Low plasma carotenoids and skeletal muscle strength decline over 6 years.

Background: Higher intake of fruits and vegetables appears to protect against inflammation, poor physical performance, and disability, but its relationship with muscle strength is unclear. We examined the association between total plasma carotenoids, an indicator of fruit and vegetable intake, and changes in muscle strength over a 6-year follow-up in the participants aged 65 years and older in the InCHIANTI study, a population-based study in Tuscany, Italy.

Methods: Plasma carotenoids were measured at enrollment (1998-2000).

Oxidative protein damage is associated with elevated serum interleukin-6 levels among older moderately to severely disabled women living in the community.

Background: Elevated interleukin (IL)-6 is associated with adverse outcomes. Our objective was to determine whether serum protein carbonyls, an indicator of oxidative protein damage and oxidative stress, were associated with IL-6.

Methods: Serum protein carbonyls and IL-6 were measured in 739 women, age > or =65 years, in the Women's Health and Aging Study I.

Paternal smoking and increased risk of infant and under-5 child mortality in Indonesia.

We examined the relationship between paternal smoking and child mortality. Among 361,021 rural and urban families in Indonesia, paternal smoking was associated with increased infant mortality (rural, odds ratio [OR] = 1.30; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.

Coverage of the national vitamin A supplementation program in Ethiopia.

Periodic vitamin A supplementation is a major intervention to reduce morbidity, mortality, and blindness among children in developing countries. The goal was to characterize the coverage of the Ethiopia national vitamin A program among preschool children and to identify risk factors for not receiving vitamin A. In the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey of 2005, among 4762 preschool children, aged 12-59 months, 46.

Effect of parental formal education on risk of child stunting in Indonesia and Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Child stunting is associated with poor child development and increased mortality. Our aim was to determine the effect of length of maternal and paternal education on stunting in children under the age of 5 years.

Methods: Data for indicators of child growth and of parental education and socioeconomic status were gathered from 590,570 families in Indonesia and 395,122 families in Bangladesh as part of major nutritional surveillance programmes.

Child malnutrition and mortality among families not utilizing adequately iodized salt in Indonesia.

Background: Salt iodization is the main strategy for reducing iodine deficiency disorders worldwide. Characteristics of families not using iodized salt need to be known to expand coverage.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether families who do not use iodized salt have a higher prevalence of child malnutrition and mortality and to identify factors associated with not using iodized salt.

Malnutrition and morbidity among children not reached by the national vitamin A capsule programme in urban slum areas of Indonesia.

Objective: To determine whether vitamin A capsule programmes fail to reach children who are at higher risk of malnutrition and morbidity. Although it has been suggested that there are health disparities between children who are reached or not reached by these programmes, little quantitative work has been undertaken to characterize this relationship.

Study Design: As part of a national surveillance system, nutritional status and other factors were compared in 138,956 children, aged 12-59 months, who had and had not received vitamin A supplementation in urban slum areas in Indonesia.

Paternal smoking and increased risk of child malnutrition among families in rural Indonesia.

Objective: To determine whether paternal smoking is associated with an increased risk of child malnutrition among families in rural Indonesia.

Methods: The relation between paternal smoking and child malnutrition was examined in a population-based sample of 438 336 households in the Indonesia Nutrition and Health Surveillance System, 2000-2003. Main outcome measures were child underweight (weight-for-age Z score <-2) and stunting (height-for-age Z score <-2) and severe underweight and severe stunting, defined by respective Z scores <-3, for children aged 0-59 months of age.

Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and the decline of renal function.

Background: Recent studies suggest an association between polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and the development of chronic kidney disease. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between PUFAs and renal function in older adults.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional and prospective analysis of 931 adults, > or = 65 years old, enrolled in the InCHIANTI study, a population-based cohort in Tuscany, Italy.

Oxidative stress and severe walking disability among older women.

Background: Oxidative stress has been implicated in sarcopenia and the loss of muscle strength with aging, but the relationship between oxidative stress and decrease in muscle strength and physical performance has not been well characterized. Serum protein carbonyls are markers of oxidative damage to proteins and are caused by oxidative stress.

Methods: Serum protein carbonyls were measured at baseline and compared with a decrease in walking speed and development of severe walking disability (inability to walk or walking speed <0.

Longitudinal changes in BMD and bone geometry in a population-based study.

Unlabelled: We prospectively examined vBMD and structural bone parameters assessed by QCT among participants of the InCHIANTI study over a 6-yr follow-up. Periosteal apposition occurred both in men and women. Endocortical resorption causes bone loss in older women despite periosteal apposition.

Relationship of hepcidin with parasitemia and anemia among patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Ghana.

The pathogenesis of malarial anemia is incompletely understood. Hepcidin, a recently discovered peptide hormone, is a major regulator of iron metabolism and is thought to play a central role in the anemia of chronic inflammation. The specific aim of the study was to characterize the association between urinary hepcidin, hemoglobin, and parasitemia in 199 patients presenting for evaluation of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Ghana.

