Metabolic and behavioral covariates of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in postmenopausal women

Effects of Combined Phase III and Phase II Cardiac Exercise Therapy for Middle-aged Male Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

[Purpose] To investigate the effects of cardiac exercise therapy (CET) on exercise capacity and coronary risk factors (CRFs) of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). [Methods] Patients who participated in an 8-week supervised, hospital-based phase II and 6-month home-based phase III CET with monthly telephone and/or home visits were defined as the exercise group (EG) (n=20), while those who did not receive phase II or phase III CET were defined as the no-exercise group (NEG) (n=10). CRFs were evaluated pre- and post-phase II and eight months after discharge. One and two-way repeated measures ANOVA were used to perform intra- and inter-group comparisons. [Results] Thirty men with AMI aged 49.3 ± 8.3 years were studied. EG increased their exercise capacity (METs) (6.8 ± 1.6 vs.10.0 ± 1.9) after phase II CET and was able to maintain it at 8-month follow-up. Both groups had significantly fewer persons who kept on smoking compared to the first examination. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased from 38.1 ± 11.0 to 43.7 ± 8.7 mg/dl at follow-up in EG while no significant difference was noted in NEG. [Conclusion] After phase III CET subjects had maintained the therapeutic effects of smoking cessation, and increasing exercise capacity obtained in phase II CET. HDL-C in EG continued to improve during phase III CET.

Compatibility of basic social perceptions determines perceived attractiveness

The human body's shape and motion afford social judgments. The body's shape, specifically the waist-to-hip ratio, has been related to perceived attractiveness. Early reports interpreted this effect to be evidence for adaptation, a theory known generally as the waist-to-hip ratio hypothesis. Many of the predictions derived from this perspective have been empirically disconfirmed, leaving the issue of natural selection unresolved. Knowing the cognitive mechanisms undergirding the relationship between judgments of attractiveness and body cues is essential to understanding its evolution. Here we show that perceived attractiveness covaries with body shape and motion because they cospecify social percepts that are either compatible or incompatible. The body's shape and motion provoke basic social perceptions, biological sex and gender (i.e., masculinity/femininity), respectively. The compatibility of these basic percepts predicts perceived attractiveness. We report evidence for the importance of cue compatibility in five studies that used diverse stimuli (animations, static line-drawings, and dynamic line-drawings). Our results demonstrate how a proximal cognitive mechanism, itself likely the product of selection pressures, helps to reconcile previous contradictory findings.

Response of Blood Lipids to Physical Exercise in Elderly Subjects

Regular physical activity plays an important role in nonpharmacologic management of hyperlipidemia, in both the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Training intensity and duration, health status (especially the presence of cardiovascular disease), and concomitant changes in body mass and dietary habits are the most important factors that can modify the physical activity-blood lipid profile relationship in the elderly. The benefit of regular exercise goes beyond direct influence on blood lipids; it aids in reducing weight, decreasing fat mass, increasing lean body mass, reducing elevated blood pressure, and increasing insulin sensitivity. Regular physical activity has become widely recommended as an important element of healthy and successful aging and should be encouraged in individuals without contraindications. (c)2001 CHF, Inc.

Does waist circumference add to the predictive power of the body mass index for coronary risk?

OBJECTIVES

To examine the power of the combined measurements of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) for the prediction of abnormality in coronary heart disease risk factors and to determine whether the additional measurement of WC is predictive in older men and women.

RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES

1190 men and 751 women of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging were dichotomized into younger (<65 years) and older (65+ years) age groups. Coronary risk factors in the realms of glucose/insulin metabolism, blood pressure, and plasma lipids were assessed. The relationship of BMI and WC, singly and combined, to 10 risk factors for coronary heart disease was examined.

RESULTS

In younger and older men and women, BMI and WC are highly correlated (0.84 to 0.88). BMI and WC are also significantly correlated to all 10 coronary risk factors in younger men and women and to 8 of the 10 in the older men and women. Both partial correlation and logistic regression analyses revealed a modest but significant improvement in the prediction of coronary risk in younger men and women by WC after controlling for the level of BMI. There was no improvement in the older subjects.

DISCUSSION

WC adds only modestly to the prediction of coronary risk in younger subjects once BMI is known, and adds nothing to the production of risk in older subjects.

Relationship of physical activity and fitness to lipid and lipoprotein (a) in elderly subjects

PURPOSE

To determine, both by a cross-sectional and longitudinal study design, the relationship of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and physical activity (PA) to blood lipids and lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] in a population of healthy and weight-stable elderly volunteers aged 66-84 yr.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study in 52 subjects (23 men and 29 women), all independent variables (age, anthropometric, VO2max, and PA indices) were used in a multiple stepwise regression analysis to select variables influencing lipid and lipoprotein parameters. In a prospective nonintervention study, 38 subjects (17 men and 21 women) were reexamined after 6 months.

