Public Health Commons^™

Aggregating Twitter Text Through Generalized Linear Regression Models For Tweet Popularity Prediction And Automatic Topic Classification, Chen Mo, Jingjing Yin, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, Zion Tse

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Social media platforms have become accessible resources for health data analysis. However, the advanced computational techniques involved in big data text mining and analysis are challenging for public health data analysts to apply. This study proposes and explores the feasibility of a novel yet straightforward method by regressing the outcome of interest on the aggregated influence scores for association and/or classification analyses based on generalized linear models. The method reduces the document term matrix by transforming text data into a continuous summary score, thereby reducing the data dimension substantially and easing the data sparsity issue of the term matrix. To …

Causal Effects On Low Apgar At 5-Min And Stillbirth In A Malaria Maternal–Fetal Health Outcome Investigation: A Large Perinatal Surveillance Study In The Brazilian Amazon, Julio Abel Seijas-Chávez, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Mary K. Lynn, Maria José Francalino Da Rocha, Muana Da Costa Araújo, Fernando Luiz Affonso Fonseca, Gabriel Zorello Laporta

Faculty Publications

Background

Malaria elimination in Brazil poses several challenges, including the control of Plasmodium falciparum foci and the hidden burden of Plasmodium vivax in pregnancy. Maternal malaria and fetal health outcomes were investigated with a perinatal surveillance study in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre state, Brazilian Amazon. The research questions are: what are the causal effects of low birth weight on low Apgar at 5-min and of perinatal anaemia on stillbirth?

Methods

From November 2018 to October 2019, pregnant women of ≥ 22 weeks or puerperal mothers, who delivered at the referral maternity hospital (Juruá Women and Children’s Hospital), …

The Dietary Inflammatory Index Is Not Associated With Gut Permeability Or Biomarkers Of Systemic Inflammation In Hiv Immunologic Non-Responders, Fat Malazogu, Rodney K. Rousseau, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., Sanja Huibner, Sharon L. Walmsley, Colin M. Kovacs, Erika Benko, Robert J. Reinhard, Ron Rosenes, James R. Hébert, Rupert Kaul

Faculty Publications

Immunologic non-responders (INRs) are a subset of individuals living with HIV who have suboptimal blood CD4+ T cell recovery despite effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). They are at an increased risk of serious non-AIDS co-morbidities and death, and demonstrate enhanced systemic immune activation. In other populations diet has been correlated with markers of systemic inflammation through the Diet Inflammatory Index (DII), but this association has not been studied in persons living with HIV (PLWH). Blood was collected from 28 INR PLWH with a blood CD4+ T cell count <350/μL despite ≥2 years of effective ART. Participants completed a Canadian Diet History Questionnaire, and their responses were used to calculate the DII. Plasma inflammatory markers (IFNγ, TNF, IL-6, sVCAM, D-dimer, sCD14 and CRP) were assayed by ELISA, cellular immune activation (HLA-DR and CD38 on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) was quantified using flow cytometry, and small bowel permeability assessed by calculation of the urine LacMan ratio after drinking a mix of lactulose and mannitol. Participants were a median age of 57 years, had been on effective ART for 15 years, and the median DII was −1.91 (range of −3.78 to +2.23). No correlation was observed between DII and plasma markers of inflammation, levels of T cell activation, gut permeability, or the biomarker of bacterial translocation sCD14. Self-reported alcohol intake, a potential confounder of the relationship between diet and inflammatory biomarkers, was also not associated with systemic inflammation or gut permeability. Our findings suggest that other mechanisms, rather than diet, are likely to be the major driver of systemic inflammation in INR individuals.

