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Whether the intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, is beneficial for ovarian cancer (OC) remains controversial and we hope to disentangle this puzzle using genetic data from large-scale populations in European and Asian. We employed, for the first time, a systematic Mendelian randomization (MR) design to comprehensively evaluate the causal effect of plasma DHA levels, an objective biomarker of DHA intake, on OC risk in European and then verified the extrapolation of the results in the Asian. Data in the analysis included genetic association data obtained from large-scale genome-wide association studies with 13,499 individuals for plasma DHA measurements and 66,450 individuals for OC in the European population, and 1361 individuals for plasma DHA measurements and 61,457 individuals for OC in the Asian population. The causal relationship between DHA and OC was estimated using the inverse-variance weighted approach, together with extensive validation and sensitivity analyses to verify the main results. In the European population, MR evidence suggested a causal relationship between higher plasma DHA levels and lower OC risk (OR, 0.89 for OC per one-SD increment in DHA; 95% CI, 0.83 to 0.96; P = 0.003). Subgroup analysis by histological type of OC indicated that this observed association was stronger among endometrioid ovarian cancer (EOC) (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.96; P = 0.014). A similar causal association of borderline significance was reached in the Asian replication set. The above results were consistently supported by a series of validation and sensitivity analyses. Our study provided robust genetic evidence for a protective association between plasma DHA levels and lower risk of OC, especially EOC, in the European population. These findings may inform prevention strategies and interventions directed towards DHA intake and OC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the compliance and short-term effects of eruption guidance appliance (EGA) in adolescents with class II division 1 malocclusion in comparison with twin-block appliance (TBA) and activator-headgear appliance (A-HG). Dental records of 1886 patients were viewed in this retrospective study 129 patients treated with one of these three functional appliances were identified. 123 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and data were extracted from the dental records. Gender, age, compliance, overjet change at every visit, number of appliance breakages and number of emergency visits apart from appliance breakage were studied. The data were analyzed with Chi-square test, General Linear Model and Fisher scoring test. Results showed that 47 patients were treated with EGA, 38 patients with TBA and 38 patients with A-HG. Mean ages starting the treatment were slightly lower with EGA (11.5 years) than with TBA (12.3 years) and A-HG (11.8 years). Non-compliance was higher in the EGA group (31.9%) than TBA group (26.3%) and A-HG group (23.7%). Mean overjet reduction per month was 0.6 mm for EGA which was lower than TBA group (0.7 mm) and A-HG groups (0.7 mm).The number of emergency visits and appliance breakage were lower in EGA group. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the 3 groups regarding ages,compliance, mean overjet reduction, emergency visits and appliance breakage aspects. In conclusion, this study indicates that EGA is an alternative choice in the treatment of adolescent patients with class II division 1 malocclusion. However, long-term follow-up and cephalometric prospective study should be performed to continue our understanding more about the mechanisms of EGA and more definite conclusions can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to characterize the population frequency of SLCO1B1 polymorphic variants in three distinct healthy Asian populations, namely Chinese ( n = 100), Malay ( n = 100) and Indian ( n = 100), and to explore the association between haplotype-tagged single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) on hepatic SLCO1B1 mRNA expression. The distribution of polymorphic variants in the SLCO1B1 gene at eight loci that spanned approximately 48 kb was investigated in the three different Asian ethnic groups and in 32 non-cancerous liver tissues from Chinese patients. Of the 26 polymorphisms screened, we found eight polymorphic variants that differed in genotypic and allelic frequencies between the Chinese, Malay and Indian populations. Significant interethnic differences were observed in the genotype frequency distributions across the promoter SNP [g.-11187G>A ( P = 0.030)] as well as three coding region SNPs [c.388G>A ( P < 0.001); c.571T>C ( P < 0.001); c.597C>T ( P < 0.001)] in the healthy subjects. Haplotype analysis revealed 12 different haplotypes in both the Chinese and Malay populations and 18 haplotypes in the Indian population. In both the Malay and Indian populations, the htSNPs were c.388A>G, c.571T>C and c.597C>T, whereas in the Chinese population they were g.-11187G>A, c.388A>G and c.597C>T. The c.388A>G and c.597C>T htSNPs accounted for more than 70% of the variations between the three major haplotypes in each Asian ethnic group. In terms of the c.388A>G htSNPs, genotypic-phenotypic association analyses revealed that there was no effect on SLCO1B1 expression in hepatic tissues; in addition, no genotypic-phenotypic associations were evident with regards to the c.597C>T htSNP. Future studies should investigate the phenotypic effects of the c.388A>G htSNP on the disposition of OATP1B1 substrates in Asian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Pharmacogenetics of SLCO1B1: haplotypes, htSNPs and hepatic expression in three distinct Asian populations," that was published in the June 21, 2007 issue is presented.

The anti-oxidative effect of proanthocyanidins(PC) was evaluated in D-galactose-induced murine model. Male KUNMING mice were divided into different groups at random. The mice were induced by subcutaneous injection of D-galactose on the back of mice daily for 60 days and simultaneously PC and VE were administered to the mice by oral feeding. Results indicate that the lipid peroxide in blood, liver and brain significantly increased respectively because of the D-galactose injection, when compared to the control. The activity of SOD in RBC and liver significantly decreased while that of GSH-PX in blood and liver decreased. MAO-B in brain was significantly increased while MAO-B in liver doesn't change significantly. Oral feeding PC markedly decreased the formation of MDA in blood, liver and brain, increased the activities of SOD in blood and liver and decreased the activity of MAO-B in brain. Vitamin E also counteract the oxidative stress induced by D-galactose. In summary, treatment with PC at all the three tested doses were effective in exerting a protective effect against oxidative stress.