High-quality diets have been found to be beneficial in preventing long-term weight gain. However, concurrent changes in diet quality and body weight over time have rarely been reported. We examined ...the association between 10-year changes in diet quality and body weight in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Analyses included 53 977 African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Japanese Americans, Latinos and Whites, who completed both baseline (1993–1996, 45–69 years) and 10-year follow-up (2003–2008) surveys including a FFQ and had no history of heart disease or cancer. Using multivariable regression, weight changes were regressed on changes in four diet quality indexes, Healthy Eating Index-2015, Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010, alternate Mediterranean Diet and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension scores. Mean weight change over 10 years was 1·2 (sd 6·8) kg in men and 1·5 (sd 7·2) kg in women. Compared with stable diet quality (< 0·5 sd change), the greatest increase (≥ 1 sd increase) in the diet scores was associated with less weight gain (by 0·55–1·17 kg in men and 0·62–1·31 kg in women). Smaller weight gain with improvement in diet quality was found in most subgroups by race/ethnicity, baseline age and baseline BMI. The inverse association was stronger in younger age and higher BMI groups. Ten-year improvement in diet quality was associated with a smaller weight gain, which varied by race/ethnicity and baseline age and BMI. Our findings suggest that maintaining a high-quality diet and improving diet quality over time may prevent excessive weight gain.
To investigate the effects of lifestyle-related factors on ischemic heart disease (IHD) according to body mass index (BMI) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels among Korean adults.
A total of ...119,929 men and 89,669 women (from National Sample Cohort version 2.0, National Health Insurance Service) aged ≥20 years who were examined during 2003-2006 and had no preexisting type 2 diabetes or circulatory diseases were followed until December 2015 to confirm IHD incident cases. Data on lifestyle-related factors (BMI, FBG, diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity) were collected at baseline. Lifestyle-related risk factors were defined as mainly vegetable/mainly meat diet, former/current smoking, alcohol consumption ≥3 times/week, and no physical activity. Associations between these factors and IHD were examined using Cox proportional hazards regression models.
High BMI (≥25 kg/m2), high FBG (≥100 mg/dL), mainly meat diet, and former/current smoking were associated with increased risk for IHD. Alcohol consumption ≤twice/week and physical activity ≤twice/week were associated with lower risk of IHD. With increased lifestyle-related risk factors, the risk of IHD also increased in women (hazard ratio HR = 3.21, 95% confidence interval CI 2.18-4.73) and men (HR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.48-1.85). This increase was larger in women, with a significant sex interaction (p = 0.0001). Significant interactions between BMI and alcohol consumption (p = 0.0002) and between BMI and physical activity (p = 0.0063) were observed. Interactions were seen between FBG level and meal type in both BMI<25 kg/m2 (p = 0.0106) and BMI≥25 kg/m2 (p = 0.0281) and between FBG level and alcohol consumption in BMI ≥25 kg/m2 (p = 0.0118).
The impact of lifestyle-related factors on IHD was more pronounced in women than in men and may be modified by BMI and FBG level among Korean adults. This might be taken into account when planning individual interventions to reduce IHD risk.
Proton‐exchange‐membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) requires an efficient and durable bifunctional electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). ...Herein, Ir‐based electrocatalyst is designed using the high entropy alloy (HEA) platform of ZnNiCoIrX with two elements (X: Fe and Mn). A facile dealloying in the vacuum system enables the construction of a nanoporous structure with high crystallinity using Zn as a sacrificial element. Especially, Mn incorporation into HEAs tailors the electronic structure of the Ir site, resulting in the d‐band center being far away from the Fermi level. Downshifting of the d‐band center weakens the adsorption energy with reaction intermediates, which is beneficial for catalytic reactions. Despite low Ir content, ZnNiCoIrMn delivers only 50 mV overpotential for HER at −50 mA cm−2 and 237 mV overpotential for the OER at 10 mA cm−2. Furthermore, ZnNiCoIrMn shows almost constant voltage for the HER and OER for 100 h and a high stability number of 3.4 × 105 nhydrogen nIr−1 and 2.4 × 105 noxygen nIr−1, demonstrating the exceptional durability of the HEA platform. The compositional engineering of ZnNiCoIrMn limits the diffusion of elements by high entropy effects and simultaneously tailors the electronic structure of active Ir sites, resulting in the modified cohesive and adsorption energies, all of which can suppress the dissolution of elements.
Compositional engineering using the high entropy alloy (HEA) platform enables the design of an efficient and durable electrocatalyst. Mn incorporation in ZnNiCoIrMn induces redistribution of electron density around Ir, tailoring the cohesive energy of metal (Ecoh) and adsorption energy of oxygen species (∆EO). The enhanced Ecoh and weakened ∆EO of Ir in ZnNiCoIrMn are responsible for the enhanced activity and durability of OER and HER under acidic conditions.
