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Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Interestingly, the consumption of dairy products, namely milk, has been shown to lower cholesterol. The mechanism of action surrounding this observation has been attributed to the protein fraction of milk. While there have been many studies evaluating the effects of dietary protein sources on cholesterol concentrations, few studies have evaluated specific animal protein components and no human clinical studies regarding the effects of animal plasma protein fractions on cholesterol metabolism have been conducted. This study examined the effect of an oral serum bovine immunoglobulin protein fraction (bIg) derived from US Department of Agriculture approved beef (aged < 30 months) on lipid indices in hypercholesterolemic humans. Participants included men and women (aged 25 – 70 years) with mild hypercholesterolemia (5.44-6.99 mmol/L) who were not receiving cholesterol-lowering medication. Treatment consisted of the randomized, double blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled administration of 5 grams (g) bIg daily for 6 weeks (W) in 52 participants (n = 26 each in treatment and control groups). Mean (± SD) baseline treatment and placebo total cholesterol (TC) was 6.33 ± 0.1 mmol/L and 6.16 ± 0.1 mmol/L respectively. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) covaried for change in total energy and alcohol intake, and a Tukey posthoc examination of the data showed that the bIg-treated group demonstrated a significant reduction in TC at 3-week (W) (5.98 ± 0.5 mmol/L; P < 0.05) and 6-week (W) (5.97 ± 0.7 mmol/L; P > 0.05) intervals compared to baseline. The 6W concentration was significantly lower than the placebo group (P < 0.05). Additionally, study findings displayed no significant changes in the placebo group or in any other lipid indexes or markers associated with hepatorenal or cardiovascular health. Consumption of bIg appears to lower major lipid indexes associated with CVD.

Studies of large families with inherited single gene disorders identified a role of rare genetic variation as a cause of disease and enabled gene-based diagnosis. The increasing availability of population-scale genomic sequencing implies the potential to extend gene-based diagnosis from individuals with monogenic disease to the prediction of disease risk in the general population. Cardiovascular disease (CVD), as a highly heritable condition with significant public health burden, represents an excellent place to consider the promise and limitations of extending our understanding of rare variation in single gene disorders to the general population.

Strong evidence has linked dietary sodium intake to blood pressure, but the effects of sodium intake on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) outcomes remain elusive, especially for older population. We examined the association between estimated usual sodium intake and CVD and all-cause mortality in a nationally representative sample of 4068 US adults aged 51 and older surveyed in 1988-1994. After a mean follow-up of 12.9 years from 1988 to 2006, 1680 participants died: 734 from CVD; 392 from ischemic heart disease (IHD); and 144 from stroke. In the Cox proportional models adjusted for sociodemographic variables and CVD risk factors, sodium intake was not significantly associated with all-cause, CVD, IHD and stroke mortality. No significant interactions were observed between sodium intake and sex, race/ethnicity, hypertension status, body mass index or physical activity for any of the outcomes studied. However, among Mexican-Americans sodium intake was significantly and linearly associated with CVD mortality.

Širdies ir kraujagyslių ligos – opi šių dienų sveikatos problema. Daugiau kaip 50% visų mirčių Lietuvoje priežastis yra širdies ir kraujagyslių ligos. Nesveika gyvensena, nepalanki fizinė bei socialinė aplinka lemia širdies ir kraujagyslių sistemos ligų atsiradimą. Šių susirgimų grupei didelę įtaką turi žalingi įpročiai, fizinis aktyvumas, mityba, stresas. Todėl svarbu nustatyti labiausiai įtakojančius šią susirgimų grupę veiksnius. Darbo tikslas. Nustatyti širdies ir kraujagyslių sistemos ligomis sergančiųjų kūno masės indeksą ir gyvensenos ypatumus. Darbe buvo taikomi šie tyrimo metodai: 1. Anketinė apklausa; 2. Antropometriniai matavimai: ūgis, svoris, riebalinės raukšlės; 3. Cholesterolio kraujyje registravimas (ligos istorija); 4. Matematinė statistika. Tyrimas vyko 2006 – 2008 metais Kauno Medicinos Universiteto Klinikose (KMUK), Širdies chirurgijos ir Kardiologijos skyriuose. Tyrime dalyvavo 90 tiriamųjų (moterys ir vyrai), kurių amžius buvo nuo 35 iki 55 metų ir daugiau. Visi tiriamieji buvo suskirstyti pagal amžių į 3 grupes: I grupė 35 – 45 II grupė 45 – 55 III grupė 55 ir daugiau Kiekvienoje grupėje buvo po 30 tiriamųjų (15 moterų ir 15 vyrų). Tiriamiesiems buvo pateikta anketa, kuri leido sužinoti apie tiriamųjų bendrą savijautą, varginančius negalavimus, emocinę būklę, patiriamą stresą, mitybos įpročius - įvairių maisto produktų (ankštinių kultūrų, mėsos, pieno, vaisių) vartojimą, fizinį aktyvumą. Ūgis buvo matuotas ūgio matuokle (cm), svoris - medicininėmis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Cardiovascular diseases are essential problem of health today. More than 50 presents’ of deaf in Lithuania reason is cardiovascular diseases. Unhealthy lifestyle, negative physical and social environment determine the existence of cardiovascular diseases. To these diseases the big influence has physical activity, nutriment, stress, addictions. So, is very important to establish most influential factor to cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this research is to define the body mass index and the lifestyle of patients with cardiovascular disease. The methods of this research are 1) Questionnaires; 2) Anthropometrics measurements: height, weight, oil wrinkles; 3) Quantity of cholesterol in the blood (case-recorded); 4) Mathematical statistics; The research was done in Kaunas University Hospital, Department of Cardiology. There were examined 90 respondents (woman and mans), which age was from 35 till 55 years and old. All respondents were divided in to 3 groups: I group 35 – 45; II group 45 – 55; III group 55 and old. In every group was 30 respondents (15 woman and 15 mans). The respondents had to answer to the questions of questionnaire. The questionnaire allowed known about common health, malaises, emotional state, feeling stress, nutrition, and physical activity of respondents. The height was measured with height meter (cm), weight with medical scale (kg). There was defined the common oil quantity of the organism according measured oil wrinkles. The results show: The... [to full text]

