Publications

Introduction: The relation between consumption of different types of dairy foods and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains uncertain. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that total dairy intake is not associated with incident T2D but some specific types of dairy foods may be associated with reduced risk of T2D in US adults. Methods: We followed 41,705 men in Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2010), 67,812 women in Nurses’ Health Study (1980-2010), and 86,158 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II (1991-2009). Diet was assessed by validated food-frequency questionnaires, and data were updated every 4 yrs. Incident T2D was confirmed by a validated supplementary questionnaire. Analyses were performed by using Cox regression models and fixed-effect meta-analyses were conducted to summarize the estimates of association if no significant heterogeneities were shown otherwise random-effect models were used. Results: During 4,054,783 person-years of follow-up, we documented 14,372 incident T2D cases. After adjustment for age, BMI, and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, total dairy consumption was not associated with T2D risk and the pooled HR (95% CI) for each 1 serving/d increase in total dairy was 0.99 (0.98, 1.01). Among different types of dairy products, yogurt was consistently associated with lower T2D risk in all three cohorts, with a pooled HR of 0.83 (0.76, 0.91) for each 1 serving/d increment. Other types of dairy foods such as milk and cheese were not significantly associated with T2D. The results were confirmed by a meta-analysis of 13 prospective cohorts (543,438 participants and 39,555 diabetes cases): the RRs (95% CIs) were 0.98 (0.96, 1.01) and 0.83 (0.73, 0.95) for 400g total dairy/d and for 200g yogurt/d, respectively. Conclusion: These results suggest that intake of yogurt is associated with a reduced risk of T2D, whereas other dairy foods are not associated with incidence of T2D.

Existing implantable neurotechnologies for understanding the brain and treating neurological diseases have intrinsic properties that have limited their capability to achieve chronically-stable brain interfaces with single-neuron spatiotemporal resolution. These limitations reflect what has been dichotomy between the structure and mechanical properties of living brain tissue and non-living neural probes. To bridge the gap between neural and electronic networks, we have introduced the new concept of mesh electronics probes designed with structural and mechanical properties such that the implant begins to ‘look and behave’ like neural tissue. Syringe-implanted mesh electronics have led to the realization of probes that are neuro-attractive and free of the chronic immune response, as well as capable of stable long-term mapping and modulation of brain activity at the single-neuron level. This review provides a historical overview of a 10-year development of mesh electronics by highlighting the tissue-like design, syringe-assisted delivery, seamless neural tissue integration, and single-neuron level chronic recording stability of mesh electronics. We also offer insights on unique near-term opportunities and future directions for neuroscience and neurology that now are available or expected for mesh electronics neurotechnologies.

'Plasma Etching' published in 'Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology'

More than 40 genetic susceptibility loci have been reported for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recently, the combined effect of genetic variants has been investigated by calculating a genetic risk score. We evaluated 36 genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified SNPs in 2,679 T2D cases and 3322 controls in middle-age Han Chinese. Fourteen SNPs were significantly associated with T2D in analysis adjusted for age, sex and BMI. We calculated two genetic risk scores (GRS) (GRS1 with all the 36 SNPs and GRS2 with the 14 SNPs significantly associated with T2D). The odds ratio for T2D with each GRS point (per risk allele) was 1.08 (95% CI: 1.06-1.09) for GRS1 and 1.15 (95% CI: 1.13-1.18) for GRS2. The OR for quintiles were 1.00, 1.26, 1.69, 1.95 and 2.18 (P<0.0001) for GRS1 and 1.00, 1.33, 1.60, 2.03 and 2.80 (P<0.001) for GRS2. Participants in the higher tertile of GRS1 and the higher BMI category had a higher risk of T2D compared to those on the lower tertiles of the GRS1 and of BMI (OR = 11.08; 95% CI: 7.39-16.62). We found similar results when we investigated joint effects between GRS1 and WHR terciles and exercise participation. We finally investigated the joint effect between tertiles of GRSs and a composite high risk score (no exercise participation and high BMI and WHR) on T2D risk. We found that compared to participants with low GRS1 and no high risk factors for T2D, those with high GRS1 and three high risk factors had a higher risk of T2D (OR = 13.06; 95% CI: 8.65-19.72) but the interaction factor was of marginal significance. The association was accentuated when we repeated analysis with the GRS2. In conclusion we found an association between GRS and lifestyle factors, alone and in combination, contributed to the risk of and T2D among middle age Chinese.

Additional file 14: Table S10. Results of the associations with additional metabolic measure ratios as proxies of enzymatic activity or linked to metabolic disease. Results for all 12 replicated metabolic measure-associated CpG sites associations are shown. Presented are the coefficient (Coef) of the CpG site from the regression analysis, standard error of the coefficient (SE), p value of the coefficient (P), Bonferroni-corrected p value (Bonf_P) and number of observations for the model (N). A Bonferroni-corrected p value threshold of p

Single-crystal silicon nanowires with diameters approaching molecular dimensions were synthesized using gold nanocluster-catalyzed 1D growth. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies show that silicon nanowires grown with silane reactant in hydrogen are single crystal with little or no visible amorphous oxide down to diameters as small as 3 nm. Structural characterization of a large number of samples shows that the smallest-diameter nanowires grow primarily along the 〈110〉 direction, whereas larger nanowires grow along the 〈111〉 direction. In addition, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy was used to address the importance of surface energetics in determining the growth direction of the smallest nanowires. The ability to prepare well-defined molecular-scale single-crystal silicon nanowires opens up new opportunities for both fundamental studies and nanodevice applications.