Association Between Diet Quality Indices And Incidence Of Type 2 Diabetes In The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, Allison M. Hodge, Md Nazmul Karim, James Hébert Scd, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., Barbora De Courten

Faculty Publications

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common condition whose incidence is increasing worldwide, and for which obesity and diet are important risk factors. The aim of this study was to assess the association of three diet quality scores with diabetes risk and how much of the association was mediated through body size. The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study recruited 41,513 men and women aged 40–69 years during 1990–1994. At baseline, data were collected on lifestyle and diet, anthropometric measures were performed. Incident diabetes was assessed by self-report at follow-up surveys in 1994–1998 and 2003–2007. The associations between the dietary inflammatory index …

Spatial Distribution Of Pm2.5-Related Premature Mortality In China, Sheng Zheng, Uwe Schlink, Kin-Fai Ho, Ramesh P. Singh, Andrea Pozzer

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

PM_2.5 is a major component of air pollution in China and has a serious threat to public health. It is very important to quantify spatial characteristics of the health effects caused by outdoor PM_2.5 exposure. This study analyzed the spatial distribution of PM_2.5 concentration (45.9 μg/m³ national average in 2016) and premature mortality attributed to PM_2.5 in cities at the prefectural level and above in China in 2016. Using the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM), the total premature mortality in China was estimated to be 1.55 million persons, and the per capita mortality was 11.2 …

Evaluation Of The United States Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation Strategy, Md Rafiul Islam, Tamer Oraby, Audrey Mccombs, Mohammad Mihrab Chowdhury, Mohammad Al-Mamun, Michael G. Tyshenko, Claus Kadelkai

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Anticipating an initial shortage of vaccines for COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States developed priority vaccine allocations for specific demographic groups in the population. This study evaluates the performance of the CDC vaccine allocation strategy with respect to multiple potentially competing vaccination goals (minimizing mortality, cases, infections, and years of life lost (YLL)), under the same framework as the CDC allocation: four priority vaccination groups and population demographics stratified by age, comorbidities, occupation and living condition (congested or non-congested).

Methods and findings: We developed a compartmental disease model that incorporates key elements of the …

A 6-Cpg Validated Methylation Risk Score Model For Metabolic Syndrome: The Hypergen And Goldn Studies, Bertha A. Hidalgo, Bre Minniefield, Amit Patki, Rikki Tanner, Minoo Bagheri, Hemant K. Tiwari, Donna K. Arnett, Marguerite Ryan Irvin

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

There has been great interest in genetic risk prediction using risk scores in recent years, however, the utility of scores developed in European populations and later applied to non-European populations has not been successful. The goal of this study was to create a methylation risk score (MRS) for metabolic syndrome (MetS), demonstrating the utility of MRS across race groups using cross-sectional data from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN, N = 614 African Americans (AA)) and the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN, N = 995 European Americans (EA)). To demonstrate this, we first selected cytosine-guanine dinucleotides …

Estimation Analysis For The Seir Model With Stochastic Perturbation For The Covid-19 Outbreak In Bogotá, Viswanathan Arunachalam, Andres Rios-Gutierrez

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Statistical Modeling Of Sars-Cov-2 Mutation In The U.S., Yuru Jing, Angela Antonou

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Association Between Neighborhood Social Deprivation And Stage At Diagnosis Among Breast Cancer Patients In South Carolina, Oluwole Adeyemi Babatunde, Whitney Zahnd Ph.D., Jan Eberth Ph.D., Andrew B. Lawson, Swann Arp Adams, Eric Adjei Boakye, Melanie S. Jefferson, Caitlin G. Allen, John L. Pearce, Hong Li, Chanita Hughes Halbert

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between neighborhood social deprivation and individual-level characteristics on breast cancer staging in African American and white breast cancer patients. We established a retrospective cohort of patients with breast cancer diagnosed from 1996 to 2015 using the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry. We abstracted sociodemographic and clinical variables from the registry and linked these data to a county-level composite that captured neighborhood social conditions—the social deprivation index (SDI). Data were analyzed using chi-square tests, Student’s t-test, and multivariable ordinal regression analysis to evaluate associations. The study sample included 52,803 female patients …

