Low clusterin levels in high-density lipoprotein associate with insulin resistance, obesity, and dyslipoproteinemia

To determine whether obesity and insulin resistance associate with changes in the protein content of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in 2 different groups of men by using targeted proteomics.

Strawberries decrease atherosclerotic markers in subjects with metabolic syndrome

Strawberries have been reported to be potent antioxidants and reduce cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and inflammation in limited studies. We hypothesized that freeze-dried strawberry supplementation will improve blood pressure, impaired glucose, dyslipidemia, or circulating adhesion molecules in obese subjects with metabolic syndrome, thereby lowering cardiovascular risk factors in these subjects. Twenty-seven subjects with metabolic syndrome (2 males and 25 females; body mass index, 37.5 +/- 2.15 kg/m(2); age, 47.0 +/- 3.0 years [means +/- SE]) consumed 4 cups of freeze-dried strawberry beverage (50 g freeze-dried strawberries approximately 3 cups fresh strawberries) or equivalent amounts of fluids (controls, 4 cups of water) daily for 8 weeks in a randomized controlled trial. Anthropometrics and blood pressure measurements, assessment of dietary intakes, and fasting blood draws were conducted at screen and 8 weeks of the study. Strawberry supplementation significantly decreased total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (5.8 +/- 0.2 to 5.2 +/- 0.2 mmol/L and 3.5 +/- 0.2 to 3.1 +/- 0.1 mmol/L, respectively [means +/- SE], P <.05) and small low-density lipoprotein particles using nuclear magnetic resonance-determined lipoprotein subclass profile vs controls at 8 weeks (794.6 +/- 94.0 to 681.8 +/- 86.0 nmol/L [means +/- SE], P <.05). Strawberry supplementation further decreased circulating levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 vs controls at 8 weeks (272.7 +/- 17.4 to 223.0 +/- 14.0 ng/mL [means +/- SE], P <.05). Serum glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference were not affected. Thus, short-term freeze-dried strawberry supplementation improved selected atherosclerotic risk factors, including dyslipidemia and circulating adhesion molecules in subjects with metabolic syndrome, and these results need confirmation in future trials.

Increased serum pigment epithelium-derived factor is associated with microvascular complications, vascular stiffness and inflammation in Type 1 diabetes

To determine in Type 1 diabetes patients if levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), an anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant factor, are increased in individuals with complications and positively related to vascular and renal dysfunction, body mass index, glycated haemoglobin, lipids, inflammation and oxidative stress.

Apolipoprotein C-III protein concentrations and gene polymorphisms in type 1 diabetes:associations with lipoprotein subclasses

Serum apolipoprotein C-III (apoCIII) concentration and apoCIII gene polymorphisms have been shown to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In addition, no studies have been performed that address these issues in type 1 diabetes. The current study investigated apoCIII protein and apoCIII gene variation in a normotriglyceridemic (82 +/- 57 mg/dL) population of patients with type 1 diabetes, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Intervention and Complications (DCCT/EDIC) cohort. Blood samples were obtained in 409 patients after an overnight fast. Serum apoCIII concentration was highly correlated with multiple changes in lipids and lipoproteins that resulted in an adverse cardiovascular disease risk profile. Higher apoCIII concentrations were associated (P <.0001) with increased triglycerides (r = 0.78), total (r = 0.61) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (r = 0.40) cholesterol, apoA-I (r = 0.26), and apoB (r = 0.50), and these relationships persisted after controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) lipoprotein subclass analyses demonstrated that apoCIII was correlated with an increase in very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) subclasses (P = .0001). There also was a highly significant positive relationship between serum apoCIII concentration and the LDL particle concentration in both men (r = 0.49, P = .001) and women (r = 0.40, P = .001), and a highly significant negative relationship between serum apoCIII levels and average LDL particle size in both men (r = -0.37, P = .001) and women (r = -0.22, P = .001) due primarily to an augmentation in the small L1 subclass (r = 0.42, P = .0001). Neither the T(-455) --> C polymorphism affecting an insulin response element in the apoCIII gene promoter nor a SacI polymorphism in the 3'UTR were associated with any alterations in circulating apoCIII concentrations, serum lipids, apolipoprotein concentrations, lipoprotein composition, or parameters measured by NMR lipoprotein subclass analyses. In summary, elevated apoCIII concentration was associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease in normolipidemic type 1 diabetic patients through associated changes in lipoprotein subfraction distributions, which were independent of apoCIII genotype.

