Soyfood consumption and risk of glycosuria: a cross-sectional study within the Shanghai Women's Health Study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the association between soyfood intake and risk of glycosuria.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among participants of the Shanghai Women's Health Study, a population-based cohort study of women aged 40-70 y. Information on usual intake of soyfoods was obtained at baseline survey through an in-person interview using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Included in this study were 39,385 cohort members screened for diabetes at the baseline survey and free of previously diagnosed diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, and cancer. There were 323 women who tested positive for urine glucose. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were employed to measure the association between soyfood intake and glycosuria using unconditional logistic regression.

SETTING

Urban communities of Shanghai, China.

RESULTS

Overall, soyfood intake was not related to the risk of glycosuria. Among postmenopausal women, however, intake of tofu and other soy products was inversely associated with risk of glycosuria after adjustment for potential confounders. The ORs across quintiles of intake were 1.0, 0.75 (95% CI=0.47-1.20), 0.79 (95% CI=0.51-1.25), 0.53 (95% CI=0.32-0.88), and 0.51 (95% CI=0.26-0.98; P for trend=0.05). Further analyses showed that the inverse association was primarily confined to postmenopausal women with a body mass index (BMI) of <25 kg/m2. The adjusted OR comparing the extreme quintiles was 0.36 (95% CI=0.13-0.97; P for trend=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

Soyfoods may play a role in the development of glycosuria, an important indicator of diabetes, among postmenopausal women with a low BMI.

Validity and reproducibility of the food frequency questionnaire used in the Shanghai Women's Health Study

To evaluate the validity and reliability of the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS), 200 SWHS participants were recruited for a dietary calibration study. Study participants completed an FFQ at baseline and 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) twice per month consecutively for 12 months. At the end of the study, a second FFQ was administered. Of the 200 study participants, 196 completed 24 or more days of 24-h dietary recalls, 191 completed two FFQs from whom the results of this report were based. The FFQ included the foods that accounted for 86% of the foods recorded in the 24-HDR surveys. Validity of the FFQ was evaluated by comparing intake levels of major nutrients and foods obtained from the second FFQ with those derived from the multiple 24-HDR. The median intake for major nutrients, rice, poultry and meat derived from the second FFQ and the 24-HDR was similar, with the differences ranging from 1.3 to 12.1%. The FFQ tended to overestimate the intake level of total vegetables and total fruits, and the differences were explained mainly by over-reporting seasonal vegetables and fruits consumption in the FFQ. Nutrient and food intake assessed by the FFQ and the multiple 24-HDR correlated very well, with the correlation coefficients being 0.59-0.66 for macronutrients, 0.41-0.59 for micronutrients, and 0.41-0.66 for major food groups. The reliability of the FFQ was assessed by comparing the correlation and median intake of nutrients and food groups obtained from the two FFQs that were administered approximately 2 y apart. The median intake levels for selected nutrients and food groups derived from the two FFQs were similar with differences below 10%. At the individual level, the intake levels of these dietary variables obtained from two FFQs also correlated well. When nutrient and food group intakes were categorized into quartiles, FFQ and 24-HDR produced exact agreement rates between 33 and 50%. Misclassification to adjacent quartile was common, ranging from 34-48%, while misclassification to an extreme quartile was rare (1-6%). These data indicate that the SWHS FFQ can reliably and accurately measure usual intake of major nutrients and food groups among women in Shanghai.

Should preoperative, post-chemoradiotherapy endoscopy be routine for esophageal cancer patients?

Chemoradiation therapy is used widely for locoregional esophageal cancer. Patients with persistent disease may benefit from surgery. Preoperative esophagoscopy can identify persistent tumor but its accuracy is uncertain. The primary objective of this study is to assess the extent of agreement between esophagoscopy and surgical pathology in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation. A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent chemoradiation, preoperative endoscopy and surgery from January 1996 to December 2002 was performed. Cohen's kappa statistic was used to measure the degree of agreement between findings at endoscopic biopsy and surgical pathology. Thirty cases were identified. All patients received chemoradiation followed by surgical resection. There was insufficient agreement between tumor size (kappa 0.25, standard error 0.17, P = 0.07) and appearance (kappa 0.19, standard error 0.18, P = 0.14). Preoperative endoscopy revealed atypia/inflammation in 15 cases and dysplasia in eight. Of these 23 cases, 11 were adenocarcinomas at surgery. Only nine patients had concurrence between surgical pathology and endoscopy. The positive and negative predictive values of esophagoscopy for identifying residual tumor were 100% and 11%, respectively. Our data suggests that after chemoradiation, esophagoscopy is unreliable for excluding residual disease. The roles of other modalities need to be explored.