Genomics Of Postprandial Lipidomics In The Genetics Of Lipid-Lowering Drugs And Diet Network Study, Marguerite R. Irvin, May E. Montasser, Tobias Kind, Sili Fan, Dinesh K. Barupal, Amit Patki, Rikki M. Tanner, Nicole D. Armstrong, Kathleen A. Ryan, Steven A. Claas, Jeffrey R. O’Connell, Hemant K. Tiwari, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Postprandial lipemia (PPL) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Inter-individual variation in the dietary response to a meal is known to be influenced by genetic factors, yet genes that dictate variation in postprandial lipids are not completely characterized. Genetic studies of the plasma lipidome can help to better understand postprandial metabolism by isolating lipid molecular species which are more closely related to the genome. We measured the plasma lipidome at fasting and 6 h after a standardized high-fat meal in 668 participants from the Genetics of Lipid-Lowering Drugs and Diet Network study (GOLDN) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled …

Differences By School Location In Summer And School Monthly Weight Change: Findings From A Nationally Representative Sample, Ethan T. Hunt, Bridget Armstrong Ph.D., Gabrielle Turner-Mcgrievy Ph.D., Rd, Michael Beets Med, Mph, Phd, Robert Weaver Med, Phd

Faculty Publications

Objectives: To examine changes in accelerations of Body Mass Index (BMI), age-and-sex specific body mass index (zBMI), and 95th percentile of BMI (%BMIp95) during the summer months and school year by school location designation (i.e., urban, suburban, exurban). This study utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011.

Methods: Of the 18,174 children in the ECLS-K:2011 dataset, I restricted participants to those with at least two consecutive measures that occurred August/September or April/May. Mixed-effect regression analyses estimated differences in monthly change in BMI, zBMI, and %BMIp95 between the summer and school year while accounting for the ECLS-K complex …

Effects Of Sesame Consumption On Inflammatory Biomarkers In Humans: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Shabnam Rafiee, Roghaye Faryabi, Mohammad Ali Zareian, Jessie Hawkins, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., Laila Shirbeigi

Faculty Publications

Objectives. Existing evidence produces conflicting findings regarding the effect of sesame intake on inflammatory biomarkers; thisknowledge gap has yet to be met through systematic review and meta-analysis. )is meta-analysis of randomized, controlledclinical trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effects of sesame consumption on markers of inflammation in humans. Methods. PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched through August 2020 to identify relevant papers for inclusion. Using the random-effects model, data were evaluated as weighted mean differences (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Cochrane’s Q and I-squared (I2) tests were used to …

A Comparison Of Bayesian Spatial Models For Hiv Mapping In South Africa, Kassahun Abere Ayalew, Samuel Manda, Bo Cai Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Despite making significant progress in tackling its HIV epidemic, South Africa, with 7.7 million people living with HIV, still has the biggest HIV epidemic in the world. The Government, in collaboration with developmental partners and agencies, has been strengthening its responses to the HIV epidemic to better target the delivery of HIV care, treatment strategies and prevention services. Population-based household HIV surveys have, over time, contributed to the country’s efforts in monitoring and understanding the magnitude and heterogeneity of the HIV epidemic. Local-level monitoring of progress made against HIV and AIDS is increasingly needed for decision making. Previous studies have …

Epidemic Conditions With Temporary Link Deactivation On A Network Sir Disease Model, Hannah Scanlon, John Gemmer

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

The spread of an infectious disease depends on intrinsic properties of the disease as well as the connectivity and actions of the population. This study investigates the dynamics of an SIR type model which accounts for human tendency to avoid infection while also maintaining preexisting, interpersonal relationships. Specifically, we use a network model in which individuals probabilistically deactivate connections to infected individuals and later reconnect to the same individuals upon recovery. To analyze this network model, a mean field approximation consisting of a system of fourteen ordinary differential equations for the number of nodes and edges is developed. This system …

