Serum parathyroid hormone and active vitamin D in chronic periodontitis.

Objectives: To study the association between periodontitis and serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) and the response of PTH to periodontal therapy in type 1 diabetic patients (T1DM). We also investigated the PTH-1,25(OH) D axis in the T1DM group.

Methods: Periodontal health status was recorded in 54 periodontitis patients and 30 periodontally healthy controls (case-control data).

Medication of inclusion body myositis: a systematic review.

To investigate the existing evidence on the effectiveness of approaches to treating inclusion body myositis and to assess the methodological quality of this evidence. The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL), Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Physiotherapy Evidence (Pedro), McMaster and Web of Science databases were searched. The references of identified articles and reviews were also checked for relevancy.

Shared pleasure in early mother-infant interaction: predicting lower levels of emotional and behavioral problems in the child and protecting against the influence of parental psychopathology.

Shared pleasure (SP) was analyzed in fifty-eight 2-month-old infants and their mothers in face-to-face interaction (T1, at 2 months). The association of SP with child's emotional and behavioral outcome at 2 years (T2) was examined. SP as a possible protecting factor in the presence of parental psychopathology also was studied.

Food consumption and risk of childhood asthma.

Background: The consumption of foods rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids has been proposed to protect against childhood asthma. This study explores the association of food consumption (including cow's milk (CM)-free diet) in early life and the risk of atopic and non-atopic asthma.

Methods: Food intake of 182 children with asthma and 728 matched controls was measured using 3-day food records, within the Finnish Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) Nutrition Study cohort.

Impacts of common factors of life style on serum liver enzymes.

Aim: To investigate the impacts of gender, age and factors of life style (alcohol, overweight, coffee and smoking) on serum liver enzymes.

Methods: Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) were measured from 6269 apparently healthy individuals (2851 men, 3418 women, mean age 45 ± 12 years, range 25-74 years) in a national cross-sectional health survey. All subjects underwent detailed clinical examinations and interviews including the amount and pattern of alcohol use, coffee consumption and smoking habits.

Serum soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor in alcoholics: relation to liver disease severity, fibrogenesis, and alcohol use.

Background And Aim: Heavy alcohol consumption may lead to development of liver disease and the need for non-invasive parameters for detecting those at risk is widely acknowledged.

Methods: We measured serum soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) levels from 63 patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD), 57 heavy drinkers without apparent liver disease, and 39 controls who were either moderate drinkers or abstainers.

Results: The highest serum suPAR concentrations were detected in patients with ALD (P < 0.

Trait anxiety and somatic concerns associate with increased mortality risk: a 23-year follow-up in aging men.

Purpose: We aimed to examine the impact of anxiety and somatic concerns on the mortality risk during a 23-year follow-up of a representative sample of men.

Methods: Finnish men aged 42-61 years (n = 2388) were followed up for a median of 23.4 years.

Dose- and gender-dependent interactions between coffee consumption and serum GGT activity in alcohol consumers.

Aims: Coffee consumption has been recently linked with decreased blood gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activities and protection from alcoholic liver disease. To explore the relationship and dose response, we assessed the impacts of coffee and alcohol intake on serum GGT activity in apparently healthy men and women with varying levels of coffee and alcohol consumption.

Methods: Data on coffee, alcohol consumption and serum GGT activities were collected from 18,899 individuals (8807 men and 10,092 women), mean age 48 years, range 25-74 years, who participated in a large national cross-sectional health survey.

Biomarkers of alcohol consumption and related liver disease.

Abstract Alcohol abuse is a major cause of abnormal liver function throughout the world. While measurements of liver enzyme activities (GGT, ALT, AST) are important screening tools for detecting liver disease, due to lack of ethanol-specificity and inconsistencies regarding the definitions of significant alcohol consumption, several other blood tests are usually needed to exclude competing and co-existing causes of abnormal liver function. Information on the specific role of ethanol consumption behind hepatotoxicity may be obtained through measurements of blood ethanol and its specific metabolites (ethyl glucuronide, phosphatidylethanol, protein-acetaldehyde condensates and associated autoimmune responses).

Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on liver enzymes increases with increasing body mass index.

Background: Although both ethanol consumption and overweight alter the activities of hepatic enzymes in circulation, the differentiation of an alcohol or nonalcohol basis for such changes remains problematic. The magnitude of alterations occurring among moderate drinkers has remained obscure.

Objective: We examined the links between moderate ethanol consumption, body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)), and liver enzymes.

Acetaldehyde adducts in circulation.

Studies over the past two decades have indicated that protein modifications by acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, are generated in the circulation as a result of alcohol abuse and play a major role in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced diseases. Acetaldehyde can react with nucleophilic groups forming both stable and unstable adducts and several preferred target proteins have already been identified. Protein adducts have been found from the erythrocytes of heavy drinkers and from non-alcoholic volunteers after heavy drinking bouts.

Biomarkers in alcoholism.

Alcoholism ranks as one of the main current threats to the health and safety of people in most Western countries. Therefore, a high priority should be given to aims at reducing its prevalence through more effective diagnosis and early intervention. The need for objective methods for revealing alcohol abuse in its early phase has also been widely acknowledged.

Comparison of the combined marker GGT-CDT and the conventional laboratory markers of alcohol abuse in heavy drinkers, moderate drinkers and abstainers.

Aims: A combined index based on gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) measurements (GGT-CDT) has been recently suggested to improve the detection of excessive ethanol consumption. The aim of this work was to compare GGT-CDT with the conventional markers of alcohol abuse in individuals with a wide variety of alcohol consumption.

Methods: A cross-sectional and follow-up analysis was conducted in a sample of 165 heavy drinkers, consuming 40-540 g of ethanol per day, and 86 reference individuals who were either moderate drinkers (n = 51) or abstainers (n = 35).