Prospective Analysis of Health and Mortality Risk in Veteran and Non-Veteran Participants in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: The health of postmenopausal women veterans is a neglected area of study. A stronger empirical evidence base is needed, and would inform the provision of health care for the nearly 1 million U.S.

Joint Associations of Diet, Lifestyle, and Genes with Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: Unhealthy lifestyles have been associated with increased odds for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Whether this association is modified by genetic risk for AMD is unknown and was investigated.

Design: Interactions between healthy lifestyles AMD risk genotypes were studied in relation to the prevalence of AMD, assessed 6 years later.

Association between vitamin D status and age-related macular degeneration by genetic risk.

Importance: Deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations have been associated with increased odds of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Objective: To examine whether this association is modified by genetic risk for AMD and whether there is an association between AMD and single-nucleotide polymorphisms of genes involved in vitamin D transport, metabolism, and genomic function.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Postmenopausal women (N = 913) who were participants of the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS) (aged 54 to <75 years) with available serum 25(OH)D concentrations (assessed October 1, 1993, to December 31, 1998), genetic data, and measures of AMD (n = 142) assessed at CAREDS baseline from May 14, 2001, through January 31, 2004, were studied.

The Relationship Between Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Nuclear Cataract in the Carotenoid Age-Related Eye Study (CAREDS), an Ancillary Study of the Women's Health Initiative.

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels and nuclear cataract among participants of the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS), an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study (OS).

Methods: Nuclear cataract was assessed from slit lamp photographs (2001-2004) taken 6 years after collecting serum analyzed for 25(OH)D levels at WHI baseline (1994-1998) in 1278 CAREDS participants age 50 to 79 years. Multivariate (age, iris color, smoking, pulse pressure) odds ratios (ORs) for nuclear cataract (nuclear opacities > level 4 or cataract extraction) by quintiles of serum 25(OH)D were estimated using logistic regression.

Effect of vitamin E supplementation or alfalfa grazing on fatty acid composition and expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in lambs.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin E (VE) supplementation and alfalfa grazing during fattening on fatty acid composition and mRNA expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in the LM of Rasa Aragonesa light lambs. After weaning, 48 lambs were kept indoors and fed a commercial concentrate and a VE supplemented concentrate (480 mg DL-α-tocopheryl acetate/kg DM) for 0 (control [CON]), 10 (VE10d), 20 (VE20d), and 30 d (VE30d) before slaughtering at 22 to 24 kg. Simultaneously, 8 unweaned lambs grazed in alfalfa (154 mg α-tocopherol/kg DM) paddocks with their dams and supplemented with the commercial concentrate (ALF).

Sleep duration, cognitive decline, and dementia risk in older women.

Introduction: Consistent evidence linking habitual sleep duration with risks of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia is lacking.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study on 7444 community-dwelling women (aged 65-80 y) with self-reported sleep duration, within the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study in 1995-2008. Incident MCI/dementia cases were ascertained by validated protocols.

Dengue virus requires the CC-chemokine receptor CCR5 for replication and infection development.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that affects millions of people worldwide yearly. Currently, there is no vaccine or specific treatment available. Further investigation on dengue pathogenesis is required to better understand the disease and to identify potential therapeutic targets.

Mortality in Multicenter Critical Care Trials: An Analysis of Interventions With a Significant Effect.

Objectives: We aimed to identify all treatments that affect mortality in adult critically ill patients in multicenter randomized controlled trials. We also evaluated the methodological aspects of these studies, and we surveyed clinicians' opinion and usual practice for the selected interventions.

Data Sources: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were searched.

Statins and breast cancer stage and mortality in the Women's Health Initiative.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between statins and breast cancer stage and mortality in the Women's Health Initiative.

Methods: The study population included 128,675 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years, out of which there were 7,883 newly diagnosed cases of in situ (19%), local (61%)-, regional (19%)- and distant (1%)-stage breast cancer and 401 deaths due to breast cancer after an average of 11.5 (SD = 3.

Myocardial conditioning techniques in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery by avoiding cardioplegic arrest seems to reduce the risk of ischemic myocardial injury. However, even short-term regional ischemic periods, hemodynamic instability and arrhythmias associated with the procedure can be responsible for myocardial damage. Conditioning, a potential cardio-protective tool during on-pump cardiac surgery, has hardly been investigated in the context of off-pump surgery.

[160 activities analyzed by the risk of biomechanical overload on the upper limbs in small industry, handicrafts, services and agriculture].

We analyzed 160 work activities in the sectors of small industries, handicrafts, services and agriculture to evaluate the risk of biomnechanical overload of the upper limbs with the OCRA Checklist. The aim was to provide a tool available for the risk assessment in activities generally underestimnated for this risk and typical of the Italian production. The information was provided in the form of cards containing easily accessible data, risk scenarios in different timing, along with some of the key prevention interventions that can be realized.

Association of sickle cell trait with chronic kidney disease and albuminuria in African Americans.

Importance: The association between sickle cell trait (SCT) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is uncertain.

