Publications by authors named "Myron D Gross"

Inflammation is implicated in the etiology of various aging-related diseases. Numerous dietary and lifestyle factors contribute to chronic systemic inflammation; genetic variation may too. However, despite biological plausibility, little is known about associations of antioxidant enzyme (AE) and DNA base excision repair (BER) genotypes with human systemic inflammation.

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Background: Cardiovascular health (CVH) from young adulthood is strongly associated with an individual's future risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality. Defining epigenomic biomarkers of lifelong CVH exposure and understanding their roles in CVD development may help develop preventive and therapeutic strategies for CVD.

Methods: In 1085 CARDIA study (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) participants, we defined a clinical cumulative CVH score that combines body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose measured longitudinally from young adulthood through middle age over 20 years (mean age, 25-45).

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Background: Circulating markers of oxidative stress have been associated with lower lung function. Our objective was to study the association of gene expression levels of oxidative stress pathway genes (ALOX12, ALOX15, ARG2, GSTT1, LPO, MPO, NDUFB3, PLA2G7, and SOD3) and lung function forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV ), forced vital capacity (FVC) in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.

Methods: Lung function was measured using spirometry and the Nanostring platform was used to estimate gene expression levels.

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Background The relationship between long-term cardiovascular health (CVH) patterns and elevated CRP (C-reactive protein) in late middle age has yet to be investigated. We aimed to assess this relationship. Methods and Results Individual CVH components were measured in 4405 Black and White men and women (aged 18-30 years at baseline) in the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study at 8 examinations over 25 years.

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Because microbes use carotenoids as an antioxidant for protection, dietary carotenoids could be associated with gut microbiota composition. We aimed to determine associations among reported carotenoid intake, plasma carotenoid concentrations, and fecal bacterial communities in pregnant women. Pregnant women (n = 27) were enrolled in a two-arm study designed to assess feasibility of biospecimen collection and delivery of a practical nutrition intervention.

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Activation of toll-like receptors (TLR1, TLR5, TLR6) and downstream markers (CCR1, MAPK14, ICAM1) leads to increased systemic inflammation. Our objective was to study the association between the gene expression levels of these six genes and lung function (Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and FEV/FVC). We studied gene expression levels and lung function in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the relationship between E-selectin and ICAM-1 levels, biomarkers vital for endothelial function, and cardiac health in young adults, particularly focusing on its effects on heart function as they age.
  • Higher levels of these biomarkers were found to correlate with factors like race, smoking, and obesity at the 7-year mark, which suggests a composite risk for poorer heart function later on.
  • Ultimately, the research indicates that elevated E-selectin and ICAM-1 levels, particularly from Years 7 to 15, may lead to worse left ventricular systolic function in midlife, but did not significantly affect diastolic function.
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Background: Although protective associations between dietary antioxidants and pregnancy outcomes have been reported, randomized controlled trials of supplementation have been almost uniformly negative. A possible explanation is that supplementation during pregnancy may be too late to have a beneficial effect. Therefore, we examined the relationship between antioxidant levels prior to pregnancy and birth outcomes.

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Objective: We studied associations of circulating collagen type I carboxy-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) and procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (PIIINP) with long-term renal function decline.

Methods: In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, we included 2492 participants initially aged 45-84 years and free of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD), excluding people with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 60 ml/min per 1.73 m or urine albumin/creatinine (UAC) at least 30 mg/g.

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This data article presents mean serum concentrations (wet weight and lipid standardized) of 32 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) detected in >75% of participants of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study across levels of POPs scores, and their corresponding coefficients of determination. POPs scores were calculated as: A) the sum of each participant's log-transformed POPs concentrations (∑ of log Pops], or B) as the sum of the participants' log-transformed concentrations of each POP divided by the groups' standard deviation of the corresponding log-transformed POP (POPs summary score. Scores were calculated for both wet weight and lipid standardized concentrations and for all 32 POPs and for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides separately.

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Background: Some evidence in humans suggests that persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), may alter the blood lipid composition. This study analyzed associations between serum POPs concentrations in young adulthood with blood lipid levels up to 23 years later.