Anthropometric predictors of coronary heart disease in Chinese women

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the associations of body size and fat distribution with incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Chinese women.

DESIGN

Population-based, prospective cohort study.

SUBJECTS

A total of 67 334 women aged 40-70 y, who had no prior history of CHD, stroke, and cancer at study recruitment.

MEASUREMENTS

Weight, standing and sitting heights, circumferences of waist and hip, and ratios of the anthropometric measurements.

OUTCOME

incidence of CHD (non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) or fatal CHD).

RESULTS

After a mean follow-up of 2.5 y (168 164 person-years), there were 70 incident cases of CHD (49 non-fatal MIs and 21 CHD deaths). Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-standing height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-sitting height ratio (WsHtR), and conicity index were all positively associated with the risk of CHD. With the exception of WHR, all other anthropometric indexes only predicted the risk of CHD among women </=55 y of age at enrollment. The relative risks (RRs) between extreme tertiles of BMI were 9.0 (95% CI, 2.0-41.5; P for trend=0.002) for younger women vs 1.3 (0.6-3.0; P for trend=0.83) for older women. Similarly, the RRs for WC, WHtR, WsHtR, and conicity index were 6.1 (1.8-21.4) vs 1.9 (0.6-5.4), 9.4 (2.6-33.8) vs 1.2 (0.5-3.1), 15.2 (3.3-69.1) vs 1.0 (0.4-2.5), and 7.8 (2.2-28.0) vs 0.9 (0.4-2.3) for the young and elderly, respectively. In contrast, the RR for WHR was 3.2 (1.1-9.1) for the young and 2.9 (1.0-8.4) for the elderly.

CONCLUSIONS

WHR was positively associated with the risk of CHD in both younger and older women, while other anthropometrics, including BMI, were related to CHD risk primarily among younger women.

Body fat distribution and risk of diabetes among Chinese women

OBJECTIVE

To assess the relationship between measures of central and overall obesity and risk of diabetes.

DESIGN

Nested case-control study.

SETTING

Shanghai, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 57 130 women were screened for diabetes at enrollment for the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS), a population-based cohort study of Chinese women aged 40-70 y. In this study, 345 women diagnosed with diabetes and 2760 age-matched controls (eight controls per case), randomly selected from women who tested negative for urine glucose, were included.

RESULTS

Risk of diabetes increased significantly with increasing levels of obesity, particularly with measures of central obesity. Compared to those in the lowest quartile, women in the highest quartile of body mass index (BMI) (>/=26.57) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) (>/=0.855) had a 2.57-fold (95% CI 1.75-3.77) and a 6.05-fold (95% CI 4.05-9.04) increased risk of diabetes, respectively. The risk of diabetes was elevated with increasing WHR at all levels of BMI, while the positive association between BMI and diabetes was observed primarily among women with a low WHR. However, test for multiplicative interaction was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data indicated that central obesity is a stronger risk factor for diabetes than overall obesity, suggesting that WHR may be a better indicator of risk of diabetes than BMI among Chinese women.

Sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive factors associated with weight gain in Chinese women

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether certain sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive factors are associated with an increased weight gain in Chinese women.

DESIGN

Baseline survey data, including recalled past weight and measured current weight, from an ongoing prospective cohort study conducted in Shanghai, China.

SUBJECTS

The analytical sample included 75 039 nonpregnant women aged 40-70 y.

MEASUREMENTS

Statistical associations between certain sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive factors and weight gain were evaluated using multiple linear and logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Weight gain and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) increased with age among pre- and postmenopausal women before age 55 y. Weight gain declined but WHR continued rising as aging among postmenopausal women over age 55 y. Lower education levels, more parity and earlier age at the first birth, and earlier menarcheal age were associated with a higher long-term weight gain and current body weight.

CONCLUSION

Age, education levels, parity, age at the first live birth, and menarcheal age were associated with long-term weight gain in Chinese women. However, these results concerning weight gain are based on recalled past weight and should be interpreted with caution. Further studies are needed to clarify the association of weight gain with lifestyle factors suggested by this study.