Objective: To describe the relationship between SCT and CKD and albuminuria in self-identified African Americans.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Using 5 large, prospective, US population-based studies (the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study [ARIC, 1987-2013; n = 3402], Jackson Heart Study [JHS, 2000-2012; n = 2105], Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults [CARDIA, 1985-2006; n = 848], Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis [MESA, 2000-2012; n = 1620], and Women's Health Initiative [WHI, 1993-2012; n = 8000]), we evaluated 15,975 self-identified African Americans (1248 participants with SCT [SCT carriers] and 14,727 participants without SCT [noncarriers]).

Physical activity in solid organ transplant recipients: preliminary results of the Italian project.

Background/aims: The role of physical activity in transplanted patients is often underestimated. We discuss the Italian National Transplant Centre experience, which started in 2008 studying transplanted patients involved in sports activities. The study was then developed through a model of cooperation between surgeons, sports physicians and exercise specialists.

Overlapping phenotypes in complex spastic paraplegias SPG11, SPG15, SPG35 and SPG48.

Hereditary spastic paraplegias are a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders, clinically classified in pure and complex forms. Genetically, more than 70 different forms of spastic paraplegias have been characterized. A subgroup of complicate recessive forms has been distinguished for the presence of thin corpus callosum and white matter lesions at brain imaging.

A new risk-adjusted Bernoulli cumulative sum chart for monitoring binary health data.

To monitor a health event in patients with a specific risk of developing the event, a risk-adjusted cumulative sum chart is needed. The risk-adjusted cumulative sum chart proposed in the literature has some limitations. Setting appropriate control limits is not straightforward, there is no simple formula for constructing them, and they remain sensitive to changes in the underlying risk distribution and the baseline incidence rate.

Quality of life in MAP.3 (Mammary Prevention 3): a randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating exemestane for prevention of breast cancer.

Purpose: Exemestane, a steroidal aromatase inhibitor, reduced invasive breast cancer incidence by 65% among 4,560 postmenopausal women randomly assigned to exemestane (25 mg per day) compared with placebo in the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group MAP.3 (Mammary Prevention 3) trial, but effects on quality of life (QOL) were not fully described.

Patients And Methods: Menopause-specific and health-related QOL were assessed by using the four Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL) domains and the eight Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) scales at baseline, 6 months, and yearly thereafter.

Body mass index, physical activity, and mortality in women diagnosed with ovarian cancer: results from the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at late stages and consequently the 5-year survival rate is only 44%. However, there is limited knowledge of the association of modifiable lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and obesity on mortality among women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The purpose of our study was to prospectively investigate the association of (1) measured body mass index (BMI), and (2) self-reported physical activity with ovarian cancer-specific and all-cause mortality in postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

The beneficial effect of acromegaly control on blood pressure values in normotensive patients.

Objective: Control of acromegaly may ameliorate blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive (HT) patients. We evaluated the impact of acromegaly control on BP values of normotensive (NT) acromegalics.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Educational attainment, MRI changes, and cognitive function in older postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study.

The relationship between neuropathology and clinically manifested functional and cognitive deficits is complex. Clinical observations of individuals with greater neuropathology who function better than some individuals with less neuropathology are common and puzzling. Educational attainment, a proxy for "cognitive reserve," may help to explain this apparent contradiction.

Women's Health: Racial and Ethnic Health Inequities.

Starting in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, reports appeared in the literature describing the poor health status and poor health outcomes experienced by minority populations, especially blacks, in the United States. Additionally, attention was brought to the limited access to health services for minority populations. These reports prompted Congress to request the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a study to assess differences in the kinds and quality of healthcare received by US racial and ethnic minorities and nonminorities.

Nutrition and physical activity cancer prevention guidelines, cancer risk, and mortality in the women's health initiative.

Healthy lifestyle behaviors are recommended to reduce cancer risk and overall mortality. Adherence to cancer-preventive health behaviors and subsequent cancer risk has not been evaluated in a diverse sample of postmenopausal women. We examined the association between the American Cancer Society (ACS) Nutrition and Physical Activity Cancer Prevention Guidelines score and risk of incident cancer, cancer-specific mortality, and all-cause mortality in 65,838 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.

Genetic evidence for role of carotenoids in age-related macular degeneration in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS).

Purpose: We tested variants in genes related to lutein and zeaxanthin status for association with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS).

Methods: Of 2005 CAREDS participants, 1663 were graded for AMD from fundus photography and genotyped for 424 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 24 candidate genes for carotenoid status. Of 337 AMD cases 91% had early or intermediate AMD.

Influence of gestational age and body weight on the pharmacokinetics of labetalol in pregnancy.

Background And Objectives: Labetalol is frequently prescribed for the treatment of hypertension during pregnancy; however, the influence of pregnancy on labetalol pharmacokinetics is uncertain, with inconsistent findings reported by previous studies. This study examined the population pharmacokinetics of oral labetalol during and after pregnancy in women receiving labetalol for hypertension.

Methods: Data were collected from 57 women receiving the drug for hypertension from the 12th week of pregnancy through 12 weeks postpartum using a prospective, longitudinal design.