Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels predict cancer survival: a prospective cohort with measurements prior to and at the time of cancer diagnosis.

Purpose: Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels have been inversely associated with cancer death, but the nature of this relationship is unclear. We investigated this association using repeated measurements of serum 25-OHD.

Patients And Methods: Pre-diagnostic serum samples were collected in population health surveys in Norway (1973-2004).

Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants Reduces Testosterone Concentrations and Affects Sperm Viability and Morphology during the Mating Peak Period in a Controlled Experiment on Farmed Arctic Foxes (Vulpes lagopus).

We investigated testosterone production and semen parameters in farmed Arctic foxes by dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for 22 months. Eight male foxes were given a diet of POP-contaminated minke whale blubber, whereas their eight male siblings were fed a control diet containing pig fat as the main fat source. The minke whale-based feed contained a ∑POPs concentration of 802 ng/g ww, whereas the pig-based feed contained ∑POPs of 24 ng/g ww.

N-Glycoprofiling Analysis for Carbohydrate Composition and Site-Occupancy Determination in a Poly-Glycosylated Protein: Human Thyrotropin of Different Origins.

Human thyrotropin (hTSH) is a glycoprotein with three potential glycosylation sites: two in the α-subunit and one in the β-subunit. These sites are not always occupied and occupancy is frequently neglected in glycoprotein characterization, even though it is related to folding, trafficking, initiation of inflammation and host defense, as well as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG). For the first time -glycoprofiling analysis was applied to the site-occupancy determination of two native pituitary hTSH, in comparison with three recombinant preparations of hTSH, a widely used biopharmaceutical.

Vitamin D-binding protein and 25-hydroxyvitamin D during pregnancy in mothers whose children later developed type 1 diabetes.

Background: Levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH D) during late pregnancy have been linked to type 1 diabetes risk in the offspring. Vitamin D-binding protein increases in concentration during pregnancy. We aimed to test whether concentrations of vitamin D-binding protein and 25-OH D throughout pregnancy differed between women whose offspring later developed type 1 diabetes (cases) and controls.

Rapid Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Antagonism in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients with High Gonadotropin Levels in the AGRA Trial.

Objectives: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and pituitary gonadotropins, which appear to be proinflammatory, undergo profound secretory changes during events associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) onset, flares, or improvement e.g. menopausal transition, postpartum, or pregnancy.

Soluble RAGE and atherosclerosis in youth with type 1 diabetes: a 5-year follow-up study.

Background: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) play a role in the development of late complications and atherosclerosis in diabetes by engaging the receptor for advanced glycation end products, RAGE. Receptor binding leads to activation of the vascular endothelium and increased inflammation in the vessel wall. The soluble variants of the receptor, endogenous secretory RAGE (esRAGE) and the cleaved cell-surface part of RAGE, which together comprise soluble RAGE (sRAGE), are suggested to have a protective effect acting as decoys for RAGE.

Saffold Virus, a Human Cardiovirus, and Risk of Persistent Islet Autoantibodies in the Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study MIDIA.

The aim of this study was to describe the frequency and distribution of Saffold virus in longitudinal stool samples from children, and test for association with development of persistent autoantibodies predictive of type 1 diabetes. A cohort of Norwegian children carrying the HLA genotype associated with highest risk of type 1 diabetes ("DR4-DQ8/DR3-DQ2") was followed with monthly stool samples from 3 to 35 months of age. Blood samples were tested for autoantibodies to insulin, glutamic acid decarboxylase65 and Islet Antigen-2.

Presence of anti-GAD in a non-diabetic population of adults; time dynamics and clinical influence: results from the HUNT study.

Background: It is well known that anti-GAD (glutamic acid decarboxylase) serves as a marker for development of autoimmune diabetes in adults. On the other hand, the clinical implications of anti-GAD positivity in persistently non-diabetic (PND) adults are poorly elucidated. Our aim was to establish the frequency of anti-GAD in PNDs in an all-population-based cohort from the Nord-Trøndelag health study (HUNT) and to prospectively test for associations with glucose tolerance and thyroid autoimmunity.

The advanced glycation end product methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone-1 and early signs of atherosclerosis in childhood diabetes.

Background: Advanced protein glycation is an important mechanism for the development of late diabetic complications including atherosclerosis. Methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone-1 is the most abundant advanced glycation end product in human plasma.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone-1 and early signs of atherosclerosis in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes and healthy controls.

Infant feeding in relation to islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in genetically susceptible children: the MIDIA Study.

Objective: We aimed to study the association of breast-feeding duration and age at the introduction of solid foods with the risk of islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in genetically susceptible children.

Research Design And Methods: Newborns were recruited from the Norwegian general population during 2001-2007. After genetic screening of nearly 50,000 newborns, 908 children with the high-risk HLA genotype were followed up with blood samples and questionnaires at age 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and then annually.

Adipose tissue distribution in relation to insulin sensitivity and inflammation in Pakistani and Norwegian subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Immigrants from South Asia to Western countries have a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) associated with obesity. We investigated the relationship between diabetes and adipose tissue distribution in a group of younger T2DM subjects from Norway and Pakistan. Eighteen immigrant Pakistani and 21 Norwegian T2DM subjects (age 29-45, 49% men) were included.

Enterovirus RNA in longitudinal blood samples and risk of islet autoimmunity in children with a high genetic risk of type 1 diabetes: the MIDIA study.

