Tildacerfont in Adults With Classic Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: Results from Two Phase 2 Studies.

Context: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is typically treated with lifelong supraphysiologic doses of glucocorticoids (GCs). Tildacerfont, a corticotropin-releasing factor type-1 receptor antagonist, may reduce excess androgen production, allowing for GC dose reduction.

Objective: Assess tildacerfont safety and efficacy.

The Surprising Creativity of Digital Evolution: A Collection of Anecdotes from the Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life Research Communities.

Evolution provides a creative fount of complex and subtle adaptations that often surprise the scientists who discover them. However, the creativity of evolution is not limited to the natural world: Artificial organisms evolving in computational environments have also elicited surprise and wonder from the researchers studying them. The process of evolution is an process that transcends the substrate in which it occurs.

Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs.

Of the nearly 6,800 extant frog species, most have weak jaws that play only a minor role in prey capture. South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys) are a notable exception. Aggressive and able to consume vertebrates their own size, these "hopping heads" use a vice-like grip of their jaws to restrain and immobilize prey.

Predicting the EuroQol Group's EQ-5D index from CDC's "Healthy Days" in a US sample.

Background: Obtaining reliable preference-based scores from the widely used Healthy Days measures would enable calculation of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and cost-utility analyses in many US community populations and over time. Previous studies translating the Healthy Days to the EQ-5D, a preference-based measure, relied on an indirect method because of a lack of population-based survey data that asked both sets of questions of the same respondents.

Method: Data from the 2005-2006 National Health Measurement Study (NHMS; n = 3844 adults 35 years old or older) were used to develop regression-based models to estimate EQ-5D index scores from self-reported age, self-rated general health, and numbers of unhealthy days.

County-level social environment determinants of health-related quality of life among US adults: a multilevel analysis.

To show that an individual's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is not determined only by their personal-level characteristics, but also is socially determined by both physical and social environmental characteristics of their communities. This analysis examined the association of selected county-level indicators on respondents' unhealthy days and assessed the utility of mean unhealthy days for US counties as community health indicators. Data came from the 1999-2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Geographic patterns of frequent mental distress: U.S. adults, 1993-2001 and 2003-2006.

Background: Mental illnesses and other mental health problems often lead to prolonged, disabling, and costly mental distress. Yet little is known about the geographic distribution of such mental distress in the U.S.

Ethnicity and folate influence choline status in young women consuming controlled nutrient intakes.

Objective: We previously demonstrated that choline and folate are interrelated and that African American women have lower folate nutriture than Caucasian and Mexican American women under conditions of controlled folate intake. The present study sought to examine the influences of ethnicity and controlled folate intake on choline status.

Methods: Forty-two women of Mexican American (n = 14), African American (n = 14), and Caucasian American (n = 14) descent consumed a folate restricted diet (135 microg DFE/d) for 7 weeks, followed by 7 weeks of folate treatment with either 400 or 800 microg DFE/d.

Choline status is not a reliable indicator of moderate changes in dietary choline consumption in premenopausal women.

For the prevention of liver dysfunction in women, a choline adequate intake of 425 mg/day was established. To date, the relationship between dietary choline intake and plasma concentrations of choline moieties remains relatively unexplored. As an extension of our previous work, this 14-week controlled feeding study investigated the relationship between moderate changes in dietary choline intake and blood indicators of status.

The MTHFR 677TT genotype and folate intake interact to lower global leukocyte DNA methylation in young Mexican American women.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic feature that is associated with X chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting, transcriptional silencing of genes and genomic stability. Folate provides a labile source of methyl groups which may be used for cellular methylation reactions including DNA methylation. The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C-->T variant is an important determinant of folate nutriture and may influence DNA methylation.

Folate intake at RDA levels is inadequate for Mexican American men with the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677TT genotype.

Since the establishment of the 1998 folate recommended dietary allowance (RDA), the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C-->T variant has emerged as a strong modifier of folate status. This controlled feeding study investigated the adequacy of the RDA, 400 microg/d as dietary folate equivalents (DFE), for Mexican American men with the MTHFR 677CC or TT genotype. Because of the interdependency between folate and choline, the influence of choline intake on folate status was also assessed.

The associations between life satisfaction and health-related quality of life, chronic illness, and health behaviors among U.S. community-dwelling adults.

The primary purpose of this article was to examine the associations between life satisfaction level and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), chronic illness, and adverse health behaviors among adults in the U.S. and its territories.

Global leukocyte DNA methylation is similar in African American and Caucasian women under conditions of controlled folate intake.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic feature that may modify disease risk, and can be influenced by folate status as well as by methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T genotype. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ethnicity/race on global leukocyte DNA methylation under conditions of controlled folate intake. Caucasian (n = 14) and African American (n = 14) women (18 - 45 y) possessing the MTHFR 677CC genotype consumed a folate restricted diet (135 mug/d as dietary folate equivalents, DFE) for 7 week followed by folate treatment with 400 or 800 microg DFE/d for 7 week.

Folate intake and the MTHFR C677T genotype influence choline status in young Mexican American women.

