Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load and Their Association with C-Reactive Protein and Incident Type 2 Diabetes

Objective. To investigate whether the Glycemic Index (GI) or Glycemic Load (GL) of a diet is associated with C-reactive Protein (CRP) and risk of type 2 diabetes in a prospective study. Materials and Methods. Our analysis included 4,366 participants who did not have diabetes at baseline. During follow-up 456 diabetes cases were confirmed. Dietary GI and GL were derived from a food-frequency questionnaire and its association with CRP was examined cross-sectionally using linear regression models. The association of GI and GL with diabetes incidence was examined using Cox proportional hazard models. Results. GL, but not GI, was associated with lnCRP at baseline (bGL = 0.11 per 50 units; P = .01). When comparing the highest to the lowest tertile of GI with respect to diabetes incidence, a Relative Risk (RR) of 0.95 [95%CI 0.75, 1.21] was found after adjustment for lifestyle and nutritional factors. For GL the RR for diabetes incidence was 1.00 [95%CI 0.74, 1.36]. Additional adjustment for CRP did not change RRs. Conclusion. Since GI was not associated with CRP and risk of type 2 diabetes, it is unlikely that a high GI diet induces the previously shown positive association between CRP and risk of type 2 diabetes by increasing CRP concentrations

Renal Function Is Related to Severity of Coronary Artery Calcification in Elderly Persons: The Rotterdam Study

Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) has been proposed to be the underlying mechanism of the increased risk of coronary heart disease with reductions in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Since renal function diminishes with aging we examined the association between GFR and CAC in the Rotterdam Study, a population-based study of elderly individuals. Methods: The study was performed in 1703 subjects without a history of coronary heart disease. GFR was estimated using the modification of diet in renal disease equation. We used analysis of covariance to test for mean differences in CAC between GFR tertiles. Results: The mean CAC scores in the middle and lowest GFR tertile did not significantly differ from the mean CAC score in the highest GFR tertile (geometric mean CAC score 4.1 and 4.3 vs 4.2). In a multivariable model the mean CAC score did also not differ between the GFR tertiles. As the interaction term between age and GFR was significant (P = 0.037), we divided the population in two age categories based on median age of 70 years. Below 70 years, the mean CAC scores did not differ between the GFR tertiles. Above median age, mean CAC score in the lowest GFR tertile was significantly higher than the mean CAC score in the highest tertile in a multivariable model (CAC 4.9 vs 4.5, p = 0.010). Conclusion: In this population-based study we observed that the association between CAC and GFR is modified by age. In participants at least 70 years of age, a decrease in GFR was associated with increased CAC

Atherosclerosis, C-reactive protein, and risk for open-angle glaucoma:The Rotterdam study

PURPOSE. To test the hypotheses that atherosclerosis and elevated serum C-reactive protein ( CRP) levels are risk factors for open-angle glaucoma ( OAG). METHODS. In a prospective, population-based cohort study, all participants 55 years and older and at risk for incident OAG underwent, at baseline ( 1990 - 1993) and at follow-up ( 1997 1999), the same ophthalmic examination, including visual field testing and optic disc photography. Baseline atherosclerosis was assessed by means of echography of the carotid arteries, abdominal x-ray examination, and ankle-arm index; baseline serum CRP levels were used in the analyses. The diagnosis of OAG was based on an algorithm using optic disc measures and visual field loss. Odds ratios of OAG were computed with logistic regression analyses. Risk factors were categorized in tertiles and according to standard deviation. RESULTS. After a mean follow-up of 6.5 years, incident OAG was diagnosed in 87 of 3842 ( 2.3%) participants at risk for OAG. Carotid artery plaques, carotid intima-media thickness, aortic calcifications, ankle-arm index, and CRP levels were not significant risk factors for OAG. The odds ratio, given for the highest and lowest tertiles, for carotid plaques was 1.43 ( 95% confidence interval [ CI], 0.68 - 2.99), for carotid intima-media thickness 0.86 ( 95% CI, 0.47 - 1.57), for aortic calcifications 1.02 ( 95% CI, 0.60 - 1.75), for ankle-arm index 0.69 ( 95% CI, 0.38 - 1.25), and for CRP 1.19 ( 95% CI, 0.68 - 2.07). CONCLUSIONS. In this prospective, population-based study, neither atherosclerosis nor serum CRP level was an important risk factor for OAG

Efficacy of statins in familial hypercholesterolaemia: a long term cohort study

Objective To determine the efficacy of statin treatment on risk of coronary heart disease in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia

The association of serum testosterone levels and ventricular repolarization

It is assumed that testosterone is an important regulator of gender-related differences in ventricular repolarization. Therefore, our aim was to study whether serum levels of testosterone are associated with QTc, QT and RR interval variation. Setting: two independent population-based cohort studies. Participants: 445 male participants (≥55 years) from the Rotterdam study cohort and 1,428 male participants from the study of health in Pomerania (SHIP) with an electrocardiogram who were randomly sampled for assessment of serum testosterone at baseline, after exclusion of participants with testosterone altering drugs, QTc prolonging drugs or dig(it)oxin, left ventricular hypertrophy and left and right bundle branch block. Endpoints: length of the QTc, QT and RR intervals. Analysis: linear regression model, adjusted for the two individual studies and a pooled analysis of both studies. The pooled analysis of the Rotterdam study and SHIP showed that the QTc interval gradually decreased among the tertiles (P value for trend 0.024). The third tertile of serum testosterone was associated with a lower QTc interval compared to the first tertile [−3.4 ms (−6.5; −0.3)]. However, the third tertile of serum testosterone was not associated with a lower QT interval compared to the first tertile [−0.7 ms (−3.1; 1.8)]. The RR interval gradually increased among the tertiles (P value for trend 0.002) and the third tertile of serum testosterone showed an increased RR interval compared to the first tertile [33.5 ms (12.2; 54.8)]. In the pooled analysis of two population-based studies, serum testosterone levels were not associated with the QT interval, which could be due to a lack of power. Lower QTc intervals in men with higher serum testosterone levels could be due to the association of serum testosterone with prolongation of the RR interval

