Delayed clearance of postprandial large TG-rich particles in normolipidemic carriers of LPL Asn291Ser gene variant.

The carrier frequency of Asn291Ser polymorphism of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene is 4;-6% in the Western population. Heterozygotes are prone to fasting hypertriglyceridemia and low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations especially when secondary factors are superimposed on the genetic defect. We studied the LPL Asn291Ser gene variant as a modulator of postprandial lipemia in heterozygote carriers. Ten normolipidemic carriers were compared to ten control subjects, who were selected to have similar age, sex, BMI, and apolipoprotein (apo)E-phenotype. The subjects were given a lipid-rich mixed meal and their insulin sensitivity was determined by euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique. The two groups had comparable fasting triglycerides and glucose utilization rate during insulin infusion, but fasting HDL cholesterol was lower in carriers (1.25 +/- 0.05 mmol/L) than in the control subjects (1. 53 +/- 0.06 mmol/L, P = 0.005). In the postprandial state the most pronounced differences were found in the very low density lipoprotein 1 (VLDL1) fraction, where the carriers displayed higher responses of apoB-48 area under the curve (AUC), apoB-100 AUC, triglyceride AUC, and retinyl ester AUC than the control subjects. The most marked differences in apoB-48 and apoB-100 concentrations were observed late in the postprandial period (9 and 12 h), demonstrating delayed clearance of triglyceride-rich particles of both hepatic and intestinal origin. Postprandially, the carriers exhibited enrichment of triglycerides in HDL fraction. Thus, in normolipidemic carriers the LPL Asn291Ser gene variant delays postprandial triglyceride, apoB-48, apoB-100, and retinyl ester metabolism in VLDL1 fraction and alters postprandial HDL composition compared to matched non-carriers.     

Maternal effects in vulnerability to eye‐parasites and correlations between behavior and parasitism in juvenile Arctic charr

Hatchery‐reared fish show high mortalities after release to the wild environment. Explanations for this include potentially predetermined genetics, behavioral, and physiological acclimation to fish farm environments, and increased vulnerability to predation and parasitism in the wild. We studied vulnerability to Diplostomum spp. parasites (load of eye flukes in the lenses), immune defense (relative spleen size) and antipredator behaviors (approaches toward predator odor, freezing, and swimming activity) in hatchery‐reared juvenile Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) using a nested mating design. Fish were exposed to eye‐fluke larvae via the incoming water at the hatchery. Fish size was positively associated with parasite load, but we did not find any relationship between relative spleen size and parasitism. The offspring of different females showed significant variation in their parasite load within sires, implying a dam effect in the vulnerability to parasites. However, the family background did not have any effect on spleen size. In the mean sire level over dams, the fish from the bolder (actively swimming) families in the predator trials suffered higher loads of eye flukes than those from more cautiously behaving families. Thus, the results indicate potentially maternally inherited differences in vulnerability to eye‐fluke parasites, and that the vulnerability to parasites and behavioral activity are positively associated with each other at the sire level. This could lead to artificial and unintentional selection for increased vulnerability to both parasitism and predation if these traits are favored in fish farm environments.     

Bone Health and Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease - A Cross-Sectional Study in Healthy Young Adults

Objective

Both osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are diseases that comprise a growing medical and economic burden in ageing populations. They share many risk factors, including ageing, low phy-sical activity, and possibly overweight. We aimed to study associations between individual risk factors for CVD and bone mineral density (BMD) and turnover markers (BTMs) in apparently healthy cohort.

Design

A cross-sectional assessment of 155 healthy 32-year-old adults (74 males) was performed for skeletal status, CVD risk factors and lifestyle factors.

Methods

We analysed serum osteocalcin, procollagen I aminoterminal propeptide (P1NP), collagen I carboxy-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) and urine collagen I aminoterminal telopeptide (U-NTX), as well as serum insulin, plasma glucose, triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol levels. BMD, fat and lean mass were asses-sed using DXA scanning. Associations were tested with partial correlations in crude and adjusted mo-dels. Bone status was compared between men with or without metabolic syndrome (defined according to the NCEP-ATPIII criteria) with multivariate analysis.

Results

Osteocalcin and P1NP correlated inversely with insulin (R = −0.243, P = 0.003 and R = −0.187, P = 0.021) and glucose (R = −0.213, P = 0.009 and R = −0.190, P = 0.019), but after controlling for fat mass and lifestyle factors, the associations attenuated with insulin (R = −0.162, P = 0.053 and R = −0.093, P = 0.266) and with glucose (R = −0.099, P = 0.240 and R = −0.133, P = 0.110), respectively. Whole body BMD associated in-versely only with triglycerides in fully adjusted model. In men with metabolic syndrome, whole body BMD, osteocalcin and P1NP were lower compared to healthy men, but these findings disappeared in fully adjusted model.

Conclusions

In young adults, inverse associations between BTM/BMD and risk factors of CVD appeared in crude models, but after adjusting for fat mass, no association continued to be present. In addition to fat mass, lifestyle factors, especially physical activity, modified the associations between CVD and bone charac-teristics. Prospective studies are needed to specify the role of mediators and lifestyle factors in the prevention of CVD and osteoporosis.     