Gene therapy for prostate cancer: toxicological profile of four HSV-tk transducing adenoviral vectors regulated by different promoters

Adenoviral vector delivery of the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene in combination with the prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) has been tested in phase I clinical trials for prostate cancer and found to exhibit a satisfactory toxicity profile. We have developed additional adenoviral vectors with differing promoters to optimize the expression profile and in the present study evaluate the potential systemic toxicity of these vectors. Four recombinant adenoviral vectors that express the HSV-tk gene were generated using three different promoters: CMV (leftward orientation); RSV (both rightward and leftward orientation); and the mouse caveolin-1 (cav-1) promoter (leftward orientation). Efficacy was determined in vitro by cytotoxicity assays in a mouse prostate cancer cell line, RM-9, and in vivo by treating orthotopic tumors. Potential toxicity was evaluated from liver histology and apoptotic cell counts and enzyme levels in the serum following intravenous adenoviral vector injection. Although there were differences in HSV-tk expression at the protein level among the four vectors there were no significant differences in in-vitro cytotoxicity studies with GCV or in vivo in tumor growth suppression of an orthotopic mouse prostate cancer model in GCV treated mice. Intravenous delivery of high doses of all adenoviral vectors lead to abnormalities in liver function as measured by specific serum markers and histological evaluation of liver tissue and increased levels of apoptosis in the liver. These abnormalities were most prevalent with the vector containing the CMV promoter and the rightward oriented RSV promoter. They were least prevalent in the vector regulated by the cav-1 promoter. Upregulation of specific chemokines, MIP-2 and MIP-1beta was correlated with apoptotic counts. Our results demonstrate that comprehensive toxicological analysis of adenoviral vectors provides internally consistent information that can differentiate vectors with comparable efficacy based on toxicity. In these studies vectors with the cav-1 promoter-driven and leftward RSV-driven HSV-tk gene demonstrated minimal toxicities with cytotoxic effectiveness comparable to more toxic vectors. Our studies further suggest that promoter selection can influence the toxic effects of an adenoviral gene therapy vector.

Median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials and upper limb motor function in hemiparesis

The purpose of this study is to describe the relationship between median nerve somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) parameters and clinical measures of motor impairment and physical disability in the affected upper limb of patients with hemiparesis. SEP assessments were carried out in 28 long-term survivors of stroke. Stroke survivors with preserved SEPs over the affected hemisphere exhibited significantly lower motor impairment and physical disability than those with absent waveforms. Among those with preserved waveforms, SEP amplitude exhibited a weak correlation with degree of upper limb motor impairment. The correlation between SEP amplitude and physical disability was not statistically significant. Contrary to prior reports, median nerve SEP appears to have a weak correlational relationship with clinical measures of upper limb function in hemiparesis.

Combination gene therapy with adenoviral vector-mediated HSV-tk+GCV and IL-12 in an orthotopic mouse model for prostate cancer

We previously demonstrated significant therapeutic activities associated with adenoviral vector-mediated Herpes Simplex Virus/thymidine kinase (AdHSV-tk) with ganciclovir (GCV) in situ gene therapy in the RM-1 orthotopic mouse prostate cancer model and interleukin-12 (AdmIL-12) in situ gene therapy in the RM-9 orthotopic mouse prostate model for prostate cancer. In both protocols, local cytotoxicity and activities against pre-established lung metastases were demonstrated. To test whether combined AdHSV-tk+GCV+IL-12 gene therapy would lead to enhanced therapeutic effects when compared to either treatment alone, we used RM-9 mouse prostate cancer cells in both orthotopic and pre-established lung metastases models of prostate cancer. Combined treatment with a single injection of optimal doses of AdHSV-tk+GCV or AdmIL-12 led to significantly increased suppression of orthotopic tumor growth. IL-12 gene therapy alone was more effective than AdHSV-tk+GCV in suppressing spontaneous lymph node metastases and pre-established lung metastases but combination gene therapy did not result in additional anti-metastatic activities. Combination gene therapy also did not achieve significantly better animal survival compared to AdHSV-tk+GCV or AdmIL-12 alone. Analysis of localized antitumor activities demonstrated that AdHSV-tk+GCV therapy induced higher levels of necrosis compared to AdmIL-12 or combination therapy. However, both treatments alone and combination therapy produced similar increases in apoptotic index. To address the possible mechanisms of locally co-operative cytotoxic activities, we analyzed the systemic natural killer (NK) response and the numbers of tumor-infiltrating immune cells using quantitative immunohistochemical analysis. AdHSV-tk+GCV therapy alone led to detectable increases in iNOS-positive cells, CD4+and CD8+T-cells and moderately increased numbers of F4/80 (macrophage selective)-positive cells within treated tumors. In contrast, AdmIL-12 elicited a highly robust pattern of tumor infiltration for all four of these immune cells that was in general mimicked by combination therapy. Further analysis of the accumulation of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that AdHSV-tk+GCV treatment, but not AdmIL-12 treatment, produced cancer cell-associated increases in this cytokine relative to control Ad-beta-gal injections. Interestingly, local injection with AdHSV-tk+GCV induced significant splenocyte-derived NK cell cytolytic activities with maximal response 7 days following treatment, whereas AdmIL-12 injection produced significantly higher NK activity with maximal response 2 days following injection. The combined treatment produced a higher systemic NK response over the 14-day treatment period. Depletion of NK cells in vivo demonstrated that this immunocyte subpopulation was responsible for early locally cytotoxic activities induced by AdHSV-tk+GCV but not AdmIL-12 and that NK activities were largely responsible for activities against pre-established metastases generated by both gene therapy protocols. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (2001) 4, 44-55

