INCREASED FREQUENCY OF HLA-DR3 AND 5 IN THE SYNDROMES OF PAINLESS THYROIDITIS WITH TRANSIENT THYROTOXICOSIS: EVIDENCE FOR AN AUTOIMMUNE AETIOLOGY

We studied fifty patients with painless thyroiditis with transient thyrotoxicosis (PTTT) and a low radioiodine thyroidal uptake. In 25 PTTT occurred post-partum (P) and in the remainder was unrelated to pregnancy (U). Seventeen patients with classical subacute thyroiditis were studied for comparison. All patients were typed for HLA-A, B, C, DR antigens. Four of the P patients had recurrences with each pregnancy; two had one previous attack of U; three had a maternal history of GRAVES' disease; 76% of the P patients had small to moderate goitres and 76% antimicrosomal antibody titres at > 1:400. HLA-B35 was found in 24% of P patients compared to 17% of controls; 71% of patients with subacute thyroiditis were, by contrast, B35. Two of P were HLA-B8 positive (versus 25% of controls); 11 patients were HLA-DR3 positive and 15 (60%) HLA-DR5 positive compared to 23% and 27% of controls yielding a relative risk (RR) = 2·50 (P < 0·05) and 3·83 (P < 0·005), respectively. All four P patients with recurrences carried HLA-DR5. Thirteen of 25 patients in the U subgroup were HLA-DR3, yielding a RR = 3·38 (P < 0·01); seven were HLA-DR5, with a non-significant RR = 1·12; four of U had first degree relatives with either autoimmune thyroid disorders or Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Thus, both P and U are associated with HLA-DR3, the P subgroup had in addition an increased frequency of DR5. The observed HLA associations for the PTTT syndromes favours an autoimmune rather than viral aetiology.     

Capturing the meaning of 'community' in community intervention evaluation: some contributions from community psychology

Evaluations of community health promotion can underestimatethe gains that an intervention might make in a community ifthe outcomes reported are limited to aggregates of changes inhealth behaviour or attitude made at an individual level Thenotion of ‘community’ revealed by this type of evaluationis relatively unsophisticated compared to the ‘community’rhetoric which often accompanies program definition. Even thoseevaluations which report policy changes or evaluations of howcommunities became involved, often fail to capture the improvementsa community intervention can make on the problem-solving capacitiesof a community and its competence in tackling the issues whichface it. The essence of what some interventions (intentionallyor unintentionally) achieve is, therefore, missed. Empowerment is usually described as a process. But it can beconsidered as an outcome variable in community interventionsif capacity-building is a major activity of an intervention.To capture this in the evaluation design, evaluators shouldbe using active strategies to (i) articulate what empowermentactually means and (ii) challenge what intervention successreally means in interactive dialogues with program workers andthe community. Active and interactive strategies must be usedto clarify program values and intentions because evaluatorswill be misled or confused by words like ‘community involvement’,‘community development’ or ‘community participation’in program documents. These words mean different things to differentgroups. Similarly, ‘empowerment’ must be translatedinto aspects which are recognisable within the life of the programor period of interest. Community psychology is introduced in this paper as a fieldwhich may have much to offer in this analysis. Community psychologyis a field within psychology which should be distinguished fromthe more traditional approaches in community-based health promotionwhich are the legacy of behavioural health psychology.     

Genetic and environmental determinants of plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein AI concentrations in healthy middle-aged men

The effects of common variants of cholesteryl ester transfer protein ( CETP ) ( Taq IB), hepatic lipase ( HL ) (−514C>T), lipoprotein lipase ( LPL ) (S447X) and lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase ( LCAT ) (S208T) on the determination of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein AI (apoAI) levels were examined in 2773 healthy middle-aged men participating in the second Northwick Park Heart Study. The extent of gene:gene, gene:smoking and gene:alcohol interactions were determined. For HDL-C levels, only CETP genotype was associated with significant effects ( p <0·0001), with the B2 allele being associated with higher levels in both smokers and non-smokers. This interaction was significant at the lowest tertile of TG, suggesting that TG levels were rate limiting. As previously reported, CETP , LPL and HL genotypes were all associated with significant effects on apoAI levels (all p <0·01), with carriers of the rare alleles having higher levels and with no evidence of heterogeneity of effects in smokers and non-smokers. LCAT genotype was not associated with significant effects on either trait. There was no significant interaction between any of the genotypes and alcohol consumption on either HDL-C or apoAI levels. All genotypic effects were additive for HDL-C and apoAI. Environmental and TG levels explained more than 20% and 5·5% of the variance in HDL-C and apoAI, respectively. The novel aspect of this finding is that genetic variation at these loci explained in total only 2·5% of the variance in HDL-C and 1·89% of the variance in apoAI levels. Thus despite the key roles played by these enzymes in HDL metabolism, variation at these loci, at least as detected by these common genotypes, contributes minimally to the variance in HDL-C and apoAI levels in healthy men, highlighting the polygenic and multifactorial control of HDL-C.