Sex, BMI and age differences in metabolic syndrome:The Dutch Lifelines Cohort Study

Introduction: To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its individual components within sex-, body mass index (BMI)- and age combined clusters. In addition, we used the age-adjusted blood pressure thresholds to demonstrate the effect on the prevalence of MetS and elevated blood pressure. Subjects and methods: Cross-sectional data from 74,531 Western European participants, aged 18–79 years, were used from the Dutch Lifelines Cohort Study. MetS was defined according to the revised NCEP-ATPIII. Age-adjusted blood pressure thresholds were defined as recommended by the eight reports of the Joint National Committee (≥140/90 mmHg for those aged <60 years, and ≥150/90 mmHg for those aged ≥60 years). Results: 19.2% men and 12.1% women had MetS. MetS prevalence increased with BMI and age. Independent of BMI, abdominal obesity dominated MetS prevalence especially in women, while elevated blood pressure was already highly prevalent among young men. Applying age-adjusted blood pressure thresholds resulted in a 0.2–11.9% prevalence drop in MetS and 6.0–36.3% prevalence drop in elevated blood pressure, within the combined sex, BMI and age clusters. Conclusions: We observed a gender disparity with age and BMI for the prevalence of MetS and, especially, abdominal obesity and elevated blood pressure. The strict threshold level for elevated blood pressure in the revised NCEP-ATPIII, results in an overestimation of MetS prevalence

Development and Interlaboratory Validation of Two Fast UPLC-MS-MS Methods Determining Urinary Bisphenols, Parabens and Phthalates

People are constantly exposed to a wide variety of chemicals. Some of these compounds, such as parabens, bisphenols and phthalates, are known to have endocrine disrupting potencies. Over the years, these endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have been a rising cause for concern. In this study, we describe setup and validation of two methods to measure EDCs in human urine, using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The phenol method determines methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, n-butyl- and benzylparaben and bisphenol A, F and S. The phthalate method determines in total 13 metabolites of dimethyl, diethyl, diisobutyl, di-n-butyl, di(2-ethylhexyl), butylbenzyl, diiso-nonyl and diisodecyl phthalate. Runtime was 7 and 8 min per sample for phenols and phthalates, respectively. The methods were validated by the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) for 13 compounds. In addition, EDCs were measured in forty 24-h urine samples, of which 12 EDCs were compared with the same samples measured in an established facility (Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark). The intra-assay coefficient of variability (CV) was highest at 10% and inter-assay CV was highest at 12%. Recoveries ranged from 86 to 115%. The limit of detection ranged from 0.06 to 0.43 ng/mL. Of 21 compounds, 10 were detected above limit of detection in >= 93% of the samples. Eight compounds were in accordance to NIST reference concentrations. Differences in intercept were found for two compounds whereas slope differed for six compounds between our method and that used in the Danish facility. In conclusion, we set up and validated two high-throughput methods with very short runtime capable of measuring 5 parabens, 3 bisphenols and 13 different metabolites of 8 phthalates. Sensitivity of the phenol method was increased by using ammonium fluoride in the mobile phase

Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Dutch general population is associated with adiposity-related traits

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) have been linked to a variety of cardiometabolic diseases. Yet, few studies have investigated the exposure to EDCs and cardiometabolic health taking lifestyle into account. We aimed to assess exposure to five parabens, three bisphenols and thirteen metabolites of in total eight phthalates in a general Dutch population and to investigate their association with cardiometabolic traits. In 662 adult subjects from the population-based Lifelines cohort, 21 EDC analytes were measured in 24-hour urine collected in 2012, using LC-MS/MS. Association analyses between cardiometabolic traits and EDC concentrations were performed using multivariate linear models adjusting for age, sex, education, smoking, diabetes, physical activity and caloric intake. Quartile analyses were performed to assess linearity. Bisphenol A, four parabens and eight phthalate metabolites were detected in 84-100% of the samples. Adjusted associations for MiBP and MBzP and adiposity-related traits were robust for multiple testing (Beta's, BMI: 1.12, 2.52; waist circumference: 0.64, 1.56, respectively; FD

