Calcium Intake and Risk of Primary Hyperparathyroidism in Women: Prospective Cohort Study

Objective: To examine the association between calcium intake and risk of primary hyperparathyroidism in women. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Nurses’ Health Study I, which originally recruited participants from the 11 most populous states in the United States. Participants 58 354 female registered nurses enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study I aged 39-66 years in 1986 and with no history of primary hyperparathyroidism. Calcium intake was assessed every four years using semiquantitative questionnaires on food frequency. Main outcome measure Incident primary hyperparathyroidism, confirmed by medical record review. Results: During 22 years of follow-up, we recorded 277 incident cases of primary hyperparathyroidism. Women were divided into five equal groups, according to intake of dietary calcium. After adjusting for age, body mass index, race, and other factors, the relative risk of primary hyperparathyroidism for women in the group with the highest intake of dietary calcium was 0.56 (95% confidence interval 0.37 to 0.86, P=0.009 for trend), compared with the group with the lowest intake. The multivariable relative risk of primary hyperparathyroidism for women taking more than 500 mg/day of calcium supplements compared with no calcium supplements was 0.41 (95% confidence interval 0.29 to 0.60, P<0.001 for trend). Analyses restricted to participants with regular physical exams did not significantly change the association between calcium intake and risk of primary hyperparathyroidism. Conclusion: Increased calcium intake is independently associated with a reduced risk of primary hyperparathyroidism in women

VMAT2-Deficient Mice Display Nigral and Extranigral Pathology and Motor and Nonmotor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

Dopamine is transported into synaptic vesicles by the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2; SLC18A2). Disruption of dopamine storage has been hypothesized to damage the dopamine neurons that are lost in Parkinson's disease. By disrupting vesicular storage of dopamine and other monoamines, we have created a progressive mouse model of PD that exhibits catecholamine neuron loss in the substantia nigra pars compacta and locus coeruleus and motor and nonmotor symptoms. With a 95% reduction in VMAT2 expression, VMAT2-deficient animals have decreased motor function, progressive deficits in olfactory discrimination, shorter latency to behavioral signs of sleep, delayed gastric emptying, anxiety-like behaviors at younger ages, and a progressive depressive-like phenotype. Pathologically, the VMAT2-deficient mice display progressive neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra (SNpc), locus coeruleus (LC), and dorsal raphe (DR) coupled with α-synuclein accumulation. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that reduced vesicular storage of monoamines and the resulting disruption of the cytosolic environment may play a role in the pathogenesis of parkinsonian symptoms and neurodegeneration. The multisystem nature of the VMAT2-deficient mice may be useful in developing therapeutic strategies that go beyond the dopamine system

XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet With A Four Day Period

The star XO-5 (GSC 02959-00729, V=12.1, G8V) hosts a Jupiter-sized, Rp=1.15+/-0.12 Rjup, transiting extrasolar planet, XO-5b, with an orbital period of P=4.187732+/-0.00002 days. The planet mass (Mp=1.15+/-0.08 Mjup) and surface gravity (gp=22+/-5 m/s^2) are significantly larger than expected by empirical Mp-P and Mp-P-[Fe/H] relationships. However, the deviation from the Mp-P relationship for XO-5b is not large enough to suggest a distinct type of planet as is suggested for GJ 436b, HAT-P-2b, and XO-3b. By coincidence XO-5 overlies the extreme H I plume that emanates from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 2444/NGC 2445 (Arp 143).Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, Submitted to Ap

XO-2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal-rich Common Proper Motion Binary

We report on a V=11.2 early K dwarf, XO-2 (GSC 03413-00005), that hosts a Rp=0.98+0.03/-0.01 Rjup, Mp=0.57+/-0.06 Mjup transiting extrasolar planet, XO-2b, with an orbital period of 2.615857+/-0.000005 days. XO-2 has high metallicity, [Fe/H]=0.45+/-0.02, high proper motion, mu_tot=157 mas/yr, and has a common proper motion stellar companion with 31" separation. The two stars are nearly identical twins, with very similar spectra and apparent magnitudes. Due to the high metallicity, these early K dwarf stars have a mass and radius close to solar, Ms=0.98+/-0.02 Msolar and Rs=0.97+0.02/-0.01 Rsolar. The high proper motion of XO-2 results from an eccentric orbit (Galactic pericenter, Rper<4 kpc) well confined to the Galactic disk (Zmax~100 pc). In addition, the phase space position of XO-2 is near the Hercules dynamical stream, which points to an origin of XO-2 in the metal-rich, inner Thin Disk and subsequent dynamical scattering into the solar neighborhood. We describe an efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for calculating the Bayesian posterior probability of the system parameters from a transit light curve.Comment: 14 pages, 10 Figures, Accepted in ApJ. Negligible changes to XO-2 system properties. Removed Chi^2 light curve analysis section, and simplified MCMC light curve analysis discussio

6,7,9,10-Tetra­hydro-16,22-ethano­oxyethano-5,8,11,19-tetra­oxa-16,22-diaza­dibenzo[h,q]cyclo­octa­decine-17,21-dione: a benzyl­annelated macrobicyclic diamide

The macrobicyclic title compound, C24H28N2O7, has two tertiary diamide bridgehead atoms and is composed of a 12-membered ring (N2O2 donor set) and two 18-membered rings (N2O4 donor sets). The solid-state structure shows that each of the amide groups is not coplanar with the adjacent benzene ring and NMR studies indicate that this conformational relationship persists in solution

Dietary and Plasma Magnesium and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease Among Women

Background: Magnesium is associated with lower risk of sudden cardiac death, possibly through antiarrhythmic mechanisms. Magnesium influences endothelial function, inflammation, blood pressure, and diabetes, but a direct relation with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk has not been established. Methods and Results: We prospectively examined the association between dietary and plasma magnesium and risk of CHD among women in the Nurses' Health Study. The association for magnesium intake was examined among 86 323 women free of disease in 1980. Information on magnesium intake and lifestyle factors was ascertained every 2 to 4 years through questionnaires. Through 2008, 3614 cases of CHD (2511 nonfatal/1103 fatal) were documented. For plasma magnesium, we conducted a nested case–control analysis, with 458 cases of incident CHD (400 nonfatal/58 fatal) matched to controls (1:1) on age, smoking, fasting status, and date of blood sampling. Higher magnesium intake was not associated with lower risk of total CHD (P‐linear trend=0.12) or nonfatal CHD (P‐linear trend=0.88) in multivariable models. However, magnesium intake was inversely associated with risk of fatal CHD. The RR comparing quintile 5 to quintile 1 of magnesium intake was 0.61 (95% CI, 0.45 to 0.84; P‐linear trend=0.003). The association between magnesium intake and risk of fatal CHD appeared to be mediated partially by hypertension. Plasma magnesium levels above 2.0 mg/dL were associated with lower risk of CHD, although not independent of other cardiovascular biomarkers (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.44 to 1.04). Conclusions: Dietary and plasma magnesium were not associated with total CHD incidence in this population of women. Dietary magnesium intake was inversely associated with fatal CHD, which may be mediated in part by hypertension