CSF oligoclonal band status informs prognosis in multiple sclerosis: a case control study of 100 patients.

Objective: Oligoclonal band (OCB) negative multiple sclerosis (MS) is well recognised but uncommon, studied in only a few usually small case series. These reached differing conclusions on whether its clinical features or course differ from OCB positive disease. The study hypothesis was that a definitive study would not only be of clinical and prognostic value but also potentially offer information about the possible role of CSF oligoclonal immunoglobulins in MS disease processes.

How likely are older people to take up different falls prevention activities?

Objective: To determine the extent to which older people are willing to engage in different falls prevention activities, and how this may vary in different sectors of the older population.

Methods: A survey sent to patients aged over 54 in ten general practices in the Southampton, Bristol and Manchester areas of the UK in 2006 yielded 5,440 respondents. The survey assessed willingness to attend classes of strength and balance training (SBT), carry out SBT at home, or accept support to reduce home hazards.

Pathways to diagnosis for Black men and White men found to have prostate cancer: the PROCESS cohort study.

Black men in England have three times the age-adjusted incidence of diagnosed prostate cancer as compared with their White counterparts. This population-based retrospective cohort study is the first UK-based investigation of whether access to diagnostic services underlies the association between race and prostate cancer. Prostate cancer was ascertained using multiple sources including hospital records.

Immediate postnatal growth is associated with blood pressure in young adulthood: the Barry Caerphilly Growth Study.

There is a consistent inverse association between birth weight and systolic blood pressure; however, few studies have been able to examine the immediate postnatal period. We have examined whether accelerated postnatal growth predicts adult systolic and diastolic blood pressure. We followed up participants from the Barry Caerphilly Growth Study.

The association of C-reactive protein and CRP genotype with coronary heart disease: findings from five studies with 4,610 cases amongst 18,637 participants.

Background: It is unclear whether C-reactive protein (CRP) is causally related to coronary heart disease (CHD). Genetic variants that are known to be associated with CRP levels can be used to provide causal inference of the effect of CRP on CHD. Our objective was to examine the association between CRP genetic variant +1444C>T (rs1130864) and CHD risk in the largest study to date of this association.

Associations of circulating C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 with cancer risk: findings from two prospective cohorts and a meta-analysis.

Objective: We investigated the associations of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) with cancer risk.

Methods: We examined the associations of CRP and IL-6 with incident cancer in two prospective cohorts, the British Women's Heart and Health Study (4,286 women aged 60-80) and the Caerphilly Cohort (2,398 men aged 45-59) using Cox regression and pooled our findings with previous prospective studies' in fixed and random effects meta-analyses.

Results: CRP and IL-6 were associated with some incident cancers in our cohorts, but the numbers of cancer cases were small.

Thyroid function and the natural history of depression: findings from the Caerphilly Prospective Study (CaPS) and a meta-analysis.

Objective: Low thyroid function has been associated with depression in clinical populations. We have examined whether thyroid function in the normal range is associated with minor psychiatric morbidity.

Design: Prospective cohort study of 2269 middle aged men (45-59 years) with thyroid function (total T(4) only, TSH unavailable) measured between 1979 and 1983 and with repeat measures of minor psychiatric morbidity (GHQ-30) over a mean of 12.

Effect of integration of supplemental nutrition with public health programmes in pregnancy and early childhood on cardiovascular risk in rural Indian adolescents: long term follow-up of Hyderabad nutrition trial.

Objective: To determine whether integration of nutritional supplementation with other public health programmes in early life reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in undernourished populations.

Design: Approximately 15 years' follow-up of participants born within an earlier controlled, community trial of nutritional supplementation integrated with other public health programmes.

Setting: 29 villages (15 intervention, 14 control) near Hyderabad city, south India.

Fourteen-year final report of the randomized PDRG-UK trial comparing three initial treatments in PD.

Background: Ten-year follow-up results from the Parkinson's Disease Research Group of the United Kingdom trial demonstrated that there were no long-term advantages to initiating treatment with bromocriptine compared with l-dopa in early Parkinson disease (PD). Increased mortality in patients on selegiline combined with l-dopa led to premature termination of this arm after 6 years.

Methods: Between 1985 and 1990, 782 patients were recruited into an open pragmatic multicenter trial and were randomized to l-dopa/decarboxylase inhibitor (DDCI), l-dopa/DDCI plus selegiline, or bromocriptine.

The risk of prostate cancer amongst South Asian men in southern England: the PROCESS cohort study.

Objective: To reinvestigate whether South Asian men in the UK are at lower risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer in a UK-based retrospective cohort study and to examine possible reasons that may explain this.

Patients And Methods: The catchment areas were predefined in four areas of southern England, and age- and race-specific populations for those areas taken from census data. Cases were ascertained through review of multiple hospital sources, while race, other demographic factors, and medical history were determined using questionnaires sent to the men, hospital records review and death certificates.

Variations in the G6PC2/ABCB11 genomic region are associated with fasting glucose levels.

Identifying the genetic variants that regulate fasting glucose concentrations may further our understanding of the pathogenesis of diabetes. We therefore investigated the association of fasting glucose levels with SNPs in 2 genome-wide scans including a total of 5,088 nondiabetic individuals from Finland and Sardinia. We found a significant association between the SNP rs563694 and fasting glucose concentrations (P = 3.

Early life growth and hemostatic factors: the Barry Caerphilly Growth study.

Associations between early life growth trajectories and a range of adult (aged approximately 25 years) hemostatic factors were assessed in the Barry Caerphilly Growth study (N = 517) in South Wales, 1974-1999. Associations of birth weight, birth length, and weight and height velocities during three periods ("immediate": 0-<5 months, "infant": 5 months-<1 year 9 months, and "childhood": 1 year 9 months-5 years) with adult levels of hemostatic factors were assessed. Birth weight was inversely associated with fibrinogen (beta per 1-unit change in z score = -0.

