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Cultural Moderation of Unconscious Hedonic Responses to Food.
Sato, W, Rymarczyk, K, Minemoto, K, Wojciechowski, J, Hyniewska, S
Nutrients. 2019;(11)
Abstract
Previous psychological studies have shown that images of food elicit hedonic responses, either consciously or unconsciously, and that participants' cultural experiences moderate conscious hedonic ratings of food. However, whether cultural factors moderate unconscious hedonic responses to food remains unknown. We investigated this issue in Polish and Japanese participants using the subliminal affective priming paradigm. Images of international fast food and domestic Japanese food were presented subliminally as prime stimuli. Participants rated their preferences for the subsequently presented target ideographs. Participants also rated their preferences for supraliminally presented food images. In the subliminal rating task, Polish participants showed higher preference ratings for fast food primes than for Japanese food primes, whereas Japanese participants showed comparable preference ratings across these two conditions. In the supraliminal rating task, both Polish and Japanese participants reported comparable preferences for fast and Japanese food stimuli. These results suggest that cultural experiences moderate unconscious hedonic responses to food, which may not be detected based on explicit ratings.
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Clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of contemporary patients with vasospastic angina: Ethnic differences detected in an international comparative study.
Sato, K, Takahashi, J, Odaka, Y, Suda, A, Sueda, S, Teragawa, H, Ishii, K, Kiyooka, T, Hirayama, A, Sumiyoshi, T, et al
International journal of cardiology. 2019;:13-18
Abstract
BACKGROUND Possible ethnic differences in clinical characteristics and long-term prognosis of contemporary patients with vasospastic angina (VSA) remain to be elucidated. METHODS AND RESULTS The Japanese Coronary Spasm Association (JCSA) conducted an international, prospective, and multicenter registry study for VSA patients. A total of 1457 VSA patients (Japanese/Caucasians, 1339/118) were enrolled based on the same diagnostic criteria. Compared with Caucasian patients, Japanese patients were characterized by higher proportions of males (68 vs. 51%) and smoking history (60 vs. 49%). Japanese patients more often had angina especially during the night and early morning hours, compared with Caucasians. Ninety-five percent of Japanese and 84% of Caucasian patients underwent pharmacological provocation test. Importantly, no significant differences in the patterns of coronary spasm were apparent, with diffuse spasm most frequently noted in both ethnicities. The prescription rate of calcium-channel blockers was higher in Japanese (96 vs. 86%), whereas the uses of nitrates (46 vs. 59%), statins (43 vs. 65%), renin-angiotensin-system inhibitors (27 vs. 51%), and β-blockers (10 vs. 24%) were more common in Caucasian patients. Survival rate free from major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was slightly but significantly higher in Japanese than in Caucasians (86.7 vs. 76.6% at 5 years, P < 0.001). Notably, multivariable analysis revealed that the JCSA risk score correlated with MACE rates not only in Japanese but also in Caucasian patients. CONCLUSION These results indicate that there are ethnic differences in clinical profiles and long-term prognosis of contemporary VSA patients.
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Influence of geolocation and ethnicity on the phenotypic expression of primary Sjögren's syndrome at diagnosis in 8310 patients: a cross-sectional study from the Big Data Sjögren Project Consortium.
Brito-Zerón, P, Acar-Denizli, N, Zeher, M, Rasmussen, A, Seror, R, Theander, E, Li, X, Baldini, C, Gottenberg, JE, Danda, D, et al
Annals of the rheumatic diseases. 2017;(6):1042-1050
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To analyse the influence of geolocation and ethnicity on the clinical presentation of primary Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) at diagnosis. METHODS The Big Data Sjögren Project Consortium is an international, multicentre registry designed in 2014. By January 2016, 20 centres from five continents were participating. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS We included 7748 women (93%) and 562 men (7%), with a mean age at diagnosis of primary SjS of 53 years. Ethnicity data were available for 7884 patients (95%): 6174 patients (78%) were white, 1066 patients (14%) were Asian, 393 patients (5%) were Hispanic, 104 patients (1%) were black/African-American and 147 patients (2%) were of other ethnicities. SjS was diagnosed a mean of 7 years earlier in black/African-American compared with white patients; the female-to-male ratio was highest in Asian patients (27:1) and lowest in black/African-American patients (7:1); the prevalence of sicca symptoms was lowest in Asian patients; a higher frequency of positive salivary biopsy was found in Hispanic and white patients. A north-south gradient was found with respect to a lower frequency of ocular involvement in northern countries for dry eyes and abnormal ocular tests in Europe (OR 0.46 and 0.44, respectively) and Asia (OR 0.18 and 0.49, respectively) compared with southern countries. Higher frequencies of antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) were reported in northern countries in America (OR=1.48) and Asia (OR=3.80) while, in Europe, northern countries had lowest frequencies of ANAs (OR=0.67) and Ro/La (OR=0.69). CONCLUSIONS This study provides the first evidence of a strong influence of geolocation and ethnicity on the phenotype of primary SjS at diagnosis.
