wide range of vitamin D doses taken for a variety of medical conditions. Copyright 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research."}
{"id": "MED-4573", "text": "Vitamin D is obtained from cutaneous production when 7-dehydrocholesterol is converted to vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) by ultraviolet B radiation or by oral intake of vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3. An individual's vitamin D status is best evaluated by measuring the circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration. Though controversy surrounds the definition of low vitamin D status, there is increasing agreement that the optimal circulating 25(OH)D level should be ~30-32 ng/ml or above. Using this definition, it has been is estimated that approximately three quarters of all adults in the United States are low. Classically, low vitamin D status has skeletal consequences such as osteomalacia/rickets. More recently, associations between low vitamin D status and increased risk for various non-skeletal morbidities have been recognized; whether all of these associations are causally related to low vitamin D status remains to be determined. To achieve optimal vitamin D status, daily intakes of at least 1000 IU or more of vitamin D are required. The risk of toxicity with \u201chigh\u201d amounts of vitamin D intake is low. Substantial between-individual variability exists in response to the same administered vitamin D dose. When to monitor 25(OH)D levels has received little attention. Supplementation with vitamin D3 may be preferable to vitamin D2."}
{"id": "MED-4574", "text": "Mounting evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its correlates to test the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency was common in the US population, especially in certain minority groups. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 to 2006 data were analyzed for vitamin D levels in adult participants (N = 4495). Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations \u226420 ng/mL (50 nmol/L). The overall prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency was 41.6%, with the highest rate seen in blacks (82.1%), followed by Hispanics (69.2%). Vitamin D deficiency was significantly more common among those who had no college education, were obese, with a poor health status, hypertension, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, or not consuming milk daily (all P < .001). Multivariate analyses showed that being from a non-white race, not college educated, obese, having low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, poor health, and no daily milk consumption were all significantly, independently associated with vitamin D deficiency (all P < .05). In summary, vitamin D deficiency was common in the US population, especially among blacks and Hispanics. Given that vitamin D deficiency is linked to some of the important risk factors of leading causes of death in the United States, it is important that health professionals are aware of this connection and offer dietary and other intervention strategies to correct vitamin D deficiency, especially in minority groups. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4575", "text": "Vitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency and likely the most common medical condition in the world. The major cause of vitamin D deficiency has been the lack of appreciation that the body requires 5- to 10-fold higher intakes than is currently recommended by health agencies. There is now overwhelming and compelling scientific and epidemiologic data suggesting that the human body requires a blood level of 25(OH)D above 30 ng/mL for maximum health. To increase the blood level to the minimum 30 ng/mL requires the ingestion of at least 1000 IU of vitamin D per day for adults. In general, there is no downside to increasing either a child's or adult's vitamin D intake. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4578", "text": "This randomized, double-blind, parallel trial assessed the influence of pomegranate juice consumption on anterior and posterior carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) progression rates in subjects at moderate risk for coronary heart disease. Subjects were men (45 to 74 years old) and women (55 to 74 years old) with > or =1 major coronary heart disease risk factor and baseline posterior wall CIMT 0.7 to 2.0 mm, without significant stenosis. Participants consumed 240 ml/day of pomegranate juice (n = 146) or a control beverage (n = 143) for up to 18 months. No significant difference in overall CIMT progression rate was observed between pomegranate juice and control treatments. In exploratory analyses, in subjects in the most adverse tertiles for baseline serum lipid peroxides, triglycerides (TGs), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, TGs/HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein-B100, those in the pomegranate juice group had significantly less anterior wall and/or composite CIMT progression versus control subjects. In conclusion, these results suggest that in subjects at moderate coronary heart disease risk, pomegranate juice consumption had no significant effect on overall CIMT progression rate but may have slowed CIMT progression in subjects with increased oxidative stress and disturbances in the TG-rich lipoprotein/HDL axis."}
{"id": "MED-4580", "text": "Preclinical studies demonstrate that apple juice exerts multiple beneficial effects including reduction of central nervous system oxidative damage, suppression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) hallmarks, improved cognitive performance, and organized synaptic signaling. Herein, we initiated an open-label clinical trial in which 21 institutionalized individuals with moderate-to-severe AD consumed 2 4-oz glasses of apple juice daily for 1 month. Participants demonstrated no change in the Dementia Rating Scale, and institutional caregivers reported no change in Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS)-Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in this brief study. However, caregivers reported an approximate 27% (P < .01) improvement in behavioral and psychotic symptoms associated with dementia as quantified by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, with the largest changes in anxiety, agitation, and delusion. This pilot study suggests that apple juice may be a useful supplement, perhaps to augment pharmacological approaches, for attenuating the decline in mood that accompanies progression of AD, which may also reduce caregiver burden."}
{"id": "MED-4581", "text": "We prospectively examined fruit and vegetable intake in relation to cognitive function and decline among aging women. Participants were followed from in 1976 with biennial questionnaires, and food frequency questionnaires were administered in 1984, 1986, and every 4 years thereafter. From 1995 to 2001, we administered, by telephone, six cognitive tests measuring general cognition, verbal memory, category fluency, and working memory. We repeated assessments two years later for 13,388 women (>90% follow-up). We averaged dietary intakes from 1984 through the first cognitive assessment, and used linear regression to obtain multivariable-adjusted mean differences in performance and decline in performance across intake levels. Fruits were not associated with cognition or cognitive decline. However, total vegetable intake was significantly associated with less decline. Specifically, on a global score combining all tests, women in the highest quintile of cruciferous vegetables declined slower (by 0.04 unit; 95% confidence interval, 0.003, 0.07; p trend = 0.1) compared with the lowest quintile. Women consuming the most green leafy vegetables also experienced slower decline than women consuming the least amount (by 0.05 unit; 95% confidence interval, 0.02, 0.09; p trend < 0.001). These mean differences were equivalent to those observed for women about 1 to 2 years apart in age."}
{"id": "MED-4582", "text": "Objective: Diet may be associated with risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined the association between fruit and vegetable consumption in midlife and risk for all types of dementia and AD. Methods: Participants were 3,779 members of the Swedish Twin Registry who completed a diet questionnaire approximately 30 years prior to cognitive screening and full clinical evaluation for dementia as part of the HARMONY study. Among the participants, 355 twins were diagnosed with dementia. Among these, 81 twin pairs were discordant for dementia (50 discordant for AD). Data were analyzed with logistic regression for the entire sample using generalized estimating equations to adjust for relatedness of twins, and with conditional logistic regression for the co-twin control design. Results: In fully-adjusted models, a medium or great proportion of fruits and vegetables in the diet, compared to no or small, was associated with a decreased risk of dementia and AD. This effect was observed among women and those with angina. Similar, but non-significant, odds ratios were found in the co-twin control analyses. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that higher fruit and vegetable consumption may reduce the risk of dementia, especially among women and those with angina pectoris in midlife."}
{"id": "MED-4583", "text": "Fruits and vegetables are among the most nutritious and healthy of foods, and are related to the prevention of many chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between intake of different plant foods and cognitive performance in elderly individuals in a cross-sectional study. Two thousand and thirty-one elderly subjects (aged 70-74 years; 55% women) recruited from the general population in Western Norway underwent extensive cognitive testing and completed a comprehensive FFQ. The cognitive test battery covered several domains (Kendrick Object Learning Test, Trail Making Test--part A, modified versions of the Digit Symbol Test, Block Design, Mini-Mental State Examination and Controlled Oral Word Association Test). A validated and self-reported FFQ was used to assess habitual food intake. Subjects with intakes of >10th percentile of fruits, vegetables, grain products and mushrooms performed significantly better in cognitive tests than those with very low or no intake. The associations were strongest between cognition and the combined intake of fruits and vegetables, with a marked dose-dependent relationship up to about 500 g/d. The dose-related increase of intakes of grain products and potatoes reached a plateau at about 100-150 g/d, levelling off or decreasing thereafter, whereas the associations were linear for mushrooms. For individual plant foods, the positive cognitive associations of carrots, cruciferous vegetables, citrus fruits and high-fibre bread were most pronounced. The only negative cognitive association was with increased intake of white bread. In the elderly, a diet rich in plant foods is associated with better performance in several cognitive abilities in a dose-dependent manner."}
{"id": "MED-4585", "text": "The total phenolic content of 13 commercially available fruit juices and juice drinks, selected to represent the most popular juice flavors in the United Kingdom, were analyzed using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. Individual phenolic compounds were identified and quantified using HPLC-PDA-MS2. The catechin content and degree of polymerization of proanthocyanidins were also analyzed. Purple grape juice contained the largest number of individual phenolic compounds and also the highest concentration of total phenolics. The main components were flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins, and hydroxycinnamates, which accounted for 93% of the total phenolic content. In contrast, white grape juice, which contained principally hydroxycinnamates, had the lowest total phenolic content. Antioxidant activity was measured using the ORAC and FRAP assays, and the data obtained were in broad agreement with total phenol content. In view of the recent findings of the Kame project indicating that long-term fruit juice consumption can provide protection against Alzheimer's disease (Dai et al. Am. J. Med. 2006, 379, 464-475), it is suggested that the protective effects may be enhanced by consumption of a combination of juices rich in phenolics and containing a diverse variety of individual phenolic compounds, namely, juices derived from purple grapes, grapefruit, cranberries, and apples."}
{"id": "MED-4587", "text": "A polyphenol-rich (P-R) juice drink was developed as a potential approach to increase intake of dietary polyphenols. Analysis of the beverage by HPLC with PDA, fluorescence, and MS detection facilitated the identification/partial identification of 40 flavonoids and related phenolic compounds. The main constituents were (-)-epigallocatechin and other green tea flavan-3-ols, phloretin-2'-O-glucoside, gallic acid, hesperetin-7-O-rutinoside, 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, and procyanidins, with trace levels of several flavonols and purple grape juice anthocyanins also being present. Healthy human subjects (n = 10) consumed 350 mL of the P-R juice drink, after which plasma and urine samples were collected over a 0-24 h period. HPLC-MS analysis identified 13 metabolites in plasma and a further 20 in urine. Qualitatively, the profiles of the glucuronide, sulfated, and methylated metabolites were very similar to those detected in earlier investigations when the main components in the juice drink were consumed separately in feeding studies with coffee, green tea, orange juice, and apple cider."}
{"id": "MED-4593", "text": "AIMS: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contamination of retail meat and to determine the level of contamination. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pork (pork chops and ground pork), ground beef and chicken (legs, wings and thighs) were purchased at retail outlets in four Canadian provinces and tested for the presence of methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus using qualitative and quantitative methods. MRSA was isolated from 9.6% of pork, 5.6% of beef and 1.2% of chicken samples (P = 0.0002). Low levels of MRSA were typically present, with 37% below the detection threshold for quantification and <100 CFU g(-1) present in most quantifiable samples. All isolates were classified as Canadian epidemic MRSA-2 (CMRSA-2) by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), with two different PFGE subtypes, and were spa type 24/t242. CONCLUSIONS: MRSA contamination of retail meat is not uncommon. While CMRSA-2, a human epidemic clone, has been found in pigs in Canada, the lack of isolation of livestock-associated ST398 was surprising. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The relevance of MRSA contamination of meat is unclear but investigation is required because of the potential for exposure from food handling. Sources of contamination require investigation because these results suggest that human or animal sources could be involved."}
{"id": "MED-4594", "text": "Researchers, veterinary and health care practitioners, and agricultural producers gathered in Johnston, Iowa, to attend the eighth annual Midwest Rural Agricultural Safety and Health Forum (MRASH), November 2009. Among several focus areas, four plenary talks were given on the current research being conducted examining methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on swine farms in the United States. These focused on prevalence of MRSA on farms, both in swine and in human workers; the presence of MRSA in air samples and in swine barn shower facilities; and the presence of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus in retail meats. These findings begin to elucidate the overall picture of livestock-associated MRSA in the Midwestern United States."}
{"id": "MED-4596", "text": "Two major changes in the epidemiology of non-typhoidal salmonellosis have occurred during the second half of the 20th century. First, Salmonella typhimurium strains resistant to multiple antibiotics have emerged and spread within populations of food animals. Secondly, Salmonella enteritidis has emerged as a major egg-associated pathogen. This article reviews available data on the origins of the human epidemics."}
{"id": "MED-4598", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practices of public-sector primary-care health professionals and final-year students regarding the role of nutrition, physical activity and smoking cessation (lifestyle modification) in the management of chronic diseases of lifestyle within the public health-care sector. DESIGN: A comparative cross-sectional descriptive quantitative study was conducted in thirty primary health-care facilities and four tertiary institutions offering medical and/or nursing programmes in Cape Town in the Western Cape Metropole. Stratified random sampling, based on geographical location, was used to select the health facilities while convenience sampling was used to select students at the tertiary institutions. A validated self-administered knowledge test was used to obtain data from the health professionals. RESULTS: Differential lifestyle modification knowledge exists among both health professionals and students, with less than 10 % achieving the desired scores of 80 % or higher. The majority of health professionals seem to be promoting the theoretical concepts of lifestyle modification but experience difficulty in providing practical advice to patients. Of the health professionals evaluated, doctors appeared to have the best knowledge of lifestyle modification. Lack of time, lack of patient adherence and language barriers were given as the main barriers to providing lifestyle counselling. CONCLUSIONS: The undergraduate curricula of medical and nursing students should include sufficient training on lifestyle modification, particularly practical advice on diet, physical activity and smoking cessation. Health professionals working at primary health-care facilities should be updated by providing lifestyle modification education as part of continuing medical education."}
{"id": "MED-4600", "text": "Enough solid evidence now exists to offer women several fundamental strategies for healthy eating. They include emphasizing healthful unsaturated fats, whole grains, good protein \u201cpackages,\u201d and fruits and vegetables; limiting consumption of trans and saturated fats, highly refined grains, and sugary beverages; and taking a multivitamin with folic acid and extra vitamin D as a nutritional safety net. A diet based on these principles is healthy through virtually all life stages, from young adulthood through planning for pregnancy, pregnancy, and on into old age."}
{"id": "MED-4602", "text": "The strategy of \"manufacturing uncertainty\" has been used with great success by polluters and manufacturers of dangerous products to oppose public health and environmental regulation. This strategy entails questioning the validity of scientific evidence on which the regulation is based. While this approach is most identified with the tobacco industry, it has been used by producers of asbestos, benzene, beryllium, chromium, diesel exhaust, lead, plastics, and other hazardous products to avoid environmental and occupational health regulation. It is also central to the debate on global warming. The approach is now so common that it is unusual for the science not to be challenged by an industry facing regulation. Manufacturing uncertainty has become a business in itself; numerous technical consulting firms provide a service often called \"product defense\" or \"litigation support.\" As these names imply, the usual objective of these activities is not to generate knowledge to protect public health but to protect a corporation whose products are alleged to have toxic properties. Evidence in the scientific literature of the funding effect--the close correlation between the results of a study desired by a study's funder and the reported results of that study--suggests that the financial interest of a study's sponsors should be taken into account when considering the study's findings. Similarly, the interpretation of data by scientists with financial conflicts should be seen in this light. Manufacturing uncertainty is antithetical to the public health principle that decisions be made using the best evidence currently available."}
{"id": "MED-4603", "text": "Background The US diet is high in salt, with the majority coming from processed foods. Reducing dietary salt is an important potential public health target. Methods We used the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Policy Model to quantify the benefits of potentially achievable population-wide reductions in dietary salt of up to 3 gm/day (1200 mg/day of sodium). We estimated cardiovascular disease rates and costs in age, sex, and race subgroups, compared salt reduction with other interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk, and determined the cost-effectiveness of salt reduction compared with drug treatment of hypertension. Results Reducing salt by 3 gm/day is projected to result in 60,000\u2013120,000 fewer new CHD cases, 32,000\u201366,000 fewer new strokes, 54,000\u201399,000 fewer myocardial infarctions, and 44,000\u201392,000 fewer deaths from any cause annually. All segments of the population would benefit, with blacks benefiting proportionately more, women benefiting particularly from stroke reduction, older adults from reductions in CHD events, and younger adults from lower mortality rates. The cardiovascular benefits from lower salt are on par with benefits from reducing tobacco, obesity, or cholesterol. A regulatory intervention designed to achieve 3 gm/day salt reduction would save 194,000\u2013392,000 quality-adjusted life-years and $10\u201324 billion in healthcare costs annually. Such an intervention would be cost-saving even if only a modest 1 gm/day reduction were achieved gradually over the decade from 2010\u20132019 and would be more cost-effective than treating all hypertensive individuals with medications. Conclusions Modest reduction in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target."}
{"id": "MED-4604", "text": "We determined the genotoxicity of 39 chemicals currently in use as food additives. They fell into six categories-dyes, color fixatives and preservatives, preservatives, antioxidants, fungicides, and sweeteners. We tested groups of four male ddY mice once orally with each additive at up to 0.5xLD(50) or the limit dose (2000mg/kg) and performed the comet assay on the glandular stomach, colon, liver, kidney, urinary bladder, lung, brain, and bone marrow 3 and 24h after treatment. Of all the additives, dyes were the most genotoxic. Amaranth, Allura Red, New Coccine, Tartrazine, Erythrosine, Phloxine, and Rose Bengal induced dose-related DNA damage in the glandular stomach, colon, and/or urinary bladder. All seven dyes induced DNA damage in the gastrointestinal organs at a low dose (10 or 100mg/kg). Among them, Amaranth, Allura Red, New Coccine, and Tartrazine induced DNA damage in the colon at close to the acceptable daily intakes (ADIs). Two antioxidants (butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)), three fungicides (biphenyl, sodium o-phenylphenol, and thiabendazole), and four sweeteners (sodium cyclamate, saccharin, sodium saccharin, and sucralose) also induced DNA damage in gastrointestinal organs. Based on these results, we believe that more extensive assessment of food additives in current use is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-4606", "text": "The present study evaluates the genotoxic potential of potassium sorbate (PS) in cultured and isolated human lymphocytes. To assess the damage caused by PS in humans, we designed in vitro experiments by measuring chromosomal aberrations (CAs), sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs), micronucleus (MN) and comet assays. Lymphocytes were treated with negative control (sterile distilled water), positive control (MMC for cultured lymphocytes, and H(2)O(2) for isolated lymphocytes) and four concentrations (125, 250, 500, and 1000 microg/ml) of PS. According to the results, PS treatment significantly increases the CAs (with or without gaps at 500 and 1000 microg/ml concentrations) and SCEs (at 250, 500, 1000 microg/ml for 24h and 125, 250, 500, 1000 microg/ml for 48h) compared with vehicle control. Following treatment of the isolated lymphocytes for 1h, significant PS-induced DNA strand breaks were observed, at all concentrations. However, PS failed to significantly affect the MN assay. On the contrary, PS does not cause cell cycle delay as noted by the non-significant decrease in the cytokinesis-block proliferation index (CBPI) and replicative index (RI). Only a slight decrease was observed in the mitotic index (MI) at the highest concentration for both treatment times. From the results, PS is clearly seen to be genotoxic to the human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4607", "text": "The ability of sorbic acid and its potassium and sodium salts to induce chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and gene mutations in cultured Chinese hamster V79 cells was examined. Sodium sorbate caused significant induction of chromosome aberrations and SCE, and also induced 6-thioguanine-resistant mutations in a dose-dependent manner. The clastogenic potency of sodium sorbate was found to be less than one hundredth of that of the potent clastogen N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. The induction of SCE by sodium sorbate was twice the control level, whereas that by methyl methanesulphonate, a potent inducer of SCE, was 14 times the control level. The mutagenic potency of sodium sorbate was less than one-tenth that of ethyl methanesulphonate, a potent inducer of mutation, when compared at an equitoxic level. Sorbic acid and its potassium salt induced chromosome aberrations, but only at the highest doses tested. These compounds also induced 1.2 times the control level of SCE, but neither compound induced 6-thioguanine-resistant mutations. The cytogenetic activity of sodium sorbate was concluded not to be due to the effect of osmotic pressure or an impurity. These results indicate that sodium sorbate is a genotoxic agent, although its potency seems to be weak, and that sorbic acid and potassium sorbate are less genotoxic than the sodium salt."}
{"id": "MED-4609", "text": "Two pandemics of heart attack deaths have plagued the world's population during the past 130 years. The first pandemic, induced by beriberi, was caused by the industrial revolution altering the nutritional composition of rice. By 1892 a simple working knowledge, then at hand, could have terminated the beriberi plague; however, orthodox medicine being then enchanted with the false concept that all disease was caused by germs, permitted millions of Asians to die needlessly of beriberi by refusing to tell them to eat rice bran or to drink rice bran tea. A second pandemic of heart attack deaths, called myocardial infarction (MI), struck the developed nations of the Western World in full force after 1930. As a hypothesis, it is suggested that this MI pandemic, still raging today, was caused by a change in food processing that occurred after 1920, when the new oil seed industry introduced into our food three greatly harmful lipid substances. The unnatural trans-trans isomer of linoleic acid, which had never been in human food prior to 1920 and which entered our food in margarines and refined oils, blocked the conversion of natural cis-cis linoleic acid to prostaglandin E1, which tends to prevent MI, both by acting as a vasodilator and by minimizing platelet aggregation. Harmful lactones were also introduced into our food, increasing the risk of MI by decreasing the fibrinolytic activity of our blood. The oil seed industry also introduced into our diet free radical lipid peroxides that make the myocardium more vulnerable to infarction. It is suggested that except for the one in 500 of us who is afflicted by familial hypercholesterolemia, the cholesterol concept of MI is as false today as was the concept in 1900 that germs caused beriberi. It is further suggested that a working knowledge is at hand today that can make death from MI just as rare as death is now from a beriberi-induced heart attack."}
{"id": "MED-4612", "text": "Amino acids modulate the secretion of both insulin and glucagon; the composition of dietary protein therefore has the potential to influence the balance of glucagon and insulin activity. Soy protein, as well as many other vegan proteins, are higher in non-essential amino acids than most animal-derived food proteins, and as a result should preferentially favor glucagon production. Acting on hepatocytes, glucagon promotes (and insulin inhibits) cAMP-dependent mechanisms that down-regulate lipogenic enzymes and cholesterol synthesis, while up-regulating hepatic LDL receptors and production of the IGF-I antagonist IGFBP-1. The insulin-sensitizing properties of many vegan diets--high in fiber, low in saturated fat--should amplify these effects by down-regulating insulin secretion. Additionally, the relatively low essential amino acid content of some vegan diets may decrease hepatic IGF-I synthesis. Thus, diets featuring vegan proteins can be expected to lower elevated serum lipid levels, promote weight loss, and decrease circulating IGF-I activity. The latter effect should impede cancer induction (as is seen in animal studies with soy protein), lessen neutrophil-mediated inflammatory damage, and slow growth and maturation in children. In fact, vegans tend to have low serum lipids, lean physiques, shorter stature, later puberty, and decreased risk for certain prominent 'Western' cancers; a vegan diet has documented clinical efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis. Low-fat vegan diets may be especially protective in regard to cancers linked to insulin resistance--namely, breast and colon cancer--as well as prostate cancer; conversely, the high IGF-I activity associated with heavy ingestion of animal products may be largely responsible for the epidemic of 'Western' cancers in wealthy societies. Increased phytochemical intake is also likely to contribute to the reduction of cancer risk in vegans. Regression of coronary stenoses has been documented during low-fat vegan diets coupled with exercise training; such regimens also tend to markedly improve diabetic control and lower elevated blood pressure. Risk of many other degenerative disorders may be decreased in vegans, although reduced growth factor activity may be responsible for an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke. By altering the glucagon/insulin balance, it is conceivable that supplemental intakes of key non-essential amino acids could enable omnivores to enjoy some of the health advantages of a vegan diet. An unnecessarily high intake of essential amino acids--either in the absolute sense or relative to total dietary protein--may prove to be as grave a risk factor for 'Western' degenerative diseases as is excessive fat intake."}
{"id": "MED-4613", "text": "The world's advanced countries have easy access to plentiful high-fat food; ironically, it is this rich diet that produces atherosclerosis. In the world's poorer nations, many people subsist on a primarily plant-based diet, which is far healthier, especially in terms of heart disease. To treat coronary heart disease, a century of scientific investigation has produced a device-driven, risk factor-oriented strategy. Nevertheless, many patients treated with this approach experience progressive disability and death. This strategy is a rear-guard defensive one. In contrast, compelling data from nutritional studies, population surveys, and interventional studies support the effectiveness of a plant-based diet and aggressive lipid lowering to arrest, prevent, and selectively reverse heart disease. In essence, this is an offensive strategy. The single biggest step toward adopting this strategy would be to have United States dietary guidelines support a plant-based diet. An expert committee purged of industrial and political influence is required to assure that science is the basis for dietary recommendations. (c)2001 CHF, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4615", "text": "Investigators collected and analyzed mortality data for >50 diseases, including 7 different cancers, from 65 counties and 130 villages in rural mainland China. Blood, urine, food samples, and detailed dietary data were collected from 50 adults in each village and analyzed for a variety of nutritional, viral, hormonal, and toxic chemical factors. In rural China, fat intake was less than half that in the United States, and fiber intake was 3 times higher. Animal protein intake was very low, only about 10% of the US intake. Mean serum total cholesterol was 127 mg/dL in rural China versus 203 mg/dL for adults aged 20-74 years in the United States. Coronary artery disease mortality was 16.7-fold greater for US men and 5.6-fold greater for US women than for their Chinese counterparts. The combined coronary artery disease mortality rates for both genders in rural China were inversely associated with the frequency of intake of green vegetables and plasma erythrocyte monounsaturated fatty acids, but positively associated with a combined index of salt intake plus urinary sodium and plasma apolipoprotein B. These apolipoproteins, in turn, are positively associated with animal protein intake and the frequency of meat intake and inversely associated with plant protein, legume, and light-colored vegetable intake. Rates of other diseases were also correlated with dietary factors. There was no evidence of a threshold beyond which further benefits did not accrue with increasing proportions of plant-based foods in the diet."}
{"id": "MED-4616", "text": "In a prospective, randomised, controlled trial to determine whether comprehensive lifestyle changes affect coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year, 28 patients were assigned to an experimental group (low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training, and moderate exercise) and 20 to a usual-care control group. 195 coronary artery lesions were analysed by quantitative coronary angiography. The average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 40.0 (SD 16.9)% to 37.8 (16.5)% in the experimental group yet progressed from 42.7 (15.5)% to 46.1 (18.5)% in the control group. When only lesions greater than 50% stenosed were analysed, the average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 61.1 (8.8)% to 55.8 (11.0)% in the experimental group and progressed from 61.7 (9.5)% to 64.4 (16.3)% in the control group. Overall, 82% of experimental-group patients had an average change towards regression. Comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to bring about regression of even severe coronary atherosclerosis after only 1 year, without use of lipid-lowering drugs."}
{"id": "MED-4617", "text": "The need for consistent and current data describing the true incidence of SCA and/or SCD was highlighted during the most recent Sudden Cardiac Arrest Thought Leadership Alliance\u2019s (SCATLA) Think Tank meeting of national experts with broad representation of key stakeholders including thought leaders and representatives from the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the Heart Rhythm Society. As such, to evaluate the true magnitude of this public health problem, we performed a systematic literature search in MEDLINE using the MeSH headings, \u201cdeath, sudden\u201d OR the terms \u201csudden cardiac death\u201d OR \u201csudden cardiac arrest\u201d OR \u201ccardiac arrest\u201d OR \u201ccardiac death\u201d OR \u201csudden death\u201d OR \u201carrhythmic death.\u201d Study selection criteria included peer-reviewed publications of primary data used to estimate SCD incidence in the U.S. We used Web of Science\u00ae\u2019s Cited Reference Search to evaluate the impact of each primary estimate on the medical literature by determining the number of times each \u201cprimary source\u201d has been cited. The estimated U.S. annual incidence of SCD varied widely from 180,000 to > 450,000 among 6 included studies. These different estimates were in part due to different data sources (with data age ranging from 1980 to 2007), definitions of SCD, case ascertainment criteria, methods of estimation/extrapolation, and sources of case ascertainment. The true incidence of SCA and/or SCD in the U.S. remains unclear with a wide range in the available estimates, which are badly dated. As reliable estimates of SCD incidence are important for improving risk stratification and prevention, future efforts are clearly needed to establish uniform definitions of SCA and SCD and then to prospectively and precisely capture cases of SCA and SCD in the overall U.S. population."}
{"id": "MED-4618", "text": "Persea americana is much sought after both for the nutritional value of its fruit and the medicinal values of its various plant parts. A chromosomal aberration assay was undertaken to evaluate the potential genotoxicity of crude extracts from avocado fruits and leaves. Chromosomal aberrations were observed in cultured human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to separately increasing concentrations of 50% methanolic extracts of Persea americana fruit and leaves. The groups exposed to leaf and fruit extracts, respectively, showed a concentration-dependent increase in chromosomal aberrations as compared to that in a control group. The mean percentage total aberrant metaphases at 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 300 mg/kg concentrations of leaf extract were found respectively to be 58 \u00b1 7.05, 72 \u00b1 6.41, and 78 \u00b1 5.98, which were significantly higher (p < 0.0001 each) than that in the control group (6 \u00b1 3.39). The mean percentage total aberrant metaphases at 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 300 mg/kg concentrations of fruit extract were found to be 18 \u00b1 5.49, 40 \u00b1 10.00, and 52 \u00b1 10.20, respectively, which were significantly higher (p = 0.033, p < 0.0001, and p < 0.0001, respectively) than that for control (6 \u00b1 3.39). Acrocentric associations and premature centromeric separation were the two most common abnormalities observed in both the exposed groups. The group exposed to leaf extracts also showed a significant number of a variety of other structural aberrations, including breaks, fragments, dicentrics, terminal deletion, minutes, and Robertsonian translocations. The group exposed to leaf extract showed higher frequency of all types of aberrations at equal concentrations as compared to the group exposed to fruit extract."}
{"id": "MED-4619", "text": "Avocados have a high content of phytochemicals with potential chemopreventive activity. Previously we reported that phytochemicals extracted from avocado meat into a chloroform partition (D003) selectively induced apoptosis in cancer but not normal, human oral epithelial cell lines. In the present study, we observed that treatment of human oral cancer cell lines containing high levels of reactive oxygen (ROS) with D003 increased ROS levels twofold to threefold and induced apoptosis. In contrast, ROS levels increased only 1.3-fold, and apoptosis was not induced in the normal cell lines containing much lower levels of basal ROS. When cellular ROS levels in the malignant cell lines were reduced by N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), cells were resistant to D003 induced apoptosis. NAC also delayed the induction of apoptosis in dominant negative FADD-expressing malignant cell lines. D003 increased ROS levels via mitochondrial complex I in the electron transport chain to induce apoptosis. Normal human oral epithelial cell lines transformed with HPV16 E6 or E7 expressed higher basal levels of ROS and became sensitive to D003. These data suggest that perturbing the ROS levels in human oral cancer cell lines may be a key factor in selective apoptosis and molecular targeting for chemoprevention by phytochemicals."}
{"id": "MED-4621", "text": "The aqueous seed extract of Persea americana Mill (Lauraceae) is used by herbalists in Nigeria for the management of hypertension. As part of our on-going scientific evaluation of the extract, we designed the present study to assess its acute and sub-acute toxicity profiles in rats. Experiments were conducted to determine the oral median lethal dose (LD50) and other gross toxicological manifestations on acute basis. In the sub-acute experiments, the animals were administered 2.5 g/kg (p.o) per day of the extract for 28 consecutive days. Animal weight and fluid intake were recorded during the 28 days period. Terminally, kidneys, hearts, blood/sera were obtained for weight, haematological and biochemical markers of toxicity. Results show that the LD50 could not be determined after a maximum dose of 10 g/kg. Sub-acute treatment with the extract neither affected whole body weight nor organ-to-body weight ratios but significantly increased the fluid intake (P < 0.0001). Haematological parameters and the levels of ALT, AST, albumin and creatinine were not significantly altered. However, the concentration of total proteins was significantly increased in the treated group. In conclusion, the aqueous seed extract of P. americana is safe on sub-acute basis but extremely high doses may not be advisable."}
{"id": "MED-4622", "text": "We developed a probabilistic model to characterize the plausible distribution of health and economic benefits that would accrue to the U.S. population following reduction of methyl mercury (MeHg) exposure. MeHg, a known human developmental neurotoxicant, may increase fatal heart attack risks. Model parameters reflect current understanding of the relationships between MeHg intake, health risks, and societal valuation of these risks. The expected monetary value of the annual health benefits generated by a 10% reduction in U.S. population exposure to MeHg for one year is $860 million; 80% of this is associated with reductions in fatal heart attacks and the remainder with IQ gains. The plausible distribution of the benefits is quite broad with 5th and 95th percentile estimates of approximately $50 million and $3.5 billion, respectively. The largest source of uncertainty is whether epidemiological associations between MeHg exposure and fatal heart attacks reflect causality. The next largest sources of uncertainty concern the slope of the relationship between maternal MeHg exposure and reduced intelligence among children and whether this relationship exhibits a threshold. Our analysis suggests that the possible causal relationship between MeHg exposure and fatal heart attacks should be better characterized, using additional epidemiological studies and formally elicited expert judgment."}
{"id": "MED-4626", "text": "Chicken meat with reduced concentration of arachidonic acid (AA) and reduced ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids has potential health benefits because a reduction in AA intake dampens prostanoid signaling, and the proportion between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is too high in our diet. Analyses for fatty acid determination are expensive, and finding the optimal number of analyses to give reliable results is a challenge. The objective of the present study was i) to analyse the intraclass correlation of different fatty acids in five meat samples, of one gram each, within the same chicken thigh, and ii) to study individual variations in the concentrations of a range of fatty acids and the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid concentrations among fifteen chickens. Fifteen newly hatched broilers were fed a wheat-based diet containing 4% rapeseed oil and 1% linseed oil for three weeks. Five muscle samples from the mid location of the thigh of each chicken were analysed for fatty acid composition. The intraclass correlation (sample correlation within the same animal) was 0.85-0.98 for the ratios of total omega-6 to total omega-3 fatty acids and of AA to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This indicates that when studying these fatty acid ratios, one sample of one gram per animal is sufficient. However, due to the high individual variation between chicken for these ratios, a relatively high number of animals (minimum 15) are required to obtain a sufficiently high power to reveal significant effects of experimental factors (e.g. feeding regimes). The present experiment resulted in meat with a favorable concentration ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. The AA concentration varied from 1.5 to 2.8 g/100 g total fatty acids in thigh muscle in the fifteen broilers, and the ratio between AA and EPA concentrations ranged from 2.3 to 3.9. These differences among the birds may be due to genetic variance that can be exploited by breeding for lower AA concentration and/or a more favorable AA/EPA ratio to produce meat with health benefits."}
{"id": "MED-4627", "text": "The emerging role of chronic inflammation in the major degenerative diseases of modern society has stimulated research into the influence of nutrition and dietary patterns on inflammatory indices. Most human studies have correlated analyses of habitual dietary intake as determined by a food frequency questionnaire or 24-hour recall with systemic markers of inflammation like high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HS-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-\u03b1). An occasional study also includes nutrition analysis of blood components. There have been several controlled interventions which evaluated the effect of a change in dietary pattern or of single foods on inflammatory markers in defined populations. Most studies reveal a modest effect of dietary composition on some inflammatory markers in free-living adults, although different markers do not vary in unison. Significant dietary influences have been established for glycemic index (GI) and load (GL), fiber, fatty acid composition, magnesium, carotenoids, and flavonoids. A traditional Mediterranean dietary pattern, which typically has a high ratio of monounsaturated (MUFA) to saturated (SFA) fats and \u03c9-3 to \u03c9-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) and supplies an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains, has shown anti-inflammatory effects when compared with typical North American and Northern European dietary patterns in most observational and interventional studies and may become the diet of choice for diminishing chronic inflammation in clinical practice."}
{"id": "MED-4628", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: Dietary arachidonic acid, an n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-6 PUFA), might be involved in the etiology of ulcerative colitis (UC). We performed a prospective cohort study to determine whether high levels of arachidonic acid in adipose tissue samples (which reflects dietary intake) are associated with UC. METHODS: We analyzed data collected from 57,053 men and women in the EPIC-Denmark Prospective Cohort Study from 1993 to 1997. Adipose tissue biopsy samples were collected from gluteal regions at the beginning of the study, the cohort was monitored over subsequent years, and participants who developed UC were identified. A subcohort of 2510 randomly selected participants were used as controls. Concentrations of arachidonic acid were measured in adipose tissue samples. In the analysis, arachidonic acid levels were divided into quartiles; relative risks (RR) were calculated and adjusted for smoking, use of aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and levels of n-3 PUFAs. RESULTS: A total of 34 subjects (56% men) developed incident UC at a median age of 58.8 years (range, 50.0-69.0 years). Those in the highest quartile for arachidonic acid concentrations in adipose tissue had an RR for UC of 4.16 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.56-11.04); a trend per 0.1% increase in arachidonic acid of 1.77 in RR was observed (95% CI: 1.38-2.27). The fraction attributed the highest levels of arachidonic acid was 40.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with the highest relative concentrations of arachidonic acid in adipose tissue have a significantly greater risk of developing UC. Dietary modifications might therefore prevent UC or reduce disease symptoms. Copyright \u00a9 2010 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4630", "text": "Arachidonic acid (AA)-derived eicosanoids belong to a complex family of lipid mediators that regulate a wide variety of physiological responses and pathological processes. They are produced by various cell types through distinct enzymatic pathways and act on target cells via specific G-protein-coupled receptors. Although originally recognized for their capacity to elicit biological responses such as vascular homeostasis, protection of the gastric mucosa and platelet aggregation, eicosanoids are now understood to regulate immunopathological processes ranging from inflammatory responses to chronic tissue remodelling, cancer, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune disorders. Here, we review the major properties of eicosanoids and their expanding roles in biology and medicine."}
{"id": "MED-4632", "text": "Vegetarians have an apparent diminished risk for the development of ischemic coronary heart disease. This may be secondary to dietary effects of plasma lipids and lipoproteins, but platelets, which may also play a role, have also been observed to have aberrant functions in vegetarians. We measured plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels, platelet function, platelet fatty acid levels, and platelet active prostaglandins in ten strict vegetarians (vegans), 15 lactovegetarians, and 25 age- and sex-matched omnivorous controls. The most striking observations were a highly significant rise in platelet linoleic acid concentration and a decline in platelet arachidonic acid concentration in both vegetarian subgroups as compared with omnivorous controls. Serum thromboxane and prostacyclin levels as well as results of platelet aggregation studies did not differ among the groups tested. Cholesterol levels were significantly lower in both vegetarian groups as compared with controls, but plasma high- and low-density lipoprotein levels were lower only in the vegan subgroup as compared with omnivores. If diet produces these changes in platelet fatty acid and plasma lipid levels it may contribute to the decreased risk of coronary heart disease and possibly atherosclerosis in vegetarians."}
{"id": "MED-4633", "text": "Background The physical health status of vegetarians has been extensively reported, but there is limited research regarding the mental health status of vegetarians, particularly with regard to mood. Vegetarian diets exclude fish, the major dietary source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), critical regulators of brain cell structure and function. Omnivorous diets low in EPA and DHA are linked to impaired mood states in observational and experimental studies. Methods We examined associations between mood state and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake as a result of adherence to a vegetarian or omnivorous diet in a cross-sectional study of 138 healthy Seventh Day Adventist men and women residing in the Southwest. Participants completed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), and Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaires. Results Vegetarians (VEG:n = 60) reported significantly less negative emotion than omnivores (OMN:n = 78) as measured by both mean total DASS and POMS scores (8.32 \u00b1 0.88 vs 17.51 \u00b1 1.88, p = .000 and 0.10 \u00b1 1.99 vs 15.33 \u00b1 3.10, p = .007, respectively). VEG reported significantly lower mean intakes of EPA (p < .001), DHA (p < .001), as well as the omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA; p < .001), and reported higher mean intakes of shorter-chain \u03b1-linolenic acid (p < .001) and linoleic acid (p < .001) than OMN. Mean total DASS and POMS scores were positively related to mean intakes of EPA (p < 0.05), DHA (p < 0.05), and AA (p < 0.05), and inversely related to intakes of ALA (p < 0.05), and LA (p < 0.05), indicating that participants with low intakes of EPA, DHA, and AA and high intakes of ALA and LA had better mood. Conclusions The vegetarian diet profile does not appear to adversely affect mood despite low intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids."}
{"id": "MED-4635", "text": "The increased flow of goods, people, and ideas associated with globalization have contributed to an increase in noncommunicable diseases in much of the world. One response has been to encourage lifestyle changes with educational programmes, thus controlling the lifestyle-related disease. Key assumptions with this approach are that people's food preferences are linked to their consumption patterns, and that consumption patterns can be transformed through educational initiatives. To investigate these assumptions, and policies that derive from it, we undertook a broad-based survey of food-related issues in the Kingdom of Tonga using a questionnaire. Data on the relationships between food preferences, perception of nutritional value, and frequency of consumption were gathered for both traditional and imported foods. The results show that the consumption of health-compromising imported foods was unrelated either to food preferences or to perceptions of nutritional value, and suggests that diet-related diseases may not be amenable to interventions based on education campaigns. Given recent initiatives towards trade liberalization and the creation of the World Trade Organization, tariffs or import bans may not serve as alternative measures to control consumption. This presents significant challenges to health policy-makers serving economically marginal populations and suggests that some population health concerns cannot be adequately addressed without awareness of the effects of global trade."}
{"id": "MED-4639", "text": "Low fecal weight and slow bowel transit time are thought to be associated with bowel cancer risk, but few published data defining bowel habits in different communities exist. Therefore, data on stool weight were collected from 20 populations in 12 countries to define this risk more accurately, and the relationship between stool weight and dietary intake of nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) (dietary fiber) was quantified. In 220 healthy U.K. adults undertaking careful fecal collections, median daily stool weight was 106 g/day (men, 104 g/day; women, 99 g/day; P = 0.02) and whole-gut transit time was 60 hours (men, 55 hours; women, 72 hours; P = 0.05); 17% of women, but only 1% of men, passed < 50 g stool/day. Data from other populations of the world show average stool weight to vary from 72 to 470 g/day and to be inversely related to colon cancer risk (r = -0.78). Meta-analysis of 11 studies in which daily fecal weight was measured accurately in 26 groups of people (n = 206) on controlled diets of known NSP content shows a significant correlation between fiber intake and mean daily stool weight (r = 0.84). Stool weight in many Westernized populations is low (80-120 g/day), and this is associated with increased colon cancer risk. Fecal output is increased by dietary NSP. Diets characterized by high NSP intake (approximately 18 g/day) are associated with stool weights of 150 g/day and should reduce the risk of bowel cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4640", "text": "BACKGROUND: The gut and immune system form a complex integrated structure that has evolved to provide effective digestion and defence against ingested toxins and pathogenic bacteria. However, great variation exists in what is considered normal healthy gut and immune function. Thus, whilst it is possible to measure many aspects of digestion and immunity, it is more difficult to interpret the benefits to individuals of variation within what is considered to be a normal range. Nevertheless, it is important to set standards for optimal function for use both by the consumer, industry and those concerned with the public health. The digestive tract is most frequently the object of functional and health claims and a large market already exists for gut-functional foods worldwide. AIM: To define normal function of the gut and immune system and describe available methods of measuring it. RESULTS: We have defined normal bowel habit and transit time, identified their role as risk factors for disease and how they may be measured. Similarly, we have tried to define what is a healthy gut flora in terms of the dominant genera and their metabolism and listed the many, varied and novel methods for determining these parameters. It has proved less easy to provide boundaries for what constitutes optimal or improved gastric emptying, gut motility, nutrient and water absorption and the function of organs such as the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. The many tests of these functions are described. We have discussed gastrointestinal well being. Sensations arising from the gut can be both pleasant and unpleasant. However, the characteristics of well being are ill defined and merge imperceptibly from acceptable to unacceptable, a state that is subjective. Nevertheless, we feel this is an important area for future work and method development. The immune system is even more difficult to make quantitative judgements about. When it is defective, then clinical problems ensure, but this is an uncommon state. The innate and adaptive immune systems work synergistically together and comprise many cellular and humoral factors. The adaptive system is extremely sophisticated and between the two arms of immunity there is great redundancy, which provides robust defences. New aspects of immune function are discovered regularly. It is not clear whether immune function can be \"improved\". Measuring aspects of immune function is possible but there is no one test that will define either the status or functional capacity of the immune system. Human studies are often limited by the ability to sample only blood or secretions such as saliva but it should be remembered that only 2% of lymphocytes circulate at any given time, which limits interpretation of data. We recommend assessing the functional capacity of the immune system by: measuring specific cell functions ex vivo. measuring in vivo responses to challenge, e. g. change in antibody in blood or response to antigens. determining the incidence and severity of infection in target populations during naturally occurring episodes or in response to attenuated pathogens."}
{"id": "MED-4641", "text": "The relation between epithelial dysplasia in nipple aspirates of breast fluid and frequency of bowel movements was studied in 1481 white women. There was a significant positive association with dysplasia (risk ratio 4.5; 95% confidence interval 1.9-11.9) in women reporting severe constipation, i.e., two or fewer bowel movements weekly, which was not seen in women reporting more than one bowel movement daily. Women who had one bowel movement daily or one every other day had increased risk ratios. Cytological abnormalities in breast epithelium associated with severe constipation may be relevant to studies of diet and breast disease since the intestinal flora has been reported to metabolism bile salts and oestrogens secreted by the liver into the gastrointestinal tract-a process which may be enhanced by severe constipation."}
{"id": "MED-4642", "text": "The role of diet in breast cancer (BC) risk is unclear. Fiber could reduce BC risk, through the enterohepatic circulation of estrogens. We examined the relationship between diet and sex hormones in postmenopausal women with or without BC. Thirty-one postmenopausal women (10 omnivores, 11 vegetarians, and 10 BC omnivores) were recruited. Dietary records (5 days) and hormone levels (3 days) were evaluated on 4 occasions over 1 yr. Vegetarians showed a lower fat/fiber ratio, a higher intake of total and cereal fiber (g/d)/body weight (kg), a significantly lower level of plasma estrone-sulfate, estradiol, free-estradiol, free-testosterone, and ring D oxygenated estrogens, and a significantly higher level of sex-hormone-binding-globulin than BC subjects. Fiber was consumed in slightly larger amounts by omnivores than by BC subjects. Omnivores had significantly lower plasma testosterone and estrone-sulfate but higher sex-hormone-binding-globulin than BC subjects. No difference was found for the urinary 16-oxygenated estrogens. However, the 2-MeO-E1/2-OH-E1 ratio was significantly lower in omnivores than in BC group. This ratio is positively associated with the fat/fiber ratio. In conclusion, testosterone may contribute to causing alterations in the levels of catechol estrogens and 16-oxygenated estrogens. The fat/fiber ratio appears to be useful in evaluating dietary effects on estrogen metabolism."}
{"id": "MED-4643", "text": "Breast cancer incidence was monitored in a cohort of 20,341 California Seventh-day Adventist women who completed a detailed lifestyle questionnaire in 1976, and who were followed for 6 years. There were 215 histologically confirmed primary breast cancer detected among some 115,000 person-years of follow-up. Mean age at diagnosis was 66 years, indicating a primarily postmenopausal case series. Established risk factors for breast cancer showed strong relationships to risk in these data. Age at first live birth, maternal history of breast cancer, age at menopause, educational attainment, and obesity were all significantly related to risk. However, increasing consumption of high fat animal products was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer in a consistent fashion. Nor were childhood and early teenage dietary habits (vegetarian versus nonvegetarian) related to subsequent, adult risk of developing breast cancer. Also, a derived index of percent of calories from animal fat in the adult years was not significantly related to risk. These results persisted after simultaneously controlling for other, potentially confounding variables, utilizing Cox proportional hazard regression models."}
{"id": "MED-4644", "text": "We studied 10 vegetarian and 10 nonvegetarian premenopausal women on four occasions approximately four months apart. During each study period, the participants kept three-day dietary records, and estrogens were measured in plasma, urinary, and fecal samples. Vegetarians consumed less total fat than omnivores did (30 per cent of total calories, as compared with 40 per cent) and more dietary fiber (28 g per day, as compared with 12 g). There was a positive correlation between fecal weight and fecal excretion of estrogens in both groups (P less than 0.001), with vegetarians having higher fecal weight and increased fecal excretion of estrogens. Urinary excretion of estriol was lower in vegetarians (P less than 0.05), and their plasma levels of estrone and estradiol were negatively correlated with fecal excretion of estrogen (P = 0.005). Among the vegetarians the beta-glucuronidase activity of fecal bacteria was significantly reduced (P = 0.05). We conclude that vegetarian women have an increased fecal output, which leads to increased fecal excretion of estrogen and a decreased plasma concentration of estrogen."}
{"id": "MED-4645", "text": "Background Many studies have evaluated the association between vitamin and mineral supplement use and the risk of prostate cancer, with inconclusive results. Methods The authors examined the relation of use of multivitamins as well as several single vitamin and mineral supplements to the risk of prostate cancer risk among 1,706 prostate cancer cases and 2,404 matched controls using data from the hospital-based Case-Control Surveillance Study conducted in the United States. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk of prostate cancer were estimated using conditional logistic regression model. Results For use of multivitamins that did not contain zinc the multivariable odds ratios of prostate cancer were 0.6 for 1\u20134 years, 0.8 for 5\u20139 years, and 1.2 for 10 years of more, respectively (p for trend =0.70). Men who used zinc for 10 years or more, either in a multivitamin or as a supplement, had an approximately 2-fold (OR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.0, 3.6) increased risk of prostate cancer. Vitamin E, beta-carotene, folate, and selenium use were not significantly associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. Conclusion The finding that long-term zinc intake from multivitamins or single supplements was associated with a doubling in risk of prostate cancer adds to the growing evidence for an unfavorable effect of zinc on prostate cancer carcinogenesis."}
{"id": "MED-4646", "text": "Objective We examined the association between adolescent fiber intake and proliferative BBD, a marker of increased breast cancer risk, in the Nurses\u2019 Health Study II. Methods Among 29,480 women who completed a high school diet questionnaire in 1998, 682 proliferative BBD cases were identified and confirmed by centralized pathology review between 1991 and 2001. Multivariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Women in the highest quintile of adolescent fiber intake had a 25% lower risk of proliferative BBD (multivariate HR (95% CI): 0.75 (0.59, 0.96), p-trend = 0.01) than women in the lowest quintile. High school intake of nuts and apples was also related to significantly reduced BBD risk. Women consuming \u22652 servings of nuts/week had a 36% lower risk (multivariate HR (95% CI): 0.64 (0.48, 0.85), p-trend < 0.01) than women consuming <1 serving/month. Results were essentially the same when the analysis was restricted to prospective cases (n = 142) diagnosed after return of the high school diet questionnaire. Conclusions These findings support the hypothesis that dietary intake of fiber and nuts during adolescence influence subsequent risk of breast disease and may suggest a viable means for breast cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-4647", "text": "Although multivitamin/mineral supplements are commonly used in the United States, the efficacy of these supplements in preventing chronic disease or premature death is unclear. To assess the relation of multivitamin use with mortality and cancer, the authors prospectively examined these associations among 182,099 participants enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort Study between 1993 and 1996 in Hawaii and California. During an average 11 years of follow-up, 28,851 deaths were identified. In Cox proportional hazards models controlling for tobacco use and other potential confounders, no associations were found between multivitamin use and mortality from all causes (for users vs. nonusers: hazard ratio = 1.07, 95% confidence interval: 0.96, 1.19 for men; hazard ratio = 0.96, 95% confidence interval: 0.85, 1.09 for women), cardiovascular diseases, or cancer. The findings did not vary across subgroups by ethnicity, age, body mass index, preexisting illness, single vitamin/mineral supplement use, hormone replacement therapy use, and smoking status. There also was no evidence indicating that multivitamin use was associated with risk of cancer, overall or at major sites, such as lung, colorectum, prostate, and breast. In conclusion, there was no clear decrease or increase in mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer and in morbidity from overall or major cancers among multivitamin supplement users."}
{"id": "MED-4650", "text": "Aromatase is a cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP19) and is the rate limiting enzyme in the conversion of androgens to estrogens. Suppression of in situ estrogen production through aromatase inhibition is the current treatment strategy for hormone-responsive breast cancers. Drugs that inhibit aromatase have been developed and are currently utilized as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer in post-menopausal women with hormone dependent breast cancer. Natural compounds have been studied extensively for important biologic effects such as antioxidant, anti-tumor and anti-viral effects. A significant number of studies have also investigated the aromatase inhibitory properties of a variety of plant extracts and phytochemicals. The identification of natural compounds that inhibit aromatase could be useful both from a chemopreventive standpoint and in the development of new aromatase inhibitory drugs. This review will discuss whole food extracts and the common classes of phytochemicals which have been investigated for potential aromatase inhibitory activity. We will review reported aromatase inhibition, kinetic data and possible structural variations that may inhibit or enhance the interaction of phytochemicals with the aromatase enzyme."}
{"id": "MED-4651", "text": "BACKGROUND: Several publications reported breast cancer incidence rates continued to decrease among white women, following the decline of about 7% from 2002 to 2003. However, none of these reports exclusively examined the trend after 2003. In this paper, we examined breast cancer incidence rates among non-Hispanic (NH) white women from 2003 to 2007 to determine whether the decrease in breast cancer incidence rates indeed persisted through 2007. In addition, we present breast cancer incidence trends for NH black and Hispanic women and postmenopausal hormone use for all three racial/ethnic groups. METHODS: Breast cancer incidence rates were calculated by race/ethnicity, age and ER status using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 12 registries for 2000 to 2007. Prevalence of postmenopausal hormone use was calculated using National Health Interview Survey data from 2000, 2005, and 2008. RESULTS: From 2003 to 2007, overall breast cancer incidence rates did not change significantly among NH white women in any age group. However, rates increased (2.7% per year) for ER+ breast cancers in ages 40 to 49, and decreased for ER- breast cancers in ages 40 to 49 and 60 to 69. Similarly, overall breast cancer incidence rates did not change significantly for black and Hispanic women. Hormone use continued to decrease from 2005 to 2008 in all groups, although the decreases were smaller compared to those from 2000 to 2005. CONCLUSIONS: The sharp decline in breast cancer incidence rates that occurred from 2002 to 2003 among NH white women did not continue through 2007. IMPACT: Further studies are needed to better understand the recent breast cancer trends. \u00a92011 AACR."}
{"id": "MED-4652", "text": "Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) refers to breast epithelial cells that have become \"cancerous\" but still reside in their normal place in the ducts and lobules. In this setting, cancerous means that there is an abnormal increase in the growth of the epithelial cells, which accumulate within and greatly expand the ducts and lobules. DCIS is a nonlethal type of cancer because it stays in its normal place. However, DCIS is very important because it is the immediate precursor of invasive breast cancers, which are potentially lethal. This article provides a general overview of DCIS, including historical perspective, methods of classification, current perspective, and future goals."}
{"id": "MED-4653", "text": "Background Phthalates are compounds that are used in a wide range of consumer products. However, the contribution of dietary intake to phthalate exposure has not been well defined. Objective The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of different food types to phthalate exposure. Phthalates are chemicals of concern because of the high levels measured in people and the environment, as well as the demonstrated toxicity in animal studies and limited epidemiological studies. Previous research, although limited, has suggested that phthalates contaminate food in various countries. Methods We conducted an exploratory analysis of data collected as part of the 2003\u20132004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Associations between dietary intake (assessed by a 24-hr dietary recall) for a range of food types (meat, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetable, and dairy) and phthalate metabolites measured in urine were analyzed using multiple linear regression modeling. Results We found that metabolites of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and high-molecular-weight phthalate metabolites were associated with the consumption of poultry. Monoethyl phthalate, the metabolite of diethyl phthalate (DEP), was associated with vegetable consumption, specifically tomato and potato consumption. Discussion These results, combined with results from previous studies, suggest that diet is an important route of intake for phthalates. Further research is needed to determine the sources of food contamination with these toxic chemicals and to describe the levels of contamination of U.S. food in a large, representative U.S. sample."}
{"id": "MED-4654", "text": "Correlations between mating system and various aspects of genital anatomy suggest a strong influence of sexual selection on genital morphology. We test the generality of the influence by examining whether primate taxa in which there might be enhanced sexual selection (those with multi-male mating systems) possess, as expected, relatively more spinous penises than do taxa with other mating systems. As most prosimians, but few anthropoids (monkeys and apes), possess penile spines, and because the predominant mating systems of the two taxa differ, taxonomic constraints are taken into account. Sexual selection apparently does not act on penile spines in the same manner as on other aspects of genital anatomy: spinosity is not greatest in multi-male taxa of either prosimians or anthropoids. In some taxa, spines might stimulate reproductive readiness and synchrony in situations in which the sexes live apart and do not have other means of communicating reproductive state (dispersed social systems and 'stolen' extra-pair copulations), but problems exist with the hypothesis, as they do with the idea that spines are involved with scent marking. It seems that either penile spines have several functions, or penile spinosity in primates, and other orders, remains to be explained."}
{"id": "MED-4655", "text": "BACKGROUND: Very few studies have examined the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and phthalate exposure in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of phthalates on symptoms of ADHD in school-age children. METHODS: A cross-sectional examination of urine phthalate concentrations was performed, and scores on measures of ADHD symptoms and neuropsychological dysfunction with regard to attention and impulsivity were obtained from 261 Korean children, age 8-11 years. RESULTS: Mono-2-ethylheyl phthalate (MEHP) and mono-2-ethyl-5-oxohexylphthalate (MEOP) for metabolites of Di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MNBP) for metabolites of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) were measured in urine samples. The mean concentrations of MEHP, MEOP, and MNBP were 34.0 microg/dL (SD = 36.3; range: 2.1-386.7), 23.4 microg/dL (SD = 23.0; range: .75-244.8), and 46.7 microg/L (SD = 21.4; range: 13.2-159.3), respectively. After adjustment for covariates, teacher-rated ADHD scores were significantly associated with DEHP metabolites but not with DBP metabolites. We also found significant relationships between the urine concentrations of metabolites for DBP and the number of omission and commission errors in continuous performance tests (CPT) after adjustment for covariates. CONCLUSION: The present study showed a strong positive association between phthalate metabolites in urine and symptoms of ADHD among school-age children."}
{"id": "MED-4656", "text": "Prenatal phthalate exposure impairs testicular function and shortens anogenital distance (AGD) in male rodents. We present data from the first study to examine AGD and other genital measurements in relation to prenatal phthalate exposure in humans. A standardized measure of AGD was obtained in 134 boys 2\u201336 months of age. AGD was significantly correlated with penile volume (R = 0.27, p = 0.001) and the proportion of boys with incomplete testicular descent (R = 0.20, p = 0.02). We defined the anogenital index (AGI) as AGD divided by weight at examination [AGI = AGD/weight (mm/kg)] and calculated the age-adjusted AGI by regression analysis. We examined nine phthalate monoester metabolites, measured in prenatal urine samples, as predictors of age-adjusted AGI in regression and categorical analyses that included all participants with prenatal urine samples (n = 85). Urinary concentrations of four phthalate metabolites [monoethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP), and monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP)] were inversely related to AGI. After adjusting for age at examination, p-values for regression coefficients ranged from 0.007 to 0.097. Comparing boys with prenatal MBP concentration in the highest quartile with those in the lowest quartile, the odds ratio for a shorter than expected AGI was 10.2 (95% confidence interval, 2.5 to 42.2). The corresponding odds ratios for MEP, MBzP, and MiBP were 4.7, 3.8, and 9.1, respectively (all p-values < 0.05). We defined a summary phthalate score to quantify joint exposure to these four phthalate metabolites. The age-adjusted AGI decreased significantly with increasing phthalate score (p-value for slope = 0.009). The associations between male genital development and phthalate exposure seen here are consistent with the phthalate-related syndrome of incomplete virilization that has been reported in prenatally exposed rodents. The median concentrations of phthalate metabolites that are associated with short AGI and incomplete testicular descent are below those found in one-quarter of the female population of the United States, based on a nationwide sample. These data support the hypothesis that prenatal phthalate exposure at environmental levels can adversely affect male reproductive development in humans."}
{"id": "MED-4659", "text": "Numerous researchers have examined the effects of skin condition, including texture and color, on the perception of health, age, and attractiveness in human faces. They have focused on facial color distribution, homogeneity of pigmentation, or skin quality. We here investigate the role of overall skin color in determining perceptions of health from faces by allowing participants to manipulate the skin portions of color-calibrated Caucasian face photographs along CIELab color axes. To enhance healthy appearance, participants increased skin redness (a*), providing additional support for previous findings that skin blood color enhances the healthy appearance of faces. Participants also increased skin yellowness (b*) and lightness (L*), suggesting a role for high carotenoid and low melanin coloration in the healthy appearance of faces. The color preferences described here resemble the red and yellow color cues to health displayed by many species of nonhuman animals."}
{"id": "MED-4660", "text": "Dietary seaweeds, common in Asia and in Asian restaurants, have become established as part of popular international cuisine. To understand the possibility for iodine-induced thyroid dysfunction better, we collected samples of the most common dietary seaweeds available from commercial sources in the United States, as well as harvester-provided samples from Canada, Tasmania, and Namibia. Altogether, 12 different species of seaweeds were analyzed for iodine content, and found to range from 16 microg/g (+/-2) in nori (Porphyra tenera) to over 8165 +/- 373 microg/g in one sample of processed kelp granules (a salt substitute) made from Laminaria digitata. We explored variation in preharvest conditions in a small study of two Namibian kelps (Laminaria pallida and Ecklonia maxima), and found that iodine content was lowest in sun-bleached blades (514 +/- 42 microg/g), and highest amount in freshly cut juvenile blades (6571 +/- 715 microg/g). Iodine is water-soluble in cooking and may vaporize in humid storage conditions, making average iodine content of prepared foods difficult to estimate. It is possible some Asian seaweed dishes may exceed the tolerable upper iodine intake level of 1100 microg/d."}
{"id": "MED-4664", "text": "We report a series of cases of thyroid dysfunction in adults associated with ingestion of a brand of soy milk manufactured with kombu (seaweed), and a case of hypothyroidism in a neonate whose mother had been drinking this milk. We also report two cases of neonatal hypothyroidism linked to maternal ingestion of seaweed made into soup. These products were found to contain high levels of iodine. Despite increasing awareness of iodine deficiency, the potential for iodine toxicity, particularly from sources such as seaweed, is less well recognised."}
{"id": "MED-4665", "text": "Consuming an adequate amount of iodine during pregnancy is critical for fetal neurologic development. Even a mild deficiency can impair cognitive ability. Important sources of iodine in the United States include dairy products and iodized salt. Although the U.S. population has traditionally been considered iodine sufficient, median urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) have decreased 50% since the 1970s. We analyzed 2001-2006 NHANES data from urine iodine spot tests for pregnant (n = 326), lactating (n = 53), and nonpregnant, nonlactating (n = 1437) women of reproductive age (15-44 y). We used WHO criteria to define iodine sufficiency (median UIC: 150-249 microg/L among pregnant women; >or=100 microg/L among lactating women; and 100-199 microg/L among nonpregnant, nonlactating women). The iodine status of pregnant women was borderline sufficient (median UIC = 153 microg/L; 95% CI = 105-196), while lactating (115 microg/L; 95% CI = 62-162) and nonpregnant, nonlactating (130 microg/L; 95% CI = 117-140) women were iodine sufficient. Dairy product consumption was an important contributor to iodine status among both pregnant and nonpregnant, nonlactating women, and those who do not consume dairy products may be at risk for iodine deficiency. Although larger samples are needed to confirm these findings, these results raise concerns about the iodine status of pregnant women and women of reproductive age who are not consuming dairy products. Iodine levels among U.S. women should be monitored, particularly among subgroups at risk for iodine deficiency."}
{"id": "MED-4666", "text": "Context: Adequate dietary iodine is required for normal thyroid function. The iodine status and thyroid function of U.S. vegetarians and vegans have not been previously studied. Environmental perchlorate and thiocyanate (inhibitors of thyroid iodine uptake) exposures may adversely affect thyroid function. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the iodine status and thyroid function of U.S. vegetarians (consume plant based products, eggs, milk; abstain from meat, poultry, fish, shellfish) and vegans (avoid all animal products) and whether these may be affected by environmental perchlorate and thiocyanate exposures. Design and Setting: This was a cross-sectional assessment of urinary iodine, perchlorate, and thiocyanate concentrations and serum thyroid function in Boston-area vegetarians and vegans. Subjects: One hundred forty-one subjects (78 vegetarians, 63 vegans) were recruited; one vegan was excluded. Results: Median urinary iodine concentration of vegans (78.5 \u03bcg/liter; range 6.8\u2013964.7 \u03bcg/liter) was lower than vegetarians (147.0 \u03bcg/liter; range 9.3\u2013778.6 \u03bcg/liter) (P < 0.01). Adjusted for cigarette smoking (confirmed by urinary cotinine levels) and thiocyanate-rich food consumption, median urinary thiocyanate concentration of vegans (630 \u03bcg/liter; range 108-3085 \u03bcg/liter) was higher than vegetarians (341 \u03bcg/liter; range 31\u20131963 \u03bcg/liter) (P < 0.01). There were no between-group differences in urinary perchlorate concentrations (P = 0.75), TSH (P = 0.46), and free T4 (P = 0.77). Urinary iodine, perchlorate, and thiocyanate levels were not associated with TSH (P = 0.59) or free T4 (P = 0.14), even when adjusted for multiple variables. Conclusions: U.S. vegetarians are iodine sufficient. U.S. vegans may be at risk for low iodine intake, and vegan women of child-bearing age should supplement with 150 \u03bcg iodine daily. Environmental perchlorate and thiocyanate exposures are not associated with thyroid dysfunction in these groups."}
{"id": "MED-4667", "text": "Cows with isolation of Staphylococcus aureus approximately 1 week after calving and milk yield, somatic cell count (SCC), clinical mastitis (CM), and culling risk through the remaining lactation were assessed in 178 Norwegian dairy herds. Mixed models with repeated measures were used to compare milk yield and SCC, and survival analyses were used to estimate the hazard ratio for CM and culling. On average, cows with an isolate of Staph. aureus had a significantly higher SCC than culture-negative cows. If no post-milking teat disinfection (PMTD) was used, the mean values of SCC were 42,000, 61,000, 68,000 and 77,000 cells/ml for cows with no Staph. aureus isolate, with Staph. aureus isolated in 1 quarter, in 2 quarters and more than 2 quarters respectively. If iodine PMTD was used, SCC means were 36,000; 63,000; 70,000 and 122,000, respectively. Primiparous cows testing positive for Staph. aureus had the same milk yield curve as culture-negative cows, except for those with Staph. aureus isolated in more than 2 quarters. They produced 229 kg less during a 305-d lactation. Multiparous cows with isolation of Staph. aureus in at least 1 quarter produced 94-161 kg less milk in 2nd and >3rd parity, respectively, and those with isolation in more than 2 quarters produced 303-390 kg less than multiparous culture-negative animals during a 305-d lactation. Compared with culture-negative cows, the hazard ratio for CM and culling in cows with isolation of Staph. aureus in at least 1 quarter was 2.0 (1.6-2.4) and 1.7 (1.5-1.9), respectively. There was a decrease in the SCC and in the CM risk in culture-negative cows where iodine PMTD had been used, indicating that iodine PMTD has a preventive effect on already healthy cows. For cows testing positive for Staph. aureus in more than 2 quarters at calving, iodine PMTD had a negative effect on the CM risk and on the SCC through the remaining lactation."}
{"id": "MED-4669", "text": "RATIONALE: There is increasing evidence to suggest the possible efficacy of Crocus sativus (saffron) in the management of Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the efficacy of C. sativus in the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate AD. METHODS: Fifty-four Persian-speaking adults 55 years of age or older who were living in the community were eligible to participate in a 22-week, double-blind study of parallel groups of patients with AD. The main efficacy measures were the change in the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale-Sums of Boxes scores compared with baseline. Adverse events (AEs) were systematically recorded. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a capsule saffron 30 mg/day (15 mg twice per day) or donepezil 10 mg/day (5 mg twice per day). RESULTS: Saffron at this dose was found to be effective similar to donepezil in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD after 22 weeks. The frequency of AEs was similar between saffron extract and donepezil groups with the exception of vomiting, which occurred significantly more frequently in the donepezil group. CONCLUSION: This phase II study provides preliminary evidence of a possible therapeutic effect of saffron extract in the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. This trial is registered with the Iranian Clinical Trials Registry (IRCT138711051556N1)."}
{"id": "MED-4671", "text": "WHAT IS KNOWN: Herbal medicines have been used in the treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia but with variable response. Crocus sativus (saffron) may inhibit the aggregation and deposition of amyloid \u03b2 in the human brain and may therefore be useful in Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of saffron in the treatment of mild to moderate AD. METHODS: Forty-six patients with probable AD were screened for a 16-week, double-blind study of parallel groups of patients with mild to moderate AD. The psychometric measures, which included AD assessment scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog), and clinical dementia rating scale-sums of boxes, were performed to monitor the global cognitive and clinical profiles of the patients. Patients were randomly assigned to receive capsule saffron 30 mg/day (15 mg twice per day) (Group A) or capsule placebo (two capsules per day) for a 16-week study. RESULTS: After 16 weeks, saffron produced a significantly better outcome on cognitive function than placebo (ADAS-cog: F=4\u00b712, d.f.=1, P=0\u00b704; CDR: F=4\u00b712, d.f.=1, P=0\u00b704). There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed adverse events. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: This double-blind, placebo-controlled study suggests that at least in the short-term, saffron is both safe and effective in mild to moderate AD. Larger confirmatory randomized controlled trials are called for. Copyright \u00a9 2010 The Authors. JCPT \u00a9 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4672", "text": "Neurocysticercosis cases were identified in 1991 in an Orthodox Jewish community. Transmission was linked to tapeworm-infected immigrant housekeepers from countries where Taenia solium is endemic. To evaluate the extent of and risks for locally acquired cysticercosis, a seroprevalence survey was conducted in 9% of the households in this community. Cysticercosis antibodies were detected in 23 (1.3%) of 1,789 persons from 612 families. All 23 seropositive persons were asymptomatic, and no intracerebral lesions were found for the 21 seropositive persons who underwent brain imaging. Seropositivity was associated with female sex (relative risk [RR] = 2.45, P = 0.049), hiring a domestic worker for child care duties (RR = 3.79, P = 0.05), and with employees from Central America (RR = 2.70, P = 0.0001). Exposure to T. solium in this community is unexpectedly high. Widespread employment of domestic workers from endemic regions and high employee turnover contributes to exposure risk."}
{"id": "MED-4676", "text": "A widespread misconception has been developing among the Canadian public and among physicians. It is increasingly believed that consumption of dietary cholesterol and egg yolks is harmless. There are good reasons for long-standing recommendations that dietary cholesterol should be limited to less than 200 mg/day; a single large egg yolk contains approximately 275 mg of cholesterol (more than a day\u2019s worth of cholesterol). Although some studies showed no harm from consumption of eggs in healthy people, this outcome may have been due to lack of power to detect clinically relevant increases in a low-risk population. Moreover, the same studies showed that among participants who became diabetic during observation, consumption of one egg a day doubled their risk compared with less than one egg a week. Diet is not just about fasting cholesterol; it is mainly about the postprandial effects of cholesterol, saturated fats, oxidative stress and inflammation. A misplaced focus on fasting lipids obscures three key issues. Dietary cholesterol increases the susceptibility of low-density lipoprotein to oxidation, increases postprandial lipemia and potentiates the adverse effects of dietary saturated fat. Dietary cholesterol, including egg yolks, is harmful to the arteries. Patients at risk of cardiovascular disease should limit their intake of cholesterol. Stopping the consumption of egg yolks after a stroke or myocardial infarction would be like quitting smoking after a diagnosis of lung cancer: a necessary action, but late. The evidence presented in the current review suggests that the widespread perception among the public and health care professionals that dietary cholesterol is benign is misplaced, and that improved education is needed to correct this misconception. R\u00e9sum\u00e9 Une id\u00e9e fausse et g\u00e9n\u00e9ralis\u00e9e se r\u00e9pand au sein du public canadien et des m\u00e9decins, qui pensent de plus en plus que la consommation de cholest\u00e9rol alimentaire et de jaunes d\u2019\u0153uf est inoffensive. Les recommandations de longue date qui pr\u00e9conisent de limiter le cholest\u00e9rol alimentaire \u00e0 moins de 200 mg/jour reposent sur de bonnes raisons. Un seul gros jaune d\u2019\u0153uf contient environ 275 mg de cholest\u00e9rol (plus que la portion quotidienne de cholest\u00e9rol). M\u00eame si certaines \u00e9tudes ont d\u00e9montr\u00e9 que la consommation d\u2019\u0153ufs n\u2019est pas nuisible chez les personnes en sant\u00e9, ce r\u00e9sultat peut d\u00e9couler de l\u2019absence de capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 d\u00e9celer des augmentations pertinentes sur le plan clinique au sein d\u2019une population \u00e0 faible risque. De plus, les m\u00eames \u00e9tudes ont r\u00e9v\u00e9l\u00e9 que chez les participants devenus diab\u00e9tiques pendant la p\u00e9riode d\u2019observation, la consommation d\u2019un \u0153uf par jour doublait leur risque par rapport \u00e0 la consommation de moins d\u2019un \u0153uf par semaine. Le r\u00e9gime ne vise pas \u00e0 \u00e9viter le cholest\u00e9rol, mais surtout les effets postprandiaux du cholest\u00e9rol, des gras satur\u00e9s, du stress oxydant et de l\u2019inflammation. Le fait de se concentrer \u00e0 tort sur les lipides \u00e0 jeun occulte trois enjeux. Le cholest\u00e9rol alimentaire accro\u00eet la susceptibilit\u00e9 des lipoprot\u00e9ines \u00e0 faible densit\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019oxydation, accro\u00eet la lip\u00e9mie postprandiale et potentialise les effets secondaires des graisses satur\u00e9es alimentaires. Le cholest\u00e9rol alimentaire, y compris les jaunes d\u2019\u0153uf, est nuisible pour les art\u00e8res. Les patients vuln\u00e9rables aux maladies cardiovasculaires devraient limiter leur consommation de cholest\u00e9rol. Le fait d\u2019arr\u00eater de consommer des jaunes d\u2019\u0153uf apr\u00e8s un accident vasculaire c\u00e9r\u00e9bral ou un infarctus du myocarde s\u2019apparenterait \u00e0 arr\u00eater de fumer apr\u00e8s un diagnostic de cancer du poumon : c\u2019est un geste n\u00e9cessaire, mais entrepris tardivement. D\u2019apr\u00e8s les donn\u00e9es probantes pr\u00e9sent\u00e9es dans la pr\u00e9sente analyse, la perception g\u00e9n\u00e9ralis\u00e9e du public et des professionnels de la sant\u00e9 selon laquelle le cholest\u00e9rol alimentaire est un mal b\u00e9nin est une id\u00e9e fausse, et une meilleure information s\u2019impose pour la corriger."}
{"id": "MED-4680", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between dietary intakes throughout childhood and age at menarche, a possible indicator of future risk of disease, in a contemporary cohort of British girls. DESIGN: Diet was assessed by FFQ at 3 and 7 years of age, and by a 3 d unweighed food diary at 10 years. Age at menarche was categorised as before or after 12 years 8 months, a point close to the median age in this cohort. SETTING: Bristol, South-West England. SUBJECTS: Girls (n 3298) participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. RESULTS: Higher energy intakes at 10 years were positively associated with the early occurrence of menarche, but this association was removed on adjusting for body size. Total and animal protein intakes at 3 and 7 years were positively associated with age at menarche \u226412 years 8 months (adjusted OR for a 1 sd increase in protein at 7 years: 1\u00b714 (95 % CI 1\u00b704, 1\u00b726)). Higher PUFA intakes at 3 and 7 years were also positively associated with early occurrence of menarche. Meat intake at 3 and 7 years was strongly positively associated with reaching menarche by 12 years 8 months (OR for menarche in the highest v. lowest category of meat consumption at 7 years: 1\u00b775 (95 % CI 1\u00b725, 2\u00b744)). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that higher intakes of protein and meat in early to mid-childhood may lead to earlier menarche. This may have implications for the lifetime risk of breast cancer and osteoporosis."}
{"id": "MED-4683", "text": "Background/Objectives Vegans and to a lesser extent vegetarians have low average circulating concentrations of vitamin B12; however, the relation between factors such as age or time on these diets and vitamin B12 concentrations is not clear. The objectives were to investigate differences in serum vitamin B12 and folate concentrations between omnivores, vegetarians and vegans and to ascertain whether vitamin B12 concentrations differed by age and time on the diet. Subjects/Methods A cross-sectional analysis involving 689 men (226 omnivores, 231 vegetarians and 232 vegans) from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Oxford cohort. Results Mean serum vitamin B12 was highest among omnivores (281, 95% CI: 270-292 pmol/l), intermediate in vegetarians (182, 95% CI: 175-189 pmol/l), and lowest in vegans (122, 95% CI: 117-127 pmol/l). Fifty-two percent of vegans, 7% of vegetarians and one omnivore were classified as vitamin B12 deficient (defined as serum vitamin B12 < 118 pmol/l). There was no significant association between age or duration of adherence to a vegetarian or a vegan diet and serum vitamin B12. In contrast, folate concentrations were highest among vegans, intermediate in vegetarians, and lowest in omnivores, but only two men (both omnivores) were categorised as folate deficient (defined as serum folate < 6.3 nmol/l). Conclusion Vegans have lower vitamin B12 concentrations, but higher folate concentrations, than vegetarians and omnivores. Half of the vegans were categorised as vitamin B12 deficient and would be expected to have a higher risk of developing clinical symptoms related to vitamin B12 deficiency."}
{"id": "MED-4686", "text": "There is ample reason to believe that diets rich in phytochemicals provide protection from vascular diseases and many cancers; direct antioxidant activity as well as modulation of enzyme expression or hormone activity contribute to this effect. Phytochemicals derived from diverse foods presumably can interact additively and (possibly) synergistically; thus, the total dietary load of phytochemicals may have important implications for health. As a means of very roughly quantifying this load, a \"phytochemical index\" (PI) is proposed, defined as the percent of dietary calories derived from foods rich in phytochemicals. Calories derived from fruits, vegetables (excluding potatoes), legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruit/vegetable juices, soy products, wine, beer, and cider - and foods compounded therefrom - would be counted in this index. Partial credit could be given for antioxidant-rich extra virgin olive oil. Other added oils, refined sugars, refined grains, potato products, hard liquors, and animal products - regrettably, the chief sources of calories in typical Western diets - would be excluded. Although the PI would provide only a very rough approximation of the quantity or quality of phytochemical nutrition, it nonetheless could aid epidemiologists in exploring the health consequences of diets high in phytochemical-rich plant foods, and could also help clinical nutritionists in their efforts to improve the phytochemical nutrition of their clients."}
{"id": "MED-4687", "text": "Vegetarian diets are rich in antioxidant phytochemicals. However, they may not act as antioxidants in vivo, and yet still have important signaling and regulatory functions. Some may act as pro-oxidants, modulating cellular redox tone and oxidizing redox sensitive sites. In this review, evidence for health benefits of vegetarian diets is presented from different perspectives: epidemiological, biomarker, evolutionary, and public health, as well as antioxidant. From the perspective of molecular connections between diet and health, evidence of a role for plasma ascorbic acid as a biomarker for future disease risk is presented. Basic concepts of redox-based cell signaling are presented, and effects of antioxidant phytochemicals on signaling, especially via redox tone, sulfur switches and the Antioxidant Response Element (ARE), are explored. Sufficient scientific evidence exists for public health policy to promote a plant-rich diet for health promotion. This does not need to wait for science to provide all the answers as to why and how. However, action and interplay of dietary antioxidants in the nonequilibrium systems that control redox balance, cell signaling, and cell function provide rich ground for research to advance understanding of orthomolecular nutrition and provide science-based evidence to advance public health in our aging population."}
{"id": "MED-4689", "text": "Background A plant-based diet protects against chronic oxidative stress-related diseases. Dietary plants contain variable chemical families and amounts of antioxidants. It has been hypothesized that plant antioxidants may contribute to the beneficial health effects of dietary plants. Our objective was to develop a comprehensive food database consisting of the total antioxidant content of typical foods as well as other dietary items such as traditional medicine plants, herbs and spices and dietary supplements. This database is intended for use in a wide range of nutritional research, from in vitro and cell and animal studies, to clinical trials and nutritional epidemiological studies. Methods We procured samples from countries worldwide and assayed the samples for their total antioxidant content using a modified version of the FRAP assay. Results and sample information (such as country of origin, product and/or brand name) were registered for each individual food sample and constitute the Antioxidant Food Table. Results The results demonstrate that there are several thousand-fold differences in antioxidant content of foods. Spices, herbs and supplements include the most antioxidant rich products in our study, some exceptionally high. Berries, fruits, nuts, chocolate, vegetables and products thereof constitute common foods and beverages with high antioxidant values. Conclusions This database is to our best knowledge the most comprehensive Antioxidant Food Database published and it shows that plant-based foods introduce significantly more antioxidants into human diet than non-plant foods. Because of the large variations observed between otherwise comparable food samples the study emphasizes the importance of using a comprehensive database combined with a detailed system for food registration in clinical and epidemiological studies. The present antioxidant database is therefore an essential research tool to further elucidate the potential health effects of phytochemical antioxidants in diet."}
{"id": "MED-4690", "text": "Physiological and pharmacological blood concentrations of melatonin inhibit tumorigenesis in a variety of in vivo and in vitro experimental models of neoplasia. Evidence indicates that melatonin's anticancer effects are exerted via inhibition of cell proliferation and a stimulation of differentiation and apoptosis. A new mechanism by which physiological and pharmacological blood levels of melatonin inhibit cancer growth in vivois via a melatonin-induced suppression of tumor linoleic acid (LA) uptake and its metabolism to the important mitogenic signaling molecule 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (13-HODE). Melatonin suppresses cAMP formation and inhibits tumor uptake of LA and its metabolism to 13-HODE via a melatonin receptor-mediated mechanism in both tissue-isolated rat hepatoma 7288 CTC and human breast cancer xenografts. It has been postulated that in industrialized societies, light at night, by suppressing melatonin production, poses a new risk for the development of breast cancer and, perhaps, other cancers as well. In support of this hypothesis, light during darkness suppresses nocturnal melatonin production and stimulates the LA metabolism and growth of rat hepatoma and human breast cancer xenografts. Nocturnal dietary supplementation with melatonin, at levels contained in a melatonin-rich diet, inhibits rat hepatoma growth via the mechanisms described above. The nocturnal melatonin signal organizes tumor metabolism and growth within circadian time structure that can be further reinforced by appropriately timed melatonin supplementation. Dietary melatonin supplementation working in concert with the endogenous melatonin signal has the potential to be a new preventive/therapeutic strategy to optimize the host/cancer balance in favor of host survival and quality of life."}
{"id": "MED-4691", "text": "Background: Age and certain lifestyle factors, including a higher body mass index and exposure to light at night, are related to lower circulating concentrations of melatonin\u2014a hormone with probable cancer-protective properties. Although melatonin is a direct derivative of the essential amino acid tryptophan, little is known about the relation of diet with melatonin concentrations. Objective: The objective was to examine cross-sectional associations of various nutrients and dietary factors as well as food groups with creatinine-adjusted first morning urinary melatonin (6-sulfatoxymelatonin; aMT6s) concentrations. Design: Participants were 998 healthy women from 2 independent cohorts: the Nurses' Health Study (NHS; n = 585) and NHS II (n = 413). We computed least-squares mean hormone concentrations across categories of dietary variables, with adjustment for total energy intake, age, and other nondietary factors known to be associated with aMT6s concentrations. Results: In multivariate analyses, we found no significant associations between the intake of various nutrients, including tryptophan and urinary melatonin concentrations. A higher intake of meat, particularly red meat, was associated with lower concentrations of aMT6s (adjusted mean concentrations of aMT6s across increasing quartiles of red meat intake were 17.9, 17.0, 18.1, and 15.3 ng/mg creatinine; P for trend = 0.02). In contrast, neither poultry intake (including turkey) nor fish intake was associated with aMT6s concentrations. Conclusion: Although no specific nutrients were associated with altered concentrations of melatonin, our findings raise the possibility that several specific foods, including red meat, could affect cancer risk through the lowering of melatonin concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-4692", "text": "Recent studies of shift-working women have reported that excessive exposure to light at night (LAN) may be a risk factor for breast cancer. However, no studies have yet attempted to examine the co-distribution of LAN and breast cancer incidence on a population level with the goal to assess the coherence of these earlier findings with population trends. Coherence is one of Hill's \"criteria\" (actually, viewpoints) for an inference of causality. Nighttime satellite images were used to estimate LAN levels in 147 communities in Israel. Multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between LAN and breast cancer incidence rates and, as a test of the specificity of our method, lung cancer incidence rates in women across localities under the prediction of a link with breast cancer but not lung cancer. After adjusting for several variables available on a population level, such as ethnic makeup, birth rate, population density, and local income level, a strong positive association between LAN intensity and breast cancer rate was revealed (p<0.05), and this association strengthened (p<0.01) when only statistically significant factors were filtered out by stepwise regression analysis. Concurrently, no association was found between LAN intensity and lung cancer rate. These results provide coherence of the previously reported case-control and cohort studies with the co-distribution of LAN and breast cancer on a population basis. The analysis yielded an estimated 73% higher breast cancer incidence in the highest LAN exposed communities compared to the lowest LAN exposed communities."}
