Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase: symposium on 50 years of biomedical research from its discovery to latest findings.

LCAT converts free cholesterol to cholesteryl esters in the process of reverse cholesterol transport. Familial LCAT deficiency (FLD) is a genetic disease that was first described by Kaare R. Norum and Egil Gjone in 1967.

Lifelong benefits on myocardial infarction mortality: 40-year follow-up of the randomized Oslo diet and antismoking study.

Background: The effects of saturated fat on atherosclerotic vascular disease are currently debated.

Objectives: In the Oslo cardiovascular study initiated in 1972/1973, a 5-year randomized intervention was conducted in healthy middle-aged men at high risk of coronary heart disease to compare the effects on coronary heart disease incidence of diet and antismoking advice versus control (no intervention). A significant reduction (47%) in first myocardial infarction incidence was observed.

Scurvy and cloudberries: a chapter in the history of nutritional sciences.

We translated two Latin texts about scurvy. One is by Ambrosius Rhodius, who in 1635 published his doctoral thesis on scurvy. This contains aspects of 16th- and 17th-century folklore medicine.

[The WHO Child Growth Standards for children under 5 years].

Background: In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the new global WHO Child Growth Standards for children under five years. The rationale for developing this new growth standard was that a review of the NCHS/WHO-reference, which had been recommended for international use since 1978, showed that the growth of breast-fed infants deviated negatively from this reference. Most children included in the NCHS/WHO-reference from 1978 were fed mainly with infant formula.

Uptake of vitamin A in macrophages from physiologic transport proteins: role of retinol-binding protein and chylomicron remnants.

Vitamin A plays an important role in reducing infectious disease morbidity and mortality by enhancing immunity, an effect that is partly mediated by macrophages. Thus, knowing how these cells take up vitamin A is important. The results in the present study demonstrate that J774 macrophages efficiently take up chylomicron remnant retinyl esters and retinol-binding protein (retinol-RBP) bound retinol by specific and saturable mechanisms.

Implementation of the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study in Norway.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MRGS) European site was Oslo, Norway. Oslo has a high breastfeeding rate. Ninety-nine percent of mothers initiate breastfeeding soon after delivery, and 80% continue for at least six months.

Intralobular Distribution of Vitamin A-Storing Lipid Droplets in Hepatic Stellate Cells with Special Reference to Polar Bear and Arctic Fox.

We examined the liver of adult polar bears, arctic foxes, and rats by gold chloride staining, fluorescence microscopy for the detection of autofluorescence of vitamin A, hematoxylin-eosin staining, staining with Masson's trichrome, Ishii and Ishii's silver impregnation, and transmission electron microscopical morphometry. The liver lobules of the arctic animals showed a zonal gradient in the storage of vitamin A. The density (i.

[Axel Holst and Theodor Frolich--pioneers in the combat of scurvy].

Axel Holst (1860-1931), professor of hygiene and bacteriology at the University of Oslo and paediatrician Theodor Frølich (1870-1947) became interested in a disease termed "ship beriberi" which afflicted the crews of sailing ships, and which showed an uncanny likeness to scurvy. They suspected a nutritional deficiency, and established an animal model that allowed systematic study of factors that led to disease as well as the preventive value of different substances. The choice of the guinea pig as the experimental animal for these studies was one indeed fortuitous, as that species has been shown to be among the very few mammals incapable of endogenous synthesis of ascorbic acid.

Obesity and associated factors in a Palestinian West Bank village population.

Objective: To describe body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and waist-hip ratio in a Palestinian West Bank village population, and to assess the associations of these variables to blood pressure and serum lipids.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community-based study in a prototypic semi-rural Palestinian village in the central West Bank.

Nuclear deviation in hepatic parenchymal cells on sinusoidal surfaces in Arctic animals.

In normal rat and human, most of the nuclei of hepatic parenchymal cells are centrally located in the cytoplasm. However, it is reported that the nuclei of hepatic parenchymal cells are situated at a deviated position on sinusoidal surfaces under pathological situations such as chronic hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, adenomatous hyperplasia, or regeneration. During a study on the mechanism of extreme vitamin A-accumulation in hepatic stellate cells of arctic animals including polar bears, arctic foxes, bearded seals, and glaucous gulls, we noticed that these arctic animals displayed the nuclear deviation in hepatic parenchymal cells on sinusoidal surfaces.

Relationships between plasma levels of organochlorines, retinol and thyroid hormones from polar bears (Ursus maritimus) at Svalbard.

Associations were determined between retinol and the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), respectively, and the organochlorine contaminants (OCs) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 1, 1-dichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in blood plasma from polar bears (Ursus maritimus) caught at Svalbard. The blood samples were collected from free-ranging polar bears of different age and sex in 1991-1994. The retinol concentration and the ratio of total T4 (TT4) to free T4(FT4) (TT4/FT4 ratio) decreased linearly with increasing concentrations of PCBs and HCB.

Food consumption patterns in a Palestinian West Bank population.

Objective: To describe the food consumption patterns in relation to wealth status and age groups in a Palestinian West Bank village population.

Design: Community-based cross-sectional survey of both households and individuals. A list recall method was used at the household level.

Retinoylation of proteins in rat hepatocytes following uptake of chylomicron remnant retinyl ester.

Several proteins may covalently bind retinoic acid, a process called retinoylation. Recently, we have demonstrated that proteins were retinoylated in vivo in liver, kidney and lung. In order to gain further knowledge about the mechanism of this process, we studied retinoylation in rat hepatocytes administered vitamin A as [3H]retinyl esters in chylomicron remnants.

Lovastatin inhibits G1/S transition of normal human B-lymphocytes independent of apoptosis.

Lovastatin is a potent inhibitor of protein prenylation, and it has been reported to have pleiotropic cellular effects. In the present study we have elucidated the effects of lovastatin on cell cycle progression and apoptosis of normal human B-lymphocytes. When added to B-lymphocytes stimulated with anti-immunoglobulin (anti-mu) and SAC, lovastatin (20 microM) inhibited the cells in the late G1 phase of the cell cycle.

Retinyl esters are hydrolyzed in early endosomes of J774 macrophages.

The aim of the current study was to identify the subcellular compartment(s) responsible for the hydrolysis of chylomicron remnant-retinyl esters, in J774.1 cells. The cells were incubated with medium containing chylomicron remnant [(3)H]retinyl ester.

Malignant epithelial tumours in the upper digestive tract: a dietary and socio-medical case-control and survival study.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to elucidate the influence of social, dietary and environmental factors on the incidence of malignant epithelial tumours in the upper digestive tract and on the prognosis of patients with these cancers.

Design: A population-based case-control study was carried out, and the patients in the study were included in a survival analysis.

Setting: The study was carried out at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.