Numerous studies have reported a relationship between folate status, the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C-->T variant and disease risk. Although folate and choline metabolism are inter-related, only limited data are available on the relationship between choline and folate status in humans. This study sought to examine the influences of folate intake and the MTHFR 677C-->T variant on choline status.

Black-white differences in health-related quality of life among older adults.

Very little information exists on racial differences in quality of life among older adults. In this paper, we examine black-white differences in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and identify factors that may account for these differences. The participants were 5,986 community-dwelling persons age 65+ (62% black at baseline) from the Chicago Health and Aging Project.

Relationships Between Engaging in Recommended Levels of Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Hypertensive Adults.

Background: Hypertension (HTN), which affects more than 65 million Americans, is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Regular physical activity (PA) has been shown to reduce blood pressure and is associated with higher levels of HRQOL.

Methods: Using self-reports from 60,321 hypertensive adults age 18 y or older who participated in the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, we examined the independent relationship between engaging in recommended levels of moderate or vigorous PA and four measures of HRQOL developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Additional food folate derived exclusively from natural sources improves folate status in young women with the MTHFR 677 CC or TT genotype.

The effectiveness of additional food folate in improving folate status in humans is uncertain particularly in people with the common genetic variant (677 C-->T) in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene. To examine the effect of a doubling of food folate consumption on folate status response variables, women (n=32; 18-46 years) with the MTHFR 677 CC or TT genotype consumed either 400 (n=15; 7 CC and 8 TT) or 800 (n=17; 8 CC and 9 TT) microg/day of dietary folate equivalents (DFE) derived exclusively from naturally occurring food folate for 12 weeks. A repeated measures two-factor ANOVA was used to examine the effect of the dietary treatment, the MTHFR C677T genotype and their interactions on serum folate, RBC folate and plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) during the last 3 weeks of the study.

The glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) 1289 C->T variant influences plasma total homocysteine concentrations in young women after restricting folate intake.

Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) is a key regulatory protein in folate metabolism, methionine availability, and transmethylation reactions. Perturbations in GNMT may lead to aberrations in homocysteine metabolism, a marker of numerous pathologies. The primary objective of this study was to examine the influence of the GNMT 1289 C-->T alone, and in combination with the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677 C-->T variant, on plasma total homocysteine concentrations in healthy young women (n = 114).

Health-related quality of life surveillance--United States, 1993-2002.

Problem/condition: Population-based surveillance of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is needed to promote the health and quality of life of U.S. residents and to monitor progress in achieving the two overall Healthy People 2010 goals: 1) increase the quality and years of healthy life and 2) eliminate health disparities.

Tracking Healthy Days -- a window on the health of older adults.

In collaboration with its partners in the public health and aging services communities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Care and Aging Studies Branch has developed and validated a brief set of health-related quality of life (CDC HRQOL) measures for tracking the perceived physical and mental health of adults over time. For the past 12 years, these measures -- also called the Healthy Days measures -- have been used in an expanding set of population health surveys, surveillance systems, performance report cards, and evaluation studies, and they have provided useful disease and disability burden data to inform decision making and provide new insights for prevention research. Although now used continuously to assess health-related quality of life for Americans aged 12 years and older, the measures and population data have been especially valuable in applications affecting older adults, for which health-related quality of life is an outcome of primary importance.

Physical activity and health related quality of life among people with arthritis.

Study Objective: To assess the association between physical activity and health related quality of life (HRQOL) among persons with arthritis or chronic joint symptoms (CJS).

Design: Cross sectional survey investigating the relation between physical activity level and HRQOL. HRQOL was estimated using the number of physically or mentally unhealthy days during the past 30 days.

Inequalities in self-reported physical health in the United States, 1993-1999.

This study investigated inequalities in physically healthy days in the United States during 1993-1999, by socioeconomic and demographic group. The generalized entropy GE(2) and other indices were computed using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, 1993-1999. The results indicate that GE(2) for the US population increased by 17% during 1993-1999.

Frequent mental distress status among adults with arthritis age 45 years and older, 2001.

Objective: To identify characteristics and behaviors among persons with arthritis through evaluation of self-perceived mental health status.

Methods: Data were analyzed for adults with arthritis age 45 years or older from the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an ongoing, state-based, random-digit-dialed telephone survey of noninstitutionalized adults living in the United States.

Results: The prevalence of frequent mental distress (FMD; > or =14 self-reported mentally unhealthy days in the past 30 days) among persons with arthritis was 13.

Worsening trends in adult health-related quality of life and self-rated health-United States, 1993-2001.

Objectives: Health-related quality of life and self-rated health complement mortality and morbidity as measures used in tracking changes and disparities in population health. The objectives of this study were to determine whether and how health-related quality of life and self-rated health changed overall in U.S.

Sad, blue, or depressed days, health behaviors and health-related quality of life, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1995-2000.

Background: Mood disorders are a major public health problem in the United States as well as globally. Less information exists however, about the health burden resulting from subsyndromal levels of depressive symptomatology, such as feeling sad, blue or depressed, among the general U.S.

Determinants of quality of life among people with asthma: findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Asthma is a major contributor to impaired quality of life in the U.S. population.