{"id": "MED-4693", "text": "Background Breast cancer incidence is increasing globally for largely unknown reasons. The possibility that a portion of the breast cancer burden might be explained by the introduction and increasing use of electricity to light the night was suggested >20 years ago. Methods The theory is based on nocturnal light-induced disruption of circadian rhythms, notably reduction of melatonin synthesis. It has formed the basis for a series of predictions including that non-day shift work would increase risk, blind women would be at lower risk, long sleep duration would lower risk and community nighttime light level would co-distribute with breast cancer incidence on the population level. Results Accumulation of epidemiological evidence has accelerated in recent years, reflected in an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification of shift work as a probable human carcinogen (2A). There is also a strong rodent model in support of the light-at-night (LAN) idea. Conclusion If a consensus eventually emerges that LAN does increase risk, then the mechanisms for the effect are important to elucidate for intervention and mitigation. The basic understanding of phototransduction for the circadian system, and of the molecular genetics of circadian rhythm generation are both advancing rapidly, and will provide for the development of lighting technologies at home and at work that minimize circadian disruption, while maintaining visual efficiency and aesthetics. In the interim, there are strategies now available to reduce the potential for circadian disruption, which include extending the daily dark period, appreciate nocturnal awakening in the dark, using dim red light for nighttime necessities, and unless recommended by a physician, not taking melatonin tablets."}
{"id": "MED-4694", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Observational data, though sparse and based on small studies with limited ability to control for known breast cancer risk factors, support a lower risk of breast cancer in blind women compared to sighted women. Mechanisms influenced by ocular light perception, such as melatonin or circadian synchronization, are thought to account for this lower risk. METHODS: To evaluate whether blind women with no perception of light (NPL) have a lower prevalence of breast cancer compared to blind women with light perception (LP), we surveyed a cohort of 1,392 blind women living in North America (66 breast cancer cases). RESULTS: In multivariate-logistic regression models controlling for breast cancer risk factors, women with NPL had a significantly lower prevalence of breast cancer than women with LP (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.85). We observed little difference in these associations when restricting to postmenopausal women, non-shift workers or when excluding women diagnosed with breast cancer within 2 or 4 years of onset of blindness. Blind women with NPL appear to have a lower risk of breast cancer, compared to blind women with LP. More research is needed to elucidate the impact of LP on circadian coordination and melatonin production in the blind and how these factors may relate to breast cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4696", "text": "Several epidemiologic studies have shown that chronic inflammation predisposes individuals to various types of cancer. Many cancers arise from sites of infection, chronic irritation, and inflammation. Conversely, an oncogenic change induces an inflammatory microenvironment that promotes the development of tumors. Natural bioactive compounds in dietary plant products including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, tea, and wine are claimed to help prevent cancer, degenerative diseases, and chronic and acute inflammation. Modern methods in cell and molecular biology allow us to understand the interactions of different natural bioactive compounds with basic mechanisms of inflammatory response. The molecular pathways of this cancer-related inflammation are now unraveled. Natural bioactive compounds exert anti-inflammatory activity by modulating pro-inflammatory gene expressions have shown promising chemopreventive activity. This review summarizes current knowledge on natural bioactive compounds that act through the signaling pathways and modulate inflammatory gene expressions, thus providing evidence for these substances in cancer chemopreventive action."}
{"id": "MED-4697", "text": "Summary With the aging of the population, we are seeing a global increase in age-related disorders, especially in developed countries. Chronic diseases disproportionately affect the older segment of the population, contributing to disability, a diminished quality of life, and an increase in healthcare costs. Increased life expectancy reflects the success of contemporary medicine, which must now respond to the challenges created by this achievement, including the growing burden of chronic illnesses, injuries, and disabilities. A well-developed theoretical framework is required to understand the molecular basis of aging. This, in turn, is a prerequisite for developing the clinical interventions that will constitute an efficient response to the challenge of age-related health issues. This review critically analyzes the experimental evidence that supports and refutes the Free Radical/Mitochondrial Theory of Aging, which has dominated the field of aging research for almost half a century."}
{"id": "MED-4698", "text": "Females live longer than males. Work from our laboratory has shown that this may be due to the up-regulation of longevity-associated genes by estrogens. Estrogens bind to the estrogen receptors and subsequently activate the mitogen activated protein kinase and nuclear factor kappa B signalling pathways, resulting in an up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes. Estrogen administration, however, has serious undesirable effects and of course, cannot be administered to males because of its powerful feminizing effects. Thus, we tested the effect of genistein, a phytoestrogen of high nutritional importance whose structure is similar to estradiol, on the regulation of the expression of antioxidant, longevity-related genes and consequently on oxidant levels in mammary gland tumour cells in culture. Phytoestrogens mimic the protective effect of oestradiol using the same signalling pathway. The critical importance of up-regulating antioxidant genes, by hormonal and dietary manipulations, to increase longevity is discussed."}
{"id": "MED-4699", "text": "Epidemiological studies propose that extension of the human lifespan or the reduction of age associated diseases may be achieved by physical exercise, caloric restriction, and by consumption of certain substances such as resveratrol, selenium, flavonoids, zinc, omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins E and C, Ginkgobiloba extracts, aspirin, green tea catechins, antioxidants in general, and even by light caffeine or alcohol consumption. Though intriguing, these studies only show correlative (not causative) effects between the application of the particular substance and longevity. On the other hand, obesity is yet a strong menace to the western society and it will emerge even more so throughout the next decades according to the prediction of the WHO. Although obesity is considered a severe problem, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms causing the associated degeneration of organs and finally death. Nutrient related adverse consequences for health and thus ageing may be due to a high sugar or high fat diet, excessive alcohol consumption and cigarette smoke amongst others. In this article we examine the interdependencies of eating and ageing and suggest yeast, one of the most successful ageing models, as an easy tool to elucidate the molecular pathways from eating to ageing. The conservation of most ageing pathways in yeast and their easy genetic tractability may provide a chance to discriminate between the correlative and causative effects of nutrition on ageing. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4700", "text": "A growing body of evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in human cancers. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is the major antioxidant in the mitochondria, catalysing the dismutation of superoxide radicals to form hydrogen peroxide. Since the identification of a well-characterised functional polymorphism, Val-9Ala of MnSOD, a number of molecular epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between Val-9Ala and cancer risk. However, the results remain conflicting rather than conclusive. This meta-analysis on 15,320 cancer cases and 19,534 controls from 34 published case-control studies shows no significant overall main effect of MnSOD Val-9Ala on cancer risk. However, we found that the MnSOD 9Ala allele was associated with an increased prostate cancer risk (Val/Ala versus Val/Val: odds ratio (OR)=1.1; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.0-1.3; Ala/Ala versus Val/Val: OR=1.3; 95% CI: 1.0-1.6; Val/Ala+Ala/Ala versus Val/Val: OR=1.2; 95% CI, 1.0-1.3). In addition, we found that the MnSOD Ala-9Ala genotype contributed to an increased breast cancer risk in premenopausal women who had low consumption of antioxidants (Ala/Ala versus Val/Ala+Val/Val: OR=2.6, 95% CI: 1.0-6.4 with low vitamin C consumption; OR=2.1, 95%CI: 1.3-3.4 with low vitamin E consumption and OR=2.9, 95%CI: 1.5-5.7 with low carotenoid consumption). These results suggest that the MnSOD Val-9Ala polymorphism may contribute to cancer development through a disturbed antioxidant balance."}
{"id": "MED-4703", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential of acetic acid supplementation as a means of lowering the glycaemic index (GI) of a bread meal, and to evaluate the possible dose-response effect on postprandial glycaemia, insulinaemia and satiety. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: In all, 12 healthy volunteers participated and the tests were performed at Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden. INTERVENTION: Three levels of vinegar (18, 23 and 28 mmol acetic acid) were served with a portion of white wheat bread containing 50 g available carbohydrates as breakfast in randomized order after an overnight fast. Bread served without vinegar was used as a reference meal. Blood samples were taken during 120 min for analysis of glucose and insulin. Satiety was measured with a subjective rating scale. RESULTS: A significant dose-response relation was seen at 30 min for blood glucose and serum insulin responses; the higher the acetic acid level, the lower the metabolic responses. Furthermore, the rating of satiety was directly related to the acetic acid level. Compared with the reference meal, the highest level of vinegar significantly lowered the blood glucose response at 30 and 45 min, the insulin response at 15 and 30 min as well as increased the satiety score at 30, 90 and 120 min postprandially. The low and intermediate levels of vinegar also lowered the 30 min glucose and the 15 min insulin responses significantly compared with the reference meal. When GI and II (insulinaemic indices) were calculated using the 90 min incremental area, a significant lowering was found for the highest amount of acetic acid, although the corresponding values calculated at 120 min did not differ from the reference meal. CONCLUSION: Supplementation of a meal based on white wheat bread with vinegar reduced postprandial responses of blood glucose and insulin, and increased the subjective rating of satiety. There was an inverse dose-response relation between the level of acetic acid and glucose and insulin responses and a linear dose-response relation between acetic acid and satiety rating. The results indicate an interesting potential of fermented and pickled products containing acetic acid."}
{"id": "MED-4705", "text": "Several studies suggest that regular consumption of nuts, mostly walnuts, may have beneficial effects against oxidative stress mediated diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Walnuts contain several phenolic compounds which are thought to contribute to their biological properties. The present study reports the total phenolic contents and antioxidant properties of methanolic and petroleum ether extracts obtained from walnut (Juglans regia L.) seed, green husk and leaf. The total phenolic contents were determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the antioxidant activities assessed by the ability to quench the stable free radical 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and to inhibit the 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-induced oxidative hemolysis of human erythrocytes. Methanolic seed extract presented the highest total phenolic content (116 mg GAE/g of extract) and DPPH scavenging activity (EC(50) of 0.143 mg/mL), followed by leaf and green husk. In petroleum ether extracts, antioxidant action was much lower or absent. Under the oxidative action of AAPH, all methanolic extracts significantly protected the erythrocyte membrane from hemolysis in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, although leaf extract inhibitory efficiency was much stronger (IC(50) of 0.060 mg/mL) than that observed for green husks and seeds (IC(50) of 0.127 and 0.121 mg/mL, respectively). Walnut methanolic extracts were also assayed for their antiproliferative effectiveness using human renal cancer cell lines A-498 and 769-P and the colon cancer cell line Caco-2. All extracts showed concentration-dependent growth inhibition toward human kidney and colon cancer cells. Concerning A-498 renal cancer cells, all extracts exhibited similar growth inhibition activity (IC(50) values between 0.226 and 0.291 mg/mL), while for both 769-P renal and Caco-2 colon cancer cells, walnut leaf extract showed a higher antiproliferative efficiency (IC(50) values of 0.352 and 0.229 mg/mL, respectively) than green husk or seed extracts. The results obtained herein strongly indicate that walnut tree constitute an excellent source of effective natural antioxidants and chemopreventive agents. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4706", "text": "Higher nut consumption has been associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in several epidemiologic studies. The study examined the association between intake of nuts and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a cohort of women with type 2 diabetes. For the primary analysis, there were 6309 women with type 2 diabetes who completed a validated FFQ every 2\u20134 y between 1980 and 2002 and were without CVD or cancer at study entry. Major CVD events included incident myocardial infarction (MI), revascularization, and stroke. During 54,656 person-years of follow-up, there were 452 CHD events (including MI and revascularization) and 182 incident stroke cases. Frequent nut and peanut butter consumption was inversely associated with total CVD risk in age-adjusted analyses. After adjustment for conventional CVD risk factors, consumption of at least 5 servings/wk of nuts or peanut butter [serving size, 28 g (1 ounce) for nuts and 16 g (1 tablespoon) for peanut butter] was significantly associated with a lower risk of CVD (relative risk = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.36\u20130.89). Furthermore, when we evaluated plasma lipid and inflammatory biomarkers, we observed that increasing nut consumption was significantly associated with a more favorable plasma lipid profile, including lower LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and apolipoprotein-B-100 concentrations. However, we did not observe significant associations for HDL cholesterol or inflammatory markers. These data suggest that frequent nut and peanut butter consumption is associated with a significantly lower CVD risk in women with type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-4708", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Walnuts have been shown to reduce serum lipids in short-term well-controlled feeding trials. Little information exists on the effect and sustainability of walnut consumption for longer duration in a free-living situation. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A randomized crossover design in which 87 subjects with normal to moderate high plasma total cholesterol were initially assigned to a walnut-supplemented diet or habitual (control) diet for a 6-month period, then switched to the alternate dietary intervention for a second 6-month period. Each subject attended seven clinics 2 months apart. At each clinic, body weight was measured, and in five clinics (months 0, 4, 6, 10 and 12), a blood sample was collected. RESULTS: Our study showed that supplementing a habitual diet with walnuts (12% of total daily energy intake equivalent) improves the plasma lipid profile. This beneficial effect was more significant in subjects with high plasma total cholesterol at baseline. Significant changes in serum concentrations of total cholesterol (P=0.02) and triglycerides (P=0.03) were seen and nearly significant changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P=0.06) were found. No significant change was detected in either high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol LDL to HDL ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Including walnuts as part of a habitual diet favorably altered the plasma lipid profile. The lipid-lowering effects of walnuts were more evident among subjects with higher lipid baseline values, precisely those people with greater need of reducing plasma total and LDL-C."}
{"id": "MED-4709", "text": "BACKGROUND: Inflammation is crucial in all stages of atherosclerosis, and few studies have investigated the effect of dietary fat on markers of inflammation related to this disease during the postprandial period. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the chronic effects of dietary fat on the postprandial expression of proinflammatory genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in healthy subjects. DESIGN: 20 healthy men followed three different diets for 4 weeks each, according to a randomized crossover design: Western diet: 15% protein, 47% carbohydrates (CHO), 38% fat (22% saturated fatty acid (SFA)); Mediterranean diet: 15% protein, 47% CHO, 38% fat (24% monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA)); CHO-rich and n-3 diet: 15% protein, 55% CHO, <30% fat (8% polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)). After 12-h fast, volunteers were given a breakfast with a fat composition similar to that consumed in each of the diets-butter breakfast: 35% SFA; olive oil breakfast: 36% MUFA; walnut breakfast: 16% PUFA, 4% alpha-linolenic acid (LNA). RESULTS: The butter breakfast induced a higher increase in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) expression than the olive oil or walnut breakfasts (P=0.014) in PBMCs. Moreover, we found a higher postprandial response in the mRNA of interleukin (IL)-6 with the intake of butter and olive oil breakfasts than with the walnut breakfast (P=0.025) in these cells. However, the effects of the three fatty breakfasts on the plasma concentrations of these proinflammatory parameters showed no significant differences (P=N.S.). CONCLUSION: Consumption of a butter-enriched meal elicits greater postprandial expression of proinflammatory cytokine mRNA in PBMCs, compared to the olive oil and walnut breakfasts."}
{"id": "MED-4710", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have suggested that nuts have favorable effects beyond lipid lowering. We aimed to investigate effect of the Antep pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) on blood glucose, lipid parameters, endothelial function, inflammation, and oxidation in healthy young men living in a controlled environment. METHODS: A Mediterranean diet was administered to normolipidemic 32 healthy young men (mean age 22 y, range 21-24) for 4 wk. After 4 wk, participants continued to receive the Mediterranean diet but pistachio was added for 4 wk by replacing the monounsaturated fat content constituting approximately 20% of daily caloric intake. Fasting blood samples and brachial endothelial function measurements were performed at baseline and after each diet. RESULTS: Compared with the Mediterranean diet, the pistachio diet decreased glucose (P<0.001, -8.8+/-8.5%), low-density lipoprotein (P<0.001, -23.2+/-11.9%), total cholesterol (P<0.001, -21.2+/-9.9%), and triacylglycerol (P=0.008, -13.8+/-33.8%) significantly and high-density lipoprotein (P=0.069, -3.1+/-11.7%) non-significantly. Total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein ratios decreased significantly (P<0.001 for both). The pistachio diet significantly improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation (P=0.002, 30% relative increase), decreased serum interleukin-6, total oxidant status, lipid hydroperoxide, and malondialdehyde and increased superoxide dismutase (P<0.001 for all), whereas there was no significant change in C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels. CONCLUSION: In this trial, we demonstrated that a pistachio diet improved blood glucose level, endothelial function, and some indices of inflammation and oxidative status in healthy young men. These findings are in accordance with the idea that nuts, in particular pistachio nuts, have favorable effects beyond lipid lowering that deserve to be evaluated with prospective follow-up studies. Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4711", "text": "Licorice is a common Chinese medicinal herb with antitumor activity. Some components in licorice root have been shown to induce cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in cancer cells. This paper demonstrates for the first time that licorice Glycyrrhiza glabra and its component licochalcone-A (LA) can induce autophagy in addition to apoptosis in human LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Exposure of cells to licorice or LA resulted in several confirmed characteristics of autophagy, including the appearance of autophagic vacuoles revealed by monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining, formation of acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs), and autophagosome membrane association of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) characterized by cleavage of LC3 and its punctuate redistribution, as well as ultrastructural observation of autophagic vacuoles by transmission electron microscopy. Autophagy induction was accompanied by down-regulation of Bcl-2 and inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. In summary, licorice can induce caspase-dependent and autophagy-related cell death in LNCaP cells."}
{"id": "MED-4714", "text": "This study investigated the association between pickled vegetable consumption and the risk of breast cancer using a validated food frequency questionnaire. A total of 358 patients with breast cancer who were matched to 360 healthy controls by age (using a 5-yr age distribution) were recruited from the National Cancer Center in South Korea. After adjusting for nondietary risk factors, total vegetable intake was inversely associated with risk of breast cancer. However, unlike nonpickled vegetables, pickled vegetable intake and its proportion relative to total vegetables were positively associated with the risk of breast cancer, and this association was more profound and consistent when pickled vegetable intake was considered as a proportion relative to total vegetables (odds ratio [OR] = 6.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.55-10.97; P for trend <0.001 for highest vs. lowest quartiles of intake) than as the absolute consumed amount (OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.45-4.21; P for trend = 0.015 for highest vs. lowest quartiles of intake). These results suggest that not only the amount of total vegetable intake but also the amounts of different types of vegetable (i.e., pickled or nonpickled) and their proportions relative to total vegetables are significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4715", "text": "The present pilot study analyzed, for the first time, the in vivo effect of Medjool or Hallawi date consumption by healthy subjects on serum glucose, lipids, and oxidative stress. Total phenolics concentration in the Hallawi versus Medjool dates was greater by 20-31%. The major proportion of the soluble phenolics in both date varieties consisted of phenolic acids, mainly ferulic acid and coumaric acid derivatives, and also chlorogenic and caffeic acid derivatives. Unlike the Medjool dates, Hallawi dates contained a significant proportion of catechins as well. In addition, both varieties contained a quercetin derivative. Both date varieties possess antioxidative properties in vitro, but the ferric ion reducing antioxidant power of Hallawi versus Medjool dates was higher by 24%. Ten healthy subjects consumed, for a period of 4 weeks 100 g/day of either Medjool or Hallawi dates. The date consumption did not significantly affect the subjects' body mass index (BMI), their serum total cholesterol, or their cholesterol levels in the VLDL, LDL, or HDL fractions. Most important, fasting serum glucose and triacylglycerol levels were not increased after consumption of either date variety, and serum triacylglycerol levels even significantly (p < 0.05) decreased, by 8 or 15% after Medjool or Hallawi date consumption, respectively. Basal serum oxidative status was significantly (p < 0.01) decreased by 33%, as compared to the levels observed before consumption, after Hallawi (but not Medjool) date consumption. Similarly, the susceptibility of serum to AAPH-induced lipid peroxidation decreased by 12%, but only after Hallawi date consumption. In agreement with the above results, serum activity of the HDL-associated antioxidant enzyme paraoxonase 1 (PON1) significantly increased, by 8%, after Hallawi date consumption. It is concluded that date consumption (and mainly the Hallawi variety) by healthy subjects, despite their high sugar content, demonstrates beneficial effects on serum triacylglycerol and oxidative stress and does not worsen serum glucose and lipid/lipoprotein patterns, and thus can be considered an antiatherogenic nutrient ."}
{"id": "MED-4716", "text": "The fruits (dates) of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) contain a high percentage of carbohydrate (total sugars, 44-88%), fat (0.2-0.5%), 15 salts and minerals, protein (2.3-5.6%), vitamins and a high percentage of dietary fibre (6.4-11.5%). The flesh of dates contains 0.2-0.5% oil, whereas the seed contains 7.7-9.7% oil. The weight of the seed is 5.6-14.2% of the date. The fatty acids occur in both flesh and seed as a range of saturated and unsaturated acids, the seeds containing 14 types of fatty acids, but only eight of these fatty acids occur in very low concentration in the flesh. Unsaturated fatty acids include palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids. The oleic acid content of the seeds varies from 41.1 to 58.8%, which suggests that the seeds of date could be used as a source of oleic acid. There are at least 15 minerals in dates. The percentage of each mineral in dried dates varies from 0.1 to 916 mg/100 g date depending on the type of mineral. In many varieties, potassium can be found at a concentration as high as 0.9% in the flesh while it is as high as 0.5% in some seeds. Other minerals and salts that are found in various proportions include boron, calcium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorous, sodium and zinc. Additionally, the seeds contain aluminum, cadmium, chloride, lead and sulphur in various proportions. Dates contain elemental fluorine that is useful in protecting teeth against decay. Selenium, another element believed to help prevent cancer and important in immune function, is also found in dates. The protein in dates contains 23 types of amino acids, some of which are not present in the most popular fruits such as oranges, apples and bananas. Dates contain at least six vitamins including a small amount of vitamin C, and vitamins B(1) thiamine, B(2) riboflavin, nicotinic acid (niacin) and vitamin A. The dietary fibre of 14 varieties of dates has been shown to be as high as 6.4-11.5% depending on variety and degree of ripeness. Dates contain 0.5-3.9% pectin, which may have important health benefits. The world production of dates has increased 2.9 times over 40 years, whereas the world population has doubled. The total world export of dates increased by 1.71% over 40 years. In many ways, dates may be considered as an almost ideal food, providing a wide range of essential nutrients and potential health benefits."}
{"id": "MED-4719", "text": "Among the many known health benefits of tea catechins count anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities, as well as effects on the regulation of food intake. Here we address cannabimimetic bioactivity of catechin derivatives occurring in tea leaves as a possible cellular effector of these functionalities. Competitive radioligand binding assays using recombinant human cannabinoid receptors expressed in Chem-1 and CHO cells identified (-)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, EGCG (K(i)=33.6 microM), (-)-epigallocatechin, EGC (K(i)=35.7 microM), and (-)-epicatechin-3-O-gallate, ECG (K(i)=47.3 microM) as ligands with moderate affinity for type 1 cannabinoid receptors, CB1. Binding to CB2 was weaker with inhibition constants exceeding 50 microM for EGC and ECG. The epimers (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin exhibited negligible affinities for both CB1 and CB2. It can be concluded that central nervous cannabinoid receptors may be targeted by selected tea catechins but signaling via peripheral type receptors is less likely to play a major role in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-4720", "text": "Tritiated naloxone, a powerful opiate antagonist, specifically binds to an opiate receptor of mammalian brain and guinea pig intestine. Competition for the opiate receptor by various opiates and their antagonists closely parallels their pharmacological potency. The opiate receptor is confined to nervous tissue."}
{"id": "MED-4721", "text": "[3H]CP 55,940, a radiolabeled synthetic cannabinoid, which is 10-100 times more potent in vivo than delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, was used to characterize and localize a specific cannabinoid receptor in brain sections. The potencies of a series of natural and synthetic cannabinoids as competitors of [3H]CP 55,940 binding correlated closely with their relative potencies in several biological assays, suggesting that the receptor characterized in our in vitro assay is the same receptor that mediates behavioral and pharmacological effects of cannabinoids, including human subjective experience. Autoradiography of cannabinoid receptors in brain sections from several mammalian species, including human, reveals a unique and conserved distribution; binding is most dense in outflow nuclei of the basal ganglia--the substantia nigra pars reticulata and globus pallidus--and in the hippocampus and cerebellum. Generally high densities in forebrain and cerebellum implicate roles for cannabinoids in cognition and movement. Sparse densities in lower brainstem areas controlling cardiovascular and respiratory functions may explain why high doses of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol are not lethal."}
{"id": "MED-4722", "text": "BACKGROUND: There has been a resurgence of interest in the controversial relation between dietary protein and bone health. OBJECTIVE: This article reports on the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the relation between protein and bone health in healthy human adults. DESIGN: The MEDLINE (January 1966 to September 2007) and EMBASE (1974 to July 2008) databases were electronically searched for all relevant studies of healthy adults; studies of calcium excretion or calcium balance were excluded. RESULTS: In cross-sectional surveys, all pooled r values for the relation between protein intake and bone mineral density (BMD) or bone mineral content at the main clinically relevant sites were significant and positive; protein intake explained 1-2% of BMD. A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials indicated a significant positive influence of all protein supplementation on lumbar spine BMD but showed no association with relative risk of hip fractures. No significant effects were identified for soy protein or milk basic protein on lumbar spine BMD. CONCLUSIONS: A small positive effect of protein supplementation on lumbar spine BMD in randomized placebo-controlled trials supports the positive association between protein intake and bone health found in cross-sectional surveys. However, these results were not supported by cohort study findings for hip fracture risk. Any effects found were small and had 95% CIs that were close to zero. Therefore, there is a small benefit of protein on bone health, but the benefit may not necessarily translate into reduced fracture risk in the long term."}
{"id": "MED-4726", "text": "The aim of these studies was to evaluate the potential of some nutritional approaches to prevent or reduce the body load of organochlorines (OC) in humans. Study 1 compared plasma OC concentrations between vegans and omnivores while study 2 verified if the dietary fat substitute olestra could prevent the increase in OC concentrations that is generally observed in response to a weight-reducing programme. In study 1, nine vegans and fifteen omnivores were recruited and the concentrations of twenty-six OC (beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (beta-HCH), p, p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (p, p'-DDE), p, p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p, p'-DDT), hexachlorobenzene, mirex, aldrin, alpha-chlordane, gamma-chlordane, oxychlordane, cis-nonachlor, trans-nonachlor, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) nos. 28, 52, 99, 101, 105, 118, 128, 138, 153, 156, 170, 180, 183 and 187, and aroclor 1260) were determined. In study 2, the concentrations of these twenty-six OC were measured before and after weight loss over 3 months in thirty-seven obese men assigned to one of the following treatments: standard group (33 % fat diet; n 13), fat-reduced group (25 % fat diet; n 14) or fat-substituted group (1/3 of dietary lipids substituted by olestra; n 10). In study 1, plasma concentrations of five OC compounds (aroclor 1260 and PCB 99, PCB 138, PCB 153 and PCB 180) were significantly lower in vegans compared with omnivores. In study 2, beta-HCH was the only OC which decreased in the fat-substituted group while increasing in the other two groups (P = 0.045). In conclusion, there was a trend toward lesser contamination in vegans than in omnivores, and olestra had a favourable influence on beta-HCH but did not prevent plasma hyperconcentration of the other OC during ongoing weight loss."}
{"id": "MED-4727", "text": "The objective of this study was to estimate the intake of organic tin compounds from foodstuffs in a Finnish market basket. The study was conducted by collecting 13 market baskets from supermarkets and market places in the city of Kuopio, eastern Finland. Altogether 115 different food items were bought. In each basket, foodstuffs were mixed in proportion to their consumption and analysed by GC/MS for seven organic tin compounds (mono-, di-, and tributyltin, mono-, di-, and triphenyltin, and dioctyltin). Organotin compounds were detected in only four baskets, with the fish basket containing the largest number of different organotins. The European Food Safety Authority has established a tolerable daily intake of 250 ng kg(-1) body weight for the sum of dibutyltin, tributyltin, triphenyltin and dioctyltin. According to this study, the daily intake of these compounds was 2.47 ng kg(-1) body weight, of which 81% originated from the fish basket. This exposure is only 1% of the tolerable daily intake and poses negligible risk to the average consumer. However, for consumers eating large quantities of fish from contaminated areas, the intake may be much higher."}
{"id": "MED-4728", "text": "Over the last two decades, the incidence of obesity and associated metabolic syndrome diseases has risen dramatically, becoming a global health crisis. Increased caloric intake and decreased physical activity are believed to represent the root causes of this dramatic rise. However, recent findings highlight the possible involvement of environmental obesogens, xenobiotic chemicals that can disrupt the normal developmental and homeostatic controls over adipogenesis and energy balance. Environmental estrogens, i.e. chemicals with estrogenic potential, have been reported to perturb adipogenic mechanisms using in vitro model systems, but other classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals are now coming under scrutiny as well. Organotins represent one class of widespread persistent organic pollutants with potent endocrine-disrupting properties in both invertebrates and vertebrates. New data identify tributyltin chloride and triphenyltin chloride as nanomolar agonist ligands for retinoid X receptor (RXR alpha, RXR beta, and RXR gamma) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, nuclear receptors that play pivotal roles in lipid homeostasis and adipogenesis. The environmental obesogen hypothesis predicts that inappropriate receptor activation by organotins will lead directly to adipocyte differentiation and a predisposition to obesity and/or will sensitize exposed individuals to obesity and related metabolic disorders under the influence of the typical high-calorie, high-fat Western diet. The linking of organotin exposure to adipocyte differentiation and obesity opens an important new area of research into potential environmental influences on human health and disease."}
{"id": "MED-4729", "text": "In East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus), anthropogenic organohalogen compounds (OHCs) (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers) contributed to renal lesions and are believed to reduce bone mineral density. Because OHCs are also hepatotoxic, we investigated liver histology of 32 subadult, 24 adult female, and 23 adult male East Greenland polar bears sampled during 1999\u20132002. Light microscopic changes consisted of nuclear displacement from the normal central cytoplasmic location in parenchymal cells, mononuclear cell infiltrations (mainly portally and as lipid granulomas), mild bile duct proliferation accompanied by fibrosis, and fat accumulation in hepatocytes and pluripotent Ito cells. Lipid accumulation in Ito cells and bile duct hyperplasia accompanied by portal fibrosis were correlated to age, whereas no changes were associated with either sex or season (summer vs. winter). For adult females, hepatocytic intracellular fat increased significantly with concentrations of the sum of hexachlorocyclohexanes, as was the case for lipid granulomas and hexachlorobenzene in adult males. Based on these relationships and the nature of the chronic inflammation, we suggest that these findings were caused by aging and long-term exposure to OHCs. Therefore, these changes may be used as biomarkers for OHC exposure in wildlife and humans. To our knowledge, this is the first time liver histology has been evaluated in relation to OHC concentrations in a mammalian wildlife species, and the information is important to future polar bear conservation strategies and health assessments of humans relying on OHC-contaminated food resources."}
{"id": "MED-4730", "text": "We successfully optimized an analytical method using gel permeation chromatography followed by direct sample introduction comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry to quantify multiple groups of targeted persistent organic pollutants and halogenated natural products (HNPs) simultaneously in fish oil samples. This new method has a wider analytical scope than the traditional approach to use multiple methods to cover each class of compounds. Our analysis revealed that the relatively more volatile and lighter organic compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides, and other smaller organohalogen compounds, were still present in two brands of \"PCB-free\" cod liver oils, albeit at much lower levels than in an untreated commercial sample. Moreover, the less volatile organic compounds, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers and brominated HNPs, were detected at similar levels in all three cod liver oils. This suggests that the commercial molecular distillation treatment used for removal of organic/inorganic toxic contaminants is only effective for the lighter organic contaminants."}
{"id": "MED-4735", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To assess biomarkers and frequency questions as measures of fish consumption. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Participants in the Fishermen substudy numbered 125 men and 139 women (aged 22-74), and in the Health 2000 substudy, 577 men and 712 women (aged 45-74) participated. The aim of the Fishermen study was to examine the overall health effect of fish consumption in a high-consumption population, whereas the aim of the Health 2000 substudy was to obtain in-depth information on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Fish consumption was measured by the same validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in both the studies, with a further two separate frequency questions used in the Fishermen substudy. Dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and methyl mercury (MeHg) (in the Fishermen substudy alone), and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs) (in both studies) were analyzed from fasting serum/blood samples. RESULTS: The Spearman's correlation coefficients between FFQ fish consumption and dioxins, PCBs, MeHg and omega-3 PUFAs were respectively 0.46, 0.48, 0.43 and 0.38 among the Fishermen substudy men, and 0.28, 0.36, 0.45 and 0.31 among women. Similar correlation coefficients were observed between FFQ fish consumption and serum omega-3 PUFAs in the Health 2000 substudy, and also between FFQ fish consumption and the frequency questions on fish consumption in the Fishermen substudy. According to multiple regression modeling and LMG metrics, the most important fish consumption biomarkers were dioxins and PCBs among the men and MeHg among the women. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental contaminants seemed to be slightly better fish consumption biomarkers than omega-3 PUFAs in the Baltic Sea area. The separate frequency questions measured fish consumption equally well when compared with the FFQ."}
{"id": "MED-4736", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Few biomarkers for dietary intake of various food groups have been established. The aim of the present study was to explore whether selenium (Se), iodine, mercury (Hg) or arsenic may serve as a biomarker for total fish and seafood intake in addition to the traditionally used n-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. DESIGN: Intake of fish and seafood estimated by an FFQ was compared with intake assessed by a 4 d weighed food diary and with biomarkers in blood and urine. SETTING: Validation study in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). SUBJECTS: One hundred and nineteen women. RESULTS: Total fish/seafood intake (median 39 g/d) calculated with the MoBa FFQ was comparable to intake calculated by the food diary (median 30 g/d, rS = 0.37, P < 0.001). Erythrocyte DHA and blood Hg, Se and arsenic concentrations were positively correlated with intake of fish and seafood, but the association for DHA was weakened by the widespread use of supplements. The main finding was the consistent positive association between the intake of fish/seafood and blood arsenic concentration. In multivariate analyses, blood arsenic was associated with blood Hg and fish and seafood intake. In these models, arsenic turned out to be the best indicator of intake of fish and seafood, both totally and in subgroups of fish/seafood intake. CONCLUSIONS: While DHA reflected the intake of fatty fish and n-3 PUFA supplements, blood arsenic concentration also reflected the intake of lean fish and seafood. Blood arsenic appears to be a useful biomarker for total fish and seafood intake."}
{"id": "MED-4738", "text": "BACKGROUND: Isothiocyanates (ITCs), hydrolysis products from glucosinolates, are a family of biologically active compounds originating from cruciferous vegetables. Many ITCs are assumed to have cancer preventive effects and to further evaluate these potential health effects, reliable biomarkers of ITC exposure are needed. AIM OF THE STUDY: In this study we investigated the ability of urinary ITC excretion to reflect a low or high daily intake of cruciferous vegetables. METHODS: The design was a controlled human crossover study (n = 6). Subjects consumed a self-restricted glucosinolate-free diet 48 h before the study-day where a basic diet supplemented with 80 or 350 g of mixed cruciferous vegetables was consumed. All urine was collected in intervals during the 48 h period after ingestion of the cruciferous vegetables. Total ITC in the cruciferous mixture and total ITC and their metabolites in urine was quantified as the cyclocondensation product of 1,2-bezenedithiol by high performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The total urinary excretion of ITCs correlated significantly with the two doses of ITC from diets with high or low cruciferous content (r (s )= 0.90, P < 0.01). The fraction of urinary ITC excreted was 69.02 +/- 11.57% and 74.53 +/- 8.39% of the amounts ingested for 80 and 350 g cruciferous vegetables, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results in this study indicate that the urinary excretion of ITCs, measured by use of the cyclocondesation reaction, is a useful and precise tool that may be used as a biomarker of ITC exposure in population based studies."}
{"id": "MED-4739", "text": "Contemporary reproductive aged women and their offspring are facing an unprecedented onslaught of toxicant exposures from myriad sources in their day-to-day life. Public health recommendations regarding optimal diet and nutrition in pregnancy must incorporate several considerations including safety of available foodstuffs, cultural practices and lifestyle issues. Gestational consumption of contaminated seafood remains a potential source of toxicant exposure, including mercury, for the developing child. Health care professionals responsible for the care of women and their developing children need to become apprised of: a) risks associated with toxicant bioaccumulation in pregnancy; b) ongoing information emerging in the important field of reproductive toxicology; and c) strategies within the clinical setting to facilitate nutritional sufficiency and precautionary avoidance of adverse exposure among young women."}
{"id": "MED-4740", "text": "The US Environmental Protection Agency's 2004 Dioxin Reassessment included a characterization of background exposures to dioxin-like compounds, including an estimate of an average background intake dose and an average background body burden. These quantities were derived from data generated in the mid-1990s. Studies conducted in the 2000s were gathered in an attempt to update the estimates generated by the Reassessment. While these studies suggest declines in the average background dose and body burden, a precise quantification of this decline, much less a conclusion that a decline has indeed occurred, cannot be made because of the inconsistency of study design and data sources, and the treatment of non-detects in the generation of congener average concentrations. The average background intake of the Reassessment was 61.0 pg TEQ/day, and using more current data, the average background intake was 40.6 pg TEQ/day. The average body burden from the surveys in the mid-1990s was 22.9 pg TEQ/g lipid weight (pg/g lwt). More recent blood concentration data, from NHANES 2001/2, suggest an adult average at 21.7 pg/g TEQ lwt. These TEQ values include the 17 dioxin and furan congeners and 3 coplanar PCBs, and were generated substituting ND=(1/2)DL or ND=DL/sq rt (2). Results are provided for ND=0 and analyses conducted to evaluate the impacts of this substitution. A more detailed examination of beef and pork data from similarly designed national statistical surveys show that declines in pork are statistically significant while the beef concentrations appeared to have remained constant between the time periods."}
{"id": "MED-4741", "text": "BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that egg consumption may increase the risk of colorectal cancer and some other cancers. However, the evidence is still limited. To further explore the association between egg intake and cancer risk we conducted a case-control study of 11 cancer sites in Uruguay between 1996 and 2004, including 3,539 cancer cases and 2,032 hospital controls. RESULTS: In the multivariable model with adjustment for age, sex (when applicable), residence, education, income, interviewer, smoking, alcohol intake, intake of fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy products, fatty foods, meat, energy intake and BMI, there was a significant increase in the odds of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx (OR= 2.02, 95% CI: 1.19-3.44), upper aerodigestive tract (OR= 1.67, 95% CI: 1.17-2.37), colorectum (OR= 1.64, 95% CI: 1.02-2.63), lung (OR= 1.59, 95% CI: 1.10-2.29), breast (OR= 2.86, 95% CI: 1.66-4.92), prostate (OR= 1.89, 95% CI: 1.15-3.10), bladder (OR= 2.23, 95% CI: 1.30-3.83) and all cancer sites combined (OR= 1.71, 95% CI: 1.35-2.17) with a high vs low egg intake. CONCLUSIONS: We found an association between higher intake of eggs and increased risk of several cancers. Further prospective studies of these associations are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-4743", "text": "Performance of SBR treatment for nitrogen removal from tannery is evaluated for a wide range of wastewater temperature between 7 and 30 degrees C. A pilot-scale SBR unit fed with plain-settled wastewater is operated on site for this purpose. Effective nitrogen removal is sustained by adjustment of the sludge age from 28 to 5 days. Concentration profiles of nitrogen compounds within a selected complete SBR cycle during the steady state operation at different wastewater temperatures and sludge ages are evaluated by model simulation. System performance is also interpreted in terms of modeling and stoichiometric calculation. Additional nitrate loss was observed during aerobic period when the aeration intensity was reduced by the factor of 50%."}
{"id": "MED-4744", "text": "OBJECTIVES: To quantify maternal perceptions regarding the quality of their child's diet, and to identify factors associated with misperceptions. STUDY DESIGN: A representative sample of 2287 children aged 2-5 years from a cross-sectional study (GENESIS study) was used. METHODS: Maternal perceptions of the quality of their child's diet, child's and mother's anthropometric characteristics, and other characteristics (i.e. socio-demographic and lifestyle) were recorded. The actual quality of each child's diet was estimated using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score. RESULTS: Based on the HEI score, 18.3% of participants had a 'poor' diet, 81.5% had a diet which 'needs improvement' and only 0.2% had a 'good' diet. Almost 83% of mothers overestimated the quality of their child's diet. The overestimation rate was 86% among mothers who declared that they choose their child's food based on what they consider to be healthy, and 72% among those who reported that other factors play the predominant role in food choices for their child (P<0.001). Moreover, total energy intake as well as the intake of fruits, grains, vegetables, meat and milk was significantly higher among children whose mothers overestimated the quality of their diet. CONCLUSION: The vast majority of mothers overestimate the quality of their child's diet. Given that maternal perceptions regarding the quality of their child's diet are likely to be one of the predominant factors determining the child's food intake, health professionals should make mothers aware of the existence of particular dietary recommendations that their children should meet in order to eat a healthy diet."}
{"id": "MED-4745", "text": "Early puberty onset is associated with hormone-related cancers, but whether diet in childhood influences pubertal timing is controversial. We examined the association of protein intake in early and mid-childhood with the ages at take-off of the pubertal growth spurt (ATO), peak height velocity (APHV), and menarche in girls and voice break in boys using data from the longitudinal Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study. Among participants who provided 3-d weighed dietary records at 12 mo, 18-24 mo, 3-4 y, and 5-6 y, 112 had sufficient anthropometric measurements between 6 and 13 y to allow estimation of ATO. Life-course plots were used to identify critical periods of total, animal, and vegetable protein intake (percentage of total energy intake) for pubertal timing. At these ages, the association between tertiles of protein intake (T1-T3) and the outcomes was investigated using multiple linear regression analysis. A higher total and animal protein intake at 5-6 y was related to an earlier ATO. In the highest tertile of animal protein intake at 5-6 y, ATO occurred 0.6 y earlier than in the lowest [(mean, 95% CI) T1: 9.6, 9.4-9.9 vs. T2: 9.4, 9.1-9.7 vs. T3: 9.0, 8.7-9.3 y; P-trend = 0.003, adjusted for sex, total energy, breast-feeding, birth year, and paternal university degree]. Similar findings were seen for APHV (P-trend = 0.001) and the timing of menarche/voice break (P-trend = 0.02). Conversely, a higher vegetable protein intake at 3-4 and 5-6 y was related to later ATO, APHV, and menarche/voice break (P-trend = 0.02-0.04). These results suggest that animal and vegetable protein intake in mid-childhood might be differentially related to pubertal timing."}
{"id": "MED-4746", "text": "Americans consume about 5 billion hamburgers a year. It is presumed that most hamburgers are composed primarily of meat. The purpose of this study is to assess the content of 8 fast food hamburger brands using histologic methods. Eight different brands of hamburgers were evaluated for water content by weight and microscopically for recognizable tissue types. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) staining was used to evaluate for brain tissue. Water content by weight ranged from 37.7% to 62.4% (mean, 49%). Meat content in the hamburgers ranged from 2.1% to 14.8% (median, 12.1%). The cost per gram of hamburger ranged from $0.02 to $0.16 (median, $0.03) and did not correlate with meat content. Electron microscopy showed relatively preserved skeletal muscle. A variety of tissue types besides skeletal muscle were observed including connective tissue (n = 8), blood vessels (n = 8), peripheral nerve (n = 8), adipose tissue (n = 7), plant material (n = 4), cartilage (n = 3), and bone (n = 2). In 2 hamburgers, intracellular parasites (Sarcocystis) were identified. The GFAP immunostaining was not observed in any of the hamburgers. Lipid content on oil-red-O staining was graded as 1+ (moderate) in 6 burgers and 2+ (marked) in 2 burgers. Fast food hamburgers are comprised of little meat (median, 12.1%). Approximately half of their weight is made up of water. Unexpected tissue types found in some hamburgers included bone, cartilage, and plant material; no brain tissue was present. Sarcocystis parasites were discovered in 2 hamburgers."}
{"id": "MED-4747", "text": "In contrast to the use of hormonal doping agents in sports to enhance the performance of athletes, in the livestock industry hormonal growth promoters (\"anabolics\") are used to increase the production of muscle meat. This leads to international disputes about the safety of meat originating from animals treated with such anabolics.As a consequence of the total ban in the EU of all hormonal active growth promoters (\"hormones\") in livestock production, in contrast to their legal use [e.g. of five such hormones (17beta-estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone and zeranol) as small solid ear implants and two hormones as feed additives for feedlot heifers (melengestrol acetate) and for swine (ractopamine) in the USA], the regulatory controls also differ sharply between the EU and the USA.In the EU the treatment of slaughter animals is the regulatory offence that has to be controlled in inspection programs. In the USA testing for compliance of a regulatory maximum residue level in the edible product (muscle, fat, liver or kidney) is the purpose of the inspection program (if any).The EU inspection programs focus on sample materials that are more suitable for testing for banned substances, especially if the animals are still on the farm, such as urine and feces or hair. In the case of slaughtered animals, the more favored sample materials are bile, blood, eyes and sometimes liver. Only in rare occasions is muscle meat sampled. This happens only in the case of import controls or in monitoring programs of meat sampled in butcher shops or supermarkets.As a result, data on hormone concentrations in muscle meat samples from the EU market are very rare and are obtained in most cases from small programs on an ad hoc basis. EU data for natural hormones in meat are even rarer because of the absence of \"legal natural levels\" for these hormones in compliance testing. With the exception of samples from the application sites - in the EU the site of injection of liquid hormone preparations or the site of application of \"pour on\" preparations - the hormone concentrations observed in meat samples of illegally treated animals are typically in the range of a few micrograms per kilogram (ppb) down to a few tenths of a microgram per kilogram. In the EU dozens of illegal hormones are used and the number of active compounds is still expanding. Besides estrogenic, androgenic and progestagenic compounds also thyreostatic, corticosteroidal and beta-adrenergic compounds are used alone or in \"smart\" combinations.An overview is given of the compounds identified on the EU black market. An estimate is also given of the probability of consumption in the EU of \"highly\" contaminated meat from the application sites in cattle. Finally some data are presented on the concentration of estradiol in bovine meat from animals treated and not treated with hormone implants. These data are compared with the recent findings for estradiol concentrations in hen's eggs. From this comparison, the preliminary conclusion is that hen's eggs are the major source of 17alpha- and 17beta-estradiol in the consumer's daily \"normal\" diet."}
{"id": "MED-4748", "text": "BACKGROUND: Adrenarche is the increase in adrenal androgen (AA) production starting in childhood. Until now, it has been unknown whether or not nutritional factors modulate adrenarche. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine whether body composition and certain dietary intakes are associated with AA production in children after accounting for urinary indicators of major adrenarche-related steroidogenic enzymes. DESIGN: Androgen and glucocorticoid metabolites were profiled by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in 24-h urine samples of 137 healthy prepubertal children aged 3-12 y, for whom birth characteristics, growth velocity data, and 3-d weighed-diet record information were available. Associations of the sum of C19 metabolites (reflecting daily AA secretion) with nutritional factors [fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), nutrient intakes, glycemic index, and glycemic load] and AA-relevant estimates of steroidogenic enzyme were examined in stepwise multiple regression models adjusted for age, sex, urine volume, and total energy intake. Enzyme activity estimates were calculated by using specific urinary steroid metabolite ratios. RESULTS: Of the nutrition-relevant predictors, FM (P < 0.0001) explained most of the variation of AA secretion (R(2) = 5%). Animal protein intake was also positively associated with AA secretion (P < 0.05), which explained 1% of its variation. FFM (P = 0.1) and total protein intake (P = 0.05) showed positive trends. The difference in daily AA secretion between the lowest and highest quartile of FM was comparable to that between the lowest and highest estimated activity of one of the major steroidogenic enzymes. CONCLUSIONS: Body fat mass may relevantly influence prepubertal adrenarchal androgen status. In addition, animal protein intake may also make a small contribution to AA secretion in children."}
{"id": "MED-4749", "text": "For the first time in the field of steroid residues in humans, demonstration of 19-norandrosterone (19-NA: 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-estran-17-one) and 19-noretiocholanolone (19-NE: 3alpha-hydroxy-5beta-estran-17-one) excretion in urine subsequent to boar consumption is reported. Three male volunteers agreed to consume 310 g of tissues from the edible parts (meat, liver, heart and kidney) of a boar. The three individuals delivered urine samples before and during 24 h after meal intake. After deconjugation of phase II metabolites, purification and specific derivatisation of target metabolites, the urinary extracts were analysed by mass spectrometry. Identification was carried out using measurements obtained by gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (GC/HRMS) (R = 7000) and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) (positive electrospray ionisation (ESI+)). Quantification was realised using a quadrupole mass filter. 19-NA and 19-NE concentrations in urine reached 3.1 to 7.5 microg/L nearby 10 hours after boar tissue consumption. Levels returned to endogenous values 24 hours after. These two steroids are usually exploited to confirm the exogenous administration of 19-nortestosterone (19-NT: 17beta-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one), especially in the antidoping field. We have thus proved that eating tissues of non-castrated male pork (in which 17beta-nandrolone is present) might induce some false accusations of the abuse of nandrolone in antidoping. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-4750", "text": "Androgenic steroids always exist in different animal tissues at trace level, with significant numbers of interfering compounds, which makes their determination difficult. To solve some of the problems in quantification of the natural steroids in those tissues, a new GC-MS method was developed in this study. By using a surrogate analyte approach, which was developed in the authors' previous studies, and extensive sample preparation procedure, which successfully eliminates many of the interfering compounds and resulting in a cleaner extract, accuracy, precision, sensitivity and selectivity of the method for the determination of steroids in complex matrices such as meat, liver and testis were improved. By aid of this method, the levels of androgens in different tissues of Iranian native cross-breed bulls and male sheep were determined. According to the results obtained in the present study, although the androgenic profile (contents and ratios of precursors and metabolites to the main hormones) is similar between the same tissues of both animals, the total androgenic content of each tissue is higher in the bull than the same tissue in male sheep. In addition, in both animals higher amount of androgens were found in liver in comparison with meat and testis."}
{"id": "MED-4751", "text": "The continued increase in incidence of some hormone-related cancers worldwide is of great concern. Although estrogen-like substances in the environment were blamed for this increase, the possible role of endogenous estrogens from food has not been widely discussed. We are particularly concerned about cows' milk, which contains a considerable quantity of estrogens. When we name cows' milk as one of the important routes of human exposure to estrogens, the general response of Western people is that \"man has been drinking cows' milk for around 2000 years without apparent harm.\" However, the milk that we are now consuming is quite different from that consumed 100 years ago. Unlike their pasture-fed counterparts of 100 years ago, modern dairy cows are usually pregnant and continue to lactate during the latter half of pregnancy, when the concentration of estrogens in blood, and hence in milk, increases. The correlation of incidence and mortality rates with environmental variables in worldwide countries provides useful clues to the etiology of cancer. In this study, we correlated incidence rates for breast, ovarian, and corpus uteri cancers (1993-97 from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents) with food intake (1961-97 from FAOSTAT) in 40 countries. Meat was most closely correlated with the breast cancer incidence (r=0.827), followed by milk (0.817) and cheese (0.751). Stepwise multiple-regression analysis (SMRA) identified meat as the factor contributing most greatly to the incidence of breast cancer ([R]=0.862). Milk was most closely correlated with the incidence of ovarian cancer (r=0.779), followed by animal fats (0.717) and cheese (0.697). SMRA revealed that milk plus cheese make the greatest contribution to the incidence of ovarian cancer ([R]=0.767). Milk was most closely correlated with corpus uteri cancer (r=0.814), followed by cheese (0.787). SMRA revealed that milk plus cheese make the most significant contribution to the incidence of corpus uteri cancer ([R]=0.861). In conclusion, increased consumption of animal-derived food may have adverse effects on the development of hormone-dependent cancers. Among dietary risk factors, we are most concerned with milk and dairy products, because the milk we drink today is produced from pregnant cows, in which estrogen and progesterone levels are markedly elevated."}
{"id": "MED-4752", "text": "A potent link to dairy seems to exist for three hormone-responsive glands. Acne, breast cancer and prostate cancer have all been linked epidemiologically to dairy intake. Although mechanisms postulated here remain to be accurately defined, the likely link involves Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 as a general stimulant, synergized by the steroid hormones present in milk. The IGF-1 may be either absorbed from milk, or stimulated by its ingestion, or both. The 5alpha-reduced compound 5alpha-pregnanedione (5\u03b1-P) present in milk is a direct precursor of dihydrotestosterone and may act through that pathway in prostate cancer, but 5\u03b1-P has also recently been shown to be capable of inducing estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells, upregulating cancer cells' sensitivity to estrogen. The introduction of exogenous hormones and growth factors into tissues that have not evolved defensive feedback inhibition of their corresponding endogenous sources is postulated as a direct stimulatory threat to these organ systems, whether for hyperplasia or neoplasia."}
{"id": "MED-4753", "text": "BACKGROUND: Modern genetically improved dairy cows continue to lactate throughout almost the entire pregnancy. Therefore, recent commercial cow's milk contains large amounts of estrogens and progesterone. With regard to the exposure of prepubertal children to exogenous estrogens, the authors are particularly concerned about commercial milk produced from pregnant cows. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine concentrations of serum and urine sex hormones after the intake of cow milk. METHODS: Subjects were seven men, six prepubertal children, and five women. The men and children drank 600 mL/m(2) of cow milk. Urine samples were collected 1 h before the milk intake and four times every hour after intake. In men the serum samples were obtained before and 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min after milk intake. Women drank 500 mL of cow's milk every night for 21 days beginning on the first day of the second menstruation. In three successive menstrual cycles, the day of ovulation was examined using an ovulation checker. RESULTS: After the intake of cow milk, serum estrone (E1) and progesterone concentrations significantly increased, and serum luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and testosterone significantly decreased in men. Urine concentrations of E1, estradiol, estriol and pregnanediol significantly increased in all adults and children. In four out of five women, ovulation occurred during the milk intake, and the timing of ovulation was similar among the three menstrual cycles. CONCLUSIONS: The present data on men and children indicate that estrogens in milk were absorbed, and gonadotropin secretion was suppressed, followed by a decrease in testosterone secretion. Sexual maturation of prepubertal children could be affected by the ordinary intake of cow milk."}
{"id": "MED-4755", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To critically evaluate the clinical evidence, and when not available, the animal data, most relevant to concerns that isoflavone exposure in the form of supplements or soy foods has feminizing effects on men. DESIGN: Medline literature review and cross-reference of published data. RESULT(S): In contrast to the results of some rodent studies, findings from a recently published metaanalysis and subsequently published studies show that neither isoflavone supplements nor isoflavone-rich soy affect total or free testosterone (T) levels. Similarly, there is essentially no evidence from the nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men. Clinical evidence also indicates that isoflavones have no effect on sperm or semen parameters, although only three intervention studies were identified and none were longer than 3 months in duration. Finally, findings from animal studies suggesting that isoflavones increase the risk of erectile dysfunction are not applicable to men, because of differences in isoflavone metabolism between rodents and humans and the excessively high amount of isoflavones to which the animals were exposed. CONCLUSION(S): The intervention data indicate that isoflavones do not exert feminizing effects on men at intake levels equal to and even considerably higher than are typical for Asian males. Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4756", "text": "BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Little is known about nutritional factors that influence circulating concentrations of steroid hormones, which are consistently associated with risk of breast cancer for postmenopausal women. We aimed to investigate the association between consumption of animal products and the plasma concentrations of steroid hormones and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). SUBJECTS/METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis was conducted on plasma from 766 naturally postmenopausal women. We measured plasma concentrations of steroid hormones and SHBG, and estimated dietary intakes using a 121-item food frequency questionnaire. Log-transformed values of hormone concentrations were regressed on quartiles of intake of meat and dairy products among food items, and fats, proteins and cholesterol among nutrient intake. RESULTS: Total red and fresh red meat consumption was negatively associated with SHBG levels (P for trend=0.04 and <0.01, respectively). Mean SHBG concentrations were approximately 8% and 13% lower for women in the highest quartile compared with the lowest quartile of total red and fresh red meat consumption, respectively. Positive associations were observed between dairy product consumption and total and free estradiol concentrations (P for trend=0.02 and 0.03, respectively). Mean concentrations of total and free estradiol were 15 and 14% higher for women in the highest quartile of dairy product consumption than for those in the lowest quartile, respectively. No associations were observed with consumption of processed meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cholesterol, fats or protein. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that greater consumption of total red and fresh red meat and dairy products might influence circulating concentrations of SHBG and estradiol, respectively. Confirmation and further investigation is required."}
{"id": "MED-4757", "text": "The purpose of the present study was to investigate the sex hormonal and metabolic profiles in vegetarians and compare these with the profiles in omnivores. The design of the present study was cross-sectional. The study sample of pre- and post-menopausal women included forty-one omnivores and twenty-one vegetarians. Thereafter we determined: (1) plasma sex hormones, (2) fasting insulin, NEFA as well as apo-A and apo-B, (3) BMI, (4) a dietary profile (3 d dietary records), (5) physical activity and (6) total faecal excretion per 72 h and total urinary excretion per 72 h. Vegetarians showed higher levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), apo-A, total faecal excretion per 72 h and total fibre intake as well as lower levels of apo-B, free oestradiol, free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-s) and BMI. Interestingly, after controlling for BMI, significant differences between groups still persisted except for apo-B. Moreover, stepwise regression analysis showed that total fibre intake explained 15.2 % of the variation in SHBG in our cohort, which accounted for the greatest source of unique variance. Results of the present study indicate that pre- and post-menopausal vegetarians present higher concentrations of SHBG, which could be explained, in part, by higher levels of fibre intake. This may explain, at least in part, the lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-4758", "text": "AIM: To examine the relation between meat intake and diabetes occurrence in adults. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study we examined the relation between diet and incident diabetes recorded among 8,401 cohort members (ages 45-88 years) of the Adventist Mortality Study and Adventist Health Study (California, USA) who were non-diabetic at baseline. During the 17-year follow-up, we identified 543 incident diabetes cases. RESULTS: (1) Subjects who were weekly consumers of all meats were 29% (OR = 1.29; 95% CI 1.08, 1.55) more likely (relative to zero meat intake) to develop diabetes. (2) Subjects who consumed any processed meats (salted fish and frankfurters) were 38% (OR = 1.38; 95% CI 1.05-1.82) more likely to develop diabetes. (3) Long-term adherence (over a 17-year interval) to a diet that included at least weekly meat intake was associated with a 74% increase (OR = 1.74; 95% CI 1.36-2.22) in odds of diabetes relative to long-term adherence to a vegetarian diet (zero meat intake). Further analyses indicated that some of this risk may be attributable to obesity and/or weight gain--both of which were strong risk factors in this cohort. It is noteworthy that even after control for weight and weight change, weekly meat intake remained an important risk factor (OR = 1.38; 95% CI 1.06-1.68) for diabetes [corrected]. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings raise the possibility that meat intake, particularly processed meats, is a dietary risk factor for diabetes. 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-4760", "text": "The human gut is a lush microbial ecosystem containing about 100 trillion microorganisms, whose collective genome, the microbiome, contains 100-fold more genes than the entire human genome. The symbiosis of our extended genome plays a role in host homeostasis and energy extraction from diet. In this article, we summarize some of the studies that have advanced the understanding of the microbiome and its effects on metabolism, obesity, and health. Metagenomic studies demonstrated that certain mixes of gut microbiota may protect or predispose the host to obesity. Furthermore, microbiota transplantation studies in germ-free murine models showed that the efficient energy extraction traits of obese-type gut flora are transmissible. The proposed methods by which the microbiome may contribute to obesity include increasing dietary energy harvest, promoting fat deposition, and triggering systemic inflammation. Future treatments for obesity may involve modulation of gut microbiota using probiotics or prebiotics."}
{"id": "MED-4762", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Probiotic consumption effects on cold and influenza-like symptom incidence and duration were evaluated in healthy children during the winter season. METHODS: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 326 eligible children (3-5 years of age) were assigned randomly to receive placebo (N = 104), Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (N = 110), or L acidophilus NCFM in combination with Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis Bi-07 (N = 112). Children were treated twice daily for 6 months. RESULTS: Relative to the placebo group, single and combination probiotics reduced fever incidence by 53.0% (P = .0085) and 72.7% (P = .0009), coughing incidence by 41.4% (P = .027) and 62.1% (P = .005), and rhinorrhea incidence by 28.2% (P = .68) and 58.8% (P = .03), respectively. Fever, coughing, and rhinorrhea duration was decreased significantly, relative to placebo, by 32% (single strain; P = .0023) and 48% (strain combination; P < .001). Antibiotic use incidence was reduced, relative to placebo, by 68.4% (single strain; P = .0002) and 84.2% (strain combination; P < .0001). Subjects receiving probiotic products had significant reductions in days absent from group child care, by 31.8% (single strain; P = .002) and 27.7% (strain combination; P < .001), compared with subjects receiving placebo treatment. CONCLUSION: Daily dietary probiotic supplementation for 6 months was a safe effective way to reduce fever, rhinorrhea, and cough incidence and duration and antibiotic prescription incidence, as well as the number of missed school days attributable to illness, for children 3 to 5 years of age."}
{"id": "MED-4763", "text": "The worldwide obesity epidemic is stimulating efforts to identify host and environmental factors that affect energy balance. Comparisons of the distal gut microbiota of genetically obese mice and their lean littermates, as well as those of obese and lean human volunteers have revealed that obesity is associated with changes in the relative abundance of the two dominant bacterial divisions, the Bacteroidetes and the Firmicutes. Here we demonstrate through metagenomic and biochemical analyses that these changes affect the metabolic potential of the mouse gut microbiota. Our results indicate that the obese microbiome has an increased capacity to harvest energy from the diet. Furthermore, this trait is transmissible: colonization of germ-free mice with an 'obese microbiota' results in a significantly greater increase in total body fat than colonization with a 'lean microbiota'. These results identify the gut microbiota as an additional contributing factor to the pathophysiology of obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4764", "text": "Obesity is associated with complications during pregnancy and increased health risks in the newborn. The objective of the present study was to establish possible relationships between gut microbiota, body weight, weight gain and biochemical parameters in pregnant women. Fifty pregnant women were classified according to their BMI in normal-weight (n 34) and overweight (n 16) groups. Gut microbiota composition was analysed by quantitative real-time PCR in faeces and biochemical parameters in plasma at 24 weeks of pregnancy. Reduced numbers of Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides and increased numbers of Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli were detected in overweight compared with normal-weight pregnant women. E. coli numbers were higher in women with excessive weight gain than in women with normal weight gain during pregnancy, while Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia muciniphila showed an opposite trend. In the whole population, increased total bacteria and Staphylococcus numbers were related to increased plasma cholesterol levels. Increased Bacteroides numbers were related to increased HDL-cholesterol and folic acid levels, and reduced TAG levels. Increased Bifidobacterium numbers were related to increased folic acid levels. Increased Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli numbers were related to increased ferritin and reduced transferrin, while Bifidobacterium levels showed the opposite trend. Therefore, gut microbiota composition is related to body weight, weight gain and metabolic biomarkers during pregnancy, which might be of relevance to the management of the health of women and infants."}
{"id": "MED-4765", "text": "BACKGROUND: Previous studies on the association between macronutrient intake and the development of abdominal obesity, which carries an increased health risk, have not shown a consistent pattern, possibly due to mixed effects of other aspects of the food intake. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the association between intake from 21 food and beverage groups and the subsequent 5-year difference in waist circumference. METHODS: The study population consisted of 22,570 women and 20,126 men, aged 50 to 64 years at baseline, with complete data on baseline and follow-up waist circumference, baseline diet (192 items food frequency questionnaire), body mass index, and selected potential confounders (eg, smoking status, sport activities, and intake of alcoholic beverages). Multiple linear regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: For women, 5-year difference in waist circumference was inversely related to intake from red meat, vegetables, fruit, butter, and high-fat dairy products, whereas intake from potatoes, processed meat, poultry, and snack foods was positively associated. For men, red meat and fruit intakes were inversely associated with 5-year difference in waist circumference, whereas snack foods intake was positively associated. Sex differences occurred for vegetables, high-fat dairy products, and processed meat. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a diet low in fruits and red meat and high in snack foods was associated with larger waist circumference gains in both sexes. Furthermore, in women a diet low in vegetables, butter, and high-fat dairy products, and high in poultry, potatoes, and processed meat were likely determinants of subsequent gain at the waist."}
{"id": "MED-4766", "text": "The aetiology of obesity is multifactorial. An understanding of the contributions of various causal factors is essential for the proper management of obesity. Although it is primarily thought of as a condition brought on by lifestyle choices, recent evidence shows there is a link between obesity and viral infections. Numerous animal models have documented an increased body weight and a number of physiologic changes, including increased insulin sensitivity, increased glucose uptake and decreased leptin secretion that contribute to an increase in body fat in adenovirus-36 infection. Other viral agents associated with increasing obesity in animals included canine distemper virus, rous-associated virus 7, scrapie, Borna disease virus, SMAM-1 and other adenoviruses. This review attempted to determine if viral infection is a possible cause of obesity. Also, this paper discussed mechanisms by which viruses might produce obesity. Based on the evidence presented in this paper, it can be concluded that a link between obesity and viral infections cannot be ruled out. Further epidemiologic studies are needed to establish a causal link between the two, and determine if these results can be used in future management and prevention of obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4767", "text": "We previously reported that chickens infected with the avian adenovirus SMAM-1 developed a unique syndrome characterized by excessive intra-abdominal fat deposition accompanied by paradoxically low serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. There have been no previous reports of avian adenoviruses infecting humans. We screened the serum of 52 humans with obesity in Bombay, India, for antibodies against SMAM-1 virus using the agar gel precipitation test (AGPT) method. Bodyweights and serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were compared in SMAM-1-positive (P-AGPT) and SMAM-1-negative (N-AGPT) groups. Ten subjects were positive for antibodies to SMAM-1, and 42 subjects did not have antibodies. The P-AGPT group had a significantly higher bodyweight (p < 0.02) and body mass index (p < 0.001) (95.1 +/- 2.1 kg and 35.3 +/- 1.5 kg/m2, respectively) compared with the N-AGPT group (80.1 +/- 0.6 kg and 30.7 +/- 0.6 kg/m2, respectively). Also, the P-AGPT group had significantly lower serum cholesterol (p < 0.02) and triglyceride (p < 0.001) values (4.65 mmol/L and 1.45 mmol/L, respectively) compared with the N-AGPT group (5.51 mmol/L and 2.44 mmol/L, respectively). Two subjects positive for SMAM-1 antibodies had antibodies against each others' serum, suggesting the presence of antigens in one or both. When these two serum samples were inoculated into chicken embryos, macroscopic lesions compatible with SMAM-1 infection developed. The inoculation of serum from N-AGPT subjects did not produce such lesions. The presence of increased obesity, antibodies to SMAM-1, reduced levels of blood lipids, and viremia that produces a typical infection in chicken embryos suggests that SMAM-1, or a serologically similar human virus, may be involved in the cause of obesity in some humans."}
{"id": "MED-4768", "text": "The rapid increase in obesity and the associated health care costs have prompted a search for better approaches for its prevention and management. Such efforts may be facilitated by better understanding the etiology of obesity. Of the several etiological factors, infection, an unusual causative factor, has recently started receiving greater attention. In the last two decades, 10 adipogenic pathogens were reported, including human and nonhuman viruses, scrapie agents, bacteria, and gut microflora. Some of these pathogens are associated with human obesity, but their causative role in human obesity has not been established. This chapter presents information about the natural hosts, signs and symptoms, and pathogenesis of the adipogenic microorganisms. If relevant to humans, \"Infectobesity\" would be a relatively novel, yet extremely significant concept. A new perspective about the infectious etiology of obesity may stimulate additional research to assess the contribution of hitherto unknown pathogens to human obesity and possibly to prevent or treat obesity of infectious origins."}
{"id": "MED-4769", "text": "Excessive fat accumulation has been observed in the field in chickens infected with adenovirus. In the present study this has been verified under experimental conditions. Chickens inoculated with adenovirus showed lesser weight gain but excessive adiposity compared to normal control chickens. These changes could not be explained by variation in food consumption. Chickens acquiring adenovirus naturally from the inoculated group showed similar adiposity. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels of inoculated and naturally infected chickens were significantly lower compared to those of the control group. Such an association between adenovirus infection and adiposity has been shown, probably, for the first time, which might help in further understanding of the complex problem of obesity."}
{"id": "MED-4772", "text": "(1) Iron-deficiency anaemia during pregnancy increases the risk of low birth weight and preterm birth; (2) In a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial, iron supplementation in pregnant women with haemoglobin levels of at least 13.2 g/100 ml at the beginning of the 2nd trimester was associated with low birth weight and maternal hypertension; (3) In a trial in women with haemoglobin levels of at least 11.5 g/100 ml who took supplemental iron, haemoglobin levels above 14.5 g/100 ml at 28 weeks of gestation were associated with an 8-fold increase in the risk of preterm birth and a 6-fold increase in the risk of low birth weight; (4) An epidemiological study showed a link between high maternal haemoglobin levels and low birth weight; (5) In practice, iron supplements should not be taken by pregnant women whose haemoglobin levels exceed 11 g/100 ml during the 1st and 3rd trimesters and 10.5 g/100 ml during the 2nd trimester."}
{"id": "MED-4774", "text": "Caffeine is probably the most frequently ingested pharmacologically active substance in the world. It is found in common beverages (coffee, tea, soft drinks), in products containing cocoa or chocolate, and in medications. Because of its wide consumption at different levels by most segments of the population, the public and the scientific community have expressed interest in the potential for caffeine to produce adverse effects on human health. Reproductive-aged and pregnant women are 'at risk' subgroups of the population who may require specific advice on moderating their daily caffeine intake. This article highlights the implications of caffeine intake in pregnancy, reviews the latest evidence-based information available on this subject, and offers recommendations (practical advice) for the obstetrician-gynecologists proving peripartum care to these potentially complicated pregnancies."}
{"id": "MED-4775", "text": "PURPOSE: To investigate the association between green tea consumption and mortality from all causes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among elderly people. METHODS: In a population-based, prospective cohort study, a total of 14,001 elderly residents (aged 65-84 years), randomly chosen from all 74 municipalities in Shizuoka, Japan, completed questionnaires that included items about frequency of green tea consumption. They were followed for up to 6 years, from December 1999 to March 2006. Consequently, 12,251 subjects were analyzed to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality, cancer, and CVD. RESULTS: Among 64,002 person-years, 1,224 deaths were identified (follow-up rate, 71.6%). The multivariate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD mortality compared those who consumed seven or more cups per day with those who consumed less than one cup per day, were 0.24 (0.14-0.40), 0.30 (0.15-0.61), and 0.18 (0.08-0.40) for total participants, men, and women, respectively. Although green tea consumption was not inversely associated with cancer mortality, green tea consumption and colorectal cancer mortality were inversely associated with a moderate dose-response relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Green tea consumption is associated with reduced mortality from all causes and CVD. This study also suggests that green tea could have protective effects against colorectal cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4778", "text": "The methanolic extract of fresh tea leaves of Camellia sinensis L. (Theaceae) (CS) was assayed for its potential to inhibit enzymes with hydrolytic activity in Naja naja kaouthia Lesson (Elapidae) and Calloselasma rhodostoma Kuhl (Viperidae) venoms. These snake venom enzymes are responsible for the early effects of envenomation, such as local tissue damage and inflammation. The CS extract inhibited phospholipase A(2), proteases, hyaluronidase and L-amino acid oxidase in both venoms by in vitro neutralization and inhibited the hemorrhagic and the dermonecrotic activities of the venoms in vivo. It is suggested that the inhibitory potential of the CS extract against local tissue damage induced by snake venoms may be attributed to complexation and chelation between the venom proteins and the phenolic contents of the extract."}
{"id": "MED-4779", "text": "ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Tea consumption has been extensively studied in relation to various diseases, several epidemiologic studies have been performed to investigate the association of tea consumption with type 2 diabetes; however, the results of these studies were not entirely consistent. OBJECTIVE To conduct a meta-analysis of studies that assessed the association of tea consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed a systematic literature search through November 2008 in PUBMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The search was limited to English-language studies. Studies were excluded if they were type 1 diabetes, animal studies. Nine cohort studies were identified by two authors, and summary relative risks (RRs) were calculated using a random-effects model. RESULTS We identified nine cohort studies, including 324,141 participants and 11,400 incident cases of type 2 diabetes with follow-up ranging from 5 to 18\u00a0years. The summary adjusted RR did not show that tea consumption was associated with a reduced type 2 diabetes risk (RR, 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.92\u20131.01). Evidence from the results of our stratified analyses revealed that tea consumption \u22654 cups per day (RR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7\u20130.93) might play a role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. However, no statistically significant association was observed for sex and the follow-up durations stratified between tea consumption and type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis indicates that tea consumption \u22654 cups per day may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-4780", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between green tea consumption and tooth loss. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study. Usable self-administered questionnaires about green tea consumption and tooth loss were returned from 25,078 persons (12,019 men and 13,059 women) aged 40 to 64 years in Japan. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for tooth loss using 3 cut-off points of 10, 20, and 25 teeth relative to each category of green tea consumption. RESULTS: Consumption of > or = 1 cup/day of green tea was significantly associated with decreased odds for tooth loss, and the association appeared to fit a threshold model. In men, the multivariate-adjusted ORs for tooth loss with a cut-off point of <20 teeth associated with different frequencies of green tea consumption were 1.00 (reference) for <1 cup/day, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.74-0.91) for 1-2 cups/day, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.73-0.92) for 3-4 cups/day, and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.66-0.89) for > or = 5 cups/day. The corresponding data for women and the results for cut-off points of 10 and 25 teeth were essentially the same. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings indicate an association of green tea consumption with decreased odds for tooth loss. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4782", "text": "A survey of a broad range of chocolate- and cocoa-containing products marketed in the United States was conducted to provide a more detailed analysis of flavan-3-ol monomers, oligomers, and polymers, which can be grouped into a class of compounds called procyanidins. Samples consisted of the three or four top-selling products within the following six categories: natural cocoa powder, unsweetened baking chocolate, dark chocolate, semisweet baking chips, milk chocolate, and chocolate syrup. Composite samples were characterized for percent fat (% fat), percent nonfat cocoa solids (% NFCS), antioxidant level by ORAC, total polyphenols, epicatechin, catechin, total monomers, and flavan-3-ol oligomers and polymers (procyanidins). On a gram weight basis epicatechin and catechin content of the products follow in decreasing order: cocoa powder > baking chocolate > dark chocolate = baking chips > milk chocolate > chocolate syrup. Analysis of the monomer and oligomer profiles within product categories shows there are two types of profiles: (1) products that have high monomers with decreasing levels of oligomers and (2) products in which the level of dimers is equal to or greater than the monomers. Results show a strong correlation (R(2) = 0.834) of epicatechin to the level of % NFCS and also very good correlations for N = 2-5 oligomers to % NFCS. A weaker correlation was observed for catechin to % NFCS (R(2) = 0.680). Other analyses show a similar high degree of correlation with epicatechin and N = 2-5 oligomers to total polyphenols, with catechin being less well correlated to total polyphenols. A lesser but still good correlation exists between the calculated percent cacao (calcd % cacao) content, a proxy for percent cacao, and these same flavanol measures, with catechin again showing a lesser degree of correlation to calcd % cacao. Principal component analysis (PCA) shows that the products group discretely into five classes: (1) cocoa powder, (2) baking chocolate, (3) dark chocolate and semisweet chips, (4) milk chocolates, and (5) syrup. PCA also shows that most factors group closely together including the antioxidant activity, total polyphenols, and the flavan-3-ol measures with the exception of catechin and % fat in the product, which group separately. Because catechin distribution appears to be different from the other flavan-3-ol measures, an analysis of the epicatechin to catechin ratio was done, indicating there is a >5-fold variation in this measure across the products studied. The cocoa-containing products tested range from cocoa powder with 227.34 +/- 17.23 mg of procyanidins per serving to 25.75 +/- 9.91 mg of procyanidins per serving for chocolate syrup. These results are discussed with respect to other studies on commercial products, the bioavailability of the flavanols, and the possible role of processing on the amount of catechin in products."}
{"id": "MED-4783", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Historically, breast cancer incidence has been substantially higher in the United States than in Asia. When Asian women migrate to the United States, their breast cancer risk increases over several generations and approaches that for U.S. Whites. Thus, modifiable factors, such as diet, may be responsible. METHODS: In this population-based case-control study of breast cancer among women of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent, ages 20 to 55 years, and living in San Francisco-Oakland (California), Los Angeles (California) and Oahu (Hawaii), we interviewed 597 cases (70% of those eligible) and 966 controls (75%) about adolescent and adult diet and cultural practices. For subjects with mothers living in the United States (39% of participants), we interviewed mothers of 99 cases (43% of eligible) and 156 controls (40%) about the daughter's childhood exposures. Seventy-three percent of study participants were premenopausal at diagnosis. RESULTS: Comparing highest with lowest tertiles, the multivariate relative risks (95% confidence interval) for childhood, adolescent, and adult soy intake were 0.40 (0.18-0.83; P(trend) = 0.03), 0.80 (0.59-1.08; P(trend) = 0.12), and 0.76 (0.56-1.02; P(trend) = 0.04), respectively. Inverse associations with childhood intake were noted in all three races, all three study sites, and women born in Asia and the United States. Adjustment for measures of westernization attenuated the associations with adolescent and adult soy intake but did not affect the inverse relationship with childhood soy intake. DISCUSSION: Soy intake during childhood, adolescence, and adult life was associated with decreased breast cancer risk, with the strongest, most consistent effect for childhood intake. Soy may be a hormonally related, early-life exposure that influences breast cancer incidence."}
{"id": "MED-4785", "text": "Purpose Soy isoflavones, structurally similar to endogenous estrogens, may affect breast cancer through both hormonally-mediated and non-hormonally related mechanisms. Although the effects of soy are not well understood, some breast cancer survivors increase their soy intake post-diagnosis in attempt to improve their prognosis. Therefore, we examined the role of soy isoflavone intake and the risk of breast cancer recurrence by hormone receptor status, menopausal status, and tamoxifen therapy. Materials and methods A cohort of 1954 female breast cancer survivors, diagnosed during 1997\u20132000, was prospective followed for 6.31 years and 282 breast cancer recurrences were ascertained. Isoflavone intake was assessed by mailing modified Block and supplemental soy food frequency questionnaires to participants, on average 23 months post-diagnosis. Risk of breast cancer recurrence, measured by hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), was estimated using multivariable delayed-entry Cox proportional hazards models. Results Suggestive trends for a reduced risk of cancer recurrence were observed with increasing quintiles of daidzein and glycetin intake compared to no intake among postmenopausal women (P for trend: P = .08 for daidzein, P = .06 for glycetin) and among tamoxifen users (P = .10 for daidzein, P = .05 for glycetin). Among postmenopausal women treated with tamoxifen, there was an approximately 60% reduction in breast cancer recurrence comparing the highest to the lowest daidzein intakes (>1453 micrograms (\u00b5g)/day versus < 7.7 \u00b5g/day) (HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.21\u20130.79, P = .008). Conclusion Soy isoflavones consumed at levels comparable to those in Asian populations may reduce the risk of cancer recurrence in women receiving tamoxifen therapy and moreover, appears not to interfere with tamoxifen efficacy. Further confirmation is required in other large prospective studies before recommendations regarding soy intake can be issued to breast cancer survivors."}
{"id": "MED-4786", "text": "Background: Soy food is a rich source of isoflavones\u2014a class of phytoestrogens that has both antiestrogenic and anticarcinogenic properties. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the association of adolescent and adult soy food intake with breast cancer risk in a cohort of 73,223 Chinese women who participated in the Shanghai Women's Health Study. Design: A validated food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess usual dietary intake during adulthood and adolescence. After a mean follow-up of 7.4 y, 592 incident cases of breast cancer were identified for longitudinal analyses by using Cox regressions. Results: Adult soy food consumption, measured either by soy protein or isoflavone intake, was inversely associated with the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and the association was highly statistically significant (P for trend < 0.001). The multivariate-adjusted relative risks (RRs) for the upper intake quintile compared with the lowest quintile were 0.41 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.70) for soy protein intake and 0.44 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.73) for isoflavone intake. High intake of soy foods during adolescence was also associated with a reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer (RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.97). Women who consumed a high amount of soy foods consistently during adolescence and adulthood had a substantially reduced risk of breast cancer. No significant association with soy food consumption was found for postmenopausal breast cancer. Conclusion: This large, population-based, prospective cohort study provides strong evidence of a protective effect of soy food intake against premenopausal breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4787", "text": "Background Despite strong evidence of an inverse association of physical activity with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, whether a certain intensity or time of life of physical activity is most effective for lowering breast cancer risk is not known. Methods In 118,899 postmenopausal women in the prospective NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, we examined the relations of light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity during four periods of life (\"historical\": ages 15-18, 19-29, 35-39 years; \"recent\": past 10 years) to postmenopausal breast cancer risk. Physical activity was assessed by self-report at baseline, and 4287 incident breast cancers were identified over 6.6 years of follow-up. Results In age-adjusted and multivariate Cox regression models, >7 hours/week of moderate-to-vigorous activity during the past 10 years was associated with 16% reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer (RR:0.84; 95%CI:0.76,0.93) compared with inactivity. The association remained statistically significant after adjustment for BMI (RR:0.87; 95%CI:0.78,0.96). Neither moderate-to-vigorous activity during other periods of life nor light intensity activity during any period of life was related to breast cancer risk, and associations did not vary by tumor characteristics. Conclusion A high level of recent, but not historical, physical activity of moderate-to-vigorous intensity is associated with reduced postmenopausal breast cancer risk. More precise recall of recent physical activity than activity in the distant past is one possible explanation for our findings."}
{"id": "MED-4789", "text": "Objectives To examine the effects of aerobic exercise on cognition and other biomarkers associated with Alzheimer disease pathology for older adults with mild cognitive impairment, and assess the role of sex as a predictor of response. Design Six-month, randomized, controlled, clinical trial. Setting Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System clinical research unit. Participants Thirty-three adults (17 women) with amnestic mild cognitive impairment ranging in age from 55 to 85 years (mean age,70 years). Intervention Participants were randomized either to a high-intensity aerobic exercise or stretching control group. The aerobic group exercised under the supervision of a fitness trainer at 75% to 85% of heart rate reserve for 45 to 60 min/d, 4 d/wk for 6 months. The control group carried out supervised stretching activities according to the same schedule but maintained their heart rate at or below 50% of their heart rate reserve. Before and after the study, glucometabolic and treadmill tests were performed and fat distribution was assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. At baseline, month 3, and month 6, blood was collected for assay and cognitive tests were administered. Main Outcome Measures Performance measures on Symbol-Digit Modalities, Verbal Fluency, Stroop, Trails B, Task Switching, Story Recall, and List Learning. Fasting plasma levels of insulin, cortisol, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, insulinlike growth factor-I, and \u03b2-amyloids 40 and 42. Results Six months of high-intensity aerobic exercise had sex-specific effects on cognition, glucose metabolism, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and trophic activity despite comparable gains in cardiorespiratory fitness and body fat reduction. For women, aerobic exercise improved performance on multiple tests of executive function, increased glucose disposal during the metabolic clamp, and reduced fasting plasma levels of insulin, cortisol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. For men, aerobic exercise increased plasma levels of insulinlike growth factor I and had a favorable effect only on Trails B performance. Conclusions This study provides support, using rigorous controlled methodology, for a potent nonpharma-cologic intervention that improves executive control processes for older women at high risk of cognitive decline. Moreover, our results suggest that a sex bias in cognitive response may relate to sex-based differences in glucometabolic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to aerobic exercise."}
{"id": "MED-4790", "text": "It is a pleasure and an honor to contribute a paper to a special issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition honoring Stanley Wallach and Pearl Small. In this brief review I advance the hypothesis that copper toxicity is the major cause of the epidemic of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease engulfing our aging population. This epidemic is recent, exploding in the last 50-60 years. The disease was virtually unknown 100 years ago. And it involves only developed countries that use copper plumbing. Something in our environment associated with development is poisoning the minds of our aged. The epidemic is associated with the use of copper plumbing, and the taking of copper in multi-mineral supplements. Food copper (organic copper) is processed by the liver and is transported and sequestered in a safe manner. Inorganic copper, such as that in drinking water and copper supplements, largely bypasses the liver and enters the free copper pool of the blood directly. This copper is potentially toxic because it may penetrate the blood/brain barrier. I review a web of animal and human data that tightens the noose around the hypothesis that copper toxicity is causing the epidemic of Alzeimer's disease and loss of cognition in our aging population."}
