[Visual acuity in German preschool children-results of a cross-sectional study].

Background: Within the framework of the German pediatric screening examinations, the checks include visual functions. There is no ophthalmological screening examination in childhood in Germany. This study investigated whether participation in the pediatric screening examinations U8 (at the end of the fourth year of life) and U9 (at the beginning of the sixth year of life) is associated with the results of visual acuity, which are compiled at the school entry examinations (SEU).

No Benefit of a Pediatric Screening in Discovering Reduced Visual Acuity in Children: Experiences from a Cross-Sectional Study in Germany.

Background: The newly introduced German pediatric screening examination at the end of the third year of life (U7a) incorporates visual function testing in particular; there is no ophthalmic screening during childhood in Germany. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between participation in U7a and visual function at the preschool health examination (PHE) in the sixth year of life.

Methods: This study evaluated PHE data from school enrollment years 2009/2010 to 2014/2015 of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Arterial stiffness and bone demineralization: the Baltimore longitudinal study of aging.

Background: Arterial stiffening is one of the hallmarks of vascular aging, and is an important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Aging is also associated with bone demineralization. Accumulating evidence indicate that arterial stiffness and bone demineralization might share common pathways.

High-dose isoflavones do not improve metabolic and inflammatory parameters in androgen-deprived men with prostate cancer.

The profound hypogonadism that occurs with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer (PCa) results in complications such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome that predispose to cardiovascular disease. Because phytoestrogens have been associated with an improvement in metabolic parameters, we evaluated their role in men undergoing ADT. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of high-dose isoflavones on metabolic and inflammatory parameters in men undergoing ADT.

Is longitudinal pulse pressure a better predictor of 24-hour urinary albumin excretion than other indices of blood pressure?

The strong relationship between urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and pulse pressure (PP) in cross-sectional studies suggests that pressure pulsatility may contribute to renal microvascular injury. The longitudinal relationships between UAE and the various indices of blood pressure (BP) are not well studied. We compared the associations of UAE with the longitudinal exposure to PP and systolic, diastolic, and mean BPs.

Longitudinal paths to the metabolic syndrome: can the incidence of the metabolic syndrome be predicted? The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Objective: To determine the predictors of incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) (Adult Treatment Panel III criteria) and to determine if longitudinal changes in specific MetS components differ by age or gender in participants who developed versus those who did not develop MetS.

Methods: A total of 506 men and 461 women (baseline age 52.4 +/- 17.

Immunity from smallpox vaccine persists for decades: a longitudinal study.

Purpose: The threat of smallpox resulting from bioterrorist action has prompted a reassessment of the level of immunity in current populations.

Methods: We have examined the magnitude and duration of antiviral antibody immunity conferred by smallpox vaccination in 246 participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Of this population, 209 subjects were vaccinated one or more times 13 to 88 years before this evaluation, and stored serum samples were available at various intervals after vaccination.

Effects of high-dose isoflavones on metabolic and inflammatory markers in healthy postmenopausal women.

Objective: After menopause, women experience changes in body composition, especially an increase in fat mass. In addition, advancing age, decreased physical activity, and increased inflammation may predispose them to develop type 2 diabetes. Isoflavones have been shown to improve metabolic parameters in postmenopausal women.

Abnormal body composition phenotypes in older rheumatoid arthritis patients: association with disease characteristics and pharmacotherapies.

Objective: To compare measures of body fat and lean mass and the prevalence of abnormal body composition phenotypes (sarcopenia, overfat, and sarcopenic obesity) in men and women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) versus matched controls, and to explore the disease-related predictors of abnormal body composition in patients with RA.

Methods: A total of 189 men and women with RA and 189 age-, sex-, and race-matched non-RA controls underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for measurement of total and regional body fat and lean mass. Continuous and categorical measures of body composition were compared between RA and control subjects by sex and according to categories of body mass index (BMI).

Pulse wave velocity is an independent predictor of the longitudinal increase in systolic blood pressure and of incident hypertension in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate whether pulse wave velocity (PWV), a noninvasive index of arterial stiffness, is a predictor of the longitudinal changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and of incident hypertension.

Background: Although arterial stiffness is believed to underlie, in part, the age-associated changes in SBP, particularly at older ages, few longitudinal studies in humans have examined the relationship between arterial stiffness and blood pressure.

Methods: Pulse wave velocity was measured at baseline in 449 normotensive or untreated hypertensive volunteers (age 53 +/- 17 years).

