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Biomedical subjects

L S Webber

Publications and source records attributed to L S Webber.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Cardiovascular disease risk factor variables during the first year of life.

Cardiovascular risk factor variables were measured in a cohort of 440 infants at birth 6 months, and 1 year of age. Blood pressures at 6 months of age were 93/47 mm Hg (systolic/diastolic pressure, fourth phase) and 97/51 mm Hg at 1 year of age. Serum total cholesterol, beta-lipoprotein, and alpha-lipoprotein levels rose dramatically from birth to 1 year of age. Serum triglycerides also showed an increase from birth to 6 months of age, but a decrease from 6 months to 1 years of age. At 6 months of age, the infants were consuming 949 kcal and at 1 year, 1,356 kcal. A statistically significant correlation between serum cholesterol level and protein, fat, cholesterol, and carbohydrate intake was noted at 1 year of age. These observations provide a background for tracing the evolution of risk factor variables as part of the early natural history of arteriosclerosis.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1979

Serum high density lipoprotein and its relationship to cardiovascular disease risk factor variables in children--the Bogalusa heart study.

Serum high density lipoprotein is increasingly recognized as a negative risk for cardiovascular disease. The distribution and interrelationship of serum lipids, lipoproteins, anthropometric measurements and blood pressures were determined in some 5,000 children. Children had mean +/- S.D. alpha-lipoprotein cholesterol levels (mg/100 ml) of 36 +/- 15 at birth, 51 +/- 22 at 6 mo, 53 +/- 18 at 1 yr, 60 +/- 19 at preschool age (2 1/2-5 1/2 yr) and 68 +/- 22 at school age (5-14 yr), reflecting a sharp increase in alpha-lipoprotein between birth and school-age years, when these levels remained relatively stable through age 14. Although white children tended to have higher levels of total cholesterol and alpha-lipoprotein at birth than black children, during childhood this trend was reversed and the differences were pronounced in school-age children (p less than 0.0001). Unlike in adulthood, boys had slightly higher levels of alpha-lipoprotein than girls. The alpha-lipoprotein was negatively correlated with pre-beta-lipoprotein and to a lesser extent with beta-lipoprotein classes. There was an inverse relationship between alpha-lipoprotein and obesity with a consistently significant relationship (p less than 0.01) in older children (10-14 yr). Children with higher levels of alpha-lipoprotein have lower levels of blood pressure, beta-lipoprotein and a lower obesity index.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Racial differences of parameters associated with blood pressure levels in children--the Bogalusa heart study.

Racial differences in prevalence of essential hypertension are well known. In order to explore these differences at an early age in terms of etiology, we investigated schoolchildren in an entire, biracial community. A sample of 278 children, stratified by diastolic (fourth-phase) blood pressure and specific for age, race, and sex, was reexamined 1--2 yr after initial observation for the following: (1) a physical examination and urinalysis to exclude secondary hypertension; (2) 24-hr urine sodium, potassium, plasma renin activity, and serum dopamine beta-hydroxylase; (3) 1-hr oral glucose tolerance test; and (4) heart rate and blood pressure at rest and under standarized physical stress. We found that 24-hr urine sodium was positively associated with blood pressure level as measured on the same day for the high blood pressure strata of black children. Urine potassium excretion was lower in blacks than in whites, although their intakes seemed equal. In the high blood pressure strata especially, black boys had lower renin activity than whites, and the resting-supine and stressed systolic blood pressures were higher in black boys than in any other group. In these black boys, resting and stressed systolic pressures were negatively related to plasma renin activity. On the other hand, dopamine beta-hydroxylase levels in white children were higher than in blacks for all blood pressure strata, and in the high blood pressure strata white children had higher 1-hr glucose levels and faster resting heart rates than black children. Different mechanisms may play a role in and contribute to the early stage of essential hypertension.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Psychosocial measures and cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents.

