Detection of dementia of the Alzheimer type in a population-based sample: neuropsychological test performance.

The ability to detect dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) in a community-dwelling sample of elderly individuals on the basis of neuropsychological test performance was examined. Three hundred sixty community-dwelling individuals were identified by neurological examination as having probable or possible Alzheimer's disease, being at risk for Alzheimer's disease, or having no cognitive impairment. A logistic model comprised of tests of verbal and nonverbal memory, mental flexibility, and confrontation naming correctly classified 82% of DAT subjects and 98% of normal elderly subjects.

Low bioavailable testosterone levels predict future height loss in postmenopausal women.

The objective of this study was to examine the relation of endogenous sex hormones to subsequent height loss in postmenopausal women, in whom height loss is usually a surrogate for osteoporotic vertebral fractures. This was a prospective, community-based study. The site chosen was Rancho Bernardo, an upper middle class community in Southern California.

A role of Sep1 (= Kem1, Xrn1) as a microtubule-associated protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking the SEP1 (also known as XRN1, KEM1, DST2, RAR5) gene function exhibit a number of phenotypes in cellular processes related to microtubule function. Mutant cells show increased sensitivity to the microtubule-destabilizing drug benomyl, increased chromosome loss, a karyogamy defect, impaired spindle pole body separation, and defective nuclear migration towards the bud neck. Analysis of the arrest morphology and of the survival during arrest strongly suggests a structural defect accounting for the benomyl hypersensitivity, rather than a regulatory defect in a checkpoint.

The effect of passive smoking and tobacco exposure through breast milk on sudden infant death syndrome.

Objective: To examine the relationship between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and smoking during pregnancy; postnatal tobacco smoke exposure from the mother, father, live-in-adults, and day care providers; and postnatal smoke exposure from breast-feeding.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Five counties in Southern California.

A case-control study of routine and death scene sleep position and sudden infant death syndrome in Southern California.

Objective: To investigate whether infants who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) were routinely placed in different sleep positions compared with healthy infants in a multiethnic diverse population in the United States.

Design: A population-based case-control study.

Setting: Five counties in Southern California including Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego.

Sex differences in insulin levels in older adults and the effect of body size, estrogen replacement therapy, and glucose tolerance status. The Rancho Bernardo Study, 1984-1987.

OBJECTIVE--To determine if insulin levels vary with sex, independent of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), differences in body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and glycemia. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--In a population-based study of older adults, insulin levels were measured before and after a standardized oral glucose tolerance test in 673 men and 849 women, all free of known diabetes. RESULTS--Age-adjusted fasting insulin levels were highest in men, intermediate in women not taking estrogen, and lowest in estrogen-treated women (P < 0.

Vitamin D metabolites and extracellular calcium regulate calcium currents in hemocytes of land snails.

Intracellular exchangeable calcium and calcium efflux were investigated in cultured amoebocytes of land snails. Low extracellular calcium concentration (0.32 mM) initiated a rapid increase of outward calcium currents and decrease of intracellular exchangeable calcium.

Hyperinsulinemia does not increase the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease in elderly men or women without diabetes: the Rancho Bernardo Study, 1984-1991.

The relation of fasting and 2-hour serum insulin to the risk for fatal cardiovascular disease was examined in men and women without diabetes. Between 1984 and 1987, 80% of all surviving local members of the Rancho Bernardo Study cohort had measures of insulin and glucose levels obtained before and after a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. Over the next 5 years, there were 24 cardiovascular disease deaths among 538 men and 21 cardiovascular disease deaths among 705 women.

Dietary sodium and bone mineral density: results of a 16-year follow-up study.

Background And Purpose: It has been proposed that high dietary sodium intake, resulting in a sodium-mediated increase in renal calcium excretion, is a risk factor for osteoporosis. To evaluate the relationship between dietary sodium intake and bone mineral density (BMD), a prospective study of the Rancho Bernardo cohort was performed.

Method: A 24-hour diet recall was done for the period 1973 through 1975; follow-up bone mineral density of the ultradistal radius, midradius, total hip, and spine was measured between 1988 and 1991.

Is breast-feeding in infancy associated with adult longevity?

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine whether breast-feeding is associated with increased longevity or cause-specific survival.

Methods: Teachers throughout California identified intellectually gifted children as part of a prospective study begun in the 1920s by Lewis Terman. Information on breast-feeding was available on 1170 subjects, who have been followed for more than 65 years.

Calcium cells from snails: response to vitamin D metabolites.

Calcium is one of the most important substances affecting the life of molluscs, and vitamin D was shown to be an essential nutrient for land snails. In an attempt to elucidate the role that vitamin D plays in calcium metabolism of land snails, we have developed a procedure for the isolation of specialized calcium cells from digestive gland of land snails, and were able to culture these cells. The effect of vitamin D metabolites on the intracellular exchangeable calcium and alkaline phosphatase activity was studied.

Sex differences in bone mineral density in 1653 men and women in the sixth through tenth decades of life: the Rancho Bernardo Study.

