Binge Drinking and Blood Pressure: Cross-Sectional Results of the HAPIEE Study

Objectives

To investigate whether binge drinking pattern influences blood pressure independently from drinking volume or whether it modifies the effect of volume of drinking.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data from population samples of 7559 men and 7471 women aged 45–69 years in 2002-05, not on antihypertensive medication, from Russia, Poland and Czech Republic. Annual alcohol intake, drinking frequency and binge drinking (≥100 g in men and ≥60 g in women in one session at least once a month) were estimated from graduated frequency questionnaire. Blood pressure was analysed as continuous variables (systolic and diastolic pressure) and a binary outcome (≥140/90 mm Hg).

Results

In men, annual alcohol intake and drinking frequency were strongly associated with blood pressure. The odds ratio of high blood pressure for binge drinking in men was 1.62 (95% CI 1.45–1.82) after controlling for age, country, body mass index, education and smoking; additional adjustment for annual alcohol intake reduced it to 1.20 (1.03–1.39). In women, the fully adjusted odds ratio of high blood pressure for binge drinking was 1.31 (1.05–1.63). Binge drinking did not modify the effect of annual alcohol intake. Consuming alcohol as wine, beer or spirits had similar effects.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the independent long-term effect of binge drinking was modest, that binge drinking did not modify the effect of alcohol intake, and that different alcoholic beverages had similar effects on blood pressure.     

An Analysis of Microsatellite Polymorphism in the Population of the Arctic Rainbow Smelt Osmerus dentex from Eastern and Western Kamchatka

Russian Journal of Genetics - The genetic diversity of ten microsatellite loci is examined in samples of Arctic rainbow smelt. The expected heterozygosity estimates vary in the range of...     

Dubinectes infirmus, a new species of deep-water Munnopsidae (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from the Argentine Basin, South Atlantic Ocean

Dubinectes infirmussp. n., Munnopsidae, is described from the Argentine Basin, southwest Atlantic, at depths between 4586-4607 m. The new species is distinguished by a narrow rim of the pleotelson posterior margin which is not raising over its dorsal surface; article 3 of the antennula is subequal in length to article 2; distomedial lobes of male pleopod 1 are of same size as distolateral lobes; stylet of male pleopod 2 is subequal in length to protopod; uropod exopod is more than a half of endopod length. Some generic characters which are weakly pronounced in the new species or have different state are defined more precisely in the revised diagnosis of Dubinectes. The modified diagnosis of the genus, a key to the species of Dubinectes as well as the distribution of the genus are presented.     

Pond smelt <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hypomesus olidus</Emphasis>, a new species of the ichthyofauna of the Commander Islands

The population of pond smelt Hypomesus olidus has been registered for the first time in the water bodies of Bering Island (Commander Islands). The spawning of this species has been observed in the Sarannoe Lake system, and the maturing breeders have been caught in the freshwater-brackish Gavanskoe Lake system. The spawning grounds, the spawning period, the environment, and the morphology of the breeders have been described. The ratio of Ca and Sr isotopes in the otoliths of the pond smelt inhabiting the Sarannoe Lake system evidenced that this species here was presented by the resident ecotype. The problem of the smelt phylogeny and resettlement in the northern Pacific Ocean is discussed.     

Urstylidae – a new family of abyssal isopods (Crustacea: Asellota) and its phylogenetic implications

We report three new species of isopod crustaceans that belong to a rare higher taxon of asellote Isopoda. This taxon does not fit into current classifications. The isopods occurred in abyssal soft sediments, near manganese nodules, and in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents. Given their wide spatial occurrence across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a cosmopolitan distribution is assumed. A cladistic analysis revealed a close relationship with the Macrostylidae, a common representative of the deep‐sea macrofauna. Analyses of character evolution across the Janiroidea showed sufficient synapomorphies to justify the erection of U rstylis gen. nov. and the new family Urstylidae based on the three new species. All taxa are described in this paper. Urstylidae is characterized, amongst other apomorphies, by an elongate habitus with spade‐like head; uropods are long, styliform; one pleonite is free; antennal merus and carpus are relatively short; the first pereopod is carpo‐propodosubchelate, and more robust and shorter than pereopod II. Several characters, such as the pereopods’ posterior scale‐like claw that basally encloses the distal sensilla may be interpreted as ancestral when compared to the situation in the highly derived Macrostylidae. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London     

Morphophysiological patterns of life history strategy adoption in Dolly Varden <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salvelinus malma</Emphasis> in Kamchatka

Growth, age composition, gonad maturity and patterns of life history strategy adoption in the population of Dolly Varden from the Kol River (West Kamchatka) are studied. Major factors controlling differentiation of juveniles and trajectories of ontogenetic developments, growth rate and gametogenesis in generations in particular years. The differentiation in a generation into anadromous and resident groupings is completed mainly at the age of 4 years. The process of formation of resident and migratory life history strategy in Dolly Varden is epigenetic. Bifurcation in the life of one specimen is observed once in life, and that in a generation is observed four times: at the first, the second, the third, or the fourth year. The life cycle of females from the Kol River is invariant until they reach the age of 1 year, and that in males is during the 4 years of the freshwater phase. In Kamchatka, all spawners, including precocious males, may reproduce several times during life.     

Effects of DNA quality on the measurement of telomere length

Molecular Biology - Existing evidence on the association of telomere length with life expectancy and the risk of various age related diseases is discordant. This inconsistency in the data may be...     

Reproduction ecology of masu salmon <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oncorhynchus masou</Emphasis> in the Kol basin (Western Kamchatka)

In the Kol basin, one of the typical salmon rivers of Western Kamchatka, special traits of reproduction ecology of masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou are studied (characteristics and behavior of spawners during spawning, localization of spawning grounds, topography and hydrology of redds, and interaction with other species of salmonids). The masu salmon spawns in the Kol basin in tributaries of the upper reaches of the river and only in downwelling. Spawning grounds of masu samlmon are confined to stretches with overhanging banks, log jams creating shelters for spawners and favorable hydrological conditions for spawning and egg development. All over its range, masu salmon requires similar conditions for reproduction. In the north of its range, in Kamchatka, masu salmon retains the properties of the most warm-water species in the genus Oncorhynchus and selects for spawning the grounds characterized by the highest temperature in the period of spawning and development.