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Biomedical subjects

M Feinleib

Publications and source records attributed to M Feinleib.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

A twin analysis of dietary intake: evidence for a need to control for possible environmental differences in MZ and DZ twins.

In the NHLI Twin Study MZ twins are shown to "get together" substantially more often than DZ twins. With this result as an indicator of differences in shared environment, the assumption of equal shared environmental variation for MZ and DZ twins is assessed using nutritional data calculated from a food frequency questionnaire. Six nutrients show significant genetic variance for the total sample. However, when stratified on the basis of how frequently twins see each other, none of the nutrients shows significant genetic variance for both strata. A similar pattern is seen for several individual items from the questionnaire. In addition, four of the nutrients show significant correlation between the absolute difference in the nutrient intake of MZ twin pairs and how often they "get together." These data appear to show that unequal environmental effects may lead to falsely high estimates of genetic variance for nutrient intake.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Cigarette smoking and HDL cholesterol: the Framingham offspring study.

High density lipoproteins were measured on fasting blood samples from 4107 men and women. Control for reported alcohol consumption and subscapular skinfold thickness using multiple regression analysis allowed an examination of the relationship between cigarette smoking and HDL cholesterol. Cigarette smoking was found to be associated with an average difference in HDL cholesterol of about 4 mg/dl in men and 6 mg/dl in women. Furthermore, when heavy alcohol drinkers were eliminated a significant negative association between number of cigarettes smoked and HDL cholesterol was demonstrable in both men and women. There was no evidence that former cigarette smokers, with the exception of those who switched to cigars or pipes or had quit less than one year, had lower HDL levels. Cigar or pipe smokers who had never smoked cigarettes had alcohol- and skinfold-adjusted HDL cholesterol comparable to the non-smoker. These observations indicate another possible link between inhaled tobacco smoke and the atherosclerotic process and suggest the need for further studies and experiments that might clarify the mutual relationship of HDL cholesterol, cigarette smoking and the atherosclerotic process.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Trends in urban mortality in relation to fluoridation status.

Mortality trends from 1950 to 1970 were studied for 473 cities in the United States with populations of 25,000 or more in 1950, according to fluoridation status of their water supplies. Findings showed no relationship between fluoridation and observed changes in general mortality over the 20-year period. Also, no relationship was found between fluoridation and heart or cancer death rate trends.

Fluoridation↗
PubMed1978

The relationship of psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. I. Methods and risk factors.

Questionnaires administered to 1822 members of the Framingham Heart Study from 1965 to 1967 provided measures of personality type, sociocultural mobility, situational stress and somatic strain. Clusters of questions selected by a panel of experts, and verified by item and factor analysis, formed scales of Type A behavior and other psychosocial states. The Framingham Type A behavior scale was significantly correlated with daily stress (.47), emotional lability (.43), tension (.42), anger symptoms (.34), and ambitiousness (.31). Women were less likely than men to be ambitious and to exhibit the Framingham Type A behavior, and were more likely than men to be emotionally labile, tense, and to suppress hostility. Few consistent associations were found between psychosocial stress measures and levels of blood pressure or cholesterol. Social status and marital conflicts were significantly associated with patterns of smoking. The Framingham Type A behavior pattern and other psychosocial measures were not related to the level of CHD risk, as determined by the Framingham logistic equations.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The relationship of psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. II. Prevalence of coronary heart disease.

In a cross-sectional study of 1822 persons aged 45 to 77 years of age, the association of 20 psychosocial scales with coronary heart disease (CHD) prevalence was assessed. Women (aged 45 to 64 years) with coronary disease scored significantly higher on the Framingham Type A behavior, emotional lability, aging worries, tension, and anger symptoms scales than women free of CHD. The prevalence of CHD was significantly higher among working women and housewives classified as Type A than as Type B behavior. Among men under 65 years, Framingham Type A behavior, aging worries, daily stress, and tension were associated with the prevalence of myocardial infarction (MI). For men and women over 65 years, marital dissatisfactions or disagreements were significantly related to the prevalence of CHD. In a multivariate analysis, the above associations were controlled for age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, and other psychosocial scales. Among women under 65 years of age, Framingham Type A behavior and emotional lability remained significant discriminators of CHD prevalence. Aging worries significantly differentiated men under 65 with and without MI. Issues related to the interpretation of results from cross-sectional studies are discussed, and four hypotheses are suggested for future prospective work in this area.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Case-control study of antihypertensive and diuretic use by women with malignant and benign breast lesions detected in a mammography screening program.