Motivation Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity in South Africa. The major risk factors are prevalent in both the developed and developing areas of the world, among all social classes, and are of similar public health significance in all countries regardless of their level of development. This indicates that much scope remains for further reducing coronary heart disease (CHD) death rates in developed countries and for preventing the emerging CHD epidemic in poorer nations. This study aims at identifying the beliefs of the South African adult population regarding food and cardiovascular health and to therefore identify target groups for education programs. Objectives To investigate the beliefs of South African adults towards the importance of the link between food and cardiovascular health, especially between the different races, living standards, age and gender groups. Also to determine whether this population looks for the Heart Foundation symbol on food products, as well as where the link between food and heart disease ranks in terms of importance compared to other highly prevalent diseases. Method The design of the study was a randomized cross-sectional study. Trained field workers administrated questionnaires by conducting face-to-face interviews with consumers in the language of their choice. Two thousand South African individuals (1 6 years and older) were randomly selected from metropolitan areas in South Africa. The data was weighted to be representative of the total South African metropolitan consumer population, based on gender, age and race distribution (n=10 695 000). The total population was representative of both genders (5 423 000 men and 5 272 000 women) and major race groups (2 615 000 whites, 6 252 000 blacks, 1 255 000 coloureds and 573 000 Indians), from different age and living standards groups. The market research group, MARKINOR, was contracted to collect the data. Quantitive data was statistically analysed in order to generate the relevant descriptive statistics, cross tabulations and statistical tests. Results The majority of the population found the link between food and cardiovascular risk related health issues to be important, especially the higher LSM groups within the different race groups. The link between food and weight loss was considered the least important compared to other cardiovascular risk factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, healthy blood vessels). Only 35% of the study population agreed with the statement that they look for the Heart Foundation symbol, while 46% disagreed with the statement. There was a greater tendency for the higher LSM groups to look for the Heart Foundation symbol than the lower LSM groups. Heart disease was considered just as important and in some cases more important when compared with HIVIAIDS and cancer. Conclusions This study shows that the metropolitan South African adult population is aware of the importance of food on CVD. Nutritional education needs to be aimed at both genders and all ages of the lower socio-economic groups of South Africa. The reasons why such a large percentage of the South African metropolitan adults do not look for the Heart Foundation symbol, or are undecided about it, needs to be investigated and addressed. Prevention programs promoting a healthy lifestyle, which would address the risk factors associated with CVD, should be received with a positive attitude. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Nutrition))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetes. Short-term studies of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-targeted therapies suggest potential beneficial effects on cardiovascular outcomes. The mechanism behind this unexpectedly rapid effect is not known. In this study, full-length human GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) mRNA was cloned and sequenced from a human megakaryocyte cell line. Quantitative RT-PCR results showed that expression levels were comparable to other GLP-1R expressing tissues. Furthermore, incubation with GLP-1 and the GLP-1R agonist exenatide elicited a cAMP response in these cells. As megakaryocytes are the cellular precursors of platelets, the effect of GLP-1 and exenatide were studied in gel-filtered human platelet aggregation, where they were both shown to have an inhibitory effect on thrombin-stimulated platelet aggregation. Platelet inhibition by GLP-1 and GLP-1R agonists presents a potential mechanism for the reduced incidence of atherothrombotic events thought to be associated with GLP-1-targeted therapies.