Age and sex interaction in reported help seeking in response to chest pain.

Background: There is a growing literature suggesting that access to cardiology services is affected by age. However, there is a dearth of studies that have considered age and sex in conjunction.

Aim: This study aims to examine the impact of age, and its interaction with sex, on reported healthcare seeking, based on responses to symptom vignettes, in an attempt to standardise symptomatology across all responders.

Are there inequities in the utilisation of childhood eye-care services in relation to socio-economic status? Evidence from the ALSPAC cohort.

Background: Equity of access to eye care in childhood remains poorly researched, and most studies report data on utilisation without any objective measure of clinical need. Participants/method: 8271 participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a longitudinal birth cohort, were seen at age 7, when they underwent a comprehensive eye examination and details of family history of eye conditions, vision problems and contact with eye-care services were obtained.

Results: 2931 (35.

Investigating Black-White differences in prostate cancer prognosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The case-fatality rate following a diagnosis of prostate cancer is higher for Black men compared to White men. How this elevated rate arises is uncertain, with differences in disease biology, presentation, treatment and comorbidity having been suggested. A systematic search was conducted for articles that reported ethnic differences in overall-survival, prostate cancer specific survival (PSS) or biochemical recurrence.

Common variation in the FTO gene alters diabetes-related metabolic traits to the extent expected given its effect on BMI.

Objective: Common variation in the FTO gene is associated with BMI and type 2 diabetes. Increased BMI is associated with diabetes risk factors, including raised insulin, glucose, and triglycerides. We aimed to test whether FTO genotype is associated with variation in these metabolic traits.

Survival and cause of death in multiple sclerosis: a prospective population-based study.

Background: Detailed studies of mortality in multiple sclerosis (MS) are limited. Studying death certificates in a prospective cohort of patients known to have MS is of value in establishing mortality data and can also provide important information on the accuracy and use of death certificates for epidemiological studies.

Methods: A population-based survey performed in South Wales in 1985 identified 441 patients.

Prevalence and pattern of cognitive impairment in a community cohort of men in South Wales: methodology and findings from the Caerphilly Prospective Study.

Background/aims: The prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment not dementia was investigated in the Caerphilly Prospective Study cohort (men currently aged 65-84 years).

Methods: Of 1,633 men eligible for cognitive screening, 1,225 (75%) were seen, with those failing the screening criteria (CAMCOG <83 or decline in CAMCOG >9) being neurologically examined.

Results: For dementia, diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria, the population prevalence was 5.

Common variants in the GDF5-UQCC region are associated with variation in human height.

Identifying genetic variants that influence human height will advance our understanding of skeletal growth and development. Several rare genetic variants have been convincingly and reproducibly associated with height in mendelian syndromes, and common variants in the transcription factor gene HMGA2 are associated with variation in height in the general population. Here we report genome-wide association analyses, using genotyped and imputed markers, of 6,669 individuals from Finland and Sardinia, and follow-up analyses in an additional 28,801 individuals.

Newly identified loci that influence lipid concentrations and risk of coronary artery disease.

To identify genetic variants influencing plasma lipid concentrations, we first used genotype imputation and meta-analysis to combine three genome-wide scans totaling 8,816 individuals and comprising 6,068 individuals specific to our study (1,874 individuals from the FUSION study of type 2 diabetes and 4,184 individuals from the SardiNIA study of aging-associated variables) and 2,758 individuals from the Diabetes Genetics Initiative, reported in a companion study in this issue. We subsequently examined promising signals in 11,569 additional individuals. Overall, we identify strongly associated variants in eleven loci previously implicated in lipid metabolism (ABCA1, the APOA5-APOA4-APOC3-APOA1 and APOE-APOC clusters, APOB, CETP, GCKR, LDLR, LPL, LIPC, LIPG and PCSK9) and also in several newly identified loci (near MVK-MMAB and GALNT2, with variants primarily associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol; near SORT1, with variants primarily associated with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol; near TRIB1, MLXIPL and ANGPTL3, with variants primarily associated with triglycerides; and a locus encompassing several genes near NCAN, with variants strongly associated with both triglycerides and LDL cholesterol).

Survival in multiple system atrophy.

We here report survival in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) in a large, prospectively studied group of patients with MSA. Eighty-five of 100 patients were known to have died. Three patients were rediagnosed as having PD.

Birth weight; postnatal, infant, and childhood growth; and obesity in young adulthood: evidence from the Barry Caerphilly Growth Study.

Background: Birth weight has been shown to be positively associated with adult obesity, but relatively few studies have examined the associations with growth in specific periods of early childhood.

Objective: The objective was to assess the association of measures of growth between birth and 5 y of age with adult measures of adiposity.

Design: We conducted a longitudinal study of young adults from Barry and Caerphilly, United Kingdom, who had previously taken part between 1972 and 1974 in a randomized controlled trial of milk supplementation.

The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration: analysis of individual data on lipid, inflammatory and other markers in over 1.1 million participants in 104 prospective studies of cardiovascular diseases.

Many long-term prospective studies have reported on associations of cardiovascular diseases with circulating lipid markers and/or inflammatory markers. Studies have not, however, generally been designed to provide reliable estimates under different circumstances and to correct for within-person variability. The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration has established a central database on over 1.

Neurological care and risk of hospital mortality for patients with myasthenia gravis in England.

Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare neurological disorder, which can be life threatening. Although death is a rare outcome, evidence does not exist as to whether neurological care leads to any better outcome than care by other specialties.

Methods: A matched nested case control study sampled from all public sector hospital admissions in England with a primary diagnosis of MG from 1991 to 1999.