Research Abstract |
We genotyped 832 healthy Japanese for a polymorphism of NOS3 in intron 4 (ecNOS4a/b), using the polymerase chain reaction method, and scored their habitual physical activity level by using the rate of energy expenditure per resting metabolic rate through an interview according to a semiquantitative assessment method. Only in the subjects who had the rarer a allele (aa+ba type), systolic blood pressure was found to be inversely correlated with physical activity level (P for linear trend=0.0496, for interaction=0.0071). Eventually, this polymorphism was significantly associated with the prevalence of systolic hypertension only in the subjects who were in the lowest tertile of physical activity level (OR=2.4, 95% CI, 1.1 to 5.6, P for interaction=0.0474).[Hypertension 2003] The genetic polymorphisms of ADH2 and ALDH2 were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that the relationship be
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tween alcohol consumption and diastolic blood pressure was significantly stronger in men with ADH21/21 than those with ADH21/22 or 22/22 (adjusted regression coefficient = 0.0392 versus 0.0113 mmHg for + 1 g ethanol/week, P for difference in slope = 0.018). The strength of the alcohol-BP relationship was similar in all of the ALDH2 genotype groups. [J Hypertension 2003] We examined allele frequencies for the common cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) TaqI polymorphisms and the associations of CETP-TaqI polymorphisms with serum lipid and lipoprotein levels taking into account for selected lifestyle factors in a well-characterized random sample of 527 healthy subjects. B2 allele frequency was 0.39 in men and 0.41 in women, and its presence was significantly associated with increased levels of HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) in men (P=0.003 for linear trend). A similar tendency in women was observed, although P value for trend did not reach 0.05. There were not significant interactions between TaqIB genotype and smoking and alcohol drinking or daily physical activity in HDL-C. There were no statistically significant differences among TaqIA genotype in lipid and lipoprotein levels. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that B1B2 and B2B2 explained 1.7% and 2.2%, and 0.6% and 1.0% of variation in men and in women in HDL-C, respectively. [J Epidemiology 2002] We conducted examined 455 Japanese rural residents to investigate the associations of plasma tHcy concentration with 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene and selected life-style related factors. The frequency of the mutant allele, Valine (V) allele, was 0.40 and the prevalence of VV genotype was 14.3%. Plasma tHcy concentration in VV was significantly higher than those in two other genotypes. There were significant inverse associations of plasma tHcy with serum folate and serum vitamin B12 (P<0.001 for trend, respectively) ; both being stronger in VV than in other genotypes. The number of cigarettes smoked per day was positively associated with plasma tHcy concentration. A multivariate regression analysis revealed that serum folate, serum vitamin B12, and MTHFR genotype were independently associated with plasma tHcy. The inter-individual variance of plasma tHcy was more explained by serum folate and vitamin B12 than by MTHFR genotype. Higher intakes of folate, vitamin B12, and non-smoking may be important to prevent mild hyperhomocysteinemia and the eventual atherosclerotic diseases in this Japanese rural population. [J Epidemiology 2002] Less
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