BACKGROUND Moderate alcohol intake has been associated with lower cardiovascular mortality. However, data evaluating the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP), a predictor of cardiovascular risk, and alcohol consumption are sparse. METHODS AND RESULTS The relationship between alcohol consumption and CRP was evaluated in a cross-sectional survey and over time among 1732 men and 1101 wo...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major etiological agent of human non-A and non-B hepatitis, affecting around 180 million people worldwide. Defensins, small cysteine-rich cationic peptides, are shown to have potent antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Defensins can be found in both normal and microbial infected patients, at variable concentrations. Notably, viral infections are of...

Introduction: Metabolic imaging with hyperpolarized [1-C]pyruvate enables the real-time in-vivo observation of metabolism [1]. The typical injected pyruvate dose is a multiple of physiological concentration levels, which may lead to saturation effects in pyruvate metabolism. Under this condition the observed conversion rates between pyruvate and its metabolic products are not only dependent on ...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that elevated midpregnancy serum insulin (IRI) and C-peptide (CP) concentrations are associated with later development of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), independent of prepregnancy obesity and midpregnancy blood pressure. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In this prospective study, a cohort of normotensive women, ages > or = years performed a 50-g glucose cha...

The relationship between vitamin C intake and status was investigated in a group of adolescents (13-14 years old). Dietary intakes were assessed using a 7 d weighted dietary record method, coupled with the collection of duplicate diets. Vitamin C intakes calculated using food composition tables were compared with values obtained by direct analysis of duplicate diets. Vitamin C status was judged...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Decreased tear volume in patients with chronic hepatitis C has been reported in the literature. Lactoferrin is abundantly present in human tears, the main source of which is the acini of the lacrimal glands. In this study tear lactoferrin levels were measured to investigate the dry eye condition of patients with chronic hepatitis C. METHODS Lactoferrin in tears/fluid was measu...

To investigate the clinical utility of C-reactive protein (CRP) determination in dogs, its plasma concentration was measured by a laser nephelometric method in 928 dogs with various diseases, and was compared with other inflammatory parameters. CRP concentration was elevated in various inflammatory diseases, this was most frequently observed in cases with neoplastic and immune-mediated diseases...