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Interaction of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms on miscarriage risk in black and white American women.
Gamundi-Segura, S, Torres-Perez, E, Sanz-Paris, A, Arbones-Mainar, JM
Fertility and sterility. 2016;(6):1554-1560.e1
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether [1] apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphisms can differentially regulate miscarriage risk and [2] whether this genotype effect could also be modulated by the race within populations. DESIGN Data were derived from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), a longitudinal study with black and white participants from four U.S. SETTING Not applicable. PATIENT(S): Women without miscarriages (controls) and women who miscarried at least once (cases). INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): A group of women (n = 1,372) successfully followed for 25 years and with their APOE alleles identified were analyzed for miscarriage risk throughout their reproductive life. Additionally, a larger longitudinal analysis encompassing all the participants who had their APOE characterized (n = 2,140) was also performed for the association between APOE and miscarriage risk. RESULT(S): In white women followed up for 25 years, the odds ratio for miscarriage associated with APOE*2 allele presence was 1.61 (95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.50) compared with APOE*33 carriers. This was a race-dependent phenomenon as no associations between APOE alleles and miscarriage was observed in black women. Likewise, Cox regression analysis showed that cumulative miscarriage risk in white women was 37.2% in the APOE*2 carriers compared with 27.8% and 24.8% in APOE*33 and APOE*4 carriers, respectively. With APOE*33 as the reference, the age-adjusted hazard ratio associated with carrying the APOE*2 allele was 1.47 (95 confidence interval, 1.06-2.05). CONCLUSION(S): This variable miscarriage risk, produced by an interaction between genotype and race, may reconcile, at least partially, the conflicting reports of the association of APOE and miscarriage risk.
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5.
Multiethnic Exome-Wide Association Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis.
Natarajan, P, Bis, JC, Bielak, LF, Cox, AJ, Dörr, M, Feitosa, MF, Franceschini, N, Guo, X, Hwang, SJ, Isaacs, A, et al
Circulation. Cardiovascular genetics. 2016;(6):511-520
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Abstract
BACKGROUND The burden of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals is heritable and associated with elevated risk of developing clinical coronary heart disease. We sought to identify genetic variants in protein-coding regions associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and the risk of subsequent coronary heart disease. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied a total of 25 109 European ancestry and African ancestry participants with coronary artery calcification (CAC) measured by cardiac computed tomography and 52 869 participants with common carotid intima-media thickness measured by ultrasonography within the CHARGE Consortium (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology). Participants were genotyped for 247 870 DNA sequence variants (231 539 in exons) across the genome. A meta-analysis of exome-wide association studies was performed across cohorts for CAC and carotid intima-media thickness. APOB p.Arg3527Gln was associated with 4-fold excess CAC (P=3×10-10). The APOE ε2 allele (p.Arg176Cys) was associated with both 22.3% reduced CAC (P=1×10-12) and 1.4% reduced carotid intima-media thickness (P=4×10-14) in carriers compared with noncarriers. In secondary analyses conditioning on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, the ε2 protective association with CAC, although attenuated, remained strongly significant. Additionally, the presence of ε2 was associated with reduced risk for coronary heart disease (odds ratio 0.77; P=1×10-11). CONCLUSIONS Exome-wide association meta-analysis demonstrates that protein-coding variants in APOB and APOE associate with subclinical atherosclerosis. APOE ε2 represents the first significant association for multiple subclinical atherosclerosis traits across multiple ethnicities, as well as clinical coronary heart disease.