Direct analysis of nitrocatechol-type glucuronides in urine by capillary electrophoresis–electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry

Direct, quantitative capillary electrophoresis–electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric (CE–ESI-MS) and tandem mass spectrometric (CE–ESI-MS–MS) methods are described for the quantitation of 3-O-glucuronides of E- and Z-entacapone isomers (EEG and EZG) and tolcapone (TG) in urine. 3-O-Glucuronide of nitecapone was used as internal standard. Good separation of glucuronides was achieved with 20 mM ammonium acetate as separation solution at pH 6.84. Stacking was used to increase the sensitivity of the method by introducing samples in 5 mM ammonium acetate. CE–ESI-MS and CE–ESI-MS–MS methods are linear with correlation coefficients better than 0.9983 and 0.9982, and repeatable with relative standard deviations below 9 and 14%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) in CE–ESI-MS at signal-to-noise ratio 3 is 100 ng/ml for EEG and EZG and 250 ng/ml for TG. The CE–ESI-MS–MS method was the more sensitive; LOD was 7 ng/ml for all compounds, without any concentration of the sample.     

A novel polymorphism of apolipoprotein A-IV is the result of an asparagine to serine substitution at residue 127

We have identified a hitherto genetic polymorphism of apolipoprotein A-IV (apo-IV). The molecular basis for this polymorphism is an A to G substitution at nucleotide 1687 resulting in an Asn to Ser change of amino acid 127. The frequencies of the two apoA-IV alleles (designated apoA-IV^127Asn and apoA-IV^127Ser), determined by Hinc II restriction analysis of PCR amplified exon three of the apoA-IV gene, were 0.788 and 0.212, respectively, in a Finnish population sample. Allele frequencies of another polymorphism due to a Thr to Ser substitution at amino acid 347 were determined using Hinf I restriction analysis. The allele frequencies were 0.823 for apoA-IV^347Thr and 0.177 for apoA-IV^247Ser. None of the apoA-IV polymorphisms (apoA-IV_{127:Asn→Ser}, apoA-IV_{347:Thr→Ser} and apoA-IV_{360:Gln→His}) had any effect of plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in cohorts of dyslipidemic men and in a population sample of normolipidemic controls. There was also no association between the history of previous myocardial infarction and any of the apoA-IV alleles.     

Studies on bucephalid digeneans parasitising molluscs and fishes in Finland. II. The description of Rhipidocotyle fennica n. sp. and its discrimination by principal components analysis

Rhipidocotyle fennica n. sp. (= Rhipidocotyle Type A of Taskinen et al., 1991) from the intestine of Esox lucius in central Finland is described and compared by means of a principal components analysis (PCA) with R. campanula (= Rhipidocotyle Type B of Taskinen et al., 1991). Its cercaria develops in the bivalve Anodonta anatina and the metacercaria occurs in the skin and fins of Rutilus rutilus. The metacercaria is discriminated from that of R. campanula by PCA and is described along with aspects of the chaetotaxy of the cercaria. The new species is distinguished from R. campanula, R. kovalae, R. papillosa and R. septpapillata.     

Association between environmental stress and epidermal papillomatosis of roach Rutilus rutilus

We studied the association between environmental stress and epidermal papillomatosis of roach Rutilus rutilus L. in Finnish waters using a 'matched pairs' design. Populations impacted by industrial and/or sewage effluents were compared to reference populations from pristine sites. We examined both the prevalence (proportion of diseased fish) and intensity (number of scales covered by tumors) of the disease. Results of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) indicated that the risk of papillomatosis was 7.5 times higher in males than females, and increased 1.3 times for every 10 mm increment in fish length. We controlled for the possible effects of fish size, sex and temporal variation through sampling procedures and statistical analyses. Mean prevalence of epidermal papillomatosis was 16.6 and 5.8% in impact and reference populations, respectively (10 population pairs; nfish = 1714). Results of GLMM suggested that the risk of being diseased was 2.7 times higher in the impact than reference populations. Thus, the prevalence of epidermal papillomatosis in roach can be used as an indicator of environmental stress. Results of Linear Mixed Models indicated no difference in the intensity of the disease between impact and reference populations (5 population pairs; nfish = 73; mean+/-SE 10.7+/-1.8 and 11.7+/- 2.9 scales, respectively), although prevalence was higher in impact populations in those 5 population pairs. The possible relationship between environmental stress and intensity of epidermal papillomatosis in natural roach populations remains to be demonstrated.     

Serum, but not monocyte macrophage foam cells derived from low HDL-C subjects, displays reduced cholesterol efflux capacity

The main antiatherogenic function of HDL is to promote the efflux of cholesterol from peripheral cells and transport it to the liver for excretion in a process termed reverse cholesterol transport. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cholesterol efflux capacity in low- and high-HDL subjects by utilizing monocytes and serum from 18 low-HDL and 15 high-HDL subjects. Low and high HDL levels were defined, respectively, as HDL < or =10(th) and HDL > or =90(th) Finnish age/sex-specific percentile. Cholesterol efflux from [(3)H]cholesterol-oleate-acetyl-LDL-loaded monocyte-derived macrophages to standard apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), HDL(2), and serum was measured. In addition, cholesterol efflux from acetyl-LDL-loaded human THP-1 macrophages to individual sera (0.5%) derived from the study subjects was evaluated. Cholesterol efflux to apoA-I, HDL(2), and serum from macrophage foam cells derived from low- and high-HDL subjects was similar. The relative ABCA1 and ABCG1 mRNA expression levels in unloaded macrophages, as well as their protein levels in loaded macrophage foam cells, were similar in the two study groups. Cholesterol efflux from THP-1 foam cells to serum recovered from high-HDL subjects was slightly higher than that to serum from low-HDL subjects (P = 0.046). Cholesterol efflux from THP-1 macrophages to serum from study subjects correlated with serum apoB (P = 0.033), apoA-I (P = 0.004), apoA-II (P < 0.0001), and the percentage of apoA-I present in the form of prebeta-HDL (P = 0.0001). Our data reveal that macrophages isolated from either low- or high-HDL subjects display similar cholesterol efflux capacity to exogenous acceptors. However, sera from low-HDL subjects have poorer cholesterol acceptor ability as compared with sera from high-HDL subjects.