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#Glycated hemoglobin predicts #coronary artery disease in non-diabetic adults

..All patients underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for evaluation of chest pain. The extent of coronary artery stenosis (CAS) was quantified as percentage for each patient based on plaques detected in CCTA.

..Mean blood pressure of the patients was (91.2 ± 11.9 mmHg), BMI (28.3 ± 5.8 kg/m2), serum cholesterol level (174 ± 33.1 mg/dl), and HbA1c levels (mean 5.7 ± 0.45, median 5.7 and range 4.7–6.4%). Eighteen patients showed no CAS (47.4%), 12 showed minimal stenosis (31.6%), 3 showed mild stenosis (7.9%), 3 showed moderate stenosis (7.9%) and 2 showed severe stenosis (5.3%). A moderate correlation was detected between HbA1c and CAS percentages (r = 0.47, p < 0.05) as well as between HbA1c and the number of affected coronary vessels (r = 0.53, p < 0.001).

Conclusion
Glycated hemoglobin can be used as a predictive biomarker for CAD in non-diabetic low-risk patients.

https://bit.ly/2sghj8e

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The Effect of #Macronutrients on #Reproductive Hormones in Overweight and Obese Men: A Pilot Study

..Hypogonadal obese men find it difficult to lose weight. We investigated whether the modification of macronutrient intake can alter testosterone levels independently of the body mass index. Fasted overweight or obese fertile men were asked to consume meals of polyunsaturated fats (PUFA), monounsaturated fats (MUFA), refined carbohydrates (CHO, orange juice, OJ), whey and egg albumin and mixed meals of PUFA and CHO, PUFA and egg albumin, and CHO and egg albumin. Blood was collected at fasting, then hourly for 5 h and analysed to determine the levels of testosterone and other hormones. We found PUFA and MUFA or a mixed meal of PUFA and CHO significantly reduced serum testosterone production to a similar degree over a 5 h period. PUFA decreased serum testosterone levels by 3.2 nmol/L after 1 h compared to baseline (p = 0.023), with this suppression remaining significant up to 5 h postprandially (2.1 nmol/L; p = 0.012). The net overall testosterone levels were reduced by approximately 10 nmol/L × h by PUFA, MUFA and PUFA combined with CHO. CHO alone had little effect on testosterone levels, whereas egg albumin was able to increase them (7.4 cf 2.0 nmol/L × h).

Therefore, for men wishing to optimize their testosterone levels, it may be wise to avoid a high fat intake, drink liquids such as water or OJ or even consider fasting...

https://bit.ly/34TFiHE

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Occupational #radiation exposure and excess additive risk of #cataract incidence in a cohort of US radiologic technologists

..There were 11 345 cataract diagnoses and 5440 of cataract surgery during 832 462 and 888 402 person-years of follow-up, respectively. Cumulative occupational radiation exposure was associated with self-reported cataract, but not with cataract surgery, with EAR/104 person-year Gy=94 (95% CI: 47 to 143, p<0.001) and EAR/104 person-year Gy=13 (95% CI: <0 to 57, p=0.551), respectively. There was marked (p<0.001) variation of EAR by age and by diabetes status, with risk higher among persons ≥75 years and diabetics. There were indications of elevated risk among those with higher UVB radiation (p=0.045), whites (p=0.056) and among those with higher levels of cigarette smoking (p=0.062). Elevated additive risk was observed for estimated occupational radiation eye-lens doses <100 mGy (p=0.004) with no dose–response curvature (p=0.903).

Conclusions The elevated additive risks associated with low-dose radiation, if confirmed elsewhere, have important public health and clinical implications for radiation workers as well as regulatory measures.

https://bit.ly/2QfjNf7

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Clustering of #lifestyle risk factors for non-communicable diseases in 304,779 #adolescents from 89 countries: A global perspective

The precursors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are often manifested during childhood and adolescence with little knowledge about co-occurrence of their related lifestyle risk factors. ..

..Adolescents aged 16–17 years, compared to those aged 11–13 years, had higher odds (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.31–1.36) of reporting ≥3 risk factors. Risk factors clustered in multiple combinations and differed by sex. The clustering of physical inactivity and low fruit and vegetable intake was evident in both males (O/E 1.10; 95% CI 1.07–1.12) and females (1.08; 1.06–1.10). The co-occurrence of cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, physical inactivity, and low fruit and vegetable intake was 165% greater in females (2.65; 2.28–3.07) and 110% greater in males (2.10; 1.90–2.32) than expected. Globally, adolescents exhibit multiple modifiable risk factors for future development of NCDs.