The Apelin-APJ system is transiently up-regulated in murine models of cardiac dysfunction. We have previously shown that Apelin-deficient mice subjected to aortic constriction suffer from severe fibrosis. In turn, we hypothesized that Apelin deficiency will also exaggerate the fibrosis phenotype post experimental myocardial infarction, associated with changes in fibroblast cell activity. Apelin-deficient and wildtype mice were randomly subjected to sham operation or left coronary artery ligation. Apelin deficiency worsened cardiac functionality, enhanced fibrosis-related gene expression and morphology, and enhanced vimentin intermediate filament expression, which may be involved in increasing fibroblast proliferation. MicroRNA target prediction softwares predict that apelin and vimentin 3 ’UTRs are potential targets of microRNA-378 regulation, and were confirmed with Luciferase reporter assays and western blot. Apelin up-regulation may be a useful strategy for attenuating unfavorable fibrosis through down-regulating vimentin-mediated adverse fibroblast activity. MicroRNA-378 regulation may be partly responsible for changes in apelin and vimentin expression.

The objective of this thesis was to examine age-related changes in weight and body composition as they relate to health in older adults. This thesis was completed in manuscript format and consists of two studies, both of which are based on the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) cohort. The CHS is a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling older (≥65 years) men and women who were followed for 8 years. The first manuscript examined whether physical activity (PA) attenuates age-related weight loss in the elderly. Mixed modeling procedures were employed to create body weight trajectory curves for the 8 year follow-up period according to physical activity level in a sample of 4512 CHS participants. Body weight declined over the follow-up period in all physical activity groups, with an accelerated weight loss occurring in the final years of follow-up. Over the 8 year follow-up, body weight was reduced by 2.72 kg in the least active PA quartile. Compared to the least active quartile, weight loss was attenuated by 0.55 kg (20%), 0.80 kg (29%), and 0.69 kg (25%) within the second through fourth physical activity quartiles. Therefore, participation in modest amounts of PA attenuated age-related weight loss by approximately 25%. The second manuscript examined whether sarcopenic-obesity is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than either sarcopenia or obesity alone, and whether muscle mass or strength is a stronger marker of CVD risk. CHS participants who were free of CVD at baseline (n=3400) were classified as normal, sarcopenic, obese, or sarcopenic-obese based on measures of waist circumference and either muscle mass or strength. Participants were followed for CVD development over 8 years and proportional hazard regression models were used to compare risk estimates for CVD after adjustment for covariates. When based on measures of waist circumference and muscle mass, CVD risk was not increased in sarcopenic, obese, or sarcopenic-obese groups in comparison to the group with a normal body composition. When categorized based on waist circumference and muscle strength, CVD risk was significantly increased (by 38%) in the sarcopenic-obese group but not in either the sarcopenic or obese groups. Thus, sarcopenic-obesity, based on muscle strength, was associated with increased CVD risk implying that strength is more important than muscle mass for cardiovascular health in old age. In summary, the findings of this thesis support the continuation of public health efforts to promote regular PA and balanced nutrition to assist with maintenance of optimal body composition and weight through adulthood and into old age. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-05-30 11:56:03.775

Aim: The aim of this study was to: 1) investigate the geographic distribution of six pregnancy complications associated with future maternal cardiovascular disease risk in the province of Ontario and 2) to identify regions where women are likely to benefit from post-partum cardiovascular disease screening, based on the development of complications during pregnancy. Rationale: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Canadian women. Pregnancy has been likened to a cardiovascular stress test and provides an early opportunity to assess a female’s lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of data collected for the Niday Perinatal Database, provided by the Better Outcomes Registry & Network. Crude and age-standardized cumulative incidences of six pregnancy complications, and one or more pregnancy complications, were calculated for each Public Health Unit area in Ontario. The cumulative incidence of one or more pregnancy complications for women with no previous history of cardiovascular disease or traditional cardiovascular risk factors was calculated at the Public Health Unit and census subdivision area levels. Spatial statistics were applied to locate statistically significant clusters of high cumulative incidence. Results: Crude and age-standardized cumulative incidences of each pregnancy complication and one or more pregnancy complications varied across Public Health Unit areas in Ontario. The crude cumulative incidence of one or more complications ranged from 74 to 224 cases per 1000 pregnancies. The spatial analysis identified one statistically significant cluster of high cumulative incidence at the Public Health Unit area level, spanning the Lambton, Chatham-Kent, and Windsor-Essex Health Unit areas. Seven statistically significant clusters of high cumulative incidence census subdivisions were located within the following Public Health Unit areas: Chatham-Kent, Lambton, Middlesex-London, Ottawa, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, Renfrew County, Simcoe Muskoka, Grey Bruce, and Eastern Ontario. Conclusion: Regional variation in the cumulative incidence of six pregnancy complications associated with cardiovascular disease risk was observed in Ontario. Statistically significant clusters of high cumulative incidence of one or more of these pregnancy complications were identified. These regions in particular may benefit from post-partum screening clinics and increased awareness regarding the association between pregnancy complications and cardiovascular disease. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-27 13:56:51.945