Increased serum pigment epithelium derived factor levels in Type 2 diabetes patients

Serum PEDF levels (mean (S.D.)) were increased in 96 Type 2 diabetic vs. 54 non-diabetic subjects; 5.3 (2.8) vs. 3.2 (2.0)mug/ml, p

Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study:preeclampsia

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine associations of fasting C-peptide, body mass index (BMI), and maternal glucose with the risk of preeclampsia in a multicenter multinational study. Study Design: We conducted a secondary analysis of a blinded observational cohort study. Subjects underwent a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test at 24-32 weeks' gestation. Associations of preeclampsia with fasting C-peptide, BMI, and maternal glucose were assessed with the use of multiple logistic regression analyses and adjustment for potential confounders. Results: Of 21,364 women who were included in the analyses, 5.2% had preeclampsia. Adjusted odds ratios for preeclampsia for 1 SD higher fasting C-peptide (0.87 ug/L), BMI (5.1 kg/m), and fasting (6.9 mg/dL), 1-hour (30.9 mg/dL), and 2-hour plasma glucose (23.5 mg/dL) were 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-1.36), 1.60 (95% CI, 1.60-1.71), 1.08 (95% CI, 1.00-1.16), 1.19 (95% CI, 1.11-1.28), and 1.21 (95% CI,1.13-1.30), respectively. Conclusion: Results indicate strong, independent associations of fasting C-peptide and BMI with preeclampsia. Maternal glucose levels (below diabetes mellitus) had weaker associations with preeclampsia, particularly after adjustment for fasting C-peptide and BMI. © 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pioglitazone protects HDL(2&3) against oxidation in overweight and obese men

The worldwide epidemic of obesity is a major public health concern and is persuasively linked to the rising prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Obesity is often associated with an abnormal lipoprotein profile, which may be partly negated by pioglitazone intervention, as this can influence the composition and oxidation characteristics of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). However, as pioglitazone's impact on these parameters within high-density lipoprotein (HDL), specifically HDL(2&3), is absent from the literature, this study was performed to address this shortcoming.

A prospective cohort study of obesity and risk of oesophageal and gastric adenocarcinoma in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study

Objective: The incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has increased rapidly over the past 40 years and accumulating evidence suggests that obesity, as measured by body mass index (BMI), is a major risk factor. It remains unclear whether abdominal obesity is associated with EAC and gastric adenocarcinoma.

Design: Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine associations between overall and abdominal obesity with EAC and gastric adenocarcinoma among 218 854 participants in the prospective NIHeAARP cohort.

Results: 253 incident EAC, 191 gastric cardia adenocarcinomas and 125 gastric non-cardia adenocarcinomas accrued to the cohort. Overall obesity (BMI) was positively associated with EAC and gastric
cardia adenocarcinoma risk (highest ($35 kg/m2) vs referent (18.5e<25 kg/m2); HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.09 to 4.09 and HR 3.67, 95% CI 2.00 to 6.71, respectively). Waist circumference was also positively associated with EAC and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma risk (highest vs referent; HR 2.01, 95% CI 1.35 to 3.00 and HR 2.22, 95% CI 1.43 to 3.47, respectively), whereas waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was positively associated with EAC risk only (highest vs referent; HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.64) and persisted in patients with normal BMI (18.5e<25 kg/m2). Mutual adjustment of WHR and BMI attenuated
both, but did not eliminate the positive associations for either with risk of EAC. In contrast, the majority of the anthropometric variables were not associated with adenocarcinomas of the gastric non-cardia.