Early gender-specific prevention strategies targeting clusters of lifestyle risk factors should be prioritised to help mitigate future burden of NCDs globally. Periodical collection of behavioural risk factor data should be encouraged to facilitate a sustainable global surveillance.

https://bit.ly/2SplZ6c

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Does type 2 #diabetes confer higher relative rates of #cardiovascular events in women compared with men?

..calculate overall and age-dependent incidence rates, incidence rate ratios, and women-to-men ratios for myocardial infarction, heart failure, ischaemic stroke, or cardiovascular death (MACE-HF). Among 218 549 (46% women) individuals with diabetes, the absolute rate of MACE-HF was higher in men than in women (24.9 vs. 19.9 per 1000 person-years). Corresponding absolute rates in men and women without diabetes were 10.1 vs. 7.0 per 1000 person-years.

Comparing individuals with and without diabetes, women had higher relative rates of MACE-HF than men [2.8 (confidence interval, CI 2.9–2.9) in women vs. 2.5 (CI 2.4–2.5) in men] with a women-to-men ratio of 1.15 (CI 1.11–1.19, P < 0.001). The relative rates of MACE-HF were highest in the youngest and decreased with advancing age for both men and women, but the relative rates were higher in women across all ages, with the highest women-to-men ratio between age 50 and 60 years.

Conclusion
Although men have higher absolute rates of cardiovascular complications, the relative rates of cardiovascular complications associated with diabetes are higher in women than in men across all ages in the modern era.

https://bit.ly/372V5Fo

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A Review of the In Vivo Evidence Investigating the Role of #Nitrite Exposure from Processed Meat Consumption in the Development of Colorectal #cancer

..The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) 2007 stated that the consumption of processed meat is a convincing cause of colorectal cancer (CRC), and therefore, the public should avoid it entirely. Sodium nitrite has emerged as a putative candidate responsible for the CRC-inducing effects of processed meats. Sodium nitrite is purported to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum and other food-spoiling bacteria, but recent, contradictory peer-reviewed evidence has emerged, leading to media reports questioning the necessity of nitrite addition

..The majority of these studies reported that nitrite-containing processed meat was associated with increased CRC risk. Nitrite consumption can lead to the formation of N-nitroso compounds (NOC), some of which are carcinogenic. Therefore, this focused perspective based on the current body of evidence links the consumption of meat containing nitrites and CRC risk.

https://bit.ly/2SpB4VB

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Efficacy and Safety of Low-Dose #Colchicine after Myocardial #Infarction

We performed a randomized, double-blind trial involving patients recruited within 30 days after a myocardial infarction. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either low-dose colchicine (0.5 mg once daily) or placebo..

..The primary end point occurred in 5.5% of the patients in the colchicine group, as compared with 7.1% of those in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61 to 0.96; P=0.02). The hazard ratios were 0.84 (95% CI, 0.46 to 1.52) for death from cardiovascular causes, 0.83 (95% CI, 0.25 to 2.73) for resuscitated cardiac arrest, 0.91 (95% CI, 0.68 to 1.21) for myocardial infarction, 0.26 (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.70) for stroke, and 0.50 (95% CI, 0.31 to 0.81) for urgent hospitalization for angina leading to coronary revascularization. Diarrhea was reported in 9.7% of the patients in the colchicine group and in 8.9% of those in the placebo group (P=0.35). Pneumonia was reported as a serious adverse event in 0.9% of the patients in the colchicine group and in 0.4% of those in the placebo group (P=0.03).

CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with a recent myocardial infarction, colchicine at a dose of 0.5 mg daily led to a significantly lower risk of ischemic cardiovascular events than placebo

https://bit.ly/35Z6plV

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Drinking Water #Salinity, Urinary Macro‐Mineral Excretions, and Blood #Pressure in the Southwest Coastal Population of Bangladesh

Sodium (Na+) in saline water may increase blood pressure (BP), but potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), and magnesium (Mg2+) may lower BP. We assessed the association between drinking water salinity and population BP..

..fresh water (electrical conductivity, <0.7 mS/cm), mild salinity (electrical conductivity ≥0.7 and <2 mS/cm), and moderate salinity (electrical conductivity ≥2 and <10 mS/cm)..