This cross-sectional population-based study examined the effect of age and sex on bone mineral density (BMD) in the elderly. BMD was measured at the spine and hip using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and at midshaft and ultradistal radius using single-photon absorptiometry in 672 men and 981 women aged 50-98 years. In both sexes, mean BMD levels decreased significantly with age at all sites except the male spine.

24,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 antagonizes some of the actions of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3.

The effect of 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on some of the activities of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 was studied in cultures of cartilage cells obtained from the tibial growth plate of rachitic chicks. The activities that were tested are those associated with intracellular exchangeable calcium, alkaline-phosphatase activity and the incorporation of thymidine and proline. 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 was shown in this system to antagonize the suppressive effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on intracellular exchangeable calcium and on proline incorporation.

Lifetime milk consumption and bone mineral density in older women.

This study examined the relationship between lifetime milk consumption both axial and appendicular bone mineral density in 581 postmenopausal White women. Positive significant, graded associations between milk consumption in adulthood and bone mineral density at the spine, total hip, trochanter, intertrochanter, and midradius, but not the ultradistal wrist or femoral neck, were observed. Adolescent milk consumption showed similar, statistically significant associations (spine and midradius).

Thiazides and bone mineral density in elderly men and women.

The relation of bone mineral density of the ultradistal radius, midshaft radius, hip, and lumbar spine to thiazide use were examined in a community-based sample of 1,696 white men and women aged 44-98 years. Male thiazide users had higher age-adjusted bone mineral density levels only at the midshaft radius (p < 0.05).

Family history of osteoporosis and bone mineral density at the axial skeleton: the Rancho Bernardo Study.

To determine whether a family history of osteoporosis identifies individuals with low bone mineral density (BMD), we studied 1477 white elderly (aged 60-89 years), noninstitutionalized ambulatory men (n = 600) and women (n = 877) from the Rancho Bernardo, California cohort. Family history data on biologic parents and full sisters were obtained by questionnaire. BMD of the lumbar spine and hip was measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

A prospective study of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and cognitive function in an older population: the Rancho Bernardo Study.

Objective: To determine whether low plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels predict poor cognitive function in the elderly.

Design: A prospective, population-based study with periodic clinical evaluations and 100% follow-up for vital status.

Setting: Rancho Bernardo, California

Patients: 270 men and 167 women (80% of surviving, local, age-eligible subjects) from the Rancho Bernardo cohort who had plasma obtained for DHEAS assays in 1972 to 1974 and screening for dementia in 1988 to 1991.

Dyslipidemia and ischemic heart disease mortality among men and women with diabetes.

Background: We investigated whether the greater increased risk of ischemic heart disease mortality associated with diabetes among women compared with men could be explained by their more pronounced lipoprotein abnormalities.

Methods And Results: Seventy-six men and 45 women with diabetes and 327 men and 496 women without diabetes were followed for an average of 16 years in a population-based study. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the relative hazard of ischemic heart disease mortality for changes in lipoprotein subfractions after adjustment for age, hypertension, obesity, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, and estrogen use (among women).

Coffee-associated osteoporosis offset by daily milk consumption. The Rancho Bernardo Study.

Objective: To describe the association of lifetime intake of caffeinated coffee, in cup-years, to bone mineral density (BMD) of the hip and spine in postmenopausal women; and to determine the effect of regular milk intake on this association.

Design: Women from an established epidemiologic cohort had measures of BMD and gave a medical and behavioral history that included caffeinated coffee and daily milk intake between the ages of 12 and 18 years, 20 and 50 years, and 50 years of age and older.

Setting: A community-based population of older women, Rancho Bernardo, Calif.

Factors associated with health behavior change among residents 50 to 96 years of age in Rancho Bernardo, California.

Alterations in personal health habits can prevent disease and reduce morbidity and mortality. We examined the association between self-reported healthy behavioral change and age, sex chronic disease, plasma cholesterol, and body mass index in an older Caucasian population in southern California. Overall, about two thirds of respondents reported decreased dietary salt or fat intake over the last 15 years, whereas one third reported increased frequency of exercise.

The association between health beliefs and health behavior change in older adults.

Background: Previous studies have reported weak relationships between health beliefs and behavior change; few studied elderly populations.

Methods: We examined the relation between self-reported behavior change and health-related beliefs among an educated, upper-middle-class population age 50 to 89 years.

Results: More women reported decreasing dietary salt and fat, changing diet, and reading self-help materials than men.

Chimeric hemoglobin subunits: functional properties of a recombinant beta/alpha hemoglobin.

Our goal was to design a single hemoglobin subunit able to assemble into a stable tetrameric structure with cooperative O2 binding and low oxygen affinity. We have synthesized in E. coli a chimeric beta/alpha globin subunit composed of the first 73 residues of the beta chain and the last 73 residues of the alpha chain.

Mini-titins in striated and smooth molluscan muscles: structure, location and immunological crossreactivity.

Invertebrate mini-titins are members of a class of myosin-binding proteins belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily that may have structural and/or regulatory properties. We have isolated mini-titins from three molluscan sources: the striated and smooth adductor muscles of the scallop, and the smooth catch muscles of the mussel. Electron microscopy reveals flexible rod-like molecules about 0.