Association between Alcohol Intake and Abdominal Obesity among the Korean Population

OBJECTIVES: Although abdominal obesity has been reported to be highly related with alcohol intake, the results are still inconclusive. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the association between alcohol and abdominal obesity among the Korean population. METHODS: This study included 8,603 participants (men: 5,195, women: 3,408) aged 30 to 87 who visited the health promotion centers in Seoul for routine health examinations from April, 2006 to June, 2007. Abdominal obesity was defined as WC ≥90 cm for men and ≥85 cm for women in accordance with the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity. For ever drinkers, total alcohol consumption in grams was classified into four groups (group 1, non-drinkers; group 2, 1-10 g of alcohol per day; group 3, 11-20 g of alcohol per day; and group 4, over 20 g of alcohol per day). RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 45.4 yr old (men) and 45.3 yr (women). The average waist circumference was 85.3 cm in men and 75.3 cm in women. A high alcohol intake was associated with high waist circumference in both genders. In multivariate analysis, the group of men and women drinkers consuming >20 g in a day had a large waist circumference compared with men and women non-drinkers. CONCLUSION: This study showed that a high alcohol intake was related to high waist circumference. Such association remained independently even after adjustment for smoking, which is strongly related to abdominal obesity.ope

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adiponectin levels in East Asians identifies a novel locus near WDR11-FGFR2

Blood levels of adiponectin, an adipocyte-secreted protein correlated with metabolic and cardiovascular risks, are highly heritable. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies for adiponectin levels have identified 14 loci harboring variants associated with blood levels of adiponectin. To identify novel adiponectin-associated loci, particularly those of importance in East Asians, we conducted a meta-analysis of GWA studies for adiponectin in 7827 individuals, followed by two stages of replications in 4298 and 5954 additional individuals. We identified a novel adiponectin-associated locus on chromosome 10 near WDR11-FGFR2 (P = 3.0 × 10−14) and provided suggestive evidence for a locus on chromosome 12 near OR8S1-LALBA (P = 1.2 × 10−7). Of the adiponectin-associated loci previously described, we confirmed the association at CDH13 (P = 6.8 × 10−165), ADIPOQ (P = 1.8 × 10−22), PEPD (P = 3.6 × 10−12), CMIP (P = 2.1 × 10−10), ZNF664 (P = 2.3 × 10−7) and GPR109A (P = 7.4 × 10−6). Conditional analysis at ADIPOQ revealed a second signal with suggestive evidence of association only after conditioning on the lead SNP (Pinitial = 0.020; Pconditional = 7.0 × 10−7). We further confirmed the independence of two pairs of closely located loci (<2 Mb) on chromosome 16 at CMIP and CDH13, and on chromosome 12 at GPR109A and ZNF664. In addition, the newly identified signal near WDR11-FGFR2 exhibited evidence of association with triglycerides (P = 3.3 × 10−4), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, P = 4.9 × 10−4) and body mass index (BMI)-adjusted waist–hip ratio (P = 9.8 × 10−3). These findings improve our knowledge of the genetic basis of adiponectin variation, demonstrate the shared allelic architecture for adiponectin with lipids and central obesity and motivate further studies of underlying mechanisms

Development of Non-native Biochemical Reaction to Improve Itaconate Production in Escherichia coli

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Kinetic Flux Separation in Escherichia coli by Non-native Enzymatic Reaction for Itaconate Production

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Real-World Effectiveness of Wearable Augmented Reality Device for Patients With Hearing Loss: Prospective Study

