Community Health workers United to Reduce Colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease among people at Higher risk (CHURCH): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most lethal cancer in the United States (U.S.) with the highest incidence and mortality rates among African Americans (AAs) compared to other racial groups.

Community Health workers United to Reduce Colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease among people at Higher risk (CHURCH): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most lethal cancer in the United States (U.S.) with the highest incidence and mortality rates among African Americans (AAs) compared to other racial groups.

Sustained Minimal Residual Disease Negativity in Multiple Myeloma is Associated with Stool Butyrate and Healthier Plant-Based Diets.

Purpose: Sustained minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity is associated with long-term survival in multiple myeloma. The gut microbiome is affected by diet, and in turn can modulate host immunity, for example through production of short-chain fatty acids including butyrate. We hypothesized that dietary factors affect the microbiome (abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria or stool butyrate concentration) and may be associated with multiple myeloma outcomes.

Estimation of Vitamin C Intake Requirements Based on Body Weight: Implications for Obesity.

Higher body weight is known to negatively impact plasma vitamin C status. However, despite this well-documented inverse association, recommendations on daily vitamin C intakes by health authorities worldwide do not include particular reference values for people of higher body weight. This suggests that people of higher body weight and people with obesity may be receiving insufficient vitamin C in spite of ingesting the amounts recommended by their health authorities.

A Lifestyle Intervention via Email in Minority Breast Cancer Survivors: Randomized Parallel-Group Feasibility Study.

Background: Our data have indicated that minority breast cancer survivors are receptive to participating in lifestyle interventions delivered via email or the Web, yet few Web-based studies exist in this population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility and preliminary results of an email-delivered diet and activity intervention program, "A Lifestyle Intervention Via Email (ALIVE)," delivered to a sample of racial and ethnic minority breast cancer survivors.

Methods: Survivors (mean age: 52 years, 83% [59/71] African American) were recruited and randomized to receive either the ALIVE program's 3-month physical activity track or its 3-month dietary track.

Maternal diet quality before pregnancy and risk of childhood leukaemia.

Previous studies on maternal nutrition and childhood leukaemia risk have focused on the role of specific nutrients such as folate and have not considered broader measures of diet quality, which may better capture intake of diverse nutrients known to impact fetal development. We examined the relationship between maternal diet quality before pregnancy, as summarised by a diet quality index, and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in a case-control study in California. Dietary intake in the year before pregnancy was assessed using FFQ in 681 ALL cases, 103 AML cases and 1076 matched controls.

Maternal prenatal intake of one-carbon metabolism nutrients and risk of childhood leukemia.

Purpose: Folate, vitamins B12 and B6, riboflavin, and methionine are critical nutrients for the one-carbon metabolism cycle involved in DNA synthesis and epigenetic processes. We examined the association between maternal intake of these nutrients before pregnancy and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a matched case-control study.

Methods: Maternal dietary intake and vitamin supplement use in the year before pregnancy was assessed by food frequency questionnaire for 681 ALL cases, 103 AML cases, and 1076 controls.

Vitamin C intervention may lower the levels of persistent organic pollutants in blood of healthy women - A pilot study.

Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) has a long term impact on human health. The goal of this pilot study was to test whether antioxidant intervention by vitamin C supplementation may be a remedial approach to decrease body burden of POPs in humans. Using solid phase extraction coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer and a gas chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry, we measured 18 PCBs, 7 OCPs, and 5 PBDEs in the blood of 15 healthy California women (8 were obese/overweight and 7 had normal weight) before and after 2 months of vitamin C supplementation (1000 mg/day).

Diabetes Prevention and Weight Loss with a Fully Automated Behavioral Intervention by Email, Web, and Mobile Phone: A Randomized Controlled Trial Among Persons with Prediabetes.

Background: One-third of US adults, 86 million people, have prediabetes. Two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese and at risk for diabetes. Effective and affordable interventions are needed that can reach these 86 million, and others at high risk, to reduce their progression to diagnosed diabetes.

Exposure to Bovine Leukemia Virus Is Associated with Breast Cancer: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Age, reproductive history, hormones, genetics, and lifestyle are known risk factors for breast cancer, but the agents that initiate cellular changes from normal to malignant are not understood. We previously detected bovine leukemia virus (BLV), a common oncogenic virus of cattle, in the breast epithelium of humans. The objective of this study was to determine whether the presence of BLV DNA in human mammary epithelium is associated with breast cancer.

A Fully Automated Diabetes Prevention Program, Alive-PD: Program Design and Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.

Background: In the United States, 86 million adults have pre-diabetes. Evidence-based interventions that are both cost effective and widely scalable are needed to prevent diabetes.

Objective: Our goal was to develop a fully automated diabetes prevention program and determine its effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial.

Dietary guideline adherence for gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common gastrointestinal disease, and the cost of health care and lost productivity due to GERD is extremely high. Recently described side effects of long-term acid suppression have increased the interest in nonpharmacologic methods for alleviating GERD symptoms. We aimed to examine whether GERD patients follow recommended dietary guidelines, and if adherence is associated with the severity and frequency of reflux symptoms.

Volume and type of alcohol during early pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage.

Background: Research on alcohol consumption during pregnancy and miscarriage spans over three decades, yet the relationship is still not well-understood.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between volume and type of alcohol consumed during pregnancy in relation to miscarriage.

