Exercise Tolerance and Alcohol Intake: Blood Pressure Relation

The relations of systolic and diastolic blood pressures to alcohol intake and exercise tolerance levels in 15,612 men and 3,855 women were investigated. Alcohol intake was assessed by questionnaire and stratified into seven levels for men and six for women according to the ounces of ethanol consumed per week. Exercise tolerance was determined by maximal treadmill exercise testing and was categorized into six age-specific by sex-specific levels. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly related to both alcohol intake and exercise tolerance levels in both men and women. These relations, which were positive for alcohol and negative for exercise tolerance, remained after covariance adjustment for age, body mass index, and cigarette smoking. Alcohol intake was not significantly correlated with exercise tolerance. The relation of blood pressure to alcohol was not linear because the blood pressure of moderate consumers of alcohol tended to be slightly lower than that of nondrinkers. Higher blood pressure was found only in drinkers whose ethanol intake exceeded 9.5 ounces (~285 ml or 19 drinks) per week. However, heavy drinkers in high exercise tolerance categories had no higher blood pressure than nondrinkers in low exercise tolerance groups. Exercise tolerance or physiological fitness appears to be important in quantifying the relation between alcohol intake and blood pressure and should be considered in describing this relation

Immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene alleles are not associated with primary Sjogren's Syndrome

The immunoglobulin kappa (Km) light chain gene is polymorphic and is believed to play a role in the pathology of infectious and autoimmune diseases. Polymorphisms within the constant region of the Km gene encode three alleles designated Km1, Km1,2 and Km3. Previous studies using serological detection of Km allotypes reported associations between specific Km allotypes, systemic lupus erythematosus and the presence of anti-La antibodies, yet these findings were not confirmed in other studies. In order to more precisely define any associations between Km alleles and anti-Ro/La antibodies we used the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphisms for Km genotyping in a large cohort of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS). No associations were observed between specific Km alleles and primary SS when compared with a control population, nor within serologically defined subsets of SS patients. We conclude that Km alleles are not associated with primary SS or the Ro/La autoantibody response.S Downie-Doyle, S Lester, P Bardy, T Gordon, M Rischmueller and K Pil