Beta2-microglobulin for risk stratification of total mortality in the elderly population: comparison with cystatin C and C-reactive protein.

Background: The clinicoepidemiologic relevance of moderately elevated concentrations of circulating beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)-M) has not been established.

Methods: We examined whether serum beta(2)-M concentration independently predicts total mortality in community-dwelling older populations and compared its predictive value with that of cystatin C and C-reactive protein (CRP) using a prospective cohort study of 1034 initially nondisabled persons 65 years and older as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study on Aging. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine independent associations between baseline beta(2)-M levels and total mortality.

Higher levels of inflammation factors and greater insulin resistance are independently associated with higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability in normoglycemic older individuals: the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Objectives: To explore the relationship between (1) insulin resistance and inflammation factors with (2) higher heart rate (HR) and lower heart rate variability (HRV) in normoglycemic older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based study.

Participants: Five hundred forty-five adults aged 65 and older with normoglycemia (fasting glucose <100 mg/dL) who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Cancer risk in Barrett's oesophagus.

(Table is included in full-text article.)Barrett's oesophagus results from the replacement of the normal squamous lining of the oesophagus by a columnar epithelium. It is the sole known premalignant condition for oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Life-space constriction, development of frailty, and the competing risk of mortality: the Women's Health And Aging Study I.

Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that carries an increased risk for poor health outcomes. Little is known about the behavioral antecedents of frailty. In this study, the authors hypothesized that constriction of life space identifies older adults at risk for frailty, potentially a marker of already-decreased physiologic reserve.

Aberrant gastric apomucin expression in ulcerative colitis and associated neoplasia.

Aim: To evaluated the presence of gastric metaplasia in colonic mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis and its relationship with dysplasia/neoplasia.

Material And Methods: Ninety patients with UC were selected. The duration and the extent of disease were registered in all the cases.

Types of anemia and mortality among older disabled women living in the community: the Women's Health and Aging Study I.

Aims: To classify the different types of anemia among moderately to severely disabled women living in the community and examine the relationship between types of anemia and mortality.

Methods: We studied anemia in 688 women, >or=65 years, in the Women's Health and Aging Study I, a population based study of moderately to severely disabled older women living in the community in Baltimore, Maryland. Anemia was defined by World Health Organization criteria.

Development of an expression macroarray for amine metabolism-related genes.

Cationic amino acids are the precursors of biogenic amines, histamine from histidine, and putrescine, spermidine and spermine from arginine/ornithine (and methionine), as well as nitric oxide. These amines play important biological roles in inter- and intracellular signaling mechanisms related to inflammation, cell proliferation and neurotransmission. Biochemical and epidemiological relationships between arginine-derived products and histamine have been reported to play important roles in physiopathological problems.

Chromosomal analysis of Barrett's cells: demonstration of instability and detection of the metaplastic lineage involved.

Unlabelled: Barrett's esophagus is lined by columnar and goblets cells with gastric and intestinal characteristics. Despite the association between goblet elements and malignancy, it was not demonstrated that other columnar cells lineages are not related to neoplasia. Chromosomal abnormalities were described in metaplasia adjacent to Barrett's neoplasia, but it is unknown which metaplastic lineages are involved.

The relationship of heart rate and heart rate variability to non-diabetic fasting glucose levels and the metabolic syndrome: the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: Increased heart rate (HR) and diminished heart rate variability (HRV) are signs of early cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. We tested the hypotheses that increased HR and diminished HRV are present in people: (i) with increased fasting glucose (FG) levels not in the range of diabetes mellitus (DM), and (ii) in people with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) independent of elevated FG levels.

Methods: HR and HRV were determined in 1267 adults (mean age 72 years) who had Holter monitoring and FG measures: 536 had normal FG levels (NORM, FG 4.

The usefulness of post-genomics tools for characterization of the amine cross-talk in mammalian cells.

Evidence is growing in favour of a relationship between cancer and chronic inflammation, and particularly of the role of a polyamine and histamine metabolic interplay involved in these physiopathological problems, which are indeed highly complex biological systems. Decodification of the complex inter- and intra-cellular signalling mechanisms that control these effects is not an easy task, which must be helped by systems biology technologies, including new tools for location and integration of database-stored information and predictive mathematical models, as well as functional genomics and other experimental molecular approaches necessary for hypothesis validation. We review the state of the art and present our latest efforts in this area, focused on the amine metabolism field.

Association between reduced heart rate variability and cognitive impairment in older disabled women in the community: Women's Health and Aging Study I.

Objectives: To examine the independent association between heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of cardiac autonomic function, and cognitive impairment.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from Women's Health and Aging Study I.

Setting: Urban community in Baltimore, Maryland.

Frequency of going outdoors as a good predictors for incident disability of physical function as well as disability recovery in community-dwelling older adults in rural Japan.

Background: The clinico-epidemiologic relevance of the reduction in the frequency of going outdoors in older adults has not been well characterized. This study examined whether the frequency of going outdoors has predictive values for incident physical disability and recovery among community-dwelling elderly.

Methods: One thousand, two hundred and sixty-seven persons aged 65+ years who lived in a rural community in Niigata, Japan, and participated in the baseline survey were assessed again 2 years later in terms of mobility, and instrumental and basic activities of daily living (IADL and BADL).

Pathologic risk factors of adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia and gastroesophageal junction.