Conclusion Overall obesity was associated with a higher risk of EAC and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, whereas abdominal obesity was found to be associated with increased EAC risk; even in people with normal BMI

Common variant at 16p11.2 conferring risk of psychosis

Epidemiological and genetic data support the notion that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share genetic risk factors. In our previous genome-wide association (GWA) study, meta-analysis and follow-up (totaling as many as 18,206 cases and 42,536 controls), we identified four loci showing genome-wide significant association with schizophrenia. Here we consider a mixed schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (psychosis) phenotype (addition of 7,469 bipolar disorder cases, 1,535 schizophrenia cases, 333 other psychosis cases, 808 unaffected family members and 46,160 controls). Combined analysis reveals a novel variant at 16p11.2 showing genome-wide significant association (rs4583255[T], OR = 1.08, P = 6.6 × 10−11). The new variant is located within a 593 kb region that substantially increases risk of psychosis when duplicated. In line with the association of the duplication with reduced body mass index (BMI), rs4583255[T] is also associated with lower BMI (P = 0.0039 in the public GIANT consortium dataset; P = 0.00047 in 22,651 additional Icelanders).

Economies of scaling: More evidence that allometry of metabolism is linked to activity, metabolic rate and habitat

Organismal metabolic rates influence many ecological processes, and the mass-specific metabolic rate of organisms decreases with increasing body mass according to a power law. The exponent in this equation is commonly thought to be the three-quarter-power of body mass, determined by fundamental physical laws that extend across taxa. However, recent work has cast doubt as to the universality of this relationship, the value of 0.75 being an interspecies 'average' of scaling exponents that vary naturally between certain boundaries. There is growing evidence that metabolic scaling varies significantly between even closely related species, and that different values can be associated with lifestyle, activity and metabolic rates. Here we show that the value of the metabolic scaling exponent varies within a group of marine ectotherms, chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora: Mopaliidae), and that differences in the scaling relationship may be linked to species-specific adaptations to different but overlapping microhabitats. Oxygen consumption rates of six closely related, co-occurring chiton species from the eastern Pacific (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) were examined under controlled experimental conditions. Results show that the scaling exponent varies between species (between 0.64 and 0.91). Different activity levels, metabolic rates and lifestyle may explain this variation. The interspecific scaling exponent in these data is not significantly different from the archetypal 0.75 value, even though five out of six species-specific values are significantly different from that value. Our data suggest that studies using commonly accepted values such as 0.75 derived from theoretical models to extrapolate metabolic data of species to population or community levels should consider the likely variation in exponents that exists in the real world, or seek to encompass such error in their models. This study, as in numerous previous ones, demonstrates that scaling exponents show large, naturally occurring variation, and provides more evidence against the existence of a universal scaling law. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Idiosyncratic species effects confound size-based predictions of responses to climate change

Understanding and predicting the consequences of warming for complex ecosystems and indeed individual species remains a major ecological challenge. Here, we investigated the effect of increased seawater temperatures on the metabolic and consumption rates of five distinct marine species. The experimental species reflected different trophic positions within a typical benthic East Atlantic food web, and included a herbivorous gastropod, a scavenging decapod, a predatory echinoderm, a decapod and a benthic-feeding fish. We examined the metabolism-body mass and consumption-body mass scaling for each species, and assessed changes in their consumption efficiencies. Our results indicate that body mass and temperature effects on metabolism were inconsistent across species and that some species were unable to meet metabolic demand at higher temperatures, thus highlighting the vulnerability of individual species to warming. While body size explains a large proportion of the variation in species' physiological responses to warming, it is clear that idiosyncratic species responses, irrespective of body size, complicate predictions of population and ecosystem level response to future scenarios of climate change. © 2012 The Royal Society.

The predictive science of community ecology

Body mass measures provide a tantalizing tool for explaining both variation in emergent community-level patterns and as a mechanistic basis for fundamental processes such as metabolism, consumption and competition. The unification of body mass, abundance and food web (ecological network) structure in community ecology is an effective way to explore future scenarios of environmental change. However, constraints over the availability of data against which to validate model predictions limit the application of size-based approaches. Here, I explore issues over the use of body size for predicting interaction strengths and hence the dynamics of natural ecosystems. The advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and limitations of such approaches are explored. © 2011 The Author. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2011 British Ecological Society.

Health status and 6 years survival of 552 90+ Italian sib-ships recruited within the EU Project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Ageing).

