Self-Reported Smoking, Urine Cotinine, and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings From the PREVEND (Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease) Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: We aimed to compare the associations of smoking exposure as assessed by self-reports and urine cotinine with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and determine the potential utility of cotinine for CVD risk prediction.

Methods And Results: Smoking status by self-reports and urine cotinine were assessed at baseline in 4737 participants (mean age, 53 years) of the PREVEND (Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease) prospective study. Participants were classified as never, former, light current (≤10 cigarettes/day), and heavy current smokers (>10 cigarettes/day) according to self-reports and analogous cutoffs for urine cotinine.

[The process of bringing medication in line: the additional benefits of a Structured Medication History].

Objective: To determine the additional benefits of a structured history-taking of medication use (SHIM) from patients admitted to a geriatric ward for obtaining a complete and accurate list of medication used at home, in comparison to an unstructured medication history-taking by the resident physician.

Design: Prospective, observational.

Method: The SHIM, a standardized questionnaire, was used for history-taking from patients admitted to the geriatric ward, and often from their caregivers, too.

HLA class II is associated with distal interphalangeal osteoarthritis.

Objective: To investigate whether there is an association between HLA class II and distal interphalangeal osteoarthritis (DIP OA).

Methods: The study group consisted of consecutive patients with and without DIP OA aged between 40 and 70 years. DIP OA was diagnosed by radiology.

Redox properties and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy of the transition state complex of Azotobacter vinelandii nitrogenase.

Nitrogenase is a two-component metalloenzyme that catalyzes a MgATP hydrolysis driven reduction of substrates. Aluminum fluoride plus MgADP inhibits nitrogenase by stabilizing an intermediate of the on-enzyme MgATP hydrolysis reaction. We report here the redox properties and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signals of the aluminum fluoride-MgADP stabilized nitrogenase complex of Azotobacter vinelandii.