Methods: Serum POPs were measured in year 2 of follow-up (n = 180 men and women, ages: 20-32y), and plasma lipids in follow-up years 2, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 25.

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Background: Atrial fibrosis is a hallmark of structural remodeling in atrial fibrillation (AF). Plasma procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (PIIINP) reflects collagen synthesis and degradation while collagen type I carboxy-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) reflects collagen degradation. We aimed to study baseline plasma PIIINP and ICTP and their associations with incident AF in participants initially free of overt cardiovascular disease.

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Background: Although α- and γ-tocopherol are co-consumed antioxidants, circulating γ-tocopherol concentrations were paradoxically found to be inversely associated with total vitamin E intake and circulating α-tocopherol concentrations. There are limited data on this apparent paradox or on determinants of circulating γ-tocopherol concentrations.

Objective: To help clarify possible determinants of circulating γ-tocopherol concentrations, we investigated associations of circulating γ-tocopherol concentrations with various dietary and lifestyle factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation.

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Objective: Nutritional intervention targeting dietary intake modification is a major component of treatment for chronic kidney disease; however, little is known about the relationship between dietary intake and kidney function decline in individuals with preserved kidney function.

Design And Methods: In this prospective cohort study we examined the association of biomarkers of dietary intake with kidney function decline over a 5-year interval in 2,152 men and women with cystatin-C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate > 60 mL/minute/1.73 m from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study.

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Background: Lung fibrosis is attributed to derangements in extracellular matrix remodeling, a process driven by collagen turnover. We examined the association of two collagen biomarkers, carboxy-terminal telopeptide of collagen type I (ICTP) and amino-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP), with subclinical interstitial lung disease (ILD) in adults.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 3244 participants age 45-84 years in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

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Concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), the main circulating form of vitamin D, is inversely associated with incident, sporadic colorectal adenoma risk. We investigated whether this association differs by 2 functional variants in the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) gene, group-specific component (GC), that encode for common protein isoforms Gc1s, Gc1f, and Gc2 linked to differences in vitamin D metabolism. We pooled data (418 patients with adenoma and 524 polyp-free control subjects) from 3 colonoscopy-based case-control studies (Minnesota, 1991-1994; North Carolina, 1994-1997; South Carolina, 2002).

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Objective: Vascular remodeling associated with increased extracellular matrix (ECM) may precede hypertension. Procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (PIIINP) and collagen type I carboxy-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) reflect collagen turnover and are important in ECM remodeling. PIIINP and ICTP are increased in cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

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Background: Collagen biomarkers may correlate with incident heart failure (HF) and its subtypes. We hypothesized that circulating procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (PIIINP) and collagen type I carboxy-terminal telopeptide (ICTP) predict incident HF.

Methods And Results: We used a stratified sampling design in a multiethnic sample of 3187 subjects, initially aged 45 to 84 years and free of cardiovascular disease.

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Homocysteine (Hcy) is a heritable biomarker for CVD, peripheral artery disease, stroke, and dementia. Little is known about genetic associations with Hcy in individuals of African ancestry. We performed a genome-wide association study for Hcy in 4927 AAs from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and the Coronary Artery Risk in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.

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Aims/hypothesis: Elevated levels of fasting glucose and fasting insulin in non-diabetic individuals are markers of dysregulation of glucose metabolism and are strong risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Genome-wide association studies have discovered over 50 SNPs associated with these traits. Most of these loci were discovered in European populations and have not been tested in a well-powered multi-ethnic study.

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Background: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is used to diagnose type 2 diabetes (T2D) and assess glycemic control in patients with diabetes. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 18 HbA1c-associated genetic variants. These variants proved to be classifiable by their likely biological action as erythrocytic (also associated with erythrocyte traits) or glycemic (associated with other glucose-related traits).

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Objective: Higher circulating concentrations of cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) can be used as markers of endothelial dysfunction. Given that the brain is highly vascularized, we assessed whether endothelial function is associated with cognitive performance.

Method: Within the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, excluding  = 54 with stroke before year 25, we studied CAMs among  = 2,690 black and white men and women in CARDIA year 7 (1992-1993, ages 25-37) and  = 2,848 in CARDIA year 15 (2000-2001, ages 33-45).

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