Markers of cartilage and bone matrix metabolism differ between the sera of macaque and squirrel monkeys.

Background: Nonhuman primates develop the characteristic lesions of osteoarthritis, making them attractive biomedical models for the study of environmental factors, such as diet, which may influence the progress of the condition.

Methods And Materials: We used ELISA assays of potential markers of osteoarthritis which were developed for use in humans to see if we could determined the presence of immunoreactivity in two nonhuman primate genera - Macaca (macaque monkeys) and Saimiri (squirrel monkeys).

Results: Inter-generic differences were significant for most markers.

Visceral adiposity is an independent predictor of incident hypertension in Japanese Americans.

Background: Visceral adiposity is generally considered to play a key role in the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: To examine the relationship between directly measured visceral adiposity and the risk for incident hypertension, independent of other adipose depots and fasting plasma insulin levels.

Design: Community-based prospective cohort study with 10- to 11-year follow-up.

Visceral adiposity and the prevalence of hypertension in Japanese Americans.

Background: Visceral adiposity is generally considered to play a key role in the metabolic syndrome, including hypertension. The purpose of this study was to evaluate cross-sectionally whether visceral adiposity is associated with prevalence of hypertension independent of other adipose depots and fasting plasma insulin.

Methods And Results: Study subjects included 563 Japanese Americans with normal or impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes but not taking oral hypoglycemic medication or insulin at entry.

Visceral adiposity and the risk of impaired glucose tolerance: a prospective study among Japanese Americans.

Objective: Greater visceral adiposity, higher insulin resistance, and impaired insulin secretion increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. Whether visceral adiposity increases risk of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) independent of other adipose depots, insulin resistance, and insulin secretion is not known.

Research Design And Methods: Study subjects included 128 Japanese Americans with normal glucose tolerance at entry.

Spinal degenerative disk disease (DDD) in female macaque monkeys: epidemiology and comparison with women.

Spinal degenerative disk disease (DDD) in a radiographic, cross-sectional sample of 192 female macaque monkeys, approximately 5-30 years old, is described. The presence and extent of disk space narrowing (DSN) and anterior osteophytosis were assessed with reference to age, average lifetime body mass. and distribution within the thoracolumbar spine.

Evidence for common controls over inheritance of bone quantity and body size from segregation analysis in a pedigreed colony of nonhuman primates (Macaca nemestrina).

The genetic determinants of bone mineral quantity and body size and their postulated interaction are just beginning to be elucidated. The heritability of bone quantity and its relationship to components of body size were therefore investigated using segregation analysis applied to a large pedigreed nonhuman primate (Macaca nemestrina) breeding colony. The colony consisted of 216 females and 16 males with uniform dietary histories, environmental conditions, and rearing of offspring apart from the mother to minimize familial aggregation.

Standard definitions of overweight and central adiposity for determining diabetes risk in Japanese Americans.

Background: Despite having lower average body mass indexes (BMIs) than do whites, Asians are at high risk of type 2 diabetes, possibly because of their greater central adiposity. The criteria for identifying individuals at risk of obesity-related conditions are usually not population specific.

Objective: Our goal was to determine whether the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) overweight and obesity guidelines are useful for identifying diabetes risk in Japanese Americans.

Visceral adiposity and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective study among Japanese Americans.

Objective: We conducted a prospective study among Japanese Americans of diabetes incidence in relation to visceral and regional adiposity, fasting insulin and C-peptide, and a measure of insulin secretion, because little prospective data exist on these associations.

Research Design And Methods: Baseline variables included plasma glucose, C-peptide, and insulin measured after an overnight fast and 30 and 120 min after a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test; abdominal, thoracic, and thigh fat areas by computed tomography (CT); BMI (kg/m2); and insulin secretion (incremental insulin response [IIR]).

Results: Study subjects included 290 second-generation (nisei) and 230 third-generation (sansei) Japanese Americans without diabetes, of whom 65 and 13, respectively, developed diabetes.

Visceral adiposity and incident coronary heart disease in Japanese-American men. The 10-year follow-up results of the Seattle Japanese-American Community Diabetes Study.

Objective: To identify risk factors for incident coronary heart disease (CHD).

Research Design And Methods: A total of 175 Japanese-American men without CHD were followed for up to 10 years. Baseline variables were blood pressure, weight, BMI, fat areas by computed tomography, skinfold thicknesses, abdominal circumference, plasma insulin, C-peptide, cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, HDL2 cholesterol, and HDL3 cholesterol, triglycerides, apoproteins A1 and B, and diagnosis of diabetes and hypertension.

Bone physiology during pregnancy and lactation in young macaques.

We used a nonhuman primate model (Macaca nemestrina) of adolescent human pregnancy to characterize bone remodeling at midpregnancy and at weaning and the associated changes in bone mass. In this longitudinal study, 125 nulliparous females were followed through pregnancy, 6 months of lactation, and 3 months postweaning; 13 nonpregnant females served as controls. Between early pregnancy and midpregnancy, the whole body bone mineral increased.

Reduced amylin release is a characteristic of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes in Japanese Americans.

Islet amyloid is a characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes. Its major component is the normal beta-cell secretory product amylin, or islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP). To determine whether increased or disproportionate release of amylin may explain the propensity for amyloid deposition in type 2 diabetes, we measured plasma amylin-like immunoreactivity (ALI) and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) release in response to an oral glucose load in 94 Japanese-American subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT; n=56), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT; n=10), and type 2 diabetes (n=28) as defined by World Health Organization criteria.

Evaluation of vertebral volumetric vs. areal bone mineral density during growth.