Mitigating The Externality Of Diseases Of Poverty Through Health Aid, Kamal Jnawali, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Externality exists in healthcare when an individual benefits from others being healthy as it reduces the probability of getting sick from illness. Healthy workers are considered to be the more productive labourers leading to a country’s positive economic growth over time. Several research studies have modelled disease transmission and its economic impact on a single country in isolation. We developed a two-country diseaseeconomy model that explores disease transmission and crossborder infection of disease for its impacts. The model includes aspects of a worsening and rapid transmission of disease juxtaposed by positive impacts to the economy from tourism. We found that …

A Roadmap For Building Data Science Capacity For Health Discovery And Innovation In Africa, Joseph Beyene, Solomon W. Harrar, Mekibib Altaye, Tessema Astatkie, Tadesse Awoke, Ziv Shkedy, Tesfaye B. Mersha

Statistics Faculty Publications

Technological advances now make it possible to generate diverse, complex and varying sizes of data in a wide range of applications from business to engineering to medicine. In the health sciences, in particular, data are being produced at an unprecedented rate across the full spectrum of scientific inquiry spanning basic biology, clinical medicine, public health and health care systems. Leveraging these data can accelerate scientific advances, health discovery and innovations. However, data are just the raw material required to generate new knowledge, not knowledge on its own, as a pile of bricks would not be mistaken for a building. In …

Determining Diagnosis Date Of Diabetes Using Structured Electronic Health Record (Ehr) Data: The Search For Diabetes In Youth Study, Kristin M. Lenoir, Lynne E. Wagenknecht, Jasmin Divers, Ramon Casanova, Dana Dabelea, Sharon Saydah, Catherine Pihoker, Angela D. Liese Ph.D., Debra Standiford, Richard Hamman, Brian J. Wells, The Search For Diabetes In Youth Study Group

Faculty Publications

Background Disease surveillance of diabetes among youth has relied mainly upon manual chart review. However, increasingly available structured electronic health record (EHR) data have been shown to yield accurate determinations of diabetes status and type. Validated algorithms to determine date of diabetes diagnosis are lacking. The objective of this work is to validate two EHR-based algorithms to determine date of diagnosis of diabetes. Methods A rule-based ICD-10 algorithm identified youth with diabetes from structured EHR data over the period of 2009 through 2017 within three children’s hospitals that participate in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, …

Professional Responsibility, Legal Malpractice, Cybersecurity, And Cyber-Insurance In The Covid-19 Era, Ethan S. Burger

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, law firms conformed their activities to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and state health authority guidelines by immediately reducing the size of gatherings, encouraging social distancing, and mandating the use of protective gear. These changes necessitated the expansion of law firm remote operations, made possible by the increased adoption of technological tools to coordinate workflow and administrative tasks, communicate with clients, and engage with judicial and governmental bodies.

Law firms’ increased use of these technological tools for carrying out legal and administrative activities has implications …

Ua3/10 President's Messages - Fall Semester, Wku President's Office - Caboni

WKU Administration Documents

President's Message emails sent by Timothy Caboni to faculty & staff during fall semester, 2021.

• Convocation
• COVID-19 Vaccine
• End of Semester
• Fall Semester – Topper Fest
• Homecoming
• Living Learning Communities
• Margaret Munday
• MASTER Plan – Topper Directions
• National Philanthropy Day – WKU Opportunity Fund
• Parent & Family Weekend
• Summer Reflections/Fall Semester
• Tornado – Student Death
• Tornado Damage
• Tornado Recovery
• Vacation Hours / Salaries
• WKU Emergency Student Assistance Opportunity Fund

Covid Round 2: Workplace Support And Compassion Fatigue In Emergency Workers, Carlene A. Robinson, Kelly L. Sullivan

