OBJECTIVE-Human blood glucose levels have likely evolved toward their current point of stability over hundreds of thousands of years. The robust population stability of this trait is called canalization. It has been represented by a hyperbolic function of two variables: insulin sensitivity and insulin response. Environmental changes due to global migration may have pushed some human subpopulations

Background Patients who have suffered from tuberculosis are at risk of respiratory failure with hypercapnea from chest wall deformity and hypoxia from pulmonary sequelae. The combination of hypercapnea and hypoxia justifies both mechanical ventilation and oxygen therapy as treatment options. We aimed to study which treatment mode is associated with the best survival in patients with the combinatio

Control beliefs, i.e. a person's perceived control over his or her own behaviour, are important predictors of psychological functioning in old age. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating effect of housing-related control beliefs on the relationship between housing accessibility and independence in activities of daily living (ADL). Moreover, cross-national differences in five European co

Wind speed and direction have a significant effect on a flying bird's ground speed. Migrants are therefore expected to be sensitive to wind conditions and this should have consequences for optimal strategies of stopover and refuelling. Based on an earlier model of time-minimizing migration which includes wind condition, we investigate the consequences of the temporal correlation of wind conditions

Aim: Carbon monoxide (CO) in blood as assessed by the COHb% is a marker of the cardiovascular ( CV) risk in smokers. Non-smokers exposed to tobacco smoke similarly inhale and absorb CO. The objective in this population-based cohort study has been to describe inter-individual differences in COHb% in never smokers and to estimate the associated cardiovascular risk. Methods: Of the 8,333 men, aged 34

BACKGROUND: Recently, a -168A-->G polymorphism in the MHC class II transactivator gene (MHC2TA) was shown to be associated with increased susceptibility to myocardial infarction (MI). AIM: To confirm the association between the MHC2TA -168A-->G polymorphism and MI and to study its putative role for microalbuminuria, the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The European Pre-Standard for protective clothing against cold ENV 342:1998 suggests that the testing of thermal insulation should be made on a moving thermal manikin. In this way the value can be used to match requirements specified by the IREQ-method or as realistic input for prediction of thermal stress in other standards. It is known from prior work that insulation values measured with human s

A common methodology for analyzing metalworking fluid (MWF) aerosols in workplace air is based on gravimetry before and after organic solvent extraction of the MWFs from a suitable collection filter: Because MWFs have different chemical and physical properties, various mixtures of organic solvents have been used to extract the MWFs from their collection device. An alternative to organic solvents,

Background/Aims: Cocaine-and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) is an anorexigenic regulatory peptide highly expressed in the brain's appetite control centers, but also in peripheral neurons and in endocrine cells in the adrenal medulla, thyroid, pancreatic islets, and in the gastrointestinal tract. Plasma levels of CART were recently shown to be elevated in patients with neuroendocrine tumor

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A pre-treatment determination of the thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) genotype or phenotype can identify patients at risk of developing severe adverse reactions from thiopurine treatment. The risk of misclassifying a patient might be dependent on the method used. The aim of this study was to investigate the concordance between TPMT genotyping and phenotyping. METHODS: T

The signaling mechanisms regulating neutrophil recruitment, systemic inflammation and T-cell dysfunction in polymicrobial sepsis are not clear. This study explored the potential involvement of the calcium/calcineurin-dependent transcription factor, nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) in abdominal sepsis. Cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) triggered NFAT-dependent transcriptional activity in

AIM: Clinical studies have suggested a role for dietary glycaemic index (GI) in body weight regulation and diabetes risk. Here, we investigated the long-term metabolic effects of low and high glycaemic diets using the C57BL/6J mouse model. METHODS: Female C57BL/6J mice were fed low or high glycaemic starch in either low-fat or medium-fat diets for 22 weeks. Oral and intravenous glucose tolerance t

Objective. To investigate the impact on ICD coding behaviour of a new case-mix reimbursement system based on coded patient diagnoses. The main hypothesis was that after the introduction of the new system the coding of chronic diseases like hypertension and cancer would increase and the variance in propensity for coding would decrease on both physician and health care centre (HCC) levels. Design. C

There is consensus that young patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) should receive intensive immunochemotherapy regimens, but optimal treatment of elderly patients as well for as patients with limited or indolent disease is not defined. Our aim was to evaluate and compare outcome in relation to prognostic factors and first-line treatment in patients with MCL in a population-based data set. Data

Aims/hypothesis The association between low birthweight (LBW) and risk of developing type 2 diabetes may involve epigenetic mechanisms, with skeletal muscle being a prime target tissue. Differential DNA methylation patterns have been observed in single genes in muscle tissue from type 2 diabetic and LBW individuals, and we recently showed multiple DNA methylation changes during short-term high-fat