Tulane University

About: Tulane University is a education organization based out in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Blood pressure. The organization has 24478 authors who have published 47205 publications receiving 1944993 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Louisiana.

Legume Consumption and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in US Men and Women: NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study

Abstract: Background Soybean protein and dietary fiber supplementation reduce serum cholesterol in randomized controlled trials. Consumption of legumes, which are high in bean protein and water-soluble fiber, may be associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods A total of 9632 men and women who participated in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS) and were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at their baseline examination were included in this prospective cohort study. Frequency of legume intake was estimated using a 3-month food frequency questionnaire, and incidence of CHD and CVD was obtained from medical records and death certificates. Results Over an average of 19 years of follow-up, 1802 incident cases of CHD and 3680 incident cases of CVD were documented. Legume consumption was significantly and inversely associated with risk of CHD ( P = .002 for trend) and CVD ( P = .02 for trend) after adjustment for established CVD risk factors. Legume consumption 4 times or more per week compared with less than once a week was associated with a 22% lower risk of CHD (relative risk, 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.68-0.90) and an 11% lower risk of CVD (relative risk, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-0.98). Conclusions Our study indicates a significant inverse relationship between legume intake and risk of CHD and suggests that increasing legume intake may be an important part of a dietary approach to the primary prevention of CHD in the general population.

Spurious fractional charge on dissociated atoms : Pervasive and resilient self-interaction error of common density functionals

Abstract: Semilocal density functional approximations for the exchange-correlation energy can improperly dissociate a neutral molecule XY (Y≠X) to fractionally charged fragments X+q⋯Y−q with an energy significantly lower than X0⋯Y0. For example, NaCl can dissociate to Na+0.4⋯Cl−0.4. Generally, q is positive when the lowest-unoccupied orbital energy of atom Y0 lies below the highest-occupied orbital energy of atom X0. The first 24 open sp-shell atoms of the Periodic Table can form 276 distinct unlike pairs XY, and in the local spin density approximation 174 of these display fractional-charge dissociation. Finding these lowest-energy solutions with standard quantum chemistry codes, however, requires special care. Self-interaction-corrected (SIC) semilocal approximations are exact for one-electron systems and also reduce the spurious fractional charge q. The original SIC of Perdew and Zunger typically reduces q to 0. A scaled-down SIC with better equilibrium properties sometimes fails to reduce q all the way to 0. The...

Blood Lead Below 0.48 μmol/L (10 μg/dL) and Mortality Among US Adults

Abstract: Background— Blood lead levels above 0.48 μmol/L (10 μg/dL) in adults have been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular, cancer, and all-cause mortality. The objective of the present study was to determine the association between blood lead levels below 0.48 μmol/L and mortality in the general US population. Methods and Results— Blood lead levels were measured in a nationally representative sample of 13 946 adult participants of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey recruited in 1988 to 1994 and followed up for up to 12 years for all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The geometric mean blood lead level in study participants was 0.12 μmol/L (2.58 μg/dL). After multivariate adjustment, the hazard ratios (95% CI) for comparisons of participants in the highest tertile of blood lead (≥0.17 μmol/L [≥3.62 μg/dL]) with those in the lowest tertile (<0.09 μmol/L [<1.94 μg/dL]) were 1.25 (1.04 to 1.51; Ptrend across tertiles=0.002) for all-cause mortality and 1.55 (1.08 to 2.24; Ptrend...

Intracoronary administration of autologous adipose tissue-derived stem cells improves left ventricular function, perfusion, and remodelling after acute myocardial infarction

Abstract: Aims This study was designed to assess whether intracoronary application of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) compared with bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) and control could improve cardiac function after 30 days in a porcine acute myocardial infarction/reperfusion model. Methods and results An acute transmural porcine myocardial infarction was induced by inflating an angioplasty balloon for 180 min in the mid-left anterior descending artery. Two million cultured autologous stem cells were intracoronary injected through the central lumen of the inflated balloon catheter. Analysis of scintigraphic data obtained after 28 ± 3 days showed that both absolute and relative perfusion defect decreased significantly after intracoronary administration of ADSCs or BMSCs (relative 30 or 31%, respectively), compared with carrier administration alone (12%, P = 0.048). Left ventricular ejection fraction after 4 weeks increased significantly more after ADSC and BMSC administration than after carrier administration: 11.39 ± 4.62 and 9.59 ± 7.95%, respectively vs. 1.95 ± 4.7%, P = 0.02). The relative thickness of the ventricular wall in the infarction area after cell administration was significantly greater than that after carrier administration. The vascular density of the border zone also improved. The grafted cells co-localized with von Willebrand factor and alpha-smooth muscle actin and incorporated into newly formed vessels. Conclusion This is the first study to show that not only bone marrow-derived cells but also ADSCs engrafted in the infarct region 4 weeks after intracoronary cell transplantation and improved cardiac function and perfusion via angiogenesis.