Dietary Salt Intake and Discretionary Salt Use in Two General Population Samples in Australia: 2011 and 2014

The limited Australian measures to reduce population sodium intake through national initiatives targeting sodium in the food supply have not been evaluated. The aim was, thus, to assess if there has been a change in salt intake and discretionary salt use between 2011 and 2014 in the state of Victoria, Australia. Adults drawn from a population sample provided 24 h urine collections and reported discretionary salt use in 2011 and 2014. The final sample included 307 subjects who participated in both surveys, 291 who participated in 2011 only, and 135 subjects who participated in 2014 only. Analysis included adjustment for age, gender, metropolitan area, weekend collection and participation in both surveys, where appropriate. In 2011, 598 participants: 53% female, age 57.1(12.0)(SD) years and in 2014, 442 participants: 53% female, age 61.2(10.7) years provided valid urine collections, with no difference in the mean urinary salt excretion between 2011: 7.9 (7.6, 8.2) (95% CI) g/salt/day and 2014: 7.8 (7.5, 8.1) g/salt/day (p = 0.589), and no difference in discretionary salt use: 35% (2011) and 36% (2014) reported adding salt sometimes or often/always at the table (p = 0.76). Those that sometimes or often/always added salt at the table and when cooking had 0.7 (0.7, 0.8) g/salt/day (p = 0.0016) higher salt excretion. There is no indication over this 3-year period that national salt reduction initiatives targeting the food supply have resulted in a population reduction in salt intake. More concerted efforts are required to reduce the salt content of manufactured foods, together with a consumer education campaign targeting the use of discretionary salt.     

Evidence for the existence of definitive hepatic cholesterol precursor compartments for bile acids and biliary cholesterol in man.

A bile fistula patient was administered intravenously a constant infusion of [3H]mevalonic acid for 4 hrs, and then after 2 weeks he was given a pulse of [3H]mevalonic acid. Bile and blood were collected at frequent intervals. The specific activity-time course curves did not show a precursor-product relationship between biliary cholesterol, plasma free cholesterol and bile acids. Both the constant infusion and pulse labeling data indicated that the bile acid precursor had a more rapid rate of turnover than plasma or biliary cholesterol; the biliary cholesterol precursor turned over more rapidly than plasma cholesterol. The data suggest the presence of multiple hepatic cholesterol precursor compartments. Bile acids may be derived predominantly from newly synthesized cholesterol in man.     

Plasma vitamin D metabolite concentrations in chronic renal failure: effect of oral administration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3

The circulating concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D are abnormally low in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). To determine the importance of substrate (25-hydroxyvitamin D) concentration in this phenomenon, five patients with end stage renal disease treated with hemodialysis were given 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OH-D3) orally for 4 weeks. The serum concentration of 25-OH-D3 increased from a mean (+/- SEM) of 26 +/- 5 ng/ml immediately before therapy to a maximum of 108 +/- 5 ng/ml 4 weeks after beginning administration of 25-OH-D3. The concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3), 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (24,25(OH)2D3), and 25,26-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (25,26(OH)2D3) increased from 6.6 +/- 0.8 pg/ml, 0.29 +/- 0.10 ng/ml, and 0.36 +/- 0.06 ng/ml, respectively, immediately before 25-OH-D3 administration to 21.7 +/- 2.2 pg/ml, 0.48 +/- 0.09 ng/ml; and 0.78 +/- 0.12 ng/ml, respectively, after 4 weeks of administration of 25-OH-D3. These results suggest that substrate availability may be an important determinant of the circulating concentrations of these metabolites in patients with CRF. It seems possible that the therapeutic effects of 25-OH-D3 administration to the CRF patient may be mediated through the normal actions of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and perhaps other metabolites rather than through analog effects of 25-OH-D3.     

Potential Impact of Microarray Diagnosis of T Cell–Mediated Rejection in Kidney Transplants: The INTERCOM Study

We previously developed a microarray‐based test for T cell‐mediated rejection (TCMR) in a reference set of 403 biopsies. To determine the potential impact of this test in clinical practice, we undertook INTERCOM, a prospective international study of 300 indication biopsies from 264 patients ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01299168). Biopsies from six centers—Baltimore, Barcelona, Edmonton, Hannover, Manchester and Minneapolis—were analyzed by microarrays, assigning TCMR scores by an algorithm developed in the reference set and comparing TCMR scores to local histology assessment. The TCMR score correlated with histologic TCMR lesions—tubulitis and interstitial infiltration. The accuracy for primary histologic diagnoses (0.87) was similar to the reference set (0.89). The TCMR scores reclassified 77/300 biopsies (26%): 16 histologic TCMR were molecularly non‐TCMR; 15 histologic non‐TCMR were molecularly TCMR, including 6 with polyoma virus nephropathy; and all 46 “borderline” biopsies were reclassified as TCMR (8) or non‐TCMR (38). Like the reference set, discrepancies were primarily in situations where histology has known limitations, for example, in biopsies with scarring and inflammation/tubulitis potentially from other diseases. Neither the TCMR score nor histologic TCMR was associated with graft loss. Thus the molecular TCMR score has potential to add new insight, particularly in situations where histology is ambiguous or potentially misleading.     

Identifying Subphenotypes of Antibody‐Mediated Rejection in Kidney Transplants

The key lesions in antibody‐mediated kidney transplant rejection (ABMR) are microcirculation inflammation (peritubular capillaritis and/or glomerulitis lesions, abbreviated “pg”) and glomerular double contours (cg lesions). We used these features to explore subphenotypes in 164 indication biopsies with ABMR‐related diagnoses: 137 ABMR (109 pure and 28 mixed with T cell–mediated rejection [TCMR]) and 27 transplant glomerulopathy (TG), identified from prospective multicenter studies. The lesions indicated three ABMR subphenotypes: pgABMR, cgABMR, and pgcgABMR. Principal component analysis confirmed these subphenotypes and showed that TG can be reclassified as pgcgABMR (n = 17) or cgABMR (n = 10). ABMR‐related biopsies included 45 pgABMR, 90 pgcgABMR, and 25 cgABMR, with four unclassifiable. Dominating all time intervals was the subphenotype pgcgABMR. The pgABMR subphenotype presented earliest (median <2 years), frequently mixed with TCMR, and was most associated with nonadherence. The cgABMR subphenotype presented late (median 9 years). Subphenotypes differed in their molecular changes, with pgABMR having the most histologic–molecular discrepancies (i.e. potential errors). Donor‐specific antibody (DSA) was not identified in 29% of pgcgABMR and 46% of cgABMR, but failure rates and molecular findings were similar to cases where DSA was known to be positive. Thus, ABMR presents distinct subphenotypes, early pg‐dominant, late cg‐dominant, and combined pgcg phenotype, differing in time, molecular features, accompanying TCMR, HLA antibody, and probability of nonadherence.     

Nutrition Knowledge,Attitudes, and Fruit and Vegetable Intake as Predictors of Head Start Teachers' Classroom Mealtime Behaviors

Objective

To examine the association between nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and fruit/vegetable intake among Head Start teachers and their classroom mealtime behaviors (self-reported and observed).