{"id": "MED-4791", "text": "Dietary consumption of fish is widely recommended because of the beneficial effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the risks of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's diseases. The American Heart Association currently recommends eating at least two servings of fish per week. We are concerned that consumption of farmed fish may provide a means of transmission of infectious prions from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease."}
{"id": "MED-4794", "text": "Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has become a matter of concern worldwide, in particular in the USA. For the analysis of emergence and spread, clear definitions based on epidemiological origin are needed for discrimination between CA-MRSA, healthcare-associated community MRSA, and healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). Although its role in pathogenesis is currently under debate, the capability for Panton-Valentine leukocidin formation is associated with the majority of CA-MRSA isolates from North America and from Europe. Most CA-MRSA isolates are attributed to clonal lineages different from HA-MRSA; there are, however, clonal lineages from which both HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA have been reported (e.g. ST1, ST5, ST8, and ST22); CA-MRSA ST8 (USA300), which is most frequent in the USA, has meanwhile been reported from Europe. CA-MRSA ST80 is widely disseminated in Europe; because of its pronounced oxacillin heteroresistance phenotype, cefoxitin-based assays are advisable for reliable detection. So far, CA-MRSA infections seem to be much less frequent in Europe than in the USA, where patients with particular predispositions and low social status are at especial risk."}
{"id": "MED-4796", "text": "Clostridium difficile is a critically important cause of disease in humans, particularly in hospitalized individuals. Three major factors have raised concern about the potential for this pathogen to be a cause of foodborne disease: the increasing recognition of community-associated C. difficile infection, recent studies identifying C. difficile in food animals and food, and similarities in C. difficile isolates from animals, food and humans. It is clear that C. difficile can be commonly found in food animals and food in many regions, and that strains important in human infections, such as ribotype 027/NAP1/toxinotype III and ribotype 078/toxinotype V, are often present. However, it is currently unclear whether ingestion of contaminated food can result in colonization or infection. Many questions remain unanswered regarding the role of C. difficile in community-associated diarrhoea: its source when it is a food contaminant, the infective dose, and the association between ingestion of contaminated food and disease. The significant role of this pathogen in human disease and its potential emergence as an important community-associated pathogen indicate that careful evaluation of different sources of exposure, including food, is required, but determination of the potential role of food in C. difficile infection may be difficult."}
{"id": "MED-4797", "text": "The objectives of this study were to compare the prevalence of Clostridium difficile (Cd) among different age and production groups of swine in a vertically integrated swine operation in Texas in 2006 and to compare our isolates to other animal and human isolates. Results are based on 131 Cd isolates from 1008 swine fecal samples and pork trim samples (overall prevalence of 13%). The prevalence (number positive/number tested in production type) of Cd was different between the groups (P<or=0.001), and was highest among suckling piglets at 50.0% (61/122), followed by 23.8% (34/143) for lactating sows and effluent from the farrowing barn, 8.4% (10/119) for nursery, 6.5% (4/62) for pork products, 3.9% (15/382) for grower-finisher, and 3.9% (7/180) for breeding boars and sows. Of the 131 isolates, 122 were positive by PCR for both toxins A (tcdA) and B (tcdB) genes, 129 isolates harbored a 39 base pair deletion in the tcdC gene, 120 isolates were toxinotype V, and all 131 of the isolates were positive for the binary toxin gene cdtB. All isolates were resistant to cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, and imipenem, whereas all were sensitive to metronidazole, piperacillin/tazobactam, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and vancomycin. The majority of isolates were resistant to clindamycin; resistant or intermediate to ampicillin; and sensitive to tetracycline and chloramphenicol. There was an increased (P</=0.001) number of isolates for the timeframe of September to February compared to March to August."}
{"id": "MED-4799", "text": "To determine the presence of Clostridium difficile, we sampled cooked and uncooked meat products sold in Tucson, Arizona. Forty-two percent contained toxigenic C. difficile strains (either ribotype 078/toxinotype V [73%] or 027/toxinotype III [NAP1 or NAP1-related; 27%]). These findings indicate that food products may play a role in interspecies C. difficile transmission."}
{"id": "MED-4803", "text": "We investigated the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in 120 retail meat samples from 30 grocery stores in Baton Rouge, LA. S. aureus strains were recovered from 45.6% of pork samples and 20% of beef samples, whereas MRSA strains were isolated from six meat samples (five pork samples and one beef sample). The MRSA isolates were of two strain types (clones), one harboring Panton-Valentine leucocidin and belonging to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis type USA300 and the other one belonging to USA100."}
{"id": "MED-4804", "text": "BACKGROUND: Alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHRs) are an effective means of decreasing the transmission of bacterial pathogens. Alcohol is not effective against Clostridium difficile spores. We examined the retention of C. difficile spores on the hands of volunteers after ABHR use and the subsequent transfer of these spores through physical contact. METHODS: Nontoxigenic C. difficile spores were spread on the bare palms of 10 volunteers. Use of 3 ABHRs and chlorhexidine soap-and-water washing were compared with plain water rubbing alone for removal of C. difficile spores. Palmar cultures were performed before and after hand decontamination by means of a plate stamping method. Transferability of C. difficile after application of ABHR was tested by having each volunteer shake hands with an uninoculated volunteer. RESULTS: Plain water rubbing reduced palmar culture counts by a mean (+/- standard deviation [SD]) of 1.57 +/- 0.11 log10 colony-forming units (CFU) per cm2, and this value was set as the zero point for the other products. Compared with water washing, chlorhexidine soap washing reduced spore counts by a mean (+/- SD) of 0.89 +/- 0.34 log10 CFU per cm2; among the ABHRs, Isagel accounted for a reduction of 0.11 +/- 0.20 log10 CFU per cm2 (P = .005), Endure for a reduction of 0.37 +/- 0.42 log10 CFU per cm2 (P = .010), and Purell for a reduction of 0.14 +/- 0.33 log10 CFU per cm2 (P = .005). There were no statistically significant differences between the reductions achieved by the ABHRs; only Endure had a reduction statistically different from that for water control rubbing (P = .040). After ABHR use, handshaking transferred a mean of 30% of the residual C. difficile spores to the hands of recipients. CONCLUSIONS: Hand washing with soap and water is significantly more effective at removing C. difficile spores from the hands of volunteers than are ABHRs. Residual spores are readily transferred by a handshake after use of ABHR."}
{"id": "MED-4807", "text": "To determine the presence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and other potentially diarrheagenic E. coli strains in retail meats, 7,258 E. coli isolates collected by the U.S. National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) retail meat program from 2002 to 2007 were screened for Shiga toxin genes. In addition, 1,275 of the E. coli isolates recovered in 2006 were examined for virulence genes specific for other diarrheagenic E. coli strains. Seventeen isolates (16 from ground beef and 1 from a pork chop) were positive for stx genes, including 5 positive for both stx1 and stx2, 2 positive for stx1, and 10 positive for stx2. The 17 STEC strains belonged to 10 serotypes: O83:H8, O8:H16, O15:H16, O15:H17, O88:H38, ONT:H51, ONT:H2, ONT:H10, ONT:H7, and ONT:H46. None of the STEC isolates contained eae, whereas seven carried enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) hlyA. All except one STEC isolate exhibited toxic effects on Vero cells. DNA sequence analysis showed that the stx2 genes from five STEC isolates encoded mucus-activatable Stx2d. Subtyping of the 17 STEC isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) yielded 14 distinct restriction patterns. Among the 1,275 isolates from 2006, 11 atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) isolates were identified in addition to 3 STEC isolates. This study demonstrated that retail meats, mainly ground beef, were contaminated with diverse STEC strains. The presence of atypical EPEC strains in retail meat is also of concern due to their potential to cause human infections."}
{"id": "MED-4808", "text": "BACKGROUND: Extraintestinal Escherichia coli infections are associated with specialized extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) strains and, increasingly, with antimicrobial resistance. The food supply may disseminate ExPEC and antimicrobial-resistant E. coli. METHODS: In a prospective survey of 1648 diverse food items from 10 retail markets in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area during 2001-2003, selective cultures and disk-diffusion assays for the isolation and characterization of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli and polymerase chain reaction-based assays and O serotyping to define ExPEC-associated traits were performed. RESULTS: E. coli contamination exhibited a prevalence gradient from miscellaneous foods (9%), through beef or pork (69%), to poultry (92%; P<.001). Among E. coli-positive samples, similar prevalence gradients were detected for antimicrobial resistance (27%, 85%, and 94% of samples, respectively; P<.001) and ExPEC contamination (4%, 19%, and 46%, respectively; P<.001). By multivariate analysis, beef or pork and poultry from natural-food stores exhibited reduced risks of E. coli contamination and antimicrobial resistance. Indirect evidence suggested on-farm selection of resistance. Four food-source ExPEC isolates (from pea pods, turkey parts, ground pork, and vegetable dip) closely resembled selected human clinical isolates by O antigen and genomic profile. CONCLUSIONS: Retail foods may be an important vehicle for community-wide dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli and ExPEC, which may represent a newly recognized group of medically significant foodborne pathogens."}
{"id": "MED-4811", "text": "Many deep-sea fishes store large amounts of wax esters in their body for buoyancy control. Some of them are frequently caught as by-catch of tuna and other fishes. The most noteworthy ones include escolar and oilfish. The accumulation of the indigestible wax esters in the rectum through consumption of these fish engenders discharges or leakage per rectum as orange or brownish green oil, but without noticeable loss of water. This physiological response is called keriorrhea, which is variously described as \"oily diarrhea,\" \"oily orange diarrhea,\" or \"orange oily leakage\" by the mass media and bloggers on the internet. Outbreaks of keriorrhea have been repeatedly reported across continents. Additional symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea were complained by the victims. They are probably due to anxiety or panic when suffering from keriorrhea. Escolar and oilfish are banned from import and sale in Italy, Japan, and South Korea. Rapid detection of the two fishes is imperative to ensure proper labeling and safeguarding of the public before and after any keriorrhea outbreak."}
{"id": "MED-4812", "text": "Hepatitis E, which is caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV), may now be considered a zoonosis as well as an anthroponosis. Pigs, boars and deer have been identified as reservoirs, and their flesh and entrails--as meat and offal--as vehicles of HEV transmission. Shellfish also act as vehicles. Dietary, gastronomic and culinary preferences influence how extensively HEV conveyed by these vehicles can be inactivated before their ingestion by the host. Another route of infection is paved by HEV that is enterically shed by humans and by live animals into the environment. Although anthroponotic transmission of HEV is primarily environmental, zoonotic transmission may proceed along both foodborne and environmental routes."}
{"id": "MED-4813", "text": "Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen of which pigs are reservoirs. To determine the presence of HEV RNA in commercial pig livers sold in local grocery stores in the USA, 127 packages of commercial pig liver were purchased and tested by a universal RT-PCR assay capable of detecting all four known HEV genotypes. Among the 127 livers tested, 14 were positive for HEV RNA. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the 14 isolates all belonged to genotype 3. An animal study was subsequently conducted in pigs to determine whether the PCR-positive pig livers still contained infectious virus. The results showed that pigs inoculated with two of the three PCR-positive pig-liver homogenates became infected, as evidenced by the detection of faecal virus shedding, viraemia and seroconversion. The data demonstrated that commercial pig livers sold in grocery stores are contaminated by HEV and that the contaminating virus remains infectious, thus raising a public-health concern for food-borne HEV infection."}
{"id": "MED-4814", "text": "A correlation between national pig-meat consumption and mortality rates from chronic liver disease (CLD) across developed countries was reported in 1985. One possible mechanism explaining this may be hepatitis E infection spread via pig meat. We aimed to re-examine the original association in more recent international data. Regression models were used to estimate associations between national pig-meat consumption and CLD mortality, adjusting for confounders. Data on CLD mortality, alcohol consumption, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroprevalence for 18 developed countries (1990-2000) were obtained from WHO databases. Data on national pig-meat and beef consumption were obtained from the UN database. Univariate regression showed that alcohol and pig-meat consumption were associated with mortality from CLD, but beef consumption, HBV and HCV seroprevalence were not. A 1 litre per capita increase in alcohol consumption was associated with an increase in mortality from CLD in excess of 1.6 deaths/100,000 population. A 10 kg higher national annual average per capita consumption of pork meat was associated with an increase in mortality from CLD of between 4 and 5 deaths/100,000 population. Multivariate regression showed that alcohol, pig-meat consumption and HBV seroprevalence were independently associated with mortality from CLD, but HCV seroprevalence was not. Pig-meat consumption remained independently associated with mortality from CLD in developed countries in the 1990-2000 period. Further work is needed to establish the mechanism."}
{"id": "MED-4815", "text": "Although uncommon in North America, Hepatitis E virus (HEV) has been identified in some industrialized countries in patients without a history of travel to HEV-endemic countries. Its presence is ubiquitous worldwide in swine populations. Zoonotic transmission of swine HEV to non human primates has been achieved experimentally and transmission of HEV after ingestion of contaminated raw or undercooked meat is well documented. In Canada, so far, no HEV outbreak has been documented but HEV genotype 3 strains have been identified in sera and faecal samples of swine origin. The objective of the present study was to determine the viral load of HEV in liver, loin, bladder, hepatic lymph node, bile, tonsil, plasma and faeces samples of 43 pigs at slaughter. Feline calicivirus (FCV) was used as sample process control to validate the RNA extraction process, as a confirmation of the absence of sample inhibitors and as an amplification control. Using FCV/HEV multiplex TaqMan RT-qPCR system, HEV RNA was detected in 14 out of the 43 animals tested. HEV was detected in lymph nodes (11/43), bladder (10/43), liver (9/43), bile (8/43), faeces (6/43), tonsils (3/43), plasma (1/43) samples from infected animals. No HEV-positive loin samples were observed. Viral loads of 10(3) to 10(7) copies/g were estimated in positive liver and bile samples. Crown Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4816", "text": "The thermal stability of virulent hepatitis E virus (HEV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) was compared. Fecal suspensions of virus were heated to temperatures between 45 degrees C and 70 degrees C, and residual infectivity was determined in a cell culture system that was permissive for both viruses. Although HEV was less stable than was HAV, some HEV would most likely survive the internal temperatures of rare-cooked meat."}
{"id": "MED-4817", "text": "Among ten patients who contracted sporadic acute or fulminant hepatitis E between 2001 and 2002 in Hokkaido, Japan, nine (90 %) had a history of consuming grilled or undercooked pig liver 2-8 weeks before the disease onset. We tested packages of raw pig liver sold in grocery stores as food in Hokkaido for the presence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA by RT-PCR. Pig liver specimens from seven (1.9 %) of 363 packages had detectable HEV RNA. Partial sequence analyses revealed that the seven swine HEV isolates belonged to genotype III or IV. One swine HEV isolate (swJL145) from a packaged pig liver had 100 % identity with the HE-JA18 isolate recovered from an 86-year-old patient in Hokkaido. Two swine HEV isolates (swJL234 and swJL325) had 98.5-100 % identity with the HE-JA4 isolate obtained from a 44-year-old patient in Hokkaido. These results indicate that inadequately cooked pig liver may transmit HEV to humans."}
{"id": "MED-4818", "text": "Clinical and ecological evidence supporting an association between human papillomavirus (HPV)-related tumors and dietary factors are presented. Abstinence from high intake of fried pork (600-1,000 g/day) was associated with regression of an urethral condyloma in a healthy 19-year-old man treated with interferon gamma. International correlations suggest that pork intake is positively associated with incidence of cervical cancer, a disease also related to HPV. Pork meat or dietary factors associated with pork meat consumption may be involved in the development of HPV-related diseases."}
{"id": "MED-4819", "text": "We previously studied mortality up to 1989 in 2,639 members of a local union who had ever worked in poultry slaughtering and processing plants, because they were exposed to oncogenic viruses present in poultry. In this report, cancer mortality was updated to the year 2003 for 2,580 of the 2,639 subjects who worked exclusively in poultry plants. Mortality in poultry workers was compared with that in the US general population through the estimation of proportional mortality and standardized mortality ratios separately for each race/sex group and for the whole cohort. Compared to the US general population, an excess of cancers of the buccal and nasal cavities and pharynx (base of the tongue, palate and other unspecified mouth, tonsil and oropharynx, nasal cavity/middle ear/accessory sinus), esophagus, recto-sigmoid/rectum/anus, liver and intrabiliary system, myelofibrosis, lymphoid leukemia and multiple myeloma was observed in particular subgroups or in the entire poultry cohort. We hypothesize that oncogenic viruses present in poultry, and exposure to fumes, are candidates for an etiologic role to explain the excess occurrence of at least some of these cancers in the poultry workers. Larger studies which can control for confounding factors are urgently needed to determine the significance of these findings."}
{"id": "MED-4820", "text": "Background: Few prospective studies have examined cancer incidence among vegetarians. Methods: We studied 61\u2009566 British men and women, comprising 32\u2009403 meat eaters, 8562 non-meat eaters who did eat fish (\u2018fish eaters') and 20\u2009601 vegetarians. After an average follow-up of 12.2 years, there were 3350 incident cancers of which 2204 were among meat eaters, 317 among fish eaters and 829 among vegetarians. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated by Cox regression, stratified by sex and recruitment protocol and adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol, body mass index, physical activity level and, for women only, parity and oral contraceptive use. Results: There was significant heterogeneity in cancer risk between groups for the following four cancer sites: stomach cancer, RRs (compared with meat eaters) of 0.29 (95% CI: 0.07\u20131.20) in fish eaters and 0.36 (0.16\u20130.78) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.007; ovarian cancer, RRs of 0.37 (0.18\u20130.77) in fish eaters and 0.69 (0.45\u20131.07) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.007; bladder cancer, RRs of 0.81 (0.36\u20131.81) in fish eaters and 0.47 (0.25\u20130.89) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.05; and cancers of the lymphatic and haematopoietic tissues, RRs of 0.85 (0.56\u20131.29) in fish eaters and 0.55 (0.39\u20130.78) in vegetarians, P for heterogeneity=0.002. The RRs for all malignant neoplasms were 0.82 (0.73\u20130.93) in fish eaters and 0.88 (0.81\u20130.96) in vegetarians (P for heterogeneity=0.001). Conclusion: The incidence of some cancers may be lower in fish eaters and vegetarians than in meat eaters."}
{"id": "MED-4821", "text": "The relation between diet, lifestyle, and acute myeloid leukemia was assessed in a US cohort of 491,163 persons from the NIH\u2013AARP Diet and Health Study (1995\u20132003). A total of 338 incident cases of acute myeloid leukemia were ascertained. Multivariate Cox models were utilized to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Compared with those for never smokers, hazard ratios were 1.29 (95% confidence interval: 0.95, 1.75), 1.79 (95% confidence interval: 1.32, 2.42), 2.42 (95% confidence interval: 1.63, 3.57), and 2.29 (85% confidence interval: 1.38, 3.79) for former smokers who smoked \u22641 or >1 pack/day and for current smokers who smoked \u22641 or >1 pack/day, respectively. Higher meat intake was associated with an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (hazard ratio = 1.45, 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 2.07 for the fifth vs. first quintile; P for trend = 0.06); however, there were no clear effects of meat-cooking method or doneness level. Individuals who did not drink coffee appeared to have a higher risk of acute myeloid leukemia than those who drank various quantities of coffee. Neither fruit nor vegetable intake was associated with acute myeloid leukemia. This large prospective study identified smoking and meat intake as risk factors for acute myeloid leukemia."}
{"id": "MED-4822", "text": "Objective We examined the associations between sweets, sweetened and unsweetened beverages, and sugars and pancreatic cancer risk. Methods We conducted a population-based case\u2013control study (532 cases, 1,701 controls) and used multivariate logistic regression models to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Because associations were often different by sex, we present results for men and women combined and separately. Results Among men, greater intakes of total and specific sweets were associated with pancreatic cancer risk (total sweets: OR\u00a0=\u00a01.9, 95% CI: 1.0, 3.6; sweet condiments: OR\u00a0=\u00a01.9, 95% CI: 1.2, 3.1; chocolate candy: OR\u00a0=\u00a02.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.0; other mixed candy bars: OR\u00a0=\u00a03.3, 95% CI: 1.5, 7.3 for 1\u00a0+\u00a0servings/day versus none/rarely). Sweets were not consistently associated with risk among women. Sweetened beverages were not associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk. In contrast, low-calorie soft drinks were associated with increased risk among men only; while other low-/non-caloric beverages (e.g., coffee, tea, and water) were unassociated with risk. Of the three sugars assessed (lactose, fructose, and sucrose), only the milk sugar lactose was associated with pancreatic cancer risk (OR\u00a0=\u00a02.0, 95% CI: 1.5, 2.7 comparing extreme quartiles). Conclusion These results provide limited support for the hypothesis that sweets or sugars increase pancreatic cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4823", "text": "Background Previous research relating dietary fat, a modifiable risk factor, to pancreatic cancer has been inconclusive. Methods We prospectively analyzed the association between intakes of fat, fat subtypes, and fat food sources and exocrine pancreatic cancer in the National Institutes of Health\u2013AARP Diet and Health Study, a US cohort of 308\u2009736 men and 216\u2009737 women who completed a 124-item food frequency questionnaire in 1995\u20131996. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression models, with adjustment for energy intake, smoking history, body mass index, and diabetes. Statistical tests were two-sided. Results Over an average follow-up of 6.3 years, 865 men and 472 women were diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic cancer (45.0 and 34.5 cases per 100\u2009000 person-years, respectively). After multivariable adjustment and combination of data for men and women, pancreatic cancer risk was directly related to the intakes of total fat (highest vs lowest quintile, 46.8 vs 33.2 cases per 100\u2009000 person-years, HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.46; Ptrend \u2009=\u2009.03), saturated fat (51.5 vs 33.1 cases per 100\u2009000 person-years, HR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.14 to 1.62; Ptrend < .001), and monounsaturated fat (46.2 vs 32.9 cases per 100\u2009000 person-years, HR\u2009=\u20091.22, 95% CI\u2009=\u20091.02 to 1.46; Ptrend = .05) but not polyunsaturated fat. The associations were strongest for saturated fat from animal food sources (52.0 vs 32.2 cases per 100\u2009000 person-years, HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.20 to 1.70; Ptrend < .001); specifically, intakes from red meat and dairy products were both statistically significantly associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk (HR = 1.27 and 1.19, respectively). Conclusion In this large prospective cohort with a wide range of intakes, dietary fat of animal origin was associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4824", "text": "In Japan, the number of patients with both chronic pancreatitis (CP) and pancreatic cancer (PC) is increasing. A nationwide survey on CP revealed that the total number of patients treated for CP in Japan in 2002 was estimated as 45,200 (95% confidence interval, 35,600-54,700), and 20,137 patients died of PC in 2002. Alcoholic pancreatitis was the most common type of pancreatitis (67.5 %). Cigarette smoking was an independent and significant risk factor for CP. The risks of pancreatic and nonpancreatic cancers increased in the course of CP. While alcohol consumption may increase the risk of PC via CP, smoking was important as a risk factor for both CP and PC. The increasing incidence of PC was closely related to the increasing intake of animal fat. Lifestyle in patients with CP appeared to be the same as that in patients with PC. Environmental factors such as lifestyle in combination with genetic factors may increase the risk for both CP and PC. Therefore, changing and improving lifestyle habits such as drinking, smoking and nutrition may reduce the risks for both CP and PC."}
{"id": "MED-4825", "text": "Pancreatic cancer kills more than 250,000 people each year worldwide and has a poor prognosis. The aim of this article is to critically review the epidemiologic evidence for exposures that may either increase or decrease the risk. A Medline search was performed for epidemiologic studies and reviews published up to April 2007. Consistent evidence of a positive association was found for family history and cigarette smoking. Many studies documented a positive association with diabetes mellitus and chronic pancreatitis, although the etiologic mechanisms are unclear. Other associations were detected, but the results were either inconsistent or from few studies. These included positive associations with red meat, sugar, fat, body mass index, gallstones, and Helicobacter pylori, and protective effects of increasing parity, dietary folate, aspirin, and statins. There was no evidence linking alcohol or coffee consumption with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. The associations with many exposures need to be clarified from further epidemiologic work in which there is both precise measurement of risk factors, adjustment for potential confounders, and, for dietary studies, information recorded on the method of food preparation and pattern of consumption. Such work is important to reduce the incidence of this fatal disease."}
{"id": "MED-4826", "text": "A role of diet and nutrition in pancreatic carcinogenesis has been suggested, but the association between selected macronutrients, fatty acids, cholesterol and pancreatic cancer remains controversial. We analysed data from a hospital-based case-control study conducted in Italy between 1991 and 2008, including 326 cases (174 men and 152 women) with incident pancreatic cancer, and 652 controls (348 men and 304 women) frequency-matched to cases by sex, age and study centre. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multiple logistic regression models conditioned on age, sex and study centre, and adjusted for year of interview, education, tobacco smoking, history of diabetes and energy intake. A positive association was found for animal proteins (OR=1.85 for the highest versus the lowest quintile of intake; 95% CI: 1.15-2.96; p for trend=0.039), whereas a negative association was observed for sugars (OR=0.52; 95% CI: 0.31-0.86; p for trend=0.003). Non-significant negative associations emerged for vegetable proteins (OR=0.69) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (OR=0.67). In conclusion, a diet poor in animal proteins and rich in sugars (mainly derived from fruit) appears to have a beneficial effect on pancreatic cancer risk. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4829", "text": "BACKGROUND: Statin therapy can cause myopathy, however it is unclear whether this exacerbates age-related muscle function declines. AIM: To describe differences between statin users and non-users in muscle mass, muscle function and falls risk in a group of community-dwelling older adults. DESIGN: A prospective, population-based cohort study with a mean follow-up of 2.6 years. METHODS: Total 774 older adults [48% female; mean (standard deviation) age = 62 (7) years] were examined at baseline and follow-up. Differences in percentage appendicular lean mass (%ALM), leg strength, leg muscle quality (LMQ; specific force) and falls risk were compared for statin users and non-users. RESULTS: There were 147 (19%) statin users at baseline and 179 (23%) at follow-up. Longitudinal analyses revealed statin use at baseline predicted increased falls risk scores over 2.6 years (0.14, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.27) and a trend towards increased %ALM (0.45%, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.92). Statin users at both time points demonstrated decreased leg strength (-5.02 kg, 95% CI -9.65 to -0.40) and LMQ (-0.30 kg/kg, 95% CI -0.59 to -0.01), and trended towards increased falls risk (0.13, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.26) compared to controls. Finally, statin users at both baseline and follow-up demonstrated decreased leg strength (-16.17 kg, 95% CI -30.19 to -2.15) and LMQ (-1.13 kg/kg, 95% CI -2.02 to -0.24) compared to those who had ceased statin use at follow-up. CONCLUSION: Statin use may exacerbate muscle performance declines and falls risk associated with aging without a concomitant decrease in muscle mass, and this effect may be reversible with cessation."}
{"id": "MED-4831", "text": "Dyslipidemia is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, and stroke. Current guidelines recommend diet as first-line therapy for patients with elevated plasma cholesterol concentrations. However, what constitutes an optimal dietary regimen remains a matter of controversy. Large prospective trials have demonstrated that populations following plant-based diets, particularly vegetarian and vegan diets, are at lower risk for ischemic heart disease mortality. The investigators therefore reviewed the published scientific research to determine the effectiveness of plant-based diets in modifying plasma lipid concentrations. Twenty-seven randomized controlled and observational trials were included. Of the 4 types of plant-based diets considered, interventions testing a combination diet (a vegetarian or vegan diet combined with nuts, soy, and/or fiber) demonstrated the greatest effects (up to 35% plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction), followed by vegan and ovolactovegetarian diets. Interventions allowing small amounts of lean meat demonstrated less dramatic reductions in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels. In conclusion, plant-based dietary interventions are effective in lowering plasma cholesterol concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-4832", "text": "Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most important adult health problem in the world. Epidemiological studies and laboratory experiments have shown that fruit and vegetable consumption has protective effects against CVD. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of consumption of two kiwifruit per day on the lipid profile, antioxidants and markers of lipid peroxidation in hyperlipidemic adult men and women in Taiwan. Forty-three subjects who had hyperlipidemia, including 13 males and 30 females, participated in this study. They were asked to consume two kiwifruit per day for 8 weeks. Anthropometric measurements were made. Before the intervention and at 4 and 8 weeks of the intervention, fasting blood samples were analyzed for total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Additionally vitamin E and vitamin C, the malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxy-2(E)-nonenal concentration, and the lag time of LDL oxidation were determined. No significant differences from baseline to 8 weeks of the intervention were detected for triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol. However, after 8 weeks of consumption of kiwifruit, the HDL-C concentration was significantly increased and the LDL cholesterol/HDL-C ratio and total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio were significantly decreased. Vitamin C and vitamin E also increased significantly. In addition, the lag time of LDL oxidation and malondialdehyde + 4-hydroxy-2(E)-nonenal had significantly changed at 4 and 8 weeks during the kiwifruit intervention. Regular consumption of kiwifruit might exert beneficial effects on the antioxidative status and the risk factors for CVD in hyperlipidemic subjects."}
{"id": "MED-4833", "text": "Effective diets reduce blood lipids and oxidative damage, both of which have been linked to the complications of diabetes and coronary heart disease. Our objective was to assess the effect of adding strawberries, as a source of antioxidants, to improve the antioxidant effect of a cholesterol-lowering diet (dietary portfolio). To this end, 28 hyperlipidemic subjects who had followed the dietary portfolio consisting of soy, viscous fiber, plant sterol, and nuts for a mean of 2.5 years were randomized to receive supplements of strawberries (454 g/d, 112 kcal) or additional oat bran bread (65 g/d, 112 kcal, approximately 2 g beta-glucan) (control) in a randomized 1-month crossover study with a 2-week washout. Strawberry supplementation resulted in a greater reduction in oxidative damage to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in the LDL fraction (P = .014). At the end of the strawberry period, reductions in LDL cholesterol and in the ratio of total to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were maintained close to 1-year values at -13.4% +/- 2.1% and -15.2% +/- 1.7%, respectively (P < .001), and were similar to the post-oat bran bread values. Strawberries also improved the palatability of the diet. We conclude that strawberry supplementation reduced oxidative damage to LDL while maintaining reductions in blood lipids and enhancing diet palatability. Added fruit may improve the overall utility of diets designed to lower coronary heart disease risk."}
{"id": "MED-4834", "text": "Soft drinks can be a major source of sucrose, which may influence serum lipid concentration. We have examined the association between intake frequency of various types of soft drinks and the concentration of serum triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the cross-sectional Oslo Health Study. A total of 14 188 subjects of the altogether 18,770 participants of the study had data on intake frequency of colas and non-colas, with or without sugar. The population sample consisted of both sexes and 3 age groups: group 1 (30 years of age), group 2 (40 and 45 years of age), and group 3 (59-60 years of age). In both sexes, HDL decreased and TG increased significantly (p < 0.001) with increasing intake frequency of colas. In contrast, no consistent associations were found between the reported intake of non-cola soft drinks and the serum lipids. We found no significant differences related to the reported presence or absence of sugar in the soft drinks. In multiple linear regression analyses, the colas vs. serum lipid associations prevailed (p < 0.001) after including 13 possible confounders: sex; age group; time since last meal; physical activity; intake of alcohol, coffee, cheese, fruit and (or) berries, and fatty fish; smoking; length of education; use of cholesterol-lowering drugs; and intake of non-colas. Thus, the self-reported intake frequency of colas, but not other soft drinks, was negatively associated with serum HDL, and positively associated with TG and LDL."}
{"id": "MED-4835", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Weight loss and consumption of viscous fibers both lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. We evaluated whether or not a whole-grain, ready-to-eat (RTE) oat cereal containing viscous fiber, as part of a dietary program for weight loss, lowers LDL cholesterol levels and improves other cardiovascular disease risk markers more than a dietary program alone. DESIGN: Randomized, parallel-arm, controlled trial. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Free-living, overweight and obese adults (N=204, body mass index 25 to 45) with baseline LDL cholesterol levels 130 to 200 mg/dL (3.4 to 5.2 mmol/L) were randomized; 144 were included in the main analysis of participants who completed the trial without significant protocol violations. INTERVENTION: Two portions per day of whole-grain RTE oat cereal (3 g/day oat b-glucan) or energy-matched low-fiber foods (control), as part of a reduced energy ( approximately 500 kcal/day deficit) dietary program that encouraged limiting consumption of foods high in energy and fat, portion control, and regular physical activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fasting lipoprotein levels, waist circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, and body weight were measured at baseline and weeks 4, 8, 10, and 12. RESULTS: LDL cholesterol level was reduced significantly more with whole-grain RTE oat cereal vs control (-8.7+/-1.0 vs -4.3+/-1.1%, P=0.005). Total cholesterol (-5.4+/-0.8 vs -2.9+/-0.9%, P=0.038) and non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (-6.3+/-1.0 vs -3.3+/-1.1%, P=0.046) were also lowered significantly more with whole-grain RTE oat cereal, whereas high-density lipoprotein and triglyceride responses did not differ between groups. Weight loss was not different between groups (-2.2+/-0.3 vs -1.7+/-0.3 kg, P=0.325), but waist circumference decreased more (-3.3+/-0.4 vs -1.9+/-0.4 cm, P=0.012) with whole-grain RTE oat cereal. Larger reductions in LDL, total, and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and waist circumference were evident as early as week 4 in the whole-grain RTE oat cereal group. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of a whole-grain RTE oat cereal as part of a dietary program for weight loss had favorable effects on fasting lipid levels and waist circumference. Copyright 2010 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4837", "text": "BACKGROUND: Gallstone disease known as cholelithiasis is the most common digestive surgical disorder and account for an important part of health care expenditure. Attempt was made to analyse the gallstone for typing depending upon the composition. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to see the prevalence of different types of gallstone in Nepal and to correlate them with the clinical findings. MATERIALS & METHODS: Gallstones of 80 different patients who underwent cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis were collected from 20th January 2005 to 16th May 2006 in Department of Pathology, Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital. Detailed history was taken. Stones were analyzed with chemical and enzymatic methods using clinical spectrophotometer. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: The most commonly involved age group for cholelithiasis (32.5%) is found to be 30-39 years with a female predominance (M: F=1:3.2). Cholelithiasis was found more commonly among non-vegetarian with the vegetarian: non-vegetarian ratio 1:9. Mixed type stone was found to be the most common type of stone comprising 78.75%, followed by cholesterol stone 12.5%, Brown pigment stone 7.5% and Black pigment stone 1.25%."}
{"id": "MED-4838", "text": "With a prevalence of 10-15% in adults in Europe and the USA, gallstones are the most common digestive disease needing admission to hospital in the West. The interplay between interprandial and postprandial physiological responses to endogenous and dietary lipids underscores the importance of coordinated hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal functions to prevent crystallisation and precipitation of excess biliary cholesterol. Indeed, identifying the metabolic and transcriptional pathways that drive the regulation of biliary lipid secretion has been a major achievement in the field. We highlight scientific advances in protein and gene regulation of cholesterol absorption, synthesis, and catabolism, and biliary lipid secretion with respect to the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone disease. We discuss the physical-chemical mechanisms of gallstone formation in bile and the active role of the gallbladder and the intestine. We also discuss gaps in our knowledge of the pathogenesis of gallstone formation and the potential for gene targeting in therapy."}
{"id": "MED-4840", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence for and against the effectiveness of homeopathy. DATA SOURCES: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (generally considered to be the most reliable source of evidence) was searched in January 2010. STUDY SELECTION: Cochrane reviews with the term \"homeopathy\" in the title, abstract or keywords were considered. Protocols of reviews were excluded. Six articles met the inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Each of the six reviews was examined for specific subject matter; number of clinical trials reviewed; total number of patients involved; and authors' conclusions. The reviews covered the following conditions: cancer, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, asthma, dementia, influenza and induction of labour. DATA SYNTHESIS: The findings of the reviews were discussed narratively (the reviews' clinical and statistical heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of currently available Cochrane reviews of studies of homeopathy do not show that homeopathic medicines have effects beyond placebo."}
{"id": "MED-4843", "text": "We have previously reported that significant improvement may be obtained in rheumatoid arthritis patients by fasting followed by a vegetarian diet for one year. The present study was carried out to examine to what extent biochemical and immunological variables changed during the clinical trial of fasting and vegetarian diet. For the patients who were randomised to the vegetarian diet there was a significant decrease in platelet count, leukocyte count, calprotectin, total IgG, IgM rheumatoid factor (RF), C3-activation products, and the complement components C3 and C4 after one month of treatment. None of the measured parameters changed significantly during this period in the group of omnivores. The course of 14 of 15 measured variables favored the vegetarians compared with the omnivores, but the difference was only significant for leukocyte count, IgM RF, and the complement components C3 and C4. Most of the laboratory variables declined considerably in the vegetarians who improved according to clinical variables, indicating a substantial reduction in inflammatory activity. The leukocyte count, however, decreased in the vegetarians irrespective of the clinical results. Thus, the decline in leukocyte count may be attributed to vegetarian diet per se and not to the reduction in disease activity. The results of the present study are in accordance with the findings from the clinical trial, namely that dietary treatment can reduce the disease activity in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis."}
{"id": "MED-4845", "text": "Fasting is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, but most patients relapse on reintroduction of food. The effect of fasting followed by one year of a vegetarian diet was assessed in a randomised, single-blind controlled trial. 27 patients were allocated to a four-week stay at a health farm. After an initial 7-10 day subtotal fast, they were put on an individually adjusted gluten-free vegan diet for 3.5 months. The food was then gradually changed to a lactovegetarian diet for the remainder of the study. A control group of 26 patients stayed for four weeks at a convalescent home, but ate an ordinary diet throughout the whole study period. After four weeks at the health farm the diet group showed a significant improvement in number of tender joints, Ritchie's articular index, number of swollen joints, pain score, duration of morning stiffness, grip strength, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and a health assessment questionnaire score. In the control group, only pain score improved score. In the control group, only pain score improved significantly. The benefits in the diet group were still present after one year, and evaluation of the whole course showed significant advantages for the diet group in all measured indices. This dietary regimen seems to be a useful supplement to conventional medical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis."}
{"id": "MED-4847", "text": "Clinical experience suggests that fasting followed by vegetarian diet may help patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We reviewed the available scientific evidence, because patients frequently ask for dietary advice, and exclusive pharmacological treatment of RA is often not satisfying. Fasting studies in RA were searched in MEDLINE and by checking references in relevant reports. The results of the controlled studies which reported follow-up data for at least three months after fasting were quantitatively pooled. Thirty-one reports of fasting studies in patients with RA were found. Only four controlled studies investigated the effects of fasting and subsequent diets for at least three months. The pooling of these studies showed a statistically and clinically significant beneficial long-term effect. Thus, available evidence suggests that fasting followed by vegetarian diets might be useful in the treatment of RA. More randomised long-term studies are needed to confirm this view by methodologically convincing data."}
{"id": "MED-4851", "text": "The notion that dietary factors may influence rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been a part of the folklore of the disease, but scientific support for this has been sparse. In a controlled, single-blind trial we tested the effect of fasting for 7-10 d, then consuming an individually adjusted, gluten-free, vegan diet for 3.5 mo, and then consuming an individually adjusted lactovegetarian diet for 9 mo on patients with RA. For all clinical variables and most laboratory variables measured, the 27 patients in the fasting and vegetarian diet groups improved significantly compared with the 26 patients in the control group who followed their usual omnivorous diet throughout the study period. One year after the patients completed the trial, they were reexamined. Compared with baseline, the improvements measured were significantly greater in the vegetarians who previously benefited from the diet (diet responders) than in diet nonresponders and omnivores. The beneficial effect could not be explained by patients' psychologic characteristics, antibody activity against food antigens, or changes in concentrations of prostaglandin and leukotriene precursors. However, the fecal flora differed significantly between samples collected at time points at which there was substantial clinical improvement and time points at which there were no or only minor improvements. In summary, the results show that some patients with RA can benefit from a fasting period followed by a vegetarian diet. Thus, dietary treatment may be a valuable adjunct to the ordinary therapeutic armamentarium for RA."}
{"id": "MED-4853", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the effects of a very low-fat, vegan diet on patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). DESIGN: Single-blind dietary intervention study. SUBJECTS AND STUDY INTERVENTIONS: This study evaluated the influence of a 4-week, very low-fat (approximately 10%), vegan diet on 24 free-living subjects with RA, average age, 56 +/- 11 years old. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Prestudy and poststudy assessment of RA symptomatology was performed by a rheumatologist blind to the study design. Biochemical measures and 4-day diet data were also collected. Subjects met weekly for diet instruction, compliance monitoring, and progress assessments. RESULTS: There were significant (p < 0.001) decreases in fat (69%), protein (24%), and energy (22%), and a significant increase in carbohydrate (55%) intake. All measures of RA symptomatology decreased significantly (p < 0.05), except for duration of morning stiffness (p > 0.05). Weight also decreased significantly (p < 0.001). At 4 weeks, C-reactive protein decreased 16% (ns, p > 0.05), RA factor decreased 10% (ns, p > 0.05), while erythrocyte sedimentation rate was unchanged (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that patients with moderate-to-severe RA, who switch to a very low-fat, vegan diet can experience significant reductions in RA symptoms."}
{"id": "MED-4855", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs)--of a hip powder of Rosa canina (rosehip) preparation for symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), in order to estimate the empirical efficacy as a pain reducing compound. METHOD: RCTs from systematic searches were included if they explicitly stated that OA patients were randomized to either rosehip or placebo. The primary outcome was reduction in pain calculated as effect size (ES), defined as the standardized mean difference (SMD). As secondary analysis the number of responders to therapy was analyzed as Odds Ratios (OR), and expressed as the Number Needed to Treat (NNT). Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) methods were applied for the meta-analyses using mixed effects models. RESULTS: The three studies (287 patients and a median trial-duration of 3 months)--all supported by the manufacturer (Hyben-Vital International)--showed a reduction in pain scores by rosehip powder (145 patients) compared to placebo (142 patients): ES of 0.37 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.13-0.60], P=0.002. Test for homogeneity seemed to support that the efficacy was consistent across trials (I(2)=0%). Thus it seems reasonable to assume that the three studies were measuring the same overall effect. It seemed twice as likely that a patient allocated to rosehip powder would respond to therapy, compared to placebo (OR=2.19; P=0.0009); corresponding to a NNT of six (95% CI: 4-13) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Although based on a sparse amount of data, the results of the present meta-analysis indicate that rosehip powder does reduce pain; accordingly it may be of interest as a nutraceutical, although its efficacy and safety need evaluation and independent replication in a future large-scale/long-term trial."}
{"id": "MED-4856", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate if standardised powder made from rose-hip (Rosa canina) can reduce the symptom score in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to ARA/ACR criteria were randomised to treatment with capsulated rose-hip powder 5g daily or matching placebo for 6 months at two outpatient clinics in Berlin and Copenhagen. Primary outcome variable was Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) at 6 months, secondary outcome included DAS-28, physician's global evaluation of disease activity, RAQoL, SF-12 and concomitant pain medication. RESULTS: In a total of 89 patients (90% female, mean age 56.6+11.3 years, mean disease duration 12.8+9.6 years) HAQ-DI in the rose-hip group improved by 0.105+/-0.346, whereas in the placebo group it worsened by 0.039+/-0.253 (p adjusted=0.032). In the HAQ Patient Pain Scale no significant differences were observed between both groups. In the HAQ Patient Global Scale a trend was seen favouring rose-hip (p=0.078). The DAS-28 score yielded improvement in the rose-hip group of 0.89+/-1.32 and in the placebo group of 0.34+/-1.27 (p=0.056) indicating moderate clinical relevance. The Physicians Global Scale demonstrated more improvement in the rose-hip compared to the placebo group (p=0.012). RAQoL and SF-12 physical score improved significantly in the rose-hip group compared to placebo, whereas SF-12 mental score remained unchanged. Intake of pain medication was not different between the groups. Per-protocol analysis confirmed these results. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that patients with RA may benefit from additional treatment with rose hip powder. Copyright 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4857", "text": "Benzene was previously detected as a heat-induced contaminant in infant carrot juices. This study shows that carrot juice contains substances such as beta-carotene, phenylalanine or terpenes that may act as precursors for benzene formation during food processing. As benzene exposure has been associated with childhood leukaemia and other cancers, this study aimed to provide a quantitative risk assessment. To accomplish this, we used measured food consumption data from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study, along with survey data on benzene in different juice categories. The calculated exposures for infants between 3 and 12 months were low, with averages between 1 and 10 ng/kg bw/day, resulting in a margin of exposure above 100,000. The exposures were judged as unlikely to pose a health risk for infants. Nevertheless, carcinogenic contaminants should be reduced to levels as low as reasonably achievable. The focus should be set on improving the sterilization conditions. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4860", "text": "The prevalence of dementia is increasing with expansion of the older adult population. In the absence of effective therapy, preventive approaches are essential to address this public health problem. Blueberries contain polyphenolic compounds, most prominently anthocyanins, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, anthocyanins have been associated with increased neuronal signaling in brain centers mediating memory function as well as improved glucose disposal, benefits that would be expected to mitigate neurodegeneration. We investigated the effects of daily consumption of wild blueberry juice in a sample of nine older adults with early memory changes. At 12 weeks, we observed improved paired associate learning (p = 0.009) and word list recall (p = 0.04). In addition, there were trends suggesting reduced depressive symptoms (p = 0.08) and lower glucose levels (p = 0.10). We also compared the memory performances of the blueberry subjects with a demographically-matched sample who consumed a berry placebo beverage in a companion trial of identical design and observed comparable results for paired associate learning. The findings of this preliminary study suggest that moderate-term blueberry supplementation can confer neurocognitive benefit and establish a basis for more comprehensive human trials to study preventive potential and neuronal mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-4861", "text": "BACKGROUND: It is widely believed that cancer can be prevented by high intake of fruits and vegetables. However, inconsistent results from many studies have not been able to conclusively establish an inverse association between fruit and vegetable intake and overall cancer risk. METHODS: We conducted a prospective analysis of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort to assess relationships between intake of total fruits, total vegetables, and total fruits and vegetables combined and cancer risk during 1992-2000. Detailed information on the dietary habit and lifestyle variables of the cohort was obtained. Cancer incidence and mortality data were ascertained, and hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox regression models. Analyses were also conducted for cancers associated with tobacco and alcohol after stratification for tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking. RESULTS: Of the initial 142 605 men and 335 873 women included in the study, 9604 men and 21 000 women were identified with cancer after a median follow-up of 8.7 years. The crude cancer incidence rates were 7.9 per 1000 person-years in men and 7.1 per 1000 person-years in women. Associations between reduced cancer risk and increased intake of total fruits and vegetables combined and total vegetables for the entire cohort were similar (200 g/d increased intake of fruits and vegetables combined, HR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.96 to 0.99; 100 g/d increased intake of total vegetables, HR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.97 to 0.99); intake of fruits showed a weaker inverse association (100 g/d increased intake of total fruits, HR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.98 to 1.00). The reduced risk of cancer associated with high vegetable intake was restricted to women (HR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.97 to 0.99). Stratification by alcohol intake suggested a stronger reduction in risk in heavy drinkers and was confined to cancers caused by smoking and alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: A very small inverse association between intake of total fruits and vegetables and cancer risk was observed in this study. Given the small magnitude of the observed associations, caution should be applied in their interpretation."}
{"id": "MED-4864", "text": "To elucidate the health benefit of herbal teas on the cytotoxicity induced by H(2)O(2) in V79-4 cells, herbal extracts and its flavonoids were tested using lactate dehydrogenase release and determining intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and antioxidant activity with superoxide radical scavenging assay. Significant decrease in cell viability was observed on V79-4 cells treated with H(2)O(2) (1 mM), while herbal extracts and its flavonoids including catechin and epigallocatechin gallate prevented the LDH release from H(2)O(2) cytotoxicity. Total catechin contents of green tea (65.6 mg/g of dry matter) were significantly higher than other herbal teas (35.8 to 1.2 mg/g of DM). The relative concentration of the 4 major tea catechins ranked EGCG > EGC > EC > C. Green tea exhibited the lowest IC(50) values (2 g fresh herb/100 mL) of superoxide radical scavenging activity among the tested herbal tea, which indicates powerful antioxidant activity in O(2)(*-) radicals scavenging, followed by black tea, dandelion, hawthorn, rose hip, chamomile."}
{"id": "MED-4866", "text": "For many years, the prevailing concept was that LDL oxidation plays the central role in atherogenesis. As a consequence, supplementation of antioxidants, particularly vitamin E, became very popular. Unfortunately, major randomized clinical trials yielded disappointing results and recent meta-analyses concluded that indiscriminate, high dose vitamin E supplementation results in increased mortality. This conclusion raised (quite reasonable) criticism, much of which referred to the characteristics of meta-analysis. In our recent study, we used a Markov-model approach, which is free of most of the limitations of meta-analyses. Our major finding was that the average quality-adjusted life years (QALY) of vitamin E- supplemented individuals was 0.30 QALY (95%CI 0.21 to 0.39) less than that of untreated people. In our view, this supports the view that indiscriminate supplementation of high dose vitamin E can not be recommended to the general public.In the present communication we address several recent studies that demonstrated negative effects of vitamin E and raise possible mechanisms that may be responsible for the harmful effects of vitamin E supplementation. We also review recent studies conducted with specific groups of patients that gained from vitamin E supplementation, indicating that although, on the average, indiscriminate supplementation of high dose vitamin E is not beneficial, specific populations may gain from vitamin E. The challenge is to establish selection criteria that will predict who is likely to benefit from vitamin E supplementation. Such criteria may be based either on the assumption that antioxidants are likely to be beneficial for people under oxidative stress or on knowledge regarding the benefit of sick people with certain diseases. In short, we adopt the view that vitamin E is a \"double-edge sword\" that should not be consumed until criteria are defined to predict who is likely to benefit from high dose supplementation of vitamin E. (c) 2009 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-4869", "text": "This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, with a view to recommending acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation and assessment of intake of food additives (in particular, flavouring agents). A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and intake data for certain food additives (asparaginase from Aspergillus niger expressed in A. niger, calcium lignosulfonate (40-65), ethyl lauroyl arginate, paprika extract, phospholipase C expressed in Pichia pastoris, phytosterols, phytostanols and their esters, polydimethylsiloxane, steviol glycosides and sulfites [assessment of dietary exposure]) and 10 groups of related flavouring agents (aliphatic branched-chain saturated and unsaturated alcohols, aldehydes, acids and related esters; aliphatic linear alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes, acids and related alcohols, acetals and esters; aliphatic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; alkoxy-substituted allylbenzenes present in foods and essential oils and used as flavouring agents; esters of aliphatic acyclic primary alcohols with aliphatic linear saturated carboxylic acids; furan-substituted aliphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and related esters, sulfides, disulfides and ethers; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; monocyclic and bicyclic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; hydroxy- and alkoxy-substituted benzyl derivatives; and substances structurally related to menthol). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: canthaxanthin; carob bean gum and carob bean gum (clarified); chlorophyllin copper complexes, sodium and potassium salts; Fast Green FCF; guar gum and guar gum (clarified); iron oxides; isomalt; monomagnesium phosphate; Patent Blue V; Sunset Yellow FCF; and trisodium diphosphate. Re-evaluation of flavouring agents for which estimated intake was based on anticipated poundage data was carried out for 2-isopropyl- N,2,3-trimethylbutyramide (No. 1595) and L-monomenthyl glutarate (No. 1414). Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for intakes and toxicological evaluations of the food additives considered."}
{"id": "MED-4870", "text": "Anatoxin-a is a potent neurotoxin produced by several species of cyanobacteria. This alkaloid may cause fatal intoxication to exposed organisms and this has raised concerns over the increasing popularity of food supplements containing cyanobacteria. These are being marketed with alleged health properties for animal and human consumption. These supplements most commonly contain the genera Spirulina (Arthrospira) and Aphanizomenon and their consumption represent a potential route for anatoxin-a exposure in cases where adequate quality control is not undertaken. In this work, several dietary supplements containing cyanobacteria from different commercial suppliers were evaluated for the presence of anatoxin-a by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Additionally, the presence of the previously derivatized anatoxin-a was confirmed by using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A total of 39 samples were analysed in the study. Results showed that three of the samples (7.7%) contained anatoxin-a, at concentrations ranging from 2.50 to 33 microg g(-1). Quality control of cyanobacterial food supplements is required to avoid potential health effects in humans and animals."}
{"id": "MED-4871", "text": "Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a salt form of a non-essential amino acid commonly used as a food additive for its unique flavour enhancing qualities. Since the first description of the 'Monosodium glutamate symptom complex', originally described in 1968 as the 'Chinese restaurant syndrome', a number of anecdotal reports and small clinical studies of variable quality have attributed a variety of symptoms to the dietary ingestion of MSG. Descriptions of MSG-induced asthma, urticaria, angio-oedema, and rhinitis have prompted some to suggest that MSG should be an aetiologic consideration in patients presenting with these conditions. This review prevents a critical review of the available literature related to the possible role of MSG in the so-called 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' and in eliciting asthmatic bronchospasm, urticaria, angio-oedema, and rhinitis. Despite concerns raised by early reports, decades of research have failed to demonstrate a clear and consistent relationship between MSG ingestion and the development of these conditions."}
{"id": "MED-4872", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine adverse effects, adverse events, and potential interactions of vitamins in light of their current prevalence of use, and to discuss whether vitamins should be considered over-the-counter drugs or natural health products/dietary supplements. DATA SOURCES: We performed a MEDLINE/PubMed search, explored 4 online databases (Medline Plus, Drug Digest, Natural Medicine Comprehensive Database, and the database of the University of Maryland), and examined reference lists of included studies published from 1966 through October 2009. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: The studies were reviewed, with an emphasis on randomized controlled clinical trials. We included articles with the most clinically important information with regard to adverse events and interactions. DATA SYNTHESIS: Vitamins are used by over one third of the North American population. Vitamins have documented adverse effects and toxicities, and most have documented interactions with drugs. While some vitamins (biotin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin B(12), vitamin K) have minor and reversible adverse effects, others, such as fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D), can cause serious adverse events. Two water-soluble vitamins, folic acid and niacin, can also have significant toxicities and adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Our recommendation is that vitamins A, E, D, folic acid, and niacin should be categorized as over-the-counter medications. Labeling of vitamins, especially those intended for children and other vulnerable groups, should include information on possible toxicities, dosing, recommended upper intake limits, and concurrent use with other products. Vitamin A should be excluded from multivitamin supplements and food fortificants."}
{"id": "MED-4873", "text": "The use of over-the-counter supplements is commonplace in today's health conscious society. We present an unusual case of intrahepatic cholestasis caused by vitamin A intoxication. The patient consumed one Herbalife shake with two multivitamin tablets of the same brand for 12 years. When calculated this equated to more than the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A consumption. Deranged liver function tests were consistent with a cholestatic process. Liver biopsy was obtained and revealed features pathognomonic of vitamin A toxicity, without the usual fibrosis. When the supplements were ceased, his jaundice and alkaline phosphatase completely normalized. This case highlights the importance of health care providers documenting non-prescribed dietary supplements and considering them in the etiology of cholestatic liver disease. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-4874", "text": "One outbreak of food poisoning associated with ingestion of the liver of a large lutjanid fish was investigated in this study. The symptoms in three patients primarily included headache, nausea, vomiting, fever, vertigo, and visual disorientation and later included peeling of the skin. The species of fish implicated in this incident was Etelis carbunculus (family Lutjanidae) as determined by direct sequence analysis and PCR plus restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for detection of the cytochrome b gene. Subsequently, several specimens of E. carbunculus of different body weights were collected, and the level of vitamin A in the muscle and liver was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The average level of vitamin A in E. carbunculus muscle was 12 +/- 2 IU/g and that in the liver was 9,844 +/- 7,812 IU/g. Regression models indicate that E. carbunculus with higher body weight and liver weight will have higher levels of vitamin A levels in the liver."}
{"id": "MED-4876", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to screen for and quantify the neurotoxic amino acid beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) in a cohort of autopsy specimens taken from Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD), and non-neurological controls. BMAA is produced by cyanobacteria found in a variety of freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats. The possibility of geographically broad human exposure to BMAA had been suggested by the discovery of BMAA in brain tissues of Chamorro patients with ALS/Parkinsonism dementia complex from Guam and more recently in AD patients from North America. These observations warranted an independent study of possible BMAA exposures outside of the Guam ecosystem. METHODS: Postmortem brain specimens were taken from neuropathologically confirmed cases of 13 ALS, 12 AD, 8 HD patients, and 12 age-matched non-neurological controls. BMAA was quantified using a validated fluorescent HPLC method previously used to detect BMAA in patients from Guam. Tandem mass spectrometric (MS) analysis was carried out to confirm the identification of BMAA in neurological specimens. RESULTS: We detected and quantified BMAA in neuroproteins from postmortem brain tissue of patients from the United States who died with sporadic AD and ALS but not HD. Incidental detections observed in two out of the 24 regions were analyzed from the controls. The concentrations of BMAA were below what had been reported previously in Chamarro ALS/ Parkinsonism dementia complex patients, but demonstrated a twofold range across disease and regional brain area comparisons. The presence of BMAA in these patients was confirmed by triple quadrupole liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of BMAA in North American ALS and AD patients suggests the possibility of a gene/environment interaction, with BMAA triggering neurodegeneration in vulnerable individuals. (c) 2009 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard."}
{"id": "MED-4877", "text": "BACKGROUND: Telomeres are protective DNA-protein complexes at the end of linear chromosomes that promote chromosomal stability. Telomere shortness in human beings is emerging as a prognostic marker of disease risk, progression, and premature mortality in many types of cancer, including breast, prostate, colorectal, bladder, head and neck, lung, and renal cell. Telomere shortening is counteracted by the cellular enzyme telomerase. Lifestyle factors known to promote cancer and cardiovascular disease might also adversely affect telomerase function. However, previous studies have not addressed whether improvements in nutrition and lifestyle are associated with increases in telomerase activity. We aimed to assess whether 3 months of intensive lifestyle changes increased telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). METHODS: 30 men with biopsy-diagnosed low-risk prostate cancer were asked to make comprehensive lifestyle changes. The primary endpoint was telomerase enzymatic activity per viable cell, measured at baseline and after 3 months. 24 patients had sufficient PBMCs needed for longitudinal analysis. This study is registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov website, number NCT00739791. FINDINGS: PBMC telomerase activity expressed as natural logarithms increased from 2.00 (SD 0.44) to 2.22 (SD 0.49; p=0.031). Raw values of telomerase increased from 8.05 (SD 3.50) standard arbitrary units to 10.38 (SD 6.01) standard arbitrary units. The increases in telomerase activity were significantly associated with decreases in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (r=-0.36, p=0.041) and decreases in psychological distress (r=-0.35, p=0.047). INTERPRETATION: Comprehensive lifestyle changes significantly increase telomerase activity and consequently telomere maintenance capacity in human immune-system cells. Given this finding and the pilot nature of this study, we report these increases in telomerase activity as a significant association rather than inferring causation. Larger randomised controlled trials are warranted to confirm the findings of this study."}
{"id": "MED-4878", "text": "Background Telomere length reflects biological aging and may be influenced by environmental factors, including those that affect inflammatory processes. Objective With data from 840 white, black, and Hispanic adults from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, we studied cross-sectional associations between telomere length and dietary patterns and foods and beverages that were associated with markers of inflammation. Design Leukocyte telomere length was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Length was calculated as the amount of telomeric DNA (T) divided by the amount of a single-copy control DNA (S) (T/S ratio). Intake of whole grains, fruit and vegetables, low-fat dairy, nuts or seeds, nonfried fish, coffee, refined grains, fried foods, red meat, processed meat, and sugar-sweetened soda were computed with responses to a 120-item food-frequency questionnaire completed at baseline. Scores on 2 previously defined empirical dietary patterns were also computed for each participant. Results After adjustment for age, other demographics, lifestyle factors, and intakes of other foods or beverages, only processed meat intake was associated with telomere length. For every 1 serving/d greater intake of processed meat, the T/S ratio was 0.07 smaller (\u03b2 \u00b1 SE: \u22120.07 \u00b1 0.03, P = 0.006). Categorical analysis showed that participants consuming \u22651 serving of processed meat each week had 0.017 smaller T/S ratios than did nonconsumers. Other foods or beverages and the 2 dietary patterns were not associated with telomere length. Conclusions Processed meat intake showed an expected inverse association with telomere length, but other diet features did not show their expected associations."}
{"id": "MED-4880", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: The beneficial or harmful effect of the low-carbohydrate (low-carb), high-protein, high-fat diet (Atkins diet) has not been clearly demonstrated. We determined the effect of a low-carb diet and restricted feeding (70% ad libitum intake) on serum levels of cholesterol, triacylglycerol, glucose, ketone bodies and insulin in rats. METHODS: In experiment 1, each of 4 groups with 10 adult rats was assigned to a high-carb diet (AIN-93G) + ad libitum intake or restricted feeding, or a low-carb diet (53% horsemeat) + ad libitum intake or restricted feeding (2 x 2 factorial). In experiment 2, each of 3 groups with 10 adult rats was assigned to a control (AIN-93G) or low-carb diets (53% beef or horsemeat). RESULTS: Restricted feeding and the low-carb diet reduced (p<0.01) serum triacylglycerol compared with ad libitum intake and the AIN-93G diet, respectively (experiment 1). The dietary effect on serum total cholesterol, high-density or low-density lipid cholesterol appeared to be inconsistent, but restricted feeding increased the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. The serum ketone body level was increased by the low-carb diet compared with AIN-93G (experiment 2). CONCLUSION: Restricted feeding and a low-carb diet are beneficial for alleviating cardiovascular disease risk factors, and their effects are additive, restricted feeding being more pronounced. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-4881", "text": "The effects of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) at different levels (0 to 0.8 units/g sample) on the properties of gels from lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis) mince set at 25 degrees C for 2 h or 40 degrees C for 30 min prior to heating at 90 degrees C for 20 min were studied. Breaking force and deformation of gels increased with increasing MTGase amount added (P<0.05). At the same MTGase level used, gels with the prior setting at 40 degrees C for 30 min showed a higher breaking force compared with those subjected to prior setting at 25 degrees C for 2 h (P<0.05). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic study revealed that myosin heavy chain (MHC) underwent polymerization to a higher extent in the presence of MTGase. Regardless of setting condition, microstructure of gel added with MTGase was finer with a smaller void compared with that of gel without MTGase. Therefore, setting temperature affected the property of gels added with MTGase. Gel properties of mince obtained from lizardfish stored in ice for different times (0 to 10 d) with and without MTGase at a level 0.6 units/g were determined. Irrespective of MTGase addition, breaking force and deformation of all gels decreased as the storage time of lizardfish increased (P<0.05). The addition of MTGase was able to increase both breaking force and deformation of the resulting gel produced from lizardfish kept in ice for all storage times used. Therefore, both freshness and MTGase addition had the direct impact on gel properties of lizardfish mince."}
{"id": "MED-4882", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine whether chicken-based formula can replace soy-based formula in infants with cow milk allergy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight infants with cow's milk allergy, aged between 2-24 months of age were randomized to receive either chicken-based formula or soy-based formula for 14 days. RESULTS: In the group of soy-based formula, 12 out of 18 infants had evidence of intolerance and could not continue with the formula. However, only 4 out of 20 infants in the chicken-based formula group had evidence of clinical intolerance. All other 16 infants were fed the chicken-based formula with success. The number of infants who were intolerant to chicken formula was significantly lower than the number of those fed soy-based formula (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Chicken-based formula can be used more effectively than soy-based formula in infants with cow milk allergy."}
{"id": "MED-4883", "text": "The art of the musical anus is reviewed in the light of its most prominent performers and of anorectal physiological aspects related to this specific musical performance."}
{"id": "MED-4884", "text": "In this study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was applied to study the structural aspects of the tomato fruit. The main study was performed on tomatoes (cv. Tradiro) using a 0.2-T electromagnet scanner. Spin-echo images were acquired to visualize the tomato macrostructure. The air bubble content in tissues was evaluated by exploiting susceptibility effects using multiple gradient echo images. The microstructure was further studied by measuring spin-spin (T(2)) and spin-lattice (T(1)) relaxation time distributions. Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry, macro vision imaging and chemical analysis were used as complementary and independent experimental methods in order to emphasize the MRI results. MRI images showed that the air bubble content varied between tissues. The presence of gas was attested by macro vision images. Quantitative imaging showed that T(2) and T(1) maps obtained by MRI reflected the structural differences between tomato tissues and made it possible to distinguish between them. The results indicated that cell size and chemical composition contribute to the relaxation mechanism."}
{"id": "MED-4885", "text": "Background Prostate cancer affects one-out-of-six men during their lifetime. Dietary factors are postulated to influence the development and progression of prostate cancer. Low-fat diets and flaxseed supplementation may offer potentially protective strategies. Methods We undertook a multi-site, randomized controlled trial to test the effects of low-fat and/or flaxseed-supplemented diets on the biology of the prostate and other biomarkers. Prostate cancer patients (n=161) scheduled at least 21 days before prostatectomy were randomly assigned to one of the following arms: 1) control (usual diet); 2) flaxseed-supplemented diet (30 g/day); 2) low-fat diet (<20% total energy); or 4) flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet. Blood was drawn at baseline and prior to surgery and analyzed for prostate specific antigen (PSA), sex hormone binding globulin, testosterone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and binding protein-3, c-reactive protein, and total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Tumors were assessed for proliferation (Ki-67, the primary endpoint) and apoptosis. Results Men were on protocol an average of 30 days. Proliferation rates were significantly lower (P < 0.002) among men assigned to the flaxseed arms. Median Ki-67 positive cells/total nuclei ratios (x100) were 1.66 (flaxseed-supplemented diet) and 1.50 (flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet) vs. 3.23 (control) and 2.56 (low-fat diet). No differences were observed between arms with regard to side effects, apoptosis, and most serological endpoints; however, men on low-fat diets experienced significant decreases in serum cholesterol (P=0.048). Conclusions Findings suggest that flaxseed is safe, and associated with biologic alterations that may be protective for prostate cancer. Data also further support low-fat diets to manage serum cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-4886", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Previous research has demonstrated that patients with prostate cancer participating in the Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Trial had a reduction in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, inhibition of LNCaP cell growth, and fewer prostate cancer-related clinical events at the end of 1 year compared with controls. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical events in this trial during a 2-year period. METHODS: The Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Trial was a 1-year randomized controlled clinical trial of 93 patients with early-stage prostate cancer (Gleason score <7, PSA 4-10 ng/mL) undergoing active surveillance. The patients in the experimental arm were encouraged to adopt a low-fat, plant-based diet, to exercise and practice stress management, and to attend group support sessions. The control patients received the usual care. RESULTS: By 2 years of follow-up, 13 of 49 (27%) control patients and 2 of 43 (5%) experimental patients had undergone conventional prostate cancer treatment (radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, or androgen deprivation, P < .05). No differences were found between the groups in other clinical events (eg, cardiac), and no deaths occurred. Three of the treated control patients but none of the treated experimental patients had a PSA level of >or=10 ng/mL, and 1 treated control patient but no treated experimental patients had a PSA velocity of >2 ng/mL/y before treatment. No significant differences were found between the untreated experimental and untreated control patients in PSA change or velocity at the end of 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with early-stage prostate cancer choosing active surveillance might be able to avoid or delay conventional treatment for at least 2 years by making changes in their diet and lifestyle."}
{"id": "MED-4888", "text": "Epidemiological and prospective studies indicate that comprehensive lifestyle changes may modify the progression of prostate cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms by which improvements in diet and lifestyle might affect the prostate microenvironment are poorly understood. We conducted a pilot study to examine changes in prostate gene expression in a unique population of men with low-risk prostate cancer who declined immediate surgery, hormonal therapy, or radiation and participated in an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention while undergoing careful surveillance for tumor progression. Consistent with previous studies, significant improvements in weight, abdominal obesity, blood pressure, and lipid profile were observed (all P < 0.05), and surveillance of low-risk patients was safe. Gene expression profiles were obtained from 30 participants, pairing RNA samples from control prostate needle biopsy taken before intervention to RNA from the same patient's 3-month postintervention biopsy. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to validate array observations for selected transcripts. Two-class paired analysis of global gene expression using significance analysis of microarrays detected 48 up-regulated and 453 down-regulated transcripts after the intervention. Pathway analysis identified significant modulation of biological processes that have critical roles in tumorigenesis, including protein metabolism and modification, intracellular protein traffic, and protein phosphorylation (all P < 0.05). Intensive nutrition and lifestyle changes may modulate gene expression in the prostate. Understanding the prostate molecular response to comprehensive lifestyle changes may strengthen efforts to develop effective prevention and treatment. Larger clinical trials are warranted to confirm the results of this pilot study."}
{"id": "MED-4890", "text": "Epidemiological studies suggest a positive association between nutrient intake, hyperinsulinemia and risk of Benign prostatic hyperplasis (BPH). This study tests the hypothesis that a low-fat, high-fiber diet and daily exercise would lower serum insulin and reduce the growth of serum-stimulated primary prostate epithelial cells in culture. Serum samples were obtained from eight overweight men before and after the Pritikin residential, 2-week diet and exercise intervention and from seven men who were long-term followers of the low-fat, high-fiber diet and regular exercise lifestyle. The serum was used to stimulate primary prostate epithelial cells in culture. Growth was measured after 48 and 96 h and apoptosis after 96 h. At 48 h there was no significant difference in growth within the Pre, 2-week or Long-Term groups. At 96 h growth was significantly reduced in the 2-week (13%) and in the Long-Term (14%) groups compared to the Pre data. At 96 h, apoptosis was not significantly different among the three groups. Fasting insulin was reduced by 30% in the 2-week group and by 52% in the Long-Term group compared to the Pre data. Testosterone was unchanged in the 2-week group. The results of this study indicate that a low-fat, high-fiber diet and daily exercise lowers insulin and reduces growth of prostate primary epithelial cells and suggests that lifestyle may be an important factor in the development or progression of BPH. Future prospective trials should address the effects of this lifestyle modification on BPH symptomatology and progression."}
{"id": "MED-4891", "text": "The current annual incidence of sudden cardiac death in the US is likely to be in the range of 180\u2013250,000 per year. Coinciding with the decreased mortality from coronary artery disease, there is evidence pointing toward a significant decrease in rates of sudden cardiac death in the US during the second half of the twentieth century. However the alarming rise in prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the first decade of the new millennium both in the US and worldwide, would indicate that this favorable trend is unlikely to persist. We are likely to witness a resurgence of coronary artery disease and heart failure, as a result of which sudden cardiac death will have to be confronted as a shared and indiscriminate, worldwide public health problem. There is also increasing recognition of the fact that discovery of meaningful and relevant risk stratification and prevention methodologies will require careful prospective community-wide analyses, with access to large archives of DNA, serum and tissue that link with well-phenotyped databases. The purpose of this review is to summarize current knowledge of sudden cardiac death epidemiology. We will discuss the significance and strengths of community-wide evaluations of sudden cardiac death, summarize recent observations from such studies, and finally highlight specific potential predictors that warrant further evaluation as determinants of sudden cardiac death in the general population."}
{"id": "MED-4892", "text": "OBJECTIVE\u2014Whereas limited and inconsistent findings have been reported on the relation between dietary cholesterol or egg consumption and fasting glucose, no previous study has examined the association between egg consumption and type 2 diabetes. This project sought to examine the relation between egg intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes in two large prospective cohorts. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS\u2014In this prospective study, we used data from two completed randomized trials: 20,703 men from the Physicians' Health Study I (1982\u20132007) and 36,295 women from the Women's Health Study (1992\u20132007). Egg consumption was ascertained using questionnaires, and we used the Cox proportional hazard model to estimate relative risks of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS\u2014During mean follow-up of 20.0 years in men and 11.7 years in women, 1,921 men and 2,112 women developed type 2 diabetes. Compared with no egg consumption, multivariable adjusted hazard ratios for type 2 diabetes were 1.09 (95% CI 0.87\u20131.37), 1.09 (0.88\u20131.34), 1.18 (0.95\u20131.45), 1.46 (1.14\u20131.86), and 1.58 (1.25\u20132.01) for consumption of <1, 1, 2\u20134, 5\u20136, and \u22657 eggs/week, respectively, in men (P for trend <0.0001). Corresponding multivariable hazard ratios for women were 1.06 (0.92\u20131.22), 0.97 (0.83\u20131.12), 1.19 (1.03\u20131.38), 1.18 (0.88\u20131.58), and 1.77 (1.28\u20132.43), respectively (P for trend <0.0001). CONCLUSIONS\u2014These data suggest that high levels of egg consumption (daily) are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Confirmation of these findings in other populations is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-4893", "text": "Background Prospective studies evaluating associations between food intake and risk of heart failure (HF) in diverse populations are needed. Objectives Relationships between incident HF (death or hospitalization) and intake of seven food categories (whole grains, fruits/vegetables, fish, nuts, high-fat dairy, eggs, red meat) were investigated in an observational cohort of 14,153 African-American and white adults, age 45 to 64 years, sampled from four US communities. Methods Between baseline (1987\u20131989) and Exam 3 (1993\u20131995), dietary intake was based on responses to a 66-item food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline; thereafter, intake was based on averaged baseline and Exam 3 responses. Hazard ratios (HR [95% CI]) for HF were calculated per 1\u2013daily serving difference in food group intake. Results During a mean of 13 years, 1,140 HF hospitalizations were identified. After multivariable adjustment (energy intake, demographics, lifestyle factors, prevalent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension), HF risk was lower with greater whole-grain intake (0.93 [0.87, 0.99]), but HF risk was higher with greater intake of eggs (1.23 [1.08, 1.41]) and high-fat dairy (1.08 [1.01, 1.16]). These associations remained significant independent of intakes of the five other food categories, which were not associated with HF. Conclusions In this large, population-based sample of African-American and white adults, whole-grain intake was associated with lower HF risk, whereas intake of eggs and high-fat dairy were associated with greater HF risk after adjustment for several confounders."}
{"id": "MED-4894", "text": "SUMMARY: This cross-sectional study showed that, although vegans had lower dietary calcium and protein intakes than omnivores, veganism did not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and did not alter body composition. INTRODUCTION: Whether a lifelong vegetarian diet has any negative effect on bone health is a contentious issue. We undertook this study to examine the association between lifelong vegetarian diet and bone mineral density and body composition in a group of postmenopausal women. METHODS: One hundred and five Mahayana Buddhist nuns and 105 omnivorous women (average age = 62, range = 50-85) were randomly sampled from monasteries in Ho Chi Minh City and invited to participate in the study. By religious rule, the nuns do not eat meat or seafood (i.e., vegans). Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN), and whole body (WB) was measured by DXA (Hologic QDR 4500). Lean mass, fat mass, and percent fat mass were also obtained from the DXA whole body scan. Dietary calcium and protein intakes were estimated from a validated food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between vegans and omnivores in LSBMD (0.74 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.77 +/- 0.14 g/cm(2); mean +/- SD; P = 0.18), FNBMD (0.62 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.63 +/- 0.11 g/cm(2); P = 0.35), WBBMD (0.88 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.90 +/- 0.12 g/cm(2); P = 0.31), lean mass (32 +/- 5 vs. 33 +/- 4 kg; P = 0.47), and fat mass (19 +/- 5 vs. 19 +/- 5 kg; P = 0.77) either before or after adjusting for age. The prevalence of osteoporosis (T scores < or = -2.5) at the femoral neck in vegans and omnivores was 17.1% and 14.3% (P = 0.57), respectively. The median intake of dietary calcium was lower in vegans compared to omnivores (330 +/- 205 vs. 682 +/- 417 mg/day, P < 0.001); however, there was no significant correlation between dietary calcium and BMD. Further analysis suggested that whole body BMD, but not lumbar spine or femoral neck BMD, was positively correlated with the ratio of animal protein to vegetable protein. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that, although vegans have much lower intakes of dietary calcium and protein than omnivores, veganism does not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body composition."}
{"id": "MED-4897", "text": "Consumption of cow's milk and cow's milk protein result in changes of the hormonal axis of insulin, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) in humans. Milk consumption raises IGF-1 serum levels in the perinatal period, adolescence and adulthood. During puberty with the physiological onset of increased secretion of growth hormone, IGF-1 serum levels increase and are further enhanced by milk consumption. IGF-1 is a potent mitogen; after binding to its receptor in various tissues, it induces cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis. Keratinocytes and sebocytes, as well as the androgen-synthesizing adrenals and gonads, are stimulated by IGF-1. The epidemic incidence of adolescent acne in Western milk-consuming societies can be explained by the increased insulin- and IGF-1-stimulation of sebaceous glands mediated by milk consumption. Acne can be regarded as a model for chronic Western diseases with pathologically increased IGF-1-stimulation. Many other organs, such as the thymus, bones, all glands, and vascular smooth muscle cells as well as neurons are subject to this abnormally increased hormonal stimulation. The milk-induced change of the IGF-1-axis most likely contributes to the development of fetal macrosomia, induction of atopy, accelerated linear growth, atherosclerosis, carcinogenesis and neurodegenerative diseases. Observations of molecular biology are supported by epidemiologic data and unmask milk consumption as a promoter of chronic diseases of Western societies."}
{"id": "MED-4898", "text": "We examined consumption of animal foods, protein and calcium in relation to risk of prostate cancer among 142\u2009251 men in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Associations were examined using Cox regression, stratified by recruitment centre and adjusted for height, weight, education, marital status and energy intake. After an average of 8.7 years of follow-up, there were 2727 incident cases of prostate cancer, of which 1131 were known to be localised and 541 advanced-stage disease. A high intake of dairy protein was associated with an increased risk, with a hazard ratio for the top versus the bottom fifth of intake of 1.22 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07\u20131.41, Ptrend=0.02). After calibration to allow for measurement error, we estimated that a 35-g\u2009day\u22121 increase in consumption of dairy protein was associated with an increase in the risk of prostate cancer of 32% (95% CI: 1\u201372%, Ptrend=0.04). Calcium from dairy products was also positively associated with risk, but not calcium from other foods. The results support the hypothesis that a high intake of protein or calcium from dairy products may increase the risk for prostate cancer."}
{"id": "MED-4899", "text": "Increased levels of estrogen metabolites (EM) are associated with cancers of the reproductive system. One potential dietary source of EM is milk. In this study, the absolute quantities of unconjugated (free) and unconjugated plus conjugated (total) EM were measured in a variety of commercial milks (whole, 2%, skim, and buttermilk). The results show that the milk products tested contain considerable levels of EM; however, the levels of unconjugated EM in skim milk were substantially lower than that observed in whole milk, 2% milk, and buttermilk. Whole milk contained the lowest overall levels of EM while buttermilk contained the highest. As anticipated, soy milk did not contain the mammalian EM measured using this method. The relatively high levels of catechol estrogens detected in milk products support the theory that milk consumption is a source of EM and their ingestion may have a dietary influence on cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-4900", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize recent findings and current concepts in the beneficial effects of berry consumption on brain function during aging. RECENT FINDINGS: Berryfruit supplementation has continued to demonstrate efficacy in reversing age-related cognitive decline in animal studies. In terms of the mechanisms behind the effects of berries on the central nervous system, recent studies have demonstrated the bioavailability of berry polyphenols in several animal models. These studies have revealed that flavonoids and polyphenols from berries do accumulate in the brain following long-term consumption. Finally, several compelling studies have revealed that berries can influence cell-signaling cascades both in vivo and in cell culture systems. These studies underscore the developing theory that berries and antioxidant-rich foods may be acting as more than just oxygen radical neutralizers in the aging central nervous system. SUMMARY: Antioxidant-rich berries consumed in the diet can positively impact learning and memory in the aged animal. This effect on cognition is thought to be due to the direct interaction of berry polyphenols with aging neurons, reducing the impact of stress-related cellular signals and increasing the capacity of neurons to maintain proper functioning during aging."}
{"id": "MED-4901", "text": "The present study was designed to evaluate the possible effect of the consumption of blackberry juices (BJ) prepared with water (BJW) and defatted milk (BJM) on the plasma antioxidant capacity and the enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants. A significant (p < 0.05) increase in the ascorbic acid content in the plasma was observed after intake of both BJs. However, no changes were observed in the plasma urate and alpha-tocopherol levels. An increase on the plasma antioxidant capacity, by ORAC assay, was observed only after consumption of BJW but not statistically significant. Plasma antioxidant capacity had a good positive correlation with ascorbic acid (r = 0.93) and a negative correlation with urate level (r = -0.79). No correlation was observed between antioxidant capacity and total cyanidin or total ellagic acid contents. Further, it was observed that plasma catalase increased following intake of BJ's. No change was observed on the plasma and erythrocyte CAT and glutathione peroxidase activities. A significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the urinary antioxidant capacity between 1 and 4 h after intake of both BJs was observed. A good correlation was observed between total antioxidant capacity and urate and total cyanidin levels. These results suggested association between anthocyanin levels and CAT and a good correlation between antioxidant capacity and ascorbic acid in the human plasma after intake of BJs. Follow-up studies investigating the antioxidant properties and health benefits are necessary to demonstrate the health benefits of polyphenols."}
{"id": "MED-4903", "text": "The antioxidant properties of dietary phenolics are believed to be reduced in vivo because of their affinity for proteins. In this study we assessed the bioavailability of phenolics and the in vivo plasma antioxidant capacity after the consumption of blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) with and without milk. In a crossover design, 11 healthy human volunteers consumed either (a) 200 g of blueberries plus 200 ml of water or (b) 200 g of blueberries plus 200 ml of whole milk. Venous samples were collected at baseline and at 1, 2, and 5 h postconsumption. Ingestion of blueberries increased plasma levels of reducing and chain-breaking potential (+6.1%, p<0.001; +11.1%, p<0.05) and enhanced plasma concentrations of caffeic and ferulic acid. When blueberries and milk were ingested there was no increase in plasma antioxidant capacity. There was a reduction in the peak plasma concentrations of caffeic and ferulic acid (-49.7%, p<0.001, and -19.8%, p<0.05, respectively) as well as the overall absorption (AUC) of caffeic acid (p<0.001). The ingestion of blueberries in association with milk, thus, impairs the in vivo antioxidant properties of blueberries and reduces the absorption of caffeic acid."}
{"id": "MED-4905", "text": "Black rice and its pigment fraction have shown anti-atherogenic activities in several animal models, but whether their beneficial effects will recur in humans remains unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of black rice pigment fraction (BRF) supplementation on selected cardiovascular risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Sixty patients with CHD aged 45-75 years were recruited from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China and randomly divided into two groups. In the test group, the diet was supplemented with 10 grams of BRF derived from black rice for 6 months; While in the placebo group, the diet was supplemented with 10 grams of white rice pigment fraction (WRF) derived from white rice. At baseline, plasma antioxidant status and the levels of inflammatory biomarkers and other measured variables were similar between two groups. After 6 months' intervention, compared to WRF supplementation, BRF supplementation greatly enhanced plasma total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (p=0.003), significantly reduce plasma levels of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) (p=0.03), soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) (p=0.002) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (p=0.002) in the test group. No significant changes were observed in plasma total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity, lipids level and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) between two groups. These results may suggest that BRF could exert cardioprotective effects on patients with CHD by improving plasma antioxidant status and inhibiting inflammatory factors."}