RESULTS

In a cross-sectional study, sports activity index contributed significantly to total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C), TC/high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio, and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio variance in men, whereas VO2max accounted for 23% variance of apolipoprotein A-I in women. In a prospective study, there was no indication that any measured variable was correlated with absolute or relative changes in PA indices in the total group or when analyzed by gender.

CONCLUSIONS

These data confirm that favorable relationship between PA/fitness and blood lipid profile is visible in elderly people but spontaneous changes in habitual PA are not a sufficient stimulus to alter serum lipid and lipoprotein levels in this population. Furthermore, there is no direct association between Lp(a) levels and PA, fitness, or body composition in the elderly men and women.

Blood chemistry profiles in menopausal women administered tamoxifen for breast cancer

1. Menopausal controls not administered estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), or menopausal women taking 10 mg of tamoxifen bid had serum samples collected. 2. When controls were compared to treatment, significant elevations in the TRI (triglycerides), SGOT (serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase), SGPT (serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase) and the GGT (gamma gluteryl transferase) were found in the tamoxifen group. Liver enzymes were elevated but still within the normal range for the tamoxifen-treated group. 3. The results from this study suggest that the use of tamoxifen citrate for adjuvant therapy in women with breast cancer causes no major alterations in the blood chemistry of menopausal women. The elevations observed were still within the normal ranges of menopausal women with the exception of the triglycerides.

Central markers of body fat distribution are important predictors of plasma lipids in elderly men and women

We determined the contribution of body fat distribution, peak VO2, fat mass, and dietary intake to variation in plasma lipids in elderly individuals. Volunteers were a healthy cohort of older Caucasian women (n = 75, mean age +/- SD, 72 +/- 5 years) and older men (n = 101, 72 +/- 5 years). We determined fat mass from underwater weighing, fat patterning from waist circumference, as well as peripheral and truncal skinfolds, exercise capacity from peak VO2, and dietary intake from three-day food diaries. Plasma lipid levels were measured in the fasting state and included total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), and fasting triglycerides. Older women weighted less than older men, but had higher fat mass, truncal, and peripheral skinfolds. Waist circumference and peak VO2 were lower in older women than older men. Older women had higher total cholesterol (217 +/- 31 vs. 197 +/- 30; p < 0.01), HDL-C (54 +/- 12 vs. 49 +/- 14; p < 0.05), and LDL-C (133 +/- 26 vs. 121 +/- 27; p < 0.01) when compared with older men. No gender differences were noted in fasting triglycerides. Truncal skinfolds were the best predictor of plasma lipids in older men, accounting for between 9% and 30% (r2) of the variation in plasma lipids. Similarly, in older women, central markers of fatness (i.e., waist circumference and truncal skinfolds) were the best predictors of plasma lipids (r2 = 3% to 24%). Total fat mass, peak VO2 and dietary intake were not independent predictors of plasma lipids in older men and women. Indices of central body fatness, rather than total fat mass, peak VO2 or dietary intake are stronger predictors of plasma lipids in healthy older men and women.

Relationship between physical activity and HDL-cholesterol in healthy older men and women: a cross-sectional and exercise intervention study

We used cross-sectional and exercise intervention studies to examine whether physical activity levels or increases in peak aerobic capacity (peak VO2) explain variation in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in older men and women. In the cross-sectional study, 307 older individuals (169 men; 138 women; 67 +/- 7 years) were characterized for HDL-C, leisure time physical activity, peak VO2, body composition, body fat distribution and dietary intake. HDL-C was 19% higher (P < 0.001) in women (57 +/- 14 mg/dl) versus men (48 +/- 14 mg/dl). Thirty-two percent of the variation in HDL-C in older men was explained by the waist circumference (r2 = 16%), percent dietary intake of alcohol (r2 = 11%), and carbohydrate (r2 = 6%). Waist circumference was also the best predictor of HDL-C in older women, (r2 = 7%); with percent dietary intake of carbohydrate adding an additional 6% to the model. Neither peak VO2 nor leisure time physical activity were independent predictors of HDL-C. Statistical control for the aforementioned variables diminished, but did not abolish gender differences in HDL-C. Thirty-seven older individuals (23 men; 14 women) participated in a 2-month exercise program in which individuals by week eight were expending approximately 900 kcal per week in exercise energy expenditure. Subjects were maintained in energy balance throughout the exercise program. Endurance training significantly increased peak VO2 by 15% in both men and women, and by design, body composition and body fat distribution did not change. No changes in HDL-C levels were noted. In conclusion, variations in leisure time physical activity or increases in peak VO2 are not independent predictors of HDL-C levels in healthy older men and women. Instead, central adiposity, as estimated by the waist circumference, and to a lesser extent, dietary intake of carbohydrate and alcohol, are significant predictors of variation in plasma HDL-C levels. Furthermore, short-term exercise training, generating less than 900 kcal per week in exercise energy expenditure, in the absence of weight loss, fails to influence HDL-C levels.