Sex differences in lifetime risk and first manifestation of cardiovascular disease: prospective population based cohort study

Objective: To evaluate differences in first manifestations of cardiovascular disease between men and women in a competing risks framework. Design: Prospective population based cohort study. Setting: People living in the community in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Participants: 8419 participants (60.9% women) aged ≥55 and free from cardiovascular disease at baseline. Main outcome measures First diagnosis of coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction, revascularisation, and coronary death), cerebrovascular disease (stroke, transient ischaemic attack, and carotid revascularisation), heart failure, or other cardiovascular death; or death from non-cardiovascular causes. Data were used to calculate lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease and its first incident manifestations adjusted for competing non-cardiovascular death. Results: During follow-up of up to 20.1 years, 2888 participants developed cardiovascular disease (826 coronary heart disease, 1198 cerebrovascular disease, 762 heart failure, and 102 other cardiovascular death). At age 55, overall lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease were 67.1% (95% confidence interval 64.7% to 69.5%) for men and 66.4% (64.2% to 68.7%) for women. Lifetime risks of first incident manifestations of cardiovascular disease in men were 27.2% (24.1% to 30.3%) for coronary heart disease, 22.8% (20.4% to 25.1%) for cerebrovascular disease, 14.9% (13.3% to 16.6%) for heart failure, and 2.3% (1.6% to 2.9%) for other deaths from cardiovascular disease. For women the figures were 16.9% (13.5% to 20.4%), 29.8% (27.7% to 31.9%), 17.5% (15.9% to 19.2%), and 2.1% (1.6% to 2.7%), respectively. Differences in the number of events that developed over the lifespan in women compared with men (per 1000) were −7 for any cardiovascular disease, −102 for coronary heart disease, 70 for cerebrovascular disease, 26 for heart failure, and −1 for other cardiovascular death; all outcomes manifested at a higher age in women. Patterns were similar when analyses were restricted to hard atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease outcomes, but absolute risk differences between men and women were attenuated for both coronary heart disease and stroke. Conclusions: At age 55, though men and women have similar lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease, there are considerable differences in the first manifestation. Men are more likely to develop coronary heart disease as a first event, while women are more likely to have cerebrovascular disease or heart failure as their first event, although these manifestations appear most often at older ages

A Combined Linkage and Exome Sequencing Analysis for Electrocardiogram Parameters in the Erasmus Rucphen Family Study

Electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements play a key role in the diagnosis and prediction of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. ECG parameters, such as the PR, QRS, and QT intervals, are known to be heritable and genome-wide association studies of these phenotypes have been successful in identifying common variants; however, a large proportion of the genetic variability of these traits remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to discover loci potentially harboring rare variants utilizing variance component linkage analysis in 1547 individuals from a large family-based study, the Erasmus Rucphen Family Study (ERF). Linked regions were further explored using exome sequencing. Five suggestive linkage peaks were identified: two for QT interval (1q24, LOD = 2.63; 2q34, LOD = 2.05), one for QRS interval (1p35, LOD = 2.52) and two for PR interval (9p22, LOD = 2.20; 14q11, LOD = 2.29). Fine-mapping using exome sequence data identified a C > G missense variant (c.713C > G, p.Ser238Cys) in the FCRL2 gene associated with QT (rs74608430; P = 2.8 x 10(-4), minor allele frequency = 0.019). Heritability analysis demonstrated that the SNP explained 2.42% of the trait's genetic variability in ERF (P = 0.02). Pathway analysis suggested that the gene is involved in cytosolic Ca2+ levels (P = 3.3 x 10(-3)) and AMPK stimulated fatty acid oxidation in muscle (P = 4.1 x 10(-3)). Look-ups in bioinformatics resources showed that expression of FCRL2 is associated with ARHGAP24 and SETBP1 expression. This finding was not replicated in the Rotterdam study. Combining the bioinformatics information with the association and linkage analyses, FCRL2 emerges as a strong candidate gene for QT interval

Зміни активності NO-синтаз та аргінази у тканині підшлункової залози при введенні L-аргініну або аміногуанідину за умов стрептозотоцин-індукованої гіперглікемії

При стрептозотоцин-индуцированной гипергликемии у крыс изучали влияние L-аргинина и селективного блокатора индуцибельной NO-синтазы аминогунидина на активность NO-синтаз и аргиназы в ткани поджелудочной железы. Показано, что как L-аргинин, так и аминогуанидин снижают активность индуцибельной NO-синтазы, при этом L-аргинин выражено понижает концентрацию глюкозы в крови и повышает активность аргиназы, что свидетельствует об усилении неокислительного пути его метаболизма.The influence of L-arginine and selective inducible NO-synthase blocker aminoguanidine on the activity of NO-synthases and arginase in pancreatic tissue in rats under conditions of streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemia was investigated. It was shown, that both L-arginine and aminoguanidine decrease the activity of inducible NO-synthase, whereas L-arginine supplementation significantly decreases the glucose concentration in blood and increases the activity of arginase, giving evidence about the enhancement of nonoxidative pathway of its metabolism