..Compared with fresh water drinkers, mild‐salinity water drinkers had lower mean systolic BP (−1.55 [95% CI: −3.22–0.12] mm Hg) and lower mean diastolic BP (−1.26 [95% CI: −2.21–−0.32] mm Hg) adjusted models. The adjusted odds ratio among mild‐salinity water drinkers for stage 1 hypertension was 0.60 (95% CI: 0.43–0.84) and for stage 2 hypertension was 0.56 (95% CI: 0.46–0.89). Mild‐salinity water drinkers had high urinary Ca2+, and Mg2+, and both urinary Ca2+ and Mg2+ were associated with lower BP.

Conclusions
Drinking mild‐salinity water was associated with lower BP, which can be explained by higher intake of Ca2+ and Mg2+ through saline water.

https://bit.ly/2Q1tjmZ

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Effects of Intermittent #Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease

Evidence is accumulating that eating in a 6-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to #ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases, including cancer and obesity.

https://bit.ly/369Na9v

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#Exercise capacity and #body mass index - important predictors of change in resting #heart rate

Resting heart rate (RHR) is an obtainable, inexpensive, non-invasive test, readily available on any medical document. RHR has been established as a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity, is related to other cardiovascular risk factors, and may possibly predict them. Change in RHR over time (∆RHR) has been found to be a potential predictor of mortality..

In this prospective study, RHR and ∆RHR were evaluated at baseline and over a period of 2.9 years during routine check-ups in 6683 subjects without known cardiovascular disease from the TAMCIS..

..RHR decreased with age, even after adjustment for sex, BMI and MET. The mean change in RHR was − 1.1 beats/min between two consecutive visits, in both men and women. This ∆RHR was strongly correlated with baseline RHR, age, initial MET, and change occurring in MET and BMI (P < 0.001).

Conclusions
Our results highlight the need for examining individual patients’ ∆RHR. Reinforcing that a positive ∆RHR is an indicator of poor adherence to a healthy lifestyle.

https://bit.ly/2sfOtoF

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#Injuries associated with electric-powered bikes and scooters: analysis of US consumer product data

..While persons injured using #E-bikes were more likely to suffer internal injuries (17.1%; 95% CI 5.6 to 28.6) and require hospital admission (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.3 to 6.1), powered scooter injuries were nearly three times more likely to result in a diagnosis of concussion (3% of scooter injuries vs 0.5% of E-bike injuries).

E-bike-related injuries were also more than three times more likely to involve a collision with a pedestrian than either pedal bicycles (OR=3.3, 95% CI 0.5 to 23.6) or powered scooters (OR=3.3, 95% CI 0.3 to 32.9), but there was no evidence that powered scooters were more likely than bicycles to be involved in a collision with a pedestrian (OR=1.0, 95% CI 0.3 to 3.1). While population-based rates of pedal bicycle-related injuries have been decreasing, particularly among children, reported E-bike injuries have been increasing dramatically particularly among older persons.

Conclusions E-bike and powered scooter use and injury patterns differ from more traditional pedal operated bicycles. Efforts to address injury prevention and control are warranted, and further studies examining demographics and hospital resource utilisation are necessary.

https://bit.ly/2SzArIY

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Association of #Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause #Mortality in Older Women

A goal of 10 000 steps/d is commonly believed by the public to be necessary for health, but this number has limited scientific basis..

..In spline analysis, HRs were observed to decline progressively with higher mean steps per day until approximately 7500 steps/d, after which they leveled. For measures of stepping intensity, higher intensities were associated with significantly lower mortality rates; however, after adjusting for steps per day, all associations were attenuated, and most were no longer significant (highest vs lowest quartile for peak 1-minute cadence, HR = 0.87 [95% CI, 0.68-1.11]; peak 30-minute cadence, HR = 0.86 [95% CI, 0.65-1.13]; maximum 5-minute cadence, HR = 0.80 [95% CI, 0.62-1.05]; and time spent at a stepping rate of ≥40 steps/min, HR = 1.27 [95% CI, 0.96-1.68]; P > .05).

Conclusions and Relevance Among older women, as few as approximately 4400 steps/d was significantly related to lower mortality rates compared with approximately 2700 steps/d. With more steps per day, mortality rates progressively decreased before leveling at approximately 7500 steps/d. Stepping intensity was not clearly related to lower mortality rates after accounting for total steps per day.

https://bit.ly/2MDaZOY

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global #obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (#BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity..