Sex and gender disparities in biomedical research have been emphasized to improve scientific knowledge applied for the health of both men and women. Despite sex differences in cancer incidence, ...prognosis, and responses to therapeutic agents, mechanistic explanations at molecular levels are far from enough. Recent studies suggested that cell sex is an important biological variable due to differences in sex chromosome gene expression and differences in events associated with developmental biology. The objective of this study was to analyze the reporting of sex of cells used in cancer research using articles published in Cancer Cell, Molecular Cancer, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, and Cancer Research in 2020, and to examine whether there exists any sex bias. We found that the percentage of cells with sex notation in the article was 36.5%. Primary cells exhibited higher sex notation compared to cell lines. A higher percentage of female cells were used in cell cultures with sex notation. Also, sex‐common cells omitted sex description more often compared to sex‐specific cells. None of the cells isolated from embryo and esophagus reported the cell sex in the article. Our results indicate cell sex report in cancer research is limited to a small proportion of cells used in the study. These results call for acknowledging the sex of cells to increase the applicability of biomedical research discoveries.
Cell sex is an important biological variable due to variations in sex chromosome gene expression and developmental biology events. This review underlines inadequate reporting of cell sex origin in vitro studies published in high‐impact oncology journals in 2020. Considering growing evidence of sex‐specific disparities in cancer biology and treatment, our results highlight the importance of disclosing cell sex in preclinical and clinical studies. This practice is essential for a better understanding and the successful application of biomedical research discoveries (Created with BioRender.com).
Abstract Background Metabolic syndrome is prevalent in the Asian population, but little is known about its associations with sources or types of dietary carbohydrates. Objective We examined ...relationships between metabolic syndrome prevalence and dietary carbohydrate intake, including total carbohydrate, energy from carbohydrates, dietary glycemic index, dietary glycemic load, total grains, refined grains, and white rice in Korean men and women. Design This cross-sectional study was based on data from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES 2007-2009) and a nationally representative sample. Participants/setting A total of 6,845 adults (2,631 men, 4,214 women) aged 30 to 65 years with no diagnosed diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidemia were selected. Dietary intake data were obtained using the 24-hour recall method and all dietary carbohydrate intakes were divided into quintiles by sex. Main outcome measures Metabolic syndrome and its components were defined using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Statistical analyses performed All statistical analyses accounted for the complex sampling design effect and used appropriate sample weights. Multivariate adjusted logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% CIs for metabolic syndrome across quintiles of dietary carbohydrate intake. Results After controlling for potential confounding variables, the determinants of metabolic syndrome were the percentage of energy from carbohydrates in men and intakes of refined grains, including white rice, in women. Triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose levels were associated with the percentage of energy from carbohydrates in men and white rice intake in women. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the sources and types of carbohydrates were differentially associated with metabolic syndrome according to sex in the Korean adult population. The percentage of energy from carbohydrates in men and intake of refined grains, including white rice, in women were associated with metabolic syndrome.
Picky eating behaviors are frequently observed in childhood, leading to concern that an unbalanced and inadequate diet will result in unfavorable growth outcomes. However, the association between ...picky eating behaviors and nutritional status has not been investigated in detail. This study was conducted to assess eating behaviors and growth of children aged 1-5 years from the Seoul Metropolitan area. Primary caregivers completed self-administered questionnaires and 3-day diet records. Differences in the nutrient intake and growth indices between picky and non-picky eaters were tested by analysis of covariance. Children "eating small amounts" consumed less energy and micronutrients (with the exception of calcium intake), but picky behaviors related to a "limited variety" resulted in a significant difference regarding nutrient density for some micronutrients. Children with the behavior of "eating small amounts" had a lower weight-for-age than that of non-picky eaters; especially, the older children with the behaviors of "eating small amounts" or "refusal of specific food groups" had lower height-for-age compared with non-picky eaters. These results suggest that specific picky eating behaviors are related to different nutrient intake and unfavorable growth patterns in early childhood. Thus, exploration of potential interventions according to specific aspects of picky eating and their efficacy is required.
This study investigated how diet quality changes over a ten-year period, assessed using the following four diet quality indexes, the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015), Alternative Healthy Eating ...Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), were related to mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. The analysis included 61,361 participants who completed both the 1993-1996 baseline survey and the 2003-2008 10-year follow-up surveys. Over the mean follow-up period of 13 years after the 10-year survey, 4174 deaths from CVD were identified. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable Cox models. Increases in diet quality scores were associated with a reduced risk of CVD mortality for all indexes: HRs per one SD increment of 0.94 to 0.99 (HR (95% CI), 0.96 (0.92-1.01) for HEI-2015, 0.96 (0.91-1.01) for AHEI-2010, 0.99 (0.94-1.04) for aMED, and 0.94 (0.89-0.99) for DASH) in men and 0.88 to 0.92 (0.88 (0.84-0.92) for HEI-2015, 0.90 (0.85-0.95) for AHEI-2010, 0.89 (0.84-0.95) for aMED, and 0.92 (0.87-0.96) for DASH) in women. The inverse association generally did not vary by race and ethnicity, age, body mass index, smoking, and hypertension in each sex. Our findings suggest that improving diet quality and maintaining a high-quality diet over time may help reduce the risk of CVD mortality and could also be beneficial for those at higher risk of CVD.
