Ranges of phenotypic flexibility in healthy subjects

Background: A key feature of metabolic health is the ability to adapt upon dietary perturbations. A systemic review defined an optimal nutritional challenge test, the "PhenFlex test" (PFT). Recently, it has been shown that the PFT enables the quantification of all relevant metabolic processes involved in maintaining or regaining homeostasis of...

Weight loss predictability by plasma metabolic signatures in adults with obesity and morbid obesity of the DiOGenes study

Objective: Aim is to predict successful weight loss by metabolic signatures at baseline and to identify which differences in metabolic status may underlie variations in weight loss success. Methods: In DiOGenes, a randomized, controlled trial, weight loss was induced using a low calorie diet (800 kcal) for 8-weeks. Men (N5236) and women (N5431)...

Accuracy of self-reported family history is strongly influenced by the accuracy of self-reported personal health status of relatives

Objective: We investigated the accuracy of self-reported family history for diabetes, hypertension, and overweight against two reference standards: family history based on physician-assessed health status of relatives and on self-reported personal health status of relatives. Study Design and Setting: Subjects were participants from the Erasmus...

Lactotripeptides and antihypertensive effects: A critical review

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a significant health problem worldwide. Typically, lifestyle changes, including adopting a healthy diet, are recommended for people with an elevated blood pressure. Lactotripeptides are bioactive milk peptides with potential antihypertensive properties in man. These peptides, as part of a food product or as...

The impact of metabolic syndrome and CRP on vascular phenotype in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: The burden of cardiovascular disease in diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) patients is variable. We hypothesize that metabolic syndrome (MS) and low-grade systemic inflammation modify the extent of atherosclerosis in DM2. Methods: Vascular phenotype was determined using the following endothelium-related, hemostatic, and sonographic...

Comparison of the impact of vaginal and oral administration of combined hormonal contraceptives on hepatic proteins sensitive to estrogen

Objective: We evaluated the effects of a new combined hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring (CVR) delivering the nonandrogenic progestin Nestorone® (NES) and ethinyl estradiol (EE) on several key estrogen-sensitive hepatic proteins that may be markers for the risk of arterial or venous disease events and on blood pressure (BP). Because the...

Hypertension and road traffic noise exposure

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between road traffic noise exposure at home and the prevalence of hypertension. METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional analyses in a large random sample (N = 40,856) of inhabitants of Groningen City, and in a subsample (the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease ...

Long-term effects of nutritional group education for persons at high cardiovascular risk

Background: Treatment of persons at high risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) should include nutritional counselling, but little is known about the effects of different types of education. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study design the effects of a nutritional education programme (1st year: three group sessions by a dietitian; 2nd year: one...

Job strain in relation to ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability among female nurses

Objective. This study examined the effects of exposure to job strain on independent predictors of cardiovascular disease (ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability). Methods. The participants comprised a homogeneous group of 159 healthy female nurses [mean age 35.9 (SD 8.5) years]. The choice of this population minimized...

Reconstruction of brachial pressure from finger arterial pressure during orthostasis

Introduction: In patients with recurrent syncope, monitoring of intra-arterial pressure during orthostatic stress testing is recommended because of the potentially sudden and rapid development of hypotension. Replacing brachial arterial pressure (BAP) by the non-invasively obtained finger arterial pressure (FinAP) has advantages because...

Finometer, finger pressure measurements with the possibility to reconstruct brachial pressure

Objective: To evaluate three methods aimed at the reconstruction of brachial pressure from non-invasive finger arterial pressure measurements as implemented in the Finometer™, (FMS, Finapres Measurement Systems, Arnhem, Netherlands), the successor to the Finapres™ (TNO Siomedical Instrumentation, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Methods: Finger arterial...

A relation between blood pressure and stiffness of joints and skin

Background. Blood pressure, particularly pulse pressure, is associated with arterial wall stiffness, but little is known about its relation to stiffness of other parts of the body. We examined the extent to which blood pressure levels in young healthy children are related to stiffness of various tissues. Methods. In November 2000, we studied 95...

Comparison of Portapres® with standard sphygmomanometry in pregnancy

Background: Continuous beat-to-beat noninvasive blood pressure (BP) measurement is possible with Portapres®. It constructs finger arterial waveforms beat-to-beat. Dedicated software is used to analyze the arterial waveforms. A new technique has been developed to reconstruct brachial intraarterial pressure that uses return to flow (RTF). This...

Arterial stiffness as underlying mechanism of disagreement between an oscillometric blood pressure monitor and a sphygmomanometer

Oscillometric blood pressure devices tend to overestimate systolic blood pressure and underestimate diastolic blood pressure compared with sphygmomanometers. Recent studies indicate that discrepancies in performance between these devices may differ between healthy and diabetic subjects. Arterial stiffness in diabetics could be the underlying...

Plasma coenzyme Q10 concentrations are not decreased in male patients with coronary atherosclerosis

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an important mitochondrial electron transfer component and has been postulated to function as a powerful antioxidant protecting LDL from oxidative damage. It could thus reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Thus far, beneficial effects of supplementation with CoQ10 have been reported. To study the relation between...

Seasonal variation in fibrinogen in the Rotterdam study

As evidence accumulates to implicate fibrinogen as a risk indicator for cardiovascular disease, it is of interest to study its seasonal variation. A population based cross-sectional study was performed among participants of the Rotterdam Study, a cohort of 7983 men and women, aged 55 years and over. Fibrinogen levels were measured by the...

Tissue plasminogen activator and risk of myocardial infarction: The Rotterdam study

Background: Impaired fibrinolytic capacity, as assessed by euglobulin clot lysis time or plasma concentration of fibrinolytic parameters, has been associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI). We studied the association of a polymorphism in the gene for TPA and of plasma concentrations of TPA (antigen and activity) with the...