Helicobacter pylori seropositivity among 963 Japanese Brazilians according to sex, age, generation, and lifestyle factors.

Seropositivity of anti-Helicobacter pylori antibody (HP + ) was examined among Japanese Brazilians. The study was announced through 18 Japanese community culture associations in São Paulo, Curitiba, Mogi das Cruzes, and Mirandopolis in 2001. Among 969 participants, 963 individuals aged 33 - 69 years were analyzed. The overall HP + % was 48.1% (95% confidence interval, 44.9 - 51.3%). There was no difference in HP + % between 399 males and 564 females (49.6% and 47.0%, respectively). The HP + % increased with age; 35.3% for those aged 33 - 39 years, 46.2% for those aged 40 - 49 years, 46.5% for those aged 50 - 59 years, and 56.9% for those aged 60 - 69 years, but no differences were observed among the generations (Issei, Nisei, and Sansei) for each 10-year age group. Mogi das Cruzes, a rural area, showed a higher HP + %. Length of education was inversely associated with the positivity; the odds ratio (OR) relative to those with eight years or less of schooling was 0.61 (0.42 - 0.89) for those with 12 years or more. The associations with smoking and alcohol drinking were not significant. Fruit intake was associated with the HP + %; the OR relative to everyday intake was 1.38 (1.05 - 1.83) for less frequent intake, while intake frequencies of green tea, miso soup, and pickled vegetables (tsukemono) were not. Multivariate analysis including sex, 10-year age group, residence, education, and fruit intake showed that all factors except sex were significant. This is the largest study of HP infection among Japanese Brazilians, and the results indicated a similar pattern of age-specific infection rate to that for Japanese in Japan.

[Association between the interleukin 1B (C-31T) polymorphism and Helicobacter pylori infection in health checkup examinees].

PURPOSE: Associations between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and lifestyle factors have been demonstrated by several studies, but there are very few reports on links with host factors, especially concerning genetic polymorphisms for inhabitants of large city. The present investigation was conducted to determine the HP infection rate with reference to the Interleukin-1 beta gene (IL-1B) polymorphism and assess the interactions with smoking reported for outpatients. METHOD: The subjects were 468 participants in a health-check-up program of law of health for aged conducted by Nagoya Nishi Health Center. The participants were asked to permit use of their residual blood drawn during a health-check-up program and written informed consent was obtained for gene polymorphism tests. Data on smoking habit were obtained by self-administered questionnaire. The IL-1B C-to-T polymorphism at -31 was genotyped by PCR-CTPP (polymerase chain reaction with confronting two-pair primers) and an anti-HP IgG antibody test was used for detecting HP infection. Differences in values were assessed by a chi 2 test. An unconditional logistic model was applied for estimating odds ratios with the computer program STATA Version 6. This study was approved by the Ethical Committee at Aichi Cancer Center in 2000 before it was commenced (Ethical Committee Approval Number 11-12) RESULTS: The HP infection rate was 52.6% (61/116) for the C/C genotype of IL-1B-31, 48.6% (89/183) for the C/T, and 63.2% (103/163) for T/T; the difference were not statistically significant. However, when non-current smokers were excluded, the rate were 47.8% (11/23), 52.9% (18/34), and 72.7% (16/22), respectively, indicating the T/T genotype to have a higher infection rate. The age-sex-smoking adjusted odds ratio (OR) relative to the C/C genotype were 0.97 (95% confidence interval, 0.59-1.57) for the T/C genotype and 1.73 (1.04-2.87) for the T/T genotype. Among current and former smokers the age-sex adjusted OR were 1.68 (0.50-5.71) for the T/C genotype and 5.29 (1.11-25.1) for the T/T genotype, suggesting a effect of this polymorphism prominent in smokers. CONCLUSION: An association between the IL-1B-31 polymorphism and persistent HP infection was observed for inhabitants with a smoking habit, indicating that this polymorphism is one genetic trait conferring an increased likelihood of persistent HP infection.

Smoking habit and interleukin lB C-31T polymorphism.