{"id": "MED-4907", "text": "Tumor metastasis is the most important cause of cancer death and various treatment strategies have targeted on preventing the occurrence of metastasis. Anthocyanins are natural colorants belonging to the flavonoid family, and are wildly used for their antioxidant properties. Here, we provided molecular evidence associated with the anti-metastatic effects of peonidin 3-glucoside and cyanidin 3-glucoside, major anthocyanins extracted from black rice (Oryza sativa L. indica), by showing a marked inhibition on the invasion and motility of SKHep-1 cells. This effect was associated with a reduced expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA). Peonidin 3-glucoside and cyanidin 3-glucoside also exerted an inhibitory effect on the DNA binding activity and the nuclear translocation of AP-1. Furthermore, these compounds also exerted an inhibitory effect of cell invasion on various cancer cells (SCC-4, Huh-7, and HeLa). Finally, anthocyanins from O. sativa L. indica (OAs) were evidenced by its inhibition on the growth of SKHep-1 cells in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-4909", "text": "Oral aluminum (Al) bioavailability from drinking water has been previously estimated, but there is little information on Al bioavailability from foods. It was suggested that oral Al bioavailability from drinking water is much greater than from foods. The objective was to further test this hypothesis. Oral Al bioavailability was determined in the rat from basic [26Al]-sodium aluminum phosphate (basic SALP) in a process cheese. Consumption of ~ 1 gm cheese containing 1.5 or 3% basic SALP resulted in oral Al bioavailability (F) of ~ 0.1 and 0.3%, respectively, and time to maximum serum 26Al concentration (Tmax) of 8 to 9 h. These Al bioavailability results were intermediate to previously reported results from drinking water (F ~ 0.3%) and acidic-SALP incorporated into a biscuit (F ~ 0.1%), using the same methods. Considering the similar oral bioavailability of Al from food vs. water, and their contribution to the typical human\u2019s daily Al intake (~ 95 and 1.5%, respectively), these results suggest food contributes much more Al to systemic circulation, and potential Al body burden, than does drinking water. These results do not support the hypothesis that drinking water provides a disproportionate contribution to total Al absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract."}
{"id": "MED-4911", "text": "Arsenic exposures contribute significantly to the burden of preventable disease worldwide, specifically related to increased risks of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Most exposures are associated with natural contamination of groundwater, which is difficult to mitigate when these sources are used for drinking water. An anthropogenic source of arsenic exposure stems from the widespread use of arsenical drugs in food-animal production in the United States and China, among many countries. This use results in residual contamination of food products from animals raised with the drugs, as well as environmental contamination associated with disposal of wastes from these animals. Land disposal of these wastes can contaminate surface and ground water, and the conversion of animal wastes into fertilizer pellets for home use as well as the introduction of animal waste incinerators may increase opportunities for exposure. As an intentional additive to animal feed, use of arsenical drugs is a preventable source of human exposure. The domestic practice of using these drugs in poultry production has been the subject of media attention and limited research, though the use of these drugs in domestic swine production and in the rapidly growing foreign animal production industry remains largely uncharacterized. This continued expansion of arsenical drug use may likely increase the burden of global human arsenic exposure and risk."}
{"id": "MED-4912", "text": "Rice is more elevated in arsenic than all other grain crops tested to date, with whole grain (brown) rice having higher arsenic levels than polished (white). It is reported here that rice bran, both commercially purchased and specifically milled for this study, have levels of inorganic arsenic, a nonthreshold, class 1 carcinogen, reaching concentrations of approximately 1 mg/kg dry weight, around 10-20 fold higher than concentrations found in bulk grain. Although pure rice bran is used as a health food supplement, perhaps of more concern is rice bran solubles, which are marketed as a superfood and as a supplement to malnourished children in international aid programs. Five rice bran solubles products were tested, sourced from the United States and Japan, and were found to have 0.61-1.9 mg/kg inorganic arsenic. Manufactures recommend approximately 20 g servings of the rice bran solubles per day, which equates to a 0.012-0.038 mg intake of inorganic arsenic. There are no maximum concentration levels (MCLs) set for arsenic or its species in food stuffs. EU and U.S. water regulations, set at 0.01 mg/L total or inorganic arsenic, respectively, are based on the assumption that 1 L of water per day is consumed, i.e., 0.01 mg of arsenic/ day. At the manufacturers recommended rice bran solubles consumption rate, inorganic arsenic intake exceeds 0.01 mg/ day, remembering that rice bran solubles are targeted at malnourished children and that actual risk is based on mg kg(-1) day(-1) intake."}
{"id": "MED-4913", "text": "Potatoes are a source of glycoalkaloids (GAs) represented primarily by alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine (about 95%). Content of GAs in tubers is usually 10-100 mg/kg and maximum levels do not exceed 200 mg/kg. GAs can be hazardous for human health. Poisoning involve gastrointestinal ailments and neurological symptoms. A single intake of >1-3 mg/kg b.w. is considered a critical effect dose (CED). Probabilistic modelling of acute and chronic (usual) exposure to GAs was performed in the Czech Republic, Sweden and The Netherlands. National databases on individual consumption of foods, data on concentration of GAs in tubers (439 Czech and Swedish results) and processing factors were used for modelling. Results concluded that potatoes currently available at the European market may lead to acute intakes >1 mg GAs/kg b.w./day for upper tail of the intake distribution (0.01% of population) in all three countries. 50 mg GAs/kg raw unpeeled tubers ensures that at least 99.99% of the population does not exceed the CED. Estimated chronic (usual) intake in participating countries was 0.25, 0.29 and 0.56 mg/kg b.w./day (97.5% upper confidence limit). It remains unclear if the incidence of GAs poisoning is underreported or if assumptions are the worst case for extremely sensitive persons."}
{"id": "MED-4914", "text": "As one of the major agricultural crops, the cultivated potato is consumed each day by millions of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. A product of global importance, the potato tuber contains toxic glycoalkaloids (GAs) that cause sporadic outbreaks of poisoning in humans, as well as many livestock deaths. This article will discuss some aspects of the potato GAs, including their toxic effects and risk factors, methods of detection of GAs and biotechnological aspects of potato breeding. An attempt has been made to answer a question of vital importance - are potato GAs dangerous to humans and animals and, if so, to what extent?"}
{"id": "MED-4915", "text": "A quantitative human dietary risk assessment was conducted using the glycoalkaloid concentrations measured from tubers of plants defoliated by Colorado potato beetles and undefoliated (control). There was a significantly greater production of glycoalkaloids for defoliated plants compared to control plants for both skin and inner tissue of tubers. The dietary risk posed to different human subgroups associated with the consumption of potatoes was estimated for the 50th, 95th, and 99.9th percentile US national consumption values. Exposures were compared to a toxic threshold of 1.0mg/kg body weight. Defoliation by Colorado potato beetles increased dietary risk by approximately 48%. Glycoalkaloid concentrations within the inner tissue of tubers, including undefoliated controls, exceeded the toxic threshold for all human subgroups at less than the 99.9th percentile of exposure, but not the 95th percentile."}
{"id": "MED-4916", "text": "Agaritine (N-(gamma-L(+)-glutamyl)-4-hydroxymethyl-phenylhydrazine) was identified and quantified by high-pressure liquid chromatography and used as a marker for the occurrence of phenylhydrazine derivatives in the cultivated Agaricus bitorquis and A. garicus hortensis mushrooms. Although relatively high levels of agaritine (around 700 mg kg(-1)) could be found in freshly harvested A. bitorquis from early flushes, samples from supermarkets contained less agaritine. The content of 28 samples varied between 165 and 457 mg kg(-1), on average being 272 +/- 69 mg kg(-1). The highest amounts of agaritine were found in the skin of the cap and in the gills, the lowest being in the stem. There was no significant difference in agaritine content of the two mushroom species in our study. Pronounced reduction in agaritine content was observed during storage of mushrooms in the refrigerator or freezer, as well as during drying of the mushrooms. The degree of reduction was dependent on the length and condition of storage and was usually in the region 20-75%. No reduction in agaritine content was observed during freeze-drying. Depending on the cooking procedure, household processing of cultivated Agaricus mushrooms reduced the agaritine content to various degrees. Boiling extracted around 50% of the agaritine content into the cooking broth within 5min and degraded 20-25% of the original agaritine content of the mushrooms. Prolonged boiling, as when preparing a sauce, reduced the content in the solid mushroom further (around 10% left after 2h). Dry baking of the cultivated mushroom, a process similar to pizza baking, reduced the agaritine content by approximately 25%, whereas frying in oil or butter or deep frying resulted in a more marked reduction (35-70%). Microwave processing of the cultivated mushrooms reduced the agaritine content to one-third of the original level. Thus, the exposure to agaritine was substantially less when consuming processed Agaricus mushrooms as compared with consuming the raw mushrooms. However, it is not yet known to what extent agaritine and other phenylhydrazine derivatives occurring in the cultivated mushroom are degraded into other biologically active compounds during the cooking procedure."}
{"id": "MED-4917", "text": "AIMS: To review current research on the effects of soy consumption on menopausal symptoms. METHODS: To review results of recent meta-analyses and individual clinical trials. MAIN RESULTS: One recent meta-analysis reported that isoflavone supplementation was associated with a 34% reduction in hot flashes, with increased efficacy as the baseline number of flashes and isoflavone dose increased. A second review concluded that consumption of at least 15 mg genistein, rather than total isoflavones, is responsible for the reduction in symptoms. Results of these two reviews are supported by most subsequent randomized controlled trials. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of 30 mg/day of soy isoflavones (or at least 15 mg genistein) reduces hot flashes by up to 50 %. This total reduction includes that provided by \"the placebo effect\". The greatest benefit may be realized when the isoflavone-rich food or supplement is taken in divided doses by subjects who experience at least four hot flashes/day."}
{"id": "MED-4918", "text": "Background & Aims The historical prevalence and long-term outcome of undiagnosed celiac disease (CD) are unknown. We investigated the long-term outcome of undiagnosed CD and whether the prevalence of undiagnosed CD has changed during the past 50 years. Methods This study included 9,133 healthy young adults at Warren Air Force Base (sera were collected between 1948 and 1954) and 12,768 sex-matched subjects from 2 recent cohorts from Olmsted County, Minnesota, with either similar years of birth (n=5,558) or age at sampling (n=7,210) to that of the Air Force cohort. Sera were tested for tissue transglutaminase and, if abnormal, for endomysial antibodies. Survival was measured during a follow-up period of 45 years in the Air Force cohort. The prevalence of undiagnosed CD between the Air Force cohort and recent cohorts was compared. Results Of 9,133 persons from the Air Force cohort, 14 (0.2%) had undiagnosed CD. In this cohort, during 45 years of follow-up, all-cause mortality was greater in persons with undiagnosed CD than among those who were seronegative (hazard ratio=3.9; 95% CI, 2.0\u20137.5; P<.001). Undiagnosed CD was found in 68 (0.9%) persons with similar age at sampling and 46 (0.8%) persons with similar years of birth. The rate of undiagnosed CD was 4.5-fold and 4-fold greater in the recent cohorts (respectively) than in the Air Force cohort (both P \u2264 .0001). Conclusions During 45 years of follow-up, undiagnosed CD was associated with a nearly 4-fold increased risk of death. The prevalence of undiagnosed CD appears to have increased dramatically in the United States during the past 50 years."}
{"id": "MED-4919", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Mass screening for celiac disease is controversial. The objective of this study was to determine whether detection of childhood celiac disease by mass screening improves long-term health status and health-related quality of life. METHODS: We conducted a prospective 10-year follow-up study of 32 children who were aged 2 to 4 years, had celiac disease identified by mass screening, and had a gluten-free diet (19) or a normal gluten-containing diet (13). The follow-up included assessments of general health status, celiac disease-associated symptoms, celiac disease-associated serum antibodies, and health-related quality of life. RESULTS: Ten years after mass screening, 81% of the children were adhering to a gluten-free diet. The health status improved in 66% of the treated children: in 41% by early treatment and in 25% by prevention of the gluten-dependent symptoms that they developed after diagnosis. For 19% of the children, treatment after screening would not have improved their health status, because they had no symptoms at screening and have remained symptom-free while consuming gluten. The health-related quality of life of the children with symptoms improved significantly after 1 year of gluten-free diet. Ten years after screening, the health-related quality of life of the children with celiac disease was similar to that of the reference population. CONCLUSION: Identification by mass screening led 10 years later to health improvement in 66% of children without deterioration of generic health-related quality of life. There is a good compliance after mass screening. In a research setting, delaying treatment for children without symptoms seems to be an option after a positive screening test. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to assess possible long-term complications in untreated, nonsymptomatic celiac disease."}
{"id": "MED-4920", "text": "BACKGROUND: Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathic condition triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by the ingestion of gluten. Although common in Europe, CD is thought to be rare in the United States, where there are no large epidemiologic studies of its prevalence. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CD in at-risk and not-at-risk groups in the United States. METHODS: Serum antigliadin antibodies and anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) were measured. In EMA-positive subjects, human tissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies and CD-associated human leukocyte antigen DQ2/DQ8 haplotypes were determined. Intestinal biopsy was recommended and performed whenever possible for all EMA-positive subjects. A total of 13 145 subjects were screened: 4508 first-degree and 1275 second-degree relatives of patients with biopsy-proven CD, 3236 symptomatic patients (with either gastrointestinal symptoms or a disorder associated with CD), and 4126 not-at-risk individuals. RESULTS: In at-risk groups, the prevalence of CD was 1:22 in first-degree relatives, 1:39 in second-degree relatives, and 1:56 in symptomatic patients. The overall prevalence of CD in not-at-risk groups was 1:133. All the EMA-positive subjects who underwent intestinal biopsy had lesions consistent with CD. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CD occurs frequently not only in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, but also in first- and second-degree relatives and patients with numerous common disorders even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms. The prevalence of CD in symptomatic patients and not-at-risk subjects was similar to that reported in Europe. Celiac disease appears to be a more common but neglected disorder than has generally been recognized in the United States."}
{"id": "MED-4921", "text": "BACKGROUND & AIMS: The diagnostic criteria for celiac disease require small-bowel mucosal villous atrophy with crypt hyperplasia (Marsh III). However, mucosal damage develops gradually and patients may evince clinical symptoms before histologic changes appear. Endomysial antibodies are specific in predicting forthcoming villous atrophy. We hypothesized that patients with mild enteropathy but positive endomysial antibodies benefit from a gluten-free diet (GFD) similarly to patients with more severe enteropathy. METHODS: Small-bowel endoscopy together with clinical evaluations was performed in all together 70 consecutive adults with positive endomysial antibodies. Of these, 23 had only mild enteropathy (Marsh I-II) and they were randomized either to continue on a gluten-containing diet or start a GFD. After 1 year, clinical, serologic, and histologic evaluations were repeated. A total of 47 participants had small-bowel mucosal lesions compatible with celiac disease (Marsh III), and these served as disease controls. RESULTS: In the gluten-containing diet group (Marsh I-II) the small-bowel mucosal villous architecture deteriorated in all participants, and the symptoms and abnormal antibody titers persisted. In contrast, in the GFD group (Marsh I-II) the symptoms were alleviated, antibody titers decreased, and mucosal inflammation diminished equally to celiac controls (Marsh III). When the trial was completed, all participants chose to continue on a life-long GFD. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with endomysial antibodies benefit from a GFD regardless of the degree of enteropathy. The diagnostic criteria for celiac disease need re-evaluation: endomysial antibody positivity without atrophy belongs to the spectrum of genetic gluten intolerance, and warrants dietary treatment."}
{"id": "MED-4922", "text": "The discipline of glycobiology contributes to our understanding of human health and disease through research, most of which is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Recently, legitimate discoveries in glycobiology have been used as marketing tools to help sell plant extracts termed \"glyconutrients.\" The glyconutrient industry has a worldwide sales force of over half a million people and sells nearly half a billion dollars (USD) of products annually. Here we address the relationship between glyconutrients and glycobiology, and how glyconutrient claims may impact the public and our discipline."}
{"id": "MED-4924", "text": "High-dose \u03b2-carotene supplementation in high-risk persons has been linked to increased lung cancer risk in clinical trials; whether effects are similar in the general population is unclear. The authors examined associations of supplemental \u03b2-carotene, retinol, vitamin A, lutein, and lycopene with lung cancer risk among participants, aged 50\u201376 years, in the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort Study in Washington State. In 2000\u20132002, eligible persons (n = 77,126) completed a 24-page baseline questionnaire, including detailed questions about supplement use (duration, frequency, dose) during the previous 10 years from multivitamins and individual supplements/mixtures. Incident lung cancers (n = 521) through December 2005 were identified by linkage to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry. Longer duration of use of individual \u03b2-carotene, retinol, and lutein supplements (but not total 10-year average dose) was associated with statistically significantly elevated risk of total lung cancer and histologic cell types; for example, hazard ratio = 2.02, 95% confidence interval: 1.28, 3.17 for individual supplemental lutein with total lung cancer and hazard ratio = 3.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.29, 8.07 for individual \u03b2-carotene with small-cell lung cancer for >4 years versus no use. There was little evidence for effect modification by gender or smoking status. Long-term use of individual \u03b2-carotene, retinol, and lutein supplements should not be recommended for lung cancer prevention, particularly among smokers."}
{"id": "MED-4925", "text": "Context Millions of postmenopausal women use multivitamins, often believing that supplements prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Objective To examine associations between multivitamin use and risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and mortality in postmenopausal women. Design, Setting and Participants 161,808 participants from the Women\u2019s Health Initiative Clinical Trials (n=68,132 in three overlapping trials of hormone therapy, dietary modification and calcium-vitamin D) or Observational Study (n=93,676). Detailed data were collected on multivitamin use at baseline and follow-up time points. Study enrollment occurred between 1993\u20131998; women were followed for a median of 8.0 years in the clinical trials and 7.9 years in the observational study. Disease endpoints were collected through 2005. Outcome Measures Cancers of the breast (invasive), colon/rectum, endometrium, kidney, bladder, stomach, ovary and lung; cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, stroke, venous thrombosis); and total mortality. Results 41.5% of participants used multivitamins. After a median of 8.0 years of follow-up in the CT and 7.9 years in the OS, 9,619 cases of breast, colorectal, endometrium, kidney, bladder, stomach lung or ovary cancer; 8,751 CVD events and 9,865 deaths were reported. Multivariate-adjusted analyses revealed no association of multivitamins with risk of cancer (breast HR=0.98, 95%CI 0.91\u20131.05; colorectal HR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.88\u20131.11; endometrial HR = 1.05, 95%CI= 0.90\u20131.21; lung HR = 1.0, 95% CI=0.88\u20131.13; ovary HR = 1.07, 95%CI =0.88\u20131.29); CVD (MI HR= 0.96, 95%CI= 0.89\u20131.03; stroke HR = 0.99, 95%CI =0.91\u20131.07; VT HR = 1.05, 95%CI =0.85\u20131.29); or mortality (HR = 1.02, 95% CI=0.97\u20131.07). Conclusion After a median follow-up of 8.0 and 7.9 years in the CT and OS, respectively, the WHI cohorts provide convincing evidence that multivitamin use has little or no influence on the risk of common cancers, cardiovascular disease or total mortality in postmenopausal women. Clinical Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00000611"}
{"id": "MED-4928", "text": "Background Observational studies suggested that a diet high in fruits and vegetables, both of which are rich with antioxidants, may prevent cancer development. However, findings from randomized trials of the association between antioxidant use and cancer risk have been mostly negative. Methods From 8171 women who were randomly assigned in the Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study, a double-blind, placebo-controlled 2 \u00d7 2 \u00d7 2 factorial trial of vitamin C (500 mg of ascorbic acid daily), natural-source vitamin E (600 IU of \u03b1-tocopherol every other day), and beta carotene (50 mg every other day), 7627 women who were free of cancer before random assignment were selected for this study. Diagnoses and deaths from cancer at a specific site were confirmed by use of hospital reports and the National Death Index. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess hazard ratios (represented as relative risks [RRs]) of common cancers associated with use of antioxidants, either individually or in combination. Subgroup analyses were conducted to determine if duration of use modified the association of supplement use with cancer risk. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results During an average 9.4 years of treatment, 624 women developed incident invasive cancer and 176 women died from cancer. There were no statistically significant effects of use of any antioxidant on total cancer incidence. Compared with the placebo group, the RRs were 1.11 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.95 to 1.30) in the vitamin C group, 0.93 (95% CI = 0.79 to 1.09) in the vitamin E group, and 1.00 (95% CI = 0.85 to 1.17) in the beta carotene group. Similarly, no effects of these antioxidants were observed on cancer mortality. Compared with the placebo group, the RRs were 1.28 (95% CI = 0.95 to 1.73) in the vitamin C group, 0.87 (95% CI = 0.65 to 1.17) in the vitamin E group, and 0.84 (95% CI = 0.62 to 1.13) in the beta carotene group. Duration and combined use of the three antioxidants also had no effect on cancer incidence and cancer death. Conclusions Supplementation with vitamin C, vitamin E, or beta carotene offers no overall benefits in the primary prevention of total cancer incidence or cancer mortality."}
{"id": "MED-4929", "text": "Context Basic and observational studies suggest vitamins E or C may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, few long-term trials have evaluated men at initially low risk of CVD, and no previous trial in men has examined vitamin C alone in the prevention of CVD. Objective To test whether long-term vitamin E or C supplementation decreases risk of major cardiovascular events among men. Design, Setting, and Participants The Physicians\u2019 Health Study II (PHS II) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled factorial trial of vitamins E and C that began in 1997 and continued until its scheduled completion on August 31, 2007. We enrolled 14,641 U.S. male physicians initially aged \u226550 years, including 754 (5.1%) men with prevalent CVD at randomization. Intervention Individual supplements of 400 IU vitamin E every other day and 500 mg vitamin C daily. Main Outcome Measures A composite endpoint of major cardiovascular events (nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, and CVD death). Results During a mean follow-up of 8.0 years, there were 1,245 confirmed major cardiovascular events. Compared with placebo, vitamin E had no effect on the incidence of major cardiovascular events (both active and placebo vitamin E groups, 10.9 events per 1,000 person-years; hazard ratio [HR], 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90\u20131.13; P=0.86), as well as total MI (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.75\u20131.07; P=0.22), total stroke (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.89\u20131.29; P=0.45), and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.90\u20131.29; P=0.43). There was also no significant effect of vitamin C on major cardiovascular events (active and placebo vitamin E groups, 10.8 and 10.9 events per 1,000 person-years, respectively; HR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.89\u20131.11; P=0.91), as well as total MI (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.87\u20131.24; P=0.65), total stroke (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.74\u20131.07; P=0.21), and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.85\u20131.21; P=0.86). Neither vitamin E (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.97\u20131.18; P=0.15) nor vitamin C (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.97\u20131.18; P=0.16) had a significant effect on total mortality, but vitamin E was associated with an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke (HR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.04\u20132.91; P=0.036). Conclusions In this large, long-term trial of male physicians, neither vitamin E nor C supplementation reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events. These data provide no support for the use of these supplements for the prevention of CVD in middle-aged and older men."}
{"id": "MED-4930", "text": "The growing popularity and availability of over-the-counter (OTC) health products, including vitamins, raises serious concern about vitamin toxicity. We report a case of cirrhosis in a patient with habitual daily ingestion of an OTC dietary supplement that contained 13,000 microg vitamin A and was associated with marked clinical improvement after discontinuation. This case highlights the potential for liver damage that may be associated with long-term intake of OTC vitamin supplements, and indicates the need for medical supervision of such products."}
{"id": "MED-4932", "text": "Annual global aquaculture production has more than tripled within the past 15 years, and by 2015, aquaculture is predicted to account for 39% of total global seafood production by weight. Given that lack of adequate nutrition is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease, increased food production through aquaculture is a seemingly welcome sign. However, as production surges, aquaculture facilities increasingly rely on the heavy input of formulated feeds, antibiotics, antifungals, and agrochemicals. This review summarizes our current knowledge concerning major chemical, biological and emerging agents that are employed in modern aquaculture facilities and their potential impacts on public health. Findings from this review indicate that current aquaculture practices can lead to elevated levels of antibiotic residues, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, persistent organic pollutants, metals, parasites, and viruses in aquacultured finfish and shellfish. Specific populations at risk of exposure to these contaminants include individuals working in aquaculture facilities, populations living around these facilities, and consumers of aquacultured food products. Additional research is necessary not only to fully understand the human health risks associated with aquacultured fish versus wild-caught fish but also to develop appropriate interventions that could reduce or prevent these risks. In order to adequately understand, address and prevent these impacts at local, national and global scales, researchers, policy makers, governments, and aquaculture industries must collaborate and cooperate in exchanging critical information and developing targeted policies that are practical, effective and enforceable."}
{"id": "MED-4933", "text": "Recently, we reported on the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from Maine, eastern Canada, and Norway, and wild Alaskan Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). In this paper, we extend the analysis to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in these samples. Total PBDE concentrations in the farmed salmon (0.4-1.4ng/g, wet weight, ww) were not significantly different from those in the wild Alaskan Chinook samples (0.4-1.2ng/g, ww), nor were significant differences found among regions. However, significant intra-regional variations in concentrations of total PBDEs and tetra-BDE 47 were observed in the salmon from the Canadian farms (p<0.01). Congener profiles were dominated by BDE-47, followed by the penta-BDEs 99 and 100. PBDE concentrations in the Canadian samples were lower than those reported two years earlier. Removal of skin resulted in no overall reduction in PBDE concentrations in our farmed salmon, and in some cases, PBDE concentrations were higher in skin-off samples. PBDEs were correlated with lipids only in the skinned samples, suggesting that there is greater accumulation and retention of PBDEs in muscle lipids than in skin-associated fat. In skin-on samples, modest correlations were observed between concentrations of PBDEs and PCBs (R(2)=0.47) and mono-ortho PCBs (R(2)=0.50), whereas PBDEs were not correlated with non-ortho PCBs."}
{"id": "MED-4934", "text": "Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were measured in 136 fish from 14 remote lakes in 8 western US National Parks/Preserves between 2003 and 2005 and compared to human and wildlife contaminant health thresholds. A sensitive (median detection limit \u221218 pg/g wet weight), efficient (61% recovery at 8 ng/g), reproducible (4.1 %RSD), and accurate (7 % deviation from SRM) analytical method was developed and validated for these analyses. Concentrations of PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, hexachlorocyclohexanes, DDTs and chlordanes in western US fish were comparable to or lower than mountain fish recently collected from Europe, Canada, and Asia. Dieldrin and PBDE concentrations were higher than recent measurements in mountain fish and Pacific Ocean salmon. Concentrations of most contaminants in western US fish were 1\u20136 orders of magnitude below calculated recreational fishing contaminant health thresholds. However, contaminant concentrations exceeded subsistence fishing cancer screening values in 8 of 14 lakes. Average contaminant concentrations in fish exceeded wildlife contaminant health thresholds for piscivorous mammals in 5 lakes, and piscivorous birds in all 14 lakes. These results indicate that atmospherically deposited organic contaminants can accumulate in high elevation fish, reaching concentrations relevant to human and wildlife health."}
{"id": "MED-4935", "text": "Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic contaminants. Prior to this study, the occurrence of PCNs in human adipose tissues from the USA has not been analyzed. Here, we have measured concentrations of PCNs in human adipose tissue samples collected in New York City during 2003-2005. Concentrations of PCNs were in the range of 61-2500pg/g lipid wt. in males and 21-910pg/g lipid wt. in females. PCN congeners 52/60 (1,2,3,5,7/1,2,4,6,7) and 66/67 (1,2,3,4,6,7/1,2,3,5,6,7) were predominant, collectively accounting for 66% of the total PCN concentrations. Concentrations of PCNs in human adipose tissues were 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the previously reported concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Concentrations of PCNs were not correlated with PCB concentrations. The contribution of PCNs to dioxin-like toxic equivalents (TEQs) in human adipose tissues was estimated to be <1% of the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran (PCDD/F)-TEQs."}
{"id": "MED-4936", "text": "Food and nutrition professionals question whether supplement-sourced nutrients appear to be equivalent to those derived from natural food sources. We compared the nutritional availability of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from algal-oil capsules to that from assayed cooked salmon in 32 healthy men and women, ages 20 to 65 years, in a randomized, open-label, parallel-group study. In this 2-week study comparing 600 mg DHA/day from algal-oil capsules to that from assayed portions of cooked salmon, mean change from baseline in plasma phospholipids and erythrocyte DHA levels was analyzed and DHA levels were compared by Student's t tests. In post-hoc analyses to determine bioequivalence, least-squares mean ratios of percent change from baseline in plasma phospholipid and erythrocyte DHA levels were compared. DHA levels increased by approximately 80% in plasma phospholipids and by approximately 25% in erythrocytes in both groups. Changes in DHA levels in plasma phospholipids and erythrocytes were similar between groups. As measured by delivery of DHA to both plasma and erythrocytes, fish and algal-oil capsules were equivalent. Both regimens were generally well-tolerated. These results indicate that algal-oil DHA capsules and cooked salmon appear to be bioequivalent in providing DHA to plasma and red blood cells and, accordingly, that algal-oil DHA capsules represent a safe and convenient source of non-fish-derived DHA."}
{"id": "MED-4937", "text": "In the late 1960s the first scientific studies on contamination in Antarctica demonstrated the presence of pollutants in Antarctic ecosystems. Many Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are transported globally from the areas in which they are produced and released into the environment in remote areas, including Antarctica. Here we report results obtained concerning the accumulation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), mono- and non-ortho-polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), polychlorodibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDFs) in the tissues of two species of Antarctic fish (Chionodraco hamatus and Trematomus bernacchii). The 2,3,7,8-TCDD toxic equivalents (TEQs) were also calculated to evaluate the potential risk of these compounds for the two species. In general, POP levels were higher in the tissues of T. bernacchii than in C. hamatus and the highest concentrations were found in the liver of both species. The PBDE levels varied from 160.5 pg g(-1) wet wt in C. hamatus muscle to 789.9 pg g(-1) wet wt in T. bernacchii liver and were lower than the levels of PCBs. PCBs were the main organochlorine compounds detected and their concentrations ranged from 0.3 ng g(-1) wet wt in C. hamatus muscle to 15.1 ng g(-1) wet wt in T. bernacchii liver. TEQ concentrations resulted higher in C. hamatus than in T. bernacchii and were due mainly to PCDDs. The presence of PBDEs and organochlorine pollutants in the tissues of Antarctic organisms confirms their global transport and distribution."}
{"id": "MED-4938", "text": "Objective To test the effect of four polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCB-77, PCB-105, PCB 153 and PCB 180) on expression of three adhesion markers, TGF-\u03b21, VEGF, and type I collagen in normal human peritoneal and adhesion fibroblasts Design Cell culture study Settings University Research Laboratory Patients Primary cultures of normal peritoneal and adhesion fibroblasts were established from three patients. Interventions Fibroblasts were treated with PCB-77, PCB-105, PCB-153 or PCB-180, 20 ppm for 24 hours. Total RNA was extracted from each treatment and subjected to real-time RT/PCR. Main Outcome and Measures mRNA levels of type I collagen, VEGF and TGF-\u03b21. Results Normal human peritoneal fibroblasts expressed type I collagen, VEGF and TGF-\u03b21. Exposure of normal human fibroblasts to PCB-77, PCB-105, PCB-153 or PCB-180 did not affect mRNA levels of \u03b2-actin, the house keeping gene used to normalized RNA levels for the real-time RT/PCR, nor did it affect cell viability as assessed by trypan blue exclusion. PCB treatments, compared to control, resulted in no significant change for TGF-\u03b21 or VEGF mRNA levels, in normal peritoneal and adhesion fibroblasts. In marked contrast, type I collagen mRNA levels were markedly increased in response to the brief 24 hrs exposure to each PCB, treatment each (P<0.0001) in both cell types. Conclusion The finding that PCB-77, PCB-105, PCB-153 or PCB-180 increased the expression of type I collagen in human normal peritoneal and adhesion fibroblasts is the first demonstration of involvement of organochlorines in the pathogenesis of tissue fibrosis. This may implicate organochlorine exposure as an etiologic factor in a wide variety of previously unlinked human ailments characterized by fibrosis."}
{"id": "MED-4939", "text": "Parkinson's disease (PD) is increasingly recognized as a neurodegenerative disorder strongly associated with environmental chemical exposures. Recent epidemiological data demonstrate that environmental risk factors may play a dominant role as compared to genetic factors in the etiopathogenesis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Identification of key genetic defects such as alpha-synuclein and parkin mutations in PD also underscores the important role of genetic factors in the disease. Thus, understanding the interplay between genes and environment in PD may be critical to unlocking the mysteries of this 200-year-old neurodegenerative disease. Pesticides and metals are the most common classes of environmental chemicals that promote dopaminergic degeneration. The organochlorine pesticide dieldrin has been found in human PD postmortem brain tissues, suggesting that this pesticide has potential to promote nigral cell death. Though dieldrin has been banned, humans continue to be exposed to the pesticide through contaminated dairy products and meats due to the persistent accumulation of the pesticide in the environment. This review summarizes various neurotoxic studies conducted in both cell culture and animals models following dieldrin exposure and discusses their relevance to key pathological mechanisms associated with nigral dopaminergic degeneration including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, and apoptosis."}
{"id": "MED-4940", "text": "Dioxins are known to affect infant growth and neurodevelopment in both humans and animals. In this study, we examined the relationship between neonatal head circumference, which is related to fetal brain development, and the concentration of dioxins in breast milk as an indicator of maternal exposure. A total of 42 milk samples were obtained on the fifth to eighth postpartum day from mothers in Japan exposed to dioxins in the environment. The levels of seven dioxins and 10 furan isomers were measured in each milk sample using an HR-GC/MS system. The relationships between the concentration of each dioxin isomer and newborn size, including head circumference, were then investigated after adjustment for confounding factors. The concentration of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most toxic dioxin isomer, negatively correlated with newborn head circumference, even after adjustment for gestational age, infant sex, parity and other confounding factors. However, there were no significant relationships between the concentration of other dioxin and furan isomers in maternal breast milk and infant height, weight and chest circumference at birth. These facts suggested that fetal brain development might be influenced by maternal exposure to TCDD in the environment."}
{"id": "MED-4941", "text": "Laboratory and population-based studies suggest that exposure to environmental toxicants may be one of several triggers for the development of endometriosis. We discuss evidence that modulation of the endometrial endocrine-immune interface could mechanistically link toxicant exposure to the development of this disease. Capsule Summary: Environmental toxicant exposure induces an inflammatory-like endometrial response that may promote the development of endometriosis."}
{"id": "MED-4942", "text": "The association of 11 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with hypertension was investigated using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002. The unweighted number of participants assessed for hypertension ranged from 2074 to 2556 depending on the chemical(s) being analyzed. In unadjusted logistic regressions all 11 PCBs were associated with hypertension. After adjustment for age, gender, race, smoking status, body mass index, exercise, total cholesterol, and family history of coronary heart disease, seven of the 11 PCBs (PCBs 126, 74, 118, 99, 138/158, 170, and 187) were significantly associated with hypertension. The strongest adjusted associations with hypertension were found for dioxin-like PCBs 126 and 118. PCB 126>59.1 pg/g lipid adjusted had an odds ratio of 2.45 (95% CI 1.48-4.04) compared to PCB 126<or=26.1 pg/g lipid adjusted. PCB 118>27.5 ng/g lipid adjusted had an odds ratio of 2.30 (95% CI 1.29-4.08) compared to PCB 118<or=12.5 ng/g lipid adjusted. Moreover, participants with one or more elevated PCBs had an odds ratio of 1.84 (95% CI 1.25-2.70) compared to no PCBs elevated in an adjusted logistic regression. The prevalence of one or more elevated PCBs was 22.76% or 32 million of 142 million persons >or=20 years old in the non-institutionalized US population. We hypothesize that association of seven PCBs with hypertension indicates elevated PCBs are a risk factor for hypertension. What clinicians can do, given the results of this study, is limited unless the appropriate laboratory methods can be made more widely available for testing patients."}
{"id": "MED-4943", "text": "Fish and seal oil dietary supplements, marketed to be rich in omega-3 fatty acids, are frequently consumed by Canadians. Samples of these supplements (n = 30) were collected in Vancouver, Canada, between 2005 and 2007. All oil supplements were analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine insecticides (OCs) and each sample was found to contain detectable residues. The highest SigmaPCB and SigmaDDT (1,1,1-trichloro-di-(4-chlorophenyl)ethane) concentrations (10400 ng/g and 3310 ng/g, respectively) were found in a shark oil sample while lowest levels were found in supplements prepared using mixed fish oils (anchovy, mackerel, and sardine) (0.711 ng SigmaPCB/g and 0.189 ng SigmaDDT/g). Mean SigmaPCB concentrations in oil supplements were 34.5, 24.2, 25.1, 95.3, 12.0, 5260, 321, and 519 ng/g in unidentified fish, mixed fish containing no salmon, mixed fish with salmon, salmon, vegetable with mixed fish, shark, menhaden (n = 1), and seal (n = 1), respectively. Maximum concentrations of the other OCs were generally observed in the seal oil. The hexachlorinated PCB congeners were the dominant contributors to SigmaPCB levels, while SigmaDDT was the greatest contributor to organochlorine levels. Intake estimates were made using maximum dosages on manufacturers' labels and results varied widely due to the large difference in residue concentrations obtained. Average SigmaPCB and SigmaDDT intakes were calculated to be 736 +/- 2840 ng/d and 304 +/- 948 ng/d, respectively."}
{"id": "MED-4944", "text": "The co-occurrence of fish MeHg and omega-3 fatty acids in wild species can indeed be optimized by choosing certain species. Farmed finfish and shellfish that are fed fish-meal, however, can bioconcentrate both MeHg (in muscle) and organohalogen pollutants passed on in the fat components [Dorea, J.G., 2006. Fish meal in animal feed and human exposure to persistent bioaccumulative and toxic substances. J. Food Prot. 69, 2777-2785); when fish-meal is used to feed farm animals it may offer the worst of both worlds: saturated fat (with organohalogen pollutants) and MeHg. It is time to address the dietary sources of Hg derived from animals raised on fish-meal that may contribute to increase tissue Hg concentrations."}
{"id": "MED-4946", "text": "In order to assess early neurotoxic effects associated with relatively low levels of mercury absorbed through fish eating, two groups of 22 adult male subjects, habitual consumers of tuna fish, and 22 controls were examined using a cross-sectional field study. The assessment included neurobehavioral tests of vigilance and psychomotor function, hand tremor measurements and serum prolactin assessment. Mercury in urine (U-Hg) and serum prolactin (sPRL) were measured in all exposed subjects and controls, whereas measurements of the organic component of mercury in blood (O-Hg) were available for only 10 exposed and six controls. U-Hg was significant higher among exposed subjects (median 6.5 microg/g of creatinine, range 1.8-21.5) than controls (median 1.5 microg/g of creatinine, range 0.5-5.3). The median values of O-Hg were 41.5 microg/l among the tuna fish eaters and 2.6 microg/l in the control group. Both U-Hg and O-Hg were significantly correlated with the quantity of fish consumed per week. Significant differences in sPRL were found between exposed (12.6 ng/ml) and controls (9.1 ng/ml). Individual sPRL were significantly correlated with both U-Hg and O-Hg levels. The neurobehavioral performance of subjects who consumed tuna fish regularly was significantly worse on color word reaction time, digit symbol reaction time and finger tapping speed (FT). After considering the education level and other covariates, the multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that O-Hg concentration was most significantly associated with individual performance on these tests, accounting for about 65% of the variance in test scores."}
{"id": "MED-4947", "text": "The focus of the present study was on the relationship between Hong Kong male subfertility and fish consumption. Mercury concentrations found in the hair of 159 Hong Kong males aged 25-72 (mean age = 37 years) was positively correlated with age and was significantly higher in Hong Kong subjects than in European and Finnish subjects (1.2 and 2.1 ppm, respectively). Mercury in the hair of 117 subfertile Hong Kong males (4.5 ppm, P < 0.05) was significantly higher than mercury levels found in hair collected from 42 fertile Hong Kong males (3.9 ppm). Subfertile males had approx. 40% more mercury in their hair than fertile males of similar age. Although there were only 35 female subjects, they had significantly lower levels of hair mercury than males in similar age groups. Overall, males had mercury levels that were 60% higher than females. Hair samples collected from 16 vegetarians living in Hong Kong (vegans that had consumed no fish, shellfish or meat for at least the last 5 years) had very low levels of mercury. Their mean hair mercury concentration was only 0.38 ppm."}
{"id": "MED-4949", "text": "Methyl mercury is a developmental neurotoxicant. Exposure results principally from consumption by pregnant women of seafood contaminated by mercury from anthropogenic (70%) and natural (30%) sources. Throughout the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made steady progress in reducing mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources, especially from power plants, which account for 41% of anthropogenic emissions. However, the U.S. EPA recently proposed to slow this progress, citing high costs of pollution abatement. To put into perspective the costs of controlling emissions from American power plants, we have estimated the economic costs of methyl mercury toxicity attributable to mercury from these plants. We used an environmentally attributable fraction model and limited our analysis to the neurodevelopmental impacts\u2014specifically loss of intelligence. Using national blood mercury prevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we found that between 316,588 and 637,233 children each year have cord blood mercury levels > 5.8 \u03bcg/L, a level associated with loss of IQ. The resulting loss of intelligence causes diminished economic productivity that persists over the entire lifetime of these children. This lost productivity is the major cost of methyl mercury toxicity, and it amounts to $8.7 billion annually (range, $2.2\u201343.8 billion; all costs are in 2000 US$). Of this total, $1.3 billion (range, $0.1\u20136.5 billion) each year is attributable to mercury emissions from American power plants. This significant toll threatens the economic health and security of the United States and should be considered in the debate on mercury pollution controls."}
{"id": "MED-4950", "text": "Previously used standards for the diagnosis of precocious puberty in girls no longer appear to be appropriate in the USA, in that a significant number of girls are being seen in paediatricians' offices with breast budding before 8 years of age. The timing of menarche, however, has changed little over the past few decades. Early maturing girls are more likely to become obese in adolescence and adulthood than normal or late maturing girls. Early maturing white girls are heavier at the onset of puberty, but this is not the case for African-American girls or boys of either race. Boys and girls with premature pubarche may be more hyperinsulinaemic than normal children, and girls with premature pubarche more likely to develop functional ovarian and adrenal hyperandrogenism. Early menarche is preceded by prepubertal hyperinsulinaemia. It is proposed that pubertal onset, although not necessarily the tempo of puberty, is influenced by hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance. If this hypothesis is correct, insulin resistance may be more prevalent in US children than previously recognized. An advance in timing of onset of puberty has not been noted in other countries, although it is likely that this phenomenon may become more prevalent as other countries adopt a more American lifestyle and diet."}
{"id": "MED-4951", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of the environmental estrogens polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and phthalate esters (PEs) as potential environmental hazards in the deterioration of semen parameters in infertile men without an obvious etiology. DESIGN: Randomized controlled study. SETTING: Tertiary care referral infertility clinic and academic research center. PATIENT(S): Twenty-one infertile men with sperm counts <20 million/mL and/or rapid progressive motility <25% and/or <30% normal forms without evidence of an obvious etiology and 32 control men with normal semen analyses and evidence of conception. Semen and blood samples were obtained as part of the treatment protocol. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Evaluation of semen parameters such as ejaculate volume, sperm count, motility, morphology, vitality, osmoregulatory capacity, sperm chromatin stability, and sperm nuclear DNA integrity. RESULT(S): PCBs were detected in the seminal plasma of infertile men but not in controls, and the concentration of PEs was significantly higher in infertile men compared with controls. Ejaculate volume, sperm count, progressive motility, normal morphology, and fertilizing capacity were significantly lower in infertile men compared with controls. The highest average PCB and PE concentrations were found in urban fish eaters, followed by rural fish eaters, urban vegetarians, and rural vegetarians. The total motile sperm counts in infertile men were inversely proportional to their xenoestrogen concentrations and were significantly lower than those in the respective controls. CONCLUSION(S): PCBs and PEs may be instrumental in the deterioration of semen quality in infertile men without an obvious etiology."}
{"id": "MED-4953", "text": "Objective To evaluate whether intake of protein from animal and vegetable origin is associated with ovulatory infertility. Study Design 18,555 married women without a history of infertility were followed as they attempted a pregnancy or became pregnant during an eight year period. Dietary assessments were related to the incidence of ovulatory infertility. Results During follow-up, 438 women reported ovulatory infertility. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk [RR] (95% CI; P, trend) of ovulatory infertility comparing the highest to the lowest quintile of animal protein intake was 1.39 (1.01 \u2013 1.90; 0.03). The corresponding RR (95% CI; P, trend) for vegetable protein intake was 0.78 (0.54 \u2013 1.12; 0.07). Further, consuming 5% of total energy intake as vegetable protein rather than as animal protein was associated with a more than 50% lower risk of ovulatory infertility (P = 0.007). Conclusions Replacing animal sources of protein with vegetable sources of protein may reduce ovulatory infertility risk."}
{"id": "MED-4954", "text": "BACKGROUND To look at possible long-term risks from anabolic steroids and other xenobiotics in beef, we examined men's semen quality in relation to their mother's self-reported beef consumption during pregnancy. METHODS: The study was carried out in five US cities between 1999 and 2005. We used regression analyses to examine semen parameters in 387 partners of pregnant women in relation to the amount of beef their mothers reported eating while pregnant. Mothers' beef consumption was also analysed in relation to the son's history of previous subfertility. RESULTS Sperm concentration was inversely related to mothers' beef meals per week (P = 0.041). In sons of \"high beef consumers\" (>7 beef meals/week), sperm concentration was 24.3% lower (P = 0.014) and the proportion of men with sperm concentration below 20 x 10(6)/ml was three times higher (17.7 versus 5.7%, P = 0.002) than in men whose mothers ate less beef. A history of previous subfertility was also more frequent among sons of \"high beef consumers\" (P = 0.015). Sperm concentration was not significantly related to mother's consumption of other meat or to the man's consumption of any meat. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that maternal beef consumption, and possibly xenobiotics in beef, may alter a man's testicular development in utero and adversely affect his reproductive capacity."}
{"id": "MED-4956", "text": "Little information is available on the presence of viable Toxoplasma gondii in tissues of lambs worldwide. The prevalence of T. gondii was determined in 383 lambs (<1 year old) from Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, USA. Hearts of 383 lambs were obtained from a slaughter house on the day of killing. Blood removed from each heart was tested for antibodies to T. gondii by using the modified agglutination test (MAT). Sera were first screened using 1:25, 1:50, 1: 100 and 1:200 dilutions, and hearts were selected for bioassay for T. gondii. Antibodies (MAT, 1:25 or higher) to T. gondii were found in 104 (27.1%) of 383 lambs. Hearts of 68 seropositive lambs were used for isolation of viable T. gondii by bioassay in cats, mice or both. For bioassays in cats, the entire myocardium or 500g was chopped and fed to cats, one cat per heart and faeces of the recipient cats were examined for shedding of T. gondii oocysts. For bioassays in mice, 50g of the myocardium was digested in an acid pepsin solution and the digest inoculated into mice; the recipient mice were examined for T. gondii infection. In total, 53 isolates of T. gondii were obtained from 68 seropositive lambs. Genotyping of the 53 T. gondii isolates using 10 PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism markers (SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico) revealed 57 strains with 15 genotypes. Four lambs had infections with two T. gondii genotypes. Twenty-six (45.6%) strains belong to the clonal Type II lineage (these strains can be further divided into two groups based on alleles at locus Apico). Eight (15.7%) strains belong to the Type III lineage. The remaining 22 strains were divided into 11 atypical genotypes. These results indicate high parasite prevalence and high genetic diversity of T. gondii in lambs, which has important implications in public health. We believe this is the first in-depth genetic analysis of T. gondii isolates from sheep in the USA."}
{"id": "MED-4957", "text": "Sarcocystis spp. are parasitic protists acquired when undercooked, cyst-laden meat is consumed. While both Sarcocystis hominis and S. cruzi encyst in beef, only S. hominis is pathogenic to humans. In this study, we used histological methods and novel molecular techniques to determine the regional prevalence and identity of Sarcocystis spp. in retail beef. Of 110 samples, 60 supported amplification of parasite rRNA by PCR. All 41 sequenced representatives were identified as S. cruzi. To compare detection methods, 48 samples were then examined in parallel by histology and PCR, and 16 and 26 samples, respectively, were positive. Five samples positive by initial histologic sections were not amplified by PCR. Fifteen PCR-positive samples did not contain sarcocysts on initial histologic section, but additional sections from these samples revealed sarcocysts in an additional 12 samples. When combined, histology with additional sections and PCR detected 31 positive specimens of the 48 total specimens. We found no evidence of human pathogen S. hominis and confirm that cattle pathogen S. cruzi is highly prevalent in this regional sample. PCR assays may increase the detection sensitivity of Sarcocystis spp. and contribute diagnostic precision."}
{"id": "MED-4958", "text": "Biogenic amines are non-volatile amines formed by decarboxylation of amino acids. Although many biogenic amines have been found in fish, only histamine, cadaverine, and putrescine have been found to be significant in fish safety and quality determination. Despite a widely reported association between histamine and scombroid food poisoning, histamine alone appears to be insufficient to cause food toxicity. Putrescine and cadaverine have been suggested to potentiate histamine toxicity. With respect to spoilage on the other hand, only cadaverine has been found to be a useful index of the initial stage of fish decomposition. The relationship between biogenic amines, sensory evaluation, and trimethylamine during spoilage are influenced by bacterial composition and free amino acid content. A mesophilic bacterial count of log 6-7 cfu/g has been found to be associated with 5 mg histamine/100 g fish, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maximum allowable histamine level. In vitro studies have shown the involvement of cadaverine and putrescine in the formation of nitrosamines, nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), and nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), respectively. In addition, impure salt, high temperature, and low pH enhance nitrosamine formation, whereas pure sodium chloride inhibits their formation. Understanding the relationships between biogenic amines and their involvement in the formation of nitrosamines could explain the mechanism of scombroid poisoning and assure the safety of many fish products."}
{"id": "MED-4959", "text": "Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin that occurs in select species of the family Tetraodontidae (puffer fish). It causes paralysis and potentially death if ingested in sufficient quantities. In 2007, two individuals developed symptoms consistent with tetrodotoxin poisoning after ingesting home-cooked puffer fish purchased in Chicago. Both the Chicago retailer and the California supplier denied having sold or imported puffer fish but claimed the product was monkfish. However, genetic analysis and visual inspection determined that the ingested fish and others from the implicated lot retrieved from the supplier belonged to the family Tetraodontidae. Tetrodotoxin was detected at high levels in both remnants of the ingested meal and fish retrieved from the implicated lot. The investigation led to a voluntary recall of monkfish distributed by the supplier in three states and placement of the supplier on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Import Alert for species misbranding. This case of tetrodotoxin poisoning highlights the need for continued stringent regulation of puffer fish importation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, education of the public regarding the dangers of puffer fish consumption, and raising awareness among medical providers of the diagnosis and management of foodborne toxin ingestions and the need for reporting to public health agencies."}
{"id": "MED-4961", "text": "While fish consumption is considered a component of a heart-healthy diet, many illnesses have been associated with eating contaminated fish. The authors describe two cases of muscle weakness and rhabdomyolysis that occurred after eating salmon. Cases of rhabdomyolysis and muscle weakness after consumption of fresh water fish have rarely been reported in the United States but have been frequently reported from the Baltic region. This illness is known as Haff disease. While the etiology is unknown, it is felt to be a toxin. Palytoxin, found in marine fish, has been associated with rhabdomyolysis, and may serve as a model for further study of the suspected toxin responsible for rhabdomyolysis after consumption of fresh water fish. If a case of Haff disease is suspected, contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and collect any uneaten fish, which may be sent for laboratory analysis."}
{"id": "MED-4963", "text": "Because of the worldwide popularization of Japanese cuisine, the traditional Japanese fish dishes sushi and sashimi that are served in Japanese restaurants and sushi bars have been suspected of causing fishborne parasitic zoonoses, especially anisakiasis. In addition, an array of freshwater and brackish-water fish and wild animal meats, which are important sources of infection with zoonotic parasites, are served as sushi and sashimi in rural areas of Japan. Such fishborne and foodborne parasitic zoonoses are also endemic in many Asian countries that have related traditional cooking styles. Despite the recent increase in the number of travelers to areas where these zoonoses are endemic, travelers and even infectious disease specialists are unaware of the risk of infection associated with eating exotic ethnic dishes. The aim of this review is to provide practical background information regarding representative fishborne and foodborne parasitic zoonoses endemic in Asian countries."}
{"id": "MED-4964", "text": "The microbial quality of raw fillets of aquacultured catfish, salmon, tilapia, and trout was evaluated. A total of 272 fillets from nine local and nine Internet retail markets were tested. Mean values were 5.7 log CFU/g for total aerobic mesophiles, 6.3 log CFU/g for psychrotrophs, and 1.9 log most probable number (MPN) per gram for coliforms. Differences in these microbial levels between the two kinds of markets and among the four types of fish were not significant (P > 0.05), except that Internet trout fillets had about 0.8-log higher aerobic mesophiles than did trout fillets purchased locally. Although Escherichia coli was detected in 1.4, 1.5, and 5.9% of trout, salmon, and tilapia, respectively, no sample had > or = 1.0 log MPN/g. However, E. coli was found in 13.2% of catfish, with an average of 1.7 log MPN/g. About 27% of all fillets had Listeria spp., and a positive correlation between the prevalence of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes was observed. Internet fillets had a higher prevalence of both Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes than did those fillets purchased locally. L. monocytogenes was present in 23.5% of catfish but in only 5.7, 10.3, and 10.6% of trout, tilapia, and salmon, respectively. Salmonella and E. coli O157 were not found in any sample. A follow-up investigation using catfish operation as a model revealed that gut waste exposed during evisceration is a potential source of coliforms and Listeria spp."}
{"id": "MED-4966", "text": "Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a distinctive type of foodborne disease that results from eating predatory ocean fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. As many as 50,000 cases are reported worldwide annually, and the condition is endemic in tropical and subtropical regions of the Pacific basin, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean. In the United States, 5--70 cases per 10,000 persons are estimated to occur yearly in ciguatera-endemic states and territories. CFP can cause gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, or diarrhea) within a few hours of eating contaminated fish. Neurologic symptoms, with or without gastrointestinal disturbance, can include fatigue, muscle pain, itching, tingling, and (most characteristically) reversal of hot and cold sensation. This report describes a cluster of nine cases of CFP that occurred in North Carolina in June 2007. Among the nine patients, six experienced reversal of hot and cold sensations, five had neurologic symptoms only, and overall symptoms persisted for more than 6 months in three patients. Among seven patients who were sexually active, six patients also complained of painful intercourse. This report highlights the potential risks of eating contaminated ocean fish. Local and state health departments can train emergency and urgent care physicians in the recognition of CFP and make them aware that symptoms can persist for months to years."}
{"id": "MED-4969", "text": "Transmission of viruses, bacteria, and parasites to food by way of improperly washed hands is a major contributing factor in the spread of foodborne illnesses. Field observers have assessed compliance with hand washing regulations, yet few studies have included consideration of frequency and methods used by sectors of the food service industry or have included benchmarks for hand washing. Five 3-h observation periods of employee (n = 80) hand washing behaviors during menu production, service, and cleaning were conducted in 16 food service operations for a total of 240 h of direct observation. Four operations from each of four sectors of the retail food service industry participated in the study: assisted living for the elderly, childcare, restaurants, and schools. A validated observation form, based on 2005 Food Code guidelines, was used by two trained researchers. Researchers noted when hands should have been washed, when hands were washed, and how hands were washed. Overall compliance with Food Code recommendations for frequency during production, service, and cleaning phases ranged from 5% in restaurants to 33% in assisted living facilities. Procedural compliance rates also were low. Proposed benchmarks for the number of times hand washing should occur by each employee for each sector of food service during each phase of operation are seven times per hour for assisted living, nine times per hour for childcare, 29 times per hour for restaurants, and 11 times per hour for schools. These benchmarks are high, especially for restaurant employees. Implementation would mean lost productivity and potential for dermatitis; thus, active managerial control over work assignments is needed. These benchmarks can be used for training and to guide employee hand washing behaviors."}
{"id": "MED-4972", "text": "Heterocyclic amines (HCAs), compounds formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures particularly through pan frying, grilling, or barbequing, pose a potential carcinogenic risk to the public. It is unclear whether there is any level at which consumption of HCAs can be considered safe. Efforts to measure these compounds mainly include cooking studies under laboratory conditions and some measurement of home-cooked foods, but analysis of commercially cooked foods has been minimal. Attempts to estimate exposure of the public to these compounds must take into consideration dining outside the home, which could result in significant exposure for some individuals. We surveyed at least 9 locations each of 7 popular chain restaurants (McDonald's, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Chili's, TGI Friday's, Outback Steakhouse, and Applebee's) in California, collecting one or two entrees from each location. Entrees were analyzed for 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) using high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. All 100 samples contained PhIP. Concentrations were variable within and between entrees and ranged from 0.08 to 43.2 ng/g. When factoring in the weight of the entrees, absolute levels of PhIP reached over 1,000 ng for some entrees. Potential strategies for reducing exposure include the avoidance of meats cooked using methods that are known to form PhIP."}
{"id": "MED-4973", "text": "Urinary monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) are a class of PAH metabolites used as biomarkers for assessing human exposure to PAHs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) uses OH-PAHs to establish reference range concentrations for the US population, and to set benchmarks for future epidemiologic and biomonitoring studies. For the years 2001 and 2002, 22 OH-PAH metabolites were measured in urine specimens from 2748 NHANES participants. Percentages of samples with detectable levels ranged from nearly 100% for metabolites of naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene, to less than 5% for metabolites from parent compounds with higher molecular weight such as chrysene, benzo[c]phenanthrene, and benz[a]anthracene. The geometric mean for 1-hydroxypyrene (1-PYR)--the most commonly used biomarker for PAH exposure--was 49.6 ng/L urine, or 46.4 ng/g creatinine. Children (ages 6-11) generally had higher levels than did adolescents (ages 12-19) or adults (ages 20 and older). Model-adjusted, least-square geometric means for 1-PYR were 87, 53 and 43 ng/L for children, adolescents (ages 12-19) and adults (ages 20 years and older), respectively. Log-transformed concentrations for major detectable OH-PAHs were significantly correlated with each other. The correlation coefficients between 1-PYR and other metabolites ranging from 0.17 to 0.63 support the use of 1-PYR as a useful surrogate representing PAH exposure."}
{"id": "MED-4974", "text": "Roasting is a crucial step for the production of coffee, as it enables the development of color, aroma, and flavor, which are essential for the characterization of the coffee quality. At the same time, roasting may lead to the formation of not desirable compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this paper, we report a method for PAHs determination in coffee brew, based on saponification and liquid-liquid extraction with small volumes of hexane, with exclusion of further processes of purification since we analyze the extract by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detectors in the single ion monitoring mode (SIM). The total concentration of the 28 compounds investigated, expressed as the sum of concentrations (SigmaPAH), in coffee brew varies from 0.52 to 1.8 microg/l. Carcinogenic PAHs, expressed as B[a]Peq ranged from 0.008 to 0.060 microg/l. The results indicate that coffee contributes with very insignificant quantities to the daily human intake of carcinogenic PAHs. The values of calculated isomeric ratios confirm that the PAHs identified in most of the coffee samples originate from high temperature processes."}
{"id": "MED-4975", "text": "BACKGROUND: Children from low-income families may be subject to high exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which can lead to respiratory disorders. This study aims to establish methods for assessing total PAH exposure of asthmatic and non-asthmatic children from low-income families; to estimate serum PAH concentrations of these children, and to estimate the relative importance of the environmental pathways for PAH exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 75 (61 asthmatic, 14 non-asthmatic) Saudi children 15 years old and below were included to participate in this cross-sectional study. Each participant answered a generalized questionnaire with dietary questions. Serum PAH were measured using HPLC with UV detection. RESULTS: Serum naphthalene and pyrene were significantly elevated among asthmatic children (p-values = 0.007 and 0.01, respectively). Serum acenaphthylene, fluorine and 1,2-benzanthracene, on the other hand, were significantly higher among non-asthmatics (p-values = 0.001, 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). There was a significant correlation between the presence of a smoker in the family and serum concentrations of carbazole, pyrene, 1,2-benzanthracene and benzacephenanthrylene (R = 0.37, 0.45, 0.43, 0.33; p-values = 0.01, 0.0002, 0.003 and 0.025, respectively). Significant correlations were elicited between daily meat intake and serum levels of acenaphthylene, benzopyrene and 1,2-benzanthracene (R = 0.27, 0.27, 0.33; p-values = 0.02 and < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Among the children, serum PAH were significantly correlated to meat intake as well as presence of smokers at home. Public health awareness should be enhanced by educating parents to take certain precautions at home, such as preventing indoor smoking and reducing the intake of grilled and smoked meat by children so as to decrease their exposure to carcinogenic PAH."}
{"id": "MED-4976", "text": "Airborne cooking by-products from frying beef (hamburgers), pork (bacon strips) and soybean-based food (tempeh burgers) were collected, extracted, tested for mutagenicity and chemically analysed. The fumes generated by frying pork and beef were mutagenic, with 4900 and 1300 revertants/g of food cooked, respectively. No mutagenicity was detected in fumes from frying tempeh burgers. Bacon fried to a well-done but non-charred state was eight times more mutagenic in a microsuspension Ames/Salmonella test (TA98 with S-9) than hamburgers and about 350 times more mutagenic than tempeh burgers. Among food samples cooked to a well-done, non-charred state, bacon strips had almost 15-fold more mass (109.5 ng/g) than that of the beef, whereas no heterocyclic amine (HCA) was detected in the fried tempeh burgers. 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) was the most abundant HCA, followed by 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) and 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (DiMeIQx). No 2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (A alpha C) was detected in the food samples fried at about 200 degrees C, although it was present in the collected airborne products. The total amounts of HCAs in the smoke condensates were 3 ng/g from fried bacon, 0.37 ng/g from fried beef and 0.177 ng/g from fried soy-based food. This study indicates that cooks are potentially exposed to relatively high levels of airborne mutagens and carcinogens and that long-term sampling inside restaurants and kitchens may be warranted in order to assess the potential risk of prolonged exposure."}
{"id": "MED-4977", "text": "Background/Aim Harmane [1-methyl-9H-pyrido(3,4-b)indole] is a tremor-producing neurotoxin. Blood harmane concentrations are elevated in essential tremor (ET) patients for unclear reasons. Potential mechanisms include increased dietary harmane intake (especially through well-cooked meat) or genetic-metabolic factors. We tested the hypothesis that meat consumption and level of meat doneness are higher in ET cases than in controls. Methods Detailed data were collected using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Meat Questionnaire. Results Total current meat consumption was greater in men with than without ET (135.3 \u00b1 71.1 vs. 110.6 \u00b1 80.4 g/day, p = 0.03) but not in women with versus without ET (80.6 \u00b1 50.0 vs. 79.3 \u00b1 51.0 g/day, p = 0.76). In an adjusted logistic regression analysis in males, higher total current meat consumption was associated with ET (OR = 1.006, p = 0.04, i.e., with 10 additional g/day of meat, odds of ET increased by 6%). Male cases had higher odds of being in the highest than lowest quartile of total current meat consumption (adjusted OR = 21.36, p = 0.001). Meat doneness level was similar in cases and controls. Conclusion This study provides evidence of a dietary difference between male ET cases and male controls. The etiological ramifications of these results warrant additional investigation. Copyright \u00a9 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel"}
{"id": "MED-4978", "text": "Human risk assessment of exposure to 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) through the diet may be improved by conducting biomonitoring studies comparing metabolism in humans and rodents. Eleven volunteers ingested a meal of cooked chicken containing 4 -OH-PhIP and PhIP in amounts of 0.6 and 0.8microg/kg, respectively and urine was collected for the next 16h. The large number of PhIP metabolites was by treatment of the urine samples with hydrazine hydrate and hydrolytic enzymes reduced to three substances, 4'-OH-PhIP, PhIP and 5-OH-PhIP of which the first is a biomarker for detoxification and the last a biomarker for activation. The eleven volunteers eliminated large amounts of 4'-OH-PhIP in the urine. The majority of which could be accounted for by the presence of 4'-OH-PhIP in the fried chicken, showing that PhIP only to a small extent (11%) was metabolised to 4'-OH-PhIP. A larger fraction of the PhIP exposure, 38%, was recovered as PhIP and the largest fraction (51%) was recovered as 5-OH-PhIP suggesting that PhIP in humans to a large extent is metabolised to reactive substances. In rats, less than 1% of the dose of PhIP was eliminated as 5-OH-PhIP, suggesting that human cancer risk from exposure to PhIP is considerable higher than risk estimations based on extrapolation from rodent bioassays."}
{"id": "MED-4980", "text": "Feasibility of fluorescence imaging technique for the detection of diluted fecal matters from various parts of the digestive tract, including colon, ceca, small intestine, and duodenum, on poultry carcasses was investigated. One of the challenges for using fluorescence imaging for inspection of agricultural material is the low fluorescence yield in that fluorescence can be masked by ambient light. A laser-induced fluorescence imaging system (LIFIS) developed by our group allowed acquisition of fluorescence from feces-contaminated poultry carcasses in ambient light. Fluorescence emission images at 630 nm were captured with 415-nm laser excitation. Image processing algorithms including threshold and image erosion were used to identify fecal spots diluted up to 1: 10 by weight with double distilled water. Feces spots on the carcasses, without dilution and up to 1: 5 dilutions, could be detected with 100% accuracy regardless of feces type. Detection accuracy for fecal matters diluted up to 1: 10 was 96.6%. The results demonstrated good potential of the LIFIS for detection of diluted poultry fecal matter, which can harbor pathogens, on poultry carcasses."}
{"id": "MED-4981", "text": "Variation in the level of the carotenoid antioxidant substances beta-carotene and lycopene in the human skin of ten healthy volunteers was measured with resonance Raman spectroscopy in an in vivo experiment over the course of 12 months. Information on the lifestyle of the volunteers concerning dietary supplementation and stress factors was obtained daily by the completion of questionnaires. The results showed individual variations in the levels of carotenoid antioxidant substances in the skin of the volunteers, which strongly correlated to specific lifestyles, such as the intake of dietary supplementations rich in carotenoids, and the influence of stress factors. A carotenoid-rich nutrition, based on large amounts of fruit and vegetables, increased the measured carotenoid levels of skin, while stress factors such as fatigue, illness, smoking, and alcohol consumption gave rise to a decrease in carotenoid levels of the skin. These decreases occurred relatively quickly over the course of one day, while the subsequent increases lasted for up to 3 days. During the summer and autumn months, an increase in the level of carotenoids in the skin was measured for all volunteers. The average \"seasonal increase\" of the carotenoid content in the skin was determined to be 1.26-fold."}
{"id": "MED-4983", "text": "Context High intakes of red or processed meat may increase risk of mortality. Objective Determine the relations of red, white and processed meat intakes to risk for total, and cause-specific mortality. Design, Setting, and Participants The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort of half a million people aged 50-71 years at baseline. Meat intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire administered at baseline. Cox proportional hazards regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) within quintiles of meat intake. The covariates included in the models were: age; education; marital status; family history of cancer (yes/no) (cancer mortality only); race; body mass index; 31-level smoking history; physical activity; energy intake; alcohol intake; vitamin supplement use; fruit consumption; vegetable consumption; and menopausal hormone therapy among women. Main Outcome Measure Total mortality, deaths due to cancer, CVD, accidents, and other causes. Results There were 47,976 male deaths and 23,276 female deaths during 10 years of follow-up. Men and women in the highest versus lowest quintile of red (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.27-1.35; HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.30-1.43, respectively) and processed meat intake (HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.12-1.20; HR 1.25, 95% 1.20-1.31, respectively) had elevated risks for overall mortality. Regarding cause-specific mortality, men and women had elevated risks for cancer mortality for red (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.16-1.29; HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12-1.30, respectively) and processed meats (HR 1.12, 95% CI 1.06-1.19; HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.19, respectively). Furthermore, CVD risk was elevated for men and women in the highest quintile of red (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.20-1.35; HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.37-1.65, respectively) and processed meat (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.15; HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.26-1.51, respectively). When comparing the highest to the lowest quintile of white meat intake, there was an inverse association for total mortality, and cancer mortality, as well as all other deaths for both men and women. Conclusion Red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality and CVD mortality."}
{"id": "MED-4985", "text": "Background: Low-fat vegetarian and vegan diets are associated with weight loss, increased insulin sensitivity, and improved cardiovascular health. Objective: We compared the effects of a low-fat vegan diet and conventional diabetes diet recommendations on glycemia, weight, and plasma lipids. Design: Free-living individuals with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to a low-fat vegan diet (n = 49) or a diet following 2003 American Diabetes Association guidelines (conventional, n = 50) for 74 wk. Glycated hemoglobin (Hb A1c) and plasma lipids were assessed at weeks 0, 11, 22, 35, 48, 61, and 74. Weight was measured at weeks 0, 22, and 74. Results: Weight loss was significant within each diet group but not significantly different between groups (\u22124.4 kg in the vegan group and \u22123.0 kg in the conventional diet group, P = 0.25) and related significantly to Hb A1c changes (r = 0.50, P = 0.001). Hb A1c changes from baseline to 74 wk or last available values were \u22120.34 and \u22120.14 for vegan and conventional diets, respectively (P = 0.43). Hb A1c changes from baseline to last available value or last value before any medication adjustment were \u22120.40 and 0.01 for vegan and conventional diets, respectively (P = 0.03). In analyses before alterations in lipid-lowering medications, total cholesterol decreased by 20.4 and 6.8 mg/dL in the vegan and conventional diet groups, respectively (P = 0.01); LDL cholesterol decreased by 13.5 and 3.4 mg/dL in the vegan and conventional groups, respectively (P = 0.03). Conclusions: Both diets were associated with sustained reductions in weight and plasma lipid concentrations. In an analysis controlling for medication changes, a low-fat vegan diet appeared to improve glycemia and plasma lipids more than did conventional diabetes diet recommendations. Whether the observed differences provide clinical benefit for the macro- or microvascular complications of diabetes remains to be established. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00276939."}
{"id": "MED-4987", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality among adults with Type 2 diabetes. The thiazolidinediones including rosiglitazone are approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes on the basis of their ability to lower blood sugar and surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVES: To ascertain the cardiovascular, skeletal and hematologic safety profile of rosiglitazone. METHODS: Synthesis of evidence from recent trials, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, regulatory documents and clinical trials registries of manufacturers. CONCLUSION: Rosiglitazone increases the risk of heart failure, myocardial infarction and fractures (in women) with Type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-4988", "text": "OBJECTIVE We assessed the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in people following different types of vegetarian diets compared with that in nonvegetarians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study population comprised 22,434 men and 38,469 women who participated in the Adventist Health Study-2 conducted in 2002\u20132006. We collected self-reported demographic, anthropometric, medical history, and lifestyle data from Seventh-Day Adventist church members across North America. The type of vegetarian diet was categorized based on a food-frequency questionnaire. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs using multivariate-adjusted logistic regression. RESULTS Mean BMI was lowest in vegans (23.6 kg/m2) and incrementally higher in lacto-ovo vegetarians (25.7 kg/m2), pesco-vegetarians (26.3 kg/m2), semi-vegetarians (27.3 kg/m2), and nonvegetarians (28.8 kg/m2). Prevalence of type 2 diabetes increased from 2.9% in vegans to 7.6% in nonvegetarians; the prevalence was intermediate in participants consuming lacto-ovo (3.2%), pesco (4.8%), or semi-vegetarian (6.1%) diets. After adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, education, income, physical activity, television watching, sleep habits, alcohol use, and BMI, vegans (OR 0.51 [95% CI 0.40\u20130.66]), lacto-ovo vegetarians (0.54 [0.49\u20130.60]), pesco-vegetarians (0.70 [0.61\u20130.80]), and semi-vegetarians (0.76 [0.65\u20130.90]) had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. CONCLUSIONS The 5-unit BMI difference between vegans and nonvegetarians indicates a substantial potential of vegetarianism to protect against obesity. Increased conformity to vegetarian diets protected against risk of type 2 diabetes after lifestyle characteristics and BMI were taken into account. Pesco- and semi-vegetarian diets afforded intermediate protection."}
{"id": "MED-4989", "text": "BACKGROUND: A high nutrient density (HND) vegetable-based diet offers a dietary model extremely low in saturated fat as well as refined carbohydrates and emphasizes a liberal intake of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients who came to a family practice office seeking nutritional counseling for weight loss. All of these patients were prescribed an HND diet in an extended counseling session with a family physician. METHODS: A convenience sample (N = 56) of all patients seeking dietary counseling for weight loss from a family practice physician in a 3-year period was included in the chart review. No personal identifying data were recorded. The initial counseling sessions averaged 1 hour in length. Patients were provided with a sample HND daily meal plan and recipes and with verbal and written information about the rationale for the diet. Data recorded from patients' charts at 6-month intervals for up to 2 years of follow-up (when available) included weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and cholesterol:HDL ratio. Non-parametric statistical testing using the Friedman rank order (exact) test for k-related samples was conducted. A follow-up survey on adherence and medication use was completed by 38 patients. RESULTS: Of the 33 patients who returned for follow-up after 1 year, the mean weight loss was 31 lbs (P = .000). Of the 19 patients who returned after 2 years, the mean weight loss was 53 lbs (P = .000), mean cholesterol fell by 13 points, LDL by 15 points, triglycerides by 17 points, and cardiac risk ratio dropped from 4.5 to 3.8. Changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were highly significant at all follow-up time intervals (P < or = .001). There was a significant correlation between adherence and degree of weight loss (P = .011). CONCLUSIONS: Weight loss was sustained in patients who returned for follow-up and was more substantial in those who reported good adherence to the recommendations. However, many patients were lost to follow-up. Favorable changes in lipid profile and blood pressure were noted. An HND diet has the potential to provide sustainable, significant, long-term weight loss and may provide substantial lowering of cardiac risk in patients who are motivated and provided with extended one-on-one counseling and follow-up visits. Development of tools to aid in patient retention is an area for possible further study. Clinical trials with long-term follow-up are needed to further test the therapeutic potential and to examine adherence and follow-up issues related to this dietary approach. An HND diet as demonstrated with this group may be the most health-favorable and effective way to lose weight for appropriately motivated patients."}
{"id": "MED-4990", "text": "OBJECTIVE We assessed the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in people following different types of vegetarian diets compared with that in nonvegetarians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study population comprised 22,434 men and 38,469 women who participated in the Adventist Health Study-2 conducted in 2002\u20132006. We collected self-reported demographic, anthropometric, medical history, and lifestyle data from Seventh-Day Adventist church members across North America. The type of vegetarian diet was categorized based on a food-frequency questionnaire. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs using multivariate-adjusted logistic regression. RESULTS Mean BMI was lowest in vegans (23.6 kg/m2) and incrementally higher in lacto-ovo vegetarians (25.7 kg/m2), pesco-vegetarians (26.3 kg/m2), semi-vegetarians (27.3 kg/m2), and nonvegetarians (28.8 kg/m2). Prevalence of type 2 diabetes increased from 2.9% in vegans to 7.6% in nonvegetarians; the prevalence was intermediate in participants consuming lacto-ovo (3.2%), pesco (4.8%), or semi-vegetarian (6.1%) diets. After adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, education, income, physical activity, television watching, sleep habits, alcohol use, and BMI, vegans (OR 0.51 [95% CI 0.40\u20130.66]), lacto-ovo vegetarians (0.54 [0.49\u20130.60]), pesco-vegetarians (0.70 [0.61\u20130.80]), and semi-vegetarians (0.76 [0.65\u20130.90]) had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. CONCLUSIONS The 5-unit BMI difference between vegans and nonvegetarians indicates a substantial potential of vegetarianism to protect against obesity. Increased conformity to vegetarian diets protected against risk of type 2 diabetes after lifestyle characteristics and BMI were taken into account. Pesco- and semi-vegetarian diets afforded intermediate protection."}
{"id": "MED-4991", "text": "BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have shown positive findings associated with legume consumption and measures of cardiovascular disease and obesity. However, few observational trials have examined beans as a separate food variable when determining associations with health parameters. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of consuming beans on nutrient intakes and physiological parameters using the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002. METHODS: Using data from NHANES 1999-2002, a secondary analysis was completed with a reliable 24-hour dietary recall where three groups of bean consumers were identified (N = 1,475). We determined mean nutrient intakes and physiological values between bean consumers and non-consumers. Least square means, standard errors and ANOVA were calculated using appropriate sample weights following adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity and energy. RESULTS: Relative to non-consumers, bean consumers had higher intakes of dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron, and copper (p's < 0.05). Those consuming beans had a lower body weight (p = 0.008) and a smaller waist size (p = 0.043) relative to non-consumers. Additionally, consumers of beans had a 23% reduced risk of increased waist size (p = 0.018) and a 22% reduced risk of being obese (p = 0.026). Also, baked bean consumption was associated with a lower systolic blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Bean consumers had better overall nutrient intake levels, better body weights and waist circumferences, and lower systolic blood pressure in comparison to non-consumers. These data support the benefits of bean consumption on improving nutrient intake and health parameters."}
{"id": "MED-4992", "text": "Bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol B (BPB) concentrations were determined in peeled canned tomatoes of different brands bought in Italian supermarkets. Tomato samples analyzed were packaged in cans coated with either epoxyphenolic lacquer or low BADGE enamel. A solid phase extraction (SPE) was performed on C-18 Strata E cartridge followed by a step on Florisil cartridge. Detection and quantitation were performed by a reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method with both UV and fluorescence detection (FD). On the total of 42 tested tomato samples, BPA was detected in 22 samples (52.4%), while BPB was detected in 9 samples (21.4%). BPA and BPB were simultaneously present in 8 of the analyzed samples. The levels of BPA found in this study are much lower than the European Union migration limits of 3 mg/kg food and reasonably unable to produce a daily intake exceeding the limit of 0.05 mg/kg body weight, established by European Food Safety Authority."}
{"id": "MED-4993", "text": "BACKGROUND: The effect of salt reduction on vascular function, assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare the effects of a low-salt (LS; 50 mmol Na/d) diet with those of a usual-salt (US; 150 mmol Na/d) diet on FMD. DESIGN: This was a randomized crossover design in which 29 overweight and obese normotensive men and women followed an LS diet and a US diet for 2 wk. Both diets had similar potassium and saturated fat contents and were designed to ensure weight stability. After each intervention, FMD, pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, and blood pressure were measured. RESULTS: FMD was significantly greater (P = 0.001) with the LS diet (4.89 +/- 2.42%) than with the US diet (3.37 +/- 2.10%), systolic blood pressure was significantly (P = 0.02) lower with the LS diet (112 +/- 11 mm Hg) than with the US diet (117 +/- 13 mm Hg), and 24-h sodium excretion was significantly lower (P = 0.0001) with the LS diet (64.1 +/- 41.3 mmol) than with the US diet (156.3 +/- 56.7 mmol). There was no correlation between change in FMD and change in 24-h sodium excretion or change in blood pressure. No significant changes in augmentation index or pulse wave velocity were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Salt reduction improves endothelium-dependant vasodilation in normotensive subjects independently of the changes in measured resting clinic blood pressure. These findings suggest additional cardioprotective effects of salt reduction beyond blood pressure reduction. The trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (unique identifier: ANZCTR12607000381482; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=82159)."}
{"id": "MED-4994", "text": "BACKGROUND: The cardioprotective properties of moderate alcohol consumption, compared with abstinence or heavy drinking, are widely reported, but whether the benefits are experienced equally by all moderate drinkers is less well known. AIMS: To examine the association between average alcohol intake per week and the incidence of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction during 17 years of follow-up for 9655 men and women without prevalent disease in the general population; and to test whether the level of cardioprotection differs according to subjects' other health behaviours (healthy, moderately healthy, unhealthy) at entry to the study. METHOD: A longitudinal, British civil service-based cohort study, baseline in 1985-8. RESULTS: A significant benefit of moderate drinking compared with abstinence or heavy drinking was found among those with poor health behaviours (little exercise, poor diet and smokers). No additional benefit from alcohol was found among those with the healthiest behaviour profile (> or =3 hours of vigorous exercise per week, daily fruit or vegetable consumption and non-smokers). CONCLUSION: The cardioprotective benefit from moderate drinking does not apply equally to all drinkers, and this variability should be emphasised in public health messages."}
{"id": "MED-4995", "text": "Salicylic acid (SA), which is central to defense mechanisms in plants and the principal metabolite of aspirin, occurs naturally in man with higher levels of SA and its urinary metabolite salicyluric acid (SU) in vegetarians overlapping with levels in patients on low-dose aspirin regimens. SA is widely distributed in animal blood. Fasting for major colorectal surgery did not cause disappearance of SA from plasma, even in patients following total proctocolectomy. A 13C6 benzoic acid load ingested by six volunteers led, between 8 and 16 h, to a median 33.9% labeling of urinary salicyluric acid. The overall contribution of benzoic acid (and its salts) to the turnover of circulating SA thus requires further assessment. However, that SA appears to be, at least partially, an endogenous compound should lead to reassessment of its role in human (and animal) pathophysiology."}
{"id": "MED-4996", "text": "Animal studies suggest that diets low in calories and rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) are beneficial for cognitive function in age. Here, we tested in a prospective interventional design whether the same effects can be induced in humans. Fifty healthy, normal- to overweight elderly subjects (29 females, mean age 60.5 years, mean body mass index 28 kg/m2) were stratified into 3 groups: (i) caloric restriction (30% reduction), (ii) relative increased intake of UFAs (20% increase, unchanged total fat), and (iii) control. Before and after 3 months of intervention, memory performance was assessed under standardized conditions. We found a significant increase in verbal memory scores after caloric restriction (mean increase 20%; P < 0.001), which was correlated with decreases in fasting plasma levels of insulin and high sensitive C-reactive protein, most pronounced in subjects with best adherence to the diet (all r values < \u22120.8; all P values <0.05). Levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor remained unchanged. No significant memory changes were observed in the other 2 groups. This interventional trial demonstrates beneficial effects of caloric restriction on memory performance in healthy elderly subjects. Mechanisms underlying this improvement might include higher synaptic plasticity and stimulation of neurofacilitatory pathways in the brain because of improved insulin sensitivity and reduced inflammatory activity. Our study may help to generate novel prevention strategies to maintain cognitive functions into old age."}
{"id": "MED-4998", "text": "Curcumin has been reported to have the potential to prevent obesity as well as cancers. The downstream targets regulated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) for inhibiting adipocyte differentiation or cancer cell proliferation of curcumin were investigated. The activation of AMPK by curcumin was crucial for the inhibition of differentiation or growth in both adipocytes and cancer cells. Stimulation of AMPK by curcumin resulted in the down-regulation of PPAR (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor)-gamma in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and the decrease in COX-2 in MCF-7 cells. Application of a synthetic AMPK activator also supported the evidence that AMPK acts as an upstream signal of PPAR-gamma in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In cancer cells, AMPK was found to act as a regulator of ERK1/2, p38, and COX-2. Regulation of AMPK and its downstream targets such as PPAR-gamma, Mapkinases, and COX-2 by curcumin appears to be important in controlling adipocytes and cancerous cells."}
{"id": "MED-5000", "text": "BACKGROUND: High oxalate intake resulting from consuming supplemental doses of cinnamon and turmeric may increase risk of hyperoxaluria, a significant risk factor for urolithiasis. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed urinary oxalate excretion from supplemental doses of cinnamon and turmeric as well as changes in fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol, and triacylglycerol concentrations. DESIGN: Eleven healthy subjects, aged 21-38 y, participated in an 8-wk, randomly assigned, crossover study that involved the ingestion of supplemental doses of cinnamon and turmeric for 4-wk periods that provided 55 mg oxalate/d. Oxalate load tests, which entailed the ingestion of a 63-mg dose of oxalate from the test spices, were performed after each 4-wk experimental period and at the study onset with water only (control treatment). Fasting plasma glucose and lipid concentrations were also assessed at these time points. RESULTS: Compared with the cinnamon and control treatments, turmeric ingestion led to a significantly higher urinary oxalate excretion during the oxalate load tests. There were no significant changes in fasting plasma glucose or lipids in conjunction with the 4-wk periods of either cinnamon or turmeric supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of oxalate that was water soluble differed markedly between cinnamon (6%) and turmeric (91%), which appeared to be the primary cause of the greater urinary oxalate excretion/oxalate absorption from turmeric. The consumption of supplemental doses of turmeric, but not cinnamon, can significantly increase urinary oxalate levels, thereby increasing risk of kidney stone formation in susceptible individuals."}
{"id": "MED-5001", "text": "We examine the possible evidence that the phytochemical curcumin may overcome resistance to hormonal and cytotoxic agents in breast cancer. We present our observations on MCF-7R, a multidrug-resistant (MDR) variant of the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. In contrast to MCF-7, MCF-7R lacks aromatase and estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and overexpresses the multidrug transporter ABCB1 and the products of different genes implicated in cell proliferation and survival, like c-IAP-1, NAIP, survivin, and COX-2. Nevertheless, in cytotoxicity and cell death induction assays, we found that the antitumor activity of curcumin is substantial both in MCF-7 and in MCF-7R. We elaborated the diketone system of curcumin into different analogues; the benzyloxime and the isoxazole and pyrazole heterocycles showed remarkable increases in the antitumor potency both in the parental and in the MDR MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, curcumin or, more potently, the isoxazole analogue, produced early reductions in the amounts of relevant gene transcripts that were diverse (i.e., they were relative to Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L) in MCF-7 and the inhibitory of apoptosis proteins and COX-2 in MCF-7R) in the two cell lines. Thus, the two compounds exhibited the remarkable property of being able to modify their molecular activities according to the distinct characteristics of the parental and MDR cells. We discuss also how curcumin may (1) exert antitumor effects in breast cancer through ER-dependent and ER-independent mechanisms; and (2) act as a drug transporter-mediated MDR reversal agent. Overall, the structure of curcumin may represent the basis for the development of new, effective anticancer agents in hormone-independent MDR breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5002", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cell culture studies suggest that phytoestrogens, abundant in soy products such as tempe and tofu, could protect against cognitive decline. Paradoxically, the Honolulu Asia Aging Study reported an increased risk for cognitive impairment and other dementia markers with high tofu (soybean curd) intake. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2 rural sites (Borobudur and Sumedang) and 1 urban site (Jakarta) among mainly Javanese and Sundanese elderly (n = 719, 52-98 years of age). Memory was measured using a word learning test sensitive to dementia and soy consumption was assessed using Food Frequency Questionnaire items. RESULTS: High tofu consumption was associated with worse memory (beta = -0.18, p < 0.01, 95% CI = -0.34 to -0.06), while high tempe consumption (a fermented whole soybean product) was independently related to better memory (beta = 0.12, p < 0.05, 95% CI = 0.00-0.28), particularly in participants over 68 years of age. Fruit consumption also had an independent positive association. The analyses were controlled for age, sex, education, site and intake of other foods. CONCLUSION: The results for tofu consumption as a risk factor for low memory function may tie in with the Honolulu Asia Aging Study data. It is unclear whether these negative associations could be attributed to potential toxins or to its phytoestrogen levels. Estrogen (through which receptors phytoestrogens can exert effects) was found to increase dementia risk in women over 65 years of age. Tempe contains high levels of phytoestrogens, but (due to fermentation) also exhibits high folate levels which may exert protective effects. Future studies should validate these findings and investigate potential mechanisms. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5003", "text": "Genistein, a major soy isoflavone, has been reported to exhibit antiadipogenic and proapoptotic potential in vivo and in vitro. It is also a phytoestrogen which has high affinity to estrogen receptor beta. In this study, we determined the effect of genistein on adipogenesis and estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and beta expression during differentiation in primary human preadipocytes. Genistein inhibited lipid accumulation in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations of 6.25 microM and higher, with 50 microM genistein inhibiting lipid accumulation almost completely. Low concentrations of genistein (3.25 microM) increased cell viability and higher concentrations (25 and 50 microM) decreased it by 16.48+/-1.35% (P<.0001) and 50.68+/-1.34% (P<.0001). Oil Red O staining was used to confirm the effects on lipid accumulation. The inhibition of lipid accumulation was associated with inhibition of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and down-regulation of expression of adipocyte-specific genes, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, adipocyte fatty acid binding protein, fatty acid synthase, sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1, perilipin, leptin, lipoprotein lipase and hormone-sensitive lipase. These effects of genistein during the differentiation period were associated with down-regulation of ERalpha and ERbeta expression. This study adds to the elucidation of the molecular pathways involved in the inhibition of adipogenesis by phytoestrogens."}