[Field trials on the efficacy of albendazole composite against intestinal nematodiasis]

AIM

To study the anthelmintic effect of albendazole composite (containing 67 mg of albendazole and 83.3 mg base of pyrantel pamoate per tablet).

METHODS

A randomized controlled study was carried out to compare the efficacy of a single dose of 3 or 2 tablets of albendazole composite versus a single dose of 400 mg of albendazole or 10 mg base/kg of pyrantel pamoate for treatment of intestinal nematodiasis including 1,864 cases infected with hookworm, 1,568 cases infected with Ascaris, 1,785 cases infected with Tricuris trichiura and 373 children infected with Enterobius vermicularis.

RESULTS

In adults, the egg negative conversion rate of a single dose of 3 or 2 tablets of albendazole composite reached 65.0% and 52.7% for hookworm infection (P < 0.01), 100% and 100% for Ascaris infection, and 26.5% and 19.2% for Trichuris infection (P < 0.01), respectively. There were significantly better effect against hookworm with 3 tablets of albendazole composite than that with single albendazole or pyrantel pamoate (65.0% vs. 47.6% and 38.5%, P < 0.01). The effect of 2 tablets of albendazole composite against hookworm was also higher than that of single pyrantel pamoate (P < 0.01) and equal to single albendazole but the anthelmintic effect against Trichuris infection was lower than that of single albendazole (19.2% vs. 26.5%). In 2-6-year-old children, the effect of 1.5 tablets of albendazole composite against Enterobius vermicularis infection showed an egg negative conversion rate of 100% which was higher than that of single pyrantel pamoate (100% vs. 83.0%, P < 0.01). The worm collection data showed that the worm-expelling action of albendazole composite was much more rapid than that of albendazole. There were no adverse effects of albendazole composite on blood picture, liver or renal function and ECG. The side effect of both 3 and 2 tablets of albendazole composite was mild and transcient.

CONCLUSION

Albendazole composite exhibits a synergistic effect of both albendazole and pyrantel pamoate.

Effects of prostaglandins and leukotrienes on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in rats

To investigate the effects of prostaglandins (PGs) and leukotrienes (LTs) on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV), in vivo rats experiment and in vitro perfused lung experiment were conducted. The effect of hypoxia on hemodynamics, concentrations of TXB2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha in serum and lung tissue during hypoxia and effects of PGs and LTs on HPV were observed. The results showed that pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa) and pulmonary vascular resistance were increased during hypoxia, but cardiac output and systemic arterial pressure were decreased. There were increases of the concentrations of TXB2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and their ratio in serum and lung tissue during hypoxia. After use of cyclooxygenase inhibitor (indomethacin) in vivo and in vitro, HPV was augmented respectively, but after use of lipoxygenase inhibitor (diethylcorbamazine) or leukotriene receptor blocker (LY-171883), HPV was attenuated. It was suggested that LTs mediated pulmonary vasoconstriction, PGs inhibited pulmonary vasoconstriction and they played a modulating role during hypoxia.