The objective of this study was to test four psychosocial measures (self-concept, locus of control, goal blockage, A-B Rating Scale) which are hypothesized to be correlates of cardiovascular risk factor variables in children and adolescents. The psychosocial questionnaire was administered to all eighth grade students in a biracial public school. The results, based on replies from 103 boys and girls, are reported for each measure, and, in addition, reliability correlation coefficients (six week test-retest) and intrachild correlation coefficients are reported for each of the four measures. It is concluded that the four psychosocial measures are suitable for future research and could be employed in association with risk factor studies. Finally, a theoretical model for psychosocially mediated disease is presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Time course studies of blood pressure in children--the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Blood pressures (BPs) were taken with a mercury sphygmomanometer and an automatic recorder on 3524 children representative of an entire geographic community. For all children ages 5, 8, 11, and 14 years in the initial examination, age-specific systolic and diastolic (4th phase) selected percentiles were assessed. Of these children, 1101 were reexamined after one year. Observations from a group of 35 fifth-graders examined monthly for eight months were pooled to observe intra-child BP variability. This estimate was used to reduce to zero in a statistical adjustment the regression toward the mean of the BPs for the after-one-year reexamined children. It was found that those children initially in the top ten percentiles had, upon reexamination, on the average only 3 mmHg lower systolic and 1 mmHg lower diastolic levels. In a multiple regression analysis, the previous year's BP contributed a partial correlation coefficient of 0.6--0.7 for each age cohort to the variability of the BP, controlling for other determinants. These findings, based on reliable, basal-like measurements, point to a degree of persistence which is quite high. The higher the degree of tracking the more likely that primary hypertension begins early in life.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Epidemiology of essential hypertension in youth--implications for clinical practice.

Essential hypertension, a highly prevalent and devastating disease, likely begins in childhood, and presumably might respond at this stage to general preventive measures. The problems encountered in the recording of reproducible blood pressure levels are largely of a quantitative nature, and involve instrument validity, observer (examiner) training, and the interaction between the child and the physician's office environment. The problems of early diagnosis of hypertension are related to the lack of long-term observations of children. Population percentiles of normal blood pressure values could aid in the early diagnosis of hypertension. For this purpose the method of blood pressure measurement in the physician's office has to be strictly comparable to methods employed in accumulating the percentile or reference observations. Repeated measurements under basal-like conditions are advised, and the weight or height of the child is more important for standardization than is age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1978

Dietary studies and the relationship of diet to cardiovascular disease risk factor variables in 10-year-old children--The Bogalusa Heart Study.

A dietary study of 10-year-old children was incorporated into a larger epidemiological survey investigating the distributions, interrelationships, and course-over-time of arteriosclerosis risk factor variables in children. Food intakes, eating patterns, and diet-risk factor interrelationships are described for 185 children (35% black, 65% white) using an improved 24-hr dietary recall method. Protein intakes were high. The polyunsaturated-to-saturated fatty acid ratio averaged 0.4 and a sucrose-to-starch proportion of 1.1 was noted. Eggs were the main food source of cholesterol and milk was the prime source of saturated fatty acids and protein. Black girls had a significantly greater mean sodium intake than the three other sex-race groups. Intermittent snacks provided the most calories; breakfast and dinner contributed most of the day's cholesterol, and lunch was the prime source of lactose and calcium. Longer eating spans reflected significantly greater intakes of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and sodium, and greater levels of total serum cholesterol. A lack of correlations was noted in large matrices of dietary components and risk factor variables, but results of the comparison of mean intakes of dietary components for children grouped according to serum cholesterol showed significant differences in the intakes of various forms of fat and carbohydrate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Synergistic effects of dietary carbohydrate and cholesterol on serum lipids and lipoproteins in squirrel and spider monkeys.

Serum lipid and lipoprotein responses to diets with a high level of simple carbohydrate (69% w/w sucrose) and a low level of saturated fat (5% w/w butter-coconut oil, polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio 0.03) containing 0, 0.1, and 1.0 mg/kcal added cholesterol was studied in five squirrel (Saimiri sciurea) monkeys. Variations in response produced by altering the nature of dietary carbohydrate (sucrose versus dextrin) and the fat (polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio, 0.03 versus 1.5) in the above diets were studied in three groups (five per group) of spider monkeys (Ateles sp.). In the absence of exogenous cholesterol, feeding a sucrose-saturated fat diet for 6 weeks produced a consistent increase in serum cholesterol in both species and an increase in serum triglycerides only in squirrel monkeys. Exogenous cholesterol had a remarkable synergistic effect on the high carbohydrate diet in increasing the serum cholesterol and had a suppressing effect on serum triglycerides in both species. Polyunsaturated fat reduced the hypercholesterolemic effect of sucrose with or without exogenous cholesterol. Dextrin diets resulted in lower serum cholesterol responses than sucrose diets when the diets contained 0 or 0.1 mg/kcal added cholesterol. Serum cholesterol response was reflected in beta- and alpha-lipoproteins. These results emphasize the varied response of serum lipids and lipoproteins to dietary changes in carbohydrate, fat, and cholesterol that might have a bearing on experimental atherosclerosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Blood pressure of children, ages 2 1/2-5 1/2 years, in a total community--the Bogalusa heart study.

