Cocoa intake and arterial stiffness in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To analyze the relationship of cocoa intake to central and peripheral blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and carotid intima-media thickness in subjects with some cardiovascular risk factor.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Design: A cross-sectional study of 351 subjects (mean age 54.76 years, 62.4% males). Measurements: Intake of cocoa and other foods using a food frequency questionnaire, central and peripheral (ambulatory and office) blood pressure, central and peripheral augmentation index, pulse wave velocity, ambulatory arterial stiffness index, carotid intima-media thickness, and ankle-brachial index.</p> <p>Results: Higher pulse wave velocity and greater cardiovascular risk were found in non-cocoa consumers as compared to high consumers (<it>p </it>< 0.05). In a multivariate analysis, these differences disappeared after adjusting for age, gender, the presence of diabetes, systolic blood pressure and antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drug use. All other arterial stiffness measures (central and peripheral augmentation index, ambulatory arterial stiffness index, ankle-brachial index, and carotid intima-media thickness) showed no differences between the different consumption groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In subjects with some cardiovascular risk factors, cocoa consumption does not imply improvement in the arterial stiffness values.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01325064">NCT01325064</a>.</p

Association between smoking status and the parameters of vascular structure and function in adults : results from the EVIDENT study

Background: The present study analyses the relation between smoking status and the parameters used to assess vascular structure and function. Methods: This cross-sectional, multi-centre study involved a random sample of 1553 participants from the EVIDENT study. Measurements: The smoking status, peripheral augmentation index and ankle-brachial index were measured in all participants. In a small subset of the main population (265 participants), the carotid intima-media thickness and pulse wave velocity were also measured. Results: After controlling for the effect of age, sex and other risk factors, present smokers have higher values of carotid intima-media thickness (p = 0.011). Along the same lines, current smokers have higher values of pulse wave velocity and lower mean values of ankle-brachial index but without statistical significance in both cases. Conclusions: Among the parameters of vascular structure and function analysed, only the IMT shows association with the smoking status, after adjusting for confounders

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

Perceived Emotional Intelligence and Learning Strategies in Spanish University Students: A New Perspective from a Canonical Non-symmetrical Correspondence Analysis

Recent studies have revealed that emotional competences are relevant to the student’s learning process and, more specifically, in the use of learning strategies (LSs). The aim of this study is twofold. First, we aim to analyze the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) and LSs applying the scales TMMS-24 and Abridged ACRA to a sample of 2334 Spanish university students, whilst also exploring possible gender differences. Second, we aim to propose a methodological alternative based on the Canonical non-symmetrical correspondence analysis (CNCA), as an alternative to the methods traditionally used in Psychology and Education. Our results show that PEI has an impact on the LS of the students. Male participants with high scores on learning support strategies are positively related to high attention, clarity, and emotional repair. However, the use of cognitive and control LS is related to low values on the PEI dimensions. For women, high scores on cognitive, control, and learning support LS are related to high emotional attention, whereas dimensions such as study habits and learning support are related to adequate emotional repair. Participants in the 18–19 and 22–23 years age groups showed similar behavior. High scores on learning support strategies are related to high values on three dimensions of the PEI, and high values of study habits show high values for clarity and low values for attention and repair. The 20–21 and older than 24 years age groups behaved similarly. High scores on learning support strategies are related to low values on clarity, and study habits show high values for clarity and repair. This article presents the relationship between PEI and LS in university students, the differences by gender and age, and CNCA as an alternative method to techniques used in this field to study this association