Relations of serum phosphorus levels to echocardiographic left ventricular mass and incidence of heart failure in the community.

Aims: To evaluate the association of serum phosphorus with cardiac structure/function and incident heart failure.

Methods And Results: We related serum phosphorus to echocardiographic left ventricular (LV) measurements cross-sectionally, and to incident heart failure prospectively in 3300 participants (mean age 44 years, 51% women) free of heart failure, myocardial infarction, and chronic kidney disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]<60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)).

Novel approach to early detection of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity by gadolinium-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in an experimental model.

Background: We sought to determine whether cardiovascular magnetic resonance measures of gadolinium (Gd) signal intensity (SI) within the left ventricular myocardium are associated with future changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after receipt of doxorubicin (DOX).

Methods And Results: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups scheduled to receive weekly intravenous doses of normal saline (n = 7), 1.5 mg/kg DOX (n = 19), or 2.

Segment-specific association between plasma homocysteine level and carotid artery intima-media thickness in the Framingham Offspring Study.

Elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) level is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The relationship between tHcy and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) at the internal carotid artery (ICA)/bulb-IMT and common carotid artery (CCA)-IMT had not been systematically studied, however. Because the ICA/bulb segment is more prone to plaque formation than the CCA segment, differential associations with tHcy at these sites might suggest mechanisms of tHcy action.

Pioglitazone versus glimepiride on coronary artery calcium progression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a secondary end point of the CHICAGO study.

Objective: To compare coronary artery calcium (CAC) progression between 2 treatment groups, pioglitazone versus glimepiride.

Methods And Results: The CHICAGO (Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Atherosclerosis Using Pioglitazone) study demonstrated that pioglitazone significantly decreased carotid intima-media thickness progression compared with glimepiride in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The CAC level was determined at baseline and at the end of 72 weeks of treatment in the pioglitazone (n=146) and glimepiride (n=153) treatment groups using electron beam computed tomography.

Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase and risk of heart failure in the community.

Objective: To examine the association of serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) with incident heart failure.

Methods And Results: We related serum GGT to the incidence of heart failure in 3544 (mean age, 44.5 years; 1833 women and 1711 men) Framingham Study participants who were free of heart failure and myocardial infarction.

Diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, and weight fluctuation are associated with weight change in women and men.

The effect of diet quality on weight change, relative to other body weight determinants, is insufficiently understood. Furthermore, research on long-term weight change in U.S.

Neck circumference as a novel measure of cardiometabolic risk: the Framingham Heart study.

Background: Neck circumference, a proxy for upper-body sc fat, may be a unique fat depot that confers additional cardiovascular risk above and beyond central body fat.

Methods And Results: Participants with neck circumference measures who underwent multidetector computed tomography to assess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were included [n=3307, 48% women; mean age=51 yr; mean body mass index (BMI)=27.8 kg/m2; mean neck circumference=40.

Physical activity and electronic media use in the SEARCH for diabetes in youth case-control study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the physical activity (PA) and electronic media (EM) use habits of a population-based, ascertained sample of youths with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: For this investigation, the Search for Diabetes in Youth Case-Control study (age: 10-20 y; 55% female) recruited 384 youths with provider-diagnosed type 1 DM, 90 youths with type 2 DM, and 173 healthy control subjects between 2003 and 2006, in 2 US centers. PA and EM use were assessed with a 3-day recall of activities, in 30-minute time blocks.

Consent for genetic research in the Framingham Heart Study.

Extensive efforts have been aimed at understanding the genetic underpinnings of complex diseases that affect humans. Numerous genome-wide association studies have assessed the association of genes with human disease, including the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), which genotyped 550,000 SNPs in 9,000 participants. The success of such efforts requires high rates of consent by participants, which is dependent on ethical oversight, communications, and trust between research participants and investigators.

Free testosterone levels are associated with mobility limitation and physical performance in community-dwelling men: the Framingham Offspring Study.

Context: Mobility limitation is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The relationship between circulating testosterone and mobility limitation and physical performance is incompletely understood.

Objective: Our objective was to examine cross-sectional and prospective relations between baseline sex hormones and mobility limitations and physical performance in community-dwelling older men.

Inflammatory markers are increased in youth with type 1 diabetes: the SEARCH Case-Control study.

Context: Increased inflammation may contribute to type 1 diabetes (T1D) complications.

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the association of inflammation with obesity, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia in youth with T1D.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study of youth with and without T1D.

Gamma' fibrinogen: evaluation of a new assay for study of associations with cardiovascular disease.

Background: Studies of disease associations with gamma' fibrinogen, a newly emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease, have been hampered by the lack of a standardized and well-characterized assay.

Methods: We developed an immunometric technique to measure gamma' fibrinogen concentrations in plasma and studied the clinical utility of this test in samples from healthy individuals enrolled in the Framingham Offspring Study and in a separate case/control study of coronary artery disease (CAD). Monoclonal antibody 2.

Abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue and insulin resistance in the Framingham heart study.

Insulin resistance is associated with central obesity and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Our objective is to examine the association between abdominal subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and insulin resistance, to determine which fat depot is a stronger correlate of insulin resistance, and to assess whether there was an interaction between SAT, VAT, and age, sex, or BMI. Participants without diabetes from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), who underwent multidetector computed tomography to assess SAT and VAT (n = 3,093; 48% women; mean age 50.

A meta-analysis of four genome-wide association studies of survival to age 90 years or older: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may yield insights into longevity.

Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of GWAS in Caucasians from four prospective cohort studies: the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Framingham Heart Study, and the Rotterdam Study participating in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. Longevity was defined as survival to age 90 years or older (n = 1,836); the comparison group comprised cohort members who died between the ages of 55 and 80 years (n = 1,955).

Risk score to predict serious bleeding in stable outpatients with or at risk of atherothrombosis.

Aims: To develop a risk score to quantify bleeding risk in outpatients with or at risk of atherothrombosis.

Methods And Results: We studied patients in the REACH Registry, a cohort of 68 236 patients with/at risk of atherothrombosis. The outcome of interest was serious bleeding (non-fatal haemorrhagic stroke or bleeding leading to hospitalization and transfusion) over 2 years.

Evaluating geographic variation in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus incidence in youth in four US regions.

We evaluated geographic variation in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T1DM, T2DM) in four regions of the United States. Data on 807 incident T1DM cases diabetes and 313 T2DM cases occurring in 2002-03 in South Carolina (SC) and Colorado (CO), 5 counties in Washington (WA), and an 8 county region around Cincinnati, Ohio (OH) among youth aged 10-19 years were obtained from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Geographic patterns were evaluated in a Bayesian framework.

Food intake patterns associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study.

We aimed to identify food intake patterns that operate via haemostatic and inflammatory pathways on progression of atherosclerosis among 802 middle-aged adults with baseline and 5-year follow-up ultrasound measurements of common (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) intimal medial thickness (IMT). Food intake was ascertained with an FFQ. We derived food patterns using reduced rank regression (RRR) with plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and fibrinogen as response variables.

C-reactive protein and reclassification of cardiovascular risk in the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: The relationship of circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, particularly with consideration of effects at intermediate levels of risk, has not been fully assessed.

Methods And Results: Among 3006 offspring participants in the Framingham Heart Study free of CVD (mean age, 46 years at baseline), there were 129 hard coronary heart disease (CHD) events and 286 total CVD events during 12 years of follow-up. Cox regression, discrimination with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and net reclassification improvement were used to assess the role of CRP on vascular risk.

Separating the mechanism-based and off-target actions of cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitors with CETP gene polymorphisms.

Background: Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitors raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, but torcetrapib, the first-in-class inhibitor tested in a large outcome trial, caused an unexpected blood pressure elevation and increased cardiovascular events. Whether the hypertensive effect resulted from CETP inhibition or an off-target action of torcetrapib has been debated. We hypothesized that common single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the CETP gene could help distinguish mechanism-based from off-target actions of CETP inhibitors to inform on the validity of CETP as a therapeutic target.

Prevalence and prediction of primary sleep disorders in a clinical trial of depressed patients with insomnia.

Insomnia-pharmacology clinical trials routinely exclude primary sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), with a single night of polysomnography (PSG). Given the expense of PSG, we examined whether a thorough clinical screening, combined with actigraphy, would successfully identify OSA and PLMD as part of baseline screening for a clinical trial of insomnia treatment in depressed patients. Of the 73 patients with a complete baseline dataset, 12 screened positive for OSA/PLMD (AHI > 15, or PLMAI > 15), while 61 "passed" the PSG screen.

Association of circulating cholesteryl ester transfer protein activity with incidence of cardiovascular disease in the community.

Background: Plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration is related inversely to the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inhibiting cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity raises high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and may be cardioprotective, but an initial clinical trial with a CETP inhibitor was stopped prematurely because of increased CVD in treated patients, raising concerns about this approach. Data relating circulating CETP concentrations to CVD incidence in the community are conflicting.

Diet quality and obesity in women: the Framingham Nutrition Studies.

Obesity affects one in three American adult women and is associated with overall mortality and major morbidities. A composite diet index to evaluate total diet quality may better assess the complex relationship between diet and obesity, providing insights for nutrition interventions. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether diet quality, defined according to the previously validated Framingham nutritional risk score (FNRS), was associated with the development of overweight or obesity in women.

Aortic stiffness increases upon receipt of anthracycline chemotherapy.

PURPOSE Cancer survivors exposed to anthracyclines experience an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. We hypothesized that anthracycline use may increase aortic stiffness, a known predictor of CV events. PATIENTS AND METHODS We performed a prospective, case-control study involving 53 patients: 40 individuals who received an anthracycline for the treatment of breast cancer, lymphoma, or leukemia (cases), and 13 age- and sex-matched controls.