Eighty per cent of all identified children 2 1/2-5 1/2 years old in a total geographic community in Bogalusa, Louisiana, were examined for cardiovascular disease risk factor variables, including blood pressure (BP), anthropometric measurements, and blood lipids. Blood pressure was measured by three instrument types, each with three readings, according to a rigid, randomized design. Results from the three instruments were compared, and potential biases for each instrument are listed. All observations on the children were analyzed by multiple regression with BP as the dependent variable. After controlling for the mood of the child, the authors found that some index of body size was positively related to BP, whereas age, race, and serum lipids were not consistently related. The regressions of blood pressure on height as well as on log weight fit straight lines. These results conform with the findings for the 5- to 14-year-olds in this community. The basal or fundamental reference blood pressure is likely to rise gradually from birth to the age of incipient adult stature, and to be linearly related to height and to log weight. Changes observed over time are needed to relate BP levels in childhood to the early natural history of essential hypertension.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1978

Relation of serum lipids and lipoproteins to obesity and sexual maturity in white and black children.

The interrelationships of serum lipids and lipoproteins with measures of body habitus and maturation stages were analyzed in a biracial population of 3151 children, ages 5--14 years. In general, triglycerides, pre-beta-lipoprotein, and beta-lipoprotein were positively correlated with body habitus and maturation while alpha-lipoprotein was negatively correlated. The relationships in most instances were more apparent in whites than in blacks, with the highest correlations observed in white boys. No significant correlations were observed between serum cholesterol and the anthropometric variables except in white boys. The most obese children tended to have higher levels of triglycerides, pre-beta-lipoprotein, and beta-lipoprotein, and lower levels of alpha-lipoprotein than the remaining population. In the total population, the multiple correlation coefficients with the children's age, race, sex weight-height index, triceps skinfold and maturation stage as the independent variables and the concentrations of the different serum variables as the dependent variables ranged from 0.04 to 0.11.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

A morphologic study of central nervous system aging in Hiroshima, Japan.

The presence of intraparenchymal small vessel arteriosclerosis, senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and granulovacuolar degeneration was quantified in the brains of autopsided patients from three age groups: 1) 90--99 years old 2) 70--79 years old and 3) 50--59 years old. Neurofibrillary tangles particularly in the hippocampus were the best indicator of chronologic aging, but senile plaques and granulovacuolar degeneration were also age related. Intraparenchymal small vessel sclerosis, cerebral infarction and hemorrhage, cause of death and radiation exposure at the time of the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima apparently had little or no effect on the development of these aging changes. Each type of aging change appeared to be independent of the others, to progress to a different combination of physiologic processes.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Serum lipids and lipoproteins at birth in a biracial population: the Bogalusa heart study.

The lipid profile, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipoproteins (beta-, pre-beta-, and alpha-) of cord blood, is presented for 419 black and white infants (94% of the eligible population) born during an 18-month period in Bogalusa, Louisiana. At birth, white neonates of both sexes had higher average levels than black neonates of total cholesterol and beta-lipoproteins. White girls among the four race-sex groups had the highest cord blood levels of total cholesterol, beta-lipoproteins, and alpha-lipoproteins. Neither stress at delivery, birthweight, socioeconomic status, nor season of the year had an observable effect on any of the lipid or lipoprotein levels. The magnitude and direction of the relationships between the respective lipids and lipoproteins in cord blood were similar to those we have observed in preschool and school-aged children in the same community. Total cholesterol was highly correlated with both beta- and alpha-lipoproteins; triglycerides were correlated with pre-beta-lipoproteins but inversely with alpha-lipoproteins. These observations suggest that basic biochemical relationships are already established at birth.

Birth Weight↗