Alteration of barrier properties, stratum corneum ceramides and microbiome composition in response to lotion application on cosmetic dry skin.

Xerosis, commonly referred to as dry skin, is a common dermatological condition affecting almost a third of the population. Successful treatment of the condition traditionally involves the application of cosmetic products facilitating the moisturisation of the skin with a range of ingredients including glycerol and fatty acids. While the effectiveness of these treatments is not in question, limited information exists on the impact on the skin microbiome following use of these products and the improvement in skin hydration.

Traffic-derived air pollution compromises skin barrier function and stratum corneum redox status: A population study.

Background: Since air pollution is only one of many environmental stressors that can affect skin, it has been challenging to identify skin appearance or functional features profoundly affected by chronic exposure to traffic-derived air pollution.

Aims: The current population study focused on taxi drivers working in urban and rural areas in order to take advantage of difference in occupational exposure.

Methods: The skin conditions of 100 middle-aged male taxi drivers from urban Shanghai and 66 from rural Chongming were measured with facial tape strips were collected for biomarker analyses.

Identifying genetic risk variants for coronary heart disease in familial hypercholesterolemia: an extreme genetics approach.

Mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene cause familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a disorder characterized by coronary heart disease (CHD) at young age. We aimed to apply an extreme sampling method to enhance the statistical power to identify novel genetic risk variants for CHD in individuals with FH. We selected cases and controls with an extreme contrast in CHD risk from 17,000 FH patients from the Netherlands, whose functional LDLR mutation was unequivocally established.

Proteomic analysis of the human skin proteome after in vivo treatment with sodium dodecyl sulphate.

Background: Skin has a variety of functions that are incompletely understood at the molecular level. As the most accessible tissue in the body it often reveals the first signs of inflammation or infection and also represents a potentially valuable source of biomarkers for several diseases. In this study we surveyed the skin proteome qualitatively using gel electrophoresis, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GeLC-MS/MS) and quantitatively using an isobaric tagging strategy (iTRAQ) to characterise the response of human skin following exposure to sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS).

NCKX5, a natural regulator of human skin colour variation, regulates the expression of key pigment genes MC1R and alpha-MSH and alters cholesterol homeostasis in normal human melanocytes.

Natural human skin colour is determined both by environmental exposure to ultraviolet light and through inherited genetic variation in a very limited number of genes. Variation of a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP; rs1426654) in the gene (SLC24A5) encoding the NCKX5 protein is associated with differences in constitutive skin colour in South Asians. The nsSNP encodes the substitution of alanine for threonine at residue 111 (A111T) near a transmembrane region required for exchanger activity, a region which is highly conserved across different species and between NCKX family members.

The impact of the catechol-O-methyltransferase genotype on vascular function and blood pressure after acute green tea ingestion.

Scope: Evidence for the benefits of green tea catechins on vascular function is inconsistent, with genotype potentially contributing to the heterogeneity in response. Here, the impact of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotype on vascular function and blood pressure (BP) after green tea extract ingestion are reported.

Methods And Results: Fifty subjects (n = 25 of the proposed low-activity [AA] and of the high-activity [GG] COMT rs4680 genotype), completed a randomized, double-blind, crossover study.

A preliminary investigation of the impact of catechol-O-methyltransferase genotype on the absorption and metabolism of green tea catechins.

Purpose: Green tea is thought to possess many beneficial effects on human health. However, the extent of green tea polyphenol biotransformation may affect its proposed therapeutic effects. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), the enzyme responsible for polyphenolic methylation, has a common polymorphism in the genetic code at position 158 reported to result in a 40% reduction in enzyme activity in in vitro studies.

The impact of the catechol-O-methyltransferase genotype on the acute responsiveness of vascular reactivity to a green tea extract.

The beneficial effects of green tea catechins, such as the proposed improvement in endothelial function, may be influenced by phase II metabolism during and after absorption. The methylation enzyme, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), has a missense mutation rs4680 (G to A), proposed to result in a 40 % reduction in enzyme activity. In the present pilot study, twenty subjects (ten of each homozygous COMT genotype) were recruited.

Delta-centralization fails to control for population stratification in genetic association studies.

Objective: To investigate the validity of simulations and assumptions used to underpin the delta-centralization (DC) method for correcting for population stratification in genetic association studies; to assess the effectiveness of DC compared to genomic control (GC) under valid simulation conditions; and to highlight other studies employing similarly flawed simulations.

