Risk factor burden, heart failure, and survival in women of different ethnic groups insights from the women's health initiative

BACKGROUND: The higher risk of heart failure (HF) in African-American and Hispanic women compared with white women is related to the higher burden of risk factors (RFs) in minorities. However, it is unclear if there are differences in the association between the number of RFs for HF and the risk of development of HF and death within racial/ethnic groups. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the WHI (Women's Health Initiative; 1993-2010), African-American (n=11996), white (n=18479), and Hispanic (n=5096) women with 1, 2, or 3+ baseline RFs were compared with women with 0 RF within their respective racial/ethnic groups to assess risk of developing HF or all-cause mortality before and after HF, using survival analyses. After adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, and hormone therapy, the subdistribution hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of developing HF increased as number of RFs increased (P<0.0001, interaction of race/ethnicity and RF number P=0.18)-African-Americans 1 RF: 1.80 (1.01-3.20), 2 RFs: 3.19 (1.84-5.54), 3+ RFs: 7.31 (4.26-12.56); Whites 1 RF: 1.27 (1.04-1.54), 2 RFs: 1.95 (1.60-2.36), 3+ RFs: 4.07 (3.36-4.93); Hispanics 1 RF: 1.72 (0.68-4.34), 2 RFs: 3.87 (1.60-9.37), 3+ RFs: 8.80 (3.62-21.42). Risk of death before developing HF increased with subsequent RFs (P<0.0001) but differed by racial/ethnic group (interaction P=0.001). The number of RFs was not associated with the risk of death after developing HF in any group (P=0.25; interaction P=0.48). CONCLUSIONS: Among diverse racial/ethnic groups, an increase in the number of baseline RFs was associated with higher risk of HF and death before HF but was not associated with death after HF. Early RF prevention may reduce the burden of HF across multiple racial/ethnic groups

Novel Loci for Adiponectin Levels and Their Influence on Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Traits : A Multi-Ethnic Meta-Analysis of 45,891 Individuals

J. Kaprio, S. Ripatti ja M.-L. Lokki työryhmien jäseniä.Peer reviewe

Systematics of the grey mullets (Teleostei : Mugiliformes : Mugilidae) : molecular phylogenetic evidence challenges two centuries of morphology-based taxonomy

The family Mugilidae comprises mainly coastal marine species that a:e widely distributed in all tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Mugilid species are generally considered to be ecologically important and they are a major food resource for human populations in certain parts of the world. The taxonomy and systematics of the Mugilidae are still much debated and based primarily on morphological characters. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive molecular systematic account of the Mugilidae using phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequence variation at three mitochondrial loci (16S rRNA, cytochrome oxidase 1, and cytochrome b) for 257 individuals from 55 currently recognized species. The study covers all 20 mugilid genera currently recognized as being valid. The family comprises seven major lineages that radiated early on from the ancestor to all current forms. All genera that were represented by two species or more, except Cestraeus, turned out to be paraphyletic or polyphyletic. Thus, the present phylogenetic results generally disagree with the current taxonomy at the genus level and imply that the anatomical characters used for the systematics of the Mugilidae may be poorly informative phylogenetically. The present results should provide a sound basis for a taxonomic revision of the mugilid genera. A proportion of the species with large distribution ranges (including Moolgarda seheli, Mugil cephalus and M. curema) appear to consist of cryptic species, thus warranting further taxonomic and genetic work at the infra-generic level