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 One Year On: Security And Privacy Review Of Contact Tracing Mobile Apps, Wei Yang Ang, Lwin Khin Shar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused 3.8 million deaths since December 2019. At the current vaccination pace, this global pandemic could persist for several years. Throughout the world, contact tracing (CT) apps were developed, which play a significant role in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. This work examines the current state of security and privacy landscape of mobile CT apps. Our work is the first attempt, to our knowledge, which provides a comprehensive analysis of 70 CT apps used worldwide as of year Q1 2021. Among other findings, we observed that 80% of them may have handled sensitive data without adequate …

Reinvigorating A Technical Countering Weapons Of Mass Destruction Distance Learning Graduate Certificate Program, James C. Petrosky, Gaiven Varshney, Jeremy Slagley, Sara Shaghaghi

Faculty Publications

Current Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) demands can be divided broadly into policy and science. The science of chemical, biological, and radiological/nuclear weapons informs the limits of development, production, employment, operation, detection, risk characterization, human and material protection, and medical intervention. In short, the science of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) should precede and inform the development of policy. It is to this end that the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) CWMD program was re-established, providing a technical educational option for practitioners to understand the science behind a very technically challenging subject.

Atomistic Simulations And In Silico Mutational Profiling Of Protein Stability And Binding In The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein Complexes With Nanobodies: Molecular Determinants Of Mutational Escape Mechanisms, Gennady M. Verkhivker, Steve Agajanian, Deniz Yasar Oztas, Grace Gupta

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Structure-functional studies have recently revealed a spectrum of diverse high-affinity nanobodies with efficient neutralizing capacity against SARS-CoV-2 virus and resilience against mutational escape. In this study, we combine atomistic simulations with the ensemble-based mutational profiling of binding for the SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD complexes with a wide range of nanobodies to identify dynamic and binding affinity fingerprints and characterize the energetic determinants of nanobody-escaping mutations. Using an in silico mutational profiling approach for probing the protein stability and binding, we examine dynamics and energetics of the SARS-CoV-2 complexes with single nanobodies Nb6 and Nb20, VHH E, a pair combination VHH E + …

Men’S Comfort In Distributing Or Receiving Hiv Self-Test Kits From Close Male Social Network Members In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Baseline Results From The Step Project, Joseph K.B. Matovu, Gaspar Mbita, Akeen Hamilton, Frank Mhando, Wynton M. Sims, Noah Thompson, Albert N. Komba, Jackson Lija, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Thomas Van Den Akker, Dustin T. Duncan, Augustine T. Choko, Donaldson F. Conserve

Faculty Publications

Background

A variety of strategies have been used to reach men with HIV self-testing services, including social network-based HIV self-test kits distribution. However, few studies have assessed men’s comfort to distribute to or receive HIV self-test kits from close male friends within the same social network. In this study, we assessed men’s comfort to distribute to and/or receive HIV self-test kits from close male friends and associated factors among men who socialize in networks locally referred to as “camps” in Tanzania.

Methods

Data are from the baseline survey of a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in June 2019 with 18 social …

Recognition And Screening For Chagas Disease In The Usa, Rachel Marcus, Andres F. Henao-Martinez, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Elizabeth Livingston, Stephen A. Klotz, Robert H. Gilman, Monica Miranda-Schaeubinger, Sheba Meymandi

Faculty Publications

Chagas disease (CD), caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is a public health concern, mainly among countries in South and Central America. However, despite the large number of immigrants from endemic countries living in the USA, awareness of CD is poor in the medical community, and therefore it is significantly underdiagnosed. To avoid the catastrophic cardiac complications of CD and to prevent maternal–fetal transmission, widespread educational programs highlighting the need for diagnosis are urgently needed.