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Gene-centric approach identifies new and known loci for FVIII activity and VWF antigen levels in European Americans and African Americans.
Tang, W, Cushman, M, Green, D, Rich, SS, Lange, LA, Yang, Q, Tracy, RP, Tofler, GH, Basu, S, Wilson, JG, et al
American journal of hematology. 2015;(6):534-40
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Abstract
Coagulation factor VIII and von Willebrand factor (VWF) are key proteins in procoagulant activation. Higher FVIII coagulant activity (FVIII C) and VWF antigen (VWF :Ag) are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and venous thromboembolism. Beyond associations with ABO blood group, genetic determinants of FVIII and VWF are not well understood, especially in non European-American populations. We performed a genetic association study of FVIII C and VWF:Ag that assessed 50,000 gene-centric single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 18,556 European Americans (EAs) and 5,047 African Americans (AAs) from five population-based cohorts. Previously unreported associations for FVIII C were identified in both AAs and EAs with KNG1 (most significantly associated SNP rs710446, Ile581Thr, Ile581Thr, P = 5.10 × 10(-7) in EAs and P = 3.88 × 10(-3) in AAs) and VWF rs7962217 (Gly2705Arg,P = 6.30 × 10(-9) in EAs and P = 2.98 × 10(-2) in AAs. Significant associations for FVIII C were also observed with F8/TMLHE region SNP rs12557310 in EAs (P = 8.02 × 10(-10) ), with VWF rs1800380 in AAs (P = 5.62 × 10(-11) ), and with MAT1A rs2236568 in AAs (P51.69 × 10(-6) ). We replicated previously reported associations of FVIII C and VWF Ag with the ABO blood group, VWF rs1063856(Thr789Ala), rs216321 (Ala852Gln), and VWF rs2229446 (Arg2185Gln). Findings from this study expand our understanding of genetic influences for FVIII C and VWF Ag in both EAs and AAs.
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Association of Rare Loss-Of-Function Alleles in HAL, Serum Histidine: Levels and Incident Coronary Heart Disease.
Yu, B, Li, AH, Muzny, D, Veeraraghavan, N, de Vries, PS, Bis, JC, Musani, SK, Alexander, D, Morrison, AC, Franco, OH, et al
Circulation. Cardiovascular genetics. 2015;(2):351-5
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BACKGROUND Histidine is a semiessential amino acid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Few data are available on the associations between genetic variants, histidine levels, and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) in a population-based sample. METHODS AND RESULTS By conducting whole exome sequencing on 1152 African Americans in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study and focusing on loss-of-function (LoF) variants, we identified 3 novel rare LoF variants in HAL, a gene that encodes histidine ammonia-lyase in the first step of histidine catabolism. These LoF variants had large effects on blood histidine levels (β=0.26; P=1.2×10(-13)). The positive association with histidine levels was replicated by genotyping an independent sample of 718 ARIC African Americans (minor allele frequency=1%; P=1.2×10(-4)). In addition, high blood histidine levels were associated with reduced risk of developing incident CHD with an average of 21.5 years of follow-up among African Americans (hazard ratio=0.18; P=1.9×10(-4)). This finding was validated in an independent sample of European Americans from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) Offspring Cohort. However, LoF variants in HAL were not directly significantly associated with incident CHD after meta-analyzing results from the CHARGE Consortium. CONCLUSIONS Three LoF mutations in HAL were associated with increased histidine levels, which in turn were shown to be inversely related to the risk of CHD among both African Americans and European Americans. Future investigations on the association between HAL gene variation and CHD are warranted.
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Body composition is the main determinant for the difference in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology between Japanese and Caucasians.
