Association of human adenovirus-36 in overweight Korean adults.

BACKGROUND: Although human adenovirus-36 (Ad-36) has been reported to be associated with obesity in US adults and children, Korean children and the Italian population, the association has not been found in Dutch or Belgian populations or in US military subjects. Therefore, we examined whether Ad-36 infection is associated with obesity in Korean adults. METHODS: A total of 540 age- and sex-matched individuals, who were normal weight, overweight or obese, were selected from participants in routine health examinations at the Ewha Womans University Medical Center. Overweight participants were defined as those with a body mass index (BMI) of 23 ≤ BMI<25 kg m(-2) and obese subjects were those with BMI ≥ 25 kg m(-2), according to the International Obesity Task Force definition. Ad-36 antibody was measured using a serum neutralization assay. RESULTS: Although more overweight participants than normal or obese subjects tested positive for the Ad-36 antibody (40%, 32.8% and 30%, respectively), the differences were not significant. The participants who tested positive for Ad-36 antibody had lower levels of triglycerides (TG) in each of the three groups, higher total cholesterol (TC) in the obese group and higher high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in both the normal and obese groups. The odds ratio (OR) for Ad-36 antibody positivity was greater in overweight than in normal subjects (OR=2.03; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.16-3.55) after adjusting for age, sex and waist circumference. However, this OR was non-significant in the obese group (OR=1.56; 95% CI, 0.67-3.67). CONCLUSION: Ad-36 seems to be strongly associated with overweight, but not obese, Korean adults.

A case-control study of breast cancer in Tianjin, China.

In a population-based case-control study of breast cancer in Tianjin, China, involving 300 cases and 300 population controls interviewed during 1985-1986, a number of strong risk factors were identified. Although average age at menarche was late by Western standards in this developing country (14.4 years), it was clearly related to risk. Women with their first menstrual period at age 12 years or earlier had 80% greater risk than women who started at age 17 years or later. Age at first full-term pregnancy was also strongly related to risk, with women whose first birth after age 30 years having 3.2 times the risk of women whose first birth was under age 20 years. Other established breast cancer risk factors in Western populations (family history of breast cancer, a history of benign breast disease, and use of oral contraceptives late in reproductive life) were also risk factors in this population. Parity and duration of lactation were both strongly protective against breast cancer development in univariate analyses. These two variables were highly correlated with each other and with age at first full-term pregnancy. Although the effects of each variable dissipated somewhat in multivariate analysis, our data strongly suggest that both parity and lactation independently contribute to breast cancer risk.

[Evaluation of changes in portal collaterals by single photon emission CT: effects of endoscopic injection sclerotherapy].

The changes in portal collaterals before and after Endoscopic Injection Sclerotherapy (EIS) for esophageal varices were studied by Single Photon Emission CT (SPECT). SPECT was performed for the intra-abdominal blood pool with 99mTc autologous red blood cells (RBC) in 17 patients with liver cirrhosis before and after EIS. Twenty mCi of 99mTc-RBC labeled by in vivo technique were administered intra-venously and tomographic imaging of the intra-abdominal vascular blood pool was performed as follows. For each subjects, 64 views were obtained over 360 degrees of elliptic rotation at 30 seconds per view. In 15 of 17 patients, blood pool images over coronary vein and/or short gastric vein area were clearly demonstrated on coronary images. In 9 of 15 patients, the pool of coronary vein or short gastric vein was disappeared or decreased after EIS. It is considered that intra-abdominal blood pool SPECT study is clinically useful for following up of hemodynamics of portal collaterals before and after EIS.

[Relationship between recurrence of esophageal varices and changes of portal circulation after endoscopic injection sclerotherapy: evaluation by single photon emission CT].