This study was conducted to investigate associations between C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and Korean food (KF) consumption and flavonoid intake from the 2015-2017 Korea National Health and ...Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 6025 men and 8184 women (≥19 years) who completed a 24-h dietary recall and health examination were analyzed. The individual KF consumption rate was defined as the proportion of KF of total food consumed and categorized into tertiles. Odds ratios (ORs) for elevated CRP levels (>3.0 mg/L) according to KF consumption rate and flavonoid intake/dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (<median; ≥median) were obtained by multiple logistic regression. KF consumption was inversely associated with CRP levels in women (
= 0.0236) and positively associated with flavonoid intake/dietary TAC in both sexes (
< 0.0001). Compared to women who consumed less than the median amount of flavonoid or TAC with KF consumption rates in the lowest tertile, those who consumed more flavonoid (OR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.42-0.83) or TAC (OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.41-0.82) in the highest tertile showed significantly lower ORs for elevated CRP levels. Thus, consuming KFs rich in flavonoid is effective for regulating CRP levels.
Gender-related variables for health research Nielsen, Mathias W; Stefanick, Marcia L; Peragine, Diana ...
Biology of sex differences,
02/2021, Volume:
12, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In this paper, we argue for Gender as a Sociocultural Variable (GASV) as a complement to Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV). Sex (biology) and gender (sociocultural behaviors and attitudes) interact ...to influence health and disease processes across the lifespan-which is currently playing out in the COVID-19 pandemic. This study develops a gender assessment tool-the Stanford Gender-Related Variables for Health Research-for use in clinical and population research, including large-scale health surveys involving diverse Western populations. While analyzing sex as a biological variable is widely mandated, gender as a sociocultural variable is not, largely because the field lacks quantitative tools for analyzing the influence of gender on health outcomes.
We conducted a comprehensive review of English-language measures of gender from 1975 to 2015 to identify variables across three domains: gender norms, gender-related traits, and gender relations. This yielded 11 variables tested with 44 items in three US cross-sectional survey populations: two internet-based (N = 2051; N = 2135) and a patient-research registry (N = 489), conducted between May 2017 and January 2018.
Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses reduced 11 constructs to 7 gender-related variables: caregiver strain, work strain, independence, risk-taking, emotional intelligence, social support, and discrimination. Regression analyses, adjusted for age, ethnicity, income, education, sex assigned at birth, and self-reported gender identity, identified associations between these gender-related variables and self-rated general health, physical and mental health, and health-risk behaviors.
Our new instrument represents an important step toward developing more comprehensive and precise survey-based measures of gender in relation to health. Our questionnaire is designed to shed light on how specific gender-related behaviors and attitudes contribute to health and disease processes, irrespective of-or in addition to-biological sex and self-reported gender identity. Use of these gender-related variables in experimental studies, such as clinical trials, may also help us understand if gender factors play an important role as treatment-effect modifiers and would thus need to be further considered in treatment decision-making.
This study aims to evaluate whether incorporating gender differences in portion sizes as part of quantifying a food frequency questionnaire influences the association of total energy intake with ...mortality. The analysis included 156,434 participants (70,142 men and 86,292 women) in the Multiethnic Cohort Study, aged 45-75 years at baseline. A total of 49,728 deaths were identified during an average follow-up of 18.1 years. Total energy intake and percentage energy from macronutrients were calculated using original portion sizes (PSs) and gender specific (GS)-PS and were divided into quintiles for men and women. The associations of total energy intake and percentage energy from macronutrients with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality were examined using Cox regression with adjustment for potential confounders. Mean ± standard deviation daily total energy intake using original-PS was 2449 ± 1135 kcal for men and 1979 ± 962 kcal for women; using GS-PS was 1996 ± 884 kcal for men and 1595 ± 731 kcal for women. For men, the hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals) for all-cause, CVD, and cancer comparing the highest to the lowest quintile of total energy intake were 1.05 (1.00-1.10), 1.07 (0.99-1.16), 1.03 (0.95-1.13) using original-PS and 1.07 (1.02-1.12), 1.11 (1.03-1.20), 1.02 (0.94-1.12) using GS-PS, respectively. For women, the corresponding HRs were 1.03 (0.98-1.09), 0.99 (0.91-1.08), 1.10 (1.00-1.21) using original-PS and 1.06 (1.01-1.12), 1.02 (0.94-1.12), 1.07 (0.97-1.18) using GS-PS. Both versions of percentage energy from total fat were associated with an increased risk of all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality; on the other hand, both versions of percentage energy from carbohydrate showed inverse associations with all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality in both men and women. When using original-PS and GS-PS, the estimated total energy intake differed, resulting in marginal differences in the associations of total energy intake with all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality.
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