Møller, JB, Pedersen, M, Tanaka, H, Ohsugi, M, Overgaard, RV, Lynge, J, Almind, K, Vasconcelos, NM, Poulsen, P, Keller, C, et al
Diabetes care. 2014;(3):796-804
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional clinical study compared the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes in Japanese and Caucasians and investigated the role of demographic, genetic, and lifestyle-related risk factors for insulin resistance and β-cell response. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 120 Japanese and 150 Caucasians were enrolled to obtain comparable distributions of high/low BMI values across glucose tolerance states (normal glucose tolerance, impaired glucose tolerance, and type 2 diabetes), which were assessed by oral glucose tolerance tests. BMI in the two cohorts was distributed around the two regional cutoff values for obesity. RESULTS Insulin sensitivity was higher in Japanese compared with Caucasians, as indicated by the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance and Matsuda indices, whereas β-cell response was higher in Caucasians, as measured by homeostatic model assessment of β-cell function, the insulinogenic indices, and insulin secretion ratios. Disposition indices were similar for Japanese and Caucasians at all glucose tolerance states, indicating similar β-cell response relative to the degree of insulin resistance. The main determinants for differences in metabolic indices were measures of body composition, such as BMI and distribution of adipose tissue. Differences in β-cell response between Japanese and Caucasians were not statistically significant following adjustment by differences in BMI. CONCLUSIONS Our study showed similar disposition indices in Japanese and Caucasians and that the major part of the differences in insulin sensitivity and β-cell response between Japanese and Caucasians can be explained by differences in body composition.
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Polymorphisms of matrix metalloproteinase gene and adiposity indices in European children: results of the IDEFICS study.
Cugino, D, Gianfagna, F, Ahrens, W, De Henauw, S, Koni, AC, Marild, S, Molnar, D, Moreno, LA, Pitsiladis, Y, Russo, P, et al
International journal of obesity (2005). 2013;(12):1539-44
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We investigated the relationship between matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) polymorphisms and adiposity indices in European children of the IDEFICS (Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants) project. SUBJECTS A total of 16 224 Caucasian children (2-9 years) were recruited into a population-based survey from eight European countries. In all, 4540 children were randomly selected for genetic studies (T0); 3238 children were re-examined 2 years later (T1). Anthropometric measures were collected by standardized protocols at T0 and T1. RESULTS Six variants of MMP3 gene were genotyped. Homozygotes for the variant A allele of rs646910 and for the H3 haplotype had higher hip circumference (P=0.002 and 0.001; age, sex and country adjusted) at T0. The association remained significant after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. At T1, subjects carrying rs646910 A/A genotype or H3/H3 diplotype showed significantly higher values of body mass index, waist and hip circumference and sum of tricipital and subscapular skinfolds, all associations remaining significant after FDR correction (P=0.020-0.048). CONCLUSIONS We showed for the first time an association between the MMP3 rs646910 variant and indices of adiposity in European children, highlighting the involvement of metalloproteinase genes in adipose tissue remodeling and growth.
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Predictors of long-term weight loss in adults with modest initial weight loss, by sex and race.
Svetkey, LP, Ard, JD, Stevens, VJ, Loria, CM, Young, DY, Hollis, JF, Appel, LJ, Brantley, PJ, Kennedy, BM, Kumanyika, SK, et al
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). 2012;(9):1820-8
Abstract
Effective weight management interventions could reduce race-sex disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet little is known about factors associated with successful weight loss maintenance in race-sex subgroups. In the Weight Loss Maintenance trial (WLM), overweight/obese (BMI 25-45 kg/m(2)) adults who lost ≥4 kg in a 6-month behavioral weight loss intervention (phase I) were randomized into one of three 30-month maintenance interventions (phase II). To investigate predictors in subgroups, randomized groups were combined for this analysis. Of 1,685 phase I participants, 1,032 (61%) entered phase II, including 12% black men (BM), 26% black women (BW), 25% white men (WM), and 37% white women (WW). Weight change over the 36-month study ranged from -2.3% (95% confidence interval = -3.1 to -1.5%) in BW to -4.5% (95% confidence interval = -5.7 to -4.0%) in WM, the result of differential weight loss during phase I. Within race, men lost significantly more weight than women, but within sex group, weight loss did not differ significantly between races. Although participants regained weight during phase II, regain did not differ by race-sex group, and mean weight at the end of the study was significantly lower than phase I entry weight for each subgroup. In regression models, phase I weight loss predicted overall 36-month weight loss in all race-sex groups. Healthy dietary pattern at entry, improvement in dietary pattern, or both were predictive in three of four race-sex groups. Few other variables other than initial weight loss and dietary pattern were predictive. Future research should identify additional modifiable influences on long-term maintenance after a modest weight loss.