The ukb1 gene encodes a putative protein kinase required for bud site selection and pathogenicity in Ustilago maydis

Morphogenesis and pathogenesis are closely associated aspects of the life cycle of the fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis. In this fungus, the dimorphic switch from budding to filamentous growth coincides with the transition from non-pathogenic to pathogenic growth on maize. We have cloned and characterized the ukb1 gene that encodes a putative serine/threonine protein kinase with a role in budding and filamentous growth. Mutants defective in ukb1 were altered in bud site selection and produced lateral buds at a greater frequency than wild-type cells. Dikaryotic cells defective in ukb1 were capable of colonizing host tissue and growing with a filamentous morphology in planta. However, the mutants were incapable of inducing tumor formation and they failed to complete sexual development. In addition, the ukb1 gene influenced the ability of colonies to form aerial mycelia in response to environmental stimuli. Overall, the discovery of ukb1 reinforces the connection between morphogenesis and pathogenesis in U. maydis.

Genetic diversity of Chinese native chicken breeds based on protein polymorphism, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, and microsatellite polymorphism

Genetic diversity of Chinese native chicken breeds was investigated using protein polymorphism, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and microsatellite polymorphism. Imported broiler and layer breeds were also included in the analysis. The results from protein polymorphism did not show distinct differences between Chinese native chicken and imported broilers; however, there were small significant differences between these two types of chickens. The results from RAPD indicated that gene diversity within a population was large in Chinese native chickens, intermediate in broilers, and low in layers and that there were small differences between Chinese native chickens and both broilers and layers. A great difference between broilers and layers was observed. Microsatellite polymorphism data showed that genetic diversity was high in the Chinese native chickens and low in layers and that there was a close relationship between Chinese native chickens and broiler but a remote relationship between Chinese native chickens and layers. The wide genetic diversity of Chinese native breeds can meet different requirements of breeding for chicken quality in China.

Resuspension of DNA sequencing reaction products in agarose increases sequence quality on an automated sequencer

We are investigating approaches to increase DNA sequencing quality. Since a majorfactor in sequence generation is the cost of reagents and sample preparations, we have developed and optimized methods to sequence directly plasmid DNA isolated from alkaline lysis preparations. These methods remove the costly PCR and post-sequencing purification steps but can result in low sequence quality when using standard resuspension protocols on some sequencing platforms. This work outlines a simple, robust, and inexpensive resuspension protocol for DNA sequencing to correct this shortcoming. Resuspending the sequenced products in agarose before electrophoresis results in a substantial and reproducible increase in sequence quality and read length over resuspension in deionized water and has allowed us to use the aforementioned sample preparation methods to cut considerably the overall sequencing costs without sacrificing sequence quality. We demonstrate that resuspension of unpurified sequence products generated from template DNA isolated by a modified alkaline lysis technique in low concentrations of agarose yields a 384% improvement in sequence quality compared to resuspension in deionized water. Utilizing this protocol, we have produced more than 74,000 high-quality, long-read-length sequences from plasmid DNA template on the MegaBACET 1000 platform.

New variations in intron 4 of growth hormone gene in Chinese native chickens

Polymorphism in intron 4 of chicken growth hormone (cGH) gene was studied in 20 Chinese native chicken populations and broiler or layer populations. A total of eight restriction digestion profiles were identified in intron 4 and confirmed by sequencing. Among 20 populations, there were distinctively different allele numbers and frequencies of intron 4 restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) between Chinese native chickens and broilers or layers. Two new alleles, allele D and allele E, were identified in Taihe Silkies. Allele D was also identified in other Chinese native breeds and a 50 bp fragment deletion was identified in allele E.

Estimation of the effective transversely isotropic elastic constants of a material from known values of the material's orthotropic elastic constants

A method is illustrated for determining the effective transversely isotropic (or isotropic) elastic constants from measured orthotropic elastic constants. This method consists of constructing upper and lower bounds on the effective transversely isotropic (or isotropic) elastic constants using the known orthotropic values. This method is illustrated using three sets of elastic constants for bone. Fortunately, the upper and lower bounds are very close. Thus very good approximations for the effective transversely isotropic (or isotropic) elastic constants for cortical and cancellous bone are obtained from previously published data on the orthotropic elastic constants for those tissue types. This work is undertaken to build a greater database for the transversely isotropic elastic constants of bone with the intention of employing them in a transversely isotropic model of bone poroelasticity. An interesting aspect of the present result is that the Voigt and Reuss bounds are very tight for these anisotropic materials. This is not always the case for these bounds.