..We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017—and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions—was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions

.. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.

https://go.nature.com/2F3FU2J

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Application of non-HDL #cholesterol for population-based #cardiovascular risk stratification: results from the Multinational Cardiovascular Risk Consortium

..Incidence curve analyses showed progressively higher 30-year cardiovascular disease event-rates for increasing non-HDL cholesterol categories (from 7·7% for non-HDL cholesterol <2·6 mmol/L to 33·7% for ≥5·7 mmol/L in women and from 12·8% to 43·6% in men; p<0·0001). Multivariable adjusted Cox models with non-HDL cholesterol lower than 2·6 mmol/L as reference showed an increase in the association between non-HDL cholesterol concentration and cardiovascular disease for both sexes (from hazard ratio 1·1, 95% CI 1·0–1·3 for non-HDL cholesterol 2·6 to <3·7 mmol/L to 1·9, 1·6–2·2 for ≥5·7 mmol/L in women and from 1·1, 1·0–1·3 to 2·3, 2·0–2·5 in men).

The derived tool allowed the estimation of cardiovascular disease event probabilities specific for non-HDL cholesterol with high comparability between the derivation and validation cohorts as reflected by smooth calibration curves analyses and a root mean square error lower than 1% for the estimated probabilities of cardiovascular disease. A 50% reduction of non-HDL cholesterol concentrations was associated with reduced risk of a cardiovascular disease event by the age of 75 years, and this risk reduction was greater the earlier cholesterol concentrations were reduced.

Interpretation
Non-HDL cholesterol concentrations in blood are strongly associated with long-term risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. We provide a simple tool for individual long-term risk assessment and the potential benefit of early lipid-lowering intervention. These data could be useful for physician–patient communication about primary prevention strategies.

https://bit.ly/2Q7e5No

🎯🔆🍀🎉❤️🚀😃 Buon Anno Nuovo 2020 !! Glänzendes Neues Jahr 2020 !! Gorgeous New Jear 2020 !! 🎯🔆🍀🎉❤️🚀😃

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Ten-Hour Time-Restricted Eating Reduces Weight, Blood Pressure, and Atherogenic Lipids in Patients with #Metabolic Syndrome

In animal models, time-restricted feeding (TRF) can prevent and reverse aspects of metabolic diseases. Time-restricted eating (TRE) in human pilot studies reduces the risks of metabolic diseases in otherwise healthy individuals...

..In a single-arm, paired-sample trial, 19 participants with metabolic syndrome and a baseline mean daily eating window of ≥14 h, the majority of whom were on a statin and/or antihypertensive therapy, underwent 10 h of TRE (all dietary intake within a consistent self-selected 10 h window) for 12 weeks.

We found this TRE intervention improves cardiometabolic health for patients with metabolic syndrome receiving standard medical care including high rates of statin and anti-hypertensive use. TRE is a potentially powerful lifestyle intervention that can be added to standard medical practice to treat metabolic syndrome.

https://bit.ly/39qF6mO

Prevalence of Human #Papillomavirus Infection by Number of Vaccine Doses Among US Women

..Compared with unvaccinated women (prevalence of 12.5% [95% CI, 9.7%-15.3%]), infection with HPV type 6, 11, 16, or 18 was significantly less prevalent among women who received 1 dose (2.4% [95% CI, 0%-4.9%]), 2 doses (5.1% [95% CI, 0.8%-9.5%]), or 3 doses (3.1% [95% CI, 0.9%-5.3%]) of HPV vaccine (Table 1). There was no significant difference in prevalence for 1 dose vs 2 doses or 1 dose vs 3 doses. Differences were not statistically significant for cross protection (except for 2 doses vs unvaccinated and 1 dose vs 2 doses) and other high-risk HPV types.

In adjusted analysis, the predicted probability of infection with HPV 6, 11, 16, or 18 was higher in unvaccinated women (7.4% [95% CI, 7.1%-7.7%]) compared with women who received 1 dose (2.3% [95% CI, 1.9%-2.8%), 2 doses (5.7 [95% CI, 5.1%-6.2%]), or 3 doses (3.1% [95% CI, 2.9%-3.4%]) (Table 2). Black women had a greater predicted probability (10.8%) of infection with HPV type 6, 11, 16, or 18 compared with white women (6.6%). The predicted probability was also higher for women with more than 5 lifetime male sexual partners (11.6%) than women with 0 to 5 lifetime male partners (3.3%).

https://bit.ly/35a64eJ