Self-disclosure and coping styles in men with cardiovascular reactivity

The purpose of this study was to investigate self-disclosure, emotion-focused, and problem-focused coping styles among men with borderline hypertension and two groups of normotensive men differentiated by parental hypertension. Because blood pressure reactivity may discriminate between hypertensive and normotensive men, subjects in these three groups were categorized as high or low cardiovascular reactors based on their blood pressure response to a mental arithmetic task. Self-disclosure and coping styles were investigated in relation to status effects within the doctor-patient relationship. Men with exaggerated blood pressure reactivity were less self-disclosive and used fewer emotion-focused coping strategies than men with no blood pressure reactivity. Normotensives with a history of parental hypertension were less self-disclosive than normotensives without a history of parental hypertension.     

Glucose-dependent uptake of chromium in human and rat insulin-sensitive tissues

Su Vida, Su Salud/Your Life, Your Health is a community program to increase participation in breast and cervical cancer screening. This program illustrates the diffusion of an innovative outreach strategy from a research environment to two local health departments. The program uses A Su Salud, the communication model in which positive role models are featured in the media, and community volunteers who give positive social reinforcement. Local health departments in Galveston and Corpus Christi, TX, were selected to implement the model because of excessive mortality rates in the region and the departments' adequate level of resources and commitment. Over an 18-month period, 54 stories of role models appeared in the media in Corpus Christi, and 60 appeared in Galveston. There were 490 volunteers active in Corpus Christi and 279 in Galveston. Of 365 inquiries to the Corpus Christi program, 35 percent were from the Mexican American target group of women ages 40-70. Of 1,457 women who contacted the Galveston program, 9 percent were from the African American target group ages 40-70. Local health departments are well-suited to participation in cancer control research applications because they have direct access to high-risk populations and have the authority to institutionalize effective interventions.     

Hindshaker, a novel myelin mutant showing hypomyelination preferentially affecting the spinal cord

Animals with spontaneous mutations affecting myelin formation have provided useful information about the genetic and cellular mechanisms regulating normal and abnormal myelination. In this paper we describe a novel murine mutation termed hindshaker (hsh), which is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. Affected mice are characterised by a variable tremor of the hind end which commences at about 2 weeks of age and largely disappears in animals older than 6 weeks. There is hypomyelination affecting predominantly the spinal cord, although the optic nerves and brain are involved to a much lesser degree. The defect of thinly myelinated and naked axons is maximal at 20 days of age and largely resolves with time so that in the adult most axons are myelinated. The myelin structure appears normal and immunostains for the major proteins. Although the distribution of oligodendrocytes in the spinal cord is similar to normal during the period of hypomyelination, there are fewer mature cells. The hsh mutation appears to delay the maturation of oligodendrocytes, particularly in the spinal cord. Additionally, there is a considerable variation in phenotypic expression and in penetrance when the mutation is expressed on different genetic backgrounds, suggesting the hsh locus is subject to the influence of modifying gene(s). Identification of the hsh gene should identify a factor important in the development of oligodendrocytes, particularly those in the spinal cord.     

The BsmI vitamin D receptor restriction fragment length polymorphism (bb) influences the effect of calcium intake on bone mineral density

Previous studies of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and bone mineral density (BMD) have suggested that there may be differences in calcium absorption among groups of women with different VDR genotypes, and that the association may be stronger in younger women. To investigate the association between the VDR polymorphisms and BMD, this study was undertaken in the Framingham Study Cohort and a group of younger volunteers. Subjects from the Framingham Study (ages 69-90 years) included those who underwent BMD testing and who had genotyping for the VDR alleles (n = 328) using polymerase chain reaction methods and restriction fragment length polymorphisms with BsmI (B absence, b presence of cut site). A group of younger volunteer subjects (ages 18-68) also underwent BMD testing and VDR genotyping (n = 94). In Framingham Cohort subjects with the bb genotype, but not the Bb or BB genotypes, there were significant associations between calcium intake and BMD at five of six skeletal sites, such that BMD was 7-12% higher in those with dietary calcium intakes greater than 800 mg/day compared with those with intakes < 500 mg/day. The data also suggested that BMD was higher in persons with the bb genotype only in the group with calcium intakes above 800 mg/day. No significant differences were found in the Framingham Cohort for age-, sex-, and weight-adjusted BMD at any skeletal site between those with the BB genotype and those with the bb genotype regardless of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or country of origin. In the younger volunteers, BMD of the femoral neck was 5.4% higher (p < 0.05) in the bb genotype group compared with the BB group and 11% higher (p < 0.05) in males with the bb genotype compared with the BB group. There were no significant differences at the lumbar spine. In this study, the association between calcium intake and BMD appeared to be dependent upon VDR genotype. The findings of an association between dietary calcium intake and BMD only in the bb genotype group suggests that the VDR genotype may play a role in the absorption of dietary calcium. Studies that do not consider calcium intake may not detect associations between VDR genotype and BMD. In addition, the association between VDR alleles and BMD may become less evident in older subjects.