Neuropathological alteration of aquaporin 1 immunoreactive enteric neurons in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Long-term diabetic patients exhibit major clinical gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea and constipation. In recent years, water channel protein, aquaporin 1 (AQP1) has been identified in the enteric nervous system (ENS). We have examined the pathological changes in AQP1 immunoreactive (IR) neurons in streptozotocin-induced (STZ) diabetic rats.

Low serum selenium is associated with anemia among older adults in the United States.

Objective: We hypothesized that low serum selenium was associated with anemia in humans.

Subjects: A total of 2092 adults aged 65 and older, in the third National Nutrition Examination Survey, Phase 2 (1991-1994) (NHANES III).

Methods: Examination of the relationship between serum selenium and hematological indices in NHANES III.

Oxidative stress is associated with greater mortality in older women living in the community.

Objectives: To determine whether oxidative stress, as implied by oxidative damage to proteins, is associated with greater mortality in older women living in the community.

Design: Longitudinal.

Setting: Women's Health and Aging Study I, Baltimore, Maryland.

Multivitamin/mineral supplements and prevention of chronic disease.

Objectives: To review and synthesize published literature on the efficacy of multivitamin/mineral supplements and certain single nutrient supplements in the primary prevention of chronic disease in the general adult population, and on the safety of multivitamin/mineral supplements and certain single nutrient supplements, likely to be included in multivitamin/mineral supplements, in the general population of adults and children.

Data Sources: All articles published through February 28, 2006, on MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane databases.

Review Methods: Each article underwent double reviews on title, abstract, and inclusion eligibility.

Types of anemia and mortality among older disabled women living in the community: the Women's Health and Aging Study I.

Aims: To classify the different types of anemia among moderately to severely disabled women living in the community and examine the relationship between types of anemia and mortality.

Methods: We studied anemia in 688 women, >or=65 years, in the Women's Health and Aging Study I, a population based study of moderately to severely disabled older women living in the community in Baltimore, Maryland. Anemia was defined by World Health Organization criteria.

Micronutrient supplements and mortality of HIV-infected adults with pulmonary TB: a controlled clinical trial.

Setting: Zomba and Blantyre, Malawi, Africa.

Objectives: To determine whether daily micronutrient supplementation reduces the mortality of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected adults with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).

Design: A randomised, controlled clinical trial of micronutrient supplementation for HIV-positive and HIV-negative adults with pulmonary TB.

Association of low plasma selenium concentrations with poor muscle strength in older community-dwelling adults: the InCHIANTI Study.

Background: Although selenium plays an important role in muscle function, the relation between circulating selenium and muscle strength in elderly adults has not been characterized.

Objective: The objective was to examine the hypothesis that low plasma selenium is associated with poor muscle strength in older adults.

Design: We measured plasma selenium and hip, grip, and knee strength in a cross-sectional study of 891 men and women aged >or=65 y from the Invecchiare in Chianti (InCHIANTI) Study, a population-based cohort study in Tuscany (Italy).

Parental tobacco use is associated with increased risk of child malnutrition in Bangladesh.

Objectives: We investigated the relation between parental tobacco use and malnutrition in children <5 y of age and compared expenditures on foods in households with and without tobacco use.

Methods: Tobacco use, child anthropometry, and other factors were examined in a stratified, multistage cluster sample of 77 678 households from the Bangladesh Nutrition Surveillance Project (2005-2006). Main outcome measurements were stunting, underweight, and wasting, and severe stunting, severe underweight, and severe wasting.

The interplay between uric acid and antioxidants in relation to physical function in older persons.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between circulating uric acid (UA) levels and plasma antioxidants and whether antioxidant levels modulate the association between UA and physical function.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Community-based.

Diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children under age five living in urban slum areas of Indonesia.

Objectives: To characterize diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children in developing countries.

Methods: We characterized risk factors for anemia in a sample of 32873 children, aged 6-59 months, from poor families in urban slum areas of Indonesia from 2000 to 2003.

Results: The prevalence of anemia was 58.

Low serum selenium concentrations are associated with poor grip strength among older women living in the community.

Aging is associated with a loss of muscle strength, and, in turn, loss of muscle strength has been associated with increased risk of frailty, disability and mortality. The factors that contribute to loss of muscle strength with aging have not been well characterized. Selenium is important in normal muscle function because of its role in selenoenzymes that protect muscle against oxidative damage.

Malnutrition and infectious disease morbidity among children missed by the childhood immunization program in Indonesia.

Although it has been thought that child immunization programs may miss the children who are in greatest need, there are little published quantitative data to support this idea. We sought to characterize malnutrition and morbidity among children who are missed by the childhood immunization program in Indonesia. Vaccination and morbidity histories, anthropometry, and other data were collected for 286,500 children, aged 12-59 months, in rural Indonesia.

Soluble transferrin receptor as an indicator of iron deficiency in HIV-infected infants.

Background: Iron deficiency is common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected infants in sub-Saharan Africa. It is not known whether soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) is a good indicator of iron deficiency in infants with HIV.

Methods: We evaluated sTfR as an indicator of iron deficiency in 134 HIV-infected 9-month-old infants in Kampala, Uganda.