Bone mineral "density" (BMD) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) does not represent the volumetric density (grams per cubic centimeter), but rather the areal density (grams per square centimeter). This distinction is important during growth. The purpose of this study was to measure vertebral dimensions in cadavers of young pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina), and to derive equations to predict the volumetric bone density from noninvasive measurements.

Visceral adiposity, fasting plasma insulin, and lipid and lipoprotein levels in Japanese Americans.

Objective: To examine the associations among visceral and subcutaneous adiposity, body-mass-index (BMI), fasting plasma insulin, lipid, and lipoprotein levels.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Subjects: Non-diabetic second- (Nisei, n = 290) and third-generation (Sansei, n = 229) Japanese Americans.

Low insulin secretion and high fasting insulin and C-peptide levels predict increased visceral adiposity. 5-year follow-up among initially nondiabetic Japanese-American men.

Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia occur more frequently in subjects with greater visceral adiposity, but it is not known whether these metabolic abnormalities precede or follow visceral fat accumulation. We prospectively studied the development of visceral adiposity in relation to fasting and stimulated insulin and C-peptide levels. We followed 137 nondiabetic, second-generation Japanese-American men for changes in visceral adiposity over 5 years.

Coronary heart disease and NIDDM in Japanese-Americans.

Glucose intolerance is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Japanese-Americans, especially in men. Intra-abdominal fat, assessed by computed tomography, is increased in those with both NIDDM and CHD. Increased intra-abdominal fat (visceral adiposity) with CHD is independent of NIDDM or impaired glucose tolerance.

Hypertension in Japanese Americans: the Seattle Japanese-American Community Diabetes Study.

AMONG SEATTLE'S JAPANESE AMERICANS, hypertension is associated with older age, male gender (in the younger age groups), glucose intolerance (impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes), and visceral obesity (measured by computed tomography). The gender difference in prevalence of hypertension is absent in those ages 65 to 74 and in those with diabetes. In the absence of diabetes, hypertension is not associated with fasting plasma insulin levels in the older second generation, but it is in the younger third generation.

Susceptibility to development of central adiposity among populations.

There is good evidence that central (visceral) adiposity is important in the development of the insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome (obesity, hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and coronary heart disease). It is proposed that some non-Caucasian populations are especially susceptible to development of this syndrome, and that lifestyle changes may play important etiologic roles. We postulate that this is due to the presence in these populations of a genetic predisposition to weight gain, perhaps related to a "thrifty" genotype, leading to the concentration of weight gain in visceral fat depots, when there is exposure to conditions associated with westernization.

Earlier appearance of impaired insulin secretion than of visceral adiposity in the pathogenesis of NIDDM. 5-Year follow-up of initially nondiabetic Japanese-American men.

OBJECTIVE--To identify risk factors for development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) during a 5-year longitudinal follow-up of second-generation Japanese-American (Nisei) men. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--For 5 years, 137 initially nondiabetic Nisei men were followed with 75-g oral glucose tolerance tests at the initial visit and at 2.5- and 5-year follow-up visits.

Visceral adiposity, fasting plasma insulin, and blood pressure in Japanese-Americans.

Objective: To examine the associations among blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), intra-abdominal fat, and fasting plasma insulin levels among nondiabetic subjects.

Research Design And Methods: Second- (Nisei, n = 290) and third- (Sansei, n = 230) generation Japanese-American subjects without non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were selected from a community-based study of NIDDM incidence and complications. A cross-sectional comparison of measures obtained at the baseline visit was performed.

Thoughts on gender-related research: Models, myths, and medicine.

Gender-related research directed to hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD) is discussed in terms of the one-sex and two-sex models. Gender "blind" research on the two conditions has resulted in questionable treatment regimes for women. In addition, the biomedical myth of CAD as a male disease has also perpetuated less-than-optimal treatment.

Diabetes and diabetes risk factors in second- and third-generation Japanese Americans in Seattle, Washington.

In Seattle, Washington, the prevalence of diabetes was 20% in second-generation (Nisei) Japanese-American men and 16% in Nisei women 45-74 years old, while the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) was 36% in Nisei men and 40% in Nisei women. Hyperglycemia was less and duration of diabetes shorter in women. Related to diabetes and IGT in Nisei were higher fasting plasma insulin levels and central (visceral) adiposity.

Metabolic and adipose risk factors for NIDDM and coronary disease in third-generation Japanese-American men and women with impaired glucose tolerance.

Since second-generation (Nisei) Japanese Americans are prone to develop the insulin resistance syndrome, younger third-generation (Sansei) Japanese Americans from a cross-sectional 10% volunteer sample of Sansei men (n = 115) and women (n = 115) 34 years or older in King County, Washington with normal glucose tolerance or IGT were examined for metabolic and adipose risk factors associated with this syndrome. After an overnight 10-h fast, blood samples were taken for measurement of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, lipids, and lipoproteins, followed by a 3-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test with blood samples taken for glucose, insulin, and C-peptide measurement. BMI (kg/m2), skinfolds, and body fat areas (by computed tomography) were measured.

Dermatoglyphic asymmetry in fetal alcohol syndrome.

The hypothesis was tested that prenatal alcohol exposure disrupts developmental homeostasis, as reflected in increased dermatoglyphic fluctuating asymmetry. Twenty-two patients with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and 9 with fetal alcohol effect (FAE) were matched for sex with 31 controls. On each patient, the right a-b dermal ridge count was subtracted from the left to obtain the asymmetry value.

Relationship of absence or presence of a family history of diabetes to body weight and body fat distribution in type 2 diabetes.

In a study sample of second generation Japanese American men (age range 45-74 years), family history of diabetes in a sibling or parent was present in 69 men (24 of 79 normal men and 45 of 78 type 2 diabetic men, P less than 0.001). Both general adiposity and body fat distribution have been associated with type 2 diabetes.