BACKGROUND Observational epidemiologic studies have suggested that a low-sodium diet is associated with reduced mortality. OBJECTIVE The objective was to test the hypothesis that a higher dietary intake of sodium is associated with increased systemic inflammation--a potential risk factor for both cardiovascular disease and cancer. DESIGN The study design consisted of a randomly selected, cr...

We study lensing magnification of source galaxies by intervening galaxy groups and clusters using a halo model approach. Halos are modeled with truncated NFW profiles with ellipticity added to their lensing potential and propagated to observable lensing statistics. The magnification probability distribution of this model compares well with numerical results from ray-tracing simulations. We appl...

The influence of three types treatment on seedling survival percentage, growth and Armillaria infestation Fagus sylvatica L. (FAGUS), Abies alba Mill. (ABIES) Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. (PICEA) seedlings were tested in this study: (i) inoculation with the Ectovit® preparation containing ectomycorrhizal fungi (INOCUL), (ii) + Conavit® fertilizer (INOCUL FERTILIZ) (iii) untreated group (CONTROL)....

Dysregulation of the WNT/b-catenin (CTNNB1) signaling pathway is implicated in colorectal carcinoma and metabolic diseases. Considering these roles and cancer prevention, we hypothesized that tumor CTNNB1 status might influence cellular sensitivity to obesity and physical activity. In clinical follow-up of 109,046 women in the Nurses' Health Study and 47,684 men in the Health Professionals Foll...

We studied 74 never-treated grade I hypertensive subjects aged 18 to 45 years and 20 normotensive control subjects to define the rate of increase in carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and the potential role played by the various risk factors. IMT was assessed as mean IMT and as maximum IMT in the right and left common carotid artery, carotid bulb, and internal carotid artery at baseline and a...

Successful layer-by-layer (LbL) growth of short chain (∼30 repeat units per chain) poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSS)-poly(diallyl dimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) multilayers is presented for the first time and compared with the growth of equivalent long chain polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs). A detailed study performed by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) is carried...

OBJECTIVE Although prior studies report a relationship between elevated lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) and incident cardiovascular disease, the prospective association of Lp-PLA2 with incident peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has not been studied. We investigated the association between Lp-PLA2 mass and activity and the risk of developing clinical PAD and low ankle-brachial ...

When the various genotypes (A(i)A(i), A(i)A(i)) of an autosomal locus do not reproduce and contribute equally to the genetic composition of the next generation, we say that the "fitness" values of the genotypes are different, or that there is natural selection on the genotypes. Under natural selection, the average fitness for a random mating population increases with time until a stationary sta...