{"id": "MED-5004", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cross-sectional studies have shown that vegetarians and vegans are leaner than omnivores. Longitudinal data on weight gain in these groups are sparse. OBJECTIVE: We investigated changes in weight and body mass index (BMI) over a 5-year period in meat-eating, fish-eating, vegetarian, and vegan men and women in the UK. DESIGN: Self-reported anthropometric, dietary and lifestyle data were collected at baseline in 1994-1999 and at follow-up in 2000-2003; the median duration of follow-up was 5.3 years. SUBJECTS: A total of 21,966 men and women participating in Oxford arm of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition aged 20-69 years at baseline. RESULTS: The mean annual weight gain was 389 (SD 884) g in men and 398 (SD 892) g in women. The differences between meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in age-adjusted mean BMI at follow-up were similar to those seen at baseline. Multivariable-adjusted mean weight gain was somewhat smaller in vegans (284 g in men and 303 g in women, P<0.05 for both sexes) and fish-eaters (338 g, women only, P<0.001) compared with meat-eaters. Men and women who changed their diet in one or several steps in the direction meat-eater --> fish-eater --> vegetarian --> vegan showed the smallest mean annual weight gain of 242 (95% CI 133-351) and 301 (95% CI 238-365) g, respectively. CONCLUSION: During 5 years follow-up, the mean annual weight gain in a health-conscious cohort in the UK was approximately 400 g. Small differences in weight gain were observed between meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Lowest weight gain was seen among those who, during follow-up, had changed to a diet containing fewer animal food."}
{"id": "MED-5005", "text": "AIM: To evaluate consumption of foods rich in dietary fibre and its relation to the prevalence of constipation in pre-school children. METHODS: In total, 368 children aged 3-5 years were randomly selected from kindergartens in Hong Kong. Constipation was confirmed by Rome-criteria. Children with normal bowel habits served as non-constipated controls. Consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole-grain cereals and fluid were determined using a 3-day food record. RESULTS: A total of 28.8% children were reported to have constipation. Median dietary fibre intake of constipated children was significantly lower than non-constipated children (3.4 g/d (inter-quartile range (IQR): 2.3-4.6 g/d) vs. 3.8 g/d (IQR: 2.7-4.9 g/d); P = 0.044) corresponding to 40% reference dietary fibre intake. Constipated children also had significantly lower intakes of vitamin C (P = 0.041), folate (P = 0.043) and magnesium (P = 0.002). Fruit intake and total plant foods intake were significantly lower in the constipated than non-constipated children: (61 g/d (IQR: 23.8-115 g/d) vs. 78 g/d (IQR: 41.7-144.6 g/d); P = 0.047) and (142.5 g/d (IQR: 73.7-214.7 g/d) vs. 161.1 g/d (IQR: 98.3-233.3 g/d); P = 0.034), respectively. Total fluid intake did not differ between groups but milk intake among the constipated children was marginally higher than the non-constipated children (P = 0.055) CONCLUSION: Insufficient dietary fibre intake is common in Hong Kong pre-school children. Constipated children had significantly lower intakes of dietary fibre and micronutrients including vitamin C, folate and magnesium than non-constipated counterparts which was attributable to under-consumption of plant foods. However, milk intake was marginally higher in the constipated children. More public education is necessary for parents to help develop healthy dietary habit and bowel habit in early life in order to prevent childhood constipation."}
{"id": "MED-5006", "text": "We projected future prevalence and BMI distribution based on national survey data (National Health and Nutrition Examination Study) collected between 1970s and 2004. Future obesity-related health-care costs for adults were estimated using projected prevalence, Census population projections, and published national estimates of per capita excess health-care costs of obesity/overweight. The objective was to illustrate potential burden of obesity prevalence and health-care costs of obesity and overweight in the United States that would occur if current trends continue. Overweight and obesity prevalence have increased steadily among all US population groups, but with notable differences between groups in annual increase rates. The increase (percentage points) in obesity and overweight in adults was faster than in children (0.77 vs. 0.46-0.49), and in women than in men (0.91 vs. 0.65). If these trends continue, by 2030, 86.3% adults will be overweight or obese; and 51.1%, obese. Black women (96.9%) and Mexican-American men (91.1%) would be the most affected. By 2048, all American adults would become overweight or obese, while black women will reach that state by 2034. In children, the prevalence of overweight (BMI >/= 95th percentile, 30%) will nearly double by 2030. Total health-care costs attributable to obesity/overweight would double every decade to 860.7-956.9 billion US dollars by 2030, accounting for 16-18% of total US health-care costs. We continue to move away from the Healthy People 2010 objectives. Timely, dramatic, and effective development and implementation of corrective programs/policies are needed to avoid the otherwise inevitable health and societal consequences implied by our projections ."}
{"id": "MED-5007", "text": "Circulating adiponectin is emerging as an important link between obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the spectrum of lifestyle factors that modulate the adiponectin concentration remains to be elucidated, particularly among women. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 877 female twin pairs from the TwinsUK adult twin registry. Using a co-twin design, we examined dietary and body composition influences on adiponectin by conducting matched, within-pair analyses to eliminate confounding. Following multivariable adjustment within-twin pairs, significant influences on adiponectin (log-transformed, percent change per SD of the dietary/body composition variable) were observed for nonstarch polysaccharides (3.25%; 95% CI: 0.06, 6.54; P < 0.05) and magnesium intake (3.80%; 95%CI: 0.17, 7.57; P < 0.05), with a trend toward an association for fruit and vegetable (F&V) intakes (2.55%; 95% CI: -0.26, 5.45; P = 0.08). These modest positive associations cannot be explained by confounding through other lifestyle factors shared by the twins. A significant relationship between adiponectin and 3 derived dietary patterns (F&V, dieting, traditional English), carbohydrate, protein, trans fat, and alcohol intake was also observed. Strong inverse associations with adiponectin were observed for BMI (-10.72%; 95% CI: -13.78, -7.55), total (-6.89%: 95% CI: -10.34, -3.30; P < 0.05), and central fat mass (-12.50%; 95% CI: -15.82, -9.05; P < 0.05); these relationships were significant both when twins were analyzed as individuals and when characteristics were contrasted within-twin pairs, suggesting a direct effect. We observed modest associations between dietary factors and adiponectin in female twins, independent of adiposity, and report strong inverse associations with body composition. These data reinforce the importance of weight maintenance and increasing consumption of diets rich in plant-based foods to prevent CVD and type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-5009", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of preparations with avocado-soybean unsaponifiables (ASUs) in osteoarthritis (OA) patients using meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHOD: RCTs from systematic searches were included if they explicitly stated that hip and/or knee OA patients were randomized to either ASU or placebo. The co-primary outcome was reduction in pain and Lequesne index, leading to effect size (ES), calculated as the standardized mean difference. As secondary analysis, the number of responders to therapy was analyzed as odds ratios (ORs). Restricted maximum likelihood methods were applied for the meta-analyses, using mixed effects models. RESULTS: Four trials--all supported by the manufacturer--were included, with 664 OA patients with either hip (41.4%) or knee (58.6%) OA allocated to either 300 mg ASU (336) or placebo (328). Average trial duration was 6 months (range: 3-12 months). Though based on heterogeneous results, the combined pain reduction favored ASU (I(2) = 83.5%, ES = 0.39 [95% confidence intervals: 0.01-0.76], P=0.04). Applying the Lequesne index also favored ASU (I(2) = 61.0%, ES = 0.45 [0.21-0.70], P = 0.0003). Secondarily, the number of responders following ASU compared to placebo (OR = 2.19, P = 0.007) corresponded to a number needed to treat of six (4-21) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the available evidence, patients may be recommended to give ASU a chance for e.g., 3 months. Meta-analysis data support better chances of success in patients with knee OA than in those with hip OA."}
{"id": "MED-5010", "text": "Phytochemicals are recognized as playing an important role in cancer prevention by fruits and vegetables. The avocado is a widely grown and consumed fruit that is high in nutrients and low in calories, sodium, and fats. Studies have shown that phytochemicals extracted from the avocado fruit selectively induce cell cycle arrest, inhibit growth, and induce apoptosis in precancerous and cancer cell lines. Our recent studies indicate that phytochemicals extracted with chloroform from avocado fruits target multiple signaling pathways and increase intracellular reactive oxygen leading to apoptosis. This review summarizes the reported phytochemicals in avocado fruit and discusses their molecular mechanisms and targets. These studies suggest that individual and combinations of phytochemicals from the avocado fruit may offer an advantageous dietary strategy in cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-5012", "text": "This study investigated the effect of coconut flakes on serum cholesterol levels of humans with moderately raised serum cholesterol in 21 subjects. The serum total cholesterol of subjects differed and ranged from 259 to 283 mg/dL. The study was conducted in a double-blind randomized crossover design on a 14-week period, consisting of four 2-week experimental periods, with each experimental period separated by a 2-week washout period. The test foods were as follows: corn flakes as the control food, oat bran flakes as the reference food, and corn flakes with 15% and 25% dietary fiber from coconut flakes (made from coconut flour production). Results showed a significant percent reduction in serum total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (in mg/dL) for all test foods, except for corn flakes, as follows: oat bran flakes, 8.4 +/- 1.4 and 8.8 +/- 6.0, respectively; 15% coconut flakes, 6.9 +/- 1.1 and 11.0 +/- 4.0, respectively; and 25% coconut flakes, 10.8 +/- 1.3 and 9.2 +/- 5.4, respectively. Serum triglycerides were significantly reduced for all test foods: corn flakes, 14.5 +/- 6.3%; oat bran flakes, 22.7 +/- 2.9%; 15% coconut flakes, 19.3 +/- 5.7%; and 25% coconut flakes, 21.8 +/- 6.0%. Only 60% of the subjects were considered for serum triglycerides reduction (serum triglycerides >170 mg/dL). In conclusion, both 15% and 25% coconut flakes reduced serum total and LDL cholesterol and serum triglycerides of humans with moderately raised serum cholesterol levels. Coconut flour is a good source of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber, and both types of fiber may have significant role in the reduction of the above lipid biomarker. To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted to show a relationship between dietary fiber from a coconut by-product and a lipid biomarker. Results from this study serves as a good basis in the development of coconut flakes/flour as a functional food, justifying the increased production of coconut and coconut by-products."}
{"id": "MED-5013", "text": "INTRODUCTION: Endothelial dysfunction is known to occur in patients with coronary artery disease. Flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery using Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive technique for the assessment of endothelial function. The objective of the study was to use the above method to evaluate the pathophysiology of high-fat (HF) intake on endothelial function in a local population. A popular local dish \"nasi-lemak\", a source of high saturated fat content from coconut milk, was chosen to represent a local high-fat meal (LHF). In addition, the effects of a Western high-fat (WHF) (\"McDonald's\") meal and a low-fat (LF) meal control on endothelial function were studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 10 healthy male non-smoker (mean age 22 +/- 2 years) with normal body mass index, normal fasting sugar and lipid profiles. Nitric oxide dependent flow-mediated dilation and nitric oxide independent (GTN) dilation was assessed by Doppler flow in the brachial artery before and 4 hours after each meal on separate occasions by 2 experienced sonographers blinded to the type of meals. RESULTS: The baseline brachial artery size, baseline vessel flow and increase in flow after cuff deflation were similar for each of the six arterial studies. In response to reactive hyperaemia after cuff deflation, the endothelium-dependent dilation was significantly different between the meals. There was a marked decrease in endothelium-dependent dilation after the WHF meal compared to the LF meal (8.6 +/- 2.2% vs. -0.8 +/- 1.1%, P < 0.006). There was also a marked decrease in endothelium-dependent dilation after the LHF meal compared to the LF meal (7.7 +/- 2.1% vs. -0.8 +/- 1.1%, P < 0.001). When comparing between the two HF meals, the change in endothelium-dependent dilation was not significant (7.7 vs. 8.6%, P = 0.678). GTN-induced dilation was not significantly different before and after the LF, WHF or LHF (0.1 +/- 0.5% vs. 0.2 +/- 0.9% vs. 1.3 +/- 0.5%, P = 0.094). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that in a local population, impairment of endothelial function is a possible mechanism in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis from HF intake, beyond just affecting lipid levels. This effect is observed after both a LHF and a WHF meal intake. This technique to study endothelial function may be a useful non-invasive screening tool in the study of other HF diet choices and provides further information for the education of the influence of dietary choices on atherosclerosis."}
{"id": "MED-5014", "text": "Several nutrition and non-nutritional pathways are recognised in the development and occurrence of cardiovascular disease. In many populations, high intakes of saturated fat are associated with elevated serum cholesterol concentrations and increased coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. However, several studies report that hyperlipidaemia and heart diseases are not common among populations who consume coconut, a source of saturated fat. A case-control study was conducted among the Minangkabau known to be high coconut consumers to examine the difference in food patterns and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) between the coronary cases and their gender- and age-matched apparently healthy counterparts serving as controls. Eligible subjects with CHD were identified through the co-operation of five participating hospitals located in Padang and Bukittinggi in West Sumatra, Indonesia. A total of 93 eligible cases (62 men and 31 women) in the Case group and 189 subjects (113 men and 76 women) in the Control group were recruited. Information on the intakes of individual foods and dishes over the preceding 12 months was obtained using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The Case groups had significantly higher intakes of meats, eggs, sugar, tea, coffee and fruits, but lower intakes of soy products, rice and cereals compared to the controls. Coconut consumption as flesh or milk was not different between cases and controls. The cases had significantly higher intakes of protein and cholesterol, but lower intake of carbohydrate. Similar intakes of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids between the cases and controls indicated that the consumption of total fat or saturated fat, including that from coconut, was not a predictor for CHD in this food culture. However, the intakes of animal foods, total protein, dietary cholesterol and less plant derived carbohydrates were predictors of CHD."}
{"id": "MED-5015", "text": "Medical resources routinely used for intravenous hydration and resuscitation of critically ill patients may be limited in remote regions of the world. When faced with these shortages, physicians have had to improvise with the available resources, or simply do without. We report the successful use of coconut water as a short-term intravenous hydration fluid for a Solomon Island patient, a laboratory analysis of the local coconuts, and a review of previously documented intravenous coconut use."}
{"id": "MED-5016", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The aim of this present study was to determine plasma levels of lathosterol, lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins during diets rich in butter, coconut fat and safflower oil. DESIGN: The study consisted of sequential six week periods of diets rich in butter, coconut fat then safflower oil and measurements were made at baseline and at week 4 in each diet period. SUBJECTS: Forty-one healthy Pacific island polynesians living in New Zealand participated in the trial. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were supplied with some foods rich in the test fats and were given detailed dietary advice which was reinforced regularly. RESULTS: Plasma lathosterol concentration (P < 0.001), the ratio plasma lathosterol/cholesterol (P=0.04), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (P<0.001) and apoB (P<0.001) levels were significantly different among the diets and were significantly lower during coconut and safflower oil diets compared with butter diets. Plasma total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and apoA-levels were also significantly (P< or =0.001) different among the diets and were not significantly different between buffer and coconut diets. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that cholesterol synthesis is lower during diets rich in coconut fat and safflower oil compared with diets rich in butter and might be associated with lower production rates of apoB-containing lipoproteins."}
{"id": "MED-5017", "text": "BACKGROUND: Betel-nut use is associated with metabolic syndrome and obesity. However, the association between betel-nut chewing and risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown. The present study was conducted to determine the association between betel-nut chewing and CKD in men. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed health-check records of 3264 men in a hospital-based cross-sectional screening programme from 2003 to 2006. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 calculated by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula. Risk factors for CKD including diabetes, hypertension, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption and age were also considered. RESULTS: A total of 677 (20.7 %) men were found to have CKD and 427 (13.1 %) participants reported a history of betel-nut use. The prevalence (24.8 %) of CKD in betel-nut users was significantly higher than that (11.3 %) of participants without betel-nut use (P = 0.026). In multivariate logistic regression analysis with adjustments for age, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidaemia, betel-nut use was independently associated with CKD (P < 0.001). The adjusted odds ratio for betel-nut use was 2.572 (95 % CI 1.917, 3.451). CONCLUSIONS: Betel-nut use is associated with CKD in men. The association between betel-nut use and CKD is independent of age, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidaemia."}
{"id": "MED-5019", "text": "Apples ( MALUS sp., Rosaceae) are a rich source of nutrient as well as non-nutrient components and contain high levels of polyphenols and other phytochemicals. Main structural classes of apple constituents include hydroxycinnamic acids, dihydrochalcones, flavonols (quercetin glycosides), catechins and oligomeric procyanidins, as well as triterpenoids in apple peel and anthocyanins in red apples. Several lines of evidence suggest that apples and apple products possess a wide range of biological activities which may contribute to health beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease, asthma and pulmonary dysfunction, diabetes, obesity, and cancer (reviewed by Boyer and Liu, Nutr J 2004). The present review will summarize the current knowledge on potential cancer preventive effects of apples, apple juice and apple extracts (jointly designated as apple products). In brief, apple extracts and components, especially oligomeric procyanidins, have been shown to influence multiple mechanisms relevant for cancer prevention in IN VITRO studies. These include antimutagenic activity, modulation of carcinogen metabolism, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory mechanisms, modulation of signal transduction pathways, antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing activity, as well as novel mechanisms on epigenetic events and innate immunity. Apple products have been shown to prevent skin, mammary and colon carcinogenesis in animal models. Epidemiological observations indicate that regular consumption of one or more apples a day may reduce the risk for lung and colon cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5020", "text": "Bioactivity-guided fractionation of Red Delicious apple peels was used to determine the chemical identity of bioactive constituents, which showed potent antiproliferative and antioxidant activities. Twenty-nine compounds, including triterpenoids, flavonoids, organic acids and plant sterols, were isolated using gradient solvent fractionation, Diaion HP-20, silica gel, and ODS columns, and preparative HPLC. Their chemical structures were identified using HR-MS and 1D and 2D NMR. Antiproliferative activities of isolated pure compounds against HepG2 human liver cancer cells and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were evaluated. On the basis of the yields of isolated flavonoids (compounds 18- 23), the major flavonoids in apple peels are quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (compound 20, 82.6%), then quercetin-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (compound 19, 17.1%), followed by trace amounts of quercetin (compound 18, 0.2%), (-)-catechin (compound 22), (-)-epicatechin (compound 23), and quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-arabinofuranoside (compound 21). Among the compounds isolated, quercetin (18) and quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (20) showed potent antiproliferative activities against HepG2 and MCF-7 cells, with EC 50 values of 40.9 +/- 1.1 and 49.2 +/- 4.9 microM to HepG2 cells and 137.5 +/- 2.6 and 23.9 +/- 3.9 microM to MCF-7 cells, respectively. Six flavonoids (18-23) and three phenolic compounds (10, 11, and 14) showed potent antioxidant activities. Caffeic acid (10), quercetin (18), and quercetin-3-O-beta-D-arabinofuranoside (21) showed higher antioxidant activity, with EC 50 values of <10 microM. Most tested flavonoids and phenolic compounds had high antioxidant activity when compared to ascorbic acid and might be responsible for the antioxidant activities of apples. These results showed apple peel phytochemicals have potent antioxidant and antiproliferative activities."}
{"id": "MED-5022", "text": "The tropical mangosteen fruit has long been prized in Southeast Asia for its traditional healing properties. Mangosteen fruit juice is now available in the United States and marketed for its purported health benefits. We describe a case of severe lactic acidosis associated with the use of mangosteen juice as a dietary supplement."}
{"id": "MED-5025", "text": "Gel filtration chromatography, ultra-filtration, and solid-phase extraction silica gel clean-up were evaluated for their ability to remove microcystins selectively from extracts of cyanobacteria Spirulina samples after using the reversed-phase octadecylsilyl ODS cartridge for subsequent analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The reversed-phase ODS cartridge/silica gel combination were effective and the optimal wash and elution conditions were: H(2)O (wash), 20% methanol in water (wash), and 90% methanol in water (elution) for the reversed-phase ODS cartridge, followed by 80% methanol in water elution in the silica gel cartridge. The presence of microcystins in 36 kinds of cyanobacteria Spirulina health food samples obtained from various retail outlets in China were detected by LC-MS/MS, and 34 samples (94%) contained microcystins ranging from 2 to 163 ng g(-1) (mean = 14 +/- 27 ng g(-1)), which were significantly lower than microcystins present in blue green alga products previously reported. MC-RR - which contains two molecules of arginine (R) - (in 94.4% samples) was the predominant microcystin, followed by MC-LR - where L is leucine - (30.6%) and MC-YR - where Y is tyrose - (27.8%). The possible potential health risks from chronic exposure to microcystins from contaminated cyanobacteria Spirulina health food should not be ignored, even if the toxin concentrations were low. The method presented herein is proposed to detect microcystins present in commercial cyanobacteria Spirulina samples."}
{"id": "MED-5026", "text": "Background: Higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, and dark fish may prevent sudden cardiac death and arrhythmias, but the exact mechanisms are not fully understood. Objective: We examined whether high consumption of fruit, vegetables, and dark fish would be associated with beneficial changes in heart rate variability (HRV). Design: HRV variables were measured among 586 older men with 928 total observations from November 2000 to June 2007 in the Normative Aging Study, a community-based longitudinal study of aging. Dietary intake was evaluated with a self-administered semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire and categorized into quartiles. Results: After controlling for potential confounders, intake of green leafy vegetables was positively associated with normalized high-frequency power and inversely associated with normalized low-frequency power (P for trend < 0.05). These significant associations were retained after further adjustment for healthy lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and use of multivitamins. No significant association was seen between HRV measures and intakes of other fruit and vegetables, vitamin C, carotenoids, tuna and dark-meat fish, or n\u20133 (omega-3) fatty acids. An effect modification of intake of noncitrus fruit by obesity and of total vegetables and cruciferous vegetables by cigarette smoking was seen, which warrants further investigation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that higher intake of green leafy vegetables may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease through favorable changes in cardiac autonomic function."}
{"id": "MED-5027", "text": "BACKGROUND: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of death in India. Dietary changes could reduce risk, but few studies have addressed the association between diet and IHD risk in India. OBJECTIVE: The goal was to address the association between diet and IHD risk among Indians in New Delhi (northern India) and Bangalore (southern India). DESIGN: We collected data from 350 cases of acute myocardial infarction and 700 controls matched on the basis of age, sex, and hospital as part of a hospital-based case-control study in 8 hospitals. Long-term dietary intake was assessed by using food-frequency questionnaires developed for New Delhi and Bangalore. We used conditional logistic regression to control for the matching factors and other predictors of risk. RESULTS: We observed a significant and dose-dependent inverse association between vegetable intake and IHD risk. The inverse association was stronger for green leafy vegetables; in multivariate analysis, persons consuming a median of 3.5 servings/wk had a 67% lower relative risk (RR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.17, 0.64; P for trend = 0.0001) than did those consuming 0.5 servings/wk. Controlling for other dietary covariates did not alter the association. Cereal intake was also associated with a lower risk. Use of mustard oil, which is rich in alpha-linolenic acid, was associated with a lower risk than was use of sunflower oil [for use in cooking: RR: 0.49 (95% CI: 0.24, 0.99); for use in frying, RR: 0.29 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.64)]. CONCLUSION: Diets rich in vegetables and use of mustard oil could contribute to the lower risk of IHD among Indians."}
{"id": "MED-5028", "text": "BACKGROUND: The role of diet in renal cell carcinoma risk has been inconclusive. This study uses an integrative approach to assess the role of food groups and food items in renal cell carcinoma risk. DESIGN: A case-control study was conducted from 2003-2006. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Incident cases (n=335) were identified from hospital records and the Florida cancer registry, and population controls (n=337) frequency matched by age (+/-5 years), sex, and race were identified through random-digit dialing. Eating habits were assessed through the use of the 70-item Block food frequency questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and tests for trends were calculated using logistic regression, controlled for age, sex, race, income, body mass index, and pack-years of smoking. RESULTS: Decreased renal cell carcinoma risk was observed among the total sample and for men for vegetable consumption (all subjects: OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.35, 0.88; men: OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25, 0.96) but not for fruit consumption. Tomato consumption decreased renal cell carcinoma risk for the total population and for men (all subjects: OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.31, 0.81; men: OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.24, 0.95). Increased risk of renal cell carcinoma was observed among all subjects and among women with increased consumption of red meat (all subjects: OR 4.43, 95% CI 2.02, 9.75; women: OR 3.04, 95% CI 1.60, 5.79). White bread consumption increased renal cell carcinoma risk among women only (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.50, 6.20), as did total dairy consumption (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.21, 4.60). CONCLUSIONS: The protective role of vegetables and the increased risk of renal cell carcinoma with meat consumption are supported. The protective role of fruits is not. Novel findings include the increased risk of renal cell carcinoma with white bread and white potato consumption and the decreased risk of renal cell carcinoma with tomato consumption."}
{"id": "MED-5030", "text": "Study Objectives: To examine sex-specific associations between sleep duration and mortality from cardiovascular disease and other causes. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Community-based study. Participants: A total of 98,634 subjects (41,489 men and 57,145 women) aged 40 to 79 years from 1988 to 1990 and were followed until 2003. Interventions: N/A. Measurements and Results: During a median follow-up of 14.3 years, there were 1964 deaths (men and women: 1038 and 926) from stroke, 881 (508 and 373) from coronary heart disease, 4287 (2297 and 1990) from cardiovascular disease, 5465 (3432 and 2033) from cancer, and 14,540 (8548 and 5992) from all causes. Compared with a sleep duration of 7 hours, sleep duration of 4 hours or less was associated with increased mortality from coronary heart disease for women and noncardiovascular disease/noncancer and all causes in both sexes. The respective multivariable hazard ratios were 2.32 (1.19\u20134.50) for coronary heart disease in women, 1.49 (1.02\u20132.18) and 1.47 (1.01\u20132.15) for noncardiovascular disease/noncancer, and 1.29 (1.02\u20131.64) and 1.28 (1.03\u20131.60) for all causes in men and women, respectively. Long sleep duration of 10 hours or longer was associated with 1.5- to 2-fold increased mortality from total and ischemic stroke, total cardiovascular disease, noncardiovascular disease/noncancer, and all causes for men and women, compared with 7 hours of sleep in both sexes. There was no association between sleep duration and cancer mortality in either sex. Conclusions: Both short and long sleep duration were associated with increased mortality from cardiovascular disease, noncardiovascular disease/noncancer, and all causes for both sexes, yielding a U-shaped relationship with total mortality with a nadir at 7 hours of sleep. Citation: Ikehara S; Iso H; Date C; Kikuchi S; Watanabe Y; Wada Y; Inaba Y; Tamakoshi A. Association of sleep duration with mortality from cardiovascular disease and other causes for Japanese men and women: the JACC study. SLEEP 2009;32(3):259\u2013301."}
{"id": "MED-5031", "text": "Background Sleep quality is thought to be an important predictor of immunity and in turn susceptibility to the common cold. This article examines whether sleep duration and efficiency in the weeks preceding viral exposure are associated with cold susceptibility. Methods Participants were 153 healthy men and women volunteers, ages 21\u201355. For 14 consecutive days, they reported their sleep duration and sleep efficiency (percent of time in bed actually asleep) for the previous night, and whether they felt rested. Average scores for each sleep variable were calculated over the 14-day baseline. Subsequently, participants were administered nasal drops containing a rhinovirus, quarantined and monitored on the day before and for five days following exposure for development of a clinical cold (infection in the presence of objective signs of illness). Results There was a graded association with average sleep duration, with those with <7 hours sleep 2.94 times (CI[95%]=1.18\u20137.30) more likely to develop a cold than those with \u2265 8 hours. The association with sleep efficiency was also graded with those with < 92% efficiency 5.50 times (CI[95%]=2.08\u201314.48) more likely to develop a cold than those with efficiencies \u226598%. These relations could not be explained by differences in pre-challenge virus-specific antibody, demographics, season of the year, body mass, socioeconomic status, psychological variables or health practices. Percent of days feeling rested was not associated with colds. Conclusions Poorer sleep efficiency and shorter sleep duration in the weeks preceding an exposure to a rhinovirus were associated with lower resistance to illness."}
{"id": "MED-5032", "text": "The relation between the intake of certain food items thought to be precursors or inhibitors of N-nitroso compounds (NOC) and risk of leukemia was investigated in a case-control study among children from birth to age 10 years in Los Angeles County, California (United States). Cases were ascertained through a population-based tumor registry from 1980 to 1987. Controls were drawn from friends and by random-digit dialing. Interviews were obtained from 232 cases and 232 controls. Food items of principal interest were: breakfast meats (bacon, sausage, ham); luncheon meats (salami, pastrami, lunch meat, corned beef, bologna); hot dogs; oranges and orange juice; and grapefruit and grapefruit juice. We also asked about intake of apples and apple juice, regular and charcoal broiled meats, milk, coffee, and coke or cola drinks. Usual consumption frequencies were determined for both parents and the child. When the risks were adjusted for each other and other risk factors, the only persistent significant associations were for children's intake of hot dogs (odds ratio [OR] = 9.5, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.6-57.6 for 12 or more hot dogs per month, trend P = 0.01), and fathers' intake of hot dogs (OR = 11.0, CI = 1.2-98.7 for highest intake category, trend P = 0.01). There was no evidence that fruit intake provided protection. While these results are compatible with the experimental animal literature and the hypothesis that human NOC intake is associated with leukemia risk, given potential biases in the data, further study of this hypothesis with more focused and comprehensive epidemiologic studies is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-5033", "text": "This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5\u201310% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90\u201395% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25\u201330% are due to tobacco, as many as 30\u201335% are linked to diet, about 15\u201320% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we present evidence that inflammation is the link between the agents/factors that cause cancer and the agents that prevent it. In addition, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes."}
{"id": "MED-5034", "text": "The association between cured and broiled meat consumption by the mother during pregnancy and by the child was examined in relation to childhood cancer. Five meat groups (ham, bacon, or sausage; hot dogs; hamburgers; bologna, pastrami, corned beef, salami, or lunch meat; charcoal broiled foods) were assessed. Exposures among 234 cancer cases (including 56 acute lymphocytic leukemia [ALL], 45 brain tumor) and 206 controls selected by random-digit dialing in the Denver, Colorado (United States) standard metropolitan statistical area were compared, with adjustment for confounders. Maternal hot-dog consumption of one or more times per week was associated with childhood brain tumors (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.0-5.4). Among children, eating hamburgers one or more times per week was associated with risk of ALL (OR = 2.0, CI = 0.9-4.6) and eating hot dogs one or more times per week was associated with brain tumors (OR = 2.1, CI = 0.7-6.1). Among children, the combination of no vitamins and eating meats was associated more strongly with both ALL and brain cancer than either no vitamins or meat consumption alone, producing ORs of two to seven. The results linking hot dogs and brain tumors (replicating an earlier study) and the apparent synergism between no vitamins and meat consumption suggest a possible adverse effect of dietary nitrites and nitrosamines."}
{"id": "MED-5035", "text": "In this study, we examined the association between meat and fish intake and the risk of various cancers. Mailed questionnaires were completed by 19,732 incident, histologically confirmed cases of cancer of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast, ovary, prostate, testis, kidney, bladder, brain, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), and leukemia and 5,039 population controls between 1994 and 1997 in 8 Canadian provinces. Measurement included information on socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, and diet. A 69-item food frequency questionnaire provided data on eating habits 2 yr before data collection. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived through unconditional logistic regression. Total meat and processed meat were directly related to the risk of stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast (mainly postmenopausal), prostate, testis, kidney, bladder, and leukemia. Red meat was significantly associated with colon, lung (mainly in men), and bladder cancer. No relation was observed for cancer of the ovary, brain, and NHL. No consistent excess risk emerged for fish and poultry, which were inversely related to the risk of a number of cancer sites. These findings add further evidence that meat, specifically red and processed meat, plays an unfavorable role in the risk of several cancers. Fish and poultry appear to be favorable diet indicators."}
{"id": "MED-5037", "text": "Phenolic ingredients of an aqueous carob extract are well characterized and consist of mainly gallic acid (GA). In order to assess possible chemopreventive mechanisms of carob, which can be used as a cacao substitute, effects on expression of genes related to stress response and drug metabolism were studied using human colon cell lines of different transformation state (LT97 and HT29). Stress-related genes, namely catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD2), were induced by carob extract and GA in LT97 adenoma, but not in HT29 carcinoma cells. Although corresponding protein products and enzyme activities were not elevated, pretreatment with carob extract and GA for 24 h reduced DNA damage in cells challenged with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). In conclusion, carob extract and its major phenolic ingredient GA modulate gene expression and protect colon adenoma cells from genotoxic impact of H(2)O(2). Upregulation of stress-response genes could not be related to functional consequences."}
{"id": "MED-5038", "text": "Interest in the biological activities of cocoa polyphenols is increasing steadily. In fact, the high polyphenol content of cocoa, coupled with its widespread presence in many food items, render this food of particular interest from the nutritional and \"pharmacological\" viewpoints. This paper summarizes the new findings and developments regarding the effects of cocoa and chocolate consumption on human health as presented at the International Conference \"Chocolate, Lifestyle, and Health\" (Milan, Italy, March 2, 2007) regarding the effects of cocoa and chocolate consumption on human health."}
{"id": "MED-5039", "text": "Epidemiological data demonstrate that regular dietary intake of plant-derived foods and beverages reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Among many ingredients, cocoa might be an important mediator. Indeed, recent research demonstrates a beneficial effect of cocoa on blood pressure, insulin resistance, and vascular and platelet function. Although still debated, a range of potential mechanisms through which cocoa might exert its benefits on cardiovascular health have been proposed, including activation of nitric oxide and antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects. This review summarizes the available data on the cardiovascular effects of cocoa, outlines potential mechanisms involved in the response to cocoa, and highlights the potential clinical implications associated with its consumption."}
{"id": "MED-5040", "text": "BACKGROUND: Studies suggest cardioprotective benefits of dark chocolate containing cocoa. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the acute effects of solid dark chocolate and liquid cocoa intake on endothelial function and blood pressure in overweight adults. DESIGN: Randomized, placebo-controlled, single-blind crossover trial of 45 healthy adults [mean age: 53 y; mean body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 30]. In phase 1, subjects were randomly assigned to consume a solid dark chocolate bar (containing 22 g cocoa powder) or a cocoa-free placebo bar (containing 0 g cocoa powder). In phase 2, subjects were randomly assigned to consume sugar-free cocoa (containing 22 g cocoa powder), sugared cocoa (containing 22 g cocoa powder), or a placebo (containing 0 g cocoa powder). RESULTS: Solid dark chocolate and liquid cocoa ingestion improved endothelial function (measured as flow-mediated dilatation) compared with placebo (dark chocolate: 4.3 +/- 3.4% compared with -1.8 +/- 3.3%; P < 0.001; sugar-free and sugared cocoa: 5.7 +/- 2.6% and 2.0 +/- 1.8% compared with -1.5 +/- 2.8%; P < 0.001). Blood pressure decreased after the ingestion of dark chocolate and sugar-free cocoa compared with placebo (dark chocolate: systolic, -3.2 +/- 5.8 mm Hg compared with 2.7 +/- 6.6 mm Hg; P < 0.001; and diastolic, -1.4 +/- 3.9 mm Hg compared with 2.7 +/- 6.4 mm Hg; P = 0.01; sugar-free cocoa: systolic, -2.1 +/- 7.0 mm Hg compared with 3.2 +/- 5.6 mm Hg; P < 0.001; and diastolic: -1.2 +/- 8.7 mm Hg compared with 2.8 +/- 5.6 mm Hg; P = 0.014). Endothelial function improved significantly more with sugar-free than with regular cocoa (5.7 +/- 2.6% compared with 2.0 +/- 1.8%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The acute ingestion of both solid dark chocolate and liquid cocoa improved endothelial function and lowered blood pressure in overweight adults. Sugar content may attenuate these effects, and sugar-free preparations may augment them."}
{"id": "MED-5041", "text": "Substantial data suggest that flavonoid-rich food could help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. Cocoa is the richest source of flavonoids, but current processing reduces the content substantially. The Kuna living in the San Blas drink a flavanol-rich cocoa as their main beverage, contributing more than 900 mg/day and thus probably have the most flavonoid-rich diet of any population. We used diagnosis on death certificates to compare cause-specific death rates from year 2000 to 2004 in mainland and the San Blas islands where only Kuna live. Our hypothesis was that if the high flavanoid intake and consequent nitric oxide system activation were important the result would be a reduction in the frequency of ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and cancer \u2013 all nitric oxide sensitive processes. There were 77,375 deaths in mainland Panama and 558 deaths in the San Blas. In mainland Panama, as anticipated, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death (83.4 \u00b1 0.70 age adjusted deaths/100,000) and cancer was second (68.4 \u00b1 1.6). In contrast, the rate of CVD and cancer among island-dwelling Kuna was much lower (9.2 \u00b1 3.1) and (4.4 \u00b1 4.4) respectively. Similarly deaths due to diabetes mellitus were much more common in the mainland (24.1 \u00b1 0.74) than in the San Blas (6.6 \u00b1 1.94). This comparatively lower risk among Kuna in the San Blas from the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in much of the world, possibly reflects a very high flavanol intake and sustained nitric oxide synthesis activation. However, there are many risk factors and an observational study cannot provide definitive evidence."}
{"id": "MED-5042", "text": "The Kuna Indians who reside in an archipelago on the Caribbean Coast of Panama have very low blood pressure levels, live longer than other Panamanians, and have a reduced frequency of myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and cancer -- at least on their death certificates. One outstanding feature of their diet includes a very high intake of flavanol-rich cocoa. Flavonoids in cocoa activate nitric oxide synthesis in healthy humans. The possibility that the high flavanol intake protects the Kuna against high blood pressure, ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and cancer is sufficiently intriguing and sufficiently important that large, randomized controlled clinical trials should be pursued."}
{"id": "MED-5044", "text": "The anti-genotoxic effect of Ocimum sanctum L. extract was studied against the genotoxic effect induced by a synthetic progestin cyproterone acetate, on human lymphocytes using chromosomal aberrations, mitotic index, sister chromatid exchanges and replication index as a parameters. About 30 microM of cyproterone acetate was treated with O. sanctum L. infusion, at dosages of 1.075 x 10(-4), 2.125 x 10(-4) and 3.15 x 10(-4) g/ml of culture medium. A clear dose-dependent decrease in the genotoxic damage of cyproterone acetate was observed, suggesting a possible modulating role of the plant infusion. The results of the present study suggest that the plant infusion per se does not have genotoxic potential, but can modulate the genotoxicity of cyproterone acetate on human lymphocytes in vitro."}
{"id": "MED-5045", "text": "Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most widespread human pathogens, and plays major roles in chronic gastritis and gastric cancer. CD74 of gastric epithelial cells has recently been identified as an adhesion molecule to urease in H. pylori. In this study, we found that CD74 is highly expressed in a constitutive manner in NCI-N87 human gastric carcinoma cells at both the protein and mRNA levels as compared with Hs738St./Int fetal gastric cells. Subsequently, a novel cell-based ELISA able to rapidly screen the suppressive agents of CD74 expression was established. NCI-N87 cells were treated separately with 25 different food phytochemicals (4\u2013100\u00a0\u00b5M) for 48\u00a0h and subjected to our novel assay. From those results, a citrus coumarin, bergamottin, was indicated to be the most promising compound with an LC50/IC50 value greater than 7.1, followed by luteolin (>5.4), nobiletin (>5.3), and quercetin (>5.1). Our findings suggest that these CD74 suppressants are unique candidates for preventing H. pylori adhesion and subsequent infection with reasonable action mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-5048", "text": "Despite the continuing reports supporting the hepatoprotective effects of green tea against ethanol intoxication, there remain controversies regarding the active compound(s) and molecular mechanism. These issues were addressed in the present study using cultured HepG2 cells exposed to a lethal dose of ethanol. Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) was chosen as a marker of ethanol toxicity because it is widely used in clinics. When the cells were treated with ethanol at various concentrations, there was a dose-dependent increase of GGT activity in the culture media and loss of cell viability. Pretreatment of the cells with green tea extract attenuated the changes significantly. Among the green tea constituents, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) attenuated the ethanol cytotoxicity effectively, whereas L-theanine and caffeine had no effects. The ethanol cytotoxicity was also attenuated by alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor 4-methyl pyrazol and GGT inhibitor acivicin as well as by thiol modulators such as S-adenosyl-L-methionine, N-acetyl-L-cysteine and glutathione. EGCG failed to prevent the intracellular glutathione loss caused by ethanol, but it appeared to be a strong GGT inhibitor. Therefore the cytoprotective effects of green tea could be attributed to the inhibition of GGT activity by EGCG. This study suggests that GGT inhibitors including EGCG may provide a novel strategy for attenuating ethanol-induced liver damage."}
{"id": "MED-5052", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Habitual green tea consumption has long been associated with health benefits including chemoprevention and cardiovascular protection. This non-systematic literature review presents the clinical evidence to date. METHOD: A literature review of peer-reviewed articles on observational and interventional studies was conducted to include green tea, its extract or its purified polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Electronic databases searched included PubMed (1966-2009) and the Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2008). RESULTS: Observational studies are inconclusive on the benefits of habitual consumption of green tea in the prevention of most cancers. However, there are trends towards prevention in breast and prostate cancers. Interventional studies have demonstrated reduction in relapses following surgical resection in colorectal adenomas and increased survival rates in epithelial ovarian cancer. Observational studies indicate that green tea may provide protection against hypertension and reduce the risk for stroke, and interventional studies are providing biochemical and physiological evidence. CONCLUSION: Although the overall clinical evidence is inconclusive, habitual green tea consumption may be providing some level of chemoprevention in prostate and breast cancer. Green tea may also attenuate the risk factors association with the development of atherosclerosis thus reducing the incidence of cardiovascular events and stoke."}
{"id": "MED-5054", "text": "Since their discovery, the safety of artificial sweeteners has been controversial. Artificial sweeteners provide the sweetness of sugar without the calories. As public health attention has turned to reversing the obesity epidemic in the United States, more individuals of all ages are choosing to use these products. These choices may be beneficial for those who cannot tolerate sugar in their diets (e.g., diabetics). However, scientists disagree about the relationships between sweeteners and lymphomas, leukemias, cancers of the bladder and brain, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, and systemic lupus. Recently these substances have received increased attention due to their effects on glucose regulation. Occupational health nurses need accurate and timely information to counsel individuals regarding the use of these substances. This article provides an overview of types of artificial sweeteners, sweetener history, chemical structure, biological fate, physiological effects, published animal and human studies, and current standards and regulations."}
{"id": "MED-5056", "text": "BACKGROUND: Oxidative damage is implicated in the etiology of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other degenerative disorders. Recent nutritional research has focused on the antioxidant potential of foods, while current dietary recommendations are to increase the intake of antioxidant-rich foods rather than supplement specific nutrients. Many alternatives to refined sugar are available, including raw cane sugar, plant saps/syrups (eg, maple syrup, agave nectar), molasses, honey, and fruit sugars (eg, date sugar). Unrefined sweeteners were hypothesized to contain higher levels of antioxidants, similar to the contrast between whole and refined grain products. OBJECTIVE: To compare the total antioxidant content of natural sweeteners as alternatives to refined sugar. DESIGN: The ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay was used to estimate total antioxidant capacity. Major brands of 12 types of sweeteners as well as refined white sugar and corn syrup were sampled from retail outlets in the United States. RESULTS: Substantial differences in total antioxidant content of different sweeteners were found. Refined sugar, corn syrup, and agave nectar contained minimal antioxidant activity (<0.01 mmol FRAP/100 g); raw cane sugar had a higher FRAP (0.1 mmol/100 g). Dark and blackstrap molasses had the highest FRAP (4.6 to 4.9 mmol/100 g), while maple syrup, brown sugar, and honey showed intermediate antioxidant capacity (0.2 to 0.7 mmol FRAP/100 g). Based on an average intake of 130 g/day refined sugars and the antioxidant activity measured in typical diets, substituting alternative sweeteners could increase antioxidant intake an average of 2.6 mmol/day, similar to the amount found in a serving of berries or nuts. CONCLUSION: Many readily available alternatives to refined sugar offer the potential benefit of antioxidant activity."}
{"id": "MED-5058", "text": "Various mechanisms by which sucrose could influence behavior are reviewed. Firstly there is food intolerance. There are dozens of foods to which an adverse reaction has been demonstrated, although a reaction to sucrose is less frequent than many other foods. A second possible mechanism is hypoglycemia. There is evidence that a tendency to develop low blood glucose levels, but higher than those that can be described clinically as hypoglycemic, is associated with irritability and violence. However, sucrose is not the predominant cause of swings in blood glucose levels. Thirdly, the role of sucrose intake on micro-nutrient status has been considered as studies have found that micro-nutrient supplementation decreased anti-social behavior. Micro-nutrient intake is more closely associated with the total energy rather than sucrose intake; typically the amount of sucrose in the diet does not lead to micro-nutrient deficiency. In fact meta-analysis of well designed studies that have examined the impact of sucrose on the behavior of children produced no evidence that it has an adverse influence."}
{"id": "MED-5059", "text": "This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, with a view to recommending acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation and assessment of intake of food additives. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and intake data for certain food additives: branching glycosyltransferase from Rhodothermus obamensis expressed in Bacillus subtilis, cassia gum, cyclamic acid and its salts (dietary exposure assessment), cyclotetraglucose and cyclotetraglucose syrup, ferrous ammonium phosphate, glycerol ester of gum rosin, glycerol ester of tall oil rosin, lycopene from all sources, lycopene extract from tomato, mineral oil (low and medium viscosity) class II and class III, octenyl succinic acid modified gum arabic, sodium hydrogen sulfate and sucrose oligoesters type I and type II. Specifications for the following food additives were revised: diacetyltartaric acid and fatty acid esters of glycerol, ethyl lauroyl arginate, glycerol ester of wood rosin, nisin preparation, nitrous oxide, pectins, starch sodium octenyl succinate, tannic acid, titanium dioxide and triethyl citrate. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for intakes and toxicological evaluations of the food additives considered."}
{"id": "MED-5060", "text": "Objective To assess the association between animal exposures and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Methods Exposure data were collected from 1,591 cases and 2,515 controls during in-person interviews in a population-based case-control study of NHL in the San Francisco Bay Area. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were adjusted for potential confounders. Results Pet owners had a reduced risk of NHL (OR=0.71,CI=0.52 \u20130.97) and diffuse large-cell and immunoblastic large-cell (DLCL;OR=0.58,CI=0.39 \u20130.87) compared with those who never had owned a pet. Ever having owned dogs and/or cats was associated with reduced risk of all NHL (OR=0.71,CI=0.54\u20130.94) and of DLCL (OR=0.60,CI=0.42\u20130.86). Longer duration of cat ownership (p-trend=0.008), dog ownership (p-trend=0.04), and dog and/or cat ownership (p-trend =0.004) was inversely associated with risk of NHL. Ownership of pets other than cats and dogs was associated with a reduced risk of NHL (OR=0.64,CI=0.55\u20130.74) and DLCL (OR=0.58,CI=0.47 \u20130.71). Exposure to cattle for \u22655 years was associated with an increased risk of NHL (OR=1.6,CI=1.0\u20132.5) as was exposure to pigs for all NHL (OR=1.8,CI=1.2\u20132.6) and for DLCL (OR=2.0,CI=1.2\u20133.4). Conclusions The association between animal exposure and NHL warrants further investigation in pooled analyses."}
{"id": "MED-5062", "text": "BACKGROUND: We undertook a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover trial to test whether intake of artificial food colour and additives (AFCA) affected childhood behaviour. METHODS: 153 3-year-old and 144 8/9-year-old children were included in the study. The challenge drink contained sodium benzoate and one of two AFCA mixes (A or B) or a placebo mix. The main outcome measure was a global hyperactivity aggregate (GHA), based on aggregated z-scores of observed behaviours and ratings by teachers and parents, plus, for 8/9-year-old children, a computerised test of attention. This clinical trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials (registration number ISRCTN74481308). Analysis was per protocol. FINDINGS: 16 3-year-old children and 14 8/9-year-old children did not complete the study, for reasons unrelated to childhood behaviour. Mix A had a significantly adverse effect compared with placebo in GHA for all 3-year-old children (effect size 0.20 [95% CI 0.01-0.39], p=0.044) but not mix B versus placebo. This result persisted when analysis was restricted to 3-year-old children who consumed more than 85% of juice and had no missing data (0.32 [0.05-0.60], p=0.02). 8/9-year-old children showed a significantly adverse effect when given mix A (0.12 [0.02-0.23], p=0.023) or mix B (0.17 [0.07-0.28], p=0.001) when analysis was restricted to those children consuming at least 85% of drinks with no missing data. INTERPRETATION: Artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population."}
{"id": "MED-5063", "text": "Evidence supports a trial period of eliminating colourings and preservatives from the diet"}
{"id": "MED-5064", "text": "To find out if the cancer protective effects of Brussels sprouts seen in epidemiological studies are due to protection against DNA-damage, an intervention trial was conducted in which the impact of vegetable consumption on DNA-stability was monitored in lymphocytes with the comet assay. After consumption of the sprouts (300 g/p/d, n = 8), a reduction of DNA-migration (97%) induced by the heterocyclic aromatic amine 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo-[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) was observed whereas no effect was seen with 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]-indole (Trp-P-2). This effect protection may be due to inhibition of sulfotransferase 1A1, which plays a key role in the activation of PhIP. In addition, a decrease of the endogenous formation of oxidized bases was observed and DNA-damage caused by hydrogen peroxide was significantly (39%) lower after the intervention. These effects could not be explained by induction of antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, but in vitro experiments indicate that sprouts contain compounds, which act as direct scavengers of reactive oxygen species. Serum vitamin C levels were increased by 37% after sprout consumption but no correlations were seen between prevention of DNA-damage and individual alterations of the vitamin levels. Our study shows for the first time that sprout consumption leads to inhibition of sulfotransferases in humans and to protection against PhIP and oxidative DNA-damage."}
{"id": "MED-5065", "text": "Anthocyanins, belonging to the flavonoid family of phytochemicals, have received attention as agents that may have potential in preventing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. In the present study, an anthocyanin-rich extract from Concord grapes [referred to as Concord grape extract (CGE)] and the anthocyanin delphinidin were evaluated for their capacity to inhibit DNA adduct formation due to the environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BP) in MCF-10F cells, a noncancerous, immortalized human breast epithelial cell line. CGE at 10 and 20 microg/mL and delphinidin at 0.6 microM concentrations significantly inhibited BP-DNA adduct formation. This was associated with a significant increase in activities of the phase II detoxification enzymes glutathione S-transferase and NAD(P)H:quinone reductase 1. In addition, these grape components also suppressed reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, but did not induce antioxidant response element-dependent transcription. Taken together, these data suggest that CGE and a component grape anthocyanin have breast cancer chemopreventive potential due in part to their capacity to block carcinogen-DNA adduct formation, modulate activities of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes, and suppress ROS in these noncancerous human breast cells."}
{"id": "MED-5066", "text": "Context Evidence is lacking that a dietary pattern high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in total fat can influence breast cancer recurrence or survival. Objective To assess whether a major increase in vegetable, fruit, and fiber intake and a decrease in dietary fat intake reduces the risk of recurrent and new primary breast cancer and all-cause mortality among women with previously treated early stage breast cancer. Design, Setting, and Participants Multi-institutional randomized controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer who were 18 to 70 years old at diagnosis. Women were enrolled between 1995 and 2000 and followed up through June 1, 2006. Intervention The intervention group (n=1537) was randomly assigned to receive a telephone counseling program supplemented with cooking classes and newsletters that promoted daily targets of 5 vegetable servings plus 16 oz of vegetable juice; 3 fruit servings; 30 g of fiber; and 15% to 20% of energy intake from fat. The comparison group (n=1551) was provided with print materials describing the \"5-A-Day\" dietary guidelines. Main Outcome Measures Invasive breast cancer event (recurrence or new primary) or death from any cause. Results From comparable dietary patterns at baseline, a conservative imputation analysis showed that the intervention group achieved and maintained the following statistically significant differences vs the comparison group through 4 years: servings of vegetables, +65%; fruit, +25%; fiber, +30%, and energy intake from fat, \u221213%. Plasma carotenoid concentrations validated changes in fruit and vegetable intake. Throughout the study, women in both groups received similar clinical care. Over the mean 7.3-year follow-up, 256 women in the intervention group (16.7%) vs 262 in the comparison group (16.9%) experienced an invasive breast cancer event (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.80\u20131.14; P=.63), and 155 intervention group women (10.1%) vs 160 comparison group women (10.3%) died (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.72\u20131.15; P=.43). No significant interactions were observed between diet group and baseline demographics, characteristics of the original tumor, baseline dietary pattern, or breast cancer treatment. Conclusion Among survivors of early stage breast cancer, adoption of a diet that was very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat did not reduce additional breast cancer events or mortality during a 7.3-year follow-up period. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00003787"}
{"id": "MED-5069", "text": "It is now well known to consumers around the world that certain fruits and vegetables can help prevent or treat chronic human diseases. But, what many people don't fully appreciate is that it is not a single component in these plant-derived foods, but rather complex mixtures of interacting natural chemicals, that produce such powerful health-protective effects. These natural components accumulate simultaneously together in a plant, and provide a multifaceted defensive strategy for both the plant, and the human consumer. In order to investigate the strength of natural chemical cooperation in highly-pigmented, flavonoid-rich functional foods, our lab has relied on analysis of both whole fruits, and continuous, reliable plant cell culture production systems which accumulate anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins in high concentrations. Successive rounds of relatively gentle, rapid, and large-volume fractionations are linked to bioassay of complex to simple mixtures and semi-purified compounds. By means of this strategy, additive interactions or synergies between related compounds in health maintenance can be sorted out. Interestingly, phytochemical interactions between the same classes of compounds intensify the efficacy of flavonoid-rich fruits against multiple, not necessarily discrete, human disease conditions including CVD, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and others."}
{"id": "MED-5070", "text": "Polyphenol-rich berry extracts were screened for their antiproliferative effectiveness using human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells grown in microtiter plates. Rowan berry, raspberry, lingonberry, cloudberry, arctic bramble, and strawberry extracts were effective but blueberry, sea buckthorn, and pomegranate extracts were considerably less effective. The most effective extracts (strawberry > arctic bramble > cloudberry > lingonberry) gave EC 50 values in the range of 25-40 microg/(mL of phenols). These extracts were also effective against human colon cancer (CaCo-2) cells, which were generally more sensitive at low concentrations but conversely less sensitive at higher concentrations. The strawberry, cloudberry, arctic bramble, and the raspberry extracts share common polyphenol constituents, especially the ellagitannins, which have been shown to be effective antiproliferative agents. However, the components underlying the effectiveness of the lingonberry extracts are not known. The lingonberry extracts were fractionated into anthocyanin-rich and tannin-rich fractions by chromatography on Sephadex LH-20. The anthocyanin-rich fraction was considerably less effective than the original extract, whereas the antiproliferative activity was retained in the tannin-rich fraction. The polyphenolic composition of the lingonberry extract was assessed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and was similar to previous reports. The tannin-rich fraction was almost entirely composed of procyanidins of linkage type A and B. Therefore, the antiproliferative activity of lingonberry was caused predominantly by procyanidins."}
{"id": "MED-5071", "text": "Dietary intervention with anthocyanins may confer benefits in brain function, including vision. Research to date indicates that animals have only a limited capacity to absorb anthocyanins, compared to other types of flavonoids. Pigs, which are a suitable model for human digestive absorption, were used to examine the deposition of anthocyanins in tissues including the liver, eye, and brain tissue. Pigs were fed diets supplemented with 0, 1, 2, or 4% w/w blueberries ( Vaccinium corymbosum L. 'Jersey') for 4 weeks. Prior to euthanasia, pigs were fasted for 18-21 h. Although no anthocyanins were detected in the plasma or urine of the fasted animals, intact anthocyanins were detected in all tissues where they were sought. LC-MS/MS results are presented for the relative concentration of 11 intact anthocyanins in the liver, eye, cortex, and cerebellum. The results suggest that anthocyanins can accumulate in tissues, including tissues beyond the blood-brain barrier."}
{"id": "MED-5072", "text": "Antioxidant-rich diets are associated with reduced asthma prevalence. However, direct evidence that altering intake of antioxidant-rich foods affects asthma is lacking. The objective was to investigate changes in asthma and airway inflammation resulting from a low antioxidant diet and subsequent use of lycopene-rich treatments. Asthmatic adults (n=32) consumed a low antioxidant diet for 10 days, then commenced a randomized, cross-over trial involving 3 x 7 day treatment arms (placebo, tomato extract (45 mg lycopene/day) and tomato juice (45 mg lycopene/day)). With consumption of a low antioxidant diet, plasma carotenoid concentrations decreased, Asthma Control Score worsened, %FEV(1) and %FVC decreased and %sputum neutrophils increased. Treatment with both tomato juice and extract reduced airway neutrophil influx. Treatment with tomato extract also reduced sputum neutrophil elastase activity. In conclusion, dietary antioxidant consumption modifies clinical asthma outcomes. Changing dietary antioxidant intake may be contributing to rising asthma prevalence. Lycopene-rich supplements should be further investigated as a therapeutic intervention."}
{"id": "MED-5075", "text": "The isothiocyanate, sulforaphane, has been implicated in the cancer-protective effects of brassica vegetables. When broccoli is consumed, sulforaphane is released from hydrolysis of glucoraphanin by plant myrosinase and/or colonic microbiota. The influence of meal composition and broccoli-cooking duration on isothiocyanate uptake was investigated in a designed experiment. Volunteers (n 12) were each offered a meal, with or without beef, together with 150 g lightly cooked broccoli (microwaved 2.0 min) or fully cooked broccoli (microwaved 5.5 min), or a broccoli seed extract. They received 3 g mustard containing pre-formed allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) with each meal. Urinary output of allyl (AMA) and sulforaphane (SFMA) mercapturic acids, the biomarkers of production of AITC and sulforaphane respectively, were measured for 24 h after meal consumption. The estimated yield of sulforaphane in vivo was about 3-fold higher after consumption of lightly cooked broccoli than fully cooked broccoli. Absorption of AITC from mustard was about 1.3-fold higher following consumption of the meat-containing meal compared with the non meat-containing alternative. The meal matrix did not significantly influence the hydrolysis of glucoraphanin and its excretion as SFMA from broccoli. Isothiocyanates may interact with the meal matrix to a greater extent if they are ingested pre-formed rather than after their production from hydrolysis of glucosinolates in vivo. The main influence on the production of isothiocyanates in vivo is the way in which brassica vegetables are cooked, rather than the effect of the meal matrix."}
{"id": "MED-5076", "text": "The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of three common cooking practices (i.e., boiling, steaming, and frying) on phytochemical contents (i.e., polyphenols, carotenoids, glucosinolates, and ascorbic acid), total antioxidant capacities (TAC), as measured by three different analytical assays [Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)] and physicochemical parameters of three vegetables (carrots, courgettes, and broccoli). Water-cooking treatments better preserved the antioxidant compounds, particularly carotenoids, in all vegetables analyzed and ascorbic acid in carrots and courgettes. Steamed vegetables maintained a better texture quality than boiled ones, whereas boiled vegetables showed limited discoloration. Fried vegetables showed the lowest degree of softening, even though antioxidant compounds were less retained. An overall increase of TEAC, FRAP, and TRAP values was observed in all cooked vegetables, probably because of matrix softening and increased extractability of compounds, which could be partially converted into more antioxidant chemical species. Our findings defy the notion that processed vegetables offer lower nutritional quality and also suggest that for each vegetable a cooking method would be preferred to preserve the nutritional and physicochemical qualities."}
{"id": "MED-5077", "text": "Due to the increased demand and consumption of bottled water in the United States, there has been a growing concern about the quality of this product. Retail outlets sell local as well as imported bottled water to consumers. Three bottles for each of 35 different brands of bottled water were randomly collected from local grocery stores in the greater Houston area. Out of the 35 different brands, 16 were designated as spring water, 11 were purified and/or fortified tap water, 5 were carbonated water and 3 were distilled water. Chemical, microbial and physical properties of all samples were evaluated including pH, conductivity, bacteria counts, anion concentration, trace metal concentration, heavy metal and volatile organics concentration were determined in all samples. Inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICPMS) was used for elemental analysis, gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GCECD) as well as gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) were used for analysis of volatile organics, ion chromatography (IC) and selective ion electrodes were used for the analysis of anions. Bacterial identification was performed using the Biolog software (Biolog, Inc., Hayward, Ca, USA). The results obtained were compared with guidelines of drinking water recommended by the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standard. The majority of the analyzed chemicals were below their respective drinking water standards for maximum admissible concentrations (MAC). Volatile organic chemicals were found to be below detection limits. Four of the 35 brands of the bottled water samples analyzed were found to be contaminated with bacteria."}
{"id": "MED-5078", "text": "In this study, solid fermentation of steamed black soybean with various GRAS (Generally recognized as safe) filamentious-fungi including Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus oryzae BCRC 30222, Aspergillus sojae BCRC 30103, Rhizopus azygosporus BCRC 31158 and Rhizopus sp. No. 2 was performed. Mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of the methanol extracts of unfermented and fermented steamed black soybeans against 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide (4-NQO), a direct mutagen and Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), an indirect mutagen, on Salmonella Typhimurium TA100 and TA 98, were examined. The methanol extracts of unfermented and fermented steamed black soybeans show no mutagenic activity for either test strains at the doses tested. The extracts inhibited mutagenesis by either 4-NQO or B[a]P in S. Typhimurium TA100 and TA98. Fermentation with fungi also enhanced the antimutagenic effect of black soybean while the antimutagenic effect of the fermented black soybeans extract varied with the starter organism, mutagen, and test strain of S. Typhimurium examined. Generally, the extracts of A. awamori-fermented black soybean exhibited the highest antimutagenic effect. With strain TA100, the inhibitory effects of 5.0 mg of A. awamori-fermented black soybean extract per plate on the mutagenic effects of 4-NQO and B[a]P were 92% and 89%, respectively, while the corresponding rates for extract of unfermented were 41% and 63%, respectively. With strain 98, the inhibition rates were 94 and 81% for the fermented bean extract and 58% and 44% for the unfermented bean extracts. Testing of extracts prepared from black soybean by A. awamori at temperatures 25, 30 and 35 degrees C and for times of 1-5 days revealed that, generally, the extract prepared from beans fermented at 30 degrees C for 3 days exhibited the greatest inhibition against the mutagenic effects of 4-NQO and B[a]P."}
{"id": "MED-5079", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine effects of daily intake of 1/2 cup pinto beans, black-eyed peas or carrots (placebo) on risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) in free-living, mildly insulin resistant adults over an 8 week period. METHODS: Randomized, crossover 3x3 block design. Sixteen participants (7 men, 9 women) received each treatment for eight-weeks with two-week washouts. Fasting blood samples collected at beginning and end of periods were analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerols, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, insulin, glucose, and hemoglobin A1c. RESULTS: A significant treatment-by-time effect impacted serum TC (p = 0.026) and LDL (p = 0.033) after eight weeks. Paired t-tests indicated that pinto beans were responsible for this effect (p = 0.003; p = 0.008). Mean change of serum TC for pinto bean, black-eyed pea and placebo were -19 +/- 5, 2.5 +/- 6, and 1 +/- 5 mg/dL, respectively (p = 0.011). Mean change of serum LDL-C for pinto bean, black-eyed pea and placebo were -14 +/- 4, 4 +/- 5, and 1 +/- 4 mg/dL, in that order (p = 0.013). Pinto beans differed significantly from placebo (p = 0.021). No significant differences were seen with other blood concentrations across the 3 treatment periods. CONCLUSIONS: Pinto bean intake should be encouraged to lower serum TC and LDL-C, thereby reducing risk for CHD."}
{"id": "MED-5080", "text": "Bioactivity-guided fractionation of black bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seed coats was used to determine the chemical identity of bioactive constituents, which showed potent antiproliferative and antioxidative activities. Twenty-four compounds including 12 triterpenoids, 7 flavonoids, and 5 other phytochemicals were isolated using gradient solvent fractionation, silica gel and ODS columns, and semipreparative and preparative HPLC. Their chemical structures were identified using MS, NMR, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Antiproliferative activities of isolated compounds against Caco-2 human colon cancer cells, HepG2 human liver cancer cells, and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were evaluated. Among the compounds isolated, compounds 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, and 20 showed potent inhibitory activities against the proliferation of HepG2 cells, with EC50 values of 238.8 +/- 19.2, 120.6 +/- 7.3, 94.4 +/- 3.4, 98.9 +/- 3.3, 32.1 +/- 6.3, 306.4 +/- 131.3, 156.9 +/- 11.8, 410.3 +/- 17.4, 435.9 +/- 47.7, 202.3 +/- 42.9, and 779.3 +/- 37.4 microM, respectively. Compounds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, and 20 showed potent antiproliferative activities against Caco-2 cell growth, with EC50 values of 179.9 +/- 16.9, 128.8 +/- 11.6, 197.8 +/- 4.2, 105.9 +/- 4.7, 13.9 +/- 2.8, 35.1 +/- 2.9, 31.2 +/- 0.5, 71.1 +/- 11.9, 40.8 +/- 4.1, 55.7 +/- 8.1, 299.8 +/- 17.3, 533.3 +/- 126.0, 291.2 +/- 1.0, and 717.2 +/- 104.8 microM, respectively. Compounds 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 19, 20 showed potent antiproliferative activities against MCF-7 cell growth in a dose-dependent manner, with EC50 values of 129.4 +/- 9.0, 79.5 +/- 1.0, 140.1 +/- 31.8, 119.0 +/- 7.2, 84.6 +/- 1.7, 186.6 +/- 21.1, and 1308 +/- 69.9 microM, respectively. Six flavonoids (compounds 14-19) showed potent antioxidant activity. These results showed the phytochemical extracts of black bean seed coats have potent antioxidant and antiproliferative activities."}
{"id": "MED-5081", "text": "Background Raisins are a significant source of dietary fiber and polyphenols, which may reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by affecting lipoprotein metabolism and inflammation. Walking represents a low intensity exercise intervention that may also reduce CVD risk. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of consuming raisins, increasing steps walked, or a combination of these interventions on blood pressure, plasma lipids, glucose, insulin and inflammatory cytokines. Results Thirty-four men and postmenopausal women were matched for weight and gender and randomly assigned to consume 1 cup raisins/d (RAISIN), increase the amount of steps walked/d (WALK) or a combination of both interventions (RAISINS + WALK). The subjects completed a 2 wk run-in period, followed by a 6 wk intervention. Systolic blood pressure was reduced for all subjects (P = 0.008). Plasma total cholesterol was decreased by 9.4% for all subjects (P < 0.005), which was explained by a 13.7% reduction in plasma LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) (P < 0.001). Plasma triglycerides (TG) concentrations were decreased by 19.5% for WALK (P < 0.05 for group effect). Plasma TNF-\u03b1 was decreased from 3.5 ng/L to 2.1 ng/L for RAISIN (P < 0.025 for time and group \u00d7 time effect). All subjects had a reduction in plasma sICAM-1 (P < 0.01). Conclusion This research shows that simple lifestyle modifications such as adding raisins to the diet or increasing steps walked have distinct beneficial effects on CVD risk."}
{"id": "MED-5082", "text": "Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in Western countries. The World Health Organisation identifies diet as a critical risk factor in the development and progression of this disease and the protective role of high levels of fruit and vegetable consumption. Several studies have shown that apples contain several phenolic compounds that are potent anti-oxidants in humans. However, little is known about other beneficial properties of apple phenolics in cancer. We have used the HT29, HT115 and CaCo-2 cell lines as in vitro models to examine the effect of apple phenolics (0.01-0.1% apple extract) on key stages of colorectal carcinogenesis, namely; DNA damage (Comet assay), colonic barrier function (TER assay), cell cycle progression (DNA content assay) and invasion (Matrigel assay). Our results indicate that a crude extract of apple phenolics can protect against DNA damage, improve barrier function and inhibit invasion (p<0.05). The anti-invasive effects of the extract were enhanced with twenty-four hour pretreatment of cells (p<0.05). We have shown that a crude apple extract from waste, rich in phenolic compounds, beneficially influences key stages of carcinogenesis in colon cells in vitro."}
{"id": "MED-5083", "text": "A predominantly plant-based diet reduces the risk for development of several chronic diseases. It is often assumed that antioxidants contribute to this protection, but results from intervention trials with single antioxidants administered as supplements quite consistently do not support any benefit. Because dietary plants contain several hundred different antioxidants, it would be useful to know the total concentration of electron-donating antioxidants (i.e., reductants) in individual items. Such data might be useful in the identification of the most beneficial dietary plants. We have assessed systematically total antioxidants in a variety of dietary plants used worldwide, including various fruits, berries, vegetables, cereals, nuts and pulses. When possible, we analyzed three or more samples of dietary plants from three different geographic regions in the world. Total antioxidants was assessed by the reduction of Fe(3+) to Fe(2+) (i.e., the FRAP assay), which occurred rapidly with all reductants with half-reaction reduction potentials above that of Fe(3+)/Fe(2+). The values, therefore, expressed the corresponding concentration of electron-donating antioxidants. Our results demonstrated that there is more than a 1000-fold difference among total antioxidants in various dietary plants. Plants that contain most antioxidants included members of several families, such as Rosaceae (dog rose, sour cherry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry), Empetraceae (crowberry), Ericaceae (blueberry), Grossulariaceae (black currant), Juglandaceae (walnut), Asteraceae (sunflower seed), Punicaceae (pomegranate) and Zingiberaceae (ginger). In a Norwegian diet, fruits, berries and cereals contributed 43.6%, 27.1% and 11.7%, respectively, of the total intake of plant antioxidants. Vegetables contributed only 8.9%. The systematic analysis presented here will facilitate research into the nutritional role of the combined effect of antioxidants in dietary plants."}
{"id": "MED-5084", "text": "We assessed the contribution of culinary and medicinal herbs to the total intake of dietary antioxidants. Our results demonstrate that there is more than a 1000-fold difference among antioxidant concentrations of various herbs. Of the dried culinary herbs tested, oregano, sage, peppermint, garden thyme, lemon balm, clove, allspice and cinnamon as well as the Chinese medicinal herbs Cinnamomi cortex and Scutellariae radix all contained very high concentrations of antioxidants (i.e., >75 mmol/100 g). In a normal diet, intake of herbs may therefore contribute significantly to the total intake of plant antioxidants, and be an even better source of dietary antioxidants than many other food groups such as fruits, berries, cereals and vegetables. In addition, the herbal drug, Stronger Neo-Minophagen C, a glycyrrhizin preparation used as an intravenous injection for the treatment of chronic hepatitis, boosts total antioxidant intake. It is tempting to speculate that several of the effects due to these herbs are mediated by their antioxidant activities."}
{"id": "MED-5085", "text": "In this study, the adhesion factors examined were time between frying and coating, surface oil content, chip temperature, oil composition, NaCl size, NaCl shape, and electrostatic coating. Three different surface oil content potato chips, high, low, and no, were produced. Oils used were soybean, olive, corn, peanut, and coconut. After frying, chips were coated immediately, after 1 d, and after 1 mo. NaCl crystals of 5 different particle sizes (24.7, 123, 259, 291, and 388 microm) were coated both electrostatically and nonelectrostatically. Adhesion of cubic, dendritic, and flake crystals was examined. Chips were coated at different temperatures. Chips with high surface oil had the highest adhesion of salt, making surface oil content the most important factor. Decreasing chip temperature decreased surface oil and adhesion. Increasing time between frying and coating reduced adhesion for low surface oil chips, but did not affect high and no surface oil chips. Changing oil composition did not affect adhesion. Increasing salt size decreased adhesion. Salt size had a greater effect on chips with lower surface oil content. When there were significant differences, cubic crystals gave the best adhesion followed by flake crystals then dendritic crystals. For high and low surface oil chips, electrostatic coating did not change adhesion of small size crystals but decreased adhesion of large salts. For no surface oil content chips, electrostatic coating improved adhesion for small salt sizes but did not affect adhesion of large crystals."}
{"id": "MED-5086", "text": "BACKGROUND: Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, was detected in various heat-treated carbohydrate-rich foods in 2002. The few epidemiologic studies done thus far have not shown a relationship with cancer. Our aim was to investigate the association between acrylamide intake and endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer risk. METHODS: The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer includes 62,573 women, aged 55-69 years. At baseline (1986), a random subcohort of 2,589 women was selected using a case cohort analysis approach for analysis. The acrylamide intake of subcohort members and cases was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire and was based on chemical analysis of all relevant Dutch foods. Subgroup analyses were done for never-smokers to eliminate the influence of smoking; an important source of acrylamide. RESULTS: After 11.3 years of follow-up, 327, 300, and 1,835 cases of endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer, respectively, were documented. Compared with the lowest quintile of acrylamide intake (mean intake, 8.9 mug/day), multivariable-adjusted hazard rate ratios (HR) for endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer in the highest quintile (mean intake, 40.2 mug/day) were 1.29 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.81-2.07; P(trend)=0.18], 1.78 (95% CI, 1.10-2.88; P(trend)=0.02), and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.73-1.19; P(trend)=0.79), respectively. For never-smokers, the corresponding HRs were 1.99 (95% CI, 1.12-3.52; P(trend)=0.03), 2.22 (95% CI, 1.20-4.08; P(trend)=0.01), and 1.10 (95% CI, 0.80-1.52; P(trend)=0.55). CONCLUSIONS: We observed increased risks of postmenopausal endometrial and ovarian cancer with increasing dietary acrylamide intake, particularly among never-smokers. Risk of breast cancer was not associated with acrylamide intake."}
{"id": "MED-5087", "text": "Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, is formed in several foods during high-temperature processing. So far, epidemiological studies have not shown any association between human cancer risk and dietary exposure to acrylamide. The purpose of this study was to conduct a nested case control study within a prospective cohort study on the association between breast cancer and exposure to acrylamide using biomarkers. N-terminal hemoglobin adduct levels of acrylamide and its genotoxic metabolite, glycidamide in red blood cells were analyzed (by LC/MS/MS) as biomarkers of exposure on 374 breast cancer cases and 374 controls from a cohort of postmenopausal women. The adduct levels of acrylamide and glycidamide were similar in cases and controls, with smokers having much higher levels (approximately 3 times) than nonsmokers. No association was seen between acrylamide-hemoglobin levels and breast cancer risk neither unadjusted nor adjusted for the potential confounders HRT duration, parity, BMI, alcohol intake and education. After adjustment for smoking behavior, however, a positive association was seen between acrylamide-hemoglobin levels and estrogen receptor positive breast cancer with an estimated incidence rate ratio (95% CI) of 2.7 (1.1-6.6) per 10-fold increase in acrylamide-hemoglobin level. A weak association between glycidamide hemoglobin levels and incidence of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer was also found, this association, however, entirely disappeared when acrylamide and glycidamide hemoglobin levels were mutually adjusted. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-5088", "text": "Potato products contain high amounts of acrylamide, which sometimes exceeds the concentration of 1 mg/L. However, many strategies for acrylamide reduction in potato products are possible. In this work, the different approaches for reducing acrylamide formation have been reviewed, keeping in mind that in the application of strategies for acrylamide formation, the main criteria to be maintained are the overall organoleptic and nutritional qualities of the final product."}
{"id": "MED-5089", "text": "BACKGROUND: Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, was recently detected in various heat-treated carbohydrate-rich foods. Epidemiologic studies on the relation with cancer have been few and largely negative. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to prospectively examine the association between dietary acrylamide intake and renal cell, bladder, and prostate cancers. DESIGN: The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer includes 120,852 men and women aged 55-69 y. At baseline (1986), a random subcohort of 5000 participants was selected for a case-cohort analysis approach using Cox proportional hazards analysis. Acrylamide intake was assessed with a food-frequency questionnaire at baseline and was based on chemical analysis of all relevant Dutch foods. RESULTS: After 13.3 y of follow-up, 339, 1210, and 2246 cases of renal cell, bladder, and prostate cancer, respectively, were available for analysis. Compared with the lowest quintile of acrylamide intake (mean intake: 9.5 microg/d), multivariable-adjusted hazard rates for renal cell, bladder, and prostate cancer in the highest quintile (mean intake: 40.8 microg/d) were 1.59 (95% CI: 1.09, 2.30; P for trend = 0.04), 0.91 (95% CI: 0.73, 1.15; P for trend = 0.60), and 1.06 (95% CI: 0.87, 1.30; P for trend = 0.69), respectively. There was an inverse nonsignificant trend for advanced prostate cancer in never smokers. CONCLUSIONS: We found some indications for a positive association between dietary acrylamide and renal cell cancer risk. There were no positive associations with bladder and prostate cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-5090", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between the prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders and consumption of meat and other foods among participants in the Adventist Health Study. METHODS: Unconditional logistic regression analysis is used to examine cross-sectional associations, adjusting for the effects of age, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, use of sex hormones and parity. RESULTS: The prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders was 22.60 percent. Women had a higher prevalence than men and prevalence increased greatly with age. Smoking, higher body mass index, never use of contraceptive pills, and current hormone replacement therapy are associated with a higher prevalence of these disorders on multivariate analysis. Multivariate OR's comparing consumption of meat < 1/week; >or= 1/week; with the reference being no meat, were 1.31(95% CI: 1.21,1.43) and 1.49(1.31, 1.70) in women; and 1.19 (95% CI: 1.05,1.34) and 1.43(1.20, 1.70) in men. Dairy fat and fruit consumption were weakly associated with increased risk. There were protective associations with nut and salad consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Greater meat consumption is associated with a higher prevalence of degenerative arthritis and soft tissue disorders in both male and female subjects of this population, as is hormone replacement therapy in women."}
{"id": "MED-5091", "text": "BACKGROUND: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is important to neural development. Whether DHA intakes are low enough in some pregnant women to impair infant development is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether DHA deficiency occurs in pregnant women and contributes to poor infant development. DESIGN: Biochemical cutoffs, dietary intakes, or developmental scores indicative of DHA deficiency are not defined. Infant development has a distribution in which an individual's potential development is unknown. This was a randomized intervention to establish a distribution of developmental scores for infants of women with DHA intakes considered to be above requirements against which to compare the development of infants of mothers consuming their usual diet. DHA (400 mg/d; n = 67) or a placebo (n = 68) was consumed by the women from 16 wk gestation until delivery. We determined maternal red blood cell ethanolamine phosphoglyceride fatty acids, dietary intakes at 16 and 36 wk gestation, and infant visual acuity at 60 d of age. RESULTS: We described an approach to identify DHA deficiency when biochemical and functional markers of deficiency are unknown. In multivariate analyses, infant visual acuity was related to sex (beta = 0.660, SE = 0.93, and odds ratio = 1.93) and maternal DHA intervention (beta = 1.215, SE = 1.64, and odds ratio = 3.37). More infant girls in the placebo than in the DHA intervention group had a visual acuity below average (P = 0.048). Maternal red blood cell ethanolamine phosphoglyceride docosatetraenoic acid was inversely related to visual acuity in boys (rho = -0.37, P < 0.05) and girls (rho = -0.48, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These studies suggest that some pregnant women in our study population were DHA-deficient."}
{"id": "MED-5092", "text": "BACKGROUND: While there is a large body of data on the effects of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation of infant formula on visual and cognitive maturation during infancy, longterm visual and cognitive outcome data from randomized trials are scarce. AIM: To evaluate docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA)-supplementation of infant formula on visual and cognitive outcomes at 4 years of age. METHODS: Fifty-two of 79 healthy term infants who were enrolled in a single-center, double-blind, randomized clinical trial of DHA and ARA supplementation of infant formula were available for follow-up at 4 years of age. In addition, 32 breast-fed infants served as a \"gold standard\". Outcome measures were visual acuity and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence--Revised. RESULTS: At 4 years, the control formula group had poorer visual acuity than the breast-fed group; the DHA- and DHA+ARA-supplemented groups did not differ significantly from the breast-fed group. The control formula and DHA-supplemented groups had Verbal IQ scores poorer than the breast-fed group. CONCLUSION: DHA and ARA-supplementation of infant formula supports visual acuity and IQ maturation similar to that of breast-fed infants."}
{"id": "MED-5093", "text": "BACKGROUND: There are few studies reporting on docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) supplementation during pregnancy and infant cognitive function. DHA supplementation in pregnancy and infant problem solving in the first year have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that infants born to women who consumed a DHA-containing functional food during pregnancy would demonstrate better problem-solving abilities and recognition memory than would infants born to women who consumed the placebo during pregnancy. DESIGN: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, pregnant women consumed a DHA-containing functional food or a placebo from gestation week 24 until delivery. Study groups received DHA-containing cereal-based bars (300 mg DHA/92-kcal bar; average consumption: 5 bars/wk; n = 14) or cereal-based placebo bars (n = 15). The Infant Planning Test and Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence were administered to infants at age 9 mo. The problem-solving trial included a support step and a search step. The procedure was scored on the basis of the infant's performance on each step and on the entire problem (intention score and total intentional solutions). Scores were generated on the basis of the cumulative performance of the infant on 5 trials. RESULTS: Treatment had significant effects on the performance of problem-solving tasks: total intention score (P = 0.017), total intentional solutions (P = 0.011), and number of intentional solutions on both cloth (P = 0.008) and cover (P = 0.004) steps. There were no significant differences between groups in any measure of Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence. CONCLUSION: These data point to a benefit for problem solving but not for recognition memory at age 9 mo in infants of mothers who consumed a DHA-containing functional food during pregnancy."}
{"id": "MED-5094", "text": "The tapeworm Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidea), originally described from Japan, is reported from a man in North America for the first time. Species identification was based on sequences of ribosomal (partial 18S rRNA) and mitochondrial (partial Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I) genes of proglottids expelled from a Czech tourist who ate raw Pacific sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from British Columbia, Canada."}
{"id": "MED-5095", "text": "Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, is important for eye and brain development and ongoing visual, cognitive, and cardiovascular health. Unlike fish-sourced oils, the bioavailability of DHA from vegetarian-sourced (algal) oils has not been formally assessed. We assessed bioequivalence of DHA oils in capsules from two different algal strains versus bioavailability from an algal-DHA-fortified food. Our 28-day randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel group study compared bioavailability of (a) two different algal DHA oils in capsules (\"DHASCO-T\" and \"DHASCO-S\") at doses of 200, 600, and 1,000 mg DHA per day (n = 12 per group) and of (b) an algal-DHA-fortified food (n = 12). Bioequivalence was based on changes in plasma phospholipid and erythrocyte DHA levels. Effects on arachidonic acid (ARA), docosapentaenoic acid-n-6 (DPAn-6), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were also determined. Both DHASCO-T and DHASCO-S capsules produced equivalent DHA levels in plasma phospholipids and erythrocytes. DHA response was dose-dependent and linear over the dose range, plasma phospholipid DHA increased by 1.17, 2.28 and 3.03 g per 100 g fatty acid at 200, 600, and 1,000 mg dose, respectively. Snack bars fortified with DHASCO-S oil also delivered equivalent amounts of DHA on a DHA dose basis. Adverse event monitoring revealed an excellent safety and tolerability profile. Two different algal oil capsule supplements and an algal oil-fortified food represent bioequivalent and safe sources of DHA."}
{"id": "MED-5096", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: The objective of the study was to collect data on dietary fat intake of omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and semi-omnivores as well as its impact on n-3 and n-6 fatty acids in long-term markers such as sphingolipids, phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) as well as the calculated sphingo- and phospholipids (SPL) of erythrocytes. METHOD: The present observational study included 98 Austrian adult volunteers of both genders, of which 23 were omnivores, 25 vegetarians, 37 vegans, and 13 semi-omnivores. Information on anthropometry using measured body weight and height was obtained. The amount and composition of ingested fat were calculated from 24-hour recalls and the fatty acid pattern in the phospholipids was assessed using gas chromatography. RESULTS: The unbalanced n-6/n-3 ratio and the limited dietary sources of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in vegans and vegetarians led to reductions in C20:5n-3, C22:5n-3, C22:6n-3 and total n-3 fatty acids in SPL, PC, PS and PE compared with omnivores and semi-omnivores. The total content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: The vegetarian diet, with an average n-6/n-3 ratio of 10/1, promotes biochemical n-3 tissue decline. To ensure physical, mental and neurological health vegetarians have to reduce the n-6/n-3 ratio with an additional intake of direct sources of EPA and DHA, regardless of age and gender. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5097", "text": "Purpose of review To summarize recent evidence regarding associations of early life exposure to mercury from maternal fish consumption during pregnancy, thimerosal in vaccines and dental amalgam with child neurodevelopment. Recent findings Recent publications have built upon previous evidence demonstrating mild detrimental neurocognitive effects from prenatal methylmercury exposure from maternal fish consumption during pregnancy. New studies examining the effects of prenatal fish consumption as well as methylmercury suggest there are benefits from prenatal fish consumption, but also that consumption of fish high in mercury should be avoided. Future studies incorporating information on both the methylmercury and the docosahexaenoic acid contained within fish will help to refine recommendations to optimize outcomes for mothers and children. Additional recent studies have supported the safety of vaccines containing thimerosal and of dental amalgam for repair of dental caries in children. Summary Exposure to mercury may harm child development. Interventions intended to reduce exposure to low levels of mercury in early life must, however, be carefully evaluated in consideration of the potential attendant harm from resultant behavior changes, such as reduced docosahexaenoic acid exposure from lower seafood intake, reduced uptake of childhood vaccinations and suboptimal dental care."}
{"id": "MED-5098", "text": "The health risk and the nutritional benefit of a food are usually assessed separately. Toxicologists recommend limiting the consumption of certain fish because of methylmercury; while nutritionists recommend eating more oily fish because of omega 3. A common evaluation is imperative to provide coherent recommendations. In order to evaluate the risks along with the benefits related to fish consumption, a common metric based on the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) method has been used. The impact of a theoretical change from a medium n-3 PUFAs intake to a high intake is studied, in terms of the cardiovascular system (CHD mortality, stroke mortality and morbidity) and on fetal neuronal development (IQ loss or gain). This application can be considered as a sensitive analysis of the model used and looks at the impact of changing the dose-response relationships between cardiovascular diseases and n-3 PUFAs intakes. Results show that increasing fish consumption may have a beneficial impact on health. However, the confidence interval of the overall estimation has a negative lower bound, which means that this increase in fish consumption may have a negative impact due to MeHg contamination. Some limits of the QALY approach are identified. The first concerns determination of the dose-response relationships. The second concerns the economic origins of the approach and of individual preferences. Finally, since only one beneficial aspect and one risk element were studied, consideration should be given to how other beneficial and risk components may be integrated in the model."}
