Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

O Nilssen

Publications and source records attributed to O Nilssen.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

The Tromsø Study: identification of and a controlled intervention on a population of early-stage risk drinkers.

BACKGROUND: In a health survey of more than 21,000 men and women ages 12-62 years, measurement of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and answers on five questions on alcohol consumption were used as a basis for selecting an intervention population of early-stage risk drinkers. Altogether 290 men and 48 women met the criteria for inclusion. METHODS: The 338 subjects were randomized to a control group and two intervention groups. The minor intervention consisted of a single consultation during which possible reasons for the elevated GGT were discussed and a pamphlet with advice on changes in drinking habits was handed out. In the major intervention group the intervention was directed more specifically toward alcohol, with an extensive interview on drinking habits. In addition, the subjects in this group were offered follow-up consultations for new measurements of GGT. RESULTS: All three groups were examined after 1 year with GGT determination and an interview on change in drinking habits during the past year. At follow-up, significant decreases in mean GGT (26.5 U/liter) and self-reported alcohol intake (24.7 g/day) were observed in the intervention groups compared with the control group. No significant differences were, however, observed between the intervention groups. CONCLUSION: The study indicates that modest and simple interventions may yield important changes in drinking habits in early-stage risk drinkers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The Tromsø Study: the positive predictive value of gamma-glutamyltransferase and an alcohol questionnaire in the detection of early-stage risk drinkers.

Based on the measurement of gamma-glutamyltransferase and a questionnaire on frequency of alcohol intake, 338 early-stage risk drinkers were identified from more than 20,000 participants in a health survey programme. Two-thirds (225) of these subjects were questioned regarding their 'true' alcohol intake at the first consultation. Positive predictive values were calculated for true daily intake of 30 and 40 g alcohol d-1 for men (20 and 30 g alcohol d-1 for women) on the basis of gamma-glutamyltransferase activity and the response to a questionnaire. The positive predictive values for a risk intake of 30 g d-1 in men increased from 0.49 to 0.88, with increasing values for gamma-glutamyltransferase activity and increasing frequency of alcohol intake. The corresponding values for a risk intake of 40 g d-1 were 0.34-0.75. In women, increasing gamma-glutamyltransferase activity gave no increase in positive predictive values. The estimates for increasing frequency of alcohol intake were unreliable due to small numbers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Lactococcin A, a new bacteriocin from Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris: isolation and characterization of the protein and its gene.

A new bacteriocin, termed lactococcin A (LCN-A), from Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris LMG 2130 was purified and sequenced. The polypeptide contained no unusual amino acids and showed no significant sequence similarity to other known proteins. Only lactococci were killed by the bacteriocin. Of more than 120 L. lactis strains tested, only 1 was found resistant to LCN-A. The most sensitive strain tested, L. lactis subsp. cremoris NCDO 1198, was inhibited by 7 pM LCN-A. By use of a synthetic DNA probe, lcnA was found to be located on a 55-kb plasmid. The lcnA gene was cloned and sequenced. The sequence data revealed that LCN-A is ribosomally synthesized as a 75-amino-acid precursor including a 21-amino-acid N-terminal extension. An open reading frame encoding a 98-amino-acid polypeptide was found downstream of and in the same operon as lcnA. We propose that this open reading frame encodes an immunity function for LCN-A. In Escherichia coli lcnA did not cause an LCN-A+ phenotype. L. lactis subsp. lactis IL 1403 produced small amounts of the bacteriocin and became resistant to LCN-A after transformation with a recombinant plasmid carrying lcnA. The other lactococcal strains transformed with the same recombinant plasmid became resistant to LCN-A but did not produce any detectable amount of the bacteriocin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

The Tromsø Study. Distribution and population determinants of gamma-glutamyltransferase.