Methods: DC and GC use data from unlinked null loci to correct the test statistic at the target locus, but differ in the way the correction is performed. We compare DC and GC under two simulation approaches: an invalid approach adopted by the originators of DC, which permits subpopulation allele frequency matching of null markers to the target locus; and a valid approach, based on the Balding-Nichols model, which does not allow subpopulation matching.

Sleep quality in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: distribution, associated factors and associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Background: Poor sleep quality has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and mortality. However, limited information exists on the distribution and determinants of sleep quality and its associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors in Chinese populations. We aimed to evaluate this in the current study.

Acute consumption of fish oil improves postprandial VLDL profiles in healthy men aged 50-65 years.

Dietary supplementation with fish oil induces beneficial changes in the size and concentration of plasma lipoproteins, although the underlying mechanism is unclear. We have investigated the effect of increasing the amount of fish oil in a single meal on the size and concentration of VLDL, LDL and HDL particles during the postprandial period. Healthy men aged 58 (sd 5) years (n 11) consumed isoenergetic, mixed macronutrient test meals containing either 0.

A critical evaluation of genomic control methods for genetic association studies.

Population stratification is an important potential confounder of genetic case-control association studies. For replication studies, limited availability of samples may lead to imbalanced sampling from heterogeneous populations. Genomic control (GC) can be used to correct chi(2) test statistics which are presumed to be inflated by a factor lambda; this may be estimated by a summary chi(2) value (lambda(median) or lambda(mean)) from a set of unlinked markers.

SLC24A5 encodes a trans-Golgi network protein with potassium-dependent sodium-calcium exchange activity that regulates human epidermal melanogenesis.

A non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism in the human SLC24A5 gene is associated with natural human skin color variation. Multiple sequence alignments predict that this gene encodes a member of the potassium-dependent sodium-calcium exchanger family denoted NCKX5. In cultured human epidermal melanocytes we show using affinity-purified antisera that native human NCKX5 runs as a triplet of approximately 43 kDa on SDS-PAGE and is partially localized to the trans-Golgi network.

A genomewide association study of skin pigmentation in a South Asian population.

We have conducted a multistage genomewide association study, using 1,620,742 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to systematically investigate the genetic factors influencing intrinsic skin pigmentation in a population of South Asian descent. Polymorphisms in three genes--SLC24A5, TYR, and SLC45A2--yielded highly significant replicated associations with skin-reflectance measurements, an indirect measure of melanin content in the skin. The associations detected in these three genes, in an additive manner, collectively account for a large fraction of the natural variation of skin pigmentation in a South Asian population.

Monoclonal antibody-based time-resolved fluorescence immunoassays for daidzein, genistein, and equol in blood and urine: application to the Isoheart intervention study.

Background: Time-resolved fluorescence immunoassays (TR-FIAs) for phytoestrogens in biological samples are an alternative to mass spectrometric methods. These immunoassays were used to test urine and plasma samples from individuals in a dietary intervention trial aimed at determining the efficacy of dietary isoflavones in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women.

Methods: We established murine monoclonal TR-FIA methods for daidzein, genistein, and equol.

Soy-isoflavone-enriched foods and markers of lipid and glucose metabolism in postmenopausal women: interactions with genotype and equol production.

Background: The hypocholesterolemic effects of soy foods are well established, and it has been suggested that isoflavones are responsible for this effect. However, beneficial effects of isolated isoflavones on lipid biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk have not yet been shown.

Objective: The objective was to investigate the effects of isolated soy isoflavones on metabolic biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk, including plasma total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol; triacylglycerols; lipoprotein(a); the percentage of small dense LDL; glucose; nonesterified fatty acids; insulin; and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance.

Soy-isoflavone-enriched foods and inflammatory biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women: interactions with genotype and equol production.

Background: Dietary isoflavones are thought to be cardioprotective because of their structural similarity to estrogen. The reduction of concentrations of circulating inflammatory markers by estrogen may be one of the mechanisms by which premenopausal women are protected against cardiovascular disease.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the effects of isolated soy isoflavones on inflammatory biomarkers [von Willebrand factor, intracellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), E-selectin, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, C-reactive protein (CRP), and endothelin 1 concentrations].