Influence of apolipoprotein E, smoking, and alcohol intake on carotid atherosclerosis: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study.

Background And Purpose: Apolipoprotein E (apoE) isoforms and lifestyle factors play an important role in the development of coronary heart disease. The association of apoE and carotid atherosclerosis remains controversial.

Methods: We investigated the relation of apoE, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and their interaction with carotid atherosclerosis on 544 individuals free of coronary heart disease in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Family Heart Study.

Gender difference in diastolic function in hypertension (the HyperGEN study).

Although several studies indicate that there are gender differences in left ventricular (LV) systolic function, it remains unclear whether similar differences exist with regard to diastolic function. Accordingly, Doppler echocardiograms were analyzed in 515 male and 839 female, mostly treated (95%) hypertensive participants enrolled in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study with no evidence of abnormal wall motion or significant valvular heart disease. There was no difference in age between genders, but after adjusting for age and race, men had lower body mass indexes (29.

A major predisposition locus for severe obesity, at 4p15-p14.

Although the predisposition to morbid obesity is heritable, the identities of the disease-causing genes are largely unknown. Therefore, we have conducted a genomewide search with 628 markers, using multigenerational Utah pedigrees to identify genes involved in predisposition to obesity. In the genomewide search, we identified a highly significant linkage to high body-mass index in female patients, at D4S2632, with a multipoint heterogeneity LOD (HLOD) score of 6.

Loss-of-function polymorphism of the human kallikrein gene with reduced urinary kallikrein activity.

Kallikrein is synthesized in the distal tubules and produces kinins, which are involved in the regulation of vascular tone in the kidney. Urinary kallikrein activity has been reported to be partly inherited and to be reduced in essential hypertension. In a systematic search for molecular variants of the human kallikrein gene, nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified.

Low-renin hypertension, altered sodium homeostasis, and an alpha-adducin polymorphism.

Defining the genetic basis of common forms of human essential hypertension is most informative when correlated with physiological mechanisms that underlie blood pressure regulation. A polymorphism of the alpha-adducin gene as been associated with elevated blood pressure in the rat, but previous studies of the 460Trp polymorphism of the human alpha-adducin gene have not clearly identified an association with hypertension. In this study, the frequency of the 460Trp allele was 19% and 9 of 279 subjects (3.