Methods: We utilized data from a population-based cohort study of pregnant women (n = 1061) of which 172 (16%) women had a miscarriage.

Serum vitamin C and other biomarkers differ by genotype of phase 2 enzyme genes GSTM1 and GSTT1.

Background: Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) detoxify environmental chemicals and are involved in oxidative stress pathways. Deletion polymorphisms affect enzyme activities and have been associated with risk of disease.

Objective: The objective was to clarify whether biomarkers of oxidation, antioxidation, inflammation, and nutritional factors differ by GST genotype in healthy adults.

Genetic variants in the folate pathway and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Objective: Folate is involved in the one-carbon metabolism that plays an essential role in the synthesis, repair, and methylation of DNA. We examined whether child's germline genetic variation in the folate pathway is associated with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and whether periconception maternal folate and alcohol intake modify the risk.

Methods: Seventy-six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including 66 haplotype-tagging SNPs in 10 genes (CBS, DHFR, FOLH1, MTHFD1, MTHFR, MTR, MTRR, SHMT1, SLC19A1, and TYMS), were genotyped in 377 ALL cases and 448 controls.

Does lack of multinutrient supplementation during early pregnancy increase vulnerability to alcohol-related preterm or small-for-gestational-age births?

The objective of this study was to assess whether women who do not take multinutrient supplements during early pregnancy are more susceptible to the effects of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age birth (SGA) compared to women who do take multinutrients. This analysis included 800 singleton live births to mothers from a cohort of pregnant women recruited for a population-based cohort study conducted in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California. Participants were recruited in their first trimester of pregnancy and information about their alcohol use and supplement intake during pregnancy was collected.

Design and development of a dialysis food frequency questionnaire.

Objectives: Periodic assessment of dietary intake across a given dialysis population may help to improve the clinical outcomes related to nutrients such as dietary protein, phosphorus, or potassium. Although dietary recalls and food records are used to assess dietary intake at individual level and over shorter periods, food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are used to rank subjects of a given population according to their nutrient intake over longer periods.

Design: To modify and refine the conventional Block FFQ to develop a specific FFQ for dialysis patients.

Genetics and women's health issues--the commitment of EMS to women scientists and gender-associated disease topics.

This manuscript presents an overview of a symposium held at the 2009 annual meeting of the Environmental Mutagen Society (EMS) in St. Louis, MO. The symposium was sponsored by the Women in the Environmental Mutagen Society (WEMS) special interest group, and it covered current molecular genetics technologies and their impact on diagnosis and treatment of diseases that primarily or differentially affect women.

Dietary assessment of individuals with chronic kidney disease.

Examining the quality and quantity of food intake by appropriate methods is critical in the management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The four commonly used dietary assessment methods in CKD patients include short-term dietary recalls, several days of food records with or without dietary interviews, urea kinetic based estimates such as protein nitrogen appearance calculation, and food histories including food screeners and food frequency questionnaires (FFQ). There are a number of strengths and limitations of these dietary assessment methods.

Dietary glycemic load, glycemic index, and associated factors in a multiethnic cohort of midlife women.

Background: Dietary glycemic load (GL) and glycemic index (GI), indicators of the postprandial glucose and insulin response to carbohydrate composition of diet, have been suggested as independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. However, current knowledge about the distribution, correlates, and major contributors of these measures in human populations is limited.

Objective: To describe the intakes and correlates of GL and GI in African American, Caucasian, Chinese, and Japanese women in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

The work and home activities questionnaire: energy expenditure estimates and association with percent body fat.

Background: Understanding and increasing physical activity requires assessment of occupational, home, leisure and sedentary activities.

Methods: A physical activity questionnaire was developed using data from a large representative U.S.

Do multivitamin supplements modify the relationship between prenatal alcohol intake and miscarriage?

Objective: To determine whether multivitamin supplements modify the relationship between alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage.

Study Design: We used data from a population-based cohort study of pregnant women (n=1061; response rate=39%). Participants were asked about their alcohol consumption and vitamin intake during pregnancy.

Effects of dietary fiber, fats, and meat intakes on the risk of Barrett's esophagus.

Animal and human models suggest associations between fat intake, fiber intake, and the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. We evaluated whether these factors may act early in the carcinogenic pathway as a risk factor for Barrett's esophagus, a potentially premalignant precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma using a case-control design within the Kaiser Permanente, Northern California population. Incident Barrett's esophagus cases (n = 296) were matched to persons with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (n = 308) and to population controls (n = 309).

Maternal diet and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Objective: Intrauterine environmental factors, including maternal diet, may play an etiologic role in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a common childhood cancer. Expanding on previous findings from phase 1 of the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study (NCCLS), a population-based case-control study, we sought to further elucidate and replicate the relationships between maternal diet and ALL risk.

Methods: We matched 282 case-control sets of children (205 pairs and 77 triplets) from phases 1 and 2 of the NCCLS on sex, date of birth, mother's race, Hispanic racial/ethnic status, and county of residence at birth.

Improving diet and physical activity with ALIVE: a worksite randomized trial.

Context: Healthy diets and regular physical activity confer many health benefits, but the prevalence of these behaviors is relatively low.

Background: Cost-effective strategies are needed to increase healthy eating and physical activity in the population.

Design: An RCT, conducted in 2006, of a 16-week e-mail program offered individually tailored, small-step goals; a personal homepage with tips; educational materials; and tracking and simulation tools.