A significant but low-level association (relative odds, 2.0; P less than 0.05) was observed between the occurrence of breast cancer and the use of rauwolfia derivatives for 5 or more years in the study of 481 breast cancer cases and 1,268 controls from a joint national mammography screening project of the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. This association was confined to women over age 50 years who were also heavier than average. No confounding effects could be held responsible for this association after adjustment was made for variables such as presence of hypertension, weight, age at first pregnancy, and other breast cancer risk factors. Other antihypertensive and diuretic drugs as well as multiple drug use also exhibited some suggestive associations with breast cancer. Another group of 421 women with benign lesions at breast biopsy were also compared to the 1,268 controls. They showed a significant association between benign lesions and use of thiazides for 5 or more years (relative odds, 2.4; P less than 0.001) whether employed to treat edema or hypertension. Other antihypertensive and diuretic agents also seemed to show this association, but most of them were being used together with thiazides.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

An evaluation of the intrapair relationship for personal attributes in the NHLBI twin study.

We have considered a group of questions which attempt to define the environments of twins in our study both within and between twin pairs. Only 8 of 31 questions on which twins compared themselves to their co-twins were reliable and showed discordance for twin pairs. Comparing discordant twins for cardiovascular risk factors, few significant results were obtained. Cigarette smoking seemed to be most closely related to the environmental differences; but negatively related to achievement in grade school and high school and to which twin was stronger in childhood. Weight at examination appeared to be related to strength in childhood. In addition, there may be a negative relationship between income and blood pressure. One additional question showed MZ twins get together significantly more often than DZ twins. In terms of differnces in environmental covariance, the question "how frequently do you and your twin get together now?" may be a simple but valuable measure of similarity of twins and should be considered for inclusion in twin studies.

Body Constitution↗
PubMed1977

Tumor-associated antigen levels (carcinoembryonic antigen, human chorionic gonadotropin, and alpha-fetoprotein) antedating the diagnosis of cancer in the Framingham study.

Determinations of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) were done by use of frozen serum samples antedating the diagnosis of cancer for 9 pancreatic and 8 gastric carcinoma patients from the Framingham Heart Study. The longest intervals for elevated antigens before cancer diagnosis were 10 months for CEA and 26 months for HCG. (The single elevated AFP was found in a sample 10 days before clinical diagnosis.) Samples from 31 controls matched with the cancer subjects by age, sex, vital capacity, and smoking status showed over 20% "false" positive CEA elevations (all smokers with low vital capacities) and over 20% borderline false positive HCG elevations in postmenopausal females. Although 10-26 months' lead time could infer some potential for use of these tumor-associated antigens to help detect malignant neoplasms at an earlier stage, a serious problem of frequent false positives prevents CEA and HCG levels from being useful as cancer-screening tests at this time.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

The NHLBI twin study of cardiovascular disease risk factors: methodology and summary of results.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors were studied in 250 monozygotic (MZ) and 264 dizygotic (DZ) male veteran twin pairs, aged 42-56. All coronary heart disease risk factors studied showed significant correlations in both MZ and DZ twins. Substantial genetic variation was detected for height, blood pressure, glucose intolerance, uric acid, plasma triglyceride, and relative weight but little or no significant genetic variability in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), total plasma cholesterol or hematocrit was demonstrable. These findings suggest that familial aggregation results from genetic influence on blood pressure, glucose intolerance, uric acid, triglyceride and, possibly, obesity, while largely shared environmental factors contribute to familial similarities in HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and hematocrit.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Genetic variability of clinical chemical values.

A study of cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged twin men provided an opportunity to test for genetic variability in the SMA 12/60 (Technicon) battery of clinical chemistry tests. Classical twin methodology was used to analyze the variation of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. In addition, frequency of co-twin contact was used to control for effects of differences in shared environment. Genetic variability played a definite role in controlling four of the 11 reported tests: one-hour serum glucose, serum urea nitrogen, uric acid, and bilirubin. No genetic variation was found for lactate dehydrogenase, phosphorus, and alkaline phosphatase. Significantly higher means for calcium, total protein, albumin, and aspartate aminotransferase in monozygotic twins precluded any statement about heredity and environment for these tests.

Adult↗