The purpose of this prospective, population-based cohort study was to evaluate the roles of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), obesity, weight gain, and hyperandrogenemia in the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) through fertile age both in PCOS and in non-PCOS women. The study population-NFBC1966 (Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966)-allowed a long-term follow-up of women from age 14 until 46 years who developed HDP (n=408) or did not (n=3373). HDP diagnosis was confirmed by combining hospital discharge records, data from Finnish Medical Birth Registers, and the questionnaire data at age 46. Women with self-reported PCOS (srPCOS; n=279), defined by both oligo-amenorrhea and hirsutism at age 31 or with PCOS diagnosis by age 46, were compared with women without reported PCOS (n=1577). Women with srPCOS had an increased HDP risk (odds ratio, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.03-2.37]), but the association disappeared after adjustment for body mass index. In women with srPCOS and HDP, body mass index increased from age 14 to 46 significantly more than in srPCOS women without HDP (median [interquartile range], 9.82 [6.23-14.6] and 7.21 [4.16-10.5] kg/m

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a growing public health problem. Overall diet quality has proven informative for studying chronic diseases, but potential relations with AF risk are unknown. Methods: We followed 39,840 US male health professionals free from AF at baseline (age 70.5±9.8 y) for incidence of AF from 2002 to 2010. Diet was assessed every 4 ys by validated questionnaires, with cumulative updating of past diet. We also performed analyses evaluating only more recent diet. A diet pattern was characterized based on biologic considerations using 8 dietary factors that might influence risk factors for AF: higher fruits, vegetables, whole grain, seafood, nuts, and polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, and lower glycemic load and trans-fat. Each factor was scored in quintiles (1- 5), in ascending order for more healthful factors and descending order for less healthful factors. These scores were summed to quantify the diet pattern score (range 8-40). Incident AF was identified from initial self-report that was also subsequently confirmed by detailed supplementary questionnaire; these methods were validated against medical records in a subset (positive predictive value=95%). We estimated risk using Cox models adjusting for age, prevalent diseases, lifestyle habits, and health-seeking behaviors (greater multivitamin use; more routine physical, sigmoidoscopy, and rectal exams). Results: During 308,144 person-years follow-up, 879 incident AF cases occurred. Men with higher diet scores were older, less likely to smoke, more likely to be physically active and be on aspirin, and more likely to have health seeking behaviors. The multivariable-adjusted HR (95%CI) for quintiles 2 to5 vs. quintile 1 were 1.06 (0.84, 1.33), 1.04 (0.82, 1.32), 1.15 (0.92, 1.45), and 1.26 (0.98, 1.60), respectively (p trend=0.04). Exploring each of the 8 dietary factors individually, none were significantly associated with incident AF, except seafood which was inversely associated (HR for quintile 5 vs. 1=0.79; 95%CI=0.63, 1.00). Health-seeking behaviors were associated with trend toward AF risk (extreme quartile HR 1.21, 95% CI 0.92-1.59). Stratified by health seeking behavior, the diet score showed positive association with AF only in men with greatest health seeking behaviors (p trend 0.01), but not in the other groups (p&gt;0.8). Sensitivity analyses using only more recent diet, stratifying by aspirin use, or limiting to symptomatic AF cases did not appreciably alter results. Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, a more healthful diet pattern was linked to higher AF risk. This association might partly relate to unmeasured or residual confounding due to greater health seeking behaviors that could increase AF diagnosis. Overall, our novel findings suggest no major benefits of a generally healthy diet on AF incidence, except perhaps for seafood consumption.

Background The CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster on 15q25 has consistently been associated with smoking quantity, nicotine dependence and lung cancer. Recent research also points towards its involvement in cardiovascular homeostasis, but studies in large human samples are lacking, especially on the role of the gene cluster in blood pressure regulation. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied the associations between 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and body mass index (BMI) in 5402 young adults from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. We observed some evidence for associations between two SNPs and SBP and between six SNPs and BMI; the evidence for associations with DBP was weaker. The associations with the three phenotypes were driven by different loci with low linkage disequilibrium with each other. The associations appeared more pronounced in smokers, such that the smoking-increasing alleles would predict lower SBP and BMI. Each additional copy of the rs1948 G-allele and the rs950776 A-allele reduced SBP on average by −1.21 (95% CI −2.01, −0.40) mmHg in smokers. The variants associated with BMI included rs2036534, rs6495309, rs1996371, rs6495314, rs4887077 and rs11638372 and had an average effect size of −0.38 (−0.68, −0.08) kg/m2 per an additional copy of the risk allele in smokers. Formal assessments of interactions provided weaker support for these findings, especially after adjustment for multiple testing. Conclusions Variation at 15q25 appears to interact with smoking status in influencing SBP and BMI. The genetic loci associated with SBP were in low linkage disequilibrium with those associated with BMI suggesting that the gene cluster might regulate SBP through biological mechanisms that partly differ from those regulating BMI. Further studies in larger samples are needed for more precise evaluation of the possible interactions, and to understand the mechanisms behind.