In a scenario of increasing life expectancy worldwide, it is mandatory to identify the characteristics of a healthy aging phenotype, including survival predictors, and to disentangle those related to environment/lifestyle versus those related to familiarity/genetics. To this aim we comprehensively characterised a cohort of 1,160 Italian subjects of 90 years and over (90+, mean age 93 years; age range 90-106 years) followed for 6 years survival, belonging to 552 sib-ships (familiar longevity) recruited (2005-2008) within the EU-funded GEHA project in three Italian geographic areas (Northern, Central and Southern Italy) different for urban/rural and socio-economical characteristics. On the whole, the following factors emerged as significant predictors of survival after 90 years of age: absence of cognitive impairment and physical disability, high hand grip strength scores and body mass index (BMI) values, "excellent/good" self-reported health, high haemoglobin and total cholesterol levels and low creatinine levels. These parameters, excluding BMI values, were also significantly associated within sib-ships, suggesting a strong familial/genetic component. Geographical micro-heterogeneity of survival predictors emerged, such as functional and physical status being more important in Southern than in Central and Northern Italy. In conclusion, we identified modifiable survival predictors related to specific domains, whose role and importance vary according to the geographic area considered and which can help in interpreting the genetic results obtained by the GEHA project, whose major aim is the comprehensive evaluation of phenotypic and genetic data.

The relationship between breastfeeding and postpartum weight change-a systematic review and critical evaluation

Pregnancy and the postpartum period is a time of increased vulnerability for retention of excess body fat in women. Breastfeeding (BF) has been shown to have many health benefits for both mother and baby; however, its role in postpartum weight management is unclear. Our aim was to systematically review and critically appraise the literature published to date in relation to the impact of BF on postpartum weight change, weight retention and maternal body composition. Electronic literature searches were carried out using MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, BIOSIS, CINAHL and British Nursing Index. The search covered publications up to 12 June 2012 and included observational studies (prospective and retrospective) carried out in BF mothers (either exclusively or as a subgroup), who were 2 years postpartum and with a body mass index (BMI) >18.5 kg m(-2), with an outcome measure of change in weight (including weight retention) and/or body composition. Thirty-seven prospective studies and eight retrospective studies were identified that met the selection criteria; studies were stratified according to study design and outcome measure. Overall, studies were heterogeneous, particularly in relation to sample size, measurement time points and in the classification of BF and postpartum weight change. The majority of studies reported little or no association between BF and weight change (n=27, 63%) or change in body composition (n=16, 89%), although this seemed to depend on the measurement time points and BF intensity. However, of the five studies that were considered to be of high methodological quality, four studies demonstrated a positive association between BF and weight change. This systematic review highlights the difficulties of examining the association between BF and weight management in observational research. Although the available evidence challenges the widely held belief that BF promotes weight loss, more robust studies are needed to reliably assess the impact of BF on postpartum weight management.International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 20 August 2013; doi:10.1038/ijo.2013.132.

Association of physical activity with future mental health in older, mid-life and younger women

Background: Mental ill-health, particularly depression and anxiety, is a leading and increasing cause of disability worldwide, especially for women.

Methods: We examined the prospective association between physical activity and symptoms of mental ill-health in younger, mid-life and older working women. Participants were 26 913 women from the ongoing cohort Finnish Public Sector Study with complete data at two phases, excluding those who screened positive for mental ill-health at baseline. Mental health was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Self-reported physical activity was expressed in metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours per week. Logistic regression models were used to analyse associations between physical activity levels and subsequent mental health.

Results: There was an inverse dose–response relationship between physical activity and future symptoms of mental ill-health. This association is consistent with a protective effect of physical activity and remained after adjustments for socio-demographic, work-related and lifestyle factors, health and body mass index. Furthermore, those mid-life and older women who reported increased physical activity by more than 2 MET hours per week demonstrated a reduced risk of later mental ill-health in comparison with those who did not increase physical activity. This protective effect of increased physical activity did not hold for younger women.

Conclusions: This study adds to the evidence for the protective effect of physical activity for later mental health in women. It also suggests that increasing physical activity levels may be beneficial in terms of mental health among mid-life and older women. The alleviation of menopausal symptoms may partly explain age effects but further research is required.