Analysis Of Genes (Tmem106b, Grn, Abcc9, Kcnmb2, And Apoe) Implicated In Risk For Late-Nc And Hippocampal Sclerosis Provides Pathogenetic Insights: A Retrospective Genetic Association Study, Adam J. Dugan, Peter T. Nelson, Yuriko Katsumata, Lincoln M. P. Shade, Kevin L. Boehme, Merilee A. Teylan, Matthew D. Cykowski, Shubhabrata Mukherjee, John S. K. Kauwe, Timothy J. Hohman, Julie A. Schneider, Alzheimer’S Disease Genetics Consortium, David W. Fardo

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC) is the most prevalent subtype of TDP-43 proteinopathy, affecting up to 1/3rd of aged persons. LATE-NC often co-occurs with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) pathology. It is currently unknown why some individuals with LATE-NC develop HS while others do not, but genetics may play a role. Previous studies found associations between LATE-NC phenotypes and specific genes: TMEM106B, GRN, ABCC9, KCNMB2, and APOE. Data from research participants with genomic and autopsy measures from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC; n = 631 subjects included) and the Religious Orders Study and Memory …

A Southwestern United States Pilot Investigation Of Triatomine–Mite Prevalence, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Hanna Waltz, Mary K. Lynn, Stephen A. Klotz, Justin O. Schmidt, Alvaro Romero, Marvin Stanley Rodriguez Aquino, Jose Ricardo Palacios Valladares, Pamela Michelle Cornejo Rivas, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

An estimated 70 million persons in the Western Hemisphere are living at risk for Chagas disease, a parasitic infection transmitted to humans by over 156 different competent triatomine insect vector species. Prior Pan American Health Organization insecticide campaigns throughout Latin America in the 1990s and 2000s demonstrated that domestic insecticide spraying had temporary effects, which resulted in the re-establishment of triatomine species within a few years. Serendipitously, our team found ectoparasitic mites parasitizing triatomines collected from the field in multiple locations in the southwestern United States, where human–triatomine interaction was high but human parasite infection remains low. Upon further investigation …

Maternal Diet In Pregnancy And Child’S Respiratory Outcomes: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis Of 18 000 Children, Sara M. Mensink-Bout, Evelien R. Van Meel, Johan C. De Jongste, Isabella Annesi-Maesano, Adrien M. Aubert, Jonathan Y. Bernard, Ling-Wei Chen, Cyrus Cooper, Sarah R. Crozier, Wojciech Hanke, Nicholas C. Harvey, James R. Hébert Scd, Barbara Heude, Joanna Jerzynska, Cecily C. Kelleher, John Mehegan, Fionnuala M. Mcauliffe, Catherine M. Phillips, Kinga Polanska, Caroline L. Relton, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., Matthew Suderman, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Liesbeth Duijts

Faculty Publications

Rationale Severe fetal malnutrition has been related to an increased risk of respiratory diseases later in life, but evidence for the association of a suboptimal diet during pregnancy with respiratory outcomes in childhood is conflicting. We aimed to examine whether a pro-inflammatory or low-quality maternal diet during pregnancy was associated with child's respiratory health.

Methods We performed an individual participant meta-analysis among 18 326 mother–child pairs from seven European birth cohorts. Maternal pro-inflammatory and low-quality diets were estimated by energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) scores. Preschool wheezing and school-age asthma were measured using …

Associations Of Circulating Dimethylarginines With The Metabolic Syndrome In The Framingham Offspring Study, Ibrahim Musa Yola, Carlee Moser, Meredith S. Duncan, Edzard Schwedhelm, Dorothee Atzler, Renke Maas, Juliane Hannemann, Rainer H. Böger, Ramachandran S. Vasan, Vanessa Xanthakis

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Circulating levels of the endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), are positively associated with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in cross-sectional investigations. It is unclear if circulating ADMA and other methylarginines are associated with incident MetS prospectively.

METHODS: We related circulating ADMA, symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), L-arginine (ARG) concentrations (measured with a validated tandem mass spectrometry assay) and the ARG/ADMA ratio to MetS and its components in 2914 (cross-sectional analysis, logistic regression; mean age 58 years, 55% women) and 1656 (prospective analysis, Cox regression; mean age 56 years, 59% women) individuals from the Framingham Offspring Study …