Dietary antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with diabetes biomarkers: the ATTICA study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Elevated dietary antioxidant activity has been regarded as providing potential benefits to health. The present work aimed at evaluating the association of glycemic indices with total dietary antioxidant capacity in healthy adults. METHODS AND RESULTS: The ATTICA study consisted of men and women, randomly selected from all areas of Attica region in Greece. In this work, a random sub-sample from the ATTICA study's database was studied, consisting of 551 men (41 ± 11 years) and 467 women (38 ± 11 years), with complete nutritional and biochemical information. Dietary habits were evaluated using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. The dietary antioxidant capacity was based on published values for Italian foods measured by three different assays: ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). Inverse, age-energy adjusted correlations were observed between FRAP and log-glucose (r = -0.149, p = 0.001), log-insulin (r = -0.221, p = 0.001) and log-HOMA-IR (r = -0.186, p = 0.001) concentration, as well as with TRAP and TEAC. After controlling for age, gender, body mass index, physical activity status, smoking habits and energy intake, multi-adjusted analysis confirmed the previous relationships only among participants who were not on the Mediterranean dietary pattern. CONCLUSIONS: Although more prospective studies are required, the data presented support the view that dietary modification towards higher consumption of antioxidants should be implemented in public health strategies, in order to better control glycemic markers in individuals, and prevent the development of diabetes at the population level.

Identification of patients with coronary artery disease by assessing diastolic abnormalities during isometric exercise.

BACKGROUND: Previous clinical studies using invasive and noninvasive methods have shown handgrip-induced diastolic abnormalities in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). HYPOTHESIS: The study was undertaken to determine the utility of Doppler echo- and pressocardiography during hand-grip in discriminating patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and in those with normal coronary arteries. METHODS: Both methods were obtained in 96 patients with suspected CAD within 24 h before coronary angiography. An abnormal handgrip-Doppler was defined by an early (E) to late (A) transmitral flow velocities ratio (E/A) < 1 during handgrip and a positive handgrip pressocardiographic test (HAT) by an abnormal increase in the A wave/total excursion or prolongation of the absolute or relative (heart-rate corrected) total relaxation time during isometric exercise. RESULTS: Of the 96 patients studied, 23 had normal coronary arteries and 73 showed CAD. In patients with normal coronary arteries, handgrip-Doppler showed an abnormal average E/A at rest and during handgrip, whereas all variables of HAT were within normal limits. In patients with CAD, handgrip-Doppler showed only a moderate handgrip-induced increase in average A (+ 19%, p < 0.001), whereas HAT showed a significant (p < 0.001) increase in mean A wave/total excursion (+ 60%) and decrease in the relative total relaxation time (- 17%). Furthermore, handgrip-Doppler and HAT were abnormal in 15 of 23 (65%, specificity 35%) and the HAT in 5 of 23 (22%, specificity 78%) patients with normal coronary arteries, as well as in 57 of 73 (sensitivity 78%) and 69 of 73 (95%) patients with CAD. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that these noninvasive stress tests can become a useful new diagnostic modality for detecting patients with unknown or suspected CAD.

Increased temperature of malignant urinary bladder tumors in vivo: the application of a new method based on a catheter technique.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the existence of any thermal difference between malignant tumors and inflammatory benign lesions of the human urinary bladder and to determine whether it correlates with tumor angiogenesis quantification. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A new method, developed in our institute, is introduced to detect temperature in human urinary bladder, in vivo. This method is based on a thermography catheter. We calculated the differences of the temperature of the solid tumor and of a normal area (Delta T) on 20 subjects (mean age, 72.5 years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 68.5 to 76.4). According to the biopsy histology, Eight (40%) patients had benign tumors, and 12 (60%) had malignant tumors. RESULTS: We found significant differences of Delta T between patients with benign and malignant tumor (P <.001). Also, differences were found for the mean values of angiogenesis level between malignant and benign tumors (P =.0261), and a moderated positive correlation was estimated between the degree of angiogenesis and Delta T (P =.02). Based on logistic regression analysis, we found that a 1-degree increase of Delta T triples the odds of a patient having a malignant tumor (odds ratio = 2.91; 95% CI, 1.97 to 7.78; P <.001), adjusted for the degree of angiogenesis (P =.0236) and the grade of tumor (P <.001). A threshold point of Delta T = 0.7 degrees C was determined, with sensitivity 83% and specificity 75%. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the calculated difference of temperature between normal tissue and neoplastic area could be a useful criterion in the diagnosis of malignancy in tumors of the human urinary bladder.