High performance cryogen-free microkelvin platform

Improved accessibility to the microkelvin temperature regime is important for future research in quantum materials; for quantum information science; and for applications of quantum sensors. Here we report the design and performance of a microkelvin platform based on a nuclear demagnetization stage, engineered and well optimized for operation on a standard cryogen-free dilution refrigerator. PrNi5 is used as the dominant refrigerant. The platform provides a large area for mounting experiments in an ultralow temperature, low electromagnetic noise environment. The performance is characterized using current sensing noise thermometry. Temperatures as low as 395 $\mu$K have been reached, and a protocol has been established in which it is possible to operate experiments below 1 mK for 95% of the time, providing an efficient cryogen-free microkelvin environment for a wide range of science applicationsComment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Health-Related Quality of Life in Relation to Obesity Grade, Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Inflammation

Health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) may be compromised in obese individuals, depending on the presence of other complications. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of obesity-related conditions on HR-QoL. These conditions are i) grade of obesity with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D), ii) metabolic syndrome (MetS), and iii) level of inflammation.From the Dutch LifeLines Cohort Study we included 13,686 obese individuals, aged 18-80 years. HR-QoL was measured with the RAND 36-Item Health Survey which encompasses eight health domains. We calculated the percentage of obese individuals with poor HR-QoL, i.e. those scoring below the domain and sex specific cut-off value derived from the normal weight population. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the probability of having poor domain scores according to the conditions under study.Higher grades of obesity and the additional presence of T2D were associated with lower HR-QoL, particularly in the domains physical functioning (men: odds ratios (ORs) 1.48-11.34, P<0.005, and women: ORs 1.66-5.05, P<0.001) and general health (men: ORs 1.44-3.07, P<0.005, and women: ORs 1.36-3.73, P<0.001). A higher percentage of obese individuals with MetS had a poor HR-QoL than those without MetS. Furthermore, we observed a linear trend between inflammation and the percentage of obese individuals with poor scores on the HR-QoL domains. Individuals with MetS were more likely to have poor scores in the domains general health, vitality, social functioning and role limitations due to emotional problems. Obese women with increased inflammation levels were more likely to have poor scores on all domains except role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health.The impact of obesity on an individual's quality of life is enhanced by grade of obesity, T2D, MetS and inflammation and are mainly related to reduced physical health. The mental well-being is less often impaired

Anomalous Transient Current in Nonuniform Semiconductors

Nonequilibrium processes in semiconductors are considered with highly nonuniform initial densities of charge carriers. It is shown that there exist such distributions of charge densities under which the electric current through a sample displays quite abnormal behaviour flowing against the applied voltage. The appearance of this negative electric current is a transient phenomenon occurring at the initial stage of the process. After this anomalous negative fluctuation, the electric current becomes normal, i.e. positive as soon as the charge density becomes more uniform. Several possibilities for the practical usage of this effect are suggested.Comment: 1 file, 11 pages, RevTex, no figure

Lifestyle and clinical determinants of skin autofluorescence in a population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Skin autofluorescence (SAF) is a non-invasive marker of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). In diabetes, higher SAF levels has been positively associated with long-term complications, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Because little is known about the factors that influence SAF in non-diabetic individuals, we assessed the association of clinical and lifestyle parameters with SAF as well as their interactions in a large-scale, non-diabetic population and performed the same analyses in a type 2 diabetic subgroup. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study in participants from the LifeLines Cohort Study, extensive clinical and biochemical phenotyping, including SAF measurement, was assessed in 9009 subjects of whom 314 (3.5%) subjects with type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: Mean SAF was 2.04 ± 0.44 arbitrary units (AU) in non-diabetic individuals and 2.44 ± 0.55 AU in type 2 diabetic subjects (p<0.0001). Multivariate backward regression analysis showed that in the non-diabetic population, SAF was significantly and independently associated with age, BMI, HbA1c, creatinine clearance, genetic polymorphism in NAT2 (rs4921914), current smoking, pack-years of smoking and coffee consumption. In the type 2 diabetic group, a similar set of factors was associated with SAF, except for coffee consumption. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the established literature on type 2 diabetes, we have demonstrated that SAF levels are associated with several clinical and lifestyle factors in the non-diabetic population. These parameters should be taken into consideration when using SAF as a screening or prediction tool for populations at risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved