Sex and race differences in urinary Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) levels: Secondary analysis of the DASH-sodium trial.

Previous work in mouse models shows that urinary TNF-α levels become elevated when dietary salt (NaCl) intake increases. To examine if this relationship exists in humans, we conducted a secondary analysis of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-Sodium trial to determine levels of urinary TNF-α in 367 subjects categorized by race, sex, and blood pressure. The DASH-Sodium trial is a multicenter feeding trial in which subjects were randomly assigned to either the DASH or control diet, and high, medium, and low sodium in random order.

Implementation of a national smoke-free prison policy: an economic evaluation within the Tobacco in Prisons (TIPs) study.

Objective: To determine the cost-effectiveness of a smoke-free prison policy in Scotland, through assessments of the trade-offs between costs (healthcare and non-healthcare-related expenditure) and outcomes (health and non-health-related non-monetary consequences) of implementing the policy.

Design: A health economic evaluation consisting of three analyses (cost-consequence, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility), from the perspectives of the healthcare payer, prison service, people in custody and operational staff, assessed the trade-offs between costs and outcomes. Costs associated with the implementation of the policy, healthcare resource use and personal spend on nicotine products were considered, alongside health and non-health outcomes.

Salt loading decreases urinary excretion and increases intracellular accumulation of uromodulin in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Uromodulin (UMOD) is the most abundant renal protein secreted into urine by the thick ascending limb (TAL) epithelial cells of the loop of Henle. Genetic studies have demonstrated an association between UMOD risk variants and hypertension. We aimed to dissect the role of dietary salt in renal UMOD excretion in normotension and chronic hypertension.

Evaluation of a national smoke-free prisons policy using medication dispensing: an interrupted time-series analysis.

Background: Internationally, smoking prevalence among people in prison custody (ie, people on remand awaiting trial, awaiting sentencing, or serving a custodial sentence) is high. In Scotland, all prisons implemented a comprehensive smoke-free policy in 2018 after a 16-month anticipatory period. In this study, we aimed to use data on medication dispensing to assess the impact of this policy on cessation support, health outcomes, and potential unintended consequences among people in prison custody.

Inflammation and hypertension development: A longitudinal analysis of the African-PREDICT study.

Background: The role of inflammation in the development of hypertension remains incompletely understood. While single inflammatory mediators have been shown to associate with changes in blood pressure (ΔBP), the role of clusters of inflammatory mediators has been less comprehensively explored. We therefore determined whether individual or clusters of inflammatory mediators from a large biomarker panel were associated with ΔBP over 4.

Inflammation and salt in young adults: the African-PREDICT study.

Purpose: Low-grade inflammation and a diet high in salt are both established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. High potassium (K) intake was found to counter increase in blood pressure due to high salt intake and may potentially also have protective anti-inflammatory effects. To better understand these interactions under normal physiological conditions, we investigated the relationships between 22 inflammatory mediators with 24-h urinary K in young healthy adults stratified by low, medium and high salt intake (salt tertiles).

Distinct inflammatory mediator patterns in young black and white adults: The African-predict study.

Objective: Inflammatory mediators have been implicated in the early stages of cardiovascular disease development, including hypertension. Since global reports reflect a higher hypertension prevalence in black than white populations, we hypothesise the involvement of specific inflammatory mediators. We therefore compared a detailed range of 22 inflammatory mediators between young black and white adults, and determined the relationship with blood pressure.

Mental wellbeing among people in prison in Scotland: an analysis of repeat cross-sectional surveys.

Background: Mental wellbeing among people in prison is poorly studied, despite featuring in many health and justice policies. We aimed to describe for the first time mental wellbeing among an unselected national prison sample.

Methods: Since 2013, the Scottish Prisoner Survey-a biennial survey of people in custody in Scotland-has included the Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale (WEMWBS), a 14-item scale with higher scores indicating greater wellbeing.

Evaluating the population impact of hepatitis C direct acting antiviral treatment as prevention for people who inject drugs (EPIToPe) - a natural experiment (protocol).

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the second largest contributor to liver disease in the UK, with injecting drug use as the main risk factor among the estimated 200 000 people currently infected. Despite effective prevention interventions, chronic HCV prevalence remains around 40% among people who inject drugs (PWID). New direct-acting antiviral (DAA) HCV therapies combine high cure rates (>90%) and short treatment duration (8 to 12 weeks).

Evaluating possible intended and unintended consequences of the implementation of alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland: a natural experiment protocol.

Introduction: Scotland is the first country to carry out a national implementation of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol. MUP aims to reduce alcohol-related harms, which are high in Scotland compared with Western Europe, and to improve health equalities. MUP is a minimum retail price per unit of alcohol.

Salt stress in the renal tubules is linked to TAL-specific expression of uromodulin and an upregulation of heat shock genes.

Previously, our comprehensive cardiovascular characterization study validated Uromodulin as a blood pressure gene. Uromodulin is a glycoprotein exclusively synthesized at the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle and is encoded by the Umod gene. Umod mice have significantly lower blood pressure than Umod mice, are resistant to salt-induced changes in blood pressure, and show a leftward shift in pressure-natriuresis curves reflecting changes of sodium reabsorption.

Do patients who die from an alcohol-related condition 'drift' into areas of greater deprivation? Alcohol-related mortality and health selection theory in Scotland.

Background: Health selection has been proposed to explain the patterning of alcohol-related mortality by area deprivation. This study investigated whether persons who die from alcohol-related conditions are more likely to experience social drift than those who die from other causes.

Methods: Deaths recorded in Scotland (2013, 21 years) were coded as 'alcohol-related' or 'other' and by deprivation decile of residence at death.

Role of renal transporters and novel regulatory interactions in the TAL that control blood pressure.

Hypertension (HTN), a major public health issue is currently the leading factor in the global burden of disease, where associated complications account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year. Excessive dietary salt intake is among the environmental factors that contribute to HTN, known as salt sensitivity.

Adjustment for survey non-representativeness using record-linkage: refined estimates of alcohol consumption by deprivation in Scotland.

Background And Aims: Analytical approaches to addressing survey non-participation bias typically use only demographic information to improve estimates. We applied a novel methodology which uses health information from data linkage to adjust for non-representativeness. We illustrate the method by presenting adjusted alcohol consumption estimates for Scotland.

The SCottish Alcoholic Liver disease Evaluation: A Population-Level Matched Cohort Study of Hospital-Based Costs, 1991-2011.

Studies assessing the costs of alcoholic liver disease are lacking. We aimed to calculate the costs of hospitalisations before and after diagnosis compared to population controls matched by age, sex and socio-economic deprivation. We aimed to use population level data to identify a cohort of individuals hospitalised for the first time with alcoholic liver disease in Scotland between 1991 and 2011.

Impact of opioid substitution therapy for Scotland's prisoners on drug-related deaths soon after prisoner release.

Aim: To assess whether the introduction of a prison-based opioid substitution therapy (OST) policy was associated with a reduction in drug-related deaths (DRD) within 14 days after prison release.

Design: Linkage of Scotland's prisoner database with death registrations to compare periods before (1996-2002) and after (2003-07) prison-based OST was introduced.

Setting: All Scottish prisons.

Understanding extreme mortality among prisoners: a national cohort study in Scotland using data linkage.

Background: Mortality is known to be extremely high among people who have been imprisoned, but there is limited information about the factors that explain this increased risk.

Methods: Standard record linkage methods were used to link Scottish prison records and mortality data for all individuals imprisoned in Scotland for the first time between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2007.

Results: Among 76 627 individuals there were 4414 deaths (3982 in men).

Mortality related to novel psychoactive substances in Scotland, 2012: an exploratory study.

Background: The growth of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) over the last decade, both in terms of availability and consumption, is of increasing public health concern. Despite recent increases in related mortality, the circumstances surrounding and characteristics of individuals involved in NPS deaths at a population level remain relatively unknown.

Methods: The Scottish National Drug Related Death Database (NDRDD) collects a wide-range of data relating to the nature and circumstances of individuals who have died a drug-related death (DRD).

Assessing the representativeness of population-sampled health surveys through linkage to administrative data on alcohol-related outcomes.

Health surveys are an important resource for monitoring population health, but selective nonresponse may impede valid inference. This study aimed to assess nonresponse bias in a population-sampled health survey in Scotland, with a focus on alcohol-related outcomes. Nonresponse bias was assessed by examining whether rates of alcohol-related harm (i.

Comparative cytotoxicity of nanosilver in human liver HepG2 and colon Caco2 cells in culture.

The use of silver nanoparticles in food, food contact materials, dietary supplements and cosmetics has increased significantly owing to their antibacterial and antifungal properties. As a consequence, the need for validated rapid screening methods to assess their toxicity is necessary to ensure consumer safety. This study evaluated two widely used in vitro cell culture models, human liver HepG2 cells and human colon Caco2 cells, as tools for assessing the potential cytotoxicity of food- and cosmetic-related nanoparticles.