Purpose: To evaluate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D concentrations and factors related to vitamin D inadequacy in postmenopausal North American women receiving therapy to treat or prevent ...osteoporosis.
Methods: Serum 25(OH)D and PTH were obtained in 1536 community-dwelling women between November 2003 and March 2004. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess risk factors for suboptimal (<30 ng/ml) 25(OH)D.
Results: Ninety-two percent of study subjects were Caucasian, with a mean age of 71 yr. Thirty-five percent resided at or above latitude 42° north, and 24% resided less than 35° north. Mean (sd) serum 25(OH)D was 30.4 (13.2) ng/ml: serum 25(OH)D was less than 20 ng/ml in 18%; less than 25 ng/ml in 36%; and less than 30 ng/ml in 52%. Prevalence of suboptimal 25(OH)D was significantly higher in subjects who took less than 400 vs. 400 IU/d or more vitamin D. There was a significant negative correlation between serum PTH concentrations and 25(OH)D. Risk factors related to vitamin D inadequacy included age, race, body mass index, medications known to affect vitamin D metabolism, vitamin D supplementation, exercise, education, and physician counseling regarding vitamin D.
Conclusions: More than half of North American women receiving therapy to treat or prevent osteoporosis have vitamin D inadequacy, underscoring the need for improved physician and public education regarding optimization of vitamin D status in this population.
An adequate intake of vitamin D and calcium is viewed as a necessary part of treating osteoporosis. Recommended daily intake in the United States is 400 IU (10 μg) in persons aged 51–70 years and 600 ...IU (15 μg) for those over age 70. Vitamin D status is evaluated by measuring the serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), the major circulating metabolite of vitamin D. Many epidemiologic studies have confirmed that vitamin D inadequacy is a common problem throughout the world. This study estimated serum 25(OH)D levels in 1536 postmenopausal Norh American women who were receiving medication to prevent or treat osteoporosis. All of them had been postmenopausal for at least 2 years and were 55 years of age or older. More than 90% of the study population was white and the mean age was 71 years.Nearly 60% of participants reported taking 400 IU or more of vitamin D daily. Nearly one fifth (18.7%) had had a fracture caused by falling within the past 5 years. The mean serum 25(OH)D level was 30.4 ng/mL, and the 25th and 75th percentile values were 22 and 37 ng/mL, respectively. Several cutoff points were used in this study. Regardless of the level used, vitamin D inadequacy was significantly greater in women who reported taking less than 400 IU of vitamin D daily. At a cutoff point of 30 ng/mL, the prevalence of inadequacy was 63% in women taking less than 400 IU daily and 45% in those taking 400 IU or more. Multivariate analysis yielded 8 variables that were significantly associated with vitamin D inadequacyage over 80, being nonwhite, a body mass index exceeding 30 kg/m, taking medications that affect vitamin D metabolism, supplementation of less than 400 IU daily, a lack of exercise, failure to discuss the importance of vitamin D with a physician, and an educational level below grade 12. The number of risk factors correlated with the risk of vitamin D inadequacy but, even in 203 women who lacked any risk factors, the prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy was 32%. Women with relatively low serum 25(OH)D levels had a significantly higher prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism.The prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy in postmenopausal women in North America who are receiving medication to forestall or treat osteoporosis is unacceptably high. Both physicians and the public need to be better educated about how to optimize vitamin D supplementation in these women.
BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite capable of infecting all warm-blooded animals including livestock. In these animals, the parasite forms cysts in the tissues which may ...pose a risk to public health if infected meat is consumed undercooked or raw. The aim of this study was to determine the exposure of livestock to T. gondii in St. Kitts and Nevis. METHODS: Sera and/or heart tissue and meat juice were collected from pigs (n = 124), sheep (n = 116) and goats (n = 66) at the St. Kitts Abattoir. Sera and meat juice were screened for reactive antibodies to T. gondii using an in-house ELISA. Heart tissue was screened for T. gondii DNA using quantitative PCR and positive samples were genotyped using RFLP. RESULTS: Antibodies to T. gondii were detected in sera from 48% of pigs, 26% of sheep and 34% of goats tested. Antibodies were also detected in the meat juice from 55% of pig hearts, 22% of sheep hearts and 31% of goat hearts tested. There was a significant positive correlation between serology and meat juice results. T. gondii DNA was detected in heart tissue of 21% of pigs, 16% of sheep and 23% of goats tested. Preliminary PCR-RFLP analysis identified a predominance of the Type III genotype of T. gondii. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest widespread environmental contamination with T. gondii oocysts and that livestock could be a potentially important source of T. gondii infection if their infected meat is consumed (or handled) undercooked.
Thinking in Dark Times Roger Berkowitz Hannah Arendt Center for Ethical and Political Thinking, Bard College; Jeffrey Katz Dean of Information Services and Director of Libraries, Bard College; Thomas Keenan
12/2009
eBook, Book
Hannah Arendt is one of the most important political theorists of the twentieth century. In her works, she grappled with the dark events of that century, probing the nature of power, authority, and ...evil, and seeking to confront totalitarian horrors on their own terms. This book focuses on how, against the professionalized discourses of theory, Arendt insists on the greater political importance of the ordinary activity of thinking. Indeed, she argues that the activity of thinking is the only reliable protection against the horrors that buffeted the last century. Its essays explore and enact that activity, which Arendt calls the habit of erecting obstacles to oversimplifications, compromises, and conventions.Most of the essays were written for a conference at Bard College celebrating the 100th anniversary of Arendt's birth. Arendt left her personal library and literary effects to Bard, and she is buried in the Bard College cemetery. Material from the Bard archive--such as a postcard to Arendt from Walter Benjamin or her annotation in her copy of Machiavelli's The Prince--and images from her life are interspersed with the essays in this volume.The volume will offer provocations and insights to Arendt scholars, students discovering Arendt's work, and general readers attracted to Arendt's vision of the importance of thinking in our own dark times.
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