Available evidence supports the existence of two major pathways of neoplastic development in the gastroesophageal region: the Barrett pathway, related to gastroesophageal reflux disease, and the gastric pathway, related to Helicobacter pylori infection. The existence of an independent junctional pathway is questionable, and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinomas share features of esophageal and gastric adenocarcinomas. It has been impossible to accommodate all data that are provided by different levels and tools of observation in tumors that develop in the gastroesophageal region in a single, coherent classification.

Association between mild anemia and executive function impairment in community-dwelling older women: The Women's Health and Aging Study II.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between mild anemia and executive function in community-dwelling older women.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Community-based.

Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in community-dwelling elderly individuals with calcification of the fibrous skeleton of the base of the heart and aortosclerosis (The Cardiovascular Health Study).

In the elderly, mitral annular calcification (MAC) and aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) are associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Aortic annular calcification (AAC) commonly occurs with MAC. However, the prognostic value of AAC, singly or in combination with MAC and AVS, for incident cardiovascular disease and mortality is unknown.

Phenotype of frailty: characterization in the women's health and aging studies.

Background: "Frailty" is an adverse, primarily gerontologic, health condition regarded as frequent with aging and having severe consequences. Although clinicians claim that the extremes of frailty can be easily recognized, a standardized definition of frailty has proved elusive until recently. This article evaluates the cross-validity, criterion validity, and internal validity in the Women's Health and Aging Studies (WHAS) of a discrete measure of frailty recently validated in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS).

Comparison of mortality risk for electrocardiographic abnormalities in men and women with and without coronary heart disease (from the Cardiovascular Health Study).

Mortality risk associated with electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities has been commonly reported to be lower in women than in men. We compared coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality risk for ECG variables during a mean 9.1-year follow-up in 4,912 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study who were > or = 65 years of age.

10-year follow-up of subclinical cardiovascular disease and risk of coronary heart disease in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: The incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) is very high among individuals 65 years or older.

Methods: We evaluated the relationships between measurements of subclinical disease at baseline (1989-1990) and at the third-year follow-up examination (1992-1993) and subsequent incidence of cardiovascular disease and total mortality as of June 2001. Approximately 61% of the participants without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline had subclinical disease based on our previously described criteria from the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Clinical significance of calcification of the fibrous skeleton of the heart and aortosclerosis in community dwelling elderly. The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS).

Background: Mitral annular calcification (MAC), aortic annular calcification (AAC), and aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) are associated with aging, and MAC and AVS are markers of advanced atherosclerosis. No studies have examined the prevalence and the clinical relevance of all 3 forms of calcification in a single free-living elderly population.

Methods: We used 2-dimensional echocardiography to evaluate MAC, AAC, AVS and all 3 combined in 3929 participants, mean age 76 +/- 5 years, 60% women, in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a prospective community-based observational study designed to assess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and outcomes in elderly persons.

Gastric and intestinal differentiation in Barrett's metaplasia and associated adenocarcinoma.

Intestinal metaplasia is a prerequisite criterion for the diagnosis of Barrett's metaplasia and the sole columnar esophageal lining associated with malignancy. It is recognized by the presence of goblet cells, but columnar non-goblet elements, producing gastric or intestinal proteins, are the prevalent cell population. The cellular heterogeneity of Barrett's metaplasia is well documented but the relationship between the distinct cell subtypes and neoplasia is unclear.

Proinflammatory state and circulating erythropoietin in persons with and without anemia.

Purpose: High circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines cause anemia, perhaps by interacting with erythropoietin production or biological activity. We characterize the relationships of systemic inflammation, erythropoietin, and hemoglobin.

Methods: Data are from the InCHIANTI (Invecchiare in Chianti, aging in the Chianti area) study population.

Kidney function as a predictor of noncardiovascular mortality.

Chronic kidney disease is associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular mortality, as well as all-cause mortality. Whether chronic kidney disease is a predictor of noncardiovascular mortality is less clear. To further explore the latter, the association of kidney function with total noncardiovascular mortality and cause-specific mortality was assessed in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based cohort of older individuals.

A prospective study of anemia status, hemoglobin concentration, and mortality in an elderly cohort: the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: Anemia is viewed as a negative prognostic factor in the elderly population; its independent impact on survival is unclear.

Methods: Baseline hemoglobin quintiles and anemia, as defined by the World Health Organization criteria, were assessed in relation to mortality in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a prospective cohort study with 11.2 years of follow-up of 5888 community-dwelling men and women 65 years or older, enrolled in 1989-1990 or 1992-1993 in 4 US communities.

Hip axis length as an independent risk factor for hip fracture independently of femural bone mineral density in Caucasian elderly Brazilian women.

Studies carried out in several countries and in different ethnic groups have suggested that the hip axis length (HAL) may be a risk factor for hip fractures. To evaluate if the HAL is an independent risk factor for hip fractures in elderly Caucasian Brazilian women, this study includes 112 participants sustaining proximal femur osteoporosis. Through HAL and bone mineral density (BMD) measurements, a statistical analysis using a multivaried regression curve was done.

Association of beta-blocker use with mortality among patients with congestive heart failure in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS).

Background: In clinical trials, beta-blocker therapy reduces all-cause mortality among people with congestive heart failure (CHF) characterized by depressed systolic function, but few trials included large numbers of elderly participants. This study assessed the association between beta-blocker therapy and mortality among community-dwelling older adults with CHF.

Methods: The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) is a longitudinal, population-based study of adults aged > or = 65 years.