{"id": "MED-5099", "text": "There is controversy about the risks and benefits of consuming fish. Fish consumption provides nutrients, some of which are essential for brain growth and development. All fish, however, contain methyl mercury (MeHg), a known neurotoxicant. The toxic effect of MeHg seems most damaging during brain development, and thus, prenatal exposure is of greatest concern. At present the level of prenatal exposure associated with risk to a child's neurodevelopment is not known. Balancing the rewards and possible risks of fish consumption presents a dilemma to consumers and regulatory authorities. We review the nutrients in fish that are important in brain development and the current evidence of risk from MeHg at exposure levels achieved by consuming fish. We then review the findings from a large prospective cohort study of a population that consumes fish daily, the Seychelles Child Development Study. The MeHg content of the fish consumed in the Seychelles is similar to that of ocean fish available in industrialized countries, so they represent a sentinel population for any risk from fish consumption. In the Seychelles, evaluations of the children through 9 y of age show no consistent pattern of adverse associations with prenatal MeHg exposure. Recent studies in the Seychelles have focused on nutrients in fish that might influence a child's development, including long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, iodine, iron, and choline. Preliminary findings from this study suggest that the beneficial influence of nutrients from fish may counter any adverse effects of MeHg on the developing nervous system."}
{"id": "MED-5100", "text": "Historically, concerns with fish consumption have addressed risks from contaminants (e.g., methylmercury (MeHg), and PCBs). More recently public health concerns have widened in appreciation of the specific benefits of fish consumption such as those arising from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in fish oil. Fish contains varying levels of PUFAs and MeHg. Since both address the same health outcomes (in opposite directions) and occur together in fish, great care must be exercised in providing public health guidance. Mozaffarian and Rimm in a recent article (JAMA. 2006, 296:1885\u201399) have made a strong case for the beneficial effects of PUFAs in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, but at the same time, have also broadly discounted the increased risks of coronary heart disease posed by MeHg in fish, stating that \"... among adults... the benefits of fish intake exceed the potential risks.\" This conclusion appears to be based on an inaccurate and insufficiently critical analysis of the literature. This literature is re-examined in light of their conclusions, and the available and appropriate public health options are considered."}
{"id": "MED-5101", "text": "When making food choices, consumers are faced with the dilemma of reconciling differences between health benefits and exposure to potential toxins. Analyses to estimate likely intake and exposure outcomes for young children and women of child-bearing age shows that seafood, chicken, and beef, while approximately equivalent in protein, vary in key nutrients of importance as well as in levels of certain contaminants. Increasing the variety of choices among meats, poultry, and seafood and consuming them in amounts consistent with current dietary guidelines and advisories will contribute toward meeting nutritional needs while reducing exposure to any single type of contaminant."}
{"id": "MED-5102", "text": "Due to the favourable health effects of LC n-3 PUFAs, marine products have been recognised as a food group of special importance in the human diet. However, seafood is susceptible to contamination by lipophilic organic pollutants. The objective of this study was to evaluate intake levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs, by a probabilistic Monte Carlo procedure, in relation to the recommendation on LC n-3 PUFAs given by Belgian Federal Health Council. Regarding the recommendation, two scenarios were developed differing in LC n-3 PUFAs intake: a 0.3 E% and a 0.46 E% scenario. Total exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like substances in the 0.3 E% LC n-3 PUFAs scenario ranges from 2.31 pg TEQ/kg bw/day at the 5th percentile, over 4.37 pg TEQ/kgbw/day at the 50th percentile to 8.41 pg TEQ/kgbw/day at the 95th percentile. In the 0.46 E% LC n-3 PUFAs scenario, 5, 50 and 95th percentile are exposed to 2.74, 5.52 and 9.98 pg TEQ/kgbw/day, respectively. Therefore, if the recommended LC n-3 PUFAs intake would be based on fish consumption as the only extra source, the majority of the study population would exceed the proposed health based guidance values for dioxins and dioxin-like substances."}
{"id": "MED-5104", "text": "We and others recently began studying brominated flame retardant levels in various matrices in the US including human milk and other food. This paper reviews the food studies. In our studies, ten to thirteen polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners were measured, usually including BDE 209. All US women's milk samples were contaminated with PBDEs from 6 to 419 ng/g, lipid, orders of magnitude higher than levels reported in European studies, and are the highest reported worldwide. We compared our market basket studies of meat, fish and dairy products with other US food studies of meat and fish. US studies showed somewhat higher levels of PBDEs than reported elsewhere. Fish were most highly contaminated (median 616 pg/g), then meat (median190 pg/g) and dairy products (median 32.2 pg/g). However, unlike some European countries where fish predominates, dietary intake of PBDEs in the US is mostly from meat, then fish and then dairy products. Broiling can decrease the amount of PBDEs per serving. We also measured levels of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), another brominated flame retardant, in human milk. The levels are lower than PBDEs, 0.16-1.2 ng/g, similar to European levels, unlike PBDEs where US levels are much higher than European levels."}
{"id": "MED-5105", "text": "Food, especially dairy products, meat, and fish, is the primary source of environmental exposure to dioxins in the general population. Little data exists on dioxin levels in the popular and widely consumed \"fast foods\". Data presented in a previously published pilot study was limited to measuring only the levels of dioxins and dibenzofurans in three types of U.S. fast food. This study adds to the previous paper by presenting data, in addition to dioxins and dibenzofurans, on the closely related dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and the persistent metabolite of DDT, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl) ethylene (DDE), in four types of popular U.S. fast food. These include McDonald's Big Mac Hamburger, Pizza Hut's Personal Pan Pizza Supreme, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) three piece original recipe mixed dark and white meat luncheon package, and H\u00e4agen-Daz chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream. Dioxin plus dibenzofuran dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQ) ranged from 0.03 to 0.28 TEQ pg/g wet or whole weight for the Big Mac, from 0.03 to 0.29 for the Pizza, from 0.01 to 0.31 for the KFC, and from 0.03 to 0.49 TEQ pg/g for the ice cream. Daily TEQ consumption per kilogram body weight (kg/BW), assuming an average 65 kg adult and a 20 kg child, from one serving of each of these fast food ranged between 0.046 and 1.556 pg/kg in adults whereas in children the values were between 0.15 and 5.05 pg/kg. Total measured PCDD/Fs in the Big Mac, Personal Pan Pizza, KFC, and the H\u00e4agen-Daz ice cream varied from 0.58 to 9.31 pg/g. Measured DDE levels in the fast foods ranged from 180 to 3170 pg/g. Total mono-ortho PCB levels ranged up to 500 pg/g or 1.28 TEQ pg/g for the KFC and for di-ortho PCBs up to 740 pg/g or 0.014 TEQ pg/g for the pizza sample. Total PCB values in the four samples ranged up to 1170 pg/g or 1.29 TEQ pg/g for the chicken sample."}
{"id": "MED-5106", "text": "Objective We sought to examine the association between dietary dairy intake and teenaged acne among boys. Methods This was a prospective cohort study. We studied 4273 boys, members of a prospective cohort study of youths and of lifestyle factors, who reported dietary intake on up to 3 food frequency questionnaires from 1996 to 1998 and teenaged acne in 1999. We computed multivariate prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals for acne. Results After adjusting for age at baseline, height, and energy intake, the multivariate prevalence ratios (95% confidence interval; P value for test of trend) for acne comparing highest (>2 servings/d) with lowest (<1/wk) intake categories in 1996 were 1.16 (1.01, 1.34; 0.77) for total milk, 1.10 (0.94, 1.28; 0.83) for whole/2% milk, 1.17 (0.99, 1.39; 0.08) for low-fat (1%) milk, and 1.19 (1.01, 1.40; 0.02) for skim milk. Limitations Not all members of the cohort responded to the questionnaire. Acne assessment was by self-report and boys whose symptoms might have been part of an underlying disorder were not excluded. We did not adjust for steroid use and other lifestyle factors that may affect occurrence of acne. Conclusion We found a positive association between intake of skim milk and acne. This finding suggests that skim milk contains hormonal constituents, or factors that influence endogenous hormones, in sufficient quantities to have biological effects in consumers."}
{"id": "MED-5107", "text": "Acne is caused by the action of dihydrotestosterone, derived from endogenous and exogenous precursors, likely acting synergistically with insulin-like growth factor-1. These sources and interactions are discussed. Both a mechanism of action and recommended dietary changes that limit ingestion and production of these hormones are proposed."}
{"id": "MED-5108", "text": "The effectiveness of high-temperature, short holding time (HTST) pasteurization and homogenization with respect to inactivation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis was evaluated quantitatively. This allowed a detailed determination of inactivation kinetics. High concentrations of feces from cows with clinical symptoms of Johne's disease were used to contaminate raw milk in order to realistically mimic possible incidents most closely. Final M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis concentrations varying from 102 to 3.5 \u00d7 105 cells per ml raw milk were used. Heat treatments including industrial HTST were simulated on a pilot scale with 22 different time-temperature combinations, including 60 to 90\u00b0C at holding (mean residence) times of 6 to 15 s. Following 72\u00b0C and a holding time of 6 s, 70\u00b0C for 10 and 15 s, or under more stringent conditions, no viable M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis cells were recovered, resulting in >4.2- to >7.1-fold reductions, depending on the original inoculum concentrations. Inactivation kinetic modeling of 69 quantitative data points yielded an Ea of 305,635 J/mol and an lnk0 of 107.2, corresponding to a D value of 1.2 s at 72\u00b0C and a Z value of 7.7\u00b0C. Homogenization did not significantly affect the inactivation. The conclusion can be drawn that HTST pasteurization conditions equal to 15 s at \u226572\u00b0C result in a more-than-sevenfold reduction of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis."}
{"id": "MED-5109", "text": "The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of 2 levels of raw milk somatic cell count (SCC) on the composition of Prato cheese and on the microbiological and sensory changes of Prato cheese throughout ripening. Two groups of dairy cows were selected to obtain low-SCC (<200,000 cells/mL) and high-SCC (>700,000 cells/mL) milks, which were used to manufacture 2 vats of cheese. The pasteurized milk was evaluated according to the pH, total solids, fat, total protein, lactose, standard plate count, coliforms at 45 degrees C, and Salmonella spp. The cheese composition was evaluated 2 d after manufacture. Lactic acid bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, and yeast and mold counts were carried out after 3, 9, 16, 32, and 51 d of storage. Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus counts were carried out after 3, 32, and 51 d of storage. A 2 x 5 factorial design with 4 replications was performed. Sensory evaluation of the cheeses from low- and high-SCC milks was carried out for overall acceptance by using a 9-point hedonic scale after 8, 22, 35, 50, and 63 d of storage. The somatic cell levels used did not affect the total protein and salt:moisture contents of the cheeses. The pH and moisture content were higher and the clotting time was longer for cheeses from high-SCC milk. Both cheeses presented the absence of Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes, and the coagulase-positive Staphylococcus count was below 1 x 10(2) cfu/g throughout the storage time. The lactic acid bacteria count decreased significantly during the storage time for the cheeses from both low- and high-SCC milks, but at a faster rate for the cheese from high-SCC milk. Cheeses from high-SCC milk presented lower psychrotrophic bacteria counts and higher yeast and mold counts than cheeses from low-SCC milk. Cheeses from low-SCC milk showed better overall acceptance by the consumers. The lower overall acceptance of the cheeses from high-SCC milk may be associated with texture and flavor defects, probably caused by the higher proteolysis of these cheeses."}
{"id": "MED-5110", "text": "Americans consume billions of hotdogs per year resulting in more than a billion dollars in retail sales. Package labels typically list some type of meat as the primary ingredient. The purpose of this study is to assess the meat and water content of several hotdog brands to determine if the package labels are accurate. Eight brands of hotdogs were evaluated for water content by weight. A variety of routine techniques in surgical pathology including routine light microscopy with hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections, special staining, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy were used to assess for meat content and for other recognizable components. Package labels indicated that the top-listed ingredient in all 8 brands was meat; the second listed ingredient was water (n = 6) and another type of meat (n = 2). Water comprised 44% to 69% (median, 57%) of the total weight. Meat content determined by microscopic cross-section analysis ranged from 2.9% to 21.2% (median, 5.7%). The cost per hotdog ($0.12-$0.42) roughly correlated with meat content. A variety of tissues were observed besides skeletal muscle including bone (n = 8), collagen (n = 8), blood vessels (n = 8), plant material (n = 8), peripheral nerve (n = 7), adipose (n = 5), cartilage (n = 4), and skin (n = 1). Glial fibrillary acidic protein immunostaining was not observed in any of the hotdogs. Lipid content on oil red O staining was graded as moderate in 3 hotdogs and marked in 5 hotdogs. Electron microscopy showed recognizable skeletal muscle with evidence of degenerative changes. In conclusion, hotdog ingredient labels are misleading; most brands are more than 50% water by weight. The amount of meat (skeletal muscle) in most brands comprised less than 10% of the cross-sectional surface area. More expensive brands generally had more meat. All hotdogs contained other tissue types (bone and cartilage) not related to skeletal muscle; brain tissue was not present."}
{"id": "MED-5111", "text": "This case-control study examined different food groups in relation to breast cancer. Between 2002 and 2004, 437 cases and 922 controls matched according to age and area of residence were interviewed. Diet was measured by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Adjusted odds ratios (Ors) were computed across levels of various dietary intakes identified by two methods: the \"classical\" and the \"spline\" methods. Neither of the 2 methods found an association between total fruit and vegetable consumption and breast cancer. Results of the 2 methods showed a nonsignificant decreased association with cooked vegetables intake as well as legumes and fish consumption. Whereas the spline method showed no association, the classical method showed significant associations related to the lowest consumption of raw vegetables or dairy products and breast cancer risk: Adjusted OR for raw vegetable consumption between (67.4 and 101.3 g/day) vs. (< 67.4 g/day) was 0.63 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.43-0.93]. Adjusted OR for dairy consumption between (134.3 and 271.2 g/day) vs. (< 134.3 g/day) was 1.57 (95% CI = 1.06-2.32). However, the overall results were not consistent. Compared to the classical method, the use of the spline method showed a significant association for cereal, meat, and olive oil. Cereal and olive oil were inversely associated with breast cancer risk. Breast cancer risk increased by 56% for each additional 100 g/day of meat consumption. Studies using novel methodological techniques are needed to confirm the dietary threshold responsible for changes in breast cancer risk. New approaches that consist in analyzing dietary patterns rather than dietary food are necessary."}
{"id": "MED-5112", "text": "Background It has been postulated that a diet high in legumes may be beneficial for the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM). However, data linking type 2 DM risk and legume intake are limited. Objective The objective of the study was to examine the association between legume and soy food consumption and self-reported type 2 DM. Design The study was conducted in a population-based prospective cohort of middle-aged Chinese women. We followed 64 227 women with no history of type 2 DM, cancer, or cardiovascular disease at study recruitment for an average of 4.6 y. Participants completed in-person interviews that collected information on diabetes risk factors, including dietary intake and physical activity in adulthood. Anthropometric measurements were taken. Dietary intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire at the baseline survey and at the first follow-up survey administered 2\u20133 y after study recruitment. Results We observed an inverse association between quintiles of total legume intake and 3 mutually exclusive legume groups (peanuts, soybeans, and other legumes) and type 2 DM incidence. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk of type 2 DM for the upper quintile compared with the lower quintile was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.51, 0.74) for total legumes and 0.53 (95% CI: 0.45, 0.62) for soybeans. The association between soy products (other than soy milk) and soy protein consumption (protein derived from soy beans and their products) with type 2 DM was not significant. Conclusions Consumption of legumes, soybeans in particular, was inversely associated with the risk type 2 DM."}
{"id": "MED-5114", "text": "Most of the early studies published on soy and breast cancer were not designed to test the effect of soy; the assessment of soy intake was usually crude and few potential confounders were considered in the analysis. In this review, we focused on studies with relatively complete assessment of dietary soy exposure in the targeted populations and appropriate consideration for potential confounders in the statistical analysis of study data. Meta-analysis of the 8 (1 cohort, 7 case\u2013control) studies conducted in high-soy-consuming Asians show a significant trend of decreasing risk with increasing soy food intake. Compared to the lowest level of soy food intake (\u2a7d5\u2009mg isoflavones per day), risk was intermediate (OR=0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.78\u20130.98) among those with modest (\u223c10\u2009mg isoflavones per day) intake and lowest (OR=0.71, 95% CI=0.60\u20130.85) among those with high intake (\u2a7e20\u2009mg isoflavones per day). In contrast, soy intake was unrelated to breast cancer risk in studies conducted in the 11 low-soy-consuming Western populations whose average highest and lowest soy isoflavone intake levels were around 0.8 and 0.15\u2009mg per day, respectively. Thus, the evidence to date, based largely on case\u2013control studies, suggest that soy food intake in the amount consumed in Asian populations may have protective effects against breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5115", "text": "The potential health benefits of soy-derived phytoestrogens include their reported utility as anticarcinogens, cardioprotectants and as hormone replacement alternatives in menopause. Although there is increasing popularity of dietary phytoestrogen supplementation and of vegetarian and vegan diets among adolescents and adults, concerns about potential detrimental or other genotoxic effects persist. While a variety of genotoxic effects of phytoestrogens have been reported in vitro, the concentrations at which such effects occurred were often much higher than the physiologically relevant doses achievable by dietary or pharmacologic intake of soy foods or supplements. This review focuses on in vitro studies of the most abundant soy phytoestrogen, genistein, critically examining dose as a crucial determinant of cellular effects. In consideration of levels of dietary genistein uptake and bioavailability we have defined in vitro concentrations of genistein >5 microM as non-physiological, and thus \"high\" doses, in contrast to much of the previous literature. In doing so, many of the often-cited genotoxic effects of genistein, including apoptosis, cell growth inhibition, topoisomerase inhibition and others become less obvious. Recent cellular, epigenetic and microarray studies are beginning to decipher genistein effects that occur at dietarily relevant low concentrations. In toxicology, the well accepted principle of \"the dose defines the poison\" applies to many toxicants and can be invoked, as herein, to distinguish genotoxic versus potentially beneficial in vitro effects of natural dietary products such as genistein."}
{"id": "MED-5116", "text": "BACKGROUND: Laboratory research and a growing number of epidemiologic studies have provided evidence for a reduced risk of breast cancer associated with dietary intake of certain classes of flavonoids. However, the effects of flavonoids on survival are not known. In a population-based cohort of breast cancer patients, we investigated whether dietary flavonoid intake before diagnosis is associated with subsequent survival. METHODS: Women ages 25 to 98 years who were newly diagnosed with a first primary invasive breast cancer between August 1, 1996, and July 31, 1997, and participated in a population-based, case-control study (n=1,210) were followed for vital status through December 31, 2002. At the case-control interview conducted shortly after diagnosis, respondents completed a FFQ that assessed dietary intake in the previous 12 months. All-cause mortality (n=173 deaths) and breast cancer-specific mortality (n=113 deaths) were determined through the National Death Index. RESULTS: Reduced hazard ratios [age- and energy-adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval)] for all-cause mortality were observed among premenopausal and postmenopausal women for the highest quintile of intake, compared with the lowest, for flavones [0.63 (0.41-0.96)], isoflavones [0.52 (0.33-0.82)], and anthocyanidins [0.64 (0.42-0.98)]. No significant trends in risk were observed. Results were similar for breast cancer-specific mortality only. CONCLUSION: Mortality may be reduced in association with high levels of dietary flavones and isoflavones among postmenopausal U.S. breast cancer patients. Larger studies are needed to confirm our findings."}
{"id": "MED-5118", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of two commercially available soy milks (one made using whole soy beans, the other using soy protein isolate) with low-fat dairy milk on plasma lipid, insulin, and glucose responses. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial, cross-over design. SUBJECTS: Participants were 30-65 years of age, n = 28, with pre-study LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations of 160-220 mg/dL, not on lipid lowering medications, and with an overall Framingham risk score of <or=10%. INTERVENTION: Participants were required to consume sufficient milk to provide 25 g protein/d from each source. The protocol included three 4-week treatment phases, each separated from the next by a wash-out period of >or=4 weeks. RESULTS: Mean LDL-C concentration at the end of each phase (+/- SD) was 161 +/- 20, 161 +/- 26 and 170 +/- 24 mg/dL for the whole bean soy milk, the soy protein isolate milk, and the dairy milk, respectively (p = 0.9 between soy milks, p = 0.02 for each soy milk vs. dairy milk). No significant differences by type of milk were observed for HDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, insulin, or glucose. CONCLUSION: A 25 g dose of daily soy protein from soy milk led to a modest 5% lowering of LDL-C relative to dairy milk among adults with elevated LDL-C. The effect did not differ by type of soy milk and neither soy milk significantly affected other lipid variables, insulin or glucose."}
{"id": "MED-5122", "text": "BACKGROUND: Drinking mate has been associated with cancers of the esophagus, oropharynx, larynx, lung, kidney, and bladder. We conducted this study to determine whether drinking mate could lead to substantial exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), including known carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene. METHODS: The concentrations of 21 individual PAHs were measured in dry leaves of eight commercial brands of yerba mate and in infusions made with hot (80 degrees C) or cold (5 degrees C) water. Measurements were done using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, with deuterated PAHs as the surrogates. Infusions were made by adding water to the leaves, removing the resulting infusion after 5 min, and then adding more water to the remaining leaves. This process was repeated 12 times for each infusion temperature. RESULTS: The total concentrations of the 21 PAHs in different brands of yerba mate ranged from 536 to 2,906 ng/g dry leaves. Benzo[a]pyrene concentrations ranged from 8.03 to 53.3 ng/g dry leaves. For the mate infusions prepared using hot water and brand 1, 37% (1,092 of 2,906 ng) of the total measured PAHs and 50% (25.1 of 50 ng) of the benzo[a]pyrene content were released into the 12 infusions. Similar results were obtained for other hot and cold infusions. CONCLUSION: Very high concentrations of carcinogenic PAHs were found in yerba mate leaves and in hot and cold mate infusions. Our results support the hypothesis that the carcinogenicity of mate may be related to its PAH content."}
{"id": "MED-5123", "text": "The present paper explores the level of evidence required to justify giving dietary advice to the public. There are important practical differences between the development of public health nutrition guidelines and guidelines for clinical practice. While the gold standard for evidence for clinical practice guidelines is a meta-analysis of a number of randomised controlled trials, this is often unrealistic and sometimes unethical for the evaluation of public health nutrition interventions. Hence, epidemiological studies make up the bulk of evidence for nutrition guidelines. Tea and coffee are an interesting case study in relation to this issue. They are two of the most commonly consumed beverages worldwide, yet there is little dietary advice on their use. The evidence for a relationship between coffee or tea consumption and several diseases is discussed. The available studies, predominantly epidemiological, together with animal and in vitro studies, indicate that coffee and tea are both safe beverages. However, tea is the healthier option because it has a possible role in the prevention of several cancers and CVD. While the evidence for such relationships is not strong, the public will continue to drink both tea and coffee, and will continue to ask nutritionists to make recommendations. It is therefore argued that advice should be given on the best available data, as waiting for complete data to become available could have severe consequences for public health."}
{"id": "MED-5124", "text": "Background Reduction in dietary cholesterol is recommended to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although eggs are important sources of cholesterol and other nutrients, limited and inconsistent data are available on the effects of egg consumption on the risk of CVD and mortality. Objectives To examine the association between egg consumption and the risk of CVD and mortality. Design Prospective cohort study of 21,327 participants from the Physicians' Health Study I. Egg consumption was assessed using a simple abbreviated food questionnaire. We used Cox regression to estimate relative risks. Results After an average follow up of 20 years, a total of 1,550 new myocardial infarction (MI), 1,342 incident strokes, and 5,169 deaths occurred in this cohort. Egg consumption was not associated with incident MI or stroke in a multivariable Cox regression. In contrast, adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality were 1.0 (reference), 0.94 (0.87-1.02), 1.03 (0.95-1.11), 1.05 (0.93-1.19), and 1.23 (1.11-1.36) for egg consumption of <1, 1, 2-4, 5-6, and 7+ per week, respectively, (p for trend <0.0001). This association was stronger among diabetic subjects with a 2-fold increased risk of death comparing the highest to the lowest category of egg consumption than non-diabetic subjects (HR: 1.22 (1.09-1.35) (p for interaction 0.09). Conclusions Our data suggest that infrequent egg consumption does not influence the risk of CVD and only confers a modest increased risk for total mortality in male physicians. In addition, egg consumption was positively related to mortality and such relation was stronger among diabetic subjects in this selective population."}
{"id": "MED-5125", "text": "BACKGROUND: It has recently been shown that oxidative stress, infection, and inflammation are predominant pathophysiologic factors for several major diseases. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association of whole-grain intake with death attributed to noncardiovascular, noncancer inflammatory diseases. DESIGN: Postmenopausal women (n = 41 836) aged 55-69 y at baseline in 1986 were followed for 17 y. After exclusions for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, colitis, and liver cirrhosis at baseline, 27 312 participants remained, of whom 5552 died during the 17 y. A proportional hazards regression model was adjusted for age, smoking, adiposity, education, physical activity, and other dietary factors. RESULTS: Inflammation-related death was inversely associated with whole-grain intake. Compared with the hazard ratios in women who rarely or never ate whole-grain foods, the hazard ratio was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.57, 0.83) for those who consumed 4-7 servings/wk, 0.79 (0.66, 0.95) for 7.5-10.5 servings/wk, 0.64 (0.53, 0.79) for 11-18.5 servings/wk, and 0.66 (0.54, 0.81) for >or=19 servings/wk (P for trend = 0.01). Previously reported inverse associations of whole-grain intake with total and coronary heart disease mortality persisted after 17 y of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in inflammatory mortality associated with habitual whole-grain intake was larger than that previously reported for coronary heart disease and diabetes. Because a variety of phytochemicals are found in whole grains that may directly or indirectly inhibit oxidative stress, and because oxidative stress is an inevitable consequence of inflammation, we suggest that oxidative stress reduction by constituents of whole grain is a likely mechanism for the protective effect."}
{"id": "MED-5126", "text": "Background The recent increased interest in consuming green vegetable sprouts has been tempered by the fact that fresh sprouts can in some cases be vehicles for food-borne illnesses. They must be grown according to proper conditions of sanitation and handled as a food product rather than as an agricultural commodity. When sprouts are grown in accordance with the criteria proposed from within the sprout industry, developed by regulatory agencies, and adhered to by many sprouters, green sprouts can be produced with very low risk. Contamination may occur when these guidelines are not followed. Methods A one year program of microbial hold-and-release testing, conducted in concert with strict seed and facility cleaning procedures by 13 U.S. broccoli sprout growers was evaluated. Microbial contamination tests were performed on 6839 drums of sprouts, equivalent to about 5 million consumer packages of fresh green sprouts. Results Only 24 (0.75%) of the 3191 sprout samples gave an initial positive test for Escherichia coli O157:H7 or Salmonella spp., and when re-tested, 3 drums again tested positive. Composite testing (e.g., pooling up to 7 drums for pathogen testing) was equally sensitive to single drum testing. Conclusion By using a \"test-and-re-test\" protocol, growers were able to minimize crop destruction. By pooling drums for testing, they were also able to reduce testing costs which now represent a substantial portion of the costs associated with sprout growing. The test-and-hold scheme described herein allowed those few batches of contaminated sprouts to be found prior to packaging and shipping. These events were isolated, and only safe sprouts entered the food supply."}
{"id": "MED-5127", "text": "UV radiation (UVR) is a complete carcinogen that elicits a constellation of pathological events, including direct DNA damage, generation of reactive oxidants that peroxidize lipids and damage other cellular components, initiation of inflammation, and suppression of the immune response. Recent dramatic increases in the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancers are largely attributable to higher exposure of an aging population to UVR. Therefore, the development of cellular strategies for intrinsic protection of the skin against the deleterious effects of UVR is imperative. Here we show that erythema resulting from UVR is a comprehensive and noninvasive biomarker for assessing UVR damage and can be precisely and easily quantified in human skin. Topical application of sulforaphane-rich extracts of 3-day-old broccoli sprouts up-regulated phase 2 enzymes in the mouse and human skin, protected against UVR-induced inflammation and edema in mice, and reduced susceptibility to erythema arising from narrow-band 311-nm UVR in humans. In six human subjects (three males and three females, 28\u201353 years of age), the mean reduction in erythema across six doses of UVR (300\u2013800 mJ/cm2 in 100 mJ/cm2 increments) was 37.7% (range 8.37\u201378.1%; P = 0.025). This protection against a carcinogen in humans is catalytic and long lasting."}
{"id": "MED-5129", "text": "BACKGROUND: Vitamin B(12) deficiency can occur in individuals with dietary patterns that exclude animal foods and patients who are unable to absorb vitamin B(12 )in food. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Our clinic serves a high-income population living in Southern Israel. We hypothesize that a tendency to decrease of level of vitamin B(12) in our population is caused by a premeditated decrease in consumption of animal products. We analyzed 512 medical histories of patients undergoing blood tests for vitamin B(12) level for various reasons. RESULT: The level of vitamin B(12) in 192 patients (37.5%) was less than 250 pg/ml. CONCLUSION: As a result of media information disseminating the relationship between meat, cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases, consumption of meat, particularly beef, has decreased. Changes in life style among segments of the population with high socioeconomic level, on one hand, and the existence of poverty, on the other, are two main factors in the decreasing consumption of animal products. This causes a decrease in the level of vitamin B(12) in the general population, and as a consequence, this will increase pathology due to vitamin B(12) deficiency. In lieu of these possible developments and in order to prevent serious health problems, vitamin B(12) fortification should be seriously considered and discussed. (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5131", "text": "The usual dietary sources of vitamin B(12) are animal foods, meat, milk, egg, fish, and shellfish. As the intrinsic factor-mediated intestinal absorption system is estimated to be saturated at about 1.5-2.0 microg per meal under physiologic conditions, vitamin B(12) bioavailability significantly decreases with increasing intake of vitamin B(12) per meal. The bioavailability of vitamin B(12) in healthy humans from fish meat, sheep meat, and chicken meat averaged 42%, 56%-89%, and 61%-66%, respectively. Vitamin B(12) in eggs seems to be poorly absorbed (< 9%) relative to other animal food products. In the Dietary Reference Intakes in the United States and Japan, it is assumed that 50% of dietary vitamin B(12) is absorbed by healthy adults with normal gastro-intestinal function. Some plant foods, dried green and purple lavers (nori) contain substantial amounts of vitamin B(12), although other edible algae contained none or only traces of vitamin B(12). Most of the edible blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) used for human supplements predominantly contain pseudovitamin B(12), which is inactive in humans. The edible cyanobacteria are not suitable for use as vitamin B(12) sources, especially in vegans. Fortified breakfast cereals are a particularly valuable source of vitamin B(12) for vegans and elderly people. Production of some vitamin B(12)-enriched vegetables is also being devised."}
{"id": "MED-5132", "text": "Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia may have psychiatric manifestations preceding the hematological symptoms. Although a variety of symptoms are described, there are only sparse data on the role of vitamin B12 in depression. We report a case of vitamin B12 deficiency presenting with recurrent episodes of depression."}
{"id": "MED-5136", "text": "CONTEXT: Antioxidant supplements are used for prevention of several diseases. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of antioxidant supplements on mortality in randomized primary and secondary prevention trials. DATA SOURCES AND TRIAL SELECTION: We searched electronic databases and bibliographies published by October 2005. All randomized trials involving adults comparing beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E, and selenium either singly or combined vs placebo or vs no intervention were included in our analysis. Randomization, blinding, and follow-up were considered markers of bias in the included trials. The effect of antioxidant supplements on all-cause mortality was analyzed with random-effects meta-analyses and reported as relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Meta-regression was used to assess the effect of covariates across the trials. DATA EXTRACTION: We included 68 randomized trials with 232 606 participants (385 publications). DATA SYNTHESIS: When all low- and high-bias risk trials of antioxidant supplements were pooled together there was no significant effect on mortality (RR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.98-1.06). Multivariate meta-regression analyses showed that low-bias risk trials (RR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04[corrected]-1.29) and selenium (RR, 0.998; 95% CI, 0.997-0.9995) were significantly associated with mortality. In 47 low-bias trials with 180 938 participants, the antioxidant supplements significantly increased mortality (RR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.08). In low-bias risk trials, after exclusion of selenium trials, beta carotene (RR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.11), vitamin A (RR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.10-1.24), and vitamin E (RR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.07), singly or combined, significantly increased mortality. Vitamin C and selenium had no significant effect on mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality. The potential roles of vitamin C and selenium on mortality need further study."}
{"id": "MED-5137", "text": "Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is one of the most widely used among spices. It is valued for its distinct biting quality attributed to the alkaloid, piperine. Black pepper is used not only in human dietaries but also for a variety of other purposes such as medicinal, as a preservative, and in perfumery. Many physiological effects of black pepper, its extracts, or its major active principle, piperine, have been reported in recent decades. Dietary piperine, by favorably stimulating the digestive enzymes of pancreas, enhances the digestive capacity and significantly reduces the gastrointestinal food transit time. Piperine has been demonstrated in in vitro studies to protect against oxidative damage by inhibiting or quenching free radicals and reactive oxygen species. Black pepper or piperine treatment has also been evidenced to lower lipid peroxidation in vivo and beneficially influence cellular thiol status, antioxidant molecules and antioxidant enzymes in a number of experimental situations of oxidative stress. The most far-reaching attribute of piperine has been its inhibitory influence on enzymatic drug biotransforming reactions in the liver. It strongly inhibits hepatic and intestinal aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and UDP-glucuronyl transferase. Piperine has been documented to enhance the bioavailability of a number of therapeutic drugs as well as phytochemicals by this very property. Piperine's bioavailability enhancing property is also partly attributed to increased absorption as a result of its effect on the ultrastructure of intestinal brush border. Although initially there were a few controversial reports regarding its safety as a food additive, such evidence has been questionable, and later studies have established the safety of black pepper or its active principle, piperine, in several animal studies. Piperine, while it is non-genotoxic, has in fact been found to possess anti-mutagenic and anti-tumor influences."}
{"id": "MED-5138", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Update of the Hohenheim consensus on monosodium glutamate from 1997: Summary and evaluation of recent knowledge with respect to physiology and safety of monosodium glutamate. DESIGN: Experts from a range of relevant disciplines received and considered a series of questions related to aspects of the topic. SETTING: University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. METHOD: The experts met and discussed the questions and arrived at a consensus. CONCLUSION: Total intake of glutamate from food in European countries is generally stable and ranged from 5 to 12 g/day (free: ca. 1 g, protein-bound: ca. 10 g, added as flavor: ca. 0.4 g). L-Glutamate (GLU) from all sources is mainly used as energy fuel in enterocytes. A maximum intake of 6.000 [corrected] mg/kg body weight is regarded as safe. The general use of glutamate salts (monosodium-L-glutamate and others) as food additive can, thus, be regarded as harmless for the whole population. Even in unphysiologically high doses GLU will not trespass into fetal circulation. Further research work should, however, be done concerning the effects of high doses of a bolus supply at presence of an impaired blood brain barrier function. In situations with decreased appetite (e.g., elderly persons) palatability can be improved by low dose use of monosodium-L-glutamate."}
{"id": "MED-5140", "text": "Axillary body odor is individually specific and potentially a rich source of information about its producer. Odor individuality partly results from genetic individuality, but the influence of ecological factors such as eating habits are another main source of odor variability. However, we know very little about how particular dietary components shape our body odor. Here we tested the effect of red meat consumption on body odor attractiveness. We used a balanced within-subject experimental design. Seventeen male odor donors were on \"meat\" or \"nonmeat\" diet for 2 weeks wearing axillary pads to collect body odor during the final 24 h of the diet. Fresh odor samples were assessed for their pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity, and intensity by 30 women not using hormonal contraceptives. We repeated the same procedure a month later with the same odor donors, each on the opposite diet than before. Results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the odor of donors when on the nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense. This suggests that red meat consumption has a negative impact on perceived body odor hedonicity."}
{"id": "MED-5141", "text": "Objective To examine the relation between IQ in childhood and vegetarianism in adulthood. Design Prospective cohort study in which IQ was assessed by tests of mental ability at age 10 years and vegetarianism by self-report at age 30 years. Setting Great Britain. Participants 8170 men and women aged 30 years participating in the 1970 British cohort study, a national birth cohort. Main outcome measures Self-reported vegetarianism and type of diet followed. Results 366 (4.5%) participants said they were vegetarian, although 123 (33.6%) admitted eating fish or chicken. Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher social class (both in childhood and currently), and to have attained higher academic or vocational qualifications, although these socioeconomic advantages were not reflected in their income. Higher IQ at age 10 years was associated with an increased likelihood of being vegetarian at age 30 (odds ratio for one standard deviation increase in childhood IQ score 1.38, 95% confidence interval 1.24 to 1.53). IQ remained a statistically significant predictor of being vegetarian as an adult after adjustment for social class (both in childhood and currently), academic or vocational qualifications, and sex (1.20, 1.06 to 1.36). Exclusion of those who said they were vegetarian but ate fish or chicken had little effect on the strength of this association. Conclusion Higher scores for IQ in childhood are associated with an increased likelihood of being a vegetarian as an adult."}
{"id": "MED-5144", "text": "This study has measured the content of total and inorganic forms of arsenic in seaweed available on retail sale for consumption, to provide data for dietary exposure estimates and to support advice to consumers. A total of 31 samples covering five varieties of seaweed were collected from various retail outlets across London and the internet. All of the samples were purchased as dried product. For four of the five varieties, soaking was advised prior to consumption. The recommended method of preparation for each individual sample was followed, and total and inorganic arsenic were analysed both before and after preparation. The arsenic remaining in the water used for soaking was also measured. Arsenic was detected in all samples with total arsenic at concentrations ranging from 18 to 124 mg/kg. Inorganic arsenic, which can cause liver cancer, was only found in the nine samples of hijiki seaweed that were analysed, at concentrations in the range 67-96 mg/kg. Other types of seaweed were all found to contain less than 0.3mg/kg inorganic arsenic, which was the limit of detection for the method used. Since consumption of hijiki seaweed could significantly increase dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued advice to consumers to avoid eating it."}
{"id": "MED-5145", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare fracture rates in four diet groups (meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans) in the Oxford cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study of self-reported fracture risk at follow-up. SETTING: The United Kingdom. SUBJECTS: A total of 7947 men and 26,749 women aged 20-89 years, including 19,249 meat eaters, 4901 fish eaters, 9420 vegetarians and 1126 vegans, recruited by postal methods and through general practice surgeries. METHODS: Cox regression. RESULTS: Over an average of 5.2 years of follow-up, 343 men and 1555 women reported one or more fractures. Compared with meat eaters, fracture incidence rate ratios in men and women combined adjusted for sex, age and non-dietary factors were 1.01 (95% CI 0.88-1.17) for fish eaters, 1.00 (0.89-1.13) for vegetarians and 1.30 (1.02-1.66) for vegans. After further adjustment for dietary energy and calcium intake the incidence rate ratio among vegans compared with meat eaters was 1.15 (0.89-1.49). Among subjects consuming at least 525 mg/day calcium the corresponding incidence rate ratios were 1.05 (0.90-1.21) for fish eaters, 1.02 (0.90-1.15) for vegetarians and 1.00 (0.69-1.44) for vegans. CONCLUSIONS: In this population, fracture risk was similar for meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians. The higher fracture risk in the vegans appeared to be a consequence of their considerably lower mean calcium intake. An adequate calcium intake is essential for bone health, irrespective of dietary preferences. SPONSORSHIP: The EPIC-Oxford study is supported by The Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK."}
{"id": "MED-5146", "text": "Cocoa powder is rich in polyphenols, such as catechins and procyanidins, and has been shown in a variety of subject models to inhibit oxidized LDL and atherogenesis. Our study evaluated plasma LDL cholesterol and oxidized LDL concentrations following the intake of different levels of cocoa powder (13, 19.5, and 26 g/d) in normocholesterolemic and mildly hypercholesterolemic humans. In this comparative, double-blind study, we examined 160 subjects who ingested either cocoa powder containing low-polyphenolic compounds (placebo-cocoa group) or 3 levels of cocoa powder containing high-polyphenolic compounds (13, 19.5, and 26 g/d for low-, middle-, and high-cocoa groups, respectively) for 4 wk. The test powders were consumed as a beverage after the addition of hot water, twice each day. Blood samples were collected at baseline and 4 wk after intake of the test beverages for the measurement of plasma lipids. Plasma oxidized LDL concentrations decreased in the low-, middle-, and high-cocoa groups compared with baseline. A stratified analysis was performed on 131 subjects who had a LDL cholesterol concentrations of > or =3.23 mmol/L at baseline. In these subjects, plasma LDL cholesterol, oxidized LDL, and apo B concentrations decreased, and the plasma HDL cholesterol concentration increased, relative to baseline in the low-, middle-, and high-cocoa groups. The results suggest that polyphenolic substances derived from cocoa powder may contribute to a reduction in LDL cholesterol, an elevation in HDL cholesterol, and the suppression of oxidized LDL."}
{"id": "MED-5147", "text": "There has been considerable work on the relationships between nutrition and the immune response, particularly on studies that have focused on adaptive responses. There is increasing recognition of the importance of innate immunity in host protection and initiation of cytokine networks. In this study, we examined the effect of select cocoa flavanols and procyanidins on innate responses in vitro. Peripheral blood mono-nuclear cells (PBMCs), as well as purified monocytes and CD4 and CD8 T cells, were isolated from healthy volunteers and cultured in the presence of cocoa flavanol fractions that differ from another by the degree of flavanol polymerization: short-chain flavanol fraction (SCFF), monomers to pentamers; and long-chain flavanol fraction (LCFF), hexamers to decamers. Parallel investigations were also done with highly purified flavanol monomers and procyanidin dimers. The isolated cells were then challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with quantitation of activation using CD69 and CD83 expression and analysis of secreted tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, IL-10, and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The chain length of flavanol fractions had a significant effect on cytokine release from both unstimulated and LPS-stimulated PBMCs. For example, there was a striking increase of LPS-induced synthesis of IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha in the presence of LCFF. LCFF and SCFF, in the absence of LPS, stimulated the production of GM-CSF. In addition, LCFF and SCFF increased expression of the B cell markers CD69 and CD83. There were also unique differential responses in the mononuclear cell populations studied. We conclude that the oligomers are potent stimulators of both the innate immune system and early events in adaptive immunity."}
{"id": "MED-5148", "text": "CONTEXT: Regular intake of cocoa-containing foods is linked to lower cardiovascular mortality in observational studies. Short-term interventions of at most 2 weeks indicate that high doses of cocoa can improve endothelial function and reduce blood pressure (BP) due to the action of the cocoa polyphenols, but the clinical effect of low habitual cocoa intake on BP and the underlying BP-lowering mechanisms are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To determine effects of low doses of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate on BP. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded, parallel-group trial involving 44 adults aged 56 through 73 years (24 women, 20 men) with untreated upper-range prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension without concomitant risk factors. The trial was conducted at a primary care clinic in Germany between January 2005 and December 2006. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to receive for 18 weeks either 6.3 g (30 kcal) per day of dark chocolate containing 30 mg of polyphenols or matching polyphenol-free white chocolate. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measure was the change in BP after 18 weeks. Secondary outcome measures were changes in plasma markers of vasodilative nitric oxide (S-nitrosoglutathione) and oxidative stress (8-isoprostane), and bioavailability of cocoa polyphenols. RESULTS: From baseline to 18 weeks, dark chocolate intake reduced mean (SD) systolic BP by -2.9 (1.6) mm Hg (P < .001) and diastolic BP by -1.9 (1.0) mm Hg (P < .001) without changes in body weight, plasma levels of lipids, glucose, and 8-isoprostane. Hypertension prevalence declined from 86% to 68%. The BP decrease was accompanied by a sustained increase of S-nitrosoglutathione by 0.23 (0.12) nmol/L (P < .001), and a dark chocolate dose resulted in the appearance of cocoa phenols in plasma. White chocolate intake caused no changes in BP or plasma biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: Data in this relatively small sample of otherwise healthy individuals with above-optimal BP indicate that inclusion of small amounts of polyphenol-rich dark chocolate as part of a usual diet efficiently reduced BP and improved formation of vasodilative nitric oxide. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00421499."}
{"id": "MED-5149", "text": "BACKGROUND: Cocoa powder is rich in polyphenols such as catechins and procyanidins and has been shown in various models to inhibit LDL oxidation and atherogenesis. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether long-term intake of cocoa powder alters plasma lipid profiles in normocholesterolemic and mildly hypercholesterolemic human subjects. DESIGN: Twenty-five subjects were randomly assigned to ingest either 12 g sugar/d (control group) or 26 g cocoa powder and 12 g sugar/d (cocoa group) for 12 wk. Blood samples were collected before the study and 12 wk after intake of the test drinks. Plasma lipids, LDL oxidative susceptibility, and urinary oxidative stress markers were measured. RESULTS: At 12 wk, we measured a 9% prolongation from baseline levels in the lag time of LDL oxidation in the cocoa group. This prolongation in the cocoa group was significantly greater than the reduction measured in the control group (-13%). A significantly greater increase in plasma HDL cholesterol (24%) was observed in the cocoa group than in the control group (5%). A negative correlation was observed between plasma concentrations of HDL cholesterol and oxidized LDL. At 12 wk, there was a 24% reduction in dityrosine from baseline concentrations in the cocoa group. This reduction in the cocoa group was significantly greater than the reduction in the control group (-1%). CONCLUSION: It is possible that increases in HDL-cholesterol concentrations may contribute to the suppression of LDL oxidation and that polyphenolic substances derived from cocoa powder may contribute to an elevation in HDL cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-5150", "text": "A single-dose ingestion of flavanol-rich cocoa acutely reverses endothelial dysfunction. To investigate the time course of endothelial function during daily consumption of high-flavanol cocoa, we determined flow-mediated dilation (FMD) acutely (for up to 6 hours after single-dose ingestion) and chronically (administration for 7 days). The study population represented individuals with smoking-related endothelial dysfunction; in addition to FMD, plasma nitrite and nitrate were measured. The daily consumption of a flavanol-rich cocoa drink (3 x 306 mg flavanols/d) over 7 days (n=6) resulted in continual FMD increases at baseline (after overnight fast and before flavanol ingestion) and in sustained FMD augmentation at 2 hours after ingestion. Fasted FMD responses increased from 3.7 +/- 0.4% on day 1 to 5.2 +/- 0.6%, 6.1 +/- 0.6%, and 6.6 +/- 0.5% (each P < 0.05) on days 3, 5, and 8, respectively. FMD returned to 3.3 +/- 0.3% after a washout week of cocoa-free diet (day 15). Increases observed in circulating nitrite, but not in circulating nitrate, paralleled the observed FMD augmentations. The acute, single-dose consumption of cocoa drinks with 28 to 918 mg of flavanols led to dose-dependent increases in FMD and nitrite, with a maximal FMD at 2 hours after consumption. The dose to achieve a half-maximal FMD response was 616 mg (n=6). Generally applied biomarkers for oxidative stress (plasma, MDA, TEAC) and antioxidant status (plasma ascorbate, urate) remained unaffected by cocoa flavanol ingestion. The daily consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa has the potential to reverse endothelial dysfunction in a sustained and dose-dependent manner."}
{"id": "MED-5151", "text": "Cocoa and chocolate have recently been found to be rich plant-derived sources of antioxidant flavonoids with beneficial cardiovascular properties. These favorable physiological effects include: antioxidant activity, vasodilation and blood pressure reduction, inhibition of platelet activity, and decreased inflammation. Increasing evidence from experimental and clinical studies using cocoa-derived products and chocolate suggest an important role for these high-flavanol-containing foods in heart and vascular protection."}
{"id": "MED-5152", "text": "OBJECTIVES: Strong evidence has secured aging as a powerful predictor of both cardiovascular risk and endothelial dysfunction, yet specific treatment is not available. We tested the hypothesis that vascular responsiveness to flavanol-rich cocoa increases with advancing age. We have previously shown that flavanol-rich cocoa induced peripheral vasodilation, improving endothelial function via a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanism. METHODS: We studied blood pressure and peripheral arterial responses to several days of cocoa in 15 young (< 50 years) and 19 older (> 50) healthy subjects. RESULTS: The nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME) induced significant pressor responses following cocoa administration only among the older subjects: systolic blood pressure (SBP) rose 13 +/- 4 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 6 +/- 2 mmHg (P = 0.008 and 0.047, respectively); SBP was significantly higher in the older subjects (P < 0.05). Flow-mediated vasodilation, measured by tonometry in the finger, was enhanced with flavanol-rich cocoa in both groups, but significantly more so among the old (P = 0.01). Finally, basal pulse wave amplitude (PWA) followed a similar pattern. Four to six days of flavanol-rich cocoa caused a rise in PWA in both groups. At peak vasodilation following acute cocoa intake on the final day, both groups showed a further, significant rise in PWA. The response in the older subjects was more robust; P < 0.05. L-NAME significantly reversed dilation in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Flavanol-rich cocoa enhanced several measures of endothelial function to a greater degree among older than younger healthy subjects. Our data suggest that the NO-dependent vascular effects of flavanol-rich cocoa may be greater among older people, in whom endothelial function is more disturbed."}
{"id": "MED-5153", "text": "OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate whether the addition of walnuts or olive oil to a fatty meal have differential effects on postprandial vasoactivity, lipoproteins, markers of oxidation and endothelial activation, and plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA). BACKGROUND: Compared with a Mediterranean diet, a walnut diet has been shown to improve endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic patients. We hypothesized that walnuts would reverse postprandial endothelial dysfunction associated with consumption of a fatty meal. METHODS: We randomized in a crossover design 12 healthy subjects and 12 patients with hypercholesterolemia to 2 high-fat meal sequences to which 25 g olive oil or 40 g walnuts had been added. Both test meals contained 80 g fat and 35% saturated fatty acids, and consumption of each meal was separated by 1 week. Venipunctures and ultrasound measurements of brachial artery endothelial function were performed after fasting and 4 h after test meals. RESULTS: In both study groups, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was worse after the olive oil meal than after the walnut meal (p = 0.006, time-period interaction). Fasting, but not postprandial, triglyceride concentrations correlated inversely with FMD (r = -0.324; p = 0.024). Flow-independent dilation and plasma ADMA concentrations were unchanged, and the concentration of oxidized low-density lipoproteins decreased (p = 0.051) after either meal. The plasma concentrations of soluble inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules decreased (p < 0.01) independently of meal type, except for E-selectin, which decreased more (p = 0.033) after the walnut meal. CONCLUSIONS: Adding walnuts to a high-fat meal acutely improves FMD independently of changes in oxidation, inflammation, or ADMA. Both walnuts and olive oil preserve the protective phenotype of endothelial cells."}
{"id": "MED-5155", "text": "Objective: To determine if a supplement of soy protein improves body composition, body fat distribution, and glucose and insulin metabolism in non-diabetic postmenopausal women compared to an isocaloric casein placebo. Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 3-month trial Setting: Clinical Research Center Patients: 15 postmenopausal women Interventions: CT scans at L4/L5, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), hyperglycemic clamps Main outcome measures: Total fat, total abdominal fat, visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, and insulin secretion. Results: Weight by DXA did not change between groups (+1.38 \u00b1 2.02 kg for placebo vs. +0.756 \u00b1 1.32 kg for soy, p=0.48, means \u00b1 S.D.). Total and subcutaneous abdominal fat increased more in the placebo compared to the soy group (for differences between groups in total abdominal fat: +38.62 \u00b1 22.84 cm2 for placebo vs. \u221211.86 \u00b1 31.48 cm2 for soy, p=0.005; subcutaneous abdominal fat: +22.91 \u00b1 28.58 cm2 for placebo vs. \u221214.73 \u00b1 22.26 cm2 for soy, p=0.013). Insulin secretion, visceral fat, total body fat, and lean mass did not differ between groups. Isoflavone levels increased more in the soy group. Conclusion: A daily supplement of soy protein prevents the increase in subcutaneous and total abdominal fat observed with an isocaloric casein placebo in postmenopausal women."}
{"id": "MED-5156", "text": "Tea leaves produce organic compounds that may be involved in the defense of the plants against invading pathogens including insects, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. These metabolites include polyphenolic compounds, the six so-called catechins, and the methyl-xanthine alkaloids caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline. Postharvest inactivation of phenol oxidases in green tea leaves prevents oxidation of the catechins, whereas postharvest enzyme-catalyzed oxidation (fermentation) of catechins in tea leaves results in the formation of four theaflavins as well as polymeric thearubigins. These substances impart the black color to black teas. Black and partly fermented oolong teas contain both classes of phenolic compounds. A need exists to develop a better understanding of the roles of polyphenolic tea compounds in food and medical microbiology. This overview surveys and interprets our present knowledge of activities of tea flavonoids and teas against foodborne and other pathogenic bacteria, virulent protein toxins produced by some of the bacteria, virulent bacteriophages, pathogenic viruses and fungi. Also covered are synergistic, mechanistic, and bioavailability aspects of the antimicrobial effects. Further research is suggested for each of these categories. The herein described findings are not only of fundamental interest, but also have practical implications for nutrition, food safety, and animal and human health."}
{"id": "MED-5157", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: Herbal agents are popular and perceived as safe because they are supposedly 'natural'. We report 10 cases of toxic hepatitis implicating Herbalife products. METHODS: To determine the prevalence and outcome of hepatotoxicity due to Herbalife products. A questionnaire was sent to all public Swiss hospitals. Reported cases were subjected to causality assessment using the CIOMS criteria. RESULTS: Twelve cases of toxic hepatitis implicating Herbalife preparations (1998-2004) were retrieved, 10 sufficiently documented to permit causality analysis. Median age of patients was 51 years (range 30-69) and latency to onset was 5 months (0.5-144). Liver biopsy (7/10) showed hepatic necrosis, marked lymphocytic/eosinophilic infiltration and cholestasis in five patients. One patient with fulminant liver failure was successfully transplanted; the explant showed giant cell hepatitis. Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome was observed in one case. Three patients without liver biopsy presented with hepatocellular (2) or mixed (1) liver injury. Causality assessment of adverse drug reaction was classified as certain in two, probable in seven and possible in one case(s), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We present a case series of toxic hepatitis implicating Herbalife products. Liver toxicity may be severe. A more detailed declaration of components and pro-active role of regulatory agencies would be desirable."}
{"id": "MED-5158", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nutritional supplements are frequently considered to be harmless but indiscriminate use of unlabelled ingredients may lead to significant adverse reactions. METHODS: In 2004, identification of four index cases of acute hepatitis associated with Herbalife intake led to a ministry of health investigation in all Israeli hospitals. Twelve patients with acute idiopathic liver injury in association with consumption of Herbalife products were investigated. RESULTS: Eleven of the patients were females, aged 49.5+/-13.4 y. One patient had stage I primary biliary cirrhosis and another had hepatitis B. Acute liver injury was diagnosed after 11.9+/-11.1 months of initiation of Herbalife consumption. Liver biopsies demonstrated active hepatitis, portal inflammation rich with eosinophils, ductular reaction and parenchymal inflammation with peri-central accentuation. One patient developed sub-fulminant and two fulminant episodes of hepatic failure. Hepatitis resolved in eleven patients, while one patient succumbed to complications following liver transplantation. Three patients resumed consumption of Herbalife products following normalization of liver enzymes, resulting in a second bout of hepatitis. CONCLUSIONS: An association between intake of Herbalife products and acute hepatitis was identified in Israel. We call for prospective evaluation of Herbalife products for possible hepatotoxicity. Until then, caution should be exercised by consumers, especially among individuals suffering from underlying liver disease."}
{"id": "MED-5159", "text": "Aim: To determine the risk of lung cancer associated with cannabis smoking. Methods: A case-control study of lung cancer in adults \u226455 years of age was conducted in eight district health boards in New Zealand. Cases were identified from the New Zealand Cancer Registry and hospital databases. Controls were randomly selected from the electoral roll, with frequency matching to cases in 5-year age groups and district health boards. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to assess possible risk factors including cannabis use. The relative risk of lung cancer associated with cannabis smoking was estimated by logistic regression. Results: There were 79 cases of lung cancer and 324 controls. The risk of lung cancer increased 8% (95% CI 2% to 15%) for each joint-year of cannabis smoking, after adjustment for confounding variables including cigarette smoking, and 7% (95% CI 5% to 9%) for each pack-year of cigarette smoking, after adjustment for confounding variables including cannabis smoking. The highest tertile of cannabis use was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer RR=5.7 (95% CI 1.5 to 21.6), after adjustment for confounding variables including cigarette smoking. Conclusions: Long term cannabis use increases the risk of lung cancer in young adults."}
{"id": "MED-5160", "text": "Pine needles (Pinus densiflora Siebold et Zuccarini) have long been used as a traditional health-promoting medicinal food in Korea. To investigate their potential anticancer effects, antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antitumor activities were assessed in vitro and/or in vivo. Pine needle ethanol extract (PNE) significantly inhibited Fe(2+)-induced lipid peroxidation and scavenged 1,1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl radical in vitro. PNE markedly inhibited mutagenicity of 2-anthramine, 2-nitrofluorene, or sodium azide in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 or TA100 in Ames tests. PNE exposure effectively inhibited the growth of cancer cells (MCF-7, SNU-638, and HL-60) compared with normal cell (HDF) in 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. In in vivo antitumor studies, freeze-dried pine needle powder supplemented (5%, wt/wt) diet was fed to mice inoculated with Sarcoma-180 cells or rats treated with mammary carcinogen, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA, 50 mg/kg body weight). Tumorigenesis was suppressed by pine needle supplementation in the two model systems. Moreover, blood urea nitrogen and aspartate aminotransferase levels were significantly lower in pine needle-supplemented rats in the DMBA-induced mammary tumor model. These results demonstrate that pine needles exhibit strong antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antiproliferative effects on cancer cells and also antitumor effects in vivo and point to their potential usefulness in cancer prevention."}
{"id": "MED-5161", "text": "Dietary flavonols and flavones are subgroups of flavonoids that have been suggested to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The authors prospectively evaluated intakes of flavonols and flavones in relation to risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal CHD in the Nurses' Health Study. They assessed dietary information from the study's 1990, 1994, and 1998 food frequency questionnaires and computed cumulative average intakes of flavonols and flavones. Cox proportional hazards regression with time-varying variables was used for analysis. During 12 years of follow-up (1990-2002), the authors documented 938 nonfatal myocardial infarctions and 324 CHD deaths among 66,360 women. They observed no association between flavonol or flavone intake and risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction or fatal CHD. However, a weak risk reduction for CHD death was found among women with a higher intake of kaempferol, an individual flavonol found primarily in broccoli and tea. Women in the highest quintile of kaempferol intake relative to those in the lowest had a multivariate relative risk of 0.66 (95% confidence interval: 0.48, 0.93; p for trend = 0.04). The lower risk associated with kaempferol intake was probably attributable to broccoli consumption. These prospective data do not support an inverse association between flavonol or flavone intake and CHD risk."}
{"id": "MED-5162", "text": "A study was performed to investigate the antimutagenic effect of broccoli flower head by the Ames Salmonella reverse mutation assay. Broccoli flower head being the most highly edible part in the plant was analysed for its antimutagenic effect. Without isolating the phytomolecules, the crude ethanol extract of broccoli flower head was tested for suppressing the mutagenic effect induced by certain chemical mutagens. Three strains - TA 98, TA102 and TA 1535 were used in the study. The tester strains were challenged with their respective mutagens. These were challenged with the ethanol extract of broccoli flower head at concentrations of 23 and 46 mg/plate. The plates were incubated for 72 h and the revertant colonies were counted. The crude extract did not prove to be promutagenic. The ethanol extract of the broccoli flower head at 46 mg/plate suppressed the mutagenic effect induced by the corresponding positive mutagens on all the three tester strains used in this study. The crude extract of broccoli flower head alone was not cytotoxic even at the maximum concentration tested (46 mg/plate). In conclusion, the ethanol extract of broccoli at 46 mg/plate suggests their diverse antimutagenic potential against the mutagenic chemicals employed in this study. (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-5163", "text": "A 24-year-old female patient presented to her community hospital with mild elevations of serum transaminase and bilirubin levels. Because of multiple sclerosis, she was treated with interferon beta-1a for 6 weeks. After exclusion of viral hepatitis due to hepatitis A-E, interferon beta-1a was withdrawn under the suspicion of drug-induced hepatitis. One week later, she was admitted again to her community hospital with severe icterus. The transaminase and bilirubin levels were highly elevated, and a beginning impairment of the liver synthesis was expressed by a reduced prothrombin time. The confinement to our department occurred with a fulminant hepatitis and the suspicion of beginning acute liver failure. There was no evidence for hepatitis due to potentially hepatotoxic viruses, alcoholic hepatitis, Budd-Chiari syndrome, hemochromatosis, and Wilson's disease. In her serum there were high titers of liver-kidney microsomal type 1 autoantibody; the serum gamma globulin levels were in the normal range. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the liver ruled out an autoimmune hepatitis but showed signs of drug-induced toxicity. During the interview, she admitted that for 'general immune system stimulation' she had been drinking Noni juice, a Polynesian herbal remedy made from a tropical fruit (Morinda citrifolia), during the past 4 weeks. After cessation of the Noni juice ingestion, her transaminase levels normalized quickly and were in the normal range within 1 month. Copyright 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5164", "text": "Exogenous dietary putrescine (1,4-diaminobutane) can increase growth rates of neonatal animals, including calves, chicks, and piglets, under nutritional stress. Turkey poults often have a high mortality rate and this may be due to poor initial feeding behavior and inadequate development of the intestinal tract. We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of dietary putrescine supplementation on growth performance and the role of dietary putrescine in prevention and recovery from a coccidial challenge. A total of 160 1-d-old turkey poults were fed a corn and soybean meal-based starter diet supplemented with 0.0 (control), 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 g/100 g purified putrescine (8 birds/pen, 5 pens/diet). At 14 d of age, half the birds were infected with approximately 43,000 sporulated oocysts. The experiment lasted 24 d. Fecal samples were gathered from d 3 to d 5 postinfection by total collection. Ten control and 10 infected birds fed each diet were sampled on d 6 and d 10 postinfection. The induced infection produced significant depressions in growth and feed intake and detrimental morphological changes in the small intestine of poults in the absence of mortality. Weight gains, protein content of jejunum, and morphometric indices of duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were greater in challenged poults fed 0.3 g/100 g putrescine than in controls. We conclude that dietary putrescine supplementation may be beneficial to poult growth, mucosal development of the small intestine, and to recovery from subclinical coccidiosis."}
{"id": "MED-5165", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Watermelon is a rich source of citrulline, an amino acid that can be metabolized to arginine, a conditionally essential amino acid for humans. Arginine is the nitrogenous substrate used in the synthesis of nitric oxide and plays an essential role in cardiovascular and immune functions. No detailed studies have been conducted to evaluate plasma arginine response in humans after long-term feeding of citrulline from natural plant sources. This study investigated if watermelon juice consumption increases fasting concentrations of plasma arginine, ornithine, and citrulline in healthy adult humans. METHODS: Subjects (n = 12-23/treatment) consumed a controlled diet and 0 (control), 780, or 1560 g of watermelon juice per day for 3 wk in a crossover design. The treatments provided 1 and 2 g of citrulline per day. Treatment periods were preceded by washout periods of 2 to 4 wk. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline, fasting plasma arginine concentrations increased 12% after 3 wk of the lower-dose watermelon treatment; arginine and ornithine concentrations increased 22% and 18%, respectively, after 3 wk of the higher-dose watermelon treatment. Fasting citrulline concentrations did not increase relative to the control but remained stable throughout the study. CONCLUSION: The increased fasting plasma concentrations of arginine and ornithine and stable concentrations of plasma citrulline in response to watermelon juice consumption indicated that the citrulline from this plant origin was effectively converted into arginine. These results demonstrate that plasma concentration of arginine can be increased through intake of citrulline from watermelon."}
{"id": "MED-5166", "text": "Growing evidence from tissue culture, animal, and clinical models suggests that the flavonoid-rich fruits of the North American cranberry and blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) have the potential ability to limit the development and severity of certain cancers and vascular diseases including atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases of aging. The fruits contain a variety of phytochemicals that could contribute to these protective effects, including flavonoids such as anthocyanins, flavonols, and proanthocyanidins; substituted cinnamic acids and stilbenes; and triterpenoids such as ursolic acid and its esters. Cranberry and blueberry constituents are likely to act by mechanisms that counteract oxidative stress, decrease inflammation, and modulate macromolecular interactions and expression of genes associated with disease processes. The evidence suggests a potential role for dietary cranberry and blueberry in the prevention of cancer and vascular diseases, justifying further research to determine how the bioavailability and metabolism of berry phytonutrients influence their activity in vivo."}
{"id": "MED-5167", "text": "OBJECTIVES: The phytoestrogen (plant estrogen) genistein, present in soy products, is of interest because in utero exposure to genistein can cause hypospadias in our mouse model and maternal consumption of soy is prevalent in human populations. Another compound of interest is the fungicide vinclozolin, which also causes hypospadias in the mouse and rat and can occur concurrently with genistein in the diet as a residue on exposed foods. A study in the United Kingdom found no relationship between a maternal organic vegetarian diet and hypospadias frequency, but women who consumed nonorganic vegetarian diets had a greater percentage of sons with hypospadias. Because nonorganic diets can include residues of pesticides such as vinclozolin, we sought to assess the interaction of realistic daily exposures to genistein and vinclozolin and their effects on the incidence of hypospadias. METHODS: Pregnant mice were fed a soy-free diet and orally gavaged from gestational days 13 to 17 with 0.17 mg/kg/day of genistein, 10 mg/kg/day of vinclozolin, or genistein and vinclozolin together at the same doses, all in 100 microL of corn oil. The controls received the corn oil vehicle. The male fetuses were examined at gestational day 19 for hypospadias, both macroscopically and histologically. RESULTS: We identified no hypospadias in the corn oil group. The incidence of hypospadias was 25% with genistein alone, 42% with vinclozolin alone, and 41% with genistein and vinclozolin together. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the idea that exposure to these compounds during gestation could contribute to the development of hypospadias."}
{"id": "MED-5168", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible role of the maternal diet, particularly vegetarianism and consumption of phytoestrogens, in the origin of hypospadias, which is reported to be increasing in prevalence. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Detailed information was obtained prospectively from mothers, including previous obstetric history, lifestyle and dietary practices, using structured self-completed questionnaires during pregnancy. Previously recognized associations with environmental and parental factors were examined, focusing particularly on the hypothesized hormonal link. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent associations. RESULTS: Of 7928 boys born to mothers taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, 51 hypospadias cases were identified. There were no significant differences in the proportion of hypospadias cases among mothers who smoked, consumed alcohol or for any aspect of their previous reproductive history (including the number of previous pregnancies, number of miscarriages, use of the contraceptive pill, time to conception and age at menarche). Significant differences were detected for some aspects of the maternal diet, i.e. vegetarianism and iron supplementation in the first half of pregnancy. Mothers who were vegetarian in pregnancy had an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 4.99 (95% confidence interval, CI, 2.10-11.88) of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias, compared with omnivores who did not supplement their diet with iron. Omnivores who supplemented their diet with iron had an adjusted OR of 2.07 (95% CI, 1.00-4.32). The only other statistically significant association for hypospadias was with influenza in the first 3 months of pregnancy (adjusted OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.50-6.78). CONCLUSION: As vegetarians have a greater exposure to phytoestrogens than do omnivores, these results support the possibility that phytoestrogens have a deleterious effect on the developing male reproductive system."}
{"id": "MED-5169", "text": "Fourteen sites evenly divided between the household kitchen and bathroom were monitored on a weekly basis for numbers of faecal coliforms, total coliforms and heterotrophic plate count bacteria. The first 10 weeks comprised the control period, hypochlorite cleaning products were introduced into the household during the second 10 weeks, and a strict cleaning regimen using hypochlorite products was implemented during the last 10 weeks. The kitchen was more heavily contaminated than the bathroom, with the toilet seat being the least contaminated site. The highest concentrations of all three classes of bacteria were found on sites that were moist environments and/or were frequently touched; these included the sponge/dishcloth, the kitchen sink drain area, the bath sink drain area, and the kitchen faucet handle(s). The implementation of a cleaning regimen with common household hypochlorite products resulted in the significant reduction of all three classes of bacteria at these four sites and other household sites."}
{"id": "MED-5170", "text": "Sushi is a traditional Japanese food, mostly consisting of rice and raw fish. Fish is considered a healthy food, but as with other animal products, consumption of raw muscle incurs potential health risks such as ingestion of pathogenic bacteria or parasites. In this study, 250 sushi samples were analyzed for their microbiological status and the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria. A comparison was made between frozen sushi from supermarkets and fresh sushi from sushi bars. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts differed for sushi from these two sources, with means of 2.7 log CFU/g for frozen sushi and 6.3 log CFU/g for fresh sushi. The prevalence of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was higher in the fresh samples. Salmonella was found in four (1.6%) of the sushi samples, and Listeria monocytogenes was found in three (1.2%) of the samples. These results indicate that the microbiological quality of industrially processed sushi is higher than that of freshly prepared sushi. The quality of freshly prepared sushi strongly depends on the skills and habits of the preparation cooks, which may vary."}
{"id": "MED-5171", "text": "The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), E. coli O157, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes in retail food samples from Seattle, Wash. A total of 2,050 samples of ground beef (1,750 samples), mushrooms (100 samples), and sprouts (200 samples) were collected over a 12-month period and analyzed for the presence of these pathogens. PCR assays, followed by culture confirmation were used to determine the presence or absence of each organism. Of the 1,750 ground beef samples analyzed, 61 (3.5%) were positive for EHEC, and 20 (1.1%) of these were positive for E. coli O157. Salmonella was present in 67 (3.8%) of the 1,750 ground beef samples. Of 512 ground beef samples analyzed, 18 (3.5%) were positive for L. monocytogenes. EHEC was found in 12 (6.0%) of the 200 sprout samples, and 3 (1.5%) of these yielded E. coli O157. Of the 200 total sprout samples, 14 (7.0%) were positive for Salmonella and none were positive for L. monocytogenes. Among the 100 mushroom samples, 4 (4.0%) were positive for EHEC but none of these 4 samples were positive for E. coli O157. Salmonella was detected in 5 (5.0%) of the mushroom samples, and L. monocytogenes was found in 1 (1.0%) of the samples."}
{"id": "MED-5172", "text": "The prevalence of allergic rhinitis is increasing globally due to various causes. It affects the quality life of a large group of people in all around the world. Allergic rhinitis still remains inadequately controlled with present medical means. The need of continuous medical therapy makes individuals anxious about the side effects of the drugs. So there is a need for an alternative strategy. Effects of spirulina, tinospora cordifolia and butterbur were investigated recently on allergic rhinitis in just very few investigations. Spirulina represents a blue-green alga that is produced and commercialized as a dietary supplement for modulating immune functions, as well as ameliorating a variety of diseases. This double blind, placebo controlled study, evaluated the effectiveness and tolerability of spirulina for treating patients with allergic rhinitis. Spirulina consumption significantly improved the symptoms and physical findings compared with placebo (P < 0.001***) including nasal discharge, sneezing, nasal congestion and itching. Spirulina is clinically effective on allergic rhinitis when compared with placebo. Further studies should be performed in order to clarify the mechanism of this effect."}
{"id": "MED-5173", "text": "Rhabdomyolysis is a potentially life-threatening disorder that occurs as a primary disease or as a complication of a broad spectrum of other diseases. We report the first case of acute rhabdomyolysis after ingestion of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis), a plantonic blue-green alga, as a dietary supplement."}
{"id": "MED-5175", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationships between nutritional and lifestyle factors and bowel movement frequency. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis using data from a prospective study. Mean numbers of bowel movements were calculated in relation to a range of factors. In addition, individuals were categorised according to frequency of bowel movements: fewer than 7 per week ('less than daily') versus 7 or more per week ('daily'), and odds ratios were calculated from logistic regression models. Results for each factor were adjusted for the other factors under consideration. SETTING: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, Oxford cohort (EPIC-Oxford), UK. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 20630 men and women aged 22-97 years at recruitment. Thirty per cent of the subjects were vegetarians or vegans. RESULTS: Women had fewer bowel movements on average than men, and were less likely to have daily bowel movements. Mean bowel movement frequency was higher in vegetarians (10.5 in men, 9.1 in women) and especially in vegans (11.6 in men, 10.5 in women) compared with participants who ate meat (9.5 in men, 8.2 in women). There were also significant positive associations between bowel movement frequency and body mass index (BMI), intakes of dietary fibre and non-alcoholic fluids, for both men and women. Vigorous exercise was positively associated with bowel movement frequency in women although results for men were less clear. Alcohol intake was positively associated with bowel movement frequency in men but not in women. CONCLUSION: Being vegetarian and especially vegan is strongly associated with a higher frequency of bowel movements. Moreover, having a high intake of dietary fibre and fluids and a high BMI are associated with an increase in frequency of bowel movements."}
{"id": "MED-5176", "text": "A flaxseed lignan extract containing 33% secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) was evaluated for its ability to alleviate lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in 87 subjects with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial with repeated measurements was conducted over a 4-month period using treatment dosages of 0 (placebo), 300, or 600 mg/day SDG. After 4 months of treatment, 78 of the 87 subjects completed the study. For the 0, 300, and 600 mg/day SDG groups, respectively, the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) decreased -3.67 +/- 1.56, -7.33 +/- 1.18, and -6.88 +/- 1.43 (mean +/- SE, P = .100, < .001, and < .001 compared to baseline), the Quality of Life score (QOL score) improved by -0.71 +/- 0.23, -1.48 +/- 0.24, and -1.75 +/- 0.25 (mean +/- SE, P = .163 and .012 compared to placebo and P = .103, < .001, and < .001 compared to baseline), and the number of subjects whose LUTS grade changed from \"moderate/severe\" to \"mild\" increased by three, six, and 10 (P = .188, .032, and .012 compared to baseline). Maximum urinary flows insignificantly increased 0.43 +/- 1.57, 1.86 +/- 1.08, and 2.7 +/- 1.93 mL/second (mean +/- SE, no statistical significance reached), and postvoiding urine volume decreased insignificantly by -29.4 +/- 20.46, -19.2 +/- 16.91, and -55.62 +/- 36.45 mL (mean +/- SE, no statistical significance reached). Plasma concentrations of secoisolariciresinol (SECO), enterodiol (ED), and enterolactone (EL) were significantly raised after the supplementation. The observed decreases in IPSS and QOL score were correlated with the concentrations of plasma total lignans, SECO, ED, and EL. In conclusion, dietary flaxseed lignan extract appreciably improves LUTS in BPH subjects, and the therapeutic efficacy appeared comparable to that of commonly used intervention agents of alpha1A-adrenoceptor blockers and 5alpha-reductase inhibitors."}
{"id": "MED-5177", "text": "The objective of this study was to evaluate, in a phase 2 pilot study, tolerability and the effect of 6 weeks of flaxseed therapy on hot flash scores in women not wishing to receive estrogen therapy. Eligibility included 14 hot flashes per week for at least 1 month. In the baseline week, participants took no study medication and documented the characteristics of their hot flashes. Thereafter, crushed flaxseed was administered at 40 g daily. Participants provided weekly toxicity reports and health-related quality of life information. The primary end point was a change in hot flash score prospectively reported in a daily hot flash diary. Thirty women were enrolled between June 17 and November 8, 2005. The mean decrease in hot flash scores after flaxseed therapy was 57% (median decrease 62%). The mean reduction in daily hot flash frequency was 50% (median reduction 50%), from 7.3 hot flashes to 3.6. Fourteen of the 28 participants (50%) experienced mild or moderate abdominal distention. Eight participants (29%) experienced mild diarrhea, one experienced flatulence, and six (21%) withdrew because of toxicities. This study suggests that dietary therapy decreases hot flash activity in women not taking estrogen therapy. This reduction is greater than what would be expected with placebo."}
{"id": "MED-5178", "text": "Lignans, derived from flaxseed, are phyto-oestrogens being increasingly studied for their health benefits. An 8-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in fifty-five hypercholesterolaemic subjects, using treatments of 0 (placebo), 300 or 600 mg/d of dietary secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) from flaxseed extract to determine the effect on plasma lipids and fasting glucose levels. Significant treatment effects were achieved (P < 0.05 to < 0.001) for the decrease of total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) and glucose concentrations, as well as their percentage decrease from baseline. At weeks 6 and 8 in the 600 mg SDG group, the decreases of TC and LDL-C concentrations were in the range from 22.0 to 24.38 % respectively (all P < 0.005 compared with placebo). For the 300 mg SDG group, only significant differences from baseline were observed for decreases of TC and LDL-C. A substantial effect on lowering concentrations of fasting plasma glucose was also noted in the 600 mg SDG group at weeks 6 and 8, especially in the subjects with baseline glucose concentrations > or = 5.83 mmol/l (lowered 25.56 and 24.96 %; P = 0.015 and P = 0.012 compared with placebo, respectively). Plasma concentrations of secoisolariciresinol (SECO), enterodiol (ED) and enterolactone were all significantly raised in the groups supplemented with flaxseed lignan. The observed cholesterol-lowering values were correlated with the concentrations of plasma SECO and ED (r 0.128-0.302; P < 0.05 to < 0.001). In conclusion, dietary flaxseed lignan extract decreased plasma cholesterol and glucose concentrations in a dose-dependent manner."}
{"id": "MED-5181", "text": "Recent evidence suggests overall dietary patterns, rather than specific dietary components, may be a better predictor of colorectal adenomas or cancers. Using cluster analysis, we aimed to assess the association between dietary patterns and colorectal adenomas and whether adjusting for total energy consumption prior to creating clusters affects this relation. Data from a case-control study of 725 individuals undergoing a colonoscopy were utilized. Cases (n = 203) had > or =1 adenoma on colonoscopy, and controls (n = 522) were those who had no adenomas. Dietary data were obtained from an FFQ. Daily intake for 18 different food groups was calculated. The values were transformed into Z-scores. Participants were first clustered without energy adjustment, then again based on their consumption per 1000 kcal (4187 kJ). There was no association between dietary patterns and colorectal adenomas without energy adjustment prior to creating dietary clusters, as clusters formed as a by-product of energy consumption. After adjusting for energy consumption, 3 distinct clusters emerged: 1) high fruit-low meat cluster; 2) high vegetable-moderate meat cluster; and 3) high meat cluster. After adjusting for potential confounders, the high vegetable-moderate meat cluster (odds ratio [OR] 2.17: [95% CI] 1.20-3.90) and high meat cluster (OR 1.70: [95% CI] 1.04-2.80) were at significantly increased odds of having had an adenoma compared with the high fruit-low meat cluster. A high-fruit, low-meat diet appears to be protective against colorectal adenomas compared with a dietary pattern of increased vegetable and meat consumption."}
{"id": "MED-5182", "text": "BACKGROUND: Reports of relationships between dietary fibre intake and breast cancer have been inconsistent. Previous cohort studies have been limited by a narrow range of intakes. METHODS: Women who developed invasive breast cancer, 350 post-menopausally and 257 pre-menopausally, during 240,959 person-years of follow-up in the UK Women's Cohort Study (UKWCS) were studied. This cohort has 35,792 subjects with a wide range of exposure to dietary fibre with intakes of total fibre in the lowest quintile of <20 g/day up to >30 g/day in the top quintile. Fibre and breast cancer relationships were explored using Cox regression modelling adjusted for measurement error. Effects of fibre, adjusting for confounders were examined for pre- and post-menopausal women separately. RESULTS: In pre-menopausal, but not post-menopausal women a statistically significant inverse relationship was found between total fibre intake and risk of breast cancer (P for trend = 0.01). The top quintile of fibre intake was associated with a hazard ratio of 0.48 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24-0.96] compared with the lowest quintile. Pre-menopausally, fibre from cereals was inversely associated with risk of breast cancer (P for trend = 0.05) and fibre from fruit had a borderline inverse relationship (P for trend = 0.09). A further model including dietary folate strengthened the significance of the inverse relationship between total fibre and pre-menopausal breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that in pre-menopausal women, total fibre is protective against breast cancer; in particular, fibre from cereals and possibly fruit."}
{"id": "MED-5183", "text": "Dietary phytochemical compounds, including isoflavones and isothiocyanates, may inhibit cancer development but have not yet been examined in prospective epidemiologic studies of ovarian cancer. The authors have investigated the association between consumption of these and other nutrients and ovarian cancer risk in a prospective cohort study. Among 97,275 eligible women in the California Teachers Study cohort who completed the baseline dietary assessment in 1995\u20131996, 280 women developed invasive or borderline ovarian cancer by December 31, 2003. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, with age as the timescale, was used to estimate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals; all statistical tests were two sided. Intake of isoflavones was associated with lower risk of ovarian cancer. Compared with the risk for women who consumed less than 1 mg of total isoflavones per day, the relative risk of ovarian cancer associated with consumption of more than 3 mg/day was 0.56 (95% confidence interval: 0.33, 0.96). Intake of isothiocyanates or foods high in isothiocyanates was not associated with ovarian cancer risk, nor was intake of macronutrients, antioxidant vitamins, or other micronutrients. Although dietary consumption of isoflavones may be associated with decreased ovarian cancer risk, most dietary factors are unlikely to play a major role in ovarian cancer development."}
{"id": "MED-5184", "text": "We examined the association of dietary lignan intake with estrogen receptor negative (ER-) and ER positive (ER+) breast cancer risk in a breast cancer case-control study. Among premenopausal women only, there was a reduced risk of ER- breast cancer for those in the highest compared to the lowest quartile of lignan intake suggesting that the observed negative association of lignans with breast cancer may be limited to ER- tumors."}
{"id": "MED-5185", "text": "There is some evidence that dietary factors may modify the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin, but the association between food intake and SCC has not been evaluated prospectively. We examined the association between food intake and SCC incidence among 1,056 randomly selected adults living in an Australian sub-tropical community. Measurement-error corrected estimates of intake in 15 food groups were defined from a validated food frequency questionnaire in 1992. Associations with SCC risk were assessed using Poisson and negative binomial regression to the persons affected and tumour counts, respectively, based on incident, histologically confirmed tumours occurring between 1992 and 2002. After multivariable adjustment, none of the food groups was significantly associated with SCC risk. Stratified analysis in participants with a past history of skin cancer showed a decreased risk of SCC tumours for high intakes of green leafy vegetables (RR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.22-0.91; p for trend = 0.02) and an increased risk for high intake of unmodified dairy products (RR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.15-5.54; p for trend = 0.03). Food intake was not associated with SCC risk in persons who had no past history of skin cancer. These findings suggest that consumption of green leafy vegetables may help prevent development of subsequent SCCs of the skin among people with previous skin cancer and that consumption of unmodified dairy products, such as whole milk, cheese and yoghurt, may increase SCC risk in susceptible persons. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-5186", "text": "We evaluated the role of dietary nutrients in the etiology of endometrial cancer in a population-based case-control study of 1,204 newly diagnosed endometrial cancer cases and 1,212 age frequency-matched controls. Information on usual dietary habits was collected during an in-person interview using a validated, quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association of nutrients with endometrial cancer risk using an energy density method (e.g., nutrient intake/1,000 kilocalories of intake). Higher energy intake was associated with increased risk, which was attributable to animal source energy and a high proportion of energy from protein and fat. Odds ratios comparing highest versus lowest quintiles of intake were elevated for intake of animal protein (Odds ratio (OR) 5 2.0, 95% confidential interval: 1.5\u20132.7) and fat (OR 5 1.5, 1.2\u20132.0), but reduced for plant sources of these nutrients (OR 5 0.7, 0.5\u20130.9 for protein and OR 5 0.6, 0.5\u20130.8 for fat). Further analysis showed that saturated and monounsaturated fat intake was associated with elevated risk, while polyunsaturated fat intake was unrelated to risk. Dietary retinol, \u03b2-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, and vitamin supplements were inversely associated with risk. No significant association was observed for dietary vitamin B1 or vitamin B2. Our findings suggest that associations of dietary macronutrients with endometrial cancer risk may depend on their sources, with intake of animal origin nutrients being related to higher risk and intake of plant origin nutrients related to lower risk. Dietary fiber, retinol, \u03b2-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin supplementation may decrease the risk of endometrial cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5188", "text": "BACKGROUND: Nitrosamines, which are known bladder carcinogens, or their precursors are found in certain meat items, and concentrations of these compounds are especially high in bacon. Only 3 cohort studies, all with <100 case subjects, have examined the relation between meat intake and bladder cancer, and few studies have examined the relation of different meat types with bladder cancer. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine the association between specific meat items and bladder cancer in 2 large prospective studies. DESIGN: We analyzed data from 2 cohorts with up to 22 y of follow-up and 808 incident bladder cancer cases. Detailed data on meat were obtained from multiple food-frequency questionnaires administered over time. Multivariate relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs were estimated by using Cox proportional hazards models with control for potential confounders, including detailed smoking history. RESULTS: Men and women with a high intake of bacon (>/=5 servings/wk) had an elevated risk of bladder cancer compared with those who never ate bacon (multivariate RR = 1.59; 95% CI = 1.06, 2.37), although the overall association was not statistically significant (P for trend = 0.06). However, the association with bacon was stronger and became statistically significant after the removal of individuals who indicated having \"greatly\" changed their red meat (men) or bacon (women) intake during the 10 y before baseline (multivariate RR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.24, 3.55; P for trend = 0.006). A positive association was also detected for intake of chicken without skin, but not for chicken with skin or for other meats, including processed meats, hot dogs, and hamburgers. CONCLUSIONS: In these 2 cohorts combined, frequent consumption of bacon was associated with an elevated risk of bladder cancer. Other studies with data on specific meat items are necessary to confirm our findings."}