Gamma-glutamyltransferase was measured in 10,942 males aged 12-62 years and 10,840 females aged 12-59 years screened in a health survey program. The distribution was right-skewed, with medians of 17 and 12 units/liter for males and females, respectively. Fewer than 5.5% of the males and 1.5% of the females had values exceeding 50 units/liter, reflecting the modest use of alcohol in Norway. In sex-specific multiple regression analyses, gamma-glutamyl-transferase showed a strong positive association with body mass index, alcohol use, and total serum cholesterol and a somewhat weaker positive association with serum triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, heart rate, blood pressure, use of analgesics, and time since last meal. Strong negative associations were found for coffee consumption, hour of the day at which the examination was performed and, in males, physical activity. In females, use of oral contraceptives and menopause were positively associated with gamma-glutamyltransferase, whereas pregnant females had lower values. In conclusion, the gamma-glutamyltransferase level in the Tromsø population was low, with marked and consistent sex differences which probably are physiologic. Within its normal range, gamma-glutamyltransferase has many other, even stronger determinants than alcohol consumption.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Molecular heterogeneity for bovine alpha-mannosidosis: PCR based assays for detection of breed-specific mutations.

DNA tests, based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), were developed for the detection of two breed-specific mutations responsible for the autosomal recessive disorder bovine alpha-mannosidosis. The tests involve separate amplification of two exons of the lysosomal alpha-mannosidase gene followed by restriction enzyme digestion of the amplicons. We demonstrate that one of the mutations, the 662G-->A transition, is responsible for alpha-mannosidosis in Galloway cattle. The other mutation, the 961T-->C transition, is uniquely associated with alpha-mannosidosis in Angus, Murray Grey and Brangus cattle from Australia. The 961T-->C mutation was also detected in Red Angus cattle exported from Canada to Australia as embryos. All 39 animals classified as heterozygotes on the basis of biochemical assays were heterozygous for one of the two mutations. None of 102 animals classified as homozygous-normal on the basis of biochemical assays possessed the mutations. Our results indicate that the two breed-specific mutations may have arisen in Scotland and by the export of animals and germplasm disseminated to America, New Zealand and Australia.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin: marker of actual alcohol consumption or chronic alcohol misuse?

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is a useful indicator of excessive alcohol consumption with higher sensitivity and specificity than other markers that are used. In the present study, CDT was analysed in 161 patients hospitalized in a surgical ward to evaluate whether history of drinking and chronic alcohol misuse are important determinants of CDT elevations. Fifty-one of the patients were diagnosed as alcohol-dependent and they all reported a long history of alcohol abuse. Several of these, as well as many of the non-dependent patients, reported a high, recent alcohol consumption (> or = 60 g/day for the previous 2 weeks). CDT performed better in detecting patients with alcohol dependency than in detecting patients with high alcohol consumption irrespective of dependency, showing higher sensitivity (47 vs 37%), likelihood ratio (4.7 vs 3.4), and a statistically significant difference in the receiver-operating characteristic curve areas (P = 0.04 in a two-tailed comparison test). In two subgroups, one with alcohol-dependent and one with non-dependent patients, consuming similar amounts of alcohol (range: 60-170 g/day), the sensitivity of CDT was 52 and 5%, respectively. We conclude that CDT is a better marker for patients with chronic alcohol misuse than as a marker for high actual alcohol consumption alone.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of two biological markers combined as a parameter of alcohol dependency.

A test was constructed by combining carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (%CDT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GT) and was evaluated in detecting alcohol-dependent patients in a surgical ward. The performance of the combined test was significantly better than that of either %CDT alone or GT alone, as evaluated by calculating sensitivity and likelihood ratio at a specificity of 0.85 and by comparing areas under receiver-operating characteristic curves statistically. Improved performance was found for the whole group of patients, for men, for patients older than 35 years of age, and for those patients consuming more than 60 g alcohol per day. The performance of %CDT alone was similar to that of GT, %CDT being better in the age group 35-50 years, whereas GT was better for those drinking less than 60 g per day and for the oldest patients (> 50 years). Neither of the two tests or their combination performed well for patients younger than 36 years of age.

Adult↗