The relationship between recurrence of esophageal varices after endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS) and changes of the blood pool of portosystemic collaterals was studied in 36 patients with liver cirrhosis. Examination of the blood pool of portosystemic collaterals was performed by single photon emission CT (SPECT). Seven hundreds and forty MBq of 99mTc-RBCs, labeled by an in vivo technique, were given intravenously, and tomographic imaging of the intraabdominal vascular blood pool was performed. Before EIS, the blood pool images of the coronary vein were demonstrated in 34 cases (94.4%). According to changes of SPECT images, the patients were divided into 3 groups, that is, the groups showing a disappearance, decrease, and no changes of the blood pool images of the coronary vein. The recurrence rates of esophageal varices after EIS were 11.1% (1 of 9 patients), 40.0% (6 of 15 patients), and 90.0% (9 of 10 patients) in the disappeared, decreased and unchanged groups respectively. These values were significantly different between the disappeared group and the unchanged group (P less than 0.01), and between the decreased group and the unchanged group (P less than 0.05). These results indicate that the abdominal blood pool SPECT is useful for evaluating the therapeutic effectiveness of EIS.

Mid-life and late-life vascular risk factors and dementia in Korean men and women.

Dementia is one of the most important neurological disorders in the elderly population. The significance of vascular risk factors for dementia remains controversial. This study aimed to determine the effects of vascular risk factors, such as blood pressure, diabetes and smoking in the mid-life or the late-life on dementia risk. The data in this prospective cohort study came from 3252 dementia events occurring over 14 years among 848,505 Koreans aged 40-95 years insured by the National Health Insurance Corporation who had a biennial medical evaluation during 1992-1995. Data on clinical dementia during the period 1993-2006 were examined in relation to vascular risk factors. The age adjusted incidence per 100,000 was 31.9 for men and 45.0 for women, respectively. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, diabetes increased the risk of either dementia in Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia in men and women, controlling for age, hypertension, total cholesterol, alcohol drinking, and smoking. Hypertension also increased vascular dementia in both men [Hazard ratio (HR)=2.6, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.7-3.8] and women (HR=2.3, 95%CI=1.6-3.3). The association of hypertension or diabetes on risk of vascular dementia, however, among the group aged older than 65 was attenuated but remained as significant in men. There was no interaction between hypertension and diabetes on the risk of dementia. This study demonstrates that diabetes and hypertension increased the risk of vascular dementia. Treatment for these risk factors may reduce the risk of vascular dementia.

The Hamburg short psychotherapy comparison experiment. The patient sample: overt and covert selection factors and prognostic predictions.

(1) Our intake sample (n = 214) shows the well-known preponderance of upper-middle and middle class; however, in our case this selection is wholly independent from the influence of psychotherapists. Mean 'duration of problem' was over 10 years for 31% and from 5 to 10 years for another 18%. The intake sample deviated significantly in 'pathological' direction in every one of the 12 test scale means of the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI) from the population means. (2) Comparisons of the averse (i.e. to psychotherapy) subsample versus the affine group yielded cues that the former sample was a bit less ill and came from a less sophisticated background. The averse sample had a near normal arithmetic mean in 'verbal fluency' whereas its affine counter group was significantly higher. Therapy refusers (a subgroup of the averse) were less ill and had more often come 'on their own' than the 3 other subsamples. Therapy completers (a subgroup of the affine) were more often married and had a higher proportion of patients with a very long (10 years) 'duration of problem'. (3) Therapists' selection of candidates for psychotherapy operated through prognostic predictions for the intake sample. The prognoses of the CC predictors were significantly more optimistic than those of the PT prognosticians. In regard to psychological tests both CC and PT prognostically favoured 'manifest anxious' and 'inhibited' (socially anxious) patients. This communal nucleus is expanded for PT to include less sociable but not undercontrolled patients, whereas CC prognosticians favoured depressed, inferior feeling, but more verbally intelligent patients with less psychosomatic instability. Thus, except perhaps for the CC therapists preferring verbal intelligence, our prognosticians resisted the famous attraction of the YAVIS patient (Y = young, A = attractive, V = verbal, I = intelligent, S = successful) [Goldstein, 1977 p. 6]. (4) Lot assignment achieved a random distribution. There is a nonsignificant tendency for the immediate therapy sample to be a bit more disturbed than the waiting group. The patients filling out session questionnaires might be a bit more disturbed than those not asked to fill these in.