The Type and Amount of Dietary Fat Affect Plasma Factor VIIc, Fibrinogen, and PAI-1 in Healthy Individuals and Individuals at High Cardiovascular Disease Risk: 2 Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Factor VIIc, fibrinogen, and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) are cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and are modulated, in part, by fat type and amount.

Objective: We evaluated fat type and amount on the primary outcomes: factor VIIc, fibrinogen, and PAI-1.

Methods: In the Dietary Effects on Lipoproteins and Thrombogenic Activity (DELTA) Trial, 2 controlled crossover feeding studies evaluated substituting carbohydrate or MUFAs for SFAs.

Effect of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet in People with Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Feeding Study.

Introduction: Inflammation underlies a variety of chronic medical conditions, including diabetes. The anti-inflammatory diet, one that excludes foods that may stimulate inflammation and includes foods that reduce inflammation, may improve inflammatory biomarkers in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Study Design: Thirty participants with diabetes or pre-diabetes were randomized (2:1) in a controlled feeding study that compared the anti-inflammatory diet (=20) to a control diet (=10) based on the American Diabetes Association recommendations.

Monthly haemostatic factor variability in women and men.

Background: Hormonal status influences haemostatic factors including fibrinogen, factor VII and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1), and concentrations differ among men, premenopausal and postmenopausal women. This study examines how phases of the menstrual cycle influence variability of fibrinogen, factor VII and PAI-1.

Design: We studied 103 subjects (39 premenopausal women, 18 postmenopausal women and 46 men) during three, randomized, 8-week energy- and nutrient-controlled experimental diets in the Dietary Effects on Lipids and Thrombogenic Activity (DELTA) Study.

Glycemic index and glycemic load are associated with some cardiovascular risk factors among the PREMIER study participants.

Background: The clinical significance of glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) is inconclusive.

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the association of GI and GL with clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors including body weight, blood pressure (BP), serum lipids, fasting glucose, insulin and homocysteine over time among the PREMIER participants.

Design: PREMIER was an 18-month randomized lifestyle intervention trial, conducted from 2000 to 2002, designed to help participants reduce BP by following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern, losing weight, reducing sodium and increasing physical activity.

Effect of dietary protein supplementation on blood pressure: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Observational studies have reported an inverse association between dietary protein intake and blood pressure (BP). We compared the effect of soy protein, milk protein, and carbohydrate supplementation on BP among healthy adults.

Methods And Results: We conducted a randomized, double-blind crossover trial with 3 intervention phases among 352 adults with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension in New Orleans, LA, and Jackson, MS, from September 2003 to April 2008.

A train the trainer model for integrating evidence-based medicine into a complementary and alternative medicine training program.

Background: Public interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown over the past decade, accompanied by increased demand for evidence-based approaches to CAM practice. In order to define the role evidence-based decision making has in CAM practice, CAM professionals must have a full understanding of evidence-based medicine (EBM) concepts.

Objective: This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a week-long intensive EBM short course for CAM faculty at a naturopathic and classical Chinese medicine institution.

The Vanguard Faculty program: research training for complementary and alternative medicine faculty.

Background: The increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment is paralleled by a growing demand for an evidence-based approach to CAM practice. In 2007, the Helfgott Research Institute at the National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM), in partnership with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), both in Portland, OR, began a National Institutes of Health-funded initiative to increase the quality and quantity of evidence-based medicine (EBM) content in the curricula at NCNM.

Design: One key strategy of the Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program (R-CAMP) initiative was to create a faculty development program that included four components: intensive training in EBM; professional skills enhancement; peer and mentored support; and, ultimately, utilization of these skills to incorporate EBM into the curricula.

Static magnetic field therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome: a feasibility study.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of conducting trials of static magnetic field (SMF) therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), to collect preliminary data on the effectiveness of 2 SMF dosages, and to explore the influence of an SMF on median nerve conduction.

Design: Randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial with a 6-week intervention and a 12-week follow-up.

Setting: University hospital outpatient clinics.

Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with reduced blood pressure: a prospective study among United States adults.

Background: Increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been associated with an elevated risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type II diabetes mellitus. However, the effects of SSB consumption on blood pressure (BP) are uncertain. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between changes in SSB consumption and changes in BP among adults.

Reduction in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with weight loss: the PREMIER trial.

Background: Consumption of liquid calories from beverages has increased in parallel with the obesity epidemic in the US population, but their causal relation remains unclear.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine how changes in beverage consumption affect weight change among adults.

Design: This was a prospective study of 810 adults participating in the PREMIER trial, an 18-mo randomized, controlled, behavioral intervention trial.

Can individuals meet multiple physical activity and dietary behavior goals?

Objectives: To examine whether participants with the most behavioral goals to achieve were more likely to meet more goals than those given fewer goals.

Methods: Eight hundred ten participants were randomly assigned to advice-only, established guidelines for blood pressure control (reduced sodium, increased physical activity), or established guidelines plus the DASH diet (increased fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, reduced fat).

Results: At 6 months, 11.

Static magnetic field therapy: a critical review of treatment parameters.

Static magnetic field (SMF) therapy, applied via a permanent magnet attached to the skin, is used by people worldwide for self-care. Despite a lack of established SMF dosage and treatment regimens, multiple studies are conducted to evaluate SMF therapy effectiveness. Our objectives in conducting this review are to:(i) summarize SMF research conducted in humans; (ii) critically evaluate reporting quality of SMF dosages and treatment parameters and (iii) propose a set of criteria for reporting SMF treatment parameters in future clinical trials.

Design considerations and rationale of a multi-center trial to sustain weight loss: the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial.