BackgroundHearing loss limits communication and social activity, and hearing aids (HAs) are an efficient rehabilitative option for improving oral communication and speech comprehension, as well as the psychosocial comfort of people with hearing loss. To overcome this problem, over-the-counter amplification devices including personal sound amplification products and wearable augmented reality devices (WARDs) have been introduced. ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of WARDs for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss. MethodsA total of 40 patients (18 men and 22 women) with mild to moderate hearing loss were enrolled prospectively in this study. All participants were instructed to wear a WARD, Galaxy Buds Pro (Samsung Electronics), at least 4 hours a day for 2 weeks, for amplifying ambient sounds. Questionnaires including the Korean version of the abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit (K-APHAB) and the Korean adaptation of the international outcome inventory for hearing aids (K-IOI-HA) were used to assess personal satisfaction in all participants. Audiologic tests, including sound field audiometry, sound field word recognition score (WRS), and the Korean version of hearing in noise test (K-HINT), were administered to 14 of 40 patients. The tests were performed under two conditions: unaided and aided with WARDs. ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 55.4 (SD 10.7) years. After 2 weeks of the field trial, participants demonstrated a benefit of WARDs on the K-APHAB. Scores of 3 subscales of ease of communication, reverberation, and background noise were improved significantly (P<.001). However, scores regarding aversiveness were worse under the aided condition (P<.001). K-IOI-HA findings indicated high user satisfaction after the 2-week field trial. On audiologic evaluation, the K-HINT did not show significant differences between unaided and aided conditions (P=.97). However, the hearing threshold on sound field audiometry (P=.001) and the WRS (P=.002) showed significant improvements under the aided condition. ConclusionsWARDs can be beneficial for patients with mild to moderate hearing loss as a cost-effective alternative to conventional hearing aids

New Variants Including <i>ARG1</i> Polymorphisms Associated with C-Reactive Protein Levels Identified by Genome-Wide Association and Pathway Analysis

<div><p>C-reactive protein (CRP) is a general marker of systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The genetic contribution to differences in CRP levels remains to be explained, especially in non-European populations. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify genetic loci associated with CRP levels in Korean population. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using SNPs from 8,529 Korean individuals (7,626 for stage 1 and 903 for stage 2). We also performed pathway analysis. We identified a new genetic locus associated with CRP levels upstream of <i>ARG1</i> gene (top significant SNP: rs9375813, <i>P_meta</i> = 2.85×10⁻⁸), which encodes a key enzyme of the urea cycle counteract the effects of nitric oxide, in addition to known <i>CRP</i> (rs7553007, <i>P_meta</i> = 1.72×10⁻¹⁶) and <i>HNF1A</i> loci (rs2259816, <i>P_meta</i> = 2.90×10⁻¹⁰). When we evaluated the associations between the CRP-related SNPs with cardiovascular disease phenotypes, rs9375813 (<i>ARG1</i>) showed a marginal association with hypertension (<i>P</i> = 0.0440). To identify more variants and pathways, we performed pathway analysis and identified six candidate pathways comprised of genes related to inflammatory processes and CVDs (<i>CRP, HNF1A</i>, <i>PCSK6, CD36</i>, and <i>ABCA1</i>). In addition to the previously reported loci (<i>CRP, HNF1A</i>, and <i>IL6</i>) in diverse ethnic groups, we identified novel variants in the <i>ARG1</i> locus associated with CRP levels in Korean population and a number of interesting genes related to inflammatory processes and CVD through pathway analysis.</p></div

Results of the genome-wide association study of serum CRP levels.

<p>Chr, chromosome; MAF, minor allele frequency; CRP, C-reactive protein; SE, standard error; β, Effect size of a minor allele on natural-log-transformed CRP; Q, p-value for Cochrane's Q statistic assessing if combining studies are homogeneous; I², I-squared index quantifying heterogeneity.</p><p>*Most significantly associated SNP in each locus based on the meta analysis results were summarized.</p>†<p>SNP positions were based on the NCBI human genome build 36.3 (hg18).</p

Candidate CRP-associated SNPs identified by ICSNPathway analysis.

<p>*The number indicates the index of pathways that are ranked by their statistical significance (FDR) (details in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0095866#pone-0095866-t004" target="_blank">Table 4</a>).</p>†<p>-log₁₀(<i>P</i>) in stage 1 phase of the GWAS. The ‘-’ denotes that the SNP was not present in the stage 1 phase of the GWAS.</p>‡<p>-log₁₀(<i>P</i>) for the SNP in the stage 1 phase of the GWAS, which is in LD with the SNP identified by pathway analysis.</p