{"id": "MED-5189", "text": "Recent case-control studies suggested that dairy product consumption is an important risk factor for testicular cancer. We examined the association between consumption of dairy products, especially milk, milk fat, and galactose, and testicular cancer in a population-based case-control study including 269 case and 797 controls (response proportions of 76% and 46%, respectively). Dietary history was assessed by food frequency questions for the index persons and through their mothers including diet 1 year before interview and diet at age 17 years. We used conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios as estimates of the relative risk (RR), 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), and to control for social status and height. The RR of testicular cancer was 1.37 (95% CI, 1.12-1.68) per additional 20 servings of milk per month (each 200 mL) in adolescence. This elevated overall risk was mainly due to an increased risk for seminoma (RR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.30-2.12) per additional 20 milk servings per month. The RR for seminoma was 1.30 (95% CI, 1.15-1.48) for each additional 200 g milk fat per month and was 2.01 (95% CI, 1.41-2.86) for each additional 200 g galactose per month during adolescence. Our results suggest that milk fat and/or galactose may explain the association between milk and dairy product consumption and seminomatous testicular cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5190", "text": "To investigate the association between dietary exposure to food mutagens and risk of pancreatic cancer, we conducted a hospital-based case-control study at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center during June 2002 to May 2006. Atotal of 626 cases and 530 noncancer controls were frequency matched for race, sex and age (\u00b15 years). Dietary exposure information was collected via personal interview using a meat preparation questionnaire. A significantly greater portion of the cases than controls showed a preference to well-done pork, bacon, grilled chicken, and pan-fried chicken, but not to hamburger and steak. Cases had a higher daily intake of food mutagens and mutagenicity activity (revertants per gram of daily meat intake) than controls did. The daily intakes of 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5\u2014f]quinoxaline (DiMeIQx) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), as well as the mutagenic activity, were significant predictors for pancreatic cancer (P = 0.008, 0.031, and 0.029, respectively) with adjustment of other confounders. A significant trend of elevated cancer risk with increasing DiMeIQx intake was observed in quintile analysis (Ptrend= 0.024). Ahigher intake of dietary mutagens (those in the two top quintiles) was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of pancreatic cancer among those without a family history of cancer but not among those with a family history of cancer. Apossible synergistic effect of dietary mutagen exposure and smoking was observed among individuals with the highest level of exposure (top 10%) to PhIP and BaP, Pinteraction= 0.09 and 0.099, respectively. These data support the hypothesis that dietary mutagen exposure alone and in interaction with other factors contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5191", "text": "We evaluated animal food intake and cooking methods in relation to endometrial cancer risk in a population-based case\u2013control study in Shanghai, China. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to collect the usual dietary habits of 1204 cases and 1212 controls aged 30\u201369 years between 1997 and 2003. Statistical analyses were based on an unconditional logistic regression model adjusting for potential confounders. High intake of meat and fish was associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer, with adjusted odds ratios for the highest vs the lowest quartile groups being 1.7 (95% confidence interval: 1.3\u20132.2) and 2.4 (1.8\u20133.1), respectively. The elevated risk was observed for all types of meat and fish intake. Intake of eggs and milk was not related to risk. Cooking methods and doneness levels for meat and fish were not associated with risk, nor did they modify the association with meat and fish consumption. Our study suggests that animal food consumption may play an important role in the aetiology of endometrial cancer, but cooking methods have minimal influence on risk among Chinese women."}
{"id": "MED-5192", "text": "High dietary intakes of calcium and dairy products have been hypothesized to enhance prostate cancer risk, but available prospective data regarding these associations are inconsistent. We examined dietary intakes of calcium and dairy products in relation to risk of prostate cancer in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study, a cohort of 29,133 male smokers aged 50-69 years at study entry. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline using a validated 276-item food use questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to adjust for known or suspected risk factors for prostate cancer. During 17 years of follow-up, we ascertained 1,267 incident cases of prostate cancer. High versus low intake of dietary calcium was associated with a marked increase in prostate cancer risk. The multivariate relative risk (RR) of prostate cancer for > or =2,000 mg/day compared to <1,000 mg/day of calcium intake was 1.63 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.27-2.10; p trend < 0.0001). Total dairy intake was also positively associated with risk of prostate cancer. The multivariate RR of prostate cancer comparing extreme quintiles of intake was 1.26 (95% CI, 1.04-1.51; p trend = 0.03). However, no association with total dairy intake remained after we adjusted for calcium (p trend = 0.17). Findings were similar by stage and grade of prostate cancer. The results from this large prospective study suggest that intake of calcium or some related component contained in dairy foods is associated with increased prostate cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-5193", "text": "BACKGROUND: The relation between dairy product intake and the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore biomarkers of dairy fat intake in plasma and erythrocytes and to assess the hypothesis that higher concentrations of these biomarkers are associated with a greater risk of IHD in US women. DESIGN: Among 32,826 participants in the Nurses' Health Study who provided blood samples in 1989-1990, 166 incident cases of IHD were ascertained between baseline and 1996. These cases were matched with 327 controls for age, smoking, fasting status, and date of blood drawing. RESULTS: Among controls, correlation coefficients between average dairy fat intake in 1986-1990 and 15:0 and trans 16:1n-7 content were 0.36 and 0.30 for plasma and 0.30 and 0.32 for erythrocytes, respectively. In multivariate analyses, with control for age, smoking, and other risk factors of IHD, women with higher plasma concentrations of 15:0 had a significantly higher risk of IHD. The multivariate-adjusted relative risks (95% CI) from the lowest to highest tertile of 15:0 concentrations in plasma were 1.0 (reference), 2.18 (1.20, 3.98), and 2.36 (1.16, 4.78) (P for trend = 0.03). Associations for other biomarkers were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma and erythrocyte contents of 15:0 and trans 16:1n-7 can be used as biomarkers of dairy fat intake. These data suggest that a high intake of dairy fat is associated with a greater risk of IHD."}
{"id": "MED-5194", "text": "BACKGROUND: Dairy consumption affects biological pathways associated with carcinogenesis. Evidence for a link between cancer risk and dairy consumption in adulthood is increasing, but associations with childhood dairy consumption have not been studied adequately. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether dairy consumption in childhood is associated with cancer incidence and mortality in adulthood. DESIGN: From 1937 through 1939, some 4,999 children living in England and Scotland participated in a study of family food consumption, assessed from 7-d household food inventories. The National Health Service central register was used to ascertain cancer registrations and deaths between 1948 and 2005 in the 4,383 traced cohort members. Per capita household intake estimates for dairy products and calcium were used as proxy for individual intake. RESULTS: During the follow-up period, 770 cancer registrations or cancer deaths occurred. High childhood total dairy intake was associated with a near-tripling in the odds of colorectal cancer [multivariate odds ratio: 2.90 (95% CI: 1.26, 6.65); 2-sided P for trend = 0.005] compared with low intake, independent of meat, fruit, and vegetable intakes and socioeconomic indicators. Milk intake showed a similar association with colorectal cancer risk. High milk intake was weakly inversely associated with prostate cancer risk (P for trend = 0.11). Childhood dairy intake was not associated with breast and stomach cancer risk; a positive association with lung cancer risk was confounded by smoking behavior during adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: A family diet rich in dairy products during childhood is associated with a greater risk of colorectal cancer in adulthood. Confirmation of possible underlying biological mechanisms is needed."}
{"id": "MED-5195", "text": "We performed a survival analysis to assess the effect of meat consumption and meat type on the risk of breast cancer in the UK Women's Cohort Study. Between 1995 and 1998 a cohort of 35\u2009372 women was recruited, aged between 35 and 69 years with a wide range of dietary intakes, assessed by a 217-item food frequency questionnaire. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Cox regression adjusted for known confounders. High consumption of total meat compared with none was associated with premenopausal breast cancer, HR=1.20 (95% CI: 0.86\u20131.68), and high non-processed meat intake compared with none, HR=1.20 (95% CI: 0.86\u20131.68). Larger effect sizes were found in postmenopausal women for all meat types, with significant associations with total, processed and red meat consumption. Processed meat showed the strongest HR=1.64 (95% CI: 1.14\u20132.37) for high consumption compared with none. Women, both pre- and postmenopausal, who consumed the most meat had the highest risk of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5196", "text": "The authors prospectively investigated the association between dairy intake and risk of Parkinson\u2019s disease among 57,689 men and 73,175 women from the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort from the American Cancer Society. A total of 250 men and 138 women with Parkinson\u2019s disease were identified during the follow-up (1992\u20132001). Dairy consumption was positively associated with the risk of Parkinson\u2019s disease: compared with the lowest intake quintile, the corresponding relative risks (RRs) for quintiles 2\u20135 were 1.4, 1.4, 1.4, and 1.6 (95 percent confidence interval (CI): 1.1\u20132.2; p for trend=0.05). A higher risk among dairy consumers was found in both men and women, although the association in women appeared non-linear. The meta-analysis of all prospective studies confirmed a moderately elevated risk of Parkinson\u2019s disease among individuals with high dairy consumption: the RRs between extreme intake categories were 1.6 (95 percent CI: 1.3\u20132.0) for men and women combined, 1.8 for men (95 percent CI: 1.4\u20132.4), and 1.3 for women (95 percent CI: 0.8\u20132.1). These data suggest that dairy consumption may increase the risk of Parkinson\u2019s disease, particularly in men. More studies are needed to further examine these findings and to explore the underlying mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-5197", "text": "BACKGROUND: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are carcinogens formed in or on the surface of well-done meat, cooked at high temperature. METHODS: We estimated breast cancer risk in relation to intake of cooked meat in a population-based, case-control study (1508 cases and 1556 controls) conducted in Long Island, NY from 1996 to 1997. Lifetime intakes of grilled or barbecued and smoked meats were derived from the interviewer-administered questionnaire data. Dietary intakes of PAH and HCA were derived from the self-administered modified Block food frequency questionnaire of intake 1 year before reference date. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Modest increased risk was observed among postmenopausal, but not premenopausal, women consuming the most grilled or barbecued and smoked meats over the life course (OR = 1.47; CI = 1.12-1.92 for highest vs. lowest tertile of intake). Postmenopausal women with low fruit and vegetable intake, but high lifetime intake of grilled or barbecued and smoked meats, had a higher OR of 1.74 (CI = 1.20-2.50). No associations were observed with the food frequency questionnaire-derived intake measures of PAHs and HCAs, with the possible exception of benzo(alpha)pyrene from meat among postmenopausal women whose tumors were positive for both estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors (OR = 1.47; CI = 0.99-2.19). CONCLUSIONS: These results support the accumulating evidence that consumption of meats cooked by methods that promote carcinogen formation may increase risk of postmenopausal breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5198", "text": "The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is dramatically higher in African Americans (AAs) than in Native Africans (NAs) (60:100,000 vs. <1:100,000) and slightly higher than in Caucasian Americans (CAs). To explore whether the difference could be explained by interactions between diet and colonic bacterial flora, we compared randomly selected samples of healthy 50- to 65-y-old AAs (n = 17) with NAs (n = 18) and CAs (n = 17). Diet was measured by 3-d recall, and colonic metabolism by breath hydrogen and methane responses to oral lactulose. Fecal samples were cultured for 7-alpha dehydroxylating bacteria and Lactobacillus plantarum. Colonoscopic mucosal biopsies were taken to measure proliferation rates. In comparison with NAs, AAs consumed more (P < 0.01) protein (94 +/- 9.3 vs. 58 +/- 4.1 g/d) and fat (114 +/- 11.2 vs. 38 +/- 3.0 g/d), meat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. However, they also consumed more (P < 0.05) calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C, and fiber intake was the same. Breath hydrogen was higher (P < 0.0001) and methane lower in AAs, and fecal colony counts of 7-alpha dehydroxylating bacteria were higher and of Lactobacilli were lower. Colonic crypt cell proliferation rates were dramatically higher in AAs (21.8 +/- 1.1% vs. 3.2 +/- 0.8% labeling, P < 0.0001). In conclusion, the higher CRC risk and mucosal proliferation rates in AAs than in NAs were associated with higher dietary intakes of animal products and higher colonic populations of potentially toxic hydrogen and secondary bile-salt-producing bacteria. This supports our hypothesis that CRC risk is determined by interactions between the external (dietary) and internal (bacterial) environments."}
{"id": "MED-5200", "text": "We studied the effect on fecal hydrolytic activities of adopting an uncooked extreme vegan diet and readopting a conventional diet. Eighteen subjects were randomly divided into test and control groups. In the test group subjects adopted the uncooked extreme vegan diet for 1 mo and then resumed a conventional diet for a second month. Controls consumed a conventional diet throughout the study. Phenol and p-cresol concentrations in serum and daily output in urine and fecal enzyme activities were measured. The activity of fecal urease significantly decreased (by 66%) as did cholylglycine hydrolase (55%), beta-glucuronidase (33%) and beta-glucosidase (40%) within 1 wk of beginning the vegan diet. The new level remained throughout the period of consuming this diet. Phenol and p-cresol concentrations in serum and daily outputs in urine significantly declined. The fecal enzyme activities returned to normal values within 2 wk of resuming the conventional diet. Concentrations of phenol and p-cresol in serum and daily output in urine had returned to normal after 1 mo of consuming the conventional diet. No changes were observed in the control group during the study. Results suggest that this uncooked extreme vegan diet causes a decrease in bacterial enzymes and certain toxic products that have been implicated in colon cancer risk."}
{"id": "MED-5201", "text": "It is estimated that most colon cancers can be attributed to dietary causes. We have hypothesized that diet influences the health of the colonic mucosa through interaction with the microbiota and that it is the milieu interior that regulates mucosal proliferation and therefore cancer risk. To validate this further, we compared colonic contents from healthy 50- to 65-y-old people from populations with high and low risk, specifically low risk Native Africans (cancer incidence <1:100,000; n = 17), high risk African Americans (risk 65:100,000; n = 17), and Caucasian Americans (risk 50:100,000; n = 18). Americans typically consume a high-animal protein and -fat diet, whereas Africans consume a staple diet of maize meal, rich in resistant starch and low in animal products. Following overnight fasting, rapid colonic evacuation was performed with 2 L polyethylene glycol. Total colonic evacuants were analyzed for SCFA, vitamins, nitrogen, and minerals. Total SCFA and butyrate were significantly higher in Native Africans than in both American groups. Colonic folate and biotin content, measured by Lactobacillus rhamnoses and Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 bioassay, respectively, exceeded normal daily dietary intakes. Compared with Africans, calcium and iron contents were significantly higher in Caucasian Americans and zinc content was significantly higher in African Americans, but nitrogen content did not differ among the 3 groups. In conclusion, the results support our hypothesis that the microbiota mediates the effect diet has on colon cancer risk by their generation of butyrate, folate, and biotin, molecules known to play a key role in the regulation of epithelial proliferation."}
{"id": "MED-5202", "text": "Summary \u03b3-Hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB) is used as a date-rape drug, which renders the victims unconscious and defenceless. Intoxications are very difficult to detect for forensic scientists due to rapid metabolism to endogenous levels of GHB. We recently discovered a new major metabolite, 2, of GHB (1) that could potentially extend the analytical detection window for GHB intoxications. Herein we disclose synthetic procedures based on a Koenigs\u2013Knorr glucuronidation approach that provides GHB glucuronide 2 and a deuterium-labelled analogue d 4-2 of high purity suitable for analytical chemistry. In addition, we have assessed the stability of GHB glucuronide 2 by mimicking the natural pH range for urine, which is of importance in the development of new analytical methods. Using NMR we show that GHB glucuronide 2 is highly stable towards aqueous hydrolysis within the pH range normally observed for urine even at elevated temperature."}
{"id": "MED-5203", "text": "Fiber is not digested by endogenous enzymes but is fermented by microbes principally in the large intestine. With fermentable energy available, microbes synthesize protein by using ammonia released by their enzymes from urea and other nitrogenous substances in ingesta and intestinal secretions. Fibber fermentation also yields fatty acids that lower the concentration of free ammonia by lowering pH. Fiber increases bulk and water of intestinal contents, shortens transit time, and decreases the concentration of toxic substances in contact with the intestinal mucosa. These processes decrease duration and intensity of exposure of the intestinal mucosa to free ammonia, the form of nitrogen that is most toxic and most readily absorbed by cells. At concentrations found in the lower bowel on usual Western diets, ammonia destroys cells, alters nucleic acid synthesis, increases intestinal mucosal cell mass, increases virus infections, favors growth of cancerous cells over noncancerous cells in tissue culture, and increases virus infections. Ammonia in the bowel increases as protein intake increases. The attributes of ammonia and the epidemiological evidence comparing populations that maintain low intakes of unrefined carbohydrate with those that consume high intakes of protein, fat, and refined carbohydrates implicate ammonia in carcinogenesis and other disease processes."}
{"id": "MED-5204", "text": "It is generally accepted that carbohydrate fermentation results in beneficial effects for the host because of the generation of short chain fatty acids, whereas protein fermentation is considered detrimental for the host's health. Protein fermentation mainly occurs in the distal colon, when carbohydrates get depleted and results in the production of potentially toxic metabolites such as ammonia, amines, phenols and sulfides. However, the effectivity of these metabolites has been established mainly in in vitro studies. In addition, some important bowel diseases such as colorectal cancer (CRC) and ulcerative colitis appear most often in the distal colon, which is the primary site of protein fermentation. Finally, epidemiological studies revealed that diets rich in meat are associated with the prevalence of CRC, as is the case in Western society. Importantly, meat intake not only increases fermentation of proteins but also induces increased intake of fat, heme and heterocyclic amines, which may also play a role in the development of CRC. Despite these indications, the relationship between gut health and protein fermentation has not been thoroughly investigated. In this review, the existing evidence about the potential toxicity of protein fermentation from in vitro animal and human studies will be summarized. Copyright \u00a9 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim."}
{"id": "MED-5205", "text": "Since meat may be involved in the etiology of colorectal cancer, associations between meat-related compounds were examined to elucidate underlying mechanisms in a population-based case-control study. Participants (989 cases/1,033 healthy controls) completed a food frequency questionnaire with a meat-specific module. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations between meat variables and colorectal cancer; polytomous logistic regression was used for subsite-specific analyses. The following significant positive associations were observed for meat-related compounds: 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (DiMeIQx) and colorectal, distal colon, and rectal tumors; 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) and colorectal and colon cancer tumors; nitrites/nitrates and proximal colon cancer; 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) and rectal cancer; and benzo[a]pyrene and rectal cancer (P-trends < 0.05 ). For analyses by meat type, cooking method, and doneness preference, positive associations between red processed meat and proximal colon cancer and pan-fried red meat and colorectal cancer were found (P-trends < 0.05). Inverse associations were observed between unprocessed poultry and colorectal, colon, proximal colon, and rectal tumors; grilled/barbequed poultry and proximal colon cancer; and well-done/charred poultry and colorectal, colon, and proximal colon tumors (P-trends < 0.05). HCAs, PAHs, nitrites, and nitrates may be involved in colorectal cancer etiology. Further examination into the unexpected inverse associations between poultry and colorectal cancer is warranted."}
{"id": "MED-5206", "text": "Glucuronidation is an important process in the metabolism of xenobiotic and endogenous substances leading to enhancement of excretion of these compounds from the body. A multigene family encodes a number of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase enzymes which catalyse this route of metabolism. Recent advances in biochemical and molecular biological approaches, reviewed here by Thomas Tephly and Brian Burchell, have given new insight into the function and structure of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases. These proteins have surprising similarities and yet appear to be capable of conjugating a remarkable number of different chemicals."}
{"id": "MED-5207", "text": "The effect of a mixed Western, high meat diet or a nonmeat diet on the intestinal bacterial beta-glucuronidase activity was studied in human volunteers. This enzyme was significantly higher in stools of subjects on a high meat diet as compared to the nonmeat regimen. Thus, intestinal flora of subjects on a high meat diet was more able to hydrolyze glucuronide conjugates than that of individuals on a nonmeat diet. This, in turn, may raise the amount of substances, such as carcinogens, within the colonic lumen."}
{"id": "MED-5208", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the rarity of colon cancer in black Africans (prevalence, < 1:100,000) can be accounted for by dietary factors considered to reduce risk, and by differences in colonic bacterial fermentation. METHODS: Samples of the adult black South African population were drawn from several rural and urban regions. Food consumption was assessed by home visits, food frequency questionnaires, computerized analysis of 72-h dietary recall, and blood sampling. Colonic fermentation was measured by breath H2 and CH4 response to a traditional meal, and to 10-g of lactulose. Cancer risk was estimated by measurement of epithelial proliferation indices (Ki-67 and BrdU) in rectal mucosal biopsies. Results were evaluated by comparison to measurements in high-risk white South Africans (prevalence, 17:100,000). RESULTS: Epithelial proliferation was significantly lower in rural and urban blacks than whites. The diets of all the black subgroups were characterized by a low animal product and high boiled maize-meal content, whereas whites consumed more fresh animal products, cheese, and wheat products. Blacks consumed below RDA quantities of fiber (43% of RDA), vitamin A (78%), C (62%), folic acid (80%) and calcium (67%), whereas whites consumed more animal protein (177% of RDA) and fat (153%). Fasting and food-induced breath methane production was two to three times higher in blacks. CONCLUSIONS: The low prevalence of colon cancer in black Africans cannot be explained by dietary \"protective\" factors, such as, fiber, calcium, vitamins A, C and folic acid, but may be influenced by the absence of \"aggressive\" factors, such as excess animal protein and fat, and by differences in colonic bacterial fermentation."}
{"id": "MED-5209", "text": "A 5-year-old boy with autism developed dry eye and xerophthalmia. Serum vitamin A was undetectable. Dietary history revealed a markedly altered intake consisting of only fried potatoes and rice balls for 2 years. Fried potatoes contain no vitamin A. Autism is a multifaceted developmental disorder infrequently accompanied by abnormal eating practices. To the authors' knowledge, most children with autism who develop dietary vitamin A deficiency have consumed an excess of fried potatoes. Attention to possible vitamin A deficiency is essential when fried potatoes are consumed exclusively."}
{"id": "MED-5212", "text": "PURPOSE: To report the rate of recanalization and the efficacy of punctal occlusion surgery with a high heat-energy-releasing cautery device in patients with severe dry eye disease and recurrent punctal plug extrusion. DESIGN: Prospective, interventional case series. METHODS: Seventy puncta from 44 eyes of 28 dry eye patients underwent punctal occlusion with thermal cautery. All patients had a history of recurrent punctal plug extrusion. A high heat-energy-releasing thermal cautery device (Optemp II V; Alcon Japan) was used for punctal occlusion surgery. Symptom scores, best-corrected visual acuity, fluorescein staining score, rose bengal staining score, tear film break-up time, and Schirmer test values were compared before and 3 months after the surgery. Rate of punctal recanalization also was examined. RESULTS: Three months after surgical cauterization, symptom score decreased from 3.9 \u00b1 0.23 to 0.56 \u00b1 0.84 (P < .0001). Logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.11 \u00b1 0.30 to 0.013 \u00b1 0.22 (P = .003). Fluorescein staining score, rose bengal staining score, tear film break-up time, and the Schirmer test value also improved significantly after the surgery. Only 1 of 70 puncta recanalized after thermal cauterization (1.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Punctal occlusion with the high heat-energy-releasing cautery device not only was associated with a low recanalization rate, but also with improvements in ocular surface wetness and better visual acuity. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5213", "text": "Dry eye disease (DED) treatment is an area of increasing complexity, with the emergence of several new treatment agents in recent years. Evaluation of the efficacy of these agents is limited by heterogeneity in outcomes definition and the small number of comparative studies. We provide a systematic review of clinical trials (CTs) related to DED treatment and a critical appraisal of CT public databases. CT reports obtained from eight databases were reviewed, as well as public free-access electronic databases for CT registration. Data evaluation was based on endpoints such as symptoms, Schirmer test, ocular surface staining scores, recruitment of patients, type and efficacy of the drug, and the design and site of performance of the study. Forty-nine CTs were evaluated involving 5,189 patients receiving DED treatment. Heterogeneity in study design prevented meta-analysis from yielding meaningful results, and a descriptive analysis of these studies was conducted. The most frequent categories of drugs for DED in these studies were artificial tears, followed by anti-inflammatory drugs and secretagogues. Although 116 studies have been completed, according to the registration database for clinical trials, only 17 of them (15.5%) were published. Out of 185 registered CTs related to DED, 72% were performed in the USA. The pharmaceutical industry sponsored 78% of them. The identification of effective DED treatment strategies is hindered by the lack of an accepted set of definitive criteria for evaluating disease severity. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5217", "text": "It has been suggested that tear fluid is isotonic with plasma, and plasma osmolality (P(osm)) is an accepted, albeit invasive, hydration marker. Our aim was to determine whether tear fluid osmolarity (T(osm)) assessed using a new, portable, noninvasive, rapid collection and measurement device tracks hydration. PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare changes in T(osm) and another widely used noninvasive marker, urine specific gravity (USG), with changes in P(osm) during hypertonic-hypovolemia. METHODS: In a randomized order, 14 healthy volunteers exercised in the heat on one occasion with fluid restriction (FR) until 1%, 2%, and 3% body mass loss (BML) and with overnight fluid restriction until 08:00 h the following day, and on another occasion with fluid intake (FI). Volunteers were rehydrated between 08:00 and 11:00 h. T(osm) was assessed using the TearLab osmolarity system. RESULTS: P(osm) and USG increased with progressive dehydration on FR (P < 0.001). T(osm) increased significantly on FR from 293 \u00b1 9 to 305 \u00b1 13 mOsm\u00b7L(-1) at 3% BML and remained elevated overnight (304 \u00b1 14 mOsm\u00b7L(-1); P < 0.001). P(osm) and T(osm) decreased during exercise on FI and returned to preexercise values the following morning. Rehydration restored P(osm), USG, and T(osm) to within preexercise values. The mean correlation between T(osm) and P(osm) was r = 0.93 and that between USG and P(osm) was r = 0.72. CONCLUSIONS: T(osm) increased with dehydration and tracked alterations in P(osm) with comparable utility to USG. Measuring T(osm) using the TearLab osmolarity system may offer sports medicine practitioners, clinicians, and research investigators a practical and rapid hydration assessment technique."}
{"id": "MED-5221", "text": "Xerophthalmia and keratomalacia are public health problems of great magnitude which are usually associated with multiple vitamin and protein deficiencies. The authors report the case of a 27-year-old commune member who subjected herself to a bizarre protein and vitamin deficient diet for many months. This ultimately produced nyctalopia, xerophthalmia and keratomalacia with bilateral corneal perforation. Despite therapy, she remained comatose and expired shortly after admission. Ocular pathological changes included bilateral corneal melting with prolapse of intraocular contents, conjunctival epidermidalization, goblet cell atrophy and thinning of the outer nuclear layer of the retina. It is noted that ocular findings in pure avitaminosis A produced experimentalyy include epithelial atrophy followed by keratinization."}
{"id": "MED-5222", "text": "BACKGROUND: Symptomatic dryness of the eyes is a most common blepharoplasty complication. The authors reviewed the medications and herbal products that may potentiate this complication. METHODS: The MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched for the years 1991 to 2011. Search terms included \"dry eye syndrome,\" \"keratitis sicca,\" \"keratoconjunctivitis sicca,\" \"ocular side effects,\" \"herbal supplements,\" \"herbals and dry eye,\" \"dry eye risk factors,\" \"etiology of dry eye,\" \"drugs side effects,\" \"drugs and dry eye,\" \"dietary supplements,\" \"ocular toxicity,\" and \"tear film.\" References from herbal product reviews and eligible medication reports were searched for additional articles. A manual search was also conducted based on citations in the published literature. RESULTS: Of 232 articles found to be related to dry eye syndrome and possible risk factors, 196 were excluded because they did not discuss medications or herbal products as risk factors in dry eye syndrome. Thirty-six articles that examined the pathophysiology and risk factors of dry eye were included. Nine books were reviewed that contained some information regarding the association of medications and herbal products with dry eye. These agents were then categorized based on mechanism of action and usage. Medications listed include antihistamines, decongestants, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, antiparkinson drugs, beta-blockers, and hormone replacement therapy. The three main herbal products that contribute to dry eye are niacin, echinacea, and kava. There was a strong association between anticholinergic alkaloids and dry eye. CONCLUSION: This study identifies the medications and herbal products that should be considered when a patient undergoes blepharoplasty and complains of symptoms associated with dryness of the eyes."}
{"id": "MED-5226", "text": "Fecal, urinary, and plasma estrogens and plasma androgens were studied in healthy pre- and postmenopausal vegetarian and omnivorous women. Dietary histories of the subjects revealed that omnivores consumed a higher percentage of total protein and fat from animal sources. The total 72-hr fecal excretion as measured by dry weight was higher for vegetarians. Preliminary results indicate that vegetarian women excrete 2 to 3 times more estrogens in feces than do omnivores and that omnivores have about 50% higher mean plasma level of unconjugated estrone and estradiol than vegetarians. Estriol-3-glucuronide, a compound that is formed upon reabsorption of free estriol from the intestine, is found in lower concentrations in the urine of vegetarians. These data suggest that in vegetarians a greater amount of the biliary estrogens escape reabsorption and are excreted with the feces. The differences in estrogen metabolism may explain the lower incidence of breast cancer in vegetarian women."}
{"id": "MED-5229", "text": "Disease risk factors identified in epidemiological studies serve as important public health tools, helping clinicians identify individuals who may benefit from more aggressive screening or risk-modification procedures, allowing policymakers to prioritize intervention programs, and encouraging at-risk individuals to modify behavior and improve their health. These factors have been based primarily on evidence from cross-sectional and prospective studies, as most do not lend themselves to randomized trials. While some risk factors are not modifiable, eating habits are subject to change through both individual action and broader policy initiatives. Meat consumption has been frequently investigated as a variable associated with diabetes risk, but it has not yet been described as a diabetes risk factor. In this article, we evaluate the evidence supporting the use of meat consumption as a clinically useful risk factor for type 2 diabetes, based on studies evaluating the risks associated with meat consumption as a categorical dietary characteristic (i.e., meat consumption versus no meat consumption), as a scalar variable (i.e., gradations of meat consumption), or as part of a broader dietary pattern."}
{"id": "MED-5230", "text": "CONTEXT: Dietary composition may affect insulin secretion, and high insulin levels, in turn, may increase the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of fiber consumption and its association with insulin levels, weight gain, and other CVD risk factors compared with other major dietary components. DESIGN AND SETTING: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, a multicenter population-based cohort study of the change in CVD risk factors over 10 years (1985-1986 to 1995-1996) in Birmingham, Ala; Chicago, III; Minneapolis, Minn; and Oakland, Calif. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2909 healthy black and white adults, 18 to 30 years of age at enrollment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body weight, insulin levels, and other CVD risk factors at year 10, adjusted for baseline values. RESULTS: After adjustment for potential confounding factors, dietary fiber showed linear associations from lowest to highest quintiles of intake with the following: body weight (whites: 174.8-166.7 lb [78.3-75.0 kg], P<.001; blacks: 185.6-177.6 lb [83.5-79.9 kg], P = .001), waist-to-hip ratio (whites: 0.813-0.801, P = .004; blacks: 0.809-0.799, P = .05), fasting insulin adjusted for body mass index (whites: 77.8-72.2 pmol/L [11.2-10.4 microU/mL], P = .007; blacks: 92.4-82.6 pmol/L [13.3-11.9 microU/mL], P = .01) and 2-hour postglucose insulin adjusted for body mass index (whites: 261.1-234.7 pmol/L [37.6-33.8 microU/mL], P = .03; blacks: 370.2-259.7 pmol/L [53.3-37.4 microU/mL], P<.001). Fiber was also associated with blood pressure and levels of triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fibrinogen; these associations were substantially attenuated by adjustment for fasting insulin level. In comparison with fiber, intake of fat, carbohydrate, and protein had inconsistent or weak associations with all CVD risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Fiber consumption predicted insulin levels, weight gain, and other CVD risk factors more strongly than did total or saturated fat consumption. High-fiber diets may protect against obesity and CVD by lowering insulin levels."}
{"id": "MED-5231", "text": "Increased consumption of plant products is associated with lower chronic disease prevalence. This is attributed to the great diversity of healthy phytochemicals present in these foods. The most investigated physiological effects have been their antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, hypolipidemic, and hypoglycemic properties. Although less studied in humans, some compounds were very early on shown to be lipotropic in animals, i.e., the capacity to hasten the removal of fat from liver and/or reduce hepatic lipid synthesis or deposits by mainly increasing phospholipid synthesis via the transmethylation pathway for triglyceride-rich lipoprotein exportation from the liver and enhanced fatty acid \u03b2-oxidation and/or down- and up-regulation of genes involved in lipogenic and fatty acid oxidation enzyme synthesis, respectively. The main plant lipotropes are choline, betaine, myo-inositol, methionine, and carnitine. Magnesium, niacin, pantothenate, and folates also indirectly support the overall lipotropic effect. The exhaustive review of rat studies investigating phytochemical effect on hepatic lipid metabolism suggests that some fatty acids, acetic acid, melatonin, phytic acid, some fiber compounds, oligofructose, resistant starch, some phenolic acids, flavonoids, lignans, stilbenes, curcumin, saponins, coumarin, some plant extracts, and some solid foods may be lipotropic. However, this remains to be confirmed in humans, for whom intervention studies are practically non-existent. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition\u00ae to view the free supplemental file."}
{"id": "MED-5232", "text": "Insulin resistance is a cardinal feature of type 2 diabetes and is characteristic of a wide range of other clinical and experimental settings. Little is known about why insulin resistance occurs in so many contexts. Do the various insults that trigger insulin resistance act through a common mechanism? Or, as has been suggested, do they use distinct cellular pathways? Here we report a genomic analysis of two cellular models of insulin resistance, one induced by treatment with the cytokine tumour-necrosis factor-alpha and the other with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone. Gene expression analysis suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels are increased in both models, and we confirmed this through measures of cellular redox state. ROS have previously been proposed to be involved in insulin resistance, although evidence for a causal role has been scant. We tested this hypothesis in cell culture using six treatments designed to alter ROS levels, including two small molecules and four transgenes; all ameliorated insulin resistance to varying degrees. One of these treatments was tested in obese, insulin-resistant mice and was shown to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. Together, our findings suggest that increased ROS levels are an important trigger for insulin resistance in numerous settings."}
{"id": "MED-5233", "text": "Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels are elevated in obesity. FFA, by causing insulin resistance in muscle, liver, and endothelial cells, contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, dyslipidemia, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The mechanism through which FFA induces insulin resistance involves intramyocellular and intrahepatocellular accumulation of triglycerides and diacylglycerol, activation of several serine/threonine kinases, reduction in tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1/2, and impairment of the IRS/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway of insulin signaling. FFA also produces low-grade inflammation in skeletal muscle and liver through activation of nuclear factor-kappaB, resulting in release of several proinflammatory and proatherogenic cytokines. Thus, elevated FFA levels (due to obesity or to high-fat feeding) cause insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and liver, which contributes to the development of T2DM, and produce low-grade inflammation, which contributes to the development of atherosclerotic vascular diseases and NAFLD."}
{"id": "MED-5235", "text": "Several prospective studies have reported that risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is elevated in meat consumers, especially when processed meats are consumed. Elevated risks of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in meat consumers have also been reported. In this overview, the evidence regarding meat consumption and the risk of diabetes, both type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and T2DM and their macro- and microvascular complications, is reviewed. For T2DM, we performed a new meta-analysis including publications up to October 2012. For T1DM, only a few studies have reported increased risks for meat consumers or for high intake of saturated fatty acids and nitrates and nitrites. For T2DM, CHD, and stroke, the evidence is strongest. Per 100 g of total meat, the pooled relative risk (RR) for T2DM is 1.15 (95 % CI 1.07-1.24), for (unprocessed) red meat 1.13 (95 % CI 1.03-1.23), and for poultry 1.04 (95 % CI 0.99-1.33); per 50 g of processed meat, the pooled RR is 1.32 (95 % CI 1.19-1.48). Hence, the strongest association regarding T2DM is observed for processed (red) meat. A similar observation has been made for CHD. For stroke, however, a recent meta-analysis shows moderately elevated risks for meat consumers, for processed as well as for fresh meats. For the microvascular complications of diabetes, few prospective data were available, but suggestions for elevated risks can be derived from findings on hyperglycemia and hypertension. The results are discussed in the light of the typical nutrients and other compounds present in meat--that is, saturated and trans fatty acids, dietary cholesterol, protein and amino acids, heme-iron, sodium, nitrites and nitrosamines, and advanced glycation end products. In light of these findings, a diet moderate to low in red meat, unprocessed and lean, and prepared at moderate temperatures is probably the best choice from the public health point of view."}
{"id": "MED-5236", "text": "AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: A diet rich in meat has been reported to contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes. The present study aims to investigate the association between meat consumption and incident type 2 diabetes in the EPIC-InterAct study, a large prospective case-cohort study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. METHODS: During 11.7 years of follow-up, 12,403 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were identified among 340,234 adults from eight European countries. A centre-stratified random subsample of 16,835 individuals was selected in order to perform a case-cohort design. Prentice-weighted Cox regression analyses were used to estimate HR and 95% CI for incident diabetes according to meat consumption. RESULTS: Overall, multivariate analyses showed significant positive associations with incident type 2 diabetes for increasing consumption of total meat (50 g increments: HR 1.08; 95% CI 1.05, 1.12), red meat (HR 1.08; 95% CI 1.03, 1.13) and processed meat (HR 1.12; 95% CI 1.05, 1.19), and a borderline positive association with meat iron intake. Effect modifications by sex and class of BMI were observed. In men, the results of the overall analyses were confirmed. In women, the association with total and red meat persisted, although attenuated, while an association with poultry consumption also emerged (HR 1.20; 95% CI 1.07, 1.34). These associations were not evident among obese participants. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: This prospective study confirms a positive association between high consumption of total and red meat and incident type 2 diabetes in a large cohort of European adults."}
{"id": "MED-5237", "text": "Preface In all eukaryotes, the target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway couples energy and nutrient abundance to the execution of cell growth and division, owing to the ability of TOR protein kinase to simultaneously sense energy, nutrients and stress, and, in metazoan, growth factors. Mammalian TOR complexes 1 and 2 (mTORC1 and mTORC2) exert their actions by regulating other important kinases, such as S6K and Akt. In the last few years, a significant advance in our understanding of the regulation and functions of mTOR has revealed its critical involvement in the onset and progression of diabetes, cancer and ageing."}
{"id": "MED-5238", "text": "The prevalence of diabetes and obesity has increased rapidly over the last few decades in both developed and developing countries. While it is intuitively appealing to suggest that lifestyle risk factors such as decreased physical activity and adoption of poor diets can explain much of the increase, the evidence to support this is poor. Given this, there has been an impetus to look more widely than traditional lifestyle and biomedical risk factors, especially those risk factors, which arise from the environment. Since the industrial revolution, there has been an introduction of many chemicals into our environment, which have now become environmental pollutants. There has been growing interest in one key class of environmental pollutants known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and their potential role in the development of diabetes. This review will summarise and appraise the current epidemiological evidence relating POPs to diabetes and highlight gaps and flaws in this evidence. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5239", "text": "Epidemiological evidence points to increased dairy and meat consumption, staples of the Western diet, as major risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). This paper presents a new concept and comprehensive review of leucine-mediated cell signaling explaining the pathogenesis of T2D and obesity by leucine-induced over-stimulation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). mTORC1, a pivotal nutrient-sensitive kinase, promotes growth and cell proliferation in response to glucose, energy, growth factors and amino acids. Dairy proteins and meat stimulate insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling and provide high amounts of leucine, a primary and independent stimulator for mTORC1 activation. The downstream target of mTORC1, the kinase S6K1, induces insulin resistance by phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1, thereby increasing the metabolic burden of \u03b2-cells. Moreover, leucine-mediated mTORC1-S6K1-signaling plays an important role in adipogenesis, thus increasing the risk of obesity-mediated insulin resistance. High consumption of leucine-rich proteins explains exaggerated mTORC1-dependent insulin secretion, increased \u03b2-cell growth and \u03b2-cell proliferation promoting an early onset of replicative \u03b2-cell senescence with subsequent \u03b2-cell apoptosis. Disturbances of \u03b2-cell mass regulation with increased \u03b2-cell proliferation and apoptosis as well as insulin resistance are hallmarks of T2D, which are all associated with hyperactivation of mTORC1. In contrast, the anti-diabetic drug metformin antagonizes leucine-mediated mTORC1 signaling. Plant-derived polyphenols and flavonoids are identified as natural inhibitors of mTORC1 and exert anti-diabetic and anti-obesity effects. Furthermore, bariatric surgery in obesity reduces increased plasma levels of leucine and other branched-chain amino acids. Attenuation of leucine-mediated mTORC1 signaling by defining appropriate upper limits of the daily intake of leucine-rich animal and dairy proteins may offer a great chance for the prevention of T2D and obesity, as well as other epidemic diseases of civilization with increased mTORC1 signaling, especially cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, which are frequently associated with T2D."}
{"id": "MED-5241", "text": "The present meta-analysis shows no clear association between coffee consumption and the risk of hip fractures. There was a nonlinear association between tea consumption and the risk of hip fracture. Compared to no tea consumption, drinking 1-4 cups of tea daily was associated with a lower risk of hip fracture. INTRODUCTION: Prospective cohort and case-control studies have suggested that coffee and tea consumption may be associated with the risk of hip fracture; the results have, however, been inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the association between coffee and tea consumption and the risk of hip fracture. METHODS: We performed systematic searches using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and OVID until February 20, 2013, without limits of language or publication year. Relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were derived using random-effects models throughout all analyses. We conducted categorical, dose-response, heterogeneity, publication bias, and subgroup analyses. RESULTS: Our study was based on 195,992 individuals with 9,958 cases of hip fractures from 14 studies, including six cohort and eight case-control studies. The pooled RRs of hip fractures for the highest vs. the lowest categories of coffee and tea consumption were 0.94 (95% CI 0.71-1.17) and 0.84 (95% CI 0.66-1.02), respectively. For the dose-response analysis, we found evidence of a nonlinear association between tea consumption and the risk of hip fracture (p(nonlinearity) < 0.01). Compared to no tea consumption, 1-4 cups of tea per day may reduce the risk of hip fracture by 28% (0.72; 95% CI 0.56-0.88 for 1-2 cups/day), 37% (0.63; 95% CI 0.32-0.94 for 2-3 cups/day), and 21% (0.79; 95% CI 0.62-0.96 for 3-4 cups/day). CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant association between coffee consumption and the risk of hip fracture. A nonlinear association emerged between tea consumption and the risk of hip fracture; individuals drinking 1-4 cups of tea per day exhibited a lower risk of hip fractures than those who drank no tea. The association between 5 daily cups of tea, or more, and hip fracture risk should be investigated."}
{"id": "MED-5243", "text": "PURPOSE: The data on the association between coffee consumption and the risk of fractures are inconclusive. We performed a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis to better quantify this association. METHODS: We identified all potentially relevant articles by searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and CINAHL (until February 2013). The keywords \"coffee,\" \"caffeine,\" \"drink,\" and \"beverage\" were used as the exposure factors, and the keyword \"fracture\" was used as the outcome factor. We determined the overall relative risk (RR) and confidence interval (CI) for the highest and lowest levels of coffee consumption. A dose-response analysis was performed to assess the risk of fractures based on the level of coffee consumption. RESULTS: We included 253,514 participants with 12,939 fracture cases from 9 cohort and 6 case-control studies. The estimated RR of fractures at the highest level of coffee consumption was 1.14 (95% CI: 1.05-1.24; I(2)=0.0%) in women and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.62-0.94; I(2)=7.3%) in men. In the dose-response analysis, the pooled RRs of fractures in women who consumed 2 and 8 cups of coffee per day were 1.02 (95% CI: 1.01-1.04) and 1.54 (95% CI: 1.19-1.99), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis suggests that daily consumption of coffee is associated with an increased risk of fractures in women and a contrasting decreased risk in men. However, future well-designed studies should be performed to confirm these findings. Copyright \u00a9 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5244", "text": "Coffee, after water, is the most widely consumed beverage in the United States, and is the principal source of caffeine intake among adults. The biological effects of coffee may be substantial and are not limited to the actions of caffeine. Coffee is a complex beverage containing hundreds of biologically active compounds, and the health effects of chronic coffee intake are wide ranging. From a cardiovascular (CV) standpoint, coffee consumption may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension, as well as other conditions associated with CV risk such as obesity and depression; but it may adversely affect lipid profiles depending on how the beverage is prepared. Regardless, a growing body of data suggests that habitual coffee consumption is neutral to beneficial regarding the risks of a variety of adverse CV outcomes including coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and stroke. Moreover, large epidemiological studies suggest that regular coffee drinkers have reduced risks of mortality, both CV and all-cause. The potential benefits also include protection against neurodegenerative diseases, improved asthma control, and lower risk of select gastrointestinal diseases. A daily intake of \u223c2 to 3 cups of coffee appears to be safe and is associated with neutral to beneficial effects for most of the studied health outcomes. However, most of the data on coffee's health effects are based on observational data, with very few randomized, controlled studies, and association does not prove causation. Additionally, the possible advantages of regular coffee consumption have to be weighed against potential risks (which are mostly related to its high caffeine content) including anxiety, insomnia, tremulousness, and palpitations, as well as bone loss and possibly increased risk of fractures. Copyright \u00a9 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5247", "text": "Purpose We investigated whether caffeine, which transiently increases intraocular pressure (IOP) is associated with risk of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Methods We followed 79,120 women from 1980 and 42,052 men from 1986 to 2004 who were 40+ years old, did not have POAG, and reported receiving eye examinations. Information on caffeine consumption, potential confounders and POAG diagnoses were repeatedly updated in validated follow-up questionnaires. We confirmed 1,011 incident POAG cases with medical record review. Cohort-specific and pooled analyses across cohorts were conducted to calculate multivariable rate ratios (RR). Results Compared with daily intake of < 150 mg, the pooled multivariable RRs were 1.05 [95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.89\u20131.25] for consuming 150\u2013299 mg, 1.19 [95% CI, 0.99\u20131.43] for 300 \u2013 449 mg/day, 1.13 [95% CI, 0.89\u20131.43] for 450\u2013559 mg and 1.17 [95% CI, 0.90, 1.53] for 600+ mg+ [p for trend = 0.11]. However, for consuming 5+ cups of caffeinated coffee daily, RR was 1.61 [95% CI, 1.00, 2.59; p for trend=0.02]; tea or caffeinated cola intake were not associated with risk. Greater caffeine intake was more adversely associated with POAG among those reporting family history of glaucoma, particularly in relation to POAG with elevated IOP (p for trend =0.0009; p-interaction=0.04). Conclusion Overall caffeine intake was not associated with increased risk of POAG. However, in secondary analyses, caffeine appeared to elevate risk of high-tension POAG among those with a family history of glaucoma; this may be due to chance, but warrants further study."}
{"id": "MED-5248", "text": "The use of substances as the substrate for atrial fibrillation is not frequently recognized. Chocolate is derived from the roasted seeds of the plant theobroma cacao and its components are the methylxanthine alkaloids theobromine and caffeine. Caffeine is a methylxanthine whose primary biological effect is the competitive antagonism of the adenosine receptor. Normal consumption of caffeine was not associated with risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter. Sympathomimetic effects, due to circulating catecholamines cause the cardiac manifestations of caffeine overdose toxicity, produce tachyarrhythmias such as supraventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation.The commonly used doses of inhaled or nebulized salbutamol induced no acute myocardial ischaemia, arrhythmias or changes in heart rate variability in patients with coronary artery disease and clinically stable asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Two-week salbutamol treatment shifts the cardiovascular autonomic regulation to a new level characterized by greater sympathetic responsiveness and slight beta2-receptor tolerance. We present a case of atrial fibrillation associated with chocolate intake abuse in a 19-year-old Italian woman with chronic salbutamol inhalation abuse. This case focuses attention on chocolate intake abuse associated with chronic salbutamol abuse as the substrate for atrial fibrillation. Copyright \u00a9 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5249", "text": "Coffee is the leading worldwide beverage after water and its trade exceeds US $10 billion worldwide. Controversies regarding its benefits and risks still exist as reliable evidence is becoming available supporting its health promoting potential; however, some researchers have argued about the association of coffee consumption with cardiovascular complications and cancer insurgence. The health-promoting properties of coffee are often attributed to its rich phytochemistry, including caffeine, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, hydroxyhydroquinone (HHQ), etc. Many research investigations, epidemiological studies, and meta-analyses regarding coffee consumption revealed its inverse correlation with that of diabetes mellitus, various cancer lines, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, it ameliorates oxidative stress because of its ability to induce mRNA and protein expression, and mediates Nrf2-ARE pathway stimulation. Furthermore, caffeine and its metabolites help in proper cognitive functionality. Coffee lipid fraction containing cafestol and kahweol act as a safeguard against some malignant cells by modulating the detoxifying enzymes. On the other hand, their higher levels raise serum cholesterol, posing a possible threat to coronary health, for example, myocardial and cerebral infarction, insomnia, and cardiovascular complications. Caffeine also affects adenosine receptors and its withdrawal is accompanied with muscle fatigue and allied problems in those addicted to coffee. An array of evidence showed that pregnant women or those with postmenopausal problems should avoid excessive consumption of coffee because of its interference with oral contraceptives or postmenopausal hormones. This review article is an attempt to disseminate general information, health claims, and obviously the risk factors associated with coffee consumption to scientists, allied stakeholders, and certainly readers. \u00a9 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC"}
{"id": "MED-5250", "text": "Several prospective studies considered the relation between coffee consumption and mortality. Most studies, however, were underpowered to detect an association, since they included relatively few deaths. To obtain quantitative overall estimates, we combined all published data from prospective studies on the relation of coffee with mortality for all causes, all cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary/ischemic heart disease (CHD/IHD) and stroke. A bibliography search, updated to January 2013, was carried out in PubMed and Embase to identify prospective observational studies providing quantitative estimates on mortality from all causes, cancer, CVD, CHD/IHD or stroke in relation to coffee consumption. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to estimate overall relative risks (RR) and 95\u00a0% confidence intervals (CI) using random-effects models. The pooled RRs of all cause mortality for the study-specific highest versus low (\u22641 cup/day) coffee drinking categories were 0.88 (95\u00a0% CI 0.84-0.93) based on all the 23 studies, and 0.87 (95\u00a0% CI 0.82-0.93) for the 19 smoking adjusting studies. The combined RRs for CVD mortality were 0.89 (95\u00a0% CI 0.77-1.02, 17 smoking adjusting studies) for the highest versus low drinking and 0.98 (95\u00a0% CI 0.95-1.00, 16 studies) for the increment of 1 cup/day. Compared with low drinking, the RRs for the highest consumption of coffee were 0.95 (95\u00a0% CI 0.78-1.15, 12 smoking adjusting studies) for CHD/IHD, 0.95 (95\u00a0% CI 0.70-1.29, 6 studies) for stroke, and 1.03 (95\u00a0% CI 0.97-1.10, 10 studies) for all cancers. This meta-analysis provides quantitative evidence that coffee intake is inversely related to all cause and, probably, CVD mortality."}
{"id": "MED-5252", "text": "BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent sustained arrhythmia, and risk factors are well established. Caffeine exposure has been associated with increased risk of AF, but heterogeneous data exist in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between chronic exposure to caffeine and AF. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, CENTRAL, ISI Web of Knowledge and LILACS to December 2012. Reviews and references of retrieved articles were comprehensively searched. STUDY SELECTION: Two reviewers independently searched for studies and retrieved their characteristics and data estimates. DATA SYNTHESIS: Random-effects meta-analysis was performed, and pooled estimates were expressed as OR and 95% CI. Heterogeneity was assessed with the I(2) test. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to caffeine dose and source (coffee). RESULTS: Seven observational studies evaluating 115 993 individuals were included: six cohorts and one case-control study. Caffeine exposure was not associated with an increased risk of AF (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.04, I(2)=72%). Pooled results from high-quality studies showed a 13% odds reduction in AF risk with lower heterogeneity (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.80 to 0.94; I(2)=39%). Low-dose caffeine exposure showed OR 0.85 (95% CI 0.78 to 92, I(2)=0%) without significant differences in other dosage strata. Caffeine exposure based solely on coffee consumption also did not influence AF risk. CONCLUSIONS: Caffeine exposure is not associated with increased AF risk. Low-dose caffeine may have a protective effect."}
{"id": "MED-5254", "text": "Introduction and Hypothesis The goal of this study was to characterize associations between caffeine consumption and severity of urinary incontinence (UI) in US women. We hypothesized that moderate and high caffeine intake would be associated with UI in US women when controlling for other factors associated with UI. Methods US women participated in the 2005\u20132006 and 2007\u20132008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey. Using the Incontinence Severity Index, UI was categorized as \u201cany\u201d and \u201cmoderate/severe\u201d. Types of UI included stress, urge, mixed, and other. Food diaries were completed and average water (gm/day), total dietary moisture (gm/day), and caffeine (mg/day) intake were calculated into quartiles. Step-wise logistic regression models were constructed adjusting for: sociodemographics, chronic diseases, body mass index, self-rated health, depression, alcohol use, dietary water and moisture in take, and reproductive factors. Results From the 4309 non-pregnant women (aged \u226520 years) who had complete UI and dietary data, UI prevalence for any UI was 41.0% and 16.5% for moderate/severe UI, with stress UI the most common UI type (36.6%). Women consumed a mean caffeine intake of 126.7 mg/day. After adjusting for multiple factors, caffeine in take in the highest quartile (\u2265204 mg/day) was associated with any UI (prevalence odds ratio (POR)1.47, 95% CI 1.07, 2.01), but not moderate/severe UI (POR 1.42, 95% CI 0.98, 2.07). Type of UI (stress, urgency, mixed) was not associated with caffeine intake. Conclusions Caffeine intake \u2265204 mg/day was associated with any UI, but not moderate/severe UI, in US women."}
{"id": "MED-5257", "text": "BACKGROUND: The present analysis was conducted in response to inconsistent epidemiologic studies on the relation between consumption of tea and cardiovascular diseases. OBJECTIVE: We undertook a literature review of the consistency and strength of the associations between tea and cardiovascular diseases on the basis of published observational studies and meta-analyses addressing tea or tea flavonoids and cardiovascular disease risk. DESIGN: We performed a search in 3 databases for meta-analyses and compared them with studies they subsumed. We performed an additional search for subsequent studies to determine whether the conclusions were consistent. RESULTS: Many epidemiologic studies have been conducted and summarized in 5 meta-analyses on either tea consumption or flavonoid consumption and cardiovascular disease or the subset of stroke. Heterogeneity of effect was seen when the outcome included all cardiovascular diseases. In the case of stroke, a consistent, dose-response association with tea consumption on both incidence and mortality was noted with RRs of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65, 0.98) for flavonoids and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.85) for tea when high and low intakes were compared or the addition of 3 cups/d was estimated. CONCLUSION: Thus, the strength of this evidence supports the hypothesis that tea consumption might lower the risk of stroke."}
{"id": "MED-5258", "text": "Background Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages, but the association between coffee consumption and the risk of death remains unclear. Methods We examined the association of coffee drinking with subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 229,119 men and 173,141 women in the National Institutes of Health\u2013AARP Diet and Health Study who were 50 to 71 years of age at baseline. Participants with cancer, heart disease, and stroke were excluded. Coffee consumption was assessed once at baseline. Results During 5,148,760 person-years of follow-up between 1995 and 2008, a total of 33,731 men and 18,784 women died. In age-adjusted models, the risk of death was increased among coffee drinkers. However, coffee drinkers were also more likely to smoke, and, after adjustment for tobacco-smoking status and other potential confounders, there was a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and mortality. Adjusted hazard ratios for death among men who drank coffee as compared with those who did not were as follows: 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.95 to 1.04) for drinking less than 1 cup per day, 0.94 (95% CI, 0.90 to 0.99) for 1 cup, 0.90 (95% CI, 0.86 to 0.93) for 2 or 3 cups, 0.88 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.93) for 4 or 5 cups, and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.85 to 0.96) for 6 or more cups of coffee per day (P<0.001 for trend); the respective hazard ratios among women were 1.01 (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.07), 0.95 (95% CI, 0.90 to 1.01), 0.87 (95% CI, 0.83 to 0.92), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.79 to 0.90), and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.78 to 0.93) (P<0.001 for trend). Inverse associations were observed for deaths due to heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, but not for deaths due to cancer. Results were similar in subgroups, including persons who had never smoked and persons who reported very good to excellent health at baseline. Conclusions In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Whether this was a causal or associational finding cannot be determined from our data. (Funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.)"}
{"id": "MED-5259", "text": "Objective To evaluate the association between coffee consumption and mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Patients and Methods Data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) representing a total of 43,727 participants contributing to 699,632 person-years of follow-up time, were included. Baseline data were collected by an in-person interview based on standardized questionnaires and a medical examination, including fasting blood chemistry analysis, anthropometry, blood pressure, electrocardiography, and a maximal graded exercise test, between February 3, 1971 and December 30, 2002. Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the association between coffee consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Results During the 17-year median follow-up period, 2512 deaths occurred (32% due to CVD). In multivariate analyses, coffee intake was positively associated with all-cause mortality in men. Men who drank >28 cups coffee per week had higher all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR): 1.21; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04\u20131.40). However, after stratification based on age, both younger (<55 years) men and women showed a statistically significant association between high coffee consumption (>28 cups/week) and all-cause mortality, after adjusting for potential confounders and fitness level (HR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.30\u20131.87 for men and HR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.26\u20133.59 for women, respectively). Conclusion In this large cohort, a positive association between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality was observed among men and both men and women <55 years of age. Based on our findings, it seems appropriate to suggest that younger people avoid heavy coffee consumption (ie, averaging >4 cups/day). However, this finding should be assessed in future studies from other populations."}
{"id": "MED-5261", "text": "OBJECTIVE\u2014To examine the acute effects of consumption of monounsaturated (MUFAs) and saturated fatty acids (SAFAs) on endothelial function in subjects with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS\u2014A total of 33 participants were examined after consumption of two different isocaloric meals: one rich in MUFA and one rich in SAFA, in the form of extra-virgin olive oil and butter, respectively. Endothelial function was assessed by determination of flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). RESULTS\u2014FMD did not change significantly after the MUFA-rich meal but declined after the SAFA-rich meal. The FMD during the experiment, expressed as incremental area under the curve, increased after the MUFA-rich meal by 5.2 \u00b1 2.5% and decreased after the SAFA-rich meal by 16.7 \u00b1 6.0% (\u0394 = \u221211.5 \u00b1 6.4%; P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS\u2014Consumption of an SAFA-rich meal is harmful for the endothelium, while a MUFA-rich meal does not impair endothelial function in subjects with type 2 diabetes."}
{"id": "MED-5262", "text": "CONTEXT: The metabolic syndrome has been identified as a target for dietary therapies to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease; however, the role of diet in the etiology of the metabolic syndrome is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a Mediterranean-style diet on endothelial function and vascular inflammatory markers in patients with the metabolic syndrome. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Randomized, single-blind trial conducted from June 2001 to January 2004 at a university hospital in Italy among 180 patients (99 men and 81 women) with the metabolic syndrome, as defined by the Adult Treatment Panel III. INTERVENTIONS: Patients in the intervention group (n = 90) were instructed to follow a Mediterranean-style diet and received detailed advice about how to increase daily consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and olive oil; patients in the control group (n = 90) followed a prudent diet (carbohydrates, 50%-60%; proteins, 15%-20%; total fat, <30%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Nutrient intake; endothelial function score as a measure of blood pressure and platelet aggregation response to l-arginine; lipid and glucose parameters; insulin sensitivity; and circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukins 6 (IL-6), 7 (IL-7), and 18 (IL-18). RESULTS: After 2 years, patients following the Mediterranean-style diet consumed more foods rich in monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and fiber and had a lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Total fruit, vegetable, and nuts intake (274 g/d), whole grain intake (103 g/d), and olive oil consumption (8 g/d) were also significantly higher in the intervention group (P<.001). The level of physical activity increased in both groups by approximately 60%, without difference between groups (P =.22). Mean (SD) body weight decreased more in patients in the intervention group (-4.0 [1.1] kg) than in those in the control group (-1.2 [0.6] kg) (P<.001). Compared with patients consuming the control diet, patients consuming the intervention diet had significantly reduced serum concentrations of hs-CRP (P =.01), IL-6 (P =.04), IL-7 (P = 0.4), and IL-18 (P = 0.3), as well as decreased insulin resistance (P<.001). Endothelial function score improved in the intervention group (mean [SD] change, +1.9 [0.6]; P<.001) but remained stable in the control group (+0.2 [0.2]; P =.33). At 2 years of follow-up, 40 patients in the intervention group still had features of the metabolic syndrome, compared with 78 patients in the control group (P<.001). CONCLUSION: A Mediterranean-style diet might be effective in reducing the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its associated cardiovascular risk."}
{"id": "MED-5268", "text": "Olive oil is well known for its cardioprotective properties; however, epidemiological data showing that olive oil consumption reduces incident CHD events are still limited. Therefore, we studied the association between olive oil and CHD in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Spanish cohort study. The analysis included 40\u00a0142 participants (38\u00a0% male), free of CHD events at baseline, recruited from five EPIC-Spain centres from 1992 to 1996 and followed up until 2004. Baseline dietary and lifestyle information was collected using interview-administered questionnaires. Cox proportional regression models were used to assess the relationship between validated incident CHD events and olive oil intake (energy-adjusted quartiles and each 10\u00a0g/d per 8368\u00a0kJ (2000\u00a0kcal) increment), while adjusting for potential confounders. During a 10\u00b74-year follow-up, 587 (79\u00a0% male) CHD events were recorded. Olive oil intake was negatively associated with CHD risk after excluding dietary mis-reporters (hazard ratio (HR) 0\u00b793; 95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b787, 1\u00b700 for each 10\u00a0g/d per 8368\u00a0kJ (2000\u00a0kcal) and HR 0\u00b778; 95\u00a0% CI 0\u00b759, 1\u00b703 for upper v. lower quartile). The inverse association between olive oil intake (per 10\u00a0g/d per 8368\u00a0kJ (2000\u00a0kcal)) and CHD was more pronounced in never smokers (11\u00a0% reduced CHD risk (P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7048)), in never/low alcohol drinkers (25\u00a0% reduced CHD risk (P\u00a0<\u00a00\u00b7001)) and in virgin olive oil consumers (14\u00a0% reduced CHD risk (P\u00a0=\u00a00\u00b7072)). In conclusion, olive oil consumption was related to a reduced risk of incident CHD events. This emphasises the need to conserve the traditional culinary use of olive oil within the Mediterranean diet to reduce the CHD burden."}
{"id": "MED-5270", "text": "Abnormalities in endothelial function may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients. We examined the effect of an oleic-acid-rich diet on insulin resistance and endothelium-dependent vasoreactivity in type 2 diabetes. Eleven type 2 diabetic patients were changed from their usual linoleic-acid-rich diet and treated for 2 months with an oleic-acid-rich diet. Insulin-mediated glucose transport was measured in isolated adipocytes. Fatty acid composition of the adipocyte membranes was determined by gas-liquid chromatography and flow-mediated endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilatation were measured in the superficial femoral artery at the end of each dietary period. There was a significant increase in oleic acid and a decrease in linoleic acid on the oleic-acid-rich diet (p<0.0001). Diabetic control was not different between the diets, but there was a small but significant decrease in fasting glucose/insulin on the oleic-acid-rich diet. Insulin-stimulated (1 ng/ml) glucose transport was significantly greater on the oleic- acid-rich diet (0.56+/-0.17 vs. 0.29+/-0.14 nmol/10(5) cells/3 min, p<0.0001). Endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) was significantly greater on the oleic-acid-rich diet (3.90+/-0.97% vs. 6.12+/-1.36% p<0.0001). There was a significant correlation between adipocyte membrane oleic/linoleic acid and insulin-mediated glucose transport (p<0.001) but no relationship between insulin-stimulated glucose transport and change in endothelium-dependent FMD. There was a significant positive correlation between adipocyte membrane oleic/linoleic acid and endothelium-dependent FMD (r=0.61, p<0.001). Change from polyunsaturated to monounsaturated diet in type 2 diabetes reduced insulin resistance and restored endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, suggesting an explanation for the anti-atherogenic benefits of a Mediterranean-type diet."}
{"id": "MED-5271", "text": "OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the postprandial effect of components of the Mediterranean diet on endothelial function, which may be an atherogenic factor. BACKGROUND: The Mediterranean diet, containing olive oil, pasta, fruits, vegetables, fish, and wine, is associated with an unexpectedly low rate of cardiovascular events. The Lyon Diet Heart Study found that a Mediterranean diet, which substituted omega-3-fatty-acid-enriched canola oil for the traditionally consumed omega-9 fatty-acid-rich olive oil, reduced cardiovascular events. METHODS: We fed 10 healthy, normolipidemic subjects five meals containing 900 kcal and 50 g fat. Three meals contained different fat sources: olive oil, canola oil, and salmon. Two olive oil meals also contained antioxidant vitamins (C and E) or foods (balsamic vinegar and salad). We measured serum lipoproteins and glucose and brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), an index of endothelial function, before and 3 h after each meal. RESULTS: All five meals significantly raised serum triglycerides, but did not change other lipoproteins or glucose 3 h postprandially. The olive oil meal reduced FMD 31% (14.3 +/- 4.2% to 9.9 +/- 4.5%, p = 0.008). An inverse correlation was observed between postprandial changes in serum triglycerides and FMD (r = -0.47, p < 0.05). The remaining four meals did not significantly reduce FMD. CONCLUSIONS: In terms of their postprandial effect on endothelial function, the beneficial components of the Mediterranean and Lyon Diet Heart Study diets appear to be antioxidant-rich foods, including vegetables, fruits, and their derivatives such as vinegar, and omega-3-rich fish and canola oils."}
{"id": "MED-5273", "text": "OBJECTIVE: The olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet protects against cardiovascular disease, which involves inflammatory processes. This study investigated the effects of phenolic compounds found in extra virgin olive oil on inflammatory mediator production by human mononuclear cells. METHODS: Diluted human blood cultures were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide in the presence of phenolics (vanillic, p-coumaric, syringic, homovanillic and caffeic acids, kaempferol, oleuropein glycoside, and tyrosol) at concentrations of 10(-7) to 10(-4) M. Concentrations of the inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta, and interleukin-6 and of the inflammatory eicosanoid prostaglandin E2 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Oleuropein glycoside and caffeic acid decreased the concentration of interleukin-1beta. At a concentration of 10(-4) M, oleuropein glycoside inhibited interleukin-1beta production by 80%, whereas caffeic acid inhibited production by 40%. Kaempferol decreased the concentration of prostaglandin E2. At a concentration of 10(-4) M, kaempferol inhibited prostaglandin E2 production by 95%. No effects were seen on concentrations of interleukin-6 or tumor necrosis factor-alpha and there were no effects of the other phenolic compounds. CONCLUSIONS: Some, but not all, phenolic compounds derived from extra virgin olive oil decrease inflammatory mediator production by human whole blood cultures. This may contribute to the antiatherogenic properties ascribed to extra virgin olive oil."}
{"id": "MED-5276", "text": "Background: Cellular changes lead to coronary artery endothelial dysfunction (ED) and precede plaque formation. Clinical events, such as unstable angina and acute coronary syndromes, are common consequences of ED. Coronary artery ED, as characterized by Rb-82 PE, is a perfusion abnormality at rest, which improves following stress. In risk factor modification studies, particularly in cholesterol-lowering trials, coronary artery ED has been demonstrated to be reversible. Other studies have correlated low fat diet modification with improvement in coronary artery disease.Purpose: This study evaluates changes in myocardial perfusion following meals with low versus high TG content, and its influence on post prandial serum TG.Methods: With a randomized, double blind placebo controlled, cross over design, we investigated 19 patients (10 with ED and 9 with normal perfusion) with Rb-82 PET for myocardial blood flow at rest and with adenosine stress. PET images and serum triglycerides were obtained before and after an olestra (OA) meal (2.7g TG, 44g olestra) and a high-fat meal (46.7g TG). Meals were matched for carbohydrate, protein, and cholesterol content.Results: Myocardial perfusion (uCi/cc) increased 11 - 12% following the OA meal compared to the high-fat meal in patients with ED. For all patients combined, serum TG increased significantly (p < 0.01) in the non-OA group with the median change from baseline to 170.0 mg/dl, compared to 21.5 mg/dl in the OA group during the 6 hours following the meal.Conclusions: A single olestra meal significantly diminishes post prandial serum TG levels and improves myocardial perfusion in patients with endothelial disease."}
{"id": "MED-5278", "text": "In recent years, endothelial dysfunction has been identified as an early feature of atherosclerosis. Endothelial function can be measured noninvasively by using brachial artery ultrasound. A variety of factors associated with atherosclerosis also impair endothelial function. Some of these factors are lipoproteins such as various forms of low-density lipoproteins, postprandial chylomicron remnants, fasting triglyceride-rich particles, and free fatty acids. A high-fat diet also has an adverse effect on endothelial function. Several interventions can improve endothelial function and, at the same time, reduce cardiovascular events. Measuring endothelial function may eventually serve as a useful index to determine an individual's risk for coronary artery disease."}
{"id": "MED-5283", "text": "Chocolate/cocoa has been known for its good taste and proposed health effects for centuries. Earlier, chocolate used to be criticised for its fat content and its consumption was a sin rather than a remedy, associated with acne, caries, obesity, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and diabetes. Therefore, many physicians tended to warn patients about the potential health hazards of consuming large amounts of chocolate. However, the recent discovery of biologically active phenolic compounds in cocoa has changed this perception and stimulated research on its effects in ageing, oxidative stress, blood pressure regulation, and atherosclerosis. Today, chocolate is lauded for its tremendous antioxidant potential. However, in many studies, contradictory results and concerns about methodological issues have made it hard for health professionals and the public to understand the available evidence on chocolate's effects on health. The purpose of this review is to interpret research done in the last decade on the benefits and risks of chocolate consumption."}
{"id": "MED-5284", "text": "Objective Habitual chocolate intake was recently found to be associated with lower body weight in three cross-sectional epidemiological studies. Our objective was to assess whether these cross-sectional results hold up in a more rigorous prospective analysis. Methods We used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities cohort. Usual dietary intake was assessed by questionnaire at baseline (1987\u201398), and after six years. Participants reported usual chocolate intake as the frequency of eating a 1-oz (\u223c28 g) serving. Body weight and height were measured at the two visits. Missing data were replaced by multiple imputation. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate cross-sectional and prospective associations between chocolate intake and adiposity. Results Data were from 15,732 and 12,830 participants at the first and second visit, respectively. More frequent chocolate consumption was associated with a significantly greater prospective weight gain over time, in a dose-response manner. For instance, compared to participants who ate a chocolate serving less often than monthly, those who ate it 1\u20134 times a month and at least weekly experienced an increase in Body Mass Index (kg/m2) of 0.26 (95% CI 0.08, 0.44) and 0.39 (0.23, 0.55), respectively, during the six-year study period. In cross-sectional analyses the frequency of chocolate consumption was inversely associated with body weight. This inverse association was attenuated after excluding participants with preexisting obesity-related illness. Compared to participants without such illness, those with it had higher BMI and reported less frequent chocolate intake, lower caloric intake, and diets richer in fruits and vegetables. They tended to make these dietary changes after becoming ill. Conclusions Our prospective analysis found that a chocolate habit was associated with long-term weight gain, in a dose-response manner. Our cross-sectional finding that chocolate intake was associated with lower body weight did not apply to participants without preexisting serious illness."}
{"id": "MED-5286", "text": "Obesity remains a major public health challenge, and its prevalence is dramatically increasing. Diet and exercise are typically recommended to prevent and manage obesity; however, the results are often conflicting. Polyphenols, a class of phytochemicals that have been shown to reduce the risk factors for diabetes type II and cardiovascular diseases, are recently suggested as complementary agents in the management of obesity through several mechanisms such as decreasing fat absorption and/or fat synthesis. Dark chocolate, a high source of polyphenols, and flavanols in particular, has lately received attention for its possible role in modulating obesity because of its potential effect on fat and carbohydrate metabolism, as well as on satiety. This outcome was investigated in animal models of obesity, cell cultures and few human observational and clinical studies. The research undertaken to date has shown promising results, with the possible implication of cocoa/dark chocolate in the modulation of obesity and body weight through several mechanisms including decreasing the expression of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis, reducing the digestion and absorption of fats and carbohydrates and increasing satiety. Copyright \u00a9 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-5287", "text": "There is limited research examining the relationship of candy consumption by adults on diet and health. The purpose of this study was to determine total, chocolate, or sugar candy consumption and their effect on energy, saturated fatty acid and added sugar intake, weight, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome (MetS), and diet quality in adults 19 years and older (n = 15,023) participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Twenty-four-hour dietary recalls were used to determine intake. Covariate-adjusted means \u00b1 SE and prevalence rates were determined for candy consumption groups. Odds ratios were used to determine the likelihood of cardiovascular risk factors and MetS. A total of 21.8%, 12.9%, and 10.9% of adults consumed total, chocolate, and sugar candy, respectively. Mean daily per capita intake of total, chocolate, and sugar candy was 9.0 \u00b1 0.3, 5.7 \u00b1 0.2, and 3.3 \u00b1 0.2 g, respectively; intake in consumers was 38.3 \u00b1 1.0, 39.9 \u00b1 1.1, and 28.9 \u00b1 1.3 g, respectively. Energy (9973 \u00b1 92 vs 9027 \u00b1 50 kJ; P < .0001), saturated fatty acid (27.9 \u00b1 0.26 vs 26.9 \u00b1 0.18 g; P = .0058), and added sugar (25.7 \u00b1 0.42 vs 21.1 \u00b1 0.41 g; P < .0001) intake were higher in candy consumers than nonconsumers. Body mass index (27.7 \u00b1 0.15 vs 28.2 \u00b1 0.12 kg/m(2); P = .0092), waist circumference (92.3 \u00b1 0.34 vs 96.5 \u00b1 0.29 cm; P = .0051), and C-reactive protein (0.40 \u00b1 0.01 vs 0.43 \u00b1 0.01 mg/dL; P = .0487) levels were lower in candy consumers than nonconsumers. Candy consumers had a 14% decreased risk of elevated diastolic blood pressure (P = .0466); chocolate consumers had a 19% decreased risk of lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = .0364) and a 15% reduced risk of MetS (P = .0453). Results suggest that the current level of candy consumption was not associated with health risks. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5290", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the reduction in blood pressure achieved in trials of dietary salt reduction is quantitatively consistent with estimates derived from blood pressure and sodium intake in different populations, and, if so, to estimate the impact of reducing dietary salt on mortality from stroke and ischaemic heart disease. DESIGN: Analysis of the results of 68 crossover trials and 10 randomised controlled trials of dietary salt reduction. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Comparison of observed reductions in systolic blood pressure for each trial with predicted values calculated from between population analysis. RESULTS: In the 45 trials in which salt reduction lasted four weeks or less the observed reductions in blood pressure were less than those predicted, with the difference between observed and predicted reductions being greatest in the trials of shortest duration. In the 33 trials lasting five weeks or longer the predicted reductions in individual trials closely matched a wide range of observed reductions. This applied for all age groups and for people with both high and normal levels of blood pressure. In people aged 50-59 years a reduction in daily sodium intake of 50 mmol (about 3 g of salt), attainable by moderate dietary salt reduction would, after a few weeks, lower systolic blood pressure by an average of 5 mm Hg, and by 7 mm Hg in those with high blood pressure (170 mm Hg); diastolic blood pressure would be lowered by about half as much. It is estimated that such a reduction in salt intake by a whole Western population would reduce the incidence of stroke by 22% and of ischaemic heart disease by 16% [corrected]. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the trials support the estimates from the observational data in the accompanying two papers. The effect of universal moderate dietary salt reduction on mortality from stroke and ischaemic heart disease would be substantial--larger, indeed, than could be achieved by fully implementing recommended policy for treating high blood pressure with drugs. However, reduction also in the amount of salt added to processed foods would lower blood pressure by at least twice as much and prevent some 75,000 [corrected] deaths a year in Britain as well as much disability."}
{"id": "MED-5293", "text": "Summary Background Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis. No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time. Methods We estimated deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; sum of years lived with disability [YLD] and years of life lost [YLL]) attributable to the independent effects of 67 risk factors and clusters of risk factors for 21 regions in 1990 and 2010. We estimated exposure distributions for each year, region, sex, and age group, and relative risks per unit of exposure by systematically reviewing and synthesising published and unpublished data. We used these estimates, together with estimates of cause-specific deaths and DALYs from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, to calculate the burden attributable to each risk factor exposure compared with the theoretical-minimum-risk exposure. We incorporated uncertainty in disease burden, relative risks, and exposures into our estimates of attributable burden. Findings In 2010, the three leading risk factors for global disease burden were high blood pressure (7\u00b70% [95% uncertainty interval 6\u00b72\u20137\u00b77] of global DALYs), tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6\u00b73% [5\u00b75\u20137\u00b70]), and alcohol use (5\u00b75% [5\u00b70\u20135\u00b79]). In 1990, the leading risks were childhood underweight (7\u00b79% [6\u00b78\u20139\u00b74]), household air pollution from solid fuels (HAP; 7\u00b70% [5\u00b76\u20138\u00b73]), and tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke (6\u00b71% [5\u00b74\u20136\u00b78]). Dietary risk factors and physical inactivity collectively accounted for 10\u00b70% (95% UI 9\u00b72\u201310\u00b78) of global DALYs in 2010, with the most prominent dietary risks being diets low in fruits and those high in sodium. Several risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unimproved water and sanitation and childhood micronutrient deficiencies, fell in rank between 1990 and 2010, with unimproved water we and sanitation accounting for 0\u00b79% (0\u00b74\u20131\u00b76) of global DALYs in 2010. However, in most of sub-Saharan Africa childhood underweight, HAP, and non-exclusive and discontinued breastfeeding were the leading risks in 2010, while HAP was the leading risk in south Asia. The leading risk factor in Eastern Europe, most of Latin America, and southern sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 was alcohol use; in most of Asia, North Africa and Middle East, and central Europe it was high blood pressure. Despite declines, tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke remained the leading risk in high-income north America and western Europe. High body-mass index has increased globally and it is the leading risk in Australasia and southern Latin America, and also ranks high in other high-income regions, North Africa and Middle East, and Oceania. Interpretation Worldwide, the contribution of different risk factors to disease burden has changed substantially, with a shift away from risks for communicable diseases in children towards those for non-communicable diseases in adults. These changes are related to the ageing population, decreased mortality among children younger than 5 years, changes in cause-of-death composition, and changes in risk factor exposures. New evidence has led to changes in the magnitude of key risks including unimproved water and sanitation, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, and ambient particulate matter pollution. The extent to which the epidemiological shift has occurred and what the leading risks currently are varies greatly across regions. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risks are still those associated with poverty and those that affect children. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation."}
{"id": "MED-5296", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To study the distribution and interrelationship among constitutional and biochemical variables with blood pressure (BP) in an population of Yanomami indians. To compare these findings with those of other populations. METHODS: The Yanomami indians were part of the INTERSALT, a study comprising 10,079 males and females, aged from 20 to 59 years, belonging to 52 populations in 32 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Each of the 52 centers was required to accrue 200 individuals, 25 participants in each age group. The variables analyzed were as follows: age, sex, arterial BP, urinary sodium and potassium excretion (24-hour urine), body mass index, and alcohol ingestion. RESULTS: The findings in the Yanomami population were as follows: a very low urinary sodium excretion (0.9 mmol/24 h); mean systolic and diastolic BP levels of 95.4 mmHg and 61.4 mmHg, respectively; no cases of hypertension or obesity; and they have no knowledge of alcoholic beverages. Their BP levels do not elevate with age. The urinary sodium excretion relates positively and the urinary potassium excretion relates negatively to systolic BP. This correlation was maintained even when controlled for age and body mass index. CONCLUSION: A positive relation between salt intake and blood pressure was detected in the analysis of a set of diverse populations participating in the INTERSALT Study, including populations such as the Yanomami Indians. The qualitative observation of their lifestyle provided additional information."}
{"id": "MED-5298", "text": "High blood pressure is a major cardiovascular risk factor. There is overwhelming evidence that high salt consumption is a major cause of increased blood pressure. There is also a link between high salt consumption and risk of stroke, left ventricular hypertrophy, renal disease, obesity, renal stones and stomach cancer. Reducing salt consumption leads to a decrease in blood pressure and the incidence of cardiovascular disease. There are no deleterious effects associated with reducing salt consumption and it is also very cost-effective. Many organizations and state governments have issued recommendations regarding the suitable amount of salt consumption. In France, the objective is a salt consumption<8g/day in men and<6.5g/day in women and children. As 80% of consumed salt comes from manufactured products in developed countries, reduction of salt consumption requires the participation of the food industry. The other tool is consumer information and education. Salt consumption has already decreased in France in recent years, but efforts must continue. Copyright \u00a9 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5299", "text": "Background Knowledge of the number of deaths caused by risk factors is needed for health policy and priority setting. Our aim was to estimate the mortality effects of the following 12 modifiable dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors in the United States (US) using consistent and comparable methods: high blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and blood pressure; overweight\u2013obesity; high dietary trans fatty acids and salt; low dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-3 fatty acids (seafood), and fruits and vegetables; physical inactivity; alcohol use; and tobacco smoking. Methods and Findings We used data on risk factor exposures in the US population from nationally representative health surveys and disease-specific mortality statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics. We obtained the etiological effects of risk factors on disease-specific mortality, by age, from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of epidemiological studies that had adjusted (i) for major potential confounders, and (ii) where possible for regression dilution bias. We estimated the number of disease-specific deaths attributable to all non-optimal levels of each risk factor exposure, by age and sex. In 2005, tobacco smoking and high blood pressure were responsible for an estimated 467,000 (95% confidence interval [CI] 436,000\u2013500,000) and 395,000 (372,000\u2013414,000) deaths, accounting for about one in five or six deaths in US adults. Overweight\u2013obesity (216,000; 188,000\u2013237,000) and physical inactivity (191,000; 164,000\u2013222,000) were each responsible for nearly 1 in 10 deaths. High dietary salt (102,000; 97,000\u2013107,000), low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (84,000; 72,000\u201396,000), and high dietary trans fatty acids (82,000; 63,000\u201397,000) were the dietary risks with the largest mortality effects. Although 26,000 (23,000\u201340,000) deaths from ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and diabetes were averted by current alcohol use, they were outweighed by 90,000 (88,000\u201394,000) deaths from other cardiovascular diseases, cancers, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, alcohol use disorders, road traffic and other injuries, and violence. Conclusions Smoking and high blood pressure, which both have effective interventions, are responsible for the largest number of deaths in the US. Other dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors for chronic diseases also cause a substantial number of deaths in the US. Please see later in the article for Editors' Summary Editors' Summary A number of modifiable factors are responsible for many premature or preventable deaths. For example, being overweight or obese shortens life expectancy, while half of all long-term tobacco smokers in Western populations will die prematurely from a disease directly related to smoking. Modifiable risk factors fall into three main groups. First, there are lifestyle risk factors. These include tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol use (small amounts of alcohol may actually prevent diabetes and some types of heart disease and stroke). Second, there are dietary risk factors such as a high salt intake and a low intake of fruits and vegetables. Finally, there are \u201cmetabolic risk factors,\u201d which shorten life expectancy by increasing a person's chances of developing cardiovascular disease (in particular, heart problems and strokes) and diabetes. Metabolic risk factors include having high blood pressure or blood cholesterol and being overweight or obese. Why Was This Study Done? It should be possible to reduce preventable deaths by changing modifiable risk factors through introducing public health policies, programs and regulations that reduce exposures to these risk factors. However, it is important to know how many deaths are caused by each risk factor before developing policies and programs that aim to improve a nation's health. Although previous studies have provided some information on the numbers of premature deaths caused by modifiable risk factors, there are two problems with these studies. First, they have not used consistent and comparable methods to estimate the number of deaths attributable to different risk factors. Second, they have rarely considered the effects of dietary and metabolic risk factors. In this new study, the researchers estimate the number of deaths due to 12 different modifiable dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors for the United States population. They use a method called \u201ccomparative risk assessment.\u201d This approach estimates the number of deaths that would be prevented if current distributions of risk factor exposures were changed to hypothetical optimal distributions. What Did the Researchers Do and Find? The researchers extracted data on exposures to these 12 selected risk factors from US national health surveys, and they obtained information on deaths from difference diseases for 2005 from the US National Center for Health Statistics. They used previously published studies to estimate how much each risk factor increases the risk of death from each disease. The researchers then used a mathematical formula to estimate the numbers of deaths caused by each risk factor. Of the 2.5 million US deaths in 2005, they estimate that nearly half a million were associated with tobacco smoking and about 400,000 were associated with high blood pressure. These two risk factors therefore each accounted for about 1 in 5 deaths in US adults. Overweight\u2013obesity and physical inactivity were each responsible for nearly 1 in 10 deaths. Among the dietary factors examined, high dietary salt intake had the largest effect, being responsible for 4% of deaths in adults. Finally, while alcohol use prevented 26,000 deaths from ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and diabetes, the researchers estimate that it caused 90,000 deaths from other types of cardiovascular diseases, other medical conditions, and road traffic accidents and violence. What Do These Findings Mean? These findings indicate that smoking and high blood pressure are responsible for the largest number of preventable deaths in the US, but that several other modifiable risk factors also cause many deaths. Although the accuracy of some of the estimates obtained in this study will be affected by the quality of the data used, these findings suggest that targeting a handful of risk factors could greatly reduce premature mortality in the US. The findings might also apply to other countries, although the risk factors responsible for most preventable deaths may vary between countries. Importantly, effective individual-level and population-wide interventions are already available to reduce people's exposure to the two risk factors responsible for most preventable deaths in the US. The researchers also suggest that combinations of regulation, pricing, and education have the potential to reduce the exposure of US residents to other risk factors that are likely to shorten their lives. Additional Information Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000058."}