Background: The Weight Loss Maintenance Trial (WLM) is a multi-center, randomized, controlled trial that compares the effects of two 30-month maintenance interventions, i.e., Personal Contact (PC) and Interactive Technology (IT) to a self-directed usual care control group (SD), in overweight or obese individuals who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

Relationship of dietary linoleic acid to blood pressure. The International Study of Macro-Micronutrients and Blood Pressure Study [corrected].

Findings from observational and interventional studies on the relationship of dietary linoleic acid, the main dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid, with blood pressure have been inconsistent. The International Study of Macro-Micronutrients and Blood Pressure is an international cross-sectional epidemiological study of 4680 men and women ages 40 to 59 years from 17 population samples in China, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States. We report associations of linoleic acid intake of individuals with their blood pressure.

Comparison of monounsaturated fat with carbohydrates as a replacement for saturated fat in subjects with a high metabolic risk profile: studies in the fasting and postprandial states.

Background: In subjects with a high prevalence of metabolic risk abnormalities, the preferred replacement for saturated fat is unresolved.

Objective: The objective was to study whether carbohydrate or monounsaturated fat is a preferred replacement for saturated fat.

Design: Fifty-two men and 33 women, selected to have any combination of HDL cholesterol < or = 30th percentile, triacylglycerol > or = 70th percentile, or insulin > or = 70th percentile, were enrolled in a 3-period, 7-wk randomized crossover study.

The PREMIER intervention helps participants follow the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension dietary pattern and the current Dietary Reference Intakes recommendations.

Objective: To examine the influence of the PREMIER study lifestyle interventions on dietary intakes and adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern and the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI).

Design: An 18-month multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing two multicomponent lifestyle intervention programs to an advice only control group.

Subjects/setting: A total of 810 participants were recruited from local communities and randomized into the study.

Effects of individual components of multiple behavior changes: the PREMIER trial.

Objectives: To assess contributions of individual lifestyle changes on systolic blood pressure (SBP) changes.

Methods: We examined associations between lifestyle behavior changes and SBP after 6 and 18 months in 782 PREMIER trial participants.

Results: In multivariate models omitting weight, predicted SBP reductions ranged from (1)/2 to 1(1)/2 mm Hg for reduced urinary sodium, improved fitness, and adherence to the DASH diet (except sodium at 18 months).

PREMIER--a trial of lifestyle interventions for blood pressure control: intervention design and rationale.

Interventions encouraging adoption of healthy diets and increased physical activity are needed to achieve national goals for preventing and treating hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. PREMIER was a multicenter clinical trial testing the effects of two lifestyle interventions on blood pressure control, compared with advice only. Both interventions implemented established national guidelines for blood pressure control (weight loss, reduced sodium and alcohol intake, and increased physical activity), and one intervention also included the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.

Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on diet, weight, physical fitness, and blood pressure control: 18-month results of a randomized trial.

Background: The main 6-month results from the PREMIER trial showed that comprehensive behavioral intervention programs improve lifestyle behaviors and lower blood pressure.

Objective: To compare the 18-month effects of 2 multicomponent behavioral interventions versus advice only on hypertension status, lifestyle changes, and blood pressure.

Design: Multicenter, 3-arm, randomized trial conducted from January 2000 through November 2002.

Electronic medical record reminder improves osteoporosis management after a fracture: a randomized, controlled trial.

Objectives: Osteoporosis treatment rates after a fracture are low. This study evaluated methods to increase guideline-recommended osteoporosis care postfracture.

Design: Participants were randomly assigned to usual care or one of two interventions.

Dietary approaches to prevent and treat hypertension: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

A substantial body of evidence strongly supports the concept that multiple dietary factors affect blood pressure (BP). Well-established dietary modifications that lower BP are reduced salt intake, weight loss, and moderation of alcohol consumption (among those who drink). Over the past decade, increased potassium intake and consumption of dietary patterns based on the "DASH diet" have emerged as effective strategies that also lower BP.

Practice patterns in patients at risk for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

Patients suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions often take glucocorticoid medications over long periods of time. More than a million patients in the United States receive these agents each year. One of the most serious side effects of this treatment is glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP).

The near absence of osteoporosis treatment in older men with fractures.

The burden of osteoporotic fractures in older men is significant. The objectives of our study were to: (1) characterize older men with fractures associated with osteoporosis, (2) determine if medication treatment rates for osteoporosis are improving and (3) identify patient, healthcare benefit and utilization, and clinician characteristics that are significantly associated with treatment. This retrospective cohort study assessed 1,171 men aged 65 or older with any new fracture associated with osteoporosis between 1 January 1998 and 30 June 2001 in a non-profit health maintenance organization in the United States.

Physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and their relationship to cardiovascular risk factors in African Americans and non-African Americans with above-optimal blood pressure.

This report describes cross-sectional associations among physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, dietary habits, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a large sample (n = 810) of African Americans (n = 279) and non-African Americans (n = 531) with above-optimal blood pressure. Participants in PREMIER, a clinical trial for blood pressure control through lifestyle approaches, underwent baseline assessments to determine physical activity level, cardiorespiratory fitness category, dietary intake, and CVD risk factors. Mean levels of body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, daily percent calories from fat and saturated fat, daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and daily fiber intake were examined across three physical activity levels and two fitness categories.

Comprehensive lifestyle modification and blood pressure control: a review of the PREMIER trial.

The PREMIER trial assessed the aggregate effect on blood pressure (BP) of nationally recommended lifestyle modifications in free-living adults with high-normal (stage 1) hypertension. Participants (N=810) were randomized to the advice-only group; the established group (consisting of weight loss, increased physical activity, and reduced sodium and alcohol intake); or the established plus Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet group (consisting of the established interventions in addition to the DASH dietary pattern). The primary outcome was change in systolic BP at 6 months.