Recent studies suggest that smoking habit may relate to genetic traits. This study examines the association with a polymorphism (C-31T) of interleukin 1B (IL-1B), which encodes IL-1beta, a multifunctional pro-inflammatory cytokine. Since the T allele makes a TATA box, the allele is thought to be responsible for a higher potency of IL-1B expression, indicating that individuals harboring the T allele are prone to inflammation. The study subjects were two different populations; 241 non-cancer outpatients (118 males and 123 females) at a cancer hospital and 462 examinees (127 males and 335 females) of a health checkup program provided by a local government. Current smokers were 36.4% for the male outpatients, 9.8% for the female outpatients, 38.6% for the male examinees, and 5.6% for the female examinees. The sex-age-adjusted odds ratios of current smokers were calculated for the genotypes with the T allele relative to the CC genotype by an unconditional logistic model. The estimate was 0.45 (95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.97) for the outpatients, and 0.83 (0.42-1.61) for the examinees. Although not significant for the examinees, the observed associations suggest that this polymorphism may influence smoking behavior through an inflammatory response of the respiratory tract to cigarette smoke.

Correlacao entre hipercolesterolemia e dieta deficiente em vitamina C / Correlation between hypercholesterolemia and vitamin C deficient diet

A carencia de vitamina C interfere tanto na atividade da enzima lecitina colesterol acil-transferase como na transformacao do colesterol em seu principal catabolico: os acidos biliares. Tem-se observado ainda, a presenca de varicosidade da veia sublingual em individuos com hipovitaminose C. Selecionamos quinze pacientes com niveis sanguineos de colesterol normais e quinze pacientes hipercolesterolemicos para estudar a correlacao entre a hipercolesterolemia e a deficiencia de ingestao de vitamina C. Realizamos analise estatistica com teste "t" de Student e teste tipo Caso-Controle, obtendo os seguintes dados: (1) Quanto ao nivel de colesterol, os dois grupos apresentaram diferenca significativa, no grupo hipercolesterolemicos com niveis de 422 ñ 116,2018 mg/100 ml e no grupo normocolesterolemicos 160,73 ñ 29,5356 mg/100 ml. (2) A media diaria de vitamina C na dieta e significativamente maior no grupo normocolesterolemico (170,33 ñ 75,18 mg) do que no grupo hipercolesterolemico (39,01 ñ 25,89 mg). (3) O grupo hipercolesterolemico apresenta uma media de ingestao diaria maior do colesterol do que o grupo normocolesterolemico, porem nao ha significancia estatistica. (4) O grupo hipercolesterolemico demonstra a ocorrencia maior de varicosidade sublingual estatisticamente significante em treze casos enquanto que no...

[Correlation between hypercholesterolemia and vitamin C deficient diet]. / Correlação entre hipercolesterolemia e dieta deficiente em vitamina C.

The deficiency of ascorbic acid in the diet affects the activity of lecithin cholesterol acyl-transferase enzyme and transformation of cholesterol to its main catabolic product the biliary acids. Fifteen patients with normal blood levels of cholesterol and fifteen patients with hypercholesterolemia were submitted to a comparative study as to the dietary ingestion of ascorbic acid. Besides this the presence of the varicosity of the sublingual vein--indicating hypovitaminosis C--was investigated in both groups of patients. The "t" Student test and Control-Case test of the results showed that regarding the cholesterol level there was a significant difference between the patients with hypercholesterolemia (422 +/- 116.2018 mg/100 ml) and those with normal cholesterolemia (160.73 +/- 29.5356 mg/100 ml). The ingestion of ascorbic acid in he diet of the normal cholesterolemia group was found to be significantly higher than that of patients with hypercholesterolemia. The ingestion of cholesterol was high in the group of patients with hypercholesterolemia but in comparison with other groups there was no significant difference. The varicosity of the sublingual vein was observed with significantly higher frequency (p < 0.0001) in the group of patients with hypercholesterolemia and lower ingestion of ascorbic acid.