Aims/hypothesis: Only a few longitudinal molecular studies of enterovirus and islet autoimmunity have been reported, and positive results seem to be limited to Finland. We aimed to investigate an association between enterovirus RNA in blood and islet autoimmunity in the MIDIA study from Norway, a country which largely shares environmental and economic features with Finland.

Methods: We analysed serial blood samples collected at ages 3, 6, and 9 months and then annually from 45 children who developed confirmed positivity for at least two autoantibodies (against insulin, GAD65 and IA-2) and 92 matched controls, all from a cohort of children with a single high-risk HLA-DQ-DR genotype.

Insulin-like growth factor-1, growth hormone, and daily cycling estrogen are associated with mammographic density in premenopausal women.

Background: Mammographic density represents epithelial and stromal proliferation, while insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3, growth hormone (GH), and estrogen may influence cellular proliferation. However, whether these growth factors independently, or in combination with estrogen, influence mammographic density in premenopausal women remains unclear.

Materials And Methods: Growth factors were assessed in 202 ovulating premenopausal women participating in the Energy Balance and Breast Cancer Aspects-I study.

Procollagen type 1 amino-terminal propeptide (P1NP) and risk of hip fractures in elderly Norwegian men and women. A NOREPOS study.

The current study aimed to assess a possible association between the bone turnover marker procollagen type 1 amino-terminal propeptide (P1NP) and future hip fractures in elderly Norwegian men and women and to elucidate the relation between P1NP, bone mineral density and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). Men and women aged 71 to 77 from two population based health studies in Norway (1999-2001) were followed for a median period of 7.3 years with respect to hip fractures.

The post-prandial pattern of gut hormones is related to magnitude of weight-loss following gastric bypass surgery: a case-control study.

Background: The mechanisms of weight loss after gastric bypass, including the role of gastric hormones, are still not completely understood. While postprandial releases of peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) increase post-surgery and ghrelin usually is reduced, their relationship to the magnitude of the weight loss is still obscure. We explored if differing weight loss after Roux Y gastric bypass (RYGB) in morbidly obese were associated with differing postprandial hormonal release.

Impaired left ventricular function and myocardial blood flow reserve in patients with long-term type 1 diabetes and no significant coronary artery disease: associations with protein glycation.

Our aims were to study left ventricular (LV) function and myocardial blood flow reserve (MBFR) in long-term type 1 diabetes and associations with advanced glycation end products (AGEs). A total of 20 type 1 diabetes patients from the Oslo Study without significant stenosis on coronary angiography were compared with 26 controls. LV systolic and diastolic functions were assessed by two-dimensional strain and the ratio between pulsed Doppler transmitral early (E) velocity and tissue Doppler velocity (E'), respectively.

Serum free and bio-available 25-hydroxyvitamin D correlate better with bone density than serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

In the circulation 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) is bound to vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) and albumin. Only a small fraction is in the unbound, free form. According to the 'free-hormone-hypothesis' only the free form is biologically active.

Short-term treatment with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist, cetrorelix, in rheumatoid arthritis (AGRA): a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Objectives: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulates immune responses; therefore, antagonizing GnRH with cetrorelix may have anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to assess short-term cetrorelix therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Method: In this proof-of-concept, randomized, double-blind study involving 99 patients with active, long-standing RA, 48 patients received subcutaneous cetrorelix (5 mg/day on days 1 and 2; 3 mg/day on days 3-5) and 51 received placebo.

Differences in insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism and inflammation between young adult Pakistani and Norwegian patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross sectional study.

Background: Immigrants from South Asia to Western countries have a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We explored pathogenic factors that might contribute to the high risk of T2DM in Pakistani immigrants to Norway.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 18 Pakistani and 21 Norwegian men and women with T2DM (age 29 - 45 years), recruited from two hospital out-patient clinics.

Reduced soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products (sRAGE) scavenger capacity precedes pre-eclampsia in Type 1 diabetes.

Objective: Increased advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and their soluble receptors (sRAGE) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia (PE). However, this association has not been elucidated in pregnancies complicated by diabetes. We aimed to investigate the serum levels of these factors in pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), a condition associated with a four-fold increase in PE.

No effects of MRI scan on male reproduction hormones.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasing around the world and the possible adverse effects on reproductive health of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in MRI are not previously studied. A prospective randomized balanced cross-over study using a head scan in real MRI with whole-body transmitting coil and sham MRI among 24 healthy male volunteers was conducted. Serum-blood samples of inhibin B, testosterone, prolactine, thyreotropine, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, sex-hormone binding globuline and estradiol were taken before and after the different scans.

Association between the serum levels of relaxin and responses to the active straight leg raise test in pregnancy.

There is a common belief that the laxity of pelvic joints increases in pregnancy. The hormone relaxin is suggested to be one of the most influential factors implementing this effect. Furthermore, increased laxity is assumed to induce pelvic girdle pain (PGP).

Insulin sensitivity after maximal and endurance resistance training.

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of maximal resistance training (MRT) vs. endurance resistance training (ERT) on improvements in insulin levels and glucose tolerance in overweight individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Eighteen participants with baseline values suggesting impaired glucose tolerance were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups.

Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and survival in Norwegian patients with cancer of breast, colon, lung, and lymphoma: a population-based study.

Purpose: We investigated the association between serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and risk of death in Norwegian cancer patients.

Methods: The study population was 658 patients with cancers of the breast (n = 251), colon (n = 52), lung (n = 210), and lymphoma (n = 145), obtained from JANUS, a population-based serum bank in Norway. Serum samples were collected within 90 days of cancer diagnosis and were analyzed for 25-OHD.