Intake of whole grains, refined grains, and cereal fiber measured with 7-d diet records and associations with risk factors for chronic disease.

Background: Research studies examining foods are important, because they account for biological interactions that might otherwise be lost in the analysis of individual nutrients. Single-nutrient studies are also needed to explore the mechanisms by which foods may be protective.

Objective: Our objective was to examine associations between whole grains, refined grains, and cereal fiber and chronic disease risk factors.

Aging, androgens, and the metabolic syndrome in a longitudinal study of aging.

Background: Based on Adult Treatment Panel III criteria, we previously reported that the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) increased with aging; was higher if elevated 2-h plasma postglucose challenge values were included as a criterion; and was greater in men, compared with women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the MS and circulating androgen levels in a cohort of men in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Methods And Results: Study participants were Caucasian community-dwelling adult men in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, who underwent a fasting 2-h oral glucose tolerance test and had serum concentrations of total testosterone (T), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and SHBG levels measured.

Ubiquitination is involved in glucose-mediated downregulation of GIP receptors in islets.

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is a gastrointestinal hormone that has a potent stimulatory effect on insulin release under conditions of normal glucose tolerance. However, its insulinotropic effect is reduced or even absent entirely in type 2 diabetic patients. In this study, we addressed the role of glucose concentration in the diabetic range of >or=11 mM, i.

The original risk: overtheologizing ethics and undertheologizing sin.

The project of articulating a theological ethics on the basis of liturgical anthropology is bound to fail if the necessary consequence is that one has to quit the forum of critical modern rationality. The risk of Engelhardt's approach is to limit rationality to a narrow vision of reason. Sin is not to be understood as the negation of human holiness, but as the negation of divine holiness.

Metabolic syndrome in men with prostate cancer undergoing long-term androgen-deprivation therapy.

Purpose: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in men. Men with recurrent or metastatic PCa are treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), resulting in profound hypogonadism. Because male hypogonadism is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and men with PCa have high cardiovascular mortality, we evaluated the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men undergoing long-term ADT.

Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in men with prostate carcinoma who receive androgen-deprivation therapy.

Background: Prostate carcinoma (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men. Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is used frequently in the treatment of recurrent and metastatic PCa, rendering these men hypogonadal. Because male hypogonadism is associated with an unfavorable metabolic profile, and men with PCa have high cardiovascular mortality, the authors evaluated the effects of long-term ADT on fasting glucose levels, insulin levels, and insulin resistance.

The relation of fasting and 2-h postchallenge plasma glucose concentrations to mortality: data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging with a critical review of the literature.

Objective: Under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health, American Diabetes Association, and World Health Organization, expert committees lowered the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentration diagnostic for diabetes from 7.8 to 7.0 mmol/l and defined 6.

Reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease with high folate intake: the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Background: Study findings have suggested an association between Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk and several vitamins and have speculated about their use as preventive agents. Here, we examine whether total intake (intake from diet plus supplements) of antioxidant vitamins (E, C, carotenoids) and B vitamins (folate, B(6), and B(12)) is associated with a reduced risk of AD.

Methods: Participants were 579 nondemented elderly volunteers from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging who completed dietary diaries and recorded supplement intake for a 7-day period.

Contribution of impaired glucose tolerance in subjects with the metabolic syndrome: Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Background: In addition to fasting plasma glucose (FPG), we examined the contribution of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in the prevalence of subjects with the metabolic syndrome (MS).

Methods And Results: Study participants were white adults in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging who underwent a fasting 2-hour OGTT. In men between the ages of 20 to 39, 40 to 59, 60 to 79, and 80 to 95 years, the prevalence of the MS by Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria (which excludes OGTT) was 11%, 28%, 32%, and 15%, respectively; whereas in women the prevalence was 5%, 12%, 24%, and 16%, respectively.

apoE4 allele and the natural history of cardiovascular risk factors.

The aims of the present study were to compare the longitudinal changes in traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (blood pressure, BMI, total and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose) in men with and without the apolipoprotein (apo)E4 allele. Three hundred six men from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, ranging in age from 20 to 92 yr, were studied. Repeated measurements of CV risk factors were performed over a median follow-up time of 7 yr (maximum 14.

The combination of high fruit and vegetable and low saturated fat intakes is more protective against mortality in aging men than is either alone: the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

Saturated fat (SF) intake contributes to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. Recently, the protective effects of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake on both CHD and all-cause mortality were documented. However, individuals consuming more FV may be displacing higher-fat foods.