Circulating Amino Acids and Risk of Peripheral Artery Disease in the PREDIMED Trial

Effective prevention and risk prediction are important for peripheral artery disease (PAD) due to its poor prognosis and the huge disease burden it produces. Circulating amino acids (AA) and their metabolites may serve as biomarkers of PAD risk, but they have been scarcely investigated. The objective was to prospectively analyze the associations of baseline levels of plasma AA (and their pathways) with subsequent risk of PAD and the potential effect modification by a nutritional intervention with the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). A matched case-control study was nested in the PREDIMED trial, in which participants were randomized to three arms: MedDiet with tree nut supplementation group, MedDiet with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) supplementation group or control group (low-fat diet). One hundred and sixty-seven PAD cases were matched with 250 controls. Plasma AA was measured with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry at the Broad Institute. Baseline tryptophan, serine and threonine were inversely associated with PAD (ORfor 1 SD increase = 0.78 (0.61–0.99); 0.67 (0.51–0.86) and 0.75 (0.59–0.95), respectively) in a multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression model. The kynurenine/tryptophan ratio was directly associated with PAD (ORfor 1 SD increase = 1.50 (1.14–1.98)). The nutritional intervention with the MedDiet+nuts modified the association between threonine and PAD (p-value interaction = 0.018) compared with the control group. However, subjects allocated to the MedDiet+EVOO group were protected against PAD independently of baseline threonine. Plasma tryptophan, kynurenine/tryptophan ratio, serine and threonine might serve as early biomarkers of future PAD in subjects at a high risk of cardiovascular disease. The MedDiet supplemented with EVOO exerted a protective effect, regardless of baseline levels of threonine

Plasma lipidome and risk of atrial fibrillation: results from the PREDIMED trial

The potential role of the lipidome in atrial fibrillation (AF) development is still widely unknown. We aimed to assess the association between lipidome profiles of the Prevenci\uf3n con Dieta Mediterr\ue1nea (PREDIMED) trial participants and incidence of AF. We conducted a nested case–control study (512 incident centrally adjudicated AF cases and 735 controls matched by age, sex, and center). Baseline plasma lipids were profiled using a Nexera X2 U-HPLC system coupled to an Exactive Plus orbitrap mass spectrometer. We estimated the association between 216 individual lipids and AF using multivariable conditional logistic regression and adjusted the p values for multiple testing. We also examined the joint association of lipid clusters with AF incidence. Hitherto, we estimated the lipidomics network, used machine learning to select important network-clusters and AF-predictive lipid patterns, and summarized the joint association of these lipid patterns weighted scores. Finally, we addressed the possible interaction by the randomized dietary intervention. Forty-one individual lipids were associated with AF at the nominal level (p < 0.05), but no longer after adjustment for multiple-testing. However, the network-based score identified with a robust data-driven lipid network showed a multivariable-adjusted ORper+1SD of 1.32 (95% confidence interval: 1.16–1.51; p < 0.001). The score included PC plasmalogens and PE plasmalogens, palmitoyl-EA, cholesterol, CE 16:0, PC 36:4;O, and TG 53:3. No interaction with the dietary intervention was found. A multilipid score, primarily made up of plasmalogens, was associated with an increased risk of AF. Future studies are needed to get further insights into the lipidome role on AF. Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN35739639

Prophecy Matters: Nahum and Nineveh\u27s Fall

Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, restricted to those who were not diagnosed with cardiovascular disease within one year of follow-up. Table S2. Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, restricted to those who were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease within 5 years of toenail collection. Table S3. Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, restricted to participants who were below the 90th percentile of toenail selenium. Table S4. Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, stratified by baseline median fish intake (below/above the median). Table S5. Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, restricted to participants who were at very high risk of cardiovascular disease. Table S6. Relative Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, according to quartiles of toenail mercury, among case participants and matched controls in the PREDIMED trial, stratified by baseline aspirin use (yes/no). Table S7. Bias analysis (simulation study). Sensitivity analysis to assess the degree of plausible bias due to residual confounding, assuming an unknown binary confounder (n-3 PUFA consumption; dichotomized at median) with different prevalence among exposed (highest quartile of mercury) and unexposed (lowest quartile of mercury) controls and with a relatively strong association (even after adjusting for the known and measured confounders) with cardiovascular disease. This correction was applied to our observed OR=0.66 for the highest versus lowest quartile of mercury exposure. (DOC 153 kb