{"id": "MED-5300", "text": "The evidence supporting the thesis that hypertension can be prevented by eliminating salt from the diet is based on four principal sources: (1) epidemiological studies in unacculturated peoples showing that the prevalence of hypertension is inversely correlated with the degree of salt intake; (2) hemodynamic studies suggesting that the development of chronic experimental hypertension is a homeostatic response to a maintained increase in extracellular fluid volume (ECF); (3) evidence that the ECF of \"salt eaters\" is expanded in comparison to that of \"no-salt eaters\"; and (4) investigations in hypertensive patients receiving either diets greatly restricted in salt or continuous diuretic therapy which correlate the fall in blood pressure with a reduction in ECF. Although this mechanism of essential hypertension is still obscure the evidence is very good if not conclusive that reduction of salt in the diet to below 2 g/day would result in the prevention of essential hypertension and its disappearance as a major public health problem."}
{"id": "MED-5301", "text": "Background The US diet is high in salt, with the majority coming from processed foods. Reducing dietary salt is an important potential public health target. Methods We used the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Policy Model to quantify the benefits of potentially achievable population-wide reductions in dietary salt of up to 3 gm/day (1200 mg/day of sodium). We estimated cardiovascular disease rates and costs in age, sex, and race subgroups, compared salt reduction with other interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk, and determined the cost-effectiveness of salt reduction compared with drug treatment of hypertension. Results Reducing salt by 3 gm/day is projected to result in 60,000\u2013120,000 fewer new CHD cases, 32,000\u201366,000 fewer new strokes, 54,000\u201399,000 fewer myocardial infarctions, and 44,000\u201392,000 fewer deaths from any cause annually. All segments of the population would benefit, with blacks benefiting proportionately more, women benefiting particularly from stroke reduction, older adults from reductions in CHD events, and younger adults from lower mortality rates. The cardiovascular benefits from lower salt are on par with benefits from reducing tobacco, obesity, or cholesterol. A regulatory intervention designed to achieve 3 gm/day salt reduction would save 194,000\u2013392,000 quality-adjusted life-years and $10\u201324 billion in healthcare costs annually. Such an intervention would be cost-saving even if only a modest 1 gm/day reduction were achieved gradually over the decade from 2010\u20132019 and would be more cost-effective than treating all hypertensive individuals with medications. Conclusions Modest reduction in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target."}
{"id": "MED-5302", "text": "Developing countries face a dual challenge of both communicable and non-communicable disease - 80% of deaths from cardiovascular disease occur in low and middle-income countries. Hypertension ranks highest as an attributable cause of mortality in both developed and developing countries. The prevalence of hypertension is rising rapidly in Nigeria, from 11% two decades ago to about 30% in recent times. This review explores salt reduction in the diet at the population-wide level as a means of reducing the burden of hypertension in Nigeria. The evidence behind this strategy is explored, methods of how this goal was achieved in other countries are investigated and recommendations on how it could be accomplished in the Nigerian context are considered. There are suggestions that if salt reductions are effectively implemented on a population-wide basis, it will have an impact on morbidity and mortality as large as that which the provision of drains and safe water had in the 19(th) century. \u00a9 Royal Society for Public Health 2013."}
{"id": "MED-5303", "text": "IMPORTANCE: Understanding the major health problems in the United States and how they are changing over time is critical for informing national health policy. OBJECTIVES: To measure the burden of diseases, injuries, and leading risk factors in the United States from 1990 to 2010 and to compare these measurements with those of the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. DESIGN: We used the systematic analysis of descriptive epidemiology of 291 diseases and injuries, 1160 sequelae of these diseases and injuries, and 67 risk factors or clusters of risk factors from 1990 to 2010 for 187 countries developed for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study to describe the health status of the United States and to compare US health outcomes with those of 34 OECD countries. Years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs) were computed by multiplying the number of deaths at each age by a reference life expectancy at that age. Years lived with disability (YLDs) were calculated by multiplying prevalence (based on systematic reviews) by the disability weight (based on population-based surveys) for each sequela; disability in this study refers to any short- or long-term loss of health. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were estimated as the sum of YLDs and YLLs. Deaths and DALYs related to risk factors were based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of exposure data and relative risks for risk-outcome pairs. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) was used to summarize overall population health, accounting for both length of life and levels of ill health experienced at different ages. RESULTS: US life expectancy for both sexes combined increased from 75.2 years in 1990 to 78.2 years in 2010; during the same period, HALE increased from 65.8 years to 68.1 years. The diseases and injuries with the largest number of YLLs in 2010 were ischemic heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and road injury. Age-standardized YLL rates increased for Alzheimer disease, drug use disorders, chronic kidney disease, kidney cancer, and falls. The diseases with the largest number of YLDs in 2010 were low back pain, major depressive disorder, other musculoskeletal disorders, neck pain, and anxiety disorders. As the US population has aged, YLDs have comprised a larger share of DALYs than have YLLs. The leading risk factors related to DALYs were dietary risks, tobacco smoking, high body mass index, high blood pressure, high fasting plasma glucose, physical inactivity, and alcohol use. Among 34 OECD countries between 1990 and 2010, the US rank for the age-standardized death rate changed from 18th to 27th, for the age-standardized YLL rate from 23rd to 28th, for the age-standardized YLD rate from 5th to 6th, for life expectancy at birth from 20th to 27th, and for HALE from 14th to 26th. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: From 1990 to 2010, the United States made substantial progress in improving health. Life expectancy at birth and HALE increased, all-cause death rates at all ages decreased, and age-specific rates of years lived with disability remained stable. However, morbidity and chronic disability now account for nearly half of the US health burden, and improvements in population health in the United States have not kept pace with advances in population health in other wealthy nations."}
{"id": "MED-5304", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is present in humans, plays an important role in oxidation of fatty acids and glucose. The purpose of this review is to highlight an important role for L-arginine in regulating BAT growth and development, thereby reducing obesity in mammals. RECENT FINDINGS: Dietary supplementation with L-arginine reduces white adipose tissue in genetically or diet-induced obese rats, obese pregnant sheep, and obese humans with type II diabetes. L-arginine treatment enhances BAT growth in both fetuses and postnatal animals. At molecular and cellular levels, L-arginine stimulates expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-\u03b3 coactivator 1 (the master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis), nitric oxide synthase, heme oxygenase, and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. At the whole body level, L-arginine increases blood flow to insulin-sensitive tissues, adipose tissue lipolysis, and the catabolism of glucose and fatty acids, but inhibits fatty acid synthesis and ameliorates oxidative stress, thereby improving metabolic profile. SUMMARY: L-arginine increases mammalian BAT growth and development via mechanisms involving gene expression, nitric oxide signaling, and protein synthesis. This enhances the oxidation of energy substrates and, thus, reduces white fat accretion in the body. L-arginine holds great promise in preventing and treating obesity in humans."}
{"id": "MED-5307", "text": "We will review information about and present hypotheses as to the anatomy of brown adipose tissue (BAT). Why is it located where it is in humans? Its anatomical distribution is likely to confer survival value by protecting critical organs from hypothermia by adaptive thermogenesis. Ultimately, the location and function will be important when considering therapeutic strategies for preventing and treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, in which case successful interventions will need to have a significant effect on BAT function in subjects living in a thermoneutral environment. In view of the diverse locations and potential differences in responsiveness between BAT depots, it is likely that BAT will be shown to have much more subtle and thus previously overlooked functions and regulatory control mechanisms."}
{"id": "MED-5310", "text": "Background Addition of capsaicin (CAPS) to the diet has been shown to increase energy expenditure; therefore capsaicin is an interesting target for anti-obesity therapy. Aim We investigated the 24 h effects of CAPS on energy expenditure, substrate oxidation and blood pressure during 25% negative energy balance. Methods Subjects underwent four 36 h sessions in a respiration chamber for measurements of energy expenditure, substrate oxidation and blood pressure. They received 100% or 75% of their daily energy requirements in the conditions \u2018100%CAPS\u2019, \u2018100%Control\u2019, \u201875%CAPS\u2019 and \u201875%Control\u2019. CAPS was given at a dose of 2.56 mg (1.03 g of red chili pepper, 39,050 Scoville heat units (SHU)) with every meal. Results An induced negative energy balance of 25% was effectively a 20.5% negative energy balance due to adapting mechanisms. Diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and resting energy expenditure (REE) at 75%CAPS did not differ from DIT and REE at 100%Control, while at 75%Control these tended to be or were lower than at 100%Control (p\u200a=\u200a0.05 and p\u200a=\u200a0.02 respectively). Sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) at 75%CAPS did not differ from SMR at 100%CAPS, while SMR at 75%Control was lower than at 100%CAPS (p\u200a=\u200a0.04). Fat oxidation at 75%CAPS was higher than at 100%Control (p\u200a=\u200a0.03), while with 75%Control it did not differ from 100%Control. Respiratory quotient (RQ) was more decreased at 75%CAPS (p\u200a=\u200a0.04) than at 75%Control (p\u200a=\u200a0.05) when compared with 100%Control. Blood pressure did not differ between the four conditions. Conclusion In an effectively 20.5% negative energy balance, consumption of 2.56 mg capsaicin per meal supports negative energy balance by counteracting the unfavorable negative energy balance effect of decrease in components of energy expenditure. Moreover, consumption of 2.56 mg capsaicin per meal promotes fat oxidation in negative energy balance and does not increase blood pressure significantly. Trial Registration Nederlands Trial Register; registration number NTR2944"}
{"id": "MED-5311", "text": "In the early 1930s, the industrial chemical dinitrophenol found widespread favor as a weight-loss drug, due principally to the work of Maurice Tainter, a clinical pharmacologist from Stanford University. Unfortunately the compound's therapeutic index was razor thin and it was not until thousands of people suffered irreversible harm that mainstream physicians realized that dinitrophenol's risks outweighed its benefits and abandoned its use. Yet, it took passage of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 before federal regulators had the ability to stop patent medicine men from selling dinitrophenol to Americans lured by the promise of a drug that would safely melt one's fat away."}
{"id": "MED-5312", "text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Capsaicin and its nonpungent analog (capsinoids) are known to be food ingredients that increase energy expenditure and decrease body fat. This article reviews the role of brown adipose tissue (BAT) for the thermogenic effect of these compounds in humans and proposes the possibility of some other antiobesity food ingredients. RECENT FINDINGS: A single oral ingestion of capsinoids increases energy expenditure in human individuals with metabolically active BAT, but not those without it, indicating that capsinoids activate BAT and thereby increase energy expenditure. This finding gave a rational explanation for discrepant results of the effects of capsinoids in the previous studies. Human BAT may be largely composed of inducible 'beige' adipocytes more than typical brown adipocytes because its gene expression patterns are similar to beige cells isolated from murine white fat depots. In fact, preadipocytes isolated from supraclavicular fat deposits - where BAT is often detected - are capable of differentiating into brown-like adipocytes in vitro, providing evidence of inducible brown adipogenesis in adult humans. SUMMARY: As human BAT may be inducible, a prolonged ingestion of capsinoids would recruit active BAT and thereby increase energy expenditure and decrease body fat. In addition to capsinoids, there are numerous food ingredients that are expected to activate BAT and so be useful for the prevention of obesity in daily life."}
{"id": "MED-5314", "text": "We here discuss the role of brown adipose tissue on energy homeostasis and assess its potential as a target for body weight management. Because of their high number of mitochondria and the presence of uncoupling protein 1, brown fat adipocytes can be termed as energy inefficient for adenosine-5\u2032-triphosphate (ATP) production but energy efficient for heat production. Thus, the energy inefficiency of ATP production, despite high energy substrate oxidation, allows brown adipose tissue to generate heat for body temperature regulation. Whether such thermogenic property also plays a role in body weight regulation is still debated. The recent (re)discovery of brown adipose tissue in human adults and a better understanding of brown adipose tissue development have encouraged the quest for new alternatives to treat obesity since obese individuals seem to have less brown adipose tissue mass/activity than do their lean counterparts. In this review, we discuss the physiological relevance of brown adipose tissue on thermogenesis and its potential usefulness on body weight control in humans."}
{"id": "MED-5315", "text": "The existence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in humans has previously been assessed in vivo via sequential 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging. We developed a MRI protocol to detect BAT mass based on BAT\u2019s property of having higher water-to-fat ratio than white adipose tissue (WAT). We showed that the signal contrast obtained between water-saturation and without water-saturation was higher in BAT than in WAT in fast spin echo images and in T2-weighted images. The water-to-fat ratio was also higher in BAT via contrasting the water and fat images of the Dixon method. The MRI measured volume and location of BAT was similar to PET/CT results in the same subjects. In addition, we also demonstrated that cold challenges (14 \u00b0C) led to significant fMRI BOLD signal increases in BAT."}
{"id": "MED-5317", "text": "BACKGROUND Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. In rodents and newborn humans, brown adipose tissue helps regulate energy expenditure by thermogenesis mediated by the expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), but brown adipose tissue has been considered to have no physiologic relevance in adult humans. METHODS We analyzed 3640 consecutive 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomographic and computed tomographic (PET\u2013CT) scans performed for various diagnostic reasons in 1972 patients for the presence of substantial depots of putative brown adipose tissue. Such depots were defined as collections of tissue that were more than 4 mm in diameter, had the density of adipose tissue according to CT, and had maximal standardized uptake values of 18F-FDG of at least 2.0 g per milliliter, indicating high metabolic activity. Clinical indexes were recorded and compared with those of date-matched controls. Immunostaining for UCP1 was performed on biopsy specimens from the neck and supraclavicular regions in patients undergoing surgery. RESULTS Substantial depots of brown adipose tissue were identified by PET\u2013CT in a region extending from the anterior neck to the thorax. Tissue from this region had UCP1-immunopositive, multilocular adipocytes indicating brown adipose tissue. Positive scans were seen in 76 of 1013 women (7.5%) and 30 of 959 men (3.1%), corresponding to a female:male ratio greater than 2:1 (P<0.001). Women also had a greater mass of brown adipose tissue and higher 18F-FDG uptake activity. The probability of the detection of brown adipose tissue was inversely correlated with years of age (P<0.001), outdoor temperature at the time of the scan (P= 0.02), beta-blocker use (P<0.001), and among older patients, body-mass index (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS Defined regions of functionally active brown adipose tissue are present in adult humans, are more frequent in women than in men, and may be quantified noninvasively with the use of 18F-FDG PET\u2013CT. Most important, the amount of brown adipose tissue is inversely correlated with body-mass index, especially in older people, suggesting a potential role of brown adipose tissue in adult human metabolism."}
{"id": "MED-5319", "text": "BACKGROUND: Capsinoids-nonpungent capsaicin analogs-are known to activate brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and whole-body energy expenditure (EE) in small rodents. BAT activity can be assessed by [\u00b9\u2078F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in humans. OBJECTIVES: The aims of the current study were to examine the acute effects of capsinoid ingestion on EE and to analyze its relation to BAT activity in humans. DESIGN: Eighteen healthy men aged 20-32 y underwent FDG-PET after 2 h of cold exposure (19\u00b0C) while wearing light clothing. Whole-body EE and skin temperature, after oral ingestion of capsinoids (9 mg), were measured for 2 h under warm conditions (27\u00b0C) in a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. RESULTS: When exposed to cold, 10 subjects showed marked FDG uptake into adipose tissue of the supraclavicular and paraspinal regions (BAT-positive group), whereas the remaining 8 subjects (BAT-negative group) showed no detectable uptake. Under warm conditions (27\u00b0C), the mean (\u00b1SEM) resting EE was 6114 \u00b1 226 kJ/d in the BAT-positive group and 6307 \u00b1 156 kJ/d in the BAT-negative group (NS). EE increased by 15.2 \u00b1 2.6 kJ/h in 1 h in the BAT-positive group and by 1.7 \u00b1 3.8 kJ/h in the BAT-negative group after oral ingestion of capsinoids (P < 0.01). Placebo ingestion produced no significant change in either group. Neither capsinoids nor placebo changed the skin temperature in various regions, including regions close to BAT deposits. CONCLUSION: Capsinoid ingestion increases EE through the activation of BAT in humans. This trial was registered at http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/ as UMIN 000006073."}
{"id": "MED-5322", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the quantitative and qualitative changes of bacteria, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium and Clostridium cluster IV in faecal microbiota associated with a vegetarian diet. METHODS: Bacterial abundances were measured in faecal samples of 15 vegetarians and 14 omnivores using quantitative PCR. Diversity was assessed with PCR-DGGE fingerprinting, principal component analysis (PCA) and Shannon diversity index. RESULTS: Vegetarians had a 12% higher abundance of bacterial DNA than omnivores, a tendency for less Clostridium cluster IV (31.86 +/- 17.00%; 36.64 +/- 14.22%) and higher abundance of Bacteroides (23.93 +/- 10.35%; 21.26 +/- 8.05%), which were not significant due to high interindividual variations. PCA suggested a grouping of bacteria and members of Clostridium cluster IV. Two bands appeared significantly more frequently in omnivores than in vegetarians (p < 0.005 and p < 0.022). One was identified as Faecalibacterium sp. and the other was 97.9% similar to the uncultured gut bacteriumDQ793301. CONCLUSIONS: A vegetarian diet affects the intestinal microbiota, especially by decreasing the amount and changing the diversity of Clostridium cluster IV. It remains to be determined how these shifts might affect the host metabolism and disease risks. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5323", "text": "This study reviewed the literature on the relations between exposure to chemicals with endocrine-disrupting abilities and obesity in humans. The studies generally indicated that exposure to some of the endocrine-disrupting chemicals was associated with an increase in body size in humans. The results depended on the type of chemical, exposure level, timing of exposure and gender. Nearly all the studies investigating dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) found that exposure was associated with an increase in body size, whereas the results of the studies investigating polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure were depending on dose, timing and gender. Hexachlorobenzene, polybrominated biphenyls, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, oxychlordane and phthalates were likewise generally associated with an increase in body size. Studies investigating polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans found either associations with weight gain or an increase in waist circumference, or no association. The one study investigating relations with bisphenol A found no association. Studies investigating prenatal exposure indicated that exposure in utero may cause permanent physiological changes predisposing to later weight gain. The study findings suggest that some endocrine disruptors may play a role for the development of the obesity epidemic, in addition to the more commonly perceived putative contributors. \u00a9 2011 The Authors. obesity reviews \u00a9 2011 International Association for the Study of Obesity."}
{"id": "MED-5324", "text": "Obesity has important health consequences, including elevating risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A high-fat diet is known to contribute to obesity. Little is known regarding the effect of a high-fat diet on pulmonary function, despite the dramatic increase in the prevalence of respiratory ailments (e.g., asthma). The purpose of our study was to determine whether a high-fat meal (HFM) would increase airway inflammation and decrease pulmonary function in healthy subjects. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) (forced expiratory volume in 1-s, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory flow at 25-75% of vital capacity) and exhaled nitric oxide (eNO; airway inflammation) were performed in 20 healthy (10 men, 10 women), inactive subjects (age 21.9 +/- 0.4 years) pre and 2 h post HFM (1 g fat/1 kg body weight; 74.2 +/- 4.1 g fat). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein (CRP; systemic inflammation) were determined via a venous blood sample pre and post HFM. Body composition was measured via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The HFM significantly increased total cholesterol by 4 +/- 1%, and triglycerides by 93 +/- 3%. ENO also increased (p < 0.05) due to the HFM by 19 +/- 1% (pre 17.2 +/- 1.6; post 20.6 +/- 1.7 ppb). ENO and triglycerides were significantly related at baseline and post-HFM (r = 0.82, 0.72 respectively). Despite the increased eNO, PFT or CRP did not change (p > 0.05) with the HFM. These results demonstrate that a HFM, which leads to significant increases in total cholesterol, and especially triglycerides, increases exhaled NO. This suggests that a high-fat diet may contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases of the airway and lung."}
{"id": "MED-5325", "text": "Objective Previous work studying vegetarians has often found that they have lower blood pressure (BP). Reasons may include their lower BMI and higher intake levels of fruit and vegetables. Here we seek to extend this evidence in a geographically diverse population containing vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians and omnivores. Design Data are analysed from a calibration sub-study of the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort who attended clinics and provided validated FFQ. Criteria were established for vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, partial vegetarian and omnivorous dietary patterns. Setting Clinics were conducted at churches across the USA and Canada. Dietary data were gathered by mailed questionnaire. Subjects Five hundred white subjects representing the AHS-2 cohort. Results Covariate-adjusted regression analyses demonstrated that the vegan vegetarians had lower systolic and diastolic BP (mmHg) than omnivorous Adventists (\u03b2 =\u22126\u00b78, P<0\u00b705 and \u03b2 = \u22126\u00b79, P<0\u00b7001). Findings for lacto-ovo vegetarians (\u03b2 = \u22129\u00b71, P<0\u00b7001 and \u03b2 = \u22125\u00b78, P<0\u00b7001) were similar. The vegetarians (mainly the vegans) were also less likely to be using antihypertensive medications. Defining hypertension as systolic BP > 139 mmHg or diastolic BP > 89 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medications, the odds ratio of hypertension compared with omnivores was 0\u00b737 (95 % CI 0\u00b719, 0\u00b774), 0\u00b757 (95 % CI 0\u00b736, 0\u00b792) and 0\u00b792 (95 % CI 0\u00b750, 1\u00b770), respectively, for vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians and partial vegetarians. Effects were reduced after adjustment for BMI. Conclusions We conclude from this relatively large study that vegetarians, especially vegans, with otherwise diverse characteristics but stable diets, do have lower systolic and diastolic BP and less hypertension than omnivores. This is only partly due to their lower body mass."}
{"id": "MED-5326", "text": "The effect of meat consumption on cancer risk is a controversial issue. However, recent meta-analyses show that high consumers of cured meats and red meat are at increased risk of colorectal cancer. This increase is significant but modest (20-30%). Current WCRF-AICR recommendations are to eat no more than 500 g per week of red meat, and to avoid processed meat. Moreover, our studies show that beef meat and cured pork meat promote colon carcinogenesis in rats. The major promoter in meat is heme iron, via N-nitrosation or fat peroxidation. Dietary additives can suppress the toxic effects of heme iron. For instance, promotion of colon carcinogenesis in rats by cooked, nitrite-treated and oxidized high-heme cured meat was suppressed by dietary calcium and by \u03b1-tocopherol, and a study in volunteers supported these protective effects in humans. These additives, and others still under study, could provide an acceptable way to prevent colorectal cancer. Copyright \u00a9 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5327", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between dietary patterns and mental health in early adolescence. METHOD: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study is a prospective study of 2900 pregnancies recruited from 1989-1992. At 14 years of age (2003-2006; n=1324), the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess behaviour (characterising mental health status), with higher scores representing poorer behaviour. Two dietary patterns (Western and Healthy) were identified using factor analysis and food group intakes estimated by a 212-item food frequency questionnaire. Relationships between dietary patterns, food group intakes and behaviour were examined using general linear modelling following adjustment for potential confounding factors at age 14: total energy intake, body mass index, physical activity, screen use, family structure, income and functioning, gender and maternal education at pregnancy. RESULTS: Higher total (b=2.20, 95% CI=1.06, 3.35), internalizing (withdrawn/depressed) (b=1.25, 95% CI=0.15, 2.35) and externalizing (delinquent/aggressive) (b=2.60, 95% CI=1.51, 3.68) CBCL scores were significantly associated with the Western dietary pattern, with increased intakes of takeaway foods, confectionary and red meat. Improved behavioural scores were significantly associated with higher intakes of leafy green vegetables and fresh fruit (components of the Healthy pattern). CONCLUSION: These findings implicate a Western dietary pattern in poorer behavioural outcomes for adolescents. Better behavioural outcomes were associated with a higher intake of fresh fruit and leafy green vegetables."}
{"id": "MED-5328", "text": "Aim To evaluate the relationship of diet to incident diabetes among non-Black and Black participants in the Adventist Health Study-2. Methods and Results Participants were 15,200 men and 26,187 women (17.3% Blacks) across the U.S. and Canada who were free of diabetes and who provided demographic, anthropometric, lifestyle and dietary data. Participants were grouped as vegan, lacto ovo vegetarian, pesco vegetarian, semi-vegetarian or non-vegetarian (reference group). A follow-up questionnaire after two years elicited information on the development of diabetes. Cases of diabetes developed in 0.54% of vegans, 1.08% of lacto ovo vegetarians, 1.29% of pesco vegetarians, 0.92% of semi-vegetarians and 2.12% of non-vegetarians. Blacks had an increased risk compared to non-Blacks (odds ratio [OR] 1.364; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.093\u20131.702). In multiple logistic regression analysis controlling for age, gender, education, income, television watching, physical activity, sleep, alcohol use, smoking and BMI, vegans (OR 0.381; 95% CI 0.236\u20130.617), lacto ovo vegetarians (OR 0.618; 95% CI 0.503\u20130.760) and semi-vegetarians (OR 0.486, 95% CI 0.312\u20130.755) had a lower risk of diabetes than non-vegetarians. In non-Blacks vegan, lacto ovo and semi-vegetarian diets were protective against diabetes (OR 0.429, 95% CI 0.249\u20130.740; OR 0.684, 95% CI 0.542\u20130.862; OR 0.501, 95% CI 0.303\u20130.827); among Blacks vegan and lacto ovo vegetarian diets were protective (OR 0.304, 95% CI 0.110\u20130.842; OR 0.472, 95% CI 0.270\u20130.825). These associations were strengthened when BMI was removed from the analyses. Conclusion Vegetarian diets (vegan, lacto ovo, semi-) were associated with a substantial and independent reduction in diabetes incidence. In Blacks the dimension of the protection associated with vegetarian diets was as great as the excess risk associated with Black ethnicity."}
{"id": "MED-5329", "text": "OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of a strictly vegetarian, very low-fat diet on cardiac risk factor modification. METHODS: Five hundred men and women, participants in an intensive 12-day live-in program, were studied. The program focused on dietary modification, moderate exercise, and stress management at a hospital-based health-center. RESULTS: During this short time period, cardiac risk factors improved: there was an average reduction of total serum cholesterol of 11% (p < 0.001), of blood pressure of 6% (p < 0.001) and a weight loss of 2.5 kg for men and 1 kg for women. Serum triglycerides did not increase except for two subgroups: females age > or = 65 years with serum cholesterol < 6.5 mmol/L and for females 50 to 64 years with baseline serum cholesterol between 5.2-6.5 mmol/L. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol measured on 66 subjects decreased by 19%. CONCLUSION: A strict, very low-fat vegetarian diet free from all animal products combined with lifestyle changes that include exercise and weight loss is an effective way to lower serum cholesterol and blood pressure."}
{"id": "MED-5330", "text": "Although there is a well-established relation between serum cholesterol and coronary artery disease risk, individual and national variations in this association suggest that other factors are involved in atherogenesis. High-fat diet associated triglyceride-rich lipoproteins have also been suggested to be atherogenic. To assess the direct effect of postprandial triglyceride-rich lipoproteins on endothelial function, an early factor in atherogenesis--10 healthy, normocholesterolemic volunteers--were studied before and for 6 hours after single isocaloric high- and low-fat meals (900 calorie; 50 and 0 g fat, respectively). Endothelial function, in the form of flow-mediated vasoactivity, was assessed in the brachial artery using 7.5-MHz ultrasound as percent arterial diameter change 1 minute after 5 minutes of upper-arm arterial occlusion. Serum lipoproteins and glucose were determined before eating and 2 and 4 hours postprandially. Serum triglycerides increased from 94 +/- 55 mg/dl preprandially to 147 +/- 80 mg/dl 2 hours after the high-fat meal (p = 0.05). Flow-dependent vasoactivity decreased from 21 +/- 5% preprandially to 11 +/- 4%, 11 +/- 6%, and 10 +/- 3% at 2, 3, and 4 hours after the high-fat meal, respectively (all p <0.05 compared with low-fat meal data). No changes in lipoproteins or flow-mediated vasoactivity were observed after the low-fat meal. Fasting low-density lipoprotein cholesterol correlated inversely (r = -0.47, p = 0.04) with preprandial flow-mediated vasoactivity, but triglyceride level did not. Mean change in postprandial flow-mediated vasoactivity at 2, 3, and 4 hours correlated with change in 2-hour serum triglycerides (r = -0.51, p = 0.02). These results demonstrate that a single high-fat meal transiently impairs endothelial function. These findings identify a potential process by which a high-fat diet may be atherogenic independent of induced changes in cholesterol."}
{"id": "MED-5331", "text": "A global health transition is currently underway. The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is increasing rapidly in the developing world, very much as a result of changes in lifestyles. In addition to changes in tobacco use and physical activity, major changes are taking place in diets, contributing greatly to the growing epidemic of NCD. Thus, a huge global public health challenge is how to influence the trends in diet and nutrition for effective global NCD prevention. The health transition took place rapidly in Finland after World War II and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) was exceptionally high. The North Karelia Project was launched in 1972 as a community-based, and later as a national, programme to influence diet and other lifestyles that are crucial in the prevention of CVD. The intervention had a strong theory base and it employed comprehensive strategies. Broad community organisation and the strong participation of people were the key elements. Evaluation has shown how the diet (particularly fat consumption) has changed and how these changes have led to a major reduction in population serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels. It has also shown how ischaemic heart disease mortality in a working-age population has declined by 73% in North Karelia and by 65% in the whole country from 1971 to 1995. Although Finland is an industrialised country, North Karelia was rural, of rather low socio-economic level and with many social problems in the 1970s and 1980s. The project was based on low-cost intervention activities, where people's participation and community organisations played a key role. Comprehensive interventions in the community were eventually supported by national activities--from expert guidelines and media activities to industry collaboration and policy. Similar principles for nutrition intervention programmes could be used in developing countries, obviously tailored to the local conditions. This paper discusses the experiences of the North Karelia Project in the light of needs from the less-industrialised countries and makes some general recommendations."}
{"id": "MED-5332", "text": "The gastrointestinal microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, which affect colonic health, immune function and epigenetic regulation. To assess the effects of nutrition and aging on the production of butyrate, the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene and population shifts of Clostridium clusters lV and XlVa, the main butyrate producers, were analysed. Faecal samples of young healthy omnivores (24 \u00b1 2.5 years), vegetarians (26 \u00b1 5 years) and elderly (86 \u00b1 8 years) omnivores were evaluated. Diet and lifestyle were assessed in questionnaire-based interviews. The elderly had significantly fewer copies of the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene than young omnivores (P=0.014), while vegetarians showed the highest number of copies (P=0.048). The thermal denaturation of the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene variant melting curve related to Roseburia/Eubacterium rectale spp. was significantly more variable in the vegetarians than in the elderly. The Clostridium cluster XIVa was more abundant in vegetarians (P=0.049) and in omnivores (P<0.01) than in the elderly group. Gastrointestinal microbiota of the elderly is characterized by decreased butyrate production capacity, reflecting increased risk of degenerative diseases. These results suggest that the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene is a valuable marker for gastrointestinal microbiota function. \u00a9 2011 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5333", "text": "BACKGROUND/AIM: A vegetarian diet is known to prevent a series of diseases but may influence the balance of carbohydrate and fat metabolism as well as collagen synthesis. This study compares expression patterns of relevant genes in oral mucosa of omnivores and vegetarians. METHODS: Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was applied for analysis of mRNA levels from carnitine transporter OCTN2, hepatic CPT1A and nonhepatic CPT1B isoforms of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and collagen (CCOL2A1) in oral mucosa. RESULTS: Compared with volunteers with traditional eating habits, carbohydrate consumption was significantly higher (+22%) in vegetarians. This was associated with a significant stimulation of CPT1A (+50%) and OCTN2 (+10%) and a lowered collagen synthesis (-10%). CONCLUSION: These novel findings provide further insight into the association of a changed fat metabolism and reduced collagen synthesis in vegetarians, which could also play a role in the aging process. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel."}
{"id": "MED-5334", "text": "Until recently, intact protein that is rich in tryptophan was not seen as an alternative to pharmaceutical-grade tryptophan because protein also contains large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) that compete for transport sites across the blood-brain barrier. Recent evidence indicates that when deoiled gourd seed (a rich source of tryptophan with approximately 22 mg/g protein) is combined with glucose (a carbohydrate that reduces serum levels of competing LNAAs) a clinical effect similar to that of pharmaceutical-grade tryptophan is achieved. Objective and subjective measures of anxiety in those suffering from social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder) were employed to measure changes in anxiety in response to a stimulus as part of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study with a wash-out period of 1 week between study sessions. Subjects were randomly assigned to start with either (i) protein-source tryptophan (deoiled gourd seed) in combination with carbohydrate or (ii) carbohydrate alone. One week after the initial session, subjects returned for a follow-up session and received the opposite treatment of that received at the first session. All 7 subjects who began the study completed the 2-week protocol. Protein-source tryptophan with carbohydrate, but not carbohydrate alone, resulted in significant improvement on an objective measure of anxiety. Protein-source tryptophan combined with a high glycemic carbohydrate is a potential anxiolytic to those suffering from social phobia."}
{"id": "MED-5335", "text": "Three recent case-control studies conclude that diets high in animal fat or cholesterol are associated with a substantial increase in risk for Parkinson's disease (PD); in contrast, fat of plant origin does not appear to increase risk. Whereas reported age-adjusted prevalence rates of PD tend to be relatively uniform throughout Europe and the Americas, sub-Saharan black Africans, rural Chinese, and Japanese, groups whose diets tend to be vegan or quasi-vegan, appear to enjoy substantially lower rates. Since current PD prevalence in African-Americans is little different from that in whites, environmental factors are likely to be responsible for the low PD risk in black Africans. In aggregate, these findings suggest that vegan diets may be notably protective with respect to PD. However, they offer no insight into whether saturated fat, compounds associated with animal fat, animal protein, or the integrated impact of the components of animal products mediates the risk associated with animal fat consumption. Caloric restriction has recently been shown to protect the central dopaminergic neurons of mice from neurotoxins, at least in part by induction of heat-shock proteins; conceivably, the protection afforded by vegan diets reflects a similar mechanism. The possibility that vegan diets could be therapeutically beneficial in PD, by slowing the loss of surviving dopaminergic neurons, thus retarding progression of the syndrome, may merit examination. Vegan diets could also be helpful to PD patients by promoting vascular health and aiding blood-brain barrier transport of L-dopa. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd."}
{"id": "MED-5337", "text": "PURPOSE: Men with prostate cancer are often advised to make changes in diet and lifestyle, although the impact of these changes has not been well documented. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of comprehensive lifestyle changes on prostate specific antigen (PSA), treatment trends and serum stimulated LNCaP cell growth in men with early, biopsy proven prostate cancer after 1 year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient recruitment was limited to men who had chosen not to undergo any conventional treatment, which provided an unusual opportunity to have a nonintervention randomized control group to avoid the confounding effects of interventions such as radiation, surgery or androgen deprivation therapy. A total of 93 volunteers with serum PSA 4 to 10 ng/ml and cancer Gleason scores less than 7 were randomly assigned to an experimental group that was asked to make comprehensive lifestyle changes or to a usual care control group. RESULTS: None of the experimental group patients but 6 control patients underwent conventional treatment due to an increase in PSA and/or progression of disease on magnetic resonance imaging. PSA decreased 4% in the experimental group but increased 6% in the control group (p = 0.016). The growth of LNCaP prostate cancer cells (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, Virginia) was inhibited almost 8 times more by serum from the experimental than from the control group (70% vs 9%, p <0.001). Changes in serum PSA and also in LNCaP cell growth were significantly associated with the degree of change in diet and lifestyle. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of early, low grade prostate cancer in men. Further studies and longer term followup are warranted."}
{"id": "MED-5338", "text": "Summary Background and objectives Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are in positive phosphorus balance, but phosphorus levels are maintained in the normal range through phosphaturia induced by increases in fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) and parathyroid hormone (PTH). This provides the rationale for recommendations to restrict dietary phosphate intake to 800 mg/d. However, the protein source of the phosphate may also be important. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We conducted a crossover trial in nine patients with a mean estimated GFR of 32 ml/min to directly compare vegetarian and meat diets with equivalent nutrients prepared by clinical research staff. During the last 24 hours of each 7-day diet period, subjects were hospitalized in a research center and urine and blood were frequently monitored. Results The results indicated that 1 week of a vegetarian diet led to lower serum phosphorus levels and decreased FGF23 levels. The inpatient stay demonstrated similar diurnal variation for blood phosphorus, calcium, PTH, and urine fractional excretion of phosphorus but significant differences between the vegetarian and meat diets. Finally, the 24-hour fractional excretion of phosphorus was highly correlated to a 2-hour fasting urine collection for the vegetarian diet but not the meat diet. Conclusions In summary, this study demonstrates that the source of protein has a significant effect on phosphorus homeostasis in patients with CKD. Therefore, dietary counseling of patients with CKD must include information on not only the amount of phosphate but also the source of protein from which the phosphate derives."}
{"id": "MED-5339", "text": "Recently, it has been suggested that the Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infection (UTI) may come from meat and animals. The purpose was to investigate if a clonal link existed between E. coli from animals, meat and UTI patients. Twenty-two geographically and temporally matched B2 E. coli from UTI patients, community-dwelling humans, broiler chicken meat, pork, and broiler chicken, previously identified to exhibit eight virulence genotypes by microarray-detection of approximately 300 genes, were investigated for clonal relatedness by PFGE. Nine isolates were selected and tested for in vivo virulence in the mouse model of ascending UTI. UTI and community-dwelling human strains were closely clonally related to meat strains. Several human derived strains were also clonally interrelated. All nine isolates regardless of origin were virulent in the UTI model with positive urine, bladder and kidney cultures. Further, isolates with the same gene profile also yielded similar bacterial counts in urine, bladder and kidneys. This study showed a clonal link between E. coli from meat and humans, providing solid evidence that UTI is zoonosis. The close relationship between community-dwelling human and UTI isolates may indicate a point source spread, e.g. through contaminated meat."}
{"id": "MED-5340", "text": "In Asia, vegetarianism is a well-established eating behavior. It appears that the adoption of a vegan diet leads to a lessening of several health risk factors. Although vegetarianism has some notable effects on the hematological system, the effect on the nephrological system has not been well clarified. The pattern of renal function parameters was studied in 25 Thai vegans compared with 25 non-vegetarians. Of the studied parameters, it was found that urine protein was significantly different (p < 0.05) in vegans and controls. Vegans had significantly lower urine protein level."}
{"id": "MED-5341", "text": "The present study investigated the effects of a diet and exercise intervention on known breast cancer (BCa) risk factors, including estrogen, obesity, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), in overweight/obese, postmenopausal women. In addition, using the subjects' pre- and postintervention serum in vitro, serum-stimulated growth and apoptosis of three estrogen receptor-positive BCa cell lines were studied. The women where placed on a low-fat (10-15% kcal), high-fiber (30-40 g per 1,000 kcal/day) diet and attended daily exercise classes for 2 wk. Serum estradiol was reduced in the women on hormone treatment (HT; n = 28) as well as those not on HT (n = 10). Serum insulin and IGF-I were significantly reduced in all women, whereas IGF binding protein-1 was increased significantly. In vitro growth of the BCa cell lines was reduced by 6.6% for the MCF-7 cells, 9.9% for the ZR-75-1 cells, and 18.5% for the T-47D cells. Apoptosis was increased by 20% in the ZR-75-1 cells, 23% in the MCF-7 cells, and 30% in the T-47D cells (n = 12). These results show that a very-low-fat, high-fiber diet combined with daily exercise results in major reductions in risk factors for BCa while subjects remained overweight/obese. These in vivo serum changes slowed the growth and induced apoptosis in serum-stimulated BCa cell lines in vitro."}
{"id": "MED-5342", "text": "Background The physical health status of vegetarians has been extensively reported, but there is limited research regarding the mental health status of vegetarians, particularly with regard to mood. Vegetarian diets exclude fish, the major dietary source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), critical regulators of brain cell structure and function. Omnivorous diets low in EPA and DHA are linked to impaired mood states in observational and experimental studies. Methods We examined associations between mood state and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake as a result of adherence to a vegetarian or omnivorous diet in a cross-sectional study of 138 healthy Seventh Day Adventist men and women residing in the Southwest. Participants completed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), and Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaires. Results Vegetarians (VEG:n = 60) reported significantly less negative emotion than omnivores (OMN:n = 78) as measured by both mean total DASS and POMS scores (8.32 \u00b1 0.88 vs 17.51 \u00b1 1.88, p = .000 and 0.10 \u00b1 1.99 vs 15.33 \u00b1 3.10, p = .007, respectively). VEG reported significantly lower mean intakes of EPA (p < .001), DHA (p < .001), as well as the omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid (AA; p < .001), and reported higher mean intakes of shorter-chain \u03b1-linolenic acid (p < .001) and linoleic acid (p < .001) than OMN. Mean total DASS and POMS scores were positively related to mean intakes of EPA (p < 0.05), DHA (p < 0.05), and AA (p < 0.05), and inversely related to intakes of ALA (p < 0.05), and LA (p < 0.05), indicating that participants with low intakes of EPA, DHA, and AA and high intakes of ALA and LA had better mood. Conclusions The vegetarian diet profile does not appear to adversely affect mood despite low intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids."}
{"id": "MED-5343", "text": "By the end of graduate medical training, novice internists (collectively known as the housestaff) were initiated into the experience of either having done something to a patient which had a deleterious consequence or else having witnessed colleagues do the same. When these events occurred, the housestaff engaged in social-psychological processes, utilizing a variety of coping mechanisms and in-group practices to manage these mishaps. Three major mechanisms were utilized by the housestaff for defining and defending the various mishaps which frequently occurred: denial, discounting and distancing. Denial consisted of three components: the negation of the concept of error by defining the practice of medicine as an art with 'gray areas', the repression of actual mistakes by forgetting them and the redefinition of mistakes to non-mistakes. Discounting included those defenses which externalized the blame; namely mistakes which were due to circumstances beyond their control. These included: blaming the bureaucratic system outside of medicine; blaming superiors or subordinates within internal medicine; blaming the disease and blaming the patient. When they could not longer deny or discount a mistake because of its magnitude, they utilized distancing techniques. Not withstanding this shared elaborate repertoire of denial, discounting and distancing, it was found that profound doubts and even guilt remained for many housestaff. These troublesome feelings neither easily nor automatically resolved themselves. Interspersed among their defenses were fundamental questions of culpability and responsibility as they vacillated between self and other blame. For many 'the case was never closed', even as they terminated formal training, a point neglected in the medical and sociological literature. Little in their 3 year graduate program allowed them to work through the attendant vulnerability and ambiguity accompanying the managing of mistakes. Hence, there were maladaptive aspects of the collectively acquired defense mechanisms. The whole system of accountability during graduate medical specialty training was found to be a variable, and at times, contradictory process. The housestaff ultimately sees itself as the sole arbiter of mistakes and their adjudication. Housestaffers come to feel that nobody can judge them or their decisions, least of all their patients. As they progress through training even internal accountability cohorts--the Department of Medicine, teaching faculty and peers--are discounted to varying degrees. They have developed a strong ideology justifying their jealously guarded autonomy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)"}
{"id": "MED-5344", "text": "AIMS: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death among men and women globally. Women develop CHD about 10 years later than men, yet the reasons for this are unclear. The purpose of this report is to determine if differences in risk factor distributions exist between women and men across various age categories to help explain why women develop acute MI later than men. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used the INTERHEART global case-control study including 27 098 participants from 52 countries, 6787 of whom were women. The median age of first acute MI was higher in women than men (65 vs. 56 years; P < 0.0001). Nine modifiable risk factors were associated with MI in women and men. Hypertension [2.95(2.66 -3.28) vs. 2.32(2.16-2.48)], diabetes [4.26(3.68-4.94) vs. 2.67(2.43-2.94), physical activity [0.48(0.41-0.57) vs. 0.77(0.71-0.83)], and moderate alcohol use [0.41(0.34-0.50) vs. 0.88(0.82-0.94)] were more strongly associated with MI among women than men. The association of abnormal lipids, current smoking, abdominal obesity, high risk diet, and psychosocial stress factors with MI was similar in women and men. Risk factors associations were generally stronger among younger individuals compared to older women and men. The population attributable risk (PAR) of all nine risk factors exceeded 94%, and was similar among women and men (96 vs. 93%). Men were significantly more likely to suffer a MI prior to 60 years of age than were women, however, after adjusting for levels of risk factors, the sex difference in the probability of MI cases occurring before the age of 60 years was reduced by more than 80%. CONCLUSION: Women experience their first acute MI on average 9 years later than men. Nine modifiable risk factors are significantly associated with acute MI in both men and women and explain greater than 90% of the PAR. The difference in age of first MI is largely explained by the higher risk factor levels at younger ages in men compared to women."}
{"id": "MED-5345", "text": "Five years ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called for a national effort to make health care safe. Although progress since then has been slow, the IOM report truly \"changed the conversation\" to a focus on changing systems, stimulated a broad array of stakeholders to engage in patient safety, and motivated hospitals to adopt new safe practices. The pace of change is likely to accelerate, particularly in implementation of electronic health records, diffusion of safe practices, team training, and full disclosure to patients following injury. If directed toward hospitals that actually achieve high levels of safety, pay for performance could provide additional incentives. But improvement of the magnitude envisioned by the IOM requires a national commitment to strict, ambitious, quantitative, and well-tracked national goals. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should bring together all stakeholders, including payers, to agree on a set of explicit and ambitious goals for patient safety to be reached by 2010."}
{"id": "MED-5346", "text": "As advocated by Nasca, our teaching programs must nurture professionalism and the effacement of self interest that is the core of the practice of medicine and the profession. The evidence to date suggests that work-hour restrictions based solely on clock-defined time limits discourage, rather than promote, the professional behavior that we desire in tomorrow's physicians. Notwithstanding any issues related to duty hours or fitness for duty, a competency-based system of medical education is both desirable and necessary in the current environment of medical education. In the absence of evidence to suggest that duty-hour limits reduce medical errors and enhance patient safety, and until we have evolved to a competency-based system of resident education, a misguided and overzealous focus on limiting work hours should not be allowed to exert the unintended consequence of eroding the ethos of professionalism that we, and our patients, have come to expect of a physician."}
{"id": "MED-5347", "text": "BACKGROUND: There has been increasing interest in the impact of resident-physician and nurse work hours on patient safety. The evidence demonstrates that work schedules have a profound effect on providers' sleep and performance, as well as on their safety and that of their patients. Nurses working shifts greater than 12.5 hours are at significantly increased risk of experiencing decreased vigilance on the job, suffering an occupational injury, or making a medical error. Physicians-in-training working traditional > 24-hour on-call shifts are at greatly increased risk of experiencing an occupational sharps injury or a motor vehicle crash on the drive home from work and of making a serious or even fatal medical error. As compared to when working 16-hours shifts, on-call residents have twice as many attentional failures when working overnight and commit 36% more serious medical errors. They also report making 300% more fatigue-related medical errors that lead to a patient's death. CONCLUSION: The weight of evidence strongly suggests that extended-duration work shifts significantly increase fatigue and impair performance and safety. From the standpoint of both providers and patients, the hours routinely worked by health care providers in the United States are unsafe. To reduce the unacceptably high rate of preventable fatigue-related medical error and injuries among health care workers, the United States must establish and enforce safe work-hour limits."}
{"id": "MED-5348", "text": "Rye bran contains a high content not only of dietary fibre, but also of plant lignans and other bioactive compounds in the so-called dietary fibre complex. Blood concentrations of lignans such as enterolactone have been used as biomarkers of intake of lignan-rich plant food. At present,evidence from studies in human subjects does not warrant the conclusion that rye, whole grains orphyto-oestrogens protect against cancer. Some studies, however, have pointed in that direction,especially in relation to cancers of the upper digestive tract. A number of prospective epidemiological studies have clearly shown a protective effect of wholegrain cereals against myocardial infarctions. A corresponding protective effect against diabetes and ischaemic stroke(brain infarct) has also been demonstrated. It seems reasonable to assume that these protective effects are associated with one or more factors in the dietary fibre complex."}
{"id": "MED-5349", "text": "Objective To determine whether consumption of whole-grain; rye bread, oatmeal, and whole-wheat bread, during different periods of life, is associated with risk of prostate cancer (PCa). Methods In 2002 to 2006, 2,268 men, aged 67-96 years, reported their dietary habits in the AGES-Reykjavik cohort study. Dietary habits were assessed for early-, mid- , and current life using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Through linkage to cancer- and mortality registers, we retrieved information on PCa diagnosis and mortality through 2009. We used regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) for PCa according to whole grain consumption, adjusted for possible confounding factors including fish-, fish liver oil-, meat-, and milk intake. Results Of the 2,268 men, 347 had or were diagnosed with PCa during follow-up, 63 with advanced disease (stage 3+ or died of PCa). Daily rye bread consumption in adolescence (vs. less than daily) was associated with a decreased risk of PCa diagnosis (OR = 0.76, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 0.59-0.98), and of advanced PCa (OR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27-0.84). High intake of oatmeal in adolescence (\u22655 vs. \u22644 times/ week) was not significantly associated with risk of PCa diagnosis (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.77-1.27) nor advanced PCa (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.37-1.20). Mid-, and late life consumption of rye bread, oatmeal, or whole-wheat bread was not associated with PCa risk. Conclusion Our results suggest that rye bread consumption in adolescence may be associated with reduced risk of PCa, particularly advanced disease."}
{"id": "MED-5351", "text": "Phytoestrogens have been linked to a risk of breast cancer. The main phytoestrogens in the Finnish diet are lignans, and enterolactone is quantitatively the most important circulating lignan. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between serum enterolactone and risk of breast cancer in Finnish women. The subjects were participants of the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study: This analysis concerns 194 breast cancer cases (68 premenopausal and 126 postmenopausal) who entered the study before diagnosis and 208 community-based controls. They completed a validated food frequency questionnaire referring to the previous 12 months and gave serum samples before the examinations. The measurement of serum enterolactone was performed by time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay. The statistical analyses were done by the logistic regression method. The mean serum enterolactone concentration was 20 nmol/l for the cases and 26 nmol/l for the controls (P 0.003). The mean serum enterolactone concentration in the lowest quintile was 3.0 nmol/l and 54.0 nmol/l in the highest. The odds ratio in the highest quintile of enterolactone values adjusted for all of the known risk factors for breast cancer was 0.38 (95% confidence interval,0.18-0.77; P for trend, 0.03). The inverse association between serum enterolactone and risk of breast cancer was seen both among premenopausal and postmenopausal women. High enterolactone level was associated with higher consumption of rye products and tea and higher intake of dietary fiber and vitamin E compared with those with low serum enterolactone values. Serum enterolactone level was significantly inversely associated with risk of breast cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5352", "text": "No clear relationship between whole grain products and risk of breast cancer has been established. In a large prospective cohort study, we investigated the association between intake of whole grain products and risk of breast cancer by tumour receptor status [oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR)] and tumour histology (ductal/lobular). It was further investigated whether the association differed by use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The study included 25,278 postmenopausal women participating in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort study (1993-1997). During a mean follow-up time of 9.6 years, 978 breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Associations between intake of whole grain products and the breast cancer rate were analysed using Cox's regression model. A higher intake of whole grain products was not associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. Per an increment in intake of total whole grain products of 50 g per day the adjusted incidence rate ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.01 (0.96-1.07). Intake of rye bread, oatmeal and whole grain bread was not associated with breast cancer risk. No association was observed between the intake of total or specific whole grain products and the risk of developing ER+, ER-, PR+, PR-, combined ER/PR status, ductal or lobular breast cancer. Furthermore, there was no interaction between intake of whole grain products and use of HRT on risk of breast cancer. In conclusion, intake of whole grain products was not associated with risk of breast cancer in a cohort of Danish postmenopausal women. Copyright (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-5354", "text": "This review focuses on the possible role in human health of the consumption of lignan-rich foods. Most of the plant lignans in human foods are converted by the intestinal microflora in the upper part of the large bowel to enterolactone and enterodiol, called mammalian or enterolignans. The protective role of these compounds, particularly in chronic Western diseases, is discussed. Evidence suggests that fiber- and lignan-rich whole-grain cereals, beans, berries, nuts, and various seeds are the main protective foods. Many factors, in addition to diet, such as intestinal microflora, smoking, antibiotics, and obesity affect circulating lignan levels in the body. Lignan-rich diets may be beneficial, particularly if consumed for life. Experimental evidence in animals has shown clear anticarcinogenic effects of flaxseed or pure lignans in many types of cancer. Many epidemiological results are controversial, partly because the determinants of plasma enterolactone are very different in different countries. The source of the lignans seems to play a role because other factors in the food obviously participate in the protective effects. The results are promising, but much work is still needed in this area of medicine."}
{"id": "MED-5355", "text": "OBJECTIVE: High intake of whole-grain products may protect against prostate cancer, but overall evidence is limited and inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the intake of whole-grain products and risk of prostate cancer in a large prospective cohort. METHODS: A total of 26,691 men aged 50-64\u00a0years participated in the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort study and provided information about diet and potential prostate cancer risk factors. During a median follow-up of 12.4\u00a0years, we identified 1,081 prostate cancer cases. Associations between whole-grain product intake and prostate cancer incidence were analyzed using Cox's regression model. RESULTS: Overall, there was no association between total intake of whole-grain products and prostate cancer risk (adjusted incidence rate ratio per 50\u00a0g\u00a0day(-1): 1.00 (95% confidence interval: 0.96, 1.05)) as well as between intake of the specific whole-grain products: whole-grain rye bread, whole-grain bread, and oatmeal, and risk of prostate cancer. No risk estimates did differ according to either stage or grade of disease. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this prospective study suggest that higher intakes of total or specific whole-grain products are not associated with risk of prostate cancer in a population of Danish middle-aged men."}
{"id": "MED-5357", "text": "Background Rye contains more fibre and bioactive compounds than other cereals used for bread production. The fibre and compounds of the fibre complex could provide protection against breast cancer (BC). Objective To review the evidence and theoretical background for a role of rye and some of its components in the prevention of BC. Design A short review based to a great extent on the work by scientists in the Nordic countries. Results Some of the possible mechanisms by which the fibre complex could reduce BC risk are presented. The fibre through its effect on fermentation increases esterification of bile acids reducing toxicity of the free bile acids and is involved in the production of butyrate with potential anticancer effects including BC. The fibre reduces the enterohepatic circulation of the oestrogens leading to lower plasma oestrogen concentrations. The fibre complex contains bioactive compounds such as lignans and alkylresorcinols that are antioxidative and potentially anticarcinogenic. In addition, vitamins, minerals, and phytic acid in rye may provide protection against BC. Conclusion Rye products made from wholegrain rye flour are likely to contribute to reduced BC risk."}
{"id": "MED-5358", "text": "Alkylresorcinols (ARs) are shown to be good biomarkers of consumption of rye and whole-grain wheat products in man. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate AR metabolites as potential biomarkers of breast cancer (BC) risk in Finnish women since intake of cereal fiber and its components has been proposed to reduce this risk through an effect on the enterohepatic circulation of estrogens. This was a cross-sectional and observational pilot study. A total of 20 omnivores, 20 vegetarians, and 16 BC women (6-12 mo after operation) were investigated on 2 occasions 6 mo apart. Dietary intake (5-days record), plasma/urinary AR metabolites [3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) and 3-(3,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-1-propanoic acid (DHPPA)] and plasma/urinary enterolactone were measured. The groups were compared using nonparametric tests. We observed that plasma DHBA (P = 0.007; P = 0.03), plasma DHPPA (P = 0.02; P = 0.01), urinary DHBA (P = 0.001; P = 0.003), urinary DHPPA (P = 0.001; P = 0.001), and cereal fiber intake (P = 0.007; P = 0.003) were significantly lower in the BC group compared to the vegetarian and omnivore groups, respectively. Based on measurements of AR metabolites in urine and in plasma, whole-grain rye and wheat cereal fiber intake is low in BC subjects. Thus, urinary and plasma AR metabolites may be used as potential biomarkers of BC risk in women. This novel approach will likely also facilitate studies of associations between rye and whole-grain wheat cereal fiber intake and other diseases. Our findings should, however, be confirmed with larger subject populations."}
{"id": "MED-5359", "text": "The authors investigated whether early-life residency in certain areas of Iceland marked by distinct differences in milk intake was associated with risk of prostate cancer in a population-based cohort of 8,894 men born between 1907 and 1935. Through linkage to cancer and mortality registers, the men were followed for prostate cancer diagnosis and mortality from study entry (in waves from 1967 to 1987) through 2009. In 2002\u20132006, a subgroup of 2,268 participants reported their milk intake in early, mid-, and current life. During a mean follow-up period of 24.3 years, 1,123 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 371 with advanced disease (stage 3 or higher or prostate cancer death). Compared with early-life residency in the capital area, rural residency in the first 20 years of life was marginally associated with increased risk of advanced prostate cancer (hazard ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97, 1.73), particularly among men born before 1920 (hazard ratio = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.56). Daily milk consumption in adolescence (vs. less than daily), but not in midlife or currently, was associated with a 3.2-fold risk of advanced prostate cancer (95% CI: 1.25, 8.28). These data suggest that frequent milk intake in adolescence increases risk of advanced prostate cancer."}
{"id": "MED-5360", "text": "Studies have shown an association between depression and both antioxidant levels and oxidant stress, but generally have not included intakes of antioxidants and antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. The present study examined the cross-sectional associations between clinically-diagnosed depression and intakes of antioxidants, fruits and vegetables in a cohort of older adults. Antioxidant, fruit and vegetable intakes were assessed in 278 elderly participants (144 with depression, 134 without depression) using a Block 1998 food frequency questionnaire, which was administered between 1999 and 2007. All participants were age 60 years or over. Vitamin C, lutein and cryptoxanthin intakes were significantly lower among depressed individuals than in comparison participants (p<0.05). In addition, fruit and vegetable consumption, a primary determinant of antioxidant intake, was lower in depressed individuals. In multivariable models, controlling for age, sex, education, vascular comorbidity score, body mass index, total dietary fat, and alcohol, vitamin C, cryptoxanthin, fruits and vegetables remained significant. Antioxidants from dietary supplements were not associated with depression. Antioxidant, fruit and vegetable intakes were lower in individuals with late-life depression than in comparison participants. These associations may partially explain the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease among older depressed individuals. In addition, these findings point to the importance of antioxidant food sources rather than dietary supplements."}
{"id": "MED-5361", "text": "OBJECTIVE: To compare 2 omega-3 (n-3) preparations enriched with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) versus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as monotherapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) in a 2-site, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. METHOD: 196 adults (53% female; mean [SD] age = 44.7 [13.4] years) with DSM-IV MDD and a baseline 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) score \u2265 15 were randomized equally from May 18, 2006, to June 30, 2011, to 8 weeks of double-blind treatment with oral EPA-enriched n-3 1000 mg/d, DHA-enriched n-3 1,000 mg/d, or placebo. RESULTS: 154 subjects completed the study. Modified intent-to-treat (mITT) analysis (n = 177 subjects with \u2265 1 postbaseline visit; 59.3% female, mean [SD] age 45.8 [12.5] years) employed mixed-model repeated measures (MMRM). All 3 groups demonstrated statistically significant improvement in the HDRS-17 (primary outcome measure), 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (QIDS-SR-16), and Clinical Global Improvement-Severity Scale (CGI-S) (P < .05), but neither n-3 preparation separated from placebo (P > .05). Response and remission rates were in the range of 40%-50% and 30%, respectively, for all treatments, with no significant differences between groups. One subject receiving EPA-enriched n-3 discontinued due to worsening depression, and 1 subject receiving placebo discontinued due to an unspecified \"negative reaction\" to pills. CONCLUSIONS: Neither EPA-enriched nor DHA-enriched n-3 was superior to placebo for the treatment of MDD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00517036. \u00a9 Copyright 2015 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc."}
{"id": "MED-5362", "text": "BACKGROUND: Studies of single nutrients on depression have produced inconsistent results, and they have failed to consider the complex interactions between nutrients. An increasing number of studies in recent years are investigating the association of overall dietary patterns and depression. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to systematically review current literature and conduct meta-analyses of studies addressing the association between dietary patterns and depression. DESIGN: Six electronic databases were searched for articles published up to August 2013 that examined the association of total diet and depression among adults. Only studies considered methodologically rigorous were included. Two independent reviewers completed study selection, quality rating, and data extraction. Effect sizes of eligible studies were pooled by using random-effects models. A summary of the findings was presented for studies that could not be meta-analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 21 studies were identified. Results from 13 observational studies were pooled. Two dietary patterns were identified. The healthy diet pattern was significantly associated with a reduced odds of depression (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.92; P < 0.001). No statistically significant association was observed between the Western diet and depression (OR: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.97, 1.68; P = 0.094); however, the studies were too few for a precise estimate of this effect. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that high intakes of fruit, vegetables, fish, and whole grains may be associated with a reduced depression risk. However, more high-quality randomized controlled trials and cohort studies are needed to confirm this finding, specifically the temporal sequence of this association."}
{"id": "MED-5363", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Although several studies have reported associations of depressive state with specific nutrients and foods, few studies examined the association with dietary patterns in adults. We investigated the association between major dietary patterns and depressive symptoms in Japanese. METHODS: Subjects were 521 municipal employees (309 men and 212 women), aged 21-67 years, who participated in a health survey at the time of periodic checkup. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. Dietary patterns were derived by using principal component analysis of the consumption of 52 food and beverage items, which was assessed by a validated brief diet history questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios of depressive symptoms (CES-D >or=16) with adjustment for potential confounding variables. RESULTS: We identified three dietary patterns. A healthy Japanese dietary pattern characterized by high intakes of vegetables, fruit, mushrooms and soy products was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of having depressive symptoms for the lowest through highest tertiles of the healthy Japanese dietary pattern score were 1.00 (reference), 0.99 (0.62-1.59) and 0.44 (0.25-0.78), respectively (P for trend=0.006). Other dietary patterns were not appreciably associated with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that a healthy Japanese dietary pattern may be related to decreased prevalence of depressive status."}
{"id": "MED-5364", "text": "OBJECTIVE: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been implicated as protective against suicide. However, it is uncertain whether a higher intake of EPA and DHA or of fish, a major source of these nutrients, lowers suicidal risk among Japanese, whose fish consumption and suicide rate are both high. This study prospectively examined the relation between fish, EPA, or DHA intake and suicide among Japanese men and women. METHOD: Subjects were 47,351 men and 54,156 women aged 40-69 years who participated in the JPHC Study, completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995-1999, and were followed for death through December 2005. We used the Cox proportional hazards regression model to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for suicide by quintile of intake. RESULTS: A total of 213 and 85 deaths from suicide were recorded during 403,019 and 473,351 person-years of follow-up for men and women, respectively. Higher intakes of fish, EPA, or DHA were not associated with a lower risk of suicide. Multivariate HRs (95% CI) of suicide death for the highest versus lowest quintile of fish consumption were 0.95 (0.60-1.49) and 1.20 (0.58-2.47) for men and women, respectively. A significantly increased risk of suicidal death was observed among women with very low intake of fish, with HRs (95% CI) for those in 0-5th percentile versus middle quintile of 3.41 (1.36-8.51). CONCLUSIONS: Our overall result does not support a protective role of higher intake of fish, EPA, or DHA against suicide in Japanese men and women. Copyright \u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-5366", "text": "CONTEXT: Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) is thought to reduce inflammatory, vascular, and metabolic processes that may be involved in the risk of clinical depression. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between adherence to the MDP and the incidence of clinical depression. DESIGN: Prospective study that uses a validated 136-item food frequency questionnaire to assess adherence to the MDP. The MDP score positively weighted the consumption of vegetables, fruit and nuts, cereal, legumes, and fish; the monounsaturated- to saturated-fatty-acids ratio; and moderate alcohol consumption, whereas meat or meat products and whole-fat dairy were negatively weighted. SETTING: A dynamic cohort of university graduates (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra/University of Navarra Follow-up [SUN] Project). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 10 094 initially healthy Spanish participants from the SUN Project participated in the study. Recruitment began on December 21, 1999, and is ongoing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Participants were classified as having incident depression if they were free of depression and antidepressant medication at baseline and reported a physician-made diagnosis of clinical depression and/or antidepressant medication use during follow-up. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 4.4 years, 480 new cases of depression were identified. The multiple adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of depression for the 4 upper successive categories of adherence to the MDP (taking the category of lowest adherence as reference) were 0.74 (0.57-0.98), 0.66 (0.50-0.86), 0.49 (0.36-0.67), and 0.58 (0.44-0.77) (P for trend <.001). Inverse dose-response relationships were found for fruit and nuts, the monounsaturated- to saturated-fatty-acids ratio, and legumes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a potential protective role of the MDP with regard to the prevention of depressive disorders; additional longitudinal studies and trials are needed to confirm these findings."}
{"id": "MED-5367", "text": "Objective We examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between plasma carotenoids and depressive symptoms over a six-year follow-up in older persons. Methods and Materials This research is part of the InCHIANTI Study, a prospective population-based study of older persons in Tuscany, Italy. The sample for this analysis included 958 women and men aged 65 years and older. Plasma total carotenoids were assessed at baseline. Depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and at the 3- and 6-year follow-up using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Depressed mood was defined as CES-D\u226520. Results At baseline, higher total carotenoids level were associated with lower probability of depressed mood (OR=0.82, 95%CI=0.68\u20130.99, p=0.04) after adjustment for sociodemographic, health and inflammation. After the exclusion of participants with baseline depressed mood and use of antidepressants, higher total carotenoids level were associated with lower risk of incident depressed mood (OR=0.72, 95%CI=0.52\u20130.99, p=0.04) at 6-year follow-up, after adjustment for confounders plus baseline CES-D. Inflammatory marker Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist partially mediated this association. Discussion Low plasma concentrations of carotenoids are associated with depressive symptoms and predict the development of new depressive symptoms in older persons. Understanding the mechanism of this association may reveal potential targets for prevention and treatment."}
{"id": "MED-5368", "text": "Intake of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. We sought to estimate the association between intake of fish and n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and suicide mortality over the course of long-term follow-up. In this prospective cohort study, biennial questionnaires were administered to 42,290 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1988\u20132008), 72,231 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study (1986\u20132008), and 90,836 women enrolled in Nurses' Health Study II (1993\u20132007). Dietary fish and n-3 and n-6 PUFA intakes were assessed every 4 years using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Suicide mortality was ascertained through blind physician review of death certificates and hospital or pathology reports. Adjusted relative risks of suicide mortality were estimated with multivariable Cox proportional hazards models and pooled across cohorts using random-effects meta-analysis. The pooled multivariable relative risks for suicide among persons in the highest quartile of intake of n-3 or n-6 PUFAs, relative to the lowest quartile, ranged from 1.08 to 1.46 for n-3 PUFAs (Ptrend = 0.11\u20130.52) and from 0.68 to 1.19 for n-6 PUFAs (Ptrend = 0.09\u20130.54). We did not find evidence that intake of n-3 PUFAs or fish lowered the risk of completed suicide."}
{"id": "MED-5369", "text": "BACKGROUND: There are an estimated one million completed suicides per year worldwide. As a response to increasing concern about suicide within Europe, the EUROSAVE (European Review of Suicide and Violence Epidemiology) study was undertaken to examine recent trends in the epidemiology of suicide and self-inflicted injury mortality in the European Union (EU). METHODS: Suicide and self-inflicted injury mortality data for the 15 EU countries for the years 1984-1998 were obtained from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Statistical Office of the European Commission (EUROSTAT) and national statistical agencies. Data were also obtained for a second group of deaths classified as 'undetermined' or 'other violence'. Age-standardized mortality rates were calculated and examined for trends over time. RESULTS: Finland had the highest suicide rate, while Greece had the lowest for the latest available year (1997). Age-standardized suicide rates tended to be lowest in the Mediterranean countries. Significant downward linear time trends in suicide mortality were observed in most countries, although rates varied markedly between countries. Both Ireland and Spain displayed significant upward linear trends in suicide mortality. Portugal had the highest rate of undetermined deaths both in 1984 and 1998 while Greece had the lowest in both 1984 and 1997. Five countries (including Ireland and Spain) showed significant downward trends in deaths due to undetermined causes whereas Belgium and Germany showed borderline significant upward linear trends in deaths due to undetermined causes. CONCLUSIONS: Although suicide rates in most countries seem to be decreasing, the validity of the data is uncertain. Misclassification may contribute to the geographical and temporal variation in suicide rates in some EU countries but it does not explain the phenomenon. More detailed research comparing suicide-recording procedures and practices across the EU is required. In the absence of adequate EU wide data on suicide epidemiology, effective prevention of this distressing phenomenon is likely to remain elusive."}
{"id": "MED-5370", "text": "BACKGROUND: Very long chain omega-3 fatty acids (w-3 PUFA) intake and fish consumption have been suggested as protective factors against neuropsychiatric disorders but there is scarcity of large cohort studies assessing this association. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the association between w-3-PUFA intake and fish consumption and mental disorders. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed in 7,903 participants. W-3 PUFA intake and fish consumption were ascertained through a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The outcomes after 2 years of follow-up were: (1) Incident mental disorder (depression, anxiety, or stress), (2) incident depression, and (3) incident anxiety. Logistic regression models and generalized additive models were fit to assess the relationship between w-3 PUFA intake or fish consumption and the incidence of these outcomes. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: 173 cases of depression, 335 cases of anxiety, and 4 cases of stress were observed during 2-year follow-up. ORs (95% CI) of mental disorder for successive quintiles of energy-adjusted w-3 PUFA intake were 1 (reference), 0.72 (0.52-0.99), 0.79 (0.58-1.08), 0.65 (0.47-0.90), and 1.04 (0.78-1.40). Subjects with a moderate consumption of fish (third and fourth quintiles of consumption: median of each quintile 83.3 and 112 g/day, respectively) had a relative risk reduction higher than 30%. CONCLUSIONS: A potential benefit of w-3 PUFA intake on total mental disorders is suggested, although no linear trend was apparent."}
{"id": "MED-847", "text": "Background: The evidence for meat intake and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) risk is inconsistent. Mutagens related to meat cooking and processing, and variation by RCC subtype may be important to consider. Objective: In a large US cohort, we prospectively investigated intake of meat and meat-related compounds in relation to risk of RCC, as well as clear cell and papillary RCC histologic subtypes. Design: Study participants (492,186) completed a detailed dietary assessment linked to a database of heme iron, heterocyclic amines (HCA), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrate, and nitrite concentrations in cooked and processed meats. Over 9 (mean) y of follow-up, we identified 1814 cases of RCC (498 clear cell and 115 papillary adenocarcinomas). HRs and 95% CIs were estimated within quintiles by using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Red meat intake [62.7 g (quintile 5) compared with 9.8 g (quintile 1) per 1000 kcal (median)] was associated with a tendency toward an increased risk of RCC [HR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.40; P-trend = 0.06] and a 2-fold increased risk of papillary RCC [P-trend = 0.002]. Intakes of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a marker of PAHs, and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), an HCA, were associated with a significant 20\u201330% elevated risk of RCC and a 2-fold increased risk of papillary RCC. No associations were observed for the clear cell subtype. Conclusions: Red meat intake may increase the risk of RCC through mechanisms related to the cooking compounds BaP and PhIP. Our findings for RCC appeared to be driven by strong associations with the rarer papillary histologic variant. This study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00340015."}
{"id": "MED-874", "text": "BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising anticancer agent which selectively kills cancer cells with little effect on normal cells. However, TRAIL resistance is widely found in cancer cells. We have previously reported antimetatstatic and antiangiogenic effects of vanillin, a flavoring agent from vanilla. Here we have evaluated the sensitizing effect of vanillin on a TRAIL-resistant human cervical cancer cell line, HeLa. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cell viability after treatments was determined by the WST-1 cell counting kit. Apoptosis was demonstrated by detection of caspase-3 activation and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase using immunoblot analysis. Effect of treatments on TRAIL signaling pathway and nuclear factor kappaB (FN-kappaB) activation was studied using immunoblot analysis and luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS: Pretreatment of HeLa cells with vanillin enhanced TRAIL-induced cell death through the apoptosis pathway. Vanillin pretreatment inhibited TRAIL-induced phosphorylation of p65 and transcriptional activity of NF-kappaB. CONCLUSION: Vanillin sensitizes HeLa cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation."}
{"id": "MED-875", "text": "AIMS: The purpose of this study was to search for a novel quorum sensing inhibitor and analyse its inhibitory activity. METHODS AND RESULTS: Quorum sensing inhibition was monitored using the Tn-5 mutant, Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. Vanilla beans (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) were extracted using 75% (v/v) aqueous methanol and added to C. violaceum CV026 cultures. Inhibitory activity was measured by quantifying violacein production using a spectrophotometer. The results have revealed that vanilla extract significantly reduced violacein production in a concentration-dependent manner, indicating inhibition of quorum sensing. CONCLUSIONS: Vanilla, a widely used spice and flavour, can inhibit bacterial quorum sensing. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The results suggest that the intake of vanilla-containing food materials might promote human health by inhibiting quorum sensing and preventing bacterial pathogenesis. Further studies are required to isolate specific substances from vanilla extract acting as quorum sensing inhibitors."}
{"id": "MED-905", "text": "ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The beverages of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces are widely used in Mexico as diuretic, for treating gastrointestinal disorders, liver diseases, fever, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Different works have demonstrated that Hibiscus sabdariffa extracts reduce blood pressure in humans, and recently, we demonstrated that this effect is due to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor activity. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the current study was to isolate and characterizer the constituents responsible of the ACE activity of the aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bioassay-guided fractionation of the aqueous extract of dried calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa using preparative reversed-phase HPLC, and the in vitro ACE Inhibition assay, as biological monitor model, were used for the isolation. The isolated compounds were characterized by spectroscopic methods. RESULTS: The anthocyanins delphinidin-3-O-sambubioside (1) and cyanidin-3-O-sambubioside (2) were isolated by bioassay-guided purification. These compounds showed IC(50) values (84.5 and 68.4 microg/mL, respectively), which are similar to those obtained by related flavonoid glycosides. Kinetic determinations suggested that these compounds inhibit the enzyme activity by competing with the substrate for the active site. CONCLUSIONS: The competitive ACE inhibitor activity of the anthocyanins 1 and 2 is reported for the first time. This activity is in good agreement with the folk medicinal use of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces as antihypertensive. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-914", "text": "Chinese wild rice has been consumed for over 3000 years, but its safety as a food in China has never been established. The grain contains higher amounts of protein, ash and crude fibre than white rice. Levels of non-nutritive mineral elements such as arsenic, cadmium and lead are very low. The eating patterns of 110 people ( > 60 yr) showed no ill-effects. The results of acute toxicity tests with mice fed diet containing 21.5 g/kg Chinese wild rice [corrected] indicated no abnormal reaction and none of the mice died. The bone marrow micronucleus and sperm abnormality tests conducted with mice were negative as was the Salmonella mutagenicity test. The results of this investigation indicate that Chinese wild rice is safe for human consumption."}
{"id": "MED-915", "text": "Wild rice grain samples from various parts of the world have been found to have elevated concentrations of heavy metals, raising concern for potential effects on human health. It was hypothesized that wild rice from north-central Wisconsin could potentially have elevated concentrations of some heavy metals because of possible exposure to these elements from the atmosphere or from water and sediments. In addition, no studies of heavy metals in wild rice from Wisconsin had been performed, and a baseline study was needed for future comparisons. Wild rice plants were collected from four areas in Bayfield, Forest, Langlade, Oneida, Sawyer and Wood Counties in September, 1997 and 1998 and divided into four plant parts for elemental analyses: roots, stems, leaves and seeds. A total of 194 samples from 51 plants were analyzed across the localities, with an average of 49 samples per part depending on the element. Samples were cleaned of soil, wet digested, and analyzed by ICP for Ag, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mg, Pb, Se and Zn. Roots contained the highest concentrations of Ag, As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, and Se. Copper was highest in both roots and seeds, while Zn was highest just in seeds. Magnesium was highest in leaves. Seed baseline ranges for the 10 elements were established using the 95% confidence intervals of the medians. Wild rice plants from northern Wisconsin had normal levels of the nutritional elements Cu, Mg and Zn in the seeds. Silver, Cd, Hg, Cr, and Se were very low in concentration or within normal limits for food plants. Arsenic and Pb, however, were elevated and could pose a problem for human health. The pathway for As, Hg and Pb to the plants could be atmospheric."}
{"id": "MED-924", "text": "Oral ingestion of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has been used for decades as a home remedy for acid indigestion. Excessive bicarbonate ingestion places patients at risk for a variety of metabolic derangements including metabolic alkalosis, hypokalemia, hypernatremia, and even hypoxia. The clinical presentation is highly variable but can include seizures, dysrhythmias, and cardiopulmonary arrest. We present two cases of severe metabolic alkalosis in patients with unsuspected antacid overdose. The presentation and pathophysiology of antacid-related metabolic alkalosis is reviewed."}
{"id": "MED-939", "text": "Snacking is an uncontrolled eating behavior, predisposing weight gain and obesity. It primarily affects the female population and is frequently associated with stress. We hypothesized that oral supplementation with Satiereal (Inoreal Ltd, Plerin, France), a novel extract of saffron stigma, may reduce snacking and enhance satiety through its suggested mood-improving effect, and thus contribute to weight loss. Healthy, mildly overweight women (N = 60) participated in this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study that evaluated the efficacy of Satiereal supplementation on body weight changes over an 8-week period. Snacking frequency, the main secondary variable, was assessed by daily self-recording of episodes by the subjects in a nutrition diary. Twice a day, enrolled subjects consumed 1 capsule of Satiereal (176.5 mg extract per day (n = 31) or a matching placebo (n = 29). Caloric intake was left unrestricted during the study. At baseline, both groups were homogeneous for age, body weight, and snacking frequency. Satiereal caused a significantly greater body weight reduction than placebo after 8 weeks (P < .01). The mean snacking frequency was significantly decreased in the Satiereal group as compared with the placebo group (P < .05). Other anthropometric dimensions and vital signs remained almost unchanged in both groups. No subject withdrawal attributable to a product effect was reported throughout the trial, suggesting a good tolerability to Satiereal. Our results indicate that Satiereal consumption produces a reduction of snacking and creates a satiating effect that could contribute to body weight loss. The combination of an adequate diet with Satiereal supplementation might help subjects engaged in a weight loss program in achieving their objective. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}
{"id": "MED-940", "text": "Saffron (Crocus sativus Linn.) have been perceived by the public as a strong aphrodisiac herbal product. However, studies addressing the potential beneficial effects of saffron on erectile function (EF) in men with ED are lacking. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of saffron administration on EF in men with ED. After a 4-week baseline assessment, 346 men with ED (mean age 46.6+/-8.4 years) were randomized to receive on-demand sildenafil for 12 weeks followed by 30 mg saffron twice daily for another 12 weeks or vice versa, separated by a 2-week washout period. To determine the type of ED, penile color duplex Doppler ultrasonography before and after intracavernosal injection with 20 microg prostaglandin E(1), pudendal nerve conduction tests and impaired sensory-evoked potential studies were performed. Subjects were assessed with an International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire, Sexual Encounter Profile (SEP) diary questions, patient and partner versions of the Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS) questionnaire and the Global Efficacy Question (GEQ) 'Has the medication you have been taking improved your erections?' No significant improvements were observed with regard to the IIEF sexual function domains, SEP questions and EDITS scores with saffron administration. The mean changes from baseline values in IIEF-EF domain were +87.6% and +9.8% in sildenafil and placebo groups, respectively (P=0.08). We did not observe any improvement in 15 individual IIEF questions in patients while taking saffron. Treatment satisfaction as assessed by partner versions of EDITS was found to be very low in saffron patients (72.4 vs 25.4, P=0.001). Mean per patient 'yes' responses to GEQ was 91.2 and 4.2% for sildenafil and saffron, respectively (P=0.0001). These findings do not support a beneficial effect of saffron administration in men with ED."}
{"id": "MED-892", "text": "Background: Evidence links dietary sodium to hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD), but investigation of its influence on cardiovascular function is limited. Objective: We examined the relation between habitual dietary sodium and coronary flow reserve (CFR), which is a measure of overall coronary vasodilator capacity and microvascular function. We hypothesized that increased sodium consumption is associated with lower CFR. Design: Habitual daily sodium intake for the previous 12 mo was measured in 286 male middle-aged twins (133 monozygotic and dizygotic pairs and 20 unpaired twins) by using the Willett food-frequency questionnaire. CFR was measured by positron emission tomography [N13]-ammonia, with quantitation of myocardial blood flow at rest and after adenosine stress. Mixed-effects regression analysis was used to assess the association between dietary sodium and CFR. Results: An increase in dietary sodium of 1000 mg/d was associated with a 10.0% lower CFR (95% CI: \u221217.0%, \u22122.5%) after adjustment for demographic, lifestyle, nutritional, and CVD risk factors (P = 0.01). Across quintiles of sodium consumption, dietary sodium was inversely associated with CFR (P-trend = 0.03), with the top quintile (>1456 mg/d) having a 20% lower CFR than the bottom quintile (<732 mg /d). This association also persisted within pairs: a 1000-mg/d difference in dietary sodium between brothers was associated with a 10.3% difference in CFR after adjustment for potential confounders (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Habitual dietary sodium is inversely associated with CFR independent of CVD risk factors and shared familial and genetic factors. Our study suggests a potential novel mechanism for the adverse effects of dietary sodium on the cardiovascular system. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00017836."}
{"id": "MED-906", "text": "Annatto dye is an orange-yellow food coloring extracted from the seeds of the tree Bixa orellana. It is commonly used in cheeses, snack foods, beverages, and cereals. Previously reported adverse reactions associated with annatto dye have included urticaria and angioedema. We present a patient who developed urticaria, angioedema, and severe hypotension within 20 minutes following ingestion of milk and Fiber One cereal, which contained annatto dye. Subsequent skin tests to milk, wheat, and corn were negative. The patient had a strong positive skin test to annatto dye, while controls had no response. The nondialyzable fraction of annatto dye on SDS-PAGE demonstrated two protein staining bands in the range of 50 kD. Immunoblotting demonstrated patient IgE-specific for one of these bands, while controls showed no binding. Annatto dye may contain contaminating or residual seed proteins to which our patient developed IgE hypersensitivity. Annatto dye is a potential rare cause of anaphylaxis."}
{"id": "MED-917", "text": "Scottish-grown red raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C and phenolics, most notably, the anthocyanins cyanidin-3-sophoroside, cyanidin-3-(2(G)-glucosylrutinoside), and cyanidin-3-glucoside, and two ellagitannins, sanguiin H-6 and lambertianin C, which are present together with trace levels of flavonols, ellagic acid, and hydroxycinnamates. The antioxidant capacity of the fresh fruit and the levels of vitamin C and phenolics were not affected by freezing. When fruit were stored at 4 degrees C for 3 days and then at 18 degrees C for 24 h, mimicking the route fresh fruit takes after harvest to the supermarket and onto the consumer's table, anthocyanin levels were unaffected while vitamin C levels declined and those of elligitannins increased, and overall, there was no effect on the antioxidant capacity of the fruit. It is concluded, therefore, that freshly picked, fresh commercial, and frozen raspberries all contain similar levels of phytochemicals and antioxidants per serving."}
{"id": "MED-941", "text": "BACKGROUND: Common warts (verruca vulgaris) are benign epithelial proliferations associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Salicylic acid and cryotherapy are the most frequent treatments for common warts, but can be painful and cause scarring, and have high failure and recrudescence rates. Topical vitamin A has been shown to be a successful treatment of common warts in prior informal studies. CASE: The subject is a healthy, physically-active 30 old female with a 9 year history of common warts on the back of the right hand. The warts resisted treatment with salicylic acid, apple cider vinegar and an over-the-counter blend of essential oils marketed for the treatment of warts. Daily topical application of natural vitamin A derived from fish liver oil (25,000 IU) led to replacement of all the warts with normal skin. Most of the smaller warts had been replaced by 70 days. A large wart on the middle knuckle required 6 months of vitamin A treatment to resolve completely. CONCLUSION: Retinoids should be further investigated in controlled studies to determine their effectiveness in treating common warts and the broad range of other benign and cancerous lesions induced by HPVs."}
{"id": "MED-942", "text": "Apple cider vinegar products are advertised in the popular press and over the Internet for treatment of a variety of conditions. After an adverse event was reported to the authors, eight apple cider vinegar tablet products were tested for pH, component acid content, and microbial growth. Considerable variability was found between the brands in tablet size, pH, component acid content, and label claims. Doubt remains as to whether apple cider vinegar was in fact an ingredient in the evaluated products. The inconsistency and inaccuracy in labeling, recommended dosages, and unsubstantiated health claims make it easy to question the quality of the products."}